Feb. 15, 1883.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



4 6 



Boardmau. Estq., wBq has obtained n single specimen, shol 

 uearEastpo t. 



178. Turnstow —St.; psilas (ntepprea And.. Riug. 500, 

 fi& 598.— Common along'the coast during spnugand au- 

 tumn migrations. Arrives in May. This little "bird of 

 pB-iegated black, * bite and reddish 'Drown plumage and 

 orange-red feci, is sometimes termed "callco-baek." It 

 irccpieiits the rocky and sandy shores, and is randy found 

 far inland 



[TO KB CONTrNVI-.D.J 



THE CARRION CROW. 



[OniMttm atrafos,) 



Tills vulture, so almndani everywhere in the South. 

 in company with the well-known "turkeydmzz.ard' 

 (C.'tl,. .'■/<..• a urn) is rather :i peculiar bird. Neither of the 

 two arc proper buzzards, Inn lliey are almost everywhere 

 Called so T^cy are true vultures, Here, bUth species an 

 called, indiscriminately, inikcv-hi.zzar.l. though a Mi- 

 le^ individual make a distinction, Bomx> calling the carrioi 

 crow proper, turkey-buzzard and others, giving it its prope 

 nam.-. A. person who does opt notice birds pnriicuhnly 

 would call boih spe<!ies buzzards, or turkey buz/.ards indis 

 ( rimin.-.t. !y, seeing nn difference in them. 'But to one win 

 ttotici - birds wiih .-my particularity, they are quife distinct 



I will p,\ •• a short description of e».0h, italicising the main 

 points of difference. 



Turkey-Buzzard, Catlcarfes a«r«.— Blackish brown. i(iiill 



(primaries' ./</.// ;.;/vi.v on their under surface. head nil. feel 

 •.,;, ,r/,;r, : afcjij of head eornmaled with 

 i fiw bristle like feathers; pki-rn'offa minim fcctng in n cfrch 

 //,, „,,/.: nostrils veryfarge, open, naked, tail ronnded, length 

 aboui. 2J teet, extent 6 wing 2 tail 1. 



( idrrlon Crow. Gitkartesatratus.—Blttti/tisfi, quills*-, rypak, 

 iii;,i,. si whitish, '!■■ rrtiii rib* tftht .first seven (ptillsot primaries 

 pur, tchiteabm rind befotoj skin on the head asj-ntbo turkey 



buzzard . • d 1'in ■■! a dull i; "''sA, ..,-.'v; bill aiiil 



feet j)royMi yellow • smatit r iluin Mra Pn linear dim nsions, bui 



" In",:.., , . ■.:,;!; length 



about two feet, extent about four and a half, toil sewvre. 

 The plumage commences at a point on thebackoftfa head. 



The habits of the two birds are very similar, axeept in 

 this, thai the camion clow, bo far as- 1 haw observed, ap 

 pears i,, (i.,,| a, recently slaughtered or dead animal much 

 more quickly than the turkey. buzzard, and Miems to seek 

 after, and ho mm ill raOVfi fond of. freshly dead animals, not 

 BUtl'ld, than the turkey buzzaid. In ih'is ii -coins more like 

 ilc- raven of the Nm-ih and West, yet u will feaston (he mon\ 

 puind flesh. Again, tf one kills aldeerfifcre and hangs it up 

 in the woods in the morning and leavea ii iiiiou-h t&e day, 

 be will generally liud ii mutilated oi destroyed bj the oar- 

 fion crow before evening) bul old hunters say thai it the 

 dei-r is imtKB up by in, dead with the- forelegs caiefully 

 t u ■ m l down, the isrOWs cannot gel a foothold on the 

 '■areas- s () as to injure it. 



The. crows do not always find a doei. when hungup. I 

 recoiled one instance in which 1 hung up a line door in 

 ihc morning; and left ii di ring fhe day, The carrion crows 

 did not find it, bin four turkey-buzzards did, and ate up all 

 the viscera that I had left on the ground near the deer; and 

 -.v sundown were walking around on tin- ground near the 

 carcass, but had not touched it. Then, again, 1 have known 

 iln can-ion crow -tn find tt deer as soon as the hunter had 



huns'and letl it. and to entirely ruin il in a very shorl lime. 

 My experience is. then, that tin: carrion CTOW is fonder of 



freshly-killed meal than the turkey-buzzard, in 9 very much 

 more Bold and active bird, and will destroy freshly -killed 

 ■game hung in the woods, while the turkey- buzzard (iocs not 

 generally do this. 



These"t wo birds are un r.-adilv distinguished the one 

 from the other when ih.fl.ighi together and they feed to 

 geilni here and everywhere in the South in great numbers 

 on eaii-a--.es nf large animals. The "crow" bus consider- 

 ably the shortei. wider wings, Bhortot body and tail, the 

 jaat looking as if cut square off, and bis motions in flight 

 much quicker and stronger. IMs flight when traveling is 

 exactly the Bame as the prairie chicken or wild turkey, 

 namely a few quick, Strong strokes of the wings, and then 

 a -ad or soar, and ibis repeated. But. Dr. Cones is wrong 

 when he speaks of '■this species ncvei sailing for any distance 

 without flapping its wines." 1 admit that this is its general 

 mode of Might. Hut. during the forenoon Of this day, 1 

 flushed fifty or more from the carcass of a dead horse, when 

 they all how out over the trcetops, where they began the 

 regular buzzard -ailing, and went up to a great height with- 

 out any Happing, and sailed oiT over Ihe river bottoms with 

 no more flapping than the tnrkev-buzzard. 



How the vultures find their food seems to be as hard a 

 qin-si ion to determine as how they can sustain a flight of 

 hours up nud down against, with, Or sideways to the wind, 

 gradually amending an inclined plane for a great distance 

 withoul a visible motion of the wing. Men- are two 

 luy-i.-ri.- that the "longest heads'' have been unable to ex- 

 plain. How I hey tl nd I heir food is fully as mysterious. It 

 has i.een conclusively proven, 1 think, that the turkey-buz- 

 zard does not find its food by seen I. 1 say conclusively 

 proven. But then, again, when one comes to study the 

 carrion crow and how it finds its food, he is all atsea again, 

 fin ii does n,,i s ; ,ii nor soar around high above the ground 

 hunting like the turkey buzzard so that it may see its food. 

 How it' d.oes fiud it. is more than 1 eau tell, and the more 1 

 observe, the further 1 seem to be from a solution. 



1 will explain, and in doing so, will name another observed 

 curious difference in these two birds. The carrion crow i? 

 reported as having been sei.n as far North asSDassachusotts 

 and even Main. . but 1 never observed il so I'arNorlhns 



Northern Illinois, during near a half century's residence there 

 If it ever readies so far North in the interior it must be ol 

 very rare occurrence. The turkey-buzzard is a regular sum- 

 mer visitor there, and sometimes breeds, but here, atratiuis 

 much the hardier bird. By this 1 mean that he is active 

 in our .-oldest weather, at least ihe coldest weather that I 

 hi\e -e. n h.-re in two winters, while aura is not. Now 1 

 '-'l.w-eio the point I wish to make. From observation made 

 pasi summer I had concluded that aura first 

 found the food, and ntridun followed him up, but this view- 

 has beeu entirely overthrown by recent occurrences, On 

 ihe morning of the 17th of January, '83, 1 found one of inv 

 horses dead in the stable, and on ihe morning of the IStb - 

 one of the coldest mornings I have seen in this State, 

 ice just strong enough on shallow pools to hold a 

 man— I had him hauled oui into a ravine. No buz 

 zards or crows came to the carcass that day, The next 

 forenoon, about 1(J o'clock, the weather stiil b'.-iug cold, 

 Kree .virion crows came ilving directly west from the 



river hot torn, just over the tree tops, directly toward the dead 

 horse, and alighted in the trees, almost diroctly over it. The. 

 wind at the time was steady west of north, in less than an 

 hour after the appearance of the first three attaint, there 

 were more than fifty -around the carcass, 1 observed a great 

 inaiiv of them arrive, and all came ill just as the first three 

 did." No <W/ra among them. The next day tin re wen about 



100 a.tratUS abOUt the dead horse, but no (i«w. nor did I ob- 

 serve a single one near it until the fifth day. when in Ihe 



afternoon, the weather having become quite warm, several 

 arrived. These faeis, of Course, Upset all my theories as to 

 (HM'fl first finding, and then afrotii* following h'm Up, Now 

 will someone pleas, tell m. how Ihese carrion crows in their 

 bidi g places, perhaps miles au ay, Knew- thai Ihis.l.ad horse 

 was readj for them in a steep ravine hidden by underbrush. 

 and great trees overhead, and what directed ' them so that 

 they could come flying directly across the wind, and at one. 

 alight directly above it- I think it would tie much easier to 

 explain the sailing or soaring of the turkpwbiizzftrd 6t the 



sandhill crane. Every theory Q«U I have 'ever form, d. as 

 to how these birds linii their loo I. has proven untenable, and 

 would not hold water when Ihe teal of fails was applied. 



As I said before, the most careful experiments of coo) 

 headed scientists and naturalists have proven conclusively 

 that these vultures do not find their food by their powers ql 

 scent or smell, and whal is still more strange, mv own ob- 

 served facts have proven to me just as coaclnsivclj that 

 tin-v do noi find their food by their eyesight or poWera 

 of vi-ioii. i picked Up a theory ihe past summer, and 

 hugged ii and petted it with great enthusiasm for quite a 

 time, bui it proved as untenable as all the others when tried 

 by the teal of solid observed facts, it was this: That dead 

 animal matter bad a stream oi particles flowing from it 

 which was plainly visible to the eye of these birdB, This 

 theory tilled the' bill for quite a time. But, bless your 

 soul, after obs, fving two or three seemingly very hun- 

 gry vultures sit around on a fence for two or three 

 days within a few feel of a putrid rabbit, which was 

 completely covered from sight, withoul rinding it, I 

 concluded that neither the vapor, or fog, or sight, qt 

 scent theories would do to tie to. Her,-, ilien. in this fam- 

 ily of vultures we have two problems over which our most 

 observing naturalists stumble, namely, their flight — which 

 is trulv mechanical and should Ur- explainable— and how 

 they find i heir food, which is truly wonderful. Bnl is it 

 more so than Hie homing pigeon V the homing honey bee5 or 

 the homing -^ni-kiiii! pies-.' I drop to the pig. 



The descriptions in the flrsl pari of I hi- paper were taken 

 from fresh adult specimens of oach species. I found them to 

 coincide nearly exactly with the description by l>r. Cones, 

 except as noted. 1 found the carrion crow » very hard 

 bird to kill with shot; much more bo than tin- inrkoy-buz- 

 zard. Theywen- ''collected" purely in the interest of science, 

 and if l can be forgiven I win surely not kill any more. 



Uyi;-:i-. 

 C'hookett's Bmjff, Arkansas, Jan, SI, 



THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. 



nv a. i;. vi:i<uii.i„ 



THROUGHOUT the Gulf Stream border examined bj the 

 Fish Commission, the bottom in 50 to 500 fathoms, 00 

 to 1io miles from the shore, is composed nininlv of very 

 tin" gajjd, lar L r,.| v ipiartz. with -rains of feldspar, mica. 



HLr.nl/ntlx, and many large and singula; worm-tubes of sev- 

 eral kinds, and often in large quantities. In the deeper local- 

 ities there is usuajlymore or lossgeuuuie rand or clay, but 

 this is ofien almost entirely absent, even in 300 to 500 fathoms: 

 The Band, however, is often so line as to resemble mud. and 

 is frequently so reported, when the preliminary soundiu, 



deepest dredgings 

 belt examined, we 

 rounded boulders 

 Weight, consisting 

 Thes« 





In 



en 



iroughoui M 



tiles and sin.- 



•hi pounds 



[oasohist, .-I 



abundant and covered with actinin 



etc. Probably these have been flouted out to this region 

 within a few years, while frozen into the ice. in winter and 

 spring, from our shores and rivers, and finally dropped 

 where the ice melts rapidly under the influence Of the 

 warmer Gulf Stream water in this region. Possibly much 

 of the sand, especially the coarser portions. m:iy have been 

 transported by the same agency. Another way. hitherto 

 overlooked, iu which fine beach sand may be transported 

 long distances is by reason of its floating* on the surface 

 of ihe water after il has been exposed to the air on the 

 beaches mid dried. The rising tide always carries off a 

 certain amount of fine dry sand floating in this way. In 

 surface towing-uels, made of fine muslin, we always 

 take more, or less fine silieious sand, which evidently was 

 floating on the surface, even at considerable distances from 

 the shore. When we consider the vast stretch of sand 



:aehes from Cape Cod to Florida, there seems to be an 



exhaustible supply of such sand. 



Tbe prevalence of fine sand along the Gulf Stream slope 

 in this region, and the remarkable absence of actual mud or 

 clay deposits, indicate that there is here, ai tin bottom, 



tiieieni, eurrent to prevent, for Ihe most pari, the deposi 



m of fine clay like sediments over the upper portion of 

 Ihe slope iu 70 to 150 fathoms. Such materials .-,ie probabl) 

 ied along lill they eventually sink info the greate'i 

 depths nearer the base of the slope or beyond in lie- ocean 

 basin it-elf where Ihe currents are 1,-s a.-tiv, . Ii is prob- 

 able that such a movement of the water may be due to tidal 

 •eut-squile as much as to the actual northward How oi 

 tbe Gulf Stream, which is here slow, even at the surface 

 Lt is not probable, however, that the bottom currents an 

 Strong enough io move ev.-n the fine -and alter ii has one. 



tually reached th;- bottom; nor is it strong enough to pre 



mt the general deposition ol oceanic /■',,,., ,,n : n , i, m. ptoro 



pods. ,.,e. 1 have above suggested thai the loose nodules 01 

 " iiesloneiiK.v have been .leriv.-d from softer r... k ■ or in. 



msolidated materials by the removal or wearing away ol 



the hitler. The exist, -nee of actual Currents sufficient to; 

 ■li.-h erosion is bsirdly supposabl<\ I believe, however, thai 

 u.-h a result nnv be due ilir.etlv to the habits of certaii. 



fishes and Crustacea, that abound on these bottoms. .Mam 

 fishes like Ihe hake (P/n/w). of which two species an 

 idioii here, have ihc habil of roofing in the mud, liki 

 pi«s, for their food, which consists largely of inaline worm. 



other mud-dwe|iii,g creatures, Other fishea, those with 

 sharp t.iiN especially, burrow actively into mud .or sand, 

 tail first. In all probability tfaorurus, so abundant in this 



region, has this habit. Several species of eels and eel-like 

 fishes arc veiy abundant on these bottoms. These are till 

 active Inn rowers. Ti.e slime-eel or hag (W/piiu) was also 

 token in large numbers. Many crabs and 'allied forms are 

 also burrowers. Such erealur'e-, by stirring up the bottom 

 sediments continually, would give the currents a chance t» 

 carry away the finer and lighter materials; leaving the 

 c arsi it behind 



In many localities in the region under consideration 

 there are great quantities of dead shells, both broken and 

 entile. & aujull proportion of the bivalves have, been drilled 

 by carnivorous gi etropods, but there are large numbers that 

 show no injury whatever. There is no doubt that these 

 have, for the moat part, served as food for the starfishes, so 

 abundant on these grounds, and from which I have often 

 tak.-n enliie shells of many kind-, inclnditlg ptoropods. 

 Many fishes, like the cod, "haddock, hake, itc, have the 

 habit of swallowing shells entire, and after digesting the 

 contents Ihev dlscorgO Hie uninjured shells, and such fishes 

 abound Ii. re'. The broken shells have p.obal.ly been exten- 

 sively preyed upon hyih.- larger crabs and other Crustacea. 

 The iftrge crabs, belonging tO the genera r.o,.v/-aud I i,, i/o,., 

 and the large hermit crabs abundant in this region have 

 strength suffidienl t -eak mo- of the bivnlve shells. Al- 

 though I have ., lien s M -n auch e>.M:i.-ea break open bivalves 

 for food, lam wed aware lhai they also feed on oilier things, 



Many fishes thai feed on mollusca also break the shells be 



fore 'swallowing them, o thai bolh fi-n.-s and crabs have 

 doubtless li.-lped to accumulate the broken shells that are so 

 often scattered abundantly over the bottom, both in deep 

 and in shallow water, A small devilfish (jQcltipVA hairditf) 

 Which is common tn this region, also has the habit ol feed 

 ing upon bivalve shells Two oilier devilfishes. (Ettflona and 

 Mnjms.i,) of much larger size, are occasionally taken. The 

 AMopotus growa to the length of threefeel 01 more, with a 

 weight of twenty-four pounds. 



At several localities, but especially in 234, 851, and 040 

 fathoms, respectively, we dredged fragments and nodular 

 masses or concretions of a peculiar limestone, evidently of 

 deep sea origin, and doubtless formed at or near the places' 

 Where it was obtained. The-e sp,., imeiis varied in size fmin 

 a few iuchi s in diameter up to one irregular nodular or con- 

 crctionary mass, taken at station No. U'-'-l. in 640 fathoms, 

 which was 39 baches long, 14 broad, and thick, with all 

 parts well rounded. This probably weighed tin pounds or 

 more. The masses differ much in appearance, color, tex- 

 tnre, and firmness of grain, bul thej are nil composed of 

 grains of silieious sand, often very fine, cemented by more 

 or less abundant calcareous matter. In some the grains of 

 sand are lance enough to be easily seen by the naked eye, 

 and small quartz pebbles often occur in them, but in others 

 the sand-grains are so [j m . t luxt a mieroso..pi. examin- 

 ation is needed to distin-'iiish them These fine-grained 

 varieties of the rock are often exceedingly compact, 

 heavy, hard and lough, usually grayish or greenish in 

 color. They usually weather brown, from the presence 

 of iron, (probably' as carbonate). The inclosed sand 

 consists mainly of rounded grains of quartz, with some 

 feldsjiar, mica, garnet and magnetite. It is like the loose 

 s.-in.l dredged from the bottom in the game region. The 

 calccrcoua cementing material seems to have been derived 

 mainly from tbe minute -hells of Fonammif<*>v abundantly 

 disseminated through the sand J just as we find the recent 

 Fnriniiiiiif'i rn {(llnlii'ji riiiii. etc.) in Ihe same region. In some 

 cases I watj able to 'identify distinct oasis of Vfrmminifera in 

 the rock, [n some pieces- of the rock distinct fossil shells 

 wen found, apparently oi recent species {Astafte, etc.) The 

 larger masses appear to have been originally concretions iu a 

 Softer, deposit which has been more or less worn awav. 

 leaving the hard nodules so exposed thai the trawl could 

 pick them up. The age of ibe-e rocks may} however, be as 

 great as. the plei-locene. or even the pliocene, so far as tbe 

 evidence goes. Moreover, il is probable lhal lliey belong to 

 a part of the same formation as the masses of fo--ililerou- 

 sandv limestone and ealcareon - Bflndstone often brought up 

 By the Gloucester fishermen from deep water on all the fishing 

 banks from Qedrg; a to the Qrand Bank, as described by me 

 four years ago. No rocks of 'his character have ever been 

 found ou the dry land of this coast.— Thin*. 



MAINE WINTER NOTES. 



r r , HE pine grosbeaks came to us iu November, which is 

 I earlier Ihan usual. They have stripped the apple trees 

 of what fruit was left on them, not eating the apples but 

 tearing them to pieces to gel the seeds, leaving tho Snow 

 under the trees covered with pumice. As my trees had beeu 

 stripped clean hy the children, I tied some apples into the 

 branches, honinsr to Inin- the birds into my yard, but thev 

 did not come. 1 also tied some open lace bags filled with 

 hemp and canary seed, also some beef bones with meat on 

 them; audit, did not take long for the chickadees to find 

 them. A few days later came a couple of sparrows, which 

 I have no doubt am our ground sparrows; they have the 

 Becked breast with a black spot, in the center." For some 

 reason ihev w ere left behind their companions in the autumn 

 migration.' Then came another beautiful little bird, of 

 which I do not know the name, but lake it to be a visitor 

 from the North. Only one came at first, then two. and now 

 a dozen, so 1 have put out a box of Chaff, open at the side, 

 ami every day I throw into it a handful of meal and some 

 hemp an'.l canary seed, and they board with m.- reg.ilarly 

 nou. \\'e ail enjoy their presence very much. This morn 

 ing 1 found one of the strange bird's in the snow dead. 

 There wen- no marks of violence on il.andi cannot con 

 :-.i\. what killed it. certainly not the cold. It might have 

 fiqwn agftinst the house. 1 look il into the house, and my 

 little girl pleaded for it for a funeral, hut I though! 1 would 

 ike 1 1 know the name of it. so I send it tn you. 'rMcase name 

 :t. 



Do English sparrows migrate? A few years ago, wishing 

 to havesomc bird- hen- which would stay with us winters, 

 f got. a few English Sparrows and relea.s d them, pulling up 

 bird house.- in the trees for them. This was in the spring. 1 

 never saw them enter a house, and duriug the summer they 

 disappeared, I am very -un : not one can he found within 

 nil.-.- of b ,-e , luring ihe summer, bul every year, about Xo- 

 veiiiber. a fioclc of about. Iwci.ly make ihcfr appearance and 

 .vinter with ii-. Tiny pick up their living aoout the gri&r, 

 nd! -. anil go, no on..- knows where, in the spring. These 

 ire ihc kind of sparrows to have. They stay with lis and 

 Lain make us happy in tn,- winter, and go away in ihe 

 •■pring am; !<•! b.'i t,' r bii d.-. conn-. This is not an adveitise- 

 .len'.a- J have no CggAtO sell; bul I am very sure in my 

 ■■lutein. ■nl, Ihe English sparrows winter with us. and not 

 one em bo found here ill the summer. 



The last one of my three young quail .bed late in Novem; 



