288 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 7, 1885. 



breeze, the Colonel in the lead, well up with the hounds, his 

 face like ashes, though a red spot glowed in either cheek, 

 and lifting sLeadily forward his mighty steed. I. hard at 

 his hack, on iny horse Malinehe, his tips tossing the creamy 

 foam, and steadily closing on the black. 



The hounds were running almost mute so furious was the 

 pace, yet was the air vocal with stirring sounds that swelled 

 the morning breeze. With hark and whoop, and wild 

 Comanche yell., from glade and coppice on either hand, and 

 sweeping over the prairie rolls came our wild riders to join 

 the hunt. 



With floating plumes and tossing manes, with singing 

 lariats, whirling quirts, and locks and fringes flying, with 

 ring and rattle of bridle and spur, and clash and thunder of 

 the horses' hoofs, the hunt rushed on 



••As the Bourbon's prmas were wont to dash 

 Siill after the toss of his white imnaclu;" 



or like a pulk of Cossacks in their wild hourra, swarming 

 down through birchen wastes upon the decimated legions of 

 Napoleon. 



How long that race, I never knew, it seemed but a 

 moment — it seemed an hour, when the chase had reached the 

 foot of a low range of hills which crossed our path — the 

 hounds still thirty yards behind, and the stag spruug up the 

 steep front of the Sierras, seemingly as fresh as when he 

 bounded from bis couch. 



A shrill neigh burst from a fallen treetop on the left, a 

 puff of smoke, there came the ring of a rifleshot, and the 

 stout buck bounded into the air and went rolling down the 

 slope. A moment later we had checked our steeds beside 

 the quarry, as Herman emerged from the leaf y covert with his 

 smoking "ya^pr" in his hand, and his long couteav de 

 ofmsss in readiness to perforin the duties of huntsman. 



"In the name of Typhou and all the rtst of the Egyptian 

 saints/' said the Colonel with some emphasis, "Why did 

 you shoot that deer?" "He vas making for a pig slough 

 chust ofer de hill, Colonel, und I van ted mein preakfast." 

 "The deuce take your breakfast, sir," replied the Colonel, 

 "But it was a glorious burst;" and then he quietly dis- 

 mounted from his horse, dropped the bridle-rein, seated him- 

 self upou the grass and fainted. 



Colonel Delles was delirious that night, and talked and 

 raved incessantly. ISow in his yacht, close-reefed, and 

 scudding before a. gale in the Bay of Biscay, while, lashed 

 to the weather shrouds, he saw the gleam of the following 

 seas sweep over the deck beneath his" feet, and watched the 

 lurch of the staggering masts as he shouted to his crew; 

 then, once more beneath the sun of India, he dressed his 

 ranks in face of the charging lances of the mighty Scindiah 

 and his sister Beeina, with their turbaned hordes. Now he 

 called fondly for his wife, theu ordered that the slayers be 

 brought before him and bound to the mouths of cannons. 

 Then he led through jheel and jungle a party on desperate 

 service, storming at last a hill-fort, where ginjall and match- 

 lock poured their tire againsl ; nfle and bayonet, and tulwar 

 clashed on sabre; and again, he was spurring his horse in a 

 cavalry charge, where man and horse went down like reeds 

 before the terrible cuirassier. 



Anxiously we watched; at last sleep came, and for a space 

 the weary soul found rest. 



Some days after the occurrences 1 have related, we were 

 riding late in an afternoon on a trad which wound along 

 the eastern slope of an oak-timbered hill, when Colonel 

 Delles, who was borne in a horse litter, raised his hand, and 

 the cavalcade came to a halt. "Were 1 north of Tweed as 

 I am east of the Neosho," said the sick man, faiutly, "I would 

 say that I heard the wild war-notes of Bonny Dundee;" and 

 as" we listened there came on the evening breeze the stormy 

 swell of a wild northern pibroch. Two of us instantly rode 

 in advance, and in a few minutes reached a homestead, whose 

 rode, but extensive building and broad fields of cultivated 

 land, promised rest and abundance for our weary train; and 

 the warlike strains, which sounded from the house, indicated 

 that something was in progress a little out of the common 

 way. 



This was the home of a substantial German farmer, and 

 the occasion of the present jollification was the birthday of 

 his aged father, in the celebration of which event several 

 friends from different parts of the country had come to 

 join; one, a Scotsman, having brought the great war-pipe, 

 which he had played, as he said, when His Majesty held the 

 last "drawing room" at Holyrood Castle. 



We were heartily welcomed, accommodations provided 

 for our sick companion, and a horseman dispatched to a tem- 

 porary military post, some twenty miles distant, for a gur 

 geou.'who arrived iu the course of the night. 



Here our parly dispersed, Herman and myself only re- 

 maining with the Colonel, and after a few days, he being ap- 

 parently convalescent, I prepared to take my leave. I had 

 incidentally observed that Herman seemed to have found 

 favor in the eyes of the blue-eyed Margaret, one of the 

 daughters of mine host; but as that was none of ray busi- 

 ness, I one bright morning bade good-bye to all, and with 

 mutual good wishes and hopes for reunions in the future, I 

 mounted and rode toward the rising sun. 



The Colonel returned to England, and his bones now rest 

 besides those of his mailed ancestors beneath the floor of the 

 ancient chapel. Herman finally went to the wars, "with 

 his wild harp slung behind him," and I lost sight of both. 



Many years after, I was one afternoon riding through the 

 great pine forests east of the Keshena reservation, in North- 

 ern Wisconsin. Old Snowstorm had put me on the trail, 

 and given me directions how to reach a certain "half-way 

 house/' but either iu consequence of his ignorance of Eng- 

 lish, or mine of Menominee, I missed my way, audit seemed 

 likely that I should be obliged to camp in the forest, with 

 no provender for myself or my horse. 



It was nearly sunset when 1 heard the baying of a pack of 

 hounds, and riding along an old log road, I paused at 

 a point where they seemed likely to cross. • Nearer and 

 nearer in full cry on they came, evidently the scent was hot. 

 As I looked, two splendid deer darted across the path, when 

 from behind a giant pine iu the dim shadow of a deep ravine 

 shot forth a stream of flame. Another followed, and the re- 

 ports of the rifle echoed through the ancient forest, whose 

 giant arches crashed and rang to the bay of the deep- 

 mouthed hounds. 



The deer had passed from my sight before the shots were 

 fired, but I was sufficiently near to note the dull sound of 

 the bullets striking on their mark and knew that neither 

 shot had failed. 



Biding forward, I soon saw that one deer had fallen at 

 the shot, while the other scarce had run two hundred yards 

 before the strong hounds had pulled him down. I ap- 

 proached the successful hunter to offer my congratulations 

 on his success and inquire my way to some place of shelter 



for the night, and he came forward, a tall, strong man, 

 wdiosc features told plainly his nationality, so that I was not 

 surprised at the slight German accent which marked his 

 courteous greeting. A few words put him in possession of 

 the facts concerning my present predicament, and after tell- 

 ing me thai, it was quite too late for me to think of reaching 

 my destination that night, he said that his own house was 

 within half a mile, and that he would feel obliged if I would 

 accept such hospitality as he could offer. This I was ready 

 enough to do, and the deer having beeu bled, we moved on- 

 ward and soon reached a farm of considerable extent, whose 

 substantial buildings and well kept fences showed evidence 

 of thrift and prosperity. 



After calling one of the farm hands and sending him for 

 the venison, my host walked into the house, where, amid a 

 bevy of bright children, we were met by a neatly- attired 

 lady, whose blue eyes had somehow a familiar look, and to 

 whom 1 was introduced as Mr. K. Surely, thought I, I 

 did not tell him my name. And he merely called her his 

 wife Margaret. I wonder what his name is. I won't ask 

 him just yet, though. The house was comfortably, in some 

 respects elegantly, furnished. Large bookcases with well- 

 selected volumes in many languages, a grand piano, a guitar, 

 and other evidences of culture and refinement, satisfied me 

 that I had lighted on something rather unusual in that region; 

 but supper was announced and I followed my hostess into a 

 large dining-room, in which my eye was attracted by a side- 

 board made of the beautiful birdseye maplewood of the 

 country, and over which was a trophy of ancient arms, offen- 

 sive and defensive. Seeing the direction of my gaze, my 

 host remarked, "You seem interested in those arms, sir?" 

 and, as I assented, he added, "They were sent me not long 

 ago by my good father. They used to hang in the old hall 

 at Breslau." 



There was something iu his voice which stirred old 

 memories, but for my life I could not; think where I had met 

 this by no means ordiuary man. He seemed to divine my 

 thoughts, for he regarded me with a quizzical expression, 

 and I saw that the lady was smiling. Confound him, why 

 didn't he tell me his name. "It seems to me, sir, that we 

 must have met before, but when, I cannot tell." The lady 

 laughed merrily, and her husband, putting on a comical look 

 of simplicity, and assuming as far as possible the air and 

 language of a young and newly arrived emigrant from the 

 Vaterland, said, "Then you ton't remember Margaret unt 

 Herrmann." K. 



replied that the old man who owned the original pair and 

 kept them a long time confined, declared that they never 

 drank, and that on one occasion, when he forced one of 

 them to swallow a small quantity of water, it was immedi- 

 ately thrown up again, having evidently produced nausea. 

 I never took much stock in the theory that they dug for 

 water, although I do not deny that it is possible, but if it is 

 a fact that they can live without drinking, it is hardly more 

 astonishing than the well-known one that they will not only 

 live, but keep extremely fat wheu the whole village is as 

 bare of vegetation as a billiard table. 



On the vast alkali flats of Utah, Nevada and Arizona, 

 where in summer there are no running streams or standing 

 water, no rain and not even dew, the horned toads and 

 lizards live and thrive in localities where, with their limited 

 powers of locomotion, they could not get to water in a week; 

 and the hotter and dryer the locality the better it seems 

 adapted for their existence. Where the sun comes down 

 with blistering strength, and the deceptive mirage is con- 

 tinually tantalizing the rider and his horse, there the great 

 lizards, eight or ten inches long, beautifully colored with 

 red, brown and yellow, and quick as a flash, bask in the sun 

 evidently perfectly happy ; but as you approach the moun- 

 tains they become stunted, sluggish and almost perfectly 

 black. They can live without water surely, and if they then 

 why not the prairie dog? Forked Deer. 



San Francisco. Cal., April 28. 



%&tw[&l Wffl at U* 



BIRDS IN QUEER PLACES. 



THE past week we have had beautiful weather, at times 

 real."snipy." A few scattering Bcohpa.r have been 

 shot, one winter yellowles, one beetlehead (S, helvetica) and 

 one jack curlew (JY. hudsonicus) have been seen. Woodcock 

 have been here for a week or two. I saw two that met 

 death accidentally, one flew against the telegraph wires near 

 Wakefield, and was picked up by a track hand, and one 

 flew against a building In Boston and fluttering down to the 

 sidewalk directly in front of a gentleman was picked up, 

 and handed to a friend with whom I saw it. Accidental 

 deaths must, I think, be more common than most people are 

 aware of. 1 saw a song sparrow once fly in front of a swift 

 moving locomotive, come in collision with the same and in 

 a very few minutes the little fellow breathed his last in my 

 hand. I have a grouse now stuffed which was picked up in 

 Siberia by my late shipmate, boatswain Cole of the Jeannette. 

 This bird had broken its neck by flying against a telegraph 

 wire. Other personal incidents might be mentioned. Birds 

 get into funny places. A man recently found a woodcock 

 alive in the back shop of his store in Lynn. The bird's head 

 was bruised. How it got there the proprietor of the store 

 does not know. Three rads (P. Carolina) were recently 

 discovered in a large box used for storing dry tan in the 

 yard of a tannery in Salem. They were set at liberty. I 

 saw a cock quail in the yard of a friend of mine not long 

 ago. He was out. of his latitude, yet fully able to care for 

 himself. Two years ago, while driving toward Danversport, 

 I passed a cock quail right in the road. I drove by close to 

 him, say within five or six feet. The bird just lay close to 

 the ground, apparently not knowing what else to do. 



Lots of geese went over us recently, bound for higher 

 latitudes. I am told that brant were very numerous a week 

 ago near the Monomoy club place on Cape Cod. They 

 would not decoy well and therefore comparatively few were 

 shot. By the way, can any one tell why (so far as I know at 

 least) these birds do not breed in confinement? The Canada 

 goose breeds, but the brant, so far as I can ascertain, will 

 not. Ked-shouldered, red-tailed and rough-legged hawks, 

 white-bellied swallows, fox sparrows and bay-winged bunt- 

 ings were seen a week or more ago. Bluebirds are nesting. 

 An albino female robin was shot yesterday near Readville, 

 Mass. Blue herons and bitterns are along. X. Y. Z. 



Salbm. Mass., April 27. 



HABITS OF THE PRAIRIE DOG. 



THE opinion expressed by "H. J. R.,"in your issue of 

 April 4), that the prairie dog manages to exist without 

 drinking, is one that is held by many of those who are most 

 familiar with the habits of this curious little quadruped. 

 Untenable as such a conclusion appears to be, it has been 

 forced upon them by observations that made such a decision 

 more reasonable than any other. 



In the fall of 1867, I visited the little town of Abilene in 

 Kansas, which was then the terminus of the great Texas 

 cattle drive, or at least of that portion of it destined for the 

 Chicago stock yards. In the center of the town, which then 

 consisted of about twenty houses, nearly all of them stores, 

 restaurants and saloons, was a grass plot, plaza or square 

 about 100 yards wide, in which was a small colony of prairie 

 dogs, all the descendants of a single pair that had been caught, 

 tamed and finallv turned loose by a rather eccentric old man, 

 one of the first settlers of the place. There were, I should 

 judge, twenty-five or thirty of the dogs, some of them so 

 tame that they would readily approach a stranger and eat 

 out of his hand, although they declined being haudled, and 

 all the rest w-ould feed about perfectly unconcerned while 

 persons were constantly passing within a few yards of them. 

 They were a source of much pleasure to me while I re- 

 mained there, and I gathered all the information possible 

 about them from the inhabitants. 



One point on which I remember of making particular in- 

 quiries, was whether they were ever seen to driuk. They 



THE BIRDS OF MICHIGAN. 



BV DR. MORRIS GIBBS. 



(Continued.) 



31. Mniotilta vmia, (Linn.) Vieill. — Black and white 

 creeper. 



First embraced by Professor Sager, iu his list published 

 in the "Geological ileport of the State of Michigan," 1839, 

 since which time it has held a place in the lists of not less 

 than fifteen different collectors, and is now known to almost 

 every boy interested in making collections. The lists of 

 Cabot, 1850, and Kneeland, 1856, do not contain the name 

 of this species, and it has thus far not been reported from the 

 tipper Peninsula. 



The black and white creeper reaches the southern part of 

 the State during the last week in April or the early days of 

 May. My earliest recorded arrival is April 22. The birds 

 were not seen until May 7 one season. A fair average may 

 be placed at April 27. As a rule the males precede the 

 females a few days, I think. The habits of this so-called 

 warbler are so entirely different from those of any other 

 member of the interesting family, that it is hard for one not 

 versed in technical classification to understand why it is 

 embraced in the Syhicolidm in preference to the GertJiiMm, 

 creepers proper. In its habits it embodies the peculiarities 

 of both creeper and warbler, and while securing its food, we 

 may say mainly from the trunks and larger limbs as in the 

 case ofCe-rtMa, it also gleams among the foliage with the 

 elegance, and vivacity of the typical warbler. I have oc- 

 casionally observed Mniotilta in the act of securing bis prey 

 on the wing, and though perhaps an unusual method of 

 capture with him, he acquitted himself with such expedition 

 as to lead me to think him anything but a novice in that line 

 of feeding. We often find him feeding on the ground, and 

 he is a great fellow to scramble over logs and stumps in the 

 woods. ' His usual habit is to keep well up in the trees, how- 

 ever, and the large majority of the birds are seen from fifty 

 to sixty feet from the ground. 



On his arrival he is inclined to keep sdent, and only an 

 occasional call note is heard from him as he circles around 

 the trunks, but after deciding on a mate and while selecting 

 a nesting site, he becomes very noisy, and few species of the 

 family are equal to him in small talk and chatter. The 

 mating season begins about May 15 as a rule, and the com- 

 motion caused by a few pairs of creepers in a patch of woods 

 is surprising. The birds fight savagely, and I have wit- 

 nessed several battles in which feathers were torn out by the 

 bitter rivals. The lady in the case sits demurely on a limb 

 near at hand and watches the conflict apparently uncon- 

 cerned, while the gallant warriors flit hither and thither, 

 alternately pursuing and retreating, and almost constantly 

 in battle ; now on a limb, the next instant on the ground, 

 then a rush over a dead log or up the side of a stub. The 

 combat often takes place in the air, and the little contestants 

 flit among the branches or scramble and half fly over and 

 under the underbrush, often coming within a few feet of the 

 observer. During this amusing scene the birds keep up an 

 incessant chattering and guttural chirping which may be 

 heard at some distance and is characteristic of the species, 

 no other bird of my acquaintance possessing notes in any 

 degree similar. 



The regular call notes of the creeper warbler are simple 

 tweeJcs or tweets, and are uttered faintly by the caller during 

 spring, summer and autumn. There is also a note which I 

 have only heard a few times during the mating season — 

 creeeee~e-e e-p — which much resembles the faint cail notes of 

 the little brown creeper. The notes commonly heard during 

 battle, though greatly modified under excitement, are a 

 sharp chatter often repeated, and so incessant is the noise,, 

 that one wonders how the bird manages to get breath. The 

 notes may be described by the prolonged chat-i-t-t-r-r r-r-r 

 r-r-r, the same being varied with an occasional Tset-set-trit 

 s-i-t-it-t-t uttered very "rapidly. The last are the common notes 

 of both parent birds*during nesting. The song is agreeable. 

 It has been variously described by writers, all of whom 

 in the attempted imitations on paper, have allowed but little 

 or no variation in the repetition of the notes. I think it fair 

 to allow that the creeper warbler has a greater compass in 

 song than is usually admitted. To me the song sounds like 

 this: Ghe-irh^py-t,<)y!-^eiyy4:a-icheepy-cJmpy, all of which 

 is modulated to a degree of nicety little known to any but a 

 careful observer. The song as usually heard from the top 

 of the trees is not musical and is rarely noticed, but it the 

 bird is heard near at baud, the listener will be surprised at 

 the sweetness of the notes. Other notes, perhaps constitut- 

 ing a song, have reached my ears, but they appear to me to 

 be only a modification of the above song. 



In the proper place reference will be made to many 

 peculiarities in the songs of our birds, and it is hoped that 

 the growing interest in bird songs which has of late 

 awakened, will cause the readers of this series of articles to 

 refrain from too severely criticising these attempts at 

 description. 



The black and white creeper continues to sing in its nest- 

 ing haunts until about July 10, and occasionally a little later. 

 After this date it is rare to hear the song. In late August 

 and rarely during the early part of September, a faint song 

 may be heard, but never so strong or vivaciously uttered aa 



