74 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Dbvotkd to Field akd Aquatic Spouts, Practical Natural History, 

 Fish Culture, the Protection op Game, preservation op Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Mem and Womkn ok a Healthv Interest 

 iN Out-Door Recreation and Study: 



PUBLISHED BY 



potest and gtreatn §ttllishing §omgang. : 



—AT— 



NO. Ill (Old No. 103) FULTON STREET, NEW YORE. 



[Post Office Box 283?.] 



TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 



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 brief editorial notice calling attention thereto, and sending marked copy 

 to us, will receive the Forest and Stream for one year. 



HEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1878. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, intended for publication, must.be ac- 

 companied with real name of the writer as a guaranty of good faith 

 and be addressed to the Fokkst and Stream Publishing Company. 

 Names will not be published If objection be made. No anonymouB com- 

 munications will be regarded. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brie 

 notes of their movements and transactions. 



Notmng will be admitted to any department of the paper thai may 

 not be read with propriety In the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for dereliction of the mail service if money 

 remitted to ns is lost. No person whatever is authorized to colleoe 

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 undersigned. We have no Philadelphia agent. 



UT" Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES D.AIO.OCK, Editor. 



T. C. BANKS, S. H. TURRILL, Chicago, 



Business Manager, Western Manager. 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE COMING 

 WEEK. 



Friday, Aug. 30.— Trotting at Waterloo, N. Ti, and Vincennes, Ind. 



Saturday, Aug. 31.— Duxbury Yacht Club Eegatta. Glenwood Ath- 

 letics at Yonkers, N. Y. American Athletic Club Meeting at Hoboken, 

 N. J. Trotting at Vincennes, Ind. 



Monday, Sept. 2.— Beverly Yacht Club Regatta. Quincy, Mass., Yacht 

 Club Closing Sail. TrotUng : St. Paul, Minn.; Minneapolis, Minn. 



Tuesday, Sept. 3.— Police If owipg Regatta on the Harlem. Trotting: 

 Richfield Sprlugs, N. Y.; Bradford, Pa,; Amenia, N. Y.; Poughkeepsle, 

 N. Y.; Manhattan, Kan.; GaleBburg, III ; Providence, R. I. 



Wedtiesday, Sept. 4.— Empire Yacht Club Annual Regatta. Trotting 

 as above, and at Del|ihos, O.; Davenport, la.; Gonverneur, N. Y. 



Thursday, Sept. 5.— Riley-Smith Match at Bradford Basin. Trotting 

 as above. 



Masters of Fishixg Vessels Must Report. — The re- 

 cent order issued by the Secretary of State to masters of 

 vessels fisliing on the Canadian shores_is quite important. It 

 is a step in the right direction. So far we have been totally 

 in the dark in regard to our catch of fish. We even hope 

 that in the future masters of fishing smacks, whether em- 

 ployed on a foreign coast or on our own shores, will be in- 

 structed to give full particulars, not only as to kind, but the 

 weight or numhers of their catch. Just such a measure as 

 this was strongly urged by the American Fisbculttiral Associ- 

 ation at their last meeting. At present there is not a civilized 

 country in the world which does not obtain an account of the 

 catch of fish made by its people. Without such statistics how 

 is it possible to discover whether certain kinds of fish are 

 increasing or decreasing ? We would like to have the instruc- 

 tions to Masters made to cover not only those fishing near the 

 Canadian shores, but to include all the fisheries of the United 

 States. In New York the count of the fish is now being made 

 by private individuals who, at the request of the Commis- 

 sioner of Fisheries, are industriously collecting the facts. 

 . ■«— . 



Draftb and Monet Oedbr9.-A.11 drafts, checks and pos- 

 tal money orders sent to us should be made payable to "The 

 Forest an! Stream Publishing Company." By observing this 

 rule our subscribers and advertisers will save themselves and 

 us much needless annoyance. 



TIME ALLOWANCE. 



A CORRESPONDENT writing to a contemporary pro- 

 poses to handicap yachts according to their abilities or 

 performances. This proposition is one of those fallacies that 

 can only come to the surface through want of sufficient study 

 of a subject very elementary in its nature.. It is an old failing 

 that crops up among novices about once every season and has 

 to be combated over and over again. Tohandicap yachts with 

 reference to performances means, theoretically, simply to bring 

 them all to the winning line at the same time, necessitating 

 the dividing of the cups between all hands. Time allowance, 

 bo it understood, is not granted for different performances at 

 all. It has nothing whatever to do with the sailing of a yacht. 

 It is granted in compensation for difference in size : for nothing 

 else. It is a means by which models of different sizes can be 

 tested for their sailing qualities. Any proposition to handicap 

 sailing qualities is untenable upon the very face of matters, for 

 it would be placing a fine upon superior design for speed and 

 a premium upon a poor design, and it is to be regretted that 

 such a misleading suggestion has again found its way into 

 print. However, as in lhi3 case the correspondent did not as- 

 sume to speak editorially, his opinions will probably not carry 

 much weight. They serve simply to show how little real study 

 is given as yet to questions at issue among yachtsmen. We 

 will recur to the subject of time allowance at a future date. 

 In the meantime readers who may have the matter under dis- 

 cussion will do well not to overlook the fundamental object 

 for which time allowance is instituted, viz A to enable yachts 

 of different size to fairly test the sailing value of their models 

 by neutralizing the advantages of excess of size through an al- 

 lowance of time in proportion to the advantages innate to such 



excess. 



. — ... — . 



PROFESSOR SPENCER F. BAIRD. 



Prof- Spencer F. Baird, Sec'y of the Smithsonian Institute 

 and U. 8. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, was born Feb. 3, 

 1823. Educated at Dickenson College, Professor Baird gra- 

 duated in 1840, and in 1846 was appointed professor of natural 

 sciences in that mstitution, where he remained until 1850, when 

 he became Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 Professor Baird's appointment as Commissioner of Fish and 

 Fisheries dates from 1871. On the death of Professor Henry, 

 Professor Baird was unanimously elected to the position of 

 Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 



MIGRATIONS OF THE LEMMINGS. 



FROM the very earliest times the migrations of animals 

 have formed one of the most attractive subjects of specu- 

 lation for the naturalist or philosopher. Although these general 

 movements have been observed and wondered at for many hun- 

 dreds of years, their causes, and the laws which govern them, 

 are as yet unknown. Explanations, which are in a general 

 way satisfactory enough, have been suggested to account for 

 individual cases, but the whole subject requires more study 

 and observation than has yet been given it. The day has 

 passed, it is true, when it was believed that the birds, like 

 the reptiles, batracians and some mammals, passed the period 

 of severe cold in a state of torpor, reviving at the approach of 

 spring, and issuing forth during the warmer hours of the day, 

 only to return again to their holes and crannies if a sudden 

 change in the weather deprived them of their insect food, or 

 threatened death by freezing to themselves. The rails are no 

 longer imagined, at the approach of the severe frosts, to bury 

 themselves in the soft mud at the bottom of the marshes, 

 where they contentedly remain until warned by the move- 

 ments among the roots of the water-plants that the season of 

 love is once more at hand, and that parental duties once more 

 demand their attention. Nor are the little grebes at present 

 supposed to swim semi-annually from their winter quarters in 

 the Southern State3 to their breeding places in the Arctic 

 regions. 



The migrations of birds, however, have been much more 

 carefully studied than those of any other group of animals, 

 and by general consent the two causes most potent in influ- 

 encing the regular spring and autumn movements are tempe- 

 rature, and abundance or lack of proper food. The irregular 

 movements of various species of birds which occasionally 



visit certain sections of the country have no doubt special 

 causes, and although generally attributed to those above men- 

 tioned, but little is really known about them. 



Still more unintelligible appear to he many of the migra- 

 tions of mammals which so often take place. The very gen- 

 eral movement by which enormous numbers of the gray squir- 

 rels change their locality is a case in point. Driven by what is 

 usually termed a blind instinct, they set their faces in a cer- 

 tain direction, and, undeterred by any opposition, proceed on 

 their way. They cross wide rivers, pass through towns and 

 across railroad tracks. Men and boys, armed with every 

 imaginable weapon, slay them by scores or by hundreds, but 

 still they keep on, apparently heedless of these attacks, and 

 at. last disappear. Of the case of many of our deer, which, as 

 is well known, change to a greater or less extent their loca- 

 tion with the season, little need be said, as the conditions of 

 their existence render different ranges necessary ia summer 

 and winter. One species known, the Barren Ground Caribou, 

 perforins a true migration, and takes, each spring and fall, a 

 long journey to and from the regions of the extreme north. . 

 The summer is passed on the shores of the Arctic Sea, where 

 the females, soon alter their arrival in May or June, briDg 

 forth their young. They remain on the coast until Septem- 

 ber, when they turn their faces southward and proceed to the 

 wooded districts which lie between the sixty-third and sixty- 

 sixth parallels, where they pass the winter, returning north- 

 ward again in early spring. 



Perhaps the most extraordinary migrations of which we 

 have any account are those performed by the Norwegian 

 Lemming, a little rodent hardly as large as a squirrel, of which 

 the most fabulous stories have been related. It is said, among 

 other tilings, that no barriers are able to stop their progress, 

 and that they pass over, or through, every obstacle. That 

 quaint, and we fear not altogether trustworthy, old traveler, 

 Regnard, in his Voyage en Lapponie, says of the Leuuninizs ; 

 "When it is uecessary to pass some lake, or river, as bap- 

 pens at every step in Lapland, these little animals take the 

 bark of a pine or birch tree, which they drug to the brink of 

 the water, they then set themselves upon it and abandon them- 

 selves to the mercy of the wind, erecting Their tails like sails, 

 until the wind, becoming stronger, overturns both the ship 

 and Ihe pilot. This shipwreck, which often overwhelms 3,000 

 or 4,009 vessels, generally brings an extraordinary influx of 

 wealth to those Laplanders who find the remains on the shore, 

 and who, if the little animals have not been too long on the 

 siind, make use of them for food, etc. Many of these animals 

 make a successful voyage aud arrive snfe in harbor, provided 

 the winds be favot able and not strong enough to raise any 

 waves, which na ,i ioI be violentin order toangulf thcBeliltle 

 craft. This singula rmcma might hi wnsidei 



fable if Ilm-l n» ' ■ lit myself." The Italics are ours. 



An interesting paper was read before the Liuucan Society, 

 of London, some lime since by Mr. W. Duppa Crotch, who, 

 during ten seasons of northern travel, has accumulated a num- 

 ber of interesting facts with regard to the Lemmings, their 

 migrations and habits in general. Although Scandinavian 

 naturalists would seem to have had ample opportunities to 

 study the movements of this animal our knowledge of the 

 subject, up to the publication of this paper by Mr. Orolcb, 

 was very imperfect. The author of the present account, pass- 

 ing by the marvelous tales of traditiou in respect to these mi- 

 grations, discountenances the opinions of later writers that 

 Jack of proper food or the approach of cold weather causes 

 the movements of the Lemmings. It is observed that the mi- 

 grants always travel to the westward and at last, after their 

 ranks have been thinned by accident and the attacks of their 

 predatory enemies, perish in the sea in great numbers. Collet 

 tells us, and the instance is well authenticated, of a ship 

 sailing for fifteen minutes through a swarm of these animals, 

 the water being literally alive with them as far as the eye 

 could reach. Mr. Crotch believes that the instinct which leads 

 them to travel in this direction is hereditary, and that their 

 ancestors in ancient geological times inhabited a land some- 

 where to the westward, now submerged beneath the waters; 

 of the Atlantic. He further states that the migration is not 

 completed in one year as was formerly believed, and that the 

 animals do not, as has been stated, form great processions and 

 cut their way through all obstacles ; but that they breed sev- 

 eral times during the season, and, gathering together in 

 droves, make at intervals a move in a westerly direction. The 

 pugnacity of these creatures is something surprising, and at 

 the approach of any animal they back against a rock or 

 stump and scream with rage. Even the shadow of a passing 

 cloud is said to rouse their anger. Mr. Crotch found on 

 most specimens a naked spot on the buttocks, where the hair 

 had been rubbed off by their assuming the defensive position 

 just referred to, and he expresses surprise that itshouldsimply 

 be bare of hair and not a callosity. In their migrations the 

 Lemmings cross wide lakes by swimming, but they are 

 easily frightened when in the water, and lose all idea of direc- 

 tion, and if the surface of the water be at all ruffled arc in- 

 evitably drowned. 



While on the march they suffer from the attacks of all 

 kinds of animals. The reindeer are said to trample them 

 under foot at every opportunity, and carnivorous animals of 

 all kinds and rapacious birds prey upon them constantly; but 

 still they press on — westward. Mr. Crotch call3 attention to 

 the fact that fossil remains of the Lemming have been found 

 in England, thus showing that thin animal had advanced 

 thither before that island was separated from the Continent. 



The subject is an attractive and suggestive one, and is well 

 deserving of further attention. As suggested by our London 



