CHAPTER VI 



Unusual Experiences Afield 



ONE spring morning, after the owls had 

 raised pandemonium in the night in the 

 wild grape vines surrounding the spring at 

 the Cabin, north, when passing along the path 

 leading to my east woods I found under a small 

 wild crab tree heavily loaded with bittersweet 

 vines most of the tail feathers of a cardinal gros- 

 beak; and a few yards farther along, the remainder. 

 Later in the day, I saw the cardinal without a 

 vestige of tail. He was experiencing even greater 

 difficulty in flight than had the tailless robin. He 

 could fly in stretches of a few yards, but he did 

 not seem to be able to keep his head up and guide 

 his course in the usual manner. 



A woman in the southern part of the state wrote 

 a few years ago to tell me that for the greater 

 part of one winter a male cardinal roosted under 

 the eaves near a kitchen window on a vine climbing 

 the side of her residence. One night during the 

 winter he had perched in such a manner that his 

 tail touched a water spout running horizontally 

 from the eaves to a turn at the corner of the 

 house. During the forepart of the night water 



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