120 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 17-N0. 8 



E igles do when they pounce upon their 

 prey is to cut into the head and dig out 

 and devour the brains. The birds had 

 always been fed here, as they have every- 

 where else, on horse-meat, but during the 

 past month we have made arrangements 

 willi poultry and fish dealers by which the 

 heads of poultry and fish dressed for mar- 

 ket and all those that are a little damaged 

 are brought up here and thrown into the 

 birds. It was a welcome change from 

 horseflesh and the birds have been raven- 

 ous for it. They are now devouring their 

 natural food in their natural manner, and 

 are just that much nearer their natural 

 state. They became less sluggish and 

 took more interest in each other. It 

 wasn't long before they were billing and 

 cooing like turtle doves. I came out here 

 one morning and found an Eagle's egg in 

 the ground near the wire screen. Some 

 small boy pounded it with a stick. Then 

 another one had the same fate. So 

 branches, sticks and bark were thrown in 

 to the cages as an experiment, and, surely 

 enough, the Vultures and Eagles began to 

 build nests and lay in them. I believe we 

 shall be raising young Vultures, Condors, 

 Buzzards and Eagles like chickens and 

 ducks in a short time. Never before in 

 captivity did these birds ever make any 

 pretence of laying or making nests. We 

 shall give them their chicken and fish 

 brains all summer. Brains are needed in 

 every business, and this is what they have 

 accomplished with these birds." 



Although all the Vultures in their com- 

 mon gallantry helped to build the great 

 Condor's nest, none but the favored Afri- 

 can is now permitted to be near it. An 

 intruder is set upon by both birds with a 

 ferocity that proves fatal. During the 

 week the Condor and her mate have killed 

 two red-tailed Buzzards, a Turkey Vul- 

 ture and several Hawks that ventured to 

 gratify their curiosity by examining the 

 great nest they helped to build. Several 



Buzzards have decided to nest again in 

 other parts of the room. 



A great Griffin Vulture of Africa, that 

 sat disconsolately in a corner of the shed, 

 in contrast with the wide-awake air dis- 

 played by the others, attracted some atten- 

 tion. Mr. Bryne explained that this un- 

 fortunate Vulture laid an egg so near the 

 wire screen that it fell a victim to the 

 ever-present small boy, and since that 

 time the bird has seemed completely dis- 

 couraged, for the Vulture lays only one or 

 two eggs during a season. 



A spotted Eagle of Europe in a cage by 

 herself has also performed the happy feat 

 of laying an egg, which it contemplates 

 throughout the day with an air of pro- 

 found satisfaction while her mate, now in 

 an adjoining cage, keeps up a congratu- 

 latory cackle. A man is employed to 

 watch the cage in order to keep urchins 

 from poking sticks into the nest. As in 

 the case of the Vulture and the Condor, 

 these two Eagles had dwelt together in 

 cold-shouldered acquaintance merely for 

 years before the head-keeper's inspiration 

 in the way of diet awakened their latent 

 affections. It now seems probable that 

 the Zoo will be able to produce enough 

 Vultures, Condors, Buzzards and Eagles 

 of all species to supply any demand. 



Philadelphia Times. 



W^estern Vesper Sparrow. 



This species, like its congenere of east- 

 ern North America, is peculiarly a bird of 

 the prairie, the meadow, or the grass field. 

 I first noticed it at Carberry, in Manitoba, 

 where I remained a few days on my way 

 to the Pacific Coast in the first week of 

 May, 1891. There, out on the wild, un- 

 broken prairie as well as in the grain- 

 sown fields, in the early morning as well 

 as in the twilight of the evening, amid the 

 heat of the noonday sunshine as well as 

 in the bitter frost of the morning hours, 

 its song, differing but little from that of 



