AJpril 17, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



247 



first alarmed gradually left, and others, whose homes 

 ■were being approached, took up the hue and ery. Scores 

 and scores could have been shot, as many were in range 

 fat one time. A very limited number of specimens were 

 taken. The colony I fear will not last many years, as it 



► is entirely unprotected, and is at the mercy of all who 

 choose to visit it. It being right in the track of 

 sailing and fishing parties, and the fact that terns breed 

 there being well known to all the boatmen and fishermen 

 in that section of Long Island and the adjacent shore of 

 Connecticut, it is almost a daily occurrence for some one 



I to visit the island for the purpose of egging or wantonly 

 ►iShooting the birds. In this connection I must say that 

 the keepers of the lighthouse do all they can to protect 

 the colony, driving off those whom they can and reason- 

 ing with others. If these keepers could be made custo- 

 dians of the island, with authority to fully protect this 

 colony of terns, it might be preserved as an added charm 

 to that portion of Long Island Sound; if not, in a few 

 years at most the birds will have passed away as many 



> other of nature's charms have faded from our sight before 

 the thoughtlessness or greed of man. On our first visit 



rto the island it was difficult to find the nests and eggs, 

 but in a very short time it became very easy. It was 

 , Somewhat more difficult to find those that were deposited 

 Bn the beach than on the grassy upland portion of the 

 [island. The terns seemed to have no choice between the 

 Kbeach or upland, as eggs were quite as common in the 

 Tone locality as the other. The number of eggs varied 

 both as to numbers in a set and in coloration to a remarka- 

 ble degree. While the usual set was three eggs, yet in a 

 tlarge number of cases four eggs were found, in a num- 

 Ker of cases five, and in three instances six eggs were 

 found in one nest. One of these large sets is now in my 

 collection. I have no reason to doubt that this set was 

 Jbjieclutch of a single female. In a great many sets I 

 Hioticed usually one, but sometimes two eggs that were 

 entirely abnormal in coloration, having a light blue 

 ground with the usual markings. This color, however, 

 geeins to fade in time. In a set taken containing 

 fane of the blue eggs, that one now shows no trace of 

 ithat color, it simply having a somewhat lighter ground 

 feolor than the balance of the set. Regarding the subject 

 lot whether this species covers its eggs during the day- 

 feme I concluded as the result of my observations that 

 fthey did. I examined many nests, feeling the eggs, and 

 railways found them warm. Again, when the island was 

 ^visited the terns arose from the ground. Further, on 

 Several occasions I remained quietly lying on the ground 

 feutil I had marked the place where I bad seen a tern 

 alight, and on going to the spot always found a nest of 

 [warrn eggs. On the loth occurred a very hard easterly 

 Storm, and during that day very few terns were seen at 

 all. The colon}'- was not disturbed by any one and but 

 F Eew of the birds seemed to leave the island. Those that 

 twere seen were fishing where the waters were the rough- 

 Uest, seeming not to mind in the least the gale of wind or 

 Fthe white-capped waves. Although I was at the Great 

 KJull almost daily for eight days, yet the number of 

 .young birds seen was not to exceed ten at the most. It 

 is true that almost as soon as the young chick leaves the 

 Shell it hides, yet no evidence of hatched eggs were found 

 JHntil almost the last time the island was visited, when I 

 found a number of nests that had contained eggs when 

 fost seen now contained only remnants of the shells of 

 !0ne, two, or all the eggs. The same day I found a dead 

 [bird that was almost ready to fly when it died. It must 

 have been hidden very closely, as the place where it was 

 jjound dead had been visited very often before. 



G. (G2) Sterna do ugaJU— Uosetite Tern. — With the colony 

 pt the preceding species on Great Gull we found a few 

 aairs of roseate terns. They were undoubtedly breeding, 

 $>ut only one set of eggs was obtained that could posi- 

 f$vely be referred to this species. Mr. Chapman was 

 Standing by a nest containing two eggs, when a roseate 

 fern made repeated dashes at him, and exhibited far 

 Jaore than the usual alarm displayed. The bird was 

 secured and proved to- be a female. The nest was 

 parked and was visited on the succeeding day, when the 

 eggs were found to be cold. This is the only case that 

 tebvdd be called reasonable identification. We probably 

 >w not more than ten pairs of this species. They were 

 easy to distinguish from the common tern while in 

 te air. " The color of the underparts alone would serve 

 to distinguish them without any other characteristics, 

 but to this must be added the different shape of the tail 

 land the entirely distinct cry. This latter when once 

 I -heard could not be mistaken. When the cry of one or a 

 I pair of terns was heard, although hundreds of the com- 

 [ mon tern were in the air at the same time, each one of 

 | which was uttering its cry of alarm, yet the notes of the 

 Iroseates could be heard, and the birds'immediately picked 

 l out from the multitude that were hovering or darting 

 Iflver and around us. During our many visits to the 

 ■Colony we did not make an error in selecting a bird for a 

 j specimen, The set of eggs taken was found on the 

 Igrassy upland in a slight hollow from which a small 

 Ifitone had been taken. The hollow was lined with a few 

 Ipieces of fine grass, but with not the slightest attempt at 

 (nest building. 



IS. (77) Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis— Black Tern. 

 »-In Mr. Field's record book he had noted on July 6, 

 j*'Saw to-day a tern almost black flying with the rest." 

 IQn the morning of the 12th we saw a black tern fishing 

 Iwith the common terns, and the same afternoon, while 

 Ion Great Gull Island, it came almost within gunshot of 

 Jus, so there was no doubt of its identification. It was 

 {probably the same bird that was seen on each of the three 

 loccasions. Wm. Dutcher. 



[to be concluded.] 



• Hawk and Grouse.— Editor ^Forest and Stream: 

 I While standing in the woods one morning in October, 

 nust as the rays of the sun in all his glory came over the 

 jtops of the trees and illuminated the dark gorges among 

 rhe hills, a hawk, sailing down, lit in a small tree near 

 | me. He was a beautiful and fearless creature, but not, 

 Jsurely, more beautiful nor bolder than a ruffed grouse, 

 (which a few moments later walked out from under a 

 liwarf evergreen, where he had stood concealed about 

 |40ft. away, and spreading his tail like a fan moved off 

 faver the frost-covered autumn leaves. With every step 

 br two he turned his head slightly to look back at me. I 

 j ttood watching over him for some time till he finally 

 I pappeared in the dense and distant cover. Then turn- 

 ing I shot the hawk, the other spectator of the scene. — 

 j Dokp (Schenectady, N. Y.). 



A Captive Released.— Norristown, Pa., April 11. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: This morning while practic- 

 ing at a target on the rifle range on Barbadoes Island, I 

 heard the plaintive note of a bird in distress, and, glanc- 

 ing in the direction of the sound, I saw a robin (Turdus 

 migraiorius) hanging from a dead limb of a willow tree, 

 about lift, from the ground. Hastening to the spot, I 

 found that the bird bad been building a nest about 20in. 

 to windward of the place ^Jf the accident. The nest is 

 about half completed and is mainly composed of the fibre 

 of some kind of weed. The fibre* is somewhat of the 

 nature of flax, and a small bunch of it was wound around 

 the bird's foot andjhad also in some way becomelattached 

 to the dead branch before mentioned, The bird, in its 

 efforts to get free, bad twisted the fibre into a strong cord 

 and also wound it around the branch. The tips of several 

 of the tail feathers were also woven into the snarl. I 

 tried to liberate the bird with a pole, but found it utterly 

 impossible. I then broke off the branch, and getting the 

 bird in hand, cut the flax-like cord from the branch. The 

 bird's leg was broken in two^places, or rather two joints 

 were dislocated. I cut off the tips of the tail feathers 

 and then amputated the leg by severing the large tendon, 

 which was all that held the foot to the body. Releasing 

 the bird it hopped away a few feet, but was too weak to 

 fly. The bird had undoubtedly been hanging since yes- 

 terday, as I found it at 7 this morning and its condition 

 showed that the accident could not have happened since 

 daylight, blood having dried on its feathers. The bird 

 had some fibre in its bill, showing that it was still peck- 

 ing away at the cruel bond which had caused it intense 

 agony for many hours. I inclose the fibre attached to 

 the foot and tips of tail feathers as I found it. The im- 

 possibility of the bird's escape, unaided, will be apparent 

 at a glance. Have any similar cases been recorded? — E. 

 A. Leopold. [A few cases of this kind have been re- 

 corded. We remember especially one in which a swal- 

 low was so caught and one of an oriole, but we cannot 

 refer to them at the moment.] 



About the Bobolink.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Through the columns of your paper I would be glad to 

 hear- from some sportsman or some naturalist in regard 

 to the bobolink. Having lived during a number of years 

 in southern New Jersey, most of the time in different 

 parts of Monmouth county, I have yet to see a bobolink 

 in its parti-colored dress, or to bear its, to me, well- 

 known notes. True, I have often shot them as reed 

 birds along creeks emptying into the Delaware River, 

 and once in a while among reeds and tall grasses near 

 where streams enter bays south of Manasquan River, and 

 also a few miles west of some of the inlets on the ocean 

 front south of Sandy Hook. Now, as the birds are 

 migratory, one would naturally suppose that in goinj 

 north or northeast into the New England States, where _ 

 have seen hundreds of them, they would fly over some 

 part of Monmouth county, as that would be their most 

 direct route, or perhaps their migration is to the west of 

 this portion of the State; or does each don its tri-colored 

 plumage after having reached its northern destination ? 

 I would like to hear from some one in regard to these 

 points. — A. L. L. (Horner8town, N. J.). [For notes on 

 the seasonal changes ui the bobolink see the Auk for 

 April, 1890.] 



Collecting in Mexico,— Tehuantepec, Mexico, March 

 30.— Editor Forest and Stream: A friend of mine says; 

 "While out collecting on the mountains, two days' jour- 

 ney from here, I shot three new birds, two belonging to 

 the flycatchers and the other somewhat like a wild pigeon. 

 Others of the party also got two unknown to them, one a 

 large hawk. Specimens of each were preserved and will 

 be sent to England. They also secured two that were 

 discovered and named by Sumechrast when he collected 

 here some years ago. Others are no doubt to be found 

 unknown to naturalists, collectors never having before 

 visited that part of the country. Many eurassows were 

 met with, and turkeys twice the size of tame ones are 

 said to frequent the more thickly-wooded peaks. — W. 



Evening Grosbeak Near Troy, N. Y.— Troy, N. Y. , 

 April 8.— Editor Forest and Stream: I have noticed in 

 your paper that the evening grosbeak has been seen in 

 various parts of the country. On Saturday, March 29, I 

 saw a flock of seven on the Brunswick road near Troy, 

 feeding on the seeds of the maple. I secured five good 

 specimens, all females. I gave two to Mr. A. T. Parks of 

 this city, who is one of the best ornithologists of this 

 State.— John A. Sampson. 



Loons in Illinois.— Newton, HI., April 5.— Editor- 

 Forest arid Stream: Last Saturday Mr. P. G., while out 

 hunting with a rifle, fired at and winged a loon. After 

 this the bird would dive at the flash of the gun, and he 

 fired no less than four shots directly over it before he 

 killed it. This is the first one ever killed here. Three 

 others flew off at first shot. Are these birds good to eat, 

 and do they migrate regularly ?— C. M. A. [Not good to 

 eat. They migrate regularly.] 



Woodcock in Fulton Street.— New York city, April 

 10. —Editor Forest and Stream: This morning, at the 

 corner of Fulton and Gold streets, I found a woodcock 

 lying on the sidewalk. I only had a chance to hastily 

 examine the bird, as quite a number of men were quickly 

 interested in handling it, but to all appearances it had 

 broken its neck against the telegraph wires that stretched 

 net-like overhead. It was still warm and was in fair 

 condition. — F'LIN. 



The Flight in Michigan.— Lansing, Mich., April 9.— 

 The winter has been so much milder than usual that all 

 kinds of birds have put in an appearance earlier than in 

 past years. The ducks came ahead of time, and White- 

 head, Davis and Wright only got a crack at the tail end 

 of a large flock and brought back eleven of them. They 

 said there had been more ducks on the lake this spring 

 than the past three years put together. — K., Jr. 



Spring Notes.— Central Lake, Mich., April 7.— First 

 robin seen April 4; first flight of ducks seen April 4. Ice 

 rotten, but not out of lakes. Several small birds seen 

 last week, but not identified.— Kelpie. 



%mn$ §ttg and 



"FOREST AND STREAM" GUN TESTS. 



THE following guns have been tested at the Forest AND 

 Stream Range, and reported upon in the issues named. 

 Copies of any date will be sent on receipt of price, ten cents: 



Colt 12, July 25. Parker. 12, hamnierless, June 0. 



Colt 1(1 and 15, Oct. 21. Remington U>, May 30. 



Folsom 10 and 12, Sept. 26. Remington 13, Dec. 5. Feb. 0. 



Francotte 12, Dec. 12. Rkmtnoton 10, Dec. 26. 



Greener 12, Aug. 1. Scott 10, Sept. 5. 



Greener 10, Sept. 12, Sept. 19. L. C. Smith 12, Oct. 10. 



Hoetjb 10, Nov. 7. Whitney Sa fhty 12, March 6. 



Lefever 12, March 13. Winchester 10 and 12, Oct. 3. 

 Parker 10, bammtir, June 6. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, HI., April 12.— There is an unusual amount 

 of water in our country about here this spring. 

 Passing over the Baltimore &. Ohio road early in 

 the week, I noticed that the streams and marshes 

 all through northern Indiana and near the Illinois line 

 were very generally overflowed. By reason of this state 

 of affairs, the shooting this spring has been exceptionally 

 good, the flight of wildfowl having been very well sus- 

 tained. There does not seem to have been any very gen- 

 eral craze among the boys to get out often, the approach 

 of warm weather apparently taking some of the" energy 

 out of them. Nearly everybody has been out for a day 

 or so, however, and nearly all had some success at the 

 ducks. The Cumberland marsh seems rather the most 

 favored this season. Mr. Geo. T. Farmer bagged 56 ducks 

 in four hours there a few days ago, and has had good 

 sport during most of his stay at the clubhouse. Other 

 bags, 20, 30 and 40 odd, have been made by Cumberland 

 men. Some snipe were coming in on Cumberland flats 

 early this week. It is very probable that there are num- 

 bers in by this time. 



Mak-saw-ba has had some flight. The Mak-saw-ba 

 boys grow lazier every year, and they haven't hunted 

 ducks very hard this spring, although a few good bags 

 have been made. Mr. John Watson pocketed a nice lot of 

 snipe this week on Mak-saw-ba marsh. 



Mr. Alex T. Loyd and Mr. R. A. Twitte are just back 

 from a week's camp hunt near Fuller Island county, on 

 the Kankakee. They met hard rains and seem to have 

 spent considerable time moving about. They didn't kill 

 a whole lot of ducks, but got all they ought to have. 

 Alex spilled out a two-bushel sack full of game, includ- 

 ing two brant and four Canada geese. He killed the 

 geese a double at the time, with 6s and 7s, as they came 

 in over his mixed flock of decoys. 



Mr. John Kline, in a letter from Detroit, Mich., two 

 weeks ago, said they were having very good shooting on 

 the flats near there, getting a good many redheads and 

 canvas. Snipe have made their appearance in that local- 

 ity also. 



Fox Lake has had its full share of the fun this season, 

 and on John Gillespie's bulletin I noticed a telegram so 

 old as March 28, announcing a good flight from away 

 down below at English Lake. It is against the law to 

 shoot ducks in the spring in Wisconsin, but I imagine 

 Lake Koshkonong must be fidl of game now. 



An amusing story is told by the boys on Mr. Waldren, 

 of the Mak-saw-ba Club. It seems that Mr. Waldren 

 was down at the club for a week- or so, and happened to 

 strike a good flight, so that in five or six days, by reason 

 of perseverance and 400 or 500 shells, he managed to ac- 

 cumulate twenty-seven clucks. This was more than had 

 ever fallen to his lot at any one period of his history be 

 fore, and he wrote to his family and friends that there 

 would be a shipment of game and a general distribution 

 immediately upon bis arrival. Accordingly he packed 

 and shipped his ducks from the club house, addressing 

 the package to his own street number in the city. Unfor- 

 tunately the card, whose reverse he used for his own 

 address, bore upon its other side the firm address of the 

 well-known commission man Henry A. Sloan, of South 

 Water street, and the wicked express company, taking 

 this to be the actual address, delivered the ducks to Mr. 

 Sloan. In due time Mr. Waldren received a check for 

 $2.40, less 50 cents express charges, total $1.90, for a bunch 

 of ducks that $1,000 couldn't have touched! It was bad 

 enough to lose the satisfaction of showing the ducks to 

 his friends, but add to that the incessant gibes of his 

 friends at him for being a "market-hunter" and the full- 

 ness of Mr. Waldren's cup of woe may be imagined. 



Some time ago I wrote Mr. Chauncy Simonds, of Mil- 

 waukee, president of the Caw-Caw Club, for some infor- 

 mation in regard to that organization, across whose trail 

 I had stumbled while gathering information in regard to 

 the Nee-pee-nauk Club, of Chicago. The Caw- Caw, like 

 the Nee-pee-nauk, has . extensive grounds and buildings 

 on Lake Puckaway, Wisconsin, and much that is true in 

 description of one club is true also of the other. Mr. 

 Simonds wrote briefly as follows, after referring to a Chi- 

 cago member who happens to be out of town : 



"There are at this date twenty contributing members, 

 out of which during the open season there will average 

 an attendance of twelve to fifteen members at the club 

 house in Marquette, Green Lake county, Wis. 



"The club house stands upon the bluff, facing north, 

 overlooking the lake (Puckaway) and Fox River, afford- 

 ing a view of fifteen to twenty miles of rural scenery, 

 picturesque and grand. It is in the center of a large and 

 commodious plot of ground entirely timbered with oak 

 and hickory. The names of the members are: E. H. 

 Abbot, E. P. Allis, Jr., W. W. Allis, A. J. Aiken, H. F. 

 Bosworth, E. H. Broadhead, H. F. Birchard, E. E. Flint, 

 A. W, Friese, Capt. A. R. Hauston, C. W. Henning, Jas. 

 K. Ilsley, Fred'k Layton, J. P. McGregor, J. L. Ranney, 

 J. E. Patton, James C. Spencer, Angus Smith, W. E. 

 Story, Chauncy Simonds, Robt. B. Tweedy, H. H. Schu- 

 feldt." 



The Caw-Caw membership is not quite confined to Mil- 

 waukee. The club is very well to do, and has a valuable 

 preserve on Puckaway. Mr. Simonds does not name the 

 acreage, but I have heard it stated that they have 5,000 

 acres. They have canvasback shooting and small- 

 mouthed black bass fishing. The club has been estab- 

 lished some years, is solid and prosperous, and is one 

 more worthy organization that Forest and Stream has 

 to chronicle with pleasure. E. Hough. 



