JAN. 8, 1889 ] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



47B 



change some of their moonlight excursions into the 

 exhilarating and healthful 'possum hunt, they would 

 render the inhabitants of our fair island a benefit; for 

 one adult opossum will destroy more pine in one season 

 than a score of dudes with canine attachments and 

 improved breechloaders. Yours truly. Nathaniel Mil- i 

 lee. (Brookhaven, L. I., Dec. 17.) 



Edil or Signal: As Mr. Mather, of Cold Spring Harbor, 

 is making inquiries about the oppossum, I would say, in 

 answer to his question, that in the fall of 1850 I brought 

 four to Kiverhead from New Jersey, and in the spring 

 placed them iu a swamp near the village, and heard no 

 more from them until about ten years ago, when the 

 animals began to be found. They now seem to be 

 plenty all over this part of the Island. Whether the 

 ones 1 liberated were the first of present ever-abundant 

 supply I must leave you to say. The opposum has a 

 pouch, or false belly, in which the female deposits her 

 young immediately after they are brought forth, and she 

 nourishes them in it until they are able to provide for 

 themselves. The animal is slow-motioned and helpless 

 when on the ground, but climbs with great ease and 

 rapidity and sometimes conceals itself among the branches 

 and surprises birds that come within reach. It feeds on 

 birds, reptiles, insects, roots, leaves and the bark of trees. 

 Yours truly, Molford Moore, (Eiverhead, L. I., Dec. 17.) 



From a personal letter from Mr. C. P. Rogers, editor of 

 the Suffolk Bulletin: "Huntington, N. Y., Dec. 26.— 

 My Dear Sir: I see by the Signal that the introduction of 

 the possum is not an honor (?) to be taken by Hunting- 

 tonians. Am glad our skirts are clear of it; but it seems 

 strange that when the subject was going the rounds of 

 the Island press some eight years ago these men did not 

 speak out in meeting." 



This is all the information obtained, and in view of the 

 fact that the introduction of the opossum is claimed to 

 have taken place at different times and in different locali- 

 ties, it may still be a fan- question if this animal is not 

 indigenous. Prof. Jordan, inhis "Manual of Vertebrates," 

 gives its northern range as the State of New York, and as 

 Long Island, has as short, and as mild, winters as any 

 portion of the State, it is fair to presume that the opos- 

 sum could have migrated here oh the ice, or otherwise, 

 long before the prow of the Half Moon clove the waters 

 of the Hudson or Captain Kidd buried his treasures in 

 Fort Pond Bay. 



I do not know in what other portions of the State of 

 New York this double- wombed plantigrade may be found, 

 and, in fact, until I saw it on Long Island, did not know 

 that it was found in the State at all; but, in looking up 

 the question, have gathered what is given above, which, 

 fairly summed up, is of little value in adding to the life 

 history of this animal, because it does not prove that it 

 did not exist here before all of the claimed introductions. 

 Should it stimulate inquiry in others as to the extreme 

 northern range of the opossum in years more or less re- 

 mote, it will then be of service to that extent. On Mon- 

 day last there were fifteen opossums hanging at one stall 

 in Fulton Market, and they were said to have come from 

 Yaphank, L. I. Fred Mather. 



Cor.D Spring Harbor, N. Y. 



560 species of birds known to occur in the Mississippi 

 Valley, and the notes under each species consist mainly 

 of the times of arrival and departure of that species in 

 different years. Incidentally, however, there is revealed 

 in these notes a great deal that is interesting which does 

 not directly pertain to and yet has a bearing on migra- 

 tion. These notes deal only with facts, yet they are full 

 of suggestions. 



The Report is a most valuable one, and is certainly by 

 fat the most important contribution that has ever been 

 made to the literature of bird migration. To the authors, 

 the editor and the observers is due great credit for their 

 work. They have made a most important beginning in 

 the study of a very difficult and intricate subject. 



HARES IN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read with pleasure and instruction the series of 

 interesting papers published in your valued journal from 

 the pen of Dr. Shufeldt, but I think some of his state- 

 ments in the paper of Nov. 29, referring to the Arctic 

 hare, require to be modified. 



The Arctic or Polar hare is the only species indigenous 

 to Newfoundland. They are not, and never have been, 

 numerous. They are brown in summer, and pure white 

 in winter, except two black tips to the ears. They weigh 

 from ten to fourteen pounds, and are a very hardy animal. 

 I have seen many, but never knew nor heard of them bur- 

 rowing in the snow in winter. In this island they always 

 form under a bush or rock. 



Dr. Shufeldt says hares have four or five young at a 

 birth. If he includes the Arctic hare, as found here and 

 at Labrador, he is mistaken. These hares never have 

 more than two, oftener one, at a birth; nor do they bring 

 forth young more than twice in a season. 



"Those hares of the Eastern States, so universally 

 called rabbits, known to science as L. si/lvaticits" are not 

 indigenous to Newfoundland, but about twenty-five 

 years ago a public-spirited gentleman, Mr. Stephen 

 Rendell, procured from Nova Scotia twenty-three of 

 these animals, which he turned loose a few miles from 

 St. Johns, Their rapid increase was marvelous. In five 

 years the whole peninsula of Avalon was stocked with 

 them. In ten years they had spread all over the island, 

 and with them vermin — foxes, weasels, owls and hawks 

 have also increased. These hares breed three times dur- 

 ing the summer, and bring forth from five to seven at a 

 birth. I think there are 500 of them caught by the 

 settlers for one Arctic hare caught, and yet they increase, 

 while the Arctic hare is decreasing. 



Within the past five years we have another and most 

 unwelcome visitor. He has come to stay, too. That is 

 the Canadian lynx or loup eervier of the Acadians. The 

 Indians report that they are increasing, and are destroy- 

 ing young caribou, both prickets and fawns. Of course 

 they have crossed from the mainland via the Straits of 

 Belle Isle. The distance from land to land is fifteen 

 miles. Is it not a marvel that throughout all these ages 

 these brutes never found their way across, and were 

 never seen here until within the past few years? B. 



Harbor Gracs, Newfoundland. 



MISSISSIPPI VALLEY BIRD MIGRATION. 



THE second Bulletin of its Division of Economic Orni- 

 thology lias just been issued by the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington. It consists of two parts, the 

 first of which deals with bird migration in general, but 

 with special reference to the Mississippi Valley, while the 

 second, and far larger portion, is devoted to an annotated 

 list of the birds known to occur in the Mississippi Valley, 

 the movements of each species for the seasons of 1884 and 

 1885 being traced with, as much exactness as possible from 

 the records furnished by the observers of the Department. 



The report is the work of Prof. W. W. Cooke, aided by 

 Mr. Otto Widmann and Prof. D. E. Lantz, and it has 

 been edited and prepared for the pres3 by Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam, who is in charge of the Division of Economic 

 Ornithology, and who, as the chairman of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union's Committee on Bird Migration, is 

 especially well fitted for this task. The whole work is 

 well done. 



The first part of the report, Bird Migration in the Mis- 

 sissqjpi Valley, is divided into the following heads: A 

 brief historical review, theoretical considerations, speed 

 at which birds migrate, relation of migration to baro- 

 metric pressure and temperature, a study of bird waves 

 which passed up the Mississippi Valley in the spring of 

 1884, synopsis of migration at St. Louis from Jan. 1 to 

 May 27, 1884, progress of vegetation and awakening of 

 animal life in the Mississippi Valley during the spring of 



1884, list of stations and observers for 18S4, list of new 

 stations and observers for 1885, form of schedule used in 



1885, and notes on the migration and distribution of each 

 species reported as inhabiting the Mississippi Valley. The 

 report contains a capital map of the region with the dif- 

 ferent stations indicated, and a good index. 



The history of the systematized attempts to learn some- 

 thing definite about the phenomena of bird migration is 

 an interesting one, although only a brief outline is given 

 of this history. It is gratifying to note the increased 

 interest constantly felt on the subject, and to see that 

 while in 1882 reports were received from only thirteen 

 persons, the number of observers had grown in 1884 to 

 109 and in 1885 to 159 who promised to report their ob- 

 servations. 



Speaking of the causes which led to migration, Prof. 

 Cooke deals with a subject about which but little is as yet 

 known, and advanced some opinions which are quite" at 

 variance with the views of the editor of the Report, and 

 which will hardly be generally accepted by ornithologists. 

 The fact is that we know too little about migration to 

 admit at present of any intelligent and satisfactory dis- 

 cussion of its causes. 



The paragraph devoted to a consideration of the speed 

 at which birds migrate, the relation of migration to bar- 

 ometric pressure and temperature, and the study of the 

 "bird waves" which passed up the Mississippi Valley 

 during the spring of 1884, are full of most interesting 

 facts, and ought to be read by every one who is at all 

 curious about the mysterious movements of our feath- 

 ered friends. While these subjects do not profess to be 

 treated at all completely, they contain a mass of informa- 

 tion of very high importance as bearing on migration, 

 and the manner in which they are handled reflects very 

 great credit on all connected with the work. The second 

 part of this Report is devoted to an annotated list of the 



\mnt and %nt[ t 



RIFLES FOR SMALL GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In my communication in last week's issue of your valu- 

 able journal, I inadvertently made a statement to the 

 effect that no other interchangeable barrreled rifle that 

 I had seen was operated by lever action; I should have 

 added the words "independent of the breech — the lever 

 being attached to the barrel which is built on the tip-up 

 principle." Of course there are several other inter- 

 changeable rifles worked by lever movement, such as 

 the Bullard and Merwin & Hulbert; but on each of 

 these the lever is attached to the breech bolt, the bar- 

 rel being attached to the frame by means of a screw pass- 

 ing through the lug. The M. & H., by the way, appears 

 to be a very elegant and, I believe, reliable little arm. I 

 had an opportunity of testing one of them a few days 

 ago while after ducks on Back River. The cartridge 

 used was the .32-13-90 C. F. While we did not have an 

 opportunity of trying it on the ducks, for the very good 

 reason that they were not there that day, yet it behaved 

 very creditably at the target, and I was particularly 

 impressed with the manner in which it cut a hole through 

 both sides of a shed, passing through about Sin. of plank, 

 at about 30yds. W, W. B, 



Bali'imore, Md., Dec. 15. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"R. S. F." is right in advising "N. Orleans" to try the 

 .22-cal. rifle for small game. Any good rifle of that cali- 

 ber will kill game up to the size of ducks, grouse and 

 hares nicely and without tearing them all up, as far as 

 any one can see to shoot such small things. When one 

 learns to be a marksman with the rifle and knows its tra- 

 jectory, he can kill such game further with a .22 short 

 cartridge than any one would believe until he had seen it 

 done. I have killed a great many ducks with a Ballard 

 .22 rifle with 32in. barrel, at all distances up to 200 and 

 300yds. This rifle with .22 short would make a report 

 not nearly so loud as a common gun cap, and when firing 

 at ducks up the wind, say 200 to 400yds., one could often 

 have several shots before they would take wing. In such 

 cases, when shooting for ducks on the water, one has the 

 great advantage of seeing where the ball strikes, and can 

 "git there" if the duck will wait long enough. I do not 

 pretend that I was ever marksman enough to hit a duck 

 every time on the water at 200 or even 100yds., but if the 

 duck kept staying and I kept shooting, he was my duck 

 if cartridges held out. I know that I have killed many 

 ducks when sitting in rafts over 300yds. distant. For 

 squirrels, quail, grouse and ail other small game it is ex- 

 actly the thing. I have with it sat down and killed six 

 quail out of a bunch of fourteen that were feeding on a 

 smooth sward 50 or 60yds. away before they became 

 frightened and flew. As "R. S. F." says, the ammuni- 

 tion bought by the thousand costs one so little, that he 

 can afford to shoot all he may wish to. « 



There seems to be but one other rifle suitable for small 

 game. I found that I could do nothing with wild geese, 



brant and crane with the .22-cal., so I thought a .82-cal. 

 might do for everything, so procured a .32 Winchester. 

 It was a beautiful shooting arm; deadly to Canada geese 

 as far as the ball would travel if you hit them, but it 

 made a powerful hole in them, and would cut a rabbit, 

 grouse or duck often into two pieces. A squirrel hit in 

 the body was butchered ready for the stew pan. but it 

 was too much trouble to hunt up the pieces. It used the 

 regular bottle-neck shell, with, I think, 40grs. of powder. 

 After experimenting awhile I hit on a plan that made it 

 suitable for nearly every kind of game, except, perhaps, 

 grizzly bear. The shells were center fire, everlasting, 

 and 1 found, if I recollect aright, that No. 5 St. Louis 

 buckshot could be forced into the mouth of the shell. (I 

 should explain that the buckshot should simply be forced 

 in and left in the mouth of the shell and not shoved 

 down on the powder. The old backwoods idea that the 

 ball must be firmly driven down on to the powder or the 

 gun would burst has long been exploded. The buckshot 

 should be at least one caliber larger than the inside of 

 the shell, so as to need to be forced in.) By putting 

 primer on shell and then putting in 6, 10, 20 or 30grs. of 

 powder one could have any charge or velocity he wished, 

 and it shot beautifully; lOgrs. of powder was enough for 

 grouse and squirrels, 20grs. for ducks, the shell full of 

 powder for geese, and then one had the regular cartridge 

 for deer, wolves and wild gobblers. With the buckshot 

 charge one was obliged to load it as a single-shot breech- 

 loader; then with the magazine full of regular cartridges 

 one was ready for almost anything. And here we have 

 again very small cost for ammunition. One could load 

 a hundred shells of a rainy day or evening, only costing 

 a few cents. I shot thousands of these buckshot charges 

 from that Winchester without any leading or any other 

 trouble, and as before said it shot perfectly. 



When traveling over the hills and mountains here in 

 California this autumn how often I have wished for that 

 Winchester with the buckshot when a jack rabbit, grouse, 

 quail or squirrel calmly sized me up while too far away 

 for shot, and the tens of thousands of geese and brant 

 that raft up in our bays and lagoons safely out of reach 

 of the shotgun could be taught a new lesson with those 

 buckshot charges. Why don't "you uns" come out here 

 where you can hunt during winter without freezing your 

 noses and toes off and find plenty of game also? Tourists' 

 tickets are only $35 from Omaha. Byrne. 

 Sax Francisco, Cal. 



BIG RIFLES FOR SMALL BOYS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Last week a salesman in a prominent New York city 

 gun store was accidentally shot through the leg by an- 

 other salesman who was exhibiting to a customer a .44- 

 caliber Colt magazine rifle, which was not supposed to 

 be loaded. 



On Aprii 21 of this year I purchased in that same store 

 a .32-cal. single-shot Winchester rifle, which, though 

 very accurate, I have since sold on account of its great 

 range, fearing that I might kill or injure somebody un- 

 wittingly. While waiting for it, a gentleman entered the 

 store, and with him were his three boys, bright-looking 

 little chaps of about eleven, thirteen and fifteen years 

 respectively. "My boys want a rifle," said he, "and I 

 wish to get one for them." He evidently knew nothing 

 whatever about firearms. "Well, boys," said the sales- 

 man, "what kind of a gun do you want?" "A Winchester 

 .44 full magazine," replied the eldest, glibly. Did that 

 salesman deprecate the purchase of such a weapon for the 

 use of boys? Did he recommend a smaller and lighter 

 gun, using safer and less costly ammunition? No; he 

 uttered not one word of remonstrance or advice, but got 

 out the rifle asked for, explained the process of loading 

 and firing, and sold it, together with several boxes of 

 cartridges, knowing that it was to be placed in the hands 

 of lads, whose deadliest weapon, if any, should be a 

 Flobert with bullet breech-caps. "Why, boys," said I, 

 "that's quite a gun for you, isn't it? Are you going to 

 kill moose or grizzly bears?" "We're going to shoot 

 crows and squirrels,"' was the reply. My mental obser- 

 vation was that if I lived in their town or village, I would 

 move out without delay. 



The man who shot the other one last week is not the 

 salesman to whom I allude; nor can I assert that he who 

 was shot is the man who sold that .44 Winchester on 

 April 21. The books of the firm may show that. But I 

 do say that the first victim of such a rifle in the hands of 

 a boy ought to be the man who sells it to him without 

 remonstrance. J, L. Kearny. 



Perth ambot, N. J.. Dec. 26, 1888. 



"THE MAZEPPA HITCH." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The inquiry of "Packer" in the Forest and Stream of 

 Dec. 6 is a timely one. The whole story of the tying of 

 Mazeppa on the back of the "desert-born" horse is a 

 very strange one indeed, for not only did the ingenious 

 packer, who threw this very peculiar hitch, tie him fast 

 with "many a thong," but in the case of the horse itself, 

 the veracious chronicler assures us that he "loosed him 

 with a sudden lash." This was probably done by the 

 artifice by which the mischievous crowd trifled with the 

 feelings of the indignant German who loudly demanded 

 "who tied my dog loose?" Let me say for the informa- 

 tion of "Packer" that the tying of Mazeppa was done by 

 a young English pilgrim named Byron, and the peculiar 

 hitch U3ed is known as the poetic license. . 



Orin Belknap. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Without caring to enter into a controversy with the 

 critics who cavil at Byron's line in which Mazeppa is 

 described as "bound fast with many a thong," I do never- 

 theless assert most confidently that to a packer of ordi- 

 nary capacity the performance is attended with no diffi- 

 culty. The difficulty and art of packing consist in mak- 

 ing the pack secure with one thong. But the poets have 

 given us harder knots than that to untie. Take for in- 

 stance the lines in Walter Scott's Young Lochinvar: 

 "So swift to the cantle the la'ly he swung, 

 So light to the saddle before her he sprung," 



and we should like to be favored with illustrations of the 

 methods in which our readers would seek to solve that 

 little difficulty, Critic, 



