a 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



might thunder from its lofty beach summits and its rock-cleft 

 ridges, inspiring all the lesser deities to a superadded awe. 

 The placid little lake, shimmering at your feet, of all the ob- 

 jects within the visual range, is the only one that awakes a 

 feeling of security and repose. The over-arching, rock-crested 

 hills, beneath which this exquisitely beautiful sheet of water 

 is so nearly engulfed, appear as if they might, upon the slight- 

 est provocation, rain down upon you a most relentless shower 

 of stones. Since seeing Devil's Lake I confess to a clearer 

 conception of the poet's vivid verse— 



" Alps on Alps— crags on crags— 



Where leaps tlie live thunder," etc.; 



for it seemed to me, anywhere about Devil's Lake, thunder 

 Would have a spring-board to start from, and hence a most 

 excellent chance to do some very superior leaping ! 



Saturday morning found us in St. Paul, enjoying the 

 acquaintance of R. O. Sweeny and William Golcher, Min- 

 nesota's most intelligent and wide-awake Fish Commissioners. 

 Pish Minnesota is yet young in deeds, but strong in faith ; 

 her fish farm, in extent and in value, is hardly excelled by 

 any State of the Union. To our newly found friends we are 

 indebted for the most enjoyable of all our well enjoyed days. 

 Upon their invitation, and seated by their side in an easy ba- 

 rouche, with just "room for four and no more," we made 

 the trip from St. Paul to Minneapolis, and a jolly trip, too, it 

 was. The ride takes in a very beautiful view of the Missis- 

 sippi River and Valley, the State University and grounds, and 

 the mineral springs and caves of suburban Minneapolis. In 

 full view from almost any point of the city, can be seen the 

 mill and factory-belabored Falls of St. Anthony, grand and 

 beautiful still, though industrial art and trade have done their 

 level best to contract the tide and lessen the roar of the wa- 

 ters. Returning by another route, you take in the Palls of 

 Minnehaha— falls which, once seen, will not quickly fade 

 from the memory. Further along on the road you come upon 

 old Port Snelling, one of the boldest and most unique sites in 

 all Jonathan's dominions. Indeed, I know of no drive of 

 equal extent (only twenty-four miles out and back) where 

 are seen so many objects of natural and historical interest. 

 The Palls of St. Anthony, or the Palls of Minnehaha, or old 

 Port SneUing, any one of them is richly worth a special visit. 

 Now, having gained tho northern arc of our " swing around 

 the circle," we fell back in good order by Mississippi packet 

 line steamer to Winona, thence by rail to Chicago. There, 

 reluctantly shaking the Doctor good-bye, I was compelled to 

 do the rest of my vacation alone. 

 Prom Chicago I ticketed via Clinton to Anamosa,Iowa, to re- 

 deem my long and often made promise with Mr. F. B. Shaw, 

 Commissioner and Superintendent of the Iowa fiisheries. It was 

 ever so good a thing to be beneath hishospitable roof, a welcome 

 recipient of the rare bounty and tender kindness and thought- 

 fulness of his excellent lady and two daughters. Iowa 

 ranks among the foremost of the fish States, and for thisprouf 

 rank she is indebted almost exclusively to the arduous and perse- 

 vering efforts of 'her Commissioner and Superintendent. This 

 I know, for I have watched the inception and the growth of 

 her artificial fisheries with almost a filial interest, having been 

 for many years a resident of the State. The Superintendent's 

 never-say-die kind of pluck — his great resources in contriv- 

 ance of ways and means, as well as efficiency of execution — 

 his rare tact and judgment in rallying to his use those peculiar 

 aids and influences so essential to give State fish culture a good 

 send off, all were needed to achieve the grand results that 

 must be credited to the Hawkeye State. I visited with Mr. 

 Shaw the State Hatchery, located some three or four miles 

 from Anamosa, and was surprised to find so large a hatchery 

 aud one so complete in all its appointments and apparatus. All 

 the space is utilized, and the water, although not a very large 

 supply, yet, under his arrangement of troughs, boxes and 

 screens, seems ample for the attainment of all the results 

 sought. I very much question if any State can show as fine 

 samples of lake trout, salmon and other varieties as can the 

 State of Iowa. The whole upper story of the fishery is occu- 

 pied by Mr. G. P. Slocum and lady, the overseers of the fish- 

 ery, and on the occasion of our visit, all the rooms evinced the 

 order, the neatness and the varied accomplishments of the 

 gude wife and perfect housekeeper. Prom Anamosa, I drif ted 

 to Council Bluffs, and Omaha— thence to Lincoln, gathering 

 up as I journeyed what I could of Nebraska and her water re- 

 sources. An effort was made last winter to induce the Legis- 

 lature to make an appropriation and to establish a fish com- 

 mission. But I was told by parties zealous in the fish enter- 

 prise that the effort came too late. They say another year you 

 may score Nebraska with the fish States — so mote it be. Prom 

 Lincoln I passed through Kansas, thence to Kansas City, Mo. 

 Kansas enlisted with the fish States last winter, and has 

 an energetic working commission. Missouri last winter 

 passed an act creating a, State Pish Commission, butthe Gov- 

 ernor has not yet publicly announced the members who are to 

 constitute the Board. 



And now, right here, comes in the comico-seriom part of my 

 vacation. While the guest of my brother, Win. W. Jerome, 

 of Kansas City, I, with other (transients, became mob-bound. 

 Having a ticket that read plainly enough St. Louis cfc Chicago, 

 yet for three days I was the prisoner of as scurvy and con- 

 temptible a bailiff — a boy mob— as ever held a person in du- 

 rance vile. Despairing of reaching home via St. Louis, I 

 turned to a northern outlet via Omaha, Council Bluffs, Cedar 

 Rapids and Clinton, the longest way being for the nonce the 

 safest if not the shortest! I was an eye-witness of "the 

 ptrike," g it was called, in Kansas City, and a more ridicu^ 



loua farce, take it all in all, it were hard to conceive of. In- 

 timidation stalked forth at noon-day, was self-created king and 

 ruled the beautiful city of fair women and reputed brave men 

 as with a rod of iron. Bravado and cheek stopped the trains, 

 closed elevators and packing houses, turned back street-cars, 

 shut up brick-yards, drove off men pounding stone for the re- 

 pair of streets^ and put its begrimed fingers on all the pulses 

 of industry, of trade and of commerce; and, when the au- 

 thorities dared to peep from their holes, so frightened were 

 they, they seemed to have pulled the holes in after them. 

 They saw all this was the work of a lot of rag-aud-tag boys, 

 swaggering about with laths and cornstalks— boys, too, none 

 too large nor none too good for the across-the-knee sort of 

 treatment by another class of strikers, their mothers. But the 

 farce, like every yelping and whining canine, had its day, and 

 the citizens awoke to wonder and disgust that they, for a sin- 

 gle hour even, had tolerated so high-handed and so disgusting 

 a farce. Thus began and so ended the " big strike," which I 

 saw, and to part of which I was a victim. For courtesies ex- 

 tended to myself and to Dr. Pratt allow me to express my 

 thanks to the Great Northwestern Railroad. I declare it to 

 be, from personal knowledge, both a gamy and a game road, 

 ramifying all the country north and west of Chicago, having a 

 road bed of over 2,000 miles. On it are coaches of the latest 

 and easiest pattern, tastefully furnished — with a time-table 

 you can "lie to" — and equipped with officers and employees 

 genial, courteous and attentive to every want and comfort. 

 " Long may she wave," with the happy experience of none 

 other than " ten strikes." Geo. H. Jeeome. 



New Hampsutre. — The State hatching house is to be built 

 at Livermore Falls. It is to be a plain wooden structure, one 

 story high, 40x20, and the site is near a trout pond, which is 

 fed by living springs. 



- .^» — . 



Nashua, N. U., Aug. 25. — Our Fish and Game Club is 

 flourishing. It numbers fifty wide-awake sportsmen, to which 

 number it is limited. We have placed five thousand salmon 

 fry (land locked) in ponds in this vicinity this season, aud are 

 daily' expecting a lot of blacti bass from the State Commis- 

 sioners to stock others with. The Commissioners of Massa- 

 chusetts having stocked the head waters of the Nashua Elver 

 (which flows through this place, and where it also empties 

 into the Merrimac) with salmon shad and black bass, the dam 

 across the river at this place is to be reconstructed with a 

 fishway attached. In another spring or so we hope to see 

 salmon and shad, as of yore, swimming past our very doors. 

 Thirty years ago shad were plenty with us, and salmon were 

 frequently taken; our river seemed to be one of their favorite 

 haunts. A. W. G. 



Batumi yjtetorg. 



THE GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER. 



Myiarchus erinitus—CALASiis, 



Edttob Fobest andStreajm : 



I TAKE this opportunity of writing concerning so rare and 

 little known a bird — that is, to us in the New England 

 States. In Mr. Samuel's work entitled, " Birds of New Eng- 

 land," I find a veiy short account of this species of flycatcher, 

 merely the description of the bird, its nest and eggs. Wilson 

 speaks of it as only a bird of Pennsylvania and the Southern 

 States. Having had a very good chance of observing the hab- 

 its of this bird pretty closely for a month or so, I should like to 

 make them known to the readers of the Poeest and Stream 

 interested in natural history. 



The first knowledge I had that these birds were in the viein. 

 ity was their loud screaming, which was kept up mostly in the 

 morning. In the afternoon it was not so frequent. Going 

 out one day, I observed them flying from tree to tree near the 

 house, and seemingly very restless. There were three of 

 them, probably two males and a female. After they had mat- 

 ed, I did not hear them so much, and supposed they had left 

 for some other place. Soon, however, I found I was mistak- 

 en, for one day, walking through the orchard, I saw them 

 flying about a tree with a hollow limb. I think they must 

 have been looking for some suitable place while I missed them. 

 The hole they had selected was about, fifteen feet from the 

 ground, and about a foot and a half deep. The nest, now 

 in my possession, is large and rather loosely put together, 

 composed of dry grass and large feathers, and lined with frag- 

 ments of wasps' nests and cows' hair. I obtained with the nest 

 two eggs. While the nest was being built, the birds were 

 very quiet, and once when I started the female from it, she 

 flew silently to the woods without: utteringa cry. When the 

 eggs were laid, they manifested much alarm, alighting on the 

 tree and screaming loudly. I took this nest and eggs, suppos- 

 ing, of course, the birds would leave the place" altogether. 

 The next morning, however, I heard them screaming far back 

 in the woods, but did not trouble them. A week or so after 

 I happened to be walking along the road, and saw one of these 

 birds under a pine tree, picking up the pine needles. I Watch- 

 ed her, aud .soon she Hew over into an old orchard 

 and lit just above a hole in a tree. I waited until she had 

 gone into her nest and left her mouthful. On chmbling up 

 and looking into the hole, I saw the foundation of a nest/ con- 

 structed from straw and needles of the pine. Two days after- 

 ward I again returned, and found the nest more completed 

 with the former materials; a bunch of cow's hair and a large 

 piece of wasp's nest lying in the middle. I am inclined to 

 think that their object is to get together a sufficient quantity 

 of materials to raise their nest from the dampness of decayed 

 wood, always composing the bottom of a natural hollow. I 

 did not go to this nest for a week, fearing that the birds might 

 desert. When I looked in again, I found the nest, completely 

 finished, the lining consisting of a large and a small snake 

 skin, which completely bid everything else. Iain unable to 

 account for this in any other way (tor it is a marked peculiar- 

 ity) except, by thinking that it is either because the bird pre- 

 fers the glossy smoothness for her eggs and young, or that it 

 may serve as a guardian while she is abseut to frighten away 

 marauders. The next time I visited the nest it contained two 

 eggs, of a dull cream color, thickly scratched with purple lines 

 of" various tints, as if done with a pen. 1 fried the experi- 

 ment of leaving pieces of wasp's nest around on the tree, 

 thinking that she might take them; but they were always un- 

 touched. Evidently they thought, their own materials the 

 safest and best. Wilson remarks that this bird is little known 

 on account of its solitary habits. Butthe birds I had watched 

 and noticed lived very near the houses, and were not at all 

 fchy, There is one fact that I will close with, namely, the posi- 



tion of the last nest. It was placed half way up a hollow run*' 

 rung nearly the whole length of the tree ; rlie in 

 1 ' i 1 1 on. It is a wonder to me how they mi 



ail; it stand so securely as it did. I hop"e this wflMj 

 i i enefit to your readers desirous to ascertain some-" 

 cerning this bird, I will close. G. G. 11., J«. 



[We are glad to receive the above, and thank our youlltftjjl 

 contributor. The great crested fly-catcher Myarchm flrii^H 

 was once considered rare, but is now a common species durrW 

 spring and summer in the Eastern States.— Ed.] 



THE SEWELLEL OR SHOWTL. 



THIS strange little creature, which is known to the s 

 line world as the Aplodontia leporina, is one of the 

 curious specimens of the rodent family. Its position in Na 

 History is not yet defined as distinctly as one would S 

 owing to its isolation and the fact that it seems to be a 

 necting link between the beavers and the spermophil 

 ground squirrels. Its scientific name is derived from ap«^ 

 simple, and odons a tooth, owing to its having rootless mola; 

 Sir John Richardson has proved it to be a new genus of 

 sub-family Castorinie, though it is strongly allied with I 

 squirrel family in many of its habits. Being the only lneiub 

 of its genus and species yet discovered, it possesses 

 terest for naturalists, as it is with, I believe, one 

 the only example of this paucity of variety in the animal kir 

 dom. Its range is very limited, being found only in that 

 gion of Northwestern America lying between the Blue Mou 

 tains in Washington Territory and the Pacific Ocean, wh 

 its southern wandering is checked by the northern boundari 

 of California. Even in that comparatively small area it oei 

 pies only isolated spots, generally on some sandy prairi 

 where roots are plentiful and water is convenient. Being \ 

 inveterate miner, it is constantly engaged in digging itself 

 new home, felling young trees, or rooting up edible sh 

 The country around a showtl village is generally one mass { 

 dead vegetation, for the residents wdl leave nothing gr< 

 standing if it is of any use to them, or furnishes exercise f 

 their clavicles. This little animal, when full grown, averag 

 about fourteen inches in length and six in height, and ho<J 

 sexes look exactly alike, except that the female is a little t" 

 smaller. It has scarcely any tail, the Cauda being less tit 

 an inch in length. The muzzle is large and round ; the hei 

 full; the ears are short, quite round, and not unlike those at 

 the genus lumw, and are covered on both sides with fine so" 

 hair. The eyes, which are very smidl and of a dark Bros 

 color, are situated midway between the nose and ears. Tl 

 incisor teeth, like those of all rodents, are exceedingly sliarj 

 the legs are short and stout; the feet broad and St 

 the nails, which are long, curved and thick, are powerful n 

 ing implements. The flesh is quite savory, and is highly i 

 teemed by both Indians and the pugnacious badgers. The iatr 

 are its greatest foes, and two of them will destroy a colony i 

 showtl in about, as short a time as a couple of terriers would 

 nest of rats. The fur, which is thick aud tolerably fine, is i 

 a, reddish brown hue outside, but the inner approaches a bin 

 ish gray at the base. It was formerly used for the lnauufnj 

 t ure of clothing by the Indians, but since the introduction 

 cotton goods among them it has been rejected. Tho i 

 men have a tradition that it was the first animal endow 

 with life, and the source whence sprung their race, and oil' 

 this account they pretend to entertain respect for it, but, that 

 never exceeds mere expediency. As an anomaly in natui 

 history the animal is attractive, but its utility in nature is i 

 subject for conjecture. J. M. Mutuaiv. 



Amkkican Ghotjsb, — In the August number of Scribn 

 Montldy there occurs an article by Mr. Charles E. Whitehe 

 on the Grouse of America. He makes a variety of assert u 

 Which manifest a profound ignorance of the nature aud hat 

 of the birds he describes. I shall only, however, notice wJ 

 he says of ruffed grouse. 



"In the breeding season the cocks select some I 

 and, strutting up and down, beat it with their wings. If | 

 bird succeeds in finding a log perfectly hollow and w 

 placed, his tattoo of welcome can be heard a mile. It has 

 same accelerated pace, and is about the same duration as 

 call of the raccoon, and is beard only in the day, as the' i 

 coon is only heard at night. 7 ' 



Now, passing over the fact, that Mr. Whitehead i 

 dently never heard the sharp, wild cry of the rac- 

 coon, his assertions concerning the habits of the rulleil 

 grouse are most extraordinary. He must surel, 

 tained his Ideas from some rustic youth who, no do 

 directed Mr. W. to look for woodcock on the dead 

 the neighboring -forest. 



The drumming of the ruffed grouse Is not confined to the 

 breeding season, as Mr. W. would lead us to suppi 

 deed, every sportsman knows that from September on through 

 the golden autumnal days, the woods are often alive with 

 drummers, and not until the cold and storms of ■.-, 

 proach do they desist from their favorite pastime. That it ie 

 a, "love call " is all moonshine. 



The statement of our author as to the hollow iQg 



