OF WILD ANIMALS 299 



Here is a partial list of the crimes in our bird collection 

 during one year: 



A green jay killed a blue jay. A jay-thrush and several 

 smaller birds were killed by laughing thrushes, which simply 

 love to do murder! A nightingale was killed by a catbird and 

 two mocking-birds. Two snake-birds killed a third one all 

 of them thoroughly depraved villains. Three gulls murdered 

 another; a brown pelican was killed by trumpeter-swans; and 

 a Canada goose was killed by a gull. All these victims were 

 birds in good health. 



It is deplorable, but nevertheless true, that in large mixed 

 companies of birds, say where forty or fifty live together, it is 

 a common thing for a sick bird to be set upon and killed, unless 

 rescued by the keepers. In crimes of this class birds often 

 murder their own kind, but they are quite as ready to kill 

 members of other species. In 1902 a sick brant goose was 

 killed by its mates; and so were a red-tailed hawk, two saras 

 cranes, two black vultures, a road-runner, and a great horned 

 owl. An aged and sickly wood ibis was killed by a whooping 

 crane; and a night heron killed its mate. 



Strange as it may seem, among reptiles there is far less of 

 real first-degree murder than among mammals and birds. 

 Twenty rattlesnakes may be crowded together in one cage, 

 without a family jar. Even among cobras, perhaps the most 

 irritable and pugnacious of all serpents, I think one snake 

 never wantonly murders another, although about once in 

 twenty years one will try to swallow another. The big pythons 

 and anacondas never fight, nor try to commit murder. And 

 yet, a twenty-foot regal python with a bad heart like Nansen's 

 polar bear could easily constrict and kill any available snake 

 of smaller size. 



At this moment I do not recall one instance of wanton 

 murder among serpents. It is well known that some snakes 

 devour other snakes; but that is not crime. The record of 

 the crocodilians is not so clear. It is a common thing for the 



