Militant American 
Birds. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
( r 3°) 
Militant American Birds, 
By "FRISCO" 
“ Qh ! for the repeal, if only for a day, 
of those Wild Birds’ Protection Acts! ” 
Devoutly though the British farmer may 
give expression to this prayer, his 
American cousin has greater need for it. 
And, by the way, he can generally give 
more telling vent to it! 
A Handsome Thief. 
His chief enemies are the Red-wing 
Starling ( Agelaius phoeniceus) and the 
American Sparrow Hawk {Falco 
sparverius). The former differs from 
his European namesake both in colour 
and characteristics. So distinct are the 
male and female in appearance that it 
would be hard to convince a townsman 
that they are of the same species. The 
male is nine inches long, whereas the 
female only just exceeds seven; the 
former is of a beautiful glossy black, 
with scarlet shoulders, whilst the female 
is brownish-black above, mottled and 
streaked with brown or white; the head 
has two stripes of cream colour on each 
side over the eye, and the lower surface 
is of a whitish-cream colour, streaked 
and spotted with black. The bird is 
found from Mexico in the South to 
Labrador in the North, and is migratory 
in the Northern States, but remains all 
the year round in the South—to the 
regret of long-suffering farmers. 
Ceremonial Drill. 
For their principal attacks upon the 
farmer’s property the Starlings select the 
months of August and September, when 
the ears of the Indian corn are young, 
soft, and succulent. As they wheel and 
drive through the air, like vast clouds, 
their innumerable wings of brightest 
vermillion glittering gaily in the sun, 
they present a sight picturesque enough 
to move to poetry anyone but a farmer, 
for the object of their “ ceremonial 
drill ” is all too plain to him. Gather¬ 
ing in Strength from all parts, they 
suddenly swoop down on the spot speci¬ 
ally selected by their advance guard. 
The sky is almost blackened by them, 
as they perform their aerial evolutions 
prior to getting to business. 
Destruction Complete. 
Then the corn is ravenously seized 
upon, and the husks, though they are 
composed of numerous wrappers of tight 
leaves, are soon removed sufficiently to 
admit of the ingress of the greedy bills. 
So numerous are they and so lusty their 
appetites that nothing is left but the cob 
and the shrivelled skins of the grain. 
What little is left of the tender ear is 
necessarily much exposed to wind and 
rain, and is generally practically killed. 
The completeness of the destruction is 
really only equalled by the coolness and 
rudeness of it; and yet they wish these 
farmers to be philosophers, to console 
themselves by the thought that the same 
birds kill grubs, caterpillars, and other 
insects in the spring and summer. Never 
try this salve on an American farmer at 
the end of a dry September—try it on a 
ladies’ school first! 
A Bold, Bad Burglar. 
As if this were not enough, the 
American agriculturist has to contend 
with an unusually greedy species of 
Sparrow Hawk. It is certainly a most 
elegant and handsome little ' bird; but 
for daring, when bent on destruction, it 
can hardly have an equal surely. It has 
been known to boldly enter farmyards 
at early morning—and leave in company 
with mice, or even young chickens; it 
seldom goes away empty-handed! For 
it is, as well, the most persistent of birds, 
and sometimes sits for more than an 
hour at a time perched on top of a dead 
tree or pole in the middle of a field, 
when on the look-out for likely prey. 
