204 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aran, IS, 1883. 



animals, and prefer the greater safely of remote regions, the 

 panthera have not only not been frightened oft, but have 



apparently come nearer. This is the present condition of 



things on the McOlond Rivej today. The panthers are 



nearer, more abundant trad bolder (bun ever. The settler 

 who lives on the ranch just across the south line of the 

 reservation which we occupy, said last fall that the pan- 

 thers came down to his house almost every night, and the 

 ranchman just above the reservation also had a visit 'from 

 them at least three times a week. 



One night when Mr. Myron Green was reluming from the 

 li.-thery In the trout poiids lour miles above, an animal 

 which he supposed to be a panther sprang from a tree to the 

 ground just beJiind him, and wounded bis dog which was 

 following Mm. 



Summer before last a panther came to the house of our 

 next door neighbor on the west side of the river, and was 

 allot in a tree close to his house. 



One day when Mr. Loreu Green wasgoiug from his house 

 nt the trout pond, to his bout to fish, a panther followed 

 him for sryri.d rods through the adjoining hushes, Mr, 



Green thinking il was a large dog. When Mr. Green, after 

 examining his lines in the river, came ashore, the panther 

 met him at the boat-binding and was soon after joined by 

 another pantbei near by, Mr. Green batch escaping from 

 them by shoving bis boat quickly back into the river, and 

 even then the panther watched him from the shore for ten 

 or fifteen minutes, during which time be was joined by his 

 male. Not very long ago, as our stage was coming down 

 the road, the driver s;nv three panthers trotting in iron) of 

 him. Having stopped the frightened horses, several of the 

 passengers, who wire returning Irotn a hunting trip, got out 

 and tired at the panthers with their rifles. 



At Upper Soda Springs, which, although forty miles from 

 the fishery, is, iu respect to panthers, subject to very similar 

 conditions, a child of the hotel proprietor was seized fc] 

 panther a very few yards from the house, and was shot as 

 it was: in the act of carrying the child off. 



A I'd geaSOflS ago, some stocknien drove a band of horses 

 and colts into the Met ''loud River canon, for the purpose of 

 pasturing them there through the summer. The panthers 

 tirsl killed colts, then full grown horses, and finally' one 

 sprang upon it horse when the owner was riding on his 

 hack. The rider barely escaped with his life, and the next 

 day the stockmen drove their horses out of the valley to safe 

 quarters. 



These instances show how I he panthers must have in 

 creased in our neighborhood, for when we first came there 

 we did not bear anything in particular about them, aud were 

 not molested by them. Now they annually destroy consid- 

 erable numbers of hogs, pigs, calves and'colts. They are 

 most destructive to the hogs; so much so that those having 

 hog ranges in the vicinity, when computing the expected in- 

 crease ot their band, allow SOper cent, for the annual loss 

 by panthers. 



It is difficult to acquire much knowledge of the habits of 

 panthers in their wild state. There are some peculiarities 

 about the McCloud River panthers, however, which have 

 been noticed. They will always tun from a dog, no matter 

 how small he is. An undersized terrier is as good to chase 

 a panther with as the largest hound. When the panther 

 finds that the dog is closing upon him, he will always jump 

 up into a tree. He will not climb the tree like a bear, bit! 

 will jump up to one of the branches, and I have heard old 

 hunters say that they had sefiin panthers jump over twenty 



feet of perpend ico I:;' I , , u tree One blow of the 



panther's paw would kill the (log perhaps, but the panther 

 never slops io give the blow . II is quite possible that the 

 panther jumps into the tree so as to be iu a position to 

 pounce upon the dog when he conies up, but whether this is 

 their reason for resorting to a tree, qr whether it is simplj 1 

 because it is the cat's nature to run, as it is the nature of the 

 :, g ;,, chase, it is the fad in either ease that the panther al- 

 ways runs from the dog, no mailer bowsmallhe is. and never 

 turns to face him. 



The behavior of the panther is no leas peculiar titter he. 

 has jumped into the tree, for when there, he. watches the 

 dog constantly, no matter how near the hunter eoines up to 

 him. This makes il .a comparatively safe and easy tiring 

 for the hunter to shoot a treed panther if the hunter has a 

 dog with him, for while the panther's eyes are fixed on the 

 barking and excited dog, Ihe hunter can go as neat as he 

 pleases, trad take as slow and deliberate aim as he pleases. 

 As long as the dog remains barking under the tree aud ab- 

 sorbing the panther's attention, the hunter is perfectly safe. 

 All he'has lo guard against is u oumling the panther with- 

 out actually killing or wholly disabling him, in which case 

 the victim might in his dying struggle encounter the hunter 

 . and do him a serious injury. 



Panthers are seldom seen roaming about by day. It is be- 

 lieved that they arc iu the habit of hiding in 'trees in the 

 daytime, partly'perhaps for safely, and partly lot the pur- 

 pose of watching I'm- food. On 'the McCloud River, how- 

 ever. I believe they spend the day for the most part in 

 the inaccessible parts of the limestone cliffs which cap the 

 mountain summits across the river from the fishery. These 

 limestone cliffs and pinnacles are high, sleep aud very diffi- 

 cult of access. One day 1 followed a panther's trail far up 

 tiii 'i of Ml. Persephone. The panthers' tracks grew 

 thicker anil plainer as the mountain side grew sleeper, and 

 the liiiieslone cliffs came nearer, When about three thous- 

 and feet up the mountaiu became very steep aud precipitous 

 and ended in a blank, smooth, vertical wall of rock about 

 twenty feel high. The panthers' tracks continued up to He- 

 very base of this rock, which of course having leached, Ihey 

 sprang to the top of, and once there they were safe from 

 everything. No Indians could, follow ihe.iii there, no dogs 



could track them there, no while hunter wit I) bis rifle could 

 reach their inaccessible retreat. In these cliffs Ihey were 

 safe. 



It is my impression (hut the panther, finding so safe a re- 

 treat (here, and one that is, at the same time, sn near their 

 food, make these limestone cliffs Iheir home, and rear their 

 young there. At all events the panthers' track- that lead to 

 bur houses, come from these cliffs, and Hie track- thai le.el 

 from our houses return to the cliffs, 



It would seem thai a panther's life when lie does not 

 voluntarily risk if In' excessive boldness must be extremely 

 free from "danger. No denizen of Ihe mountains or forests 

 is his equal, in California he is called a lion and he is well 

 named, for like the lion, he is monarch or the forest. It is 

 generally believed that the grizzly beiu' is the most powerful 

 of the wild animals of America, but the McCloud River 

 Indians say that the panther always kills the grizzly when 

 thev have a fight. They say that the grizzly bears arc afraid 

 oi "tin- panthers, and 'that the panthers spring on their 



■mi. . tt and cut their throats with their teeth. I imagine, 



however, that a panther never attacks a grizzly bear face to 

 face. I myself have seen places in the mountains where 

 the ground has been torn up by what must have been a 

 desperate conflict between a panther and a bear, and the 

 Indians have found dead bears that panthers have killed, 

 bul Ihey say they have never found dead panthers that bears 

 have killed" The Indians say that there seems to he the 

 same natural antipathy between panthers and bears that 

 there is between cats and dogs, and that the panthers are 

 always trying to kill the young cubs of the bears, and the 

 bears arc always seeking to kill the panthers' kittens: 



Panthers are seldom killed on the .McCloud River. I have 

 heard of only one or two that Indians have killed with their 

 arrows. 



it is difficult to poison or (rap them, as they are so sus- 

 picions of the. bait, I have heard, however, of many 

 panthers being killed by poison in other places, and J sup- 

 pose if the McCloud panthers got hungry enough they could 

 be poisoned, but while food is'as plentiful for them as it is 

 now, it is difficult to poison or trap them. One exception to 

 this should be mentioned. They are iu the habit of burying 

 anything that they capture and 'do not eat up at the first 

 meal. For instance, if a panther gets a deer or a hog he 

 eats what he wants, and then digs a hole in the earth with 

 his claws and buries the remainder. If now anyone should 

 find this buried meat and should poison it, the panther 

 would be killed, for he will eat the meat that he has buried 

 himself. I will merely add in conclusion, that in conse- 

 quence of the difficulty of killing the panthers, they are 

 likely to maintain their 'hold for mam' vears yet in the'lime- 

 sloue cliffs bordering the McCloud River" for although 

 settlers are now beginning to come into this region, the 

 chief effect of these settlements upon the panthers will be 

 to furnish them with a larger supply of domestic food, and 

 to drive off the hereditary enemy of the panther, the bear. 

 While the rocky retreats where the panther makes his home 

 will remain as inaccessible as ever. LnTSissro.N' Stonk, 



THE BIRDS OF MAINE. 



With Annotations of their Comparative Abundance, 



Dates of Migration, Breeding Habits, etc. 



by everett smith 



Family Laiud.e: Gills, Terns, etc. 



26G. Pomatorhine Lestris — Lestris pviutt rinds Aud.; 

 Stmomriwpmrwtorhiniia Ridg, 697, Cs. 765. Mr. Board- 

 man mentions this species as "rather common" iu autumn 

 and winter in the Bay of Fuudy. The species is probably 

 of regular winter occurrence off Ihe coast of Maine. 



887. Richardson's I/estris— Lestris rirhinhonii And.; 

 8t«TC0rwrMt enpidatus Ridg. 698; >■■.■■ paraHHtm 



Cs. 700. Not common. September 22. 1871 an immature 

 lestris of this species was brought to me for identification, 

 It was shot at Searboro, arid the specimen was preserved by 

 a taxidermist of Portland. 



208. Button's Lestris, Long-tailed Lestris— LestHs pom- 

 gttiCM And ; Stereorwrivi pa/rasOieuS Ridg. 60S); Stereora- 

 rius /nrfimi Cs. 707.— Apparently the most common of the 

 three species of lestri known on our coast. The lestris is 

 locally known to fishermen as "marlinspike," or "gull- 

 ihase'i , " being so termed on account of its long pointed tail 

 aud its habit of chasing the gulls, and compelling them 

 through fear to disgorge their recently captured food, upon 

 which the victorious bird makes a feast. 



The Gorman word of "Jilyer," meaning hunter, is com- 

 monly used by ornithologists, and our best American au- 

 thorities use 'this uoun to designate a bird of any of the 

 various species known to this continent. 



GL'LLS. 



269. Glaucous Gull— JJmtts fffanws Aud., Ridg. 660, 

 Cs. 768. — Occurs along the coast in winter, chiefly off-shore. 

 Not very common, and adult birds in perfect plumage of 

 maturity are rarely seen here. This is one of the largest 

 gulls, beiug nearly or quite equal in size to the great black- 

 tailed gulls. The glaucous gull never has black markings 

 upon the wing tips, and the plumage of the young or im- 

 mature birds is light brownish gray. 



270. White-winged Gull — Larus kucopterm Aud., Ridg. 

 fitil, Cs. 769.— Much more common than the preceding 

 named species, and not infrequently abundant. Gulls of 

 this species are seen in flocks during migrations, associating 

 with other gulls in winter, and sometime frequenting the 

 harbors. The gray immature or young bird resembles the 

 "herring" or silvery gull of similar age, but is much lighter 

 colored, especially on the wings. Both immature and adult 

 birds of this species may usually be distinguished from 

 other mills, bv a familiar observer, even at quite a distance 

 with the aid of a field-glass, by the absence of black upon 

 the wing tips. But there is a phase of plumage, immediately 

 preceding thai of perfect maturity, in which this gull has 

 the outer surface of the first four or five wing-feathers 

 (primaries') marked with a dusky or ash-gray color, more or 

 less obscure, bul sometimes quite prominent and resembling 

 the wii^-ntrkirS'J.of the silv a-y gull end alttibugfl rcver 

 pure black as on that species, yet so dark as to be iu marked 

 Contrast with the pale pearl-blue of the greater portion of 

 the wing. 1 presume this to be the form to which Dr. 

 Elliott Coues alludes in his "Birds of the Northwest," 

 (page-6!i4), as Laru* "cftalttc&t&ruB" described as "exactly 

 like teaoQpterw* except on the primaries, which are ashy- 

 grav, with rounded white apical spots." Dr. Coues adds 

 that this "is precisely Ihe character of glawestma," or 

 glaucous-winged gull ascribed to the Pacific coast of North 

 America. 



271. Black-backed Gull— Lanui martinis Aud., Ridg. 60S, 

 Cs. 771.— Common along the coast, except during the sum- 

 mer. None Breed here. ' This is the largest of all the gulls 

 known on this coast. It frequents the outer islands aud 

 rarely, if ever, is found inland. 



272 Silvery Gull. Herring Gull — l/irun tirjiinUdns Aud.; 

 Ln,;i* ,;<■</■ ni-ttt.s .imiVismu.u.im Ridg. 660a,; Cs. 773.— 

 Abundant Some remain tdoug the coast throughout the 

 winter. Gulls of this species regularly breed here, but not 

 in large numbers. Although usually breeding in communi- 

 ties, isolated pairs are occasionally found nosting. A few 

 breed about the inland lakes of Maine. The complement of 

 three eggs is laid early in June or .sometime in May. The 

 eggs vary greatly in colors, proportions aud size. Some are 

 much blotched or Spotted, Others nearly immaculate. The 

 colors vary from light blue, ashy gray and green to various 

 shades of brown, green and brown being the prevailing 

 colors. The eggs equal iu size those of the domestic turkey, 

 and form a staple article of food iu some localities. They 

 are considered of superior flavor to the domestic hen's eggs, 



and command a higher market price. Many thousands of 

 these gulls' eggs are annually taken upon the islands of the 

 Bay of Fundy and coast of Nova Scotia and New Bruns- 

 wick. In some instances the privilege of taking the eggs is 

 leased by the owner of an island, the terms requiring that 

 no eggs shall be taken after a certain date, usually June 25, 

 thus allowing time for the birds to lay more eggs the SS me 

 season and rear their young, and no birds are killed during 

 the nesting time. Wfien boiled the yolks of their eggs are 

 a reddish hue. The "white" portion has a bluish tinge, and 

 less opaque than the "white" of a heu's egg. The custom 

 of ceasing to collect the gulls' eggs after June 25 

 is both wise and humane, for at" that date nearly 

 all of the nests have been twice robbed; but the 

 birds will lay more eggs, although often less than the com- 

 plement of three, and the season is yet long enough for the 

 successful hatching and rearing of 'the young. The strict 

 observance of this custom prevents the birds deserting such 

 localities, and they will return to the same nesting places, 

 y«ar after year. Upon one island that I have visited, a val- 

 uable egging privilege has been developed by careful pro- 

 tection. While large numbers of gulls and eider ducks were 

 deserting neighboring islands where they were indiscrimin- 

 ately robbed and killed, their numbers rapidly increased 

 upon the island referred to, until an annual yield of several 

 thousand eggs was attained and kept up. Audubon related 

 of his visit't'o the Bay of Fuudy and Labrador in 1883, that 

 he found the herring gulls so wary that even at their breed- 

 ing places but few could be obtained, not more than a 

 dozen having been shot by six men iu a single day. I have 

 found them thus wary at breeding places, which had been 

 indiscriminately devastated, trad where the birds had been 

 habitually shot at. But upon one of the same islands vis- 

 ited by Audubon, I have walked in open view within a dozen 

 yards of gulls upon their nests without disturbing them. 

 while others were circling about within easy gunshot range 

 This change was brought about solely by judicious protec- 

 tion of the birds. After the breeding season, and when Ihe 

 young birds have become well-grown and fully fledged, they 

 are frequently killed and eaten by the fishermen and others. 

 The size, material, and location of the nests vary greatly. 

 Some that I have seen in trees were equal to a bushel basket 

 in size. Others were no larger than a man's hat. Some 

 were built at the tops of spruce trees thirty feet or more 

 from the ground, some upon the ends of the branches and 

 some upon fallen trees. Such as are placed upon trees are 



f'cnerally composed of twigs, moss, and dry grass, and arc 

 requently used and improved by additions for several years 

 in succession. Many uests are placed upon or under logs 

 or upon the ground in a heath or in the woods of a swamp, 

 or at the shore upon driftwood and the bare rock. The 

 nests are usually well hollowed, with an inside diameter of 

 six or eight inches. The average size of the eggs i.s about 

 two and three-fourth inches in length by two inches breadth. 

 Many nests are smoothly lined with grass, but none with 

 feathers. I once found a nest upon a ledge and in the 

 shadow of an overhauging rock, composed entirely of green, 

 wet seaweed and containing a freshly laid egg. Unlike 

 many seabirds, the gulls do no not pluck themselves so that 

 the bared body may rest on the eggs during incubation. 



Formerly great numbers of silver gulls were accustomed 

 to breed upon the island of Grand Menan, in the Bay of 

 Fundy, but they have been driven away, excepting compara- 

 tively' few that breed upon inaccessible places about the 

 cliffs at the southern end of the island. This deplorable 

 result is said to have been caused chiefly by foxes. About 

 eight or ten years ago several foxes were liberated upon 

 this island. A ])erson who had been accustomed to take 

 eggs whenever he could find them, was forbidden by the 

 owner of the land most resorted to by the gulls for nesting. 

 In a spirit of revenge this poacher of eggs deliberately pro- 

 cured some live foxes and liberated them upon the island. 

 None, bad hitherto been known there. These foxes multi- 

 plied, and the gulls, as also the thrushes and other small 

 birds, decreased in a marked manner in consequence. The 

 foxes destroyed the eggs and young birds, and the adults 

 whenever possible. Nor were these depredations confined 

 to this one island, but extended to such of the adjoiuing 

 islands as were accessible to the foxes, by way of the flats at 

 low tide or the ice in winter. 

 The spite of an individual possessed of the spirit of the 



s thus gratified at the 

 islands, to whom nature 



and the 



the 

 idbr 



as killed 



notorious "dog in thi 



peuse of all the inhabitants of th 



had supplied an annual harvest of whole: 



destruction of the insectivorous birds by the 



OUS matter to the farmers. A year or two 



duetion of the foxes to Grand Menan one of 



upon an adjoining island, and the person wl 



this curse to the locality actually had the effrontery to claim 



remuneration for the loss of "his fox." 



Gulls of this and other species are locally known as "gray 

 gulls" along the coast of Maine. The eggs of the silvery or 

 herring guil arc hatched early in June, when the nest has 

 not been robbed. The young are covered with dark gray 

 down that forms a thick warm covering for thu birds until 

 Hedged. If the nest is on the ground or rocks the young 

 birds can leave it and actively run about, catching insects 

 expertlv when very young. They grow very rapidly, aud 

 are fed by the parents until fully fledged, when the plum- 

 age is of the same general dark gray color as the down be 

 neath it. This gray suit is worn for a year, but it gradually 

 becomes a lighter shade. 



While wearing this sombre color of the first year, the gull 

 has hazel eyes, bill nearly black, and the feet tire of yellowish 

 lead color. " When the second spring arrives the breast and 

 belly have become white, the head nearly white, the bill 

 yellow, the mautle bluish. The tail is now nearly white, 

 but has a broad brown bar across its tip, by which one can 

 readily distinguish the comparative age of the bird. Although 

 of full size at two years of age, the gull docs not acquire 

 full maturity and breed until the. following spring, when 

 the plumage' including head trad tail, is pure white, except 

 the "mantle" of light pearl blue color that 



the back, and tl: 

 subapical spot: 

 color, with a t 

 eyes are pale s 

 No gulls of 

 birds usually t 

 season, howev 



g tips, which are black, with while 



The bill is then of a clear, bright yellow- 

 mine spot on the lower mandible. The 

 w color, eyelids yellow, and feet flesh color, 

 nature plumage "are found breeding. Such 

 icii'ite in communities during the breeding 

 and when their haunts are visited by man 



they will often manifest as much apparent alarm as if nests 

 had been made, and I have seen them show great concern 

 about the nests of other gulls, darting down and circling 

 about with repeated cries even after the real owners of the 

 eggs or fledglings had ceased to do so. 



The most ordinary cry of the gulls consists of their short 

 notes, "ae-ac-ac," repeated at frequent intervals. But gulls, 



