ning-like rapidity with ■which they dash through the water to 

 seize the fish thrown to them by their keeper, all combine to 

 make them among the most attractive of the inhabitants of 

 the garden. They live wholly on fish, a nearly grown male 

 consuming about fifteen pounds a day. FiBh up to the size of 

 five or six pounds will be swallowed whole at a gulp. When 

 one of greater size is given to them, it is curious to see it 

 seized in the jaws and flapped violently from side to side on 

 the surface of the water or against a rock until it is broken 

 into pieces small enough to be swallowed. The bones of the 

 fish are readily digested and removed when the digestive ap- 

 paratus is in working order. The writer, however, some time 

 since, in dissecting a seal which had been sick and had not 

 eaten for some days before its death, found in its stomach a 

 double handful of herring bones apparently uninjured. 



This species appears to be more docile in disposition than 

 the sea lion. Much, however, depends upon the individual, 

 occasionally the males being savage and disposed to bite with- 

 out any provocation. 



The proportions of the skull in this species are somewhat 

 narrower and lighter than in Ewmetopias ; the muzzle is more 

 abruptly truncated in front and the sagittal crest is much 

 higher, giving to the head a more rounded outline. 



The dentition is the same, but the molars are all closely ap- 

 proximated, the spaces between the two hind pairs in the up- 

 per jaw being wanting. 



The corresponding species of the southern seas (Zalophus 

 lobatus) differs little from its northern congener — more in geo- 

 graphical distribution than in any thing else. It is mainly 

 confined to the Australasian seas. Zalophus, as well as Eumeto- 

 pias and Otaria, is found on both sides of the Pacific, north 

 along the Japanese Islands and to the south in New Zealand 

 and Australia, thus completing the analogy of the distribution 

 of these seals in the opposing hemispheres. 



The second group, Phocidm, is much more generally dis- 

 tributed over the waters of the globe than are the last ; from 

 the icy oceans of the circumpolar regions well down into the 

 temperate zones they are common. They are much more 

 plentiful, however, in the colder parts, and are found to the 

 southward only during the winter. 



They present at once obvious points of difference from the 

 eared seals. Their structure, however, as their habits of life, is 

 but a modification of the same plan. 



The members of this large group touch both extremes of 

 size known among the seals but with the exception of the 

 enormous sea elephant— largest of all creatures inhabiting the 

 water, except the whale, they are of medium or small size. 

 It is not difficult to recognize the members of this family, the 

 absence of the short, pointed ear of the Otaridm, which in 

 them is replaced by an almost circular orifice capable of being 

 closed at will, would serve at once to mark them even with- 

 out other points of difference. 



The fore extremities are placed further forward, and the 

 neck thus appearing shorter, makes them look more rounded 

 on the breast outline. The rear extremities are permanently 

 attached in the line of the axis of the body, and not being ar- 

 ticulated in such a manner as to admit of lateral extension to 

 any degree, they are useless as supports to the weight of the 

 body on land and serve little more than the purpose of the 

 tail of the fish. It will thus be seen that the seals proper are 

 much more strictly confined to the sea than their more quad- 

 rupedal cousins— in fact, they do little on land but drag them- 

 selves beyond the water's edge, wherethey lie and and bask in 

 the sun until the rising tide floats them off again. With a 

 few exceptions, they are monogamous ; the young are born 

 on shore, generally in some cave or cleft of rock not far from 

 the water. Like the eared seals they are very gregarious and 

 are seen by all Arctic voyagers in large numbers on the ice 

 floes of that region. To the inhabitant of those inhospitable 

 parts the value of the seal is altogether beyond computation. 

 It furnishes him with oil for his light, blubber for his food, 

 skins for his clothing, sinews for his cord and his thread, and 

 bone for a vast number of his other necessities. The meat is 

 very black and rank, and is said to be utterly unbearable to 

 any palate but that of an Esquimaux. In Greenland, where a 

 closer proximity to civilization has supplied some of the 

 wants eleewhere ministered to by the seal, one of the ends to 

 which the product of the animal is most generally applied is 

 —as under our higher cultivation— the adornment and embel- 

 lishment of women ; that which we here admire as seal skin 

 sacques, so becoming to their fair wearers, is equally admired 

 and valued by the Greenlander when made up by the mistress 

 of his kyak and his hut into the shape of a pair of breeches 

 to add to the attractions of her own fair person. 



There are a large number of seals in this family, differing 

 in size and color but in little else. The dental formula is gen- 

 erally—molars, 5-5 5-5 ; canines, 1-1 1-1 ; incisors, 3-2 3-2. 



The Spotted or Common Seal (PlwcavituliTia) is well known 

 o most visitors to menageries or zoological gardens, and may 

 be taken as a typical seal of this family. This species is more 

 generally distributed than any of the others, being spread 

 over all the seas bordering the northern part of Europe and 

 America, ranging to the Channel Islands and the cpast of 

 France in the former and in the latter to Maine, and occasion- 

 ally to Massachusetts. 



The most striking member of this group is, however, the 

 Elephant Seal or Sea Elephant (MaerorMnua probo&cideus). 

 This enormous animal, reaching, in the male, a length of 

 from twenty-five to thirty feet and a circumference of as 

 much as eighteen, ranges, according to Peron, who, in his 



Voyages de Decouvertes aux Terres Australes," has given a 

 rcumstantial accountjof this species under the name of 



phoque a trompe, between the 35th and 55th degrees of south 

 latitude, over almost all the islands of the Pacific from the 

 Falklands and the Cape of Good Hope to Kerguelen's Land. 

 This seal is characterized by some very marked peculiarities. 

 The nose of the adult male, when at rest, presents nothing 

 strikingly apart from that which the nose of a large seal 

 should ; but when he becomes excited in any way, from rage 

 or hunger, or from the more tender emotion aroused at stated 

 periods by the presence of the other sex, this feature swells 

 and becomes elongated and extended into a sort of proboscis 

 some eight or ten inches long, and bearing much the relation to 

 the face that the trunk of the elephant does. This peculiarity 

 has given rise to both the common and scientific designation 

 of the animal. The female is smaller than the male, and is 

 destitute of this remarkable appendage. They are polyga- 

 mous and much resemble in habit the fur steal and sea lion. 

 The young are produced on land, and when first born are 

 about four or five feet long. By the end of the fourth year 

 they have reached their extreme length, and subsequently de- 

 vote their surplus physical energy to getting fat. 



They make annual migrations northward in winter, and 

 back toward the higher degrees of latitude as warm weather 

 advances. They are limited in power of progression out of 

 water— in this respect resembling the rest of the Phocidce. 

 They vary from the typical dentition of the true seals, having 

 four incisors instead of six in the upper jaw and only two in 

 the lower. 



The third and last family of the aquatic carnivores, the 

 TriofiecMda, contains but one member, the well known Walrus 

 or Morse (Trichechus romnarus). The enormous tusks which 

 form so conspicuous a feature in the physiognomy of this 

 species, result from the extreme development of the canine 

 teeth in the upper jaw. These reach a length of eighteen or 

 twenty inches, and are known to be sometimes present in the 

 female. 



Even if, contrary to the old belief, a few of this sex 

 had not been seen with tusks, it would not be probable that 

 they existed only in the male as sexual characters, for so far 

 as is known the bulls are monogamous and have little use for 

 such terrible weapons of defence. 



The great weight of these tusks has given a decided char, 

 acter to the bones of the skull, the fore part of which has 

 been built up into a strong convex mass of bone capable of 

 bearing so great a strain. 



The largest males are thirteen or fourteen feet long, and 

 weigh perhaps two thousand pounds ; the female is not much 

 smaller. Although they inhabit the coldest regions toward 

 the Poles, the hair is very scanty, what little there is being of 

 a brownish color ; the enormous masses of blubber which ac- 

 cumulate beneath the skin serve, without doubt, in place of 

 an outer coat to keep them warm. Notwithstanding the bare- 

 ness of their skin, they are much infested, with parasites which 

 cause them great uneasiness. Mr. R. Brown states that he 

 has seen an old bull lying stretched out on the ice and covered 

 with a flock of small birds, which were industriously engaged 

 in picking off his tormentors, the old giant occasionally man- 

 ifesting his huge enjoyment of the proceedings. For a long 

 time there was a dispute in existence regarding the nature of 

 the food of the walrus. It has now been well settled that it is 

 purely carnivorous, consisting of blubber, fish and crustaceans. 

 Mr. Bartlett, of the London Zoological Garden, further ex- 

 presses his belief that the animal would take kindly to carrion, 

 and thinks that in the animal economy of the Arctic seas it 

 may perhaps play the part of hyaena. 



The Walrus herds together in large flocks throughout the 

 polar regions of Europe, Asia and America, remaining in the 

 neighborhood of ice, and on our continent rarely going farther 

 south than the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Behring's Straits. 

 They lie out on the ice floes in the higher latitudes, where the 

 young are born, about the month of June. They are clumsy 

 and unwieldly both in the water and on land ; on the ice they 

 assist themselves partly by looking their tusks on some pro- 

 jection or crevice, and dragging their bulky bodies along. 



They are very fearless, and will fight desperately in defence 

 of one of their number if injnred. Dr. Kane describes a bat- 

 tle which took place between a boat crew of his men and a 

 herd of walrus, one of which they had wounded, in which 

 the men barely escaped destruction. 



Their economic value is not great, all of their products be- 

 ing more coarse than those obtained from other seals, and they 

 are used by the Esquimaux only in those latitudes where little 

 else can be procured, their range extending farther to the 

 north than that of any other species of the marine carnivora. 



A. E. Brown. 



NOTES ON ALBINOES. 



BY J. H. SAGE. 



—The Sunbury Gazette disclaims the misnaming of the 

 grouse, erroneously imputed to it in a recent paragraph, and 

 very justly trusts " that Forest and Stream will reverse its 

 opinion as to ' the nonsense in the Sunbury paragraph,' " 

 which, of course, we do. 



—Four Laplanders and seven reindeer, brought from Kant- 

 okeino, have arrived in London. The Laplanders, with their 

 dogs, an Arctic fox, two sledges, a tent, a variety of dresses, 

 and two of the reindeer, are located at the Westminster 

 Aquarium. These four Laps are the first that have ever 

 visited England. They are two men and two women, are 

 cousins, and their ageB from 19 to 21. They go through cer- 

 tain performances, such as catching the reindeer and harness- 

 ing it to a sledge, tent-building, thread-making and singing, 

 to illustrate the simple kind of life they lead. 



Pobtland, Conn. 



Sept.8. This afternoon I was fortunate enough to shoot a field sparrow, 

 Sptiella pusilla, in alblnotic plumage, having the two middle tail feath- 

 ers pure white, remainder of plumage norm al. The bird was by the road 

 side in company with a dozen of the same species. Soon after in a pas- 

 ture lot I came upon a nock of perhaps 400 TOblna,(7Hirdusmigratorius) 

 one of which had a white tail feather, the contrast being very striking as 

 the bird took flight. When looking in a chestnut tree for the robin, 

 killed a male blue bird, Sialia sialti, having a portion of the back and 

 sides of the neck and breast mottled with white. 



Sept. 10. Received a pure albino red-winged blackbird, Agelaetu 

 phcsnicens, killed here to-day by Lucius Alger ; the breast has a yellow- 

 ish tinge and the lesser wing coverts show a tinge of scarlet. "Kola 

 afternoon saw a robin with several of the wing f eathe'rB white. 



Sept. 21. This morning killed a partial albino field sparrow, Spizella 

 pusilla, having two tail feathers, and a primary In each wing white. 



Sept. 2S. Saw a robin, T. migratoriua, with the back and some of the 

 wing feathers white ; unfortunately the seeatmen was not secured. 



Oct. 9. While shooting to-day within the limits of this town, Mr. W. 

 W. Coe killed two beautiful' specimens of the yellow rail, Porzana 

 noveboracensis. These birds are very rare, and are difficult to force 

 from the ground without the aid of a good dog. 



Oct. 20. Two young of the red squirrel, Seiurus hudsonius, pure wblte 

 were taken to-day; they are nearly full grown, and have dark eyes. 

 Dr. Wm. Wood, of East Windsor Hill, Conn., informs me that it is not 

 uncommoii for the yonng of the red squirrel to be white and turn red 

 afterward. He has had them nndergo the complete change when kept 

 in a cage. 



[The above extracts from Mr. Sage's note-book will be of 

 interest to all collectors. This seems to be a good year for 

 albinoes, although we have heard of no one so fortunate as 

 our correspondent. Mr. A. B. Covert writes us from Michi- 

 gan that he has taken four albinoes this fall, among them 

 Sitta carolinenm and Cycmura cristata, and we have heard of 

 others who have done almost equally well. One only capture 

 in this line as yet, has been a robin, all white except the head 

 which is pale slate color. — Ed."] 



_.^_ 



Domesticated Wild Turrets.— We saw at the Hoffman 

 House, Broadway, on Monday night, a box of wild turkeys 

 awaiting shipment by express to the parties to whom they 

 were consigned. Although of wild stock they were in reality 

 tame, having been domesticated by Chas. H. Reed, the pro- 

 prieter of the Hoffman House, at his farm in Far Rockaway. 

 They were beautiful birds of the real bronze type, male and fe- 

 male, the gobblers having the lustre of plumage and the long 

 patrarchal beard chsracteristic of the species. These biros come 

 from stock procured in Minnesota, and are vouched for as 

 being of the true type of wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). Mr. 

 Reed has had very fair success in domesticating wild turkeys 

 as w r ell as ruffed grouse, quail and other fowl, his proclivities 

 in this direction being well known among fanciers. He has 

 recently sent four of these birds to Lord Stanley, in England. 

 We do not at present recall to mind any other person so'exten'- 

 sively engaged in propagating wild turkeys.exceptingthe Hon. 

 J. D. Caton, of Ottawa, 111., who has raised several hundred 

 some particulars of whose experiments and successes have al- 

 ready been published in this paper. By the way, Mr. Reed 

 who is a very active member of the Blooming Grove Park 

 Association, has pledged himself to construct a drive around 

 the whole circuit of Lake Giles, the beautiful body of water 

 in the Park, near which the club-house of the association 

 stands. The drive when completed will be nearly three miles 

 long, the beauty and enjoyment of which will be enhanced 

 throughout by the undulating surface of the land, with glimpses 

 of prominent points, and the constant variety of scenery af. 

 forded as the drive approaches the lake or leads through the 

 woods. 



Judge Everts' Migeatorx Qtjail Heard From Again.— 

 We have received from a correspondent at Skuylkill Haven 

 Pa., information of a bevy of quail found by him thirty miles 

 west of Harrisburg, and which from the description we infer 

 to be a part of the migratory quail found in Vermont by Judge 

 Everts. From our scanty information, not having ourselves 

 Eeen the Messina bird, we are not confident of the identity 

 but have forwarded our correspondent's letter to Judge 

 Everts. 



We sincerely hope the birds may prove to be a part of the 

 lot in question, as we especially desire evidence that the birds 

 have not flown out to sea and been drowned, but that a por- 

 tion still remain in the country. 



.~.». . 



An Interesting Question— LakevilU, Conn., Nov. 26 — 

 I wish to ask through your columns if any of my brother 

 sportsmen have noticed the same disparity in sex of ruffed 

 grouse killed by them that I have ? Last season, out of 

 about 100 birds killed by myself and friends, but three were 

 hens. This year, out of forty-one birds killed during a trip 

 to Berkshire Co., Mass., three were hens; and of over a hun- 

 dred killed since the opening of the season in this State but 

 four hens were found in the lot. The majority of the birds 

 have been old cocks, with a ruff as "big as a man's hand," and 

 I have noticed several specimens in which the ruff was a 

 golden bronze, merely tipped with black on the ends of the 

 feathers. I should like to know if any one else has noticed 

 so great a disproportion. 



Have had bad luck with wild rice. Sowed a bushel, came 

 up nicely, and muskrats ate it off close to the roots. 



Tours truly, w. H. Williams. 



[Certainly this is a most interesting question, and if further 

 investigation should prove it to be a fact that but few female 

 grouse are killed, it would seem to account very well for the 

 comparative abundance of the ruffed grouse in some localities 

 where they are ' ' hunted almost to death. " The habits of the 

 ruffed grouse are such as to insure an abundance of the birds 

 as long as the hens are left unharmed, for there will always be 

 males enough left over to accomplish fatherly duties for a 



