low-water stream he speaks of. First, the water was too 
warm and the lish were sick t second, they could easily 
detect the approach and movements of the angler and 
were shy; third, they were probably as well satisfied as their 
appetite required by the wash of food into the holes 
where they were lying ; possibly they were dazed by the 
glare of the sun if they were exposed without shade. 
As to the contents of their stomachs there is nothing 
strange, for trout are almost omnivorous. 
We have long sympathized with the anglers in the 
Vicinity of the Muscanetcong, who have seen their favor¬ 
ite stream drained of its trout. As it is a natural stream 
it would be advisable to stock it with both mature fish 
and fry. It would be worth while to go to considerable 
expense to do so, and to keep the river close for two 
years. Supervisors have power to manage this, and res¬ 
idents will assist them. When the fish aro put in, care 
should he taken to see that they have bean made accus¬ 
tomed to the temperature of the water. Many fish die 
from a too sudden change from one degree of tempera¬ 
ture to another. Few breeders are sufficiently informed 
©n this point. Millions of fish, both adults and fry, are 
lost annually from thiB cause. 
Large Two Years Trout.— Blacksburg, T’a., Aug. 
15th .—In March 1877 I placed several thousand trout in a 
small stream near tins place in which werenoftsh. About 
three weeks ago a trout was caught there which weighed 
one pound. Another has been recently picked up by a 
gentleman where it had been left in a small pool near an 
intermittent spring which was fifteen inches long. This 
appears to he unusual growth for such circumstances. 
M. 6. Ellzey. 
nittral IQuitonj. 
Migratory Quail. —Advices from Messina, under date 
Of June 16th, speak of a rumor that no license will be 
issued for catching migratory quail for export. The 
sportsmen of Messina are said to have applied to the Gov¬ 
ernment to stop the netting of the quail, which netting, 
of course, interferes somewhat with the shooting of the 
native sportsmen. Later advices (July 17th) run : “Have 
not as yet heard that any decision has been arrived at as 
regards withdrawing the licenses for catohing the birds, 
and hope it was merely a rumor.” 
The decision of this question will be of interest not to 
Americans alone, but in England also, to which country 
100,000 birds were sent from Messina last spring. Tlio 
rapid increase in the demand for the birds for export 
has excited the jealousy of those sportsmen in Messina 
who look forward to the annual arrival of the quail for 
the most exhilarating sport of the year, and who conse¬ 
quently view the quail-catcher and his nets in much the 
same light that the partridge-trapper is looked at kore. 
It is to be hoped that no repressive measures will be put 
in force in that little island until a good sfcockof the lively 
migrators shall have been secured to replenish the de¬ 
pleted game preserves of this country. 
Migratory Quail— Eew Haven, Aug. IQth—Editor 
Forest, and Stream:—It the note of the migratory quail 
is as follows, I have found a flock near this city. Three 
loud, clear notes, with a metallic sound ; the first two Of 
equal strength and louder than the third; uttered quickly, 
and repeated three or four times, thus “Whet-whet- 
whet, whet-whet-whet, whet-whet-whet." 
This morning, while passing along the road to the light¬ 
house, about half a mile from the city, I heard the 
above notes coming from two or three birds in a patch of 
sowed com by the side of the road. They were uttered 
very energetically, and in them you could easily recog¬ 
nize the timbre of the. common quail's voice. I hoard the 
birds running around among the leaves, but could not 
catcli sight of a single one, Judging from the. sound, 
there were anywhere from half a dozen to twenty of 
them, 
I walked through the piece two or three times, hoping 
to raise the birds and have a look at them, but they skur- 
ried along under the bent leaves and skulked too closely. 
The man who owns the com had much better success in 
driving me out of the piece than I did the birds ; and, 
although I had to leave, I shall keep one eye on this lo¬ 
cality' for some time and report observations. 
Mark West. 
Our correspondent is correct; the notes were undoubt¬ 
edly those of the migratory quail. 
Snake and Toad.—R. H. Dixon, of Canandaigua, New 
York, sends us the drawing of a toad which has been 
partly swallowed by a snake, the head and fore feet pro¬ 
truding from the snake’s mouth and the hind legs from a 
fissure in the snake’s throat. Both toad and snake were 
found dead. The question as to what was. the immediate 
cause of the double fatality, may readily be answered as 
to the snake, by stating that he was not able to open his 
mouth sufficiently wide, while the toad kicked through 
the skin of the throat when it was very much distended, 
and consequently thin. 
A Mantis Shrimp. —Mr. Oscar B. Smith, who is spend¬ 
ing the summer at Whitestone, brought us the other day 
a very fine specimen of the Squill a mantis, family Squil- 
ljd®,, taken near that place. Of course, as may be in¬ 
ferred from its name, it.bears some resemblance to a 
shrimp, mors, perhaps, than to a lobster. Th« Squifiid® 
FOKRkST and stream, 
are usually found about six miles from shore, where 
the ocean bed is Bandy. Tiiey are voracious, 
active and strike freely with their formidable claws, 
which,'with their sharp eyes and threatening attitude, give 
the creatures the character of diminutive monsters—if 
there be such things. 
HABITS OF THE BEAVER. 
Cape Rouge, P. Q. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
My last number of the paper came duly to hand. And 
here let me tell you that a friend of mine iB canvassing 
the city for subscriptions to the Forest and Stream, and 
the last time I saw him, two days ago, his success was 
gratifying to me, as I like to see my favorite paper well 
upheld, both in a literary and money point of view, And 
some of the items interested me much. Especially the - 
Natural History department, in which I see you mention 
the habits, etc., of the beaver. There was a time when 
these interesting little animals must have been very 
plentiful throughout the whole Province of Ontario, hut 
now they are only to be met with in the back woods, and 
there only in small numbers. The last that I know of to 
be found in the vicinitv of civilization are, or were four 
years ago, to be found upon a small stream called the 
Black Creek, running through a thick swamp iu the 
county of Perth in the center of the western peninsula. 
The brushwood and undergrowth, for half a mile on each 
side of this creek was so thick that it was impossible to 
get to the water, except at one or two points, and these 
points were runways made by the beaver themselves to 
go to the dams. Of these latter thero were no less than a 
dozen, some of them small and not very strong, but two 
or three had stood for yearn, and what with the growth of 
the sticks used in making them and the constant addit ions 
made year after year, they had come to such a thickness 
and strength that a gang of men with all the necessary 
tools would scarcely clear one of them in a month. The 
largest of the dams was about three hundred feet long, 
ten or twelve feet high, and over fourteen feet thick, and 
it backed up the water of a large creek for nearly three 
miles. The raising of the water by these dams caused it, 
of course to flow off over the sides of the banks and find 
its way to the stream by other channels, but these the 
beaver followed and confined by other dams, and thus 
they kept up, until the marsh they formed was impassible 
in anything but a boat, and that only in the main stream. 
Hero they lived in comparative security, as it was almost 
impossible to catch them, owing to the thick brush, the 
treacherous nature of the footing, and the depth of the 
water. Eveiy fall one or two passed iu their checks, but 
these were nearly always shot by the Indians, as they 
were seldom or never molested by the white men. Their 
dome-like houses were plentiful enough, and are yet, al¬ 
though now deserted by their busy occupants. They 
were well built and strong, as I can testify, for did notl 
and Wo. Ramsey, of happy memory, try our hand at 
Opening one, anil gave it up in disgust sometime after¬ 
ward. Frequently, also, have we pulled down some of 
tile smaller dams in the evening, to find them all sound 
and strong again at daylight the next morning, but never 
on any occasion have" I been able to find the animal at 
work," although I have seen them floating motionless on 
top of the water, after the manner of the muskrat. The 
smallest motion was sufficient to put an end to this 
amusement, and in a second a loud blow of the tail upon 
the water and a few ripples showed that the animal had 
left for parts unknown. As a sample of what they will 
cut. 1 can show any one a tree, the stump of which ts yet 
standing, and which is the largest I have ever seen them 
try. It is a sound, hard maple, with two trunks from the 
one root. One trunk is completely cut off, and the other 
partially so, and neither of these trees are less than eigh¬ 
teen inches in diameter, and one is much larger than the 
other. It stands at some distance from, the water, and 
when felled would have been troublesome to get there, 
hut I suppose if not disturbed, the animals would have 
found some means of overcoming the difficulty. I once 
opened a house and managed to find a litter of young, 
which we took home, but with all my trouble and atten¬ 
tion they died one by one, and so I lost an opportunity of 
being able to sfudy then- habits in con fin ement. One 
thing I do know, they are exceedingly clean and neat, 
and during the month Fiat I managed to keep one of 
them, his occupation, when not eating or sleeping, seemed 
to be cleaning himself, which they do somewhat after the 
manner of a rabbit, but more leisurly and with greater 
care. They seemed to eat anything in the vegetable 
line, but their favorite dainty was a piece of fresh birch 
or sassafras root, and for this they would tug and squab¬ 
ble among themselves until all had a share. Dam build¬ 
ing seems to be an instinct with them, as they would take 
the small pieces of stove wood and any little articles they 
could carry, and put them across a corner of the room or 
under a chair, after the manner of the dam ; and if sup¬ 
plied with small branches they first eat the bark, if ac¬ 
ceptable, and then cut the wood into pieces, and piled 
them up with tolerable regularity till they had a small 
wall between them and the rest of the room. After tins 
they would curl up inside and sleep in a bunch together, 
like" young kittens or puppies. They were very amusing, 
and great were the lamentations of the smaller members 
of the household when the last one went to the happy 
hunting grounds. In conclusion, I would say that I do 
not know if they breed more than once in a Beason; if not 
the ones I got must have been caught when quite old, but 
very small, as they were got late in the season, and were 
then only the size of a good muskrat. The fur was a 
grayish brown, as they bad nut commenced to get on the 
winter ooat, which in this climate is a very rich dark 
brown, almost black in the centre of the back. 
An. Bauble. 
Is Skunk Bite Poisonous ?—Editor Forest a nd Stream . 
—I have noticed in your interesting columns, at different 
cimes, various opinions in regard to the bite of the 
skunk. Some assert it is dangerous out West, and others 
that down East it is harmless. I peyer heard of but 
sue person, and.that u woman, who died from the bite. 
She had a pet skunk, audit bit her in the thumb (served 
her right), 1 have also read of person* being bitten, or 
stung by the tongue, by snakes Supposed to be harmless. 
A man died from the point of the tongue of a little green 
snake entering the ball of his thumb. I knew a woman 
who died from a rat bite on the arm, and a boy is said to 
have died from a wound made by an arrow another lx>y 
had just UBed to kill a garter shake. Do not all these 
examples (supposing them to lie the truth) substantiate 
the fact that it is rather the condition of the blood of the 
person [and the temper of the animal— Ed.] injured at 
the time which renders the bites of harmless animals and 
reptiles poisonous, than any poisonous quality of the sali v a, 
etc. ? 
I have known men who nearly died from a pin scratch, 
simply because their system was in a most unhealthy con¬ 
dition, ' R. W. H. 
SNAKES FROM HORSE-HAIRS. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
It has long been a popular belief that horse-hairs, when 
placed under favorable circumstances, would veritably 
transform into snakes, but the results of scieutifio inves¬ 
tigation have long since taught us differently. The Got- 
diacea (hair-worms) are of distinct sexes, and are devel¬ 
oped from true ova deposited by the female in long chains 
either in water or some moist locality. After the young 
are hatched they work their way into the body of" some 
insect or animal, usually an orthopterous or coleopterous 
insect. There they live and grow by imbibing the juices 
of their host, and when the adult condition has been at - 
tained they pass out of the body of the insect, generally 
near or in some body of water, for the purpose of breed- 
xhe male differs quite materially in structure from the 
female, in having the posterior extremity of the body 
slightly cleft. Moreover, the females are usually paler 
in color. 
These Gordiacca during a dry season frequently become 
dried, stiff, and “ horny,' and are easily broken ; never¬ 
theless the vitality is retained (i. e., if the creature is un¬ 
injured), and if immersed in water will imbibe it and 
shortly.become active. 
During the past spring I had the opportunity of wit¬ 
nessing a Gordius working its way out of the body of an 
insect ( HarpaKs compar) ; was making its exit with the 
anterior extremity foremost in one direction, and Fie in- 
sect being alive was struggling in the opposite direction; 
all this occurring in a small pond. 
A few years ago I also witnessed a Gordius making its 
exit from the body of a Menopoma, near the vertebral 
column. Its manner of coming out varied from the above 
in that its body appeared to form a loop, so that the mid¬ 
dle of it was first to appear. Sometimes in spring the 
hair-worms are found in great numbers of both sexes 
twisted and knotted together, and if separated will be¬ 
come entwined again. An instance of this was exiiibited 
by Professor Leidy at the Academy of Natural Sciences 
a few months ago. H. E. Evarts, M.D. ' 
Philadelphia, Aug. 22 d. 
Shad in the Columbia — Astoria, Oregon, Aug, ~th 
1870.—I have read with interest the conimimication of 
'William Lang, of Portland, Oregon, in regard to the 
presence of shad in the Columbia River. I have seen two 
of the three fishes supposed to he shad, have measured 
and observed them carefully and have eaten one. The 
three fishes were caught, not “drifting,” but iu a sta¬ 
tionary fish-trap in Baker’s Bay On the W. T. side of tlm 
river by fisherman in tile emp'lov of J, Williams & Co 
Tanzy Point Cannery, near Fort Stevens, Oregon. The 
trap is just inside the bur in brackish water. The flint 
one caught measured 15 inches long. The two others 
caught, the same weight, a week later than the first, may 
be described as follows: Length, 11 inches; depth A 
inches; thickness, one-half inch ; number, shape and 
position of fins, shape of tail and outline of fish precisely 
like picture of shad in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary • 
color nearly a uniform silver, slightly darker on tiie back 
with a single row of dark spots, very faint, along the me¬ 
dian line, the largest in the middle, the size of a B B 
shot, The belly was anned with a sharp sickle-edge, ex¬ 
tending from head to tail. The settles were rather large 
for a fish of that size, being, I should judge, about one- 
fourth of an inch in diameter, with a few along the belly 
most numerous towards the lies®) of a larger size, nearly 
a half-inoh in diameter. On opening they were found 
destitute of spawn. The flesh when, cooked was about 
the color of a fresh herring, with no tendency to break 
into flakes, like a fresli cod, for instance; was full of 
bones of an almost invisible fineness, and of no pro¬ 
nounced flavor of any kind and would be best described 
by the word insipid. It is claimed by those who sub¬ 
scribe to the shad theory that these are the young of that 
fish ; that being lost outside, the mouth of the Sacremento 
they drifted north in the ocean current that runs along 
the coast until meeting the waters of the Columbia they 
turned in, according to the instinct of that class of fishes. 
By others it is claimed that they are only a variety of salt 
water fish that has not been caught before for the reason 
that salmon fishing has never been carried on so near and 
in salt water before. Having never seen a shad myself I 
do not feel competent to express on opinion on the sub- 
ject; but if Fr ank Forrester’s judgment can be depended 
on, that “ the shad is the most delicate of existing fishes,” 
we shall have to conclude that this is some other and 
widely different variety. 1 will say that some time ago I 
sent a description of these fishes to Mr. Webber, Commis¬ 
sioner of Fisheries for NewHampshire, but have have not 
yet heard from him. s. 
The fish are most undoubtedly not the true sha<i(Afi>.?« 
aapadissima),—ED. F. and S. 
Scotosh-Amerioan Athletic Club.—Y en’ York, Aug 
frith .—Handicap games :— 100 yards dash ; First heat wor 
by J. 8. Voorhees, scratch. 12s.; second heat, W. Childs 
8 yards, 11s.; third heat, G. D. Smith, 7 yards, 114s. 
fourth heat, T. R, Bourne, 5 yards, Ha.; final heat, ldte 
Half mile run; seventeen competitors; J, Randall, 2( 
yards, 2m. 9^s. Two-mile walk ; sixteen competitors ; J 
P. Fox, P. A. G., lm. 80s., won in 17m. 8$s, 
—Read Henry C. Squires’ advertisement,—[Acfr, 
