462 



FOREST AIND STREAM. 



chi establishment ia also represented In a large illustration, 

 accompanying which is a special report. The document con- 

 tains many facts or' interest, and we shall from time to time 

 avail ourselves of the fund of information it contains and lay 

 the same before our readers. 



Abstract of the Biennial Report of the Fish 

 Commissioners of the State of Vermont, 

 for 1877-8. 



IS their last report, now before us, the Vermont Commis- 

 sioners join the Massachusetts Commissioners in strongly 

 condemning the selfish and unjust attitude assumed by Con- 

 necticut in relation to the shad and salmon introduced into 

 the Connecticut River. To this complaint of a lack of inter- 

 State courtesy we have already referred. The Connecticut 

 Legislature allows the greedy fishermen of that State to so in- 

 terrupt the annual run of shad and salmon that their passage 

 through to Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont 

 waters is almost wholly cut off. It is not to be expected that 

 these latter Slates are to expend money year after year for the 

 benefit of the fishermen at the mouth of the river. Even the 

 Connecticut Commissioners themselves appear to have been 

 unable to effect any remedy of the abuse. They confess that 

 they are powerless to remove the causes of complaints. 



Of the re-st icking of the Merrimack the report speaks more 

 encouragingly, since the fishway at Lawrence, Mass., has 

 been remodeled the returning fish have had free passage, and 

 everything promises here a great success. The detailed ob- 

 servations of ilie passage of fish has already been recorded in 



the FOBBST AND STEBAM. 



Some attention has been given to the introduction of migra- 

 tory fish into some of the waters emptying into Lake Cham- 

 plain. Further effort here is held in abeyance until the 

 necessary co-operation of Canada and New York can be 



In previous years some twenty ponds have been stocked 

 with black bass. In spite of early depredations upon the 

 parent fish by unscrupulous spearmen and netters the fish 

 have iucreased and multiplied, and now the pouds are well 

 stocked. Although it is still too early to predict with cer- 

 tainty the result of the plantings of land-locked salmon in 

 1876, there is every reason to believe that the experiment will 

 be attended with complete success. Their introduction is 

 still, however, an experiment. 



Smelts have been introduced into the tributaries of Lake 

 Champlam. They have so far done very well, and further 

 efforts in this direction will be made if the results appear to 

 justify it. 



The present laws relating to the capture of fish are found 

 to be ineffectual, because they are not properly enforced. 

 The Commission suggests that in the public waters of the 

 State there should be the greatest possible freedom given to 

 angling compatible with the efficient reproduction of fish. 

 Fishing with uets and seines should be more stringently regu- 

 lated, and confined to October and November. Several statu- 

 tory regulations, whose importance have long been recognized 

 in other Stales, are also very sensibly advocated. The re- 

 port concludes wiih an advocacy of the present law relating 

 to trespass, in which the reasons for such a statute are very 

 clearly set forth. 



— Commissioner McDonald, of Virginia, writes: "The 

 ilmou reported to have been taken in the Shenandoah must 

 ave been one of the 'land-locked' placed by the Virginia 

 iommissiou in the headwaters of the Shenandoah two years 

 » ago. It is hardly probable that ;any of the Californias are 



now in fhn rive?- " 



now in the river."" 



jistarg* 



THE PARTRIDGE FLY. 



Newark, N. J., Dec. 23,1878. 

 Editor Forest and Strbam i 

 This insect is about a third larger than a common house 

 UJr, is black, a little slimmer in proportion to size, longer 

 winged and smaller ; the proboscis or beak is broad at the 

 base, about onesixteenth of an inch long, and tapers to a 

 point ; this beak at the base is flat transversely to the long 

 axis of the body, consequently is V-shaped. This fly is 

 fOuniTat tending our pheasant or partridge wherever it exists, 

 and at all seasons, whether hot or cold, wet or dry. When 

 the bird starts to take wing the fly starts also, and, like the 

 pilot-fish to the shark, keeps close to the bird's head and neck 

 until it alights or is shot down, when the fly stops on the bird 

 and conceals itself under the feathers. It may also take 

 shelter under the feathers of the bird iu cold or storm. It is 

 said to subsist on the excrements of the bird, and some are of 

 the opinion that it breeds there also. The breeding of these 

 insects is what mostly interests us. The last year in Penn- 

 sylvania, southwestern New York and western New Jersey 

 a huge number of the young of the ruffed grouse have been 

 destroyed by what is culled a tick, which is lodged on and 

 eats into the neck, throat and head of young pheasants, and I 

 stronly suspect that this tick is a product of this fly for the 

 following reasons: The tick is very tough, and unless greatly 

 gorged with blood is bard to mash, and so is the fly ; indeed 

 tne fly will bear a pressure with the thumb-nail on a hard 

 substance of tenor fifteen pounds; the beak is formed for 

 burrowing and so must be that of the tick, and, though they 

 are occasionally found every season, their great number ap- 

 pears to be attended with" a larger number of ticks and a 

 greater destruction of the young birds, as noted the past 

 season. The reproduction of this fly, probably, is by the in- 

 sect depositing the blow (ovum) ou the neck of the young 

 bird before it tea) hers, where it hatches and forms the lick- 

 maggot (larva), as it may be properly called, and where it 

 subsists by eating into the neck of the bird until it develops 

 into this peculiar fly. There are rarely more than three or 

 four flies with one bird ; often there is but one, and they ap- 

 pear mutual trieuds at this season of the year. 



On bringing in a number of birds and removing them from 

 your game bag, near a warm stove, perhaps the first thing 

 that will claim your attention will be one of these flies, re- 

 solved to alight on yoor neck. This he will persist in doing, 



even though you may slap at him a dozen times. If you are 

 not acquainted with the fly, the visitor will pass for a bother- 

 some house-fly, and you may never be wiser unless you got a 

 crack at him on some hard substance, when, oil giving him a 

 good hard slap, you will be surprised to find that he. does not 

 mind it more than a piece of India-rubber. Until within a 

 few weeks I have been accustomed to regard the ticks on the 

 partridge as the wood-tick, such as we see on dogs, foxes, 

 minks, rabbits, etc., and it never occurred to me otherwise 

 until the fly suggested it ; and now, from my memory of the 

 partridge tick and wood-tick, I am persuaded they differ. 

 Straight-Bore. 



We are under obligations to our friend " Straight-Bore " 

 for the information which his interesting communication con- 

 veys, and while we do not think he quite succeeds in estab- 

 lishing the connection between the so-called tick and the fly, 

 we think that it is by no means unlikely that such a connec- 

 tion may exist. The probabilities are more in favor of this 

 view of the case, if, as we think, the fly belongs to the family 

 Hippobomdos, a group of flies which are parasitic on the deer, 

 sheep and some birds. The young of the species of this group 

 are not produced from eggs in the usual way, but are brought 

 forth alive, and in the pupa state somewhat resemble a wood- 

 tick, but have only six le^s. They live upon the blood of the 

 animal to which they are all iched. Dr. Packard has described 

 one from a great horned owl 'it,der the name Bippobosca 

 Imbonti. We hope before ioug to receive specimens of 

 this fly, which we shall submit to a competent entomologist, 

 from whom we may expect to receive very full information 

 on this subject. We shall be pleased to receive from Mr. 

 Hope, whose note we print below, the specimens to which he 

 refers. They can be sent to us by mail in a small bottle of 

 alcohol. We feel confident from the interest taken in this 

 subject by sportsmen in general that we shall before iong be 

 able to accumulate some interesting facts with regard to this 

 parasite. 



There can be little doubt that the flies referred to by Straight 

 Bore belong to the family Hippoboscidce, and this is the more 

 piobablefrom the fact that this family is viviparous, aud that 

 the young assume a shape not unlike that of a wood tick, but 

 having, of course, only six legs, and are parasitic on many 

 birds aud mammals. Dr. A. S. Packard has described a 

 species (E. bubonu) which was taken from a great horned 

 owl, and we would refer our readers to his " Guide to the 

 Study of Insects" for a figure of the young. We hope shortly 

 to be able to clear this matter up satisfactorily: 



Somerset, 0., Dec, 23, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Strkam : 



I notice in your issue of Dec. 19 an article on parasites on 

 the ruffed grouse and their supposed effect in destroying the 

 young birds. I have noticed these parasites on the adult 

 birds for many years, and wondered that no sporting writer 

 or naturalist (at least those with whom 1 am familiar) should 

 have mentioned them. I have never seen the grub, or young, 

 of the insect, as I never had a young grouse, or any grouse, 

 in my hands in the summer season; but 1 have noticed five 

 or six on one biid in the fall, and have in two or three in- 

 stances noticed them on quail. They are about the size of a 

 house-tly, with larger wings and a leathery, bat-like appear- 

 ance. 



You say you have never seen a specimen. I have two, 

 preserved iu alcohol, which I will send you if you wish it. 

 Say how you want them sent. I have no doubt but that in 

 wet seasons, when the young birds cannot readily find dust 

 in which to wallow, that these parasites would prove very des- 

 tructive. Yours, C. H. Hope. 



THE WHIPPOORWILL. 



New Yokk, Dee. 21, 1878. 

 Editor 1 orest and Stubam and Rod and Gun : 



Now ihat the eel question 13 Settled, pleaae give us Information re- 

 garding the wblppoorwill. Webster delinea It as a speoics of the night- 

 hawk. 11. is doubted, and by many believed to be a distinct species. 



T. E. P. 



[The whippoorwill is perfectly distinct from the night- 

 hawk. — Ed.] 



. — >♦— > 



Interesting Papers. — We have recently received from the 

 authors two papers issued by the Engineer Department at 

 Washington, which are of great interest to naturalists. The 

 first of these is a ".Report upon the Keptiles and Batrachians 

 Collected during the Years of 1875, 187(5 and 1877 in Cali- 

 fornia, Arizona and Nevada," by Dr. H. C. Yarrow and H. 

 W. Henshaw, both of whom have been long and favorably 

 known both to naturalists and the general public for the ex- 

 cellent work which they have done in connection with Lt. G. 

 M. Wheeler's Geographical Survey West of the 100th Meri- 

 dian. The superb volume on the zoology of this survey, 

 which was issued some time since, was in a very considerable 

 part, the work of these two writers, and would speak emphati- 

 cally enough in their behalf even if they had never done any 

 other scientific work. Besides this, their pamphlets and 

 shorter publications in various periodicals have been numer- 

 ous acd valuable. 



In the paper now under consideration thirty-nine species 

 are mentioned, of which one — Bufo eopei— is new to science. 

 Very full synonomy of all the species noticed is given, and 

 the notes on the habits and relationships of the various forms 

 are extremely interesting. 



"A List of Marine Fishes Collected on the Coast of Cali- 

 fornia, near Santa Barbara, in 1875, with Notes," is by the 

 same authors. Twenty species are noticed, one of the most 

 interesting of which is the viviparous perch (Vymatogaster 

 aggregntus. Gibbons), an account of which was published in 

 Forest add Stream some years since. 



Cape Pigeons and How to Capture Thbii.— Of all 

 modes of capturing birds that described by our correspondent 



in the subjoined letter is one of the most novel. About 

 the vexed question of the pigeon's edibility, we confess, 

 we are unable to decide. We have visited half a 

 dozen ships, and found ever so many men who have " been 

 around the Cape," and, while one spoke high in praise of the 

 flavor of the bird, another never knew of their being eaten, 

 and a third never heard of them. We did not confound the 

 Cape pigeon and the albatross. Sailors differ as much as 

 other people in their superstitions, and wbde some tars may 

 relish the flesh of a sea bird, others may refrain from it with 

 superstitious dread : 



In your issue of the 29th ult, there is some confusion as to 

 the birds alluded to under the caption, " Albatross and Cape 

 Pigeon," the latter being clearly confounded with the stormy 

 petrel or Mother Carey's chicken. So far ns the sailors being 

 superstitious as to the capture of the Cape pigeon, which is of 

 a black and white color and about the size of a tame pigeon, 

 their catching is looked upon as an amusing recreation for the 

 younger passengers on board, and occasionally for the sailors 

 themselves. 1 have caught many molly mawks, a bird of the 

 same description, but of smaller size, but never heard of their 

 being edible before, and their rank smell is enough to convince 

 most people who have handled them that it would require a 

 very good cook indeed to fix them up into an eatable dish. 

 The only use I have ever seen them put to has been the pre- 

 servation of their pinion bones for pipe-stems. I have never 

 seen one shot, the method of capture being the dropping over- 

 board of a pork-baited hook at the end of a log-line, the bait 

 being kept stationary (to the limit of the line) by board floats. 

 The albatross is very suspicious, and will touch nothing in mo- 

 tion ; so as soon as'tbe line has run out it must be reeled up 

 and the process begun anew. Hauling a good-sized albatross 

 up a quarter of a mile with wings and flat feet set against the 

 water is good work for three or four men. Most are labeled 

 and collared and let go again. 



In Southern latitudes the Cape pigeons follow a ship in 

 thousands. They are caught as follows : A common bottle 

 cork is tied to the end of along piece of thread and trailed 

 behind the stern so that the cork touches the water. This 

 gives the required tension or tautness to the thread. As the 

 birds fly in clouds from side to side astern, some of them con- 

 stantly strike the thread with the wing, and the resistance is 

 enough to turn them over it, when the thread is wrapped 

 round the wing and the bird is hauled on board. It is no ex- 

 aggeration to say that bundreds are thus caught in a day. I 

 remember when sailing to India on board the ship St. Law- 

 rence, with troops, in 1861, and a ship full of passengers, that 

 on the 1st of September (the opening day of sport in England) 

 we first struck pigeons, and sweepstakes as to numbers soon 

 took the place of* the excitement of hauling a single bird on 

 board. As well as I can recollect, we caught over (100 to half 

 a dozen corks. Against such numbers of pigeons I saw but 

 one stormy petral caught on that or any other voyage. The 

 ship's doctor, a young suraeon named Garner, caught one ou 

 bis thread. He took it to his cabin, where, being an enthu- 

 siastic naturalist, he proposed to kill and skin it. lt was his 

 first voyage, and be was much elated at securing the specimen. 

 Half an hour afterward ft deputation from the crew, headed 

 by a boatswain's mate named Hawes, arrived to beg htm to 

 let the bird go, or some dire calamity would happen. He 

 agreed to do what they wished, but (rilled and preserved the 

 bird as soon as their backs were turned, a fact, which came to 

 their knowledge later on, when Lhej r grumbled exceedingly at 

 the risk he bad put the whole ship to. 1 forgot whether it 

 was on the following Christmas or New Year's Day, but on 

 one of there while the St. Lawrence was at anchor iu the 

 Hooghly, oil' Calcutta, the Doctor dropped dead off his chair 

 after dinner from heart disease, and, on a visit which 1 shortly 

 afterward paid the vessel to liquor up those who had brought 

 me through a four months' voyage, the sailors, one and all, 

 gravely attributed his death to his slaiigher of the Mother 

 Carey's chicken -, and I am convinced that meddling with 

 another on any future voyage would have provoked that, ship's 

 company almost to mutiny. tir.io.UK. 



Destrdotivbness of an Otter. — An instance proving 

 that fish otters are able to catch even the largest of the inland 

 water tish has been communicated to the German Fitting 

 l/asette as having happened in Norway. The fresh remains 

 of an otter meal have been discovered a few days ago upon 

 the banks of the Lardalsely in Norway, consisting of the 

 head and tail-end of salmon. The weight of the bead was 

 six pounds, and that of the tail-end up to the lowest point 

 of the dorsal fin, twenty English pounds. The marks of the 

 forepaws of the otter upon the tail-eud of the salmon indicated 

 clearly that the otter must, have caught hold of the lish at the 

 tail, and that he had let himself be dragged along by the 

 salmon until the lattcr's strength had been entirely exhausted, 

 when it fell an easy prey to its enemy. To judge from the 

 proportions of the discovered remains, the total weight of the 

 salmon could not be estimated at less than fifty pounds; the 

 otter having, therefore, in one single meal, devoured some 

 twenty-five pounds of fish-flesh.— K.e. 



We have had some queer experiences of this kind ourselves 

 in the course of many years wanderings. Once on the Neplgon 

 River we ran a rope through the gills of two twelve-pound 

 lake trout which we had caught by trolling, and left them in 

 the water by the riverside with the rope, made fast to the 

 stem of a sapling, hoping to boil them for next day's meal. 

 In the morning they were missing, with the rope cut. After 

 a brief search along the shore we found the head of one of 

 them protruding from the bank, and taking hold of it, found 

 the body eaten off to the shoulders. A mink had tried to 

 drag it into its hole tail foremost, but being too large, it stuck, 

 aud the mink made the best he could of his reprisal. The 

 fish weighed three times as much as the mink. 



Seals are vastly more destructive to fish than minks or otters. 

 During a long cruise on the Labrador coast we observed their 

 ravages every day. Pound nets are set all aloDg shore for sal- 

 mon, many of which are taken and smoked or salted. Hut, twice 

 as many would be caught but for the seals. At almost any time, 

 by silently watching, we could detect the round bullet hearts 

 of one or more seals in the water inside or outBide of the 

 pounds, and on inspecting the net abundant evidence of their 

 destructive work could be found. They seldom, if ever, de- 

 voured an entire fish, hut contented themselves with a bite at 

 this and at that one, mutilating a large number, and almost 

 Unpoveriflhing the poor fishermen. Once a member of our 



