sso 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S¥l §&*& 



The Easton Salmon Again.— The Eastern salmon capture 

 may be the first Pennsylvania specimen of any size ever 

 taken, it being on our side of the river where it was discov- 

 ered and shot; but it is by no means the first taken in the 

 Delaware River, having ourselves reported two or three some 

 months ago— one of them below the cit}- on the Jersey side. 

 From the fact that all of them were of large size, it is be- 

 lieved that they belonged to the original lot placed in the 

 river near Easton. Our own opinion is now, that while the 

 upper waters of the Delaware are, to all appearances, peculi- 

 arly adapted to the salmon, as we have before stated, it will 

 not multiply. What has the Forest and Stkeam to say on 

 the subject? Mr, Reeder, of Easton, Pa., one of the State 

 Pish Commissioners, is gathering facts to show that salmon 

 will increase in the Delaware. — Qefmantown Telegra/plt, De- 

 cember 5. 



[A.11 the accumulated data of nearly ten years of experiment 

 are. not yet sufficient to determine absolutely whether the 

 plantel and transplanted fim will propagate in sufllJetit num- 

 bers to replenish the streams and keep them stocked.— Fop. est 

 and Stkeam.] 



Minnesota.— The State will distribute a few hundred thou- 

 sands of brook trout during the months of February and 

 March. They are t be given gratuitously under conditions 

 which require owners of land through which the brooks flow 

 to sign a contract, to be of record, to let the public fish with 

 hook and line during certain months. 



The Construction of Fishwats. — Every State in the 

 Psion has, or should have, laws for the protection, preserva- 

 tion ami propagation of food-fishes. In no State where these 

 liws have been enacted, commissioners of fisheries appointed, 

 and appropriations made for stocking streams, have they 

 heen abandoned, after a fair trial, but encouraging reports 

 come fi£>ni all quarters. 



The first and most important principle necessary to the suc- 

 cess of fish culture in any State, is to give the fish freedom to 

 go to their natural spawning grounds, the head waters of 

 streams. Prevented from doing this by impassable dams or 

 other obstructions thrown across streams, they become waste- 

 ful, and in time will disappear below as well as above the ob- 

 struction. It is as natural for fish to ascend a stream to de- 

 posit their spawn, as for birds to seek the tree-top, in which 

 to rear their young. "With these facts before us the import- 

 ance of constructing dams which will permit fish to ascend 

 the streams, is quite apparent. 



A fishway is but an artificial imitation of the means by 

 ■which river fish pass up rapids, in their yearly migrations. 

 The fish in their upward course reach the foot of the rapids ; 

 here they rest awhile, and then shoot up a slight distance, 

 aud again rest behind some rock, where they gather strength 

 to make another leap, and continue in this manner until the 

 f ill is passed. 



To construct a fishway, take a long box, fasten one end to 

 the top of the dam, and extend the other end to the centre of 

 the pool below the dam. Supposing the box to be sixteen feet 

 long, four feet wide, and two feet high on the inside of the 

 box, pieces of plunk, called riffles, are placed transversely, 

 about three feet apart. Each riffle is about a foot high, and 

 extends about two-thirds of the way across. If the first rif- 

 fle is fastened to the right side of the box, and at aright angle 

 with the side of the box, the next, three feet above, will be 

 fastened to the left side, and extend thirty inches across it, 

 and so on alternately until the top is reached. The water en- 

 tering the top of this box, is diverted from right to left in its 

 course, forming eddies or resting-places for the fish in their 

 upward course. These ways can be constructed of stone as 

 well as timber, being, of course, in the former case more 

 durable. Upon the construction of this aid, more than any- 

 thing else, depends the success of fish culture in all our States. 

 —Scientific American. 



iutunil Jjiistargt 



SOME QUESTIONS IN ICHTHYOLOGY. 



v( T)ROF. GILL has very kindly given us some important as 

 -L well as interesting information, at our desire, in reply 

 to certain letters sent to us by correspondents, which we ap- 

 pend : 



St. Louis, Dec. 10, 187V, 



EDITOR FOREST AND STREAM : 



1 nave found a species of minnow in several streams near our city 

 which is new to me, and Save never been able to find any description 

 of them. I have several in my aquarium, and they make the finest va- 

 iety for that purpose of any fish I have ever succeeded in catching. 

 Besides being very beautiful, they are very hardy. They are nearly 

 round ; their backs are brown, extending nearly half way down their 

 Bides ; then comes a gold bronze stripe the whole length of the body of 

 Lite fish, followed by a black stripe, while the whole of the under side 

 of the. fish is of a beautiful blood red color, Cau you give me any iu- 

 forruation regarding them ? 



Respectfully, W e. s. 



Smithsonian Institute, December, 1877. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



The small fish found in the vicinity of St. Louis, of 

 which you send a colored sketch, cannot be with certainty 

 identified from the figure, as it is deficient in details and not 

 quite correct. It is probably, however, a species of the genus 

 ohroiomua, and belongs to the family of cyprinids, i. e., the 

 same family as do the carp, dace, shiners, etc. The genus 

 chrosomus is nearly related to the Phoxinus, or true minnow 

 genus of England. It, contains some of our most beautiful 

 and high-colored fishes. There are two common Western 

 species, the Ghrosomw erytltrugcistei- and Chrosomus pyrrho- 

 gasler. Of both of these species, the males at least, in the 

 "breeding season, have the belly crimson or scarlet colored, as 

 is indicated by their specific (erythrogaster, meaning red 

 belly; and gyirhogaster, fire belly). The generic color is 

 derived from the Greek chrma, color, and soma, body. As 

 observed by your correspondent, they are among the most 

 beautiful of fishes for the aquarium, 



Yours truly, Thko. Giu : . 



V\ BALTIMORE, NOV. 2, 18T7. 



Editor Forrst and Stream : 



A few days since I took a number of gudgeons of the ordinary size 

 with hook and line. Upon their being prepared, about live hours after- 

 ward, one of them appeared to be unusually round. When this lish 

 was opened there was taken from it alive a flat, white worm, about fif- 

 teen inches in length, and about a quarter of an inch in width at its 

 widest portion. It was immediately placed ia alcohol while yet ex- 

 hibiting considerable vitality, and I have it in my possession. I have 

 thought the circumstance worthy of being noticed as an unusual freak 

 of nature. Respectfully yours, Jose en Paine. 



Your favor respecting the tape-worm of the gudgeon and 

 of other fishes is^at hand. The occurrence of tape-worms 

 and other entozoa in fishes is by no means a remarkable case, 

 for there are probably no fishes which are entirely destitute 

 of ento'zoic parasites, and many are infested by quite nume- 

 rous species. Our own fishes have not been much examined 

 for their entozoic guests, but many of the European species 

 have been pretty thoroughly searched for specimens. The re- 

 sult has been that all the common species have been found in- 

 fested with from about half a dozen to a dozen or more species. 

 These species represent genus of a number of different families, 

 and even orders of entozoa. Thus in the gudgeon of Europe 

 (Gobio vulgaris) have been found seven intestinal worms ; in 

 the barbel (Barbus communis), thirteen species ; in the bream 

 (Abramis brama), twelve species; in the roach (Lenciscw 

 crythrajMhalmus), fourteen species, and in other fishes corres- 

 ponding numbers. Thus you will see that " life within life" 

 is exemplified in a striking manner among the fishes as among 

 higher animals. I should add that the figures given are de- 

 rived from Diesing's great work on intestinal works (Systema 

 Jlelminthum), published by the Royal Academy of Sciences 

 in Vienna in 1851, and that they would now be somewhat 

 different, but not so materially as to justify the great time and 

 labor which would be necessary to represent the present state 

 of the subject. Yours truly, Tkeo. Gill. 



For Forest and Stream and Jlod mid Gun. 

 DRUMMING OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



TN the Indiana Geological ami Agricultural Rep oils, 1SG9, occurs the 

 ■*- following by Dr. Rufus Baymoud, in Ins report of the birds of 

 Franklin county : 



"nonam Umbcllus.— Ruffed grouse; Partridge; Pheasant. There 

 are still a few lingering among the brush of our uncultivated hillsides. 

 The curious drumming noise which tills bird is in the habit of making 

 during the breeding season m the spring, and upon warm clays in the 

 latierpart of October aud first of November, is familiar to all who live 

 near its haunts, but the mauner iu which this sound is produced seems 

 to have escaped the observation of nearly every one. Even the great 

 Audubon, whose observations were usually so correct, was mistaken as 

 to the manner of Kb production. He says 'It beats its sides with its 

 -wings in the manner of the domestic cock, but more loudly, aud with 

 such rapidity of motion, after a few of the first strokes, as to cause a 

 tremor in the air, not unlike the rumbling of distant thunder.' This is 

 well told and true, with the single exception that the bird docs not beat 

 its sides. The drumming is produced thus: The pheasant, standing 

 upon the trunk of a prostrate tree, usually surrounded by brushwood, 

 erects Ms body to its fnll height, and produces the drumming sound by 

 striking the convex surfaces of his outstretched wings together behind 

 his back, just as wc often see boys swinging their outstretched arms 

 behind them, so as to make the backs of their hands meet behind and 

 opposite their spine. This is the truth of the matter. Audubon's idea 

 that the pheasant could produce a louder noise than the domestic cock, 

 nearly four times his size, by beating its small, compact body witli its 

 wiDgs, is, to say the least, a curious mistake. The hollow, rumbling 

 sound could not be produced in this manner." 



What Dr. Raymond says in the above report, save that now and then 

 someone lugs the hollow log forward, is the only account I have met 

 with about our choice little friend and his drumming. It is passing 

 strange that Audubon, who must have known almost the exact habits 

 of the pinnated grouse, did not learn that its consin, the ruffed grouse, 

 makes use of almost identical ine.ans to produce almost the same sound 

 —at least, the tone ia the same. If you will call to mind the hollow 

 boom of the bittern— known more commonly through the West as the 

 Thunder Pumper, and sometimes as Pump Snck and Stake Driver— you 

 will notice that it produces almost the same hollow sound, ha- d to lo- 

 cate, and seeming at a distance, thongh the bird may be close 

 at hand. So again with the cooing of our domestic pigeon, and the 

 beautiful dove in the woods ; all these birds have air cells on or about 

 their necks, that answer for sounding boards or sacs. All of them, 

 before giving forth the first note, innate their pouches, hut have differ- 

 ent ways of giving it forth. 



Let us first account for the drumming of the pheasant. Those that 

 I have seen, and I assure you they were not a few, did not need any 

 hollow log : Where or whenever a cock pheasant, during the warm 

 days of early spring, came across oneor more hen3, he conld do enough 

 drumming, but alwaya preferred to mount some sort of a place where 

 he conld see and be seen. He would then work himself into au excit- 

 ed state by walking about, head and tail at right angles with his back, 

 and his ruff extended, much like a dung-hill fowl when going to battle ; 

 he would then raise his head up and down several times, when, if you 

 were near, you could see his pouch of a redish orange color, clear 

 around his neck under his ruff, and distended with air. Suddenly, he 

 would strike his compact little body Just, as Audubon saw him do, but 

 with his wings only half open. As he would strike, he wonid give 

 forth a nasal sound, which I have described in a former article on pin- 

 nated grouse. The blows then follow in quick successiou, till the air 

 is exhausted or driven out of his' pouch. He would then go and talk 

 with the hens a bit before another drumming fit would come on. It 

 would seem that a pheasant would want good toe nails and good, firm 

 bark on his log to hold him, to strike straight out, or beat the air with his 

 wings rapidly enough to produce that noise, when we reflect that the 

 noise he makes when he Is Unshed can only be heard a short distance. 

 It is very difficult to get near enongh to a cock pheasant to observe 

 his motions, aud not flush him. I have made twenty attempts before 

 accomplish! tig what 1 desired. Still I could have shot nearly all of them 

 if I had desired. If any sportsman should wish to see the pouch of the 

 rnffed or piunated grouse, obtain one during the breeding season and 

 hold the neck close down to the body, so that no air can pass ; then put 

 a grain of corn or email stone in the bird's month, and put his bill in 

 your mouth and blow down the bird's throat. The skin of the 

 adheres at other times so closely to the bird's neck, that it is hard to 

 discover ; but during the breeding season, the neck, like that of the red 

 deer, becomes very much enlarged. Now that's enough for this time. 

 White Co. ,Ind. Monon. 



[Although the question of how the ruffed grouse drums 

 has been discussed at considerable length in these columns in 

 times past, Monon, as far as wo know, stands alone with his 

 explanation of this curious phenomenon. Certainly, what we 

 know of the love calls of the Sage, Sharp-tailed, Pinnated 



Wabkham, Mass., Nov., 2 4. 1ST7. 

 Eoitor Forest and Stream: 



I indulge in the assumption that all the numerous readers of Fonssi 

 and Stream have seen the white negro, the white crow, the whit.' ruii- 

 bit, and, laughable contradiction of words, the white blackbird ; aud tlmi 

 they Have read of Capt. Ahab's Money Dick, or the monster white whgM 

 allot which are understood to be albinos, and now 1 propose (.,-, o-jyo 

 you a brief pen sketch of the white deer of Cape Cod, and he too, I claioJ 

 is an albino. He is a noble buck of the forest, but has so far failed^ 



and Dusky grouse, lends no small degree of probability to* 

 this novel theory. Every sportsman must have observed the* 

 naked spaces on tho nock of lite ruffed grouse, and we have 

 often speculated on tho possibility of their being inflatable, 

 but have never had the opportunity for experimenting wita 

 them. It seems odd, though, that none of our ornithologists' 

 have ever noticed any habit of this kind.— Ed,] 



i ■« 



THE WHITE BUCK OF CAPE COD. 



propagate his species and show t 

 noble blood in the Jacobiau lineage of 

 have reason to believe that outside of a 1 

 known of the great number of deer it 

 prising a -portion of six towns, the Mars] 

 Plymouth and Barnstable. These forf 

 Sound, so to speak, in the town of Ft 



of lug: 



ed. I 



>rld the slighte 

 ing, striped and sp 

 fitted local circle very lit 



the forest of Cape D id, 



tpe Reserve In the counties ofl 

 ts range from the Vme.vartt 

 mth, skirting along BuizarM 



Bay northerly some thirty miles, and from the same point easterly t 

 five miles ; in width varying from five to fifteen miles, doited with an . 

 casional rich and well painted hamlet, well tilled farms, and last thouaifi 

 not least, the forester's cabin home, an institution dot unknown to tho- 

 knights of the rod and gun. To-day it is repotted by experts of undls 

 puted reputation and knowledge that there are more than live lmndral 

 deer gamboling in these forests, and that then- grand centre or lurkiii* 

 grounds, are in the towns of Sandwich, ffalmonth and Matshane Hph3B 

 in the county of Barnstable. This fact is unquestionably mviw- to 'thy 

 deer having been driven from Plymouth county by the great lire which! 

 burned over some fifteen thousand acres of forest lauds in l.-r.i. Last 

 season, a Known fact, over one Hundred of these our fores! | ildes fell 

 before the huntsman, but .now, thank fate, our Legislature tills fear eu 

 acted a law forbidding the killing of .leer m this State until !SS I under I 

 penalty or jaoti for each offence, aud thus any individual having in hlV 

 possession a saddle of venison must, if required, prove it was not killed' 

 in the Slate, or suffer the penalty of the law. 



Now for the famous white deer of Cape Cod. This marvel was fifl 

 seen in ls?l and thus he lias run the gauntlet ami BVftdetJ Ike barbarafl 

 huntsman for some seven .years, and, strange to relate, has been shot of 1 ' 

 but twice during these years, and it remains a tale vet to i- ■ • ■ ■ ■• 

 received a shot from either of the veteran huntsmen w'uu 

 would-be fatal weapon. The grazing and ranging grounds of ih ls '„-,„ 

 pnuce of the forest is comparatively small, and it is behoved by the cm 

 people of Nortii Palmouth that his nightly lodge during his "existen 

 has not been over three-fourths of a mile from the village He has be, 

 seen hundreds of times, and all relate the same story, in S j ze ,,',.',„ , 

 questionably enormous for his race, and to ubc the language of an in 

 Vidua! who saw him last week ij ing down in a field in company wi 

 three, red, or brown deer, " in proportions, judging from his fooprints 

 the sand, he will compare favorably with a decent-sized cow." Wh 

 lie rose to his feel, and while stretching he faced our Informant who < 

 his ponderous horns reminded him of a " large rustic roaklng-ehair " -\ 

 mis, (he prince of our forest, ianotahumbuglhopesomesii'mriu of „„■ 

 uriU history, a Earnum, for instance, will feel indued, will, some Vni,k,-'« 

 hurdle device, to capture this deer alive and place him in some one oti 

 our American city public parte, and show to the world the renown, 

 bino deer from Cape Cod. cvru» 1 tsc 



THE MIGRATORY QUAIL. 



Rutland, Dec 12, 1STT 

 Editor Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun: 



The lines chesen by yonr coirespondent in no respect resemble ihe^ 

 migratory quail. In color they resemble the ruffed grouse or partridge 

 of N. E. The head of the female is quite similar to our partridges and 

 the male is darker about the head thau the female, with quite 'dark • 

 marking under the neck. There are no white feathers about the bird i 

 The legs are shorter than the American quail's, but also dark like 

 the partridge. My faith in the return of the birds here Is nuahflken 

 and that in twenty years they wilt be the most numerous game here m 

 America. The only question is, will they find a tnitable wintering 

 place in the South ? Yours truly, M O Evjkts 



SHELLS IN RED HEAD DUCK'S CRAW. 



Editor Forkst and Stream : 



Being engaged iu prepariug for the press a paper on the Molluscas ofj 

 the Bermudas, I should feel greatly obliged to W. J. K. Sutton, whose 

 identification of Lrtfcpa bonibix occurring on gulf weed, appears in your < 

 last Issue, if he would kindly forward me for Inspection a few epeol. 

 mens of the shell, as I have only found L. atlantica, Rang, an inhabit. 

 ant of the weed which floats to the 'Mudian shore. If he desires It I 

 shall be happy to eupply him Willi spcolmtng of the latter species for 

 his cabinet. 



Halifax, X, S., Nov. 20. j. ;u A TTHKw JoNEa _ 



The above communication haviDg been handed to Mr. 

 Sutton, we have received from him the following note i 

 Editob of Forest and Stbeasi : 



Referring to the loiter from Mr. .1. M. Jones, handed to me to-day, I 

 have to say the shells sent me from craw of red-head duck were con- 

 slderably decomposed and somewhat difficult to identify. Capt. J u 

 Mortimer, of the ship Hamilton Fish, to whom I showed theru, "is quite 

 certain the shells sent and Litiopa immbix. were identical. Capt. M 

 does not know the L. alkmttoa that Mr. Jonen speaks or, but the /.. 

 ixmVtx tela familterwilh, having picked them up on tho gulf weed' 

 white on one of his many voyages. I take pleasure through thekinduesa 

 of Capt. M. in sending Mr. Jones lo-rlay a few specimens of ilic /. I 

 also some of the gulf weed with the web spun by L, bonibix atti 

 and have acce, ted of his kind offer of L, atlantica. Reapectfullv i 



Xar York, Xo C . 26 , 1ST 7. j AS , R . goriON.' 



AN AGGRESSIVE BUCK. 



Editor Forest and Sthrah: Boston, Dec. u, isTT. 



'Iln- 9M buck on our Boston common has killed no less than six .leer 

 in no.- .rune enclosiue with himself, ending last night with the o 

 Ought he not be separated most of the year from the r 



lie feasible to saw oil his antlers 1 Please let me have reply as (o what 



lathe usual custom in regard to management. Be is eight years old 



well formed and father of a number of healthy deer. No 



llKe or enmity appeared in the victims. The autopsy of the old ■ 



day cave numerous brnjsi ,i m peritonical 



