FOREST AND STREAM. 



247 



to an unobserving fisher taking trout, is scarcely distinguish- 

 able from that fish. 



A not less remarkable peculiarity than those already 

 mentioned is that the males of both salmon and shad are 

 fecund a full year earlier than the females. Young male 

 shad, it has been definitely ascertained, return to their 

 native river with mature milt the summer after leaving it. 

 The female does not return until the following summer 

 when two years' old. The experiments at Stormontfield, 

 and on other rivers than the Tay, in Scotland, have shown 

 that the male parr before going to sea is fecund and will 

 impregnate the ova of a full grown female salmon. The 

 embryos from such eggs have been kept by themselves in 

 rearing ponds, and are as thrift)' as the fry of a pair of 

 mature salmon. 



In the early days of salmon culture in Scotland, before 

 breeding establishments like the one mentioned were in- 

 augurated, there was much discussion in sporting and other 

 periodicals between a Mr. Young and a Mr. Shaw as to the 

 time when young salmon set out on their first journey sea- 

 ward; one maintaining that it was when a little more than 

 a year old, the other that it was not until a year later. Ob- 

 servation and experiment at Stormontfield have shown that 

 the contestants were both right and both wrong; that 

 about half of a brood go down during the spring or early 

 summer freshets when somewhat more than a year old, and 

 the remaining half the spring or summer following. From 

 this it has been argued that males being fecund a year 

 earlier than the females, go first, and the females not until 

 they are over two years old. Taking these rules as a basis, 

 we may infer that it takes two years to produce a male 

 grilse and three years a male salmon ; or three years a 

 female grilse and four years a female salmon. 



Of course those who have given much observation and 

 thought to the subject are cognizant of most of the facts set 

 down above, but the article may interest the general 

 reader. Thaddeus Norms, 



West Logan Square, Phila. 

 — The Smithsonian Institute has just received from New- 

 foundland the beak or jaws of an immense cuttle fish cap- 

 tured at Newfoundland last year, which the local papers 

 represented at the time as having a body as big as a hogs- 

 head, and arms twentj^-seven feet in length, with suckers 

 the size of a dinner plate. The jaws just received hardly 

 come up to those proportions, but may have shrunk by 

 drying. 



— St. George Mivart in a series of admirable articles on the 

 frog, published in Nature, in speaking of the ability of the 

 frog or toad to inflict wounds and to convey venom, states 

 that this power is not found in any animals which are even 

 near allies of the frogs and toads. This high authority, 

 however, tells of a very perfect organ for both wounding 

 and poisoning discovered to exist in the Thalassopliryne 

 reticulata, a fish having a superficial resemblance to a frog. 

 Dr. Gunther found in this creature no less than four spines, 

 each perforated like the tooth of a viper and each having a 

 sack at its base. 



In No. 5 of the Forest and Stream we published an 

 account of a poisonous frog, mentioned by Dr. Saffray as 

 the true source of that deadly poison the Wourari. The 

 account given by Dr. Saffray was very positive, and 

 the name Phyllobates Melanorrhinus was given by him to the 

 venomous frog, a native of New Grenada. The same 

 authority says that the naturalist Pison, states the same 

 fact, and that there is also in the East Indies, a saurian 

 called Lacerta Gecko, from which a deadly poison can be 

 made. In the seventh number of Forest and Stream 

 there was a communication in regard to a poisonous lizard 

 in Nova Scotia, and the author of this letter is among the 

 most reliable of our correspondents. 



It might be curious if this discover} 7 was made, which is 

 not impossible, that though certain species of the Batrach- 

 ians would be incapable of imparting their poison by biting, 

 still they might within themselves contain such poison. 

 We should only be glad if some of our readers would give 

 us information on this most interesting subject. 



—From the Bulletin Mensuel of the Paris Acclimatization 

 Society we take the following: — 



" The results of the experiments to produce different col- 

 ored silks go to show that silk-worms fed on cherry-leaves 

 produce a bright chrorao-yellow-colored silk, those on pear- 

 leaves a darker shade of the same color, those on apple- 

 leaves a nearly white silk, but coarser than that of the silk- 

 worms fed on mulberry-leaves. There is an interesting- 

 paper on the breeding of ostriches in captivity con- 

 tributed by Capt. Crepu, who had kept several pairs of 

 these birds. His observations threw much light on the 

 natural history of the ostrich. M. Comber described thtf 

 mortality which has seized the deer and other animals in 

 King Victor Emmanuel's park at La Mandria. The cal- 

 amity he attributed partly to over-crowding and partly to 

 the want of shelter and proper protection. In 18G5. when 

 the park and grounds were carefully cultivated, 13 deaths 

 occurred. In 1873, the park being left in its natural state, 

 172 deaths are recorded." 



— The sagacity of a parrot is recorded. A lighted cigar 

 happened to fall just under the door of the bird's cage. 

 The fumes soon attraced "her attention, and she instantly 

 set about abating the nuisance. Taking a small cup o*f 

 cold tea which was in the cage, the bird doused the con- 

 tents on the burning end of the old stump and extinguished 

 it. 



—A pair of skates for Christmas and New Year's, with a 

 copy of Forest and Stream, can be had by every sub- 

 scriber. 



— What is the difference between a restaurant and a bank 



COCKNEY AND DUFFER. 



THEKE is a legend to the effect that cockney comes 

 from cock and neigh, for that once upon a time a true- 

 born John Gilpin went into the country and, as we are told, 

 for the first time in his life hearing a horse neigh remarked, 

 "How that horse laughs!" But being told that the noise 

 made by the horse was called "neighing," he stood cor- 

 rected. As a matter of course, in the morning a cock crew, 

 whereupon the cit immediately exclaimed, with exultant 

 conviction, that "the cock neighed! In Chaucer, it imports 

 no more than a "silly fellow" devoid of wit or courage, as 

 in the Reeve's prologue— 



"I shall be held a daffe, or a cockney." 

 Baffey means a "fool," and has obviously been converted 

 into duff, whence the term duffer, signifying a "stupid fel- 

 low," and in common use amongst the lower orders every- 

 where. Shakspeare in one passage apparently contrasts the 

 idea of a cockney's coWard.ee with a swaggering bragga- 

 docio, where, in""Twelfth Night," the clown says (Act IV. 

 Scene 1), — 



"I am afraid this great lubber the world will prove a cockney," 



Congrave, whose mind apparently was always intent on 

 the supposed French origin of the word cockney, draws 

 our attention to the fact tjiat the French have an old appro- 

 priated verb "coqueliner," which means to fondle and pam- 

 per, as "coqueliner un enfant;'" the participle passive of this 

 verb is coqueline, thence cockney! Such are the extremes to 

 which men have gone in attempting to find a derivation 

 for this word; it seems to be as deep-rooted now in our 

 language as it was in Shakspeare's time, and the conserva- 

 tism of the city is such that in all likelihood it will be found 

 within sound of Bow bell at the millennium. Its origin is 

 shrouded in mystery, and the researches of antiquarians 

 have failed in throwing any light on the subject. — Saint 

 James Magazine. 



. -o+&* 



INDIAN SMOKE SIGNALS. 



IT is wonderful to what a state of perfection the Indian 

 has carried this simple mode of telegraphing. Scatter- 

 ed over a great portion of the plains, from British America 

 in the north almost to the Mexican border on the south, are 

 to be found isolated hills, or as they are usually termed, 

 "buttes," which can be seen a distance of from twent}^ to 

 more than fifty miles. These peaks are selected as the tele- 

 graphic stations. By varying the number of the columns 

 of smoke different meanings are conveyed by 1 he messages. 

 The most simple as well as most easily varied mode, and 

 resembling somewhat the ordinary alphabet employed in 

 the magnetic telegraph, is arranged by building a small fire 

 which is not allowed to blaze; then by blacing an armful of 

 partially green grass or weeds over tlie fire, as if to smother 

 it, a dense white s i;oke is created, which ordinarily will 

 ascend in a continuous vertical column for hundreds of 

 feet. This column of smoke is to the Indian mode of tele- 

 graphing what the current of electricity is to the system 

 employed b} r the white man; the alphabet so far as it goes 

 is almost identical, consisting as it does of long lines and 

 short lines or dots. But how formed? is perhaps the query 

 of the reader. By the simplest of methods. Having his 

 current of smoke established, the Indian operator simply 

 takes his blanket and by spreading it over the small pile 

 of weeds or grass from which the column of smoke 

 takes its source, and properly controlling the edges and 

 corners of the blanket, he confines the smoke, and is in this 

 way able to retain it for several moments. By rapidly dis- 

 placing the blanket, the operator is enabled to cause a dense 

 volume of smoke to rise, the length or shortness of which, 

 as well as the number and frequency of the columns, he 

 can regulate perfectly, simply by the proper use of the 

 blanket. For the transmission of brief messages, pre- 

 viously determined upon, no more simple method could 

 easily be adopted. — General Custer in Galaxy. 



The Future State op Animals. — In these clays, when 

 a flesh and blood school of poetry shuts out heaven alto- 

 gether, the question of a future state for animals seems 

 more than ever out of place; but eminent writers in all 

 ages have thought the subject worthy of discussion. Landor 

 and Southey evidently believed in a new life for animals 

 after their worldly end. Mr. Jacox, who has an interesting 

 chapter in one of his recent commentatory compilations, 

 thinks Landor rather implied that some of his horny-eyed 

 readers might be soulless than that the insect king is im- 

 mortal when he wrote: — 



Believe me, most who read the line 



Will read with hornier eyes than thine; 



And yet their souls shall live forever. 



And thine drop dead into the river! 



God pardon them, O insect king, 



Who fancy so unjust a thing. 

 Mr. Charles Bonnet, the Swiss naturalist, settled in his 

 own mind the nature and character of the various paradises 

 to which both man and animals would be translated. Mr. 

 Leigh Hunt regretted that he could not settle the matter, 

 at the same time confessing that he would fain have as 

 much company in Paradise as possible, and he could not 

 conceive much less pleasant additions than of flocks of 

 doves or such a dog as Pope's "poor Indian" expected to 

 find in that universal future. A London car-horse, upon 

 the doctrine of punishments and rewards, is surely entitled 

 to some consideration in the future. Meanwhile, I would, 

 like to leave him with his 'bus companion in the hands 

 of Mr. Smiles and his "Friends in Council," who have 

 lately tsken certain of our dumb animals under their special 

 literary protection. — Syltanus Urban, Gentleman } s Magazine. 

 ^» — 



— Among the officers in charge in Houston during the 

 late war was General Griffin. A freedman, Pomp, was 

 one day conversing with the general, when he spied 

 his former young master, whom he had not seen since the 

 commencement of hostilities. Pomp ran to him, and ex- 

 claimed, "God bress you, Mars Charles! I's mighty glad to 

 see yer! How's de o!e missis an' Mars John?" 



After Pomp had finished his demonstrations of joy the 

 general said, i'Pomp, you need not call him master now, 

 you aie just as good as he is." 



"What!" said Pomp; "me jus' as good as Mars Charles? 

 No, Sah, General Griffin! I may be jus' as good as you is, 

 but I ain't so good as Mars Charles — no, Sah!" — Harpers' 

 ~rawer. 



tJk 



Barbadoes.— Negro huts are scattered along the sides of 

 the roads all over Barbadoes; in fact, they are as thick all 

 over the island as plums in a pudding. It is said that it is 

 not possible to raise your voice in any part of it without be- 

 ing heard by some neighboring house. These huts are 

 dotted about without the slightest regard for regularity— 

 sometimes a number of them in a kind of promiscuous 

 heap, sometimes one or two by themselves. They fre- 

 quently have little patches of land or gardens attached to 

 them, but often are set down on the bare face of a piece of t 

 stonj'' or waste ground. Sometimes an almond or a goose- 

 berry tree grows close to them, but apparently more by ac- 

 cident than design. Some of the huts are kept nicer than 

 others; and many have a pig, or a sheep, or a goat tethered 

 beside them, or in rarer cases even a cow or a donkey. 

 Chickens and turkeys abound among the huts. Sheep have 

 no wool, but a kind of coarse hair, and are of as various 

 colors as our cows — black, brown, chestnut, and pie-bald, 

 occurring nearly as commonly as white. Cows are much 

 smaller than the average size in England. Oxen and mules 

 are the beasts of burden, horses being kept solely for riding 

 and driving. — Appletons' Journal. 



**^ 



— According to the latest statistics, the globe is inhabited 

 by 1,228,000,000 human beings, viz., 360,000,000 belonging 

 to the Caucasian race; 552,000,000 Mongols; 190,000,000 

 Ethiopians; 176,000,000 Mala}^; 1,000,000 Indo-Americans. 

 8,642 different languages are spoken, and there are 1,000 

 different religions persuasions. The annual mortality of 

 the globe is given at 33,333,533, or 91,554 daify, 3,780 

 hourly, sixty-two per minute, or nearly one per second, -or 

 pulsation of the human heart. The "average duration of 

 life is thirty-three years, one quarter of the population dying 

 at seven years or under, one half at seventeen or under. 

 Out of 100,000 persons one only reaches the age of 100 years, 

 one out of 500 ninety years; one in a 100 sixty years. One 

 eighth of the male population of the globe are soldiers. The 

 cannibal portion of humanity is vaguely set down at 

 1,930,000, viz., 1,000,000 in the Polynesian land, 500,000 

 Niams-Niams, 80,000 in the Niger Delta, 50,000 in Australia, 

 etc. — Land and Water. 



— ♦ — ~ 



{We shall endeavor in this department to impart and hope to receive 

 such information as may be of service to mhateur and prof essiona! sports- 

 men. We will cheerfully answer all reasonable questions 'that fall within 

 the scojye of this paper, designating localities for good hunting, fish- 

 ing, and trapping, and giving advice and instructions as to outfits, im- 



*l7/}fyi/3,YiJc< m/u///;i' W.J <:>{ ff*is*£>& oafte*s\mci Arwrnt/rtaSjC\ i*-i,->m->*is?A /ic* /.v/f^/i) oii.iAi'yin t 



Trout Fishing, 166 Gates avenue, Brooklyn.— A map of Clinton Co., 

 Pa., can be had by writing to a first-class bookseller in Harrisburg, Pa. 



Game Fish, Seneca Lake. — Is it sportsmaalike to fish for brook trout 

 through the ice? Certainly, but not unless yon are hungry. 



MoHAWK.Nimrod Shooting Club.— Over the powder of course. A piece 

 of card board will answer for the shot wad . 



Hand A., St. Catharines, Ca.— A most useful little work on the subject 

 is "Napiers' Food, Use and Beauty of British Birds," Grombridge & Son, 

 London. 



F. W. Clarke, Paterson, N. J.— Rabbits breed all the year round, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, in the three colder months. Most likely those you no- 

 ticed were pairing, as they often live together during the winter months. 



G. M. F., Jr. --Many thanks for contribution, which will appear in its 

 turn, say in two weeks. Each subscriber to Forest and Stream is en- 

 titled to a copy of 'Hallock's Fishing Tourist.' 1 



L. A., Galveston, Texas.— We think the bird you describe must be the 

 Radiolated wood-pecker (Cenlicrus radiolatus) . It greatly resembles 

 Wilson's red-bellied wood-pecker (C. Carolinus). It is very common in 

 the West Indies. 



Walter G. Smith, 14 Gallatin Place, Brooklyn.— What kind of a dog 

 is best for partridge hunting? Where can I get one? and what would it 

 cost? Ans. The proper breed of dog for ruffed grouse shooting is the 

 setter. E. H. Madison, 546 Fulton street, Brooklyn, has one for sale. 



Thom's and Hines, Baltimore.— 1. Cannot place our hand on the au- 

 thority. Think it was in the London Field of August, 1872. 2. We can- 

 not recommend the person you name. See the dog yourself before you 

 purchase. 



Noble, Hoboken.— Glad to have awakened your interest. There are 

 two schools of anthropology— the physical and philological. The first 

 dwells on the external form and anatomical peculiarities of man, the 

 second cousiders physical peculiarities of less importance than language 

 as an indication of the origin and filiation of races. 



Joe E. Fisher, Brooklyn, L. I.— 1. What bore do you consider best 

 for quail, woodcock and ruffed grouse shooting? 2. What size shot is 

 best? a. What part of Long Island do you think is best for the above 

 named birds? Ans. 1. Quail and woodcock, 12 bore gun; ruffed grouse 

 this time of year, 10 bore. 2. Quail and woodcock. No. 10 shot; ruffed 

 grouse. No. 8. B. F. Sammis, Smithville, near Belport, L. I. R. R. 



S., New Orleans.— The drift is the direction a bullet takes towards the 

 way the groove or spiral is cut. Whitworth made a table; at 100 yards it 

 was 2 inches; at 1,000 yards, 65. The progression of the drift increases 

 perceptibly all the time. Between 100 and 200 yards it was only three 

 inches; between 600 and 1,000 yards it was 11 inches. (See Wingate's 

 Manual.) 



A. W., 101 Duane street, New York.— The answer would be too long 

 for our columns. Read "Stonehenge," Shot Gun and Sporting Rifle, page 

 62. The age of a stag is generally reckoned by the number of points or 

 tines protruding from the main antler. Up to 7 or 8 prongs it is reliable- 

 above that number you must judge by the general appearance of the ani- 

 mal; his teeth, hoofs, &c, will be much worn, and the stag will have a 

 dirty appearance. 



A. W.— The woodcock migrated, or moved south, from Orange county 

 about Oct. 25th. They usually go on or about 15th October; they were 

 ten days later this year. They were found this year on their summer 

 ground. This question as to route of migration "is interesting, though 

 not treated of in books, so far as we can discover. We have seen wood- 

 cock around here as late as Christmas in open seasons. They probably 

 migrate in an irregular path according to prevailing winds, &c. Their 

 food must influence their migration. A dry autumn probably sends them 

 away earlier, as is the case this year. Sorry we cannot answer more sat- 

 isfactorily. 



J. N. U.,PottsvilIe, Pa.— Yonask how to make clothes water-proof 

 Take half a pound of sugar of lead and half a pound of powdered alum, 

 dissolve them in a bucket of rain water, then pour off the fluid with the 

 ingredients dissolved into another vessel. Take your clothes— a shawl 

 is good to try it with— and steep it thoroughly in the solution, letttng it 

 stay for a certain time. Then hang it up to dry, but do not ring it out. 

 The water of a rain-storm seems to hang on it in globules and does not 

 go through ir. It is an excellent method of making canvas tents water- 

 proof. 



Mrs. F., Chestnut Hill, Pa. -Regret to inform you that, although mag. 

 nificent as to appearance, the Cedar of Lebanon, as a wood, has not the 

 incorruptible power the ancients gave it. It has been grown in England 

 and France, and in the United States. The Deodar has been frequently 

 aasnmed to be identical with the Cedar of Lebanon. This i* a different 

 tree, and may perhaps correspond better with the sublime accounts of 

 Ezekiel. If we remember rightly, specimens of timbers made from the 

 Deodar have been found in India, some of them undoubtedly many cen 



._ 



