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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 31, 1887. 



Address all coiainunicaUom to (he Form and Stream Pub. On. 



BIRD NOTES FROM NEW MEXICO. 



FORT WINGATE, New Mexico.. March 10.— At differ- 

 ent times in minor papers I have alluded to the char- 

 acter of the country and climate of this place, but as both 

 character of country and climate influence bird migra- 

 tion, I would preface my brief remarks here by saying 

 that Fort Wmgate as a rule is noted for a charming 

 climate and that the character of the country hereabouts 

 is mountainous and hilly with broad intervening valleys. 

 The nearest stream (a very small one) is sixteen miles 

 distant, while only a few creeks and springs are to be 

 found in the immediate neighborhood. On the whole, it 

 is by no means a good place for bird collecting, and the 

 migrants pass it by rapidly, a* there is no special induce- 

 ment for them to "stay. To study the migration of birds 

 at such a point as this is difficult, and for these very 

 reasons I have given. 



This is the afternoon of March 10: the air is thin and 

 highly rarefied, while the sun shines brightly and not a 

 cloud is to be seen in the clear blue sky. It is as warm 

 as mid- April in New England, although away up in the 

 pockets of the incmntains snow patches are to be seen, 

 which are within ten minutes' easy climb from the Fort. 

 Thus far, although I have been round in the hills a num- 

 ber of times dvu-ing the past week, T have failed to see a 

 single specimen yet of our Sayomis soya, usually the first 

 bird ^that shows itself in the vanguard of the vernal 

 migration through this region. I feel a sort of an intu- 

 ition .that they are coming before long, as everything 

 seems so propitious. During this suspicious calm, then, 

 perhaps it will not be entirely devoid of interest to men- 

 tion the majority of birds I have seen in the neigborhood 

 lately and which have been here in greater or less nuni- 

 bers throughout the winter. 



One takes his gun such an afternoon as this for in- 

 stance, and scrambles up among the sandstone boulders 

 and pinons that cover the hillsides that skirt the basin- 

 like valley in which the little bunch of houses known as 

 Fort Wingate, stand, until he reaches a convenient rest- 

 ing place where you halt to look about you. 



You are at first struck with the death-like stillness of 

 the place, the marvelously clear air, the great distance 

 at which you can individualize the details of the far-off 

 landscape. The peculiar and weird appearance of the 

 geological formation also impresses you, and one of an 

 imaginative turn of mind might easily believe, himself to 

 have been transported to the rugged side of some moun- 

 tain in the moon. 



Having regained your breath after the climb, for it is 

 hard work in this altitude, I assure you, you stroll across 

 the small open places, then pick your way through the 

 boulders 'and pifions, when the fact is brought to your 

 mind that you have not seen a single living thing for the 

 half hour that you have been out. 



At last this painful stillness is broken, and in a way 

 once heard will never be forgotten by the listener. 



It is the ringing note 

 That comes from the throat 

 Of Townsend's Solitaire, 



and you may hear it several times repeated in its soft 

 cadence before yon are able to discover the songster him- 

 self. But he soon takes to wing, for he is a restless bird, 

 and by an uncertain, in a measure, jerky, flight, he 



E itches over toward the top of another pinon tree, where 

 e alights. This bird is to^be found about Fort Wingate, 

 so far as my observations go, at all seasons of the year. 



Next, in strange contrast, comes to your ears the gut- 

 tural croaks of a pair of the ever-present ravens, as they 

 fly steadily along, high, high over your head. During 

 severe winters these birds are found hereabouts in num- 

 bers, but in summer they pair off, and resort to the 

 highest peaks to breed and rear their young. 



This year both Sialic arctica and S. mexieana have 

 remained through the winter, although the former has 

 been by far the more abundant, Large flocks of "Western 

 robins (M. m. propinqua) have also stood the season out, 

 and have kept fat upon the cedar berries. These birds 

 have puzzled me not a little, for, so far as I could dis- 

 cern, there was no appreciable difference whatever be- 

 tween some of the specimens shot and the Eastern form 

 of the bird. The white markings on the outer tail feathers 

 ha the vast majority of instances were very extensive, 

 and rarely I obtained one wherein it was reduced to any- 

 thing that might be designated as a white emargination 

 of this feather. 



The Paridai, during the season, are represented bjSitta 

 carolinensis aculeata, Sitta pygmcea, Parus inornatus 

 griseus, and Parus gambeli. I have failed to discover 

 any others, and of the f oxu- species mentioned , they can 

 be taken almost any day throughout the winter. 



We also find a wonderfully interesting and hardy bird 

 in Salpinctes obsoletus, and sometimes in midwinter 

 when the young hurricanes that sweep over this region 

 have bared the sandstone rocks, one will see the wren as 

 lively as ever, holding his own on the summit of one of 

 them, and as a lull takes place for a moment, giving vent 

 to his loud and characteristic note as he energetically, 

 with many brisk wags of his tail, scrambles down the 

 side to the leeward to weather the next gust. 



This year Oroscoptes montanus has also condescended 

 to stay over, but from what I have seen of him I don't 

 think he has enjoyed himself so very much; while 

 Lanius ludovieianus esacubitorides, at home at all times 

 in the Rockies, seems more in spirit in December than 

 during the sultry summer months. 



The towhees have had themselves represented by P. 

 macalatus megalonyx, fairly abundantly, too, for' we 

 usually see one or two if we diligently search their favorite 

 resorts, the scrub-oaks and low bushes on the canon sides. 

 Two or three varieties of juncos and sparrows are com- 

 monly "put up" during such a search, also, with perhaps 

 a small flock of Arizona goldfinches as we pass into the 

 open again. In very cold weather we occasionally come 

 across a half-frozen specimen of Stumella, to. mglecta, 

 and I never flush one and hear his note that I do not won- 

 der how it came about that he was so long shrouded in 

 doubt' as to being a very "good species." Next we may 

 start out of the brush some dozen or more specimens of 

 Agelaius phmnieeus in their brown coats, and usually as 

 wild as hawks, evidently wishing every last one of them 



that April would hurry along. Passing now into the 

 broken foothills, perhaps a. mile further we are suddenly 

 greeted by a tremendous and discordant jumble of jay- 

 like noises as a loose, though numerous, flock of pinon 

 jays (C. eyanocephalus) pass us on the wing. They are 

 really worth seeing, and one does not regret his experi- 

 ence in this desert as he sees this broken blue cloud of 

 birds throw themselves pell mell intothelow pinon pines. 

 Two other jays are also found here during the entire win- 

 ter, and these are Apheloeoma icoodhousei and Cyanocitta 

 slelleri macrolopha, both splendid representatives of the 

 family. I have yet to see a magpie in this vicinity, sum- 

 mer or wiuter, nor can I find any one else who has ever 

 observed the bird here. Otocori-s ulpesMat ami kola stays 

 all the year round, but has been uncommonly rare during 

 the past winter. 



Woodpeckers also are scarce, and the only ones I have 

 seen or taken are Colaptes cafer, Dryobates strkklandi 

 and I), v. harrisii. A few hawks and owls, characteristic 

 of the region, are occasionally met with, but one may go 

 for a week and see neither one nor the other: indeed, I 

 have not observed more than four specimens of owls dur- 

 ing a residence of two years and a half here. 



Sometimes a turkey or so is brought in by the Indians, 

 but aside from this none of the game birds, so far as the 

 Gallinte are concerned, occur in the vicinity. I will say, 

 however, that a few days ago I discovered the tracks on 

 the snow of some eight or nine quails (they absolutely 

 frightened me), which probably were made by a wander- 

 ing flock of Callipepla sqvamatu, an these birds are the 

 ones which may be obtained some fifty miles from Win- 

 gate at a place called Grant Station. There is a wee 

 small pond near the fort that dries up on the slightest 

 provocation, into which a few stray mallards and blue 

 and green- winged teals may tumble at odd times during 

 the winter, and occasionally a Wilson's snipe be found to 

 alight there, but this completes the list for these two 

 families, and it is not materially increased by the advance 

 of the season. 



This sketch completes my observations, and as frag- 

 mentary as it may seem, I assure you it is based upon 

 careful field notes extending over two winters, so on the 

 whole you see it is not a very encouraging field for orni- 

 thologists to work up, and I only jot down these points 

 to fill in the gaps of the general geographical distribution 

 of birds in this country, which we all know to be of value, 

 be the list a short or long one. R. W. Shufeldt. 



THE SHRIKE AS A MIMIC. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A correspondent in your columns wants to know 

 whether he has discovered a new feature or power in the 

 imitative or musical abilities of the great American shrike. 

 I have often observed and admired them in the Southern 

 States, where I believe they are more numerous and 

 domestic than in the North, and have listened with very 

 much enjoyment to their delicious warblings. There was 

 one that was particularly tame and companionable around 

 my house, and almost always when I was busy in the 

 orange grove or elsewhere near by, he would perch on a 

 tree close by, or on the cart within arm's length, and with 

 twinkling eye and knowing poise of head watch for what- 

 ever of insect life should turn tip, pouncing down on it 

 and bearing it away to eat or Impale upon an orange 

 thorn. Snakes a foot long, "mule killers," frogs, beetles, 

 grasshoppers and such small deer were common orna- 

 ments on the orange trees, and whether it was the sur- 

 plus of his repasts that was so hung up, or whether it was 

 the result of innate "cussedness," I have never been able 

 to decide. He is the persistent, persecuting enemy of all 

 birddoni, and takes soul-satisfying delight in tormenting 

 and driving away from his neighborhood other feathered 

 flesh. 



He was commonly called in that country the "French 

 mockingbird," on account of his ability as a songster. 

 His was not the throat-splitting, ecstatic outpour of liquid 

 deliciousness that the mockingbird gives us. He did not 

 throw himself into the performance with the abandon and 

 irrepressibility so characteristic of the latter, as though in 

 addition to his own thorough enjoyment of the concert 

 and his powers he should win applause from his audience 

 and challenge competition; but he sat his modest attire, 

 quietly on his perch and for his own sole enjoyment, in 

 terms so modest they could be distinctly heard but a few 

 yards away, he gave, in soft gutturals, delicate trills, 

 finely modulated warblings and cadenzas, the most unique 

 and exquisite entertainment I have ever heard from 

 throat of bird. O. O. S. 



EGGS OF THE LOON. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In an article by "H. A. C." entitled "Mother Care," in 

 your issue of March 24, 1887, the writer states that in 1881, 

 on Long Lake, Manitoba, he watched the breeding of the 

 great northern diver or loon ( Urinator imber), and asserts 

 that the female laid five eggs before she began setting. 



Having been interested in the collecting of birds' eggs 

 for the last sixteen years, I was not a little surprised at 

 this statement, as I had never heard of more than two 

 eggs being found in a nest of this species. In the "Water 

 Birds of North America," by Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 

 it is stated that "two is the unvarying number" of eggs 

 laid by this species, and the writer says "I have never 

 seen nor have I heard of more than two eggs in a nest of 

 this species," and cites as authorities for the statement 

 Mr. George A. Boardman, of Calais, Maine, Mr. Hearne, 

 who wrote "A Journey to the Northern Ocean," Mr. B. 

 F. Goss, of Southern Wisconsin and Mr. MacFarlane of 

 the Hudson's Bay Company, all of whom have had ex- 

 ceptional opportunities for investigating the breeding 

 habits of this bud. Supposing the birds observed by your 

 correspondent "H. A, C." to have been correctly identi- 

 fied, they seem to have beaten the record in a marvelous 

 manner, and the set of five eggs would have been a prize 

 to any collector. The "vandal half breed," as a true son 

 of the woods, probably wished to reduce the family to the 

 proper number, and certainly proved himself no mean 

 marksman when he killed three "quite grown up" loons 

 at one discharge of his gun. In this neighborhood at 

 least, such a shot would not be possible, for no bird knows 

 better how to take care of himself than the great northern 

 diver, as I know by sad experience. R. B. L. 



[The error was probably in "H. A. C.'s" identification 

 of the bird he observed; it was not a great northern diver 

 but a grebe of some kind. The whole tone of the article 

 shows this.] 



Eggs of the Great Auk. — I have read with interest 

 in your issue of 17th inst., the history of this unfortunate 

 bud long since extinct. While your article mentions the 

 existence of skins, skeletons, etc., it does not tell of any 

 eggs being still preserved. There are, I believe, very few 

 known to exist. I was personally acquainted with a 

 country gentleman in England who sold one a few years 

 ago to the British Museum for the extraordinary sum of 

 <to0. It belonged to his daughter, having been' given to 

 her by an ancestor, and being looked upon as merely a 

 trifling "keepsake," its preservation was quite a chance 

 one.— F. 



Eagles. — South Norwalk, Conn.— Last November 1 

 shot a golden eagle near here, which measured 7ft. Gin. 

 from tip to tip: it was a young male bird. — W. E. L. A 



Jjald eagle shot this month by T. H. Sipe, twelve miles 

 from East Saginaw, Mich. , measured 7ft. from tip to tip 



jand proved to be a magnificent specimen. 



A Robin's Hard Lines.— Rockland, Me., Feb. 13.— 

 While riding in a sleigh to-day I saw a butcher bird 

 dragging a robin over the snow. I secured the robin and 

 would have killed the butcher bird. This is the earliest I 

 ever saw a robin in these parts. — Buck. 



Spring Arrivals.— Salem, Mass., March 25.— Blue- 

 birds, song and fox sparrows, redwing blackbirds, rusty 

 grackles, robins and short-eared owls have been seen. 

 Geese flew north last week and I heard them again last 

 night. No woodcock yet.— X. Y. Z. 



mne §ag mid {§mj. 



Address all communications to the Fore*t, and Stream Pub. Co, 



THE CALIFORNIA LAW, 



SACRAMENTO, Cal., March 17.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: Inclosed please find the amended game law 

 of this State, passed by the Legislature just closed. The 

 changes, briefly stated, are these: The new law makes 

 the close season for quails and grouse end Sept. 10 instead 

 of Oct. 1. It extends the open season for deer from Nov. 

 1 to Dec. 15. 



These changes would not be so bad, but the law also fa 

 concession to the granger element) permits local boards 

 of supervisors to "regulate" the game law in their 

 respective counties. The result of tins will be to abso- 

 lutely repeal all game protection in certain counties, for 

 supervisors, as a rule, know nothing of the subject and 

 will be governed by the demands of those who hunt for 

 the market, or who want to kill game at all seasons. 

 Some old mushheads ha ve got the idea that quails destroy 

 grapes (which is a gross absurdity), and they demand the 

 right to slaughter them at all times. And yet I know 

 intelligent vineyardists who have investigated this mat- 

 ter thoroughly, and have lately purchased Arizona quails 

 and turned them loose in their vineyards to eat up the 

 destructive bugs and insects that prey upon the vines. It 

 is a fact that no man has ever yet found a grape seed in a 

 quail's crop. But to see a quail in a vineyard seems to 

 have as bad an effect on some men as the planting of a 

 red flag before the face of a bull. The change in the deer 

 law affords the long-wished-for opportunity to slaughter 

 snowbound deer in the mountain counties, at a time when 

 they are not fit to be eaten. W. 



Sec. 1. Section 626 of an act entitled: "An act to estab- 

 lish a Penal Code," approved Feb. 14, 1872, is hereby 

 amended so as to read as follows: 626. Every person 

 who, in the State of California, between the 1st day of 

 March and the 10th day of September in each year hunts, 

 pursues, takes, kiUs or destroys quail, partridges or 

 grouse, or rail is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person 

 who, in any of the counties of this State, at any time, 

 takes, gathers or destroys the eggs of any quail, partridge 

 Or grouse, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person who 

 in tliis State, between the 1st day of January and the 1st 

 day of June, in each year, hunts, pursues, takes, kills or 

 destroys doves is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person 

 who, between the 15th day of December, in each year, 

 and the first day of July in the following year, hunts, 

 pursues, takes, kills or destroys any male antelope, deer 

 or buck is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person in the 

 State of California who has in his possession any hides or 

 skins of deer, antelope, elk, or mountain sheep, killed 

 between the 15th day of December and the first day of 

 July, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person who 

 shall at any time, in the State of Cahfornia, hunt, pur- 

 sue, take, kill or destroy any female antolope, elk, moun- 

 tain sheep, female deer, or doe, shall be guilty of a mis- 

 demeanor. Every person who shall at any time hunt, 

 pursue, take, kill or destroy any spotted fawn is guilty 

 of a misdemeanor. Every person who shall take, kill or 

 destroy any of the animals mentioned in this section, at 

 any time, unless the carcass of such animal is used or 

 presented by the person taking or staying it, or is sold 

 for food, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Every person who 

 shall buy, sell, offer, or expose for sale, transport or have 

 in his possession any deer or deerskin, or hide, from 

 which evidence of sex has been removed, or any of the 

 aforesaid game at a time when it is unlawful to kill the 

 same provided by this and subsequent sections, is guilty 

 of a misdemeanor. 



Sec. 2. Sec. 231 of the same Act is hereby amended so 

 as to read as follows: 631. Every person who shall at any 

 time net or pound any quail , partridge or grouse, and any 

 person who shall sell, buy, transport or give away, or 

 offer or expose for sale, or have in his possession, any 

 quail, partridge or grouse that have been snared, captured 

 or taken in by means of any net or pound, is guilty of a 

 misdemeanor. Proof of possession of any quail, partridge 

 or grouse, which shall not show evidence of having been 

 taken by means of other than a net or pound, shall be 

 prima facie evidence in any prosecution for a violation of 

 the provisions of this section that the person in whose pos'- 

 session such quail, partridge or grouse is found, took, 

 killed or destroyed the same by means of a net or pound. 



Sec. 3. Sec. 636 of the same Act is hereby amended so 

 as to read as follows: 636. Every person who shall set, 

 use or continue, or who shall assist in setting, using Or 

 continuing, any pound, weir, set net, trap, or any other 

 fixed or permanent contrivance, for catching fish* in th« 



