Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-11-04
How Many of the Feathered Tribe
Have Met Destruction.
some VERY PECULIAR ACCIDENTS
A Frying Plover Was Captured by
Clam.
GOLDFINCH'S QUEER DEATH
From the New York Times.

so great that they are crowded in the nest
! ing season or in their rouStlnE places In
| the days when the Wild pigeons were found
| in this country by the millions. thousands
of them We're killed every year bv acct
dent and diseases peculiar to all crowded
conditions Of living creatures
In modern times birds are SO eouuar,
| lively few and we are 50 closely associated
with them. that peculiar accidents can
readily be detected and described Some
| times the condition Of the dead birds Will
give a clue sufficient TO enable an ,xp.-t
to build up very plausible theory as 20 the
cause OF death
Thus bird found with a large fish. fra,-.
! or TOAD sucking in It's gullet. must have
| ulea ny suffocauon. This form of death has
! visited many birds Of the heron and duck
| uIbe. hlngtiShers grcbes rails. ana other
! piiuS sometimes meet with the same atci-
aCH,. htrons have been found a number
| OF times chokcd TO death by large tro,lt
| being lodged in their Threats. A kinr-
| l@htr was caught with a pike four fnr,,-
| IoHs iast IN us throat. which IN Spite of all
! EFFORTS II could not eXtricate The bird va.
| reviewed of its sufferIngs by human hands
ana Ii flew away toward the Mater Ia usb
Tor more food, apparently mono the worse
| LoF us mlShap. But such an accident yyullrI
| IN time cause the death Of the ttu;att,,aat,.
| BIRD, unless its mate came To its rssrus
| blfds often help one another ONT Of tros-
| bic OF this kind. SparroWs have b.e,u1s -,
| hopelesSly entangled in hair yarn ana
string which they have picked up To- buIii
| their nests with that death must have fnl-
| loNeu II rescue was not forthcoming The
| writer one day heard Il great suualllIn,
! among a flock Of sparrovS on "A ,o,,rt-,,
/ ROAD. and, approaching quickly he fouuI
one poor bird lying in the dust tied up with
| DuuCh OF hair and string Al firs, ~.
| sight seemed Ike corrol,orstf5r - ~
| stories OF cruelty told about sparrows bur
! upon second thought he concluded tbat n
W. quite another story. Withdrawing 10
he
hthts Inc sparrows soon returol TO The
siue OF thrlr helpless companion. and r.
| LtMed me chatterlng and nuit-riug. They
/ were al engaged in pulling, tlyis.lnl, and
! Jerking at the string ana hair. In IAN NH,
! uleS ihey rose in the air with a laud rhsr-
! Yer oil triumph. They had succeeded M r..
'e'7'"s 'Htlr mate from The cruel prison.
sParrow's Curious Flight
But not all accidents end 50 well Birds
nave come to grief in nest building ia many
ways. They have actually hanged Them
| selves with the hairs and strings with which
they build their homes. In rhrlr ,,garrass
10 construct their nest they have caught
Their heads and uecks in some I,rotrll,lir,t-
strand OF string which frightened the mors
IHey struggled TO free themselves Other
pIIuS nave entanE.,d their feet In the hair
ana hylng away IN the woods they made
matters worse by catching the mass of
DEBRIS IN the twigs of trees. Unable 10 de-
tach themselves. they have autlercd and
chirped their lives away.
An Illustration showing how easy il
might be for bird to get caught in a
stflng during the breeding season is given
| by farmer who Witnessed the sight An
| unusual futtering noise near his horses in
| the Held attrac ted his attention. and upon
investigation he discovered a sparroW
| caught in the animals long tail The hair
! mad got tangled about the birds neck ana
teet In such way that il could not escape
! The probability is that the bird had been
hunting around for hair for its nest. and in
trying TO steal one from the animals tail il
became entangled. The result of the acct
dent might have been disastrous to the bird
had not human aid come in time To rescue
il.
On the seashore many curious accidents
happen to birds Hunters are recording
peculiar incidents that come under their
notice. There is the case of the ploVsr
which got caught by clam. In hunting on
the exposed flats al low tide it must have
caught sight OF a tempting clam, which was
enjoying the scenery with shell half open.
The ployer's greed might have proved de-
structive to it If nearby hunter had not
discovered its plight. The clam closed its
shell with a vise-ltke grip soon the
| birds bill struck it, ard the bad futtered
violently and vainly tried to escape. II Is
not very often, however. that The shore
| birds get caught in This way, for they give
2 wide birth to all of the mollusks whose
power of contraction is sufficient 10 i'm
prison them.
Several s-ories are told of shore birds
having been caught by the toe by obJtrep-
crOus mOllusks oysters. clans and similar
feet Of snipe, ployers and ducks. The sup
position il that the birds must have stepped
upon the shellfish and the latter had cIUsei
tightly over the toe or leg In time The
clam oySrer would have to relax its grip.
but meanwhile the bird, il large enough.
would have to drag its weary load about
with il from day to day II went forth IN
search of it, food. The excruciatlug pain
nust have been almost uncomfortable while
he bird waited for its little enemy to free
1t.
GOidfinch Caught by an Acorn.
A more peculiar accident than any OF
i these happened to a small goidfinch, which
was found dead at the base of a large oak
tree with an acorn attached to its bill. The
bird had evidently driven its bill straight
through the acorn, and then. unable to ex-
tricate it, the little creature had died Of
starvation. Stories are told by naturaIists
of finding birds with their bills firmly i'm
bedded in the trunks and limbs of old trees.
Either in their ca gerness to capture some
worm under the bark they have forced their
bills in SO far that they could not with
draw them, or some dark night they
have flown against the tree with violence.
Instances are on record of birds flying
against wooden light houses on dark nights
with such force as TO drive their bills far
into the woodwork. The power Of tie bills
of some species of birds to resist a heavy
blow is great that they will penetrate
hard oak for half an inch before breaking.
Such conclusion, however, would kill the
bird, whether it injured the bill not.
through the skull of the bird. and protrudes
from the back of the head.
Recently a hunter started up a large
woodcock, which acted much differently
from any woodcock that he had ever seen.
Instead of rising up and flying away rapid
ly, the bird circled round and round, mar
rowly escaping violent death by co,liding
with the trees When the bird was killed
the sportsman found that large oak leaf
had been the innocent cause of the birds
peculiar actions. In scraplng around the
woods for its dinner the wpodcock had run
its bill through a large leaf, which so OBJ
secured its sight that ii impossible for
II to guide itself in the air. The sudden
presence of the hunter had started the bird
before it had time to remove the leaf with
its feet. and in this handicapped condition
ii had wobbled about in the air until it was
shot.
Another peculiar accident to a bird is re-
lated by hunter from the west one day
he was startled by hearing a noise in
swamp surrounded by reeds. Approaching
cautiously, he found a kngfisher apparent
ly caught in some sort of trap. The upper
mandibe of the kingfisher had been spiin-
tered or cracked I'm some way years before.
for the wound was healed up. and several