12 T HE A.U*‘DiU BOW (BUD Dee 
creepers; those underground are scratched up by quail, partridge, and 
many sparrows and thrushes; warblers and vireos scan every twig and 
leaf; flycatchers, like cats, lie in wait and spring out after low-flying 
insects; while swifts, swallows and martins glean their harvest from the 
high-flying creatures. When night comes, the insects which have chosen that 
time to carry on their business are pounced upon by the whip-poor-will in 
the lower and the nighthawk in the upper air. Many times when we think 
that hummingbirds are taking dainty sips of nectar from the flowers they 
are in reality picking minute spiders and flies from the deep cups. It has 
been said that without birds within a space of ten years the earth would 
not be habitable for man, owing to the increase of noxious insects. 
Earthworms are high on the menus of such different species as the 
thrushes, woodcocks and cranes. I have a very pleasant memory of watch- 
ing a pair of woodcocks probing on a mud fiat and, when the mud accumu- 
lated on the bill, seeing them scrape it off with the foot before trying again. 
Slugs and snails are eaten by many of the smaller birds, and one of them, 
the Everglade kite, is so fond of a certain species of snail peculiar to that 
region that it is locally known as the “snail hawk.” Large mounds of shells 
are found where the kite has carried the snails to a favorite spot to feed, 
and the increasing’ scarcity of the Everglade kite has been attributed to 
the gradual lessening of the supply of this favored food. 
Crabs, starfish, sea urchins, shellfish, and even the jellyfish, which is 
often 95 per cent water, are eaten by crows, ravens, gulls, and probably 
others. They have been known to carry shellfish aloft and drop them on 
the rocks to break them open. A curious adaptation of this idea has been 
noted on ostrich farms in South Africa, where ravens carry stones up and 
drop them on the eggs which they are otherwise unable to break. In our 
country the eggs of other birds are delicacies which many feathered robbers, 
such as jays and crows, cannot resist. 
Fish have many enemies among the birds, which have numerous 
ingenious ways of obtaining their victims. The slim, evil-looking snake bird 
of the southern swamps darts through the water and spears the fish on its 
needle-pointed beak. Cormorants and several of the ducks, grebes, etc., 
catch their prey by diving. Among the strenuous seekers after fish is the 
osprey, which hovers on slowly vibrating wing's until a finny back shows 
near the surface, when, giving itself to gravitation, it drops like a plummet. 
It seizes its prey in its talons, while the kingfisher, after watching patiently 
from some overhanging branch, uses its bill to capture the fish. Terns dive 
for their fish, gulls usually snatch them from the surface, and skuas and 
jaegers get theirs at second hand, forcing them to disgorge or stealing 
from the more skillful fishers of the sea. 
Herons are the “still-fishers’” among birds and stand in the shallow 
waters, silent and motionless, but with their sharp bill and long neck hung 
on a hair trigger. So we see that few, if any, varieties of fish escape the 
attention of the birds, and even decayed masses as large as whales when 
thrown ashore are taken care of by the winged scavengers. Inland this 
latter service is performed by the carrion eaters, the most commonly known 
being the vultures and the now rapidly disappearing condor, the latter a 
