Srpt. 3, 1885.1 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



103 



observed, except by those who are on the lookout for insects. 

 It belongs to the genus >Sphe;i', and its neats are placed in 

 holes in the ground, which it excavates with much care and 

 patience. It feeds its offspring on crickets, grasshoppers, 

 etc., and an incident which once came under our observation 

 well illustrates the power and perseverance of these little 

 creatures. While walking one day in mid-summer along a 

 well beaten path we noticed several small but deep holes, 

 which we rightly attributed to these insects, and at length, 

 just after passing one of these excavations, we came upon a 

 large S2)h('.r which was at that moment engaged in transport- 

 ing its prey to its nest. But for the fact that the insect was 

 directly in our path and we were looking for it we should 

 bave missed a very interesting scene. The burden with 

 which our Sphex was struggling consisted of two of the large 

 black and yellow-winged ''grasshoppers." whose sharp and. 

 loud rrepitaiions are so frequently heard during the scorching 

 days of July nnd August. The "two orthopters were firmly 

 fastened together one clasping the other by the back and 

 each of them was half as long again as their captor. Poor 

 Sph&r was really in great trouble. She would seize her bur- 

 den by the head, and by great exertion drag it along the smooth 

 path for about six inches, when her strength would give out 

 and she would fiy off to a little distance and rest for a minute 

 or two, walking briskly about in the sun the while, then she 

 would return to the spot and renew her eflforts. Had the 

 journey been through the grass it seems as if it would have 

 been impossible for the wasp to drag her load, but the path, 

 worn smooth by constant travel, olfered no impediment to her 

 progress. The distance from the spot where she was work- 

 ing to the hole which she desired to reach was perhaps 

 twenty feet, and though her advance was slow it was steady. 

 At times she would fly off to quite a distance, fifty feet or 

 more, but her absences were never long continued, and when 

 we were obliged to leave her she had transported her burden 

 to within three feet of the hole. We greatly regret that we 

 were unable to witness the close of the scene and watcli the 

 method by which the "grasshoppers" were introduced into 

 the holes, for they were certainly too large to enter it with- 

 out being considerably reduced in size. Here then was a 

 very considerable provision for the expected larvte, and we 

 thus see that even in our own latitude there are examples 

 showing that different genera of solitary wasps feed l^heir 

 young on different insects. A European genus, Ammopliiliig, 

 employs the larvse of moths for this purpose, while Oidorion 

 of Mauritius, as has beeu said, feeds its young on cock- 

 roaches. 



It might be supposed that the wasps secure their prey by 

 hawldng about over the ground, trusting to chance to throw 

 the insects they need in their way, but we have some evidence 

 that these little creatures possess special senses which enable 

 tliem to follow the objects of their search when not visible, 

 perhaps somewhat as the hound follows the fox. In a recent 

 number of Nature we find a letter from Mr. C, L. W. Mer- 

 lin to Henry Cecil, Esq., narrating a curious occurrence to 

 which the former was witness and from Avhich we may quote, 

 in closing, an extract or two. Mr. Merlin's account 'isasfol- 

 lows: 



"I was sitting one summer's afternoon at an open window 

 (my bed room) looking into the garden, when I was surprised 

 to observe a large and i-are species of spider run across the 

 window-aill in a crouching attitude. It struck me the spider 

 was evidently alarmed or it would not have so fearlessly ap- 

 proached me. It hastened to conceal itself under the project- 

 ing rjdge of the wiudow-sill inside the room, and had hardly 

 done so when a very fine large hunting wasp buzzed in at the 

 open window and flew about the room, evidently in search of 

 something. Finding nothing, the wasp returned to the open 

 window and settled on the window-sill, running backward and 

 forward as a dog does when looking or searching for a lost 

 scent. It soon alighted on the track of the poor spider and 

 in a moment it discovered its hiding-place, darted down on it, 

 and no doubt inflicted a wound with its sting. The spider 

 rushed off again and this time took refuge under the bed, 

 trying to conceal itself under the framework, or planks 

 which supported the mattress. The same scene occurred 

 here; the wasp never appeared to follow the spider by sight, 

 but ran backward and forward in large circles like a hound! 

 The moment the trail of the spider was found the wasp fol- 

 lowed aU the turns it had made till it came on it again. The 

 poor spider was chased from hiding place to hiding place- 

 out of the bedroom, across a passage and into the middle of 

 another large room, where it finally succumbed to the re- 

 peated stings inflicted by the wasp. Rolling itself up into 

 a ball the wasp then took possession of its prey, and after 

 ascertaining it could make no resi-stance, tucked it up under 

 its very long hind legs just as hawks or eagles carry off their 

 quarry, and was just flying off to its nest when I interposed 

 and secured both for my collection. * * * 1 am certain 

 the spider left no web behind it. I cannot be sure, however 

 that, as it had evidently been attacked by the wasp before en- 

 tering my room, a small quantity of liquid may not have 

 exuded from its wounds, which may have helped the wasp 

 in tracking it. I have no doubt myself that insects have 

 the sense of smell, and probably much more developed 

 than our own. lS[o one * * * who has sugared for 

 moths, cr seen the largest Spldngidce hovering over the strong- 

 est scented flower at night, or employed a caged female moth 

 as a lure to her male admirers can, 1 thinkj^doubt this. If 

 so let them put a saucerful of honey in a corner of a room 

 opening into a garden, throw open the window and see how 

 soon the bees, wasps, etc.. will be attracted to the honey. 

 There is a tradition in the East that one of the tests by whicli 

 the Queen of Sheba tried to prove the wisdom of Solomon 

 was placing on a table before him two bouquets, one of arti- 

 ficial and the other of natural flowers, and requiring him to 

 say which were the real and which the artificial, without 

 moving from his throne. Solomon ordered the windows to 

 be thrown open and in flew the bees, etc., which went at 

 once to the real flowers. Whether the senses of insects, 

 birds and what we call the lower creation are similar to ours 

 in every respect it is very diflicult to say. No doubt a dog, 

 if he could speak, would say a man had not the sense of 

 smell, and would prove that his nose was worse than useless 

 to him. An eagle or hawk would .say that men and moles, 

 etc., have only the rudiments of eja-s, and so on. Man, 

 with five very imperfectly developed senses (who can say 

 that there are not twenty senses?), is the only animal that is 

 dogmatical and denies all he cannot understand. The oracle 

 of Delphi said, "Socrates Avas the wisest man in Greece, be- 

 cause he was the only man who knew he knew nothing." 



A Ruffed Gkousk is among the things wanted 



and advertised for in this week's issue. As the advertiser is 

 experimenting with ruffed grouse in captivity, it is hoped 

 that his search for a male may be successful. 



ORIGIN OF AMERICAN DOGS. 



THE impressiou that the domestic dog of the Old World 

 has descended from wild species distinct from the wolf 

 may be well founded, but in America the evidence tends to 

 prove that the Eskimo and other domestic varieties of dogs 

 were domesticated by the aborigines and used by tliem long 

 anterior to the discovery of the continent by the Europeans, 

 the varieties in cpxestion originating from the gray wolf or 

 prairie wolf. First as to the Eskimo dog. From the fol- 

 lowing extract from Probisher it appears evident that the 

 Eskinio had the pi-esent breed of domestic dogs long anterior 

 to the year 1577. Frobisher's account of the Eskimo them- 

 selves is, so far us Ave know, the first extant, and is full and 

 characteristic. After describing the natives he goes on 

 to say: "They frank or keepc certaine dogs not much 

 vnlike wolues, which they yoke togither. as we do oxen and 

 horses, to a sled or traile; and so carry their necessaries over 

 the yce and snow from place to place: as the captive, whom 

 we haue, made perfect signes. And when those dogs are 

 not apt tor the same vse: or when with hunger they are con- 

 strained for lack of other vituals, ihey eate them so that 

 they are as needful for ihem in respect of their bignesse as 

 our oxen are for vs." 



Confirmatory of the theory of the pre-Columbian origin of 

 the Indian dog may be cited the following extract from 

 Hakluyt s voyages regarding the Indian dogs seen on C'ape 

 Breton Island, p, 1598: "Here divers of our men went on 

 land upon the very cai>e, whcic, at their arivall they found 

 the spittes of Oke of the savages wdiich had roasted meate a 

 little before. And as they viewed the countrey they sawe 

 divers beastes, and foules, as blacke foxes, deere, otters, 

 great foules with red leggos, pengwyns, and certain others. 

 Thereupon nine or tenne of his fellows ruurung right vp over 

 the bushes with great agilitic and swiftness came towards vs 

 with white staues in their hands like halfe pikes, and their 

 doggcs of colour blacke not so bigge as a grayhoundc followed 

 them at the heeles; but wee retired vnto our boate without 

 any hurt at all received." (The voyage of the ship called 

 the Marigold of M. Hill of Redrise vnto Cape Breton and 

 beyond to the latitude of 44 degrees and a half, 1593, written 

 by Richard Fisher Master Hilles man of Redriffe. Hacluyt, 

 HI, 239). 



It is probable this variety, the bones of which have been 

 found by Dr. J. Wyman, in the shell heaps of Casco Bay, 

 Maine. 



"The presence of the bones of the dog might be accounted 

 for on the score of its being a domesticated animal, but the 

 fact that they were not only found mingled with those of the 

 edible kinds, but like them were broken up, suggests the 

 probability of their having been used as food. We have not 

 seen it mentioned, however, by any of the earlier writers, 

 that such was the case along the coast, though it appears to 

 have been otherwise with "regard to some of the interior 

 tribes, as the Hux'ons. With them, game being scarce, 

 'venison was a luxury found only at feasts, and dog flesh 

 was in high esteem. ' " 



It is possible that the Newfoundland dog was indigenous 

 on that island, and also an offshoot of the gray wolf, allied 

 to the Esldmo. In their "Newfoundland," Messrs Hatton 

 and Harvey say that there are few fine specimens of the 

 world-renowned Newfoundland dog to be met with now in 

 the island from which it derived its name. "The origin of 

 this fine breed is lost in obscurity. It is doubtful whether 

 the aborigines possessed the dog at all; and it is highly im- 

 probable that the Newfoundland dog is indigenous. Some 

 happy crossing of breeds may have produced it here. The 

 old settlers say that the ancient genuine breed consisted of a 

 dog about twenty-six inches high, Avith black ticked body, 

 gray muzzle, and gray or white stockinged legs, with deer 

 claws behind." "It is now generally admitted that there 

 are two distinct types of the Newfoundland dog, one con- 

 siderably larger than the other, and reckoned as the true 

 breed; the other being named the Labrador, or St. John's, 

 or lesser Newfoundland. The latter is chiefly found in 

 Labrador, and .specimens ai*e also to be met with in New- 

 foundland." 



Regarding the dogs of the Mexican Indians, Nadaillac 

 says in his "Prehistoric America:" "The European dog, our 

 faithful companion, also appears to have been a stranger to 

 them. His place was very inadequately filled by the coyote, 

 or prairie wolf, which they kept in captivity and had suc- 

 ceeded in taming to a certain extent." 



In a recent visit to Mexico, not only along the railroads, 

 but in the course of a stage ride of about 500 miles through 

 provincial Mexico, from Saltillo to San Miguel, we Avere 

 struck by the resemblance of the dogs to the coyote; there 

 can be little doubt that they are the descendants of a race 

 which sprang from the partly tamed coyote of the ancient 

 Mexican Indians. At one village, Montezuma, we saw a 

 hairless or Carib dog, as we supposed it to be; similar dogs 

 are sometimes seen in the United States. 



Finally, that the domestic dog and gray as well as the 

 prairie wolf will hybridize has been well established. Dr. 

 Cones has observed hybrids between the coj^ote and domestic 

 dog on the Upper Missouri (see the Amsrican Naturalist, 

 1873, p. 385). To this we may add our own observations 

 made at Fort Claggett, on the Upper Missouri, in June, 1877. 

 We then were much struck by the wolf-like appearance of 

 the dogs about an encampment of Crow Indians, as well as 

 the fort; they were of the size and color of the coyote, but 

 less hairy and with a less bushy tail. They were much like 

 those lately observed in Mexico, and I have never seen such 

 dogs elsewhere. Theu- color was a whitish tawny, like that 

 of the Eskimo dog. 



Confirmatory of these observations is the following note 

 by J. L, Wort man in the report of the Geological Survey of 

 Indiana for 1884: "During extended travel iu Western 

 United States, my experience has been the same as that 

 recorded by Dr. Coues. It is by no means uncommon to 

 find mongrel dogs among many of the Western Indian tribes, 

 notably among Umatillas, Bannocks, Shoshones, Arapahoes, 

 Crows, Sioux, which to one familar with the color, physiog- 

 nomy and habits of the coyote, have every appearance of 

 blood relationship, if not, in many cases, this animal itself 

 m a state of semi-domestication. The free inter breedino- of 

 these animals, with a perfectly fertile product, has been so 

 often repeated to me by thoroughly reliable authorities and 

 whose opportunities for observation were ample, that 1 feel 

 perfectly willing to accept Dr. Coues's statement. " 



To these .statements may be added those of Mr. Milton P 

 Peirce, published m Forest and Stke^uw for June 35, 1885, 

 as. follows: '-Hybrid wolves have alAvays been very common 

 along our Western frontiers. I have seen several of them, 

 sired both by dogs and wolves, and all I have seen resembled 

 wolves rather than dogs." It is to be hoped that our mam- 

 malogists may collect and examine this subject, particularly 



the skulls and skins of numerous specimens, both of dogs 

 and wolves, and the hybrids between them. Further observ- 

 ations are also needed as to the fertility of the hybrids.—^. 

 8. PaeJearcl. in Atmrican Naturalist for S&ptemUr. 



Sparrow Hawk and Ekglispf Sparrow.— Last Satur- 

 day I noticed a flock of English sparrows in the street before 

 my house, engaged, as usual, in gorging themselves. Suddenly 

 the flock seemed nmch alarmed, some cowered and others 

 rose in ha.ste as something shot down like a bullet and 

 departed like a shadow, while one or two squeaks were all 

 that told of another of bird-life's tragedies. The whole 

 was so sudden, and my mind was so preoccupied that I 

 scarcely thought of what had transpired within forty feet of 

 me. I resumed my writing, but was soon disturbed by a 

 repetition of the disturbance. Taking a position for obser- 

 vation, I noticed a bird hovering in the air, making circles 

 above the .spot on which I knew the sparrows were gathered; 

 I saw him .suddenly dart through the air, and again I heard 

 the sqlTeak of the sparrow. The hovering bird was a pigeon- 

 hawk, called also the sparrow hawk. The next day I saAv a 

 repitition of the scene, and there were by actual count ten 

 of the hawks circling above their quarry. The sparrows 

 .seemed not sufficiently alarmed to leave the dangerous 

 gi-ound, but returned immediately after seeing one of their 

 numl)er borne away by the hawk. I really believe there 

 was not one of the ten circling hawks lliat did not carry off 

 a sparroAV in his talons. These hawks are about the size of 

 the bluejay — have about the same spread of wing. They 

 seem not at all afraid of man. The "pigeon hawk" and 

 the ".sparrow hawk" are two distinct birds, but both are 

 true falcons, and as there seems to be at least a probability 

 that the English sparrow is among us to stay, may there not 

 be a great deal of legitimate sport gotten out of it by ti-aining 

 sparroAv hawks to catch it V Falcons were used long before 

 any of the present generation's grandfathers were born. Why 

 may not we use them to relieve us of a pest, and to contrib- 

 ute to our amusement at the same time?-— Amateur. 



'mie §ug mfd §utj. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



FOREIGN GAME BIRDS IN AMERICA. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the spasmodic attempts that have 

 been made, from time to time during the last century 

 to naturalize foreign game in this country, we have had no 

 reliable record until recently that a single variety had ever 

 heen acclimated or found to be self-supporting. We are now, 

 hoAvever, told that the English partridges which Mr. Pierre 

 Lorillard has introduced into his magnificent game preserves 

 at Jobstown, N. J,, have not only bred and increased but 

 have scattered over the country for miles around. It is also 

 found on inquiry that these bird.s have wintered well, and 

 that the English pheasants with which the presei-ves are 

 most liberally stocked have, after repeated failures, begun to 

 accustom themselves to their ncAV home in Jersey land. 



It is now nearly a hundred years since the first attempt we 

 know of was made to add to" our admirable list of game 

 bu-ds the English pheasant and the English partridge. This 

 was undertaken on a very large estate, stnlnge to say, in 

 almost the immediate vicinity of where Mr. Lorillard's pre- 

 serves are located. The pioneer was Mr. Richard Bache, a 

 wealthy English gentleman, who, by the way, was thoroughly 

 Americanized by marrying Dr. Franklin's only daughter-. 

 Mr, Bache hved on the shores of the Delaware River, at a 

 place in those days called Settle, near where the town of 

 Beverly now is. He imported direct from England a number 

 of pheasants and a large number of partridges, and being" an 

 accomplished sportsman watched the experiment with con- 

 siderable interest. But although shelters were devised for 

 the protection of the game and'food was liberally distributed, 

 the birds could not battle against our old-fashioned Avinters, 

 and when the following spring came around there was not 

 one left to teU the tale. Mr. Bache, therefore, had to con- 

 tent himself in the future with such sport as the quail- 

 afforded, and an occasional trip to "the Pines," which in 

 those days swarmed Avith grouse. 



In the beginning of this century a second attempt was 

 made to secure a crop of pheasants. The place selected was 

 the high ridge land bordered on one side by the Hacken- 

 sack salt meadows and on the other by the Passaic River 

 opposite to Belleville, N. J. There a "park" had been 

 fenced in by a rich land owner of the time, who stocked it 

 with deer and English pheasants. We have been told that 

 the birds were guarded with jealous care, protected from 

 the guns of the enterprising sportsmen of the vicinity, and 

 regularly fed, but that when the nesting season came "and it 

 Avas thought everything was going well, the birds suddenly 

 disappeared, probably being killed by ground vermin and by 

 haAvks or by disease. 



Since then, in a number of instances, small lots of Eng- 

 lish birds have been imported and turned out. On the 

 estate of William Upshire, in Accomac county ,Va., the at- 

 tempt was made, and on several of the estates along the 

 James River, long before the war, but as far aa we can 

 ascertain every venture proved to be a failure. 



Mr. Pierre Lorillard has been experimenting on a very 

 large scale, and we believe that this is the flrs^ time that any 

 attempt has been made to naturalize foreiffu game where a 

 very heavy expenditure has been employed and the experi- 

 ment, after repeated failures, c:aiTied on Avith an outlook of 

 ultimate success. About thirteen years ago Mr. Lorillard 

 purchasetl several farms in the northern part of Burlington 

 county, N. J. It was the first step in creating the Ran- 

 cocas Stud Farm which has since become world famous. 

 From time to time he added to his possessions, until now he 

 owns some sixteen hundred acres of as fine pasture land as 

 there is in the country. In 1879 the three game preserves 

 were made. These lie almost in the center of the estate and 

 contain one hundred, forty and twenty-five acres respec- 

 tively, the smaller ones being in reahty "game harbors " 



The one hundred acre tract, prior to its present use, was a 

 roughtly cultivated farm with some low wet places. On it 

 there was a piece of timber covering ten acres and besides 

 about twelve acres were grown up with scrub oaks, cedars, 

 locusts and stunted brush. Mr. Lorillard inclosed this tract 

 with a picket fence eight feet high, topped Avith wire netting 

 and two strands of barbed wire. The fence was sunk two 

 feet below the surface of the ground to prevent vermin from 

 tunneling. It was finished in 1880. In the autumn of 1879 

 five hundred quail Avere put out, but as they did not have suf- 

 fficient cover or protection aU were soon killed. In 1880 a 



