FOREST AND STREAM. 



451 



ture, can ait in some secluded dell, or by some rippling stream to watch 

 animal and insect life of all forme on earth, air or water ; study then- 

 habits, and have discovered many wonderful things, but it has not fallen 

 to my good fortune to see a " king partridge III" My greatest desire 

 now is to see one, and then " depart." 



But I have led off from my first intention in writing, which was sug- 

 gested by a correspondent of Ferrlsburgh, Vf.., on the ruffed grouse. 

 He startB off— whiz !— bang .'—gone out of sight like an arrow, Mr. 

 Grouse I Well, that is much my experience. Quite often, at least, I 

 am folly of his mind, "they are not easily killed," and, if hit, the 

 hardest bird to bring to bag I know of. 



Two this fall I will mention: Out with H. hunting pheasants, a bird 

 flushed on a side hill, and when clearing the top through the brush, I got 

 In a shot, and right after, H. one. We could see that each hit the bird, and 

 Bupposed it fell, but on search, it could not be found. Giving up the 

 search, we passed on thirty or forty rods, and began to hunt another 

 ravine. Part way down my dog came to point; we came up and found 

 the bird dead and warm. After that we were out, separated by at least 

 900 yards, each in a ravine, H. shot at a bird, and, at the report of his 

 gun, I turned and looked, and in a short time saw a pheasant come over 

 into my ravine and fall dead. When plucked of its feathers, it was 

 found to have been hit with eleven No. 6 shot, and still this bird flew, 

 apparently well and strong, till it dropped dead. I pronounce them the 

 hardest of all birds, even when hit, to kill, and would always advise to 

 follow on with your dog, even if there is no sign of hitting them. 



The habit of the pheasants, when they break the coveys in October, 

 to scatter to ravines and thickets, through fields and even into Iowob, 

 is, I think, common and universal. It has always been my observation. 

 Early in the morning, from daylight till after sunrise, you may often 

 find them near houses, in the garden bushes or yard shrubbery. Every 

 fall, in our little village (8,000) many are killed, and occasionally one 

 flies through a window or against a white painted house, and is killed 

 in so doing. Much is said about the manner of producing sound in 

 drumming. Let any one fill the air sac under the wings, and they will 

 find an easy solution of the matter in the manner the bird strikes its 

 body with its wings. 



I would like an opinion of those who call themselves good wing shots 

 giving the average number of shots to get one bird. The opinio* of our 

 boys is, in general shooting, four shots to one bird killed— that is, good 

 and average shooters. There are those who do much better that this. 

 I have been out since these conversations, and have kept a little data : 

 On a two days' hunt I made thirty-five shots, killed sixteen birds, and 

 crippled two, which, I have no doubt, died ; was out two days ago, shot 

 at four birds, and got three. These were my best this fall. Last fall I 

 made twelve shots one day, and got five quail, five pheasants— all at 

 single birds— and one rabbit: many, many times much worse. I make 

 poor shooting some days. But you will see, Mr. Editor, that sixty-seven 

 years have dimmed my eyes, for I am travelling on the sixty-eighth road. 



Lutrow. 



Editor Forbst and Stream: 



Stratford, Out., Dec. 8, 187T. 



There have been a good many grouse about this fall, and having 

 been In the woods a good deal, I have had some opportunity to study 

 them. Frank Forester says that they seem to hang heavily at first in 

 the air, but I think that had he hunted them around here, he would ha.ve 

 changed the reading of that clause, at least. I have never seen them 

 hang long enough to shoot at, and in most instances, to be seen, for, 

 when flushed, they start as if shot from a cannon ; and it takes a quick 

 eye, and still quicker aim, to shoot them with any degree of success. 

 A food bag of rutted grouae is a thing any sportsman may well be proud 

 of, as it shows skill in shooting, and a considerable amount of patience 

 and perseverance in struggling through the thickets, where they are 

 generally found. As " Awahsoose " says, they are not the most easily 

 killed birds In existence. Once, while shooting this fall, I started two 

 from a small cedar thicket, and as they had to cross an open space to 

 gain the main woods, I had a fair, open shot at them for about fifteen 

 or twenty yards. When I fired I had the satisfaction of seeing one of 

 them drop in the brush, but upon putting In another cartridge and 

 walking up to the place, my bird was nowhere to be Been. I searched 

 for some time, and was about giving up the hunt, when a friend who 

 was shooting with me, came up with his dog, and then I set Juno, with 

 her keen nose, to find what 1 could not. After hunting for a minute or 

 two, she found the spot where the bird struck when it dropped, and on 

 trailing it up, I found my bird hid away under some brush fully 100 

 yards from where it had failen-not then dead, but nearly so, as it died 

 in my hand within a intnute after finding. I marked this bird, and when 

 plucking it in the evening, found that no less than seven No 5 shot had 

 struck it, two of which had passed through the lungs from side to side. 



Like "Awahsoose," Inave never seen or even heard of a king partridge, 

 although I have had considerable experience with grouse. Penobscot's 

 article In your paper was the first intimation I had that such a thing ex- 

 isted, and on inquiry among some old woodsmen, I cannot find any who 

 have ever heard of such a thing, much less seen one, * 



The habit of the ruffed grouse in leaving its usual haunts does not 

 seem to be peculiar to one place only, as 1 have repeatedly observed the 

 Baine thing here. Last fall, while eauuterlng up the river looking for a 

 stray duck or snipe, I flushed a grouse from a small bunch of willows 

 near the water, and had the luck to get him, although I was not expect- 

 ing such game. There was no other bush or trees of any kind near, and 

 the nearest cover, when any of them were to be found, was a full mile 

 and a half away. This was late in the fall, and all the leaves had been 

 down some time, so that theory will not hold good in this instance. It 

 could not have been want of water, as there was a stream running 

 through the cover where the birds were to befound. Another instance : 

 Late in the season, after the first fall of snow, a gentleman living in 

 town happened to be on the lawn in front of the house, when his little 

 Bon called his attention to two birds under one of the spruce trees with 

 which it was adorned. Upon investigation they proved to be the ruffed 

 grouse, which had thus ventured so near civilization, and were fully 

 two miles away from their usual haunts. They stayed for two days, but 

 on the third morning turned up missing. While in Mnskeoka last fall 

 I frequently saw them shot in a clump of larch that had been left near 

 a spring on the farm of a settler. Certainly, the woods were only a 

 short distance away, but water was plentiful in them, so why did they 

 resort to the small clump of trees, not covering the twenty-fifth part of 

 an acre 7 



About their drumming : I oan testify with *' Penobscot " and " Awah- 

 soose " that they will stand on a rook to drum, as I have seen them do 

 bo ; also on a stump and, once or twice, on a tree that had not long been 

 felled. But there Is one curious point that I would like to ask some 

 older Bhooter than myself— What causes them to drum during the night 

 time in the fall, or do they do so in the spring also ? This fall, while 

 duck shootiug on the Au Sable Eiver, we camped in a thick piece of 

 pine and oak woods near the river, and several times during the night 

 while there, 1 heard the grouse drumming in our vicinity. We went 

 after them several times, and in every case where I got any, I found 

 them to be solitary birds, and, in every instance, cocks. I did not see 

 a hen bird killed, although a good many birds were shot. Perhaps 

 " Penobscot" can explain this point. 



About shooting them from a tree : I saw a man shooting near- here 

 about two years ago, who had a small terrier dog with him. On first 

 going Into the woods the dog flushed a covey of them, and all the birds 

 flew a short distance into a hemlock tree. The man went up, and, 

 standing in the shelter of a small bush whioh hid him from them, began 



by shooting the lowest. As he had only a single-barrelled gun, he lost 

 considerable time, but, nevertheless, managed to secure seven of them 

 before the rest were frightened, and sought safety in flight. I have 

 since killed four myself In a similar manner, and when shooting oue, 

 the rest did not seem at all disturbed. I do not see anything unsporl h- 

 man-like in shooting them on a tree. As they are so shy and hard to nit 

 that I kill them any way lean that is, lawful; and I would advise all 

 sportsman to do the same when they get a chance. More anon. 



An Satjblb. 



The Drumming. 



Northern New York, Dec. U, 1S77. 

 EnrroR Forest and Stream: 



Although the above topic has been discussed at length in your col- 

 umns, it seems by no means settled to the satisfaction of all. So please 

 permit me to tell what I have seen and heard. 



For a number of years, from the age of fourteen to twenty, I lived 

 on the border of our great Southern (to you Northern) wilderness, 

 where a part of my time was spent in hunting and trapping. During 

 that time and since I have seen a good many grouse in the act of drum- 

 ming, and in some respects my experience will differ from that of oth- 

 ers, In the first plaoe I never saw a female with or near the male bird 

 at such times, and I have often lrauted the ground over thoroughly for 

 a considerable distance around. The male commences drumming just 

 as soon as the snow is off the tops of the logs and hillocks. At this 

 time, an hour or so about sunrise is the usual extent of time occupied. 

 Later, and at the time the hen is sitting, he drums almost constantly, 

 taking only three or four short feeding spells during the day, and if the 

 night be fine and moonlight, if you chance to be camping out, you will 

 hear him at intervals during that time. As summer approaches the 

 drumming grows less and less and finally ceases till colder weather in 

 the fall, when snow birds drum, though probably not all, as one hears 

 but little as compared with spring time. 



As to the hollow log I never saw one drum on the ground, though I 

 have seen them on moss-covered rocks as well as logs. The latter, how- 

 ever, covered with moss and situated in a thicket seem to be the favorite 

 places. The reason I think is this, instinct teach es Mr. Grouse that his 

 noise may attract Hie attention of his natural enemies, foxes, hawks 

 and owls, to say nothing of the boy with his twenty shilling shot-gun. 

 In the open he is exposedto all these. In the thicket," from his elevated 

 standpoint on log or rock he is comparatively safe, as hawks cannot 

 pounce upon him, nor fox or boy approach him unaware. If not dis- 

 turbed too often he will usually stick to one log the entire season, and 

 the same log is often occupied for a number of years, though whether by 

 the same bird or not I cannot" say. Now the act itself. I recollect one 

 particular instance. A few years ago, in the month of May, T was at a 

 pond in the depth of the wilderness trout fishing. Close by the camp 

 was quite a hill that came down close to the water, the side of which 

 was rough and broken, with rock and ravine and somewhere up its side 

 was a partridge drumming. One morning I started out to find it. This 

 was done by going slowly and stopping from time to time to listen. At 

 length when well up the side hill and at the edge of a little windfall a 

 few rods in extent, partly filled with second growth, I paused close to 

 the roots of a large spruce that had fallen. The roots, covered with 

 earth, completely hid me from all beyond. I did not have to wait long 

 to Ipcate my laird. It was so near as to almost startle me. Changing 

 my position a very little I could look through between the roots of the 

 tree, and there sat Mr. Grouse within fifteen feet of me. I stood and 

 watched it drum a dozen times or more before a slight noise on my part 

 attracted its attention. It sat up straight, just as a hawk or eagles does 

 upon a limb, turned its head with a quick tearing motion right and left 

 two or three times, and then seemed to draw its head down close to its 

 body, half closing the eyes. Then commenced the motion of the wings. 

 These were raised or spread but very little and brought back or struck 

 against the side with a quick, light blow three or four times, with a mo- 

 ment's interval between blows, when suddenly it changed to a harder 

 blow with the wings extended further, say half open, and after the first 

 half dozen strokes the motion is too rapid for the eye to follow, but 

 growing less in strength, till it stops with a sudden whirr. It would now 

 Btretch up its neck and look around right and left as if on the lookout 

 for enemies. Sometimes it would not change its position any more than 

 this, but in a few moments it would walk up and down the log for a 

 few feet, but always in a natural manner, looking about as if its only ob- 

 ject was to guard against surprise. I have seen the male of the spruce 

 partridge drop its wings and stmt about with all the importance of an 

 old gobbler, but have never seen the;ruffed grouse do so. As to the pro- 

 duction of the noise made in drumming I always supposed it was caused 

 by the striking of the wings against the body. I have watched a good 

 nianvj but never was so near another. I have watched some till they 

 leflroe log and have then observed them feeding alone. At this season, 

 May, I have often seen the female from sunset till dusk, which I take to 

 be her time of getting food when sitting. The first chance I have I will 

 find out if possible about the air pouch your correspondent "Monon" 

 tells about. I never heard of it before. Ladoc. 



The Woodpecker as a Flycatcher. — Id. a late number 

 of Harper's Magazine I noticed an item concerning the catch- 

 ing of flies by the common red-headed woodpecker. Heading 

 this recalled a fact that came under my own observation, 

 which I will proceed to relate : In the summer of 1863 I was 

 living in a small town in middle Alabama, not far from Selma. 

 In oue corner of the yard there stood an old china tree, the 

 top of which had been shattered by a storm. At the time of 

 which I write, a pah of red-heads were engaged in rearing a 

 brood in a hole which they had excavated in the old tree-top. 

 This tree was the only one in a decaying condition within a 

 radius of at least one-fourth of a mile ; and from lack of his 

 accustomed food the red-head was forced to resort to a diet of 

 flies. At least this is the way in which I accounted for what 

 I thought a departure from the traditions of his ancestors. 

 The bird assigned to duty as caterer took a position on the 

 twisted lightning rod of the house, and from this point of 

 vantage darted with unerring aim upon his winged prey, 

 taking them always in mid-air, after the manner of all fly- 

 catchers. 1 remember to have thought tills very singular, not 

 having seen any mention of it in such works of ornithology as 

 I had read, but allowed it to pass from my mind until the 

 paragraph in Harper's recalled it to memory. "Will. 

 . — ■«, . — , 



Quail "Withholding Scent.— A correspondent in Ma- 

 honingtown, Pa., states that he has noted several un- 

 doubted instances of quail withholding their scent. Among 

 others was that of a wing-tipped bird, which the dogs failed 

 to find, though they ranged all the ground over thoroughly. 

 Subsequently returning to the same spot the bird was found. 

 The writer concludes : 



That under certain conditions of the atmosphere a quail 

 alighting on the ground, and not moving from the spot it first 



alights upon, does not give out enough scent to enable a dog 

 to fimell it. Of course one must bear in mind that when a 

 quail is not in motion its feathers aro always pressed tightly 

 and compactly to its body, which in a great measure tends to 

 withhold its scent. 



A Large Heronry.— Our friend Dr. T. Garlick, writing 

 from Ohio, tells us of a nesting-place of the Blue Eteron in 

 the olden time. He says \— 



"The last number of Forest and Stream has an article on 

 the nesting-place of the Wood Ibis, which reminded me of a 

 breeding-place of the Blue Heron QArdea herodeas, Linn.) that 

 I went fifty miles once, to see. It was in the midst of a wil- 

 derness, covering from twelve to fifteen miles square, a re- 

 gion of flat land, filled with many small swamps, inhabited 

 by myriads of frogs and lizards. 



" The forest was mainly timbered with swamp oak, the trees 

 being of immense size. The woods were literally alive with 

 these birds. I counted on one tree thirteen nests ; there were 

 hundreds, if not thousands, of nests. I was amused to see a 

 number of unfledged birds, out of their nests, walking with 

 their long, stilt-like legs, on the limbs of the trees. One fel- 

 low made a misstep, and lost his balance, but hung by one 

 foot, and finally got his long neck over the limb ; whether he 

 ever righted himself I do not know; I left him "doing his 

 level best," to get back. I could not help him, for he was 

 nearly a hundred feet high. 



" This nesting-place was in the township of Eichmond, Ash- 

 tabula County, O., now a thickly settled country. Since my 

 recollection that region was full of game, elk and deer in 

 abundance." 



» .#. 



Propagation of the Eel. — Owing to the obscurity that 

 exists respecting the propagation of the eel, the following state- 

 ment made by Herr L. Griesinger, of Murrhurdt, to the Schw I 

 Institution, may be of interest. ' Herr Griesinger writes ■. 

 " On Saturday, August 12 last, some workmen who were 

 preparing the foundation for a railway bridge over the Murr, 

 observed an eel in the still water of a channel, a quarter of a 

 mile below the town. The men had hammers with them for 

 stone-breaking, and, wishing to kill the eel by a blow on the 

 head, one of them hit it, but only iu the middle of the body, 

 which was greatly lacerated. Owing, however, to the tough- 

 ness of the skin, the parts held together. It was an ordinary 

 full-grown eel, but unusually stout. I bought it and set 

 about skinning it in my kitchen, an operation that necessi- 

 tated a strong pull from head to tail. At that part of the 

 body which had received the blow, a total separation took 

 place, and at the same moment there fell out upon the table 

 an animated bag or ball about the size of a walnut, from 

 which there .escaped a number of active young eels. In 

 circumference they were of the dimensions of a large knitting 

 needle and as long as a man's finger. They lived for an hour, 

 during which time they wriggled about on their sides. The 

 parent, eel seems to have quitted the rapid water of the Murr 

 for the still water of the channel to deposit her young. — 8. in 

 Land and Water. 



An Interesting Snake Story. — "Snake eating snake" is 

 no imaginary story. I can add my own evidence in substan- 

 tiation of the fact. Several years ago, when weeding corn in 

 my Pugh Island, in the county of Northampton, N. C. , I dis- 

 covered a very large king snake lying on a ditch bank, per- 

 fectly straight, and unusually large. I called the attention of 

 my servants to th# snake, and directed that no snake of that 

 species should be killed on my land, as they were said to be 

 the special enemy of all venomous reptiles, particularly the 

 highland moccasin. By the by, I had been bitten by a moc- 

 casin, and, barely escaping with my life, my sympathy was 

 quite reasonably excited in behalf of his enemy. My servants 

 promised obedience. I took from the hands of one of them a 

 weeding hoe, and attempted to wake the snake by chipping 

 off a part of his tail. The operaton was quite artistically per- 

 formed. The snake, however, did not relish it, and immedi- 

 ately began to disgorge a large highland moccasin, recognized 

 by us as the most venomous of all found in this section of the 

 State. The Hon. J, J. Davis, the present representative in 

 Congress from the adjoining district, gave me a history of a 

 similar occurrence which he himself witnessed. Stopping at 

 a branch to water his horse, while on his way to one of his 

 courts, he discovered the tail of a small king snake firmly 

 fastened around a twig, the body immersed in the stream, and 

 he holding fast to a large water moccasin, double his size, 

 which was struggling heroically for his life. The contest con- 

 tinued for some minutes, the moccasin drawing the king snake 

 under the water, and in turn the king snake drawing the moc- 

 casin to the surface. The victory finally resulted in favor of 

 the little king snake, and the Hon. Mr. Davis remained a 

 passive spectator during the whole struggle. I think he stated 

 that after the termination of the affair he pulled them both 

 ashore. The king snake is not the black snake, or black 

 runner. He grows to a much larger size, and is black, with 

 white rings around the entire body. I really do not know 

 whether or not he is venomous. The black snake is certainly 

 not, though by quick rattling of his tail, and rapid ejections 

 of his tongue and apparent preparation for the fight, he would 

 make a very different impression upon one. 



T. G. T., Gaston. 

 . ■«. « 



Philosophical Society of Washington, December 22. — 

 Mr. Theodore Gill made a communication on a new species of 

 chimajra found in American waters. One of the most unex- 

 pected discoveries recently made in American ichthyology is 

 that of a species of the genus Chimera, of which a specimen 

 has lately been sent to the Smithsonian Institution. It was 

 caught southeast of the La Have bank, in lat. 42 deg. 40 min. 

 north, long. 68 deg. 23 min. west, at a depth of 350 fathoms, 

 with a bait of halibut, and sent to the Institution by Captain 

 ■Robert L. Hurlburt. An attentive comparison of the speci- 

 men with individuals of the European Ohimmra monstro&a, 

 renders it evident that it does not belong to that species, but 

 is an entirely distinct specific form. It maybe named Chimmra 

 plumbea, and diagnosed as follows. : Chimcera Plumbea. — 

 A Chimajra with the snout acutely produced; the ante- 

 orbital flexure of the suborbital line extending little above the 

 level of the inferior margin of the orbit ; the dorsals close to- 

 gether ; the dorsal spine, with its anterior surface rounded ; 

 the ventrals triangular and pointed ; the pectorals extending 

 to the outer axil of the ventrals ; and the color uniformly 

 plumbeous. By these characters the species is readily separable 

 from the Chimcera monstrosa and other speciea of the genus. 



A Bezoar Stone.— A beautiful Bezoar stone has been sent 

 Professor Holmes for examination. The father of Rev. John 

 W. Lemacka, of Walterboro', obtained it about seventy years 



