150 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



permeate the whole body, and especially the breast and 

 belly, where a visible ripple passed slowly along puffing 

 out the skin and raising the plumage. It was curious to 

 see this wave advancing slowly to the point of complete 

 distension, and then as gradually recede in the opposite di- 

 rection until the collapse was total. I should judge that 

 about an eighth of the mean bulk of the body was alter- 

 nately increased and diminished by this inflation and 

 shrinkage— a difference, perhaps, sufficient for the required 

 change in specific gravity. It is certainly enough to ac- 

 count for the different depths at which a grebe is observed 

 to swim on the surface, sometimes resting almost out of 

 water, and again sinking until the back becomes, as the 

 writer aptly says, "barely awash." 



But the amount of air a bird may take under water can- 

 not be presented to determine its subsequent course. When 

 a loon starts after a fish he cannot foreknow the direction 

 of pursuit and take a stock of air accordingly. If his 

 course depend upon assimilation of his specific gravity by 

 this means, he would be foiled in pursuit as often as the 

 fish went the wrong way for him. If, for instance, he let 

 out air enough to sink himself he could not rise or go hori- 

 zontally without effort, and consequently diminished 

 speed; for obviously he has noway of lightening himself 

 with additional air. Besides, it appears improbable that 

 an animal in which the respiration and circulation are so 

 active as they are in birds, could remain for so long a time 

 submerged without a considerable supply of air. I think 

 that the eollapsed grebe above instanced could not, in tliat 

 state, have performed one of its ordinary reaches under 

 water. 



While I believe that the progress in any direction of 

 birds under water is adequately explained upon the mechan- 

 ical principles above given, I am far from denying that 

 some slight change in specific gravity may occur, and be 

 effected moreover, independently of respiration by a change 

 in the set of the plumage. By the action of certain cuta- 

 neous muscles, a bird's feathers may be collectively raised 

 on end or laid flat, at will ; and provided the elevation of 

 the plumage be insufficient to admit water in the intersti- 

 ces, the bird's superficial area would be increased, to the 

 displacement of more water, and consequent lessening of 

 specific gravity; and conversely. The loons I observed 

 looked remarkably compact and trim under water, and 

 probably all birds dive with the plumage very "close 

 hauled." 



As for birds actually walking under water on the bottom, 

 as they do on land, observations are wanting to show that 

 it ever occurs. Loons and grebes, indeed, can scarcely 

 walk at all anywhere, without trailing on the belly, and 

 this mode of progression under water would be particularly 

 glow, laborious, and disadvantageous. I have no idea that 

 it is ever accom^ lished. The very remarkable case of the 

 birds of the family Ciurtidae, or dippers, (near allies of the 

 thrushes) often instanced in point, of birds walking on the 

 bottom of streams, is sufficiently disproven by the obser- 

 vations of Macgillivray, who, in his History of British 

 Birds, explains their movements with his usual fidelity and 

 power of graphic description. They progress with the 

 wings like the birds we have been considering. They are 

 not web-footed and cannot swim, but dip down under the 

 water and j% through it, till the bottom is reached. There 

 they go bobbing along, with the head and body diagonally 

 inclined forward and downward, moving the wings inces- 

 santly in the effort to keep down. The moment they relax 

 exertion they are borne upward, and sometimes swept sev- 

 eral feet down the brawling mountain streams they in- 

 habit. Dr. Elliott Coues, U. 8. A. 



■+•+» 



— Bernard A. Hoopes, Esq., President of the Philadel- 

 phia Sportsmen's Club, and one of the members of the new 

 Philadelphia Zoological Society, has sent us the following 

 description of a new species of white hawk, with some 

 beautifully colored plates of both male and female, speci- 

 mens of which are now in the museum of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Philadelphia: 



Btjteo Borealis, variety Kriderii. PI. 5. Entire head 

 and nape pure white with the exception of a few feathers on 

 each side of the forehead at the base of the upper mandi- 

 ble, which are tipped with dark brown. Cheeks white, 

 with several lines of feathers, narrowly tipped with dark 

 brown, extending down the sides of the neck and a short 

 distance under the wings. Back brown, largely spotted 

 with white, which is the prevailing color of the base of the 

 feathers, some of them are edged with yellowish brown; 

 many of the feathers on the upper part of the«back are 

 arrow shaped, or pointed, faintly edged with white. Tail 

 white, with an ochreous tint, darker toward the ends of the 

 two middle feathers, banded with eleven irregular trans- 

 verse bars of brown, the feathers rounded, or slightly 

 pointed and tipped with white. Throat, breast, and entire 

 under parts pure white, inside of wings the same, first five 

 quills edged with bluish ash. Toes, dark lead color, large. 

 Claws black and strong. 



The female does not differ much from the male in the general 

 appearance of the plumage, is considerably larger, as usual 

 with the birds Of prey. The back is rather lighter brown, 

 the white spots larger. Tail darker, more of an umber 

 tint on the middle feathers, which are edged with white. 

 The forehead is white, but the feathers of the head and 

 neck arc tipped with small lanceolate spots of brown. Un- 

 der parts entirely white, with fewer spots on the flanks 

 than the male, the tarsi and feet more robust, and of a 

 similar eclor. .Dimension*: Male, total length 20^ inches; 

 tail 9 inches. Female, total length 22i inches; tail 9£ 

 inches. . 



The above description is made from two specimens, male 

 and female, collected in Winnebago county, Iowa, by Mr. 

 John Krider, of Philadelphia, in September, 1872, and care- 

 fully prepared by that gentleman. He mentioned having 

 e&n several others, and described them as having the habits 

 s nd manner of flight common to the buzzard family, and 



from their being noticed in the autumn, were possibly mi- 

 grating from more northern breeding grounds. During a 

 previous visit to the same locality, in 1871, he saw a speci- 

 men evidently similar to these, but was unable to secure it, 

 Being informed by residents of the country that the ap- 

 pearanee of a "white hawk" there was not an unusual oc- 

 currence, he felt confident of ultimately procuring one, and 

 has not been disappointed. Being convinced that it is un- 

 described, I have named it in honor of the veteran naturalist 

 to whom we are indeebted for the discovery. 

 . ++& 



\/ THE GROWTH OF FISHES. 

 « 



I SAW, a day or two before I started for the woods, a 

 newspaper article, in which it was stated that "some 

 years ago Prof. Agassiz suggested to George S. Page, of 

 New York, President of the Oquossoc Angling Association, 

 a method of determining approximately the age of the fa- 

 mous Rangely trout, which grows to the weight of seven, 

 eight, and even ten pounds. The mode adopted was to take 

 a small platinum wire, pointed at one end and flattened at 

 the other, and marked at the flat end with the weight and 

 the year. Then insert this wire in the dorsal fin, selecting 

 a mark according with weight and time, and return to the 

 water. " It seems that in 1870 fifty trout were caught and 

 marked in this manner and returned to the water. This 

 year, among a lot caught by the artist Moran and some 

 friends, was one marked 1870 — weight, half a pound. It 

 weighed nearly 2f pounds, showing an increase of nearly 

 If pounds in three years, or a little over half a pound a year. 

 Now this may be a very fair test for that particular lake, 

 but the annual growth of fishes depends so much on cir- 

 cumstances that it is impossible to establish a general rule 

 from any local test. The increase of all fishes changes ma- 

 terially, both with abundance of feed and extent of range. 

 A difference arising from kind and abundance of food 

 would be expected, but it is not so easy to see why extent 

 of range should have so marked an effect on size. Yet, you 

 put a trout in a well or small spring, and give it all the food 

 it will eat, and its annual increase is hardly preceptible. 

 But give it wide range and a full supply of food, and it in 

 creases rapidly. One might think that its cramped condi- 

 tion in a well by confining its exercise, ! destroyed its appe- 

 tite, and so preveuted its eating a sufficient quantity to has- 

 ten its growth. But we find that fish vary in size according 

 to the size of the sheet of water they are in. This is true 

 of catfish, every one knows, and of pickerel. In this 

 State or New England, take two ponds, only a quarter of a 

 mile apart, and wholly disconnected — the one ten rods in 

 diameter, and the other a half mile, and the pickerel in the 

 latter, though in the same kind of water, and living on the 

 same kind of food, will average nearly double in size those 

 found in the former. I should like some explanation of 

 this well known fact. No man goes to a small pond for 

 large pickerel. 



The rapid increase in growth is still more marked, and often 

 something marvelous, when the same fish is transferred to 

 different waters in which is different food; I remember, 

 twenty-eight years ago, when I was at Lake Schroon, on 

 my first trip to the Jfclirondaeks, a party of men brought 

 in "a large quantity of pickerel, some of them weighing 

 ten twelve, and one fourteen pounds. The fish had been put 

 in the hike four years before, and an act of Legislature obtain- 

 ed fori lidding any fishing in it for four years.^The four years 

 having expired the fishing commenced, and the above was 

 the result, Now supposing the largest taken was one of 

 the original number put iuto the lake; he had increased 

 nearly three pounds a year, or three times his size. This is 

 wonderful. A still more remarkable instance has just oc- 

 curred here in Long Lake and in the Raquette River. Four 

 years ago, the last time I floated down this wild, beautiful 

 river, no pickerel had ever been seen in it, Now it is abso- 

 lutely swarming with them. They crowd it so that I verily 

 believe a ^ood fisherman might half fill his boat on a good 

 day. The change has come about in this way. Five years 

 ago some men put thirteen pickerel in Long Lake, much to 

 the disgust of the colonists there, who feared they would 

 destroy the trout, as they doubtless will. That yery winter 

 four of the number were caught through the ice, leaving 

 only nine to stock the lake and river. This year, or four 

 years from the time they began breeding, the lake is found 

 to be full of them, and the Raquette River also for 130 or 

 140 miles, clear to Potsdam. The original nine fish averag- 

 ed about a pound in weight. This summer they take them 

 weighing from two to twelve pounds. The other day a son 

 of my old Indian friend, Mitchell Sabbatis, a boy only nine 

 years old, took one weighing seventeen pounds, or fully as 

 long as himself. The fish towed him half across the lake, 

 and how the little fellow managed to capture him is surpris- 

 ing. None but a young Indian could have done it; but he 

 would have stuck to him till he was dragged overboard, 

 and, I have no doubt, even after. Now, granting this to 

 have been one of the original nine, he had increased about 

 four- times his size every year for four years. Others may 

 have heard of such rapid growth before, but I never have. 

 In four years those nine pickerel have stocked to repletion 

 Long Lake, fourteen miles long, and Raquette River for 

 over 100 miles, and Trapper Lake and several small ponds, 

 till millions apparently swarm in them. At first sight, the 

 increase in numbers may seem quite as marvelous as the 

 increase in size, but on reflection it is not. It is doubtless 

 owing to the fact that for some cause the spawn escaped 

 the destruction that usually overtake it. The pickerel, one 

 of the most voracious of fishes, eats its own young in im- 

 mense numbers, but the abundance of better food in these 

 waters, especially such delicate morsels as young trout, 

 would prevent this, and hence a greater proportion reach 

 maturity. Now I do not know how many thousand eggs 

 are in pickerel weighing a pound, but there are more than 

 one thousand. Supposing a fraction of these, say one hund- 

 red, reaches maturity, that would give from the nine pick- 

 erel nine hundred saved. The same ratio in four years, 

 would show the sum total of ninety millions — a number 

 large enough to stock many a hundred miles of water. If 

 the ratio saved was larger the number would be proportion- 

 ably increased. But with the increase of the size of the 

 fish, the number of spawn would be doubled and tripled, 

 so that the result would be still more astonishing. The 

 fact is that the number of fishes that usually reach maturity 

 in prortioion to the eggs laid is infinitesimally small. — New 

 York Tribune. 



THE MUSCULAR STRENGTH OF 

 SECTS. 



IN- 



THERE is no phase of life, however simple or com- 

 plex, but furnishes food for profound study. There 

 is no study connected with existence, but affords lessons of 

 absorbing interest, and embodies suggestions of a most 

 valuable character. Human life is a mist incessantly evolv- 

 ing perplexing issues, while animal life as contradistin- 

 guished from that of rational beings, is not only constantly 

 inviting science to solve its problematic points, "but eliciting 

 the tests of experimental philosophy, to compass the stranet 

 workings of its hidden nature. 6 



In the last number of the Eclectic there appears inter- 

 spersed among varieties from Chambers' Journul some 

 singular disclosures, touching the muscular power of in- 

 sects. It seems that one Felix Plateau, a young Belgian 

 naturalist, a son of the distinguished physcian, has been 

 recently engaged in some delicate experiments with the 

 view of testing the muscular development of insects as 

 has been done on previous occasions, with the man and the 

 horse. It may not be generally known that the strength of 

 the last two has been determined through the agency of a 

 nrachine, technically called a dynamometer, the tension of 

 a spr.ng is counterpoised by an "effort exercised for a very 

 short time. Strange as it may sound it is alleged that man 

 has a power of traction equal to five-sixths of his weight 

 while the horse can only claim the half, or two-thirds of 

 his weight, And yet it is demonstrated that both of these 

 tractive powers are insignificant in comparison with the 

 strength of insects, many of which can draw forty times 

 that amount. The ingenious method of experiment adopted 

 by M. Plateau, as authentically announced, is worthy of 

 the subtle conception that entertained the idea of fer- 

 reting out the latant capabilities of insects, and the suc- 

 cess that crowned his patient and persistent labors. It is 

 said that he literally harnessed the insect, by a horizontal 

 thread which, he passed over a light, moveable pulley, to 

 which he attached a balance, loaded with a few grains' of 

 sand. To prevent the insect from turning aside, he forced 

 it to walk between two bars of glass on a board covered 

 with muslin, in order to effect a rough surface. Stimula- 

 ting it forward, he gradually poured fresh sand into the 

 balance, until it refused to advance further. The sand 

 and the insect were then weighed, and the experiment re- 

 peated several times in order to ascertain the greatest 

 effort each could possibly make. The tabular results showed 

 the greatest degree of strength in the lightest and smallest 

 insects, or in more scientific language, that the relatiA^e 

 force is in inverse ratio to the weight, The strongest insect 

 proved to be those more familiar, perad venture, to the 

 naturalist, described as living mainly on lilies and roses 

 and known to scientists as crioceres and trichies. These 

 tiny beings drew a weight forty times in excess of their i 

 own, and one, which would be regarded in the arena as the * 

 giant of the entomological group, drew sixty-seven times 

 its own weight. A small beetle, it is related, has achieved 

 the same feat, But the most remarkable fact the writer 

 relates is of a horn-beetle, which actually held between its 

 mandibles, alternately raising and lowering its head and 

 breast, a rod of thirty centimeters length, weighing four 

 hundred grammes, its own weight being but two grammes. 



Thus it will seen that insects are superior to the larger 

 animals in the strength of their muscles, and that the law 

 determining their relative muscular development is equally 

 applicable to experiments in flying and pushing as well as 

 in drawing. To conclude, we may add to their powers of 

 traction their skill and ingenuity in devising means for 

 overcoming obstacles, and" illustrate the same by an inci- 

 dent narrated by the reviewer. A small wasp was once 

 attempting to raise a caterpillar, which it had just de- 

 stroyed. "The caterpillar was five or six times heavier than 

 its conqueror. Six consecutive times, weary and despondent 

 at its failure to consummate its end, it abandoned its prey. 

 At last an idea seemed to flash upon its mind. It returned, 

 placed itself across the caterpiller, as if on horseback, 

 with its own middle feet it embraced its victim's body, 

 raised it against its breast, and contrived to walk on the 

 fore feet which were at liberty. Thus it soon crossed a 

 walk of six feet wide and laid its prey against a wall. 



-+4H*. 



Unification of Mankind. All the various races of the 

 world are now drawing near and assimilating of their own 

 accord. Fashion has been the forerunner in this extraordi- 

 nary and significant movement, It is sufficient to make us 

 pause, when we reflect that the tailor has done more toward 

 the unification of mankind than Alexander, and the hatter 

 has woven a bond of union among them which is of ada- 

 mant in comparison to that which the Csesars forged. The 

 pantaloons and dress-coat may be seen as frequently in 

 Constantinople now, as in Paris or London. Even the fez 

 is slowly receding before the inevitable stove-pipe hat. It 

 is not unusual now to have the Bedouin ride down upon 

 you in jack-boots and slouched hat. Even the Kirgheez of 

 the Steppes are not indifferent to black frock-coats. 



Nor is it in the matter of clothes alone that the world is 

 being unified. There is a demand among civilized nations 

 for a universal coinage. It is felt that there is no necessity 

 far the many brokers, who with much profit to themselves 

 furnish the money of one country for that of another. As 

 gold and silver is the universal medium of exchange, wiry 

 shall not all nations coin their money in denominations 

 of equal value? In like manner there is a want felt 

 of a universal postal law, under which letters can be 

 sent everywhere for equal charges. And upon the top of 

 all we have a scheme for a sort of Olympian Bench which 

 shall hereafter decide all questions of international law that 

 may arise among nations. — Overland , Monthly for October. 



*&*&, . 



Animals Far tjf North. — The Hall expedition in reach 

 ing the extreme northern latitude of 82°, the highest ever 

 attained on land, during the month of May sent out hunting 

 parties. Twenty-eight musk cattle were killed, also 

 hares and birds. * This, we think is the furthest north, on 

 our continent, that animals have been seen and killed. 



— The buckwheat season approaches when the head of 

 the family eats fourteen cakes at a sitting, to the un- 

 bounded satisfaction of himself, and to the unmitigated 

 disgust of the oldest boy, who cripples his digestive ap 

 paratus for life in a vain attempt to do the same. 

 -^**»- — 



— The mean man who is honestly entitled to what monu- 

 ment is due the champion, is he of Slawson, who instead 

 of smoothing the dying pillow -of his father, took it from 

 the bed that he misfit use the case for chesnuts. 



