= << _——— 
_ Ry Las. 
Duo, 4, 1884.) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
363 
cs 
rain of Norwegian manna and quails. I don’t pretend that 
these are the only edibles provided to the hungry traveler, 
far from it, for the larders of skyds-stations love extremes, 
and either provide excellent mcals, or none at all. But 
salmon and reindeer, in a cooked state, greet you wherever 
dinner is asked for, Think not to escape them, because the 
bountiful board is not spread with these items of the repast, 
for surely they will lurk in silence on some side-table ready 
to put In an appearance and renew their acquaintance with 
you. Jf both are not there, one of them will be, and the 
betting is even on the choice. Otherdishes may be promised, 
but too frequently they are like the diet spoken of by the 
White Queen to Alice: ‘‘Bread to-day and jam to-morrow, 
and to-morrow never comes, you know.” 
That the lakes and rivers are well stocked with salmon, I 
think I have sufficiently proved in my previous letter on 
Norwegian fishing, and there must certainly be a_great 
number of the meek-eyed reindeer about the mountains to 
keep up ihe supply of food, and furnish the beautiful mouse- 
colored skins which adorn the walls of the skyds-stations of 
the interior, Many a time as you drive along in your carri- 
ole, the skyds-carl will lean forward from his precarious 
perch behind to tell you how this or that mountain is famed 
for these animals. One of these reindeer haunts lives most 
vividly in my memory. I was passing over a bleak and 
lonely mountain crest, which rose from a maze of hill and 
dale like some stony Thor god seated amid his vassal court 
of minor crags. Most of the neighboring mountains were 
crowned with the snows of the preceding winter, and off 
their heights and glacier-filled gorges came a keen wind, 
carrying its chill whispers over this home of silence and 
eternal snow; while far down in the valleys beneath wound 
the tangled meshes of river, stream, and lake. Here in this 
desolate spot a native sportsman had lately killed nine rein- 
deer in one day; and the next morning, as he was going to 
get the carcasses, had stumbled on the herd again, and suc- 
ceeded in shooting several more, So at least Knut Haarfager 
behind by carriole said, and I had every reason to believe 
his story, The place Jooked wild and cold enough for ail 
the animals of a glacial period to have sought happy shelter 
in its fastness. Only once did 1 try my luck im search of 
these animals, and on that occasion fortune was not kind, 
only vouchsafing to me the finding in a spongy morass the 
print of a reindeer hoof, one some days old, too, as the fact 
that a few of the trampled blades of grass in the spoor having 
tillered and sent up perpendicular shoots showed. 
But if the reindeer be a creation of service to the Norse- 
man, and when domesticated form the main portion of a 
Laplander’s wealth, not much wailing would be heard if the 
bears and wolves were to depart to the shadowy forests of 
the sky, where Odin and bis brother gods hold their sports. 
Too often the traveler in Norway will sec by the roadside 
the sosters or kraals of the mountain herdsmena—evidences of 
the dangers treading on the steps of the lost lamb—and the 
miserable hovels of their guardians. Throughout the sum- 
mer months these rude habitations are tenanted by the shep- 
herds and their flocks, but lie buried many feet deep in the 
snow in winter time. They are formed of big stones loosely 
fitted together, roofed with pine logs and brushwood, and 
turf, the interstices being filed up with mud and moss, and 
generally stand on some wind-sheltered ledge of the moun- 
tain face. The object of placing them at the high altitudes 
at which they are fuund is to enable the herds to take advan- 
tage of the scanty pasturage of the hills, for grass is gold 
and silver in Norway, while the bear: and wolf are suffici- 
ently substantial realities in these solitudes to make stone in- 
closures in which the sheep and goats can be collected at 
night yery necessary. Lonely must be the life of such a 
hermiiage, and terribly solitary the inmate with no creatures 
to commune with save his bleating herds, and no break in 
the monotony of his existence but the fierce storms which 
sweep Over the gaunt uplands. Yet although thus wresting 
from the coney his monopoly of making his dwelling 
place among the rocks, the sceter liver is no feeble folk, as 
bruin knows well to his cost. Brave by nature, and the 
necessity of self-reliance, and with nerves as hard and sea- 
soned as the crag they live among, ill fares it with the wolf 
or bear who gives them the chance of revenge for past mis- 
haps. I remember once seeing suspended over the low door- 
way of one of these sceter huts, the skull of a bear, bleached 
and glistening like the snows around, and displaying its 
teeth in a hideous, ghostly grin. The owner of this trophy 
was absent from his humble home, but my skyds-carl spoke 
of him with a respectful admiration, and assured me he was 
known far and near as a mighty huuter. He had lately had 
@ narrow escape in an adventure with a bear, which he had 
vowed to kill in reprisal for many depredations committed 
by it on his flock. He had encountered his enemy in a cop- 
pice so dense that his first shot only wounded the animal, 
and before he could fire again bruin made his escape. Start- 
ing in hot pursuit after the beast the hunter was running 
down the slope of the mountain, when, coming to a small 
patch of brushwood he leaped over it, but had no sooner 
done so than, hearing a noise behind, he turned, and had 
only just time to raise his rifle and draw the trigger when 
the bear was upon him. Fortunately it seized the muzzle of 
the rifle, which, exploding at the same moment, blew its 
head to pieces. Clearly, then, it was not the same animal 
whose skull grinned over the lintel of the sceter, for nothing 
Was wanting to anatomical science in that whitened and 
grim cranium, J.B, A, 
DuxrtrroH, Glengyle, Scotland, Aug, 20. 
CHRISTMAS BOOKS. 
+S HOLIDAY time draws near, the annual anxiety about 
presents comes comes up and almost every one is 
cudgeling his brains to select that gift which shall afford the 
greatest pleasure to the recipient and so to the giver. Among 
the various articles suited to the wants of persons mm this 
dilemma, there is none which is more to be recommended 
than a good book, and BrOpIES those which we offer for sale 
there is a wide yariety in choice as to beuuty and costliness. 
We haye a few copies left of ‘‘Sport with Gun and Rod,” both 
in the embossed leather binding (price $15) or in the plainer 
eloth ($10), the books being identical except as to style of bind- 
ing. The edition of Dougall’s “Shooting,” which we published a 
tew years since, is almost exhausted, and the demand for it at 
Christmas this year will nc doubt use up the few remaining 
copies on hand. less expensive books are; Judge Caton’s 
great work on the ‘Antelope and Deer of America,” Necsmuk’s 
charming little volume on “Woodcraft,” Hammond's ‘Dog 
Training,” indispensable to every dog owner, and ‘Angling 
Talks,” by the late George Dawson, Besides these, there is a 
wide range of subjects covered by the books advertised in the 
Sportsmen’s Library, from which the book buyer cam make his 
selection. Our series of pictures of some of the noted d 
that have won during the past few years in the field trial 
sontests in America will no doubt be sought for by many 
owners of good pointers and setters, 
alatnyal History. 
NOTES OF THE WOODS AND WATERS. 
II, 
THE ELDER. 
AMBUCUS—BElder. (Latin, Sambuca, an ancient musical 
instrument said to have been made of elder wood). Sam- 
bucus canadensis (Common Elder).—Shrubby plants with a 
rank smell when bruised, stems scarcely woody, five to ten 
feet high, white pith, pinnate leaves, serrate, pointed leaflets, 
flowers numerous, in yery large (two feet broad in Indiana) 
level-topped cymes, yellowish-white, with heavy odor, Rich 
soil, in open piaces; June. 
Sambucus pubens (Red-berried Elder).—Common in hilly 
pastures and rocky woods. Hudson’s Bay to the Carolinas. 
A variety having white berries was discovered by Mr. James 
Hogs growing on the Catskill Mountains. 
According to Eliason, the flowers of the elder contain a 
volatile oil, aerid resin and tannin, The berries contain 
malic and citric acids, sugai, pectin and coloring matter. 
The bark, leaves and flowers are used medicinally, but only 
the flowers and hérries are recognized as officinal in the 
United States Pharmacopa@ia. The young leaf buds are 
said to be a violent and unsafe purgative, Bluebirds, cat- 
birds, robins and cedar birds feed on the berries of the eld- 
ers; and the vireo or greenlet (Vireo noveboracensis) delights 
to build its pensile nest where grows the elder and cat brier 
(Smilan), for from the silken cocoon of the Adiaeus it obtains 
much of the material with which to line and. suspend its 
beautiful nest, 
COCOON OF ATTACUS CECROPTA. 
The flowers, when kept in a dry state, are prepared as fol- 
lows: The cymes, after being gathered, are thrown together 
in a large heap and left for a few hours until they become 
somewhat heated, the corollas, the part especially required, 
then fall off from the flowers, and are afterward separated 
from the stalks by shaking, rubbing, and sifting, after which 
they are dried quickly to prevent their turning black, Well 
prepared flowers of the common elder bring in the New 
York market from eight to ten cents per pound. From 
the flowers a wholesome and gently excitant sudorific is pre- 
pared; also an ointment for ulcers, burns, and excoriations. 
A syrup is made from them, and rock candy for colds. 
In England, elder flower water is prepared from what is 
known as ‘‘pieked elder flowers.” The fiowers are separated 
from their stalks, after which they are placed in layers of 
common salt in any well closed vessel, usually a cask, the 
layers of salt and flowers being pressed down as hard as pos- 
sible, the water which exudes being rejected. The best elder- 
flower water is, however, obtained fromthe flowers gathered 
in dry, sunny weather, and distilled as soon as possible. 
The berries furnish a juice which, upon being diluted with 
water, make a cooling and laxative drink in cases of high 
fever, or asasummer drink. The farmers of New Jersey 
manufacture a very dark-coiored wine from the berries, by 
placing them in tubs and crushing them till all their juices 
are expressed, after which the clear juice is fermented and 
racked off. This, when reduced with water, forms a very 
pleasant, healthy and harmless wine. In England both 
sweetmeats and jellies are made by the country people from 
the fruit of the elder. The California Indians use large 
quantities of the berries of the elder as food. 
The Sambucus nigra, the black elder of England, also 
called bore-tree and bore, from the boring out the pith, is 
common to nearly all parts of Europe. It is abundant in the 
hedges and woods of England, Ireland and Scotland: but is 
especially frequent as a cultivated shrub near houses and in 
cottage gardens, With all English landscape painters it is a 
great favorite for foregrounds and middle distances, The 
young stalks of the English elder become a full blood red 
when the fruit is ripe. The wood of old trunks is used as a 
substitute for that of boxwood in the manufacture of many 
small articles, such as mesh needles for knitting fishing nets, 
rules, etc., etc., the wood being of slow growth and very 
dense. The pith is used for electrical experiments and by 
jewelers to clean the oil irom the pivots of wheels and 
other parts of the works in watches; this pith is imported. 
A very ingenious toy called a ‘twitch’ can be made of 
a piece of pith (painted to resemlJe a dwarf), to one end of 
which is fastened a small oval button of lead. The pith 
dwarf, when laid on his side or stood on his head, will 
immediately assume an upright position. Pop-guns and rub- 
ber spring shooters and squirters are also made from the 
elder canes after the pith has been removed. ‘The English 
elder is also used to form hedges, and as a “‘nurse plant” for 
protecting young plantations that are exposed to strong 
wind or sea breezes. In many parts of Germany the farms 
are divided by cultivated hedges of elders instead of wooden 
fences, wood being too scarce for that purpose. 
ATTAGUS CECROPIA, 
Many years ago, while taking my first lesson in skating 
during an intensely cold and blustery day, becoming both 
tired and disgusted, I sat me down to rest and ruminate be- 
neath a dense mass of elder, blackberry and cat briers, which 
aiturded me a partial shelter from the driying wind. Sud- 
denly I espied among lhe tangled mass of vegetation several 
oval and silken objects which at once attracted my attention 
and excited my curiosity, _ 
A further search among the bushes in the neighborhood 
discovered more of these specimens, which, to my youthfnl 
mind, were objects of the greatest wonder. Having carefully 
collected my new-found treasures, I started for home. and a 
family circle was at once assembled to debate the question of 
“what on earth” these strange objects were. Many and 
various were the suggestions hazarded, until my brother, who 
was a medical student, ruthlessly proposed to sever the Gor- 
dian knot of the difficulty by the simple process of dissecting 
one of the objects and thus ascertaining its contents, This 
proposition was denounced as barbarous, and as a Jast resort 
I took some of the specimens to a doctor im our village, who 
at once recognized them as the cocoons of the Attacus cecro- 
pio. A few other excursions among the elderberry bushes 
speedily enlarved my collection to the number of two dozen, 
which I placed in a closet in my bedroom, and watched 
through the long winter months with truly maternal solici- 
tude. 
When the return of spring brought an awakening to all 
the natural forces so long dormant in ice-bound sleep, the 
same influence exerted itself on the mysterious creatures for 
months imprisoned in their silken cells, 
One moonlight night, after having retired, I remuined 
awake for a time planning out my Saturday’s wood ramble. 
Happening to cast my eyes toward the window, through 
which the mooulight was flooding the room, I wasastonished 
at beholding what seemed to be hundreds of bats flying out- 
side of the window. Quickly I got out of bed, determined 
to thoroughly investigate this curious pheuomenon. IJuside 
of the room were, what appeared to be, some ten or twelve 
bats, endeayouing to make their escape through the window, 
and outside of the window were some twenty or thirty of 
the same bat-like creatures dashing against the panes, as if 
determined to gain an entrance, and rescue their imprisoned 
friends. 
Exactly what to do I did not know. I was afraid to raise 
the sash, fearing that those inside would join their friends 
outside, and so [ would lose all of them. With a scap-net, 
which fortunately I had hanging in my room, I captured 
one of the flying objects, which proved to be a specimen of 
the largest, most beautifully colored and marked of all the 
“butterflies” (for at the time I write of, I had not learned to 
distinguish a moth from a buttertly) that I had ever read of 
or expected to possess. After having captured all of those 
inside of the room, I boldly lowered the upper sash of the 
window, when in flew all those that were outside. Quickly 
closing the window, they were safely imprisoned. Fearin 
that those confined in the closet mizht injure themselves, 
released them. Well, it was a beautiful sight, this bedroom 
full of “‘butterflies.” Isat on my bed and watched them 
circle and float about in graceful curves and cireles, and 
when they passed through the bright moonlight it was as- 
suredly a fairy scene from the fairy land of nature. For an 
hour I remained perfectly quiet, so absorbed was I in won- 
derment as to how this curious event had come to pass. 
At last I was aroused from my reverie by becoming con- 
scious that the atmosphere of the room was being charged 
with a very peculiar and penetrating odor; it was not abso- 
lutely disagreeable, but certainly very oppressive, and it 
seemed to me that, as the mysterious odor increased, the but- 
terflies seemed to divide into pairs as they continued their 
merry moonlight dance. The odor becoming very oppres- 
sive, | concluded to lock my bedroom dvor on the inside, 
get out of the window, slide down the kitchen roof to the 
garden and take a sleep with the cows for the rest of the 
night, As I turned to the window again, [ was surprised to 
tind some six or eight more of these beautiful creatures 
charging against the glass. These, too, ] allowed to enter the 
room, Next morning my room was a sight to behold. On 
the walls, on the bed clothes, on bunches of dried leaves and 
plants, and on rustic work, were fastened strings and masses 
of small eggs of a dull yellow color, and everywhere, limp 
and listless, and immovable were the moths, their nuptial 
dances ended. 
T again consulted my friend the doctor and found that the 
proper way to care for these hundreds of eggs was to transfer 
with a feather to clean and damp sheeting, to which they 
speedily adhered by means of a viscous exudation. The eggs 
were exposed for two hours to the morning’s sun, and at night 
were taken indoors, and were brushed over with a feather 
and warm water. In afew days minute black caterpillars 
were seen breaking through the eggs, and at once began 
-to anxiously wander aboul, as if in search of food, which I 
bountifully supplied to them. This food consisted of the 
tenderest leaves of the common elder. Their unbounded 
appetites resulted in remarkably rapid growth, which neces- 
sitated a frequent casting of the skin, until they attained 
their greatest development (as caterpillars), being large, fat, 
and of a beautiful light green color. I then transferred 
them to the canes of elderberry bushes that grew along a 
neighboring stone wall. Ina few days they began descend- 
ing the canes and began to spin their cocoons preparatory to 
entering upon their long winter sleep. 
The Attucus cecropia is the largest and handsomest of this 
noble group of native moths, which includes Attaews cecro- 
pia, A. luna, A. polyphemus, A, prometheus. A. cynthia, a 
Japanese variety, which was introduced into this country 
some twenty-four years ago, by the Agricultural Department 
of Washington, has become so thoroughly acclimated that it 
is now spreading through all the large cities of the Union, 
“The wings of the Attacuscecropia, when expanded, measure 
from five to six anda half inches. The hind wings are 
rounded and not tailed. The ground color of the wings is a 
grizzled dusky brown, with the binder margins clay-colored; 
near the middle of each of the wings there is an opaque kid- 
ney-shaped dull red spot, having a white center, and a nar- 
row black edging, and beyond the spot, a wavy, dull red 
band, bordered internally with white; the fore wings, next 
the shoulders, are dull red, with a curved white band, and 
near the tips of the same is an eye-like black spot, within a 
bluish-white cresent; the upper side of the body and legs 
area dull red, The caterpillar is of a fine, clear; light green 
color; on the top of the second ring are two large globular, 
coral-red warts, beset with about fourteen very short black 
bristles; the two warts on the third ring are like those on the 
second, but rather longer; on top of the seven following 
rings there are two very long, egg-shaped yellow warts, 
bristled at the ends, and a single wart of larger size on 
the eleyenth ring; on each side of the body there 
are two longitudinal rows of long light warts, bristled at ihe 
end, and an additional short row below them, along the 
first five rings.” The Attacys cecyomu prefers to all other 
shrubs and trees the leaves of the common elder, which con- 
stitute the food of the caterpillars. These feed till August 
or the latter part of September, when they descend to spin 
their cocoons. The inhabitant of the cocoon remains dor- 
mant during the long, wet and snowy montlis of winter, 
often buried deep in the snow or withstanding a temperature 
as low as1° Fahr. The cocoon is fastened to the elder 
cane in Perpentiaume position, the smaller or exit end being 
