Nov., 1909 
SOME BIRD ACCIDENTS 
183 
neck, and the force had swung the bird’s body over the wire from below, locking it 
in a death grip. 
In The Condor, vol. vm, no. 2, page 40 (March-April, 1906), I told of an 
accident where two young Night Herons were hanging dead in the tree-top. In 
the heron colonies it is not uncommon for a young bird to get its foot caught in a 
crotch and thus hang itself. Several years ago we took the picture of a Song- 
Sparrow that was hanging dead in a wire fence. In some way the foot had been 
caught between the two twisted wires and the bird could not release itself, for the 
leg was -wedged and broken. 
During the past summer, we found a female Rufous Hummingbird hanging 
DEAD HORNED LARK WITH WING CAUGHT ON THE 
BARK OF A WIRE FENCE 
dead in one of the lilac bushes in the yard. The bird was merely hanging up- 
side-down with both feet clutching the limb and lockt in a death grip. I do not 
know whether it died in the natural upright position and turned over afterward, or 
whether it died with head downward. After taking a photograph I examined the 
bird, but could find no cause of death. The tiny branch was bruised where the feet 
clutcht it, showing that the grip had been, and remained, perfectly tight. 
This incident reminds me of an experience that Mr. Bohlman had with a 
hummingbird several years ago. It was a cold rainy day and he was wandering 
thru the woods. He came to a hummingbird that was sitting apparently sound 
asleep in a small bush. He toucht it, but the bird showed no signs of life. He cut 
