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JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



occupied, another branch about a 

 foot distant was brought into use, as 

 an additional support, by carefully 

 interweaving a long string with the 

 body of the nest, then carrying it up 

 and attaching it by a number of turns 

 and a knot to the branch above. 

 Thus secured, the nest sustained the 

 weight of the young when fully 

 grown and both the parent birds. If 

 one does not agree with Dr. Abbott 

 that there is here an indication of 

 forethought he cannot fail to see that 

 judgment is shown in the employ- 

 ment of means for the accomplish- 

 ment of the end. From repeated re- 

 ports of competent observers I infer 

 that this is not an uncommon device 

 with birds of this species. 



While Edward, the naturalist, was 

 loitering one day upon the beach near 

 Banff, on the Moray Firth, he was 

 tempted to shoot a tern which in 

 company with others was sporting in 

 the air, occasionally flying down to 

 the water for food. The bird which 

 was wounded fell screaming into the 

 water. The disabled bird began to 

 drift helplessly toward the shore 

 where Mr. Edward was standing. 

 "While matters were in this position," 

 says the naturalist, "I beheld to my 

 utter astonishment two of the un- 

 wounded terns take hold of their dis- 

 abled comrade, one at each wing, lift 

 him out of the water and bear him 

 out seaward. They were followed by 

 two other birds. After being car- 

 ried six or seven yards he was 

 let gently down again, when he 

 was taken up in a similar man- 

 ner by the two which had been 

 hitherto inactive. In this way they 

 continued to carry him alternately, 

 until they had conveyed him to a 

 rock at a considerable distance, upon 

 which they landed him in safety. 

 Having i-ecovered my self-possession 

 I made toward the i-ock, wishing to 

 obtain the prize which had been so 

 unceremoniously snatched from my 

 grasp; I was observed however by 

 the terns and instead of four, I had 

 in a short time a whole swarm about 

 me. On my near approach to the 

 rock I once more beheld two of them 

 take hold of the wounded bird as they 

 had done already and bear him out to 

 sea in triumph." There is no reason 

 to doubt that the facts are as given 

 above, for Thomas Edward was a 

 keen and experienced observer and a 



highly trustworthy man. The rescue 

 of the disabled bird by its faithful 

 companions could not have been bet- 

 ter directed by the human mind and 

 more sympathy could not have been 

 shown by the human heart. Doubt- 

 less instinct is sufficient for the every 

 day business of life but it is entirely 

 inadequate in an emergency like this, 

 arising it may be only once in a life 

 time. 



The lammergeyer, the huge eagle 

 vulture of Europe and Asia, the Os- 

 sifrage of Scripture, carries in its 

 talons large bones to an immense 

 height, and breaks them by letting 

 them fall upon stones below in order to 

 get at the marrow contained in them. 

 The story that the poet ^schylus 

 while sitting on a stone outside the 

 city of Gela, in Sicily, was killed by a 

 tortoise which an eagle dropped upon 

 his head, is capable of explanation by 

 a reference to this habit of the bird. 



I will give in his own words an ac- 

 count of a Boston naturalist's' hair- 

 breadth escape from the fate of 

 the poet ^schylus. "Another in- 

 stance of the crow's intelligence 

 came under my observation as I was 

 walking among the crumbling arches 

 of Caracalla's Baths, in Rome, in 

 April, 1882. When near the wall a 

 stone nearly as large as my fist fell at 

 my feet. Fearing a recurrence of 

 what I suppposed was an accident of 

 perishing masonry, our party went 

 further toward the centre of tlie area. 

 A second and third fell near us; and 

 looking up I saw, circling above our 

 heads, crows, one of which dropped a 

 fourth stone from his claws. It seems 

 that we had been strolling too near 

 their nests in the walls; and they took 

 this method to drive us away — a very 

 effectual one, as a stone of that size, 

 falling from the height of sixty feet, 

 was an exceedingly dangerous mis- 

 sile and perhaps only prevented from 

 being fatal by the failure of the bird 

 to make allowance for the impetus of 

 its own motion. The aim was accu- 

 rate and the discharge right overhead 

 but as both we and the bird were 

 moving it fortunately missed its 

 mark." 



A friendly critic suggests that it is 

 a case of mistaken identity on the 

 part of Prof. Kneeland, since crows 

 would have used their beaks instead 

 of their claws for carrying stones. It 

 does not seem reasonable that this 



