271 
FOREST AND STREAM 
masters to accept anything unless it be for feeding. Guns, if 
they are in a case, can be taken in the passenger coaches, if 
not they are taken charge of by the baggage master, who 
gives a free claim check for them. This enables you to travel 
without annoyauce, and you feel that you are among men 
who try to encourage gentlemen sportsmen to shoot along 
their line. 
The chicken shooting ground is anywhere from Cottonwood 
Station to Great Bend. At Florence it is said to be fine, and 
at Eldorado still better. Quail shooting commences in this 
State very late, two late in tact to enjoy it to its full extent ; 
the season does not open until December the 1st, but the next 
legislature will be asked to change it to a month earlier. The 
Cottonwood Valley has been the great quail ground, but last 
year they took a turn westward, and the best shooting was 
found at Sterling. They keep mostly in the timber along the 
streams, but in hunting them, by judicious management the 
first fire brings them into the open ground, where they can be 
hunted almost as easy as chickens. C. 
S'Pt 
New Hampshire. — There are to be two fish ways on the 
Nashua River at Nashua, thousands of salmon and shad fry 
having been placed in the waters of that part of the stream 
that flows through the northern part of Massachusetts by the 
Commissioners of that State. The Nashua used to be a 
famous stream for salmon and shad within the memory of 
many of our citizens. Webb. 
Connecticut. — Under the direction of the Waltonian Club, 
of New Haven, 165,000 land-locked salmon have been 
hatched in North Branford and distributed as follows : 5,000 
to Valley Pond in NVoodbridge ; 15,000 to Willimantic in 
Rogers' Lake in North Branford, and 10,000 to lakes in Salis- 
bury, Spectacle Pond in Kent, Squange and Green Ponds in 
Sherman, Long Lake in West Winsted, Gardiner Lake in Sa- 
lem, Hog Lake in Lyme, Hampton Pond in East Hampton, 
Waramaug Lake in Warren, Bantam Lake in Litchfield. 
Snipsic Lake in Rockville, Stafford Springs, Wamgambog 
Pond in South Coventry, Tliompsonville and Saltonstall Lake. 
Connecticut. — Fish Commissioners Hudson and Mr. Porter 
have put into Lake Waucumbaug, Coventry, Conn., 80,000 
California salmon fry and 15,000 land locked salmon. 
New York. — There have been distributed from the New 
York State Hatchery at Caledonia, during the past season, 
which closed May 1, the following: Two hundred and nine- 
ty-three thousand five hundred brook trout eggs to the streams 
of Greene, Westchester, Dutchess and Oneida counties and to 
the Adirondacks and Nevada ; 610,000 brook trout fry to the 
streams of Oneida, Sullivan, Essex, Clinton, Livingston, 
Orange, Cavuga, Tompkins, Herkimer, Otsego, Wyoming, 
Albany, Jefferson, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Alleghany, Fulton, 
Westchester, Wyoming and Columbia counties ; 536,000 sal- 
mon trout eggs to Fulton Chain and other lakes in the Adi- 
roDdacka, Green and Longloskey lakes in Green County, and 
to Pennsylvania ; 1,586,180 salmon trout fry to the lakes of 
Essex, Dutchess, Warren, Otsego, St. Lawrence, Fulton, 
Onondaga, Tompkins, Cayuga, Steuben, Saratoga, Washing- 
ton, OrangC, Oswego, Ontario and Monroe Counties; 68,900 
California salmon fry to the waters of LiviDgston, Monroe 
and Tompkins counties. Many orders were yet to be filled 
at the date mentioned. 
—The artificial culture of trout at Meacham is bearing ex- 
cellent fruit. Large strings are taken, and the fishing is re- 
ported all that can be desired. 
Another Delaware Salmon. — Fish Commissioner E. J 
Anderson, of Trenton, N. J., tells us that a salmon was taken 
in the Delaware, three miles below Trenton, on the 7th inst., 
weighing twenty-one pounds, and measuring thirty-eight and 
a half inches. This is the fourth reported this spring. Some 
time a New Jersey reader of this journal will come across 
this item and say : “ The ‘ fourth salmon !’ Why, didn’t we 
always have salmon in the Delaware?” 
— — 
Pennsylvania.— The Game and Fish Association of Johns- 
town have leased a stream in Yoder township, Cambria 
County, for the purpose of stocking it with fish. 
Virginia. — Two hundred thousand young shad have been, 
placed during the past week, in the Mattapnni, near Milford. 
The joint operations in Albemarle Sound are reported by the 
Richmond Whig to have been quite successful, from five to ten 
millions of shad having been hatched and distributed in the 
waters of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. Col. Mc- 
Donald has established a hatching station on the James River, 
at Berkley, and another on the Rappahannock, at Tobago 
Bay. The catch of shad in the Sound has been very small; 
but the herring catch, though late, was large beyond any of 
previous years. The Fish Commissioners are delighted over 
the discovery by the fish agent, Mr. Nicholas, of abundant 
ripe rock in Weldon. This is what they have been loDg 
wanting. 
—Eight thousand California salmon fry have been deposited 
in the Shenango, at Greenville, Pa. 
—Fifty thousand young shad have been placed in Smith’s 
Creek, Va., which is one of the streams forming the Nanse- 
mond River. 
Kentucky. — The Fish Commissioners recently made the 
following shipments of native salmon : To Smitlifield, 5,000 ; 
to Eminence, 15.000 to Frankfort, 11,000; to Midway, 
13,000 ; to Lexington, 10, 000. 
Flsh Hatching in Wisconsin— Madison, May 6, 1878.— 
Editor Forest and Stream : The State fish hatchery located at 
the “Nine Springs,” three miles from our city, is in a 
flourishing condition. The State has forty acres of land at 
this point, and every effort is being made to make the hatchery 
Becond to none in the country. It is now two years since the 
hatchery has been located here. The other hatchery, located 
at Milwaukee, is doing good work. The Madison hatchery is 
used for the breeding of brook trout and California salmon. 
The Commission have begun the distribution of 120,000 brook 
trout and 65,000 salmon, making a good showing for the 
Madison House. A few days ago 40,000 trout were placed 
in Beaver Lake by the State Fish Commissioner. The State 
Superintendent reports that 12,000,000 white fish have been 
planted this spring from the Milwaukee house. Rover. 
afttrnl Igjistorgt 
For For at and Stream and Rod and Oun. 
HABITS OF RUFFED GROUSE. 
( Continued from April 25.) 
I T will be necessary to know something of the habits of the 
“Ruffed Grouse” before you can expect to become suc- 
cessful in their capture. You will find this knowledge most 
useful in a country that you are unacquainted with, where 
you will be able if you have been a careful student to tell at 
a glance almost their usual places of resort, and by unfailing 
signs to determine if there are enough birds in the vicinity to 
pay for looking them up. For this wary bird, although so 
shy, leaves many “ signs ” of his presence, some of which you 
will not fail to see. The most prominent of these “signs” 
are their “ wallow holes,” which are small depressions in £he 
ground made by them when they take their dust bath. You 
will most frequently find these holes in the debris of a rotten 
stump or an “ant hill." Often on the sunny side of wood- 
lands you will occasionally see their droppiDgs, or perhaps a 
stray feather, or the disturbed leaves where they have been 
scratching will proclaim at once their proximity. You must 
not expect to become proficient in discovering these indica- 
tions without large experience and close application ; then 
they will be to you as an open book that you may read as you 
run. 
You should also become acquainted with the many varieties 
of food that this bird, not very fastidious as to diet, lives upon, 
as you will generally find him in the immediate neighborhood 
of his favorite dish in its season. Thus, in August and part of 
September, you will find them where berries are plenty, es- 
pecially whortleberries and blackberries, for they are very fond 
of these. At the same time they take their daily rations of 
green herbage, consisting of tender leaves of many kiuds, 
they also eat large quantities of grass, and season the whole 
with an infinite variety of insect life. A little later you will 
find them under the grape vines, and when the frost comes, 
and the acorns, chestnuts and beechnuts fall, you will be for- 
tunate if you find them at all, for theu they often take long 
journeys in search of their favorite food, and no matter how 
fresh the “ trail ” your dog will often be at fault, as they fre- 
quently take6hort flights, which is very reprehensible in them, 
as it leads to much vexation of spirit, and often the poor dog 
has to suffer in consequence. About the first of October, 
sometimes a little earlier, often later, occurs a very notable 
and curious episode in their life. This is called by some 
“running time "or “crazy time.” Both are very appropriate, 
as they certainly run and fly in all directions, and have every 
appearance of beiDg stark mad. At this season you will often 
read in the papers items about their flying against buildings 
or through a window, and many other queer antics that no 
sane bird would be guilty of. This season extends over a 
period of ten days to three or four weeks, during which time 
this proverbially uncertain bird is reasonably certain not to 
afford you much sport. Some writers tell you that this 
“ spell ” is caused by fear. “That the noise of the falling 
leaves fills their minds with apprehension, and in their imagi- 
nation peoples the wooded aisles with foes innumerable.” 
Now I don't believe this, for I have many a time seen these 
same “ wooded aisles " pretty well sprinkled with deadly foes 
and have seen these same birds so deftly “ sell out" the entire 
party that I cannot for a moment accept the proposition. I 
can also recall several seasons that entirely disprove this 
theory, a9 “ running time " commenced, and in at least one 
instance, was over before the leaves began to fall. Nor do I 
believe that the all wise Creator ever made such a mistake as 
this would appear to be. JuBt look at it a moment aud see if 
it is rational that the God of Dature should place these birds 
in their forest home and then implant in their breast a deadly 
fear at the fall of a leaf. A far more satisfactory solution of 
the problem to my mind is that this is a wise provision of 
the great ruler of the universe that this beautiful bird, when 
he arrives at maturity, shall seek a mate outside the family 
circle ; that their descendants may not detoriate through “ in- 
breeding.” I presume that I shall catch it for this, as many 
very able writers contend that inbreeding is not injurious. 
Now I abhor a newspaper controversy, and rather than bring 
on my devoted he&d their united wrath I will cheerfully 
admit that their inbred animals are just what they need, and 
I shall not try to induce them to part with them. 
After a few hard frosts, our feathered friends who have 
been " so wildly roaming " begin to settle down to a more 
quiet life. You will now very often find them in moist alder 
runs, where the skunk cabbage grows in profusion, for they 
are very fond of the seeds of this highly flavored plant. 
They also eat with avidity the fruit of the common thorn 
and occasionally they will visit the borders of grain fields 
where they are contiguous to their [haunts and pick up the 
scattered grain. There are many other seeds and fruits that 
they often eat, as they are voracious feeders, and many things 
that are meat to them would be poison to us. 
When the deep snows of winter cover the ground for weeks 
at a time, it may seem to you that they must suffer many a 
long fast, and perhaps perish of cold and hunger. Do not 
worry on their account, as they are abundantly able to take 
care of themselves, and when almost any other living thing 
would starve, they do not fail to find a bounteous 
repast whenever hunger calls. They eat the buds of 
several varieties of trees and shrubs, more particularly the 
different varieties of birch, poplar and apple. Some persons 
claim that they are very injurious to the apple tree. I have 
examined a great many birds in order to obtain light on this 
subject, and am fully- satisfied that they very seldom touch 
the fruit buds, and as they only destroy the leaf buds, we 
can safely leave the tree to re-leaf itself. 
It would be something unbeurd of to write an article on 
ruffed grouse and not devote a little space to their “drum- 
ming." Nearly every one has heard them, some favored ones 
have seen them in the act, and some, judging from their 
written descriptions, have not seen this peculiar performance. 
It requires a vast amount of patience to creep up close enough 
to see an old cock grouse on his “drumming log," and nine 
limes out of ten, when you do get close enough, there will 
be no bird there to see. If you should be so fortunate as to 
obtain an unobstructed view of him at his devotions, you 
will sec him crouching, apparently asleep, close to the log, or 
stone, or perhaps the bare ground, as I have seen him in all 
these situations. Keep very quiet and you will soon see him 
raise up and shake himself together, as it were. His head 
will come up with many a jerk and twist, his feathers will 
each stand on end, and he will nearly double in size. FTiq 
“ruff” will stand out, and his crest will be nearly erect. 
After a few preliminary steps, or rather struttings, he will sud- 
denly erect himself to his full height and expand his wings to 
their greatest extent and bring them forcibly together, or 
nearly so, in front of his breast, making a sound similar to 
the boom of a distant gun. This is repeated at gradually 
lessening intervals until you cannot distinguish the strokes 
and our friend looks like a bunch of feathers in a whirlwind*. 
After his ecstacy is over he takes a general survey of the field, 
and generally subsides into the recumbent position in which 
we first found him, scon to repeat the performance, which he 
continues to do sometimes for hours. You will hear them 
drumming oftener in the early fall than at any other time, 
although I have heard them nearly every month in the year 
aud at all hours of the day, and several times I have heard 
them late at night. The question is often asked, “Why do 
they do this?” Tell me why the cock crows and the turkey 
struts and wherefore the little birds sing, and then I will ex- 
plain this to you. 
A RARE BIRD AT CENTRAL PARK. 
W E have at present on exhibition at the Central Park 
Menagerie for a short time, while in transitu for 
Europe, a specimen of the Megapodiidte family — Megapodius 
pritchardii. This is the first specimen ever brought alive to 
this country, and will be the first living example of the species 
ever seen in Europe. It is a native of one of the East Indies, 
called Nina Fou or Proby Island, which is situated about half 
way between the Feejee and Samoan islands. The bird takes 
its name from Mr. W. T. Pritchard, who sent a skin to 
Europe in 1863. It is of a uniform blackish-brown color, 
cheeks and upper part of neck vermilion red, slightly feath- 
ered with small black plumes, bill bright yellow, tarsi and 
toes pale yellow, claws black ; length from bill to end of tail 
about fourteen inches. 
This is one of about twenty species that form the family of 
Megapodiida?, so named from their large feet; a series of 
birds remarkable for the extraordinary contrivances resorted 
to by them to obtain the artificial heat necessary to hatch 
their eggs. They are found chiefly in the tropics, and inhabit 
dense forests and swamps generally in the vicinity of the sea 
beach. Some of them form mounds for the purpose of incu- 
bation, and hence are called mound-builders. The mound is 
composed partly of vegetable matter, which becomes rotte*.' 1 * 1 
while the birds are engaged in laying their eggs, usually a 
period of two or three months. The materials used in the 
construction of these mounds, which sometimes reach to four- 
teen feet in height, with a circumference of 150 feet, are gath- 
ered by the birds, carrying a small quantity at a time in one 
of their large feet. In the middle of this mound, at various 
depths, from eighteen inches to several feet, the females de- 
posit their eggs, some in the form of a circle, while others of 
a different species place them in an irregular manner. When 
all the eggs are deposited the centre is entirely covered in, 
and the mound raised several feet in the form of a cone. The 
heat produced by the fermentation of the vegetable matter is 
then retained within the mass, and brings the eggs to ma- 
turity. The Celebean megapode has a different mode of hatch- 
ing its eggs. It is said to scratch out a hole in the rotten 
Btump of an old tree, and there deposits its eggs, afterward 
covering them up with vegetable matter. Other members of 
this family burrow into the sand along the sea-shore to the 
depth of three or four feet, obliquely downward, and de- 
posit their eggs at the bottom, afterward covering up the 
mouth of the hole, then trying to conceal its foot-marks lead- 
ing thereto by scattering the sand about. 
What is most remarkable about these birds is, that after all 
the trouble and care taken for the preservation of their eggs 
they should be so utterly indifferent to the fate of the young 
birds, leaving them to scratch their way out of whatever posi- 
tion the eggs were placed in, and take care of themselves 
afterward. 
The exact period of incubation is not known. A Mr. Mot- 
ley, writing from one of these islands, says : “ Some eggs 
that had been buried in the sand for six weeks were found 
to contain merely the embryo of a chick as much advanced as 
a hen's egg hatched four days.” Other eggs were brought to 
him, but he had no means of ascertaining how long they had 
been laid. He buried them in a box of sand about three feet 
deep, exposed to the weather, and at the end of three weeks 
a young bird came up, not downy, but covered with little 
shafts or pens ready to form feathers. One of the Malays em- 
ployed .by Mr. Motley saw it emerge, and said that it just 
shook off the sand and ran away so fast that it was with diffi- 
culty caught. On the next day, when Mr. M. saw it, it appeared 
to be about half grown. From the first it fed without hesita- 
tion, scratching up the earth like an old bird. Other birds 
afterward emerged in the same state. 
The habits of the Megapodius pritchardii differ from the 
other species in some particulars. It scoops out its nest in 
the side of a little lake in the centre of the island, between 
one and two feet in depth, laying about forty eggs in the 
mollis of September and October. These eggs are very good 
eating, and are considered the property of the King or Chief 
of the island, and only by his permission can the birds or eggs 
be procured. In captivity it feeds on soaked bread, and 
