North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[athagan@atlantic.net]

Quoting "William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>:

> But when I net my grapes, they still sneak inside, occasionally. And
> then they'll get caught in the netting. I put a leather glove on my left
> hand to hold them, while I try to cut the net away with a scissors. But
> if I don't take care, the cardinal will grab the scissors in its
> powerful beak - and just hang on. They can really hold on tight! I don't
> imagine that it would feel very good if they grabbed onto skin...
>
> It's a little harder holding them when I'm wearing a leather glove, but
> they can't bite through it, so I'd say that it's worth it.

When we were boys my brother and I used to trap quail.  Caught a  
juvenile cardinal once and my brother decided he wanted it so he  
reached in and grabbed the thing.  The bird grabbed him right back and  
for a moment there it was not immediately apparent who wanted to let  
loose of who more!  Those seed cracking beaks are pretty strong it  
seems.

.....Alan.



----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.