"Harry was the first who succeeded in making a capture; and that was a
pair of grey squirrels, which he had trapped at the bottom of their
tree. For these a large cage was constructed, and they soon became so
tame that they would take the nuts provided for them out of our hands.
These, of course, were only idle pets; but they added much to our
company and amusement, as we watched them in their antics around the
bars of their cage, now springing from point to point, and now sitting
monkey-like, and gnawing the nuts as they held them between their
fore-paws.
"Shortly after this event, Frank became the hero of the hour; and his
achievement was one of considerable importance. For some time, he had
been keeping his eye upon the wild turkeys; and for the purpose of
securing some of them alive, he had constructed, not far from the house,
a species of penn--which is known in America by the name of `log-trap.'
This was a very simple contrivance. It was made of split rails, such as
Cudjo used for his fences; and these were placed upon one another, so as
to enclose a hollow square between them. They were raised about the
height of an ordinary fence from the ground, while other rails--heavy
ones--were laid over the top, close enough to prevent the turkeys,
should they enter, from escaping, but not so near each other as to
darken the interior of the trap, and so render it forbidding in its
appearance. The entrance was the main contrivance, although it was not
an original idea with Frank. It was upon a plan similar to the wire
cages used for trapping rats--where the rat can easily find its way in,
but has not sufficient cunning to know the road out again. Precisely as
the wire funnel is constructed for the rats, Frank had made one of rails
for his turkeys; and waited patiently until some of them should enter
it. He placed various kinds of seeds and roots within the enclosure;
but several days passed, and no birds were taken.
"After some practice, the `bird-catcher' became able to imitate the
`gobbling' of the old cock? so exactly that at some distance off in the
woods, you could not tell but that it was one of themselves. By this
means, he could call the turkeys up to the ground where he himself lay
concealed; but the seeds he had baited his trap with were not
sufficiently enticing, and none of them would go under the rails. At
length, however, he hit upon an expedient, which was sure to succeed, if
anything could. He had shot one of the turkeys with his arrows; and
taking it into the trap, he carefully propped it up--so that it appeared
to be still alive, and busy feeding upon his bait. He then retired to
some distance; and, hiding himself among the brushwood, `gobbled' as
before. Three large birds soon made their appearance, coming cautiously
through the woods. Of course, like all wild turkeys, they were down
upon the ground--stalking along just like so many ostriches. At length,
they came in sight of the penn, and seeing one of their own kind;--
quietly feeding, as they thought, within it--they approached fearlessly,
and ran around the enclosure, seeking for an entrance. Frank lay
watching all their movements; and his heart, at this moment, was
thumping against his ribs. His anxiety did not long endure. The three
great birds soon found the wide funnel; and, without hesitating, ran up
it and appeared inside the trap. Frank sprang from his lurking-place;
and, running forward, first shut up the entrance by filling it with
stones. Then climbing upon the top, he slipped through between the
rails; and secured the birds by tying their legs together with a stout
thong of deerskin. When he had lifted them out of the trap, he again
adjusted everything--leaving the `decoy turkey' quietly feeding as
before--and shouldering his prize, he marched off in triumph. His
return to the house was greeted with exclamations of joy; and a rail
penn was immediately built for the birds, similar to the trap in which
they had been caught, but, of course, without the funnel or entrance.
The only regret we had was, that the three were all cocks--regular `old
gobblers.'
"Next day, however, Frank remedied this by making a still more important
capture. On returning to visit his trap before sunrise, he saw from a
distance that there was a live turkey inside, with a number of smaller
birds, which in the grey light appeared like so many partridges. On
getting nearer, to his surprise and delight, he found that what he had
taken for partridges was a large brood of young turkeys, and that which
he had first seen was their mother. The little ones were running out
and in, for they could easily pass between the rails, while the mother
ran around, thrusting her head out of the penn, and occasionally
spreading her wings and flapping upwards, endeavouring to escape in that
direction. The young were all making a great ado, and evidently aware
that their mother was `in the trap.'
"Frank, fearing that the youngsters might get off if he attempted to
approach them alone, came back to the house, and summoned Harry, Cudjo,
and myself, to his assistance. To make sure of them, we took with us
the long canvass tilt of the wagon with a couple of blankets fastened to
it at the end. We adopted every precaution, as we looked upon capturing
this young brood as a thing of great importance--since we could bring
them up quite domesticated, and from them should breed as many more as
we pleased. We approached the penn with all due caution; and when near
we separated, each of us taking a side. We then advanced upon the trap,
completely surrounding it; and, while the birds ran confusedly from side
to side, we stretched the tilt and blankets all around the penn, thus
cutting off their retreat. In a few moments we had secured both the old
hen and her chicks--amounting, in all, to no less than eighteen of them!
This was a capture, indeed; and we immediately hurried back to the
house with them, not forgetting to take along with us the `decoy
turkey'--which, being a fine fat fellow, and killed only the day before,
served us for a very good dinner. For the turkey hen and young we built
another penn, near to that where we had imprisoned the three `old
gobblers.' The one last constructed was made with more care and closer
between the rails, so that the youngsters might not get out and wander
off.
"Frank again baited his log-trap, and used for a decoy one of the
gobblers, which he tied by the leg to a rail. In this way several
others were caught; when the birds at length became shy, and kept away
from the penn altogether. However, we had now as many as we could feed,
until our corn should ripen and be gathered.
"From this time every day saw new additions to our aviary. Frank had
procured the bark of the _ilex opaca_, or American holly; and this, when
macerated in water, and then fermented and cleared of its fibres, made
the very best bird-lime. A large cage had been constructed out of
bow-wood with the straight reeds of the cane, and divided into many
compartments--so that birds of different species should be separated
from each other. In a short time the cage was seen to contain specimens
of the blue-jay and red-bird, or Virginia nightingale, orioles of
several species, and doves of two distinct kinds. There were also
several Carolina paroquets; and Frank had succeeded in capturing a bird
of a very rare kind, which, I believe, is known to the Indians as the
`wakon.' It was the American bird of paradise; and, like those of the
Eastern world, had several long feathers growing from its tail, and
stretching away gracefully behind it. In the cage were also finches of
different varieties, and beautiful bright plumage. Among others were
the green bird, the redstart, and the cock of the woods; the little blue
bird also, the red-winged starring, and the orange-headed troupiale--
which last species migrated in large flocks into the valley. There was
a number of small cages, which had been constructed for the smallest of
all birds--the humming-birds--and Frank had caught no less than a dozen
different kinds of these most beautiful creatures, which he daily
supplied with fresh flowers. Another cage, apart from all the rest,
held an inmate that; so far as appearance went, you would have said had
no right to be thus distinguished in having a house all to himself. He
was of a sober grey colour, somewhat of the wagtail shape, with long
black legs, and claws of a dirty hue; and was altogether an ill-favoured
bird, not any better-looking than a common house-sparrow. Had you known
nothing more about him than his outward appearance, you would hardly
have deigned to waste a second look upon him. The moment, however, his
black bill was opened, and his lead-coloured throat became expanded in a
song, you forgot all about the dull hue of his plumage. You all at once
forgot the bright wings of the paroquet, and the beautiful form of the
oriole; the red-bird, the blue-jay, and the wakon, were alike forgotten,
and you gazed upon this sweet musician with delight and admiration. As
you continued to listen, you would notice that he mimicked almost every
sound that occurred within hearing. When any of the others commenced to
sing, he would catch the strain--as it were, from their lips--and,
giving it in a far higher and bolder tone, shame them into silence.
This, I need hardly tell you, was the famous mock-bird--the nightingale
of America.
"While Frank was daily increasing his stock of winged creatures, Harry
was not idle among the quadrupeds. No less than five kinds of squirrels
had been caught and caged. These were the grey, black, and red or fox
varieties of the tree squirrel, and two species of ground squirrel--one
the common hackee, or chipping squirrel; while the other was a new
species, which we had caught on the desert plain above, among the roots
of the _artemisia_ plant. This last was a beautiful little creature,
not much larger than a mouse, and striped like a little zebra. It has
never--as far as I can tell--been described by naturalists; and on this
account, as well as from its peculiar size and beauty, it was a general
favourite with all of us, particularly with Luisa and Mary, in whose
laps it soon learnt to sleep, like a tamed mouse.
"Besides the squirrels, Harry's collection embraced a hare and a couple
of raccoons. These last were the produce of a night-hunt or two which
Cudjo had made with the dogs; and although these fox-like animals were
by no means useful pets, yet they gave a variety to our collection, and
added to our amusement in the observation of their curious habits."