90 Birds of Lakeside and Prairie 



To the right of the nest, pierced through the neck and hang- 

 ing from a thorn was the half-eaten body of a small snake, 

 placed there by the shrike perhaps to provide the larder 

 against any future scarcity of living game. As soon as we 

 had left the vicinity of the nest the shrike went back to its 

 young and doubtless gave them each a bit of snake steak to 

 make them forget their fright. 



The Worth marsh, which stretches away for acres from 

 the foot of the orchard, is a fruitful field for the study of bird- 

 life. When we had opened the old-fashioned gate at the 

 lane's end, we could see a glistening patch of clear water far 

 beyond the rushes' tops. The dark forms of birds were 

 wheeling about above its surface and their cries were borne 

 down to us by the breeze. We skirted the marsh and ap- 

 proached the open water, and there through our glasses had a 

 perfect view of the darting birds. They were dark, almost 

 black, but there was a gloss to their feathers which the sun's 

 rays let us see from time to time as the birds kept up their 

 changeful flight. They were black terns that had left the 

 waters of the larger lakes to come to this place of sedges to 

 rear their young. The red-winged blackbirds nest by hundreds 

 in the reeds of this great swamp. At the time of our visit 

 the nesting season was at its height. As we walked into the 

 swamp regardless of mud and water, the male redwings met 

 us and hovered over our heads. They asked us more vigor- 

 ously than politely to turn back. The redwing is protected 

 by law in the state of Illinois, but in nearly all the other 

 states he is put beyond the statute's pale. The bird unques- 

 tionably has a weakness for grain, but the good that he does 

 in insect-eating fairly balances the evil of his life. That he 

 is a beauty in his black blouse with its shoulder knots of 



