ORNITHOLC3GY 



215 



An Interesting Diet. 



According to the report of A. H. 

 Calm, Assistant in the Biological De- 

 jiartment of the University of Wiscon- 

 sin, an experiment was made to ascer- 

 tain the amount and variety of food 

 consumed by a Virginia rail in two 

 consecutive days, with the following 

 result. 



On the first day, this bird ate one 

 hundred and forty-four small marsh in- 

 sects, twelve grasshoppers, twelve meal 

 worms, three water bugs, a water scor- 

 pion three inches long, two sunfishes, 

 each an inch and a half long, one stick- 

 leback fish, two and a half inches long, 

 a caterpillar, and fifteen flies. 



On the second day the bird ate in 

 addition to all of the foregoing morsels, 

 five live hornets, a crawfish two inches 

 long, a frog an inch and a half long, 

 and a grass snake eight inches long ; 

 an amount equal to more than its own 

 w^eight. It is stated that the rail swal- 

 lowed the snake eight times and each 

 time the victim wriggled out again 

 to liberty, until the plucky bird finally 

 killed its prey before swallowing it, 

 and then succeeded in keeping it down. 



For a bird no larger than a robin 

 to consume this amount of food in two 

 days' time may give us some notion 

 of the immense amount of good which 

 these birds do and which might readily 

 be overlooked were not such instance^ 

 recorded. Many similar records have 

 been made to show the quantities of 

 weed seeds and destructive insects that 

 some of our common birds, like the 

 song sparrow and the chickadee, de- 

 vour to our mutual benefit. 



No Spring Slaughter. 



Events have moved rapidly within 

 the last month. As announced in our 

 September number, the eflfort to break 

 down the bars on spring wild fowl 

 shooting failed utterly, the new regula- 

 tions having held firm on that point. 



The victory is one that means much. 

 It spells the preservation of a number 

 of species of valuable wild life, and a 

 continuance of reasonable good sport 

 f6r a large portion of our population 

 in the future. 



But over and beyond that incident, 

 which otherwise would be written as 



the most important and encouraging 

 of the year, the ratification of a treaty 

 between the United States and Great 

 Britain, making the protection of mi- 

 gratory birds international as between 

 this country and Canada, stands su- 

 preme. 



llie migratory bird law, be it re- 

 membered, is still the law of the land, 

 and will be until the Supreme Court 

 declares it unconstitutional. That it 

 has not yet done. The case is on for 

 a rehearing, and learned lawyers are 

 of the opinion that no court will go as 

 far as to rule that a law which forms 

 the basis of an existing treaty with an- 

 other nation is to be set aside on mere- 

 ly technical grounds. 



The real point is that the spring 

 shooters have been defeated, and de- 

 feated beyond hope of resurrecting 

 their cause. Many who opposed the 

 migratory law did so because of honest 

 conviction. Some claimed to have just 

 ground for their attitude. Perhaps they 

 had. But as good citizens they cannot 

 do else than to bow to the will of the 

 majority. This they will do. So far 

 as they are concerned, there will be no 

 necessity of staging any visible man- 

 ifestation of the majesty or authority 

 of the decree of the people, in the form 

 of wardens or special ofHcials. The law 

 says that there shall be no spring 

 shooting. That is enough for the hon- 

 est sportsman. — "Forest and Stream." 



The experiment of providing perches 

 for migrating birds about some of the 

 lighthouse towers in England has 

 proved successful, and where hundreds 

 of birds formerly dashed themselves 

 to pieces against the walls being blind- 

 ed by the light, it is now rare to pick 

 up dead birds about any of these 

 towers. 



In all the wide range of human en- 

 deavor, in the presence of the most 

 forceful exhorter of any creed, no pow- 

 er exists that will so permeate the hu- 

 man soul with the reverence and love 

 for our Creator as will the impressive 

 solitude of the wilderness. — Kit Clarke, 

 in "Forest and Stream." 



