424 FOREST AND STREAM. 
"Yes," I replied, taking the trout and examining it, 
"but I'm puzzled. This is not a spotted or broolc trout, it's 
not a Jake trout neither, but what is it? It is exactly 
like the brown trout of Europe, but how does it happen 
that it is here? It is something remarkable," 
"It's likely one that was put in these waters a number 
of years ago," answered the guide. "The fi.sh and game 
officers put out thousands of fry here, but this is the 
first full-grown fish that's been taken so far as I know." 
■ "I am "glad to know that an effort has been made to 
introduce them in these waters," said I, laying the fish 
down, "for they are fully as gamy as the spotted trout 
and they will thrive in ponds and streams which are too 
warm for the others. I believe they will in time prove 
a valuable addition to our list of game fishes. But, John, 
it is almost sundown, and we are quite a distance from 
the house. Y/e had better put by the rod and resume our 
paddles." 
"Yes," was rhe reply, "we'd better move along. The old 
horse must be looking for us by now." 
The canoe was again headed up the stream, and in a 
few minutes the landing place was reached. 
"We had better leave the canoe here," said the guide. 
"We shall likely come down the river again soon, and ther 
is no need of carrying the birch back and forth." 
We quickly disembarked, and when the canoe was un- 
loaded we hfted it out of the water and placed it in some 
undergrowth near the river. 
The horse Avhinnied a welcome as we approached him 
and was evidently glad to be harnessed again for the 
return home. The trout were washed and strung on 
some withes for transportation, my creel not being large 
enough to hold a half of our catch. They made a very 
handsome show. 
"We'll cut across through the woods by a lumber road 
until we strike into the post road," said John, when we 
were seated in the farm wagon. "Although it's a little 
further, we can travel quicker than we could by following 
the old tote road." 
The horse quickened his steps as soon as the public 
road was reached, and then, starting into a brisk trot, he 
carried' us at a pace which ere a half hoitr had passed 
broitght us in sight of the little settlement in which the 
Murrays' pleasant cottage, my headquarters, was located. 
"Really, John." I exclaimed, as we alighted at the 
door, "although it was a rough ride that you gave me in 
your springless wagon, the shaking up I have had has 
done me good, and it has also given me an appetite 
which will do full justice to the supper that I know Mrs. 
Murray has waiting for me." 
"We have had a glorious day!" I said to my landlady 
and her daughter Phoebe, who stood beside her as I en- 
tered the house, "and we caught a nice lot of trout, too." 
"I am glad you had such good success." repHed Mrs. 
Murray, "but I'm afraid you have made too long a day 
for a first one." 
"Not at all," I responded. "I have enjoyed every nio- 
ment of the time and have, I warn j'ou,, come home with 
a ravenous appetite." 
"I hope your supper will suit you," she replied. "Won't 
you stop and have tea with us, John?" 
"No, thanks," answered the guide. "I must be getting 
home to look after my chores. I'll be 'round bright and 
early to-morrow," he added as he passed out into the 
road. "Perhaps we'll find something to make another 
good day for you." 
The good things that Mrs. Murray had provided for 
supper were soon discussed and they were enjoyed with 
the keenest relish. 
After the meal was ended and I had smoked my even- 
ing cigar on the porch, I joined the ladies in the cozy 
sitting room, and entertained them to the best of my 
ability with an account of the aphides I had seen in the 
afternoon, to which was added many other interesting 
facts in natural history which had at various times come 
under my observation. 
Black Sqairfels in Captivity. 
DeeppenEj Frimley Green, Surrey, England. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: I would like to say a few words in 
reply to the interesting letter of your Toronto corre- 
spondent on black squirrels. So far as I know he is the 
first person who has succeeded in inducing the squirrel 
to breed in any kind of confinement. I am a lover of 
squirrels and have several varieties, but when the "large 
jet-black squirrel" he writes of is the same species as 
the melanic variety of the gray squirrel which we have 
in New Y^ork, it is quite new to me, and if it be possible 
for him to send, me a pair of his squirrels I should like to 
arrange for it. If they could be induced to live in peace 
with our little English squirrel they would have the run 
of my pine woods and plenty of provender. If not. they 
wotdd have ample loft room like his. 
But your correspondent makes a very common mis- 
take about the teeth of the squirrel. I have raised muny 
from babyhood, and I have not found that soft food in- 
duces abnormal teeth. The squirrel keeps his teeth' down 
and sharp at the same time by grinding the upper and 
lower teeth against each other, and when the upper tooth 
is broken the lower will never grow unduly long. The 
wild squirrels who live in my wood come to the house for 
their food, and sometimes sit on the window bench to 
eat it, and I have five reared from bab es now in my 
study (one is trying to make ray pen away as I write), 
but they all, wild or tame, prefer bread at times to nuts. 
The Avild ones eat the bread I throw to the pigeons, and 
I have never found that my own are the worse for 
eating it. 
My gray squirrels will also at times prefer bread to 
nuts, but they, like the native squirrelb, never attempt 
to .store it away as they do nuts when thej' have more 
than they want to eat. W. J. Stillman. 
W"eig:hts of Animals. 
Of 158 woodchucks killed by Gen. DePeyster and Dr. 
Robert J. Carroll, in a year* s shooting in the neighbor- 
hood Monmouth Junction, N. J., the average weight was 
10 pounds, and the heaviest one weighed i^l4 pounds. 
Cottontails, as received in the New Y''ork market, aver- 
age pounds. 
American Ornithologists* Union. 
"The eighteenth congress of the American Ornitholo- 
gists' Union convened in Cambridge, Mass., Monday 
evening, Nov. 12. The business meeting was held in Mr. 
William Brewster's museum, and the public sessions, 
commencing Tuesday, Nov. 13, and lastmg three days, 
were held in the Nash lecture room of the University 
Museum. 
The active members present were : William Brewster, 
C. F. Batchelder and Montague Chaniberlain. of Cam- 
bridge; Drs. J. A. Allen, Jonathan Dwight, Jr., and 
Messrs. Frank M. Chapman , and William Dutcher, of 
New York city; Drs. Fisher and Merriam, and Messrs. 
E. W. Nelson and William Palmer, of Washington. D. 
C. ; Dr. A. P. Chadbourne and Messrs. Chas. B. Cory and 
H. A. Purdie, of Boston; D. G. Elliot and Ru'thven 
Deane, of Chicago; Witmer Stone, of Philadelphia; Dr. 
Thos. S. Roberts, of Minneapolis, and John H. Sage, of 
Portland, Conn. 
The associate members present during the sessions 
were ; Walter Deane, Geo. C. Deane. Geo. H. Mackay, 
Outram Bangs, Mr.s. Anna B. Phelps, Reginald Heber 
Howe Jr.. Walter R. Davis, Harry G. Higbee. Francis 
H. Allen. Owen Durfee. Geo. A. Morison. J. D. Sorn- 
berger. Bradford Torrey, Miss Helen A. Ball, Rev. 
Herbert W. Gleason, Manton Copeland, F. H. Mosher. 
J. A. Farley, Mrs. Ornida D. Hornbrooke, R. M. Strong. 
F. H. Kennard, Ralph Hoffman, W. P. Parker. E. H. 
Forbush and A. C. Bent, of Mas.sachusetts ; Dr^. T. S. 
Palmer and Wm. C. Rives, of Washington, D. C. ; Mrs. 
Elizabeth B. Davenport, of Vermont; Miss EHsa \V. 
Redfield, and Messrs. W. L, Baily and C. J. Pennock. of 
Pennsylvania; Glover M. Allen and Weaker ]\J. Buswell, 
of New Hampshire; Miss Lucy F. Myer- and Lnu s 
Agassiz Fuertes, of New Y''ork; Mrs. Mabel Osgood 
Wright, Rev. H. K. Job Judge John N. Clark, Dr. Louis 
B. Bishop and Wrllard G. Van Nanie. of Connecticut ; 
James S. Hine. of Ohio; Waldron D. W. Miller, of New 
Jersey; Arthur H. Norton and J. Morton Swain, of 
Maine. 
Dr. C. Hart Merriam was elected President; Chas, I' 
Cory and C. F. Batchelder, Vice-Presidents; John M. 
Sage, Secretary; William Dtitcher, Treasurer; Frank M. 
Chapman, Ruthven Deane, Jonathan Dwight, Jr., A. K. 
Fisher, E. W. Nelson, Thos. S. Roberts and Witmer 
Stone, Members of the Council. 
Dr. A. B. Meyer, of the Royal Museum, Dresden, was 
elected an honorary member, and Count E. Arrigoni 
Degli Oddi, Unversity of Padua, Italy, and Walter E. 
Bryant, of Santa Rosa. Cal., corresponding members. 
Sixty-nine associate members were elected. 
A change in the by-laws was proposed whereby the 
present class of active members shall be known as fel- 
lows; the present class of associate members to be known 
as associates, and to establish a class of membership in- 
termediate between fellows and associates, to be known as 
members. The matter will be- brought up for final action 
at the next congress of the Union, 
Tuesday morning Prof. D. G. Elliot gave a memorial 
address on Dr. Elliott Coues, ,with whom he had been on 
intimate terms for nearly forty years. Dr. Coues was a 
founder and active member of the Union, became 
eminent in science, and did much to stimulate interest in 
others. Dr. J, A. Allen followed with an address 011 
Geo. B. Sennett, also an active member, and a former 
Mayor of Meadville, Pa. Mr. Sennett contributed more 
than any one else to our knowledge of the ornitliolpgy of 
the Rio Grande region. 
The report of the Committee on Protection of North 
American Birds, read by its chairman, Mr, Witmer Stone, 
showed that satisfactory results had been obtained during 
the past year. One important feature was the protection 
of the gulls and terns along the coast, made possible by 
money secured through the efforts of Mr. Abbott H. 
Thayer. The report will be published in the Auk, the 
official organ of the Union, together with a supple- 
mentary one by Mr. William Dutcher, having special 
reference to his work among the gulls and terns in con- 
nection with the Thayer Fund. These reports will be 
reprinted as a separate pamphlet. 
Miss Juliette A, Owen, of St. Joseph, Mo., who so 
kindly remembered the Union at the last congress, sent 
an additional $100 this year. This will be added to a 
fund, the income of which is to be spent for the ad- 
vancement of the science of ornithology. 
A paper of important historical interest was Mr. Wit- 
mer Stone's "The American Ornithologists' Union of 
i840-'45," Through the courtesy of Miss Lucy H. Baird.the 
facts were obtained about the earlier ornithologists from 
letters written to her father, the late Spencer F. Baird. 
"Dooryard Ornithologjr," by Judge John N, Clark, was 
a well-presented paper on a popular phase of bird life. 
Mr. Clark's dooryard is i.n Saybrook, Conn., and in 
this restricted area he has noted the occurrence of more 
than one hundred species of birds. Perhaps the Rev. J. 
G. Wood had this locality in mind when he wrote that 
"We all know the extreme interest which attaches itself 
to minute and faithful records of the events which take 
place in some very limited sphere." 
The afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday were de- 
voted to papers illustrated with lantern slides — all show- 
ing what an aid photography now is to the study of the 
habits of birds. Dr. Merriam had a remarkable series 
of pictures, giving views of wonderful glaciers, as well 
as of bird life, gathered during the Harriman Expedi- 
tion along the coast of Alaska. 
On Friday, Nov. 16, after adjournment of the Union, 
Mr. William Brewster conducted a party of eighteen to 
his camp on the river at Concord, Mass. Luncheon was 
served and the day was passed pleasantly by all. 
The congress just closed was one long to be remem- 
bered, for nothing could exceed the cordial welcome 
shown by the local committee and by the members of the 
Nuthall Ornithological , Club. 
The next annual meeting will be in New York city, com- 
mencing Nov. II. 1901. 
Following is a list of the papers read at the sessions : 
1. In Memoriam: Elliott Coues. D. G. Elliot. 
2. In Memoriam: George B. Sennett. J. A. Allen. 
3. The Sequence of Moults and Plumages of the Laridce 
(Gulls and Terns). Jonathan Dwight, Jr. 
[Dec. i, 1900. 
4. A Study of the Genus Sturnella. Frank M, Chap- 
man. 
5. The Pterylosis of Podargus : With Further Notes on 
the Pterylograpliy of the Caprimulgidae. Hubert Lyman 
Clark. 
6. The Moult of the Narth American Shore Birds 
{Liynicola) . Jonathan Dwight, Jr. 
7. Nesting of the Yellow-headed Blackbird, Illustrated 
by lantern slides. Thomas S. Roberts. 
8. Among the Terns at Muskeget. and on the New 
Jersey Coast. Illustrated by lantenr slides. Wm. L. 
Baily. 
9. The Season of 1900 at the Magdalen Islands; With 
Remarks on Bird Photography. Illustrated by lantern 
slides. Herbert K. Job. 
10. Field Notes on a Few New England Birds. Illus- 
trated by lantern slides. William Brewster. 
11. Dooryard Ornithology. John N. Clark. 
12. The "American Ornithologists' Union", of i840-'45. 
Witmer Stone. 
13. Notes on the Spring Migration (1900) at Scar- 
borough, N. Y. Louis Agassiz Fuertes. 
14. Exhibition of Unpublished Water-color Paintings 
of Birds. Louis Agassiz Fuertes. 
15. Impressions of Some Hawaiian Birds. H. W. Hen- 
shaw. 
1 6. A visit to the Birthplace of Audubon. O. Wid- 
mann. 
17. Natural History of the Alaskan Coast. Illustrated 
by lantern slides. C. Hart Merriam. 
18. Notes on a Nest of Massachusetts Brown Creepers. 
Illustrated by lantern slides. A. P. Chadbotirne. 
19. Bird Studies with a Camera. Illustrated by lantern 
slides. Frank M. Chapman. 
20. Exhibition of Lantern Shdes of Bird«, Birds'* Nests 
and Nesting Haunts from Nature. Members. 
21. Aptosochromatism, A reply to Drs. Dwight and 
.Mien. Francis J. Birtwell. 
22. On the Breeding Habits of Leconte's Sparrow. P. 
B. Peabody. • " 
23. On the Value of Careful Observations of Birds' 
Habits. Edward H. Forbush. 
24. Breeding of the Cerulean Warbler Near Baltimore, 
Frank C. Kirkwood. 
25. Report of the A. O. U. Committee on the Protection, 
of North American Birds. Witmer Stone. 
26. Results of Special Protection to Gulls and Terns 
Obtained Through the Thayer Fund. ■ Illustrated. 
27. The Enforcement of the Lacey Act T. S. Palmer. 
Sea Gulls as Weather Signals. 
Passaic, N. J., Nov. 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The note in Forest and Stream the other day about sea 
gulls in the river has a commentary in this experience 
related by Mr. H. H. Thompson, of this city, in the 
Passaic Press : 
Everybody- and his wife noticed the fine Wfeatliei" of 
Election Day, The writer on his way to the city in the 
morning observed the luiusual clearness of the atmos- 
phere. I could see with distinctness objects at a distance 
which are hardly discernible in ordinary weather. Not a 
cloud Avas to be seen in the blue sky. which reminded me 
of the peculiar cloudless blue- sky which overhung the 
Middle Park of Colorado during my weeTc's horseback ride 
in September a few years ago. There was not the slight- 
est indication of the near approach of the violent storm 
which surprised us the evening of the very next day. 
Without the least idea of competing with the famous 
weather seer of Hackensack, I can truthfully claim to 
have foretold the sudden change, and here is the secret of 
my success as a weather prophet. In crossing the Twenty- 
third street ferry I noticed quite a flock of sea gulls sit- 
ting in the water while many others were sailing at such 
an unusual height that I went forward to the bow for 
better observation, where I was soon joined by a truck 
driver, who asked me if I knew what the gulls were 
predicting, adding that he had crossed that ferry every 
week-day for seven years, and that he had learned for a 
dead certainty that when the birds flew about, at such a 
great height and came sailing down and alighted in the 
water, a storm was brewing. He said that in liis ob- , 
servations during these years he' had not in a .single in- 
stance known the signal to fail. 
The Opossum in New York, 
Oswego, N. Y"., Nov.' 4. — The Palladium published 
here, reports that Mr. Orb. Parmley, who lives near 
Minetto, went coon hunting yesterday and succeeded in 
capturing a possum that weighed about 25 pounds. The 
capture was made near Battle Island. 
I saw the possum to-day, and was told on what seems 
good authority that two others were killed near the same 
place two years ago. Is it not very unusual for these ani- 
mals to be found so far north? Battle Lsland is about 
four miles south of this city. Subscriber. 
[The record is a far northern one for the range of the 
opossum. The weight must have . been greatly over- 
estimated. Perhaps that is what the game seemed to 
weigh after Mr. Parmley had lugged it five miles.] 
The October Woodcraft. 
The October number of the Game Laws in Brief and Woodcraft 
Magazine contains the game and fish laws of the United States 
and Canada. The Woodcraft part has this capital list of con- 
tents : 
GRAN'THER HILL'S PA'TRIDGE. By Rowland J£, Robinson. 
IN THE FOREST. 
THE OLD CANOE. 
THE RESCUE OF MR. HUNDLEY. 
KELLUP'S ANNUAL. By Jefferson Scribb. 
DEACON THROPE'S PIGEONS. 
ANY LETTERS FOR ME? By H. P. LXfifbrd. 
TEHOSSEE ISLAND. By Olive F. Gtmby. 
FLORIDA INDIAN DEER HUNTERS. 
AT CLOSE QUARTERS: The Hen. S., the Plover and the Bull; 
A Nova Scotia Bear; The Panther's Scream; A Time with a 
Florida Allig-ator; The Owl's Swoop; The Dog Climbed. 
THE DOG AND THE TURKEY. By John Tames Audubon. 
SENATOR VEST'S SUNDAY PIGEON SHOOT. 
AUSTRALIAN ROUGH-RIDERS. By R. Boldrewood. 
The "Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication sliould reach us at the 
latest by MondaT uid aa mucli earlier aa praetioable^ 
