382 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 4, 1898. 



CUCKOO OR RAINCROW. 



Abilene, Tex., March 24.— I have read two articles 

 lately in Forest and Stream on the cuckoo in Maine and 

 Canada. Is this the same as CacuUus cnnorus of Europe 

 or a near relative of his? It had been my understauding 

 that we had not that bird in America, or anything hke 

 him, and I was surprised to read the articles. If he be 

 the same, came he here as a chance wanderer or was he 

 brought over and naturalized among us? If so he would 

 be I beheve. with the exception of the English sparrow, 

 the only foreign wild bird that has become an American 

 resident. I am very curious to learn more of this bird. 



One Avho writes of him from Bethel in Maine says he 

 appears there about the last of May. H ■ is then a bird 

 of passage, at least as to that boreal qu .rter. But from 

 what region comes he up to Maine? I never hearcl of 

 him in the South, though it is possible I may know hini 

 by another name. What manner of note makes he.'' 

 Caeulhis canorus sings euckoo! mckoo! as plainly as the 

 human voice can sing it. I never heard it, but am so 

 told by Europeans who were familiar with him m their 

 native country. . v .t. i 



But I suspect that the bird addressed as the cuckoo by 

 your correspondents, is the same whom we call the ram 

 crow in the South; a solitary, unsocial, mysterious bird 

 who appears among us when the forest trees are in full 

 fohage, hiding in the thickest coverts of the leaves, rarely 

 seen, but making his presence knoAvn by a singular 

 croaking now and then. He is called raincrow in the 

 South, beca.use they say his notes announce a coming 

 shower, and I believe he does croak mostly about such 

 times; not that he takes any interest in the shower, but 

 that the spreading clouds shutting out the light of the 

 sun, are more congenial with his secretive nature, making 

 Mm a little bolder and causing his thoughts to turn to 

 love. So his croaking is merely his love call to his 

 female companion, more shy and secretive even than he, 

 so well hid in the shades that her lord cannot find her 

 unless she will reveal herself. 



I speak of this bird as shy, but he is not much wild. It 

 is easy to get within a few feet of him; but the trouble is 

 he hides so well among the leaves that you can rarely get 

 a glimpse cf him except as he flits from one shady covert to 

 another. Notwithstanding, I have sometimes managed 

 to secure a real good look at him at close quarters for a 

 few moments, and was amvised at the expression of his 

 large, beautiful black eyes, denoting more wonder than 

 alarm as it seemed to me. I suspect that this bird, like 

 the owl, cannot see very keenly in the full light of day, 

 but he is not all nocturnal. I have never seen their nests 

 and never found a man who had. As I am practically 

 without books on natural history now, I will ask Forest 

 AND Stream to give me the name by which this mysteri- 

 ous bird is known to the scientific guild. Is he a member 

 of the cuckoo family? 



We have in this country another strange bird who per- 

 forms the cuckoo song with such perfection that he would 

 readily deceive Cucullus canorus himself. I heard it the 

 first time at Marienfeld on the Staked Plain about ten 

 years ago, which place had just been founded by a colony 

 of Germans lately come from Europe. I asked one of them 

 to tell me what the bird was. ' 'Dot ish der cuckoo," said 

 he. "No," said I, "we have no such bird in America. 

 The cuckoo is unknown to American ornithology. Be- 

 sides, I have been acquainted with the Staked Plain many 

 yeaxs and never heard that note before." "So?" said he, 

 "Veil, I dells vou it ish der cuckoo, all der same, for I 

 know him velfin der old coundry. A^en dere vas no mens 

 and vimmens here, den dere vas no use for der cuckoo, 

 and he come not den. But now dot dere be lolendy mens 

 and vimmens here der cuckoo he comes natural. See?" 

 He could not be persuaded that it was not the true 

 cuckoo. . I J -, ^ 



I now hear this bird almost every evenmg about dark, 

 but have not been able to get a sight of him. Evidently it 

 is an owl of some sort, but what one I cannot yet say. 



N. A. T. 



[Raincrow and cuckoo are two names for the same bird 

 or rather for two very similar birds to which the names 

 are apphed without distinction. They are cuclioos, that 

 is they belong to the family CueulidcB, butbelongtothesub- 

 family Goccyginm. trae cuckoos. Coceyzus erythroj)hthal- 

 mus is the black-billed and O. amej'zcamts the yellow-billed 

 cuckoo. The latter is very hkely the species referred to 

 in the above letter. There is a third species, G. minor, 

 the mangrove cuckoo in Florida and the West Indies.] 



Bewildered Migrants. 



Manchester. Iowa, April 2%.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: I cannot resist the temptation to tell you of a 

 wonderful influx of birds during a snow bUzzard which 

 struck us April 19, and continued with varying severity 

 till the afternoon of the 22d. 



Robins by the thousands filled our streets and yards, 

 and snowbirds of several varieties were here in huge 

 flocks. With the above were a sprinkling of sparrows, 

 warblers and other small bnds unknown to sight in this 

 vicinity. Fox-colored sparrows, white-throated sparrows, 

 yellow-rumped and palm warblers, joined the robins in 

 the intervals of storm, in a choir of song bewildering to 

 one who had never heard their voices before. 



Some of the warblers died from chill and exhaustion 

 and must have been caught in the waves of the storm 

 and been driven here. 



On the 23d they began to disappear, and on the 34th 

 there were left us no more than our usual number of 

 robins, though the snowbirds and sparrovi's linger yet. In 

 the country unusual flocks of snipe and other game birds 

 were seen. Reports from the surrounding towns say that 

 nothing of the kind was seen, and the probable theory of 

 explanation is that we were the favored locality of refuge. 



Mrs. Mary L. Rasie. 



The Xiinn£ean Society of New York. 



A regular meeting of the society will be held at 8 P. 

 M. , at the American IMuseum of Natural History, Eighth 

 avenue and Seventy-seventh street, on May 17. The 

 paper for the evening will be: "Remarks on a Recent 

 Trip to Trinidad, B. W. I.," by Mr. Frank M. Chapman. 



Bobolinks Have Come. 



Cortland, N. Y., April 30. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The bobolinks, sprightly and powerful as of old, have 

 aiTived. 



%v. A. P. Rowiey has for the past few years noted the 



annual arrival of these birds, and here are the dates of 

 their coming: 1883. May 4; 1884, April 23; 1885, May 4; 

 1886, Mays, 1888, May 27; 1889, May 7; 1890, April 29; 

 1892, May 2; 1898, April 29. 



The ushering in of warm weather is quite- generaUy 

 associated with the arrival of these gay-coated warblers, 

 in central New York at least, and as a starter to-day has 

 been bright and warm— an ideal spring day, with an 

 atmosphere freighted with the melody of birds and the 

 perfume of flowers. . M. 0, H. 



"Game Laws in Brief," United States and Canada, 

 ilhistrated, 25 cents. "Bonn of the Game Laws" {full 

 text), 50 cents. 



A DUpK HUNT ON THE SMOKY. 



I HAD been hrmting around the ranch in Sherman 

 county, Kansas, for fom- days, shooting jack-rabbits that 

 we had had served in every possible way by the cook. 

 We had jack for breakfast, jack for dinner and jack for 

 stipper until we longed for something else, so on the fifth 

 day we arose bright and early, hitched the team to the 

 buckboard and started for the Smoky River to make war 

 upon the ducks. There were three of us, Mort Price, 

 Oscar Farmer and I, all enthusiastic sportsmen. The day 

 was beautiful, and although it was but March 24 it seemed 

 as if the sun would bake us. 



We reached the river in fair time, at a pouit where it 

 had doubled back on itself for three-quarters of a mile. 

 Here Mort and I left the buckboard, and while he took 

 one side of the bend, I took the other. Mort was the first 

 to sight a flock and stalked to within easy range. As they 

 rose from the Avater he fii-ed both barrels and dropped one 

 drake on the other side of the river, which at this point 

 is only 3 rods wide. 



I had dropped in the grass, and the flock, about 16 in 

 number, passed to the right of me. But to the boom of 

 my double-barrel three of their number fell and were left 

 behind. I picked them up and went over to where Mort 

 was sti-ipping to cross the river for the drake he had shot. 

 Although the day was warm the water was cold, and at 

 every step he took he sank a foot in the mud. He got 

 across, however, and went for the bunch of grass where 

 Mr. Drake had faflen, wounded, but not dead, for when 

 Mort was within 10ft. of the bird it stretched its wings 

 and flew away. Mj gun was on the gi-ound beside Mort's, 

 and by the time I had recovered from my surprise he was 

 out of range. There was one pretty mad sportsman to be 

 seem crossing the North Smoky about two minutes later. 



We were soon on the qui vive again and it was my for- 

 tune to raise the next bunch of seven fine mallards. They 

 were hidden in the grass and I did not see them imtil 

 they rose within twenty feet of me. As I threw the gun 

 up I pressed the right trigger and sent one charge into 

 the water. With my left barrel I missed clean and have 

 not vet forgiven myself, for that was the best shot I had 

 that day. We spent two hours in the bend and bagged 

 seventeen ducks and two jack rabbits. 



We then drove five miles up the river, lariated our 

 team, ate our lunch, and while two of us hunted west 

 along the river the other beat back among the bluifs for 

 johnnies, the local name for cottontails. We tramped 

 about three miles but did not see a duck, although they 

 had been flying up the river all the morning. We were 

 all pretty tired when we readied the team again and 

 Oscar Avas the only one who had bagged anything. He 

 had one jack and "three johnnies. After half an hour's 

 rest we hitched up again and drove back to our first place, 

 but found nothing there. Then while Oscar drove east 

 down the river for a mile, Mort and I beat in and out the 

 bend. When near the team we started a flock of an even 

 dozen. Mort fired first, dropped two and turned the rest 

 over to Avhere Oscar was sitting in the buckboard, and 

 one dropped to his gun. A hundred yards further on I 

 raised two redheads, fired right and left and got both. 

 We were now^ very well satisfied with om- day's sport, 

 but it still lacked an hour of sunset, so we left the team 

 and hmited down the river and back over the prairie for 

 a mile. It was nearly dark when Ave reached the team 

 again, the buckboard Avas loaded Avith ducks and rabbits, 

 the three sportsmen were tired and hungry, with a driA^e 

 of ten miles before them; but Ave were all cheerful and 

 voted the day Avell spent, for our total bag amoimted to 

 twenty -seven ducks, four jack rabbits and five johnnies. 



The"nights are quite cool in this country, and when we 

 reached the ranch we Avere all pretty cold and stiff'. But 

 we found a splendid supper aAvaiting us, with plenty of 

 good strong and fragrant cofiee, to which we did ample 

 justice. By 10 o'clock Ave were all rolled in our blankets 

 and until 8 o'clock the next morning I slept Hke a log. 



GooDLAKDS, Kansas. ROBERT W. KiNG. 



NORTH DAKOTA GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I wish to add to the list of game birds of this county, 

 Avhich was published in FOREST and Stream No. 9, Vol. 

 XXXVI., March 19, 1891, with a few notes on same. 



To the other varities of Avild geese I would add the blue 

 snow goose, of which I have a fine skin. They are a rare 

 migrant, flying usually with the flocks of snow geese. To 

 the'list of ducks I find in my notes that I can add several 

 species that I failed to get in '91, although they were 

 probably here. These are the green- wing teal — a duck 

 that hfis not been so common as formerly, according to 

 local authorities, owing, I think, to a lack of Avater, large 

 bodies of which dried up during the years of '89, '90 and 

 'C)l_lesser scaup, Avhich are not imcommon in the spring; 

 buffle-head, not common. Besides, there is the famed can- 

 A-^asback, which is shot now and then, though they are not 

 as commonly killed as in the years prior to 1888, though I 

 think there are more killed that are classed as red- 

 heads, which I am told are killed in some numbers near 

 Devil's Lake. Whooping cranes and trumpeter swans are 

 not uncommon during the migrations, though they seldom 

 stop on these upland prairies. 



Of the smaller birds we have the Carolina rail, which 

 breeds in some numbers in favorable localities: golden 

 iDlover pass through here in small flocks, stopping to feed 

 on burnt prairie and stubble fields, and also on fields where 

 grain has been soAvn. Least sandpipers are common. 

 Night herons breed to some extent, though they are hardly 



to be classed as a game bird in this country of ducks and 

 geese, and for that matter, neither are any of the rafl, 

 sandpipers and plovers, Avith the single exception of the 

 Bartramian sandpiper, Avhich are called plover and shot 

 in numbers, and they are fine eating. 



The faU of 1891 there was an unusually large flight of 

 sharp-tafl grouse that struck this county in the early part 

 of November and were quite common until after the bliz- 

 zards in December. There was a great deal of wheat left 

 unthreshed standing in shocks and stacks, which the 

 grouse took advantage of, as did the jack rabbits, which 

 were very plentiful all the fall and winter. It is a favor- 

 ite pastime during the nights of the full moon for gunners 

 to go out aimmd granaries and the elevators to shoot 

 these hares when they come up to feed. They get very ' 

 fat on their diet of Avheat, and they are excellent eating 

 in the early part of the season— but they commence to 

 get rather strong dm'ing January. On Dec. 9, 1891, 1 saw 

 a maUard duck flying over and around the town quite 

 early in the morning. What it could have been after 

 would be hard to teU, as all water had been frozen up 

 since the latter part of October, and we had just experi- 

 enced a severe blizzard for several days. It did not stay 

 long, however, for shortly after I first saw it it Avas seen 

 flying southeast as fast as wings could carry it. 



There have been a great may antelope around the set- 

 tlements in this county and as far east as Michigan City, 

 on the Great Northern Railroad. Around this town there 

 were three different bunches of them within from two to 

 five miles. One biinch that was feeding within two miles 

 of town Avere finally driven off about the middle of De- 

 cember and did not come back; another bunch of from 

 fifty to seventy-five were seen for about a week some five 

 miles west, but they left, and did not come back; another 

 bunch that has varied in numbers fed on a flax field from 

 November to February some three or four miles north. 

 They were chased and shot at a number of times and 

 some of them kflled, but they seemed to have such a lik- 

 ing for the flax that they could not be driven off. The 

 flax Avas cut and left in shocks in' long winroAvs, and the 

 antelope Avould strike one of these roAvs, Avhich was com- 

 pletely buried under the snow, and foflow it from end to 

 end, pawing off the snow and feeding on the heads of the 

 straw only. They fed up to within forty rods of a house, 

 and often passed by much closer. They also fed around 

 stacks of Avheat and hay. This herd had a regular run- 

 way that they took when disturbed and ran back on to a 

 big prairie, where it was impossible to get on to them. 



At Bisbee, a fewmiles north of here, a party of men sur- 

 rounded aherd of antelope and captured several alive,which 

 1 heard have become quite tame. At RoUa I heard of one 

 that was killed Avith a pitchfork; it Avas feeding around a 

 h&vn there. I also heard of two moose that Avere killed 

 bv half-breeds in Turtle Mountains, near Avhat is called 

 the Inner Mission. Elmer T. Jvdd. 



Cando, N. D. . 



California vs. Oregon. 



Now, Mr. "Podgers," I want to talk to you privately a 

 moment. Why do you'ns doAvn there in California per- 

 sist in trying to'pick a fuss with Ave'ns up here in Oregon? 

 We'ns Avants to be friendly but youns are always slurring 

 we'ns or twitting us about our misfortunes. A¥hat's the 

 use of your insinuations about our "tropical climate;" or 

 our "mid-wmter oranges;" or our "perennial flower gar- 

 dens" and all that. Of com-se we have lots of flowers but 

 everybody knows that we have no oranges and are short 

 on tarantulas, centipedes, rattlesnakes and scorpions. 

 Everybody knows that all these require a nice Avarm cli- 

 mate and that a country where the thermometer can indi- 

 cate 170deg.in thesun ought to be more productive in this line 

 than one with a mean temperature of about 55. However, 

 that old story about the soldier that died down in the 

 southeast corner of California, went to Hades and had to 

 come back after his blanket, is rather gaujzy. 



What's the use of you'ns telhng strangers that it rains 

 up here thirteen months of the year Avhen you know that 

 we'ns are so much further north than you'ns, that we 

 have only twelve months in our year. Of course the 

 ptu-e-bred Oregonian never goes thirsty; but ours is 

 "straight goods," while you fellows have to "irrigate" aa 

 it were. I'll bet that vou haven't got a Avoman in your 

 whole State tliat wears a No. 10 boot or knoAvs hoAv to 

 make genuine Oregon shde butter. Suppose out girls 

 have webs between their toes, they make good wives and 

 good butter. 



We'ns don't care for your oranges. Come up here next 

 fall and 1 Avill show you a hundred billion acres of huckle- 

 berries and bears. Then too, what's the matter Avith oui' 

 Columbia River Chinook salmon and the ringneck pheas- 

 ant. You'ns can't make we'ns mad and Ave propose to go 

 right on treating you kindly no matter Avhat you say ot 

 do. If anybody asks us about your earthquakes we will 

 never intimate that the ague of the San Joaquin and 

 Sacramento vaUevs have anything to do Avith these ex> 

 hibitions of seismic force. If anybody says anything 

 about your Mojave Desert and Death Valley, we will 

 surely call their attention to the fact that they are 300ft. 

 beloAv the level of the sea and therefore easily irrigated. 

 By aU means let us be friendly. S. H. Greene. 



Eastern Maine Notes. 



Bakgor, Me.— Editor Forest aiul Stream: Like Biele's 

 comet, the flocks of Avild geese are going all to pieces this 

 spring For the past two weeks detached flocks ot from 

 three to six have been "honking" about the fields, pulling: 

 new clover and flymg aimlessly toward every point of the 

 compass, and returning again to be shot at and trapped 

 by the boys. I used to beheve that the idea of CA-ery flock 

 havmg a "leader" was a superstition. Now I begin to 

 think it is true. Unless a flock with a "leader comes 

 along I presume these fragments of flocks wfll stay aroimd 

 all summer, provided they are not aU killed. I shall keep 

 watch and try to find out. . 



Ruffed grouse came through the terribly cold wmter m 

 good shape. Of coui-se they are not plenty, and have not 

 been so for ten years; but I have seen more this spring 

 than for the past two years. It is not cold winters, but 

 drenchmg rain storms durmg the breeding season that kill 

 partridges. The female bird is veiy careless about select- 

 ing a site for her nest. So long as it is out of sight, and 

 in a place where she can see out, the conditions are all 

 filled. A heavy rain comes, the eggs are hooded ana 

 cooled off, and iio chicks hatch. If we have dry Aveather 

 the latter part of May and early June, there aviII be plenty 

 of bu-ds each fall. If it is wet the "seed" birds aviII have 

 to struggle throvgiL^Qlihe3,-vu^ter, Tom I^ord. , 



