176 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 24, 1887. 



THE JACK SNIPE AS A RUSTLER. 



Editor- Forest and Stream: 



I desire to put on record facts showing the hardships 

 that can be undergone by this favorite game bird when 

 put to the test; the common sense he shows in taking 

 care of himself: in other words, his characteristics as a 

 " rustler." 



I will premise that my locality this winter is near 

 the intersection of 109i west longitude, and 44° 8' 

 north latitude, in the foothills of the Shoshone Moun- 

 tains, at an elevation of about 6,500 feet above tide. I 

 will also premise that a daily record (three times per day) 

 is kept of the barometer and thermometer indications 

 with reliable instruments (this having been my practice 

 for five years). Let it be further premised that this win- 

 ter set in unusually early and has been unusually cold, 

 with the maximum amount of snowfall for this locality. 

 There have been cold snaps with a minimum depression 

 of the glass, as follows (the cold snap lasting from a few 

 days to a week): Nov. 16, —12° Fahrenheit; Nov. 

 23. —21°: Dec. 22, —8": Dec, 26, —21°; Jan. 8, — 2T; 

 Dec. 17. — lll c ; Feb. 2, —35°; Feb. 10,-20"; Feb. 21, 

 — 16°. These figures are all so many degrees below zero. 

 Though the weather has been unusually cold (aver- 

 age cold is meant); the barometer has ranged unusually 

 low. This has been noted in the New York Herald in its 

 weather reports for the Northwest, so it is presumed there 

 has been a general low pressure in that region. 

 During the summer there has been occasionally seen a 



§ air or so of jack snipe (Qallinago icilsoni) in my niea- 

 ows, always well irrigated at that time. On Dec. 25. in 

 passing an open spring in my upper meadow, I was sur- 

 prised to note a pair of jack snipe fly up, one of them 

 giving tongue to their well-known "scaipe," and appear- 

 ing to have as vigorous a flight as those so often seen in 

 the marshes of Missouri and Illinois, where I was long 

 familiar with this favorite game bird. Since then I have 

 always been on the lookout for these two birds, taking a 

 deep 'interest in then- welfare. On Jan. 8 saw one jack 

 snipe; on 17th saw a pair of jack snipe; on Jan. 31 saw 

 one snipe; on Feb. 2 saw one snipe; Feb. 7 saw one snipe; 

 Feb. 23 saw one snipe; Feb. 28 saw one snipe. 



I should have premised that all the rivers and creeks 

 are frozen solid in all this region, and the only open water 

 is a few springs that are sufficiently flush to prevent 

 freezing. There are in my meadows three springs that 

 have remained open, running 10 or 12yds. before be- 

 coming frozen, the bottom of branches consisting of 

 small boulders and mud, are frozen. In these springs are 

 tender water plants that doubtless furnish food for jack. 

 A short distance from two of the springs is a small 

 branch fed by springs running through a willow thicket, 

 which occasionally has an open place in the drifted snow. 

 When flushed at "the springs he usually alights imme- 

 diately in this thicket where he is protected from the cold 

 winds, and by getting under the overhanging snow drifts 

 and putting his feet in the warm water, manages, doubt- 

 less, to keep comfortable. 



On our coldest day, Feb, 2, with a minimum of — 35°, 

 and during the day the glass varying from — 30° to — 25°, 

 depending upon the sun shining out, I went out to look after 

 my pet, taking a roll of bread for food. He was flushed 

 in one spring, but flew a short distance, alighting in 

 another spring. Placing the bread in a favorable place, 

 I went around with the object of driving him back to the 

 food. After waiting a sufficient time for him to settle 

 down to feeding, he was approached cautiously, and at 

 last he was discovered sitting motionless in the water. 

 Getting near enough to see liis eyes, he was carefully 

 observed. He was sitting among some water plants in 

 the shallow water, his legs entirely covered by water, his 

 feathers ruffled up and head drawn back to the body with 

 bill to the front. Almost any other waterfowl would 

 have had the bill tucked under the wing, but not so with 

 Jack. It must be confessed, however, that Jack looked 

 woe-begone and disconsolate in the extreme. On approach- 

 ing him, however, he flew up as vigorously, with his 

 well-known "scaipe," as if he took every thing as a matter 

 of course, I felt, however, that as he knew bow to 

 protect himself from the cold by putting his exposed legs 

 in warm water, if his food held out he was all right for 

 the balance of the winter. I should have said that the 

 temperature of this spring, judging from that of one 

 about 200yds. off, was that day 41° F. 



At the time Jack was making himself comfortable in 

 the warm spring branch with the temperature alternating 

 between 25 and 30° below zero, about forty miles away a 

 man was slowly succumbing to the cold. Though he had 

 matches with him and had prepared to start a fire at a 

 vacant cabin, he succumbed to the Ice King before it was 

 lit, and was found frozen to death. The evening before 

 two men had started across the prairie. The one got in, 

 but the other froze to death the same evening, though 

 showing every evidence of having fought the cold with 

 all his might. If half the stories were to be believed that 

 are repeated, there were at the same time hundreds of 

 cattle dying on the range from a combination of cold and 

 starvation. Yet this jacksnipe passed through all; and 

 as the historical and far-famed backbone of winter has 

 again been broken, it is fair to presume that at least one 

 of these snipe will be all right in the spring. I have not 

 seen the pair together since Jan. 17. If only the males 

 "scaipe" on flying up, they are probably both all right, as 

 sometimes it does not give out its well-known note on 

 being flushed. 



It must be remembered that these buds are not pre- 

 pared with the winter underclothing with which all 

 birds that winter in this climate are provided; the eagle, 

 owl, two species of gray jays, chickadee, the magpie 

 and the three species of grouse and probably a few others. 

 These birds, as is well known, have a feather of down 

 attached to the underside of the root of the ordinary 

 feather, which makes a very complete protection against 

 the cold. 



In the middle of October, 1880, after the ground was 

 frozen, but streams not yet frozen, the writer flushed on 

 the trail on the head of the Stinking Elver, Wyoming, a 

 pair of these birds. The valley at that point occupied a 

 gorge in the mountains 4,000ft. to 6,000ft. below the 

 mountain on each side, but was devoid of marshes. The v 

 appeared to be feeding in a sage flat in the narrow valiev. 

 My shotgun being convenient they were flushed and 

 killed; were found to be fat and proved delicious eating. 



This bird did not remain in this locality through 

 choice, but was doubtless caught by the early winter and 

 was afraid to attempt the journey to a warmer climate. 



as every stream was frozen up early and the ground 

 covered with snow. Had he attempted it his legs would 

 doubtless have become frozen in flight in the high alti- 

 tude above the earth, in which their journey is made, 

 and of course death would soon have followed. On Feb. 

 7 a mallard duck (drake) flew overhead up the river, evi- 

 dently seeking for open water. His experience was 

 doubtless like that of Noah's dove turned loose from the 

 Ark. A few miles away on the same day were seen sev- 

 eral other ducks. This reminds me that before the advent 

 of the railroad, it was stated to be not unusual for wild 

 geese and ducks to winter in Montana, where there were 

 large springs that remained open. A few miles above 

 Livingston on the Yellowstone Eiver, on the ranch form- 

 merly owned by Major Pease, there is a large spring and 

 on the opposite side of the river there were other open 

 springs. This used to be a favorite winter resort for these 

 wildfowl in mild winters. These birds are, however, bet- 

 ter clothed than the jack snipe. P. 



MOTHER CARE. 



IN your issue of Jan. 20, "Uncle Fuller" relates his ob- 

 servations of a great northern diver's care for her 

 young. In 1881, on my homestead farm on Long Lake, 

 Manitoba, I had the opportunity to observe the nesting 

 and rearing habits of the same bird. A pair had built 

 their nest on the surface of the lake, attaching it securely 

 to a bunch of reeds, 30ft. from the shore in such a man- 

 ner that it would rise and fall with the water of the lake 

 without disturbing the nest or the process of incubating 

 the eggs. I watched it closely from day to day, some- 

 times taking a book or paper and sitting on the bank for 

 hours reading and watching the birds and their nest. 

 On the third day I saw that an egg had been laid and also 

 thought that on my approach I saw the bird jump quickly 

 from the nest into and under the water. To satisfy my- 

 self about it I returned in about two hours, and approach- 

 ing very cautiously saw the bird again repeat the same 

 maneuver. This she continued to do for several days on 

 my nearing her nest. She laid five eggs at intei-vals of a 

 day or two each and then began sitting, by which time, 

 finding that I did not molest her, she seemed to become 

 reconciled to my daily visits. She did not move from her 

 nest at all nor show that she apprehended any danger 

 from me. The second day after she had been setting and 

 while I was watching from the shore, the male bird (I 

 supposed it to be) put in Ms appearance and went to work 

 diving to the bottom of the lake, bringing up a kind of 

 dark weed or root, which he would take, to the nest and 

 feed to his mate, she taking it from his bill as he held it 

 up to her. This he would continue industriously until 

 she seemed to be content. He, too, became quite accus- 

 tomed to seeing me. and appeared not afraid of me, but 

 should my wife go with me, which she often did, then 

 one or both birds, were they present, would instantly dis- 

 appear under water. 



After fourteen or fifteen days I found that a little bird 

 had been hatched, and was sitting between or under the 

 back feathers of the mother with its head only visible. 

 On the following day I found the male was hovering or 

 swimming about the nest with the little one on its back, 

 and it would at times dive down leaving the little one sit- 

 ting on the surface of the water, and would then return 

 and feed the young one with something similar in ap- 

 pearance to what I had seen it feed to the mother bird. 

 The mother bird had now another little one on her back 

 while sitting on her eggs, and two days after the male had 

 two little ones sitting on either side of his back between 

 or under the feathers at the junction of his wings and 

 back, with only their little heads visible, giving them a 

 very cunning appearance, more particularly so when, two 

 days after, the cock bird was swimming about with three 

 little ones on his back, two sitting as before described and 

 one at the root of his tail. The mother bird still had one 

 on her back, the youngest, I presume, which was given 

 to the father after gaining strength, he during this time 

 having to support or find food for the mother and little 

 ones. When the fourth little one was given to the father, 

 the oldest one was sufficiently strong to swim about by it- 

 self, and would at times dive and I suppose find its own 

 food. When the last one was hatched, the mother re- 

 mained one day on the nest with it, but on the next day 

 I found her swimming about with two little ones on her 

 back in company with her mate, which also had two 

 young ones on his back. They had divided their cares 

 and labors between them. Each, parent carried its little 

 ones on its back and dived and procured food for them, 

 A portion would sometimes be given the eldest one, after 

 the others appeared to be satisfied, but he now seemed to 

 be able to provide for himself. 



This family of birds I felt very great interest in, and 

 used to look for them daily until the young ones were 

 quite grown up. They would come quite near the shore 

 where I stood, apparently having the greatest confidence 

 in my friendly feeling. On hearing the report of a gun 

 by the lake one day, before the opening of the season, I 

 went down to know the cause of it, when to my great 

 grief and anger I found that a vandal half breed had shot 

 three of my young family of birds. H. A. C. 



Ruffed Grouse for Prussia. — Wilkesbarre, Luzerne 

 County, Pa., March 17. — In your issue of March 10, 1887, 

 under the head of "Black Game," you refer to a letter 

 from Baron von Seidlitz, of Pomniern, Prussia, wherein 

 he expresses a desire to import into his covers the Ameri- 

 can ruffed grouse. While at a fair in this country last 

 fall I saw three live ruffed grouse, one cock and two 

 hens, sitting very contentedly ori their perch in au ordin- 

 ary drygoods box, about 4-^ft. long, 20in. high and 18in. 

 deep. Slats 2in. apart in front admitted air and light. 

 They manifested no desire whatever to be liberated from 

 their confinement, nor were they frightened or disturbed 

 by the presence of spectators. I did not see the ex- 

 hibitor, but have since been credibly informed that the 

 owner has had the male bird over two years and the hens 

 over a year - . I should like very much to have the experi- 

 ment tried, whether inland ruffed grouse could stand the 

 salt ah" and rolling motion of the vessel during a trip 

 across the ocean. At present I am unable to state 

 whether the owner of these birds would sell, and if so 

 what price he would put upon them; but if he would, and 

 the price being reasonable, I would feel inclined to pre- 

 sent them to the Baron, provided he would pay all the 

 expenses of transportation and see that the birds were 

 properly taken care of during the voyage. — Lawyer. 



"Is the Shrike a Mimic?"— On Feb. 7, 1880, my son 

 called my attention to a bird singing in the top of a small 

 tree, which he said sounded like a mockingbird. I ex- 

 amined it with a field glass and told him that it also 

 looked like one, but it cotdd not be, as we have no mock- 

 ingbird here even in the summer. After watching it for 

 some time he secured it and it proved to be a great north- 

 ern shrike (Lanivs borealis), which he still has in his col- 

 lection of mounted birds. I have often thought that I 

 would report the observation, but I was a little skeptical 

 about doing so, as I had never heard of the shrike being 

 an imitator. But now that "A. H. G." has opened the 

 way I think that I am duty bound to do so. I was asked 

 by a lady (who wrs a close observer of birds and who had 

 lived in Virginia) what bird we had here that looked like 

 a mockingbird and that tried to imitate the song of other 

 biro's. When shown the great northern shrike she recog- 

 nized it as the bird she had seen and heard. Since writ- 

 ing the above I have found in Coues' "Birds of the Color- 

 ado Valley." p. 555, this quotation from Audubon; "This 

 valiant little warrior possesses the faculty of imitating 

 the notes of other birds, especially such as are indicative 

 of pain. Thus it will often mimic the cries of sparrows 

 and other small birds, so as to make you believe you 

 hear them screaming in the claws of a hawk; and I 

 strongly suspect this is clone for the purpose of inducing 

 others to come out from their coverts to the rescue of their 

 suffering brethren. On several occasions I have seen it 

 in the act of screaming in this manner, when it would 

 suddenly dart from its perch into a thicket, from which 

 there would im mediately issue the real cries of a bird 

 on which he had seized. — J, L. Davison (Lockport, N. Y. , 

 March 17). 



Flying Squirrels in a House.— Lockport, N. Y., 

 March 14.— A few days since a servant in the employ of 

 the family of H. F. Gaskill, of this city, reported that she 

 had seen a queer-looking rat in the cellar, said it had 

 wings and a bushy tail. A trap was set and the next 

 morning it had an occupant, which proved to be a dead 

 flying squirrel. On Friday night last Mr. Gaskill caught 

 alive another one, which he thought was a young one; he 

 allowed it to escape and it is still in the cellar. If the 

 last was a young there probably was a whole family of 

 them, and undoubtedly they found enough in Mr. G.'s 

 cellar to live on through the winter. He thinks they 

 must have entered the cellar during the fall, as the out- 

 side entrance has not been opened since then. Is it not 

 an unusual place to find flying squirrels in a house and in 

 a city of 20,000 inhabitants?— J. L. Davison. 



/ Spring in Michigan.— Central Lake, Mich., March 15. 

 — Editor Forest and Stream.: The crows were first heard 

 cawing hereabouts on March 11. They occupy them- 

 selves roainly with sitting upon the ice near the 'margins 

 of the open water of the lake, where the current of the 

 river has kept it free from ice. What they find there to 

 subsist upon I could never learn. Robins were reported 

 two weeks ago, but I did not see them. — Kelpie. 



\mm ^ttg mtd %w[. 



Address oil wmmunicatiom to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



HUNTING RIFLES AND BULLETS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read over and over again with great interest, the 

 letter of Mr Wilcox in your paper of Nov. 18, 1886, on 

 the use of rifles of very small bore for large game shoot- 

 ing. He imagines that Jules Gerard, of the French 

 army, had small caliber rifles in his Hon hunting expedi- 

 tions. I had formed a different opinion, having owned 

 and parted with Gerard's book many years ago, so have 

 been endeavoring to procure another copy of the work 

 for some time past. I found one in a second-hand book 

 shop a few days ago and now forward you Gerard's own 

 description of his weapons: 



He shot his first lion with a double barrel 16-gauge 

 smooth-bore, lent by a French planter in Algeria. He 

 was afterward presented with two double guns, one by a 

 Captain Durand, in the French service, and the other by 

 the Due d'Aumale, but he does not mention the calibers 

 of these, nor does he state what charges were used in 

 either of the three guns. It is evident from his account 

 of the effects of the bullets that the powder was not 

 nearly enough, for the penetration was miserable. In 

 one instance a bullet flattened against a lion's skull, and 

 in another it hit the temple but did not reach the brain, 

 for the animal walked away three miles before dying. 



Strange to say, Gerard did not think of remedying this 

 defect by increasing the powder, but substituted ' 'iron 

 ingots" for the lead bullets. 



Sir Samuel Baker, when living in Cejdon, killed num- 

 bers of elephants with a 16-gauge shotgun of only 71bs. 

 weight. He used 41 drams of powder, and found no dif- 

 ficully in penetrating their brains. If I remember rightly, 

 lie states that in one instance the bullet entered one tem- 

 ple of an elephant and came out at the other. 



After bagging ten lions, Gerard paid a visit to Paris in 

 1848, and was there presented with two double-barreled 

 rifles, of which he gives the following details: 



One was "a superb carbine," by Devisme, with "a cali- 

 ber of 17 millimetres in diameter" (.669 gauge) and "65 

 centimetres" long in the barrels (slightly over 25+in.). 

 The rifling was "progressive, according to the principles 

 adopted for the carbine of the Chasseurs de Vincennes." 

 Weight of bullet 55 grammes (or slightly under 848 

 grains). It was conical, with "a stut point forming all 

 the upper half of the cone." Weight of rifle, 3+ kilo- 

 grammes (slightly less than 71bs. 11-toz.). 



The other weapon was by Moutier Lepage, with barrels 

 "55 centimetres" long (slightly over 31-J-in.). Caliber, "11 

 millimetres" (A'i'i). Nine grooves making one turn in "70 

 centimetres" (27 tin.). Bullet cylmdro-conieal, weighing 

 15 grammes (slightly less than 231 grains). Weight of 

 rifle 3 kilogrammes (or a trifle under Gibs. 10oz.). 



On testing the penetration Gerard found that the steel- 

 pointed ball went through a cast-iron plate one centimetre 

 thick (.39371in.), and the bullet of the other rifle through 

 an oak plank "twenty-five centimetres deep." The 

 charges of powder are not given, but in describing the 

 death of a lion killed with the Devisme rifle, Gerard says 

 that it was loaded with 60grs. Although a very light 



