Evening journal., 1897-08-24
NEWS OF NEW CASTLE
HUNTING FOR BIRDS,
Experienced Gunner Tells How
to Bag the Beaut es.
REED BIRD MAKES TWO VISITS

REED BIRD MAKES TWO VISITS
COMES IN THE SPRING AS THE
SWEET VOICED BOBoLINK,
VENDING HIS WAY NORTH.
YOUNG ONES, WHEN STRONG OF
WING. COME BACK AS OUR
"REEDIEs."
THE seaon for shooting reed and
rail birds will open next Wednesday,
the first day of September said M. X.
Lancaster one of Delaware's most ex-
perienced hunters to-day, and the
gunners, In anticipation of the sport,
are getting their guns, boats and am
munition in applie-pie order
while there seems to be quite a
good many reed birds, they are not so
plentiful as in previous years. The
season OF 9G opened with the birds
plentiful and in very fine condition
The birds arrived here early in August
and found the reeds fully ripe.
"But this year they have arrived
later than usual, and the reeds have
been late in ripening. and the chances
are that the birds will be, at the open
ing OF the season, in very poor condi-
tiOn.
ONCE THE BEAUTIFUL BOBOLINK.
THE reed bird arrives here from the
South about the middle of April to the
first OF May. AT this time ne is called
the bObolink. He is very pretty in
his Spring plumage, one would hardly
falf4f .rrfttr "a AIrr 1,aaar 1.s
changed in appearance.
1T is a very Pleasant sight to see the
birds in the Spring as they are ON the
way North to their breeding places
The male birds viii rise straight in the
air for about fifty feet and Will sud
! denly burst forth in song as he slowly
descends, and 1t is a very joyful song
filed with the melody of the little fel-
lows heart Then is their time to mate
and go North to breed.
After the young birds have left the
nests In the North and have gotter
strong OF wing they start back Souuf
again, stopping with us for a while u
feed on the reeds, of which they arr
very fond. The little birds soon become
very fat. almost like butter.
HOW THEY ARE HUNTED.
I'm hunting tho reed bird the hunte
approaches the flock of birds and
when in range, he fires one barrel al
the birds SIT on the reeds and the othe
as they rise, some times killing twl
and three dozen at a time
YThe market gunner generally has
patch of millet sown, which the bird
are very fond Of He will set up "A 10
OF twigs for the birds do sit ON, ano
close by he will he hidden in Il blinl
built of weeds and grass. The hunte
will make a noise like a bird in dis
tress-the birds, with remarkable sym
pathetic instincts, will rise in the al
and then settle down on the twig.
The hunter then shoots, and in thi
way large numbers OF them are killed
This style of cunning is practice
principally in New Jersey.
ARRIVAL OF RAIL BIRDS.
"The rail bird gets here about tn
same time as the reed bird, but stays
I little longer, as the first cold storl
drives the reed birds South, but tn
rail bird can stand a little cOlde
weather The rail birds arrive in til
night. They can be heard maxim
their peculiar note as they fly over III
marshes.
These birds are mostly hunted whi
r the tide Is high. The gunner will TAX
his position near the bow of his litt
boat and Will have a man with a po
to stand at the stern and push the bo,
through the reeds. AS the boat ge
y close to birds they get up and fly
I short distance. lt is then that I'll
=. hunter has a chance to kill the birds.
y : THE rail bird is an easy mark whe
: On the wing to one accustomed
standing in a boat Rail are SON
|. times hunted with a dog, but as q
birds lay very close it is hard for u
dog to put them up and seldom a
+ there any very large bags MAJ
ID IN this manner"