Jan. 19, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



503 



" 'Who is there?' said that Old Person. 



" 'It is I,' said the person, and the woman of the third 

 son knew the voice of her husband. Very happy then 

 was she, and quickly rose to give him food, and as the 

 sticks that she threw on the fire blazed up, she saw his 

 face. Tom and ragged his garments, thin his face, and 

 scarred his arms and breast, but from his quiver hung 

 the scalps, and beside him on the ground was a bundle of 

 plunder. Then she began to sing his praise, and the 

 others in the lodge arose and sat by the fire while he ate. 

 And when he had eaten and smoked, he said to that Old 

 Person: ♦ 



" 'Father, far have I traveled, and many the people that 

 I have seen. Look on these scalps;' and then he told all 

 that he had seen and done f rom the time of his leaving 

 until this night. And be showed tbetn the scalps and a 

 bundle of strange wearing apparel that he bad taken 

 from some enemies far to the south. And wheu he had 

 ended he said 'OkV 



''And his father said: "On account of these strange 

 garments which you have taken, your name shall be 

 Pekunny' (garments). And he and his children and his 

 children's children have been called Pekunny ever since. 



' 'So the three tribes of the Blackf oot nation received their 

 names." 



he ^orkn\nn %ourwt. 



SAM LOVEL'S CAMPS.-VI. 



MEANWHILE Sam kept camp for an hour or two, 

 and then went out for a little trip on the bay, 

 cruising across the shallow water of the northeast shore 

 to the mouth of Lewis Creek, which till now he had not 

 seen. Its beauty invited him upstream, and when at the 

 first bend he turned and looked forth upon the lake, 

 through the noble colonnade of ancient water maples and 

 button-woods to the grim unshorn steeps of Split Rock 

 Mountain beyond the broad expanse of water, without a 

 craft in sight upon it nor any sign of human presence 

 anywhere, he fancied that he felt something of the sense 

 of complete isolation from all his fellows that the first 

 white voyagers here must have experienced. But in 

 those old days one could not have been so sure of having 

 it safely to himself, as Sam was reminded by the sight of 

 a fliut arrow-head on a mud bank among the rushes. 

 For many years after his visit to it this part of Sungahne- 

 tuk retained its primitive character,, and was aplace whei e 

 one might easily imagine himself set back a couple of 

 centuries to the times when New England was indeed 

 new, when Petowbowk was the warpath of savage and 

 civilized nations, and knew not the peaceful keel of 

 commerce. 



Au inward yearning aroused Sam from his vague 

 dreams of the past and he plied his paddle lustily toward 

 camp and dinner. He found his comrades at the landing, 

 to which they had succeeded in floating the scow, its 

 wounds almost healed by application of rags, turpentine 

 and grease, a medication for leaky boats imparted to 

 Sam by his Indian friends and by him in turn toAntoine. 



"Dah, seh, Sam, bah gosh!" said Antoine, standing with 

 aims akimbo far enough a way from his prize to take in 

 all her proportions at one glance, "ant dat pooty good 

 leetly sloops for de boy? Ah'll sail heem wid a pole ail 

 de way from where Ah'll fan of it, an' Solem and Zhozeff 

 ant be some more fred of it as if he was in a middly of 

 ten acre lots. Dey can feesh in d» water naow, an' took 

 some comfortubbly, ant it?" 



Sam admitted the perfect safety of the craft, but ex- 

 pressed some doubts as to the validity of its present own- 

 ership. "Sposin' some feller comes along some day, An- 

 twine, an' ketches you or them a usin' o' his boat, what 

 ve goin' tu du then?" 



"Bah gosh, seh, Ah'll goin' tol' it he can' have dat 

 boats! When Ah'll fan dat, he ant no more boats as 

 raf was, an' Ah'll mek it into good boats aout of it! Ah'll 

 bail it wid rag an' tuppytime dat was ma hown, me! 

 Ant you'll see?" 



Sam was not convinced, but conceded that there could 

 be no harm in using the scow till called for, and so it 

 was planned that Solon, Joseph and Antoine should go 

 afishing in it that night at a stake just opposite the land- 

 ing, whose age and marks of frequent use gave silent 

 evidence of an approved fishing place. 



"He was leek leetly mites naow," said Antoine, still 

 admiring his prize, as he scooped a few basins full of 

 water out of it, "But he be all taght as one One' Lasha 

 boot tarn he gin soak up for we'll be ready. Yas, seh! 

 jes as taght an' gra' deal more comfortubbly as dat boots, 

 Ah bet your head! Den when we gat t'rough of it, Ah 

 do' know 'f he ant jis well pull heem up in de rush for 

 day-tain, so 'f some damn bole foolish tink he'll hown it 

 he can' see heem. It was bes' kan o' boats for use it in 

 de naght, don't it, hein ?" 



"I notice." Solon remarked as they took their way to 

 the camp, " 'at Antwine call this boat o' his'n he, which 

 it seems tu me 'at it is a fac-smile of Uncle Tyler's boat, 

 an' is intitled tu the respects due tu the femaline sect, an' 

 my intentions is tu speak of her as she." 



After they had eaten supper and in an unhousewif ely 

 manner washed their few dishes, Sam, under canvas, fell 

 to dreaming open-eyed of Danvis's dearest inhabitant, 

 and the others, well provided with tackle and worms, 

 went fishing in the old scow. 



The creek was almost as silent as the golden and black 

 reflections of sky and wooded shore that rested on its 

 bosom, and for a while the silence was only broken by the 

 whish of the intent anglers' lines and the splash of the 

 heavy sinkers that sent segments of gleaming circles to 

 break the ranks of brooding shadows along the shore. 

 Then a bullfrog sang a solemn prelude, and all his 

 brethren of the marshes bellowed forth a resounding 

 chorus, wlvich aroused a discordant cackle and gabble of 

 some always invisible inhabitants of the rush-screened 

 flats, whether beasts, birds or reptiles, or all of these, one 

 could only guess, and when the chorus ended and the 

 clamor of the rude audience ceased, there came a hush as 

 fully pervading the evening as had the previous uproar. 

 Then a dreaming bird softly rehearsed his daytime love 



song, a whippoorwill far away lightly whisked the air 

 with his note, one nearer lashed it -with sharp strokes, 

 the sound whereof was presently almost overborne by 

 the renewed bellowing of the frogs, the trill of toads and 

 the weird outcry of the unknown tenants of the marshes, 

 only the last most insisted sibilant note of the whippoor- 

 will being heard above the pulsing waves of clamor. 



"He'll leek dat poor leetly Williams pooty hard, ant it?' 

 Antoine remarked as he answered the regularly inter- 

 mittent flashes of the lightning bugs signalling from 

 marsh and tree, with the larger glow of a match as he 

 lighted his pipe, and then announced with the sigh of 

 relief that comes after long waiting, "Dah seh, sometings 

 was bit. Ah do' know mos' so well 'f Ah see it, but Ah 

 guess it was heel." After some moments of patient wait- 

 ing he gave a twitch, and the crooked pole writhed into 

 more intense crookedness, and after a brief straggle a 

 tangled contortion was torn from the water and dropped 

 into the boat. "Dah he was," cried Antoine, "ant Ah'll 

 tol' you he was heel? Dah he was." But where was he ? 

 Wriggling his way as swiftly as a snake from end to end 

 of the scow, he was felt here, heard there, almost St the 

 same moment, tangling the fine about the feet of the ex- 

 cited anglers, while Solon and Joseph madly stamped at 

 him, and Antoine as madly grasped for him in the gloom. 



"Hit it wid you' boots, boy! Keek it wid a steek!" he 

 cried as he tried to pull toward him by the line the cap- 

 tured but unsubdued pr ze. "Zhozeff, strak it wid you' 

 boot!" and Joseph brou. ht down his foot, clad in one of 

 the last and most solid pieces of Uncle 'Lisha's work, 

 with a crash that stunned the eel and started one of the 

 bottom boards of the scow. Their feet were getting wet 

 before Antoine had imhookedthe eel, when he noticed the 

 gurgle of the incoming water and divined the cause. Hur- 

 riedly unfastening the boat, he shouted frantically to his 

 companions to pole and paddle ashore, while he wildly 

 cla .wed the water with his fishpole. "Oh, Sacre! you'll bus' 

 de boats. Zhozeff! Pull! Push! Hoorah! All of it us be 

 droawn 'f you ant hurry for git dar firs'! A our hwomans 

 ant see us 'fore we was some corp 'f you ant be hurry!" 

 So Antoine urged them as the old craft, fast becoming 

 water-logged, reeled and lurched toward the landing, to 

 which Sam was drawn by the alarming outcry, and 

 reached just in time to see the scow sink barely its length 

 from shore, and Antoine plunge forward from the bow 

 and wade hip deep to the landing, while he roared "Ah'll 

 got de heel, Sam! Go an' save it de boy!" Solon and 

 Joseph came floundering to land with no harm but fright 

 and wetting, and Sam wading out a little way hauled the 

 boat to safe beaching for the night. "Solon," Joseph 

 asked as he stood with bent body, legs wide apart and 

 dripping arms slanting far from his sides, dismally re- 

 garding the craft he had wrecked, "what sect du you 

 call that ere cussed oP boat naow?" 



"Wal," said Solon, after a little dripping consideration, 

 "she is sartinly most capericious, and consequentially I 

 shall continner tu call her a she." 



"What on airth be you a savin' that 'ere dum'd snake 

 for, Antwine?" Sam demanded, noticing the care the 

 Canadian took of the eel. 



"Dat heels? Bab gosh! Ah'll goin' saved hees skin of 

 it, me. You'll wore dat 'raoun' you backs, you'll ant 

 never had lame backaches! An' it was de bes' flail strings 

 you ant never t'rach all youlaftam!" 



"Humph! I've hearn tell o' folk's wear in' snakes in 

 the' hats tu cure headache, an' I'd jes' livs as tu hev that 

 pesky thing waound 'raound my body. Ugh!" 



"Oh, Sam, you was fooler as a geese!" and then to 

 himself as he tightened his grip on his prize, "Lak 'nough 

 you'll gat some dis snakes in you body 'fore you tink, 

 probly! ' 



The camp-fire burned with unwonted fervor for a 

 summer's night, while the drenched anglers dried them- 

 selves in its warmth, and Antoine vaunted himself as the 

 hero of this latest adventure — "Ant Ah'll pooty good 

 captins, seh, to save all dat heel and de boat and de boy, 

 hein?" Rowland E. Robinson. 



FOOD OF THE EUROPEAN SPARROW. 



THE following results are taken from papers read be- 

 fore the Biological Section of the Canadian Insti- 

 tute by Mr. W. Boodie: 



The food of birds has of late years become a very im- 

 portant subject of investigation from an economic as well 

 as a scientific standpoint. Many old and tenaciously held 

 opinions have been quite overthrown. 



It has been shown that the birds of prey are nearly all 

 beneficial, many of them eminently so. It has also been 

 shown that many birds which were formerly considered 

 entirely beneficial are injurious in some particulars. 



The rapid increase of the recently introduced European 

 sparrow, its adaptability to climatic conditions in Onta- 

 rio, its food, its driving away of native species and the 

 general disturbance of bird life in consequence— are 

 subjects which have attracted the attention of ornitholo- 

 gists and elicited some discussion without a very definite 

 settlement of the most important points. This bird may 

 now be said to extend over the whole of Ontario, even 

 over very sparsely settled sections. 



During the last summer it has spread from Nipissing 

 along the line of the C. P. R. to the north of Lake 

 Superior, and we need not be surprised to hear that it has 

 survived the 40° below zero of Winnipeg. It is generally 

 admitted that it has driven away a few native species 

 from cities, towns and country villages — species which 

 were taking perhaps rather sparingly to our bustling 

 centers, such as the chipping sparrow (Spizella socialis), 

 bluebird (Sialia sialis), house wren (Troglodytes aedon) 

 yellow warbler (Dendroica cestwd), cliff swallow (Petro- 

 chelidon lunifrons), tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) 

 and a few others. The following extracts from memor- 

 anda, covering a period of six years, are submitted with 

 a view of contributing something to what we know of 

 the food habits of this" bird. 



I fancy the grashopper-eating habit has been acquired 

 since its advent into Ontario. I am not aware of its ever 

 having been noticed before either in Europe or in the 

 United States. 



The first record of this habit was by Mr. Bucke, of 

 Ottawa, in 1881, the next by Mrs. Maria Gardner, a lady 

 of this city, in 1884. 



The dissections and examinations of stomachs were 

 made with great care, mostly on recently killed birds. 



My thanks are due to many who rendered valuable 

 assistance in these researches. 



In the spring of 1879, Mr. R. Baigent, artist, of this city, 

 reported sparrows as eating gooseberry buds in his garden. 

 This, if I mistake not, was published in one of the city 

 dailies. 



May 7, 1S81 — One specimen collected in city. Contents 

 of stomach, broken down vegetable matter, buds of trees. 



May 7, 1881 — One specimen collected in York township. 

 Contents of stomach, coleoptera, carabida?, seeds of red 

 clover. 



April 10, 1882 — Five specimens collected in city. Con- 

 tents of stomachs, pickings from horse manure, buds of 

 trees. 



March 24, 1884— Sparrows eating maple buds on Berke- 

 ley street. 



March 25, 1885 — Sparrows eating maple buds all through 

 city. 



April 7, 1884 — Sparrows destroying fruiting buds of 

 maple and elm. 



April 7, 1884— One specimen collected in York town- 

 ship by Mr. Williams. Contents of stomach, fruiting buds 

 of trees. 



Aug. 20, 1884— Sparrows pursuing, killing and eating 

 grasshoppers on Ontario street. By Mrs. Maria Gardner. 



Sept. 1, 1884— For some days a small flock of sparrows 

 frequented a dense growth of "pig weed" {Chenopodium 

 album), growing near to my workroom window. In order 

 to determine what they were doing, I carefully closed 

 the shutters, leaving a small ocular. When the birds 

 came readily within a distance of about a yard, with a 

 glass of about ten diameters, I quite clearly saw they 

 were eating aphides with great relish, as though they 

 were treating themselves to a delicious drink. These 

 visits were frequently repeated, affording me many op- 

 portunities for observation. 



Sept. 20, 1884— Twenty specimens collected in York 

 Township by Mr. W. Squires. Contents of stomachs — 

 Very sharp sand, broken grains of oats — in one six whole 

 — elderberries, seeds of amaranthus, larvae of geometrid 

 moth three-quarters of an inch long, three larvae in one 

 crop, coleoptera. 



Oct. 31, 1885— From March 1 to this date 287 stomachs 

 have been examined, 104, or about 43 per cent., contained 

 insects of several orders. 



Of 85 stomachs examined from Sept. 1 to Sept. 30, the 

 season of .young birds and also the season of migration 

 from the city, 63, or about 74 per cent., contained grass- 

 hoppers. 



March 15, 1886 — Sparrows destroying elm buds on On- 

 tario street. By Mrs. Maria Gardner. 



March 20, 1886 — Sparrows destroying fruiting buds of 

 maple and elm trees on Berkeley street. 



March 28, 1886 — Sparrows destroying maple buds on 

 Berkeley street. 



March 29, 1886— Sparrows eating maple buds on Ontario 

 street. By Mrs. Maria Gardner. 



April 5, 1886— Sparrows eating elm buds. 



April 12, 1886— Sparrows eating maple buds on Ontario 

 street. By Mrs. Maria Gardner. 



April 21, 1886 — Sparrows eating maple buds on Eliza- 

 beth street and Queen's Park. By Mr. W. Parks. 



Aug. 15, 1886 — Sparrows pursuing "flying grasshoppers" 

 (CE. Carolina) on Church street. By Mrs. Maria Gardner. 



Aug. 20, 1886 — Three specimens collected in York 

 township by Mr. Jas. Milne, stomachs contained road 

 pickings, broken oats, fragments of grasshoppers. 



Aug. 25, 1886— Seven specimens, young, collected on 

 Don Flats, north of Winchester street bridge; contents of 

 stomachs, road pickings, broken oats, seeds of Polygonum 

 ariculare, grasshoppers in all. 



Aug. 27, 1886 — Five specimens collected by Mr. W. 

 Squires, east of city; contents of stomachs, very sharp 

 sand, in all broken-down vegetable matter, in one, head 

 and femora; of C, fermv r-rubruiv . 



Aug. 29, 1886 — Four specimens, all young; collected by 

 Mr. C. Armstrong, in Rosedale; contents of stomachs, in 

 all broken-down vegetable matter and portions of O. 

 fermur-rubrtim. 



Sept. 3, 1886 — Nine specimens collected on Don Flats, 

 near paper mill, three stomachs contained fragments of 

 grasshoppers, two contained pupa of a dipter, one con- 

 tained three small lepidopterous larvae, 



Sept. 18, 1886— Fifteen specimens collected in York 

 township all contained the usual broken down vegetable 

 matter, nine contained portions of grasshoppers, one 

 contained portion of femora of CE. Carolina. 



Of the forty-three specimens collected from Aug. 20 to 

 Sept. 13, twenty-seven, or nearly sixty -three per cent. , had 

 been eating grasshoppers. 



May 27, 1887— A young sparrow about a week old fell 

 out of nest and was killed; stomach contained fragments 

 of eggshell, two spiders, one small moth denuded of 

 wings; the head and. antennas were fairly well preserved. 



July 17— Saw two sparrows pursuing CE. Carolina on 

 Berkeley street. When the grasshopper alighted the 

 sparrows pounced on him, but he eluded them by darting 

 up on wing, the sparrows sitting still watching his down- 

 coming. Four unsuccessful attacks were made. On the 

 fifth mount he got into some shrubbery and escaped. 



July 19 — Mrs. Maria Gardner handed me a mutilated 

 CE. Carolina, over which two sparrows were contending 

 in the Normal school grounds; the head, both elytra, one 

 wing and three legs were gone and the thorax was badly 

 crushed. 



July 20, 1877— About noon saw a sparrow breaking legs 

 and wings of C. fermur-rubrnm in front of 325 Parlia- 

 ment street. 



July 20, 1887 — Saw a sparrow catch and denude of 

 wings and legs a 0. fermur-rubrnm of Berkeley street, 

 and then fly away with it apparently to nest. 



Aug. 5, 1887— Caught four specimens of C. biriitatis 

 on Don Flats, liberated them on a patch of Polugonwin 

 avieulare, Berkeley street, much frequented by sparrows. 

 They were immediately attacked by about a dozen spar- 

 rows, and within fifteen minutes three were killed, torn 

 to pieces and devoured. 



Aug. 11, 1887 — Two specimens collected by Mr. W. 

 Squires, in the east of the city. Contents of stomachs in 

 both, road pickings and broken oats; in one, three pupas 

 of a dipter. 



Aug. 31 — Five specimens collected by Mr. D. Cox out- 

 side city limits. Three stomachs contained spiders and 

 fragments of coleoptera; one, head and feinorse of C, 

 feriimr-ntbrum , 



