JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



13 



possible to make out. There appear- 

 ed to be a string or something at- 

 tached which dangled from the bird 

 and could be plainly seen at such 

 times as the bird fluttered or hopped 

 into the air. It seemed trying hard to 

 fly but after reaching a hight of per- 

 haps three feet would fall back in the 

 grass in an aimless and decidedly 

 crazy manner. 



I jumped from the carriage and run- 

 ning to where the bird was rolling 

 about, attempted to grasp it in my 

 hands, but at my near approach ad- 

 ditional fear seemed to possess it and 

 making a still greater effort, apparent- 

 ly, it raised itself on its wings and 

 half flying, half scaling flew some 

 fifty feet, and again fell, apparently 

 exhausted, in a heap in the grass. In 

 th's flight as in the other shorter ex- 

 cursions into the air the same long, 

 stringy object dangled along with the 

 bird hanging some foot or more. 



In my second attempt at capture I 

 was more cautious and using my hat 

 for a net I held the bird in my hand 

 a second later and the mystery was 

 solved. 



The bird was a Loggerhead Shrike, 

 Lanius ludovicianus, and coiled 

 tightly about its neck, was the third 

 quarter of a striped snake. The snake 

 was dull yellow with brown stripes 

 was about 18 inches long and some- 

 what larger around than a leadpencil 

 and while the head of the snake had 

 evidently received very hard usage 

 from the sharp and strong beak of 

 the shrike, its body was decidedly full 

 of life. 



The situation showed plainly a fight 

 to the death, with the honors divided 

 about as follows: The bird had sadly 

 battered the head of the reptile and 

 one claw was deeply, very deeply in- 

 bedded in the snake's body some four 

 inches from the head, while his snake- 

 slip had two coils of the latter part 

 of himself tightly about the bird's 



neck and was choking him as hard as 

 he knew how. 



The shrike did not take kindly at 

 all to my efforts at rescue for it 

 pecked fiercely at my hand, even tear- 

 ing the heavy kid driving glove I wore 

 and struggled hard to free itself from 

 my grasp, but I persisted in my 

 philanthropy nevertheless. 



I first tried to uncoil the snake by 

 reversing the coil with its tail but the 

 instant I tried this the snake instinct- 

 ively contracted the remaining coil the 

 more tightly until from the way the 

 bird cried and ran out its tongue it 

 was plain the remedy was worse than 

 the diease, besides the bird's neck and 

 body offered so little resistence in 

 comparison to the strength of the 

 snake that it appeared to be wholly 

 impossible to accomplish my object in 

 that manner. 



And again, the moment I relaxed my 

 hold on the snakes tail, presto, two 

 more fresh coils would be added to 

 the poor bird's neck, whose cries of 

 pain or horror or both, were truly 

 pitiful. Several times I tried this un- 

 coiling process and each time gave it 

 up as liable to result fatal to the 

 bird. 



It would naturally seem to the list- 

 ener of the story that to uncoil the 

 snake were a' simple thing to do. I 

 only wish you might have an oppor- 

 tunity to try for then only would you 

 realize the difficulties presented in the 

 shape of a struggling bird, whose soft 

 body you could not grasp tightly with- 

 out danger of squeezing out forever 

 what little breath the coils of the 

 snake allowed to enter its lungs, and 

 whose neck afforded no resistance 

 whatever in the necesssary pulling 

 process. 



This with the additional pressure of 

 the coils by the snake, instantly I 

 tried to remove him made the problem 

 a decidedly tough proposition. It was 

 evident the bird would die if not 



