FOREST AND STREAM 
417 
great liopes of success in the experiment with the Califor¬ 
nia species. The young salmon in quantities of ten or 
twenty thousand were placed in the Mohawk and the rivers 
draining into Lake Ontario; while 15,000 were sent out of 
tko Slate. 
To eels but little attention was given, but 36,000 have 
been placed in Buffalo Creek, above the fa’ls of Niagara, 
for the purpose of observing the result of introducing 
them into Lake Erie. The shameful waste of them by 
the pound fishermen in the Great South Bay, which is ex¬ 
terminating them there, is severely denounced. No attempt 
to acclimate the blue-backed trout (Salmo oquom) has yet 
proved successful; nor has the increased knowledge of the 
possibility of artificially cultivating the striped bass so far 
led lo any practical results. It is proposed also to inves¬ 
tigate the red herring. 
The sturgeon is a food-fish hitherto uncultivated, owing 
to what seemed insurmountable difficulties; these have 
now been overcome, and an interesting account of the ex¬ 
periments in manipulating the eggs is given. At New 
Hamburg, on the Hudson there appeared to be a natural 
spawuiug ground for this fish, To this place Mr. Seth 
Green and Mr. A- Marks wefe seut on June 3d, 1875, to 
make experiments and collect information, and on June 
7ih a ripe male and female were caught. As the fish could 
not he handled in the ordinary way, Mr. Marks cut open 
the female. Only five pans of spawn were taken, as the 
end sought was only a knowledge of (he way to hatch 
rather than to hatch a large number. The eggs were 
quickly placed in the pans, and the milt bag cut bodily 
from the male fish, and the milt pressed out over the eggs 
The eggs were found to come from the fish in an aggluti¬ 
nated sticky mass, somewhat similar to the eggs of the 
perch or the frog. This was not a proper condition, hut 
by constant stirring after an hour or more they came to be 
in a state which would justify a trial in the shad boxes. 
The eggs are larger than those of the white-fish and mea¬ 
sure about seven to the inch. They are of a dark brownish 
color, with the yolk showing black through the opaque 
brown. Fifty-three hours after impregnation the first 
movement was observed in the fish, and between 6 A. M. 
of June 10th and 5 A. M. of the lllh all hatched out. 
About 40 t 000 were i . mediately turned into the river and 
sought the boltom. It is not probable that they can he 
kept long by artificial feeding. On June 12th the fisher¬ 
men at Gamp Green caught two ripe females and one male 
sturgeon, which were probably in search of a spawning 
ground. Here some 60,000 young were hatched, and 
lurtled loose. The time of hatching was about 100 hours, 
with the temperature of the water at 07° to 64°. The re¬ 
sults are yet to be seen. The sturgeon as an article of 
food has never been appreciated. They are becoming 
scarcer and more expensive, but the Commission hope to 
succeed, and thus reduce the price. 
Until lately brook trout have nut been hatched at public 
expeuse, and* the thousands of natural trout-streams in the 
Stale seemed to be neglected, but the Commissioners say 
this will no longer be the case. Last year $14,000 was 
appropriated specially to the rearing of trout. The delay 
which might otherwise have been occasioned by the want 
of a suitable location and appurtenances was fortunately 
Avoided by the immediate purchase, at a cost of ouly $13,- 
500, of the trout establishment already on the premises oc¬ 
cupied by the State hatching house. At this place trout 
breeding had been prosecuted on a scale unequalled 
throughout the country, and everything necessary to the 
successful conducting of the operations was in complete 
running order. Work was immediately begun and pro¬ 
ceeded with vigorously, and the State is now in a condi¬ 
tion to restock all its public waters with trout. It is there¬ 
fore proposed lo give to alt persons wishing to raise this 
1 delicious fish as many young as they want. The benefit 
to the country will be iu proportion to the number taken, 
and as there is no limit to their production there need be 
none lo their use. These will be delivered free of expense 
at the New YoTk'State hatch ing"house at Caledonia, to all 
persons desiring them to stock public streams or ponds in 
this Slate, or they will be sent to any address on the per¬ 
son’s paying the traveling expenses of a messenger to 
accompany them. Besides the trout indigenous to our 
waters, importations of the California brook trout have 
been received. This variety is a much hardier fish, can 
be more easily handled, and every reason exists for the 
belief that it will thrive. 
The Report closes with an allusion to the enemies of a 
fish culture, and points out why these are one and all 
reprehensible and prejudicial to the true advantage of in¬ 
dividuals and the Commonwealth. 
“Already many valuable varieties of fish have been ex 
tirpated from our waters, and unless decisive action is 
taken iu the matter the success which might otherwise at¬ 
tend the science of fish culture will be indefinitely deterred. 
As yet only those species of fish wi lt whose habits we are 
the most familiar have been artificially treated, and it is 
tin fortunate that these have been most subjected to the 
greed of fish butchers. It is immediate legislation on this 
subject that is particularly required, such legislation 
ns is adapted to the needs of the future. The people 
at large, in viewing a result, are little apt to consider 
\he means by which it has been obtained. This may 
account tor the indifference which they have heretofore 
evinced ou a subject which directly affecls every man’s 
household. In order to retain what we already possess, 
the excessive and crimiual destruction now practiced 
should be immediately restrained." 
Among the most deleterious of all these methods is 
pound fishing. By it many species of fishes have become 
extirpated: Nowhere iB this more incessantly carried on 
than in the Great South Bay, and its disastrous effects ara 
already felt. Yet all thiB mischief to the community is 
done by only a score or flshemen who persist in spite of 
all opposition. To prevent the total annihilation of many 
varieties of valuable fish the Commissioners suggest lo the 
Legislature the enactment of a law prohibiting the use of 
a net with a mesh less than 3£ inches across, for the taking 
of any kind of swimming fish; also, that all eels of less 
than one foot two inches iu length, in whatever manner 
caught, should be put back into the bay alive. 
Another terribly destructive agent is giant powder, a 
charge of which is exploded under water, killing or maim¬ 
ing not only all the fishes within the radius of the shock, 
but also all fish food, insects, worms and all, leaving a 
desert, bare of animal life. Another method is by poison¬ 
ing the water by lime or otherwise, for which insufficient 
penalties are now imposed by the generally inefficient 
statute. “If suoh practices shall be continued, then, in¬ 
deed, are our fisheries utterly doomed, and the most strenu¬ 
ous efforts ef fish culturists will be put forth iu vain," 
^ Salmon nr Lake Ontauio. —A correspondent at New¬ 
castle, Ontario, writing from that place under date of 13th 
July, and speaking of Mr. Wilmot’s fishery operation, 
says:— 
“I had the pleaanre this week ot viewing a eight each ae has not been 
eeen ou Lake Ontario for many years. It waa something over forty 
salmon (tiulmo mlar) weighing from four to eighteen pounds each. 
They were caught in two trap nets on Monday and Tuesday morniugs. 
These nets were set in the lake about half a mile from here, 1 understand, 
by order of the Fishery Department, to test the advantages which 
are likely to be derived from ihe artificial propagation of Falmon in ihia 
vicinity. The result must he eminently satisfactory to ihut enthusiastic 
fishery officer, Samuel Wilmot, Esq., knowing, as I do, that when that 
gentleman first iutrorinced salmon breeding into Canada some six or 
seven years ago, that fish was so nearly extinct in Lake Ontario that the 
first year of nits operations some eight or ten fish were all that could be 
caught from which to procure ova. J . J. R. M 
A KEY TO OUR SHORE BIRDS. 
"We are constantly in receipt of inquiries as to the proper 
identification of the various species of our “bay-birds.” 
Now that the shooting of these birds is beginning, it seemed 
a good time to furnish an answer to all by giving a ready 
method of determining precisely the species of any “bay- 
bird” met with on our shores without the aid of expensive 
and cumbersome books. This method is by an analysis simi¬ 
lar to that long used in botany, for Ihe formulation of which 
we are indebted to Jordan's “Manual of Vertebrate Ani¬ 
mals.’* In the use of it no one need find any rluficuliy. 
We will take it for granted in the first place that the sports¬ 
man knows that the bird lie has shot belongs lo the Liniieo- 
—shore birds; that is, that it is a water bird, and is nei¬ 
ther a duck, nor heron, nor gull, nor loon, but is something 
between a plover and a curlew. The first thing is to dis¬ 
cover to what family bis bird belongs. Let us suppose 
that he- finds the desetiption (II, **) ot the ChuradriiduB to 
fit. If the plumage is speckled, it belongs to one of two 
genera of this family, Sqaatorala or C/uirudri'iii. But we 
will suppose it is not speckled, and that it has three toes; it 
therefore goes in the third genus, uffiyiaUlfo. Proceeding, 
he sees that his bird’s bill is not “black, rather long,” but 
“oluck-tipped, short aud stout.” It is, therefore, either the 
ring-necked or the piping; a moment's examination de 
cides, and he knows immediately, no matter what curious 
local name it may go by on the marshes, that he holds in 
his hand a plover recognized the world over, iu every lan 
guage, as jEjiatitis melodus. This w'eek, for want of room, 
we give ouly half of the analytic table, waiting until next 
week to print the rest.' We sincerely hope this will be 
found acceptable by our readers, aud utilized by them to 
gain a more precise and well-founded knowledge, along 
with their sport, of the interesting birds they hunt. 
The measurements below are iu inches; L— Ungib; W 
wing, from shoulder joint to tip; B= bill; Ts= toes. The 
dictionary contains all the terms used. 
ORDER LIMICOLxE. 
TUB SHORE BI1CDS. 
Tibia more or tors naked below (sometimes very slightly); legs, and 
usually ntek also, elongated; hind loe free and elevated, often wauling. 
Head globose, abruptly sloping to the ba-eof thebii!,completely feathered 
(except in BhUomuchus); gape short; bill weak, flexible, mure or less 
soft-skinned, and thtrelore sensitive, Plant at Up, without bard catting 
edges—fltted for probing iu the mud; nostrils slit-like, surrounded by 
soft skin, never fethered; body never st rougly compressed or deprt seed; 
nature precocial. Birds of medium or small size, more or less aquatic; 
found in most regions; very abundant in Aojciicu. 
FAMILIES OF LIMICOLzE. 
I. Toes lobate; tarsus notably compresatd...1 ?hai,aropodidj2. 
II. Toes hot lobate; tarsus not specially compressed, 
♦Legs exceedingly long; tarsus us long as 'ail; bid much longer than 
head, deader, acute, atm curved upwards; feei4-tOv(l and palmate, or 
d-toed aud se.uipalurate .llEc.ntvruosTKiD^. 
**Bid usually shorter than head, pigeon like; Ihe hmad soli pase sepa- 
ated uy a constriction from the haid tip; head subgloeose, ou a short 
neck; tarsus reticulate; toes 3 (except iu (Hqimiurola). .uabadkiid.e 
»*«Bill usually longer than bead, uiuSd) grooved, not constricted, sott¬ 
ish to its tip; lai'BUS bCuleUate; toes 4 (except iu CcuiUHn>. 
. SCOLOPAOIPjE. 
****Not as above; bill hard, either compressed and truncate or aeuu ; 
feet 4-toed and cleft, or 3-toed aud Beinipalmate..It-CUAToroulD.-E, 
FAMILY OHARAUKIID,®. 
THE FLOVBKS. 
Head rather large, nearly globose; bill of moderate length,.shaped 
somewhat like a pigeon’s bill, with a colisi Action behind the horny ter¬ 
minal portion; nasal fossffi lined with soft skin, through whtcluh" slit 
like nostrils open. Wings long ana pointed, usually reaching beyond 
the tip of the short tall, sometimes spuired. Toes nsually three, with 
basal web; tarsus reticulated; tibia; naked below, sex similar, but, 
e asoual changes of plumage great. Bpeciea sixty or more, in most parts 
of the world. 
"Plumage speckled; black below in breeding season. 
t Hind toe present, very short .,.Sijoataritla, 1- 
it Hind toe ab-ent.....t-'LUKAjiRUTs. e 
* "Plumage not speckled; head aud ueck with data baud- in iue uned* 
wg season; ioea 3. . ..MUmAntTla, 3. 
1. 6ttUATAROLA, Cuvier. Whistlino Purvises. 
1, 8 , Mtiittn, (L.) Guy. Black-bellied plover, Ox-eye, Grayish, 
speckled; black below In breeding season, at other timea white; L. Hi; 
W. 7; T. 3; B. 14; Te. 2. Iu most parts of the world 
2. OHARA DIMES., L. Gulden Plovers, 
1. C. fulvuc (Gm.) vnr. virginicus, (Borck.) Gooes Golden plover. 
Frost bird. Dark aud grayish ubove, profusely speckled some of the 
spots bright yellow; black below In breeding season, at other times 
grayish; L. lOf; W. 7: T. 3; B. 1; Ta. I 3-3. N. Am., a well known 
game bird. 
3. -EGIALITIS, Bole. Rins-Neck Plonbrs. 
♦Bill black, rather long, 
1 jE. vaeiferus , (L.) Cass. KilldeBt plover. Brown; rump bright 
orange brown; tail with black, white, and orange; tvo black bars across 
breast, and one above the while forehead; L. 9; W. 64; T. 34. N. Am. 
abundant In the Mississippi Valley. 
""Bill otack-lipped. short and stout. 
2. jE. lemipalnutluis, (Bon.) Lab. Ring neck plover. Dark ashy 
browD; black bands broad; feet semipaltnate; L 7. N. Am. 
3. JE. melodue, (Ord.) Cab; Piping plover. Very pale ashy brown, 
clear white below; dark bands narrow and faint; toes slightly webbed; 
L. 64. iS. N. Am.; aoundant along the coast. 
FAMILY HdEMATOPODIDzE. 
THE TURNSTONES. 
Bill hard, acute, or truncate; nasal fosste short, broad, and shallow 
Legs short, stout, brightly colored. Genera two,notmuch alike; species 
six or eight; In most parts of the world. 
"Toes 8, webbed at base; tarsus reticulate, shorter than the trunente, 
compressed, almost woodpecker-like bill. ILematophs. 1. 
*»Toes 4, not webbed ; tarsus scutellute in front, as long as the 
sharp, pointed bill.STBKPStuAS, B. 
I. H.EMATOPIJ8, Linuteus. Ouster Catchers. 
1. H. palliutus, Temmluck. Gyster catcher. Ashy brown and black¬ 
ish, mostly white below; L. 18; W. 10; T. 44; B. 3. Coasts. 
2. STREP8ILA8, Linmeus. Tubnstones. 
1. 5. Inter/nes, (L.) Illiger. Turnstone. Variega'ed; black, white 
brown, aud chestnut anove; mostly white below; no reddish m winter" 
L. 64; W. 6; T. 24. Cosmopolitan; abundant. 
FAMILY HECURVIUOdTRID-E. 
THE AVOOETB. 
Less excessively long. Bill very slender, long, acme, often recurved. 
Genera three, species eight; in most parts of the world. Ehnantopui 
is said to have the longest Legs i elativety of any bird. 
"Toes 4, full webbed; bid recurved, flit'enud. taperingfo a needle-like 
point; plnmuge beneath thickened as iu ducks; swimmers. 
...ItSCCBVIROSTBA, 1 
**Toes 3, semipaltnate; bill nearly straight, uot flattened. 
. Himantopu*, 2. 
1. KECCRV1R0STR4, Linnams. Ayockts. 
1. B. americana. Gm. Avocet Bluestocking. Wbi'e, marked with 
black and cinnamon; legs blue; L. 18; W. 8; T. 34. G. 3. 
2. HIM WTOim*, Briason. Stilts. 
1. II. nlgricoUis, Vieitlot. Stilt. Long-shanks. Lawyer. Glossy 
black, white below, legs pink; L. 15; W. 9; T. 3; Ts. 4. U. S, 
FAMILY PHA.LAROPOD1DAE. 
THE PHALAROFES. 
Sntpe-like birds with the toes lobad, as lu the cootB and grebes, but the 
lobes narrower. Swimmers; body depressed and the under plumage 
thick a in the Dock*. Tarsus mucu compressed. Three species repre¬ 
senting as mauy genera; of nortliern regions of both hetnispuerea, Bonth- 
ward Iu winter. 
"Bill flattened; membranes scal'oped . Phalakopu8, I. 
""Bid -ubulaie; mem uaiMH scalloped. LoripVs, 3. 
"""Bill subulate; membranes plain. . . Steoanopos, 3. 
1. PHAcAROPCS, Brisson. Red Phalahopes 
1. P. futtcartos, (L.) Bon. Red PUal-irope. Variegated above, purp¬ 
lish chestnut below; young whito below; L. 8; VV 5; T. 2J ; B. 1, 
Nor them Am. 
2. LOBIPES, Cuvier. Northern Phalarofes. 
1. L. fu/iieibr/reue. (L.) Cuv. Northern Phalarope. Grayish black, 
variegated; rump and under parts white; sides of neckwi.h chestnut 
stripe. NorUieren regions. 
3. bTEUANOPUS, VlelHot. Phalaropbs. 
1.5t. Wiltoni, (Sab.) Cones. WQson's Phalarope. Ashy above, vari¬ 
egated; rump and under parts white; sides of neck with a black stripe 
which changes to chestnut below. Northern regions. 
-- 
Geographical Variation of Mammals, — Am ong the 
recent pamphlets issued by Dr. Hayden is an essay by 
J. A. Allen of Cambridge, Mass., on “Geological Varia¬ 
tion among North American Mammals, especially in re¬ 
spect to size.” This subject is a specially with Mr. Allen, 
who has worked out its laws extensively as manifested 
among birds. Summarizing his present results briefly, it 
appears tbal most of our mammals beloug to groups which 
have their greatest development in the temperaLe or colder 
portions of the northern hemisphere. These rarely pre¬ 
sent an exception to the general law of decrease in size 
southward. The more marked exceptions, of those in 
which there is actually an increase in size southward, oc¬ 
cur iu those families that reach their highest developmeut 
in the Tropics, as the cats. In some species there proba¬ 
bly exists a double decadence the size, the individual 
gaining its maximum dimensions at Ihe cemre of its 
abundance and nalive region, diminishing in size inward 
ilm north through scarcity of food and severity of climate, 
and toward the south owing to the enervating lufim-ilee of 
tropical conditions. In a geuerul tvav .VIr. Alleu finds; (L) 
“That the maximum physical devi iopmeul of the individ¬ 
ual is attained where the conditions of environment are 
most favorable to the life of tire species; (2) The largest 
species of n group are found where the groups to which 
they generally belong reaches its highest development, or 
where it has whut may he termed its centre of distribu¬ 
tion; (3) The must ‘typical’ or most generalized repre¬ 
sentatives of a group are fouud also near its centre of dis¬ 
tribution, out-lying forms being generally more ‘aberrant’ 
or specialized.” These laws are elaborated by Mr. Allen 
and illustrated by accounts aud measurements of mauy of 
our quadrupeds. 
THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST. 
Salem, Mass,, July 95th. 
Editor Forest and Btraam :— 
The following extracts from my Journal for 1876 may be of interest ns 
throwing light on ihe vernal migration uloug the Massachusetts coust: — 
Marcu 9th—I'empcratnre, 34 degrees at 7 A. M,; wind north . eat; 
cloudy and raw. A bunch of about 25 geese passed southward. 
March 2S)lh—49 degrees at 7 A M.; wlud so n heart aud weather clear¬ 
ing. Blue-birds and cro .v black-mtds about; saw largo floes of « hUt- 
lers {Bucip/ia a umtrica'.a) in ti,e bar, or yesleiday. 
Marcu 3ULII—I’emperaturo 36 djgrees a, 7:3d A M.; wlud we.-t aud 
lies.,; weatuer clear and urighl. Roolna around the house aiugiiur mer¬ 
rily. 
April 4tb—Illustrating our fitful climate. 1 record that the thermome¬ 
ter indicated 36 degrees above at 7 A, M., and wind oast to northeast; a. 
