266 
FOHESt >AND STREAM 
t April 4, 1903. 
As examples of curious nests the following may be 
cited : The spectacled petrel (a species that breeds in the 
Kerguelen Islands), burrows into a hillside eight or ten 
feet, always under a cascade; the Nicobar moundbird 
builds a nest of dry leaves, sticks, etc., from three to 
eight feet high and from twelve to sixty feet in circum- 
ference; the little bittern (Botaurus minutus) moors its 
nest to reeds growing in the water and the nest may be 
said to float; the flamingoes breed on vast mud flats 
where the waters rise and fall, and the nests constructed 
are admirably adapted to this environment, being conical 
pillars of mud with a shallow cavity at the top for the 
eggs; the nest of the giant coot, found in Chile, is com- 
posed of materials enough to fill a horse cart. As the 
ether extreme of this, there is the nest of the ruby-throat 
hummingbird, which is not more than one-half the size 
of an ordinary walnut shell. The Indian tailorbird sews 
a large leaf together in the shape of a funnel, then knots 
its thread (which it has woven itself) to keep it from 
slipping out and builds its nest in the funnel; the hammer- 
head (Scopus umbrctta), indigenous to Africa, although 
but the size of a raven, builds a nest six feet in diameter, 
which is dome shaped and roofed over; the red oven- 
bird {Fnnmius rufus), as its name indicates, builds a nest 
like an oven divided into two chambers, and begins build- 
ing months before the nest is required for incubation, in 
order, doubtless, that all may be properly seasoned. 
Finally, as a sort of climax, I may mention the nest of 
the Indian weaverbird, which weaves a rope of consider- 
able length and suspends therefrom a globular chamber 
to which is attached a woven tube to serve as an entrance. 
Wonderful, truly, is the art of the bird \ 
It is to be regretted, perhaps, that Mr. Dixon has not 
invested his descriptions with a little more of the senti- 
ment inseparable from nest-building, as thereby they 
would be more likely to make a lasting impression on 
the mind; but his object, as he modestly states, was. 
merely to write an introduction to the science of caliology. 
However, his work is well more than that. It is, in fact, 
for all who arc not professed ornithologists a sufliciently 
comprehensive treatise on a fascinating subject, replete 
with learning and common sense. 
Francis Moonan. 
Shrikes East and West. 
Oakland, Cal., March 20. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of March 14, I was much interested in Ed- 
ward A Samuels' article on the great northern shrike, or 
butcher bird. It is by far the best thing about the merci- 
less little tyrant that I have ever read, and I consider it a 
valuable addition to our store of bird lore. There was 
one thing, however, that puzzled me exceedingly, and 
made me think that perhaps I had been all these years 
mistaken in the identity of the bird, and that is where he 
speaks of it as having a hooked bill. 
When I was a boy in New England, I used to see them 
— or at least a bird that was called the butcher bird — 
every winter; not many, but now and then one, and I 
never lost an opportunity to destroy them. In habits 
and appearance Mr. Samuels has described the bird ex- 
actly as I knew him there except the bill, which, as 
nearly as I can remember, was very nearly straight, the 
upper mandible, perhaps, slightly turned or rounded over 
and about the same length as that of a catbird or robin. 
I never remember seeing the bird there except during 
the winter season, but I see them here around San Fran- 
cisco Baj"- at all seasons, looking just the same and with 
the same habits, but nowhere very plenty and almost 
always alone. 
And now, Mr. Editor, what I would be pleased to know 
is whether the bird I refer to is really the great shrike, 
or have I confounded it with some to me unknown bird 
■with a hooked bill. Forked Deer. 
[Our correspondent's butcher bird was no doubt the 
great northern shrike. His difhculty lies in the definition 
of the word hooked. The bill of the shrike is, as he says, 
straight or nearly so — not bent down and rounded over 
like that of an owl or a parrot — but at the end it is 
strongly bent down to a hook, behind which, in the cut- 
ting edge of the bill on each side, is a little tooth-like 
projection, which reminds us somewhat of the tooth in 
the bill of the true falcons. The bird seen by Forked Deer 
on the west coast is not the same as the New England 
species, but is somewhat like it.] 
The Birds of Wyoming. 
Bulletin No. 55 of the University of Wyoming Agri- 
cultural Department consists of an interesting list of the 
birds of the State, by Wilbur C. Knight. In this first list 
of birds for the State in general ever published, Mr. 
Knight has given a most excellent annotated record, 
covering 288 species. The paper is excellently illustrated, 
and ought to be n the hands of every man who is inter- 
ested in western birds. 
Although making frequent reference to earlier local 
lists, this one is based chiefly on a collection of skins 
made with the assistance of Chas. W. Gilmore, and the 
observations of the author. Mr. Knight, although a 
geologist, has devoted some time to the study of birds, 
but was led to make this list chiefly by the constant in- 
quiries made at the University of Wyoming for literature 
on the birds of the State. In getting together his inter- 
esting material he had the assistance of a number of local 
observers, as well as of Mr. Robert Ridgway, Dr. C. Hart 
Merriam, and Dr. A. K. Fisher, all of Washington. 
Mr. Frank Bond, of Cheyenne, furnished a large num- 
ber of pleasing illustrations for the work. 
After a brief note on the study of birds, Mr. Knight 
quotes the article on "Birds in Their Relation to Agri- 
culture," by Prof. Laurence Bruner, of the University of 
Nebraska, and then passes on to enumerate the species, 
on many of which he gives very full notes. An addendum 
of three species omitted from their proper places, a 
hypothetical list of about a dozen, and the Wyoming 
law for the protection of birds passed at the session of 
1901, complete the paper. 
An interesting note on the magpie deserves men- 
tion, for while there is a general impression that magpies 
may learn to talk, very little that is definite is known on 
tbe subject. Magpies' nests are easily found, and it is a 
common practice to capture young birds and rear them 
in cages, where they at once become very tame and 
readily learn to talk. Mr. Knight says: 
"They usually learn to repeat all of their words and 
phrases by the time they are a year old. T have not found 
anyone who has paid special attention to teaching them 
to talk; but believe that one could, by spending a reason- 
able amount of time, teach them many times as much as 
they generally know. In three instances I have collected 
data as to what the magpies say, with the following 
results : 
"No. I. — Owner, Mrs. J. Rhone; bird's name, Mike; 
words or phrases repeated : Sic-em ; hello ; good-by ; 
here. Major; hello. Major; hello, Mag; get out of these; 
come in; what do you say? stick of wood, Eliza. This 
bird also laughs. 
"No. II. Owner, Mrs. Dr. Coburn; bird's name, Top.sy; 
words or phrases repeated: Topsy; hello; good-by; 
quit ; Topsy-opsy ; pshaw ; pshawie ; Oh, Topsy ! Pretty 
Topsy; Ah, there! This bird chatters, but the words are 
not distinguishable. It whistles, laughs and coughs. 
When quite young there was a lady neighbor of Mrs. 
Coburn's who had a very bad consumptive's cough. The 
magpie soon learned to imitate the cough, and practiced 
it ever since. Age of birds, 12 years. 
"No. III. — -Owner of bird, Mrs. Hertzog; name, Jack; 
age of bird, 15 years; words or phrases repeated: Hello; 
good morning; good-by; Pretty Polly; what's the matter 
with the bird — he's a dreadful nice bird ; rats ! what's the 
matter with the bird — precious bird; Maggie; good-by, 
love ; get there ; come in ; Oh, Clara ! Nettie ; what. This 
bird laughs, sneezes and coughs." 
Mr. Knight has given us a useful volume on Wyom- 
ing birds, creditable alike to himself, the university and 
State. 
^'Theteby Hangs a Tale." 
I H.\VE never seen a squirrel migration. That, of course, 
emphasizes my youngness. The nearest to it was the sud- 
den apeparance in my boyhood — let me see, I was perhaps 
ten, which would make it 1870 — of a marvelous number of 
reds and chipmunks which set all the older gun-bearing 
lads wild that fall. Squirrel-eating was out of fa.shion 
then in Oxford count}', Maine, but that did not affect 
their value in target practice; and I counted thirty-two 
chipmunks astraddle of a three-cornered rail one after- 
noon, result of said practice. Next year there were hard- 
ly any. "Practice" accounted for some. Malpractice 
we'd account it now. But to our story. 
Last fall my nimrod friend Frank and I were on one of 
our holiday trips a-canoe up the Charles. It was a 
tv/enty-five mile paddle, by the way, that day, up and 
back. So he said, with map before him. I sized it up as 
fifty. But to resume. 
As we jogged silently along, suddenly some small ani- 
mal leaped out of the low bush several rods ahead and be- 
gan to swim across the little river. "A gray squirrel !"' 
I judged by the floating wave of the following tail that 
streamed astern in the air like an ostrich feather as he 
jumped. The splash awoke us both. "Hit 'er up, Frank !" 
I said, and Frank "hit." When he gets excited, he's 
worth three of me at the paddle, and the way we surged 
up river was a caution. True, we hadn't lost any squir- 
rels, nor did we have any practical use for any. It was 
ji'St the old hunting instinct to chase the retreating. From 
the bow I got a good look of the swimmer, who made 
good time, submerged to the ears. But his tail simply 
floated along astern, purely for ornament. We both 
reached the shallows about together, and as the little fel- 
low drew out of the water and cantered slowly along 
the winding road of a muskrat trail through the sedges 
to higher ground, we noted that he did not appear to have 
a drop of water about him. He seemed to have left it be- 
hind him like a duck. Whereat we concluded that navi- 
gation was one of his strong points. 
There was no compulsion about the matter. He merely 
had business on the other side of the river_ and went 
about it. A more or less perilous passage, it is true. A 
hawk overhead might have made things interesting. A 
big pickerel below, or a turtle — and we canoed over one 
swimming below us that looked as big as a washtub ! — 
would have given him no warning of submerged fate. 
But that is all in the woodland day's work. Besides, he 
was young, as his size betokened. So, perhaps, "he didn't 
know it was loaded." I've heard of such in my time, 
seems if. * J. P. T. 
Snowshoeingf a Horse. 
MoRGANTOWN, W. Va. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 
rather novel feat of "snowshoeing" a horse in to one of 
the mines on Cow Creek in Carbon county, Wyoming, 
was accomplished recently. A piece of machinery had 
been taken to the mine, which required a horse to operate. 
There had been no road kept open to the mine during the 
winter, and it was fully a mile from the mine to the 
nearest point to which a horse could be taken, so they de- 
cided to move the horse on planks. Two platforms three 
feet in width and somewhat longer than the horse were 
built, and the horse was led from one to the other, the 
back one being moved up in front as soon as the horse 
had walked on to the next one, and so on until he was 
landed at the mine. The horse was gentle and the work 
was accomplished without much difficulty. 
Emerson Carney. 
The Docks and the Tornado. 
Water Lily, N. C. — Editor Forest and Stream: I see 
by your issue of March 21 my tornado duck tragedy has 
found one "Thomas." I am sorry I had to slander his 
western tornado, as he seems "touchy" on that point. But 
this wind came from the west, and perhaps the only 
reason it did not kill all the ducks in Currituck Sound 
was that it only touched the extreme north end ; and while 
it seems to have killed almost everything in its path, for- 
tunately it was a narrow one. These ducks were killed 
due east from Mundens Point, Virginia, said village being 
almost totally destroyed; and the destruction of all those 
ducks as described was the truth pure and simple. I did 
not see nor eat the ducks, as our western friend has 
guessed, but as to the truthfulness of the article I refer 
Mr. McCandless to Capt. William O'Neal, Life Saving 
Station No. S; Capt. Otto Halstead, station No. 4; Capt 
McCorbell, station No. 6. These are all men of unques- 
tioned veracity, and not old hunters like the writer. How 
the ducks were killed will always be a mystery. Few men 
would believe it possible for the waves of the ocean to 
drown swan, as stated by the editor of Forest and 
Stream, but his statements were absolutely true and can 
be verified by Capt. Walter Parker, Station No. 8, Cor- 
rolla, N. C, or E. L. Smith, Water Lily, N. C, who saw 
three get drowned, or so badly used up that he caught two 
of them. The editor's description of how it occurred is a 
good one, and cannot be improved on by me. 
We would like some legislation preventing these 
"w-estem tornadoes" from crossing the Blue Ridge Moun- 
tains, but our representative was a modest man, raised in 
the East, and did not feel that he had the ability. 
I hope this letter will convince Mr. McCandless that 
there is at least a semblance of truth in the account of the 
duck tragedy; I assure him that our ducks can swim, 
and fly, too, and if he doubts that also let him come to 
Currituck and spend a week with me and I'll prove it to 
him. More Anon. 
Early Swallows. 
Mii.ford, Conn., March 24. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
On Monday, March 23, I was somewhat astonished to see 
a little whisp of white-bellied swallows (Tachycineta 
bicolor) in the air flying north, and at first thought that 
I must have been mistaken in the species, for usually 
these birds do not make their appearance here much be- 
fore the middle of April — say from the loth to the 15th. 
However, a little later I saw several other small groups 
passing over, and identified them beyond a peradventure. 
According to my experience, this date of arrival is un- 
exampled for southern Connecticut, and, on looking the 
matter up, I am confirmed in this conclusion by other 
observers. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, in his admirable "Birds 
of Connecticut," p. 30, gives the date of earliest observa- 
tion of the arrival of this species as April 7, and men- 
tioned April 13 as a more usual date. Thus, so far as I 
am able to learn, the white-bellied swallows — always the 
earliest of the swallows to arrive — have this year made 
their appearance about fifteen days in advance of the 
early records of previous years. 
Spring is surprisingly early with us in other respects; 
and unless something unlooked for happens, all the opera- 
tions of nature will be in advance of their usual time. 
Morton Grinnell. 
Egfgfing* in the Yorkshire Cliffs. 
A RECENT issue — -Part I, — of the Transactions of the 
Scientific and Field Naturalists' Club of Hull, England, 
contains an interesting account of egging in the York- 
shire Cliffs, by Mr. E. W. Wade. 
From time immemorial these cliffs have been resorted 
to by sea fowl to lay their eggs and rear their young, 
but of late years the birds were so constantly pursued by 
gunners as to be almost exterminated. They have now 
begun to increase in numbers since the Birds' Protection 
Act gives them an opportunity to breed. Of the species 
found there, the greater number are guillemots, but there 
are some auks and kittiwakes, though now these last 
exist only by hundreds where formerly they were found 
by thousands. 
All this cliff climbing in Yorkshire is effected by means 
of ropes, and the author speaks of it as a most delightful 
and exhilarating form of gymnastics. The eggs collected 
amount to from 300 to 400 per day, and about 130,000 
are taken during the season. The eggs are sold for about 
a shilling a dozen, and specimens with unusual markings 
bring much higher prices, running up to $1.75 or more. 
It is said that notwithstanding this enormous drain 
on them, the birds show some annual increase. 
— • — 
Proijrietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Foekst and Stxxah. 
Shooting in China. 
Shanghai, China, February, 1903— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The recollections of a pioneer, when well told, 
are always interesting and generally instructive. Some 
time ago l found one of the early settlers from the West 
with his mind in a communicative and sportive mood, and 
as I had just returned from a shooting trip I was enter- 
tained by what he said about shooting in China. If I 
could put into this paper the information he gave me, 
with the same spirit and feeling, the readers of the 
Forest and Stream would be also entertained; but you 
are welcome to do as you please with what I do write, 
interspersed with some reflections of my own. 
When Shanghai was first made an open port, the 
ground on which the commercial metropolis of Asia has 
been built, was partly covered with water, and the remain- 
der was a mud flat utilized mostly by native fishermen. 
Standing at a favorable point and looking down the 
Whangpoo River my friend informed me that he had seen 
at one look as many as a hundred American skippers 
anchored, all in line and each floating the American flag 
from its masthead, and loading with tea and other 
Chinese products for American ports. This was before 
the coming of the steamships, which have practically 
driven from the sea the white-winged messengers, whose 
canvas seemed to rejoice with the sunlit clouds, and 
abolished that school in which was trained the skillful 
seaman who manned the ship in the days of our early 
naval triumphs. 
With the steamships also came the breechloading guns, 
and soon after the smokeless powder, and with such rapid 
means of conveyance and such destructive agents, many 
of the pleasures of the sea and the field have disappeared, 
The Skipper has sailed to her final anchorage, and the 
Joe Manton muzzleloading gun has been placed carefully 
in its case, to be taken out only when one wishes to see 
the perfection of the gunmaker's skill. 
There was an abundance of game about Shanghai in 
those days, and one need not have gone outside of ^ 
