FOREST AND STREAM 
115 
country by the great quake. These dead trees are a great 
uulunil curiosity, and form one of its prominent features. 
In the northeastern arm of the lake, surrounded and shut 
in- by a thick soltiug of dead trees, there is a beautiful 
sheet of water about three miles long, from one to two 
hundred yards wide, said to be of unknown depth, called 
the bine basin. Some of the other notable localities are 
Grassy Point, Long Point, Horse, Starved and Choctaw 
Islands. This lake is supplied with fresh water, nearly 
every spring, from, the Mississippi, through a slough or 
bayou that brandies from the river a little below Hieknrau, 
Ky., debouching near Grassy Point. When the river rises 
very high the lake and surrounding bottom are overflowed; 
some seasons the water reaching as high as fifteen feet 
above the level of the lake, as may be verified by the 
water marks left on the trees; at such times it is restocked 
with fish, of every variety found in the Mississippi, to an 
unknown extent, as the supply seems never to diminish, 
lteel Foot Creek, running from the east, a stream of con¬ 
siderable size, also emplies into it. The outlet of the lake 
is through the Obion Kiver into tlie Mississippi. 
On this curious and weird lake, from October to their 
Teturn northward in the spring, geese and ducks, of all 
varieties, abound, then, too, bass fishing is at itB best, the 
water being cold enough then to pul all the requisite snap 
and vim in their movements, to suit the most fastidious 
Waltonian. _ Perdrix. 
jjjistorg. 
[IMs Department is now under the charge of a competent Naturalkt, 
inuotsed by the Smithsonian, Institution, and will henceforth he made a 
Bfhcial feature of this paper. All communications , notes, queries , re- 
marks, and seasonal observations wiU receive cartf ul attention.) 
SEND IN THE REPORTS. 
LETTER FROM PROF. J. As ALLEN, 
Cambridge, Mass. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
I was very glad indeed to see your “Invitation" in a re¬ 
cent number of Forest and Stream, and have been still 
further delighted to see that it has begun already to meet 
with responses. The subject of the migration of our birds 
is not only one Of special importance to ornithologists, but 
one of moro or less interest to all who take ail intelligent 
interest in the feathered inhabitants of our woods and 
fields. While the cause of the seasonal movement of the 
different species from one portion of the country to an¬ 
other is only imperfectly known, though recognized as 
evidently connected with the supply of proper food and 
the constitutional peculiarities of the different species in 
respect to their susceptibility to changes of temperature 
and other climatic influences, the real nature of the imme¬ 
diate cause that prompts them to move at particular times, 
the routes many of the species take, the time occupied in 
passing given climatic zones, the influence of sudden 
changes of the weather in hastening or retarding their 
movements, are comparatively unknown. The special 
students of this subject have not as yet the data for deter¬ 
mining accurately the usual northern or southern winter, 
or oilier seasonal ranges of even mauy of our most com¬ 
mon and well-known species. A long time, too, must 
elapse apparently before such data will have accumulated 
in an accessible form, unless the collection of such facts 
shall in some way be systematically undertaken. Forest 
and Stream, it seems to me, from its reaching so large a 
number of intelligent observers interested more or less in 
natural history, and especially in the history of our birds, 
ami consequently capable, and in many cases willing, to 
contribute such information, affords just the medium 
through which such information may be gathered and per¬ 
manently preserved ready to the hand of some specialist, 
who, sooner or later, will take up the subject and collate 
and formulate these gathered facts. 
Among the observations of “Miscellaneous Phenomena” 
registered by the United States Signal Seivice Bureau are 
often noted the movements of a few of the larger and more 
prominent species of birds, together with the leafing and 
flowering of different kinds of trees and shrubs. These 
confirm already the impression so prevalent among atten¬ 
tive collectors of birds, that there is some relation between 
these several categories of phenomena, and also show most 
markedly that the feathered tribes are warned by their 
delicate senses of approaching changes of temperature or 
of the approach of storms sufficiently long before, in 
many cases, to enable them to avoid them by moving away 
from their path, or to points where these changes will be less 
severely felt. The subject is one that offers'll fruitful and 
interesting field for investigation, but before it can be 
studied with profit, thousand of observations on the move¬ 
ments of our migratory species must be recorded, together 
with similar observations on the vernation, flowering, and 
fruiting of many species of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous 
plants, which must be collated with the accompanying me¬ 
teorological conditions. Data for the latter are fortunately 
provided by our National Weather Bureau, and all that is 
.required in addilion is the accommodation of "just such 
notes as have begun to appear in your admirable paper. 
Every attentive observer knows that some of our migra¬ 
tory species are more abundant during some winters than 
during others—that some winters we have many northern 
'Species in abundance; in others fewer, and these more 
sparsely represented; that some species that winter in the 
Middle and Southern States extended fuither north some 
winters than others, yet the usual northern limits of any 
species, between the Atlantic seaboard and the Mississippi 
River, is as yet, to a certain extent, unknown even to the 
ornithologist. A field is here open in which many workers 
can profitably labor in contributing to a more exact know- 
I ledge of the migratory and seasonal distribution of onr 
birds, and when only the accumulated observations of 
many localities and for a considerable period, can result in 
a real advancement of our knowledge of these interesting 
matters. In this way, too, we may hope to be able to de¬ 
fine the limits of the ranges of mauy species that are non- 
migratoryas well a.s migratory, and to find out their rela¬ 
tive abundance over different part3 of their respective hab¬ 
itats. 
An accumulation of fifty or a hundred, or more brief re¬ 
ports like that, in your issue of March 2d, respecting the 
resideutlwinter birds of New Haven, for as many localities, 
would give information of tho highest value respecting the 
winter range of a score or so of species, from which the 
special student might generalize with great advantage. 
Add to this as many more such reports as that from Ephrat, 
Pa., respecting the coining of the birds, and we shall have 
a vast amount of valuable information respecting the move¬ 
ments of our birds, far more than as yet is anywhere re¬ 
corded. It is to be hoped that we shall soon have a series 
of lines of localities stretching from the Atlantic to the 
Great Plains, and extending from the Canadas to the Gulf 
of Mexico, from which we shall have such reports. Notes 
on the arrival of spesies at any given locality may be sent, 
in at the end of the migrating season, and if taken from 
old journals and record books will be just as valuable as if 
made with special reference to the present'call. Doubtless 
many of tlie readers of Ibis journal have been accustomed 
to note such facts for a series of years, and now is the 
time and tlie opportunity to place them on permanent re¬ 
cord, when they will be accessible to the students of this 
interesting and important department of ornithology. If 
the observers who send such notes for publication will not 
allow themselves to be deterred by any feelings of false 
modesty or other considerations of preference, from add¬ 
ing their names to their communications, they will give to 
their contributions an authenticity that will add greatly to 
their value. J. A. Allen. 
-- 
PROF. GOODE’S DIARY ATTHECAP1TAL. 
February 12 th .—Nesting note of the blue-birds first 
heard; the subsequent cold weather, however, interfered 
with their domestic arrangements. 
February 19 th, —Spring-beauty (Glayionia Virginica) and 
chickweed (Stdlaria, media), in flower. 
February 2-9 tit. —Song-sparrows (Melospiza melodia) abun¬ 
dant. 
March 4 th .—Herring (Pomolobus pseudoharengus) abundant 
in tlie market. These are the so-called “branch herring,” 
or “March herring,” which the fishermen distinguish from 
the “glut herring,” which arrive two or three weeks later, 
about one hundred shad (Alosa sapidmima) from the Poto¬ 
mac were exposed in market this morning; the first time 
they have been seen in any numbers, though stragglers 
were caught as early as the first week in February, for the 
first time iu twenty years, the fishermen say. Shad from 
Savannah, caught ill the St. Johns, Altamaha, Ogeeche, 
and Savannah rivers, were abundant in the market from 
Christmas week to about the last week in January, and 
then were replaced by North Carolina fish, which still con¬ 
stitute the largest supply. Yellow-perch (Perm Jlavencene) 
are, many of them, full of ripe spawn, which flows easily, 
while the striped bass (Mucous linealas) seems to be well 
distended with eggs, not yet mature. The horned suckers 
(Moxostoma oblongum ) make their first appearance in mar¬ 
ket. The craw-fish (Ganibamu ajp.ua) are seen in market, 
retailing at fifty cents per dozen. These little crustaceans 
are taken in immense quantities in the shad seines, and are 
slopped in barrels to New Yark, where they are known as 
ecreuisse , and meet with ready sale. The liver-leaf (Hepatica 
inlobu), whiticw-grass (Draim verna), Quaker ladies (Olden- 
tandia mrulea), obolaria (Oblodria Virginica), and chickweed 
(Stdlaria media), are in flower. 
March 5th. —Crow-blackbirds (Quisea.lus purpureus), 
abundant, in flocks. English sparrows (Pyrgita, domestica), 
building their-nests. Robins (Turdus migratorius), occa¬ 
sional. Honey bees out in large numbers. Foreythia vin- 
dissima and Cydonia Ja/ponica, in flower in the gardens, 
their second effoit, having been frosted in their first flower¬ 
ing in February. 
March 7th .—Trailing arbutus (Epzgtea ropens), in flower. 
G. Brown Goode. 
8mithsonia.il Institutibn. 
MY FEBRUARY FIELD NOTES—BIRDS. 
BY O. C. ABBOTT, M. D. 
[Concluded from page 99.] 
February lUth .—Clear and warm. The birds of yester¬ 
day, with au accession of sparrows, of three species, 
Flocks of red-winged blackbirds passed over the meadows. 
February 13 th. —Clear; rain in the evening. A new 
cardinal grosbeak appeared on the hill-side to-day, and a 
pitched battle ensued. The two fought until one was nearly 
tailless. 
February 14 th — Northeast storm. Not a bird noticed, 
although I was out of doors a great deal, except the invari¬ 
able crow, and a bedraggled song-sparrow, that seemed 
nearly dead. 
February 15/A.—South rain until sunset. The high wind 
seemed to disgust even the crows, but at sunset, came a 
few moments of sunshine and they put in an appearance; 
titmice (Lopltophanes and Purus), also chirped and twittered 
as night closed iu. 
February 16th. —Clear; cold; wind northwest. Cardinal 
sang all day. Abundance of snow birds. (Is it going to 
snow)? The red-tailed hawks sailed about all day, very 
high up, and screamed incessantly. The yellow-birds in 
great numbers settled upon a large elm in my yard, and 
twittered all day. They appear to be feeding on the leaf- 
buds, but really do not injure them. Titmice, hulhatches 
(SMa canadensis), and brown creepers ( Oerlhia), tolerably 
abundant. 
February 17/A.—Cloudy; cold; windy, But few birds 
seen; and none not usually met with. 
February 16/A.—Cloudy; snow-squalls. Snowbirds more 
abundant thau ever. Saw three flocks of horned-larks 
(Eremophila comutu), and several woodpeckers, but could 
not determine the species. Besides the red-tailed hawks of 
every day; noticed black-hawks (Archibuteo lagopus), red- 
shouldered hawks, and one marsh harrier. The hawks this 
winter have been very scarce, not more than ton or twelve 
per cent, of the usual number. A few blue-birds again 
along the worm fences. 
February 19/A.—Clear; warmer. No birds noticed, be¬ 
yond those seen every day. 
(February 20 th. —Clear; warm. The several species of birds 
seen during the past three weeks seem all present. Tlie 
meadows, hill-side, and up-land fields all have their feath¬ 
ered occupants; but a sharp lookout failed to'detect any bird 
not previously noted. 
February 21*1.—Clear; warm. A flock of wbite-winged 
cross-bills baited a few moments among the pines, and 
were off again. This one flock lias been about the neigh¬ 
borhood during the whole winter, but has been very erratic 
in their movements. A collector, living near, has shot 
several specimens. Previous to to-day, 1 had seen but a 
single specimen. The red-winged black-birds, which made 
a flying visit about a week ago, are here to-day, in fewer 
numbers, but more sociable,'"frequenting their old haunts 
and singing cheerily. Like crow-black birds, they come 
and go as they feel disposed, and are not wliat is usually 
called migratory, but more resemble the robin, iu this re¬ 
spect ; which latter bird, by the way, is conspicuous for its 
absence, this year. Usually they are very numerous during 
February. 
February 22 cl. —Clear; cool. The birds of yesterday, 
with a merry chorus of song-sparrows ringing iu the hill¬ 
side thicket, from early morning until noon. 
February 23 rd f —Clear; windy. No note taken of birds 
seen. 
February 24/A.—Clear; very cold. Snow-birds abun¬ 
dant. 
February 25th. —Clear; not so cold. Snow-birds aliun* 
dant. A few song-sparrows noticed, and a flock of yellow- 
birds . 
February 25 th. —Clear; warmer. A large flock of cedar- 
birds seen Id the forenoon. 
Febi «ary[27/A.—Cloudy; northeast wind. A dull cheerless 
day, and scarcely a bird of any kind seen. 
February 28 th and 29/A.—No entries made. Absent from 
home. 
Prospect HUl, Trenton , Mew Jersey. 
EFFECT OF COLD ON SMALL BIRDS. 
T HE birds which arive at New HaveD, Conn., in the 
spring, usually make their appearance about the 
first week in March in the following order,-Woodcock, 
males and females; crow-blackbirds, males alone; red-wing¬ 
ed blackbirds, males alone. The blue-bird3, robins, and 
song-sparrows, which remain with us the year round, leave 
the vicinity of the seashore, where they have spent the 
winter, at the first appearance of spring, and returning to 
their favorite haunts in the meadows and gardens, wel¬ 
come the opening year with joyous notes. They do not 
seem inclined to return to their winter abodes if we have 
cold weather and snow afterwards, but many of them, es¬ 
pecially song-sparrows, perish from want of food or the 
severity of the weather. A late snow has' the same effect 
upon the hardy snowbirds as upon tlie sparrows, which 
fact seems rather remarkable, as the snowbirds endure our 
coldest winter weather and deep snows without any signs 
of distress. But when the fatal late snow has "melted 
away many of both species frequently may be found lying 
dead in the hedgerows and gardens. A bird overcome by 
the weather and want of food seems for a short time more 
active than its companions, running around as if eagerly 
searching for food, but taking little notice if any one ap¬ 
proaches. Should it attempt to fly, it immediately falls on 
its back, as if shot. The legs and toes are stretched out to 
their farthest e xtent, and are quite rigid; the eyes protrude 
aud are insensible to a loueh; and the whole body quivers 
slightly. It remains iu this stale from one to two minutes, 
when it recovers suddenly aud seems as active as before. 
If taken in the band it will immediately go into a convul¬ 
sion again, even if it has beeu in a warm room for several 
hours, and has been supplied plentifully with food. Death 
usually puts an end to Us suffering in a day or two, and I 
have observed no instance of its recovery after showing 
the above effects. Speculator. 
Mkiratorv Quail.— We learn from the Rutland Herald. 
that tlie Hon. M. G. Everts of that place has arranged with 
the United States Consul at Messina, Sicily, for the impor¬ 
tation during the present season of 150 pairs of migratory 
quail, (Coturnir communis). If the climate of Vermont is 
not too cold for a breeding place for these birds, we see no 
reason why they should not do well, or at all eveuts, select 
for thgmsclves during their migrations a habitat the 
climatic conditions of which would be somewhat similar 
to those whence they were imported. This bird, which 
is the common quail of Europe, is found in England only 
in limited numbers, but in Italy and some of the warmer 
lands which it traverses during its periodical migrations, it 
is awaited with the greatest anxiety and snared, nutted, 
and shot by myriads. It flies by night, and it; is recorded 
in Exodus that “at evening the quails came up and covered 
the camp." 
Scarcity of Wild Fowl.—A writer in The Field states 
tlie fact of the present great scarcity of wild fowl in Great 
Britain, aud says: “I do not think the drainage of moors 
and marsh lauds affects the question, because- the hulk of 
wild fowl in these islands are to be found on the coasts, 
aud resort for their food principally to the grass banks, 
which remain in almost undimiuislied extent. * * * *. 
It may be tbat the fowl have taken to a different course in 
their migration, from Borne causes which we do not under¬ 
stand. I am inclined to think that when severe weather 
occurs m these latitudes early in the season—as happened 
this year in November, and last year also, if I remember 
rightly—the fowl are driven so far south that they do not 
return in numbers until their spring migration northward., 
commences.” 
A similar scarcity in Florida, is accounted for by the 
dryness of the past season. 
