FOREST AND STREAM. 



327 



oatoh and kill all the birds so unfortunate as to get, !n their way. The 

 young otMarcb breed in August. They twve from one to four In a 

 Utter. The ,: babies" come to the ground when two mouths old. They 

 practice a great, deal on the limbs and bodies of the tree ere they ven- 

 ture to the ground. 



The old ones often engage tn fierce combat, and tumble from th.8 

 trees locked In each other's arms. One of them "attacked a strange r 

 who begau digging up a nut lust buried by "bunnio," But they have 

 never been known to bite any one while feeding them, 



It 1b a great source of amusement here for the children to visit the 

 park and feed thesa public pets. Would it not be well for other cities 

 to follow the example of Memphis. The boxes for the squirrels coat no 

 more than tue houses built for sparrows. Arrow. 



For Fctrett and Stream ami lioii and Oun. 

 A VISIT TO A NESTING PLACE OF THE 

 WOOD IBIS.— Tautalus Loeulator. 



DURING the winter of 1S74, while on a collecting tour In Florida, 

 I encamped on the east side of Lake Harney in company with 

 two hunters. I had taught these men to make respectable skins, and 

 had interested them In a alight, degree In Natural HiBtory. Together 

 ife had made several collecting trips in the vicinity of Lake Harney, 

 atone time shooting and skinning 140 herons, of several varieties, on 

 Lake Jessup in four days. I was just preparing to depart for the 

 North, when I heard sf a large nesting place of "gaunet«,"as the 

 ' crackers " called birds which subsequently proved to be Wood Ibises 

 (Tautalu* loeulator). The nesting place was reported to be on the shores 

 of a lake of considerable size about midway between Lake Harney and 

 the Indian River. 



After many inquiries, I decided to attempt to find this breeding place. 

 We placed our boat on an ox cart, and having packed all camping uten 

 alls inside, we started off. After a tedloti3 journey over the roughest 

 of Florida roads, we reached Lake Ashby, and pitched our tent. Dis- 

 missing our team with instructions to call for us In a week, and having 

 partaken of a hasty repast, we started off in our boat. We hunted all 

 the afternoon on the shores of the lake, and although we found many 

 nests of the snake bird (Plotus aubinga), yet we not only saw no nests 

 of the wood ibis, but no birds. Early next morning saw us in our boat, 

 ready for a hard day's pull ; but as soon as we left camp I saw, on the op 

 posite shore of the lake, large numbers of white birds. Rowing there 

 our eyes were gladdened by the sight of numbers of large nests, perched 

 In the tops of lofty cypress trees. Numbers of wood ibis flew from the 

 nests at our approach. 



These trees were not on terra flrma, but were about forty yards dis- 

 tant in the water. Drawing our boat in the swamp, we separated, two 

 of ub to shoot, and the other to stay in the boat and retrieve birds 

 The birds soon came back to their roosts, and we shot all the morning 

 killing 26. The birds, although very large, are.in common with the heron 

 tribe (Ardeidm), very easy to kill. During the day we lost four birds by 

 the 'gators picking them up before the boatman could get to them. I 

 never saw 'gators so cheeky ; we struck one twice on the head with an 

 oar, and he still kept on after the bird. I finished him with a load of 

 buckshot, and found him 8 feet, 7 inches long. In three days we col- 

 lected all the wood Ibis' skins and eggs we wished. Most of the eggs 

 were hatched, and the downy little birds, with such huge bills and un 

 Bhapely heads, presented a funny sight. 



Having four days to spare, we started through a cypress swamp after 

 a white heron (Ardea egrttta) roost. I saw, in this day, more moccasin 

 snakes than I ever saw before, or will probably see again. Every tus- 

 snek of grass concealed one, and, as we were obliged to jump from one 

 firm spot to another, we stood in great danger. I was walking, or 

 rather jumping, behind one of the men, when a large moccasin sprang 

 for him, and actually tore a triangular rent in his trousers, where they 

 overhung his boots. I shot the snake's head off from between the 

 man's legs, and on measuring him, I found he was 78 inches long, his 

 fangs being % of an inch in length. I have seen thousands of mocca- 

 sin snakes in this State, but I confess this is the largest. I felt nervous 

 the rest of the day. We shot a fine fat doe on this trip, and had to lng 

 her saddle six miles— no easy job through a swamp. 



On reaching camp I had a violent chill and fever, and before I got 

 baok to Lake Harney, I had had four chills ; and that, eombined with 

 the ride of twelve miles over a road crossed and recrossed by palmetto 

 roots, bo laid me up that I was very ill, and did not enter .New York 

 Harbor till May 1. This short trip is the roughest and most disagreea- 

 ble I have ever made in pursuit of bird skins, but when it was all over 

 and I was in my home, I considered myself well repaid. 



The wood ibis (Tautahts loeulator) is, generally, a very sly bird, and 

 but few are collected. They feed on aquatic plants, and, when young, 

 are very fair eating. I also collected some fine skins of the white ibis 

 (Ibis alba). I forgot to mention that Lake Ashby abounds in fine black 

 bass, which take a spoon readily, but refuse a fly. 



If any of your readers wish to visit this unhealthy locality in pursuit 

 of the wood ibis, I will give him or them all needed directions for find- 

 ing the place, also the names of guides. Deer and turkeys are very 

 numerous. We heard the latter gobbling every morning in the swamps, 

 but the place la a hot-bed of malaria, and seems to be the home of moc- 

 casin and rattlesnakes. Wm. K. Lbktb. 



liente't Landing, Lake George, Florida. 



[We have to thank our correspondent for the above ex- 

 ' tremely interesting account. If we mistake not, the breeding 

 place which lie visited is the same of which Dr. Bryant speaks 

 in his account of the nesting habits of the wood ibis (Proc. 

 Boat. Soc. ). Is our correspondent confident about this species 

 feeding on aquatic plants ? We had always supposed that its 

 food was almost wholly animal— aquatic reptiles, fish, Crusta- 

 cea, etc., etc. Compare Audubon's account of the Bpecies, 

 aloe <(.<.- J > 



What otjr Ducks Eat. — A friend, interested in a note 

 which recently appeared in Fobkst and Stheam, entitled 

 " What the red- head ducks eat," has forwarded to us the con- 

 tents of the craiv of a pintail duck, Daflla acuta, suggesting 

 that a determination of its food may be interesting. The speci- 

 men was killed near Saybrook, Conn., Nov. 6, 1877. The 

 mass of the material sent to us consists of three species of seeds 

 together with a few minute shells. These last were mainly, 

 if not altogether, a species of Liranma, probably L. humiUs, 

 although in our first examination we thought we detected a 

 specimen of Plunorbis, which a re-examination of the material 

 failed to reveal a second time. The seeds, which were kindly 

 identified for us by Prof. D. C. Eaton, of New Haven, con- 

 sisted of a few grains of rye, a few specimens of the seed of 

 Ruppia tnariUma; Linn., a species which it will be remember- 

 ed was very abundant in the craw of the red head duck re- 



ferred to in a previous issue of Fobkst and Stream, and a 

 great quantity of the seeds of Zamuchellia palustris. Con- 

 cerning this latter plant Prof. Eaton writes us that it is "found 

 in ponds and slow streams from New England to Florida, 

 Bahamas, Utah, Europe, India, etc., though after all not a 

 very common plant. I have it from the Connecticut River, 

 near Saybrook, or rather from ditches near the river." It is 

 interesting to note that the duck from which the seeds were 

 taken was killed precisely in the locality given for the plant, 

 a fact of which Prof. Eaton was ignorant when he identified 

 the species. 



—The Forest and Stream is of course correct in its dis- 

 belief of the muddled and very erroneous paragraph which ap- 

 peared in a news column of thiB paper two weeks ago as to 

 some of our chief game-birds. The tine name of our partridge, 

 which we have so long been fainiliar with, is quail, and is 

 claimed by some to belong to the grouse family; our commonly 

 known pheasant is the ruffed grouse. It is the partridge of 

 New England, and we have more than once been bothered at 

 accounts of its food, habits, weight, etc., in the local papers 

 ef that section.— Qermantawn Telegraph, Nov. 21. 



CoLiTMBiDiB. — Greene Smith, Esq. , is especially interested 

 in the family of birds, the study of which has afforded pleas- 

 ure to 'fanciers for many generations. We are pleased to 

 print for him the following letter : 



Kinstn«ton, Cook Coukty, Ills. 

 Editor Forest and Straam : 



Sir— Please allow me, through your columns, to thank Mr, Ira A. 

 Paine for his kind presentation of a beautiful pair of blue rocks. I 

 have studied them at the trap (sometimes monrnfully), but never in 

 their wild state. His addition increases the number of species in my 

 collection of Columbidce to thirty-six. 



Respectfully yours, Grbenb Smith. 



A CAT TOLLING DUCKS. 



Baltimorb, Nov. 16, 1377. 

 Editor Fobbst and Stream: 



While on a ducking expedition a few days ago on Back River near 

 this city I witnessed something quite new to me, and I send it to you as 

 it may be new to many of your readers. On the shore of a deserted 

 house the family had left a black cat. This animal, having to depend 

 upon her natural resources for food, adopted the novel expedient of 

 toiling some ducks, and when seen by the writer was actually engaged 

 in running up and down the shore, while four canvas- backs wers com- 

 ing straight in to her ; and in a few minutes one would no doubt have 

 fallen a victim to the curiosity of the bird, but the writer trod upon a 

 stick in the effort to get'near enough for a shot, which attracted the at- 

 tention of the cat and the curtain fell. I am a ducker of twenty years' 

 standing, have heard of foxes tolling ducks by wagging their tails and 

 leaping along the shore and getting them too; have heard of ducks com- 

 ing in to a cow's tall on the shore, bat never heard of or saw a cat en- 

 gaged in the operation. If any of your readers know of anything of a 

 similar nature, I should like to hear of it through your oolumns. 



Respectfully, C, L. 0. 



QUAIL AT SEA. 



Mr. Editor: I am naturally interested in the article headed "Quail 

 at Sea," In your last issue, and should like to know more of the 

 Strange birds your Norfolk correspondent speaks of. Will he not send 

 me a specimen T The description he gives is not recognizable. It Is 

 not in the least Improbable that a non Indigenous species shouM reach 

 our shores. Europe and America have many a time exchanged 

 Stragglers of numerous species of birds. 



The gentleman who writes from Baltimore strangely misquotes ma 

 when he says that page 236 of my " Key" states that " the differences 

 between the European and American birds (quail) are hardly appre- 

 ciable.;' As I have labored many times to Impress upon the American 

 public, in these columns and elsewhere, the American Bobwhite (Ortyx 

 Virginiana) is of a different species and of a different genus, and of a 

 different sub-family, from either the European partridge (Perdti 

 dnera) or the European quail {Coturnix daetgliaonaua). What I did say 

 in the place mentioned was this: "It Is highly improbable that, as a 

 group, they (i.e., the forty or more species of Amerloan partridges) are 

 separable from all the forms of the latter (t. «., the many species o r 

 Old World partridges) by any undecided peculiarities;" meaning 

 thereby, as is clear from the context, that it is hard to draw the tech. 

 nioal line betweeh the New World and Old World species collectively, 

 not that every one of our forty kinds of partridges is not perfectly dis- 

 tinct, generloally and specifically, from any and every one of the Old 

 World forms. Tours truly, 



Hlliott Coras. 



Smitluonian Institution, Wathington, D. C. 



[Rbmaebs. — We are persuaded that the quail met at sea were 

 unquestionably the identical birds imported frdm Europe not 

 many weeks ago by Mr. Evarts, of Vermont. 



We have several important communications on this subject 

 which will appear in our next issue. — Ed. F. & S.] 



SPLIT BAMBOO RODS. 



To our customers and the public : — In reply to the damag- 

 ing reports which have been circulated respecting the quality of 

 our split bamboo rods, by " dealers " who are unable to com- 

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

 which we shall b'e pleased to mail to any address, proving the 

 falsity of their assertions. 



CONKOY, BlSSETT & MAIXBSON, 



Manufacturers, 85 Fulton Street, N. T. 



—To be true to one's self is to be true to the world. This is equally 

 true In the commercial and moral duties of life. H. T. Babbitt was 

 desirous of making a toilet eoap perfectly pnra and good, something 

 that should not cover up evil and disease under the mark of fragrance. 

 Result : his Toilet Soap, which for every exeellemce reaches about as 

 far as ehemleul art «an go.— A d it. 



THIS DEPARTMENT IS EDITED BT W. J. DAVIDSON, SEC. N. .T 

 nORTICOXTUKAL SOCIETY. 



ENGLISH NAMES OF WILD FLOWERS 

 AND PLANTS.* 



HTE 



—See advertisement of Laad-Loeked Salmon Spawn In this week's 

 iseue,— Aivt, 



(Continued. ) 

 HE medical beliefs revealed by many names are not less 

 -*- curious than their legendary associations. It was the 

 opinion of the old herbalists or simplers that God had not 

 only provided special plants as a cure for Cvery disease, bu 

 had made their curative power evident by stamping them 

 with some resemblance to the malady they were meant to 

 heal; and this faith, known to students of our older botany 

 as the "Doctrine of Signatures," lurks or reveals itself in 

 many an English name. The Lung-wort, spotted with tuber- 

 cular scars, was a heal for consumption ; the Liver-wort, 

 liver-shaped in its green fructification, was a specific for 

 bilious maladies ; the scaly pappus of the Scabious for cu- 

 taneous eruptions ; the throat-like corolla of the Throat- wort, 

 or Canterbury Bell, caused it to be administered for bron- 

 chitis ; the Saxifrage, cleaving the hard stones with its pene- 

 trating fibres, was efficient against calculus ; the Scorpion 

 grass, now known as the Forget-me-Not, whose flower-spike 

 dimly resembles a scorpion's tail, was an antidote to the sting 

 of that or other venomous "creatures ; the Moon-daisy averted 

 wonacy; the Birth-wort, Kidney- Vetch, Nipple-wort, Spleen 

 ingrt, were all appropriated, as their names suggest, aceord- 

 our to resemblances, real or fancied. The pretty Toad-flax of 

 Beli walls and hedges owes its name to a strange mistake, 

 ceiveeved to be the cure for a complaint called buboes, it rc- 

 and fid the Latin name bubonium. A confusion between bubo 

 and bufo, which is Latin for a toad, gave birth to its present 

 name ; and stories were not long wanting that sick or wound- 

 ed toads had been seen to eat of it and to recover health. 



Simniar distortions occur in non-medical names, and it jg 

 mostc urious to notice how soon a story springs up or a be- 

 lief asserts itself in confirmation of the mistaken identity. 

 The common Fumitory, which we have already noticed, re- 

 ceived its name of fume-terre, "earth smoke," from its caus- 

 ing the eyes to smart and water when applied to them, as 

 smoke does. The meaning was lost as time went on, and 

 was supplied by the belief that it was produced without seed 

 by smoke or vapor rising from the earth. Buttercup was said 

 to give color and flavor to butter, as being eaten by cows 

 when in blossom, the facts being that it is a corruption of 

 bmdon-cop, button-head, and that cows eat the grass all round 

 it, but always, if possible, avoid it. Meadow-sweet is a con 

 ruption of 3Iead-wort, honey-wine plant, a beverage being 

 still extracted from it by cottagers. Bull-rush is Pool-rush, 

 as growing in pools, not in mud ; Snap-dragon is Snout-drag- 

 on from its shape ; Marigold is Marsh- gold ; Sweet-Wiiliam is 

 millet, a Utile eye ; Pink is the lower German I'inksten, Pen- 

 tecost, from its flowering at Whitsuntide, ihe nama being 

 transferred first to the color of the flower, then lo a method 

 of working flowers on muslin, called pinking ; and so t> the 

 sword -stab in a duel, piercing or pinking an" adversary as the 

 needle pierced the cambric. Nightshade is night-scada, 

 soother or anodyne; Samphire is St. Pierre, fron itslove of 

 rocks ; Sanicle is St. Nicholas, the restorer of the three mur- 

 dered children, from its healing powers ; Poplar comes from 

 the Indian Pepul, whose leaves when varnished and painted 

 closely resemble those of the large Spanish Poplar ; Primrose 

 was anciently the Daisy ; and is called by the Chaucer Prime- 

 role, from the old French Primtverole, the first spring flower ; 

 Primerole was changed to Primrolles, then to Primrose, the 

 first Rose of spring ; and it wa3 not till the sixteenth century 

 that it attached itself to the familiar flower which now bears 

 its name. Cowslip is more strange still. It was originally 

 "hose-flap," and belonged to the Mullein, whose great ilan- 

 nelly leaf might well be likened to the flap or skirt of a wool- 

 len under-garment. Later on it was transferred to the wild 

 Primula of our meadows, and the mistake was stereotyped by 

 the unlucky botanist, who, in ignorance of its origin, gave the 

 name of Oxlin to its pretty congener, the Primula elstior 

 The Jerusalem Artichoke is a Sun-flower, not an Artichoke ; 

 but the tubers resemble the Artichoke in flavor. From its. 

 Italian name, girasole, turn to thewun, came Jerusalem ; and 

 by a further quibble the soup made of it is called Palestine 

 soup. The Forget-me-Not was originally the "Germander 

 Speedwell, ".whose blossoms, falling off and flying away as 

 soon as it is plucked, gave emblematic force to the name. It 

 was known in the days of chivalry as the "flower of souve- 

 nance," and was embroidered into the collars of the knights, a 

 fact still recalled by its German name, Bhrenpreit, Prize of 

 Honor. About 200 years ago we find the name given to the 

 Ground Pine, Ajuga Chamapitys, whose nauseous taste once 

 realized can never be forgotten. Finally it was seized upon 

 by the river-side, Myosotis, and forthwith sprung up a charm- 

 ing legend, created obviously to suit its latest identification — 

 how that while two lovers loitered by a lake, the maiden saw 

 and longed for the bright blue flowers, the knight plunged in 

 to get them, but, unable to regain the shore, had yet agility 

 enough to fling them into his lady's lap, and then, with a last 

 devoted look and the words " forget me not," sank below the 

 waves forever. 



Many names of plants contain the geography of their origin. 

 The Canterbury Bell is obvious, so is the Guelder Rose. The 

 Alexanders, a rare point round Taunton, but growing in great 

 quantities at Blue Anchor, comes from Alexandria; the Candy- 

 tuft from Candia, the Elecampane from Campania, the Me- 

 dick from Media, the Carraway from Caria, the .Walnut or 

 Welsh Nut from the north of Italy, called Walsh by the Ger- 

 mans. Peach is Persicus; Shalot, Atcaloni*u» ; Spinach, 

 Hispanicus; the Damson, rightly spelt as Damascene, tells 

 its own tale, which is less clear in the case of the Dame's or 

 Damascene Violet, a corruption extended and perpetuated, aa 

 often happens, by its Latin equivalent, matronalis. — NaMtre. 

 (To be V&ntiriwd.') 

 . — ■ ♦ . . ■ 



South CakounaCuoumbebs.— A Massachusetts gentleman 

 — not a politician— who is now residing in Columbia, S. C, 

 owns a plantation near Port Royal, of whieh he writes ts the 

 editor of this paper, privately, as follows : 



I think, as you seem to, that it is strange everybody passes 



* Lecture by Rev. W. Tuckwell before the Somerietealre AreJueq 

 logical and Natural History IB 



