92 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



Dakota's Shell Mounds. 



Twin Hills on the Prairies Made Up <il 

 Oyster Shells. 

 Iu the south central portion of North 

 Dakota lies a butte, or mountain, 'which 

 is a 'wonderful Eelic of an ancient era 

 when the ocean covered the state. It is 

 really two buttes, 200 or more feet in 

 height, which are composed of little else 

 than oyster shells. They are iu the ex- 

 treme southwestern part of Logan coun- 

 ty, about 75 miles southwest of this city, 

 and probably 3-5 miles east of the Mis- 

 souri river. The base of the butte, which 

 at a height of about 100 feet is divided 

 and forms two peaks, each about 100 

 feet high, is about three-quarters of a 

 mile in length, oblong in shape and lies 

 extended in a northeastern and south- 

 western direction. The sides are precip- 

 itous, except at the southern extremity, 

 where it is possible to drive part way 

 up. 



The butte lies iu a region almost en- 

 tirely settled by Russians, and none, so 

 far as could be learned, has even visit- 

 ed it or even given it a name. It is a 

 conspicuous landmark, visible for miles 

 in every direction, as it towers above 

 the surrounding rolling prairie and the 

 valley of the Beaver — a tributary of the 

 Missouri river — near which it is located. 

 Very little vegetation is found on the 

 butte besides prickly pear and in favored 

 spots bunches of grass. The northern end 

 of the butte, which has borne the brunt 

 of wind and rain for numberless cen- 

 turies, is scarred and eaten away and 

 presents almost vertical walls to the 

 northwest winds. Here and there on its 

 face are huge blocks of the cemented 

 shells, which form a kind of rock, which 

 from a distance appears ready to fall 

 outward and downward with a crash. 

 The jutting crags and rocks make a wild 

 and picturesque sight. 



The southern peak, which can only be 

 surmounted after a stiff climb, is nearly 

 flat on top, oval in contour, and nothing 

 is visible on the surface but oyster shells, 

 some of them whole, as though just 

 opened of their contents, some crum- 

 bling to dust, as though extremely old, 

 while on every hand are broken shells of 

 all sizes. An excavation on the surface 

 reveals naught but more shells and a 

 slight intermixture of gravel. 



The other peak is somewhat different 

 in character and contour, though this, 

 like the other, is composed of nothing 

 but shells. It is rougher, and the shells 

 seem to have been united into a kind of 

 rock which defies the wind and weather. 

 This is separated from the butte by a 

 huge block ] 0 or 1 2 feet square and is 

 almost as truo a cube in general outline 

 as though the hammer and wedge of the 

 stonecutter had fashioned it. Here and 

 there, projecting from tli9 sides, are at 

 intervals large shells which countless 

 frosts have failed to loosen. A small 

 cave has been discovered in the side of 

 this peak. Shells form its roof, its sides 

 and its floor The butte is isolated, with 

 no hills approaching it in height to be 

 seen in any direction for miles. — James- 

 town (N. D. ) Letter in Minneapolis 

 Journal. 



A Family of Bonasa um^ellus. 



Date, May 27, 1895. Time G:55 p. m. 

 Place, mixed deciduous and evergreen 

 woods, with grass and ferns in patches. 

 I had eaten my supper and was out for 

 a few minutes with the birds before dark. 

 Having travelled half through a strip of 

 woodland, about one and one-half miles 

 from the village of Gaines, I came to a 

 place where the woods were divided by 

 an old tumble down rail fence just be- 

 yond which was an opening grown up 

 to brush, etc. I was looking high for 

 small birds, when I was startled by a 

 commotion on the ground in front and 

 what a commotion! Almost under my 

 feet was a male Ruffed Grouse, not put- 

 ting distance between himself and I at 

 the rate of 100 miles an hour, more or 

 less, as is usually the case; but running 

 towards me; every feather erect, ruff 

 spread to its greatest extent, and crest 

 erect. And such a racket from one of 

 our stillest birds. He clucked and 

 hissed, sputtered and cackled, in fact it 

 was a perfect miniature of the common 

 hen's performance under like conditions 

 except for a peculiar whistling note 

 which I was surprised to hear from this 

 bird. But why all this fuss? From one 

 poiLt in the dry leaves just ahead ran a 

 group of downy balls, not in one direct- 

 ion but each one in a separate course 

 like the spokes of a wheel. But sudden- 

 ly all this changed. Mr. Grouse dis- 

 covers that he confronts what he right- 

 fully regards as his worst enemy, man. 

 His feathers drop and with a warning 

 cluck he Hies a few feet over the fence. 

 Presto, every downy chick has disap- 

 peared. I did not dare to stir for, 

 surely, at least two of the little birds 

 must be close to my feet for I saw them 

 run that way. They did not seem to 

 try to escape from any definite danger, 

 for they ran iu every direction with a 

 perfect disregard as to my position. 

 Evidently they simply followed a 

 "blind" instinct prompted by the warn- 

 ing note of the old bird. I looked the 

 ground over closely and finally discern- 

 ed two sparkling eyes viewing me with 

 the same unblinking steadiness that the 

 old birds have always been noted for. 

 Colored almost exactly like the dead 

 leaves on which it sat, it was almost 

 obliterated in its surroundings. Look- 

 ing closely at the ground that I might 

 avoid stepping on another one I step- 

 ped forward aud picked it up. On 

 straightening up, my eyes fell on an- 

 other one and so on until I had seven 

 in my hands. Not being able to find 

 any more just then I stood quietly 

 awaiting developments. For eight 

 minutes all .was still. The old birds 

 seemed to think all was well and kept 

 out of sight in the weeds. But sudden- 

 ly there was a faint peep from the 

 grass in front of me answered at once 



by one of the chicks in my hands. At 

 once Mrs. Grouse came forward through 

 the fence and up as close to the little 

 one as my position admitted. Then 

 turning about she started back cluck- 

 ing and whistling in the most persua- 

 sive manner. Out of a clump of grass 

 came a young bird and started to fol- 

 low though several feet behind. Step- 

 ping forward I picked up No. eight. 

 The commotion started up as before ex- 

 cept that the male uttered now and 

 then a note not unlike the warning 

 note of a Crow, which seemed calcul- 

 ated to quiet the young. As- they did 

 not seem inclined to come closer I 

 placed the little ones in my hat and 

 stepped back. Then the fun com- 

 menced. After making a wide circuit 

 around the hat the female ran swiftly 

 up to it, looked in and flew off in ter- 

 ror. Solicitude for the safety of her 

 young had brought this wariest of all 

 our birds to approach an object of the 

 most extreme terror to her. But she 

 had seen her little ones and at once re- 

 commenced her tactics to induce them 

 to follow her. The male was now as 

 silent as she had been before. He 

 seemed to think that this kind of work 

 was beneath his dignity. On stepping 

 forward to let them out of my hat I saw 

 the ninth bird sitting out on a patch of 

 clean ground, yet I had overlooked it 

 several times, so closely was it sitting 

 to the ground. I placed them all to- 

 gether on the leaves and stepped back 

 a few feet. Immediately she came for- 

 ward and one by one she coaxed them 

 behind a stump and from there to the 

 fence corner, where she left each one, 

 and strange to relate not one stirred 

 while she went after another. Finally 

 she sat down over them and all was as 

 quiet as could be. Not an indication of 

 that contented peeping which you hear 

 from a brood of common fowl for the 

 little Grouse seemed to realize the grav- 

 ity of the situation. Just one more 

 test and I was ready to leave. How 

 close would she let me come? Slowly I 

 approached but not a feather moved. 

 When within three feet she seemed to 

 rise straight in the air and flying a 

 few feet dropped out of sight in the 

 brush. But this time not one chick 

 stirred. All sat just as she left them. 

 Why did they run the first time and sit 

 still the second? Washer note differ- 

 ent or were the little ones responsible 

 for the action? If the Ruffed Grouse 

 was as scarce everywhere as it is in the 

 greater part of Western New York at 

 present, we should not find out much 

 from observation. As it Avas growing 

 dark I left the little Grouse to their anx- 

 ious parents and started toward home. 

 I never expect to have another equally 

 good chance >to study the young of this 

 shy bird and hope that after the foxes, 

 owls and hunters have each had their 

 quota there may be one pair for next 

 year. E. H. Shokt, 



Gaines, N. Y. 



