The weekly intelligencer., 1896-06-06
FATE THAT sEFALLs BIRDS.
Some of Them Commit Suicide and 9th
ers Die by Accident.

ers Die by Accident.
Many strange accidents have occurred
to birds while feeding. An Irish nat
uraIist once observed Il dunlin behav-
ing very curiously on the seashore. The
| bird rose in the air and flew for short
distance, then alighted and shook its
head violently in vain endeavor to
| detach a round lump observable upon
! it's bill. The incumbrance proved to be
a cookie which the dunlin had found
open, and, innocently attempting to nc
gotiate, had been trapped by it. This
kind of bivalve accomplishment no less
| an authority than Mr.. Tegetmier de-
clares to be not at all uncommon on our
shores. A Whitstable cookie recently
bore testimony to the veteran natural
| lists assertion by capturing green lin
net by one of it's toes.
A poor little chaffinch was found
dead in the neighborhood of EPSON a
short time ago with it's lower man
dible firmly imbedded in the shell of Il
beech nut, that had become SO mex
| tricably fixed that the bird had died
from starvation. \ hen pheasant was
not long since observed by a sportsman
flying round and round in the most un-
accountable fashion, and on being shot
was discovered to have a large oak lear
impaled upon it's beak SO as to com
! pletely obscure its vision.
Herons sometimes choke themselves
by attempting to swallow large trout,
how large may be judged to some eX-
tent from the fact that / recently dis
sected a bird of this species in whose
nav was n large water rat in perfect
state of preservation. An elder duck
has been killed through attempting to
swallow toad, and bullhead or mill
er's thumb" has proved too much for a
water rail, n little grebe, and a king
fisher. A member of the last named
species was discovered n season or two
back in a Cambridgeshire ditch by
some sportsmen, unable to fly except
for short distance, and upon being
caught and examined it was found that
the bird had Il young pike protruding
from its gullet- AS soon as the fish,
which measured no less than four and
three-quarters inches, was removed the
kingfisher flew away, apparently none
the worse for it's experience.
Birds that employ hair in the build
ing of their nests sometimes come to
grief by hanging, but should say very
seldom indeed in the following singular
manner. A gentleman who had a num-
ber of colts upon his farm one day
noticed n small bird entangled in the
long hair of the tail of one of them. The
little creature had evidently been in
search of material wherewith to line
it's nest and by some unaccountable ac-
cident had become entangled in the un-
kempt hair of the colts tail. Cases OF
birds getting their feet entangled in
bits of yarn or string are not at all un-
common, especially in the breeding sea-
son, and whenever the victim of this
kind of mishap happens to get the i'm
pediment fastened in tree or among
stones death is pretty sure to be the re-
suit, unless prompt human aid is forth
coming. In the spring of the year, as
everybody knows, the dead leaves of
pampas grass fall to the ground and
curl up like the shavings from a car
penter's bench. A correspondent men
tions finding poor robin which had ac-
cidentally got one of these pieces coiled
around it's neck so tightly that it was
unable to feed and died of starvation
Cornhill Magazine.