Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1910-10-21

~ or SKIN at the inner angle or
the eye that under the name of
the third eyelid makes the Monaghan
eye such a distinctive feature of his
human representative This setting
the putin that fixed, quizzical express
sion which has led most observers to
call 1t a quaint-looking bird, but which
TO me irresistibly calls TO mind the
Chinaman's bland-looking face that,
like mask, gives no sign of the work
ing of the inner mind
1t is disappointment, after seeing
your first putin at close quarters at his
home in puffin-town, to turn up his
description in any bird book and find,
after all the meticulous description OF
his feathers and the order OF the col
ors on his rainbow-tinted beak, that
this distinctive feature Of the screwed.
up eye is never mentioned. The illus
tratlons in these books are as disap.
pointing as the text, the eye being as
much like a rabbits as a puf1n's. Be
sides the MOngolian eye, he has the
Monaghan seCretiveness as well In
offensive and unobtrusive. he is silent
as he stands upright, or moves about
somewhat uncertainty on his dapper
little red legs among the noisy crowd
on the rocks. 1t is only from the
depths of his burrow in the spongy
red soil, or from his chink among the
lichen-covered rocks, that the sound
of his language reaches your ear. In
the privacy of his home he now and
then utters strange sounds that when
first heard resemble somewhat In their
subdued intonation the distant low
ing OF cattle or shouting of men. But
when you know him better you will
fancy you can hear in his deem
mournful "Arrh!" a weary sigh indica-
tive of his fate. For he is the patient
coolie OF the shore. with worse than
indentured labor for bis fate. All the
ruling classes look to him to provide
them with an easy meal. Every time
the proud peregrine's offspring in the
eyrie whimper for food a putin some
where has to pay toll by giving up the
t1'A~t'NT ttfAA f1ht hAAtIDuBi Alit5 IN UTMOST
an hourly occurrence on a summers
day, the other pufiins continue uncom-
planning and unheeding
A model parent the putin must be.
for though 1t lays but a single egg. 4
manages to maintain It's numbers year
after year, in spite of the heaviest tax
alton. There is no colony of the
lesser black backed gull, where puflns
breed, that IS not strewn with the
corpses OF this humble little bird
Were a putin, this is the fate
should most resent. The peregrine at
least wastes nothing leaves nothing
but the beak and legs; but the cold
blooded gull simply disembowels the
poor bird and leaves the rest TO rot. |
have never seen the tragedy Of It's
death, whether II is killed on land or
as 1t swims on the sea or as II flies
through the air; but were I hungry
bird Of prey. think It would tempt
me most as It skins through the air
For all the world it looks like fat
mackerel fitted with a pair Of wings
carry its plump little body 10 it's des-
tinaiion. In fact as it whirrs up from
the sea TO its burrow. as likely as not
II will turn head over heels as it
strikes the ground and then get M
and make WY face as II splits the
dirt out Of its mouth: or else It will
dash beadlong against rock with
smack that you would think would
kill II, and then look round as s;unid.
~ as a sheep that I'm its laundering
course fulfIs it's fate as mutton. Al
though each colony Of lesser black
backs shows the bloody tribute Of the
unfortunate putin. that Of the greater
black back shows no evidence OF this
kind
In the whole community OF a hun
dred nests Of this ruler Of the archl-
not even the farce pere-
gSfne disputes his sway-there was
not a single putin corpse to be seen.