FOREST » AND • STREA'M 
singly or in twos or threes. . They are known as “ roamers ” 
by the Indians, and are said to be driven from the herds of the 
plains. Their solitary life, lofty habitat and variety of feed 
may cause them to vary in size, color and habits. Climatic 
variations in size and coloration are common with birds and 
the smaller mammals, and why should the Rocky Mountain 
bison be an exception ? The common buffalo are as different 
in anatomy and color as some breeds of domestic cuttle. I 
have killed bulls from the same herd and of about the same 
age that differed in color, size, form, length of tail, and size 
and shape of horns. 
The Big Horn or Rocky Mountain sheep is another curious 
inhabitant of the mountains. Marvelous stories of his 
terrific leaps have been told and exaggerated, until the most 
credulous hunters believe that he can leap extravagant dis- 
tances from cliff to cliff and alight on his great boras unin- 
jured. The agility of the mountain sheep is indeed remarku- 
ble, and ho rivals the chamois of Europe in climbing. Both 
sexes and the young of the mountain sheep make long leaps 
recklessly over rocky mountain sides, but they alight squarely 
on their feet, with toes spread to their widest extent, instead 
of on their horns. The sheep and lambs will descend steep 
mountaiu sides with the same agility as the adult ram, and 
they will follow wherever he may lead. On three occasions I 
have seen bands of the big horns make head-long retreats 
down steep mountain sides. They will gallop over loose 
stones with ease, where one would think they could not pos-. 
sibly find a footing. I have seen an adult male make a clean 
leap of thirty-five feet (by measurement) in the mountains of 
Colorado, and pass over a declivity of about 000 feet, by suc- 
cessive leaps, without slackening his pace in the least. When 
triking the ground after the first leap he slid about fifteen 
feet through snow and mud and over loose stones, with the 
toes of all feet broadly extended. 
The big horn sheep are more numerous than is generally 
supposed, and inhabit a wide tract of country. They range as 
far south as New Mexico, where they are abundant on some 
mountains. In Colorado I found them in small bands through- 
out Ihe Sierra Madre Mountains, but owing to the inaccessi- 
ble nature of their haunts they are seldom seen. In the Sweet 
Grass and Bear's Paw Mountains of Northern Montana, I 
have seen them in bands of nearly a hundred, and their 
whitish looking trails over those mountains on the loose rocks 
can be seen for miles from the plain. The Yellowstone Val- 
ley is a favorite resort for the big horns, and I have often ob- 
served them in the bad lands of Dakota, and in the valley of 
the Missouri, from Fort Benton down the river for eight hun- 
dred miles. The big horn has more the habits of the goat 
than the sheep, and has the stiff-legged lope of the former. He 
is very tenacious of life, and a .44 ball shot from a Sharps 
sporting rifle, through the base of the horn and part of the 
skull, failed to have any perceptible effect on an adult ram. 
An adult male in medium condition will weigh one hundred 
and forty pounds dressed, and a doe from ninety to one hun- 
dred and twenty pounds. The enormous horns of the old 
rams are greatly out of proportion to their bodies. I once 
killed one whose head weighed forty-two pounds. Near the 
base of the horns, over the brow, they are rough and have a 
weather-beaten appearance, which is natural. It is, however, 
unusual for them to be rough, as the horns of most individuals 
are worn and have a smooth surface on their fronts near their 
base. It is produced by the animals butting and rubbing their 
norns -against the rooks, a peculiar habit they seem to take a 
pleasure in. In a pair which I have sketched the tip of 
one of the horns is wanting. This is the case with every pair 
of adult horns that has come under my notice. Many pairs 
have both their tips splintered, which is caused by fighting or 
butting them against the rocks. The horns, which I preserved, 
are 37 inches long; spread at tips, 17.50 inches; spread at 
middle of horns, 23 inches ; circumference of single horn at 
base, 14 inches. The horns of another are 30.50 long, with a 
lesser spread of but 20 inches, and a circumference of 16 
inches at the base. The latter dimensions are more in propor- 
tion to the average horns. 
The mountain goat is one of the rarest large animals of the 
Rocky Mountains, and only inhabits the northern ranges. 
The Cascade ranges are said to be the southern limit of its 
range, though from its heavy coat and general appearance it 
probably migrates to the arctic regions in summer. Although 
having hunted one season where the goats are said to range, 
not one was seen nor any sign of them. Wliat data I have of 
them was given me by three hunters that were camped on the 
upper Missouri. They killed nine in the Blackfoot Conntry 
in '74, where they were found in small bands on the highest 
mountains. It appears that they are even better climbers than 
the big horns, and are more wary and difficult to shoot, 
when alarmed they retreat to the higheit mountain peaks, 
where it is next to impossible to follow them. The best time 
for hunting them is at morning and evening when they come 
down from the rocky peaks to feed on the grassy slopes. The 
mountain goat is nearly white, with a long hanging coat and 
beard. Its horns are like those of the female mountain sheep 
and domestic goat. Its legs are short and strong, and the 
flesh resembles mutton. 
THE WHITE-HEADED EAGLES IN THE 
HUDSON HIGHLANDS. 
(Read boforo tbc Llnnean Society of New York, April 6, 1S7S.] 
BY EDGAR A. MBAJIN8. 
I T may interest some of your readers to learn that the bird 
that has been honored with the distinction of being adopt- 
ed for the heraldio representative of the famous Confederacy 
of the United States is abundant here in the Highlands of the 
North River, where it constitutes a marked and romantic 
feature of the superb scenery of this part of the Hudson, lend- 
ing another charm to a scene already grand and impressive, 
but rendered sublime and awe-inspiring by the presence of 
this noble bird, seen perched upon some blasted tree above 
the massive cliffs, or soaring— the merest speck— in the 
higher atmospheric region, far above reach of the coming 
tempest, while its shrill scream falls faintly upon the ear, an- 
swering the loud, quavering cry of its nearer mate. In win- 
ter, when the river is froz :n, the eagles are seen soaring above 
the mountains, searching for the scauty prey upon which they 
are obliged to subsist when fish, their favorite food, is un- 
attainable ; but later, when the ice is in motion in the Hud- 
son, carried swiftly by the current, numbers of them may be 
seeu sitting in pairs upon trees low down by the river’s edge, 
watching for their finny prey, or else floating upon the ice- 
cakes in the stream, in company with the crows and gulls. 
In summer their favorite perch Is upon somo j withered tree 
on the mountain’s side, from which, at intervals, they descend 
to the river, or some secluded lake, to seek their food. They 
are always seen in pairs, and then: connubial attachment is 
said to continue through life. 
Here I have observed the white-headed eagles during every 
month in the year ; but, though in my constant rumbles I 
have examined every mountain aud valley in that section of 
the Hudson River valley known as the Highlands, in pursuit 
of their nests, guided by rumor or vague suppositions, I have 
always been disappointed and have failed to discover auy. 
This eagle is said to nest almost exclusively upon trees, ex- 
cept in regions where those of a desirable size are not to lie 
found, under which circumstances they have been known to 
nidificate upon cliffs. This, I think, is the case here, where, 
in the remote mountain regions, the soil is poor and rocky) 
and the trees never attain auy very considerable size. Ou the 
other hand, thero are vast, inaccessible ledges of rock, which 
could not but attract any wild, cliff-nesting species for pur- 
poses of nidification. 
Unless we accept the above conclusion— that our eagles 
have in so much ileparted from their usual habit as to nest 
upon cliffs instead of on trees— I am convinced that no whim- 
headed eagles breed anywhere in the valley of the Lower 
Hudson ( Pandion haliaelua ) seldom nests at preseut. Never- 
theless, the fact of the presence of these birds during the sea- 
son of reproduction strongly favors the supposition that they 
do nest hero. But it is at the time when the ice first breaks 
up in the Hudson that these splendid birds appear most 
abundantly. At that season I have myself counted more than 
twenty-five eagles at once, and I am credibly informed, by a 
person who resides in the immediate viciuily of their favorite 
feeding place, that it is no uncommou spectacle to witness an 
assemblage of not less than fifty eagles, gathered there for the 
purpose of feeding, very early in the morning in March of 
certain years. 
The place to which they arc thus attracted is a large tract 
of flats aud marshy lands, lying between the Cold Spring 
Foundry and Garrison’s Station. This tract occupies what 
formerly constituted an east channel of the Hudson, as it then 
divided north of Constitution Island aud flowed on either 
side of it ; but the ear.t channel, which wus the shallower, has 
been filled up by an alluvial deposit, so that the river uow uses 
only the deep, west channel, while Constitution Island is 
separated from the ancient bank of the east channel by a 
broad belt of meadow land, which has been dyked and 
ditched, but tne efforts to recluim aud cultivate which, have 
been but partially successful. The alluvial deposit hero 
reaches to a depth of more than sixty feot. There are per- 
sons, now living, who have sailed vessels over these meudows. 
A large flat of shoal water is situated at either end o f this marsh , 
which, being cut off from the river channel by the Hudson River 
Railroad, which also cuts off two projecting points from the east 
side of Constitution Island, is called “cove." Each of these 
coves is supplied by fresh- water streams. ThoUpper, Northor 
Foundry cove is fed by the foundry creek, whUa the Lower, j 
or Gouverneur’s cove is supplied by the large ludiun Fulls '• 
stream, the beautiful falls of which are well known to all resi- 
dents and tourists who have visited this locality, which emp- 
ties into it near its upper end ; and at the lower end a triple 
stream empties into a beautiful deep basin at the foot of the 
falls of the main 6tream, each of the others being successively 
less in size, the smallest entirely vanishing in very dry times. 
Just at this place a large arm of the fiat makes up into the 
land as if to meet the pure waters of the brook. Its banks are 
high aud very rocky, in places precipitous ; but, like all parts 
of this 6hore, they are clothed with trees which, in the rich, 
dark soil, grow to an unusual size. Towering hemlock and lofty 
deciduous trees grow upon the sides with pitch-piues and 
tall, symmetrical red cedars crowning the summit or main- 
tain a precarious footing upon the sides of the perpendicular 
cliffs, while the graceful, drooping branches of the birches and 
willows shade the waters below. 
Now, as is well known, a place where fresh water streams 
flow into brackish waters is a perfect paradise for certain kinds 
of fishes, and this place, reader, is certainly not an exception, 
as you might easily believe could you but see the fishormeu 
hauling their heavy seines to the shore laden with different 
species of fishes which, however, have to be carefully sorted 
over, for many of them are unfit for food. Among them are 
carp, goldfish, suckers and roach, all of which are cast aside 
to turuish an abundant and agreeable feast to the crows, rac- 
coons and foxes, or else are used for “ compost," but the sun 
fish, white and yellow perches, pickerel, striped bass and a few 
chub-suckers, and an occasional trout, are all piled carefully 
into the Blcrn of their skiffs, aud are destined for the market. 
This, then, is the secret of the great abundance of the 
white-headed eagles in these coves. Their food consists almost 
entirely of fishes, aud where could they be so easily taken as 
here ? For, when the tide is out, the water becomes very 
shallow, aud the fishes can then be easily seized. These 
places, therefore, are the natural resorts of all kinds of fish- 
eating birds— ducks, mergansers, gulls, terns, herons, the 
osprey, and the noisy king fisher, us well as the eagles, all re- 
sort thither in quest of food. 
But, reader, if you would see these noble birds iu their full 
native vigor und beauty, you must visit them iu their wild 
haunts. Perhaps you can do no better than to accompany 
me to-day. for 1 am all accoutred for the day’s shootiDg, aud 
the special object of pursuit is the white-headed eagle. It is 
early in March, and the heavy ice of the Hudson has broken 
loose as far above us as New Hamburgh, aud now the great 
masses of ice are moving ssviftly with the current, crushing 
and grinding each other with fearful force and deafening 
noise, piling up great ice walls upon the flats at the angles of 
the river's course, while the north winds are howling fiercely. 
Are you all ready — warmly dressed, with heavy pea-jacket, 
and extra overcoat and gloves? All right! Then come 
along, for the sun will soon be up. * • • We have 
reached the river, and see ! The sun is just rising over grand, 
homelike, old Sugar Loaf Mountain, and sends the warm sun- 
light over against the top of Bear Mountain opposite, on the 
bald summit of which rests a huge boulder, cleft in twain 
through the middle. Geologists believe that it was deposited 
there by the huge ice masses that swept this continent ages 
ago. We view before us, on a very limited scale au exhibi- 
tion of the fearful power of those agencies, und are filled with 
awe to think of the powers which have been. Into the crevice 
of this boulder is fixed the base of a tall fing-staff, which 
stands out in sharp relief against the pale blue of the sky. 
This peak is called “Bald Rock,” and is celebrated for the 
superb view which it affords to mountain climbers. 
But how are we going to launch our boat, you ask, when the 
firm ice reaches quite far out into the streum? It will he 
a difficult task, but we'll manage it. Now. here goes— out 
upon the ice, bow first. Now take a close hold of the stern 
painter. Get her stem gently over the dock. Hold! Lookout 
out for that sharp spike, or we’ll have a hole in her bot- 
4‘2l 
tom. Now wo are all right! Her keel cuts throueh 
the spongy ice, which we must break in ?S 
bcr kow, then, hauling her forward a little wav with 
he gaff hooks, the ice has to be broken again in the same 
KSUyr""* “» h » very SJ K 
n«^d tn P i hcd ' y 8Ul " din P outride the boat upon the ice pre- 
fi he iK UpOU T' s a™ 8 the weight of the body 
Kivv for/hU? C k w “y Leuoatli it. Where the ice is to£ 
be , dru KS c ‘ l along over the sodden 
St? we buffe'ramiy^ looking ^ ^termination, 
between the grease fleYdl TlX Ts a nice ipenfng E? 
piling them upm a high wall just on the other side. 
nn ?S 8 g , u 8 arc flying overhead iu small bands, with hero 
m C tt “i gCl i Bothering on the ice, where some lucky one 
has discovered a bit of food See ili.'m ,,ii ! , y 11 
wing in pursuit of that one that lms tried, but \^nco^\\y 
to bolt with the booty ; but they do not get itall away from him 
he’ f n l i r ' 119 1 S ° Ut b ' h , M ? eiml tbc Uih across the middle and 
he never lets go, submitting, rather to their butletioga till 
enough has beeu torn from either end of it to allow him to 
swallow the remainder, which ho doe* at a gulp and 
with evident satisfaction. Now they all lly away together. 
How beautiful they are, with their loug, narrow wings ; how 
exquisitely curved, with all below white of the purity of 
snow, and above, the mantle is of the delicate gull-blue. And 
^• 8raCCf . U w C1 K fl,gb t ! Uow 8trun S° that such beautiful 
creatures should be so greedy aud gluttonous. Grows uro 
floating upon every ice cake, eugerly searching among the 
Mvoroufinaws 011 N ° tblng catable is distasteful to their om- 
i „Y bat ‘i S, hat larg0 Cl ? atur ° sitting upon the ice ? It in 
the eagle, and there comes its mate and alights beside it. Wo 
may save ourselves the fatigue of going in pursuit, for wo 
shou d never get near them ; besides, we have arrived at tbo 
of ‘ he r iver expedition near the little boat-house 
north ol the Garrisons tunnel. Now we are fairly landed 
after a loDg row ; for, though we have done our best, wc have 
aotmude u mi *e an hour, and it is now eleven o'clock. 
We have not too much time, so wo must put on our over- 
coats and push on to tho lower cove, which, I may say is a 
better place than the upper one; for it can scarcely bo called 
quiet near the foundry, where they are ofton tryiug the heavy 
1 arrott guns ; and then, too, they suffer less auuoyance from 
the gunners and workmen than above. So the Gouverueur'a 
cove will be the scene of to-day's exploits. And hero it is be- 
fore us. About one-half of the cove is already clear of Ice 
and upon the ice, at the edge of tho open water, we see sev- 
eral of the eagles sitting, while perched upon the loftiest trees 
on shore are several others, and a number of them are seen 
souring high iu the air. Let us not stop to look, hut hasten 
around to the other sido, where tho two largo hemlocks stand- 
for, on tho summit of each tree, I see one of the great birds 
sitting, perched erect, their snowy-whito heads making them 
conspicuous objects, seen even at this distance. You do not 
think we con approach them near enough for a shot ? I am 
glad you do not for that is just what I tliiuk, and boing 
agreed in this will save us the time that would otherwise bo 
consumed by a fruitless attempt to stulk them ; for, from 
their lofty perches, they would discover us long heforo we 
could creep within gunshot. 
{To be Continued.) 
- — — — . 
That Cunning Old Fox.— Ho was afflicted with fleas. 
Went for tho river ; walked in slowly ; took a mouthful of 
moss by the way; balanced that moss on the end of his nose. 
Then he sank in the water. Tho fleas hived in tho moss. 
He cut loose from tho moss, and tho fleas floated down stream. 
A correspondent sends us this. A reliable Tennessee gentle- 
man saw the fox. We read about this samo fox when we 
were ten years old. There was nothing about tho reliable 
Tennessee gentleman. We wouldn’t have believed it even 
then. Another fox was troubled with fleas. He wont to the 
apothecary, paid twenty-five cents for Persian insect powder, 
borrowed a bellows, dusted himself with tho powder-and 
was happy. Moral: The wicked flea. Pyrethrum Itoseum 
does tho business. 
Chesapeake Zoological Laboratory.— One of the de- 
partments of the John Hopkins University was opened for 
students at Old Point Comfort, Va., ou the 25th of Juno. A 
laboratory is especially designed to facilitate tho researches of 
advanced scientific workers, either ladies or gentlemen. Of 
course, the locality is a particularly good one for collecting 
marine animals, and students will receivo proper help and 
guidance. The price of board will not exceed $5 per week 
and a fee of $10 only is charged for the use of the laboratory 
outfit. For further information, address Mr. H. J. Rice, of 
the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, or to Dr. W. II. 
Brooks, Old Point Comfort, Va. The following is tho list, 
as far us made out, of tho members of the party: Dr. W. 
K. Brooks, Prof, of Zoology and Com. Anat., Johns Hopkins 
University ; Mrs. W. K- Brooks ; Mr. II. J. Rico, Mr. H. 
Sewell, Dr. Chris Sillier, Fellows iu Biology, John Hopkins 
University; Dr. Emil Bessels, Smitksoniun Institution, 
Washington ; Prof. L. V. Tuttle, Friends Academy, Balti- 
more, Md.; Prof. N. B. Webster, Wcbsler Military Academy 
Norfolk, Va.; Dr. F. P. Webster, Norfolk, Va. 
Transportation of Shells. — In the last number of JVu- 
ture Charles Darwin stutes that in his “ Origin of Species” he 
had suggested various means of trausportation, “ but as few 
facts on this head are positively known,” he gives the case of 
a living Unio, which had caught one of the toes of a duck’s 
foot between its valve3, and duck and Unio were thus secur- 
ed. It was Mr Arthur EL Gray, of Davenport Mass., who pro- 
cured this exemplification to Mr. Darwin’s surmises. A blue 
