BIRD RESERVATIONS 



the word that I would shoot on sight any man with a 

 gun who attempted to enter the Corkscrew. I would 

 do it, too," he added as he tapped the barrel of his 

 Winchester. " It is terrible to hear the young birds 

 calling for food after the old ones have been killed to 

 get the feathers for rich women to wear. I am not 

 going to have my birds sacrificed that way." 



The teeming thousands of birds in this rookery 

 feed their young to a more or less extent on fish, and 

 from the nests many fragments fall into the mud and 

 water below. In the wise economy of nature few 

 objects of real value are suffered to go to waste. 

 Resting on the water plants, coiled on logs, or fes- 

 tooned in the low bushes, numerous cotton-mouthed 

 water-moccasins lie in wait. Silently and motionless 

 they watch and listen, now and then raising their 

 heads when a light splash tells them of the approach 

 of some heedless frog, or of the falling of some dead 

 fish like manna from the nests above. May is the 

 dry season, and the low water of the swamp accounted 

 in a measure for the unusual number of snakes to 



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