April 7, 1867.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



226 



turers, inspired with a faith that shanies the doubts of 

 us who think ourselves so much above geese. But the 

 geese are mostly above us— nearer the sun, nearer heaven, 

 nearer the great heart of nature — and perbaps despise us, 

 as they have a right to. 



Speaking of the little ground squirrel further back re- 

 minds me now to ask bow his familiar name should be 

 spelled — chipmuck, chipmunk or chipmonk ? To me he 

 was always, and always is, a jolly little Friar Tuck, and 

 so I fancy he was to the grim old monk-hating Puritan 

 father of Yankees, who saw the sociable little recluse 

 stealing his first planting of Indian corn, and then heard 

 him cluck and chip bis thanks for the stolen feast, "as 

 woidd any thieving priest!" quoth Barebones. And I 

 thank Barebones for the touch of imagination that once 

 in his sterile lif e illumined Iris soul with a ray of even 

 wintry sunlight. Others may call the little hermit as 

 they will, but for me he shall always be chipmonk. Give 

 me thy blessings, jolly little father,' and take thy tithings. 

 March 29. AWAHSOOSE. 



ANOTHER CROW STORY. 



IN your issue of March 24 "Watt" relates bis experi- 

 ence with a crow ; let me tell mine. Two years ago 

 I was located at Peoria, 111. The office of the company I 

 was with was two miles below the city, on the batik of 

 the Illinois River, and our boat was often called into 

 requisition for short hunting and fishing trips, or for the 

 replenishing of our aquarium. One day at dinner time 

 my clerk, Henry, took the boat and pulled across the 

 river into the woods on the opposite shore, which is easily 

 done most of the time, as the water sets back half a mile 

 to the foot of the bluffs, and is several feet deep through- 

 out the woods. Coming to a knoll which rose above the 

 water, lie was attracted by the cawing of a crow in the 

 lower branches of a tree, and landing he advanced, rifle 

 in band, but noting the apparent tameness of the bird, 

 although apparently full grown, was hardly old enough 

 to ea t alone. 



Bringing him to the office, the fun commenced. He 

 made his headquarters in the attic, and had more to say 

 than any of us. He grew sociable and wise in a remark- 

 ably short time, and developed the thieving propensities 

 for which his tribe, is notorious. We had an aquarium 

 about five feet in length in one of the double windows, 

 well stocked with a variety of fish, and we could not ac 

 count for their rapid disappearance until one morning 

 upon our opening the office door, bis erowship Avas ob- 

 served perched upon one end of the tank intently gazing 

 into the water ; presently he made a rapid dive, holding 

 on with his feet and burying half his body, emerging in 

 an instant with a fish in his beak, which he lost no time 

 in putting where it would do the most good. 



Our crow could not hold " a piece of meat in one fist 

 and an apple in the other 7 ' as "Watt" declares his did, 

 but he took great delight in swinging himself in a trapeze 

 we rigged up for him, and was never satisfied till he 

 swung so high his head would bump the ceiling, and he 

 was actually becoming bald from this exercise when fate 

 stepped in and sent him to the bourne where all good 

 crows go. 



As related, he was excessively noisy, especially when a 

 stranger came into the office* As luck would have it. 

 about that time I chanced to read a ludicrous article in 

 some paper about a doctor who, being awakened every 

 morning by the loud crowing of his neighbor's chanti- 

 cleer, ended the nuisance by trapping the rooster and ex- 

 tracting his vocal organs, after which he let him loose, 

 but the doctor declared it was so amusing to see him go 

 through the motions of crowing without being able to 

 utter a sound that he got up mornings earlier than ever 

 to enjoy the sight. Here was a hint for me, and Host no 

 time in acting upon it. With the aid of my right bower, 

 Nat T., we " corralled " our pet, and in five minutes had 

 the satisfaction of seeing him perforin a cawing panto- 

 mime in first-class style, but open his beak as wide as be 

 could, no sound came forth. The operation scarcely drew 

 a drop of blood, and we congratulated ourselves upon its 

 success, but alas, next morning our crow was cold and 

 stiff. After holding a post mortem, and an inquest, we 

 rendered the unanimous verdict that his death was due, 

 not to the effects of our surgery, but to the breaking of 

 his heart through grief at the loss of his voice. H. A. P. 



Buffalo, N, Y. 



HABITS OF THE STRIPED SQUIRREL. 



A FRIEND once told me of a striped squirrel which 

 he had owned and could not make eat anything in 

 the winter. He did not tell me at what time in the. spring 

 Chip began to eat, but the fact that he would not eat 

 shows that be did not fast from necessity. 



It used to be said by those who had the best opportu- 

 nity to know, that when the striped squirrel enters its 

 burrow for the night it closes the door by stopping the 

 burrow with dirt three or four feet from theentrance, 

 The statement caused a brother of mine to experiment a 

 little with a squirrel which had constructed a burrow 

 near the old homestead. He took two pails of water and 

 tried to drown out the squirrel, but the burrow woidd 

 hold very little water and no squirrel came out. Two or 

 three days later he saw the squirrel go in and immedi- 

 ately took some water and tried the experiment again; 

 it took nearly the two pails of water to fill the burrow, 

 but the squirrel had to come out this time. 



Scarcely a year passes in which a new burrow is not 

 constructed in October, near my premises, by the striped 

 squirrel, and I have never known them to' be used the 

 second season for a winter store-house. My observations 

 thus far seem to indicate that it is the female squirrel that 

 constructs a burrow as above described. 



Five years ago last fall a squirrel dug her burrow on the 

 north side of the road near my barn, where the stone wall 

 on the northerly side of the road runs nearly east and 

 west, and is a little higher than the road, so that the 

 ground slants toward the road and also toward the 

 south. The squirrel began in this slant about one foot 

 from the south side of the wall, and I used to look at that 

 little pile of dirt every time I passed that way, but never 

 saw this mouth of the burrow open. One day I saw some 

 damp earth, which had jusfc been shoved out," and waited 

 a few moments to see if the squirrel was still at work, and 

 not discovering any movements I passed on. The squir- 

 rel completed her burrow by digging up to the surface 

 about seven feet from the north side of the wall, and here 

 is where the family came out the following season, but 



the burrow did not appear to have any tenants the second 

 1 year. 



I _ In my young days it was the habit of most of the boys 

 ' in this neighborhood to go gunning on the old Massachu- 

 setts election day (the last day in May), and living near 

 the State line, I usually joined a like party in New Hamp- 

 shire on their election day (the first Wednesday in June), 

 and among other small game killed were lots of striped 

 squirrels, but I will remember one day (the last Wednes- 

 day in May), when only one striped squirrel was taken by 

 the whole party, and I have often wondered if the ground 

 could have been so covered with snow and ice as to have 

 interfered with breeding. 



The females usually construct their burrows in the fall, 

 near some stone wall, fence, building or similar cover 

 where there are plenty of acorns and other food, and in 

 the month of March (their breeding time) the males may 

 l)p seen for a short time in that vicinity, after which they 

 disappear and are not seen again till from the middle of 

 May to the first of June, when, as a neighbor says. " they 

 all come out together, both old and young." The fact 

 that the old. squirrel does not appear to be giving milk at 

 this time leads me to think that provisions laid up in the 

 fall are principally for the young, which at this time are 

 about three-fourths grown and are able to take care of 

 themselves. 



I think the male squirrels do not lay up any winter 

 stores. Has any one in this latitude ever seen a male 

 striped Squirrel, late in October, with his cheeks stuffed 

 full of provisions ? They will come and sit upon the wall 

 in sight of my house and eat acorns and go away again 

 without taking a load with them. 



There are two striped squirrel burrows near a neigh- 

 bor's house, one of them within eight feet of his front 

 door, and to-day I called on him anil inquired if he had 

 ever seen the squirrels about his premises carrying dirt 

 in their mouths while excavating their burrows. He said 

 he never had, but thought he should have seen them if 

 they pursued that method of getting rid of the dirt. 



I bave never seen a striped squirrel eat anything in the 

 month of March, and the one I have sent you this day was 

 shot on a wall, near an oak tree, where there were plenty 

 of acorns last fall. You can probably decide the eating 

 question by dissecting the squirrel. " Popgun. 



T yin t; snort ough, Maes., March 28, 1887. 



[The stomach was filled with a pulp or paste of partly 

 digested food ; it was vegetable matter not identified.] 



ENGLISH SPARROW DESTRUCTION. 



[SutjKesfions in regard to the English sparrow, from advance 

 sheets of the report of Dr. C. Halt Merriam, Ornithologist of the 

 U. B. Department, of Agriculture.".] 



THE following recommendations are respectfully sub- 

 mitted to the legislative bodies of the various States 

 and Territories: 



First — The immediate repeal of all existing laws which 

 afford protection to the English sparrow. 



Second — The enactment of laws legalizing the killing 

 of the English sparrow at all seasons of the year, and the 

 destruction of its nests, eggs and young. 



Third— The enactment of laws making it a misdemeanor 

 punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both (a), to inten- 

 tionally give food or shelter to the Engbsh sparrow, except 

 with a view to its ultimate destruction; (b) to introduce or 

 aid in introducing it into new localities; (c) to interfere with 

 persons, means, or appliances engage in or designed for 

 its destruction or the destruction of its nests, eggs or 

 young. 



Fourth — The enactment of laws protecting the great 

 northern shrike or butcher bird, the sparrow hawk, and 

 the screech owl, which species feed largely on the English 

 sparrow. 



Fifth — The enactment of laws providing for the appoint- 

 ment of at least one person holding civil office, prefer- 

 ably the game constable where such officer exists, in each 

 town or village, who shall serve without additional com- 

 pensation, and whose duty it shall be to destroy or bring 

 about the destruction of English sparrows in the streets 

 and parks and other places where the use of firearms is 

 not permitted. In the larger towns and cities this 

 office might be well imposed upon the commissioners of 

 public parks. 



It is not expedient to offer bounties for the destruction 

 of sparrows. In fact, at the present time, it is desirable 

 and perfectly feasible, to bring about a great reduction 

 in their ranks by concerted action of the people, aided 

 by helpful legislation, without drawing upon the public 

 purse. 



RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE PEOPLE. 



The English sparrow is a curse of such virulence that 

 it ought to be systematically attacked aud destroyed 

 before it becomes necessary to deplete the public treasury 

 for the purpose, as has been done in other countries. By 

 concerted action, and by taking advantage of its gregar- 

 ious habits, much good may be accomplished with little 

 or no expenditure of money. 



The sparrow is a cunning, wary bird, and soon learns 

 to avoid the means devised by man for its destruction. 

 Hence much sagacity must be displayed in the warfare 

 against it. In the winter time if food is placed in some 

 convenient spot at the same hour each day for a week, 

 the sparrows will gather in dense flocks to feed, and large 

 numbers may be killed at one time by firing upon them 

 with small shot. Sometimes they may be successfully 

 netted or trapped, but this requires considerable skill. 

 They may be poisoned by grain soaked in tincture of 

 nux vomica, or in Fowler's solution of arsenic, but poison- 

 ing is attended with some danger, and should be attempted 

 only by official sparrow killers. 



Large numbers may be destroyed, and increase pre- 

 vented, by the systematic destruction of their nests, eggs 

 and young. By the aid of an iron rod and hook, set in 

 the end of a long pole, most of their nests can be reached 

 and brought down. This method promises most satis- 

 factory results. 



They may be easily driven from their roosting places 

 by disturbing them on several successive nights. A very 

 efficacious method is to throw water upon them when at 

 roost. In cities where hose pipe is available, the process 

 is simple and certain. They may be kept out of orna- 

 mental vines in the same manner, particularly in the 

 breeding season, when a thorough soaking not only dis- 

 concerts the old birds and kills their young, but at the 

 same time does much good by wetting the vines and 

 washing out their filth, 



ERRATIC MIGRATIONS. 



AVAST deal still remains to be found out and ex- 

 plained about the habits and movements of birds. 

 Though we know that at certain seasons of the year 

 scores of duck or plover haunt the marshes or uplands, 

 that at others the hum ming birds may be heard buzzing 

 through the shrubs, or the dainty warblers trdling in 

 the woodland, yet a year will come, or a series of years, 

 when certain strangers may appear in one's locality and 

 be the cause of wonderment to many. A few will be of 

 some species, more perhaps of others, but they may come 

 and go in a sufficiently regular manner to encourage the 

 belief that they have made up their minds to be regular 

 seasonal visitors, or, if such be the habit of the species, 

 permanent residents. 



After their friends and admirers have flattered them- 

 selves that a welcome addition has been made to the band 

 of feathered songsters of that particular locality, they 

 will disappear as suddenly as they came, and perhaps be 

 seen no more for years. 



This was brought to my mind while out shooting last 

 October. Seeing "three birds alight in a small patch of 

 shore grass, I walked toward them, thinking they were 

 plover and probably of a rare kind. When they flushed, 

 however, I was astonished to hear the unmistakable 

 purl made by the wing of the Carolina, dove (Zenaidura 

 carnlinen^is). I shot one and wounded a second, which 

 fell in a garden close by, from whence I recovered him 

 the next day. 



People long resident here had not seen such a bird about 

 before, and I certainly never thought that the range of 

 migration was so far north as this, on the sea coast at 

 least. 



Naturally, this circumstance set me to thinking of 

 something I bad noticed before in connection with the 

 Carolina dove's migration. About the year 1870, or 

 possibly late in the '60s, a few doves appeared in the vicinity 

 of Victoria, Vancouver's Island. The next summer they 

 were more numerous, and every succeeding summer their 

 numbers increased, and their migration extended further 

 into the country until the whole district, from Victoria 

 to Saonich, 20 miles, was, every summer, thickly stocked 

 with doves, who nested, reared their broods, went south 

 and returned the next year as if they had adopted the 

 country. When, lo ! in about the year 1876 or 1877 they 

 disappeared, and the next year not a dove could be found 

 in all of that part of the island, nor had there been any 

 — unless stragglers — seen up to the time I left there, three 

 years ago. 



What, then, caused the migration ? and in such a pe- 

 culiar way, in. that at first there were few, then more and 

 more. The country had not been filling with settlers 

 during that period", or one might be. Jed to think that the 

 feeding grounds were enlarged, and the supply of food 

 increasing. Even in that case their sudden desertion re- 

 mains to be accounted for. 



About the same time, or perhaps a little before, in the 

 same district, the little pigmy owl {Glancidiwn gnoma), 

 was very common. 



Every evening they could be heard calling — and a very 

 pleasant sound it is — in the firs near any of the farm 

 yards. Suddenly they became exceedingly scarce, and 

 in their place appeared the mottled owl (Scops asi), up 

 to that time a comparatively uncommon bird. 



The short-eared owls too (Brachyotus cassinii) aston- 

 ished us all one year by taking possession of the country. 

 They could be seen alighting on the open fields and flying 

 up and down the bushy strips of land else to fences, etc. 

 The next year they came again, but after that none were 

 to be found in that locality. W. B. A. 



Fort Simpson, B.C., March 1, 1887. 



On the same subject Mr. F. H. Thurston, of Central 

 Lake. Mich. , sends us this extract from a letter received 

 by him: "Oconto, Wis. May, 1884, was the date of the 

 first arrival of the Baltimore oriole here at Oconto. When 

 I saw the bird at Appleton I thought probably he was an 

 old resident there, but when on returning home I found 

 Rinq. here, I at once concluded that he was new to them 

 as well as to us. I remember very distinctly the first 

 appearance of the bird (' English robin' he was called 

 then), in northern New York, and though it had been 

 something like 40 years since I had heard his voice I re- 

 cognized it instantly, and, following the sound, was soon 

 rewarded by the sight of a real Baltimore oriole. At the 

 time (May, 1884) I wrote the inclosed letter, I supposed 

 the bird had come here to make a home with us, for I saw 

 many of them at the time and within the next few 

 days, but at the end of the week they had gone and were 

 not to be seen or heard again anywhere during the year. 

 The following spring and each year since they returned, 

 but not until last year, 1886, did they remain for any 

 length of time. They were here then till well into sum- 

 mer, and though I saw none of their nests, I think from 

 the fact that they were here so long they must have 

 hatched and. reared at least one brood of young. 



W. M. U." 



Black and Silver Foxes.— Ottawa., Ont., March 31.— 

 Mr. Frank Mercier, agent for the Alaska Commercial 

 Co., St. Michaels district, Alaska, informs me that all 

 black and siiver-gray foxes taken are males, a female 

 black or silver fox is" an unknown thing. This is an in- 

 teresting, and to me, a new fact and bears out my old 

 theory that black foxes are a freak of nature and belong 

 to the red fox family. I once owned for several years a 

 beautiful pet black fox which was taken when young 

 from a litter of red foxes. Mr. Mercier has traveled ex- 

 tensively through Alaska and British Columbia and has 

 bought and handled a large number of black and silver 

 fox skins, so can be considered good authority on this 

 subject. He has made a fine collection of the northern 

 Indian implements and also of mammouth tusks and 

 bones, which are now in the Geological Smwey's Museum 

 in this city.— Stanstead. 



Eggs of the Great Auk. — Framingham, Mass., 

 April 3. — In supplement to the note of "F." in your issue 

 of March 31 on eggs of the great auk, I send you the fol- 

 lowing extract from The Naturalist for 1S80, which I find 

 in my notebook: "Two eggs of the great auk were 

 recently sold at auction in Edinburgh by Lord Lifford. 

 One brought 100 pounds, the other 102 guineas, probably 

 the largest price ever paid for an egg, except for one of 

 the moa at Edinburgh in 1865, which brought 200 pounds." 

 — F, C. Browne. 



