I' 
March 14, 1903.^ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
206 
The snake was taken in to the brood of young, which 
together with the mother bird, kept up the same sharp, 
screeching cry 1 had first heard uttered by the parent 
birds. 
The female went into the hollow and stayed perhaps 
a quarter of an Jiour, all the while the young keeping 
up their cries. During this time the male tlew from 
his perch near the entrance to the hollow limb to an- 
other limb on the east part of the treetop. 
At the end of a quarter of an hour the female flew 
out of a woodpecker's hole perhaps four or five feet 
below where she entered, with the snake in her claws 
apparently untouched, and with the same screeching 
cry flew to her mate. For a little time she kept up this 
crying, as if telling of the difticulties and troubles she 
had in trying to feed the young. Very soon the male 
flew to a dead twig in the top of another tall tree five 
or six rods to the south. The female, still uttering 
her cries and holding the snake in her claws, very soon 
followed him, and then with the snake and occasional 
cries, flew back to the fir.st tree and circled around 
the top a moment, and then, with cries continued, flew 
back with the snake to the south tree, from which the 
male had just flown. Soon, however, he came back, 
and they were together there when I left ofif watching. 
Clement L. Webster. 
Ch»rles C'ty, Iowa 
Gray Squirrel Migration. 
The good naUired debate which for some weeks has 
been carried on in Forest and Stream on this subject 
shows in a curious way the forgetfulness, or lack of 
knowledge, on the part of the public of facts which in 
past years have attracted general attention and caused 
much astonishment. 
The enormous abundance of the gray squirrel on this 
continent in the early years of the last century was well 
known, and the fact of its migrations from time to time 
— like those of many other animals — was freely written 
about. Now that the country has been settled up, the 
gray squirrels^ — largely owing to the attacks made on them 
by man — have so diminished in numbers that great con- 
gregations are no longer seen. 
We quote from Audubon and Bachman ("Quadrupeds 
of North America," Vol. 1., p. 265), some reinarks on this 
point : 
"This species of squirrel has occasionally excited the 
Avonder of the populace by its wandering habits and its 
singular and long migrations. Like the lemming {Lem- 
mus norvegicus") of the eastern continent, it is stimulated 
either by .scarcity of food or by some other inexplicable 
instinct to leave its native haunts and seek for adventures 
or for food in some (to it) unexplored portion of our 
land. 
"The newspapers from the West contain many interest- 
ing details of these migrations; they appear to have been 
more frequent in former years than at the present time. 
The farmers in the western wilds regard them with sen- 
sations which may be compared to the anxious apprehen- 
sions of the eastern nations at the flight of the devouring 
locust. At such periods, which usually occur in autumn, 
the squirrels congregate in different districts of the far 
Northw^est; and in irregular troops bend their way in- 
stinctively in an eastern direction. Mountains, cleared 
fields, the narrow bays of some of our lakes, or our broad 
rivers present no unconquerable impediments. Onward 
they come, devouring on their way everythijig ' that is 
suited to their tastes, laying waste the corn and wheat 
fields of the farmer, and as their numbers are thinned by 
the gun, the dog and the club, others fall in and fill up 
the ranks, till they occasion infinite mischief, and call for 
the more than empty threats of vengeance. It is often 
inquired how these little creatures, that on common occa- 
sions have such an instinctive dread of water, are enabled 
to cross broad and rapid rivers like the Ohio and Hudson, 
for instance. It has been asserted by authors, and is be- 
lieved by many, that they carry to the shore a suitable 
piece of bark, and, seizing the opportunity of a favorable 
breeze, seat themselves upon this substitute for a boat, 
hoist their broad tails as a sail, and float safely to the 
opposite shore. This, together with many other traits of 
intelligence ascribed to this species, we suspect to be 
apocr3'phal. That they do migrate at irregular and 
occasionally at distant periods, is a fact sufficiently estab- 
lished ; but in the only two instances in which Ave had 
opportunities of witnessing the migration of these squir- 
rels it appeared to us that they were not only unskillful 
sailors, but clumsy swimmers. One of these occasions, 
as far as our recollection serves us, was in the autumn 
of 1808 or 1809; troops of squirrels suddenly and unex- 
pectedely made their appearance in the neighborhood ; 
among them were varieties not previously seen in those 
parts ; some were broadly striped with yellow on the sides 
and a few had a black stripe on each side, bordered with 
yellow or brown, resembling the stripes on the sides of 
the Hudson Bay squirrel {S. hudsonicus) . They swam 
the Hudson at various places between Waterford and 
Saratoga ; those that Ave observed crossing the river were 
SAvimming deep and awkwardlj^ their bodies and tails 
A\'holly submerged ; several that had been droAvned were 
carried doAA'UAvard by the stream, and those Avhich Avere so 
fortunate as to reach the opposite bank were so Avet and 
fatigued that the boys stationed there Avith clubs found no 
difficulty in securing them alive or in killing them. Their 
migrations on that occasion did not, as far as we could 
learn, extend farther eastward than the mountains of 
Vermont, many remained in the county of Rensselaer, and 
k was remarked that for several years afterward squir- 
rels Avere far more numerovts there than before. It is 
doubtful whether any ever returned to the West, as, find- 
ing forests and food suited to their taste and habits, they 
take up their permanent residence in their newly explored 
country, Avhere they remain and propagate their species 
until they are. gradually thinned off b)- the increase of 
inhabitants, new clearings and the dexterity of the sports- 
men around them. The other instance occurred in 1819, 
Avhen we Avere descending the Ohio River in a flatboat or 
ark, chiefly with the intention of seeking for birds then 
unknown to us. About one hundred miles below Cincin- 
nati, as we Avere floating down the stream, we observed a 
large number of squirrels SAvimming across the river, and 
we continued to see them at various places until we had 
nearly reached Smithland, a town not more than about 
100 miles above the mouth of the Ohio. 
"x'Vt times they were strewed, as it Avere, over the sur- 
face of the water, and some of them being fatigued sought 
a few moments' rest on our "steering oar," which hung 
in the water in a slanting direction over the stern of 
our boat. The boys along the shores and in boats A^^^re 
killing the squirrels Avith clubs in great numbers, although 
most of them got safe across. After they had reached 
the shore Ave saw some of them trimming their fur on 
the fences or on logs of drift wood." 
ToAvnsend, Avriting in 1834, speaks of the abundance of 
the gray squirrel in Missouri, and says: "On last Christ- 
mas day, at a squirrel hunt in this neighborhood, about 
thirty persons killed the astonishing nunflier of tiueive 
hundred between the rising and the setting of the sun!" 
Springfield, Mass., March 5— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The squirrel migration story goes a good deal 
further back than Jacque's forty years. The folloAving 
is from Audubon's "Ornithological Biography," published 
in 1831, page 247: 
"The gray squirrel is too Avell known to require any 
description. It migrates in prodigious numbers, crossing 
large riA'^ers by swimming Avith its tail extended on the 
water, and traverses immense tracts of country in search 
of the places Avhere food is most abundant. During these 
migrations the squirrels arc destroyed in vast quantities." 
W. G. 
Trenton, Georgia, March 6, 1903. — It happened that I 
did not read Avhat Col. Bobo said about the migration of 
squirrels, or about taking them from the water by the tail 
Avhen crossing streams, but I have seen so many com- 
ments thereon that I am minded to say a Avord myself. 
I know little about Sander's Readers — they were not in 
being Avhen I left school — and I never really saw a squir- 
rel migration — that is, in force. That they, in common 
Avith mau}"^ otlier creatures, have so migrated, I have be- 
lieved for many years. When I was a boy, say along in 
the forties, it was no uncommon thing to see in the news- 
papers casual reference made to these migrations, and I 
always supposed that they were undertaken in search of 
better feeding grounds. I have sometimes seen squirrels 
going rapidly through the Avoods in particular directions, 
as though the}'' Avere bound for some distant point. Some- 
thing more than fifty years ago I Avas shootit:g squirrels 
in Vermont, near the foot of Mount Ascutnei^ The mast 
Avas not good that year, and the game Avas not too abun- 
dant, yet I AA^as assured that the squirrels had been very 
numerous the year before, when nuts and acorns Avere 
plenty. I have knoAvn the same thing to occur in northern 
Maine. 
My theory is that it is no ttnusual thing for squirrels to 
moA-e to considerable distances Avhen food is scarce, and 
the like has occurred even in the case of human beings. 
It does not always foUoAV that success attends their ven- 
ture, but food must, if possible, be had ne\'ertheless. 
It is not strange that in earlier days, Avhen squirrels 
AA-ere far more numerous than noAV, their movements 
should haA'e appeared more as if guided by concerted ac- 
tion on the part of the animals ; yet this is not certain. In 
the county where I write there are fewer squirrels than 
common this year, and I think it is because there are 
fewer nuts and acorns in this neighborhood than is usual. 
As to taking these creatures from the Avater, I imagine 
that they would in their innocence rather welcome the 
liand that lifted them into the boat or on shore from 
Avhat must have proved a watery grave to man3^ I know 
that even foxes and deer Avill seek human help at times. 
I have myself shaken a squirrel from a tree into the 
water, and caught it Avithout difficulty as it swam ashore. 
As to Avhat has been Avritten about squirrels crossing 
streams on a piece of bark, I haA^e only to say that if the 
bark Avas handy the creature Avould be likely to make use 
of it, so far as it could. 
And ■ A\diat ever Col. Bobo may have said seriously, con- 
cerning squirrels or anything else, I should be very much 
inclined to take at its face value. Kelpie. 
The Water Ousel's Winter Home. 
The chosen home of the Avater ousel is in the rugged 
defiles of our further mountains. He haunts the dancing 
mountain streams; their sources in the little patches of 
dAvarf Avillow near timber line; the lakes of gem-like 
beaut}' Avhich thej' form; their Avinding course as they go 
sparkling through the mountain meadows and tumble 
noisily down the basins and cations into the foothills, 
where they widen out and cease their brawling ; as high 
up as he can get in summer, loAver down in Avinter, but 
always in the mountains, Avherever there is open Avater. 
The sprite of the mountains he, the bearer of messages 
from the "Under water people" to the prospector or big- 
game hunter who penetrates the savage solitudes which 
delight the bird's little heart. He has no fear of the in- 
truder, not he. At j'our A^ery feet, up from the swirling 
mountain water he comes, after a submergence that seems 
impossible to a Avarm-blooded, breathing being, hops upon 
an ice-sheathed boulder and, flipping the Avater from his, 
dark slate blue coat Avith movements that almost baffle 
the eye, so quickly are they made, he bursts into song; a 
sweet, soulful trill, the harmony of the mountains, a song 
of thanksgiving for the blessings of life Avhich are his for 
the taking — that is the message. 
When feeding they alAV'aj's seemed to me to be under 
the water more than half of the time. Water bugs, 
beetles and aquatic larA'je of all kinds constitute the grub- 
stake of this mountain roA'.er. WhencA'cr he gets the 
chance, he will eat a few minute trout and eggs, but the 
old one rustles him aAvay from her spaAvning place if she 
catches him near it — reference being had to wild trout. 
In the spring of 1898 the Avriter caught a trout in the 
canon of the Medicine Lodge, a tributary of the Paint 
Rock, that had a Avater ousel or dipper in its gullet. I 
Avould not alloAV one of these birds to use about a pond 
Avhere trout were bred, but, save for the demands of 
science, I would as soon think of shooting my faithful 
old pack-horse as this sweet singer in the rugged moun- 
tain solitudes which he affects. 
I have a cherished photograph which shows the winter 
habitat of the American dipper. It shows the dipper at 
home on Paint Rock Creek, one mile below the mouth of 
the caiion in Big Horn county, Wyoming. One can make 
out the bird with the naked eye on the ice point in the 
thread of the stream AAdiere he is perched, in the act of 
smgmg, just as the camera Avas about to click, when the 
sun peeped out for a moment on that bleak February day. 
I ncA^er look at the picture but I seem to hear the'sAveet 
notes of the singer, so bold and dauntless, so typical of 
the West. Dr. A . J. Woodcock. 
What Became of the Wild Pigeon. 
I THINK that any one who reads this article will be, 
like myself, satisfied that the destruction of the pigeons 
Avas to gratify the avarice and love of gain of a few 
men Avho followed them till they Avere virtually exter- 
minated. 
When a boy and living in northern Ohio, I often had 
to go with a gun and drive the pigeons from the newly 
soAvn fields of wheat. At that lime Avheat Avas sown 
broadcast, and pigeons Avould come by the thousands 
and pick up the wheat before it could be covered with 
the drag. My father Avould say, "Get the gun and 
shoot at every pigeon you see," and often I would see 
them coming from the woods and lighting on the newly 
sowed field. ^ They would alight till the ground was 
fauiy blue with these beautiful birds. I would secrete 
myself in the fence corner, and as these birds would 
light on the ground they would form themselves in a 
long row, canvassing the field for grain, and as the 
rear birds raised up and flcAV over those in front, they 
reminded one of the little breakers on the ocean beach, 
and as they came along in this form, they resembled 
a Avmrow of hay rolling across the field. I would 
wait until the end of this Avave was opposite ray hid- 
ing place and then arise and fire into this winrow of 
living, animated beauty, and I have picked up as many 
as tAventy-seven dead birds killed at a single shot with 
an old flintlock smooth bore. Later in the fall these 
birds Avould come m countless millions to feed on the 
wild mast of. beechnuts and acorns, and every evening 
they would pass over our home, going west of our 
place to Avhat Avas knoAvn as Lodi Swamp. Many and 
many a time haA^e I seen clouds of birds that extended 
as far as the eye could reach, and the sound of their 
wmgs was like the roar of a tempest. And for those 
Avho are not acquainted with the habits and flight of 
these birds, I wish to say that once in the month of 
JNovem.ber, Avhile these pigeons were going from their 
feeding grounds to this roost in the Lodi SAvamp thev 
were met with a storm of sleet and snow. The' wind 
blew sn hard they could not breast it, and were com- 
pelled to alight m a sugar orchard near our place, 
this orchard consisted of twenty acres, where the tim- 
ber had all been cut out, except the maples, and when 
they commenced lighting, the trees already partially 
loaded with snow and ice, and the vast flock of pigeons 
being attracted by those alighting, all sought the same 
resting_ place. Such A^ast numbers alighted that in a 
short time the branches of the trees Avere broken and 
as fast as one tree gave way those birds Avould 'light 
on the already loaded tree adjoining, and that, too, was 
stripped of its long and limber branches. Suffice it 
to say that m a half hour's time this beautiful sugar 
orchard was entirely rtiined by the loads of birds which 
tiad attempted to rest from the storm 
About this time did I enjoy my first pigeon hunt in 
a roost. Being a boy about sixteen years of age hav- 
ing a brother about thirteen, and as we had seen the 
pigeons going by to their roost for hours and knoAV- 
mg that many people Avent there every night to shoot 
pigeons on the roost, my brother and I were seized 
with a desire to go and enjoy this exciting sport. Then 
arose the difficulty of a gun suitable foi the occasion. 
As we had nothing but a small bored rifle and not 
owning a shotgun, we appealed to father as to what 
we should do for a gun. We had previously gained his 
consent to our going. He suggested that Ave take the 
old horse pistol; one of Revolutionary date, and had 
?in'" ^^"^'^^ ^ reminder of troublesome 
t mes. Let the young man of to-day, who hunts with 
the improved breechloader, think of two boys starting 
pigeon hunting, their only outfit consisting of a horse 
pistol, barrel twelve inches long, caliber 12 gauge, flint- 
lock, one pound of No. 4 shot, a quarter of a pound 
of poAvder a pocket full of old newspaper for Avadding, 
a two-bushel bag to carry game in and a tin lantern 
Thus equipped, we started for the pigeon roost, a little 
alter dark. And although three miles from the roost 
when Ave started from home, Ave could hear the sullen 
roar of that -mynad of birds, and the sound increased 
Jhl'Z^ '''fTf ^PP^-^"'^^^ t^^^ '-oost' till it became 
as the roar of the breakers upon the beach 
As we approached the swamp where the birds 
roosted a fe\v scattered birds were frightened from the 
roost along the edge of the swamp. These scattering 
birds we could not shoot, but kept adA^ancing fuX? 
into the swamp. As we approached this vast body of 
birds which bent the alders flat to the ground, we 
could see every now and then ahead of us a small 
pyraniKl which looked like a haystack in the darkSs 
^^th fhf appeared to be this hav- 
^ dS; ^^i"^''^^"^'^,^^'^'.'^^"^^,^^ the bended ' 
aldeis, .and Ave would find ourselves standing in the 
midst of a diminutive forest of small trees of alders 
and willows. VVe now found these apparent haystacks 
were only sniall elms or willoAvs completely loaded 
down Avith live birds. My brother suggested that I 
shoot at the next "haystack." So we advanced alono- 
very carettilly among the now upright alder<^ till Ave 
came to where it was a perfect roar of vokes and 
wings and just ahead of us we saw one of these mvste 
nous forms Avhich so rembled a haystack. My brother 
suggested that I aim at the center of it and let the 
old horse pistol go. I instantly obeyed his su-o-estion 
pointing as best as I could in the dim light at the cen- 
ter of that torm, and pulled. There wa.s a flasli and a 
roar, and the yery atmosphere seemed to be alive with 
flying, chattering birds. The old tin lantern was 
