246 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[April 27, 1882. 



something, that had crawled down my back. Feeliug gin- 

 gerly for the animal, and with my flesh creeping at the sen- 

 sation, I at last seized and drew it forth, dropping it at once 

 it was in sight. Then the cause of our terror was revealed 

 as a "walking-stick" insect, with a slender body some four 

 inches long and wiry legs, looking like an animated green 

 twig. It rolled its protruding eyes so wickedly and fell for 

 us so viciously with its wiggling legs, that, finding a lot more 

 of them in the. leaves, we unanimously agreed to sit by the 

 Are the remainder of the night. This we did, groaning over 

 our perverseness at leaving the widow's hospitable roof, and 

 thus the young ladies were avenged. 



We found a trolling Spoon and line tangled iu some water 

 plants, the next morning, probably dragged awav from some- 

 ascending steamer, and that day we caught some" fine black 

 bass. It grieves me to relate that we had no adventure with 

 the alligator, and though I am aware that the reader will 

 severely frown upon "iiy 1 1: n;lu story without an alHgatCt 

 in it. yet it is impossible to lug one in ' at this late period. 

 We saw but few, though every tourist that went up on the 

 steamer and came down on the same, returned boasting that 

 lie had slain his thousands and tens of thousands. With our 

 small revolver we peppered at a few black snouts, and once 

 got near enough to oue to rap him on the head with a paddle, 

 but eaptured not one. The river widened, as we neared 

 its embouchure, and approached the mighty Saint Johns, 

 and we drifted placidly along, past quiet bays and sUent 

 creeks that were margined with lily pads and reflected the 

 woods above them. On the other shore our voyage ended. 

 Frede rick A. Ober. 



PENNSYLVANIA RESORTS. 



JN your issue of 8th inst., "Constant Reader" asks advice 

 as to a healthy location Lor invalids of consumptive tend- 

 encies. I am fearful of giving advice that may lead to re- 

 grets; but I do know that our lugh pine and oak barrens hold 

 better promise for weak lungs than the Northern Wilder- 

 ness. By consuming Colvin, and other reliable authorities, 

 it will be seen that the Adirondack region is exceptionally 

 damp and cool, which is the reverse of our highlands, and 

 cannot be favorable to catarrhal, bronchial, or lung dif- 

 ficulties. 



What I said of Oregon Hill is true to the letter. But I 

 doubt if more than a dozen boarders could find good quar- 

 ters there. For information as to the Oregon Hill region, ad- 

 dress George Dodd, Camps Corners. Lycoming county, Pa. 



On Pine Creek, twelve miles from Wellsboro, is the host- 

 elrie of George Herri ngtou. 



He has a large hotel, for the backwoods, is in a healthy 

 location, and iu reach of several trout streams. 



Six miles above Herri ngt on is the "Izaak Walton House," 

 in the little village of Gaines. It is a noted resort, often 

 referred to by Genio C. Scott, who spent some time there, 

 and other sportsmen. 



Above Gaines, six miles, you reach the "Ansley House," 

 Pike Mills, Potter county, Pa. This would be my objective 

 point. West Branch, South Branch, the Genesee" Fork, and 

 several other trout streams are easily reached from here. 

 The ground is high and dry. It is twelve miles front Wells- 

 boro, over a most delightful and romantic route. The fare 

 is $1.50. Wellsboro is reached by rail. 



Board at any of the above-named places may bo had for 

 from $5 to sr7 per week, according to requirements. We 

 have no lakes in Tioga county. Clear, brawling trout 

 streams are in pleanty. In Pine Creek — which is a respect- 

 able river— there is good fishing for eels, chub, dace, etc., 

 while below the dams, trout of a pound or more are often 

 caught. Tou need no guide here at $2. 50 or $8 per day, 

 and found. You can possess your soul in peace. Twenty 

 rods back of the Ansley House you may get away from all 

 humanity, and you may climb to "the top of the pine-crowned 

 ridge to the north, lie ^here and read, inhale the fresh air, 

 and wait for the dinner-bell, for which you will probably be 

 quite ready. The only choice between Oregon Hill and 

 Antley's, is, that Oregon Hill is more secluded and lonely. T 

 like to be alone. Susquehanna county, Pa., has fifty lakes, 

 stocked with bass, and with many summer resorts scattered 

 about the shores, and among the hills. It is becoming popu- 

 lar. The county lies lower, and is a trifle more cool and 

 moist than Tioga, but is very healthy. Edward Hose, who 

 keeps summer boarders at $8" and |9 per week, will answer 

 any letters directed to him at ''Silver Lake, Susquehanna 

 county, Pa," 



Twenty-two miles below Wellsboro is Cedar Run. It has 

 some claims to the consideration of the health-seeker. Milk, 

 eggs, trout, with venison in the season, may always be had. 

 It is rather remote from market. 



Lastly, the village of Wellsboro may be mentioned for the. 

 benefit of those wiio need a quiet, healthful rest, and do not 

 care for woods-life, or "camping out." 



There are six hotels and several private boarding houses in 

 Wellsboro. The village is dry, well shaded, with eleven 

 mileaofgood plank-walk for the pedestrian, with six trout 

 streams within eight miles. I will only add that, after re- 

 siding in thirteen different States, I chose Wellsboro as my 

 home, and am not sorry; and that I have no interest in any 

 hotel or resort on the earth. I will answer any letter sent to 

 me to the best of my ability. " Nesbmb E, 



Wellsboeo, Tioga County. Pa. 



Noticing in this week's issue of Forest and Stream an 

 item headed "Wolves in Virginia," 1 thought, perhaps, it 

 might interest some of your many readers to know that quite 

 a respectable sized pack of these animals roam in the wilder- 

 ness of the Blaekliek Creek region, in Cambria county, Penn- 

 sylvania. 



" There are miles of the region named, although situated in a 

 comparatively settled country, through which no human 

 being would care to penetrate. A few deer are found in the 

 same locality, but no doubt the wolves keep the number 

 down by destroying the fawns, aud perhaps the older ones 

 also. There was great complaint made last winter (1880-81) 

 by the farmers in that section by reason of the destruction 

 of their sheep by these pests, but I have heard none Ibis 

 winter. 



The game in this (Cambria) county consists of deer, wild 

 turkeys, grouse, squirrels, woodcock and pigeons in their an- 

 nual flights; our streams contain trout, black bass, pike- 

 pereh, a" few pike, sun fish and suckers. The trout are gen- 

 erally small, not averaging more than seven inches in length. 

 Bass" vary from one-half pound to three and four pounds, 

 the latter kind very scarce, but all sizes of them gamy. Pike- 

 perch are caught m the Conomaugh River, below this place, 

 Weighing eight and ten pour, la 



A party of Pittsburg gentlemen purchased, some three 

 years Bgp, the "Reservoir property," some eight or nine 



miles from Johnstown. This reservoir was, in the days of 

 the Pennsylvania Canal, used as a feeder for the same", but 

 after the abandonment of the canal, in 18G2, I believe, broke, 

 aud Left five hundred acres, which had been under water, 

 dry land. It was left in this condition until these gentle- 

 men purchased it, when they at once went to work and re- 

 erected the dam, which at the first high water broke again. 

 Nothing daunted, however, they again erected it, and it has 

 stood the spring and fall floods ever since. It is about sixty 

 feet deep at the breast, and backs the water of the South 

 Fork some three miles, and is perhaps one-half mile in 

 width. Altogether, it is as fine a sheet of water as geese 

 and ducks could choose to alight upon, or in whose depths 

 the bass with which it is stocked could find to swim. The 

 owners have erected a club house for their convenience and 

 provided themselves with boats for fishing and duck shoot- 

 ing. As a matter of course outsiders are excluded, aud do 

 one permitted to shoot or fish there except themselves, 

 Johnstown has a Game aud Fish Association in a flourishing 

 condition, and the preservation of game and fish is looked 

 after by the proper parties. Octo. 



Johnstown. Pa., April 8, 1882. 



tmial %j}i$torg. 



HOW THE OPOSSUM BREEDS. 



r IMTE question as to how the animals of the order MarsUjpMia 

 J- breed, is one which for a long time was involved in ob- 

 scurity, and about. Which the general public have still very 

 vague ideas. To enumerate ail the absurdities that have 

 been advanced by ignorant people to explain some of the puz- 

 zling facts connected with the production of the young of the 

 opossum, would be out of place here. The subject was care- 

 fully studied by Dr. Bachmau during a number of years, and 

 at various times this author published the results of his ob- 

 servations, and finally, in June, 1849, prepared for the "Vivi- 

 parous Quadrupeds of North America," a summary of his in- 

 vestigations into the breeding of the opossum. 



Several times recently we have received inquiries asking 

 for an explanation of the subject, which is to so many people 

 enveloped in mystery, and for the enlightenment of those 

 who inhabit the regions where the opossum abounds, we give 

 a few facts about the matter. 



It is interesting to run back over the early authors and see 

 what impossible and laboriously ingenious theories they 

 evolved to explain the long-known facts that the young of 

 the opossum when first found in the marftvpmin or pouch of 

 the mother are very minute and apparently imperfectly 

 developed. It was stated that "the pouch was the matrix of 

 the young opossum, and that the mamma? are, with regard 

 to the young, what stalks are to their f raits. " Other authors 

 wrote of "two sorts of gestation, one uterine and the other 

 mammary." The newly-born young are spoken of as "abor- 

 tions," "not foetuses but gelatinous bodies,' and as recently as 

 1842, Dekay, in his "Natural History of New York," said: 

 "The young are found in the external abdominal sac, firmly 

 attached to the teat in the form of a small gelatinous body, 

 not weighing more than a grain. It was a long time believed 

 that there existed a direct passage from the uterus to the 

 teat , but this has been disproved by dissection. Another 

 opinion is that the embryo is excluded from the uterus in the 

 usual manner and placed by the mother to the. teat; and a 

 third that the embryo is formed where it is first found." 



Owen's investigations into the birth of the young kangaroo 

 showed that in these animals the young was bom in the 

 usual way, and was placed by the mother withiu the pouch, 

 where it soon became attached to the teat, aud this discovery 

 afforded reasonable probability that the same thing would be 

 found true of the opossum. It was a longtime before Bach- 

 man was able to discover the young opossum in utero, and 

 all his endeavors to breed the opossum in confinement were 

 futile. He began therefore by setting to work to find out, as 

 nearly as possible, the season of the year at which the young 

 were brought forth. This he learned, by the examination of 

 numerous specimens with the young already in the pouch, to 

 be about the first week in March in South Carolina, but when 

 he attempted to secure a series of females for the examina- 

 tion, he found himself unable to do so He says: "In the 

 third week in February, 1817. by offering premiums to the 

 servants on several neighboring plantations, we obtained in 

 three, nights thirty-five opossums, but of that number there 

 was not a single female. A week afterward, however, when 

 thcyoung were contained in the pouch, we received more 

 females than males. From this circumstance we came to the 

 conclusion that during the short period of gestation, the 

 females, like those of some other species of quadruped-,, par- 

 ticularly the American black bear, conceal themselves in 

 their burrows and can seldom be found." By changing the 

 method of capture, and directing that they should be sought 

 for during the daytime in places win re they were likely to 

 be found resting, Dr. Bachmau subsequently secured a few 

 gravid females. 



A dissection of these individuals showed that the young 

 previous to birth are very small, some of those removed from 

 the parent weighing two aud oue-half grains, and the largest 

 obtained by a "Caesarian operation after the birth of the re- 

 mainder of the litter, weighing four grains. Others of the 

 same litter, however, after birth weighed three and one-half 

 and three and three-quarters grains. The young when newly 

 born are naked and flesh-colored. The eyes and ears are 

 closed by a delicate integument, and the oral orifice is very 

 small, being merely large enough to admit the very attenu- 

 ated teat. The claws "are visible, the nostrils open. The. 

 length of the body is about oue-half an inch, that of the tail 

 one-sixth of an inch. 



It is thus seen that the young when born are perfectly de- 

 veloped. Dr. Bachmau states that the. large one referred to 

 above moved several inches along the surface of a table, and 

 lived two hours after it-, removal from the parent. The 

 period of gestation appeal's to be fifteen or sixteen days. The 

 observations made point to Hie dohehjsiQn that the young 

 are placed in the pouch by the mouth of the mother, and it 

 seems probable that' she assists them to take hold of the teats. 

 Young which had been sucking were detached from the 

 mot tier, but allowed to remain in the pouch, and were after- 

 ward found to be attached lo the nrunmre. Another experi- 

 : than "tried, "Believing that the mother would not 

 readily adopt the young of another, or afford them any assist- 

 ance, we removed Six Out of ten that composed her brood, 

 returned two of her own to the pouch, together with three 

 Others fully double th- size, that had been Obtained from 

 another female. She was soon observed doubled up with her 

 nose iu the pouch, and continued so for an hour, when she 

 was examined and one of her own small ones was found 



attached to the teat. Seven hours afterward she was exam- 

 ined again and both the small ones were attached, hut the 

 three larger ones still remained crawling about the pouch. 

 On the following morning it was ascertained that the mother 

 had adopted the strangers, as the whole family of different 

 sizes were deriving sustenance from her." 



The growth of the young is very rapid, and we are told 

 that in one week one of them increased in weight from three 

 and three-quarters to thirty grains. It was now an inch aud 

 a quarter in length exclusive of the tail, which measured one 

 half an inch. At this period the pouches of the females 

 were quite apparent, and the young used their prehensile 

 tails, twining them about the 'necks of their companions. 

 The young venture out of their pouch when they are about, 

 five weeks old. 



Such in brief is the story of the breeding of the opossum. 

 It is told by Dr. Bachmau' at considerable 7 length aud with 

 many interesting details, in the work to which we have above 

 alluded. It is not surprising when we consider the habits of 

 the animal, the short period of gestation aud the other ac- 

 companying circumstances, that its method should have so 

 long remained a mystery to scientific men, nor that even 

 now there should be much popular misconception in regard 

 to it, and many fanciful and absurd ideas about how it takes 

 place should be still implicitly believed in by the ignorant. 



Two New Thrushes.— In the advance sheets of the pro- 

 ceedings of the U. S. National Museum, now publishing, we 

 find the descriptions of Mr. Ridgway of two new subspecies 

 of North American HylotichlCB. One of these. Hyioakkla 

 fascesce/if salt&cola, is a Rocky Mountain form, not hitherto 

 distinguished from the ordinary fuseescens. In coloration it 

 presents some points of resemblance to uxhrfata. It is de- 

 cidedly larger lhan/wseescen*, and the upper parts are much 

 less tawney and the jugulum less distinctly buff. Specimens 

 are in the National Museum from Colorado, "Wyoming, 

 Montana and Dakota. The second new form here described. 

 Eylockhla- akicue Bkknelli, was discovered by Mr. E. P. 

 Bicknell, of Riverdale, New York, breeding among the Cat- 

 Skill Mountains, in Ulster county, N Y. "No one else ap- 

 pears to have met with it, and" the only specimens known 

 are those collected by him. It shotdd also be said that Mr. 

 Bicknell detected the differences between the present form 

 and the true alieim, and pointed them out to Mr, Ridgway. 

 The seven specimens upon which the new race is based are 

 all noticeably smaller than the true alma; and have the bills 

 more slender than in that form. There are also slight and 

 not very well marked peculiarities of coloration. On this 

 point Air. Bicknell says: "In regard to the differences of 

 coloration of the two forma, 1 find that, although some speci- 

 mens in my series can be closely matched, the majority can 

 be separated by color differences. These-, however, are not 

 very tangible, but most specimens of the smaller form present 

 a somewhat undefinable appearance which separates them 

 from the larger. This is best seen about the head, and seems 

 to be produced by a brownish shade relieving those colors 

 which in true cHiem are dark and sooty. Though my two 

 Cat-skill examples are darker than spring specimens of ffi&foVs, 

 specimens of the smaller form taken in the fall are quite uni- 

 formly paler than those of true alieM tuken at the same 

 season; and though this seems to be. contrary to a recognized 

 law of geographical distribution, it is certainly the fact. 

 Besides in the general color it is noticeable in the legs and 

 feet, some of the smaller forms having the tarsi a pale clear 

 yellow, while in many large specimens they are uniformly 

 dark. The base of the lower mandible is also more largely 

 and generally yellow in the smaller form." Ornithologist's 

 and collectors will no doubt speedily detect other examples 

 of this race, now that attention has "once been called to it. 



A Reoijirsttal Pet Antelope. — A doe antelope, about 

 a fortnight old, was caught near a garrison town in 

 India, in 1875, and was adopted by the English regi- 

 ment stationed there. Says the London Illustrated Sjx,rt 

 ing uiul Dm mafic News: "She was 'nursed' and brought 

 up by Corporal Ward of the drums, and though very 

 wild at first soon evinced a strong taste for music. 

 so much so that, after about six months' drill, she 

 was handed over to the band, and from that time marched 

 at the head of the regiment on all occasions. From India 

 'Fan' came to England, where the officers df the regiment 

 presented her with a massive silver collar with the regi- 

 mental badge, which she wore until her death. She had the 

 honor of making acquaintance of several of the Royal Family. 

 Ou the occasion of the visit of II. R. H. the Prince of Wales 

 to Indore, when the guard of honor was furnished by the 

 regiment, 'Fan' was the first to welcome him on his arrival 

 at the Residency and received cordial notice. On the arrival 

 of the regiment at Portsmouth she attracted the notice of 

 II. S. H. Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimer, through whose 

 kindly forethought a special order was issued to the sentries 

 ou the. main guard to allow the little antelope to graze on the 

 Governor's green. She was also much admired and petted 

 by H. R. H. the Princess of Wales and her children, 

 while they were slaying at Government House, Portsmouth. 

 Fan' accompanied "the band of the regiment to the Grand 

 Volunteer Review at Edinburgh in 1881/ and, while, standing 

 opposite the saluting point, had the honor of attracting the 

 notice of Her Majesty the Queen. After the arrival of the 

 regiment in Enniskidcu, •Fan' very soon made friends with 

 the townspeople, and was well-known within a radius of six 

 miles of the towm. It is believed now that she was not killed 

 maliciously, but in mistake for a wild deer that was roaming 

 about. Be that as it may, it seems very hard that, after fol- 

 lowing the drum for seven yaars in India and England, the 

 ■Pet of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers' should he shot with- 

 in a mile of the very town from which the regiment takes its 

 name. " 



The Bovs a>o> the Woont'ECKEUs,— Upon the old 

 homestead iu Waldo county, Maine, where my brothers 

 and myself were born, was a large orchard, a greal 

 resort for woodpeckers and many other varieties of birds. 

 The orchard was our play ground aud we became as 

 familiar with the birds as with the apple trees and 

 their fruit. We got the impression the woodpeckers were 

 spoiling the trees by picking holes through the bark, and 

 undertook to drive them from the orchard wdth stones and 

 clubs this gave us great sport, but was not always attended 

 with success. The redhead was ourfavotite and we. readily 

 accorded to him the most intelligence and pluck, and 

 it was rarely we succeeded iu driving him from the 

 orchard. He would hide away from us, aud make circuitous 

 flights that showed great cunning, as well us good judgment. 

 After planting was over, about the 1st of June, the men up 

 on the place would go to the woods to peel hemlock bark. 



