218 



RECREATION. 



driven away by other occupants who 

 thought they had a better title. A vessel 

 lay at anchor in one of the harbors here, 

 during the winter and early spring. The 

 fish hawks claimed it, and built their house 

 on the rigging and crosstrees at the top of 

 the main mast, fastening it firmly around 

 the tall top mast. In the early summer the 

 former owners asserted their rights. They 

 weighed anchor, hoisted the sails and start- 

 ed for Bangor, 30 miles up river, for a load 

 of lumber. The fish hawks resisted this 

 intrusion with marked displeasure, and 

 held tenaciously to their home till the ves- 

 sel reached Fort Point, some 6 miles away, 

 when they gave up the struggle and sailed 

 away. 



A few years ago a man climbed a tall 

 spruce tree near his house, and sawed off 

 the top on a level with 3 wide spreading 

 branches, as a favor to a fish hawk family, 

 should one come along. The birds came 

 and examined the tree. Finding that there 

 was no upward stem, a few inches long, 

 above the branches, to which they could 

 fasten the nest, they quickly devised a plan, 

 for "necessity is the mother of invention," 

 even with fish hawks. They began on the 

 next row of limbs, some 2 feet below, car- 

 rying long sticks and building up by cross 

 laying, till they reached the top branches, 

 fastening all their work as they went, by 

 fitting in sticks at various angles, as well as 

 perpendicularly. In this way the nest was 

 fastened to the tree, and the top was suf- 

 ficiently broad to accommodate the whole 

 family when the young became - grown. 

 They always plan for a full family when 

 laying the foundation of their house. If a 

 stick they bring does not fit the place they 

 planned it for, they throw it away and try 

 again. Under the trees there is much dis- 

 carded material. More than a dozen years 

 ago some children were playing around a 

 house one hot afternoon in the spring, and 

 a little boy took off his new jacket and 

 threw it on the ground. He came in at 

 supper time and soon went to bed. The next 

 morning he went out to get his jacket, but 

 it could not be found. His mother scolded 

 him for not knowing where he left it. A 

 few winters ago a gale of wind blew down 

 a large tree near their house where the os- 

 prey had had a nest for a generation or 2, 

 and there was the boy's lost jacket, which 

 the hawks had stolen and put into their 

 nest for a lining. 



Cranes and fish, hawks are sworn enemies. 

 The former build in the middle of a tree, 

 the latter on the top. The crane is so long 

 and slow of motion that the supple osprey 

 can often hit him with his wing and get 

 away ; but sometimes the crane will man- 

 age to deal a terrible blow, as his neck is 

 so long. There is a colony of cranes in a 

 thick spruce grove near several ospreys' 



nests. The birds all get their food near the 

 same place, though the cranes in shallow 

 water, and thus have to cross each other's 

 paths ; hence many battles. 



On the top of a tall tree, on a neighbor- 

 ing island, some eagles had a nest for many 

 years, but they have not returned for sev- 

 eral summers. Two years ago the fish 

 hawks repaired, the nest, and now hold it in 

 undisputed possession. 



Geo. E. Tufts, Islesborough, Maine. 



WILD PIGEON REMINISCENCES. 



The Hon. John F. Lacey states in 

 Recreation that the wild pigeon has been 

 exterminated. I have taken considerable 

 pains to ascertain if the wild pigeon has 

 in fact become extinct -with the following 

 results. 



In September, 1900, a friend and I saw 

 a flock of 9 or 10, the first I had seen since 

 the ' great flight and nesting in Potter 

 county, Pennsylvania, in 1871 or 1872. In 

 September, 1901, P. Freeman informed me 

 there was a small flock of wild pigeons 

 staying around his woods and fields, and 

 that he was trying to protect them. I saw 

 him a few days ago, and he said he had 

 seen them frequently this fall. My brother 

 while driving in the vicinity of Mr. Free- 

 man's farm during June, 1902, saw a small 

 flock of wild pigeeons and was able to as- 

 certain that it contained both male and 

 female birds. Having been familiar with 

 the pigeons in former years, I can not be 

 mistaken as to the birds I saw. In 1871 or 

 1872 I spent a month with an old gentle- 

 man, who was engaged in netting pigeons, 

 and saw hundreds of them caught with a 

 net ; but will refrain from describing the 

 process as I hope the art will never again 

 be revived. At that time there were thou- 

 sands of young squabs taken out of the 

 nests just before they were fledged; the 

 trees containing the nests being felled and 

 the young birds gathered from the ground, 

 only the breasts of the birds being saved. 

 I saw barrels, tubs and firkins filled with 

 the salted breasts of these young birds and 

 acres of timber destroyed to facilitate the 

 slaughter. In March, before the pigeons 

 commenced nesting and before the snow 

 was entirely gone, I saw thousands of them 

 feeding on beech nuts. At that time the 

 males and females came together to feed; 

 but after they commenced nesting, and 

 until the young were fledged, the male birds 

 came to feed just after the break of day, 

 and could only be attracted to the net by 

 the flyer and stool bird before they had 

 fed. After feeding, on the return to the 

 nesting, they made a swift and direct flight, 

 and as the nesting was only 20 miles from 

 the nets it required haste to rearrange the 

 nets and blinds to be prepared for the 



