452 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 18, 1909. 
Birds on the Isle of Pines. 
McKinley, Isle of Pines, Cuba, Aug. 30 — 
Editor Forest and Stream: Having been an in¬ 
terested reader of Forest and Stream, perhaps 
some interesting notes, made by myself on the 
Isle of Pines, may be welcomed by your readers. 
These birds were observed by me on the Isle 
of Pines, Cuba, in 1908 and 1909: 
Dec. 6.—Snowy heron, Florida cormorant, kingbird, 
ani (black parrot), Cuban sparrow hawk, Cuban bob- 
white, green parrot (Cuban), carrion crow (probably 
imm. turkey buzzard), ground dove, turkey buzzard, 
mourning dove. , , ,. » « , , 
Dec. 7.—Red-legged 'thrush (Cuban robin), black- 
throated hummer. 
O ec s—C.rackle (Florida), Maryland yellow-throat, 
Cuban red-bellied woodpecker. Blackburnian warbler. 
Dec. 10.—Cuban meadowlark. 
Dec. 12.—Rusty blackbird (not preserved), magnolia 
warbler. 
Dec. 14.—Louisiana water-thrusli. 
Dec. 15.—Water-thrush, catbird. 
Dec. 16.—Cuban crane. 
Dec. 19.—Green heron. , . 
Dec. 24.—Black and white warbler, prairie warbler, 
Cuban wood pewee. 
Dec. 29.—Zenaida dove. 
Dec. 30.—Limpkin. 
Jan. 7 (1909).—Yellow-throated warbler. 
Jan! 14.—Olive-backed thrush. 
Jan. 15.-—Gray kingbird. 
Tan. 22.—Belted kingfisher. 
Tan. 23.—Least bittern. 
Jan 25.—Phoebe (measurements corresponded to it, 
bill black), parula warbler, palm warbler, prothonotary 
warbler. , ,, , , 
Jan. 29.—Black-throated blue warbler. 
Jan 31.—Swift (Streptoprocne zonaris palidifrons). 
Feb. 5.—Anhigna, American redstart, chimney swift 
(probably Cypseloides niger). . 
Feb, 6.—Bachman warbler, white-crowned pigeon. 
Feb. 8.—Oven-bird. 
Feb. 19.—Cerulean warbler. 
Mar. 13.—Great white heron. 
Mar. 27.—Little blue heron, Cuban martin. 
April 10.—Nighthawk. 
April 11.—Barn swallow. 
April 19.—Black-whiskered vireo. 
April 20.—Indigo bunting. 
April 21.—Red-eyed vireo. 
April 22.—Ruddy quail dove. 
April 28.—Quail dove, yellow-bellied flycatcher. 
May 3.—Ward’s heron,' Louisiana heron, blue-head( 
quail ’dove, solitary sandpiper. 
May 7.—Pied-billed grebe. 
May 8.—Yellow-throated vireo. 
May 11.—Black-billed cuckoo. 
May 14.—Cuban cliff swallow. 
June 24.—Cuban oriole (Dec. S). 
Tune 28.—American egret. 
July 11.—Woodpecker (Xiphiopicus percussus). 
July 12.—Giant kingbird. 
July 19.—Whip-poor-will, palm swift (Tachorius phe 
niscobia). 
The absence of many common Cuban birds 
at once apparent, but it will be corrected in tirr 
A. C. Read. 
The Tale of a Dog 
By H. H. PARKHOUSE 
Born in Syracuse, N. Y.. March 2S. 1871, Mr. Parkhouse moved with his 
family to Chicago in 1875, and to Dakota Territory in 1879. He left the 
parental roof when fourteen years of age, and while working as office boy 
for a law firm learned short-hand. He worked at various points in ■ Dakota 
as stenographer until September, 1890, when he went to Washington State 
and was employed on the construction work of the Green River and Northern 
Railway, later moving to Tacoma and working in the county treasurer’s office 
until August, 1893, when he bought the Ballard News, a weekly paper in 
Ballard, Wash. 
During the “hard times” of the winter of 1893, Mr. Parkhouse gave up the 
newspaper, made a trip through the Southwest, and returned to Bismarck, 
N. D., where he acted as clerk of the Board of U. 6c S. Lands until 
the following spring. In January, 1895, he began work with the Great North¬ 
ern Railway Company, starting as stenographer in the division superintendent’s 
office at Havre, Mont., and has been with the railway ever since, working up 
to assistant to the President. 
Mr. Parkhouse was presented with his first shotgun when ten years of age, 
and a gun has been his constant companion during his wanderings; he has 
shot in most States of the Union. He has always taken a great interest in 
ornithology and field sports, and during the past ten years his particular hobby 
has been making a collection of mounted specimens of the game birds of North America which he has bagged. 
This collection now represents one hundred and four varieties. 
H. H. PARKHOUSE. 
T HIS is the story of a dog. While two men 
enter into it they are only a part of the 
stage setting. The story is of the dog. 
He was an ordinary looking Gordon setter 
of small size, quiet manner, retiring disposition 
and with large brown eyes; as solemnly-mourn- 
ful and mournfully-melancholy appearing a dog 
as could be produced, and he had his own way 
of hunting which nothing could disturb or dis¬ 
concert. One of the men had known him at 
chickens, but not at quail; the other man had 
not known him at all, so the dog was handi¬ 
capped by being a stranger. 
While, as stated, the men are only stage set¬ 
tings in this tale, inasmuch as they do enter 
into the story, it might be as well to describe 
them. One was a large man, from his chin 
down resembling Santa Claus and from his chin 
up that illustrious general and president, U. S. 
Grant. His gray hair denoted he had reached 
the prime of life. We shall call him the Big 
Ian. The other, whom we shall dub the Little 
Ian, resembled nothing in particular except a 
lale human being apparently in age from twenty 
p. His face and actions might denote the for- 
ler age, but when a thorn bush pushed off his 
hooting cap a barren tract on the summit of 
is cranium clearly denoted he was “up.” In 
arly youth he had possessed a stature of 
romise, but like a promissory note it had 
nnitirart purlv utid be soon found himself dis¬ 
qualified for football and most of the more 
manly sports, although he was large enough for 
all practical purposes afield, such as an all-day 
tramp and the handling of a shotgun. 
The trio described were bound for one of 
those typical spots in Minnesota quaildom where 
birds never seemed particularly abundant, but 
still were invariably found* in some numbers; 
where, to the personal knowledge of the little 
man, about three hundred birds had been shot 
during the season within a radius of five miles 
from the small town, and yet the bag had s 
dom exceeded five birds per gun per day. 
Arriving at their destination in the eveni 
there were the usual preliminaries of look 
up the local authorities to determine upon 
plan of warfare for the morrow. These w 
found discussing the prospects for a deer h 
in the northern woods and various were 
sage opinions expressed. Quail were known 
be south, east, north and west; the drivers w 
certain the best shooting would be found 
some distance from town, necessitating their < 
ployment; the guides knew of large unbro 
bevies which were so well educated and { 
sessed of so much bird sense that the serv, 
of a guide would be indispensable in loca' 
them. At the end of the conference the 
man and the little man decided they were al, 
as well equipped with information as when t 
began, but the latter had shot once or twio 
the neighborhood in seasons past, and it 
decided it would probably be as well to v 
out early in the morning and visit the s, 
that had furnished birds on former occasi 
An early breakfast, a few sandwiches ar 
supply of shells stowed away in ample shoe 
coat pockets and the trio meandered down 
railway track shortly after sunrise, headed 
a bunch of brush where the little man had 
ged birds a couple of seasons before. It 
a walk of a mile and a half, but the two 
chatted merrily as sportsmen will on such o< 
ions of topics close to their hearts, and the 
kept busy investigating weed patches and b 
heaps, so that the time passed quickly and 
had arrived at their destination before the) 
alized they had walked so far. 
“Which side shall we take in first?” a 
the big man. “Let me see,” the little man 
dered reflectively; “in that brush to the i 
is where we got up the first bevy the last 
I was here. It had snowed a little the i 
before and we tracked them to where they, 
taken wing by a down log and located the 
some ragweed at the edge of the corn 
Let's try it first.” 
