Dor, 9, 1884.] 
a 3 7 
that a committee be appointed by the chair for the protec- 
tion of North American birds and their eggs against wanton 
nd indiscriminate destruction; the committee to consist of 
S1X persons, with power to increase its membership and to 
20-operate with other existing protective associations having 
Aimilar objects in view. 
Remarks followed by Messrs. Brewster, Chamberlain, 
Cones, Goss, Merriam and Sennett. The president appointed 
on this committee Messrs. Wm, Brewster, E. P. Bicknell, 
Dr, Geo. Bird Grinuell, H. A, Purdie, Wm. Dutcher and 
Fred A. Ober, 
_ Under the head of scientific papers and remarks, Dr. 
Merriam spoke of the capture, just three weeks previous 
(Sept. 19), of a second specimen of the wheatear (Sacicola 
—wnanthe) at Godhout, on the north shore of the mouth of the 
St. Lawrence, by Mr. Napoleon A, Comeau. Mr. Comeau 
exhibited the specimen, a handsome male, and remarked 
“uponits tameness. The first specimen (a notice of which 
appeared in the July Awk, p. 295) be shot in the same place 
onthe 18th of May last, Mr, Comeau also spoke of the 
capture, at Godbout, of a specimen of the ‘European house 
sparrow (Passer domesticus), this record extending the known 
tange of the species, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence 
by about 250 miles. Dr, Leonhard Stejneger exhibited a 
‘specimen of willow grouse or ptarmigan from Newfound- 
Jand. He considered it a new geographical race, differing 
from the continental form chiefly in the dark color upon its 
primaries. Mr, Brewster remarked that he had recently ex- 
amined a series of nearly 150 specimens of the ptarmigan 
from Newfoundland and had noticed the peculiarities 
mentioned but did not deem them constant. He was 
inclined to regard the characters mentioned as seasonal, 
“and possibly to some extent individual. Dr. Stejneger 
replied that this coloration of the wing feathers 
could not possibly be seasonal, as they (the primaries) were 
moulted but once a year. Dr, Merriam stated that during a 
recent visit to Newfoundland he had examined a very large 
“number of willow grouse in the flesh (probably not less than 
800), and was still engaged in investigating the change of 
color in this species, His studies led him to disagree with 
Dr. Stejneger’s last statement, He (Dr, Merriam) was con- 
yinced that change in color in individual feathers did take 
place, both independent of and coincident with the moult, 
Mr. D. G. Elliot agreed with Dr. Merriam n considering the 
change of color of individual feathers an established fact. 
Many years ago, when preparing his ‘‘Monograph of the 
Tetraonide,” Prof. Baird sent him specimens of this ptar- 
migan from Newfoundland with the request that he describe 
it us a new species. But Mr, Elliot did not regard the bird 
as distinct. He therefore sent Prof. Baird a series of skins 
which convinced the latter of the identity of the Newfound- 
land with the continental bird. An animated discussion fol- 
lowed, and was participated in hy Messrs. Brewster, Comeau, 
Coues, Elliot, Merriam, Ridgway, and Stejneger. 
[v0 BE CONTINUED. | 
ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 
8 noted some weeks since, the second yolume of the 
Transactions of the Linnean Society of New York 
has been received, It well fulfils the promise given by its 
predecessor, of which we spoke, when it appeared, in high 
terms. ‘The present yolume contains another instalment of 
Dr. Merriam’s ‘‘ Vertebrates of the Adirondack Region, North- 
eastern New York,” being the concluding portion of the 
Mammatia. There is also a shorter paper, in which the same 
entleinan describes a new genus and species of the Sorecida 
tiaphaise bendirit), and the frontispiece of the volume 
presents us with a likeness of this type. 
jt is a matter for congratulation that so rich a field for 
observation as is the Adirondack region should have heen 
undertaken by an observer so accurate, so careful, and so 
enthusiastic as Dr. Merriam. There remain now, on this 
side ihe Mississippi Valley at least, but few localities where 
man has been so little successful in exterminating the indi- 
genous mammialia as in the Adirondacks,and it therefore 
presents to the naturalist great attractions. 
Dr. Merriam’s present contribution begins with the Cervi- 
dm and goes through the Mammalia. From advance sheets 
of this volume, we presented to our readers some months ago 
his articles on the deer family, and they were thus enabled 
to see for themselves how thorough a knowledge the author 
has of those of the group which are found in the Adiron- 
_dacks, and how attractively he presents this knowledge. 
We present a list of the species treated in this volume: 
Virginia deer, moose, elk, fossil horse, fossil elephant, star- 
nosed mole, shrew mole, Brewer’s mole, short-tailed shrew, 
Cooper's shrew, broad-nosed shrew, hoary bat, red bat, dusky 
bat, silver-haired bat, little brown bat, flying squirrel, north- 
ern flying squirrel, red squirrel, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, 
chipmunk, woodchuck, heaver, rat, house mouse, field 
mouse, red-backed mouse, meadow mouse, muskrat, jump- 
ing mouse, porcupine, great Northern hare, Southern rang- 
ing hare and gray rabbit. 
Tt is a fact well known to all observers that, while there is 
little difficulty in accumulating material for a reasonably 
‘complete life-history of most of the larger mammals, it is by 
no means easy to get together the facts in relation to those 
Whenever its course was impeded by the feet of the chairs, 
hich were of large size, it would not go round them, but 
————— 
- *Quadrupeds of North america, Vol, 1., 1846, pp, 85-86, 
—F 
wedging itself between them and the wall, pushed them with 
apparent ease far enough to obtain a free passage, and it 
thus continued to move several in succession, hat was 
more astonishing, it passed in a similar manner behind the 
Jegs of a small mahogany breakfast table, and pushed it aside 
in the same way it had done the chairs, finally hiding itself 
behind a pile of quarto volumes, more than two feet high, 
which it also moved out from the wall.’} Now I have made 
a pile just two feet high, of quarto volumes, and find that 
to move it on a smooth, painted floor requires a force of 
eighteen pounds (avoirdupois), and ona carpet, of twenty- 
two pounds. In order to display a degree of streneth pro- 
portionate tothe difference in weight of the two, a man 
would haye to exert a push pressure of twelve thousand 
pounds.” 
His remarks on this species conclude with an explanation 
of erroneous notions concerning the food of the mole. 
‘Tt is unfortunate,” he says, ‘(for the mole at any rate) 
that the farmers and gardeners stiil cling to the mistaken 
notion that the mole eats the roots of vegetables and other 
plants. In support (f this view they affirm that they have 
followed the galleries of these animals along rows of garden 
plants and have found some of the roots gnawed entirely 
off and others more or less injured. Granted; but this is 
circumstantial and presumptive evidence only, and is nega- 
tived by the facts hereinafter related, The truth of the 
matter is this: The mole follows the rows of plants in order 
to obtain the insects that gather in the rich soil about their 
roots, and doubtless injures a few by loosening the earth 
around them, or possibly even by scratching them in his 
efiorts to procure the grubs, 
“Presently a field mouse (Aroteola) comes along and dis- 
covers the gallery of the mole. It is just the right size, or 
perhaps a trifle large, so he enters without delay and is de- 
lighted to find that it leads directly to his favorite articles of 
diet, the roots of garden vegetables. It is this abundant 
and destructive pest that does the mischief, while the poor 
mole gets the credit of it and very likely loses his head in 
consequence, 
“As bearing upon this subject, 1 quote from the pen of 
Samuel Woodruff, Esq., some evidence that may fairly be 
regarded as conclusive. Mr. Woodruti commences by stat- 
ing that he had always supposed the mole to be herbivorous, 
and now that the contrary had been asserted, determined to 
prove the matter by actual experiment as soon as he could 
obtain a subject, Having finally procured ‘a full-grown, 
healthy and vigorous mole’ of this species, he goes on to say: 
‘L confined him in a wooden box about two feet square, 
placing on the bottom six or eight inches depth of earth, and 
before him a potato, a beet, a carrot, a parsnip, turnip, and 
an apple. 
‘Early next morning I found him exceedingly languid 
and apparently exhausted, barely able to turn himself over 
when placed on his buck. All the vegetables remained 
whole, none having been bitten, I then presented him the 
head and whole neck of a fowl with the feathers on; he in- 
stantly seized it, and fed upon it with great avidity. I found 
him the next morning plump, strong and active; nothing left 
of the head and neck of the fowl except the beak, part of the 
skuJl and bones of the neck, the latter being gnawed and 
stripped of all the flesh. I then Jeft him with a whole 
chicken about the size of a quail. The next day I found, 
upon examination, nothing lett of the chicken with the ex 
ception of the beak, wing feathers and a few of the larger 
bones. I then treated him to the head, neck and entrails of 
another fowl. He first devoured the entrails, and after that 
the head and neck, with the exceptions as stated in the ‘first 
instance. Satistied with this course, | changed his regimen 
on the eyening of the 17th from flesh to cheese, with the 
addition of a potato boiled with meat; the animal was then 
full and vigorous. The next morning I found him dead, the 
cheese and potatoes as I had left them, none of which had 
been eaten. The helly and sides of the mole were mueh 
contracted and depressed. 
‘During the whole time of his confinement he had been 
well supplied with water and ice. The whole of the vegeta- 
bles put into the box remained unbitten. 
‘The result of this experiment has removed from my mind 
all doubts respecting the character and habits of this singu- 
lar animal fs * * it is clearly not herbivorous, 
and may be truly ranged among carnivorous animals.’*” 
In all that pertains to the mechanical execution of the 
present volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, 
praise must be spoken. Copies may be obtained of Myr. N. 
T. Lawrence, of 4 Pine street. Price, paper, $2. 
tAmerican Natural History, by John D, Godman, M.D., Vol. I., 
1842, p. 64. 
*dmerican Journal of Science and Art, Vol. XXVIIL., No. 1, pp, 169 
70 
-170. 
Nore on THE Rurrep Grousn.—Lditor Forest and 
Stream: As all our books on ornithology state that the 
rufied grouse neyer have but eighteen feathers in the tail, I 
inclose you one with twenty, to show that there are excep- 
tions to the rule. This is not a solitary case, as I find that 
the old males quite frequently have twenty. I haye shot 
two others within a short time which had this nnmber, You 
will not.ce that-this is the color of the very reddest phase of 
the so-called Oregon grouse. I have examples from Oregon 
of their reddest and lightest varieties, and can match either 
in this State——Maniy Harpy. [The books give eighteen 
as the normal number of tail feathers in the genus Bonasa, 
but there are some groups of birds, among which may be 
named certain grouse and geese, in which the number of 
rectrices is not constant, but may be two more or two less 
than what is regarded as the normal number. | 
RECENT ARRIVALS AT THE PHILADELPHIA ZoonoGicaL GARDEN.— 
Purchased—Two white-eared conures (Conwrus leucotis), two yellow- 
headed conures (Conwrus jendaya), oue green-billed toucan (Ram- 
phastos dicolorus), two jackdaws (Corvus monedula), one sulphur- 
breasted toucan (Ramphastos carinzius), two European magpies 
(Pica candata), one European bluejay (Garrulus glandurius), one 
pee grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), and one fish hawk (Pandion 
aliaétus), Presented—One opossum and six young (Didelphys vir- 
giniana), two prairie dogs (Cynomes ludavicianus), one red-tailed 
hawk (Buteo borealis), one red and blue macaw (Ara macwo), one alli- 
gator (Alligator mississsippiensis), one land tortoise (Cistudo clausa), 
and one painted terrapin (Chupemys picta). Born in the Garden— 
Sixteen diamond rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus). 
The owner of a valuable Newfoundland dog was amusing 
himselt while walking along the shore of the bay at San 
Francisco the other day by throwing sticks into the water and 
sending his dog after them. He threw a piece of wood far out 
into the water and bade his dog go for it, Nothing loth, the 
animal plunged in and in a few minutes reached the stick, 
which he clutched in his mouth. Just as he was turning back 
he uttered a yelp, and his master saw his faithful dog, after-a 
brief struggle. disappear from sight, though the commotion in 
the water lasted for sometime. A shark had gobbled him, 
‘through the 
205 
Gane Bag and Gun. 
“ROCKY MOUNTAIN JIM.” 
Hor SuLpHur Sprinas, Col., Sept. 28, 1884. 
EADERS of Forest anp Stream who were schoolboys 
forty years ago may remember the story of a hunter 
upon the headwaters of the Missouri River, who killed a 
formidable grizzly bear with a knife in a hand to hand en- 
counter, Jt was a death struggle for one or both of the com- 
batants, but the man came out alive. The story was illus- 
trated and the tableau presented was a very <triking one to 
the ayerage boy. Twenty years later it was my fortune to 
make the acquaintance, in the Rocky Mountains, of James 
Nugent, better Known as ‘Rocky Mountain Jim,” who 
claimed to be the hero of the story above referred to. Jim 
was a regular, and a very ideal, mountaineer. He had 
trapped and hunted all over the great plains, and all through 
the mountains from the Mississippi River to the Pacific 
Ocean, extending his adventures into Mexico on the south 
and British America on the north. Of course he was full of 
stories, but his general reputation for truth and veracity was 
exceptionally good as applying to that class of men. Be- 
coming well acquainted with him, which acquaintance con- 
tinued for a number of years, I never had reason to doubt 
that he was really the man he claimed to be; especially as he 
became subsequently the chief actor in a similar encounter 
of which I had personal knowledge and which I will proceed 
to relate further on. 
Some years after the settlement of Colorado, Jim in a 
freat measure gave up his roving life and eventually took 
up 4 ranche claim in the mountains just east of Estes Park, 
near the foot of Long’s Peak, He built a rude cabin, gath- 
ered a few head of stock about him and lived in a precarious 
way from occasional earnings as guide or hunter for parties 
and from such game as the vicinity afforded. Years were 
creeping on and Jim was growing infirm, but he could not 
give up the habit, and once or twice a year he would strike 
out alone, to be absent for days or weeks in the wilderness, 
to renew and enjoy the adventures and excitement of his 
more youthful days, One of his favorite resorts upon such 
excursions was Middle Park, the great basin west of the 
dividing snowy range from which flows out Grand River, 
the eastern fork of the great Colorado of the West. This 
region was then alive with all sorts of large gamé, and en 
tirely unpeopled except by roving Indians and occasional 
nomadic white men. 
On the Fourth of July, 1870, in company with a friend, 
I came over from Denver to unfurl the Stars and Stripes 
from the summit of Mount Bross, at the foot of which I 
now write. We duly performed that task with appropriate 
ceremony, and on the 5th of July set out on horseback for 
Grand Lake, which lies twenty-five miles further up the 
river. Shortly before reaching there, at the crossing of the 
North Fork, we met “Judge” Wescott, a well-known char- 
acter, who had several years before settled at the lake, where 
he lived a regulary hermit life, mainly upon the trout it so 
abundantly supplies. The ‘Judge” was much excited, and 
said Mountain Jim was at his cabin ‘“‘all torn up by a bear,” 
He was going down the Park to hunt for a doctor, and we, 
fortunately, were able to tell him that a pleasure party had 
passed across the Park a day or two before en route to Lost 
Lake, with which was Dr. Pollock, an ex army surgeon. 
Wescott begged for one of our horses to ride, but we were 
obliged to refuse him, as they were badly worn and we had 
along, hard ride yet before us after visiting the lake. Be- 
sides, he could make fully as gond time on foot, and we 
agreed to hurry forward and take care of the wounded man 
until he returned with the doctor. 
Upon reaching the cabin we found a man, bearing little 
semblance to a human creature, raying crazy, covered with 
wounds from head to foot. They had become feverish and 
swollen, and to add to the agony they would naturally pro- 
duce, such of them as could beso treated had been bound 
up with old dirty tent-cloth drawn tightly and stitched with 
needle and thread. These bandages had been applied dry, 
and those who have had amy experience in such things can 
imagine the sufferings of the patient after a couple of hours’ 
torture. We quickly ripped off the bandages, and with ice- 
cold water from the Jake, plentifully applied, soon brought 
him around toarational state of mind. Although com- 
pletely blind, Jim immediately recognized the writer by his 
yoice and called me by name, although he could have had 
no expectation of my being within a hundred miles. Appro- 
priating our handkerchiefs and such other of our clothing 
as was suitable for the purpose as wet cloths, constantly 
saturated and frequently changed, upon the worst of his 
wounds, we soon had iy in a comparatively comfortable 
state, although he frequently relapsed into delirium all 
day and night. But in his rational moments 
he gave a history of his last bear fight, which had occurred 
that, morning. 
He had come into Middle Park for his periodical hunt; had. 
reached the mouth of the south fork of the Grand the 
evening before and went intocamp, which act consisted of 
unsaddling his mule and kindling a fire. Near by there was 
a little salt spring or ‘‘deer lick,” and as Jim wanted some 
yenison, he stopped there to obtain it. The next morning at 
daylight he started on foot for the “‘lick,” armed only with a 
double-action, five-chambered French revolver, of large cali- 
ber, with which he was in the habit of shooting deer. His 
course was along a little valley, or “draw,” in which were 
belts and clumps of willows. A little collie dog that, had fol- 
lowed him from home was at his heels or dodging about 
among the willows, He had got within sight of the spring 
and a number of deer were there, and he was stalking them 
to get a nearer shot, when suddenly the dog burst out of the 
willows about fifteen feet distant, and rushed for his master. 
At the deg’s heels came a monstrous ciunamon bear, and be- 
hind her two smal] cubs. When the bear saw the man she 
gaye no further attention to the dog, but rushed upon Jim, 
open-mouthed, and rising upon her hind feet as she came, 
Planting her paws directly against his shoulders in front, 
she at the same moment seized his face and head between her 
jaws, bearing him to the ground and resting her immense 
weight upon hisbody, The attack was so sudden and fero- 
cious that he had no time to turn or move or fire the pistol 
that was ready in his hand, but as he struck the 
ground he began shooting, with the muzzle against 
the brute’s body, and cuntinued until the explosions 
ceased, and the weapon only snapped as the eylin- 
der revolyed. Then memory failed, and when Jim next 
became conscious the sun was shining hot in his face; he 
lay helpless in a poolof blood, and was saturated from head 
to foot with the sanguinary fluid. There was no bear in 
