The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1872-12-06
JOSH KILLINGS spIcE-BOx.
The Feafhered Ones.

DUK.
The duk is foul. There aint no
doubt about this-naturalists say so,
and kommon sense teaches it.
They are bilt sumthing like hen,
and are an up-aud-down, fat-footed
job.
They don't cackle like O hen, nor
Ero like the rooster, nor hollow like
the peacock, nor scream like the
goose, nor turk like the turkey; but
they quack like a root dokter, and
their bills resemble vetanary sur
geons.
They have woven fut, and kan
float on the water az natral as a sope
bubble.
They are pretty much all feathers,
and when the feathers are all remov-
ed, and their innards out, thare IL
just about az mulch meat on them NJ
thare iz on krook necked squash
that has gone tew seed.
Wild duks are very good shooting,
and are very good to miss also, un-
less you understand the bizness.
You should aim about three foot
ahead ov them, and let them fly UP
tew the shot.
l hav shot at them all day, and got
nothing but tail feather now and
then; bat this satisfied me, for am
krazy for all kind ov sport, yu know.
Thare are sum kind ov duks that
are very hard to kill, even if yu dew
hit them. | shot one hole afternune,
thre years ago, at some decoy ducks
and never got one of them. I hav
never told ov this before, and hope
no one will repete it-this is strikly
confdenshal.
Roast turkey is good, but turkey
with kranberry sass is better.
The turky is sedate person, and
seldom forgets herself by gittin onto
q frolic.
They are of various kolors, and
lay from IL to IS eggs, and they
generally lay them where nobody is
looking for them but themselves.
Turkeys travel about 0 miles day
during pleasant weather, in sarch ov
their daily bred, and are smart on a
grasshopper, and red hot on kriket.
Wet weather is hard on a turkey
"a good smart shower will drown a
young one, and make an old one
look and akt az tho tia had Just bin
pulled ont ov swill barrel with a
pair ov tongs.
The maskuline turkey, or gobbler,
az they are Familiarity called, hay
seasons ov strutting which are i'm
mense.
/ hav seen them blow themselves
up with sentiments of pride or anger,
and travel around q red flannel petit
coat hung onto close line just as
tho they was mad at the petticoat for
sumthing it had did or sed to them.
The hen turkey alwus haz a lone
sum look to me as tho she had been
abused bi sumboddy.
Turkeys kan endure as much koid
wether az the yane on q church stee-
pie. 1 hav known them tew roost all
night on the top limb ov an oak tree,
with the thermometer 20 degrees belo
zero, and in the morning fly down and
wade thro the sno in barn yard to
kool oph.
P. S.-If you kant hav kranbery
with roast turkey, apple sass will do.
THE HossTRITcH.
The hosstritch is q citizen of the
dessart, and lays an egg about the
size ov a mans he'd the next day after
he has been on bumming excursion.
They resemble in size and fgger
about Is shanghi roosters at once,
and are chiefly important for the
feathers that inhabit their tails.
The hosstrich are hunted on hoss-
back, and they can trot mile kluss
to three minnitts.
They lay their eggs in the sand,
and think that the heat of the sand
matches them ont.
They aint bilt right for Matching
out eggs, emmy more than q large
sized figger 4 IL.
l don't know whether their eggs
are good to eat or not, but I guess
not, for never have seen ham and
hosstritch eggs advertised on any o,
our fashionable bills ov fare.
Billed hosstritch may be nonrisAine
and may be not; I think this would
depend good deal upon who was
called upon to eat it.
I shan't never inquire for billed
hosstritch az long az remain in M
right mind.
If the hosstritch IL blessing tew
the dessart country, hope they will
stay thare, for so long az we have the
buzzard and the Sandy Hill Crane
feel az tho we could gitalong and en-.
dure life.
am writin this essa on the hoss
tritch good deal by guess, for ha,
never seed them in their natiff land,
nor never mean to, for jist as long a,
kan git 3 meals day and liv where
grass grows and water runs DOM
mean tew banker for hot sand.
THE.pARRoT.
The parrot IL bird of many col
ors and inklined to talk.
They take holt of things with theil
foot and hang on like pair ofpinch
ers.
They are the only bird j kno' o,
who kan konyerse in the english Ian
guage, but like nAenny other nu be
ginners they kan learn tew swear the
eazyest.
They are kept az pets, and like al
other pets, are useless.
In wild state of nachur tina may
be ov sum use, but they lose 80 pei
cent. ov their value by cultivation.
Tha resemble the border injun in