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Quiscalus quiscula aeneus Killing and Catching Goldfish. — During the 
past summer, while noting the condition of my goldfish pond I frequently 
found many bodies of these fishes floating, bearing evidence of some sharp 
instrument having been used to effect their death: deep incisions, holes, 
and grooves in their heads and backs, etc. Carefully killing every King- 
fisher and all the Herons, Bitterns being wholly absent, I became very 
much puzzled at the constant loss of life among these pretty fish of which 
I have, I presume, some 3000 individuals in the pond. I first observed 
this evidence of destruction early in May last, and it was not until late in 
July that I detected the cause of it. 
Large flocks of Quiscalus q. ceneus make their home annually from early 
spring till late every fall, in the pine, spruce and hemlock groves which 
belong to my grounds; as I do not raise cereals, and devote my land to 
fruit culture, I regard these birds as the most valuable of their kind to me, 
and never have permitted them to be shot at or disturbed on my premises. 
Going down to my pond, as usual, in quest of Kingfishers, I happened to 
take notice of a Crow Blackbird in the act of striking quickly with its bill 
into the water at the edge of the bank. Wondering what it found there 
for food, I cautiously approached, sneaking behind the shelter of an ever- 
green and bed of flowering shrubs. This bird had struck a small goldfish 
as it came up to the water’s edge— struck it in the centre of its head with 
the sharp point of its bill. This blow only stunned the fish, but rendered 
it unable to dart away, although it could still squirm and wriggle ; the 
Blackbird was earnestly trying to land its prey by repeatedly striking 
the fish so as to get a beak hold, which it finally did after many failures. 
Catching sight of me, it at once flew away, leaving the writhing and mor- 
tally wounded victim upon the earth. The mystery of that peculiar de- 
struction of my goldfish was thus solved. 
The habit of goldfish whereby they suck and bore at and into the grassy 
and mossy edges of a pond as they feed, renders them a comparatively 
shining mark for Quiscalus.— Henry W. Elliott, near Cleveland , Ohio. 
*0/- 
Auk, YII.A*ril, 1800. p. XOt-ZOI . 
