May 27, 1905.] 
I don't know that all crows could be taught to talk, for 
it seems reasonable to me that some of them might be 
much more intelligent than others. I have known three 
talking crows, and they all spoke in a higher key than 
people commonly do, but not more so than a few persons 
that I have known, but their talk is very much plamer 
than that of any parrot, and a crow does not use a lot 
of meaningless words and he knows what he is talking 
about. . . 
One of these crows was owned by a man that lived m 
Cena, upper Michigan. I don't know as he or the crow 
either is living now or not, for it has been a long time 
since I was there, but that crow had a knowledge and 
command of wit and repartee that would beat the best 
criminal lawyer that ever tried to tangle a witness in his 
evidence. 1 can't recall the man's name that owned him, 
and the other crow was shot by mistake for a wild crow, 
and the man's name that owned him was Tom Cutler, 
and he lived in Traverse City, Mich., and some of his 
sons are living there now. W. A. Linkletter. 
HoQUiAM, Wash. 
California Rough Notes. 
Editor Forest and Stream.: 
While in these parts it is my experience to be con- 
stantly meeting up with new forms, some of which are 
not in the cases of the National Museum. Natives and 
old residents- are apt to select their bathing places along 
shore for fear of some of these forms, and picnic parties 
who take a day off on the mesas and barancas are apt to 
look where they sit down. To-day I climbed into the loft 
■of an unoccupied barn, and found that the owls had 
started up a 1>ig colony there. Nevertheless, the outcome 
from the exuberance of natural surroundings is for the 
most part charming, and I repeat,, as declared before, that 
southern California is indeed a winsome spot of earth, as 
included within its mountainous environment ; only 35,ooo 
square miles, I believe, but it has its lap full, and what- 
ever is superfluous therein is poured out into the ocean, 
especially in the rainy season. _ 
The amount of rain we have had since Christmas is 
marvellous, and our five great mountain reservoirs are 
deep enough and spacious enough to float the combined 
navies of Russia and Hayti, the sounding line reaching 
from, fifty-one to seventy-two feet,_ which is not bad for a 
I semi-arid coutiy requiring irrigation. I send you a cut 
of the Sweetwater Dam herewith. Such vivid greens I 
never saw in New England, nor such rank growths of 
cultivated flora anywhere on earth. Geraniums, begonias 
and many hot-house plants which we in New York are ac- 
I customed to grow in pots and tubs, here run up to fifteen 
i feet, and vegetables and fruit trees which eke out a scanty 
single crop give out three. We can shell green peas from 
' the pod at any season we choose to plant and raise the 
seed, and as for wild flowers there are enough now out 
on the mesa to be had for the gathering to stock a 
botanical garden. 
Verily this is a charming land. My driven pen is kept 
continually busy answering the various many questions 
' from interested persons who wish to do the Pacific side. 
The heft of the inquiry is in the direction of hunting and 
fishing ; and there are twenty-eight kinds of edible fish 
' caught in San Diego Bay, but people wish to learn also 
about climate, the cost of living and building, and about 
orange culture and poultry raising, irrigation, choice of 
residence sites, and whether mosquitoes are bad; and 
more of like sort. Notwithstanding the volumes_ that 
have been written in praise of southern California by 
well known writers, from first to last, there seems at 
present to be a loud call for assurance, that it is just as 
Nordhoff, Pixley, Holden, Van Dyke, Lum'mis and others 
have declared. For illustration, an article of mine de- 
scribing National City, which was printed in the North- 
ampton Gazette in February, and alluded to in Forest 
AND Stream, brought applications from three parties 
wanting houses. I have called the attention of the San 
Diego Chamber of Commerce to this thirst for informa- 
tion, and suggested an output of propaganda. 
One satisfying comfort of coming to National City 
more than to any other town is derived, from the fact that 
it is so largely native American, the percentage of for- 
eigners being insignificant. Those remaining here now, 
since the Santa Fe Railroad shops were removed to San 
Bernardino, are chiefly elderly people who want to live 
in peace and quietness, and plant for themselves an ideal 
environment for a comfortable old age, not caring to put 
in the whole of their declining years in behalf of posterity. 
One does not have to wait forty years for a tree to grow 
large enough to cast a grateful shade. They culminate 
within one's life insurance possibilities. You have all 
heard of our plant and vegetable growths, and our three 
crops of fruit per year. It is odd to see mature apples in 
March on trees which blossomed in September. Figs, 
oranges and lemons all have three crops a year, but all 
deciduous fruit trees follow closely the habits of their 
Eastern congeners, such as pears, cherries, quinces, plums, 
peaches, apricots, etc. 
As yet we have had no insect pests. A few mosquitoes 
are in evidence in certain localities, but other localities 
are exempt. Later on, when the sun warms up the sala- 
manders and the Gila monsters, I expect to see all man- 
ner of snakes and reptiles, toads and tarantulas ; unless 
the swollen streams have washed them off the mountain 
slopes into the sea. Some day the tide may set the other 
way, and wash the squids, octopods, stingrays and devil- 
fish up into the barancas. 
Of one melodious measure I must write : it Is of the 
medley of the California mockingbird. 
I have often listened to the polyglot of caged mocking- 
birds, as well as to the song rhapsodies of native North 
Carolina mockers, which sit on gables and improvise a 
most extraordinary tangle of melody; but shiver my tim- 
bers if ever I ran into such a cyclone of versification as 
the warbler in front of my bungalow discourses daily. 
And almost every residence has its one especial minstrel. 
'Tis a study to listen to. The notes seem almost word 
sounds. No human articulation could ring so many rapid 
changes on the vowels, varied by intricate inflections and 
modulations as this wondrous songster can utter in the 
course of its rendition. Now, the North Carolina mock- 
ingbird seems to merely imitate the notes of other birds, 
like a parrot or mina bird ;_ but this chief musician is an 
jmprovisor as well as mimic, and he will sit on a wind- 
PoRgsf AND STREAM. 
mill, ridge-pole, chimney or other high perch and reel off 
solfeggios and grace notes which would astonish the most 
gifted rag-time composer, and put the best German canary 
to stumps. Usually as many as fifteen minutes are occu- 
pied in delivering his repertoire, after which there fol- 
lows an interval of hush. I have started as many as three 
mockers at once out of a loquat tree in our garden, but 
no twO' of them would attempt to sing at once, or inter- 
rupt another's singing. Each songster is permitted to 
do his own stunt in its own sweet time. Then, after a 
deferential pause, a second champion is likely to start in 
something after the following strain, the notes . sounding 
amazingly like words : 
THE mocker's medley. 
Cheap! cheap! cheap! cheap! 
Let me try! Let me try! 
Quick! quick! quick! quick! 
Thank you! thank you! 
Pick- wick! pick-wick! 
VVhir-r-r-r-r-r ! 
. Chew-chew-chew-chew! 
Cliew it! chew it! chew it! chew it! 
Witcher, witcher, witcher! 
Witchital witchita! witchita! 
Mieauw! (cat call) , 
Come here! come here! 
Birdie! birdie! birdie! 
Chip-chip-chip-chip ! 
You're a wit! you're a wit! 
Who? who? who? who? 
Pee- wee! pee-wee! 
Wake up ! wake up ! 
Wee-haw ! wee-haw ! wee-haw ! 
Haw-wee! haw-wee! haw-wee! 
Haw ! haw ! 
What cheer! what cheer! 
(A pause.) 
Too-wee! too-wee! twitter twee! 
Good fellow! good fellow! 
See me! see me! 
Jocko! Jocko! Jocko! 
Caesar! Caesar! Caesar! 
Cut it. out! cut it out! 
Chicora! chicora! chikaree! 
Tut, tut, tut, tut! 
Quit it! quit it! quit-quit! 
Saw cut! saw cut! so be it! 
So be it! 'tis like it! 'tis like it! 
Peter! Peter! Peter! 
Gawky-gawky-gawky ! 
Kollup, Kollup, Kollup ! 
Chee! chee! chee! meet me! 
Meet me! meet me! meet me! 
Better not! better not! not! 
Sweet! sweet! sweet! sweet! 
Mieauw! C-r-r-r-r-r-r-r ! 
Phew! phew! phe-e-e-w! 
(Another pause.) 
Esau! Esau! Esau! 
Up-up-up-up! 
Go it! go it! go it! 
Polly up ! polly up ! polly tip ! 
;- Chew it! chew it! chew it! 
Butter fat! butter fat! Out strip it! 
Out strip it! out strip it! 
Fitchu! fitcbu! fitchu! ., 
Silly, silly, silly ! . ■ 
Cut it! cut it! cut it! 
Cheerful! cheerful! cheerful! _ . . . , ,. 
Good cheer! good cheer! 
Cheep, cheep, cheep! 
Fichu! fichu! More, too! More, tool 
Twir-r-r-r! chip, chip, chip! 
Queer! queer! Mieauw! 
At the finale the bird usually takes a short flight and 
plumps down into a bush, where the last cat call is made. 
This note alone of all the repertoire remains constant 
throughout the year. One peculiarity is that it sings at 
night, at all hours; not just a note or two, but continu- 
ously at intervals. This night song is not so rollicking 
as the day song, and the matins differ from the vespers. 
I think that ornithologists have seldom referred to this 
fact, or to the general fact that the California mocker is 
a nocturnal singer, though it is palpable enough to list- 
eners who are out late. Charles Hallock. 
National City, Cal., March 1905. 
British Columbia Game Importation. 
The importation of game birds into British Columbia 
in 1904, reported in a former issue, has been supplemented 
this year by further effort in the same line. 
The birds were shipped by Messrs. Cross & Co. from 
Liverpool on Feb. 23 last. Thirty-four birds reached 
Vancouver alive and in good condition. The birds were 
divided into two lots, eight brace being put down on 
March 23 on Mr. H. Hulbert's farm at Chilliwack, and 
the remainder on Mr. F. B. Pemberton's place at Port 
Guichon. Last year's birds are reported as having al- 
ready mated. Mr. F. G. Hinde-Bowker, of Langley, re- 
ports four pairs mated on his place, and several other 
pairs some miles up the valley. 
Size and Power of Owls. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Referring to an article on this subject in Forest and 
Stream of May 20, I would say that we have no eagle 
owls in North America, our largest being the great 
horned and the snowy. I have measured a good many of 
the great horned, and the largest spread four feet nine 
inches — four and one-half feet is the usual spread of a 
full-grown great horned owl. I have shot one having a 
full-grown rabbit in his claws — not the little cotton-tail, 
but one of our large northern hares. I have known of 
several cases where they have carried off house cats. In 
one instance it was a very large cat. As a large cat will 
weigh near ten pounds, I should think it a very easy 
matter for one to carry off a mallard duck. I know that 
they can and do carry off our dusky ducks — which are 
418 
about as heavy. I have seen the barred owl, which is 
much smaller and weaker, fly with a full-grown ruffed 
grouse with apparently very little exertion. I once had 
a great horned owl mounted which had just killed a full- 
grown g;oose, and it is a very common thing for them to 
kill skunks. While their size is often greatly overstated, 
I can testify that they have considerable lifting power, as 
I once had one jerk my head up suddenly as I lay rolled 
up in a blanket. My hat had fallen off and he probably 
seized me by mistake thinking my head was a rabbit. 
M. Hardy. 
Tame Pigeons* Nests in Trees. 
■San Francisco, Cal., May 12. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I noted with interest the account of your cor- 
respondent from Rockland, Me., of tame pigeons nesting 
in an elm tree, and it brought to mind an occurrence 
similar to this. When I was a boy in the South, I took 
several pairs_ of pigeons from New Orleans to Pass Chris- 
tian, and built a cote large enough for six pairs of birds 
and placed it on the branch of a water oak, about fifty 
feet high. In 'time the progeny so increased there was 
no more room in the cote, and they resorted to the 
branches of these immense oaks, where they constructed 
nests on the main branches and reared their broods as 
contentedly as if in a pigeon loft. 
The pigeon incident calls to mind also a case that oc- 
curred here within the last few months. Last winter on 
Lake Merced I caught three wounded male canvasbacks 
to use as, decoys. One of them died, another recovered, 
and flew away from the pen, but the third, which had a 
broken wing and a crippled foot, was kept until spring, 
when the hired man, to make room for some goslings, 
returned the duck to the lake, which is down below us 
thirty feet. 
Several weeks afterward the crippled canvasback was 
found one morning between the woodshed and his old 
stamping ground, the chicken yard, having in some man- 
ner climbed or hobbled up the steep bank to get his ac- 
customed ration of wheat, which was fed him in his 
swimming tank. C. B. T. 
A Crowds Nest. 
I hardly believe that the crow is entitled to be called 
a wise master builder, nor do I suspect that he is even 
rated as a careful builder ordinarily, but while passing 
an interesting half hour in the bird department of the 
Cornell University Museum- recently, I saw a fine ex- 
ample of the nest building ability of the sable corn puller. 
A card attached to the nest stated that it was taken from 
a scrub oak at Nantucket, Mass. Oak twigs as large as 
one's little finger had been employed in constructing the 
outer frame-work of the nest, and these had been deftly 
— one might almost say, scientifically — bound together in 
a series of locks and twists that would seem strong 
enough to defy the sturdiest winds or the wildest emo- 
tions of the weather. Then in order were cast successive 
layers of smaller twigs and branches, after which came 
the lining made of twine and oak strippings picked and 
fussed into a soft and altogether cosy looking habitation. 
At:, the top the nest was wide and almost unnaturally 
roorhy, then pitching into a deep, rather long, pit-like 
base, from which it would appear difficult to dislodge the 
occupants. 
To the writer the nest appeared to have been con- 
structed_ with especial reference to the weather conditions 
at certain seasons prevailiilg in the neighborhood of its 
location, and it at once stamps the black-winged maraud- 
ers of picturesque Nantucket , as nest builders of uiicom- ' 
mon foresight, and skill. M. Chill. 
We fancy the late Captain Forsyth, the author of the 
Highlands of Central India, was not far wrong when 
he wrote that those who persist in following tigers on 
foot are sure to come to grief eventually. And the 
same reWark applies to the pursuit of lions and 
panthers, and in particular in the following up of any 
of these animals when wounded. The sad story in all 
such cases is generally much the same. The animal is 
wounded, and the sportsman follows upon its tracks 
drawn on by the almost irresistible attraction of the 
chase which lures him on upon the blood-trail of the 
stricken beast. With due precautions this sport may 
often be followed with impunity, the wounded animal 
being found dead or in extremis, or the sportsman hav- 
ing the opportunity of putting in a fatal shot before he 
is seen and attacked. But there comes a day when luck 
or management fail him. The animal, rendered fero- 
cious by its wounds, charges suddenly from its place of 
concealment, perhaps from a few yards off, and those 
who have witnessed or encountered such attacks know 
how irresistible they generally are. Nothing but . a 
shot in the brain will usually suffice to put a stop to 
so furious an onslaught. Immediate death, or subse- 
quent fatality from shock or blood-poisoning generally 
forms the epilogue of such encounters, or if the sports- 
man is fortunate he may escape with the loss of a limb, 
or possibly with no permanent injury. Experienced 
sportsmen know what should be done in following up 
wounded and dangerous animals, but, as we have al- 
ready indicated, they sometimes omit to do it, and suffer 
in consequence. — The Asian. 
It Will Interest Them. 
To Each Reader: 
If you find in the Forest and Stream news or discussions of 
interest, your friends and acquaintances who are fond of out-door 
life will probably also enjoy reading it. If you think of any who 
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turned with a nominal sum, will entitle them to one short-time 
"trial trip," we shall be glad to send you, without cost, coin 
cards for such distribution, upon receiving from you a postal 
card request. Or, the following blank may be sent: 
Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
346 Broadway, New York. 
Please send me Forest and Stream Coin 
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