228 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 16, 1898. 



MOUNTED GAME BIRDS IN THE U. S. 

 NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



BT DR. B. W. SHUFELDT. 



(Concluded from page 205.) 



SCAEOELT an ornithological writer who touches upon 

 the group of birds we now have under consideration that 

 does not, first or last, essay to point out to his readers the 

 difference between a pheasant and a partridge, and be- 

 tween a partridge and a quail; and so, to be in fashion if 

 for no other reason, we will just for a moment fall in line 

 with our distinguished predecessors in this time-honored 

 custom. A good example of a typical pheasant is shown 

 in Fig. 3 of this series of articles, and where they ex- 

 ist in the United States they have been introduced from 

 abroad. All of our indigenous birds called common quails 

 are partridges, examples of which are seen in Figs. 7, 

 8 and 9. A good example of a tnie quaU is seen in the 

 ordinary quail of Europe, known also as the Messina 

 quail (Goturnix dactylisonans), a bird which not long ago 

 was turned loose in numbers in certain localities in this 

 country, as in New Eng:land, but I have not heard re- 

 cently how it has thriven there. Possibly some day it 

 may become permanently naturalized. 



Notwithstanding all that has been written on this ques- 

 tion, it must be distinctly understood here, however, that 

 this Messina partridge appears to be, both structurally and 

 in general appearance, moi-e like our partridges (Colinus, 

 etc.), than it is like the true partridge of Europe — the 

 Perdix einerea of science. This being the case, my friend 

 Doctor Coues seems to think that in reality for our United 

 States partridges "the term 'quail' is rather more appro- 

 priate than 'partridge.' " 



As for grouse, we show a typical one in the blackcock, 

 Fig. 3, and for an American form in the dusky grouse, 

 Fig. 5. 



Bonasa approaches our partridges {Colinus, etc.), while 

 ptarmigans {Lagopus) are more nearly allied to the grouse. 

 The whole group is included in the suborder OalUncB, 

 which with us includes the turkeys and that interesting 

 form found in the valley of the Eio Grande of Texas, 

 known as the "chachalaca," which is a guan (Ortalis 

 vetula viaccalU). A great many other remarkable birds 

 of the suborder are found all over the world; and the 

 pheasants of the greatest beauty come from Asia. All of 

 our common fowls (6raZZzts), including peacocks and guinea 

 hens, also belong to this group. 



Returning to the collections of the National Museum, we 

 find many mounted species of our partridges that are 

 wonderfully Ufelike, and present us with admiraible ideas 

 of the birds themselves as they appear in nature. 



The California partridge shown in Fig. 7 is a pretty fair 

 example of them, but not so good, in my opinion, as the 

 birds shown in Figs. 8 and 9 — that is, in so far as their 

 taxidermy is concerned. 



These partridges of om's all belong the subfamily Perdi- 

 dncB, of the family Tetraonidce, of the suborder Gallinoe.; 

 and there appear to be about four well-marked genera of 

 them, including a good many species and subspecies. The 

 first of these latter is the genus Colinus, which contains the 

 common Eastern partridge or ' 'Bob White" with its sub- 

 specific forms — the Florida and the Texan partridge. It 

 also contains two other very distinct species, viz. , Gray- 

 son's partridge and the masked partridge, both of southern 

 Arizona and Mexico southward. Our second genus is 

 designated as Oreortyx, created to contain O. pictus&'odi O. 

 p. plumiferus, or the mountain and the plumed partridge 

 respectively. 



Callipepla, the third in order, has consigned to it C 

 squamata, the scaled partridge, C. s. castanogastris, the 

 chestnut-bellied scaled partridge, and then the very dis- 

 tinct species C. ealifornica, the California partridge (Fig. 

 7), with its subspecific type, the valley partridge {O. c. 

 vallicola). Lastly, this genus contains the Gambel's par- 

 tridge, or Callipepla gambeli. In the fourth genus we 



Fia. 8. A Partridge Walking (Mai-e). 



flind but one species, a specimen which is shown in Fig. 9, 

 it is the Massena partridge or Cyrtonyx montezumm, a 

 bird that ranges over northwestern Texas, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, and northwestern Mexico. 



In speaking of our Eastern partridge or "Bob White," 

 Newton has said that ' 'Many attempts have been made to 

 introduce this bird to England (as indeed similar trials 

 have been made in the United States with quail from 

 Europe); but, though it has been turned out by hundreds, 

 and has been frequently known to breed after liberation, 

 its numbers rapidly diminish until it wholly disappears. 

 The beautiful tufted quail of California, Lophortyx eali- 

 fornica, has also been tried in Eirrope without success." 

 This authority also calls attention to the fact that all 

 "these American quail or cohns seem to have the habit of 

 perching on trees, which none of the Old World forms 

 possess." 



Noticing what Professor Newton says about the trans- 

 porting these partridges reminds me of the fact that some 

 of .these birds make very charming pets when kept in 

 confinement. At this writing Mr. Wood, of the National 

 Museum, has a beautiful specimen of a male Gambel's 

 partridge which he keeps in a large cage, and it is the 

 most gentle, winning little pet I ever saw. He will walk 

 p.p and down joxii arm, eat out of your hand, and lias 



many engaging little tricks and habits. Not long ago I 

 desired a good photograph of this specimen to have at 

 hand to compare with some of the mounted Museum 

 specimens, and by the kind leave of the Museum authori- 

 ties we had several pictures taken of him by Professor 

 Smillie, who has charge of the National Museum gallery; 

 they are excellent and wUl be published in another con- 

 nection. One of them is especially interesting, as by the 

 instantaneous shutter we got him in the acting of jjreen- 

 ing, with all the feathers of his plumage elevated; 

 while in still another I secured him standing on a small 

 limb in the attitude they assume when perching in a tree. 

 The one where he is walking on the ground is also very 

 good. Under the proper conditions I believe these birds 

 would readily breed in confinement, and if my memory 

 serves me right, our common Eastern partridge has 

 done so. 



Albino partridges are occasionally met with, but I do 

 not recall ever having seen any hybrids among them. 



Fia. 7. CALJI- jUiUA i'ARTBIDQH. 



resulting from the crossing of species of the different 

 genera in nature. This has been known to occur, how- 

 ever, in the case of some of our grouse, and my friend 

 Mr. William Brewster, the distinguished ornithologist of 

 Cambridge, Mass. , has recently met with such an exam- 

 ple, it being a hybrid which resulted from a cross of the 

 prairie hen and a sharp-tailed grouse {Tympanuclius 

 americanus X Pedioecetes p. campestris). Through the 

 kindness of Mr. Brewster I have been permitted to 

 examine the skeleton of that specimen, and my account 

 of it will appear very soon in Hie Auh, which is the 

 ofiicial publication of the American Ornithologists' Union 

 and a work which should be in the hands of every one 

 interested in birds. Dr. Sharpe, who has charge of the 

 Bird Department of the British Museum, has pointed 

 out tha' liybrid game birds are not unfrequently met 

 with in Europe, and quite a number of examples of them 

 are on exhibition in the cases of that grand institution. 



Seabirds Ashore. 



Eouse's Point, N. Y., Aug. 28— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: 1 wish to inform you of a strange bird I captured 

 here on Lake Champlain, after that last nor'east gale we 

 had. I happened to be on the beach overhauling my 

 boats, when I saw something fluttering out on the lake. 

 It being very calm, I paddled out and saw what I thought 

 was a wounded martin, but on running it down and cap- 

 turing it, it proved to be a bird that I had never met with 

 before, and on bringing it ashore I could not find any one 

 who could inform me what it was. On looking through 

 my Natural History I find my bird tallies exactly with a 

 description given of a stormy petrel or Mother Carey's 

 chicken. Do you suppose it possible that one of those 

 birds could be driven so far inland? I would like very 

 much to know. I have sent the bird to a taxidermist to 

 be mounted; if it is returned in good shape I will have 

 it photographed and will send you one, if it is of sufficient 

 interest to you. W. McC, Jr. 



[It is very likely that the bird in question is a petrel. 

 Such cases occur now and then. We have known of a 

 case where a dovekie {Mergtdus alle) was picked up in a 

 field in western Massachusetts after a hard easterly storm, 

 and there are many similar cases on record. We should 

 be glad to see a photograph of the bird and could then tell 

 with certainty the group to which it belongs.] 



A Badly Fooled Owl. 



Mr. R. B. Hughes, now deceased, whoUved a short dis- 

 tance from Himtington, W. Va. , was witness to an occur- 

 rence, told me by his son, that well deserves to be called 

 singular. Mr. H. , in company with a Sir. Hanley, saw a 

 large horned owl sitting on a dry oak tree, and while de- 

 bating as to whether or not they could bring him down 

 with their rifles at the distance he was from them, the 

 owl spread its wings and darted to a spot about oOyds, 

 from the tree into a patch of weeds. Immediately feathers 

 were seen to float above the weeds, and the men, sup- 

 posing the bird had catight a fowl, ran to the place. What 

 was their astonishment on seeing Mx. Hanley's house cat 

 run from the spot in alarm at their approach, and the owl 

 upon the ground partially disemboweled. The cat had 

 killed it. Doubtless the owl had mistaken the cat for a 

 rabbit, as it was yet hardly sunset. On reaching the house 

 the cat was found to be xmscathed. N. D. E. 



That Foolish Fashion. 



Mr. Woolerton.— "Yes, sah; mah wife's vanity done got me put ia 

 de jail wunst." Mr. Yallerby— '"How come datf" Mr. Woolerton— 

 "Well, yo' see, I done borrowed 'r fowl outen Colonel Gunnerton's 

 hen house one night, an' mah wife 'sisted on wearing de Wing fedders 

 in huh bonnet, Pe Colonel knew de wings."— Piwfc, 



'nniB ^Hg md ^ur\. 



TENDERFOOTING IN THE ROCKIES.— H. 



{Concluded from page S06.\ 



From here we made our way up the White River to 

 Trapper's Lake, and spent a week in paradise. The only 

 drawback was that we could not hunt nor fish, for we 

 could have done nothing with the game killed or the fish 

 caught but to have left it on the groimd for the wolves. 

 Two hours' work would have supplied a regiment with fish 

 and flesh. We wandered down the north and up the 

 south fork of the White. Two cowboys told us where we 

 would find a cabin built by some hunters, wliich had a 

 good ro5f on it; and vve found it and took possession. It 

 was the usual log cabin in an unfinished state, located in 

 a pretty little bunch of cottonwoods, six or eight rods 

 from the river bank. Three sides had been chinked and 

 the fourth was open between the logs. While we were 

 putting up some shelves by driving pegs between the logs 

 and putting poles across, I happened to look through the 

 unchinked side and saw something moving in some bushes 

 a short distance away. A large buck deer came out and 

 stood looking curiously at our jacks a little way from him. 

 I grabbed my rifle, and shoving it through between the 

 logs had a dead sure thing on him. He was soon dressed 

 and hanging in a tree in front of the cabin. This caused 

 no excitement, however; deer were too plenty. 1 kept on 

 fixing up the cabin, and in less than an hour from the 

 time I had killed the deer I heard the crack of Irv's rifle 

 just outside; and saw him go rushing by the door. In a 

 minute after I heard him shouting "John! John!" Pick- 

 ing up my gun, I started on a run in the direction I had 

 heard his voice. After running some distance into the 

 wood I stopped and hstened, and hearing nothing, 

 whistled. I got an answer from toward the river, and 

 going that way soon sighted him on the other side wet a,U 

 over. By him was the mate of my buck. He had shot 

 him within a rod of where I had kUled mine, a,nd had run 

 to cut his throat. Just before he reached the deer it got 

 up and ran. He tried to load his gun, but for some rea- 

 son the lever ref i;sed to work. He reached for his revol- 

 ver, but he had thrown that out of his belt in some way 

 while running to get to the deer; and then he shouted to 

 me and followed the deer as fast as he could rtm. It 

 wordd rim a little way and then fall do^Ti; but before he 

 could reach it would get up and run again , and flnally 

 ran through the river and dropped for the last time on the 

 other bank. 



In the evening I tried the trout — I shall always regret 

 not having taken a Kodak with us that we might have 

 taken some pictures of the game and strings of fish we 

 took at that cabin. There were several ranches within 

 reach of us, and the men being hard a,twork wery always 

 glad to get our surplus; we kept them well aupiilied. In 

 an hour I have caught trout until it was burdensome to 

 carry them^ — trout so big that no one man could think of 

 eating one of the smallest, and many of them would alone 

 have furnished a meal for a family. I find myself now 

 holding my breath as I think of it-— my fly gomg skipping 

 out on the river near an eddy caused by some huge rock, 

 and a streak of light darting through the. water, mak- 

 ing it boil as something took in that fly, and away like 

 lightning; and then there would be a tightening of the 

 line and a bending of the rod, and oft' we would go. I 

 had no reel and had to run for it>— up and down the 

 river, in and out of the water, and finally to coax him 

 tired out up near the shore, where I coifld reach gently 

 under him and grasp him by the gills to complete his cap- 

 ture, for no snell was strong enough to take him out of 

 the water. Many and many a fly have I lost with those 

 superb fellows, which would bi'eak away in spite of all I 

 could do. 



We saw only two bears while we were out. One was 



Via. 9. The Massena Partridgb (Male). 



a big black bear, Irv killed one day when out with some 

 other fellows; and one I found, or which- found me once, 

 when we had got separated in the moimtains. I was 

 signalling for Irv in vain, when an old "silver tip" walked 

 out of some scrub oak within .50ft. of me. He .stood up 

 on his hindquarters and proceeded to inspect me, uneasily 

 swinging his head from side to side. I recognized his 

 species at a glance and knew his flghttng reputation. He 

 looked 10ft. high and I wordd have sworn just then that 

 he weighed a ton. I was not scared, but i looked for a 

 tree to climb just the same. I was in a clump of cotton 

 woods that had been burned over — every tree dead, not 

 one over a foot in diameter, straight as spars and .50ft. 

 from the ground before a Mmb left their smooth bodies 

 from which the bark was all peeled away. I might as 

 well have tried to climb a greased pole, and if I could have 

 succeeded in climbing out of reach — there was nothing to 

 hold on to, and I would soon jbe forced to come down 

 from exhaustion. So I cocked my gun and made up my 

 mind if he started for me to "pump lead" into him just 

 as lively as possible. He seemed to feel about it as I did, 

 and seeing that I was not going to commence hostihties, 

 he dropped down on all fom-s and made off one way, 

 while I took the other. I shaU probably always be laughed 

 at for letting him go without a shot, but old hunters 



