1 40 INSTINC T IN BIRDS. 



always been half stunned, while this bird was not in the least 

 bewildered. 



Another instance I noticed while studying the habits of 

 the American Osprey or Fish Hawk {Pandion haliaetus caro- 

 linensis) in Fall River, Mass. The farmers in that vicinity, 

 being mostly fishermen, have decided objections to having 

 the Ospreys disturbed. They claim that the bird does no 

 harm whatever, which is very true, and besides that they 

 show where the fish are. However, wishing to secure one 

 or two sets of their eggs as specimens, I climbed to an in- 

 habited nest, and was surprised to see the bird fly from it to 

 a farm-house that stood some thousand yards distant. She 

 had whistled a few times on leaving the nest ; but, on coming 

 nearly over the house, she commenced a series of whistling 

 screams that sounded very ominous to me. It was not two 

 minutes before several farmers armed with clubs appeared 

 and asked me, in no very polite terms, regarding my back 

 and head, to descend or take the consequences. As soon 

 as the farmers reached the tree, the bird became almost 

 silent, evidently knowing perfectly well that she had nothing 

 to fear. 



The habit of the Yellow Warbler {Detidroica cestiva) of 

 building a double and sometimes even a triple nest to avoid 

 hatching the egg of the Cowbird {Alolothrtis ater) is too well 

 known to be more than mentioned in this connection. 



Another peculiar instinct is that of destruction of their 

 own eggs, which seems to seize some birds if their nests are 

 even looked into by man. One special case of this kind 

 that came under my notice was a nest of nine eggs of the 

 Virginia Rail {Rallus virginianus). I had in no way dis- 

 turbed either nest or eggs ; yet, upon passing by it some five 

 minutes after having found it, I saw the bird standing among 

 the eggs and stabbing them with her long bill. I quickly 

 interfered, but not before she had demolished three eggs and 

 thrust her bill completely through another without otherwise 

 injuring it. I have the nest and six eggs (among them the 



