Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-08-23
THROUGH THE BBAZEk5AN ryz4 EAkDERNESSM

automatic. The great splendid birds, stand
ing about as tall as man, show fight when
wounded, and advance against their assail-
ants, gathering their formidable bills. One
day we found the nest of a jabiru in a
mighty fig tree, on the edge Of a patch of
jungle. 1t was big platform of sticks,
placed on horizontal branch There were
four half-grown young standing on it. We
passed it i'll the morning, when both par
ents were also perched alongside; the sky
was then overcast, and it was not possible
to photograph it with the small camera In
the early afternoon when we again passed
1T the sun was out, and we tried to get pho
tographs. But one parent bird was present
at this time. 1t showed no fear. | noticed
that, as it stood on branch near the nest,
its bill was slightly open. 1t was very very
hot, and | suppose it had opened its bill just
as a hen opens her bill in hot weather AS
we rode away the old bird and the four
young birds were standing motionless, and
with gliding flight the other old bird was re-
turning to the nest
1t is hard to give an adequate idea of the
wealth of bird life in these marshes A nat
uralist could with the utmost advantage
spend six months on such ranch as that
we visited He would have to do some col
.lecting, but only a little. Exhaustive OBJ
servation i'll the field is what is now most
needed Most of this wonderful and harm
less bird life should be protected by law;
and the mammals should receive reasonable
protection The books now most needed
are those dealing with the life histories of
wild creatures.
Near the ranch house, walking Familiarity
among the cattle, we saw the big, deep-bill-
ed Ami blackbirds They feed on the insects
disturbed by the hoofs of the cattle, and
often cling to them and pick off the ticks.
1t was the end of the nesting season, and
we did not find their curious communal
nests, in which half dozen females lay
their eggs indiscriminately.
The common ibses in the ponds near by
which usually went in pairs, instead of in
flocks like the wood-ibs-were very tame,
and so were the night heron, and all the
small herons. In flying, the ibises and storks
stretch the neck straight in front of them.
The iabirr--a splendid bird on the wing
also stretches his neck out in front, but there
appears to be slight downward curve at
the base of the neck, which may be due
merely to the craw The big slender her
ons, on the contrary, bend the long neck
back in beautiful curve, so that the head is
nearly between the shoulders.
One day saw what at first thought was
small yellow-bellied kinghsher lowering
over pond, and finally plunging down to
the surface of the water after a school of
tiny young fish; but it proved to be a bien-
te-vi king bird. Curved bill woodhavers,
birds the size and somewhat the coloration
of veeries, but with long, slender sickle-bills,
were common in the little garden back OF
the house; their habits were those OF creep
ers, and they scrambled with agility up,
along, and under the trunks and branches
and along the posts and rails Of tie fence,
thrusting the bill into crevices for insects.
The oven birds, which had the carriage
and somewhat the look of woodthrushes,
am sure would prove delightful friends on
close acquaintance; they are very indi-
vidual, not only in the extraordinary domed
mud nests they build, but in all their ways
in their bright alertness, their interest in
and curiosity about whatever goes on, their
rather jerky quickness of movement, and
their loud and varied calls With little