42 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-No. 3 



none too soon. It was a pleasure to handle 

 that Shrike. 



Once only in my experience have I seen 

 that pleasing exhibition, — the upward flight 

 of the Shore Lark. It was a bright, warm 

 morning in early spring. A pair of these 

 birds made merry at the far side of an old 

 field. Lightly one began to fly about over the 

 meadow and was soon ascending in easy 

 spirals until almost out of sight, singing as he 

 arose. But it was at the very highest point he 

 reached that tiiose ecstatic notes swelled out 

 and fell sweetly, while he floated here and 

 tliere liglit as a feather. Then gradually the 

 song died away, and with closed wings he 

 came easily to earth again. 



How different from their leisurely habit is 

 the fierce, swift dash the Common Crow makes 

 when maddened by the presence of a 

 Hawk ! 



Who has not admired tiiat sober sailing of 

 the despised Turkey Vulture, as far over hill 

 and wood and river he spreads his wing on 

 the morning breeze? During the summer of 

 1890 the cholera plague worked havoc with 

 the swine of this region, bringing in its train 

 unsanitary conditions, and a Buzzard's feast. 

 One morning my attention was called to a 

 flock of Vultures coming on motionless wings 

 from the far West. On and on they went, yet 

 more were coming. Some settled in neighbor- 

 ing fields, while the most passed on and out 

 of sight, their great wings half drawn up to 

 their bodies. Perhaps a thousand birds were 

 in the caravan. Whence came they and how 

 knew they the feast ? 



The Great Blue Heron is much at ease on 

 the wing, yet those long, sweeping strokes 

 carry him far. In the vicinity of a heronry 

 they are coming and going, busy as a swarm of 

 bees, the extra allotment of neck, superfluous 

 in flight, drawn up against tiie breast. In 

 long passages over wilderness and lakes, how- 

 ever, betimes he stretciies forth his slim neck 

 and with spread wings and tail, using much 

 length of legs for rudder, soars aloft, seem- 

 ingly oblivious to his uncouth appearance. 



A sleepy old member of the tribe once gave 

 me a free exhibition of tlieir ijeculiar flight. 

 I came suddenly upon him as he stood in two 

 feet of water near a lonely shore. As I hurled 

 an oar at him he became aware of my intent 

 and began exerting his energies. For extreme 

 awkwardness of movement his was a success. 

 With unearthly, croaking squawks and hurried 

 gathering up of dangling legs, he urged him- 

 self up above the trees and away, until those 



garrulous screams sounded only in echoes 

 through the dim, lonely woods. 



Of all the birds with which I am familiar 

 the Loon, or Great Northern Diver, excels in 

 impetuous speed. I can now almost see that 

 trim form as it came cloud-high, returning 

 from its morning meal on Lake Gabriel. 

 Cleav and loud rang forth its cry; then poising 

 one moment with folded wings, it fell grad- 

 ually for a time, then faster and faster, until, 

 reaching a level with the forest, it began a 

 circuit of the lake, a distance of several miles. 

 At length it passed my boat like a flash, the 

 wind from its movement being plainly felt. 

 The air fairly whistled tlirough its feathers, 

 and when it struck the water at a slight angle 

 so intense was its momentum tliat a foaming 

 furrow was ploughed for more than twenty 

 rods. 



While camping on Little Twin Lakes, 

 Xorthern Iowa, some years since, I noticed a 

 male Hooded 3Ierganser circling around a 

 grove so often tliat it seemed certain that he 

 was feeding his mate, which they do at incu- 

 bating time. I concealed myself and watched 

 for a long time, and finally was rewarded by 

 seeing the fellow fly plump into a hollow in a 

 gigantic oak. It would seem to be a piece of 

 recklessness: certainly, if he had not aimed 

 well he would have suffered for the 

 erior. 



A pleasing characteristic of the species is 

 the manner of flying during nesting time. 

 One may see them chasing round and round 

 some wooded lake, speeding ever with a 

 thrilling impetuosity; uttering a peculiar note 

 as they glide along; then they have darted out 

 into the forest, leaving the beholder pleased 

 with the performance, and none the wiser as 

 to the nest site. I timed one of this species, 

 and it made its mile in less than one minute. 



Did you ever see the American Coot try to 

 fly? 



From the depths of a dark, larch swamp, 

 cool with its shadows, I chanced, one hot July 

 day, to look upward; and out through an open 

 space among the branches, away far up where 

 the fleecy clouds floated, appeared a troop of 

 birds, like specks against the glistening cirrus. 

 For a time they seemed motionless, then in 

 miniature curves and dashes they began a 

 descent across the sky, and as they fell the 

 flight became like a quiver of arrows thrown, 

 and before the mi)ss-clad brandies hid tliem I 

 recognized that fairy form, Elanoides. 



J. W. Preston. 

 IJaxter, Iowa. 



