Forest and stream

Duo. SI, y D.

1885.]

^ithesjii' r,. -

—

«^e 'vital spf

8trc'-9-*v^°-+-r'i'red-headshootingatChatauqua Lake; and have

sal^'^the great prairies ofIllinois,and by thebapksof 3harge*tid

Rock

rivershaveloaded

my game

bag withthe

^oiis toquailandgrouse.

Then

at

my

littlebowersIresumed

work

with the poetic pen,whichIhad beguntouse with Longfellow,atBowdoin, in contributing; toMr. Bryant's UnitedStatesLiterary^Gazette.

This

work

ofimaginationwascontinuedinthehoursof rest fromthetoilsof thechase; and so 1 then devoted myself almostexclusively to descriptions of sport,seekingto_trans- fer topaper thescenes inwhichImoved, anddescribingthe habitsandhabitat of the

game

andfishof forestandwaters.

Being anardentadmirerof natural scenery and ofnatural history, 1soughttophotographin verse these creatures of nature,andsoprepareavolumethat Imight

humbly

calla

work

of naturalhistory.

The

fowlshooter sailingoverbreezybayorrushingriver, the grouse shooterranging grassy prairies, the quail and partridgeshootertrampingoverstubblefield or penetrating the densest thickets,the angler dropping his line in the brawlingbrookor casting hisfliesinpond orriver,or seek- inginthesaltsea tidestheschools of bassandbluefish,have

allrareopportunitiesto study the habits and varieties of

game

andfish,andto

become

not only sportsmen, butpoets andnaturalists.

Ithasbeenforyearsourcustomtoconstructalittleshanty orbowerbythebanksofsomeriveror bay,andthereenjoy thequietblissofthehourandthe place.

When

notwatch- ingtbewatersor thewoods,it has been ourwonttoenjoy our book,or the daily orweeklysportsman'sjournal,varied wi(han occasional shot from our revolveratthetarget, or the fragrantsolace ofthepipe.

At

such timeandplace

many

of therodandgunpoems whichhavesooften foryearsap- peared, were composed.

They

were originally writtenin pencilonblanksheetofabookoron marginoftheperused paper,and afterward transferred in inktoletterpaper on return tothe house. All these were writtenfor

my own

amusement,without thought of fee or recompense,andif they have contributed anything of pleasure to brother anglersandshooters,thenthe writerhasgainedhis"exceeding greatreward."

And now

thathe hascollected inonefamily groupthese fugitivechildrenof hisimagination,so thatthey

may

resttogetherunderthepaternal roof of thevolume

now

beingerectedbythose expert builders,Messrs. Thorpe and Green,he hopes that they

may

be graciously receivedand kindly welcomed byhis beloved brethren ofthe rodand

gan. Isaac

McLellan.

CtReenport, Dec.5.

iiUdreascxU communicationstothe ForestandStreamPublish- ing Go,

ARIZONA QUAIL NOTES.

^itor

ForestandStream:

Commencing

with the 26thofSeptember,in

company

with imyfriend, Mr. Heil Hale,1putinafew days collecting in thefoothillsof theBarboquivari Mountains, oneof the bold- estandmostnoted rangesinSouthern Arizona. Itshighest pointisthe Barboquivari Peak,aprominent landmarkfor nearly onehundredmiles.

With

the northern end I

was

quite'familiar,andhadin years gone by prospected along the westernslope,but never beforehadIfollowed

down

the baseof the easternside.

We

^enteredtheAltar Valleyata pointabout twenty-eight miles southwestof Tucson, followed thevalley southward fifteen miles,thenturnedwestward towardthe peak, which, overasmoothgrass-covered mesa was here distant twenty oddmiles.

By

noon onthe27th

we

were

camped

underthe

shadow

ofthegreatrock.

Thistripwasonethat I had long contemplated taking, andwhileIpurposedtocollect generally, the newly

made known Bob

White wastheobject of

my

search. It is of thisbird,becauseofitsnewness,Ipurpose to

make

special mention.

New

to scienceandto bird

men

asa whole, but toevery oldtimeresident of Southern Arizona it has long been

known

andrecognizedasbelongingtothefaunaofthe country.

The

firstpublicattention called to this birdwasaninci- dentalmention

made

by

me

ofitintheArizonaCitizen,nearly two years since. This

was

copiedin

Forest and

Stkeam, andcalledforth a contradictionbyMr.Ridgwayofthe Smith- sonianInstitution,

who

deniedthe existence ofan Ortyxvir- ginianusinArizona. This

was

asurprise to

many

_people

here, inasmuchas they, likemyself, hadtillthen believed the birdknown.

On

receiving aletterof inquiryfrom Mr.

Grinnell, Iforwardedto

him

such material aswasthen at

my command,

an almost pei-fect skin©f afemaleandpor- tions of wing,breast andtailof a male. These weresub- mittedtoMr.

Ridgway

andhepronounced them undoubtedly

"Ortyxgraysoni."

On

thisshowingMr. Grinnell, in

Fokest AND

(^tkeamofApril24,1884,announcedOrtyx graysoni"a quail

new

to theUnitedStatesfauna."

He

atthesametime

•oninformation furnishedbymyself,gave the range of the birdinArizona. "Inthecountry lyingbetween theBarbo- quivarirange inArizonaandtheGulfcoast inSonora,and

more

especiallybetween theBarboquivariandthePlumosa, thisspecies isquiteabundant.

They

are tobefound onthe Sonoite, about sixty miles south of Tucson and perhaps thirty milesnorthof the.Sonora|line.

From

theSonoitevalley

"theycan be foundtothe west for full one hundredmiles :andthroughastripofcountry not lessthanthirty milesin widthwithin the territory. Very possibly they

may

go ibeyondthatbothtothe eastwardand westward."

He

fur- 'thersaid,

"The

habits of the Ortyx graysoni, so far as

we

^kuowthem, appear to resemble very closelythose of the

fcommon

quail, only shghtly modified bytheconditions of itheirenvironments.

They

utter the characteristiccall,'Bob White,' with boldfull notes,andperchonrocksandbushes

when

calling. They donot appearto beatallamountain ibhd,but live ontiremesa, inthevalleys, andpossibly in

^hefoothills."

This account,I

am

happyto say,has beenfullyconfirmed

by

patient inquiry and personal investigation.

At

this point,so far as thepublicwere concerned,thematterrested tillAugust, 1884,

when

Mr.Frank Stephens,of San Ber- nardino,CaUt'ornia, at thattime collecting in Arizona and Sonora, securedamalebirdnear Lasabe,inthelatterState.

Thisskinhe loanedtoMr. Brewster,of Cambridge, Mass., who,in April, 1885, intheAuk, pronouncedit a

new

bird and

named

it CoUrms ridgicayi, in honor ofMr.Ridgway,

FOREST ANb StJREAM.

by

whom

itwas,thirteenmonthspreviously,saidtobe Ortyx graysoni, andassuchit

was

accepted bybird

men

without question. Ishoweda pair of skins,male andfemale, toMr.

E.

W.

Nelson,

when

he

was

here during the early part of the

summer

of 1884.

The

samepairwere also seenbyMr.

H.

W. Henshaw when

in Tucson at the beginningof the presentyear. Neitherofthemdoubted the proper identifi- cation of the bird, nor was ^it doubted hj Mr.

W.

E.

D. Scott,

who

likewise examined them, so reliant were theyon Mr. Ridgway's opinion. Mr. Stephenssaw them on his return from Sonora,and recognizing in them the same bird as his own, believed that he, too, ha<l taken anOrtyx graysoni. Later on he loaned the skin withthe statedresult.

The

"hooded quail" {Golinus ridgwayf) was, three years since,abundantintheneighborhoodofBoUe's Well,astage stationon the Quijotoaroad,near the northern end of the Barboquivarirange,29milessouthwestofTucson andabout 40 milesnorthof theMexican boundaryline.

As

the sta- tionwasthen comparativelynew,thegrassthereabouts

was

highandthese quailcould behadfor thetaking; but

now

thatstock has eaten

away

thegrass, the birds havenot, for a yearormore,beenseenaboutthe place.

On

theroadfromBolle's Well westto the Coyote range (about 25miles),these quailwerefrequentlytobemetwith, but teamstersand travelershave killed orfrightened them

ofl:.

One

of theformer assured

me

that hehad killed as

many

as five atoneshot.

Ten

milessouthof Bolle's,inthe Altar Valley,

we came

acrossa small

covey—

therewere,per- haps, a dozen in all.

The

bright, deep chestnut breast plumageofthemales lookedred in the sun, and gave the birdsamostmagnificent appearance.

We

secured butone, amale,the rest secreting themselves"in the tall sacaton grass,whichatthis point

was

between four andfive feet high,andas

we

had no dog

we

did not followthemin.

Our

next placeto find them was on themesasoutheast of the Peak,where

we camped

to huntfor them, but theywere scarce, and

we managed

tosecure but few. I will venture tosaythat

when

frightened and scattered they are ahard bird toget. Hear onecall,locateitas

you

may,seeonefly

and

mark

itdown,andwithout adogitisvirtuallyimpos- sibleto flushit.

In additiontotheir

"Bob

White"theyhavesecondcallof hoo-ioe, articulated and as clean cut as their

Bob

White.

This call of lioo-ice they use

when

scattered, and more especiallydothey useit

when

separated toward nightfall.

AtthishourInoted that,although they occasionally_called

"Bob

White"they never repeatedthefirstsyllable,as in the daytime they

now

andthen attemptedtodo. Inbodythey areplumpnessitself. Inthis respect,considering size,they overmatchtheArizonaquail {L. gamheli)withwhich Icom- pared them. Inactual size of body, however,the latter is thelarger. Itsplumed^head, fineappearanceandtruegami- ness ofcharacterareadvantages inits favor that willever

make

ita favoritewithsportsmen.

The

baseoftheBarboquivari rangeisatintervals broken into immense canyons,which lie at right angleswith the mainbodyof of themountain,and stretch fartotheplains below. For a mile or more after leavingthebase proper theyarefilledwith an almost impenetrablegrowthofunder- brush,weeds andgrass.

Lower

down,however, theyflatten outandlargely lose theircanyoncharacteristics,butseldom sufllciently so tobe the feedinggroundof Golinus ridgwai/i.

To

determine this point

we

worked thesecanyonsfortwo consecutive days in vain,inasmuch as

we

failed to seeor hearone,other than thoseon the intervening mesas. Ari- zona quail {Lophortyx gambeli), on the other hand,seem partial toarough country, where such countryispossible with them. Inthecanyonsthey

swarmed by

thousands. In this respect I think them peculiar.

On

our

way

out

we

found them plentifulin the rough passes of theTucson Mountains, butontheplainsbeyond andinthe Altar Valley they disappearedandgave placetothescaled or blue quail {Callipepla squamata). These were likewise plentiful, but theytoodisappearedalmostwith the first rise inthemesa.

Inthe canyons,twenty milesabove here, we,as elsewhere stated,againmet with the Gambels, but

we

found noneof the scaled quail until

we

again returned to the valley.

Betweenthefeedinggroundsof thesetwobirds Ineversaw alinemoreclearlydrawn. Inthis respecttheydifferfrom the ridgwayi,which were found bothinthe valley and on themesa.

Anothernoticeablefeaturewasthedifference inplumage, which

was

most marked.

The Bob

White andscaled quail wereyet in moulttoadegree that rendered it difficultto

make

goodskins,whiletheArizonaquailwereinfullplum- age.

An

explanationof thisIwould like to see from some one morefamiliarwithbirdfifethanmyself. Ifound some difference inthe foodof the different species. Iexamined thestomachsofprobably a dozen birds,

among

which were three

Bob

Whites. No.1 contained a species of mustard seed,afew chapparal berries,and some six oreightbugs andbeetles,ranginginlength froma half inch

down

tothe sizeofa pin-head. No.2was similarlyprovided, but had in heuof themustardseeda grasshopper fullyan inch in length. These two were taken ©n the mesa. No.3

was

taken in the valley, and contained abouttwentymedium- sized red ants,several crescent-shaped seeds, and a large

number

of smallfleshygreenleaves.

The

stomachsof the Arizonaquail werefilled pretty

much

alike, all that1ex- amined havingbeen takenfrom thesame feeding ground.

Hackbcrriesand crescent-shaped seeds

made

up almost the

sum

totalof their Uving. In one only didIfind

much

in- sect life,anditappearedto havestruckabonanzaoflittle bugs.^ Iopened the stomachof but one scaled quail. It containedseedsandabout a dozen bright red cactusberries.

LateronI willmorethoroughlyexamineinto thismatterof food.

The

breedingseason of the scaled quailmustbemorepro- longed thaneither of the others, for Isawone broodofprob- ablytwentythatwasnotmorethantendays or two weeks old.

Of

the other two species all seemed fully grown.

Among

the Arizona quail the males outnumbered the females, itseemedtome, at least five toone, orevenmore thanthat. Thereisa possibility thatthefemales

may

have keptmoretothebrush thandid"the males,andconsequently werelessexposedto the

gun

of the collector,but thiscan hardlybe,inasmuchas

we

closelyexaminedlargebunchesof

quailonthe outsidewiththesameresult.

The

investigationsabovedetailed

make

it appearclear to

me

that in this vicinity the

common

formof Golinus, hitherto referred to asGolinus graysoni,isreallyG.ndgicayi. Whether theformerspecies also occurs can only be determined

by

furtherexaminationofawiderange of country. ThisIhope tobeabletoundertakeatsomefuture day.

Herbert Brown.

Tucson, Arizona,Oct.30,1885.

445

EXPERIENCE WITH SAVAGE DEER.

Uditor ForestandStream:

The

item,

"A

PetDeer on the Rampage," in yourissue ofDec. 10,reminds

me

of thestory of a"scrimmage" with a

wounded

buckoncetold

me

bythe survivor, as

we

^layat fulllengthonourblankets,spreaduponathick bedof fra- grantbalsam boughs,andwith ourfeetstretched toward a blazingpileofhardwoodlogs,whilewe_n.ested after ahard day'ssnowshoingina forestonthesouth shoreof

Lake

Su- perior. Havingfinishedourfrugal,but abundant, meal of

camp

bread,bacon andtea,andthepipes lighted, storytell- ing

was

inorder.

"Spcakin'o'

wounded

deerfitin'," said S a veteran woodsman,explorerandhunter, "did I evertell you o'the buckIshotwithamaplestick ?"

"No,Idon'tthinkyoueverdid. Let'shaveit."

Forafew

moments

S lookedintothe glowingfire at his feetandpuffed vigorouslyathis pipe,while he seemed tosee again, throughthefragrant

smoke

and in the living coals, theencounter he

was

abouttodescribe.

The

others,

knowing

hisway,

smoked

in silence untilhe began:

- "It

war

in 1867, in

Muskegon

county.

Lower

Peninsula, I

war

Uvingthere then.

One

dayIwentout tolookfor a lostox,and,o'course, tookthe ole gun along. It warn't oneo'theseyerpumps,sechas

we

use

now

days, withwhich ye kini^umpa deerfull o'lead inarainnit; but itwar the best ole muzzleloaderIeversee. It carried 'bout sixty to thepound,an'

when

I drawed abead on anythin'alive it

war'mostalius

my

meat. Afterbein'out^tillnoonan' seein' no

game

'ceptpatridges, an'lots o'them, I thoughtImout's welltake

home

amesso'birds, so I

commenced

poppin''em overwheneverIgotagoodchanceat their heads. I kep' this

up

tillIfoundIonlyhadonebulletleft,an'thatItho't I'dkeepuntilIgotnearhome.

As

Iwar onthe

way

home, I

kem

toa smalllake, an' asIlooked overitI seeabigbuck wadin'acrossashallow placeinthe water. It

war

a pretty longshot,butI bed

made

longerwith the ole gun,so I

banged away.

The

buck stopped, an' I could tell

by

the

way

heactedthathewarhit. Igotback in the

woods

an' crawled toward him,an'thar he stood, lookin'all aroun', notknowin'yetwheretheshot

kem

from.

As

Igotnearer

1saw^thathe

war

bleedin'good,but I

war

afraid he'd git away. I bed plenty o' powder but no lead. Finally I thoughto'the

way

I'dseen'em stunpigs 'fore stickin, 'em,

by

shootin''em withawoodenplugan'a small loado'

pow-

der, an'Ithoughtef Iput a long plugan'a bigloado'pow- derintheoldgun

mebbe

Icould

down

him. I laidlowan' whittled a greenmaple sprout

down

tofitthegunan'cutit off'bout six or eight inches longan'put'boutthree inches o'powderin the ole gun, putonapatch jestasthoughit

war

abullet,an'

rammed my

stick

down

an'put ona cap.

Then

I raised

up

an'took a lookatthebuck.

He war

sick an'stood still yet,but he

war

too fur

away

fer

my wood

bullet,so I

waded

out toward him, readyto shoot ef he should start torun. Buthe only lookedatme,an'once in awhilehe'dshakehisheadorstomphis foot inthewater, which

was

only'boutkneekeep. Ikep' a walkin'

up

until I

war

'boutfiftyfeetaway,an'then Iaimedferhisneckan' blazedaway. Well,sir,'foreIgot the

gun away

from

my

shoulderthatbuck bed

me

onhishornsaswashiu'

me

around inthewaterso'tIthought he

war

goin'ter bailthelakeout with me. It didn'tlastbut a minnit,an'itdidn'tneedter, ter

make me

thinkthe air

was

fullo'bucksan'water.

Then

he fell with his head inthe water,an'

me

ontop,an' ina minnit

more

he were dead.

He

hadbled so

much

thathe

war

'mostdead

when

I firedthelast time, an'it

war

just as wellfer

me

thathe war,fer it

war

the almightiesth'ustlin' ever I got, an'if adeadbuck kin shakea

man

uplike that I don'twant notruck with aliveoneatshort rang'e." After apause, "An'Ineverhit

him

withthe

wooden

plug."

Jay Embll.

Editor ForestandStream:

Somethinginthepaper concerning theviciousness oftame deer reminds

me

ofanencounterof

my

father and a cousin ofhis,withatamedoe.

My

father

was

aboutfourteen, his cousin four yearsor soyounger,

when

one "Fifth

Day"

after Friends'Meeting,

my

grandfather sent

them

to a fieldin sightofthemeeting houseto getaclevisthat had beenleft on a stump. Whilegoingorcomingthedeer attacked them, rearing

up

andstrikingwithherforefeet. She

made

atthe youngerboyfirstand knocked

him

down,

when my

father's lusty criesforhelpdrewherattention to him.

He

had the presenceof

mind

tofallfacedownward, andafterthumping himonthebackafew times, the doe renewed her attack upon the smaller boy,

who was

too

much

frightened to guardhimselfat aU,and wasquite seriouslyhurt before

my

father'sshouts brought a party of stout Quakers to the rescue.

UncleByrd, cousinTom'sfather,presently"sot

down

and wrote aletter"toMartin Shellhouse, the owner of thedoe, thatcaused sentence of death to be passed uponherand speedily enforced. Iwasnot there and it happened some yearsfurtherback than

my

recollection runs, about 1810, butIwas well acquainted with

my

father,and have no doubtofthetruth of the story,

which

he circumstantially narratedto

me

severalhundredtimesduring

my

boyhood.

AWAHSOOSE.

Hare and

Of^E^n.—Editor Forest

and

SPream:

While

hunting caribouintheLaurentian Mountains, northof this, afewdaysago, on approaching one of thenumerouslakes thataboundinthatrangeIobserveda hare crossing a bay

^ata distance of300or 400 yards from whereI stood, run-, ning at thetop of its speed. While watching thehareI observedatsomedistance behind it an

animaf

which I at once took to be an otter, fromits appearance

when

^itsat up ontheice,as it didthe

moment

Inoticedit,having no doubt heard

my man

calling

my

attention to the hare. This man,

who

has passed mostof hislifeinthesewoods,imme- diatelyexclaimed,

"Une

loutre" (an otter).

On my

firing at

it,it started again in the same track theharehadtaken, makingquick, cleanjumps,and coveringateach about the same space asthe hare had done. Anothershotfrom

my

rifleandtheanimal tookitsback track and disappeared in thewoods whenceithad

come

in pursuit of the hare.

What

Iwantto

know

fromyourself oranyof yourcorrespondents

is,dootterschaseorcapturehares, orwouldtheyeatahare?

Ifnotanotter,whatanimal

would

itprobably be? It

was

not a blackfox.

—

H. R.(Montreal).

LrvE

Elk

aijd Antelopes.

— A Wyoming

correspondent writesus: "I have a live male elk,very tame,and a nice pet. Itwillfollow

me

anywhere andeatanything. Ihave also

two

liveantelopes; theyareverygentle,and

make

in- teresting pets. All aresound,heartyandthrifty."

We

be- lievethat these are forsale.