2 



Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



As primitive man endowed tliis bird, 

 iinmed from its cry, witli mysterious and 

 occult knowledge, and on down the ages 

 uncanny attributes have attached to it, so 

 the hunter and trapper and the Indian of 

 the Upper Peninsula look upon it with 

 mingled reverence and awe. The Koran 

 says it was a Raven that taught Cain how 

 to dispose of his murdered brother Abel, 

 and in Norse mythology two Ravens sit on 

 Odin's shoulder, for the purpose of being 

 despatched over the world after any desired 

 intelligence. 



In the Upper Peninsula most hunters 

 and trappers attribute to them powers of 

 both good and evil. In a more practical 

 vein the hunter knows that the Raven oft- 

 times well nigh destroys the deer hanging 

 in the woods, and he has learned to place 

 sticks criss-cross about the deer, which 

 seem to suggest a trap to the Raven and 

 keep it away. The hunter knows, too, that 

 his wounded deer has died when he notes a 

 gathering of Ravens and hears their cries, 

 and he is often enabled to find game in this 

 way that would otherwise be lost. The 

 trapper knows that of all things the Raven 

 is most apt to steal the poisoned balls of 

 tallow or pieces of njeat with which he has 

 baited wolves. Of course this practice is 

 not a healthful one for tlie Raven, but the 

 trapper isn't after the bird and so curses 

 him as a "hoodoo," along with all the 

 corindae. Likewise the Raven steals the 

 bait from the traps and is often caught. 

 The trapper places a delicate twig beneath 

 tlie pan of his larger traps so that the Raven 

 may not spring them, even though it may 

 purloin the bait. The Indians to the far 

 nortli have a myth to the effect that the first 

 man to visit the earth was washed up from 

 the sea during a great storm, fastened in a 

 shell ; that Ravens congi-egated and by 

 dint of hard work pushed the sliell bej^ond 

 the reach of the receding waves, picked it 

 open and rescued the prisoner, whom they 

 fed and cared for after the manner of 

 Elijah. So with them the Raven is a 

 sacred bird and the father of the race. 

 Ever since the dawn of literature the Raven 

 has had a prominent part. 



Nof content with eating what carrion it 

 can find in the cool northern latitude, it is 

 omnivorous and dines with satisfaction upon 



young hares, fresh venison, young grouse, 

 geese and ducks, rats, moles, mice, eggs, 

 echini, mollusca, fruit, grain, Crustacea, 

 grubs, worms, frogs, toads and fish. But 

 few birds have so varied a menu. The 

 Raven ''smells powder" with the same 

 acute sense of the Crow and is hard to 

 stalk. Above all he is the only citizen of 

 the Upper Peninsula of whom it may be 

 said that too much talking turned him from 

 white to black, as charged in the "Story of 

 Coronis." 



"The Raven once in snowy plumes was drest, 

 White as the whitest Dove's imsnllied breast, 

 Fair as the guardian of the capital, 

 Soft as the Swan, a large and lovely fowl; 

 His tongue, his prating tongue had changed him quite 

 To sooty blackness from purest white." 



Chase S. Osborn. 

 Sault Ste. Marie. 



The Bluebird's Plea. 



To the Michigan Mothers a7id Daughters: 



T~^LEASE do not look at me, — only 

 1*^-^ listen. Do you know that once I 

 J-5 was a beautiful Bluebird? Many 

 nesting times have come and gone since 

 then, still I have never forgotten those 

 happy days ; the days when free as the 

 balmy, springtime air, I believed that all 

 the world was true and good," and from a 

 heart bursting with joy and gratitude I 

 poured forth my little song of praise and 

 listened to the solos of the Bobolinks, the 

 Meadowlark, the Oriole and all the wonder- 

 ful woodland chorus. 



There is nothing beautiful about me now. 

 In fact there never has been since mv life 

 was gone. After that terrible moment 

 when I knew that I must die and that my 

 precious nestlings would cruelly starve, I 

 realized nothing again until, with returning 

 consciousness, I found myself here in a 

 millinery store. And since then, though 

 my featiiers are fresh and my color quite 

 perfect, it has seemed to me, when I have 

 caught a reflection of myself in the mirror, 

 that I appear, indeed, but a sad and pitiable 

 victim. When one of you, on that very day, 

 called me "Such a love of a bird," I could 

 only look at you in wonder and reproach. 

 I knew so much better, — and you, who 

 pretend to know so much of love and mercy, 

 to have said this ! I was dead, my joyous, 

 sparkliijg life forgotten. And my dear 



