File:Bird lore (1911) (14752909784).jpg

Identifier: birdlore131911nati (find matches)
Title: Bird lore
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals National Audubon Society
Subjects: Birds Birds Ornithology
Publisher: New York City : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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gfight. In some cases the birds separated into pairs to fight it out, in otherssmall groups kept whirling about while the feathers flew. The battle wagedall over the garden and down across the Meadowlarks old grass field. Nowand then, four or five young Starlings would perch on the top wire of the fence,only to be swooped off sometimes by Robins and sometimes by their own kin,who had lost their heads after the fashion of agitated human parents. Results,dead, one Robin and one Starling; maimed, three Robins and one youngStarling, with a queer wing, who, however, trailed off so quickly that it couldnot be caught. Robins are certainly pugnacious birds, but the Starling is more than amatch for them in a scientific encounter; for while the Robin pecks, the Starlinggives powerful, well-directed hammer blows on the head of its victim that arevery damaging. Also, the Starling, as far as my experience holds good, is fullyas quarrelsome as his countryman, the English Sparrow, in addition to the
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THRUSH LANE i82 Bird-Lore weight of superior size. The StarHng, without apparent reason, will attacka Robin on the nest, the melee, in two cases, having caused the set of eggs tobe broken, and it has not been an uncommon sight to see a pair of Robinswithin a few feet of their home, parrying with difficulty the vicious thrusts ofa single Starling. It would be interesting to know if there is some specialantipathy between these two species, or if it is merely because the nest of theRobin is so much more conspicuous than that of any other bird that it invitesattack. For some time after the battle, the great cherry tree remained in apparentquiet; but though not a form had been seen to enter, cherry pits were contin-ually dropping, together with some ripe fruit, and I crept cautiously back ofthe tree to find the cause. When my eyes became accustomed to the depthsof the dim, flecked shade, I saw a solemn company of five feasting in a manneralmost suggestive of funeral baked meats—two pairs

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