24 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[ATO. 2, 1888. 



make it appear that I had in an instant swollen my bulk 

 about twofold. This seemed to overcome him entirely. 

 His eyes spread visibly till they were not far from the 

 size of saucers, and his heart seemed to let go and fall 

 dead within hitn. I dare say that he believed that at the 

 next moment I should grow larger than a mountain and 

 lay hold on him. He turned tail most ungracefully and 

 trotted back to the herd in a loose, shambling manner, as 

 if he were about to fall to pieces; his head high up m the 

 air. looking backward, and his tail dangling nervelessly 

 behind him. A more demoralized creature was never 

 seen. For a moment he stopped with the herd, as if he 

 said to them, "It is time to leave; that thing truly is the 

 devil." Then his flight began in earnest, and all his herd 

 went instantly after him, jumping, bounding, utterly 

 without order", so that the smaller were likely to be run 

 down and crushed by the bigger. It was a shameful 

 rout : a devil-take-the-hindmost, sauve qui peut affair. 



The horses had been watching the advance of the kine 

 from a high hill, and when they saw their repulse and 

 rout, a new dismay seized upon them. They too broke, 

 eager to put as great a distance as possible between them- 

 selves and the mysterious creature. But when they 

 reached the uttermost part of the pasture they could 

 not stop. Dismay still spurred them on, and presently 

 they appeared again, advancing upon me in full 

 charge, when suddenly catching another view of me, 

 they wheeled away to the left. So they together and the 

 kine together ran' round and round, lifting their heels to 

 their mighty utmost, like Tain O'Shanter's mare with the 

 warlocks at ha- tail. The horses being the fleeter ap- 

 peared occasionally to be charging down upon the kine, 

 when the latter would scatter before them in every direc- 

 tion, to reunite when th« horses passed by. The clatter 

 and roar of hoofs rose high. It was as though a cyclone 

 raged in the pasture. I became alarmed lest the owner 

 should come down upon me as a disturber of the peace. 

 Therefore. I walked on, with the clatter and roar sounding 

 in my ears, somewhat consoling myself with the reflec- 

 tion that no rubber coat iii the world had ever created so 

 great a commotion as mine had. About a half hour after 

 I left the pasture the wagon passed by it, whose driver 

 reported that the excitement was still very great. He 

 wondered what the matter was, and concluded that the 

 animals had probably seen a Mexican lion. 



Were these animals really frightened that they behaved 

 so wildly, or were they merely putting on, out of their 

 exuberant spirit? As to the kine I think there is no doubt 

 they really believed they had seen Satan, or some other 

 very wicked creature who had it in his mind to do them 

 much evil. Bat as to the horses the case is not so clear; 

 whereof we will discuss somewhat in another paper. 



Eliasville, Tex. T. 



FRESH-WATER PEARLS. 



IN reply to "N. A. T.'s" inquiries about the fresh- water 

 pearls, I can give nothing of my own experience, but 

 yet some information which I am sure is quite trust- 

 worthy, as it was obtained from one of the most experi- 

 enced pearl fishers of the Winooski River, by my wife, 

 while preparing an article on the subject for the Ameri- 

 can Agriculturist in 1872. I can do no better than quote 

 such portions of that article as will interest "N. A. T.": 



"Fresh-water pearls are found most abundantly in the 

 Winooski River not far from its source and in its small 

 tributaries. They are more frequently found in clams 

 that live on stony or gravelly bottoms, as a grain of sand 

 or some small foreign substance that has entered the shell 

 forms the nucleus around which the layers of pearl are 

 made, taking an unknown number of years to form even 

 a small pearl. Sometimes they are taken from river beds 

 of clay and mud. It is said clams must be seven years 

 old before they begin to form a pearl. When open the 

 pearl, if any, is at once seen in the small end imbedded 

 in the "flap." The experienced hunter can usually tell 

 before opening if there is a pearl inside, as only the de- 

 formed shells contain one. Often thousands of shells are 

 opened and the inmates destroyed without obtaining a 

 siugle pearl of value. 



"Hinckley Stevens of East Montpelier, one of the most 

 successful pearl hunters of that region, some years ago 

 found the largest pearl that has been discovered in the 

 United States. He says: 'The large pearl I found was in 

 two feet of water where it ran swift. It was hi the first 

 shell I took out and I could see the place close to it where 

 some one else had taken out another clam. The pearl is 

 fin. in diameter, round as a ball, and of fine lustre. I 

 sold it for four hundred dollars, but it is valued much 

 higher by its present owner. It was nearly in the middle 

 of the clam by the hinge, the only one I ever heard of be- 

 ing found there.' For successful hunting a still day is 

 necessary, as a slight ripple on deep water will hide the 

 clams." 



The clams were destroyed in such immense quantities 

 as to* almost exterminate them in the Winooski, and no 

 pearls of any value have been found there for several 

 years. 



I have never heard of a pearl being found in the unios 

 of Lake Champlain, nor in the streams near it, not even 

 in its tributary, the Winooski further down than Mont- 

 pelier. 



Perhaps "N. A. T.'s" silent Texan acquaintances are as 

 barren, but I wish him the luck of gathering from them 

 pearls of great price, and the readers of Forest and 

 Stream the pleasure of reading many more of his delight- 

 ful letters. 



Writing of clams reminds me of another so considered 

 uneatable, namely our fresh- water sheepshead. Though 

 this fish when hooked makes such a valiant fight as 

 promises good things on the table, he is generally held in 

 light esteem and often thrown away as soon as caught. 

 Now, if any of the brotherhood, fishing for better fish, 

 chances to capture one of these opal-brained fellows, let 

 him take him home, and having parboiled him, cook him 

 in whatever way he chooses, and then having a good ap- 

 petite, partake of Mm, and afterward report in these 

 columns concerning the quality of the fish. 



Awahsoose. 



Death op Colonel James Stevenson. — Colonel James 

 Stevenson, one of the oldest and best-known members of 

 the United States Geological Survey, died at the Gilsey 

 House, in this city, July 25. He was born in Maysville, 

 Ky., in the year 1840, and at an early age showed a strong 

 predilection for wild outdoor life. Before he was fifteen 

 years old he had been among the Indian tribes of the 

 frontiers, and had begun to study their language and cus- 



toms. He soon joined Dr. Hayden, and by his advice 

 spent several seasons among the Sioux, whose language 

 he learned to speak with fluency. Appointed his chief 

 assistant by Dr. Hayden, he worked with him for some 

 years, but at the breaking out of the war of the rebel lion 

 he entered the service on the staff of General Fitz John 

 Porter, and was actively engaged in army work through- 

 out the war. At its close he again joined Dr. Hayden, 

 and thereafter was his chief assistant so long as Dr. Hay- 

 den had charge of the Survey. Col. Stevenson was the 

 first to explore and map a great many regions in the West 

 up to that time unknown, and his work on the Columbia 

 and Snake Rivers, and in the neighborhood of the Yellow- 

 stone National Park, was especially noteworthy. When 

 Major Powell was placed at the head of the Geological 

 Survey, he appointed Colonel Stevenson as his executive 

 officer. During recent years, however, Colonel Steven- 

 son, at his own request, had been detailed on special 

 ethnological research in connection with the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The exceedingly valuable collection in the 

 National Museum at the Institution, due very largely to 

 his investigations and labors, shows how successful has 

 been the character of his work. His most recent investi- 

 gations have been given to the Navajo and Zufii tribes of 

 Indians, and in this work he has devoted much time and 

 study to their mythological religion and customs. In con- 

 nection with this work lie has explored the habitations of 

 the CUff Dwellers, in Arizona and New Mexico, giving 

 some valuable data and drawings to the Government as a 

 result of his wonderful work there. There is no doubt of 

 the value and importance of the scientific work done by 

 Colonel Stevenson, but it is perhaps true to say that even 

 more important to science, promoting in a high degree 

 the success of the Survey, was his executive ability, his 

 admirable management of the organization. Colonel 

 Stevenson's death was caused by an affection of the heart, 

 brought on, it is said, by much climbing of high moun- 

 tains. His wife survives him. 



Massachusetts.— Salem, July 24.— Uplands (T. bartra- 

 mius) are reported as seen at Essex. A party recently 

 shot two snipe (M griseus) and some three dozen "peeps," 

 not pups, as last paper said. 



fag and 



Antelope and Deer of America. By J. D. Caton. 

 Price s-fJM. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

 Rifle. By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rifle, Rod and 

 Gun in California. By T. 8. Van Dyke. Price 01.60. 

 Shore Birds'. Price 50 cents. Woodcraft. By "Ness- 

 mulc." Price $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents. Tlie Still-Hunter. By f. S. Van Dyke. Price H. 



THE NAMES OF GAME BIRDS.* — I. 



ORNITHOLOGISTS have been quite in the way of speak- 

 ing with a certain contempt of the English nomen- 

 clature of our birds. The language of science professes to 

 be precise; a plant or an animal has one name— a name 

 which belongs to it alone, while the English names of 

 nianv of our commonest forms of life are hopelessly con- 

 fused. A single appellation in different sections is applied 

 to animals of the most diverse character. A familiar 

 and fantastic example of this is the term "gopher," which 

 in different localities means variously (1) any one of the 

 several species of ground squirrels, (2) a kind of pouched 

 rat, (3) a species of snake, (4) a tortoise. 



But is the language of science actually precise? It 

 should be; it aims to be, but a glance at the list of syno- 

 nyms in any work on ornithology will show that the sci- 

 entihe nomenclature of birds is constantly changing, and 

 that most species have had at least as many Latin names 

 applied to them as English ones. 



Up to the present time the English names of our birds 

 have been generally unknown. By this we mean that 

 each name applied to a given species is known as belong- 

 ing to that species only by persons inhabiting a limited 

 area. A certain duck may be called at Falmouth, Massa- 

 chusetts, a widgeon; in another part of the same State its 

 name may be troop-fowl; in Connecticut, broadbill; in 

 New Jersey, flock-duck; in South Carolina, blackhead; 

 and in Illinois, bluebill. If, however, in South Carolina 

 a widgeon is spoken of, it is supposed that the bird referred 

 to is an entirely different species from that called widgeon 

 at Falmouth in Massachusetts. In other words, these 

 English names, having never seemed to ornithologists of 

 sufficient importance to put into their books, have had no 

 general currency, and for the most pare each one is known 

 only to a limited circle of dwellers in some particular sec- 

 tion of the country. From time to time lists of local names 

 from various localities have been published in Forest 

 and Stream, but these, while interesting in themselves, 

 have necessarily covered but little territory. One of the 

 best and most interesting of these is that by Mr. C. F. 

 r n, in Forest and Stream, Nov. 9, 1876. Until now, 



Brown v _ 



however, the subject of the common names of American 

 birds has remained practically untouched. 



We have before us a book that is entirely new and cur- 

 ious, and utterly unlike anything that has heretofore 

 been published, a book which possesses a very great in- 

 terest for the student of ornithology, and which will be 

 still more warmly welcomed by the man who is not a 

 student but who loves to go shooting— who is in fact a 

 plain, simple gunner. Mr. Trumbull has had the genius 

 to break the soil in a field hitherto unworked. He has 

 written a volume which, while not nominally an orni- 

 thology, is yet one in fact, but an ornithology entirely 

 different in plan and purpose from any other that has yet 

 been written, an ornithology which eschews the jargon 

 of science and commends itself by its plain and simple 

 language to that vast majority of people who are ignorant 

 of the latinity of science, and who are appalled by the 

 mysteries of its technical terms. This ornithology is con- 

 fined to our game birds, and to our game birds east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, but it can be comprehended throughout. 

 There is in all this book not a single mention of primaries 

 or remiges, gonys or culmen. The birds are described in 

 plain, every-day English, "in language understanded of 

 the people." It is hardly necessary to say that for such 

 a book t here is a place. If it contained only the common 

 names of birds it would be a remarkably interesting and 



♦Names | and | Portraits of Birds | which | interest Gunners I 

 with descriptions I In Language Understanded of the People | By 

 Gurdon Trumbull | New York I Harper & Brothers, Franklin 

 Square-1888. 



curious book. If it contained only the descriptions, ac- 

 companied by such excellent figures, it would be a most, 

 useful book, one which would enable every gunner or 

 intelligence who can read English to identify the birds' 

 which he has shot. As to this view of the book Mr. 

 Trumbull in his introduction says: 



"I have thought that a book which included those birds 

 only in which gunners and sportsmen are interested — pic- 

 tures of the different species and plumages, descriptions 

 in plain English, full lists of common names, as well as 

 book-names— would, if decently constructed, be a pecu- 

 liarly intelligible book of reference for those who go gun- 

 ning. A good picture is worth more for the purpose of 1 j 

 identification than all the descriptions ever written, and 

 a picture in simple black and wliite is in many cases more l 

 useful than a colored one, that is to say, for birds whose! 

 plumages are entirely different at different seasons, and! 

 whose markings and colors necessarily pass through sol 

 many intermediate stages. It should be always borne inf 

 mind that a bird does not change its plumage as a snakti 

 does its skin; that it is impossible to describe each ancl 

 every variation, and that it is better to leave a great dea* 

 to the intelligence of the reader, than to run the risk of 

 hopelessly confusing him by too much detail." J 

 The groups of birds are taken up in no regular ordel 

 The book opens with the geese and the ducks, rails, grousJ 

 and waders follow. To each bird is given a number and { 

 is identified beyond the possibility of a mistake by meail 

 of its Latin name as given in the Check List of the A. <J 

 U. About sixty species are enumerated. Following thf 

 is a plain simple description in ordinary untechnical El 

 glish, such as a child could comprehend. Then comes« 

 figure of the bird, sometimes two figures, when the mm 

 and female differ in plumage, and then follows the i 

 of English names, with the locality where each is usl 

 interspersed with all sorts of curious information, pic f 

 up by Mr. Trumbull in his travels. 



The names given by Mr. Trumbull in this work*cJ 

 prise only those which are now in actual use, whicll 

 has found employed by gunners in one section oranoJ 

 to which his wanderings have extended. We therM 

 find that some of the names given in the ornithoki 

 but which appear to have become obsolete, do not ajgJ 

 in the present volume, but of those in actual use tff 

 Mr. Trumbull has no doubt recorded the great majil 

 Of course he has not been able to obtain them all, tj 

 looking over the book, we have been able to find oil 

 single omission of a local name. This is the term 

 crake" as applied to the Virginia rail. 



The ninety portraits which serve to illustrate this j 

 are singidarly faithful likenesses of the species tin 

 resent. They were drawn by Mr. Edwin Shepard r 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, tJ 

 well known by his admirable drawings of birds in j 

 Brewer and Ridg way's Water Birds of North All 

 and these are a credit to his pencil. 



It is impossible to go into the subject of the locaT 

 as treated by Mr. Trumbull in such a way as to 

 satisfactory idea of its magnitude and interest, l* 1 ^. 

 points will be recognized by readers of the voltr 

 most people it will be a surprise to learn that 

 duck (Erismatura riibida) has sixty-seven names,.; 

 the woodcock has nearly as many. 



The amount of labor required to bring tog 

 vast number of local names here recorded c 

 appreciated by any one who has npt given son! 

 tion to the subject. To have gathered togetheil 

 names as have appeared in print would not W 

 difficult, but this would have been a very superi] 

 of handling a most interesting subject. It wa| 

 author's way. Instead of this, Mr. Trumbull 1 

 years to traveling about, visiting different shoolj 

 ities, making the acquaintance of the oldest! 

 reliable gunners in all sections, and learning ft 

 lips the names applied in each particular localjJ 

 species. It is the names used by these gunmf 

 their fathers that are given us. M [ 



No word of defense or justification of sucO 

 and useful work as Mr. Trumbull has givei| 

 volume can be needed, and it is scarcely concf 

 any one should underestimate the value oft 

 Its' author, however, feels it necessary to spJ 

 of justification for it and for the names whicll 

 record. He says: 



"I would remind any who may think it unv 

 to record provincialisms so simple and ap|j 

 meaning as some of these, that such a views' 

 is itself a provincialism most unreasonable, 

 appear to us absurdly grotesque and outlandl 

 iuma of communication between men as wise* 

 though educated in a different school, andl 

 nomenclature of those who shoot, not alone I 

 for their daily bread, should command respfl 

 now painfully popular to misrepresent and if 

 called 'pot-hunters;' yet these dear old fellcl 

 pretty much all we know about hunting, ail 

 ornithology has gathered its most imporfl 

 tions." I 

 We do not know of any reason why tbef 

 be an English synonomy of birds as well a^W 

 and for such a synonomy Mr. Trumbull 

 present work a broad foundation. We r 

 bull's book as one of the most important t 

 for years, and do not hesitate to predict th 

 more toward popularizing a knowledge o: 

 any that has gone before it for a nunil J 

 will serve as an introduction to the more IT 

 which without some easy approach such i 

 "Names and Portraits," would remain 1 

 reach of the unscientific. The gunner b;J 

 lake and the shore has here an easy mej 

 what the birds are that he shoots. 



For many years we have received inq 

 containing descriptions of our game bird 

 which they could be recognized, and ^ 

 obliged to say that we knew of nonc-j 

 requirements. At last, however, we La| 

 the one just written by Mr. Trumbull. 



Pequeanse. — Duluth , Minn.— Edil 

 Stream: In a communication printed! 

 July 19 entitled " Running the Brule" f 

 " Pequearise" in the article should be J 

 this is the name of one of the largest a* 

 of the fountain-spring lakes that in a if 

 rise to the Brule, it seems not unimpoJ 

 be correctly named in your journal,— 1 



