Jan. 13, 1894] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



27 



with mud and tin cans or old boots. For miles along it 

 you may stroll at night without seeing the rippling wake 

 of the muskrat or smelling his fragrance in the night air, 

 and along the banks of the stream a muskrat hole is about 

 as rare as elephant tracks. The little eels that used to 

 wiggle about in the little coves, the little crawfish that 

 used to shoot backward out of sight under the stones, 

 even the little skaters and water beetles that used to dart 

 and circle on the clear waters seem to have gone from 

 most of the small streams. 



The woods and dales are no longer the places they were. 

 However heavy the timber or the underbrush, if any- 

 where within a few miles of a town, or along the high- 

 way between two cities, tramps' nests and loafers' trails 

 disfigure its fairest shades, the spring, once so clear, with 

 such delicious water that you used to turn considerably 

 out of your way to go to it, is now nasty with mud, 

 broken bottles and remnants of tramps' dinners, while 

 the mossy banks on which you used to pick the fragrant 

 red berrips of the wintergreen is now rolled flat with 

 dirty pants and littered with scraps of paper, bits of rag, 

 fragments of old stockings, tobacco sacks and bones. 



The severe drought undoubtedly had something to do 

 with it, but surely could not fully account for the differ- 

 ence I found in the wild flowers. The jewel weed that 

 used to wave so gracefully above the brook, with its 

 curious orange-tinted flowers shining amid its deep green 

 so long in the summer was surely not as abundant as it 

 once was; and in late summer I looked as vainly for the 

 purple-tinted snake head of the chelone as I did for the 

 yellow and white petals of the dicentra in the spring. 

 Rare was the gold of the evening primrose, and scarce 

 ever the day-blooming variety that used to be so common. 

 The lovely lavender of robin's plantain, so much like an 

 aster, was seen only at long intervals; the ground cherry, 

 once so common, I looked for in vain; places once so fra- 

 grant with pennyroyal were bare of anything, and even 

 the delicate, reddish tint of the sorrel was scarce. Along 

 the roads the yarrow grew dense and white, and the ad- 

 joining fields were snowed over with the carrot or dotted 

 and starred with St. Johnswort or Black-eyed Susans, but 

 the delicate little pink phloxes, the soft hue of the bluets, 

 were as rare along the opens as in the woods; the pure 

 white of the pyrola or Prince's pine, or the tender pink of 

 the Arethusa in the meadow. T. S. Van Dyke. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



EXPERIENCE WITH QUAIL. 



If I do not mistake, the history of Bob, a domesticated 

 quail, was published in the Forest and Stream many 

 years ago; but be that as it may, the Youth's Companion 

 and other publications afforded thousands of readers the 

 pleasure of reading his history, which was not less won- 

 derful than interesting. 



When I got him he was somewhat over half grown. 

 Having been hurt in some way, he was delirious, but 

 thoroughly recovered in a day or two, upon which he ex- 

 hibited the fear and shyness common to the bird. I had 

 taken the precaution to clip his wings, and when he ran 

 in terror out of the house I easily caught him. By ex- 

 treme care and gentleness in handling I could plainly 

 observe his fear subsiding, and knowing that he must be 

 experiencing the pangs of hunger, I held him to the win- 

 dow within reach of a fly. To ray astonishment and 

 pleasure, he seized and swallowed it. He tamed more 

 quickly than any other bird I ever saw. A house chicken 

 will get out of one's way , but Bob made you step over 

 him. His tameness lost him one or two of his toe nails, 

 which fact made him a foe to the human foot, which he 

 would peck at and with a good hold strike at in the man- 

 ner of the domestic cock. At that time I had a Gordon 

 setter with a scent keener than any other dog I ever 

 owned. With him I concluded t& get a companion for 

 Bob. Accordingly, my son and I went out before quail 

 were full grown, and the dog made a point. I took off 

 my coat with which to cover tke bird. So accurately did 

 the dog point that we hit the spot exactly, and the "bird 

 [was a prisoner. It was a female, a cunning little beauty, 

 but she had toes with a slight lateral curvature, and so we 

 named her Crook. We made a second attempt to get a 

 bird in the same way, and succeeded. It was a male. 

 We called him Grouse, as his conformation approached 

 that bird more nearly than do most quail. 



The first year Crook did not lay, although she acted as 

 if she would like to show us an albuminous specimen of 

 her own creation; but the second year I put the birds in 

 a roomy aviary and she laid twenty-three "eggs. I had 

 put some small boxes on the ground in which were holes 

 for the birds to enter and in one of these she laid her 

 eggs; but for some reason they would be scattered out- 

 side the box. Whether she or the males did such a 

 seemingly unnatural thing I could not ascertain. But 

 Bob had made as neat a nest as ever bird made in the 

 grass a few feet from the box. The question arose in my 

 [mind, had Bob tried to get those eggs from the box into 

 'his own nest? Possibly. 1 would put them back into 

 the box which was shielded from the sua and did not 

 want them in the nest Bob had made, because the sum- 

 mer was excessingly hot and I feared the heat would 

 spoil them. 



Crook acted as if she wanted to set, but really did not. 

 So I took the eggs and put them under a hen. She broke 

 all but one, which she hatched. Did the little new- 

 comer show the fear so proverbial of the young quail? 

 Not a bit of it. It would run after me with its constant 

 peep, peep, peep, almost from its very birth. The fourth 

 day of its existence I accidentally set a picture frame on 

 it and crushed it. Did I mourn for that wee bit of a bird? 

 I did, and perhaps foolishly, but my grief was keen and 

 to this day I cannot recall the circumstance of its death 

 without emotions of sadness. 



Soon after this Crook died and I concluded to get eggs 

 from the field. I put some under a bantam and she 

 hatched eleven. Thinking the birds were very hardy I 

 took them under my own care. I fenced them in near 

 the window so that they could get plenty of sunlight. I 

 fed them on chopped whites of eggs principally. For 

 one week they were lively as bees and altogether an 

 interesting family. At night I covered them with cot- 

 ton. But they came to grief and I with them. One day 

 ' as I came home at noon my boy said he had given the 

 birds a grand feast of grasshoppers and that their strife 



for the possession of the choice morsels was amusing in 

 the extreme. Of course, I was pleased, but at night I 

 noticed that the birds were drooping. After that they 

 began to die, one or two daily. Two of them, however, 

 lived three or four weeks; one of them could fly upon a 

 chair. 



I will say that these birds did not exhibit the, fear of 

 man as they do in the field. I now wish I had left them 

 with the bantam hen, for she might have raised them, 

 and yet I doubt it, especially in an aviary. I once paid 

 about $10 for California quail eggs. They were sent to 

 me from parties in that State, but were so badly shipped 

 that none of them hatched. Thus ended the scheme that 

 was the dream of my life — raising quail. I am now 

 without a pet of any kind and don't think I will have one 

 unless some one donates me a parrot, which would prob- 

 ably outlive me and for whose demise I would not be 

 called to mourn. N. D. Elting. 



West Virginia. 



THE YELLOW BEAR. 



At a recent meeting of the Biological Society of Wash- 

 ington, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the Bureau of 

 Ornithology and Maramolofjy of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment at Washington, describes the skull of five bears from 

 Prairie Mer Rouge, Morehouse parish, La., which he re- 

 gards as belonging to the yellow bear mentioned in the 

 year 1800 by Snaw and described in 1821 by Edward Grif- 

 fith who, in his work on the carnivora, named it Ursus 

 luteolus and gave a colored plate of it. His remarks are 

 called forth by a recent paper on "Species of North 

 American Bears" by Mr. Arthur Erwin Brown, published 

 in Forest and Stream of Dec. 16 last. 



By Shaw the yellow bear is said to inhabit Carolina and 

 by Griffith to be abundant in Louisiana. It is said to have 

 a "more pleasant and agreeable countenance" than the 

 European Jbears, the forehead to be "more convex, the 

 nose more conical than in the black species; the ears also 

 stand further back; the physiognomy may be said to be 

 more fox-like and the hair not so long or thick. It is gen- 

 tle indisposition, which, indeed, is expressed in the coun- 

 tenance of the animal very decidedly." 



The material which Dr. Merriam describes consists, as 

 has been said, of these five skulls. Contrasted with old 

 skulls of male black bears from the Adirondacks. thetbre' 3 

 old male skulls from Louisiana are longer and flatter and 

 are also longer in proportion to breadth. The molar teeth 

 are larger than in any known species of the black bear 

 group, the last molar being particularly large. There are 

 also some details as the cusps of the molars, but this is a 

 character which varies widely in the individual and with 

 age. Dr. Merriam concludes that the remarkable skull 

 recently described by Mr. Arthur Erwin Brown cannot be 

 einnamonum of Audubon and Bachrnan, but is luteolus of 

 Griffith. 



At the same meeting Dr. Merriam read a paper de- 

 scribing four new mammals from southern Mexica, col- 

 lected by E. W. Nelson. These are a hare, a squirrel and 

 two species of pocket gopher. 



In an earlier paper Dr. Merriam describes eight new 

 ground squirrels of the genera Spermophilus and Tamias 

 from various localities in California, Texas and Mexico. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



As Mr. Brown has given us lovers of sport such a treat 

 'about the natural history of bears, I am going to tell 

 about a family of bears I ran across in the Clear water 

 country in 1865. 



Along in the summer I received a letter from my father 

 in the States saying that he expected to bein Walla Walla 

 about the first of August. My brother and I had been dis- 

 cussing the matter, and as we had not seen him for four 

 years, we thought that one of us had better go down and 

 meet him, get everything fixed comfortable for the family 

 and return. On Saturday we cleaned up our boxes, re- 

 torted our gold in a fry-pan, and made our weekly 

 division after the grub bills had been taken out. It was 

 decided that I was to start early next morning for Walla 

 Walla. 



On the way I met Indians, but as they were Nez Perces 

 T knew they were friendly; they were going to the buffalo 

 illihi, so they said. I had crossed the mountain and had 

 got well down, when, as I came out from a fir thicket 

 into an opening, not more than 20yds. ahead of me there 

 was a black bear with four cubs — two cinnamon and two 

 as black as coal. When they saw me they started off for 

 the canon. I dropped pack, jerked out navy revolver and 

 took after them, intending to capture a cub if I could . 

 Two of the cubs took to a big pine tree, but the old bear 

 and the others got to the thicket in the canon. I went 

 back to the tree and there the little fellows were, away 

 up near the top. I sat down and watched them for half 

 an hour thinking the old bear would come back and hunt 

 her lost cubs, but getting tired of watching I went on as 

 there was no way for me to get them down without shoot- 

 ing them, which I had no intention of doing as I could 

 not use the meat. 



This summer, while I was at Wilbur, Wash. , the stable 

 keeper had two bears which he had bought from an 

 Indian, ,vho said they had one mother, yet one is as red 

 as a cinnamon stick while the other is a coal black. He 

 tried to sell them, but as he was only offered $4 each he 

 said he would keep them and kill them when their robes 

 were prime, for then he could get more. Lew.Wilmot. 



"Sounding the Alarm." 



If there is any sport I enjoy more than another it is 

 hunting squirrels. The article in Forest and Stream 

 "Sounding the Alarm" was so true to nature that I ven- 

 ture to give its counterpart. Probably some other squir- 

 rel hunters, "A. L. L." among the number, may have 

 had the same experience. Several years ago, while I 

 was waiting for a gray squirrel to come out of a hollow 

 tree into which he had gone, my patience was nearly 

 exhausted and I was on the point of leaving him to some 

 other fate, when a large ivory-billed woodpecker alighted 

 on an old chestnut tree within twenty feet of the tree the 

 squirrel was in and at once sent forth his shrill call. He 

 had hardly done so when out came the squirrel and I 

 shot him. 



Last fall a party of four of us camped up Licking 

 Creek about the middle of October to hunt squirrels for 

 a few days. We had a squirrel dog with us and when 

 he would tree a squirrel that would get into a hollow 

 tree ono of the party would wait on the squirrel to come 



out, while the others would go on with the dog. About 

 11 o'clock, when within about one mile of camp, the dog 

 treed one in a large oak and I sat down to watch. I had 

 waited nearly an hour without a sign when I recalled the 

 circumstance of the woodpecker's call, and I thought, 

 why would not the call of a turkey answer as well? 

 Acting on the thought, I took out my turkey call and 

 had given but three calls when out popped the squirrel. 



Now, do you not think that in both these instances the 

 squirrel associated these calls with safety? Knowing the 

 woodpecker to be a very wary bird he believed that when 

 he alighted so near the coast was clear; and for the same 

 reason in the second case the wild turkey's call was 

 notice that no danger Avas near or he would not be there. 

 If some of the wild creatures cannot reason they have a 

 way of arriving at conclusions that amounts to the same 

 thing. Sancho Panza. 



Protection for Skunks and Foxes. 



Binghamton, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 

 Broome county Board af Supervisors have passed ' a law 

 protecting the fur-bearing animals of the county— fox, 

 skunk and muskrats. It is needless to ask what the 

 effects of such a law will be. Who as a close student of 

 nature has not noticed the destructive depredations of the 

 skunk and fox upon our only game, the ruffed grouse? 

 Many a nest of eggs in various stages of incubation are 

 destroyed by the repulsive skunk. Aside from what he 

 catches in summer, what person accustomed to the woods 

 in winter has not seen the oft-told story of reynard's 

 tracks leading to a single disturbed place* in the snow's 

 surface, the scattered feathers of the noble grouse which 

 had sought shelter from the cutting winds telling the rest 

 all too well? 



I have gunned in nearly every part of the country, and 

 I do not know of a place where this bird can be so gene- 

 rally found as here, consequently there is no place where 

 such a law would work more harm. In Pennsylvania, or 

 some parts of it at least, a bounty is paid on fox skins, 

 which is the proper thing, and from observation gained 

 from being afield nearly every day of good weather of 

 open season, I find birds far more plenty in such localities. 



H. W. B 



Some Queer Things in Canada. 



Belleville, Ont., Jan. 3. — A few days ago a remark- 

 able incident happened in the township of Murray, a few 

 miles from this city. While Mr. Andrew Spencer was 

 going home at night from a neighbor's he was attacked 

 by some animal. To his surprise he, after a short struggle, 

 knocked down an owl which measured 4ft. Sin. from tip 

 to tip of the wings. Mr. Spencer's injuries were slight. 



On New Year's Day a fawn, which had apparently been 

 pursued by dogs, ran into the barnyard at Mr. James 

 Murphy's, Hungerford Township. 



A robin, which sang with spring time vigor, was seen 

 in a garden here last week, and a large garter snake was 

 killed by the wheels of a wagon on a road near the city. 



R. S. B. 



Short-billed Guillemot in Connecticut. 



After the severe storm of wind and snow which swept 

 along the New England coast about Dec. 20, a disabled 

 bird was picked up by a little daughter of the care-taker 

 at the Hammonassett Fishing Association club house and 

 kept by her for a few days as a pet. It was called a duck 

 and efforts were made to feed it on corn. One of the club 

 members who happened to be at Hammonassett about this 

 time saw it and identified it as the short-billed guillemot. 

 It had evidently been blown in by the storm and thrown 

 down here, a dozen miles north of Madison, the nearest 

 salt water point. When seen it was pretty lively, sitting 

 up in its box and turning its head from side to side, but 

 no doubt it has since perished. 



Lectures on Birds. 



Lectures by the official staff of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, this city, will be given Saturday after- 

 noons at 3 o'clock, in the library, illustrated by specimens. 

 The first course will be given in January on the "Birds in 

 the Vicinity of New York City," by Frank M. Chapman, 

 Assistant Curator in the Department of Ornithology and 

 Mammalogy. Jan. 6 — "Why We Study Birds. How to 

 Study Birds. Our Winter Birds." Jan. 13— "The Birds 

 of March, April and May, and the Spring Migration." 

 Jan. 20— "The Birds of Summer. Birds' Nests. Birds' 

 Songs." Jan. 27— "The Birds of Fall and the Fall Migra- 

 tion. Birds in their Winter Homes." 



A Long-Lived Canary Bird. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Thinking it might be of interest to some of your readers 

 to know how long a Canary bird may live, I send you the 

 following account of the death of a bird which belonged 

 to my sister. In a recent letter she says: ' 'I am sad over 

 the death of my little bird. He died last night. I have 

 had him twelve years and have taken care of him every 

 day. Do you wonder that I miss him? Mrs. P. gave 

 him to me when the Captain died and she had the bird 

 for ten years; so he has lived for twenty -two years — a 

 most wonderful age for a Canary." 



Mrs. H. F. Hensball. 



The Einnaaan Society of New York. 



A regular meeting of the society will be held at the 

 American Museum of Natural History, Eighth avenue and 

 Seventy -seventh street, on Tuesday evening, Jan. 23, 1894, 

 at 8 o'clock. Papers: Leverett M. Loomis. (l) "On the 

 Causes that Necessitate Bird Migration," (2) "On the 

 Views Held Concerning the Migration of Young Birds of 

 the Year." C. B Riker; "Experiences During Collecting 

 Trips on the Amazon River." 



Arthur H. Howell, Secretary. 



A NEW-SUBSCRIBER OFFER. 



A bona fide new subscriber sending us $5 will receive for that sum 

 the Forest and Stream one year (price $4) and a set of Zimmerman's 

 famous "Ducking Scenes" (advertised cm another page, price $5)— a 

 $9 value for $5. 



This offer is to new subscribers only. It does not apply to renewals, 

 For $3 a bona fide new subscriber for six months will receive the 

 Forest and Stream during tnat time and a copy of Dr. Van Fleet's 

 handsome work, "Bird Portraits for the Young" (the price of whicli 



