Mat 18, 1882.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



305 



JJ#/w/a/ ^§i§totQ. 



SPRING NOTES. 



Ed^r Forest and Stream :. Philadelphia, May 5. 



The present rain is just suitable for, and will bring many 

 of the later spring migratory birds. The meadows in a day 

 Or two will be noisy with, tlie notes of ths bobolink, and the 

 flocks will at first be composed of all males. The females 

 will follow in a few days. This is what the New Jersey 

 farmers called the catbird-storm when your correspondent 

 was a boy. After it clears and the sun comes out warm, we 

 shall hear the beautiful song of this much maligned bird, as 

 well as that of the thrush— the long-tailed fellow of the 

 hMjgea— and likely the hermit of the mora shady woods, 

 whose metallic note, alone tells of his presence. This storm 

 will fetch the dowitcher from the South ; he has already 

 started, but is niakiug his journey in easy stages. Robin 

 suipc will follow, with the bull-head or black-breast plover, 

 in about a week. On the New Jersey and Long Island 

 marshes the "big tell talc" has been seen for a fortnight or 

 iLiL'iv; he is an earlier comer. It is strange that we seldom 

 or ever see the "little tell tale" on the New Jersey shores in 

 the spring, when in August aud September, on the same 

 ground* "used" by his larger cousin in April, we find him in 

 numbers. His migration northward in the spring must be 

 west of the Allegheny Mountains. Homo. 



Portland, Conn., May 6, 1882.— The following are the 

 dales of arrival of some of the birds at Portland for 1882 : 

 March 2d, crow blackbirds (Q. purpureus); 3d, red-winged 

 blackbirds (A. phaiaixus); 8th, fox-colored sparrows (P. 

 ilifiaa;) 29th, general arrival of pewees (3. fusaus), Cooper's 

 "hawk (A. coopsrii); April 1st, marsh hawk (0. hadsonius); 

 2d, pine-creeping warbler (D, pinus); 4th, bay-winged bunt- 

 ings (P. gmniLite'ia); 7 th, field sparrows (S. puttiUa); 15th, 

 chipping sparrows (S. domtUioa); 17th, bank swallows (6'. 

 riparia); 2,3th, house wren (T. wlon); 30th, yellow-throated 

 vireo {L. Jtcvifrons); May 1st, least flycatcher (E. minimus), 

 blue yellow-backed warbler (P. americana); 2d, yellow war- 

 bler (O. aalioa); 3d, kingbird (P. carolinemis), bobolink (D. 

 oryzivarm); 4th, Baltimore oriole (/. galbula). catbird (67. 

 caroliiienm); 5th, warbling vireo ( V. gilva). — Jno. H. Sage. 



Bay Ridge, L. I., April 29. — Among our last week's birds 

 are pine and purple finches on the 22d, golden-crested and 

 ruhy-crownei wrens 25th, towhee buntings, ferruginous, 

 hermit and tawny thrushes, j and one downy woodpecker 

 26th, one blue-headed solitary vireo 27th, black and white 

 creepers, swifts and purple martins 28th, two kingfishers, 

 and one Maryland yellow -throat 29th. "Weather still cool. — 

 A. L. Townsend. 



Cleveland, O., May 8, '82. — I send you a list of the birds 

 as they arrived here this spring. January 2d, crows; 14th, 

 Carolina doves; February J.4tb.rbluebirds; 15th, robins and 

 meadow lark; 21st, song sparrows; 27th, crow blackbirds; 

 March 14th, red-winged blackbirds; 19th, cow buds; 25th, 

 loggerhead shrike; 30th, brown thrush, woodcock and 

 wood-pewee; April 2d, chipping spairowand brown creeper; 

 3d, red-headed woodpecker; 8th, kingfisher; 12th, grass finch; 

 chewink, turkey buzzard; 16th, pewee and purple martin; 

 21st, great northern diver, barn swallow; 22d, chimney 

 swift, wood thrush, great blue heron, rusty blackbird,) yel- 

 low-rum ped warbler, Carolina rail and blue-gray gnat- 

 catcher; 27th, golden plover; 28th, house wren, long-billed 

 marsh wren, spotted sandpiper, bank swallow jfcatbird, white- 

 crowned sparrow, | redstart, white-throated sparrow, whip- 

 poor-will, Maryland yellowthroat, yellow warbler, yellow 

 shanks, white-bellied swallow; 29th, chestnut-sided warbler 

 and black-throated green warbler ; 30th, green heron, Amer- 

 ican bittern; May 4th, Baltimore oriofe, warbling vireo; 

 5th, kingbird; 6th, orchard oriole. While out collecting 

 with a companion April 28, we each succeeded in shooting, 

 among others, a fine specimen of lark finch. They were 

 with a few sparrows in an old corn field near the edge of a 

 woods on the banks of the lake. These birds were quite 

 shy, aud are the only ones to my knowledge that have been 

 captured in this part of the couutry. They inhabit the 

 -western prairie and Pacific coast, but not so far East as Ohio 

 to rny knowledge. If others have been shot in this part of 

 the country I should be happy to hear when and where. — 

 Betm. R. Ingersoll. [The lark finch (Ohondestes grammaaa) 

 has been taken as a straggler in New England. Several 

 records from Massachusetts. See "New England Bird 

 Life."] 



Philadelphia, May 12. — Last Sunday, during my walk, 

 your correspondent saw the yellow-rumped, the blue yellow- 

 back, the black-throated blue, the black-throated green, the 

 magnolia, and the chestnut-sided warblers. As I expected I 

 heard the note of the hermit thrush, and the bobolink in his 

 unmistakable livery was seen without his more sombre 

 dressed wife, — Homo. 



American Association foe the Advancement of 

 Sctenoe. — The thirty-first meeting of the association will be 

 held at Montreal, Canada, commencing at 10 o'clock, A. M., 

 on Wednesday August 23, 1883; under the presidency of 

 J. W. Dawson, LL.D., F. R. S., Principal of McGill TJni- 

 versity, Montreal. A large local committee has been formed 

 and through its several sub-committees is actively engaged 

 in perfecting the local arrangements for the meeting, which 

 will soon be announced by special circular. It is only neces- 

 sary to state here that the members of the committee are 

 desirous of doing everything in their power to promote the 

 objects of the association, aud that their circular will con- 

 tain information relating to the local arrangements, hotels 

 aud boarding-houses, and the special rates of transportation; 

 also a general programme for the week. Special invitations 

 have been sent by the local committee to distinguished scien- 

 tists abroad, aud it is believed that several will be present. 

 The headquarters of the association will be at McGill Uni- 

 versity, where members will register as soon as possible after 

 arrival. The hotel headquarters will be at the Windsor. 

 The offices of the local committee and oF the permanent 

 secretary will be at the University. The general sessions 

 and the meetings of the sections and committees will be held 

 in the University buildings. The particular rooms will be 

 designated on the programme for Wednesday. Members 

 expecting to attend the meeting are particularly requested to 

 notify the local secretary at the earliest moment possible 

 At the Boston meeting several changes in the constitution 

 were proposed which were adopted at Cincinnati. As a re- 

 sult of these changes the scope of the association has been 



extended, and the sections have been entirely reorganized, 

 so that there are now nine sections of equal standing, each 

 presided over by a vice-president, and having its own secre- 

 tary and sectional committee. The new arrangement ol the 

 sections is as follows: Sec. A. — Mathematics and Astro- 

 nomy. Sec. B. — Physics. Sec. C. — Chemistry, including 

 its applications to Agriculture and the Arts. Sec. D. — Me- 

 chanical Science. Sec. E. — Geology and Geography. 

 Sec. F.— Biology. Sec. G. — Histology and Microscopy. 

 Sec. H. — Anthropology. Sec. I. — Economic Science and 

 Statistics. All communications relating to the local arrange- 

 ments for the meeting must be addressed to one of the honor- 

 ary local secretaries at the rooms of the Natural History 

 Society, University street, Montreal. All matters relating to 

 membership and to the presentation of papers will be at 

 • tended to by the permanent secretary. The address of the 

 permanent secretary, Mr. F. W. Putnam, will be Salem, 

 Mass., until August 17; after that time and until the meet- 

 ing has adjourned, his address will be Windsor Hotel, Mont- 

 real, Canada. The following are the officers of the Montreal 

 meeting: President, J. W. Dawson, of Montreal; Vice-Presi- 

 dents — A. Mathematics and Astronomy, Wm. Harkness, of 

 Washington; B. Physics, T. O. Mendenhall, of Columbus; 



C. Chemistry, H. C. Bolton, of Hartford; D. Mechanical 

 Science, W. P. Trowbridge, of New Haven; E. Geology 

 and Geography, E. T, Cox, of San Francisco; F. Biology, 

 W. H DalL of Washington ; G. Histology and Miero.sopy, 

 A. H. Tuttle, of Columbus; H. Anthropology, Daniel Wd- 

 son, of Toronto; I. Economic Science, and Statistics, E. B. 

 Elliott, of Washington. Permanent Secretary, F. W. Put- 

 nam, of Cambridge; General Secretary, Wm. Saunders, of 

 London, Ontario; Assistant-General Secretary, J. R. East- 

 man, of Washington. The Secretaries of the Sections are — 

 A. Mathematics and Astronomy, H. T. Eddy, of Cincin- 

 nati; B. Physics, Charles S. Hastings, of Baltimore; 

 O, Chemistry, Alfred Springer, of Cincinnati; D. Me- 

 chanical Science, Charles B. Dudley, of Altoona; E. Geol- 

 ogy and Geography, C. E. Dutton, of Washington ; F. Biol- 

 ogy, Charles S. Minot, of Boston; G. Histology and Micro- 

 scopy, Robert Brown, Jr., of Cincinnati; H. Anthropology, 

 Otis T. Mason, of Washington; 1. Economic Science, and 

 Statistics, F. B. Hough, of Lowville. Treasurer, Wm. S. 

 Vaux, of Philadelphia. The Standing Committee consists 

 of the officers above named and the past Presidents — James 



D. Dana, of New Haven, James Hall, of Albany, Stephen 

 Alexander, of Princeton, Isaac Lee, of Philadelphia, F. A. P. 

 Barnard, of New York, J. S. Newberry, of New Yorlj, B. A. 

 Gould, of Boston, T. Sterry Hunt, of Montreal, Aea Gray, 

 of Cambridge, J. Lawrence Smith, of Louisville, Joseph 

 Loverlng, of Cambridge, John L. LeConte, of Philadelphia, 

 J. E. Hilgard, of Washington, "Wm. B. Rogers, of Boston, 

 Simon Newcomb, of Washington, O. C. Marsh, of New 

 Haven ; George F. Barker, of Pniladelphia, George J. Brush, 

 of New Haven, and from the Association at large, one Fel- 

 low to be elected from each Section. The annual meeting 

 of the Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Science 

 will be held at the rooms of the Natural History Society, 

 Montreal, on August 21 and 22. 



Modes by which Scale-insects spread prom tree to 

 tree.— I watched to-day a colony of Hyperaspidius cocci- 

 divorus Ashmead which has for two months or more been 

 increasing on the trunk of a tall seedling orange tree. The 

 main trunk of the tree is covered densely with Chaff scale, 



[Parlatoria Pergandii Comstock. — Ed.] and upon it the 

 arvse and imagos of the beetle are feeding. The greater 

 number are now in imago. I found but one pupa although 

 larvae are still abundant. The beetles, both larva and imago, 

 feed upon the Coccids in all their stages. They never bite 

 through or tear off the scale, but seem to push their heads 

 under, between the bark and the scale. Larvae of the scale- 

 insect are quite abundant on the trunk, and these are sucked 

 by the Coccinellid. Although this is not properly a breeding 

 time of the scale, there are considerable numbers of scale 

 larvae wandering about, and I noticed again and again that 

 they frequently mount upon the bodies of the Coccinellids 

 while the latter are feeding and without attracting the 

 attention of the beetle. It even seems to me that they are 

 attracted by the smooth and shining surface of the Hyperas- 

 pidius' elytra, as 1 sometimes saw three or four of the scale 

 larvae together upon the back of a single individual of this 

 extremely small beetle. As several large Coccinellids 

 C/iiloco-rus bivulnei-us, et al. , are extremely common in all our 

 groves, and all feed more or less upon Coccids, it does not 

 seem surprising that the scale should spread from tree to 

 tree. Another method of transportation has recently 

 occurred to me. The shrike or butcher bird is very fond of 

 selecting orange thorns as places to store insects. The bird 

 is extremely common, and of course preferably selects 

 orange trees that have long straggling branches, in fact, pre- 

 cisely those that are most thickly infested with Long scale. 

 I know of one grove, much infested with scale and where at 

 any time may be collected a double handful of dead or 

 Uving insects (Orthoptera and common beetles like 

 Phanwus) from the orange thorns upon which they have 

 been impaled. The thorns on infected branches are always 

 thickly coated with long scale, and in impaling a hard 

 shelled insect like Pkanams many scales are torn off, and 

 both scales and their eggs adhere to the insect. The shrike 

 sometimes transfers the insects it has impaled upon one tree 

 to a thorn upon another tree, or after making a meal of its 

 prey which it takes off of a thorn, the bird flies off and 

 wipes its bill on the next tree. In this way as wed as upon 

 its feet, the bird must spread scales from tree to tree. — If, 0. 

 Hubbard, in American JSialuralist. 



The Fish-eating Cows op Provtncetown, Mass, — 

 Captain Atwood has kindly given me facts in respect to 

 fish-eating cows. Prior to the passage of the Massachusetts 

 statute forbidding owners of cows to allow them to roam at 

 will (which statute was enacted to protect directly the beach- 

 grass which checked the drifting of sand), the cows flocked 

 to the shore whUe the fishermen were cleaning their catch. 

 These cows sought with avidity the entrails and swallowed 

 them. They seemed willing to eat the heads also, but lacked 

 the ability to reduce their bulk sufficiently to allow of this, 

 A. species of ling or blenny, weighing three pounds or more, 

 and discarded by the fishermen, was freely eaten also by the 

 cows. Cows when first arriving at Proviucetown from the 

 rural districts refused fish; but their owners, by adding 

 minced fish to their cows' rations, soon taught the cows to 

 imitate their neighbors in respect to eating entrails. At this 

 time the thirty-three cows, constituting the whole of Pro- 

 vincetown's stock, being "kept up," have forgotten or never 

 learned the fish-eatiag practice.— Isaac Hinckley in letter to 

 Prof, 3, F. JBaird, 



* F A New Yucatan Bird. — At a recent meeting of the New 

 York Academy of Sciences, Mr. Geo. A. Lawrence described 

 a new swift from Yucatan, under the name Chmturagaumeri. 

 This bird was collected by by Mr. Geo. F. Gaumer, in honor 

 of whom it has been named Cnautura gaumeri, measures 4£ 

 inches in length, the wing is 4£ inches and the tad i£ inches, 

 the spines being wanting. Its color above is smoky brownish 

 black, the rump and tail coverts, however, being dark asb, 

 each feather narrowly bordered at the end with gray. The 

 throat is whitish gray, breast and upper part of abdomen 

 dark smoky ash, lower part of abdomen and under tail cov- 

 erts darker, wings black, under wing coverts and inner mar- 

 gins of quills dark ashy brown ; bill and feet black. From 

 this description it will appear that this species differs from 

 Ghalura tauxi in the darker coloration of its upper and 

 under plumage, the throat, however, being much alike in 

 both, and in being smaller, with shorter wings and tail. It is 

 darker above than 0. pelasgica, but lighter below. It appears 

 that in the past, specimens of this bird have been collected, 

 but that they have been confounded with 0. vauxi. Mr. 

 Lawrence's extremely interesting papers upon the birds of 

 the Lesser Antilles, based upon tne codections of Mr. Ober, 

 have been alluded to in Forest and Stream as they have 

 appeared. 



Odd Nesting Plaoeb. — Sing Sing, May 12, 1882. — Editor 

 Forest and Stream: In the spring of 1880, a pair of bank 

 swallows (Cotyle riparia) took possession of a space under an 

 iron pipe that protruded from the side of a stone building, 

 and there raised a brood. In June, 1881, I found the nest of 

 the black-billed cuckoo {Coccyzus erythrophthalmus) placed on 

 a beam under a bridge, with a swift-running stream within 

 three feet of it. The nest contained yosng ones. On May 

 7, 1882, 1 found a robin's '(Turdus migrator km) nest placed 

 on the ground under the roots of a large tree. The nest con- 

 tained four eggs. On the same day I found a nest of the song 

 sparrow {Melospiza melodia) placed in a hole in an old apple 

 tree. The nest contained three eggs. — Cal. Culver, [is it 

 quite certain that the birds referred to as Qolile riparia were 

 really of that species? The locality of nest would seem to 

 point rather to Stelgidopteryx]. 



Killed by the Wirisb. — Summit Station, Ohio, May 8. — 

 Editor Forest and Stream: Mrs, Jennie Brock found a bird 

 last week that had been stunned by striking a telegraph wire. 

 It is about as large again as a quail and is about the same 

 shape. Its body is black, under part of tail and points of 

 wing feathers are white. Point of the bill is a pale green, 

 rest of bid blood red. The red runs to top of its head, and 

 is about half an inch wide, legs about eight inches long, 

 green, except about one inch above the knees, which is blood 

 red. Its feet look as if it belongs to the waders; toes about 

 two inches long. Can you ted me from above description 

 what kind of a bird it is? No one about here that has seen 

 it, ever saw such a bird. — F. M. L. [The specimen is no 

 doubt a Florida gallinule (Gallinula galeata), a bird belong- 

 ing to the rail family, and whose distribution is rather 

 southern.] 



Georgetown, Mass., May 9, 1882. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: The following is a description of bird which I found 

 dead under the telegraph wire, and would like to know what 

 it is. From its head, around its eyes, clear to the end of its 

 tail, it is a light olive green ; the under side of its neck and 

 its breast is mottled white and black; the under side of its 

 wings and tail are brown; on the top of its head is a spot as 

 large as a Bilver three-cent piece, that is the color of old gold; 

 its bill is rather small in circumference, but is about half an 

 inch in length and very sharp. I' enclose some of 

 the feathers that came from its back, and should have sent 

 the bird, only it was too far gone. The bird is about the 

 size of a common sparrow. — E. H. M. — [Your bird is the 

 golden-crowned thrush {Slums auricapillus). Although 

 commonly spoken of as a thrush, from Us superficial resem- 

 blance to many species of the Turdidm, it is really a warbler. 

 It breeds commonly in New England.] 



Animal Analysis. — We have received from the publish- 

 ers, Jansen, McClurg & Co., Chicago, a useful set of blanks 

 for the student of zoology. The title is, "Animal Analysis 

 for use in schools and colleges, following the analytical 

 method in the study of Zoology, and especially adapted to 

 accompany Jordan's Manual of the Vertebrates. By B. W. 

 Evermann." It is mainly of use to record specimens of 

 either mammals, birds, reptiles (snakes only), aud fishes. 

 Other pages are not filled out and can be used for whatever 

 is required. Taking a page devoted to fishes we find head- 

 ings as fodows : chiBS, family, name, genus, species, common 

 name, locality. Then follow lines for dimensions, shape, 

 mouth, maxillary, premaxiilary, fin rays, teeth, viscera, etc. 

 The book is about eight by ten inches, sixty pages with 

 index, and cloth cover. The price is seventy -five cents and 

 in our opinion it is of value to the student. 



Captive Game Birds.— Newark, May 13, 1882. — Editor 

 Forest and Stream: Last fall, while hunting, I chanced to 

 wing-tip a hen ruffed grouse, which, after a tedious and 

 dangerous race, I secured and brought home in good condi- 

 tion. A friend having had a similar experience with a cock 

 quail which he then had in a cage, 1 let him have the 

 grouse for company. This did not meet the approval of 

 Mrs. G., as she went for that quail and plucked his feathers 

 well. They were then separated by a partition, and this 

 spring a more commodious cage was made out doors, and 

 both were placed therein, since which time they have bved 

 harmoniously. The grouse soon tamed, and would take 

 cranberries from the hand greedily in a few days. Within 

 the past two weeks the grouse has laid several eggs, but 

 disdains anything like a nest.— J. R. B. 



MrLLERSTOWN, Pa. —A gray eagle was shot near this 

 place on last Friday (April 28) by Mr. S. S. Bell. It meas- 

 ured six feet ten inches, with wings expanded, from tip to 

 tip of wing, and weighed eight pounds. Mr, Bell shot it 

 with a .32 cal. rifle at the distance of about 100 yards, hitting 

 it in the neck. It was quite a curosity in these parts. — Ob- 

 server. 



The Clipper Shooting Club, of Burlington, Iowa, pub- 

 lish the game laws or that State in convenient shape, and 

 offer a liberal reward for all convictions under the same. 

 The club was organized in May, 1878, and numbers among 

 its members many of the best citizens of the county of Des 

 Moines. It has had a good influence in making the game 

 laws respected, and we look for further work of the kind by 

 it, The officers are: T. B. Swygard, President; A. J. Win- 

 ders, Vice-President; T. Rundorff, Treasurer, and T. L. 

 Pdger, Secretary, 



