104 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 8, 18S3. 



year-olds, -$6.50 for three-year-olds* and £3 for four-year olds 

 and upward, extra heavy ones sometime 'bringing LO 

 head. 



Generally one or two yoinig men. sons of the former 

 owners of' the cattle, would go along with the herd to 

 assist in driving, and at the same timelook after the inter- 

 ests of their friends and neighbors, and if the dealer should 

 decide not to return immediately to the same neighborhood 

 after disposing of the drove, these young men would receive 

 the purchase money due to their' friends at home, having 

 been previously authorized by power of attorney lo do so. 



These droves or herds numbered from a thousand to 

 twenty-five hundred head, rarely exceeding the latter figure. 

 and it would require lour men for the first live hundred 

 head, and a man Jor each hundred after. In addition to 

 these men there would be needed one pilot to lead the herd 

 and select camping grounds, etc., one cook, ;i teamsti t tfl 

 drive the heavy canvas-covered wagon drawn by five or six 

 yoke of oxen, containing the cook and camp equipages, and 

 two men to drive and attend to the spare saddle lot i 

 which there would he needed three or four for each 

 vaguero. 



The trip to Kansas used to occupy from sixty to eighty 

 days, driving ten or twelve miles a day. but stopping over 

 occasionally" for three or four days to rest the cattle where 

 thev found good camping and grazing ground, and also be- 

 ing' delayed sometime for a week at. a time gathering to- 

 gether the cattle after a stampede. 



The wages paid these vaqucros, or cowboys, as they are 

 now called, was sixty to eighty dollars per month, with arms 

 and everything furnished, and one mouth's pay in addition 

 was allowed to them for their expense- on the return trip to 

 their homes in Texas. 



A trip up the trail with a hard was always accompanied 

 by great hardships and many startling incidents. Starting 

 OS tliey did in the spring of the year, when every stream was 

 swollen, tliey had to swim the'Brazos, Colorado, 'trinity , 

 Red River, 'and the Wichita, and Arkansas rivers, beside 

 many smaller streams, all with swift-flowing currents and 

 changing quick 



f leave seen sixty steers bogged down in the quicksands of 

 the Red River at one time, and yet, owing to the indefatiga- 

 ble exertions made bv all hands," we only lost eleven 1 

 being either smothered or drowned. The cowboys _ would 

 dig down in the quicksand with their fingers until they 

 could pass a lariat around under the animal's fetlock joints, 

 and so, pulling one leg out at a time, release them, and roll 

 them over and over like a barrel until they reached terra 

 firma, when they would immeditftely rise to their feet and, 

 after shaking their heads awhile, come charging on their 

 rescuers. 



To get their wagons and camp equipage across these 

 swollen streams, they would construct a raft from the dead 

 timber found along the banks, and then six or eight 

 vaqucros would attach one end of their lariats to it and the 

 other to the horns of their saddles, and so causing their 

 ponies to swim, tow the raft and wagon across. 



" mpedes, on dark and stormy 

 id by loud pealing thunder and 

 hen the cattle would suddenly 

 and run for miles, the earth 

 heavy tramp of the moving 

 ttop until they ran themselves 

 ec of a cowboy who, on such a 

 ithout either 'saddle or bridle, 

 ihirt and drawers, and bare- 



• ■vei-yihing but Swapping horses. Faithful in the discharge 

 of Ids onerous duties, his chief fault was his love of strong 

 drink and gambling; under the influence of tin 



ould become a perfect demon. Abilene, Elsworth, Wich- 

 ita, and other Kan-as towns at which they used to arrive 

 from their long, hard trips up the trail, were full of gam- 

 bling dens, rum shops, and dance-houses of the lowest de- 

 scription, kept principally by Northern men and women for 

 the purpose of preying" upon these unsophisticated semi- 

 barbarians. Is it any wonder then that they should become 

 the desperadoes and terrors to society they have, when such 

 snares and pitfalls have been laid for them and temptations 

 thrown in their way? 



The profits in the Texas cattle trade were very large, but 

 the risks to be run were also great. With fair luck a herd 

 could be driven from Texas to Kansas and wintered there 

 for $2.50 per head, with a loss of five per cent, of the cattle 

 on the trail and from five to eight' per cent, extra loss dur- 

 ing the winter. With a hard, wet trip and many stampedes 

 the loss would be much greater, and in wintering there was 

 always the chance of trouble with the Indians or being 

 burned out by the Kansas jay hawkers, when the probabilities 

 were that the owner would lose everything, and come out 

 on foot in the ensuing spring, as once happened to the 

 writer of this article. 



Then there were the 

 nights generally, accompa 

 vivid streaks of lightning. 

 start up as with on-* impu 

 literally trembling under 

 mass, which not 

 down. 1 knew of one ins 

 night, jumped 

 and with no clothes 





but 1 





Brazos 



and 



tesp 



sradoes 



and 



1 to 



all sol 



t of 



sd ti 



cough 



thai 



a b 



inch o 



the 



ngd 



stance 



nto 



Id !■;■ 



,; ibe 



n in 



headed, ran with a stampeded herd a distance of thirteen 

 miles, until he succeeded in stopping a bunch of eighty-rive 

 head which had become separated from the main hero, and 

 being unable to drive them back to the camp, held them 

 until three o'clock next day. when some of tin- oiler bands 

 came to his assistance. He had herded this bunch bare- 

 headed under a broiling sun all day, and on loot, as his 

 horse had been completely run down during the night. 



The Cross rim ters, situated brtwed 

 Trinity rivers, waslniested gang of 



cattle thieves at this lime, who resorte 

 schemes to stampede the herds •-.- the; p 

 Country; they would then fall in behini 

 stampeued cat le and run them off a I 

 some brushy creek bottom, where they wo 

 hiding until the balance of the herd had been gathered 

 together and moved on.. Tuey would then kill the cattle 

 they had thus Btolen for the sake of the bides and tallow, 

 which they would sell in the nearest town. 



I recall a case in which one of these cattle thieves was 

 caught by the cowboy on guard in the act of tying- a flint- 

 dry raw iiide to the tail of a milch cow, whieh he had driven 

 np- to the outskirts of the herd f ol" that purpose. Jf he had 

 ■I ■,: the ratilingof the dry hide would have frightened 

 , and caused her to run, and the faster she ran the 

 more noise the ruttdng hide wou.d have made, and thus 

 stampeded the herd. The boys gave this fellow a snort 

 shrill, and tite next day the boss of the herd rode in to the 

 neighboring tQwn of Hillsboro and reported that the body 

 of a in in had been found near his camp with three bullets 

 ia his heart an I several holes in other portions of lite body; 

 at the same time be related the capture that his men had 



made the previous night, adding, "ofeour- Ik e 



[1 n ., joine of the citizens weatout and Buriedthe fellow, 



but there win no sort of a judicial inquiry made as to the 

 manner or cause of his death — it was too well undi rgtood. 



The O.iickasaw-. Creeks. Pawnees and other Indian! 

 thro ugh whose teiritory the herds had to pass, also harassed 

 them and stole their cattle and saddle horses, and battles be- 

 tween parties of cowboys and these Indians, in which many 

 of boih sides would be killed and wounded, were of fre- 

 quent occurrence. 



Alter they arrived in Kansas, if the owner concluded to 

 winter his cattle before putting them on the market, the 

 cowboys would have no easy time of it. Living in a hole- 

 dug out fro n t!i i side of some hill, with probably a buffalo 

 robe or two to keep them from the cold •ground, riding 

 twenty-five or thirty miles in all sorts of weather daily, often 

 being" away from 'camp all night after a bunch of stray 

 cattle, when they would have to seek some ravine or hol- 

 low where they could find a little drift wood and build tires 

 all nio-ht to keep from freezing to death, for a cowboy 

 would suffer untold privations before be would return to 

 camp and report a failure to bring back any cattle he had 

 started after and endure the jeers and derision to which he- 

 would be subjected at the hands of his fellows. 



Taking it all in all, the cowboy of those days was not so 

 bad :ls lie has been painted. Quick with his pistol to resent 

 b fancied injury; jusl as ready lb fight for bis friends or em- 

 ployer, though he had nopersonal interest in the quarrel; 

 generous and open-hearted. His word wits Ids bond in 



LONGING FOR SPRINC. 



O WOULD IcjoulflBittK! 

 '•The winter is over. 

 The breath of Che Spring 



Is rippliug the clover: 

 Daisies and daffodils 

 Languish, I ween, 

 In the vales, and the -hills 

 Are wvesrin' the green.' " 



O would I could hear 



"The voice of the turtle' 

 At even, so clear 



Afar in the myrtle! 

 Often I listen, 



Yet listen in vain I— 

 Bound fast in prison 



Of frost doth the earth lie. 



O would 1 could tread 



The paths of the past-time, 

 Where leaves, lying dead. 



Are crooning a sad rhyme. 

 Over hill and through dales 



Long I to roam, 

 Now watching the eloud-sails, 



And a non the beek's foam. 



O would I could climb, 



As erst, the bold mountain, 

 Could look on the rime 



Of sky-fostered fountain. 

 Leap like the antelope, 



From crest to crest,. 

 And see the far scenes ope. 



To ttie eastward ami west. 



O would I could thr< 



I anticipate it 

 So heartily! 



These longings will come 



On days such as this is. 

 When winter seems dumb 



To the rills in the ridges. 

 Oh, do the buds and bees 



Think it is spring; 

 Long to put forth on trees, 



Blithely losingf 



die as of the species above named, in the white phase of 



plumage peculiar to the birds of this species ol I 



three years of age. 



310. Green Heron— Ai'dea viresceni And.; Butoi 

 eseens Ridg. 494. Cs. 663.— Common. Not abundant. Breeds 

 on trees, lays three or more pea green eggs, in June. The 

 little herons of this species appear now- lo be le.-- common in 

 Maine than formerly. 1 have never known them to be B8S0- 

 1 i j ether in communities here, nor observed a greater 

 number than the members of one family together. 

 211. Night Heron— Anita nyttimrox And.-, Nyctiardea 

 'eagrisa tu&ma 1 !s. 664.— Abund- 

 i garious, Arrives in April. Breeds in colonies upon 



■ ally preferring spruce swamps. Lays 

 from three to five blue-green eggs late in May and June. 

 This biul is locally termed -quawk,'* on account of its i-ry, 

 and by an imitation of litis cry the bird may be 

 coyed. 



a12. Bittern — Ard-a hfitiginoaa And.: Bate 

 osus Ridg. 497: Botattnis muoitam Cs, 666.— Abundant. 

 Arrives early in May, Breed's on the ground. Lays five 

 eggs in June* Locally known as "stake-driver." "meadow- 

 hen,'' "marsh-hen," etc 



Audubon wrote that he "never had » good opportunity of 

 observing all the habits of this remarkable bird, which in 

 many respects differs from most other herons." 



]>r. Cones, after alluding to the vagueness and paucity of 

 the information on the subject thai has been given by Wil- 

 son, Nuttall, Richardson, and other ornithologists, 

 his own experience, "Although I am tolerably familiar with 

 the bird, I have never seen its nest, nor found it where I 

 could -oppose it was breeding." 



The facts that the standard Works on American ornithol- 

 ogy give but little of this bird's life history, and the bird is 

 often locally confounded with the night-heron, whose habits 

 are quite different, induce me to repeat in this connection 

 some of my own observations derived from many favorable 

 opportunities for studying of the bittern in variou li i all 

 ties, in Kew Hampshire, iiahie, New Brunswick 8 

 Scotia, at all seasons of the considerable portion of the year 

 spent by the species in the regions named. 



! first saw the nest of a bittern in 1868. While shooting 

 at Searboro, in the summer ot 180:', upon what is termed 

 the "upper marsh," Mr, Manson Libby, a native re-idem of 

 that vicinity, saw me kill a bittern, 

 was one of a family bred close by. 

 ing especial attention to oology and 

 n'd immediately obtained a promise 

 erve if any bitterns returned to In 

 spring, and inform rnc This he dit 



i thai 1 fulled to 

 batched ere I could avail myself of 

 the nest. This nest was of grass, a 

 the head of a little meadow- comnmi 

 I have never known of tin M ti 

 on the ground, and althoi 



THE BIRDS OF MAINE. 



With Annotations of their Comparative Abundance, 



Dates of Migration, Breeding Habits, etc. 



BY EVERETT SMITH 



Fiiut.v Audeid.-tc: Herons. 



20(1. Great Blue H 

 Cs. 655. — Common tl 



March and early in 

 more bluish green egg 

 autumn, f saw one I 

 markably late date feu 

 ;0- treat Wl'ilc 

 And.; lln-ofVum alba 

 658.— A rare stra. 



no De< 



es to tie hen 



,ud.:Be- 

 Arrivi ■- 



■s; lays three or 

 until late in the 



25. 1877, a re- 



.. ,Vhite Heron — Anita njrrlta 

 ■t Ride-. <IH9: I/rrottia* ,■■■■■ 

 i the South. The late Caleb G. 

 Loriug. Jr., shot "a specimen at Searboro, Maine, August 32, 

 1853 I saw a freshly killed specimen that was shot at Sear- 

 boro in April, 1875. and this was mounted by Mr. \Villey. a 

 taxidermist then of Portland, Me. Mr. Boardman obtained 

 a specimen, shot at the Bay Of Fimdy, in August, 1879. 

 208. Little White Egret, Snowy Heron— Ar<Ua< 



aiaia And.; Co--' :•-' ' -'-::•-<< Ridg. 490, Cs. 659.— A rare 



straggler from the South. Mr. Boardman informed me that 

 he has procured two specimens, which were shot in the 

 vicinity of the St. Croix River. 



809 'L'ttle Blue Heron— Ardeareeerulea Ami.: Morula caiit- 

 lea Ridg. 493, Cs. 662.— A rare straggler from the South, 

 and but' a single instance of its occurrence here has been 

 reported. • . 



'While at Searboro. daring the, latter part of May and early 

 in June, 1881, I learned that a white heron bad been seen 

 bysei I lersoDj [ offered a rewazd for the capture 



Of this specimen, and various local gunners sought for it. 



The bird passed the summer jn the vicinity where first 

 seen and in September was shot by Mr. 1. W. RiUsbury. a 

 well-known .gunner of Searboro, in company with Air. 

 Charles H. Chandler, of Cambridge, Mas,-. The skin ot 

 this bird is preserved and in the possession of the i 

 tit man. 



My friend Nathan Clifford Brown, informs me that me 

 specimen has been viewed and identified by Mr. H. A. Pur- 



Id informed me that it 

 At that time 1. was gii 

 lie nidiflcation of birds, 

 from Mr, Libby to ob- 

 -,d I here the following 

 - until 80 late in 



eggs which were 



an opportunity to visit 



d on the ground u At 



ieating With the marsh. 



bittern elsewhere than 



placed in clo a pre 



oible lo ding around.:, they an- frequently located 

 among the bushes and small growth to be found at the bor- 

 ders or in the midst of meadows. I have not uufrcquently 

 found bitterns in covert, both in Ibe breeding season >: 

 later, but 1 have never known one to alight on a tree except 

 when wounded. 



Until within a dozen years tjuite a number of pairs 

 annually bred at the marshes So tboro, Maine, and a few 

 pairs still breed there. These marshes arc on the coast from 

 six to ten miles westerly from the city of Portland. 



Familiar with their haunts and habits, 1 found two 

 families there -o recently as 1877, and leaving them undis- 

 turbed until October, I then gathered in seven of them. 



I once watched, at every opportunity (which c 



least once in each week), the arrival and courtship of a pair 

 thatbicd on a meadow in the town of Madison. New Hamp- 

 shire. Every morning through the month of May could be 



heard those" eurion .-rk n r beard by myself except 



during the spring), for whieh the farmers name them "stake- 

 drivers " The cries of but few birds can be expressed or 

 imitated by words, toil the syllables "pump-au-gab," with a 

 strong accent on the terminal "gab," are to my mind the 

 best verbal expression of the bittern's cry that 1 lav 

 written. If a stake be placed between wooden buildings and 

 driven into tic ground by blOWS with a WOOllen mallet, to 

 tannins l1 a distance, on hearing Hie shock of eaeh 



blow immediately followed by its reverberator^ echofroin 



(he buildiutis. the"sound will seem a good imitation of the 

 ' •state-driver's" cries. So like unto this are these 



times that i once knew a trout fisherman to drop his rod on 

 the bank of a stream information in regard 



to the locality from a "si .< . " thai h. mistook to 



i person building a fence near by. 



These cries are sometime given irregularly with long or 

 short pauses between, and at other times I he cries w ill lie 

 repeated regularly, perhaps slowly at first and gradually in- 

 creasing in rapidity of repetition. sStei the manner oJ the 

 w hip poor-will. 



Although diurnal in its habits the turd is of a retiring na- 

 ture audi have known of many farmers wdio wen | 

 familiar with thecrv of the '■stake-driver,' but knew not 

 whether it emanated from bird, beast or reptile 

 pressing the belief that the cry was produced by 

 sort of frog, others that it was made by a little bird thai al- 



,,!,,. ecu ted in the dense grass, reeds or hughes. 



The only cry that 1 have heard from the bittern in autumn 

 ii, i,:'- i e , if. iiivcn when alarmed, and this cry resem- 

 bles that given by various herons under similar 

 stances. I except, of course, tin erie- or screams of a 

 wounded bird, , '■' . o .itural. 



My profession as orvil engineer located me to* two years 

 at Ntachias Me., in charge of river improvements, and while 

 there I watched with greal interest the courtship of a pair 

 ofbitterns and lie- subsequent rearing of a large family ol 



live children V 1 I bailv from June until late in 



i .'., . , the; frequented a bit of marsh i tin 



.,,;,, "Kof a ' ; 

 mediately adjoining the portion of the river on which the 



work was , ro cut d. Their nest was local i <■ 



bonl-r of a meadow through which thi h rshfi 

 Hows and was within a mile of the bit of marsh resorted to 

 Di place. Here the tide ebbed and flowed, but the 

 water was only brackish, and the little creeks .md "pond- 

 ne 'marsh abounded with little fishes that fur- 

 nished au inexhaustible supply ol oodto tl bit terns, as 

 also to two families of kingfishers, reared near by, while a 

 pair of osprcys procured au easy living from the river. 

 'When the five young bitterns could fly thi 

 parents twice daily to this feeding place. After 



te they would return to the seclusion and shade 

 of the bushes in the vicinity ol ft -bouttour 



