14.0 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



explored the region about Lake Mal- 

 heur, Oregon, where formerly thou- 

 sands of White Herons bred, but now 

 none are to be found — all absolutely 

 exterminated by plume-hunters. 



Every aigrette we see, whether 

 adorning (spare the mark) a woman's 

 head, or for sale in the shops, has been 

 torn from the body of a dead heron. 

 This vandalism will not cease while 

 the reward of gold lasts, unless the 

 heart of fashion changes or drastic 

 laws are enacted forbidding the sale 

 of herons' plumes irrespective of from 

 what part of the world the plumes are 

 taken. 



This unholy trade must be stamped 

 out. — Leaflet of The Audubon Society. 



Cedar Birds Feign Death. 



BY O. M. MAKOWSKY, STAMFORD, CON- 

 NECTICUT. 



The cedar bird may well be called a 

 trick bird instead of a songster. In 

 the summer of 1881 when I lived in 

 the village of Helmetta, New Jersey, 

 I went walking along the ponds look- 

 ing for magnolias and water lilies and 

 chanced to notice two young cedar 



birds perched closely together on one 

 limb of a mulberry tree and saw that 

 they were asleep. I went to the fac- 

 tory and got a large box and put it 

 under the limb of the tree where the 

 birds were, so that I could stand on 

 it, to catch them. Both birds were 

 easily caught. I then took them home, 

 closed all the doors and windows and 

 put both birds on a table to find out 

 if they could fly as they were nearly 

 full grown. To my astonishment both 

 were apparently dead. I opened one 

 of the windows and dropped both 

 birds outside, and to my great sur- 

 prise they flew away. 



A few years after while in New 

 York City, I chanced to see an Ara- 

 bian exhibiting some birds on the 

 street. One of the birds, a paroquet, 

 fired off a small toy cannon, aiming 

 it at a cedar bird. When the cannon 

 was set off, the cedar bird fell over, 

 giving one the impression that the bird 

 was dead. Then I recalled how the 

 birds I had seen before played the trick 

 on me. I therefore think a cedar bird 

 should be called a trickster instead of 

 a singster, as he has not much song 

 anyway. 



GREBES ON CRANE LAKE 

 A realistic bird group at the American Museum of Natural History. 



