THE OOLOGIST. 



91 



cisive notes announce the first party's 

 intention to " repel boarders" from that 

 particular tree , and without waiting for 

 these commands to take effect, and 

 usually refusing to eject the intruder by 

 flying at him, the first party hastily 

 scrambles up and around the tree after 

 him, exhibiting in its hurry a most lud- 

 icrous eagerness to reach the trans- 

 gressor sooner than it possibly can. At 

 the same time, nature has so modeled 

 its habits that it can hardly advance a 

 pace without involuntarily dabbing its 

 bill at the bark of the tree, much the 

 same as a Woodpecker does when 

 climbing. But the other pjjrty is equal- 

 ly positive that it is for his interests to 

 have the tree all to himself, and so he 

 goes down the trunk headforemost. 

 When they arrive within good thrusting 

 distance, we are surprised to see each 

 edge around to opposite sides of the 

 tree, and follow this up with a most ex- 

 traordinary series of movements, for 

 what reason or to what advantage no 

 one knows ; while they keep up an in- 

 cessant, excited exchange of sharp ejac- 

 ulations. No serious result seems to 

 attend all this display, however, and the 

 excitement quickly subsides, each party, 

 fully satisfied of the grand achievement 

 of its purpose, flying off to some other 

 part of the wood. We have occasion- 

 ally seen three or four Nuthatches upon 

 the same tree, demeaning themselves as 

 if the fates of all depended upon the 

 mercy shown by each toward the 

 other. 



" Killing Rapacia." 



In the December Oologist is an article 

 headed " Killing Rapacia," which savors 

 more of the non-killing element, and re- 

 minds me of my early experience which 

 was very similar to "How (not) to kill 

 an Owl." It is unaccountable how 

 severe an injury may not result fatally, 

 and then again how slight an injury may 

 cause death. I well remember trying 



to kill a crow that I had wounded. Not 

 wishing to injure the bird for mount- 

 ing, I strangled it and left it for dead 

 on my table while I attended on a pro- 

 fessional call. On my return Mr. Crow 

 was walking about my room. Wishing 

 to dispatch him without suffering or in- 

 jury I stupefied him by a blow on the 

 head, and then thrust a narrow bladed 

 knife through the skull and brain. The 

 bird now was surely dead. Having oc- 

 casion to be absent a short time, I found 

 on my return Mr. Crow sitting on the 

 top of a chair. He greeted me with 

 his well known salutation, Kaw-Kaw- 

 Kaw. 



The letter from Mr. Bigelow to Mr. 

 Audubon, giving an account of trying 

 to poison an Eagle with arsenic and 

 corrosive sublimate seems incredible, 

 but coming from so reliable source it 

 must be true. I have never tried these 

 poisons as they are too slow and pain- 

 ful. I once pricked a quantity of 

 strychnine into 9 Alewives and left 

 them on a sand bar where an Eagle re 

 sorted to feast on dead fish. The next 

 day Mr. Eagle and 4 Alewives lay side 

 by side. Now I will tell you how I kill 

 specimens brought to me alive. I open 

 the mouth and drop into it from one to 

 four crystals of cyanuret of potassa or 

 more. Almost instantly the tail expands 

 and there is one quiver, and all is over 

 without a struggle. I have in this way 

 killed quite a number of Eaglee that 

 have been brought to me winged. In- 

 stances ai-e on record where this has 

 been taken by mistake for Iodide of 

 Potassa (which it closely resembles,) 

 causing instant death. A druggist put 

 up a prescription for a child ; the father 

 soon returned with the bottle, exclaim- 

 ing, " you have killed my child ! you 

 have killed my child !" The druggist 

 replied, " it is impossible, the medicine 

 is harmless ;" and, to convince the fath- 

 er, took a swallow from the bottle and 

 immediately expired. — Wm. Wood, 

 East Windsor Hill, Conn. 



