Jan. 30, 1897.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
88 
" 'The flight of the Carolina paroquet, once seen, is never 
0 be forgotten; it is undulating, somewhat like the -wood- 
acker's, but very swift. While on the wing they chatter 
md cry continually; this cry sounds like qui, with the 
iaing inflection on the i; this is repeated several times, 
he last one being drawn out like qui-i i-i. These birds 
(re rarely met with in the summer, and I do not think 
hey nest here. They are most plentiful in May and Sep- 
erober. In the fall they feed on the fruit of the honey 
Dcust, and are then more often seen on the ground.' 
"The total extermination of the Carolina paroquet is 
inly a question of a few more years, and the end of the 
fresent century will probably mark their disappearance. 
Jivilization does not agree with these birds, and as they 
iertainly do some damage to fruit in sections where they 
bill exist, nothing else than complete annihilation can be 
)oked for. Like the bison and the passenger pigeon, 
lieir days are numbered. 
"Considering how common this bird was only a few 
ecades ago, it is astonishing how little is really known 
bout its nesting habits, and it is not likely that we will 
e able to learn much more about them. The general 
ipposition is that they breed in hollow trees, such as 
y^press, oak and sycamore, and that they nest rather 
"arly in the season, while others think they nest rather 
ite. There are two eggs in the United States National 
[liseum collection, No, 17,709, in rather poor condition, 
bich are entered as having been taken in St. Mary's 
Irish, Louisiana, March, 1878. I have endeavored to 
)tain some further particulars about them, but have 
Ben unsuccessful. One egg, laid in captivity by a bird in 
le possession of Mr. R, Ridgway, was deposited in Au- 
iist, 1877, and another in July, 1878, and one in Septem- 
jr, 1883, There are also a couple of eggs in the collection 
E the American Museum of Natural History, New York 
, ty, collected by the late Dr. S. W. Wilson, of Georgia, 
< hich I believe are genuine; these are said to have been 
(■ken on April 36, 1855, from ahoJlow tree, the eggs being 
,apo8ited on a few chips in the cavity; the exact locality 
there they were obtained is not given, but the collection 
as chiefly made on St. Simon Island, and in Wayne and 
cintosh counties, Ga. 
"Mr. William Brewster, of Cambridge, Mass., ever alert 
1 obtain new information of the habits of our birds, 
hile on a visit to Florida elicited the following, published 
r him in the Aulc (Vol. VI,, 1889, pp. 336, 337), which is 
ell worth inserting here. He says: 'While in Florida 
iring February and March, 1889, 1 questioned everybody 
horn I met regarding the nesting of the parrakeet. Only 
.ree persons professed any knowlege on this subject, 
le first two were both uneducated men, professional 
inters of alligators and plume birds, Each of them 
limed to have seen parrakeets' nests, which they de- 
ribed as flimsy structures built of twigs and placed on the 
anches of cypress trees. One of them said he found a 
1st only the previous summer (1888) while fishing. By 
eans of his pole he tipped the nest over, and secured 
w young birds which it contained. This account was 
widely at variance with what has been previously 
corded regarding the manner of nesting of this species 
lat I considered it at the time as a mere fabrication, but 
terward it was most unexpectedly and most strongly 
■rroborated by Judge R. L. Long, of Tallahassee, The 
tter gentleman, who, by the way, has a very good gen- 
al knowledge of the birds of our Northern States, as- 
red me that he had examined many nests of the parra- 
)et built precisely as above described. Formerly, when 
e birds were abundant in the surrounding region, he 
led to find them breeding in large colonies in the cypress 
ramps. Several of these colonies contained at least 
)00 birds each. They nested invariably in small cypress 
aes, the favorite position being on a fork near the end 
a slender horizontal branch. 
" 'Every such fork would be occupied, and he has seen 
many as forty or fifty nests in one small tree. Their 
ists closely resemble those of the Carolina dove, being 
nilarly composed of cypress twigs put together so 
jsely that the eggs were often visible from the ground 
neath. The twigs of the cypress seemed to be pre- 
rred to those of any other kind of tree. The height at 
hich the nests were placed varied from 5 or 6ft, to 20 or 
Et. Mr, Long described the eggs as being of a greenish- 
lite color, unspotted. He did not remember the maxi- 
am number which he had found in one set, but thought 
was at least four or five. He had often taken young 
rds from the neats to rear or to give to his friends. He 
ew of a small colony of parrakeets breeding in Wau- 
ila Swamp, about twenty miles from Tallahassee, in 
9 summer of 1885, and believes that they still occur 
ere in moderate numbers. 
•' 'It seems diflicult to reconcile such testimony with the 
itements of Audubon, Wilson and others that the Caro- 
& parrakeet lays its eggs in hollow trees. It may be, 
wever, that, like the crow blackbird and some of the 
la, this parrot nests both in holes and on branches, ac- 
rding to circumstances; at all events the above account 
8 seemed to me to rest on evidence sufliciently good to 
arrant its publication.' 
'It is quite possible that the Carolina paroquet, from 
exceedingly social nature, was compelled where very 
merous to resort to open nesting sites from necessity, 
suitable cavities are rarely found in sufficient quanti- 
8 close to each other to accommodate any considerable 
mber of pairs. We fiud this to be the case with Bol- 
''hynchus vwnachics (Boddeurt), the green paroquet of 
raguay, Uragaay and the Argentine Rapublic, which 
ipends its nests from the extremities of branches, to 
lich they are firmly woven. Mr. Gibson describes their 
its as follows; 'New nests consist of only two cham- 
fB, the porch and the nest proper, and are inhabited by 
lingle pair of birds. Successive nests are added until 
ne of them come to weigh a quarter of a ton, and con- 
n material enough to iill a large cart. Thorny twigs 
mly interwoven form the only material, and there is 
lining in the breeding chamber even in the breeding 
leon. Some old forest trees have seven or eight of 
sse huge structures suspended from the branches, while 
a ground underneath is covered with twigs and remains 
fallen rocks.'* 
"Another species, the Patagonian parrot, Conuma imta- 
nus (Vieillot), found in the Argentine Republic and in 
tagonia, excavates its nests in perpendicular banks, like 
r kingfisher; while the ground parrakeet, Pezoponts 
rmosiks (Latham), of Australia, nests in tall grass, 
"Although nearly all the species of this numerous family 
at in hollow trees, as stated above, there are exceptions 
ArgentiB© Ornlbliol&gy, VoL n., 1889, pp, 4a-46. 
to this rule; and it is quite probable that some of our Car- 
olina paroquets nested at times in Florida as Judge R. L, 
Long described, and again both in co aamunities in large 
hollow trees, and singly, as Alexander Wilson states, all 
of these different aesertions being probably correct. 
"We have no positive information about the number of 
eggs laid by this species in a wild state, 
"Dr. Karl Russ, of Berlin, Germany, in his interesting 
article on this species in his work on "Die Fremlaa- 
dischen Stubenvogel, die Papageien" (Vol. III., 1879, pp. 
231-236), mentions several instances of the Carolina paro- 
quets breeding in captivity in Germany, where the eggs 
were depositied in June and July, two being the number 
laid; but in his "Handbuch fiir Vogelliebhaber" he gives 
the number from three to five, and he describes these as 
pure white, fine grained, very round, and quite glossy, 
like woodpeckers' eggs, measuring 38 by 36 millimeters, 
or about 1,50 by 1.43in. 
"Mr. Robert Ridg way's birds would not use the nesting 
boxes provided for them, and both females deposited 
their eggs on the floor of the cage; they were laid in July, 
August and September respectively. None of these eggs 
can be called round; they vary from ovate to short ovate, 
and are rather pointed. They are white, with the faintest 
yellowish tint, ivory-like and quite glossy; the shell is 
rather thick, close grained and deeply pitted, not unlike 
the eggs of the African ostrich {StrutJiio camelus), but of 
course not as noticeable. Holding the egg in a strong 
light, the inside appears to be pale yellow. 
"These eggs measure 36,33x36.93, 34 54x37.18, and 
33.37X26 93 millimeters, or 1.43x1.06, 1.36x1.07, and 
1.3lXl.06in. 
"The deep pitting is noticeable in every specimen, and 
there can be no doubt about the identity of the eggs. 
The other eggs in the collection, about whose proper 
identification I am not so certain, and whose measure- 
ments I therefore do not give, have a much thinner shell, 
and do not show the peculiar pitting already referred to. 
There is no difficulty whatever in distinguishing these 
eggs from those of the burrowing owl or the kingfisher, 
both of which are occasionally substituted for them." 
ANOTHER OTTER AND HIS WAYS. 
Lansing, Mich., Jan. 20. — Tommy, the tame otter, was 
caught on the Sauble, in northern Michigan, and owned 
by a saloon keeper at Grayling. He was a great pet with 
the village people, and visited the kitchens of that quiet 
little burg with a constantly increasing regularity. His 
regular beat up and down the Sauble for a distance of 
three or four miles afforded him abundant opportunity 
for fishiner and hunting. In town he was a great friend 
with every dog and cat in the village. He would play 
with them on the streets for hours at a time. Once in a 
THE RECORD MOOSE HEAD, 
great while some cat would offend Tommy, and then the 
scene would be changed instanter. Tommy would grab 
the cat by the back, and in much less time than it takes 
to tell it the cat and Tommy would be under water in the 
Sauble, and that was the end of the cat. Tommy never 
had time to fool with a cat after it was dead, but he would 
hunt up another cat and have his play spell out. 
Dogs Tommy liked, and he spent all of the time playing 
with them that he could find dogs willing to put up fun 
for him. One day a big bull dog happened along when 
Tommy was playing with some of his home dog talent, 
and the bull dog, not familiar with the Grayling pet, 
picked Tommy up and nearly killed him before he could 
be choked off. Tommy soon got over his scrap, and was 
on the lookout constantly for the big bull dog. One day 
the bull dog came to town again, and right in the middle 
of the village he met a dog with a chip on his shoulder, 
and the fun began. Just as the fight was well under way 
Tommy put in his appearance, and while the town dog 
held the bull dog down to business Tommy nearly ate him 
up. He would rip great mouthfuls of flesh out of him, 
and pull and lug him about till he had about killed the 
dog, when the town boys took Tommy off. 
It would be hard to make a Grayline: man believe that 
an otter had not a first-class memory for matters and 
things. Tommy knew all of the fishermen up and down 
the river, and was always ready for a fishing trip when 
an opportunity offered. He could catch more fish than 
all of the town fishermen put together, and when he was 
one of the party and had got all that he wanted to eat he 
would catch fish to supply the whole crowd. One day he 
broke his record and landed a big trout that weighed 
nearly Slbs. When the party moved they would take 
Tommy into the boat, and he would curl up under the 
seat, but when the boat stopped he was out and in the 
water like a flash. 
Tommy often went hunting and fishing alone, and on 
one of his excursions he was shot by a man who says he 
mistook Tommy for a wild otter. While the man knew 
Tommy well and saw him almost every day, yet he shot 
him, and the shooting led to a big law suit, for Tommy 
had lots of friends. 
If anybody doubts the truth of the life history of Tom- 
my, and believes that what I have told about his doings is 
not true, and he will write to Mr. Alexander, lawyer, at 
Grayling, he will furnish him enough material regarding 
Tommy and his doings to fill a big book. I have two 
more otter to write you about, Julian. 
COMMUNICATION AMONG ANIMALS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Ernest Seton Thompson has done the students of 
the ways of animals a service the value of which does not 
seem computable at present, but which is very great in 
any event. The idea of a newspaper edited by wolves 
will not lie idle, and to the mass of testimony that will 
be added to Mr. Thompson's I hasten to call attention to 
other and quite similar bureaus of information, namely, 
the traces which otter and mink leave of their presence, 
usually conspicuously on rocks, logs and other eleva- 
tions, but frequently in the grass and bushes led to by 
regular and well-trod runways. 
Now that Mr. Thompson has called attention to odors as 
a means of communication, the strong scent of muskrats 
around caves or bayous and on streams has specisil sig- 
nificance, 
In this connection I would like to ask, why is it that a 
school of whales sporting in the ocean near the surface 
suddenly and all together lift up their tails and disappear? 
By what means are the whales able to do this all together? 
Schools of whales covering twenty-five square miles have 
been seen to dive simultaneously when unalarmed, so far 
as could be known, and a similar thing may be witnessed 
in schools of minnows. What tells them to? 
And how do youn.g birds know what to do in migrating 
time? Birds that wouldn't know Florida from the South 
Pole and who never saw snow travel south with the rest, 
only birds that were willful remaining behind to freeze 
their toes. How do these birds talk to each other, as they 
certainly must do? They don't rub bills, as dogs rub noses, 
before going somewhere. There are certain "call notes" 
heard in the fall that may appear a partial solution, just 
as the robin sings "I'm in love" every spring. Bluejays 
get up alongside of each other in the spring and don't 
make a noise bearable five rods away, though they do 
make some subdued sounds, love talk, most likely. 
To my mind there is nothing more interesting in nature 
than the methods by which her creatures talk to one 
another, and now that Mr. Thompson has called attention 
to it I hope the Foeest and Stream will sift the matter as 
deeply as may be, Raymond S. Spears, 
A GEOLOGICAL MAP OF THE YEL- 
LOWSTONE PARK. 
There has recently been printed, under the supervision 
of the United States Geological Survey, folio No. 30 of 
the Geologic Atlas of the United States, which is the Yel- 
lowstone Park folio. This embraces the greater part of 
the Yellowstone National Park, and, while not a com- 
plete geological map of the Park, it yet does cover that 
portion of the reservation which is of especial interest to 
geologists. 
This folio will be of very great interest as well to many 
people who read the Forest and Stream, and who have 
visited or hope to visit the National Park. It contains 
five pages of description of the geography and geology of 
the region by Mr, Arnold Hague, geologist in charge; one 
page on the Igneous Rocks, by Mr, J. P, Iddings; a num- 
ber of remarkably handsome half-tone pictures of charac- 
teristic Park scenery, two contour maps of the central 
portion of the Park, extending from near the northern 
boundary south almost to the head of Jackson's Lake, and 
two geological sheets covering the same portion of the 
Park, so colored as to indicate the different geological 
formations and mineral deposits which appear in the 
various localities. 
As will be remembered, the geological work of the 
Park for a good many years has been under the charge of 
Mr. Arnold Hague, who has long been known to our 
readers as an enthusiastic well-wisher of this great pleas- 
ure ground. He has been assisted by Professors Weed, 
Iddings, Pirsson, and by others whose names are well 
known to Forest and Stream readers. Thus it is cer- 
tain that the scientific details of this map have been at- 
tended to by men eminently qualified to perform the 
work. 
On the mechanical side this folio deserves high praise, 
and in this respect it is probably the best that has ever 
been issued by the United States Geological Survey, as 
from onr point of view it is the most interesting. 
Mr. Hague has long been at work on a monograph of 
the Yellowstone Park, and when this is issued there will 
be published with it a map of the entire Park. 
Indian Mounds in Tennessee. 
Kelpie writes from Grand View, Tenn. : 
"Towstring is not far from the mouth of White's Creek, 
where we went to look for Indian mounds and ducks. 
The ducks had gone South, but the mounds were there, 
and we saw seven, some of which had been excavated, 
some not. Within ten miles of this point are a large 
number of mounds scattered along the Tennessee, and I 
should have been glad to spend a good deal of time among 
them had it been convenient. It is a good chance for 
somebody." 
The Record Moose Head. 
Last week we gave some particulars regarding the 
giant moose head which is here illustrated from a photo- 
graph made by Forest and Stream, The spread of horns 
i8 70iin., and the weight of the skull and horns 681bs. 
The horns are rather light in color, and curiously flated. 
The head belongs to Wm. W. Hart, the New York taxi- 
dermist, and will be mounted and exhibited by him at the 
coming Sportsmen's Exposition, 
Twenty Years. 
Herewith find my check for $4 in payment of another year's sub- 
scription of your most estimable paper. This makes twenty years 
that I have been permitted to sit at your cable and sip the wine o£ 
your vintage. How the months and years have glided away, and 
with them taken so many of the bonny lads that were our cherished 
companions in forest and on stream! How many of the guests of '76 
are still at your board? R. g. Iredell. 
Ohio. 
Men I Have Fished With. 
The Detroit Journal, EDiroaiAL Rooms, Jan. kO.—l am deeplyinter- 
ested in f red Mather's reminiscences, which are of a high order of 
merit, and one of the best features you ever offered. 
W, J. HuMSAKks, Ms. Ed, 
