18 



Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



heart at all, look at these exhibits with dis- 

 gust. Just stunned with a light charge of 

 sand, the breast and back of the quiver- 

 ing victim is torn off and the palpitating 

 little body thrown down to expire as it 

 may. Alas ! it is not only in Brazil that 

 thej do these things. How I wish that 

 photography had been more advanced, and 

 that T could have secured some good nega- 

 tives of some of the proceedings; pictures 

 that would not lie, and could be enlarged 

 and hung up in prominent places as set-offs 

 to the hats in tlie millinerv stores. It 

 seems to me that it is some such course as 

 this, which will appeal visibly to the women 

 of civilization, that would have a marked 

 effect. 



It is not the exception, but the 

 rule, to take the plume from the living 

 bird. It is a well known fact, that both 

 hair and feathers retain their lustre and 

 elasticity better if renjoved before death. 

 Witness the law in many countries, that 

 the manes of horses shall be cut off before 

 the creatures are slaughtered. When I 

 was a boy in London, there were women 

 about the streets of that great city who 

 plied the unholy calling of skinning cats 

 alive. This is no tale of fiction, but the 

 truth. These fiends would entice the 

 wretched animals to them, and then with a 

 deftness made perfect by continual practice, 

 rip the skin off and fling the poor cat awa}^ 

 to linger in agony no one knows how long. 

 And why? Because the fur would retain 

 its springiness better. Happily, this is a 

 tiling of the past. It is a gruesome subject, 

 this pointed allusion to the needless suffer- 

 ing of innocent creatures, but if the women 

 of the land could only be brought to realize 

 the barbarous side of the case, they would 

 surely rise up in arms, frame a code of 

 their own as to what should and what 

 should not be used as decoration, and give 

 the cut direct to any who dared to trans- 

 gress the social law. 



Mr. Newell Eddy of Bay City wishes us to say that if 

 any Michigan "bird cranks" ever get his way he wants 

 them to call upon him. They will find a congenial 

 spirit who will always be glad to have a little talk about 

 our birds, and perhaps be able to show them something 

 of interest in that line. 



Prof. W. B. Barrows has been re-elected secretary of 

 the Michigan Academy of Science. 



The Marsh Wren a Destrouer of 

 Other Birds' Eqos. 



T. L..HANKINSON. 



F\ROM an article on the Long-billed 

 Marsh Wren, read before the Mich- 

 igan Ornithological Club by Harold 

 Stuart, T quote a paragraph relating to a 

 peculiar habit of this species. Mr. Stuart 

 says, "A very ugly crime is laid up against 

 this bird. They are said to suck the eggs 

 of other swainp birds, especially the Least 

 Bittern's. I have found numerous nests of 

 the Least Bittern coritaining 'sucked' eggs, 

 but have never found the thief." 



I was much interested in this note, for 

 I once caught one of these birds almost in 

 the very act of destroying the eggs of a 

 Least Bittern. 



It was on June 25, ISOtt, I was tramping 

 about among the thick bulrushes that 

 bordered Bawbeese Lake, in Llillsdale 

 County ; Long-billed Marsh Wrens were 

 abundant, and their characteristic songs 

 could be heard evei-y where about their 

 haunts on the margin of the, lake. I 

 noticed one of these birds perched part way 

 up a bulrush, a short distance ahead of me. 

 It was acting much interested in something 

 just below it. I went to the place and 

 found a nest of a Least Bittern containing 

 two eggs. The Wren perched on a rush 

 close to me and scolded as if he were the 

 owner of the nest. I soon left the nest and 

 Wren, and began to look about the vicinity 

 to see if I could flush the Bittern — the 

 owner of the nest and eggs. I soon re- 

 turned to the nest, and as I approached, the 

 Wren again began his scolding, and on 

 looking, I saw him hopping about on the 

 edge of the Bittern's nest, chattering in his 

 characteristic way — the more loudly as I 

 drew nearer. JSTot till I had come almost 

 within arms reach of him, did the little bird 

 fly away. 



I was much astonished when I found 

 that one of the eggs in the Bittern's nest 

 had been entirely demolished by this little 

 mischief. The fresh, warm yolk was run- 

 ning from the several holes in the shell of 

 the i^.gg, that the bill of this little bird had 

 made. 



This discovery was very interesting to me, 

 especially as I had never heard of this habit 



