346 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JTOTE 1, 1832. 



insects, particularly of centipedes and coleoptera. I also 

 found the remains of shelled snails in the gizzard, which is 

 very strong and muscular." 



Another species of lyrebird, known as Menura alberti is 

 distinguished from the foregoing by the shortness of the 

 lyre-shaped tail feathers and the absence of the dark bars or 

 the web. This species, like superba, is a remarkable 

 mocker. 



Dispersal of Fresh-Water Shells.— Probably the 

 last article from the pen of the late Charles Darwin, pub- 

 lished during his lifetime, was an article on this subject, 

 which appeared in Mature, April 6. In it he says: "Mr. F. 

 Norgate, of Sparham, near Norwich, in a letter dated March 

 8, 1881, informs me that the larger water-beetles and newts in 

 his aquarium 'frequently have one foot caught by a small 

 fresh-water bivalve (Cydas cornea?), and this makes them 

 swim about in a very restless state, day and night, for several 

 days, until the foot or toe is completely severed.' He adds 

 that newts migrate at night from pond" to pond, and can cross 

 over obstacles which would be thought to be considerable. 

 Lastly, my son Francis, while fishing in the sea off the shores 

 of North Wales, noticed that mussels were several times 

 brought up by the point of the hook; and though he did not 

 particularly attend to the subject, he and his companion 

 thought that the shells had not been mechanically torn from 

 the bottom, but that they had seized the point of the hook, 

 A friend also of Mr. Crick's tells him that while fishing in 

 rapid streams he has often thus caught small Unios. From 

 the several cases now given there can, I think, be no doubt 

 that living bivalve shells must often be carried from pond to 

 pond, and by the aid of birds occasionally even to great dis- 

 tances. I have also suggested in the 'Origin of Species' 

 means by which fresh-water univalve shells might be far 

 transported. We may therefore demur to the belief doubt- 

 fully expressed by Mr*. Gwyn Jeffreys in his 'British Con- 

 chology,' namely, that the diffusion of fresh-water shells 'had 

 a different and very remote origin, and that it took place be- 

 fore the present distribution of land and water.' " 



The Earliest Spring Flower,— A correspondent who 

 writes from Norwalk, Ohio, asks us, What is the first spring 

 flower to be found in Connecticut? A friend says it is the 

 trailing arbutus. I think it is the Wspatka anhrienna or 

 liverwort. I have found this plant in bloom, I think, in 

 March. Is there not a little rockwort or sandwort that grows 

 on rocky hills that blooms as early as March? I think such 

 a little plant grows on East Rock or the mountains west of 

 Meriden, Conn.— W. B. H. [We have never found the 

 trailing arbutus (Bpigea) blooming as early as Hepatka triloba, 

 and believe the latter to be the earliest spring flower in Con- 

 necticut. Of course if a bed of Epigea were situated in an 

 unusually favorable locality it might' bloom as early as the 

 liverwort, but we do not think that it usually does so. Som- 

 guinaria or bloodroot is another early flower, usually in full 

 bloom by the middle of April, when you may see its showy 

 white blossoms along the edges of the meadows as you are 

 beating them for snipe. There is an inconspicuous little 

 white flower (not Saxifraga) which is early, but we have for- 

 gotten its name.] 



Crow Blackbirds Destroy Birds' Nests.— Bay Ridge, 

 L. I., May 25.— Permit me to say one word about crow 

 blackbirds, which I understood fed on grubs, worms and 

 seeds. One instance to the contrary. Last Thursday, 2.5th 

 inst., I shot one of thesebirds, which was teasing some"robins 

 in a tree near by, and on dissection found its crop contained 

 the eye and entrails of some bird. Suspecting that it had 

 been at the robin's nest I instituted a search, and sure enough 

 found one young, helpless bird torn to pieces, and the re- 

 mains of eggs scattered about under the tree. Have any of 

 four correspondents noticed the same? — A. L. Townsend. 

 Crow blackbirds are both graminivorous and carnivor- 

 ous, and are given to destroying birds' nests, as are many 

 other birds which are not ordinarily suspected of indulging 

 in such practices. Several years ago (Vol. VIII. , p. 129) a 

 note was published in Forest and Stream announcing that 

 in Florida this species catches and eats fish. We have often 

 seen them on the shore feeding on molluscs of various kinds.] 



Spring Notes.— New York, May 19, 1882.— The follow- 

 ing is a list of some birds I noted had arrived at New York 

 city: Robin (T. migratorius); wood thrush (T. mmtelinus); 

 brown thrush (II. rufus); chewink, red-headed woodpecker,' 

 Baltimore oriole, song sparrow, chipping sparrow, barn 

 swallow, chimney swallow, house wren, crow blackbird, red- 

 winged blackbird, catbird, pewee, sharp-shinned hawk,' red- 

 start, sparrow hawk, and common crow. — A. T. Gesneb. 



Bay Ridge, L. I. — May 18, 1882.— Among the birds which 

 have arrived since last note, are summer, black-throated 

 green, black-throated blue, and yellow-rump warblers ; blue- 

 headed solitary, white-eyed and warbling vireos; Baltimore 

 and garden orioles numerous ; golden-crowned thrushes, rose- 

 breasled grosbeaks, Maryland yellow-throats, kingbirds, a 

 few teter snipe, several kingfishers, one scarlet "tanager; 

 swifts, barn swallows and purple martins plentiful. Two 

 large flocks of geese have passed over, going north, one on 

 the 16th and one on the 18th. — A. L. Townsend. 



How Does a Chameleon Change Color?— How is it 

 that, a chameleon changes color? I have always heard that it 

 took the color of the object on which it stood. Now, I have 

 repeatedly seen them, on a whitewashed board for instance, 

 change from a bright green to a chocolate brown, and theni 

 without warning, again become green. I have seen the same 

 thing happen on brown surfaces and on green; so I should 

 think the change must be produced at will by the chame- 

 leon. Will you" kindly publish an explanation of the 

 change? Tnrjjrp. [It has been thought by some that the 

 change of color is due to the greater or less rapidity of the 

 circulation, which might thus have the same effect as a vio- 

 lent emotion sometimes has on the human skin — sometimes 

 flushing it or again making it pale. Milne-Edwards, how- 

 ever, believed that it arises from the presence of two layers 

 of pigment cells in the skin, so arranged as to be movable 

 one upon the other, thus producing varying effects of light.] 



Deer Horns. — Whitestone, L. I., May 16.— During a 

 short visit to Charleston I went to see a collection of deer 

 horns, valued at some four or five hundred dollars, contain- 

 ing twenty or thirty pairs of all sizes and kinds, and owned 

 by an eminent professor of that city. There were six sets, 

 locked two-and-two, that were inextricably caught. I tried 

 my mightiest but, could not part them. The Professor said 

 that they had been found so in the swamps, and in each in- 



stance the remains or skeletons were found with them, 

 showing conclusively that the deer had fought, locked horns 

 and being unahle to part company, died. With this collec- 

 tion I also found a skull with only one horn attached, there 

 being no marks whatever to show that another antler had 

 grown on the opposite side; and this was claimed to be a 

 doe's head!— Tim Berdoodle.— [We have occasionally seen 

 deer heads, said to be those of docs, which bore horns, and 

 at least, two have come under our observation on which there 

 was but a single antler]. 



"Bright Feathers."— Part V. of Mr. Rathbun's work 

 under the above title has just been received. It contains the 

 concluding portion of his remarks on the summer yellow- 

 bird, and the plate and some pages of text on the next species 

 which he takes up. This is the redstart (Setophaga rutmlla), 

 of which excellent figures are given of both male and female. 

 The cuts are w T ell drawn, and the coloring is true to life. In 

 the text Mr. Rathbun draws largely on Dr. Coues's charm- 

 ing biographical sketch of the species, as well as from Mr. 

 Grutry's remarks. "Bright Feathers" belongs to a class of 

 books which presents attractions to a considerable class of 

 the community, who, without leoling any special interest in, 

 or love for birds, yet admire their beautiful colors and like 

 to read about them. 



The Wickershetmer Fluid.— New York, May 12.— Your 

 correspondent "R. H. D., Canandaigua, N. Y," asks for in- 

 formation regarding the receipt for a preserving fluid for 

 natural history specimens. I have used the Wickersheimer 

 fluid quite frequently, and have had very satisfactory results. 

 I injected the fluid into the cavities and tissues of several 

 redwing blackbirds and meadow-larks, eighteen months ago, 

 and the specimens are still perfectly preserved. I have also 

 successfully preserved small fish, two reptiles, as well as 

 anatomical spocimens. The arsenic is the most important 

 ingredient, without, it the fluid is almost worthless.— J E. 

 M. L. _ 



A Tough Old Hen.— Warrcnton, Va., May 13.— Our 

 county treasurer informs me that be had two hens missing 

 some six weeks ago, and yesterday while moving some lum- 

 ber, he found them jammed between the piles, where they 

 had gone to lay and were unable to return. One hen was 

 dead, the other had sufficient, vitality to eat and is still alive, 

 though her legs and feet are drawn up as with rheumatism. 

 — R. H. D. _ 



" The Music of Nature."— The second cut in this article 

 last week was accidentally inverted in the form. 



%m^ <§?## m\A ($nti. 



BRANT SHOOTING AT CAPE COD. 



Spring, 1882. 



THE earlier part of the past winter having been quite 

 warm, the birds were not driven as far south as in some 

 previous years, and by the end of February the advancing 

 columns were winging their way northward and arriving at 

 Cape Cod. When the winter is so cold as to force the birds 

 in considerable numbers as far south as Pamlico Sound, 

 more time is required for them to work their way back by 

 easy stages; and they do not arrive on our coast before the 

 middle or end of March. By the first of May so few are left 

 here as to afford the sportsman little satisfaction ; and al- 

 though a few remain to regale themselves in the balmy 

 breezes of the middle of the month, yet the season may be 

 said virtually to end with the month of April. 



This spring the brant did not seem to be in as much of a 

 hurry to pass on further northward as usual, but dallied till 

 vast numbers had accumulated in the Bay of Chatham, 

 which, under ordinary circumstances, would insure good 

 shooting throughout the season; but there were various 

 causes operating against, such happy results. As a general 

 rule the older and stronger birds come along first, with a 

 slight sprinkling of young, while later in the season the pro- 

 portion of young birds is much greater. Among the earlier 

 arrivals this spring there were scarcely any of the birds bred 

 last year, which we designate as young, but later in the sea- 

 son there was a goodly mixture of the tender age, They 

 were not,' however, in very good condition, whether from 

 scarcity of food, or from having been harassed by gunners 

 on their winter feeding grounds, or from some other cause, 

 we are unable to determine. It has been reported that a 

 great many brant have been shot during the past winter 

 South, so much so that parties at certain points have re- 

 sorted to canning in order to preserve them for future use. 



Among the various interposed causes that reduced the 

 number of birds killed this year below the average, we may 

 mention two or three. About the 20th of March, when the 

 business was in the "full tide of successful operation," there 

 came a very high course of tides, attended by heavy gales of 

 wind, which swept away the bars and carried two of the 

 boxes of the Monomoy Planting Club to sea, whence they 

 were never recovered. This caused a delay of several days 

 while new boxes were being constructed to take the place of 

 the old ones; and then the boxes had to be planted, and the 

 bars made up ; or, in other words, the whole season's work 

 had to be done over again. For a more particular descrip- 

 tion of making bars, putting down the boxes, and the 

 methods of shooting brant at Cape Cod, we woidd refer the 

 reader to Forest and Stream of April ?, 1881, 



Of the three clubs operating at Chatham, the Monomoy 

 Branting Club is the elder and holds some, though not all, 

 of the commanding points for this kind of shooting. The 

 proximity of the boxes, the identity of interest, the ambition 

 of the sportsmen and the natural tendency of man's disposi- 

 tion to outdo his fellow man, has produced, we are happy to 

 say, at present, a very pleasant and good-natured rivalry be- 

 tween the clubs. Various contrivances, some wise and some 

 otherwise, have been from time to time introduced to enable 

 the contriver to outdo his competitor. One of the clubs in- 

 troduced the new long-range cartridges which, it is claimed, 

 will kill at a hundred and thirty yards. They will, however, 

 kill at no other distance and therefore are of incalculable 

 injury to the shooting. They are a kind o' dog-in-the- 

 manager, neither killing the bird nor letting any one else 

 have that pleasure. We beg to be understood as casting no 

 reflections upon any one. as we conced° the fullest liberty to 

 any sportsman in using all honorable means to secure his 

 game; but at the same time we desire to express the opinion 

 that the use of these long cartridges in this kind of shooting 

 is an error in judgment. Birds are excellent judges of dis- 1 



tance, and generally keep out of harm's way, particularly 

 where danger is apparent. For instance, if an ordinary gun 

 will kill at sixty yards, then the birds will put about a hun- 

 dred and twenty yards of space between themselves and the 

 suspicious object. Now, if a new projectile is introduced 

 that will kill at one hundred and thirty yards, the birds very 

 soon—astonishingly soon— learn to measure off two hundred 

 and sixty yards; nor will they draw nearer when on the 

 qui nve, as they always seem to be, so that an ordinary gun 

 becomes a sort of useless implement. Neither do the two 

 hundred and sixty yards give the birds immunity from the?e 

 missiles, for the parties using these cartridges become so in- 

 spired with their efficiency that they arc tempted to shoot at 

 almost any distance, wherever a bird can be seen. The re- 

 sult is a great amount of scare and a small amount of game. 

 A cartridge that will explode at one hundred and twenty 

 yards is at sixty yards simply an elongated bullet. 



We were on the branting ground from the 9th to the loth 

 of April, and shot alongside the party using the long-range 

 cartridges, and the truth compels lis to say that if we ever 

 had a doubt about their utility, our observations on this 

 occasion entirely convinced us that for this kind of shooting 

 they should be rejected, however useful they may be for 

 single birds, deer and large game. If a flock of brant were 

 to pass within forty yards of a gun charged with one of 

 these cartridges, in the hand of a most experienced and skill- 

 ful gunner, very few birds could be killed, as the shell 

 bursts ever so far beyond the flock. There is no time to slip 

 in a common cartridge after the discovery that the flock is 

 approaching within forty yards, and so aimed the gunner 

 must: "let slip the dogs of war," and to his surprise see the 

 flock, with undiminished uumbersand increasing speed, mak- 

 ing head for the "dim distance." We do not believe in 

 "telling tales out of school," but as long as we have expressed 

 an opinion of the long range as compared with common 

 cartridges, we will yield so far as to say that during the 

 week referred to the result of their use compared with com- 

 mon cartridges was as 9 to 51. We do not believe such 

 enormous disparity would always follow the "long range," 

 nor can we, on the other hand, discover any benefit to° be 

 derived from their use in brant shooting. 



In several other ways has the brauting been changed at 

 Chatham. A quarter of a century ago there were no such 

 things in use at that place as wood decoys. The birds were, 

 under the old regime, allowed to alight in the water hard by 

 and swim up on to the bars, nor was there any fear of molesta- 

 tion by the branter, as all the parties shooting on the flats 

 held common interests, i. e., the birds killed each day were 

 divided equally among the gunners present; and besides, 

 they had honor enough not to shoot at anything while birds 

 were in proximity or swimming up to another bar. If 

 three or four brant swam up on to a bar with the decoys, they 

 were allowed to remain there undisturbed, and were con- 

 sidered as good as so many extra decoys, and it is astonish- 

 ing how soon these ordinarily shy birds" will spring up from 

 different parts of the bay in little "pods" (flocks) and 

 assemble around the new comers and decoys. They are very 

 social and gregarious among themselves, but cold anil 

 reserved toward all other fowl. We have seen them pile up 

 on and around the bar by hundreds, so that when a shot was 

 made it was mere slaughter, as many as forty-four being 

 killed by a single discharge of two double-barreled guns, 

 and as many as a thousand or fifteen hundred would lie 

 killed in a single season. All that is changed now. What 

 few birds are killed have to be shot on the wing, singly or 

 from very small flocks, and now, when the birds seem to be 

 fully as numerous as they were then, with nil the modern 

 improvements in guns and implements, with four or five 

 times as many gunners on the ground, a season's work foots 

 up only five or six hundred brant for all the clubs together. 



This shooting at birds on the wing, especially when near 

 their feeding ground, is a pernicious plan. It "makes them 

 shy, and, in fact, is very likely, if persisted in, to ultimately 

 drive them from their haunts altogether, and could we have 

 our way about it, we would never use a wood decoy or shoot 

 at a flock of brant on the wing. Were a single bird or a pair 

 to come along with a moral certainty of none being left: alive 

 to tell the tale, the case would be somewhat modified. 



The number of brant killed this season by the Monomoy 

 Branting Club was two hundred and twenty-seven, the aver- 

 age number for the past eighteen years being three hundred 

 and two. But the number of birds killed is not all the 

 reward one gets for a week spent at the seaside in brant 

 shooting. If no birds are killed to-day, one is buoyed up by 

 the hope, or expectation of better luck to-morrow, and is 

 made happy by the thought of some splendid shots which he 

 is destined "never to realize. Still he gets the benefit, of pure 

 air, change of diet, pleasant companionship, a view of the 

 ever changing sea, moderate expense and exemption from 

 the ordinary routine of life, and generally regrets when his 

 week is up that he must return to the cares, anxieties and 

 drudgery of metropolitan associations. The true sportsman 

 is not, a mercenary individual, and although he may be proud 

 of a few birds to take home and distribute among friends 

 (who never seem really to appreciate them or the labor it 

 costs to get them), yet when he reflects how much more 

 vigorous he is in mind and body, and how much easier he- 

 performs his daily duty for an occasional trip of this sort, he 

 thanks God that there is a place where the overworked soul 

 can find joy and rest. W. Hapgood. 

 Boston, May 18, 1883. 



Mrs. Seale Captures a Deer. — Philadelphia, Miss.— I 

 send inclosed a clipping from the Neshoba Democrat of April 

 13, which gives an account of one way to capture a deer. 

 Mrs. Seale lives near here, and this is a true story. "Soma 

 days ago, the wife of our recently married friend, Billio 

 Seale, noticed a yearling deer come up the lot with the cattle 

 one evening, and she concluded to have him. She went 

 around the cattle and drove them in the Jot and proceeded to 

 put up the bars. The deer went near the stable door, and 

 seeing Mrs. Seale, became frightened and jumped immedi- 

 ately into the stable, when Mrs. Seale lost no time in getting 

 there and closing the door, thus capturing the deer, Her 

 family and friends are disposed to laugh at her about her 

 well-executed plans in making the capture, but we are bound 

 to say hurrah for Mrs. Mollie, and have a strong mind to 

 send her the Democrat one year for doing what no other 

 woman can do— (nor man eitner)." I suppose that the deer 

 that Mrs. Seale captured had gone among the cattle to get 

 rid of flies and gnats. — Forest Field. 



Guns and Baseball Bats. — A game of baseball played 

 on Saturday, May 27, between the Electrics, of Messrs. 

 Hartley &. Graham, and the Standards, of Messrs. Schover- 

 ling, Daly & Gales, resulted in a victory for the latter by a 

 score of 16 to 15. 



