484 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LJtjly 17, 1884. 



"abundant." The same is also remarked of the common 

 "peeps" (A. acmipahnata and rninvMUu). The expression 

 applies well to the last two species, but to the first, certainly 

 not so well 



The sanderling (G arenaria) or "white beach bird," is 

 common, though not as abundant as perhaps it was when 

 Mr. Maynard first took notes. Twelve years ago I saw two 

 baskets, each holding half a bushel, and rounded full of 

 these birds that Lewis Stone, of Ispwich, shot between tides, 

 down Plum Island Eiver. I have never seen them like that 

 since, though 'numbers of them doubtless are shot every 

 season. 



As to he willet {Symplicmia semipalmata) or "humility," as 

 we call it, scarce a season goes by without some being shot, 

 1 much doubt its being a "summer resident," 



The winter yellow-leg (G. melanoleuca) is given as "arriv- 

 ing from the north nearly in August. " I have shot them in 

 July and all along until into November. Their appearance 

 in the spring, about May, is, of course, understood. 



The summer yellow-leg (67. flavipes) is mentioned as "sum- 

 mer resident, common during the migrations." I can name 

 a dozen sportsmen -who will corroborate me when 1 say this 

 is a quite rare species to meet in the spring on our Eastern 

 Massachusetts coast. By the middle of July, perhaps a 

 little earlier, it may be expected confidently unless the off- 

 year throws all plans out. 



The solitary sandpiper {11. aoMtarius) is nowadays and 

 near the coast a rather rare specimen at all seasons. 



Of course, the spotted or "teeter" is one of the commonest, 

 yet one almost always finds them scattered. 



The upland plover, so called, (T. bartramius) is given as 

 "not an uncommon summer resident." I have seen stray 

 ones shot in the spring, but 1 think it is uncommon until 

 the latter part of July and into August and the beginning of 

 September, when some may be found almost any day, though 

 to get them involves patient and persistent efforts, as they 

 are pretty shy. They seem much less alarmed at the report 

 of a gun than at sight of a man. As a rule, they will not 

 decoy, still I have thus secured them. 



The buff -breasted sandpiper {Tryngites rufmcem) is a rare 

 bird, as stated, but those I have seen have not been "found 

 on the sandy shores," but the hills of Ipswich neck. Gun- 

 ners generally called it the "hill grass bird," and to me it 

 seems a fitting title. 



The marbled godwit {L. fedoa) I never have seen alive, I 

 mean so as to know it positively, but its capture as recorded 

 by "Mr. H. B. Farley, at Ipswich, on July 17, 1869," is not 

 at all unlikely. 



TheHudsonian godwit (L, hudsonica), or "blacktail," is rare 

 at all times, still I have shot it, and I think scattering birds 

 are picked up about every season. I never knew of one in 

 the "spring." 



Of the curlews, the "old sicklebill," or hen curlew (A 7 , longi- 

 roslris) is, and has been for years, the rarest. The jack cur- 

 lew {N. Imcteonicas) is much more common, though scatter- 

 ing birds only are shot, as they seem to be bound right along 

 when passing south in July. 



The "dough bird" (A T . borealis), though the latest is generally 

 the most common. Sometimes in August and in September 

 they are found quite numerous, and often in company with 

 the so-called "blackbreasters" (0. nrgimcus) on the hills of 

 Ipswich and Essex, and again on Cape Cod. 



Of the phalaropes, or, as sometimes named, the "web-footed 

 peeps," I have taken two species, {P. fulicarius) while on a 

 fishing vessel well out in Massachusetts Bay, and (L. hyper- 

 boreui) at Swampscott over decoys. I have known of a few 

 others, but they do as stated, "keep off the coast." 



Various questions might profitably be discussed while 

 criticising this ''List," They are about all within the limits 

 of that very important matter to ornithologists and sports- 

 men too, the geographical distribution of species, a subject 

 upon which much light may be thrown by observations and 

 data yearly — yes, often daily — collected, and jotted down 

 with but very Utile trouble. These data placed in the hands 

 of some competent person, like Dr. Coues or Mr. Ridgway, 

 of the Smithsonian, and in a little while we should be able 

 to see appearing in our Fokest and Stream some of the 

 results, and 1 am confident we should learn facts full of 

 interest and now all too obscure. Before closing these 

 remarks let me say it is indeed surprising to see how little 

 real knowledge is possessed by the average sportsman, about 

 even the commonest species. It seems to be enough for him 

 to know a goose from a duck, a snipe from a woodcock, and 

 a few other equally plain things. If my brother Nimrods 

 would try and book up a little I am quite sure it would not 

 detract from their sport (it never has from mine); and then 

 we should, by interesting this large and important class, save 

 valuable birds which now go to the larder and oblivion. 

 Raymond Lee Newcomb. 



HOW YOUNG BIRDS ARE FED. 



Editor Forest and Strewn: 



It may be interesting to many of your readers to know 

 more about the family cares of our birds. In order to find 

 out how often young martins are fed by their parents, and at 

 what times the' principal meals are served, I watched my six- 

 teen feeding pairs during an entire day, June 24, from" 4 A. 

 M. till 8 P. M., marking every visit of the feeding parents, 

 males and females, separately. 



The martins began hunting at 4:15, but no food was 

 brought until 4:30. 



The accompanying table shows that our young martins had 

 to put up with a light breakfast, but the visits became more 

 and more frequent as the sun and mercury climbed up, and 

 reached their liveliest time between 9 and 10 A. M., *', e., 

 lunch time. After that a lull was noticeable, broken only by 

 an approaching storm, which brought new life into the feed- 

 ing business, but for a short time only, and to be reduced to 

 a minimum during the light rain, 1 :25 to 2 :45. Even after the 

 rain had ceased little feeding was done until the sky begun 

 to clear up and the sun reappeared. 



From that moment the number of visits swelled with great 

 rapidity, and kept me hard at work for over an hour. It was 

 the most substantial meal of the day, and the young martins 

 may well call it their dinner. 



After this the parents took a w r ell-deserved rest, but when 

 the sun neared the horizon they were all off again, preparing 

 for supper, which was not so hearty as one might expect. 



As a rule, the older the birds in 'the nest, the oftener they 

 are fed, and from the size of the insect which the parents 

 bring, the age of the young may be judged. 



The youngest birds are fed at longer intervals with crushed 

 insects, mostly small beetles, from the craw. About a fort- 

 night old, they are fed from the bdl with soft insects of the 

 size of large flies; but insects with stings, such as bees and 

 wasps, are never brought. When four weeks old, large 



Weather Conditions. 



75°, calm, clear 



74° 



77° to 84', wind light, B..III. 



84° to85° 



Bo" to f 6° 



86= to87 3 



87° to 89°, wind increasing S. . 



92°, storm approaching, wind shifting to W.. 



83°, rain commencing at 1 :2S 



78°, rain ceases at 2:45 



80°, clearing, calm 



79-. 



79° to 82°. windS.W... 

 82 s to 81°, calm, clear. , 

 81" to 80°. calm, clear. 



4 to 5 A. M. 



5 to 6 " 



6 to 7 " 



7 to 8 " 



8 to !) " 



9 to 10 " 



10 to 11 " 



11 to 12 " 



12 to IP. M. 

 lto 8 " 



2 to 3 " 



3 to 4 " 



4 to 5 " 

 5to 6 " 

 6to 7 " 

 7to 8 " 



Number of visits by male 



Number of visits by female. . 



128 127 92 

 147 127 157 



No. No, No. No. 

 24 25 23 ' 1(3 



No. No 

 1 



9S 61 . 73 

 105 1 181 112 



63 58 



re 



85 

 118 



in 



202 

 232 

 276 

 255 

 217 



183 



119 



459 

 224 

 166 

 104 

 177 



1454 

 1S23 



dragonfliee, grasshoppers and butterflies make the principal 

 food. 



The young martiDS do not leave their box until they are 

 six weeks old. 



The table itself needs no further explanation, except that 

 the occupants of the sixteen boxes were of all ages, from one 

 week old in No. 6 to five weeks old in Nos. 12, 16, 17. 



The number of hungry mouths has something to do with 

 the frequency of the visits. No. 7, which heads the list, has 

 four young ones (four weeks old), while most of the other 

 boxes have three. No. 16 has only two. O. Widmann. 



St, Louis, Mo. 



THE ARIZONA QUAIL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of June 12, I find an inquiry from Mr. J. B. 

 Battelle, of Toledo, Ohio, relative to the Arizona quail I 

 promised to send him and others. In reply I offer this ex- 

 planation of the delay. My first proposition was to send the 

 quail in September or October, when they become plentiful 

 in our market here, but in reply to the various letters ad- 

 dressed me on the subject, and the expressed desire to have 

 the quail with as little delay as possible, I concluded to get 

 them elsewhere and forward them to their admirers in time 

 for them to test their breeding and domesticating qualities 

 during the present season, with that end in view I sent to 

 a friend at Fort Yuma for two dozen, to be expressed to me 

 here. This was in March. He replied that on account of 

 the lateness of the season the birds would be difficult to pro- 

 cure, inasmuch as the} r were mating and consequently were 

 shy of approach. He, however, sent me one dozen, which, 

 in addition to two pair I already had, made up two-thirds of 

 the number I purposed to send away. Unfortunately 

 my. cage room was somewhat limited, so I put the 

 dozen strangers into the cage with one of my domes- 

 ticated pairs. Business engagements called me away for 

 a, week, and on my return I found that the pugnacious little 

 rascals had been systematically killing one another off. I 

 took eight birds out of the cage at one time, some dead and 

 others so badly pecked up that I killed them for humanity's 

 sake. That left me so few, and as others were not procur 

 able, I decided upon letting the matter rest until the fall 

 birds came in. Recently, again they have been fighting, and 

 one of the finest of the males has been so badly used up that 

 I do not think he will live. I have one pair in a cage alone, 

 and from them I expect a brood of little ones. The others 

 are laying eggs all over their coop floor. Many of them have 

 been broken. I have, however, just taken out ten good 

 ones. The bulk of the remaining birds are females, conse- 

 quently it would now be impossible for me to pair them for 

 distribution. I can send two dozen in a cage by express for 

 almost the price that half the number would cost, the weight 

 of the cage being practically the same, and this on cost is 

 quite a saving item. However, let those to whom I prom- 

 ised the birds do as Mr. Battelle has done, deposit the cost of 

 the expressage with the Forest and Stream and I will see 

 that in due time they get their birds. It will be necessary 

 for me to prepay the charges here, consequently by the de- 

 posit being made it will secure me against possible loss. I 

 had a Setter for eggs, but as I have mislaid the address I can- 

 not forward them to the applicant. I trust that this expla- 

 nation of the delay will prove satisfactory, for all may rest 

 assured that they will get their birds. Adios. 



Tucson, Arizona. 



[As suggested by "Adios," it may be well for those who 

 are anxious to have quail of the first shipment to send the 

 money to prepay express and boxing charges to us here. 

 One gentleman has already sent us $4 for this purpose, 

 which will be ample if enough birds are sent and they 

 reach here in good condition. The expenses will be equally 

 divided among those receiving birds, and if any balance re- 

 mains over it will be returned to the sender.] 



THE OAK WOODS SPARROW. 



{Peucaa mstimlh iUinocnsis), 



BY G. H. RAGSDADE. 



I DEVOTED June 2 and 3 especially to a search for the 

 oak woods sparrow, and traveled some fifteen miles 

 through timber that seemed to invite them, but not a Vfiuetm 

 was seen or heard. 



Od June 24, I started on what might prove another wild 

 goose chase, after Yireo atrunpillus. Having ridden on horse- 

 back nine miles through intense heat, I turned from the 

 prairie and rode into a woodland to rest and listen for Peu- 

 ema. I had not penetrated the wood a quarter of a mile be- 

 fore my ear caught an indistinct sound, which caused me to 

 suddenly draw rein; nothing more was heard for some min- 

 utes, but I saw a brown sparrow light in a bush, at which I 

 fired and missed. Tying my pony," 1 followed the course in- 

 dicated by the bird's flight till I came upon a flock of spar- 

 rows, and fired at a supposed oak woods and killed a field 

 sparrow (Spizdla pusilla). I began to think 1 bad only heard 

 this bird, but as the locality looked so favorable, I concluded 

 to put in an hour especially to determine whether the birds 

 were present. 



Stretching myself on the green sward in the shade of a 

 post oak, I dreamed away about half the allotted time, when 

 the faint, ventriloquial note of Peucim wstivaUs Ulinoenm was 

 distinctly heard. I was wide awake now, and used my 

 utmost strategy to approach the music box, but at the end 

 of half an hour the note had entirely ceased and I had not 



even seen a feather. Calling Prince, I put him into the 

 grass and tried to tramp up the bird, but it was no go. It 

 was now high noon, and but few birds of any kind were to 

 be heard. The field sparrows occasionally rested from feed- 

 ing their young and uttered a trill, and some tits (L. bicolor) 

 ware scrambling after their dinner in an elm, but with this 

 exception it might have been presumed that no other birds 

 were near. As I had not seen one of the looked for birds 

 since 1879, I was loth to give up the chase and sat down and 

 waited. At length I gave up the hope of getting a specimen 

 on this trip, and I returned to my horse and was in the act 

 of mounting, when I heard a song quite close at hand. On 

 advancing directly toward the sound I caught sight of the 

 bird on a dead branch of an oak tree and shot it without its 

 having heard or seen me, as I was screened by another tree. 

 It was a nice specimen and not badly mutilated, but showed 

 the worn dress. It was now 2 o'clock, but I felt weD paid 

 as I mounted and started in a hurry after blackcaps, but 

 before I had proceeded a hundred paces I heard another 

 song and gave chase. As I approached the bird would take 

 short flights directly from me, and thereby be screened by the 

 tree in which it was singing ; finally I saw it fly and marked 

 the limb it perched upon and secured it. I now "went on 

 my way rejoicing." 

 Gainesville, Texas. 



FRIENDLY SQUIRRELS. 



WHILE fishing in Spencer Bay, Moosehead Lake, Me.. 

 one day this summer, a red squirrel was seen swim- 

 ming on the water. It soon discovered me and, swimming 

 to the side of the canoe, made two ineffectual attempts to 

 jump aboard, but fell back into the water. My guide then 

 held out his paddle, on to which the animal jumped and 

 gained a safe foothold on the boat. He ran about the canoe, 

 climbed over my shoulder, and finally perched himself at the 

 bow, and with blinking eyes attempted to understand his 

 traveling companions. Having at last satisfied his curiosity, 

 he again passed over my shoulder to the stern of the boat 

 and jumped off into the water, raised his bushy tail for a 

 sail and swam ashore. A similar incident happened to 

 another canoe a few days previous, the variety of which was 

 increased by a party in a second canoe appearing and offer- 

 ing the squirrel a Kineo House doughnut, which, strange to 

 relate, the animal devoured with avidity. On reaching the 

 steamer which was awaiting the party off their fishing 

 grounds, the squirrel jumped aboard, ran forward and 

 climbed the flagstaff at the bows aud remained seated on the 

 golden ball top until it reached Kineo dock, when it disap- 

 peared in the woods. T. S. Steele. 



Hoop Snake Idiocy.— The editorial hoop snake is rolling 

 on. It was last seen in Virginia: "A green snake was found 

 by a couple of gentlemen in the Roanoke Valley writhing 

 and twisting at the foot of a beech tree. It proved 10 be a 

 horned hoop snake, which in rolling down hill after some 

 game, had struck the tree with such force as to drive the 

 horn an inch into the solid wood." 



WHAT THEY DID. 

 HANK WILDS. 



Hank Wilds, of Chico, and a man by the name of Nelson, have 

 been on an extended bear hunt near Berdan's. While walking along 

 the mining ditch of Hoiben Brothers they discovered a bruin upon 

 the hillside, and Wildes took a shot at him. This infuriated the bear 

 and he started in the direction of the men. Nelson dropped his gun 

 and told his partner not to .shoot again as the bear was coming that 

 way, and skipped out across the ditch and down a twenty-seven-foot 

 embankment. Nelson did uot stop until he reached Holhen's camp, 

 where he informed the boys of what had happened. They went 'to 

 the relief of Wildes, and as they reached the place where Nelson left 

 his partner they discovered the latter gentleman about a quarter of a 

 mile distant in the top of a "sturdy oak." They called to him to 

 comedown, when he made a statement that the hear weighed 1, 500 

 pounds, and that it had chased him to the tree in which he was found. 

 The bear was found only a short distance below, but it was only a 

 cub.— Chico (Cat.) Chronicle. 



JOHN GRAY. 



Mr. John Gray has had a steel strap set for bears in the gorge be- 

 low the falls. Last week upon reaching the trap he was confronted 

 by an immense black bear that had been caught by the foot, and was 

 making a fearful racket among the rhododendrons in trying to libe- 

 rate itself. Mr. Gray was armed with a small shotgun loaded with 

 bird shot. With this he banged away at the hear, which, at the re- 

 port of the gun, broke away with the trap, chain and all. and tum- 

 bled over a cliff fully fifty feet high, falling into the top of a spruce 

 pine, from which Mr. Gray found it impossible to dislodge it, and he 

 was forced to go ten miles down the river, where he collected a crowd 

 of men, and upon returning the bear was found still in the tree, hav- 

 ing been unable to descend "with the steel trap. The bear was killed, 

 and was found to weigh 400 pounds— one of the largest black bears 

 that lias been killed in this county for years.— Morgan ton i.V. C.) 

 Mountaineer. 



STEVE MEEK. 



We were visited last week by Steve Meek, the pioneer hunter and 

 trapper of California. Mr. Meek first set foot on California soil in 

 1832, He remained here but a short time and then hunted and 

 trapped in the Rocky Mountains, returning to California in 1836, 

 where he piloted the first emigrant train through to Oregon. He is 

 now 79 years of age, and is afflicted with rheumatism, but the luster 

 of the old man's eyes show considerable vitality yet. His mind is as 

 strong as ever, and he remembers clearly events occurring 60 year,; 

 ago. Like most California pioneers, he is not overburdened with 

 this world's goods, and should receive a pension as a means of sus- 

 tenance. He resides in Fort Jones with his son.— Beading \Cal.) 

 Democrat, June 25. » 



BILL ADAIR. 



Mr. Bill Adair killed another deer on Monday. Bill is beating all of 

 the bovs. but they say he deserves no credit for the last one as the 

 deer was fooiish enough to come up in sight of the depot and stand 

 there until Adair came up and killed it— Goldman [ArJt. 



Farmer. 



