FOREST AND STREAM. 



21 



stretching above the prairie grass, or their discordant and 

 far-sounding screams suggested the presence of the human 

 inhabitants of the region, whose territory was now for the 

 first time invaded by the white man.' The cranes nest in 

 these alpine meadows, and retreat to the milder climate of 

 a of California on the approach of winter. In 

 Oregon they begin to move southward in October. 



Thousands of sandhill cranes repair each year to the Col- 

 orado River Valley, Mock succeeding flock along the course 

 of the great stream, from their arrival in September until 

 their departure the following spring. Taller than the 

 wood ibises or the largest Itcrons with, -which they are as- 

 sociated, the stalely birds stand in the foreground of the 

 scenery of the valley, the water now reflectirjg the shadow 

 of their broad wings, then the clear blue sky" exhibiting iu 

 outline their commanding forms. Such ponderous bodies, 

 moving with slowly-beating wings, gives a great idea of 

 momentum from mere weight— of force of motion without 

 swiftness; for they plod along heavily, seeming to need 

 every inch of their ample wings to' sustain themselves. 

 One would think they must soon alight, fatigued with such 

 exeiiions, but the raucous cries continue, and the birds fly 

 on for miles along the tortuous stream, in Indian file, under 

 some trusty leader, who croaks his hoarse orders, impli- 

 city obeyed. Each bird keeps his place iu the ranks; the 

 advancing column now rises higher over some suspected 

 spot, now falls along an open, sandy reach, swaying mean- 

 while to the right of left. As it passes on. the individual 

 birds are blended in ihe hazy distance, till, just before lost 

 to view, the line becomes like an immense serpent gliding 

 mysteriously through the air. When about to alight, fear- 

 ful lest the shadows of the woods harbor unseen danger, 

 the cranes pass by the leafy intricacies where the ibises and 

 other less suspicious birds feed, anil choose a spot for the 

 advantage it may offer of uninterrupted vision. By nature 

 one of the most'warv and discreet of birds, his experience 

 has taught the crane to value this gift and put it to the best 

 use. His vigilance is rarely relaxed, even when he is feed- 

 ing where less thoughtful birds would feel perfei 

 After almost every bending of his lougneek to the ground, 

 he rises. erect again, and ut full length glances keenly on 



■.■.■. side. lie may resume his repast, but should 

 as a speck he cannot account for appear he stands motion- 

 less, all attention. Now let the least sound or movement 

 betray an unwelcome visitor— he bends his muscular thighs, 

 spreads his ample wings, and springs heavily into the air, 

 croaking dismally in warning to all his kind within the 

 far-reaching sound of his voice. 



The nesting and breeding habits of the two Species of 

 crane are very similar, and their eggs cannot be distin- 

 guished with certainty. Still, to judge from limited compari- 

 sons, those of the sandhill crane are narrower or less capa- 

 cious than those of the other. I have examined eggs from 

 ihe Arctic coast, Washington Territory. California, Utah, 

 Iowa, Florida and (jttutL The whooper's eggs I have only 

 seen from Great Slave Lake, though a set from lowu are 

 probably of this species. Cranes' eggs range from ^ to 4 

 inches in length, by 3+ to 8} broad. The shell is much 

 roughened with numerous elevations, like little warts, and 

 is, moreover, punctuate all over. The ground is a light 

 brownish-drab; the markings are rather sparse, except at 

 the great end; they are large irregular spots of a pale dull 

 chocolate-brown, "with still more obscure or nearly Obsolete 

 shell-markings. 



On- the Upper Missouri, June 10, 1874. 



.X 



The Histoky of a Salmox.— The curator of the Brigh- 

 ton. England, aquarium; writing in Land and Water, tells 

 the following story. Amongst Ihe latest arrivals at Brigh- 

 ton aquarium is a salmon — a true 8almo<mlar. Although 

 nearly fourteen months old. he is only two and a half inches 

 long— not so big as a large minnow. His 1 history is u ca- 

 rious and eventful one. On the 14th of January. 1S73. Mr, 

 James A. Youl (who in recognition of his efforts to stock 

 the rivers of our Antipodean colonies with salmon and trout, 

 has recently been honored by Her Majesty with the com- 

 panionship of the order of St. Michael and St. George), 

 sent out to New Zealand, in the ship Oberou, 12,0000 sal- 

 mon ova, packed with moss in 227 deal boxes. Each box 

 measured ten inches by eight, and was four inches deep. 

 To arrest the development of the young tish in the eggs 

 during the long voyage, and to prevent their being hatched 

 out before -arriving at their destination, the boxes were 

 surrounded bv blocks of ice, which froze together in a 

 solid mass in a chamber specially prepared for them. The 

 Oberon arrived at Port Chalmers, Olago, on the 1st of May, 

 and when the ice-house was opened it was found that of 

 the twentv-five tons of ice put on board not more than five 

 tons, at the outside, had melted away on the vo] 

 hundred thousand of the ova were transhipped to South- 

 land, from which about six hundred salmon were hatched; 

 the remainder were taken to the province of Canterbury 

 and from these only sixty young fish were obtained. Dan- 

 gers incurred in the transhipment are supposed to account, 

 in some measure, for the arrival at maturity of so small a 

 proportion of the ova. Of a previous consignment of sal- 

 mon eggs by the Lincolnshire in 1888, nearly teu per cent. 

 were hatched. That he <i 

 were properly fecundate' 

 those exposed to the viciss 

 of others kept at li 



the 



CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 



DEPAETMENT OF PCBLIC J'AKKS, I 



New York. Aug, IS, 18] 



Anlnmls received M Central Park Mentijrene for the week ending 

 August 1Mb, 18H : 



Two Bear cabs, li ,<■: - cYipraredfn New York. Present- 



ed by Wrii, P. IietChwOrfb.. 



One Iguana. Invana tubervuttttu . Hub. West, Indies Presented by 

 Mr. H. B. Bishop. 



Two Turkey Buzzards, Cat/UHta aura. Presented byltr. J. P. Id- 

 dings. 



■ DttbtaO Wallaby, HiJta U Hal. Australia. 



Bred in the Me W. A. OoMKLis 



foodfand, Eflivn and (Barden. 



:th 

 ompare the produce of 

 u Bea voyage with those 

 ilar conditions, Mr. Youl 

 retainedfour boxes from the batch, and placed them in the 

 vaults of Wedham Lake Ice Company, on the Strand, on 

 the very same day that their companions were lodged in the 

 ice-room at Oberon. They were opened on the 2nd of May, 

 after beinu 108 days in ice. and. as was afterwards learned, 

 just one day after the arrival of the ship in New Zealand. 

 The four boxes contained about 8,200 eggs, Of these Mr 

 Yonl gave all but 170 to some friends, and in all, oOO fish 

 were obtained from them. In the most succes.- ; ' 

 mentthe youngsters were not "born in a bower," bul 

 hatched J n a pie dish, under the dripping of a lap, from 

 which fell eighty drops of water per minute— an example 

 of good work being done by a skillful and careful opera- 

 tor with inexpensive apparatus. From the 170 eggs winch 

 Mr! Youl transferred to his own troughs, 130 salmon were 

 produced, the first of which made its appearance on the 

 loth of May. Of these he gave away seventy when they 

 were ten months old, and of the fifty which he kept and 

 hoped to rear to adult salmouhood, the lively little fellow 

 which he has entrusted to my charge at Brighton, is the 

 sole survivor. 



—On the 13th instant, Dr. J. L. Babcock, of Hallowed, 

 Maine and Mr. Thomas Sanborn, of South Boston, were 

 killed by lightning while fishing on East Wimhrop Pond , 

 near Hallowell. 



LET THE BIRDS LIVE. 



•' The H,ru-li 

 And woodlark. o'er the kind, contending throng, 

 Superior heard, nm through the Sweetefil length i 



LET the birds live ! Boy or man, why do ypu so relent- 

 lessly pursue unto maiming or death even- little beau- 

 tiful bird that alights in your garden ? God ma'de them to 

 live, to make vocal wilh their clear, wild music this beautiful 

 earth. He has given them to cheer with their earl;, matin 

 song the husbandman in the early spring time. "At the 

 opening of a bright day in May, how sweet, how fresh, is 

 the rich and varied melody of "the thrush and robin red- 

 breast ! The later, more diversified song of the bob-o'-link 

 as he rises from the waving green of the beautiful meadows 

 of the Hudson, how well is its old familiar song remem- 

 bered : The thrush is a great songster; he is a very talka- 

 tive gentleman. He is often seen perched upon the highest 

 branches of the maples at the field's border, or the tall alma 

 by the roadside. 

 'There is a sort of consciousness about the russet-coated 

 fellOW, which almost every one must have observed. He 

 seems to know you are planting corn, and he tells you as 

 plainly as he can in his own song-words, to "put it in, cover 

 . &c., saying just what one imagines he 

 would say if he could talk like man. I recollect once a 

 neighbor and friend of mine, who was planting corn by the 

 roadside, took the of t-repeated lay of a talkative thrush. 

 who had perched himself near by, to enforce a lesson of 

 i : ■ eivdy, though shrewd boy, who was drop- 

 ping the corn in the hills. " " Do you hear what that bird 

 says " said the farmer to the boy. whose name was Lang- 

 don, '• No, sir, I do not. " "Well, he says drop faster, 



faster ; put in the corn, be quick, be quick !" 



This' practical lesson, so pleasantly enforced, not only 

 quickened the physical energies of the boy, but awoke a 

 new train of ideas in his mind, which, but for the bird, he 

 might never have had. Upon coming into the field in the 

 afternoon, the peculiar, pleasant smile of Langdon arrested 

 the attention of his employee, who remarked: "What 

 pleases v. u so much titiaqfternoon ?" "What the bird says 

 this he sim« another tune now." " Well, what 



i, the bey quickly replied : "Joe, pay Lang half a 



dollar ! -Joe. pay Lang half a dollar !" 



Tiie corn was. planted, and Lang had his half dollar; all 

 parties were satisfied, and the bird was voted a pattern of 

 industry. Should not such a bird be spared the fatal shol 

 from the fowler's gun '? Certainly, if for no other reason 

 than cheering on to industry, and enlivening the hours of 

 daily labor, he should live to sing the same old song ; he is 

 a valuable apprentice in the field of theorehardist; he is a 

 v, i irber, a destructive force that needs do apparatus to set 

 it in motion; he is ever ready to act in obedience to his 

 natural instincts. 



In many of our field birds is seen a result of instinct 

 that, to the unitiated, seems almost wonderful in itself. 



1 have seen one single pair of thrushes, which had made a 

 nest in my garden,destrpy upwards of thret hundred of cater- 

 pillars ot a simrle morning, or in the short period three 

 hours. Now, ft they would destroy such a number in the 

 space of three hours', of a morning, is it unreasonable to 

 suppose the same pair of birds, with the wants of a rising 

 family to supplv. would not, in the course of a single day, 

 destroy sLx hundred caterpillars ". 



I think my estimate will be received BS fair and relia- 

 ble. Now 1 esteem a pair of thrushes and golden robins, 

 (Baltimore orioles'), as almost equal to one man at killing 

 Caterpillars per day ; the birds are not afraid of killing the 

 worm, while some farm laborers had much rather eat plum 

 pudding within doors than kill these troublesome fellows 

 with their fingers out of doors. 

 Therefore, we say. spttM &u> birtU iu the garden. Who 

 netted with much pleasure the labor of one robin 

 to take care of ihe little fledglings .who have just left the 

 parental nest and are every morning hopping up and down 

 the gravelled road, or near the fountain » DO you not 

 hear their familiar "pip. pup. pip," as with win| 

 ing through helnlesncss, they utter their morning cry for 

 food! I have seen one old male bird, in the space of a 

 single hour, catch and give to its young fifteen or twenty 

 large caterpillers. . 



The. robin is one of the most industrious of our familiar 

 birds ; and as he is so great a friend to man, snovld rind in 

 man a generous protector, ami we are pleased to know that 

 our farmers, particularly in Massachusetts, are taking more 

 effective measures foi the protection of the birds. 



It is high lime that long-legged, half-grown boys and 

 shiftless men had b better business than prowling through 

 grass lands, over gardens, and about houses, shooting erery 

 robiu and blue bird, and every other inuolYeiisive little 

 bird to be seen. Let our yeomanry unite in passing a law, 

 with penalties annexed, against this practice of the wanton, 

 useless sport, audit will cease. In the ec&Mm™ 

 these little winged ones play a most imp 

 are of the most"" incalculable benefit to the huauMuwuo,.*. 

 Several other important reasons why the birds should be 



and loved, instead of maimed and killed, or 



driven away. I may, perhaps, if this is well received, tell 

 you of iu some future number. Ollitod Qcili.. 



■•*»> 



Thc Guassuoppek Plague in Manitoba.— These un- 

 welcome intruders have been wafted in millions by a 

 westerly wind from the plains of the Saskatchewan. They 

 were first seen on the 13th ult., and since then have been 

 steadily advancing, devouring the crops of the White Mud 

 River settlements, and were, "when the mail left, approach- 

 ing the settlements on the Assiniboine. They are in large 

 , numher- between Poplar Point and Portage. La Prairie, to 



the west of Fort Ganw and soma of Lake Manitoba. They 

 are also at the Boyue'settiemcnts to the southwest of Fort 

 Garry, and on theliue of route from Pembina northwards 

 to Scratching River. 



The calamity is all the more serious in its nature, inas- 

 verV large proportion of the inhabitants are new 

 settlers, whose pi y wholly iu their crops. 



he mischief eiid wilh the arrival of winter. The 

 pests deposit their eggs in vast numbers, from which, on 

 the return of summer, come forth countless millions of 

 young, more ravenous even than their progenitors. 



The Red River territory is unhappily only too familiar 

 with these grasshopper visitations. The first record of 

 their appearance is in 1818. They came late on that occa- 

 sion, and the mischief done was" only partial; the wheat 

 being nearly ripe, mostly escaped. Bin the deposit of their 

 ova insured' worse consequences in the next year, when 

 thev destroyed everything, and without waiting to lay their 

 eggs, departed. Fresh swarms, however, came, and for 

 ,'':■■'■■ 'i -sice seasons the unfortunate settlers Saw Ihcir 

 means of livelihood destroyed. !' is singular, however, 

 that from this time no less than thirty-six years passed 

 without a recurrence of the grasshopper plague. In 1857 

 they visited the Assiniboine settlements, did a moderate 

 amount of mischief , and left their ova to complete the 

 work they had begun, in 1858. Then eight years 

 and in 1854 they reappeared. Iu this and Ihe next year, 

 however, the mischief was but partial, and did n. 

 sp grave a character as in the case of their former visits. 

 shopper plague of 1867-8 will be long remembered. 

 1887 they came towards the end of the season, loo late to 

 produce anj n . lisastrorrs results. But in 1868 the ova 

 deposited in 1867 produced swarms exceeding in numbers 

 anything previously known; a famine ensued, and ihe cry 

 of distress from, th Red Rive rd not in vain in 



Canada ami Greal Britain. Since that time they have 

 been on two occasions somewhat seriously troublesome, 

 but not to au extent to attract much more than local atten- 

 tion, — Toronto Globe. 



. and 



A New Cekeai..— An American, exchange says:— "A 

 new cereal has been grown in Oregon, and the people are 

 puzzled as to whether it beta .:- to the wheat family, or 

 more resembles rye. barley, or oats, opinions being very 

 nearly equally divided. From seven to ten sialks grow 

 from one root to the height of about four feet, and these, 

 stalks are thin and hard. The radicals are lough, and 

 spread widely. The heads are six inches in length, and 

 covered with, a heavy beard, each filament being five inches 

 long. The groin is "double the length of a kernel of wheat , 

 and" instead" of being firm and compact, is hollow, the 

 cavity containing glutinous matter. While the grain bears 

 a closer resemblance to wheal than anything else, the straw 

 loots like rye or barley. Its origin is" somewhat peculiar, 

 the first grain being 'taken from the stomach of a wild 

 goose by a farmer" in Sillamock county, nearly three 

 years ago. He was struck with lis appearance, ind" planted 

 it. and the succeeding season sowed the produce. He dis- 

 tributed a portion of the second crop among a few friends 

 in different parts of the State, who this year raised small 

 quantities. It will require another year to determine the 

 value of the grain. 



The above article has been forwarded to us from Eng- 

 land, clipped from an English paper by Jackson Citibanks, 

 Esq., of London "Lund ami Waiter," journal, who asks 

 for additional information of this new cereal. Perhaps 

 our correspondent, "Mortimer Kerry" can enlighten him.— 

 Ed.] 



— ♦♦♦ 



Tali. Count.— Last Friday Henry O. Knoepfel of this 

 city, had on exhibition in his store in 1-1 Jane street, some 

 foeider corn which measured when standing ten feet and 

 two inches from the ground to the tip of the spire. 



J|7/£ fennel. 



Fur Forest 'and stream . 

 DOG AND GUN.— BY "1DSTONE." 



THEY used to be inseparable as the horse and hound, 

 and every man who shot had a ranging, pointing dog 

 of some kind or other. It does not seem so many years 

 ago that a clumsy keeper shot my favorite black and tan 

 setter "Pilot." as he was pointing a covey of birds for us in 

 some standing beans, and we returned home quite discon- 

 solate, for we were staying with a choleric old game- 

 keeper some twenty miles from my kennel. As for going 

 on without dogs, tii' one suggested such au idea, and walk- 

 iug 'era. up had uol been invented, still less driving at birds 

 over your head, as you stood in a pit dug that morning 

 for your seclusion, and not impervious to thc ants. 



Every man who took out a game certificate, (on the 

 chance of invitations few and far between,! had something 

 with four legs and a tail tied up in lis stable yard, which 

 the coachman was prepared to name "Master's Pointer," 

 and to kick upon the slightest provocation. I can just re- 

 member the time when the pointer's tail was docked to five 

 inches. As the unlucky brute stood on his game, his 

 u stern" looked like a hat peg, or a bailiff's truncheon, or a 

 stiff specimen of asparagus, or a child's ninepin, or any- 

 thing hut a dog's tail improved, aye, nearly improved out 

 of existence. 



It took these old Spanish pointers the best pare of a 

 morning to beat, thirty acres of clover, and lire antiquated 

 flint gun was a couple of seconds making up its mind to go 

 off. First, it had to flash in the pan, and then to comrou- 

 I act that the hammer was down to the charge 

 inside the barrel. You had to calculate all Ibis, and con- 

 sequently many birds, snipes, woodcocks, "rocketting 

 pheasants," and mallards, got off free. 



The pointer was crossed with the fox-hound Jong before 

 the gun was improved by the invention of thc percussion 

 ca p — an invention claimed by Joe Mauton, Col. Hawker, 

 and, I believe Egg, the gunmaker, and claimed for a Dorset 

 clergyman named Billy Butler. 



; .. . | 



