March 2t, 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



163 



about one hundred and fifty pounds in weight. Here is 

 another set of red deer horns, perhaps the largest and moat 

 beautiful that any one present has ever seen. The animal 

 from which they were taken was shot on the Castor, or 

 Beaver River, fourteen miles from Ottawa. They belong to 

 Mr. Ilarrv Baldwin of this city. They arc singularly regu- 

 lar in beauty of shape, and' at the 'same time strangely 

 irregular and unlike ordinary antlers of the Cei rm virginian u». 

 To a certain extent they are palmaied and evidently grew 

 upon the bead of P very old deer. Perhaps some gentleman 

 present may be able, to" enlighten us upon this question „of 

 abnormal horns. 



aspiring ar, rue pureiv shcuuul, uj i..._ .j.>^-. — -^ ■ ..---., v - 

 interest the. greater number. J haye endeavored to avoid 

 abstruse technicalities. Above all I have unwillingly 

 been compelled to curb my inclination to tell the thrilling 

 story of manv a glorious run, and rehearse the tale ot 

 many a night of happiness around the camp-fire, where bat- 

 tles were ton s;ht over again, and memory biiugs around us 

 the branching antlers of many a woodland monarch, whose 

 trophied heads can be found to-day in more than one home 

 of the dearly loved companions with whom I have so ofteu 

 pitched the tent in the wilderness. If 1 have succeeded in 

 any measure in either instructing or interesting my audience 

 this evening, 1 shall proudly feel that I have not roamed the 

 woods, stood upon the runway, heard the deep aud match- 

 less music of the hounds, or drawn the rifle trigger in vain. 



And now. my pleasant task is done, 



The fruits of many a glorious run ! 



Still springing 'mid the lambent haze 



Which circles round the camp-fire's blaze; 



Revealing to fond memory's eye 



The dear unrivalled joys gone by. 



When limbs were lithe, and arms were strong, 



Ann life one gladsome burst of song! 



Revealing 'mid unfading sheen, 



The runway in the forest green— 



The antler'd monarch's springing bound— 



The matchless music of the hound I 



As headlong on the steaming scent 



With instinct true as steel, he went! 



The gaze into ihe spreading track— 



The breaking twig, the rifle's crack, 



The quivering limb, the closing eye— 



The forest's dying majesty. 



THE MUSKRAT AS A FISH-EATER. 



BV C. HART MEKRlAM, M.D. 



THAT the muskrat is not commonly considered a fish- 

 eater is evident from the absence of reference to such 

 habit in the published accounts of the animal. Robert Ken- 

 nicott is, so far as I have been able to ascertain, the only 

 author who mentions this trait. He says: "Except in eating 

 mollusks, and occasionally a dead fish, I am not aware that 

 this species departs from a vegetable diet." ("Quadrupeds 

 of Hlinois Injurious and Beneficial to the Farmer," 1857. p. 

 10(3.) 



Al a meeting of the Biological Society of Washington, 

 held in the National Museum, Dec. 14, 1883, Mr. Henry W. 

 Elliott spoke of the "Appetite of the Muskrat." He stated 

 that in certain parts of Ohio the muskrat did great injury to 

 carp ponds, not only by perforating the banks and dams and 

 thus letting off the water, but also by actually capturing and 

 devouringthe carp, which is a sluggish fish, often remaining 

 motionless, half buiied in the mud. In the discussion that 

 followed, Dr. Mason Graham Ellzey said that from boyhood 

 he had been familiar with the fact that the muskrat some- 

 times ate fish, in fact, he had seen muskrats in the act of 

 devouring fish that had recently been caught and left upon 

 the bank. The President, Dr. Charles A. White, narrated a 

 similar experience. 



On the 7th of February, 1884, I brought this subject to 

 the notice of the Linmean Society of New York, and asked 

 if any of the members knew the muskrat to be a fish-eater. 

 Dr. Edgar A. Meams said that he had long been familiar 

 with the I act, and that it. was no uncommon thing to see a 

 muskrat munching a dead fish upou the borders of the salt 

 marshes along the Hudson. He has shot them while so en- 

 gaged. He further stated that the muskrat is very destruc- 

 tive to nets, destroying the fishermen's fykes by scores by en- 

 tering them in quest of fish and then tearing the nets in order 

 to escape. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher said that at Sing Sing, N. Y., he had 

 often known muskrats to enter fykes, sometimes drowning, 

 but oftener escaping by gnawing the meshes, thus doing con- 

 siderable injury to the uets. He supposed they entered the 

 nets because placed in their line of travel. He further stated 

 that he knew that fykes made of fine wire were used with 

 success in capturing these animals. 



Mr. Wm. H. Dall, the well-known Alaskan explorer, now 

 of the Coast Survey, kindly favors me with the following: 

 "In 1863 I visited Kankakee, 111., on a collecting tour for 

 river mollusks, in July. You know how muskrats throw up 

 mounds of the shells they dig out. I examined many of 

 these for Unios, etc. On several I saw the skeletons of fish 

 (chiefly suckers, I believe), partly or wholly denuded of their 

 flesh, and showing the marks of muskrat (or, at least, rodent) 

 teeth. I also saw the shell of a common mud turtle, so 

 gnawed and in the same situation. I did not see the auimal 

 in the act of feasting, which, I believe, is chiefly done at 

 night, but I have no doubt that the fish and turtle were eaten 

 by the muskrat, as well as the mollusks associated with them 

 in the same pile." 



Under date of March 5, 1884, I have received from Dr. 

 Fisher the most valuable record yet obtained concerning the 

 habit in question. Dr. Fisher writes: "A few days since 

 two young men were fishing through the ice for pickerel, 

 with live bait, at Croton Lake, Westchester county, N. Y. 

 Several times they were troubled by having one of the lines 

 pulled violently off the bush and run out to its full length. 

 Finally they saw the line start again, and by pulling it up 

 quickly they lauded a large muskrat on the ice." Here is 

 an authentic instance, not of a muskrat eating a dead fish on 

 the hank, but of actually capturing a live fish in the water- 

 under the ice. Fortunately the fish was attached to a hook 

 and line, and the muskrat was caught and killed. 



Cannot some of Hie readers of Fokest and Stream throw 

 more light on this interesting subject? 



The Rodentia being essentially an herbivorous order, with 

 teeth adapted to gnawing, it is always very interesting to 

 note any marked appetite for flesh among any of the species 

 •f this order. Mauy exceptions have been found to exist in 



regard to this general law, it having been long known to be 

 a fact that rats will eat flesh as quickly as Vegetables; that 

 the eapybara will eat flesh when no other food can be found, 

 and that squirrels will at times eat auimal tissues. In fact, 

 it seems probable that all of the species of rodents may, 

 under favorable circumstances, be caused to eat flesh. Now 

 it has long been known to the writer, arid it is probably well 

 known to other observers, that the muskrat (Fiber zibtthi- 

 cus) will and docs, at least in certain localities and under cer- 

 tain conditions, resort to a carnivorous diet. The piles of 



Union helped up on a muskrat 's mound and the muskrat in 

 the act of eating this mollusk have both been seen many 

 times. Knowing this so well ourselves, and supposing it to 

 be a well- known scientific tact, we never took the trouble to 

 look it up, and hence were much surprised to hear it said in 

 the Biological Society at Washington that it had never been 

 published in any scientific monograph of the animal. At 

 this meeting, Dec. 12, 1883, Mr. Henry W. Elliott, of the 

 National Museum, read a paper upon the "Appetite of the 

 Muskrat," in which he claimed to be the first to record the 

 carnivorous habits of the muskrat before a scientific body, 

 asserting that no published record could be found, in which 

 statement he was sustained by the curator of mammals. 

 The particular kind of eatiug which Mr. Elliott proved the 

 muskrat to be guilty of never having been observed by the 

 writer, and being of great importance and interest, are given 

 below. 



While Mr. Elliott was at his home, in the West, several of 

 his neighbors complained that they could get no carp from 

 their ponds, and in his own ponds carp were seldom obtained. 

 No reason could be given for their disappearance, as there 

 should have been great numbers in the ponds. Hawks were 

 not abundant, in fact the. locality was rather too thickly 

 settled for hawks to carry on their depredations. In several 

 of the ponds obstructions were placed to prevent people from 

 seining the carp, and through no possibility could they 

 escape from the pond. But still they disappeared, and their 

 disappearance still remained a mystery. At last he had the 

 water drawn off and noticed two muskrat holes in the bauk, 

 but did not even then suspect the miscreants, until a neigh- 

 bor came along and suggested that the muskrats were the 

 depredators. Upon examining the holes few bones were 

 found, a fact which could be explained by their cartilagin- 

 ous structure rendering them digestible. The probabilities 

 are then, aud Mr. Elliott believes, that the carp were eaten 

 by the muskrats, and unless some mode of exterminating the 

 pests is found, he predicts that great damage will result to 

 American carp culture. Beiug a sluggish'fish the carp is 

 easily caught, and furthermore, it has the stupid habit of 

 sticking its nose into the mud and hibernating. So just in 

 the season when the natural food of the muskrat is very hard 

 to obtain, he has a luxurious fish, lying still in the water and 

 easily captured. It is then easily understood how it would 

 change its diet for a part of the year at least. Beiug a 

 clumsy animal the muskrat could not obtain the quicker 

 motioned fish. In the interesting discussion which followed 

 the reading many new points were obtained, and it seemed 

 to be a well-known fact that the muskrat would eat flesh, 

 notwithstanding the fact that no published account of such 

 habits could be found. One man said he had seeu muskrats 

 take bait from his line and eat fish caught by hooks. The 

 way this animal gets the mollusks from the Vnio shells with- 

 out breaking the shells is not known, unless that they are 

 allowed to die, and then picked out after the shell has gaped 

 open. As to exterminating the muskrat, many suggestions 

 were made. It being rather difficult to shoot them, it was 

 suggested that steel traps be used. A gentleman said that he 

 had frequently killed them by putting strychnine in an apple 

 aud placing the apple upon a stone. It is asserted by hunters 

 that they cannot be killed with poison, but this person says 

 that this is a mere prejudice. Certainly if it be a fact that 

 the muskrat does eat carp he is a dangerous enemy, and 

 should be vigorously persecuted by any and all means. 



Washington, d. c. R. S. T. 



BIRD NOTES. 



r pHE spring flight of ducks to the north has commenced. 

 JL I saw six wild geese yesterday, the first this season. 

 Black ducks, shelldrakes, whistlers, oldweys, broadbills and 

 coots are about the only species that are found around here. 

 They ere coming on in quite large numbers. I very seldom 

 see wild geese flying this way to the south in the fall, but 

 generally see them in large numbers in the spring in their 

 flight to the north, which generally commences about the 

 last of March, with them and ducks, and lasts until about 

 the first of May, when they disappear altogether. I was out 

 shooting to-day and killed an uncommon large sea gull called 

 ganuet, a species very seldom seen around here unless it is 

 a very cold winter, like this winter. The feathers on the 

 breast and neck are pure white, while those on the back and 

 wings are jet black. F. I. C. 



Noewalk Island Lighthouse, March 14. 



Within the last week numbers of bluebirds and robins 

 have made their appearance; and yesterday I saw a flock of 

 Canada geese flying northwest. If the weather continues as 

 mild and pleasant as it is now, I expect to note many more 

 arrivals. Nemo (of Texas). 



Franklin, Mass., March 19. 



The following may be of interest to ornithologists: Mr. 

 C. M. Carpenter, of Providence, reports seeing white-breasted 

 swallows flying March 12, and March 19 redwing and crow 

 blackbirds. This is a very early date for the arrival of 

 swallows with us. Samuel F. Dexter. 



Pawtucket, R. L, March 32. 



The Pltjmage of Quail.— Editor Fore*/ and Stream: In 

 January I had from Southern Tennessee a dozen live quail 

 bred in that country, and recently I have obtained a few 

 live birds which are. native to Northern Ohio. The plumage 

 of the former seems to me (without having the two speci- 

 mens side by side) to be much brighter, and the markings 

 much more distinct than those of the Ohio birds. Does the 

 difference exist only in my imagination; is it because all 

 birds of the family are in finer feather in January than in 

 March; or is there an actual difference of plumage in the 

 different latitudes? Will some expert give the facts?— B. 

 (Toledo, Ohio, March 30). [The Southern quail have the 

 plumage somewhat brighter aud the markings more sharply 

 defined. In the Southwest (Texas), on the other baud, the 

 plumage is graver and the colors blend more. The dark 

 Cuban race of Orty.e. virt/uiu/nua and the Texan form are the 

 two extremes. It is hardly probable, however, that you 

 would find any very strongly marked differences between 

 birds from the localities which you mention.] 



%,ntt[t J?## nt(d 



THE CHOICE OF HUNTING RIFLES. 



Editor ForeM and Stream: 



In looking over the long list of rifles now T in the market to 

 see what, one would choose as a hunting rifle, one is forced 

 to admit that, although there are many rifles of various pat- 

 terns, there are but few that fill the bill as one would like to 

 have it. Let us begin at the beginning and examine some of 

 the best, or those that are recognised as such, leaving the 

 confessedly inferior guns out of the account. 



In singleloaders we have first of small caliber the .22 Bah 

 lard and Stroma, differing but little from each other in 

 shooting qualities, and the difference in mechanism beiug 

 mainly a question of taste, as both are strong enough and 

 safe enough for the light cartridges in use. But when w T e 

 examine the proportions of powder and lead of the cartridge 

 we find for the .22 short 3 grains powder and 30 grains lead, 

 or 1 to 10; for the .22 long 5 grains powder and 30 grains 

 lead,' or 1 to 6, and the .22 extra long 7 grains powder and 

 40 grains lead, or 1 to 5.7, a proportion that in all cases 

 seems to me to be enormous, as more powder (with increased 

 velocity and dangerous space) could just as well be used as 

 uot, provided the bullets were made hard enough to stand 

 the heavier blow of the powder, so as not to be too much 

 upset in the barrel. 



Doubtless for gallery or target practice the cartridges arc 

 heavy enough, as generally the gallery is of but short length, 

 aud the distance shot at invariable; so that the gun once 

 sighted, good shooting follows. But cannot this gun be im- 

 proved and its usefulness extended by increasing the weight 

 of powder? Are there not many who could aud would use 

 this rifle as a "squirrel gun," provided it held its flight long 

 enougii, and had a flat enough trajectory to be depended 

 upou for shooting at variable distances? Although from ex- 

 perience I know it shoots hard enough to kill at say 75 to 

 100 yards on small game, still the curve of the trajectory is 

 considerable, and could be lessened by the use' of more 

 powder, and a more effective gun be the result. There is 

 nothing in the mechanism of either rifle to preclude the use 

 of a long cartridge, as in both the chamber is open at the 

 rear when the gun is opened, and any length can be inserted 

 or extracted. 



The form of the bullets of this caliber could also be im- 

 proved, and the manner of their insertion into the shell made 

 the same as for heavier cartridges, and improved shooting 

 be the result; the bullet being made full .22-caliber for the 

 entire length of its cylindrical part, and the contraction 

 where they enter the shell being done away with. This 

 would give a bearing surface for the ball of the full length 

 of the cylindrical part, as well as abolishing the "neck"' at 

 the rear of the bullet that may have a tendency to derange 

 its flight. 



Passing to the next higher calibers we have Ballard, 

 Strorns. aud Remington .32-caliber singleloaders, Winchester 

 .32-caliber repeater, and Smith & Wesson's .32-caliber 

 revolving rifle; the Ballard aud Stroms using .32 short or 

 long cartridges, either rim or central fire, the Remington 

 possibly the same, and the Winchester and Stroms centerfire 

 cartridges. 



In the rim fire .32-cartridges we have powder 6, lead 55 for 

 the extra short; powder 9, lead 82 for the short; powder 13, 

 lead 90 for the long; powder 20, lead 90 for the extra long; 

 and in the center fire cartridges powder 9, lead 85 for the 

 .32 S. & W. ; powder 12, lead 90 for the .32 Colt's; powder 

 9, lead 82 for .32 short; powder 13, lead 90 for the long; 

 powder 20, lead 105 for the extra lone-, and powder .20. lead 

 115 for the .32 Winchester. 



An examination of this list shows a proportion of powder 



the Ballard, Stroms or Remington, as they all can take a 

 longer cartridge without alteration, whereas the Winchester, 

 and Smith & Wesson's would probably need alteration to 

 accommodate the longer shells. 



In the .38-calibers, also found in the Ballaid, Stroms and 

 Remington for singleloaders, aud in the Winchester and 

 Ballard for magazine guns, we still have either rim or center 

 fire cartridges for the singleloaders, and center fire for the 

 magazine guns, and a proportion of lead to powder of from 

 7 to 1 to 4 to 1, approximately for the singleloaders <14 to 1 

 for the Winchester or Bullard, and 6. to 1 for the Bullard 

 special, and it is only when we come to the ,40-calibers that 

 we begin to reach heavy charges of powder as compared to 

 the lead, as well as guns in which new cartridges have been 

 adapted, preserving their length invariably so as always to 

 place the bullet up close to the grooves, but yet varying the 

 proportions of powder and lead. 



In the .40-caliber we have the Ballard, Sharps, aud Rem- 

 ington as singleloaders, with the Bullard and Marlin as re- 

 peaters. The singleloaders using central fire ammunition, 

 have a proportion of powder to lead of from 1 to SrV to 1 to ik, 

 the .40-90 Sharps using the heaviest cartridge, 90 powder, 370 

 lead, while the Marlin uses the 60-260 cartridge, leaving the 

 Bullard as the only magazine rifle that uses variableVart- 

 ridges or that excels the old Sharps with its 90-370 charge. 



In the Bullard .40-caliber we find two guns, one using 

 the straight shell with 60 grains powder arid 260 lead, or 

 their special cartridge with 75 grains powder and 225 grains 

 lead, a proportion of 1 to 3, or another gun using at present 

 90 to 95 grains powder and 300 lead, so'that in either eun a 

 more powerful magazine gun than any yet introduced will 

 be found; and one has only to pay their money and take 

 their choice between either the .40-60 or .40-75 straight- 

 shelled guu, or the .40-90 using the bottle-necked shell. 



Passing by all the .44 calibers as "among the things that 

 were" (for what is the use of a .44-caliber when the .45 comes 

 so near to it, and all later guns are of this caliber), and par- 

 ticularly as all the magazine guns of this type have too little 

 powder to their lead, we come to the .45 caliber, and here 

 we still find the Ballard, Sharps and Remington, the Pea- 

 body and Springfield also appearing, for singleloaders, and 

 the Bullard, Winchester, Marlin, Kennedy-Burgess, Hotch- 

 kiss, Lee, and a host of others for magazine guns, and 

 nearly all of the latter with a disproportion of lead to pow- 

 der, they having mainly been, in caliber, copied from and 

 adapted to use the same cartridge as the Springfield, a mili- 

 tary and not a hunting rifle. 



By this I mean that the government having adopted .45 

 as the caliber for its rifle, manufacturers followed in adopt- 

 ing the same caliber, and adapted the government cartridge 

 for their guns in competing with the Springfield before 

 ordnance boards; and having adopted this caliber and cart* 

 ridge, and laid down the "plant" to make them, still adhere 



