Page:Condor6(5).djvu/23

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Sept., x9o4[ THE CONDOR I33 lost her fears for the camera. Plate after plate was snapped but her move- ments were always very rapid and weather conditions are not always of the best in Oregon. As I sat in the bushes by the nest with the camera by my side I had almost as good a chance to study the marking of her dress as if I had held her in my hand. She would alight on a twig three feet away and I often saw her orange crown when she ruf- fled up her feathers in inquiry or alarm. It seems strange that such a delicate tinge of orange should be hidden just as if it would fade away in the sunshine. Maybe in time when this fidgety little fellow has reached a higher stage in the evolu- tion of his existence he will flit about the trees in a real cap of gold. Porl!and, Bird Surgeons BV W. OTTo EMERSON T was only a stray bone of a peculiar shape among the drift along the Monterey beach that attracted my eye--a bone differing from hundreds of others that may be found in a locality where dead birds are cast ashore by the waves. On a closer examination it was seen to be the humerus of a bird as large as a gull or a cormorant, and it had been broken at some stage of its life. I at once recalled the many mythical tales of birds being able to care for their broken legs or wings by binding or wrapping them with hairs, feathers, and other handy materials. A citizen of Cleveland writes, for one of the Cincinnati papers, an account of his finding two young swallows in his barn. One of them had a leg thoroughly bandaged with horse hairs, presumably accomplished by a parent. He carefully removed the hairs, one by one, and found that the nestling's leg was 'broken. On visiting the nest next day what was his surprise to find the young swallow's leg bandaged as before. The bird surgeon was not again interfered with, and in about two weeks he found that the horse hairs were being removed, a few each day; and finally when all were off, the union of the bones was evidently perfect. Another case is cited from "Youths' Chronicle." A French naturalist writes that on a number of occasions he has shot woodcock which were found to be con- valescing from previously received wounds. This naturalist goes on to state that