BMTEMBKB 29, 1881.]! 



FOEEST AJNO STREAM. 



167 



empty and, as in the case of the first nest, took a part of the 

 hraneh and nest. And now I would like to ask the Fobbst 

 akd 8tke4*i if it thinks both nests were made by the same 

 birds. J. L. D. 



[It i9 difficult to give a positive answer to such questions 

 as are asked by our correspondent, and we can only give an 

 opinion. We think it possible that a yellow and black-billed 

 cuckoa might breed together, but very improbable. We 

 Bhould think it much more likely that there may have been 

 some mistake in the identification of either the male or the 

 female bird. We think it very likely that the second hum- 

 ming-bird's nest was buih by the original pair of birds J 



LONGEVITY OF TURTLES. 



Wakkbnton, Va , Sept. 17, 1881. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



1 send you by this evening's express a " dry laud terrapin" 

 picked up by a friend betweeu this point and the Fauquier 

 White Sulphur Springs, where the "Yankees" camped on 

 the land of Mr. Kemper, in 1862. 



Examine the under side of this creeper, and you will find 

 the inscription— 



1883. 



YANKKB. 



Which fixes the age at nineteen at least. How old the " ter- 

 rapin" was when the aforesaid "Yankee" put his bottom 

 mark upon him is a matter of doubt. Evidently he 

 •was full grown. After inspection, will you transmit the 

 terrapin to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, where 

 he can be cared for and fill the full term of a respected old 

 age. R- H. D. 



[The question as to the aae to which the animals of this 

 group attain is an interesting one, and deserves more atten- 

 tion than has yet been given to it. Tbat tu:tles are unusu- 

 ally well protected from the attacks of enemies is certain. 

 We have been told, however, that raccoons eat the fresh- 

 water turtles, and have ourselves found the shells under cir- 

 cumstances which seemed to confirm this statement. A note 

 on this subject which has recently appeared in the American 

 Naturalist from the pen of Dr. A. 8. Packard, Jr., bears di- 

 rectly on this subject. He says : 



" So far as we are aware, no attempt has been made to ex- 

 plain the unutuul longevity of turtles, whose lives, as is well 

 known, span over a century. There appears to be no longer 

 lived animals than these beings of slow gait and slow manner 

 of life. The following facts may throw light on the cause of 

 their great age. In the first place, they are protected by 

 their solid shell from the a' tacks of snakes, fishes and birds': 

 young turtles, we are informed by Professor J. W. P. Jenks, 

 aie sometimes carried off by herons, but in adult life they 

 are probably rarely eaten by other animals. Has any one 

 ever found any empty turtle shells ? As some turtles lay 

 but two or three eggs a year, nature seems to have counted 

 upon an immunity from the ordinal y evils of childhood in 

 these animals. It is probable that i he larger portion of — 

 indeed most — young turtles when batched survive, and when 

 two or three years old, are titled to resist tuccessfully ordi- 

 nary fish and avian enemies. They aie not exposed io vicis- 

 situdes of weather; the fact that the period of egg-laying 

 (in New England from June 10-20) is so constant, and varies 

 so little at different seasons, shows that they are hardy and 

 tough. Finally, the persistence of the type of gigantic 

 tortoises on the Galaagos Islands indicate the wonderful vital- 

 ity of this type of life in resisting prolonged climatic and 

 geological changes." 



The shells of the common box tortoise are not uncommonly 

 found in dry woods, and we have twice found in the wet 

 meadows near the salt marshes of ihe Atlantic coast shells of 

 Nanemys yuUala, which had apparently died a natural 

 death. 



We do not remember that any extended observations have 

 been made on this subject, although the general belief that 

 turtles live to a great age seems to be justified by what we 

 do know. 



The specimen referred to by our correspondent has been 

 received and though old is lively and apparently in good 

 condition. Besides the inscription above noticed l here ap- 

 pear very faintly on the back part of the shell the initials R. 

 N. or It. M. 



Can any one claim the specimen as an old acquaintance ?] 



SPECIAL INSTANCES OF ANT INTELLIGENCE. 



IT is always difficult to draw the Hue between instinct and 

 reason, between adjustive action due to hereditary or 

 purposeless habit and adjustive action due to individual aud 

 purposive adaptation. But we may be least diffident in ac- 

 cepting, as evidence of the latter, cases where animals exhibit 

 a power of adapting their actions to meet the requirements 

 of novel circumstances— or circumstances which caDnot be 

 supposed to have been of sufficiently frequent occurrence in 

 the life-history of the species to have developed instincts of 

 michanicil response in the individual. It is in view of this 

 consideration that the following instances are selected: 



Ebrard recordB in his "Etudes de Meeurs" an observation 

 of hiB own on F. fuxca. The ants were engaged in building 

 walls aud when the work was nearly completed there still re- 

 mained an interspace of twelve or fifteen millimetres to be 

 covered iu. For a moment the ants were thrown out and 

 seemed inclined to leave their work, but soon turned instead 

 to a grass plant growing near, the long, narrow leaves of 

 which ran close together. 'I hey chose the nearest and 

 weighted its distal i-nd with damp earth until iis apex just 

 bent down to the space to be covered. Unfortunately, the 

 bend was too close to the extremity and it threatened to 

 break. To preveut this misfortune the ants gnawed at the 

 base of the leaf until it bent along its whole length and cov- 

 ered the space required. But, as this did not seem to be 

 quite enough, they heaped damp earth between the base of 

 the plant and that of the leaf until the latter was sufficiently 

 bent. After they had attained their, object they heaped on 

 the buttressing leaf the materials required for building the 

 arched roof. 



This "bervation naturally leads to two others by two dif- 

 ferent observers. Thus, Moggridge says: "I was able to- 

 wateli the operation of removing roots which had pierced 

 through their galleries, belonging to seedling plants growing 

 on the surface, and which was performed by two ants, one 

 pulling at the fr^e end of the root, and the other gnawing at 

 its fibers where the strain was greatest, until at length it 

 gave way." Again, as previously quoted iu another connec- 

 t o i, he says that two ants sometimes combine their efforts, 

 oue stationing itself near the base of « fo-natalk and gnawing 

 at the point of greatest tension, while the .other hauls upon 

 and twists it. 



The other observer to whom I have referred is McCook, 

 who says of the harvesting ants of America that he 

 has peen " the workers, in several cases, leave the point at 

 which they had begun a cutting, ascend the blade, and pass 

 as far toward the point as possible. The blade was thus 

 borne downward, and, as the ant swayed up and down, ii 

 really seemed that she was taking advantage of the leverage 

 thus gained, and was bringing the augmented force to bear upon 

 the fracture. In two or three cases there appeared to be a di- 

 vision of labor; tbat is to say, while the cutter at the roots kepi 

 on with his work, another ant climbed the grass-blade and ap 

 applied the power at the opposite end of the lever. This 

 position may have been quite accidental, but it certainly had 

 the appearance of voluntary co-operation." — G. J. Romanbs, 

 in Popular Science Monthly for October. 



Notb on Shakes.— Media, Delaware Co., Sept. 19.— I have 

 read in your paper of September 1st, the interesting commu- 

 nication of H. J. Lombard, of Cashe's Valley, N. 0., in ref- 

 erence to snakes. In it he states that " all harmless snake, 

 have keen tails and lay eggs." I can now recall to mind at 

 least two exceptions to this rule. 1 have seen, among the 

 mountains of North Carolina, not far from Cashe's Valley, a 

 snake of stout body and thick, short tail, viz., the hog nosed 

 snake, sometimes called the spreading adder (Heterodon pla- 

 tyrhinoH). This snake is harmless, though the sight of it is 

 quite suggestive of venom. 



I do not think that the common water snakes of Pennsyl- 

 vania lay eggs, as I have frequently killed them with young 

 snakes in their bodies. They are ovo-viviparou?. 



In reply to a former ques'ion in your paper, "Do black 

 and garter snakes eat fish V I have seen garter snakes eat 

 fisb, both fresh and in a putrid condition. In the former 

 case, the head is swallowed first. In the latter case, the tail 

 was swallowed first ; the flesh being then soft, the dorsal 

 spines were easily reversed, and offered no impediment to l he 

 process of deglutition. I had never seen any record of snakes 

 eating putrid fish. 



When a garter snake swallows a frog, the hind feet and leas 

 go down the throat first. The frog is not previously killed, 

 as I have beard one cry piteously after it was swallowed. A 

 hungry snake will sometimes make an absurd attempt to swal- 

 low a large fish. 1 once observed, for a long time, the efforts 

 of a garter snake to swallow a fish so large that it could get 

 but little more than the nose into its mouth. 



In illustration of the Southern distribution of the beaver, I 

 will state that I have seen the stumps of small trees freshly 

 cut by beavers in Cherokee County, North Carolina, near the 

 Georgia State line. J. Willoox. 



[It is curious to note how almost universal is the belief that 

 the hog-nosed snake, sometimes in New England called puff- 

 adder, is venomous. Ptobahly the only dangerous snake in 

 tbat portion of the country east of the Hudson River is the 

 rattlesnake, which is almost everywhere extremely rare.] 



Aekival of a YouNG Gorilla in England.— The last 

 issue of Land and Water contains the following account of 

 the recent arrival in England of a young gorilla: " We are 

 informed lhat Mr. Cross, the animal dealer, of Liverpool, has 

 received a fine young gorilla. It arrived in the steamer Sen- 

 egal. During the voyage from Africa to ihe Mersey, the go- 

 rilla appears from an account which is published in the Liv- 

 erpool Daily Ji'xpress, to have given some trouble on board. 

 After the vessel had been a number of days at sea, the ani- 

 mal, availing it ;i If of the liberty which had I ecu incautiously 

 given to it, made an attack upon several of the crew. It ran 

 amuck, in fact, at the captain, bitiug him savagely in the leg 

 and two men who came forward to his assistance were also 

 attacked, mid to some extent injured. By dint of some well- 

 applied chastisement, however, the gorilla was induced to 

 confine his ebullitions of temper to mere displays of his teetb, 

 aud later it was found possible to treat him without severity 

 —a change of tactics which he repaid by becoming quite 

 tame, and allowing himself to be handled with tolerable im- 

 punity. The gorilla was taken on board the Senegal at Set- 

 tecoma, a small port on the southwest coast of Africa, and 

 on its arrival in Liverpaol it came into the possession of Mr. 

 Cross. The animal is not, as might be implied from the fero- 

 ciousness which it at first displajed, a fully-growu specimen, 

 but its physique and appearance, as well as its height of fully 

 four feet, give it what might be called rank even among the 

 finest of African gorilla?. The new arrival has already ac- 

 commodated itself in the most condescending manner to its 

 new quarters, where it is fed on Valencia raisins — of which 

 it eats a pound daily — eggs, and other dainty food, which it 

 devours voraciously. He has at present a cat for a compan- 

 ion, and the pair play tome amusing antics." 



Fangs ov the Rattlesnake — Vicksburg, Miss., Septem- 

 ber 7, 1S8 1 .—The fangs of the rattlesnake are perforated from 

 base to point, through the centre, the hollow being about the 

 Size of a cambric needle. ' The specimen which I examined 

 was three and a-balf feet long. I boiled the head and found 

 on each side of the upper jaw three fangs ; one matured, one 

 about half grown, and the l bird iu embryo. The matured 

 fangs were three quarters of an inch long, hollow from base 

 to point, the base being much enlarged and containing 

 a cavity as large as a BB shot. The fang is curved like a 

 blackberry briar. The orifice at the point is in the form of a 

 slit, in the upper side, as though a diagonal slice had been 

 shaved off with a penknife. I ran a fine straw entirely 

 through the fang. The upper jaw is immovable, as in the 

 case of most vertebrates. The lower jaw works on a hinge-, 

 and is susceptible of being opened wide enough t'o lie back 

 against the throat, giving unobstructed play to the fangs. 



"Makoonbu." 



A Gbnbeous Offer — Fort Madison, Iowa, September 10, 

 1881. — I to-day caught a two-third grown cock pheasant. He 

 tried to cross the river here and when he landed he was so 

 near played nut that I walked up and picked him up. I will 

 try to keep him or will send him to any one that' has a hen, 

 and would like to domesticate them. — W. H. Atlke. 



[We hope that some of our readers are in a position to ac- 

 cept our correspondent's generous offer.] 



A Hint to " Howard "— Warrenton, Va., Sept. 21. — I 

 see that "Howard" asks you for some place in Virginia t' 

 hunt in the latter part of September. There is absolutely no 

 game at that time if I except a few squirrels. The sora and 

 reed birds have left, the partridge season does nor, open uoiil 

 Oct. 15, the wild turkeys are in the mountains, the ducking 



f rounds are bare and woodcock in the depths of the swamp, 

 f "Howard" don't intend to stay he may as well leave his 

 breech-loader at home as to bring it here this seasonof the 

 year.— Chasseur. 



$m\* S n Q am ^ S utlt 



FOREST AND STREAM GAME TABLE. 



OPE\ SEASONS. 



The seasons, In which It Is lawful to snoot game In the several 



States and Territories, open as designated in the following tattle: 



Ala* . . 



Call.'.. 

 Col.... 



Conn . . 



Dakota 

 Del.*. . 

 U.C.a . 



MCI. 20. 

 J'Jlyl.. 



sept, l . 



Allg. 15. 



Oei. 1... 



Aug. 1.. 



Sept. i.. 



Mo. 5. 



Me 



Mich., 

 •Hun 



Miss. 

 M n. u 

 Net) 



Nev.. 



. Sept. 1 . 

 JAng.1.. 

 .iOcC 1. . 

 .[Newt - 

 ..Oct. 1 . 



SO 



. 1.. 



bet. i... 



Sent. :.. 



lOctl... 

 .. ,|Aug. 1... 

 N. He. Sept. 1.. 

 N.J./, . 1SS4 

 X, Mex. Sept, 1. 

 S.Y.p.VA.lIg.1. 



sept. l. 

 Aug. 1.. 

 Oct. 1. . 



n. a ■ 



0.. 



All!/. 15. 

 Oct. 15.. 

 .1 uly 1 . . 

 Oct. 1... 



Aug. 1 .. 



sept. J.. 



Allg. 1... 



Or.... 



Pa 



8.1... 



s. c 



Tenn. 



Texas A .,,.„ 

 I' rah... I Aug. 1 . 



Vt I sept. l. 



va.*.... Sept, 1. 

 Wash*.jAug. 1. 

 W. Va..: July 15. 

 Wis. ...[Sept, 15 

 Wyo. ..Aug. is 



•Tiny -t. . 

 July l„ 

 July 10. 



AUg.'l's 



Sept, i. 

 Aug. 1 . 



Sept, tfi 



Kept. l r ' 

 pmliffl 

 <>ct. 1.. 

 Aug. IB. 

 Nov. 1.. 



NOV. 1.. 



oel. i . 

 sept, i . 

 '.let, l.. 



jet, 15. 

 .let. 1.. 

 Nov. 1. 



July. i . 

 Sept. l. 



S'Jlt. 15 



sept. 15. 



'JCt. 15. 



Nov. 1. 

 sept 1. 

 Oct 1.. 



Oct. 15. 

 Met. 1.. 



Sept. 1. 

 sepl, 1 . 

 Nov. 1 

 Sept. 1 . 

 Nov. 1., 

 Oct. 1.. 

 Nov. 1. 

 Aug. I. 

 Oct. 15. 

 NOV. 1. 

 Sept, 15 



epL 1 . 



Pinn- 

 ated 



v rntiiit- 

 Chick- 

 en). 



Sept. 16 

 Oct. I... 

 Oct. 1... 

 Aug. 15. 

 Nov. 1 . , 

 AUg. 1.. 



Septl.Froive.d 



Oct. i.. 



Oct. 16.. 

 Oct, 1.. 



Oct.' w. 

 Kepi. 15 

 S-Pt, 1 

 Sept. 1 . 



leptl.. 



tept l.. 



sept, l 



Xp'g'.'i:'. 



Atlg. 15 

 sept. I. 

 AUg. 15 

 Sept, 1. 



Sept. 1.1 



Oct 1.. Oct, 1.. 



Sept t.l 



Aug. is sept. 1. 

 sept, 1. Nov. I. 



Allg. 15 Oct 1.. 



Oet. 15. 



Aug. 15.. 



Sept. 1 

 ^pt.1 

 •. 1 . . 



Nov. 1.. 

 Sept 



Oct 15. 



Allg. 1.. 



3epi 

 Sept. 1.. 

 Oct l... 

 Sept, 1 . . 

 June 15. 

 Oct. 1... 



sept t 



Sept.. 1 

 Sept. 1 

 Sept. i 

 Sept. 1. 



Sept l 

 Aug. 1... 



Aug. I.. 

 Sept, 1 

 Aug. 15.. 



Sept, 1 



Pi oh 51 



I8BS 



Sept, l , 



Sept i. 

 Scpt'i: 



OCt. 15. 



Sept'i 



Nov. 1 '. 

 July l . 

 Oct. 1.. 



Aug. 1.. 

 Sept. 1 , 

 Aug. 15 



Wild 



Turkey. 



Sept. 1 . 



Aug. 1.. 

 Sepl, I . 



Sept l . 



Sept. 1.5 

 Sepr. 1 . 

 Sept, l . 



ept. 15 

 ictl.. 



Antelope.— Col., sept 1 ; Idaho, Aug. t ; Neb., Oet. 1; Nev., Aug. 1 

 N. Mex., Sept i ; Utah. Aug. i ; Wyo.. Aug. 15. 



Buffalo.— Colo., Sept. 1 ; Neb., Oct 1 ; N. Mex., Sept. 1. 



Cariboo— Me.. Oct 1 : N. H.. sept. 1 «. 



Dora.— Ala., Aug. i ; Cat, July I ; Oa., Oct, l ; Kan., Aug, 1 ; Miss., 

 Sept, 15; Mo., Aug. 1 ; N C, Oct. 1 ; S. ('., Oct 15. 



Klk.— Colo., Sept, 1; Idaho, Aug. 1 ; Minn., Nov. 1 ; Neb., Oct. 1 ; 

 Nev, Aug. 1; N. Mex., Sept. 1; Or., July 1; Utah, Aug. 1; Wyo., 

 Aug. 15. 



iloone.— Me., Oet l : N. H., Sept l <•; Ore,, July l. 



Mountain Sheep.— CJoL, sept I ; Neb , Oet. 1; Nev., Aug. 1 ; N. Mex,, 

 Sept. 1 : Utah, Aug. l ; Wyo., Aug. 15. 



Pinner.— D. C, Sept. I ; Me., Aug. 1 ; Mo., Aug. 1; Nev., Sept 1; N. 

 H.. Aug. 1 ; Pa.. July 15; JR. I., Aug. 1. 



Bail.— Del.. Sept 5 ; N. J.. Sept ; Pa., Sept 1. 



Ktw/Mrd.— DeL, Sepr. r> : 1). (.'., sepr. ] • N. j., Aug. 25 ■ pa., Sept. 1. 



Snipe.— Dakota, Aug. 15; D. C, Sept 1 ; Nev., Sept 1;N. C, Oet 15. 



• In these States there are special county laws, a The deer law ap- 

 plies in sale or pos-ess'iou. I Wildfowl not protected on the coast. 

 c In I'pper Pei, Insula deer season opens Aug. 15. d California qtiriU 

 ,, ,.,,..., |.,| i,, ;--.. • In ('.„,, I loom ,1. IT se i t e\i a ■.. |, -I ■ r-.fr>-, ... 

 and Cariboo, Sept 1. / First open woodcock season began July 1; 

 will close Aug. 1. (i yuail sliooiing prohibited io Nov. 1, 18S8, incouu- 

 t.le..s of Montgomery. Seheiie -lady, siuaiog.: and Albany, wildfowl 

 reason in Long Island waters opens Oct. l. h Deer law relates to 

 temale deer only. 



SOME OLD GUNS THAT I HAVE SHOT. 



I SPRUNG from a race of sportsmen. Well do I remem- 

 ber the picture of an ancestor eugaged in a hand-to- 

 hand encounter with a large etag. Cruelly wounded arid dis- 

 figured by the sharp hoofs of the infuriated deer, whom he 

 bad " creased," his tartans dyed in blood, he stood in the 

 picture, giving blow for blow with his stout hunting knife, 

 which, as the story goes, he at last plunged into the heart of 

 his maddened enemy. How I cheered the large deer hound 

 in the dim distance, slowly trailing the stag; how I could 

 see with ba'ed breath that the stag too was covered with 

 wounds, and how I read the story of the picture and resolved 

 that I too would some day kill my stag and, if need be, would 

 kill him with my knife. I did, but that is foreign to this 

 paper. 



1 never had the child's love of gunpowder simply because 

 it made a noise. The first attempt that I remember — 1 think 

 I was about seven, and my faithful friend and my Fidu.% 

 Achates, Dick, coal black, about nine years old — was convert" 

 ing "ole man" John's fishing cane into an extempore gun. 

 This cane, which had grown in Mississippi, was about the 

 size of iny arm and about twenty feet long. To cut off two 

 joints at the bottom would not hurt the cane and would make 

 us a good gun with which to shoot '' dat ole rooster," a very 

 pugnacious bird and Sandy's and my special enemy. When 

 we had cut off the joints we bored a touch-hole at the bot- 

 tom of the first joint, and thus we had a gun about three feet 

 long, calibre No. 8. I did the aiming, while Sandy would 

 apply a live coal, held with fear and trembling, to the prim- 

 ing. With light rifle charges and shot, carefully counted, fif - 

 teen in number, we brought to grief, iu the orchard, divers 

 sapsuckers and other saucy and ill-conditioned birds. 



Growing bo'der, we resolved to test the efficacy of our im- 

 provised fowling-piece upon the nefarious roosler who had 

 so often put us both to shame and ignominy by driving us 

 out of his domain with sharp spur and peck, delivered en re- 

 traite. Putting in our blunderbuss two rifle charges aud five 

 rifle bullets, we slipped up Io the fence and saw our enemy 

 strutting in all his glory, not more than ten feet distant. To 

 aim, to apply the coal was but the work of a moment, and 

 the nest we were asking each other what had happened. 

 The gun— our fondly cherished gun- was gone and, with the 

 exception of a few spliuierp, none could tell where it had 

 gone. Bftndy was minus all the wool on one side of his head 

 from too eagerly watching the effect of the shot and sighting 

 as he applied Ihe coal. 1, too, was minus eyebrows, eye- 

 lashes and most of my hair. Fortunately for the peace of 

 mind of those who had me iu charge, I wan sent off to board- 

 ing-scho 1 in a short time afterward and Sandy was made 

 "gap minder " He detailed to me in a feeling manner how 

 " ole Mas " had licked him for eating " dat rooster." He bad 

 taken that tough fowl to his mother's cabin and some wretch 

 had told on him. I was affected, but told him to keep quiet, 

 gave him a silver half-dollar to insure it, and parted from the 

 staunchest friend that I ever had. Brave Sandy! How 



