185 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Bronzed Grackles, two of which I 

 brought home. The Grackles were fre- 

 quenters of the lawns, visiting the city 

 gardens and parks, strutting around on 

 the grass, eating anything they could 

 find, and seemingly wanting to show 

 off their glossy plumage to the best ad- 

 vantage. I caught a great number of 

 them by means of a figure four trap, 

 and grains of soft corn tied to a string. 

 They soon became reconciled to their 

 fate, and took cage life better than I 

 had expected. The two I brought 

 home were sturdy fellows, with plum- 

 age not to be excelled. I named them 

 Jack and Jill, Jill being recognized by 

 a slight peculiarity in the base of the 

 bill. Sad to relate, Jack murdered Jill 

 a day or two after my return, and was 

 left sole owner of the cage. He would 

 bite unmercifully, and I have some 

 scars this day from his sharpened bill. 

 Beech nuts were his favorite food, al- 

 though he would eat anything, being 

 especially fond of sun-flower seed. In 

 the spi'ing, Jack's cage hung out under 

 a tree, and as huge flocks of croaking 

 Grackles wended their way noifhward, 

 Jack would cast such wistful and long- 

 ing glances after them, that I had not 

 the heart to detain him. 



Another Jack T formerly owned was 

 a Red-tailed Ilawk, bought of a saloon 

 keeper, who offered him at such a rea- 

 sonable price that I could not resist the 

 temptation to make the purchase. 

 When bought, he was as gentle as a 

 dove, but, I do not know whether it was 

 my influence or not, he afterwards be- 

 came a terror, and would allow no one 

 to touch him. I kept him on a perch in 

 the yard, lariated w^ith a long string, 

 and there he sat day in and day out, re- 

 treating to a coop built for him at night, 

 always haughty and never falling from 

 his dignity by allowing a caress. He 

 never molested the chickens that were 

 continually around him, not even did 

 he cast wistful glances at them. The 

 roosters made a great hub-bub vrhen he 



was installed on his perch, but soon 

 looked on him as harmless, he not hav- 

 ing taken any notice of them. It beat 

 all how the birds took offence at Jack's 

 presence. The Sparrows, Robins, and 

 Jays, in fact, every bird around the 

 yard and garden troubled Jack so much 

 that I had serious notion of shooting 

 some of the more bold, especially the 

 Jays and Sparrows, that would fly at 

 Jack, strike him on the head, and quick- 

 ly retreat, but he took it all good na- 

 turedly, and only occasionally remon- 

 strated by endeavoring to catch them 

 vpith his bill as they passed over. It 

 amused me to see the ignorance expos- 

 ed by passersby as to just w^hat Jack 

 vras. Many believed he was an Eagle, 

 some a Crow, the majority positively 

 asserted he was an Owl, but the climax 

 was reached when an old lady shouted 

 over the fence, "Polly want a cracker?"^ 

 Fluffy was a Screech Owl owned by a 

 family not far distant, and an amusing^ 

 little pet he was. He was taken when 

 but a baby from a hole in aknarled oak, 

 and contrary to my prediction, was suc- 

 ' cessfully raised. ■ It was amusing to see 

 him follow the small chickens around, 

 hopping in among them, but always as- 

 tonished at what they ate. He had his 

 freedom, but never left the yard, at 

 night, contrary to the custom of his 

 forefathers, he remained part of his 

 time in the cage built for him. He 

 wovild come at call; he would tackle 

 a mouse or large grasshopper, or cast 

 longing glances at the Canary-bird. 

 The English Sparrows deserted the vi- 

 cinity in fear of him, and he kept the 

 premises free from rodents. This same 

 family raised a Sparrow Hawk from its 

 infancy, and I never ran across a more 

 interesting little pet. It was very gen- 

 tle, and w^ould leave its cage and perch 

 on one's shoulder at call. One of the 

 boys frequently took it into the mead- 

 ows, where it would launch itself from 

 his shoulder and catch a grasshopper. 



