NATURAL. HISTORY. 469 
DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS FOR PLUMAGE. 
A friend sends me a clipping from the 
San Francisco Bulletin containing a 
column illustrated article by Adelaide 
Knapp on the destruction of bird life for 
the ornamentation of women’s hats. The 
subject is handled in a most remarkable 
and interesting manner, and, owing to the 
large sale of the Bulletin, is sure to do 
a vast amount of good. Ii all the great 
dailies would take up this subject and ven- 
tilate the pride of women who think they 
must make up in feathers what they lack 
in intellect, we might hope to have a few 
song birds 5 years hence. 
In the course of her excellent article 
Miss Knapp says: 
Birds are the highest form of wild life we have. In 
beauty, in poetic charm and in actual intelligence they 
exceed all other wild creatures ; but aside from these 
considerations, which ought to prompt civilized beings 
to protect them, they fill a most important part in the 
economy of nature. The increase of rodent and insect 
pests in this countryis directly traceable to the de- 
crease, appalling in its rapidity, of our bird population, 
American birds are being swiftly exterminated and 
many useful varieties are already extinct. Under nor- 
mal conditions bird mortality is always great. Natu- 
ralists tellus birds rarely die a naturaldeath, They 
have a great number of enemies, Snakes, squirrels, 
rats, predacious members of their own race—and small 
boys--steal their eggs and destroy their fledgelings. They 
die by thousands in every severe storm. Myriads of 
_ them are blown out to sea by every great wind. The 
mania for egg collecting which attacks nearlyevery . 
boy, at some time; the mania that attacks the aver- 
age man with a holiday and a gun, to go out and kill 
things ; the ignorance of farmers, who often regard as 
enemies the very creatures who are doing yeoman 
service in field and orchard, are decimating the num- 
bers of the birds. All these causes combined, however, 
are not so deadly operative for destruction as the 
thoughtlessness, te olly, the vanity which demands 
the slaughter of birds for mere personal adornment. 
a 
THE KINGFISHER. 
The kingfisher, whether in rest or in mo- 
tion, draws our attention and admiration. 
When he stands on an_ outstretched 
branch resting for hours at a time in 
statue-like indolence, his attitude is one 
of deep gravity. Every azure feather 
scintillates with metallic brilliancy in the 
sun. His head is large in proportion to 
his body, giving him a pugnacious ap- 
‘pearance. His bill is not unlike that of a 
snipe, but is heavier and more tapering. 
The stroke of his wings is regular, his 
flight easy and swift. While flying he her- 
alds his approach by a clattering, penetrat- 
ing cry. 
He alights across a cove from me, on 
the bough of a decayed oak. To this cove 
the water lily takes kindly. Its blossoms 
cradle the gauze-winged dragon-fly and 
on its leathery leaves warily moves the 
hideous water spider. A _ falling stone 
strikes the water. The agile pickerel 
that had pushed its nose above the sur- 
face darts to the darkest nook; the drag- 
on-fly soars aloft and the immaculate 
water lily sways on the disturbed waters. 


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I have been deceived. ’Twas no rock. 
Forth from the water springs the king- 
fisher and in his beak he bears a silvery 
minnow. 
Francis J. Maurin, Elizabeth, Minn. 
THREE CUBS. 
L. J. Blaisdell, the veteran bear hunter 
of Weld, Me., has-3 black cubs, which he 
captured.in the mountains a short time ago. 
He has been hunting the mother here fer 
several days, but has not been able to get 
a shot at her. 
The old bear left the cubs to take care 
of themselves, and they immediately took 
to the trees when Blaisdell came up with 
them, but the hunter, undeterred by 20 
feet of limbless spruce and the probability 
of the mother’s return, climbed after them 
and soon had them securely tied. 
They are as cunning as kittens and lap 
milk readily. Mr. Blaisdell intends to sell 
them, as the legislature took the bounty 
off bears last winter. 
Notwithstanding the large number of 
deer shot here last fall, they are reported 
by the gum gatherers as being plentiful. 
Nearly all the cottages around Lake 
Webb have been engaged for next summer, 
and sportsmen and guides are waiting im- 
patiently for the open season for salmon 
and trout. The Lake Webb Sportsmen's 
Association has been stocking the lake 
with the above named fish for several years 
and the fishing next spring promises to be 
exceptionally good. 
The guides and owners of cottages and 
fishing camps own and support a fish 
hatchery at their own expense, except that 
now and then the town votes money to aid 
them. Many tourists remain here all sum- 
mer, attracted by the beautiful mountain 
scenery. 
N. G. Foster, Weld, Franklin Co., Maine. 
