I30 



Bird - Lore 



of the decorations of his sex, had been shot away, and shot-scars had 

 spoiled the symmetry of other parts of his plumage. The other two were 

 large and beautiful birds, bred in the park. The iridescent emerald of 

 their heads and necks and their immaculate shining collars made them 

 incomparably more conspicuous than the smaller wild bird. Nevertheless, 

 all their efforts were in vain, while the occasional pitiful attempts of the 

 handicapped suitor to spread an imaginary tail and declare his everlasting 

 devotion prevailed. He was accepted, and the pair were inseparable until 

 the nest was finished and the duck began sitting on her eleven eggs. 



Turning from the birds in the collection to our wild native birds which 

 make the park their home, or pay it frequent visits, we find much of 

 interest in their changed habits and dispositions. The sight of so many 

 birds flying unharmed in the flying cages or walking about their ranges or 

 swimming on the various ponds undisturbed, although in close proximity 

 to man, is fraught with significance to the quick perceptions of wild birds, 

 large and small. Their keen perceptions and superior powers of intelli- 

 gence tell them that such unwonted altruisic conditions must offer 

 advantages. 



The almost immediate recognition of their security in the park is re- 

 markable, and birds which seldom show themselves within sight of civiliza- 

 tion have come again and again, and exhibited a tameness which deceives 

 many people into thinking they must be escaped birds. The honored visi- 

 tation of Canada Geese will long testify to the truth of this. Wild sea 

 Gulls quite often drop from their loose flocks passing overhead, and con- 

 sort for a few days with their wing-clipped kindred. When they leave, the 

 young Gulls which have been hatched in the park usually accompany them, 

 but return in a few hours to their home and flock. Ducks, Herons and 

 Hawks show as quick a realization of their immunity from danger in the 

 park. 



Green Herons creep like feathered phantoms among the branches of 

 the trees overhanging the water, while Great Blue, and Black-crowned 

 Night Herons, forgetting all shyness, clamber over the arches of the big 

 flying cage in broad daylight, and in sight of hundreds of people, peering 

 down at their brethren inside and uttering envious quawks as they see the 

 bountiful repast of fish and shrimps prepared for those fortunate ones. 



