Ffb. -2?., 1S82.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



67 



out to walk, day by day. Who knows? Everything T ob- 

 served seemed to indicate equal amusement to both birds._ I 

 think the old one was preparing its young for its coming 

 fright, to the South. 



Since writing the above my attention has been called to a 

 note in FOREST and STREAM, p. 47, of Feb. Hi. 1882, wliich 

 says: "In the northern countries of Europe, when the storks, 

 after the breeding season, prepare to migrate southward as 

 winter approaches, they make nights to test the capabilities 

 pf the young birds to accomplish the coming journey," This 

 confirms my conclusions, and what an admirable instinct is 

 this, which commands the older birds to prepare the weak- 

 lings for their future migration. In this the proof of Divine 

 arrangement is clearly made manifest. H. W. Merrill. 



New Rochelle, N. Y., Feb. 17. 



ENEMIES OF GAME BIRDS. 



Fishkill-on-the-Hitdson, Jan. 28. 1882. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



Please do not understand me as intending to intimate, 

 that the only cause for the decrease, of game is the de- 

 predations of the hawk, owl, etc., for I am well aware that 

 there are many other reasons why our once well-stocked 

 forests have become so sadly destitute of game, but I only 

 speak from what I have seen. I have been witness to the 

 sparrow-hawk business enough times to know his willingness 

 and intrepidity to attack not only a young quail, but a full 

 grown ruffed grouse. This hawk is possessed of the most 

 undaunted courage, and I have seen it attack for an serial 

 conflict so formidable an antagonist as the goshawk. 

 As to the increase of hawks. I only speak of those por- 

 tions of this and other States in which I have hunted and 

 fished for the. past five years. Not only have I noticed the 

 abundance of hawks, but I have often had the question asked 

 me by the resident farmers and sportsmen if I could account 

 for their increased numbers, An old farmer and sportsman 

 said to me not long since: Why shouldn't the hawks be 

 thick? They raise a brood every season. Their nests are 

 built in the tops of the highest forest trees where they are 

 never molested, and they are very seldom interfered with by 

 sportsmen. A large portion of my time for the past fifteen 

 years I have spent in the forests, and have tried by close ob- 

 servation to acquire some knowledge of natural history. 

 From information received from other parts of the 

 country, I have no doubt but the grouse tick has been 

 the cause of much trouble, although I have never seen 

 one on any game but the pinnated grouse, and in 

 fact the vermin ~I have found on those birds may not be the 

 same as found on the ruffed grouse, as I am not sure of ever 

 having seen one of these ticks, 



Tn your issue of January 12, Mi - . W. Holberton quotes 

 from a letter which I wrote him in reference to the 

 falling off of the game about here. The birds which 

 I mentioned in that letter as being found dead in the 

 fields, I can only account for as having been lost from the 

 game bag of some poacher who had caught them in a snare. 

 If some of the so-called sporting papers would take half the 

 interest in the protection of fish and game that the Forest 

 and Stream does, it would be to their credit and might do 

 some good. Geo. F. Alden. 



Concerning the crow's taste for nestlings, a correspondent 

 writes : 



I have read with much interest the communications in 

 Forest and Stream in regard to the scarcity of ruffed 

 grouse, and am of the opinion that all his natural enemies 

 have not yet had their share of blame. That miserable and 

 sneaking thief, the crow, I believe, does as much or more 

 mischief in the destruction of young birds of the woods of 

 all kinds than all other causes* put together. They are ever 

 watchful, ever on the alert for such titbits during the breed- 

 ing season, and their audacity and daring are sometimes quite 

 remarkable in the pursuit and obtaining of such food, an in- 

 stance of which, occurring under my own observation, I will 

 relate. My house is on the bank of a river in a city of 10,000 

 inhabitants, and I often watch the different birds in their 

 flight up aud down the river or upon the laud on the opposite 

 shore, half a mile distant. One day last summer at noon, 

 while looking from my east window, I noticed a solitary 

 crow aLight in a tree between me and the water. Now, I 

 always make a target of these vermin when I get a chance, 

 and was about to jump back a few steps for my breech- 

 loader, when he flew about ten rods to the house of a neighbor 

 and gobbled up in a twinkling the entire brood of young 

 robins occupying a nest in a tree not more than thirty feet 

 from an open' window, where my neighbor then sat reading. 

 He witnessed the entire proceeding, and tried by shouts and 

 gestures to frighten the crow away, but in vain. The thief 

 and robber meant business, and, like many of his kind among 

 bipeds, was not to be alarmed or deterred* from his purpose 

 by ordinary expedients. N. 



ENEMIES OF SNAKES. 



IN countries where venomous snakes abound the preserva- 

 tion of their enemies is a subject which deserves more 

 attention than has yet been given to it. Here in the United 

 States death from snake bites is of very rare occurrence, but 

 in India, where thousands of individuals perish each year 

 from this cause, the subject assumes a vast importance. In 

 America raptorial birds are among the most active enemies 

 which snakes have. The redtail hawk, red-shouldered buz- 

 zard and marsh hawk, destroy great numbers of them. All 

 our readers will remember Audubon's superb plate of the 

 swallow-tailed kite feeding on a black snake. Herons kill 

 many snakes, as also do the sandhill and whooping cranes, 

 and we recently recorded the discovery of a good-sized ser- 

 pent in the crop of a ruffed grouse. Deer arc said to be very 

 fond of killing snakes, and swine are equally' dangerous to 

 this group. It is said that in mauy regions of the South 

 where, hogs were wild in the woods, snakes are always rare. 

 The following remarks, taken from Good W&rSs, are inter- 

 esting : 



Birds are perhaps the greatest snake-destroyers, especially 

 certain families of them. Even small insectivorous birds will 

 devour a tiny serpent a.s readily as a worm when they And 

 one, and storks, falcons, pelicans, cranes, and some vultures 

 arc always on the lookout for this special delicacy. The 

 secretary bird, SerpatMu-iua ivptilicoroun, owes its scientific 

 name to this habit; the cassowary and sunbittern are said to 

 entertain a similar partiality^; while peacocks are so fond of 

 snakes that they will actually desert the home where they are 

 fed in a district where these reptiles are plentiful. A well- 

 known Loudon banker purchased a small island on the west 

 coast of Scotland some time ago; no attempt at cultivation 

 had been made there, and it was uninhabited save by sea 



birds and vipers. That the latter should have swarmed in 

 such abundance in a situation so far north and isolated from 

 the mainland is certainly remarkable; but there they were in 

 force so strong that the banker found his newly acquired 

 territory quite unavailable for the purpose be bad intended 

 it — a shooting and fishing station in summer. Acting under 

 advice, he procured six pairs of peafowls and turned them 

 loose on the island, wliich they very soon cleared of its un- 

 welcome tenants, or at any rate reduced their numbers to 

 such an extent that the remainder could be evicted without 

 much danger or difficulty. Almost any bird will attack a 

 snake of suitable size (of course it is not to be expected that 

 a lark will swallow a boa-constrictor); and it is a curious 

 thing that they eat veno .ions or non-venomous species indis- 

 criminately. They appear to first disable it by a sharp blow 

 with the beak on the spine, then kill it by successive 

 pecks and shakings wliich dislocate the vertebrae, and finally 

 transfix the head; then gobble it down. The presence of the 

 venom in the bird's uninjured stomach would do it no harm, 

 but one. would have supposed that the sharp fangs or broken 

 bones projecting through the mangled skin in its passage 

 down must sometimes cause excoriations of the mucous 

 membrane, and thus provide a means of inoculation, even if 

 the aggressor did not get bitten in the combat. Neither acci- 

 dent," however, has been observed to occur by those who 

 have repeatedly watched the. operations. 



Pigs are tremendous fellows for snakes, too. They, as well 

 as peacocks, have done good service in ridding entire islands 

 of these dangerous pests; and it is said that Mauritius was 

 cleared of poisonous reptiles by the wild hogs which were im- 

 ported there in the first instance, aud have now spread over 

 the island. A little tame silver fox, belonging to the writer 

 got hold of a dead whipsnake which was hung up in the 

 shade of the veranda awaiting dissection ; it was about eight 

 feet long, but no thicker than an ordinary lead pencil, and 

 the brushy little gourmand was meditatively absorbing it 

 lengthwise, like an Italian sgherro swallowing his string of 

 maccaroni. This fox had been brought up on farinaceous 

 diet and bread fruit, of wliich he was very fond, and this ex- 

 periment of his in ophiophagy was seized upon as a proof of 

 the hereditary instinctive cravings of his carniverous nature 

 for the animal food he had never known, a theory wliich was 

 abandoned shortly afterward when it was discovered that he 

 had been in the habit of stealing chickens from his birth. 

 The mongoose is a noted serpenticide, and effects its purpose 

 solely by the agility it displays in rushing in and gripping its 

 adversary by the neck while dexterously avoiding the blow, 

 not by any immunity from the consequences of a venomous 

 bite which it has been supposed to enjoy, nor from the 

 antidotal results of eating a herb or root of its own seeking, 

 which the popular preference of mysticism to a common- 

 place explanation has decided ought to be — and therefore is 

 — the case. Mongooses have been subjected to the fangs of a 

 serpent and have died with precisely the same unromantic 

 train of symptoms that would manifest themselves in other 

 animals; and have more than once been killed, while under 

 observation, in the course of a fight with a deadly snake, in 

 their wild state and surrounded by the vegetation among 

 which they exist. _, 



Spring Notes. — Franklin, Milwaukee Co., Wis., Feb. 15, 

 1882. — Large flocks of wild ducks and wild pigeons have 

 been flying in a northwesterly direction over this place for 

 the last two days (Feb. 12 and 13). Robins, meadow larks, 

 bluebirds and blackbirds arrived here on Sunday last to the 

 great surprise of the inhabitants, the oldest of whom assert 

 positively that those welcome heralds of spring have never 

 heretofore been seen in this region before the 1st of March. 

 It is very wonderful, this exceptionally early visitation. 



M. J. E. 



Charleston, HI., Feb. 14, 1882. 



The backbone of winter is undoubtedly broken. We have 

 had fine balmy weather since the 1st inst. , except two or 

 three days._ The spring birds are here from one or two 

 weeks earlier than last year, singing their cheerful songs. The 

 meadow larks arrived here on the 3d inst. , and also wild 

 pigeon were flying in all directions. It is the first time that 

 I have seen them here in the winter. Bluebirds came on the 

 6th, robins came on the 9th, brant, geese and ducks by the 

 hundreds on the 11th and 12th. Douglas Nichols and John 

 Cartright bagged nine mallard clucks on the 10th inst. W. 

 M. E. Hart and George Hunt killed an owl four feet from 

 tip to tip of wing, with a steel trap fastened to his leg, on the 

 5th inst. 



Watertown, N. Y., Feb. 16, 1882. 



The common yellow bird or goldfinch can hardly be called 

 migratory this winter, or else they are returning north much 

 earlier than usual. To-day a group of about twenty were 

 found feeding in a weedy pasture, very contentedly. .' The 

 males were in winter dress, the yellow upon the lower part 

 of the neck showing a decided greenish tint. Shore larks are 

 plentiful in the meadows, and in the woods chickadees and 

 various woodpeckers. Shrikes, which were abundant during 

 the snows of last winter, are now scarce, not one coming to 

 my observation. Last winter I observed them iu chase of 

 the English sparrows. J. Quay. 



Recapture of the Australian Crested Parkoquet 

 at Sing Sing, N. Y.— On July 14, 1880, Rev. A. H. Gesner 

 sent me a parroquet, which a neighbor had killed the day 

 previous. Mr, Robert Ridgway kindly identified it for me, 

 it. being the Australian crested parroquet, {(lallvptittcww 

 no-Dm-JiMlaiulitt>). The specimen, an adult male, was in per- 

 fect plumage, not a feather being broken. This in connec- 

 tion with the fact, that the feet presented no callosities, would 

 lead us to suppose that the bird had moulted since its escape, 

 and the period of its freedom had been of some length. The 

 bird was in good condition, its crop being distended with 

 grass seeds, in fact, it. was killed as it arose from its feeding 

 ground, It had been seen for a week or more before its 

 capture. Mr. Ridgway includes this specimen in the list of 

 captured birds escaped from confinement in his "Nomen- 

 clature of N. A. Birds," p. 84.— A. K. Fisher, M.D. 



would make a break for one almost impenetrable swamp 

 running along the. creek for about two miles, aud varying in 

 width from 300 yards to a mile, and unless I could get some 

 of them cut off from this swamp I never troubled myself 

 about them. Notwithstanding their shyness, I could now 

 and then "get the drop' 7 on one and bag him. While hunt- 

 ing one morning in the spring— "gobbling time" — 1 killed a 

 young gabbler of the red-legged species that was of a, very 

 light gray almost whits nit a single black feather ci it For 

 several years, and, iu fact, up to the time of my leaving 

 Tennessee, a very large white gobbler was often seen iu the 

 neighborhood of where I killed ray gray one. It was very 

 wild, and the hunters in that vicinity claimed that it, had a 

 "charmed life. " It was familiarly known as the "old white, 

 witch turkey. " Davy. 



A Captive "Great Horned Owl."— Loekport, N. Y., 

 Feb. 15, 1882. — Last week Mr. Abet, a farmer living on the 

 Ridge Road, brought into the city a splendid specimen of the 

 "great horned owl" {Bubo virgiviarius). Mr. Aber missed one 

 of his turkeys and finally found its dead body. Concluding 

 that whatever killed it would come for the remainder the 

 next night, he placed a steel trap near it, and the next morn- 

 ing he found his owlship caught by one toe. Mr. Aber sold 

 it to a gentleman for $4, and the gentleman now has about 

 all he can attend to in procuring as much beefsteak and 

 chicken as "Bubo" requires to appease his appetite. — I. L. D. 



Redheads tn the St. Lawrence. — The following is 

 clipped from the Tekrjram: "Three redhead ducks were shot 

 last week in the St. Lawrence below this city, says the 

 Ogdensburg Journal. The redheads migrate from the Poto- 

 mac to Labrador in the spring and return in the fall, stopping 

 in the St. Lawrence both ways, but it is a very unusual 

 thing for them to remain through the winter." We should 

 be glad to have any of our correspondents tell us whether 

 this species ever, to their knowledge, winters on .the St, 

 Lawrence. 



Weld Turkey Notes — Sardis, Miss. — I notice in your 

 issue of Jan. 19, Mr. W. M. Waite, of Sparkill, N. Y., writ- 

 ing of wild turkeys, speaks of the "moss-head" species, and 

 hi your note at the conclusion of his letter you ask others to 

 speak on this question. I have killed both the red-legged and 

 "moss-head." Mr. Waite. gives a good description of that shy 

 little bird (little for a turkey.) I have often flushed them 

 when hunting along the edge of Beaver Creek bottom, in 

 Corrall County, Tennessee; but as soon as I would find out I 

 was trying to call a "moss-head," I would at once give up all 

 hopes of success, and hunt for a flock of the larger species, 

 the red-legs. As soon as "moss-heads" were disturbed, they 



%mt[£ |fo# dtfd 0utj. 



♦ 



A DEER HUNT IN OHIO. 



"MANY YEARS AGO." 

 BY D. W. CROSS. 



AWAY back in December, 1836, I had been entertaining 

 my friend O. H. P. with some of my recent experi- 

 ences in deer and bear hunting in that then great stretch of 

 unbroken wilderness known as "John Brown's Tract," in 

 Northern New York. 



That night snow fell about six inches deep, and early the 

 next morning my friend came to me with those bright gray 

 eyes of his sparkling with excitement and said : "Uncle Peter 

 (an old hunter) has just told me there are plenty of deer in 

 Avon, especially in' and near the great Tamarack Swamp, 

 and that this snow is just right for tracking and still-hunting 

 them." 



As both of us were "spilin" for a deer hunt, it was soon 

 settled between us that we would lose no time in getting 

 ready to start the next morning by the early stage going west, 

 for Avon Center, Loraine County, Ohio, about twenty-six 

 miles from Cleveland. He met my only objection — that I 

 had not been long enough in Ohio to own a rifle — by inform- 

 ing me that he had suspected as much, and on his way had 

 borrowed of John R. St. John his famous old "Yeager" rifle, 

 carrying a ball rated twenty-seven to the pound, made fa- 

 mous in Christmas and New Year's turkey shoots by the un- 

 erring marksmanship of its skillful owner. This was enough; 

 at 6 o'clock the next morning we boarded Capt. SartweU's 

 stage from the steps of the "Old Frankliu House," armed and 

 eqiiipped for a deer hunt near Avon's big swamp. 



Arriving at Avon Center about 1 o'clock, P. M., we "put 

 up" at the only tavern in the township, known as "Fuller's 

 Tavern." We were lucky; Fuller knew how to keep a hotel; 

 he made it very pleasant for us, and there was that kind of 

 warmth in his house and his heart that made us always want 

 to "come again " 



We spent the balance of the afternoon in pumping the oldest 

 inhabitant, learning the lay of the land, the way the roads 

 ran, and the distance from one road to another, until a gen- 

 eral posting up process had been achieved and an early bed 

 time had arrived. 



In the morning we had further proof of Fuller's fitness to 

 keep a hotel, on being called by him to an appetizing break- 

 fast at five o'clock/ At daylight we turned into the north 

 woods, about two miles east of the tavern, near the centre of 

 the great swamp, having arranged that P. shoidd strike the 

 swamp about a mile or so away and skirt along its margin 

 easterly until he should strike the track of deer leaving 

 the swamp to feed in the morning in the more open 

 woods, and I should do the same turning westerly. After 

 reaching the margin of the swamp I moved slowly along on 

 my course with the utmost vigilance and caution, looking 

 over eveiy foot of ground before making a step, peering into 

 every thicket, every old treetop, every cover that could shel- 

 ter the form of a deer, until about a mile and a half had been 

 traversed, when suddenly, off to my left and about twenty 

 rods away, a large, five-pronged buck arose from his bed amid 

 the thick branches and dry leaves of a fallen beech tree. 

 Luckily, I saw him first, and stood as motionless as the big 

 magnolia by my side. He may have heard me, or he may 

 have arisen for his morning repast, as it was but a few min- 

 utes after sunrise; but not having seen me, after looking 

 intently in every direction — as a deer only can look — ho 

 appeared satisfied, and began to feed on the shrubbery near at 

 hand. 



Then was my opportunity. I sank down slowly on my left 

 knee, leveled "Old Yeager' 5 at his heart and fired! Through 

 the puff of smoke a lively commotion was visible. Five deer 

 sprang up out of that treetop, and six bounded away with 

 their white flags hoisted — all but one. This one was a buck, 

 and lagging behind the rest a little off then trail, heading 

 toward the swamp, while the other five headed easterly and 

 toward the clearings along the stage road. Another ball was 

 quickly rammed to its place over the powder, and 1 struck 

 off on a lively Indian lope in a diagonal line toward theswamp 

 to head him off, and as we nearcd each other I was just on the 

 point of putting for him on the run when, to my great delight, 

 he tumbled heels-over-head, a dead deer ! I ran up and found 

 him stone dead. The ball had evidently struck his 

 heart. He was a noble, fat fellow, and his' five-pronged, 

 sharp and shapely horns were beautiful to see; and right 

 here comes Ln a paradox in the life of the average sportsmau; 

 he pursues his game persistently and almost savagely, like an 

 Indian or a. greyhound; but when that agile form, with those 



