May 13, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



306 



highly probable that the scale bark lice, Aspidiolus aurantia 

 (red scale) and Lecanium olece (black scale), now such great 

 pests to the orange growers of California, found their way 

 into the Citrus orchards of that State directly or indirectly 

 from the Australian acacias or some similar species of exotic 

 trees, imported and planted for use or ornament. The Aus- 

 tralian acacias have long been popular in California, and 

 many of these beautiful trees may be seen growing there in 

 the towns and country places. In the same State, less than 

 a dozen years ago, the inspection of a bushel or two of 

 apples or pears would perhaps have resulted in finding one 

 or two specimens of the larva of the codling moth (Trypeta 

 p&monella, Walsh). Since that time the fruit growers have 

 had to fight it as a pest, and have been put to great expense 

 to cleanse their orchards of this and other injurious insects, 

 tke stock of which was incidentally introduced, as is gener- 

 ally believed, on trees from the East. In the climate of the 

 west coast, which is particularly favorable to the develop- 

 ment of this class of animal life, the increase of pestiferous 

 insects has been surprisingly rapid. 



The trade in plant seeds is enormous and extends through- 

 out the entire world. The increase and spread of noxious 

 plants is largely owing to their seeds being mixed with the 

 seeds of desirable plants, and the weeds of one region thus 

 become the weeds of another, remote from the original habi- 

 tat. The May weed of the New Englander, Anthemis cotnla 

 or European dog-fennel, has through the operations of nature 

 and the incidental assistance of man, put a girdle around the 

 earth. The Chrysantliemvm vulgare is a pretty but to the 

 farmer an obnoxious cosmopolite, popularly known as white- 

 weed and ox-eye daisy.; Another plant pest, Cnicus arvensis, 

 familiarly called Canada thistle, though of European origin, 

 has spread it might be said to the uttermost bounds of the 

 earth. So far as America is concerned, it, the latter couutry, 

 has reciprocated by contributing the horse weed, Erigeron 

 canadensis, to the pestiferous plant stock of Europe. 



From mammalian, insect and vegetable forms, let us now 

 briefly glance at molluscan species. The slowness of the 

 snail's pace is proverbial. Tet we find that several species 

 are widely dispersed, not by reason of their own means of 

 locomotion, but as an incident of commercial intercourse. 

 A speoies of slug, Umax hewstowni, Cp., has become quite 

 common of late years in the grass plots and lawns of San 

 Francisco and vicinity. There is good reason for regarding 

 it as an incidental importation. Both, or rather all of these 

 are pests, the insect forms especially, as they entail a heavy 

 burden upon an important industry. The slugs are a pest, 

 though the damage done by them is trifling, insomuch that 

 they are slimy and disagreeable, and therefore a nuisance. 

 There are other molluscan forms, which in this connection 

 are worthy of notice. 



The common land snail of Europe, Helix Jioriensis, which 

 annoys the gardeners of portions of the old world by eating 

 the lettuce and other tender vegetables, is found on several 

 of the islands along the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland 

 to Cape Cod, and on the main land, plentifully at Gaspe, 

 Canada East, along the St. Lawrence River, also in Vermont, 

 Connecticut, etc., etc. Another land snail, Helix aspersa, 

 one of the principal European species, and largely used in 

 France and elsewhere on the Continent as an article of food, 

 has become naturalized in the gardens of Charleston, S. O, 

 and vicinity, where it has existed for fifty years; it 

 has also been detected at New Orleans and Baton Rouge, 

 La. ; Portland, Me., Nova Scotia, etc. In addition to those 

 named another well known laud snail, Stenogyra decollata, is 

 numerous in Charleston, S. C, where it has been living for 

 many years. It is also found in Cuba and Brazil. I found 

 it abundant in January, 1869, in Charleston, among the ruins 

 caused by the civil war. These three species of mollusks. as 

 before mentioned, are indigenes of Europe and have been 

 incidentally introduced through commerce into the portions 

 of Eastern North America I have indicated. 



By the same medium one of our American species of pond 

 snails has been transported to England. In November, 1869, 

 the late Dr. Jeffreys announced the discovery of Planorbis 

 dilalatus, in the Bolton and Gorton canals at Manchester. 

 Suspecting that this American species had been introduced 

 into the canals through the cotton mills, he wrote for in- 

 formation and learned that in one habitat, the waste from 

 the first process or "blowing machine," was discharged close 

 to that part of the canal where the Planorbis occurs. This 

 little mollusk was doubtless conveyed in the raw cotton, 

 either in the egg state or otherwise, from some point in the 

 Southern States. 



It is not necessary to enlarge by adding to the illustrations 

 above presented. 1 have submitted but a few, a very few, 

 and the few submitted relate only to such forms as have 

 maintained themselves, and increased their numbers and ex- 

 tended their distribution in the regions into which they have 

 been incidentally placed. Of the species thus unintention- 

 ally transplanted, it will be noticed that they are generally 

 obnoxious or pestiferous. Some of them are harmless, others 

 seriously detrimental to human interests. Rarely a highly 

 useful species is incidentally planted. We have, however, 

 one interesting instance on the profitable side in the acci- 

 - dental planting of the soft-shelled or long-necked sand clam 

 or mananose, Mya arenana, of the Atlantic seaboard, in the 

 waters of California. Soon after the completion of the Cen- 

 tral Transcontinental Railway, the oyster dealers of Cali- 

 fornia, many of whom have a large capital invested in the 

 business, commenced the importation of small oysters, Ostrea 

 mrginica, from the Atlantic coast by the car load, for plant- 

 ing in San Francisco Bay, where they soon grow to a mer- 

 chantable size. This was somewhere about 1872 or 1873. 

 The small oysters were obtained in part from Newark Bay! 

 Among and adhering to them was the spat of the clam, for 

 in November, 1874, several specimens of Mya half to two- 

 thirds adult size, were collected by Mr. Hemphill on the 

 eastern shore of the bay where the oyster beds are. Since 

 thati time it has multiplied so wonderfully and the environ- 

 ment has proved so favorable, that it has spread in every 

 direction and attains a large size. It is now the principal 

 clam; it has so monopolized the bay region that the indi- 

 genous forms that were previously sought for food, have 

 become comparatively scarce, and the cockle, Cardium 

 corbu, and the thin shelled tellen, Macoma nasuta, once so 

 abundant, are seldom seen on the market stalls and are not 

 easily obtained. Outside the Bay of San Francisco, the 

 mananose (Mya) has either incidentally or intentionally been 

 planted at Santa Cruz, at the northern end of Monterey Bay, 

 and an intentional plant was made at Shoalwater Bay' 

 Washington Territory, a few years ago, by Capt. Simpson' 

 of San Francisco; he informed me that it resulted in an 

 abundance of this excellent clam. 



competent naturalists at various times, extending back to 

 nearly the beginning of the present century. Since the 

 American occupation of California, commencing with 1849, 

 several intelligent collectors have resided there, and others 

 have visited the coast. It would have been impossible for 

 so familiar a form, inhabiting, too, the easily accessible lit- 

 toral zone, to have escaped detection; and corroborative of 

 the above, we have the further evidence of the kitchen-mid- 

 dens or shell heaps of the aborigines, many of which have 

 been examined by me without detecting any sign of this 

 easily recognized species. 

 Washington, D. C. 



As proof of the previous non-occurrence of Mya armaria 

 on the West coast; it may be well to state that the shore 

 from Cape St. Lucas northerly has been explored by many 



THE felRDS OF MICHIGAN. 



BY DR. MOBRIS GIBBS. 

 {Continued from, page 336, Vol. XXF.) 

 58. Siurus nmvius (Bodd.) Cones. Small-billed water 

 thrush. 



I have never found this species common in sections where 

 I collected, but it is not rare during migrations in some 

 quarters. Mr. Trombley, of Monroe county, writes me that 

 the birds are abundant in that extreme southern portion of 

 the State during migration, but asserts that he has failed to 

 find one by the most vigorous searching during the summer 

 months. Unlike the large-billed thrush which is a very 

 common species in all suitable localities, the small-bill is 

 unevenly distributed and but little known by the average 

 collector. Only a few ornithologists in our State have iden- 

 tified this species and the next, and studied them separately, 

 and therefore reliable information from some sections is 

 wanting. The majority of the collectors of my acquaintance, 

 when laboring under the delusion that only a single species 

 is found with us, have continued to record the water thrush 

 of their acquaintance as the small-billed species, and several 

 instances have reached me in which the much more abund- 

 ant large-bill is called the small-bill. The large bill is not 

 recorded. 



Sager, 1839, in his list of the birds of Michigan, which 

 was the first published and may be found in the Geological 

 Survey of the State, records the small-bill and omits the large- 

 bill. Hughes omits both species and thereby at least avoids 

 possible error. Dr. Miles, in the Geological Report, 1860, em- 

 braces this species and the next. Dr. Fox.who published a list, 

 I believe about 1853, and whose original manuscript I have 

 had the pleasure of scanning, embraces the small-bill and 

 omits the other. Boies, in his list of Birds of Southern 

 Michigan, 1875, embraces this bird and says, "summer resi- 

 dent ; breeds. " His list is based entirely, I understand, on 

 notes taken in our southern counties, and as he omits the 

 large-bill, which is a very common summer resident in all of 

 our southern counties, I judge that he has confounded the two 

 species, for as yet there is not an authentic instance of the 

 capture of a nest of this species in the State. Covert, in 

 1878, in the Birds of the Lower Peninsula says "rather com- 

 mon; breeds." In 1881, in his list of the birds of Washtenaw 

 county, he modifies his observations to, "Not a common 

 summer resident; breeds," which would indicate that he did 

 not find the species as common in that county as in other 

 parts of the State. Many collectors have recorded the large- 

 bill as the small-bill. One instance, which is certainly sur- 

 prising, is worth mentioning as proof of an error which is 

 often the result of incomplete analysis. It is, however, not 

 strange that when only a single species is known it should be 

 mistaken when identified by book alone, when we consider 

 that many of the older writers were sorely puzzled by the 

 water thrushes, and that Audubon finally, after often com- 

 paring them, confounded these two of the Siuri and left 

 them as but one species in his work, Tlie case in question 

 occurred a few seasons back, when a reliable observer offered 

 me notes on some of the warblers, and embraced the small- 

 bill as breeding in his county, and recorded for twenty- four 

 years. Knowing that the large-bill was certainly to be found 

 in his section, I sent him a bird of each species, and was 

 pleased to learn from him by return mail that he had recorded 

 the wrong species for a quarter of a century. Since then he 

 has made every effort to find the small-bill, but to no pur- 

 pose. 



The small-bill is a rather rare species and but little known. 

 I first met with it May 13, 1875, in Kalamazoo county. Since 

 that time it has never been taken in our county, although I 

 found it not rare during the past May in Van Buren county, 

 twelve miles west. On May 16, 1883, I first became ac- 

 quainted with its song, which was a very agreeable surprise 

 to me from its extreme dissimilarity to those of the other 

 members of the genus. I do not think that Audubon or any 

 of the observers who have confounded the two species would 

 have fallen into so ridiculous an error if they had listened to 

 the songs of the two water thrashes. The notes of the small- 

 bill in no way resemble those of the large-bill, either in tone, 

 continuance or accent, and once heard cannot be confounded 

 with either of the others of the genus. The common song 

 is a bright, animated chatter, and may be expressed by the 

 notes Chet, chet, chet, chel, cheter, chet-er, chet-er-r-r-r-r r r. 

 Starting in brisk and loud, it ends somewhat lower in a reg- 

 ular chatter, which may be heard several hundred yards dis- 

 tant, if the woods are not too noisy. I picked out my first 

 one from its peculiar notes, among a forest full of jubilant 

 singers, when 1 was quite two hundred yards away, and 

 followed it through mire holes and over slippery logs for a 

 long time before bringing it to the ground. Again the notes 

 are Ohink, chink, chink, ehinJc, cliq-ro werrachanker , or again, 

 Kee-che-choio-cMceedlelee or Pee-chow-cheeledte. The birds while 

 singing — in fact at all times, so far as my experience goes- 

 are extremely shy, and I have found it difficult to secure, 

 specimens. As a rule, while singing they perch high up in 

 trees, and I have taken them from the tops of tall leafless 

 trees in spring. Occasional^ observed on the ground or 

 skipping about among the stumps, trunks of fallen trees and 

 pools of surface water, similar to the large-bill, but usually 

 they select a perch from fifteen to thirty feet from the 

 ground, and only descend when feeding or to hide. My 

 latest specimen was taken on May 20 in latitude notth about 

 43° 30'. I do not think that the species summer south of 43 r) 

 north, and as yet have never taken one in the summer months 

 in the State. On one point lam satisfied: the large-bill is 

 ten times and I should say fifty times more abundant than 

 the small -bill, and I think it safe to say that in those in- 

 stances where the large-bill is omitted from collectors' lists 

 in Michigan and the small-bill given as common, there is a 

 mistake. 



59. tiixvrw motaciUa (Vieill.) Coues. —Large -hi lied water 

 thrush. 



on their' arrival or soon after, and by May 1 the woods in 

 sections frequented by them are filled with their queer jing- 

 ling melody. This is quite a well-distributed species, but is 

 confined to certain sections from the nature of its habits. It 

 is often unknown by amateur local collectors, whose field of 

 trips are confined to uplands and high oak woods, while iti 

 may be very common in some swale within a radius of two 

 miles of our collectors' grounds. It is not only not found on 



Abundant during about four months of the year. Un- 

 doubtedly our earliest arrival of the birds of this family, 

 although the yellow-rump is generally credited with being 

 first with us. The large-bill often arrives by April 12 and 

 is frequently abundant by the 20th. The birds are musical 



high aud dry land during the regular season, but even during 

 migrations it is unusual to take "a specimen in elevated sec- 

 tions. It, however, must traverse many parts of the country 

 where there is no low land, rivers or ponds, and as an 

 instance, I would mention the capture of a specimen in a 

 store in the city during April, it undoubtedly having found 

 its way there during its night travels. 



The large-bill is very much more abundant than the small- 

 bill, and is found much more evenly distributed. It is em- 

 braced by the lists of Dr. Miles, 1860, C. W. Gunn. B. F. 

 Syke, A. B. Covert, Trombley, Dr. Atkins and others. Not 

 given by Steere in his first list, but embraced in his second 

 list, viz., "Migration of Michigan Birds, 1880," Not given 

 by Sager, 1839; Cabot, "Birds of the Northern Peninsula," or 

 Boies. Many have made a mistake regarding the identity of 

 this species, and the last as above mentioned. 



The first arrivals appear some seasons by April 5, and by 

 the 15th of the month they are usually quite common. I 

 have seen the old birds carrying nesting material as early as 

 May 12, but have never myself found a nest. Mr. Chapin 

 tound a nest in Kalamazoo county near the river on May 24, 

 containing one egg and one of the cowbird. Mr. Trombley) 

 of Monroe county, says that the nests are well concealed and 

 very difficult to find, and are usually near a pool of water or 

 stream. One which he found May 13, 1879, contained four 

 eggs slightly incubated, and two eggs of Molothrus. The 

 nest was built into the side of a decayed log, a sort of roof 

 being formed by a portion of the wood covering the nest, 

 which effectually protected it from the weather as well as 

 concealing it from view. It was composed of dead leaves 

 which formed the base, next stems of weeds, black rootlets, 

 shreds of moss and fibrous roots of plants composed the sides 

 and rim. The lining was of coarse grass and fine stems of 

 plants. It was five inches outside by three inches inside 

 diameter, and three inches depth outside by one and three- 

 quarters inside. 



To a certain extent the notes of the two water thrushes 

 are similar, but the large-bill far excels the rarer thrush, and 

 his best notes are something like the inspired notes of the 

 oven bird when, rarely, he exhibits his greatest powers. If 

 one visits the little overflowed spots in the forest during 

 spring, he will not fail to hear the wild, sweet, expressive 

 song, which possesses a charm which the melodies of few 

 birds surpass. The song is evidently uttered in an easy off- 

 hand manner, unlike that of the golden-crowned thrush, 

 who stops in his walk to chatter his simple notes, and is de~ 

 livered as he skips about the pools and over the logs and 

 dead leaves, while he actively gleans his food and wags his 

 tail. To visit the large-bill, or in fact, to spy about the 

 haunts of any of the Siuri without their knowledge, is not 

 an easy matter, and it is only occasionally that one has the 

 gratification of beholding them in their freedom about their 

 nesting sites. It is a pretty sight to witness the peculiar 

 movements of the wag-tails, as they move about in the re* 

 cesses of the woods, peering into the niches of logs and 

 stumps, dipping their bills into the water, or gaily flitting 

 from pool to pool. They are all active and suspicious in 

 their habits, but the large-bill is especially wary and timor- 

 ous, and rarely observed for any length of time, so shy is he 

 even in the seclusiou of the forest glades. Ever alert, it is 

 unusual to creep upon him near enough to note his action, 

 and it is often difficult, to secure a specimen with the gun' 

 for as soon as the disturber appears, the wag-tail flies quite a, 

 a distance, and is only located by his mocking, clanking chirp. 



After the nesting season is over it is rare to see a water 

 thrush, as they are very quiet and retiring in their habits. 

 When the pools of May and June are dried from the July 

 and August heat, the species moves deeper into the woods 

 and haunts small running streams or even the banks of rivers 

 of some size, but unquestionably remains with us until Oct. 

 1, although few are taken at that late date. 

 60. Oporornis agilis (Wils.) Baird.— Connecticut warbler. 

 A rare visitor thus far, but evidently becoming a regular 

 sojourner in our southern counties. So recent has been the 

 first appearance of the Connecticut warbler in our State that 

 but little is as yet known concerning it here, but the fact of 

 its quite general dispersion south of 43° north latitude, here 

 where it was formerly unknown, may be taken as evidence 

 that it will eventually become common in the State. The 

 appearance of this rare species in various counties "within 

 our boundaries at about the same time during succeeding 

 seasons is so singular that it may be interesting to those who 

 have studied the first arrivals of new or little known species 

 to record the dates during the past few years. In 1879 

 while collecting with my friend C. W. Gunn in Ottawa 

 county, we were surprised in capturing a peculiar warbler, 

 which at first sight we mistook for a female mournin^ 

 warbler, an abundant species there, about 43° north latitude. 

 Dissection proved it a male and a Connecticut warbler. The 

 date was June 22. The same day I received a letter from 

 Dr. H. A. Atkins, Ingham county, about 43° north latitude, 

 in which he recorded a capture in his neighborhood on May 

 20. These birds were taken about 100 miles apart, andwere 

 the first recorded in the State. In 1880, A. B. Covert re- 

 corded a capture in Washtenaw county, about 42° 10' north 

 latitude, and Benjamin F. Syke secured one in Kalamazoo 

 county, 100 miles west, on the same date. May 17, and about 

 the same latitude. In 1881, F. H. Chapin secured a speci- 

 men on May 27 in the same grounds that Syke shot his bird 

 the year before, and is satisfied that it was the first arrival 

 as he had looked over the locality repeatedly and carefully! 

 It was a late season, as was 1883, when another specimen 

 was taken by Mr. Chapin on May 28. Others were seen and 

 one shot but not found during the year. They were very 

 shy and difficult to procure. No birds that I have heard of 

 were seen in 1882 in the State, although near Kalamazoo 

 they were more common in 1883 than any previous year 

 Not one was seen in 1884, although we hunted carefully for 

 them. None were seen in 1885. 



The locations chosen were, so far as I can learn about the 

 scene, the edges of low woods next a swampy, rank, grass- 

 grown, partial clearing. Mr. Skye claims that the Connec- 

 ticut is one of the last of the family to arrive, and Mr. Chapin 

 calls it the last. Mr. Chapin thinks the species undoubtedly 

 breeds in the county; the song he describes as loud, clear 

 and easily heard at quite a distance, and unlike that of 

 any others of our warblers. All the specimens, so far as I 

 can learn, were males. 

 We have recorded above the capture of six specimens 



