FOREST AND STREAM. 



489 



Some time since, while riding over the pine lands, my 

 horse, a rather nervous animal, shied at some object in the 

 grass, and, on looking ahead, I saw a red-shouldered hawk 

 (Fako lineatus) fluttering on (he ground. I dismounted, and 

 on approaching the hawk found that a common black snake 

 was entwined "about the body, wings and neck, and effectually 

 held his kawksbip prisoner. I killed the snake, and then cap- 

 tured the hawk after quite a fight. These hawks eat^nakes, 

 and I surmised that, Failing to get a good hold on the 

 snake, the latter turned the tables by catching the hawk. 

 Then each found he had caught a tartar. The snake had the 

 advantage, though, as the hawk could not move, and I don't 

 know how this battle would have ended had I not appeared 

 on the scene. We liave had cold weather and ice for the 

 past three days, but the orange trees in this vicinity are not 

 injured. We celebrated Thanksgiving in a royal manner— a 

 hunt in the morning and afternoon, and such a dinner of 

 'roast turkey and broiled venison in the evening, as only tired 

 and hungry hunters can enjoy. 



[We presume that the Nyatale acadiea, of which our corres- 

 pondent speaks, was not a free agent in the matter. The 

 chances are that he had been blown out to sea, and sought the 

 ship as a resting-place. — Ed.] 



The "^Bieds of Southeastern Oregon. — One of the most 

 interesting of the recent additions to our ornithological knowl- 

 edge which we have lately seen is a paper under the above 

 title by Captain Chas. Bendire, TJ. S. A. The list, which is 

 printed in the proceedings of the Boston Society, includes 191 

 species, and is based on observations extended over a period 

 of about three years, vi^.: from Nov., 1874, to Jan., 1877. The 

 full notes which accompany the present partial review of the 

 birds of Oregon render it especially valuable, and Captain 

 Bendire's investigations into the birds of the region have 

 brought out one or two new points, one of which is the sug- 

 gestion that we may possibly have two varieties, if not two 

 good species of white pelican, P. tracAyrhynchus, in the West. 



Captain Bendire is so well known to ornithologists as an 

 indefatigable observer," and one of. our first oologists, that it is 

 unnecessary to comment at length upon his paper. We com- 

 mend it to our ornithological friends. 



Two Sides to the Question. — Our correspondent, 

 "Sanger," who writes from Elkhart, Indiana, dissents alto- 

 gether from the views, so often expressed by writers in these 

 columns, in relation to the preponderance of males over fe- 

 males among the ruffed grouse killed. We have already re- 

 marked that unless the question of sex has been in all cases 

 determined by dissection, the statements made on this topic 

 are of little value. " Sanger " says : 



"A word about the ruffed grouse: Out of more than a 

 hundred killed this season, not over one-third were males. 

 During the early part of the season the sexes (of the killed) 

 ran about equal, but since Nov. SO there has been a great 

 scarcity of males — not one in ten. On Dec. 20, hunted in my 

 shirt-sleeves it was so warm ; killed a large rattlesnak e." 



ABaeeBied. — Our friend, Mr. John B. Gilbert, of Penn 

 - Yan, N. Y., whose admirable list of the birds of Central 

 New York our readers will remember as having appeared in 

 these columns over a year ago, notifies us of another acquisi- 

 tion to his collection. He tells us that he has just received a 

 young male cormorant (G-raculus dilophus), killed on Crooked 

 Lake, at Penn Yan, by John Carpenter. It is the first ever 

 killed in that neighborhood so far as known. 



A Cubious Bat. — Riverside, San Bernardino Co., Gal. — 

 Editor Forest and Stream — 1 sent you by to-day's mail a curi- 

 ous specimen of a bat. I send only the head, the other por- 

 tions of the body being similar to the common kind. 



John D. Handy. 



[The bat is Macrotus waterTwu.sk, a species found in the 

 West Indies, Florida, Mexico, etc. Its common name is leaf- 

 nosed hat. You will find a full description of<it in the re- 

 port of Lieut. Wheeler's Survey, Zoology, vol. v., p, 80. 

 This admirable work — the mammals by the distinguished 

 zoologists, Drs. Coues and Yarrow, and the birds by Mr. 

 Henshawe — gives a vast deal of interesting information about 

 the animal life of Southern California. We should be very 

 much obliged if you could send us half a dozen complete 

 specimens of this bat. — Ed.] 



Robin Nesting Upon the Geound.— In May, 1876, while 

 walking through a roughbroken pasture in Danvers, much 

 overgrown will bushes, my attention was directed to a nest 

 of the robin (Turdus migratorius) in an unusual position, by 

 the startled cry of the female as she flew off from the nest. 

 The nest, which was of the normal type, was placed upon the 

 ground at the base of a clump of barberry bushes, in a shel- 

 tered position ; it contained three eggs. Other instances may 

 be recorded, but I find no mention of them in our standard 

 works upon ornithloogy. Aethue P. Geat. 



Danverspo-ri, Mass., Jan. 7, 1878. 



[Robins, as is well known, are very irregular in their 

 choice of a nesting-place. We have found their nests on a 

 joist in a barn, on the capital of the pillars of a piazza, and 

 on the side of a perpendicular ledge of rock, but never on the 

 ground.— Ed.] 



A King Partridge. —A correspondent writes from Pougk. 

 keepsie, N. Y., under date of January 21 : 



In a lot of pariridges we had brought to us last fall was one 

 that weighed 2£ lbs. We had it mounted on account of its 

 splendid plumage. From your description in Foeest and 

 Stream it is a king partridge. 



— . . — .» « 



— A Norwalk (Ohio) correspondent sends us in alcohol a 

 specimen, which he thinks a great curiosity, and which he says 

 Mr. S. P. Town, the United States Express Agent at Nor- 

 walk, found in a fresh-laid hen's egg, attached to the yolk, 

 and entirely covered by the white of the egg. He wishes to 



know what it is. In reply we will say that the specimen 

 promised at first to be puzzling, but a little examination re- 

 vealed its nature. The egg from which it was taken was a 

 double-yolked one, and what our correspondent sent was sim- 

 ply the second yolk. This second yolk was only partially 

 developed, and the membrane which surrounded it was un- 

 usually thick. In fact, as seen by us it resembled the shell 

 membrane rather than the vitelline. This thickening, how- 

 ever, may have been due to its long immersion in alcohol. 



BRANT AND QUAIL, IN TEXAS. 



Fort Clark, Texas, Jan. 5, 1878, 

 Editor Forest anp Stream : 



Reading to-day your issue of Deo. 27, 1 see a letter from " P," Galves- 

 ton, Texas, regarding braut being found near Palestine, Texas, over 100 

 miles from salt water, thongh he mentions that he found them in or 

 near a salt lake. It wai a new idea to me that brant are not to be found 

 away from salt water. I have frequently found them in large numbers 

 in this section, over 200 miles from salt water, and in pure, clear run- 

 ning water; for instance, I saw several flocks not long ago in the Las 

 Moras River near here. The Mexicans had dammed up the stream for 

 irrigation purposes, causing small ponds to form a few feet deep, and 

 these were full of brant. In the swamp pools were Canada geese, 

 "Mexican" geese and ducks. In Kansas I have also seen them along 

 the line of the K. P. R. R. 



Quail are abundant here, and the ground being open prairie covered 

 with thick grass, they afford excellent sport. We have four varieties— 

 the common Bob White ; the blue or crested, very similar to the Califor- 

 nia quail; a speckled or spotted kind, called "Messina" quail, some- 

 times called "fool's quail," from their habit of squatting on the bare 

 ground and thinking themselves hid ; and a fourth variety, called here 

 the black quail. I have been much interested in the attempted intro- 

 duction of the real Messina quaU, and would like to see a description of 

 them. Bushwhacker. 



[The "Messina" quail of which "Bushwhacker" speaks is 

 undoubtedly the Massena quail (Gyrtonyx massena), while his 

 Blue quail is Gambel's partridge (Lopliortyx gambelli), and his 

 Black quail is, we presume, the Scaled partridge (Callipepla 

 squamata). We have mailed our correspondent a description 

 of the Messina quail, about which so much is now being 

 spoken and written. — Ed.] 



WHAT A CROPPIE IS. 



Anamosa, Iowa, Jan. 21., 1878. 



The "crappie,"or "croppie,"is a fish I have never seen except in 

 the Mississippi River and its tributaries. They more nearly resemble 

 Klippart's, Lake Brie, or grass bass, than any other fish I have ever 

 seen (see Ohio Report for 1877, plate IX., flg. 2). I have no fish before 

 me, and no formula, but, compared with the plate named, I note the 

 following differences : Under jaw not so long or drooping ; gill cover 

 not so pointed ; scales finer ; depth of fish greater in proportion to its 

 length ; the swell of the body continuing more nearly to the caudal. 



I think them quite valuable for Western waters, particularly so for 

 ponds and sloughs, where the temperature of the water gets very high. 

 I have caught very many in water so warm that I thought no fish could 

 live in it. They are rapidly Increasing where they have been planted. 



A. H. Franks, a sportsman and fisherman of Waterloo, Iowa, writes 

 me as follows: " Heretofore there has been but very few croppies 

 caught. Last season I have been out several times, when we have 

 caught forty or fifty in two or three hours' fishing, some weighing as 

 much as three pounds." 



They are free biters, and will take any bait that a bass will take ; and 

 fight well. In my description I should have stated that they are the 

 thinnest in proportion to their size, of any of the Percidoe family with 

 which I am acquainted. Specimen three inches long, being sometimes 

 nearly transparent in some portions of the body. B. F. Shaw. 



Arrivals at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden, for the week 

 ending Jan. 23, 1STS.— Two Chinese geese (Aiwer cygnoides), presented ; 

 two marmosets (Hapale jacchvs), presented ; two barn owls (Strix 

 fiamvmm var Atnericana), presented. 



Arthur E. Brown, General Superintendent. 



Zffoodlznd, ^mm mid <§xrdm. 



THTS DEPARTMENT 18 EDITED BY W. 3. DAVIDSON, SEO. N. T. 

 HORTICULTURAL SOOfETT. 



HOUSE PLANTS.— (Continued.) 



BEGONIAS.— There are many varieties of flowering Be. 

 gonias which give great satisfaction as parlor plants, 

 and will repay the careful cultivator, principal among which 

 are B. saundersonii With its bright green waxy foliage and 

 crimson flowers, seldom to be caught out of bloom either sum- 

 mer or winter; B. spathulata, with rounded shining leaves and 

 pearly white blossoms, a perfect treasure to the careful house- 

 wife who has hut little time to spend over her pets ; B. Juch- 

 sioides, a rather ticklish variety to manage, but giving beauti- 

 ful coral fuchsia-like drops in profusion when well grown ; 

 B. nitida, the lovely large waxy leaves, and immense trusses 

 of light-pink fragrant, blossoms of which are a flower garden 

 of themselves ; B. weltoniensis, with its rich pink blossoms 

 and easy culture, is also one of the very best, as well as B. 

 manicata and B. Jvydrocotylifolia, and the hybrid variety raised 

 between them, with their graceful pendant light-pink lace- 

 like flowers, are all reliable and indispensable window plants. 

 Pelargoniums. — The various varieties of Zonal Pelargoniums, 

 Bose, Lemon, Apple, Nutmeg and other scented Geraniums, 

 are all very desirable for house culture, and the latter sorts 

 are much admired for their beautifully cut and diversified as 

 well as scented foliage. Of the zonal or horse-shoe vaneties, 

 both the double and single sorts are desirable, more especially 

 the dwarfer growing sorts of late introduction, and will well 

 repay a little extra care in cultivation. The variegated varie- 

 ties, with the exception of a few of the more robust silver- 

 edged and bronze sorts do not seem to have constitution 

 enough to stand either our parlors in winter or our parterres 

 in summer. 



Bases.— 1 have great hesitation in recommending these most 

 lovely flowers for house culture. Once in a while we see a 

 plant under carefcl culture well repaying the care lavished on 

 it, but usually their cultivation is but a thankless task, and 

 between insects, over- watering, Avant of proper light, dry at- 

 mosphere and other ills, the rose emerges in spring a most 

 woe-begone looking object. The most easy to manage are 

 Agrippina, dark crimson ; Hermosa aud Duchess d'Abrantes, 

 light pink; Safrano, buff; Isabella Hprunt lemon and per- 

 haps Bon Silene, bright pink, though weadmitwe have never 

 seen the latter in good shape anywhere. 



Many other flowering plants can be named that we often 

 see do well, as Guphea platycentra, Epiphyllum truneatum 

 (many varieties), specially fine when grafted on Pereskia or 

 Gereus triangularis, Pittosporum Oranges, Lemons, Bouvardias 

 Jasminum revolutum (yellow), and many others, all good 

 when well cared for. Iris chinensis is a plant so easy to 

 manage, and withal so beautiful aud fragrant, it should be in 

 every collection ; Tropmolums in their endless variety of colors; 

 Maurandias, and many others which will suggest themselves 

 to the reader, not to speak of the Tradesoaniia or inch plant, 

 known also as Jacob's Ladder; the LysemacMa, the mone wort 

 or Creeping Charlie ■ Saxefraga samentosa, the beefsteak gerani- 

 um or Aaron's beard; Madeira vine, and many other climbers 

 and trailers that, tastefully trained and arranged, make the 

 window garden really a Bower of Beauty and a joy to the 

 possessor. There arc many annuals too that can be made to 

 do duty during the winter and spring months, and that will 

 well repay the care needed to bring them into bloom, such as 

 Nemophila insignis, Lobelia, Mignonette, Sweet alyssum, Col- 

 linsia, Schizanthua and many others; the Schizanthus 

 is but seldom grown, but is easily managed, and is a 

 most showy and attractive plant. It can be sown 

 in Aigust, and naturally forms a perfect candela- 

 brum when grown. S. pinnatus, in its many varieties of 

 color, is the best and hardiest of all the sorts, and will well 

 repay a little extra trouble and care. One curious fact con- 

 nected with this plant is, that it is covered with minute 

 glandular hairs, each tipped with a globule of intensely acrid 

 matter, so acid indeed that to touch it slightly with the tnngue 

 is sufficient to cause quite a sensation. To this circumstance 

 is attributed its perfect immunity from insects, some even 

 asserting that it dissolves and digests them. 



This is but a partial list of those flowering plants suited for 

 window culture. As before stated, some seem to have the 

 knack of succeeding with more delicately-organized subjects, 

 but the above list will be found to include nearly all the " old 

 reliables." We have purposely omitted mention' of such bulbs 

 as Hyacinilis, Tulips, Crocuses, Narcissi, etc., which are dis- 

 tinctly winter plants, and known as such, the cultivation of 

 which has been before treated of in these pages ; at the same 

 time the list is large enough for selection. We cannot each of 

 us grow all the varieties mentioned, but can choose each for 

 himself those which he finds give most satisfaction, and 

 leisurely experiment with the rest. Next week we will fol- 

 low with short descriptions of a few of the best plants for the 

 window garden, grown for their foliage alone. 



The Aquarium Pigeon Show. — The exhibition of the 

 Columbarian Society, which closed last week, was notable for 

 an unusually large and line display of birds, the display rank- 

 ing with the best ever held in England. Among the classes 

 were fine specimens of pouters, carriers, barbs, short-faced 

 tumblers, owls, trumpeters, fantails, turbits, Jacobins, priests, 

 swallows, Antwerps, nuns, magpies, archangels, ice pigeons, 

 Romans, storks, high flyers, bald heads, shields, beards, 

 starlings, breasters, with other varieties ; the whole making a 

 collection of more than eight hundred specimens. A pleasant 

 feature of the exhibition was dispatching the carriers for their 

 homes. Just here the information given in another column 

 regarding the wild pigeon will he found of interest. 



— The regular monthly meeting of the New York Horticul- 

 tural Society will be held on Tuesday, February 5th, at No. 55 

 West 33d street. Mr. F. M. Hexamer will deliver an address 

 on " Small Fruits for the Family Garden." 



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 be pleased to mail to any address, proving the 

 falsity of their assertions. 



CONBOY, BlSSETT & MALLESON, 



Manufacturers, 65 Fulton Street, N. Y. 



To Correspondents.— Those desiring us to prescribe for their dogs 

 >viilpieaB6 take note of and describe the following points In each ani- 

 mal: 



1. Age. 2. Food aud medicine given. 3. Appearance of the eye j 

 of the coat ; of the tongue and lips. 4. Any changes in the appearance 

 of the body, as bloating, drawing in of the flanks, etc. 5. Breathing, 

 the number of respirations per minute, and whether labored or not. 

 B. Condition of the bowels and secretions of the kidneys, color, etc 7 

 Appetite ; regular, variable, etc. 8. Temperature of the body as lndl 

 cated by the bulb of the thermometer when placed between the body 

 and the foreleg. 9. Give position of kennel and Buironndinga, ontlook, 

 contiguity to other buildings, and the uses of, the latter. Also give any 

 peculiarities of temperament, movements, etc., that may be noticed, 

 signs of suffering, etc, 



FIXTURES FOR 1878— BENCH SHOWS. 



St. Louis Bench Show, St. Louis, Mo., Feb. 19, 20, 21 and 22. 

 Entries close Feb. 5. 



Boston Kennel Club Show, Boston, Mass., March 26, 27, 28 and 

 29. Dr. E. J. Forster, Secretary. 



Baltimore Kennel Clnb'a Show, Baltimore, Md., April 23, 24, 25 

 and 26. L. R. Cassard, Secretary. 



The Westminster Kennel Club (New York) Bench Show, Gil- 

 more's Garden, May 16, 17, 18 and 19. Dr. W. Seward Webb, 

 Secretary. 



