Ato. 24, 1895.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



159 



and write up the State. They don't know a good time 

 when they Bee it. Their outfit is new. They think 

 because fish bite in such a place North they will bite in the 

 same kind of a place here; ducks and quail in same look- 

 ing places, and so on. Then we have the sportsman who 

 takes advice and has a good time, and comes down next 

 season he is so well pleased. But such is life, It takes 

 all to make a world, and we could not get along without 

 Mr. Avis, "A Georgia Cracker," "The Florida Cracker" or 

 "the snakes." John E. Harris. 



THIS IS "SINGGAMBLE." 



Editor Forest and Stream*. 



I notice in "In Shintangle Camp, by "Kelpie," a ref- 

 erence to the "Singgamble fire" mentioned in some of my 

 Puget Sound articles, and he wants information as to 

 "what constitutes a singgamble fire." 



For his benefit I will tell about the singgamble as I saw 

 it on the Skokomish River in all its primitive simplicity, 

 with the dense forest of cedar and fir for light. It hap- 

 pened in this wise: 



I was sent out by a Seattle newspaper, in company with 

 one of the staff, with orders to write up and illustrate all 

 the Indian legends, customs and folklore stories we could 

 pump from them. On this trip I made all the illustra- 

 tions for the articles and translated enough Chinook to 

 fill a big book, for I could talk this jargon and my partner 

 said it was too dense for him to even to attempt to learn. 



We had tramped and camped a good many miles with 

 the stoical Siawash, who, by the way, is as good as the 

 average Injun; and at last found ourselves pretty well up 

 the Skokomish River, and on this particular night had 

 camped beside the trail, intending to move down the 

 river in the morning. 



Darkness, thick enough to whittle, had settled down 

 over the densest forest in the world, and, tired out with 

 our tramp, we were sleeping as only outdoor folks can 

 sleep, rolled in our blankets on top of a thick bed of 

 "mountain feathers," when a guttural voice woke me. 

 I lay still and listened. All the conversation was carried 

 on in a mixture of Chinook and genuine Siawash "wawa," 

 and half a dozen voices seemed to be all mixed up over 

 something which I soon made out was a proposed game 

 of chance; in short, the "gamble of the song," or "sing- 

 gamble," as it is called. 



This was an interesting subject, a custom which we 

 might travel many miles before finding again. I woke 

 my partner and bade him listen, then as fast as the Indians 

 talked I translated the conversation and my partner 

 jotted it down in his notebook by guesswork in the dark- 

 ness. 



The Indians decided on a spot on the opposite side of 

 the big log we lay alongside of as a proper place to do 

 their gambling, not knowing we were anywhere in the 

 country. A fire was huilt of dry wood, and enough more 

 piled near to last through the performance, then the bets 

 were arranged, consisting of two canoes, a watch, two 

 ponies, some articles of clothing, and a couple of dollars 

 in cash. About half of this booty was wagered on either 

 side, and then the game began. 



The implements for playing it were two sticks about an 

 inch in diameter and three inches long, cut from a vine 

 maple growing near. One of these sticks was peeled of 

 the bark entirely, the other had only a ring of bark left 

 around the center, and this one was the "lucky number." 



One of these sticks is concealed in each hand and then 

 the hands are swung back and forth in front of the body, 

 keeping time to the gambling song, which is chanted by 

 all the players and which gives the game its name of 

 singgamble. 



When they had the bets arranged, all the Indians, eight 

 in number, sat or kneeled in two rows, facing together, 

 one took the sticks and the song began. Each man had a 

 short club and pounded on a small log that lay in front of 

 him, a kind of tom-tom accompaniment to the chant. 



Beginning in a low tone not without melody, some- 

 thing like negro ditties, the chant developed by easy 

 stages until it was a genuine Indian song, without har- 

 mony, time or other element of music, yet wildly weird 

 and noisy as only an Indian chant can be. This was con- 

 tinued until one on the opposing side made a motion in- 

 dicating the hand he thought held the bark-ringed stick; 

 then the man who swung the sticks must show his hands 

 palms up, with both sticks in view. If the guess was 

 right the one guessing received a small cedar stick, which 

 counted one point in the game. If he guessed wrong he 

 forfeited a point. The game is thirty points, and which- 

 ever side gets this number first is winner and takes the 

 whole stake, which they divide among them. 



That is what singgamble means, and no one who has 

 missed seeing one can appreciate the wild, weird scene as 

 we saw it that night among the giant firs, lighted by an 

 outdoor fire, which threw its red glare on the swarthy 

 faces and reflected the emotions and excitement of the 

 red men as the play waxed warm and one side or the 

 other made several points in succession. 



After the play had been going on for some time I got 

 up and moved into the circle of the light and greeted 

 them with the Chinook salutation, "Kla-how-ya Till-a- 

 cums," which was returned by a few grunts and looks of 

 mild curiosity. Knowing that "you can't hurry an In- 

 dian," I sat down, loaded my pipe, and smoking watched 

 the play in silence for some time. Then I talked with 

 the players, got the hang of the game and concluded the 

 whole scene would make a good sketch for illustrating a 

 future newspaper article. Accordingly I got my paper 

 and pens, and at 2 A. M. I made six or eight sketches of 

 the wild group and their wild surroundings in the heart 

 of the deep fir woods. 



Since then I have witnessed the same game several 

 times, have seen an Indian stake all his possessions, his 

 wife included, and — lose. Such is the passion for gam- 

 bling in the savage breast. 



In the gray dawn, when the river mist began to rise and 

 the living things awoke, the savage actors of the gam- 

 bling scene left their fire to burn out, divided the stakes, 

 and saying ' 'Klook-wah" to us stole away in silence. 



We turned in again, and when we got up a couple of 

 hours later the whole thing seemed more like a disordered 

 dream than a weird reality. The sketches still form part 

 of my collection, and a pair of singgamble sticks fill a 

 niche in my cabinet of relics and curios. 



You know their history. El Comancho. 



The FOREST AND Stream is put to press each week on Tues- 

 day, Correspondence intended for publication should reach 

 us at the lati&t by Monday, and as much earlier aspracticab le,, 



BIRDS AS PROTECTORS OF ORCHARDS. 



From the Bulletin of Massachusetts Board of Agriculture. By E. H. 

 Forbush, Ornithologist to the Board. 



The present paper is merely a partial record of the re- 

 sults of an attempt to foster and protect birds in an old 

 and neglected orchard with a view to observing the effect 

 of such a policy upon the trees. The orchard is so situated 

 as to be a favorite haunt for birds. It forms part of an 

 estate in Medford, Mass., lying near the southern border 

 of the stretch of wooded rocky hills known as the "Mid- 

 dlesex Fells," a large part of which is now under the con- 

 trol of the Metropolitan Park Commission of Massachu- 

 setts, and is being administered as a forest reservation. 

 The nearest estates on the east and west of the orchard 

 are cultivated to some extent. There are other orchards 

 in the immediate vicinity and many large and fine shade 

 trees. There are also on the estate in question many 

 varieties of trees and shrubs. There is a small piece of 

 woodland, covering perhaps an acre and a half, in which 

 yellow pine predominates, the other trees being principally 

 ash, oak and maple, some hickory and a few white pines. 

 A lane running along the houthern border of the estate is 

 bordered on both sides with elms and poplars. A line of 

 mulberry trees along the lane south of the orchard affords 

 tempting food for such birds as are fond of fruit in its 

 season. There are also many wild cherries and berries of 

 several varieties, together with half a dozen trees of cul- 

 tivated cherries. 



Among the trees, shrubs and vines found on the estate 

 and which furnish food for birds in the shape of berries 

 or seeds at certain seasons of the year are the common 

 barberry. Northern fox grape, poison ivy, wild yellow 

 plum, wild red cherry, choke cherry, English cherry, 

 black raspberry, high blackberry, garden raspberry, wild 

 rose, common apple, common red currant, white ash, red 

 mulberry, white oak, scarlet oak, white pine, pitch pine, 

 hemlock, red cedar. 



The orchard itself is a typical old orchard, such as is 

 often found on small farms. It has suffered greatly from 

 neglect. Two-thirds of the original trees have died or 

 are in the last stages of dissolution. This is largely the 

 result of neglect and improper pruning. Dead limbs and 

 hollows in the trees have offered nesting places for such 

 birds as the wren, woodpecker and bluebird. 



For three years, from 1891 to 1893, inclusive, the trees 

 were trimmed and cared for. They were sprayed or 

 banded to protect them from canker-worms, and the 

 "nests" of the tent caterpillar were removed. The result 

 was a scanty yield of apples from most of the trees. One 

 or two bore quite plentifully. 



In order to observe the effect of the feeding of birds in 

 the orchard, no care was taken in 1894 to protect the 

 trees. During that year the tent caterpillars were very 

 numerous in the vicinity, and it became evident also that 

 a great increase in the number of canker-worms was tak- 

 ing place in the neighborhood. Although these insects 

 made considerable inroads upon the trees, they did not 

 seriously injure the foliage anywhere except in one or 

 two instances. No attempt had been made previous to 

 1895 to foster or encourage the birds in the neighborhood, 

 except that a few nesting boxes were put up in 1894, 

 which were occupied in one case by a family of wrens 

 and in another by the English or house sparrow. We 

 were careful, however, to destroy the nests of the house 

 sparrow. 



In the fall of 1894 it was noticed that immense num- 

 bers of the wingless females of the fall canker-worm 

 were ascending nearly all the trees and depositing their 

 eggs; also, that the wings of the tent caterpillar moths 

 were numerous upon the twigs, promising a plentiful 

 supply for 1895. 



Having allowed the insects one year to increase unmo- 

 lested by man, we began in the winter of 1894-95 to en- 

 courage the presence of birds in the orchard. 



In 1894 a small tree in the center of the orchard had 

 been inclosed by a high board fence. The tree thus in- 

 closed was used as an outdoor experiment station for 

 observation on the breeding and habits of the gypsy 

 moth. During the winter of 1894-95 Mr. C. E. Bailey 

 made frequent visits to this tree to ascertain whether or 

 not the birds were destroying the eggs of the gypsy moth. 

 Incidentally Mr. Bailey observed many interesting things 

 in connection with the feeding of birds on the eggs, larvaa 

 and pupae of insects which winter on the trees, and I am 

 greatly indebted to him for many interesting notes on the 

 feeding of birds in this orchard. He is a careful, con- 

 scientious observer, and is intimately acquainted with 

 most of our native land birds. 



Hunters and trappers are aware that many species of 

 winter birds, such as titmice, woodpeckers, crows, jays 

 and nuthatches are attracted by a skinned carcass sus- 

 pended from a limb, and will remain in the vicinity 

 until all the bones are picked clean or until, with the ap- 

 proach of spring, insect food becomes more accessible. 

 Believing from my own observations that the chickadees 

 were feeding on the eggs of the fall canker-worm, I 

 asked Mr. Bailey to attract the birds, if possible, to the 

 orchard by suspending pieces of meat, bone, suet, etc., 

 from the trees. These food materials are suitable for 

 birds at times when the trees are covered with snow or 

 ice and, when lacking such nourishment, they might 

 starve. Although birds will frequently visit bait provided 

 for them and in time will eat a considerable portion of 

 the meat, they do not depend entirely on this aliment, 

 but spend the greater portion of their time in searching 

 for insects and eggs in the immediate vicinity. 



Finding a plentiful supply of food, the chickadees re- 

 mained about the orchard most of the winter, except for 

 a week or two, when the meat gave out: but they were 

 lured back again later by a fresh supply which was placed 

 in the trees. Not only were the chickadees attracted to 

 the orchard in numbers, but other birds came also. A 

 pair of downy woodpeckers and two pairs of nuthatches 

 were frequent visitors, and a few brown creepers came 

 occasionally. All these paid frequent visits to the meat 

 and suet, and also thoroughly inspected the trees in search 

 of insect food. They made excursions also to the trees in 

 the neighborhood, but the greater portion of their atten- 

 tion was confined to the orchard in which the bait was 

 suspended. As they became more accustomed to Mr. 

 Bailey's presence, they grew quite tame and could be 

 viewed at a distance of a few feet. Indeed, chickadees 



frequently alighted on his person and occasionally took 

 food from his hand. He was then enabled to determine 

 accurately (without killing them) what they were feeding 

 upon, and was soon convinced that they were destroying 

 the eggs of the canker-worm moth in large numbers, as 

 well as the hibernating larva? and pupa?, of other insects 

 injurious to trees. 



To determine how many eggs a single chickadee would 

 eat, a few birds were killed and their stomach contents 

 examined, with surprising results. There was no diffi- 

 culty in identifying the eggs of the canker-worm moth 

 which were found in the birds' stomachs, as a great por- 

 tion of the shells remained intact. The other insect con- 

 tents of the stomachs were identified for me through the 

 kindness of Mr. A. H. Kirkland, B.Sc, assistant entomol- 

 ogist to the State Board of Agriculture, who made the 

 examinations. Although it was impossible in all cases to 

 learn with certainty the species to which certain insects 

 belonged, it was evident that they belonged to genera 

 known to be of injurious habits. In all 1,028 canker- 

 worm eggs were found in the stomachs of four birds. 

 Four birds killed later in the season had eaten the female 

 imagos of 105 spring canker-worms. 



The average number of eggs found in each moth of 

 twenty examined is 185. Mr. Bailey is very positive, from 

 his continuous field observations, that each chickadee 

 will devour on the average 30 female canker-worm moths 

 per day from March 20 until April 15, provided these 

 insects are plentiful. If the average number of eggs laid 

 by each female is 185, one chickadee would thus destroy in 

 one day 5,550 eggs; and in the twenty-five days in which 

 the canker-worm moths "run" or crawl up the trees, 

 138,750. It may be thought that this computation is 

 excessive, and it is probable that some of the moths were 

 not captured until they had laid some of their eggs, but 

 the chickadees are also busy eating these eggs. When we 

 consider further that 41 of these insects, distended as they 

 were with eggs, were found at one time in the stomach of 

 one chickadee, and that the digestion of the bird is so 

 rapid that its stomach was probably filled several times 

 daily, the estimate made by Mr. Bailey seems a very 

 conservative one. He now regards the chickadee as the 

 best friend the fa,rmer has, for the reason that it is with 

 him all the year, and there is no bird that can compare 

 with it in destroying the female moths and their eggs. It 

 was noticed that the birds made no attempt to catch the 

 male moths. This, however, cannot be considered as a 

 fault, for the birds accomplish far more by destroying the 

 females than they would by killing males. 



The case-bearers and the tineids or leaf miners are in- 

 jurious to the foliage of the apple trees. It was noticed 

 by Mr. Bailey, who watched the birds closely for several 

 days, that they were eating quantities of both of these 

 insects. 



A great quantity of animal food is required to sustain 

 life and provide animal heat sufficient to enable these 

 little birds to resist the inclemency of our severe winters. 

 In proof of this it may be stated that during favorable 

 weather the birds visited the meat and ate largely of it 

 three times each hour with fair regularity. During each 

 interval they were occupied in destroying eggs and other 

 hibernating insect forms which were always present and 

 numerous in the stomachs examined. This feeding ap- 

 peared to be almost continuous except in severe storms, 

 when the birds sought shelter, or when they were labor- 

 ing under excitement caused by fear, as in the case of a 

 visit from a hawk, cat or shrike. Whenever a cat ap- 

 peared they immediately hid behind the branches and 

 remained quiet until the intruder had passed. The 

 appearance of other enemies or the firing of a gun would 

 produce much the same effect. 



The woodpeckers and nuthatches which frequented the 

 orchards were not seen to eat the eggs of the canker- 

 worm moth. As they were not numerous, none were 

 killed. Mr. Bailey observed, however, that the nuthaches 

 were eating many scales which they found on the limbs 

 of the apple trees in a neighboring orchard. In relation 

 to these scales the following note from Mr. Kirkland is of 

 interest: 



"March 20, 1895. Mr. Bailey brought in specimens of 

 apple twigs infested with the bark scale louse. He re- 

 ported that the nuthatch was feeding on them. These 

 twigs were infested in a worse manner than I have ever 

 seen before. They were literally covered with the scales. 

 On one small twig, one-half inch in diameter, I counted 

 367 scales on one inch of the twig. The eggs contained 

 in a number of scales varied from 62 to 83, with an aver- 

 age of 70." 



These scales, when numerous, are very injurious to the 

 apple tree. Each scale covered a dead female of the 

 preceding year and the hibernating eggs, many of which 

 must have been disposed of by the nuthatches. It was 

 shown, both by observation and dissection, that birds 

 feeding in the same neighborhood and upon the same 

 trees showed considerable variance in the character of 

 their food. Kinglets taken had no canker-worm eggs, 

 but had eaten largely of bark borers. Woodpeckers 

 seemed to confine themselves to the larva?, of borers and 

 to wood-ants and other insects which bore into the wood 

 of the tree. Chickadees and nuthatches ate the pupa? 

 and eggs of insects found upon the bark or in the crevices 

 of the trunks. No birds were seen to eat the eggs of the 

 tent caterpillar, nor were any found in the stomachs of 

 any of the birds examined. It seems probable that these 

 eggs are so protected by a hard covering that they are not 

 eaten by most birds. 



It is impossible in the limited space at our command to 

 give results of all observations and dissections in detail. 

 We can merely give the apparent results of the presence 

 of the birds in the orchard. 



It was found that these birds were not only destroying 

 the eggs of the canker-worm in this orchard, but were 

 feeding on the eggs of the same insect in the woods where 

 bait had been suspended. 



As the frost left the ground on the first warm days of 

 spring the wingless females of the spring canker-worm 

 moth appeared in the orchard and began ascending the 

 trees in great numbers. The chickadees commenced 

 catching and eating the females and their eggs. Mr 

 Bailey placed twenty-two of the females on one tree and 

 in a few minutes tweoty of them were captured and 

 eaten by chickadees. 



It was noticed as spring approached and insects became 

 more numerous that the chickadees came very seldom to 

 the meat. They were not as assiduous in their attention 

 to the orchard, and a small portion of their food con- 



