March 14, 1889,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



161 



rent enjoyment aa dogs having a frolic, or boys on a 

 toboggan, and with no pther motive. 



These facts were gathered from an old hunter and 

 trapper, who learned the same by studying the habits of a 

 tame otter in his possession. He was afterward one of a 

 surveying party, with the writer, in Michigan some years 

 ago. Having never found this item regarding their 

 breathing in print, it is now given, knowing the source 

 of information to be authentic, and believing it to be a 

 reasonable explanation, one that all sportsmen and 

 naturalists ought to understand. A. B. C. 



Grand Rapids, Mich. 



CROWS AND POISON IVY. 



AT the 138th regular meeting of the Biological Society 

 of "Washington, held March 9, four new members 

 were elected. Mr. W. B. Burrows read a very interesting 

 and instructive paper on "Dangerous Seed-Planting by 

 the Crow," in the course of which he proved that this 

 bird is a principal agent in the distribution of the poison 

 ivy and poison sumach. The crow gathers the seeds of 

 these and other species of Rhus from Maine to Florida, 

 and during the entire fall and winter. One hundred and 

 fifty-three seeds of poison ivy were found in a single 

 stomach. At a fifteen-acre roost in xVrlington cemetery, 

 Mr. Barrows collected the excrement from a surface, of 

 three square feet, dried it and obtained twelve ounces of 

 material , in which the seeds were counted. He found that 

 one pound of the dried excrement which would be derived 

 from four square feet of the average surface, contains 

 1,041 seeds of poison ivy, 341 of poison sumach, besides 

 3,271 seeds of harmless species of Rhus and a few others. 

 The deposit is from i to ^in. thick on the average and 

 contains 346 poisonous seeds to the square foot. At this 

 rate the roost of fifteen acres would furnish about 226,000,- 

 000 of such seeds. As the birds pass fully one-half their 

 time flying over the country they have ample opportunity 

 to spread the deadly species which furnish their food. 

 The seeds germinate more quickly after passing through 

 the digestive tract of the crow than they do naturally — 

 some of them within forty-eight hours. This valuable 

 paper caused a great deal of discussion, in the course of 

 which it was related that certain beetles have been 

 observed to pass through a toad's alimentary tract "alive 

 and kicking.'' We are reminded here of the little black- 

 fish of Alaska, Dattia pectoralis, which endures the pro- 

 cesses of freezing solid and sojourning temporarily in the 

 stomach of the Eskimo dog, where the genial warmth 

 induces it to break for libe*ty , by and with the advice and 

 consent of its container. 



Dr. C. H. Merriam exhibited and described a new 

 ground squirrel from Arizona, resembling the "antelope 

 squirrel," but with the tail dark beneath and longer, and 

 with longer ears. 



Mr. C. D. Walcott discussed the genus OleneUus of 

 Hall, stating its age, position and distribution, and the 

 essential characters of its species. Beautiful drawings of 

 the principal forms were exhibited, along with the types 

 of several species. 



Ways of the Woodpecker. — Aylmer. Que. , March 5.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: When reading the notes on 

 the downy woodpecker in your issue of Feb. 28,1 thought 

 I would send a little incident I noticed last spring. One 

 morning; while in the garden I was attracted by a con- 

 tinuous hammering on the telegraph wires, and- looking 

 up saw one of these birds perched on top of the nearest 

 pole, vigorously hammering on an end of the wire pro- 

 jecting from the cap. Soon after I heard another wood- 

 pecker on a pole across the road, but this bird was ham- 

 mering the post, and consequently produced only dull 

 sounds. After repeating the tapping on different sides 

 of the pole he seemed to become angry at the first bird's 

 louder and more musical performance, for with a sharp 

 cry he flew toward it, and after chasing it around and 

 around the post, succeeded in driving it away. Once in 

 possession of the coveted post, he, with an air which 

 showed evident satisfaction, gave a few loud rap?, then 

 held his head back to listen. But he was doomed to dis- 

 appointment, for, as before, he struck the post. Again 

 and again he tried changing his position, but without suc- 

 cess, and when a few moments later the other bird 

 returned, drove him away, mounted the top of the pole, 

 and struck the wire with detianj; vigor, his chagrin must 

 have been complete. I saw this repeated several times, 

 but without the second bird learning the secret. For a 

 week or two after this I often heard the same rapping 

 and ringing, but did not go out to watch. What finally 

 became of the clever bird, whether he was banished for 

 witchcraft or left of his own accord, I am unable to say. 

 I think a great deal of pleasure may be derived from 

 watching birds. My interest was first awakened by the 

 writings of Olive Thome Miller. — Fannie Heatherington. 



Woodcock Breeding in North Carolina.— Two 

 gentlemen of this city, while gunning about nine miles 

 from Rocky Point, Wednesday, found two young wood- 

 cock, apparently not more than two weeks old. They 

 had no feathers, and with the exception of their long 

 "bill" had very much the appearance of chickens just 

 from the shell. It was for a long time claimed, espe- 

 cially by Northern writers, that woodcock did not breed 

 in this section, but this view was shown to be erroneous 

 many years ago by the Star, whose editor has occasion- 

 ally seen young woodcock in Duplin county, and fre- 

 quently on Eagle Island, opposite this city. It seems 

 quite certain that in the swamps of this island the wood- 

 cock breed in large numbers; and in the month of Sep- 

 tember, when nearly all the birds are fully grown, as 

 many as thirty to forty have been seen coming out of the 

 swamp at one point a,nd going rapidly across the river. 

 This flight takes place in the evening about dusk, when 

 it is very difficult to shoot with accuracy, which gives 

 the birds comparative exemption from the deadly breech- 

 loader.— Wilmington (N. C.) Daily Star, March 8. 



A Beaver Farm.— Messrs. "Tough" Hardin and Wil- 

 lard Cad well, of Saratoga, Mont., have projected a 

 beaver farm on the headwaters of the North Fork of Jack 

 Creek. A number of acres, through which will run the 

 waters of the stream, will be inclosed by a fence of 

 closely woven wire; this wire at the point where it 

 crosses the stream, being sunk some four feet beneath 

 the water bed as an effectual precaution against the 

 beaver digging under and out. 



A Skunk of Odd Color.— Barnstable, Mass.— I have 

 been greatly troubled by skunks, and during the past 

 month I have captured eight of them in a box trap. 

 They have made a home for themselves under the house, 

 passing in and out under the piazza. This morning the 

 trap was sprung, and upon close inspection found it to 

 contain a light chocolate-colored skunk with a white 

 head and neck. The color more closely resembled cocoa 

 boiled with milk than anything else I can think of. I 

 have never heard of such an animal before, can you give 

 me any information on the subject through your columns? 

 It gave forth the regulation skunk odor when perforated 

 with two charges of No. 5 shot. — V. W. B. 



Owl Shooting in Jersey City.— Jersey City, N. J., 

 March 7.— Mr. E. T. Larrabee, of Mercer street, this 

 city, while sitting at his window one day last week, 

 noticed a shadow larger than usually cast by a sparrow 

 flit past him, and an investigation revealed a large bird 

 perched on the limb of a tree in an adjoining back yard. 

 The sportsman's proclivities in Mr.' L. immediately 

 asserted themselves, and with the assistance of a rifle 

 and some patient maneuvers to get a solid brick wall 

 behind his quarry, a .22fcal. bullet brought down what 

 proved to be a screech owl. — R. H. C. 



An Albino Crow. — Dover, Delaware. — A crow re- 

 cently captured here is an interesting specimen of "mon- 

 grelism." In appearance it partly resembles a pigeon; 

 and, in striking contrast to the black plumage of the 

 body, the wings are of a snowy whiteness. — Del. A. 

 Ware. 



mm Jfofjf mid <§m\. 



"Sam LoveVs Cantys." By R. E. Robinson. Now ready. 



SPRING DUCK SHOOTING. 



/CHICAGO, 111., Feb. 15.— Mr. F. A. Allen, one of the 

 \J most prominent members of the wealthy and in- 

 fluential Monmouth Gun Club, and known all over the 

 shooting world as the maker of the standard Allen duck 

 call, was in the city last Thursday and seemed to know 

 about everybody in town. Mr. Allen is in favor of spring 

 shooting and is a bitter and effective foe of the measure 

 looking toward its abolishment. The Monmouth Gun 

 Club is probably fairly to be called at the head of the 

 fight against the proposed amendment to the law. It is 

 a strong and wealthy organization, numbering some forty 

 of the best men in that section, and representing, per- 

 haps, over two millions of dollars. It has been active in 

 the circulating of petitions among the other sportsmen's 

 clubs throughout the State, and has certainly reached 

 most of the Chicago clubs in that way. It sent in to the 

 Legislature one petition whose list of names measured 

 14ft. Peoria, 111., sent in a list 35ft long. In all there 

 have been sent in, Mr. Allen informs me, over 18,000 

 names appended to petitions against the proposed amend- 

 ment. This will give some idea of the earnestness of the 

 fight, and of the pressure the lower part of the State is 

 bringing to bear upon the Legislature. 



Personally, I should like to see spring shooting stojjped. 

 I believe that the most thoughtful and unselfish sports- 

 men can only look upon its abolishment as a step in the 

 right direction, and as desirable, if only upon the princi- 

 ple that whatever spares the life of a single duck a single 

 hour is to-day a desirable thing. I do not, nor can I 

 see how any one can agree with Mr. Allen when he says 

 that there are as many ducks to-day as there were thirty 

 years ago, or ten years ago; I believe him to be candid 

 in his statement, but know that he speaks in reference 

 to his experience in shooting at New Boston, on the Mis- 

 sissippi River, one of the best grounds in the world. 

 Depletion may not be noticeable at such a point, upon 

 the natural migration path of the main body of our wild- 

 fowl, but it certainly is only too apparent elsewhere, as 

 almost any of our sportsmen must admit. Mr. Allen 

 says this is due to the drying up of the streams, the tilling 

 of the marshes, and the settling up of the country. 

 This is largely true, and it is this very fact that stands 

 against the Mississippi River shooters who find plenty. 

 The birds, driven out of their ordinary courses, are yearly 

 crowding more and more to the ever-present and unfailing 

 water path of the Mississippi. The scarcity of other 

 points is the abundance of the Mississippi. May not 

 Mr. Allen see this, and may he not know that when the 

 Mississippi flight is done with, our ducks are gone. 

 Is it not evident that too much strain is being put 

 upon the duck supply? It is true that a spring law would 

 "stop shooting over 600 miles of the Mississippi River," 

 for the shooting is best there in the spring; but wovdd 

 that not be better so? It would be better still to stop it 

 both spring and fall for a time, although that is not need- 

 ful. It only appears needful to some minds that some 

 sort of cessation of slaughter should be fixed, and to 

 these the anti-spring shooting seems most reasonable. 

 To some other minds, equally free to have their own 

 opinion, even if a frankly selfish one and equally numer- 

 ous — indeed far more numerous — it seems best to keep 

 up the slaughter so long as possible, upon the ground 

 that posterity never did anything for us, and that there- 

 fore we need, do notching for posterity. To these it will 

 not avail to sadly point out the fact that it is not for 

 posterity, but for ourselves that we would do this benefit. 

 The shooter of fifty years of age will live long enough to 

 wish, when it is too late, that he himself had aided in 

 the framing of some wise restricting measure. Whether 

 this measure should be the stopping of shooting in the 

 spring, I, for one, should not like to be called upon to 

 determine, for some other measure may be equally wise; 

 but if this were thought wise by the public opinion I 

 should certainly lay up my gun without a grumble. As 

 it is, I shall probabiy not lay up my gun this spring, and 

 this I should admit'frankly, though "1 would vote gladly 

 for the proposed amendment. 



This is merely my own one personal opinion, not worthy 

 to be called a dictum, and ventured only under the priv- 

 ilege which should be accorded any fair-minded man. 

 Nor has any of us the- right to call the man who differs 

 from him not fair minded, or to impute to him upon that 

 basis motives of an unworthy sort. I do not believe for 

 one instant that Mr. Allen wishes to see spring shooting- 

 continued because he might then sell more duck calls 



or bow-facers. I think that to attribute Buch motives to 

 him is more than injustice, it is unkindness, to a bluff 

 and hearty, a whole-souled and generous sportsman. If 

 Mr. Allen wants the amendment quashed, depend upon 

 it, it is Mr. Allen the shooter, and not Mr. Allen the man- 

 ufacturer. As a shooter, he is entitled to his opinion, and 

 we should win him from it by fair facts, and not attempt 

 to drive him from it by abuse. 



So also are the Monmouth Gun Club, so also are the 

 other opponents of this measure, entitled to their opinions. 

 It is useless to belittle their party or to abuse it. It is far 

 better to admit, as I must from a growing knowledge of 

 the shooters of this section, that their party — mistaken 

 though I believe it, yet successful beyond a doubt — is a 

 large one and a strong one, embracing, to an extent which 

 has surprised me, numbers of the best, most popular, the 

 most wealthy, and I must add, the most intelligent sports- 

 men of this State. It is the party of the practical to-day. 

 It is the party typical of the spirit of this bald and selfish 

 age. It is a party mistaken in its belief and ungenerous 

 in its tenets, I feel sure; but that it will succeed in killing 

 the proposed amendment against spring shooting is a 

 thing so sure that it hardly admits a question. 



Mr. Allen and I walked down South Water street to go 

 and see Col. E. S. Bond, perhaps as well known a game 

 dealer as this city has. We passed a stand where there 

 were a few of the mallards which are now coming up 

 from Missouri. We weighed one to see about the condi- 

 tion of spring ducks. It was a drake, and weighed not 

 quite 2|lbs. Mr. Allen says that in April New Boston 

 ducks are very fat. 



Col. Bond, big and jovial enough to almost fill up his 

 little office and ran over on the sidewalk, was found at 

 his desk, and we asked him what he knew. 



"I'll tell you what I know," said the Colonel, "I know 

 that usually when you scratch a sportsman's back you 

 find bristles." 



"Is it not also true, Colonel," we asked him, "that when 

 you scratch a game-dealer's back you find coupons?" 



The Colonel didn't know about that, but at length went 

 on, "What I mean," said he, "is that you sportsmen don't 

 amount to much. You make a lot of talk about pre- 

 serving game, but you don't preserve it. You are all a 

 lot of butchers, and will kill all you can. I am talking 

 out of a varied knowledge of sportsman nature, and I say 

 the sportsmen of this country have never passed and up- 

 held one measure looking to the preservation of game, 

 and you are not likely to. You do a lot of talking, but it 

 isn't anything but selfishness. You are all afraid that 

 somebody else will kill the birds you want to kill; that's 

 the sum of your philanthropy. Would any of you be 

 willing to stop using a dog in field shooting? Would you 

 all agree to use no gun larger than a 16-gauge? Would 

 you all stop using decoys? Would you all give up blind 

 shooting? What would you do, now, when it comes 

 right down to hard pan? Why, you wouldn't do any- 

 thing. You won't even go down in your clothes and get a 

 $5 bill to give your State game warden. Look here"— and 

 he produced a written subscription list — "here's a sub- 

 scription fund we started last fall for Billy Minier, the 

 game warden. See any sportsmen's names there? Mostly 

 South. Water street names, aren't they? Well, we fellows 

 down here just raised that ourselves, and we gave it to 

 him, and that's about all he got. What are the sports- 

 men doing? Why, they're talking! 



"What about violations of the game law? Why, my 

 dear sir, I don't hesitate to tell you that the sportsmen 

 ought to come right to South Water street and consult 

 before they try to get any game law passed. If the mer- 

 chants of South Water street unite in supporting a law, 

 it is almost impossible for violators to get off unpunished; 

 and upon the other hand, if we think a law is nonsensi- 

 cal, we pay no attention to it. I could run $100,000 

 of illegal game through this office in a month, and you 

 wouldn't know it if you stood right here. How is it go- 

 ing to be found out ? Who is pushing any such matter 

 — the State Sportsmen's Association? Not much. It's 

 starving one man to death here now, and it would take 

 more active work than that to detect and make convic- 

 tions on this street. 



"How about this Smith case? I'll write you a piece 

 about that, sometime, maybe. There are two sides to 

 that case, and it isn't lost or won till it's tried. 



"What do I think about spring shooting? It would be 

 hard to stop it, though I believe it would be for the best. 

 I am not sure that it would be better than to stop fall 

 shooting. There are thousands and thousands of young 

 ducks murdered before they are hardly big enough to 

 peep. Ducks decoy better in the spring, but they come 

 to a call better in the fall, and they don't know so much 

 then. Besides, there are thousands and thousands of 

 ducks trapped in the fall. 



"You didn't know that? Of course you didn't. There's 

 a lot you don't know. There don't anybody but South 

 Water street men know much about this trapping busi- 

 ness. Listen here, and I'll tell you something. I used 

 to stand in with the men who netted wild pigeons. I 

 handled the great bulk of all the wild pigeons that came 

 to this market. When the pigeons were used up, I per- 

 sonally know that a great many of the nets went into 

 the North and Northwest after ducks. Four years ago I 

 sold one New York man 15,000 mallard ducks, all trapped 

 by one outfit in Dakota. Sometimes they caught thirty- 

 five dozen at one throw of the net. They used 200 

 bushels of corn that fall in baiting their feed-bed, in one 

 shallow lake. These ducks were all caught in the fall, 

 and are not trapped at any other time. They say that 

 you can't ship game out of Wisconsin. What a farce! 

 Why, I know of one firm on this street which every fail 

 buys from 20,000 to 40,000 ducks from Wisconsin trappers. 

 Mind, I say from trappers alone, and not shooters. What 

 do you think of that? 



"What sort of a law do I think would be best to save 

 the ducks? Nonsense, young man; nonsense! You sports- 

 men won't pass any effective law, and if it were effective 

 you'd never rest till you got it repealed. If I were to 

 suggest a law which I thought would afford some shoot- 

 ing and yet spare the ducks a little, I should say that the 

 shooting season ought to begin not earlier than Oct. 1 or 

 15, and ought to end not later than April 1 or 15, and that 

 some of the murderous modern facilities should be 

 abridged." 



These are the words of a man who knows more about 

 game, the supply, the way it is taken, and where it comes 

 from, than any sporting writer or editor in the United 

 States. Certainly Col. Bond and Mr. Allen know more 

 about ducks in a minute than this writer will ever have 



