SePT. 12, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



143 



chamois and the bear skin being brought into camp, and 

 the whole party assembled, everything went merrily. 



Among the party was one of the mountain shepherds 

 with five sheep, and I saw that, owing presumably to 

 there being so much meat in camp, he was being sent 

 away; but I recommended to the chief to retain one 

 sheep and have it killed, as its flesh would be much bet- 

 ter for the patient than venison. This was done, and I 

 gave orders to have some mutton broth made from one of 

 the legs, and the fat removed when cold. 



00 the whole, I thought matters had taken a favor- 

 able turn, but the chief, though polite, was rather formal 

 than cordial, perhaps not without a certain measure of 

 anxiety as to the disposition of his followers. They all 

 knew that I bad cut loose at the right moment, and 

 saved the girl; but that was rather the chief's concern 

 than theirs. 



A camp was allotted to me, and I supped alone, the 

 chief sending me a bottle of Cyprian wine of approved 

 vintage. After supper and a smoke, during which sev- 

 eral of the bandits strolled around, and chatted and 

 joked with Timayanes, the chief sent his salaam, and 

 asked if I would come to his camp. 



1 found the patient a little feverish, and prescribed 

 wine and water, and spoke cheerfully to her, telling her 

 that her wound would be quite healed in a week, then 

 sat on, and tried to make conversation with the chief, 

 which was difficult, as neither of us had a familiar 

 knowledge of French, and we sat for a time in silence. 



"We have been watching you for some days," said the 

 chief, at length, "and while I am myself under obliga- 

 tions to you, these rascals will expect to be paid for their 

 trouble. My own finances are low, too, or I would gladly 

 barter with them for your liberation. Something they 

 must and will have," 



"I am entirely in your hands," 1 replied, "and ready 

 to be guided by your advice, and from what I learned 

 yesterday, you know exactly the state of my finances," 



"We know certainly the state of your letter of credit 

 with the banks, but as to what property you may have in 

 your own country, we have no knowledge." 



"That," said I, "is easily told; my only possession in 

 the United States is my citizenship. I have five hundred 

 sequins, and with these I meant to visit Egypt before re- 

 turning to my own home. Now, I propose to get you to 

 buy me off from your followers for half the sum. For 

 yourself. I will ask you to accept my repeating rifle, and 

 on my return home I will send you sufficient shells to 

 last you a lifetime. And now, being here and having a 

 patient to attend to, I should like to spend a couple of 

 days hunting the mountain sheep." 



"It is good," said the chief; "sit with the patient while 

 I go out and hold council." 



After he was gone the patient summoned me to her 

 side and gently slipped a ring into my hand. I saw the 

 diamond sparkle as she did so, and closing my hand on 

 hers with gentle pressure, I thanked her as well as I could. 



The chief was absent fully an hour. When he returned 

 his brow was clear. 



"I have arranged with them," he said, "more easily 

 than I expected. You will write a check in the morning 

 for 125 piastres and remain here hunting and attending 

 to our patient while the messenger is absent. This is a 

 loan to me, which I will repay as soon as I can command 

 funds. You shall not lose your trip to Egypt. I am 

 myself of Egyptian origin, a descendant of the Pharaohs, 

 the Om Eah, the Lords of Light, the builders of the 

 Pyramids." 



And now let me bring my story to a close, I gave the 

 check the next morning and almost immediately started 

 off on a hunting tour, accompanied only by my own 

 villagers. A flock of mountain sheep was found with 

 the telescope, high up under the snows, and hours spent 

 in crawling up to them. I did not know just how- far 

 we were from them, as we toiled up a steep ravine, when 

 my guide motioned me to climb the bank. I did so, and 

 there, not 20yds. from me, stood a big ram with a flock 

 of twenty at rest around him. We stared at each other, and 

 alas! in that decisive moment, buck fever or some other 

 fever took possession of me, and with a film over my 

 eyes my ball went astray. As the flock sped away toward 

 some precipitous recks, I let loose again four times, and 

 one sheep fell, but regained his feet immediately, and in 

 two minutes more the flock was gone. 



On our way down we almost ran into a herd of chamois 

 and I dropped two of them, which greatly raised all our 

 spirits. I reached camp to find my patient doing fairly 

 well under the weak vinegar treatment, in good spirits 

 and with fair appetite. Nearly a pound of resin had been 

 collected, there was olive oil in plenty, and while my 

 supper was being cooked I melted and skimmed the resin, 

 added the oil and prepared an unguent which I set aside 

 to cool. 



The next day was devoted to idleness. I removed the 

 "bandages from my patient's arm, washed the wound and 

 put on a large plaster of the unguent. The wound had 

 begun to heal, and although there was some inflamma- 

 tion I was satisfied it was doing well, and spoke encour- 

 agingly, and she, for her part, became quite cheerful and 

 made light of her wound. 



The next day we went on the wild sheep chase again. 

 I dressed my patient's wound before starting, and found 

 that there had been considerable discharge, but that the 

 inflammation was subsiding. This day, too, it was an 

 all-day climb to reach the sheep, but we got there. There 

 was no 20yd. shooting this time. I got into cover at about 

 120yds. and knelt there and rested, until I had in great 

 part recovered my breath; then I drew a steady bead upon 

 one old ram, and cut loose. I heard the welcome thud, 

 and then as the stricken beast began to plunge around in 

 a circle, I knew there was no need to fire at him again, 

 so I ga ve my attention to the retreating flock, dropping 

 two of them, a young ram and a ewe. It made a heavy 

 load for the party, and I had to carry the head and skin 

 of the bighorn myself, a burden that makes my shoul- 

 ders ache every time I think of it. 



That evening some shepherds brought in two fine pair 

 of old horns and skins, which I purchased for a sequin 

 to our mutual satisfaction. My patient was doing well, 

 and I enjoyed my mutton chops with an appetite which 

 made me think that on some future occasion, if fortune 

 favored me, I should willingly enough give a hundred 

 sequins for such another day's toil, to be closed with such 

 another supper, eaten with such an appetite, and such 

 another bottle of Cyprian wine. Futteh Ali Shah— 

 your very good health! I will seek you out when I next 

 come to Turkey. 



The following morning the messenger returned from 

 the city with the proceeds of my check, which the chief 

 distributed equally among his followers, and my patient 

 having got over the shock to her general health, wanted 

 to get up, but I insisted on her lying quiet, and drinking 

 her mutton broth, for another day or two, which she con- 

 sented to the more readily, that I promised to spend 

 another day there. 



I had heads and skins enough to satisfy me, but during 

 the last two hunts we had put up several flocks of ptarmi- 

 gan , and as I had brought along a hundred shot cartridges, 

 I determined to spend a day among the birds, and was 

 well satisfied with the results, although Lgot only seven 

 birds. 



Returning early, 1 put the. chief through a course of 

 drill upon the Winchester, which I formally presented to 

 him, and in the evening, the last evening we spent 

 together, he grow communicative and friendly, but not a 

 word in allusion to the history of the gazelle-eyed Fatima. 



At daybreak the following morning I breakfasted, and 

 while Timayanes attended to the packing and dispatch 

 of my impedimenta, I visited my fan patient, dressed 

 her wound, which was almost healed, and pressed her 

 hand as we took one long keen parting glance. Then 

 bidding cheerful adieu to the rough band, and shaking- 

 hands with the chief, with a quiet earnestness, as if we 

 were attached friends, I began the descend of the Olym- 

 pus. 



Facilis descensus. We took our midday meal with 

 Ahmed Khan, and at eight o'clock that evening, bathed 

 and refreshed , I sat down to dinner at my inn at Broussa. 



The authorities had been making some demur about 

 my shooting trip, and this the U. S. Minister at Con- 

 stantinople straightened out without difficulty. 



Ten days later I received a bill of exchange drawn by 

 Futteh Ali Shah, on the banker Suleiman Buksh, in my 

 favor, for one hundred a.nd twenty-five sequins. So I got 

 well out of the hunting adventure without losing my 

 trip to the Pyramids. Fatima claimed the bear skin as 

 her right by law of the chase. A. 



AQUARIA NOTES. 



[Occasional Observations on the Fishes of the Aquaria of the 

 U. S. Fish Commission at Washington.! 



BREEDING AND NEST— BUILDING HABITS OP THE TWO- 

 SPIN ED STICKLEBACK. 



A NUMBER of nests of the two-spined stickleback (Gas- 

 terosteus biaeuleatus) were built during the m onth of 

 April, and the young were duly hatched. The operation 

 of building the nest is quite different from that of the 

 four- spined stickleback (Apeltes quadraeus), not being so 

 complete an example of fish architecture. 



The eggs are deposited in a little nest-shaped accumu- 

 lation of alga on the bottom of the aquarium, or among the 

 alga growing on a stone. They are then covered with bits of 

 alga, the male fish drawing himself over them from time 

 to time with a slow, quivering motion, the spines extended 

 and the fins vibrating with the greatest rapidity. This 

 w-as supposed to be the process of fertilization until closer 

 observation showed the addition of several fine grayish 

 threads after each operation. It should be mentioned 

 that from the time of the act of spawning the male is 

 the sole actor, the female at once taking her departure or 

 being driven away. In a small vessel she would be killed. 



The head of the fish is used as by the four-spined stickle- 

 back in fashioning a hole through which circulation may 

 be kept up among the eggs. 



The addition of the alga and repetitions of the spinning 

 process alternate until the nest is of sufficient size. Large 

 pieces of alga are thrown carelessly over the nest with 

 the evident intention of concealing it. After the nest is 

 completed the threads binding it together may be plainly 

 seen, giving it the appearance in some cases of a loosely- 

 constructed cocoon, but it is not the neat and compact 

 structure of the four-3pined stickleback. 



The nests are about the bulk of a hemisphere one inch 

 in diameter, but more or less irregular in shape. The 

 efforts of the male to induce or compel the female to 

 visit the nest and spawn are highly interesting. The 

 nuptual coloration of the male fish is very beautiful, 

 being pink and blue-fleeked with pearly and bronze tints! 



Circulation is kept np (among the eggs) during incuba- 

 tion by fanning with the pectoral fins and by drawing 

 or forcing water through them with the mouth. 



After the young are hatched the male still keeps up a 

 vigilant warfare upon anything approaching their 

 vicinity, even fiercely and incessantly attacking a net or 

 glass pipette put down to capture some of them. 



The male parent himself darts at the young when they 

 emerge from cover with the evident intention of frighten- 

 ing them into hiding. They dart under the alga like a 

 brood of chickens at the appearance of a hawk, but soon 

 troop out like a lot of merry children at play to be again 

 and again driven under cover by the anxious father as 

 he returns from his fierce and tireless forays against in- 

 truders into his claim. 



HATCHING THE HORSESHOE CRAB. 



Some hundreds of the eggs of the horseshoe crab 

 {Limidas jiotyph&mm) were mailed to Dr. Smith of the 

 Fisheries Division of the U. S. Fish Commission, by E. S. 

 Howell, of Dias Creek, N. J. , in the month of August, 

 and hatched rapidly on being placed in a tank of sea- 

 water. In a month they were examined and some of 

 them were found to have doubled in size. Their food in 

 the aquarium is apparently limited to decaying ulva and 

 probably some infusorial life. 



AN EXAMPLE OP VORACITY. 



A rock-fish (Boecus lineatus) about 3in. long, not hav- 

 ing been fed for two days, on being given a bounteous 

 supply of worms so gorged itself that the end of one 

 worm protruded from its vent about a quarter of an inch 

 and squirmed about vigorously, withdrawing and pro- 

 truding for some time, until it finally disappeared for 

 good. Wm. P. Seal. 



Audubon Magazine. — We wish to procure copies of 

 the Audubon Magazine of the dates of February and 

 August, 1887; the original price will be paid for them. 

 Address the Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 



THE WHISTLE OF THE WOODCOCK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



There seems a great diversity of opinion among sports- 

 men as to the manner in which the woodcock produces 

 the peculiar whistle, some maintaining that it is caused 

 by the sharp cutting of the air by their pinions, others 

 (myself among the number) that it is through the in- 

 strumentality of the bill. Why should every other bird 

 have its distinctive note and the woodcock alone be 

 mute? The woodcock's cousin, the English snipe, has 

 his cry as ho starts from the boggy meadows, why should 

 one make that peculiar noise with the wing and the 

 other not? I have repeatedly flushed woodcock as I have 

 snipe, and both have started on the wing without any 

 noise whatever; then why should, they be silent at one 

 time and make their peculiar sound at another, when 

 equally started, if the wings produce the souud? Again, 

 I have held a wounded woodcock in my hand and he has 

 made a twitter, while grasped about the body without 

 the possibility of moving the wings. Again, while going 

 along country roads, where no fright was involved, and 

 with nothing to call for unusual speed, I have heard the 

 same cry or whistle. I know that in the fall I have 

 flushed birds that have gone away at such a speed that 

 if the whistle were in the wing they went fast enough to 

 make it equal to my dog whistle, but still with no note. 

 I may be dead wrong and a numbskull of the first water, 

 but after forty years of woodcock shooting I still believe 

 in the bill. If I am proved to be in the wrong I had bet- 

 ter go slow, keep dark and put the shot in first. C. H. 



The above are the views and opinions of my fellow 

 sportsman and friend, Mr. Charles Hinkle, manager of 

 the art department of the IUmtrated Sportintj News. I 

 know of no man more observant, trustworthy or experi- 

 enced in woodcock shooting, or a better field shot on the 

 wing or more true sportsman-. His views and experience 

 coincide with my own. I am certainly not of those 

 who hold to the idea that the noise is produced by the 

 woodcock's primai y quills. 



If this whistle emanates from the startled swiftness of 

 sudden fright-flight, through action of rushing air and 

 by action of wind on the primary or pinnated quill, how is 

 it then that you gentlemen all hear this said-same twitter 

 or whistle by the wounded and enfeebled bird's weak 

 flutter in your hand, precluded from wind action, which 

 you claim is its sole cause? Again, bow is it that this 

 whistling note is given out frequently through the entire 

 moult season ? This has been carefully noted by friends 

 of mine who spent the mouth of August last roaming the 

 hills and woods of Litchfield, and at all times noted the 

 whistle sound given out on startled intrusive flight. And 

 often in the shades and shadows of its feeding solitude, 

 when disturbed while feeding, and as you all say and bear 

 witness never on alighting or on its flight for food. The 

 whistle is vocal and guttural beyond question, as wit- 

 nessed by "F. W." in letter of your issue Sept. 5 last, 

 where he said he had shot the bird's bill away at its base, 

 and then his "horsecar conductor" gave full proof that 

 he had yet a vocal note. 



On the border of a wood spring rill were found on the 

 30th day of August just past two woodcock sitting on 

 nests not two hundred yards apart. Now, gentlemen, 

 with this fact staring you full in the face, from a section 

 that has been personally preserved by its owners for 

 several years past, what have you to say as to the cruel 

 and unsportsmanlike July mid-summer shooting of this 

 most delicious game bird ? Canonicus. 

 North New York. 



NOTES ON BACK NUMBERS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In reply to your correspondent "H. W. D L.," who 

 w-onclers if man's sympathy for God's creatures increases 

 as he grows older, I would reply that it does. At least, 

 that is my experience; and I observe the same trait of 

 compassion in the majority of mankind. From my youth 

 I have been a lover of the gun and the rod; and, although 

 a comparatively young man, I have so much feeling for 

 the animal and feathered tribes, that I do not do half as 

 much hunting as I formerly did. A great writer has said: 

 "God is in every thing; be cruel to none; neither abuse 

 anything by intemperance." 



I never heard that the eggs of the great horned owl 

 were forty-six days in hatching. If that is true, the owl 

 exceeds all our domestic fowls in length of time required 

 to develop the little owls, and comes near to the time of 

 the ostrich, which averages near fifty days, according to 

 the owners of California ostrich farms. 



A recent writer in this journal made inquiry if the eggs 

 of wild birds and fowls ever fail to hatch. Yes, most 

 assuredly. This summer I found a quail's nest contain- 

 ing fifteen eggs. Wishing to know how they succeeded, 

 I revisited the nest in a couple of weeks, and found all 

 the eggs but one had sent forth Bob Whites. I also 

 found a nest of twenty -two eggs. These were all taken 

 by some person, as they were near a frequented path. 

 Where there are as many as twenty or more eggs, two or 

 three will fail to hatch. 



Angling for bullfrogs is a pleasant diversion with rod 

 and line, if the frogs are tolerably plentiful. A small 

 piece of red flannel serves for bait, also white worms. 

 It is curious to see how savagely a big bullfrog will bite 

 at almost anything which is offered to him. 



On Aug. 14 I observed a true Southern mockingbird 

 here in 40° north latitude. This is the rarest bird we 

 have. Have any of your readers observed the Southern 

 mocking bird north of this latitude? 



As the subject of albinos is always of interest to the 

 general reader and the naturalist, I will add my share to 

 the list of curious freaks of nature. Some years ago a 

 trapper of this locality caught a white mink in a steel 

 trap. Being unaware of the digression which nature 

 sometimes makes in developing a specimen of either 

 fowl or animal perfectly opposite in color to the rest of its 

 species, the trapper w-ould scarcely believe he had caught 

 a real mink. Not long f-ince I observed a common hen- 

 harrier that was almost white. But most noteworthy of 

 all the albinos that ever came within my direct observa- 

 tion was a turtle dove which remained in this region for 

 some months a few years ago. It was a beauty; so white 



