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Bird -Lore 



dently been eater, on a previous occasion. 

 These fallen pears are quickly covered by 

 Prenolepis ants, that may sometimes get 

 the credit for the destruction first com- 

 menced by the Starlings. When critically 

 examined, however, the work of the birds 

 is very unlike that of the ants. 



It is with regret that I present this pho- 

 tograph and damaging evidence, for it 

 would be much pleasanter to say a wholly 

 good word for the cheery-voiced Starling 

 that adds so much to the interest of our 

 rambles in town and country. Personally, 

 I am quite willing to give the Starlings 

 some pears in exchange for their enter- 

 tainment, nor do we begrudge the few 

 cherries that our native Robin eats every 

 summer. 



Mr. Clifford H. Pangburn has men- 

 tioned, in the expressions of opinion 

 regarding the Starling printed in the last 

 number of Bird-Lore, that he has seen 

 them eating decayed pples in winter; 

 and Mr. James Chapin, referring to Mr. 

 Heineken's published note, gives an 

 account of the bird on Staten Island; 

 but, to be strictly impartial, the pear- 

 eating habit should be added in evidence. 

 — Wm. T. Davis, Neiv Brighton, Staten 

 Island. 



A Contribution to the Subject 

 of Bird Surgery 



It is a well-known fact that at the close 

 of the wild-fowl shooting season there are 

 present a greater or less number of what 

 sportsmen term 'cripples.' These are 

 usually wing-broken birds which, de- 

 prived of the power of flight, are unable 

 to join their more fortunate comrades in 

 the return to a northern nesting-ground. 

 Such birds are not known to breed, and, 

 handicapped by the loss of flight, they 

 generally fall prey to some enemy before 

 the return of another shooting season. 



The American Museum of Natural His- 

 tory has been presented with the humerus 

 (reproduced herewith) of a Duck which 

 met this fate. Attached to the bone is a 

 label which reads: "Wing-bone of a Shell 

 Drake, broken in December, 1891, at the 

 head of River Pond by J. B. Payne of 

 Smithtown, L. I. The bird escaped by 

 crawling under a bog where he could not 

 be reached. It was seen occasionally dur- 

 ing the winter, and finally shot on March, 

 9, 1892, by A. W. Payne of Brooklyn, while 

 in my company. The bird did not attempt 

 to fly when found the last time. This is 

 only to show what nature will do without 

 the aid of surgery." (Signed) J. B. Payne. 



HUMERUS OF A MERGANSER WHICH HAD BEEN BROKEN BY A SHOT. 

 A second shot may be seen embedded in the right end of the bone 



