June 4, 1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



367 



plied, "Yes, sab, nil birds is good to eat;" and when the 

 question was asked, "They don't eat crow, do tbey? the 

 answer came, "Course dey do. Crows eat corn, don't dey? 

 Den why isn't dfv good ?" 



The very poor condition of the birds was surprising. 1 

 was aware that all birds in the spring migrations were usu- 

 ally in poor condition, and was prepared to find them 

 unusually lean this spring on account of the lateness of the 

 season and the intensity of the cold weather then hardly 

 past, but did not expect to find birds for sale in such skele- 

 ton condition as were these. Among all the kinds exposed 

 for sale, not eveu excepting the ducks, no bird in fair condi- 

 tion for market could be found ; most of them were scarcely 

 better than skin and bone. Eveu were these songsters in 

 marketable conditior, their killing should be unlawful. 

 How great must be the number of migralory birds i which au- 

 nuaily are killed, in poor condition for food, while on their 

 way from perpetual abundance to their breeding homes still 

 covered with fiost and snow. 



The object of this article is to briug before the minds of 

 naturalists, sportsmen, farmers and the public at large, the 

 immense destruction of birds that are a protection from an 

 over abundance of insect pests, at the same time cheering 

 the hearts of all by their beauty and song. The daily ex- 

 hibit in Southern markets furnishes an illustration of the 

 utter want of public opinion and law against the practice of 

 shooting everything with feathers on it and calling it game. 

 This indiscriminate shooting is needless and does incalcul- 

 able harm, as is evident to those who have given the subject 

 any thought. 



Laws should be passed in sparsely settled States as well as 

 in the most populous one, which would restrict the shooting 

 of birds other than game birds. Economic ornithology is 

 of more importance than economic entomology, and upon 

 both of these depends the success of economic botany. Pro- 

 tect the birds and they will protect the plant food from in- 

 sects. Once get this idea into the minds of the farmer, the 

 merchant and the consumer, and he will vote for the man 

 who will pass laws to protect the birds. This is the best and 

 most economical method of keeping dowu the superabund- 

 ance of destructive iosectsmnd keeping up the harmony and 

 proportion of nature. 



If every one who takes the Fobest and Stream would 

 interest hfmself and his friends on this subject and place it 

 properly before the Assemblyman of his district, it would 

 not be long before laws would be passed in every State 

 against the wholesale destruction of our needed friends and 

 cheerful companions. It is but natural that the Southern 

 States should be far behind in the enaction of game laws, 

 and that, on account of the negro population now thrown 

 upon their own resources for food, there should be more 

 destruction of useful birds than in the North. Agriculture 

 and horticulture, which need protection more in the South 

 than in the North, demand the protection of birds not fit 

 for food. The only way to reach the pot-hunter is not only 

 not to buy his insignificant fuod supply of small birds, but 

 to pass laws against the killing of such, other than for strictly 

 scientific purposes. 



There is a good reason why there should be more strenu- 

 ous laws in the Southern States against the indiscriminate 

 killing of birds than in the Northern States, and that is this: 

 Almost all of the birds of the North migrate to or through 

 the South, and the killing of birds in the Southern States, 

 especially in the spring and fall, not only destroys the friends 

 of the South, but the friends of the North as well. It is a 

 well-known fact that when Northern birds migrate South 

 tbey collect in communities or flocks and thus remain undl 

 they return the following season to breed, when they are 

 scattered in pairs in secluded places to rear their young. It 

 is evident, therefore, that greater numbers of migratory birds 

 can be slaughtered in the South than in the North, and all 

 the more reason exists why there should be stricter laws 

 where at present little or no attention is paid to the matter. 



The subject seems to me an important one and should be 

 brought to the attention of every intelligent person who can 

 aid in remedying the evil as it exists and where it exists. 



Geo. B. Sennett. 



Am. Mus. op Nat. Hist., New York, May 21. 



Philadelphia, May 30.— The warbler tribe have been 

 passing through this section since the 18th or 20th of the 

 present month, very little specimen shooting has been done, 

 however, owing to a fear of arrest. The property owners in 

 the several districts within the city limits have become much 

 put out in the last two or three years at the wholesale de- 

 struction of song birds in the spring and do not hesitate to 

 arrest for trespass, feeling that if the law which protects 

 these men and boys in collecting for scientific purposes is 

 used by the milliner as a blind, the best way to stop the 

 shooting is to post their lands and prosecute for violating 

 the trespass law and the ordinance which prohibits the firing 

 off of a gun or pistol within the city limits. — Homo. 



ARIZONA BIRD NOTES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Presumably in bird life, every part of the country can and 

 does produce its own peculiarities : but theseison in Arizona, 

 for nesting and bringing forth young, being fully twice the 

 length of those in the Eastern States, extending as it does 

 from early in February to September, the opportunities for 

 observations of interest are proportionally greater. 



The Harporhynclms palmentme now busy with their second 

 brood. On the 7th of March, I found the first broods almost 

 fully fledged and ready to take to the brush. Here in the 

 vicinity of Tucson I frequently found four and five eggs in a 

 nest In the vicinity of Quijotoa, between seventy and 

 eighty miles southwest, I examined many nests and found 

 three eggs to be the maximum number. Why this should be 

 I do not know, as the conditions of life are similar except 

 that it is much drier there; but I have thought that probably 

 the explanation lay in the clutches being those of the first 

 and second broods. Those that I examined here belonged 

 to the former; tkose at the Quijotoa to tbe latter. The H. 

 pulmeri invariably in Southern Arizona build their nests in 

 chollas, one of the prickliest and most dreaded of the cactus 

 family. The nest is generally from four to six feet from the 

 ground, the foundation is laid with coarse thorny twigs, the 

 nest proper of finer material, lined with grass or vegetable 

 fiber, and commonly about four inches deep with a like 

 diameter. 



H. bendirei did not nest till some two weeks later than the 

 palmen. As a rule they nesl in similar places, but do not 

 confine themselves to the chollas, inasmuch as I have found 

 them nesting in the brauches of mesquite eight and ten feet 

 from the ground. Usually, however, they patronize low, 

 bushy chollas, and build not more than three or four feet 

 from the earth. The nest is made of much lighter material 



than that of palmeri, less bulky, and on the whole it is less 

 laboriously made. Three eggs is the maximum number laid. 

 There is a wide difference as to coloring and size, the eggs in 

 no two nests being alike, but more of this in a later letter, 

 as I will then give measurements. 



The Scop* frichopsis did not begin laying until about April 

 1, and the Whitney owls ( Micraltene ichilneyi) not until a 

 month later. The young of the former are full fledged while 

 those of the latter are yet either very small or undergoing the 

 process of incubation. Both birds nest in woodpecker holes 

 in the sahuara (giant cactus). 



Two weeks since a friend and myself, by tbe aid of a 20- 

 foot ladtier, secured ten young Scops, aud have succeeded in 

 raising them all. The five that fell to me are thrifty-looking 

 birds and not at all wild. Their manner of swaying their 

 bodies to and fro is both a curious and interesting sight. I 

 secured one nest of Scops' eggs (five) that have the appear- 

 ance of being fathered by a spat row hawk (7'. sparverim). 

 In size and shape they are thoroughly like Scops, but are 

 spotted after tbe manner of those of the sparrow hawk. I 

 imagine that spotted Scops' eggs are exceedingly uncommon. 

 I could not be mistaken as to their identity, inasmuch as I 

 took a female Scops off the eggs. 



Another curious thing in the egg line came to my notice 

 during a visit to the Quijotoa some two weeks since. I 

 found seven eggs of the Arizona quail (Loplwrtyx gambeli) 

 in tbe newly made nest of a Palmer's thrasher. The nest 

 was near the top of a cholla about four feet from tbe ground. 

 My first impression was that probably an Indian had placed 

 them there, but was soon couvinced to the contrary, as I 

 found it impossible to get my head near the nest without 

 first breaking down a part of the eholla with the barrels of 

 my gun. The eggs were fresh and very finely marked. 



While at the Quijotoa I heard of a very curious bird- 

 animal, a fully-feathered bat, color of plumage grayish 

 brown. Unfortunately I did not see it, but the statement 

 may be relied upon, however improbable it may seem. It 

 was purchased by a iady (Mrs. L. A. Henry) from an Indian 

 for a loaf of bread, with a view of sending it to me here, 

 but it escaped on the third day of its captivity. It, I was 

 told, resembled a cross between an owl and a bat. It was 

 feathered and had a beak much resembling that of a small 

 owl, but its body and feet were bat like. Tbe Indian bad a 

 string around its body and allowed it to crawl up his person ; 

 this it weuld do with any one on whom it happened to be 

 put. If placed against a iough, perpendicular board it 

 climbed it with ease. This entire statement may sound 

 cock-and-bull-like, but that there is such a thing as a bat- 

 bird I am satisfied is true nevertheless. What say you, Mr. 

 Editor, as to the probability of such things existing? ^ The 

 one in question was seen by many people, who can testify to 

 the truthfulness of the foregoing*. 



At Quijotoa I received several specimens of Bendire's 

 thrasher. This was something of a surprise to me, as I had 

 never before known the bird to be south of this place. Also 

 secured from an old prospecting shaft a fine specimen ot the 

 barn owl (Alvco jiammeus pratincola). It is the first of the 

 kind that 1 ever saw in the Territory. When in the same 

 section of the country four months ago, I made close search 

 for the Whitney owl, but could find no trace of them, which 

 fact led me to believe that they did not live in the high dry 

 mesa lands. I was further convinced by a futile search 

 made for them several months previously in a like waterless 

 locality, but this theory was upset during my last trip by 

 the killing of a fine male specimen on the eastern slope of 

 the Quijotoa range. Scott's oriole was also there and other 

 birds, of which I will write you more anon. 



Hekbet Beown. 



Tucson, Ariz., May 25. 



[The "bat-owl," if seen by our correspondent, would 

 probably have resolved itself into some well-known bird.] 



The I voby Billed Woodpeckeb in Floblda.— A cor- 

 respondent of Forest and Si ream, writing from Glencoe, 

 Fla., inquires about this bird and where it can be found. It 

 would be well for all correspondents to mention the name of 

 their county, so many new towns are springing up every- 

 where that' are not down on the maps. In the month of 

 March, 1870, being camped at the foot of Merritt's Island on 

 the Indian River, in Brevard county, Fla., I was waked at 

 sunrise by a noise as of a gang of ship carpenters at work in 

 some heavy timber near a quarter of a mile from our tent. 

 Inquiring of my guide the cause of this, I was lold it pro- 

 ceeded from a family of "big logcocks, '' and from his de- 

 scription I was satisfied that it was Pious principalis, the 

 ivory-billed woodpecker, of which I had read in Audubon 

 as occurring: in these Southern forests, which was making the 

 chips fly. In 1872 I procured a male specimen of this bird, 

 which was shot in the great Turnbull Swamp, near New 

 Smyrna, Volusia county, Fla. Afterward, about 1878, I 

 saw a pair of the skins of this woodpecker for sale at the 

 shop of a taxidermist at Enterprise, on the St. John's River. 

 I have no doubt this bird is to be found in the cypress 

 swamps of Southern Florida, but nowhere within sound of 

 the guns of the game butchers who infest Florida in winter. 

 It is always rare, inhabiting the most solitary places remote 

 from mankind. — S. C. Clarke (Marietta, Georgia). 



Night Hawks have arrived round about Philadelphia, 

 and as is often the habit of these birds, more than one pair 

 will select the extensive roofs of large buildings on which to 

 build their nests One pair I have noticed, have evidently 

 chosen the roof of the Academy of Natural Sciences on 

 Broad street for this purpose, and their queer gyration from 

 4 P. M. until sunset last evening, proved to me that they 

 had mated. 1 was told a pair used the same roof as a nest- 

 ing place last year, and their movements were carefully 

 watched by a merchant across the way. — Homo (Philadel- 

 phia, May «<0). 



Central Lake, Mich., May 26. — The humming birds, 

 bless 'em, made their first appearance among our flowers 

 on Saturday, the 21st, and have since been constant in their 

 attentions and civilities. — Kelpie 



Keokuk, Iowa, May 28,— At a meeting held at the United 

 States Court room Tuesday evening, the Keokuk Fish and 

 Game Protective Association was formed, the object of 

 which will be to see that the laws of the Slate of Iowa look- 

 ing to the protection of fish and game shall be strictly en- 

 forced. Col. S. S. Curtis presided and Luke Hulskamp 

 acted as secretary. The following officers were elected: 

 President, H. H. Clark ; Vice president, Luke Hulskamp; 

 Secretary, FayWortheu; Treasurer, I L.Brown, Frank 

 Hagerman and W. T. Rankin were appointed a committee 

 to draft the articles of incorporation and by-laws, and to 

 circulate the same for signatures . — W. 



}*g m\A 



THE ANTIQUARY'S ARMORY. 



(Suggested by JC's "Reminiscences" in Forest and Stream, May 7.) 

 npHEY hang on the carven oaken wall 

 -*- Of picturesque, ancestral hall, 

 Armors in ancient battles worn, 

 Banners and pennons shred and torn; 

 Cuirass and helmet, gorget bright, 

 Dinted and piere'd in stormy flgh r. 

 Breastplate and morion, casques of proof, 

 Hanging from rafter and groined roof, 

 Burnish'd shields that have tura'd aside 

 Bullet and arrow in battteide; 

 Swords douole-handed. claymore blade, 

 By Scottish hands in forays sway'd— 

 Weapons of every age and race 

 In this old gallery find a place. 



Stiletto, dagger and poniard keen, 



Toledo rapier. Highland skene, 



Banners that stream'dfrom castle crag, 



Trafalgar Nelson's blazon'd flag;, 



Standards at Moscow's gate that flew, 



O wav'd in the flames of Waterloo, 



Banners of Oessy and Poitiers, 



Or Marston-Moore in the vanish'd years, 



Star flags that wav'd on Bunker's height, 



Flags of the old Saratoga fight, 



Blood-red ensigns of Lund; lane, 



Of Orleans, borne o'er the British slain; 



Flags of the grand, chivalric joust, 



Where spears were shiver'd ana !ances lost; 



Flags of Gettysburg's stricken flel 1, 



Or where the cannon of -*hiloh peal'd; 



And many another tatter'd fold. 



Scorch 'd in the fires, in slaughter roll'd. 



There were weapons of Indian strife, 

 Red tomahawk and scalping knife; 

 Buckler of skin and wampum crest, 

 War club and sling of the savage West, 

 Shafts of a pre-historic race, 

 Fashion'd for ravage or the chase ; 

 Knife of the Norseman, keen to slay, 

 Pawnee arrows of lawless fray. 

 Spears of the ruthless Carib band, 

 Light assegais of Afric la>'d, 

 Deerhorn niliget, tipt with steel, 

 Of Arctic hunter of the seal; 

 A Feejee paddle and war canoe 

 Once mann'd by a Cannibal Island crew. 



All these mementoes of peace and war, 

 From frozen pole tc the tropics far, 

 Shine out as the sunbeam filters clear 

 O'er kandjar, creese and spur and spear. 

 They rest in peace from hunt and fight, 

 The dustof years gathers on tLem white, 

 They crumble in Time's corroding rust, 

 The hands that fashion'd them lie in dust. 



These weapons remind of other years. 

 When swept the Saxon with plump of spears, 

 Of pulk of Cossacks in wild hourra 

 Storming around Napoleon's war; 

 Of Indian tribesmen o'er grassy plain, 

 The plunging chargers, the tossing mane, 

 The swinging lariat, level'd lance, 

 Tbe massacre, the great war dance, 

 And of many another stirring scene— 

 When these old weapons were bright and keen. 

 Greenport. May 11. Isaac McLellan. 



THE BIG BOAR OF OKTIBBEHA. 



THE sketch in your issue of May 14, "Wild Boar Shoot- 

 ing in Syria," reminds me of an incident many years 

 ago in Mississippi. Three of us were on a deer drive in good 

 old Oktibbeha county and bordering on Trimcane Swamp. 

 A few miles north and west of Staekville 1ms a beautiful 

 egg-shaped prairie, about one mile across and two the longest 

 diameter; perfectly level, and at tbe time one mass of 

 brilliant tloweis and wild strawberries. A gray horse in the 

 company looked as though he had walked in bb> d fetlock 

 deep, just from the strawberries crushed in riding over the 

 prairie. As we rode through the center we met a hunter 

 on horseback carrying a wounded bound before him on the 

 saddle and in his arms, and upon inquiry we learned that the 

 monarch boar of all that country had attacked and nearly 

 killed his favorite dog, and he was hurrying home to have 

 him attended to — at the same time with a hearty oath— he 

 wished we would go back with him and kill "the brute. 

 After attending to his ble< ding hound we mounted and rode 

 back with him, calling in ail the dogs (we bad ten or twelve 

 splendid ones) except one, a pup that we had lost an hour 

 before, that was still behind. An old boar, monarch of a 

 gang of hogs, running wild all his life as they do in the 

 swamps, is a dangerous enemy to meet, for with his scimeter- 

 shaped tusks and stubborn courage he feels himself able to 

 cope with the largest gray wolf, and never hesitates to attack 

 on sight. The one we were in search of had ripped the 

 shoulder and. neck of the poor houud open with a deep and 

 fast-bleeding gap eight inches long. 



After riding a mile we found him backed into a clump of 

 small pines, growing very thick, with his head just out 

 of it aud all his body partially protected. He sat on his 

 haunches champing his jaws and with the white foam gath- 

 ered in great flecks ovi r his breast and forelegs. The hounds 

 gathered baying around him, of which he seemed wholly 

 unmindful, aud gave no evidence of watchfulness, except from 

 the vicious look of his devilish eyes and an occasional swift 

 movement of his head when an unwary hound came too near 

 him. But while we sat on our horses and consulted whether 

 we had better shoot him as he sat, we heard far back of us 

 and coming over the prahie tbe full mouthed cry of our pup 

 we had lost some hours before and now was on our track 

 hunting us up. As he came m-ar enough to hear our dogs 

 and our voices, he raised his head while in full ruu, and see- 

 ing the boar facing out of the clump of pines, without an 

 iustant's hesitation he charged directly upon him and leaped 

 squarely upon his head. Instantly, and before we could 

 think for a second, every dog was upon him ana he striking 

 and cutting with all his fearful power. The whole scene 

 was one wild confusion, and in a second of time Calvin, our 

 stoutest and bravest, was off and on to him trying to save 



