48 



OtlNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 3 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Destkictkin of Birds fob Millineiiy Piiri-oses 

 — Editor O. and O.: I am truly sorry that I sliould have 

 nscii your space ami my time in answering questions that 

 now appear to have l)een asl<e(l for reasons other than to 

 elicit information. And while promising not to repeat the 

 blunder, I will apologize for not seeing earlier that "W. W. 

 C." had not read the text books of the subject which he at- 

 tempts to discuss, but had the quixotic faculty of seeing 

 foes where none existed, to a degree worthy of the Don 

 himself. I must confess that when I wrote my previous 

 letter, I actually thought that he wanted the information he 

 aslced for. At that time his second effusion was not out, 

 and although I knew that he was wonderful at quoting 

 "What the great poet says'," I had not seen the way in 

 which he could lind glass to break, where others can see 

 only a solid wall. When he tries to find sarcasm in Mr. 

 Lucas's letter, he "picks up"" the correction of what he 

 calls a "fancied error'," and either because he did not know 

 the definition of animal or could not apply the rudiments of 

 logic in the formation of the simplest of syllogisms, lie pro- 

 nounces the "correction somewhat strained i iewed Imjiml- 

 hl'." 1 therefore ask for your iiatience while I straighten 

 out the tangle which he makes of my statements, for, 

 having given Ihem, I naturally do not wish "W. \V. O.'s ' 

 criticisms to jiaws for truths by default. 



In his letter of September he wants to know (I) the num- 

 bers and kind of birds used by milliners ; ('2) the damage 

 done by boys co.lecting eggs, (both questions to be in order 

 must be as comparative to the destruction wrought by birds 

 of prey,): (3) the reason why tlie destruction of birds "from 

 the most remote time of history"' had not disturbed the 

 "nicely adjusted balance of nature." He also brands as an 

 "error*" computation showing the damage liable to be 

 wrought by insects plus their progeny. 



To save space, for an answer to the first I referred him to 

 an article in Fm-ent and Stream, which he did not read, for 

 a reference to il later in iny letter "staggers lue at lirst 

 glance'" and is "utterly absurd." (My authority for giving 

 Illinois "three birds per acre" will be in Forbes Treatise on 

 the food of Dirdn, with which I thought him familiar, as a 

 matter of course.) 



'J'lie .second seems to be satisracturily answered. 



1 he third he has trouble with. Although nauseated with 

 generalities, "he calls for facts ' "from the most remote 

 time'." But when I offered a few, tiated from 1T9S to 18TS, 

 (not "down to sixty years ago," please,) to show how 

 wholesale destruction of birds /ms affected both plant 

 and insect life, he denies that they bear on the subject be- 

 cause I have not proven that the birds were destroyed for 

 commercial purposes. As if I had tried to. 



"W. W. C." evidently forgot that he himself defined the 

 "error" and "main question, ' for, in spite of my quotation 

 marks, he reverses their order for me with his usual obtuse- 

 ness ; it is nearly as hard to believe that lie has forgotten 

 also the Locust jilague of the West, (I certainly thought 

 him old enough to remember that,) but he can find the 

 figures that he considers so "amazingly reckless," in the 

 lieport of the U. S. Entomological Commission on the 

 liocky Mountain Locust. 



When "\V. W. C." quotes me as saying that the Potato 

 Bug came East berause the "way was paved by the Grouse 

 and tjuail being shipped East by the carload," he shows 

 liimself capable of having discovered that Scriptural text 

 against fashion, "Top (k) not go down," (Mark xiii, 1.5). I 

 had always considered tliat one of the best examples of per- 

 verted meaning on record. 



As the Potato Bug was introduced merely to ilbistiate the 



marvelous facility with whiih in.'^ecls can verify the "facts 

 of importance," which "W. \V. C." dubs an "error,'" his 

 questions are fairly out of order, but if this time he really 

 wants to know about tliose "degenerated birds," he will 

 find out by reading " Potato Pest," by C. V. Hiley, (now 

 entomologist of U. S. Department of Agriculture,). Sev- 

 eral are there given as feeding on the Potato Beetle, among 

 them (Juail, Crows, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. 



When "W. W. C." denies that I "was or could be inter- 

 ested" in this discussion, except as a friend of Mr. Lucas's, 

 he forgets that the original discussion was between Mr. 

 Lucas and the "O. and O." If "W. W. C." fails to dis- 

 tinguish between the taxidermist who conscientiously 

 makes the most of the birds he uses, perhaps spending 

 days or weeks in finishing a si>ecimen artistically, and the 

 collector who boasts of mutilatiug 11,000 skins in three 

 months, (as one did in the Smithsonian Institute last Sum- 

 mer,) for perhaps ten or twenty cents apiece,' I can't help, 

 however much I may pity him. To me the same ditference 

 exists as between the settler, who shoots a buffalo to feed 

 his family, and the butchers who slaughter a herd for their 

 hides ; I think the settler has a right to complain. 



I shall await with interest the facts he has twice promised 

 on his side of the question, especially if he attempts to 

 prove that the birds slaughtered by man arc not in addition 

 to those killed by birds of prey, and thus make the balance 

 turn in favor of the insects and against the former. 



L. M. McCoRMICK. 



•The words enclosed thus, " " arc quoted from "W. W. 

 C.'s" text. (The editor and reader will i>ardon this precau- 

 tion when they notice that "W. W. C." does not scruple to 

 charge me with the sentiments of words quoted from his 

 own letter). 



Do Bihds Evek "Pi.av Possum"? Mr. Walter Hoxie 

 writes us : "In rejily to a correspondent's query in the 

 January *0. and O.' I will say that the Black Vulture when 

 wounded will 'play possum.' I hung (me up by the legs 

 the other day thinking, him dead, but after some hours 

 found him to be perfectly hearty barring a broken leg and 

 wing. Some Woodpeckers when sitting will close their 

 eyes and suffer themselves to be bandied. Tlie simulation 

 of lameness of many birds in presence of an intruder too 

 near the nest or eggs might be considered an active phase 

 of the same phenomenon. They certainly pretend to be 

 'partly' dead." On page 41 will be found some references by 

 Mr. Hasbrouflv on the same subject. 



Snowy Owl. Messrs. Southwick & Jencks write ns: 

 " We notice in February "O. and O.' that i'. B. W., reports 

 not hearing of a single Snowy Owl this season. We had 

 one sent in about November 1st, '84, that was shot near 

 Newport, K. I. 'J'liis is the only capture we know of, 

 though have heard of some being seen." 



Spotted Robins' Etios. (fluW. H'. IVilde, Sj/racune, .V. J'.) 

 Spotted Robins' Eggs are by no means rire, and have fre- 

 quently been referred to in our columns. 



Removing Ink Marks on Eoos. You may inform W. 

 Otto Emerson that a weak solution of sulphuric acid and 

 water will jirobalily remove his inkmarks on birds eggs, to 

 use say ten drops of the acid to two tablespoonfuls of 

 water. If the ink has penetrated clear through the shell I 

 know not how to help him, but I have cleaned Quail's eggs 

 that were very spotted and rusty, to a pure, clean white in 

 tbis manner. The eggs must be washed after each applica- 

 tion if more than one are required.—.!. //. Mundt, Fair- 

 burs/, III. 



Notes from Vhas. S. A mlros on " The Maryland Yellow- 

 throat," and from H'. II. rreshi/ "My Experience willl a 

 Screech Owl,'' will be inserted next month. 



