308 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 8, 1890. 



BIRDS FROM DEEP WATER. 



WE are indebted to Dr. G. Brown Goode for the fol- 

 lowing interesting items extracted from a letter 

 recently received by him from a correspondent in Cleve- 

 land. Cormorants are said occasionally to take, in deep 

 water, hooks baited with pieces of fUh. The letter given 

 below tells of three other species of birds taken at consid- 

 erable depths: 



"Lake Erie was free from ice during the winter, so 

 that the fishermen never lost a day's fishing from this 

 cause. Gill-net fishing is carried on here in the lake 

 through the entire season in waters from two to thirty 

 miles off shore in depths varying from 20 to 60ft. Last 

 spring (March 15) a female red-breasted diver (Colyrnbus 

 septentrionalis, Linn.) was taken ten miles off shore in 

 40ft. depth; this season (March 15) another like specimen 

 from about the same locality; both stomachs contained 

 partially digested fish bone*. April 20 one of tbe lake 

 fishermen brought in a full plumaged red-breasted or 

 red-throated diver, which was caught in 45ft. of water 

 ten miles off shore. April 12 a fine male long-tailed duck 

 (Anas glacialis, Linn.) was brought me, taken twenty 

 miles off shore in 55ft. depth of water, an unusual depth, 

 it seems to me. for this bird to reach. I have known the 

 loon (O. glacialis, Linn.) to be taken on hooks and gill- 

 nets set in 100 to 150it. of water quite often. 



"Some fifteen years ago a mound was excavated at 

 Black Eiver, thirty miles to the west; it was covered with 

 the stumps of our largest forest trees. The usual amount 

 of bones, cinders and stone implements were found, but 

 the most noticeable of all was a very large whelk shell 

 (Fulgur earica, Linn.). 



"The fishes taken here are mostly yellow perch, pike- 

 perch, saugers (Stizostedion canadense), herring (Core- 

 gonus artedi) and occasionally a whitefish. The fisher- 

 men have brought in daily through the winter from eight 

 to twelve tons of fish, caught in this locality. Dr. E. S." 



An Ancient Hatchet.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 now have in my possession an ancient Indian tornahawk 

 or pipe of peace. It is made of blue steel and is inlaid 

 with silver. On one side are the moon and seven stars. 

 On the reverse side is a diamond with the letters I. D. W., 

 both sides having two bands of silver running up from 

 near the edge of blade to the handle. Around the bowl 

 of the pipe is a band of silver, with a silver mouth piece 

 to stem or handle. "Where the stem enters the hatchet or 

 pipe it is bound with a band of silver with a silver screw 

 going through the eye and screwing into the handle. 

 The history of this tomahawk as given me by my 

 father is as follows: On my father's place, about fourteen 

 miles from this town, stood the famous Indian gallows, 

 which was about the center of the territory owned and 

 occupied by the Tuscarora tribe of Indians. When they 

 sold out their lands and left here a part of them went to 

 Alabama (near Tuscumbia). In the year 1836 my father 

 visited friends in that section, and while there this toma- 

 hawk was found by a farm band while plowing on the 

 farm of a Mr. Malone, who purchased it of the man and 

 presented it to my father, who had a new stem or handle 

 put in, as of course the old one was decayed. He always 

 kept it in good order, and it is a very pretty relic, the silver 

 parts being as bright to-day as they possibly were two 

 hundred years ago. The handle which was put in by 

 my father is of hickory, and is a beautiful dark color 

 from age. It was supposed to have been the property of 

 the head chief of the Tuscaroras, as it was too costly for 

 a warrior.— Cashie (Windsor. N. C„ April 28). 



European Widgeon.— The note of the capture of a 

 European widgeon, by Mr. W. D. Carpender, in our issue 

 of last week, requires revision. It appears that the bird 

 was not killed on Long Island, as we were informed, but 

 in Maryland. Mr. Carpender writes us as follows: "I 

 killed a very good male specimen of the European wid- 

 geon (Anas penelope), on the 25th of last February, at the 

 Carroll's Island Club, Baltimore county, Maryland, of 

 which I am a member. I fired at a flock of about nine 

 widgeons, and dropped three. When the dog brought 

 them ashore I saw that one was different from the others 

 so took good care of it and have had it mounted. It can 

 be seen at the office of Mr. L. S. Foster, 35 Pine street, in 

 this city." We are informed by Mr. Sam'l W. Faircbild 

 that last November Mr. E. H. Robertson, of this city, at 

 the Narrows Island Club, Currituck county, N. G, shot a 

 handsome specimen of the European widgeon, which he 

 has had mounted. 



Ten Cents Well Invested.— In April, 1889, I hap- 

 pened to be, one morning about 7 o'clock, in a bar-room. 

 A tramp entered with a voung robin in his hand and 

 offered it for a drink. I gave him the drink, took the 

 robin home, put the bird in a spare room, fed it with 

 bread and milk, worms, etc., and along in the early part 

 of June, when the bird had gathered good strength set 

 him adrift to fight his way in the world. This spring he 

 has reappeared (alone as yet) and eats from a cup set in 

 the garden with bread and milk in it, is afraid of no one 

 about the house, comes within 10ft. of whoever chirps to 

 him and makes himself perfectly at home. Although 

 there are three other pairs who frequent our grounds he 

 is the only one who will eat out of the cup.— A Steady 

 Reader (Buffalo, April 2G). 



A May Tragedy.— Standing in the mill door a few 

 minutes ago I was witness to a scene that caused me to 

 teel as if I had seen a murder done. Carelessly glancing 

 out the door I saw a small hawk, with meteor-like swift- 

 ness, descend on a pair of mated robins, which were con- 

 tentedly feeding on the green. Descending two flights 

 of stairs, three or more steps at a time, I was certainly 

 less than a minute in reaching the place, but found to 

 my regret that I was too late. The bird of prey had 

 already done his work and retreated with his captive. 

 Ihe only traces of it that I could see were a few tail and 

 breast feathers of the victim, showing the spot of the 

 fatal encounter.— Choniata (Thompsontown, Pa.. May 2). 



The President has signed the bill making the appropri- 

 ation tor ' the National Zoological Park, and the future toi 

 that institution is thus assured. All friends of science 

 will rejoice that the Government has at last undertaken 

 this important educational work. 



fame §<tg md 



"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 35. Parker 12, hammerless, June 6. 



Colt 10 and 12, Oct. 24. Remington 16. May 30. 



Folsom 10 and 12, Sept. 2(5. Remington 12. Dec. 5, Feb. 6. 

 Francotte 12. Dee. 12. Remington 10, Dec. 26 



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



Greener 10. Sept. 13, Sept. IB. L. O. Smith 12, Oct.. 10. 

 Hollis 10, Nov. 7. Whitney Safety 12, March 6. 



Le fever 13, March 13. Winchester 10 and 12, Oct. 3. 



Parker 10, trimmer, June 6. 



A Book About Indians. The Forest and Stream will mail 

 free on apphoanon a descriptive car, ulnr of Mr. KrinneU's book 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and folk Tales," givms , table of content 

 and Bpecimen illustrations from the volume.-.4di> contents 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



CHICAGO, 111., May 1.— The lagging duck season of 

 this State is now ended legally. It practically 

 ended, at least for all thoughtful shooters, weeks ago, 

 and was even then long enough in all conscience. The 

 Avinter was mild, and the ducks came up unusually early 

 this season. Some of the best shooting of this year was 

 had away back in February. Tlie bluewing teal, among 

 the latest of the flight, have been scattered all over this 

 section for a long time, and they and many other ducks 

 are paired and nesting on the larger marshes. 



It ic prob ible that most of the jacksnipe have now gone 

 north. We have had no rain of consequence lately, and 

 the ground in many localities formerly good has grown 

 too dry for them, and the grass also is now getting too 

 high. The snipe have acted very queerly this spring, 

 and no one has been able to figure very much on them. 

 Some good bags have been made in localities where not 

 much was expected, some of the best localities have 

 yielded poorly, and others have afforded shooting alike 

 tantalizingly good and poor. For instance, Charlie Wil- 

 lard a week or so ago got 127 snipe near Willow Springs, 

 on the Des Plaines River, and many other good bags 

 were made down that way. Yet, at Water Valley on the 

 Kankakee, the birds seem to have been very scarce, I 

 think the Water Yaliey boys stick too close to the river. 

 There were birds there, but they were five or six miles 

 north, nearer Lowell, and in the edges of the fields on 

 the North Shore. 



Messrs. C. D. Gammon and Geo. T. Farmer took 7,000 

 shells and a wagon down to Cumberland marsh. They 

 figured that they had the best natural snipe marsh on earth, 

 and that the birds were now due to be there. They 

 huntedtwo days and got seven snipe. The birds were 

 past due, but allowed their paper to go to protest. 



A week ago last Wednesday, the snipe were swarming 

 on Mak-saw-ba marsh, as has been duly recorded: yet 

 when the night came, where were they? Three days ago 

 the aforesaid abundance was conspicuous by its absence, 

 or by its local patchiness. For instance, Al Sharp— or 

 "Slick Sharp," as he is better known — got 41 birds in a 

 day, while Roll Organ only saw 9 during an entire morn- 

 ing, of which he bagged 7. Seven out of 9 is pretty good 

 shooting for Roll, or so the boys tell him. After which 

 it may not be strictly necessary to say that Mr. Organ has 

 returned from his very pleasant six weeks' trip and so- 

 journ with the California boys and has settled down 

 to his business here of wearing medals and things, as see 

 small print elsewhere. 



Bear in mind that the Mak-saw-ba, Cumberland and 

 Water Valley districts are only sections of the marsh on 

 the same river, the Kankakee, and it will then appear 

 strange that news should now be coming in from Koults, 

 not so very far from the latter place, which 6ays that all 

 the snipe in the country seem to be there. Last Monday 

 Harry Loveday's boy killed 30 odd snipe at Koults, and 

 then, seeing that he was running out of shells, went to 

 shooting golden plover, of which he killed 120 during the 

 day. It was on account of this run of birds that word 

 was sent up to Fred Taylor telling him to come down 

 quick. 



May In describing the general lay of the region 

 hereabouts, more especially in reference to the location 

 of the different clubs, I have previously spoken of the 

 Fox Lake region, the Illinois River region, the Calumet 

 country, the sandhill country and the Kankakee country. 

 I have never said much, if anything, about the Des 

 Plaines River country, chiefly from the reason that no 

 sporting organization of note is located in that direction, 

 and partly because that country is much overrun with 

 the black-coat class, Sunday shooters, boys, loafers, and 

 who toteth or loves a Zulu. Yet mention of the sporting 

 resources of this favored city would be incomplete with- 

 out some word about this region, which has, or did have, 

 great natural claims to be a genuine shooting locality. 



The Des Plaines valley unfortunately ran too close in 

 toward Chicago, just across a low ridge from the big 

 lake, and one day Chicago, by the trifle of making water 

 run up hill, returned evil for good by turning the vials of 

 her wrath-bearing refuse barrel, billed through to the 

 Mississippi, via Illinois River. The effects of this are 

 nearly audible, anywhere along the banks of the canal, 

 down Summit way. Still further down, there is the 

 "Feeder," a sluggish stream which runs through the 

 marsh known as the "Sag," and so on over to the Little 

 Calumet, which it strikes somewhere near Blue Island. 

 It may be remembered by a select few that Mr. Loyd and 

 myself explored that mysterious stream, the Little Calu- 

 met, last fall, and established the hitherto unknown fact 

 that the aforesaid stream does not run up hill, like the 

 Chicago Canal, but runs down hill all the way, unlike 

 the Grand Calumet, which runs first one way and then 

 another, just as it takes a notion. The water but here is 

 singular in its habits. 



Well, from the above description it may be seen that a 

 skilled canoeist, industrious and not afraid of wading, 

 might wend his way and work his passage from Tolleston 

 club house, or from twenty miles above there on the 

 Little Calumet, down to Blue Island, through the feeder 

 and clear on over to the Des Plaines country, unless he 

 got lost or stuck in the mud somewhere. If our country 

 calls us, Mr. Loyd and 1 may some time have to explore 

 the Feeder and see which way it runs and where it runs 

 to. It is alleged to start or to end somewhere about six 

 or eight miles below Summit. It may be seen, therefore, 

 that any well followed thread of narration about Chicago 

 shooting would eventually bring one out just about where 

 this narrative is now. 



All this country is peppered out of the same box. The 

 country along the Little Calumet, the Feeder and the 

 Des Plaines is marshy, low and snipeful. Toward the 



latter stream, however, the land rises more quickly, and 

 spreads out into the wide fields of wealthy farmers. On 

 these fields the golden plover are to be found, usually in 

 greater plenty than anywhere else in the State of Illinois. 

 Summit is a favorite resort of the actual or would be 

 plover shooters, and every Sunday that station and River- 

 side, two miles higher up, are filled with young, old, and 

 uniformly beer-loving shooters, who would be charmed 

 to kill a jacksnipe, delighted to kill a plover, pleased to 

 kill a meadovvlark and quite content to kill a robin, a 

 thrush, a bluebird or a sparrow. This rabble does not 

 usually. get so far down as Willow Springs, and often 

 there is good shooting at that point. Still f urther do >vn, 

 on the Chicago & Alton road, there is a place called 

 Romeo, and yet further down is Joliet. I always 

 thouaht that this place was meant to be called Juliet on 

 account of Romeo, but I am no amiquarian aud probably 

 I don't know. At any rate, theie is good snipe and plover 

 shooting near either of those towns and also near Lamont, 

 which is a sort of cousin to Romeo— though they say the 

 farms are posted very generally in that section. * 



Hearing that Italian Joe, the market-hunter who de- 

 votes most of his time to plover shooting, was getting a 

 good many birds near Summit, I ran down there the 

 other day, stopped at Jack Wilburn's place on the bank 

 of the malodorous canal, and got directions which en- 

 abled me to find Joe and also to find the best of the snipe 

 grounds. Shooting with Joe, we had no trouble in get- 

 ting some plover, although the birds were not so plenti- 

 ful as they had been earlier in the week; but when we 

 started out to try for a dozen snipe or so, we discovered 

 that hardly a dozen snipe were left in the country. Per- 

 sistent hunting, or low water, or warm weather, or all of 

 these, had within four days caused these vexatious birds 

 to forsake that locality. Some shooters who came in 

 from the Feeder that evening had three dozen, and said 

 the birds were thick over there. Reports also came up 

 from Lamont which said the birds were on hand there in 

 good numbers. We certainly worked a good territory 

 around Summit. 



The Des Plaines River all along the points named is 

 lined with low warm covers which in season abound in 

 woodcock. On the "Island," just above the bridge, a 

 number of woodcock are now nesting within eleven 

 miles of the center of Chicago. I regret that I cannot 

 say we find woodcock on the paved streets here, as they 

 do in New York and Brooklyn, but challenge any other 

 city of over one million to show woodcock nests any 

 closer in toward the sound of the church-going bell. 



While hunting over the fields about Summit I started 

 a hen prairie chicken out of a fence row. I saw two 

 other single birds flying across the country, and while in 

 the plover blind saw a little flock of seven chickens cross 

 over and light on some spring wheat. The residents told 

 me that the prairie to the south of us was a great "boom- 

 ing ground," and that a good many chickens were there 

 mornings and evenings. We heard them once or twice 

 whfie we were shooting. It is probable that we will 

 have some chickens again in Illinois this year. 



Our shooting on this little trip was done on the great 

 farm of that eccentric genius, "Long John" Went worth, 

 one of the earliest and wealthiest citizens of Chicago, 

 who died about a year ago. Mr. Went worth had for a 

 number of years kept a flock of wild turkeys, and there 

 are about 200 to 800 of these great birds left "in his woods 

 now. This has been a great flock. As high as 200 birds 

 have "swarmed" and gone off in a season,' scattering all 

 over the country, from Wisconsin to Indiana. Many of 

 these have been killed, but of the great majority no ac- 

 counting has ever been made. Considerable poaching 

 has been done on the home farm, but this is promptly 

 punished if detected, and I understand the flock is to be 

 kept together. 



My friend, the daily reporter, comes out this week 

 with a long funny ttory about a certain respected citizen, 

 who is alleged to have been out recently and to have met 

 an accident "while hunting chickens with his trusty gun 

 and well-trained dog." Pretty tough on the respected 

 citizen; but the reporter probably meant snipe. 



May 3.— The mystery of the large wild animal, which 

 has for the last two or three years been seen on muskrat 

 houses and elsewhere on the Kankakee Marsh, near 

 Water Valley, is solved. The animal ig a spaniel that 

 broke away from Dick Turtle, and ran off into the marsh 

 and never came back, but ran wild. This dog has a his- 

 tory. It ate up a set of furniture and was supposed to 

 have been killed for the offense. Mr. Turtle, however, 

 concealed the dog in his office, at the top of a five-story 

 building, and locking the door went out for lunch. 

 When he came back he found about 5.000 standing at the 

 foot of the building, all wanting to lynch the man who 

 had hung the dog up on the top floor. Dick looked up, 

 and saw- the dog hanging out of the window, sure enough. 

 Hurrying up the stairs he found a moat singular state of 

 affairs. The dog had evidently made a bolt and jumped 

 straight out of the open window, five stories above the 

 pavement, and its life was saved by the merest chance. 

 There was a nail driven down in the window ledge, only 

 about an inch projecting above the sill. On this nail the 

 ring on the end of the dog's chain had caught as it sprung 

 the window, and strange to say both ring and collar staid 

 in place, and the dog was left merely awaiting in suspense 

 till some one came along and told it how far it was to 

 the bottom. Dick pulled the dog in and tried to reason 

 with it. Later on he took it down to the marsh, and it 

 bolted again, as above stated, and has never been touched 

 by human hands since then. Ihe animal is evidently a 

 victim of dementia, insanity or delirium tremens. 



While shooting snipe tne other day, an incident oc- 

 curred which 1 have never heard spoken of as happening 

 under the observation of any one else. Two jacksnipe 

 sprung up and I knocked the first one down, missing the 

 second. I threw out the shells and put in new ones, 

 walking as I did so up to the bird that was killed. I 

 found it at once, and noticed that it was half sitting up, 

 with its back toward me, just at the side of a hummock 

 of black mud. When I stooped to pick it up. I found 

 that its bill was buried in the side of tne hummock, clear 

 up to the head, and it took quite a little pull to loosen it. 

 The ruling passion was strong in death, and Ephraim 

 was joined unto his idol. The bird was stone dead; it 

 was the bird I had shot, and it had been but a mere 

 moment since the shot was fired. 



Shot fly much further down wind. A few days ago I 

 dropped a snipe out of flock dead at 113 paces from where 

 I stood. The shot was No. 7, and the birds were going 

 down a strong wind. E. Hough. 



