May 21, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM' 



847 



could aim it: and now with the slight encouragement I 

 give him he promises to be one of us. 



I promised to do most of the work that my wife might 

 refct some, but the cave of a baby did not give me any 

 great chance for that; still in a few days she was carry- 

 ing wood like a native. What little fishing I did was in 

 the morning before the rest were up, and consisted mo=!tly 

 of getting a mess of bullheads for breakfast, or trolling 

 for pickerel. I tried some for bass but had no luck- 

 could not seem to find them. I do not think bass fishing 

 as good here as it is from Burlington north. After a few 

 days Mabel would get up and join me on my early trips, 

 and she cauglit moHt of the fisU while I took them off and 

 baited ihe ho^kg. 



One morning I got a 5-lb. bowfin on my light rod, and 

 he made plenty of fun before I could get him into the 

 landing net. It is not a particularly qaick fish, but very 

 strong and hard to tire. The little girl scapped him like 

 a veteran, but after he got into the boat, both girls being 

 with me, became badly demoralized until I ran my hunt- 

 ing knife down through his spine. The next day Mabel 

 caught one weigbiut; 5^1bs., but as he was on a short stift' 

 pole I soon got him into the boat, though for a few 

 minutes he pulled her little arms pretty hard. 



They kept me rather busy between the cooking and 

 clearing away; then there was wood and ice to get and 

 milk once a' day: even these tasks had their pleasures. 

 How often would I look across Lake Champlain at the 

 Adirondrcks, then up and down the lake and admire the 

 blue line of the mountauis, at times covered with clouds, 

 so that only the base and peaks of the higher ones would 

 be visibie. Then the many points jutting out into the 

 lake, edgt-d with cedars, and an occasional green meadow 

 showing through an opening in the trees. 



One day while after ice I spied a mink in the rocks and 

 tried to hit him with a stone, but the minute my hand 

 went up his head went down, and if I tried to finesse by 

 crawling around to get behind him when he came up, 

 keeping him down in the meantime by throwing stones, 

 he always bobbed up serenely with his face to the enemy. 

 Had George been there he would have devoted a week to 

 trapping him , as he likes that about as well as trout fishing. 



We began to get tired of fish and pork and hints were 

 tlirown out that chicken would be agreeable, but as the 

 first of September was at hand I promised ducks for a 

 change. It was a change, that is, the ducks changed 

 position when I fired and went up to Hinesburg pond. I 

 had often heard of the opening of the duck season, and 

 now at last was to engage in the fray, A party was 

 tenting across the road from us and we agreed to get up 

 at three and be up in the marsh before dayhght; the Mrs, 

 said we had better stay up all night. 



Ding, ding, ding, went the alarm, and hastily getting 

 up and dressing I found my friend down on the shore 

 pushing off his boat. Getting into mine we rowed away 

 up the creek, followed at a short distance by another 

 party the swash of whose oars sounded plainly in the still 

 morning au. Before we had got half way up the marsh 

 we passed two figures standing grim and silent in their 

 boat, and a little further up two more; finally we secured 

 a position and w^aited patiently for daylight. Soon it 

 came and boom! boom! went two shots down at Big Otter 

 marsh: then boom! boom! boom! went three more shots 

 in Goose Creek, and straining my eyes in that direction 

 I saw three woodducks coming" like a streak. Waiting 

 until they were opposite I blazed away and never touched 

 a feather; as they passed along the marsh one could hear 

 a regular fusilade. After a time, no more coming my 

 way, I moved down near to Goose Creek and saw one 

 party there drop a black duck and a woodduck, and then 

 miss three blacks which came my way, but flew right in 

 the face of the sun, I fired, and how the feathers did 

 fiv! in fact, they were still flying the last I saw of them, 

 headed direct for Hinesburg pond. 



By noon the flring had been so continuous that all the 

 ■ducks were driven inland, but toward evening we saw 

 •flome come back, to feed on the wild oats. Never in my 

 life have I heard such shooting and do not believe over 

 one shot in ten broiightaduck; many were knocked down 

 and would get away in the grass and oats, as the water 

 was very high, which made it impossible to walk on any 

 part of the marsh, and wounded birds could escape by 

 diving. 



Tne next morning we tried again, but no birds coming 

 along, rowed down stream and fished for bullheads. 

 While thus engaged I saw a black duck come in and go 

 to tVeding. After getting enough fish for breakfast I 

 rowed over and put her up. She quivered when I shot, 

 but flew a short distance and then dropped down in the 

 grass, only to get away, as I searched for her in vain. 

 When I returned again without any ducks they told me 

 I was a great hunter never to kill anything. Nothing 

 succeeds like success, and perhaps I can make a good 

 bag of lakers before long and then I wiU be in favor 

 again. But for lots of excitement with little bloodshed 

 give me opening day on Otter marshes. 



Well, we stayed our ten days out, and such fun as 

 those youngsters had! Thfiy carried wood, gathered 

 ^irch bark, swung in the hammock, ate, slept, rowed, 

 fished, hauled bait, paddled in their bare feet, and had 

 such a good time generally that when the time came for 

 me to I'-ave they decided lo stay longer, the farmer's two 

 ■daughters coming down by them nights, and I managed 

 to run bnck a couple of times to stay over night. Wlipn 

 I csme to survey the wood they gathered and was told 

 Mama carried those big sticks itvs^as proof that some one 

 was being benefitted by the trip. Outdoor air and no 

 stairs to climb was what did it. 



Never have I gone on a trip and done so little fishing or 

 hunting, still I enjoyed this best of all. It did me good 

 to see them eat my muffins and slapjacks, and to hear 

 Sam cry "more fish" until he had eaten four and once five 

 bullheads or perch. 



One day we had a cooking bee and the Mrs, baked 

 a cake and fried crullers. We all stood there and ate 

 them as fast as done until we had eaten three or four, and 

 myself six of them. Dyspepsia? Nnt a bit of it: one 

 could digest anything there that didn't require a gizzard. 



I saw a nice bunch of bluebills and a few coots fly by 

 Sunday noon, so at night went down to the camp, taking 

 enc-ugh bread, pork and eggs for my breakfast, got up 

 Monday mornina: nnd j)ut out my decoys; but no birds 

 flew in. so I pulled up, closed the house, and thu"' end my 

 days at Rushmore for 1890; but I hope to take my whole 

 family next year, and with George along to help we ex- 

 pect great times. Dexter. 



MARINE RESERVATIONS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read with deep interest your account of the 

 proposed reservations for the walrus and sea lions, as 

 well as the hearty indorsement of the plan by yourself. 

 Doctors Allen and Dall and ]\Ir. Elliott. The importance 

 of the movement can scarcely be overestimated. The 

 destruction of many of our large land and water animals 

 either for profit or from mere wanton love of killing, 

 has long been a source of regret to lovers of nature. It 

 has been accomplished in some cases thi-ough want of 

 legislation and sometimes in defiance of law. The ques- 

 tion of jurisdiction has occasionally complicated the 

 problem, and many noble animals have been practically 

 exterminated before our eyes before protective legislation 

 took shape. It will probably be impossible to prevent 

 the killing of walrus at sea, and it is not desii'able to re- 

 strict the right of the E-quimaux to capture as many as 

 they need to supply them with food and clothing. The 

 whalers have already nearly exterminated the walrus in 

 the Arctic, and it is believed that the species is now more 

 numerous in Bristol.£ay than fui-ther north. The reser- 

 vation of Amak Island as a refuge for this species will in 

 all probability result in its slow but certain increase. 

 The walrus is heavy and unwieldy, harmless except 

 when its young is attacked or its life threatened. It 

 brings forth usually one young, and never more than 

 two. The period of gestation is long. The species is 

 valuable and has many enemies besides man ; its chances 

 of survival, therefore, unless aided and sheltered, are ex- 

 tremely small. To the Esquimaux the value of the 

 walrus is so great that we cannot leave it out of the con- 

 sideration. He is largely dependent upon it for food, 

 light, clothing, materials for tents and boats and for 

 trading purposes. A sad illustration of this dependence 

 upon the wah'us was fm-nished on St. Lawrence Island 

 some years ago, when ice prevented the animal from 

 hauling out as usual and caused the death from starva- 

 tion of nearly 300 men, women and children. The exter- 

 mination of the wah'us and the salmon will involve the 

 extermination of the Esquimaux, At the present time 

 citizens of the United States are engaged on Government 

 reservations in Alaska taking salmon and other animals 

 upon which the natives depend mainly for theu- subsist- 

 ence. There is no restriction by Government — there is 

 even no regulation, for the existing laws are not 

 enforced. The result of this want of policy will ba swift 

 and disasti-ous, and the responsibility of the Government 

 cannot be evaded. T. H, Bean. 



Washington, D.C-. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER OR SAPSUCKER 



THE sapsucker. which I aver is properly so named, is 

 a woodpecker {Picus pubescens), but it does not 

 follow that all woodpeckers are sapsuckers. It is as 

 reasonable to call this bird a sapsucker as a woodpecker, 

 for in sucking the sweet sap and eating the sweet cambium 

 layer of various trees in the spring it acts as a wood- 

 pecker, and its habit of doing both these nefarious acts 

 and so injuring the trees cannot be truly denied. Farmers 

 are improperly charged very often with having crude and 

 ignorant beliefs upon some points of natural history. But 

 I have lived and moved among farmers enough to know 

 that sometimes they ai-e right when scientific men are all 

 wrong. They have had various beliefs which have been 

 denied by scientists, but on investigation some of these 

 have been quite frequently accepted and others are in 

 abeyance. I remember well when Darwin, in the prepara- 

 tion of his last work, wrote to a friend of mine, the late 

 Dr. Geo. Thurber, one of the first botanists in the world, 

 and then editor of the American Agriculturist, to make 

 inquiries among farmers as to the habits of snakes to 

 swallow their young when threatened with danger. A 

 great many letters were received in response, and the 

 evidence so gathered was considered wholly satisfactory 

 by that excellent naturalist, and he so stated in his great 

 work. This was regarded as the farmers" foolishness. So 

 in regard to the C irnivorous habits of the m"le, as con- 

 sidered especially by the French naturahsts, and so firmly 

 as to ridicule any contrary belief as absurd. But farmers 

 do nevertheless believe that moles devour the seeds of 

 sweet corn and peas and the roots in their gardens, and I 

 have good reason to know they are correct in their beliefs. 

 For I have examined the stomachs of a good many moles 

 under a microscope and have found some of them to con- 

 tain nothing but sweet corn, of which the starch grains 

 and cellular tissue were plainly to be recognized. Now, 

 if a mole's stomach contains starch it muse have been 

 eating vegetable matter. Only last fall I caught a mole 

 in my garden in a bed of carrots; the carrots were being 

 eaten by something, and I captured a mole. On examining 

 the stomach the yellow substance of the carrots was easily 

 recognized, and nothing else was found contained in the 

 stomach but this when the contents were put under the 

 microscope. 



For six years past I have bpen annoyed with the sap- 

 suckers. They have girdled and killed outright some 

 young apple trees, and made a special prey of a young 

 white' pine which is growing within twenty feet of the 

 window where I have my de-^k. It is the downy wood- 

 pecker only, a cunning fellow who dodges around the 

 tree, showing only his head, and so evades the gun. I 

 have shot several, and on examining the stomachs have 

 found no insects at the sap-flowing season, but only sap 

 and the soft pulp of the inner bark and cambium of the 

 tree. The cells of this pulpy matter can be easily recog- 

 nized, and in two birds I have shot and examined within 

 two weeks past these cells formed the only solid matter 

 in the stomachs. 



At this season the sap and cambium layer of the pine 

 and other trees are quite sweet, and doubtless the sap- 

 sucker has discovered this and taken a fancy to the 

 food. 



In the woods, the hickories are frequently girdled all 

 around by this bird, and less frequently the white oaks. 

 The result upon the hickories is destructive, a thick cal- 

 lus grows above and b--l iw the ring of holes and a deep 

 groove is formed. The constriction gradually kills the 

 tree, which breaks off at the injured part in high winds. 

 It is common to find hickories thus girdled in several 



E laces a few feet apart, but touched nowhere else. I 

 ave tied paper around my small trees as a protection 

 and find it acts perfectly. 



Now, is this business of this bird followed for food or 

 as a means of killing the trees that they may become 

 attacked by borers and so furnish future feeding grounds, 

 or both? That the birds fill their stomachs with the sap 

 and cambium layers is as certain as that I am writing 

 these lines. But is it that the birds desire a change of 

 food or in pursuit of insects have found out the sweetness 

 of the sap and have thus become instinctively fond of 

 the newly discovered food as an acquired taste? 



Col. Goss evidently has never tasted the inner bark of 

 the white pine and discovered its sweetness nor the sweet- 

 ness of the sap at this season, or he would not have 

 referred to its resinous character nor have said that it is 

 not pretended that this bir-d feeds upon these pines. On 

 the contrary, the rascals seem to choose my favorite pine 

 before any other tree, and have returned to it with their 

 saucy note which is indescribable within a few minutes 

 of their disturbance and while I have been waiting to 

 watch their operations. It is never safe to take anything 

 for granted in regard to the habits of animals, and it is 

 always safe to investigate thoroughly before determining 

 any matter, even if it is believed by the farmers. 



Henry Stewart. 

 North Caroe jna. 



CAN TURKEYS COUNT? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



An event which occurred this week in my poultry yard 

 was considered by me so odd that I told the story to quite 

 a number, all of whom expressed considerable sm'prise, 

 and one last evening said: "Why don't you write it to 

 FORKST AND STREAM? I hope that some one of a gather- 

 ing-up-statistics frame of mind will, accepting this mite 

 and one or two others which have been contributed by 

 "Piseco," collate from your columns the many anecdotes 

 therein enshrined, going to show that in many beasts, 

 birds and fishes there appears at times evidence of men- 

 tal faculties beyond those of simple instinct. 



I have two turkeys, one of which at least (perhaps both) 

 seems able to count up to ten. A few days ago I discov- 

 ered among weeds a nest containing thirteen turkey eggs. 

 My turkeys are from South Carolina, and were sold to me 

 as the result of wild turkey eggs, put under a domestic 

 tm-key; and I was warned that they would '"steal their 

 nests." The next day there were fifteen eggs, then on 

 subsequent days seventeen and nineteen, showing that 

 both hens were laying. On the evening of the 9ch there 

 were just twenty eggs, all in one nest. The next morning , 

 I visited the spot and found the two hens setting within 

 about a foot of each other, one with her head to the north- 

 west, the other to the southeast, so they could thus watch 

 in all directions. As I approached they left the nests, 

 and I found that the twenty eggs had been exactly divided 

 by them, the two nests with ten eggs each being about 

 lOin. apart. Of course this may have been an accidental 

 exact division, but if it were not, I own a pair of arith- 

 metical turkeys, and natural history is enriched by this 

 item. 



Perhaps I should have premised how it is that popu- 

 larly supposed to be a sailor alone "Piseco" is raising 

 turkeys. About two years ago two things happened to 

 me. I was ordered to the command of this rendezvous; 

 and a friend in St. Domingo presented me with some 

 very choice game fowl. As they began to increase and 

 multiply my wife developed a strong desire for fresh 

 eggs. Brooklyn's market having failed to satisfy this 

 demand, she looked with longing eyes on my increasing 

 basket of "choice eggs for setting." 



So to save a possible complication I procured a few 

 choice Plymouth Rocks that cost quite a sura. Our 

 venture was a success, and there have been few days 

 during the two years that we have been entirely minus 

 fresh eggs, to say nothing of choice broilers and patri- 

 archs well adapted and devoted to chicken potpie and 

 gumbo soup. 



My games have become in a small way famous, and all 

 surplus stags are easily disposed of, their only fault being 

 that as I make pets of them and punish them for fighting 

 (in which, while they are young, the parent cock — now 

 three years old — lends me a hand, rxishing into every 

 tussle and giving each combatant a sharp rebuke), they 

 are most of them too tame and peaceable uncil trained; 

 then I hear (for I never fight them myself or allow it) 

 they do good work. 



So many have given items to show the gain or loss in 

 amateiu- farming of all kinds that I will give you a bit of 

 my results: Starting with a dozen common and three 

 games two years ago, to which I have added by exchange 

 of eggs Pekin ducks, Muscovy ducks and various fancy 

 breeds of fowl, such as Hamburg, Dorking and Cochins, 

 I have now nearly a hundred gi'own fowl of all of the 

 above descriptions; have tabled about two dozen Pekin 

 ducks, and have over a hundred young ducks and 

 chickens; and dm-ing the 150 days from Dec. 1 to April 

 30 my ega; book shows receipt of over 2,800 hens' eggs, 

 nearly 300 ducks' eggs and the two settings of turkey 

 eggs which have started this yarn. I have not kept 

 exact account, but am sure that my stock on hand are 

 worth much more than my expenses have been, 



Brooklyn Navy Yard. PiSECO. 



EuDDY Duck.— Memphis, Tenn. — About March 10 last 

 Mr. Seth Martin and I killed two redback ducks about 

 size of blue-winged teal out of a flock of about forty, 

 using near some 200 canvasbacks, on Wapanocka Lake, 

 Arkansas, near Memphis, Tenn. Another one of same 

 redback ducks was winged by Mr. Geo. Mitchell, and 

 proved they were the ffi'oatest divers we ever saw, and 

 they are deep-water ducks and will not go in cover. 

 From above remarks and following please tell me what 

 duck this is: Back is a dark red, tail is small, stiff, black, 

 six feathers; upper part of back of neck and back of head 

 nearly black; feet and legs very dark and large webs; 

 eyes small, rather high, deep .set and dark; bill is rather 

 broad and a bright pale blue; breast mottled gray and 

 red, under part of neck dark red; cheeks white; shape of 

 bh'd's body and much of its color is greatly like a cock 

 quail: breast very glossy. W^hat is it? — W'. A. Wheat- 

 LEY. [This is the ruddy duck [Erismatura rubida), and 

 the plumage you describe is that of the male bird. This 

 is a duck of many names, of which the following are a 

 few: bluebill, hard-headed broadbill, dipper, dopper, 

 dapper, booby, creek coot, batter scoot, sleepy head, fool 

 duck, deaf duck, bull neck, tough head, hard head, and 

 many more, for which and a picture of the bird see Mr. 

 Trumbull's excellent work "Names and Portraits of Birds 

 Interesting to Gunners," p. 1078.] 



