AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



177 



A BURGLAR BIRD. 



By Annie R. Abbott 



r 



Definition. Burglar, A felonious 

 house-breaker. 



Burglary, The act or crime of noctur- 

 nal housebreaking, with an intent to 

 commit a felony therein, whether such 

 felony be actually committed or not. 

 To constitute this crime, the act must 

 be committed in the night, or when there 

 is not enough daylight to discern a man's 

 face. It must be in a dwelling-house, 

 or in an adjoining building which is a 

 part of the dwelling house. 

 In some of the United States the term has been extended so as to 

 cover the breaking and entering of any building, at any time, to com- 

 mit any crime. 



Description of Burglar-. Sides of head, throat and breast lilac brown, 

 with black patches on cheeks and a large half moon on breast; back 

 brown, barred with black; belly ashy, with many black spots; tail black 

 above, golden beneath, rounded, the feathers pointed, lining of wings 

 golden; rump white; scarlet crescent on nape; bill and feet dark; length 

 12.6 inches. 



Such is the description of my burglar, as found, not in the "Rogue's 

 Gallery," but in "Our Common Birds and How to Know Them." 

 Like other burglars he is the bearer of many aliases, being known as 

 the Flicker, Golden-winged Woodpecker, Clape, High-Hole, and Yellow- 

 Hammer. Should you ask an ornithologist what to call him, he would 

 probably tell you that his true name is "Colaptes auratus." 



This little fellow, although scarcely a foot in length, makes havoc 

 every year, on the unshingled walls of cottages, barns and bath houses 

 along the southern coast of Massachusetts, and I doubt not, his many 

 cousins and other relatives are doing similar work all over the country, 

 since he is a bird of very wide range. 



The tool with which he works is not a burglar's "jimmy" but his 

 own powerful bill which he uses with great speed and force in accom- 



