FOREST AND STREAM. 



A Plka for the King Bird.— Many persons believe that 

 the king bird is a. destroyer of the honey bee, and there- 

 fore exterminate them whenever seen near the hives. If, 

 after they have slain one of these sprightly, pretty birds, 

 the will examine the. craw, they will find nothing in it in 

 the shape of bees ; but they will find the insectivorous pests 

 of the bee-hive— worms and hugs only. Expcrknta docd,. 

 Two of these birds nested close to "Eagle's Nest'' this year, 

 and I have closely watched them and their habits. As a 

 guardian to the poultry yard, the king bird has no equal. 

 1 raise a great many chickens, turkeys and ducks — geese I 

 abominate in the tame state. And hitherto the chicken 

 hawks have nearly decimated my stocks, and I have bad 

 to keep both shot-gun and rifle loaded all the time to he 

 ready to repel intruders or avenge the loss of my favorites. 

 But this year my king birds have done the work for me. No 

 sooner does a hawk appear in the vicinity than the male king- 

 bird, with a shrill cry, starts for him. lie soon reaches the 

 hawk's vicinity, and the latter, which cannot avoid its fierce 

 Deckings, is only too glad to get away into the thickest of the 

 forest without a chicken dinner. I have seen this done not less 

 than forty or fifty times within six or seven weeks. The 

 little hero follows the hawk until there is no danger of his re- 

 turn, and then comes back to have a glorification with his 

 mate on the apple tree near my cottage. Never again will I 

 pull trigger :e the gr.mohttp king bird. He is a hero among 

 heroes, and I honor his pluck; E. Z. 0. Judson. 



Eagles Jfesl, July 5, 1877. 



_ >~— •- — • 



A. MtrsDEEOTia Sea Flower. — One of the exquisite wonders 

 of the sea is called the opelet, and is about as large as the Ger- 

 man aster, looking indeed very much like one. Imagine a 

 very large double aster, with numerous long petals of a light 

 green, glossy as satin, each tipped with rose color. These 

 lovely petals do not lie quietly in their places like those of the 

 aster in our gardens, but, wave about in the water, while the. 

 opelet clings to a rock. How innocent and lovely on a rocky 

 bed. Who would suspect it could eat anything grosser than 

 dew or sunlight? But those beautiful waving arms, as you 

 call them, have another use besides looking pretty. They 

 have to provide food for a large open mouth which is hidden 

 deep down among them, so well hidden that one could scarce- 

 ly find it. Well do they perform their duty, for the instant 

 a foolish little fish touches one of the rosy tips he is struck 

 with poison as fatal to him a torpedo blast. He immediately 

 becomes numb, and in a moment stops struggling, when those 

 beautiful arms wrap themselves around him and he is drawn 

 into the huge greedy mouth and is seen no more. Then the 

 lovely T arms uuclose and wave again in the water, looking as 

 innocent and harmless as though they had never touched a 

 fish. Oscar Spitzeb. 



—A correspondent of the Nashville Rural Sun describes a 

 woodchuck recently' captured near Pinewood, Tenn. " The 

 wo lower front teeth are two inches long, and protruded out- 

 side, and pressed against the nose when the mouth Avas closed. 

 One of the upper ones had curved inward and formed an al- 

 most perfect ring, the point entering the roof of the mouth 

 and piercing the skull just back of the root of the tooth, 

 where it lapped it, completing the circle, which is one and a 

 quarter inches in diameter. The upper tooth had a similar 

 curve, but came in contact with one of the lower ones, by 

 which it was ground off one inch from the base. The animal 

 was much emaciated, having sustained itself under difficul 

 ties." 



Instances of this nature are not infrequent. The teeth of 

 all rodents have a constant lateral growth, requiring constant 

 grinding to keep them of the proper length. When, by mal- 

 formation or accident, the teeth are so misplaced that they 

 cannot be ground down, they grow to great length, protrude 

 from the mouth, and assume many curious shapes. Often, as in 

 the case here described, they ultimately cause starvation, and 

 gain for the victim a happy reward of dusty immortality upon 

 the shelves o| natural history museums. 



Back Between a Pigeon and a Locomotive.— The French 

 police the other day wished to forward as quickly as possible 

 an important document from Dover to London, a distance of 

 seventy-six and one-half miles by the railroad, and seventy 

 miles as the crow flies. It was determined to make a trial of 

 speed between a carrier pigeon and the "Continental Mail 

 Express. •' The police secured a " Belgian voyageur " and the 

 railroad company selected their fastest eugine. The pigeon and 

 the train were started at the same moment. The birdLiruinedi- 

 ately rose* to a great altitude, for a minute or two circled 

 about, and then took a straight course for London. By this 

 time the train was at full speed, going at the rate of sixty 

 miles per hour— a mile tor every minute. The delay of the 

 bird had given the train officials confidence in their own suc- 

 cess. But high above them, swept on by the west wind, and 

 guided by its wonderful_ instinct, the little messenger kept its 

 course, and when the train reached Cannon street, London the 

 pigeon had been there twenty minutes— a time allowance of 

 eighteen miles. 



.«. 



Penguins at Teistan D'Aounha.— An observant writer 

 who has devoted a good deal of attention to that most peculiar 

 specimen of the natatores, the penguin, thus describes the un- 

 gainly movements of a flock after reaching the shore from a 

 dip in the heaving billows : The moving water approaches the 

 shore in a wedge shape, and with great rapidity, a band of 

 perhaps from three to four hundred penguins scramble out 

 upon the stones, at once exchanging the vigorous and grace- 

 ful movements and attitudes for which they are so remark- 

 able while in the water for helpless and ungainly ones 

 tumbling over thestones, and apparently, with difficulty assum- 

 ing their normal position upright on their feet, which are set 

 far back, and with their flu-like wings hanging in a useless 

 kind of way at their sides. When they have got fairly out of 

 water, beyond the reach of the surf, they stand together 

 few tes drying and dressing themselves and talking 



loudly.apparenfly congratulating themselves on their safe land- 

 tug, and then they scramble in a, body over the stony beach- 

 many falling and "picking themselves up again with I he help 

 of their flappers on the way— and make straight for one partic- 

 ular gangway into the scrubs, along which they they waddle 

 in regular order up to the rookery. " In the meantime a party 

 of about equal number appear from the rookery at the end of 

 another of the paths. When they get out, of the grass on to 

 the beach, they all stop and talk ana look about them, some- 

 times for throe or four minutes. They then with one consent 

 scuttle down over the stones into the water, and long 

 lines of ripple radiating from their place of departure are the 

 only indications that the birds are speeding out to sea. The 

 tussock-brake, which in Inaccessible Island is perhaps four or 

 five acres in extent, was alive with penguins breeding. The 

 nests are built of the stem and leaves of the Plmlaris, in the 

 spaces between the tussocks. They' are two or three inches 

 high, with a slight depression for the eggs, and about a foot in 

 diameter. The gangways between the tussocks, and which 

 penguins are constantly passing, are wet and slushy, and the 

 tangled grass, the strong anuuontacal smell, aud the deafening 

 noise continually penetrated by loud Separate sounds which 

 have a startling 'resemblance to the human voice, made a walk 

 through the rookery neither easy nor pleasant. 



A.Dastajrdt,y Outrage.— Friday evening we enjoyed a visit 

 to the New York Aquarium, at which time a few of the in- 

 habitants of the salt water tanks were in a torpid condition, 

 refusing food, etc.; on the following days, Saturday and Sun- 

 day, the number of invalids among the finny tribes increased, 

 until on Monday morning the watchman in charge reported 

 that hundreds of fish were floating on the surface dead, the 

 tanks being almost completely depopulated. During the 

 warm weather the windows on the side of the building toward 

 Thirty-fifth street have been kept open to admit a free circula- 

 tion of air, and it is conjectured that poison was thrown through 

 these opeu windows. The work was evidently performed by 

 one familiar with the Aquarium, and the system of circulation 

 and supply of salt water. In addition to the loss of a large 

 amount of money entailed by this wholesale poisoning, it is 

 feared that it will be almost impossible to replace some of the 

 rare species. Among the dead are fifteen valuable sharks, 

 herring and sturgeon. Some time ago two fine and rare sea 

 otters, that had been procured at great expense, died in the 

 Aquarium, having been poisoned by some one unknown. The 

 carcasses were dissected by Dr, Weisse, of Twenty-second 

 street, who found the poison, |which proved to have been, 

 then as now, carbonate of lead. 



Lion Trainers. — Van Amburgh was one of the most re- 

 markable of lion kings. Perfectly fearless, he was constantly 

 jn danger; yet notwithstanding the fact that the newspapers 

 reported him killed over and over again, he died quietly in his 

 bed at last. During his career, menagerie keepers and circus 

 proprietors sought about for lion kings wherever they could 

 find them ; and as a demand usually creates a supply, so was 

 it in this instance. Heroes sprang up in various obscure 

 corners, each tempted by the high salary offered. A solatium 

 of ten or fifteen pounds a week is no trifle to a man in a hum- 

 ble station. Crockett, who attained considerable celebrity in 

 this branch of business, won fame not only by his perform- 

 ance before the public, but by an exercise of great courage at 

 a perilous moment. One night the lions got loose. Crockett, 

 to whose- lodgings a messenger was quickly dispatched, came 

 and hastened into the areua. The lions were roaming about 

 the auditorium, and bad just killed one of the grooms. 

 Crockett went among them, aud with only a switch in his 

 hand drove or enticed them into their cage without receiving 

 a scratch. The rumor of this bold and successful achieve- 

 ment brought him offers of an augmentation of salary. A 

 negro sailor, who called himself Macomo, the Africa lion Icing, 

 also gained a reputation for bravery. He appears to have 

 been a daring fellow, well adapted for' the work he undertook. 

 On one occasion an unusually savage tiger, newly purchased, 

 was put into a cage already tenanted by another tiger. The 

 animals began to light furiously. Macomo, armed only with 

 a small riding whip, entered the cage; both tigers turned 

 fiercely 7 upon him and lacerated him severely ; but, covered 

 with blood as he was, he continued to whip them into submis- 

 sion. Not for one instant did he keep his eyes off of them, 

 and they knew it. Macomo had other narrow escapes, but 

 like most of lion kings he died quietly in his bed at last. — Ex. 



Curious Antlees, Tiffin, 0., July 8, 1877.— "Buck-Shot" 

 says : 1 have in my possession a buck horn that is quite 

 different from any 1 ever saw: instead of a single 

 spike coming out of the antler next to the head 

 there are two distinct spikes or prongs. Instead of five 

 prongs, it has six. Father killed the deer about forty years 

 ago. He says the deer was short-legged, thick bodied, and 

 weighed about two hundred pounds. If any of the old hunters 

 have ever killed any like it, 1 should like to hear from them. 



[Deer horns vary almost indefinitely in form and number of 

 prongs. We have seen horns of the mule deer (G. macrotis) 

 which might have been taken for those of the red deer 

 (C. virffinianus), although ordinarily the shape of the horns in 

 the two species is very distinct. Specific distinctions based 

 on the horns alone are in the deer apt to be of doubtful value. 

 — En.] 



THE FAUNA OF MICHIGAN. 



The Cuokoo. — Here is the Danish reason why the cuckoo 

 builds no nest of her own. Wnen in the early spring time the 

 voice of the cuckoo is first heard in the woods, ever3 r village 

 girl kisses her hand and asks the question, "Cuckoo, cuckoo, 

 when shall I be married?" And the old folks, borne down 

 with age and rheumatism, inquire, "When shall I be released 

 from this world's cares?" The bird, in answer, continued singing 

 |' Cuckoo!" as many times as years will elapse before the ob- 

 ject of their desires wilt come to pass. But as some people 

 live fai an advunced age, and many girls die old maids, the 

 poor bird has so much to do in answering the questions put to 

 her, that the building season goes by ; she has no time to 

 make her nest, but lays her eggs in that of the hedge-sparrow. 

 — Ex. 



BY ARCHFK. 

 (Continued). 



CLASH KF.l'TILIA. 



(Adopted from Prof. Miles' report as State Zoologist.) 



ORDER TESTUDINATA. 

 FAMILY TBIONYCHID^E. 



A vu/Ja mutka. Fitz. Confined to northern pare of State. 



v«,rt;te S ; l ;,»/f,-.A)r. Soft-shelled Turtle. "CoffflHed ro southern 

 half of Lower Peninsula."— Miles. 



FAMILY CnKLYDROLDJE. 



Chelydra serpenlini. Sotiw. Snapping Turtle. 



FAMILY CWOSTBKNOIDJB. 



Oznlhmi mhvrnta. Ag. Questionable. 



TUyrusterimm. Pennsylvanicuin. Ag. Musk Turtlis. 

 family emydoid.f,. 



Graptemys geographica. Ag. 



Grate.rnys le suraurii. Ag. 



Chrysemyn ruargmata. Ag. "The most abundant Bpeele3 in the State.' 

 -Miles. 



Hmys meleagris. Ag. 



Xanemys guttata. Ag. "Several specimens nave been found whio 

 agree perfectly with those from Massachusetts, the only differenc 

 noticed being the darker color or the plastron in the in the Miehiga 

 specimens."— Miles. 



ORDER OFIIIi.M. 

 FAMILY OKOTALili.-K 



Crotaphalorus t&rgemiwus. Holb. Massasnugua. 



FAMILY C0I.llIi1tII).'E. 



Entcenia saurita. B. and G. Striped Snake. Bare. 



Jinlamia sirtatis. B. and G. Garter Snake. 



JS'erodia sipedon. B. and G. Water Snake. 



Js'erndia agassizii. B, and G. 



pL-jlna lebvrL*. B. and G. Striped Water Snake. 



Hcterodon platyrkinos. Latr. Blowing Viper. 



Scolophia vulpitms. B. and G. "This species ia abundant in the 

 Saginaws," according to Professor Miles, and though perfectly harm- 

 less, is much dreaded by the inhabitants, who believe otherwise. Prof 

 Miles also says the Blowing Viper is extremely rare, so far he knows 

 and gives it in his list on the authority of Prof. Sager. When |t' 

 attended school in Flint, Genessee County, Mich., in 1860, they were 

 not uncommon in that neighborhood, as plenty of my school-mates who 

 used to go out "snaking" with me can testify. At one time three were 

 obtained in a single afternoon near the asylum. — A, 



Ojihibolus eximius. B. and G. Milk Snake. 



Bascanicm constrictor. B. and G. Black Snake. 



Baseanion foxii. B. and G. 



Diadophis punetatus. B. and G. King-necked Snake. 



Chlorosoma vernalis. B. and G. Green snake. 



Storeria De liayi. B. and G. 



Storeria Oaipitu-Maculata. B. and G. 



CLASS BATKACHIA. 



ORDER AMNA. 

 FAMILY BUFONIILB. 



Sufo americanus. Le Conte. 



FAMILY HYLAD^fi. 



Acris crepitans. Bd. 



Hyla versicolor. Le Conte. 



Hyla picker'mgii. Hall. 



Heloccetes triseriatus . Bd. Authority of Prof. Batrd. 



FAMILY RANID.S. 



Bana catesbiana. Shaw. Bull Frog. 

 liwiia Jon/iiialis. Le Conte. Spring Frog. 

 Bana pipiens. Gmel. Shad Frog. 

 Rama pa'litsirisi Le Conte. Pickerel Frog. 

 Bana syloiaLica. Wood Frog. 



ORDER URODELA. 

 ATRETODERA. 

 FAMILY AMBYSTOMIDJS. 

 Ambystwma %>UMtatwm. Bd. 

 Ambystoina luridwm. Bd. 



Ambt/uiouia laterals. Hall. An immature specimen from Saginaw 

 Bay is referred to this species by Miles. 

 IHemyctt/lus winiatus. Bab. 

 Diemyctylus vindescens. Bab. 



FAMILY PLBTHODONTIDiE. 



Pletlwdon erythronota. Bd. Common as far north as Lake Superior. 



Plethodon cinerius. 



Necturwt laterdles, Bd. 

 A'ecturus maculatus. Bd, 



TREMADOTEKA. 



Arrivals at Philadelphia Zoological Garden during week end- 

 ing Tuesday, July 21 — One woodchuck, Arclumys wonux, presented ; 

 one Virginia deer, C»rem viryinianua ,- one white ibis, Ibis alba., pur- 

 chased; three striped lizards C. 80a; lunutus, presented; one brown 

 lizard, E. fasciatus, presented; three chameleons, A. principalis, pre- 

 sented; thirteen gray lizards, 8. undulatus, presented; one pig-tail 

 Macaque monkey M. minislrinus, born in garden; one green heron, 

 Ardea curiscens, presented; one moccasin, A. pesceveris, purchased. 

 Arthur E. Brown, Gen'i Supt. 

 . — *»., — i 



Animals PlKCkived at Central Park Menagem 

 Aug 4— One squirrel, Seiurius ,-a miliums is, present 

 N. Y. City. Oue ring dove, Turtwr risorius, presen 

 bert, N. Y. City. One gaunet, Lula bamma, pi 



FOR WEEK ENDINfi 



d by Mv.X>. Sobtt, 



3d by Miss. Lani- 



'seuted by Kev. J. How- 



*, present- 



sexcincius. 



ard Hand, Southampton, L. I. One robin, Turdu: 



ed by Mrs. Makiu, N.Y. City. Two armadiiioes, Dasypi, 



One Zebra, Bos indicus, bred in the Menagerie. 



W. A. Conklin, Director. 

 ■«■ — « 



Stray Albatross. — "Our Harry," of Kingston, N. Y. 

 writes that an albatross, or great, gull, as it is sometimes called' 

 was caught on Saugerties Flats, July 18. It proved to be a 

 young bird, weighing six pounds four ounces. It is seldom 

 that these birds are found so far from the sea. 



** — The Social Science Association holds its annual mei 

 this year at Saratoga. The opening session is appointed f t 

 September 4. 



SPLIT BAMBOO RODS. 



To Our Customers and the Public ■. In reply to the dama-dn" 

 reports which have been circulated respecting the quality of 

 our spht bamboo rods, by "dealers" who are unable to compete 

 with us at our reduced prices, we have issued a circular which 

 we shall be pleased to mad to any address, proving the falsity 

 of their assertions. 



CONBOT, BlSSETT & MaXLESON, 



— [Adv. Manufacturers, 65 Fulton Street, Sf, y. 



