124 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 9, 1886_ 



limb of a tree, rarely a dead log or the roots of an 

 overt-urned tree or even the low dead biishes. Sometimes 

 the birds sing while clinging to the dead bark of a dead 

 pine in a manner similar to that of the prairie warbler. 

 From these situations it drops to a place of concealment 

 on the slightest sign of alarm, wliere it remains concealed, 

 or, if the underbrush is thick it can be heard again 

 several rods a way singing in mockery. It is a very sus- 

 picious, timid bird, and I do not know of any other species 

 unless it be the winter wren which will cause one the 

 trouble that this one will. Tlie birds often perch all of 

 50ft. from the ground where they can be plauily seen and 

 heard, a peculiarity which is not shared by the yellow- 

 throat excepting in rare mstances, when that liandsome 

 fellow conceals himseh in the thickly f oliaged branches 

 neai' woods. In only two instances have I observed a 

 mourning in live trees. 



The iVIaryland yellow-throat is nearly always confined 

 to moist tracts or m their immediate ^-icinity, while its 

 cousin evidently prefers higher ground. Most of the 

 specimens that I have taken were near pines and among 

 stumps and bushes, and always, with few exceptions, on 

 sandy or clay soil. I have as yet learned nothing of their 

 breeding habits, but am positive that they conceal their 

 nests among the rubbish of a newly cleared tract and un- 

 doubtedly on the ground. 



63. Geofhiypis trichas (Linn.) Caban — Maryland yel- 

 low-throat. 



Arrives from April 20 in early seasons to May 9 in late 

 springs. It appears musical on its arri^^al and is oftener 

 heard in the brush the first time than it is seen, its habits 

 being retired. After a few days it is less sliy, and fre- 

 quently loerches in open sight while feeding. The yellow- 

 throat prefers low ground, covered ^vith rank grass, wil- 

 lows and brush, but is oftener observed on liigher land in 

 thickets of lilackberry and raspberry bushes. 



It breeds plentifully in bushy tracts, low sections cov- 

 ered with rank grass and on the edges of deep forests 

 usuall.y of heavy gi-owth, and sometimes in the depth of 

 deep woods. The nests are rarely found, considering the 

 abundance of species. The nesting habits are, however, 

 so well known that a description is not necessary. The 

 nest is usually placed on the ground or near it, but I have 

 found it quite four feet from the ground, placed in a 

 small bush. 



The bu'ds are f oimd abundant as far north as 44° noi'th 

 latitude, but further north become scarce in this State. 

 I have no list from the upper peninsula which embrace 

 it, but I saw one on Mount St. Marie, 46" 30' north and 

 84° 30' west. At Mackinaw City, 45^ 40' north, I found it 

 not rare. In early October the bhds move to the south, 

 silently skipping from bush to bush, or sneaking tlu-ough 

 the grass and brush in the manner of the winter aatcu, 

 and ai'e rarely observed at that time. 



64. Icteria virens (Linn.) Baixd. — Yellow-breasted chat. 

 A rare species and only recorded by three observers in 



the State. Jerome Ti-ombley writes me that it first ap- 

 peared in Mom-oe count3\ the extreme southeast portion 

 of Michigan, in the sprtng of 1875; rather commong in 

 1877. secm-ed two sets of eggs, but none seen in 1878. Mr. 

 A. H. Boies saw it in 1880, May 31. Later he says: "The 

 yellow-breasted chat frequents this loeahty (Tludson, 

 Mich.), the extreme southern tier of counties of the State." 

 The late Dr. H, A. Atkins, of Ingham county, says: "Quite 

 common till Oct. 2, 1876 and not seen since.'" 



The nests are not difficult to find, according to Mr. 

 Trombley, but to the general collectors of Michigan out- 

 side of the gentlemen mentioned, the species is not known. 



BIRD NOTES. 



CLEVELAND, C, August 31. Early this morning I 

 heard the sliarp chink of the bobolink. Looking out 

 of the window I saw a flock passing off to the southwest; 

 during the day I saw several more fljang in the same 

 direction, though I Avas not on the lookout. Tliis is some 

 two weeks earMer than then migration last year. I 

 noticed it at that time because it is so unusual for this 

 bird to migrate by day. We hear from various parts of 

 the country that the bobolink is becoming quite scarce 

 and from some localities where once abundant has now 

 entirely disappeared. This seems to be the condition in 

 our vicinity where a few years since liis jolly jmgling 

 notes could be heard in the spring time over every meadow. 

 A traveling huckster here, who deals in poultry, eggs 

 and butter, and coUects his merchandise from fanners for 

 tlurty miles around, inquired of me the other day to know 

 what had become of all the bobolinks. Says he, "Wlien I 

 commenced driving around the country fifteen years ago 

 collecting ti'uck for market, they were in every meadow 

 as soon as the timothy was well up. I often used to stop 

 my horse to see them dance and sing, tliey were so 

 amusing, but I don't see any of these to-day, not a one 

 this season." Like the pigeon and vrild turkey, must this 

 harmless and most interesting of all our song bnds go to? 

 What is the market price of "i-eed birds and rice birds" 

 dressed for the table? 9:80 P. M.— Just as I was about to 

 close tins letter we have had tlu-ee distinct shocks of an 

 earthquake— coming apparently from the southeast — so 

 distinct as to coimt between the shocks of about ^ second 

 each. The brick house cracked like the timbers of a ship 

 in a slight liu'ch. It is a most complete specimen of the 

 kind we have ever had here.— Dr. E. Sterling. 



AaAWAM, Mass. , Aug. 30. — ^I wish to thank you for 

 what the Audubon Society has done for the protection of 

 the song birds. As there are several large trees near the 

 house and directly in the line of their flight I have a good 

 opportunity for observation, and I have been much grati- 

 fied to note this increase. A pair of meadow larks have 

 this summer nested rindistm-bed near the house and spent 

 a pai-t of each morning singing in the trees in the door 

 yard, very much to my delectation. They were followed 

 by the yellow-hammer, whose note, though not so sweet, 

 yet is so free and joyous I always love to hear liim, and 

 now the trees are visited by everything in tm-n, from the 

 crow to the vrren. I think one reason for tliis is there has 

 not been a gun discharged near the house this summer. 

 I am not a member of the Audubon Society as I cannot 

 keep my ha.nds olf of old crows. I can forgive the owls 

 and bear with the hawks, and thought I could with the 

 crow, but I saw him come three times one day after a 

 nest of bluebhds that were too far into the hollow of a 

 tree for him to reach; suice then the lead finds him when- 

 ever I can make it. A small flock of wild geese passed 

 over here southward, Aug, 3. Is that not early ?— Pine 

 Tree. 



LOBSTER'S CLAWS. 



Editor Forest and Stream,: 



Which is the lobster's larger claw, the right one or the 

 left? I had seen thousands of lobsters, and could have 

 answered that question ofl'-liand, until I happened to 

 notice the lobster plate in the United States Fish Com- 

 mission's book on "Fishing Industries." The larger claw 

 figured there is on the left. It struck me that it must be 

 wrong, for tlie larger claw of my big 29-^in. lobster is 

 on the rig lit. Upon investigation I flud that the crus- 

 taceans are ambidextrous. Of a hxmdred specimens fifty 

 may have a larger right claw, and the other fifty a larger 

 left claw. And one funny thing about it is, that the 

 oldest lobster dealers here in Boston, men who have han- 

 dled their thousands and tens of thousands of the crea- 

 tures, had never observed this idiosyncracy. The facts 

 may be familiar to some of your readers, but I have 

 found no one who had observed them. It occurred to me 

 that sex might have something to do with it, but this 

 proves not to be the case. F. R. Shattuck. 



Boston, Mass. 



The Toledo Eaglets.— East Toledo, O., Aug. 39. The 

 young American eagle is a great pet. By constant care 

 and attention my wife has taught the bird to eat bread 

 and milk and potatoes, and nearly everything we have 

 on the dinmg table. The old bnds have never been 

 known to eat anything but fish and fresh meats. We 

 measm-ed the young eagle to-day; it measures from tip 

 to tip across the wings Tft. Sin. , bemg oin. more than the 

 mother bird. It was four months old on the 26th inst. — 

 Henry Hulce. 



English Curlew in Connecticut.— The New Haven, 

 Conn,, Register, Aug. 27, reported; A very peculiar bu-d 

 for these latitudes was shot by Capt. Ludington, of tlie 

 watch house, on the beach in the harbor yesterday. It 

 was a beautiful English curlew, 3ft. in length, 2ft.'^ high 

 a,nd ha ving a bill 9in. long. The bottom of its wings was 

 fawn colored and its back a mottled gray. 



"That reminds me." 

 187. 



IN 188 — I was engaged in clearing off and building a 

 house upon a cattle range in northern California. 

 The location was in the mountains of a northern county 

 of the State, and my camp was upon a small sti-eam in an 

 obscure jimgle of undergrowth and forest. Great mountain 

 lidges rose on every side and sloped away and upward 

 covered with dense thickets and evergreen timber. There 

 were deep canons and rocky ravines, and altogether it 

 was a wild place indeed, and no one lived within miles of 

 it. There were deer, bears, grouse, foxes, rattlesnakes, 

 mosquitoes, scorpions and a large and miscellaneous as- 

 sortment of other bisects and animalcules in the region, 

 I employed several men and among them was a burly 

 individual ^vith a very emphatic and conspicuous com- 

 plexion whose name was Addison Madison Anderson; 

 we only called him Add, however. Add was a good cook 

 and a good darky generally, only he was afraid of every- 

 thing ill the oods, and was so A ery, very black that he 

 was actually startling. He was wont to wonder himself 

 at the brilliancy of his own complexion , and often re- 

 marked that he "was blacker than "anything he ever see." 

 He slept in a tent until he found a scorpion in his bedding, 

 then he fixed up a bunk on some logs and poles, and slept 

 there. One evening lie found a rattlesnake under the 

 logs and he moved back to the tent and quit sleeping. 



But Add was more afraid of bears than anything else, 

 and we could Irardly convince him that there were none 

 in the region. He wanted to believe us but he was 

 always investigating from a careful distance all sus- 

 picious looking objects about camp. Some time passed, 

 howev(n-, and l]c failed to detect a single liear. so he rested 

 easier. One day he surprised the camp by aimouncing 

 that he was going hunting. "Say, boss," said he, "I'se 

 gwine over the hill foh some ven'zen. It am pos'ble I'll 

 bring ole Uncle Cirffey inter camp, but I'se not huntin' 

 for no b'ar; an' see heah, boss, ef yo' see two dark objeks 

 cum inter camp a mnnin' doan' yo' shoot the fust one case 

 it wiU be this niggah." And he took a gun and was off. 



He was out perhaps two hom-s and came in with a very 

 solemn expression upon Iris face, and began to roll up his 

 blankets vathout a word, I asked him Avhat he was up 

 t(j, "Haint up to nothin' only I'se gwine. It ain't no use 

 in me stopping heah. I jus' went one mile an' seed fo' 

 b'ars, un cum bout ten mile ter get ter camp. It ain't no 

 use, I doan' want no b'ar, aii I'se gwine, I doan't stop in 

 no place like dis yer, N'vith no house an' where rattles an' 

 insex an' b'ar an' all such paraffernalia is roun'. Oh, I'se 

 gwine from heah!" And Addison went, Esau. 

 Shasta, Cal. 



188. 



One of tlie "wards of the nation," full fledged, entered 

 the gun store of Wm. Wag-ner on, Capitol Hill, yesterday, 

 and" asked to be shown some breechloading shotguns. 

 Mr. W, showed him one of the lowest grade, price |10. 

 After a hast}^ examination he fairly took away the breatli 

 of oui- genial "Billv" by exclaiming, "Look heali, boss, I s 

 berry 'ticular w^hat I shoots, I wants one of dese guns wat 

 has lamented bar'ls and subordinate locks." It is netidless 

 to say that he was fm-nished wdth a gun ha,ving lammated 

 steel barrels and rebounding locks, Mark Right. 



Washington, D. C, Sopt. 1. ^ 



189. 



'^ii: Z. B. Brown, owner of the Union Trotting Park, of 

 Simsbury, Conn., a couple of yeai-s ago, with James Kelley 

 tried a practical joke upon the sportsmen there by mak- 

 ing a wooden duck and anchoring it in a pond upon his 

 premises. The duck, when shot, was so constructed that 

 it would sink for a tune and then reappear. Allerson 

 Farnliara. a crack shot near there, shot at it seven times 

 in one day and did not bag the game. The duck was shot 

 at about fifty times rmtil it was so fuU of lead that it uiade 

 its last dive and was found m mowing time. When 

 weighed it proved 31bs. heavier than at first. The pond 

 was a mo^ving lot that was flowed dming winter and 

 early spring. The duck was placed in position in the 

 night, the proprietor using one of his bam doors as a raft 

 to sail out with. 



CTlASTONBtTRY, COMl. 



mm md 0ntf. 



Achl/rm all mrmnunications to the Forest nnd Stream Piib. Co. 



GAME PRESERVING IN BRITAIN. 



IV. — THE GAilE OF THE WOODS. 



IN om- woods and coverts we have some excellent game, 

 birds, the pheasant holding premier place, woodcock 

 and the capercadlzie being also included in this division. 



The pheasant wliich ^ve recognize as the common Eiig- 

 hshbu-d of that name is PJiasiaiiiis coIcJucus and its vari- 

 eties, but besides these there are in covert throughout the 

 length and breadth of tlie land many other breeds and 

 cross breeds of PJiasianits, few of them pure and mo.st of 

 them crosses between coJchicus and other rarer breeds. 

 The following list shows the true breeds of pjheastmts 

 which, some in comparative plenty, others in equal 

 scarcity, may at various times be shot in the woods and 

 coveiis of Britain, although perhaps in many instances 

 the true-bred birds are only there as parent stock for 

 futm-e breeding and by no means for the edification of the 

 gtmner. The list is as follows: 



1. Common pheasant (Phasiamis colcliieus). 



2. Bohemian pheasant {Phasianus colcldeus, var.). 



3. Hybrid pheasant (Bohemian and Reeves's pheasant). 



4. Chinese pheasant and varieties {Phasiarms torqua- 

 tus). 



5. Reeves's pheasant (P. reeoesii). 



6. Japanese pheasant (P. vertiicoloi^. 



7. Soemmering's pheasant (P. soenimeringii). 



As will he seen, the variety is large, but of these only 

 one or two, the first three chiefly, exist in numbers sufii- 

 ciently lai-ge to warrant them being regarded as English 

 game birds. In addition to these we hreed and rear a 

 further considerable number of allied species in aviaries, 

 sometimes turning them down in the coverts as crosses 

 for tlie common variety. Interesting as are all these dif- 

 ferent birds, I cannot iii the Hmits of a newspaper article 

 enter into detafl concerning them all, and must content 

 myself with the common pheasant hi this respect. The 

 habits all of them are much akin, the most extreme vari- 

 ances being of but little importance, so that in sketching 

 the life history of colcliieus I shall, to all intents and pur- 

 poses, be doing the same for all of them. 



The haimts and habits of the bird render it particularly 

 suitable to the game preserves of modern Britain, more 

 even than was the case in the jiast, and we now find it 

 more or less plentifully established all tlrroughout Eng- 

 land and Wales, fah-l.y distributed over Ireland, and irreg- 

 ularly plentiful in Scotland as tar north as Sutherland's 

 line, the northernmost coimty but one of the kmgdom. 

 In a wild, untrammeled state, it appears quite able to 

 maintain itself in fair numbers in any moderately suitable 

 district, while wlien submitted to a system of preserva- 

 tion there is scarcely any limit to the increase of its 

 numliers. 



The pheasant prefers a well-wooded, semi-agricultm-al 

 country, where old woodland and new plantation, rough, 

 broken upland and occasional cultivated fields alternate. 

 It will, however, thrive anywhere, where reasonable 

 cover offers for it, whether it" be m the clearly wooded, 

 boulder-strewn, inhospitable highland, or in the regular 

 formed fields and plantations of a south country preserve. 



The haimts of the plicasant, A\'ild and impreser\ ed, in 

 Britain are chosen in proximity to woods and plantations, 

 those of the latter being most in request Avhere the under- 

 growth is thick and small bushes, bramble, shrubs and 

 brake provide a close-fitting co\-er to the earth beneath 

 the elevated canopy oi' tlie forest trees. Besides these 

 places the pheasa nt in its natural state will frequent small 

 coppices and woods, also the copse resulting from the fell- 

 ing of larger wo(ids, be.sides occasionally taking up its 

 aliode in gorse and heather and bracken clad brakes and 

 downs such as we have many in England. In wide 

 open expanses they are thickly cdothed with fern, 

 bramble and thorn, besides the gorse and heather afore- 

 said. Here and there small clumps of small bushy trees 

 Avill break the monotony, and ui parts open spaces of 

 varying extent will provide bright, close green turf where 

 the nimble, rabbit may disport himself. 



It will be seen, therefore, that the range of locality 

 suitable to pheasants' wants is very extensive in Britain, 

 and its exceeding abundance therefore is quite reasonable 



Unlike many gaudy birds, the pheasant is of retiring 

 nature, concealing itself, as a rule, somewhere among the 

 covert it frequents during the day time, choosing for its 

 feeding times the houi-s beginning and ending the day, 

 and employing itseh' at odd times as its fancy may dic- 

 tate in irregularly foraging in its particular haunts. Its 

 feeding grounds are, however, well defined and at various 

 distances from its place of roost. When |jroceedmg to or 

 leaving these feeding groimds, it invariably adopts a ter- 

 restial path, following the same course day after day 

 until such becomes quite defined. It is a particularly 

 quiet bn-d in disti-icts agreeable to its tastes, and if the 

 smTOundiugs be considered desirable it will adhere to 

 them with almost singxilar perseverance; while on the 

 other hand, if they be not held m good esteem, nothing 

 seems to be able flo restrain the bnd witlnn such undesir- 

 able haunts. , . . , 



In the intervals between its meals, it has fairly close m 

 the wood or covert, wandering around always in a well 

 defined circumscribed area which, if undisturbed it will 

 but rarely pass fi-om. It is a l;)ird careful of its toilet and 

 much given to sunning and dustmg itself, and in wet 

 weather keeps itself remarkably dry and trim for so large 

 and so heavily feafhered a bu'd, 



AVhen night comes on, it retires, during the larger por- 

 tion of the year to roost upon some tree, choosing always 

 as the actual spot where its night's rest is gained, a branch 

 as nearly horizontal as possible. Chief among the trees 

 favored by this game bird is the larch-fir, a tree, by the 

 way, singularly ill-suited to the protection of the bird 

 from weather or poachers. Spruce-fir comes next, and it 

 is in the respects mentioned certainly more desii-able, be- 

 ing so close and dark in growth that even in daytime it 

 is almost impossible to discover a bird at roost among its 

 branches. Ash. oak, holly, plane and other forest ti-ees 

 also come into request, holly ti-ees always being chosen by 

 the pheasants, and in coverts where they are merely occa- 

 sional they f urnish a sure find of a pheasant at night. 

 These game bu-ds do not, as a rule, roost side by side as do 

 fowls; "but they always sit up pretty close to one another, 

 so that, if you find one bird roosting, it is almost certain 



