£3ec. igeo.] FOREST AND^ STREAM. 4 68 
Big Siskj not over 75 feet away. As the re- 
sult of a snow storm and cold weather the previous 
day, I was bundled up with a thick, heavy overcoat, and 
was seated on the bottom of the boat for comfort. I 
could not get the gun to my shoulder, and did not have a 
fair shot. His majesty stood stock still while I fired five 
cartridges, overshooting four times and wounding him 
at the fifth round. I did not cry, but was mighty near 
to it in my disappointment. It was the best chance I 
could possibly expect to have, and it was .lost. I am no 
marksman, and do not pretend to be. 
I hope next November to camp on a lake I saw last 
month Avhere deer, moose, duck and other game seemed 
to be abundant and hunters few and far between. There 
is an island in it from which, with a good field glass, ten 
miles of shore line with forests, marsh and bog can be 
seen — thousands of acres of feeding grounds for moose 
and deer. With our shotguns we easily procured enough 
grouse and black duck for roasts, fricas.sees and broils. 
I suppose that any man bundled up in the bottom of 
his canoe might fail to bring down a moose at 75 feet, but 
ray friend's confession that he is. no marksman reminds 
me of his first chance to shoot a deer at Lone Star Lake, 
St. Lawrence county, N. Y., a few years ago. Our hunts- 
man placed him on a knoll the deer was likely to cross, and 
sure enough a buck did leisurely pass within close range, 
but was not even fired at. We called it buck fever. If I 
had been presejnt to diagnose this case the verdict would 
have been bull moose fever. H. H. T- 
A Mexican Parrot Hunt. 
It was a mild tropical even'ng in April when Juan thrust 
his yellow face through the tent flaps and told me that 
the parrots had constructed an immense roost in the 
parasitic jungle that bordered the foothills a mile bV SS 
from camp. 
We had been in camp only three days. Each evening 
and morning we had observed small floclfs and pairs of 
parrots flying back, and forth over an invisible path. That 
it was a path there was no doul>t, as their flight twice a 
day for water was as straight as the proverbial crow's 
fliight, so it was only the following of this aerial path- 
way that would lead direct to their breeding grounds. 
It reqxtircd patience to follow this course through the 
upper air, as one nmst needs penetrate on foot, though 
a jungle of tropical plants and trees, composed of vines, 
creepers, trailers, ferns, palms and small shrubbery, each 
in its turn seeming to outdo its neighbor in possessing 
thorns, briers and stickers, from little, tiny spurs to large 
ones long and sharp as a darning needle. 
This was Juan's task, locating the roost, and his efforts 
had been rewarded with success, while his dusky coun- 
tenance glowed with satisfaction as he received dos reales 
for his services. 
Joe and I had never hunted parrots. When we were 
leaving San Luis a Mexicanized American had volun- 
teered the information that it was great sport shooting 
them as they came into their roost in the evening. After 
sizing up the birds as they flew back and forth over 
camp, we came to the conclusion that No. 7 shot would 
be about the right size and laid our plans accord ngly. 
The next afternoon we set out under Juan's guidance, 
and after much toil reached the scene of operation. It 
was a small, dense thicket of palms covered with growths 
of a parasite nature, with a circular opening in the 
center about 200 yards in diameter. As we forced our 
way through the thicket into the opening, a confused 
clamor of squawks and .shrieks greeted us on every side, a 
din so loud and harsh it set the nerves edgewise and bid 
fair to drive us both crazy. 
Arriving in the opening we glanced about and saw 
hundreds of parrots guarding their nests, which con- 
tained the young and eggs. There Avere three species of 
the family congregated at this roost — the large yellow 
head, the smaller or medium sized green head and red 
wing, and then the little paroquet. 
They were just returning from their watering place, and 
came dropping in over the graceful palms in a reckless, 
somersault fashion, always righting themselves as they lit 
near the nest, the new comers at once adding their voices 
to the already deafening chorus. 
We held a council of war, Juan was for shooting every 
orie in sight, provided the ammunition held out, Joe 
and I, after a prolonged discussion, came to the conclusion 
that it would be useless slaughter to shoot the innocents 
on their nests, so refrained from joining in the noisy 
assemblage with our sharp speaking breechloaders. 
On our way back to camp we came imder the line of 
flight, and to satisfy Juan's greed for blood we brought 
down four, but his disgust at our tender hearts was plain- 
ly discernible on his countenance when we refused to 
kill more. 
The next day we had broiled parrot for dinner, and I 
maj-- say without contradiction from any one who has been 
there that thej' are not at all bad eating. 
For one who loves to shoot for the sake of killing. I 
could imagine no fitter place than a parrot roost in the 
tropics. He could kill to his heart's content; he could 
get the malarial fever; he could die, all in a short time. 
Yes, send the shooter who counts his success by the 
amount of game he kills to the tropics and make him stay 
there; he won't survive long, and the world will be better 
of¥ without him. E. K, Steadman. 
Notth American Fish and Game Association. 
A COMMITTEE appointed by the North American Fish 
and Game Association for the purpose of considering the 
qi-iestion of harmonizing the fish and game laws of the 
Canadian Provinces and the States contiguous thereto is 
to meet in Montreal on Thursday, Dec. 13. The com- 
mittee consists of C, H. Wilson and J. H. Seymour, New 
York; G. W. Titcomb, H. W. Bailey and F. G. Butter- 
field, Vermont ; John Fotter, Jr., and F. S. Hodges, 
Massachusetts; H. O. Stanley and Chas. A. Oak, Ma'ne; 
Hon. A. T, Dunn and D. G. Smith, New Brunswick; C. 
E, Llssher, L. Z. Joncas and N. E. Cormier, Quebec; S. 
T. Bastedo and Dr. G. A. MacCullum. Ontario. 
The work to be done by the committee will be in prepa- 
ration for the next annual meeting of the Association, 
which will be held some time in February. 
Gulls as Signal Service Sharps. 
Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 6. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I was somewhat interested in a recent article in 
FoiiKST AND Stream on "Sea Gulls as Weather Signals." 
The facts reported agree with recent observations made 
by me while on a ducking trip. We had been spending 
a week aboard a small yacht, and, of course, were not 
pleased with the continuous fair and calm weather, as 
such conditions are notoriously poor for any movement 
of ;he birds. Finally starting for home, I noticed large 
numbers of sea gulls circling after the manner of hawks 
at varjdng heights, some appearing to be about the size 
of sparrows, so high in the air were they. Calling the 
captain's attention, he said it was a sure sign of a storm. 
Two days later a storm appeared from the northeast. 
1 am somewhat curious to learn how long before a 
storm, or indications of one visible to weather sharps, 
the gull's signal service is set in operation. 
My old friend, the captain, is very wary in the matter 
of predictions, his usual remark being, "Well, gentlemen, 
it may storm and it may not; I have seen great changes 
within twenty-four hours." And as his experience covers 
a period of over fifty years, and includes a very narrow 
escape while on a wrecking schooner in the "great ice 
storm" (18.56, I think), his prophecies should have some 
weight. However, he declares the gulls infallible. 
I often wonder if other cave dwellers like myself have 
noted the circumstances attending a change in the 
weather while far away from brick walls and tin roofs, 
more especially if one be on the water, where each little 
shift of the wind is more noticeable. Perhaps when one 
goes to the blind in the early morning, all will be still 
and quiet As the first streaks of light begin to show in 
the east, a light breeze from the north or northwest will 
dispel the slight mist. Probably as daylight approaches 
heavy banks of clouds will be seen to the eastward; then 
the breeze freshens a trifle, and an hour or so after sun- 
rise is blowing from the west. Then it gradually grows 
fainter and fainter until the whole bay resembles a mill 
pond in its .glassy smoothness, and the wild fowl sitting 
on the water afar off are greatly magnified in appear- 
ance, ducks resembling geese, and geese having the 
appearance of small hay stacks. By this time the sun 
is shining brightly, and the day is what some would call 
a "weather breeder." Another hour and you may notice 
a faint ripple on the water, coming from the southwest, 
and as the wind shifts to due south, and perhaps south- 
east, it gathers strength, until finally our mill pond is 
turned into a very choppy sea, and the decoys are bob- 
bing and bowing in a manner far from sedate. As the 
afternoon wears away the sky becomes overcast, and if 
the wind shifts, still further to the eastward the air be- 
c(nnes raw and damp. Then we take it upon ot-.rselves 
to p.redict for the morrow a nor'easter. Still we are not 
even then as accurate as some of Mother Nature's 
weather sharps in our predictions. Ocean, 
For twenty years a news-stand subscriber, and who has had great 
sport and killed much game (by proxy) through its columns. 
Bird Music and Mimics. 
From times of earliest history the songs of birds have 
been a source of delight to mankind. Poets have written 
volumes on feathered minstrelsy. Musicians without num- 
ber have striven — and how vainly — to reproduce the 
exquisite trilling of the lark, the liquid notes of the 
nightingale, the sweet, sad piping of thrushes, the mourn- 
ing plaint of the dove, the fluting of blackbird, of bobo- 
link, of mockingbird. And the pitiful nearest that the most 
sublime composer can ever hope to come to the heavenly 
music of even the purling of the little winter wren is as the 
likeness between the finest steel needle and the delicate 
point of the bee's sting — if, indeed, a similarity as near 
as this can be attained. 
Apart from the delight afforded our ears by their ravish- 
ing tenderness, the notes of birds tell the careful listener 
many a story lost to casual or inattentive ears. It seems 
a cruel, a heartless thing to make use of the melody of 
the winged songsters to lure them to their destruction. 
But the naturalist has taught us much about the economic 
value of birds. Much about their habits, good, bad in- 
different. In order that science may have full scope for 
research, the naturalist must necessarily obtain specimens 
of the flora and the fauna of the country sought to be ex- 
ploited, and .science and the naturalist never yet depleted 
the woods and fens of their bird denizens as have tho.se 
leprous caterers to vain fashion — the plumage hunters. It 
is of the true natiu-alist we speak, not necessarily one 
who works for science. 
Those who, in their wanderings over hill and dale, love 
to hear and see what bountiful nature offers for all to hear 
and sec ; these also are naturalists ! True ones ; for many 
of these never kill a bird, yet know them all and all their 
habits, and love to note the occurrence of well-known 
species or the accidental visits of strangers to uncommon 
localities. By the strict attention which he pays to the 
music of the birds, such a one will avoid many a hard 
tramp and fruitless quest. A single note will often tell 
him vvhere to seek a desired bird, or that a stranger is 
within our gates. 
It is strange, yet true, that not more than one of every 
ten who study birds recognizes the subtle distinctions be- 
tween the calls of various species. They know the songs of 
3. few of the most familiar singers, or the strident note of 
crane or goose, of crow or ja}', but beyond this, little. I 
maintain that in most cases the difference between the calls 
of the various .species is easily recognizable, and is a most 
important point to be considered in the classification of 
species, the subdivision of which is being pushed to 
such an extreme by ornithologists of the present day. 
As some people cannot learn music, so there are others 
who catinot learn to distinguish the different calls which 
are similar. To those this paper will be of no interest. 
But there are many others who have never given the sub- 
ject a thought, or who have not accustomed themselves to 
rely on their ears for information, and to these I say, "Use 
ear as well as eye," Once the ear becomes accustomed 
to the various notes and modulations, more familiar birds 
will always be known by their cries, while a- strange 
sound, however short, will strike, ihe .egr .drum... like .the. 
tap of a bell, and the locating of the viisitor then, becomes 
an easy matter. " • 
Many birds with mimetic talents will tell tales out of 
school, and always of the truth. Let us take the Steller's 
jay as an example. In this part of our country the mag- 
pie is a rare bird. Indeed, I recollect having seen them in 
any numbers in but one winter during a period of many 
years, and that year they seemed to take one of those 
erratic whims which appear occasionally to strike certain 
tribes of birds, and they migrated to our shores in num- 
bers. That season every Steiler's jay in the neighborhood 
was chattering like a pyet. During one's walks through 
the woods one sometimes hears what he thinks is a red' 
tailed hawk crying from a dead tree upon which he -sees 
perched a saucy jay. Yet one can be quite certain that 
a hawk of the species mimicked is somewhere in the 
neighborhood. Tlfie sparrow hawk, sharp shinned, and 
others too, will be imitated at times, ' > 
A jay alights on an apple tree in the early morning cry- 
ing out in an uncouth manner. One does not require to 
be a magician to know that a mob of these birds have 
lately had a red hot time pecking at a crow. 
One goes hunting through a thick fir forest. He hears 
a tremendous commotion going on among the branches Of 
a nearby tree. "Haw! haw! Haw! haw!" Creeping up 
he discovers a crowd of blue fiends mobbing a blinking, 
snappy billed owl. S 
One day, while out grouse shooting in an open T,vind- 
fall, I heard some one whi.stle, as to a dog, close at hand 
and to one side. Surprised, as I believed myself quite 
alone, I turned quickly and detected a jay sitting on a dead 
limb. He seemed to be so alarmed at being discovered 
and at- his own temerity that he nearly^ fell out of the 
tree in his haste to get away, and off through the limbs 
he scuttered, laughing hysterically the while. I knew at 
once that some hunter had lately passed through that part 
and had been whistling up his ■ dog. Master Jay had 
caught the whistle to perfection. He is a true street Arab 
among our birds, a Brer' Jay, and is always ready to teli 
the world that "That's a new coon," and he never tells a 
lie, for so sure as he makes a strange note, one may be 
quite certain that he has heard it a very short time beforeV 
Verily, he is an amu.sing fellow, but he often gives us" 
much valuable information. Mazama. ■ 
CoMOx, B. C, Nov. 28. 
The Fear of Snakes. 
"The Zoological Society of Philadelphia^ Dec, 6.~j 
Editor Forest and Stream: Forest and Stream of the 
present week, editorially speculating upon object^, ipf in- 
tinctive human dread, agks "Where does the ■fear of 
reptiles come in ?" ' 
As one of the possible answers, I venture to inclose to 
you a copy of some suggestions as to the origin qf this 
sentiment, which I contributed long ago (to be exact,, in 
1878) to the American Naturalist. Looking over this 
paper for the first time in miany years, I find., no reason 
for modifying the hypothesis as to men and the. anthro- 
poid apes, but the accumulated evidence from anaiqmical 
details now tells in favor of a line of descent for that 
group directly from _ the lemur-like mammals of tliie 
Eocene period, quite independently of the line by which 
the catarrhine and other monkeys came from the sarrife 
stock. As snakes of any kind were probably few before 
the later Eocene, and venomous forms do not seem to 
appear before the upper Miocene, long after the supposed 
divergence took place, the existence of this instinct in 
both men and monkeys must now be regarded not as due 
to common inheritance, but as a case of "analogous varia- 
tion." or, in other words, the production in like material 
of a similar modification, under like conditions. This 
developmental process is not unknown in structural form, 
and is doubtless more frequent in the comparatively plastic 
field of instinct. Arthur Erwin Brown. ; 
Mr. Brown's very interesting account of the experiments 
referred to is as follows : 
With the purpose of observing the manner in which 
the feelings of curiosity and astonishment are manifested 
in the monkey, Mr. Darwin once introduced a snake into 
a cage containing a number of those animals, and the 
results of his experiment he refers to in "The Descent of 
Man," and also in "The Expression of the Emotions in 
Man and Animals," as illustrative of the extent to which 
those qualities are developed in that branch of the animal 
kingdom. 
Reading his statement, the writer conceived the idea 
that the results obtained were capable of a deeper applica- 
tion than was there given them, and he proceeded to try 
the experiment for himslf. The monkey house at the 
Philadelphia Zoological Garden afforded the opportunity, 
so a dead snake was coiled up in a newspaper, the corners 
of which were twisted together in such a manner that 
they would readily come undone, and the package was 
then set on the floor of a cage containing forty or fifty 
monkeys of a great variety of species. It was instantly 
spied by a female Cynocephalus, who was the principal 
leader in all the pranks with which the monkeys, ^con- 
stantly amused themselves ; she seized the paper by vsn^ 
corner,_ and set off across the cage, dragging it behind 
her, evidently intending to have a good time with it. , 
Before she had gone more than a few feet the paper 
became unfolded, and the snake slipped partly out. -She 
instantly dropped the paper and sidled off in a very 
comical- manner with her head over her shoulders, keeping 
an eye behind her, much as Lot's wife must have looked 
back on the fascinating terrors of the cities of the plain. 
No sooner did the rest of the monkeys perceive the dreadr 
ful object in their midst, than they approached, step- bj? 
step, and formed in a circle of 6 or 8 feet in diameter-, 
having for its center the snake quietly coiled up on th^ 
floor. None dared, however, to touch it- or to go. bef 
yond the established line of safety, with the exception 
of one large Macaque, the acknowledged leader Q;f. the 
cage., who cautiously approached and made an- GCcasioHai 
snatch at the paper, apparently to see if the enemy, ma,?. 
really as devoid of life as it appeared to be ; all the other^ 
meanwhile, looking on in breathless attentioii, . .,- , \iv 
At this point a string which had previously bee^l^ 
tached to the tail of the snake was gently pulled. 'The 
serpent lengthened slightly, and the monkeys fled up the 
