May 26, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



327 



to the colm 



BUS Of Ft) 



The furs 



, 5 !,... 



eiice betw 



eon the i 



that genus, 



thoinaies 



oe of the kind on record. This record of the habits of 

 litfle-knowiJ animals is due to the. careful Observation 

 . Frank J. Thompson, of Cincinnati, who lias charge of 

 ulogical Garden, and who contributed this observation 



E8T AM> BlBEAM. 



l size than the sea lions, but the dift'er- 

 rdes and females is still greater than in 

 eighing from 500 to 700 pouuds.and the 

 ki i: !> front SOto 100 pounds. Opportunities for observing 

 the habits of the fur seals hove, of course, been exceptionally 

 good at the l'rybilov Islands and the material for a biogra- 

 phy of this species is very full. Butli tic. however, is known 

 of their habits except during) lie time thai they remain on the 

 islands, that is from April to November. Where they pass 

 the Winter is as yet a matter only of conjecture, and further 

 observations on this point are needed. 



Of the habits of the Pliocedm, or family of earless seals. 

 though these are much more numerous in species than thi 



upsbefc 



nil. 



pel 



ski 



>ft'.;i 



hum;;:: 

 that se< 

 in mors 



uland 



of North An 



ablv 



ndicatio: 

 lures are 



ode of lifi 



id study than the latter. Prof, 

 if earless seals, represented by 

 seven, or possibly eight, are 

 icrica. The business of seal- 

 , followed with such energy 

 ltd with extermination, and 

 hat. of the sea elephant {Ma- 

 rsuit of the species has been 

 10 longer to be found in any 

 of the yearly destruction of 

 i given : The annual catch of 

 estimated by Dr. Rink as 

 about 89,0(10 seals, Here they Are eap'ured by the natives 

 with harpoons or shot with rides. In 1873 the "catch," so- 

 called, of the Newfoundland fishery is said to have been 

 526,000. In the Jan-Mayen, or Greenland seas, the annual 

 catch is about 200,000, and so wastelul and improvident is 

 the slaughter of breeding females that the European nations 

 interested have all passed more or less stringent lav l f ij the 

 protection of these animals during certain seasons. With 

 regard to the "fisheries "of the Kara Sea and Nova Zembla, 

 the White Sea, the Caspian Sea, and (he Noil h Pacific, we 

 have no figures, but from all the accounts which we have it 

 is certain that a shortsighted policy of indiscriminate 

 slaughter is pursued in all these localities. 



It is, perhaps, not generally known that the Caspian Sea 

 an inland brackish lake having no natural communication 

 with the ocean, is Hie seat of a most important sealing indus- 

 t y— one, in fact, second only to that of the Jau-Maynu seas. 

 The figures given by Schultz for six years ending with 1872 

 Will give some idea of the magnitude and importance of the 

 ■' fisheries" of these waters. " The number of skins taken in 

 1867 was 1>!1,723 ; in 1808, 150,047; in I860, 128,701; in 

 1870, 137,030; in 1871, 90, 468; and in 1872, 156,750, or an 

 average of about 130,000 for each year. The spec;.; taken 

 tiere iathe Phm ecupim, by some authors regarded as iden 

 tieal with our commun Plum vttuQm, but considered by 

 Prof- Allen as a perfectly good specie*, it is a Email animal, 

 weighing from 75 to 150 pounds, or about as much as the 

 common" seal found in winter hi Long Island Sound and 

 sometimes iu the Buy." 



It will be si 

 history of the 



iiii what has been said above that the 

 is simply one long tale of butchery, and 



that, the extermination, certainly, of the more important 

 groups, has many times been threatened. The fact that their 

 resorts are distant from the haunts of man has alone pro- 

 tected them up 1 1 this time. The governments of Europe 

 most immediately interested have of late been legislating for 

 these animals, and it is high time that the United Slates and 

 Canaua took some effective steps in the same direction. 



E 



A DUCK NEW TO KORTH AMERICA. 



TtROM advance sheets of the Proceedings of the United 



~* States National Museum for 1881 we learn that auother 



bin! has been added to tie- North American fauna. The 



story of Hie ideiitioqafcipn i 

 in the National Museum foi 

 Kidgvvay says : 



"AbOttt nine years since 

 A. Boardmau, of Calais, Mi 

 stitution a mounted apec'um 

 Market, New York " 

 bona- Island Sound 



eye 



ii'th t 



n S- 



February 2, 1872), Mr. George 



ife, sent to the Smithsonian th- 



of a duck obtained in Fulton 



,nd supposed to have been shot on 



i lie was unable to determine satis 



factorily, but which he supposed to be a hybrid between the 

 redhead y^Klhyui amerkana) and some other species. The 

 specimen was in immature plumage, with the feathers of the 

 first liverv much worn, while those of the new moult, which 

 were generally interspersed, indicated a very different garb 

 when the moult should have been completed. At the time: 

 the specimen was received at the Smithsonian I (also sup- 

 posing it to be a hybrid) made comparisons. With nearly, if 

 not quite, all the American species of ducks, but was unable 

 to get the slightest clue to its parentage. It was then put 

 back in the case and not again thought of until a few day 



ago, when 

 re-arrange) 

 hand and I 

 duck (FniU/iU 

 thus in a very 

 perceived a str 

 the form of tl 

 amination ti 



1 1 hapt 



adult fei 



<; the specimens with a view to their 

 ed to take the one in question in one 

 ;e of the European rufous-crested 

 in the other ; and having the two 

 vorablo position for comparison, 1 at once 

 ing similarity in general appearance and in 

 bill, which induced me to extend the ex- 

 an adult male, the result being that no question 

 led of the bird iu question being an immature male of 

 F. rajlii'j, a species hitherto not detected in North America. 

 1 have written to Mr. Boardman, requesting full particulars 

 as to cireumstimc.es and date of capture, hut have been 

 unable to elicit any further particulars than those given 

 above. 



" As the species has never been described in any work on 

 North American birds, I give below a description of the 

 three stages represented iu the collection of the United States 

 National'Museum, as well as of the downy youug, the latter 

 quoted from Dresser's ' Birds of Europe;' also die principal 

 synonyms and references, compiled from the leading Euro- 

 pean authorities." 



* - ir duck shooting readers we quote be- 

 sry full description of adult male and 

 male : 



i eastern Europe, northern Africa and 

 orlliern and central Europe, and Casu- 

 iccidentai in eastern' U. S. (New 

 • market; Roardman; spec, iu U. S. Nat. Mm J; 

 Adult Male (57207, U. S. Nat. Mus.; Hungary. W. Schluter). 

 llead and upper hair of the neck delicate pinkish cinnamon, 

 or vinaceous-ruf otts, the full, soft best ( occupying the entire 



For the be 



low Mr. Ridgway's 

 female and inimatu 



Hab— Southern am 

 India; occasional in n 

 al in the British Islan 

 Yo 



pileum) paler and less reddish, the feathers light buff at tips ; 

 lower half ol the neck (including a narrow stripe which ex- 

 exf ends up the nape to the occiput), neck and juguium, breast, 

 abdomen, anal region, crissum, upper tail coverts, and runip 

 brownish black, deepest on the juguium, and with a decided 

 dark-green gloss on the upper tail-coverts. Back and scapu- 

 lars uniform light umber-drab or Isabella-color; wing-coverts 

 and terlials brownish gray; speculum white basal ly, chang- 

 ing gradully into pale grayish, then succeeded by a rVher 

 broad subterminal bar of dusky, the tip narrowly and abrupt- 

 ly white; four outer primaries with outer ends dusky ; inner 

 quills pale ashy, with broad dusky ends; tail dull dark gray- 

 ish. A broad bar or transverse patch across anterior scapu- 

 lar region, anterior border of the wing, lining of the wing, 

 axillars, and a very large patch covering the flanks and pos- 

 terior half of the sides, pure white. "Bill bright vermilion- 

 red, the tip white; hides reddish brown; legs orange-red. 

 Total length 21 inches." ( Dressek, B. ' Eur. pt xxii.) 

 Wing, 10.20: oilmen. 2.00; tarsus, 1.50: middle toe 2.25. 



Adult Female (57201', U. S. Nat. Mus. ; Hungary, W. 

 Schluter).— Crest much less developed than in the male, light 

 hair-brown, this color descending to the level of the lower 

 border of the eye, and posteriorly continuing in a narrow 

 stripci down the nape; rest of the head and neck very pale 

 ashy, as are also the lower parts in general ; juguium, sides, 

 and Hanks light raw-umber brown, the tips of the feathers 

 lighter; anal region and crissum uniform light drab, the lat- 

 ter whitish terminally. Upper parts in general umber-drab 

 (the wing being more" brownish than in the male), darker on 

 the rump; white patch at base of scapular region wholly ob- 

 solete, and while border to the wing indistinct ; speculum 

 pale ashy, becoming gradually dull white baaally, aud brown- 

 ish dusky subterminally, and with a narrow white termiual 

 margin as in the main. "Eyes hazel; beak blackish, with a 

 pink tip, a portion of the lower mandible being yello 

 pink: legs and feet pinkish, webs blackish." (DBHSSKt?. <■ 

 '•:) Witse, 9.90; oilmen, 1.90; tarfus, 1.50; middle toe, 

 2.20. 



Immatoin: Male (mtf, IT. S. Nat. Mos.; vicinity of New 

 York city, Feb , 1872, G. A. Boardman).— Similar In general 

 appearance to the adult female as described above, bin crest, 

 much less developed (the tips of the feathers much worn) and 

 decidedly more reddish in color; sides and under parts of head 

 thickly interspersed with cinnamon-colored feathers (new 

 moult); the juguium, breast, and under posterior parts also 

 mixed with black feathers, indicating the approaching adult 

 livery; white patch al, base of scapular region plainly indi- 

 cated, and broad white border to anterior portion of the 

 wing very distinct: speculum much as iu tbe female, lad; 

 ing the distinct subterminal dusky bar of the adult male. 

 Wh ,-. 9 B0: oilmen, 1.80; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, 2.15. 



A MoiraiNG's Walk. —Taunton, Mass, Mav 7, 1881.— 5 

 A. \r., wind south, thermometer 50 deg., foggy. No school 

 to-day. Frederic, a boy 11 years old, wants' to go to the 

 trout pond to see and feed the trout. We started nt 5.30. 

 The birds were singing merrily, aud he proposed to take the 

 names of ft]] [bat we ssey, jim.i send them to the PqBBST ,\>:o 

 Stkbam, a paper he thinks much of. Last autumn there 

 were docks of perhaps hundreds of English sparrows about 

 our streets, but there are not one-tenth as many now as there 

 were then. But our native or summer birds are as plentiful 

 as usual. In walking three-and-a-half miles on the Taunton 

 and New Bedford R. R., we saw 1 fish hawk, 4 hen hawks, 

 3 sparrow hawks, 8 crows, 6 blue jays, 4 red thrashers. 6 

 peeweeps, 14 barn swallows, 25 bank swallows, 12 or 15 

 if bluebirds, and flocks of blackbb/ds, 



lalle 



tps 



v-birds, 

 W 



i pretty 

 out 7.30. There 

 mt up the brook, 

 .'thaps six weeks 



.__, about the 

 2 bobolinks, 1 hummiug-bbd, 6 marsh-quails, 4 yell 

 5 woodpeckers and a great number ot si 

 heard quite a number of quails whistle 

 plenty here, but. partridges are not. We 

 along by the side of the R. fi. vvhere he star 

 4 woodcocks, three of them iu air at one 

 sight it was. We arrived at the springs-) 

 were two hounds following rabbits as we i 

 One rabbit, about one-quarter grown, or 

 olrl, attempted to cross the trench that runs to the pond, -and 

 fell iu, anil was quite dead when I got him out. We also 

 saw 3 red squirrels and 1 gray one. The dog worked on some 

 good snipe ground, but did not start any. I have not seen 

 one this spring. — C, B. 



Notes it:om Canada.— Niagara, May 16, 1881.— I send 

 you. to-day, per sample, a little bird that was picked 

 up dead in my yard this a.m. What kind of a bird is it ? I 

 noticed, the other day, some people fishine for lilacl 

 the other side (N. V.) of the river, just off Fort Niagara. I 

 thought tbe close season was not up until June 1? Bote v I 

 give you the arrival of several of the birds here: bluebird, 

 March M ; robins, about the same time; swallows, April 19; 

 cat bird and orioie, May 5 ; crows were here ofT and on all 

 winter. Have heard of no snipe this spring; they are pro- 

 tected here by the game laws. The "Cowreens" have left 

 us. Although we are iu Canada, a country supposed to 

 abound in ice and snow and wolves, the black Hamburg grape 

 is grown here out doors, and we have as fine peaches, m their 

 season, as can be grown. — W. 8. 



The specimen sent is a rose-breasted grosbeak, one of the 

 most beautiful and sweet-voiced of our birds. The bass 

 season in New York does not open before June I . 



Snakes Clismjino Trees.— Webster City, Iowa, Mav 10 

 1881.— While passing over the battlefield of Belmont, in the 

 summer of 1863, I heard a slight, noise just over my head. 

 Looking up I saw, in close proximity to my face, and resting 

 upon the leaves and twigs of a pawpaw tree, oncof the small, 

 pale-green snakes so common in that region, and sometimes 

 met with here. As f was on horseback, the snake was eeven 

 or eight feet above the ground. The tree was six or eight 

 inches in diameter- How the snake got up there I did not 

 know, but he seemed perfectly at home on his airy perch. — 

 Charles Aldiuoh. 



Gcidk Books op mie Season. — "Homes and Sports 

 'long die Eric. A directory to hotels, boarding-houses, 

 lakes and streams in the romantic regions near Ne * Stork 

 reached by the Erie Railway." This is a useful d 

 information for city residents who are looking for summer 

 boarding places or who waattip take a flying trip into the 

 country. Sent free by John N. Abbott, General Passenger 

 Agent N. V. L. E. & W. R. B., New i'ork city. 



••The Hills and Homes of Berkshire." A pamphlet set- 

 ting forth the summer attractions of the Berkshire hill coun,- 

 . ;. . ' - Plarl W. llrynn, GtkjU Baniniiton, 31ass. 



§mt(e §ag and §itn. 



THE HAUNTS OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. _ 



W1NO SUOOTISCI VS. THK-EIM. 



HAVING noticed the reports from New Jersey of the 

 mortality of 10. 00. and 100 percent, of quail and 



titled grouse "from the effe 

 but think, with all due respee 

 that in relation to ruffed grou- 

 from hearsay or a superficial kn 

 bird, and should be corrected 

 amateurs in forming a just estin 

 for cold climates. Some of thet 

 between the quail, whose food si . . . 

 snow at any time, and the ruffed grouse whose 

 hangs in tempting display far above the pi 



1 and snow," I cannot 



r your reporters' veracity, 



these reports come mostly 



ledge of the habits of Ibis 



being liable to mislead the 



e of their valuable qualities 



;eem to make no distinction 



pply is liable to be cut; off by 



iple larder 



:14b 



enemy. Admitting that "a winter like the past, may lie more 

 trying to the constitution of game raised in a warmer dim it! 

 than this, I still think that a bird that can make a bountiful 

 meal off a handful of birds and a warm sumptuous couch 

 from a snow bank (thawing the snow considerably where they 

 sit over night) will "stand a pile of weather. " 



I suppose that there is no game bird on this North Ameri- 

 can continent whose habitat covers so wide a range, of whose. 

 habits and peculiarities the average sportsman is so poorly 

 informed as this same namesake aud especial friend and 

 protege of mine. There is a larger class that fairly detest, the 

 name of this king of birds j for is not this the chap tkat has 

 so many times outwitted their half-broken dogs and cailserl 

 them to* display anything but. desirable field qualities, aud are 

 not they tbe gentlemen that have been the butt of so many 

 jokes and caused so much fun by their constant ua 

 striking display of "grouse feve~?" They affect to dispise 

 the lordly grouse and in the same breath rave about the beau- 

 ties of woodcock shooting, a bird which (iu my opinion) 

 bears about the same comparison to the noble grouse that a 

 bull butterfly does to a December quail. In fact tbe warb- 

 ling, fluttering rise, short flight and abrupt, ungraceful descent, 

 of a summer woodcock strongly re : embles the action of those, 

 overgrown butterflies, which boys chase and capture with 

 sticks. 



There are also many aspiring youths that go tearing and. 

 smashing through the brush and screaming at their dogs and 

 come home and report "no birds this year," and all this 

 they have unknowingly flushed more grouse that 

 they ever killed in. theii' lives. The secret of their seeing no 

 birds being that "Umbrellas tetrao" not fancying so much 

 racket makes a little run through the first, thicket and, with a. 

 spring and a few strokes of his powerful pinions, quietly sails 

 to some distant thicket without "showing his baud at all." 

 And the game reports of our non-sporting, noisy farmers and 

 lumbermen are usually still more inaccurata 



Meeting a neighboring farmer, in March, I asked him if he 

 had seen many" grouse" while lumbering this whiter. His 

 reply came quickly, "Not a durned one, and who 

 knew last fall, when I seen near a dozen blooded pinlers ami 

 setters at your kennels and heerd the crackin of your infernal 

 old Parker gun every day, that there wouldn't lie scarcely a 

 bird left within ten mile o'here; and what few there 

 has all froze to death long ago." My reply was that if ho 

 would givejne half an hour's lime for two or three nights I 

 would show him more grouse than he ever saw. He quickly- 

 consented thinking to enjoy my discomfiture. 



Half an hour before sunset I quietly took •him to a bill one 

 half mile back which commanded a view for half a mile of a 

 secluded valley and mountain side, covered with a vigorous 

 growth of youug timber, largely yellow birch. ™ 

 bucked by a "heavy spruce forest, interspersed wi 

 small swamps and dense thickets of hem li it an< 

 well back from civilization. Seating himself t 

 grimry bade roe " fetch on yer partridges." We s, 

 less than ten minutes when u~hk came a brown 

 dense (hicket on his mountain lot, and a fine i 

 struck a tall birch opposite, his glossy ruff gliste 

 sun, as he nipped a few buds, and finding them r 

 descended to the smaller growth, when- lie ma, 

 meal unconscious of our proximity. Before he li 

 his kinsmen began to arrive from various dire 

 there were fifteen in sight up and down the valle 

 and strong as game cocks. When the first bird at 

 of blank astonishment surmounted the granger': 

 as they continued to come in, his eyes and tuoutl 

 te extend and when the show was over ami we tu 

 ward be merely gasped "I'd no idee, don't tell tin. 

 and actually kepi si'.euce until home was n , s'se i. 

 I hauled him out two nights more for half an hoi 

 able localities far enough apart to insure g nflW 

 each time, and showed him no less than fifty ti 

 grouse iu these three trips. Tbe last night limbo 

 fearfully and he ejaculated " I'm beat 1 but for massy sake 

 don't te'll the boys' on't, for I have told everybody that every 

 last bird was dead." 



His mistake consisted in supposing them all dead because 

 he saw none iu their summer haunts, and if lie hap- 

 pened to go through their winter haunts 'he made so much 

 noise that he could get no sight of them 



And, by the way, speaking of grouse reminds rue of a little 

 incident that occurred a few days since. Happening in at 

 the hotel iu a neighboring town, I found fifteen or twenty 

 voung men who bad lately formed a shooting club, pur- 

 id new breech-loaders,' etc.. and were "going in for 



This was 



th frequent 



ti to whole 



. -ange : 



il i silenci 



-eak from a 



cock grouse 



Ding in the 



lilies Eougb 



le :,, Oe;U".y 



ad finished. 



otions until 



y, all brisk 



rived a look 



9 phiz ; and 



a continued 



rl e<3 e iss- 



" 



ir to favor- 



of of birds 



ne vigorous 



red luirt ap 



gome fun 

 grouse fvc 



of their i 



nbe 



inane 



, pe 



nbersof the club took Di< 



months past, a 



id that be had been pa 



several letters 



f he Forest asp Sti 



Was confident 



would scorn the iuq 



quail while si 

 etc., for obtain 



ns a large bago'f grouse 



He further st 



ted that this kind of 



rather disturbe 



i his sense of marhood 



inasmuch as i 



uany of these letters 



scorned the qu 



ail pot-hunter, and had 



lion of silence 



(if uotbhie more) frou 



ity as the Foui 



stand Stream, be had 



that his sense i 



.f honor had perhaps be 



on this point, 



ind that beinusl have 1 



the general pu 



.lie sentiment ammg 



stated. After discussing 

 lort, the subject of shoi ling 

 icreupon one" of the leading 

 floor and stated that he had 

 matters cenerally for several 

 ly impressed 

 ■m men who, he 



::thods. 

 a trees. 



I fl-ays. 



u that, 

 in that 

 c siine- 



uithur- 



S'liisiii, 



fact that every other kind of g 

 speedily approaching auoihilalio: 



