File:News from the birds (1898) (14563892889).jpg

Identifier: newsfrombirds00key (find matches)
Title: News from the birds
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Keyser, Leander Sylvester, 1856-
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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h improve every opportunityto devour nestlings, some species, especially insouthern countries, climbing trees for that pur-pose. Have you ever seen a pair of songsparrows fighting a black snake ? They willdart at him with quivering wings, giving hima sharp stroke wTith their bills and claws,while he will spring at them with open mouthand try to catch them. They usually are tooquick for him, dodging awTay just in time toescape his fangs. Sometimes, while he boundsafter one bird, the other dashes at him fromthe rear. But doubtless if he finds the nest,he will rob it in spite of their efforts to drivehim away. Of course, the owls molest the smaller birdsa great deal, for they steal upon them una-wares by night and clutch them with theirtalons. It is thought that some of the owlsreach into woodpecker holes with their clawsand fish out the young if the nest is nottoo deep. An owl was once found dead insuch a cavity, wThere it had clutched a wood-pecker with its claws and then had got fast,
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A fight for home. 58 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. its victim being also dead. Many birds, as Ihave often proved by prowling about at night,roost in thick thorn bushes and brush heaps,where they are safe from owlish attacks. But to my mind the most ruthless nestrobber is the human one, commonly called a collector—that is, a man who makes abusiness of collecting birds eggs for lucressake. If he would collect only for museums,and then only a few eggs of each species, itwould not be so sad; but he often gatherslarge numbers of eggs—as many as he can find,in fact—and tries to dispose of them to privateindividuals and mere curiosity hunters. I donot see how any person can look upon these clutches, as they are called, as pretty orna-ments, especially when one remembers theheartaches of the little birds whose nests havebeen plundered. The human collector knows better, becausehe is endowed with reason and conscience, andso I blame him more than I do the birds andanimals that ravish nests for foo

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