June 22, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
48 B 
the new growtli in being planted where, during the earlier 
period of its life, it will be protected from the too fervent 
rays of the sun. 
So well recognized is the fact thtrt the deciduous trees 
can best be propagated and grown when shade in some 
form is provided them, that for many years German and 
English arboriculturists have provided evergreen shade 
and shelter trees for their young oak plantations. Thus 
it happens in nature's workings, that when a grove or 
forest of evergreens is felled it is succeeded principally 
by a deciduous growth. 
Anually the squirrels plant the nuts, the sprouts start 
up and live two, three or even more years, according to 
the density of the shade above them, and then they die, for 
tr»o nnich shade after a certain period is fatal to them. 
This ])lanting of the nuts and the early dying of the 
sprouts go on year after year, steadily and constantly, un- 
til the time comes for the pines to die. when their dense 
shade lieing removed, the sprouts which had found one 
or two or three years' protection in it, start up with the 
greatest vigor and rapidity of growth. 
"But it is growing late," exclaimed the Doctor, as we 
reached the border of the blackberry patch. "There seems 
to be no grouse in this neighborhood, and we had better 
work our way toward home; the young ladies will be 
expecting us." 
Our steps were now turned toward the falls, John lead- 
ing the way through the thick undergrovvtii and over 
windfalls and decaying logs. An occasional hare was 
started from its lurking place or "form," and one was not 
qiMte quick enoi:gh to elude my aim. 
The hares that abound in the woods of Nova Scotia 
are known as the great Northern hare. Unlike the brown 
hare (often, but improperly, called rabbit) of southern 
New England, it is strictly an inhabitant of the woods, 
and very seldom ventures inlo fields and cultivated tracts. 
In winter i! seems to prefer the swamps, where its paths 
are seen running in all directions. In summer it avoids 
such localities, choosing higher ground at all times, being 
fond of a thick undergrowth of young evergreens. So 
abundant is it in Nova Scotia that the writer has seen 
inany wagon loads of them carried to market. On being 
hunted by dogs, it often doubles on its tracks, and thus 
sometinies eludes its pursuers. It does not take refuge 
in holes in the earth as does the common rabbit on being 
hard pressed, but depends entirely on its fleetness and 
strength and the thickness of the covert. Its flesh, though 
rather dry, is generally palatable, but in winter, when it • 
feeds on spruce and hemlock twigs and bark, it is far from 
attractive. In fact, .specimens that I have shot in winter 
were sO' strongly flavored with this food that even in a 
highly seasoned stew they were absolutely repulsive; in 
trying to eat them, the flavor seemed almost as strong as 
turpentine. 
The hare does not move around in the day time very 
much, but remains concealed beneath a clump of bushes 
or beneath a windfall or mass of rock. 
It has innumerable enemies, and it forms the principal 
food of tl>e lynx, fox, various species of owls and other 
rapacious animals and birds. Were it not very prolific 
it would soon be exterminated. The young are usually 
live or six in number, and two families are born in a 
year. The color of its fur changes from a light yellowish 
brown or buff in summer to white in winter. 
At the falls the young ladies with overflowing baskets 
were awaiting our return, and we were soon on our way, 
homeward bound. The road led through a long stretch of 
maples and birches, their foliage showing brightly against 
the somber hemlocks and other evergreens which occasion- 
ally sprang up among them. 
"The frost was pretty keen here," said the Doctor; "the 
maples are becoming brilliant and the ferns show that the 
touch nf the avant courier of winter has been laid upon 
them," 
"I wish it had been laid on some of the.se mosquitoes 
that are continually flying in my face," exclaimed Edna, 
petulently. "I did not expect to tind any in September." 
"There will be a few left until the cold weather comes," 
replied the Doctor, "but they will not be very troublesome 
— in fact, those which are hovering about us are chiefly 
males, which do not bite us." 
"Can it be possible that the females only are the tor- 
mentors ?" 
"Yes; the females are the misery producers among mos- 
quitoes." 
"Awful nuisances they are," said Phcebe. "I never 
coidd understand why they were created." 
"The mosquito has its mission," replied the Doctor, . 
"Tt is, during most of its life, an aquatic insect, and it is 
then that its iisefulness is apparent, for at that period of 
its existence it subsists on various animalculae which 
render the water impure, and consequently injm-ious to 
man and otiier animals." 
"Really, I had no idea that the pest was ever of any 
benefit to anything." 
"Yes; I have no dottbt it is of considerable benefit, al- 
though I feel sometimes that its attacks on us more than 
offset all the good it does." 
The life history of the mosquito is far from uninterest- 
ing. The female lays her eggs in the spring and early 
summer. I have never seen the act performed, but it has 
been stated by an entomologist, who witnessed it. that she 
rests on a bit of grass or leaf on the top of the water, 
clinging to it by her first and second pairs of legs; the 
third pair she crosses behind her like the letter x. The 
first egg is caught and held between her legs, then another 
and another are fastened to the first by the gum that 
covers them, until fifteen or twenty have been arranged 
side by side like seeds in the head of a sunflower. The 
writer further states that when the mass becomes too 
heavy for her to support, she lowers it upon the water, 
but still holds it by putting her feet on either side, until 
two or three hundred eggs have been laid. The whole 
mass is shaped somewhat like a canoe, and is about as 
large as a grain of wheat. We can often see these tiny 
black boats floating on the top of a stagnant pool of water ; 
the life within the eggs is not destroyed even if the water 
freezes. 
If the weather is warm, the eggs hatch in three or four 
days, and each one sends a wiggler down into the 
water through a bole in the bottom. The little mite or 
larva swims about and ever and anon hangs himself by his 
tail to the surface, leaving the tip out of the water. The 
reason it does this is, the tube through which it breathes 
is not in its head, but at the tip of its tail; this ends in a 
few hairs, which spread out in a star-like form and are 
oiled to repel the water. 
The larvas mosquito soon changes into the pupa form. 
It now breathes through its ears, or rather tubes that look 
like ear,?, which are thrust a little out of the water; its 
tail resembles that of a fish, and by it it can move at will 
through the water. In this stage of its existence it re- 
mains about fifteen days, and then, another change takes 
place. The pupa rises to the surface and thrusts out its 
head and shoulders, and then burst its skin. The filmy 
wings now appear, but the insect instinctively remains 
MOSQUITO MAGNIFIED. 
1. Insect depositing eggs. 2. Insect escaping from pupa case, 
3. Larva of mosquito. 4. IHoating raft of eggs. 
quiet until they and its slender legs are dry. When they 
are ready for use it leaps into the air, a singing, full- 
fledged insect. 
"In the larval form," continued the Doctor, "it feeds 
upon decaying matter and micro-organisms; it is stated 
that it rids the stagnant pools of microbes which produce 
miasmatic fevers ; it also eats a variety of animalculae, and 
it has been known to seize and kill yoimg fishes. When it 
changes to the piipa form it apparently does not eat." 
"It eats all right when full grown," added John. "I've 
always wondered what it fed on when no animals were 
round to furnish it a meal." 
"Probably it sucks the juices of plants," was the reply, 
"or perhaps it does not feed at all, if it cannot obtain 
the food it desires." 
"The sucking or biting apparatus of this insect is quite 
interesting. It consists of six bristle-like organs which 
are inclosed in another called the labium ; these are thrust 
into the skin and then into the flesh of the victim, until 
they are- sunk their entire length. Gosse, the eminent 
microscopist, in describing the process, says : 'When the 
array of lancets is introduced into the flesh, you are aware 
that a tumor is left, which by its smart, itching and in- 
flammation, causes much distress, and lasts many hours. 
Head and proboscis of female mosquito as seen under the 
microscope. The reticulation on each side of the head shows the 
space occupied by the eyes. 
Proboscis and lancets of female mosquito as seea "-"^er the 
microscope, a, Labium; b.b., mandibles; c.c, maxillce: c, .jngue; 
e, labrum. . ^ 
This effect is probably produced partly by the deep pene- 
tration of the instruments, for they are fully one-sixth of 
an inch in length, and they are inserted to their very 
base, and partly by the injection of a poisonous fluid, in- 
tended, as has been conjecturally suggested, to dilute the 
blood and make it more readily flow up the capillary tubes. 
The channel through which this fluid is injected is prob- 
ably the tongue, which is permeated by a tube containing 
a fluid, and the same channel may afford ingress to the 
diluted blood.'* 
"The labium does not enter the wound. If you have 
ever had the philosophic patience to watch a mosquito 
while puncturing your hand, you have observed that the 
knob at the end of the proboscis is applied to the skin, and 
that then the organ bends with an angle more and more 
acute, until at length it forms a double line, being folded 
on itself, so that the base is brought into close proximit}' 
to the skin. Meanwhije the lancets have all been plunged 
in, and are now sunk into your flesh to their very bottom, 
while the labium which formed merely the sheath for the 
whole, is bent up upon itself, ready again to assume its 
*Recent experiments at Havana have proved conclusively that 
the yellow fever is communicated by the bite of the mosquito, and 
well authenticated cases of other diseases being spread in like 
manner are recorded. 
straight form, as soon as the disengaged lancets require 
its protection." 
A writer in the Strand Magazine, in describing the 
habits of the mosquito, says: 
"You can best observe the mosquito in action by letting 
one settle undisturbed on the back of your hand and wait- 
ing while she fills herself with your blood. You can 
easily watch her doing so with a pocket lens. Like tha 
old lady in 'Pickwick,' she is soon 'swelling wisibly.' She 
gorges herself with blood, indeed, which she straightway 
digests, assimilates and converts into three hundred eggs. 
But if while she is sucking you gently and unobtrusively 
tighten the skin of your hand by clinching your fist hard 
you will find that she cannot any longer withdraw her 
mandibles. They are caught fast in your flesh by their 
own harpoonlike teeth, and there she must stop accord- 
ingly till you choose to release her. If you then kill her 
in the usual manner by a .smart slap of the hand, you 
will see that she is literally full of blood, having sucked a 
good drop of it. 
"The humming sound itself by which the mosquito an- 
riotinces her approaching visit is produced in two dis- 
tinct manners. The deeper notes which go to make up her 
droning song are due to the rapid vibration of the female 
insect's wings as she flies, but the higher and shriller notes 
of the complex melody are due to special stridulaling 
organs situated like little drums on the openings of the air 
tubes. 
"The curious mosquito music thus generated by the little 
drums serves almost beyond a doubt as a means of 
attracting male mosquitoes, for it is Ijnown that the long 
hairs on the antennae of the males vibrate sympathetically 
in unison with the notes of a tuning fork within the 
range of the sounds emitted by the female. In other 
words, hair and drums just answer to one another. We 
may therefore reasonably conclude that the female sings 
in order to please and attract her wandering mate, and 
that the antennae of the male are organs of hearing which 
catch and respond to the buzzing music she pours forth 
for ■ her lover's ears. A whole swarm of gnats can be 
brought down, indeed, by uttering the appropriate note of 
the race. You can call them somewhat as you can male 
glowworms by showing a light which they mistake for 
the female." 
"It is only when it is the 'little wiggler' just hatched 
from the egg, then, that the mosquito is beneficial," said 
Phoebe. "What a pity it is that it does not always remain 
a wiggler." 
"There must be more than one kind of mosquito," said 
John. "I have certainly seen several varieties." . . 
"Yes," replied the Doctor ; "there are over thirty North - 
American species, and some of them are terribly blood- 
thirstJ^" 
Ocean Waifs, 
A NUMBER of instances have been recorded of land birds 
appearing near vessels far out at sea, and apparently over- 
come with fatigue, they would perch for several hours in 
the rigging before proceeding on their journey; or, des- 
perate with hunger, would fly fearlessly down to the deck, 
where food and water is never refused them. Small events 
like these are welcome breaks in the monotony of a long 
ocean voyage, but are soon forgotten at the end of the 
trip. Two of these ocean waifs have recently been pre- 
sented to the New York Zoological Park, and are on 
exhibition in the bird house. One is a young European 
heron (Ardea cinerea), the gift of Capt. G. E. Warner, of 
the steamship Glencartney. The bird flew on board his 
vessel when about 205 miles southwest of Cape Cormorin, 
the southern extremity of India, but did not appear tired 
out, although it had probably not rested since leaving, the 
land. A storm must have driven it seaward, as there is no 
migration route near this locality. The heron's wing was 
clipped ,and it proceeded to make itself entirely at home, 
and, showing a fierce and aggressive disposition, was 
confined most of the time in the potato bin, which it 
defended so vigorously against the inroads of the cook 
that the latter received several wounds from the bird's 
beak while attempting to secure the daily ration of 
potatoes. 
The second bird is a' European turtle dove (Turtur 
turtur), which was captured not less than 750 miles from 
the nearest land — Ireland. On May 27 it flew on board the 
steamship Phoenicia of the Hamburg-American Line, and 
was cared for and presented to thp park by Capt. Paul 
Froehlich. It was in an exhausted condition when caught, 
but quickly recovered, and at present is in beautiful plu- 
mage, showing no signs of the buffeting of the storm which 
it must have undergone. The turtle dove migrates north-, 
ward to the British Islands about the first of May, but. as 
this bird was captured on May 17, it was not 'migrating, 
but, caught by a gust of wind, was probabh'^ blown away 
from the land. The force of the storm would then drive 
it mile after mile, allowing it no chance of controlling 
the direction of its flight, but, from the very velocity, ma- 
king it easy for the bird to maintain its equilibrium. 
Hundreds of brds must perish when left by storms far 
out at sea, and the infinitely small chance of a vessel or 
other resting place being in sight makes a bird which has 
passed through stxch an experience and survived an in- 
teresting addition to a collection. — New York Evening 
Post. 
Bieedmgf the Wild Pigfeon. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
May I suggest that the reason why Prof. C. O. Whit- 
man has had so little success in breeding wild pigeons 
(vide his letter to Mr. C. H. Ames, yours 15th inst.. page 
464) is that his breeding stock is infertile from too intense 
breeding? 
Prof. Whitman says that his stock comes from a pair 
obtained by a Mr. Whitaker twenty years since. Neces- 
sarily any existing descendants must be intensely mbred, 
and the fact that too long continued inbreeding impairs 
fertility seems thoroughly established, at least in connec- 
tion with dogs, as was conclusively shown by Dr. J. 
Sydney Turner, of London, England, some years since. 
And it also seems well established that the most in- 
tensely inbred bitch will breed freely if mated with a 
totally unrelated male, more especially if that male be of 
another breed of dogs; therefore it would seem that the 
course for Prof. Whitman to pursue is to procure a cock 
pigeon from some other source than the one his stock 
came from. W. Wade. 
