630 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[APRIL 21, 1906. 

~ 
self. The sparrows and the warblers are the 
most frequent victims, yet the wood thrush, yel- 
low-breasted chat, kingbird, cardinal grosbeak, 
towhee bunting and white-shouldered blackbird 
are also among the victims. 
These victims do not always submit tamely to 
the outrage put upon them. Broken eggs of the 
cowbird have been found on the ground near the 
nests of the yellow-breasted chat, of the Balti- 
more oriole and of other birds. _ 
The tiny summer yellow bird—perhaps too 
small to throw out the intrusive egg—has devised 
a most effective, if laborious, method of. dis- 
posing of the eggs of the cow bunting by building 
—when a cow bunting’s egg is discovered in its 
nest—a second story to the nest, in which it de- 
posits again its own laying of eggs. Often the 
little yellow bird is obliged to sacrifice two or 
three of its own eggs along with that of the cow- 
bird, but perhaps it reasons that these eggs were 
bound to perish in any event, and may as well 
be sacrificed at once as later. There are records 
where a cowbird has laid an egg in the second 
nest built by the summer yellow bird, which has 
then built on to its nest a third story in which it 
attempted to rear its young. Very extraordinary 
is the case which we figure to-day—through the 
kindness of the Director of the Field Columbian 
Museum, who permits us to use this engraving— 
in which four stories of such a nest were built by 
a summer yellow bird and three layers of cow 
bunting’s eggs were entombed. This method of 
disposing of the cowbird’s egg comes very close 
to reason, 

Gulls in Trees. 
East WaAREHAM, Mass., April 9.—Editor For- 
est and Stream: In your issue for April 7 is a 
query as to gulls alighting on trees. On the 
shores of Puget Sound, the silver gull (L. argen- 
tatus) is very gentle and tame compared with 
those of the Atlantic coast. In the winter after 
the dog salmon have been running, the gulls 
haunt the streams in great flocks. It is not un- 
usual to see from five to twenty-five of these birds 
on one ‘tree, and in a fourth of a mile one may 
see 500 gulls perched on the lofty firs. Gulls and 
cormorants are often seen on the same tree. _ 
At Port Townsend, Wash., the gulls sit like 
pigeons on the warehouses at the docks, twenty 
or more on one roof. The Sound steamers are 
often followed by flocks of gulls, and I have seen 
them alight on the pilot house and upper deck. 
They sit everywhere along the cap logs of docks 
and on top of piling about harbors. Cranes also 
like the tops of piles, and I once saw an alternate 
line, first a crane then a comorant extending for 
seventeen piles. ; 
As for getting clams, the gull is very sharp- 
eyed. The hard clam lies even with the surface 
of the flat or just below. Like the soft clam, it 
has a tube that reaches to the surface. The gull 
scans the surface closely and perceives the hole 
or the end of tube and investigates; the clam is 
discovered and pulled out. The common crow Is 
equally expert and is often seen clamming in 
company with gulls. These birds know enough 
not to thrust their beaks into the partly open 
shells of hard clams. WaLTER B. SAVARY. 
Bell on Cow Moose. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have noticed in recent issues of FoREST AND 
STREAM several communications in relation to the 
bearing of the bell by the cow moose. 
I had supposed that the wearing of that orna- 
ment by the cow was not an uncommon occur- 
rence. I have seen one or more of them on 
skins brought out from the woods, and unless 
my memory is very much at fault, there was at 
one time, and possibly is at present, a female 
moose in either the New York Central Park Zoo, 
or in the Bronx Park thus ornamented, but I have 
a letter before me from the late Frank H. Ris- 
teen, of Fredericton, N. B., a man of undoubted 
authority in such matters, which seems to prove 
the fact beyond a question. 
Mr. Risteen, in referring to something I had 
written on our large game animals, says: “I 
really think I know something about moose, cari- 
bou and deer, yet the only suggestion I could offer 
to the information you have given upon these 
animals is that the cow moose as well as bull 
carries the bell. I have also seen several moose 
calves and they all carried the same ornament.” 
Epwarp A, SAMUELS. 
Weasels. 
MIcCHIPICOTEN River, Ont., April 2—Editor 
Forest and Stream: In glancing over some re- 
cent issues of your paper, I have noticed a dis- 
cussion as to the destructiveness of weasels to 
domestic and game fowls. That the weasel is 
destructive to both there is no question. Not 
far from my cabin, while taking a stroll through 
the woods with a friend, we came across a 
weasel in the act of devouring a ruffed grouse. 
On seeing us, he decamped, but presently re- 
turned and dragged off the bird, being seem- 
ingly alarmed lest we should deprive him of his 
lawful spoil. F 
John Burroughs writes of the power of fas- 
cination exercised by the weasel over the rab- 
bit. It would be unwise to dispute such a keen 
observer without being very sure of one’s 
ground, but I may say that I saw one rabbit—a 
snowshoe—that did not wait to get fascinated. 
He crossed in front of me on the bound, and a 
large weasel in his winter coat was right after 
him, but making a poor second in the race. 
The fascination might have come afterward. 
In the early ’80’s a friend of mine, Mike 
O’Brien, now a cattle ranchman in the State 
of Washington, took up a homestead in the 
James River Valley, North Dakota. He had a 
short time previous to this taken unto himself 
a wife. They were getting on swimmingly, when 
a prairie fire came along and destroyed their 
granary, with all the season’s crop. The barn 
also happened to be in the path of flame, and it 
too caught fire. Mike had been out with the 
horses plowing furrow breaks to prevent his 
dwelling from catching, when he noticed the 
barn ablaze. His wife had a lot of much- 
prized poultry there, and as hens were very 
scarce in the country at that time, he knew that 
she would feel badly if she lost them. But the 
fire had done its work quickly, and he was only 
able to save two birds, a fine Plymouth rooster 
and hen. Mrs. O’B. waited anxiously outside 
for results, when Mike appeared and remarked, 
“Well, Sadie, we’ve got enough left anyway to 
make a fresh start,’ and Sadie was consoled to 
have even this much left. They both were 
young, energetic and hopeful, and took their 
losses philosophically. 
On coming home to dinner next day, Mike 
found his wife in tears. On inquiring the cause, 
she told him her tale of woe. After breakfast 
she went out to a coop they had fixed up, to 
feed the fowls. On entering she was horrified 
to see her only hen dead by the doorway, and 
at the further end of the coop the rooster, still 
living, was struggling to rid himself of a weasel 
which held him by the throat. She picked up a 
hay fork and struck at the weasel, which 
promptly let go its hold and attacked her. She 
soon gave him his quietus, however; but it had 
been 1oo late to save the poor rooster, as he 
expired almost immediately. 
Althought a bloodthirsty little tyrant, the 
weasel is easily tamed and may become a very 
useful as well as affectionate pet. My father 
once took a notion that he would go and clear 
off a piece of land which he owned not many 
miles from Duluth. So he had a shanty built 
and took the youngest of the boys along with 
him. Shortly after they got installed in their 
new quarters the cabin was overrun with field 
mice. Traps could only catch a small per- 
centage of the vermin. But a weasel sauntered 
in one day, looked around and concluded to 
make himself at home. 
bacon rinds, which he promptly stowed away, 
and that night proceeded to make it interesting 
for the mice. In a few nights he had the place 
cleared. But he did not leave, although his 
game supply was exhausted. He adapted him- 
self readily to his new environment, and would 
scramble on to my father’s knee, climb to his 
shoulder, squirm around his neck, and in fact 
be all over him in less time than it takes to tell 
it. He ate readily from my father’s hand, and 
He was offered some . 
never showed other than a friendly disposition. 
He used to follow them out to their work and 
amuse himself by hunting until they got back to 
camp. They never knew where the animal slept 
until one night my father woke up and heard a 
purring like a cat’s close by his ear. Surprised, 
he raised up, and there saw the weasel, which 
had been asleep on the pillow. 
The moosebirds—Canada jay—are notorious- 
ly bold wherever found, but I never saw them 
quite so fearless as they were at my father’s 
place. There was a large white birch in front 
of camp, where they used to congregate at meal 
times. My brother would go out with scraps, 
hold out the index finger of one hand, when a 
bird would immediately alight, while he fed it 
with the other hand. This was repeated until 
the whole flock was attended to. 
There is a Chinese proverb that runs thus: 
“T heard it is not as good as I saw it.” But to 
wind up on weasels, I thought it might interest 
some of your readers if I related an incident 
which came under the observation of one of our 
miners. He told me that he had worked one 
winter in the lumber woods, and they used to 
have their lunch carried to them wherever they 
happened to be chopping at the time. One day 
the crew of thirty men witnessed a battle royal 
between a weasel and a red squirrel. It lasted 
fully fifteen minutes, and both appeared much 
fagged. The squirrel finally killed the weasel. 
I mention this to corroborate an opinion ex- 
pressed by Burroughs in replying to one of the 
new school of nature writers. One of those lat- 
ter had included red squirrels among the other 
victims of the weasel. Burroughs flouted the 
idea, and the above incident would seem to bear 
him out. A. G. 
A Portfolio of Bird Portraits. 
Very beautiful in execution and in printing is 
the Portfolio of Bird Portraits, recently issued by 
McClure, Phillips & Co., of New. York; the pic- 
tures by Mr. Bruce Horsfall and text by Mr. W. 
E. D. Scott, Curator of the Ornithological De- 
partment of Princeton University. The portfolio 
includes reproductions of eight of Mr. Horsfall’s 
paintings accompanied by about sixteen unfolioed 
descriptive pages by Mr. Scott. 
It is represented that the illustrations are some- 
thing more than mere pictures of the species 
which they represent. They are portraits of in- 
dividual birds of each species and each represents 
the characters of the individual who sat for the 
portrait. Thoughtless persons believe that all cat- 
birds, robins or bluebirds are alike, but this is no 
more true than that all men are alike. It is 
recognized by naturalists that there is much indi- 
viduality in animals, indeed the whole theory of 
development hinges on this individual variation. 
These pictures were painted from living birds 
in the collection of Mr. Scott at Princeton Uni- 
versity, where Mr. Horsfall worked under Mr. 
Scott’s direction, and had the constant benefit of 
Mr. Scott’s great knowledge of birds. The re- 
production of the paintings has also been super- 
vised by Mr. Scott, and since he has had the 
overlooking of the illustrations from their be- 
ginning until their final publication, we may sup- 
pose that they are as good as the limitation of 
lithography permit. 
The accounts of the birds are interesting though 
brief, yet they touch always on some point which 
is of most interest to the reader. Technicalities 
of all sorts are absolutely omitted, and there is 
hardly a word of Latin in the pages. The habits 
of the birds, their ranges and their usefulness to 
man are the points especially considered. 
The birds here portrayed are the catbird, brown 
thrasher, starling, a group of young bobolinks, 
woodthrush, meadowlark, robin and_ bluebird. 
Where all the pictures are so good, it is hard to 
point out what is best; that will naturally be 
largely a matter of individual taste. The bluebird, 
the group of young bobolinks and the wood- 
thrush are especially beautiful and faithful repre- 
sentations of the birds in life. We never happen 
to have seen a starling so brilliantly biue as the 
one here represented, but that may be a special 
feature of the mating season. The pictures, the 
text and the mechanical execution of the work 
are admirable. 
