406 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jctne 22, 1883. 



that our two mendacious laggards, Jim and the scribe, had 

 "arrived." 



We rounded the point, and pulling the boat up on the strip 

 of sand in front of the flagstaff, were at once in the midst of 

 n general and brotherly handshake all around. 



"What luck? whereas your fish?" asked the scribe, as he 

 held up a lantern and peered along the sides of the boat to 

 see if he could catch sight of a stringer hanging over in the 

 water. 



Untying our string of bass I dragged them out into shallow 

 water." where they made the spray fly for half a minute 

 before quieting down so the light would reveal their glisten- 

 in^ sides and bristling spines to the eager eyes of the boys. 



The general verdict was "a lovely lot of bass," and they 

 were indeed, a flne lot, none of the 'ten taken from the pool 

 in the river were less than two and three-quarters, and Dan's 

 largest one weighing, next morning, a trifle over four pounds. 

 "A. whole week's sport, just there on that string!" said Jim 

 with a wistful look. 



"If you two old loons can't do better than that," growled 

 the scribe, "you had better stay in camp and cook. Why, 

 Jim and I could have caught more than that in two hours ; 

 couldn't we, Jim?" And Jim had to say, "of course we 

 could," or go back on his record. They were turning to go 

 back to the fire when Dan stopped them with, "wait a min- 

 ute, old knots andgnarls! Hickory, bring out the string that 

 has the sunfish on it." Old masky had all this time re- 

 mained quiet at the steru of the boat, resting up and getting 

 his jaw back into shape, after the last five miles of wrench 

 and strain he had subjected it to by his mule like disposition 

 to pull back. Taking a couple of turns of the cord around 

 my hand as a precaution against losing it and the fish by a 

 sudden jerk, I pulled the knot and towed him out to the 

 white sandy beach in five or six inches of water where the 

 lantern would show on him with good effect. 



When the light flashed on him a furious plunge to get back 

 into deep water, and a flirt of his tail that sent the water 

 flyino- ten feet away, admonished us that the game old fel- 

 low h~ad not yet lowered his flag, but after two or three use- 

 less efforts to pull his old enemy into the lake, he rested un- 

 easily under inspection, nervously working his pectorals and 

 glaring at us with a vicious gleam in his eyes that boded ill 

 to whoever came within reach of his powerful jaws. 



"Great Caesar's bones!" exclaimed old Knots; "where did 

 you buy that? Didn't catch him, that's certain." "Where 

 did you catch him?" eagerly asked Brother E. 



' 'Bet my best rod agin a speckled frog that Dan caught 

 him!" chipped in Jim. "A splendid maskalonge," said 

 Frank; "looks like a forty -pounder from here," stepping 

 into the water to get a better view of him. 



After thoroughly looking over his "parts" — as Knots put it 

 —as well as they could in the uncertain light of the lantern, 

 and asking a score of questions: "Where did you take him?" 

 "How long were you at it?" "Which lake?" "How far from 

 camp?" etc., Dan said something about supper, at which 

 Knots was reminded of a remark made by a certain flippant 

 and bibulous Governor of South Carolina once upon a time, 

 many years ago. 



Tying our fish to the boat again I shoved out into the lake 

 three or four rods, to an old log standing on end in sixteen 

 or eighteen feet of water, and fastening it securely to this, 

 left them for the night; Frank coming out in another boat to 

 take me off. 



As we went up the bank into the firelight old Knots said, 

 "Hickory, did you take that flsh yourself, or buy it of some 

 'Mossback' up the lake?" On assuring him 1 was fairly en- 

 titled to the "butt end" of the honors of defeating old masky 

 on his own battle ground, and bringing him a captive into 

 camp; "there, Jim! same old story ; a fool for luck." Turn- 

 ing to Frank he asked if it were not about time to expect an- 

 other attack from the "muskeeters?" Frank said nothing, 

 but disappeared behind the cupboard, and from some mys- 

 terious nook among the twisted roots of a cedar at the end of 

 the table, fished out a vial of something that Knots .said 

 worked like a charm in keeping off themosquitos, a dra(ch)m 

 or two usually being sufficient, but if they were numerous 

 and rash it took a little more. We heard it escaping into a 

 tin cup, and caught fragments of a conversation between 

 them that sounded very much like, ' 'the Gov. of North 

 Caro — here's to the 'boss fish, '"and we knew the muske- 

 teers were repulsed. 



"Knots!" may his shadow never grow less; and while 

 Frank is fixing a bite for the two old pelicans, we will make 

 a "divarsion""and hold a little discourse about him. Full 

 of knots, so to speak, and angles and corners, but draped 

 over with a mantle of goodness and kindliness of heart to 

 his fellows that has polished the knots and rubbed off and 

 rounded and smoothed the corners and angles. Full of 

 crotchets and whims, and opinions, he loves the off side of 

 an argument just for the sake of the ' 'off side. " Surrounded 

 by a strong shell that does not "open to all," yet a staunch 

 and true friend to who may succeed in getting on the inside 

 of it. 



Twined among the gnarls runs a vein of curd and acid, 

 that if not just palatable is always refreshing. He's as 

 square as a cube in his relation with others and hates sham 

 and small dealing. He loves his rod, hi# pipe and his friends. 

 He detests the seiner and the pot-fisher, and his wrath wax- 

 eth hot at the murderer of fingerlings who fishes for count. 



He is a fair and honest angler, rarely taking more fish 

 than will suffice for present needs, or to help some neighbor 

 to a "mess;" and if so he returns them to the water with a 

 benediction. He loves a good fish story and can tell one on 

 occasion, and he don't make serious objection to a dash of 

 "sustenance" in nis spring water, just as a qualifier. He is 

 generous and hospitable, to sharing his last meal, his blanket, 

 or his last pipe of tobacco with a brother angler, even 

 though he be an entire stranger. And he has a warm 

 corner in his heart for dogs, which is a whole chapter with 

 foot notes to his credit. There, that's old "Knots," and if 

 there be a worthier disciple of "Izaak of blessed memory" he 

 does not happen to be within the scope of the writer's ac- 

 quaintance. 



After Dan and I had finished a supper that set Frank to 

 figuring on how long our supplies would last, the fire was 

 kicked together, an extra chunk or two thrown on, and we 

 gave the boys an account of our day's trip, listening in turn 

 lo their reasons for not getting in on time. The trip had 

 been unsatisfactory to them from the time they left St. Paul; 

 some raw, chilly weather on the lake, fogs, missed connec- 

 tions, etc. , and they were glad to get to camp and rest. 



There were so many things to talk over, such an airing of 

 our limited knowledge of maskalonge fishing, their habits, 

 and the best ways to capture them — such wondrous stories of 

 bass fishing m years gone by (to all of which Brother R, 

 lent an attentive and wondering oar), that the turn of the 

 sight was on us, and the voiees of the woods hushed in slum- 



ber before we thought it time to reel up for bed. Doubtless 



Brother R.'s credulity was taxed to its utmost stretch by 

 not a few of the whoppers, but being a stranger to the ways 

 of the "guileless angler, " and a seeker after truth (in the 

 shape of fish lore and marvelous yarns), nowhere to be 

 found in such (unlimited store as in a well regulated camp 

 of old fishermen or hunters whose heads have grown gray 

 with years of much "wrasllin' " with it, we thought it well 

 to start him with a dose that would make him marvel where 

 the rudiments of the art commenced. Kingfisher, 



[to be conteojed.] 



iw{nl ^i^targ. 



Angelo Heilprin's remarks on the Occurrence of Ammonitis 

 in deposits of Tertiary Age; Prof. E. D. Cope's note on the 

 Condylarthia; and Rev. H. C. McOook's paper on the Vari- 

 ations in the nest forms of the Furrow Spider, Epcira str/.r. 

 There are many other shorter notes of especial interest. 



DR. COUES'S NEW CHECK LIST. 



IN the second edition of his Check List of North American 

 Birds Dr. Coues has given us a work about which it is 

 hard to write without using language that may be thought 

 exaggerated. Of its ornithological value it is not necessary 

 to speak at length. All who are familiar with the work 

 which the author has done on the birds of North America 

 know that his contributions to the literature of this subject 

 are as careful, exact aud critical as the most scientific spirit 

 can make them, and that at the .same time his writings dis- 

 play, when the opportunity offers, a literary skill and finish 

 that is as attractive as it is unusual. 



In the present volume, however, which, although it is 

 called the second edition of the Check List of 1873, is prac- 

 tically a new work, Dr. Coues displays a fund of philological 

 erudition which is remarkable, when we take into consider- 

 ation the amount of work which he has done, and the emi- 

 nence to which he has attained in other fields of research. 



The Check List of 1873 purported to enumerate only 635 

 species, but as a matter of fact it. contained 1 15 more, since 

 only the full species were numbered, the sub-species, varieties 

 and races being lettered a, b, etc., under their respective 

 numbers. In the present list, however, a somewhat differ- 

 ent plan has been pursued, each variety Ifaving its own num- 

 ber. As Greenland has usually been regarded as belonging 

 to the American continent, all the birds of that peninsula 

 arc included in the list, with tho result of bringing the num- 

 ber of species enumerated up to 888. In the old list there 

 were by actual count 750 species and sub-species mentioned 

 in the body of the work and 28 in the Appendix. Of this 

 778 only 10 have had to be removed from the list, while 120 

 new species or sub-species have been added to it. About the 

 validity of most of these there is no doubt, but further 

 research may perhaps modify the views now held in regard 

 to some few of them. The above statement shows as well 

 as anything can what progress has been made in North 

 American ornithology during the past nine years, and the 

 showing is very gratifying, and one of which we may well 

 be proud. The number of earnest students of North Amer- 

 ican ornithology is constantly increasing, and with the hap- 

 piest results for science. 



It is not, however, from an ornithologist's standpoint that 

 this work is especially notewortny; it is even more interest- 

 ing when viewed from that of the classical scholar. For 

 many years it has been a matter of astonishment and regret, 

 that so many men who, from the nature of their pursuits, 

 were obliged constantly to make use of terms drawn from 

 the Latin and the Greek languages, should have given so little 

 attention to fie study of these tongues, and should display 

 such disheartening ignorance of them. No one can talk for 

 half an hour with the average collector or indeed, ornitholo- 

 gist, without hearing quantities, accentuations and elisions 

 which, if he be at all a purist in matters classical, will make 

 him feel like cutting his tin oat. It is in providing for the 

 instruction of such individuals as these that Dr. Coues has 

 rendered a most important service not only to the cause of 

 ornithology, but to that of general education as well. The 

 plan of the philological portion of the work is concisely 

 given in its introduction. The author says that it is "to 

 take each word occurring in such [». e., ornithological] tech- 

 nical usage, explain its derivation, significance and applica- 

 tion, spell it correctly, and indicate its pronunciation with 

 thn usual diacritical marks; these being purely philological 

 matters, affecting not the scientific status of any bird, but 

 the classical questions involved in its name." 



The Remarks on the Use of Names which immediately 

 precede the Check List proper are divided under the heads 

 (1) Etymology, (2) Orthography aud (3) Orthoepy, into intel- 

 ligent, if short, chapters "on tfe derivation, spelling and pro- 

 nunciation of the Latin names of our birds. A close study 

 of this portion of the work can scarcely fail to be of advan- 

 tage to every reader, no matter what his attainments. In 

 the body of the Check List is given the practical application 

 of what has been said in the introduction, for here on every 

 page we find arranged as foot notes, the spelling and proper 

 pronunciation of each term, generic and specific, mentioned 

 on that page, its derivation, running back to the recognized 

 stem, together with critical, philological notes, which are 

 in most cases of great interest. With thi; compendium in 

 hand, there is certainly no reason why the student should 

 not know far more about the Latin names of birds than 

 most ornithologists could have told him prior to the publica- 

 tion of the present work. 



We have no hesitation in saying that this Revised Check 

 List is one of the most important contributions that has been 

 recently made to ornithological literature. It will make 

 more easy the work of the professional student, and smooths 

 away at once many of the difficulties of the beginner, enabl- 

 ing him to continence his work with a full and intelligent 

 comprehension of many things which, without such a help, 

 would long have remained dark mysteries. 



Proceedings oe the Philadelphia Academy.— Part I. 

 of the. Proceedings— January to April — has just been issued. 

 As usual with the publications of the Philadelphia Academy 

 of Sciences, the number contains a vast amount of interest- 

 ing material. Among the contributors are Dr. Joseph Leidy, 

 Mr. Thomas Median, Rev. H. 0. McCook, Prof. Angelo 

 Heilprin, Prof. E. D. Cope, Dr. H. S. Williams, Dr. L. T. 

 Day, Messrs. Theo. D. Rand, Henry C. Lewis, Edward 

 Potts, Isaac Lea and many other well known names. 

 Among the more iniportaul communications are Dr. Leidy's 

 remarks on Rock Specimens, Filaria of the Black Bass, on 

 Balauoglossus, on Seolithus in Gravel; Dr. Thos. Meehan's 

 Fruiting of G-inko biloba and ' 'the relation of heat to the 

 sexes of flowers;" Dr. Henry S. Williams's description of 

 New Crinoids from the Rocks of the Chemung Period of 

 New York State (with Plate I.); Dr. L. T. Day's paper on 

 the species of Odontomyia found in the United States; Prof. 



FROM PORTNEUF CANYON TO PARMA- 

 CHENE. 



THE plains are turning green, even to the dusty sage, 

 which I had supposed indifferent to whatever of spring 

 showers or winter blasts. A rough month of April we have 

 bad, and the nights are only just ceasing to leave frozen 

 ground and stout ice. We are tenting in the Portneuf 

 Canon, on the Ft. Hall reservation for Bannocks and Sho- 

 shones, altitude 5,400 feet. In April we had ducks enough 

 — mallard, teal, buffleheads, sheldrakes, shovelers and others 

 new to me, and which I had not books to identify. The 

 mallard breed in numbers along the Portneuf River. We 

 hear by night their low quacking at our very bedside 1 

 tried a new Colt ten-bore on geese with good success. A 

 Baker three-barrel in camp shoots uncommonly well. 



Dead winter, to all appearance, still rests on the moun- 

 tains west. About the skirts of the snow are elk and bears, 

 now unmolested. The cation is full of deer. They winter 

 in bands of hundreds. In the deep snow of March they 

 were slaughtered without mercy. I have no patience to 

 repeat the various tales of killing. The meanest Indian is 

 above such acts. A man told me of shooting thirty-seven 

 uneatable does, and stopping only because his cartridges 

 were out. 



We step to the stream and catch a few trout at any time. 

 Have not yet tried a fly. They ruu six or seven ounces, 

 with now and then one of three to five pounds. Soon I 

 mean to say what I think of these flsh, after casting in 

 Maine and Canada. Enough at present that they are unmis- 

 takably trout, that we catch them and eat them 



So much by way of showing old friend Pokes t and 

 Stream that R. is still " on the trail." But mainly I would 

 have a word on the ruffed grouse question. 



Most of the theories are from data gathered during shoot- 

 ing season. A man goes in October to his old cover and 

 finds few birds, returns to his study and assigns the most 

 apparent local cause for their diminution, whether foxes, 

 setters, hawks, snares or ten-bores. My own observations, 

 though not critical, were made over much New England 

 territory, hunted and unhunted, and throughout the four 

 seasons, for a space of three or four years. The first of 

 these years birds were abundant and broods full in Septem 

 ber. Since, then broods have grown smaller, whether in 

 districts over-hunted or untracked. In the spring every 

 cover had its nest, but in July the chicks were few, perhaps 

 five or six in a brood. 



I have found no nests of late years, yet can hardly believe 

 that a Malthusian wave has converted grouseland to the 

 extent of laying six eggs instead of the honest baker's dozen 

 of old. The mortality c r abatement must be between nest- 

 ing and shooting time. 



I learn of no corresponding increase of predatory animals. 

 During the first years referred to we boys in Vermont kept 

 no idle watch over the /era luiturm of our hills and valleys. 

 Ned was a mighty hunter of foxes and coons, Ed was keen 

 for mink and muskrats and pike and suckers, "R." held 

 rank in grouse and squirrel warfare, aud was inspector of 

 woods and "sign." We all prowled about, banded or singly, 

 and at hours unearthly. This period reached to the time 

 when the number of grouse began to lessen. We never 

 observed an increase of foxes, mink or skunks, though the 

 latter were sufficiently ''numerous" at times. Frequent 

 inquiry during days more recent has confirmed me in 

 acquitting the "vermin." 



Other assigned causes vanish before the fact that, as I 

 believe, the birds do not reach maturity at all. Moreover 

 there has been no succession of cold spring weather sufficient 

 to kill the young directly after hatching. But whatever the 

 cause, it must be as general as is the blight widespread. 



Now, a suggestion I have not seen before ; In many grouse 

 I have shot of late seasons there were along the backbone 

 inside a number of white worms two inches long, slender, 

 sharp at both ends, and scarcely showing life. There seemed 

 no emaciation nor lack of condition. I have opened five 

 other species of American grouse without, noticing anything 

 similar. The question, of course, is whether this parasite 

 does not destroy the young bird or affect the egg. That 

 they were only in the younger birds I cannot say, nor 

 whether to be found when the covers were yet full and our 

 brave bird led his lusty twelve until the falling leaves of 

 October. 



Of late I see no notes from Parmachene and especially my 

 old range on the Connecticut headwaters. A March letter 

 from Tom Chester speaks of a quiet winter and game 

 undisturbed at the Connecticut lakes. It was my bad luck 

 in '81 to miss summering with Tom as usual. 1 believe 1 

 could still go to beaver ponds where no sportsman's book 

 save mine has ever been, and where the moose and caribou 

 tracks are as big and fresh as ever. I expect never to Snd 

 another such rare grouping of mountains and perfect prim- 

 itive forest. If a man would have a taste of real forest life 

 with all hunting possibilities short of this land of griezUes, 

 there is the spot. If he is not satisfied then let him pitch his 

 double-staked tent in this breezy country and see the swal- 

 lows perching on the guyropes for lack of trees. Let hiru 

 come and the boys will take him "sniping." R. 



OsfiiDA, Idaho. 



A BATHTUB FOR THE BIRDS. 



MANY of your correspondents write about the whole 

 sale destruction of our little feathered friends, and one 

 very significant remark was made in regard to the killing of 

 small birds to supply the milliners, by persons who under 

 the plea of students of ornithology destroy our little pets by 

 the hundred. To those who honestly wish to make a study 

 of our small birds, i, e,, warblers, thrush, llyeatehers. eta , 

 1 submit the following, a plan we have tried for many years 

 with the most interesting success. To many it may be 

 familiar, and to those who are blessed with springs on their 

 grounds or living near a lake or convenient pond it may not 

 be worth trying, but to those like myself living on a sandy 

 soil which soaks the water up like "a sponge, I would sa,, : 

 Give the birds a bathtub and they will use it, and when you 

 see them nutter off, all fuzzy, little balls of wet feather-, ana 

 hear their happy songs of delight, you will feel amply re- 

 paid for all the trouble you may. have taken in preparing 

 the bath. 



The Bize and style will of course depend upou the ideas ol 

 tha designer, the object is to give a gradually increasing 



