Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1885-06-26
Tho Reindeer's Feathered Friend.

In an article telling how the Exqui.
moux hunt the reindeer, LIEUTENANT
Schwatka says in the New York Times:
These polar cartridges, the ptarmigans,
are always most numerous during
clustering, stormy weather, probably
the winds blowing the snow off of the
ridges, giving them better chance then
to search for their daily food. The pro-
verbal needle in the haystack" would
be easy to find compared with these pure
white arctic grouse crouched in a snow
drift during boistcrous windy day, and
when traveller has his foot almost on
one it springs out from under him with
para wing suddenness Us destructive to
the nerves as if the person had been
about to step on a buzz-saw. They
nearly always wait until one has passed
passed them short distance before they
take fright, and the first sudden i'm
preston is that some wild beast has been
lying ia wait and has suddenly made a
spring from the rear. This was noticea
BILE on this particular day when we
had passed the ptarmigans only a
few feet, and as we we're returning,
crawling on our hands and knees, they
startled us and frightened the larger
game. OF course their presence there
was merely accidental, and combined
with losing the reindeer would not hap
pen more than once in hunters life in
the North.
Not so, however, with another bird
that the Esquimau believes deliberately
protects the reindeer in certain ways.
This is the little "scissors tail" gull or
tern of the arctic, that is present in such
large numbers over all the land near the
seashores during the summer breeding
season. Ifa nerson is hunting anywhere
near these localities at this season he is
always certain TO be followed by one or
two of these birds flying in the air above
his head and making vicious plunges at
him, which becomes nearer and nearer
as he approaches their nest. If he APP.
proaches very close to it they will often
strike him over the head with their
wings, screaming frantically all the
time. l have frequently seen the
Esquimau hunters kill them with
their guns or with spears used as
clubs when they made these dashes. As
soon as a person sits or lies down to rest
| if he pays 10 attention to them, their
attentions become more and more marked,
until we find his hat knocked off of his
head, if he is wearing one, unless he
hurls stone or strikes at them. This is
exactly what happens when reindeer is
sighted. The hunter lying in wait in
the neghborhood of the animals grazing
grounds finds couple of scissors tails
lowering over him. His impression is
that they are defending their nest a
quarter of mile away by their attacks
and screenings. About the time the
game has nearly reached fair gunshot
these aerial pests begin their assaults at
close quarters, for the hunter, hugging
the ground closely behind small stone
or bunch OF grass, dares not move q
muscle in opposition to the birds, and
these open, noisy assaults often putting
the wary deer on his guard, he trot'
away, to the utter disgust of the Esqui
mau, VINO now turns his attention to the
gulls, and generally kills one or two
with stones by way of revenge before he
leaves the spot.