﻿jBtote0 from Jfteid an& l^tutip 



' Nothing New Under the Sun ' 



Recently while delving among the old 

 books in the library of the Academy of Nat- 

 ural Sciences of Philadelphia, in search of 

 some of the forgotten bird names, which are 

 at once the delight of some ornithologists 

 and the despair of others, I came across a 

 curious little volume printed in old German 

 black letter and bearing date of 1706 — just 

 two hundred years ago ! 



This work deals exclusively with the cap- 

 ture and slaughter of wild birds, and a 



glance at its numerous plates shows that it 

 was prepared before Audubon societies or 

 similar organizations were even thought of. 

 There are shown all manner of spring guns, 

 cage traps, nets, bird-lime devices, auto- 

 matic arrows which shoot up a hollow post 

 and impale a bird which alights on top, 

 and horizontal perches which close together 

 and catch birds by the toes. Also a great 

 board full of spikes, which descend on a 

 flock of feeding birds, and an open wire 

 affair like the arm of a windmill, which 

 when liberated revolves rapidly, knocking 

 down the birds which are feeding on bait 

 close to it. What interested me most, how- 

 ever, was the device shown in the accom- 

 panying figure, which is almost a counter- 

 part of that used by Mr. Chapman and 

 others a few years ago for the far more Iau- 



dible purpose of photographing birds, but 

 which, as it now appears, is not an invention 

 of the twentieth nor yet of the nineteenth 

 century! — Witmer Stone, Philadelphia, Pa. 



A Little Black Rail in Massachusetts 



An extract from my log of May 16, 1904, 

 reads: " As I was standing by the B-s 

 spring today, I heard something among 

 the branches of -a small pine near by. On 

 looking up, I saw a small bird come tumb- 

 ling down through the soft pine tips, now 

 and then clinging to one for a 

 second. Finally he landed on the 

 ground. Here he stopped for a 

 minute on the wet pine needles 

 as if to recover his balance, and 

 then made for cover. While this 

 was going on I had stood watch- 

 ing the proceedings with inter'est, 

 but as soon as the bird started to 

 run I saw at once, by his di- 

 minutive size and peculiar shape, 

 that he must be something un- 

 usual. I quickly gave chase, and 

 with the help of my terrier, soon 

 cornered the bird in some under- 

 brush; but, after getting clos 

 enough to touch him with my 

 hand, he escaped to another hiding-place. 

 Knowing now that he was the rare Black 

 Rail, I redoubled my zeal, and, at last, 

 after an exciting quarter of an hour, I 

 caught the little fellow. 



"The strange thing about the chase was 

 that he never attempted to fly more than a 

 few yards. If chased into the open, he 

 would take wing and flutter into the near- 

 est cover, but never once did he try a pro- 

 longed flight. In running on the ground he 

 was very skilful, and, had it not been for 

 the open character of the piney hillside on 

 which he fell, I never should have seen 

 him an instant after he struck the ground- 

 "The only explanation that I can give 

 of the little Rail's strange appearance is 

 that, tired out by a long migration and 

 bewildered in the fog, he had lost his way 



(136) 



