The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-01-26
WINGED RASCALS.
Birds That Are Accomplished and
Daring Thieves.
HOW A GULL RoBS A PELICAN

tainy OF the Butcher BIRD.
The system Of living at the expense
of somebody else and In turn afford.ng
a living for another parasite Is as com
mon In the animal world as among
men, and as a chance example of It
we may take the mosquito, which.
feeding on mans lifeblood, is in Its
turn preyed upon by tiny insect
which sometimes causes Its death.
One of the most common instances of
living by robbery In the animal world
is that of the osprey. which is de-
spoiled of Its fairly caught fish by the
more powerful but also lazier eagle.
for the eagle can catch its own fish
and does 80 when II cannot steal
them.
But much more interesting case is
that of the flying fish. Pursued by its
enemies in the water. 1t leaps into the
air and is caught by the pelican. When
the pelican has got its pouch full of
fish It wings It's way to land and pro-
ceeds to eat. The pouch is bag Of
skin hanging from the under mandible.
and in order to get fish out of 1t the
bird must open its mouth and by
toss of the head throw fish out Of
the pouch.
The gull. knowing this and being a
lazy fellow, watches the clumsy and
rather stupid pelican until 1t goes
ashore to feed. Then the gull, with
the impudence which comes so natu-
rally TO villainy. actually perches on
the long head of the pelican and waits.
Open yawns the great mouth. flip
comes up scaly morsel. wide gapes
the hungry throat of the pelican; but.
alas for It. the fish is already in the
jaws of the gull, which. with wild
scream. has mounted aloft to enjoy its
stolen meal.
But the sharp eye Of the lightning
like frigate bird has been watching
the whole game, and the moment the
laughing gull has thought to begin its
feast it sees a stronger and a quicker
bird than itself darting toward it
like an arrow. With shrek of dis
gust the fish is dropped, and with a
graceful swoop 1t is caught by the
last thief of all.
A sneak thief is the owl. 1t lies
concealed all day and only ventures
abroad when its victim is asleep and
when its movements cannot be seen.
Its body and wings are covered with
downy feathers, so that as 1t goes
through the air 1t makes none of the
rushing noise which characteristics the
swoop Of the hawk. and therefore its
sharp talons are buried deep into the
body of its prey before the latter is
aware of its presence.
There Is little bird called the
shrike. which for its cunning and ac-
complishments deserves high place
in the rogues' gallery. It is not swift
enough to catch many of its feathered
fellows in fair pursuit, 80 it sits in
ambush and initiates the cry of a
distressed bird until tender hus-
band or a soiicitous wife flies to the
spot to lend the aid supposed to be
wanted, whereupon the wicked crea-
ture pounces on the beguiled bird and,
If not hungry enough to make meal
at once, impales its prey on thorn.
| Almost as great a villain as the
butcher bird, as the shrike is usually
called, is the bee eater of Africa. 1t
is very fond Of bees. but Is some
times too lazy to hunt for them. 1t
sits on bush and waits for bee to
come along. But If none should come
| the cunning fellow has still chance
left, for here comes a more industri-
GUS bird with bee in its bill. Now
Is the rascal's opportunity. The mo-
ment the newcomer is near it 1t flies
up with cry as If pursued by
hawk. The newcomer is Immediately
put in fright, drops It's prey and
scuds away for safety. The thief
then picks up the bee and enjoys it at
leisure.
1t must be said for most animals
that they rob or murder for the pur-
pose of getting food, but here and
there is a thoroughly depraved fellow
who steals for the fun Of it. One of
these is the wolverene 1t is very fond
Of following trapper at safe dis
tance and after the man has carefully
baited all his traps to steal all the
bait quite as carefully. Sometimes 1t
will wait until fox has been caught
and then coolly walk up and kill the
fox. tear it from the trap, eat as much
MS 1t wishes. bury the rest and go on
TO the other traps. OF course the trap
pers hate the wolverine and try to
catch 1t, but 1t is an expert trapper
that can do it. All sorts of devices
have been tried. but the wolverine
seems to know all about traps and
how to avoid them One man made
most elaborate and complicated series
of traps. laying cords about the ap-
proaches to the bait so that the most
wary man would have been sure to
stumble on one and pun the trigger OF
a gun placed so that it would shoot
the disrurber. The next morning he
visited his trap and found all the cords
bitten through and the bait gone.
|