Feb. 19, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



46 



Two broods are probably reared in a season, but to this I 

 cannot, positively attest. Those nests found late in season 

 are undoubtedly second nests, but the birds may have been 

 influenced in this second effort by a breaking up of the first 

 one, through the evils of amateur egg collecting. The nests 

 built well up from the ground are more often found in late 

 June, and we may attribute the change in position from that 

 usually chosen, to the destruction of the first nest by floods, 

 or some other cause of which we are ignorant. 



We connect, this bird in our thoughts with the edges of 

 fields and thickets, farms and pasture lots. We rarely rind 

 the brown thrush in the city, and in this respect it is unlike 

 others of our favorites, the swallow, robin and oriole. 



We expect to find the thrasher at some distance from 

 farmhouses, at roadsides and along the fenced borders of 

 fields, or in open woods where there are huge brush piles 

 in clearings. We do not often learn of an instance where a 

 nest is occupied in such proximity to a teuemeut as that fre- 

 quently selected by the robin. It is a much more shy and 

 wary bird, ever on the alert, liking the presence of man, but 

 not familiar. It is best pleased when quite the width of a 

 field from a house, where it can build its nest in a low, 

 neglected apple tree, a hawthorn, or on the ground near a 

 fence, often quite concealed beneath a log. 



Here, mounting to the top of the tallest tree near its nest, 

 it pours forth ecstatic mclodj', executing the most difficult 

 strains with the same ease that it delivers the simplest notes. 

 All noises are attempted; the schoolboy's whistle, the bark 

 of a dog, or the bleating of a lamb are equally well exe- 

 cuted and issue from its throat in a continuous, harmonious 

 strain, frequently of an hour's duration. Occasionally a 

 note is heard from this bird rarely heard by ears of our pop- 

 ulace, the thrasher having learned it in other sections of the 

 country. 



I remember distinctly hearing one often repeating in its 

 madcap song some notes new to my ear, which could not be 

 ascribed to any Michigan bird of my acquaintance. After 

 patiently waiting for some time in the glaring sun of a 

 bright June day, 1 heard the notes so plainly that I was 

 thoroughly convinced they were an imitation of the song of 

 a southern bird — the "chuck-will's widow," so called, a 

 species allied to our whippoorwill, and named— as in our 

 familiar northern representative of the family — from the 

 words so plainly uttered. This thrush learned, then, the 

 notes of the chuck-will's widow at least five hundred, and 

 probably quite a thousand miles from Michigan, and yet re- 

 produced them so distinctly that one could easily distinguish 

 them, and from mere descriptions in books at once tell the 

 name of the bird imitated. What wonderful mimicry; what 

 a contrast to the best attempts of ventriloquists and imita- 

 tators, traveling through the country to reproduce before 

 audiences a few mumbled sounds or attempted imitations of 

 the sounds and notes uttered by birds and mammals. 



While singing in the top of the tree the thrasher will, 

 without warning and almost at the time of the utterance of 

 its notes, often" drop from its lofty perch, and with a few 

 flirts of its long tail, suddenly enter a th icket, or alight on and 

 run along the fence rails. If one passes by he may be seen 

 coyly eyeing the stroller. Should the collector be too in- 

 trusive the parents become greatly alarmed, and, though 

 keeping well out of the way — even if the nest is disturbed- 

 show great uneasiness, and at such a time their lemon- 

 colored eyes look actually fierce. The characteristic notes 

 tsei, tset, are often vigorously repeated as long as the intruder 

 is near, but as soon as quiet is again restored the male 

 quickly ascends to his former perch by a series of flapping 

 of the wings and awkward plunges, and once more opens 

 song as if the whole world was listening, and not alone his 

 patient setting mate. 



This exquisite singer is one of a few of our birds which 

 siug during the hours of darkness just before dawn. It gets 

 up so early in the morning as to cause one to doubt whether 

 there is any sense in arguing that "the early bird catches 

 the worm," for if all birds were to arise as early, some of 

 them would have to sit up all night in order to secure a 

 chance at breakfast. The thrasher is frequently heard sing- 

 ing at 3 A. M. during the months of May and June, and I 

 have heard the song as early as 2 A. M., quite a half hour 

 before any others of the diurnal birds had loosened their 

 vocal chords and all of an hour before the general morning 

 concert began. The song sounds out of place in the dark 

 and often chilly night, while yet the owl is lurking for his 

 prey and the whippoorwill still quavers forth its monotonous 

 weird notes. At such a time it has often been my lot to 

 travel over rough country in Montcalm county, and while 

 driving over the mountain woodland logging roads, beset 

 with stumps of all sizes and innumerable roots, and sur- 

 rounded by stately dark pines, the distant song of this 

 cheering singer in the dismal night is indeed pleasantly 

 hailed as the horse picks his way through the sand and 

 brush. 



The thrasher appears to be restricted in its northern range 

 within our State, and seems as yet to be confined to the 

 Lower Peninsula. At least it is not recorded in auy of the 

 lists of Upper Peninsula birds. Kneeland fails to embrace it 

 in his list, which gives 147 species. It is, however, un- 

 doubtedly found north of the straits, It is quite common 

 near Petoskey. Throughout the counties in Central and 

 Southern Michigan the brown thrush is an abundant species, 

 and though not found so common in heavily timbered sec- 

 tions, is still known to nearly all of the settlers, and with the 

 farmers it Ls familiar to all from its peculiar coloration. 

 The species usually, if not always, follows civilization, and 

 is undoubtedly little seen or entirely unknown in many quar- 

 ters covered with pine. It is probably from the fact that the 

 northern peninsula is so heavily wooded that it has not yet 

 been recorded from that locality. 



With the conclusion of the thrasher's biography we 



complete the history for the present of the members of this 

 family, and, therefore, a few remarks relative to the merits 

 of the thrushes as promotors of good will not come amiss to 

 the agricultural readers of this papers. It will be our cus- 

 tom to speak of a family collectively after describing each 

 species in it, and to venture a few remarks as to relative 

 merits of the birds in the family. 



The thrush family comprises one of the most important 

 groups of birds, and the nine species known to visit our 

 State are generally considered by the farmers as their princi- 

 pal allies. It is, however, no more than proper to say that 

 the value supposed to be derived from the thrushes is greatly 

 overestimated, and careful dissections, made within the last 

 few years, have fairly demonstrated that much accredited 

 the members of this family is not their due. 



Careful examination of the stomachs of hundreds of speci- 

 mens of the different species of thrushes, made by promin- 

 ent entomologists recently, have quite conclusively proven 

 that myriads of predatory species of beetles are devoured by 



the various thrushes, which would— if they had not been 

 destroyed — have been of great service in destroying other in- 

 sects most prejudicial to the agriculturist's interest. Con- 

 vincing proof may be had by reference to several articles 

 published on this subject. A simple example will be appro- 

 priate as illustrating one peculiarity of the robin known to 

 all. We are all familiar with our robin's preference for earth 

 worms; still we learn that the earth worms are invaluable to 

 the farmer in enriching and partially cultivating the soil. It 

 has been repeatedly noticed by many that a robin never takes 

 from a tree a cherry that contains a worm or grub. They 

 have been frequently watched, with the invariable result 

 that the pilferer is always seen to select the largest and most 

 perfect cherries. It seems strange that a bird considered so 

 beneficial to man. and generally known as almost entirely in- 

 sectivorous, should reject a fat grub for a cherry. In this 

 case the robin is at fault, and though many uphold them in 

 their attacks on our fruit, it is a lamentable fact that to the 

 fruit grower such inroads on the crops on which he depends 

 are often a serious loss to him. If left to themselves, a neigh- 

 borhood of robins will quickly strip a row of trees of their 

 good fruit and leave only infected cherries to propagate the 

 germs of disease in next season's crop. Such a coudition is 

 practically irremediable excepting by recourse to the gun, 

 and even this mode of procedure will often fail unless fol- 

 lowed severely from day to day. The robins are our favor- 

 ites, but the enormity of their crimes is often quite glaring. 



If careful comparison could be given, it could easily be 

 proven that the robin is one of the least useful of our birds, 

 and quite as destructive— in fact, to my view, more so, than 

 that pest of the Nineteenth century— the English sparrow. 

 But who would have the robin exterminated? Not I. 

 It should not be understood that I am one to prefer the 

 pertinacious sparrow to our robin. On the contrary, I do 

 not wish to place on paper one traitorous thought, but in 

 actual justice to the miserable interloper, I feel it no more 

 than proper to say that while it feeds upon the garbage of 

 our streets, the robin is living upon the fat of the land at 

 least four months iu year. The brown thrush is, to my 

 view, the most beneficial member of the family; the wood 

 thrush ranks next, while the catbird is next to the robin in 

 point of destructiveness. I feel safe in saying that at least 

 three families, the swallows, warblers aud woodpeckers, are 

 decidedly superior to the thrushes as destroyers of noxious 

 insect life. After the completion of the biographies of our 

 Michigan birds, we shall attempt partial statistics of the dif- 

 ferent families beneficial to man, relative to the food of 

 various species. For the present such a table would be out 

 of place. 



The following table embraces dimensions of Michigan 

 birds, the measurements being copied direct from my own 

 observations as taken from freshly killed specimens. 



NAVE. 



1* 



* < 



S'2 









Q 

 I* 



K' - 



a a 







CO 



3 ^ 



Be 







■ in 



CD 





"! 



?■> X 



F"J! 



A3 -, 



g-l 







p 01 



Hylocicbla 



























niustelina. 



7.81 



4.30 



13.16 



3.03 



1 30 



1.03 



8.25 



4 r,i 



14 50 



7 44 



4 11 



11 88 



Hylocictila 



























fuscescens. 

 H. ustulata. 

 swainsoni.. 



7.30 



4.04 



12.39 



3.07 







7 5s 



4.13 



13.80 



7.00 



8.99 



11.64 



7.11 



4 09 



11.12 



9 BO 



1.09 



.87 



7.51 



1 35 



13 50 



6 75 



3 69 



9 74 



H.unalascse 



























pallasi 



6.99 



3.67 



10.97 



3.94 



1,23 





7.24 



3.86 



12.00 



a r,r, 



8 50 



10 St 



Merula mi- 



























gratoria. . . . 



9 33 



5 25 



14 33 





1 as 



1 Ofi 



9 80 





1fi on 



7 70 



.1 Rfl 



11.75 



Galeoscoptes 



























carolinensis 



8.48 



3 -,;-! 



11.27 



3.96 







H S5 



3 us 



12 00 



7 9fi 



a m 



10 16 



Harporhyn- 



























chus rufus. 



11.50 



4.00 





5.35 



t.as 



1.25 





























Have it Identified.— Would you kindly inform me 

 whether there is a species of gull on our coast called Larus 

 fuscus, a specimen of a gull a little over half the size of 

 Larus marinus, with the same coloration and general build, 

 was taken by me on Feb. 2, 1882, at Bay Ridge, L. I. A 

 fine male specimen of L. marinus was secured by me on Jan. 

 12, 1882, and mounted with the above mentioned by a 

 Brooklyn taxidermist. I find no mention of L. fuscus in 

 Dr. Coues's work.— A. L. T. (New York, Feb. 1). [Larus 

 fuscus is not a North American species. If you will loan us 

 your specimen, we will have it identified for you and return 

 it-] 



Caged Mocking Bikds. — Columbus, O., Feb. 4.— In 

 Tennessee I have seen young mocking birds confined in a 

 cage within reach of the old birds. The old ones brought 

 them food, and remained near them several days, trying to 

 induce them to follow their parents, but when these efforts 

 failed they were abandoned to their fate; no attempt being 

 made, however, to poison them as related by "Doctor." — O. 

 N. G. 



Another Brown Thrush in New Jersey.— Editor For- 

 est and Stream: On Thursday, Jan. 31, I shot a brown 

 thrush {Turdus rufus). This is the second one I have seen 

 this year.— Chip (Englewood, N. J., Feb. 6). 



Statement of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, 

 of New York, F. S. Winston. President, shows assets of 

 about one hundred and four millions of dollars, invested in 

 the very best securities in the world. During the year 1884 

 the company paid out to its members for death claims, en- 

 dowments, aunuities, dividends and surrendered policies 

 nearly fourteen millions of dollars. The receipts during the 

 year for premiums and interest were over nineteen million 

 dollars. Tne surplus under the State laws exceeds twelve 

 million dollars, and the condition of the compauy is most 

 satisfactory to its policy-holders, and must be equally so to 

 its managers. Mr. Charles H. Raymond, so well known to 

 sportsmen generally, and especially to lovers of fine setters, 

 is the General Agent for New York, and will, we are sure, 

 be glad to furnish any information to applicants. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Spiritual Specifics.— Miud in Medicine. Embracing two sermons, 

 preached in the West Church, Boston, Mass., Oct. 5 and 13, 1884. By 

 Rev. Cyrus A. Bartol, D.D. New York: M. L. Holbrook. 



The Tobacco Remedy.— By Gen. T. L. Cliugrnan, of North Carolina. 

 Pamphlet. O. Judd Co., New York. Price 25 cents. 



The Peanut Plant, its cultivation and uses. By B. W. Jones, of 

 Virginia. Pamphlet. O. Judd Co. Price 50 cents. 



Cruising and Blockading.— By W. H. Winslow. M.D., Ph.D. Pitts- 

 burgh. Pa. : J. R. Weston & Co.. 1885. 



Science Almanac, 1885.— Published by the Science Company, 4 Bond 

 street, New York. 



Prairie Experiences in Handling Cattle and Sheep. By Major W 

 Shepherd, R.E. Illustrated. O. Judd Co. Price $1. 



?*«f* §*g &id 



"I do not know how (be inclosed will strike you, but if it doe8 not 

 strike you right, drop it and open the rest of your mail. It was 

 written to kill time in a recent snow blockade." 



A DEER HUNT IN KENTUCKY. 



HAVING been frequently importuned to give a descrip- 

 tion of a day's hunt in Kentucky through the columns 

 of your paper, which is always a welcome visitor, I comply, 

 hoping thereby to give answer to such inquiries: "Who shot 

 that deer you sent to the club? It was a tame oue, wasn't 

 it?" and many more of a kindred nature. 



About the 1st of December found me on a business tour 

 at Grayson Springs, the famous watering place of that name, 

 in Grayson county, Kentucky. If space permitted I would 

 give you a short sketch of its many attractions, but I must 

 content myself with only a reference to the generosity and 

 hospitality of my host, Captain Van Meter, his brother 

 Charles, and very obliging brother-in-law, Mr. P. Clarkson, 

 the clerk of the establishment, who I believe is the most 

 thorough lover of the chase of any man I ever met. 



In the office, to which I was escorted, there was a bright, 

 cheerful wood fire, in an old-fashioned fire-place, around 

 which were some half dozen Kentuckians, who courteously 

 gave me a chair in the .circle. This was a novelty to me; 

 and when the landlord introduced me, and called one of 

 these men, dressed in homespun, Mr. Boone, it was difficult 

 to separate time and space and scene from the days and 

 scenes of the elder and pioneer Boone of Kentucky. 



During the evening, tbe Captain having learned that I 

 had never seen a deer in a wild state, said if I could spare 

 the time he would be pleaed to give me a little taste of Ken- 

 tucky sporting before I returned to New York. I gladly 

 accepted the offer. 



Thursday, Dec. 16, was set down as the day for a deer 

 hunt. About 7 o'clock in the morning of that day, after 

 having eaten a hearty breakfast, I went into the office and 

 found Mr. Clarkson loading the guns and the Captain giv- 

 ing orders for the dogs and horses. We soon found our- 

 selves on horseback (Clarkson's horse was a mule) en route 

 to tbe field of our day's sport. 



Our party consisted of the Captain, M. P. Clarkson, the 

 writer, and John Haynes, a man who had charge of the 

 hounds, and who usually cared for them. Each was armed 

 with a double-barreled muzzleloading gun, loaded with 

 buckshot. The one the writer carried was a small, short 

 gun, which he thought rather light to kill a deer. It was 

 loaded with twelve buckshot in each barrel. The other guns 

 being larger were loaded with more shot. The dogs form 

 an important part of a Kentucky hunt. 



At tbe sound of the horns — large ox horns hung under the 

 shoulder — the dogs, Old Rules, Munch, Dayton and Modoc, 

 by then whining and low joyous barks showed their eager- 

 ness for the start. Old Rules, Munch and Dayrou "are 

 among the first dogs in the State, and run very closely to- 

 gether, Rules giving the most ''tongue," Munch the best 

 trailer, and Dayton's exciting voice being enough to stir the 

 heart of the most indifferent sportsman. Modoc was youug, 

 long-legged, built on the greyhound order, and without repu- 

 tation, but he showed such speed that the Captain feared, 

 and it actually proved true during the day, that he would 

 lose us some good sport. But Mr. Haynes said he was a 

 good trailer, and as we had come a "right smart" way from 

 the hotel, we concluded to keep Modoc in the pack and 

 take our chances. 



After leaving the hotel we rode along Rock Creek Bottom 

 on what appeared to be a cow-path, in a northerly direction 

 about three miles, passing two or three small clearings where 

 tobacco had been raised the past season, and was now hung 

 in large sheds prepared for that purpose. Here we came to 

 a clearing, and a little in advance of us one or two men 

 seemed to be building a log house. From this point to the 

 northwest the forest had been blown down by the wind, and 

 it was here Mr. Clarkson and the Captain said we should be 

 sure to "jump" a deer. Mr. Clarkson and Haynes were to 

 proceed leisurely along to the west and north for about a 

 mile and a half, the country beine very 1. vel where they 

 were to commence the "drive." The Captain was to go 

 with me directly north until we came to the north side of a 

 cleared tobacco field, which lay on the right-hand side of us, 

 aud hitch our horses by the fence of this field. 



This being done, the Captain showed me a strip of woods 

 about forty rods wide, that intervened between the tobacco 

 field already mentioned and another tobacco field still fur- 

 ther north; away to the east of us, for fifteen miles, the 

 forest extended to Nolin River. The Captain said that 

 should a deer be started or "jumped" to the west of us, it 

 would quite likely go through this narrow pass of forest into 

 the big wood to the east, unless we should be lucky enough 

 to put a stop to its further career . At an old oak, about ten 

 rods north from where the horses stood, the Captain, after 

 looking closely over the ground, said: "I think this a good 

 stand. Keep well behind the tree, and if a deer should pass 

 and neither of us should kill him, be sure to whip off the 

 dogs, for if they pass here and go into, the big woods we 

 shall not be able to make another drive to-day." Upon 

 saying which he walked on north over a little rise of ground 

 some ten or fifteen rods away, just out of my sight, where 

 he chose for himself a stand. This had all taken forty or 

 fifty minutes, perhaps. I had scraped the leaves away from 

 the roots of my tree, so that 1 could uioto noiselessly, when 

 away to the west of us, but rather indistinctly, the voice of 

 the hounds is heard. The wind is blowing from the west 

 and the sound is driven along; now loud, now low, and two 

 or three times our hearts sink as we feel sure that the 

 deer has taken another direction than toward our stands, 

 when all at once the woods within half a mile to the west of 

 us seem just woke up by the exciting voice of Dayton and 

 the loud cries of his companions. 



One to enjoy this music and feel the excitement should 

 stand where the writer did, expecting each moment to see a 

 deer plunge out of the forest, hoping to get a shot as it passsed. 

 But this enjoyment — which from one's impatience amounts 

 to almost torture — is of short duration, for I had hardly 

 drawn up the hammers to my gun when I heard a sharp 

 crack, crack, among the leaves to the west of me, and peek- 

 ing out from my stand I saw a fine buck jumping along at 

 a rapid rate and coming almost toward me, perhaps twenty 

 rods away. His motions were so graceful, and he carried 

 his long horns so skillfully among the thick underbrush, 

 that I forgot for a moment to take my head out of sight; but 

 that moment had been sufficient to show the buck my where- 

 abouts, for he changed his course so that he would pass me 



