The Audubon Note Book. 



45 



A. O. U. COMMITTEE ON BIRD PROTECTION. 



A MOST important influence which tended to arouse 

 the public to the necessity of saving North American 

 birds from needless destruction, has been the work 

 performed by the committee appointed by the Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union for that purpose. This 

 committee, which numbers among its members several 

 of our most able and best known ornithologists, was 

 at work long before the idea of the Audubon Society 

 had been conceived, and it is very largely owing to 

 their earnest and conscientious labors that the present 

 wide-spread interest in bird protection has arisen. 

 An account of this committee and of its work will 

 appear in the April number of the AuDUBON Maga- 

 zine. 



THE SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO. 



Apropos of Mr. Sprenger's interesting article in 

 the February Audubon on the sulphur-crested cock- 

 atoo, a few notes on the habits of this species may be 

 given. Mr. C. F. Amery, the General Secretary of 

 the Audubon Society, who is familiar with it in its 

 home, writes us : 



Among the brilliantly plumaged birds of Australia 

 the yellow-crested cockatoo is a striking feature in the 

 landscape. In my travels in South Australia in 1850, 

 I frequently saw them in flocks of a hundred and up- 

 ward, creating a great deal of discord with their harsh 

 natural notes, but living together in social harmony. 

 After the harvest they congregate in the wheat fields 

 to glean the fallen grain, but although there is a tra- 

 dition among the farmers that cockatoo pie is good 

 eating it is very rarely that they have a chance of 

 testing it. Before these birds alight in the wheat 

 field, the whole country round is reconnoitered, and 

 sentinels posted on trees to command every approach. 

 These sentinels allow nothing to escape their eager 

 eyes, and between them and the feeding birds there 

 is a broken conversation kept up, the sentinels evi- 

 dently describing every movement of interest about 

 the farm house, or of men in the distance. At the 

 first sign of danger, the note of warning is given in 

 tones that cannot be mistaken, and if an enemy ap- 

 proach, the sentinels scream, and the whole flock is 

 on the alert. It is a rare thing for a white man to 

 surprise a sentinel, but the natives do so sometimes, 

 and create a panic, sending their boomerangs among 

 the flock, and killing several of them before they 

 have decided which way to fly. The cockatoos take 

 a high rank among birds for intelligence, and al- 

 though in the mere mimicry of sounds they have 

 many rivals, Mr. Sprenger's bird gave evidence of 

 unusual docility and intelligence. I saw two other 

 species of this bird in Australia — the black cockatoo 

 and the rose-tinted one — but never saw either of them 

 in large flocks. 



TWO INDIAN BIRD STORIES. 



Mr. J. W. SCHULTZ, of Piegan, Montana, writes 

 to the Forest and Stream about the Blackf oot Indians : 



The Indians of course are close students of nature. 

 In their own way they can tell why and how the 

 mountains and prairies, the rivers, lakes and forests 

 were formed, and it is most interesting to listen to 

 their accounts of the cosmogony. Many and strange 

 are their stories of animal life. I heard yesterday 

 two stories which may interest some of your readers. 

 They were told riie by a very old man who is blind 

 and feeble, but whose memory seems to be as active 

 as ever. I give you the stories in his own words as 

 nearly as I can translate them: 



I. 



"I was a young man, and I sat beneath the trees 

 making arrows. I heard above a Redhead (red- 

 headed woodpecker) much crying. 'Why cry much,' 

 I thought, and looking much I saw. I found why 

 cried that little bird. Now, a great branch had split 

 and the end on the ground lay. Near where the 

 split, was hole. H'ya! there Redhead's home. 

 There her children. H'ya! much to be feared was 

 he who was crawling to her home. A snake was 

 crawling there, to steal and eat her children. That 

 why Redhead much cry. Then fly away Redhead 

 and tell husband come quick. Then both come back, 

 and flying much, try to hit snake. Soon husband 

 strike snake thro' head and bill stick in wood. Make 

 wings move to stay there all time bill, so bill not 

 come out. Snake make his body go one way, another 

 way. Can't move his head. Soon bird pull out bill, 

 snake to ground fall, soon die. I pick him up, hole 

 thro' head. H'ya! Very strong Redhead. I make 

 arrows under trees, all this I saw and I know this, 

 how strong is Redhead." 



II. 



"Now, I hunted in the mountains, and on a cliff I 

 saw many swallow nests, and many swallows flying 

 about crying. I thought, because afraid of me cry 

 those h'ttle birds. No! Close by on shelf, a big rat- 

 tlesnake crawling to steal those swallow children. 

 Then fly away all swallows, go and tell Black-greasy- 

 wings* about snake. Come quick back and bring 

 Black-greasy-wings. He see snake and fly very high, 

 then fly falling down (swooping down), catch snake. 

 H'ya! Very smart Black-greasy-wings. One claw 

 stick in top of head, one claw under. Not open 

 mouth snake, can't bite. No die Black-greasy-wings. 

 Fly very, very high, then let snake go. Fall on 

 rocks snake, all mashed and dead. Then Black- 

 greasy wings take snake to feed his children." 



*"Black-greasy-wings" is the Blackfoot name for one of the 

 large varieties of hawks. Just which one I am unable to find 

 out. 



