26 
FOREST AND STREA¥^ 
I.Tan. 14, 1899. 
private nature to say to that skunk before he was able to 
see again just what had become of it. Its skeleton was 
not preserved ! I'm thankful to record that in spite of 
eyes, no?e and throat being filled with skunkishness, he 
ate a hearty supper of stewed bear ribs and baked po- 
tatoes." 
When my vision returned I could not refrain from jot- 
ting down a few items on the affair, as follows; "Seth 
Nelson is an honest man; he has had lots of experience, 
but — when it comes to infallibility the Pope can give him 
some pointers. When I see Seth and Seth smells me, he 
will gently smile in such an exasperating way that I fcan't 
help laughing outright. His rules and regulations for 
keeping a Jive skunk sweet are 'subject to change without 
notice.' I have proved that an 'enfant du diable' can 
fire his gun at an angle of 90 degrees to his lumbar 
vertebra and hit a man fair in the eye quicker than a 
wink. As for the odor, it is losing its terrors ; I am get- 
ting used to it, and somewhat saturated withal, so that I 
have to get my wife to smell things for me to see if they 
are bearable before I enter the shanty. In short, the 
odor of a skunk is not what it is cracked up to be, and 
I realize bow some wild animals kill and eat him in spite 
of his gunpowder. I shall eat this one myself, to get 
even with him." 
In the final experiment, cionditions were most fortunate 
for determining the manner in which a skunk can train 
its breechloader, also the amount and quality of the am- 
munition at its disposal. It occurred the next dz.y and 
is thus recorded : "The trap set yesterday among the 
-rocks for a porcupine contained skunk No. 4. As visual, it 
had eaten the caught foot off up to the jaws of the trap. 
No odor was perceptible. It could get just far enough 
under the rocks to hide all but its extreme hind parts, 
and there the trap held it. Perched upon a big boulder, 
directly above and out of range of the excited animal, I 
was master of the situation. At this juncture a loosened 
stone rolled against its hing leg in such a position as to 
receive the full force of the resultant discharges. As 
the stone made no objection, and the air was clearer for 
its service, I let it alone until the magazine should be 
exhausted, meanwhile watching the process of expulsion 
and nudging the beast with a stick to expedite matters 
and test its powers of manipulation. Perhaps it fired 
off a tablespoonful under these conditions, and then the 
stone was removed, and a closer inspection made of the 
movements of the depleted glands. The animal could 
discharge from the right or left teat separately, according 
to the side touched, in such a way as to foul the stick in 
nearly every instance, whether above or on either side of 
the'orifice, so that I soon saw how the one killed yester- 
day had served me such a dexterous trick. When the 
supply of fluid was exhausted it ejected with decreasing 
power a dense yellow substance, which appeared to be the 
dregs of the normal fluid, resembling drops of curds. 
These amounted to about %oz. before the supply was ex- 
hausted, and were not expelled more than ift. from the 
glands." 
This experiment was of great interest in its conclusive 
proof of the independent action of the glands, their mo- 
bility and capacity for intelligent directive effort on the 
part of the skunk, and the ability of the animal to work 
his battery intelligently against an invisible enemy. 
S. N. Rhoads. 
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, Dec. 19. 
The Seaboard Air Line. 
The migration during the fall of 1898 was unusually 
large as compared with that of any j'ear during the last 
ten. It began in late September with the passing of hun- 
dreds of the charming bird families that real estate agents 
never see, though at times for days together the low 
coppices and fragments of natural coverts (always the last 
to fall before the ruthless advance of a city) fairly 
swarmed with their restless forms, while the still air 
held the music of their voices for a space in these locali- 
ties. In early October their tiny voices floated down to 
me at night as they swept along' under the stars. Bunt- 
ing, finch, warbler, all were there, traveling in the dark. 
P'ovei", sandpiper, aye geese and swans. They must have 
known I was listening, for they called to me as they 
passed, just as they have done year after year for half a 
lifetime. They could not see me, so they called, and oft I 
answered. Many a ringing response has come to me from 
out the chill of the starlit sky. Oh! the mystery of it! 
the witchery of these night migrations ! I wonder if they 
appeal to others 'of your readers as they do to me. 
I saw an unusual number of bluejays en route this fall; 
one still, misty Indian summer day, thousands of them 
crossed the lower bay bound for Staten Island and Jer- 
sey. The cause of the fall migration is always the same. 
During the last twenty years 1 have not known it to 
vary, The flight comes f'-om northward and extends along 
the Bay to Bay Ridge and Fort Hamilton, where the main 
body cross via Staten Island to Jersey, and so on down 
the coast. Highholders were here in myriads for at least 
a week, when one golden morning they started' high in 
air; all day long they were crossing; I saw thousands 
go by from my vantage ground on Van Brunts Point 
(which, by the' way, is the most westerly point of Long 
Island), all bound south. 
As I have said, the smaller varieties were in large num- 
bers during all the fall migration. As for the geese and 
other wildfowl, I have heard the bugle calls of a still 
night as they drifted over from the men-o'-war anchored 
off Tompkinsville, answered by the trumpets of a gang of 
wild geese as they swept by far overhead. The geese have 
passed in large numbers. I saw many and heard more, 
and have to chronicle the unusual incident of a large wild 
goose alighting in the grounds of the Crescent Athletic 
Club, where it was secured by the superintendent, Mr. 
Kerr, We had a three days' flight of hawks Sept. 26-29, 
heaviest on the 27th, when, look where you would in the 
clear sky, their circling forms were seen in numbers. 
In these low barometer days a few woodpeckers, with 
an occasional solitary hen hawk, serve to emphasize the 
dreariness of the unimproved town lots that still remain. 
Meadow larks, starlings, and a few odds and ends are still 
fairly plenty in the vicinity of Bensonhurst. But I must 
conclude. 
I had thought of heading this desultory chat 'Bird Life 
in Greater New York," but older than Greater Mew York, 
dating way back among the hills, the Seaboard Air Line 
was established and thousands of feathered travelers take 
this "route" twice each year in preference to any other. 
Having lived my life at one of the way stations on this old 
and reliable line, I have taken stock in it, and yearly re- 
ceive a large dividend of pleasure from my holdings. 
Next spring when the travelers return, and call down to 
me in passing, D. V. I will answer them, and wish them 
"godspeed," for I know m.any of them. 
WiLMOT TOWNSEND. 
Bay Ribge, N. Y. 
Caribou in Maine. 
It is very uncertain at wliat time caribou first appeared 
in Maine, John Josselyn in his "New England's Rarities 
Discovered in Birds, Beasts, Fishes, etc.," published in 
1674, from voyages made from 1638 to 1663, says: "The 
Maccarib or Caribo, a kind of Deer, as big as a stag, 
round hooved, smooth haired and soft as silk; their Horns 
grow backwards along their backs to their rumps, and 
turn again a handful beyond their nose, having another 
Horn in the middle of their Forehead, about a half a yard 
long, very straight, but wreathed like an Unicorn's Horn, 
of a brown jettie color, and very smooth. The Creature is 
nowhere to be found, but upon Cape Sable in the French 
Quarters, and there very rarely, they being not numerous; 
some few of their skins and their straight Horns are (but ^ 
very sparingly) brought to the English." 
Again he says it "is not found, that ever I heard yet, but 
upon Cape Sable, near to the French Plantations." 
In his two voyages to New England (1672) he gives 
six names of the deer tribes, several of them duplicates. 
He seems to have known the Virginia deer and moose in- 
timately, but the caribou only by hearsay and by sight of 
their skins. It is very evident that although he mis- 
took the horns of the narwhal for a middle horn of the 
caribou, that he had seen the skins and heard a good de- 
scription of the animal. From this it would seem quite 
certain that from 1638 to 1672 there were no caribou in 
New England, and as both Wood and Roger Williams 
speak of the Virginia deer and moose, and neither of 
them make any mention of having ever heard of the 
caribou, there seems to be good reason to suppose that up 
to the time of their writing none had come to New Eng- 
land, The first mention of the caribou being found in 
New England is in "The American Universal Geogra- 
phy," published in 1802 by Jedidiah Morse. In giving the 
list of the animals found in the United States, he says: 
"The importance of this part of our natural history has in- 
duced the author to pay the most assiduous attention to it, 
and to seek information from every authority on the 
subject." He also says: "The caribou is distinguished by 
its branching, palmated horns with brow antlers, and that 
it is found in the District of Maine." 
My father has often told me of finding cariboo on the 
Passadumkeag, some thirty miles northeast of Bangor, be- 
tween 1825 and 1830, but at that time none were found 
lower down on the river. • Some time about 1840 they 
began to appear in large droves on Chemo bog, some four- 
teen miles from Bangor, and on all the large bogs to the 
east of us. I used often to hear the hunters tell of seeing 
from twenty-five to fifty in a drove on Chemo bog, and 
also on the Cherryfield barrens. I well remember one 
hunter bringing in three skins, which he said he shot from 
a herd of at least seventy-five in Chemo. Just when 
they began to migrate I cannot tell, but they must have 
all gone in a very short time, as I do not think there were 
any as late as 1845. In 1852 I hunted six weeks between 
the head waters of Union River, Passadumkeag and Nar- 
raguagus, btit the caribou were all gone years before, al- 
though I saw two shed horns, not mates, which, having 
been shed on a bog, the mice had not eaten. 
Now where did the caribou go when they left Maine? 
One would naturally suppose that they would go east, as 
the country there is well suited for them, but I think I 
can show very strong proof that they did not go east, or if 
they did, that they did not stop this side of the St. 
Lawrence. 
Early in the fifties two Maine hunters, Henry Clapp and 
R. B. Philbrook, of Brownville, Maine, reached the Resti- - 
gouche, by way of Grand River and Wagun Portage, and 
went down that river to the Kegwick (Wetomkegwick), 
and going up that some miles stayed nine months, hunt- 
ing over a large territory; and in March moved their camp 
a long distance. I afterward hunted with them both 
separately, and both told me that they saw but one caribou 
track. This one kept round a mountain, and they finally 
shot him. In 185S the writer, in company with three 
others, went up the Tobique, and we were a month 
traveling in the vicinity of Bald Mountain, some of us a 
good way down the Barthurst. We were nearly over to 
the head waters of the Miramichi and a long way to the 
northeast, toward the Restigouche, and from the forks of 
the Tobique to Nictor Lake, a distance of forty miles, we 
explored back in many places, but none of us saw any 
signs of caribou except the tracks of two on Bald Moun- 
tain. Several months later one of the party shot two near 
the forks, but up to that time they could not be called 
plenty in New Brunswick. The first any one in this 
State" heard of caribou returning was in the fail of 1859, 
when a large bull was shot by a man named Morrill, near 
Guilford, Me. This was shot a little southwest of Moose- 
head Lake. In February, 1861, another was shot at El- 
liotsville by A. B. Farrar. This is nearly south of Moose- 
head Lake. In March, 1861, R. B. Philbrook and T. W. 
Billings shot another on AUigash Lake. This was a cow, 
and although late in March, had quite large horns. I was 
there a few days after this was shot, and saw the skin, as 
also the other two. In 1857 and 1869 I was in the woods a 
large part of the fall, and was over a large territory. Also 
in the spring of 1861 I traveled over many townships on 
the heads of Penobscot, Alligash and St. Johns, and in 
the summer and fall of that year went by canoe from 
Mattawamkeag to the north corner of Maine at the foot of 
Boundary Lake, but did not see the track of a caribou or 
see any hunter who had seen a sign of one, except the 
three already mentioned, and tho^-e as near as could be 
told all came in from the west. As they began to in- 
crease they became plenty in the country to the west of 
the East Branch of Penobscot, before they worked their 
way further east, and in fact only a very few ever reached 
their old haunts on the Mattawamkeag, Machias and St. 
Croix. Now that they seem to be slowly leaving, there 
seems to be good reason to believe that they are going 
east, from the fact that they are reported as being so 
abundant in New Brunswick. Cannot Mr. Risteen or 
some of your other correspondents tell us about when they 
began to increase in New Brunswick, and from what 
direction they came, and whether they now seem to be 
located or are still moving gradually east or north? 
M. H. 
"Old Red^iLegs." 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Feeling myself to be in a position to give Mr. Townsend 
the information desired regarding "Old Red Legs," as I 
have under continual observation a number of wildfowl 
of several species, among them a flock of black ducks of 
various ages, I feel free to assert that the bird in question 
is the Anas obscura fully matured, and in winter plumage, 
and two years old at least. His bill is pale olive, head and 
neck light gray, stopping sharply in the brown body 
feathers, legs almost vermilion in color, weight in good 
condition over 3lbs., female slightly smaller, other mark- 
ings identical excepting bill, which is much darker olive 
barred by broad black smooch across the middle, the above 
difference being the only distinguishing mark I have found 
always existent. Contrasting this bird with those shot 
earlier in the fall, which for the greater part are young 
ducks, drakes having slaty bills, hardly to be distinguished 
from that of the female, legs of both a dusky red, I find 
them to tally absolutely with' young birds bred by 
these same "old red legs" under my observation. The 
species breed to a feather. A reason for the late migra- 
tion of the mature birds^ which to me is convincing, is 
the fact that the mother duck does not moult and shed 
her pinions until the young can fly. I can also assert 
that they undertake their fall migration regardless of 
their mother's feelings in the matter, that is, whether her 
pinions are strong enough. 
Birds having mallard markings are probably the result 
of a cross while Mrs. Black was accumulating her set- 
ting, the accident influencing the fertility of an egg or 
two; and the accident would not have occurred had the 
master been about at the moment, for there would have 
ensued a battle royal on the first manifestation of any- 
thing improper on the part of the mallard, ending pos- 
sibly in the drowning of the strange drake. That such 
crossings under natural conditions are rar« is proved by 
the very infrequent specimens observed by gunners. They 
are possibly the result of matings of cripples of two 
species, but more probably the result of accidents as pic- 
tured above. For the female is at once an extremely jeal- 
ous and faithful consort, always scolding frivolous sisters 
to whom her spouse may incline to extend civilities. May 
I add that the mating seasons begin in the early autumn, at 
which time ducks will decoy to almost anything alive — 
separating into pairs or trios in the spring. I strongly 
advise spring shooters to make doubles, for if the female 
survives she will not take unto herself another mate that 
spring, though assaulted by bands of desirous drakes. I 
fear I wander from the text, though I could tell of other 
things about ducks than mark right, mark left. W. L. 
Boston, Mass. 
Feather Tracts of N. A. Grouse and Quail. 
In the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum, Vol. 
XXL, Dr. Hubert Lyman Clark,' of Amherst College, 
publishes a paper on the feather tracts of some of pur 
game birds, which is of interest to sportsmen. Dr. Ly- 
man has been able to examine in the flesh sixty-five speci- 
mens of grouse and quail, representing eighteen species, 
and all the North American genera. The paper is dis- 
tinctly technical, but certain points of general interest may 
be mentioned. Thus in all the genera of quail, except 
Cyrtony.r, it is to be noticed that the thumb of the wing 
carries a well developed claw. The quill feathers of the 
tail (rectrices) are remarkably constant in number, usu- 
ally only twelve and never more than fourteen. 
On the other hand, the grouse all lack the claw on the 
thumb, the number of rectrices is very variable, being con- 
stant within some genera while in others it is very vari- 
able. Thus in three different .subspecies of the du.sky 
grouse the number varies from fourteen to twenty-two. 
The details of Dr. Clark's work are interesting, but they 
do not go far to indicate the origin or relationships of the 
larger groups of the North American Gallimc. 
White Crows. 
West WinfielDj N, Y.-^During the past fall I discov- 
ered near this place a flock of crows. Nothing peculiar 
about that, save that out of the seven three were perfect- 
ly white or nearly so. Having never seen one before, 
would ask you if they are frequently reported. Of the ' 
three, two were killed, the Remaining bird now being here 
and occasionally seen, - W. E. A, 
[Albino crows are so rare that their occurrence i? well 
worth noting. Several have been tecorded in our columns 
in past years.] 
Caribou Horn Measurements. 
Burlington, N. J., Jan. 5. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I see in your issue"of Jan. 7 the record of r3in., and the 
remarkable record of one i6in, plow on the horns of a 
caribou. I am the proud possessor of one T killed in New- 
foundland, of iwhich the plow measures i7i/iin. 
John W. Davis. 
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