June 2, 1892. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



817 



wall when up flew a bird without any warning, and 

 making a hasty snap shot I made a miss' with my first, 

 but scored a nice, clean kill at long range with my 

 second. Another bird fell to Charley's gun on the way 

 to the house, making our score for the day eleven birds. 

 We selected a fine brace of grouse and presented them to 

 our host, who was much pleased, and he gave us a very 

 cordial invitation to come again. We reached home in 

 the early evening, tired, contented and happy, our appe- 

 tites whetted by the exertion and bracing air of the day. 

 Soon after getting thoroughly warmed up and eating a 

 hearty supper, Morpheus wrapped us in his mantle and 

 transported us to the land of pleasant dreams. 

 Worcester, Mass., May. GEO. McALEER. 



ON THE PAMPAS OF ENTRE RIOS. 



During a sojourn of several years on the pampas of 

 Entre Rios, in South America, stock raising, I became 

 familiar with mmy of the ways of hunting and fishing , 

 practiced by the Gauchos, or natives of that country. < 

 This was twenty-five years ago, and at that time our ? 

 estancia, which was very large, teemed with wild animal 

 life. There were ostriches, partridges, horned plover, 

 ducks, paroquets and wild pigeons, deer, capinchos (a 

 species of amphibious pig), armadillos, opossums, igua- 

 nos, to say nothing of prairie dogs, skunks, tarantulas, 

 scorpions, centipedes and fleas. 



Partridges were thicker than English sparrows are in 

 this country, and the native mode of capturing them was 

 as follows: On the end of a cane rod about 8 or 9ft. long 

 there would be lashed a small running noose made of 

 twisted horse hair or the rib of an ostrich feather. Armed 

 with this weapon, we would sally forth on horseback 

 and within 100yds. of the ranch we would be sure to find 

 partridges. On our approach the birds would scatter 

 through the grass, each one selecting a tuft in which to 

 hide. When one was located all that it was necessary to 

 do to capture it would be to ride around it several times. 

 This would excite its curiosity so that it would stretch up 

 its head above the grass, when with a dextrous thrust of 

 the rod the noose was slipped over the head and the bird 

 hauled from its hiding place. I have captured hundreds 

 of partridges in this way; and one Sunday morning, when 

 I had a large influx of visitors and very little meat, I 

 caught thirty-nine of them in little over an hour, and had 

 them stewed for dinner. 



The killing of ostriches for their feathers was carried 

 on systematically, as a source of revenue to the estancia. 

 As soon as a flock of ostriches was sighted from the house, 

 the hunter would start off on horseback, and get as near 

 as he thought it was safe to go without frightening them. 

 He would then dismount, and walk along the side of his 

 horse, which was trained to the work. The horse would 

 walk slowly toward the ostriches, occasionally taking 

 a nip at the" grass. The hunter always rode on these oc- 

 casions bare-back, and with a very light rawhide bridle, 

 and carried his ammunition tied around his waist. When 

 within gunshot he would fire, and if successful in killing 

 a bird, he would have little difficulty in getting several 

 more before they ran away. As soon as one ostrich falls 

 the others crowd around it, and perform a sort of war 

 dance, going through the most laughable gyrations, and 

 stupidly allowing themselves to be shot down one by one, 

 and not until only three or four are left, do they seem to 

 realize their danger, and take safety in flight. As soon 

 as these xun, the hunter would collect the feathers from 

 the wings and tails of those he had brought down, taking 

 care however, first to kill any wounded birds, and keep- 

 ing well out of the way of their feet while doing so, for 

 their kick is very dangerous. He would probably cut off 

 a few wing-joints, and cut out a few gizzards before 

 leaving the carcasses to the vultures. These are the only 

 edible parts of the ostrich. The flesh of their legs is full 

 of parasitical worrns. 



The G-auchos also hunt the ostrich on fleet horses, using 

 their boleadores, or bolas to stop their flight. The bolas 

 is made with three stones covered with rawhide, or lizard 

 skin, each attached to a thong about three feet long, and 

 all joined together at a common center. One of the 

 stones is smaller than the others, and is called the manieo, 

 and is the one held in the hand. The hunter starts after 

 the ostrich on a dead run, swinging the bolas around his 

 head; as soon as near enough he will throw it with won- 

 derful accuracy on to the back of the bird. The bolas 

 will wrap itself around the neck and legs of the ostrich, 

 and so hamper its movements that it falls an easy prey to 

 its pursuer. The ostrich has many strange ways, and I 

 was particularly interested in studying them. They go 

 in flocks of three or four females and one male about their 

 nesting time, and for several weeks before locating their 

 nests, the hens drop their eggs all about the pampas. 

 These are called haucho eggs (pronounced "watcho"), and 

 are much more delicate in flavor than the eggs taken 

 from the nests. They have a thinner shell, and 

 when fresh laid are of a beautiful golden color. 

 We cooked them by roasting them before the fire. 

 We would first break a hole in the small end of the 

 egg large enough to insert a tea spoon. The egg 

 would be set up among some hot ashes, a pinch of 

 salt and pepper put into it, and the contents kept stirred 

 with a stick so that all would be done alike. The flavor 

 is excellent and one egg would satisfy a very hungry 

 man. As soon as the ostriches decide upon a suitable 

 place for a nest, the male bird scratches away the grass 

 and slightly hollows out the ground for a space of about 

 SEt. in diameter. All the hens of the flock lay in the 

 same nest until there are from 25 to 35 eggs laid. The 

 male birds then take possession and sit on the eggs 

 until they are hatched. As soon as the brood can leave 

 the nest the old fellow leads them away to feed on flies 

 and small insects, and everything is lovely until he 

 espies another male bird with a brood. As soon as the 

 old birds see each other they make a peculiar booming 

 sound and every little ostrich disappears in the grass. 

 The old ones then approach each other and engage in a 

 most deadly conflict. They fight until one or the other 

 is killed or runs away. The remaining one will then 

 utter another peculiar sound and both broods will spring 

 up from their hiding places and follow the victor, who 

 struts off as proud a3 a peacock. I have seen old male 

 ostriches with three broods, each of a different size, two 

 of which they had captured. 



On the end of the first joint of the wing of these birds 

 there is a long spur. This is evidently given them as a 

 means of defense, but the Gauchos say that the bird uses 

 them to accelerate their speed when running by spurring 



themselves with them. However this may be, there are 

 always large bloody spots on the sides of the ostrich that 

 has been captured by chasing, caused by these spurs dig- 

 ging into the flesh. 



They become very tame in captivity, but are a perfect 

 nuisance about a place, as you cannot keep them out of 

 the buildings, and they will gobble up anything they 

 can swallow. One of them cleaned out a work-basket 

 one day, swallowing spools of cotton, emery bag and 

 thimble, ending his repast by eating up a bowl of mar- 

 row we had on the table to use in lieu of butter. They 

 will stalk around the grounds in the most sedate man- 

 ner, then suddenJy commence dancing in the most 

 comical way, tumbling all over themselves and running 

 around like mad. They will stop this foolishness as sud- 

 denly as they commenced it and walk off as demurely as 

 if they were* going to a funeral. 



I spoke of the danger of their kick, and will tell of an 

 instance that came under my own observation where a 

 man was killed by one. We'had been working hard for 

 several hours to corral a point of about two hundred very 

 wild cattle, which were determined to stampede for 

 their grazing ground about fifty miles north of us. We 

 finally got them well on the run for the corral, and after 

 they were in one of the men dismounted to put up the 

 bar at the entrance. Just as he put it up four or five 

 ostriches that had been driven in with the cattle made a 

 rush to get out. One of them struck the bar which 

 threw him on his back, and the Gaucho with great fool- 

 hardiness attempted to capture it. He received a fearful 

 kick in the stomach, which cut deep into his flesh, and 

 from the effects of which, in three days, he died. 



Ducks were very plentiful on the pampas, and I had 

 great sport shooting them. Their nests were found by 

 every Bmall pond, and if the eggs were fresh we always 

 gathered them in, The horned plover were very numer- 

 ous, and afforded fine wing shooting. They are good 

 eating, and their eggs are delicious. They lay three or 

 four eggs on the ground, which they resemble so much 

 in color that they are very hard to find. We located 

 their nests by the fuss the birds made when the sheep 

 came near them. They would fly at the sheep to drive 

 them away from the nests, uttering all the time their 

 piercing cry of tira-tira, which is the name given them 

 by the natives. 



My men were constantly bringing iguanos and arma- 

 dillos, both of which were good eating. The armadillo 

 has given me many a fine chase on horseback; they can 

 run very fast, and dodge as quick as lightning. When 

 they think escape is impossible they roll themselves up 

 into a ball and quietly await their death, which is effected 

 by inserting a knife between the joints of their arrnor as 

 near the head as possible. Eoasted in the shell they are 

 a great delicacy. Deer I killed by stalking, but as no one 

 in the estancia would eat the meat but myself I killed 

 very few. Fish were very scarce and only found after 

 continued high water in the arroyos. During the flood 

 these fish would work their way up stream, and as the 

 water subsided they would be left in the holes and small 

 ponds in the bottom of the arroyo. These fish were a 

 kind of large catfish, called bagre, and weighed from 

 three to five pounds. They could be seen swimming 

 around in the ponds, but no lure that I could devise 

 would tempt them to bite. The native mode seems to be 

 the only way to capture them. Three or four of the men 

 would ride into the pond on horseback, and flounder 

 around in the mud until the water gets so mixed with it 

 that the fish swim to the surface. They then knocked 

 them on the head with a club and threw them out on the 

 bank. We frequently captured five or six from a pond 

 and they made a very acceptable change in our usual 

 diet of beef and hardtack, Edward A. Robinson. 



ANIMAL WISDOM. 



We are all familiar enough with examples of intelli- 

 gence in cats and dogs, but of these stories we do not 

 easily the. Here are some facts from a correspondent : 



In moving to a new place of residence we found on the 

 premises a large cat which had been left there by a former 

 occupant. She was not of the real domestic kind, but 

 lived principally in the barn, occasionally venturing into 

 the house to obtain her food. On one occasion, much to 

 the surprise of my wife, she came up to her and mewed 

 several times, turning each time toward the door leadinj 

 to the barn. This she repeated until Mrs, N. was inducei_ 

 by curiosity to follow her, when she led the way to a bar- 

 rel half full of straw, up the sides of which she climbed, 

 all the time mewing and looking at my wife, and there 

 were five kittens, cold and dead. Mrs. N. remarked, 

 "They are cold and dead, pussy," and the cat went away 

 satisfied. 



She would sometimes scratch the children and we were 

 fearful she would seriously injure them, and one day I 

 said in her presence that "I would shoot her.'' She was 

 missing for about six weeks and of course I had then 

 "got off the notion." 



On one or two occasions she brought some kittens into 

 the house, when Mrs. N. said to her, "I shall not have 

 these kittens in the house; if you bring them in again I 

 will have them drowned." The result was the kittens 

 disappeared one by one till they were all gone; a few 

 days subsequently the old cat was seen coming across 

 the meadow, back of the house, bringing one in her 

 mouth. She had been putting them out among the 

 neighbors, and as thi3 one was not wanted she had 

 brought it home temporarily while she looked up another 

 home for it, as we afterward learned. 



When my sister was just old enough to sit upon the 

 floor our little dog Fidel would place himself behind her 

 so as to prevent her tipping over. He evidently had a 

 plan in it, for he did it repeatedly day after day. 



The old family cow I used to drive to pasture when a 

 boy would always come running at my call, though 

 sometimes so far away I could scarcely distinguish her In 

 the herd. 



I once had an English spaniel who in cold weather used 

 to lie under an old couch in the kitchen. On every oc- 

 casion that my wife spoke of going down town, no mat- 

 ter how low the tone of voice, he would come out from 

 his bed and shake himself, as much as to say, "As I 

 have nothing else to do, I think I'll go with you." And 

 if he could get out of the house he was sure to follow 



her. Did he understand the language used? I think he 

 did, for it is very certain that most animals understand 

 the difference between the language of caress or affec- 

 tion and reproof or repulse. This dog would sit upon 

 his haunches and sing or howl at command for half an 

 hour at a time. N. 



SNAKE GOSSIP. 



We cull from our mail bag the following notes on 

 snakes, some of them brought out by Miss Hop ley's recent 

 paper: 



While walking over a newly -plowed field at Barnegat, 

 N. J., one day in August, I found three perfectly round 

 white eggs, nearly one inch in diameter and having a 

 thick, rough skin. A few minutes after this I found 

 seven more in the same field and about 200yds. from the 

 first find. They were so much alike that when put with 

 the first found they could not be told apart. I carefully 

 took them home, put them in a small box and covered 

 lightly with sand, placing a glass over the top of the box. 

 and put the box where it would get the full benefit of the 

 sun. After that I patiently waited results. In two days 

 I had seven small whitish snakes, about oin. in length 

 and as lively as any snakes I ever saw. Several days 

 after a small black turtle hatched from one of the other 

 eggs, and as the other two did not hatch I broke them, 

 and each had a turtle inside. I think that snakes deposit 

 their eggs in the sand, where the heat from the sun 

 hatches them. The eggs were found on Mr. Mitchell's 

 farm at Barnegat, N. J., and had been uncovered by the 

 plowing. W. H. 



Staatsburg, N. T. 



Speaking of the old discussion as to snakes swallowing 

 their young, which has so many times been gone over, a 

 Philadelphia correspondent sends us a note from old Sir 

 Izaak Walton, who, after discussing some characteristics 

 of frogs, says: 



"And let me tell you, that as there be water and land- 

 frogs, so there be land and water-snakes. Concerning 

 which, take this observation, that the land-snake breeds 

 and hatches her eggs which become young snakes in 

 some old dunghill, or a like hot place; but the water- 

 snake, which is not venomous, and, as I have been as- 

 sured by a great observer of such secrets, does not hatch, 

 but breeds her young alive, which she does not then for- 

 sake, but bides with them and in case of danger will take 

 them all into her mouth and swim away from any appre- 

 hended danger, and there let them out again when she 

 thinks all danger to be past. These be accidents that we 

 anglers sometimes see and often talk of." 



A correspondent who writes from San Francisco, Cal., 

 says: "A few years ago I spent five or six weeks at Wil- 

 mot, Annapolis county, Nova Scotia, and during the re- 

 moval of some old railroad ties on the line of the Windsor 

 and Annapolis Railway, discovered a large 'garter' snake 

 with young. Immediately on being attacked she opened 

 her mouth and the young snakes took refuge therein. I 

 then killed the mother, and took from her stomach thirty- 

 six young snakes about +in. in length." There is here 

 clearly some error of observation, for the young garter 

 snake when it first makes its appearance is usually much 

 longer than -Jin. 



MASSACHUSETTS SHARPTA1L GROUSE 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



While at Seaconnett Point( southeast corner of this State) 

 last week waiting for the flight of whitewings. which 

 occurs, if all things are favorable, about May 17, and 

 about which much of interest might be written, but you 

 won't be inflicted with it now, I was called on to identify 

 a bird which had been killed near Westport and put into 

 the hands of a local taxidermist for preservation. A 

 country boy had spied it as it ran across a road, shot it. 

 alas, and ended it. 



It was a sharptail grouse, a female in fine order, and 

 one of those the Massachusetts Society had taken so much 

 trouble to turn loose. Such will be the fate of all of them 

 I fear. This was the work of a poor, ignorant country 

 boy who knew no better. From what I know of the 

 average shooter, if he had been a man grown it wou'd 

 have made no difference. Kill, kill, kill, is all they think 

 of— anything that wears feathers. Selah! 



And I was there to kill the "coot" in their spring mi- 

 gration. "Consistency is a jewel:'' perhaps I had better 

 not preach any more, but I must tell you of an incident: 



On May 15, wind southeast, rain and fog, I saw several 

 flocks of birds flying over the land which I took to be 

 sandpipers of some sort. As I am a taxidermist myself 

 in an bumble way, and always on the lookout to increase 

 my own and my friends' collections, I sallied forth to see 

 what species it was. To my surprise they proved to be 

 northern phalaropes. Hundreds of flocks flew, from half 

 a dozen to thirty in a flock. I secured eleven and am sure 

 there were thousands of them in the flight that day. Off- 

 shore they are not rare along our coast, but I never saw 

 them over the land before. So I learned something about 

 their numbers. 



No one has ever answered my query about the "Little 

 Brown Crane," a specimen of which was killed here two 

 years ago in October. Where does he live? I never saw 

 him in the We6t. Newton Dexter. 



Buzzard's Bat. Mass. 



BOLDNESS OF A RAT. 



Cleveland, O., April 9. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 A curious instance of a rat's boldness came under my 

 notice this morning: I had two small chicks, with their 

 mother, in a coop on a board walk. My wife heard tre- 

 mendous sounds of distress from one of the chicks, and 

 thought the old hen was treading on it. But on investi- 

 gating I found it was caught between the boards of the 

 walk. So lifting off the coop, I tried to pull it out of the 

 crack, when to my astonishment I saw a rat had seizsd 

 it from beneath the boards. It would not let go, although 

 I shouted and my wife and two good-sized children were 

 present also and by no means quiet either. I then made 

 a pass at the rat with a bone that was lying there, but it 

 was too large for the crack. Finally I rushed into the 

 house and armed myself with the carving knife, with 

 which I made a furious dig at the "varmint," which all 

 the time was hanging on like a bulldog. Tnat made it 

 let go, and I released the chick, dead, however. Even 

 then the rat made another rush at the blood and feathers 

 which adhered to the boards: after which I saw it no 

 more. R. J, T. 



