Naturalist.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 411, 24 March 1904, Page 7

Naturalist.

BIRD ENEMIES; jfUc° W sureiy ,he birda know tlieir sjwK eß ' mies ! See how the wrens * nd AESK robins and Wue-birds pursue-and »-i« eo.W the cat, while they take little or no notice of the dog ! Even the swailow; will fight the cat, and, relyine too confidently upon its powers of flight sometimes swoops down so near to its enemy that it is caught by a sudden stroke of the oat's paw. The only case I know of in which our small birds fail to recognize their enemy is furnished by the shrike; Apparently the little birds do not know that this modest-colored bird is anassassin. At least I have never seen them scold or molest him, or utter any outcries at his presence, as they usually do at birds of prey. Probably it is because the shrike is a rare visitant.

But the birds have nearly all found out the trick of the jay, and when he comes sneaking through the treeß in May and June in quest of eggs, he ia quickly exposed and roundly abused. It is amusing to oee the robins hustle him out of the tree which holds their nest. They cry, 'Thief, thief 1* to the J top of their voices as they charge upon him, and the jay retorts in a voice scarcely less complimentary as he makes off.

, -The jays have their enemies also, and need to keep an eye on their own eggs. It would be interesting to know if jays ever rob jaja, or crows plunder crows; or is' there honor among thieves even in the feathered tribes P I suspect the jay is often punished by birds which are otherwise innocent of • nest-robbing. One season I found a jay's nest in a small cedar on the side of a wooded ridge. ? lt held five eggs, every one of which had been punctured. Apparently some bird had driven its sharp beak through their shells, with the sole intention of destroying them, for no part of the contents of the eggs had been removed. It looked like a case of revengej as if some thrush or warbler, whose nest had/ Buffered at the hands of the jays, had watched its opportunity and had in this way retaliated upon its enemies. An egg for an egg. The jays were lingering near, very demure and silent, and probably ready to jo'in a crusade against nest-robbers. The great bugaboo of the birds is the owl. The owl Bnatches them from off their roosts at night, and gobbles up their eggs and young in their nests. He is a veritable ogre to them, and his presence fills them with consternation and alarm.

One season, to protect my early nests, I placed a Urge stuffed owl amid the branches of the tree. Such a racket as there instantly began about my grounds is not plasant to think upon! The orioles and robins fairly ' shrieked out their jaffright.' • Toe news instantly spread in every direction, and apparently every bird in ' town came to sae that owl in the dherry-tre#, and every bird took a cherry, so that I lost more fruit than if I had left the owl indoors. With craning necks and horrified looks the birds would alight upon the branches, and between their screams would snatch off a cherry, as if the act was some relief to their outraged feelings.