FOREST AND STREAM. @2>B 
„i i .1 .in i ~ — _ f „„ — . ~ - r - — , _ 
Dec. at, 
of the Tetoti, he says; "But as it is not probable that 
another ascension will be made in our day," etc., etc. 
(my italics). Now here is what his letter says: "It 9elxi- 
not be long before some well-equipped explorer will 
climb to the top of the Grand Teton. There are plenty 
of men who can accomplish this if they will set about it 
right. Not everyone who makes this effort will succeed, 
but it will in our time repeatedly be accomplished." 
(The italics are mine.) 
These facts remain, however: Mr. Langford left no 
record of his ascent ( ?), and of course for a very excel- 
lent reason. Tom Cooper's affidavit still stands unim- 
peached; and subsequent climbers will verify what I have 
said concerning the flowers which the Captain insists he 
found within 125ft. of the summit. 
Mr. Langford says of me that I am ''a man destitute 
of anv high ideal of moral honesty." This is important 
if true. W- O. Owen. 
Cheyenne, Wyo., Dec. !'. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have just read, in your paper, Captain Langford's 
reply to Mr. Owen's article on the ascent of the Grand 
Teton, and as the former gentleman has seen fit to charge 
me with untruthfulness in tbis matter, I desire to say a 
word in explanation. 
Mr. Langford says: "Mr. Cooper swears that he was a 
member of the United States Geological Survey in 1872. 
Mr. Henry Gannett, chief geographer of the Survey, and 
a member of it in 1872, and ever since, says that Mr. 
Cooper was not a member of it in 1872. Mr. Cooper 
also swears that he was a member of the Wheeler expedi- 
tion in 1872. The Wheeler expedition of 1872 was under 
the direction of the War Department; that of Hayden 
was under the direction of the' Interior Department, and 
they were not connected. Was Mr. Cooper at the same 
time a packer in both the Wheeler and Hayden surveys, 
separated by long distances and mountain ranges?" 
Now in reply to this statement I simply ask any fair- 
minded man to read my affidavit which appeared in the 
Forest and Stream of Nov. 5. I saw explicitly therein 
"that I was connected with the United States Geological 
Survey in the years i872-'73-'74-'75-'77 and '78, in the 
years 1872 and 1873 being with the Wheeler expedition." 
The Wheeler expedition of 1872 was just as much a 
United States Geological Survey as the Hayden expedi- 
tion, and in my affidavit I have classed them as such, and 
have said as plainly as I knew how that while I was con- 
nected with the United States Survey in certain years, 
there were two years, 1872 and 1873, that I was with the 
Wheeler, and not with the Hayden expedition. The fact 
that these two expeditions "were not connected" cuts no 
figure whatever in this case. They were both geological 
surveys in any event, and I have so treated them. 
Mr. Langford further says: "Mr. Cooper also swears 
that at the time, in 1872 and 1873, when he was with the 
Wheeler expedition, he was personally acquainted with 
me as one who had charge of a division." I say nothing 
of the kind. I do not say that I was acquainted with Mr. 
Langford in 1872 and 1S73, as anyone can see who will 
read my affidavit, which says: "I * * * am person- 
ally acquainted," etc, The date of my affidavit is Oct. 21, 
1898. "Am" and "was" ma}' possibly mean the same to 
Mr. Langford, but the average reader will not agree with 
him. I wish to say that I was not acquainted with Mr. 
Langford in 1872 and 1873, but met him first in 1875. 
Continuing", Mr. Langford says: "I now know that 
Cooper never saw me." And I know positively that I 
have seen the gentleman, and am well acquainted with 
him. * 
Farther on in his article Mr. Langford, speaking of my 
statement in regard to the altitude, as derived from my 
aneroid barometer, says: "Does anybody believe that Mr. 
Cooper, a packer in the Survey, possessed the technical 
knowledge necessary to compute from an aneroid regis- 
tration the height of a mountain, or that he made such 
a computation 'at the time' as he swears?" 
I simply ask your readers to compare this portion of 
my affidavit with what Mr. Langford here states. Here 
is what I say: "Ihe aneroid given me by Prof. Hazen 
especially for this trip showed an altitude slightly in 
excess of 13,000ft. — the exact figures I cannot recall, but 
1 made a careful note of them at the time," etc. Does 
this sound like "making such a computation at the time"? 
As to this contention about reading altitudes from an an- 
eroid barometer, everyone knows that the reading of an 
aneroid is the simplest matter in the world. It is just 
as easy as telling the time of day by a watch. If anyone 
doubts this statement let him examine an aneroid baro- 
meter for a moment or two. Around the dial are figures 
indicating the altitude in feet, and when the observer 
wishes to determine his altitude he simply looks to see 
opposite what figures the index stands. Wherever that 
index rests is the altitude. 
I wish to say further, in reply to Mr. Langford's 
charge that i am Mr. Owen's employee, that this is a 
falsehood. I have never been in Mr. Owen's employ in 
my life, nor did he offer me the slightest inducements 
to make the affidavit published in Forest and Stream. 
The statement that Stevenson had admitted to me their 
failure to reach the summit was made by me to Mr. 
Owen in the course of a conversation held about two 
years ago — long before this controversy arose. Later 
Mr. Owen asked me if I would be willing to make affi- 
davit to what I had told him concerning this matter, and 
I immediately replied that I would. The affidavit, as it 
appeared in your paper, was subsequently prepared and 
sworn to. Every word of it is true. 
It is a matter of utter indifference to me who made 
the first ascent of the Teton. In making the affidavit I 
have simply given to the world the truth, as far as my 
knowledge goes concerning this matter. Those inter- 
ested may draw their own inferences. Mr. James Steven- 
son admitted to me that he and Mr, Langford did not 
reach the true summit of the Teton, but went no higher 
than the enclosure — which, I am now informed, is- fully 
50ft. below the summit. Thomas Cooper. 
Cheyenne, Wyo., Dec. 13. 
Executive Department, Cheyenne, Wyo., Dec. '13. — 
Editor Forest and Stream: My attention has been called 
to an article by N. P. Langford under date of Nov, 7, 
1898, relating to his controversy with W. O. Owen as to 
who made the first ascent of the Grand Teton. In this 
article I am referred to as probably meaning well, but in- 
capable of remembering details of a conversation for 
twenty-five years. Considerable space is also given to 
proving that Beaver Dick, referred to in my affidavit, 
was not one of the ascending party. I did not assert that 
he was. 1 have always understood that Stevenson and 
Langford constituted the party who made the ascent at 
that time. 1 have never beard of anyone else claiming 
that honor. Beaver Dick said he was a member of the 
Stevenson and Langford party, and this Mr. Langford 
admits. 
The circumstances of my conversation with Beaver 
Dick are perfectly clear in my mind at this time. His 
assertion that Stevenson and Langford had not ascended 
to the summit of the Grand Teton, as described in Scrib- 
ner's Magazine of. June, 1873, surprised me exceedingly. 
I be! ieved the statements in that article implicitly until 
Beaver Dick so emphatically contradicted them. As he 
had been employed upon the Geological Survey and was 
one of the Stevenson and Langford party, his statement 
impressed me very strongly. I have no special interest 
in this controversy, but I cannot allow to go unnoticed a 
contradiction of my statement that Beaver Dick stated to 
me in 1874 that Stevenson and Langford had not reached 
the summit of the Grand Teton, as claimed in the article 
in Scribner's, which he had just read. Mr. Langford 
may impeach this witness, but my statement of his testi- 
mony is correct. I would suggest to Mr. Langford that 
he will not help his case any by insinuating that those 
who differ with him are untruthful. He is especially un- 
fortunate so far as the opinion of this community goes 
when he attacks the veracity of Tom Cooper. All who 
know the; man here share the opinion of Chief Justice 
Potter and would accept implicitly any statements made 
by him. Wm, A. Richards. 
City Bred Woods Birds. 
Even the most casual observer in some parts of the 
country cannot help remarking how entirely some species 
of woods birds have entirely abandoned their primitive 
rustic habits, and adapted themselves to the environment 
of civilized man, acquiring entirely new tastes, dimen- 
sions and peculiarities. This is specially notable in the 
suburbs of St. Louis, known as the "West End," where 
the houses are mainly of the better class, detached and 
surrounded by ample lawns with trees, shrubbery and 
frequent garden fountains. In numerous areas native 
groves of the shingle oak are retained, but the interspers- 
ing mass of foliage trees has all been introduced. Many 
of these are maples of different species, erstwhile grown to 
majestic size, some of them 60 or 70ft. in height, but 
whose fronds were broken off by the great hurricane of 
May, 1896, and rotting, left spaces and hollows desirable 
for nesting birds. These seem to have been incontinently 
pre-empted and occupied as domiciles by various kinds of 
woodpeckers, among which the golden-winged wood- 
pecker, the hairy woodpecker, the red-headed woodpecker 
and the yellow-bellied sap-sucker are conspicuous. They 
are a noisy lot, and make neighborhoods tiresome with 
their clatter. There are bluejays in colonies, crow black- 
birds, robins, wrens, catbirds, redbirds, cardinals, 
fire hang birds and orchard orioles, some representatives 
of which occupy the whole year round, becoming absolute- 
ly fearless of man, and depending in severe weather upon 
the sculleries for subsistence, foregathering like domestic 
chickens. They range all over the West End district. 
The golden-winged woodpecker, which is known else- 
where as the highholder, flicker and yellow hammer, is 
called a "Whittaker" in eastern Carolina, because his 
most familiar notes sound like whittaker, whittaker, 
whittaker, thrice repeated. This call is varied in a most 
interesting and humorous manner by accentuation of the 
syllables, so that when a party are flocking, as they often 
do, among the thick branches of trees, where it is quite 
difficult to see them, they seem to say, "Which is it? 
which is it? which is it?" or "Which is you? which 
is you? which is you?" Often they seem to call to each 
other, "What cheer ! what cheer ! Fitzhugh ! Fitz- 
hugh !" The sap-suckers are even more colloquial, and 
their jaunty red caps and mottled black and white garb, 
as they flit from tree to tree, enliven city premises very 
much. The orchard oriole and the wren have several 
notes in common, and the mockingbirds imitate every 
note and inflection. The latter are not common, and I 
Imagine are trapped for their store value. Orchard orioles 
are known in North Carolina as "jorees." 
These feathered indigenes of the woods and groves 
never leave their environments of brick and mortar in 
the St. Louis suburbs, but have become absolutely citified. 
They are as much house birds as home-bred canaries. One 
often sees them sitting on the peaks of the "Queen Anne" 
roofs, where they squawk for fifteen minutes at a time 
at intervals of five seconds or so, varying their occupation 
by occasionally prodding the joints of the slated roofs 
with their long bills, producing a metallic sound like that 
of an electric bell, only less musical. Sometimes they in- 
sinuate their beak between the tin roof plates and produce 
leaks when it rains; so the housewives say. And the red- 
heads bore into the telephone poles, which the grubs have 
attacked, and often sit on the cross-pieces and squawk or 
croak like frogs. Really, their vocal range is something 
never dreamed of by those who have seen woodpeckers 
only in the woods. Their movements in the breeding 
season are most interesting. A pair began to nest in 
March in a cavity of a large limb of a maple, which the 
cyclone had broken off short. While incubation was going 
on their notes were exceedingly varied, and some of them 
fairly musical ; and after the fledglings began to take 
food there was always a great clatter every time the old 
birds brought anything, especially if the pair happened to 
meet at the entrance simultaneously. A crooning or pur- 
ring sound was noticeable while the birds were hovering. 
In the course of the day, the various notes or calls which 
I have already mentioned were uttered and repeated from 
tree to tree throughout the neighborhood from one block 
or square to another. 
Bluejays are abundant in St. Louis at all times, but 
especially so in winter, when they are harshly noisy 
scolds. But they also have musical sounds; and in Abbe- 
ville, North Carolina, where I passed last summer, in a 
delightful post oak grove one of the most mellifluous 
morning bird notes was their "tweedle, tweedle," projected 
from their high perches among the limbs. At 
St. Paul the whisky jack and bluejay winter, usu- 
ally; and it was there I first detected their musical 
capabilities. Though but a few individuals stay to face 
the boreal rigors; for on Sept. 12 1 noticed how 
they congregated at Lake Como in large numbers in 
company with hosts of robins, catbirds, thrushes and other 
birds, which I ascertained left for the south two days 
afterward, when the first cold snap came, and I took occa 
sion then to ask several of the park attendants whether 
they had noticed the bluejays harassing the smaller birds 
at any time, or stealing their eggs or young, and they all 
fully exonerated them from this stereotyped malicious 
charge. The ways of the jay in St. Louis arc very dif- 
ferent from his habits in the East; and naturally so. In 
the East he is regarded as a rascal, while in the Middle 
West he is a familiar friend. He is quick to see the 
advantage of living about the house if he can do so 
safely. I need not say that I rejoice, for I believe that' 
the song birds were made to bless our lives, and the in- 
sectivorous birds to contribute to the service of man 
And I am glad to see that all the foregoing birds, though 
noisy, are growing in public favor, and I hope they may 
all live unmolested wherever they are. 
Charles Hallock. 
Favetteville, N. C, Dec. 17. 
The Starlings. 
Bay Ridge, N. Y., Dec. 7.— Editor Forest and Stream : 
Since my first notes anent_ the starlings appeared in 
your columns, I have continued carefully to observe 
this most interesting addition to our avifauna. 
Shortly after the young birds were launched into the 
world the whole tribe seemed to give themselves up to 
a season of gaiety. 
Toward the latter part of August our local residents 
received large accessions to their numbers, both of young 
and old birds, the young largely outnumbering their 
elders. The first week in September there were hundreds 
of them about. On Labor Day I counted 173 in one 
flock feeding in the grass under the trees. 
Again and again they would rise like a bevy of quail 
and take short flights in the open, performing most 
graceful evolutions, turning and wheeling as one, sail- 
ing back into the trees, from which they dropped in 
twos and threes, to resume their feeding, until the grass 
seemed to heave in spots with birds, as they ran and 
crept about in close touch, like a flock of sheep. 
While holding aloof from our native birds in the 
main, they did not object to the society of a body of 
about fifty grackles, who fed with them day after day. 
When the impulse for aerial evolutions seized the star- 
lings, who rose with a sudden whir of wings, it was 
amusing to see the grackles. Every grackle hopped 
awkwardly in surprise, and with upstretched neck seemed 
to say, "What in thunder is the matter with those 
fools?" Then they would feed again, till presently the 
starlings returning, the grackles would peck at them, 
and fuss about in seeming expostulation. At irregular 
intervals the repetition of this scene afforded much 
amusement. 
Flocks of fifty to one hundred starlings were common 
in this vicinity all through the fall. The large flock 
above referred to kept in close range during many 
weeks, affording me ample opportunity for study. 
During the middle of the day if the weather was fine 
I often saw long strings of them preening on the 
telegraph wires; they were always snuggled close like 
swallows, not in open order. 
By the middle of October their numbers were greatly 
thinned. By Nov. 15, with the exception of those 
couples that had nested with us, they had left. At the 
present writing these latter only remain. 
These birds, being newcomers among us, are most in- 
teresting to- observe. They sing the season through. 
Even our late cyclones have not served to damptn their 
ardor in this respect. No later than yesterday 1 heard 
and saw them, high among the bare boughs. 1 have 
grown fond of their peculiar twittering song, with its 
occasional ffutings. 
Insects formed their principal diet during summer; 
wild cherry, dogwood and other berries during the 
autumn. What they subsist upon at present is past my 
finding out, but subsist they do, and are in apparently 
good spirits, as evidenced by their songs. 
During fierce weather they shelter in the old nesting 
sites, and f suspect these are nightly occupied by them. 
Our' pestiferous English sparrow is at a discount with 
these birds. I never saw such complete indifference 
shown by any bird as the starlings manifest toward these 
wretches. Will not some of your correspondents furnish 
notes on the starling? Have they gone South? Where 
are the large flocks that were with us three months ago? 
Wilmot Town sen q, 
[Starlings are scattered about New York in a number 
of places, and everywhere seem to be popular. They ap- 
pear to interfere with no other birds, but to devote them- 
selves wholly to the main business of life — the work of 
getting a living. They are cheery fellows too, and on 
gray days of last November a small flock of which we 
have knowledge were heard singing away in the branches 
of a hickory tree like so many robins. Individuals of this 
flock are believed to have nested in a church steeple near 
their feeding grounds.] 
Albino Squirrel. 
Philadelphia, Dec. 12. — Editor Forest and St '-earn: 
The article in issue of Nov. 19, "A Red Squirrel Turned 
White," recalls the fact, that during my late camping crip 
on the west branch of the Penobscot, Maine, I shot a 
perfectly white squirrel, having pink eyes, and in fact all 
the characteristics of an albino. 
J. J. Kirkbride, M. D. 
