398 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



than Springfield. Whittridge, of Amherst, didn't put any 

 faith in contracts. He thought the representatives of the 

 colleges of the best part of America should not put them- 

 selves under the control of the blacklegs of Saratoga. 

 Rev. Mr. Twitchell, of Hartford, was allowed to express 

 his views, which were opposed to Saratoga. It would be 

 found that the selection of Saratoga would be a bad thing, 

 and tend to break up the Association. Goodwin, of Har- 

 vard, spoke in favor of New London as very accessible, 

 and salt water as a great improvement over fresh water, 

 hot summer resorts. Cook, of Yale, wanted a fair race, 

 and the best place was the best course. He did not want 

 to work a year and then lose all by a foul. He believed in 

 taking the course out of New England if necessary, and 

 the morality of the men depended on themselves. Dana, 

 of Harvard, spoke in favor of New London. Finally, it 

 was voted to row the race at Saratoga, and to refuse any of 

 the money or prizes offered by the Saratoga Association, or 

 by anybody except the College Association itself. The 

 vote for Saratoga was : Yeas — Bowdoin, Cornell, Colum- 

 bia, Agriculturals, Trinity, Yale, Williams, Princeton, 

 Wesleyans. Nays— Amherst, Dartmouth, Harvard. 



After the vote, Mr. B. F. Brady returned thanks on be- 

 half of the Saratoga Association. 



Two sets of flags, same as last year, were voted to be 

 bought for the winners of the University and Freshmen 

 races, and that the maker agree to subsequently inscribe 

 thereon the names of the winning crews in order and their 

 competitors. It was ordered that the flags be not presented 

 until the official decision of the referee is made. A pamph- 

 let was ordered printed giving the history, so far, of the 

 Association. A motion for a pair-oar race was lost. 



It was voted to have a committee of three delegates of 

 the competing colleges take charge of the regatta, these 

 three to be selected by a committee of delegates, each nam- 

 ing a man, and reduced to three by a marking list. The 

 regatta committee Avas instructed to devise a plan to distin- 

 guish the boats in a race. 



The race was fixed for July 16th, 1874, and the following 

 is the preliminary regatta committee: — Amherst, Brewer; 

 Agricultural, Benedict; Columbia, Thompson; Bowdoin, 

 Harriman; Cornell, Randall; Wesleyan, Dorchester; Yale, 

 Cook; Dartmouth, Aiken; Trinity, McKennon; Harvard, 

 Appleton; Princeton, Nicoll; Williams, Hubbell. Each 

 college was instructed to send its rowing statistics to the 

 Secretary before the next meeting, which will be in Spring- 

 field in January, 1875. 



It was not supposed that Saratoga would be selected by 

 such a large majority of the Association, but after all, the 

 Saratoga Rowing Association laid their plans well, and 

 were well represented by a generous, whole souled depu- 

 tation, who were not backward in enjoying and making 

 all concerned participate in all the delicacies of the season, 

 solid and liquid. However, if their promises are carried 

 out, it is not probable that the colleges will regret their 

 choice. 



The subject of a four-oared race was not touched upon 

 at all, though it is probable a few years hence that four- 

 oared races will supercede the all-prevailing six-oared races 

 of the present day among colleges, as such is the individual 

 expression of a good many now. 



A movement is also on the boards for a grand inter-col- 

 legiate oratorical and literary demonstration, to take place 

 at Saratoga with the July regatta, and is meeting with 

 much favor. If carried out as suggested it will be highly 

 popular. * * * Later.— On Saturday there was a full 

 meeting of the Amherst Boating Club, when it was unani- 

 mously resolved that the holding of the regatta at Sara- 

 toga would be prejudicial to the interests of the rowing as- 

 sociations in general, and particularly of Amherst, and 

 accordingly, that Amherst will not row at Saratoga. It is 

 probable that the class regatta will take place at Hatfield, 

 on the Connecticut River, during commencement week. 

 There seems to be quite an amount of feeling, not fully ap- 

 preciated at Hartford, which is now developing itself at 

 Harvard, in regard to the selection of Saratoga as the place 

 of contest. I do not think the professors of the leading 

 colleges are very much pleased with the ground selected. 

 I am not prepared to state whether they have not very good 

 reasons for withholding their sanction. The, matter is by 

 no means to be considered in the least as reflecting on the 

 generous conduct of the Sai-atoga Rowing Association. If 

 a distinction is drawn, it is more against the place itself 

 and the increasing prominence Saratoga is taking as a 

 sporting resort in the worst acceptation of the name. Of 

 course we all regret that there should be any differences, 

 but they certainly do exist. W, 

 « ■ 



Princeton, N. J. , January 26th, 1874. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : — 



Princeton has at last been aroused from her lethargy in 

 boating matters; the preliminary steps in this respect were 

 taken on Wednesday, January 21st, when delegates were 

 sent to the Convention of College boating men. This is a 

 new era in the history of Princeton athletic exercises, and 

 we hail it with unbounded delight. We feel that what 

 Princeton undertakes to do, that she accomplishes in the 

 most satisfactory and commendable manner. We do not 

 anticipate victory at the outset, but victory shall be the 

 goal towards which our most strenuous efforts, from this 

 time, will be directed, and which, when the great vantage 

 ground now possessed by the other colleges shall have been 

 gained by Princeton's indomitable perseverance, we will 

 then strive to attain, and when so attained our history of 

 the^past proves our ability to maintain. Not with boating 

 matters have we ever been identified, but the excellence 



which we have achieved in wielding the ash, and the vic- 

 tory we have gained in football, and our indisputable suc- 

 cess in ever keeping fresh the laurels which we have won, 

 warrant our present debut upon the water, and we feel that 

 our representatives will reflect credit upon themselves as 

 well as their Alma Mater. 



Owing to the depletion of our treasury, circulars were 

 sent last week to the graduates and friends of the College, 

 since which time various sums of money have been re- 

 ceived. Among our receipts, we cannot refrain from not- 

 ing that of a check for $2,000 from Robert G. Bonner, of 

 New York city, for the construction of a boat-house, a 

 building which, for a long time, we have stood sorely in 

 need of. 



May this munificent contribution prove the "star in the 

 east," and may many who are interested in Princeton's suc- 

 cesses follow it, and by their influence initiate a pilgrimage, 

 so that when this luminary shall have stood over Prince- 

 ton's training ground, the canal, "frankincense and myrrh" 



may be freely bestowed. "Champion." 



f . 



New Haven, Conn., January 26th ,'1874. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



Boating items at New Haven are quite lively. Imprimis, the Yale 

 Boat Club will change the locality of their boat house. It is questionable 

 as yet where the new house will be erected, but Mr. Ferry, the Presi- 

 dent, and Capt. Cook are carefully studying up the matter. Whitney 

 Lake was first thought of as a convenient place, but at last it has been 

 decided, and the Mill river site on the Fair Haven side of the harbor, 

 near Chapel Street Bridge, has been pitched upon. Something substan- 

 tial is thought of as to the construction of the house, a foundation of 

 stone with a neat wooden superstructure. The Collegiate Professors 

 have taken a proper interest in the matter, and it is hoped that the 

 money necessary for the undertaking will be furnished. It would be 

 most desirable that the boat-house should be finished at an early season, 

 as there is nothing more disagreeable than for a boating crew to get into 

 training without some proper attention being paid to their creature com- 

 forts. There is every reason to suppose that the season of 1874 will be a 

 most active boating one. A great many excellent men are anxious to 

 be included in our University crew. As yet it is too early to determine 

 who will be the lucky ones, but it looks as if J. Kennedy, G. L. Brown- 

 ell, C. N. Fowler, C. B. Rockwood, M. G. Nixon, and F. Wood would be 

 in the winuiug boat. If Yale should win, of course Capt. Cook is inclu- 

 ded. We have hopes of getting early at work next season. Thole. 



—The Yale University crew has been selected, and is 

 practicing daily in the college gymnasium. The crew at 

 present consists of Cook and Fowler, '76; Kennedy, Brown- 

 well, Wood and Nixon, of the Scientific School. 



— The following doggerel, which we take from the Lon- 

 don Field, is quite good, and might be of use to our yacht- 

 men in preventing a collision ; — 



. When both side lights you see ahead, 

 Port your helm, and show your red ; 

 Green to green, or red to red, 

 Perfect safety, go ahead. 



If to your starboard red appear, 

 "lis your duty to keep clear; 

 To act as judgment says is proper, 

 To port or starboard, back or stop her. 



But if upon your port is seen 

 A steamer's starboard light of green, 

 There's not so much for you to do, 

 For green to port keeps clear of you. 



Both in safety and in doubt 

 Always keep a good look out; 

 In danger, with no room to turn. 

 Ease her, stop her, go astern. 



\txv j§iiblicntiom. 



[Publications sent to this office, treating upon subjects that come within 

 the scope of the paper, will receive special attention. The receipt of all 

 books delivered at our Editorial Booms will be promptly acknowledged 

 in the next issue. Publishers will confer a favot* by promptly advising 

 us of any omusion in this resnecl. Prices . of books inserted when 

 desired.] ___*___ 



Fanny Fern. A memorial volume, containing selections 

 from her writings, and a memoir. By James Parton. With illustra- 

 tions. N. Y.: G. W. Carleton & Co. 



Of this gifted authoress it is pleasant for us to speak. It was our good 

 fortune to have personally known "Fanny Fern," and in speaking of 

 this memoir by James Parton we do not intend to go into a lengthy lit- 

 erary criticism of a work that will, like others containing her brilliant 

 thought, short, caustic home truths and gems by the way, be like them 

 another household treasure, added to those which have gone before. Jas. 

 Parton has done only simple justice to the great literary ability of Sara 

 Willis. And the Carletons have placed this valuable work before the 

 public in an elegant and substantial form. 



Gazeteer op the State op Massachusetts. By Rev. 



EliasNason. Boston: B. B. Russell. 



This work is the last and most concise work published- Her citizens 

 have lone felt the wa"nt of a correct and reliable gazetteer of the Old 

 Bay State. There is a real freshness about this record of the past and 

 the present that is not lessened by its minuteness of detail, its pictorial 

 illustrations and a general fullness of historical and statistical notices 

 and facts. Our friends will understand when we speak of this work 

 we are not romancing over the pages of a novel. We are talking sober 

 prose over a State gazeteer; yet it is a live book and full of the very po- 

 etry of fact. Procure the book, and see if we do not tell you the truth, 

 shape. It has been prepared, as the author states, with the co-operation 

 of Prof. Marsh of Yale College, our highest authority on this branch of 

 the subject. 



Bulwer's Novels. — Some men's fame die with them. 

 With their mortal remains are buried all the memories that pertain to 

 them; the memories of others live ever after them in their thoughts ut- 

 tered and written. Such will ever be the case, we believe, with Lord 

 Lytton . His name and fame lives still with a new renewal of intellect- 

 ual life. We are happy to announce, in illustration of this fact, that the 

 well known publishing house of Lippincott & Co. are about to issue an 

 American edition of Bulwer's novels, that shall meet the wants of the 

 times. This new claimant for the good will of the general public and the 

 admirers of this popular series of novels will be delighted with the first 

 book issued. "Kenelm Chillingly" leads the set, of which about twen- 

 ty-five volumes will make complete, is elegant enough to suit the most 

 fastidious; printed in large, fair, round, open type.it can be read with 

 ease by old as well as young, and this fact alone will much enhance the 

 value ond increase the sale of this work. 



Key to North American Birds. Containing a concise 



account of every species of Living and Fossil Bird at present known 

 from the continent north of the United States and Mexican boun- 

 dary. Illustrated by six s teel plates and upward of 250 wood cuts. By 

 Dr. Elliott Coues, TJ. S. A. Salem: Naturalist's Agency, Boston. Es- 

 tes & Laureat, New York: Dodd&Mead. Large 8 vo. pp.861. 

 The various highly commendatory notices of the press which this work 

 has reeeived, have induced us to look closely into it, to ascertain whether 

 it is really worthy of the compliments it has received, and whether it is 

 all we could expect from an author of Dr. Coues' acknowledged position. 

 After mature examination we have no hesitation in endorsing it as a val- 

 uable contribution to Ornithology, and one which, moreover, satisfacto- 

 rily fills a place in the literature of the science hitherto entirely unocu- 

 pied. 



The author's idea in preparing the volume appears to have been the 

 production of a text book on the subject which, while presenting a com- 

 plete exposition of the present state of the science, should be adapted ex- 

 pressly to the needs of the beginner and the amateur. Not that the 

 work should not tme a position in the standard literature of the science 

 as recognized and used by professional ornithologists, but that it should 

 also put the matter before the uninitiated in a way to make them under- 

 stand it, even though they have had no previous experience in ornithol- 

 ogy whatever. No one can now be deterred from entering upon this pur- 

 suit by fear of the sesquipedalian technicalities that hedge it about; for 

 in this work the path is smoothed and made perfectly clear. 



The volume is divided into three parts. First we have an Introduction, 

 which is a clear and concise expositien of the leading; principles*>f the sci- 

 ence, with a minute description of what the author calls the "topography" 

 of a bird, to which is added, incidentally, as it were, a considerable ac- 

 count of anatomy; the whole representing a definition and explanation 

 of all the terms ordinarily used in descriptive ornithology, familiarity 

 with which is essential to understanding of the subject. A student who 

 masters these few pages can appreciatingly and intelligently understand 

 pretty much anything he may find in the whole range of ornithological- 

 literature. 



The "Key" proper is a continuous artificial analytical table of some 

 half-dozen pages, similar in plan to those which have been found so use- 

 ful in Botany, by means of which any specimen of North American bird 

 may immediately be referred to its proper species, genus and family. 

 Nothing is required to use this Key with facility and success, but the 

 "little learning" that the Introduction supplies. Although apparently 

 intricate, this Key, entirely original with the author, is as simple as pos- 

 sible, the student being only required to decide for himself in each in- 

 stance, whether the specimen he hao in his hand shows or does not 

 show a given character. By this process of elimination he arrives at 

 length at the name of a genus, which is that to which the specimen be- 

 longs, and is readily found in the body of the work. 



The main body of the work is what is modestly called merely a Synop- 

 sis of North American Birds; but it is really an extended treatise on the 

 subject. A synopsis might have been prepared fully up to the require- 

 ments implied in such a name, with only a brief definition of each spe- 

 cies. But we have much more than this. Under head of each species a 

 complete and lucid description is given, often including the various 

 plumages depending upon sex, age and season; the scientific and vernac- 

 ular names are presented; the geographical distribution is given in ev- 

 ery instance, as are also references to various standard authors, as Wilson, 

 Nuttall, Audubon and Baird, &c, as well as various late memoirs of im. 

 portance, scattered through the publications of our scientific societies. 

 Although the plan of the work does not include biographies of the birds- 

 many terse and pointed indications of habits and other peculiarities are 

 inserted. The author seems to have been continually struggling with' 

 himself to keep out things that he would giadly have enlarged upon, but 

 which the limits he had set for himself forbade. 



^.The Synopsis has another and very important feature, the absence of 

 which from a "synopsis" might have been deplored, but could not have 

 been charged as a defect to the author. We refer to the excellent char 

 aeterization of the families and higher groups. Each such groupls 

 trenchantly defined, in every case m which the present state of the sci- 

 ence admits of such definition, and the definitions are based not only 

 upon American forms, but upon exotic as well. The leading character- 

 istics of the groups are sketched with a bold, free hand, giving the stu-' 

 dent further insight into the subject, and making him acquainted with 

 the groups at large, as well as with their special American representa- 

 tives. 'These characterizations have been pronounced by high European 

 authority to be the best that have appeared, especially in so far as they 

 relate to the difficulties and uncertainties of classification. To the profes- 

 sional ornithologist the synopsis is especially valuable, since in it almost 

 for the first time in a general work, critical discrimination is made be- 

 tween "species" and mere geographical "varieties"— a distinction long 

 needed, yet owing partly to the cramping of ideas by the binomial no- 

 menclature, a reform late incoming. 



We should not omit to add that the volume contains an account of the 

 Fossil birds of this country, now for the first time p resented in connected 

 . ~**-»~ 



ANNOUNCEMENTS. 



4 



The Life op John Warren, M. D., Surgeon-General 

 during the War of the Revolution . First Professor of Anatomy and 

 Surgery in Harvard College. By Edward Warren, M. D. Boston: 

 Noyes, Holmes & Co. 



Kindergarten Culture. By W. K. Hailman. Cin- 

 'cinnati: Wilson, Hinkle & Co. 



Mrs. Mainwaiung's Journal. B} r Mrs. Emma Marshall. 



N. Y.: E. P. Dutton & Co. 



The Pride op Lexington. A Tale of the Revolution. 

 By William Seaton. N. Y. : P. O'Shea. 



Willie Burke. A Story of an Irish Orphan in America ; 

 and The Cross and the Shamrock, an Irish- American Tale of Real 

 Life. Both books of an interesting character .Boston: Patrick Don- 

 ahue. 



Canadian Statistics. — The following statistics in re- 

 gard to the population of Canada, taken from the Canadian 

 Monthly, are interesting :— In 1861 the population of what 

 is now the Dominion of Canada, exclusive of Prince Ed- 

 ward's Island, was 3,090,561; in 1871 it was found to he 

 3,485,761, or about an increase of 12.21 per cent., or of 

 about 1.22 per cent, per annum. This shows that emigra- 

 tion has been directed from Canada to the United States 

 The area of the Dominion of Canada was 215,892,020 acres 

 in 1871, but since that time has been extended. There is 

 ample room in it for 200,000,000 people. In 1871 it was 

 occupied by 622,719 families, living in 572,713 houses. 

 There were 1,764,311 males and 1,721,450 females in 1871, 

 showing an excess of 40,000 females. Of Indians, accord- 

 ing to the census of 1871, there were 23,035, showing an 

 increase of 51 per cent, in the last ten years, which is a les- 

 son in which the United States might profit by knowing 

 how it was done. It seems that the augmentation, though 

 really due in some respects to a natural increase, is rather 

 due to a more careful counting of the Indians. Of ne- 

 groes, in 1861, there were 18,921 persons; in 1871 our Af- 

 rican cousins had increased to 21.496. Of the whole white 

 population 31.1 of them are of French origin, 24.2 of Irish, 

 20.2 of English, 15.8 of Scotch, and 6.6 of German or 

 Dutch origin. In 1872 6,591,339 tons of shipping entered 

 the Dominion, being nearly two tons to each inhabitant. 



