April's?, 1895.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
827 
the floating pieces of "hard tack" and drove the gulls 
away, for the large hird— like the large man — wants a 
large part of the earth, whether he can use the same or 
not. 
The sea gulls devour and digest an enormous quantity 
of fish daily. They prefer live fish, but will, when 
hungry, eat decomposed fish. 
We saw a few saw-bill ducks hunting for minnows in a 
bayou. They are expert swimmers on or under the 
water, using both wings and web feet in either case. 
When they find a school of minnows they dart here and 
there under the water, moving with great rapidity. 
Though under the water, the course of the duck could 
distinctly be traced by the fish jumping out of the water, 
in their frantic efforts to escape the dread saw-bill. The 
saw-bill tastes too fishy for the average white man, but 
the darkies and "crackers" cook them with onions, a 
mode said to disguise the fishy taste. 
b*The cormorants are very numerous. They look much 
like the northern black loon. They are "lightning" on 
the wing, and keep up the flapping motion to the end of 
their flight. They rest on isolated sand keys, and leave 
their eggs to the fostering care of the sun. They will 
eat any fish, however much decomposed, that may be 
stranded on the shore, and like other scavenger birds, 
seem alw ays hungry. 
The buzzards are tame and fearless. They visit the 
back door yards and clean up every scrap of food, of 
whatever kind that may be thrown out. A few days 
ago a drayman lost a horse, which he skinned and hauled 
to the beach just beyond the city limits. Complaint was 
made within a day or two, but when the health officer 
visited the place he only found the clean picked bones, 
for the buzzards had cleaned up the carcass in a scavenger 
like manner. 
The most interesting birds that win their "daily bread" 
from the Gulf are the pelicans. They are so numerous 
on both sides of the peninsula that Florida is called the 
Pelican State. There are two species, the white and the 
brown. The white pelicans are rarely seen on the Gulf ; 
they seem to thrive best on the inland lakes and bayous. 
The brown pelicans are the most numerous, for go where 
you may on the Gulf of Mexico, you will find these scav- 
enger birds plying their daily vocation. They have long 
legs, neck and beak; the head seems to have been formed 
by bending the upper part of the neck into a "bight"; 
the bill is longer than the neck, and when the bird is at 
rest on the sea, with head and neck standing back over 
the body, the end of the bill is slightly under the water. 
The upper jaw is longer than the lower, and has a down- 
ward crook at the point. Tjnder the lower jaw, reaching 
from the tip back to the neck, a flexible bag is attached, 
which is perforated near the throat to drain the sack; 
this sack serves as net and game bag to this incomparable 
fishing bird. They have powerful wings, which measure 
eight feet from tip to tip. They fly and sail alternately 
in flying, as do the prairie chickens of the West. 
We recently saw a pelican flying swiftly, sixty feet 
above the water. He discovered a school of gars, and 
turning half around with spread wings, dove as swift 
and straight as an arrow, and came up with a gar fully 
fifteen inches long. The bird had much difficulty in 
swallowing the long, sharp billed fish; we could seethe 
tail of the gar sticking- out of the "pellie's" mouth. He 
threw his head back and forth rapidly, but the gar would 
not down. Then he opened his enormous mouth and dis- 
gorged the fish, and again taking the gar by 1he tail, he 
succeeded in getting the live and kicking fish into his 
enormous stomach, where the powerful gastric juice soon 
reduced it to a pulp. 
.The pelican, unlike the'turkey or hen, has no gizzard, 
but has an enormous stomach, capable of digesting great 
quantities of fish daily. When the pelican dives, the 
concussion stuns the minnows for several feet around the 
diver, who proceeds to fill his "sack" and ccme to the 
surface. S fter straining the water frorn the sack, he 
raises his bill skyward, and with short, quick jerks of the 
head, manages to get the catch into his stomach. 
As a heavy fine is collected from the person who kills a 
pelican, they have become very tame; they occasionally 
take in the fishermen's bait and have thus been hooked 
and captured. They often dove for minnows within 
three or four feet of the fishermen, making us think that 
a man had fallen overboard. The amount of fish a peli- 
can can eat and digest in one day is simply marvelous. 
They are like "Oliver Twist," always hungry and "call- 
ing for more." Their fishing grounds are generally from 
twenty to thirty miles from their rookeries or homes. 
Mornings, when going to their daily fishing haunts, they 
fly high in the air, but at night on their way home with 
sack full of minnows for their young, they fly very low, 
just skimming the water. The white pelicans are larger 
than the brown, but have the sack under the jaw and 
fish in the same manner as do their brown relatives. 
One day when the wind blew a "living gale" we saw a 
flock of white pelicans fly across the bay against the 
wing. They formed a V, with the point ahead, and 
made tacks across the bay as would a schooner making 
the same course. 
Many bald-headed eagles feed upon the hsh that are 
thrown ashore by the surf. They build their nests in the 
loftiest trees, using coarse sticks, which they weave and 
interlace around the forked limbs. The nest when done 
looks like a large bowl, say three or four feet in diameter. 
This home is so well constructed that one nest will last 
during the lifetime of the builders. They continue to 
use the same nest year after year, and the young bii'ds 
Dai r off and set up house keeping on their own account. 
The king of all birds of the Gulf is the man of war 
bird, so called because he will not work or fish, but sails 
majestically above all other birds, watching for a chance 
to rob them of their hard earned food. Tney are as black 
as jet, except a strip about one inch wide, commencing 
at the throat and running down under the breast. This 
strip is a bright, fiery red, giving the bird a ferocious 
and blood thirsty appearance. The body is about the size 
of a prairie hen, mounted with a well-proportioned neck 
and bead. Their eyes are small, black, keen and far 
sighted. The body seems to be out of all proportion to the 
great spread of the wings, which measure nine feet from 
tip to tip. They are generally seen high in the. air, sailing 
in great circles, easily keeping their altitude without a 
flapping motion of their long, sweeping pinions. This 
dreaded pirate is constantly hunting for other birds of 
prev. When he sees an eagle or hawk with fish in beak 
or claw, down he silently swoops, as swift and straight 
as a spent arrow in its fall, and when within a few feet of 
his viotim, he screeches like a calliope; the frightened 
bird drops the fish, which the robber easily secures be- 
fore it reaches the water; and with a half dozen flaps 
of his powerful wings, he is again high in the air, and 
with set wings grandly sails off to a distant and lonely 
sand key, to enjoy his booty with his young men of war. 
Lying on the sand with a good field glass, we have 
studied these free-booters for hours. 
They ever sail in great cycles, passing and repassing 
each other without the least flapping of their wings, 
which seemed as rigid as if made from thin sheets of steel; 
and they increase their altitude at their own sweet wills. 
We read an article from Forest and Stream, wherein a 
writer endeavored to prove that "no bird could maintain 
a given altitude without using the flapping motion of its 
wings; for, as soon as the bird sailed, it was at the ex- 
pense of altitude." This theory may be true when the 
bird is sailing on a tangent, but the man of war bird 
can attain a great altitude by simply sailing with stiff, 
rigid wings in cycles. This bird has a small sack under 
the lower jaw, in which he can carry a limited amount 
of food in his long journeys across great oceans. Mr. G. 
E. Eady, an intelligent sailor, hunter and fisherman of 
this city, informs me that the man-of-war bird can fly 
one hundred miles per hour, and keep it up for days to- 
gether. 
The pelicans, cormorants, buzzards, eagles and sea gulls 
are protected by the law in Florida. Whoever shoots 
one of there birds must pay a fine of five dollars for 
each bird killed. As a result of this wise law, we have 
a pure, clean and healthy beach from Pensacola to Key 
West. 
If our Western States would pass and enforce stringent 
laws protecting the buzzards, crows and gulls, the shores 
of all the inland lakes would be sweet and healthy. "The 
Great Architect" seems to have made these natural 
scavengers to keep the air and water sweet and pure. 
The young "nimrods" seem to think that the scavenger 
birds were made expressly for their wanton pleasure. 
They have killed and driven these birds away from our 
western inland lakes until dead fish fester and decay, 
poisoning the air and water around these beautiful sum- 
mer resorts. P . P. Bell. 
Foreign Birds in America. 
Concord viLLE, April 18.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have been reading of the importation of European birds 
with regret. Of the skylark and nightingale I have little 
fear, but am inclined to think we should go more slowly 
about bringing into the country a bird that multiplies 
fast, travels in flocks and thrives in confinement, like the 
starlings. It could not perhaps equal the house sparrow 
as a nuisance, nevertheless we might wish it gone when 
too late. Of all the faults of the English sparrow (and they 
are many), none are worse than its antagonism to our own 
birds of like habit of building. We have a remnant only 
of the martins, barn swallows and wrens of twenty years 
ago. Why venture to adopt the starling ? Can we be sure 
they will not interfere with other birds? The English^ 
birds have less grace than ours, usually multiply faster 
and are sturdier generally. Given a firm foothold here, and 
the chances are that our birds of similar habits will give 
way to them. 
Even if perfectly sure that the foreign birds are 
adapted to our plant and insect life I would still exclude 
the strangers. Our bird life is the most varied and fas- 
cinating of any country, and we should be justly 
proud of it and seek to protect and foster it rather 
than try to supplant it with that of other lands. Ameri- 
cans do not as a rule "see well what they're stand- 
ing on," but are forever yearning for some new pasture. 
I for one would be sorry indeed to miss from our mead- 
ows on the starling's account one sweet sturnella, and no 
flock of the former could make sweeter music to my ears 
than our own red-wings. The crowning trial would be to 
see it aid the sparrow in driving our remaining blue-birds 
and martins from their boxes. If the energies of those 
who are importing birds were directed towards the 
enforcement of our laws for bird protection and educa- 
tion of country children more of our own starlings would 
greet our eyes and ears and we would need no others. I 
write this in the hope of bringing out some one more able 
than I to argue this question pro or con in your excellent 
paper. Kate E. Styer. 
Food for Young Starlings. 
New York. — Mr. James M. Norris' letter about star- 
lings I was delighted with, and I think I can tell him 
how his friend may be able to save this year's broods. 
Of course, as he does not say what the young starlings 
were fed on, he may have used the very thing I am going 
to suggest, but I hardly think so, as I have successfully 
reared a great many much less hardy birds on it, and I 
fancy that it would prove entirely successful with his 
starlings. 
Starlings are to a great extent insectivorous, and al- 
though the grown birds will feed largely also on such 
things as cherries, grapes, etc , their principal food is 
insects, caterpillars, snails, etc.. and their young are ex- 
clusively reared on insects. Now, although the fully de- 
veloped bird can, when in captivity, be made to subsist 
entirely on artificial food, so to speak, such as stale bread 
soaked in water and mixed with grated carrots and the 
like, the young must have animal food, and the very best 
thing and most easily obtainable are .the socalled ants' 
eggs, properly speaking, the white larva of the common 
ant. It is the most delicate morsel that can be given to 
songsters (not granivorous) in a cage; they are all ex- 
ceedingly fond of, and thrive remarkably well on them. 
Add to these occasionally a few meal worms, and you 
have a food on which you can raise the most delicate of 
insectivorous songsters. As the young grow older and 
begin to feed by themselves, you can add a little of the 
white of a hard boiled egg chopped into tiny particles, 
and later on change gradually on the above named arti- 
ficial fool, well interspersed with such fruit and berries 
as the birds will feed on in their wild state. If Mr. Nor- 
ris' friend will follow out these suggestions, I feel confi- 
dent that he will have better success with his young star- 
lings this year, C. B. 
The article on "Starlings in Confinement," in the last 
Forest a>;p stream, has been most interesting to me, 
as I never have s-en any wild starlings in this country 
during my twelve years' stay. As a boy I always hailed 
the first birds with delight, as in my father's garden on 
lime and pear trees were (and are to this day) about a 
dozen of nest boxes. My home is in the mountain part 
of Silesia, Prussia, and I received notice two weeks ago, 
that the starlings arrived this year on the 10th of March, 
instead of on the 22d of February last year. I remember 
that once during a heavy thunderstorm a limb of a lime 
tree with box nest came down, and as the young birds 
then were not quite full grown, I managed to catch one, 
and kept it for about eight weeks indoors. We fed him 
on eartn-worms and house flies at first, and only by open- 
ing his beak and pushing the food down his throat. As 
he got quite tame he would sit on my shoulder or arm 
and stay there until taken off. He would sit in the open 
window and watch the old birds up in the tree, but never 
offered to fly away. When taken out in the garden or 
grass, he would watch me while digging for worms and 
dart in front of the knife, catching beetles and aunts be- 
fore I was aware of it. We also gave him raw beef cut 
in worm-like pieces. Sometimes he would pick in boiled 
white potatoes or carrots. I don't remember that he ever 
refused to eat a living insect, from a wood-louse to a 
thousand legs. 
He would often sit in our shop on the gas-pipe, over the 
bench (jeweler shop), and watch us work till he fell asleep. 
One day we found him almost dead. He had swallowed 
a long piece of melted shellac, perhaps in mistake for a 
worm, and before we could help him in any way he died, 
much to our sorrow. 
I would put plenty of sod in one unroofed part of the 
cage, and let it grow in rich soil and plenty of water, it 
might furnish some food, but otherwise could not ease the 
pain he had. We had entrances to nests turned to the 
east, so that the morning sun could strike them. We ob- 
served that only those boxes were suitable. 
Hermann Hoenig. 
The Michigan Spring. 
Central Lake, Mich. , April 19 — Crows appeared 
March 5. Robins reported April 3, not common till April 
9. Crow blackbirds first heard April 19. The season here 
has been backward, but promises well for fruit and crops 
in general. Torch Lake was full of ice last Sunday, but 
there is now little in sight, and the Intermediate lakes 
appear to be clear, or nearly so. * 
April 20, — About forty wild geese passed northward 
this morning at a high elevation — the first seen this spring. 
Kelpie. 
<§mx\t md 0nn. 
THE BLUE GROUSE. 
After a hunting experience of three years in Montana, 
I suggest the blue grouse as king of Montana game birds, 
and I am inclined to the belief that the majority of sports- 
men whose experience would justify an opinion upon the 
subject, will agree with me. 
Judging the question from the standpoint of pleasure- 
able pastime, I acknowledge my greater indebtedness to 
the pinnated grouse, whose lowland home, greater 
numbers, and general characteristics rarely fail to gr°e 
the hunter the finest wing practice, at the expense of a 
moderate amount of muscular exertion, but the blue 
grouse is a more royal bird in his place of abode, his per- 
sonal appearance, and his habits and peculiarities. 
Far up on the summit of the highest mountain nature 
has placed him, and he rarely ventures far below, confi- 
dent in his ability to cope with the lightning and storm 
clouds of summer and the dreadful rigor of winter, he 
looks down with scorn upon his cackling cousins whose 
altitude is bounded by the foot hills. I never saw but 
one blue grouse far below the mountain tops. This one 
I flushed last fall while working the foot-hills, among 
scattering young pine, for chickens. The locality was 
at least three miles frern its native range, and within a 
short distance of the ground over which I hafl worked a 
few mornings before, with a result of thirteen pinnated 
and three ruffed grouse in a little more than three hours. 
It is a common occurrence for the latter two to be found 
within a few rods of each other, the ruffed in the dense 
brush by the side of the little stream, that traverse the 
bottom of the coulees, while the pinnated enjoy the Open 
country along the benches and slopes. 
Speaking of strays, I once sa w a more remarkable in- 
stance than the one just mentioned. Galloping along the 
plain one day in^October, I came upon a ruffed grouse, 
seemingly contenting itself by standing still and scanning 
the monotonous landscape, or probably debating the 
question as to whether or not it should ever again reach 
its native roosting place, 
I dismounted to make a closer investigation, when he 
put up his ruff, spread out his tad feathers, took a few 
proud steps, accompanied by spasmodic jerks of the tail, 
and away he went like the wind, and disappeared behind 
a hill. This grouse was at least eight miles from the 
nearest xioint inhabited by any of his kind. 
But to return to the blue grouse. I had long desired to 
secure a specimen, as I had never seen one. Being in 
tne vicinity of mountains inhabited by deer, I arranged 
with two friends to take a deer hunt. We took different 
directions, with an understanding in rpgardto coming to- 
gether at a certain point. In the hope of jumping a deer 
out of the brush, I fallowed a narrow valley that led up 
into a deep ravine, and before I was aware of the fact, 
I was hemmed in on both sides by immense mountains, 
whose precipitous sides looked discouraging at least. 
But, as 1 did not care to retrace my steps, I climbed the 
mountain, whose summit I found to be bare rock. The 
other side was not steep, but gradually receded, forming 
gradual inclines and diversified plateaus, covered with 
grass and occasionally a thicket of brush. It was quite 
early in the morning, and a fog was resting over the 
mountains, shutting out the landscape. 
After resting and getting my bearings, I started down 
the slope, but had not taken a dozen steps before I found 
myself almost in tne midst of a large covey of birds. 
They were busily engaged in catching insects, and did 
not seem to be frightened at my approach. Here at last 
I had stumbled upon the long desired opportunity. 
While I was -positive that the birds were blue grouse, yet 
they were somewhat different from my concept of them. 
I had pictured them as covered with plumage of a bright 
blue like the blue bird, but as they appeared on the hill- 
side, their color was several shades darker than tha^ of 
any blue bird that I had ever seen. 
