The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-10-04

" kAAO4 0SSk AA$A
atives at the fair. The picked men OF
the world are here, making This the
grandest educational project ever
brought to contamination.
But to get back to North Carolina
birds. Here are the ishers-the gulls,
the terms or pointed bill gulls, the
looms and gannets, the last huge White
birds. The feet are the Distinguishing
features Of these birds. The cor
morant has an extra spread OF Web
bling between his four toes. being, in
the language Of the natural history,
totipalmate, or full webbed, while the
erebes are merely lobe footed-a little
webbing on each toe. Even in lower
animal life nature bestows abundance
on some of her children and handicaps
others.
Here, too, is the jaeger, or hunting
gull, not a fisherman, but living on nsh,
which he obtains in the same way as
some men obtain a living-by taking
1t from others. When he sees the
fisher gull rise from the waters with
a live morsel he gives chase till the
rightful owner drops it; then he dashes
down and grabs it midair before it
can strike water. The bald eagle here
is the same sort of bird. He sits on a
limb till a fshhawk makes a catch,
then on swift wing soon claims the
mouthful for himself. No doubt he
goes. home and tells what a great
fisherman he is. A highwayman usual
" has other faults. Therefore. my chill
dren. give no credence to fish stories
told by bald eagles.
Did you ever connect aigret, that
beautiful and delicate Elementary
white feather which stands up SO
straight in milady's hat, with egret, the
white heron? In North Cardinals X
hibit Of herons are the. great white
egret and the little egret, or snowy her
on. Aigrets were in such demand that
these beautiful birds became almost ex.
tinct. Egrets are now protected by law
in North Carolina and are again seen
with more frequency. All herons nave
aigret decorations Of some sort some
where, but the white ones are mos1
sought after.
1 cannot drop the herons till I cal
your attention to the bigness of thu
heron family, from the big blue hero1
three feet tall, with a wing spread o.
six feet, to the least bittern but tel
inches high and weighing but an ounce
or two. Eleven kinds are here show
in one case. The wood ibis is q full
yard high and finely feathered.
l was an intense admirer Of the. sand
piper when a small boy. He is feet o
foot and quick Of wing and the best eS
ample Of alertness that M meets aloni
the shore. He has an ~ungraceful Dol
: and his legs are so thin as to be almos
, invisible at the distance which b
: deems safe, but he is trim and lith'
!: and his little piping note lends romano
: to shore life. One does not easily TO
. get his boyhood associates, these bird
> Of the beach and marsh all reminiscer
. Of boyhood and vacation days, til
snipes and rails and the blackbird
, with scratchy notes-counterfeit note
: in fact. The purple gallinule has pc
= haps the richest plumage Of the Carr
: lima birds, a color note that would
. : brilliant on any landscape. @
! The oyster catcher is so named b
. cause he has not merely a taste Il
= shellfsh, but a chisel bill with perpel
dicular blade with which to open-nt
oysters, but the weaker bivalyes. II
turnstone is q beach bird which gets i
" / l;~;p. Inv %x,rniorC roo11 cfnnoc Q1nnU II
;. shore and eating the insects tn
thought themselves safe in such secl
sion.
a If you have had sora on toast at al
u swell restaurant or cafe you will =
once recognize this n among the Ca
= DINA birds. Though quite unlike Il
reedbird or bobolink, their names
9 ten get mixed on the menu, as the
s. bodies do in the chefs kitchen.
n Here are two of the larger rails-t
d clapper rail in gray Of the salt marsh'
u whose notes are a succession of res
nant clippings, and the brown XII
u rail of the fresh marshes.
e Perhaps we need no warning that
4. w AOI always So SoAS0SO"SN ~"
W when it is on the bill Of fare. MOI
H. Carolina, one of the favored homes
a this epicurean delicacy, includes tw'
ty-four kinds Of ducks in her gal
bird display, but the ca%nyasback
~ king among them, the best and.
= course, the scarcest one Of the high
priced edibles found in an Americ
market.
u Five varieties of wild geese are
W this exhibit, and the whistling sw'
~ large and beautiful, in the favored
titude of taxidermy, makes one rub
eyes and wonder why he has not b
go self seen these great wild birds in l
o,- Fair Grounds, st. Louis.
Novel Slang Term.
Chefu has been added to our vern
~ ular. In the east when anybody