44 
FOREST AND STREAM„ 
[JULT 18, 1890. 
of his presence. The report of the gun does not seem to 
alarm them, unless there be among the herd acme indi- 
vidual that has previously been shot, and if one of them 
is knocked down by the ball the others in the herd will 
caper about it in frantic gambols. The wounded bird 
keeps with its companions as lone as it can, but when 
too weak to follow, turns aside to die. 
If caught young, the ostrich becomes wonderfully tame, 
and these semi-domesticated birds may be seen every- 
where in their native country. When thus kept as a pet, 
it is unnecessary to confine it, for its attachment to the 
locality is so strong that it is certain to return even if it 
should have been absent for days. One afternoon Gaepard 
the cook came riding up to the house clad only in his 
shirt, and holding tied up in his trousers four little ostrich 
pullets a day or two old, which he had picked up during 
a ride. The little birds were put in a room by themselvf s, 
but called continuously for their father, and ran against 
the walls so often that their heads became quite sore and 
so that I was almost determined to restore them to liberty. 
As night drew on they became more quiet and at length 
huddled together in a corner, and the next morning, 
when, holding an old dry ostrich skin before me, I entered 
the apartment and strewed some minced meat on the 
floor, they at once began to eat and were won over to 
civilization. Afterward they would follow me like dogs, 
paying no attention to scores of their wild relations which 
were in full sight. Their principal diet was grass, but 
they were very fond of anything which came from the 
cook. They preferred fresh beef or mutton to anything 
else, and after they had grown up and discovered the sit- 
uation of the meat house it was necessary to protect the 
windows with wire nettings to keep them out. With the 
dogs and with the \ oultry they lived in entire harmony. 
There is no question but that these birds would breed in 
captivity, and in fact they have so bred in Berlin, in 
Regents Park (London), and at Frankfort on the Main. 
There is no doubt that they would do weU in Texas and it 
may be hoped that some time this experiment may be 
. tried. 
THE SCREECH OWL IN CAPTIVITY. 
One hot evening in June while sitting under a tree I 
was surprised to hear above me a no'se sounding like the 
click of a revolver. Looking up, I saw the originator of 
this sound — the small but useful screech owl. 
The tree next to the one under which I was sitting was 
full of old woodpeckers' holes, and in one of these I sus- 
pected this owl had her nest, so I waited to see into which 
one she would go. I did not have long to wait, because 
as soon as she made the noise she was answered by the 
young ones, who were waiting for the fat mouse which 
she held in her foot. 
She hopped from the tree where I first saw her into one 
of thg smallest holes on the under side of the tree. When 
she left, after feeding her young, I clirrbed the tree, and 
in the hole I found four young owls whose plumage was 
white, barred with light gray. They were fully feathered 
and almost able to fly. I took two, which proved to be a 
pair. 
In a short time they became very tame and would take 
meat from my fingers and would nibble my hand if I 
put it into the cage empty. When about four months 
old, one of them began to show rufous feathers, while 
the other one was gray, finely mottled with brown, and 
in a few weeks the upper parts of the first became a light 
rufous streaked with dark brown, with a line of white on 
each side extending above the wing. All the imder parts 
became white except the breast, which was now barred 
with light brown, while the other one was dark gray on 
the head and back, and on the breast was everywhere 
barred with fine black lines, excepting a stripe of white 
in the center of the breast. Up to this time I had not 
named them, and now I decided to call them Red and 
Gray. 
When hungry or thirsty they have aery which is started 
very low, rising gradually and then sinking down low 
again, sounding like tiooo lohoo hu hu-aJi, and made in a 
very harsh tone, sounding like a moan. After doing this 
several times they will finish with a cry of whoo-whoO' 
whoo-ah, which begins very low and gradually becomi s 
higher and which I think is a rry of question. They ha"* e 
another cry which they make when their curiosity is 
aroused and which sounds like whoot or hioet. Whi'e 
doing this they raise their ear tufts about an inch. 
If a cat or any other enemy comes near either of them, 
it puts its wing before itself as a guard, puffs up iiB 
feathers, clicks its bill several times, and hissing a warn- 
ing ore-e-e, it advances toward its enemy. 
Usually the cat, or whatever it may be, is so frightened 
by the appearance of the little owl that it suddenly r» - 
members it is not good for its health to stay in that neigh- 
borhood and runs away. 
When I put a mouse into their cage, the owl which is 
the nearer to it will have it before it can go 3in., and then 
the other one goes all around the cage and looks into 
every corner, perhaps imagining that it can scare up 
another mouse. As it does not succeed, it then hides in 
some dark corner of the cage, and then giving a sudden 
rush it will look all over the cage again, I suppose it 
thinks that if it hides the mouse will come out and then 
it can catch it by giving a rush. 
I |When meat is placed in their cage they jump on it as if 
they intended to break the bottom out of the cage, but 
sometimes they will jump down onto the flior, and walk- 
ing up to the meat select a piece, and if it is too big to 
swallow whole they will tear it into small pieces, shutting 
their eyes whenever they take a bite. 
They are now over a year old and have obtained their 
adult plumage. Red is 9fin. in length, and her upper 
parts are rufous, lightly streaked with black, and her 
under parts are white and her breast is a very light rufous, 
streaked with brown and black; while Gray is gray on the 
back, lightly streaked with black, with under parts white, 
excepting her breast, which is light gray streaked finely 
with black. Both have yellow eyes and ear tufts about 
an inch long, and have toes just barely feathered. 
About April 15 the screech owls begin to nest in a hol- 
low in some tree, often where a woodpecker lived last 
year, near a house. They lay from four to six white eggs, 
measuring about 1.53X1.25, and by June 15 the young 
have begun to fly. 
This owl is nocturnal in its habits, and hides during the 
day, but as soon as night falls it comes out to try to catch 
something. If in your rambles through the woods you 
should ever happen to meet one in the daytime, do not 
kill it. If there is a farmhoiiae anywhere near its nest it 
is sure to go there about every night and to begin its 
mournful moaning. I remember when a boy I paid a 
visit to a cousin who lived in the country, and was just 
enjoying a pleasant sleep when I was awakened by one of 
these owls, and in my fright I thought it was about five 
times as large as it was. After looking all over the room 
it quietly left, much to my relief. 
This little owl is harmless, but because it flies around in 
the night and makes a moaning noise, it is killed by 
nearly every farmer and small boy whenever it is seen or 
whenever they can get near it. I was sitting one even- 
ing during summer near an open window when one of 
these little owls came and sat on the sash of the window, 
and uttering a low, bubbling sound, which seemed to me 
to be more pleasing than the loud song of any of our 
warblers, it flew away. W. Doyle. 
The Rosebreasted Grosbeak's Food. 
Augusta, Me,, July 5.— Editor Forest and Stream: A 
remarkable bird has been seen here of late^ and accord- 
ing to accounts should be called the farmer's best friend. 
It has been approached within a few feet and was seen to 
coolly pick potato bugs off the vines, and after apparently 
shelling them, as birds do seeds, swallowed them. It 
made quite a meal of them before flying. This bird was 
about as large as a robin; its head was black, shaped 
somewhat like a parrot's, with a parrot's beak; the body 
was a sort of drab color, with a beautiful red shield on 
throat and breast; the wings were black, having on each 
wing two prominent white feathers, making a very beau- 
tiful bird. 
Will some one name it? 
[Undoubtedly the rosebreasted grosbeak (Habia ludovi- 
dana), which has long been known to destroy this pest. 
The attention of readers of Forest and Stkbam was first 
called to this habit of the grosbeaks in a note from Mrs. 
Violet S. Williams, of Coralville, Iowa, printed in 1879. 
The habit had already been observed by Prof. Bpssey, of 
the Iowa Agricultural College, and his observations were 
confirmed by those of Mr, F, E, L, Beale.] 
0Hni0 §dg mtd 0m 
GOOSE SHOOTING AT SILVER LAKE. 
Let me tell you of a goose hunt that Charles and I had 
in November. 
The wind is northeast and it looks like snow. As this 
is the best time for the sport, we load our traps and after 
an hour's drive come to the lake. Putting the horse in 
the barn, we walked to the stand or rather house. It 
is a little house among the bushes and forms one end of 
the stand or hide, which is about 100ft, long. As we 
open the door we are met by Add, Oliver, George, Hub, 
and last, but not least, William, who is the champion shot 
of the crowd. We see at a glance that the signs are 
right. They all say, "You're just in time. Flight is on. 
We have got twenty since daybreak." 
Our courage was way up and we kept sharp watch until 
dark, but saw nothing. While waiting for supper I will 
teU yo a about the place. On the west side of Silver Lake 
is a point called Widgeon Point, This is the best place on 
the shore, as the geese jn their flight cross here and are 
decoyed with live decoys placed on the beach and with 
loose ones used as flyers. The club has 200 live decoys, 
and it is a common sight to see sixty of them in the air 
at a time. The work of training this flock devolves on 
Hub and George, and they are first-class at the art. The 
whole thing is owned by a club of five members. Thomas 
Arnold is the principal owner, and a right good fellow he 
is. The rest are good, clean sportsmen and gunners you 
would be pleased to know. 
The stand is about 4ft, high, made of boards and cov- 
ered with bushes to resemble the woods along shore. It 
is fitted with electric bells to give warning to those in the 
house when a flock is seen. It is placed about 30ft. back 
from the water, the shore in front raised and covered 
with white sand. 
On this beach are tied the "pinners" or line decoys, and 
these are the watch dogs of the business. Some of the 
pinners are very valuable, as for instance Old Scituate, 
One Wing, Young Bill and Johnam. They have about 
seventy in the beach all the time. Some are birds with 
part of a wing gone, and old One Wing, as his name im- 
plies, has only one wing; the other was shot away in years 
past when he with others was making his journey over 
this country. He is now mated to a goose, and is doing 
all he can every fall to entice his brothers and sisters per- 
haps into the same trap that caught him. The back of 
the stand is lined with pens for extra geese to go on the 
lines when their turn comes. 
The flyers are in pens on the hill. When a flock is seen 
a good pull on a line opens a door, and out comes a flock 
of eight, ten or fifty geese, as George may think necessary 
for the work in hand. 
But what is that Oliver is saying — "Come, get down to 
supper. There will be geese in the morning and we want 
to get into bed as soon as possible." I would liKe to tell 
you about Oliver, but am mahing my story too long. 
Those that have eaten his ox-tail soup and have listened 
to his lemonade story will never forget him. 
While we were at supper the door was opened by Tom 
and Millard. Millard is sometimes called Old Sleuth, and 
he looks it with his gun weighing SOlbs, When he shoots 
both barrels you hear it in the next county, He is the 
sole shooter of that gun. Hub tried it once, and you can 
see his form in the side of a goose pen now. He thinks 
both barrels went off at once. Thomas was wreathed in 
smiles when he heard that the boys had got twenty that 
day. After his supper he told us about the "law" and 
" 'thority" as a certain person understood it, and then we 
turned in, but not to sleep, Tom did it all. Ho worked 
his no ill until about 4 o'clock, when I heard Oliver in the 
large room, and right here I give up aU hopes of ever 
correcting him. 
The fire was out; it was snowing outside and there was 
no kindling in the house. There was a blue smoke in the 
room and Oliver was doing his best to free his mind, but 
all of a sudden "Whir-r-rl" goes the bell. We rush out 
and find that George has nine geese inside the blocks. 
They come up to the decoys; two go one side, the rest 
come up in front. Tom says, ' 'You take these in front, I 
will take care of the two on the side." At the words ' 'Get 
on to them" from George, we rise up over the stand. 
"Ready! Fire!" is the word. The guns break, and seven 
white bodies float on the water. Looking up we see Tom 
doing a war dance. "Got one with each barrel, and did 
not shoot until after you fired." "Glory enough." We 
got nine at this shot. 
While we were eating our breakfast a large flock lit in 
the lake, but were wary and would not come on. 
The bell rang every other thing, but we did not get an- 
other shot till about 2 o'clock, then five were seen. 
George let the south flyers go; away they went, sixteen of 
them. The five wild ones joined them and came up over 
the beach. It was a sight to make your blood run hot. 
Twenty-one in the air and seventy on the beach and all 
in full cry. Old Scituate was up on his toes and calling 
his goslings for all he was worth, while the rest in the 
pens joined in the music out of excitement. Talk about 
music. We had it there. The five lit near enough to 
shoot, and when they got so we could pick out the decoys 
we fired and killed four. One flaw over the stand. I 
fired, and as my gun broke I heard the guns go off like 
crackers on the Fourth of July. He came down all right 
and "was a bird." 
Our next was about an hour later, a flock of twelve lit 
and then another of thirteen. They did not come on until 
dark and then came so we could not shoot. We waited 
and soon they swam into the lake and we thought we had 
lost them. It was so dark we could hardly see when Tom 
said he could see them. 
"We must shoot now," said he. We got up. Tom 
gave the word to fire. I heard a roar and looked to 
see Millard beside me laughing. "Did you hear my gun?" 
I guess I did. I can hear it yet. We picked up thirteen 
from this shot, and while the boys went into the house to 
load the guns Charles and I picked up our traps, said 
good bye and went home. The scare was twenty-seven 
geese, and thus ended the best time I ever had at a gun- 
ning stand. F. E, W. 
Game Photograpbs. 
Forest and Stream prints from a photograph a wood 
scene that should brmg a faraway look into the beaver 
trapper's eyes the moment he sees it. There are fallen 
logs, in a tangle of brush trees denuded of leaves mostly, 
and down a slight incline, surrounded by the brush, is a 
pool. Ripples of water are waggling the shadows of the 
trees, which were caused by a beaver that had just dived, 
alarmed by the approach of E. Hofer, who took the pho- 
tograph. 
No picture is so suggestive to a sportsman as one which 
shows where game has been. Sportsmen's papers print 
photographs of the tracks of deer, bears and other game, 
and these are more suggestive than a view of the game 
itself. A fox's track, leading away across the snow-cov- 
ered fields, or the ripple where a fish has slapped the wa- 
ter's surface, is full of life to a sportsman. There is a 
chance with such evidence before him of exercising his 
craft and skill. 
It is related of an amateur photographer of field scenes 
that one day he tried to catch a running gray squirrel 
with his little camera. When the negative was developed 
he found that he had a picture of the animal's tail alone, 
but because of the very incompleteness of the scene he 
values that picture above any six in his collection, — At- 
lantic Highlands Press. 
Florida Quail and Turkeys. 
Gulf Hammock House, Levy County, Fla., July 8.— 
Owing to the drought of April and May, quail and turkeys 
hatched out in great style and are strong and healthy. 
We neyer had such a shQwiag for sport. C. B.W. 
WIDGEON POINT— WIDE AWAKE. 
