Evening star., 1897-07-31

the month we may expect the veery, the
only one of the thrushes to return to us in
August, and the rose-breasted grosbeak.
handsome cousin of our own cardinal Gros-
beak These and many other migrants are
with us in August but their presence is
completely hidden from the casual observ-
er, and even the searcher who peers into
the dense foliage to penetrate its secrets
must look closely in order to know that it
contains more than it's usual number of in
habitants.
A Victim to Fashion.
While receiving these accessions to the
bird life in our midst We suffer but one loss
during the month, and this only a visitor
who, after nesting further south. had com:
to take short trip to Washington some
more northerly point before going finally
to the Ear south for the winter. This bird,
the American egret, spends It's time while
with Us beside some lonely and retired
stream. 1t has reason for seeking seQues-
tered localities. 1t has been for some years
the subject of a war of determination, now
nearly completed. And for what? 1t is not
a pest nor is it game bird, one of those
unfortunates sele cted by man for enjoyable
slaughter. Alas! it is possessed of fatal
beauty of plumage during the breeding
season that has doomed 1t to destruction.
Ard 1t is gentle wonankind that has de-
creed its destiny. 1t has certain long white
plumes for which 1t is hunted while it is
caring for its young, and, owing to s
strong parental instinct, it falls an easy
prey. 1t is shot without difficulty, the COW
eted plumes are plucked from the fiuttering
body and the wounded bird and the young
brood in whose defense it received its death
blow are left to perish. Hundreds of thou
sands of egrets are annually slaughtered
in this most heartless fashion in order to
supply the demand for "aigrettes," as the
pretty plumes are called in the market.
Thus is thoughtless feminine vanity graft
fled. and thus are the beautiful egret and
fn
yet we are supposed to have emerged from
barbarism.
Among the arrivals OF the month is a
winter visitor. Coming to us in August
1t does not leave again until the following
April. Indeed. l am inclined to suspect
that it is liable to be found here at any
time throughout the year, though it has
never yet been seen in our vicinity in May
June or July. This is the loggerhead shrike
or butcher bird. name more appropriate.
for it is almost human in its cruelty and
indifference to suffering. 1t is thickset,
with hooked, hawk-like beak, and is
rather strikingly marked with black hori-
Zontal lines. at eye and wing and tail.
Perching upon some commanding spot it
keeps watch for grasshoppers, small
snakes little birds or whatever other bit
of animated life it may choose for its prey.
Suddenly 1T darts down, seiZes one of these
victims, carries 1T to a nearby thorn tree
or barbed wire fence. impales it upon the
thorn or barb. and then quietly resumes
its perch to watch for another. needing the
tortures of the poor creature no more than
the aigrette hunter heeds the suffering he
leaves in his path. OF course there is
some justification for the butcher bird
1t Is simply stocking its larder with neces-
sary provisions. and 1t takes convenient
though cruel method of doing so.
Perfectly Willing to Try.
The butcher bird is very inferior singer
although, like many Of the human kind, he
does not allow this fact TO deter him from
frequent exhibitions of the limited vocsl
pc wers he possesses. His voice is creaky,
and his standard of melodic beauty is
somewhat low. Still at the time he appears
among us he has very few competitors to
cast his performance into disfavor, for