142 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 14-No. f) 



put in an appearance, and later in the clay the 

 three orphans were discovered and surrounded 

 by a lot of crows. One stately fellow, after 

 some preliminary skirmishing succeeded in 

 killing one of them and flew to the woods on 

 the main island carrying the victim in its bill, 

 another soon followed while the third, after 

 being roughly handled, slid off the rock into 

 the water and swam away, the crows paying 

 no further attention to him. Two or three 

 old gulls circling around complacently wit- 

 nessed the slaughter of the innocents without 

 a protest. Inasmuch as other young on rocks 

 near by wei-e not attacked I concluded the 

 crows recognize an orphan when they meet 

 one. 



Away from the nests it was difficult to get a 

 shot at the old birds, although at a fishing 

 staticm in Tobin's Bay we finally secured all we 

 wislied, and proved that gulls have no idea of 

 number. After dressing the fish the offal was 

 taken in a barrel and dumped in the water 

 close to an island in the bay which soon at- 

 tracted hundreds of gulls who settled on the 

 water and fought over the choice morsels. On 

 the approach of a boat they would keep out of 

 range, but by landing one of the party on the 

 island and returning with the boat the gulls 

 would settle as before and several secured at 

 one shot, the boat would pick these up, coming 

 close to the island, and after returning another 

 sliot would soon be had and the strategy con- 

 tinued so long as any ottal remained. The 

 birds congregate in hundreds about the few 

 fishing stations on the islands, and their in- 

 cessant cry becomes tiresome when listened to 

 from daylight until after dark. 



Frank S. Duijtjett. 



Clipping. 



Joe Walker was a peculiar character. An 

 old hunter and guide, he had seen many ups 

 and downs (principally the latter) in his life. 

 He had lost an eye by a Shoshone arrow, his 

 scalp in a boxing match with a wounded griz- 

 zly, and old age pulled nearly all his teeth; 

 but he rubbed his bald head, scratched his 

 well eye, and mumbled out his reminiscences, 

 however, with old time energy. An expert in 

 many of the Indian dialects, he was often em- 

 ployed as interpreter by the government in 

 its pow-wows with different tribes. So 

 when in the fall of '73, the Chivi-Utes de- 

 manded a new treaty, Joe Walker was en- 

 gaged by the agent as interpreter. Winter was 



coming on and commencing early, and the 

 Chivi-Utes were politic enough to desire ar- 

 mistice, at least until the green grass of next 

 spring should put new life into their 

 skeleton ponies. As soon as Joe had been 

 spoken to, he drew some pay ahead and went to 

 Salt Lake. Here he invested in a wig, an arti- 

 ficial eye and set of false teeth. Thus equipped, 

 he returned to the agency with the remark that 

 he "reckoned he'd show them Injins athingor 

 two not down in the Book of Mormon," and 

 he did. 



He spent most of his time trying to get ac- 

 climatized to tlie things before agency coun- 

 cil came oft'. 



Council day dawned at last bright and 

 sunny, and about 10 a.m. the council braves 

 came riding t<»ward the appointed place. Then 

 the chiefs came straggling in and took their 

 seats in circle, solemn and grave, sullen and 

 defiant. The agent,government commissioner, 

 Joe, .and a few whites sat together, while 

 ranged opposite were the chiefs and 

 braves. Old Palendo rose after an impressive 

 silence, to make the opening speech. He ac- 

 cused the whites of bad faith, lauded the 

 goodness of the patient, abused Indians, re- 

 hearsed the whole trouble and finally sat 

 down with the usual ambiguous proposal (»f 

 peace. Walker translated and upon sitting 

 down ran his hand in under his hair, to the 

 horror of the Indians, some of whom quietly 

 withdrew from the circle and stood behind it 

 with their eyes riveted on Joe's scalp. Then 

 the agent spoke, and Joe translated again. 

 This time he was listened to with the closest 

 attention, and when he sat down there was a 

 manifest interest in his next movements. 

 This time he leaned back against a tree, 

 closed his eyes, and after the manner of many 

 people, trotted his teeth gently out on his 

 tongue and then drew them back again. 

 The younger braves had seen quite enough of 

 this, and commenced to sidle off through the 

 trees, while the chiefs, gritting their teeth and 

 breathing hard, appeared to lose all interest 

 in everything, except the watching of this phe- 

 nomenon. Finally one warrior spunked up 

 courage enough to rise, and in a very much 

 moderated voice attempted to hasten the con- 

 clusion of the treaty. He kept one eye on 

 the interpreter, however, and was observed to 

 be decidedly "wobbly" in the legs. He sat 

 down and Joe arose to translate, but that 

 translation was never finished, for toward its 

 close Joe's new eye pained him, and to the in- 

 describable horror of the savages, he rolled 



