JIM’S BABIES 
the shell as daintily as Queen Victoria 
is said to have done. The male al- 
ways carried these in his beak, and I am 
sure the fish were, as a rule, several days 
dead. I watched him many hours at his 
fishing, and never but once saw him catch 
a live fish. Usually he preferred those 
cast up on the shore by the water. Frogs 
and snakes he caught in the marshy meadow, 
and I have seen him kill a snake that 
measured twenty-three inches long. But 
for our shouting, which compelled him to 
leave it, he would probably have carried 
this to his mate on the nest. A fish, 
which we forced him to drop from mid- 
air, fell into an open meadow, and, con- 
cealing ourselves at a distance, we watched 
him come back for it. This he did almost 
immediately, but being frightened a second 
time, gave up the search, and with many 
indignant caws flew back to the lake 
for another. 
Early in our acquaintance with ‘^Jim” 
a peculiar conflict took place, at sunrise one 
6 8i 
