BIOLOGY LIBRARY G THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY FIRESIDE EDITION VOLUME III— BIRDS (CONCLUDED) " V \ VICTIMS OF THE FEATHER TRADE. Cock-of-the-Rock. Greater Bird of Paradise. Resplendent Trogon. Snowy Egret. Scarlet Ibis. THE AMERICAN NATURAL HISTORY A FOUNDATION OF USEFUL KNOWLEDGE OF THE HIGHER ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA BY WILLIAM T. HORNADAY, Sc.D, DIRECTOR OF THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK AUTHOR OF "TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE," "OUR VANISHING WILD LIFE," ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY 225 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY BEARD, RUNGIUS, SAWYER, AND OTHERS, 151 PHOTOGRAPHS, CHIEFLY BY SANBORN, KELLER, AND UNDERWOOD, AND WITH NUMEROUS CHARTS AND MAPS WITH SIXTEEN PLATES IN COLOR FIRESIDE EDITION VOLUME III— BIRDS (CONCLUDED) NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1914 L 16 BIOLOGY LIBRARY G Copyright, 1904, by WILLIAM T. HORNADAY First Publication, April, 1904 Copyright, 1914, by WILLIAM T. HORNADAY Fireside Edition published September, 1914 SPECIAL NOTICE The publishers hereby give warning that the unauthorized use of illustrations, charts, or maps from this book is expressly forbidden. CONTENTS VOLUME III— BIRDS (CONCLUDED) CHAPTER XX PAGE ORDER OF ODD FAMILIES .... MACROCHIRES 3 GOATSUCKER FAMILY 4 SWIFT FAMILY 6 HUMMINGBIRD FAMILY 7 CHAPTER XXI ORDER OF WOODPECKERS PICI 11 CHAPTER XXII ORDER OF CUCKOOS AND KINGFISHERS . COCCYGES 22 CUCKOO FAMILY 22 KINGFISHER FAMILY . 26 CHAPTER XXIII ORDER OF PARROTS AND MACAWS PSITTACI 28 vin CONTENTS CHAPTER XXXIII PAGE ORDER OF TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN TUBINARES 233 ALBATROSS FAMILY 234 FULMAR FAMILY 239 THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAYSAN ALBATROSS . . . . . .241 CHAPTER XXXIV ORDER OF LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS LONGIPENNES 249 GULLS AND TERNS 249 SKIMMER FAMILY 256 SKUA AND JAEGER FAMILY 257 CHAPTER XXXV ORDER OF WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS PYGOPODES 259 GREBE FAMILY 260 LOON FAMILY 262 CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE SEA 264 AUKS AND PUFFINS 268 CHAPTER XXXVI ORDER OF FLIGHTLESS DIVERS . IMPENNES 273 CONTENTS ix CHAPTER XXXVII PAGE ORDER OF WINGLESS LAND BIRDS . . . RATITAE 276 CHAPTER XXXVIII THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS ... 281 THE WAR OF EXTERMINATION 281 THE EXTERMINATORS AND THEIR METHODS 290 THE REGULAR ARMY OF DESTRUCTION 291 MARKET-HUNTING 294 THE DIVISION OF MEAT-SHOOTERS 297 THE ILLEGAL SLAUGHTER OF BIRDS 300 BIRD-SLAUGHTER FOR THE MILLINERY TRADE 302 UNSEEN FOES OF WILD LIFE 304 ILLUSTRATIONS COLOR PLATES Victims of the Feather Trade . Frontispiece Cock-of-the-Rock. Greater Bird of Paradise. Resplendent Trogon. Snowy Egret. Scarlet Ibis. FACING PAGE The Passenger Pigeon 86 Roseate Spoonbills in Full Color 162 The Emperor Penguin 274 FULL-PAGE PLATES PAGE The Condor of the Andes 81 Mourning Dove 93 Pinnated Grouse, or Prairie Chicken 113 Willow Ptarmigan 121 The Mallard Duck 169 The Pintail Duck 181 Red-Breasted Merganser 197 Trumpeter Swans 209 Florida Brown Pelicans, on Pelican Island 215 California Brown Pelican 219 The Cormorant 223 xi xii ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Black-Footed Albatross 235 Albatrosses on Laysan Island before the Great Slaughter . . . 243 The Herring-Gull and Common Tern 251 Six Recently Exterminated North American Birds 285 Great Auk. Eskimo Curlew. Passenger Pigeon. Labrador Duck. Pallas Cormorant. Carolina Parrakeet. Wild Ducks in the Wichita National Bison Range, 1913 .... 295 TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE TheNighthawk 5 Ruby-Throated Hummingbird 8 Golden- Winged Woodpecker 14 Red-Headed Woodpecker 17 Downy Woodpecker 19 Yellow-Billed Cuckoo 23 The Belted Kingfisher 26 Carolina Parrakeet 31 Skeleton of a Bird of Prey (Bald Eagle) 35 Barn Owl 38 Barred Owls 41 Screech Owl 43 Young Screech Owls 45 Great Horned Owl 47 Young Great Horned Owls 48 Snowy Owl 51 ILLUSTRATIONS xiii PAOE American Osprey 55 Sparrow Hawk 57 Sharp-Shinned Hawk 67 Cooper's Hawk 69 Swallow-Tailed Kite 73 The California "Condor" 77 Young California Vulture 79 The Band-Tailed Pigeon 90 Bob- White 100 California Mountain Quail 104 California Valley Quail 105 Eastern Ruffed Grouse ' 107 Canada Grouse Ill Sage Grouse 119 Wild Turkey, from Virginia 125 Killdeer Plover 131 American Woodcock 132 Woodcock on Nest 132 Wilson's Snipe . 134 Least Sandpiper 135 Whooping Crane 141 Virginia Rail 144 The Coot .146 Great Blue Heron , 151 xiv ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Little Green Heron 153 Great White Egret . 156 American Bittern 158 White Ibis 161 The Flamingo 165 Fulvus Tree-Duck 172 Black Duck 172 Gadwall: Gray Duck 172 American Widgeon 172 Green-Winged Teal 172 Scaup Duck 172 Ring-Necked Duck 173 Barrow's Golden-Eye 173 Old Squaw 173 Harlequin Duck 173 Surf Scoter 173 American Scoter 173 Blue-Winged Teal 177 The Shoveller Duck 178 Wood Duck 183 The Redhead Duck 186 The Canvas-Back Duck 188 The Buffle-Head, or Butter-Ball 189 A Haven of Refuge 191 ILLUSTRATIONS xv PAGE American Eider 194 King Eider 201 Spectacled Eider 201 Steller's Duck 201 Ruddy Duck 201 American Merganser 201 Hooded Merganser 201 Canada Goose 203 Great White Pelican 221 Snake-Bird 227 Man-o'-War Birds ' .... 231 Stormy Petrel 240 Albatross Bones on Laysan Island, 1911 245 The Last of the Loot 247 Common Murre 263 The Loon 263 Common Puffin 269 Tufted Puffin 269 Rhinoceros Auklet . . 269 Ceram Cassowary 279 A Market-Gunner at Work on Marsh Island 299 Ptarmigan Slaughter in the Absence of Law, Yukon Territory . . 301 BIRDS (CONCLUDED) CHAPTER XX ORDER OF ODD FAMILIES MACROCHIRES TT 7ITH certain exceptions, the different Orders of American birds are founded on reasonable grounds and built up of homogeneous materials. As a rule, a few moments' ex- amination of a bird enables one to name the Order to which it belongs. There is no difficulty about the birds of prey, swimmers, fishers, waders or woodpeckers. Unfortunately, however, Nature has turned out of her workshop so many odd forms that it has been found necessary to have a certain number of Orders for them. In mammals we have seen that the Order Ungulata is of this character. In birds, there are two such Orders. One is that which con- tains the cuckoos, road-runners and kingfishers, and the other is that which forms the subject of this chapter. The Order Macrochires means literally "odd ones," and its members do not belie the name. On the strength of cer- tain resemblances in anatomical structure, observable only after the birds are dead and dissected, our hummingbirds, swifts and goatsuckers (i. e.9 birds like the whippoorwill and nighthawk) are grouped together in this Order, in three Families, as follows: 3 ;4: ;/; ODD FAMILIES ORDER MACROCHIRES EXAMPLES GOATSUCKERS Cap-ri-mul'gi-dae .... Nighthawk, Whippoorwill. SWIFTS Mi-cro-pod'i-dae Chimney Swift. HUMMINGBIRDS Tro-chil'i-dae Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. THE GOATSUCKER FAMILY Caprimulgidae THE NiGHTHAWK1 is far from being a true hawk. It be- longs to a Family of birds which have soft, owl-like plumage, and enormous mouths, fringed above with a row of stiff bris- tles, for use in capturing insects on the wing. Many years ago, when people believed many things that were not true, some believed that these big-mouthed birds sucked goats; hence the absurd name applied to the Family. Whenever, during the hour just before sunset, you see a good-sized bird with dark plumage, long, sharp-pointed wings, and a big white spot on the under surface of each wing,— wheeling, soaring, dropping and circling through the air,— you may know that it is a Nighthawk, catching insects. Its flight is graceful and free, and when on the aerial war-path it is a very industrious bird. Some people compare this bird on the wing with bats ; but I see no resemblance save the bare fact of semi-nocturnal flight. This bird, and the other mem- bers of its Family, are among the very few North American birds that capture winged insects high in mid-air, and for this reason, even if there were no other, all the Goatsuckers should be most rigidly protected everywhere. The time for shooting the Nighthawk for "sport" (!) has long gone by, never to return. 1 Chor-dei'les virginianus. Length, about 9.50 inches. THE NIGHTHAWK AND THE WHIPPOORWILL When this bird alights upon a tree to rest, it chooses a large and nearly horizontal limb, on which it usually sits lengthwise. As it sits motionless on a large limb, the bird strongly resembles a knot. This is a transcontinental bird, being found from the At- lantic to the Pacific, in wooded regions, and northward to the Mac- kenzie River. THE WnippooRWiLL1 needs no introduction. It is more than a bird. It is a national favorite. When the mantle of night has fallen, and the busy world is still, we who are in the country in summer often hear a loud, clear, melodious whistle from somewhere near the barn. As plainly as print, it exclaims, " Whip-Poor-Will' '! '" and repeats it, again and again. Before each regular call, there is a faint "chuck" or catching of the breath, strong emphasis on the "whip," and at the end a piercing whistle which is positively thrilling. Sometimes the bird will come and perch within thirty feet of your tent-door, and whistle at the rate of forty whippoor- wills to the minute. Its call awakens sentimental reflections, and upon most persons exercises a peculiar, soothing influence. It has been celebrated in several beautiful poems and songs. 1 An-tros'to-mus vo-cif'er-us. Length, about 9.50 inches. THE NIGHTHAWK, 6 ODD FAMILIES The range of this interesting bird is the same as that of the nighthawk. In the South both are replaced by another goatsucker called, from its whistle, the CHUCK-WILL'S- WIDOW. Until actually hearing it, one can scarcely believe that any bird of this Order can say things as plainly as this bird says "Chuck Will's Wid-ow!" The Pacific states, from British Columbia to Mexico, and eastward to Nebraska, have the POOR-WILL. THE SWIFT FAMILY Micropodidae THE CHIMNEY SWIFT, or CHIMNEY " SWALLOW,"* has been for a century or more classified with the swallows and martins, but recent studies of its anatomy have caused its removal from their group. This is the bird whose nest and young sometimes tumble down into your fireplace in spring or summer, and cause commotion. To me, the nesting habits of this bird seem like faulty in- stinct. A chimney is a poor place of residence for a bird, and the habitants frequently come to grief. If the aperture is small, the householder objects to having the chimney stopped by nests; and if it is large, so many Swifts may nest there that their noise is an annoyance. These birds get up and out before daylight, to hunt insects that fly at night, and doubt- less many a "ghost" in a "haunted house" is nothing more frightful than a colony of these birds in the chimney. This bird has the ability to fly straight up or straight down, else it could not enter or leave a chimney. It is quite 1 Chae-tu'ra pe-lag'i-ca. Length, 5 inches. THE HUMMINGBIRD FAMILY 7 an aerial gymnast, and feeds only when on the wing. Its flight is very graceful, and both in manner of flight and per- sonal appearance it so closely resembles a short-tailed swallow that there are few persons who can distinguish the difference in the flying birds. One strongly marked peculiarity of this bird is that the tip of each tail-feather ends in a sharp, wire-like point, caused by the shaft of the feather being projected considerably be- yond the vane. The eastern Chimney Swift ranges westward to the Great Plains. On the Pacific slope is found another species, a close parallel to the preceding, called the Vaux Swift. The White-Throated Swift of the Pacific states is dis- tinguished by its white throat and breast, and a few white patches elsewhere. THE HUMMINGBIRD FAMILY Trochilidae For twenty years or more the exquisite gem-like birds be- longing to this Family have been persecuted by the millinery trade, and slaughtered by thousands for hat ornaments. In the European centres of the odious "feather trade" the traffic in Hummingbird skins still continues. At the regular feather auction of August, 1912, in London, the New York Zoological Society purchased 1,600 Hummingbird skins at two cents each. In the first three of these sales for 1912 the total sales of Hummingbird skins were 41,090. In 1913, by an act of Congress, the odious traffic in wild birds' plumage for millinery purposes was stopped forever in the United States and all its territorial possessions. 8 ODD FAMILIES THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 1 represents the Family which contains the smallest of all birds. When the trumpet- vine on your veranda is in flower, you will see this delicate creature dart into view, like a large-winged insect, RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. and poise itself easily and gracefully in mid-air at the mouth of the most conspicuous flower. Its tiny wings beat the air with such extreme rapidity and machine-like regularity that you see only a gray, fan-shaped blur on each side of the living bird. It holds itself in position with the greatest exactitude, 1 Troch'i-lus col'u-bris. Length, 3.25 inches. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HUMMINGBIRD 9 thrusts its long and delicate beak into the heart of the flower and, with the skill of a surgeon probing a wound, extracts the tiny insects or the honey so dear to its palate. As the bird poises in mid-air, the sunlight catches the patch of brilliant ruby-red feathers on its throat, and sets it aflame. To make up for their diminutive size, and give them a fair share of beauty, Nature has clothed the throats and breasts of many Hummingbirds with feather-patches of the most bril- liantly iridescent colors, — ruby-red, scarlet, green, blue and gold, —which flash like jewels. Others again have long, ornamental tail-feathers, ruffs and other showy decorations in feathers. The Hummingbirds are so very diminutive one never ceases to wonder how such frail and delicate creatures, feeding only upon the smallest insects and the nectar of flowers, can make long journeys over this rough and dangerous earth, withstand storms, build their wonderful little nests, rear their young and migrate southward again without being des- troyed. Of course their diminutive size enables them to es- cape the attention of most of the living enemies which gladly would destroy them. The nest of a Hummingbird is about as large in diameter as a lady's watch, and the eggs, of which there are two, are the size of adult peas. The food of these birds generally con- sists of minute insects, many of which they find in large flowers. When at rest, perching, the average Hummer is not beautiful in form. Its head seems too large, its neck and body much too short and its wings too long. It seems top-heavy, and as if destitute of legs. It is on the wing that these crea- tures look their best. 10 ODD FAMILIES What Hummingbirds lack in size, they try to make up in number. There are nearly five hundred species, and they are found only in the New World. They are thoroughly tropical, but in warm weather, and the season of flowers, they migrate as far north as Alaska, and as far south as Patagonia. Our country makes an acceptable summer home for about sixteen species. The Ruby-Throat is the only one inhabiting the eastern half of the United States, all the others being found west of Arkansas and the Rocky Mountains. CHAPTER XXI ORDER OF WOODPECKERS PICI THE Woodpeckers are the natural protectors of the forests of the temperate zone. But for them, tree-borers would multiply without limit, and the number of trees that would fall before the insect pests is quite beyond computation. While the robin, the thrush and the warblers take care of the caterpillars and the leaf-insects generally, the woodpecker sticks to the business of his own guild, and looks after the pests that attack the bark and the wood. The tree-creepers assist by picking off insects from the outside, but when it comes to the heavy work of digging borers out of the bark by main strength, the woodpecker is the only bird equal to it. There are about twenty-five species of woodpeckers in the United States. Usually, the long, barbed tongue of this bird is sufficient to spear a borer, and drag it forth to meet the death it deserves. When this will not do the work, the woodpecker's claws take a good grip on the bark, and serious work begins. Do not think, however, that because a rolling tattoo beaten on a hard dead limb can be heard a quarter of a mile, that the bird making the noise is working unusually hard. Quite the contrary. The loud tattoo is a signal, like the "cer- 11 12 WOODPECKERS tain whistle" of a small boy. In our Beaver Pond, the golden- winged woodpeckers sometimes beat on the galvanized-iron drums which protect the bases of the trees from the teeth of the beavers. When a woodpecker is working hardest, you hear only a faint "chuck! chuck! chuck!" as he drives his sharp, wedge- like beak into the bark or soft wood. Often the falling chips are your first notice that a winged forester is at work aloft, digging out and devouring the larvae that, if left alone, bring decay and death to trees. You may be sure that whenever you find one of these valuable birds at work, there is need for him. To-day a great many persons know their value and protect them. Oc- casionally, however, men who are so thoughtless or so mean as to engage in the brutal pastime known as a "side hunt," do lower themselves, and injure the landowners about them, by killing every woodpecker that can be found, — for "points." If all farmers only knew what a loss every "side hunt" means to them, such wicked pastimes would not be tolerated. It is also to be added, with deep regret, that many Italians who come to America to make new homes for themselves bring with them the idea that it is right to kill birds of every de- scription for food, — song-birds, woodpeckers, swallows and all others, — and to their murderous guns our most valuable woodpeckers are the easiest prey in the world. A woodpecker hard at work trying to save a giant oak from insect destruc- tion never dreams of being treacherously shot in the back. For all such bird-murderers the remedies are : first, education ; then, punishment to the limit of the law. THEIR HABITS AND PECULIARITIES 13 Although the woodpeckers are not counted as birds of song, to me the loud, joyous cry of the flicker, the downy and the red-head, ringing through the leafy forest aisles, is genu- ine music. One species cries "Cheer-upl Cheer-upl" and it cheers-up and thrills me to hear it. Even in summer, when other birds are plentiful, it is a welcome sound. In bleak winter, when the great bulk of bird-life has vanished south- ward, and you toilsomely tread the silent forest, ankle-deep in snow, the world seems lifeless and drear — until you hear the clarion greeting of the golden-winged woodpecker. It is enough to stir the soul of a Digger Indian with a pleasing sense of companionship in life. It is only the children of the cities who need to be told that woodpeckers have two toes in front and two behind, to enable them to cling to tree-bark; that the natural perch of such a bird is the perpendicular trunk of a tree; that some- times they store acorns in holes which they dig in the sides of decayed trees, not in order that worms in those acorns may develop, but in order to eat the acorns themselves. They nest high up in hollow tree-trunks, which they enter through round holes of their own making.1 It is a good thing to feed wild birds of all species that are either useful or beautiful. The woodpeckers are the largest insectivorous birds that remain in the North over winter, and they appreciate friendly offerings of suet or fat pork, nailed 1 Those who are specially interested in the habits of woodpeckers may profit- ably consult a report on "The Food of Woodpeckers," by Professor F. E. L. Beal, published by the Department of Agriculture in 1895. The exact proportions of the various kinds of food consumed by seven species have been determined by examination of the stomachs of several hundred birds, and the figures quoted later on are from that report. 14 WOODPECKERS high up on conspicuous tree-trunks. In the Zoological Park we put up every winter at least twenty -five two-pound strips of fat pork, for the woodpeckers and chickadees which live with us all the year round. GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. THE GOLDEN-WINGED WooDPECKER1 is my favorite of the members of this Order. It is a bird of good. size, dignified in bearing, decidedly handsome, and a great worker. He loves to hunt insects on the ground, occasionally, but is very alert and watchful, meanwhile. If you approach too near, he leaps into the air, and with a succession of wave-like sweeps 1 Co-lap'tes au-ra'tus lu'te-us. Length, about 12 inches. A BIRD OF MANY NAMES 15 upward and downward, his golden wings flash back one of his names as he flies to safety on some distant post or tree. Unlike most birds of this Order, this species frequently perches crosswise on a limb, like a true perching bird. This is the woodpecker of many names, some of which are Flicker, High-Hole and Yellow-Hammer. His regular call sounds like "Cheer-upl" but in spring he gives forth a call which comes very near to being a song. When written out, it is like " 'Cook-cook-cook-cook 7" At that season, also, you hear this bird beat the "long roll," on a drum which Nature provides for him in the shape of a hollow tree with a thin, hard shell. The rapidity and force with which the bird strikes the blows producing this sound are almost beyond belief. An examination of the stomach contents of many speci- mens of this species showed 56 per cent of insect food, 39 vegetable and 5 mineral. Of the insect food, ants made up 43 per cent and beetles 10 per cent. The vegetable food rep- resented two kinds of grain (corn and buckwheat), eighteen kinds of wild berries, and fifteen kinds of seeds, mostly of weeds. Out of 98 stomachs examined in September and October only 4 contained corn. Practically, this bird does no damage to man's crops, but destroys great quantities of harm- ful insects. The range of the Golden-Wing embraces the eastern half of the United States to the Rocky Mountains, where it is met by the Red-Shafted Flicker of the Pacific slope. THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER1 need not be described, because, in "Hiawatha," Longfellow has immortalized it. 1 Mel-an-er'pes e-ryth-ro-ceph'a-lus. Length, 9,50 inches. 16 WOODPECKERS This bird, "with the crimson tuft of feathers/' was the iden- tical Mama which gave Hiawatha the timely "tip" which enabled him to put the finishing touch to old Megissogwon, and so end in triumph "the greatest battle that the sun had ever looked on." As a return for this kindness, Hiawatha did the one mean act of his life. He took Mama's little red scalp, and "decked" his pipe-stem with it, — as coolly as if he had been a modern servant-girl decorating a forty-nine-cent hat. This is a very showy bird, and recognizable almost as far as it can be seen, — brilliant crimson head and neck; white breast, sides and rump, and jet-black back and tail. In the Mississippi Valley, thirty years ago, this was one of the most common birds. Now, thanks to man's insatiable desire to "kill something" that is unprotected, it has been so greatly reduced in number that it is seldom seen. It is an omnivorous feeder, eating insects, fruit, beech-nuts, corn and other grain, according to necessity. Its cry is loud and far-reaching, and sounds like " Choor ! Choor /" As to migrating, it seems un- able to make up its mind whether to become a "regular mi- grant" or a "winter resident." Sometimes it migrates south- ward during the early winter, and sometimes it winters in the North. An examination of the stomachs of one hundred and one Red-Headed Woodpeckers revealed 50 per cent of animal food and 45 per cent vegetable. Of the former, ants made up 11 per cent, and beetles 31 per cent. The fruit and vegetable food represented five kinds of cultivated fruit (strawberries, blackberries, cherries,, apples and pears), and fifteen kinds of THE FOOD OF THE RED-HEAD 17 wild fruit and seeds. The insect food consisted of ants, wasps, beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, moths, caterpillars, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. spiders and thousand-legged worms. In the fruit season the Red-Head undoubtedly does considerable damage to fruit crops, more by mutilating fruit, perhaps, than by actual loss 18 WOODPECKERS through fruit wholly consumed; and if these birds were as numerous as sparrows, it would be necessary for fruit-growers to take precautions against them during the fruit season. The damage done to corn appears to be quite insignificant. (Professor F. E. L. Beal's report.) The great fondness of the Red-Head for beechnuts, and its habits of storing them up for winter use, in holes and crevices, are well known. THE ANT-EATING WOODPECKER1 of the Pacific slope is the most conspicuous and interesting bird of this Order in that region, either around the suburban home, on the ranch or in the mountain forests. This is the species which is now celebrated in word and picture for its habit of digging hun- dreds of holes in soft bark or dead tree-trunks, and "storing" an acorn in each hole, for future food. THE DOWNY WOODPECKER2 is a small gray-and-black species, modest and quiet in demeanor, but quite as common about the haunts of man as the golden-wing. It is the small- est species found in the United States and is the one which is most in evidence in winter. This bird ranks high as a destroyer of insects, and in the percentage of insect food consumed leads all other wood- peckers that have been studied by the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture. An examination of 140 stomachs revealed 74 per cent of insect food and 25 of vege- table. The vegetable food consisted chiefly of seeds of the poison ivy, poison sumac, mullen, pokeberries, dogwood and 1 Mel-an-er'pes for-mi-civ'o-rus. 2 Pi'cus pu-bes'cens me-di-arius. Length, 7 inches. VALUABLE TO THE FARMER 19 woodbine. The fruits consisted of service-berries, straw- berries and apples. Apparently this bird is almost worth its weight in gold to the farmer \vho has valuable trees and fruit; and in winter DOWNY WOODPECKER. the farmer who is wise will put up suet, fat pork and bones bearing some raw meat, on the trees in his orchard and woods. THE HAIRY WOODPECKER1 is so close a counterpart of the downy, in appearance and habits, that it is unnecessary to de- 1 Dry-o-ba'tes vil-lo'sw. Length, 10.50 inches. 20 WOODPECKERS scribe both. The former is larger, but its rank as an insect exterminator is a little lower. Its proportion of insect food is 68 per cent, and vegetable 31 per cent. Of the former, ants make up 17 per cent, beetles 24 per cent and caterpillars 21 per cent. The only cultivated fruits found in 82 stomachs were blackberries; but wild fruits were well represented. This bird inhabits practically the same region as the downy woodpecker, and belongs in the ranks of the farmer's best friends. THE YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUGKER1 is practically the only woodpecker which inflicts serious damage upon man's prop- erty; and possibly it may in some localities become so numer- ous as to require thinning out. Any bird which deliberately girdles a tree and kills it is a bird entitled to serious considera- tion, and to punishment according to the actual harm it does. This bird eats great quantities of insects, but as dessert it is fond of the sap of certain trees, among which are the maple, birch, white ash, apple, mountain ash and spruce. Into the soft, green bark of these trees this Sapsucker drills small, squarish holes, that look like gimlet holes. Usually they are placed in a horizontal line, and sometimes in mathematical groups. Occasionally several lines of these holes will quite girdle a tree. The bird not only drinks the sap that exudes, but he lies in wait to catch the winged insects and ants that are attracted to the sweet fluid, and devours great numbers of them. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who has closely observed the work of the Sapsucker, states that frequently mountain -ash trees 1 Sphy-ra-pi'cus va'ri-us. Length, 8.25 inches. THE SAPSUCKER 21 are girdled to death by this bird, but that trees of greater endurance, like the apple and thorn-apple, are more able to survive its attacks. Another observer, Mr. Frank Bolles, declares that in well-wooded regions the damage it does is too insignificant to justify its destruction. Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright states that in Connecticut, "where these birds are plentiful, many orchard-owners cover the tree-trunks with fine wire netting." :1, ment of the bag limit law" as a means of bringing back this almost vanished species! It is fairly beyond question that of all birds that influence the fortunes of the farmers and fruit-growers of North America, the Bob-White is one of the most valuable. It stays on the farm all the year round. When insects are most numerous and busy, Bob-White devotes to them his entire time. He cheerfully fights them, from sixteen to eighteen hours per day. When the insects are gone, he turns his attention to the weeds that are striving to seed down the fields for another year. Occasionally he gets a few grains of wheat that have been left on the ground by the reapers; but he does no damage. In California, where the valley quail once were very numer- ous, they sometimes consumed altogether too much wheat for the good of the farmers; but outside of California I believe such occurrences are unknown. Let us glance over the Quail's food habits: One hundred and twenty -nine different weeds have been found to contribute to the Quail's bill of fare. Crops and stomachs have been found crowded with rag-weed seeds, to the number of one thousand, while others had eaten as many seeds of crab-grass. A bird shot at Pine Brook, New Jersey, in October, 1902, had eaten five thousand seeds of green fox- tail grass, and one killed on Christmas Day at Kinsale, Vir- ginia, had taken about ten thousand seeds of the pig-weed. (Elizabeth A. Reed.) In Bulletin No. 21, Biological Survey, it is calculated that if in Virginia and North Carolina there are four Quail to every square mile, and each bird consumes one ounce of seed per day, the total destruction of weed-seeds • ..;., ' ": UPLAND GAME BIRDS from September 1 to April 30 in those states alone will be 1,341 tons. In 1910 Mrs. Margaret Morse Nice, of Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, finished and contributed to the Journal of Economic Entomology (Vol. Ill, No. 3) a masterful investigation of "The Food of the Bob-White." It should be in every library in this land. Mrs. Nice publishes the entire list of 129 species of weed-seeds consumed by the Quail — and it looks like a rogue's gallery. Here is an astounding record, which proves once more that truth is stranger than fiction: NUMBER OF SEEDS EATEN BY A BOB-WHITE IN ONE DAY Barnyard grass 2,500 Milkweed 770 Beggar ticks 1,400 Peppergrass 2,400 Black mustard 2,500 Pigweed 12,000 Burdock 600 Plantain 12,500 Crab grass 2,000 Rabbitsfoot clover 30,000 Curled dock 4,175 Round-headed bush clover. . 1,800 Dodder 1,560 Smartweed 2,250 Evening primrose 10,000 White vervain 18,750 Lamb's quarter 15,000 Water smartweed. ..... 2,000 NOTABLY BAD INSECTS EATEN BY THE BOB-WHITE (PROFESSOR JUDD AND MRS. NICE) Colorado potato beetle. Clover-leaf beetle. Cucumber beetle. Cotton boll-weevil. Chinch bug. Cotton boll-worm. Bean-leaf beetle. Striped garden caterpillar. Wireworm. Cut-worms. May beetle. Grasshoppers. Corn billbug. Corn-louse ants. Imbricated-snout beetle. Rocky Mountain locust. Plant lice. Codling moth. Cabbage butterfly. Canker worm. Mosquito. Hessian fly. Squash beetle. Stable fly. THE QUAIL'S INSECT FOOD 103 SUMMARY OF THE QUAIL'S INSECT FOOD Orthoptera — Grasshoppers and locusts 13 species Hemiptera — Bugs 24 Homoptera — Leaf-hoppers and plant lice 6 Lepidoptera — Moths, caterpillars, cut-worms, etc 19 Diptera— Flies 8 Coleoptera — Beetles 61 Hymenoptera — Ants, wasps, slugs 8 Other insects 6 Total 145 " A Few Sample Meals of Insects. — The following are rec- ords of single individual meals of the Bob-White: Of grasshoppers, 84; chinch bugs, 100; squash bugs, 12; army worm, 12; cut-worm, 12; mosquitoes, 568 in three hours; cotton boll-weevil, 47; flies, 1,350; rose slugs, 1,286. Mis- cellaneous insects consumed by a laying-hen Quail, 1,532, of which 1,000 were grasshoppers; total weight of the lot, 24.6 grams. "F. M. Howard, of Beeville, Texas, wrote to the TL S. Bureau of Entomology, that the Bob-Whites shot in his vicin- ity had their crops filled with the weevils. Another farmer re- ported his cotton-fields full of Quail, and an entire absence of weevils." (Texas and Georgia papers please copy.) Surely it is unnecessary to point out the logic of the facts recorded above. The flesh of this bird is a great table delicacy — provided it has not been kept in cold storage. A cold-storage Quail is as good to the taste as a chunk of pressed sawdust, but no better; and as human food an eminent New York physician, Dr. Robert T. Morris, pronounces it unwholesome and danger- ous. In flavor, cold-storage Quail is far inferior to fresh 104 UPLAND GAME BIRDS chicken or turkey. In a court of law, a cooked Quail can easily be identified from squab, reed-bird, "rail-bird" and many others by the fact that the meat on its breast is white, while all the others wear dark meat. THE CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN QuAiL1 is a bird of most pleasing appearance, which inhabits California, Oregon and gr Washington. Wherever protected it is spreading rapidly in the settled portions of the North- west. It loves moist regions wherein the rain- fall is abundant. This is the bird with a black throat, a white crescent running down from the eye, two rows of white markings on each side and a long, drooping plume on its head running back on the same curve as the forehead. This bird goes in small flocks, of ten to twenty, hides well and is not easily flushed without a dog. THE VALLEY QuAiL2 is the bird of the Pacific coast which has the very jaunty, erect black plume, rising from the top of its head and gracefully curving forward. Its color mark- ings are rich and beautiful, but not gaudy, and in form as well as color it is very handsome. In fact, it is the most beautiful of all our small upland game birds. It inhabits CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 1 Or-e-or'tyx pic'tus. Average length, 11 inches. 2 Lo-phor'tyx calif ornicus. Average length, 9 inches. THE CALIFORNIA VALLEY QUAIL 105 Oregon, Nevada, the whole of California and the Lower California peninsula, and in some places ascends the moun- tains to 9,000 feet. It has been acclimatized in Utah, and there are many other localities in which it might well be in- troduced. This beautiful Quail is the most widely distributed and frequently seen game bird in California, not only in the moun- CALIFORNIA VALLEY QUAIL. tains, but also in the cultivated valleys, everywhere, and even in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It breeds readily in confinement in the New York Zoological Park, and when safe from rats is not difficult to keep. THE MEARNS' QUAIL/ of Mexico, western Texas and southern New Mexico and Arizona, must be mentioned be- 1 Cyr-to'nyx mon-te-zu'mae mearns'i. Average length, 8.50 inches. 106 UPLAND GAME BIRDS cause it is too odd and striking in appearance to be ignored. It may be known by the numerous large white spots on the sides of its body just below the wings, and its harlequin head of black-and-white bars and collars. It is of great interest to Americans residing in Mexico, and many attempts have been made to acclimatize it in captivity in the United States. I once had in my possession two of these birds whose white spots had been artificially changed by some enterprising Mexican to a beautiful golden-yellow color. Until the trick was discovered, the birds were quite a puzzle, for the fact that they had been dyed was not proven until they moulted. THE RUFFED GROUSE* is the dandy of American game birds. In various places it is called by various names, some of which are mischievously confusing. By many persons it is called a "PHEASANT," and by others a "PARTRIDGE"; but both of these names are entirely incorrect, and when applied to this bird create confusion. Often it is impossible to con- verse understandingly about this bird without first defining boundaries, and coming to an agreement regarding the names "Pheasant" and "Partridge." Now that a real pheasant (the ring-necked) has been introduced from China into many portions of the United States, it is all the more imperative that the Ruffed Grouse should be called by that name and no other! It is called "Ruffed" because of the ruff of feathers that it wears just in front of its shoulders, and under the name "Redruff" this bird has been most charmingly introduced by Mr. Ernest Thompson Seton to many thousand readers who never had known it previously. 1 Bo-na'sa um-bel'lus. Average length, 16 inches. THE RUFFED GROUSE 107 This Grouse is in every respect a forest bird. Its ideal home is mixed forest of hardwood and coniferous trees, with the white-tailed deer and gray squirrel for company. Its home extends from Massachusetts and northern New York to northern Georgia, and westward very sparingly beyond the Mississippi to the Dakotas. Besides being beautiful, it is a bird of interesting habits, and its flesh is entirely too fine for its own good. In size it is smaller than the pinnated grouse, or prairie chicken, but in intelligence it is second to no other grouse living. The prevailing color of the Ruffed Grouse is rusty brown, but the mottlings of black, gray and white defy intelligent description. Open or shut, the tail is a dream — cross-barred, banded and mottled most exquisitely. It is no wonder that the male bird is fond of strutting, with spread tail; but besides this it has a still more effective means of attracting the female. It perches on a log, secures a good grip with its feet, then beats the air with its wings until you hear at the end of the per- formance a long, quivering resonance disturbing the solitude, like beating upon a Hindoo tom-tom. The beats start slowly, but quickly increase in rapidity to the end, thus: " Dum!-dum!-dum!-dum-dum-dumdumdum- dum." The bird does not beat the log, and it does not beat EASTERN RUFFED GROUSE. 108 UPLAND GAME BIRDS its own sides. Thoreau declared that its wings strike to- gether behind its back! This "drumming" of the Ruffed Grouse is heard oftenest in spring, and is a signal to the fe- male; but it is also heard occasionally in summer and autumn. This grouse is a strong flier, and gets up before the hunter with such a tremendous "burr-r-r-r" of wings, and goes off so explosively, that it takes a quick eye and hand to bring it down. It can dash off through timber like a feathered rocket, dodging trees and branches, and zigzagging in all di- rections leading away from danger, with a degree of speed and certainty that is really marvellous. No wonder the young hunter who kills one, fairly and squarely, feels proud of his skill, and hastens away to have the trophy mounted for his den. Unfortunately, in most eastern states, where the Ruffed Grouse should hold its own for a hundred years, this bird is doomed to complete extinction — unless its sale for the table is immediately and effectually stopped! So long as it is lawful to sell it, pot-hunters will shoot it, and snare it, in season and out of season, as "food" for the already over-fed patrons of fashionable hotels and restaurants of the large cities. As food for the hungry, this beautiful bird is not needed in the least. As a means of inducing thousands of brain-weary men to take healthful exercise in the woods, it will serve a highly useful and important purpose — if not meanly and foolishly exterminated. In New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and seventeen other states the sale of game is now sternly forbidden by state laws, and those laws are mostly well enforced. THE DUSKY GROUSE 109 The following subspecies, closely related to the typical Ruffed Grouse, are found in North America: The Oregon, or Sabine's Grouse, is found on the mountains of the Pacific coast, west of the Coast Range, from northern British Columbia to California. This species possesses rich red plumage, and is quite beautiful. The Canadian Ruffed Grouse belongs to Canada and Maine, but in the Northwest it ranges south of the international boundary. The Gray Ruffed Grouse inhabits the Rocky Moun- tains from the Yukon to Colorado. THE DUSKY GROUSE1 is a conspicuous type which in- habits the Rocky Mountains from Idaho and Montana to Arizona. Its other names are BLUE, PINE, and GRAY GROUSE, and also PINE-HEN. I first saw it alive in the Shoshone Mountains, while skirting a very steep mountain side in search of mountain sheep. The stunted pines that struggle with the slide-rock for existence were not more than thirty feet high, but in them perched, dangerously near the ground, this handsome slaty -blue Grouse. Its nearest neighbors were the mountain sheep, elk, magpie, Clarke's nutcracker, and golden eagle. This fine bird ranges up to timber-line, but loves rough mountain sides that are partially covered with pines, cedars and firs. It usually lives alone, but sometimes forms very small flocks. The crop of a specimen which I shot was stuffed full of fresh, green pine needles, some of them two inches long. At that time, however, the snow was a foot deep. 1 Den-drag1 'a-pus ob-scu'rus. Average length of male, about 21 inches; female, 18 inches. 110 UPLAND GAME BIRDS This bird is recognizable by the broad white band across the end of its tail, and its slaty -blue color. From Alaska to California is found a subspecies, very much like the preceding, called the Sooty Grouse. From western Montana to the Coast Range in Oregon and Washington, and northward to Alaska, is found the Franklin Grouse, known very generally as the 66 Fool Hen" because it trusts too much to man's humanity, and often finds itself a victim of misplaced confidence. This is one of the last American birds to learn that man is a very dangerous animal, and often devoid both of mercy and of appreciation of the beautiful in bird life. THE CANADA GROUSED also called the SPRUCE GROUSE and BLACK "PARTRIDGE," is, as its most acceptable name implies, the grouse of Canada and the Northwest. It has the widest range of any American member of the Grouse Family — from the Alaskan Peninsula southeastward to northern Minnesota, Michigan, New York and New England. It inhabits the evergreen forests of that vast region, usually in very small flocks. It does not really migrate, but by reason of seasonal changes which affect its food supply it often shifts from one locality to another. (D. G. Elliot.) In many localities it is known as the "Fool Hen" •— a name which is applied in various places to several other species. Man is so conscious of his own insensate destructiveness, and so accustomed to seeing all wild creatures fly in terror before his baneful presence, he naturally feels that any bird which trusts its life to his tender mercies, and does not live in con- stant fear of him, must indeed be a feathered fool! For some 1 Ca-nach'i-tes canadensis can-a'ce. Length, about 14 inches. THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN 111 strange reason several members of the Grouse Family are surprisingly slow to comprehend man's true nature and ac- quire the flight instinct, which most other species learn by experience in a few generations of contact with the Univer- sal Killer. CANADA GROUSE. The male Canada Grouse is readily recognized by its black breast and throat, and black tail, which handsomely set off the barred gray back and sides. THE PINNATED GROUSE, or PRAIRIE CHICKEN/ lives chiefly in the memories of those who from 1860 to 1875 were "western men," or boys. At that time Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, and the states adjoining, were the "West." Rail- roads were few, all guns were muzzle-loaders, and the game- dealers of Chicago were not stretching out their deadly ten- tacles, like so many long-armed octopi, to suck the last drop of wild-game blood from prairie and forest. The "market- 1 Tym-pa-nu'chus americanus. Average length of male, 18 inches* UPLAND GAME BIRDS shooter" was a species of game-butcher then unknown, and the beautiful fertile prairies and prairie-farms of Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska were well stocked with Prairie Chickens. In spring they courted openly, and even proudly. The cocks strutted, and inflated the bare, salmon-yellow air-sacs on the sides of their necks, bowed low, and " Boo-hoo-hooed!" until the sound rolled over the bare earth in great waves. Then they scattered, to nest and rear their young. In sum- mer they hid themselves closely ; and no self-respecting farmer dreamed of such a low act as killing one, or meddling with a nest. In the fall, after the harvesting, and just before the corn- cutting and corn-husking, the young broods were ready to fly, and the flocks began to gather. They first ranged through the wheat and oat stubble, gleaning; and the sport they fur- nished there — dear me ! Those were the golden days of life on a prairie farm. The flocks of Pinnated Grouse and quail were the rightful heritage of the boys and men who toiled in the fields through the raw cold of early spring, and the long, flam- ing days of July and August. If the farmers only had been far-sighted, and diligent in protecting for their all-too-scanty recreation, and for their own tables, the game that was theirs, they might have had Prairie Chickens to hunt for a century. But the game-devouring octopi began to reach out, from Water Street, Chicago, and from New York and Boston. An army of men began to "shoot for the market," and the Pin- nated Grouse and quail began to "go east," by the barrel. Some markets were so glutted, time after time, that unnum- THE PASSING OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN 115 bered barrels of dead birds spoiled. That was before the days of cold storage. The efforts that were made to stop that miserable busi- ness were feeble to the point of imbecility; and absolutely nothing permanent was accomplished. Had farmers generally stopped all shooting on their farms, as every farmer should, the war on those birds would have stopped also; but the barn was not locked until after the horse had been stolen. A species destroyed is rarely regained. To-day the Prairie Chicken is to be numbered with the buffalo and passenger pigeon. It is so nearly extinct that only a few flocks remain, the most of which are in north-western Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nebraska. If hunting them with dogs continues, five years hence the species will probably be quite extinct. It is useless to describe this bird. The chances are that no reader of this book ever will see one outside of a museum, or a large zoological garden.1 The great flocks of from one to three hundred that from 1860 to 1875 were seen in winter in the Iowa corn-fields, are gone forever. Even as late as 1874 many birds were killed every winter by flying against the telegraph wires along the railways. THE HEATH HEN, or EASTERN PRAIRIE CHICKEN,* was the first bird species of the United States to be completely exterminated everywhere save in one small locality. I doubt if there are more than one thousand Americans now living to whom this bird is anything more than an empty name. 1 During the first four years of its existence, the New York Zoological Park was able to secure only four living specimens. 2 Tym-pa-nu'chus cu 'pi-do. 116 UPLAND GAME BIRDS Originally this bird was to the eastern states what the pinnated grouse was to the middle West. It inhabited New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and I know not how many more states. But the shotguns were too much for it. Being a game bird of fine flavor, good size and open-country habits, it was sought and shot, regardless of seasons. In 1785 New York accorded a close season from April 1 to October 1. New Jersey extended partial protection in 1820, Massachusetts in 1831, and Rhode Island in 1846. In 1866 New Jersey became alarmed about impending extinction, and gave the vanishing Heath Hen a five-year close season. In 1862 New York, in still greater alarm, gave a ten -year close season, hoping to bring back the vanished flocks. Five years later, in still greater alarm, New York passed a new ten-year close-season law, and in 1870 Massachusetts rushed to the front with a law for six years of unbroken protec- tion. Those efforts now teach a valuable lesson, which is this: In the destruction of a wild species a point of disappearance is finally reached beyond which every species is doomed, and cannot be restored. That was reached with the Heath Hen, everywhere save on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Mas- sachusetts, where by great efforts a colony of about 200 birds has been saved, even down to 1914. I fear that already in several states various species of game birds, such as the eastern bob-white, have been shot down to a point so low that it may be impossible for any length of close seasons to bring back the vanished flocks. BIRDS OF THE SAGE-BRUSH PLAINS 117 THE PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE l inhabits the Great Plains, from the states bordering the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains. It is the plains counterpart of the pinnated grouse, and like it, is rapidly disappearing before the settle- ments that are fast filling up its home. The neck of the male lacks the side tuft of long, pointed feathers and the naked air-sac so conspicuous on the male pinnated grouse. To-day this bird is seldom seen in the open sage-brush plains and bad lands of Montana and Wyoming, but is oc- casionally found in or near the foot-hills of the Rocky and Big- Horn Mountains. When flushed, it makes the mistake of its life in alighting in the low, isolated cottonwood trees that straggle along the creeks, for when thus perched it takes a strong man to resist the temptation to cut off its head with a rifle-ball — or try to do so. This bird will fly out of the most impregnable cover, and perch aloft to be shot at in a manner indicating a total absence of the most ordinary instinct of self-preservation . THE SAGE GROUSE, or "CocK-OF-THE-PLAiNS,"2 is a su- perb bird — big, handsome and showy. It is one of the very few creatures which can with pleasure and benefit eat the leaves of the common sage-brush, and subsist upon that food indefinitely. Naturally, however, this diet often imparts to the flesh of the bird an excess of sage flavor which renders it quite unpalatable. Unfortunately, on this fact alone the Sage Grouse cannot base a hope of a better fate than that of its more edible relatives in the Grouse Family. 1 Ped-i-oe-ce'tes phas-i-an-el'lus cam-pes'tris. Average length, about 17 inches. 2 Cen-tro-cer'cus u-ro-phas-i-an'us. Length of male, 27 inches ; female, 22 inches. 118 UPLAND GAME BIRDS Of the really conspicuous members of the Plains fauna- buffalo, antelope, elk, coyote, gray wolf, swift fox, jack "rab- bit," prairie-" dog," and Sage Grouse — all have vanished from frequent sight save the last "dog," and some have wholly disappeared. In riding in October, 1901, from Miles City to the Missouri River and back, about 250 miles all told, we saw only three coyotes, one gray wolf, and four prairie hares. Cotton-tail rabbits abounded in the bad lands, and we saw about six flocks of Sage Grouse — a very small number for so much territory. One of those flocks, however, was a sight to be remem- bered. In the valley of the Little Dry it spread out in open order, on a level flat that was carpeted with short, gray buffalo-grass, and dotted here and there with low clumps of sage-brush. Halting the outfit wagon I slowly rode forward until within thirty feet of the vanguard of the flock. There were forty-six birds, and all were on dress parade. They stood proudly erect, headed across the trail, marched forward in a slow and stately manner, and every weather eye was kept on me. The majority were big, long-tailed cocks. At last the parade terminated in the flight of the birds nearest me, gradually followed by all the others. In size, the Sage Grouse is the largest member of the Grouse Family in America — next, in fact, to the magnificent blackcock of Europe. When a whole flock suddenly rises out of the sage-brush and takes wing, it is an event to remem- ber. The rush and beat of wings makes a startling noise, and the size of the bird is also highly impressive. This grouse is so large that, as it flies away, you see its body rock violently THE SAGE GROUSE NEARLY EXTINCT 119 from side to side, and note the effort of the wings to carry the bird, and maintain a true balance. The male has an air-sac on each side of its neck, which it inflates in the courting season, when it struts to attract the SAGE GROUSE. attention of the females. Recently Mr. Frank Bond has ob- served that the male also rubs its breast along the ground, as a part of its strutting performance, which accounts for the mysteriously worn condition of the breast feathers. It is no more necessary to describe a Sage Grouse than an 120 UPLAND GAME BIRDS elephant. Its large size, and its extremely long and pointed tail proclaim its identity anywhere. According to Mrs. Bailey, it ranges "from Assiniboia and British Columbia to Utah, Nevada and California, from the Sierra Nevadas and Cascades east to the Black Hills, Nebraska and Colorado." I heartily wish that every one who reads these notes may some day have the pleasure of seeing at close range this glorious bird in its ideal home — on a sage-brush flat in the land of buttes, where the world is big and free, and full of sunshine. But I am sure this wish will fall far short of realization. By the sportsmen, gunners and pot-hunters of the far West, this fine bird has been shot and shot, until now it exists only in shreds and patches. Every locality still containing birds is surrounded, and no one who shoots seems to care about saving that truly grand bird. In a very short time the peo- ple of the West will awake and find that the great Sage Grouse is totally extinct. THE PTARMIGANS (pronounced tar'mi-gans) form a sharply distinguished group of the Grouse Family, with which, in view of the different species we possess in Alaska, and also nearer home, every American should become acquainted. The most striking and peculiar character about these birds is that at the approach of winter they turn snow white. They prefer to nest on the tops of rugged mountains, above timber-line, and in Alaska are at home either on the lofty snow-fields of the mountains or the desolate barrens. There are four well-defined species, and six varieties. The only species which is at home in the United States is the tf a Si A BIRD WITH A CHANGEABLE COAT WHITE-TAILED PTARMIGAN l — in Colorado sometimes called the "White Quail" —which lives in the Rocky Mountains from the Liard River, British Columbia, to New Mexico. It is said that another species (the Willow) does occasionally wander down into northern New England. The majority of the species are found in Alaska, but the Rock Ptarmigan covers nearly the whole of Arctic America from Alaska to Labrador and Greenland. Two of its subspecies inhabit Newfoundland. THE WILLOW PTARMIGAN2 may well be chosen as the typical representative of the whole group, for its distribution covers the arctic lands entirely around the pole. When De Long and his party fought starvation at the mouth of the Lena River, their last food was one of these birds, shot with a rifle by Alexy, the Eskimo. In northern Greenland and Grinnell Land Peary and Greely ate it, and in the Kenai Peninsula flocks of it were photographed by Dall DeWeese and others. In 1913 two specimens were taken at Midvale, Montana. This bird is almost constantly busy in changing its clothes. In the spring it goes by slow degrees from winter white to chestnut brown, barred with black. By July the dark plu- mage of midsummer is fully developed; but not for long. By the first of September, the trouble begins once more, and feather by feather the- plumage gradually changes to snowy white. In winter the legs and feet of Ptarmigans generally are heavily clothed with feathers, and often only the ends of the toes are visible. 1 La-go' pus leu-cu'rus. Length, about 12 inches. 2 La-go'pus lagopus. Length, about 14 inches. 124 UPLAND GAME BIRDS As might be expected, this bird and its relatives often constitute an important source of food for the Indians and Eskimos of the arctic regions. Unfortunately, in every mining district of the far North- west the Ptarmigan is relentlessly pursued as food for the camps. A photograph taken in 1913 at (or near) White Horse, Yukon, shows a solid wall of Ptarmigan which was said to contain about 3,000 birds. THE PHEASANT FAMILY Phasianidae THE PHEASANT FAMILY was originally represented on this continent only by the wild turkeys; but during recent years certain foreign species have been successfully introduced, and are now becoming so numerous as to require notice. THE RING-NECKED PHEASANT 1 has been introduced from China, and acclimatized in Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia and elsewhere with pronounced success. In many localities it has become so abundant that now it is shot by sportsmen as upland game birds once were killed in New York state. From Portland, Oregon, to Vancouver the taxidermists are annually called upon to mount scores of. these birds, because they are so beautiful that many of the sportsmen who shoot them cannot consent to see their skins destroyed. Following the examples of the Pacific states, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and several other states both east and west have entered seriously upon the 1 Phas-i-an'us tor-quat'us. THE WILD TURKEY 125 business of breeding, rearing and introducing this valuable bird at state expense. THE SILVER PHEASANT, and the very beautiful GOLDEN PHEASANT, both natives of China, have also been acclimatized in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. In view of WILD TURKEY, FROM VIRGINIA. the strong and hardy natures of both these birds, there should be little difficulty in introducing them in any well-wooded farming region east of the Mississippi and south of the for- tieth parallel. THE WILD TURKEY1 once inhabited nearly one-half of the United States; and, considering the great size of the bird, the earnestness of our efforts to exterminate it, and the very little that has been done toward its protection, its survival to-day is cause for wonder. It is yet found in a few heavily timbered regions in the East and South — such as Florida, 1 Me-le-a'gris gal-lo-pa'vo. Length of large male, about 46 inches; weight, 28 pounds. 126 UPLAND GAME BIRDS the Virginias, Pennsylvania and a few more of the southern « states. It is doubtful if even one flock exists in the North any- where west of Pennsylvania. In Oklahoma and Texas it still lives, but the gunners of the cattle-ranches are fast killing off the few very small flocks that remain. The Wild Turkey is the king of upland game birds. It has been given to but a few hunters to seek this bird in its native forests, witness its splendid flight, and afterward shoulder a giant gobbler weighing from twenty -five to thirty pounds for a ten-mile carry. He who has done this, however, will thereafter rank this bird aS second to none on earth. In the United States only one species exists, but three geographic races have been described. The wild bird so closely resembles the domestic turkey that almost the only difference observ- able is the white upper tail coverts of the tame bird. THE OCELLATED TuRKEY,1 of Yucatan, British Honduras and Guatemala is a bird of more brilliant plumage but smaller size than our northern species. Its name refers to the beau- tiful eye-spots of blue, green and purple which adorn the tail feathers. The prevailing color of the body plumage is a rich metallic green, exhibiting the brilliant iridescence and bur- nished-bronze effects so strongly displayed in most turkeys in full plumage. On account of its great beauty, several at- tempts have been made to establish this species in zoological gardens, and at last (1914) it has been successfully established in the New York Zoological Park. The species is very diffi- cult to keep alive in captivity. 1 Me-le-a'gris oc-el-la'ta. CHAPTER XXVII ORDER OF SHORE BIRDS LIMICOLAE A3 the name of the Order indicates, these birds live on the ocean and lake beaches, and the banks of rivers, ponds and pools, where they find many kinds of queer things to feed upon. On the boundary line betwixt sea and land they find many insects, shell-fish, crustaceans and worms. The turnstones make a business of turning over pebbles and small stones, in order to capture the worms and insects that take shelter under them. Let it not be thought, however, that all shore birds live on shores. -Far from it. Before the days of general bird slaughter and extermination, there were plovers and curlews and dowitchers and other species that were at home on the roll- ing prairies of Iowa, Illinois and Kansas, miles and miles from the nearest pond, lake or river. Even to the eyes of a farmer boy knowing naught of natural-history books, they seemed strangely out of place; for their long, slender legs suggested water and wading. In those days we wondered what they found on those dry prairies to feed upon; but now we know that they fed bountifully upon insects! Until the publication in April, 1911, by the United States Department of Agriculture, of Professor W. L. McAtee's 127 128 SHORE BIRDS circular, No. 79, on "Our Vanishing Shorebirds," the Amer- ican people were totally unaware of the enormous value of those birds as destroyers of insects. For example: 9 species (of phalaropes, sandpipers and plovers) feed on mosquitoes. 2 species feed on the Texas fever tick ! 4 species feed on horse-flies, both larval and adult. 7 species feed on crane-flies. 6 species devour great quantities of locusts. 24 species feed on grasshoppers. 2 species feed on the cotton- worm. 6 species make a specialty of the very destructive weevils. 7 species eat the bill-bug. 9 species devour beetles of several very destructive species. 6 species devour the destructive crawfishes of the South. Now, these facts are of much more than forgetful interest. They concern the family market-basket and the grocer's bill. Every insect that destroys any portion of a farm crop of the United States thereby raises to us the cost of living; and the American people can take that fact or leave it. For two hundred years the hunters and sportsmen of America have been regarding the shore birds solely as game birds, measurable only in food ounces on the table. First, they began to slaughter the large species, but as the supply diminished rapidly before the semi-annual gauntlet of guns the standard of shooting ethics sank lower and lower. In 1900 the bottom of the scale was reached. It was about that time that "sportsmen" began to shoot sandpipers, tor food! As a food proposition, the sandpiper is in the sparrow class. From the interior of the United States about ninety -eight per cent of the shore birds have disappeared, possibly forever. Along the great semi-annual migration routes, particularly THE NEW FEDERAL MIGRATORY BIRD LAW 129 the Atlantic coast during the "spring flight," when the birds are concentrated on that narrow line, a dozen species still are represented. Last May (1913) two friends took me to Great South Bay, Long Island, on a stormy voyage of observation. In one day we saw about 2,000 birds of nine species, and had the day been fine we would have seen a great many more. It represented the massing together, on those famous resting and feeding grounds, of the whole New York supply of shore birds. It was a pleasure to find that seed stock of shore birds and to note its possible value in bringing back those vanishing species. In view of the ease with which shore birds can be shot, and the continuous lines of gunners that everywhere greet their appearance, it is a wonder that any have survived to this time. But for these much-persecuted birds a new era has dawned. There are about sixty species of North American shore birds, and under the terms of the new federal migratory bird law, in effect since October 1, 1913, fifty -four of those species are now permanently protected from slaughter every- where in the United States. It is hoped that Canada soon \vill enact a similar provision. The enemies of our native birds who desire the precious and sportsmanlike (?) privilege of slaughtering emaciated ducks and geese in January, February and March are very anxious that the federal migratory bird law should at once be declared "unconstitutional," and destroyed. If that law ever is so destroyed, ice very soon will see the last of our shore birds! There are many genera and species of birds in this Order, 130 SHORE BIRDS but for certain reasons it is difficult to form an acquaintance with more than a very few of them. The majority of them reach us only as birds of passage, on the way to or from their breeding grounds farther north, and during the year are wTith us only a few weeks. Others are so few in number, and live in such remote localities, that they also are beyond our ac- quaintance. As usual, therefore, we will introduce only those species that are sufficiently abundant, long-tarrying and generally interesting to make them worth knowing. THE KILLDEER PLOVER1 makes an excellent representa- tive of a large section of this Order. It is of average size and handsome appearance, and is such a loud and frequent caller its presence is always well advertised. It is so widely distributed that millions of people have seen it alive. It is a bird of the inland ponds and pools, not of the seashore, and it is found throughout the whole temperate portion of North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is not a bird of heavily timbered regions, however, and is most abundant in the lake regions of the Mississippi Valley. On the prairies of the middle West, wherever there are small, shallow ponds, or even pools in wet meadows, all through the season of mild weather you will hear its clear and rather strident cry of " Kill-d-e-e-r! Kill-d-e-e-r!" And it is always a pleasing sight to see this immaculate bird in snow-white, brown and black plumage standing at the edge of a bit of water — a stroke of living high-light in the landscape. I al- ways liked the Killdeer, and, although I have seen hundreds, and heard its cry a thousand times, I never wearied of its 1 Ox-y-e'chus vo-cif'er-a. Length, 10.50 inches. HABITS OF THE GOLDEN PLOVER 131 companionship. In my opinion it is our most beautiful shore bird. THE AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVER,1 also called GREEN and FIELD PLOVER, is (or, at least was until recently) the Plover most frequently seen in the Atlantic states, and in the markets. KILLDEER PLOVER. It frequents the banks of marshes and tide pools along the seashore, but it is equally fond of the pools and ponds of the uplands, particularly in old meadows. They are seldom seen during the spring migration; they do not remain with us during the summer, and it is only during the months of their fall migration, from August 15 to November 1, that they are really in evidence. During the open season they are much sought by gunners — which is the reason why there is now only one bird where formerly there were fifty. In fact, the 1 Char-a-dri'us do-min'i-cus. Average length, 10 inches. SHORE BIRDS AMERICAN WOODCOCK. Golden Plover is actually on the brink of oblivion, and in effect it is to-day so nearly extinct that it may as well be classed with the birds that were, but are not. THE AMERICAN WOOD- cocK1 is the oddest- looking land-bird in North America. Its legs are too short for so large a body, its tail is only half as long as it should be, its neck is too short and too thick, and its head is entirely out of drawing. The eyes are placed too far back, and the bill is too long and too straight. In appear- ance, the Woodcock looks like an avian caricature. But, odd or not, this bird is very dear to the heart of the great Amer- ican sportsman, and its plump brown body is a genuine delicacy. It has a long array of local names, some of which are so uncouth that the less said concerning them the better. WOODCOCK ON NEST. rrn I • , • Photographed at a distance of 6 feet, by Le Roy Hie long, Sensitive M. Tufts, and copyright, 1903. 1 Phi-lo-he'la mi'nor. Average length, about 10.50 inches. THE AMERICAN WOODCOCK 133 beak of this bird is really a probe and a pair of forceps com- bined, for probing in soft earth or mud after earthworms, and dragging them out when found. In order to feed, the Wood- cock has no option but to frequent the moist banks of wooded streams, or wet grounds in the shelter of bushes or timber, where it can work unobserved. During the day it lies low to escape observation, and does the most of its feeding at night. It is seldom found in open ground, and Woodcock-shooting is much like shooting quail among brush — quick and difficult. This bird ranges throughout the United States from the Atlantic coast to the edge of the Great Plains. In the course of much hunting in central Iowa I never but once shot a specimen of this species. In the eastern states it is only the most skilful local hunters who can go out and find a Woodcock. Unless it is given a ten-year close season, and quickly, its extinction is certain. As a highly esteemed game bird, WILSON'S SNIPE, or the JACK SNIPE/ is a close second to the woodcock. Like the latter, it has a long, straight bill with a sensitive tip, with which to probe down in the mud or soft earth of pond margins or spring holes, to the home of the angle-worm. Unlike the woodcock, however, this Snipe is a very well-formed bird, and it feeds more in the open, which renders its pursuit more fruitful of results. On the wing it is awkward and angular- looking. It flies in a very angular course, but so rapidly it is a difficult mark to hit. When it rises, it utters a shrill cry, half scream and half squawk, and in windy weather it often flies quite high. 1 Gal-li-na'go del-i-ca'ta. Length, about 11 inches. 134 SHORE BIRDS This Snipe has a very wide range — from Alaska and Hud- son Bay through all the United States, except the arid re- gions, to northern South America. Its most conspicuous color is brown, striped on the back with black, which in brushy ground protects the bird so well it is difficult to distinguish. WILSON'S SNIPE. Whenever at the seashore in warm weather you wander "far from the madding crowd," you may make the acquaint- ance of the SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER,* or possibly it will be the LEAST SANDPIPER2 — a trifle more minute, and with no ^web at the base of its toes. At a distance of ten feet the two species look precisely alike, and there is no need to worry about an exact identification. They are also called "Peeps" and "Ox-Eyes," and the toes of the Semipalmated Sandpiper are partly webbed. 1 Er-e-un-e'tes pu-sil'lus. Length, 6 inches. 2 Ac-to-dro'mas min-u-til'la. Average length, 5.50 inches. PEEPS" AND "OX-EYES" 135 As the green -topped surf dashes to pieces on the pebbles and goes sliding in a silvery sheet up the yellow sand, you will notice just above its frothy edge a flock of little gray sprites, their tiny legs twinkling as they patter swiftly over the smooth floor. Sometimes the sliding sheet of water overtakes them. If it is nearly spent, they mind it not; but if the rush is too strong, up springs the flock, all members at the same instant, and with quick flashes of light- gray wings, it skims the surf -sheets or the sand, to a point farther on. The unison of action in the rising, flight and landing of the flock is as perfect as if each little pair of wings were worked by the same wires. How does each bird know the impulses of all the others? Watch them, and see if you can guess the secret. At the seashore I never weary of watching these busy little creatures, and never fail to be amused by the twinkling of their tiny legs as they run before the water. As the sheet of surf recedes, down they run after it, to pick up whatever of insect or other edible animal life it has brought to them from the sea, or uncovered on the sand. Small as the Sandpipers are, their slaughter by gunners was in full career when it was stopped by the federal migra- tory bird law, on October 1, 1913. Had it continued a little LEAST SANDPIPER. 136 SHORE BIRDS longer these helpless and heedless little birds would soon have been exterminated from our bird fauna. To-day the species mentioned above are found very thinly sprinkled throughout the whole eastern United States, and they breed northward quite up to the Arctic Barren Grounds. Wherever they are, they are interesting birds, and worthy of your friendship. THE LONG-BILLED CURLEW l is a bird which has caused much wonderment and many guesses in the middle West, where on the virgin prairies it once was frequently seen. This bird's trick of holding its wings high above its back for t\vo or three seconds after it alights upon the ground alwrays attracts special attention. Its cry, also, oft repeated in spring, is very weird and peculiar, and well calculated to make the bird remembered. This bird once was common on the rolling prairies of Iowa, regardless of ponds or streams, where it sought every sort of animal life small enough to be swallowed. It is easily recog- nized, even in flight, by its long, curved bill. In its form, its beak and its legs, it is almost a perfect counterpart of a typical ibis, but it has the mechanically mottled plumage of a typical shore bird. Although by some ornithologists this bird is credited to the whole length and breadth of the United States, there certainly are some very wide regions from which it is totally absent. In various localities it has various names, some of which are Sickle Bill, Sabre Bill, Smoker, Spanish Curlew and Mowyer. This bird is very sympathetic toward its wounded mates, 1 Nu-men'i-us lon-gi-ros'tris. Average length, about 23 inches; bill of adult bird, about 8 inches. OF INTEREST TO THE SPECIAL STUDENT 137 and in response to the cries of a bird that has been shot, a flock sometimes will return, and with loud cries circle near the gunner, at close range, until several more have been brought down. (D. G. Elliot.) Besides the shore birds mentioned above, there are several groups which are of interest chiefly to the special student, and which there is no space to introduce here, save by name. There are the oyster-catchers, turnstones, godwits, stilts and phalaropes. In the Order Limicolae as a whole there are in North America, north of Mexico, about seventy-five species and subspecies. CHAPTER XXVIII ORDER OF CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS PALUDICOLAE THE name of this Order, Pal-u-dic'o-lae, means "marsh- dweller," and the presence in it of the cranes is enough to make it notable. It must be admitted, however, that from the stately and commanding crane down to the humble coot, the scared gallinule, and the diminutive rail, is a long step downward. But it is inevitable that the efforts of science to classify the birds of the world in as few Orders as possible should bring together many widely divergent forms. To have a greater number of Orders would be still more confusing to the general student than the present number. In the Order of Marsh-Dwellers there are only two Fami- lies which we feel called upon to notice here. These are the Cranes and the Rails, Gallinules and Coots. THE CRANE FAMILY Gruidae The cranes of the world form a group of about eighteen species, which, in stateliness, beauty and oddity of habit, are second only to the ostriches and their allies. Every zoolog- ical garden which possesses a good collection of cranes has good reason to be proud of it. The Crowned Cranes of Africa 138 THE CRANE FAMILY 139 are the most beautiful species of all, the Paradise Crane is the oddest in appearance, the little Demoiselle Crane, of the Nile region, has the most amiable disposition. The big, red-headed Saras Crane of India is the most quarrelsome, and the stately Whooping Crane of North America is the species which comes nearest to being pure white. Through some mischievous and unfortunate circumstance, the great majority of the people who live in the eastern United States have become almost fixed in the habit of call- ing the great blue heron the "blue crane." The former is common enough along watercourses and tidal rivers, but it is probable that not more than one person out of every ten thousand has ever seen in America a living wild crane. As applied to wild birds, the word "crane" should be used most sparingly. Along the Atlantic coast, the only locality in which it might correctly be used afield is on the interior sa- vannas of Florida. THE WHOOPING CRANE1 is now one of the rarest of all living North American birds. Fourteen years of diligent quest for living specimens have produced but eight birds. There were in captivity on January 1, 1914, exactly five specimens, only two of which were in the United States. Inasmuch as this bird is of no value save to zoological gardens, it must be believed that it has been wantonly shot, down to the verge of extinction. Since it is a practical impossibility to induce it to breed in captivity, the species seems almost certain to disappear from our fauna at an early date. Although this splendid species is not as yet wholly extinct, 1 Grus americana* 140 CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS it is very near it. In view of its range from the Arctic Barren Grounds to the Gulf of Mexico, there is not the slightest chance that it can be sufficiently protected from shooting to prevent its extermination about 1934. As seen with its wings closed, the visible plumage of this grand bird is all snowy white. When the wings are spread, however, it is found that the largest feathers, called the pri- maries, are jet black. The upper tail coverts form a plume that arches upward over the tail, and gives the bird a very jaunty air. The top of the head is bare of feathers, and the rough skin has a dull-red glow. The eye is big and keen, and the bill is long, strong and rather blunt on the end, for digging angle-worms out of the ground, not for spearing fish. The strength of the beak and neck of the Whooping Crane in the New York Zoological Park is truly remarkable. The bird roams at will in a grassy meadow of about two acres in extent. Soon after it attained full growth, it was noticed that after every rain it would vigorously attack the grass. With mandibles two inches apart at the tips, it would drive its beak into the earth to a depth of from two to three inches, grasp a tuft of grass between them, and by main strength de- liberately pull it up by the roots. A few vigorous shakes side- wise dislodged any angle-worms which might have been brought up, after which the roots of the tuft would be care- fully looked over before being cast aside. Next in order, the wounded earth wrould be carefully probed and picked over. In a few hours, this bird sometimes pulled up the grass on a space fifteen feet square, and finally disfigured the ground so seriously that after every rain the Crane had to be shut up. THE WHOOPING CRANE'S TRUMPET CALL 141 A living full-grown Whooping Crane stands 4 feet 3 inches high. Its name is due to its wonderfully clear, powerful and trumpet-like call, which is uttered with the beak pointing N. Y. Zoological Park. WHOOPING CRANE. straight upward. When properly delivered, the crane's call consists of two notes, an octave apart, one following the other so closely that there is no interval, thus: "Quah-KEE-E- E-oo!" I believe that a Crane's trumpet call will carry as far as the roar of a lion. All our Cranes are strictly open-country birds, and for- 142 CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS merly inhabited the fertile, froggy prairies and corn-fields of the Mississippi Valley ; but the species named above never was really numerous anywhere. In travelling, cranes always fly in single file, with their long necks and legs in a straight line, and in that position the length of the bird seems very great. THE SANDHILL CRANE1 is a smaller bird than the preceding, always has been more numerous and therefore is much more widely known. In color it is a dull bluish-slate, and it has a half-bald, dull-red head, like a whooping crane. The pioneers who were on the western prairies from 1850 to 1870 occasion- ally saw long lines of enormously long birds sailing high in the heavens, trumpeting their identity to those unable to see them, or alighting on stilt-like legs in the corn-fields. In springtime, when the birds alighted in the bare fields, and stalked about with majestic stride, they seemed fairly gigantic. They went far north in spring to breed, and on their return trips sought their winter home in Texas, Florida, and else- where along the Gulf coast. Cranes in captivity, and wild ones also, often indulge in strange antics. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, one will half-open its wings, leap into the air and begin to dance. It bobs and bows, salams and courtesies almost to the ground, and in sheer delight repeatedly leaps into the air. Often the lead of one bird is followed by several others, and occasion- ally (as I have myself seen) a whole wild flock of fifteen or twenty birds will join in the fandango. Whenever the days are cool and clear, The sandhill crane goes walking 1 Grus mexicana. Height, about 3 feet, 10 inches. THE VIRGINIA RAIL 143 Across the field by the flashing weir, Slowly, solemnly stalking. The little frogs in the tules hear, And jump for their lives if he comes near; The fishes scuttle away in fear, When the sandhill crane goes walking. The field folk know if he comes that way, Slowly, solemnly stalking, There is danger and death in the least delay, When the sandhill crane goes walking. The chipmunks stop in the midst of play; The gophers hide in their holes away; And "Hush, oh, hush!" the field mice say, When the sandhill crane goes walking. —MRS. MARY AUSTIN, in St. Nicholas.1 THE FAMILY OF RAILS Rallidae From the stately crane to the timid, self-effacing VIR- GINIA RAIL2 is going at one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. To the latter, which is a bird about half the size of a bob-white, a crane must seem like a giant whose head is in the clouds. The crane can either fight, run or fly away; but the rail is safe only when threading the mazes of a reedy marsh, where no enemy can follow it far. When boating on a marsh filled with cat-tails, or reeds, or tall grass, you may hear a score of rails clucking and calling in the heart of the green tangle about you without seeing one. There are times when it seems as if this bird is a deliberate and inten- tional ventriloquist, for its voice seems to come from all di- rections save that which points toward its owner. A marsh is as necessary to rails as water is to fishes. 1 By permission of The Century Co. and of the author* 2 Ral'lus virginianus. Average length, 9 inches. 144 CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS When a rail flies up out of a marsh or a meadow, you can recognize it by its feeble, fluttering flight, and its hanging legs. Often in alighting it seems to fall helplessly into the tall cover. In the wide marshes along the New Jersey shore, dwells a species known as the SORA RAILX in numbers sufficiently VIRGINIA RAIL. numerous to attract gunners. The moment the "law is off," the flat-bottomed boats are brought out, and the fusil- lade begins. With no larger game available, even a small Rail can form an excuse for a day's outing on the marshes, bringing the grip of the gun-stock, the dull "boom" that is music to the desk-weary man, and the welcome smell of gun- 1 Por-za'na Carolina. Length, about 9 inches. MIDWAY BETWEEN A RAIL AND A COOT 145 powder. Therefore, rail not at all those who shoot rails; for there be some who do not shoot "for revenue only." As may be inferred, rails are good to eat, though not very good; for they are several sizes too small for real comfort. There are only about twelve species in North America, of which the King Rail, 15 inches long (of eastern North Amer- ica), is the largest, and the Virginia Rail is the most widely distributed. The latter has a. long bill (1H inches), and is found from Long Island to British Columbia, breeding every- where that marshy lands occur. It is an olive-brown bird, streaked and barred with black, and in places with white also. While the most typical rails have long bills, some species are short-billed. A GALLINULE is a bird which lives, acts and looks like a rail, and is easily mistaken for either a rail or a coot; but it stands midway between the two. It is distinguished from the rails by the bare, horny shield upon the forehead, and from the coots by the long, slender, unwebbed toes. The FLORIDA GALLINULE1 is also called the Blue "Rail," and Red-Billed "Mud-Hen," and its general color effect is bluish gray. It is found in localities adapted to its habits throughout temper- ate North America, north to Canada, and as far south as Brazil. THE PURPLE GALLINULE,2 of the southern half of the eastern United States, is a bird of beautiful plumage. Its colors are a rich, dark purple on the head, neck and shoulders, lightening to peacock blue on the back and lower breast. 1 Gal-li-nu'la gal-e-a'ta. Length, about 13 inches. 2 I-o-nor'nis mar-tin' i-ca. Length, 12 inches. 146 CRANES, RAILS, AND COOTS Even as it rises beside your railway train you can easily recognize it before it is lost to view. It still breeds on the headwaters of the St. Johns, opposite Melbourne. THE COOT, or Muo-HEN,1 is a bird of the small creeks, and the shores of shallow lakes and ponds where cat-tails. THE COOr lizard-tails, iris and rushes grow abundantly. It is natural for any one who writes about a bird to think of it as he saw it most impressively. My memory goes back to my first days of alligator and crocodile hunting, in the little creeks that flow from the Florida Everglades into the head and western side of Biscay ne Bay. Then and there Mud-Hens were so numerous and so tame they became positively monot- onous. As we rowed silently along Snake Creek, or Arch 1 Fu-li'ca americana. Average length, 14.50 inches. PECULIARITIES OF THE COOT 147 Creek, the man in the bow ready for the next "big, old 'gator" found sunning himself at the edge of the saw-grass, up would go three or four slaty-blue birds of the size of bantam hens. With feeble flight, and feet pattering on the water to help along, they would fly ahead of the boat in a most offensively ostentatious manner. Of course any old alligator knows that a scared Coot means a boat; and since every boat is known to be loaded, the natural sequence of a frightened Coot is the bottom of the creek. The foot of the Coot is very curiously formed. It looks as if originally it had been fully webbed, but some one in sportive mood took a pair of scissors, cut out the centre of the web and cut deep scallops in the web along each side of each toe. The foot, therefore, is half webbed — an excellent arrangement for running on water when the wings lend their assistance. This bird never rises on the wing without a pre- liminary run on the water of from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet. It swims and dives quite well, but as a rule it prefers to live as do the rails and gallinules, in the edges of heavy marsh vegetation, where it can pick up its living of buds, blossoms, seeds, aquatic insects and snails, and also hide from its enemies. As yet the Coot is not considered a "game bird," and is not slaughtered for food; but, once let the evil eye of the epicure fall with favor upon this bird — or any other — and its doom will be sealed. The distribution of this species is given as "from Green- land and Alaska southward to the West Indies." CHAPTER XXIX ORDER OF HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES HERODIONES ALL the members of this Order are either sturdy fisher- -*• *• folk or longshoremen. They wait not for bud or blos- soms, or ripening grain, but when hunger calls they go a-fishing. Then woe betide the small fish or frog of any size which is tempted to stray into the warm shallows and linger there. The neck of the heron is specially formed by Nature for quick lunging. At rest, it folds upon itself, in angular kinks, until the neck totally disappears, and the bird's head seems to rest down upon its shoulders. But alarm this neckless bird, and presto! it is another creature. Up goes the head into the air, borne on a long, flat-sided neck, which curves like a capital S. When a heron is fishing, it stalks slowly and silently along the shore, preferably in water about six inches deep, its head carried well forward but about on a level with the top of its shoulders, while its big eyes keenly scrutinize every object in the water. It takes long steps, and plants each foot softly, in true still-hunter fashion, to avoid alarming its game. When a fish is found within range, the kinks of the neck fly 148 DESTROYED FOR THEIR PLUMES 149 straight, and the fish is seized between the mandibles. The fish is not stabbed through and through, as is generally sup- posed. In swallowing a fish, it is, of course, taken head first. Herons, egrets and ibises are gregarious, or sociable, in their nesting habits. In other words, they are fond of nest- ing together; and a place of many nesting birds is called either a "heronry," or a "rookery." The nesting sites are chosen with due regard to seclusion and food supplies. Usually the heronry is located in low trees that stand on a small island, or else grow up out of a swamp or bayou, so that without a boat they are almost inaccessible. Thirty years ago the greatest and most numerous heron- ries in the United States were in Florida, on the headwaters of the St. Johns, on the edge of the Everglades, the Big Cypress Swamp and the small rivers and creeks that run down to the sea. To-day it is difficult to find in Florida a heronry worthy of the name, or one which belongs to a large assemblage of birds; but there are a few, carefully protected by wardens. Herons, egrets and ibises have been so persistently destroyed for their "plumes" that not more than one-fiftieth of the original number remains. As will be seen by the following table, the Order Hero- diones contains quite a number of important water-birds which are not herons: ORDER HERODIONES FAMILIES. EXAMPLES. HERON Ar-de'i-dae Herons, Egrets and Bitterns. STORK Cic-o-ni'i-dae Wood Ibis. IBIS I-bid'i-dae White Ibis and Scarlet Ibis. SPOONBILL Plat-a-le'i-dae Roseate Spoonbill. 150 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES THE HERON FAMILY Ardeidae THE GREAT BLUE HERON 1 is the largest, handsomest and most conspicuous Heron in North America — if not the world. This is the bird so persistently called the "Blue Crane"; and one of the first things for the beginner to learn about birds is to call this bird a Heron, instead of a "crane"! Whether fishing in the shallows along the shore, or perch- ing on a dead tree, or winging his way slowly and majestically through the air, this is a fine, handsome bird, and a welcome sight to see. Its height when standing fairly erect is 3 feet, 3 inches. It has plumes on its head, breast and back, which American cranes do not have. It is never seen away from watercourses, and, it may be added, in warm weather no river scene is truly complete and perfect without one! When seen with closed wings, its upper neck and body are of a bluish-slate color, and its under surfaces are white, streaked up and down with black. In the North this bird is shy, and afraid of being shot at; but in the tropics, where they are not persecuted, I have sometimes approached within thirty feet of full-grown birds without alarming them. The range of this bird is from the arctic regions southward wherever the conditions of water, timber and food are suit- able, to the West Indies and South America; but there are many arid and treeless regions from which it is totally absent. THE LITTLE GREEN HERON, or "FLY-UP-THE-CREEK,": is found throughout the well-watered regions of the United 1 Ar-de'a her-o'di-as. Length, from 40 to 48 inches. 2 Bu-tor'i-des vi-res'cens. Average length, about 18 inches. THE LITTLE GREEN HERON 151 States, wherever limber is plentiful. In many localities of the middle West and the Mississippi Valley from which the great blue heron is now absent, this is the only heron to be N. Y. Zoological Park. GREAT BLUE HERON. found; and away from the Atlantic coast it is the most familiar member of its Order. Its body is about as large as that of a sparrow hawk, and when in a crouching attitude it is a very proper-looking bird. With its neck stretched, however, and its head held high, the body seems much too small, and the neck makes the bird 152 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES seem top-heavy. Start it off in flight, however, and it is one of the most ill-fitting herons that ever took wing. It is so angular and loose-jointed it seems ready to fall to pieces, and its flight is slow and feeble. The prevailing color of its plumage is a beautiful metallic green, but the flat shape of its neck, and the peculiar set of the feathers thereon have caused many young taxidermists some very sad hours. The food of the Green Heron consists of minnows, small frogs, tadpoles and insects. THE LITTLE BLUE HERON* is still occasionally seen in Florida, because it bears no fatal "plumes." In summer this species sometimes wanders northward as far as Illinois and Maine. One striking peculiarity of its plumage is worthy of special mention. Until one year old the young birds are snow white, and look precisely like young snowy egrets which are of corresponding size and form. Sometimes it is a matter of difficulty to convince a person that a snow-white bird is a Little Blue Heron in its first year. But the moulting finally tells the story. First the plumage is flecked with blue, then it is half blue, and at last the solid-blue color prevails. It seems to me that in clothing young and inexperienced birds in snow-white robes, which attract all eyes to them, Nature forgot all about "protective coloration"! THE BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON2 breeds all around New York City, and there is a wild colony of more than twenty birds regularly nesting and living in the Zoological Park. We feed them daily, with raw fish, on the bank of Lake Agassiz. 1 Ar-de'a cae-ru'le-a. Average length, 24.50 inches. 2 Nyc-ti-co'rax nycticorax nae'vi-us. Length, 24.50 inches. THE NIGHT HERON 153 As its name implies, this bird has a crown of glossy black feathers, with two or three long white occipital plumes. It is a southern bird, but it breeds as far north as Massachusetts LITTLE GREEN HERON. and Illinois. Like its twin, the Yellow-Crowned Night Heron, it is half -nocturnal in its habits. When at night in Florida you hear a bird say "Quawk!" and repeat it to you from the depths of the mangroves as your boat glides by, you know it is a Night Heron. Both these species have beautiful plumage, 154 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES and are handsome birds. Their distinguishing marks are: thick bodies, and short, thick necks; short legs (for herons), and two or three round, wisp-like plumes from five to seven inches long growing out of the top of the head, and drooping backward. THE SNOWY HERON, or SNOWY EGRET,1 when fully adult, is one of the most beautiful white birds in all the avian world. Its form is the embodiment of symmetry and grace, its plu- mage is immaculate, and the filmy "plumes" on its head and back are like spun glass. Its black legs and bill merely serve to intensify the whiteness of its feathers. But the vanity of women has been the curse of the Snowy Egret. Its plumes are finest during the breeding season, and it was then that the hunters sought them, slaughtering the parent birds in the rookeries by thousands (when they were abundant), and leaving the nestlings to die of starvation. If all women could know the price in blood and suffering which is paid for the "white badge of cruelty," surely but few could find any pleasure in wearing them. It is strange that civilized woman — the tender-hearted, the philanthropic and compassionate — should prove to be the evil genius of the world's most beautiful birds. In Florida, this bird once lived and bred, in thousands, on the headwaters of the St. Johns, around the Everglades, and the heads of the streams that run down to the sea. At the first shot fired in a rookery, a white cloud would arise, and old residents tell how "the savannas were sometimes white" with these beautiful creatures. In Florida and else- 1 E-gret'ta can-di-dis' si-ma. Length, about 23 inches. LAW PROHIBITING WILD PLUMAGE 155 where there are now twenty colonies of White Egrets, con- taining about 10,000 birds, all under the protection of the National Association of Audubon Societies. At Avery Island, Louisiana, Mr. E. A. Mcllhenny has a colony of about 5,000 birds (in 1914) which he began to protect in 1894. From 1900 to 1913 the Audubon Societies of America waged constant warfare against the killing of Egrets and the sale of Egret plumes, or "aigrettes." Through hard cam- paigning, thirteen state legislatures had been educated into passing state laws forbidding the sale of Egret plumes, and the plumage of all the protected birds of those states. These laws exerted a great influence for good, but the free importa- tion of wild birds' plumage from abroad kept the plume- wearing women of America well supplied. In all parts of the world outside the United States where Egrets are found, the slaughter of those birds continued at a terrible rate, to supply the feather market of Europe and America. Six years ago the bird-lovers of England started a move- ment in London for the curbing of the feather trade, but up to the end of 1913 no law had actually been passed. In January, 1913, the framing of a new tariff law by our Congress afforded an opportunity to ask for the insertion of a clause to prohibit all importations of the plumage of wild birds for commercial purposes of any kind, but from this proposal ostrich feathers and the feathers of all domestic fowls were excluded. A great campaign was made for "the plumage clause," in which the women of America who are opposed to the slaughter of wild birds for "the feather trade" took active part. The 156 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES movement finally triumphed, and on October 4, 1913, all importations of Egret plumes, aigrettes, birds of paradise skins, "numidi" feathers, "goura" feathers and all others N. Y. Zoological Park. GREAT WHITE EGRET. from wild birds ceased forever. Even such plumage actually worn on hats and bonnets is prohibited entry at all our ports. This plumage law is the first ever enacted for the protec- tion of the birds of the world at large. Hereafter the millions THE AMERICAN BITTERN 157 of birds previously slaughtered annually for America will not be killed, because there will be no sale for them. Already the London feather market has suffered a decline of more than 33 per cent. To-day (1914) the bird protectors of England, France, Holland and Germany are fighting for the enactment of prohibitory laws similar to ours. THE AMERICAN EGRET, or GREAT WHITE EGRET/ is, when adult, our second largest bird of the Order of Herons with pure-white plumage, the great white heron being the first. Much to the misfortune of this species, it possesses about fifty "aigrette" plumes which droop in graceful curves from the middle of its back, far beyond the tail and wing tips. For these beautiful feathers this bird also has been pursued by plume-hunters, to the point of total extermination. In the protected Egret rookeries of Florida a few of these birds still live, and if protection continues they may by breeding re- store their species to our avifauna on a permanent basis. THE AMERICAN BITTERN 2 is a fairly large bird, of a yel- lowish-brown color, elaborately mottled and streaked with va- rious shades of light and dark. When standing in conceal- ment, it draws in its neck until it wholly disappears in its plumage. The result is an egg-shaped bird, with a beak at the small end, pointing heavenward, and short, thick legs below. I have seen a Bittern stand motionless in that idiotic attitude for nearly an hour at a time. Even in the whirling gayety of our big Flying Cage, it takes life sadly, and never makes merry, as do all other birds, even the funereal vul- 1 Her-o'di-as e-gret'ta. ' Length, about 40 inches. 2 Bo-tau'rus len-tig-i-no'sus. Length, 26 inches. 158 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES tures. Standing erect, however, the Bittern is a bird with a fair length of neck; but its neck seems much too large and heavy for its body. Because of the peculiar sound it utters, the Bittern is called the "Stake-Driver" and " Thunder '-Pumper -." I never AMERICAN BITTERN. have heard thunder pumped, but with stake-driving am quite familiar, and must say that I never heard a Bittern give forth a cry that sounded like it. I think also that the "booming" of the Bittern should be taken subject to inspection and ap- proval ; for to at least one tympanum there is a wide difference THE STORK FAMILY 159 between a real "boom" and the alleged "boom" of the Bittern. This bird inhabits sloughs and marshes of tall, rank grass, in which it hides most successfully by standing very erect, and pointing its beak toward the zenith. It feeds chiefly upon frogs, small snakes, lizards and crawfish. THE LEAST BITTERN l is the smallest member of the Heron Order — a queer little brow^nish-yellow and black creature, duly mottled of course, with a sparrow-like body, and a wide, flat neck several sizes too large for the body of the bird. On the whole, it is a pretty little creature, associated by habit with the long-billed marsh wren, the rail, and the red-winged blackbird. THE STORK FAMILY Ciconiidae The real Storks are found only in the Old World; but the WOOD iBis2 is a member of the Stork Family, and he looks it. He is a big, burly, bald-headed, good-natured bird, standing 31 inches high. No matter what goes on around him, he is as solemn as an owl. Although large enough to do much damage to birds smaller than himself, he associates with her- ons, ducks, geese and ibises of all sizes, without the slight- est desire to harm any of them, or even to rule them. In a large bird, capable of much mischief, such perpetual good temper is worthy of note. When this bird is adult and clean, its plumage is pure white, and it is a noteworthy member of any feathered community. 1 Ar-det'ta ex-i'lis. Length, 13 inches. 2 Tarita-lus loc-u-la'tor. Average length, 38 inches. 160 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES Specimens are nearly always procurable in Florida at a rea- sonable price ($15), and there are always several in the New York Zoological Park. This species "breeds in Florida and the Gulf states, after which it wanders north as far as Kansas, Indiana and New York." THE IBIS FAMILY Ibididae In North America this Family contains three species of birds that are heron-like in general form, but are quite differ- ently provided as to their bills. The bill of a true ibis is long, slender and curved, much like that of a long-billed cur- lew, and it is fitted for probing in soft earth or shallow water. The neck is round, and the head also, instead of being flat- sided like that of a heron. THE WHITE iBis1 is yet found in Florida, and excepting the four outer wing-feathers (primaries) , which are black, it is a pure-white bird. Specimens in the first year are grayish brown and white, and in color do not even suggest the pure- white plumage of the second year, and thereafter. This species rarely comes into any of the northern states. The beautiful and brilliant SCARLET IBis,2 once a habitant of southern Florida and Louisiana, is no longer found in the United States. In color it is one of the most brilliant birds in all America, though by no means so beautiful as the re- splendent trogon. I saw it in great numbers on the mud flats at the mouth of the Orinoco, and shot it on the coast of 1 Guar'a al'ba. Average length, 24 inches. 2 Guar'a ru'bra. Length, 23 inches. THE SPOONBILL FAMILY 161 British Guiana. On Marajo Island, in the delta of the Amazon, it breeds in hundreds — a sight worth a long journey to see. Unfortunately, it is impossible to keep specimens of this species in confinement and have them retain their color. In a few months they fade until they are pale pink. THE GLOSSY iBis1 is a dark-colored bird, its prevailing color being rich brownish purple with metallic-green re- flections, and abundant iridescence. It seems smaller than the two light-colored species mentioned above, but in reality it is not. In 1899 two specimens were cap- tured on the St. Johns River, opposite Melbourne, Florida, and one of them lived two years in the Zoological Park. This species is rare, even in Florida, but in Texas and the Southwest the White-Faced Glossy Ibis is of more frequent occurrence. THE SPOONBILL FAMILY Plataleidae THE ROSEATE SPOONBILL,2 or PINK "CURLEW," is the only member of the Spoonbill Family in America, and it is also the farthest from the type of the Order Herodiones. It is really an ibis with a wTide bill which terminates in two 1 Pleg'a-dis au-tum-nal'is. Length, 23 inches. 2 A-ja'i-a a-ja'i-a. WHITE IBIS. 162 HERONS, STORKS, AND IBISES rounded, flat plates, nearly two inches wide. When stand- ing erect, it is about 16 inches high. Its body plumage is either rosy pink or white, and its wing coverts and secondaries are tinted a very beautiful rose-madder pink, the color being most intense on the lesser coverts. Once quite abundant throughout the lagoons, streams and swampy districts of Florida, this beautiful bird is now so nearly extinct there that no live specimens have been ob- tainable nearer than the Gulf coast of Mexico. Indeed, until very recently there were good reasons for the belief that not one Roseate Spoonbill remained alive anywhere in Florida. Now, however, it is a pleasure to record the fact that this species has not wholly disappeared from our avifauna. In The Auk for January, 1904, Mr. A. C. Bent describes the finding of a few small flocks of these birds near Cape Sable, which he found nesting in two localities. 'The prin- cipal breeding-ground of the Roseate Spoonbills was a great morass on the borders of Alligator Lake, a few miles back from the coast near Cape Sable, where the mangrove islands in which the birds were nesting were well protected by im- penetrable jungles of saw-grass, treacherous mud-holes, and ap- parently bottomless creeks. . . . The Spoonbills were here in abundance, and had eggs and young in their nests, in all stages, as well as fully grown young climbing about in the trees. The old birds were tamer than at Cuthbert Lake, and allowed themselves to be photographed at a reasonable dis- tance." "The Spoonbills," continues Mr. Bent, "will probably be the next to disappear from the list of Florida water-birds. KOSEATE SPOONBILLS IN FULL COLOR. KILLED FOR PLUMAGE AND FOR FOOD 163 They are already much reduced in numbers and restricted in habitat. They are naturally shy and their rookeries are easily broken up. Their plumage makes them attractive marks for the tourist's gun, and they are killed by the natives for food. But fortunately their breeding-places are remote, and almost inaccessible." The nests found by Mr. Bent on Cuthbert Lake, almost on the edge of the Everglades, were built in red mangrove trees on the edge of the water, all on nearly horizontal branches from 12 to 15 feet from the ground. "They were well made, of large sticks, deeply hollowed, and lined with strips of bark and water moss. One nest contained only a single, heavily incubated egg, one a handsome set of three eggs, and the other held two downy young, not quite half grown." In my opinion there is no "cause," either existent or creatable, not even the "cause of science," which could jus- tify the killing or capture of any of the birds composing those last small flocks of Spoonbills. Not even the necessities of a zoological park should for one moment be accepted as an ex- cuse for meddling with that avian remnant; and let no hunter think of offering a bargain in live Spoonbills from Cape Sable, or of now writing to ask "What will you give?" In January, 1914, it was reported to me at Marco, Florida, that a colony of Spoonbills inhabits a protected egret rookery that exists on an island in a small river that flows into the Gulf of Mexico a short distance below Marco Island. CHAPTER XXX ORDER OF FLAMINGOES— A CONNECTING LINK ODONTOGLOSSAE long-legged, long-necked FLAMINGO is a very per- A feet connecting link between the wading birds and the swimmers. It is a most curiously formed bird. It has enor- mously long, stilt-like legs, like a heron; but its feet are fully webbed, like the feet of a duck. Its standing height is from forty-eight to fifty -four inches. It has a long, slen- der, crane-like neck; but its thick, broken-backed bill is provided with lamillae along the edges, like the bill of a shoveller duck. The anatomy of the bill and tongue of this bird is particularly interesting. This bird is by habit a true wader, and lives and breeds near shallow lagoons, where it can walk in the water and feed on the bottom. The nest of this queer bird is a low, flat pillar of mud from six to twelve inches in height, thirteen inches in diameter at the bottom, and ten inches across the top — which is flat, and slightly depressed.1 The eggs are two in number. Up to 1890 the Flamingo flocks still visited southern Florida, near Cape Sable, and it is possible that at rare in- 1 Bird Lore magazine, IV, p. 180. 164 THE TRADE IN FLAMINGOES 165 tervals they still do so. Captain W. D. Collier, Marco Island, west coast of Florida, states that when he first made his home on that island, forty years ago, "Flamingoes came there every year by the thousand!" Besides those on Andros N. Y. Zoological Park. THE FLAMINGO. Island in the Bahamas, Flamingoes are found in Cuba, and on the north coast of Yucatan. Until about 1906 every year from twenty to fifty live, birds were brought to New York by the dealers in live animals, and sold at prices ranging from $12 to $20 each. Now the annual supply has fallen to a very low point, and in some years none arrive. When any arrive 166 FLAMINGOES — A CONNECTING LINK they are all over bright red, but in captivity all gradually fade out until they are pale pink. In all the world there are eight species of Flamingoes. While our species1 is bright scarlet, all over, those of Europe and North Africa are almost white, with pink wing coverts. The food of this bird in captivity is dried shrimps, boiled rice and cubes of stale bread, fed in water. In a room which is warmed to 60° Fahrenheit, it can live all winter, wading half the time in water that is almost icy cold, without catching cold. The voice of this bird is fearfully and wonderfully made. It is a resonant, deep-bass, utterly unmusical "honk." 1 Phoe-ni-cop'ter-us ru'ber. Length, 45 inches; spread of wings, 62 inches; tarsus, 12.50 inches. CHAPTER XXXI ORDER OF DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS ANSERES WE have now reached the first Order of a great group of birds which might well stand as a Subclass — the Web- Footed Swimmers. It embraces six different Orders, and be- fore touching any one of them it is highly necessary that the student should take a bird's-eye view of the whole subdivision. A clear conception of these six Orders, and the characters on which they are based, will be of perpetual service to every person who desires a comprehensive view of the avian world. THE ORDERS OF SWIMMING BIRDS THE WEB-FOOTED BIRDS FLYING SWIMMERS: WITH GOOD WINGS ORDERS DUCKS AND GEESE (three toes webbed) An'se-res. FULLY PALMATED BIRDS (four toes webbed). Cormo- rants, Pelicans, Snake-Birds, etc Steg-an-op'o-des. TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS. Albatrosses and Petrels Tu-bi-na'res. LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS. Gulls, Terns, etc Lon-gi-pen'nes. DIVING SWIMMERS: WITH SMALL WINGS, OR NONE FOR FLIGHT * WEAK- WINGED DIVERS. Loons, Grebes, Auks, Puffins. .Py-gop'o-des. FLIGHTLESS DIVERS. Penguins Im-pen'nes. This group is not only extensive, but its members show a wide diversity in form and habits, and they are fitted for life 167 168 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS in all climates, on waters great and small. Having before us such a host of swimming birds that six Orders are necessary to classify them, it is difficult to select only a few examples, and resolutely exclude all others. However, the student who becomes permanently acquainted with about thirty -five web- footed birds specially chosen to represent these Orders, will have a very good foundation on which to build higher, with the aid of special books and specimens. As heretofore, we will take up the selected examples in the order in which it is easiest for the student to receive them — the highest types first — rather than in the very curious sequence adopted by the A. O. U., and most technical writers on birds. Once a year the grand army of birds of the Order Anse- res take wing, and sweep northward from the tropics and subtropics. Many halt in the temperate zone, where food is abundant, but many more press on to the arctic circle, and far beyond it. Wherever they pause for the summer, they nest and rear their young; and many pages might be filled with descriptions of the different kinds of nesting-sites and nests. One would naturally suppose that in any civilized coun- try birds in flight to their breeding grounds, or in occupancy of them, would be immune from the attacks of gunners. The need for absolute protection for birds while they are breeding, or about to breed, is so imperative that it is difficult to see how any sensible and honest person can oppose the enforcement of laws to provide it. The killing of wild fowl in spring, or at any time during their breeding season, should everywhere be made a penal offence. During the autumn migration southward, the flocks run a WILD FOWL THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION 171 gauntlet of guns a thousand miles long. Whenever and wher- ever a duck or goose alights to rest and feed, the guns begin to roar. The more important migration routes, like the Atlantic coast and the Mississippi Valley, literally teem with roaring guns and flying shot, and to-day the wonder is not that the wild fowl have become "so scarce," but rather that so many have escaped slaughter! In view of the enormous annual output of new gunners, guns and ammunition, noth- ing but the strongest kind of public sentiment for bird pro- tection, backed by stringent laws, rigidly enforced, can save the ducks, geese and swans of North America from becoming as extinct as the great auk and the dodo. Even prior to 1913 about one-half of the northern states of our country prohibited spring shooting by law, but the re- maining states selfishly and resolutely refused to reform, or to improve their ethics to suit the new conditions. The effect of this condition was that the wild fowl so honorably protected in spring by some states was ruthlessly and meanly slaughtered in spring by the people of the benighted states. At last, in 1913, a long-desired measure placing the mi- gratory birds under the strong protecting arm of the Federal Government was enacted into law. On October 1, 1913, the great "federal migratory bird law" went into effect; and one of its leading features provided for a complete stoppage of the shooting of game birds in spring and late winter, every- where in the United States. The demand for this law was so overwhelming that it was passed by both houses of Con- gress with only a slight show of opposition, and even that was based on technical grounds. f FULVOUS TREE-DUCK. Dendrocygna fulva. BLACK DUCK. Anas obscura. GADWALL: GRAY DUCK. Chaulelasmus strcpera. AMERICAN WIDGEON. Mareca americana. GREEN-WINGED TEAL. Nettion carolinensis. SCAUP DUCK. Aythya marila. RING-NECKED DUCK. Aythya collaris. BARROW'S GOLDEN-EYE. Clangula islandica. OLD SQUAW. Harelda hyemalis. HARLEQUIN DUCK. Histrionicus histrionicus. V SURF SCOTER. Oidemia perspicillata. AMERICAN SCOTER. Oidemia americana. 174 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS North America is — or was — particularly rich in species of birds belonging to the Order Anatidae, and once was richly stocked with individuals. Even yet a very interesting rem- nant remains. Of the whole assemblage of species, great, medium and small, I think the MALLARD DucK1 is the high- est type, and the best average. It is one of the largest ducks; it is one of the handsomest; it is strong on the wing, and highly intelligent. It is a joy unto the sportsman who finds it in its haunts, and a delight to the epicure who finds it upon the bill of fare. Sluggish indeed must be the pulse w^hich does not beat faster at the sight of a flock of wild Mallards, free in its haunts, and ready to leap into the air and speed away at the slightest alarm. The Mallard is recognizable by its large size, and the brilliant metallic-green head and neck and pearl-gray body of the male. The female is a very different-looking bird, of a modest brown color, streaked with black. There is only one thing at all annoying about this bird, and that is its close resemblance to our domestic duck; but for this there is a very good reason. It is the wild ancestor of all our domestic ducks, save one or two varieties. The Mallard is found throughout the temperate zone in both the Old World and the New, and therefore it is known by many names. In England it is called the Stock Duck, be- cause it was the original stock from which the domestic duck has descended. In North America its range covers prac- tically the whole continent down to Panama, and in Asia it reaches to India. It breeds persistently throughout the 1 An'as bos'chas. Average length, 22 inches. THE MALLARD, WILD AND IN CAPTIVITY 175 greater portion of its immense range — in the long grass of pond margins; in the woods, between the spur roots of trees; and on the prairies, beside streams of the smallest size. Once while collecting in Montana, late in May, I found a tiny water hole, barely ten feet in diameter, hiding in the sunken head of a very dry coulee. For miles in every di- rection stretched a billowy sea of sage-brush, already shim- mering in the heat of early summer. As I dismounted to scramble over the edge of the bank for a drink, up rose a Mallard Duck from her nest in a thick patch of sage-brush, within a yard of my feet. The nest was the old, familiar type — a basin of grass lined with a thick layer of down from the breast of the prospective mother, and a bunch of eggs that almost overflowed the boun- daries of their resting-place. As I gazed in astonishment at this nest and its contents beside an insignificant bit of water in a landscape that certainly was not made for ducks, I un- derstood how it is that this bird has been able to spread itself all around the northern two-thirds of the globe. In captivity the Mallard is the best of all ducks, and the most persistent and prolific breeder. Put a flock on any pond having long grass or timber about it, keep away the rats, raccoons, mink, thieves and other vermin, and each female will do her utmost to surround herself with a downy flock of about fifteen small Mallards, regularly every summer. In the Zoological Park several nests have been built within twenty -five feet of walks that are in daily use by crowds -of visitors, the immunity of their builders being due in each case to their wonderful color resemblance to the dead oak-leaves 176 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS which surrounded them, and with which they almost covered themselves. Under the terms of the now famous "Bayne law," which was enacted in New York in 1911 and in Massachusetts in 1912, the sale of all native wild game is forbidden, except Mallard Ducks, black ducks and white-tailed deer, all of which can be reared in captivity on a commercial basis, killed for market and sold under the official tags of each of the states named. The commercial raising of Mallard Ducks should in time become an industry of some importance. THE BLUE-WINGED TEAL1 represents with us a group of three species which contains the smallest ducks found in North America. Throughout its home, which embraces the whole United States east of the Rockies, and also far north and far south, it is so common — and also so small — it is not highly prized by sportsmen, and its worst enemy is the sordid market-hunter. Like the other teal, it prefers quiet, inland waters to the wide expanses that back up from the sea. All the teal are quick risers, and also speedy on the wing; but they are rather dull of sense and easy to approach. The Blue- Wing is known by the conspicuous white crescent in front of and half -encircling the eye, and the bright-blue patch, called the " speculum," on its wing. THE CINNAMON TEAL2 is a cinnamon-brown bird of the western half of the United States, once common, but rapidly diminishing in numbers. This species is very difficult to 1 Quer-qued'u-la dis'cors. Average length, 15 inches. 2 Quer-qued'u-la cy-an-op'ter-a. Average length, 16 inches. THE GREEN-WINGED TEAL 177 keep long in captivity, being very sensitive to all adverse influences. THE GREEN-WINGED TEAL1 has a very noticeable crest, and a beautiful emerald-green speculum on each wing. It BLUE-WINGED TEAL. is found scattered over practically the whole of North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Barren Grounds to Cuba and Honduras. THE SHOVELLER,2 also called the SPOONBILL, is a hand- some duck, recognizable by its extremely broad and spoon- 1 Net'ti-on carolinensis. Average length, 13.50 inches. 2 Spat'u-la dij-pe-a'ta. Average length, 19 inches. 178 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS shaped bill — the broadest of any American duck. The head and neck of the male are either black, or dark metallic-green; and the body colors are black, white, blue and green, hand- somely disposed. The bill of this bird shows the limit of development in width, and the comb-like lamellae along the outer edges, Male. Female. THE SHOVELLER DUCK. which are designed for . use in straining minute particles of food out of water, are very pronounced. These minute plates are set cross-wise at the edges of the mandibles, and perform the same function as the plates of hairy baleen, or "whalebone," in the mouth of a baleen whale. All the mem- bers of the Order Anatidae are provided with lamellated bills, as also are the flamingoes. This fine duck is a bird of inland waters, and appears to dislike salt water. It is found sparingly "pretty much every- THE MOST BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN DUCK 179 where throughout the northern hemisphere . . . but is not common in the eastern states, and breeds from Alaska to Texas." Its flight is much like that of a teal, but less swift, and in cruising about for good feeding-grounds it is irregular and hesitating. 'The body of the Shoveller is not large, and its apparent size in the air is made up chiefly of wings and head. . . . As a bird for the table, I have held it in very high esteem." (D. G. Elliot.) In captivity this is a difficult bird to acclimatize and keep alive, which for several reasons is to be regretted. The fe- males and immature birds are colored very differently from the adult and perfect males. The following local names of this bird have been recorded by Mr. Elliot in his "Wild Fowl of North America": Blue-Winged Shoveller, Red-Breasted Shoveller, Spoonbill "Teal," Spoonbilled "Widgeon," Broad- Bill, Broady, Swaddle-Bill and Mud Shoveller. I regard the PINTAIL, or SpRiGTAiL,1 as the most beautiful duck in America, not even excepting the wood duck. On land its outlines are trim, graceful and finely drawn, and on the water it makes one think of a finely modelled yacht. In beauty of form it far surpasses all other American ducks; and nowhere among wild fowl is there to be found a more charming color scheme than in the plumage of the drake. It is a harmony of delicate drabs, grays and white used to set off several pleasing shades of brown, black and iridescent green. None of the colors are gaudy or cheap-looking, and as a whole the combination of form and colors produces a bird that is in every way an exquisite creature. 1 Daf'i-la a-cu'ta. Average length of male, 27 inches; female, 22 inches. 180 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS It is in recognition of its beauty that this duck is some- times called the Water Pheasant. Its correct name, however, has been bestowed in honor of its seven-inch-long, finely pointed tail. This bird ranges over nearly the whole of North America, but its favorite breeding-grounds are in the subarctic regions, particularly in the Yukon Valley, and in the lake regions of the Canadian Barren Grounds. It is equally at home on the fresh- water lakes and rivers of the interior and the salt- water inlets and channels of the Atlantic coast. The annual migration southward before the advance of snow and ice begins in September. On our Atlantic coast many .of the flocks winter in the labyrinth of sounds, bays and channels that fringe the coast of Virginia and the Carolinas. During recent years, quite a number of these birds have been caught alive near Water Lily, North Carolina, which is a locality famous for its wild ducks, geese and swans. Fortunately the Pintail is easily acclimatized, and al- though not a good breeder, like the mallard, it does well in captivity, and is truly a thing of beauty, and a joy as long as it lives. The beauty of the WOOD DUCK, or SUMMER DucK,1 de- pends almost wholly upon its brilliantly colored plumage; for its form is quite commonplace. It may be wrong to make a cold-blooded analysis of its points, but for beauty of form the neck of this bird is too small and too short, its head is too large, and its body is very ordinary. Its plumage, however, presents a color scheme of brilliant reds, greens, blacks, 1 Aix sporisa. Average length of male, 19 inches. BEAUTY OF THE WOOD DUCK 183 browns, yellows and whites which is quite bewildering. Even its weak little bill is colored scarlet and white, and its iris is bright red. In my opinion the claims of the two duck species which are rivals for the prize for web-footed beauty may fairly be expressed by the following proportion: WOOD DUCK. Male and Female. The Pintail is to the Wood Duck as a well-gowned Amer- ican woman is to a Chinese mandarin. The Wood Duck needs no description. Among ducks it is equalled in gorgeous colors only by its nearest relative the mandarin duck of China — a painted harlequin. Our species is a tree duck, and not only perches on trees, but also makes its nest in them, and rears its young at an elevation of from ten 184 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS to thirty or forty feet. If it be possible, the nesting-site is al- ways above water, in order that if the ducklings finally scramble out of the nest and fall, they will alight in the water without injury, and quickly learn to swim. In captivity the best nesting arrangement for this bird consists of a long, narrow box set on end on a stout post, w^ell out in a pond, roofed over to keep out the rain. There must be a hole in one side, near the top, and a slanting board with cross slats reaching up to it from the water, for use as a ladder. The Wood Duck will sometimes nest on the ground, either in captivity or out. This species is being bred in captivity in England in large numbers, and also with some success in this country. Duck fanciers find no difficulty in purchasing live specimens of this interesting bird at $15 per pair, or less. During the summer of 19Q2, a pair of wild Wood Ducks made daily visits to the Ducks' Aviary in the New York Zoological Park, and in the autumn of that year a small flock settled with the Wood Ducks, mallards and pintails on the Wild-fowl Pond, and remained there permanently. In the spring of 1903, a fine drake manifested a fixed determination to break into the great Flying Cage, and become a member of the happy family within. After he had flown around the cage two or three times, the keeper opened wide the wire gates at the north end, and drove him in, where he thank- fully settled down, secure from the attacks of gunners, and certain of his food supply. The Wood Duck is a bird of great discernment. Although this bird is called the Summer Duck, and mi- grates far in advance of winter, it winters very comfortably THE REDHEAD DUCK 185 in the northern states wherever it is fed, and continuously provided with open water to keep its feet from freezing. The natural range of this species is from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, chiefly on fresh water; but often it is found on brackish sounds and channels along the Atlantic coast where food is plentiful. Thanks to the nation-wide protection now afforded this species by the federal migratory bird law, pro- tecting it everywhere throughout the United States, this beautiful bird will in many localities breed back again, and return to us. Like all other wild ducks that are imperatively needed to keep the American people from starving, there remains to- day about one Wood Duck where formerly there were from thirty to fifty. Apparently, the only winged creatures that are too beautiful or too good to be shot and eaten are angels; but I doubt if even a white-winged seraph with webbed feet would be safe for half an hour anywhere between Cape Cod and Charleston during the autumn open season. THE REDHEAD DucK1 is one of our largest and best species, and one of the most satisfactory to keep in captivity. It belongs to the same genus as the canvas-back, and in size, habits, table value and beauty it is in no sense whatever in- ferior to its more fanlous relative. When shot in the same locality, I think there is no one who could distinguish the two species by a difference in the flavor of their flesh. In the color of their plumage the Redhead and canvas- back look so much alike that the casual observer might easily mistake one species for the other. Both have heads and necks 1 Ay -thy 'a americana. Average length, 19 inches. 186 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS of solid rusty brown, but the head-color of the Redhead is the more intense and conspicuous. The head of the Redhead has a high and well-rounded forehead and crown, while that of the canvas-back is wedge- shaped, the forehead forming a straight line with the top of the bill. The Redhead has a short bill with a blue band across it; the other species has a long bill with no band. The Redhead (like the canvas-back) feeds chiefly upon aquatic plants, like wild rice and potomogeton, but its favorite food is the vallisneria, a kind of trailing water-weed which grows in many of the inlets along the Atlantic coast. Through countless generations of diving after food plants, the Redhead has become a deep diver. It is accustomed to seeking its food in mid-stream of deep rivers, and in the open water of lakes and sounds, where many other ducks would be quite unable to reach the bottom. Reliable lake fishermen at Lakeside, Orleans County, New York, have informed me that they have taken drowned Redhead Ducks from nets that had been set on the bottom of Lake Ontario, at a depth of ninety feet, where the Ducks could not possibly have be- come entangled save in going to the bottom for food. It THE REDHEAD DUCK. THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK 187 also appeared that those Ducks sought their food and became entangled only at night. It takes a bold and energetic bird to feed successfully at night in ninety feet of water! Naturally, this fine bird has ever been a prime favorite with sportsmen and "market shooters," and during the past thirty years its numbers have diminished to about one- fiftieth of what they were prior to 1885. It is as easily de- ceived by decoys as green hunters are; and in preparing to alight the Redhead flock has a fatal habit of coming together in a manner called "bunching," which is as deadly to the birds as "close formation" is to soldiers in a modern battle. Much more might be noted regarding this interesting bird, which must be left to the special works on birds. For many reasons it is very desirable that the Redhead should be semi-domesticated, and by protection and breeding in cap- tivity saved from the final blotting out which otherwise may be its fate. While it does not breed in captivity as bravely as the mallard, it can be taught to do so, and the price at which living birds can be procured ($5 each) is so very moderate that experiments with it are not costly. The distribution of this bird is given as "North America, breeding from California, southern Michigan and Maine northward"; but in North America there are to-day more lands and waters without this duck than with it. In addition to its best and most appropriate name it is also called Raft Duck, and American Pochard. THE CANVAS-BACK DucK1 had the misfortune, early in its history, to attract the evil eye of the deadly epicure, 1 Ay-thy'a val-lis-ne'ri-a. Average length, 22 inches. 188 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS whose look of approval is a blighting curse to every living creature upon which it is bestowed. Because of this, the unfortunate Canvas-Back is now little more than a bird of history. It is now rarely seen outside of museums and .the zoological parks and gardens which have been so fortu- nate as to secure a very few specimens. Unfor- tunately, it has been im- possible for even the most energetic duck-fanciers to secure a sufficient num- ber of unwounded speci- mens to carry out the ex- periments necessary to determine the precise conditions under which this species will breed in THE CANVAS-BACK DUCK. . . captivity. No one ever sees more than two or three living Canvas-Backs together in an aviary, and thus far, I believe, none have bred. It is unnecessary to describe this species, for it is probable that less than one per cent of the readers hereof ever will see one wild and unlabelled. Its range was once the same as that of the redhead, and its habits also were quite similar. Its one chance of survival rests upon the integrity of the federal migra-r tory bird law and its protection from spring and market shoot- ing. If those two evils are stopped for all time, the succulent Canvas-Back will eventually return to us in large numbers; and already there are signs that it is trying hard to do so. THE BUTTER-BALL 189 THE BUFFLE-HEAD DUCK, or BUTTER-BALL,' is a small, tree-nesting duck, so pretty and so very odd-looking that when seen every one wishes to know its name; and when named, it is not soon forgotten. When you see a short- bodied, plump-looking little duck, black above arid white belowr, with a head that is a great round mass of soft feathers, THE BUFFLE-HEAD, OR BUTTER-BALL. half snow white, and half a rich metallic mixture of purple, violet and green — that is a Butter-Ball, and nothing else. Wherever seen, it commands instant attention. Unfortunately, this picturesque little creature does not like our country as a summer residence, for it breeds from Maine, Iowa and British Columbia, northward, and returns to us only when snapping cold weather heralds the approach of winter. On the water it is the most nervous and watch- 1 Char-i-ton-et'ta al-be-o'la. Average length, 14.50 inches. 190 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS ful duck that I know, and its habit of constantly turning from side to side is certainly in the interest of self-preservation. But after all, what is the alertness of any duck against the deadly, cold calculation of the greedy "market shooter" with a "pump" gun? The Buffle-Head is one of the ducks that is rarely seen in captivity. A specimen that is so seriously wounded that it can be caught, usually dies a few days later. So far as I know, it has not yet been induced to breed in captivity; but that is no reason for believing that it never will. We hold that if conditions are made satisfactory, any wild species will breed in captivity. Usually it is a question of sufficient seclusion and immunity from disturbance. The range of this bird is said to include all North America, from the Arctic Ocean to Cuba. And so it does; all save those localities wherein it does not occur. I have strong hope that the spring pro- tection of this species by the migratory bird law will cause it to breed in the middle zone of the United States. THE HARLEQUIN DucK1 is most fantastically marked. The -prevailing colors of the male are dark blue, blue-black and violet, with various white collars, stripes and patches that seem to have been laid on with a paint-brush. This bird is to be looked for along the Pacific coast above Oregon to Japan, and on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland north- ward. It is nowhere common, rather solitary, but frequents coastal rivers as well as the sea. As a rarity to be prized, one Harlequin is equal to twenty ducks of almost any other species in America. It is fairly common in south- 1 His-tri-orii-cus his-tri-orii-cus. Length, 16 inches. AN OBJECT LESSON IN BIRD PROTECTION 191 eastern British Columbia, and breeds in the Elk River Game Preserve. AN OBJECT LESSON IN BIRD PROTECTION. — As a fitting conclusion to our studies of the ducks of our interior rivers, lakes and ponds, we present a remarkable instance of what bird protection can accomplish. The picture of the pond Reproduced from Recreation magazine. A HAVEN OF REFUGE. described might well be entitled — "An Oasis in the Great American Desert of Game Destruction!" By the courtesy of Mr. G. O. Shields, we reproduce from Recreation magazine for June, 1903, the above illustration, and the following descrip- tion by Mr. Charles C. Townsend, which appeared under the caption, "A Haven of Refuge": One mile north of the little village of Mosca, Colorado, in San Luis Valley, lives the family of J. C. Gray. On the Gray ranch there is an artesian well which empties into a small pond about 100 feet square. This pond is never entirely frozen over and the water emptying therein is warm even during the coldest winter. 192 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS Some five years ago Mr. Gray secured a few wild-duck eggs, and hatched them under a hen. The little ducks were reared and fed on the little pond. The following spring they left the place, to return in the fall, bringing with them broods of young; also bringing other ducks to the home where protection was afforded them and plenty of good feed was provided. Each year since, the ducks have scattered in the spring to mate and rear their families, returning again with greatly increased numbers in the fall, and again bringing strangers to the haven of refuge. I drove out to the ranch November 24, 1902, and found the little pond almost black with the birds, and was fortunate enough to secure a picture of a part of the pond while the ducks were thickly gathered there- on. Ice had formed around the edges, and this ice was covered with ducks. The water was also alive with others, which paid not the least attention to the party of strangers on the shore. From Mr. Gray I learned that there were some 600 ducks of various kinds on the pond at that time, though it was then early for them to seek winter quarters. Later in the year, he assured me, there would be be- tween 2,000 and 3,000 teal, mallards, canvas-backs, redheads and other varieties, all perfectly at home and fearless of danger. The family have habitually approached the pond from the house, which stands on the south side, and should any person appear on the north side of the pond the ducks immediately take fright and flight. Wheat was strewn on the ground and in the water, and the ducks waddled around us within a few inches of our feet to feed, paying not the least attention to us, or to the old house dog which walked near. Six miles east of the ranch is San Luis Lake, to which these ducks travel almost daily while the lake is open. When they are at the lake it is impossible to approach within gunshot of the then timid birds. Some un- sympathetic boys and men have learned the habit of the birds, and place themselves in hiding along the course of flight to and from the lake. Many ducks are shot in this way, but woe to the person caught firing a gun on or near the home pond. When away from home, the birds are as wild as other wild ducks and fail to recognize any members of the Gray family. While at home they follow the boys around the barn-yard, squawking for feed like so many tame ducks. This is the greatest sight I have ever witnessed, and one that I could not believe existed until I had seen it. Certainly it is worth travelling many miles to see, and no one, after seeing it, would care to shoot birds that, when kindly treated, make such charming pets. THE GROUP OF EIDER DUCKS. — The arctic and subarctic regions contain a group of about seven species of large sea- THE GROUP OF EIDER DUCKS 193 ducks, called eiders (i'ders). The representative species are distinguished by their flat foreheads and wedge-shaped heads; by a long, wedge-shaped point of the cheek-feathers which extends forward and divides the base of the upper mandible; and by the possession of more or less bright-green color on the head. On land the Eiders are heavy and clumsy birds, but on the sea they are at home, and dive with great ability. The females line their nests very liberally with down from their own breasts, and this when gathered and utilized becomes the well-known "eider-down" of commerce. Unfortunately, the natives of arctic America are unable to make use of eider- down, save on the skin, and this leads to the slaughter of great numbers of the birds. Eiders nest on the tops of rocky islets, using sea-weed or grass for a foundation, and covering this with down plucked from their own breasts. So abundantly is the nest lined that by the time the eggs are all deposited they are fairly embedded in the softest of beds. In Iceland the eider ducks are half domesticated. The inhabitants collect the down from the nests for sale, and therefore they are much interested in preserving the birds. Nesting-places are made for the birds by building thick stone walls with spacious crevices along each side, at the base, or by scooping out shal- low cavities in the hard earth. The Eiders permit their human friends to go among them, and even to handle their eggs. On the Atlantic coast, from Labrador to Delaware, in winter we have the AMERICAN EiDER,1 which appears to be the 1 So-ma-te'ri-a dres'ser-i. Length, about 23 inches. 194 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS best type for the Eider Group. Fortunately for our chances of close acquaintance with it, this species occasionally pene- trates westward along the great lakes to Illinois and Wisconsin — a very unusual proceeding for a sea duck. Any bird which AMERICAN EIDER. will go so far out of its natural range in order to become ac- quainted with interocean Americans surely is worth knowing. Moreover, the Eider Duck of the Old World so closely re- sembles this bird in all essential details that to know one species is to know the other also. The colors of this bird are black and white, as shown in the illustration, except that the nape and the rear portion of the region around the ear are sea-green, and the tail and THE WHITE- WINGED SCOTER 195 the primaries are pale brown. The bill and feet are olive- green. THE SPECTACLED EIDER/ of northwestern Alaska, is a bird easily remembered by its name, and the large, white spot around each eye which at once suggests a pair of spectacles. This bird is limited to our arctic territory, and is said, by Mr. E. W. Nelson, to be threatened with extinction by man at no very distant day. Our occupation of Alaska, after the Russians, has led to the arming of the natives with modern rifles and shotguns, before which wild life generally is rapidly being swept out of existence. THE WHITE-WINGED ScoTER2 (sko'ter) quite acceptably represents a group of sea ducks and deep divers, called scoters, and of which there are three species resident in North Amer- ica. These are the blackest of all our ducks. The species known as the AMERICAN SCOTER is glossy black throughout, without a single patch of color save the bright orange-yellow which colors the basal half of the bill and its knob. The White-Winged species has a white patch on each wing, technically known as a "speculum," and a white patch of variable shape under or in rear of the eye. Above and in rear of the nostrils the bill and skull together are raised into a conspicuous hump, half covered by feathers. Like all the scoters, this bird is a fish-eating duck, and its flesh is so fishy in flavor it is not considered fit for the table. It is widely distributed throughout North America down to southern California, northern Missouri, Illinois and Mary- 1 Arc-ton-et'tafisch'er-i. Length, about 21 inches. 2 Oi-de'mi-a deg-land'i. Average length, 21 inches. 196 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS land. Like most of our ducks, it breeds in the Far North, and returns to us only for the winter. It is a deep and per- sistent diver, and it is said that when wounded and pursued it will sometimes dive to the bottom, even fifty feet if neces- sary, seize a bunch of grass or weeds with its bill and hold on until it has quite drowned. Its food consists of fish, crus- taceans and mollusks. THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER1 bravely and hand- somely represents what is structurally the lowest group of ducks, known as the Mer-gan'sers, embracing three species. The bill of this bird is long, narrow and set along the edges with lamellae that look quite like sharp teeth — a most ad- mirable arrangement for seizing fish under water. The bill of a Merganser always reminds me of two things: the jaws of the gavial, or Gangetic crocodile, and Professor Marsh's toothed bird, the Hes-per-or'nis, from the great extinct in- land sea of the middle West. One of the common names of this bird is the Saw-Bill; and it is peculiarly appropriate. Among other ducks this fine bird has the bold, confident air of a born freebooter. The back of its head is ornamented with several long feathers which form a crest, like the war- bonnet of a Sioux Indian. The whole head and upper neck are black, with green and purple reflections. Around the middle of the neck is a conspicuous white collar, and under that is the pale rusty-red breast, streaked with black, which gives the bird its name. This sea-going bird-craft is at home — under many names —in both the Old World and the New. On our continent it 1 Mer-gan'ser ser-ra'tor. Average length, 22 inches. THE TWO MERGANSERS 199 breeds from our northern states as far as the Aleutian Islands and western Alaska, where the Aleuts prize it for food above all other ducks. In winter it migrates along our two ocean coasts to southern California and Florida. It feeds entirely on fish, a.nd the flavor of its flesh is rank and disagreeable. Nearly all sportsmen admire this duck, and it is much to be regretted that it is so shy and nervous, and difficult to keep alive in captivity. A fine specimen which we cherished for a time in the Flying Cage of the New York Zoological Park, along with many other water-birds of good size, at first seemed inclined to accept the situation, and become ac- climatized; but it lived only two months. With several Mer- gansers together, the result might be more satisfactory. THE HOODED MERGANSER 1 is distinctly marked by a striking, black-and-white semicircular crest of great height, standing stiffly erect, and jaunty beyond compare among water-fowl. By that crest and the slender Merganser bill any one may know this bird out of ten thousand species, whether seen in New York or New Zealand. It ranges all over North America, wherever there is water enough to float it, down to Mexico and Cuba, and as a result it has been burdened with an appalling collection of names. It nests in hollow trees, near good fishing-grounds, and whenever it makes its summer camp near a trout stream, the fry fare badly. THE GEESE. — Those who have not looked into the sub- ject usually are surprised to find what a fine collection of geese is found in North America. The continent is so large 1 Lo-phod'y-tes cu-cul-la'tus. Average length, 17 inches. 200 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS it requires an effort to come in touch with representatives of all the species of wild geese which inhabit it. While they are somewhat lacking in the fine coloring that characterizes a few foreign species, such as the spur-winged goose of Africa, they form, as a whole, a highly interesting group, well worth the acquaintance of all Americans save the market hunters, and others who shoot not wisely but too well. Fortunately for those who live where wild geese dare not show themselves for fear of being killed, all these species take kindly to captivity, and are easily kept in parks and zoological gardens. In 1914 five species were living quite contentedly in the New York Zoological Park. In writing of geese, we would not think of mentioning any species ahead of our old favorite and most faithful friend, the CANADA GoosE.1 Where is the country dweller wTho has not heard, far aloft, the well-known trumpet "Honk," and the prompt answers all down the two lines as the V-shaped flock winged swiftly forward? In the raw, windy days at winter's end, from the Gulf to Hudson Bay, the old gander's cry is accepted as a guarantee of spring, and hailed with joy. Dull, indeed, is the mind that is not moved to wonder and admiration by the remarkable V-formation in which the wild- goose flock cleaves the air. Although wild geese in transit through the Mississippi Valley frequently alighted in corn-fields to rest and feed, as a rule they were so wary and wide-awake it was next to impos- sible to bag one. In Minnesota and the Dakotas, however, 1 Bran'ta canadensis. Average length, about 35 inches; but individuals vary greatly in size. KING EIDER. Somateria speclabilis. SPECTACLED EIDER. Arctonetta fischeri. STELLER'S DUCK. Eniconetta stellcri. RUDDY DUCK. Erismalura jamaiccnsis. AMERICAN MERGANSER. Merganser amcricanus. HOODED MERGANSER. Lophodytes cucullalus 202 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS they often flocked on the ground in such numbers that goose- shooting was as regular a sport as chicken-shooting, and during a brief period of slaughter yielded weighty results. Thousands of geese alighting in corn-fields to feed have been shot from the interior of innocent-looking corn-shocks. The Canada Goose is not only the largest of the wild geese of North America, but also the most important and valu- able member of the group. There are times, also, when it seems to be the most savory bird that finds its way to the platter. One of those times was when a flock alighted near our camp, on the ice of the Musselshell, in Montana, the day before a certain whizzing cold Thanksgiving, and a fat young gander was shot, and beautifully roasted over the camp- fire in a large Dutch oven. In captivity the Canada Goose is an all-around philos- opher; and even when wild, he often knows a good thing when be sees it. In October, 1901, a flock of nine geese flying south- ward over the New York Zoological Park suddenly espied our flock of the same species on the wild-fowl pond. Without a moment's hesitation, the wild birds sailed down and alighted on the shore beside their relatives, and invited themselves to the banquet of cracked corn. On the following day Mr. H. R. Mitchell coaxed seven of the visitors into a huge wire cage that was set up on the shore, where they were caught and wing-clipped to prevent further wandering into danger. The seven remained with us; but the two undipped birds, after remaining all winter, flew away north the following spring, and it is quite likely that their bad judgment has ere now cost them their lives. THE CANADA GOOSE 203 Apparently all the North American geese are almost as easy to keep in captivity as domestic geese. Their favorite food is cracked corn and whole wheat, but they will eat al- most any kind of grain. In winter they require low shelter coops, open toward the south; and a small portion of their CANADA GOOSE. pond must be kept open all winter, by frequently removing the ice, to keep their feet from freezing. Not all these birds, however, care to seek shelter in a humble coop. The Canada Goose is known by its large size and its jet- black head and neck, with a conspicuous white crescent en- circling the throat. The black on the neck ends abruptly where the neck joins the body, and the general tone of the 204 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS latter is gray -brown. Its neck is longer, and also more slen- der, as a rule, than those of other wild geese. This fine bird winters in Texas, along the Gulf of Mexico, and in the sounds and bays of Virginia and the Carolinas, and goes north early in spring. Its nesting-grounds begin in our northern tier of states, and extend northward to Labrador, the Barren Grounds and Alaska. Throughout much of that vast area, the shotguns and rifles are ever ready, and the number of geese that still survive are eloquent testi- mony to the wariness, the keenness of vision and the good judgment of this much-prized bird. A bird of equal desir- ability, but with a dull brain and poor vision, would have been exterminated long ago. One of the most interesting things about the Canada Goose is the energy and courage of the male in defending the female on her nest. Recently two of our geese paired off as usual, and built a nest on the south bank of the wild- fowl pond, in a very exposed situation. From that time until the young were hatched, the gander never once wandered from his post. It was his rule never to go more than sixty feet from the nest, and whenever any one approached it, he immediately hastened to intercept the intruder, hissing and threatening with his wings in a most truculent manner. Had any one persisted in disturbing the female, he would willingly, and even cheerfully, have shed his blood in her defence. His unswerving devotion to his duty attracted the admiring attention of thousands of visitors, and the proudest day of his life was when the first live gosling was led to the water, and launched with appropriate ceremonies. THE BLACK BRANT 205 There are three subspecies of the Canada Goose, all smaller, but otherwise very similar. The WniTErCnEEKED GOOSE inhabits the Pacific coast, north to Sitka; and the CACKLING GOOSE is found in the same region, and on up to the Yukon. HUTCHIN'S GOOSE is merely a small edition of the Canada. THE BLACK BRANT1 is a very distinct bird, noticeably smaller than the Canada goose, and readily recognized by its blackness and its small size. Its head, neck and breast are entirely black, save for a white collar going two-thirds of the way around the upper neck. The black of the neck does not end abruptly at the shoulders, but spreads back over the back and under-parts until the final effect is that of a bird which is two-thirds black. Although this bird is generally accounted rare on the Atlantic coast, the New York Zoological Society has secured many fine living specimens from Currituck Sound, on the coast of North Carolina. Beyond doubt, however, it is rare everywhere in the eastern United States. It is remarkable for the fact that it migrates northward not only to the deso- late shores of the Arctic Ocean, but far beyond, and must nest and rear its young far out on the great polar ice-pack. THE BRANT GoosE2 is quite a different species from the preceding. The black of its neck ends abruptly at the shoul- ders, and the white collar is a mere broken patch, without decided character. The body is everywhere much lighter than the color of the black brant, with which this species is often confounded, because the two are often found together, 1 Bran'ta ni'gri-cans. Average length, about 24 inches. 2 Bran'ta ber'ni-cla. 206 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS though not on the Pacific coast. Once the Brant Goose was plentiful along the Atlantic side, but it is now rare, and fast disappearing. THE AMERICAN WHITE-FRONTED GoosE1 is, in my opinion, the most handsomely colored goose we possess. Contrary to expectations that are often based upon its name, it has not a white breast, nor white shoulders. It white "front" is limited to an inch-wide frill of white immediately surrounding the base of its bill. Other than this the head and the neck are dark brown, and the back, sides, breast and abdomen are covered with a scale-like arrangement of feathers that are various shades of brown or black, strongly edged with white or gray. The effect of the white edges of the feathers is to bring out in strong relief the immaculate arrangement of the plumage, and as a whole the bird is decidedly beautiful. This fine bird is even yet abundant on the Pacific coast, from southern California to Alaska, where it crosses over to the Asiatic side. It appears that Alaska is its favorite nest- ing-ground. On the Atlantic coast it is no longer seen. The specimens living in the Zoological Park were taken in southern Texas, on the Rio Grande, where the species is yet a winter visitant. THE SNOW GoosE2 is, excepting its large wing-feathers (the primaries), an all-white bird. Based on the tape line, two species have been described and recognized by orni- thologists, the "Greater" Snow Goose and the "Lesser." If 1 An'ser al'bi-frons gam'bel-i. Average length, 28 inches. 2 Chen hy-per-bo're-a. Average length, about 30 inches. THE TRUMPTER SWAN 207 the specimen under the tape is a large one, it is the former species; but if it is smaller than the average, it is booked as the "Lesser." Obviously, the wisest course is to discard both adjectives of size, and recognize the Snow Goose only, be it more or less. This easily recognized bird, like the majority of our other wild geese and ducks, wanders over almost the whole of the well-watered portion of North America down to Cuba and Mexico; but where the guns of civilization are most numerous it is now a rare and lonesome bird. To-day it is more abun- dant— or, it were better to say, less scarce — in the Mississippi Valley, Texas, and the Pacific states than elsewhere. Where they were permitted to do so, these birds often assembled in large flocks, and often made themselves conspicuous around the prairie ponds of the Dakotas and Minnesota. When you are travelling over the Northern Pacific Railway, or the Great Northern, and see on the smooth prairie a flock of rather large white birds, it is safe to declare that they are Snow Geese. THE SWANS. — Last of the Order of Ducks, and farthest from the type of the Order, are the Swans. Although two species are recognized, the difference between them is not always visible to the naked eye. THE TRUMPETER SwAN1 is one of our largest birds, and considering its great size it is strange that it has not been exterminated ere this. Its existence speaks highly for its wariness. Formerly specimens were purchasable at from $20 1 O'lor buc-cin-a'tor. Length, 4 feet 8 inches; height, when standing erect, 3 feet 9 inches; expanse of wings, 7 feet 10 inches; weight, 22 pounds. 208 DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS to $30 each, and the majority of them came from Texas and the plains region. To my mind, this is the least attract- ive of all the large swimming birds, and it certainly is one of the most pugnacious and quarrelsome. In captivity Trumpeter Swans always wish to do the wrong thing. Even when policy demands that they at least appear friendly, they are always truculently hissing at and threatening their human neighbors, friends as well as enemies. This Swan's voice is like a short blast on a French horn, but when a large flock rises from a pond in a wilderness, and gets fairly under way, the chorus given forth on such occasions I know to be thrill- ingly musical. With birds smaller than themselves, Swans often are so quarrelsome and murderous they require to be separated, and yarded by themselves. On level ground the Swan is the most ungainly of all the American members of the Order of Ducks; and even afloat its bows lie much too deep in the water. The central line of migration and distribution of this species is the western boundary of the states forming the western bank of the Mississippi. It breeds from Iowa north- ward to the Barren Grounds, and in the United States strag- gles eastward and westward to both shores of the continent. I have seen specimens taken in 1885 in the Potomac River, and it has often been observed near Los Angeles, southern California. For at least ten years we have regarded the Trumpeter Swan as one of the next candidates for oblivion, through gunner's extermination, and have cherished accordingly two THE "SONG OF THE DYING SWAN" fine specimens that we acquired in 1900. Seven years ago this species was regarded as so nearly extinct that a doubting ornithological club of Boston refused to believe, on hearsay evidence, in the existence of our specimens. A committee was appointed to interview the birds and report its findings. Even at that time Trumpeter Swan skins were worth from $100 to $150 each; and when swan skins sell at either of those figures it is because there are people who believe that the species either is on the verge of extinction or has passed it. Since that time Dr. L. C. Sanford, of New Haven, has se- cured (1910) two other living birds, from the coast of Vir- ginia. We have done our utmost to induce our pair to breed and rear young, but thus far without success. The loss of the Trumpeter Swan from our bird fauna will not be so keenly felt as the loss of the whooping crane. Its twin species, the Whistling Swan, so closely resembles the Trumpeter that only a close observer can detect the differ- ence— a yellow spot on the side of the former's upper man- dible, near its base. The Whistler yet remains in fair numbers, and possibly the new federal migratory bird law may save it from quick extinction. Thus far only one naturalist (so far as we know) ever has heard the "Song of the Dying Swan." Mr. D. G. Elliot, in "Wild Fowl of North America," records the following inter- esting observation: Once, when shooting in Currituck Sound, ... a number of Swan passed over us at a considerable height. We fired at them, and one splen- did bird was mortally hurt. On receiving his wound the wings became fixed, and he commenced at once his song, which was continued until the water was reached, nearly half a mile away. I am perfectly familiar with DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS every note a Swan is accustomed to utter, but never before nor since have I heard any like those sung by this stricken bird. Most plaintive in char- acter, and musical in tone, it sounded at times like the soft running of the notes in an octave. THE WHISTLING SwAN1 is accorded rank as a species chiefly on the strength of a small yellow patch on the base of the bill — which is not always present! Young Swans of both species are of a dirty -gray color — not white; but the plumage of the adult bird is perfectly white. The bill and feet are jet black. 1 O'lor co-lum-bi-arius. CHAPTER XXXII ORDER OF FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS STEGANOPODES TO recognize a member of this Order, look at its foot, and see that the web of the three large toes is also united to the fourth, or rear toe. This may seem like a small peg on which to hang an Order; but it is a very useful one, neverthe- less. As usual, the best and most conspicuous examples will be mentioned first. The Families are as follows: ORDER STEGANOPODES FAMILIES EXAMPLES PELICANS Pel-e-can'i-dae Brown Pelican; White Peli- can. CORMORANTS Phal-a-cro-co-rac'i-dae . . Common Cormorant. DARTERS An-hing'i-dae Darter, or Snake-Bird. GANNETS Su'li-dae Common Gannet. MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS .Fre-gat'i-dae, Frigate Bird. TEE PELICAN FAMILY Pelecanidae THE BROWN PELICAN 1 is known to every tourist who knows Florida thoroughly, or southern California. Some- how this bird appeals to every one — possibly by reason of its cheerful confidence in man — and for a wonder it has not been exterminated. It takes to captivity not only willingly, but 1 Pel-e-ca'nus fus'cus. Length, 49 inches; spread of wings, 6 feet 9.50 inches. 213 214 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS gladly, and its motto is, "All's fish that cometh to net." It is an amiable bird, sociable to an unlimited degree, harms no one and makes no enemies, save in Texas, where the fish- destroying fishermen wish the Pelicans slaughtered because they eat fish and can't pick cotton. Pelican Island, in Indian River, Brevard County, Florida, is the most interesting sight in the land of flowers. On an area of about three acres, raised only two or three feet above high-water mark, destitute of trees because the Pelicans have nested them to death, live about 3,000 Brown Pelicans, and each year they make about 1,500 nests. During every breeding-season they inhabit that islet, nesting in small nests of grass plucked on the spot, and arranged on the ground. The few dead mangroves that still stand are loaded with stick-made nests to the point of breaking down. Egg-laying begins about the 1st of February, and strag- gles along until the end of May. By March 15 the breeding- grounds contain, in close proximity, unfinished nests and nests with fresh eggs (usually three); young just out of the shell; half -grown young; and, finally, full-grown young. The latter are great hulking babies, as large as their parents, but cov- ered all over with down as white as cotton. It is no uncommon thing for a young Pelican to have from three to five mullet in its neck and crop at one time, as we have discovered by catching some of them with a search- warrant, and searching their premises. To feed these hungry pouches, the old birds fly about fifteen miles up the coast to fishing-grounds where silver mullet are plentiful and cheap; and there each old bird fills HOW PELICANS FISH its neck and crop with from six to nine fish, each from seven to ten inches in length. At evening, just before sunset, in groups of from three to seven they slowly wing their way back along the beach, flying low over the saw palmettos that fringe the shore. They give about six wing-beats, then sail as far as possible, each little company winging in unison. Several times I have lain low in the palmettos, to watch their flight at a distance of only a few feet as they approached and passed over me. Truly they are fine birds — rich in coloring, remarkably odd in form and very well set up. Unfortunately they do not acquire their full colors until in their third year. The neck of the adult bird is in two colors, rich blackish brown and white, and the back is a beautiful silvery gray-brown effect, composed of many tints. The top of the head of the adult bird is yellow. The bill is a foot long, the pouch is of a bluish-purple color, and calls for about four pounds of fish daily. It is very interesting to watch Pelicans fishing. On calm days when the surface of Indian River is like a mirror, the eruption of silvery spray that rises high when the big bird plunges into the water attracts attention at a distance of two or three miles. It is finest, however, to see them fishing in the breakers on the ocean side of the Indian River Penin- sula, about 200 feet from shore. They sail along so near the water it seems a wonder that they do not strike it; but they rise over the incoming wraves, and lower again into the trough with the utmost precision, always keenly alert. All of a sudden the wings are thrown out of gear, and a fountain of 218 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS flying spray tells the story of the plunge with open pouch for the luckless fish. For several years the fate of the great Pelican colony in Indian River remained in doubt, and its preservation was due more to public sentiment in Brevard County than to the arm of the law. In 1903, however, Pelican Island was formally declared to be a Government reservation, and placed under the absolute control of the Biological Survey, thus insuring the permanent protection of its occupants. Among the is- lands of the west coast of Florida this Pelican is even now (1914) the most conspicuous bird. In 1913 a pair nested in the Flying Cage of the New York Zoological Park, and reared a fine, new Pelican, and two pairs nested there in the spring of 1914. THE CALIFORNIA BROWN PELICAN1 so closely resembles the Florida species that the differences between the two are not easily recognized. The accompanying illustration is from a photograph taken on the Galapagos Islands, directly under the Equator; and from that locality this species ranges north- ward along the Pacific coast to British Columbia. THE GREAT WHITE PELICAN2 is a grand bird — big, clean, immaculate, and with the dignity of a newly appointed judge. About him there are two bad things. In captivity his ap- petite for fresh fish makes him a costly luxury, and his Latin name always frightens timid people. The curious horn seen in winter and spring atop of the bill of this bird is purely a sexual ornament, found only on 1 Pel-e-ca'nus calif ornicus. 2 Pel-e-ca'nus er-yth-ro-rhyn'chos. Length, 61 inches; spread of wings, 8 feet 10 inches; weight, 16.50 pounds. THE GREAT WHITE PELICAN the male in the breeding-season, after which it drops off. It begins to grow about February 15, is perfect by May 1, and drops off not later than July 1. To-day, as a matter of course, the Great White Pelican is a rare bird. On the west coast of Florida it is even yet N. Y. Zoological Park. GREAT WHITE PELICAN. occasionally seen. We saw three at Marco Island, in January, 1914. It is yet found inland in certain western localities, where there are lakes large enough to shelter it and supply it with fish, and it is to be hoped that it will be many years ere this grand bird is exterminated. Fortunately, a colony has become established on an island in Yellowstone Lake, in 222 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS the Yellowstone Park, where it breeds regularly every sum- mer, to the great delight of all tourists who care for the sight of what is called a "pelicanery." In winter southern Texas is the haven for this bird, as well as for so many other swim- ming birds, but the fishermen are determined to secure a law providing for its extermination. THE CORMORANT FAMILY Phalacrocoracidae THE CORMORANT1 is to me a most uninteresting bird. Month in and month out I have seen them perching, and perching — on spar buoys in harbors, on mud-bank stakes, and on dead trees alongshore and up-stream. For days together have Cormorants fled up-stream before my boat, yet never once have I seen a wild Cormorant do an interesting thing. Instead of getting out and hustling for fish, like the pelican, or taking delight in architecture, like the osprey, the Cor- morant tiresomely perches, and waits, Micawber-like, for something to turn up. In captivity it does better. In our Flying-Cage pool, the Cormorants play with sticks, and dive for amusement, more than any other bird, except the brown pelican. In fact, it seems like a different creature from the wild bird. The "Cormorant is, in general terms, a dull black bird, wholly devoid of colored plumage. Its range is given as "coasts of the North Atlantic, south in winter on the coast of the United States, casually, to the Carolinas." It lives upon fish, and wanders inland much farther than might be supposed. 1 Phal-a-cro-co'rax car'bo. Average length, 34 inches. THE CORMORANT. THE DARTER FAMILY THE DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT* is a bird of the interior of the United States, from Texas northward into Manitoba, but also ranging to the Atlantic coast. Its color is glossy black. On the Pacific coast, from Washington to Alaska, is found the PELAGIC CORMORANT^ with an erect crest rising from its forehead, and by which this bird is easily recognized. PALLAS'S CORMORANT, which once inhabited the northern shore of Bering Sea, was the largest and handsomest bird of this Family. Its prevailing color was dark metallic-green, set off with blue and purple reflections. It was discovered by Bering in 1741, but is now quite extinct. THE DARTER FAMILY Anhingidae THE SNAKE-BIRD, DARTER, or WATER-' ' TURKEY," 3 is a web-footed bird, with many peculiarities. Its most popu- lar name — Snake-Bird — has been bestowed in recognition of the fact that in this bird the neck and head are so long and slender they suggest the body and head of a snake. When not in action the head and upper neck are only an inch in diameter, yet so rubber-like is the skin that I have seen a Darter swallow a mullet 8 inches long, and 1J^ inches in diameter — a truly snake-like stretch. Frequently when the head of a fish is in this bird's crop, the tail fin will protrude from a corner of the mouth. The beak is like a Spanish dagger, and at all times it is 1 P. di-lo'phus. 2 p pe-lag'i-cus. 3 An-hiriga an-hin'ga. Average length, 33 inches. FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS decidedly a dangerous weapon. One well-aimed stroke is enough to stab any ordinary bird to death, or destroy an eye. In a cageful of Darters the presence of a quarrelsome bird is usually made known by the dead body of a cagemate that has been foully murdered. In its home the habits of the Snake-Bird interested me greatly. Almost invariably it perches on a dead tree, or a branch which overhangs water, preferably a small running stream. Its neighbors are the two white egrets, the Louisi- ana and little blue herons, and an occasional black vulture. Seldom indeed is one of these birds found swimming in the water, but Mr. C. E. Jackson once very dexterously speared one from his boat, as it was diving under him. When your boat approaches a Snake-Bird and crosses his danger-line, the bird slides off its perch, falls straight down, and sinks out of sight. It goes down head erect, and "all standing," as if weighted with a bag of shot. This is the queerest of all bird ways in diving. If you halt, and watch sharply for the bird to reappear at the surface, for three or four minutes you will see nothing. At the end of a long wait you will notice a sharp-pointed stick, half as long as an adult lead-pencil, sticking up out of the water. It looks so queer you watch it sharply. Presently you see the point of it turn a few degrees; and then you dis- cover a beady black eye watching you. It is one of the neat- est hiding-tricks practised by any water-bird I know. The Snake-Bird has the power to submerge its body at any depth it chooses, and remain for any reasonable length of time. It is a very expert diver, and the manner in which THE SNAKE-BIRD UNDER WATER it can pursue and capture live fish under water is enough to strike terror to the hearts of finny folk. The bird swims with a sharp kink in its neck, driving forward by powerful strokes SNAKE-BIRD. of its cup-shaped feet. On overtaking a fish the kink in its neck flies straight, and like the stab of a swift dagger the finny victim is transfixed. Then the bird rises to the surface— for it is unable to swallow its food under water — tosses the fish into the air, catches it head first and in an instant it is gone. 228 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS In the United States this bird is most at home in the rivers and creeks of southern and central Florida, but it is also found farther west, along the Gulf. It is abundant in the delta of the Orinoco, in the Guianas and farther south. It lives well in captivity, and when provided with a large glass tank is quite willing to give daily exhibitions in diving after live fish. In color the adult male is a glossy-black bird, and so is the female, except that her entire neck is light brown. THE GANNET FAMILY Sulidae THE COMMON GANNET* is, in many respects, a bird of very striking appearance. It is a goose-like bird, as large as a medium-sized goose, and its prevailing colors are white and a very beautiful ecru. Its plumage is as smooth and im- maculate as the surface of a wooden decoy. It has a slow and solemn manner, and has the least suspicion of man of any swimming bird I know. Its head, neck and bill are massive, the latter especially being long and very thick at the base. The total length of this bird when adult is only a trifle under three feet. Although the Common Gannet is strictly a bird of the ocean coasts, and apparently never is seen inland, it is a bird of such striking personality it well deserves to be introduced in these pages. Any large bird which once ex- isted in countless thousands on our coast, and has not yet been exterminated, may well be known to every intelligent American. 1 Su'la bas-sa'na. HABITS OF THE GANNET 229 Although the Gannet wanders as far south as Long Is- land, its real home is where it breeds. "While there are many points along the coast from Maine to Labrador where the Gannets might breed, they are found, so far as I have been able to ascertain, only at three places, an island in the Bay of Fundy, the Bird Rocks near the geographical centre of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Bonaventure Island, at Perce, Canada, the colony at Mingan being too small and too nearly exterminated to be taken into consideration." (Frederic A. Lucas.) In 1860 Dr. Bryant estimated the total number of Gan- nets on the Bird Rocks at 150,000. In 1872 Mr. William Brewster estimated the number then living there at 50,000. In 1887 Dr. Lucas found not a single Gannet nesting on Little Bird Rock, and not over 10,000 on Great Rock. Although the Gannets, and other sea-birds, make their homes on the most inaccessible spots they can find, there is no bird which man cannot reach with a gun, no nest to which he cannot climb, or be lowered at the end of a rope. Sea-birds everywhere are persecuted by man, either for their eggs or for themselves. In their breeding-season the Gannets are continually visited by Indians and whites, who take their eggs. "Scarce a day passes," says Dr. Lucas, "without a visit from fishermen in search of eggs, or murres. Many barrels of eggs are gathered during the season, and altogether the birds lead a rather precarious existence. There is a law regulating the taking of eggs, and if this were ob- served, or could be strictly enforced, a large number of eggs 230 FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS could be gathered annually, while at the same time the num- ber of birds would steadily increase." As will be inferred, the Gannet lives wholly upon fish, and is an expert deep-water diver. In his report on his "Ex- plorations in Newfoundland and Labrador," Dr. Lucas gives the following interesting account: While lying at Grindstone Island we first made the acquaintance of the Gannets, whose headquarters are at Bird Rocks, and had a good op- portunity to watch them fishing. The birds are usually associated in small, straggling flocks, and, with outstretched necks, and eyes ever on the lookout for fish, they fly at a height of from 75 to 100 feet above the water, or occasionally somewhat more. The height at which the Gannet flies above the water is proportioned to the depth at which the fish are swimming beneath, and Captain Collins tells me that when fish are swim- ming near the surface, the Gannet flies very low, and darts obliquely in- stead of vertically upon its prey. Should any finny game be seen within range, down goes the Gannet headlong, the nearly closed wings being used to guide the living arrow in its downward flight. Just above the surface, the wings are firmly closed, and a small splash of spray shows where the winged fisher cleaves the water to transfix his prey. Disappearing for a few seconds, the bird reappears, rests for a moment on the water, long enough to swallow his catch, then rises in pursuit of other game. The appetite of the Gannet is limited only by the capacity of its stomach, and a successful fisher may frequently be seen resting on the Water, too heavily laden to rise without disgorging a part of its cargo, which it sometimes must do to escape from the pathway of an approaching vessel. Any person who is accustomed to diving, even from a very moderate height, knows well the serious disturbance to vision caused by the shock of impact with the water. That a Gannet — or any other bird — can fall from even a height of twenty-five feet, saying nothing of a hundred, take the water plunge, and retain its gaze upon its prey sufficiently to follow and capture it, surely betokens a special optical provision THE MAN-0 -WAR BIRD FAMILY which as yet we know nothing about, and which remains to be discovered and described. Besides the species described above, there are five other species of gannets, called BOOBYS, with various prefixes, which touch the coasts of the continent of North America. Photograph by R. J. Beck. Galapagos Islands. MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS. THE MAN-O'-WAR BIRD FAMILY Fregatidae Whenever at sea in the tropics your attention is arrested by the flight far aloft of a big, dark-colored bird with long, sharp-pointed wings, and a long tail that is deeply forked, know that it is a FRIGATE Brno,1 or, as the sailors call it, MAN-O'- WAR "HAWK." It is a long-distance flier, and goes out far 1 Fre-ga'ta a'quil-a. Length, about 40 inches. FULLY WEB-FOOTED BIRDS from land. Its beak is long, hooked at the end, and really very strong, but its legs are so short and stumpy they seem to be deformed. Under the throat there is a patch of skin quite devoid of feathers, which really is a sort of air-sac. I once found the roosting-place of a colony of about forty of these birds, on the top of a perpendicular cliff seventy -five feet high on the seaward side of an island at the northwestern point of Trinidad. The birds came there regularly every night, to roost in some small dead trees that almost overhung the precipices. They were not nesting at that time, however, and were so very wakeful that even though I went to their roost before daylight, I did not succeed in killing even one bird. This bird inhabits the warm oceans of the Old World, as well as the New, and Mr. H. O. Forbes states that in the Cocos- Keeling Islands they are regular pirates, and gain their live- lihood by remaining inactive, and forcing honest fisherfolk, like the gannets, and noddy terns, to disgorge for their lazy benefit the fish they bring home from distant fishing-grounds. Mr. R. J. Beck found Frigate Birds nesting in the Gala- pagos Archipelago, which were so tame and unsuspicious that he was able to approach quite near, and make the photograph which is reproduced on the preceding page. CHAPTER XXXIII ORDER OF TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN TUBINARES THESE are indeed strange birds. To a landsman, it re- quires an effort to imagine a series of birds, some of them small and seemingly weak, which prefer to live in the watery solitudes of mid-ocean, indifferent to calms, and defy- ing both tempests and cold. To my mind, there is no sec- tion of the bird world so strange and so awe-inspiring as this. Just how the albatrosses and the petrels ride out the long, fierce gales, and keep from being beaten down to the raging surface of the sea, and drowned, I believe no one can say. It is no wonder that sailors hold the albatross in superstitious reverence, or that Coleridge has immortalized it in the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Well may a sailor feel that any large bird which lives only at sea, and follows his ship day after day, is the bird "that makes the breezes blow." The members of this small group of mid-ocean birds are distinguished by the curious fact that the nostrils, instead of opening through the side of the upper mandible, near its base, are carried well forward through two round tubes that either lie along the top of the bill or along its sides. By this 233 234 TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN arrangement, the nostril opening is about half-way between the base and tip of the bill. The bill terminates in a strong serviceable hook, like the beak of a bird of prey. This Order consists of the albatrosses, fulmars, shear- waters and petrels — all of them deep-water birds, strong of wing, and brave-spirited beyond all other birds. Of the thirty- five species and subspecies recognized in North America, only two or three ever wander to inland lakes, even for three hun- dred miles from salt water. The variation in size from the largest albatross to the smallest petrel is very great; but at least half the species of the Order are to be classed as large birds. Three species will suffice to represent the group. TEE ALBATROSS FAMILY Diomedeidae THE WANDERING ALBATROSS1 is a bird of the southern oceans of the New World; and it is the largest and hand- somest species in the Order Tubinares. It has the longest wings, but the narrowest for their length, and the greatest number of secondary feathers (over thirty in number) of any living bird. The weight of an adult bird is from 15 to 18 pounds, and when the wings are fully extended they have a spread of from 10 to 12 feet. Either when on the wing at sea, or mounted with spread wings as a museum exhibit, the wings of an Albatross are so exceedingly long and narrow that they have a very odd and unfinished appearance. They seem to be out of proper proportion, like wings lacking a proper outfit of secondary feathers. But they have their 1 Di-o-me'de-a ex'u-lans. "FISHING" FOR THE BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS 237 purpose. The Albatross can sail for hours, to and fro, with- out resting, and with wings so motionless they might as well be mechanically fixed. Dr. Charles H. Townsend, who, as naturalist of the United States Fish Commission steamer Albatross, has had excep- tional opportunities for studying Albatrosses at sea in all kinds of weather, has kindly furnished the following account of the most conspicuous species that inhabits the North Pacific : BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS1 is a common bird almost anywhere in the Pacific Ocean, from the latitude of California northward. This dark species is frequently seen the first day out, and can usually be de- pended upon to follow vessels in increasing numbers. On many voyages between San Francisco and the Aleutian Islands, the average attendance of Albatrosses, or "Gonies," as they are usually called, was from fifteen to twenty. Whether the same individuals stayed with the vessel during the whole run, or were replaced from time to time by other birds en- countered along the way, we could not determine. The birds were writh us from daylight to dark, and in all sorts of weather. The S. S. Albatross, being engaged in deep-sea investigations, made frequent stops for the purpose of sounding and dredging. At such times the flock of birds would alight upon the water, often coming close enough to be caught on cod-hooks baited with pork. When on the wing, sometimes all the birds would assemble at once to feed on the waste thrown overboard from the galley, alighting in a confused manner, with much squawking and fluttering of wings. We often hooked specimens while the ship was under way, by paying out the line rapidly enough to leave the bait lying motionless, and buoyed on the surface with a cork. The birds were not able to pick up a bait while on the wing, or while it was moving. When hooked they would set their wings rigidly at an angle, and a rapid hauling-in of the long line would send a bird skyward like a kite, which position it would retain until hauled down on the deck. Fishing for "Gonies" was a common amusement on the Albatross, and specimens were often photographed alive on the decks, or marked in some way to determine if possible whether the same individuals followed 1 Di-o-me'de-a ni'gri-pes. 238 TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN the vessel throughout the voyage. Marked birds, however, never were seen again. The handling which they received probably disinclined them to follow the vessel. The arrival of an Albatross on deck was usually followed by the dis- gorging of more or less food. They could not rise from the deck, and frequently were kept on board for several days. They walk with great difficulty, and bite savagely. Albatrosses rise easily from the sea, and when the wind is blowing it is done very quickly. In calm weather several strokes of the wings and a rapid movement of the feet are necessary for the bird to clear the water. No bird can exceed the Albatross in the gracefulness of its flight. Usually following in the wake, it has, however, no difficulty in passing ahead of the vessel, always on rigid, motionless wings, rising, descending, or turning without a wing movement that is visible to the eye. On voyages southwestward from California, the Black-Footed Al- batross did not usually follow the vessel more than two-thirds of the way to the Hawaiian Islands. A species known as Diomedea chinensis breeds in great numbers on the chain of islands extending northwestward from Hawaii. So far as I am aware, the breeding-place of Diomedea nigripes is not known. It probably breeds during the winter months on islands in the southern hemisphere. It is sometimes found in Bering Sea, particu- larly in the Bristol Bay region, and is met with all summer long in the Pacific south of the Aleutian Islands. During many visits to the Aleutian and other American islands, it was never found on land, and the natives were not acquainted with it as a nesting bird. In Bering Sea we sometimes met with the SHORT-TAILED ALBATROSS (Diomedea albatrus). This species is nearly white, and in calm weather was usually observed resting on the sea, near the great flocks of fulmars. While the steamship Albatross was dredging off the southern coast of Chile, the great WANDERING ALBATROSS was frequently to be seen resting upon the water about the vessel, and we had no difficulty in taking specimens with hook and line. Perhaps the most wonderful sight in Albatross life is to be found on Laysan Island, in the Pacific Ocean, where thousands of these birds nest close together on an open plain. There are acres and acres of living Albatrosses, stretching away as far as the camera can include them, until the plain is white with them. They manifest little fear of man, even when THE STORMY PETREL 239 iron rails are laid down, and small iron box-cars are pushed over them, to load with eggs from the nests. After the reader has noted the above paragraph, written in 1902, a history of the great Albatross slaughter on Laysan Island will be found a few pages farther on in this chapter. THE FULMAR FAMILY Procellariidae THE FULMARS are like so many understudies of the Al- batrosses; and the SHEARWATERS bring the Tube-Nosed group still nearer to the gulls and terns. The habits of all these are very much alike. All are strong-flying, mid-ocean birds, following ships for miles in order to pick up whatever edible food is thrown overboard. In one respect they are marine vultures, for some of the species make haste to feed upon any dead animal found floating on the sea or stranded on the shore. No one with eyes ever need cross the Atlantic without seeing the dear little STORMY PETREL,1 or "MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN," as it is called by sailormen. After the last gull has been left far behind, and there are about two miles of water under the ship, in the trough between two great waves there suddenly glides into view a pair of small black wings, fluttering rapidly, while two little webbed feet work violently to pat the concave surface of the deep blue water. Those who do not know the creature exclaim in surprise, "What in the world is that?" "That" is one of the wonders of the ocean world. The 1 Pro-cel-la'ri-a pe-lag'i-ca. Length, 5.50 inches. 240 TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN cause for surprise is that so small and weak a creature — the smallest of all the web-footed birds, no larger and seemingly no stronger than a cat-bird — should live on the watery wastes of a landless ocean, eating, sleeping and enjoying literally life on the ocean wave, and a home on the rolling deep." a Drawn by J. Carter Beard. STORMY PETREL. Even when seas are calm and skies are clear, one cannot easily imagine how this creature can live and find its food. But when a prolonged storm sets in, and for ten days or two weeks at a stretch the surface of the sea is a seething, boiling caldron, with every wave a ragged "white-cap" and every square foot of the sea fretted like a fish-net by the force of the wind, how does the frail little Stormy Petrel survive? You nearly always see this bird in the trough of the sea, skimming so low that its feet can paddle upon the surface of A TRAGIC STORY FROM THE NORTH PACIFIC the water and assist the wings. It is a black bird, with a large white patch on the rump, just above the tail. It rests upon the water fully half its time, I should say, and, aside from the table and galley refuse thrown overboard from ves- sels, the bulk of its food must consist of the tiny crustaceans that inhabit the floating bunches of sargasso weed. THE TRAGEDY OF THE LAY SAN ALBATROSS This bit of history should be of lively interest to every American, because the tragedy occurred on American territory. In the far-away North Pacific Ocean, about seven hundred miles from Honolulu west-b'-north, lies the small island of Laysan. It is level, sandy, poorly planted by nature, and barren of all things likely to enlist the attention of predatory man. To the harassed birds of mid-ocean, it seemed like a secure haven, and for ages past it has been inhabited only by them. There several species of sea-birds, large and small, have found homes and breeding-places. Until 1909 the in- habitants consisted of the Laysan albatross, black-footed albatross, sooty tern, gray -backed tern, noddy tern, Hawaiian tern, white tern, Bonin petrel, two shearwaters, the red-tailed tropic bird, two boobies and the man-o'-war bird. Laysan island is two miles long by one and one-half miles broad, and at times it has been literally covered with birds. Its bird life was first brought prominently to notice in 1891, by Henry Palmer, the agent of Hon. Walter Rothschild, and in 1902 and 1903 Walter K. Fisher and W. A. Bryan made further observations. Ever since 1891 the bird life on Laysan has been regarded TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN as one of the wonders of the bird world. One of the photo- graphs taken prior to 1909 shows a vast plain, apparently a square mile in area, covered and crowded with Laysan alba- trosses. They stand there on the level sand, serene, bulky and immaculate. Thousands of birds appear in one view — a very remarkable sight. Naturally, man, the ever-greedy, began to cast about for ways by which to convert some product of that feathered host into money. At first guano and eggs were collected. A tramway was laid down and small box-cars were intro- duced, in which the collected material was piled and pushed down to the packing place. For several years this went on, and the birds themselves were not molested. At last, however, a tentacle of the feather- trade octopus reached out to Laysan. In an evil moment in the spring of 1909 a predatory individual of Honolulu and elsewhere, named Max Schlemmer, decided that the wings of those albatrosses, gulls and terns should be torn off and sent to Japan, whence they would undoubtedly be shipped to Paris, the special market for the wings of sea-birds slaughtered in the North Pacific. Schlemmer the Slaughterer bought a cheap vessel, hired twenty -three phlegmatic and cold-blooded Japanese laborers, and organized a raid on Laysan. With the utmost secrecy he sailed from Honolulu, landed his bird-killers upon the sea- bird wonderland and turned them loose upon the birds. For several months they slaughtered diligently and with- out mercy. Apparently it was the ambition of Schlemmer to kill every bird on the island. ACRES OF ALBATROSS BONES 245 By the time the bird-butchers had accumulated between three and four carloads of wings, and the carnage was half finished, William A. Bryan, Professor of Zoology in the Col- lege of Honolulu, heard of it and promptly wired the United States Government. AVithout the loss of a moment the Secretary of the Navy despatched the revenue cutter Thetis to the shambles of ALBATROSS BONES ON LAYSAN ISLAND, 1911. After the tragedy. One mile long and one hundred and fifty feet wide paved with bones. Laysan. When Captain Jacobs arrived he found that in round numbers about three hundred thousand birds had been destroyed, and all that remained of them were several acres of bones and dead bodies, and about three carloads of wings, feathers and skins. It was evident that Schlemmer's inten- tion was to kill all the birds on the island, and only the timely arrival of the Thetis frustrated that bloody plan. The twenty-three Japanese poachers were arrested and taken to Honolulu for trial, and the Thetis also brought away 246 TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN all the stolen wings and plumage with the exception of one shedful of wings that had to be left behind on account of lack of carrying space. That old shed, with one end torn out, and supposed to contain nearly fifty thousand pairs of wings, was photographed by Professor Dill in 1911, as shown here- with. Three hundred thousand albatrosses, gulls, terns and other birds were butchered to make a Schlemmer holiday! Had the arrival of the Thetis been delayed, it is reasonably certain that every bird on Laysan would have been killed to satisfy the wolfish rapacity of one money-grubbing white man. In 1911 the Iowa State University despatched to Laysan a scientific expedition in charge of Professor Homer R. Dill. The party landed on the island on April 24 and remained until June 5, and the report of Professor Dill (United States Department of Agriculture) is deeply interesting to the friends of birds. Here is what he has said regarding the evidences of bird-slaughter: Our first impression of Laysan was that the poachers had stripped the place of bird life. An area of over 300 acres on each side of the build- ings was apparently abandoned. Only the shearwaters moaning in their burrows, the little wingless rail skulking from one grass tussock to an- other and the saucy finch remained. It is an excellent example of what Professor Nutting calls the survival of the inconspicuous. Here on every side are bones bleaching in the sun, showing where the poachers had piled the bodies of the birds as they stripped them of wings and feathers. In the old open guano shed were seen the remains of hundreds and possibly thousands of wings which were placed there but never cured for shipping, as the marauders were interrupted in their work. An old cistern back of one of the buildings tells a story of cruelty that surpasses anything else done by these heartless, sanguinary pirates, not excepting the practice of cutting wings from living birds and leaving them to die of hemorrhage. In this dry cistern the living birds were kept WIDE-SPREAD DESTRUCTION OF BIRDS 247 by hundreds to slowly starve to death. In this way the fatty tissue lying next to the skin was used up, and the skin was left quite free from grease, so that it required little or no cleaning during preparation. Many other revolting sights, such as the remains of young birds that had been left to starve, and birds with broken legs and deformed beaks were to be seen. Killing clubs, nets and other implements used by these marauders were lying all about. Hundreds of boxes to be used in shipping THE LAST OP THE LOOT. About twenty-five thousand of the wings collected by the bird-butchers of Laysan, now decaying in this old shed. the bird skins wrere packed in an old building. It was very evident they intended to carry on their slaughter as long as the birds lasted. Not only did they kill and skin the larger species but they caught and caged the finch, honey-eater, and miller bird. Cages and material for making them were found. — (Report of an Expedition to Laysan Island in 1911. By Homer R. Dill, page 12.) The report of Professor Bryan contains the following pertinent paragraphs: This wholesale killing has had an appalling effect on the colony. . . . It is conservative to say that fully one-half the number of birds of both 248 TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS OF MID-OCEAN species of albatross that were so abundant everywhere in 1903 have been killed. The colonies that remain are in a sadly decimated condition. . . . Over a large part of the island, in some sections a hundred acres in a place, that ten years ago were thickly inhabited by albatrosses not a single bird remains, while heaps of the slain lie as mute testimony of the awful slaughter of these beautiful, harmless and without doubt beneficial in- habitants of the high seas. In February, 1909, President Roosevelt issued an execu- tive order creating the Hawaiian Islands Reservation for Birds. In this are included Laysan and twelve other islands and reefs, some of which are inhabited by birds that are well worth preserving. By this act we may feel that for the future the birds of Laysan and neighboring islets are secure from further attacks by the bloody-handed agents of the vain women of Europe, who still insist upon wearing the wings and feathers of wild birds, and even yet have a legal right to do so. CHAPTER XXXIV ORDER OF LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS LONGIPENNES members of the Order of Gulls and Terns appeal to a greater number of admirers than any other group of web-footed birds. The reasons are: their wide distribution, both on salt water and fresh-water lakes; their conspicuous and graceful flight; their partial immunity from wholesale slaughter, and their friendliness toward the arch-destroyer, man. Every harbor and every steamer track is a safe feed- ing-ground for these birds, and along thousands of miles of shore line they are the most beautiful wild creatures that greet the eye. The three North American Families of this Order are as follows : ORDER LONGIPENNES FAMILIES EXAMPLES GULLS AND TERNS ..... La'ri-dae ........... Herring Gull; Common Tern. SKIMMERS ............. Ryn-chop'i-dae ...... Black Skimmer. SKUAS AND JAEGERS ____ Ster-co-rar-i'i-dae . . . Parasitic Jaeger. THE GULLS AND TERNS Laridae THE HERRING GULL/ an old and familiar friend which ranges far inland, and also far outward on the sea, is the best 1 La'rus ar-gen-ta'tus. Average length, 24 inches. 249 250 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS and most interesting type of this Family. It is an ideal Gull — long-winged, large, white and pearl-gray in color, strong, yet graceful on the wing, a good fighter, and suffi- ciently plentiful in number to be known to millions of people. It inhabits the whole sea-coast, and all the salt-water bays and inlets of North America, the great lakes, the lakes and ponds of Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and several of our larger rivers, such as the Potomac, Mississippi, Missouri and Columbia. From all their regular routes of travel and places of residence they stray inland for an indefinite number of miles. The Herring Gull nests from southern Maine and the great lakes northward to the Arctic Ocean, and makes its winter home in the United States. All transatlantic voyagers have seen it far out at sea, almost half-way between Sandy Hook and Queenstown. In Georgian Bay the sight of Gull life on the crystal-clear waters, and clean, bare islets of pink granite near Owen Sound, was one of the most enchanting I ever beheld. Going down Puget Sound on a cold and windy day in November, a large flock of the same old friends followed the steamer for twenty miles, sailing along beside us, sometimes within ten feet of the rail of the hurricane-deck— a sight which well repaid one for half freezing in order to see it to the most per- fect advantage. But why wander so far from home to see Gulls? Only a mile from the Zoological Park is the Williamsbridge Reservoir of the New York City water-works. Not long since curiosity to ascertain whether any winter birds were being attracted by that very small but high basin of water led me to climb GULLS WINTERING IN NEW YORK 253 up and see. To my great astonishment, I found a distin- guished company of sixty-seven Herring Gulls, standing and sitting in serene contentment on the sheet of ice that covered one-half the surface of the water. It was a nice, quiet, genteel place, well below the sweep of the wind; there was plenty of water for the birds to soak their feet in when the ice made them too cold, and what more could a Gull ask, except a daily de- livery of fresh fish? The voice of this Gull is not melodious; and some persons call it harsh and strident. But opinions differ, even on as small a matter as the voice of a Gull. I never yet heard the cry of a wild gull, either on the booming sea-shore or over the silvery mirror of an inland lake, which was not music to my ears. In captivity the Gull is badly handicapped. With the primaries of one wing clipped to prevent escape, and without the power of flight, it is not seen at its best; for no gull is perfect save in flight. Our flock is continually shrieking pro- tests against unlawful detention, and with perfect wings every one would quickly 0fly away, as did those bred in the park and reared to adolescence with perfect wings. We tried to colonize them, but once away they never came back. In an enclosure which embraced a pond and an island in- habited by about twenty Gulls, twelve Canada geese and a few other birds, two enterprising Gulls decided to nest and rear a family. Accordingly, they built a nest under a bush which stood on a point of the island, in a position that strate- gically was well chosen for purposes of defence. The two birds made a very wise division of the labor. The female built the nest, laid the eggs and hatched them, and the male 254 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS did the screaming and fighting that was necessary to protect the family from molestation. Never was there a more bonnie fighter than that male bird. During that whole nesting-period, lasting from April 1 to May 15, he either bluffed or fought to a standstill everything that came within ten feet of that nest. Before his defiant and terrifying screams, and his threatening beak and wings, no other Gull could stand for a moment. When a Canada goose crossed his dead-line, the Gull would rush at him, seize him by the nearest wing, wing-beat him, and hang on like a bulldog, regardless of being dragged about by the stronger bird, until the goose was glad to purchase peace by retreating. During all these battles the female sat firmly on her eggs, but pointed her bill at the sky and screamed encour- agement with all the power of her vocal machinery. Eventu- ally the three eggs were hatched, and the young were reared successfully. On certain islands along the coast of Maine, where Gulls nest in considerable numbers, Mr. William Dutcher has done important and effective work in securing the protection of the birds by the owners of the islands. As if to reward Mr. Dutcher for his labors in their behalf, the Gulls permitted him to photograph them on their nests at very short range.- In England the Zoological Society of London has awarded its medal to several persons for noteworthy services in pro- tecting Gulls from destruction. THE COMMON TERN/ but for the timely interference of the Audubon law, would ere now have become the very Un- 1 Ster'na hi-run'do. Average length, 14.50 inches. THE COMMON TERN 255 common Tern. The persons who for years slaughtered birds wholesale and without check for "millinery purposes" would have exterminated this species, at least all along the Atlantic coast. In an evil hour some person without compassion, and with no more taste for the eternal fitness of things than a Texas steer, conceived the idea of placing stuffed Terns on women's hats, as "ornaments." Now, unfortunately, wom- an's one universal weakness lies in the belief that whatever the Fashion Fetish commands that she shall wear, that is necessarily a beautiful thing for her to deck herself withal. As a result, we have seen thousands of angular, dagger-beaked, sharp-winged, dirty-plumaged, rough-looking and distorted Terns, each one a feathered Horror, clamped to the fronts and sides of the hats of women, and worn as head ornaments! Those objects spoke very poorly for their wearers; for since the daughters of Eve first began to wear things on their heads, the Rumpled Tern is the ugliest thing ever devised for head-gear. Thus has been developed a new bird species, which we will christen as above, with Sterna horrida as its Latin name. Thanks to the Audubon law, however, the wearing of stuffed birds has, with fashionable people, quite gone out of fashion, and the only exceptions now seen are on the heads of servants, who, for motives of economy, are wear- ing the cast-off millinery of their mistresses. The Tern is much smaller than the herring gull; it has a very short neck, very long and angular wings, and when on the ground is not a bird of beautiful form. On the wing, how- ever, and especially over the breakers, its appearance is grace- 256 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS fill and pleasing. It is a white-and-gray bird, excepting the black bonnet which covers the upper half of its head and neck, and its bill, feet and legs are coral red. Along our Atlantic coast, and especially from Nantucket to Hatteras, it was once a very familiar bird, and its escape for annihilation has been of the narrowest. The anti-bird- millinery laws passed by New York and other states effectu- ally stopped the sale of wild birds and their plumage for "millinery purposes," and the Terns are no longer slaughtered as heretofore. In several places where they breed they are now protected, and henceforth should slowly increase in number. There are now but few localities on our Atlantic coast between New Jersey and Nova Scotia where the Common Tern, or "Sea Swallow," breeds. Two of these are Muskeget Island, northwest of Nantucket, and Gardiner's Island. The once numerous colony that formerly inhabited Gull Island, near the eastern end of Long Island, was broken up and driven off by a "military necessity," no less important than the building of a modern fort to protect the City of New Yorko By a strange coincidence, it was the 12-inch guns of our coast defence artillery that drove these much-persecuted birds from one of their favorite nesting-grounds. THE SKIMMER FAMILY Rynchopidae THE BLACK SKIMMED is a tern in form, but without the spear-like bill of the latter for spearing fish. Its lower man- dible is formed for use as a cut-water — long, thin, rather broad, 1 Ryn' chops ni'gra. Length, about 16 inches. THE SKUA AND JAEGER FAMILY 257 and flattened vertically. The upper mandible is similarly shaped, but is shorter. AMien seeking food, the Skimmer looks for calm water, and then, with most dexterous and well-balanced flight, it slowly wings its way close down to the surface, so low that the lower mandible is actually held in the water while the bird is in full flight. Any small edible object that happens to lie on the surface is shot into the mouth, through what is really a very narrow opening. This is a bird of the tropics, and is much more at home on the coast of British Guiana, among the scarlet ibises, than it is on the coast of the United States anywhere north of Florida. I have never seen it elsewhere than in South America, and on our shores it is a visitor of great rarity. It nests on Cobb Island, off the coast of Virginia, and lives long in comfortable captivity. THE SKUA AND JAEGER FAMILY Stercorariidae The members of this Family are habitants of the cold northern seas and high latitudes. They are strong- winged, bold and hardy, and so frequently rob other sea-birds of their prey that they are sometimes called the hawks of the sea. Living examples are rarely seen save by persons who are voyaging northward above the 40th parallel. Of the four species inhabiting North America, the following is the one most frequently seen in the United States. THE PARASITIC JAEGER1 is quoted geographically as fol- lows: "Northern part of northern hemisphere, southward in 1 Ster-co-ra'ri-us par-a-sit'i-cus. Length, about 17 inches. 258 LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS winter to South Africa and South America. Breeds in high northern districts, and winters from New York and California southward to Brazil." A description of the colors of this bird would be a formidable affair, for both adults and young birds have each two color phases. The beak of the adult is strongly hooked at the end, like that of a cormorant, but still more pronounced. CHAPTER XXXV ORDER OF WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS PYGOPODES WITH this group the Class of Birds enters upon a very marked and swift decline from the high types. An- other step beyond this Order, and we land among birds so nearly wingless that they are without the power of flight. The birds of the present Order have wings that are small and weak; and while they are able to fly, and also to migrate, they fly feebly in comparison with the cloud-cleaving goose, duck, gull and albatross. Their legs are set far back on their bodies, and on land they have no choice but to stand erect — a posture which is strikingly characteristic of the wingless sea-birds generally. This Order, as represented in North America, contains but three Families: ORDER PYGOPODES FAMILIES EXAMPLES GREBES Pod-i-cip'i-dae Pied-Billed Grebe. LOONS Gav-l'i-dae Great Northern Diver. AUKS AND PUFFINS Al'ci-dae Razor-Billed Auk ; Tufted Puffin; Murre. Of these, the first and second are comparatively well known. The third is composed of birds that are strangers to the great majority of us; but inasmuch as Alaska is constantly being 259 260 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS brought nearer to us, it is quite necessary that we should be- come acquainted with its most prominent forms of bird life. THE GREBE FAMILY THE PIED-BILLED GREBE, or "HELL-DIVER," also called the CAROLINA GREBE/ is well qualified to stand as the repre- sentative of the Grebe Family, which in North America con- tains about six species. It is usually seen in the geographical centre of a quiet pond, sharply watching in every direction for enemies. It is a sad and uncomfortable-looking little creature, destitute of bright and pleasing colors, and also devoid of beauty. At a distance, the hunter is thrilled by the sight of what he gladly thinks is a duck; but on approaching nearer he sighs regretfully, and admits that it is "only a Grebe." If he fires at it, in revenge for the disappointment, the bird is gone before the charge of shot is half-way to it, and only an innocent ripple marks its disappearance. All the Grebes are expert long-distance divers. They can either sink straight down, or dart down head first in a frac- tion of a second, and remain under water for so long a time and swim so far while submerged, that it is very difficult to follow their movements. Sometimes a Grebe will insinuate only its bill above the surface, in order to breathe without exposing even its head and neck. It is a waste of time, ammunition and self-respect to shoot and actually kill one of these birds; for they are very commonplace and useless. The only redeeming feature about this bird is its breast, which is covered with a thick mass of very persistent feathers, 1 Pod-i-lym'bus pod'i-ceps. Average length, 12 inches,, NESTING HABITS OF THE GREBE 261 set so tightly in a very tough skin that the evil-eyed mil- liners once used Grebe's breasts for hat trimmings. A few years ago the Klamath Lake region of northern Oregon literally swarmed with Grebes, but the agents of "the feather trade" slaughtered them so fiercely and persistently that they were almost exterminated. Now that region has been con- verted into a national bird refuge, and all its bird life is for- ever under the protection of the National Government. The nesting habits of the Grebe are remarkable and in- teresting. Instead of choosing a dry situation, where incu- bation might proceed under the best possible conditions, it frequently chooses a clump of rushes in deep water and builds a floating nest, attached to the rushes. Sometimes, however, it selects a spot where the water is very shallow, and builds from the bottom up, using rushes when it is possible to pro- cure them. In either case, the sodden mass rises only two or three inches above high-water mark, and how the eggs ever receive warmth sufficient to hatch them is a mystery. Occasionally a clump of rushes with a floating nest breaks loose from its moorings, and floats away. Some friends of mine once discovered a derelict nest, with the Grebe sitting serenely upon it, floating about in Lake Ontario, whither it had evidently been borne on the current of Johnson's Creek. Doubtless it is a real grief to Grebes that they cannot hatch their eggs under water! The Pied-Billed Grebe, also called Dabchiclc, and Diedipper, is a Pan-American bird, being found throughout North and South America from Cape Horn to the Mackenzie River, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its phenomenally wide 262 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS range includes Cuba, several others of the larger islands of the West Indies and the Bermudas. Its prevailing color is brownish gray, with black throat and chin. Its bill is dull white, with a broad, perpendicular band of black crossing it at the middle, like a rubber band, to hold the mandibles together. In size this bird is about as small as a green-winged teal. THE LOON FAMILY Gaviidae THE LOON, or GREAT NORTHERN DIVER/ is a large, showy, black-and-white bird, of such striking personality that when once well seen it is not easily forgotten. In bulk it is as large as an ordinary goose, and when standing erect, on land, its height is about 25 inches. Its neck and head are large and jet black, and the upper portion of the former is encircled by a white collar which is formed of upright lines of white dots. The breast is pure white, and the jet-black back is marked by rows of rectangular white dots, or broken bars. The legs join the body far down, near the tail, and when the bird takes to the land, it rests on its feet, the lowest joint of the legs (tarsi) and the tail, which lies flat upon the ground. Either on land or water this Loon is a very showy bird, and also a bird possessing many of the mental traits which when combined form what we call "character." Usually it is very wide-awake, suspicious and difficult to approach; but there are times when it will approach danger as if bent on suicide. Its cry is loud and far-reaching. Sometimes it is 1 Gav'i-a im'ber. THE CRY OF THE LOON 263 like a distressful howl, and again it resembles wild, unculti- vated laughter. It is an expert diver and fisher, and in sum- mer is at home all over the upper two-thirds of North Amer- ica, breeding from our northern states to the Arctic Circle, COMMON MURRE. THE LOON. quite across the continent. In winter it migrates southward to the Gulf and the Mexican boundary. Its eggs are two in number, of a dull-green color. The newly hatched birds are covered with black down, and in travelling the mother bird often swims with them upon her back. The Loon rises from the water with considerable 264 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS effort, and flies heavily, but in migrating its powers of flight are sufficient to carry it wherever it wishes to go. In the Potomac River, and along the Virginia coast, this bird is called the "War Loon." THE CLIFF DWELLERS OF TEE SEA There is a Family of weak-winged birds whose members are all fisher-folk, and live high up on the ledges of the bold and precipitous cliffs which hem in the northern oceans. They are sociable birds, and where not destroyed .by man live in great companies varying from hundreds to thousands. They form, as a whole, a great and diverse company, divided into 23 well-defined species. Collectively, they are known as the Auk Family, and include 4 puffins, 6 auklets, or little auks, 5 murrelets, 3 guillemots, 2 murres, 2 auks and 1 dovekie. Whenever you visit Alaska, or the arctic regions, almost anywhere on salt water, you will be surprised by the abundance of the birds belonging to this Family. Wherever rocky cliffs rise out of blue water, you will find them tenanted by these interesting creatures. Doubtless, also, you will find that when such great gatherings of bird life are to be studied and recorded, one good camera is better than ten guns. Like the Aztecs who, like eagles, built high up in the crevices of the rock-cliffs of the gloomy Canyon de Chelly, to be inaccessible to the hostile enemies who gave no quarter, for similar reasons the feathered cliff dwellers of the sea build in similar situations. Dearest of all spots to the nesting sea- bird is a precipitous islet of rock rising out of the sea, wholly inaccessible to the prowling wolf, fox and wolverine, and, if BIRD LIFE SEEN ON A TRIP TO ALASKA 265 not actually inaccessible to man, at least so very difficult that he looks for easier conquests. But let it not be understood that the birds of the Auk Family confine themselves to high cliffs and precipices. On the contrary, they congregate in thousands on rocky ridges, or on the tops of sandy hills — called dunes — at the sea-shore, where their nests are easily accessible to all their enemies. Just why their enormous colonies do not attract foxes and wolves by hundreds, we cannot imagine, unless it be for the reason that the general abundance of animal life dulls the edge of appetite and enterprise. To any one interested in sea-birds, of which there is really a great variety, -a trip to Alaska is replete with interest. Within a few hours after leaving Seattle, or, let us say, at Port Townsend, the bird life around the ship fairly compels at- tention. A flock of gulls fly so close to the rail of the hurri- cane-deck that some of them might be caught with a dip-net. Pigeon guillemots, and ducks of several species afloat on the cold waters of the Sound, ostentatiously swim out of the steamer's track. On the ocean it will be strange if an alba- tross does not sail out of space, and with far-stretching wings swoop and soar, and sail after you, hour after hour, without once flapping its wings! In Bering Sea, no matter where you land, the chances are that thousands of murres and puffins are there to greet you with noisy cackle, and spread a cloud of wings overhead when you disturb them. Really, the rookeries of Alaska — of seals as well as birds — are alone sufficient to repay a trip to that arctic wonderland, aside from the wonderful scenery, 266 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS flora and big game. There are dozens of birds there which we would gladly introduce to the reader, but, owing to un- controllable limitations, only the most interesting examples can be accorded space. Of all arctic and northern sea-birds, the CALIFORNIA MuRRE1 (pronounced mur) deserves to be mentioned first, for the reason that it is and ever has been most in the public eye. This is really a subspecies of the COMMON MuRRE2 of the North Atlantic, which nests on Bird Rocks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and sometimes comes as far south as Massa- chusetts. There is another North Atlantic species, called BRUNNICH'S MuRRE,3 also nesting on Bird Rocks, which occasionally strays down to Long Island. Both the Atlantic species are black above and white underneath. The California Murre is the bird which once nested on the Farallone Islands, about thirty-five miles west of San Francisco, in countless thousands, and furnished between 1880 and 1890, according to Mr. W. E. Bryant, from 180,000 to 228,000 eggs per annum to the San Francisco market. Like true Americans, the eggers always endeavored to make "a clean sweep," regardless of the future of the rookery, and under their ministrations the Murres rapidly declined in number. Finally, an appeal was made to the United States Light- House Board. The admirable record of that body in the preservation of wild life was sustained by an order which at once put a stop to all egg-gathering on the Farallones. It has already been noted in the chapter on seals and sea-lions 1 U'ri-a tro'i-le californica. 2 U. troile. 3 U. lom'vi-a. THE CALIFORNIA MURRE AT HOME 267 that the only localities on the California coast where sea-lions are now safe from annihilation are the light-house reserva- tions, the most important of which are the Farallones. The following vivid pen-picture of the California Murre at home, on Hall Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, is from the pen of Mr. John Burroughs ("Harriman Alaska Expedition," p. 109): The first thing that attracted our attention was the Murres — "urries" the Aleuts- call them — about their rookeries on the cliffs. Their numbers darkened the air. As we approached, the faces of the rocks seemed paved with them, with a sprinkling of gulls, puffins, black cormorants and auk- lets. On landing at a break in the cliffs where a little creek came down to the sea, our first impulse was to walk along the brink and look down upon the Murres, and see them swarm out beneath our feet. On the discharge of a gun, the air would be black with them, while the cliffs apparently remained as populous as ever. They sat on little shelves, or niches, with their black backs to the sea, each bird covering one egg with its tail-feathers. In places one could have reached down and seized them by the neck, they were so tame and so near the top of the rocks. I believe one of our party did actually thus procure a specimen. It was a strange spectacle, and we lingered long looking upon it. To behold sea-fowls like flies, in uncounted millions, was a new experience. Everywhere in Bering Sea the Murres swarm like vermin. It seems as if there was a Murre to every square yard of surface. They were flying about over the ship, or flapping over the water away from her front at all times. I noticed that they could not get up from the water except against the wind; the wind lifted them as it does a kite. With the wind, or in a calm, they skimmed along on the surface, their heads bent forward, their wrings beating the water impatiently. Unable to rise, they would glance behind them in a frightened manner, then plunge beneath the waves until they thought the danger had passed. Their tails are so short that, in flying, their two red feet stretched behind them to do the duty of a tail. Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey says that "When incubating one bird stays on the nest during the day, and the other dur- ing the night, and when the exchange is made a great commo- 268 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS tion ensues, the air being filled with quarrelling, screaming masses of bird life." ("Handbook," p. 17.) In its breeding plumage, the California Murre has a jet- black head and neck, the back is dull black, or slate-color, and the under-parts are white. In winter the sides of the head and throat are white. The range of the species is from California to Hall Island, Bering Sea. THE AUKS AND PUFFINS THE PUFFINS are the clowns of the bird world. Without exception they are the drollest-looking things in feathers. The countenance of a Puffin always reminds one of a face in a com- ical mask, while in manner they are so solemn, and take life so seriously, their clown-likeness is all the more pronounced. The most remarkable feature of a Puffin is its huge, triangu- lar beak, which is flattened out into two high, thin plates, set edgewise against the head and gorgeously colored. After the breeding-season certain plates at the base of the beak are shed. The bird is about the size of a wood duck. Its wings are short and very scantily feathered, and its tail is so short as to be practically invisible. In flight its wings look very much like the wings of a penguin as it swims with them under water. In many respects Puffins are wise birds, and if there is aught in the survival of the fittest they should live long and prosper. They have the remarkable habit of nesting in burrows, which they dig deeply, usually about three feet, in the steep sides of sandy hills. In these retreats they can de- fend themselves against enemies of several kinds. In the defence of their homes they are quite courageous, and often THE CLOWNS OF THE BIRD WORLD an angry or well-frightened Puffin will seize an offending nose, or human hand, bite it severely, and hang on like a bull- dog. In places where these birds nest in burrows, sentinels 1. COMMON PUFFIN. 2. TUFTED PUFFIN. 3. RHINOCEROS AUKLET. are always posted outside, to give the alarm of any approach- ing enemy. It is to be observed, however, that Puffins do not always nest in burrows, but frequently they find rock ledges so rugged and broken that they can find good nesting-sites in deep and narrow crevices, wherein they are reasonably safe from molestation. A Puffin lays but one egg, which is large 270 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS and white, and placed at the end of its burrow. Of course all these birds dive and swim well. THE TUFTED PurriN1 is the most widely distributed member of this genus, being found from southern California all the way up the Pacific coast to Alaska, Bering Strait, Siberia and on down to Japan. It is (or at least was) abun- dantly represented on the Farallone Islands from April to July, when they breed there. This species is instantly distinguishable by its black plu- mage, its big, triangular bill colored bright red and olive-green, white eye and white triangular cheek-patch. In the breeding- season a beautiful flowing tuft of soft, yellow feathers, thick as a lead-pencil, comes forth just behind the eye, and flows backward and downward in a graceful curve. On the Atlantic side, from Maine to Greenland, and also from Great Britain to North Cape, lives the COMMON PuFFiN,2 or "SEA PARROT." Of this bird, the whole side of the head, and the breast and abdomen are white, the remainder of the plumage being deep black. Wherever found, it is one of the most interesting birds to be met with near the sea, and its comical appearance, queer movements and fierce temper when disturbed never fail to amuse the observer. THE AUKS and AUKLETS are really birds of the cold northern waters; but on the Pacific side there are four species which touch the coast of the United States, and two of them even push their way down to Lower California. These birds are much like puffins with rational beaks, and I believe all 1 Lun'da cir-ra'ta. Length, 15 inches. 2 Fra-ter'cu-la arc'ti-ca. Length, 13 inches. GETTING FOOD FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA 271 existing species are black above and white below. The beaks show but little tendency to the sportive flattening so char- acteristic of the puffins. These birds are very strong divers, and get a great portion of their food from the bottom of the sea. The two species found all along our Pacific coast, on the Farallone Islands and Santa Catalina, are the Rhinoceros Auklet1 (14 inches long), and the Cassin Auklet, the former so called because of an erect horny shield at the base of its beak. The Least Anklet2 is only 6^ inches long — about the bulk of a small, thinly feathered screech owl. THE RAZOR-BILLED AuK,3 of the North Atlantic Ocean, sometimes wanders in summer to the coast of Maine, and in winter even migrates as far south as New Jersey. (Robert Ridgway.) It is 17 inches long, and is the largest living mem- ber of the group of auks. As might be expected, it is a dis- tinguished resident of the Bird Rocks. THE GREAT AUK is now a bird of history and museums only. It met its fate on Funk Island, a treeless dot in the sea, about thirty miles northwest of Newfoundland, which was the first land met with as the Auks swam southward on their annual migrations. The wings of this bird were so little developed that it was wholly unable to fly, and while on land it was any one's prey. The thousands of Great Auks that visited Funk Island naturally attracted men who wished to turn them to account. Whalemen were landed, and left there to kill Auks for their feathers and oil. The birds were either driven into pens 1 Cer-o-rhirica mo-no-cer-a'ta. 2Sim-o-rhyn'chus pu-sil'lus. 3Al'ca tor'da^ 272 WEAK-WINGED DIVING BIRDS and slaughtered there, or else the pens were used to contain their dead bodies. Apparently great numbers of the bodies were burned for fuel. About 1844 the species became en- tirely extinct. When Funk Island was visited by Dr. F. A. Lucas in 1887, in quest of Auk remains, he found deposits of bones several feet in thickness, evidently where the bodies of slaughtered birds had been heaped up and left to decay. Out of these deposits several barrels of mixed bones and peaty earth were taken which yielded several complete skeletons of that species. Had the Great Auk possessed wings for flight, the chances are that it would not have fallen such easy prey to its exter- minators. The moral lesson of its fate is — in these days of firearms and limitless ammunition — no bird should be hatched without steel-plate armor, strong wings for flight and swift legs for running away. CHAPTER XXXVI ORDER OF FLIGHTLESS DIVERS IMPENNES NO matter where man may go, on land or sea, or polar ice-pack, Nature holds birds in readiness to welcome him. When Peary reached the point of land that is nearest the north pole, at the northeastern extremity of Greenland, on July 4, 1892, he found there the snow bunting, sandpiper, raven, Greenland falcon and ptarmigan. On the great arctic ice-floe, at Latitude 82° 40', Nansen saw the fulmar (Pro- cellaria glacialis) and the black guillemot, and a little later the ivory gull, little auk and Ross's gull. When Captain Scott penetrated the awful solitudes of the antarctic conti- nent, in 1911, he found there flocks of large and very strange birds. His party had an opportunity to study the won- derful EMPEROR PENGUIN1 in its haunts, such as never be- fore had been secured by naturalists. For the first time that wonderful bird was secured on the films of a moving-picture camera. This species is the largest of the wingless and flightless swimming birds. In bulk it is about the size of our great white pelican. Its height is 3^ feet, and it stands as erect as any soldier on parade. In its erect posture its wings seem 1 Ap-te-no-dy'tes fos'ter-i. 273 274 FLIGHTLESS DIVERS like arms, and its queer manner of talking, scolding and pry- ing into man's affairs makes this bird seem more like a feath- ered caricature of a big, fat human being than an ordinary diving bird. Its head is black, its abdomen is white and its legs and feet are feathered quite down to the claws. The wings are covered with feathers that are more like fish-scales than feathers, and the feathers of the back also are very close and scale-like. To a naturalist or bird-lover, the sight of great flocks of Emperor Penguins, and of the smaller Pack Penguins, on the antarctic ice-floes, must be sufficient to repay the explorer for many of the long, dark hours of the voyage that is re- quired to reach their haunts. The breeding and nesting habits of the antarctic penguins constitute one of the per- petual marvels of bird life. I have seen and heard the BLACK-FOOTED PENGUIN,1 of South Africa, scold and complain in a most human-like man- ner. On land, or on an ice-floe, this bird is so awkward and helpless that any bloodthirsty observer can walk up and kill it with a stick. Place it in water, however, and what a transformation! Immediately it will give an exhibition of diving which is astonishing. In an instant a waddling, slow-moving, almost helpless bird is transformed into a feathered seal. With its feet floating straight behind, and of no use save in steering, it points its beak and head straight forward, and swims wholly with its wings. Those flipper-like members reach forward simul- taneously, work in perfect unison, and strike the water like 1 Sphe-nis'cus de-mer'sus. A FEATHERED SEAL 275 living paddles — which they are. The quickness and dexterity of this bird in chasing and capturing live fishes, swallowing them under water and instantly pursuing others, is one of the most wonderful sights in bird life. The bird always dives with its lungs full of air, and during the middle of its period under water it exhales. When it does so, bubbles of air issue from each corner of the mouth and float upward like two strings of pearls. It is strange that the feet perform so very little service while the Penguin is diving; but such is the fact. Of all birds that love water, I think the Penguin loves it most. It will lie on its side at the surface and, in sheer playfulness and excess of joy, beat the water with its uppermost wing, wriggle about, then turn over and splash with the other. In the sea a flock of Penguins is readily mistaken for a school of dolphins, because they dive so persistently, in order to swim with their wings, and thus get on in the world very much faster than if they sat up and paddled with their feet. There are about twenty species of Penguins, of which the Emperor is the largest, and the King Penguin second. All are found in the southern hemisphere. The largest Em- peror Penguin ever weighed and recorded weighed 78 pounds ! Needless to say, these birds live almost wholly upon fish, in the capture of which they are the most expert of all birds. CHAPTER XXXVII . ORDER OF WINGLESS LAND BIRDS RATITAE EWEST of the Orders of living birds is that which con- tains the birds which are so nearly wingless that they are wholly unable to fly, but are provided with long and power- ful legs, which enable them to run swiftly. Of these there are a larger number of species than might be supposed, but our purpose requires here only the briefest introduction of a few important forms. The majority of the birds of this group are birds of great size, and their legs are so long and powerful they are able to kick or strike quite dangerously. These are the ostriches, rheas, cassowaries and emus. THE AFRICAN OSTRICH^ is the largest living bird, and in every respect it is a worthy descendant of the still more gigantic but now extinct moa of New Zealand. A full-grown male Ostrich stands, when fully erect, 8 feet in height to the top of its head, and weighs about 275 pounds. The manager of the Florida Ostrich Farm at Jacksonville states that the average weight of adult African Ostriches is about 300 pounds. Once abundant in nearly all the dry and open country of Africa, except the Sahara and Libyan deserts, this noble bird has shared the fate of the elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo and giraffe. To-day it is to be found but sparingly, and only 1 Stru'thi-o cam'e-lus. 276 THE LARGEST LIVING BIRD 277 in those regions of southern and eastern Africa wherein it is now protected. The value in America of a full-grown African Ostrich is $250. Fortunately, the Ostrich farms of South Africa, California, and Arizona have proven completely successful, and bid fair to perpetuate this grandest of all feathered creatures long after the last wild flock has been destroyed. If many Ostriches still remain in the Egyptian Soudan, the stringent game laws recently enacted to protect the wild life of that region will go far toward perpetuating them. THE RHEA, or SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH/ is a bird which is so constantly overshadowed by the larger and more showy African ostrich that it is not appreciated at its true zoological value. In height it stands about 5 feet, its bulk is only about one-half as great as that of the African ostrich, and its plu- mage has much less value. Nevertheless, the adult bird, in full plumage, is a fine creature, of a beautiful bluish-gray or drab color, and when it opens its wings they seem surprisingly long. A fine male Rhea "showing off" its plumage is an ob- ject which always commands admiration. This bird inhabits Patagonia, the Argentine Republic, and the more remote plains of Uruguay and Paraguay. Fre- quently half-grown birds find their way into the wild-animal markets so easily that they sell at from $40 to $50 each. Great quantities of Rhea feathers are used in the manufacture of feather-dusters. The importers claim that these feathers come from birds reared and kept in captivity, but that claim is vigorously disputed by Dr. W. J. Holland, who asserts in 1 Rhe'a americana. 278 WINGLESS LAND BIRDS his book, "To the River Plate and Back," that the makers of feather-dusters are exterminating the Rheas. THE EMU1 stands half-way, literally, between the ostrich and cassowary, being considerably larger than the latter. Its neck and head are ostrich -like, but in the shape of its body it is more like the cassowary. Like the latter, its feath- ers seem like long, coarse hair, of a gray-brown color. The lower outline of an Emu's body is almost a straight line, with the legs in the centre, and the highest point of the back curve comes directly above the insertion of the legs. Thus the Emu appears to be, and is, a very well-balanced bird. Its home is the upland plains of Australia, so far back in the in- terior that it is now found only with great difficulty. Like the cassowary, the Emu is easily kept in captivity, and is not expensive to buy. In Woburn Park, England, owned by the Duke of Bedford, troops of these birds stalk freely over the vast green lawn; and surely no birds could be more striking or picturesque in such situations. Strange to say, a fully grown Emu can be bought in New York for $125. THE CERAM CASSOWARY2 is a big, purplish-black bird, with highly colored patches of naked skin on its upper neck, and an elevated helmet or casque on the base of its upper mandible. Its feathers look like coarse and stiff hair from 3 to 6 inches in length, and its legs and feet are very thick and heavy for its stature. The height of a Cassowary is about 5 feet. Cassowaries are forest-loving birds. They inhabit Aus- tralia, Ceram and other islands of the Malay Archipelago. 1 Dro'mae-us no-vae-hol'land-ae. 2 Cas-u-a'ri-us gal-e-a'ta. A DECORATIVE BIRD FOR AN ENGLISH LAWN 279 Because they take kindly to captivity they are frequently seen in zoological parks and gardens, and travelling shows. N. Y. Zoological Park. CERAM CASSOWARY. THE APTERYX, or Kiwi,1 of New Zealand, is the lowest species in the scale of living birds. It is absolutely without wings, and it lives upon the ground in dark forests, where it can hide. Unfortunately, it has no means of defence, and is 1 Ap'te-ryx aus-tral'is. 280 WINGLESS LAND BIRDS too small to escape from a dangerous enemy by running away. It is about the size of a Cochin-China hen, covered with long, stringy, hair-like feathers of a dark-brown color, and it has a long, curved beak like that of an ibis, for probing in the earth. Undoubtedly, the civilized development of New Zealand will cause the total extinction of this very shy but interesting species at no distant day. In captivity in a zoological garden it is as shy and retir- ing as a beaver. In order to keep it from fretting itself to death, it is necessary to place in a corner of its cage a sheaf of straw, or a bundle of leafy branches, behind which it can retreat from observation, and lie concealed. Outside of its New Zealand home, this bird is rarely seen in captivity ; which is to be regretted, because it is one of the most interesting forms of the whole avian world. CHAPTER XXXVIII THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS P^O the millions of people in North America who are in- terested in living birds, who are cheered by their pres- ence and benefited by their labors, the most interesting or- nithological study of the hour is: What shall we do next to save our birds from extermination? Beside this vital issue all questions of geographic variation, all listings of local species and priority in Latin names sink into utter insignificance. It is high time that every new book on birds, no matter where published, should in its first pages devote a liberal portion of its space to the all-important subject of bird pro- tection. To study birds in an academic way while scores of species are being exterminated, and make no effort to arrest the slaughter, is exactly like the music-making of Nero while Rome was being destroyed by fire. There are now duties devolving upon every ornithologist which no high-minded and conscientious man or woman can evade without dishonor. The cause needs work and publicity, and it greatly needs money. Those who cannot supply one should furnish the other. THE WAR OF EXTERMINATION: ITS MEN AND ITS METH- ODS.— There are three kinds of extermination: 281 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS The practical extermination of a species means the destruc- tion of its members to an extent so thorough and wide-spread that the species disappears from view, and living specimens of it cannot be found by seeking for them. In North America this is to-day the status of the whooping crane, upland plover, and several other species. If any individuals are Jiving, they will be met with only by accident. The absolute extermination of a species means that not one individual of it remains alive. Judgment to this effect is based upon the lapse of time since the last living specimen was observed or killed. When five years have passed with- out a living "record" of a wild specimen, it is time to place a species in the class of the totally extinct. Extermination in a wild state means that the only living representatives are in captivity or otherwise under protec- tion. This is the case of the heath hen, and David's deer, of China. The American bison is saved from being wholly extinct as a wild animal by the remnant of about three hun- dred head in northern Athabasca, and forty -nine head in the Yellowstone Park. The extermination of the birds of North America began A. D. 1800, when whalers attacked the great auk for its oil, and clubbed that species out of our avifauna. The next important step concerned the passenger pigeon; but in the West Indies other species were swept away so quickly and so thoroughly that we scarcely learned of their existence until they were extinct. It is of historic interest to record here a list of the species of North American birds that have become totally extinct during our own time. THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 283 THE GREAT AUK — Plautus impennis (Linn.), was a sea- going diving bird about the size of a domestic goose, related to the guillemots, murres and puffins. For a bird endowed only with flipper-like wings, and therefore absolutely unable to fly, this species had an astonishing geographic range. It embraced the shores of northern Europe to North Cape, southern Greenland, southern Labrador and the Atlantic coast of North America as far south as Massachusetts. Some say, "as far south as Massachusetts, the Carolinas and Florida," but that remains to be proven. In the life history of this bird, a great tragedy was enacted in 1800 by sailors, on Funk Island, north of Newfoundland, where men were landed by a ship, and spent several months slaughtering Great Auks and trying out their fat for oil. In this process the bodies of thousands of auks were burned as fuel, in working up the remains of tens of thousands of others. On Funk Island, a favorite breeding-place, the Great Auk was exterminated in 1840, and in Iceland in 1844. Many natives ate this bird with relish and, being easily captured, either on land or sea, the commercialism of its day soon ob- literated the species. The last living specimen was seen in 1852, and the last dead one was picked up in Trinity Bay, Ireland, in 1853. There are about eighty mounted and un- mounted skins in existence, four skeletons, and quite a number of eggs. An egg is worth about $1,200 and a good mounted skin at least double that sum. THE LABRADOR DUCK, Camptorhynchus labradoricus (Gmel.). — This handsome sea-duck, of a species related to the eider ducks of arctic waters, became totally extinct about 284 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 1875, before the scientific world even knew that its existence was threatened. With this species, the exact and final cause of its extinction is to this day unknown. It is not at all probable, however, that its unfortunate blotting out from our bird fauna was due to natural causes and, when the truth becomes known, it is very probable that the hand of man will be revealed. The Labrador Duck bred in Labrador, and once frequented our Atlantic coast as far south as Chesapeake Bay; but it is said that it never was very numerous, at least during the twenty -five years preceding its disappearance. About thirty- five skins and mounted museum specimens are all that remain to prove its former existence, and I think there is not even one skeleton. THE PALLAS CORMORANT, Carbo perspicillatus (Pallas). — In 1741, when the Russian explorer, Commander Bering, dis- covered the Bering or Commander Islands, in the far-north Pacific, and landed upon them, he also discovered this strik- ing bird species. Its plumage both above and below was a dark metallic-green, with blue iridescence on the neck and purple on the shoulders. A pale ring of naked skin around each eye suggested the Latin specific name of this bird. The Pallas Cormorant became totally extinct, through causes not positively known, about 1852. THE PASSENGER PIGEON. — This extinct species has already been set forth in preceding pages. THE ESKIMO CURLEW, Numenius borealis (Forst.). — This valuable game bird once ranged all along the Atlantic coast of North America, and wherever found it was prized for the i i ': •''•• • • • •* « . , J.' SIX RECENTLY EXTERMINATED NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. Great Auk Eskimo Curlew. Passenger Pigeon. Labrador Duck. Pallas Cormorant. Carolina Parrakeet. THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 287 table. It preferred the fields and meadows to the shore lines, and was the companion of the plovers of the uplands, especially the golden plover. "About 1872," says Mr. Forbush, "there was a great flight of these birds on Cape Cod and Nantucket. They were everywhere; and .enormous numbers were killed. They could be bought of boys at six cents apiece. Two men killed $300 worth of these birds at that time." Apparently, that was the beginning of the end of the "Dough Bird," which was another name for this curlew. In 1908 Mr. G. H. Mackay stated that this bird and the golden plover had decreased 90 per cent in fifty years, and in the last ten years of that period 90 per cent of the remainder had gone. "Now (1908)," says Mr. Forbush, "ornithologists be- lieve that the Eskimo Curlew is practically extinct, as only a few specimens have been recorded since the beginning of the twentieth century." The very last record is of two speci- mens collected at Waco, York County, Nebraska, in March, 1911, and recorded by Mr. August Eiche. Of course, it is possible that other individuals may still survive; but so far as our knowledge extends, the species is absolutely dead. In the West Indies and the Guadeloupe Islands, five species of macaws and parrakeets have passed out without any serious note of their disappearance on the part of the people of the United States. It is at least time to write brief obituary no- tices of them. THE CUBAN TRICOLORED MACAW, Ara tricolor (Gm.). — In 1875, when the author visited Cuba and the Isle of Pines, he 288 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS was informed by Professor Poey that he was "about ten years too late" to find this fine species alive. It was exterminated for food purposes about 1864, and only four specimens are known to be in existence. GOSSE'S MACAW, Ara gossei (Roth.). — This species once inhabited the island of Jamaica. It was exterminated about 1800, and so far as known not one specimen of it is in ex- istence. GUADELOUPE MACAW, Ara guadeloupensis (Clark). — All that is known of the life history of this large bird is that once it inhabited the Guadeloupe Islands. The date and history of its disappearance are both unknown, and there is not one specimen of it in existence. YELLOW- WINGED GREEN PARROT, Amazona olivacea (Gm.). —Of the history of this Guadeloupe species, also, nothing is known, and there appear to be no specimens of it in ex- istence. PURPLE GUADELOUPE PARRAKEET, Anodorhynchus pur- purescens (Rothschild). — This is another dead species that once lived in the Guadeloupe Islands, and passed away silently and unnoticed at the time, leaving no records of its existence, *and no specimens. THE CAROLINA PARRAKEET, Conuropsis carolinensis (Linn.). — The fate of this charming little green-and-yellow bird has already been described. SPECIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS THREATENED WITH EXTERMINATION. — At this point I must content myself with entering here only a list of the next candidates for oblivion, which is as follows: THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 289 Whooping Crane. Pectoral Sandpiper. Trumpeter Swan. Black-Capped Petrel. American Flamingo. American Egret. Roseate Spoonbill. Snowy Egret. Scarlet Ibis. Wild Turkey. Long-Billed Curlew. Band-Tailed Pigeon. Hudsonian Godwit. Heath Hen. Upland Plover. Sage Grouse. Red-Breasted Sandpiper. Prairie Sharp-Tail. Golden Plover. Pinnated Grouse. Dowitcher. White-Tailed Kite. Willet. It is possible that our new law for the federal protection of migratory birds may save and bring back a few of these species; but I regard the great majority of them as absolutely doomed. Some of these will go out as the special victims of sportsmen and gunners ; and others will go — in South America —as the prey of the rapacious scourge of bird life throughout the world known as "the feather trade." Until recently the beautiful wood duck stood in the above list; but the operation of the federal migratory bird law, giving it complete protection everywhere in the United States has reasonably insured its survival. At present, none of the grouse of the United States are protected from extinction by the new federal law. Certainly the pinnated grouse should have been permanently protected. The preservation of all our species of grouse, quail and ptar- migan depends upon the various states inhabited by those species, and west of the Great Plains not one state is adequately protecting any grouse species. The legislators are afraid of the sportsmen — afraid to do their duty toward the grouse; and the birds are being exterminated according to law! 290 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS THE EXTERMINATORS AND THEIR METHODS The destroyers of the wild life of North America constitute a mighty army of destruction. It spreads over almost every square mile of this continent (saying naught at present of other continents!). The men and boys in that army number millions. They employ a bewildering variety of destructive devices, and they make various uses of the products of their slaughter. That army is powerful, all-pervading, selfish and merciless. In order to convey a proper understanding of the conditions that threaten our feathered friends and allies, it is worth while to pause long enough to consider a few leading features. The things that have created the Army of Destruction, and rendered its continued existence a possibility are as follows: 1. — The absence of adequate protective laws. 2. — Laws that are absurdly and fatally liberal to the killers. 3. — The non-enforcement of existing laws, over wide areas. 4. — A vicious and deadly contempt for the law. 5. — The enormous abundance of deadly firearms. 6. — Fear of hurting the feelings of game-hogs. 7. — Scarcity of campaign money with which to fight the destroyers. In view of this deadly combination against our wild life, is it any wonder that our birds and mammals, little and big, good, bad and neutral, have gone down before it like grass before the mower's scythe? Is it not a wonder that anything wild remains alive in 1914? THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 291 THE REGULAR ARMY OF DESTRUCTION. — This motley gathering contains all sorts and conditions of men who kill wild things. The character of the crowd varies by many downward steps from the gentleman sportsman who goes hunting because he loves Nature, and who kills either very little or nothing at all, down to the sordid, law-breaking "game-hog"1 and meat-hunter who greedily kills all that the law allows and as much more as he can kill without detec- tion. From the number of hunting licenses annually bought and paid for, we are able to judge clearly the extent and deadliness of the regular army of destroyers now operating against wild life in our land. 'I have been at some pains to collect the following records: THE UNITED STATES ARMY OF DESTRUCTION Hunting Licenses issued in 1911 Alabama. 5,090 Montana 59,291 California 138,689 Nebraska 39,402 Colorado 41,058 New Hampshire 33,542 Connecticut 19,635 New Jersey 61,920 Idaho 50,342 New Mexico 7,000 Illinois 192,244 New York 150,222 Indiana 54,813 Rhode Island 6,541 Iowa 91,000 South Dakota 31,054 Kansas 44,069 Utah 27,800 Louisiana 76,000 Vermont 31,762 Maine 2,552 Washington, about 40,000 Massachusetts 45,039 Wisconsin 138,457 Michigan 22,323 Wyoming 9,721 Missouri 66,662 Total number of regularly licensed gunners 1,486,228 1 The term "game-hog" was coined in 1897 by G. O. Shields, and it has come into general use. It has been recognized by a judge on the bench as an appro- priate term to apply to all men who selfishly slaughter wild game beyond the limits of decency. Although it is a harsh term, its has jarred a hundred thousand men into 292 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS The average for the twenty-seven states that issued licenses as shown above is 55,046 for each state. Now, the twenty-one states issuing no licenses, or not re- porting, produced in 1911 fully as many gunners per capita as did the other twenty-seven states. Computed fairly on exist- ing averages, they must have turned out a total of 1,155,966 gunners, making for all the United States 2,642,194 armed men and boys warring upon the remnant of game in 1911. We are not counting the large number of lawless hunters who never take out licenses. BIRD AND MAMMAL SLAUGHTER ACCORDING TO LAW. — It is difficult to decide which influence has been, and still is, most deadly to our vanishing wild life — illegal slaughter or killing according to lawT. We are inclined to believe that in the thickly populated, well-protected localities it is the legalized slaughter that is most deadly, while in the thinly populated states of the Far West it is the illegal destruction of game that is literally wiping it off the earth. One thing, however, is sure. If legalized slaughter could be stopped, it would be possible to stop about three-fourths (or more) of the illegal work. We have already shown the figures which fairly represent the number of men and boys which we know hunt legally, every year, in the United States, and our calculation for the remainder of legal shooters brings the total beyond two and one-half millions. There is at least one excellent authority who places the total at five millions! their first realization of the fact that to-day there is a difference between decency and indecency in the pursuit of game. The use of this term has done very great good; and there is no softer equivalent that can take its place. THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 293 Now, how long can our remaining game birds and mammals endure before even two and one-half million well-armed men and boys, eager and keen to "kill something," and get a dead- game equivalent for their annual expenditure in guns, ammu- nition, travel and subsistence? In addition to the hunters themselves, they are assisted by thousands of expert guides, thousands of horses, thousands of dogs, hundreds of automobiles and hundreds of thousands of tents. Each big-game hunter has an experienced guide who knows the haunts and habits of the game, the best feeding-grounds, the best trails and everything else that will aid the hunter in taking the game at a disadvantage and des- troying it. The big-game rifles are of the highest power, the longest range, the greatest accuracy and the best repeating mechanism that modern inventive genius can produce. It is said that in Wyoming the Maxim silencer is now being used. England has produced a weapon of a new type, called "the scatter rifle," which is intended for use on ducks. The best binoculars are used in searching out the game, and horses carry the hunters and guides as near as possible to the game. For bears baits are freely used, and in the pursuit of pumas dogs are employed to the limit of the available supply. The deadliness of the automobile in hunting already is so apparent that North Dakota has wisely and justly forbidden its use by law (1911). The swift machine enables city hunters to penetrate game regions they could not reach with horses, and hunt through from four to six localities per day, instead of one only, as formerly. The use of automobiles in hunting should be everywhere prohibited. 294 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS Every appliance and assistance that money can buy, the modern sportsman secures to help him against the game. The game is beset during its breeding-season by various wild enemies — foxes, cats, wolves, pumas, lynxes, eagles and many other predatory species. The only help that it receives is in the form of an annual close season — which thus far has saved in America only a few local moose, white-tailed deer and a few game birds from steady and sure extermination. The bag limits, on which vast reliance is placed to preserve the wild game, are a fraud, a delusion and a snare! The few local exceptions only prove the generality of the rule. In every state, without a single exception, the bag limits are far too high, and the laws are of deadly liberality. In many states the bag-limit laws on birds are an absolute dead letter. Fancy the 125 wardens of New York enforcing the bag-limit laws on 150,000 gunners! It is this horrible condition that is enabling the licensed army of destruction to get in its deadly work on the game, all over the world. In America the over- liberality of the laws is to blame for two-thirds of the car- nival of slaughter, and the successful evasions of the law are responsible for the other third. MARKET-HUNTING. — The most destructive form of bird- slaughter according to law is market-killing. The market- hunter works seven days a week, regardless of weather. He begins at sunrise and shoots until sunset, or after. He is rarely hampered by any bag limits or checked by game wardens, and his only "limit" is the range of his guns. When market-hunting is allowed by law, he can also use automatic and "pump" guns, shotguns of large calibre, batteries, sink- THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 297 boxes, and every other device known to man, with the possible exception of punt guns, and sail and power boats. The reasons why market-shooting is so deadly destructive to wild life are not obscure. The true sportsman hunts during a very few days only each year. The market-gunners shoot early and late, seven days a week, month after month. When game is abundant, the price is low, and a great quantity must be killed in order to make it pay well. When game is scarce, the market prices are high, and the shooter makes the utmost exertions to find the last of the game in order to secure the "big money." WThen game is protected by law, thousands of people with money desire it for their tables, just the same, and are wili- ng to pay fabulous prices for what they want, when they want it. Many a dealer is quite willing to run the risk of fines, because fines don't really hurt; they are only annoying. The dealer wishes to make the big profit, and retain his customers; "and besides," he reasons, "if I don't supply them some one else will; so what is the difference?" When game is scarce, prices high and the consumer's money ready, there are a hun- dred tricks to which shooters and dealers willingly resort to ship and receive unlawful game without detection. THE DIVISION OF MEAT-SHOOTERS contains all men who sordidly shoot for the frying-pan — to save bacon and beef at the expense of the public, or for the markets. There are a few wilderness regions so remote and so difficult of ac- cess that the transportation of meat into them is a matter of much difficulty and expense. There are a very few men in North America who are justified in "living off the country," 298 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS for short periods. The genuine prospectors always have been counted in this class; but all miners who are fully located, all lumbermen and rail way -builders, certainly are not in the prospector's class. They are abundantly able to maintain continuous lines of communication for the transit of beef and mutton. Of all the meat-shooters, the market-gunners who prey on wild fowl and ground game birds for the big-city markets are the most deadly to wild life. Enough geese, ducks, brant, quail, ruffed grouse, prairie chickens, heath hens and wild pigeons have been butchered by gunners and netters for "the market" to have stocked the whole world. No section con- taining a good supply of game has escaped. In the United States the great slaughtering-grounds have been Cape Cod; Great South Bay, New York; Currituck Sound, North Caro- lina; Marsh Island, Louisiana; the southwest corner of Louisi- ana; the Sunk Lands of Arkansas; the lake regions of Minne- sota; the prairies of the whole Middle West; Great Salt Lake; the Klamath Lake region (Oregon) and southern California. The output of this systematic bird-slaughter has supplied the greedy game markets of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Chicago, New Orleans, St. Louis, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle. The history of this industry, its methods, its carnage, its profits arid its losses would make a volume, but we cannot enter upon it here. Beyond reasonable doubt, this awful traffic in dead game is responsible for at least three-fourths of the slaughter that has reduced our game birds to a mere remnant of their former abundance. There is no influence so deadly to wild THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 299 life as that of the market-gunner who works six days a week, from sunrise until sunset, hunting down and killing every game bird that he can reach with a choke-bore gun. During the past five years several of the once-great killing- grounds have been so thoroughly "shot out" that they have A MARKET-GUNNER AT WORK ON MARSH ISLAND. Killing Mallards for the New Orleans market. The purchase of this island by Mrs. Russell Sage has now converted it into a bird sanctuary. ceased to hold their former rank. This is the case with the Minnesota Lakes, the Sunk Lands of Arkansas, the Klamath Lakes of Oregon, and I think it is also true of southern Cali- fornia. The Klamath Lakes have been taken over by the Government as a bird refuge. Currituck Sound, at the north- eastern corner of North Carolina, has been so bottled up by the Bayne law of New York state that Curri tuck's greatest wild-fowl market has been cut off. Last year only one-half the usual number of ducks and geese were killed; and already 300 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS many "professional" duck and brant shooters have abandoned the business because the commission merchants no longer will buy dead birds. Very many enormous bags of game have been made in a day by market-gunners; but rarely have they published any of their records. The greatest kill of which I ever have heard occurred under the auspices of the Glenn County Club, in southern California, on February 5, 1906. Two men, armed with automatic shotguns, fired five shots apiece, and got ten geese out of one flock. In one hour they killed two hundred and eighteen geese, and their bag for the day was four hundred and fifty geese! The shooter who wrote the story for pub- lication (on February 12, at Willows, Glenn County, Cali- fornia), said: "It being warm weather, the birds had to be shipped at once in order to keep them from spoiling." A photograph was made of the "one hour's slaughter" of two hundred and eighteen geese, and it was published in a western magazine with "C. H. B.'s" story, nearly all of which will be found in Chapter XV of "Our Vanishing Wild Life." Here is an inexorable law of Nature, to which there are no exceptions: No wild species of bird, mammal, reptile or fish can with- stand exploitation for commercial purposes. Throughout the whole world the killing of wild game for sale (i. e., game not reared in preserves) should be rigidly and permanently prohibited by law. THE ILLEGAL SLAUGHTER OF BIRDS. — As already inti- mated, the destruction of our birds and mammals, game and not game, by lawless and brutal methods has been enormous. THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 301 It has been in progress, day and night, ever since our first game laws were enacted. In this land of ours the sacred name of Liberty is used by rogues and thieves of a hundred different kinds to cloak their outrageous practices against the common welfare. There are in this country at least five million per- PTARMIGAN SLAUGHTER IN THE ABSENCE OP LAW, YUKON TERRITORY. Part of three thousand Ptarmigan slaughtered at Pueblo, near White Horse, by miners and railroad men. The birds are hauled in by the wagon-load. sons of lawless and criminal instincts, who believe in doing exactly as they please whenever the clutch of the law is not actually upon them. Hundreds of thousands of aliens are coming to our land to make their fortunes, and have their children educated at public expense, whose fixed idea of lib- erty is that it means license to do as they please. Against this lawless element, both native and alien, the defenders of wild life always will be at war, in an irrepressible conflict. The following are the most deadly features of the 302 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS campaigns of the lawless elements against American wild life: 1. — The illegal slaughter, at all seasons, of game for the pot, to save butchers' bills. 2. — The slaughter by the negroes and poor whites of the South of our most valuable insect-eating birds for food. 3. — The slaughter in the North by Italians and other aliens of birds and small mammals of every description. 4. — The slaughter of song birds in immense numbers by unrestrained boys armed with 22-calibre rifles. 5. — The slaughter of female mountain sheep, female antelope, female deer and female moose under cover of licenses to kill males only; also regardless of licenses or seasons. BIRD-SLAUGHTER FOR THE MILLINERY TRADE. — In an evil moment some heartless enemy of birds conceived the idea of decking the head-gear of civilized women with the wings, tails, heads and also entire skins of wild birds. Very soon the resultant slaughter began to alarm serious-minded and thoughtful persons who believe that we of to-day have no right to destroy the wild-life heritage of our children. In 1899 the Audubon societies began seriously to dispute the right of the feather trade to destroy our finest bird life for commercial profits and for vanity. That contest for the birds of North America has been raging ever since the date mentioned. To most Americans, the leading facts of our struggle with the feather trade to save our egrets, herons, gulls, terns, grebes, song birds and other species are already known. The Audubonists saved to us the gulls and terns of our Atlantic coast, but the enormously high prices paid for egret plumes, THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS 303 for the manufacture of "aigrettes," led to what at one period was believed to be the practical extinction of both the white egrets from the avifauna of the United States. While the plume-hunters were resting in that same belief, the egrets began to steal back from Venezuela, and start col- onies on our Gulf coast. As fast as these colonies were found by the Audubonists, wardens were engaged to protect them. To-day there exist in the United States about twenty-one colonies of egrets, which contain a total of perhaps 10,000 egrets and 120,000 herons and ibises, guarded by wardens with modern rifles. Through a long series of efforts thirteen states have been induced to enact laws prohibiting the sale of aigrettes, and other plumage of native birds. These laws did not, however, prevent the sale of the plumage of foreign birds; and there- fore the American market was flooded with plumes of birds- of -paradise, crown pigeon ("goura"), Manchurian eared pheas- ant ("numidi") and many other forms of wild-bird plumage. In London, Paris and Berlin the annual trade in wild birds' feathers for millinery purposes has assumed enormous pro- portions. A great many facts and figures regarding London sales and prices will be found in "Our Vanishing Wild Life," Chapter XIII. A careful study of the situation at large revealed the fact that through their persistent slaughter for the feather trade about one hundred species of birds are threatened with ex- tinction. Without quick protection, by the closing of the European feather markets, the first species to go will be the greater and lesser birds-of -paradise, the crown pigeons of New 304 THE SLAUGHTER OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS Guinea, the eared pheasants of Manchuria, the white egrets of Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and China, the condor of the Andes, the trogon, and the Old-World pheasants generally. The relentless activity of the hunters for the feather trade of Europe may be counted upon eventually to exterminate any species that the evil eye of Fashion once fixes upon as de- sirable. The talk now being heard in Germany and in En- gland regarding the "breeding" of plume birds for the feather trade is extremely ridiculous. On a commercial basis such breeding is wildly impossible, and no friend of birds should for one moment be deceived by talk regarding it. The story of the successful campaign waged in Congress in 1913 to pro- hibit the importation of bird plumage has been told in an earlier chapter of this volume. UNSEEN FOES OF WILD LIFE. — Besides their other enemies, our wild birds are preyed upon to a serious extent and des- troyed by immense numbers of cats and dogs that are al- lowed to hunt at will; by the sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper hawk, two owl species, the pilot black-snake, red squirrel and bird-shooting boys. Upon parents and teachers there de- volves a solemn and imperative duty to teach vigorously to all their children and their pupils their bounden duty to pro- tect and preserve all harmless wild creatures, and especially birds. 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