Sepi'. 15, 1893.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



are protected is iUusta-ated by this note on the valley quail 

 of CAlifornia: 



Mr William Prnud, wbo is quite familiar with tbe habi ts ot the 

 valle vpirtridge, writes me fromBatte county. CsilifoiDia, reKaid- 

 ine till m as toUows: "Hundreds of these birds roost every mgli'; 

 in thp 8brnhh(H-y around my house. Some of them are very tame, 

 feediuK' among 1 he chicltens and comiat; on the verandah. They 

 appear to linow that they are protected. They mostly roost in 

 thicic brush, and on the ground when the brush is not at iiand. 

 In early seasons they begin to pair iu the last weel< or Felu-uary, 

 but the time varies somewhat according to the season. During 

 this period there is considerable fighting among the males for the 

 favor of the coveted female. This is kept up until tney are suit- 

 ably mat*d and the nesting season arrives. This usually begins 

 here about the last, week in March, when the pairs scatter about 

 the shrubbery along the banks of creeks and in adjacent 

 ravine", along hedgerows and brush fences and on the borders ot 

 cultivaTPd fields. Tii« earliest nest I have ever found was on 

 March 15, and on April 15 I mot young birds probably a couple of 

 days old. I consider fourteen eggs to be about the average num- 

 ber laid by these birds, and nave found as many as twenty-lour 

 in a nest. The large sets I attribute to other hens laying in the 

 nest probably voung birds which have failed to make prepara- 

 tion for their'own et-gs. On May 21 my dog pointed a valley part- 

 ridge on her uest, which contained twenty-two eggs, and every 

 one hatched." 



The packing of the Canada grouse, which will be new 

 to most readers, is referred to as follows: 



Mr. Manlv Hardy, of Brewer. Maine, a reliable and careful ob- 

 Sfirver, writes me as follows: "1 have been over every part of this 

 State where this bird is likely to be abundant, east from Penob- 

 scot, from the sea to the North Corner Monument, but I have 

 always found the Canada grouse very scarce everywhere. Five 

 once and six at another time are the largest number [ ever saw 

 together. I have manyiiraes traveled a month, and sometimes 

 two months constan tly in the woods, where they ought to be, with- 

 out seeing over one or two. X <• > . 



"A Micmac Indian, whom I consider reliable, tells me of having 

 seen a pack of many thousands somewhere east of Halifax, Nova 

 Scotia, on which their whole village lived for weeks, moving after 

 them when tUev moved. The males greatly predominate over the 

 females, at least two lo one. They feed almost entirely on the 

 needles of spruce and fir, also hackmatack and berries in summer. 

 They sbow a preference for some ilr trees over others, as I have 

 seen them return to the same tree until it was nearly stripped. 

 When disturbed they always take to the trees, walking about in 

 them, from one branch to another. My father, who had oppor- 

 tunities to see them drum, told me thev drummed in the air wbile 

 descending from a tree. They would fly up on a tree, then start 

 olf and drum on the way to the ground, like a Quaker grass- 

 hopper. When on the ground they scratch a great deal more than 

 other grouse do." 



We know so little of the habits of ptarmigan that the 

 following notes on Lagopvi Ingopus are very welcome : 



Mr. L. M. Turner, in his manuscript on the birds of Labrador 

 and Ungava, makes the following statement regarding this spe- 

 cies: "Iq ihe spring these birds repair, as the snow melts, to the 

 lower grounds and prepar-i for the nup'-.lal season. About April 

 W. they may be beard croaking or barking on all sides, A male 

 selects a favorable tract of territory for the location of the nest, 

 and endeavors to induce a female to resort to that place. He 

 usually selects the highest portion of the tract, whence he 

 launches into the air uttering a harking s lund ot nearly a do/.en 

 separate notes, thence sails or flutters in a circle to alight at tne 

 place whence he started, or to alight on another high place, from 

 which he repeats the act while flying to his former place. Im- 

 mediately on alighting he niters a sound similar- fo the Indian 

 word c/iM.rii-aJi (whatisit?)and repeats it several times, and in 

 the conrse of a few minutes again launches in the air. Early in 

 the morning hundreds of these birds may be hear'i, continuing 

 until near 11 o'clock, when the bird then becomes silent until 

 after 3 o'clock, when he again goes through tbe same perform- 

 ance, though with less vigor than in the morning. In the course 

 of a few days a female may be found in the vicinity. Tne ac- 

 tions of the male are now redouoled, and woe he to any bird of 

 his kind which attempts to even ci-oss his chosen locality. Battles 

 ensue, which for fierceness are seldom equaled by birds of larger 



"In the vicinity of Fort Ohimo the nesting of this species begins 

 during the latter paro of May. The nest is usually placed in a 

 dry spot among the swamps or on the hillsides where straggling 

 bushfcs grow. The nest is merely a depression in the mosses, and 

 contains a few blades and stalks of grass, together with a few 

 feathers from the parent bird, which is now in the height of the 

 monlt from the winter to the summer plumage. 



"Thfe first eggs obtained were two on June 1, 1834, this being the 

 eai'liest record at Fort Ohimo. The number laid for a set varies 

 greatly in different localities. At Fort Ohimo seven to nine is 

 the usual number, although in exceptional instances as many as 

 eleven and rarely thirteen may be found. While 1 was at St. 

 Michael (Norton Sound, Alaska) I frequently found nests con- 

 taining as many as fifteen and several times found seventeen. I 

 was there informed that over twenty eggs had been taken from a 

 single nest. On neither side of the continent did 1 hear that 

 more than one female deposited eggs in the same nest. I can 

 affirm that a clutch of seven eggs may be taken, and, if the nest 

 he not disturbed, the female will deposit nearly the same number 

 again. These may again be taken, and not over three eggs will 

 be deposited, and if disturbed a third time she will lay no more 

 rmliss she selects a new location, which, of course, would he 

 difficult to ascertain. 



"I cannot speak accurately on the subject, but think that seven- 

 teen days are required to incubate tne eggs. On June gO I ob- 

 tained a young bird of this species, which was less than forty- 

 eight hours out of the shell. This was the earliest record. Thous- 

 ands of these young birds must perish annuallv, either from the 

 coldrainsor from their parents being killed tor food. The Indians 

 consider the downy young of the ptarm'gan a special df Ucacy, 

 even if taken from the shell; the bird serves in lien of an m ster. 

 I once had occasion to require the services of several ludian 

 women to blow some eggs, which, during a pressure ct oiher 

 work, I )iad no time to do. I set them to worfe and fn qaently 

 went to see if the work was progressing satisfactorily. I ooseryed 

 a pile of birds withoiit, and some with leathers on, lying on a 

 board. I inquired why they were being reserved. An o!d woman 

 picked up one of tbe birds by the leg, ard throwing back her head 

 opened her mouth and indicated the purpose plainer than words 

 conld tell. After the middle of August the birds have acquired a 

 good Size, and are then feeding on berries of various kinds. They 

 are then quite tender, of nearly white flesh, and when properly 

 prepared form a pleasant food for the table. The young birds of 

 the year attain their full growth by Nov. 1." 



The very full account given of the habits of one form 

 of the sharp -tailed grouse will be read with interest by 

 the many who are familiar with the species during the 

 autumn shooting and at no other season of the year: 



Mr. Ernest E.Thompson has also kindly placed some of his 

 notes on this race, maae in southern Manitoba, at my disposal, 

 and I made the following extracts from them: "The sharp-tailed 

 grouse, while eminently a prairie bird in the summer time, uiti- 

 ally retires to the woods and sand hills on the approach of wintei ; 

 hut in the spring, before the snow is gone, they again perform a 

 partial migration andscatter over tbe prairies, where alone they 

 are to be found during the summer. They are very shy at all 

 times, but during the winter the comparatively heedless individ- 

 uals have been so thoroughly weeded out by their numerous ene- 

 mies, that it req-uires no slight amount of stalking to get within 

 the range of a flock in the spring time. 



"The advent of the grouse on the still snow-covered plains 

 might prove prematui-e but that they find a good friend in the 

 Wild orairie rose (Rosi! b/.anda), which is abundant everywhere; 

 and the ruddy hips, unlike most fruits, do not fall when ripe, but 

 continue to hang on the stiff stems until they are dislodged by the 

 coming of the next season's crop. Ou the 'Big Plain' stones of 

 any kind are unknown, and in nearly all parts of Manitoba gravel 

 is unattainable during the winter; so that the sharptails and other 

 birds, that require these aids to digestion, would be at a loss were 

 it not that the friendly rose also supplies this need, for the hips, 

 besides being sweet and nutritions, contain a number of small 

 angular seeds which answer perfectly the purpose of the gravel. 



"To illustrate thu importance of this shrub in this regard. I 

 append a table of observations on the contents of crops and giz- 

 zards of grouse killed during the various months as indicated : 



"January— Rose-hips, browse, and EBquisctum tops. 



"February— Boae-hips and browse. 



"March— Rose-hips and browse. 



"April— Rose-hips and browse of birch and willow. 



"May— Rose-flips and sand-flowers (Anemone patenif). 



"June— Rose-hips, grass, grasshoppers arid Pviminia coslalis. 



"July— Rose-hips, seeds of star-grass, and P. custalift. 



"August- Rose-hips, grass, strawberries, and P. costol/'x. 



"September— Rose-hips, grass, berries, and P. costoMs. 

 "October— Rose-hips, grass, and various berries. 

 "November— Rose-hips, birch and willow browi-o, and berries of 

 arbutus. 



"December— Rose-hips, juniper berries, and brows". 



" This is of course a mere list of staples, as in reality nothing of 

 the nature of f?rain, fruit, Inaves or iust-cts comcB amiss to this 

 nearly omniviirour} bird, but it illustrates the importance of the 

 rose-hips, which iue -always obtainable, a« they grow everywhere, 

 and do not fall when ripe, lu the course of my experience I have 

 examined some hundreds of gizzards of the prairie chicken, and 

 do not recollect ever finding one devoid of the stony seeds of the 

 wild rose. 



"After the disappearance of the snow, and the coming of 

 warmer weather, the chickens meet every morning at gray dawn 

 m companies of from 6 to ."^O, on some selected hillock, or knol!, 

 and indulge in what is called 'the dance.' This performance I 

 have often watched, and it presents the most amusing spectacle 1 

 liave yet witnessed in bird life. At first the birds may be seen 

 standing about In ordinary attitudes, when suddenly one of them 

 lo«vers its head, s^preads out its wings nearly horizontally and its 

 tail perpendicularly, distends its air sacs and erects its feathers, 

 then rushes across the 'floor,' taking the shortest of steps, but 

 stamping its feet so hard and rapidly that the sound is like tbat 

 of a kettle drum: at the same time it utters a sort of bubbling 

 crow, which seems to come from the air sacs, beats the air with its 

 wings and vibrates its tail, so that it produces a loud, rustling noite, 

 and thus contrives at once to make as extraordinary a spt- ctacle 

 of itself as possible. As soon as one commences, all join in, raf- 

 tling. stamping, drumming, crowing and dancing together furi- 

 ously ; louder .and louder the noise, faster and faster the dance 

 becomes, until at last as they madly whirl about, the birds leap 

 over each other in their pxcitement. Aftera brief spell tbe energy 

 of the dancers begins to abate, and shortly afterward they cease, 

 and stand or move about verv quietly, until they are again started 

 by one of their number leading off, 



"The whole peiformance reminds one so strongly of a 'Cree 

 dance' as to suggest the possibility of its being the prototype of 

 the Indian exercise. The space occupied by the dancers is from 

 •50 to IDOft. across, and as it is returued to year after year, the 

 grass is usually worn off. and the ground trampled down hard 

 and smooth. The 'dancirg' is indnltred in at any time of ihe 

 morning or evening in May, but it is usually at its height before 

 sunrise. Its erotic character can hardly be questioned, but I 

 cannot fix its place or value iu t he niiptiBl ceremonies. The fact 

 that t have several times noticed tbe birds join for a brief *set-io' 

 m the late fall, merely emphasizes its parallelism to the drum- 

 ming and strutting of the ruffed grouse, as well as the singing of 

 small birds. 



"The whole affair bears a close resemblance to the maneuver- 

 ing of the European ruff, and from this and other reasons I am 

 inclined to suspect the sharptail of polygamy. When the birds 

 are disturbed on the hill they immediately take wing and scatter, 

 uttering as they arise their ordinary alarm note, a peculiar vibra- 

 tory 'cack, cack, cack.' This is almost always uttered simnltanp- 

 ously with the beating of the wings, and so rarely, except under 

 these circumstances, that .at first I supposed-it was caused by the 

 wings alone, bitt since then I have heard the sound both when the 

 birds were sailing and when they were on the ground, besides see- 

 ing them fly off silently. They have also a call, a soft, clear 

 whistle of three slurred notes, E, A, D, and a sort of grunt of 

 alarm, which is joined in by the pack as they fly oft'. Their mode 

 of flight is to flap and sail by turns every 40 or 50yds., and so rapid 

 and strong are tney on the wing that I have seen a chicken save 

 itself by its swiftness from the first swoop of a Peregrine falcon, 

 while another was seen to escape by flight from a snowy owl." 



Enough has already been said to indicate the great in- 

 terest and value of this first volume of Capt, Bendire's 

 work. It is to be hoped that no great amount of time 

 will elapse before the second volume is got under way. 



Relation of Phosphoresence to Color in Marine 

 Forms. 



In my various cruises along the Pacific coast I have 

 been much interested in ttie abnormal profusion of phos- 

 phoresence in the water, and I have often wondered if 

 this phenomenon were not in some way intimately as- 

 sociated with the brilliant colors and exuberant growth 

 of vegetables and ichthyc forms, which are more various 

 all larger, and more abundant and dissimilar in flavor 

 and color from cognate forms on the Atlantic side of the 

 continent. 



Whatever the cause may be which thus affects the 

 animal and vegetable life, it must in time manifest itself 

 in the characteristics of the people when sufficient time 

 shall have elapsed to impress tbe inflaence of this envir- 

 onment upon them. Here is an interesting field for 

 scientific investigation lying wide open. 



Chaki^es HallOck. 



"That reminds me." 



Years ago, when Professor Otis T, Mason was training 

 the young and before he had entered upon the compre- 

 hensive ethnological stttdies which have made bis name 

 famous in the publications of the Smithsonian Institute, 

 he required each of his pupils, at a certain stage of pro- 

 gress m study, to write a letter. One of his youngest boys 

 had constantly failed to accomplish this task, and was 

 finally told that he must do his dutv or be sent home to 

 his mother. The boy at last said through his tears: 

 "Professor, I can't write a letter, but I think I can write 

 a story." lie was allowed to substitute this for tbe letter, 

 and here is what he wrote: 



'•Wunst ther was a precher and he got onto a ship and 

 he salad and saled and saled and bime by he come near a 

 iland and when he come.near the iland a big storm came 

 up and it blode and blade and blode and the precher and 

 ail the peepel on the ship thought they was goin to git 

 drownded and a littel bird got blode of tbe Hand and 

 tride to git onto the ship but evry time he tride to git onto 

 the shij) the ship leaned over the other way and the littel 

 bird got left but he didnt set down in the water and cry 

 he just kep peggin away and bime by he lit down into a 

 sale and a saler went up and got the littel bird out of the 

 sale and giv him some bred and water and bime by when 

 the storm blode away the sun come out and the ship come 

 to land and the precher and all the peepel was glad and 

 the bird flade away. 



"Morel. — If you dont git what you want first jest you 

 keep peggin away and youl git; it bime by." 



Forest and Stream 



mateur 



otography 

 Competition. 



See details in another column. 



pmje §utj mid 



NOTES FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



The Flathead Valley. 



Kalisi'ELL, Mont,, Sepf, 10.— A party of New York 

 gentlemen, including Julian T. Davis and son, General 

 Burnett and Judge Wallace, of tbe U. S. Supreme Court, 

 are on a hunting and fishing expedition in the Eockies. 

 They occupy a private car. and will spend a week or two 

 in the Flathead Valley. The surprise was universal to 

 find a town of 1,500 people in what was so recently an 

 unknown part of the country. The surprise was not 

 confined to the fact of diecovering a town with news- 

 papers, banks, churches, schools and every modern com- 

 fort and convenience, and only a year old, but that at its 

 very doors were such splendid opportunities for fishing 

 and bunting. The scenery and climate, too, pleased 

 them, and one gentleman enthusiastically summed up 

 the situation by declaring the Flathead to be "a place of 

 healing for the sick and lazy; a recuperating place for 

 the weary and overworked; the trysting place for disci- 

 ples of Nimrf d and Walton, and a pleature resort for the 

 rest of mankind." M. F. 



Central New York. 



Watervillb, Oneida County. Sept. 10.— The sporting 

 season opened here on Aug. 15, with a scarcity of birdp. 

 A resident market hunter was out three days and only 

 billed four birds. He then gave it up as a bad job. I have 

 been out nine afternoons and have killed nineteen grouse 

 and woodcock, mostly the former. In an experience of 

 thirty years shooting in this vicinity I have never found 

 the birds so scarce. I noticed that the grouse were af- 

 flicted with the partridge fly, or whatever it is called, 

 which may account in a measure for their scarcity. But 

 I cannot tell what has become of the woodcock. I have 

 hunted summer ground and fall ground, high ground and 

 low ground, swampg and corn fields. Three woodcock 

 are the most I have found any afternoon, and that after 

 tramping anywhere from five to ten mfles. There are no 

 gray squirrels here, nor have there been for several years. 



H. N. C. 



California. 



San Fraiscisco, Aug. 31,— The Close season on quail 

 shooting terminates in a few days, and the sportsmen are 

 resurrecting their No, 12s from closets and getting them 

 in condition. The birds are numerous and t[uail on toast 

 will soon be on the bill of fare of every restaurant. The 

 law prohibiting deer shooting for three years has another 

 year to run yet, and the good effect of the law is evident 

 by the great numbers seen in their usual haunts, as the 

 law has been pretty generally observed, although 1 saw 

 a good many antlers and skins hanging on the log cabins 

 "up country" when recently in the Sierras on my trout 

 fishing expedition. They claim that they only kill a deer 

 now and then for fresh meat. The number I saw indi- 

 cates remarkable appetites on the part of the herders and 

 lumber men; but the law is too rigid to admit of the 

 former wanton destruction. Podc+ees. 



Newfoundland Caribou. 



Boston, Mass., April 10.— Next month begins the cari- 

 bou season in Newfoundland. No place in the island 

 otJers such inducements to tbe hunter as the Hall's Bay 

 district. Large herds were seen in that locality last sea- 

 son, and with the extended facilities for reaching that 

 place the number of sportsmen this year will be largely 

 augmented. The largest deer in the coiony are found 

 here. The scenery surrounding Hall's Bay will repay 

 any traveler. And the climate, it is not too much to say, 

 is the finest in the world. There are large rivers well 

 stocked with salmon and trout, and any sportsman who 

 likes this kind of sport (and who does not) should bring 

 his angling gear along with his shooting equipments. 



M. W. DOOLEY. 



Eastern Indiana. 



Williamsburg, Ind., Sept. 4.— Prospects for quail 

 shooting in eastern Indiana are unusually poor. Exces- 

 sive rains all through May and June drowned the first 

 layings of eggs. On Aug. 17 f noticed that the male 

 birds were still whistling "Bob White," and on that date 

 a nest of eggs almost ready to hatch was found on my 

 farm. The mother bird was on the nest, and the mowing- 

 machine clipped a few of her feathers before she left it. 

 yesterday I bagged 13 gray squirrels in 5 hours, an un- 

 usual bag for this section . They seem quite plenty just 

 now. but in a week they will eat what tew hickory nuts 

 and buckeyes there are in the woods and depart for some 

 place where food is plentier. O. H. Hampion. 



Arkansas. 



Little Rock, Ark,, Sept. 5. — We have had a great 

 season up to date with the black bass and all other game 

 fish with which our streams and lakes abound. Thev 

 have been taking the fly in Big Lake, ten miles from this 

 ci'y, for the past three weeks. The writer has just re- 

 turned from a chicken hunt in the Creek Natitm, bagging 

 sixty chickens to three guns in two days. We are going 

 to have excellent shooting this fall in Arkansas. A bear 

 weighing SOOlbs. was recently killed in the town of Du 

 Vails Bluff by J. M. Richardson, fifty miles from Little 

 Rock. Quail are late, but will be very plentiful in the 

 country not visited by the great overflow. Aekansaw. 



Connecticut, 



Haddam, Conn,, Sept. 5. — Indications now are that 

 quail and partridge will be fairly plenty here this fsll. 

 Many woodcock were hatched here during the spring and 

 summer, and I hope will return later. There is more 

 than the usual quantity of wild rice along the river 

 banks, and rail birds should be plenty, though our best 

 I hooting is generally iu the second or third week of Sep- 

 tember, and sometimes the very last of the month. I 

 think they get the birds earlier near the mouth of the 

 r.ver than we do here. A. 



New Jersey Meadows. 



Perth Amboy, N. J., Sept, 12. —In spite of the moon 

 being full and in perigee last week, the tides, owing to 

 contrary winds, were not hieh enough to enable the rail 

 shooters to get on the South River meadows, so that few 

 birds were killed. Neither has there been a flight of 

 snipe to speak of, though some have been bagged here 

 and there. The meadows are too dry, J. L K. 



