Norwich bulletin., 1911-06-10

The Quail Trap. June Z. 1911.-A pair
of Monaghan pheasants have set up
housekeeping on the Valley farm, East
Woodstock. The home is ideal in its
seclusion and choice of covers by the
SIDE of a rlll of pure spring water.
The male is rarely out of sight of the
sitting hen, is noisy in his demonstra-
tons of alarm and coincidence, >afa
makes short brIstling runs towards
an intruder like a mother grouse with
young. Mr.. Eddy has cautioned field
hands and neighbors concerning this
pair of pheasants and scatters OATS
and wheat to help oft their usual for
age in a dry season.
A hen grouse with young disputed
the right of way, in the public road
east of Woodstock lake of Mr.. and
Mrs C. d. Arnold of Putnam, on Me-
mortal day. She fused and fIuttereG
and dragged her wings, and kicked
up. the dust. till every chick seemed
safe, then with broken wing and leg
she went over the wall. But a mo-
nent later she was back again, as if
not satisfied with her count, and made
another angry protest. She did not
drive the pair of blacks off the road,
but her furious furry caused a long
halt in sheer surprise at the audacity
of the attack.
The first. last and only" nighthawk
of the season on the evening of May
q, with no cry. snapped up an early
June bug within ten feet of my face,
and then departed as silently and mys-
teriously at it came. 1t was seen on
two other farms here that same eve
ming, but has not been seen or heard
since and is the first one seen here
for two years Why are there none
here and why is it so rare elsewhere
in Connecticut? 1t used to be so
common in both eastern counties that
early lawmakers on every farm found
a pair of the long, marbled eggs, in
dry spot in a moving lot where there
was no sign of a nest. Three pairs
formerly bred eli the Bently farm at
Sunnyside. two pairs on Cobb firm,
Norwich Town, a dozen pairs in Long
society. and [ once found them breed
ing freely on Blue, Bashan and Mccall
hills in Bozrah. around Preston and
Avery's pond at Gardner lake, in Vol
untown, Ledyard. and Westchester. In
1876, when looking up the orchard ORR
oles, herons warblers and plovers Of
Groton Long Point L found eleven sets
of eggs; its disappearance here may
be accounted for in part, as the bloody
butchers n the Noank Gun club prac-
ticed wing shooting on these easily
shot birds. But the rarity of night
hawks where they We're formerly 50
abundant and noticeable we must at
tribute to mishaps during migration.
Ell, It's near Tel4tlEe. the Wn3pp0or-
will, has Increased in some places, and
this change can in one sense be called
reversion of species. On the eye
ming of June 2. while driving from
Southbridge to North Woodstock. d
distance of five miles. the birds were
calling every half mile, and a trio
of 'poorwills We're complaining at the
door of the Quail Trap on cur arrival.
The tops of our sproutng peas have
been eaten off by beIfrey pigeons, bnt
we did not shoot the doves-simply
planted more peas. [ well and sadly
remember many years ago shooting
two or three orioles who nestled in the
imm er1orial Broadway elns because
they had stripped a few pods of our
Champion peas / cannot now go into
sackcloth and ashes for that offense,
but if these best-of-an caterpillar eat
ers should vary their diet with green
peas here / would not kill them but
would plant three or four rows of sweet
Garadus expressly for their well earned
dessert. We were tempted to shoot the
robins that took our biggest prize
strawberries. but had patience to wait
two or three years till my young decoy
cherry trees began to bear when we
lost no more berries, for robins prefer
poor, blighted, half-ripe cherries to the
finest forced Strawberries.
We have now recorded owls breeding