224 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



will forage for those always in prefereuce to the minnow, though he 

 will take nab (or a change, or, iu feet, most anything eatable. We think 

 too much oiu is oborgi>d to tho blaok baas. We Bbould hositato about 

 rutting bim Into confined water? along with other fish; but in a river 

 as wide and long as the Connecticut, with the whole ocean at its mouth, 

 ■ve cannot coucei re how the bats can do the injury that is charged to 

 Aein. unless tbey shenid swarm iu such counties* numbers, like the 

 ■ilueflsh and other pelagic rovers, as to (111 the rivor basiu from bottom 

 .o surface. The scarcity of ahari is to be accounted lor by tho faet that 

 his comings aud goings are intermittent, juat as are the movements nl 

 all anadromous Hsu to a certain eiteut. The present year is probably bis 

 your off; next your we shall see him in greater abundance.— l£l>. F. k S. 



Shu> in the Saceamento Kiver.— We have been favored by 

 Prof. Bftixd with the following extract of a letter, dated April 

 18, from Mr. Horace D. Dunn, well known as an eminent 

 discoverer and scientific observer on the West Coast. It 

 mist Satisfactorily settles the question as to the introduction 

 and maintenance of shad in tho Sacramento River, as the re- 

 sult of their transfer from the Atlantic coast: 



"The young shad are now becoming so numerous that 

 many of the salmon fishermen complain that it gives them 

 much trouble to replace them in the water when taken, as 

 the law directs. The business of canning salmon has been 

 Bscominehced on a large scale near the mouth of the Sacra- 

 mento River, the first shipment of 180 cases having been re- 

 ceived in San Francisco." 



Canxed Salmon. — All reports from the North Pacific coast 

 show that the business of canning fish is constantly increas- 

 ing, and bids fair to become far more important than at 

 present. New • 'canneries," as the factories are termed, are 

 springing up, and even the Chinese are going to Washington 

 Territory and Oregon to engage in the business. There is 

 so much put up, indeed, every year, that home consumption 

 and the trade of the Eastern United States uses only about 

 twenty per cent, of the annual crop. The remainder goes to 

 Europe, the most of it being contracted for by English 

 houses long before the fish are caught. This splendid result, 

 aud the cheering prospect of its infinite continuance, is no 

 doubt due, almost entirely, to tho wise restrictions which 

 have been thrown around fishing in the Columbia. Perhaps 

 no other river in the world has been protected by such an 

 intelligent policy. If the Connecticut, or Hudson, or Dele- 

 ware, or a dozen European streams had received a similar 

 far-seeing protection, the toothsome fish might yet be com- 

 mon on all our tables. But in that case there would be little 

 demand lor Columbia River salmon. "It's an ill wind blows 

 no one good. " 



g^atawl §islorg. 



The Clam: Dissected. — At the last session of the Sumner 

 School of Biology attached to the Peabody Academy of 

 Science at Salem, Massachusetts, the first lecture was upon 

 the common sea clam (Alga arenavia), its habits and anatomy, 

 which were pleasingly illustrated by Prof. Morse in his usual 

 enthusiastic manner. At the close of the lecture the class 

 repaired to the laboratory, where they found a quantity of 

 the bivalves to work upon. Each student being provided 

 with scalpels, proceeded to open it by passing the scalpel be- 

 tween tho valves and severing the adductors or powerful 

 muscles which connect the valves. A valve was then removed, 

 and the various organisms exposed. The heart continues to 

 beat and its pulsations may be readily seen. The parts most 

 readily seen are the sipons with their strong yoke of 

 muscles, the gills or brancliiw, the palpi and the mouth; 

 they then proceed to clip away portions of the mantle and to 

 trace out the course of the alimentary canal, the nervous and 

 muscular systems, and to make drawings as they proceed. 

 After working upon bivalves a few days, gasteropoda, in- 

 sects, crust&ceous starfishes, etc. , are taken, and the student 

 learns to compare the various organs in a few typical forms, 

 thus obtaining the key to more extended investigations, 

 which may then be carried on without the aid of a teacher. 

 Two interesting lectures were given by Prof. Morse upon the 

 Evolution theory, and the work of American students in 

 its behalf. 



The dredging parties and botanical excursions in the 

 vicinity afforded many objects for study, and formed a 

 pleasing feature of the session. 



We are glad to hear that they propose to hold another 

 session the coming summer at Salem. It will commence 

 July 6th, and continue six weeks. Lectures will be given each 

 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Eriday, at 9 A. M. ; each 

 Wednesday will be devoted to a dredging trip, the remaining 

 time being given to laboratory work, demonstrations and 

 excursions, making the course a practical one, that teachers 

 may learn the methods of studying and teaching Natural 

 History. During the coming session entomology, the study 

 of spiders; Crustacea, and the anatomy of vertebrates will 

 receive special attention; the preparations in the museum 

 Will be used as illustrations. 



Dr. A. S. Packard, Jr., assisted by Messrs. J. H, Eincrton 

 and J. S. Kingsley, will give instructions in zoology. Mr. 

 John Robinson will lecture upon botany, and Rev. E. C. 

 Bolles upon microscopy. The admission fee will be $15.00, 

 or to lectures alone $5.00. Names of applicants should be 

 sent in by May 1st. Information may be obtained of Dr. 

 A, S. Packard, Jr., Salem, Mass. 



The Audacity, of Hawks. — Apropos of the experiences re- 

 lated in Mr. Frank Schley's book, "American Partridge and 

 Pheasant Shooting," in which it is stated that the writer had 

 often seen hawks dart upon and carry off birds he had 

 killed before they had fallen to the ground, tho Easton Free 

 Press has the following; 



••Mr. I. N. Mills, a veteran sportsman of Wilmington, 

 Delaware, says he has seen some rather audacious things 

 done by the pigeon hawk, but nothing to watch Mr, Schley. 



He relates that ' while gunning some years ago near Princi- 

 pe's Furnace in Cecil County, Maryland, my setter dog 

 came to a point in some bushes near a pine thicket. I was 

 standing on the railroad embankment some ten or twelve 

 feet above him at the time, and called up the party who was 

 shooting with me. Before we could get to the dog a hawk 

 darted out of the pines and took one bird out of the covey 

 not three feet from the dog's nose. The look of astonish- 

 ment that poor Dash gave as he turned his head to me when 

 the covey rose from fright was so comical that I could not 

 shoot either at the covey or hawk for laughing. Again, three 

 years ago, while shooting in Tuckahoe Neck, Talbot County, 

 Md., four of us in a party, with four dogs, were beating a 

 large field near a magnolia swamp. One pointer came to a 

 stand about forty rods ofi, and the other dogs drew up and 

 backed him. While we were advancing, a large chicken 

 hawk flew from the swamp and took a bird out of the covey, 

 but I was too quick for him, and stung him so sharp that he 

 had to drop it. The No. 10 shot I had in was not sufficient 

 to kill at the distance. The quail was not much hurt, as it 

 got out of the way fast enough. In neither of these cases 

 had a gun been fired until after the attack had been made. ' " 



-».»- 



The Shjc-Spetsiso Fish. — There is a mollusk — the pinna 

 of the Mediterranean — which has the curious power of spin- 

 ning a viscid silk, which is made in Sicily into atextile fabric. 

 The operation of the mollusk is rather like the work of a 

 wire-drawer, the substance being first cast in a mould 

 formed by a sort of slit in the tongue, and then drawn out 

 as may be required. The mechanism is exceedingly curious. 

 A considerable number of the bivalves possess what is called 

 a byssus, that is, a bundle of more or less delicate filaments, 

 issuing from the base of the foot, and by means of which 

 the animal fixes itself to foreign bodies. It employs the 

 foot to guide the filaments to the proper place and to glue 

 them there; and it can reproduce them when cutaway. The 

 extremity of the thread is attached by means of its adhesive 

 quality to some stone; and this done, the pinna, receding, 

 draws out the thread through the perforation of the extensile 

 member. The material when gathered is washed in soap 

 and water, dried, straightened, and carded; one lb. of coarse 

 filament yielding about three ozs. of fine thread, which, 

 when made into a web, is of burnished golden-brown color. 

 A large manufactory for this material exists in Palermo. — 

 .VeiVji''|ic American. - 



■*«♦■ 



Moles and Their Worm-stores.— In a tract of meadow laud 

 iu Norfolk, which lies below the level of a tidal riv«r, and 

 which is therefore preserved from being submerged by arti- 

 ficial embankments, the mole ia not infrequent, although he 

 is regarded by the occupiers with great disfavor. In addi- 

 tion to his ordinary sin of making the grass-laud difficult 

 to mow, he has an ugly trick of boring into the river walls; 

 aud, by loosening the sods which hold these walls together, 

 imperils the walls themselves. Mole-catchers are therefore 

 iu great request, and a few minutes spent in company with 

 one have taught me a lesson on the mole's history which was 

 quite new to me. March is the mole's breeding month; and, 

 iu preparation for the appearance of young ones, stores of 

 fresh meat, in the shape ot worms, have been laid up under 

 hills, larger than the ordinary mole-hills, but in the open 

 marsh, which an experienced eye readily recognizes. The 

 mole catcher (in whose company I found myself accidentally) 

 is employed to poison moles, and the food in which he puts 

 his poison is the common earth worm. Sooner than spend 

 his time in digging for these on the upland, he had come 

 down to the marsh to rob Lhe mole's larders, and be hit on 

 these with the sagacity of a terrier sniffing at a rabbit's 

 burrow, and did not open a hill in vain when I was with him. 

 He choso the largest nil s which were on the highest spots cm 

 the marsh, and opening one in my presence, he laid bare a 

 round cavity, the si^es of which were beaten hard by the 

 mole, so as to prevent the worms from attenipiing to pierce 

 their way out. Inside this there was nearly a quart of flue 

 worma, quite free from any admixture of soil, each worm 

 apparently tted up in a coil or knot, yet all alive. TJpon 

 being dragged out of the place in which they had been stored, 

 the worms began to wriggle away; but the mole-catcher put 

 them into the box he carried, and took away his prize. Is this 

 habit of the mole generally kuown among naturalists? It 

 seems to argue a reflective faculty, great as in the beaver, that 

 the mole should prepare a prison in which worms can be 

 kept alive. — Field. 



Destruction or Ocb Birds. — Mr. H. D. Minot, of No. 



4 Garden Street, Cambridge, Mass., is writing a paper in 

 which he wishes to present some figures about tho annual 

 destruction of our birds, particularly the game birds. He 

 asks for any trustworthy estimates, facts, or references to 

 articles in periodicals applying to the subject, and we gladly 

 refer him to our readers for assistance in his investigations. 



Migration" of Ktsoblrds. — I saw on May 1st a very re- 

 markable flight of kingbirds ( Tj/ranmts carolihensis). When 

 first observed they were flying high in the air, and at first I 

 mistook them for robins. I estimated the flock to contain 

 at least two hundred; they were flying in a wavering and 

 uncertain manner, coming from the southeast. When di- 

 rectly overhead a pair of the same kind of birds (that had 

 established themselves in my orchard for a week) set up a 

 lively screaMny, and the flock, after flying around sometime, 

 settled in the treos. I have never heard of them coming in 

 flocks before, and have never seen more than a pair at a time. 

 I have not seen a scarlet tanager this spring. They usually 

 arrive here about tho 23d of April. Gvxon. 



SOUTHERN NOTES. 



Randolph Macon College, Va., April 18, 1677. 



EDITOR FOBK9T AND SlKEAM. 



Seeing something in your paper about the breeding of tamed wild 

 geese, I would like to add a little to what has already been Baid in Forest 

 and Stbbam. Two years ago, in Ouancock, Accomac County, Va., 

 a gentleman owned a flock of Canada geese. Two paira of these bred 

 every earing. The other*, since they do not breed in captivity uutil 

 they are three years old, were too young to breed. I myself huve seen 

 tho old birds sitting on their eggs. Another gentleman in Ouancock 

 owned throe nalra of this species that had not bred when I last heard 

 from them, tboegh they made their nest. This gentleman used his 

 geese aa decoys, lie used to tie them by their legs with long cords 

 to a stake, driven down into the aand of some s:tnd-bar making out Into 

 the bay. lie gave them cord enough to allow them to swim in the bay, 

 or to walk on the sand as they chose. At convenient range from the 

 geese was a blind, where the gunners lay concealed. The tamed geese 

 would soon honk op some of their wild brethren if any were abont. 



1 have licen observing the arrivals of the birds that come from the 

 South in spring. Ou April o:h I Haw the tlrsi brown [rush (Karporhyn- 

 cAim rujasj. He sung feebly the first day, but has Improved every day 

 since, until bow he is unrivalled by any bird about her*. Ou April Mtll 



I saw two or three goldfinches, or yellow birds, putting on their semmer 

 garb. They were not m full plumage, but seemed to be just half-way 

 between their winter and their summer dress. This morning, very 

 early, I heard the first whip-poor-wilt ( AnnaUmva voci/cms). He did not 

 whip-poor-will as Hist nor as lively as ho will in a week or two. He just 

 seemed to went to let us know that he bad come from his winter home 

 to enliven our twilight hours. 1 also saw to day. for the first time this 

 season, apoor, lone, cbimney-swallow. He looked lost. While speak- 

 ing of the events or today, let me mention that I saw to-day tho first 

 bald eagle that I have ever seen at this place. It was a young bird and 

 was traveling. Though this eagle is very rare here, it ia very common 

 ou the Eastern Shore. Last Jauuary 1 round the nest of a pair of white- 

 headed eaglss in Gloucester County. They were sitting. I did not 

 disturb them. I read your paper with much interest. 



Jesse T. Littleton. 



DOES THE OSPREY EVER TAKE DEAD 

 FISH? 



Pottsvillb, Pa., April 2, 1877. 



EMTOB FOBEST AMD StSEAM. 



I have read with great interest "Boomer's" valuable article on the 

 habits of the osprey, aa well as several other notes which you have pub- 

 lished on this interesting subject. In answer to "Bonner's" query in 

 reqaid to the incident narrated by me, and which appoaied in your 

 valuable journal or February Sth, I would say that the fish showed 

 rnarkB of the talons of the hawk, and that when it fell Into the wuter it 

 came to the surface, and while struggling around iu a circle the bird 

 made his second plunge, taking the nanus fish. The flsb, I should say, 

 exhibited no shot marks. Doa PEimu. 



THE FAUNA OF MICHIGAN. 



( Continued). 



CLASS AYES. 



osnun BAPioBEa.—FAAtrLr STBiams. 



Cteuus Strix. 



SlrUpralincata. Bonap. American barn owl. Seldom seen eleept In 



the couuties of the southern tier. 



Genus Glut, 

 Olus wilsonianu-s. Lobs. Lesser horned owl; long aarod owl. 

 Otui brachyolus . Steph. Marsh owl ; short oared owl. 

 Genus Sy.nium. 

 i Syrnium cinereum. Aud. Great grey owl. Is a rare visitant to the 

 Lower Peninsula. 

 Syrnium nebulosum. Gray. Hoot owl; barred owl. 

 Genus Jfyctale. 

 I Nyctalt ricliardsonii. Bonap. Blchardeon's owl. Confined to TJppar 

 Peninsula. 

 Nyclate acadica. Bonap. Sawwhet owl; white fronted owl. 



Genus Scops. '• 



Scoptasio. Bonap. Screech owl; mottled owl. 



Genua Bubo. 

 Bubo virffinianus. Bonap. Great homed owl. 

 var. jlrctici«. Swain. Arctic owl. 

 N-gclea arclica. Gray. Snowy owl. Very a 



Genus Sur/iiu. 

 Suridu hmUonia. Gmol. American hawk owl. 



Genus Fatco. 

 Fako fHieroJalco) candicam. Gniel. White gerfalcon. A singlo speci- 

 men only has been taken within the limits of the State, so far as known 

 by me. 



Fatco (Hierofaico) uibralora. Aud. F.lack gerfalcon. Hava never soen 

 one. I give both this and the preceding on the authority of the late Dr. 

 G. B. Wilson, F. s. 3. 

 Fatco communis. Gmel. Duck hawk. American perigrino faloon. 

 Fako I JE salon) Ulhofateo. Gmol. Pigeou hawk; American merlin. 

 Fatco {'finnuncultu) spanerius. Linn. Sparrow hawk; American 

 kestrel. 



Genus Pandion, 

 Pandion carolinensis. Gmel. Fish hawk; American ospray: 



Genus Naneteriu. 

 Naucltrwforficatus. Eidg. Fork-tailed kito. Not common. Some- 

 times breeds In Southwest Mict.igau. 



Genus Elanus. 

 Elanus leucurus. Vle-U. White-tailed kite. Ancidental. 

 Genos Ictinia. 

 i Ictinia mississippiensti. Wila. Bine kite. Rare. 

 Genos Circus. 

 Circus hudsonlus . Linn. Marsh hawk. 

 Genus J\'L-us. 

 Nuuifutcut. Kaup Sharp-shinned hawk. 

 Mim coper i. Bonup. Ceoper's hawk. 

 Genus A-tliir. 

 Astur atncapillus . Wlla. American boss hawk. 



Genus Buteo. 

 Bitten pennsylmuicxs. WUa. Broad winged hawk. 

 Buloswaintorti. Boup. Baud's hawk. Swainaon's hawk. This is a 

 rare bird. A specimen killed in Genesee County Is now In tho museum 

 of the Flint Scientific As.ociatiou. 

 Butsolineatus. Gmel. Red-shouldered hawk. 

 Buteo borealis. Gmel. Bed tailed hawk. 

 Genus Arehibulco. 

 Archibut&jtagopus. Penn- Rough-legged hawk. Not common. 

 ArchibuUosanclijoliaiinis. Gmel. Hlack hawk. Rare. 



Sinus Aijaila. 

 Ayuila canadensis. Linn. Golden eagle. 

 Genus ffalmtus. 

 nalioilus leucocephalus. Linn. Bald eagle. American eagle. In 

 the Geological survey of Michigan for 1860, Dr. M'lca gives Balitaus 

 Washinglonii. Aud. Washington eagle. For my part I know of no such 

 species. I have always supposed II. leucoccphalut and B. Wathinglont 

 the same. Will some one enlighten me upon this subject J 



Genus Bhinugryphut. 

 JHiinoon/phue aura. Linn. Red-headed vulture. Turkey Buzzard. 



Genus Cathurlsla. 

 Catharisla atrata. Bart. Carrion crow. Black vnlture. Specimen 

 captured near Monroe, Michigan. 



BIRDS OF THE COTEAU DES PRAIRIES 

 OF EASTERN DAKOTA. 



BY CHAJiLES E. M'CEESNEY, M, D., U. S. A. 



f Continued.) 



Zena-dttra caroUncnsii. Carolina Dovo. Arrives May 17th, and re- 

 maiusnntil September 30th. Is fonud in considerable numbers. 



Paiiaccta phasianellm Var. OAuttijidnui. Common sharp tailed 

 grouse. Resides here throughout the entire year. Is »t nil time 

 numerous. 



