*44 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



tackle, and commenced preparations for our departure. Id 

 the midst of these our brave little Canadian pony made his 

 appearance with the boy and berluc, and we quickly trans- 

 ferred our catch and luggage to the latter; but on account 

 of the depth of snow did not get in ourselves, as it would be 

 impossible for the pony to drag the berlise over such roads. 

 These became better after a few miles, and we embarked 

 and proceeded somewhat more quickly, but till we had 

 passed over Lake St. Charles the drive was very tedious. 



At last — and it seemed a very long last — we arrived at 

 Lorette, and made another stay at the American Hotel, where 

 mine host. Lit. Amand, produced his best to refresh us weary 

 travelers. It was evening when wo left Sorette, and in two 

 hours afterward were climbingup the hills of the old walled 

 capital of Canada, where we were glad to seek repose after 

 our long drive. 



In all the lakes north of Quebec there is excellent trout 

 fishing in summer and winter, hut it is winter alone when 

 the monsters are taken, and that in the manner 1 have just 

 described. Borne of these have weighed as much as fifteen 

 or sixteen pounds, and I have even heard of their weighing 

 twenty. It is an unnatural way of taking trout, but, as I 

 have above said, there are the outre circumstances connected 

 with it that lend a sort of charm, and a few days in the 

 wilds in the midst of a Canada winter is a sort of relief to 

 the monotony of a city life, where, after the most that can 

 be had to give a color or contrast to existence, an artificial 

 or an imitative palling to the senses and wearying to the 

 mind. Ferdinand Robkrgb. 



MissotrBi Fish Commission. — Missouri has fallen into line, 

 and by the appointment of an energetic Board of Fish Com- 

 missioners, has initiated fish culture. The commissioners 

 are: John Reed, Lexington, Mo.; 1. G. W. Steedman, St. 

 Louis; Silas Woodson, St. Joseph, Mo. Chairman Steedman 

 writes : " We are late in the field, but are in earnest, and 

 hope to atone for loss of time by availing ourselves pf the 

 accumulated experience of our contemporaries." 



The Hudson Salmon.— We are gratified to receive from 

 Prof. Spencer F. Baird this note, which sets at rest any ques- 

 tion concerning the salmon recently captured in the Hudson 

 River •. 



Office U. 8. Commission Fish and Fisheries, ) 

 Washington. July 4, 1879. \ 

 Editor Forest and Stream: 



Dear Sir— I notice in your issue of July 3 that a salmon 

 weighing 5£lb_s. was taken below the lower dam of the Sara- 

 nac River, at Flattsburgb, about a week ago. This is prob- 

 ablv one of the 36,500 Penobscot salmon planted by the "0. S. 

 Fish Commission in the Saranac River in 1875. 



Spencer F. Baibd, Com. 



Maine. — Mr. Everett Smith, of Portland, and a frequent 

 contributor to this paper, has been appointed Fish Com- 

 missioner for that State, the other commissioner being Hon. 

 E. M. Still well of Bangor. This appointment is an emi 

 neatly proper one, as Mr. Smith, in addition to being a 

 sportsman and a naturalist, has given much attention to the 

 subject of fishways and fish propagation. 



Lobsters for the Pacific Coast.— When Mr. Living- 

 ston Stone went out to California recently to begin his sum- 

 mer work of gathering eggs at Baird, on the McOloud River, 

 he took with him a number of black and striped bass, eels 

 and lobsters. The transfer was most successfully made, a 

 supply of sea water meeting the shipment at Wiunemucca. 

 The lobsters are nearly all females, and are estimated to con- 

 tain somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000,000 eggs. The 

 black bass were deposited in the Crystal Springs Reservoir 

 of the Spring Valley Water Company, in San Mateo County ; 

 the striped bass iu the vicinity of Martinez ; the eels in the 

 Sacramento, and the lobsters at Duxbury Reef. 



fistorg* 



scatter about singly; or, occasionally two will be found to- 

 gether, and the impression is general that they migrate north- 

 ward at this time, returning in October. I think not. They 

 simply separate and withdraw to less-exposed places than 

 where they breed, and gather again in the swamps prior to 

 their southern migration. It is perfectly certain that these 

 bird? rear two broods a year not very rarely. The Virginia 

 quail do so as a rule, but they break the pairs first; the hen 

 turns over the first brood to the care of the cock, takes another 

 mate, and brings up another brood. But not only do the 

 same pair of woodcock bring up their two broods a year, but 

 I am of the opinion that the same pair often resort to the same 

 swamp, season after season, to rear their broods. I could add 

 many interesting facts about the habits of woodcock, but I 

 will not venture to trespass further upon your space. 

 Blachibwrgh, Va., May 1. M. Qt. Elzet. 



Asbcry Park, N. J., May 4, 1875. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



I was much surprised to see, from the article headed, " Do 

 Woodcock Breed Twice," that there are some sportsmen 

 who were not aware of this very well-known fact. I did not 

 suppose that any one who had ever studied the habits of this 

 fine game bird would deny that woodcock breed twice each 

 year. I should like to ask those who doubt, this whether these 

 birds have their regular time for laying and raising their 

 young, or whether they lay whenever they feel like it. 

 With ns they have a regular time and keep to it. I 

 have found their nests the first of March, and again in June, 

 and it seems impossible that there should be so much differ- 

 ence in birds on the same grounds. The second nest is usually 

 very near the first, often only a few hundred yards distant. I 

 think that the doubting person has not watched woodcock 

 very closely, or he would be of a different opinion. 



G. R. Squire. 



Apropos of these communications, which have been crowded 

 out of our columns for several weeks, we have to say that this 

 spring, as usual, at least one pair of birds to our knowledge 

 have reared a second brood, and the young of the last hatching 

 are scarcely able now to fly. It will be remembered that last 

 spring was quite backward, and hence the birds are not so far 

 advanced as they were last summer. We have no hesitation 

 in declaring that in the Middle and New England States 

 woodcock almost always breed twice. From I>r. Elzey's 

 letter we infer that they may not always do so in the South. 



DO WOODCOCK BREED TWICE A 

 YEAR? 



SEEING the question discussed, "Do Woodcock Breed 

 Twice a Year ?" I offer the following : I have spent the 

 greater part of my life in Loudoun County, Va., where a 

 great many woodcock breed, and have shot great numbers of 

 them spring and fall for thirty years past, and I have studied 

 their habits closely and with great interest. As a rule, I 

 think they raise but one brood; for at the homestead where 

 I was born and raised, nearly every season there were raised in 

 each alder swamp a single brood ; usually on the place from 

 five to seven broods, and very seldom more than one brood in 

 the same swamp Watching them with intense interest from 

 the time the pairs arrived until the first day of July, 1 knew 

 them as well as 1 did the broods of chickens in the yard. 

 Sometimes, when I knew only one pair of old birds were in 

 the swamp, and the first brood was early hatched, 1 have 

 kuown.the pair to hatch and rear a second brood, and then 

 have seen both broods with one pair of old ones day after day. 

 When I went to the swamp to shoot them, 1 knew as well 

 how many were there as I did how many pigs the sows had. 

 I have often seen two broods and a single pair of old birds, 

 and never in such case doubted after the above experience 

 that the little ones were the second brood. Rarely, it ever, 

 do the parent pair leave the broods until about the middle of 

 July, when the birds disappear from their usual haunts. In 

 case of their raising a second brood, I have always found the 

 two broods with the one pair of old birds, and I have noticed 

 this fact every season when I have shot much at this game 

 in July. About the middle of July the broods separate and 



this bird in the West, and a very good one too, except that it 

 would apply just as well to almost any of the rail family, and 

 indeed it is often given indiscriminately to any member of 

 the group. We would especially like to know, however, to 

 what characteristic of the coot the term " sea crow" applies. 



The Common Gallinttlk in Illinois.— St. Louis— Mr. 

 Philip Burg sent me for identification a fine specimen of the 

 "common gallinule," shot by him while snipe hunting in Illi- 

 nois, near Carter's Station. The bird is an entire stranger in 

 this part of the country, and probably the first of his" kmd 

 seen this far from his usual home, the Gulf of Mexico, eastern 

 shores of the Floridas and eastern parts of the Carolinaa. The 

 distinguishing marks of the bird are: Frontal plate and bill 

 deep carmine; the ends of both mandibles yellow; iris, 

 bright red. _ The bare part of tibia, just below the feathers on 

 thigh, carmine. The wings have a narrow edging of white, 

 which runs along the outer quill. Specimen, full 'grown male. 



Fekdix. 



Our correspondent is in error in supposing the common 

 gallinule to be a stranger to the soil of Illinois. It has been 

 there before. (See Ridgway in Annal's Lyceum of Nat. 

 Hist., N. Y., vol. X, p. 387, 1874.) It is a bird of wide dis- 

 tribution, and has been taken in California, Kansas, Minne- 

 sota, Canada West, New England, West Indies and South 



America to Chili. 



1 — .». — . 



Animals Received at Central Pake Menageihe foh Week End- 

 ing July .5.— Oae red-billed dove, Cal.um.ba llicirostri*, Bab. Mexico, 

 presented by A. J. Lespinause, Esq., D. S. Consul ; one Indian tortoise, 

 Teetudo nidim, Hab. Re-union Island, presented by Capt. John H. 

 Goldsmith, Salem ; one ring dove, Turdua risoria, presented by Andrew 

 C. ZabrlBkie, N. T. City ; one gray squirrel, Sciuriva carolinen.iis, pre- 

 sented by Mrs. Howland, X. Y. City; one carrier pigeon,' lit on S.S 

 City of Mv> York, 100 miles Irom the city, presented by Mr. C. A. Ja! 

 cobson, Brooklyn; two hawks, Bitfco borealU, presented by Master 

 Frank C. Coley, Westport; one mocking bird, ttinui pollyglolhts, and 

 one bulianch, Pyrrhula rubicitta, presented by Mr. John Sutherland, 

 N. Y. City ; sis yeUow-belUed ltothrix, Lioihrix Hiteus, Hab. India, 

 purchased ; one I wan gooBe, Ansar cygnoiden, purchased ; three sea 

 liona and a baby, Zalophtis gillespii, placed on exhibition. 



W. A. Conklin, Director. 



ELECTRIC POWERS OF THE MEXICAN 

 STAR-GAZER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Last winter, while makiDg some collections of the ichthyc 

 fauna of the east coast of Florida, I obtained at Indian River 

 Inlet— opposite Ft. Capron — a specimen of the Mexican star- 

 gazer, AUroscopiu y-grmeum, which possessed electric powers 

 in a high degree. This peculiar property has hitherto been 

 unknown, I belisve, in this tLh. Back of the eyes— which, of 

 course, were on the top of the head— were two slight depres- 

 sions of a triangular oval shape, similar to the shape of a 

 finger-nail, and soft and elastic to the touch, feeling some- 

 what like small cushions. Upon applying the tip of a finger 

 to these, surfaces, strong electric shocks were emitted, so 

 powerfulin fact that some of the persona present could hot Le 

 induced to repeat the experiment, one trial being sufficient to 

 convince them of the. electric powers ot the fish. The shock 

 transmitted was similar to that of a galvanic battery, and the 

 sensation produced was decidedly unpleasant. 



AmoDg those present, and who experienced the peculiar 

 properties of the fish, were Messrs. R. D. Hoke, James Bas- 

 sett, and the famous "Jim" Russell, who were engaged in 

 " turtling " in the vicinity. The fish was kept alive all that 

 day, and a number of persona who interviewed him were mote 

 than satisfied that he was a veritable piscatorial battery of de- 

 cided electric qualities. 



lalso obtained, near the same locality, a specimen of Qerrw 

 plvmiert, which, Prof. Jordan informs me, has not before 

 been noticed any where on the United States coast. 



Cynthiana, Ky., June 19. J. A. Henshall. 



Nests and Eggs of the Cents Empldonax.— In the 

 "Proceedings of the United States National Museum for 

 1879," Dr. T. M. Brewer, the well-known oologist, has printed 

 an interesting paper Ion the "Nests aud Eggs of the Bight 

 North American Species of Empidonaces." 



The notes with regard to most of the species are very full, 

 but in the case of Empidonax hammondii only two sets of eggs 

 appear to have been examined. From Dr. Brewer's study we 

 learn that, so far as known, the eggs of E. minimus, Obscu- 

 ruii and Hammondi are always pure white without spots, 

 while those of TraUlii, Acadicus, Pmillus and DifioilU are 

 almost always more or less spotted. Eggs of & ; 

 are some time pure white aud again marked with well-defined 

 spots. 



» c- 



The Mbd-Hen of the West —tius/mlle, IU.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: The article on ' ; The Mud- Ren of the West" by 

 " Byrne," was one of great interest to me. He states that it 

 feeds on mosses, water grasses, etc. Now, I also live on that 

 part of the Illinois River where there are so many of these 

 •' mud-hens," and therefore fa i e a good opportunity of watch- 

 iDg them. On the the 14th of April I sat behind a fence close 

 to "the water and watched them at six or eight yards distance. 

 They would climb out on the shore aud eal; grasB the same as 

 tame ducks. But all "mud hens " do not cat such food. 1 

 refer to the youDg ones. Last August I captured two out of 

 five or six, which, with the old one, was feeding in shore at 

 Spring Lake. Taking them home I found they would not 

 eat vegetables, but would eat from 40 to 50 flies from my hand. 

 They were somewhat, smaller than a young chicken, and of a 

 red color. One finallv chilled and died, the other escaped. 



AlX SPON6A. 



The different names given to this bird (Fulica amerimna) 

 in different sections of the country are quite curious. By 

 ornithologists it is universally called the coot, but we have 

 excited the risibles of various shooting men on the New r Eng- 

 land coast by calling it by that name, for in New England a 

 coot is a duck {(Edemia) while the true coot (Fulioa) is called 

 a " sea crow." Why ? Mud-hen is the common name for 



DISTEMPER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Our experience with distemper has taught us to look upon 

 it as a febrile disease, having its origin in a blood poisonsimi- 

 lar iu maDy of its chief characteristics to typhus fever in man, 

 and, like all other diseases caused by and depending upon a 

 blood poison, unless promptly and properly treated, has a 

 speedy termination in death. Distemper or any other disease 

 manifesting such a variety of symptoms can be successfully 

 treated only by combating the symptoms separately as they 

 arise. First, let us consider distemper as a febrile disease. 

 In using the term fever, as applied to a morbid state of the 

 system, we must remember that the same word is also used 

 as a part of the designation of several complexed diseases : 

 ns typhus fever, yellow fever, remittent fever, etc. The word 

 used in this double sense is empirical and perhaps unfortunate, 

 but custom has rendered it unavoidable. If custom is to con- 

 tinue to use the word fever in this double sei 

 the dog should be called distemper fever ; i i 

 meaningless word in the English language than distemper, 

 but until science shall establish a better one we mu 

 to the term (I would suggest the name " blood poison fever"). 

 Distemper is almost universally admitted to be a blood poison 

 accompanied by fever. The efforts of nature to drive the 

 poison out of the system results in inflammation of the mucous 

 membranes of the entire system, which inflammation produces 

 general fever. Fever is never present without inflammation. 

 Some may differ with me upon this point. This is the theory 

 upon which I founded my plan of practice, and as the practice 

 hi,s been successful, I will cling to the theory. Theory which 

 is not proven by practice is dieproven by it. At the present 

 state of science it is idle to speculate upon the origin of the 

 blood poison of distemper ; it is sufficient to know that, we 

 have it, and that its potency is sufficient unto death. That 

 the inflammation of the mucous membrane is general we have 

 proven to our satisfaction by not only a few, but many pout 

 ■mortem examinations. That the inflammation afl 

 mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, mouth, lung3, stomach, 

 bowels and sexual organs, every case gives evidence, from the 

 exudation of pus or mucus from these parts. The general 

 symptoms of fever are, increased heat of the who 

 dryness of the skin, mouth, etc., diminution in bulk of the 

 excretions; muscular debility. The pulse of fever is character- 

 ised by moderate acceleration, with variable increase of force 

 in the beat, functional disturbance of stomach, briin. etc., 

 etc. Heat is the most essential characteristic of the febii'.e 

 state, having given name to it in all languages. Fever, as a 

 symptom in the first stages of distemper, is (so to speak.) the 

 pulse of the disease. To the inexperienced, a few degrees of 

 heat, more or less, cannot be detected : to remedy this use a 

 thermometer. Place the bulb of the instrument under the 

 pit of the forearm, holding the arm down to exclude the air ; 

 hold it there at least five minutes. In the early stages of the 

 disease the height of the fever as indicated by the tempera- 

 ture of the body as shown by the thermometer is prima facie 

 evidence of the severity of the attack. In my hands this has 

 never failed, which is one of my reasons for Darning distem- 

 per " blood poison fever." Fever is always present in the 

 early stages, diagnosing and prognosticating the, disease, first 

 by its presence, next by its degree of violence, by its duration, 

 and lastly by its subsidence or absence. The natural heat of 

 the blood is about 98 or 100 degrees, but in fever and inflam- 

 matory diseases it will sometimes reach 107 degrees, but rare- 

 ly. In distemper 104 degrees is fatal in 95 per cent, of cases, 

 and the caseBare to be judged by a variation from 98 to .107 

 degrees ; should a high degree of heat occur for only a short 

 time and then subside permanently, it only has its 

 live value. A high or comparatively high degree 

 twenty-four hows is dangerous. Subsidence or entire absence 

 of fever after it has been violent for any length of time is not 

 always a good symptom, but is almost invariably a forerunner 

 of extreme prostration which terminates fatally. 



