THE OREGON NATURAUST. 

 SOME ACCIDENTAL DEATHS, up in the nest. 



47 



BY DONALD A. COHEN. 



A record of cases by which bitds 

 have met an untimely end is to me a 

 matter of interest from tlie various 

 causes. Considerable has l)een 



written on this suliject but I will at- 

 tempt to present a few instances that 

 have come under my notice since I 



This death, in my 

 opinion, was caused by something 

 wrong with the ovary and seems to be 

 a common occurrence with this bird 

 and with the Plain Titmouse. A 

 Yellow Warbler which was found dead 

 on the ground May 7, 1889, and con- 

 tained eggs, one of which was nearly 

 ready to be deposited, may come un- 

 der this head. 



June 9, 1S92 — A Chinaman brought 

 nie two dead nearly fledged Humming- 



wrote my la.st "obituary list" in an 



other magazine, and I will also add a birds in their nest, in which state he 



few cases which were at that time 

 overlooked : 



May 5, 1887 — Tn a small hollow in 

 a live oak, 2^2 feet from the ground, 

 wherein I once found a set of Plain 

 Titmouse, ]ay a dead bird and a fresh 

 egg near it. April 11, 1892, T found 



found them on the ivy on the side of 

 a tank house. I had seen him on sev- 

 eral occasions gioping through the 

 ivy after dark, endeavoiing to catch 

 English Sparrows and House Finches 

 tliat loosted there, and in this manner 

 the mother Hummingbird must have 



another dead Plain Titmouse in this been frightened fioni tlie nest and in 

 same hollow. These two deaths were the dark could not retrace her way to 



connected with no self evident cau.se. 



About 1883 — An American Earn 



Owl was caught in a garret and given 



lier young that succumbed to the cool 

 night air. 



April 17, 1892 — A female Park- 



to a man who staked it out, parrot man's Wren lying dead at the foot of 



fashion, on a perch with a cord about 



the Owl's leg. During the night the 



captive "chewed" the rope and 



escaped. Another bird of tlie same 



species was soon after captuied in the 



same garret and fell into possession of Sparrows may have thrust th 



the same "bird fancier" who, intend- out onto the ground. 



ing to profit from previous exfjerience. May 17, 1893 — Aftei a high wind 



used a wire instead of a rope, but the several dead fledglings and broken 



an oak tree, a broken egg close by 

 her and the nest in good order a few 

 feet up in a hollow. Cause of death 

 may come under same head as that of 

 the California Bu.sh Tits. English 



eRg 



bird got afoul of a limb of a tiee and 

 was hanging, dead, when his owner 

 appeared next morning. Verdict: — 



eggs of Brewer's Blackbird weie found 

 npon the road along a row of tall 

 pines. A nearly fledged Western 



premeditated suicide committed while Chipping Sparrow was also dislodged 



under a fit of despondency. and met a similar fate. 



April 30, T889 — .\ nest containing February 24, 1895 — Found a dead, 



seven stale eggs of California Bush emaciated female Red-.shafted Flicker 



Tit and the bird dead and sliiivelled on the garret floor, and my brother 



