Feb. 1891.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



19 



to stuff birds. Tliis laudable ambition was 

 excited in my youthful mind by seeinj; a Scar- 

 let Ibis and a Red-winged Blackbird iu a i^arlor 

 wliere my mother took me on a visit. And 

 during many years I used to make litth^ ]>il- 

 griinages to that parlor and mildly worshi]i 

 those two stuffed birds. 



When I was about ten years old I got hold 

 of some printed directions, and. after a great 

 deal of teasing, a big boy wlio had a gun shot 

 me a Red-winged lilackbird. I never expect 

 to feel such a tlirill of ecstasy as that which 

 jiervaded my whole being when I held that 

 poor draggled bird in my hand. lie had fallen 

 into the water and fluttered up on the mud. 



My directions said, "Blow aside the feath- 

 ers and carefully plug up all shot holes with 

 cottou." Mercy on us, how I blew! Now I 

 think of it, I must have nearly blown that bird 

 dry. The plugging was easy enough, for the 

 holes — there were only two — were of good 

 size. The big boy explained to me that he 

 used mixed shot so as to kill everything. I 

 tbink he could easily have killed a bull with 

 that charge. 



"Cut through the skin from tlie breast bone 

 to the vent and sew a strip of stiff" cloth or 

 paper to the edges to prevent the feathers 

 getting soiled," was my next direction. I did a 

 very neat piece of sewing, if I do say it myself, 

 and when I got through tlie bird's belly was 

 as baie of feathers as a billiard ball. " Cut oft' 

 the tail from the inside with a sharp knife.'' 

 1 cutoff a good deal of the tail — away oft' — 

 and cut my thumb too, which then seemed of 

 slight consequence in comparison. " Di.sjoinI 

 the legs and scrape the flesh from tlie liones with 

 a dull knife." I used a case-knife sonnuliat 

 less than a foot long, and those bones when I 

 got through with them were beautiful anatom- 

 ical specimens. "Proceed in the same way 

 witli tlie wings." By this time it was daik, 

 but I continued to proceed by the aid of a 

 lantern. " Itemove the brains by forcing bits 

 of cotton into the oceijiital oiilice," was one 

 of the next tasks. I forced in any amount of 

 cotton but nary a Ijiain would come out. and 

 at last it became evident that the orifice was 

 in direct communication with the eye and 1 

 was making a bad mess of it. So I went to 

 lied at half-past twelve. I had never been up 

 so late in my life before nor enjoyed myself 

 half so well. 



Before breakfast I was at it again and fol- 

 lowed all the "directions for beginners" to 

 the letter. My specimen was stuffed with 

 oaknm and mnuntcd witli wiic from an old 



broom. I had no arsenical soap so I used soft 

 soap instead, which my mother said was just 

 as good and not poisonous. " Place the s])cci- 

 men in a natural jiosition." That was a 

 sticker. My bird would not stand in any po- 

 sition at all, but wobbled over in maudlin 

 sidewise fashion whenever I bent a wire. At 

 last, however, a hajipy thought struck me. I 

 found I could hold him still by the head, so I 

 glued a piece of corn to a stick and jammed 

 his bill fast into it. 'Win n I showed my work 

 of art to the family I explained that this was 

 a hungry position. Jly father said he looked 

 as if he was hungry or something, an<l I was 

 immensely flattered. For several days that 

 bird stood on the mantelpiece and I spent 

 hours admiring it myself for I could get no 

 one else to do it for me. Before long, how- 

 ever, it attained a dead-mousish sort of odor, 

 .and I hope some one gave it a decent burial, 

 I missed it one morning and no one seemed to 

 know where it was. Watlcr Ilarif. 



Frn!;mi)re, S. C. 



Crane Island. 



The tourist or naturalist who lias ever taken 

 an excursion upon upper Lake Winnetonka, 

 and stopped to rest upon a certain small, well 

 timbered island that lies in the extreme upper 

 lake can only describe the feeling of awe that 

 creeps over him as he sets foot upon land. 



Every word spoken, every sound made by 

 the breaking of dry twigs under foot, seems to 

 awaken the very imps of solitude. He is 

 startled at almost every step by a rustling in 

 the dry underbrush, and stops to see an ugly 

 snake or a woodchuck scamper into some 



hole. Summing up courage 



advances 



still farther, when all of a sudden the very air 

 above seems black with hideous shapes, uttering 

 harsh cries of fear and distress. On a second 

 glance he sees that the cries come fiom many 

 Imndred Cormorants and a species of Heron 

 which inhabits the island. 



Eager to see the breeding place of these 

 birds he presses forward more rapidly, when 

 he is again interrupted by a great mass of 

 feathers, mouth and legs that comes rattling 

 down through the trees, followed by a teriible 

 cry of pain as it strikes the ground almost at 

 your feet. Upon a closer examination of the 

 object you find it is only a young Cormorant 

 that has fallen out of its nest above. Looking 

 around you and above, you see that yon are in 

 the very midst of the breeding grounds, for 



