Ootobkh 8, 1881.]! 



FOEEST AND STREAM. 



lainml $i$torg. 



HABITS OF PET SNAKES. 



New Yokk, Sept. 23. 



HA VI NG seen in your publication several very interest- 

 ing accounts of snakes' doings, I will tell you some- 

 thing of a few that I have had. 



1 have now a small garter snake that I captured while it 

 was crossing a lake, at least sixty yards from one shore and 

 about thirty yards from the shore from which it was swim- 

 ming ; so lie must have undertaken a swim of about ninety 

 yards. I once saw one cross a small brook, but never knew 

 them to take such long swims. I saw an account in Forest 

 and Stream of a garter snake that climbed a tree by going 

 straight up, instead of the usual spiral motion. I also saw, 

 not long ago, the snake that I now have climb a varnished 

 walking-stick in that manner. The stick stood in a corner 

 of the room at an angle of eighty-five degrees. The snake, 

 by the by, is only eleven inches in length. He curved him- 

 self so that parts of his body were on each side of the cane, 

 reaching three-quarters of the distance around it and cover- 

 ing about five inches of the length of it. He then pressed 

 the lower third of his body firmly against the sides of the 

 cane and stretched upward the other two-thirds as far as 

 possible. Thin holding fast in the manner just described, by 

 the upper third pulled up the remainder, and so on to the 

 top. On finding that he could go no farther in that direc- 

 tion, he crawled back over himself slowly and carefully until 

 he was straightened out head downward and then slid down, 

 pressing his body against the sides of the stick to serve as a 

 brake. 



I had five snakes at one time. I used to keep them in a 

 large box with a wire gauze cover. Out of the five only one 

 ever ale anything — to my knowledge ; this one only ale once 

 and then enough to have satisfied a whole family of snakes. 

 My younger brother once brought in six toads of medium 

 size and a half-grown frog. We put them all in the box. I 

 had often put toads in before, with no results, and there was 

 a mouse in there at the time. Suddenly the large garter 

 grabbed a toad by the hind foot and began operations imme- 

 diately. He swallowed the leg, and when he came to the 

 body the other hind leg was pressed upward toward the head 

 and close to the side. It was then drawn slowly down. It 

 look him at least five minutes to get the second hind leg in 

 position after he had swallowed the first, as toadie was ex- 

 tremely lively and seemed to object strongly to being Bwal- 

 lowed. The" snake's blood ^as up now and hardly two min- 

 utes passed before he had caught another, and inside of an 

 hour he caught and swallowed all six of those ill-fated toads. 

 He did not touch the frog, though it passed before him fre- 

 quently. One thing I noticed particularly, he made no at- 

 tempt to chase or follow a toad, but the moment one would 

 hop within his reach he would seize it as quick as a flash 

 and after he once got a grip on it there was no letting go. 

 This snake was twenty-six inches in length and seemed to be 

 an old veteran. He was rusty in color, even after he had 

 Bhed his skin, and had a good many scars on his body. 



Can any one tell how to ascertain a snake's age ? How long 

 does a snake live ? B. P. Johnson. 



ECHOES OP SOME OLD DISCUSSIONS. 



LKFT-EVKD SHOOTING— EDIBLE W0ODCBU0KS — DESK FEEDING 

 BY TUB MOON— MOONLIGHT AND FISH. 



"TJTROM time to time topics have been touched upon in 

 |i your paper, to which my attention has been called, and 

 questions discussed upon which I have myself heard evi- 

 dence. I have delayed contributing to the discussions until 

 now the list includes quite a number, and I will unburden 

 myself upon some of them, 



1. First, I will take the last question. In a recent number 

 you were asked if a petson could not be "left-eyed," and 

 the fact was mentioned that when a circle, formed by the 

 Llutmb and finger was brought in line with an object, both 

 eyes being open, it remained in line when the left eye was 

 closed, but, upon closing the right eye and opening the left, 

 the fingers appeared l,o the right of the object. Several 

 weeks ago some newspaper (I have forgotten what one) men- 

 tioned this fact, and accounted for it by saying that it proved 

 that diMtnc-e was judged by both eyes, and direction by only 

 one. This seemed plausible to me, until I found by experi- 

 ment that, in shooting a pistol, I could sight with either 

 right or left eye, or with both open, with the same results. 

 8o I am at a loss lo know what bearing this fact, may have, if 

 any. However, your answer, that a man who cannot shoot 

 with the right eye probably could not shoot with the left 

 either, is wrong. My brother, though a right-handed man, 

 Shoots from the left shoulder, and sights with the left eye 

 (dosing the right), because the right one is a little dim, owing 

 to an accident to it In youth. The clerk of the County Court 

 of this place, also, has lately commenced shooling from the 

 lefl shoulder, sighting with the left eye, because be could 

 not shoot satisfactorily in the ordinary waj, and he tiuds his 

 new method just suits hirn. So there are two cases existing 

 of " left eyed " persons, and it is reasonable to Buppose there 

 may be more. 



2. A recent number also spoke of woodchuck-eating, as 

 being a new thing. I well remember that, the first "game" 

 (if so it be), 1 ever ate was a woodchuck, which our farm 

 dog in New Hampshire dug out, and, with the help of us 

 boys, killed. Recollection tells me that it was good, and I 

 thought at the lime it was the sweetest morsel I had ever 

 tasted ; and straightway the spirit of Esau took possession of 

 me, and I have been killing and eating the beasts of the 

 woods and the birds of the air ever since, when opportunity 



1 woodchuck among the rest. 



;>,. Whether deer feed by the moon is a question that may 

 be considered laid at rest ; still, the testimony I will present 

 is different from the bulk of that you have published ; and 

 I submit to you that if it can be established that certain deer 

 have been observed, and Been to do it, it will be of more 

 weight than the opinions of those who simply can say they 

 have never seen such a Ihing, and so don't believe it. All 

 the hunters ou tho Florida Keys, and on the mainland of 

 Florida, with whom I have talked, are firm in their belief 

 thai deer come out to feed at "moon-rise," " moon-set" and 

 "moon-south, below and above," and they are firm enough 

 in their belief to hunt according to it— and they kill deer, too. 



But to come to more conclusive evidence. Jo. Biva, or 

 Viva, living at Fort Myers, on the Caloosahatchee, told me 

 that he had noticed this habit among deer for years ; and that 

 a fawn, which he had caught and raised in his yard, invaria- 

 bly got up in the night and fed according to the times of the 



moon as mentioned. This he had noiiced himself. Also Mr. 

 John Pent, of this place, has now a fawn which was caught 

 some months since, when so small that a boy rah it down. 

 He kteps it in his yard, and he tells me that it comes out from 

 its pen and feeds "by the moon," that is at its rising, setting 

 and meridian height, "above and below." 



Have any persons who dispute this ever watch r d dew to 

 see how they act ? Perhaps it is a Plot ida habit only ! 



4. Some people do nol believe thai the moon shining on 

 fish spoils it. We have a large population of fishermen here ; 

 and all to whom I have ever spoken about it say the moon- 

 light does spoil fish exposed to it ; makes it, soft, taints it, and 

 unfits it for eating to, such an extent that it will make one 

 sick, the same as bad meat or fruit, will do. I suppose I could 

 furnish innumerable affidavits to this, and if any one is curi- 

 ous on the subject 1 will refer them to my informants. 



Key West, Flu., Sept., 1881. L. 



[Our original remarks to " Iuvidius" about his eyes 

 must be taken with the limitations supplied by his letter. Of 

 course, if a man be near-sighted in one eye he can sea better, 

 and so shoot better, by using the other eye. So, too, it the 

 right eye be a glass eye, and there are such cases, a man may 

 shoot from the left shoulder. Again, we know a man who 

 shoots from the left shoulder because he cannot squiut with 

 hi 8 left eye. 



The effect of moonlight on fish has been argued at length 

 and has amounted to nothing — assertions on one side and 

 denials on the other. If an entirely disinterested person 

 would experiment with fish of the same weight, kept side 

 by side and subjected to exactly the same influences, with 

 the exception that one was exposed to the rays of the moon, 

 while the other was proiected from them, then the case could 

 be proved one way or the other. The experimenter should 

 be perfectly indifferent wh.ch theory was sustained, in order 

 to try the question fairly. We have no opinion to express.] 



"VIS MEDICATR1X NATURE." 



THAT "Dame Nature" is abundantly able to care for 

 her lowliest creatures when they are the subjects of 

 injury, is strikingly proven by the specimen which I hand 

 you herewith, and which will, I doubt not, possess an inter- 

 est for many who call at your rooms. 



Every sportsman experiences a feeling of sadness when he 

 is unable to recover a wounded bird — not so much from the 

 fact that it will not swell the bag, as because he knows the 

 poor creature must suffer for hours, or it may be, days, be- 

 fore death kindly comes to its release. It is cheering, there- 

 fore, to know by actual demonstration, that nature, not 

 unfrequently, heals the wounds we make, and restores her 

 crippled children to complete health. 



On a beautiful Novem Iter afternoon, two years ago, I strayed 

 out into the woods with my dog and gun, and after a pleas- 

 ant ramble of an hour or two, daring which I had beeu only 

 fairly successful. I was turning my steps homeward, when 

 I saw that my dog was "making game " very decidedly, and 

 from his action 1 surmised that he was trailing a partridge, 

 Suddenly, to my left, up through a thicket of undei brush, 

 with a royal old rush and whir-r-r-r, jumped the bird— a 

 large and strong one. 



1 gave him a barrel as he plunged into the tree tops, but 

 away he went without so much as dropping a feather ; and 

 taking his line of flight as best I could, we pursued, the dog 

 being kept well in. After tramping some time we again 

 struck his track. This time I was looking out for him, a d 

 when he flushed with a strong bound, a well directed shot 

 brought him to bag. 



This bird, whose rapid motions put my marksmanship to 

 the test, had at some time or other had the misfortune to get 

 its wing broken, most probably by a shot at the hands of 

 some gunner — but which had been so thoroughly mended as 

 to enable him to fly as swiftly and steadily as before the acci- 

 dent befell it. 



The fracture had occurred in the bird's right humerus— the 

 bone which joins with the body— about an inch from its up- 

 per articular surface, at the junction of the upper with the 

 middle third of the shaft of the bone. The fractured ends 

 of the bone had slipped past each other, shortening the wing 



A-J 



C— ' 



A, proximal end of humerus, or upper arm bone, or tlie wing: or 

 MinaiaumbtUvji: E, distal end, whleli articulates with tile radius 

 and ulna ; B and C, fractured end -j ol humerus, wbtch have slipped 

 byone another and aie now overriding; o, ^oallUa," orhouysub- 

 stanee, thrown out trom suatt. and iiow llnnly ijludlug the overriding 

 positions together. 



a full half inch. But uature had poured out the provisional 

 callus so abundantly from the attached fragment as to firmly 

 and completely unite it with its fellow, restoring to the bird 

 a most useful wing, »> uieful, in fact, that he whirred away 

 from my first shot like a bumblebee ; with only a Blight pep- 

 pering and I had to flush him a second time before bringing 

 him to bag. 



The deformity was not discovered until the bird was picked, 

 when my attention was called to it, and I at once decided to 

 prepare and preserve the bone. I send it, to you at the sug- 

 gestion of some of my sportmen friends. 



The specimen is a very perfect and beautiful one, and as I 

 before said it shows how kindly nature cares for In r creatures, 

 and how succfssfu'ly she accomplishes her purposes. 



Lagrangeville, N.Y.,Stpt.Yl. Geo. Huntington.M.D. 



[The specimen is certainly a curious one, andso interesting 

 that we have thought it worthy of an illustration. The bone 

 is now at this office, and we shall be pleased to exhibit ii to 

 our friends. Mr. John G. Bell, the taxidermist of this city, 

 has in the course of his long experience come across several 

 instances of this healing power of Mother Nature. Among 

 other specimens was that of a woodcock, in one of the bones 

 of which were found, embedded by the callus, some intact 

 feathers, showing that the bird had been previously wouuded 

 and the wound had healed. How quiet the bird must be 

 while the wonderful process is going on I] j 



THE MOCKING BIRD'S SONG. 



Detroit, Mioh., Sept. 28. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



la a recent number of your excellent journal appeared an 

 article by Albert West, quoted from the Advance, in which 

 he lakes the ground that the mocking bird is not an imita'ive 

 bird, but inherits the talent of singing all his varhd notes. 

 It seems that, he draws conclusions from his observation of 

 one hird taken from the nest at an eaily day and kept entire- 

 ly away from other birds. 



He s'ates that the bird developed notes similar to the blue 

 bird, etc. Had he compared the real notes of the othervarie- 

 ties mentioned he would have seen that there was a thnilarity 

 only ; while he would have heard a perfect imicatioa. if the 

 mocker had heard tho noies of other birds, 



It is a fact that the mockingbirds have a great varie'y of 

 notes in their song ; but. that they are not imitative I will 

 attempt to disprove. Our conclusions are drawn from a 

 number of \ ears' observation, not only of this variety, but a 

 uumber ot other wild varieties, as the robin, catbird, thrush, 

 etc. We have studied carefully their habits and peculiarities 

 both in the woods and in the cage. The canary has also 

 come in for n large share of attentb n. This little warbler 

 can be taught to whistle anything withiu the range of bis de- 

 licate throat. 1 have known thetn to learn the ticking and 

 striking of a clock, h tune from a hand organ, and one 

 learned the tune of "Yankee Doodle," whistled by its mis- 

 tress. It seems almost impossible for tbem to do otherwi-e 

 than to imitate the sounds that they hear repeated for a num- 

 ber of weeks. 



The mocking bird will do the same, only they learn in a 

 shorter tune,and include a greater variety in their programme. 

 We have one in mind now, not a half dozen blocks away, 

 that has been kept near a yard where fowls are confined, and 

 it has learned the crowing of the cock and the cackle of the 

 hens to perfection. Anoiher one that came under our ob- 

 servation would imitate the filing of a saw. He was owned 

 next door to a man who made it his business to tile saws. 

 We have in mind another which hung near an old-fashioned 

 clock. In a short time he acquired the faculty of ticking 

 and striking with perfect regularity. A lady friend of the 

 writer left her mocker in his care for a time, and in about 

 five davs he would imitate the song of the rose-breas'ed 

 grosbeak. I also taught htm some peculiar strains by dwel- 

 ling on the tame notes for a number of days. 



We think this is sufficient to convince the most skeptical 

 lhat they are a mockiug bird in the truu sense of the word. 

 If left, to themselves they will no doubt develop a very fiue 

 song, but unless they hear other birds they will not' show 

 near the sweetness and varie'y that they would to hear dif- 

 ferent varieties for sufficient time to acquire a perfect imi- 

 tation. Ror. 



IS THE TURTLE FISH OR GAME? 



Wabrenton, Va. , Oct. 1. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



feeing an account of the turtle found near this ptace. and 

 reading the remarks, reminds me of a circumstance that 

 happened in the Virginia Legislature that sat in Richmond 

 three winters ago. It seems that there were two separate 

 committees, cal ed respectively the "Committee on the i.hes- 

 apeake and its Tributaries,'-' which hail the sole jurisdiction 

 overfish, and the "Committee on Game," which attended to 

 the protection of the birds, or rather the fea'ker and the fur 

 of the commonwealth. 



Now, these two committees were very jealous of each 

 other's functions, and watched one another like hawks. At 

 last a circumstance occurred which made the smothered fire 

 break out into an angry flame, and open hostility was the 

 result. 



It appears that thechairmenof thegame committee brought 

 in a bid for the better protecuon of " terrapins." Th.ecb.HT- 

 manof the fish committee indignantly denied ihe right of the 

 other to claim jurisdiction over the turtle, because he said it 

 was a fish. The game committee calmed the terrapin as 

 game, and appealed to the Hou-e, and all tha', night Ihe 

 General Assembly of Virginia were debating that Knotty 

 question — Is the turtle a fish ? They haven't decided it lo 

 this day. Cannot some readers of tne Forest and Stream 

 cut. thai Gordian knot of conundrums? Cannot the famous 

 "Pot Luck Club" throw light on this subject, which addled 

 the bruiriB and stumped the judgment of the wisest of the 

 Old Dominion statesmen ? Brother sportsmen, I rise lor in- 

 formation. Is the turtle fi9h or game ? 



[Lcl the Pot Luck Ctub speak.] Chassshb. 



SKUNK VS. WOODOHUCK. 



IN your issue of the 8lh inst, the paragraph relative to the 

 edible qualities of the woodchuck brings to mind an in- 

 cident that, goes lo show that even the skunk is considered 

 quite a delicacy by some people. 



In the autumn of 187H I accompanied a surveying expedi- 

 tion to the northwestern Irontier if ihis [State. We had em- 

 ployed in the party about twenty Mexicans. On going into 

 camp one evening on Ihe San Gabriel the Mexicans discov- 

 ered two skunks making their way into a hollow log and the 

 men immediately set, about to capture the varmints. 



Having located the animals, they proceeded lo cut into tho 

 hollow nf the log a hole of sufficient size, when "ne of the 

 men thrust his Inmd in and drew out one of the skunks, hold- 

 ing it by the tail close to the roots, taking the precaution to 

 Caleb, it* also by the back of the neck. Held in ibis position, 

 and at arm's length, it was killed by a blow on the head. 

 The other was servei! in the same manner and, strange to 

 say, none of ihe fetid odor peculiar to the animal could be 

 detected. The Mexicans told me that ho ding it, by the root 

 of the tail rendered it powerless to d.schargeany of its offen- 

 sive fluid. 



Both animals being dispatched, a roaring fire of brushwood 

 was built and they were thrown in the flame and allowed to 

 remain for the space of thirty seconds. On being taken out 

 they were scraped, the hair slipping off easily. Next the 

 gland containing the defensive fluid was carefully and Skill- 

 fully removed, the animals were fir ssed and placed upon a 

 spit, and roasted before Ihe fire. The skunk bein^r pronounced 

 cooked, 1 was invited to partake of the feast, but very re- 

 Bpecfiully declined. The Mexicans, however seemed to en- 

 joy the fiast immensely and pronounced Ihe flesh not infe- 

 rior to that of 'possum. P. 



Foil Olurk, Texan, Sept. 19. 



