224 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



fAPRlli S3, 188U. 



Not hearing anything from our guide, and it being 

 late in the week, I concluded to take a run up to I lolo- 



rado Springs, some one hundred and fifty miles further 

 i s i hese springs have been so elaboiafy I j a rittej 

 up by the versatile pen of " Grace Ureeitwoodj" i 1 1 onld 

 he USeh 98 tot' me to attempt to add anything thereto. In 

 fact, I think 1 li.-il everything lias been said in theirprai.se 

 that is possible to say, with any regard for truth, AVe 

 found the springs in a irimmer deserted, that is, about 

 Sjanatou. Noticing soine bills tacked up on one of the 

 awnings over the spring, I pulled One down and read 

 -where to go to hear the truth proclaimed, An angel hov- 

 ering in the air had made known a new and Divine revel- 

 ation to the sous of men. This fact was to be announced 

 and amply verified by some one claiming to be a " latter 

 day saint," I didn't go. I wanted to see the Garden of 

 the Gods. 



I left my antelope head at the Springs to be mounted 

 and hastened back to Lakiu. Dr. P. had received a let- 

 ter stating that our mutual friend, Frank PL, would join 

 us on Monday morning. This was good news, for we 

 wanted Frank to accompany us at the start. Frank is 

 one of those- polished gentlemen who exhibits good man- 

 ners at home and abroad— something not always adhered 

 to when the restraints of society are removed. Bright 

 and early Monday morning we were up trying to get a 

 shotatsomi covoP-.. but tailed to bring any to bag. The 

 train arrive,! ai i< o'clock, and sure enough there wasf-ranki 

 bug and baggage, with a brand-new gun, with double, 

 open and peep sight behind. Now was hurrv and bustle. 

 "We could hardlv wait for breakfast and team, tint with 

 all our cIiortsHwas near noon before w. ■ started, Our 

 objective point was south of the Arkansas, on the flats, 

 this field giving us plenty of sport at long I j and 

 Frank was over anxious to try his new gun. saving that 

 he " just knew how the thing was done." We had not 

 gone' far after crossing the river before we discovered 

 antelope, some feeding and some 1\ ing down. Thev per- 

 mitted the wagon to come up to within two hundred 



yards, and Frank got out. As a matter of courtesv we 

 granted him first shot. lie took a shell out of the'ease 

 and passed it into the breech of the gun, and finding that 

 the breech-block did not readilv close he used some force 

 and wedged the shell so fast that the extractor failed to 

 remove it. Dr. P, now became nervous and wanted to 

 shoot, but Frank asked him to wait, showing consider- 

 able excitement and working hard at the hung shell. 

 "P.exar" never had a worse case of expanded shell than 

 t lis seemed to be. Frank worked manfully and finally 

 succeeded in pulling out the shell and leaving the ball 

 fast: in the gun barrel, while our friend fussed and fumed 

 until the antelope were miles away. Soon we saw a soli- 

 tary one. and as it crossed us about a half-mile away 1 

 shot in advance of it, the ball raising quite a fog of dust. 

 This frightened the animal so that it -wheeled apd bore 

 down directly upon us, coming to within a feu hundred 

 yards before* turning. I gave it another shot, cutting 

 through the brisket, and one of tho other guns broke a 

 hind leg, but not having any way to follow it up failed 

 to get it. Late in the evening 1 broke the shoulder of 

 another, but failed to get it. 



On Tuesday morning wo learned that our guide had 

 arrived from the buffalo range, bringing in five i 

 Everything was now making ready for a regular camp 

 hunt, our guide assuring us that he would show us buffalo. 

 Wftpackedour traps into two wagons, and went some 

 fifteen miles that evening. Just before sun down we 

 Stopped for cam!', ami I assisted in pitching our tent— the 



1 i ... 1 Bel i tent that 1 had slept under since the " late r.n- 

 pleasamtneas." Nexl day was rather-hazy,. and turned 

 colder. At 10 o'clock we saw a solitary buffalo, evidently 

 a wanderer. We all gave him a few shots apiece, but to 

 no purpose. We Btopped for dinner mar the head of 

 White Woman, having traveled Hear fifty miles sinco 

 leaving the station. The wind was blowing almost a tor- 

 nado ; the sky Was dark and lowering, with occasional 

 claps of thunder. We crept in the crevices of the rocks, 

 which make a solid wall for some distance. We discov- 

 ered where a temporary fori had be. n made out of loose 

 rockby piling them up in the open end of a largj 

 in the rock. Some party had certainly been besieged 

 here, as we could see a great many empty brass shells of 

 the old Springfield 54 and 52 oalibersrrewn about on the 

 ground. We also found a steel arrow-head. 



The clouds parted and tho sun came out, but the -winu 

 continued to blow. "We hitched up our teams and moved 

 on down the river. Some distance from camp we dis- 

 covered a solitary antelope. feeding and watching, and 

 thinking it a good chance to stalk, Frank and 1 got 

 down in the bed Oi the stream, leaving the teams, and by 

 stooping and crawling along until almost worn out and 

 getting otiir boots full of gravel, we finally got up within 

 si hundred yards, and as we peeped up Over the hill our 

 little antelope was leisurely grazing, and not aware of 

 any danger. I suggested to Frank that he give the com- 

 mand o> lire. We were both puffing- and blowing, and 

 Frank wanted to " wait a minute," but 1 told him that 

 we might lose ourchanoe. We both slipped our guns 

 upon the bank and look deliberate aim. All. r "■ 

 fur some time I whispered to Frank, ""Why don'1 yoo 

 county' Frank was evidently excited, but lie began: 

 " One-e-e, tvro-o-o, three-e-e :" bang went both guns ; and 

 to our surprise away wenl our antelope. We bow 

 jumped up on the bank, and as I threw my gun to mv 

 face for another shot, Frank called iowe.it. I turned 

 and found him squatting down, trying to get another 

 shell 0111 of his gun that he failed to get in. As 1 

 hack 10 lb- antelope 1 noticed it turn half quai 

 throw its head back and tall. We gave the usual 

 and! urganie. As we were going along 



Prank said. " Where did you aim':" 1 told him 1 aimed 

 at tin- center of the shoulder— always do ; "where did you 

 aim'." " Well I aimed,'' said Frank, "about two inches 

 behind the shoulder." When we got up ami turned the 

 deer over we found that there was a bullet lade near the 

 Mle of one shoulder, and another about two inches 

 In -bind tiie other shoulder, So this was conceded Frank's 

 game. 



We proceeded down the creek for a few miles and went 

 into camp. Had a nice fry of antelope liver for supper, 

 Tin-' niyht w a- dark and cold, So much so that we could 

 no! sleep with any comfort. About 3 o'clock the Doctor 

 and I got iip arid gathered what fuel we could find ami 

 made a fire. About daybreak we ate breakfast and gath- 

 ered uii our traps and started. The sun came up bright 

 and nice and the wind hod calmed down during the night, 



After traveling four or five miles our guide stopped and 

 called our attention to some fresh buffalo sign. There. 

 were the beds .-.ml Irish Inter. 1 got up on top of tne 



i . i .1 .i discovered six largo btff&to lyin 

 Our guide told us to get ready, and we all felt sure, of get- 

 ting a prize. When everything was ready oar guide 

 formed us abreast, locking' each other's arms, and fold us 

 to inarch st raiirht up without, stopping. 'We found this 

 hard to do. as no two stepped alike but all evident Ij bent 

 lot, Jusi rtB we ame in view, and while yel a 

 off , our friends concluded toleave.and theydid 

 not stop the run as far as we could see. There was noth- 

 ing Left for us to do but leisurely follow up the trail with 

 the hope of overtaking them. Two or three o'clock in 

 the afternoon we came in sight again. It was cloudy 

 and a fierce northwest, wind blowing. I thought we 

 would all chill to death. We could see that tho animals 

 • en , ,, as they would often stop to look at us and 

 then turn and walk away. We concluded to try a shot 

 fit three hundred varus, but failed to do any damage. 

 Soon after the herd separated and we gave them up 

 finally. But while they were still in sight we discovered 

 a sucking calf approaching, whose mother had been 

 killed, no doubt, but a short time. Seeing us the cnlf 

 started for the teams : our guide told us to go out a hun- 

 dred or SO yards arid lay flat down and that it would 

 COmeTiptbuS. Sure enough, the dumb brute came to 

 within fifty 01 sixty yards, and Dr. P. said that it was a 

 pity to kill the innocent thine. 1 toldhim lhat I believed 

 that 1 wouldn't shoit. Frank said, "Well, he had come 

 out to kill buffalo and was going to shoot." The Doctor 

 thought that if Frank shot that we had as well all shoot. 

 So we all fired and made a clear miss, when Dr. F, gave 

 it a second shot on the wing, breaking its neck. 



We spent another night on the high plain— the coldest, 

 most disagreeable nigbJ thai I ever spent in camp or field. 

 This determined us to start for home, leaving our guide 

 still in pursuit of buffalo. We made the station about 

 o'clock that night without any loss and packed up for 

 home next dav. 



The plains are almost destitute of fuel and water. The 

 supply of buffalo chips had disappeared. There does 

 not seem to be much trouble in getting water by digging 

 a few feet anywhere near those depressions that are 

 called creeks. 'What a great benefactor must he be who 

 would have a few thousand bored wells scattered about. 

 over the plains! And then if the Government would only 

 .. i use a few electric lights to be placed along the railroad 

 every few hundred iniles, many lives would be saved, 



.../ill, Mo, Occident. 



Jfafe/ $isforg. 



SPRING NOTES FEOM MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 



MAKCII, 1S80. 



FROM the 23d to the 27th of February was mild and 

 pleasant, and it seemed as though wo were again 

 to have an unusually early spring. Tho shore larks had 

 appeared about the middle of the month ; a red-winged 

 blackbird was seen on the 2(5lh. The snow buntings and 

 Lapland longspurs were in their usual early spring abund- 

 ance, and tho snow had entirely disappeared from the 

 ground. But on the 35th snow fell all day, and March 

 came in, with a moderate amount of snow on the ground 

 and the thermometer on the morning of the 1st 2-deg. 

 above zero. On the 2d and 3d it was again mild, the 

 thermometer being 63deg. at noon on the 2d. The snow 

 ail melted and a bluebird was reported on the 3d, From 

 the 3d UntD the 21st it was continuously cold, with much 

 changeable and disagreeable weather, and occasional 

 light snow-falls. On the morning of the 14th it. was 8deg. 

 below 7-'-ro, and on the 16th Tdeg. below ; with frequent 

 readings, morning, noon and night, between Odeg. and 

 20deg. On the 16th a male long-cored owl (Otus wilson- 

 ifftvas) was shot in a piece of woods where one appears 

 regularly every spring, and the same day I heard the 

 longspur (P. iappoilfctia) singing for the first time this 

 year. In an old field grown up in grass and bushes I 

 found a large flock of the P. lupponiciis. Some of them 

 were feeding upon the ground, while others were sitting 

 ia the low bushes altering their spring song, which im- 

 proves much as the season advances. Upon starting the 

 whole flock into the air it circled around for a time in the 

 usual erratic manner, and then alighted in the tops of 

 Borne small oak trees, No sooner were the birds settled 

 than they all started to sing, and although the individual 

 effort is, at this season, neither very fail nor continuous, 

 \, t the effect of the general chorus was musical and 

 . A finch of blackbirds often act in a very sim- 

 ilar manner. This "congregational singing" of tin 

 longspurs is their common spring habit, tn id is as often 

 in while, they are sitting upon the ground as 

 eU-v, here. 



The 81st another bluebird was seen, and on the 22d 

 marsh 1 ■:■ tied hawk, a flock of mallard ducks 



and a great abundance of longspurs. 



From this lime the spring birds began to arrive almost 

 daily, and it will ho better to give the record in diary 

 form. The readings of the thermometer were taken three 

 times a day— morning, noon il] id evening. 



March 21?A, rtudeg., 41deg.. 31deg.— The first robin. 

 Male ring-neck and hooded merganser ducks shot. Wood 



ducks. 



March 25th, 30deg„ 41dcg., 37deg.— About five inches 



i n ' on Ha- ground, which fell Inst evening. Three 

 wild pigeons seen. 



1 kingfisher, rob- 

 ins, wood, iingueck and mallard ducks shot, Wild 

 Snow invited rapidly. 



Mqjxh 277 7t, 44deg., BSdeg., B9deg.— Rained all n. tjl 



i or manyweeks. Another kingfisher. 



MarchZSth i6dej 19deg.. svMpr.— Clear and pleasant, 



i. : . ■; ,'■ •'.'Ml:, an.Ieg., abler;., tiildeg —Clear. Saw a Hand- 

 bill crane flying over. Although at a great height its 



loud notes >i -I. di: I actlj audible. Noticed i U Qoi 



of crow blackbirds. This bird is . • n. found here 

 in the middle of winter (Jan. 7th, 1S7G), but cannot he 

 regarded as a resident. WatfWings (A. garrvh;- blui - 



birds and robins. Suckers and pickerel are n: D 



BOme Of Ibe streams. 



March 80fft, 40deg„ 59deg., 4 S . . — i lent and warm; 



H . '! WO '■ : il - 1 IHi '. ST alii 1 I, rnhy-crowned and 

 golden -crested wrens, fox-colored sparrows, meadow lark. 



i ase pewee, song sparrow and brown creepers. The 

 last species is of accidental occurrence during some win- 

 ters— (Dec. 10th, lo'M ; Jan. 10th, 1877)— buTit comes in 

 numbers with the early spring arrivals and is then more 

 noticeable (ban at any other time. Pintail and sp i ttbill 

 ducks are here. The" snowbirds (Jitnco) have appeared 

 abundantly in the hedges anil bush idles. A large deck 

 of thistle birds (C. tiislix). Downy v, ond peckers mating. 

 The ice went quietly out. of the Mississippi Fiver at this 

 point to-day. Previous to 1878 it, was not usual for the 

 river to open here before from the 7th In the PJtlt of 

 April. Winter held on firmly until the last days of 

 March, when there was a general breaking up- uniting 

 of snow and ice, and arrival of spring birds. Put during 

 the last three years it has been very different. The break 

 up has been much earlier, and instead of abrup I I 9 beer 

 gradual and interrupted by many brief returns of colli 

 wiather. In 1875 and 1*711 the ice disappeared from the 

 river April 12lh. and in 1877, April.7 : while in the early 

 spring of 1878 it. went, out gradually between the 5th and 

 7th of Match : in 1877 on Match 28th, and this year March 

 88th. The river is clear at St. Paul, ten miles below, home 

 days earlier. 



March 31st, 42dcg., 40deg., iSldog.— The first thunder- 

 storm of the season this morning. It always seems spring- 

 like to hear the roll of the thunder after "the long silence 

 of winter. Pained, and at times snowed, most of the 

 day. Several golden-crested kinglet.-', meadow Jnrks in 

 soiig and a large company of brown creepers. While 

 standing watching the creepers as they passed from tree 

 to tree through the woods two of them came and lit on 

 tig, and after a short examination flew to a 

 tree about two leet distant. On< ' thei passed in 6UC- 

 le.-ini up each of mv arms and seemed in no haste to 

 leave. What conclusions they arrived at is beyond con- 

 jecture; but they must have been somewhat a 

 at Hie character of the trees in that grove. Fortunately 

 for the writer's feelings the trees at this season of the 

 year show no signs of greenness. 



The spring this year is slightly less advanced 

 close of March than at the end of the .same month in 1871), 

 much behind what it was in 187s, and considerablj in 

 advance of tho average for a number of years p. 

 L878. Flics. S. ROBERTS. 



\To be continued.] 



I'.nustial Nesting: Places.— Cleveland, O.— While 



out. collecting last, year, 1 noticed a pair of robins build- 

 ing a nest. 'It was built on a trestle work of one of the 

 railroads leading from this place, the nest being situated 

 on one of the timbers, about eight or ten inches below 

 the rail, over which each day ten or twelve trains passed. 

 Hero the robins reared their'young. 



A pair of chipping sparrows built a nest in a hanging 

 basket which was tilled with plants, and had to be 

 watered every dav. When the lady came to water if I he 



bird would leave "its nest, and re ! She left. 



The sparrows finished their nest and reared their young 

 in this situation. Sr.\.\i. Fm.kksui.i,. 



Spring NOTSS.— Our correspondent, '•Webb." who 

 writes from Nashua. N. U., under date of March l."Uh, 

 says: The spring-like weather, of last month has been 

 succeeded by cold, stormy blasts, which have driven the 

 "early bird" back to winter quarters. Bluebirds were with 

 us on the S2dof February : a wood pigeon wasshot on ll e 

 284 — they are generally among the last to arrive ; Phil- 

 lips mounted a cedar bird which was killed on the 20th, 

 and they are generally among our late arrivals. Ptobins 

 were singing in tho orchard on the 28th, and I saw crow 

 blackbirds and chipping sparrows the same day, Poor 

 birds! they had not seen Yennor's prophecies for 

 March. The streams are all open, and a few ducks 

 have put in an appearance. A Hock of geese passed 

 over on the first of the month : it is early lor them, but 

 a friend living in Central Vermont tells me he saw a 

 flock of geese flying north the last of January. 



Mr. Seym. Iugersoll, of Cleveland, 0.. contributes the 

 following observations. He writes: I think we may- 

 say that spring is fairly open here, as the birds have 

 begun to arrive. The following is a list of the arrivals 

 that 1 have noted up to April 3d : — 



Feb. 10th. Saw two white-bellied nuthatch, one red- 

 headed woodpeckerand two yellow-hammers. 



Feb. liith. Saw. several more red-headed woodpeckers. 



Feb. 31st. Saw a robin to-day. 



Feb. 22d. Saw a number of bluebirds and robins. 



Feb. 24th. Saw a single flock of crows. 



Feb. 26th. I noticed an albino robin, but could not get 

 him. 



Feb. 27th. Saw first meadow larks to 



March £8tb, Saw a large flock of ducks My Over. 



March 19th. Noticed -a kilkleer plover 'to-day ; also 

 several more meadow-larks. 



March 21st. Noticed crow-blackbirds, cowbirds, song- 

 sparrows and Carolina doves to-day, for tho first time 

 this spring. 



Mch, Saw a flock of Carob'na waxwiim 



March 31st. Saw a wood pewee this morning, also a 

 kingfisher, some redwing blackbirds, a chewink and two 

 logger-head shrike ; also found a nest of the logger-head 

 shrike, which was just finished. 



April 1st. Saw several snipe. 



April 34. Saw a few cliff swallows, and noticed a pai 

 of robins nesting. 



Parasites is tiif, MaelaSd,— BelleUUlef 771 , ' 



18804 — I have just read with a great deal of interest the 

 description of the parasite found in a mallard duck. I 

 had the wing and a part of the breast Of a aiallao 

 duck, shown me several weeks ago, infested with tho 



