66 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[A.UGD8T 36, 1880. 



Batumi ^istovQ. 



— Address all oo7ninu7iications to 

 Pablishmg Company, Niw York." 



' ForeM aiid Stream 



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PACKAED'S ZOOLOGY. 



DR. PACKARD'S work is one of real value both to 

 the student and the teacher of zoology. "Within 



the past few yeara several so-caJled Manuals of ZoSlogy 



have appeared, but, though some of them were not with- 

 out a certain value, there was no one of them all which 



was not open to severe criticism. It is pleasant, there- 

 fore, to bo able to speak of the present 



workasoneof the very best of its kind 



*hat has yet come under our notice. 



It is not, of course, wholly free from 



mistakes ; but such a book never can 



be parfect, and the few errors which 



are iiuticeable are, for the most part, 



of minor importance, and wiJl no 



doubt Le corrected in the subsequent 



editions, which will unquestionably 



bo oaUed for. 

 The work is admirably adapted for 



use as a text-book, and perhaps 



tT^nmore so for use in tlie laboratory, 



and — a fact wbi-jli will especially rec- 



ouiiiieiid it to the beginner — is little 



burdened with those technical terms, 



■which proved for so long a time a 



stumbling-block to one who attempts, 



■without previous training or the as- 



eiscauce of more advanced workers, 



to gain a general knowledge of the 



structure of the principal types of 



animal life. 

 The irealment of the subject in 



hand is very good, tlie definitions and 



descriptions of structures clear tiiough 



brief, and the language cmploj'ed is 



suoli as can be comprehended by the 

 general reader, Xliis indeed consti- 

 tutes, to our mind, one of the princi- 

 pal 1 xcellences of the book, for it is 



certamly an unusual state of things to find a ■work— es- 



pec ally one which treats of invertebrates— in which half 

 a dozen consecutive hjiea will convey any intelligent im- 

 pression to the mind of the non-scientific reader. 



We are unable to give, at any length, the plan of the 

 present work. Tlie author commences with the simijlest 

 and most elementaiy forms, and proceeds from these 

 through the higher groups, ending with the vertebrates, 

 a metuod wliiuh seems to us much better than working 

 dowu the scale from the higher groups to the lower. 



The tirat eight chapters are devoted 

 to defining the great groups of the 

 animal kiugdum ; Chapter IX to the 

 Comparative Anatomy of Organs ; 

 Chapter X to Development. The five 

 succeeding chapters, wiiich conclude 

 the work, treat, somewhat briefly, the 

 Geogl'aphical Distribution of Auimals, 

 the Geological Succession of Animals, 

 the Origin of Species, Protective Re- 

 Bemblauce, and Instinct and Reason in 

 Animals. These, containing as they do 

 summaries of many of the latest views 

 an these most interesting topics, de- 

 mand perusal by all who are fond of 

 the study of nature. The volume is 

 made still m^ore useful to the student, 

 or the reader who may desire further 

 information with regard to any special 

 group than can be given within the 

 limits of a general work like the one 

 under discussion, by a bibliography, in 

 which the principal works necessary to 

 the student of zoology are enumerated. 

 There is also a glossary defining the 

 more important teclmical terms em- 

 ployed, 



The volume is -well printed and very 



fully illustrated by wood-cuts, some of 



them original, but mostly taken from 



other works on zoology. 



Taken as a whole the work is one 



THE CAPTIVE WOODCOCK. 



MR, MORRIS' tame woodcock, Dick, continues to 

 excite great interest among sportsmen, and his 

 owner's cosy little flower and bird store is daily visited 

 by numbers of the fratei-nity, who take gi-eat delight in 

 watching the bird. His new quarters are much more 

 commodious than the old, and his owner has removed 

 him to the greenhouse, where the noise of the street and 

 the ijersistent attentions of the small boy, who always 

 takes such delight in poking up the animals, no longer 

 disturb him. The increased room and the quiet seem to 

 have a beneficial effect upon Dick, and it appears that he 

 is gaining in weight and generally improving in health. 



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oviBOS MOSCHATUS — Blainvillc. 



It is very interesting to watch the bird feed, and to see 

 him, after he has satisfied his hunger, plunge his bill 

 several times into the sand, and then, walking to the 

 water-dish, wash it by gently shaking his head. Dick is 

 simewhat fastidious about his food, for some time ago 

 Mr. Morri?, having received a lot of the bright red worms 

 found in stable yards, olTered theii to the bird, and 

 though at first he seized them he declined to eat a single 

 one. His master thinks that the worms tasted of the 

 ammonia of the stable yard, and this idea is confirmed 



OVIS MONTANA — CuV. 



■which we can very cordially recommend, either to the | by the fact that these same worms, after having been 

 ^t or the general reader, and it is indeed indispen- kept for a few days in fresh eat th, were devoured with 



as much apparent relish as the common worms. 



The voracity of the woodcock is proverbial, but oppor- 

 tunities for exact observations on this point rarely occur, 

 and it seemed important in this case to take advantage 

 of Dick's captivity to arrive at some definite results as to 

 the amount of food devoured by him in one day. We 

 therefore requested Jlr. Morris to make certain observa- 

 tions ; and in his very clear letter, given below, there is 

 food for much reflection. It appears from these experi- 

 ments that the woodcock, even in captivity and deprived 

 of the exerciae vhioh a wild bird takes, devours daily 



Btudei 



sable to any one who is interested in any form of ani' 



mal life. 



To the courtesy of the publishers, Messrs. Henry Holt 

 & Co., we owe the opportimity of reproducing the ac- 

 companying wood-cuts of two American forms figured 

 in the zi.61ogy. They will be interesting to our readers, 

 not only in themselves, but also for comparison with cer- 

 tain extraordinary illustrations which recently appeared 

 in the columns of a contemporary purporting to be re- 

 productions of the figures of the Bocky Mountain sheep 

 and the musk ox given in Dr. Packard's work. 



more than his own weight of icorins. This statement 

 ■win excite the wonder of every one, but when we con- 

 sider the total number of worms devoured by a bird in a 

 year, or by a number of birds in any given time, we are 

 at a loss whether to be more astounded at the voracity of 

 the bird or the multitude of the worms which must ex- 

 ist to feed them. 



Mr. Morris' letter is as follows : — 



Jefferson Maritet, New York, Aug, 18t/». 

 In answer to your favor of the 10th inst., I beg to hand 

 A ou the following particulars about my woodcock, Dick, 

 who is doing well. 



From noon Aug. 12th to noon Aug, 13th the bird ate 

 five and a quarter ounces (Troy), or 300 worms. He 

 wanted more at noon Aug. 13th. He 

 weighs five ounces (Troy). The worms 

 were given to him a couple of dozen 

 at a time. I have fitted up a place 

 for him with two breeding cages for 

 canaries. In one is moss and a dish 

 with clayfry mud, in which I put the 

 worms. I scatter worms in the moss, 

 and he ainu.sea liimself, ■\^■hile not 

 gorging himself with the worms in the 

 mud, by hunting for worms in the 

 moss. He does this for pastime, as he 

 frequently fishes out a worm and al- 

 lows it to crawl back into the moss 

 without attempting to eat it. In the 

 other cage are moss and a bed of brigh t, 

 sharp, coarse sand, with a pan of 

 water sunk in the moss. He appears 

 to like to trot about in the sand, and 

 botes into it, but when his bill be- 

 coaiE'B covered with sand he goes to 

 the water ;iiii:l washes it. I have not 

 seen hiiu drink. His digestion ap- 

 pears to be perfect. I shall get some 

 peaty mud to put his worms in, as I 

 have an idea that the mud he bores in 

 now contains sandy earth, which in- 

 jures his bUl, as this organ appears 

 dull, as if worn by silica in the earth, 

 and not polisht d, "Us seen in woodcock 

 in a state of nature. Many sportsmen 

 visit my store to see Dick. I am, 

 very truly yours, 



John Morris. 

 At our request Mr. Morris has re- 

 peated his experiment with Dick, and 

 the resvdt shows that the recent 

 changes of quarter has had a vei^y 

 beneficial eSect. Mr. Morris says, 

 writing under date of Aug. 23d : — 



I made the experiment, as you requested, and found 

 that the woodcock consumed eight ounces of worms in 

 twenty four hours, and could have eaten more had 1 

 given them to him. The bird now weighs six ounces, 

 having increased in weight one ounce since I obtained 

 possession of him. John Morris. 



Pood of Snakes.— J'refiericfc City, Md., Aug. 'Jth.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— I noticed in Forest and 

 Stream that Mr. C. R. Shaw killed at Sayville, L. I., a 

 black snake, and on shaking the reptile by the tail a striped 

 snake nineteen inches long came from 

 itsmouth, and it was still alivi-. 1 write 

 to state that this is oi uu uiicornrnon 

 occurrence. I have kilod jileiity of black 

 snakes with striped, or wiiat v:e call in 

 Maryland garttr snakes, iu tiieir stom- 

 achs, and I have afterwards held up 

 black snakes, just after being killed, 

 and have seen striped anakea come 

 out of their mouth and fall on the 

 ground and run as well as ever. On 

 one occasion in the Siiiganore IHIIb, I 

 killed a large black snake six feet lone-, 

 up a tree. He haa in his stuniacli one 

 pine, or red squirrel, one striped snake 

 three feet long, and nineteen eggs the 

 size of pigeons' eggs. When I was in 

 tlie act of skinning the black snake, the 

 striped snake came out of his mouth and 

 seemed to be" as lively as ever. 



Frank Schley. 



Notes on Snakes.— Bitrfce County, 

 Oa.—Editor Forest and Stream :— Be- 

 ing aware of the fact that all accounts 

 of the wonderful pertaining to snakes, 

 regardless of the integrity of tlie writer, 

 are taken cum grano salis, I will simply 

 state what I saw yesterday. In walk- 

 ing on the road I discovered what looked 

 like two snakes in very close proximity. 

 Upon a closer examination I found a 

 king snake swallowing a rattlesnake — 

 the former tliree and a half feet in 

 length, about, but apparently consid- 

 erably smaller than the latter, which 

 ■was the possessor of fire rattles and a 

 button, I knew that the "king,'' called 

 " chicken snake," would eat chickens, 

 frogs, etc., but never supposed they 

 would attempt an imdertaking so apparently impossi- 

 ble. It was slow work, and I looked on untU I wbb 

 so thorougiily disgusted I shot them both, leaving them 

 for the dirtiest .scavenger— the buzzard not excepted— 

 the hog. kvhich in a short time devoured both with a 

 relish no doubt. Whether this is anything uncom- 

 mon I know not, but it astonished me, and will, no 

 doubt, be a surprise to some of your readers. 



D. P. D. 



We regret extremely that our correspondent did not 

 see the play out, and, further, that he did not give us 

 more particular details of the manner in which the king 

 went to work to devour his prey. Will he not give us 

 such particuIaTB now':' 



