146 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March B2, L888. 



mixed -with gunpowder you nevfij' saw before. Wi' smeared 

 ourselves till over with lied, when the laiigh was on our side 

 again, r.ueii miiif mil of that threat, for we immediately 

 bolted miv hooks -with gallimppers, and nil Uontrli we caught 



no trout WCCaugh.1 II tine string of yellow perch, and BOmC 



bhu k bass, 



"JtJow, boyx, 1 think T have tolcl you enough for one day. 

 II > on remember it all you will do well. Il is of no use for 

 nit to tell you things if you turn away and think Of them no 

 more. Right bow On your waj home to get your dinners 

 you should run your niinds om i v\ lial I have said and see 

 "■'li you ean reiucinlier of what I have lold jmi. and 



1 oftem ■■. in I it o\ ex and try to r< raorabw i i <• 



more of il, bo much the better, ttnd if you will talk it over 

 among yourselves and see which van remember the most, 



so much the heftcr still, [f you tty hftlrd you may have il 

 nil well tanned inlo you SO you will never forget it. Those 

 who do this will have good' hopes for Hie future, but those 

 who turn :inii) ami I'm gel, ail had better keep to shining 



bootej for tliej will never bo fll for any thing olse. 



ij>or!ant difference between great men and little 



N"'i i- thai the former Ihink over ami |ioiidei' and try lo 



rem i' whal Ha-: learn, while the latter immediately 



forget it- ii leave-- no more impression on their minds 

 than a passtug shadow. Those who want to remember 

 what 1 say may meet me here to-morrow morning at nine 

 O'clock and I will tell von mure aliout things a,- they were 

 in the wesu-tai country in the olden times of Ion tgO 

 only Ihe Oay is plea-ant," 



As the Major closed his discourse and hade the hen's a 

 good moraine in q kindly tone, I slipped my note book'into 

 m\ pOCket Ana looked as innocent as a lanih when he cave 



me a nod of recognition as he passed oie, 

 [to KF. ooDekkoed.] 



OUR WINTER BIRDS. 



TiY OEORGE tINTV. 



VERY few of the many persons thai we interi tod ii 

 birds in summer time ever think of studying their 

 haunts and habits during the winter mouths. Excepting 

 the snowbirds and one or two others, all birds are supposed 

 by the general public to go south at the approach of winter. 

 And yet, ii people only take the trouble lo look around them 

 a little, make an occasional lour of their park or some wood, 

 o alot i s'otnchedgi oi tramp through the brown fields, 

 i 1 1 1 \ would be surprised (o find so many birds that were 

 willing and able to defy the tierces! weather. The brave 

 spirit shown by the birds thai winter in our northern States 



and Canada excites our warmi-sl .admiration. 



The snowbird i. /."-,-. -.-.■'.■. .-. - -i is the most common of all 

 our winter birds. Breeding in I he British Provinces and the 

 mountainous and high wooded regions of the Northern 



Start - n CC SB, to wonderful [lumbers, to puss the winter 



with us. They usually arrive during the first weeks ftj 

 i ,! i i ind leave again, for their homes in the vvoods. 

 about the middle of March or first of April. While here it 

 is one of the most cheery of birds. When the snow has 

 fallen enough to entirely cover the around, then the snow- 

 bird is in his glory. How he swings from the tops of the 

 brown ragweed! Mow be twitters! A flock of a hundred 

 will be feeding thus, ami their united voice; make a harmony 

 that il will pay us to go far to hear. In the evening, when 

 the night threatens stormy and coldj we see them scurrying 

 across our gardens stopping long enoufch to glean a few 

 scattered seeds, and thetn hurrying on to find some old barn 

 or thick evergreen tree in which to pass the night. 



In the country, when the snow has covered the ragweed 

 and the catnip, from which they get h large pari of their 

 daily food, they By along the rough rail fences that arc 

 everywhere to be seen, and pick the -ccd-. out of the crevices 



where they have been deposited by the wind. How soci- 

 able are these little birds. We swept away the snow and 

 threw seeds and crumbs lo a dozen snowbirds. The next 

 morning there were more than a -.con- of snowbirds and a 

 few song sparrows enjoying theii breakfast. In two days 

 we had more than one hundred boarders of the feathery 

 fttdet hi' 'if whom came regularly, morning and evening 

 in pick up their crumbs, repaying us amply with their musi- 

 cal twittering. When nothing else eau be had, Stacks of 

 hay and groin afford themn subsistence. 



Next to the snowbird in point of numbers comes the soflg 

 sparrow (3f< l»,*iii;<i nul/u/in). Il must have a strong love for 

 home associations, for the patch of brambles, the grassy 

 knoll, and the Bold of grass and stubble that it Freqil ' ' 

 in summer, are also its haunts during winter. His deep, 

 musical chirp is seldom heard OB very cold days, as then he 

 is hid away under some grassy or bushy thicket ; but when 

 ill-- ■ mi -bines clear ami warm, he will even sing us a song, 

 such as he delighted to sing last summer. When the warm 

 days of March— fair promises of spring— come, then singing 

 Commences in earnest. Perched on the strong eane of a 

 lilacKlieirv the song sparrow pours forth his varied gongs, 

 ill- bfl] Of fare is much the same as the snowbirds, only he 

 roam over -jo much ground is feeding, and be 

 Usually freyuealS lower and damper ground 



The fox sparrow eomesaanong tts only when I 



so by the severity of the weather, and the chipping sparrow 



[ffl i'l- m- '-.. irregularly, that he is, seldom seen I, 



winter, 



The goldfinches, those exquisite little songsters, resembl- 

 ing in color some varieties of canaries, always winter iu our 

 northern States. They are gregarious, often being seen in 

 i ■ , oi lorty or fifty, nnd move about the country inseaivh 

 of food, Sometime they will not be SCCU for several weeks 



i d h ■ -I'ly, and then they will come sailing around with 

 their unmistakable undulating flight for several days, oc- 

 casionally a pair of birds, usually young will leave the Bock 

 , i : ■-.! '- ■ -ov of themselves for a day or" two, and then, tiring 

 In ■ ,',-k the main body Of finches. 

 (M,- -oil February day. when the big snowllakes wei" rail- 

 ing Fa , we aeard fcl song of a Cbfwmilm ttrixtit, and 



upon going to a chimp of sumacs, saw a young male and female 

 goldfinch. The male sal on a twig, a foot or two below the 

 object Of bis affection, and sang most sweetly. Few old 

 birds, in balmy June even could equal ibis lard, on this 



glonmvdny. ' We listened Im led I :iu hour, and went away 

 ,-■; bins mi -we had il in a cage so that we could hear us 



tin 



Blueb 

 land of ' 



(TllA 



is wiffratort/ug) 

 vibti-rseoid and an'ow, and stay in the 



ml pear. Rarely more than a half dozen 

 observed in one' neighborhood, and never 

 in cities or towns. They are usually quite silent nnd cheer- 

 less during the time that their friends are sojourning m the 

 Gulf countries. The robins feed on dogwood berries, buds- 



green plants, and whatever of insect life ean he obtained in 

 cold weather. They are never seen near dwellings, but love 

 solitary woods and points Of hills, and are sometimes seen 

 in hemlock or other evergreen woods. At this season he is 

 ever silent, and seemingly i sad. When seen he Bits quietly 

 away, not that he is afraid, but that he desires solitude. 

 But 'in the spring, when the warm days do come, our hardy 

 robin will be the first to triumph over fallen winter, anil 



in- ill- n'hisos of genial spring. 

 The l.luctiird has his habitation in the cavity made by a 

 woodpecker for a nust, It is usually seen in an open wood 

 Of large timber, or what in the New England or Middle 

 States would be called a, ■'woods field," They do not ven- 

 ture forth in ver,\ cold or rough weather oi'teuer lhan every 

 two or three days, and then they only make short excursions 

 among the neighboring frees for the purpose of finding a 

 few benumbed flies and bugs tO appease their appetites. 



■ i ' '■ sad Is their "f'heerily-checrily-cheerily" its on a 

 winter's evening they fly to theii homes iu the dead oak. 

 while the mercury in'the" thermometer is dropping to zero 

 ami the wind whist les a dirge through the leafless trees. 

 But when the snow is melting on the eastern hill, and the 

 ice upon the river is broken, their "Cheerily," now so Bad, 

 will be a gushing note of joy. 



What a gay and dashing fellow is the bine jay, the 

 Ci/iiiiiiriiK n-ix'ttttii* of ornithology.' lie is just as vivacious 

 and spirited in action as he is in ClrCSS. Then, too, he has 

 the virtue of being a permanent citizen of whatever locality 

 he deigns to honor wilh his presence. 



The jay's mode of obtaining a livelihood in winter is, of all 

 our hibernating birds, the most interesting. During the 

 fall mouths he is ever industriously concealing chestnuts, 

 aeon,-, corn and sometime hickory nuts. Only one nut is 

 buried in the same place, ami they' will have their winter's 

 supply scattered over a mile or more of all sorts of rough 

 ground. But how they find these nuts again is beyond our 



comprehension. And yet, we suppose, they find every 



buried treasure, for after having examined many hundreds 

 of places where the jays had been scratching, we' have never 

 vet found one where a nut of some kind had not been un- 

 earthed. What a wonderful memory for locality must they 

 ha v.l No w under that they can be independent, (even if the 

 snow does lie white and deep on the ground. Tor does not 

 each one know just where to alight upon the smooth sur- 

 face, to dig to find his dinner? 



When the Winter comes with too grim a visage our blue 

 jays retreat to some hollow tree or thicket of white oak 

 shrubs to shelter themselves from his fierce blasts. Then, 

 too, to shorten operations, do our jays stoop to methods that 

 are- more practical than honest, On die coldest mornings 

 Ihev will apply to the worthy granger for a, breakfast of 

 corn. and. without waiting 'for consent, will help them- 

 selves. Perhaps they Ihink that they have earned that 

 much by destroying slugs and noxious insects during its 

 cultivation. Most, social bird! Come and see us, as you do, 

 often, and fear us not. Ah. you saucy, inquisitivc'fellow! 

 we wish you no harm. 



The hiack-eapped titmouse (Pi/tux atPiccl^UlU's) is one of 

 our happiest winter birds. He is sung of by poets, and 

 rightly, for no other bird shows a more brave and cheery 

 spirit The chickadee, as this bird is commonly known, 

 really is not in his happiest element until winter time. Then 

 he will swing from the peach tries that grow by our garden 

 walls, and all the time talking sr cheerily in bird language. 

 And, we suppose. I hat if we could only understand bird 

 language we really would hear him say— 



"I'm picking the gllttl from the old peach Pee, 



And lie- storm doesn't trouble me, 



Pee-rlee-dee." 

 Tin • country children have a beautiful habit of hanging 

 bits of meat upon the posts or trees near their homes for 

 these birds to cal. The chickadees, wilh their near kinsfolk, 

 the woodpeckers, will come every day to feast on the bounty 

 so generously given. And while they are so happy, the 

 children aremore so, as from the windows or doorway they 

 watch their proteges of the lime being. This little bird 

 is very sociable. It i-s usually seen in company with a half 

 dozen of its fellows, and sometime, a couple of wood 

 peckers or creepers, making, in all a lively company of in- 

 sect, hunters, ft is surprising, the contidence thai is shown 

 by the titmice. They will goffer you to approach within a 

 few steps of them, and then will only cock their head on 

 one side, look at you critically, and then go on about their 

 ever busy task of searching for food. 



Severnl varieties of woodpeckers are more or less familiar 

 as winter residents. And closely allied to these are the sap- 

 suckers, some of whom also stay during the entire year in 

 the vicinity of their nesting ground. They will make us 

 'flying visits'' at intervals of several days of weeks, accord- 

 ing to the amount of food to be found and the sort of reoep 

 tion they receive. These birds are very fond of working ou 

 the locust tree, as beneath its rough bark many hugs and 

 their lavvai are Found, They are not only pleasing to the 

 eye, bul are of much practical use to the honiculturisl and 

 fruit-grower. The woodpecker and sapsueker both, like the 

 blttebU I have a permanent home- even though they are 

 larch ■in excepting at night, into some dead tree a hole 

 is bored horizontally two or three inches, and then down 

 five or six inches, and made large enough lo contain the 

 owner comfortably, lined with a nest of fine wood or grass, 

 and it is completed. 

 All the grouse, and the Virginia quail (Oiiy.r ri.-iyhiia.ntjs) 



,i ,, !;. in the vicinity of their summer homes. Of the 



grouse, the ruffed is justly famed for his intrepid spirit and 

 hardihood. No hills are too wild or craggy for him. No 

 thicket is so lira mbly but that he will pierce it with crash- 

 ing wings. Let the snow be ever so deep, and the winds 

 ever so iierce and wild, he will only condescend to pluck the 

 buds from our apple trees, and with this apology for a sup- 

 per he will whir away to the evergreen wood, or lo smite 

 dense thicket, and sleep as becomes the king of game birds. 

 Sometime, however, a more domestic whim will seize him. 

 and he will pick up Ihe graini of oats and corn to be found 

 along the roads, when he ean do so without approaching too 

 Uear tO Civilization. That he cares little for the average 



winter, is proved by the fact that we have Frequently beard 

 him drumming in midwinter. 



Would that we COUld say the same of the quail. His 

 "spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak.' He is 

 such a happy, good fellow, that, for his sake, we wish 

 'I were always autumn. TTow proudly they strut among the 

 brown chestnut leaves in balmy October! How swiftly 

 hi the blood through our veins— 



',-, i ,, lie sumac's frint is red, 

 And the <itiail js piping lOUfl 

 in the tmokwheal '-'--here he ted ' 



But there conies an end to such days Winter spreads 

 his hoary mantle o'er field and wood, and then all this gay- 

 etyand hauteur is thrown to the winds. Now, voin saucy 

 "Bob White," or, as the Germans more revocm: e 

 "Fear <fod," will be given for the plaintive "wi-ef-e, 

 wi-er-e." Now. you no longer have the buckwheat fields to 

 revel in; but struggling through the snow, a disheartened 

 troop of little birds, you seek for food and shelter, and yWU' 

 cry of anguish is bid the overflowing of your cup of bitter 

 lie-.-. And he who will not give you an armful of brush 

 Or straw to nestle under, or a handful of grain or crumbs lo 

 sustain life through the bitter night, is not worthy of the 

 breath of life, or the protection of Him who loves' alike all 

 the good and beautiful of His creation. 



BRUIN'S VARIED MOODS. 



A A TILL a bear altac 

 TT -attack a strong 

 Bee from the presence 

 and alone. How is th 

 in the courage, tempei 

 there is in ihe hur 

 horse family, Wbc 



> Yes, 



gh 



do 



has. 



villi i 

 alth. 

 One 



unlet 



unity.' 



all an 



ad 



sue bear will 



and another will 

 ar in the woods 

 S much difference 

 il dispositions of bears as 

 the dog family, or the 

 :rt seen a litter »f little dogs who. 

 Hcnl tO frighten, will show all the 

 lgh of one age and birth, and of 

 will meet you in the arena, one 

 the bed yelping murder; a third 

 id and awaits the results and feels wil- 

 his chance, and so on. Is not this true of 

 lals? 

 iw three cubs, all of one litter, one was tame and 

 quiet and loved to be petted, and when scratched would turn 

 up his back like the pet pig. Another was shy, wild and 

 ' , hut not angry, still when convenient, he would 

 chance presented itself. The third was a demon, 

 confined with a chain; he was untameable and 

 no quarters, kept up a moaning howl and whine. 

 ited no visitor, but would climb up and dig down, 

 sun- to bite if he could. Now, does not this settle 

 lion? These bears were all kept by the same man, 

 me room, and on exhibition together. 

 9 a bear country, and from personal observation and 

 lion with scores of men who have had to do with 

 ials, 1 feel justified in asserting that the foregoing is 

 8 theory. When a man meets a bear he is in 



ling t 



near 



1 



eaurio 



conv 

 the a 

 the ( 



treacherous company, andkn 

 Bruin may run from bin 



it do 



know lit 

 and thei 



The mot 



or stand up and look 

 him, or may a 

 ildly. 1 ha 



rithout i 



ird to age, 



(not wTiat he is to encounter, 

 nay run toward him, or may 

 lit him, or may pretend not to 

 ep away easily for a while 

 lots of "evidence of all these 



K-ral rule, espec 

 alarm of distre 

 his rule, neither i 

 ,-ill add the partridge. 



rif tl 

 nd by 



outside, we 

 their young 



Some people think bears kill sheep naturally 

 sips honey. This is not so, if it were we cou 

 sheep in the border towns in Maine. Sol 

 take sheep the same as dogs, and wdien < 

 killers arrives iu a neighborhood Ids mark 

 have to. suffer. 1 w ill" confine the foregoi 

 Maine, as 1 am not- so well posted in othei 

 sume the statements will apply generally. 



time of year or sex. 

 young and fight for 

 infant is iu trouble 

 o means is bruin an 

 cable fox, and to go 

 All females will defend 



lie of tl 

 sinadc 

 Ig to till 



places 



i the bee 

 not keep 

 l learn to 



- :„-■ 

 i nd sleep 

 State of 

 but pre 



Wa 



i. Mai 



EXPERIENCE WITH WATER WITCHES. 



I WAS much interested in reading the several articles ou 

 Water witches, as they have appeared in Forest and 

 Stiikam, and, judging from your remarks, I infer you are 

 disposed to doiibl the fact of finding water in the ground by 

 the aid of a green stick or twig. 



Something over fifty) ears ago, being a lad of some ten 

 years old, 1 was on a visi'l at an uncle's, who desired to pro- 

 cure water in a certain field on his farm in Hillsdale town, 

 Columbia county, State of New York. He called on his 

 sister, who, it, seems, was a water witch, to go out into this 

 held and find it, if there. This was the lirsl I ever heard of 

 such a thing, and of course, boylike, i was very much in- 

 terested. My" uncle cut a forked twig from a willow. Anna 

 (that was her name) held one twig in each hand, with the 

 butt end up, walking around the dooryard. At a number 

 of places I saw it point down and work iu her hands. I 

 did not goto the field and see the operation then, as I had 

 to return that afternoon to my grandfather's, a few miles 

 away, where 1 then lived. 1 was told afterward the willow 

 twig indicated where to dig. and the, water was found as 

 desired. 



1 did not see nor think of water witches until many years 

 afterward. In the mean time l had married, and afterward 

 settled in the city of Detroit, about 1844 or '45. 1 bought a 

 lot at the extreme southern limit of the city J one line I e- 

 loi was the ciiy boundary; it was adjoining an orchard. 

 Bemg so far Out the population was -parse, and the water 

 pipes had not been hud. so the citizens of that section de- 

 pended on wells. 1 built, and residing on my lot-, and not 

 having put down a well, depended on my neighbor for 

 wafer. We had long dry spells or drouths, when most of 

 the wells were dry. " I delayed putting down a well until 

 the next season of drouth. Then the question to be decided 

 was where on the lot to locate it, the lot being about fifty by 

 one hundred. It happened that one of my young sisters, 

 aged about ten years, was visiting us. She had never heard 

 of finding water with a forced twig, One Sunday afternoon, 

 at Ha very latter end of our periodical drouth. I was talk- 

 ing with my wife about digging a well, when all at once 

 there rushed into my mind the remembrance of Anna find- 

 ing water in "York State" for uncle on his farm. I related 

 thee" 



my '; 



their hands. 



The next trouble was to get the w illow forked twigs, for. 

 a- I supposed at that lime, nothing but willow would woik, 

 and as there was not a willow in the city nor Stale that, 1 

 knew of. my wife proposed that 1 should go into the 

 orchard adjoining and gel some apple tree forked twigs, 

 With no faith in them I prepared some, and placing one each 

 in in) wife's and sister's hands, in the position as nearly as 

 I could remember having seen it held, and holding one my- 

 self, we sallied out into the yard, and went marclljngaround 

 promiscuously. All at once mv wife cried out excitedly, 

 "The twig works in my hands.''' Walking a little further 

 ou, down went ihe single upper end, plumb. My sister 

 -e-eiig I'm opera! ion, field her twig in position, when plumb 

 down'it turned, frightening her so that she screamed and 



g WUIC1XJJ- 1 U1& Ulllli; lOl UUVIP WU Ul-Jl'll'll. JU H.IMIOU 



e circumstances, and proposed to get some twigs, and let 

 y wife and sister try them, and see if they would work in 



