454 



Bird- Lore 



this vicinity as seen on two or three mild 

 days in January and February, and they 

 were probably foragers from the flocks 

 wintering at Wiota, whose presence was 

 then unknown to me. They were not 

 seen at their winter quarters, according 

 to Mr. Lowe, after the snow melted about 

 March ist. While not as extremely cold 

 as sometimes noted, the winter, in fact, 

 has been long, cold, and prevailingly 

 cloudy, the ground snow-covered most of 

 the time. — Thos. H. Whitney, Atlantic, 

 Iowa, March 29, 1915. 



The Campbird 



The books call him the 'Rocky Moun- 

 tain Jay,' but he isn't as much of a 

 'Jay' as the Long-crested chap, or any 

 of his other relatives in Colorado. He is 

 just a plain 'Campbird,' as full of curiosity, 

 and with just as mighty an appetite, as his 

 first cousin in Canada, or the Adirondacks. 

 Somehow or other, I don't like to hear 

 him called a 'Camp Robber,' even if he 

 is ever anxious to take scraps where he 

 can't get everything else in sight. After 

 all, he cannot side-track memories of 

 long, cold, starvation winters, and can't 



must admire the grit and persistence 

 e.xemplified in these two birds, even 

 though they may have been automatic in 

 them. It's hard enough, in bird world, to 

 dodge all the hundrcd-and-one things 

 which spell death, when one has a com- 

 plete equipment to battle with element 

 and enemy, and we can never know how 

 much more difficult it must be, in the face 

 of such physical disabilities, to avoid being 

 at once blotted out; nevertheless both of 

 these birds were adults, and fat and vigor- 

 ous. One wonders how such losses come 

 about, for they are not rare with birds, 

 and evidently do not necessarily lead, in 

 the struggle for existence, to prompt 

 death. Accidents in bird world must be 

 many, and the chances for their occur- 

 rence still larger, and it is probable that 

 most do lead to early death. I am glad to 

 know, however, through personal knowl- 

 edge, that many birds survive physical 

 injuries of considerable magnitude, and 

 yet afterward seem full of bird happiness 

 and health. I once saw a Robin strike 

 against a telegraph wire while in full 

 flight, and still make off as if not disabled; 

 House Finches are frequently seen minus 

 a foot or a leg, or with a foot or a leg 



help trying to be well supplied for the next 

 to come; his body remembers if his mind 

 doesn't. Many years ago, while camping 

 in our Rockies, I watched and fed for 

 several days a Campbird which had lost 

 one leg, and only this past summer I saw 

 and fed another which had lost nearly 

 half of its lower mandible. Surely, one 



crippled. A Flicker was brought to me, 

 some time ago, one leg of which had been 

 broken, and healed at an angle of 90 

 degrees, without the deformity aff^ecting 

 the activity or general condition of the 

 bird. Birds are often caught in deadfalls 

 or steel traps, and in the latter I have 

 found, at different limes, Eagles and 



