UBTJST 10, 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



48 



fulfil gipoiv. 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION. 



FOR 'some time oasl a plan of establishing a union of 

 American ornithologists, somewhat after the method 

 of Hi.- British Ornithologists' Union, has been contemplated 

 bv .some of our leading ■workers in that science. A circu- 

 lar, signed by Ml ail n. Dr. Couei and Mr Brewster, has 

 just been sent oul lott large number df ornithologists, call- 

 ing for the .assemblage ot such a congress in tlxis city, and 

 late for September 26. The exact: place of raeet- 

 Ingw'ill be announced later. Among those invited to be 

 present are citizens of Canada, Maine, Massachusetts Uon- 

 ii.r'i.-.ii. Long Island, New York, Pennsylvania, District of 

 Columbia, Ohio, Wisconsin-, Illinois, Iowa. Louisiana, Texas, 

 Colorado, California ami Alaska. The prospects are that 

 Uiejneeting will be mi interesting and important one, and 

 will lie (be means of bringing together many of our best- 

 known workers in the department ..| ornithology. 

 The form of invitation is given below: 



CAMBRIDGE AND Was, 



■ All; 



1, 1K83. 



Ilhi Si. i V...i a 

 American ornitholo 



September ■■>>,. c--:. f..r ■ ■ . ..- purn.w ,.,-' ic.muiini; an American Orni- 

 thologist*!' Union, upon .. basis similar lo ilmt of the British Orni- 

 thologists' L liM.n 1!..- place of meeting win be announced bare- 



after. 



Tin- objeCtof ill- l.ui.mwilll.,- Hi.- >..■.- m mm 'si.. -i.il anil scieiititie 



in uli.ii.-n i ornithology in North 



America. ,\ special object, which it Is expected will at once engage 

 (he attention of the l'i,i..n. will ho the revision of the current lists ..f 

 North American birds, to the endof adopeng a uniform system of 



etas- ine:iii..ii an.i ni.in.-iic laiuiv. Is I .m Inc.' views ef a m.-ij... itv of 



the Union, and cniTj-iui the authoritv of the Union. Other Import- 

 ant matter will be doubtless presented for consideration at the first 

 ii 



It isproposc-cl lo hold un-i-tings «t l.usi once (inininlly. ai such times 

 and places as m.-.i i..- hereafter determined, r.-r the reading of 

 pap- -is, Hi.- ilis.-ii- i..n .if such mailers as may lie brought before the 

 Union, and the transaction «>t (li.- usual iiusint-ss of a scientific so- 

 ciety. 



Those who Attend the first meeting wfli be considered ipaofacto 

 founders or the \meriuan Ornithologists' Unliui. Act he an. I corn- 

 to -...lia • hi. :iii..-is niiiv in- cleeteJ iii clue eourse after organization of 

 the Union, under such rule* us may he established for increase of 

 membership. Details of organization will lie considered at the first 

 meetinL'. 



Stouul you favor this proposition ami propose to attend the first 

 se soslgnifj to any one of the undersigned. 

 J. A. Ai.i.i-v. 

 Osmhiidge, Mass., Editor Of the Kuttall Bulletin, 



El.l.l'.IT I '..CI -. 



vVasTimgUin. D. c. Assoc. K.iu.ii-.if the MtttaU Bulletin. 



Wll.l.lA.M BlIKWSTEB, 



Cambridge, Mass.. President of the Nultall Club-. 



meeting, please e 



A NEW REPTILE HOUSE. 



npRE new reptile house at the London Zoological Gardens 



1 was recently completed, and on Thursday, August a, 



lb. abimaki wore transferred from their old i|u.-irterstothe 



.,.- The London Standard gives the following interesting 



ace ti..ni of the moving: 



"Oueoi' the most important events in the anualsof the 

 Zoological Gardens was the transfer w hieli look place yes- 

 iinia\ of the reptiles and snakes Krom the various depart- 

 ments in lyhie.h they have been hitherto loeated to the rep- 

 file house. commenced about a year ago, ami of which we 

 have already given a full description. As imw completed, 



ii is iiMiiiii-illy tlie finest of the kind in the world, ami 



nowhere can the reptiles be seen to so great advantage, In- 

 ileed. we may say that their appearance under the advan- 

 tageous circumstances now provided for tbem ia well calcul- 

 ated to turn the scale of admiration iu their favor, and one 

 may be well satisfied, after all, with the sale of the great 

 elephant, when the- funds thus realized have been turned to 

 such good account. In transferring- animals of the higher 

 classes, and even of the lower class of mammals, some degree 

 of intelligence, and more especially of affection for their 



rulers control to a large extent possible, ami little 



or no danger is incurred; but with reptiles the case is totally 

 different. They become alarmed by the unusual treatment", 

 itnd no one can handle a venomous snake with impunity. 

 nor oau any one be always sufficiently active in bis move- 

 ments to insure escape from fatal attack. Snakes, especially 

 the venomous once, have powers of quick action, and can 

 make sudden and long springs, andtbenon poisonous kinds, 



such as ihe bona and pythons, can ooil with most powerful 

 grasp round the boons of men and animals. Crocodiles and 



alligators have si rong jaws, which may easily amputate a 

 limb; and even turtles can snap with a savageness which no 

 one WOUld Voluntarily incur. The task of transference com- 

 menced yesterday, ai a little before eleveu in the morning, 

 and was' eompleled in the afternoon without a hitch of .-un- 

 kind. The greatest ere lit is due to the preconception of the 

 means and modes by 31r. Ba.-tlett. and to the carrying out of 

 his instructions by his son. and by the keepers Thompson 

 and Tyrrell. Dr. Sclater, the secretary of the Society, was 

 also present during the whole of the time, and took great 

 Interest and an active part in the proceedings. The first 

 moved were the smaller alligators and crocodiles, which 

 were placed in (be western oval pond, and seemed to enjoy 

 their new residence immensely. The pond is an open one, 

 without railings of any kind, but flic amphibious reptiles are 

 prevented from escaping by the overhang of the rim of the 

 basin. 



'Tlie first snake removed was the very poisonous hama- 

 (ophdytn liiui'jtiritt). a native of In. lia. and an in- 

 mate of the Gardens since 1875, ThisjjBnake-ean dart to a 

 height of five or six feci, and its transference was prudently 

 effected by gelling it into a box, winch, when placed iii the 

 uee, abode, WAS opened by a sort of trap door, and the 

 i i iled out by a long iron wire forked at the end. 

 Tlie cages are so constructed that by means of iron sliding 

 doors fchcj can be opened at the rear, and access for the 

 snakes can tie made also to the adjoining cages. The whole 

 fronts of the cages are of plate glass, in single sheets. By 

 opening the intermediate doors the inmates of the cage can 

 be driven inlo the next cage; and the attendant, entering 

 from behind, can then cleanse the apartment and clean the 

 gla-s j'ronf if required. Alter this the reptiles can lie got 

 back again. The nar door is on the back of the hind wall 

 of the cage, and consequently in front of it there is a ledge 

 t.hc thickness of the wall. During the morning the hama- 

 dryad Sprang on to this ledge, which is about five feet from 

 the Hoof and about eighteen inches wide, and effected a 



loilgnii-ni on it by pressing its body into an almo 

 gular shape, in which remarkable position it continued to 

 ihovoon the ledge uutil its head reached the ground, and 

 then it completed its performance until the extremity of its 



tail had passed the ledge, when the residue' of its bodj ii I 

 away. 



"To extricate ihe large pythons from their old habitations, 

 of which they had been inmates f or many years, the fronts of 

 the old cages had to be taken out altogether, and in doing 

 this on the previous day one of the reticulated pythons man- 

 aged to .-cap.-. It was found, however, yesterday morning, 

 under the hot water pipes, and was safely* captured in a can- 

 vas bag. This proved a happy incident, ami the creature 

 was conveyed to the new bouse with ease, and liberated with 

 facility into its noble quart, rv This IB one of the largest, 

 and its companion is the largest, snake in the menagerie. It 

 is a tine reptile, over fifteen Feet in length, and remarkably 



aeive. Thompson and Tyrrell carried the bag inlo the- cage, 

 and. untying it. shot the great creature out, and then retired 

 by the rear floor. Left to itself, it moved rapidly forward, 

 touching with its bifurcated tongue the glass front, the 

 walls, everything as it went along, It then mounted one of 

 the two oak trees, and wound and twisted itself over eveiy 

 branch, resting its head every now and again upon one or 

 other of them for a few seconds, and then moving on afresh. 

 Afterward its huge companion was similarly brought into 

 the cage, and shot out of its-sack, when it commenced to 

 move along Hie gravelled floor "its glossy skin and its reticu- 

 lated markings being shown oir to the greatest advantage as 

 the suu shone down through tin- skylight of the roof upon 

 it. bringing out a purple sheen and a golden glint truly mar- 

 vellous as it slowly drew one fold over another of its massive 

 body. The cage in which these two fine snakes are placed 

 is larger than tin- other cages, which are usually twelve feet 

 long. This really consists of two compartments, and is 

 iWenty-five feet from end to end. The snake was known to 

 be of immense size, but, as in the old small den it commonly 

 lay coiled up in a blanket and was never seen fully extended. 

 everyone was astonished to find it stretch itself out to the 

 full extent of its new habitation and still leave some portion 

 ol its tail to come round. It is not an exaggeration, there- 

 fore, to say that it is over iwentv-six feet lorn:. 



•■In an' adjoining cage arc two line West African 



python- t/vM..' ,..'../-. obtained in 1879. On.' of these, 

 shedding its skin, took a bath in the glass water-tank within 

 its cage, and remained there, visible in an admirable degree. 

 Its companion wandered aboht the gravelled floor, equally 

 Visible; and it may be well here to observe that none ol the 

 snakes will be covered up in blankets as heretofore, as the 

 use of ihe blanket was simply for provision if warmth. 

 The necessary temperature is now perfectly provided for; 

 the steam pipes are carried under the cages at a distance of 

 about four feel below them; the bottoms of the- cages are 

 formed of slat slabs, and the hot-air circulates in (he inter- 

 val, and, thoroughly heat the slate floors, warms the whole 

 interior of the cages to the degree desirahli . generally about 

 To to.si.c Fahrenheit, the temperature being occasionally 

 elevated to 00 , vi hen tin- snakes show a. disposition to feed!. 

 Warmth accelerates their voracity, and cold, on the con- 

 trary, renders them torpid and indisposed for food. 



' 'La i iron, the huge anaconda was brought into another 

 cage- and got out of its sack with some difficulty. It was 

 partially shot out of the sack, tail foremost, and instantly 

 commenced to work its way baet again with tenacious per- 

 sistency. At last, however, it was .:, • Opt, when it retired 

 to the opposite end of the cage, and', pu.. "'tsheadup 



against the outside of the water tank, remained ai. -■Int.-ly 

 rnotionless. The most exciting incident of the day's u, :'- 

 was the transference of the great American alligator, a par- 

 ticularly savage beast, at least nine feet in length. lis des- 

 tination was the large central tank of the new house, where 

 two oilier smaller alligators were already basking in the 

 warm water with noses and eyes just above the fluid surface. 

 Having secured his long, vicious jaws with broad bands of 

 stout webbing, he was captured in the canvas bag and 

 brought into the new house. Of course he had to he got out 

 of the bag, which was uot au easy operation, but to get the 

 bandage off his mouth was the most ticulish business of all. 

 The first was simply to lift him and drag him out. No 

 sooner was litis done'lhan (he beast twisted itself over on its 

 back with a suddenness and power completely startling. 

 The mouth hands holding on. however, the animal was lifted 

 up bodily by half a dozen men, and put head foremost into 

 the. water, in which he splashed with vigor. The mouth 

 bands were then cut with a knife, 'and the monster, damaged 

 only by a few scale-- knock. -d off and a sore nose, quietly 

 settled" to the bottom of the pool and gave no more anxiety to 

 any one. Into the eastern coral pond Ihe laud and water 

 tortoises were next put, and then a variety of snakes, some 

 harmless and some venomous, were introduced into Other 



"The final operation was Ihe transference of the two North 

 American Water-vipers, very dangerous creatures, the bite of 

 which is said to be fatal "Each hud been captured in a 

 wooden box, and so far were well secured. They had been 

 driven by slicks from their former den by the side door into 

 the boxes easily enough, but not so easy was it to get them 

 out of the boxes again. This, however, was very cleverly 

 accomplished. Thompson entered the cage, and received 

 the closed boxes' from nis companion outside. He placed 

 them carefully over the water-pool in the cage, and then re- 

 tired by the rear-door, through which be leaned over, opened 

 the sliding lid of one box about six or seven inches, look 

 the box up by the end, turned it over, and shot the snake 

 out well to the front. Opening the box in similar manner, 

 he hooked the snake out, by "a forked wire, and then re- 

 moved the box, closed the rear door, and all was success- 

 fully accomplished. 



"Independently of the hue wall cages of which the large 

 snakes are the occupants, there are numerous movable eases 

 in front of the windowed side of the new building, in 

 which the smaller snakes and lizards will be housed. In 

 one of these are two small novel lizards, with remarkable 

 sprney skins, from Africa: they appear lo be wry sprightly 

 intelligent beings, passing most of their time in watching 

 the flies which buzz about the outside of their cages. 



"The interior of the Reptile Court is rendered pleasant by- 

 flowers and foliage plants, and will undoubtedly be a popu- 

 lar promenade. It will be opened to the public on Saturday, 

 at noon, and the Bank Holiday folks have ti great treat 

 before them on Alonday." 



Size op Ali.ioatoks.— Washington, D. C— I have killed 

 a large number of alligators, the longest of which that I was 

 able to measure was lift., and I am inclined to think that 

 wry few an- to be found of larger size. One friend, who 

 had killed at least a thousand, wrote me that the largest he 

 ever shot and measured was Kilt, gin, long. And another 

 friend shot one which measured 17ft. Sin. I was with a 

 friend who killed one which we judged to be over 20ft. long, 

 by comparison with the boat we were iu. but he sank before 



we could get to him and measure him. A f ricud shot ono 

 with bird shot from a boat; he was a very large one, and 

 turned upon the boat and struck it with bis tail with such 

 force as lo start two of the planks, so that the party were 

 glad to get away, Another friend went down to the bay 

 shore to shoot" snipe, and was wading in shallow water; 

 seeing a largo alligator on a log between himself and the 

 shore, he gave it a charge of small shot The alligator 

 jumped into the water and made for him. He retreated to 

 a large log and got on the other side of it. The alligator 

 pursued and swam around the end of the log. and kept him 

 moving from one side of the log to Ihe other, until he hailed 

 a boat which took'him off.— M. T. 



Hed StiUiuitKi.s as Fin it Dkstuovkus. — Yonkers, N 

 V, Aug. ii.-- Passing through on orchard yesterday after- 

 noon I observed the ground under two seckel pear trees 

 strewn with the stem ends of larye quantities of the green 

 fruit, eaten down to the seeds, and the latter extracted. 

 Four years ago 1 shot, a red squirrel in one Of these trees, 

 after watching him from behind a convenient apple tree ful- 

 some lime. He ran out on the slender limb, gnawed off the 

 stem close to the apex of the pear, sat on his haunches, and 

 in a few moments reached the seed vessel by a succession of 

 lapid bites, dropping the pieces of pumice aid the remainder 

 of the fruit as soon as he secured the seeds, when he repeated 

 tlie operation, I have noticed the same thing every "pear 

 year" since iu this particular place, and the same two trees, 

 and though I have seen a great number of pear trees I have 

 never observed this depredation by squirrel-, anywhere else, 

 neither have I heard any cue else say thai a like occuirence 

 had come under their Observation. Is this manner of squir- 

 rels procuring food unusual? -C. L. S. [The incident noted 

 is not an uncommon one. The squirrels feed on fruit seeds 

 in this way whenever they can find it. A shotgun in the 

 orchard is the best remedy for the trouble. J 



in, Si-r-. 



Kecent Akkivais at I 

 Purchased— Twenty-threo 

 Presented— One raccoon I 

 ethicun), one brown capuei 



■ .rn— Three 

 V 

 icvltn . and six Oaynga 



§. mnp S"'e ^cfaftnga. 



'•That ic'oiiirisuie." 



THE PRESIDENT STRIKES A FISH. 



Special dispatch lo the Associated Prv«a. 



C1 AMP CROSBY, on Dinwiddle Creek, via Port Washkie, 

 I Wyo., Aug. 11, 2:30 P. M.— President, Arthur and 

 Senator Vest have just begun their fisliiug efforts. Senator 

 Vest has scored the greatest number of fish to date, 



2:45 P. M.— The President has just struck a fish and is 

 now playing it for all it's worth. Thought to be a fifteen 

 pounder. 



,syi«ri'i-i/.< Iii forest and st,, . , 



buns', u. ia-:. Ky.. Aug. 11, 4 P. M.— The intelligence- that 

 Ihe President had' struck a fish at 2:45 o'clock lo clay created 

 a profound sensation in all circles in this city. Xothing like 

 it since Billy Patterson was struck. Fools arc selling briskly 

 on the flah. 



GHJCAGO, III., Aug. 11, 3:36 P. M.— Fortunately the Tele- 

 graphic announcement that Ihe President had struck a fish 

 in Diuwiddie Creek, Wyo., at '3:45 to-day was not made 

 public in this city until 'alter the closing of the Stock Ex- 

 change, hence The price of grain was not affected. The ex- 

 citement is intense. 



BOSTON, Mass,, Aug. 11, 4 P. M — The intelligence that 

 the President had struck a fish at 2:45 this afternoon has 

 caused a panic in the codfish maiket, The public is awai! 

 ing with bated breath the res-ill of the contest. 



'Philadelphia, Pa., Aug- 11, St§6 P. M, — Dispatch an 

 nonncmg the President's strike iu Diuwiddie Creek, Wyo., 

 at 2:45 P. 31., received with wildest enthusiasm. The pub- 

 lic offices at. once suspended business; the people are flock- 

 ing to Independence Hall. Nothing like it since Ihe Cen- 

 tennial. 



OhABMSstOK, S. C, Aug. 11, 5 P. M.— The news of the 

 President's strike at a?4S to-day was received with general 

 satisfaction. The incident is thought to have no political 

 significance. 



To tin- Associated 1'res.i. 



Camp Crosby, on Diuwiddie Creek, AVyo., Aug. 11. 2:65 

 p. M.— The President has just, brought the fish to gaff. It 

 measured ;;;.in. 



Special* to Fon-xt o,ul strcujii. 



Chicaoo. Aug. 11, 4:15 P. M.— The city is full of rejoic- 

 ing; grand illumination to-night in honor of President 

 Arthur. 



Lotjtsville, Aug. 11,4:20 P. ST.— Public confidence re- 

 stored. The Co'iriti'-Jo'i-inijl \a issuing au extra every ten 

 minutes. 



Philadelphia, Aug. fi. iSQT. Ii.— Tlie police have 

 called upon the Fire Department to quench the enthusiasm 

 over the Presidential victory. 



Boston. Aug, 11. 4:2!) P. M.— Codfish firm again. In- 

 tense anxiety to know whether the fish took the fly with its 

 tail. General disappointment over the size of the fish. 



St. Loi is. .Mo. Aug LI, 5 P. if.- The riot has been 

 quelled, though much apprehension still prevails. If the 

 President strikes another' fish uiiam twenty-four hours it is 



M the. mob will fire the city, TheCe-. ' 

 ordered tne militia to be I Id in reserve. 



