Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1895 — Queer Things About Birds. [ARTICLE]

Queer Things About Birds.

No bird of prey has the gift of song Vultures have no sense of smell Carcasses kept out of their sight are never detected by them. The stork has been known to perish in the flames of a burning house rather than to desert her young. The smallest egg is that of the tiny Mexican humming oird. It is scarcely larger than a pin’s head. The smallest bird is a species of humming bird common in Mexico and Central America. It is not quite sq largo uh a blue bottle fly, and weighs twenty grains. The woodpecker is an excellent carpenter; the hole he boros in a tree is exactly round as though lined out with a pair of compasses. An owl cannot move his eyes, as they arc fixed in their sockets. The deficiency is atoned for by great freedom of motion in the muscles of the head and neck. The wings of the owls arc lined with a soft down that enablei the bird to fly without making the slightest sound, a very Important matter to a nocturnal bird of proy. The wild goose and some other aquatic birds are able to admit air between the skin and tho body, and are thus protected against cola by an almost impervious tur cushion. The shrike, or butcher bird, hangs out a bait for his prey. After killing a large insect or small bird ho Impales its remains on a thorn or twig and waits for other Insects or birds to be attracted. The method of locomotion of the condor in air is a mystery. This bird has boon soon to circle to and fro in the sky tor for many hours at a time, ascending and descending, without once flapping its wings. Tho bustard has a pouch under its chin so capacious as to contain six or seven marts of water. When suddenly attacked, and with no time for escape, he will turn on his enemies a violent stream from this natural reservoir.