206 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[OOTOBEK 14, 1880 



the Smitliaordan Museum, and likewise a full series from earh 

 island of the Claribbean chain of the Antilles. 



With the material now on hand, Mr. Ober has at last ac- 

 complished the object of his three-years' labor, and is enabled 

 to fill a gap which has until now existed in om- ornithological 

 knowledge of the West Indies. Maynard's "Birds of 

 Florida," Gary's ''Birds of the Bahamas," and Mr. Ober's 

 notes on the birds of tlu- Lesser Antilles, constitute valuahle 

 additions to our cMifi kllo^Ylrllge of nvi-fauna of the South, 

 extending over twenty de;,Tees of latitude. 



It 'is a matter of cougratuliition that the United States has 

 received the benefit of the explorations of these young natur- 

 alists, especially as most of them have been carried on in 

 islands owned by other nations. 



Enghsh uatm'alists have noticed this, and, while regretting 

 the far! that their own collectors had not availed themselves 

 of these rid) fields, have given our American workers their 

 full meed of rre(Ut. 



BURRS ANID BURRS. 



THAT one is never too old to learn is a saying as trite as it 

 is ancient , yet every now and tlienin one's experience some 

 occm-rence will briug the trutli of this aphorism before oot 

 minds as atrildngly as i f it were a new idea. Especially is this 

 the case when we find, as sometimes happens, that we have 

 for years, perhaps from childhood, altaehed a wTong meaning 

 to some very couimon word. The shock which a man feels 

 when by some accident his blunder is revealed to him, is a 

 severe one ; and the thoughtful person Is by such an oeeur- 

 reiice tfiught more than ever to distrust his own ideas of 

 tliiugs. rmless Ihey are Cound(!d on an absolute knowledge of 

 facts, and to guard himself well against expressing too decided 

 opinions. Such retieetions as these are a|Jt to occur to a man 

 after he has been worsted in a controversy, because one of 

 his premises was WTOug, or wlien he has ^vritten a telling es- 

 say which was to reform the world and demolish his sulver- 

 sai-ies, hvU, in wliich his facts were not facts at all but 

 assumptions. We should none of us be um\-iUing to ac- 

 knowledge our ignorance. No one man can know it all. 



We feel bound lo confess tliat om' ideas as to what consti- 

 tutes the buiT of a dcin's horn have been appai'eutly uU 

 wrong. In a recent arlicle in the columns of a contemporary 

 the author, speaking of adiscovery by Prof. Cope in relation to 

 the bun- on the horns of certainPliocene deer, marks the word 

 burr with an a.steri,Hk, and adds as a foot-note the following 

 truly luminous .sentences :-—" Burr or buhr stone — A nearly 

 pvu-e sihceous rock, in which calcareous and other matters, 

 originally forming part of it has (.«/<:) been parted with and be- 

 come replaced hy silica, so that the cast of fossils are perfect- 

 ly preserved in it. See Rusehcjibergcr's Natural History Vol. 

 n. p. 39, of Glossary." 



The information thus conveyed while most interesting to 

 the non-scientific reader will impress itself no less on the pa- 

 leontologist who le-.u-iis no^^' fiirtlic first time that the antlers 

 of the deer of tlic Pliocene were ornamented -with "nearly 

 pure siUctous rocks in which calcareous arid other matters 

 originally forming part of it, has been parted with, and be- 

 come replaced by silica, so that the casts of fossils are per 

 fcctly preserved in it." .Jusr fancy how odd the deer must 

 have looked with tliesc great lumps of rock on their horns, 

 thougli perhaps, after all. the lumps may uot have been large. 

 .Uu-schenbcrger's Xauiral Iliritory does not tell us that. And 

 how strong ihi- animals' necks nnist have been to have sup- 

 ported this gicai weight ; what an enormous development of 

 Ihe liguMf Ilium luiehn' must have taken place to support this 

 weiglit, as well as of the other muscles of the neck. We can 

 fancy that Ihe Pliocene man, if with Prof. Whitney wo ac- 

 cept his existence, must have had a decidedly exciting time 

 in an encounter with a wounded deer whose antlers wore thus 

 furnished. What chance wmdd the man of to-day have if a 

 cartload of rocks were hurled at him, each individual stone 

 moving at the rate of a chargiug deer. How would any of our 

 readers like to withstand the charge of a deer with a mill- 

 stone about his neck ? No doubt when tl>e supposed Pliocene 

 man did succeed in killing a deer, whose horns were adorned 

 with this 'pure siliceous rock" he carefully preserved the 

 head, and takuig it home Imd it mounted by a good taxider- 

 mist, and then hung it in his hall oi- dining-room, and the 

 " cast of fossils pcrf<tctly preserved in tlie nearly pure silice- 

 ous rock " unquestionably addedgrcally to its beauty. When 

 1h(' Pliocciir man had friends to dine with him, he no doubt 

 called Uicu aiteniion to those points in the horns, and told tlie 

 story of the hunt, with great eloquence, but with becoming 

 modesty. AVe had a vsigue idea that the antlers of the living 

 C'enidcp were fm'uished with bmrs, but we presume that we 

 were wrong. At all events, although we have killed in our 

 (Iiy a good many deer and elk, we have never found one in 

 which there was to. lie seen anywhere on the antlers any 

 "nearly piu-e siliceous rock, in which calcareous and other 

 matters has Q-i'-) Ijccu pmted with and become replaced by 

 silica, so that the casts of fossils are perfectly preserved in 

 it." 

 Truly we. live and learn. 



A TOTTN& Gfinba Fowl.— a correspondent, "H. _H. C," 

 of Bristol, Conn., sends us for identification a "quail" shot 

 near that place bv Mr. Everett Horton. There were six of 

 the birds toa-ether, and they were feeding with a flock of 

 chickens. When they flew up one was shot, but Mr. H., 

 thinking that they were yoimg turkeys, refused to shoot any 

 more of them, not knowing what they weje. 



The one sent us, wliich is little less in size than a quail, is 

 n young guinea fowl. 



.Toira Kriber's Collection. -During a late visit to Phila- 

 delphia, we stopped in to see our veteran friend, John Krider, 

 corner Second and Walnut streets, andweresbownhisgriindcol- 

 lection of bird skins and eggs. Without attempting I o enumer- 

 atle-their great number, and what be has, we may state that he 

 has 729 to 750 varieties of skins and eggs, ranging from the 

 eagle, hawk, owl, wood|_ierkers, warblers, lly catchers. 

 shrikes, buntings to water bints, linih waders and ducks, 

 and a complete assortment of game birds. Truly his collec- 

 tion is an interesting one. W'e found Uncle John in ibe midst 

 of ai-senic, scalpel in hand and a beautiful woodduck before 

 him which he was sldnning. Our old friend haa written and 

 published a little work entrtled "Forty Years Notes of aPield 

 Ornithologist," in which he gives a brief sketch of every bird 

 he has himself shot and whose eggs he has collected. 



MoBE QcAiL Bred rs CoNtiNEMExr. — CaUkitl, September 

 27. — Editor Fm-est ann StreHin. — Some two years ago I 

 brought from the West quite a number of quail, and in the 

 spring T tm-ned out all but two pair. The two hens which I 

 sept laid over fifty eggs, which I set under bantam hens, 

 and forty-five hatched out. I litid them all in a yard, but one 

 day I took them into the kitchen, and the door being left open 

 I lost most of them. After I took the eggs from the quail one 

 of the hens had hatched out twelve tine young ones. Last 

 spring one of the boards got off from the coop and I lost all 

 of them, old and young. I had left fifteen eggs, and these I 

 set under a little "hen, and eight hatched out. They were 

 very fine strong birds, and were nearly grown, when one 

 night the rats got in and killed them all. I leave for the 

 West soon, will bring more quail home with me, and will try 

 once more. I think! can raise them withotit niiv trouble. 



B. P. CONKI.E,-. 



Points in the Asatomy of Sxakes.— In a recent lecture 

 upon "Snakes," by Prof. Huxley, at the London Institute, 

 the speaker called attention to .some peculiar arrangements in 

 anatomical construction and jaw-bones, in illustration of the 

 fact that the snake cannot be i)r(i]K!rly said to swallow its 

 food, but seizes hold of it, gradually working it down its 

 throat at its leism'e. For this purpose a fidly developed and 

 effective saliva aparatus is required. The poison hag of the 

 venomous snakes is nothing but a modification of the saUvary 

 glands of the harmless reptiles. There arc instances in which 

 they are almost identical. Another instance of the close 

 relationship was shown in the fact that the sharp channel 

 needle by which the poison is convcyoil is nothing more than 

 a development of the tooth which dangerous reptiles possess 

 in common with harmless ones. The I'act Ihiit the salivary 

 gland was the poison receptacle of venomous snakes and ani- 

 mals affected with rabies appeared to Prof. Huxley to point 

 out the direction wherein lies the solution of the problem of 

 snake poisoning and a possible antidote against it. 



Some Habits or the Se.^i.. — The following extract, takpn 

 from one of the letters ijf the New- York JlerabVx Arctic Cor- 

 respondent. con\ cys .some novel iuforniation in regard to the 

 habits of the seal : 



The female seal in the early spring builds a habitation in 

 the snow over and around the hole through which It breathes, 

 and here its young are boni and live mitil old enough to ven- 

 ture into the water. This house is called an oglow, tmd is 

 constructed verj' much like an Esiinnnan iglno in .shape, 

 though it is more irregul!!'- nr!l !i > ■ ■M'lriricarions that extend 

 tonei.ghboringholes. "T'i : ' ' : found wilh the as- 



sistance of dogis, as previi ii ! - l. it I'y prodding with 



a seal spear the hillocks <jf -;. I" . i":.ii l 'ik like seals' houses. 

 When a hunter finds an oglow during the season that the 

 younc: seals are living in them he immediately breaks in the 

 roof with his heel in" search of the little one. which usually 

 remains very quiet even when the hunter looks down aud 

 pokes his head through the broken roof. The young seal is 

 then easily killed mth the spear and dragged out on the ice, 

 and the himtcr waits for the mother, ^^'l^ich is never absent a 

 long time from its baby. The young seal is generall)- cut 

 open as soon as killed aud its little stomach exainimd lor 

 milk, which is esteemed .<i great luxiu-yby the f>.|uimaux. 

 When voiing the seal is coverctl -vviih a long whitt^ li.-iir, \'ery 

 much like coarse wool. This skin wasat one time very much 

 used in making clothing, but lately has not been much in 

 voeueamongtho natives, thougli occasionally coals and trousers 

 of Ibis material mav still be seen. The whalers esteem it 

 highly as :m uiljitnct to woolen clothing, as being sulllcientl)' 

 warui for those who are living on shipboard, yet not _ so 

 warm as reindeer clothing, wrhich becomes oppressive in high 

 temperature. 



Food of Snakes.— S?:ni7 Sinfi, N. T.. Sept. 24.— One thiy 

 this summer I wasfisliing on a brid.ge that crosses ihe (':■ 

 River near SinL^ Sins:, and I notic(-d a commotion in ihij ■■ 

 where 1 had ' some [lerch on a strmg to keep in. 

 fresh, when I saw a larire water snake trying to get one ol llie 

 fish off the string, and after watching his efforts for some 

 time I killed the snake with my fish pole. Pro. 



Old PrsmNO Items.— In looking over the Hies of the 

 Mepvblican Wntchman, of Greenport, Long Island, for some 

 special information, we came across the following items which 

 we thought worthy of putting upon record. The dates iu 

 pareuthe'^sis sire those of the issue of the paper in which they 

 were f oiuid : 



(May '20, 187.5). Large quantities of menhaden have been 

 caught by the fishei-men during the past week, some of the 

 gangs taking 100,000 or over in a single day. Although of 

 fair^quality the flsh do not yield as much oil as their appear- 

 ance would seem to indicate. 



(May 39, 1875).— The Stonington Mirror says that during 

 the past month over 100 tons of flsh were shipped to New 

 Fork each ^veek from Noank. 



(Oct. 9, 1875,), — Mr. Blackford .says the ai^iount of fish used 

 in the cities of New "i'"^-'- -'"■' t--,,,, .i. i,-,, i„ r.nf dav snv on 



Friday,isasfoUows: II: „■ :: l: 



bluefisli, 15,000 : striped ■ ' ■ . i()hi) 



halibut. 100,000; Spanisli :■ ' --: ; -in,,., :itpd sal- 

 mon. 9^500 ; misc(^lhuiPous fish, f.u.li as butterfish, weaklish, 

 etc., '25, 000 lbs. Luhsters, 100,000 lbs.; 200 gallons of scallops ; 

 200'do>''en soft crabs; 1,000 lbs. green turtles for soups and 

 steaks. 



(A>p. 27, 1875).— According to the Eiprm, Capt. Benj. C. 

 Payne, of North Haven, Sag Harbor, on 50 acres this year 

 grew 5,100 bushels of com, worth 40 cents per bushel, 82,040, 

 and 100 tons of stalks, worth, at $8 per ton, S800— ui all 

 $3,840, manured with fish scrap. Capt. Payne imd his son 

 iSilbert have also carried on the rendering of oU from meuha,- 



den, having tried out 7,500,000 fish, from which they m 

 27.520 gallons of oil. sold at 40 cents per -al'^h f-i *in,i!:ii 



and have on hand 800 tons of scrap, vah, ■''■ 



(J/f«/ 13, 1876).-On Monday porji .i 

 vast body of menhaden into Matlituck : 



ing Co., "of which Andrew Cox is caplaii,. n 



their seuie lone and a quarter miles lnm:i. and 

 drew to land not less than 800,000 of the fish. - 

 were verv fat. Farmers have since been Imsv ' 

 away to place on their fields as mamirc. This is dn- 

 catcii ever made at that place, but at other ponits on 1: 

 per bay hauls of 1.000,000 or more have been made in '. 

 years. 



'' Speaking Fish on Spawning Beds — S-ocheitl^r.Sept 



A great deal of damage is done by the farmers and 1 



living in the vicinity of our ltd ' 



while they are on their spawiii 



the .shallo'w water and on the ^i; 



are easily seen aud speared at ni^ .1 . ' i' ' ' ■ ; 



Large numbers of salmon, troui, lii:h 1- n-,-- n : 1 



killed at a time, above all oil,, r-. / ,. d,; ■- : 1 ' , 



alone. The last thing a farmer woidil iiiinl. ;il !■ •- 



be to kill his sittnig hens. The result of such ;>. ' 

 be no chickens, and a coutmiiatiou of such a i"- 

 soon exterminate them. This rule applies to li: 

 fowls. The salmon, trout and wdiite fish east Iheu 

 during October and Novi.'niber, the black ba.ss from J, 

 until July 10; Oswego bass from March 10 imtil June 

 the wall-eyed or yellow pike from April 10 until 

 20th. It seems to iue that all fishermen cannot fail (o ;- 

 great importance of protecting their fish during (he tinit 

 are on their spawning beds,' aud that it is for the intrr. 

 one and all to do what they can to accompUsh this end. 



Setu Gui:: 



Failuee of thk Otsteb-.si'at in Holland. — A .: 

 pondent in Holland writv.s n i- ■ I v= ; •• x Uiivo br- , 

 an expedition trip to II1. 'I 1 iccountof then 



and winkel.s. 1 was oiil\ d . ■ ■ I 1 here, and if I n- 



assurance what fishing in iincoiiii; iiuje can do I had fouun 

 tiere. In till that time, by careful looking over all thiiti 

 net brought up. I have only been able to find two spiii!» 

 this year, and tlus is an excellent year for spat, AVhon :- 1 

 ever will be restored we can commence by closing the ti^; 

 entirely for at least five years." 



Blaot: Bass m Pbcoxio Bivei;. — At the recpni f-i- 

 SutTolk County fN. Y.) Agficnllural S<iciety, \r 

 Head, Long Island, Mr. H D. McGoveni cxhdMi 

 man carp, .gold fish and black bass, and at tin 

 exhibition he very generously donated the has- 

 by placing them iii the Peconic River, wheit 

 known. The carp attracted much attention, m 

 left there lo stuck .some ponds. 



C\rir IN Coi.ocADo. — The carp which were distribiitBil'U 

 Colorado last Doci-mtier fu'e reported as doing well, andlTtj 

 W. B. Slsly, one of the Flsh Commission, lias just finisln-i: 

 distributioii of the second lot of mirror carp which wfti 

 eeived from Prof. Baird. 



A I 1; :, 1 1 ;. ■: r i.TrnE.— The Belfast iMe.) Journal .saysj 



l;ii i: ■ !■ -i nlewives are passing down the fisbTJ 



p, ,,,:.-, 01 id-:'.' from the spaw-n put in Srli;igo La" 

 om Jisli cuuiudssiouers llie pa.st .season." 



1*3 ^nd Mmr 



— Address all coimmmioailonn to "Forest and Stn- 

 Ushing Company, New For A'." 



FISH i:V SEASOIV IN OeTOBER. 



PRBSH WATER. 



«l Bass, Hoc 

 C IJasa, llorc 



IS trknhr. 

 lobilior. 

 ■y latun. 



ii:x' Lucius. 



s ,'hr. 



I Black Bass, Mkrcij>lin»».W 



BrKClOS). I 



EoPk Bass, AinbUijilibtt, I 



sppctes). 

 War-iuom.U, CUamhrylHum-^ 

 Crappie, Pontitxjifi niijcomacivr 

 Bachelor, I'mxtxijn annulanif 

 OllUt}, siemvtiUn corpvfHtU. 



miis. 



SALT TTATEB. 



Sea .Bas.s, Centrofrutifi atraifus. 

 SUeepslieaa, Arcliosanj^ui probalu- 



Pr.>r:ii':. swuuCuuruii argyrops. 



i« I'inealus. 



o , LiortomUK tib- 



carbonariue. 



Trr 



ci'Uilt^l 



CATFisn Take thj! Fly.- We arc informed iu a prii?' 

 letter from Mr. J. H. Dinkins, Fish Commissioner of Te.* 

 that a pai-ty of .gentlemen wdiilc casting the tly in the Pari» 

 ales, a stream tributary to the C..lorado, caught two C^>' 

 This, we think, is the first recorded instiuice of any offfti' 

 family takiug a fly. Now if it had been a mouse which '' 

 took we could have had a chance to show, by a short Irs 

 reasoidng, how the relations between cats aud mi 

 have devclopeda similar atnte of affairs between th 

 the wattr cats, but as the facts will not permit it 

 it may then be iu order to con.sider if cats, 

 toric.evet did catch flics. A caivtiil cxau 

 scriplitais on Cleopatra's needle, m..w in Acw \nrU 

 reveal anjtldng which might be twisted into a eon 

 of this proposition. ■- 



Silver Ba.-!?.— We have received a letter ft'om Ji 1 

 \\"altel. Secretary of the Societe d'Acclimation, P | 



that aliom flu-ee years ago the Societe received - ' ' 

 Begg, of Sag.gsboro, near Orilla, Ontario (Canada), a iot u-. 1 

 young fishes which he culled" silver bass" and said weregiP'l 

 fish, grew rapidly to a large size, etc. The fl.sh wfic W^ 

 about three inches long and are about twice tliat leii.?lli "^W' 

 but as they have lieen kept in a small tank it is proliabls IW' 

 they havenot reached their full size. Mr. Wattel write tJ.- 

 to know what they may be, but we are not familial '.rith tfli 

 mtme, which, Prof. Jordan teUs vs, is applied bota to w' 



„r ,,re.li- 

 (,f (la: la 

 .ili, fiiilf '■ 

 -,n in-iiialidt 



,{i,*ni'd 



