reat damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from
traps set for martens and minks, and by eating trapped game. They will
sit quietly and see you build a log trap and bait it, and then, almost
before your back is turned, you hear their hateful "Ca-ca-ca," as they
glide down and peer into it. They will work steadily, carrying off meat
and hiding it. I have thrown out pieces, and watched one to see how much
he would carry off. He flew across a wide stream and in a short time
looked as bloody as a butcher from carrying large pieces; but his
patience held out longer than mine. I think one would work as long as
Mark Twain's California Jay did trying to fill a miner's cabin with
acorns through a knot hole in the roof. They are fond of the berries of
the mountain ash, and, in fact, few things come amiss; I believe they do
not possess a single good quality except industry."

Its flight is slow and laborious, while it moves on the ground and in
trees with a quickness and freedom equal to that of our better known
Bluejay.

The nesting season begins early, before the snow has disappeared, and
therefore comparatively little is known about its breeding habits. It is
then silent and retiring and is seldom seen or heard. The nest is quite
large, made of twigs, fibres, willow bark, and the down of the
cottonwood tree, and lined with finer material. The eggs, so far as is
known, number three or four. They are of a pale gray color, flecked and
spotted over the surface with brown, slate gray, and lavender.

THE PURPLE GALLINULE.

Purple Gallinules are found in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, and
casually northward as far as Maine, New York, Wisconsin, and south
throughout the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and northern South
America to Brazil. The bird pictured was caught in the streets of
Galveston, Texas, and presented to Mr. F. M. Woodruff, of the Chicago
Academy of Sciences. Gallinules live in marshy districts, and some of
them might even be called water-fowls. They usually prefer sedgy lakes,
large swampy morasses and brooks, or ponds and rivers well stocked with
vegetation. They are not social in disposition, but show attachment to
any locality of which they have taken possession, driving away other
birds much larger and stronger than themselves. They are tenderly
attached to their little ones and show great affection for each other.
The nest is always built among, or near the water plants of which they
are