326 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 25", 1883. 



liitrntnl W$t ar U* 



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ARE THEIR DEEDS GOOD OR EVIL? 



CesCinnatt, 0., May 5, 1883. 

 Editor Yorest and S/mnn : 



Hotes have recently appeared in the papers, alluding to 

 the destruction of game by hawks and owls, and accounts 

 Lave been given of the work done by associations formed 

 for the destruction of these birds. It appears to be taken 

 tru- cianted that they do great injury to our game without 

 rendering any service in return. The following, taken from 

 the Cincinnati TJaili/ Uatetle, bears on this point: 



"Mr. John W. Shorten then read a paper on 'The Rela- 

 tion of Our Rapacious Birds to Agriculture.' lie referred 

 to the fact that the County Commissioners had offered a 

 reward for 'hawks' scalps,' and went on to state that all or- 

 nithologists were agreed that food of hawks and owls con- 

 sisted more of small animals than small birds, and that, in- 

 stead of being a nuisance and so destructive, they were in- 

 valuable in keeping down the numbers of field mice, moles, 

 rats and other small animals of the fields. Letters were 

 read from Dr. Elliott Cones and Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of 

 Washington, in which they stated positively their conviction 

 that birds of prey, commonly considered injurious, were in 

 fact very beneficial to agriculture. In a discussion which 

 followed, Dr. Langdon, ' Mr. Mickleborough, Dr. Thrasher 

 and Mr. ffm. H, Fisher stated facts corroborative of Mr. 

 Shorten's paper, and it seems to have been the exception 

 rather than the rule to find the remains of birds in the 

 stomachs of hawks and owls. The paper was referred to 

 the Publishing Committee." 



Perhaps, after all, hawks and owls are not such deadly 

 enemies to quail and other birds as has been supposed. It 

 would be an easy matter to examine the contents of the 

 stomachs of every one killed, and at the close of the year 

 look over the record made, and a number of such reports 

 published in your paper would throw much light on the 

 subject. G. W. D. 



[Our correspondent's suggestion is an admirable one, and 

 we should very much like to see it carried out. The value 

 to science of such a record, if properly kept, would be very 

 great. Who will undertake to keep one for a year?] 



THE MUSIC OF NATURE. 

 Our Wood Thrushes. 



BY B. H0BSF0BD, SPRINGFIELD, MA88. 



E desire not the prostration of science, but would 

 strip from it the robe of omniscience, improperly as- 

 sumed, and 



That cold, repulsive skeleton anew would dress. 

 Then warm it into life and loveliness. 



There is not a branch of natural history in which "proba- 

 bilities" take so wide a range as in ornithology, nor one in 

 which the term works such confusion and uncertainty. One 

 man bolts for Florida in the winter, and we are treated to a 

 volume on the birds of that region, out of the breeding sea- 

 son, when food, habits and color are not true for the season 

 of incubation; another describes northern birds in their 

 southern migrations, and travels wide of addition to human 

 knowledge for the same reason. 



It is certainly desirable with this opening season of birds 

 to confirm what is iu this paper assumed, if correct, or to 

 confute the same, if erroneous; in any case, to ..obtain are- 

 port from the range of Northern States of any facts which 

 may be gathered by readers of Pobest and Stream in 

 regard to "these birds. As the matter now stands, there are 

 not three birds in existence on which ornithologists have 

 spent so much time and labor without making one step in 

 advance. Each writer has settled the thrush question for- 

 ever (in his own mind), while the controversy unfortunately 

 breaks out again the next day as "new varieties" are discov- 

 ered. Taking advantage of. a lull in the discussions, I ask 

 pardon for offering an "opinion," founded on more than half 

 a century of their intimate acquaintance. To do this un- 

 dcrsland'ingly I must "clean the board" (a measure justice 

 demands), discarding the long list of synonyms, with the 

 descriptions, which are simply a catalogue of "observations," 

 of which the student will only understand less as he reads 

 more. 



1 have in my possession three wood thrushes whose life 

 and song closed at the same instant, but I am not able to 

 assign the true original name to either, nor have I found a 

 man who Gould with any authority do so; the reason is that, 

 when together, the description of one applies equally well to 

 the others. The acknowledged variation in length and 

 alar extent is greater in each thau they vary from each 

 other. The arrow points on one may be more clearly 

 defined, on a lighter ground, the rump and tail more rufous 

 in color but substantially the same, while the, shade of olive 

 from light to dark affords a wide range, in which young am- 

 bition has wrought woudei'N, as two late "discoveries" siiow. 

 Painful research, some years since, made out a few grayish 

 feathers on the cheek of one, that the others did not seem to 

 possess; it raised a long controversy of words, in which each 

 party was convinced, each victorious; while the real ques- 

 tion "at issue, the existence of such a bird, or whether each 

 held the same or a different bird, was left darker than 

 before. 



However closely allied these birds may be, twin brothers, 

 seemingly, we yet believe there is marked diversity of habit, 

 which must he considered under the designations of No. 1, 

 No. 2, No. 3. 



No. 1, palest in marking, and hence comes Tawuey 

 Thrush, builds her nest on a stump or tussock twelve to eigh- 

 teen inches from the ground; is found mostly in low, damp 

 covers, among the willows near the water; on being dis- 

 turbed flies a few feet, but never alights on the top of a tree 

 or bush. 



No. 2 is largest of the three, lighter breast, the arrow 

 points sharply defined; builds her nest eight to twelve feet 

 from the ground; is found on high terraces above the river, 

 on the border Of ravines; like No. 1, strictly arboreal in 

 habits, but never alighting on the top of tree or busk. I 

 never saw one north of Massachusetts. 



N"0. B has a Wider range and of course a greater variation 

 in its markings than the others. Peculiar to the white pine 

 belt, which crosses the continent, the bird is found over its 

 entire distance, and is known at his best only where that 

 tree shows greatest perfection. The nest is built on the 

 ground scooped from the surface, in open woods skirting 

 in pastures and hillsides, often under an overhanging 

 stone or bush several rods from cover. And yet, after all, 



these birds hop alike, fly alike, feed alike, and are so nearly 

 of the same shade of color that only an expert detects a 

 difference except in baud. 



The main question therefore remains. Is there not some 

 mark or token by which these birds can be distinguished by 

 common observation from each other, a consummation most 

 desirable, and which ornithology, with Gunter scale and 

 microscope, has failed to reach. 



With strong conviction that there is such a distinguishing 

 character, let us examine their powers of song, not by com- 

 parison with the notes of other birds, for as songsters they 

 stand alone, but placing them side by side and judging of 

 them on their personal merits only. 



SONG of no. 1. 



This bird you see runs up, then down the scale and repeat, 

 then the same, making the upper turn a semitone lower, It 

 is a perfect quiver of clear, distinct notes, and most likely 

 from habits, and surroundings of the species takes on during 

 a dark rainy sunset a sad and melancholy character. 



sarfj i f/f Pipfj i jrf i f cj^ 



SONG OP NO. 2. 



No. 2 sings three loud and clear notes, and at intervals 

 repeats, changing from Major to Minor, then returning to 

 Major, then breaking off to a shur-r-r or gutteral, with an 

 occasional wut-wui, wut-itut in the intervals. This bird 

 never sings at rest, but three notes, then hopping along the 

 branch; three notes, then flitting to a branch more distant; 

 three notes, then perhaps to another tree ; repeats again and 

 again the simple melody -which can never be mistaken for 

 another bird. The Minor and guttural bars may vary 

 slightly, but the Major bars do not. Under any other con- 

 ditions this repetition would become wearisome, but such is 

 the purity and sweetness of tone of this bird's song that one 

 may listen to it for hours and regret its close, and welcome 

 spring to hear it again. 



Some years since, a pair of these birds took up their abode 

 in our cemetery, which is on the highest river terrace. I 

 saw them during two successive seasons of incubation. The 

 male sang finely. The pair raised their young undisturbed, 

 but the inarch of improvement soon cleared up the under- 

 brush, and the male preceding the female in the spring, 

 found the covers all gone and at once commenced to search 

 for another home. He lingered a day on Chestnut street, an 

 intermediate terrace, and then came to Court square, a lower 

 terrace some tw r enty-five feet above the river. Here, among 

 the branches of the" great elms, he found cover and a deep 

 shade, while the walks exposed every worm or insect to ap- 

 propriation as they passed from one green plot to another. 

 Here our bird took up his abode and began to pour out his 

 music, awaiting his mate. But alas! he was off the track of 

 migration, and far beyond hearing distance of the cemetery. 

 He continued to sing and wait, and wait and sing, until at- 

 tention was drawn to him and questions multiplied. What 

 bird is this? where did he come from? where is the nest, and 

 mate? I replied: He has neither mate nor nest— will have 

 none. We are on low lands near the river, where the bird 

 seldom goes, and too far from the cemetery for his mate, if 

 she lives, to catch the sound of his voice. And so the sum- 

 mer passed away. He sang a whole month beyond the 

 usual time, simply because he had nothing else to do. He 

 grew familiar with human society, as general interest in his 

 welfare increased; just as the whole realm of warm-blooded 

 organic life does, where the calls of nature are supplied and 

 no injury inflicted. Early in September he disappeared, and 

 the question was often repeated, Will he come back again ? 

 My reply was, He will come. The wants of nature are bet- 

 ter supplied here than elsewhere, and his reasoning faculties 

 will hardly reach the cause of his celibacy. 



May came round again; and on a lovely morning, the 8th, 

 at sunrise, his song brought a dozen friends to Court square, 

 who atonce tendered the "hospitalities of the city, "police pro- 

 tection and a presumably general welcome. Taking all for 

 granted, our bird assumed all the dignity of his position, he 

 would hop along the walk like the robin, or sing from a 

 branch a few feet from passers by, and thus a second sum- 

 mer of his sojourn passed away. But will he return a third 

 year? Conjecture ran high, "probabilities" higher. Theques- 

 iion was often discussed by friends and fanciers during the 

 winter. As May approached, interest increased, my own 

 faith in his return, if living, remained unshaken, so that 

 doubly welcome his first note, brought me to my feet on the 

 10th. He was now a semi-domestic bird, assuming atonce 

 all the fearless habits of former years. But, alas that the 

 little story must be here rudely broken. The glorious Fourth 

 came in "with usual demonstration; an amateur artillery 

 company planted their cannon on the square, and while the 

 bird was in the middle of his song, just overhead, applied 

 the match. Sure that the bottomless pit had opened, and 

 the final conflagration had commenced, he fled in mortal 

 terror from the place, and never returned. I heard a few 

 faint farewell notes in an adjoining street the following day, 

 but the pleasing story was ended. 



SONG of no. 3. 



This commences with a semibreve note, and runs through 

 all its subdivisions with increasing rapidity, and is lost far 

 beyond derniserniquavers in that metallic tinkle of the highest 

 octave of the piano or music box, and is really inimitable by 

 any other instrument. Taking, first, perhaps, the keynote 

 of G, it sings through on that, then changing to C repeats, 

 then perhaps A, then changing to E, then striking back to B, 

 then G above, then C above that, and then dropping by the 

 same gentle undulations to D below the staff. In all these 

 modulations there is nothing harsh or abrupt ; you cannot 

 tell from one keynote what the next will be ; but such is the 

 purity and sweetness of tone that it matters not, the bird 

 seems to float at will over two octaves of the musical scale, 

 inimitable and unapproachable by any living songster, and 

 alone entitled to the crown Imperiulis. I give it. 



A man who knew whereof he spoke, singled out at sight 

 the su-called Olive Back among twenty m my collection 

 with, "Here is our Western bird of Montana, Idaho, and 

 the plains." Startled with hope I asked, "Can you give me 

 its note?" He whistled precisely the song of Imperiulis. 



Here I reached what I had sought in vain many years, a 

 note of the so-called Olive Back Thrush, and with it the 

 species faded out entirely, following others which had gone 

 before. 



The question might well be asked, Why is this "bird of 

 Paradise" so little known? Simply because its history has 

 not been written in the latitude of its fullest development, 

 and is thus ever at fault. Any attempt to write it south of 

 the north line of Massachusetts will be, as it ever has been, a 

 failure for that reason. I said the bird was peculiar to the 

 White Pine region, and deteriorates in character and song 

 just as that tree does with change of climate. 



On the Connecticut River, midway in Vermont, was my 

 . birthplace. In the past year I obtained there one 

 year's .growth of the white pine, forty-two inches in 

 height. This I consider the central' latitude of the 

 tree in New England, since 100 miles south the qual- 

 ity is inferior, while at the same distance north it is lost in the 

 cooler forests of balsam and spruce. 



Here a gentle breeze moans through the needle foliage of 

 these monarchs of the forest, a blending of all sweet harmo- 

 nics in one, iEolian in its character, so far away and yet so 

 near; it comes we know not whence; it floats above and all 

 about us; it tells of past joys, vanished hopes, evanescence 

 in life, the loved aid lost; while in the midst of 

 all, from the tops of the tallest trees, bursts upon 

 us the song of this bird, blending all emotion iu 

 that wonderful soul-harmony never to be for- 

 gotten. Nearly seventy years ago, when bringing the 

 cows at sunset, I used to linger" by the way, entranced 

 by these scenes, scenes which have gathered strength 

 with years, and only grow brighter as my own sun, sinking 

 in the west, brings nearer spirit realities. ' T do not think the 

 bird sings one week beyond the days of incubation — it seems 

 to burst upon the world of song with overwhelming power 

 and sweetness, remains just long enough to substantiate its 

 supremacy, and is then silent except a timid pint, piut_, in 

 the autumn. Crowding the receding snow-line in the spring, 

 often at the sacrifice of its life, and lingering in the fall till 

 November, it is of all soft-billed birds the earliest and latest 

 in migration. 



It will be seen from these considerations that in the music 

 of our wood thrushes alone we must look for marks of dis- 

 tinction by which common observation can at any time 

 determine which bird is before us. The data are unim- 

 peachable, the record is on the musical staff true to the 

 human scale, and while the tone and qualify in each is won- 

 derfully similar, a tune on the same "pipe, 1 ' each true to his 

 own identity, does not touch a note of the other, and when 

 understood "Old Hundred" or "Coronation" have not more 

 distinctive character. I have here given the song of three 

 birds with my reasons for doubting the existence of another 

 member of the family, and I submit to Dr. Coues, who in 

 ability and opportunity has no rival living, if the history of 

 our wood thrushes does not need this or a revision. Look at 

 twenty -four synonymous designations of Imperiulis . and 

 wonder, if you can" at the confusion, and doubt, if you can, 

 the propriety of "cleaning the board." Proud as I am that 

 we possess exclusively three such birds, prouder that their 

 delicate organization precludes domestication or transfer, 

 I am ashamed of the petty ambition men have to write B 

 book under the sad mistake that what is new to them in first 

 lessons must be new to everybody else. 



Bbeeding of the Carolina Rail in Noktu Carolina. 

 —Horse Cove, N. C, May 7, 'US— Editor Fared and Stream : 

 On Thursday, last week, while plowing for corn, my man 

 called me to come and see a bird — a new one, to him. I at 

 once recognized it as an old friend, a genuine Carolina rail. 

 My wife being quite sick. I shot it for her. The bird was a 

 male and quite fat. Yesterday I shot another, a female, in 

 which, while cleaning, were found quite a number of eggs. 

 This bird was as thin as the other was fat. They were evi- 

 dently mates, and 1 was sorry I had killed them. But what 

 wen:.' 'they doing up here iu the mountains? I am in the ex- 

 treme southwest corner of the State, over 3. out I feet above 

 sea level, and entirely surrounded by mountains. Is it 

 usual for the rail to seek high places for nesting, or may 

 these have been blown in by a storm? I am aware that very 

 little is known of the habits of these birds off the marshes; 

 may not my discovery furnish a missing link ? Pheasants are to 

 be heard drumming 'on all sides. I predict a good season for 

 all feathered trame in this locality this season.— Clifton. 

 [Elevation often takes the place of latitude in the distri- 

 bution of birds, and it is not very surprising to hear of rail 

 breeding even in North Carolina iu the mountains. We 

 think that a little thought would have told Clifton that birds 

 in North Carolina are breeding or ready to breed in the 

 month of May.] 



Fish Poisoning.— Some three weeks since, having pcGft- 

 sion to clean a small piece of brass, of not over an inch 

 square surface, I put it for a few moments into a solution of 

 bichromate of potash, then dipped it into a pail of water to re- 

 move the acid. I then threw out the water and used the 

 pail to bring one or two pails of water for other purposes, 

 and then brought a couple of pails of water for my aquari- 

 um — the next morning my lish were all dead. iSome twenty- 

 years ago a friend of mine bought a quart of acid to experiment 

 with on some iron, but failing in his anticipations he offered 

 me the acid. I told him I had no use for it, 

 *r- p— an ,i considered it a dangerous liquid _ to have 



$Z about, and we concluded to throw it away. 



— We threw it into a little wet place where a little 

 trickling stream emptied into a large trout brook. In a few 

 davs I noticed that all the fish in the brook were dead, and 

 saw quite a number of trout, chubs and eels on the edges of 

 the brook dead. Others noticed it and a physician said it 

 Was Hie acid I hat killed them. One oi her instance : 1 saw a large 

 number of perch, suckers, eels and shiners that lay dead all along 

 a river below where a man had poured some acid which had 

 become useless. Prom what I then saw, taking into consid- 

 eration the quantity, I think a carboy of acid would destroy 

 all the fish in a hundred acre pond, and while it is not prob- 

 able, is it not possible, or might it not be possible that the 

 wreck of some merchantman, loaded with chemicals, has 

 been the cause of the great mortality among the tile fish 

 spoken of in your paper? I would like to read items from 

 the experience" or observations of other parties on this mat- 

 ter.— G. P, W. 



"Mountain, Laice and Cataract."— This is the very at- 

 tractive title of the verv attractive summer book describing 

 the verv attractive resorts on the very attractive Erie Rail- 

 way, and other roads. The book (advertised elsewhere) is a 

 handsome one, and contains a vast fund of information, 



