32 



AMERICAN ORXITIIOLOGy 



Catching a 'tartar. 



I wonder how many readers of 

 American Ornithology ever 

 caught a bird when it was asleep. 

 I caught one once to my sorrow 

 and to the great enjoyment of 

 several companions who were with 

 me. Of course there are different 

 kinds of birds, some large, others 

 small, some weak, others strong; 

 the one I happened to get hold of 

 was rather powerfnl. 



Well, it was this way. A party 

 of us were camping out on Mer- 

 ritt's island in Florida. Not far 

 from us, across the Banana river, 

 was a long, sandy point on which 

 hundreds of sea-birds roosted ev- 

 ery night. One evening one of 

 the party proposed going over to 

 the point to see and hear the birds 

 rise. No sooner said than done. So 

 we started across in our canoe. As 

 the craft grounded on the beach, 

 large numbers of terns and gulls 

 arose and circled around us with 

 shrill cries of alarm. As we con- 

 tinued up the beach the birds con- 

 tinued to rise until there were 

 thousands of them. Ahead I saw 

 what I supposed was a stump, but 

 as 1 drew near, it gradually as- 

 sumed the form of a bird. "Ah!" 

 I said to myself, "a brown peli- 

 can asleep. He must be deaf; 

 guess I'll surprise him." Well, I 

 surprised him, and incidentally he 

 surprised me too. Without thinking 

 of possible results, I reached down 

 and grasped him by the neck. 

 Well, for about a minute I wasn't 

 sure whether it was a cloudburst, 



a cyclone or a sandstorm of the 

 desert, such as you read about, 

 that had happened, but gradually 

 my mind cleared and I was sure it 

 was a threshing machine in full 

 operation that 1 had caught. 1 

 held on to his neck with one hand 

 while I tried in vain with the other 

 to catch those flopping wings or 

 his revolving legs. Well, after 

 a while my companions, who had 

 all this time been doubled up with 

 laughter, came to my relief and 

 tied the pelican's legs together, 

 and after I had picked myself up, 

 brushed the sand out of my eyes, 

 nose and mouth, and given my 

 clothes a good shaking, we carried 

 my trophy back to camp. Every 

 day while we kept the bird, I had 

 an invitation to come out and 

 give the show over again; an invi- 

 tation that I always declined with 

 thanks. 



A Camper. 



Spare the Birds. 



On a recent visit to Florida we 

 learned that the slaughter of birds 

 there for millinery purposes is great- 

 er this winter than ever before. 

 Gulls and Terns are hunted for their 

 wings and Pelicans and Eagles for 

 the large quill feathers now so freely 

 worn in ladies' hats. The beauti- 

 ful Egrets are so nearly extinct that 

 the hunters get $i6 per ounce for 

 Egret plumes. The Bald Eagle, our 

 national Emblem, will be next to 

 disappear. What a pity to lose this 

 picturesque bird that does no harm 

 to man or beast, as it lives almost 

 wholly upon worthless fish, such as 

 mullet and menhaden. 



"The Warbler." 



