280 



FOREST AND STREAM 



and flpath in bur collections, and we must be very careful only 

 to ai tempt m keep us much animal life as our growing plums 

 arc sufii'ient to supply with oxygen. E>,perii nee ia the best 

 teacher in th Be matters, for we cionot so exactly measure the 

 oolite reel of water ncoessar.v for the life of a fish as of air for 

 tie Me of a land animal. Even in the best, regu'ated aquatic 

 e-'rahlisbmen's Heath will oceur and decompos tioa set in 

 which, if suffered to remain, soon spread disaster through the 

 ttnk. We have scavengers in the air in the shape of vultures 

 and carrion crows; in the water, in crocodiles, sturge ns, 

 water beetle, snails; and it is necessary to provide some of J 

 tie latter useful creatures for our aquatic community. In a ) 

 small aquarium we would advise some one or two of the vari- 

 eties of moll usca, such as water snails; due care, however, 

 must be taken that they confine their appeties to the garbage 

 and di c«ying matters of the establishment and do not devour 

 our living plants. 



» * » * * * * 



W* have said that the true principle on which an aquarium 

 Bhould be conducted is, never to change the water, but si to 

 aerate and refiesh the original supply as to maintain it always 

 in a pure and perfect state. The water in th,t Crystal Palace 

 Aquarium is the same that was taken from the sea five years 

 ago; and the same system, with some improvements, is adopt 

 ed in the Westminster Aquarium. The means used to attain 

 fie end in view are several. Not only is great importance at- 

 tached. both in the fresh and marine, tanks, to the healthy 

 growth of plants which afford oxygen to the wa'er, but also 

 aoive and liri-k contact, with the air of the atmosphere is 

 found greatly to freshen the water. Motion iu the water is 

 heivfore e-seotinl. In th-; large aquaria this is insured by an 

 trrangement of tank's into winch the water is pumped and 

 from which it, Hows rapidly, circulating through tha 

 tat.k« inhabited by fish In its passage through the air it, ali- 

 s or s a ems d-mhle quantity of oxvgen; and in the smaller 

 dome -lie apparatus, of which we more particularly speak, the 

 same ihing is effected by frequently drawing the water up 

 through a glass, or guttapercha syringe, and squirting it back 

 into the vessel from some height above it, so as 10 let the jet 

 pass through after having come in contact with the air. Mr. 

 Lloyd a iys: " Wa'er iu aquaria should be regarded as a prac- 

 tically indestructible medium for the. administration of atmos- 

 pheric air to plants and animals." At Westminster the water 

 travels over a distance of nearly three miles between the be- 

 ginning and end of its circuit, for the purpose of areation * * 

 Nothing f ormsa prettier or more attractive centre for a win- 

 dow garden than cryslal tanks of water in a state of healthy 

 preservation. Or it may be that the only available receptacle 

 for the aquarium is a large glass pickle bottle, or a jar such as 

 confecioners use, or even a finger glass. Well! more living or- 

 ganisms than one observer could well describe in a year may 

 grow, and live, and flourish in the smallest of these vessels, 

 especially if altmlion he paid to the microscopic inhabitants of 

 % ie water, whose name is legion. In dirty situations, and iu 

 Bmolcy towns, it will generally be necessary to cover the top 

 of the aquaiium with a piece of glass or muslin to keep out 

 the •'blacks." 



The. first thing to be done in the formation of a fresh-water 

 aquarium is, if possible, to establish the plants— to place them 

 in suitable soil at the bottom of your tank, and leave them, un- 

 disturbed, exposed to the light, under the water, until they 

 begin to grow, and the little active bubbles of oxygen are seen 

 rising to the surface of the water. Wehave grown Valimeria 

 eoiraUs, water crowfoot, the starworts, the various species of 

 Obara, and the Canadian water vieed(Anacharisalsinadruin), 

 in profusion. The soil best to plant such in, as have roots, is 

 clean river sand mixed with pebbles. Such plants as Conferva? 

 aid others, which float on the water and do not take root in 

 tie soil, do not, of course, require planting. After choosing 

 plants from such as yon may collect from rivers and ponds iu 

 any country ramble, plant ihem, and cover the surface of the 

 ground with bits of rocks, pebbles, or anything that is suit- 

 able, and in harmony with the. rest of the arrangements. Do 

 not put sea shells into a fresh water aquarium, or artificial ob- 

 jects where all should be natural; then fill the vessel with 

 water very carefully through a funnel or syphon, so as not to 

 disturb the soil and the roots of your plants. 



Tne same caution has to be observed in establishing a marine 

 aquarium, which, it must be confessed, is altogether a task of 

 more difficulty than a fresh water collection. The weeds 

 must then be introduced, growing and attached to the stones, 

 on which they have naturally established themselves. The 

 fronds and sprays of sea-weed, washed up by the tide and left 

 on the shore, are ot no use, and will only decay and injure the 

 water. It is growing and living vegetation that we want. A 

 (election of the pretty red sea- weeds, so common in rocky 

 pools, with the bright green fronds of Utva Utimma and Bry- 

 opuis plumom. give color and brilliancy to a marine aquarium, 

 which is unattainable in the fresh water colony. But it is not 

 so easy to replace the inevitable losses which must take place 

 in the* early stages of a marine aquarium when removed from 

 the seaside". Let all who are near the coast establish a domes- 

 tic sea- water pool, and enjoy all the pleasure it affords in 

 watching the developement and curious habits of the beauti- 

 ful creatures who may colonize it. But in towns, unless un- 

 der very favorable circumstances, a fresh water aquarium will 

 yield more satisfaction with less vexation, as we know from 

 experience, tn order to manage an aquarium comfortably a few 

 Bimple instruments should be kept at hand. A little hand-net, 

 which may he bought for sixpence, or made for a penny— sim- 

 ply a ring of galvanized wire with a mUKlin bag fastened to a 

 s ick for a handle. This is convenient for catching the crea- 

 tures, fish or, shells, without putting the hand into the water, 

 and it is also used in removing dead bodies. A pair of wooden 

 forceps, like a pair of glovestretebers, is also most convenient 

 for the sinv. purpose— to nip off bits of decaying weeds, or to 

 catch floating particles in the water. Glass tubes, of various 

 sizes, may be kept, which act by being put into the water 

 with the finger over the aperture at the top. The tube, un- 

 til the finger be removed, will remain filled with air ; place it 

 over any little bit of decaying weed, or panicle of refuse and. 

 on removing the finger, the water will rush in, carrying with 

 It the offending object up iuto*the tube. Then a glass syriuge 

 or f quii t is necessary, with which to aerate the water thorough- 

 ly at least once a day, and oftener if possible, by filling it and 

 then holding it high above the tank to squirt the water back 

 aiain. Some persons constantly use a pan or bellows, with an 

 I idia-rnbber tube attached to the nozzle, to propel air in 

 through the water. This device unquestionably acts well, and 

 refreshes the animals, just as a "blow on Hampstead Heath," 

 or a mn to the seaside invigorates the inhabitants of many a 

 olose workroom in London. A glass syphon, or, what we find 

 better, a long piece of india-rubber tubing, which actB as a sy- 

 phon, is necessary to effect a change, in the water when it is 

 evident th8t something has gone wrong and the . 

 discovered and eradicated. 

 We have frequently been obliged to do this when we kept a 

 .■■■ uarium iii^London, tsuti purhapn Uiscovtrevl a 'Uiad 



sea anemone, or a little fish under a stone, giving off offensive 

 gases, and escaping detection in the midst of the sea-weed. 

 After removing the dead mass and, perhaps, the stones infected 

 by it, we have, by thoroughly aerating the water, restored the 

 aquarium to a perfectly pure condition. 



In connection with the foregoing sketch oar readers wil 

 not only excuse, but thank us. for reproducing the accompany 

 ing cut of an aquarium, priuted in this pacer some three years 

 ago. 



IMPREGNATION OF TROUT OVA. 



V Dewagiao, Mich., Oct. 28, 1878. 



Editor Fobest and Stream i 



How long will trout eggs remain good for impregnation 

 after being taken from the fish? Authority says: "Not 

 longer than twenty rnioutea." As this is a question that will 

 interest b'shculturists, I wilt relate a little instance that, came 

 under my own observation, and which bears directly on this 

 subp fit. 



One night during the fall of 1876, while securing salmon 

 on Skaueattles Lake, in the Stale of New i'crk, tor 

 the Michigan Fish Commission, I detected a "spearuiau" in 

 the act of Ian bng a fine female trout that he had speared out 

 of my nets. I uemandi d the fish, which was quickly pui 

 over the side of our boat, the '-poacher" being very glad to 

 get out of the scrape so easily. I received the fiah on ihe 

 end of the spear, and as I held it in my bands I observed 

 Honing Irorn the gaping wound made by the instrument, 

 quantities of eggs mingled with its heart blood. I directed 

 one of my m-n to hold a sptwning-pan while 1 secured the 

 eggs. Tie idea occurred to me to set them by until daylight 

 — Ihei time of running over our nets — and then milt them 

 and keep them separate to see what per cent., if auy, were 

 impregnated. This transpin d at one o'clock a. m., five hours 

 intervening f ro n the time of taking to the lime of mihiug 

 The ni xi ue.y I sent them in a glass fruit jar to my hatching 

 and trout p mds, which are located at the Halfway Station on 

 the Auburn and Syracuse division of the New York Central 

 K. K. , and six miles from the lake, with directions to have 

 taem placed upon a tray by themselves. I must admit that 1 

 did nor, expect to see a single good egg from the whole batch. 

 But imagine my surprise, when upon my return, I found that 

 twenty-five per cent, were impregnated and in good order. 

 They have since been hatched, and can now be Been any day 

 in the above ponds. They will be two years old next Janu- 

 ary, and are tine, healthy, growing fish. A few of them were 

 on exhibition in Detroit, at the Museum, during the State 

 Fair that was held there this fall. 



Tne salmon trout of Skaneateles Lake are known through 

 out the State of .New York as far superior to the trcut of tue 

 Gteat Lakes. They vary both in color and texture, being 

 somewhat darker, and the markings and flavor being more on 

 ihe brook trout order ; their market value being from fifteen 

 to twenty cents per pound above the trout of the Great Lukes 



Mr. li. B. Harmon and Q K. Perry, who now have charge 

 of the "Island Trout Ponds" at Halfway, N. T., wiil be 

 able to furnish parties with the genuine Skaneateles Lake 

 trout ova. They are both men of experience in the work 

 and are first class flshculturiets. Any stock shipped by them 

 can be relied upon as first class in every respect. 



I will send you iu a short time some valuable specimens of 

 both eggs and fish, with a full history of each. 



I am truly yours. Henky H. Poktek. 



We feel much iudebted to our correspondent for the above. 

 —Ed. F. & 8. 



%ntttml j§isforg* 



ABOUT OUR GROUSE— NO. 2. 



L EATING the forests of Mains and Canada, where the 

 Canada grouse dwells undisturbed, we mast travel west 

 ward nearly two,U:ousand mile3 to find its nearest relative— the 

 dusky grouse. This bird, on account of the beauty of its 

 plumage, its great size, its delicate fle^h, and its habits is, in our 

 estimation, the finest game bird to be found within our borders. 

 Except the sage grouse, it is the largest of the group found in 

 America, aud the males often attain a weight of four pounds 

 The plumage in this sex is dark brown or black above, finely 

 marked with cross lines of dark uray. Below the color is 

 lighter brown on the sides, with some conspicuous white mark- 

 ings, while the lower breast and belly are a fine slate blue. 

 The breast is brown, the chin white, and the broad and fan- 

 like tail, which is nearly square, is black. The female, 

 dressed in more sober colors than the male, as is the case with 

 most of the grouse, is tawny above with black cross markings, 

 but has the blue below and black taii like hef mate. 



The dusky, blue, pine grouse, or fool hen— for it has all these 

 names in different localities which it inhabits— is found almost 

 throughout the great mountain chains of our Western country. 

 We have found it extremely abundant in Montana and Wy- 

 oming, and its range extends north to Alaska, and south 

 among the highest mountains, nearly to Mexico. As the 

 country where it occurs is but seldom traversed by man, it is 

 very gentle and unsuspicious, and these qualities have earned 

 for it the name "fool hen," a term which is also applied to the 

 sage grouse in certain sections where it has not yet learned to 

 fear man. In summer the traveler among the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, unless he ascends the highest peaks of the range, wil 

 be likely to start only female birds, with their broods of 

 partly grown young. These will be found either in the dense, 

 pine forest, among the thick underbruoh, in the creek bot- 

 toms, or out on the prairie, a few yards from the edge of the 

 timber, according to the lime of day when they are flushed. 

 Although, as has been said, very tame, when once startled they 

 lose no time in seeking 6afety iu flight. The old hen at one* 

 dies up into a tall pine, uttering a loud and continuous cacile 

 which resembles the first part of the ery of a domestic fowl 

 when frightened, and which may be expressed by the syllables, 

 . repeated in a, high key fifteen or twenty times in 

 . etsion, The cry ia evidently a note of.waraing to 



the young. These last scatter at once, and take fo the trecf, 

 where they sit perfectly motionless, paying no attention what- 

 ever to the noise of firearms. Wehave frequently shot several 

 times with a rifle Bt the head of one of these birds wi 

 causing it any apparent uneasiness. Should a ball ruffle its 

 feathers, however, or strike the limb on which it sits, within a 

 few inches of its resting-place, it is off with the swiftness of 

 our own ruffed grouse. During the summer the males, which, 

 like the males of most grouse, desert the females by the tune 

 incubation commences, are to be found in small packs high up 

 on the mountain tops, near the timber line : hero, too, single 

 females are often Been, which, upon dissection, usually prove 

 to be barren. 



The dusky, or as it is more commonly called the blue 

 grouse, when two-thirds grown, lies well when once started, 

 and if the sportsman can scatter a brood of bird 

 creek bottom, he will have easy shooting for a short, time, 

 but if surprised among underbrush, where there are no 

 trees, the shooting will be difficult., no less so than that of the 

 ruffed grouse j for the birds dart away with such exceeding 

 swiftness that a single glimpse is all that can be had of them. 

 Indeed in many respects this species rt lastern 



bird (Bonam umbeUus); its flesh is white and delicate; it, de- 

 lights in much the same kind of grouad as the partridge, pre 

 ferring pine woods and steep miuiiaiu sides, aud when 

 taking refuge iu a tree, or, if in the lower lands, in 

 swamps and "beaver marshes," so common along mountain 

 Streams. 



During the spring courlship the call of the male is con- 

 stantly heard in the mountains, and it is a most peculiar 

 sound. A well-known naturdist has described it as being 

 like the words "coomb comb," roftly repeated, but the des- 

 cription of on old frontiersman seems to us better to express 

 the idea ; he said it sounded like "blowing into a bottle.'' 

 Some of its other habits are worthy of notice, among them 

 the practice of erecting the feathers of the sides of the neck as 

 well as the crest, and raising and half spreading the tail when 

 rendered Buspicious or uneasy by the presence of some un- 

 known or alarming object. When a brood is feeding in com- 

 pany, each individual utters continually a soft, low, clucking 

 note, much as do a number of guinea fowls under like circum- 

 stances. Their food during the late summer and early autumn 

 consists very largely of berries, which render the flesh peculi- 

 arly delicious at this time. In August they feed almost en- 

 tirely on a small whortleberry, which grows iu the greatest 

 abundance among the pine forests on the high mountains, 

 and which bears a profusion of small red well-flavored berries. 

 It will readily be imagined that grouse which have lived on 

 such fare would be relished by a daintier epicure than the 

 ever hungry mountaineer. 



It is possible that this species may need some little educa- 

 tion before it can fulfill all the conditions required of it for 

 sport ; its habit of seeking refuge when disturbed— among 

 branches of trees, for example- musl 



remember that the ruffed . it has been but little 



hunted, acts in the same manner, and no doubt us soon as the 

 blue grouse has had time to learu the destructive effect of the 

 shot-gun, it will prefer to seek for safety by hiding rather 

 than by flight. In the meantime it is a. magnificent bird, and, 

 as suggested in the "Sportsman's Gazetteer," it is a great 

 pity that some steps cannot be taken toward acclimatizing it 

 in our Eastern forests, where it would be a most desirable 

 addition to our list of feathered game. 



. (To be continued. ) 

 <( _— ■•• ■ 



The Oapblih, ob Malhlun vittosus, op CtrviEB. — In lh« 

 latest number of Loudon Land and Water at hand we were 

 much interested to discover the following article : 



"With the exception of the genus scopflus, the capelin 

 is the smallest species of salmonid* found in American wa- 

 ters. Dr. Hichardson says it ia nearly allied to ihe Oxmerut 

 [smelt). They are said to be a delicious little pan fish, not 

 excelled by the smelt itself, aud that they resemole that fish 

 in the peculiar smell fur which it is noted when taken from 

 the water. 



" Capelin are found in immenso numbers on the coast of 

 Labrador and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where they are 

 used as bait for the codfish. They are only mentioned here 

 for their value as pertaining to the cod-fishery of ihe North- 

 ern coast. The following notice of the taking of these little 

 tlgh is from the Aptll number ri88lj of Harper's Magazine. 

 The article, is entitled ' Three Months in i ' 



'" At early evtming after the labors of the day, the seine 

 boats go in quest of capelin (bait), carefully searching tha 

 little coves and inlets, and creeping along the shores ; three 

 men pulling in the usuai way, an oarsman in the stern stand- 

 ing up and pushing, while he scans the surface of the water 

 for the ripple of passing schools, and a look-out in the bows, 

 motionless as a figure-head, resting upon his elbows, and 

 peering into the depths before him. Now one gives warning, 

 and over goes the seine smoothly and noiselessly, and with a 

 rapid current the bait is impounded and quickly hauled on 

 One cast is geuerally sufficient, for the capelin swarm 

 in millions, swimming so densely that often A dip net Dan 

 filled trom a passing school. They keep near tl 

 avoid their finny pursuers, and are left floundering upo 

 rocks by every reflux wave. 



"' The cod often leap clear of the water in (heir pursuit, 

 and at such times may be taken by the hook almost the 

 slant it touches ihe water. The capelin is a delicate fish, 

 about six inches in length, and not unlike a smelt ; bis 

 is a dark ohve-gieen, sides of changing rainbow hues, and 

 belly silvery-white. 



1 ■ ' Great numbers of these little fishes are no doubt de- 

 voured by salmon as they come in from the sea, and enter 

 ihe bays and mouths of rivers as they ae, \ 



" The capelin is frequently seen in a dry state in the Lon- 

 don shops, but there does not seem to bg a great demand for 

 them. I shall be glad to receive further information on this 

 point- Feane BUCK] 



To Mr. ChAs. Hallock, the Editor of Fowtsi xxo Shwiam 



