Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-09-05
REED BIRDS AND RAIL.
TO0thsome Birds That Attroe
SportSmen 10 the Marshes.

The Toothseme Birds That Attract
Sportsmen 10 the Marshes.
HOW THE BIRDS ARE HUNTEp-How THE REED
Bird TRAVELS UNDER SEVERAL ALIASES
THE swEET-voIcEp BoBoLINK ONLY REED
BIRD IN OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES FACTS FROM
AN oRNITHoLoGIsr
Every one who could command gun, skin,
and pusher has been out IN the marshes this
week, Dent on the destruction Of rail and reed
oirds. The legal season for shooting rail, or
eoian' as these birds are known to some sports
men, and reed birds began last Tuesday. The
oirus' however, appeared in the marshes some
days before the beginning of the season. The
Eastern branch is the favorite place for gunners
Vi this city, as IL is easy of access but there
many marshes along the Potomac below the
city where the birds and the hunters congre-
gate Along the river the owner of q s'skift" is
considered at this season q person especially
favored oy fortune; the man who owns both Q
skift' and gun IL looked upon rs doubly
blessed. The sportsman who hunts for rail or
reed BIRDS must have companion to push or
pole the skin through the 'sh" or employ q
man 70 perform this arduous and unattractive,
out very necessary service. Men along the river
y" VINO 10y, own Skins let them out at two
craft themselves as pushers or gondoliers.
In the cases of some OF the mighty hunters OF
contract to push for one-half OF the game. The
hunter is generally willing to enter into such an
arrangement, for he thereby secures reader and
better service. The professional pusher how.
ever, wisely prefers to deal on q cash basis with
the inexpert hunter. Old sportsmen say that
the skill of the pusher is quite as important an
element of the days sport as the skin of the
gunner. The pusher must be quick Of move
ment, and above all q good marker" That is,
note the birds and where they fall A sports
man who trusts his fortunes TO an inexperi-
enced pusher will lose sometimes halt OF the
birds he kills because the pusher does not mark
them well. The marsh hunter watches the
tides during the season as closely as any fisher
is at high tide, when he can penetrate the
marshes in his skiff The reed birds
are shot to best advantage when feed
ner will take them on the wing.
The true sportsman prefers to shoot the ortolan
on the wing. The season, which will last dur
poorly. One old gunner, who has gone into the
marsh the first day OF September every year
Tor twenty years, told STAR reporter that he
poor luck. For several years the birds have ap-
parently been diminishing in numbers. Be
sides the men who hunt merely for sport, there
are many who make business of securing the
birds for the market where there IL a great de-
mand for ortolan and reed birds, both OF which
receive high honors at the table of the epicure.
AN ORNITHoLoGIsr's REVELATIONS.
A STAR reporter, hunting not for birds but for
Information concerning the birds, dropped in
upon Mr.. Robert Ridgway, at the Smithsonian
Institution the curator of the section OF ornith-
Ology, Nationai museum.
"The reed Bird" said the ornithologist in
reply to STAR reporters inquiry, sis the same
as the rice bird OF the southern marshes. 1t
feeds there upon rice, and takes it's local name
from that fact. 1t appears in different places at
different seasons, and receives a different name
In each place. 1t occurs in equal abundance,
wherever a suitable food supply is to be found,
throughout the country east Of the Rocky
pose, confined to the Atlantic seacoast
The reed birds appear among the Delaware
marshes about the middle of August; week or
SO later they visit the Potomac flats, where they
linger from about the Goth of August to the last
of September or beginning OF October, gradually
diminishing In numbers toward the last. Long
before the last have left the wild rice marshes OF
the Potomac, Others, which have gone before,
have invaded the rice plantations OF South Car
DINA, where they are known As rice BIRDS and
In October they move still further southwark
TO their winter home within the tropics. In
Jamaica, where they pass the winter I'm large
numbers, they feed upon the seeds OF the Guinea
grass and become SO excessively tat that they
are there known a. butter BIRDS The greater
portion of South America is probably included
ton contains specimen from Paraguay, while
numerous other South American localities have
been recorded-the most remarkable of which,
perhaps, is the far off Galapagos islands, which
lie 600 miles from the nearest mainland OF
Ecuador. Although reed birds remain for sew
eral weeks In given locality, it Is by no means
same individuals do not, as rule, remain
longer than q day or two, and those which
leave for the south during one night
placed next day by fresh arrivals from the
north. these latter becoming fewer and fewer
until no more are lett to come"
TRANSFORMED TO A BoBoLINK
SIT migrates to the north in the summer
continued Mr.. Ridgeway, sand breeds in the
northern tier of the United States. 1t appears
here in May, stopping on its way north, but it
is not then a reed bird-that is it does not live
in the marshes. As there are no seeds for IL to
feed upon, then it takes to the fields and mead
ows, and subsists chiefly, If not exclusively,
upon insects The plumage Of the male is much
gayer, and makes the bird quite conspicuous
On account OF its colors the male bird is some
times known in the north as the skunk black
bird. 1t has white and black plumage.
But its most common name is the bobolink, 1t
belongs to the same family as the oriole and red
wing black bird, and resembles those birds very
much.
"Yes, sir" repeated the "bird-sharp," in reply
to an exclamation of surprise from the reporter;
''the bObOlink, the finest singing bird of the
north, the bird that rivals the English sky-lark
in the vivacity of its song, and far excels il in
melody, is the same plain little reed bird that is
now attracting the gnnners to the marshes OF
the Potomac. The male bird wears its CAV
plumage until towards the end of the breeding
season, when 1t discards II for palmer garb
like that of the female. and ceases to be q sing.
Srhere," said the ornithoIosist, taking four
preserved reed birds from q case, "you can see
the difference i'm the plumage. This is the male
bird, as found now I'm our marshes and which
you see cannot be told by its plumage from the
female. Here, he said, taking up another bird
which, though OF the same size and form, wore
vartegated plumage of black and buff and vel
lowish white feathers, sis the bobolink, or male
reed bird, as 1t appe3s In the north in June
And here Ii anotherW has turned again
into plain reed bird, though you see about the
left. A characteristic Of this bird" continued
the man of bird-lore, spreading out the tail of
one OF the birds Ii Ike fan, ais that 1t Is the only
bird of its size and general character in North
America that has acuminate or sharp pointed
feathers IN It's tall, as you see these are" The
outer borders or lines Of the feathers curved i'm
towards the ends, and the two curves meeting
form sharp point of peculiar shape. ''Other
characteristics" continued the scientist, fare
the length Of the legs, which you see reach,
tail, and the long claws, which are Of use to the
bird In clinging to slender reeds"
HOW TO SAVE THE BoBoLrNKA
"One sad effect Of this annual fusilade upon
the birds by the gunners," he continued, "is
that the bobolinks are becoming very scarce in
the north. 1t is great pity too, for these beau
tiful sOngsters add much to the attractions
OF the country. Now, IL the gunners would only
spare the reed birds and make war upon the
English sparrows! Sparrows have for several
years past been, to greater or less extent
palmed of on the unsuspecting public as reed
birds in New York and other large cities, and
are perhaps just as good eating. The fancy for
reed birds on toast is pretty much . fashion,
lust as In the case OF the can back duck whose
sons of cultivated taste, IL by no means superior
TO that of the red-head and some others Of our
fresh-water ducks.
THE oRToLAN Oh Rail-.
s'The so-called tortolan' Of our marshes a not
the true ortolan, which Is q European bird,