TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 109 



pi'airio rats, which they greedily 

 devour, even when only a day or 

 two old — ^being supplied with a very 

 wide mouth and throat. When seen 

 in their nest in a remote age of de- 

 velopment, the bluish color and 

 nearly nude birds, resemble a lot of 

 young alligators and when farther 

 developed they are not unlike a 

 Piockingbird in appearance and as 

 is seen in the illustration herein. 

 The fine reproduction of a chappar- 

 ral cock nest with four eggs was 

 encountered some distance from the 

 other nest with two eggs and a 

 young chapparral. In its makeup 

 it resembled the nest of a mocking 

 bird. The eggs were oval shaped 

 and about three-fourths the size of 

 a chicken egg. The view shows 

 the entire nest with contents, which 

 was located in the center part of a 

 dense thorney bush about five feet 

 froin the ground. The old chapar- 

 ral cock just happened to escape 

 the nest when I found same and 

 took a time exposure of it. 



As to the protection of the chap- 

 arral cock and the feathery tribe in 

 general — occasionally men- 

 tioned in magazines, and birds 

 of Texas in particular, the trapping 

 of birds and the so-called "nigger- 

 shooter" and the parlor rifle should 

 be done away with. Gangs of 

 small chaps — white as well as 

 negroes— loaf around the suburbs 

 or near pastures and annoy or 

 kill innocent birds and others 

 even kill songbirds to eat. Up 

 north this seems to be more the 

 case than here in Texas, and it 

 is also, and forcibly stated by one of 

 America's greatest animal friends 

 and practical observers of nature 

 objects— Mr. Wm. T. Hornaday, 

 Director of the N. Y. Zoological 

 Park. May the warnings of Mr. 

 Hornaday serve as a lesson and 

 be heeded by unlawful bird killers. 

 This is what Hornaday says, (By 

 Harriet Quimby in "Leslies' Week- 

 ly June, 1911): 



"Ten years from now America 

 will be an absolutely birdless land, 

 unless some action is immediately 



taken to stop the present destruc- 

 tion of song and gamebirds. I 

 do not like to think that our 

 grandchildren will be obliged to 

 visit a public aviary if they 

 would study bird life, as they are 

 now obliged to visit the zoo if 

 they would sec America's represen- 

 tative animal, the buffalo; but 

 I am convinced that this will be 

 necessary unless the people of 

 America arouse themselves to im- 

 mediate vigorous protest. The sub- 

 ject of bird protection is far 

 more serious than the public at 

 large appreciates. Because some 

 of us see a few robins and larks 

 in our own city suburbs or in the 

 country, we are slow to understand 

 that these cheerful little feathered 

 creatures are being slaughtered 

 for food in many other city suburbs 

 and country places. 



"It is only a few years since 

 we in New York succeeded in 

 protecting our immediate vicinity 

 from song-bird-eating foreigners. 

 As an example of what is going 

 on in the country I will tsll you 

 of a certain local ditsurbance that 

 points to a moral. For twenty 

 years the Italians of New York 

 derived great joy from shooting 

 songbirds for food in the woods of 

 upper New York City. I never 

 heard of a city policeman making 

 an arrest for hunting in the city 

 unless dragged into it unwillingly 

 by some special game warden or 

 "other private citizen. When the 

 Zoological Park came into exist- 

 ence in 1899, the Zoological Society 

 decided that at least two miles 

 around the park the slaughter of 

 songbirds for food should cease. 

 In the active war that followed, 

 many arrests were made and many 

 fines imposed before the Italians 

 of New York became convinced 

 that it was time to quit the field. 

 One of the last episodes was 

 the arrest of five men having upon 

 their persons the dead remains 

 of forty-three song birds. We 

 preserved the entire bag of dead 

 birds and have them now as an 



