T AND STREAM 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Timsfs, $4 A TeIr IO.Cts. a CoPy. 
Sfi MontIs, $2. 
f 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1897, 
j VOL. XLVIII.— No. 10. 
( No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
^or Prospectus dkd Advertising Adiis see Page vi. 
* Forest and Stream^Water Colors 
We have prepared as pYemiums a series of four artistic 
and beautiful reproductions of original water colors, 
painted expressly for the Forest and Stream. The 
subjects are outdoor scenes: 
Jacksuipe Coming: In. 
Vigflant and Valkyrie. 
"He's Got Them" (QuaU Shooting). 
Bass Pishing at Block Islafld. 
The plates are for frames 14 x 19 in. They are ddtie in 
twelve colors, and are rich in effect. They are furnished 
to olu or new subscribers on the following terms : 
Forest and Stream one year and the set of four pictures, $S. 
Forest and Stream 6 months and any two of the pictures, $3, 
Price or the pictures alone, $1,50 eneli ; $5 for tfao let. 
Remit by express money order or postal money order. 
Make orders payable to 
FOREST AND STREAM PUB. CO., New York 
Forest and Steeam %oillbe glad to meet its friends at Spac-e 
78 in the Sportsmen's Exposition, ni Madison Square Qarden, 
on March 1'6 and the following tceek. 
But the scarcer the fruity the more prized it is ; 
and seldom have I experienced greater pleastJres 
than when on the Florida Keys, under a burning 
sun, after pushing my bark for miles over a soapy 
flat, I have striven all day long, tormented by 
myriads of insects, to procure a heron new to me, 
and have at length succeeded in my efforts. And 
then how amply are the labors of the naturalist 
compensated, when, after observing the wildest 
and most distrustful birds, in their remote and 
almost inaccessible breeding places, he returns from 
his journeys, and relates his adventures to an inter- 
ested and friendly audience* Audubon. 
the seaf6^v^occupying the Farralon Islands in something 
'ike their old-time abundance. The action taken by the 
Ughthouse Board in this specific case is altogether to be 
praised. It may be hoped, however, that a general order 
of like tenor, applicable to all lighthouse stations on both 
coasts, will be issued before long, and when this is done a 
very effective force of bird protectors will have been ap- 
pointed. The subject is one which is constantly growing 
in interest, and the United Stales Government should not 
be far behind the public in its action in this matter. 
BIRD FRESEBVATLON ON THE EABRALONS. 
It will be a matter of congratulation to all who are inter- 
ested in the matter of the preservation of our bird life to 
learn that the Lighthouse Board has acted on the sugges. 
tion made to it last October in Forest and Stream, and 
has given orders that the traffic in birds' eggs on the Far- 
ralons shall cease. In the editorial referred to we said; 
"It would seem as if the simplest and most natural way to 
act in the matter would be for the Lighthouse Board to is- 
sue instructions to its subordinates all over the country to 
protect rather than to destroy tlie birds which may breed 
or have their homes near tlie lights kept by the various 
keepers." 
The traffic in eggs carried on by the Greeks and Italians 
of San Francisco, who for many years have made a busi- 
ness of visiting the Farralon Islands and collecting the 
eggs by permission of the light-keejDer, threatened to ex- 
terminate several of the species which formerly bred in 
countless numbers on these islands, and within the past 
few years a marked decrease has taken place in the abun- 
dance of several sorts of birds. It was high time that this 
destruction should cease, and the Lighthouse Board is en- 
titled to great credit for the promptness with which it has 
acted in the matter. The Bird Protective Committee of 
the American Ornithologists' Union has also been active 
in the matter. 
There was no good reason why orders such as have now 
been issued by the Lighthouse Board should not have 
been given at once, but we are so accustomed to have any 
dealings with the Government occupy years before any 
definite point is reached that it is encouragmg to find now 
and then a body that is willing to act iwith reasonable 
promptness. 
This was a question t6 whicli there "was only one side 
The gathering of the eggs by the lighthouse keeper and 
his helpers was a perquisite — a business which they car- 
ried on at certain seasons in addition to the work of tend- 
ing the hghts. The light-keeper, liowever, is hired to do 
certain work; he and his assistants are paid for their time 
and their labor by the Government, and should not be 
^llowed to engage in any outside avocations. 
In the course of a year or two we may now hope to see 
WHILE FISHES SLEEP. 
Some ^time ago, while Prof, Verrill was working with 
the United States Fish Commission at Wood's Holl, he 
made some very interesting observations on fishes while 
a'lleep, which have just been made public in an article in 
the American Journal of Science. These studies were unfor- 
tunately interrupted before as many observations had been 
made as was intended, yet the facts published are of very 
high interest. Perhaps the most interesting of the discov- 
eries made was the quite unexpected one that a number of 
fishes have the habit of changing theif colors at night and 
while asleep. 
It can easily be understood that it was not easy to make 
the observations to be described. Most fishes sleep very 
lightly and are readily awakened by the least jar, or by 
anything which causes the water in which they are resting 
to vibrate, and the utmost care had to be taken not to 
awaken them. The fishes were in the Fish Commission's 
aquariums, and were observed usually between midnight 
and 2 o'clock A. M., after every one else had retired. The gas 
jets near the tanks were turned low, and it was necessary 
for the observer to use as much caution in studying them 
as the hunter exercises in approaching a moose. A heavy 
footfall, a sudden movement, or the sudden turning up of 
a gas jet was enough to awaken the fishes. 
In many cases it was noticed that the change of color 
mentioned consists of nothing more than an increase in 
the depth and intensity of coloring, the pattern of the 
colors remaining the same. This is the case with several 
kinds of flounders. Those that are spotted or mottled 
with dark color show these dark markings in much 
stronger contrast with the ground color by night than they 
do by day. Several species of minnows, which are 
marked either with longitudinal or transverse bands of 
dark color, show these markings as a decided black at 
night. The same is true of the kingfish, in which the 
obliquely marked transverse stripes of dark color come 
out much more strongly and better defined at night than 
by day. Tlie same thing is true of the black sea bass and 
of the sea robin. Several examples, of the common brook 
trout were observed to become much darker at night than 
b / day, but Professor Verrill was not sure that these fish 
were really asleep. 
It is a well-known fact that trout, flounders and some 
other fishes have the power of measurably changing their 
colors even in the daytime to adapt them to the color of 
their surroundings, ' This power is possessed by other 
animals, as some frogs and toads and some reptiles. For 
this reason a darkening of color at night would be ex- 
pacted, even if the fishes were not asleep. All such 
changes are undoubtedly of a protective character. 
There are certain' fishes, however, which change their 
colors while asleep in a way much more remarkable than 
those already mentioned. Among these is the common 
scup or porgy. This fish, when active in the daytime, has 
a bright silvery color, with iridescent tints. At night when 
asleep its ground color is a dull bronzy hue, and the body 
is crossed by about six transverse black bands. As this 
fish rests in nature among eel grass and water M'eeds, this 
coloring, assumed when sleeping, is obviously protective. 
But when one of these fish was awakened by suddenly 
turning up the gas to its full height, it immediately took 
on the silvery colors of its daylight dress. This experi- 
ment was repeated many times on many individuals, and 
always with the same result. 
A common filefish showed a change in color pattern 
when asleep. By day this fish is mottled with brown and 
dark olive green, and the fins and tail are a little darker 
than the body. But when asleep at night the body be- 
comes pallid gray or nearly white, while the fins and tail 
change to a decided black. Among the rocks and weeds^ 
where the filefish lives, these colors are in a high degree 
protective. 
Besides his observations 'fixx color changes in fishes at 
such times, some odd positions in sleeping are mentioned 
by Prof, Verrill, The filefishes, for example, usually 
rested when asleep on the bottom, with the back resting at 
a considerable angle against the glass of the aquarium or 
against a stone. 
The common blackfish or tautog has the odd habit 01 
resting on one side, half buried among the gravel or partly 
under stones, and is often curved in strange positions. It 
is suggested that the flounders might have originated from 
some ancestral form, symmetrical like most fishes, that^ 
like the tautog, had acquired the habit of resting upon one 
side, at first only while sleeping, but afterward continually^ 
owing to the greater protection that this habit and its 
imitative coloring afforded. The one-sided coloring of the 
flounder and the changes in the positions of the eyes 
would gradually follow, in accordance with well-known 
laws. 
On several occasions the common squid was observed 
while asleep. At such times it rests in an inclined posi- 
tion on the tip of its tail and the bases of its arms, which 
are bunched together and extended forward. The head 
and the forward part of the body are thus raised from the 
bottom to give room for breathing. The siphon tube is 
then turned to one side. At such times the color is much 
darker and the spots more distinct than when active. 
THE NEW FOREST RESERVATIONS. 
On Sunday last, six days after the issuing of the procla- 
mations setting aside the thirteen new forest reservations^ 
the United States Senate adopted an amendment to the 
Sundry Civil Appropriation Bill nullifying these proclama- 
tions, and opening to settlement the lands (some 21,000,000 
acres) set apart as a forest reservation by executive procla- 
mation of February 22, i 
This step on the part of the Senate seems difficult of 
satisfactory explanation. President Cleveland's action in 
this matter, following the report of the forestry commission 
of the Kational Academy of Sciences, was universally 
approved by the press and the public as wise and far- 
sighted. It is impossible that the Senate should know 
any more ahout the subject than the public does, and nat- 
urally it cannot know so much as the President, who by 
his action approved the recommendations' of the forestry 
commission. The haste shown by the Senate by this at- 
tempt to nullify the President's action seems, therefore, 
extremely undignified, and by many persons will be at- 
tributed to a feeling of irritation toward the President. 
No such feeling should be allowed to interfere with the 
general good of the country. No harm can possibly be 
done by permitting these tracts of mountain and forest to 
lie reserved until the subject can have proper deliberation, 
and until the facts concerning the land reserved and the 
uses to which it can be put shall be considered in a calm 
and temperate way, 
A large proportion of the Senate know little about the 
needs of the dry West, so far as water is concerned, and 
thosa who are ignorant on this subject are assuming a 
serious responsibility when they throw obstacles in the 
way of an improved supply of the water so greatly needed 
by the inhabitants of our arid lands. 
It is earnestly to be hoped that the amendment inserted 
in the Sundry Civil BiU will be stricken out in one House 
or the other, and that these reservations may be allowed 
to stand until such time as, the subject can have fuller 
consideration, 
WHAT IS HE READING f 
What is he reading? What is your boy reading? It is 
a question to which is given attention for the most part 
spasmodic and brief; rarely does it receive the serious con- 
sideration and the careful thought it demands. Just now 
there is some discussion in the journals of the day respect- 
ing the influence of young people's literature upon plastic 
minds and characters; and in its degree and importance 
this formative influence can in no wise be over-estimated. 
Manly reading will work to the end of making a manly boy 
and a manly man. For a boy who is some day to be a man 
there is no better literature in all the world than that of 
the field, and the recreations of the field and the world of 
nature, with its charms, joys and delights. If a boy likes 
to read of shooting and fishing and camping and woods 
life, there is no need to Avorry about him. And most 
healthy boys do take to forest' and stream literature. If 
your boy has such a taste, cultivate it; if he has not, do 
your beat to instill it .into him. 
