FOREST AND STREAM. 



Natural jjjiisfarg. 



A WINTER VISITOR AT A FRONTIER 

 FORT. 



[Under date of Port Sanders, "Wyoming Territory, De- 

 cember 20th, 1870, Col. A. G. BraCkett, United States 

 Array, gives the following account of a woodpecker: — J 



"We bad a fearful snow storm in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains on the night of the 2(1 th and 27th of .No- 

 vember, 1S7G. It snowed all night calmly and quietly, 

 and in the morning lay a foot or eighteen inches deep all 

 over the plain. A hairy woodpecker (Picus vitlosus), had 

 been with us during the* whole autumn, and the morning 

 after the storm was as busy as ever getting worms out of 

 the logs of which our post is constructed. Most of the 

 houses are made of logs on which the bark still remains, 

 and our woodpecker makes this bark fly oil in the most ap- 

 proved style when he commences work upon them with 

 his long, strong black bill. 



Sometimes me Hairy woodpecker comes directly along- 

 OW where 1 do ley writing, and there— On 

 I | i jecting building— works with all hi9 might. Oc- 

 l see him tunliis long longueiulotbeholohehas 

 made, or at least enlarged, and piercing a worm swallow 

 it with the greatest satisfaction. Ue appears also to get 

 something from under the bark of the logs, as he moves 

 his bill rapidly as if chewing, lie remove-, the bark and 

 underneath it finds some kind of food; it may be the eggs 

 of insec',8, or worms, which he eats with exceeding relish. 

 His breast, feathers are very tine, soft, and downy, which 

 g'ivephim his name. Iliad supposed he always speared 

 the worms with his hard and sharp tongue, and this may 

 be the case ordinarily, but this morning lie ale with his 

 bill, as other birds ear, chewiug rapidly. All of the lime 

 he is at work he seems to be eating, and the amount of 

 food consumed by any considerable number of them must 

 iU8, AH birds are vigorous eaters, their mission 

 in life being apparently to eat a vast, amount cf all IulcI 

 ot food, and in this way they do much good or harm — 

 perhaps this is about evenly balanced. While working 

 Uiey have a handsome appearance, particularly if the 

 weather iscold, and their feathers are standing out. Their 

 soft and downy plumage white on the breast, the feathers 

 darker and of a dun color as they approach the 

 skiu, is very handsome, the bird appearing to be sur- 

 rouuded Will) soft and warm plumage, especially adapted 

 10 tins cold climate amid the Rocky Mountains. 



So our woodpecker goes from louse to house, and has 

 as well known at Fort Sanders as almost any indi- 

 vidual in it. We are all surprised to see him remain so 

 the cold weather lias set in, and when the only 

 bitds we have remaining here are horned skylaiks, or 

 shore larks (EremopMla alpesiris), which we call snow 

 birds, who live here the whole year round and rear thous- 

 ands of their young on the Laramie Plains. The other snow 

 birds, (hat is to Bay, the Oregon snow birds (tAmee bregonus), 

 and Gray Crowned Finches (LeucostlCte tcp/trccvtt.H), have 

 noL yet put in an appearance. The Gray Crowned Pinches 

 are among the most beautiful birds in the mountains, their 

 blight rose-colored sides, dark brown backs, and gray 

 crowns, rendering them remarkably handsome. It is no 

 liey are so highly prized in Alaska, where they 

 remain during the summer months, and where their 

 Sprightly ways and bright coloring add so much to the 

 ies, closed in as they usually are with tall, dark 

 pine trees. 



Our woodpecker has made quitea name for himself as a 

 "spirit rapper," and some mornings, very early, has started 

 several people out of their sleep ny his quick and restless 

 pounding, who thought that the spirits had come sure 

 enough. When pounding on the outside of a house, the 

 sounds made by the woodpecker are exactly like some of 

 those said to be made by Uie Spirits, Notwithstanding the 

 weird ways of this solitary woodpecker he has made many 

 friends for himself, and although several of the soldiers 

 t d to catch him he has eluded them all, and works 

 away as unconcernedly as if nothing bad happened. At 

 times bis tappings becomes so loud that we arc obliged to 

 drive him oil', when he goes to the next building and be- 

 gins wofk again. 



1 cannot understand why this bird alone of all his spe- 

 cies should remain here, where it is exceedingly cola at 

 times. lie may have thought he found a good thing when 

 became into the fort and discovered that the logs were 

 Tilled with the kind of worm he relished above all others; 

 and perhaps he said to himself "Here I will remain uutil 

 next spring, as 1 can rind no better place should I travel 

 way down into New Mexico or Chihuahua." 



It is true enough that, some wild ducks occasionally stay 

 all winter in the head springs of the streams, where the 

 open, Last winter 1 saw a laige number in the 

 head spring of City creek, about, two miles above Laramie 

 i approached they scrambled out of the water to 

 the dry land and there remained. As 1 did not wish to 

 disturb them, 1 turned my horse and went back, leaving 

 them huddle^', together near the spring. This proves that 

 all of our ducks do not go away at the approach of winter, 

 although most of Ihem do. It would bo strange indeed if 

 some aid not remain behind, cither from necessity or 



The old logs are full of larva: which lire woodpeckers 



hunt for with great assiduity. I was surprised at lirst to 



see bow many chilis this Woodpecker could make from the 



logs, pulling oil pieces of bark half the size of my hand, 



13 seveial days, during the last of the waim weiillt- 



I could understand what caused so much bark to 



about on the porches. At last 1 saw the red- 

 head ni woik, who evidently "meant business." The com- 

 mon class ot Mexican people cal, woodpeckers "carpinlc- 

 carpenters, from the way they make the chips 

 fly alter the manner of the carpenters. Harris's and the 

 downy woodpecker are very much like the hairy wood 

 peckei , and a man must be able to decide at once which is 

 winch, as iu Iheir wild stales, their movements are very 

 r.q id. 



in regard to the woodpeckers Mr. W.L.Baily in "Our Own 

 . ,, :-■ "Although the red-heads uudouijiedly do great 

 service to the farmer in ridding his orchard and fruit trees of 

 a great number of insects, yet we cannot conceal the fact 

 indulging in a loudness for fruit and green corn 

 has. given them a reputation anytbiog but enviable. The 

 finest and ripest of the fruit is generally selected to gratify 

 their desires; and so keen is their relish lor the early pro- 



ductions of the orchard, that a well loaded cherry tree will 

 sometimes be entirely stripped of its cherries before the 

 owner has fairly tasted them." 



Up here in the mountains we have very few either of 

 cherry trees or woodpeckers, and welcome the latter wheu- 

 everthey make their appearance. We have few trees of 

 any kind, and the fact that a woodpecker, of all biids in 

 the world, has chosen to spend the winter with us has 

 given us both surprise and pleasure. If wc have good luck 

 1 will tell you how he spent the winter. 

 ♦♦> 



CLTJPEA AND CORREGONUS. 



*> Yehoennes, January 31st, 1877. 



Editor Forest and Stream:— 



At the request of several members of the Ferrisburgh 

 Spoitsmen Club, 1 send you herewith a specimen of a fish 

 caught, iu Lake Champlaiu through the ice. It was un- 

 known, or at least so rarely seen as to attract, no attention 

 south of Split Rock until the winter of 1870, but is now 

 quite common in thewalcrsof the lake between Split, Lock 

 and Port Henry. It is only caught in January, February 

 and March, through the ice. It being thus caught at the 

 same season as our smelt, which we know are a salt water 

 fish, leads us to conclude that this is also a migratory sea 

 lish. Fishermen assure me that these fish are never caught 

 in the same places at the same time. 1 find iu Thomp- 

 son's Vermont, which is the only work of reference I 

 have, a lish whose description very nearly answers fortllis; 

 he calls it Hie winter shad, ILutUm r/ocbth/s /..; friinu; 

 Tlion.tvsou's Vermont, A. D, 1843. Our fishermen call it 

 itlj Muehsli, blue herring, ale-wile and herring. 



Will you for the benefit of many readers of your valu- 

 able and entertaining paper, members of our Club, pub- 

 lish a collect description and the name, common and 

 scientific, of the fish 1 stud you, and whether Ol not it is a 

 migratory sea lish? Yours sincerely, N. E. ll.vi.c, 



Vicc-Pres't Ferrisburgh Sportsmen's Club. 



Ann. The fish in question belongs to the genus corre- 

 f/OTtUS, many varieties of which exist in the great, lakes and 

 lesser inland waters of America, the principal or best 

 known being the white fish of cor. mcrce, or the com- 

 i/oitus alius. It is closely allied with the lake herring, 

 ■iciigus, which it resembles at a casual glance, but 

 upon near inspection it will be found that the lake herring 

 lacks the adipose second dorsal I'm which distinguishes 

 this; that its scales are smaller, its color more greenish, 

 and its tail more forked. The Salmo family is also dis- 

 tinguished by the adipose fin, and between it and the 

 family of Gadidie are several intermediate links, the 

 species before us being one of them. It is about ten inches 

 long, and having been tonic lime out of the water has 

 acquired a deep blue color like that of the salt wa'er 

 herring. This fish is not, strictly speaking, a cisco, though 

 the difference is hardly appreciable. It is quite different 

 from the ciscoes found iu Geneva Lake, Wisconsin. 



It may be well to say that while the adipose second 

 dorsal, fin is a geberic characteristic of the Salmo family, 

 and a specific characteristic of the genus corregonus, it is 

 also found in the catfish tribe {Sulinithi) and in the smelt 

 I therefore, the species are not determined by this 

 tin alone. 



■*'*■ 



THE BLACK DUCK IN THE ROCKY 

 MOUNTAINS. 



Washington, D. C, Jan."27th, 1877. 



ElllTOK FoREST AND stream:— 



In your note below Col. Lrackett's list of the Birds of 

 Wyoming, you slate, referring to the black or dusky duck 

 ir example, has never, we think, been no- 

 ticed as far west as the Rocky Mountains before," etc. 

 Please allow mo to correct your statement, and reler you 

 to a report made by myself and Mr. H. VV. lleusbaw, Peh. 

 lGth, 1873, to Lieut. G. M. Wheeler, U. S. A,, In charge 

 of Explorations west of Ihe 100th M. On page til you will 

 find that I saw this species at Rush Lake, Utah, m Nov, of 72. 

 At this lime they were present in enormous numbers, and 

 I have killed loo many black ducks not to know them 

 When I see them. If. 0. Yarrow. 



| Dr. Yarrow has our thanks for his prompt correction 

 of our error. The report referred to was not at hand at, 

 the lime when the note referred to was written, but we 

 have since been able to procure a copy. — E».] 



"DOES THE OSPREY EVER TAKE DEAD 

 FISH?" 



*> Pgttsvij.lk, Ta., Jan. loth, 1877. 



Editor FoBKRX and Stukam:— 



la your very valuable journal of the lllh hist., "Roam- 

 er," the Portland correspondent, briefly replies to the 

 letter of "B. C. C." of December 7l.li, in which the latter 

 tells of an "osprey picking up a dead lish." The former 

 ig: "Did not the observer mistake a young eagle 

 for an osprey f" 



The habits of the osprey, or fish-hawk, having been fully 

 and ably written up, 1 do not piopose to discuss [hem, but, 

 since Ihe question is being agitated, I desire to ielate a cir- 

 cumstance which occurred some years ago. 1 have always 

 been extremely loud of lisbiim, and the farm on w hicli 1 

 lived until recently was amply supplied with never tailing 

 Springs oi pure sparkling cold mater, thus affording excel- 

 lent facilities for building afish pond. Having constructed 

 oue, it whs iin mediately sleeked with the choicest variety 

 of lish with a view to "their propagation. .1 had regular 

 hours iipr feeding them, and alter a time seemed to have 

 wou their affection, as they would all ascend to within a 

 hair's breadth oi the water's surface upou my whittling or 

 depositing crumbs of bread in it. Bui u singular cirenm- 

 sianee was that as rapidly as 1 would replenish the stock 

 there was a bidden and unaccounted for diminish: 

 "pels." Their leaping over the breast of the dam was an 

 evident impossibility. -No snakes or terrapins could be 

 found uor the foot-prints of any animal. 



After vainly trying to discover the marauder by means 

 oi" traps and snares, as well as by solitary watcniog by 

 night, 1 began to believe that rny forager was a broad day- 

 liglit thief, and with a strong desire lot its capture, I se- 

 creted myself behind a bush, gun iu hand. 1 



=5= 



in Ihe middle of June. I never knew a summer morning 

 more beautiful and still; Only one little cloud was visible, 

 and Chat seemed as pure and white and peaceful as if, 

 were t lie smoke of some burning censer. The leaves hung 

 silent iu the woods, and the flowers were bending their 

 heads as if dreaming of the dew, while the atmosphere 

 was of a soft and luxurious sweetness. I had occasion to 

 remain iu position but a short time, when suddenly I was 

 overshadowed by an immense fish-hawk. Hovering; around 

 and over the pond for a moment or two he descended with 

 lightning-like rapidity into the water, emerging with his 

 iron talons firmly clinched to one of my "speckled beau- 

 tits." When he had reached an elevation ot about liftetu 

 feet above the water ray finger touched the trigger. The 

 fish fell; the hawk fluttered; but, upon regaining his equi- 

 librium, apparently in fury and excitement he returned to 

 the spot where the fish had fallen and pickedit up. When 

 be had reached about the same elevation 1 let drive Ihe 

 other barrel, and the thief fell a dead osprey. 



'Dom Pedro. 



Editor Forest and Stream-.— 



Your correspondent from Portland is inclined to doubt 

 that the osprey ever takes dead fish; thinks that I may 

 have mistaken ihe young eagle for the osprey; and if the 

 incident was correctly related; asks if it is not an unpre- 

 cedented one. As to mistaking the species, I believe 1 am 

 too familiar with them for that to occur, even were the 

 distinctions between them less marked than they are 

 Neither is the instance unprecedented, since I have seen it 

 happen before, and under similar circumstances. 1 have 

 also Si 60 the osprey neglect to pick up his dropped lish, as 

 the hooks say he does; but I have never seen the eagle 

 catch a lish for himself. Perhaps because in Florida there 

 are plenty of lish hawks to do it for him. 



In the words of a recent practical writer on ornithology, 

 "Birds, as probably other animals, are not quite so invari- 

 able in their habits as has been commonly supposed; hence 

 one should not rashly question the accounts given by 

 usually reliable autlioi it-ies, because in particular instances 

 they do not accord with Iheir own observations."— Allen's 

 Koiea on Some of the Barer Birds of Massachusetts. 



S. 0. c. 



ffaadland, ^arm and (garden. 



BULBOUS PLANTS. 



FEW classes of cultivated plants are so universally 

 beautiful, or so much admired when iu flower, as 

 bulbs. They are almost without exception easily grown, 



and when well treated flower prof iisely, ytt not unfre- * 

 quently complaints are made that some ef the most com- 

 mon varieties arc shy bloomers, a circumstance doubtless 

 attributable to some inattention on the part of the cul- 

 tivator, rather than to any inherent deficit on the 

 part of the plants themselves. Plants to bloom in per- 

 fection must be well grown and well ripened, and this is 

 especially necessary iu the case of bulbs. Nevertheless, 

 nothing is more common than to see the pot- containing 

 this class of plants thrown carelessly benetth the green- 

 house stage, or crowded on a shelf and left without moist* 

 hue for days together. When such maltreatment, is prac- 

 ticed we need not wonder at bulbous plants not blooming 

 well the following season. As soon as the flowering sea- 

 son is over, all such plants require even redout) 

 lion, and if they are grown iu quantity they should be all 

 set together where I hey can be readily seen and carefully 

 watered and syringed as required There is no other class 

 Ol plants that will belter repay the painstaking cultivator 

 than hardy, half hardy, and lender bulbs, carefully select- 

 ed and well grown. Only give Ihem positions equal to 

 those occupied by Orchids, Palms, or Ferns, with half Ihe 

 amount of attention they require, aud a perpetual exhibi- 

 tion can be had of the most gorgeously tinted flowers, it. 

 is frequently asserted that no plants rival the Orchids in 

 delicate tinting and delightful fragrauee, but even the 

 graceful East Indian Butterfly Orchids, {PludemopeU) with 

 all their wealth of snowy blossoms, are not more beautiful 

 or more deliciously fragrant than the chaste and pearly 

 blossomed Eueharis. Place a plant of Masdevallia ignea 

 or veitchii side by side with Dtcinanthus coccineus, or even 

 Valotta purpurea, or any of the richly colored AmaiyllL's, 

 and ask any ordinary observer which is the brightest, 

 freshest and most effective. Take a handful ol Ixias or 

 Sparaxis aud carry them in:o the vapor bath of an East 

 Indian Orchid house, and they will hoid their own against 

 the most rare and va'uable of tropical epiphytes. Indeed, 

 though seldom teen, Txins, Spnra.ris, Biiliinuua, TritonitU, 

 A.adis, elts., are invaluable fui greenhouse culture, and lur- 

 nish abundance of Iheir lovely spikes of bloom for cut 

 flowers. The Yalotta purpurea also should not. be neglect- 

 ed, an evergreen bulb which should never be allowed to 

 dry off, or rest like the most of bulbs, but in our experi- 

 i -and flowering lest when cramped for room, 

 and fed liberally with liquid manure. Among the smaller 

 bulbs adapted lor pot culture may be named Marewi, bolh 

 yellow and while; Qrocuses, Brwtcdraps, Trilelias, while and 

 blue; Hyacinths*, and 'tulips, ef coarse, and Ihe G 



lonna Lilies, the latter of which we have seen 

 planted out on a warrn border flowering more freely eveiy 

 ln.ll than if grown in pots, its delicate rosy pink blossom 

 being borne ou stout stems twelve to ei«htetu inches in 

 lleigbt. Some, varieties of Ulndiola are also well adapted 

 for pol culture, and as for Lilies, no plants arc morepopu- 



■i in, either for pot culture for the greenhouse, 

 for cut flowers, or for the decoration of beds and borders 

 in the flower garden or pleasure grounds. 



**.*■ 



Maiden's Haiu Ferns.— Anyone having a plan 



by division— that is, by taking it uutof the pot, pulling it 



