S4 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



| A reus-,' 



and heavier than the larva within the center of the pit. The 

 grub having al templed to remove these in the usual manner, 

 and failed, proceeded in this wise: It hacked up to a peb- 

 hle. and placed the posterior nf the abdomen asainsl, and a 

 little beneath it. so that the sand readily dropped over the 

 apex of the abdomen and lay between thai and thestone. 

 A little adjustment was required to balance the pebble by 

 setting its middle part against the end of the body, and I lieu 

 the animal began to back out of the pit, SO pushing the 

 pebble before, or rather behind it. up the side, and to a point 

 a short way beyond the margin, where it was abandoned. 

 A small furrow— two to three inches long — was described 

 in the sand by the moving stone, which furrow was curved 

 from the point of departure. The stone was kept perfectly 

 balanced during the entire progress, which was quite rapid". 

 Each of the three pebbles was thus removed, the grub re- 

 turning each time and backing it out of the pit. The ex- 

 periment was repeated a number of times and always with 

 the same result. Some well-rounded stones were selected in 

 order to make the difficulty of balancing greater, but this 

 made no difference in the action of the larva, a round pebble 

 being balanced and removed quite as readily as a flat one. 

 It was a curious and amusing spectacle to witness the odd 

 little creature thus backing the accurately poised impedi- 

 ments out of its domicile, and then returning to put its house 

 in order once more. The correctness of the -early observa- 

 tions of M. Bonet is thus fully confirmed by Dr. McCOok's 

 experiments. 



BREEDING QUAIL IN CONFINEMENT. 



Jirfitnr Forest aud Strrani: 



Should you deem it of anv interest to your readers 

 can announce the birth of one dozen Bob White babies from 

 one dozen eggs hatched under confinement a1 hit place this 

 &.. M. (I Bond empty shells as vouchers.) Both cock and 

 hen were wild birds purchased last fall. As it ma v he of 

 interest, will give particulars, especially as I noted thai son 

 of your correspondents last year doubted the truth of my 

 statement of having raised quail successfully in confinement 

 without the use of a bantam. 1 note that quail in confine- 

 ment arc fully a month late inbreeding. The mother bird 

 laid thirteen eggs, but did not seem inclined to sit. I 

 placed the eggsuuder a large silting hen. The buds came 

 out. but the hen mashed them. After I removed the uggg 

 the mother quail laid a dozen more eggs, and then without 

 any previous symptoms of ill-health died suddenly. The 

 cock immediately took possession of the nest, and to-day is 

 rewarded for his* devotion by having a dozen little licamies 

 to console him for the loss of Mrs. B. VV. 



I have also another pair, t hat through your kindness [ was 

 able to save from those 1 raiseel last year." They have mated 

 and now have two eggs in the nest. ' So you Bee I have suc- 

 ceeded in breeding from quail that Iraised myself last year. 

 It is amusing, and also exasperating,, to lead the numerous 

 letters of people who still contend that quail cannot lie suc- 

 cessfully bred when in confinement, while I have practically 

 demonstrated that it has been done, ami have plenty of evi- 

 dence to prove it So far as ray experience goes, I do not 

 think quail are more- difficult to raise than chickens, when 

 you understand their management and give them the same 

 amount of care. As the subject is one that doubtless inter- 

 ests hut few of your readers, I desire in closing to simply an- 

 nounce that to those few 1 will gladly give all the informa- 

 tion I am able, and request a return in' kind. 



Having lost a very valuable mocking bird, aud also a robin 

 that I bad for years, both of which died after evincing 

 symptoms like the quail that died last fall, on which you 

 held such on elaborate autopsy, I am now certain thafthe 

 inflammation of the bowels, from which you reported they 

 died, was caused by the use of whale oil aiid soap suds, used 

 in my conservatory (where the birds were confined) to de- 

 stroy insects. John J. Wilms. 



Westfield. >t. .1. 



NEW DEEP-SEA FISHES. 



Mitor. Fm-i'xi and 8trwn ■■ 



The investigations of the U. B. Commission of Fish and 

 Fisheries, so ably superintended by Prof. Baird, have been 

 about as fully rewarded with novelties this year, in some 

 departments at least, as at any time since its inception. The 

 steamer Albatross, under the command of Capl. Zera I,. 

 Tanner. l ; . 8". N;, lias made several exploratory trips, and a 

 number of very interesting fishes have been secured. four 

 of the most noteworthy, obtained at depths more or less 

 exceeding t.OOO fal horns, may interest your readers, and 

 have been named as follows: 



Cam n . — This is a Tracbiehthyine Bcrvcid, 



with a laterally oval or pyriform contour, a compressed body 

 covered with small pedunculated leaf like scales, an abruptly 

 declivous forehead, small eyes, a pair of very long pointed 

 teeth in front of upper jaw closing in front of lower, a simi- 

 lar pair of still longer pointed teeth in the lower received in 

 fovea of the palate; on the sides of each jaw two lorn; teeth 

 terminating in bulbous tips, a row of minute teeth on the 

 posterior half of the supramaxillaries. and a toothless palate. 

 Tho color is a uniform black, and it has two spire ani 

 seventeen rays in the dorsal tin, and two spines and eight 

 rays in the .anal. The front teeth of the lo.ver jaw are" of 

 enormous length, hut the scales exhibit the most remarkable 

 peculiarity. 



Plectra inn* sviorbilaMs. — It is a new Melamphaine Beryeid 

 with an elongated form, moderate cycloid scales, an oblong 

 head with a much decuived or truncate snout, rather small 

 eyes, teeth small, acute, aud in two rows in each jaw, of 

 which those of the inner row (at least in the lower jaw) are 

 largest, and palate toothless. The color is black; the dorsal 

 fin has three spines and sixteen rays, and the anal one spine 

 and eight rays. Two spines— one on each side of the nape 

 — springing forward from the shoulder bones, give a strange 

 appearance to the fish, and have gained for ii the generic 

 name Pbrt ramus (pbrtron, spur, and omet), shoulder). 



Ilistiabraiaduis itifernalu.—A. synaphobranehoid eel with 

 the dorsal fin protracted almost as far forward as the base 

 of the pectoral tin. The pectoral fins arc much shorter than 

 in the Si/aaplaibraiirhuii pfnualUs. 



Petramyzait IBa/Jiyiiii/zaa) bairdii. — A lamprey closely re- 

 lated to the common sea lamprey (Petivmyziai marhivi) hut 

 with suproral aud infroral plates or laminse destitute of 

 teeth, the armature of the lamprey type being obsolescent. 



Wood's Hole, Jlass. , Auff. '.'1, 18 c 3. ' TffEO. QtTWu. 



Proceedings Piiit.aijki.piiia Academy. — Pari One of the 

 Proceedings— January to May — contains, us usual, a variety 

 of interesting matter." Prof.'E. D. tope contributes to the 

 part a number of important papers, of which the following 

 deserve especial mention: Notes ou the Geographical Dis- 



tribution <of Batrachia and Reptilia of Western North 

 America! On a. now Extinct Genus of Siienia, from South 

 Carolina; On the Mutual Relations of Buuoihorian Mam- 

 malia: Ou the Characters of flu- Skull in Hadrosnums. Dr. 

 Leidy's notes and papers are On the Reproduction and Para- 

 sites of Aiaidatibt fhtr/atilis; On Pediculi* eusthneati; On a 

 Flint Model from the Green Sand of New Jersey, anil on A 

 Social Ilelinzoon Mr Thomas Meehan gives a number of 

 interesting botanical notes: On the Flowering ol 

 Contraction of Vegetable Tissues under Frost; Notes On 

 Koliinoenetus; On the Relations of Ileal to the Sexes of 

 Fiowers; Observations on For*ythia; Influence of Circum- 

 stances on Heredity. Mr. H. Carroll Lewis contributes a 

 number of minorafogieal notes, and, with Prof. Heilprin, 

 tWO papers on lee of the Glacial Period and the Phenomena 

 of Glaciation. Mr. Chas. H. Townsend, H. Skinner. ("has. 

 Mohr. If. T. Cresson, Dr. Harrison Allen, Mr. B. H. 

 Wright, G. A. Koenig, J. Wilcox, Josiah Iloopes, B. W. 

 Evermaim and Seth E. Meeh are the other contributors. 



IIybkiditv in Birds.— Ornithologists aie familiar with 

 the fact that at Tare intervals birds are secured which par- 

 take in an equal degree of the cbatacters of two different 

 species. This has been observed in several important groups, 

 but perhaps occurs more frequently among the ducks and 

 wood warblers than in anv other families, the parents of the' 

 hybrid being usually closely allied species. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, hybrids occur between different genera, as in the ease 

 recently cited by Mr. Chas. Townsend before the Phila- 

 delphia Academy, in which the specimen exhibited was a 

 hybrid between a snowbird {./u,ar>) and a, white-throated 

 sparrow (Zo/ia/rir/i/a). W T e have within the year taken a 

 duck which was evidently a hybrid between a pintail (I)afdn) 

 aud a mallard (Ana,*). "The "specimen, which was a male, 

 shows a preponderance of DcMla characteristics, but has in 

 part the color of the mallard', while the hill and feel stand 

 midway between the two. Thesecases are alwavs interest- 

 ing, and it is to be hoped that those of our readers who may 

 happen upon hybrid specimens will take care to have them 

 preserved. 



(iiiMTtioLooisTs' Congress. — It is extremely gratifying 

 to learn that many responses to the circular lately sent out 

 by Dr. Cones. Prof. Allen and .Mr. Brewster have beet 

 already received. The tone of these replies is most encour 

 aging,' and the promptness and unanimity with which they 

 arc sent in is such as to indicate that the meeting will be 

 enthusiastic and successful, an important occasion. Pro- 

 fessor Baird has replied very cordially to the invita- 

 tion. We learn that, through the kind efforts of Mr. E. P. 

 Bicknell, the library of the American .Museum of Natural 

 History has been secured for the meeting, and it is expected 

 that asecond circular will soon lie issued giving all the 

 details of the proposed meeting. 



f#fff£ !?## Htfd fftltf. 



CJAME UESOSTS.—W 

 lication such notes of lies 

 to the readers of Forest 

 spon d pals favor xis with s 



ad to receiVi for pub- 



arts as may be of help 



Wdl not 'our Carre- 



THE GAME LAWS. 

 New Brunswick. 



OPEN seasons lor uioose, caribou or deer, from Aug. 1 to Feb. ) ; 

 mink, otter, fisher, sable or beaver, Sept. 1 to May 1 ; partridges. 

 Sept an to March 1; black ducks, wood-ducks and teal. Sept. 5 to May 

 15; snipe and woodcock, Aup. 14 to March 1; salmon, Jan. 1 to Sept. 

 15. exclusive of Sundays from sundown Sa'urday uitrht to sunrise 

 Monday morning. 



No person, or number of persons forming a hunting party, shall 

 kill or take more than three moose, five caribou or five deer in one 

 season. Chasing mouse, caribou or doer with dogs is prohibited. A 

 person not domiciled in the Province, to take any of the above game 

 (except ducks.) must take out an annual license, fee twenty dollars, 

 from the Provincial secretary. 



To officers in her Majesty's service, and officers iij the army and 

 navy, the license fee is only five dollars. Hon. Daniel MoLellau is the 

 Provincial secretary ..f X. It, office at Fredericton, N. K. 



New Jersey. 



For notes respecting the alleged repeal of the deer law see page H5. 



A SHOT BY THE WAYSIDE. 



DUPING my annual vacations and shooting trips for the 

 last few years I have made it a point to visit my old 

 home. Portland", Maine; and once there, a very short time 

 Suffices to find me at my old friend Joseph's, or as near to 

 dm as i can get, at Yarmouth, thirteen or fourteen miles 

 TOm Portland. 



This is not a first-rate game section, by anv means, but 

 t has this advantage about it; that I know all the groves, 

 with each particular swamp and ravine in (he neighborhood 

 'nit is likely lo harbor a partridge, and as my hobby is part- 

 dge shooting, and the neighborhood not visited by sports- 

 men much, I can afford to go slow and careful, cleaning 

 up the ground (so to speak) thoroughly. 



if I can kill a brace of partridge in a clay's tramp, I have 

 bad glory enough for thai day. I am not one of those insa- 

 tiable sportsmen, who know no limit to game destruction; 

 on the contrary. I feel very happy over three or fourpot-p'tes 

 a week. 



I cannot describe the thrill of delight that comes over me 

 I I step into the haunts of a wary old cock partridge, gun 

 at the ready, finger on trigger," the expected dash, rapid 

 whin, the brown streak as the bird goes like a rocket up 

 the gully, (he quick glance along tho barrels, the report, and 

 the few bite of brown feathers floating lightly in the air, as 



: smoke clears— these tell a story that can 'only be appre- 



,ted by the lover of the gun. Dead bird? Yes! 'lh.it. 

 indeed was an effective shot. 



During rav lasl stay at Yarmouth, my kind friend Sam 

 tendered me the use o"f a horse and buggy, with which lo go 

 and come at. my pleasure. Another of in v chums gave the 

 of his duck boat, for occasional trips 'down the creek to 

 the islands in Oasco Bay. You see 1 was well cared for. 



One day 1 took it into ray head to have a little fixing done 

 to my gun that morning, aud harnessed up Solomon to goto 

 a gunsmith's at Freeport. Knowing of a grove halfway be- 

 tween the two places that skirted both sides of the road, and 

 knowing it to he the haunt of grouse, I put a few cartridges 

 ' my pocket to be ready for an emergency. 



On reaching the grove I was carefully watching both sides 

 of the road, when 1 espied a beauty, standing like a statuette. 



under a low juniper bush within ten yards of me. TV 

 then would not do; to reach for my gun. or I urn my bead, 

 and my chance wiulil be lost foivye'r. i i, perfectly Still, 

 and jogged along until I was sixty yards away, when check- 

 ing Solomon. I hid him Maud, drew out my gun slipped in 

 a couple of cartridges mid walked h trl 



My horse was not gun-shy in the least, i >n account of his 

 extreme age. long experience, and greal debility he was not 

 afraid Of anything; so I felt perfectly sure that he would 

 remain until called for. 



As I advanced cautiously to the bush, up went the bird 

 like lightning, followed "by the leaden pellets. Away he 

 went out of sight in an instanl, leaving a few feathers be- 

 hind him. 1 quickly dashed into the thicket (o retrieve, 

 not deigning to cast a glance back to Solomon, but as 1 was 

 scrambling along 1 heard a racket outside. A feeling of 

 anxiety came over me, 1 dropped the pursuit, and rushed 

 back lo the road in time to witness the tremendous speed 

 that Sol. was acquiring and that 1 did not dream lw 



:i. He was just spreading Ids superannuated limbs for 

 all he was worth. He made a sheer into a wood road and 

 disappeared. I dropped my gun and followed. In time the 

 racket censed and I overhauled him. Great Oscar! there lie 



trees, I he buggy tipped to an angle of 45 and hanging on 

 the side of a thick spruce, the cushion and whip thrown ten 

 feet abend of him, but nothing broken. His sides were 

 swelling and collapsing like an overworked blacksmith's 

 bellows. 



Weil. I soothed him all I was able amid my convulsions, 

 promised never to take tin unfair advantage of him again. 

 1 unharnessed and extricated him from his painful and ludi- 

 crous position, got into the road, and boomed along to the 

 end of my journey, 



On returning, when I arrived at the place where I had 

 shot, at the partridge (two or three hours haviug elapsed), it 



ii OJ red to mo to have one more hunt for thai bird, I ac- 

 cordingly got out. tied Solomon hard and las! to a telegraph 

 and alter getting my bearings once more, started "m on 



. oyage of discovery. I made up my mind to go straight 

 ahead for fifty paces on the line the bird had taken. When 

 I had counted off my fifty paces, there in front of nie lav 

 my beauty, square on his back on a green patch of moss, 

 Still retaining a little warmth, although stiffened. A. 0. L. 



pole, 



GAME IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



IT is said that with the improved dogs and guns, ami the' 

 large crop of shooters that are being educated in the- 

 numerous clubs, "the game inust go." Kok, if lids be so, the 

 outlook to me is a most melancholy one, for I am so far bfr 



hind in glass-ball and clay pi - i ,i M .,ain- that I e,nn nova 



hope lo catchup, therefore the trap can never compensate 

 me for the loss of the game, and I think there is a large class 

 of others who feel the same way. But let us see if it "he true 

 that "the game must go." 1 have tried lo consider tin- sub 

 ject carefully, and am thoroughly convinced thai SO far as 

 partridges (rutted grouse) are concerned this part of the 

 country will never be depopulated by shooting. Further- 

 more, cartful observation proves that with good ses 



breeding these birds will increase in numbers in the Imme- 

 diate vicinity of Worcester, a city of seventy thousand in- 

 habitants. Our nio-t reliable sportsmen, who have dint, in 

 this locality for the past forty or fifty years, allow that they 

 never knew partridges more plentiful than in lsoo-d 7, Ihcil 

 tlleybegantO diminish and it was noticed that there were vert 

 few young birds. They nested well enough, aud we found 

 good-sized broods in the early summer, but. when shooting 

 season came we found they had dwindled down to one or 

 two, and in many eases the young broods had all disap- 

 peared. This state of things continued several years, and 

 we kept on banging away at the old birds till thi 

 ago. when the stock had got shot down so low that if" did 

 look as Ihougb we should have nothing left for seed. 



Two years ago. however, we began to feel encouraged.. 

 for while the broods were scan../, it was found thai thcy'bad 

 matured well, and considering the amount of stock we had 

 to breed from, we could nol complain. But, unforiunaleh , 

 the weather was very favorable for shooting all through the 

 month of December, and tie birds were relentlessly pursued 



till the very last day of the open season. Still we closed the 

 season with a belter slock of old birds than we had known 



foryears. Last year was another g I brei liugse ion, a6 



when shooting commenced, we found large broods, and more 

 of llumi, aud pari ridco" shooting in IN ■- i. i r iirtygood! 



throughout the season. Th mow came the last o Noveni 

 her. cutting off a nioiilh of the open season, wdiieh saved a 

 great many birds. This year has been a good one for the 

 young broods, and unless all signs fail, we shall have part- 

 ridge shooting in abundance. So it will be seen that within 

 eight years we have plenty of partridges, have had the crop 

 dwindle down fill wo. almost lost the seed, aud then come 

 up again to tha,t point that we have had good [eaSnu to he 



h*eve that with one toons year as favorable for breeding as 



the last two. the birds will again be a.- plentiful as in 1876, 

 Now, let it be remembered that all this has happened since 

 we have had a sportsmen's club, with an average member- 

 ship of seventy-five; and, besides, two other (dubs have 

 come into existence, so that cow we have three shooting 

 clubs with a total membership of about one hundred and 

 fifty men. 



I am not one of those wllO believe that the formation of 

 clubs tends to diminish the game; in fact 1 am inclined lo 

 believe that in this Stale it has had the opposite effect, for 

 the reason that the "trap fever" has run so high it has had 

 a tendency to draw sportsmen away from Held shooting, 

 the crop' of shooters we are now educating will do very 

 little harm to the game, so long as there are plenty of tour- 

 naments for them to attend. Besides Ihnveeoai to thi 

 Conclusion lhal it requires a gnat deal more than a good 

 shot to make a good hunter. Not one in four nf those, who 

 shoot well at the trap do any brush-shoot iug to amount to 

 anything. Occasionally one starts up with a good deal i 

 enthusiasm, buys a dog and other equipments, 

 forth to slaughter game. Asa rule one season 18 

 Sometimes two or three trips settles the question, and they 

 sell the dog. and settle do Tti to trap-shootiug. They are 

 right eood fellows, and they loye to shoot, but the trouble 

 is they haven'! the required "sand" to succeed in brush-.-hoot 

 ing. 'The real fad is, if it is not born in a man, he will 

 never make a first-class shot in the field, however Well ln- 

 may succeed at the trap. 



But 1 am wandering from my subject, must the game go? 

 1 say not; not if sportsmen's clubs, and spoi tsmen as indi- 

 viduals arc willing to do a fair amount of work in the wav- 

 ed game protection. Think you that a man could go out 

 and shoot a good bag of bird's, almost in the suburbs of 



