246 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A FEW WORDS CONCERNING RUFFED 

 GROUSE. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



'• Ho who shooteth the ruffed grouse on the wing is greater than lie 

 who taketh a city 1" So says a friend of mine ; and so, doubtless, he is 

 greater than he who taketh a city by bringing to bear on it a photo- 

 graphic camera ; for this anyone of ordinary capacity, can be taught to 

 do. wlille the crack shot (and he only, can, with any certainty, bring 

 the swift-winged grouse to earth) is, as we are told by J. Cypress, Jr., 

 " the work of God." 



For myself, I am free to acknowledge that when I have, more by good 

 fortune than skill, accomplished this feat handsomely, I feel puffed up 

 with self-satistici.on to about the size of an elephant. I would that I 

 might oftener feel this comfortable inflation, but alas, perhars the next 

 half-dozen glorious opportunities are missed, and then I shrink to more 

 than normal attenuation. 



He it a hard fellow to bring down, and is admitted to be, by all, and 

 by most sportsmen, the most difficult of all our birds, though Frank 

 Forester says that " he hangs heavily at first on the air (!) (see "Man- 

 ual," page 3^6), and is far from requiring an unusually hard blow to bring 

 him." 



U First and last I suppose I have flushed a thousand or more of these 

 birds, as what wood-ranging New Englander has not, and never one 

 among them all that started in good earnest but went off like a rocket. 

 Sometimes, though very rarely, they seem scarcely alarmed, and fly hes- 

 taiingly, as if look! ng for a good place to alight, which they soon do in 

 such cases, if not taking more fright. 8uch a ruffed grouse as figures 

 in the frontispiece of vol. 1 of " Field Sports" might, indeed, hang heav- 

 ly, for the poorfeilow has no wings. 

 Ab for their being easily killed.my experience has led me to a contrary 

 opinion. Some fresh instances of their tenacity of life have come to my 

 knowledge this season. Barly in October I took a snap shot at one fly- 

 ing across me and saw him fall. Going to pick him up I found him flut- 

 tering along in just the opposite direction from that in which he was 

 flying when shot, and so rapidly that lie led me a chase of twenty rods 

 or more before I caught him, and apparently had still a good deal of life 

 in him. Yet there were three No. 8 shot through his neck and four in 

 his body. Another shot at, not many days since, while flying from 

 me behind a low tree, and at first supposed to have been missed, was 

 found hiding by an old hound that was with us (for we were fox hunt- 

 ing), and though he had five or six No. 6 shot in his body and a broken 

 wing to boot, had lots of running power left in him. Several like cases 

 have occurred in the shooting of my companion and myself this fall and 

 I have no doubt that in shooting without a dog very many shots that 

 eventually kill are considered misses, to the shooter's great self-dis- 

 gast. 



I remember shooting at one last year, that was Tunning among some 

 hazel bushes, and with intense chagrin saw him go whirring away 

 through the branches as if he had been nred from a mortar, and appar- 

 ently unhurt. I could not believe that I had quite missed him, and the 

 feathers found where he was when shot at proved that I had not ; so, 

 taking heart, I followed up his line of flight for twenty rods or more, 

 and then gave it up. Retracing my steps half ih^ distance, St. Hubert, 

 or Bome k:ndly Bpirit of the woods, led me to diverge a few steps at 

 right angles with my course, and lol there lay my bird on his back 

 stone dead, 



Inever have seen a " king partridge," nor had ever heard or read of 

 one till Penobscot's entertaining articie appeared In your columns. 

 It would be interesting to know whether these singular birds were 

 found only in primeval forests, or sometimes in the woodlands of old- 

 settled countries. It is well known that birds and beasts change their 

 habits as their haunts become circumscribed or altered by the encroah- 

 nients of civilization ; and this may be a case in point. 



I used so repeatedly, year after year in the fall, to see raffed grouse 

 In such unaccustomed places out of the woods, that I came to think 

 this periodical desertion of its usual haunts a habit of the bird, and in 

 a series of articles on " Game Birds " for the Mural A r ew Yorker, & tew 

 years ago, if I may be allowed to qnote myself, wrote of it as follows: 

 "There is a habit of this bird, so common here that I cannot think it 

 peculiar to this region, and yet it is so noticeable, that if it is not so, I 

 wonder I have never seen mention made of it. Here, in autumn, about 

 the time of the falling of the leaf, many individuals of this species are 

 often seen a long distance from the woods they inhabit, and close about 

 dwellings. I have frequently flushed them within a few rods of our 

 house, and once started one from a wagon box under the shed, and saw 

 another in a barn, and one of our hired men actually saught one in the 

 hog-pen. Another was seen outhe stoop, and one morning, as we were 

 eating breakfast, another came close under the window near which the 

 table stood ; all these, at least, were a mile from any woods which 

 these birds haunt. The theory of an old hunter, that they w c re fright- 

 ened from the woods by the falling of the leaves, seems as reasonable 

 an explanation of this curious fact, as any that I have ever heard 

 advanced." 



Sat, late years, the perverse birds have not borne out my statement 

 concerning them in this respect, for I have not seen one under such cir- 

 cumstances for half a dozen years. It is greatly to be wished that 

 Bucii of the thousands of intelligent readers of Forest and Stream, 

 as nave had an opportunity of observing this bird, would communicate 

 the facts noted respecting this freak, and the " king partridge " matter. 

 It seems late in the day to have to contradict the old-time and en- 

 tirely false notion, that the ruffed grouse produces the sound known 

 as " drumming," by beating a hollow log with his wings! How long 

 would the wing-feathers endure such vigorous thumping, repeated, in 

 the wooing season, perhaps fifty or a hundred times a day for many 

 daysy And if the amount of noise produced depended on the reson- 

 ance of the standing-place of the bird, his performance must needs be 

 an unsatisfactory one to him, when sandingon a rock. True, he sel- 

 dom chooses such a place, but Penobscot is a witness that he sometimes 

 does, as am I, and doubtless many others. Logs are certainly his fa- 

 vorii e and usual drumming places, though I should say.'not oftener hol- 

 low logs than those which are not so. The attachment, of the grouse to 

 a particular log explains why prostrate pines are oftenest chosen, they 

 withstanding decay the longest. The writer just mentioned gives an 

 excellent explanation of the fall drumming, which every one who has 

 been much in the haunts of the grouse during that season must have 

 he-trd.in warm, still days in October and November. 



That companies of grouse will sometimes allow themselves to be shot 

 from a tree, one after another, if they are shot in succession from the 

 lowest upward, is pretty well established by the testimony of a multi- 

 tude of witnesses, though a high authority in sporting matters pro- 

 nounces the statement "fabulous and ridiculous." Only a few days 

 ago a friend of mine, whose word I do not doubt, told me of so shooting 

 three f rem a tree on an Adirondack river, down whic he and his com- 

 panion were boating. 



Whether it is fair and sportsman-like to shoot these birds sitting, 

 When the opportunity offers, seems to be an unsettled point, though I 

 apprehend that very few sportsmen let go such chances. For my art. 

 I must confess that I cannot see wherein it is more unsportsman-like 

 to shoot him sitting than to pour a murderous volley into an unsus- 

 pectinj: flock of ducts as they sit In a huddle on the water. Certainly 

 it requires no less skill lo do th« first than the last. Awahsoosb. 



Ji'trriit6urijh, V 



Flies.— Recently Dr. Leidy imparted some interesting facts 

 in regard to flies. On a visit lo Easton during the season of 

 harvesting the wheat, Dr. Leidy writes : 



I noticed that the wheat in the vicinity had been attacked 

 by the Hessian Fly. The insect was then in the semi-pupa or 

 so-called "flax-seed state," and occupied the stalks within the 

 leaf-sheathes, a fyw inches above the ground. In this posi- 

 tion, when several insects are together, they so weaken the 

 stem that it frequently breaks down. From this cause, in one 

 large field many stalks with nearly ripe heads were ob- 

 served to be prostrate ; probably to an extent of one-third of 

 the crop. As the insects at harvest time occupy the lower 

 part of the stalks, they are left in the stubble and may be 

 destroyed by burning this. In regard to the house-fly, it is 

 reputed to deposit its eggs in the refuse of stables, in which 

 the insect passes the earlier stages of its life. In the mature 

 or winged condition it seeks our houses. In this state flies 

 are probably not long lived, but appear and visit us in succes 

 sive swarms. It is not the house-fly which bites, but one of 

 another genus, though closely resembling the former. House- 

 flies are not merely annoying creatures and useful as scaven- 

 gers ; they are filthy feeders, and probably often the agents of 

 communicating diseases. During the late civil war I ob- 

 served healthy soldiers, with trifling wonnds, die of hospital 

 gangrene, which I believe was commuuicated through the 

 agency of the house-fly. On one occasion, visiting a friend, 

 I observed some toad-stools of a peculiar kind growing on 

 efuse shavings thrown from an ice-house. The toad-stool ' 

 were covered with a glairy liquid, emitting a strong odor, and 

 containing the spores or reproductive germs of the fungus. 

 Noticing a great many house-flies sipping the liquid I eaughl 

 some. While holding the flies they would exude from the 

 proboscis minute drops of the liquid ; and this, on examina- 

 tion with the microscope, wa9 found to be full of the fungus 

 spores. This instance we'll exemplifies the manner in winch 

 the house-fly may carry materials from one place to another. 

 Thus matters may be conveyed to our food which ordinarily 

 do no harm, but which may prove to be poison if communi- 

 cated to a wound or introduced into the blood. As the house- 

 fly passes its earlier stages of life in the midst of stable refuse, 

 we would perhaps be troubled with it less if the refuse was 

 kept in a dry state or covered with earth. During the preva- 

 lence of cholera I remember hearing persons say that the flies 

 died of it, but I found that the affection of the fly was a com- 

 mon fungus (not foreign) disease." 



Woodland, $<mn nnd §mden. 



THIS DEPARTMENT 18 EDITED BY W. J. DAVIDSON, BEO. N. Y. 

 HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



DECEMBER. 



And after him came next the chill December; 



Yet he, through merry feasting which he made, i( 



And great bon-flres, did not the cold remember ; at 



His Savior's birthe his mind so much did glad. j„ 



Upon a shaggy-bearded goat he rode, 

 The same wherewith Don love in tender years. 



They say, was nounsht by th' Icean Mayd ; 51 



And in his hand a broad, deep bowl he beares, 

 Of which he freely drinks an health lo all his peeres. 



_ — Spbnobk. 



THE EARLY ROMAN HYACINTH. 



A Remarkable Combination. — In a paper recently read 

 before the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Prof. 

 Gill and Dr. Bransford give the results of their investigations 

 of the fish fauna of Lake Nicaragua. These results are most 

 curious and interesting, for, although this lake is perfectly 

 fresh, and abound? in characteristic fresh-water types, these 

 savans find associated with them marine forms equally charac- 

 teristic. Among these marine forms are a species of tarpum 

 (Jdegalvpi), a shark and a saw-fish. As remarked by Nature, 

 a similar combination occurs in the Philippines, where in a 

 fresh-water lake a sawfish and a dogfish are found. The Me 

 galops, however, is not known elsewhere in water so isolated 

 from the sea. Of course the probable explanation of the oc- 

 currence of such forms is, that these salt water fishes were de- 

 tained in arms of the sea, which by some convulsion of nature 

 were cut off from the ocean and gradually became fresh-water 

 lakes. We notice that recently Prof. Marsh, of Yale, has de- 

 scribed a ray, which is a truly marine fish, from the fresh- 

 water deposits of the Rocky Mountain Eocene. A case clearly 

 in point. 



Honors to Darwin, — The University of England has con- 

 ferred upon Darwin the degree of Doctor of Civil Laws. The 

 event is memorable, both as a well merited, though tardy 

 recognition of the great scientist's work, and also as a victory 

 for the anti-clerical party of the university. Notwithstanding 

 Mr. Darwin's illustrious rank in the scientific world, the cleri 

 ical power in the governing bodies of both Cambridge and 

 Oxford has hitherto barred the due acknowledgement of his 

 work. The New York Herald says : 



Mr. Darwin's friends presented themselves in great force, 

 determined that the moral effect of a large representation of 

 scientific and literary men present in the interest of the hereto- 

 fore-neglected scientist should not be wanting. Undergradu- 

 ates thronged the galleries of the great hall, and the desire to 

 see the savant of Down was universal. 



The undergraduates indulged in the usual license of such 

 occasions, and at a critical moment in the proceedings an ef- 

 figy of a monkey robed in an undergraduate's gown was low- 

 ered into the middle of the hall from the most prominent 

 point in the gallery. This effigy bore a legend in large letters, 

 " The Missing Link." Notwithstanding all this chaffing and 

 laughing, there was much sincere enthusiasm. 

 . ■», - 



Corrections. — In the list of plants valuable for fish ponds, 

 published in our last issue, were several errors, which will be 

 found corrected in the following list : 



Zamichellia palustris, Phnigmites communis, Glyccria Cana- 

 densis, G. eloLtgsita, G. acutiflora, G. fluitans, and G. aquatica; 

 Bpariina cynoslfyoides, and S. stricta, var. glabra; Calama- 

 grostis Canadensis; Zizauia aquatica, Carex comosa, C. 

 crinita, and pseudo-eypenis; Bcitpos polyphyllus, and S. 

 eriophorum ; Neaaea yerlioillata, Polygonum arnphibium, and 

 P. Pennsylvanicum. The Horned Pond should have been 

 called a Naiad, not a Naiadly. 



r- pHIS charming early flowering variety, so dwarf and free, 

 J- and bearing such chaste, delicately-scented white 

 flowers, is now largely imported from France, Holland and 

 Belgium for forcing purposes. Owing to the increasing yearly 

 demand for it, it has been quite scarce this season, and an en- 

 hanced price has been the result. This will scarcely affact its 

 growth, however, for market, Mr. Murkland, of Messrs. 

 Young & Elliott, 12 Cortlandt street, informing us that their 

 sales this season have been larger than ever, they not being 

 able to supply the demand witli a stock of over 100,000 bulbs. 

 It is much admired by the ladies for its chasteness aud 

 fragrance, and is so useful to the florist, being devoid of all 

 stiffness. It can be used with effect in any design that any 

 one taking notice of their various stores cannot fail from the 

 first of November until May to see them displayed in large 

 quantities in their windows. It can be forced with great 

 rapidity, and the bulbs, though not nearly so large as those of 

 our ordinary hyacinths, each produce several spikes of flowerp. 

 There is a blue form of this, sometimes called Parisian 

 Hyacinth, that is a little later in blooming, but is also very 

 useful. Even when there i3no artificial heat, a few of these early 

 flowering hyacinths can be had in bloom some time before the 

 ordinary hyacinths, even when planted at the same time. A 

 rather pretty way to grow them is to take a six-inch pot or 

 even a soup plate, and placing one ordinary hyacinth bulb in 

 the centre, surround it with five to eight Roman Hyacinths 

 using moss instead of soil, and placing it in the dark til) well 

 started into growth. These latter will come into bloom be- 

 fore the centre bulb make3 much growth, when they can be 

 cut out, and a few ferns or selaginellas put in their place. 

 The centre hyacinth will have space enough to grow, and will 

 flower as finely as if there had not been an extra crop grown 

 in the same pot. As a matter of course, the soil ought to be 

 good, and it is well to apply a little weak manure water, or 

 sulphate of ammonia in water to the late variety. It mailers 

 not what care may be taken of the bulbs of the early Roman 

 Hyacinth, or how scrupulously they may be preserved, they 

 scarcely ever dower the second year, as imported bulbs do. 



BRUNSVIGIA. 



—Mr. Ernest Ingersoll tells us that he would like to ex- 

 change pamphlets upon zoological topics, of which he has a 

 large quantity of duplicates, for lnnd and fresh water shells 

 (snails, etc.), from any part of the country. His address is 

 No. Sol York St., Jersey City, New Jersey. 



—The endorsements of chemists and physicians can sometimes be 

 bought. But simple truth hnally prevails. Therefore B, T. BHbhitPs 

 Toilet Soap learB no rival. People are had lug out that this new toilet 

 soap is absolutely the perfect superlative in saponaceous comparison. 

 It doesn't take long to be convinced of this fact, as manufacturers of 

 scented soaps are discovering. Its purity and excellence will \i% sure 

 to win the day.— [jt«>. 



MR. PETER HANSON, of South Brooklyn, has again 

 placed us under obligaiions to him for a most remark- 

 able cross between Brunsvigta Josephiniana and Amaryllis 

 Belladonna. This specimen (the first of four seedlings, all dis- 

 tinct in character, that has flowered) bears the habit of both 

 parents very distinctly, and although not so pretty as either 

 of the parents, it is quite a botanical curiosity ; as it is often 

 said that Brunsvigias will not, or very rarely, cross with any 

 other Ainaryllids. The color of this seedling is a fine dark 

 pink, something like a well-grown A. Belladonna major — per- 

 haps darker yet ; the shape of the flowers resembles more that 

 of Brunsvigia. The bulb, now some seven or eight years old, 

 flowered for the first time this season, while the seedlings of 

 A Bslladonna crossed at the same time, flowered over two 

 years ago. Tha flower scape, some eighteen inches high, 

 bore an umbel- like flower with eight flowers, and, although 

 they do not open very wide, the wavy appearance of their 

 petals and their distinct character will be of great interest to 

 all lovers of bulbous plants, and will even attract the attention 

 of botanical students. The effect of this variety will undoubt- 

 edly increase with age, as with the increasing size of the bull) 

 the number of flowers will be larger, and most likely will come 

 to greater perfection. 



The Rev. AVilliam Herbert, our great author on Bulbom 

 Plant says: "All Brunsvigias have a cartilaginous margin 

 and broad, recumbent leaves, but if it is, as I believe it to 

 be, distinct from Amaryllis, the distinguishing features are, the 

 triangular capsule, which is almost winged and diaphanous, 

 and the petaline filaments not adhering' to the petals. B. 

 Josephiniana ha3 bred with Amaryllis Blanda (belladonna), 

 but disagreed with B. Multifiora in the insertion of its fila- 

 ments, and in that point as well as its tube and germen I saw 

 that it nearly agreed with blanda, but I was deterred by tha 

 curvature of its corolla from removing it from ihe genus where 

 it had been placed. * * * I therefore wish all who hava 

 flowering Brunsvigias to try if they can obtain a cross between 

 them and A. Belladonna." That Mr. Hanson haB been sue* 

 ce-slul in both crosses cannot be gainsaid ; the cro»3 with A. 

 Belladonna for the parentis undoubtedly the most striking 

 and beautiful, bearing last season aixte«n beautiful pink 

 flowers on one spike, -while the cross with Brucavigla tat ta« 

 parent is the greater botanical cutiosiiy, 



