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gun, but with the movement he had placed the 
tree trunk between us, and I patiently awaited 
his reappearance. Soon from a distance he 
came running along the ground. He gradually 
approached and I fired, but the shot was wasted 
among the tree trunks. 
The whistle of a train in the valley warned 
me that the day was almost gone, and that the 
sun would soon drop behind the western hills. 
It w'as 4 o’clock and I had enjoyed every minute 
of my eight hours abroad. I had not been alone 
on the hills, however. From all the mountains 
around came the reports of guns. Someone 
north of me on the same ridge had a magazine 
gun and twice I heard five reports in rapid suc¬ 
cession. Five cartridges must weigh as much 
as a good sized squirrel. Two guns beside the 
magazine were also on the ridge with me. 
As I turned homeward I resolved to shoot one 
more gray. At the edge of the woods down to¬ 
ward the valley were many beech trees, and I 
knew the squirrels would come down to them 
at sunset. On my way two partridges rose, but 
a dog is necessary for shooting birds. I climbed 
down the slope and seated myself to smoke and 
wait for a victim. The birds were calling to 
each other and I fancied that one cry came from 
the grouse bidding each other good night. The 
sun dropped behind the hill and I heard a n< 
behind me. Slowly turning I saw a gray sq 
rel which had jumped from a rocky ledge 
was running down the slope to the dinner t; 
which he knew nature had spread. I hesita 
but surely two squirrels are little enough, 
gun roared and he lay on the leaves. It 
needless slaughter, but as a salve to my c 
science I resolved on a squirrel stew. It 
almost dusk when, hungry and healthily ti 
I climbed down to the valley and reached h( 
just as the whistles were sounding for 6 o’cl 
and releasing discontented mortals from 
hours’ work within shop walls. 
Passenger Pigeon? 
Olcott Bluff, N. Y., Oct. 6. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: Thirty years ago, if I had seen 
what I saw this afternoon, I would have said 
that was a wild pigeon. 
I was pushing a wheelbarrow to the front of 
the cottage, which stands within fifty feet of 
the bank and twenty-five above the waters of 
Lake Ontario. As I rounded the corner a 
pigeon flew up over the bank from the east and 
passed within a rod of me. From the size and 
color I said to myself, “That was a passenger 
pigeon.” It was too blue and too large for a 
male mourning dove and tail too long and pointed 
for a tame pigeon. It flew straight over the 
bank up the lake shore to a clump of willows 
two rods long and a rod wide and about twenty 
rods from the cottage. I could not see that it 
went into the willows or over them into a small 
tree on the opposite side of a brook (dry at 
present). I got my gun and a half dozen shells 
and walked up the bank, passed the willows and 
tree, but saw no bird, except some sparrows that 
flew into the willows. I then walked along the 
bank and the edge of a cornfield with corn in 
the shock and then back through the center of 
the field, thinking the pigeon—for certainly it 
was a pigeon—might be feeding on the loose 
corn strewed on the ground in many places. I 
then looked into three large black walnut trees 
some fifteen to twenty rods from the lake. I 
saw many sparrows of different species and 
plenty of walnuts, but no pigeon. I then re¬ 
turned to the lake and walked east along the 
beach. As I passed the willows, which were then 
between me and the sun, I saw the pigeon in 
the center of a tree busy preening itself and 
not over twenty feet from me. Now I had two 
No. 8 shot shells in my gun and remembered 
that I had two No. 10 shot shells in my pocket, 
and thinking that No. 8 shot would mutilate the 
bird at that distance, I removed the right hand 
shell and put in the No. 10 shot. The only 
place from where I could see the bird placed 
the sun directly in my face. I raised the gun 
and I pulled the trigger, but the shell failed to 
fire. Again I raised the hammer and pulled the 
trigger, but it must have been too late, as it was 
a clean miss, as after looking through and 
around the willows for at least ten minutes 
without finding the bird, nor even a feather, but 
I did find the top shot wad on the opposite side 
of the willows. 
I then took the empty shell from the gun. 
There is little wonder that it did not explode 
the first time, for it was loaded in 1903, but I 
cannot understand how I came to have those 
shells, as I always buy another make. 
I have in my collection the last wild passenger 
pigeon reported taken in Niagara county, May 
10, 1883, and have I just missed reporting the 
first to be seen since then? I shall always be¬ 
lieve that the bird I saw to-day was of that 
species, as I have never seen another bird that 
flies just the same. I killed many of them more 
than sixty-five years ago. 
I received from Lockport last evening a spar¬ 
row that had only one wing and I could not 
make out from the examination I was able to 
make that it ever had another. I sent it to my 
taxidermist to be mounted and body examined. 
J. L. Davison. 
American Robins in England. 
An attempt is being made to introduce the 
American robin (Turdus migratorius ) into 
Surrey, and the initial proceedings appear to 
have been attended with a certain amount of 
success. Eight pairs and an odd cock were im¬ 
ported last spring and kept for some time in a 
large open air aviary. Of these five or six pairs 
were liberated near Guildford about the middle 
of June. The birds mated at once, nesting in 
the trees, with the result that by the end of 
August the numbers had increased to between 
forty and fifty. 
Concerning the matter the Field has this to 
say: “Opinions appear to be divided as to the 
ultimate success of the experiment, one view 
being that in obedience to the migratory instinct 
the birds will leave the neighborhood and be 
hopelessly dispersed at the approach of winter, 
though some persons, who know the ‘robins’ in 
their habitat, believe they may be induced to re¬ 
main if food is freely supplied. Of late ti 
have been attempts—in our opinion too man 
to introduce foreign species into this coun 
Two or three years ago, at the instance of sc 
members and friends of the Agricultural 
ciety, a number of Australian doves were lib 
ated from the Zoological Gardens. Some 
them bred in the trees in the grounds and 
the park, but others wandered off. More t 
one lot of Pekin robins has also been turned < 
and though some of them stayed for a si 
time about the parks—for the liberation was 
confined to one—the result was disappointing 
those who had hoped that the birds would ren¬ 
in their new quarters. We are distinctly oppc! 
to experiments of this kind, though we she! 
be glad to see some attempt to introduce m; 
pies, jays and crows into the parks and 0 
spaces of London. They would not only 1 
animation to the landscape, but would be 
distinct service in keeping down the sparrov 
Food of Two Common Turtles. 
One of the commonest of the turtles of 1 
Eastern United States is the little speckled c 
whose smooth black shell, dotted with oranj 
yellow spots, is familiar to every country : 
These are the turtles that in warm weather 
seen sunning themselves on logs or float 
sticks in large ponds, and which tumble 
promptly from their resting place if alarm 
Though largely aquatic in habit, they of: 
leave the water and wander about over wet: 
swampy land. 
Studies of the food of this turtle published' 
the Zoological Division of the Pennsylvania .: 
partment of Agriculture, of which Prof. H. 1 
Surface is in charge, have shown that this lil 
animal is mainly insectivorous in its feed 
habits, and thus is of considerable econoi 
value and deserves protection. On the ot: 
hand, there is some reason to believe tha 
occasionally captures and devours frogs: bu 
would seem that these cannot be a very 
portant item in its diet, when we consider 1 
activity of the frog and the proverbial slowr- 
of the tortoise. 
