58 General Notes. [January, 



the night as they are seldom, if ever, seen so engaged. Passing 

 a slough on the road, where these curious animals live, one day, 

 three or four years ago, I saw a crow blackbird ( ' Quiscalus pur- 

 pureas), very hard at work in an apparent effort to grasp some 

 object on the ground. In a moment it flew up and alighted on a 

 fence-post, having in its bill a quite large crayfish. The bird held 

 it by the back, as a boy grasps one in his fingers, to keep clear of 

 the creature's pinchings claws. The captor had evidently done 

 that sort of thing before, for it manifested none of the awkward- 

 ness of a "new hand" at the business. During the moment 

 which elapsed before the bird flew off with its prey, I could dis- 

 tinctly see the crayfish's legs and feet in rapid motion, as it was 

 feeling about for some object to grasp, or struggling to escape. 

 The bird seemed to have quite a job in mastering the bundle of 

 claws and legs, but it appeared determined not to abandon its 

 lucky "find." I believe this incident maybe taken as a very 

 positive answer to Professor Beat' in regard to 



the food of any of our birds we need just such crucial tests as 

 those which have been made by Professor Forbes, of Normal, 

 Illinois. As to the presence of such an unusual number of these 

 gastroliths, in the bird's stomach, it would require close observa- 

 tion to determine whether they were picked up and swallowed as 

 aids to digestion, in grinding up the food; or were left for the 

 sa'me purpose after the other portions of the crayfish had passed 

 along into the intestines. But these sagacious and active birds 

 are so often seen walking in the shallow water, that their mission 

 is no doubt the capture of all sorts of " small deer" which abide 

 in there, as minnows, crayfish, worms, small frogs, &c. They 

 are wise birds, and they walk about within a few feet of an 

 observer, with a degree of coolness and nonchalance which is as 

 amusing as it is unusual in our feathered visitants. In spring and 

 fall they industriously follow a plow all day long, devouring all 

 sorts of insects, and at such times become exceedingly tame. In 

 fact, their behavior is exactly of that kind to indicate that they 

 take it for granted that no one desires to hurt them. At all 

 events, that is the case on my farm. — Charles Aldrieh, Webster 

 City, lenva, Nov. 10, 1881. 



Wild Birds Racing with the Cars. — Several times I have 

 noticed wild birds of different species flying along parallel with, 

 and near a railroad train, in such a way as to suggest the idea 

 that they were really trying to distance the iron horse! One 

 day last spring I was coming east from Sioux City, Iowa, 

 on the Illinois Central R. R., when my attention was attracted 

 to a couple of birds which seemed to be making us a trial of 

 their speed with the train. They were, as I supposed at the 

 time, our smallest species of hawks — sharp, alert, powerful birds, 

 possessed of a high degree of strength and endurance on the 

 wing. They kept steadily on their course a dozen rods from 



