366 
I am of the opinion, from what I have seen of him, that 
in this section of country at least, if not attacked by other 
birds the sparrow will keep the peace and live on friendly 
terms with them. In other words, that he will only light 
on the defensive. Milton Mays. 
AmericanUEgrets. 
NoTWiTMSTANDli«rG the law against killing the plume 
birds of Florida, the murderous work still goes on, 
altiiough coniined to the dense and far-away Everglades. 
These gruesome swamps hold many secrets ; here and there 
the hunter and adventurer come upon refugees from 
justice, and here some of Uncle Sam's deserters, with 
pointed guns call out, "Hands up!" to the intruder, lest 
he be some Government detective upon their tracks. 
Such characters, with others equally lawless, live by 
the chase and upon the spoils of the herons and egrets. 
As a Avell-known hunter of Kissimmee, on his way 
home from the Everglades with his alligator hides, was 
l^addling through a dense cypress slough, he heard the 
clattering cries of some starving egrets. Stopping the 
boat, he Avent to the place' and found that some plume 
hunter had been there. The ground was strewn with 
about a hundred carcasses of the parent birds, and repre- 
sented the last of that rookery. From tlie tall tree tops 
came the cries of the little ones, whose cries appealed so 
strongly to the hunter that he climbed the tall trees, 
an almost superhuman work, and secured eight half- 
starved birdlings, of different sizes and ages, of big white 
heron, or American egret. They were brought to Kis- 
simmee, but under the circumstances could receive but 
poor attention on the way in the matter of food. They 
were hungry little fellows, and willing to eat many things 
unknown to their native taste. 
So difficult are these birds to capture, on account of 
the tall trees in which they build, that after years of 
efforts to secure a pair for the yard, these from the 
Kissimmee hunter were the first we had been able to 
procure. 
A few words as to the oldest pair, and this brief chap- 
ter is closed. While only cartilage and skin, as the 
bone was unformed, and being half-starved, these birds 
showed a beauty in their snowy feathers and small crest 
and their strong piercing eyes. With almost deafening 
voices they would beg for food. They were male and 
female, and as with the great blue heron, the female was 
the bolder, more pugnacious and like a spoiled unruly 
child in her eating. The male bird was ready to eat 
what was presented; but she would beat her wings, shake 
her head and beg with a loud clattering voice, refusing 
to eat bread and milk because she preferred rare beef and 
minnows. The zoologist can never comprehend the 
nature of any creature by the most careful inspection 
of the stuffed skin. .The vital nature of these baby birds 
became a most interesting study. Fresh from the 
C3''press forest^ belonging to the wildest of flying birds, 
they knew no fear, recognizing a friendship and eating 
from the hand, taking the finger into their mouths after 
the manner in which tliey take the beak oi the parent 
bird. While the long, dilated throat would have its 
imswallowed food, the continuous qua-qua, qua-qua 
would keep up as long as food was in sight. 
When these young birds had been on the premises a 
few clays confined in a box a venture to try them in a 
small part of the yard partitioned off by wire was made. 
They had grown strong enough to toddle around, and a 
fear that the old hens might attack them kept us on the 
alert, till the pugnacious natures of the toddlers showed 
us tliat no care would be necessary as to attack from the 
hens, crane or dog. With feathers ruffled, they would 
extend their long necks, and with a cry intimidate any 
bird which approached. Even Jill, the large crane who 
lords it over the entire yard, turned and walked majes- 
tically away, leaving the egrets to their own domain. We 
found the birds creatures of strong habits, even at such 
an early age, for they, should not have been removed 
from the nest for several weeks. 
With the thought of the pretty picture they would make 
on the green lawn they were brought inside. Here they 
were restless, and paced up and down the wire, running 
up a.gainst the netting till we found they would have to 
be put back to their first quarters. In their efforts to get 
back the male hurt himself in some way, and grew more 
and more helpless. In this helpless state he dislocated 
one of the cartilage-like legs. He grew worse, but 
showed a tenacity of life that was marvelous. His case 
was pronounced hopeless, and after intense suffering he 
succumbed to the inevitable. 
The remaining six egrets were then gotten from the 
hunter, who had grown tired of them and had given up 
all hope of rearing them, for they had been storm-beaten, 
fed on improper food and were so feeble that thej^ could 
not hold their heads up. Every effort to feed and nurse 
the little creatures was put forth. In this weakened 
state they showed intelligence — on the approach of a 
stranger would qua-qua a disapproval. From the tenac- 
ity with which they held to life we hoped from day to 
day to raise at least a part of thein. One feature no- 
ticeable was the strong, clear, shining eye that lasted as 
long as life with them. No strength came to them, and 
the end was the end of all creatttres. 
Minnie Moore-Willson. 
Kissimmee, Fla. 
The Belgian Hare Fad* 
"JxjST after 1 came East," remarked Alexander B. 
Minting, of San Diego, Cal , "there was printed in the 
Heard About Town column of the Times a statement 
about the danger to agriculturists of the Belgian hare 
fad that has gained .such a curious hold on the affection. s 
of breeders of pet animals from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
The note of warning seemed almost prophetic to me when 
I opened my mail tliis morning. A letter from my son 
tells me that the supervisors of our county have just 
passed an ordinance compelling owners of Belgian hares 
to keep them closely confined, and fixing a penalty for 
turning them loose of not less than $20 nor more than 
$100. This all came about from the announcement of a 
woman living near me, that she would turn her hutch of 
about 300 of the animals loose. They had bred so rapidly 
and had become such a care and nuisance that she could 
abide them no longer. Now, the young of the hares feed 
FOREST AND^ STREAM. 
on the tender bark of young fruit trees in preference to 
anything else. As we are a great fruit-raising section, the 
loosing of a lot of Belgian hares would spell ruin for our 
fruit ranches. So a general protest against the turning 
wild of a lot of these rabbits, that breed almost faster 
than a man can count, followed. Belgian hares are so 
common out our way that people will no longer eat them, 
and I know one Los Angeles breeder who will give any 
one all the hares he can take away. Yet he paid $1,500 
for an imported buck, and $1,000 for three does, which 
were the foundation stock of his hutch. Now he is 
doing all he can to exterminate what has corne t6 be an 
unmitigated nuisance in his vicinity, as some of the young 
got loose and are doing all sorts of damage to frmt 
trees. The Belgian hare is a greater nuisance than the 
English sparrow. You people of the East and Middle 
West will so find it in a couple of years unless steps are 
taken to prevent the hares from running wild in the 
woods and fields about your cities. If the Belgian hares 
were allowed to propagate at will for five years there 
would then be more of them in the United States from 
their natural increase than there are of all other animals, 
wild and domestic combined. The market for rabbit 
meat is by no means unlimited, as those Avho breed for 
this market will find in a very short time. That satis- 
fied, what are you going to do with the nuisances?"— 
New York Times. 
Duel Between an Elephanr ^u<i a Lrc rnoiive 
Last Friday tbe first goods train from Teluk .An;.oii 
to Jpoh, on nearing the twelich mile post from Teluk 
Anson, was brought to a standstill , by Driver Russell, 
who noticed a big tusker elephant in the midst of the 
permanent way. A grand contest then ensued between 
elephant and engine. The elephant repea .ediy charged 
the engine, and this game went on for nearly an hour. 
The driver occasionally backed the en.gine, and then 
the elephant would stand aside from the track, but on 
the engine again going forward the animal would return 
to the track and renew its charges. The driver describes 
the onslaught of the elephant as most terrific, particularly 
on one occasion, when he feared the smoke box door had 
been battered in. Of course the driver coukl have 
charged at the tusker, but then the great probability 
would have been that the engine would have been de- 
railed. Doubtless suffering from a sore head at the futile 
contest between ivory and iron, the elephant altered its 
tactics, and, turning its rear portion to the iron steed, 
endeavored to push its antagonist backward. Here 
came the chance for the driver, who quickly turned on 
steam and gradually pushed the elephant off the line, but 
in doing so one of the engine wheels went over the hind 
legs of the elephant, and thus Mr. Tusker was disabled. 
The goods train then proceeded on its journey, bearing 
evident marks of the struggle on the cow-catcher and 
the smoke-box. Several pieces of broken tusks were 
picked up, and these are comnL-^cding a good price. 
The passenger train was following quickly behind the 
goods, and Guard Fox, who was in charge, quickly let 
the elephant have one of his field artillery shots, and so 
settled the obstinate old felh.w. It is remarkable to add 
'that this same engine was the identical one that ran 
into an elephant five years ago on the line a little lower 
toward Teluk Anson. — Perak Pioneer, Malay Peninsula. 
The White Rhinocefos* 
Naturalists interested in the larger fauna of South 
Africa have for several years regarded the white rhinoce- 
ros (R. simus) , which was found from the mouth of the 
Zambesi River southward, as extinct or nearly so, and, in- 
deed, the extinction of this magnificent animal was one 
of the strongest arguments that was advanced to bring 
together the Congress which recently met for the pro- 
tection of big game in South Africa. Recently, hpwever, 
Major A. St, Hill Gibbons, the traveler who made the 
remarkable journey through Africa from south to north, 
killed near Lado, on the Upper Nile, a rhinoceros which 
he regarded as the white rhinoceros. He brought back 
with him the skull of the specimen, and Mr, Oldfield 
Thomas, of the Natural History Museum of London, con- 
firms Major Gibbons' determination and declares the 
animal to be R. sinms. 
Although it has previously been reported that a white 
rhinoceros existed in the Upper Nile country, no speci- 
mens have been brought out and submitted to the 
naturalists, and the descriptions given of the animals seen 
and killed there were so vague that they left it quite 
uncertain as to what it really was. 
In the notes in Nature in which Mr. Thomas announces 
this interesting discovery, he calls attention to a curious 
parallel to it in the discovery by Mr. W. Penrice in Angola 
of a zebra closely allied to the true Cape zebra, which is 
nearly extinct there. In the case of these zebras the 
species are not the same, but the relationship is close. 
The October "Woodcraft. 
The October number of the Game Law."? in Brief and Woodcraft 
Magazine contains the game and iish laws of the United States 
and Canada. The Woodcraft part has this capital list of con- 
tents : 
GRA.N'THER HILL'S PA'TRIDGE. By Rowland K. Robinson. 
IN THE FOREST. 
THE OLD CANOE. 
THE RESCUE OF MR. HUNDLEY. 
KELLUP'S ANNUAL. By JeflTerson Scribb. 
DEACON THROPE'S PIGEONS. 
ANY LETTERS FOR ME? By H. P. Ufiford, 
TEHOSSEE ISLAND. By Olive F. Gunby. 
FLORIDA INDIAN DEER HUNTERS. 
AT CLOSE OUARTERS: The Hen. S.. the Plover and the Bull; 
A Nova Scotia Bear; The Panther's Scream; A Time with a 
Florida Alligator; The Owl's Swoop; The Dog Climbed. 
THE DOG AND THE TURKEY. Bv John Tames Atidubon 
SENATOR VEST'S SUNDAY PIGEON SHOOT. 
AUSTRALIAN ROUGH-RIDERS. By R. Boldrewood. 
.1.. J- — 
^ Talie inventory of the good things in this issue ^ 
X of Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund was X 
V given last week. Count on what is to come next ^ 
^ week. Was there ever in all the world a more % 
X abundant weekly store of sportsmen's reading? % 
i lliTTTMa i 'i i r"'^-"^ • — ■ I M 
•^wf^ ^nd 0m* 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
thejn in Forest and Stream. 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them.— IX. 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL. | J 
[Coniiimed from page 846,] 
Black Duck or DtJsky Dock. 
Anas obsctira (Gmel.). 
This species and the two forms which are next de- 
scribed are closely alike, so much so that by any one not 
an ornithologist only a careful comparison will dis- 
tinguish them. They are birds similar in size and form 
to the mallard, but very different in color. 
The black duck is brownish-black or dusky, all the 
feathers edged with pale jrellowish. The head arjd neck are 
streaked with yellowish. Of this there is least on the 
top of the head and the hind neck, which are sometimes 
nearly black ; most on the sides of head and throat. These 
last are sometimes almost buff, without any streaking. 
The speculum, or iridescent wing patch, is sometimes 
metallic-green and sometimes violet, edged with bladk. 
The bill is yellowish-green and the nail dark, while the 
feet are orange red, the webs dusky. Length, 22- 
inches; wing, ii. The sexes are essentially alike. 
The dusky duck, better known as the black duck, is- 
most abundant in eastern North America. It is the com- 
monest of the fresh-water ducks of eastern Canada,. 
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the New England 
coast, but when it gets as far south as the Chesapeake 
Bay and North Carolina it finds its relative, the mallard^ 
there in numbers as great as its own and associates tvith. 
it on terms of equality. 
The black duck, while feeding almost exclusively in 
fresh water, by no means avoids the sea coast. On the 
contrary, in the New England States it spends most, 
of the day resting on the salt water and only visits the 
iriland streams, swamps and marshes to feed during the 
night. In these localities it does not disdain such salt- 
water food as it may pick up, and in the early/morning at 
low water I have seen great flocks of these birds feeding 
on the sand beaches and mud flats off Milford, Conn., 
where their chief food must have been the winkles that 
are so abundant there. 
The black duck is not common in the interior, thougfo 
it has been reported from near York Factory. Dr. Yar- 
row has reported it from Utah, but these birds were, no 
doubt, mottled duck (A. f. maculosa). I, personally, have 
BLACK DUCK OR DUSKY DUCK. 
not seen it west of Nebraska, and there only on a very few 
occasions. The specimens then noted may have been 
mottled ducks. It is occasionally taken in Iowa and 
Minnesota, but so seldom that most duck -shooters do not 
know the species. Occasionally a man whose experience 
extends over fifteen or twenty years .of gunning there will 
say that he has seen the bird two or three times. It has 
been reported as breeding in great numbers about forty 
miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba. 
In mild winters the black duck remains throughout 
the season in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but some- 
times, if the cold is bitter and long-continued, the ice 
covers its customary feeding grounds, and its food be- 
coming very scarce, it grows so thin that gunners refuse 
longer to kill it. At such times it sits off shore in the 
sea, or, if the ice extends very far out from the shore, 
upon the ice, and almost starves to death. We have once 
or twice seen birds caught in muskrat traps which were 
nothing more than skeletons covered by feathers. 
In New England the black duck is considered one of 
the most acute of all our fowl, and is very difficult of ap- 
proach. They often refuse to notice decoys, and, owing 
to their keen senses and constant watchfulness, are not 
shot in great numbers. The gunners believe that their 
sense of smell is very keen, and will not attempt to ap- 
proach them down the wind, believing that the ducks will 
smell them. ^ 
The black duck rises from the water in the same man?- 
ner as the mallard, and its note is not to be distinguished 
from the mallard's, In the Southern States, where they 
feed chiefly on grasses and rice and wild celery, they are 
delicious birds, but on the New England coast they ac*- 
sometimes found to be very inferior table birds. 
In the South the black ducks often congregate in flocks-' 
of several hundred, resorting especially to little flag, 
ponds in the marshes which they especially aflect Hetf 
they appear to have lost much of the suspiciousness whickl 
they show further north, and often come readily to decoyi;;^ 
responding as easily as the mallard .to the quacking eif 
duck, man or duck-call. , 
More than almost any of its relatives the black duck 
seems to be a night feeder, and nigjht long its cries- 
may be heard through the mjur.&h; yet it is, of cotaat^ m% 
