Vol. XX j Yl^Yi^Yi^ Preserving Equilibrium by Use of One Wing. 107 



It is much to be regretted that the few species which are legitimate 

 objects of pursuit by sportsmen, like the Hawaiian Goose, Hawaiian 

 Duck, and the Plover and Turnstone, are becoming scarcer and 

 scarcer every year. Yet it is at least to be said that these birds 

 serve as food, and hence are not entirely wasted. No such excuse, 

 however, can be urged in defence of the slaughter of such birds as 

 the Hawaiian Stilt, Night Heron, Mud Hen {Ga/Ii?iu/a), and Coot 

 {Fulicd). These birds, though occasionally eaten by the natives 

 and Portuguese, are too ' gamy ' for most palates, and are usually 

 shot and thrown away, with the natural result that they have been 

 quite exterminated in many localities and are becoming scarcer 

 and scarcer in all districts. 



PRESERVING EQUILIBRIUM BY THE USE OF 

 ONE WING. 



BY WILLIAM HUBBELL FISHER. 



Plate VII. 



I WAS at the Brown Palace Hotel, in the city of Denver, Colo- 

 rado, from March 14, 1902, until the 21st day of the following May, 

 and occupied a room on the seventh floor, about ninety feet above 

 the pavement of the street. There I quite frequently fed the 

 House Finches {Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis) of the neighbor- 

 hood with bird seed spread upon my window sill. These birds 

 became quite familiar. Often as many as twelve or fourteen of 

 them were upon the sill at once. As the spring advanced, they 

 came in pairs, and it frequently happened that a hungry pair 

 having taken possession of the seed would drive off all the others 

 until they had satisfied their appetites. In driving off the other 

 birds, this pair would often meet with great opposition, and fre- 

 quently severe combats occurred, often in mid air. I have pictures 

 of the birds one darting down upon another as a hawk does upon 

 his prey. At other times, the possessors of the locality would 

 drive the intruders to the edge of the sill, and would often push off 

 the intruder. Two of my instantaneous photographs reveal the 



