Jtot 31, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



491 



young each weighed 1,450 milligrammes. 0>« removing the 

 amnion the ears of one of the young bats became erect The 

 placenta of 1 his species is different front that of the little 

 brown bill,; instead of being circular it is illiplica], measuring 

 id l:v IS millimetres. The placenta were attached to the 

 posterior wall of the uterus near the summit of each corner. 

 The umbilical c rd measured twenty nnllinieties in length. 



Ve.iperliUo subnlaiw. (Say.) Little Brown Bat. 



This little bat exceeds all other species in frequency; more 

 common even than the red bat. The little fellows enters our 

 houses in the evening of teuer than any other in search of in- 

 sects. Of ten pregnant females which we examined last June 

 each contained two young. Prof. Bert. G Wilder (Pop. Set. 

 Mo. No. 43, p. 651) examined twenty females in June, 1874. 

 Each contaim d two tittlebats, though. Dr. C. 0. Ab >ott states 

 (Geology of New Jersey Appendix, p .753) that they brine: 

 forth aJlttM of three to hve. We consider this number un- 

 usual as all the specimens examined by us ".ever contained 

 more nor less than two. The abdomen of the female is not 

 po prominent, but very much broadened, a fetus developing 

 in each horn of the uterus. The uterine walls at term are 

 very thin, the euijre. organ weighing only about a centi- 

 gramme. The placenta of this species is circular, measuring 

 nine millimetres in diameter, umbilical cord twelve milli- 

 metres long. A young one taken from a female whose mam- 

 ma; contained milk, weighed 1,350 milligrammes. 



Sing Sing, A r . T. July, 1881. A. K. Fisher, M. D. 



HABITS OF BEAVER. 



IN the summer of 1860, in San Saba County, Texas, on the 

 banks of the Colorado River, I saw several small trees 

 partly cut down by beaver, and others which had been cut 

 down. There war no sign of a dam or any dwelling place of 

 beaver. The country was thinly settled, and there were no 

 houses nor people living near. The river is suhject to fresh- 

 e 8 so deep and strong that a heaver dam could not be perma- 

 nent in its waters. N'r was there any smaller stream near 

 that could be used for m&k i og a beaver dam . A few days after 

 I inquired of one of th- settlers of that county if he knew 

 where the beaver lived which had cut those trees, lie said 

 yes; that their homes were underground rooms in the banks 

 of the river, the entrance to which was beneath the water, 

 and portions of the room above high water mark. He said 

 he learned this by a land slide of the river bank after a fresh- 

 et the slide exposing the cosey and comfortable rooms of the 

 beaver. 



In the Natural History of the State of New York, Part I. 

 Zoology, by James B. De Kay, at page 74, the author says: 

 "In the summer of 1840 we traveled those almost, intcrmina- 

 able forests on the highlands separating the sources of the 

 Hudson and the St. Lawrence, and included in Hamilton, 

 Herkimer and apart of Essex coun lies. In the course of 

 our journey we saw seveial beaver signs as they are termed 

 by the hunters. The beaver has been so much harassed in 

 this State that it has ceased making dams, and contents it- 

 self with making large excavations in the banks of the 

 streams." 



Great has been the progn ss of zoology siuce De Kay wrote 

 the above as may be seen from a statement made on the same 

 page from which the above quotation is taken. 



"The geographical range of the beaver, now so much re- 

 stricted, once extended from the 68'h to the 30th parallel. In 

 the United States its southern boundary does not extend be- 

 yond the districts already mentioned in the State of New 

 York." 



It is now well known that its range extends southward as 

 far as the lower Rio Grande in Texas. 



In the month of September, 1858, on the plantation of Dr. 

 Jenkins a few miles from Camden in Wilcox County, Ala., 

 I taw a beaver dam on a small stream on both sides of which 

 corn had been planted. I also saw that the corn near the 

 dam had been partially destroyed. The doctor told me that 

 the beaver had done it. 



It was the. first signs of beaver I had ever seen, and I was 

 much surprised to learn that they were in that place. An at- 

 tempt had been made and wa- then beiug made to destroy 

 the beaver or drive them away, but their sagacity was such 

 that they were seldom seen or any of them caught, although 

 many night watches had been made and also traps set. 



Austin, Texas, July 4, 18S1. 



S. B. Booklet. 



SPIKE HORNS AGAIN. 



SPIKE HOBNB ON OLD BUCKS. 



I HAVE noticed in late numbers of the FoBESl and Stream 

 considerable controversy in relation to spike horn bucks, 

 some claiming them to be a different species of deer and 

 others that they ate not, and that all spike bucks a.re only 

 the young bucks from one year to eighteen months of age. 



I do not pretend to be authority on the subject, but I am 

 satisfied in my own mind that not all spike bucks are young 

 ones, and that spike horns are often found on bucks that are 

 advanced in years. But as to their being a different species 

 of deer. 1 do not think they are. I am convinced that bucks 

 that have a full pair of antlers one season may only have a 

 pair of spike horns the next. 



In proof of what I say I will give the particulars of a case 

 of spike horns that was related to me by a noted deer hunter, 

 who is well known to many of the readers of the Forest 

 and Stream, and a gentleman whose word cannot be im- 

 peached. Whatever he states can be depended on to be 

 facts. 



Some five or six years ago he and I were hunting together 

 at a small pond between Meacham Lake and the St. Regis 

 River, when one day the conversation happened to be about, 

 spike horn bucks. I asked him if he-believed them to be, as 

 many claimed that they were, a different species of deer. 

 He answered that he did not, and then related the follow- 

 ing circumstance that came under his notice some years be- 

 fore, wliile he was residing in the south part of St. Lawrence 

 county : One of his near neighbors owned a tame buck deer 

 which had grown to be of such an age that his antlers were 

 quite large, with several prongs on each in season. One year 

 during the winter he iu some manner injured one of his legs, 

 so that he was lame, until some time in the following spring, 

 at which time also lie was very thin in fi.-sh, but afterwards 

 grew fat and was all right. But that season nothing but 

 spike horns came out. The next season following he had a 

 full set of antlers according to his age, as he. also did every 

 season thereafter while my informant remained in that 

 neighborhood. It was his belief that spike, horns on old 

 bucks over 18 months or so of age were caused in some such 

 manner— by the deer meeting with some injury or h'tviug 

 Borne kind of xidsnoas, ho that they were in poor health or 

 conditlou at the title in* borna began to 



Whether or not this is the cause of all spike horns "ii agfed 

 bucks, I will n< 4 pretend to sav, but I am satisfied that I 

 have seen several spike bucks during the last twenty-five 

 i cars that were well advanced in years. There is a diffetence 

 in I he appearance of old and young deer, as well as with 

 other animals: perhaps not so much as in some other species, 

 but. enough to tell an eighteen months' old buck from one that 

 is sir to ten years of age. 



As to snike horns beiug more plenty now than formerly, I 

 don't think they are; that is, old ones'. I used to come across 

 full a3 many that I called spike horns twenty-five and thirty 

 years ago as I do lite years. The majority of bucks killed 

 by floating are young ones. Old bucks soon leave at the ap- 

 pioaeh of alight at night, having learned when they were 

 young that it was dangerous, as the scars on many of the old 

 ones killed will show. The young bucks having only sp'ke 

 horns at first have by that led many to think that they were 

 the regular spike horns, and aie on the increase of late. I ea# 

 more bucks with large antlers last season than in many 

 seasons before ; all were killed before dogs, or by hounding. 

 Two bo ge oue.3 were killed in one week on the 10. Mile 

 Level thst had each eleven prongs on their horns, fix on one 

 horn and five on the other. And about three wet ks later an 

 Other was killed with the same number of prongs on his 

 horns. I don't mention this as being anything remarkable, 

 only in their all having the same number of prongs or spikes 

 on their horns, and all three having odd numbers, five on 

 one and six on the other, and all beiug killed in the same 

 neighborhood and so ndr the same time. The prospect for 

 deer hum lug on the Level when the season opens is good, for 

 all so many have been killed by early Boating. But the sup- 

 ply is kept up by there being such a great unfrequented ex- 

 tent of wilderness for miles on both sides of the river. 



Moira, N. Y. A. C- 



TIIE WEIGHT OF LOONS. 



I SEE iu your issue of June 3 au item from your corres- 

 pondent. "Mergus" relative to loons. As he seems to 

 doubt the reported story of one being killed that weighed 

 twenty pounds, I send you photograph of one that was cap- 

 tured by my partner iu shooting, Pi of. Blair, quite recently, 

 while duck shooting in the Penobscot Bav. It weight d the 

 day after being shot, and after quite a loss of blood, seven- 

 teen pounds and ten ounce*, measured from end of tail to the 

 top of the head forty inches, from tip of tail to the tip of 

 beak forty-eight inches. I will sav to " Mergus " that I con- 

 sider the story very probable, as this one is not considered 

 the largest specimen. As to toughness of the bird, I fully agree 

 with your correspondent and should believe to story told had 

 he said the bird fell a thousand feet, split the rock and swam 

 off apparently uninjured. This one ihat I seod you photo- 

 graph of was shot through the head at about thirty yards 

 with double B shot; one shot entered one eye, passing out, 

 the other and destroying both ; another passed through the 

 head just below the eye. Then he attempted to rise and an- 

 other'charge of BB foil in the body brought him to the 

 water ; then he was made a target of for a thirty-two calibre 

 rifle at about a hundred-yard range, one ball passing through 

 his neck ; then, as it seemed he was Dot to die by shooting, 

 he was taken into the bout and strangled by a rope around 

 his neck. I am ready to believe anything of a loon, as well 

 as a snake, so your correspondents have one believer in any- 

 thing thev can say of either. 



As to the habits of the loon, according to my observation 

 in this section, they go to the salt water in winter and return 

 to the ponds and lakes in summer to breed. They liy their 

 eggs, without preparation of nests, on the shore, just above 

 water line 1 have never found in one place more than two 

 eggs, in size something larger than a tame goose egg. In 

 color thev are grayish, marked with brown spots. The pho- 

 tograph 1 send you shows the bird in color as he is, except- 

 ing the neck and head, which shows black, but in color it is 

 dark green. The smaller bird in picture you will recognize 

 as our common cock whistler. M. S. Bi'keu. 



Btwksport, Me., June 15. 



SKUNK BITES AND HYDROPHOBIA. 



Boston, Hay 15. 

 Editor Forest and Stj-eam : 



I took for granted that the request for information on the 

 subject of hydrophobia from the bite of a skunk, published 

 in your issue of the 30th ult., by Dr. Howard Jones, would 

 call forth communications from some members of the pro- 

 fession who had had opportunity of seeing such cases. As 

 such has not been the case, however, I would say that the 

 matter was brought up and discussed at a meeting of the 

 Boston Society for .Medical Improvement a few years after 

 our civil war. I was at that time secretary of that society, 

 and although I have not had time to hunt through the records, 

 I can state in a condensed form what the result of the dis- 

 cussion was. It seemed proved beyond all question that 

 many cases of rabies bad been observed as resulting from the 

 bite of skunks in our army, aud it also appeared that these 

 cases were pretty much confined to certain geographical 

 limits. Exactly what these limits were I do not remember, 

 but if I am not mistaken quite a large proportion of the cases 

 occurred in Texas. One of the members of the society had 

 been in the medical service and had seen rabies from a skunk 

 bite while serving with his regiment on the plains. 



This information is of course not exact or of scientific 

 value : but my reason for encroaching on your space is to 

 stale that without doubt very full and accurate reports of the 

 number, result and locality of such accidents would be fur- 

 nished from the office of the Surgeon General at^Washing- 

 ton to any physician who was interested in the subject. 



F. R. Gheenoogh, M. D. 



A Hand-Book of Insect Collecting haB been prepared 

 by Mr. Walter P. Manton, of Bostou, Mass., whose "Taxi- 

 dermy without a Teacher " has been so favorably received. 

 Mr. Manton has the merit— and an important one it is iu 

 these days— of coming to the point at once, saying what he 

 has to say and then stopping. This hand-book is small ; it 

 contains only thirty-two pages, but no one of those pages is 

 wasted ; and the instructions given are plain, complete and 

 cover the ground. We heartily commend the author's style 

 of book-making. The manual is published by Lee $ shep- 

 ard, Boston, price 50 cents. 



Phil'-delchia's Baboon. — Keeper Rolling is succeeding 

 admirably iu educating the large male Ohacma baboon at ihe 

 Philadelphia Zoo. Already "Hemy" has been- prevailed 

 upon to weal a coat and cap, and at 11 a. m. and 5 i>. tit. he 

 eitB at table with bin keeper, »ud altogether deporw himtaif 



well for a baboon. Rolling handles "Henry" with ira- 

 puoityaud has him under perfect control. For instance, 

 when the baboon is carried across the spice from his dress- 

 ing-room to his box, he will pretend to bile hi3 keeper's neck. 

 No other keeper in the Garden would care to have such 

 demonstrations of love practiced upon him, aud all say Rol- 

 ling will be bitten by the Chacuia some day. but the trainer 

 says he fully understands "Henry." The female orang 

 outang still lives and is growing finely. Now, while the 

 temperature is warm, she is allowed great liberty, and can be 

 seen every fair day swinging in the trees near the superin- 

 tendent's" office. A large new aviary building is iu process 

 of erection at the Zoo, and Ihe collection of birds will conse- 

 quently be greatly increased— a need Ihat has been felt. The 

 ant eater which lately reached the garden is still flourishing 

 on his diet of boiled eggs and ground liver He has been 

 nicknamed Ihe "Great American Egg Eater." Much inter- 

 est is taken in this animal, as they' are rare, very delicate 

 aud difficult to be kept in confinement. The first one pur- 

 chased by the society died iu three weeks after reaching the 

 Garden. ' The elephants have had a pool made for them 

 large enough and deep enough for the whole herd to bathe in 

 at a time, and it is amusing to witness the antics of the im- 

 mense brutes when they are allowed their daily bath. The 

 keeper says their health shows great improvement since they 

 have had this luxury allowed tbem.— Homo. 



Snakkh Eat Fish and Climb Tkhes.— Some time since I 

 remember that you were taking testimony as to whether or 

 not •' snakes would eat fish." I always believed that they 

 would do so if they could catch them. This evening I saw 

 two small water snakes swimming near the shore, and one of 

 them soon came in, and as soon as he did so Ihe other disap- 

 peared. I then found that the one which had landed had 

 seized a young eel about four inches in length, the snake 

 being about a foot loDg. He immedii ' sly I'm engorging 

 his prey, which he had seized •'•out tlrl ...fourths of an inch 

 from its tail. This process occupied about three miuules, 

 and as soon as the head of the eel had disappeared the snake 

 turned toward the water when I struck hi with my sabre 

 about the middle of his back, anu, rather tq my surprise, he, 

 apparently with a single effort, immediately disg rged the 

 eel. I had supposed that this could not so readily be done, 

 owing to the formation of the mouth and icelh. I did not 

 examine for teeth in this oue. Perhaps he was too young, 

 and they were not well developed. 



As to " snakes climbing trees," do not all constrictors do 

 so as readily as move along the ground ; provided, of course, 

 the. tree is commensurate with their own size, i.e., such that 

 they can readily encompass ? With the boa of the tropics the 

 tree is one of his favorite places of ambush from which to 

 seize, his prey. Venomous snakes are very different in con- 

 struction — shorter and thicker, and may not be able to climb 

 as do the constrictors. — A. D. 8. 



Washington Barracks, D. O. 



We do not think that any one doubted the fact that water 

 snakes eat fish, but the question was in regard to other 

 species, the black and the garter snakes. The question is 

 still open as to whether these latter habitually or even occa- 

 sionally eat fish. 



A Rabbit Whips a Snake. — Last Saturday Hon. John 

 Clifton, of Miller county, was on his way home from Bain- 

 bridge. \Vhile passing" the plantation of J. D. Talbut he 

 heard the cry of a rabbit. Looking over iu the field by 

 which the road ran, he saw, to his astonishment, a rabbit 

 and a coach- whip snake in a fierce struggle. He stopped his 

 buggy to watch the fight. In a minute's time the snake took 

 (light aud the rabbit gave chase. Closely pressed, the snake 

 endi-avored to climb an oak sapling. The rabbit seized bim 

 by the tail aud pulled him back. Again a rough-and-tumble 

 fight ensued. His snakeship got away again, and, before the 

 rabbit could stop him, got up the tree out of reach, and the 

 rabbit, sat leisurely down at the foot of the sapling to watch 

 him. Clifton seeing Mr. Talbut, called him, told him of the 

 singular combat, and pointed out the situation of the com- 

 batants. Talbut approached the tree, and the rabbit beat a 

 retreat. The snake was dislodged and killed. He was six 

 feet long, and his bodv showed large wounds from the bite 

 of the rabbit. -O. G. G. 



B/iinhridye, Ga. 



Stilt, They Climb. — Apropoi the tree-climbing wood- 

 chuck question : A couple of men in my employ lately Uill- 

 ei two "chucks" both being in trees when first seen. 

 Whether frightened into climbing by their approach or not 

 they could not say. One was in the lower branches of a 

 large oak, and the other in a small poplar.— Badger. 

 (Waushara County, Wis.) 



Well now speaking of woodchucks I shot one forty feet 

 from the ground in a black oak tree near my residence two or 

 three years ago. A young man out hunting cows scared the 

 animal, and it took to the tree with a rush."" Going out with 

 my shot-gun I brought the creature down slightly wounded. 

 We kept it in a hollow tree a few days, but it finally left us. 

 — Charles Aldrioh. (Webster City, Iowa). 



We don't have many tree-climbing woodchucks, but I shot 

 two of a family of chucks that used to live in a leaning apple 

 tree. A woodchuck was killed near here a short time ago 

 that had horns. I believe it was sent to the Albany museum. 

 —J. O. F., Hornellsville, N. Y. 



How Toads Fight.— I always keep a number of toads in 

 my orchard-house for the purpose of destroying vermin. 

 The other morning while watching two males I was highly 

 amused to see them have a regular^ stt-to fight. They went 

 at each other in a regular scientific manner, sparring and 

 boxing with their forepaws aud butting with their heads. 

 After a while they seemed to get tired, coolly sat down, and 

 viewed each other with great complacency. From my earliest 

 days I have been in the habit of watching ways of toads, and 

 never saw them fight before.— Gardener's Chronicle. 



Albino Swallow —Newport, July 2.— On the 38th ult., I 

 shot a white swallow. I had watched it for some days. 

 Have you heard of an albino in the swallow family before. ? 

 W. D. L. 



We have observed albino swallows, but they are rare. 



pUorhU'-i: one great-horned owl, H. Kiminianiu »n- 

 large alliifatore, AV.\gat-<- >':.>n»MjJi>>u-.s, una&Utk 

 ma tuspeclwm. 



