CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION. 



401 



to be exact, I had watched a full hour 

 in Prospect Park for birds, and had seen 

 absolutely nothing but one English 

 sparrow. About to start home, disap- 

 pointed, I caught a glimpse of a bird 

 new to me, which I decided was at 

 least as large as a catbird. He was 

 somewhat hidden by the shrubbery but 

 I felt pretty sure of black wings, black 

 and white tail, a black spot near the 

 eye, with most ot the body very light 

 grey, and bill stout. He was eating 

 something most eagerly. Feathers 

 kept falling to the ground, and by the 

 bright red color he seemed to be feast- 

 ing on raw meat. After finishing his 

 repast he flew r from tree to tree and 

 disappeared. 



Now was the time for thorough in- 

 vestigation which showed the remains 

 of a small bird ; we will hope it w y as 

 an English sparrow, hanging on a 

 strong twig about an inch long, the 

 size of a stout thorn, growing from 

 the main trunk of the shrub. The head 

 and nearly all the flesh were gone as 

 w r ell as the tail feathers and long wing 

 feathers. Just the skeleton and the 

 legs were left with some of the rump 

 feathers. 



Then flashed across me the name, 

 shrike, and little by little I recalled 

 his other name of butcher bird and 

 many things I had read of his habit of 

 impaling beetles, mice and small birds 

 on thorns or on barb wire fences. I 

 remembered, too, that last fall, a few 

 rods from this spot, I had seen a dead 

 English sparrow wedged in the fork 

 of a small tree, just above my reach. I 

 tried my best to get it down, think- 

 ing I might find out what caused its 

 death. Now I am quite ready to be- 

 lieve the northern shrike did the deed. 

 1 find he is also called the nine-killer 

 and the nine-murder, from a curious 

 belief that he kills just nine birds a 

 day. 



Tf one shrike kills nine English spar- 

 rows every day, how long would it 



lake all the shrikes t<» kill all the Eng- 

 lish sparrows in the country? Who 

 will sol\c' this problem? 



Caroline; M. Hartweu,. 



A Brilliant and Long Continued 

 Rainbow. 



Belfast, Maine. 

 To the Editor : 



One of the most brilliant and long 

 continued rainbows ever seen in this 

 section marked the close of the storm 

 of September fourth and fifth. A south- 

 east gale, with rain, had changed, by 

 way of the south, to northwest squalls 

 and showers. At about ten minutes 

 past five on Sunday afternoon rain- 

 bow colors began to appear, and in 

 six minutes the bow was complete. 

 The northerly end showed between my 

 position and a clump of bushes not 

 thirty rods away, and the other end 

 became entangled in a group still 

 nearer. The colors were very solid 

 and brilliant, and the gradations from 

 one into another were most beautiful. 

 After nine minutes of the complete 

 bow a break was caused by a small 

 patch of blue sky appearing in its track, 

 but the bright coloring continued fif- 

 teen minutes in all. The last coloring 

 faded at thirty-seven minutes after 

 five, thus making the total time twenty- 

 seven minutes. 



John S. Fernald. 



THE FAIRY WAND. 



By Mrs. Emma Peirce, New York City. 

 When we entered our favorite wood 



A magician had plainly been there, 

 For a change had come over it all, 



There was mystery e'en in the air. 



The conifers flashed in the sun 

 With a radiance new and serene; 



Etheralized was each shrub, 



In hiding each vestige of green. 



An exquisite fabric like lace 



Had been thrown over mossy mounds low; 

 Apotheosis wrought in a night 



By the fairy-like wand of the snow. 



