Feb. 14, 1903.] 
— ^ — 
Birds of the Western United States/ 
Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey has done an admir- 
able piece of work in her Hand-book of Birds of the 
Western United States, Inchiding the Great Plains, 
Great Basin, Pacific Slope, and Rio Grande Valley; 
published by Houghton, Mifflin & Company Such a 
volume was greatly needed, and completes for the 
United States what was begun by Mr. Frank M. Chap- 
man, in his '"Hand-book of Birds of the Eastern United 
States." 
Mrs. Bailey has had good preparation for the work 
that she has so well accomplished in the several sea- 
sons that she has spent in different parts of the West, 
in California, Texas and Arizona, and the field work 
that she has done has left its impress on this most 
excellent volume. Besides this, as she tells us in her 
prefatory note, the preparation of her book has been 
facilitated by the good offices of many ornithologists; 
and she has had access to the collections of the Na- 
tional Museum, and of the Biological Survey. vSuch 
well-known Washington ornithologists as Dr. A. K. 
Fisher, her husband, Mr. Vernon Bailey, Mr. E. W. 
Nelson, Mr. H. C. Oberholser, and others whom Mrs. 
Bailey names, have contributed to the work. 
In her introduction she gives still further credit for 
assistance received, and works consulted. Here are 
found also a chapter on Collecting and Preparing 
Birds, Nests and Eggs, a paper on Life Zones, drawn 
from the investigations made and laws laid down by 
her eminent brother, Dr. C. H. Merriam, and illustrated 
by a full page map drawn by himself, together with 
some Notes on Migration and Economic Ornithology. 
A brief chapter on Bird Protection, by Dr. T. S. 
Palmer follows; and then come a number of local lists 
by Messrs. A. W. Anthony, W. H. Kobbe, Walter K. 
Fisher, Joseph Grinnell; a List of the Birds of Fort 
Sherman, Idaho, taken from Dr. J. C. Merrill's Notes 
in The Auk, in 1898; of the Birds of Cheyenne and Vi- 
cinity, by Frank Bond; of the Birds of three counties 
of Arizona, from W. E. D. Scott's papers of 1886, '87 
and '88, in The Auk. An important list of books of 
reference, and some remarks on the Use of the Keys, 
so freely furnished throughout the volume, close an 
Introduction of ninety pages. 
The first and general Key to the Orders of the Birds 
is followed by the Key to the Families of Water Birds; 
and then begin the descriptions of the birds in their 
order, interrupted as we pass along by Keys to genera, 
preceded by descriptions of the families. Each species 
and sub-species bears the name and number used in 
the A. O. U. Check List of North American Birds; 
but in the vernacular names of the birds Mrs. Bailey 
drops the possessive form, where the species bears the 
name of an individual, and speaks of Steller jay, in- 
stead of Steller's jay, and of Attwater prairie hen, in- 
stead of Attwater's prairie hen. 
The descriptions of the birds are extremely clear and 
good. They are not in the least technical, but the 
author has seized on the salient features of each bird, 
and has described them so clearly that it seems that 
even for a novice it should not be difficult to find here 
what he wants. 
For a beginner — a more or less untechnical student 
— a book made up wholly of descriptions of birds, no 
matter how excellent they may be, is useful only as a 
book of reference, a sort of dictionary in which to 
look up a specimen about the identity of which he is 
more or less in doubt. No book is more useful than a 
dictionary, but at the same time one would hardly 
choose a dictionary for light reading. Mrs. Bailey's 
book is made very attractive to the least technical 
nature lover by her brief notes on the ways and lives 
of the birds. There is a charm in the paragraphs com- 
menting on its habits or its distribution which follow 
almost every species. Manj-- of these are written by 
her husband, Mr. Vernon Bailey, and all are most 
attractively phrased. Often it is merely a touch which 
is given, but it is always a touch of nature, and so is 
vivid. Without these paragraphs of natural history 
the book would lose much of charm, and somewhat of 
usefulness. 
Here, for example, is a paragraph about the scaled 
quail, a bird known to few sportsmen, which conveys 
interesting information: "As the bluish-gray birds run 
from you over the gray ground, dodging this way and 
that among the bushes, the most conspicuous thing 
about them is the white tuft of their crest, and from 
its suggestion of the cottontail they have been well 
dubbed cottontops. Perhaps because they are so pro- 
tectively colored, they usually trust to their feet to 
carry them out of harm's way, rarely taking flight un- 
less hard pressed. But when a flock does scatter, the 
birds are astonishingly hard to find, though but a 
few yards awaj^." 
Of another bird, the valley quail, a much more famil- 
iar species, it is said: "The brushy parts of Golden 
Gate Park in San Francisco abound with quail, and 
from the benches one can watch the squads of plump 
hen-like little creatures as they move about with state- 
ly tread, or stand talking sociably in low monosj'Uables. 
If they hear a footstep on the walk they start up and 
hurry across the path like hens before a wagon, top- 
knots dropped over their bills, necks craned forward, 
and legs stretched as they patter along in double-quick 
time. When less in a hurry they run in a stiff, prim 
way, the cocks with a dignified gait, the hens with a 
demure feminine air. Outside the parks, when the 
flocks are feeding, the old quail act as sentries, to the 
wrath of young hunters, who complain that the cocks 
'tell on them!'" 
Mr. Bailey makes interesting mention of the Rio 
Grande turkey, a species which Avas once extremely 
abundant in southern Texas. 
"Over most of the country, where the wild turkeys 
•were once plenty, they have now become scarce or ex- 
tinct, but in a few places may still be found in some- 
thing like their original abundance, living much as 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
their ancestors lived, breeding unmolested, strolling 
through the woods in flocks, and gathering at night 
in goodly numbers in their favorite roosting places. 
Perhaps the best of these undevasted regions are on 
the big stock ranches of southern Texas, where the 
birds are protected not by loosely formed and unen- 
forced game laws, but by the care of owners of large 
ranches, who would as soon think of exterminating 
their herds of cattle as of shooting more than the 
normal increase of game under their control. Here, 
at least, through the breeding season, the turkeys are 
not more wary than many of the other large birds, 
and as we surprised them in the lialf open mesquite 
woods along the Nueces River, would rarely fly, mere- 
ly sneaking into the thickets, or, at most, running 
from us. 
"The ranchmen say that the turkeys always select 
trees over water to roost in when possible, and no 
doubt they do it for protection in this region where 
foxes, coyotes and wildcats abound. On the edge of 
the flooded bottoms of the Nueces River they roosted 
in the partially submerged huisache trees. A loud 
gobble just at dusk led us to their cover, and crouch- 
ing low to get the sky for a background, we could see 
the big forms coming in singly or in twos or threes, 
and he.ar the strong wing beats as they passed on to 
.alight in the huisaches out in the water. When the 
noise of their wings and the rattling of branches had 
subsided, with a few gobbles from different quarters 
they settled down for the night. The next morning, 
as the darkness began to thin, and a light streak ap- 
peared in the east, a long, loud gobble broke the still- 
ness, followed by gobble after gobble from awakening 
birds in_ different parts of the bottoms, and before it 
was half daylight the heavy whish-whish of big wings 
passed overhead, as the turkeys with strong, rapid 
flight took their way back to the higher ridges." 
The S3rstematic part of the book takes up about 475 
pages, and this is followed by a few pages of a Field 
Color Key to genera of some of the common passerine 
birds. This will be found very useful to beginners who 
are not collectors and who have not access to 
collections _ of skins. It is a useful addition to the 
volume, which contains about 600 pages — ^xc -}- 512. 
If the text of Mrs. Bailey's book is useful and at- 
tractive, no less so are the illustrations, which are 
scattered all through it with most liberal hand. There 
are thirty-three full page plates, by Mr. Louis Agassiz 
Fuertes; thirty-six full page plates in all, the other 
three being Dr. Merriam's zone map, the topography 
of a bird, and a very beautiful photograph of white- 
tailed ptarmigan. Besides this there are a very large 
number— over 600— of figures in the text, some of them 
heads of birds drawn by Mr. Fuertes, some photo- 
graphs of bird skins, some outline drawings of struc- 
tural features, by Miss Frederika Weiser. Besides this, 
certain publications of the Biological Survey, some 
periodicals, and the earlier works of the author con- 
tribute a few figures. 
Mr. Fuertes is known, of course, as the first of Ameri- 
can bird painters of the day, and of his plates and the heads 
of water birds especially, which so freely appear in the 
text, it need only be said that they are altogether ad- 
mirable—though perhaps not all of equal quality. 
A very few of the smaller figures of skins in the text are 
so reduced by photography that they do not show very 
much. On the other hand, of most of the cuts it is fair 
to say that they are distinctly helpful to the text. 
Of the volume as a whole, onlv good words can be 
spoken, and Mrs. Bailey, and those who have so ad- 
mirably worked with her to produce so excellent and 
so useful a volume, are much to be congratulated on 
the result. 
A Winged Chofus* 
Time, three A. M. in the leafy month of June. Place, 
a Pullman sleeper in a wooded ravine on the top of the 
Alleghany Mountains. The audience, an occupant of an 
upper berth. A danger signal had been given up the 
tracks. The brakes were set tighter and tighter, the car 
became a turmoil of noises as the woodwork creaked as 
the brakeshoes gripped Uie wheels and racked the car 
from end to end. The confusion of noises from this put- 
ting on of the brakes culminated in one fierce crunch 
and grind as the train came to a dead stop. For a 
moment, just long enough to notice, but too short to 
measure, a dividing line of imaginary stillness followed 
the war of friction, when out of the silence came flooding 
m through the open car ventilators such a heavenly 
chorus as one may hear but once in a lifetime upon this 
earth. 
From out of the sylvan depths on each side of the 
ravine came in upon the still, cool morning air the notes 
of a thousand feathered choristers, each singing his own 
p^an of praise, yet fitting into the great chorus like a 
single stone m a grand musical mosaic. 
The woodland's leafy aisles of nature's cathedral 
echoed and re-echoed with the limpid notes of the 
thousands of feathered warbkrs, each vieing with the 
other in one melodious burst of Orphean harmony. 
Like the swell of the ocean on a calm and peaceful 
day, the undulating melody gently rose and fell upon the 
ear of the listener. So perfectly blended were the notes 
of the tiny warblers with the gentle whispering of the 
forest leaves as they shed the dews of night upon the 
russet leaves below, that to distinguish any one particu- 
lar bird was impossible. How long this chorus lasted I " 
could not say, for I was the sleeper who had been sud- 
denly awakened by the change from motion to rest It 
may have been seconds, it may have been minutes 'that 
i enjoyed this feathered chorus, be this as it may but 
when the signal of a clear track was given, the wheels 
turned, and, like a pleasing thought, the music passed 
into a memory, never to be forgotten as the cars again 
moved and closed the hearing to all but the breathing of 
the iron horse as it panted under its snake-like burden 
It was a heavenly choir that once heard can never be for- 
gotten. Charles Cristadorq. 
All communications intended for Fohest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, and not to any individual connected with the paper, ' 
Doubting Didymus, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The world owes much to doubters; they are the 
touchstone of truth, but they should not doubt de- 
risively. 
In your issue of Dec. 20, your Chicago correspond- 
ent included m his usual batch of interesting items 
a statement made to him by his friend. Col. Bobo, con- 
cerning the occasional migrations of squirrels in myr- 
iads, that droves sometimes swam across the Missis- 
sippi, arriving so exhausted upon the opposite bank 
that they were picked up in quantities by the tail and 
flung into game bags; and doubting Didymus disbe- 
lieves the tale. Now a squirrel's tail is very plain and 
It IS a plain tale than shall put doubting Didymus 
down. He states m your issue of Jan. 3: "A man who 
manuiactures stupid lies and palms them off on the 
public with intent to deceive is a sort of nuisance " 
VVhat is to be said of a man who can't see the truth 
when It looms up before him like an office building? 
In reply, Mr. Hough stands to his guns, and in Forest 
AND Stream of the 31st ult., Didymus explodes his 
skepticism once more and clamors lor proof. 
1 am a man of peace, but not wishing that this con- 
troversy should enter upon an acute stage, I interpose 
amid tlie trumpetings and the snortings, the pawings 
and the dust, in the hope that a little spray from a 
periiaps acknowledged fountain of trutli will cool 
Heated tempers and lay that dust. I quote from Ernest 
Ingersoll's "Wild Neighbors"— page 15- 
"Godman says that the gray coat was a fearful 
scourge to colonial farmers, and that Pennsylvania paid 
±.a,ooo m bounties for their scalps during 1740 alone 
I his meant the destruction of 640,000 within a com- 
paratively small district. In the early days of western 
settlement regular hunts were organized by the in- 
habitants, who would range the woods in two com- 
panies from morning to night, and vying as to which 
band should bring home the greater number of tro- 
phies, the quantities thus killed are almost incredible 
HOW- 
^Z^^^A ^^S^ssive multitudes grew the sud- 
hn.,^ 4 ^^^""'"f^^ ""l"^^^^^ migrations of innumerable 
hosts of squirrels, which justly excited wonder half a 
century ago. Thousands upon thousands of this soe- 
cies usually would suddenly appear in a locality, mov- 
ing s eadi y m one direction. These migrations oc- 
iJZf ^ u^^^T', ^veather, and at intervals of five 
years, and all that I have been able to find notes upon 
were headed eastward. Nothing stopped the column" 
^on2,:!H"i^?'^'^^ '""'"'^'^ '^'^"^^^ f^^^ests, prairiesTnd 
ploughed fields, over mountams and across broad riv- 
m1; J- ^""^^i Niagara, the Hudson and the 
M1SSIS..1PP1. This little creature hates the water and 
is a bad swimmer, paddling clumsily along with his 
whole body and tail submerged. A large part there 
eacheTui ""^r^^t' ^^^'^ managed to 
SS\'e'ca\2f.rby1.aiS"^ ''''' "^^^^ "^"^ 
I myself have made notes upon squirrel migration 
but hey iail to show that uniformity of direction to 
which Mr. Ingersoll refers. For instance, in a miVa 
tion at Baraboo, Wisconsin, three or four yearT aio 
eight years had elapsed since the previou° o/e and fhe 
direction was south. It would be of much interest if 
information could be gained upon these po nts! the 
mig ations are common and due observadon would 
doubtless cast some light on the mystery ?s is well 
rS ^^Altf'^-f."'"^^ 'f^^^ PenrdSfy seizes a'" 
and n tv. ^'^^ "^"'^ "^"P"' etc., in a body, 
Se ^h^LnfY^", ^ ^'f^' ^^-^^ «^e" crossing 
tne i names at London, their movement beine so or- 
der^, so simultaneous, as to indicate intelligent oveJ- 
sight or direction. Rats have been known to tlfm 
nXs^a7d'''wh'^' If"""^"^- ^wim tSrhe'dies 
ntftr r^i ; ''^^y o^t"^" fails to do, various 
ril V ^"Y^te ^-atery graves, and Mynheer sq?k- 
family " ^^^P^ tl^^ traditions of^ the 
A. H. GOURAUD. 
Squirrel Migrations. 
fame. Now, I propose to do nothing less Xn to rnf 
feJr' n'^^"'"'' ^''^ *° ^° ^« thorougSy iSt he wfu 
overwhelming him with testimnn^ t.i dimply 
Lidiia is Dy A. VV. Brayton, and on page iio-iii is mV^n 
^ Western Reserve. 
From the Ohio Geological Survey. 
The remarkable migrations performed at times bv 
t elrirtorV^^h^;^"''^ ^ most^nterestfng'SeSure i^ 
cnen nistory. I hey congregate m the autumn in im 
n ense numbers, and move off in the sa S general 
direction, not turmng aside for the largest sfieam5 
though usually averse to water. Dr. Johif A KeiSi' 
cott re ates that during one of these mirations fn 
numerable squirrels swam across the Nifeara npfr' 
Buffalo, New York, landing so ejS^^nstlJ^^f . T 
easily taken by hand or knocked dofn'vkh stickrMr' 
mfSns'^^ - regarf S^li^'se 
to;3?\5S,^°^TJ^-,S^--i- satisfac 
