[Oct. b, igss. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



186 



with slight frosts. Since the loth wo have had warmer but 

 changeable weather, and yesterday a warm spell with mer- 

 cury 76 (leg, Fahr. On our bird life the forwardness of the 



season 1 

 birds ah 

 If. rafu 

 1(5; yell 

 female 

 of Ten si 

 Species, 



3, 15; white-be 

 . !•;. hunting o 

 Very few indiv 

 en iullucu 



(.inn 



i few arrivals of such 

 at this date, naimly, thrasher, 

 e martin. P. aulne. three seen 3, 

 . I'oi-onuUi, one male and one 

 d swallow, T. bioA'ji', a party 

 a lake, These are the only 

 uilsof which 1 could say that 

 d to make their appearance before 



rain. Birds seei 

 numerous, esper 



4,3.-Froan3, 

 frostv nights. ] 

 took place. Thi 

 whichnesl on na 

 twelve pairs hav 

 birds of the eecc 

 Ik.v, regular sm; 

 thermometer she 



4, 3.— Auolh 



starday we had \ 



II 10 IlL 



illy i 



Btj fly winds with light 



Barfy pea 



irrrv 



, 1 



iu Bowel'. 



iudy days, and 



{peetedj none 



mean martins 



. and to-night 



lodgiugs, these are all old birds, 



have not vet arrived. Today we 



iitoe*attee, 64-87 deg., at 3* P. M. 



1 deg. in sun. 



::rda'. . Ore.it ehmuie in bird life. 

 Air full of the. song of flu- thrasher (II. rvfW}. Where there 

 were four thrashers last week there are more than forty to- 



day, and all iu fill 



rived during the D 



cbwbird and Carol 



but the principal part of the g 



lies in the almost total absence 



Instead of a hundred 



not find ten snowbirds to-day 



themselves of thesi 



from 5 A. M 

 Tl.i, is tiled 



The 



it have ar- 



ill N. N. Tho 



".creased in numbers, 



nge in our bird life 



uwbirds (•/. hytiwali*.) 



t with with last week, 1 could 



They have certainly availed 



lit nights to draw nearer 



home or probably right into the) 



4, 0. — This morning a heavy rain produced a new start in 

 the advancement of vcgciation and insect life. Most trees 

 have small leaves. Thrashers wild with song and seen in 

 pairs, I'ifiilu, males, lighting like roosters. 



4, 10. — There has been a great check to the progress of 

 spring, and another perfect standstill in the migration of 



s of summer 

 val of migrants was 



atbt 



ids helm 



birds." Tho first week of this montl 



• days. It was astonishing that the 

 $o insignificaul considering the ad' 

 tin:- ami vegetation Tin- change commenced 1 

 sunrise of the 11th the thermometer st-i* 

 morning of the 13th surprised us with a shf 

 Green trees and flowersand white roofs! This 

 in weather has, of course, a decided effect on th 



No new species have been se 

 aaingle swift (G pe&asgiea^ All tl: 



differently from what they did ihe week before. They' did 

 not ascend high tn c -. thev wen: not much heard to siug, 

 bin they kept very quiet and secluded, mostly near or ou the 

 ground' Yellow-rumps were seen bopping on the ground 

 among clippies, and the thrashers would not go from undcr- 



"neath their briar bushes. Marlins remained in or near their 

 boxes for several days without even trying to seek food uu- 

 til the wind abated on the 13th. They must have been very 

 hungry, as they went out hunting all day the 14th and loth. 

 They left early in the morning and did not return before 



jguns'et, and still continue to do so, while.during warm weather 

 t'i.\ stay in the vicinity of their boxes almost the whole 

 time. The ruby crown kinglet was the only bird that did 

 not lose its good humor during this cold spell ; it kept on 

 singing as usual. 

 4, 21.— We have had fine weather for the last week, but 



1 the great wave of migrating birds has not ye;t. reached us. 

 Birds are. coming in" slowly, only ihe avant guard has 

 arrived, a few old males, and' it needs a good lookout to dis- 

 cover them. Fourteen species were seeri for the first time 

 to-day. 



4, 33. — Last night commenced txark, overcast, threatening; 

 we had two light thunderstorms; at sunrise partially clear, 

 but soon clouded again. The wind was light southeast in 

 lower stratum, lint west in highei stratum; this morning a 

 light north. 

 "The expected wave has struck fully now. The number of 

 birds present to-day is really marveflous. They must have 

 come in clouds. For ten birds yesterday one hundred to- 

 day, but 1 have no itlea at what hour they arrived. Thev 

 must have come during this stormy, rainy, dark night, v\ ban 

 one would expect them least. The I'm" arrivals vcsi.-rdav 

 had not changed the general feature of the bird life", bin now 

 the change is' complete, the aspect summerlike. The birds 

 which brougid this great change are principally t 

 warbler, the n< ;-!n :nk-.i woodpecker', the two" oi 

 lose-brcasted grosbeak, the kingbird, the warbl 





ole. 



idii 



Velio 



talis exl 



vVhi 



throats), 



ided to 

 thrash* 



, IV 



I h i: 



In 



splai 



identifyi: 



eh 



nd < 



the whi 

 in nuuilic 

 already i 

 flnches, - 

 Khoaggrc 

 bustlea . 

 lb adhere 

 bird. 



4, 30.— .Last night calm, early morning thunderstorm, then 

 [yparlng up after 'en oeloik. Considerable movements 

 haw been toiler on last night, 01 

 jjairgely tin r laseii; rani i of B.8 

 spci ifs have increased, even red 



up more and more. Transients 



ui'ianl. 



ir lately arrived species have 

 Mil up rapidly. Many other 

 ivhlg blackbird, 

 as. Hanks of S. S. filling 

 abundant. Bird life lux- 



5, 2,— Last fiveflavS Steady beautiful weather. Northerly 

 wind.-, and cool nights. Bird life has not changed niueli. 

 although every day showed new species in my record. 



, 8. — Sumine: 

 ,■ few trees 

 1 high. ('( 



rithi 



Hid 



naximum 70 deg., 10 A. M. OOdej 



hi.jiu 



S, 4 ■ Ait- 



BO dog.} day, 



indeed, the m 

 Bgfet. It is li 

 and transients 

 and iudividu: 

 when- and the concert i 

 voiced, Great number 

 peeially catbirds, oliv 

 polls, 'white crowns, 

 orchards, etc. To gb 

 our present bird fauna, 

 inoniiiijj'y walk to-day 

 rtiiuuingon a wooded 



ul full^ 

 planted 



o.vral iavcs now. Potatoes 



light (00 deg.) a warm 

 •eatber for'biids. and. 

 season for an ornithol- 

 All birds, sojourners 

 if bird-, both by species 



phi.- 



arrivi 

 Tenn 



black 



i have 



• back 



indigos, black-throated buntings, 

 o you an idea of the richness oi 

 let me sa\ that I have during mv 

 identified over eighty species. And 

 ■luff which slopes to River des Peres 

 (a creek thai forms tho southern limits of the city) I have 

 counted fifty species which I could see or bear' without 

 moviug from the spot. Between 0* and Si A. M. the noise 



which all these birds made was soiuelimes deafening, Ibe 

 more so as the Tennessee warblers and blaekpoll- Were 

 almost as bad as the thirteen-year locust last vear. 



o, 5.— Calm, warm nudit (07 deg.), sultry, cloudy, hoi 

 dsy (85 deg.), with hard storm of rain and "hail this" after- 

 noou. General character ot our bird life is sumincrlike. 

 At 3:45 A. M. the eatbiid, wren, ehii.pv and bluebird were 



. He 



5, 8. — After that hail ou 5, o, we had a cool, gloomy 

 day. ."). 6, with strong north wind, yesterday clearing up 

 and to-day southeast, wind, warm, fair. No' now armvals 

 to be reported, but a considerable decreasi of whitethroats, 

 savanna sparrows and yellow redpolls. Yellow-rumps are 



5. 14.— The night of 8th to 9th brought us a series of 

 very heavy wiud and rain storm-, and ever since that 

 timo we have had nothing but cold, gloomy, rainy and 

 windy (west and uorth) days uutil to-day, when it cleared 

 up, still cool, but promising fine weather. During the 

 cool weather the birds, remained almost silent and kept 

 generally very retired, so that it is not possible to give 

 the state of the bird life with auythiug like completeness, 

 still no great change has taken place, and uo new arri- 

 vals were seen. 



5. 23. — Cool weather has oontinucd siucc mv last re- 

 port, with slighl hoarfrost on Kith. The vegetation is far 

 advanced, in spite of all cold weather. Ihe foliage too 

 luxuriant for an observer of birds, but the insect world is 

 far behind this season; not even the mosquito has made 

 its appearance. The birds seem to have little spare time 

 for a song, and are slow in building. The martin is my 

 insectomcter. The time it spends at home corresponds 

 with tho abundance of insects. Does it remaiu at home 

 the whole day there is plenty of insect food; does it keep 

 away from home all day, then it has to work hard for a 

 living, 



5, 28.— When I made, my last report 1 thought migration 

 was at an end, as there were only a few migrants left after 

 the south wind period of the 18th and 19th. How great was 

 my astonishment on the morning of the 2-lth to find again 

 great numbers of transients, especially Tennessee and black 

 poll warblers, [f they came from south or returned from 

 north I cannot tell, of course, but here thev wen-, numerous 

 and very noisy. On the 26th most of them, and on Che 87tl> 

 all of them, bad departed again. Some species, especially 

 mourning and Connecticut warblers, pasg through here uu- 

 noticed in common years, hut this exceptionally COO] May 

 makes them stay with us in groat numbers and quite a long 

 time. They hav.-. for the firs! time, been common this 

 season, while thev are rare iu other seasons: 



A few other species I have not met with at all (his season, 



for instance Wta eancutemu, Si&elltt ■paUidu-, J), blaekbw-nia!, 

 etc. 



Tin most conspicuous birds in tran-ii during the la.-l few 

 days were the nighthawks. During the daytime they were 

 met With everywhere-, hunting over fields, inngly or in par- 

 ties of ten or more, or sitting ou trees, fields, fences, etc. In 

 the evening of the 35th, 20th and 37th they migrated north 

 in a very loose but continuous stream, from 0< to 7^ P. M. 

 Ou the evening of the 26lh we counted within half an hour, 

 over 200 going over our house straight north. During these 

 cool gloomy days, the water-sheets on the other sides of the 

 riverand part*, of the Mississippi hall' were alive with dif- 

 ferent kinds of swallows and with swifts, but I do not think 

 those were birds iu transit, but thev were our St. Louis S. 8. 

 which go ihitlier hunting low over'the water. 



5, 39. — Pint day. clear; night has been clear moonlit, but 

 transients are still lingering. Among the species seen was 

 ope snowbird ;•/. /,,/. ,,.n'-.s\ I hardly believed uij .yes: had 

 seen noue since -J. 30. No cigbtliauks to-day: no mosquitoes 

 vol; winged insects iire still scarce, Martins do not yet 

 "build in earnest. 



0, 3. — The season must he considered closed now: Spring 

 migration seems to ue over as far a- this neighborhood is 

 concerned. 



|to hk <:oNTi>:t:Kri.] 



MONSTERS OF WHITE RIVER. 



TUIt(I) l'VV.'-.K. 



NO, Byrne did not die wilii ihal congestive chill. But he 

 should have died, there is no d " 



man that will perch 

 White River after tin- 

 mated and sillv euoi 



other." Instead of dying as 

 done under t.he circumstance 

 crawled down to the boat an 

 The White River is the < 

 world; that. is. the general re 

 straight, but it winds arou 

 twenty miles wide toward 

 Often'a steamboat has to trai 

 and oue has a lively time to 

 hot da v. But By 



the same, drank of their healing 

 dark yellow hide, flirted with the w id 

 girls, danced a cotillion, in which all f 

 I should say), none of them over cigl 

 snuff," (all "had a stick iu their mouth: 

 eat double, triple, yes quadruple rati 

 fcms," "cant 



ngth 



f that. For a 



in. ediate bank of the 

 W .verk.iown, una.-ili- 

 ing and uadim. around 

 tot days iu duly after 

 ugh to appreciatc-the 

 mlddie "some time or 



use of the lower river is quit 

 id through a bottom seven I 

 ev.rv point of the eouipas 

 i-1 thirty miles to make ten 

 eepon the shady side of tl: 

 ached the mountains all 



sued bis malarious 

 trws, danced wilh the 

 parol 'be girls (ladies 

 teen, were "dipping 

 -. whil they danced; 

 ous, and "waterniil- 

 veen meals 

 As he gained strength went up to Fort Smith, climbed 

 Sugar Loaf Peak, interviewed ihe Choctaw nation, and re- 

 turned here after ?}? weeks' vacation Weighing 149 pounds 

 and ready to tackle anything not larger than a grasshopper, 

 found the swamps smelling not, quite sweetly as yet, but 

 found scarcely anyone sick, except rigbl along the margin 

 of the river and overflows, and people living rigbl ou the 

 open, fragrant, breezy prairies as healthy as people in any 

 country. In fail this season proves conclusively ihat the 

 opi-u prairies of tfiis region are as beaJlhy as any part of the 

 State, the iiinunt.-diisnol excepted, and besides "one finds ou 

 them fewer miseries of i hiss Southern life, namely, mos- 

 quitoes, chiggers, fleas, ticks, house-flies, scorpions., snakes, 

 etc. The most objectionable features of the prairies arc 

 ' -boss-flies." A small and largo green head horse-fly and a 

 great black one are at times very severe on horses and cattle, 

 but these will disappear as tlie prairies are settled, aS (bey 

 did in the Western States. 

 Mr. Lee Griffith of this place, last month while walking 



alonjr a road, with an axe ou his shoulder, found a large 

 yellow or mountain rattlesnake, a "monster" which he pro- 

 ceeded at once to decapitate. This snake proved to be six 

 feet four inches long and thirteen inches in circumference 

 at the largest point." Tts rattles had in some, way been muti- 

 lated, only four remaining. Its skiu roughly preserved by 

 my friend Ben is now before me. How gladly would I have 

 given a twenty dollar bill to have this snake saved forme 

 alive and uninjured. He was in good condition, colors 

 bright, and full fed. I have had a lifetime longing to 

 capture a yellow rattlesnake over six feet, but have never 

 found one alive over five feet, except one I captun <1 in Ne- 

 braska five feet and one inch; this 1 kept for three months 

 in a glass-fronted box along with four others somewhat 

 smaller, and during that whole time I could not prevail ou 

 any of the five to strike at me, except this larger one, la- 

 would strike every time he was disturbed. At the first 

 strike he would leave quite a drop of "pizen" ou the glass, 

 from each fang, then the aniouui liecreasinj: with each 

 strike uutil the fourth, after which nothing visible would be 

 left on the glass, and this has been my experience with all 

 poisonous snakes, the majority of them not Offering to bite, 

 unless held, but devoting all their energies for retreat, 



TUB "COTTON MOl'TIf." 



The day before receiving the number of Foujest and 

 Stream for August 31, while hunting quail on the upland 

 In this vicinity, I noticed my setter pup nosing after some- 

 thing in the grass. I approached and fouud it to be a snake; 

 seeing that it was a new species to me, 1 put my foot on its 

 head to examine it, when it flattened out ihe middle of its 

 body extensively. I thought then that it was the common 

 "spreading-addcr," or "viper."- (I have refrained from 

 writing of snakes, for the reason that, in nearly every neigh- 

 borhood, the more common snakes have different names 

 given to them by the people ; and, not knowing them by 

 their technical names, I am well aware, that it is hard to 

 know what particular snake is meant when called by any 

 name ; and 1 regret this exceedingly, for I have paid great 

 attention to the habits of snakes all" my life.) I moved" my 

 foot backwards from its head, when it turned its head up- 

 wards and sideways and bit the toe of my boot. I plainly 

 -aw both its fangs, and the exuded poison spread error my 

 wet boot. 



This convinced me that it was not the adder or viper, 

 which are a class of— so far as 1 have examined them— per- 

 fectly harmless snakes, so far as biting a person is concerned. 

 The snakes 1 mean are such as when irritated flatten out 

 their head and neck exceedingly, some of them at the same 

 time hissing or blowing and striking. Thinking my find 

 was the snake here called "cotton-mouth." said to be quite 

 common, I cut off its head and carried it to this village to 

 have the natives determine what it. is called here, ami' they 

 calmly proceeded to give it three dilferenl names, to wit, 

 "cotton-mouth," "spreading-adder," and ''uplaud-mocca- 

 sin,'' the last name is by an intelligent colored gentleman. 

 The majority, however, insisted that its right name was 

 "cotton-mouth." I mention this snake pimply for the reason 

 thai it exactly, in all particulars, answered the description 

 of the "upland-moccasin" (AnrMroilon. atftffUScuti) in the 

 paper referred to, except the tail, which did not terminate 

 in a "small, horny point," or if it did the "horny jioiut" 

 was very small indeed, for I examined its point carefully, it 

 being so very tender toward the poiut, and I recoilect 

 giving this point attention for the reason that Several 

 have told me that there are snakes here with such tails, but 

 I accept talcs about snakes from no one as fuels, simply for 

 the reason that the great mass of people when i hey "catch 

 sight of a serpent, no odds how small, lose every sense ex- 

 cept that of fear, and are therefore as a rule incapable of 

 telling the truth about it. Hence snake stories are eveu 

 wore than "fish stories," therefore 1 am inclined to believe 

 thai Dr. Tsoost's "upland moccasin" is simply the Arkansmv 

 "cotton mouth." If so, I think numerous specimens can be 

 obtained here,* but for one 1 will not agree to furnish any 

 withspikes in their tails. I will not flatly dispute that there 

 are such serpents, but, well if any of my readers find such 

 a snake, please cut off the spike and mail it to the snake. 

 editor of Fokest and Stream. This snake that 1 decapita- 

 ted was not at all vicious, not striking the puppy nor at me, 

 until I held it fast. Will some hei penologist kindly publish 

 in Fokest and Stream a list of all the serpents SO far as 

 known in the United States, with their technical names, 

 together with all their vulgar names and every known 

 svDonymV Bvrne. 



Crockett's Bmikf, Aik., Sept. 15. fffitt. 



Breeding Quaii. in Conmnkment.— Following is a con- 

 tinuation of Mr. John R. Willis's work with t he quail. It is 

 taken from the "Win field (N. J.) Monitor: "Monday, Sep- 

 tember IS.— The quail are hatched, how many I do not 

 know. There was an unusual chattering between (he pair 

 this A- M.. that gave watningof the momentous event, fun it 



was not until I returned Ironi town at ."> 1'. ML, that I was 

 assured of a 'successful result' in seeing a number of empty 

 shells on the floor outside of the nest, and on looking in the 

 nest found that my gentleman was alse on ihe nest, thus 

 seemingly being desirous of appropriating some of the credit 

 due while having done but little, as may seem to us, towards 

 accomplishing it. There is uo mistake", however, that he is 

 now thoroughly interested in hi.- progeny. What shape that. 

 interest will assume al'tei the birds come out remains to be 

 seen, but if he is inclined to be any way tyrannical 1 hav,- a 

 prison cell in which to incarcerate" him* until be learns how 

 to behave. YoMerday. being about three weeks I'v.tii thl 

 time the bird commenced to set. I made all thejai i 

 I could think of for the comfort and health ... 

 'chicks.' I partitioned off a space on the floor with three-inch 

 boards In which f placid sand and gravel and a sod of fresh 

 grass. I also procured a half bushel of sweepings from uie 

 hay mow and scattered them on tho floor, and to-morrow. A. 

 M, I expect to have the pleasure of seeing •Biddy' and her 

 chicks out for their first feed. How young quail' act when 



