106 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



light on this matter. The latest appearance of these birds in 

 spring I have recorded in rny journal is Aprii 19. 



63 P. lapponkus (L.), Selby, Lapland Longspur.— Rare. 

 I have only obtained one specimen, which was shot when in 

 company with a small flock of shore larks on the coast in 

 January, 1870. 



04. Passerculus namnna (Wils.), Bp., Savannah Sparrow. — 

 Very common in summer. 



G;>. Pooeeeles gramineus (Qm.), Bd., Bay-winged Bunting. 

 — Hare. 



B6. Amrrw&onw maritimus (Wila.), Sw., Sea-side Finch. 

 — Very common ; arriving from the South about the end of 

 March, and frequenting the lowland contiguous to the shore. 

 All I have procured have had a yellow blotch at the base of 

 the beak immediately upon the nostril, and then continuous 

 as a yellow line above the eye and a little beyond it. The 

 edge of the wings, faint yellow. Two middle tail feathers 

 very sharp. Feet and legs very pale flesh color. 



67. Mehtipjza paluslris (Wils.), Bd., Swamp" Sparrow. — 

 Common. 



tiS. .'f. meiodia (Wils.), Bd., Song Sparrow. — Very com- 

 mon. This is probably the first song bird to arrive from the 

 South in spring. 



09. .tunaj hycmiilh (L.), Sel., Snowbird. — Very common ; 

 arriving from the South the first week in April. The nest is 

 usually made in a tuft of grass in low situations about the 

 first week in May, and the first brood is hatched about the 

 middle of the mouth. A second brood is also hatched about 

 the beginning of August. A few stay through the winter, 

 but the main body departs south about the end of October. 



70. Upkdla mohtiojhi ;(im.\ Bd., Tree Sparow.— Not un- 

 common during the winter months. 



71. 8. social).* ( Wils.), Bp., Chipping Sparrow.— Rarely ob- 

 served on the coast, but not uncommon in the interior of the 

 province. 



72. Spizdla. punilla (Wils.;, Bp., Field Sparrow.— Com- 

 mon. 



73. Znnotriehifi albicollis (Gm.)i Bp., White-throated Spar- 

 row. — Very common ; arriving from the North about the first 

 week in May. Its local name is " Poor Kennedy Bird," de- 

 rived, it is said, from the supposed resemblance of its plain- 

 tive notes to the words " Poor Kennedy— Kennedy— Kenne- 

 dy," originating in a legendary tale of an unfortunate travel- 

 er of that name, who, being lost in the deep forest, shared the 

 fate of the babes in the wood, save the covering of leaves j 

 and ever since, this bird, whose ancestor was present at the 

 sad scene has continued to sound this lament, "Poor Ken- 

 nedy — Kennedy — Kennedy." 



74. Passerdia iUaaa (Menem.), Sw., Fox Sparrow.— Not 

 uncommon, but only staying on their autumnal and vernal 

 migrations for a short time. They usually arrive in small 

 flocks from the North about the last "week iu October, and re- 

 turn from the South about the first week in April. Mr. 

 Downs informs me that this bird breeds in Newfoundland. 



75. Goniapliea ludovicia?ia (L.), Bowdich, Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeak. — Rare on the coast, but not uncommon in the un- 

 cultivated districts of the interior. Mount Thorn, in Picton 

 Co., is a noted locality for this bird, which appears to delight 

 in hardwood forests, which clothe the mountain and its 

 Vicinity. 



(To be continued.) 



The Bieds of Grenada. — We have received, through the 

 kindness of Mr. Geo. N. Lawrence, another of his papers re- 

 lating to the birds collected by Ober during the latter's ex- 

 plorations in the Lesser Antillia. This catalogue, which is 

 published in the proceedings of tha United States National 

 Museum, contains notes on fifty-four species taken or observed 

 during the stay of the collector, and is in many respects of 

 very great interest. The Island of Grenada is very near the 

 South American coast, being only seventy miles from Tobago 

 and one hundred miles from Trinidad, so that we might well 

 expect to find here a number of typical South American forms 

 of bird life. In fact, however, there are but two species 

 noticed, which are strictly South American, Glaucis hirsulus 

 and Tyramwsmdancholicus, a fact which shows, as Mr. Law- 

 rence remarks, how markedly Grenada and the islands north 

 of it are defined as a distinct zoological province. Besides 

 the peculiarities attaching to the bird fauna of the island, it 

 IB interesting to note that we find here an armadillo and a 

 monkey. Mr. Lawrence has our thanks for his most interest- 

 ing paper. 



A Check on the Spabbows. — Our correspondent, E. H. 

 Howell, who writes to us from Bath, Steuben County, New 

 York, says : 



I notice quite a number of the small hoot owl around the 

 place feeding on the English sparrow. Is not this something 

 new? 



We have known of the same thing before, and indeed only 

 a few evenings since we saw a small owl (Scops asio) hunting 

 for sparrows about an old church. Among the ivy with 

 which the building was overgrown many sparrows roost every 

 night, and no doubt the bird of prey fared sumptuously on 

 them. As we passed on our way, we wished the bird of wis- 

 dom good speed in the good work which he was performing. 



Corytts Corax is New IlAMi'smnB.— Our correspondent, 

 " M. O. A.," who writes from Warner, New Hampshire, 

 under date of February 27, announces the capture of a raven 

 near that place. He says : 



A rare bird for this vicinity was brought me for mounting 

 Tecently. It was a raven (Cor-vua corax), a young male. It 

 •was caught in a trap set for a fox, about ten miles north of 

 here, about February 1. I have never known of a specimen 

 of this species being taken in this vicinity before, This one 

 was in company with another of its own sable kind. 



Linsk&n Sootbtt.— The meeting of February 35 was, as 

 usual, well attended. An interesting paper from Mr. Thos. 

 8. Roberts, of Minneapolis, Minn., was read, giving a de- 

 count of the warblers found in and around that city. 

 Owing to the peculiarly level tract of country in which the 

 city is situated, there is a great lack of heavy timber, the fa- 

 vorne resort of these birds, and consequently many species 

 re noted only as migrants, although breeding a hundred 



miles further north iu what is termed the "Big Woods." 

 The tamarack swamps, which abound in any favorable lo- 

 cality around Minneapolis, are the resorts of these birds dur- 

 ing migration, and especially so for the young in the fall of 

 the year, when they come trooping through by the hundreds. 

 The Nashville and Tennessee (Helminthophaga ruficapilla and 

 peregrina) yellow rumped and black poll warblers (Dendnwa 

 coronata and striata) and the Maryland yellow throat (GeotJi- 

 lypis tric/ias) are found associating together at this time, and 

 are the most abundant. 



He cited ten genera, including twenty-eight species, all but 

 three of which he has verified himself, and these three are 

 given on the authority of Dr. P. L. Hatch. Among the rarer 

 ones may be mentioned the golden-winged warbler (Helmin- 

 tliopliaga chrysoptera), which is found at Minneapolis during 

 the Bpring and into June. Ou June 12, 1878, he took a nest 

 which he is almost positive belongs to this species. The 

 birds were seen in the immediate vicinity, and the eggs and 

 structure of the nest, coincide exactly with that of this bird. 

 The blue-winged yellow warbler (H. pinus) is very rare or 

 accidental, only one specimen having as vet been noted, and 

 that by Dr. P. L. Hatch, in 1874. The black-throated blue 

 warbler (Dendrceca cmrukscens) is rare, arriving about the 

 middle of May and proceeding northward to breed. D. black- 

 bumiat is not common. The chestnut-sided ( IK petmsyluani- 

 ca.) is common, and breeds. The Cape May warbler (I), ti- 

 grina) is rare. The two specimens on which it w T as identified 

 as belonging to the fauna were taken by Mr. Roberts, May 15, 

 1875, and afterward he took several in the fall. 

 The mourning warbler (GeotMypis Philadelphia) is but rarely 

 met with around Minneapolis, and only during migrations; 

 but northward, in Carleton and St. Louis counties, where the 

 forests have been cut down by fire and tbe charred timber lies 

 piled up in inextricable confusion, these birds are found as 

 common residents. A dense undergrowth has sprung up, 

 which gives them the best protection for their nests and 

 young, and where it is difficult to procure any but the males, 

 who, more venturesome, appear on the dead branches of some 

 standing tree and utter their characteristic notes. Nests were 

 not actually found by Mr. Roberts, but the discovery of the 

 young just from them (July 18, 1878,; was proof positive of 

 their breeding, 



Mr. lngersoll read a paper on intelligence or education in 

 animals, citing various instances of birds, dogs, horses, etc , 

 finding their way home again after apparently interminable 

 wanderings by rail, water aud land, and often after long peri- 

 ods of detention at their new homes, when all desire seemed 

 to have disappeared and they were finally set at liberty. This 

 ability seemed to be duo to higher mental faculties," and in 

 those animals where this was lacking there was no attempt to 

 return to a former home or place. 



Mr. Merriain read some extracts from his journal of the 

 past year, in which he mentioned an instance of an old cock 

 partridge (Bonasa umbellus), which came every day to a cer- 

 tain log lying alongside of a woodpile, and there drummed 

 incessantly, without seeming to mind whether there were cat- 

 tle or poultry by it or not, and on his near approach, would 

 simply walk to the end ot the log, hop off and disappear in 

 the neighboring shrubbery, to come back again in a short 

 time. This was kept up all summer, and when the weather 

 became quite warm, the drumming was kept up until into 

 the night— as late even as two o'clock. lie also spoke of the 

 male purple-finch (Carpodacus purpureas) starting up in the 

 air from the tree on which they were perched, and then let- 

 ting themselves fall, so to speak, all the while giving forth a 

 volume of song, and apparently utterly regardless of where 

 they would alight. 



Hard Times fob the Bird3— East Stroudsburg, Pa., 

 Feb. 18 — Editor For eft and Stream: This morning, while 

 watching some woodpeckers, I observed a turtle dove. I 

 threw a piece of ice at it, but it did not stir. I threw again, 

 and was more successful, and brought it down. I ran up and 

 got it and found it very nearly frozen. I took it, in the house 

 and put it in a cage. I am feeding a flock of thirty-seven 

 quail. They come into the barnyard every morning, and are 

 as tame as the other fowls. A great many are being trapped 

 around here ; they can be bought in almost any store in town. 

 I hear that a great many are starving and being caught by 

 hawks. S. A. R. 



yjjoodknd, J&rm mud §arden* 



For Forest and Stream and Sod and Gun. 

 FARM COLONIES. 



WHILE the tide of emigration has been setting toward 

 the West in a ceaseless current for years, it until 

 recently acquired its chief volume from the farming districts 

 of the older States, and from Europeans accustomed to farm 

 labor, who were ready to assume the hardships of a pioneer 

 life that they might establish homeB of their own in a land 

 of liberty. But in recent years the depression that haB pre- 

 vailed in our manufacturing and commercial circles has 

 awakened the emigrating impulse in a large class heretofore 

 engaged in industries that are now suspended or no longer 

 afford a comfortable income. There are large numbers hesi- 

 tating between desperation and despair, who would gladly fly 

 from the difficulties that beset them to engage in farming, but 

 who shrink from the isolation, discomfort and danger of set- 

 ting up a home in the dark forests or on the lonely prairies. 



The formation of colonies, composed of persons of congenial 

 tastes aud those accustomed to town associations and privi- 

 leges, offers a practicable means of relieving life in a new 

 country of many of its objectionable features. Colonies of 

 this kind have been recently formed in a number of our 

 northern towns and cities, and one in Brooklyn has purchased 

 several thousand acres of prairie laud in Northern Texas, to 

 which a number of families have already removed, and others 

 are to follow. To secure the highest advantages of settlement 

 in a colony a definite plan of laying out and subdividing the 

 land should be agreed upon as the colony is formed. So far 

 as we are aware no such subdivision has been made by any of 

 the colonies referred to, but some of the principal members of 

 the Brooklyn colony have approved the plaus herein pre- 

 sented, and urged their publication for the consideration of 

 those who are contemplating a removal to the West or South. 



To parlies going South the plan of settling iu colonies removes 

 the objection (which is usually very much exagger 

 northern settlers are not cordially welcomed by a large class 

 of the southern people. 



It is not proposed by the term "farm colony" that any in- 

 dividual rights shall be surrendered, or any communal 

 interests or obligations be established beyond a simple co- 

 operation in selecting aud subdividing a large track of land 

 into farms of size suitable to all, so that each family shall be 

 within convenient proximity to others, and to a common 

 centre, around which the school, church, store, post-office, 

 and other institutions and enterprises of a miscellaneous cha- 

 racter pertaining to a village may be located. The question 

 of having a village charter, and imposing restrictions on the 

 sale of liquors and the suppression of nuisances may be left to 

 the decision of the members, but if it is proposed to organize 

 a colony onttemperance principles, it should be so announced 

 at the outset to secure harmonious action as the settlement 

 progresses. For intelligible illustration the aecompaning plot 

 of Farmville is presented, which may, of course, be modified 

 to suit a larger or smaller colony, but it is believed to embrace 

 the most practicable way of subdiving land into large or small 

 farms, in securing to each a pleasant and equitable frontage, 

 and the utmost convenience in the working operations of the 

 farms. 







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24 







l'LOT OF K.VUMVTU.F. 



The plot embraces about 5,120 acres, or eight sections of 040 

 acres, and is assumed to be of uniform quality and value, and 

 to consist of fertile prairie or timbered land, large bodies of 

 which can be selected in various States and Territories of the 

 West and South, within convenient reach of railroad or river 

 communication. Should the land not; be level, or of Uniform 

 value, or the plot not admit of such exactness in subdivision, 

 the size and value ot plots may be determined by lot, or by 

 fixing a small premium for choice, the amount so paid to be 

 devoted to street improvements or other public purposes. If the 

 majority of a colony should desire larger farms than are indi- 

 cated iu the plot it would be better to reduce the number of 

 members iu the colony, rather than materially increase the 

 size of the tract, as a larger area would destroy the admirable 

 village features of the settlement. 



The plot, as before stated, represents eight sections of 040 

 acres each: these are subdivided into square blocks of eighty 

 acres each, through which two broad avenues, at least, eighty 

 feet wide, extend from the mddleof each side to a common 

 centre, where thete is a public square, the size of which may 

 be fixed at the discretion of the colonists. It is assumed that 

 the square, with the lots and streets around it, occupies about 

 1,000 feet square, or twenty-five acres. In the centre of this 

 there might be a small plaza three or four hundred feet square, 

 with the town lots, hereafter noted, located around it. Each 

 of the eighty-acre lots is about 1,S00 feet square, and twenty 

 eight of them front on an avenue, each of which extends 

 7,200 feet from the centre of the public square. 

 divisions are so made that the occupants of the eight farms 

 farthest from the centre, by erecting their buildings near the 

 corner, will be but a few hundred feet more than a mile from 

 the public square. While no farm has a frontage of morethan 

 1,800 feet on an avenue, and a majority of them only 900 feet, 

 the rear lots are assigned to those having street fronts, con- 

 stituting several large farms, each occupying very similar re- 

 lations to the others of like size. Thus there are eight farms 

 of 240 acres ; twelve of 120 acres ; sixteen of 80 acres ; ten of 

 60 acres ; four of 40 acres ; four of 30 acres, and four of 12 to 

 15 acres, according to the size of the public square. The 

 smaller farms are chiefly located near the square, us best sub- 

 serving the interest of such of those who may wish to pursue 

 other avocations in connection with farming.* 



It might be very desirable to lay out around the central 

 part of the public square as many town lots of equal size as 

 there are members of the colony, so that each lot shall be 

 about 50x150 feet in size, with a street iu front, extending 

 around the square, aud in their rear, separating them from 

 the farm plots. One of these lots to be apportioned to each 

 of the settlers without reference to the size of his farm, and 

 without charge, save the actual cost of the land, and a nomi- 

 nal fee to cover the expense of surveying aud laying out the 

 public square. The size of above diagram does not admit of 

 a detailed plan of the square, but it is believed that it will bo 

 intelligible to the reader without further explanation. A better 

 plan, perhaps, would be to reserve all these "town lots" 

 around the public square as village property, to be sold at dis- 

 cretion, and the proceeds to be applied to street improvements, 

 shade trees, school house, public hall, etc. This would in- 

 volve a village charter, which is in many respects desirable. 

 Either plan should be duly considered, and the one most ap- 

 proved should be adopted before settlement, is begun. 



The number of small farms may be varied to suit the wants 

 of the colooy ; so, also, the number and size of the larger 

 farms may be increased or diminished ; but since a settlement 

 of fifty families would require a physician, preacher, teacher, 

 merchant, miller, baker, blacksmith, butcher, one or more 



- For convenience In adapting tnis diagram to our columns, only one 



half the size of Uie large lamia on the extreme right and left iu pre 



uented. Tor the same reason, the outside aud rear portion of tbe plots 



In the second diagram is left undefined— the purpose being to present 



• *te street bsundaries In the iiiult allowed tn the column. 



