12 



NATURAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



Several Sparrow Hawks were screech- 

 iDg noisily and we passed through a 

 patch of pine bush I noticed several 

 Red Squirrels. 1 shot a pair to pre- 

 serve and found them smaller and 

 darker than the eastern variety. 



We now commenced to climb a big 

 hill, a sort of miniature mountain, at 

 the top of which I thought we might 

 find the Grouse. The first half of the 

 way was pretty "tough," scrambling 

 over logs and through brushwood; but 

 as we neared the top the vegetation 

 grew scantier and rocks were plenti- 

 fully strewn around. We arrived at 

 the top thoroughly "blown" and after 

 a rest commenced to hunt the ridge. I 

 had not gone far before M. shouted to 

 me to come and look a some feathers 

 which he picked up. There were two 

 of them, a primary and tail feather, be- 

 longing without a doubt to the bird we 

 were seeking, the "Blue Grouse." This 

 was encouraging and we started to 

 hunt with renewed hope, lingers on the 

 trigger, should a bird jump suddenly. 



To make a long story short, wechunt 

 ed the ridge from end to end but never 

 saw a bird. Several Jmore feathers 

 were found mostly in raspberry patches 

 which seem to be the only vegetation 

 that thrives amongst the stones. 1 

 have no doubt the birds feed on the 

 berries in the early morning aud spend 

 the middle of the day in the valleys, ac- 

 cording to the time and locality we 

 secured our specimens. We commenc- 

 ed to descend the hill with the pros- 

 pects for Grouse as far away as ever, 

 M solemnly vowing that he wouid 

 bring the dogs another time "Wolf 

 Poison" or not. 



Rocky Mountain Chipmunks were 

 numerous and 1 collected a good series. 

 They are like the Red Squirrel, smaller 

 and much darker in color than the east- 

 ern variety. We reached the bottom of 

 the hill in much quicker time than it 

 took to ascend and began to make our 

 way across the valley to the creek. 



I was walking in front of M. with the 

 hammers of my gun down and not giv- 

 ing much thought "to the Blue Grouse, 

 when suddenly there was a "whir" like 

 a sky rocket almost under my feet and 

 a bird started away at a great pace. 

 By the time I had pulled myself togeth- 

 er the bird was a long way off, but M. 

 yelled at me to shoot and as a sort of 

 forlorn hope I pulled the trigger and 

 was agreeably surprised to see him 

 turn over and drop in the grass. Fol- 

 fowing the report of my gun there was 

 a much more decided "whir" and a 

 much larger bird flushed within easy 

 range and was "bagged" without any 

 difficulty. The former was a young 

 bird of the year, well fledged and 

 strong on the wing. The latter 

 was the female and they were 



both eventually identified as D. obscura 

 Richardsonii. As I expected we were 

 amongst a brood. I cautioned M. to 

 look out and we quartered the ground 

 carefully. However, only one more 

 bird was flushed and I gloriously miss- 

 ed him. It took us quite 20 minutes to 

 find the first bird in the long grass, 

 another reason why we should have 

 had the dogs M. suggested. 



After attending to these two speci- 

 mens we started again in much better 

 spirits and fully on the alert for any 

 more Grouse. However we arrived at 

 the creek without seeing another feath 

 er and set about securing some trout 

 for supper. We quickly rigged up 

 some tackle that would have made me 

 blush in more civilized regions, and in 

 about as many minutes we hauled out 

 23 fish. I doubt if the stream had ever 

 been fished in before; at any rate the 

 fish simply fought for the bait — we 

 used grasshoppers— and as soon as it 

 touched the water three or four fish 

 would rush at it savagely. It was the 

 best bit of fishing I have ever had. The 

 fish were all moi.utain trout from 3 to 8 

 ounces in weight and splendid patiug. 



We arrived at the "Shack" about 7 

 p. m., thoroughly tired but were satis- 

 fied with our two Grouse, aud after a 

 good supper of trout we turned in for 

 the night. 



August 4. It was 8 a. m. before we 

 awoke this morning and as I had 

 plenty to do for some hours in prepar- 

 ing the specimens obtained on the pre- 

 vious day, M. said he would go out 

 alone promising to be back by noon. 

 It was just 5 p. m. when M. returned. 

 He had secured another female Richard- 

 sonii which he informed me had jump- 

 ed up on a log and sat looking at him 

 until he threw a stick at her when she 

 flew off. During the absence of M. I 

 had prepared a dish which it would tax 

 even Delmonico to procure, i. e., Rich- 

 ardson's Grouse Pie, to which we did 

 ample justice. 



As we sat outside the "shack" enjoy- 

 ing a pipe just as the "shades of night 

 were falling fast" a Great Horned Owl 

 came aud perched on a tree right over- 

 head. I rose to get the gun and in so 

 doing cracked a stick and "Bubo" van- 

 isned like a ghost. Nightbawks were 

 numerous and I presume they breed on 

 the ridges. 



Tomorrow was to be the last day, so 

 we turned in for another good night's 

 rest. 



August 5. We were up by 6 a. m. 

 this morning and after refreshing the 

 inner man we started to explore the 

 pine bush behind the "shack." We had 

 not gone fifty yards before I saw (or 

 rather heard aud then saw) ;four Cana- 

 da Jays. They proved to be very wild 

 but eventually M. got within rangeaud 



brought one down with a broken wing 

 which commenced a tremendous out- 

 cry. The remaining three would not 

 leave their fallen mate, and we secured 

 the four easily. Three, were birds of 

 the year and the other a mature male. 



A Horned Owl was the next to at- 

 tract our attention and it was whilst in 

 pursuit of this bird, that I secured the 

 prize of the day. I was cautiously ap- 

 proaching to where "Bubo" had flown 

 when I heard a tapping above my head 

 and upon carelessly glancing up was 

 astonished to see a little ublack bird 

 with white bars on the back vigorously 

 digging into a rotten bi anch. A small 

 charge of No. 12 brought it tumbling 

 down and it proved to be a female 

 American Three-toed Woodpecker (P. 

 Amcricanus). I had never thought of 

 finding this sprcies so far south in 0 sum- 

 mer and pnsume that they bleed in the 

 locality. 



Deer tracks were very numerous and 

 also quite a few bear signs were seen. 

 The grizzley is found in this country 

 but fortunately we did not come across 

 one. Nothing more of importance was 

 secured. We collected specimens of 

 Olive-sided Flycatcher, Red Squirrel, 

 aud Rocky Mountain Chipmunk. Sev- 

 eral Horned Owls were seen but man- 

 aged to keep out of gunshot. 



We returned to the "shack" by noon 

 and after diuuer packed up our effects 

 and prepared to leave. Upon proceed- 

 to briug in our horse "Billy" I found 

 him amongst a cloud of Bulldogs as the 

 large horse flies are called. They are a 

 pe»t to horses and Cattle in the summer 

 months but fortunately do not take so 

 much interest in the human race, al- 

 though I have often been bitten by 

 them and they make the blood flow 



After carefully packing our elfects 

 aud the specimens we fastened up the 

 door of the "shack," nailed up the win- 

 dow and then taking our seats in the 

 buckboard we bade adieu to one of the 

 prettiest localities I have ever visited. 



We reached the "ranchers'" place 

 again before sunset and stayed there 

 over night, resuming our journey the 

 following morning, arriving in Calgary 

 at 3 o'clook in the afternoon. Just out- 

 side the town I shot a splendid Ferru- 

 gineous Buzzard in the black (melauis- 

 tic) plumage aud another one in the 

 normal phase. These birds are easily 

 shot out of a buckboard, but it is al- 

 most useless to try and approach them 

 on foot. I also secured specimens of 

 Say's Phcebe and the Arkansas Kingbird 

 on the return journey. Both are fairly 

 common around Calgary. 



Clyde L. Smith of Oblong, 111., writes 

 that on the 13th of September he col- 

 lected a set of two eggs of the Mour- 

 ning Dove, incubation advanced about 

 one-third. 



