TJG. 6, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



2B 



and the Western States beyond the Mississippi River we 

 have received hut few returns, and most of these state that 

 the sparrow has not been observed. In Canada it has be- 

 come generally distributed over the southern sections of 

 Quebec and Ontario (it is abundant in the city of Quebec), 

 and in 1884 several floclis invaded New Brunswick. 



Few observers have definitely determined the number of 

 broods hatched yearlv by this bird, and the number of 

 young 10 the brood. We have, however, returns from sev- 

 eral ornithologists. The maximum given by Mr. H. B. 

 Bailey, of Orange, New Jersey— six broods in one season, 

 ■with from four to five young in a brood— probably indicates 

 the extent of the bird's' fertility in this climate. The usual 

 nnmber of broods in the latitude of New York and south- 

 ward appears to be four. In more northern districts, three 

 "broods yearly would prob.ably be near the average. 



There is ali overwhelming mass of testimony to the effect 

 that the sparrow molests and drives away certain of our most 

 valued species of native birds. Many statements have been 

 received giving accounts of conflicts provoked by the spar- 

 row in which it was cruelly victorious. It is affirmed that 

 from some localities native species have been completely 

 banished by the attacks or by the mere presence of the for- 

 eigner. We have also evidence of an opposite character, 

 declaring the span-ow's peaceable disposition and its associa- 

 tion upon amicable terms with othci species of birds. 



Most of our correspondents state tliat they have never 

 known the sparrow to commit depredations upon crops, but 

 well authenticated instances are furnished showing its ability 

 and disposition to accomplish great destruction to grain. 

 Mr. Stewart, of Hackensack, New .Jersey, relates the de- 

 struction of a wide margin of wheat in the field. Hon. G. 

 A. Bicknell, of New Albany, Indiana, says, "When the 

 grain ripens the sparrtnvs leave the city and attack the 

 wheat fields in the suburbs. I have seen hundreds of them 

 at once in mj fields and they got about half the crop." Mr. 

 T. G. Gentry, in his exhaustive work on the sparrow, gives 

 similar instances. That the bird feeds upon fruits is amply 

 attested. 



Our thirteenth question calls for information as to the 



sparrow's preference for food. Is it an insect eater or a seed 

 eater? Every reply to this question, which is based upon 

 dissection, agrees in attributing to the bird a diet almost 

 wholly vegetable. The statement of some observers, that it 

 devours canker worms and a -variety of insects, is unac- 

 companied by reports of examinations of the stomach. 



The question as to the food of nesLhng sparrows elicited 

 pretty uniform testimony, animal matter in some form being 

 said to constitute the bulk. Dissections by a competent per- 

 son, however, show "barely a trace of insect or animal food, 

 but in lieu, fine gravel and vegetable fibre." 



Responses to questions seventeen to twenty-one inclusive, 

 are too meagre to be of value. 



It is claimed by several of our correspondents that the 

 measuring worm, 'so abundant at the time of the sparrow's 

 introduction into this country, was well nigh exterminated 

 .by the bird, so that for a considerable period it was unob- 

 served. Since it is a well-known fact that the worm occurs 

 - in very variable numbers in difi:erent seasons, credit for its 

 comparative exterminatien in this case can hardly be given 

 to the sparrow upon the doubtful evidence before us. 



The experiment has recently been tried in Philadelphia 

 and elsewhere of substituting sparrows for pigeons in trap- 

 shotting, but, of course, without seriouslj^ diminishing their 

 nurhbers. In other localities the birds have been poisoned 

 or otherwise gotten rid of to some extent by indignant citi- 

 zens in defiance of laws. 



The balance of public opinion is strongly adverse to the 

 sparrows. Our returns, however, show protective laws 

 (usually the same statute which provides for the security of 

 other small birds) in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, 

 Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, the 

 District of Columbia and Canada. The Massachusetts law 

 has lately been repealed, and specially exempts the English 

 spari'ow from protection. 



So much for the evidence. We have learned the capacity 

 and disposition of this bird to injure grain and fruits, and 

 that when gathered in large numbers it threatens very 

 seriously the interests of the farmer and horticulturist. 

 Although testimony of a certain kindindicates that its young 

 are fed with insects, actual dissection shows that vegetable 

 substances are mainly employed. The adult birds feed 

 almost exclusively upon seeds and grains. They drive away 

 from their accustomed haunts, either directly or indirectly, 

 many of our native insectivorous species. It may be added 

 that they have proved in recent years so destructive of crops 

 in other countries, as to render it necessary to enact laws 

 looking to their extermination. In view of these facts, your 

 committee believes that the European .sparrow {Passer domes- 

 tieiis) is an ineligible species in this country, and that it was 

 a mistaken policy to introduce the bird. And we would 

 respectfully recommend: 



(1) That sheltering or otherwise fostering the sparrow by 

 the public be discouraged, and that its introduction artifi- 

 cially into new localities and its sale for such pm-poses be 

 forbidden by law. 



(3) That all existing laws protecting the sparrow be 

 repealed, and that bounties be offered for its destraction. 



(Signed) J. B. Holdek, Chairman, 



EtJGENE P. BtCKNEI,!., 



H. A. PtrnDiE, 

 Nathan Clipfobb Bbown, 

 Montague Chamberlain. 

 [The Michigan law protecting these birds has been re- 

 pealed.— Ed. F. & S.] 



GROUSE AND YOUNG AGAIN. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In my article of July 16, under the caption of "The Cock 

 Grouse and Young," I stated plainly that it was a male bird 

 which returned after the female had given up the attempt to 

 draw me away from the vicinity of her young. In an edi- 

 torial note at the end of the article you ask, '"How did our 

 correspondent know the bird to be a male?'' My answer 

 is, that I knew it to be the male by the same means that I 

 should distinguish the turkey cock from the hen— by the gen- 

 eral appearance. While admitting that the difference be- 

 tween the cock grouse and the hen is not so marked as in the 

 ease of the barnyard fowls, yet to the close observer, familiar 

 with the partridge from boyhood, there is httle chance for 

 mistaking the sexes, especially during the incubating and 

 brooding seasons. At this time the plumage, as well as the 

 behavior, of the hen grouse is greatly changed. Her feathers 

 fade and her body becomes thin. In short, to use a familiar 

 expression among country people, she looks like "a sitting 

 hen," 



"Jay Bebe," in taking sides with the editor, in his article 

 in the Forest and Stkeam of July 30, mentions this "pecu- 

 liar condition" of the hen bird at the incubating season. * 

 But although he has once in his life been so fortunate as to 

 have ])oked the hen partridge witli his cane at this peculiar 

 season, yet he does not pny my eapnliililies of observation 

 much of a compliment when he decides that the magnificent 

 plumaged cock, which returned after the rusty, "old sitting 

 hen" had left the vicinity of her young, in the case in ques- 

 tion, "was in reality the hen wlrich he had seen." 



But, dear friend "Jay Bcebc," the .sitting partridge was 

 one of the first terrible experiences of my childhood, when 

 she actually drove my brother .and me in terror from the 

 thicket. But alas! we grow older in a neighborhood in Maine 

 where partildgcs were" so plenty as to be almost a staple 

 article of food— certainly a luxury which could be obtained 

 at almost any season of the year. The little fowling piece, 

 costing the whole of $3.50, slew the male grouse at all sea- 

 sons, the hen never, from the opening of spring till the 

 chicks were old enough to become apart of the game bag. 



Has "Jay Bebe" ever plunged headlong into the bru.sh- 

 wood the "moment he heard he peculiar cry of the hen 

 grouse, and secured two of the little fledglings, one in each 

 hand, betore they had time to hide? Docs he know that the 

 hen partridge never utters that peculiar cry till the yoimg 

 are h.atched? Has he ever had two or three cock paitridges 

 at a time marked down by their drumming, the logs located 

 and the nest ambush-mapped out to approach each bird 

 within gunshot of the little fowling piece — not more than 

 four rods— but waited till the office of the male bird was not 

 further needed that season, but the bird himself was needed 

 for the table? Has lie ever crawled, before daylight in the 

 morning, into a h.ollow stump within ten feet of a drumming 

 log and watched the drumming and courtship of the male 

 grouse. If he has had these experiences, and yet will write 

 to the Forest and Stre^oi that he believes it to be possible 

 for any man of like experience, owning a pair of fairly good 

 ej'cs, to mistake the cock partridge for the hen, why, then I 

 shall feel obliged to confess that— that— that his powers of 

 discernment are not so good as his article indicates. 



The cock of the ruffed grouse, although Murphy and other 

 writers have not mentioned it, is a larger bird than the hen. 

 The plumage is darker, especially the tail, which is longer; 

 the rufl' is darker, more glossy, and far more prominent. In 

 some parts of New England the hen grouse scarcely has the 

 ruff at all. Indeed, from a bevy of young birds, admitting 

 that they be full grown, it would be easy to pick out the 

 males by the marks I have mentioned. But I am very much 

 obliged to the editor of Forest and Stream and "Jay 

 Bebe" for suggesting that I may have been mistaken in the 

 case of the birds near Richardson Lake; for it has brought 

 to memory a number of interesting partridge experiences 

 long forgotten, but which I may now wind occasionallj^ 

 into Forest and Stream wilih the good editor's permission. 



Speciai.. 



QUAIL IN CONFINEMENT. 



Editor Forest and t^rcam: 



In mowing a field of grass last year the machine exposed 

 two qmiil nests, one Avith eighteen and one with twenty 

 eggs. The quail did not return to the nests, and I took the 

 nest with twenty eggs and placed them under an old hen. 

 She proved to be a bad mother, deliberately killiag the quail 

 as fast as hatched. This year I located the nests in the fields 

 before mowing, and so saved them, but i unexpectedly found 

 one on the lawn near the house in cutting the grass in June. 

 I put these eggs under a small young hen, and after sitting 

 full three weeks she hatched fourteen out of fifteen eggs. 

 The quail all came out of the shell in one day, but kept under 

 the hen until the next morning. I took the hen off the nest 

 and cleaned away all the shells. The quail scattered in all 

 directions, except two that were too weak to run. These 

 two died the next day; and on opening their crops I found 

 thej' had eaten nothing. The remaining ones kept up a 

 plaintive peep, but the hen cotild not induce them to eat, 

 although I had put near them ants, ants' eggs, cornmeal and 

 sugar to attract insects for food, They preferred to creep 

 under the hen to keep warm or to hide. 



The second morning the hen came off the nest and began 

 to pick up the ants and other food and call the quail's atten- 

 tion to it, and she soon taught them it was good to eat. 

 After eating for a time they crept under the hen again, and 

 for most of the first four days spent their time there. 



On the fifth day it was suggested that we give them, with 

 the cornmeal, the yolk of a'hard-boilcd egg. I gave it to 

 them twice. They ate very heartily of it, and three died. 

 On opening their crops we found each one very much dis- 

 tended and the food undigested. When two weeks old they 

 began to scratch for food, and did not like to eat the corn 

 meal, I am now feeding on cracked buckwheat and grass- 

 hoppers. We catch the grasshoppers by spreading a sheet 

 on the grass and driving the hoppers on to it, then gather up 

 the cloth. and shake it in the quail house. The birds will eat 

 from 100 to 200 grasshoppers a day ; in fact they have never 

 cried quit. 



The quail house is about 7 by 7 feet, and 8 feet high, with 

 openings under the roof for ventilation. The yard is 7 by 35 

 feet (double this size would be better), inclosed on all sides 

 with wire cloth. The top is boarded over about one-third 

 of the distance to make a shade and protection when they 

 are out of the house. The wire screen or cloth surrounding 

 the inclosure should be large enough to let in flies and grass- 

 hoppers, but not so large as to allow a quail to get its head 

 through. The floor of the house is of earth and the yard is 

 in grass. 



The quail are now seventeen days old, strong and well, 

 and as tame as chickens of the same age. The two quail to 

 which the nest belonged became quite tame and could be 

 seen at almost all hours near the hou.se, and when the young 

 quail hatched they would walk around the yard or sit on 

 top of the inclosure where the young quail Vere confined. 

 The female laid one egg on the too of a havcock, one near 

 the quail yard and another one on "the road near the house. 

 I thiok she is now nesting again regularly. Another quail 

 hatched fifteen or sixteen eggs under a buuch of hay within 

 three feet of a path where children were passing at all times 

 of day w. 



Long Island, August 1. 



FdUar Forrest and Stream: 



In the faU of 1883 I bought 75 live quail, intending to care 

 for them until spring and then put them out for the purpose 

 of affording increased sport in the following fall. Mr. Frank 

 Crompton having taken a notion to the birds aoTeed to care 

 for them, and before putting them oiU in, the spiano; expressed 

 a desire to try the experiment of breeding them iii captivity. 

 We selected two pair, built in a secluded part of his yard a 



large wire cage inclosing a few bushes and leaving the ground 



bare. 



The birds were placed therein and agreed nicely for two 

 months, but nesting season coming on they commenced 

 fighting, and eventually one of the male birds killed the 

 other one. His loss was replaced by another bird and the 

 cage was divided by a wire screen, leaving a pair on each 

 side. They seemed inclined to fight for a while, but ulti- 

 mately commenced nest building, and one of the birds laid 

 thh-teen eggs and was about sitting when a heavy shower 

 washed the nest out and scattered the eggs. We gathered 

 ihcm up afterward and placed them under a bantam apd 

 they hatched out, but all the chicks made their escape. 



That summer the female bird that had laid the eggs died, 

 and the following fall one of the male birds died. The next 

 spring the remaining pair mated, and the female bird built 

 a nest and laid the same number of eggs as before, thirteen, 

 and commenced sitting on them; but in three or four days 

 she was taken sick and died. During her sickness and after 

 her death the male bird manifested some very singular char^ 

 acteristics. When she was dumpish he would pluck her 

 feathers, seemingly endeavoring to encourage her, and aftei' 

 she died he would smooth her feathers with his bill; then he 

 tried to brace her up, and would run away and call her, 

 made cpieer noises, etc. Eventually he seemed to realize her 

 death, for he betook himself over to a corner of the cage, 

 where he scratched a hole. Returning to the dead bird by a 

 number of backward movements of the feet, he kicked her 

 body over to the hole and covered her up, leaving only one 

 of the long wing feathers of one wing uncovered, after 

 which, without further demonstration, he returned to the 

 nest and persisted in sitting on the eggs, and at the end of 

 thi-ee weeks to a day (Friday. July 34) he has brought out 

 the brood of nine young quail. They can be seen by any 

 one desiring to do so at Mr. Frank Crompton's, Main street, 

 BcUeville, N. J. One egg was bad and three were missing. 



Jno. H. Osborne. 



Domesticating Wildfowl.— Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y., 

 July 25. — Editor Forest and Stream: My birds have not laid 

 an egg this season. The wood ducks and mandarius were 

 coupfing all winter and spring, but the mallards and pintails 

 showed no disposition to do so. At one lime it seemed as if 

 the drake widgeon and the female green-winged teal were 

 about to strike up a match, but nothing came of it. The 

 birds have a run in the yard which contains two fine pools 

 of spring water, each 40x20 feet, with mud, sand, gravel 

 and water plants; there are shade and grass also. They 

 have been fed corn, wheat and buckwheat, and it is possible 

 that they may be too fat to lay. They are very tame and 

 come to the call. As 1 have had wood ducks lay in closer 

 confinement than these are in, it is somewhat of a puzzle 

 why they have not laid. Last year the minks killed off my 

 flock in March , but this year the birds were housed at night, 

 and there has been no loss from animals. The result thia 

 season will not prevent still further trials in the direction of 

 breeding our beautiful wildfowl, and I will add to my flock 

 if occasion offers. Most of the birds are now in summer 

 plumage, and have lost their beauty for a time, but this is 

 not the case with the mallard and pintail drakes, which do 

 not seem to have changed. The male wood ducks have lost 

 their brilliant plumage, while the drake mandarin, the hand* 

 somest duck that swims, looks like his sober mate, with the 

 exception of a red tint on his biU. — Fbei* Mather. 



Prairie Dogs and Wateb.— Danbury, Conn,, July 30. 

 — Editor Forest and Stream:- Mr. W. E. Mallory of this 

 town, formerly a resident of Nebraska, had a pair of these 

 interesting animals sent him last fall to exhibit at our annual 

 fair. Since then he has kept them through the winter in a 

 large crockery hogshead filled with earth and placed in the" 

 cellar, and since warm weather in a cage out of doors, with 

 place for burrowing. They were oifered water on their 

 arrival here, but have never been known to take any, either 

 upsetting the pan or filling it with earth, grass or rubbish. 

 The past six months or more they have had no water what- 

 ever, except such as they obtained from the fruit and vege- 

 table juices of their food, yet they are as well and content 

 as could be imagined. This seems to demonstrate that water 

 is not necessary to their existence. As you have published 

 evidence of their burrowing to water, may it not be that 

 they seek it and its vicinity for some other reason than to 

 drink it? — C. E. Friedmann. 



An English Sparrow Exterminator. — Sergeant Rogers 

 is the keeper of our little Court Square Park, in the center 

 of Memphis. Some one sent him a bird which he calls a 

 stork, captured in Arkansas, and which stalks about the 

 square exactly like Oscar Wilde. The bird is white and 

 looks something hke a crane or heron. It stands about four 

 feet when erect. The remarkable feature about it is that it 

 has declined to eat all food offered to it, and sustains itself 

 by gobbling up Enghsh sparrows, which it approaches 

 stealthily and seizes by a quick stroke of the bill, swallowing 

 them headforemost. It has eaten no other food for more 

 than a month. — Coahoma (Memphis, Tenn.). 



Swallow HrBEBNATiON.— AHunnewell'sPoint,Me., cor- 

 respopdent writes, ' T am informed that you offer a reward 

 of one thousand dollars for satisfactory proof that swallows 

 hibernate in the mud. There is an old gentleman here, who 

 is reliable, who is ready to produce satisfactory proof, and 

 will do so next; winter for the above-named reward or forfeit 

 one hundred dollars." If we ever did offer any such prize 

 it was a long time ago, and we have forgotten all about it. 

 Perhaps the hoop-snake prize is the one referred to. 



Dr. Thaddeus S. Updegrapf, chief of the staff of the 

 Surgical Institute at Eimira, died last Monday, aged 46 

 years. He was an eminent microscopist, and two years ago 

 was made a Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society of 

 England. He was an angler and an anghng writer. The 

 Forest and Stream, in former years, published several 

 communications from his pen. His book, "Bodines, (wr 

 Camping on the Lycoming," contains some of these papers. 



A correspondent of the Los Angeles (CaJ.) Times reports 

 that along the southern coast of Mexico the people have a 

 habit of inoculating themselves with the vims of the rattle- 

 snake or adder, which rendei-s them absolutely safe forever 

 aftei-wards fi-om the bite or sting of the deadhest i-eptiles. 



