246 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 17, 1890. 



and wise men will gather reverently about a foot print 

 in petrified mud where stupid men now congregate in 

 ambush with 'blinds' and 'batteries.' " 



Jefferson Hcribb. 



TO THE MAYFLOWER. 



Epigea repem. 

 TXT HEN from their home beyond the seas 



Our Pilgrim fathers came. 

 They gave to birds, and flowers, and trees, 

 Some much-loved English name. 



The names they left, but not the things, 



So cherished in their eyes, 

 "The lark, at Heaven's gate who sings" 



Soars not beneath our skies. 



No redbreast of our infant rhymes 



Seeks shelter from the storm. 

 Our robin bastes to southern climes, 



Where sun and skies are warm. 



Our violet greets the morning hour 



In all its purple bloom, 

 It bears the hues of England's flower, 



But lacks its sweet perfume! 



Her "daisy pies the velvet mead," 



A modest, shrinking flower; 

 Our daisy's but a pasture weed, 



Which loves the sun's full power. 



Our laurel forms no classic wreath, 



The victor's brow to crown, 

 Not from our bills does Scotia's heath 



On loch and moor look down. 



Yet Scotia's harebell lightly nods, 



And England's roses blow, 

 And blue anemone its buds 



Lifts nest the melting snow. 



Close by its side, a fairer flower, 



Unknown to Britain's Isles, 

 Lufolds its eyes to April's shower. 



And welcomes May with smiles. 



Now richest pink, now purest white, 



It blooms in sun or shade, > 

 Or wastes its fragrance on the night, 



In many a lonely glade. 



Now hiding closely to the ground,* 

 Where withered leaves have blown: 



Now wreathing sweetest clusters rouud 

 OltLstump or mossy stone. 



Some call it "trailing arbutus." 



The name our fathers gave 

 The gallant barque, recalls to us, 



Which brought them o'er the wave. 



Dear to our hearts the pleasant sound, 



The name which first it bore, 

 The "Mayflower,"' which the Pilgrims found 



On Plymouth's rocky shore. Von W. 



ChaK-LESTOWN, N. H., April 9. 



* Epigca, close to the ground. 



AN OLD PESSIMIST. 



KELLUP has grown morose of late. He does very 

 well in sunny weather, but when the rheumatism 

 and the dyspepsia, and the other ailments indigenous to 

 his time of life, all get together and choose a stormy day 

 for a joint attack, the conjunction of malevolent circum- 

 stances seems too much. On these days Susan can only 

 listen. 



He rarely goes to town now— hates the town. He dis 

 likes to see the tenements encroaching on green fields, 

 and lots all scored and littered with boards and bricks 

 and beds of mortar. He abominates the jolting pave 

 ments, and would shun a broad, straight macadam 

 drive to explore an untitled byway, choked with bushes 

 or half broken through a snow wilderness. He has a 

 jealous love of trees. He sighs when he reads of a new 

 nse for wood, and the thought of cords of poplar grind- 

 ing into pulp for paper enrages him. When he took a 

 trip up North, where coal is little used, he begrudged 

 every stick that went .into the locomotive, but he took 

 delight in a sapling growth where an old man said the 

 corn grew once instead. He grieves to see the forest 

 felled. The enormous statistics of lumber drives in the 

 spring appal him, and he longs to rush away to some in- 

 accessible place to gloat on the forest there and thank 

 Heaven he won't live to see its destruction. 



In younger days he thought seriously of this. He 

 allowed himself to dream of a time when he should star 

 on a trip to the uttermost parts of the earth. He pored 

 over the map with Susan in the evening, till finally they 

 arranged a satisfactory schedule of route and prices. 

 His gun would be his only companion and he could tell 

 you just the make of gun. And he could prophesy ad- 

 ventures. He could tell you what dangers to avoid at 

 such and such a place, and what game should fall befor 

 him there. Then there was the question of skins. Not 

 only the transportation to consider, but the duty. How 

 ever, no price could affect their intrinsic worth; each 

 would have its value when he came home, weatherstained 

 to recount the story of its capture. On his fiftieth birth 

 day, the date of departure seemed so far, far away that 

 he got out the map, that night, and drew a line around 

 Australia and the Pacific Islands; there would not be 

 time for them now. At fifty-five the last five winters had 

 left traces of frost, and he decided to eliminate the North 

 Pole and immediate vicinity; but it cost a pang to relin- 

 quish that polar bear. 



"And now, at sixty," said he, "there is no prospect and 

 it's too late, now, to start. The big game of the earth is 

 gone. The last elephant in Africa will soon have his 

 tusks sawed off and I could hardly reach the jungle in 

 time to see the man-eater, dead full of bullets. At home 

 here, the grizzlies have become pusillanimous, the last 

 bison of the plains is only a buffalo robe; even the Indians 

 are corraled in their graveyard. The woods are speechless 

 except for the quail, liberated by count in the spring to 

 be shot in the fall. There's a trap in the path of every 

 shy creature with a coat of fur, and a bounty on his scalp 

 in the town clerk's office. In a few years more we'll 

 study natural history in museums with moths corrupt- 

 ing rare, beautiful skins which now we baiter in bales, 



GOOSE SHOOTING ON THE ARKANSAS. 



THREE years ago last June, the sportsmen of this 

 vicinity were blessed with as good goose and duck 

 shooting as could be had. Two or three of us could go 

 out almost any day and get from 40 to 50 geese and ducks. 

 That day is over, though we get some fair shooting now. 

 But we have to work hard for what we get. The far- 

 mers have stopped raising wheat to any great extent, so 

 the geese do not have the feeding; ground they used to. 

 They used to congregate on the wheat fields by thousands. 

 I have seen eighty acres literally covered with them. I 

 knew of one farmer, five miles from this city, who with 

 one of our sportsmen killed 350 geese in one day. The 

 country is getting thickly settled and everybody owns a 

 gun of some kind, and during the shooting season there 

 is one incessant boom, boom, from daylight until dark. 

 Worst of all the spring hunter has been getting in his fine 

 work right along, but as long as we have not a stringent 

 law to abolish it, everybody will indulge in it and I am no 

 exception to the rule, as I have done some spring shoot- 

 ing myself. As long as there is no law against it, we 

 might as well have some of the sport while it lasts, as to 

 let the pot-hunter and market-hunter have all of it. 



With two friends, Eli and Miles, I started for the 

 Parker Pit, about six miles west of this city. We had a 

 good team, a four-year old mare, the property of Eli, and 

 a three-year-old belonging to your humble servant. The 

 road lay along the A. T. & S. F. R. R,, but Eli suggested 

 we take the back road, about one mile from the railroad, 

 as his mare was afraid of the train, and as there was a 

 barbed wire fence on the other side of the wagon road 

 nearly all the way, we concluded to do so to avoid a pos- 

 sible accident. We had proceeded about two miles on 

 our road and were congratulating ourselves on our early 

 start (as it was then only about 4 o'clock A. M. and very 

 dark), when the writer, who was driving, ran on to a 

 railroad grade and upset the entire party into the ditch. 

 The horses reared and plunged, and things looked serious 

 for a minute, but after half an hour's work and a little 

 swearing on the side we started again. We drove about 

 another mile to the bridge that crosses Cow Creek ard 

 found the bridge down, and as there was no ford we had 

 to drive about a mile and a half to the main road. No 

 further accident marred our progress, and we arrived at 

 the shooting grounds about 7 o'clock, not at all sweetened 

 in temper, as we had missed the morning flight. 



The sun was just rising above the horizon, and as far 

 as the eye could reach could be seen innumerable flocks 

 of ducks and geese on their way to the adjacent wheat 

 and corn fields. We quickly unhitched the team and 

 proceeded to carry our decoys, guns, shells, etc., over to 

 the pit. Our decoys comprised some two dozen Dantz's 

 profile geese and about three dozen wooden ducks, which, 

 when set out on a sand bar about 30yds. from the pit, 

 made a very nice display. The Arkansas River at this 

 point is a shallow, wide stream, full of islands and sand 

 bars. A person familiar with it can wade it anywhere 

 with hip waders. Our mode of hunting ducks and geese 

 here is to locate an island as near the center of the river 

 as possible, with a good sand bar for your decoys within 

 about 30 or 40yds. of it, dig a pit and sit there and "snipe 

 'em" when they decoy in, providing they come in close 

 enough and you can hit them. We took our places in 

 the yjit, Eli on the left, armed with a 10-gauge W C. Scott 

 circular hammer gun, weighing 9^1 bs. ; Miles in the center 

 with an lllbs. 10-gauge Parker; and the writer on the 

 fight, with a 10-gauge 10-Jlbs. Bonehill. 



We hadn't long to wait before Miles descried two white 

 geese coming directly at the decoys. "You take the one 

 behind and Eli and I will attend to the other one, ' said 

 Miles to me. We all cracked away, and I had the satis- 

 faction of seeing my goose come down in the deep water 

 next the bank, about 400yds. away. The other one circled 

 back, and as he was on my side I took him and knocked 

 him down in good shape. I went out and retrieved the 

 two geese and managed to drop into a hole and get wet 

 to my waist. I had barely got into the pit when I saw an 

 old mallard coming. The old fellow was a little wary, 

 but Miles got a long shot at him and killed him nicely. 

 The next to come in was a lone pintail which Eli crimped 

 in good shape. There was a lull in the shooting then, 

 until 10 o'clock, when the Hocks commenced to come in 

 from the fields for water. The first to see our decoys 

 were a flock of five fine Canada geese; regular "old 

 honkers." How nicely they decoyed. It sets my blood 

 tingling to think of it even now; they looked as big as 

 cows. Eli gave the word when they were hovering just 

 ready to alight. There were six loud reports and five fine 

 geese lay splashing in the water. We now began to think 

 we were invincible, but the next flock, about fifty geese, 

 made us change our minds considerably, as we fired six 

 loads at them and didn't get one, and out of the next 

 flock of about the same number we got but one. 



While Miles was out after this one a flock of redheads 

 came directly at him, out of which he got one. While 

 he was gathering his duck three more redheads decoyed' 

 in, and Eli and I got all three of them with two barrels. 

 Next a flock of teal came down the wind like so many 

 bullets, and ran the gauntlet of six barrels without losing 

 a feather. Then a flock of white geese, on which we all 

 three scored a double. It was while Eli and I were out 

 retrieving two of these birds that MiJes made the best 

 shot of the day. A flock of white geese came in to the 

 decoys from the opposite side of the river. We were too 

 far away to get into the pit, so we just kept still and let 

 Miles take them. We had left our guns in the pit, 

 loaded and cocked. Miles let them get well over the de- 

 coys and then raised up an'd killed one with each barrel 

 with his gun and one with each barrel with mine. He 

 then grabbed Eli's gun, but as they were too far away he 

 didn't shoot. Well, I will not weary your readers with 

 a description of any more of our shots; but will say that 

 we returned home with a bag of thirty-seven geese and 

 fifteen ducks, having used only about 100 shells and 

 spending one of the most pleasant days of our lives. 

 Hutchinson, Kansas. Shapv, 



BIRDS OF GULL ISLAND, N. Y. 



Ltlead before the Linnean Society of New York, March 31, 1890.] 



IN July, 1889 (8th to 16th inclusive), Mi-. Frank M. 

 Chapman ; Assistant Curator of Birds and Mammals 

 at the American Museum of Natural History, Central 

 Park, New York city, and the writer visited Little Gull 

 Island, Long Island, New York, for the purpose of mak- 

 ing a study of the -breeding habits of the colony of terns 

 on the adjoining island, Great Gull, and also to observe 

 the habits and obtain specimens of the jaegers which we 

 expected would be common there about the time of our 

 visit. We intended to continue and complete as far as 

 possible the investigations commenced in August, 1888, 

 ay Mr. Basil Hicks Dutcher, for a detailed accoimt of 

 which see The Auk, Vol. VI. , April, 1889. 



While the trip was a failure so far as the jaegers were 

 concerned, yet in other respects it proved of great inter- 

 est and some value. As I shall have to refer somewhat 

 to the influence of the weather in my notes, I give a tabu- 

 lated statement of the same herewith: 



Mean Temp. Bar. 



July 8 73 30.16 



July 9 73 30.25 



July 10 85 30.30 



July 11 70 30.17 



July 12 68 30 21 . 



July 13 74 30.16 



July 14 71 30.06 



July 15 M 29.98 



July 16 06 30.16 



Wind, and WcaUicr. 

 Fresh west, dear. 

 Light S. E . clear. 

 Calm, variable, clear. 

 Mod. 8. E., rain and fog. 

 L ; ght, variable, fog. 

 Light S. E., clear. 

 Fresh S. w ., clear. 

 Hard N. E. to S. E., rain. 

 Fresh west, clear. 



A Book About Indians.— The Fobest and Stream will . mail 

 free, on application a descriptive circular of Mr. Grinnell's book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk -Tales," givmsr a table of contents 

 aud specimen illustrations from the xQlvme.—Aclv* 



Little Gull Island being so small and situated at the 

 gate of Long Island Sound, it is almost impossible for a 

 bird of any size to pass it without being seen. Moreover, 

 it seems to be in the line of migration of all the smaller 

 birds. The keeper of the lighthouse and his wife were 

 continually on the lookout for anything to break the mo- 

 notony of then lives, and thus naturally became good bird 

 observers. In many instances they called mv attention 

 to birds I would otherwise have overlooked. The follow- 

 ing notes of birds seen refer entirely to Great and Little 

 Gull islands and the waters immediately surrounding 

 them: 



1. (36) Stercorarius pomarinus — Poinarine Jaeger. 



2. (37) S. parasiticus — Parasitic Jaeger. 



The date of our visit to the Gull islands was fixed with 

 a view of arriving just prior to the first run of bluefish. 

 We, however, were too late, as the first schools were seen 

 about July 1. The first bluefish only remained in the 

 vicinity about two days, when they disappeared, and none 

 were seen while we continued at the islands, although 

 they were quite plenty off Montauk Point. Mr. Chas. 

 B. Field, one of the keepers of the light, reported having 

 seen three jaegers on June 2, the first of the season. On 

 the following day one was seen. None were noticed again 

 until the 17th, when two were observed. On the 28th one 

 was noted. On the first and second of July he saw two 

 each day. During our visit we saw jaegers only twice, 

 as follows: 1.2th, two: 15th, one. 



3. (51a) Lams argentatus smithsanianus — American 

 Herring Gull. — On the 9th, four individuals were seen 

 flying by the island westward and up Gardiner's Bay. 

 The following day a large gull was seen, too far off to 

 be identified, which was presumed to be of this species. 

 While it is not a common occurrence for this species to 

 be seen in the summer months in our latitude, yet I think 

 that a few unmated or barren birds remain with us and 

 wander about from place to place. My notes on the 

 species show that at the eastern end of Long Island they 

 remain in some numbers until about June 10 and are oc- 

 casionally seen until the 20th, the latter being the latest 

 date I have noted. 



4. (60) Larus Philadelphia — Bonaparte's Gull. — A speci- 

 men of this species was shot by Mr. Chapman on the 8th 

 inst.. on Great Gull Island. It was in company with the 

 terns who were excitedly flying about us and uttering 

 their cries of alarm at our invasion of their breeding 

 ground. I found in the daily record book of Mr. Chas. 

 B. Field the following notes: "June 22, 1889, saw a 

 tern to-day without the black on edge of wings and a 

 pure white head." "June 23, saw two terns same as yes- 

 terday, they are a little larger than the common ones." 

 "June 26, saw one of the white-headed terns to-day." 

 The specimen procured by Mr. Chapman was undoubt- 

 edly one of the pair of terns (?) that puzzled Mr. Field so 

 much. I call attention to this, however, simply to show 

 how extremely observing the Long Island gunners are of 

 any differences in the appearance of birds, even when 

 they are flying by. The specimen in question was not in 

 summer plumage, consequently the head at a little dis- 

 tance appeared almost white. 



5. (70) Sterna hirundo— Common Tern. — To visit the 

 fernery on Great Gull Island was one of the primary 

 objects of our trip. This is probably the only place on 

 Long Island where this species now breeds. Formerly 

 they bred in great numbers over almost the whole length 

 of the island on the south shore. But when the sinful 

 fashion to wear their beautiful feathers came into vogue 

 they were persecuted until they were all either killed or 

 driven from their ancestral homes. I well remember in 

 times past how beautiful a sight it was to see them in 

 great flocks, fishing on the bays or the broader but 

 rougher waters of the ocean. Nothing now remains but 

 a recollection of what once seemed part of a summer 

 sail. The colony on Great Gull is all that is left of the 

 once vast numbers that spent the summer months on 

 Long Island. Regarding the time of the arrival of the 

 terns at Great Gull Island. I make the following extracts 

 from Mr. Field's daily record book, which hejkindly kept 

 for me: "May 15, 1889, heard common terns before day- 

 light, fog: May 16. saw about a dozen terns: May 17, saw 

 about one hundred terns; May 18 and 19, no increase: 

 May 20, increased in numbers to about one thousand; 

 May 21, still increasing in numbers; May 29, a large 

 bunch arrived this morning ; June 2, found first egg to- 

 day; July 4, saw first young tern." We arrived on the 

 8th, at which time there were probably in the neighbor- 

 hood of from three to four thousand individuals in the 

 colony. Whenever any one visited Great Gull a large 

 part of the colony would rise up in the air and hover over 

 the intruder, screaming and following him, at times 

 dashing down as if to pierce the object of their wrath 

 with their sharp bills, As the visitor pioved away, those 



