THE OOLOGIST 



183 



I thought that I knew magpies then, 

 but 1 know them better now. I con- 

 sole her the best I can for the loss of 

 many dozens of eggs and young chicks, 

 with promises of some great killings 

 among the magpies, followed by the 

 make up process. A bargain sale of 

 specimen and the turning over to 

 her of the funds thus realized. 



I have seen a magpie come out 

 through the door of the chicken house, 

 with a hen's egg speared on its bill, 

 like an apple on a fork. This egg 

 was taken to the nest up the gulch. 

 We have realized that magpies have 

 taken newly hatched young, one and 

 two days old, from under the hen. 

 In attempts to play even 1 have blown 

 part of the contents of an egg througn 

 a drilled hole, inserted some pow- 

 dered arsenic, sealed up the hole with 

 some colorless tissue and seen the 

 bird drop the egg to the ground, about 

 thirty yards from the hen house. In- 

 stead of taking it to the nest and 

 vociferous young, up the gulch. 



If you want to kill magpies, first 

 kill a hog. Take the offal, about 

 thirty yards west of a shed in which 

 you can hide. Then with a hole 

 through the boards, sit v/ith gun in 

 position, both hammers raised, and 

 with not a noise of movement to make 

 except to pull the trigger. It's a good 

 sport, mixed with revenge and no one 

 hollers louder than Mrs. D. when the 

 report of the gun is heard. 



On the square, however, the magpie 

 and bull snake put more bird nests 

 with eggs out of commission in this 

 region ,than can readily be estimated. 

 If Florence Merriam Bailey would but 

 lead the fashion by wearing magpie 

 plumage on her hat and our friend, 

 T. Gilbert Pearson, stride out with 

 the hide of a bull snake draped about 

 his hat for a band, these chic sug- 

 gestions might be taken up by the 

 population at large with the resultant 



collection of magpies and bull snakes 

 in wholesale lots by the manufacturers 

 of hat plumes and hat bands. 



The bull snake collects the eggs 

 from all the nests on the ground and 

 some not on the ground. The magpie 

 takes the balance. It is to be re- 

 gretted that neither of them make 

 edible dishes; thereby bringing about 

 them protective legislation. That 

 would be a blow indeed, and might 

 lead to their speedy extermination. 



Here in Colorado we regret the 

 magpie every day of the year. Oc- 

 casionally on a few days we regret 

 the American Ornithologists Union. 

 For instance, about that time of the 

 year when we receive the little cir- 

 cular letter from the head office, ask- 

 ing us to hustle in some new mem- 

 bers. What sort of talk do they ex- 

 pect us to put up to a prospective new 

 member? It was something ten or a 

 dozen years ago, to be on the member- 

 ship list. Without solicitation on our 

 part, we used to have sent us, such 

 good things as the Hawks and Owls 

 of the U. S., The Birds of Minnesota, 

 copies of North American Faunas. 

 But all we get now are catalogi^es 

 from second hand book stores and 

 prospectusii of expensive books about 

 to be printed at the author's expense, 

 subject — Birds I found in the Jungle. 

 If Ridgeway is not grinding out his 

 big bird work for the benefit and ap- 

 preciation of a group of American 

 Citizens such as make up the Asso- 

 ciate Membership of the A. O. U. what 

 class of men or women are going to 

 appreciate and comprehend said books 

 better? Certainly not the Honorable 

 Members of Congress. Yet in order 

 to obtain the first issue of the set and 

 get our name placed on the mailing 

 list for the successive issues, 1 had to 

 call on the Colorado Senators for aid. 



The large list of Associate Mem- 

 bers have not much to say about vital 



