406 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Deokmbkr 23, 1880. 



roultitlldcs of .scpsc, brant -.ind dnclcs, afToTxlini-T linrKpoii [n 

 Ibe many posjessors of lirrorli-londiTS in all |);nt,^ r.i llw 

 Htate. My oM, peareahleaiKl wpII dispoKprl Diikula fncnds 

 after lieinic mady Die victims for Ifniir years of lirckfn prom- 

 ises, Tiolatcd treaties and bad faitl) generally on tbe part of 

 t.hegovernment, -n-ere at length lonyeried into cruel ai'd lliirsty 

 savages who spread desolation and death along the frontiers 

 Of Miunesola and Iowa in 1802 and 1808, until, routed in suc- 

 cessive engagements by the Jliunesota forces \nider the com- 

 mand of "tlfe writer, many of them were cai?tnred and exe- 

 cuted, and the remainder" sought refuge in the llritish Pos- 

 nessiona and across the Upjici- 51iss<juri \iivcr there to await 

 the fate which ha? befallen the Indian tribes successively as 

 the wave of white immigration has reached and destroyed 

 them. 



In view of tlie hoiicfits conferred upon the hiniian race liy 

 the opening of this new Korthwcst to white settlement, the 

 true sportsman will not regret that he has been deprived of 

 many sources of pleasure thereV'y. Hi' van still tind oppor- 

 tunities for the display of his skill, even in the most popu- 

 lous parts of the State, although his sport will not tic so |>cr- 

 ilous and exciting as was the chase of the grenlcr and firrc^M- 

 animals in the olden time. Hal a Dm otmi. 



St. Paul, Minn.. 1880. 



OUR WATEKFOWL. 



SucepJudaclanfftila. Golden Eye, Garrot, Whistler. Male, 

 head puffy, dark glossy green, except white oval spot beneath 

 and in front of the eye, which touches the base of the bill. 

 Lower neck, under parts, a patch on the shoulder, most of 

 the scapulars and wing coverts white; other upper parts 

 lilack ; tail, ashy ; bill, black ; feet, yellow ; length, over 

 sixteen inches. The female has the head dark brown with- 

 out white markings, and has the breast and sides gray, the 

 black of the back replaced wnth dark gray. 



The Golden Eye, or Whistler, as it is more often called 

 on the Atlantic Coast, is abundant during the migra- 

 tion all through the Eastem States, hut is not so numerous 

 •west of the Mississippi River. We believe that it has not 

 heen found in the Missouri Bivcr region, though it probably 

 occurs in small numbers at some points in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, having been reported from that region in Eoeest and 

 Stream by Mr. Morton Grinnell. 



The flesh of the Whistler is not regarded as particularly 

 delicate, though much bettor in this respect than that of 

 some of the species to be hereafter mentioned. It docs not 

 by any means confine itself exclusively to an animal diet, and 

 sometimes feeds on corn and other grain. It is very expert 

 at diving, and single birds, found feeding near the shore, 

 may often be approached by running toward them while 

 they are beneath the surface, and then dropping flat on the 

 ground when they come up again. The Wliistler sometimes 

 comes up well to decoys, but we have usually found it rather 

 an uncertain bird in this respect. 



Sucejy/mla inlandica. Barrow's Golden E3'e, Rocky Moun- 

 tain Garrot. This species bears a very close resemblance to 

 the preceding, but is generally regarded as a valid species. 

 In the male the white loral spot is larger than in B. elangula, 

 triangular in shape, with one of its sides touching the whole 

 side of the biU at the base. The white on tlie wing is 

 divided by a dark bar. Otherwise similar to B. dongnla. 

 The female is with difficulty to be distinguished from the 

 last, but perhaps lifls. the dark bar across the white of the 

 wing. 



Barrow's Golden Eye was regarded by Audubon as the 

 specimen plumage of the common Whistler. It appeal's to 

 be much more Arctic in its distribution than that bird, and is 

 everywhere rare in the United States. Its southern Umit 

 during the winter is given as Kcw York, but on the shores 

 of Canada it is said to be not very uncommon during that 

 season. It has been taken in the Rocky ^Jiountains by Mr. 

 Henshaw as far south as Utah, though not aljundant there. 

 But little is known of its habits, and its breeding place is 

 supposed to be in the Far Morlli. 



Eucephala nlbeola. Buffle Head, Butter Ball, Spirit Duck, 

 Dipper, Salt- Water Teal. The male has the colors generally 

 as in the Golden Eye. Head extremely pufly, iridescent, 

 with green, gold and violet reflections, without the white 

 loral spot, but -with a white patch reaching from behind the 

 eye backward, meeting its fellow of the opposite side behind. 

 Female grayish or slate color where the male is black, witli a 

 trace of the while head patch. 



The little buffle head is well Icnown to every one who uses 

 tlie gun, and needs no extended description. The full plumaged 

 male is a very beautiful bird, while the female is, as Dr. Coues 

 remarks, " an insignificant duck," in striking contrast to her 

 highly colored mate. The buflle head is an expert diver mid 

 a very swift flyer. It does not often, on the Atlantic Coast, 

 pay much attention to decoys. It is ratJier imsnspicious, and 

 one may often row a boat up to within gunshot of the feed- 

 ing flock. 



This species is found almost everywhere throughout the 

 United States, and in winter is very common. Although by 

 far the greater portion proceed to the British Possessi(jDs to 

 rear their young, yet we fomid them breeding in Montana in 

 the summer of 1874. No nests were found, but many broods 

 of young still unable to fly were seen, and a number of speci- 

 mens taken. This, wo believe, was the first record of the 

 breeding of this species within our territory. 



JIarelda gladalia. Long-Tailed Duck, South Southerly, 

 Old Wife, Old Squaw. Tail of fourteen narrow, pointed 



feathers ; in the male the central ones very long and slender, 

 abnul equalling (he wing in length. The nail of the bill 

 occupies the wlinlo tip. The pl\image in winter different 

 from that of the summer. Male in summer has the back and 

 the long narrow-pointed scapulars, varied with reddish 

 brown, but changing in winter to white or pearl gray. Gen- 

 eral color, black ; below, white from the breast back ; .sides 

 of head gray. In winter the head, neck and upjier breast 

 are white, but the gray cheek patch remains, and there is 

 lielow it a larger dark area. Bill lilack, with a yellow or 

 fle.sh-coJorcd bar toward the lip. The female is an ordinary 

 looking grayish bird, without the long t«il feathea-s or scapu- 

 lars, but may bo known by the shape of the bill, the patches 

 on the head and neck and the wing without any white. 

 Length varies with the length of the tail feathers from fifteen 

 to twenty inches. 



The Old Srpraw, as it is nsirally called on this coast, is one 

 of the most truly maritime of our duclcs. ll is very rarely 

 seen except on the salt water, and seldom ventures even into 

 the mouths of rivers except when wounded. There ai-e a 

 few instances recorded of its capture on inland waters— for 

 example, ou the great lakes— but these, in view of what is 

 known of its range, can only be regarded as accidental occur- 

 rences. During the wnnler it is extremely abundant al ong 

 our wliole New England coast, and from the constant clamor 

 that the birds keep up is derived the popular name. Old \\\h\ 

 The title South Southerly is given it from a fjiucicd resem- 

 blance of its cry to these wards, but to make llrem at all like 

 the note of the Old Squaw, the two first syllables must be 

 spoken rapidly, and the third strongly accented. 



The old squaw, though itsflosh is very poor eating, is shot 

 in gi-eat numbers along the coast, and, being a bird of rapid 

 and somewlirtt irregular Hight, alVorUs very good .spou. I" 

 the spring tliis species comes up ^^en to decoys, aiitl we have 

 known of over sixty being killed in this w.ay during a 

 morning's shooting. The favorite method of killing them, 

 however, is by forming a line of boats between the feeding 

 grounds and the outer water, where they pass the night, and 

 shooting them as they fly over. They larely rise to anygreat 

 height, and, as tlie boats are stationed only about a gunshot 

 apart, many good opporlimities are given the gunner. Tiiis 

 method of shooting is also piracticed with success for coots. 

 It has been m .re than nuce described in these columns. The 

 Old Sciuaw retires to the North to lireed, and is said to rear 

 its young on the fresh-water lakes of Labrador. We have 

 good reason to believe that it sometimes breeds on the Con- 

 necticut coast, but it is probable that the birds whicli do so 

 are wounded ones, which are unable to make the long joirrney 

 to the Nortli. This species is found on the Pacific coast, and 

 is also a common liird of northern iiurope. 



C'amjitolwmtx lahriuhirtitx. J^abrador Duck, Pied Duck. 

 Bill enlarged toward tiie end by membranous expansion : 

 cheek feathers rigid and .somewhat scale-like. The male has 

 the body and wing-tips lilack, a black collar about the neck, 

 and a longitudinal lilack stripe along the crown of head ; 

 elsewhere white. Female, slatey gray; length, about two 

 feet. 



The Pied Duck is not spoken of liy older writers as an un- 

 common species, but is now extremely rare. It is difficult to 

 understand what can hive caused the disappearance of this 

 bird, but !he lad reniLiiiis that specimens now scarcely ever 

 find their way into the eolicctor's tiands. During the last ten 

 yeajs we have never seen but one indiviiiual (a young male) 

 in the flesh. 



Sportsmen, therefore, who maybe fortunate enough to 

 secure specimens of this species would do well to have them 

 preserved, and to record the fact without loss of time. Ac- 

 cording I'T Auduliou the PiedDuckisa truly maiine species, 

 and rarel;,- cnUrs rivers. It is sairl to occur as far south 

 as the ChcsMpeuke tSay. 



pro TiK OOXTUTOBn.] 



.- -♦--. • 



MIGRATION OF THE WAGTAIL. 



TlIE following letter contributed pseudonj-mously to tlic 

 Jim-iiiii!) Pint contains much that wiU be new lo most 

 of our readers. TJie account is so interesting and so pleasant- 

 ly written that we reprint it entire in the hope that it may 

 elicit some expression of opinion on the subject from our own 

 ornithologists: 



In the autumn of 1878 I spent several weeks on tlic IslsntJ 

 of Crete. On several occasions the papas— village priest— a 

 friendly Greek with whom I spent the greater part of my 

 time— frequently directed my attention to the twittering and 

 singing of small birds which lie diatiuctiy heard when a flock 

 of sand cranes passed by on their southwaril journey. 1 told 

 my friend that I could not see any small birds and suggesier] 

 that the noise came from the wings of the large ones. This 

 he denied, saying, ''No, no! I know it is the eliirping of 

 small birds. They arc on the backs of the crams. I have 

 seen them frec|uently fly up and alight again, and are always 

 with them when lliey stoji lo rest and feed." I was still 

 skeptical, forwiih a lieUI-glass I failed to discover the " small 

 bii-ds" spr'kcii of. I iii.|uired of several others and found 

 the exisience of these hltlc feathered companions to be a 

 matter of general belief among both old aud young. I sug- 

 gested tlialpossiblv the small birds might go out from the 

 shore a short distance and come in with the cranes. " No, 

 no," was the general answer, "they couie over from Europe 

 with them." I certainly heard ilie cliirpiiig aud iwittering 

 of birds upon sevcr.^il different occasions, both inland and out 

 upon the sea. But in spite of the positive statements of the 

 natives, I could not believe their theory until convinced one 

 day while flahing about fifteen miles from the shore, when a 

 flock of cranes passed quite near the yacht. The fishermen, 

 hearing the "small birds," drew my attention to their chirp- 



ing. Presently one cried out, "There's one," but I failed to 

 catch sight of it Then one of them discharged his flint- 

 lock. '1 hreo small birds rose up from the flock and soon dia- 

 a]ipeared among the cranes. 



1 subsccpiently inquired of several scientific men, among 

 whom were two ornitliologists, as to the probability of such 

 a state of afl'aiis. They all agreed that it could not be, and 

 1, too, -was forced to cling to my original judgment, and let 

 t)ie matter go. Reeeully, however, wliile readiDg the " Gar- 

 tenlaube," my attention was attracted to an article bearing 

 directly upon the subject. The writer, Adolf Ebeling, tells 

 the same story, and adds the statementB of some ornitholo- 

 gists of distinction, wliich makes the whole matter so strik- 

 ing aud interesting that I quote the iiaiagraph from his 

 booli : 



"Shortly after my arrival in Cairo I greeted various old 

 German f dends among the birds that I observed in the palm- 

 garden of onr liotel. First, naturally, was tin 

 impudent proletajiutc — 1 Imd almost 



• la 0.1 o| 



v.-orld to-day has tli 



r,t 



bits from every -r:. 

 we paid to the wngta 

 not then know I hat I 

 had thought that tii 



,.li 



r.lf I 



riut iIj^ 



rtl t 



parrow, the 

 lemocrat, 

 -1 in the 



liau ever 

 nliiixrass- 



mbs and 



.f honor 

 e we did 

 >ge. We 



I'jurope, 



sof i-a 

 '-'-'•Jth' 

 or at farthest, as many of them do, in Sicily and the Grecian 

 Islands. That thej- came to Africa, and especially to Nubia 

 and Abys.sinia, was then unknown to us. TMs appeared lo 

 us singularly straiurc, njiy, almost incredible, particularly on 

 accounl of the pc-uli.u- flight of the v.imlails,' which it is well 

 known al'vays ilart,-^ iritrnuit in'^'ly through the air in longer 

 or .stiortcr curves, and ajipai-eiitly, every few moments, inter- 

 rupts Its flight to sit again and 'wag its tail.' But there was 

 tlie fact, and could not be denied. Everywhere in the Gar- 

 dens of Cairo you could see them under the palms that border 

 the banks of the Nile ; on the great avenues that lead to the 

 pyramids ; nay, oven on the pyramids themselves in the 

 middle of the desert. And there it was that 1 first heard of 

 this .singular phenomenon, 



'■I ine evening we were silting at the foot of the pyramid 

 of Cheops, sipping our cup of fragrant Mocha and in jolly 

 conversation, rolling up clouds of blue smoke from our 

 Koraui cigarettes. We were wailing lor the sinkuig of llie 

 Sim to make our return to Cairo. The deep silence of the 



surrounding desert poss 

 only now and then dis' 

 hawks far above us. ^ 

 circling. Their flight. 



assessed ^ 



iUiediiDg uncommonly solemn, 



<y ifi' cry of the hoarse flsh- 



■ I"' 



iccn lr< 



possesses a majesty in ili. i -i m: ,' t, lined by no other bird. 

 Right before us several ^vagtaiis vcie h.ipping around and 

 'tilting.' They were cpiite tame, anil Hew restlessly hither 

 and tiiillirr. "On this occasion i leniajkccl, "I coidd not 

 iir'" I iM i:--:iim1 how these birds could make the long pa.s- 

 ,P iliierranean." Sheik Ibrahim heard this from 



■ I. I The old Bedouin tm-ned to me with a mLx- 



I'l:;: J- ij.iiLli 1111(1 Arabic as fullow.s, wliich the interpreter 

 aided us lo fully comprehend : 



" -Do you not know, Hadretch (noble sir), that these 

 small birds are borne over the sea by the larger ones?' 



"I laughed as did our friends; for al first we thought we 

 had misunderstood him ; but no ; the old man continued 

 rpiite naluially : 



"' Every child among us knows that. Tliese little birds 

 are much too weak to make the long sea jouruev with llieir 

 own strength. This they know veiy well, and, iherefore, 

 wail for the storks and cranes and other laige birds, aud Sf.t- 

 lle tliemselves upon their backs. In this way they allow 

 themselves to be borne over the sea. The large birds submit 

 to it willingly ; for llicy like their iitlle guests, who by their 

 merry twitterings help to kill the time (ju tlie long voyage.' 



It appeared incredible to us. We called to a pair of brown 

 iiedouinboys, pointed out the wagtails lo them, and inquired : 



'• ' Do you know whence come these .small birds V 



" ' Certainly,' iluy :Lns\',-ered ; •The Abu Saad (the stork) 

 carried them over the :.:a.' 



"At supper in tiie lloiel du Nil, I related the curious - 

 story to al! present, but naturally enough found only imbe- 

 lieving ears. 



"The only one who did not laugh was the Privy Council- 

 lor Hcuglin, the famous African traveler and, excepting 

 Brehni, the most celebrated ornitliologist of qjir time for 

 the liirds of Africa. I tinned to hun after the meal, and in- 

 quired of his faith. The good, royal councillor smiled in his 

 caustic way, and with a meny twinlde remarked : ' Let the 

 other's laugh; they Itnow nothing about it. I do not laugh , 

 for the tiling is known tc. me. 1 should have recently made 

 mention of it in mj' work if 1 had had any strong personal 

 proof to justify it. We must be much more careful in such 

 things than a mere story-teller or novel-writer ; we must have 

 a proot for everything. I consider tlie case probable, but a.^ 

 yet coimot give any warrant for it.' 



"My discovery,"!! I may so call it, I had kept lo myself, 

 even after Heugliu had thus expressed himself, and woifld 

 even now uiaintnin silence on the subject had I not recently 

 diiscovered a new tuithority for it." 



I read lately in the second edition of Peterman'sgi'eatbook 

 of travels the f.oilowiug : 



"Professor Roth, of Munich, related to me in Jornsalem 

 that the well-Iuiown Swedish ti-aveler, Hcdenborg, made tlie 

 following interesting observation on the Island of Rhodes, 

 where he slopped. In. the autumn tide, when the slorks 

 come in flocks over the sea to Rhodes, he often heard the 

 song.' of birds withnui being alile to discover them. Once he 

 followed a flock of storks, and as they lighted he saw small 

 birds Hy iqi from their bacla, which in this manner had been 

 borne over the sea. The distance prevented him from ob- 

 serving to which .species of singing bu'ds they belonged." 



''I'hu's wrote tlie famous geographer, Pcterman. Professor 

 Roth and Iledenhorg and lieuglin are entirely reliable 

 authors. This was a mailer of great curiosity to me, and 

 after I found others had made similar observations, and ex- 

 pressed them in print, I thought they would l:ie of no loss 

 curiosity and interest on this .side of the Atlantic, aud equally 

 deserving of public notice. I hope that couuoissciirs, ama- 

 teurs and experts may be excited by this to extend their ob- 

 servation in this line also. The instinct of animals is still, in 

 spite of all oiu- observations and experience, almost a sealed 

 book to us. By a little attention we might hear of still more 

 curious things in this field. 



PitooKiEDr.vGs U. 8. Nat'l MrsEtr.v. — Volume II. of the 

 proceedings of the U. 8. Nat'l Museum, for 1879, published 

 under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution, contains 

 a vast amount of new and varied infonuation, Mesa's, 



