FOREST AND STREAM 
3 
as he has evidently never tried it, and our data were derived 
from absolute experiments made by the Fish Commissioners, 
we must believe that we are right. When our Pennsylvania 
correspondent, however, says “that in regard to the breeding 
(of ccIb) all our fishermen in my neighborhood have an idea 
that the Lamprey eel is the mother of all the cels,” we beg to 
remark that the fishermen might as well think that the Lam- 
prey was the mother-in-law or great uncle of eels, as their 
mother. 
ninral ^jistarg. 
TheRooky Mountain Big Horn.— One of the strangest crea- 
tions known to naturalists is this member of the animal Kingdom 
oin, the Big Horn or Rocky Mountain sheep. Whether descend- 
ed from some patriarchal family of “shorthorns” who came over 
inlheArk, or from the common stock that produced the Mexican 
sheep, is unknown, and probably will forever remain so. It 
is, however, more than likely that they are a race separate 
and distinct from all others on this hemisphere, as their forms 
and habits are entirely different. They may be related to 
the sheep which inhabit the Ural Mountains of Russia, or the 
Cashmere or Thibet tribes ; but even this is questionable. 
These animals are to be found only in the Rocky Moun- 
tains in Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and portions of 
Montana. They herd among the higher portions of the range, 
feeding and living at a great elevation. In form the moun- 
tain sheep is much like his prototype of the lowlands, being, 
perhaps, a little larger and more strongly built. Their wool is 
short and thick and very warm. This coat they retain 
throughout the year, its growth being so rapid that even their 
wild habits and the rough usage which they endure never 
perceptibly thins it. Their heads are disproportionately 
large, resting upon short, thick necks ; their legs thin, but of 
wonderful strength, and their feet the surest in the world. A 
sheep never slips or falls. From the head of the buck grow 
strong, crooked horns. These ipsue just above the eyes, 
curve at first outward and downward, then as their growth 
continues, inward and upward again, until when mature 
the leaders of the herd often carry horns fully three feet 
in length, and in some coses weighing from fifty to sixty 
pounds. 
The hunter’s fable of the habit which this animal had of 
striking upon its horns instead of its hoofs when springing 
from auy great height has long sinccJuien exploded ; but the 
wonderful leaps which the Big Horns will sometimes make 
when frighted are as astounding as any tale which has been 
told of them. When hunting in Colorado I have seen an 
entire herd jump from cliff to cliff across chasms twenty feet 
in width, or down precipices thirty and even forty feet high, 
and bound away without the slightest apparent injury. 
This very fact of their ability to flee where the hunter can- 
not follow renders the pursuit of them fine sport, and the 
lover of lamb and green peas will gain an exceilant appetite in 
the chase before the game is his. F. E. H. 
[Our correspondent omits to mention that besides the wool 
of the Big Horn, which, as stated, is short and very thick, the 
coat consists of hair about an inch in length which wholly 
conceals the wool. This hair resembles that of the cariboo in 
many respects, and is very different from that of deer in 
gone .«!. The Big Horn is now believed to be a near relative 
of the Argali of Siberia, as well as of the Mouflon of Corsica, 
from which latter our domestic varieties are believed to have 
sprung. — E d.] 
A Question Ahout Bears. — Weston, Vo., Jan. 14, 1878 — 
Editor Forest and Stream : There is a trait or habit of Ur ms 
americanus, that I would like explained or accounted for 
through your columns. It is the testimony of all hunters 
and trappers of experience, with whom 1 am acquainted, 
that when a she -bear is trapped or killed in the chase during 
the period of pregnancy, she has been found to have recently 
aborted. Is the abortion voluntary or involuntary ? 
Conp. Lot Warfield. 
[This is a matter to which our attention has never before 
been drnwD, and about which we know nothing. Are any of 
our readers better informed ? — Ed.] 
Lkb Oiseadx dti Canada.— We have recently received from 
Mr. J. M. Lemoine, the author of L' Ornothologie du Canada, 
an extremely valuable and practically useful ornithological 
Chart, prepared by him for use in the schools of the Province 
of Quebec. It is entitled Les Otseaux du Canada, and gives, 
in the clearest aud most compact form, a list of Canadian 
birds, with a reference to the genus, family and order to 
which each species belongs. The chart is made up of seven 
columns, and au example taken at random will serve at once 
to show the admirable method upon which it is constructed. 
Thus, in the first column, we have the order Insessores and a 
definition of the term; in the second comes the sub-order, 
Oscines (singing birds) ; in the third we find the family name, 
Sylvicolidm ; in the fourth the name of the Sub-family ; the 
fifth contains tho name of the genus Sylvicola ; the sixth 
that of tho sub-genus, Dendroica, while the seventh gives tho 
full name of tho species, as D. coronata, followed by the 
common names, English and French, and a reference by 
number to Prof. Baird’s check-list. Tho whole chart, ar- 
ranged us we have indicated, aud containing a list of the 300 
birds, including some species about which there is doubt, 
which are known to Canada, occupies a space of 40x23 inches. 
From what has been said, it will bo apparent that this chart, 
aftiu- its purpose and the relation of its parts have onco been 
explained, canuot fail to convoy to the mind of every child 
the family relations of the different birds of the region for 
which it was compiled. 
The nomenclature employed is that of the Pacific Railroad 
Report devotod to birds, Vol. IX, by Prof. S. F. Baird. 
Early Nesting of Quail. — Our correspondent, Mr. J. B. 
Newby, writiug from St. Louis, gives an account of a quail’s 
nest which he recently found there. The occurrence is quite 
unparalelled, we think. May it not be, however, that the nest 
was an old one, left over from last year. Mr. Newby says : 
While walking (Jan. 20) on my place near 8t. Charles, one 
of the men in the parly found a nest of the quail with one egg 
in it, and called me to look at it. There is no doubt about 
its being a quail’s egg. I never before heard of their nesting 
as early in this section of country. 
A TROUBLESOME OWL. 
Pottsville, Pa., Jan. 7, 1878. 
Editor Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun: 
A singular, and, we believe, previously unheard-of occurrence, took 
place here recently. A young man, the son of a respectable fanner, re- 
siding within a few miles of this place, on his way home across the 
Helds, was violently seized on the back part of the neck by an owl, 
which had suddenly alighted on tils back, and It was with some dintcul- 
ty that the winged assailant could be kept at bay. A few days after- 
ward, tho young man passed over the same route, when he was again 
attacked by tnc same or another owl, which flew In his face, and 
severely bit] him. In each case blood was drawn by the beak of the 
aggressor. 
The neighbors becoming alarmed, an Investigation was made, and In 
a large, lonely and wqU-decayed oak, was discovered a hole, well up 
near Its forks. As the tree was being felled, several owls flew out and 
escaped ; the examination resulted m finding the skeletons of various 
sizes of birds, mice, bats, frogs, moles, etc., while an immense stock of 
large and small Insects yet remained for a winter (7) supply. 
One of our crack sportsmen, while oat for game a few days slncc i 
caught a live weasel, which was entirely white, with the exception of 
the tip of Its tall, which was black. It was brought Into town and sold 
for $36. Dom Pedro. 
[The “weasel ” was probably a Stoat or Ermine ( Putoriu » 
erfninea). He will turn brown in spring. For a full and ad- 
mirable account of the species, see Dr. Coucs' “ FurJBearing 
Animals,” issued under the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden’s 
Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories. — E d.] 
The JKnitting Together of the Bones in a Bird. — A 
correspondent from Cleveland, Ohio, sends us the tibia, or leg 
bones of a quail. One bone had,been broken somehow, but 
nature in time, by a plastio process of her own, had reunited 
the fracture. The fibula seems to have been joined to the 
tibia. Tho mended bone has quite a distinct curve, as if at 
the commencement of '.the process of growing together, too 
much weight had been put on the soft bone by the bird. Such 
comparisons^ we can make in comparative anatomy are of 
great interest to us, ‘and we have to thank our correspondent 
for attention. 
Emotional Antelopes.— Dr. [Caton, in his book on Ameri- 
can antelopes and deer, says : “ Our antelope has the faculty 
of weeping when in affliction. I first observed this in a spe- 
cimen which had been taken wild when adult, and still 
retained all his natural fear of man. I had placed him in a 
close cage in the evening, intending to familiarize him with my 
presence, and divest him of his fears when he saw me, by 
convincing him that I would not hurt him. When 1 ap- 
proached him the next morning he seemed struck with terror, 
and made frantic efforts to break out, which he soon found 
was impossible. His great black eye glistened in affright. I 
spoke softly and kindly, while he stood trembling, as I intro- 
duced my hand and placed it on bis shoulder. Despair now 
seemed to possess him, and he dropped on his knees, bowed 
his head to the ground and burst into a copious flood of tears, 
which coursed down his cheeks and wet the floor ! My sen- 
sibilities were touched ; my sympathies were awakened, and 
I liberated him from that cage as quickly as I could tear the 
slats from one of the sides.” 
Trout on the Trapeze. — The Boston Post tells a queer 
story about a trout, a boarder of Mr. Messenger's, at the 
Broomfield House, which cuts capers and gives gymnastic 
exhibitions of a remarkable character. When you place a 
rattan stick across the aquarium, Salmo fontinalis jumps for 
that stick, catches it with his teeth, and skins the cat, per- 
forming numerous acrobatic feats, quite equal to the most 
accomplished circus man. The Post says stories have been 
told by fishermen (they do it sometimes) that trout in their 
native streams have been known to indulge in such accomplish- 
ments. Wc doubt very much whether the trout ever does 
high and lofty tumbling and springs for a twig or an over- 
hanging branch, save to go for some fly or insect. 
The Giant Squids.— Our correspondent, Monon, sends us 
from Indiana the following good thing. We laugh, it it true, 
but our mirth is tempered with solemn thoughts. We feel 
that, by our too liberal use of scientific language, we are re- 
sponsible for this joke. We never mean again to give any one 
a chance to get off another like it. "Monon says : 
“ I was reading your article in a recent number of Forest 
and Stream, headed ‘The Giant Squids,' to our boys and a 
neighbor named Sam, who is something of a philosopher, 
much of a pot huuter, a capital shot, and a good neighbor 
withal. I waded through the long names, and when 1 was 
done I saw I had made un impression on Sam, and asked him 
what he thought of those fellows. 
“ ‘ I want to ask you, Mr. L , do you believe they 
chaw such quids ?’ 
“ ‘ Who, Sam ?' 
“ ‘ Why, tho giants!’ ” 
— The Westminster Aquarium, London, is said to possess 
the largest plate-glass tank in the world, one having been 
lately erected 150 feet long, 20 feet wide, aud proportionately 
high. It will permit the display of fish of the largest size 
procurable in British waters. 
Animals Received at Central Park Mknaokrib for Week End- 
ing Feb. 9, 1S78. — Received In exchange : One Griffon vulture, Oyps 
fulvus, Hab. Europe ; one bald-headed Ible, Oerontictis calvus, Hab. 
South Africa ; two Stvalnson'a paraquat, Trichoglossus multicolor, Dab. 
Australia: one razor-billed Curasson, ilitna tuberosa, Hab. Guiana; 
two herring Galls, Lams arijsntatus, captured In Central Park. 
W. A. Conklin, Director. 
Woodland, effjarm and garden. 
THIS DEPARTMENT IS EDITED BY W. i. DAVIDSON, 8K0. H. Y. 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
BOTANIZING IN MIDWINTER. 
U P at what ought to have been daylight, and what, per- 
haps, would pass for daylight at the pole; in fact, 
which was a general mixture of the fog of some days, and 
had become “stale, flat, and unprofitable,” and was just then 
being packed up into sleet, hail, and snow by a roaring north- 
wester, then booming down on us from the Lbawangunk 
Mountains, full tilt, on a grand frolic for a day, and meaning 
to race up to sixty miles an hour by noon— cold, clear, aud 
as savage as one of the old Norse Vikings. “ Botanizing on 
such a day— what folly!" cries your gentle Tover by warm 
hill sides and shady glens when the breezy month of May is 
on us. But, reader, pause ! It has been raid that one-half 
the world does not know how the other half lives. Never 
was this more true than of our two cities in regard to tho 
pleasures which may be had with a little care and a good 
guide. Reader, pause and perpend ! 
Whew ! how the snow-squall cuts to the epidermis through 
cloak and muffler till wc reach the foot of Liberty street, and 
then find our companions, Davidson and Bush, florists, 
artists, and most genial gentlemen. Off, then, by rail, the 
sun coming out on the northwester clean and clear ; but the 
wild wind howls and whistles across the track. Lo ! on the 
trestle-work across Raritan Bay the train stops for an open 
draw, and the cars seem fairly to lean over with the wind, 
and one spooney finds that he has a sudden call back to the 
last station, and would fain leave us; but the brakesman 
quietly locks the door of the rear car, and becomes so busy 
inside that our friend is obliged to take his chances with the 
rest. In fact, he could not have walked the track in such 
a wind. Here on the next seat is Luch, and soon we are 
chaffing on the old theme of Jereey vs. the World, and 
especially New York, the proud and all-claiming metropolis. 
At South Amboy we leave the station for Batlibun's con- 
servatories, and bear up against the wind and increasing cold 
with a will. Ahl there, shut the door ! Here wc are in the 
tropics, and for an hour, under the spell of William Clements, 
we wander in dreams of spice islands and BeDgal jungles. 
Strange forms and weird flowers start up around us, and what 
with orchids, sarracenias and ferns of all climes, and with 
these men at your side who knew all about them, and love 
them witn a tender devotion to the art of wooing them, 
which they demand and must have, we soon forgot that we 
are where winter holds its “ancient, solitary reign." The 
6cene is simply wonderful to a thoughtful eye. Orchids haDg 
round tied to bits of clay or wood, with their fat, puffy apolo- 
gies of leaves, and long, spider, clean white root spraddling 
down in every direction, neither root nor branch such as we 
see about us in this temperate climate. Nature, when she 
tried her handiwork at an orchid, dispensed with all care of 
anything but the one end in view— and that was the end 
where the flower hangs. There the result is about as near 
perfect beauty as can be imagined. Look here ! an orange- 
and-red butterfly has just alighted and is swinging on the end 
of this twig. He will slip off as it bends down and fly about. 
And what a fellow he is ! How brilliant the coloring, and 
the long antenna;. Where did he get them— in this region ? 
Not a bit of it! It is only a flower. We have read of him 
in Myers’ stories of the strange land of Carraccas, and in 
Orton’s (alas that he is gone where the flowers never fade !) 
accounts of the lovely valleys of Quito. Fancy a thick, 
“ bosky dell” on the Guayaquil, and just on the edge of the 
leaves across a stream these vegetable wonders, and you com- 
prehend when they tell you that the botanist does not know 
flower from papilio as he rambles, but must go up and see 
whether the weird thing flies away before he can tell. Then, 
look along and note how Nature is given to mimicry, how she 
writes her lessons in duplicate— now on vegetable cell, and 
now reproducing it in the sensitive flutterer of a day. It is 
worth a journey to Amboy to see just this much, and, reader, 
you will find in the place a genial welcome and come back 
satisfied that there is sense in botanizing in mid-winter. 
But we are only on the way. Our Jersey team is at the 
door, and Jersey is a great place, and Jersey teams are an 
institution. This one would have suited better a South 
American pampas than the three miles of rand covered with 
scrub oak and kalmias, and besides epigaceas— nothing else. 
It becomes a nice question how long body and soul can hang 
together against the keen edge of the northwester, now up 
to fifty miles an hour, and the thermometer falling through 
some half its distance. But on we go, thankful to a sound 
bank now and then which takes off the wind till we get out 
at the hospitable doors of Mr. George Lucb, as aforesaid. 
We do not intend to describe what followed, but leave you 
to go and do likewise. What with confabulating with a 
“ ’ale and ’arty Englishman ” on the mysteries of his art, rush- 
ing off to this aud that wonder, smiling at the enthusiasm wliich 
showed the paternal tenderness over a seedling, and stories 
anent plants, and all else under the canopy— dinner, a good 
cigar, and back again, “ like a bird that seeketh its mother's 
nest ; ’-_8uffice it that the Jersey team aforetold was back for 
us all too soou, and, after a mist pleasant and profitable day, 
we went back into the chill air again, not now at our backs, 
and talking wildly Of what we had seen. Such sarracenias 
and turr-ferms, s hids and camellias, such Vandas and 
Platyceriu 1118 , an acre of space, and opening the 
