May 20, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



307 



Mi rear 1 b kai ■ He is a ei i p] ■■■ lanl gentleman, 

 tnd i '.II and neaLl} spread table, under the 



supervision of his handsome daughter, nil will teiUBBlbfic 

 who have stopped for meals at fclarcelona, 



On the inland route, at the head of Crooked Lake, are 

 a couple of smaller hotels and a couple of " floating pal- 

 aces, /. e.. large Hat boats decked, roomed, carpeted and 

 fitted up in shape to be towed to any point on the inland 

 route parties who charter them may wish; and 6] 

 River there are a couple of primitives. 



At the head of Indian Eiver we came to our old and 

 true friend, Capt. Dave. Smith, at whose place T make 

 my headquarters, and whose equal in the woods I hare 

 never met. Gk> there , stop with him : lie will take care 

 p£ you, and well, too. 



At the. head of Mullet Lake a new building has gone 

 up, which looks large enough for a seaside house:' and 

 thence im across Mullet Lake into Cheboygan Eiver, 

 passing the mouth of our Black River to Cheboygan, 

 from which point 1 started for Black Lake. 



May 1st, Frank N. Beebe. 



cffntimtl Jjisfarg. 



—Address all covuuitnieatiims to " Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, New York.'' 



MY TAME OWL. 



Editor Forest and Stream :— 



Noticing smne letters in the paper recently about owls, 

 I want, to give my experience in taming one. Some time 

 since I wrote a letter about a tame starling. At the time 

 •We kept Jack (the starling), we were never without some- 

 thing in the house that belonged to species supposed to 

 be wild, and impossible to tame, but my mother never 

 gave up until her kindness and love for these wild crea- 

 tures overcame their fear ; and they would soon come at 

 her call and feed from her hands. We have kept a young 

 leven-t. a, hedge-hog (Erinaceuf eurqpwus), a woolly 

 rabbit, and the tame starling, all at the same time, and it 

 was fun to watch a big, tawny tomcat sitting on the 

 broad window sill, with eyes dilated and tail quivering, 

 yet not daring to spring at any of them. I presume we 

 were never without a hedge-hog in the kitchen. Sly 

 home was the managers house in a large mill, and some- 

 times beetles and such insects would find their way into 

 the kitchen. Dick would keep the place clear of them, 

 and sit watching for them as eagerly as does a cat for 

 mice. 



1 grew up from boyhood with the love of such animals 

 and birds strongly ingrained in mj r nature. 



In the happy courting days, the younger brother 

 (ft the family where I visited caught a" young owl and 

 brought it home. The girls, of course, were scared at 

 the fussing, spiteful young thing. How to feed it was 

 i '.■:• q aestion, I was a. fair shot, and had a strong-shoot- 

 ■'-:■,! Mge Manton gun. Around the old mill sparrows 

 fairlv swarmed, so we casdy got young sparrows and 

 for him. 

 He grew famously strong of wing and a fine bird, and 

 Sim" began to know my voice, and unless some one 

 opened the door of the out-house or kitchen where he 

 was kept, lie would commence such a hissing that woidd 

 surprise any one not knowing him. If one of the family 

 opened the door he would instantly sweep along the hall, 

 without a sound, into the room where I was quietly talk- 

 ing to my lady friend, and drop on my shoulder. If we 

 i a not to notice him he would turn his head to 

 iiiv ear and let out a gentle h-i-s-s. Sometimes we would 

 say : " Well, what do you want;" He would stick his 

 head around to my face and give another gentle h-i-s-s. 

 Sometimes we would tease him by taking him before a 

 large mirror — up would go his feathers in an instant, and 

 a h-i-s-s, almost like a growl, would greet the ear, but he 

 became too smart to get fooled that, way, and when I 

 took him to the mirror he was instantly on the lookout 

 for sparrows. AThen he was on the right shoulder, I 

 would pull a sparrow quietly out of my pocket, hold it 

 up in the left hand so that he could see it in the glass, 

 lie was around to that shoulder and the sparrow in Ids 

 beak or talons as quick as a dash. Often, befOM 1 could 

 l turn around to see him, he was through the door, along 

 the hall, and into the cage. One sparrow at night goner- 

 fty satisfied him, 1 supplied him with small game for 

 flaearly a year. To me he was ever gentle, never scratch- 

 I lug, or pecking me, even though I did tease him a little. 

 The mother of the family died, the brother was to go 

 L[iprenticein a machine shop ; it was a difficult 

 matter to have the owl properly fed and cleaned, and 

 I they disliked putting him in a stranger's hands who did 

 I not understand him, so he was taken to a taxidermist, 

 I who killed and mounted him. I married soon after, and 

 i e principal ornaments of my first nest was the 

 ►rogue. He was a handsome bird, admired by all who 

 visited us in our new home, and certainly looked larger 

 owls do in a wild state. W. D. T, 



Chicago, April 2\Uli. 



— i i . i 



A VOICE FOE THE SPAEHOWS. 



forest and Stream:— 

 I I am no ornithologist, and aside from a lively interest 

 . in birds as harbingers of spring and beautifiers of our 

 fields and woods by their presence and songs, know very 

 little about them, " But it seems to me all this big talk 

 lie sparrow nuisance" is decidedly far fetched ; 

 [the '• professors" to the contrary notwithstanding. It 

 I would seem that the treatment of Passer domesticus does 

 Blot accord with the proverbial friendliness of the Amer- 

 lican people toward foreign visitors. It is unseemly and 

 cause the English sparrow would not consent 

 to act as a vermifuge for the Park Commissioners, to 

 tfareatho out threatenings and slaughter through the me- 

 dia .n of exterminatory laws. 

 In the village where I live the sparrow has been a resi- 



t, four years, and in that time (I say it unblush- 



ave learned to love him. And who with any 



Ifcrairation for bustle and Si il' Could help hiving this brisk, 

 cheery little fellow : Hi is I ot beautiful, but there is a 

 ■ etaid respectability about that sober, mottled coat that 

 commands a certain degree of deference from thinking 

 I people, In midwinter, when the snow is deepest and the 



air coldest : when even the hard) snow-bird thinks 



twice before venl/un leu the sparrow is in the 



In h a higgler/. His trnmusical but not diss < able 



"tweet, tweet," rings through the frosty air with an irre- 

 sistibly exhilarating elfect, and in passing back and forth 

 between niv business and home I have started the com- 

 pact little flocks from their foraging grounds in the snow; 

 and at their startling "whir-r," up would: come my cane 



with an in-; in i bora >1 a! tie field experience, and J. 

 would almost imagine myself covering a bevy as they 

 whisked over the nearest wall. 



Sparrows may destroy fruit, but I never noticed them 

 working on mine, and have never heard any complaints 

 from my neighbors in thai: direction, although I bave 

 seen them often in my yard in considerable numbers. 

 The nearest approach to" fruit filching that ever came 

 under my observation was one day last winter, when 1 

 noticed a' Hock vainlv pecking away at some frozen ap- 

 ples left hanging on a, neighboring tree. But they acted 

 as if thev were working under prof est, and soon gave up. 



That they are omnivorous I know, not from dissection, 

 but observation, They will eat anything, and the 

 sweepings of a restaurant are "nuts" to them. Good 

 scavengers are they, and the sportsmen of Alexandria 

 made a mistake when they offered a bounty on their 

 heads ; for unless a marked" change has come over that 

 ancient ''burg" since I visited it a year ago — it is as duty 

 a place as lies unquarantined. 



The question now will be, Which is preferable, the 

 small boy armed with a pot-metal gun loaded with mus- 

 tard seed shot, scouring the streets of Alexandria for a 

 pot shot at the sparrows, or the birds themselves ? 



In the face of all opposition I boldly assert that the 

 sparrow has not yet been proven a nuisance in the full 

 '■■■ - ■ , | 'I lie term! Flaws maybe picked in his character, 

 no doubt, but the same maybe said of any bird, and SO 

 long as he is non -migratory" giving us the benefit of his 

 cheering presence during the winter, when all the other 

 so-called native birds have deserted us, let us welcome 

 him, pass over his little idiosyncrasies, and instead of ex- 

 terminating foster and cherish him, and there is no 

 doubt but that the people will soon learn to love this 

 little stranger. H. W. D. L. 



Dansville, N. ¥., AprilSSd. 



SratNa FrELD NOTES,— Cleveland, Ohio, May 5th.— Ed- 

 itor Forest a.nd Stream:—! killed a Kirtland warbler 

 yesterday— male bird, in perfect plumage. So little is 

 known of this — one of the rarest of warblers — that I 

 hasten to give the result of my five minutes' observations. 

 I found him in a patch of bushes and briers. When I 

 first saw him, he was perched on a low bush, and several 

 times made sallies after insects, returning to the same 

 perch. At no time was he over two feet from the 

 ground. He was more like a small flycatcher than a 

 warbler in his actions, and for quite a while I took him 

 to be one, paving no particular attention to him, A 

 short flight, a change of base, and an un-flycatcher-Iike 

 hop after alighting, sealed his fate. His measurements 

 are : stretch, 9 ; length, 5.80 ; wing, 3.70 ; tail, 2.25. 



My record of arrivals this spring, differing somewhat 

 from one from this place which you printed a short time 

 ago, I send a copy, mentioning only the results of my 

 own observations. 



Feb. 12th.— Eobin, 



Feb. 19th.— Bluebird, 



Feb. 21st.— Woodcock. 

 -'Feb. 34th,— Blackbirds; redwing and rusty. 



Feb. 25th. — Kildeer, song sparrow. 



March 4th. — Snipe, 



March 10th. — Fox sparrow. 



March 22<i.— Ground robin. 



March 2(5th. — Pewee flycatcher. 



April 1st.— Field and chipping sparrows. 



April 4th. — White-bellied swallow, kingfisher. 



April 5th. — Virginia rail. 



April 9th.— Saw a brood of woodcock' with feathers 

 showing among the down. 



April 10th. — Brown and hermit thrushes, yellow-bel- 

 lied woodpecker. 



April 15th.— Yellow rump warbler, ruby crown kinglet, 

 swamp sparrow, barn swallow. 



April 16th— Bittern. 



April 17th,— Purple martin, 



April iOth, — Catbird, blue-gray gnatcatchcr, green 

 heron, yellow warbler, white-throated sparrow, bouse 

 wren, Florida gallinule, yellow-throated gray warbler, 

 water thrush, king and Carolina rails. 



April 20th. — beast llvcatcher. 



April 21st.— Wood thrush. 



AprO 23d. — Whip-poor-will. 



April 2 kit.— Black and white creeping warblea black- 

 throated green warbler, pine creeping warblerj yellow 

 red-poll warbler, golden-crowned thrush, large-billed 

 water thrush, (-Maryland yellow- throat, greater yellow- 

 legs, long-biUca curlew, little yellow rail. 



April 25th. — Scarlet tanager, kingbird, great blue heron. 



April 28th. — Long-billed marsh wren, cliff-swallow,) 

 bank-swallow, golden plover, red-headed woodpecker. 



April 27th. — Chimney swift, 



April 28th.— Blackburnian warbler, blue-wing yellow 

 warbler, red-start, spotted sandpiper, white-crowned 

 sparrow, 



April 29th,— Lesser yellow-legs. 



April 30th. — Bobolink, red-throated diver, horned 

 grebe. 



May 1st.— Chestnut-sided warbler, warbling viroo, Bal- 

 timore oriole. 



May 2d.— Bed-eyed vireo, orchard oriole, great crested 

 flycatcher, Acadian flycatcher, nighthawk. 



"May iid. — Nashville warbler, black-throated blue warb- 

 ler, yellow-throated vireo, solitary vireo, indigo bird. 



May 4th.— Wilson's thrush, blue yellow-back warbler, 

 blue warbler, Kirtland warbler, Canadian fly-catching 

 warbler, rose-breasted grosbeak. H, E. OH3 



The vernal migration of birds to Nova Scotia has been 

 characterized this spring by very unusual occurrences. 

 The peculiar weather had.'no doubt, much to do with 

 this : for, owing to its unusual severity from the first to 

 the third week in March, we did not observe the wild 

 geese going north before the 21st. A few days of mild 

 weather then brought large numbers to o'ur eastern 

 shores, but during the last week of the month a. relapse 

 to bitter cold winds and hard frost took place, which had 

 a terrible effect upon the poor geese, rendering them so 



weal-: and tame that numbers were killed, some even 

 without the aid of powder and shot. Quantities were 

 sent for sale to Halifax, some selling as low as ',' '> cents 

 apiece. The spring of I SK0 will long be remembered Oil 

 our coast, for the most remarkable visitation of wild 

 geese known in the memory of the present generation. 



The cold weather continued without intermission, ac- 

 companied by one or two heavy snow-storms, until April 

 19th, when the thermometer rapidly rose, and the 

 weather became mild, and, to the astonishment of the 

 most observant, Halifax, and its neighborhood was visited 

 by such a concourse of fox sparrows (Passerella iliaea), 

 song sparrows (Melospixa melodia), robins (Turdus mi- 

 qratnrius), snow birds [Junto hyemali.i) and a few others 

 that the Very Streets Of the suburbs were literally covered 

 rlth them ; all apparently busily searching for 'food. A 



nk tl 



tafa'rts of l he 

 3 a single 

 s not occupied by 

 entioned, the fox 

 •s, and it would bo 

 area of one square 



■alist friend/who lh 

 eiu , assured me that he did not tin' 

 foot of ground in his garden that m 

 one or more birds of the species i 

 sparrow exceeded all others in nunibt: 

 no exaggeration to say that within at 

 mile there were several thousands. 



Such a concourse of migratory birds we have never 

 seen before, either in Europe or America, and it reminded 

 us, more than anything else, of one of those gatherings 

 of storm-biown birds which evei about the 



month of October, alight upon the Bermudas, when the 

 cedar trees and grassy slopes appear alive with myriads 

 of feathered forms. J. Matthew Jones. 



We make a few extracts from our own notebook, somo 

 of which may bo of a little interest to our readers : April 

 17th, took male Porzana noviboraeenCes near Mi I ford, 

 Conn. This is the earliest record that we have of this 

 species in this latitude, and we should be glad to learn if 

 others have found it earlier. 



April 26 th. — Observed in Central Park male and female 

 Cardinalis virginianus. A male of this species was re- 

 ported to us a week earlier, but we are not quite certain 

 as to the identification. 



May 1 st.—Fipilo erythrojihthalmus, Mimus carol iuensis 

 and Ictirus baltimore. 



According to our limited observations this spring, 

 most birds are about eight or ton days in advance of the 

 usual time. 



» 



That Shower of Worms.— I have been under the im- 

 pression myself until this spring, from many assurances, 

 that, as mentioned by "J. C. B.," such showers do occur ; 

 but upon examination I am satisfied the belief is erro- 

 neous. In front of our State Capitol building, extending 

 from the flight of stairs at its entrance to the main street, 

 is anasphaltum walk about sixty feet wide by two hun- 

 dred and fifty feet long, with quite an extensive grass 

 plot on either side. Extending around the State House, 

 raised about five feet from the ground, is a terrace. No- 

 ticing a few mornings since, after a brisk shower which 

 had fallen during the. night, a great many worms on the 

 walk I followed a number of their trads, and they 

 all lead to the grass plot. I then examined the 

 steps and terrace and found a few on the first 

 step, which is only a couple, of inches rise from 

 the walk, but none on the balance of the flight 

 or the terrace, which to my mind conclusively exploded 

 the "shower" business. Frank N. Beebe. 



Columbus, O. 



* • 



Tamtno RuTW.n Gttouisu.— Our correspondent "C. W, 

 B.," writing from Maine, briefly relates his experience 

 with ruffed grouse in captivity. Ho says : — 



Two years ago I caught a cock and hen partridge in 

 the fall." I kept them in a common poultry cage, and 

 they became perfectly tame so as to feed freely front my 

 hand. I let them go after keeping them, about one year. 

 It is very easy to tame the birds if they are properly fed, 



Prairie Chickens Drinking.— Our readers will re- 

 member that some time since we published under this 

 heading a note from a correspondent, "N. W,," of New 

 Bedford, Neb. A somewhat more detailed account of 

 the circumstance having been sent to Prof. S. K. Baird, 

 he has kindly forwarded it to us for publication. It reads 

 as follows : — 



N.-w Bedford, Net)., Nov, 9th, 1879.— A flock of nine 

 prairie chickens flew down, lit on a sand bar in the Platte 

 River, and tetter looking around for a few minutes walked 

 into the water and began to drink. This they did in 

 rather a peculiar manner. They would open their bills 

 and act just as though they were taking a bite out of 

 something solid, and would then hold up their heads to 

 swallow, but not as high as barn-yard fowl generally 

 do. They stayed on the plot about half an hour, and at 

 times were within thirty feet of me. They were very 

 deliberate about drinking. At other times have seen 

 huge flocks of them on the. sand flats drinking just before 

 sunrise and just after sunset, but was never able to get 

 nearer to them than thirty yards. 

 * 



Does the Cray Squirrel Lav up a Winter Store? 

 —Ferrishurgh, P"£., MauBtfii— "Sharpeyes," in the last! 

 Forest and Stream, doubts, very justly as I think, 

 whether our common gray squirrel Jays up any store for 

 winter, It is the opinion of wood-hunters here that they 

 do not, for what chopper ever found their store? anil 

 who that has frequented woods in winter where these 

 squirrels were living, has not tic.i?.ii where they have dug 

 tinder the snow for fallen nuts ? Our hunters' think that 

 they starve out in the winters of poor nut producing 

 years. They are apt to be plenty in the summer and fall 

 of a year following a season when there were many 

 nuts, but if this fall's nut supply is short, there will be 

 almost no gray squirr. Is the next year. The red squirrel 

 has more resources — the pine and hemlock cones hold a 

 stare for him always ready to his paw. John Burroughs, 

 indefatigable writer as he is, is not always infallible, as 

 for instance when ho asks in some of lbs' earlier papers : 

 •' Who ever saw a squirrel in winter?" Who that has 

 haunted winter woods has not seen the red and the grav V 

 And again in the Scribner's March " Motes of a. Walker," 

 when be says t "The fox baffles the bound most upon a 

 hard crust of frozen snow." Any northern fox hunter 

 knows that glass ice is a greater puzzle, to say nothing 

 of shallow water, Awahoose, 



