The Monte Vista journal., 1908-07-18

to observe those OF the loggerhead.
The northern bird IL with us In win.
ter. and hunger drives him into the
cities. where he carries on the lauda.
BILE work Of killing English sparrows.
One Of these birds daily visited tree
In front Of my window overlooking
busy city street. Almost invariably
he caught a sparrow. Once after
he had struck victim 1t es.
capped from him and fell nuttering to
a snow bank. picked up the spar
row and killed it to put 1t out OF Its
misery. It had . clean, round hole
in Its skull. How the shrike made
such . perfect circle with Its hooked
beak has been a puzzling question to
this day.
On another occasion witnessed
bit Of shrike strategy. The bird knew
apparently that the crevices In the
cornice Of q big city building At.
forded retreats for the sparrows. It
flew along the cornice fluttering its
wings and literally beating the Gov.
erts." A frightened sparrow few ous
and the shrike gave CHASE The spar
row xigzagged In its aight. bothering
Its pursuer not . little. The shrike
"overran" the sparrow time after
time. but finally seized II Just A. II
reached the edge of thick bush. in
the heart Of which 1t would have been
safe. The victim was killed and its
brains were eaten with an appetite
sharpened BY the chase. The shrike
10 . smaller bird than the robin. II
sings we'll and II Is hard to account
for its predatory habits.
Something was said recently about
Q goldnnch which sheltered it, young
from the heat Of the sun BY spread.
ing it, wings and forming feathered
canopy over the nest. Dr.. Dearborn.
assistant curator Of birds at the Field
Columbian museum. secured . photo
graph OF goldnnch doing this act Of
kindness for Its little ones.
Something has been said Of tho ap-
parent disregard Of birds for odors
that are offensive to man. Possibly
~ should not regard such indifYer.
ence to bad smells as being . particle
more peculiar than are the tastes of
birds In the matter OF diet Tho robin
loves angle worms. while man regards
them with ioathing. The black.billed
and the ycllow.billcd cuckoos think
hairy caterpillars the most epicurean
Ut repasts. Nearly every other spe-
clos OF birds turn away from tho cat
erpillars. which. were II not for the
cuckoos. would soon denude our trees
OF the beauty Of their foliage. The
buzzard dimes OF dog and considers
that he has toasted. What 10 Q little
thing like . smell to an organism that
can thrive upon the rcpulsive things
Of earth?
! have seen birds Of many kinds
drink OF the waters OF . spring that
smellcd to heaven. while not ten
yards away was u sweet flowing
fountain. To be sure. the spring
where tho songxtcrs drank was mo-
diclual. and man partook freely
while no hold his nose. Possibly long
before man came the birds had found
the virtue that was In thu waters.
The rose.brcastcd grosbeak. one OF
our common summer residents hes
In recent years developed food fond
moss for which the farmer rises Up
and calls him blessed. The grosbeak
has found potato bugs to bic liking
and hs destroys tho pests By the hun.
drsds. A pair Of grosbcaks In . 20.
tato Geld Will do all tho service Of .
barrel q paris green and will Isavs
no poison traces behind 10 mar the
results q their work. The rose.
breast u the very Bcau lIrummel Of
birds. His appearance would denote
. TASTE for ambrosia. but potato bugs
are 70 bic nktng. and who Will quar-.
ri with . pssssrsnce directed aloag
the nneo q such usefulness 70 man
kin1?