Jahuabt 88, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



507 



HABITS OP WOODPECKERS. 



HERE in Arkansas Co., Aik., in the heavy timber of the 

 river bottoms, we find the winter home ft all 

 raauog woodpeckers and creepers. Here " mast. " is always 

 abundant ; tor if one Ihini or a dozen things fail, there are a 

 dozen Others thai me a iundaat, givilig to >d in plenty. Near- 

 )y everything in the nut and fruit line failed here, this year, 

 of a full crop, excipt the seeds of the great white or sweet 

 gum, and the seeds of the so-called tupelo gum. But t lire 

 are seeds en ugh i p the White gum to fei d all the woodpeck- 

 ers, miC'-, squirrels, jaybird--, robins and other beasts and 

 biida — for nearly everything seems to eat them— that may 

 W si i to nine. 



The n dheadfld woodpecker is here in full force, and busy 

 from early morning until dark ; storing up in 'he cracks in 

 the bark of trees, and in holes in the deaid trees the little 

 nui lets of this immense tree ; and I he jaybirds and fox squir- 

 rels are having iotSOf tan and good "grub," stealing his 

 bidden treasures. 



Tnis bird and the great lazy fox squirrels are at continual 

 wartare, ami I have tumbled many a one from a woodpeck- 

 er's tree Where he was Stealing his dinner by having my atten- 

 tion attracted to him by the noisy warfare which the redhead 

 made in defending his property. The gray squirrel whic.u is 

 by- far the most numerous squirrel her, does not appear to 

 poach on the stored provender of this bird. If be does so, it 

 has not come under my notice. But the fox squirrel, I 

 think, watches the redhead, and as soon as he Bi crei.es a nut 

 and is away, dans up the tree in search of it. Bui, if Air. or 

 Mrs. red heat discovers him in these , they rush at him with 

 sharp beak and great valor, and generally force bus to lead a 

 reireat empty handed, or without the coveted nut. The 

 jaybird gathers i<nd siores up •' mast " for himself, bat seems 

 to take great di light in robbing the wo. dpecter. 



The woodpecker, or Pious family, is a rather queer one, 

 for we have the sapsucker (Sphff'dp'CUS oa-'iiis), ,u wood- 

 pecker seemingly expressly built for pecking into trees after 

 worms, that we think never d>es so at all, but pecks into 

 tbem for and lives chiefly or entirely on the inner btrk, or 

 young sap wood, of the tree. Then we have thin red-headed 

 one thai has still more curious habits, one of which, so far as 

 I know, no naturalist or any of your c '.respondents have 

 noticed, namely: in late summer ami early fall he diligently 

 plays the role of a fiy-cat.cner. At I hat lime of year he will 

 perch on the. tip of a dead branch of a tall and, often, a sol- 

 iiary tree, and dart al and Catch passing ins>. els. " We boys" 

 used to have a game that we " played : on I hem when at this 

 work. We would take small pebbles and throw them up over 

 the tree ; the red-head would see them caning, dart out to 

 ■ them, and sometimes caught the stone on the side of 

 his head, and tumbled to the ground. 



The red-headed woodpecker does not store up food for his 

 winter supplies alone, for 1 have seen ihem store up cherries 

 in July, and I have of en observed them in the fall storing up 

 food in Illinois, where they do not winter. This bird is a 

 provident fellow. If there is an excess of food to-day he 

 industrious y stores up some for future use in lime of scarcity 

 But this is all bosh, for birds and animals lhat have the 

 instinct t r storing up food, do it any time of year, if they 

 find H surplus of such food as they are very fond of. 



there is still another point about, our red-head friend — 

 does he or does he not peck inio trees after worms and in, 

 sects like most other woodpeckers ? N ituralists have, I feir- 

 accepted it as a fact that he does this, without proof. I will 

 not say thai he does not do so, but I will say thai I do not 

 believe he does. 1 think him. tike the sapsucker, an abnormal 

 thing— like the true woodpeckers in every way, but without 

 their food habits. 



This is a glorious region for the ornithologist to winter in. 

 Here he can fee every day great numbers of hundreds o' 

 species of interesting migratory birds that further north be 

 only catches glimpses of when on their spring and autumn 

 migrations, and can study their habits at leisure. All of them 

 are now Lo their very best clothes, or rather in their wedding 

 garments. Some, to be sure, will put on a few more extras 

 and plumes on their wedding da v. and will be a little more 

 gay in early spring, but their coats &re now very fresh and 

 perfect. htrne. 



Crockett* Bluff. Arkansas Co., Ark., Jan. 10th. 1882. 



Habits of Woodpeckers — Indianapolis, Ind., 1?82. — 

 Prom personal observation 1 am sure that woodpeckers store 

 away nuts for winter use. Many limes in the hazy (lavs of 

 autumn, I have watched their busy motions as they flit led 

 from the convenient! dead trre to'the small twigs* of the 

 beech free, there obtaining a nut, and returning again to put 

 it into some crevice or knot-hole; and many a squirrel have 

 they shown me by their chatterings and scoldings when he 

 approached too near their storehouse, as to squirrels storing 

 nuts I am in doubt. I have often, when a boy, gone out 

 with the men on the farm when felling trees to obtain the 

 nuts from the cracks and holes where they had been placed 

 by birds; but 1 do u<>t remember ever finding nuts stored 

 where they would be found if placed by squirrels. Besides, 

 who ever saw a squirrel with a nut in his mouth, that did nor, 

 upon arriving at the first convenient place, procei d to eat it at 

 once ? 8. H. M. 



" Animal Myths of the Ikoqdois" — Piuey Falls, Tenn. — 

 Editor Forest a >a Stream : W idle rea> ling an article in yi >ur 

 issue of Nov. 17th, under the title of "Animal Myths of 

 the Iroquois," the supposition occurred to me that perhaps 

 many toolish superstitions are saddled on to the Ind an which 

 poor Lo never dreamed of. During the laBt 60 years I have 

 been somewhat acquainted with I he Sen tea Nation of In- 

 dians, as also their manner of life, habits, and their (so- 

 called) pagan rites and ceremonies, which a portion of them 

 still adhere lo. Now, in regard to thai story as related to 

 ye. ur correspondent on the OattarauguS Reservation by a 

 grandson erf Coruplanter, I must say that I never was aware 

 that any such traditional or imaginary superstitious notions 

 were ever promulgated among them. I knew the Corn- 

 planter (the name of course originated among the white peo- 

 ple), I also knew his two sous" J 'hn and Charles O'Bails, a 

 name whirh was adopted by the old man in honor of a white 

 man of that nam e. an especial favorite whom lie chanced to 

 meet during Sullivan's raid at Brady's Bend. Those sons 

 were men of belter sense than 'o tench their sons any such 

 simple nonsense. Perhaps such stories might have circu- 

 lated among the small children, and gained about the 

 credence that we give to Mother Hubbard's or to Mother 

 Goose's tales. Those tribe' ol the Senecas knew but very 

 little concerning their ancest 'rs. Neither were they subject, 

 to mythological allusions. They had no fabulous doctrines, 

 nor did they worship any heathen Deities. They believed in 



the one Great Spirit, the Na-wen-ne-u or Wa-con-dah, the 

 creator of the universe. The average Indian is a close ob- 

 server, he ha3 keen perceptive faculties and pretty correct 

 ideas of the workings of nature's laws, is slow to believe in 

 any theories which he cannot fully comprehend. Ahtlkb. 



Baltimore, January 17.— My friend, Mr. John Hartner, 

 who is a crack shot, took a stroll yesterday with his 

 dog and gun just in the rear of his own house, which 

 is "situated at the head of the marshes of Harris's Creek, 

 when, upon his dog coming to a point, he was surprised 

 to see a (Wilson's) jack snipe get up. He shoi and 

 killed his bird, and in a very short time "killed five snipe, 

 of which number he presented a pair to me, and I enjoyed 

 them for my breakfast ibis morning. You would, too, be 

 surprised to see how fat and plump they were at this unus- 

 ually early time. This, I think, is the earliest I have known 

 snipe to be killed. The idea of killing snipe yesterday, and 

 on awakening this morning finding an old-fashioned snow- 

 storm, makes me feel for the poor birds, for if they have 

 many companions come with them and it should freeze up 

 and get cold, it would be hard f * them. J. P. V. H. 



[The above note was accompanied by the bill of a Wilson's 

 snipe just taken from the bird. The date seems to us unus- 

 ually e-rly for Baltimore, but it must be remembered that 

 until within a week we have had no cold weather at all to 

 move the birds 8 iutb."| >- 



Winter Birds— HornellBville, N. Y., Jauuary 19.— Saw 

 a kingfisher yesterday: it may be the same one that was 

 here all last "winter. Saw also a few shrikes or butcher 

 birds. On the 19 I noticed a meadow lark. He looked as 

 large almost as a pigeon. J. Otis Fallows. 



Bat Rtoqe, L. I., Jan. 23, 1883.— A flock of about thirty 

 wild pigeons made their appearance here on ihe 23, 

 (Sunday). Several were killed and I found them to be very 

 plump and in fine feather. This is a rare visitation at tins 

 season with us. Bat Ridge. 



fmife ^ag a 



nd 



iiin 



THE QUAIL SEASON IN VIRGINIA. 



ALL things considered we have rarely ever known a 

 poorer season for birds than the one that has just 

 closed in this section. It has not been so much scarcity of 

 game, t i either has it been due. in the main to the abundanc- 

 >'f ram that began to fall heavily as soon as all apparent use 

 for it was over, but the one cry from all quarters has been 

 sc ireity of covert. 



Owing to the terrible droughts of last year the weeds tha' 

 generally clothe tbes'ubble fields after harvest with a dense 

 gro.vth were to a areat extent scorched up as soon as they 

 appeared above the ground, while the demand for pasture 

 was so great that when the slight showers of early autumn 

 fell the half-famished stock kept short on area of ground 

 three or four times as great as in ordinary years is the case. 



In thinly settled and infertile countries Ihe sport, I hear, 

 has been fair, the amount of stock being insignificant and 

 covert more abundant. 



I never recollect to have been so utterly at a loss to locate 

 coveys as at Ibis -eason. In ordinary years, as every quail 

 hunter knows, the experienced sportsman or the experienced 

 dog, even in an unfamiliar section, can guess pretty much at 

 a glance where the coveys, if there are any, will probably be 

 lying hid. 



This year you might hunt the few patches of "rag weed," 

 that in spite of everything clothed some unusually damp or 

 fertile piece of ground, and seemed created as harbors of re- 

 fuge for the birds that in the breeding season had seemed so 

 motionless ; but the chances were ten to one you would hunt 

 in vain, aud when as you were walking in disgust through 

 some piece of woodland, with gun half "cocked, and peering 

 between the tree stems in search of some more inviting look- 

 ing country beyond, up would spring a covey and give you, 

 perhaps, an awkward "sight" at forty-five yards through an 

 ivy bush. This kind of thing, sometimes fortunately in a 

 more modified form, has been the history of the quail season 

 of '81 in our section. The most untiring sportsmen have 

 : gusted. What birds there are, aud there is no real 

 r-ason lo suppose them scarcer than usual, have clung to the 

 wood with a tenacity unprecedented, and vaguely hunting the 

 woodlands of Virginia wiih the best of dogs, would only be 

 to illustrate the familiar "saw" of the haystack and the 

 needle. -Most of us have had occasional little bits of fun, an hour 

 or two's good sport here and there, though thirty birds is the 

 I.rgest total in a day I have assisted in making — a very poor 

 show even for the part of the country from which I write, 

 which is distinctly second rate as a bird region. 



The failure of the mast in the mountain has driven a good 

 many " b'ars'' into civilization, and the immense size of the 

 tracks has been a wonderful topic of conversation to the 

 ni groes who. I notice, always confine theirsporting ambition 

 in ihat direction to "tracking," and having quite satisfied 

 themselves that the footprint isas "bigger nora man's," pru- 

 dently refrain from further pursuit of sagacious bruin. I 

 inquiring through your columns whether it would 

 be possible to procure birds in Virginia by netting. I don'i 

 know anything about the letter of the law in regard to that, 

 but I should strongly recommend the gentlemen in question 

 to turu their attention elsewhere. The consequences of such 

 an attempt in this part of thecountry would be very disagree- 

 able to the betters. 



Wild turkeys are, I hear, fairly abundant, though I have 

 not heard of many being shot. 



There are two good packs of foxhounds within 12 miles of 

 where I write. One has killed over twenty foxes — many of 

 them red -a' ready this year. 



The mountain streams' got so terribly low last fall we 

 began to get -very nervous about the front. I was glad to 

 hear, however, from a friend a day or two ago that he had 

 e in September on « stream well known to me, 

 that two years ago was nearly denuded of trout, and that he 

 saw thousands of them in the pools. This winter so far has 

 been most favorable for the young fry. A taste of the joys 

 of West Virginia troufing experienced last .-ummer has, I urn 

 afraid, rather overshadowed in my estimation our inferior 

 though beautiful streams. Nature is at present in her most 

 defunct state. The pen is handier than the rod orgun. The 

 red roads are deep in that tenacious mud which a great pen* 



. _' Q. A. Sala. 



ha3 made historic. The mountains are hidden in rain clouds. 

 The trees drip unceasingly. Waal little energy our dusky 

 brethren possess is alao in a moribund c mdition. Regardless 

 that meal is a dollar and over per bushel, they choke the 

 village streets with their lazy forms ami cannot be hired for 

 money so soon after their X nas debauch. Are tie S luth ru 

 housewife and taV Southern farm r for ever to stagger about 

 under a load of keys aud padlocks and to spend a third of 

 their time in locking and unlocking bolts and bars? Bat 

 enough of this. In sporting matters the Ethiopian is harm- 

 less or nearly so. The "phizz" of bis half-loaded musket, 

 it is true, is occasionally borne to one'^ ears upon the breeze ; 

 but Sambo is not much on the wing, for if he were his area 

 would soon be circumscribed t.i a few grasslots around town. 

 I would not curtail the rish's of any man, black or white, 

 but a laboring class with ait land ir education, and 



with nothing but their muscles to depend on, can to no good 

 to themselvas or their country by loafing about with an irmy 

 rnu-ket. In other countries and sections where honesty, 

 thrift and m rrality exist in tiie corresponding cl las, constant 

 work, outside a few legitimate holidays, is regarded as neces- 

 sary to make an honest livelihood. Here amid fields waiting 

 to b • tilled and employers waiting to be served, these eum- 

 bcrersof the earth *od Abstracters of i npr ive neat, at, amoral 

 depth which, poor wretches, they cannot help, p av in bur- 

 lesque the "gentleman at larne." RinqwoOD. 



"WITH THE BIRDS IN TENNESSEE, 



Poet Botal, Tenn. 



Editor Forest and, Stream: 



Well, I will own uo and udmil that " 12 B -re" of El Pa'O, 

 11!., beat me squirrel shooting. Hesavs: "I do not think 

 • Bitch' uses enough shot" 1 gave as my load J of an ounce 

 of shot, and he gave as his loadl^ ounce. He forgets that I 

 was using a 13 gauge gun. 



I give the f core of part of two day's squirrel shooting. 

 Dec' 24 — Load, 24 dr-ons powder, o-e ounce No, 4 shot ; 13- 

 gauge gun— OUOlOlOOOO. Dec. 27.— L -ad. 2i drams powder, 

 one ounce No. 7 -hot; 13-g-oige gun-lUU. This is the 

 poorest score I ever maele. On the 24th I used a strange 

 gun. " 12-Bore's" score shows that he made eighteen kills 

 in twenty-four shots. I have bea'en that. 1 have killed 

 sixteen out of eighteen shots; thirteen squirrels and one fox 

 out of sixteen shots, and eleven squirrels without a miss. I 

 know some of the readers of F rbst and 8Trb*m will laugh 

 when they read the ab >ve sere and say " Whv did that 

 fellow send lhat score to Porrst and Stream? 1 never 

 would have said anything about it, pirtieiiarly the four con- 

 secutive misses. I would have put some Is in these." In 

 the Forest and Stream of Deo. 15 I said: "Let me put 

 it d iwn in Forest and Strham. that heavy charges of 

 powder and shot, and large shot for small game are a hum- 

 bug." Let me repeat it here, particularly the large shot part 

 of it. Look at my score with No. 7 shot. 



On the 24rh December I had good sport if I did make a 

 poor score. After firing the third shot I heard a squirrel in 

 the direction of the road, and I turned ind went that way. 

 Soon I heard the "heels of a bitagy. The driver stops and 

 gets out. His back is turned toward me and he does not 

 see me. I recognize him. It is friend P. He is in a dense 

 forest, where he thinks no human eye sees him. This is the 

 24th December. He is an inveterate drinker, and I suppose 

 he is drinking. Nn ; he does not Btaggfir. There ! he goes 

 to the bU'jgy and takes out something. It is a jug. He 

 takes it off some distance, conceals it behind a log ; he gets 

 into the buggy and drives off. Curiosity prompts me to go 

 and look. Yes, there, is the jug, behind a log and covered 

 with leaves. It is half full of "whi-ky. I was tempted to 

 pour out the vile stuff, but did not. I saw him late that 

 evening, and he was intoxicated. There, what is that rust- 

 ling in the leaves before me ? It is a c tvey of quad. There, 

 they all rush under a clump of briers and huddle together, 

 can even distinguish the white heads of the cocks. 1 cocked 

 my gun ; not for a not-shot, however. I advance, and they 

 tun to a thick patch of briers. I follow, but do not get a 

 shot when they rise. Late in the evening I walk them up 

 near the sameplace, and let fly both barrels. Did not ruffle 

 a feather. Ah 1 the many hours T have spent in that forest 

 all alone in my glory, squirrel hunting. 



1 spent parr of the Christinas holidays with friends in 

 Robertson county at quail and grouse-shooting. We had 

 royal sport. Ruffed .grouse used to be very numerous h°re, 

 but for a long time they were supposed to be extinct. But 

 on farms that have been protected t bey have atrain appeared 

 We heard of several coveys on a farm that has heen protected 

 for fifteen or twenty years. After a ride of several miles we 

 arrived at the farm. We have a guide along, and he says: 

 ' ' Here's the place. In October I saw them ail around here." 

 Yes, it looks l>ke a gootl place— a dense forest of 400 or 500 

 acres. Hie on, Sport and Daisy. Our setters beat the woods 

 as if they were used to that kind of hunting. This is their 

 maiden effort after grouse. Ditto all four of the hunters ex- 

 cept our guide We beat the ground "in abreast" about 

 twenty paces apart. Ed is em ihe left, then ' Birdo, 1 ' then 

 Tommy and George. All at once Ed's r/un rings out keen 

 aud clear and breaks the stillness of the forest. " What is 

 it?" is shouted all along ihe line. "A fox I" Ed shouted, 

 and away went Reynard like lightning. "Plague take the 

 luck," said Ed ; "I had No 10 in ray pin. Give me some 

 larger shot, B rdo." Hardly bad he loaded when but burst 

 a grouse with a roar aud a whirr that completely upset our 

 nerves and bewildered us. But George on the right was cool 

 and worked it down. We beat toward it, but itgot up wild 

 as a hawk, and we did not get a shot. Then we beat in the 

 direction it flew for some distance without raising it. We 

 then return- d to where it rose, and I examined the " lay of 

 the load." I then mentioned certain suggestions that a 

 •*ri'er in Forust and Stream made ab ut the Bight and pur 

 su't of grou-e, and told them that from the. lay of the load, i- 

 had d itibtless turned to the (eft. We advanced, and up it 

 rose not twenty paces before me. and 1 let fly the left barrel, 

 but scored a zero. "There, he dropped in that tree-top on 

 the ground," they all exclaimed We hurried-on, and soon 

 Daisy was on a stauuch point. She had him fast. VVe sur- 

 rounded the tree-top, and when he shot ait like n bullet I 

 threw my gun in position to draw on him, but Ed was too 

 quick for me, for with one of those marvelous snap-shots, 

 for which he is famous, he cut the bird down w th his little 

 fourteeo-gauge muzzle-loader. Ed is n e crack shol of the 

 county, an I has killed more quul 'ban any five men of his 

 age in the county, but this is his n est emu e, and he shook 

 with a " back ague " We are all terribly excited and elated. 



We then best in an easterly direction and emerged near a 

 large stubble field. We are now on what was, in ante-bellum 

 days, the largest tobacco plantation in the world. It con- 



