Maxch i6, 19014 
FOr^ESt AND STREAM. 
§08 
physical magnitudes, to "pale their ineffectual fires" in 
comparison. 
In the field of functional activities, while their phenom- 
ena are among the most common of our experiences and 
observations, their cause and motive power is just as in- 
scrutible to human perceptions as the life principle itself 
of which they are inferentially merely attributes. We can 
form no conception of the power nor process by which 
oak germs make oak trees and chestnut germs make 
chestnut trees out of the same chemical substances, nor 
how hog germs produce hogs and human germs produce 
men out of the same food. Neither can we know any- 
thing of the functional workings of the stomach, of the 
brain, the heart, the lungs, the liver and the whole en- 
semble of the bodily organs ; nor of vegetable root "tips," 
nor the leaves, nor of the power that raises water from 
the ground to the tops of trees. Then there is the force 
we call "gravity" and "electricity" and "magnetism," of 
molecular attraction and repulsion, to which we have 
merely given meaningless names, knowing absolutely 
nothing of their nature nor the processes of their activities. 
Here is where science must stop and philosophic specu- 
lation may revel ad libitum. In this mysterious domain 
Col. Alexander is at liberty to enthrone his "guiding in- 
telligence"— his "sub," "alter" or "anti," "ego." whose 
awful mills shall continually grind out "blue prints" and 
whose ready messengers shall constantly fly to the "utter- 
most parts of the earth" and the realms of boundless 
space, with fresh promptings to hawkdom to meet particu- 
lar contingencies, etc., and there is none to say him nay. 
But the necessity is not apparent of installing any of 
the egos to manage the details of the processes of evolu- 
tion, nor of investing organisms with "innate intelli- 
gence" as a substitute for heredity, the operations of whose 
laws are plainly discernible and the accepted theories con- 
cerning which are based upon ascertained or clearly in- 
ferential facts. 
Heredity. 
Col. Alexander makes war upon the law of heredity, and 
cites the fact that corporeal mutilations, both of brutes and 
human kind, for perhaps "a thousand generations," have 
failed to leave their impress in hereditary transmission. 
Well, a "thousand generations" is a very long term. 
According to the conventional estimate of the length of a 
generation it would extend over about 33,000 years, ex- 
ceeding by five or six times any period coming within the 
scope of human retrospection. 
But there are two objections to this argument. One, 
suggested above, is that any period of time that could 
come within human contemplation as a basis of deduc- 
tions upon the question of evolution would be but as a 
drop of time in the great ocean of the ages that must have 
elapsed since the process of organic evolution began. 
The other objection is that hereditary transmissions 
are, of inherent tendencies, the effect of long persisting 
agencies of environment and not of individual peculiar- 
ities resulting from extraneous agencies intermittently 
applied. Thus, the dog in a cold climate might be shorn 
of his hair for many consecutive generations, and yet the 
effort of nature would be not to perpetuate a defect mili- 
tating against the preservation of species, but to remedy it. 
The remedial effort, not the defect, might acquire the 
quality of hereditary transmission, under the compelling 
influence of the demands of environment. But transplant 
the dog to a tropical climate and in the course of time he 
may become hairless, in obedience to the requirements of 
a new environment, a modification that is transmitted by 
heredity. Restore the hairless dog to his original cold 
climate and for a time he will continye to transmit his 
hairless feature to posterity, but by degrees he will resume 
his former coat, more befitting the cold climate, through 
, the agency of natural evolution. 
The inherent tendencies are responsive to demands of 
environment; the extraneous agencies with destructive 
tendency are antagonistic to such demands. The former 
may become hereditary, the latter may not. 
In combatting the idea of instinct transmitted by 
heredity, Col. Alexander cites as a conclusive argument 
the fact that_ children do not inherit fear of fire, though 
the fact that it will burn has been known to their progeni- 
tors for many generations. But neither do they inherit 
fear of water, nor of the prick of a needle, though their 
ancestors have long known that water will drown and the 
needle prick produce pain. 
In the first place it is unfair to assume that because 
"children" do not manifest fear of certain evils there has 
been no transmitted instinct in that direction; because 
the childish mind is still in the formative stage and must 
reach some certain stage of development before it acquires 
all the furniture of the parent mind. 
The distinction, however, is i>lain between that class 
of experiences which implant hereditary instincts of more 
or less strength, and the class above cited that do not. 
For example, fire and water are not aggressive evils, con- 
stituting a constant menace to the well being of man- 
kind, and requiring unremitting assiduity in measures of 
defense against them. On the contrary, they are familiar 
objects of utility, that can do no harm except when their 
own domain is invaded, a contingency that is generally 
easily avoided. 
As an example of the other class of experiences, let us 
consider man's attitude toward the serpent tribe. The 
repugnance and dread felt by mankind toward the whole 
serpent family possesses a universality that stamps the 
feeling as an inherited instinct, and it is probably true that 
the instinct is more pronounced in the adult mind than 
in the adolescent or infant stage. 
The experiences that should implant such an instinctive 
feeling of dread and repugnance toward all forms of snake 
life would probably be something like the following : In 
the earlier stages of man's development from the animal 
state, or perhaps beginning at an earlier period in the 
history of the race, long antedating the paleolithic, and 
for innumerable generations thereafter, his dwelling was 
in a climate and with surroundings where deadly ser- 
pents abounded exceedingly and constituted his most for- 
midable enemy as being most difficult to guard against. 
The most prominent characteristic of the serpent habit is 
that of lurking, lying in wait and eluding observation 
until the victim unwittingly comes within reach. It is a 
fact known to the writer from personal observation that 
the rattlesnake possesses the power to so simulate in 
colors the surrounding objects as to be invisible to the 
eye of an observer at a short distance, and without ob- 
struction to the view, and then suddenly to flash upon 
the vision with startling distinctness. 
This ever-present menace to the safety of the man- 
animal, or animal-man, under aggravated conditions of 
exposure with slight means of defense, requiring con- 
stant vigilance as the price of immunity, and that but 
partially effective, must have, with long persistence, left 
the impress on his mental machinery, which we find still 
present as an instinct, and bearing a close analogy to that 
propensity so conspicuous in the horse, to shy away from 
wayside objects that might have concealed his deadliest 
foe, lying in wait to spring upon its defenseless prey. 
The fear of man for harmless serpents, and the fear of 
the horse toward innocent bushes thousands of years after 
they have ceased to be legitimate objects of dread, cannot 
be from the suggestion of a "sub-ego," nor from the 
promptings of an "innate intelligence," but must be the 
survivals of deeply implanted instincts, resulting from long 
exposure to dangers that menaced racial existence. Col. 
Alexander holds that each of his "sub-egos" is endowed 
with just sufficient intelligence, "no more and no less." to 
enable it to survive in the struggle for existence. But 
what of the millions that failed to survive in that severe 
struggle? Were they endowed with a little, less than 
sufficient intelligence, and if so why were they so dis- 
crirninated against? Col. Alexander says, "The strongest 
instincts and passions, and those of most universal pos- 
session and lifelong activity, seem to gain no increase of 
strength in a thousand generations, while many very ob- 
scure and subtle instincts, often entirely dormant through 
many generations, still persist in unabated vigor." 
It is not clear what bearing the above statement has 
upon the questions at issue, but the first assumption in 
the sentence may be challenged on the ground of a lack of 
means of information by wliich to verify it. The process 
of instinct formation must have been so exceedingly slow 
that no duration of time coming within human observa- 
tion would be sufficient to justify such a deduction. 
In Mark Twain's "Innocents Abroad" he humorously 
relates that he and his party took passage on a glacier 
near the summit of Mont Blanc to ride down to the 
valley below. After waiting an hour he inquired when the 
glacier would start, and was informed that it moved at 
the rate of eight inches a day. So they abandoned that 
mode of conveyance. Birds and animals, if capable of 
such a degree of ratiocination, would conclude that the 
glacier did not progress. The application of this is 
obvious. 
As to the second statement quoted, it may be assumed 
that the conditions that produced the dormant instincts 
have long since ceased, and only upon the fitful recur- 
rence of similar conditions are they again aroused, a kind 
of atavism that may possibly account for the readiness 
with which the red-shouldered hawks responded to un- 
usual demands upon their procreative functions. 
Blue Prints. 
The "blue print" theory must assume not only a pre- 
conception of ultimate types (for who can say when ulti- 
mate types are to be reached?), but a blue print must 
have been made of every momentary stage in the long 
process of development of every organic form — a con- 
ception that utterly beggars the powers of the human 
mtellect to comprehend. Otherwise we must get back 
to the yard master conception of lever pulling every in- 
stant in the process, or the "mills of the gods" con- 
stantly grinding out new "blue prints" with the rapidity 
ot electro-photography. The "sub-ego" must have for 
its guidance fresh patterns in endless variety, momentarily 
supplied, for tlie multitudinous steps in the onward prog- 
ress of evolution. 
It is true that Col. Alexander hints at a sort of auton- 
omy of the innumerable "sub-egoes" with which the 
organs of plants and animals are supposed to be en- 
dowed ; but they must either be supplied with "blue prints" 
from a higher source or have blue print apparatus of their 
own. This appears to me a narrower conception than 
that embodied in the views I have endeavored to express 
above— -that is. that all natural phenomena, even those 
whose specific cause and character we cannot comprehend, 
are under the control of well defined and unvarving law, 
the source and authority of which we can never know 
anything, however we may indulge in ingenious specula- 
tions on these deep subjects; and the best we can hope to 
do in relation thereto is for each individual who cares to 
do so to frame for himself a "working hypothesis" which 
best satisfies the demands of his own mind workings. 
Since writing the foregoing, I have read Mr. Arthur 
Erwin Brown's very interesting recital of experiments 
with snakes upon monkeys, from which the instinctive fear 
of snakes in monkeydom appears to be fully established. 
Co.'\HOM-'V. 
Albino Hawks. 
Yuma, Ariz., March i.— Referring to the note of Mr. 
Ruthven Deane, in Forest and Stream of Feb. 9, on 
albinism in the red-tailed hawk (B. borealis), I have to 
say that about ten years ago I had just such a bird. It had 
been shot by a Mexican and slightly injured in the left 
wing. It was an almost pure albino and a most mag- 
nificent looking bird. I had it alive for several months, 
and although I planned many times to kill it and make up 
the .skin, I had not the heart to do so, and in the end I 
lost it altogether. I foolishly allow^ed myself to be talked 
out of it by a friend, by whom it was kept for nearly a 
year. Eventually it escaped and was never again seen by 
either of us. I spent much time and some money in 
trying to again find it, for I much regretted the loss of 
so beautiful a specimen. I hired a number of boys to 
locate or kill it for me, and every man I saw with a gun 
I told of my lost bird, but it seemed to have dropped 
out of sight altogether. It had been taken on the Santa 
Cruz, about twelve miles above Tucson. But for a 
faint waving of red near the base of the tail and a few 
flecks on the side just under the edge of the wing, the 
bird was a pure white. Later I saw another in the foot- 
hills of the Santa Gatalina Mountains, in the vicinity of 
Tanque Verde, but it had a dirty yellowish appearance 
and was very wild.^ Herbert Brown. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Monday and as much earlier as practicable. 
Wild Ducks Breeding in New York. 
New Russia, N. Y., March 6.~Editor Forest and 
Stream: I will briefly state what I have seen in regard 
to the breeding of wild ducks in New York State at the 
present time, and also twenty or more years ago. 
Within the last ten years I have made it a practice to 
visit Lake Champlain iii summer at least twice or more 
times each month on fishing and boating excursions, and 
also have been around certain streams and lakes of the 
Adirondacks, my home being in the central part of Essex 
county. In all this time I cannot recall the memory of 
seeing a flock of young ducks in Lake Champlain or in 
the Adirondacks, neither have I seen any nests. Before 
this time the ducks bred plentifully in the Adirondacks 
on almost every lake and small pond and on every stream 
that had any still stretches of water having wooded or 
bushy banks. 
I have lately made some inquiries in regard to the 
matter, and the answers have been about the same as the 
above statement, although one man says that for the 
last two years he has seen one or two broods of young 
ducks on Lincoln Pond in Essex county. This pond is 
mostly in the woods, and is associated with a great 
marsh. I used to hunt ducks on this pond years ago. 
Hundreds of ducks were there then. Now there is nothing 
worth going for. I have visited and passed by the pond 
many times in the past few years in the summer, but did 
not see any ducks. 
There is a trout stream near my home with a mill dam 
on my farm which sets the water back and makes quite a 
stretch of still water. Twenty years ago black and wood 
ducks raised a brood or two every year. I have seen their 
nests not fifty rods from my house. When trout fishing I 
used to see young ducks in different places on this stream 
(Boquet River), also on nearly every small pond or 
lake throughout the North Woods. 
To sum up, I would say that the use of a little cwn- 
mon sense ought to settle the question of the evil of 
spring shooting of ducks. The spring flight of ducks are 
what IS left after the shooting of both North and South 
throughout the preceding autumn and winter. They are 
the only seed saved, or left, for tlie next year's crop. 
These ducks come north in the spring for the purpose of 
setting up housekeeping and raising a family. The prac- 
tice of destroying them at this time is disastrous. This 
ought to go without saying. For instance, what would 
be the result of legalizing the catching of trout when 
they first gathered on their spawning grounds, allowing 
the public to destroy the only seed (for another crop) 
that was left over from the last season's fishing? I cannot 
but think that our Legislature has sense enough to settle 
this question aright. Bainbridge Bishop. 
Syracuse, N. Y., March S-— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Seeing your request for information on the subject of 
wild ducks breeding in this State, I offer the following: 
Last summer while looking for some feathers suitable 
for fly-tying, I found an English sparrow's nest in the 
West Shore Railroad Station at Cazenovia, Madison coun- 
ty, N. Y. On pulling it to pieces I found about twenty- 
five or thirty feathers like the sample No, i inclosed. 
These are very similar to the No. 2 breast feathers of a 
mallard, only they are a trifle darker. The station is 
situated about 100 yards from a large swamp and about 
the same distance from Cazenovia Lake, which is about 
four miles long and three-fourths of a mile wide. I do 
not understand where ,the sparrows got these feathers 
unless it was from a deserted nest. A wood duck is 
known to have had a nest five years ago at the head of 
the lake, about four miles from the station. 
I believe in giving the ducks fair play, and hope the 
law which you advocate will be passed. W. M. F. 
[The feathers sent us by our Syracuse correspondent 
are undoubtedly those of the male and female mallard, 
but It would be difiicult for any one to say whether they 
were from wild or domesticated birds. And even if from 
wild birds, their presence would not be satisfactory evi- 
dence of the breeding of the mallard near Syracuse, since 
the feathers might have been shed by migrating birds on 
the surface of the lake, blown ashore and later picked up 
by the sparrows,] 
The Gaming- of the Birds. 
MiLHURST, N. J., March ^.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
Saw a bluebird for the first time this year, Feb. 26; 
on March 3, Sunday, saw a red-wing blackbird and two 
robins for the first; also several bluebirds, and March 3 
gathered several spathes of the swamp cabbage in a little 
ravine having a southern exposure. I see by my journal 
that I found a bunch of violets in bloom on Oct. 26 of 
last year. This morning I have seen several red-wing 
blackbirds, several bluebirds and quite a number of brown 
hedge sparrows. A. L. Lyon. 
Various explanations have been suggested for the fact 
that most flat fish have the dorsal or upper surface col- 
ored, and the ventral or lower surface white. It has 
been said that the white ventral surface protects the fish, 
for the surrounding water with the light shining through 
it has about the same tint, and so an enemy floating 
below and looking up could not distinguish him. Recent 
interesting experiments to discover the influence of sun- 
light on the color of flat fish are noted in the Revue 
Scientifique. Having placed a few young fish in a glass 
vessel, the experimenter covered the sides and top of the 
vessel, placed it on a support, and beneath it so arranged 
a mirror that the sunlight was reflected into the water 
and illuminated the ventral faces of the fish, while the 
dorsal faces were in darkness. The natural conditions 
were thus reversed. The water was frequently changed 
and the fish were well fed. At the same time similar fish 
were placed m a glass vessel and exposed to the light in 
the usual way. The result was that out of thirty fish 
exposed to the sunlight from below, only three remained 
like those in the ordinary glass vessel, and the others 
developed greater or less quantities of pigment cells on 
the ventral face. This indicates that light has an im- 
portant influence on the color of animals, but it evidently 
IS not the only influence to be considered, since some 
animals whose habitat is dark have color. 
