The little captive showed no fight nor did he try to escape so long as I held him by the feet, in an upright position. But when his body was clasped he would struggle vigorously. With all the handling I gave him in taking weights and measures, the only wounding he caused my hands was made in his attempts to secure a better grasp of my holding hand. While not actually tame, from the first he showed ecstatic delight in my stroking of the feathers on the back of his head,--chirping delightedly during the process, with much the manner and voice of a chicken when tucked under the maternal wing.
While spending his first night of captivity in my study, pending careful examination, he dropped upon my book-cases several casts, which are still awaiting analysis. At noon of the second day he was placed in the garret, where he had a measure of darkness and plenty of wing room. Here he ate readily the heads of food that was left convenient, varying this occupation with the tearing to pieces of an old Cooper's Hawk skin. So far as I could judge, he ate only on alternate days.
During the eight days of his sojourn with me, no increase of tameness was shown; and he would fly when I came near, seeking the darkest cranny of the garret, scolding me often with the characteristic anger-note of all the smaller Hawks and Owls. Soon my captive found a permanent home in the family of the foster-father of Minnesota ornithology, where, I was soon informed, he became quickly domesticated,--eating bits of steak from a chop-stick, beheading English Sparrows with neat despatch, and drinking from a teaspoon.
It gives us unusual pleasure to announce a plan, the fulfilment of which, already assured, will, we believe, be of great assistance to bird students and exert an important influence on the increase in our knowledge of North American birds.
Realizing from a most fortunate experience how greatly the past-master in ornithology may aid the beginner, we have felt that it would be an admirable scheme to form an 'Advisory Council,' composed of leading ornithologists throughout the United States and Canada, who would consent to assist students by responding to their requests for information or advice, the student being thus brought into direct communication with an authority on the birds of his own region.