May 3, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



289 



ment of many who said nothing would be done. I urged 

 the matter, and at the next session what I believe was 

 the first, certainly one of the first, of our State game laws 

 was passed almost exactly as I wrote it. As soon as 

 a movement for international protection was made, I 

 joined it and became chairman of the committee on 

 habits of species. I am still heartily in favor of protection 

 where legitimate, but I am opposed to the protection of 

 any hawk save only the sparrow hawk, and this because 

 of what I know about hawks as the result of direct per- 

 sonal observation, not merely upon stuffed skins and 

 pictures and technical names, but upon birds of prey in 

 a state of nature, lying in wait, and pursuing and seizing 

 their prey. To be told that I am incompetent to under- 

 stand facts of a perfectly simple nature, mere matters of 

 eyesight, is too absurd to be offensive. I may as well be 

 told I am not competent to identify one of the hens in 

 my own yard, as that there is anything too wonderful 

 for me or that I cannot understand in the anatomy of a 

 common hawk, or the school j argon of a technical 

 description and name of one. Such writing, however, 

 on the part of scientists by profession and would-be 

 scientists, does tend to disgust and alienate some whose 

 aid and countenance are important to the success of any 

 movement for the protection of bird life from useless 

 slaughter: a movement most commendable and humane, 

 and worthy to be encouraged by all seusible and humane 

 people. Rude violence in opposition, no less than absurd 

 and hysterical frenzy in advocacy of one's own notions, 

 may and will disgust sensible people even with the 

 opinions of scientists of unquestioned ability. The 

 question of the utility or dcstructiveness of a species varies 

 infinitely with locality and season. A species may be 

 harmless or even useful at all seasons, except during 

 a few weeks or even days in the year, during which it 

 may be immensely destructive, sometimes literally de- 

 stroying a crop in less than a week. There are many 

 sides to such questions, no one man, nor any one set of 

 observers, are competent to settle them out of hand, and 

 in the mean time no man should be rudely treated for 

 opinion's sake. M. G. Ellzey, M.D. 



SPRING BIRD NOTES. 



BUFFALO, N. Y., April 27. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: Although the birds were some ten days 

 ahead of time, the vegetation has been quite laggardly: 

 but we have now had some very warm days. 



The birds have manifested much anxiety to get at the 

 serious duties of the breeding season. The cold nights 

 must have resulted disastrously to many. On April 22 

 Prof. E. E. Fish found at the park a newly made robin's 

 nest containing four eggs. It had been deserted. The 

 white-throated sparrows, purple finches, wood, Wilson's 

 and hermit thrushes, etc., are here. The white-bellied 

 swallows were seen in the city to-day. The bats are on 

 land, not to be behind the birds which they ape. 



Both species of the crossbill have been shot near here 

 this month, that is, the American and white-winged. 

 The pine finch was shot at Collins, Erie county, on April 

 14. 



One of your correspondents, Mr. J. L. Davison, of 

 Lockport. N. Y., a few days ago sent me five specimens 

 of the yellow-bellied woodpecker and the fox sparrow. 

 The first bird, he stated, was killed by flying against a 

 window. Regarding the fox sparrow (Passerella iliaca). 

 your readers may remember the discussion regarding it 

 carried on in Forest and Stream between Mr, Davison 

 and the late Prof. Charles Linden; Mr. Davison held 

 that it was abundant in the spring migration, and quoted 

 many instances of seeing large flocks. But as Prof. Lin- 

 den thought, it seems to be quite rare about Buffalo (see 

 Forest and Stream May 5 and 19, 1887; pp. 320 and 307). 

 Mr. Davison says in his interesting letter that the bird 

 which he sent me was one of a flock of a dozen. This 

 was on April 19. Mr. Davison reports securing a marsh 

 hawk in the "blue plumage." He shot him just out of 

 Lockport on the 19th, on the highest ground in Niagara 

 county. This is unusual. A son of Mr. Davidson had a 

 red- throated loon (Urinator himme) sent him on the 

 19th. Eben P. Dorr. 



Lake Linden, Mich.. April 26.— I saw the first swallow 

 to-day. Robins and blackbirds are reported to have been 

 seen, although this is rather early for them, especially as 

 ' it is a very late spring. No ducks nor geese have put in 

 an appearance yet. Partridge (ruffed grouse) have win- 

 tered pretty well.— G. A. R. 



Massachusetts, Ayer, April 24.— Spring is very cold 

 and backward, which makes the birds feel homesick. 

 During a 5-mile tramp the other day I started several 

 partridges. Think they wintered well, as we have not 

 had many deep snows in this section. — W. F. F. 



HABITS OF THE MOUNTAIN LION. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of April 19, I noticed a letter from Rifle 

 Creek, Colorado, stating that there have been many argu- 

 ments in that camp over the question, "Can a mountain 

 lion clinib a tree?" This brings to mind some past ex- 

 erience. While leisuely riding over a cattle range in 

 fendocino county, CaL, some years ago, I w r as aroused 

 from a somewhat absent state of mind by the barking of 

 a dog in the distance. T at once turned 'my horse's head 

 in that direction. On coming up to the dog I found him 

 barking furiously under a large madrone tree, and some 

 20ft. above him on a projecting limb, was a large pan- 

 ther, or mountain lion, as it is called in the western coun- 

 try. Having no fire-arms with me I encouraged the dog, 

 and putting spurs to my horse, galloped some half a mile, 

 within hailing distance of a settler's cabin, and after con- 

 siderable hallowing, got a reply. Informing the "old 

 man" what was up, he returned to his cabin and soon 

 appeared in company with his son, rifle in hand. The 

 panther was killed by a shot in the head, and the dog had 

 considerable sport in worrying a dead lion. The tree 

 from which the panther was shot, was about 18in. in 

 diameter and nearly perpendicular, with no branches 

 lower than the one which he was on. 



Again, while riding in the same section of country and 

 crossing a flat ridge of black oak, I saw something sit- 

 ting under a tree some distance from me, which looked 

 like a dog. Dismounting and tying my horse and send- 

 ing my dog in, in a few moments he was barking under 

 an oak tree. On going up to him I saw a panther lying 



at full length on a limb some fifteen to twenty feet above 

 me. I had no trouble in killing him, and in less than 

 half an hour his hide was on the saddle beside me. This 

 tree had branches lower than the one on which he was 



I have known panthers when pushed by dogs in a 

 densely wooded country to jump from one tree to an- 

 other and thus baffle their pursuers for a long tune. I 

 consider the panther the most cowardly of the brute 

 creation (the Indian excepted), having known one to get 

 into a sheep corral in the night and kill from twenty to 

 thirty sheep, and before an horn's sun the next morning 

 to be treed by a little "yaller dorg'' and killed with less 

 trouble and time than it would take to kill a red squirrel. 



My opinion, based on a rather extensive experience, 

 leads me to believe that panthers can and do climb trees, 

 but seldom to any great height. E. T. D. 



POirG HKEEPSIE, N. Y, 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your correspondent "P. B." asks if mountain lions 

 climb trees. In a recent conversation Col. J. C. Haines, 

 of Seattle, W. T., told me, in answer to my question, that 

 the mountain lion and panther of the Adirondacks are 

 one and the same animal. If so (I never saw a mountain 

 lion) there can be no doubt that they can climb any tree. 

 The panther has a claw as long and sharp as an eagle's, 

 but much stronger and of solid bone. No "nail" like the 

 bears. He can still-hunt a deer to perfection, and will 

 get to the top of the biggest hemlock livelv when a good 

 dog is at his heels. J. H. R. 



Canton, N. Y., April 30. 



[There is no doubt that the "mountain lion" is the same 

 as the cougar, panther and puma. Nor is there any doubt 

 m the miuds of most men of their ability to climb trees. 

 But who has seen them do it?] 



Eagles Breeding in Confinement.— East Toledo, O., 

 April 23.— My pair of eagles are still breeding in cap- 

 tivity. March 17 the female laid an egg; March 18 there 

 were two eggs in the nest. April 22 one bird was 

 hatched: April 23 there were two young eagles in the 

 nest. The time of incubation this year is 36 days. They 

 appear to be more smart and lively than those hatched 

 heretofore. The eagle hatched April 26, 1886, is a very 

 fine bird and measures from tip to tip across the wings 

 7|ft. The eagle hatched May 1, 1887, is a male bird, not 

 yefc one year old and measures over 64ft. from tip to tip. 

 The eagles are stationed out in the open air and in the 

 coldest weather. They are always ready for a fight. I 

 have some chickens that go inside of the cage nearly 

 every day ,* the eagles are very friendly with chickens, 

 they never harm them; but let a cat or small dog go 

 inside of their cage and they are bound to have a feast. I 

 have been paying boys 10 cents apiece for cats all win- 

 ter. — Henry Hulce. 



TRA-LA. 



'"TVHE flowers that blooin in the spring, tra-la!" 



Are not yet up to that soit of thing, tra-la! 

 For the frost and the snow. 

 Have belated them so, 



That the tips of their noses are all they can blow. 



Then the birds who so merrily sing, tra-la! 

 Have each tucked his head under his wing, tra-la! 

 And they say that really 

 To speak their minds freely, 



They wish the "Old Nick" would take General Greelyl 



It is all very well to explore, tra-la! 

 Where no man ever ventured before, tra-la! 

 But we'd like to know whether 

 It pays altogether, 



To seek the North Pole and bring back such cold weather? 



I would like to suggest in my rhyme, tra-la! 

 That he find the Equator next time, tra-la! 

 That his wandering feet 

 From some region of heat, 



Bring back something better than snowstorm and sleetl 



How joyfully then would we sing, tra-la! 

 As we welcomed the coming of spring, tra-la! 

 If the sun had the power 

 With each morning hour, 

 To open some bud, or unfold some new flower. 

 New Hampshire, April 22. Von W. 



'mne mtd $nt[. 



REMOVAL. 



The offices of Forest and Stream are now at No. 318 Broadway. 



GUN CHAT. 



WASHINGTON, D. C— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 In one of your recent issues, a correspondent so- 

 licits information regarding the performances and possi- 

 bilities of 20-gauge shotguns as compared with guns of 

 larger bore, and as I have had some experience with guns 

 of that and other calibers, perhaps what I have to say 

 on the subject may be deemed worthy of a place in your 

 columns. 



Besides being the happy possessor of a tolerably large 

 armory of rifles of all the leading makes and calibers, I 

 am the owner of five shotguns, as follows: One Reming- 

 ton No. 10, right barrel modified cylinder, left barrel full 

 choked; one Westley Richards No. 13, bo'oh barrels mod- 

 ified cylinder; one of the new Winchester repeating shot- 

 guns, No. 12 (single barrel), medium choke; one Geo. 

 Hemenway No. 16, both barrels full cylinder; and one 

 W. & C. Scott & Sons No. 20, both barrels: full cylinder. 

 All of these guns have 30in. barrels, with the exception 

 of the Winchester repeater, the barrel of which is 32in. 

 in length, and they have all (except the last named, 

 which I got last season after they came out) seen consid- 

 erable service in my hands. 



They are all hammer guns, for I do not like the so- 

 called' hammerl ess, although I have tried my best to be 

 in the fashion and look upon hammers pretty much in 

 the light of old flint locks, as some of our fancy sports- 

 men do. As for me, give me a good hammer gun, with 

 solid strikers and otherwise properly equipped, as they 

 are turned out by leading makers in this country and 

 abroad, and I do not know that I -^rould care to change 



it for a $400 hammerless self-ejecting Greener, after I 

 had become attached to it. For guns that ha ve given me 

 good sport and proven themselves accurate and trust- 

 worthy in the field and at the trap, cease to be, to me, 

 the inanimate objects which they really are, but become 

 personal and tried friends, so to speak." 



For woodcock, grouse, quail, rabbits and upland shoot- 

 ing generally, I prefer my little (not quite) six-pounder 

 No. 20 to any of my other guns. And the reasons are not 

 far to seek. I can tramp around with it from sun up till 

 sunset without getting tired; the loaded cartridges (U. 

 M. C. shells, charged with 2-Jdrs. black powder and from 

 ■J to loz. of shot) are small in bulk and easily carried iu 

 the pocket: the recoil, though the gun is so light, is very 

 slight; and the concentration of the shot results in a 

 better pattern than with a No. 10 full choke barrel, using 

 4drs. of powder but same weight and number of shot, up 

 to 30yds. At longer ranges the No. 10 full choke has, of 

 course, the advantage, owing to the much larger charge 

 of powder, and at all ranges, short or long, the No. 10 

 also gives better penetration. But my little No. 20 pos- 

 sesses sufficient of the last-named quality to make it 

 effectually killing for all the purposes for which I use it, 

 and it will make no more cripples than will a No. 10 

 under the same range and circumstances. In other 

 words, for close shooting up to between 30 and 35yds., at 

 birds and rabbits, it performs fully as well as. if not 

 better than, the full choke barrel of my No. 10, which 

 weighs over 91bs. 



A friend of mine, who resides in northern New York, 

 and has spent many seasons hunting deer in the Adiron- 

 dack region, always uses his No. 20 for shooting deer, 

 and performs well with it, using four or five layers of 

 buckshot between the wads. The concentration of the 

 shot in a No. 20 gun, whether using large or small shot, 

 is, of course, owing to the small bore and comparatively 

 great length of barrel, which "bunches" the shot. For 

 this reason, I prefer my No. 16 Hemenway for shooting 

 reed birds, ortolan and English sparrows, when (as some- 

 times happens) I am after them, for the No. 16 scatters 

 just sufficiently to make it a splendid gun for that kind 

 of shooting. I have found 2drs. of '-Quick Shot," 

 black powder with loz. of No. 9 or 10 shot, the most 

 suitable charge when gunning in the marshes for reed 

 birds and ortolan. This No. 16 weighs only about half a 

 pound more than the No. 20, and is a splendid gun in all 

 respects. I purchased it in London in 1878, and it is to- 

 day as good as new. 



If, however, a person can afford only one gun, then my 

 advice to him is to purchase a No. 12 of some standard 

 make, not to exceed 7*lbs. in weight, and with 28 or 30in. 

 barrels, of the so-called modified cylinder pattern. This 

 is a peculiar form of choke, extending further into the 

 barrels (from the muzzle) than the regular choke. In 

 my Westley Richards the barrels begin to taper about 

 15in. from the breech, but the taper is very slight and 

 quite even, without any annular shoulder or offset near 

 the muzzle, as in a regular choke bore, such as my Rem- 

 ington. Such a gun will fill the bill for all-around work 

 better than any other size, as far as my experience goes. 

 It will do (by proper handling) for canvasbacks (and they 

 are pretty tough shooting, though tender eating), and 

 also for reed birds. You may shoot deer with it, as well 

 as rabbits, simply by using the proper cartridges. In 

 fact a No. 12 gun is, in my opinion, the gun best adapted 

 for general purposes, covering, as it undoubtedlj does, 

 the widest range of usefulness. 



But if shooting ducks (or at least at ducks) be yom- 

 favorite sport, then, by all means invest in a No. 10, with 

 a good, full choke in its left barrel, which will stop a 

 cripple at 75yds. with 4-Jdrs. of powder behind loz. of 

 No. 4 shot. One ounce, and never more, is my standard 

 charge for all my guns except the No. 20, in which for 

 woodcock I reduce the charge to |oz. I know that it is 

 quite customary to use 1-Joz. of shot in a No. 10 gun, pro- 

 pelled by from 4 to odrs. of black powder; but I, for my 

 part, invariably obtain the best results with a single 

 ounce and no fraction. This extra quarter ounce left out 

 reduces the recoil very perceptibly, increases the pene- 

 tration, and in a chokebore, which bunches the shot, 

 does not practically diminish the chances of hitting, for 

 it is the lead and not the powder which produces recoil. 

 I have not myself tried the experiment, but I think that 

 I woidd be safe in asserting that in a No. 10 gun odrs. of 

 powder with loz. of lead will give less recoil than 4drs. 

 powder and l£oz. of lead. The highest powder charges 

 I ever use is 4^drs., and I know f3 - om experience that 

 there is a very marked reduction of recoil in using that 

 charge for propelling loz. of shot as compared with l£oz. 

 of shot. 



With cylinder-bores, of com-se, the case is somewhat 

 different, as they are apt to scatter. An increased quan- 

 tity of shot wiil make a larger pattern, with a given 

 quantity of powder. I get better results from loz. of 

 shot than from foz. in my No. 16 (using 2drs. of powder 

 in each case); but when I add, with the same powder 

 charge, ioz. of shot (that is, 2drs. of powder to Hoz. of 

 shot), I lose in penetration and trajectory what I gain in 

 area of pattern. This is not remedied to any perceptible 

 extent by increasing the powder charge with Mr.; on 

 the contrary, I simply increase the penetration slightly, 

 and invariably get the best results with my standard 

 charge of 2drs. of powder to loz. of shot. I am, of 

 course, speaking of close-range shooting, say between 10 

 and 15yds.; for the longer ranges more powder is, of 

 course, necessary. 



Finally, a word about the Winchester. That is the 

 cheapest of my guns, as I only paid $25 for it, whereas 

 the other four are rather high priced, the Remington 

 having been built to my special order. So far, I have 

 tried it on geese, ducks, quail and rabbits. I use from 

 8£ to 4drs. of powder with it, but never deviate from my 

 standard of loz. of lead. It is a good shooter, no doubt 

 about that; but has, in my opinion, two drawbacks. In 

 the first place, it does not "come up" well, owdng to the 

 peculiar shape of the receiver and stock; and, secondly, 

 it is very difficult to load the magazine (which only car- 

 ries five cartridges) if you fingers are stiff and benumbed. 

 The Winchester repeating rifles are easy to load, even 

 with the fingers a little rigid; but it is a hard job to get 

 the five-shot cartridges down through the receiver into 

 the magazine. This must be remedied before the gun 

 can be called perfect; a swinging magazine, somewhat on 

 the plan of that dainty little new .22-cal. Colt lightning- 

 magazine rifle, would,' it seems to me, remove the objec- 

 tion. It behooves the Winchester people to look into 

 this. 



