July 15, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



487 



blank to be obtained at the desk of the local committee. 

 Members of the club will be provided with a suitable badge. 

 Special arrangements will be made by which the botanists 

 can visit some interesting collecting field during the long 

 excursion on Saturday. A special excursion will be given 

 the club to some poiut in the vicinity of Buffalo; the date 

 and place will be announced hereafter. The botanists of 

 Buffalo have other plans for the entertainment of their 

 guests, which are not sufficiently mature to announce. For 

 further information address Dr. J. 0. Arthur, Secretary 

 of the club, Geneva, N Y. 



The Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science 

 will hold its seventh annual meeting in Buffalo, beginning 

 on Tuesday, August 17. For further information address 

 Dr. Byron D. Halsted, Secretary, Ames, Iowa. 



THE AUDUBON SOCIETY. 



AT a meeting of the Cincinnati Natural History Society, 

 held Tuesday, July 6, the following report of the Com- 

 mittee on Destruction of Native Birds was submitted to the 

 Society and adopted: 



Your committee report as follows in the matter submitted 

 to them, and state that they have carefully investigated the 

 subject of the destruction of our native birds, and several 

 papers have been prepared and read at three meetings of this 

 Society. They find ; 



First — That native birds of many species have greatly 

 decreased in numbers over large areas of the country. This 

 is partly true of those water and game birds about which it 

 is comparatively easy to obtain statistics. 



Second — That the chief cause of such decrease, in additiou 

 to climatic changes, natural enemies, clearing up the coun- 

 try, etc., are the direct destruction of birds for their skins 

 and feathers for decorative and millinery uses, the trapping 

 of birds for cage purposes, the destruction of eggs aud nests 

 by men and boys, and the introduction of the European 

 sparrow {Pmsvr domestious), which occupies the nesting 

 places of many species. Three of these causes are prevent- 

 able, and the evil results can be greatly lessened, first, if no 

 birds be used for decorations; second, if none of the song 

 birds and insectivorous species be used for food ; third, if the 

 laws protecting certain species be backed by stronger public 

 opinion and be more rigidly enforced; fourth, if thoughtless 

 men and boys could be shown the great economic value of 

 birds and taught the desirability of protecting them and their 

 eggs. 



Your committee find that a widespread discussion of the 

 bird question shows more interest iu "our feathered friends" 

 than they had hoped for, and they trust that Cuvier clubs, 

 Audubon societies and other clubs of like aims will continue 

 to flourish on all sides until public sentiment is entirely 

 opposed to the destruction of our native birds. 



A Black Prairie Dog.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 During a recent visit to the West I saw at Laramie, 

 Wyoming Territory, a black prairie dog. The animal was 

 captured within four or five miles of L irainie, and while on 

 exhibition at that town attracted a great deal of attention 

 from old plainsmen and mountaineers, none of whom seemed 

 to have ever seen a similar specimen. It was almost entirely 

 jet black, though on the flanks and haunches the color 

 changed to very deep, rich brown. The tip of the tail was 

 much paler — almost fawn color — and the tip of the chin was 

 grizzled, just as is often the case with the chin of an aged 

 black dog. It is not certain to which species of prairie dog 

 the animal belongs. The ranges of G. hidovicianus and 0. 

 guunuonii overlap here, and both animals are common. The 

 appearance of this melaaistic individual leads me to think 

 it probable that it was G gunnisonii, as it had to my eye the 

 somewhat more delicate and graceful form of the species, 

 but it was impossible to definitely determine the point. — 

 G. B. G. (New York, July 5). 



European Gold Finch in New York.— I am informed 

 by Mr. W. A. Conklin, of the Central Park menagerie, New 

 York city, that the European gold finch (Garduelis elegans) 

 first appeared in the Park iu 1879, having probably crossed 

 the Hudson River from Hoboken, N. J., where some birds 

 had been set at liberty the previous year. The species is 

 now common and apparently resident. On April 20, 1886, 

 I discovered in precisely similar situations, two nests, one of 

 which containing five fresh eggs has been forwarded to the 

 Smithsonian Institution. It was placed in a pine tree, rest- 

 ing among the tufts of long needles near the end of a slender 

 horizontal limb, some twelve feet from the ground. The 

 species seems to be gradually extending its range, as on May 

 23, 1886, I met with a pair occupying a clump of pines six 

 or seven miles to the northward. — E. T. Adney in July Auk. 



Elk Antlers.— Chehalis, Washington Teritory.— I send 

 you dimensions of an elk's head and horns in my possession. 

 The animal was killed just before shedding the velvet, which 

 makes them look magnificent. Dimensions: ^Face, from 

 back of ears to tip of nose, 27 inches; butt of horns, 13 inches 

 in circumference; spread of horns in widest part, 43 inches; 

 6 tines on each beam; from point of brow antler to top of 

 horns, 53 inches; distance across from tip to tip, 37£ inches; 

 distance between eyes, 10 inches; weight, about 50 pounds; 

 being in velvet they are lighter than if rubbed.— W. G.' 

 Mercier. 



Bright Feathers and Bright Foliage. — Lawrence, 

 Maas., June 22.— The jay is a nicer bird than I thought he 

 was. I won't shoot any more. He has a bad name among 

 us boys, though. But late in the fall, when the wild grape 

 is ripe, and everything is golden and the maples afire, I 

 would not miss him for a good deal as he goes flashing 

 through the woods like a blue flame, now screaming like 

 wild and once in a while making the sweetest sound, which 

 I can't compare to anything but a bell, and a mighty sweet- 

 sounding one at that. — O. Fred Newbert. 



Shower of Fish —Mr. W. L. May, Fish Commissioner 

 of Nebraska, has shown us a bottle of small fish of an inch 

 in length, which were picked up in the streets of Harvard, 

 Neb., after a heavy rain and a cyclone, on June 14. The 

 fish were identified by Dr. Bean as the fat head or black-head 

 minnow {PimepMles promelas), a common species in the 

 Ohio valley and upper Missouri. The fish are reported by 

 Mr. May as having been very plentiful in the streets. 



Occurrence op the Ivory Gdll at Halifax. — A young 

 bird in immature plumage was shot recently on the coast of 

 Halifax county and is now in the possession of Mr. Thos. 

 Egan, taxidermist of this city.— J. Mathew Jones (Halifax, 

 N. S., July 9). 



Birds of Central Park— Correction.— Litchfield, 

 Conn., June 20, 1886.— Editor Forest and Stream: From an 

 oversight on our part, the dates in reference to the occur- 

 rence of the yellow-bellied flycatcher ( Empidonax flaviven- 

 tris), in Central Park, are incorrect. The species in ques- 

 tion was observed by Mr. Adney on May 10, 1886. We 

 trust that this correction may appear in your columns as 

 soon as possible.— L. B. Woodruff, A. G* Paine, Jr. 

 [This note, owing to erroneous direction, was not received 

 until, last week.] 



§zg m\i §mj. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE TRAJECTORY TEST. 



'TVHE full report of the Forest and Stream's trajectory test of hunt- 

 ing rifles has been issued in pamphlet form, with the illustra- 

 tions and the tabular summary, making in all 96 pmges. For sale at 

 this office, or sent post-paid. Price 50 cents. 



WOODCOCK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



If 1 were to relate what I do not kno^-'^to this dreamy, 

 mysterious and charming game birdeeche.«, linns airne more 

 space in your valuable journal than jks of rocks huuclnrd to 

 spare me; hence, if you please, I tthut in our train amy 

 experiences with the sober, Quaker-I the bottom^of g deepjr 

 pencils than mine the extensive task-'Ct fringg up lue canvas 

 and making the perfect picture. 



Our first intimate acquaintance '% om many years ago, 

 when I was a boy of eight or nine /Ears. It happened in 

 this way. One of my duties at that time was to "drive and 

 fetch" an old brinrile cow to and from the rocky pasture lot 

 in my native town in Connecticut. One morning in early 

 June, after seeing the old cow safely behind the "bars" in 

 the lot, I started to cross an old mowing field in which the 

 grass was quite light, and scattered here and there were 

 many venerable apple trees, and a few hickory trees which 

 had been left stanuing on account of the choice quality of 

 the nuts they bore, while the fence surrounding the field was 

 fringed with hazelnut hushes, weeds and briers of various 

 kinds As I sprang from the fence and landed beyond the 

 bushes, a woodcock started up in front of me almost at my 

 feet and fluttered and tumbled off a few rods and almost 

 turning a summersault settled apparently helpless in the 

 grass. 



Thinking it a crippled bird, boylike I darted after it, ex- 

 pecting an easy matter to make a capture, but in this con- 

 clusion I failed to consult the biid, for when I arrived within 

 a few feet of her she seemed quickly to recover and easily 

 eluded my grasp, but still fluttering and tumbling off as 

 before, but a short distance again fell apparently exhausted. 

 I increased my speed and made a dive in the grass where I 

 had seen her fall, intending to cover her with my body, but 

 again I was foiled by seeing her dart out just in time to 

 escape me, when she again repeated the fluttering and tumbl- 

 ing act. By this time an idea struck me that I was being 

 fooled by that sedate and simple bird, and she was leading 

 and enticing me away from something she held dearer thau 

 her life; so retracing my steps to where I had jumped from 

 the fence, in the merest apology for a nest composed of a 

 few leaves and blades of dry grass there lay the objects of 

 her anxiety, two young birds, evidently but a few days old, 

 so young as to make no effort to run or walk, and evidently 

 relying on instinct by the "tricks that were vain" (in this in- 

 stance) of their mother to shield them from observation and 

 harm. I did not touch nor disturb them, but sat gaeing at 

 their tenderness and simplicity for a few moments, when the 

 old bird came flying back, but on discovering me immediately 

 sank into the grass but a few feet distant and began her 

 blandishments to allure me again to take up the chase. I 

 shall never forget the brave and tender devotion of that 

 mother to her young brood, or the artful wiles she adopted 

 to shield them. After satisfying my curiosity I departed, 

 leaving the young birds as I had found them. 



The next morning I called to take another view of the 

 young innocents, but they were gone. Probably the parent 

 removed them during my absence, and if so, how? Or did 

 they gain strength (which seemed to me improbable) and fol- 

 low the mother to a new and more secluded home? Or 

 were they devoured by hawk or fox? are queries I never 

 could answer satisfactorily to my own mind. I have always 

 had the impression that the parent bird in some way removed 

 them. As this was the only woodcock nest I ever saw, and 

 though I have been shooting this delicious and mysterious 

 bird ever since, this simple sketch contains about all I know 

 about woodcock. I should have said that this nest was 

 located fully a quarter of a mile from any water, marsh or 

 swamp, on high and dry ground; and though I am inclined 

 now to believe that they usually breed near or in such places, 

 this is the only positive evidence I have that they do not. 



I used to be foolish enough to shoot the dear things in 

 July, but have long since abandoned the pernicious practice. 

 The last time I was guilty of this vile business was in com- 

 pany of my old friend Comf (now gone hence), and but for 

 him I might then have lost my life, for he found me stretched 

 under the shade of a tree overcome by the heat, and he ran 

 nearly half a mile to the nearest spring, bringing his old felt 

 hat full of cool water with which he bathed my head and 

 hands and moistened my lips, reviving me sufficiently to 

 enable me to reach home, and I have never attempted it since 

 at that season of the year, not alone on account of the dis- 

 comfort to myself, which generally overbalances the sport 

 derived, but because the old birds are as unfit for food as a 

 sitting hen, and the young ones are frequently half grown, 

 soft and flabby, not having the strength to fly so as to make 

 a creditable target for a true sportsman, and when shot, 

 wrap them in fresh leaves and lay them as carefully as you 

 may in your pockets, more than likely when you get home 

 the poor things will have become spoiled or fly-blown. For 

 the best interest of sportsmen and birds, no woodcock should 

 be shot before the first of October. 



I have watched their coming in the early spring, and once 

 handled a bird that had met its death by flying against a 

 wagon early one morning near the last of February in 

 Queens county, Long Island. I have followed them in their 

 secluded haunts amid the alders where the soft, springy 

 ground was covered thick with ferns and the broad leaves of 

 wild cabbage; and again during the last of July and August, 

 have found them while moulting in the cornfield nearest to 

 their feeding ground; but from the 15th of October to the 



15th of November is the only time that affords good sport 

 and really good birds, for they are then strong and healthy, 

 making an honest target for the sportsman, and a true lux- 

 ury for the table. 



Speaking of strong flyers leads me to inquire if everybody 

 but me knows how far a woodcock can fly without stopping? 

 I confess I do not know. It is well known that many por- 

 tions of Long Island afford excellent breeding ground for 

 woodcock, and that during the month of July they are very 

 plenty in many of the swamps. Do the old birds get there 

 in the spring by crossing from New Jersey north of Sandy 

 Hook, or do they cross the Hudson River, Manhattan Island 

 and the East River? I am sure some cross this way, for I 

 once picked up an exhausted bird that fell in the Seventeenth 

 Ward of Brooklyn, and as I saw it an instant before it fell, 

 the course indicated that it had crossed the East River, and 

 possibly Manhattan Island and the Hudson. But when they 

 leave the island to take their summer vacation further north, 

 do they all take the above indicated routes, or is it possible 

 for them to fly across Long Island Sound? 



That under certain incentives they can fly rapidly, and 

 quite a continuous distance was once illustrated to me in 

 this way: I was hunting in Connecticut late in the evening 

 on one of those still Indian summer days in October, and had 

 just gained the summit of a ridge overlooking a broad swamp 

 of alders and low underbrush, when a small sparrow hawk 

 darted from a bush near by toward the ground in front of 

 me; at the same instaut a woodcock started up, disclosing at 

 once the object of the wily hawk; and here began a race 

 that so much surprised me that I forgot I had a gun, and I 

 doubt much if the shot would have overtaken them, so 

 rapidly did they put distance between us. They were a little 

 below my line of vision, and I judged the woodcock to be 

 ten or fifteen feet in advance, both flying in a direct line 

 above the underbrush in the swamp beyond, as though they 

 had been shot from a gun. In the few seconds I watched 

 them they did not swerve to the right or to the left, but 

 rapidly dwindled in size till they were lost to my vision iu 

 the hazy atmosphere ere the hawk had caught his prey or 

 they had reached the ridge beyond, which 1 judged to be 

 half a mile away. I stood musing a moment wondering 

 whether that sparrow hawk had woodcock for supper, or 

 whether the woodcock was quietly congratulating himself 

 on winning the race for dear life. I confess I hoped for the 

 latter to be true. I was surprised at the whole transaction, 

 surprised that the woodcock did not sink into the cover of 

 the swamp below, and surprised at the distance he hV-w, 

 and abov* all at the rapidity with which he measured it off. 

 It satisfied me that a woodcock has a few "extra links to 

 let out" on important occasions, and this seemed to be one. 



In regard to the lateness with which these birds tarry at 

 the north, I can only say that one evening near the last of 

 November 1 and Comf stood on a knoll overlooking a small 

 swamp in which our dogs were trying to rustle out a 

 partridge, when I heard a whistling sound iu the air, and ere 

 I had comprehended its source, Gomf'a gun cracked and the 

 bird came down in frout of us. I gathered it, and it was as 

 tine a woodcock as 1 ever handled or ate. Every body knows 

 that a broiled woodcock, shot in the proper season, is good ; 

 in fact, is very good; but everybody may not know that 

 there is another way to cook them which will give them a 

 flavor epicures delight in, and which can be obtained in no 

 other way than this, viz.. dry pick the bird, taking care not 

 to tear the skin. Do not cut it in any way nor remove any- 

 thing from it but the feathers. Wrap it securely in two or 

 three thicknesses of clean, unglazed brown paper; then bury 

 it in hot wood ashes, over which spread a thin layer of live 

 wood coals, and leave it till thoroughly roasted, which will 

 be from fifteen to twenty minutes, according to the degree 

 of heat above and below it. When done, split it open on the 

 back and remove the case of worm-like entrail (for this will 

 be all that wdl remain) together with the outlet. Season 

 with salt and pepper to your taste, and you will find the 

 most delicious flavor it is possible to obtaiu from a wood- 

 cock. Let those who have not already done so, try it some 

 time and report. I never had a stomach for eating the bird 

 after it has become "high," as some are pleased to term it, 

 but prefer my birds fresh and untainted. 



I hope, Mr. Editor, you will persistently continue your 

 valuable efforts to confine the shooting of this charming game 

 bird to the only proper season, which in my experience is 

 during the months of October and November, and thus pre- 

 serve and increase a bird which affords the most delightful 

 sport and delicious food. A. 



PRAIRIE CHICKENS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Prairie chickens are coming along in nice shape. The 

 young chickens will be much larger than usual this season 

 on the beginning of the shooting season, owing to favorable 

 weather for early nesting. 



The Hotel Kittson (R. W. Bloodgett, proprietor) can fur- 

 nish ample accommodations for all that come. W. S. F. 

 Ashby, Minn., July 5. 



A Mysterious Disappearance.— It was an afternoon in 

 August, 1868. I was stock hunting in the hills of Middle 

 Arkansas. Riding along the top of a low ridge and passing 

 through a small clump of bushes I flushed a covey of quail^ 

 and being In no hurry, I got off of my horse to let him graze 

 while I tried my skill at killihg the quad with stones, of 

 which there was a bountiful supply all along the side of the 

 hill. I carried my old muzzleloading rifle in my left hand. 

 When I got within about forty yards of the foot of the hill 

 and stopped to look for the quail, several of which had lit 

 in the trees along the hillside, what should I see but a large 

 buck leisurely walking up the dry bed of the ravine, aud a 

 short distance in the rear was a doe following him. On the 

 instant I had a terrible attack of "fever and ague," that I 

 could not bold myself steady, much less the gun. But then 

 in a few moments my nerves were steadier and I laid ray 

 gun upon the limb of a little tree, and taking deliberate aim 

 at him just behind the shoulder pulled trigger. Instead of 

 hearing the sharp report and seeing the buck make his laBt 

 leap for life, there was a click of The hammer on the tube 

 and the deer stopped stock still and elevated his head just aa 

 old men who wear their glasses near the end of their noses 

 do when trying to get a good look at something at a dis- 

 tance. I eased myself down by the side of the tree and com- 

 menced priming my gun by picking powder into the tube 

 with a pin. It was the work of but a few seconds, and slip- 

 ping another cap on to the tube I rose up aeain;fully expect- 

 ing to see them in full view. But lo! they had vanished. 

 How they got away without my seeing or hearing them has 

 always been a mystery to me, as it was all open oak and hick- 

 ory woods, excepting a few small clumps of bushes here 

 and there along the hollow. — Alpha. 



