October, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
549 
advance of the white settlers. The In- 
dians therefore call them the white man’s 
fly, and consider their approach as indi- 
cating the approach of the settlements 
of the whites.” 
A complete review of Jefferson’s views 
upon natural history is impracticable; 
those interested will read his book. 
To supplement Mr. Bannon’s article we 
give two short excerpts from recent mag- 
azines, bearing on Jefferson as a natural- 
ist. — [Editors.] 
OTES on Virginia . . . was the 
first comprehensive account of the 
topography, natural history and 
resources of any North American com- 
monwealth, and Goode (a historian of 
science) pronounced it “the precursor of 
the great library of scientific reports 
which have since been issued by the 
state and federal governments.” — Natu- 
ral History — April-May, 1919, p. 408. 
J EFFERSON’S presidency Goode calls 
the “most memorable in the history of 
American science.” Not only was the 
president actively engaged in paleontolog- 
ical research, using one of the unfinished 
rooms of th^ White House for the stor- 
age and display of some 300 specimens 
of fossil bones from the famous Big Bear 
Lick, but his administration was marked 
by the inception of the system of scien- 
tific surveys of the public domain and 
the organization of the Coast Survey. 
Jefferson’s part in originating and sup- 
porting the Lewis and Clarke expedition 
has been detailed by True. And who 
ever originated the idea of a Coast Sur- 
vey it is certain that the early organiza- 
tion of the survey itself was due to Jef- 
ferson. — Science — July 9, 1920, p. 27. 
THE WORLD’S BIGGEST “JACK 
SNIPE” 
T HROUGHOUT suitable localities in 
Paraguay and Brazil one may meet 
with a snipe that, in the matter of 
size, ranks any other species of the genus 
Gallinago, at present known to science. 
It was originally described by the nat- 
uralist Temminck (p. 658) and named 
the Giant Snipe (G.gigantea) . There 
is a fine specimen of this species in the 
collection of mounted birds in the United 
States National Museum, at Washing- 
ton, and of this I made a negative about 
a year ago; a print from it is here re- 
produced to illustrate the present brief 
description of the bird. 
In plumage the bird very closely re- 
sembles our own Jack Snipe; and, as a 
matter of fact, it has much the appear- 
ance of a great, overgrown example of 
that well-known game bird. Standing 
between nine and ten inches in height, 
with a bill proportionately rather longer 
than in G.delicata, it certainly is a giant 
of a snipe. Although American natural- 
ists seem to know but little of the habits 
of this elegant representative of its 
genus, it is fair to presume that they 
are very likely to be more or less the 
same as those of other members of the 
group to which it belongs. 
One can easily imagine that this snipe 
must be a fine game bird to hunt, 
with its increased size, more powerful 
flight, and the much louder note upon 
being flushed afield. 
R. W. Shufeldt, Washington, D. C. 
HERON TRACKS 
W HEN one goes down to the creek 
in the morning the track of some 
large, slender-toed bird may fre- 
quently be seen in the soft mud of the 
bottom under an inch or more of water. 
Foot-print of night heron 
This means that a heron has been there. 
From the size of the footprint one can 
tell what kind of a heron; for the large, 
great blue heron, erroneously called 
“blue crane”, medium sized black- 
crowned night heron or “quawk”, and 
small green heron or “poke”, differ con- 
siderably in size. These are the three 
common northern species. 
Whether the long hind toe of a heron 
has to do with its habit of perching 
in trees or is to give it additional 
support on a soft bottom, one can de- 
cide for oneself. — J. T. N. 
SOUTH AMERICAN NATURE 
NOTES 
By J. W. Yates, Jr. 
I 
M UCH has been written about the 
piranha or piraya ( Serrasalmo 
piraya) . My knowledge of Ichthy- 
ology is limited, but opportunities were 
aplenty to experiment with these vora- 
cious and blood-thirsty little devils. 
At the outset in fishing for them we 
attached the baited hook to a leader of 
soft, malleable copper wire, possibly 1/64 
of an inch in diameter. However incred- 
ible it may seem, this wire was several 
times cut in twain and to insure success 
we used iron wire of like size. In that 
way we were successful. Several skulls 
were kept at the plantation house and 
examination of the teeth showed the ser- 
rations to dove-tail, and fit neatly and 
closely together. One could plainly see 
that the trenchant teeth of this caribe 
were made for quick and deep cutting. 
The dentition is rather remarkable, the 
perfectly formed teeth with their vitre- 
ous luster look to be of solid enamel, 
translucent above near the cutting edges, 
but opaque below in their thicker parts. 
The local name is pirai. In fact I had 
never heard the name piranha until I 
returned to the states. 
The following story was related to me 
by one of the plantation employees, and 
coming from a reliable source I gave it 
credence, although I am sure such oc- 
currences are rare. A coolie who wished 
a drink of creek water leaned over the 
gunwale of the launch, while in motion, 
and was in the act of dipping a cupful, 
when a pirai badly mutilated his index 
finger. The man had extended his finger 
along the rim of the cup for a firmer 
hold, and instead of dipping the water 
quickly he immersed the cup and held 
it beneath the surface to wash it. The 
unfortunate fellow paid dearly for his 
efforts to clean the drinking vessel. 
It is doubtful if the pirai will attack 
any but a wounded animal, but once they 
sense blood they rush like so many 
hungry demons, literally tearing their 
prey to pieces. 
II 
W E had good sport on the Abary 
in the noonday heat “potting” 
alligators. A 38 caliber Colt’s re- 
volver was used. That was a deadly 
weapor, but big, half-grown reptiles 
could only be stopped when the soft bul- 
let was placed in a vulnerable spot, and 
that semed to be just in the rear of the 
fore leg. A bullet striking the homy 
covering of the back would sometimes 
glance off. I soon learned that a shot 
well placed behind the fore leg was dead- 
ly. It was a doubly difficult one to make, 
\>ut if rightly placed the big saurian 
would lie on the surface of the water 
and shake as with a convulsion. The 
river in places was fairly alive with 
alligators. In Guiana the alligator is 
known as the caiman. I recall that in 
one place where the stream broadened 
out into a huge bend, forming an elon- 
gated sand bar, we counted one hundred 
saurians of various sizes basking in the 
tropical sun. I might add that we count- 
ed one hundred and then tired of the 
self-imposed task of counting them. Big 
alligators are wary and do not often 
venture out except under cover of dark- 
ness. The largest one killed during my 
stay measured ten feet. The hide was 
salted and carefully prepared for tan- 
ning, but when the process of tanning 
was completed it was hard and inflexible, 
of an umber-brown color and decidedly 
unsightly. 
Ill 
A N incident may here be recorded 
that was not without its quota of 
excitement. One day while on the 
river one of the men from the planta- 
tion was intent upon landing to explore 
the country lying beyond the river’s 
brink. At that point the bank rose pos- 
sibly eight or ten feet above the surface 
of the stream, and was covered with a 
(continued on page 576) 
