Maboh 4, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



85 



REMINISCENCES OF MY PET CROW. 



Cooper'::, Puixt, Feb. -'el. 



mil :— 



Having read many very interesting accounts of tha 

 sagacity of birds in the Forest and Stream, I am induced 

 to present the falipwfng recollections: Ono afternoon 

 while pushing the marsh 1 noticed what I at first sup- 

 ie a king rail. As 1 approached the bird I dis- 

 covered it to be a young crow crippled in ita port wing. 

 I took it in the skiff and soon forgot the circumstance. 

 On my return to the boat-house, however, the crow re- 

 minded me I had left something, I took it home, and 

 with careful nursing he soon became strong and fat, and 

 correspondingly saupy. I was at the time in the whole- 

 i fll'y I 1 1 siness at Front and Market streets. Phila- 



delphia, and lived just over the water at Cooper's Point. 

 I invariahlv crossed the river in asraalt sailing skiff (barr- 

 jatig stormy weather) in the morning, returning in the 

 evening. ' ' .Tim " always accompanied me, and his favor- 

 ite roo-t was either at the masthead or on my weather 

 A long sand-bar running north from. Smith's 

 : : ' tie eastern and western channels, termi- 



nating in a bulkhead from tho Jersey shore, leaving a 

 *e between, difficult to navigate. Jim 

 3 down tine, and always gave orders to 

 i i pure crow language 'when we were ap- 

 j the bottom, On one occasion he was resting 

 on my shoulder and watching nie intently. The tide 

 being l"\v and the wind ahead I was obliged to make 

 Borl tacks and maneuver skillfully-. Presently a "header" 

 le kUT ashore on her center-board. In an instant 

 [struck me iu the face with both wings, and with 

 ttt shrill derisive cry ilew away, evidently disgusted. 

 BR b longtime lie refused to go with mo on the water, 

 Rial on afternoon I was racing with a larger boat, and 

 i isse I her Jim settled down on my shoulder 



ted approval. Wo were friends after that. 

 dlowi id mi" to let the sail shake along the luff 

 for an instant without making a fuss about it. and 

 ondmslood when it was time to jibe over, and always 

 R H know it. His great delight was to see the skiff 

 driven through the heavy seas, though half drowned by 

 . IIo never seemed quite to understand the 

 utility Of reef nettles. When a flock of crows would 

 pi»ss over us Jim generally left me for a few minutes to 

 Jfifiulge in the innocent amusement of makiug them 

 Le was the fleetest bird lever saw and the most 

 paceful. He was game all the tune, but one day a 

 kingbird chased bun into the skiff. He tried hard to 

 make me believe he was unwell, but somehow I never 

 understood it that way. He never entirely got over the 

 mortification, and it was his last battle. He was ex- 

 tremely fond of me, and as I write he seems to look at 

 me approvingly from his perch, though his eyes are 

 Klassy now. I was always under the impression that 

 Jim "was to the (Jersey) man or born, not so much from 

 his superior intelligence as the peculiar sand-bar color of 

 his wing tips. Delaware passed a law giving five cents 

 per head for every crow killed, I presume on account of 

 his color. Ashe could not well beputin the stocks or 

 logged, the.ne.xt best thing was to cut his head off . The 

 crows naturally sought protection in early morning 

 flights across tho water to Jersey, where they fed sump- 

 tuously all day, returning home in the late twilight to 

 roost. Jim bad great powers of discrimination, and 

 could i II a foreign crow at long range, and on such he 

 made terrific slaughter, but the State never "divied." 

 As we have champions for almost everything in these 

 latter days, I would like some time to give you an ac- 

 count of our champion "boat upsetter." A large and 

 handsomely devised silver modal attests his prowess. 



R. G. W. 



JTotes from Correspondents.— Our friend, C. M, O, 

 i ' ity, to whose capture of a king rail with a frog 

 (frits throat we referred recently, has sent us a note in 

 regard to the. matter giving fuller particulars of the cir- 

 cumstances. He says : The frog was about four inches 

 long when extended, and about one inch in breadth, and 

 Rsalivewhen drawn from the bird after it was shot. 

 About, one-half an inch of the feet protruded from the 



bill of the rail 1. F. le N, notifies us of the shooting 



in the "Pines," of New Jersey, of a ruffled grouse of a 

 ■ den color, and asks if it is not a ram avis. We 

 presume that it is a blanched specimen, or partial albino, 

 though normally colored birds of this species are some- 

 times very pale. 



r'tuiuMixt; op Rufeed Grouse at Night in Winter, 

 am an ardent admirer of tho Forest and Stream, 

 teen recently re-reading the back numbers, in 

 wdiicji .1 have noticed many articles on the ruffed grouse, 

 but have not seen anything like the following ; While en- 

 ii 'Negro Mountain. Somerset Co., Pa., Doc. 1st, 

 heard ruffed grouse drumming at the hour of 

 nndniglit, The moon was sinning brightly ; tho ground 

 covered with three inches of snow, and mercury about 

 above zero. This is something very unusual, is 



It I 101. r Q..H, 



rten drum during the night in spring and fall, 

 but we have never known of their doing so in the winter. 

 ■ on cite is an exceptional one, we imagine. 



BIRDS AND MAMMALS iNTi: ■■ :<n into NEW 



ZEALAND. 



WEhaveboon favored by tin w big i pitome Ofa 

 paper on the above subject bv II. M ! . i I ■ ■ i ■ . 



Sec. Wanganui Acclimatisation & icioi . aland 



m is read (Ji nuary 15th) at tho Linns an S i ifetj of 

 London. 



The author refers to Dr. Puller's volume on the New 

 Zealand. Bird-fauna as not written too soon, for the rapid 



Zealand quail {Cotivrwkc Novce Zealandvx), bell bird (4n- 



noi without its difficulties. Natr o- to be con- 



tended with : for example, the New /.-aland owl (Ninow), 

 it is asserted, wages destructive warfare against the 

 smaller finches and songbird---. < ; :"■' la-noed sparrows 

 liberated on the Island of Kawau by SirGeorge Grey,few 

 escaped the ravages of this little owl; and on the Hon. 

 Mr. Stafford's grounds at Wellington, a number of insec- 

 tivorous burls being let-loose, these soon attracted a host 

 Of owls to the serious discomfiture of the former. 



Notwithstanding, finches of various sorts have suc- 

 ceeded, and undoubtedly increased ttentthat 

 there is now no danger of their extermination. The sky- 

 lark may even be found enlivening some districts with 

 its cheerful, varied music. Of other species acclimatized 

 there may be mentioned starling, thrush, blackbird, chaf- 

 finch, goldfinch, yetlowhaminor, ho use. and hed 

 row, Indian mynah, ringdove, golden plover, jay, Aus- 

 tralian and Ta.sina.nian magpies, Muscovy duck, black and 

 white swans, Californian, Australian, and Madagascar 

 quails, partridges, pintails, grouse, and pheasants of 

 various sorts, etc. 



The pheasant now abounds, and even shooting licenses, 

 are granted. Fifteen birds were turned out in the Wan- 

 ganui district in 18130. These hare now spread all over 

 the province, even far inland. Two friends of the author 

 lately bagged seventy in one day, and this by plain, open 

 shooting. 



Tile ( una, pheasant (? F, torqucttus) is most numerous, 

 although the common sort (/'. eolehicur,) is increasing. 



is i singular circumstance that on the occurrence of 

 a tremor of the ground from an earthquake the cock 

 pheasants set up a continuous crow either of fear or de- 

 fiance. 



In the North Island the partridge (Perdi.c cinerea) 

 thrives less vigorously than in the South Island ; Canter- 

 bury especially, with its cereal crops, affording perhaps a 

 better feeding and breeding ground. The red-legged par- 

 tridge (Caccobts nifa) is plentiful in the Rnugitikei dis- 

 trict of the Wellington province, but it appears to remain 

 where first located. Blackbirds and thrushes, and the 

 Indian mynah {Aeridriiheres gingiflianvs) are seen in 

 largo numbers in the Nelson province. 



Of mammals imported bv the aocietnes the following 

 are the chief :— The red, the fallow, the Sambur, and the 

 California deer, Angora goat. hare, kangaroos, wallabies, 

 and oppossums. A consignment of thirty-three fallow 

 deer was lately made by Mr. Larkworthy, and of twenty- 

 eight which arrived in safii. aedoutiu 

 the Waikato, and ton in the. Wanganui district. On the 

 hills in the neighborhood of Nelson large herds of wild 

 red deer are reported to have been seen, ['allow deer set 

 free near Richmond have increased. Tho author here 

 appeals to the proprietors of English deer-parks for some 

 of those fawns annually killed when it is desirous to pro- 

 cure fat doe venison. 



Hares have multiplied almost too rapidly, ami one 

 peculiar feature is that the female in Now Zealand pro- 

 nuces six or seven instead of two or three at a birth. 

 Already the southern farmers complain of the I ' 

 stmciive. qualities, and coursing clubs meet bi-weekly 

 during the season. t Thus from a former paucity of lnam- 

 maliah life in New Zealand there begets a tendency to the 

 contrary, and possibly ere long its fauna will have ap- 

 proximated to that of the Mother Country. — J. MURlE, in 

 Land and Water. 



♦ 



The Hearing of Fish.— We printed, some time ago, 

 some observations on the voice of fish, contributed to 

 Nature by an East Indian correspondent, which seemed 

 to indicate that these animals were capable at least of 

 producing vocal sounds; and recently Mr, Hugh Owen 

 has sent to Land and Water some interesting observa- 

 tions and conclusions of his, which we are sure will be 

 perused with pleasure by most of our readers. He says : — 



It is exceedingly doubtful if fish possess the faculty of 



hearing in the ordinary so; r tin I c a, Mr. Buekkuid 



has accurately described the natvl ' ensation they 



do possess, as vibration. There cannot be a. doubt that 

 Ssh have no possible conception i w inity, direc- 



tion, or distance of the vibratory disturbances they re- 

 ceive. A distant vibration disturbs a shoal of fish as 

 much as a near one ; and fish feeding ,.-. .1 atthe iail 

 will be alarmed and dispersed by lie- beat o, a -earn ves- 

 sel a mile off. All the sio.-i, .. d us: i bo fed at 

 the sound of abellor of a wfc sfcl< are fa il 

 Such sounds made in the air will nut communicate vibra- 

 tions to the lish beneath the surface of the water. They 

 assemble only because they see. a figure, and are accus- 

 tomed to be fed upon such occasion?. 



In trying some experiments on this point. I kept care- 

 fully out of sight, and simultaneous! v discharged tho two 

 barrels of a double gam on the bank of a pool, the surface 

 of which swarmed with small fry. Not one was alarmed. 

 I merely dropped the breech of the gun sharply on the 

 ground" and the whole surface of the water was in an in- 

 stant flashing' with the lish affrighted at the vibration 

 caused by tho shock. Any experiment on the hearing of 

 fishes, made in tho sight of them, must necessarily be 

 imperfect and illusory, On the other baud, the heavy 

 footstep of a fisherman on the bank will as effectually 



scare the tinny tribe a.s the sight of him would do. 



The perfect use of the auditory organs of the higher 

 mammals is just as much the effect of education as is 

 that of the tongue, the hand, or the eve. A voting child 

 1,,-i.H ,„, ; 4 . ... :■,,. I.,., i f the direction of any sound until 

 practice has insi ructed the brain. A puppy, on hearing a 

 call or a whistle, will look all round m perfect ignorance 

 whence the sound proceeds, When the education of the 

 organ is perfected by experience, the direction and esti- 



mate of distance is arrived at with uneoncious rapidity. 

 Wild animals are sensitiv „ s(j alive to the direction and 

 distance of sounds. The ;i || i not much disturbed, by a 

 distant, noise, and only \,-,],„\ slowly away in a contrary 

 direction. This power ..'%"*; mating distance and direc- 

 tion cannot be possessed YL Vyi, to which the element in 

 which they live only comma nieates a universal vibra- 

 tion, equal in all directions. 



The auditory apparatus of fish is curiously analogical, 

 to that of mammals in some particulars, especially in tho 

 ear-bones already mentioned. The otolith is probably 

 the analogue Of the incite of tho human ear, and in some 

 Bah the rudimentary evidences of tho other two — nialleUS 

 and stapes-^axe to be found. The principal divergence is 

 in ib absence of the eustachian tube, although the lata 

 Mr. Jonathan Couch, of Polporro, the eminent ichthyolo- 

 gist, thought he discovered a trace of its analogue in cer- 

 tain fishes which have an open tube attached by a nerv- 

 ous plexus to the chamber containing the otolith, and. in 

 communication with the surface of the air-bladder. This 

 discovery was, by consent, communicated by me to the 

 Naturalists' Society of Bristol, on Oct. 1, 1803, and if the 

 deductions are correctly drawn, the air-bladder is not 

 only the organ of buoyancy, but a huge tympanum also, 

 ■hich every vibration, however slight, is communi- 



. tin 



bject i 



Anv 



of the heari 

 at little moi 

 severance. 



in interesting one, and by no means ex- 

 ituralist, who will carefully investigate 

 iservations on the still obscure theories 

 lish, may obtain a European reputation 

 t than the exercise of industry and per- 



Winter Birds in New HAMPSHIRE. — Warner, N. H., 

 -Feu. 'id. — In this vicinity, I am sorry to say, there is 

 almost a dearth of the feathered tribe the present 

 winter. There were a few redpolls about in tho fall, but 

 I Isne neither seen or heard of any since ; no grosbeaks 

 at all. About the middle of December a fine flock of 

 snow buntings (P. nivalis) appeared, containing several 

 hundred individuals, and this is the first flock of mora 

 than a dozen or so I have seen for three years, they hav- 

 ing been very scarce here during that time. I wanted a 

 few and went for my B.-L. They had alighted on a flat 



piece of field up a little 

 or four near together ju 

 perhaps they would an 

 on going up to those wa 

 snow for some rods beyo 



nt for tliem ; saw threw 

 the top of tha rise ; thought 

 my purpose, and fired, but 

 rowhat surprised to see tho 

 id strewn with dead and 

 ■ounded birds. I secured fourteen, twelve of which 

 were in fine condition for mounting. Since that day I 

 have not seen, I think, more than a dozen individuals of 

 this species. There have been very few yellow birds (O. 

 tristis), or tree sparrows (5. monticola) about, and almost 

 none of late ; and not one pine finch or crossbill have I 

 seen this winter. Even the jays have absented them- 

 selves to a great extent, though I hear one occasionally, 

 but do not remember to have set eyes on one for two 

 months, or ncaa- that. Parties wdio were to procure mo 

 uens of this species do not bring them in ; they 

 rery plenty in the fall. This would seem to prove 

 a.itial migration of the species, not perhaps to a 

 er latitude, but certainly to a different locality. An 

 occasional visit from a pah of nuthatches (Sitta carolin- 

 ensisu and a tew days' sojourn of a pair of brown-creep- 

 ers {Certhia familiaris), complete, or very nearly so, my 

 observation on birds for the past two months. The famil- 

 iar chickadee I have not mentioned, as that little genius 

 we always have in our woods. A friend reports having 

 seen a white-throated sparrow about the 1st of January 

 and taken a fine male purple-finch (Varpodacus purpur- 

 eas). These are rare winter birds in this vicinity. Wo 

 now have a feeling that spring will in a few weeks be 

 with us, and our little friends will be on their return, to 

 cheer us with their glad songs and lovely presence. Al- 

 though the season has been quite mild here, I hope some 

 winter to report from a less blow-real (boreal) locality, 

 and where bird, boast and fish do more abound. 



M. C. H. 



speci 



When do Bears Have Young?— Menominee, Mich,, 

 Jan. Slsi.— A large black bear was killed a few miles 

 north of hero tho 18th of this month. The bear was 

 first seen the day before near the railroad, but no effort 

 was made to kill it. Its appearance on the 18th brought 

 out a few men, well armed, who had no trouble in killing 

 her. They found her above the average size and quite 

 fat, By looking around they soon found her den, and in 

 it three small cubs. They must have been but a very few 

 day's old, as they were small and eyes not yet open. They 

 were carefully handled and taken away to be brought up 

 on a. bottle. 



Is not this very early for bears to have young, and 

 is it not very uncommon for the old bears to be out 

 ,:il L : he cubs are so young? I have seen bears in the 

 latter parr of the month of May so small that two could 

 and did sleep comfortably in a common hat. Thus it 

 appears there must bo a great variation in the time of 

 bringing forth their young. M. 



The subject of the breeding of bears is one about 

 which comparatively little Is known. Wo think that they 

 tisuailj bring forth in January, but believe it to be unus- 

 ual to find tho mother about when the young are so 

 small. As bearing on this subject of the breeding of 

 bears, we quote the following note contributed to the 

 London Field by Richard J. Rowley. Ho says :— 



Iu April, 1873, I was driving from Pueblo into New 

 Mexico to see the Maxwell grant, i 

 dimdiam and some other Englishn 

 at, the Overland Hotel, in Trinidad, , 

 (called Picket Wire in Colorado), and found in the office, 

 stove, wrapped in flannel, a young cinnamon 

 bear, a week old, perfectly blind and fed on milk out of a 

 baliy's bottle. Some Indians had killed a female bear on 

 the Raton Mountain, and when opened found two young 

 ones just ready for birth ; one died, this was the "other. 

 I took the trouble afterwards to inquire what became of 

 it, and learned it had been sold to Ga.pt. Schuyler, to take 

 to Philadelphia. The cub had a good thick coat of black 

 hair. _ 



A Flying Spider. — Warner, N. H. — Iliad heard of 

 spiders flying, but until about twelve years ago had never 

 seen the thing done. Ono day in the fall of 1887, whil^ 



diased by Mr. Wad- 

 I stopped all night 

 . the Purgatoire 



