The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-06
A STOUT LITTLE FIGHTER
Whose Pugnacious Disposition often
Gets Him Into Trouble.

The redbird when it has gotten down hard
to home-making. develops a remarkable
tendency, to fight, says the Philadelphia
Telegraph. At all other times of the year
he is as docile and gentle as any in the
! woods-indeed, rather inclined to take a
great deal from other birds--but as soon as
the nest is. completed and Mrs. Redbird is
installed queen thereof he gets on his war
paint and Will fight anything that comes
a4ong.fsH Is by taking advantage of the
bravery of the redbird in defending the
home that the hunten isaBnatgled to-, snare it.
The traps used is aslwire cage. within this
cage Is tame bird one which has, been in
captivity for year or two, and sings free
ly. The hunter waRders into the woods and
slowly makes his way through the swamps
until he reaches dense portion, when he
halts; Pretty soon the bird in the cage, de-
lighted, doubtless, at being again in its ma
tive woods, even If bars stand between II
and liberty, begins singing with all its
sound Of the callers voice 1t hastens to in
vestigate. One of the peculiar habits of the
redbird, hunters say, is that there seems,
by common consent, to be a division of the
woods among them, each bird having ap-
propriated to his special jurisdiction a GER
tain allotment Of woods. Sometimes other
birds, either by mistake or for the purpose
of acquiring more territory, invade the do
main of another, whereupon there is a fierce
fight, which is called off only when one or
the other of the birds conQuers, in which
case the victor becomes the possessor of the
territory of the two, together with the de-
feated birds mate who, it seems, is no
former lord after he has proved himself a
poor fighter. l@71~t ,..l4
The hunter has on one side of his cage
light net, bound about by a light frame
and to the center j. of q light iron rod
stretched aperpendcHlarly across this frame
is attached in swinging position a short
rounded stick, about six inches in length
This gate of netting is opened and kept In
that position by the wooden trigger at
tached to the sides, Of the cage wherein is
the, call bird. This connection of the two
triggers is veryil delicate and the slightest
touch will suffice to throw It, whereupon
the netting frame door is quickly closed by
spring against the sides of the cage This
is what holds the redbird captive.
AS soon as the. hunter has set the trigger
Of the cage he ifhangs 1t to a limb some
where or placessit on the ground and goes
away some distance to await results The
imprisoned redbfrd soon begins to sing and
presently, if there is a redbird anywhere
within hearing distance, there is a flutter
of wings, a series OF sharp cries. and be-
| fore the hunter can say scat the wild
redbird flies headlong at his supposed enc
my in the cage. throws the trigger and is
captured. 1t takes very little longer to cap
ture redbird at this time of the year than
| it does to catch a fish. If once the Gagged
bird is placed on the right spot within the
territory of the other redbird and he hears
It's singing the rest is very easy for re-
| CARELESS of all personal safety and every
thing else, he rushes madly TO the fight.