IJAST 15. 1383. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



48B 



it? under side i* very convex, mid the toil then appears as 

 if shaped like thai ol the nexl named fpi 



■ ! Oniokle— Q'lustn.h.n- m-joi- And., Birlg.a'Ti, 



; [obsi rvedapiiiof ^■u.cU!(srirt!iissp-.'clesftfSt!eQnd 

 Liilto, Washington county, Maine, August 1, 1877, Their 



appear; i i... . orth and qaal astonished me, and 1 might 



well im ■■->.• doubted my senses at Brst, but 1 spent nearly a 

 half day in 1 he proximity of these birds, with Hie best pos- 

 sible opportunity for close observation, and with my familiar 

 fcnOWledge of the BpGeiefl and of their characteristic notes 

 identification was rendterpd eefiaJjL They 

 seemed to he quite at horn*-, and evidently had been in the 

 sai "■ |oi '-I tylot t ate !i agfh ot Uine; perhaps sinoa firing. 

 i q nisi approached a great outcry was made, such as is 

 unrivaled by any utliei graekle. Vet Hie birds did not at 

 tempt to escape, but frequently flew within four orflvb rods 

 of myself and companion, occasionally alighting on the 

 M no greater distance from us. Any unusual stir on 

 our poj't would produce a great apparent commotion on the 

 parr of the graeklea, and after one of their characteristic out 

 breaks of cackling remonstrance at our in/Tusion upon their 

 retreat, they would fly about as if to reassure titem-'elves. bj 

 a eh'si inspection, ot'oitr peaceful intentions. 

 108. Purple .ftrsrekle, "Crow Blackbird" — Quit 



■.■•■Aud., liidg. 378b., Cs. 3;10.— ( i.intnoii. Arrives in 



Lpri) Breeds often in colonies on trees. Lays four or more 

 eggs of a gr«enisb lea?, marked with blotches and irregular 

 streaks of brown. Although here a sliy bird, I have knowu 

 a pair of this species to nest on one of the few pine trees 

 liiin ile city limits of Portland, and it is not uncommon 

 for them to breed in cities. The rusty graekle issometimes 

 termed "crow blackbird," as well as'tbis species. The pur- 

 pi' graekle is the larger of the t t\ o, however, and better en- 

 titled |.o such a name. 



LOO. 



flii 



on high 

 browii. and resemble tie- 

 are but little smaller thai 

 latter is a much larger bi 



li^ts lire; i i (a] F ret r 

 ■ : resident in Mair 

 have oi's ■] v"ed i be species 

 ni- more common f unlit 

 fledglingT 



[ij.: Crows jvd Javs. 

 - I Ami., C& 938: Corvus COfOZCWr- 

 tcommon ; resident. Breeds, usually, 



_ profusely blotched with 



5g 8 of the common crow, which 

 thpse of the raven, although the 

 d. Aut hors of New England bird 

 :-d to the raven as rare, hut it is a 

 !, although nowhere abundant. 1 

 at various limes in Scarboio, but 

 i east. In J878I saw some young 

 vhich were taken on the coast from a nest 

 in a tree on one of the islands of Washington county. Jlr. 

 ilany Merrill informs me that "Mr. N. 0. Outran, of Ban- 

 gor, railed twelve ravens in one week with poisoned fox 

 bait at Isleau ffaul, Maine." The handsome glossy, blue- 

 black plumage of the raven in winter becomes to a great 

 extent o dirty-brown in summer. 



110 O. ,,/-.,.. ; americamis Aud.: Ooreu* fmr/imms- 

 Ridg, 282, Cs. 340. — Abundant. Arrives in .March. ' Some 

 i8 seen throughout the winter, especially on the coast, 

 where they are rather abundant during mild winters. Breeds 

 usually on coniferous trees. The eggs vary much in color, 

 and J have some With various shades of green and of blue 

 for the "ground color." There are usually "four or five green 

 eggs profusely blotched with dark brown, laid in April and 

 May. 



la. Blue Jay—ffarrulw wimtw* Ami.; CyavoeMa 

 ertstata Ridg. 889, Cs* 849 — Common. Abundant 'in some 

 localities. Some remain throughout, each winter. Breeds. 

 Usually nests on bushes and lavs five eggs of au olivaceous 

 linge Spotted with brown, in May. The blue jays of North- 

 ern New England are usually of a rather suspicious nature 

 that tnakes them somewhat wary of man. But 1 once 

 found a blue jay's nest bo close by the side of ahighwa 

 over which passed dailv smge-coneiies, as o ell as manv ie> 

 noisy vehicles, that I could see the bird Betting upon itsegf 

 as 1 drove by without pausing. In some localities whei 

 unmolested, the javs of this species are as indilTerenl to tl 

 near presence .if man as is the robm or bluebird. 



113. Canada. Jay— Gt(n->A>iseniM4aixi* Aud.: Pnhvrei,. 

 canadensis P.idg. B97, Cs. 359. — Common in autumn and 

 winter, except along the coast in tlie southwestern part of 

 the State, where it is rarely to be fount). Mr. Luther Bed 

 low, of Poiiland, shot a |av of this spepies in the town of 

 Searboro. October 15, 1880. a rare occurrence in that locality. 

 The Canada jay is locally known by various names, and in 

 Maine as 'moose bird," •■meat bird, "or "pork bird," These 

 name,, have been given Hie bird by burners and lumbermen, 

 because of the birds' habit of boldly visiting winter camps in 

 the woods, and without tear helping j| se li to the meal, that 

 rriaj be hung about the camp. The name ■'rooe.se bird" 1 

 thus applicable a half century ago when moose meat was 

 much more common in Maine camps than at the present 

 time. The bird is now more often tempted by pork than 

 by moose meat. The French Canadians name the bird 

 "Pee," on account of its familiar note, whiehis rather weak 

 for a jay, 



[TO BE continued.] 



INTELLIGENCE OF THE CATB1KD - A 111;, li\ , N. Y — OllO 



clay last June as! was sitting on the hank of the Hudson 

 River, fishing, a eat.bird few down, and lit on a stone near 

 where I was .sitting. She commenced squalling and flying 

 about frantically. She would (!y to a bush close by anil 

 come back aud fly around my head sereaniine loudly, as if 

 ■die wished to induce me to go with her. At last Bbfl acted 

 ■ ■ jely that I got up and walked to the bush where 1 lie 

 bird was Hying in and out. As 1 approached it 1 saw a 

 snake about a yard long, crawling swiftly up a "ranch 

 toward the bird's nest, which contained four eggs. The 

 bird would fly down and peck the snake, aud then^ back to 

 bet nest. I could not strike the snake without striking the 

 nest at the same time, so I ran to Ihe house for inv Fjobert 

 rifle. When 1. got back the snake had one of tlie eggs in 

 his mouth, I shot him several limes when he dropped the 

 egg and crawled into the bushes. 1 put the egg in the nest 

 and then went back to my fishing. I found my line all 

 right and on it a good sized bass. — Bert Titus (twelve 

 years old). ' 



The ]<ATTi,i:sN.\io is \ 9 wi m m kij. —In a late number 

 of Fourst and St-HBAM some one inquires, about the swim- 

 ming powbrs of the rattlesnake. They often cross Mosquito 

 Inlet, East Florida, against strong tide,-, and I have seen 

 urn killed in the middle of Halitex River, where if is a mile 

 wide, swimming as strongly and boldly as a true water 

 . could have don 1 . Moreover, it faced its pursuers 

 boldly, and made straight for the boat till stopped by a blow 

 with an car, I have supn t he rat ■ r or coach whip snake, 

 killed under the same ciicumstjiice-. Those - -lit water bays 

 and sounds are so infested by sharks that one would think 

 the Chances for a snake to get across n ould be small. — S. C. C. 



FACTS AND FANCIES OF ORGANIC LIFE. 



ICANKOT willingly consign to perdition even a sparrow 

 without s hearin::. The fact, that the birds were brought 

 to a land they knew not, of, against their will, certainly 

 entitles them to this much at our hands; although, from 

 ■pi ippea ranees, thej seem destined to prove the great- 

 est nuisance we ever imported. Propositions come up on 

 eii'iy side to ameliorate the coming evil, and a war 01 ex- 

 termination seeing imminent. 



While all this is being done, a close observer might per- 

 haps have seen one of tlie doomed birds, siltiug demurely 

 on a twig, raise his right foot, pretending to seratoh his 

 nostrils, with a look which plainly said, "What do you 

 propose to do about it?' For one, I propose to do nothing. 

 The birds are here; they have come, like the Norm .ns, i 

 help us fight a fictitious enemy (the worms', and now, from 

 the expressed anxiety, we seem in greater danger than were 

 the Saxons in similar circumslaLices. We may heap invec- 

 tives, but they fall as harmless against birds 'as Ihe snow- 

 tlakes fall on their backs in winter; we may set the whole 

 population to killing: it may retard, but will not prevent 

 their increase. It becomes us then not, to get frightened nor 

 angry, but to look the matter squarely in the face, as perad- 

 venture, it may not prove so disastrous as present fear indi- 

 cates. 



On the first intimation of their coming, inouiries among 

 native farmers of Great, Britain brought out the fact that 

 sparrows were miseellaneou eater's, feeding on grain, seeds, 

 insects and worms, srraiu Jargelv preponderant. Said one: 

 "I have Seen a strip a rod wide across a ten-acre field of rye, 

 left, by the reapers as containing no grain, all eaten by spar- 

 rows which lived in a hedge along the border of the field," 

 Our present aim is to show, from what they have done in 

 other countries, what they will he likely to do here, where 

 circumstances arc- different. 



When the first birds were turned loose, houses were built 

 aud provisioned for them, the question of llieir ability to 

 provide either (in perfect keeping with the whole, project) 

 not having been considered. A second brood tilled' the 

 boxes to ovcrflowdng. and the younger birds were obliged to 

 seek lodgings elsewhere. This they did with true squatter 

 impudence, filling crevices in architecture with decaying 

 vegetable matter, occupying thickets of ivy. in fact, every 

 chink and crevice which afforded even a partial covering 

 overhead. As a last resort they took possession of an old 

 robins' nest, piled on it sticks, straws and grass a foot, high, 

 with a hole iu the side like a squirrel's or hornet's nest — a 

 nest not built by any other bird on the continent. Here 

 was indeed a new and strange departure— one which de- 

 manded investigation. Consulting early English history, it 

 was found that this canopied nest was the one buiil by 

 the sparrow in its wild native state; in other words, the nest 

 it was taught to build by the Creator, when the first, pairs 

 were placed on the earth. 



That they wdll not prove an unmitigated nuisance in this 

 eouutrv is a fair inference from the different circumstances 

 under which they must live. Our country is indeed a large 

 one. We could" hide Great Britain in it 'beyond the search 

 of a tax-gatherer. Our hundred-acre fields of corn and 

 wheat, with no hedges, (the safest place on the earth for 

 breeding small birds) will scatter the sparrows broadcast 

 over the land, the barbed wire fence, the'fenee-of the future, 

 affording no exclusive protection. Consequently they must 

 take their chances with other birds. They must furnish their 

 quota of food to the rapacious birds and animals according 

 to numbers, thereby allowing more of our native birds to 

 live. 



That, they tire one penny of benefit in destroying worms 

 is as yet problematical, to say the least. Once in ten years, 

 perhaps, certainly but once since the sparrows were brought, 

 then: was in this vicinity an advent of worms. They seemed 

 to come all at once, every leaf on our elms and maples wbe 

 swept off. while the great meadows opposite the ehv we 

 as bare of foliage as iu mfdwinter. The worms disappeared 

 as suddenly anil mysteriously as they came. The trees iu 

 two weeks' were again covered with leaves, greener, brighter, 

 fresher than before, having grown faster than in early 

 spring. Once in the time 1 saw a sparrow hammering at a 

 worn, while our native birds, even from a distance, came in 

 great numbers While the feast lasted. 



We may, I think, sleep quietly while the sparrows live on. 

 They can have no exclusive privileges here such as the 

 hedges of the old countries afford, but must, as 1 said before. 

 take their chances with other birds. They unquestionably 

 drive away from our dwellings more beautiful birds and of 

 sweeter song; but they certainly enliven our streets in win- 

 ter, w hen all other birds are absent ; they cultivate kindness 

 of heart in those who place crumbs for them on the window 

 sill in stormy weather They swarm in our Union Depot, 

 feeding on bits of food thrown nut by passengers who eat 

 in the cars during their .short slop at midday, while in the 

 trusses above they find secure resting and 'nesting places; 



steam steam whistles, smoke, and coal ms alike, disregarded. 

 it must be acknowledged, however, that in one sense they 

 are here a nuisance, and the moving crowd often receive 

 marks of their utter carelessness for those below. The eon- 

 sequences are, now pitiable, now ludicrous, and sometimes 

 "fearful" iu effects. 1 think it was during the past year 

 that an old follow, somewhat given to pointed expressions, 

 was hurrying along the platform, when— "spat,"— some- 

 thingstruck hishat. Stoppingsuddenlv, hetookon' the "tile," 

 looked at it, then, looking upward, got as far as "Dam!" 

 when one eye was closed by a second discharge from the 

 same, battery. Instantly shutting the other eye for safety, 

 he blindly let off a terrific volley of oaths, the largest the 

 pi units, while a laughing crowd added aggravation 

 to his calamity, 



But to return to this canopied nest. The bird has taught 

 us a lesson not small in itself, nor insignificant in its bearing 

 em the great subject of evolution iu organic life, a subject 

 which, under the utmost, stretch of human research, has as 

 yet made 00 progress toward a philosophic solution. Here 

 the- bird driven to extremities has gone back to a form of 

 nest it had never seen, and which its piogenitors had not 

 seen or built ill perhaps ;i hundred generations; a demon- 

 stration of that great and immutable law of recurrence 

 strangely overlooked by even thinking men. Ristotllis 

 law alone that organic lite owts both harmony and perpetu- 

 ity, and without it all would become chaos. 



'The fact that the first appearance of individual life was or 

 is a cell, or according to the SohoO T boy philosophy of Con- 

 cord a '•protoplasm," is no proof that life in the aggregate 

 commenced in the same manner, this unimpeachable law of 

 recurrence proves, if it, proves auyfhing, that every f"rni of 

 individual life, appearing, if you please, a-s a cell' or proto- 

 plasm at first, had each its path marked out by the Creator, 



and guarded by laws of form and organization immutable as 

 God himself. 



Look at the varied improvements in domesti» animals 

 under festering care and intelligent culture. OurhorseS, OUT 

 cattle and sheep, our hogs, and domestic fowls, or, turning 

 a leaf in this book, onr dogs. The original type remains in 

 each, while in all Ihe essentials of life we have made a new 

 creature, more beautiful, more serviceable, ministering in 

 a thousand ways to our pleasures and our necessities, as the 

 originals could not do. 1 his is real progress, develop- 

 ment with a purpose, an evolution which we can see; we 

 have only to fix the colors and the picture is complete. But 

 this we are not permitted to do. That is a prerogative the 

 Creator has not delegated to human hands, and in wisdom 

 has He withheld it. We can make new breeds, new varieties; 

 we are allowed to improve on what He has thus blocked out 

 torus; but even this can only be accomplished by the most 

 rigid seclusion of each to his own, and the selection of the 

 fittest in Ihe transmission of life. The moment the foster- 

 ing hand is withdrawn the great law of recurrence takes 

 charge, varieties are all merged in one, and that one takes the 

 backtrack inevitably. Our horses become less fi'et. and 

 docile, ourshort hornsthin and less symmetrical, our beauti- 

 ful and intelligvnl dogs gaunt, ragged and wolfish, our ban- 

 tam, with head and tail "meeting' over his track, becomes 

 again the drooping jungle foVl, our swine — well — just 

 read again that hog story iu the FOREST AKI> STKEAM of 

 Dee. i; 1881. 



What wouldmon do, or rather what would They notdo under 

 present greed for possessions, if allowed to control the laws 

 of life. Book at their only successful attempt at intermediate 

 Creation, the unnatural union of the horse and the ass, a 

 human project entirely. 1 blush with shame, whenever I 

 see one, that civil lil'e'allow-s the creature to exist. Not one 

 thing can the mule do that the horse will not do better: his 

 who.e value, lies in the single quality of endurance. He will 

 betu more beating, starvation, and general abuse than any 

 other domestic animal living; and hence, as 1 said before, 

 ministers more directly to man's greed for money. But I 

 have gone far astray from the sparrows, it is a wayward 

 propensity, a lore to "paddle the bark canou" among and 

 over "Facts aud Fancies in organic life." Facts, the record 

 of what is, and is done; Fancies, the philosophic conclusion 

 from their consideration. The field is broad; eternity can- 

 not, will not exhaust its interest: it isour privilege to gather 

 lilies, it is our duty to gather lessons of instruction as we 

 float along. B. Horsford. 



.spiunaFiELD, Mass., January, 1883. 



Concerning the English Sparrow.— Cau people who 

 are annoyed by the sparrow, trap him? We have a gray 

 parrot, who among many accomplishments can imitate a 

 whole bevy of the little' nuisances, who have filled evciy 

 house ivy in town and driven Jenny Wren and her husband 

 clean aw'ay. "We have not seen a wreu for years, I wonder 

 he article "Small Birds" and "Snow Birds" on the hotel 

 bills of fare is not our friend ; I am sure I hope and pray they 

 may all be eaten.— T. M. (Philadelphia). 



gzmp 4m SfckeipnQB. 



"That remiiKls me." 



APROPOS of Nevada, I cannot permit this opportunity 

 to escape to expose the diabolical proclivities of one of 

 your correspondents, who hud evidently got. himself into a 

 scrape and wished to drag in as many' of your readers as 

 possible. When f was residing in that State, some three 

 years ago, I was fortunate enough to secure a specimen of- 

 the glossy ibis, the first I had ever seen; and being at a loss 

 lo Classify it, 1 sent the head and one wing to your corres- 

 pondent," Mr. Newton Dexter, whom I knew to lie some- 

 thing of an ornithologist as well as taxidermist. The re- 

 turn mail brought me an exhaustive account, of its natural 

 history, but said nothing in regard to the edible qualities of 

 the bird. Shortly after I read an article in your columns 

 from a Western contributor, who had not only shot a glossy 

 ibis, but had cooked and eaten it, pronouncing it the most 

 delicious morsel he had ever tasted. To say that I was mi 

 happy hardly fills the bill, I was Wretched to think that 1 

 had not cooked that ibis, and had lost a sensation I might 

 never again have an opportunity of experiencing. Several 

 months afterward, to my great delight, r succeeded in kill 

 iug another, it being the only one I had seen since shooting 

 the first. 



Now for a feast such as Delmonico himself could not 

 duplicate. I took the prize home, dressed it carefully, and 

 tinned it over to my wife, admonishing her to serve it up in 

 her best style, finishing off my injunctions with a few careless 

 off-hand remarks concerning' its great rarity, the delicious 

 quality of its flesh, etc. Then f hastened 'out to invite in 

 my friends. All of them were 011 hand punctually at the 

 dinner hour — the postmaster, Wells- Fargo'.'- agent, and 

 several other distinguished characters. Had the hird been 

 large enough. I should have prepared a feast for mv guests 

 of glossy ibis alone, hut as the lid bit would make bill a few 

 mouthfuls for each one, I had been obliged, sorely against 

 mj will, to add a couide of spring chickens. Evefy-plale, 

 however, received its portion of the rare bird, and each 

 guest immediately transferred a piece to his mouth — and 

 that was about as far as it got, with most, of them. One or 

 two, with exquisite good breeding, attempted to suirep- 

 titiously secrete it in their vest pockets, aud one or two others 

 may possibly have kept it down long enough to get outdoors. 

 How did it taste, did you say? Well, my dear reader, 1 

 have never eaten crow, but, for all that, I prefer crow, and 

 take the chances; and I have never ceased to sigh for the 

 scalp of the wretch who wrote up that article on the glossy 

 ibis for the Forest and Stream. Forked Dker. 



SiX Fr-vncisco, Cat, 



James C , a gonial sou of Erin, is fond of shouting, 



and the best manufacturer of mid-range hyperbole that I 

 ever saw. He will tell a story elaborately frescoed with 

 improbabilities, and every corner decorated with impossi- 

 bilities, with an air of pursuasive sincerity that would cause 

 a man to hate himself for presuming to doubt it. He sayj 

 "(he first, sugar hogshead he ever saw reminded him so 

 much of his mother's churn that he shed tears." One day a 

 hawk alighted uear the house and his son took the gun, 

 crawled within gunshot, fired and missed. 



"Why didn't ye kill the howck?" queried the father. 



"The" gun's no good," answered the junior James. 



"Ye'r n liar. Jamesie. it's yew that's no good. Te can't 

 tell me anything about that" gun. Sure, I've known her 

 since she w'as a pishtol. " F. 



