July 2, 1891.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



478 



are readily detached, when they are brought in by the 

 use of the hook at the other end. If the chisel is not 

 properly inserted at the first effort, they settle down upon 

 the rock with such tenacity that they cannot be separated 

 from it without breaking the shell to pieces. 



"When undisturbed a part of the animal extends out 

 beyond the shell, and by this part its locomotion is 

 effected; but when the projecting part is drawn within 

 the cell, th& latter is brought down upon the rock with a 

 force which is truly surprising. This force I imagine to 

 be that of suction or atmospheric pressure, and it is ex- 

 erted with equal facility whether the rook be smooth or 

 rough or indented. 



"They can crawl up upon the rocks with facility, 

 though progress is very slow. When detached from the 

 rock they tumble about in the boiling surf, so that one 

 would think that they must be dashed to pieces, while 

 they seem to enjoy it. Sometimes several are found to- 

 gether adhering to each other for a short time. 



"When brought to land and one is laid upon its back, 

 and is allowed to be quiet for a short time, a portion of 

 the animal will extend out beyond the shell and feel for 

 some object to assist it, and when found it will turn itself 

 over. 



"In some parts of the coast they abound in great num- 

 bers and several hundred pounds of them are frequently 

 captured at one tide. 



"These fish have a commercial value now. They are 

 taken in great numbers by Chinamen, who prepare them 

 by cutting them into thin sheets when they are dried, and 

 packed and exported to China, where they are in good 

 demand at about 25 cents a pound. No doubt, the custom 

 bouse reports would show the extent of this trade, which 

 would be interesting, as it must be very considerable. 

 The shells are of very little commercial value to the fish- 

 erman, as only a jiortion of them are thick enough for 

 polishing. The polishing of these shells is something of 

 an industry here and the sales to visitors is very consider- 

 able. 



"I have often examined the stomachs of these animals 

 to ascertain the food upon which they subsist. This 

 seemed to be principally, if not entirely, vegetable. The 

 undigested portion of the contents of the stomach clearly 

 revealed the presence of sea weed or kelp. It may be 

 they procure animalculae from the water, but of this I 

 could find no evidence, though the microscope might dis- 

 close it." 



I then asked him for some information about a little 

 fish, which I understand was taken in great numbers in 

 this bay by Chinamen, called the squid. 



"Yes," he said, "they abound here in incredible quanti- 

 ties and are taken with the greatest facility. They are 

 little fellows, six to ten of which will weigh a pound. In 

 structure they are something like the devil fish , with a 

 number of arms. They are from two to four inches long 

 and about as broad. These arms are short, not more than 

 an inch long, x)erhap3, and have not the powers of ad- 

 hesion and contraction like their great cousins, which are 

 sometimes found in this bay. They will adhere to the 

 finger with sufficient tenacity to raise them up, but they 

 very soon drop off. They are captured at night by the 

 aid of torches or lights by which they ai-e attracted to the 

 surface. One light is provided for three boats, and they 

 are so attracted by this that the surface becomes fairly 

 alive with them, when they are surrounded by a net from 

 which they are scooped into the baskets in the boats. 

 Only last night in this way four hundred basketfuls were 

 brought ashore, each containing from 200 to 225lbs. of the 

 fish. These are dried and exported to China also, but not 

 all. Many are thrown upon the grass to dry, but if a rain 

 comes on them they are spoiled, and to such an extent 

 does this occur that an intolerable stench loads the atmos- 

 phere in the neighborhood, but when properly prepared 

 and dried a market is found for them in Chixia. They are 

 prepared by the women and children, who cut them open, 

 take out the viscera, and wash them clean, when they are 

 carefully dried and packed for export. An active woman 

 can prepare from two to three basketfuls in a day. In 

 Spanish these little fellows are called calomar, but here 

 they are more generally known as squid." 



Mr, Duarte told me that his oldest son, Santa Maria, is 

 in the service of the U. S. Fish Commission, with duties 

 to report on fishes of this coast, and no doubt his reports 

 will embrace the subjects of this conversation with Mr. 

 Duarte. John Dean Caton. 



THE BOY AND THE BIRD'S NEST. 



THERE is to the average boy, probably, no more fas- 

 cinating recreation than collecting bird's eggs. The 

 time was when a few blue and white and speckled eggs, 

 strung together upon a thread put through a hole in each 

 end, out of which the contents had been carefully 

 removed, made a curious and pretty ornament of the 

 country boy's home. The time also was when such a 

 collection was accumulated by the accidental finding, at 

 long intervals, of the nests of our pretty feathered summer 

 visitors. Then, such a thing as a systematic hunt for eggs 

 was not dreamed of by the breezy boy who tramped the 

 fields for pure enjoyment. It was only when some 

 startled ground bird or song sparrow fluttered from its 

 nest near his tramping feet or curly pate, that he was 

 seized with a desire to add an egg or two to the little col- 

 lection hanging upon the wall of his room. Of late years, 

 however, the city boy has caught the idea, and now it is 

 quite the correct thing for him to exhibit to his admiring 

 friends quantities of eggs which his acute sight and dar- 

 ing have enabled him to possess. Of course, it is all 

 wrong; no one doubts that the Legislature did a wise and 

 timely thing in putting the robbing of bird's nests, except 

 for scientific purposes, without the pale of the law. But 

 the healthy excitement which a hunt for eggs produces, 

 together with the delight which all youths feel while 

 breathing the free untainted country air, are two power- 

 ful incentives to be resisted by the boy of to-day. Then 

 again, perhaps a certain inevitable degree of thoughtless- 

 ness is responsible for his failing to realize that when he 

 wantonly robs a bii'd's nest he becomes a criminal, just as 

 surely as does he who steals from his neighbor. I recog- 

 nize the enormity of his offense, but I plead in extenuation 

 his youth and priceless light-heartedness and love for the 

 fields and woods. You, stern gray-haired man, whose 

 memory has well nigh lost its record of those bounding, 

 care-free days of yore, judge not the boy too bai-shly. I 

 am competent to speak for him, and I bear witness to all 

 the temptations which aUxire hiiaa out of the hot and duaty 

 «ty to the fragrant retreats, blossoming orchards and 



mysterious woods of the green, cool country, in quest of 

 the unlawful prize. I know what it is to lie concealed in 

 the taU, swaying grass and nodding flowers, upon the 

 brook side, watching for a hint from the warbling thrush 

 as to the whereabouts of its nest. I also know what it is 

 to survey, in triumph, the surrounding landscape for 

 miles in each direction from the top of some tall old hem- 

 lock or pine, which I have gained after a desperate climb, 

 torn by sharp branches, and rough bark, and assailed by 

 cawing crow or screaming hawk. Because for years I 

 was one of the most enthusiastic egg collectors in oiur 

 town. 



I never thought of anything but the exhilaration 

 which swept over me, as I penetrated the secret of the 

 goldfinch or matched my cunning against that of the kill- 

 dee, and came off victor. I never thought of the black 

 letter which made my success a misdemeanor; I never 

 dreamed that I was a criminal, when, after an hour's 

 struggle and many futile attempts, I cut a hole in some 

 tall old stub, large enough to permit me to insert my 

 hand and dra%v forth the beautiful eggs of the nuthatch 

 or the I'ed-headed woodpecker. I was a conqueror, who 

 in the face of almost insurmountable difficulties had 

 proven to my companion that I was a fearless climber 

 and determined collector. 



Napoleon, as he paw the flying wreck of the allied 

 armies at Austerlitz, was no more proud a victor than 

 was I when, after hanging forty minutes with my left 

 hand and my feet, and cutting with a knife in my right 

 hand at a hard walnut limb, I descended to the ground 

 with two oriole eggs closely clenched ^vithin my stiffened 

 fingers. It took nerve and muscle to do those things; 

 and it took patience and skill to mark where the bobo- 

 link had hidden her nest, or where the vireo had hidden 

 hers in the densely interwoven foUage of some mighty 

 maple or poplar. Of course some of my acquaintances 

 remonstrated with me for despoiling so many homes. 

 But to all such I commended a perusal of the Great Law 

 Giver's words ui^on the subject; and the twenty-second 

 chapter of Deuteronomy and sixth and seventh verses 

 never failed to silence even the most tender-hearted girl 

 who endeavored to show me the error of my ways. For 

 did it not read, "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee 

 in the way, in any tree or on the ground, whether they 

 be young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the 

 young or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with 

 the young, but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go and 

 take the young to thee, that it may be well with thee, and 

 that thou mayest prolong thy days"? Of course that settled 

 the question: and I was not again disturbed by him or her 

 against whom I once quoted that respectable authority. 



In the days when I collected I always had a companion 

 whom I will call Norm. We were enthusiasts, and each 

 was so peculiarly gifted as to make our "hunting in 

 pairs" most profitable. Never have I seen in any one 

 such wonderful sagacity as would lead my chum straight 

 to a nest upon the ground, when no bird' had risen, nor 

 anything more than a "general possibility" given him a 

 hint as to its locality, I have many times seen him w^alk 

 almost directly up to a nest, after telling me that he 

 should doubtless find one in that vicuiity. Bobolink, 

 groundbird, nor meadow lark, could conceal their homes 

 from Norman's eyes. But he could not climb very well, 

 nor could he discover a nest in a tree, if it was at all 

 cunningly secreted, although I might try to point it out 

 to him. On the other hand, I was a good climber, and 

 had much the same sort of faculty that he had, but in a 

 lesser degree and in a different direction; I could pick 

 out the one tree in a dozen which would contain a nest, 

 and so never took the pains to examine every one that 

 spread its alluring branches near our path. Such abso- 

 lute confidence had we in each other that as we walked 

 across a farm, through meadow, orchard and grove, he 

 paid no particular attention to the trees, nor would I to 

 such birds as arose from the ground, knowing that he 

 never failed to discover the nest; while he never under- 

 took to seai'ch out one in the shrubs or treetops. So 

 thoroughly did we do our work that when we came home 

 at night we knew that it would be of no use for us or any 

 one else to take that tramp over again. This faculty of 

 guessing out a nest was doubtless the result of months of 

 carefully observing the habits of the birds, united with 

 untiring watchfulness. 



What a vast amount of knowledge, long since forgotten, 

 concerning the ways and wiles of all the birds, did we 

 acquire; and how readily could we teU from the exterior 

 of the nests what birds had built them. For instance, 

 the dauntless kingbird, the mwt fearless protector of its 

 home and yotmg that I ever k-new, always twined a small 

 piece of white wool into the under side of its nest; other- 

 wdse it resembled the robin's, but I never saw one of aU 

 the dozens I have clambered for without that mai-k of 

 identification. Then the cedar-bird, or, as it was known 

 to us, the cherry-bird, made its nest almost entirely of dry 

 grass, without the plastered, muddy appearance which 

 marred the external beauty of the robin's nest. And here 

 let me describe the most curious nest I ever saw. I dis- 

 covered it upon the bank of the river, snugly concealed 

 in a small clump of bushes, and at first glance called out 

 to my companion that I had found a "yellow-bird's" nest. 

 It was quite deep, however, and caretuUy removing the 

 three little eggs, so exactly like those of the canary. I took 

 it down and proceeded to examine it. Upon tearing off 

 the top portion, I was surprised to see a second nest under 

 it, containing a cowbird's egg, far decayed. I then re- 

 marked that the nest still looked out of proportion, and 

 fm-ther investigation disclosed still a third nest under the 

 second. This had been built by a song sparrow, and con- 

 tained three of its eggs, besides that of another cowbird. 

 The problem was soon solved; the song sparrow had de- 

 serted her home upon finding the stranger's egg therein, 

 and subsequently some other bird had built over it, only 

 in turn to be ousted by the vagrant cowbird. This second 

 nest had been the ground floor for the last builder, which 

 I suppose had deserted because of the abominable stench 

 emanating from the structure. Had it not been for that, 

 I should have preserved the triple nest as the greatest 

 curiosity of its kind I ever saw or heard of. At one other 

 time I found a double nest, it was a robin's, which had 

 been overbuilt because of the notorious habit of the un- 

 principled cowbird. The latter's egg I found securely 

 ensealed within the two mud floors, and it too was de- 

 cayed and noisome. 



I do not know what feelings actuated my companion 

 in his walks with me, but it was a pure love of nature 

 that prompted me to thus go about reading and studying 

 the secrets of the birds. And when I was searching for 



a nest, it was to me a contest between the instinct and 

 natural cunning of the bird and my own skill and sharp- 

 ness of vision, and after I had found the object of my 

 hunt its contents were lawfully and justly mine, if I 

 could get them. It will not be necessary for any logician 

 to pomt out the fallacy of my proposition, nor to show 

 wherein my reasoning was erroneous; it was at that time 

 conclusive, and that is all that can or need be said. 



It was always a matter for amazement to both Norm 

 a,nd I to note the varieties of birds which wore the plain 

 little brown jacket of the common song sparrow. I think 

 that our collection showed more than twenty kinds of 

 eggs, taken from nests in trees, in holes, in shrubs and 

 on the ground, all laid by birds which an ordinary obser- 

 ver would have said looked exactly alike. The eggs were 

 all shades of blue, white and gray, and were sometimes 

 speckled with red, yellow or black, and sometimes plain 

 clear white or blue. 



The names of some of these little brown birds we never 

 learned, as we were not scientific collectors; but they were 

 all of the same general size and appearance. Over 120 

 different kinds of eggs did we get together, if I remember 

 rightly, while we collected; we did not buy any, and we 

 never sold an egg, though some were given to us by 

 friends. The collection was kept at my home, and no 

 other hands than ours were ever suffered to touch the 

 glass case which exposed our treasm-ed spoils to view, yet 

 sheltered the fragile things from harm. After a long 

 day's tramp we would repair to my own snug little room, 

 where the eggs were carefully blown. This was some- 

 times done with a small blow pipe, but usually by prick- 

 ing a hole in each end of the egg and expelling its con- 

 tents by blowing difectly from the mouth. It was a 

 dainty operation, requiring much time and boundless 

 patience; and many a valued egg have we smashed by 

 u?ing too much force. Of course, after a few weeks the 

 egg usually lost its bright and delicate tints; but finally 

 we began to treat them in a more scientifie manner. We 

 put a little isinglass into a large-necked bottle and poured 

 in enough cold water to cover it; this was allowed to 

 stand until the next morning, when some hot water was 

 added, which instantly dissolved the isinglass, and made 

 a most admirable varnish for the inside of the shell. 

 After having injected some of this mixture into the 

 empty egg and blown it out again, the shell always re- 

 tained its fresh and beautiful tints, which mark the new- 

 laid egg. 



There were in our collection many eggs peculiar for 

 their remarkable appearance. For instance, we had 

 a blackbird's egg upon which was a perfect likeness of a 

 blackbird, perched upon a twig; then there was an ori- 

 ole's egg showing a most wonderful picture of an oriole's 

 hanging nest. There were few birds breeding in our 

 locality upon which we did not levy contribution, and 

 what rare and beautiful eggs we had. The nighthawk, 

 whose "nest" we found on the flat gravel roof of a tall 

 building in the city, two eggs, so closely resembling the 

 small stones that we well nigh failed to see them at all; 

 the great-crested flycatcher, whose identity was unknown 

 until more than a year after we had found its singular 

 looking eggs in the top of a little decayed tree (how 

 frightened Norm was when he drew out with the eggs 

 half of a snake's cast-off cuticle; he always abhorred 

 snakes); the golden-winged woodpecker, or as we choose 

 to call it, the high-hole, whose marvelously white egg 

 was ever a thing of beauty, all these had to pay tribute 

 to our perseverance and enthusiasm. 



I well remember the day when I brought that high- 

 hole's egg down from an immense dead tree that rose 

 straight in the air 50ft. or more. The trunk was perfectly 

 denuded of bark, and only two or three sharp, short 

 horns showed where the last limbs had been. The nest 

 was less than a foot from the top, and as I clasped the 

 huge trunk, clad in my spurs, and with a large jack-knife 

 in my pocket, preparatory to a hard climb and some 

 harder whittling, Norm called out to me half seriously, 

 "Good-by." The old trunk was as as firm as a rock, how- 

 ever, until I had climbed half way up or more; then I 

 could feel it tremble with every vigorous punch of the 

 steel spurs. I reached the top, cut out the nest, which 

 went deep into the tree, took the only egg it contained, 

 and in descending came down on the opposite side to 

 the one upon which I had gone up. Imagine my horror 

 as I arrived at the middle of the old trunk, to find that 

 for a space of 3ft. it was completely hollow, and that the 

 entire upper half upon which I had been actively at work 

 for at least twenty minutes, was sustained in the air by a 

 thin shell of wood, apparently not more than half an 

 inch in thickness; while even that, for a third of the way 

 round, was broken in. I do not think that I ever before 

 lost my nerve while climbing, but when I made that dis- ■ 

 covery I grew faint and sick. In less than a month 

 afterwai-d the upper part of the old stump fell to the 

 ground, where it was only a miracle that I had not been 

 hurled with it. But neither Norm nor I ever met with 

 an accident in all the time we tramped and climbed for 

 eggs. Whether clinging to the face of some tall bluff, 

 digging for sand swallows' or kingfishers' nests, or 

 climbing to dizzying heights for hawks' or crows' eggs, 

 we always successfully reached terra flr7na again. But 

 many times our hands were torn and bleeding, and our 

 clothing nearly ruined, from some desperate feat with 

 the climbing irons; and how often were our most earnest 

 efforts unrewarded by the sight of the hardly sought for 

 prize. 



Four years did we collect, and then time, advarcing us 

 all too rapidly toward man's estate, brought to us more 

 serious thoughts, and fewer opportunities to complete 

 the never-finished collection. Useless to narrate how 

 accident, and decay, and vermin gradually destroyed the 

 fruit of so much hard, yet pleasant labor, until no eggs 

 were left but the dozen or so with which we had com- 

 menced. They, too, went finally, by theft, and never 

 since have I taken a bird's egg from its nest. But others 

 took our place in the fields and woods, and while I have 

 never seen so good a private collection as our own, I have 

 no doubt that far more eggs have been taken by 

 individual collectors. And I have no reason to doubt 

 that in this thoughtless passion for egg collecting, and 

 not in the pugnacity of the English sparrow, lies the 

 secret of the great depletion of the ranks of our feathered 

 friends. D. F. H. 



Oswego, N. Y. 



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

 freeon applicatioa a descriptive circular of Mr. GrinneU's book. 

 "PawTjpe Hero Stories ajid Folk-tales," giving a table of contenta 

 aud sptjciiuuu illasirations from, the volvime. — ^dv. 



