123 
FOREST AND STREAM 
\ntatal ^istorg. 
PERPLEXITY ARISING FROM LOCAL 
NAMES OF FISH. 
T AM frequently amused as well as perplexed, as no doubt 
a others are, at the various names for the same fish, and 
am reminded of it in this instance by Dr. Estes’ interesting 
account of taking the pike perch in Lake Pepin. The 
Doctor gives it its true appellation, as its generic name, 
Lucipio perm , indicates. This scaly fellow (not the Doctor 
but the fish) is written or spoken of as the goggle-eyed 
pike of Lake Superior. In the more southerly of the great 
lakes it is the wall-eyed pike. In Lake Champlain it is the 
pike, in contradistinction to the pickerel. It is the Ohio 
salmon and Susquehanna salmon. In the former river it is 
sometimes called the jack-salmon. It is the Botetourt chub 
in south western Virginia; and in the lakelets on the Ar¬ 
kansas side of the Mississippi it is known by our short 
haired brethren of the rod and net who sell them in the 
Memphis market, by the euphonious name of bullet-eye 
chub. You see, Mr. Editor, this fellow has as many aliases 
as a pick-pocket or a bank burgler, and to many a reader 
or listener, called by a different name, he is supposed to be 
a different individual, when he is really the same vora¬ 
cious, mysterious, ubiquitous person. The only way to 
detect and identify him in his ubiquitousness and under his 
many local names is to refer him to his proper family and 
genus as described by some such musty old ichthyologist 
as Theodore Gill or E. D. Cope. 
There is another, a smaller and more comely “chap,” 
and which by the by should become a naturalized citizen 
of appropriate waters of the Eastern and Middle States; I 
refer to Pomoxis hexacanthus of Cuvier. There is no know- 
what new scientific name Prof. Gill has given him of late. 
I here give you his full length portrait taken in New Or¬ 
leans fifteen years ago. 
Isn’t he a handsome little fellow? He is not known in 
the Eastern and Middle States, nor until you meet with 
him in the waters of South Carolina, where he is sometimes 
called “chub.” You find him along the South Atlantic 
and the Gulf States, still with an aUas. At New Orleans 
lie is known by the Creoles as Sac-a-lai , by the English 
speaking inhabitants as chinkapin-perch. The old French 
habitans about St Louis dubbed him crappie, and higher 
towards the lakes as well as in Ohio, he is called the grass 
bass. In all this wide range of habitat he differs somewhat 
in color and markings. 
As you well know, our Potomac bass is known as the 
“James River chub.” In the South and South West as 
“trout.” The red and yellow bellied perch with larger 
mouth than the “sunny,” a species of Centrarchus , is 
known in the South as the bream, which is an English 
species of the carp family, a peaceable non-predatory fish; 
the two being really about as dissimilar as Charles Hallock 
and Thaddeus Norris. 
A GOOSE QUESTION. 
Honeoye Falls, March 12th 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
I have a desire to posess a pair of all the different wild 
geese that ever flew over this continent, I have the com¬ 
mon, Anser Canadensis. A correspondent near the North 
Pole’ offers me the snow goose, and the white fronted goose, 
what are they? and what is “Hutchins goose,” where 
found &c. ? Then if I get these four birds and the Brant 
or Barnacle goose, have I all the American geese that are 
known? Will you give description and tell us all about 
them? ‘ An Honk. 
^jsjg.j—Tlie snow’goose is a small white species with a pale 
bluish coloring on the upper parts. The ends of the pri¬ 
maries are black. It has a short strong heavy bill furnish¬ 
ed with a Strong thick nail at the extremity of the upper 
mandible. The snow geese feed principally on vegetable 
matter and are very good eating They are not widely dis- 
distributed over North America, but are not found abund¬ 
antly in any particular locality unless it be at tjieir breed 
ing grounds far to the North. 
The white fronted goose is more common than the species 
above mentioned, though it cannot be called abundant. It 
is found on the western praries and is called “prairie 
brant,” by marketmen and gunners. In size it is about 
half-way between the brant and Canada goose. It has a 
strong heavy bill deeply toothed with a stong white nail at 
the end of the upper mandible. There is a long patch of 
white that runs on the sides and top of the base of the up¬ 
per mandible; tail brownish black tipped with white; up¬ 
per parts blackish brown. In winter breast coarsely mot¬ 
tled with black and white. In some individuals the mot¬ 
tling runs nearly to the vent. We have seen several ex¬ 
posed for sale. 
The Hutchins goose looks very much like a diminutive 
Canada goose, and is found on the northern and western 
coasts of North America. Stragglers have been taken on 
the north eastern coast. 
The brant is a numerous species and can be taken along 
our coasst (in winter) from Florida to Boston. They feed 
chiefly on vegetable food, and when domesticated eat rye 
and wheat greedily. Their natural food is the sea lettuce, 
a marine plant common in all our bays. They never dive 
when feeding, but resort to the flats at low tide, where they 
reach their favorite food by running their neck down to 
the bottom from the surface of the water. They will sub¬ 
sist on grass, and will crook their necks and pluck it like 
tame geese. When in captivity they require an abund¬ 
ance of sand, as they eat large quantities of it from their 
favorite sand bars when in a wild state. 
The Bernicle goose is exceedingly rare in North Ameri¬ 
ca. It has been a mooted question whether it properly be¬ 
longed to the fauna of North America. It can probably be 
obtained in Europe. It looks somewhat like the Hutcliin’s 
goose, having a small head marked with white spots. 
There are two other species you have not mentioned, vs. 
white headed goose, and the black brant. The white head¬ 
ed variety is distributed over the whole of North America. 
Stragglers are sometimes found m our city markets, a 
taxidermist found one in Washington Market last week. 
This variety is probably the immature bird of the snow 
goose. It is a pretty goose and is well worth domesticating. It 
has the head and part of the neck white, finely and thickly 
mottled with rusty brown; upper parts brownish black; 
rump and wing coverts blueisli white; lower part of the 
neck, breast, and belly, brownish black with feathers 
edged and tipped with white; legs short, strong and of a 
reddish color. 
The black brant is a trifle smaller than our common 
eastern species, its plumage is much darker and it is found 
on the Pacific coast. It breeds in the Arctic seas, where it 
is common. 
We would strongly advise you to get the snow goose, 
white headed, and white fronted geese, if possible, and 
watch their different plumages, and see if they are not one 
and the same species, as suspected by ornithologists.— [Ed. 
A CHARMED BIRD. 
Boston, Mass. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
A friend of mine living in Fitchburg with whom I often 
hunt, is the owner of a fine setter. One day while working 
a small cover, as we came near the border, the dog sudden¬ 
ly pointed, my friend advanced slowly to the dog, but no 
bird flushed, but on stooping he discovered nnder the 
sbrubery within four feet of the dogs nose a cock part¬ 
ridge, who stood looking the dog steadily in the face. 
Taking his gun in the left hand he stepped past the dog 
and caught the bird in his hand before!she)moved. 
Do your readers often hear of such inuMenfs? 
Messenger, 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
The following circumstance seems to denote the existence 
of something more than instinct in an animal, and has to 
the best of my knowledge, never before been published. 
Its truthfulness I am prepared to attest. 
One morning a pair of swallows were noticed busily en¬ 
gaged in building a nest in the upper corner of a window 
of an old house. They seemed to be in great haste to get 
their nest finished, and that they were so was evinced by 
the fact, that in the evening the nest, which was more than 
half built up, fell to the ground, doubtless owing to the 
insufficient working of the mud employed in its construc¬ 
tion. 
The next morning on anproaching the old house, a loud 
twittering was heard, and a number of swallows were seen 
flying about the place where the nest had been. There 
were some forty in all and they were continually flying be¬ 
tween the nest and a neighboring puddle. By night the 
nest was finished, and next morning there was an egg in 
it. The female swallow must have communicated to the 
others her immediate need of a nest and thus enlisted their 
aid, at least so thinks Transit. 
Nicasio, March 12th, 1874. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
An albino robin was shot by Mr. John Lucas, on Sunday 
last at his ranch, four miles from San Rafael, which he 
kindly presented to me, as I sometimes mount birds. This 
specimen was a male in good plumage, the back wings and 
tail white; head and neck slate color: throat and breast 
mottled white and light red; beak and legs white; eyes 
black; the ends of the wings and tail have a worn appear¬ 
ance. The robin does not breed in this part of the State, 
but only spends its winters here. Pioneer. 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
Department of Pubmc Parks, { 
New York, March 28, 1874. j 
Animals received at Central Park Menagerie for the week ending 
March 27, 1874: _ ... 
Two golden checked Comires, Coriurus pertuidx. Kali. Pan'ama. Re¬ 
ceived in exchange. 
One Gray Fox, Vulpes Virginianus. Presented by Mr. Henry Clark. 
One Gray Squirrel, Sciurus ca. olinemis, Presented by Mrs. Charles 
pqqfthue, W. A. Conklin. 
RATTLESNAKES. A QUERY. 
U. S. National Museum i 
Washington, D. C., March 17, 1874 f 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Wc sometimes hear the most extravagant stories about the. size of 
rattlesnakes and the number of rings which they carry in their rattles 
For instance, a rattlesnake is said to have been killed last July near 
Knoxville, Tenn., which weighed one hundred and seventeen pounds 
and had eighty-seven rings on its tail. Now, we can make great allow¬ 
ances for a large story, when it is indefinite, but this is too exact in it 8 
statements to be in the least credible. I doubt not that many of vonr 
readers have seen large snakes, and that it would be interesting to com- 
pare notes. The largest in the*U. S. National Museum measures six feet 
two inches in length and carries twenty rings and a button. I know of 
a rattle taken in the Cumberland Mountains, Tennessee, and now in the 
possession of a young lady in Knoxville, which has twenty-six rings and 
a Dutton. Both of these specimens are probably of the common yellow 
species ( Candisma c.onfluenta)\ the rattlesnake of the western plains 
(Candisona confluenta) is frequently found with fifteen or sixteen rin^s 
in its rattle. ^ G. Brown Goode.^ 
Grafton, Vermont, March 23,1874 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
I take the following from my journal of a fishing excursion to Bowen 
& Stratton Ponds, near the top of the Green Mountains. It may interest 
some of your naturalist friends. We should be pleased to hear from Mr 
Batty on the subject. 
“August 23d, 1873, S. B. P. and C. B. left camn early this morning to 
look after our horses at Rootville. On their return they strolled on to 
Stratton Pond. Up Sucker Brook they went a few rods for good water 
and seated on the bank, about five feet from the brook, and from eight¬ 
een to twenty inches above it, took their lunch. S. B. indulged in his 
usual habit of turning over sticks, stones and everything within his 
reach, under one of which, a decayed piece of wood, he found a “What 
is it?” a large number of eggs. They discussed the question, but could 
arrive at no satisfactory conclusion, and packed a part of them in moss 
and brought them to camp. When your correspondent saw them an 
hour afteiwardf, they were perfectly fresh, and appeared like so niaiiv 
trout ( salmo Fontinalis) ova,when first taken from the female fish before 
impregnation. What they were, or how they came in such a position 
we are unable to say; the piece of wood had not apparently been recent¬ 
ly moved. There were no tracks leading to or from it, nor was there 
any observable communication under it to the cavity containingthe ova 
There are numberless evets or water lizzards in the pond. Could their 
origin be attributed to them? We are not acquainted with their habits If 
left by them more than one animal must have deposited them, as their 
bulk was much more than one of these animals. Yours truly, ’ 
S. W. G.” 
Neav York, March 26,1874 
Editor Forest and Stream :— 
In your valuable paper of to-day’s issue I notice your correspondent 
(C. F. S.) seems in the dark concerning the eggs of the common Yellow 
bird (Chrysomitris triste-s). Having devoted my spare time to ornithol¬ 
ogy for years past, during which I have collected numerous eggs of the 
species in question, I have invariably found them to be of a pale, bluish- 
white color, entirely unspotted, almost globular in shape. May they not 
have been heretofore confounded with those of the yellow warbler ( Ben - 
droica aestiva), whom they somevhat itstmble,and whose egg would an¬ 
swer to his description? Yours truly, R, p. p. 
GUN SHY SETTERS AND POINTERS AND 
A PRACTICAL METHOD TO OBVIATE 
AND REMEDY THE FAULT. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
It is sorely discouraging to the sportsman, after purchasing a setter or 
pointer pnppy, apparently well bred and of good points and successfully 
bringing him through the many ills the young dog is heir to, to find his 
pupil gun shy, where that portion of his education, when the gun is 
used, is reached; so shy that nothing can be done with him until 
the object of his fear is placed out of sight. In ninety-nine times out of 
a hundred this fault is hereditary, and even though sire and dam, grand 
sire and grand dam did not possess the weakness it is but the cropping 
out of the taint of some remote ancestor. 
How often we see animals of known good blood destroyed, because 
they are wrongly pronounced irrecoverably gun shy, when, by a careful 
treatment and one might say a reasoning with the dog, the fault could be 
remedied. r 
When my youngster had reached the age of four or five months, I would 
1 never feed him without directly before discharging a pistol or gun, 
beginning first with light charges, increasing the loads when he began io 
associate the report with the pleasure of satisfying his hunger. I am 
convinced, when I became ready to teach him, dropping to shot or com- 
ing in to shot, the sight of the gun lvould be a pleasure rather than the 
adverse. 
Again, I should not fear to attempt to correct this shyness in an old 
dog in like manner, keeping him always with a keen appetite for his 
meals, and striving to show the coward that the gun would not injure 
him and to associate its report with some pleasure. “Homo. 1 ' 
The Death of “Music.”— In our issue of last week we 
gave an account, througli the courtesy of our correspon¬ 
dent, Dr. Jacob Wagner, of Lynchburg, of the death of 
one of the most renowned foxhounds in Virginia, “Music.” 
We now lay before our readers the estimation this hound 
was held in by her owner, Captain McDaniel:— 
“She was a tried associate in whom I had the utmost 
confidence. She never uttered a falsehood or did a mean 
act. She was as true as steel, and perfectly honorable in 
all her actions. She never entered a dwelling unless it was 
on a good morning for a fox-chase; then she would come in 
and lick my hand to remind me of the fact. She always 
led the chase, and took more red foxes than any dog of lier 
age—seven years. .She was never beaten fairly but by one 
dog, and that was her daughter and namesake, owned by 
Mr. Hiram Cheatwood, of the same neighborhood. She 
has been known to run from nine o’clock, A. M., of 
one day until five o’clock of the following day, 
keeping the lead constantly. One of her great exploits was 
the capture of a famous red fox—Old Liz—which had for 
years defied all the hounds in the country, after a chase of 
only forty-five minutes. She was buried in a respectable 
manner.” 
Blue Beltons. —We understand from our Philadelphia 
correspondent, who, by the by, for a young man, has had 
as much experience in amateur’ rearing and breeding of 
young dogs as anybody in the country, and moreover, is a 
true sportsman and practical naturalist, that Mr. Hoface 
Smith, of Philadelphia, has a new imported Blue Belton 
setter. “Homo” says: “I never saw in my life a more 
beautiful animal, he is broken admirably in the field, but is 
not for sale, as he will he used as a stock dog. ” In speak¬ 
ing of Mr.. Smith, our valued contributor says: “this gentle¬ 
man lias bred and. sold dogs for fifty years, and is noted for 
being one of the most reliable men in the country.'’ We 
can confidently recommend field sportsmen who are hi 
search of well broken and Staunch setters to correspond 
with Mr. Smith. 
