The Elbert County tribune., 1908-08-13
HEDwlNcED 1LAck5IRDs IN CITY
. WAR AMONG MATES THE
RULE IN couRTsHIP.
\ BATTLE TO THE DEATH
Chipping Sparrow Doorstep Friend
Catbird's song-Eass Of Rarest
Green-other Facts and Anec-
dotes Of Feathered Kingdom.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.
associate Member American ornithol
osists Union)

associate Member American Ornithol-
ogists Union.)
Copyright, Joseph B. Bowies.)
There are daily surprises in store
for every lover OF birds Surprise is
the spice of field work. Things are
set down in the books as rules. gov
erning life in feathers, and. 10. walk
abroad in the morning viii set the
BOOTS at naught
1t Is impossible to put down one
thing as an inviolable rule, for the
birds will break 1t before it is dry on
the paper.
Where can l find the red d-wInged
blackbirds nesting?" a Chicago friend
asked me recently.
You can't find them nearer than
the stretches of the Skokie swamp
north of the CITY," | answered. "the
redwing never comes to town"
An hour later found pair of red
winged blackbirds building a nest
within four blocks of my city home.
The birds had preempted bit of damp
ground In what is known as the de
batable land" a tract claimed by Capt.
Streeter on the one hand and by a
score of millionaires on the otner.
The redwings were constructing
their nest. in the rushes under the
shadow of a Marconi wireless tele-
graph station. City streets hemmed
In the site, hundreds of people were
passing constantly, and yet Capt.
Blackbird. with his orange and gold
epaulets shining on his shoulders and
making him fair mark for the stones
OF every idle boy, hovered over the
heads of intruders and called his
"conk-er-ee" as blithely as though he
were above the isolated swamp of the
countryside.
There is an interesting family to
day In the nest hidden in the rushes
of that wet town lot Some boy did
find the father blackbird shining
mark, and the devoted creature is now
helping his mate fill the mouths of the
hungry family. while one of his legs,
broken by a stone from a slungshot
hangs dangling.
Bird life is full of tragedy. In the
old nursery rhyme children are taught
to believe that the little birds In
their nests agree and agree out OF
the nest as well. The familiar ditty
was written for Its moral effect. and
It is true enough to stand solely for
the good 1t may do, but 1t must be re.
corded. reluctantly enough by the way
that birds sometimes show what Eng
lishmen call nasty" temper.
Love and war always come together
with the birds. and as the old saying
makes all things fair in these two
contingencies possibly we cannot
blame the songsters for rowing
through the whole courtship season.
The male birds do the fighting
while the charmer over whom they
have waxed pugnacious looks on with
apparent unconcern as to the outcome
and weds the victor instanter.
r. w. Hegner. while tramping afield
recently on bird photography intent,
saw battle royal in midair. The ad-
jective is used adyisedly, for the fight.
ing birds were kingfishers. This bird
is built something on the order of a
battering ram. He is far from grace
full, but the glory of his plumage goes
long way In the making up for lack
of the lines of beauty in contour The
two kingfishers meeting in battle in
Mr.. Hegner's view fought viciously
until finally one fell TO the earth with
wing broken by powerful blow