CHAPTER VIII

A PLEA FOR PROTECTION

As I loiter along the banks of a sylvan stream about the first of April, looking for the return of some of the feathery tribe, there falls upon my ears a sound, hoarse and grating as described by ornithologists, but to my ears most pleasant, for it tells me that a fine bird, the belted kingfisher (_Ceryle alcyon_), has arrived for the season. With his crest plainly visible, in strong flight he is following the course of the winding creek. This highly original character is the only member of the kingfisher family in our part of the country. Yet there is little or no protection extended to him by law. It would be a calamity indeed if he were eliminated from the scenery of the wooded banks, the tossing rapids, and the still pool at the foot of the falls. Here the silvery spray contributes a weird touch to the scene as the "lone fisherman" hovers for an instant, then with a spiral sweep makes a plunge, disappears for a second, comes up with his finny prey, and takes his rapid flight to some old limb, where he consumes the fish at leisure. I have never heard a word against this striking bird, except on one occasion when a friend, who is the proud owner of a lily pond, complained about one of them making visits to poach on his goldfish. The legislation permitting their slaughter was passed, I presume, in the sole interest of the fisherman. Surely this stately bird should not be exterminated; its chief diet is minnows and small fry, fish rejected by the angler except for use as bait. To my mind the species is at present in serious danger of becoming extinct and should be protected.

I was quite anxious to get a few pictures before he passed into history. So one bright summer day, selecting a pool previously observed to be much frequented, I constructed a blind out of boughs and weeds on the bank three or four feet away from an old root where I had seen the birds alight as they patrolled up and down the stream. Truly "the watched pot never boils." After waiting three or four hours I heard a rattling call, a splash, and through my peephole saw his lordship perched, dripping wet, on the very spot on which I had trained the camera. The shutter clicked, but it might as well have "clacked" for he was instantly alert; I was discovered, and away went the kingfisher, rattling as though in defiance. In the short instant of his sojourn, however, my purpose was accomplished. Only the person who has had this or a similar hobby can appreciate my delight when I developed the film and found it had caught the fisherman with the small fry in his beak.

In building their nest Mr. and Mrs. Ceryle select some high embankment where they excavate a small tunnel from three to six feet long, widened at the far end into a chamber perhaps fourteen inches in diameter. Here the silvery-white eggs are deposited usually on the bare floor. They frequently build their nest in a bank whose base is washed by the waters of a stream. On one occasion we opened a hole about half its length and could see eggs in the chamber. Bridging over the excavation with sticks and leaves, we returned in about a week, opened it up, and found the old bird on the eggs incubating. We replaced the sticks and leaves without disturbing the bird, and the following week the young were hatched. We thought our opportunity to photograph a kingfisher family had arrived. As the birds were too small to remove from the nest, we left them until the next week, when they were still too young to pose well. Upon our visit a week later, the nest was to all appearances undisturbed as we had left it, but an examination disclosed that it was empty save for the partly decomposed body of a half-fledged young bird. Whether the rest of the brood had fared forth into the world and this one, a weakling or cripple perhaps, had been put to death or deserted, or whether some dire fate had fallen upon the entire household, remains to us an unsolved mystery.

Another bird that is unprotected by our law makers is the green heron (_Butorides virescens_). For weeks we had been studying the habits of one of these birds and had about decided on the location of a blind or ambush for photographing. One day we saw our little friend rise from the pool where we had so often found him, and take to wing with neck stretched forward and legs backward, in one continuous line. He disappeared around a bend in the stream and presently we heard the report of a shotgun. I thought, perhaps audibly, "Good-bye, little heron, good-bye!" Sure enough, in a few minutes we met a party of three or four coming towards us with their guns, and a little later came to the place where the shots had been fired. There was the object of our study floating lifeless on the surface of the water, with wings spread out, not in flight, but in death. I deplored the untimely end of the little bird. While looking at his lifeless form I was startled by the appearance of a stranger, who seemed more than casually interested. As I talked with him about the death of the heron we heard the report of a gun several times, and I have no doubt each report rang out the death knell of one of our feathered friends. The stranger proved to be an officer of the law. I was anxious to have him prosecute the person who killed the heron, but he pulled out a copy of the statute that specifically permitted the deed. I was sorry to learn that such an act had been passed. As with the kingfisher so with the heron; it is of economic value in that it devours a great number of destructive insects, as well as crayfish, small water fry, and frogs.

Of the game birds, the ruffed grouse (_Bonasa umbellus_) is far superior to all others and well able to take care of itself against its most deadly foe--the breech-loading shotgun in the hands of a crack shot. He is more than a match for all comers. He outwits the most carefully trained setters, and only the old dogs after years of experience can take him unawares. At times, when flushed, grouse will alight on a limb of a tall tree, squatting near the trunk, where they remain unobserved, and this ruse frequently accounts for the dogs being unable to find the bird again. An "educated" bird will ofttimes "jump" from cover, make a bee-line for a tree, pass around it and continue its flight, thus hidden from sight until beyond gun reach. I have had a staunch point along a stake and rider fence--a flush, a whirr, leaves flying in every direction, and lo! the bird in flight passes between two rails of the fence and continues on the wing up the other side until out of sight. At times I have been fairly successful, occasionally making a "double," then again, obliged to return home after a hard day's hunt without a single bird. Hunting grouse in western Pennsylvania is a noble sport, one that requires strong endurance, a good dog, and skillful shooting to out-general the cunning, crafty fowl, who is a problem for most hunters. How it stirs one's admiration to see the old dog, after "rhoding" backward and forward, take a trail, follow carefully, head erect, nostrils expanded, and every nerve at its highest tension in anticipation of a point! But the bird is running and ere the point is made, a whirr at the crest of the hill draws the eye, and behold! he is a-wing, sailing over the ravine to the other ridge.

In the month of April the drumming of an old cock-bird can be heard a long way off, like the muffled beating of a bass drum, beginning soft and slow, then louder and faster until it reaches the highest pitch, and, receding, gradually dies away in the distance. He continues his love call, as some think it, for a considerable time, and if you approach carefully you may see him on an old log, strutting about like a pea-fowl, his tail expanded, erect, and in a semicircle, his head thrown back and his glossy black ruffs spread to their full extent, like the crimped and fluted adornment of the days of "Queen Bess." About the middle of May he does not drum so much, for the courtship is over and his lady is "sitting" on the nest beside some old log, where she lays as many as fifteen creamy-white eggs in a little depression lined with a few dried leaves and grass. Their color harmonizes so nicely with the surroundings that it is almost impossible to see them. Grouse seem to understand the law of protective coloration, and will not flush from the nest until they are sure they have been discovered. Whether deliberately, I do not pretend to say, but frequently, as she rises from the nest, the hen grouse with her wings stirs the leaves so that they fall upon and partly conceal the eggs. When once disturbed she will not let you get so close again. As soon as the young are hatched they will run to hide, while the mother bird is feigning all kinds of decrepitude to attract your attention from the cute little brownish fluffs of feather scampering here and there for cover. I once knew a farmer boy who found a nest, took the eggs home, and put them under a hen. In due time they hatched out. How pretty, cute, and interesting were the little birds, and how the foster-mother strutted about, undoubtedly proud of her chicks! But ere long the little creatures, wild by nature, died for want of proper food and the maternal care required by their kind.

Quite different from the grouse in many respects is the other member of the same family, the bobwhite (_Colinus virginianus_), the first a woodland bird, the other a dweller in the fields. It is fascinating to follow a well trained dog as he jumps the rail fence, and if the wind is not favorable, slowly and carefully follows the fence line for fear of flushing the covey. When he gets to windward he increases his gait and "rhodes" backward and forward through the stubble until he gets a whiff of the odor so familiar to the experienced dog; then according to the strength of the scent he puts on the brakes. I have seen old Fan stop so suddenly that she turned a somersault, then recover herself sheepishly, if that term may be applied by way of accommodation to as brave a hunter as she.

Quail are easy marks for the hunter. Usually they "roost" in a stubble field in a circle, heads outward, and thus they keep warmer during the cold weather. I have known pot-hunters to shoot into a covey in the early morning before they began to feed, killing almost every one.

It is rare sport to start out with the dogs on a November morning after a fall of snow, light, but sufficient to show the footprints--three toes in front, one behind. By this time the birds are strong of flight and at their best. After "heeling" the dogs, the trail is followed. The birds will separate and run hither and thither, always, however, coming together again so that their tracks cross and recross each other over the field. Snow always makes the birds wild, and invariably when feeding they will take to flight long before the dogs are near enough to make a point. A good dog takes the stubble field with the wind in his favor. Getting a fresh scent as the birds are feeding he throws his head and tail in the air and "rhodes" on. Occasionally the bird will run a short distance before taking to wing; then the dog shows his lack of training by running helter-skelter as the hunter shouts, "Steady, steady, old girl!" or "old boy"; or if well trained, the noble fellow returns with his tail between his legs, as much as to say to his master: "It was not my fault they wouldn't lie to cover; it wasn't my fault; give me another chance!" The humane master cautions his dog to be careful; the brute probably kicks his dog unmercifully, and all because of lack of knowledge on his part. If he had understood his dog he would have known from its actions that the birds were feeding in the cornfield where there was not much shelter, and that if time had been given them they would have found cover and the old dog would have made a beautiful point. The birds in the beginning of the open season will not make a long flight, but pitch abruptly over handy cover, such as an old fence grown with briars, elder, and grass. The dogs follow the windward side with nostrils dilated and the delicate membrane of their olfactory nerves detects the whereabouts of the little feathered creature concealed in a tuft of grass or a bunch of leaves. When the briars are real thick occasionally the little bird does not take to wing easily, but in great alarm runs about, neck extended, tail expanded, and crest erect, calling "peep, peep," as though loath to leave cover.

Frequently when the dogs are working a stubble field they put to flight small flocks of turtle doves (_Zenaidura macroura_). Although these are scarcely gregarious, they like to mingle together in the fall. They visit the fields to glean a few grains of corn or wheat left after the harvest. On taking to wing they make a whistling noise similar to that of a flight of American golden-eye ducks, and beat a hurried course to the top limb of some old dead tree, where they spread their fan-like tails just before lighting, then meekly turn their heads to take in the situation. Many of the birds are shot over the dogs in this way. Their flesh is considered a great delicacy by some would-be sportsmen. In the nesting time they separate in pairs through the woods, fields, and orchards, building in every conceivable place according to fancy. Measured by the usual standards, their flimsy nests are several sizes too small for the owner. When you approach their home the bird drops to the ground and feigns a crippled condition to entice you away, always careful, however, to keep just beyond your reach.

The nest shown in the accompanying photograph was happily located upon a broad slab of bark that had fallen from a locust tree and was curiously lodged some feet off the ground among the branches of undergrowth. Here a few straggling pieces of dried grass, sufficient merely to prevent the eggs from rolling off, formed the nest. To one coming up the hill after inspection of a beautifully constructed vireo's nest in the woods below, the first impression would be that this crude affair could not be the handiwork of so neat and orderly-looking a bird as the dove on the tree nearby; but alas! fine feathers do not make fine birds, nor do good clothes make good housekeepers. No better illustration of this is needed than the sight of a dove's nest with the eggs or young in it.

Thus in our rambles from the opening of spring until the winter snows, we come upon a great variety of feathered friends--some esteemed for their beauty, some for their flesh, some esteemed little or not at all, and yet each one has its place in the general system of creation, each one has its individuality and its own peculiar characteristics so well adapted to the sphere in which it moves. The question often comes to us: Is it for man to say that any of these birds shall be deprived of the law's protection merely because their habits of life do not appeal to him? A brief study of the question from an economic point of view, aside from the æsthetic, leads us to hope that the time is not far distant when the several States will afford a uniform protection to all of the native fowls of the air, regardless of whether they be game birds, song birds, or "other" birds, at least until such time as a long-continued investigation will prove beyond a doubt that the restriction of the numbers of any species is of substantive value from an economic standpoint.

POSTSCRIPT

With the hope that it may be the means of increasing the love of nature, and thereby adding to the joys of life, this little book is given to the public.

Laws for the preservation of birds and animals, more than any others, need behind them a sensitive public opinion. With this, the law itself is almost forgotten in its general observance, while without this support a breach of the law comes in time to take on something of virtue instead of crime. Whatever tends to spread the knowledge of nature, and consequently the love of it, makes it harder for the man who _kills_, either for the mere zest of it, for vanity or for purely commercial reasons, and thus each convert becomes, in a limited sense at least, a game warden.

To the lover of Nature, the whole animal and plant world is the quest. Unlimited time can be spent in photographing insects, birds' nests and birds, endeavoring to catch and display the butterfly on the particular plant from which it loves to extract the nectar, the bird's nest in the tree or the bush in its natural surroundings, the old setter on a staunch point among the stubble; thus by pictorial notes reproducing various events in natural history and creating an interest in the study of botany, entomology, and ornithology--in fact, preserving all the conditions that make up the attraction for outdoor recreation, which the American people so much need. By this indirect method many come to be so instructed in the rudiments of nature that they are led to see in life a myriad of interesting things which they could not otherwise enjoy, and the book of Nature, hitherto sealed to the hurrying multitude, becomes an open volume to those who, turning aside from the rush of modern life, bring to its reading a sympathetic mind and an ear attuned to catch the melodious voices, and so,

"This our life, exempt from public haunts, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

INDEX

A

Afognak Island, 72 Akuton Pass, 76 Anecdotes: Father Duncan's story, 9 Indian legend of totem, 20 Primitive surgery, 58 Annette Island, 6 Aurora Borealis, 170

B

Barabara, Indian, 107 Baranoff Island, 28 Bath à la Wilderness, 128, 173, 174 Bay of Islands, 184, 221 Bear feeding, 57 at camp, 61 catching, 102 glacier, 62 grizzly, vitality of, 104 Kadiak, 81 size of, 116 trailing, 95, 98, 114, 117 Beaver, 189, 209, 217 Bee's nest, 148 Bell, Mr., 146 Benjamin Creek, 156 Berries, 30 blueberries, 150, 165 bunchberries, 212 partridge berries, 166 salmon-berries, 165 strawberries, 3, 30 Bidarka, 21, 116 Birch, 167, 203, 206, 211 Bird lime, 281 Birds: albatross, black-footed, 29 American golden-eye, 197, 319 American goldfinch, 277 American redstart, 278, 293-296 belted kingfisher, 305-309 blue-gray gnat-catchers, 274 bobwhite, 303, 314 brown thrasher, 298 Canada geese, 59 Canada jays, 207 cardinals, 248, 250 chewinks, 302 cliff swallows, 284 cormorants, 144 cowbird, 257, 261, 279 crane, sandhill, 183 crossbill, 179, 180 crows, 82, 118 cuckoo, yellow-billed, 303 eagles, 27, 82, 88, 111, 118 fish ducks, 50 flickers, 264, 298 "gony," 29 great horned owl, 240 great northern diver, 169 greater scaup-duck, 65 grouse, 169, 310, 313 Canada, 131 gulls, 52, 66, 70, 80, 140, 186, 218 harlequin ducks, 112 heron, great blue, 27 green, 268, 310 herring gulls, 94, 186 indigo bunting, 255 kingfisher, 203-216, 305, 310 kittiwakes, 109 loon, 170, 186, 188, 216 magpies, 86 merganser, 193, 216, 218 red-breasted, 50 Mother Carey's chick, 121 osprey, 216 phalaropes, 64 ptarmigan, 99, 104, 152, 158, 166 hawk, 159 quail, 314-316 ravens, 72 red-eyed vireo, 259-320 redpolls, 204 red-wing blackbird, 283 rose-breasted grosbeak, 271, 303 ruby-throated hummingbird, 275 ruffed grouse, 310-313 scarlet tanager, 266 sea-parrot, 91 snipe, 174 sparrow, song, 234, 286-288 white-crowned, 113 white-throated, 209 spotted sandpiper, 192 teal, 59 tern, Arctic, 109 white, 92 thistle-bird, 279 thrush, wood, 288 Wilson's, 196 titlark, 196 tree swallows, 213 tufted titmouse, 254 turtle doves, 318-320 whisky jack, 208 woodpeckers, downy, 277 red-headed, 296, 303 Birds, aquatic, 17 protection of, 321 Black flies, 190 Black snake, 291 Brooks, Alfred H., 2 Bruce, the Steamer, 181 Butterflies: red-spotted purple, 279 tiger swallow-tail, 214 Bydarky, The, 175

C

Cache, 161 Camera, Auto Graflex, 182 Camp afire, 55 Camping under difficulties, 48, 154, 165, 204 Cape Hinchinbrook, 43 Cape St. Elias, 41 Carlisle Institution, 14 Caribou, 183 Cathedral Rock, 66 Cat hunt, 241 Cheechalker, 127, 128, 131, 145, 173 Church, Russian, 68 Clark, W. E., Governor of Alaska, 3, 15 Columbia glacier, 64 Controller Bay, 41, 42 Cook's Inlet, 176 Coon hunt, 238 Cordova, 44 Creoles, 72 Crevasses, 33 Crossing the stream, 106 Crow's nest, 82, 118

D

Dall's sheep, 146 Deer Lake, 190 Devil's clubs, 146 Dixon's Entrance, 4 Dogs: catching fish, 52 caught in trap, 58 catching salmon, 53 in action, 226, 232, 240 Duncan, Rev. William, 6-19

E

Economic value of birds, 303 Edgecumbe, Mount, 29 Esau, 127, 130

F

Fairweather Range, 30 Fellow townsman's camp, 171 Ferrets, 224, 226, 234 Fish, black, 17 Fisher, Hon. Walter L., 2 Fishing parties, 182 Flashlight hunting, 197, 243 Flowers: bluebells, 159 crow's foot, 81 daisies, 159 forget-me-nots, 81, 159 pinks, 82 trailing arbutus, 189 trillium, 286 violets, 159 wild geranium, 159 Fort Liscom, 64

G

Glacier, formation of, 32, 34 Columbia, 34, 64 Malaspina, 41 Muir, 30 Valdez, 44 Gravenna Bay, 47 Greek Church, Russian, 28, 72 Greek priests, 28 Ground hog, 238 Guides, natives as, 125 Gull Island, 109 Gun, modern, 157

H

Hessian fly, 303 Hudson Bay Company, 29 Humber, Lower, 210 Humber River, 190, 214 Humor of Indian guides, 164

I

Ice fields, 32 floe, 22 Icy Straits, 29 Iliamnia, 70 crater of, 176 Indians, 107 barabara, 107 chanting, 163 family, 56 feeding on "porky," 163 how they live, 107 humor of, 164 legend of totems, 20 making snuff, 167 superstitions, 170 tuberculosis among, 14 Infection unknown in Alaska, 126 Italians' camp, 110, 117

J

Jansen, Capt. Michael, 4, 67 Juneau, 24

K

Kadiak bear, 81 Kamlaykas, 117 Katella, 41, 43 Kenai, 124, 175 "hot time" at, 126 Kenai Mountains, 152 Kenai Peninsula, 67 Kenai River, 25, 130, 134 killing moose on, 25 Ketchikan, 4 Knight's Island, 64, 78 Kodak, Eastman, 115 Kodiak Island, 72, 73 village of, 72, 79, 120

L

Lake Skilak, 144 Lighthouses, 4

M

Madonna, picture of, 28 Mandrakes, 301 Marmot, 158, 162 Metlakatla, 6 Moon, illusion of, 170 Moore, Capt., 18 Moose, 148 feeding, 172 in velvet, 162 yards, 168 Moraine, 62 Mosquitos, 131, 132, 136, 191 Mount Edgecumbe, 29 St. Elias, 30-39 St. Logan, 30 "Mushee"--sheep, 164 Muskrat, 216

N

Native boys, 38 Newfoundland, 181 "Nippers," 191 North Sydney, 181

O

Obliterative coloration, 295 Old Twitchen road, 184 Opossum, 244, 245

P

Papooses, 21 Petersburg, 21 Photographing natives, 36-38 Pine trees, 206 Porcupine, 163 "Porky," 140 Port aux Basques, 181 Portland, Steamer, 18 Postscript, 322 Pot hunters, 315 Preservation of species, 159 Prince William Sound, 43 Protection of birds, 321 Protective coloration, 313

Q

Quicksand, experience in, 63

R

Rabbits, hunting, 223-235 Raccoon hunt, 241, 242 Raft, constructing, 187 Redoubt crater, 176 Resurrection Bay, 66, 67

S

Salmon, 48 catching, 53, 54 eggs of, 54 feeding, 215 gulls picking out eyes of, 53 hordes of, 50 humpback, 48 spawning, 51 Salt lick, 172 Seal, 17 Seal Cove, 218 Sea Lion Rocks, 67 Seals, baby, 220 breeding grounds, 220 characteristics of, 220 Seldovia, 68, 123, 173, 179 Seward, 68 Shanghai, 166 Sheep, 152 Dall's, 157 Sheep Creek, 96 Shellicoff Straits, 71 Shiras, George III, 156 Sitka, 27, 29 Slaughter of game, 25 Snow-slide, 96 Snow storm, 100 Snuff making, 167 "Sourdough," 127, 130, 153 Stranger in camp, 140 Sycamores, 247

T

Tenderfoot, 123, 131, 132, 153 Tom, 296 after flickers, 264 Totem poles, 19, 35 family register, 19 laparotomy, 22 legend of, 19 symbolical of, 19 witch doctor, 22 Treadwell Mines, 24 Trees, balsam, 184 birch, 146 cottonwood, 146 fir, 184 pine, 206 spruce, 146 white, value of, 211 sycamores, 247 Trout, as food, 205, 216 food of, 213, 215 Turnagain Bay, 175

U

Unalaska, 76

V

Vaccination, 181 Valdez, 44 flood at, 44, 64 leaving, 54 Vancouver Island, 4

W

Whale, 66 White sheep, 152, 156, 157 Wrangel Narrows, 16, 17, 26 port of, 18

Y

Yakutat, 34

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The Log of the North Shore Club

Paddle and Portage on the Hundred Trout Rivers of Lake Superior

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The land that lies to the north of Lake Superior, where the great god Naniboujou rules over mile upon mile of unreclaimed wilderness, has long been a favorite retreat of the fisher and camper, who finds in the hush of its gaunt forests and on the twinkling ripples of its inland lakes a secure haven from the busy din of the cities. In Kirkland B. Alexander's "Log of the North Shore Club," the primeval beauty of this region is described by one who is an alert and appreciative student of nature. Mr. Alexander tells of his camping and fishing experiences along these sequestered waters and of the amusing happenings that seasoned his trips, undertaken with companions after his own heart. The book, which is well illustrated, is written in a sprightly vein and is decidedly entertaining reading.

G. P. Putnam's Sons New York London

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Mr. Holder has fished in the deep sea of the Pacific and in the mountain streams that are hidden away in the high Sierras and Cascades, protected from the rude intrusions of the crowd and accessible only to the seasoned mountaineer. The tussles he has had with game fish, retold in the dramatic style of which Mr. Holder is the master, will thrill the most phlegmatic reader, while the descriptions of nature which the author presents will fill the reader with a yearning for the spacious country of mountain, desert, sea, and air, with whose unfrequented trails and remote recesses the author is so familiar. The book is copiously illustrated with pictures of game, sporting incidents, and natural scenery.

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Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

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Hunting Big Game

with Gun and with Kodak

A Record of Personal Experience in the United States, Canada, and Old Mexico

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_Octavo, 240 pages. With 70 Illustrations from Original Photographs by the Author. Net, $2.00. By mail, $2.20_

The author makes a sportsmanlike plea for the use of a camera rather than rifle in the quest of big game. The appeal cannot fail to reach the hearts of all those who are interested in preserving the life of wild animals rather than unmercifully slaughtering them with modern firearms. Mr. Thomas procures as much pleasure from his humane method of hunting as does the so-called "sportsman" whose chief desire is to kill.

The territory covered in the book is not only remarkable for its extent, but also for the vivid and picturesque descriptions of every locality visited. The remarkable kodak pictures give one interesting glimpses of large game in their native haunts from Canada to Mexico.

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* * * * *

TRANSCRIBER NOTES:

Words contained within underscores (i.e. _March, 1913_) indicated words in italics in the original.

Words contained within equal symbols (i.e. =Every chapter=) indicate words in bold in the original.

Archaic, alternate and misspellings of words have been retained to match the original work with the exception of those listed below.

Missing punctuation has been added and obvious punctuation errors have been corrected.

Page 309: "examinanation" changed to "examination" (but an examination disclosed that it was empty).

Page 335: "willderness" changed to "wilderness" (which is still a wilderness).