April 12, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
463 
A KARA 
vided there is no county court in your county 
that has jurisdiction of misdemeanors, in which 
event instigate prosecutions in the county court. 
Third—Place on your docket all cases inves¬ 
tigated by you and make entries of all your 
official acts in connection with such case.s. 
Fourth—Be present, without fail, when the 
grand juries of your county are organized, and 
present to the solicitor, in writing, a list of all 
violations of which you are cognizant, together 
with the names of the witnesses who can give 
competent testimony against the alleged violators 
of the game and fish laws. 
Fifth—Keep in close and constant touch with 
your deputies and have them meet you on stated 
oecasions at the county seat for the purpose of 
discussing with you and reporting to you any 
infractions of which they are aware, and with 
a view of formulating plans for compelling a 
strict observance of the law. 
Sixth—Fail not to let me have your report 
on the first day of each month, whether any¬ 
thing of interest occurs in your county or not, 
and communicate with me as often as you are 
in need of advice and whenever a prosecution is 
instigated or a conviction secured. 
Seventh—Urge the teachers of your county 
to celebrate Bird Day in the public schools, 
which this year falls on the 5th of j\Iay. 
Your active co-operation will result not only 
in preserving the game and fish of Alabama, but 
in educating the people up to a point where 
their natural resources, belonging to them in 
their sovereign capacity, will be better appreci¬ 
ated, consequently better protected. 
John H. Wallace, Jr., 
Commissioner. 
This bird, believed to be a monkey-faced 
owl, sprang out of the shadows of an abandoned 
pavilion in Werner’s Park, near Baltimore, Md., 
and furiously attacked Charles Werner. Be¬ 
fore Mr. Werner beat it into sulijection, it lacer¬ 
ated his face and tore his hands severely. For 
days afterward it was caged and fed raven¬ 
ously on .birds and mice, which it devoured 
whole. A broken lilood vessel caused its death. 
AVIS. 
The bird was onl}' about a foot in height, 
but its wings measured four feet from tip to 
tip. When angered, it whimpered and screamed 
like a spoilt baby, and was exceedingly vicious. 
Its face curiously resembled a monkey, and by 
a queer arrangement of blaek feathers about 
the bill, infernal mustachios were so well repre¬ 
sented that the result was a feathered Simian 
Mephisto. 
About Sprigtail Ducks. 
Phii.adelphi.v, Pa., March 23. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: While tramping some Delaware 
River meadows one day last week, I happened 
upon the body of a hen sprigtail duck lying in 
the grass near a ditch, which had been the cause 
of my stopping long enough to wonder whether 
it was too deep for my long boots. I picked the 
bird up by one wing, and noted the flesh only 
next to the ground had been eaten, apparently 
by mice, the rest of the body being undisturbed, 
and that the color of the meat show-ed it had 
died very recently. Being within half a mile of 
the river, I concluded the bird, after being shot, 
had flown thus far before succumbing, and drop¬ 
ped the- rather “odorous” corpse into the grass. 
Just then my eye caught sight of a drake of the 
same species, crouched within five feet of the 
dead hen. I promptly got down on one knee, 
and quietly reaching out, grasped the live duck 
firmly across the back. He made practically no 
resistance as I gathered him in, placing his legs 
between my fingers and pressing his liody to my 
side to prevent possible struggles. I carried the 
bird thus for perhaps a quarter of a mile to show 
the “find” to my companions. On my way to 
join them I carefully noted the perfect condition 
of his plumage—not a feather seemed out of 
place in that most beautiful coat, and barring his 
being very thin in body, I concluded he was un¬ 
harmed. After joining my friends I satisfied 
myself the bird’s wings were unbroken, and then 
took him to the edge of a broad ditch, where I 
gently placed him in the water and released him. 
He swam away rapidly for a dozen yards, then 
by means of his wings and feet, skittered for 
thirty more, stopped a moment, and dove out 
of sight. The only influence we could draw was 
that this duck had flown from the river with his 
stricken mate to remain by her, probably until 
his own demise by starvation had taken place. 
Whether he has since found his way back to 
her body may probabh^ never be known. My 
hope was that his e.xperience with me might give 
him a “new thought” for his own welfare. How¬ 
ever, as a sermon on the subject of spring shoot¬ 
ing, it carries a lesson that seems worth while, 
so I pass it along. Scolopax. 
Dwarf or Midget Owl. 
Verdi, Nev., March 6 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Some weeks ago I read of the dwarf 
or midget owl of the Northwest. The writer 
seemed to think they were very rare. I have 
been somewhat familiar with the little fellow 
for twenty-five years. Two days ago ( March 4) 
one visited my front yard, where it perched on 
a limb. While I looked, it suddenly darted 
down into the ne.xt yard where are some rabbit 
pens, and returned with a mouse, which it carried 
to a pine tree nearby. In the short hour which 
I watched it, it caught four mice. It remained 
all day. How many more it caught I do not 
know. I came close to it (about twelve feet) 
and have since regretted that I did not photo¬ 
graph it, as I could easily have done. 
To-night, coming home, I found one by the 
road where some fool with a gun had left it 
dead. I think if I had seen the one who did 
it he would have found it a very unhealthy 
locality. They all ought to be protected. I 
have seen them feed upon wasps, mice, frogs 
and grasshoppers. They are very small; much 
smaller than a robin. Wish I could send the 
little fellow on the table as I write. He weighs 
two ounces. Some bird, what? 
S. M. Wiley. 
Fifty Common Birds. 
The State Department of Agriculture has 
issued, through the Bureau of Biological Survey, 
of which Henry W. Henshaw is chief, a 
Farmer’s Bulletin of very great interest to agri¬ 
culturists and to sportsmen. 
The pamphlet of thirty-one pages deals with 
fifty common birds of farm and orchard, giving 
a colored figure of each, descrihing the species, 
giving its range, and something about its habits. 
In the case of each species, it is indicated 
whether the bird is useful or injurious, and the 
pamphlet is, therefore, a compendium of com¬ 
mon bird knowledge which every farmer ought 
to have at hand. The colored plates are drawn 
by !Mr. Fuertes, which means that they are done 
by our best bird painter, and are extraordinarily 
true to nature. 
W’e advise our readers to write to the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture for a copy of Farmer's 
Bulletin No. 513. It is not only extraordinarily 
useful, but a very beautiful publication. 
