Bird-Lore Part 12

"As the young birds began to grow, the Cowbird not only maintained, but rapidly increased its lead over its small nest-mate. At every visit of the parent bird with food, its capacious gullet could be seen violently waving aloft and almost completely hiding the feeble little mouth of the Warbler, whose owner was pathetically doing its best in a dumb appeal for food. The Cowbird's appet.i.te seemed never to be satiated and, unlike most nestlings, which relapse after a meal and give their brethren the next chance, he seemed ready for every fresh opportunity; and, by reason of his superior display, he usually succeeded in obtaining the coveted morsel. However, the young Warbler did manage to get an occasional portion, and I had strong hopes that he might reach maturity. For I realized that a Chestnut-sided Warbler's usual laying is about five eggs, and that therefore some four eggs must have been made to give place to the two Cowbird's. Hence the young Cowbird in the nest might reasonably be granted the room and food of four young Warblers. More than this I hoped he was not getting.

"On July 18, at 3.30 P. M., when the birds were about four days old, I took them from the nest to compare their sizes. I replaced them in the nest, but that was the last I saw of the poor little Warbler. When I returned at 5 P. M., the Cowbird was in sole and triumphant possession of the nest. Just what became of the Chestnut-sided Warbler will never be known, but my theory is that, weakened by lack of sufficient food, the little fellow at last became too feeble to raise himself at all, and was crushed to death by the Cowbird's gross body. The parent birds, returning and finding the little corpse in the bottom of the nest, were no doubt impelled by their instinctive sense of cleanliness to carry it to a distance; for the most careful search over a large area beneath the nest failed to reveal any sign of the missing bird, thus proving that it had not fallen from the nest nor been forced out by the Cowbird.

"The Cowbird now had things all his own way and, there being no one to dispute his right to all the food, he grew with amazing rapidity. The dainty little cup of a nest, never built to accommodate such a monster, was soon completely forced out of shape. His body then protruded beyond the lower rim of the nest, and the ground underneath became littered with droppings, quite baffling the cleanly, sanitary instincts of the Warblers.

"The Cowbird, now almost twice as large as his devoted foster-parents, rises with hideous chitterings of delight to receive an ever-acceptable meal. I visited the nest at 7.30 A. M., on July 26. As I walked home to breakfast, I resolved that in the interests of justice I ought to put an end to that Cowbird, as a murderer and a menace to the welfare of birddom. But when I returned to the spot, about 9 A. M., he had escaped me; the nest was empty, my bird flown. No doubt, if I had searched and listened, I should have heard him shouting for food not far away; but my spirit of vengeance was only half-hearted at best, and so I left him, a criminal abroad, to be the parent, I suppose, of others as bad."

=The Audubon Societies=

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Edited by T. GILBERT PEARSON, Secretary

Address all correspondence, and send all remittances for dues and contributions, to the National a.s.sociation of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City.

WILLIAM DUTCHER, _President_

FREDERIC A. LUCAS, _Acting President_

THEODORE S. PALMER, _First Vice President_

T. GILBERT PEARSON, _Secretary_

JONATHAN DWIGHT, JR., _Treasurer_

SAMUEL T. CARTER, JR., _Attorney_

Any person, club, school or company in sympathy with the objects of this a.s.sociation may become a member of it, and all are welcome.

Cla.s.ses of Members.h.i.+p in the National a.s.sociation of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals:

=$5 annually pays for a Sustaining Members.h.i.+p= =$100 paid at one time const.i.tutes a Life Members.h.i.+p= =$1,000 const.i.tutes a person a Patron= =$5,000 const.i.tutes a person a Founder= =$25,000 const.i.tutes a person a Benefactor=

FORM OF BEQUEST:--I do hereby give and bequeath to The National a.s.sociation of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals (Incorporated), of the City of New York.

=A CASE IN POINT=

In the last issue of BIRD-LORE were reproduced some photographs of a ruined White Ibis rookery, which Dr. Herbert R. Mills stated had been destroyed by "sportsmen" who had wantonly shot the birds. Such raids on the bird-life of Florida have been made frequently by northern visitors to the state. A striking example of this habit has just come to public notice.

In the February issue of _Scribner's Magazine_, a writer, after referring to the pleasures he enjoyed while catching tarpon at Bocagrande, says:

"Birds were always flying around the boat; Gulls, Man-o'-wars, Pelicans, and when we weren't fis.h.i.+ng we were potting at them with a Winchester .22. The Big Chief was a wizard with a rifle, and even skimming Swallows were none too swift or too small for his Deadeye d.i.c.k precision of aim.

After cutting down a sailing Man-o'-war, two hundred yards above the water, and surely three hundred yards away, he formed a Man-o'-war's Club; any body who killed one flying was ent.i.tled to members.h.i.+p."

All these birds are protected by the laws of Florida and at least one of them by the United States Migratory Bird Law. There is no open season for any of them. The man who wrote this is not a poor, illiterate inhabitant of the southern swamps, who killed the birds to sell their feathers for a few dollars with which to help feed his family; but is a successful writer of novels and stories, many of which you and I have bought and read with pleasure. Incidentally, by our purchase of his work, we have aided in swelling his royalties, thus enabling him to go to Bocagrande, and doubtless elsewhere, where he might amuse himself from time to time in the very delectable sport of shooting harmless non-game birds. This man is John Fox, Jr.

As a result of the work of this a.s.sociation, the Pelican colonies in Charlotte Harbor near Bocagrande have been made Federal bird-reservations. While attempting to protect one of them, Columbus G.

McLeod, one of our wardens, had his head chopped open and his body sunk in the harbor by persons who did not approve of his zeal. These birds--the wards of the Government, the birds that the Audubon Society's members have been giving money to protect, and the birds for which one good man has given up his life--these birds afford targets for Mr. John Fox Jr., and his friends; and _Scribner's Magazine_, doubtless greatly pleased at the privilege of being allowed to publish an article from the pen of a gentleman so distinguished, kind and altruistic, has taken these boasting sentences and printed them, regardless of the fact that the magazine will go into thousands of homes to be read by young men who may later go tarpon-fis.h.i.+ng in the limpid waters about Bocagrande, and who might be inspired to follow the example of the n.o.ble deeds of this celebrated novelist.

We are glad to reproduce here an open letter written to him by Doctor William F. Blackman, President of the Florida State Audubon Society:

"_Dear Sir_: As a tarpon fisherman, holding the record in a recent year for the largest fish taken in the state, I was much interested in your article in the February Issue of _Scribner's Magazine_, on 'Tarpon Fis.h.i.+ng at Bocagrande.' But when you told your readers that you and your companions beguiled your leisure, on this occasion, by 'potting with a Winchester .22' at the Gulls, Man-o'-wars, Pelicans, and skimming Swallows which surrounded your boat, you surprised and pained and disgusted me beyond words.

"You doubtless knew that all these birds are protected by the laws of Florida, and some of them by the Federal laws also; your action was deliberately criminal; it was also unspeakably puerile, wanton, cruel, and vulgar.

"The citizens of Florida welcome tourists from other states; we are happy to share our excellent fis.h.i.+ng and shooting with them within legal and decent limits, which, I am glad to say, the great majority of those who sojourn among us carefully and cheerfully observe; but we do not propose to allow our plumage and insectivorous birds to be slaughtered to provide fun for thoughtless and reckless gunners whether residents or visitors.

"You are too foxy to say whether you yourself succeeded in killing any of these birds, but I hereby give you notice that if you ever again set foot on our soil, and I am apprised of the fact, I shall see that you have an opportunity to tell your story in the courts. If proof can be had of your personal guilt, you will be punished to the full limit of the law, in both the state and federal jurisdictions, for a misdemeanor so unsportmanlike and inexcusable."

[Ill.u.s.tration: A FEEDING-SHELF FOR BIRDS ERECTED BY JUDGE HARRY L.

CRESWELL, GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN]

=PHOTOGRAPHING WATER-FOWL=

To watch at close range the wildfowl acc.u.mulated on the Ward-McIlhenny reservation in the marshes of Louisiana is the privilege of a lifetime.

Mr. Herbert K. Job not only had this privilege for about six weeks during last December and the early weeks of January, but he procured a remarkable series of photographs of water-birds that make that region their winter home. From the moving pictures that he made the a.s.sociation now has a thousand-foot reel, showing Pintails, Teals, and other Ducks, as well as Boat-tailed Grackles and Coots.

To ornithologists, the most interesting pictures he obtained were those of the Blue Geese. The chief summer home of these birds is supposed to be on the islands north of the American continent, and most, if not all of them, pa.s.s the winter in the marshes of Louisiana. I know of no case heretofore where they have been photographed in large numbers at close range.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHOTOGRAPHED FROM THE WINDOW OF A CABIN ON THE WARD-McILHENNY RESERVATION]

The accompanying ill.u.s.trations were all made by Mr. Job on this expedition, and will give some idea of the results of his skill and patience in the use of a moving-picture camera.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WHEN ALARMED, THE DUCKS WERE THE FIRST TO TAKE FLIGHT]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN INTERESTING COMPANY OF COOTS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PINTAILS, TEALS, AND COOTS, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM CABIN WINDOW]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PINTAILS, TEALS, AND BOAT-TAILED GRACKLES, PHOTOGRAPHED FROM CABIN WINDOW]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLUE GEESE AND A FEW GREATER SNOW-GEESE "GRAVELING"

AT VERMILION BAY, LOUISIANA. MR. JOB WAITED FIVE DAYS IN A BLIND TO GET THESE PICTURES OF GEESE]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BLUE GEESE AND SNOW-GEESE ALIGHTING. VERMILION BAY, LOUISIANA, JANUARY 3, 1916]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MARSH ON FIRE]