364 FOREST AND STREAM. 
a 
{[Dro. 4, 3884, 
at the top, The outer coat is more or less wrinkled and is 
suggestive of strong brown paper both in color and texture, 
When this tough outer coat is cut open the inside will be 
found to be lined with a quantity of loose, yellowish-brown 
strong silk, surrounding an inver oval cocoon, composed of 
the same kind of material, but more compactly woven like 
that of the silk worm. The moth would not be able to pierce 
the inner cocoon were it not for a fluid provided for the pur- 
pose, which softens the hundreds of silken threads, and 
thereby allowing the moth to easily force itself through the 
sniall end of the outer cocoon, which is more loosly woven 
than elsewhere, and the threads of which converge again by 
their own elasticity, so as almost to close the opening after 
the insect has escaped. 
_In Habersham county, Georgia, a German disposed of 
eighty-tive pounds of A. cecroapia at two dollars per pound. 
These were raised on willow trees, There is a lady living in 
Philadelphia who is advertising for cocoons of the Attacus 
cecropia in all the leading papers of the South, and for which 
she offers two dollars a pound. Such being the case, why 
cannot some of our enterprising young sportsmen male a 
point to collect these cocoons, which are so easily discoy- 
ered, now that the elders are bare of all foliage, and not only 
raise the exquisite silk-bearing insect for pleasure and in- 
struction, but also for profit, and at the same time take a 
lesson in silk culture, a subject which is attracting so much 
attention at the present time. Jam of the opinion, that by 
careful cultivation and selection, our native silk-producing 
moths will eventually be found to be of great value. In 
Japan and China they utilize the silk of the Atiacws for the 
manufacture of fabrics; then why not here? In all silk- 
Spinning caterpillars the operation is the same, though the 
length, quality and quantity of silk differs greatly. Along 
each side of the body, and closely pressed against digestive 
organs, is to be found the silk vessel. This consists of a tube 
of greater or less capacity, according to the needs of the in- 
sect, m which is secreted in a semi-fiuid form the peculiar 
substance known as silk, Each of these tubes ends in a 
yery slender outlet, scarcely as thick as a human hair, and 
the two outlets uniting closely, resemble the barrels of a 
double-barreled pistol. Through these tubes the gummy 
secretion is forced, and hardens as soon as it, comes in con- 
tact with the atmosphere. A, W. Ropers. 
By imitating the processes of nature we shall make haste 
slowly but we shall finally haye our reward. 
The writer is not aware that this solution of the difficulty 
has been proposed by any one else. The only previous pub- 
lication of it has been in the New York Times, of March 3, 
1884, at his suggestion, where, among other things, it is inti- 
mated by the writer of the paragraph that a Chinese lark, ‘‘a 
famous singer” anda very hardy bird, ‘“‘might be exactly 
the singing bird adapted to our climate, for Canton has the 
most varied of climates, being intensely hot in summer and 
very cold in winter.” It is not stated whether this lark is 
migratory in its habits or not. J. 8. Prout, 
Brooruyy, N. Y., Noy. 25, 1884. 
NOTES ON THE CAPTURE OF SEA BIRDS 
BY CAPT. Jd, W. COLLINS. 
[From the annual report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. ] 
Kok many years after the introduction of trawl-line fish- 
A. ing in New England, birds were extensively used for 
bait to eke out the supply obtained from other sources, and 
even prior to the time when trawls came into use old fisher- 
men say that they caught birds on the banks with which 
they baited their hand-lines, Several varieties of birds were 
obtained for bait, principal among which may be mentioned 
the hagdons (Puffinus major and P. fuliginosus); the jegers, 
of several species; fulmars, gulls, and petrels or Mother 
Carey chickens, 
Birds were used much more extensively before 1875 than 
they have been since, as of late years it has generally been 
found more profitable to depend on other sources for a bait 
supply. They have never been used for bait in any great 
numbers, except by trawling schooners on the Grand Bank, 
and these vessels were said to be engaged in ‘‘shack-fishing.” 
The term ‘‘shack-fishing,” it may be explained, owes its 
origin to the kind of material used as bait, the word ‘‘shack” 
being applied to refuse or offal, The vessels procuring fares 
in this manner were called ‘‘shack-fishermen.” They usually 
resorted to the Banks in early spring, carrying a limited 
amount of salt clams, salt squid, or menhaden slivers, which 
were intended to be used in commencing the fishing season, 
and to eke out any deficiency which might occur in the bait 
supply, The fishing being well under way, the crews de- 
pended upon such bait.as they could procure on the Banks, 
such as birds, small halibut, porpoises, and sometimes cod- 
fish; all of which, together with the contents of the stomachs 
of the cod, which often consisted largely of bank clams and 
occasionally young squid and capelin, were !called ‘‘shack,” 
or ‘‘shack-bait,” 
A fisherman preparing a bird for shack-bait, cuts off the 
feet, tail, and neck; then making a cut across the breast, he 
strips off the skin and throws it overboard. Haying removed 
the skins and viscera (the latter makes an excellent bait) 
from as many birds as he has at hand, he pounds the bodies 
with the back of a heavy knife or stick, breaking the bones, 
or, as he would term it, “‘mummies them up.” This beaten 
and bruised mass of flesh and bones is then cut up into small 
pieces of suitable sizes to be used as bait, At this point the 
fisherman is influenced by the number of birds he has on 
hand, Should the supply be bountiful, he divides the bodies 
into comparatively large sections, while on the other hand, 
if the birds are scarce, he must exercise the strictest economy, 
and subdivides the material into correspondingly small 
pieces, large enough only to ‘‘point the hooks,” while an 
inferior and less desirable bait may be used on the shanks, 
On some parts of the Grand Bank cod are found in great 
abundance, and the clams taken from the *‘pokes” (stomachs), 
often furnish a considerable percentage of the requisite 
amount of bait for the trip. The roes of the cod, when par- 
tially developed, are also used as bait, since they make a 
fairly attractive lure, and if properly attached to the hooks 
cannot be easily pulled off by the fish, When this bait is 
used the ‘‘pea” is cut into strips in such a manner that they 
may be turned inside out; the hook is then passed through 
and through the membraneous covering in seyeral places, a 
turn being made around the shank each time. 
Shack-fishing differs from other styles of Bank fishing only 
in the method of obtaining bait supplies. A vessel engaged 
in shack-fishing remains on the Bank until she has secured 
her fare, and, as before stated, depends solely upon getting 
her bait on the ground instead of—as is the custom of other 
yessels—leaving the Bank and running into the harbors of 
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to obtain a ‘‘baiting” of 
herring, capelin, or squid. 
The method of shack-fishing has its advantages and disad- 
vantages. One of the advantages, and a very important one, 
is that no time is lost in seeking bait, and the vessel is en- 
abled to prosecute her fishing on the bank whenever favor- 
able days occur. On the other hand, it must be acknowledged 
that the kind of bait employed by the shack-fishermen is 
comparatively unattractive to the fish, and the supply often- 
times has of late years been inadequate; consequently, ib has 
generally been found more profitable for our bankers to ob- 
tain supplies of fresh bait in the provincial ports. At the 
present shack-fishing is rarely undertaken. It may be 
worthy of mention, however, to state that fine fares of cod 
have been obtained by this method as late as 1874-75, and, 
indeed, this mode of capture has, since then, sometimes been 
preferred by the most experienced fishermen, especially 
when cod have been extremely abundant on the Banks; for 
when a large school of fish is around a vessel a fisherman is 
very reluctant to heave in cable and fill away, even for a 
‘fresh baiting.” 
As birds were considered as good or better than any other 
kind of shack bait, and as they could often be taken in large 
numbers, it will readily be understood their presence on the 
fishing banks often was of material aid to the fishermen in 
securing their fares of cod. 
In thése notes the writer expects to do nothing more than 
to give, in an off-hand and, perhaps, rather disconnected 
manner, the result of his study of the habits and methods of 
capture of these sea birds, which were for many years his 
almost daily companions; the chief object being, of course, 
to convey some idea of the importance of several species as 
a source of bait supply to fishermen. 
THE GREAT SHEARWATER (Puffinus major).* 
This species, the ‘‘hagdon,” or “‘hag,” of the fishermen is, 
perhaps, one of the most interesting which is to be found on 
the outer fishing grounds; it is used for bait more than any 
*It is altogether possible, perhaps probable, that there may be 
other species of Pujfinus which frequent the fishing banks, besides 
the two I have named in these notes. On several occasions I have 
seen birds of this genus which were much smaller than P. mejor, and 
which I then thought were the young of that species, but [now be- 
lieye they were a smaller variety. My object, however, is not to 
define the species, but simply to give some idea of the habits of the 
birds. 
ACCLIMATION OF FOREIGN BIRDS. 
N Forest AnD SrRHAM for Nov. 6 there is reference to 
the failure of the attempts that haye been made to in- 
troduce the European migratory quail into this country. 
Thousands, it is said, haye been imported and distributed in 
yarious partsot the Eastern and Middle States, but they 
have disappeared, and the clubs and individuals who brought 
over these birds “have given up all hope of ever seeing or 
hearing of the game again. Has any one recently seen any 
of these birds? Intelligenve of them would be welcome.” 
Equally unsuccessful efforts haye been made to introduce 
foreign migratory song birds. Skylarks have been turned 
loose on Long Island, but either they were killed by the pot- 
hunters, or they did not survive our cold winters, Certain 
it is they have not established themselves as summer visitors. 
Why have these attempts failed? Our climate agrees well 
with many of our importations. Have we not baby ele- 
phants, German carp, Norway rats, camels, ostriches? 
Where has not the imported sparrow gone? Many of our 
worst weeds as well as most useful grains came to us from 
abroad. ‘These instances of successful acclimation render 
untenable the assumption that the conditions as to the gual 
and song bird alone are unfavorable, The fault, therefore, 
must lie in the methods heretofore adopted. What have 
these been? We have turned the strangers loose in our 
fieids in spring or summer, where the conditions for their 
existence were favorable so long as warm weather lasted, 
but when cold weather came, and with it the loss of their 
food supply—what then? Instinct, it may be said, should 
have caused them to fly south, but the naturalists tell us that 
instinct is only inherited memory, ‘The imported birds 
were strangers in a strange land, and had no memory, in- 
herited or acquired, of an attainable warm southern winter 
home. In their Old World life their migrations were not 
caused by a spirit of unrest, were not mere flights to the 
south or to the north, but were wanderings in search of food 
and better condilions of existence. 
Brehm, the distinguished German naturalist, who has so 
recently died, says love and hunger are the birds’ only guid- 
ing impulses. The statement is made and is a very interest- 
ing one, that those that cross the Mediterranean Sea in going 
from Africa to Europe follow certain fixed routes: First, by 
the Strait of Gibraltar; second, from Tunis by Sardinia and 
Oorsica to the shores of the Gulf of Genoa; third, from Tri- 
poli by Malta and Sicily to Italy, etc. How were these lines 
of passage learned? Inthe diluvial period, what is now the 
Mediterranean Sea, consisted of two large lakes, one of 
which was cut off the ocean by a broad strip of land where 
now are the Straits of Gibralter, and which were separated 
from cach other by a land-dyke composed of Italy, Sicily, 
ete,, which connected the two continents, The hirds, as 
they increased in numbers, migrated by these routes in 
search uf better breeding places, and as the lands sank, they 
continued to follow them over gradually narrowing belts of 
land, over marshes and lagunes, and finally over broad waters, 
and yet no one generation was aware of any change. (Weiss- 
man after Palmén, Contemporary Reyiew, XXTV., February 
1879, 
They carried with them the memory of their warm winter 
home, and on the approach of the European winter, when 
their food supply failed, returned to 1t with their young. 
If this explanation is the correct one it is evident that we 
have failed in our efforts to introduce these migratory birds 
because we have attempted to reverse the process by which 
the habit of migration was acquired, and, in order to succeed, 
instead. of turning them loose in the north, we must give the 
strangers, skylarks, nightingales, quail, etc., a suitable 
' gouthern winter habitat (Florida, Louisiana, Mexico), from 
which in spring, food failing or driven by an inherent 
tendency (as asserted by Prof. Baird) they may wander to 
some otuer locality suitable for raising their young, and to 
which, by virtue of memory thus acquired and finally in- 
herited, they may return when food fails them in their sum- 
mer home. If they wander in all directionsfrom the winter 
home those that go to the most favorable localities will most 
certainly survive and multiply, while none of them will be 
in cuch unfavorahle conditions as those that may be turned. 
loose in our Northern States. They will then, so far as we 
can arrange it for them, be best prepared for the struggle for 
existence in this country, over the whole of which, if they 
find favorable conditions, we may expect them soon to spread 
and thus repay us for our expenditure of effort and money, 
other bird, and has many peculiarities essentially its own. 
it has a wide distribution in the western Atlantic, and 1 haye 
myself observed it all the way from latitude 39° 50' N,, lon- 
gitude 71° 25' W., to north of the Grand Bank in latitude 
47”, longitude o)".¢ The place of its greatest abundance, 
however, is probably from near Le Haye Bank to and in- 
cluding the Grand Bank, the latter locality seemingly being 
its favorite resort during the summer season, There it occurs 
in remarkable numbers for seyeral months of the year; in- 
deed, so abundant is the species that, in many cases, as will 
be shown further on, it has become of considerable import- 
ance as a source of bait supply for the cod fishermen on that 
bank, It appears on the fishing ground usually in the latter 
part of May or about the ist of June, In a daily journal 
kept by myseif I find the following note, under date of May 
26, 1879: ‘‘I saw a hag this morning, the first I haye seen 
this spring.”}{ This bird was probably a strageler from the 
large flocks, and very likely it reached the fishing ground 
sooner than its companions. Three days later, however, on 
May 29, when in latitude 43° 35’ N. and longitude 59° 47’ W., 
I saw several large flocks of these birds, and shot one indi- 
vidual. The birds were at that time sitting on the water, 
and had apparently just reached the locality. Their stay on 
the Banks continues until about the middle or last of Octo- 
ber (occasionally later), when they gather in flocks, sitting 
around on the water for a few days before taking their de- 
parture. 
Occasionally, in midsummer, they seem to be scarce, but 
what the cause of this scarcity is I am unable tosay. Under 
date of Aug. 1, 1879, I find thefollowing note: ‘‘Shot three 
hags, but they are very searce.’”’? I am somewhat inclined to 
the opinion that they find abundance of squid at that season, 
and therefore do not come about the vessels so much as 
when hungry, When or where the hagdon breeds is un- 
known to me. My opinion is that it breeds in winter. I 
have opened many hundreds of these birds, but haye never 
found their sexual organs in a condition that would indicate 
they were incubating, 
It may be well, in this connection, to allude to the social 
habits of the hagdon as they have come under my obserya- 
tion. When the birds reach their destination in the spring, 
for a few days after their arrival, they do not seem to make 
any special effort for the purpose of securing food, but pass 
most of their time sitting in large numbers on the water, 
and at this period it is somewhat difficult to catch them on 
hook and line. Occasionally a flock will make a short flight 
and again settle down, but there appears to be a strong in- 
clination, at this time, to huddle together and keep up the 
organization which has probably existed during their migra- 
tion from distant regions. The same thing in regard to 
going in flocks is noticeable in the fall, when they collect 
for their autumnal migration from the fishing banks. At 
such times they show the same disinclination to bite at hook 
and line that they exhibit when first arriving on the fishing 
grounds. This apparent indifference to food at such times 
is all the more remarkable, since only a few days elapse 
after the flocks have reached the fishing grounds in the 
spring before they break up; and in a little while after the 
arrival of the hagdon it may be seen skimming the surface 
of the water ona tireless wing, totally unmindful of the 
presence or absence of its companions, unless, indeed, their 
appearance may indicate where food is abundant; in such 
cases it loses no time, but rapidly wings its way to join them 
in the feast. Nor does it do this from any feeling of socia- 
bility, if we may judge from its actions, but simply to gratify 
its enormous appetite. In doing this it fights and strugeles 
with all other birds, whether of its own kind or of other 
species, to gain pussession of the finest morsels, uttering, 
meanwhile, extremely harsh and discordant notes, When 
feeding it displays a dash and pugnacity that is perfectly 
astonishing. The audacious boldnéss with which it will at- 
tack superior strength in the struggle for food, and the 
ferocity and reckless bravery it exhibits on such occasions 
cannot fail to command the attention of all whu witness the 
performance, Nothing can exceed the activity of the hag 
or its intrepid recklessness, if I may so term it, when in 
pursuit of food, and, when very hungry, it seems to pay 
almost as little regard to the presence of 4 man as to the 
proximity of other birds. , J 
The tenacity of life exhibited by Pujfinus is certainly sur- 
prising. It often happens that after its skull has been 
crushed between the teeth of its captors, a hagdon may lie 
seemingly dead for several minutes and then recover sutffi- 
ciently to make desperate efforts to escape, In_ several 
instances which I ean recall, hags that were thought to be 
dead have escaped by “flopping” out oyer the slanting stern 
of the dory, unnoticed by the fisherman until it was too late , 
to recover the wounded birds. ; 
The tenacity of life and the remarkable pugnacity of these 
birds have, upon many occasions, proyoked the fishermen to 
the cruel’ sport of tormenting them and prolonging their 
sufferings. Perhaps a dozen or more hags may be caught, 
and having been put in a hogshead tub, or in a “‘gurry pen,” 
on the deck of the vessel, the fishermen bring about an inter- 
necine war by stirring them up with a stick. At such times 
the birds evidently imagine that their companions are avowed 
enemies, and, pitching into their nearest neighbors, a general 
ficht and terrible commotion ensue, while the feathers fly in 
all directions, much to the amusement.of the men. In a short 
time the birds which were taken from the water sleek and 
strong, are utterly worn out in their struggles with one 
another, and present a bedraggled, forsaken, and disreput- 
able appearance. The fishermen also sometimes tie two hags 
by the legs, using a string about one foot in length, which 
enables the birds to swim, but keeps them in unpleasant con- 
tact, the consequence being that they fight until one or both 
succumb. a ~ 
The hagdon is remarkably strong and swift in its flight. 
Often it may be seen skimming oyer the waves, passing from 
the top of one séa to another, scarcely moving a muscle; but 
by trimming its wings, if such an expression is allowable, 
first poised on one wing and then on the other, it is appar- 
ently propelled without an effort on its part, but simply by 
the action of the wind beneath, This method of flight, how- 
ever, is frequently varied, for when necessary the hagdon 
can and does move its wings with great power and consider- 
able rapidity. When in pursuit of food it plunges suddenly 
down into the water, striking on its breast with great yio- 
lence, and in a manner quite different from that im which 
gulls alight. Its method of diving isalso different from that 
of many other species, It never plunges head first into the 
water as do the gannet, kingfisher, and many other piscivor- 
ous birds; but it first alights upon the surface, as justnoted, 
disappearing almost instantly. It is an active swimmer 
+Mr. Ridgway tells me that P. major is found as far south as Cape 
Horn or vicinity. Par 
tOur onion that time was latitude 43° 10’; longitude 62° 23/. 
