264 



FOKEST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



DBVOTEDTOFlBIiD AND AQUATIC SPORTS, PRACTICAL NATURAL HISTORY, 



-mshualturb, the protection op game, preservation op forests, 

 akd the Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 

 m Out-door Becreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



&onzt and j&tnmn Hublizhittg f&omyamt. 



17 CHATHAM STBEET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK, 



[Post Oppice Box 2832.] 

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 Term*, Pour Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 

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Twenty-five per cent, off for Clubs of Three or more. 



THOUGHTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON 

 AVIARIES. 



Advertising Bates. 



Inside pages, nonpareil type, 20 cents per line: outside page, SO cents. 

 Special rates for three, sis, and twelve months. Notices in editorial 

 columns, 40 cents per line. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1876. 



To Correspondents. 



♦ ■ 



* All communications whatever, whether relating to ousinese or literary 

 Correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing: Company. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regaraed. 



Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle 

 men sportsmen frou one end of the country to the other ; and they wil 1 

 find our columns a uesirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 p itronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 tend to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 m iy not be read with propriety in the home circle 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



I Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 

 ' Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES HALLOCK, 



Editor and Business Manager. 



THANKSGIVING. 



ONE of the most beautiful customs handed down to us 

 by our Puritan forefathers is the observance of a 

 stated day as a day of Thanksgiving. Undoubtedly in- 

 tended originally as a day of prayer and praise, it has come 

 to be, with the growth of a general spirit of "liberality and 

 toleration, not only a day of thanksgiving but a day of 

 feasting as well; when a subtle influence softens the heart 

 and opens the pocket; when the poor are re- 

 membered, and in byways and backways an influx of un- 

 wonted good things find its way. As sportsmen 

 have w T e not much to be thankful for? In the 

 midst of all this turmoil, when politics seem to have 

 turned the world topsy-turvey, we have to be thankful for 

 one of the most bountiful game seasons Known for years; 

 thankful that we can turn from the former to the field. 

 From every direction our reports teem with accounts of 

 large bags of quail, grouse and woodcock. The fall flight 

 of ducks is upon us, and promises to excel that of past 

 seasons. And we who are blessed with health to enjoy 

 that most beautiful part of God's world, the fields and for- 

 ests, should we not to-day be thankful to the Giver of all, 

 not forgetting good St. Hubert, the patron saint of sports- 

 men? 



And now that the spirit of Charity, "the greatest of 

 these," has gone forth, let us open wide our hands to the 

 poor and needy, returning in some manner the gifts to us, 

 not fiom the pocket alone, but in forgiveness and sympa- 

 thy. May your turkey sit lightly, and may you "live long 

 and prosper," is our greetiug to the reader, whatever may 

 befall the tribe in the barnyard. 



Foreign Sporting Correspondence. — We resume this 

 week the publication of our Sporting Notes from Abroad, 

 which we promise will be as reliable and interesting to our 

 readers as the weekly welcome letters of our quondam 

 correspondent Idstone, Jr., who served our columns so 

 acceptably for so long a time. We shall endeavor to keep 

 up with the current topics of trans- Atlantic sporting intel- 

 ligence, which are as interesting to many Americans as 



their own home news. 



-•♦♦ ■ 



St. Nicholas.— We are gratified to learn that Mr. Ernest 

 Ingersoll, who for a long time rendered us valuable ser- 

 vice as editor of the Natural History Department of this 

 paper, has become first assistant editor of Scribner's pop- 

 ular magazine for young people, known as the St. Nicholas. 

 We feel that this publication will gain by the acquisition. 



SEVEKAL years since, we were so situated as to be 

 able to rear from the nest some of our native birds, 

 and the experience so obtained gave us ideas which may 

 be useful and interesting to our readers. The occupation 

 is not only most delightful, but is useful as well. Pleas- 

 ant it must prove to all, and useful to many. In no way 

 can an incipient naturalist better acquire correct ideas of 

 the habits of many of our feathered friends, and aside 

 from its usefulness in this respect, a more pleasant engage- 

 ment, and moie sympathetic and affectionate pets it would 

 be hard to find. Of course time and place are important 

 factors, which oppose themselves to many who may be 

 desirous to start on such a venture. One must be a rural 

 inhabitant in the first place; no successful private aviary 

 could be kept up in a city, fresh air, sunshine, and nearness 

 of healthy food, being such essential requisites. Time to 

 devote to your birds, particularly while growing, is especi- 

 ally necessary. We have sometimes given food to very 

 young birds as often as every hour of the day. This is, 

 perhaps, not absolutely essential, but the aim should be to 

 follow nature as closely as possible, and parent birds in 

 their native state, devote almost their whole day to their 

 progeny when quite young, excepting perhaps the two 

 hours of noonday heat. You must remember that you 

 stand wholly in loco parentis to the nestlings, and should 

 make yourself entirely familiar to them. As to the con- 

 struction of the abode, naturally its size depends on your 

 allotted space. Of course the larger the better. The sides 

 and top of the aviary should be of wire netting, that of 

 half inch square much the best; the shape square, built on 

 a wooden platform, elevated an inch or more from the 

 floor of the room, and placed on wooden castors so as to 

 be movable for purposes of cleaning away the dust which 

 will accumulate underneath it. The platform or floor 

 should extend beyond the sides of wire afoot at least, we 

 are speaking of an aviary seven or eight feet square — to 

 catch sand and feathers which are scattered about; the 

 floor should be covered with sheet zinc, and coarse sand 

 strewn upon this to the depth of an inch. It seems to us 

 hardly practicable in so small an affair, costing not more 

 than $40 to make arrangements for nesting, and more elab- 

 orate provision would be necessary for such an undertak- 

 ing. No deciduous trees can be kept alive in an indoor 

 aviary, as the birds will soon strip them entirely of their 

 leaves. We should suggest a full branched, leafless tree 

 of small size, for a center piece, and as many evergreen 

 shrubs, arbor- vitas, spruce, etc., as possible, both within 

 and without upon the projection of the platform, to give 

 seclusion and places of concealment for the inmates. A 

 low door, say four feet in height, should be cut on one 

 side for ingress and exit. Now, with what birds can we pop- 

 ulate their future home? Those most easily reared are such 

 as we see, most abundant about us. The robin, blue-bird, 

 wood-thrush, brown-thrasher or red-thrush, golden-winged 

 woodpecker, Baltimore oriole, orchard oriole, red-winged 

 blackbird, bobolink, and various birds of the finch tribe. 

 All of the above are reared from the nest with but little 

 difficulty. While young, the greater variety of food given 

 the birds the better they will thrive. For the thrushes 

 some portion should be animal food. Worms and minced 

 meat together, with biscuit- crackers soaked in milk or 

 water, Indian meal, fiuit and vegetables in season, straw- 

 berries, cherries, young green peas, etc. For the orioles, 

 bits of raisins, figs, green peas and fruits. Prepared 

 mocking-bird food can be purchased at any druggists, and 

 is a good diet for almost any bird. During the winter 

 worms and fruit are scarce or wanting, and at this season 

 your birds may be fed on minced meat, Indian meal, the 

 prepared food and canary seed, for any finches you may 

 have, as indigo-birds cr, song-sparrows; raisins and figs 

 should never be wanting. The blue-birds, thrushes, hi- 

 holes, make the most congenial pets, and often in years 

 gone by, have we stood the delighted center of an interest- 

 ing circle of the above birds, performing in most approved 

 fashion the office" of parent to them; woodpecker's 

 creeping up the quasi-tree trunk, our body, blue-birds 

 sitting jauntily on shoulder, head or arm, robins and 

 thrushes clinging to whatever foothold they could reach, 

 and all with quivering wings and plantive appeal beseeching 

 for a mouthful of their morning fare. 



«♦♦»» ■ 



THE CAPERCAILZIE. 



< < s-\ ONE to meet the dodo and the great auk," was very 

 VJT nearly written as the epitaph of the capercailzie or 

 capercaillie,. (petrao urogallus) the largest game bird of the 

 British Islands and the prototype of our wild turkey. We 

 should perhaps qualify our statement regarding his proba- 

 ble total extinction by saying that it referred to Great 

 Britain alone, for even after it had totataly disappeared 

 from the United Kingdom, specimens were still found in 

 Sweden and Norway. Even in these countries, however, 

 the bird was being rapidly killed off. 



Wood describes the capercailzie, cock of the woods, 

 mountain cock, or a uerhahn, as he is variously called, as a 

 bird nearly equalling the turkey in size. The color of the 

 adult male bird is chestnut-brown, covered with a number 

 of black lines irregularly dispersed ; the breast is black with 

 a gloss of green, and the abdomen is simply black, as are 

 the lengthened feathers of the throat and tail. The female 

 is easily known by the bars of red and black which traverse 

 the head and neck, and the reddish yellow barred with 

 black of the under surface. Mauy^ capercailye are killed 



n the spring (in Sweden and Norway) contrary to law, as 

 each bird has his lek or play ground, from whence his call 

 to the hens is heard for a great distance. The mode of 

 killing them is as follows: It being first ascertained where 

 the lek is situated the sportsman proceeds to the spot and 

 listens in profound silence until he hears the call of the 

 cock. So long, however, as the bird only repeats his cun- 

 ning sound, he must, if he be at all near to him, remain 

 stationary; but the instant the capercailzie comes to the 

 wind up, during which he gives a gulp, his eyes close and 

 he appears absorbed with passion, the hunter advances a 

 little. The instant it rises he stops again, as during the in 

 terval the bird is extremely wary. If undisturbed, how- 

 ever, he soon commences again, and the sportsman creeps 

 within shot. 



Naturalists place the capercailzie in the same family as 

 the grouse and black cock. A hundred years ago they 

 were common in the United Kingdom, but toward the end 

 of the last century they became extinct. The last shot in 

 Ireland was in 1760 and the last in Scotland was killed ten 

 year later. From that time none were seen, but in 1838> 

 the Marquis of Breadalbane dispatched envoys to Norway,. 

 with orders to collect as many specimens as possible of the 

 adult bird, and bring them over alive. About fiity were- 

 procured, of which some were retained in a large aviary, 

 while others w 7 ere turned out into his Lordship's forests at 

 Taymouth Castle. In the autumn of 1839 several fine- 

 young birds were introduced; and in 1840, although Lord' 

 Bread albane gave strict orders that none whatever were to- 

 be shot, two males in full plumage found their way into- 

 the London market. The great Scotch nobleman perse- 

 vered in his attempt to re naturalize the bird with keen as- 

 siduity. The eggs which were laid in his aviary were 

 hatched out under domestic fowls, or put into the nests of 

 black grouse; and the result was, after several years of 

 patience and labor, that the capercailzie has at last taken 

 a firm hold in the Highlands, and, unless it is again exter- 

 minated by the rapacity of sportsmen, promises to become 

 once more indigenous. 



From Taymouth, these splendid birds, increasing in 

 numbers where they could obtain a footing, and were not 

 systematically "potted," spread over the country in a 

 southeasterly direction to Perth. In the beautiful woods 

 of Dupplin Casile, in 1800-64 an hundred were sometimes 

 seen in a single day's beat. Since about 1860, this game 

 has met with various receptions where it has endeavored 

 to make itself a home. At the present time it is found in 

 various districts far away from the scene of its re-establish- 

 ment in Scotland, but it is far from being general. 



The modern practice of planting large districts in the 

 Highlands with fir will doubtless aid largely in increasing 

 the stock of birds, but to pioduce them in any quantity it. 

 is necessary that they should be spared by sportsmen for 

 some years to come. 



Notwithstanding his great size, the capercailzie is not 

 an easy bird to shoot in a legitimate manner, while on the 

 wing. The mode of shooting them in Scotland is thus de- 

 scribed in Land and Water: — 



"The generality of covert shooting in Scotland is done 

 in line, and as the birds perch high up in the tree-tops, 

 they get a good view of the advancing enemy. They there- 

 fore rarelv allow the latter to approach within fair gunshot, 

 but take their flight in time, and always from the "other 

 side" of the tree. Whether there is a special Providence to 

 guide the capercailzie to perch on the reverse side of the 

 tree to that which the gunner is approaching, or whether 

 they take the precaution to move there on the first sound 

 or sight of danger, seems jdoubtful, but it is believed that 

 an instance of one departing from this very sensible prac- 

 tice is not within the ken of man. Very few are conse- 

 quently killed in the ordinary drive, and even if they take 

 flight within gunshot, the swoop downwards which they 

 alwavs make at starting gives them such an impetus that 

 they "skim off on the 'other side' at a pace that often car- 

 ries them off at long range before a trigger can be puhed; 

 then firing had better be left alone, as it takes a good deal 

 to bring these giants down. As they are polygamous, it is 

 desirable, even whilst endeavors are being made to increase 

 the number of the species, to kill off a good many of the 

 cocks. A special arrangement, not altogether for the 

 benefit of the latter, is on this acconnt made by sending a 

 gun or two in front to wait in a concealed spot in a favora- 

 ble position while the beaters and the other guns drive up 

 towards them from the other end of the beat.^ This is the 

 only way in which a capercailzie can be fairly 'circum- 

 vented, ' and although his trick of dodging out on the 

 'other side' saves him from his approaching enemies, he 

 has to 'run the gauntlet' of his foes in ambush. These 

 watch him as he comes swiftly skimming along between 

 the trunks of the tall pines, looking, with his hooked beau, 

 more like a large bird of prey than anything else, and 

 salute him at twenty or thirty yards with a charge of JNo. 

 1, or, better still, of B B shot. Down he comes with a 

 ponderous thud on the ground, or if there is deep snow, 

 his great weight plunges him into the drift, completely 

 burying him therein— a truly royal burial for such royal 

 game." 



The fate of the capercailzie should be a warning to 

 sportsmen in tnis country. We have no wealthy landed 

 proprietors who will send abroad for birds with which to 

 re-stock our depleted forests. When the wild turkey has 

 disappeared, and the grouse has followed him, we may bid 

 them a last and long adieu, as we never shall look upon 

 their like again. • 



The Bahamas.— In another column will be found the 

 advertisement of Messrs, Murray, Ferris & Co., agents 

 of the New York, Nassau & Savannah Steamship Line. 

 This is the season when invalids are thinking of a more 

 congenial climate, and the Bahamas hold out unusual in- 

 ducements to such. Messrs. Murray, Ferris & Co., issue a. 

 pamphlet giving all requisite information. 



S 



