THE OOLOGIST. 



361 



ed the hen from the nest, I found not 

 thi'ee, nor four, nor five, but eight moie 

 little partridges. Every egg had 

 hatched. So far very well. Nuw, be- 

 gins "my tale of woe." 



From the very first the little ones 

 seemed afraid of tlieir foster mother; 

 they neither understood her clucks and 

 cries of alarm nor her attempts at brood- 

 ing them. All were transferred from 

 the nest to the pen in the open air and 

 ants, flies, beetles, larva? of various 

 kinds, angleworms, crumbs, etc., were 

 put before them but thpy took no notice 

 of the food although the hen called their 

 attention to it in her most coaxing 

 tones, picking up morsels and dropping 

 them again and again before them, but 

 not one would even deign to notice her 

 discomfiture. In fact they never ate, 

 that I am aware of and their crops were 

 found to be entirely empty after death. 

 The old hen was true to the last and 

 never did a mother do more for her 

 brood but they were apparently as 

 much afraid of her as of me. Round 

 and round the pen they walked in siu- 

 gle file, peepiug much like young turk- 

 eys, though not so strongly, until one 

 by one they dropped by the way; the 

 victims of starvation in a land of plen- 

 ty. I must confess that, though hardly 

 to be at once reconciled to so summary 

 a disappointment in the death of the 

 young birds, I was relieved to know 

 that the little sufferers were at rest. 

 The continuous and plaintive peep, 

 peep, peep, haunts me still. There is 

 undoubtedly a better way than that in 

 which I handled these young Pai tridges. 

 That they 'must be confined, however, 

 I am certain or all would at once stray 

 from the hen and be lost. They seemed 

 totally incapable of receiving any care 

 whatever from the hen; they never ate, 

 they never rested. Although after 

 studying the "ways and meaus" of the 

 subject thoroughly, I 'intended to try 

 again, I am convinced that some course 

 very different from any common meth- 

 od of procedure with wild birds must 



be found, if success be possible, in rear- 

 ing the young of the Ruffed Grouse, 

 known more popularly with us as part- 

 ridge. Could we but rear one brood in 

 confinement, partial domestication, at 

 least may not be impossible. 



With the Bob White or Quail my 

 work was far more satisfactory. 



L. Whitney Watkins> 

 Manchester, Mich. 

 (to be continued.) 



Protest Against Bird Slaughter. 



At the November meeting of the Coop- 

 er Ornithological Club of California 

 held at San Jose, Cal., resolutions were 

 adopted condemning the practice of 

 slaughtering many beautiful birds for 

 millinery purposes. The resolutions 

 are as follows : 



Resolved, That the Cooper Ornitho- 

 logical Club deplore and condemn the 

 perverted taste and cruelty of the 

 fair sex in fostering the slaughter of 

 thousands of Egrets (for their plumes) 

 and countless numbers of other birds, 

 of song and beauty, for millinery pur- 

 poses; and that we especially condemn 

 the shooting of Gulls and Terrs on the 

 shores of San Francisco Bay, as well as 

 Snowy Plover and other shore birds a- 

 long the coast, and the wholesale slaugh- 

 ter along the Colorado River, the breed- 

 ing grounds of numerous species, which 

 are being exterminated by Indians em- 

 ployed by unscrupulous whites; that we 

 view with alarm the appalling fact that, 

 more birds are destroyed annually in 

 the United States for each large mil- 

 linery firm than are contained in the- 

 combined collections of bird students in 

 this country — the accumulation of gen- 

 erations. And be it further 



Resolved, That every means be put. 

 forth to influence legislation for the 

 protection of birds, and to discourage 

 the wearing of birds, resulting in such 

 shameful annihilation of the beautiful 

 creatures of the air, the common, ina- 

 lienable heritage of all who love Nature, 

 and her children of hill and valley, wood! 

 and shore. And be it further 



Resolved, That a copy of these resolu- 

 tions be sent to the intelligent and gen- 

 erous press, who may assist in the eli- 

 mination of this execrable, evil of fash- 

 ion. 



