winged teal (Querquedula distort) was shot in September last 
ZrHowb^! and to the bird, toe w« 
of the shell a mussel the Unio compUnatus The Dmo was 
alive and had abraided the skin of the birds toe. Mr Gray 
Writes : “ It (the um would have been transported to some 
nond or river perhaps miles from its original home, had the 
^27^ might have propagated its kmd." 
That aquatic birds disseminate the spawn of fish in this way : 
the ova adhering t o their feet is quite possibl e. 
Svakb Eat Snake. — Allow me to contribute my personal 
ohservarion on this subject. If the rattlesnake use its rat les 
ns a love-note I have never observed it, but that they use ® 8 
rsb^n of war. and to gather the clans to the fray, I have 
se. ii ^and heard the pibroch souuding, sounding lrom afar. 
In the summer of 1850, gun in hand, on a still hunt for squir- 
rels an^ic™^ in with a negro digging gentian roots. 
While talking to Sam he disturbed a rattlesnake, which mi- 
mediatlKotcd Us tail. Sam got a little excited, jumping 
round a good deal, and striking at the reptile ^ J h °®' 81 
always managed to keep between the snake and the gun, so 
that I could not get in a shot. Ere many seconds elapsed, 
two other rattlesnakes came from other diff event *wcUom. 
Bounding their battle-cry as they came. Sam cried enougn, 
SppSViiToeand leTt. In 1800 1 bad anothere^erience 
aS ans# ssa^issr ss *&? p. £ 
had met wiin m y excited by anger, or within hearing 
Lund S ^ace is at an end-it is fight or run I do not 
fTw of anything that will excite them so quickly m J i dog, . 
and they seem to smell a dog at a considerable distance. 
Their food is rats, mice, birds and eggs, young rabbits squir- 
rels and toads. A rattle for every year is no criterion to judge 
ace by I have Known one instance of two rattles being ma- 
tflred 7 in one year, and I believe if they could be carefully 
noticed there would be instances of still more. I have seen 
! snake with three rattles larger in length and girthl than one 
with thirteen rattles, both killed on the same day. Have seen 
one with seven rattles larger than one with twelve rattles, 
both killed on the same day. Twenty-eight rattlM is the 
greatest number of rattles I have ever seen on one snake, and 
{^was not as large as some I had seen with a less number of 
rattles Of the mortal enmity existing between the black 
snake and the rattlesnake, two instances have come under JjJ 
Sice in each of which the rattlesnake proved an arrant 
coward making a great noise, while the black snake did all 
the fighting— if I may call it fighting ; it was rather a strang- 
ling and a squeezing. My attention was aroused to it by the 
rattlesnake passing close to me, paying no attention to my 
presence, but apparently endeavoring to get awav from some- 
thing in pursuit, his rattles springing to their loudestnote. 
I was in the act of throwing gun up to stop him, when the 
black snake passed like a flash, going five yards to the rattle- 
enake’s one and the way he seized that rattlesnake by the 
back of the’ neck and went round him was 80 “ el ^ g i ^°?ono' 
ful. This was in 1866; my next experience was in 1868. 
Neither victors eat the vanquished. I have K^° f k p th 
stances, and since 1866 I have not killed a black-snake. 
Mv exDerience with the king snake and the moccasin ran 
thXSaSX 3 thirteen years, and in that rime I have 
seenrae king snake get outside of the moccasin many _ tunes, 
men the king first seizes his prey he coita around it until 
they are almost like a ball, turning occasionally and biting the 
cK of the moccasin. After being some time in the coil he 
will open out, and if the moccasin shows signs of life it re- 
Svm another embrace. When life is extrnct the king snake 
stretches out his victim and commences at the head It takes 
some time to gorge, especially if the one going inside is about 
aB large as the one crawling outside. Thos. Chalmers. 
Pittsfield, Mom., May 17, 1878. 
FOREST A ND STREAM. 
Breeding of tub Snow-bird in Pennsylv^:^— 
iug In a recent issue of your valued paper, , ■ 
presence of the American goldfinch (C'AnwmitrM tmto) n 
Connecticut during winter, I thought it might interest gu to 
know that said bird habitually winters in thw part of Fenn 
syvauia, although not infrequently the mercury falls to sateen 
degrees below zero. They congregate in large flock^ .and 
pear to be as comfortable and cheerful during cold weather as 
Ut ffi foUoVing^may also be interesting showmg how sbarp- 
lv the range or latitude of the habitat of certain birds 
marked. I have been an observer of birds since my boybood 
—some twenty odd years— but never noticed a snow-bird 
(Junta hycmaUe) after warm weather fairly 
although they are usually plenty here nr winter. Last June 
while trout fishing only thirty miles north of this city, I .found 
quite a number of snow-birds, and surmised that they bre d in 
the neighborhood. In fishing near the same lo^lity tbis 
season my surmises proved correct, as I found . .. 
nests, May 2, containing four eggs. Lost week, my l^other 
with others visited the same place, and he found l no less than 
three nests. All of them were built on the ground, along old 
roads, and hidden under a tuft of moss or a inoss-covered log, 
and, with the exception of one, each contained four tggs. 
The exception contained five eggs, but one of them was cov- 
ered, or built over, showing that the parents did notpropose 
to feed more than four young ones— perhaps on account of 
the “stringency” of the times! The rose-breasted grosbeak 
(Ooniaphta ludoweiana) which only tames in our immediate 
vicinity for a short time early in spring, also nests i m toe lo- 
cality referred to above ; but thus far I have not been so for- 
tunate as to find a nest. Bobolink. 
Williamsport, Pa., June 3, 1878. 
[With regard to the winter range of the Chrysomitria tristie 
we would refer our correspondent to a recent issue of Forest 
and Stream, in which it is shown that this species habitually 
winters as far north as New Hampshire. The note on the 
breeding of Junto hyemalis near Williamsport is interesting, 
as this is one of the most southerly localities on record for 
this occurrence. — E d.] 
Arrivals at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden cr to Julv 1.— 
One white pelican, PeUeanus trachyrhyncus ; one copperhead snake, 
AtuHttrodon contortrie, presented by Messrs. Thrall and Mumford two 
American elK, Ctrvus canadensis, born In Garden ; two fallow deer, 
Dama vulgaris, born In Garden ; two wild cate, Felis ru/a, presented ; 
three rattlesnakes, Crotalus rturissus, presented by Dr. .Tno. FraDke, 
tour ponies, Equus cabaUus, deposited by Mr. Jno. Robinson ; one 
ditto born in Garden ; one orangoutang, Simiasatyrus ; one chimpan- 
zee, 'progtodytes niger, deposited by Messrs. Ohas. Relche and Bro.; one 
red deer. Cervus elaphus, born In Garden ; one black bear, Ursus Amen- 
canus, presented by Mr. C. Goshell; #ne pronghorn antelope, Antiloca- 
P ra Americana, presented by Mr. W. H. May ; two passenger pigeons, 
Ectopistss migratoriue, hatched In Garden; two ltneated buzzards, 
Puleo linealus, presented ; one black sea lion, Zalophus gillcspxei , born 
In Garden; one Texan civet cat, Bassaris astuta, presented by Mr. B. 
H. Robb. II. P. Ingalls. Supt. 
Toodkmd, S drm % nrAtru 
pots should be well drained with broken potsherds or some 
such material so that the plants may take a full Supply of 
water without the earth becoming sodden and sour. The 
plauts should at all times have a regular supply of water, es- 
pecially when in flower and while makiug their growth. It 
is good policy to keep them in the greenhouse until the 
weather becomes warm outside that they may ripen their 
wood thoroughly. They should then be removed to a cool, 
shady place, or if allowed to receive the mid-day s sun the 
pots should be plunged in some substance, so as to prevent the 
roots from becoming injured by the heat of the sun on the 
nots The best season for repotting is just as the plants start 
to grow in spring, or immediately after they have done bloom- 
ing and the best soil to use is half and half good peat and 
virgin loam with a liberal admixture of sharp sand. 
With regard to the form of the plants we are not in favor of 
tho modern method of training and tying down of the 
branches to make exact conical, spherical, or other geometri- 
cal forms, but rather after getting the young plant started In 
the way it should go, a pyramidal form being perhaps the best 
and most showy, by summer, pinching of the young shoots, 
removing or keeping in check such gross and rambling 
branches as are necessary to keep the plant in proper bounds. 
The Azalea may be forced early, and a succession of flowers 
had from December to June, if kept in a cool house until 
wanted for that purpose. 
The following are a few of the most distinct of the many 
good sorts we saw .in Mr. Bennett’s collection : Bernhard An- 
dreas, deep rose, double; Borsig, probably tho best double 
white; Cedonulli, dark purple; Charmer, bright Amaranth ; 
Criterion, salmon pink, edged with white; Distinction, 
salmon edged with white, spotted; Duo de Brabant, 
rosy salmon, large; Due de Nassau, rosy purple; Hag 
of Truce, pure white, double; Gem, rioh crimson scar- 
let ; Hortense Yerviene, pale salmon, large ; La Bupcrbe, deep 
red; Mad. D. Yerviene, rose, upper petals purplish; Mad. 
Yan der Oruyssen, rose, deep spot on upper petals ; Magnet, 
rosy salmon, large; Neptune, orange, shaded violet ; Prin- 
cess Mary of Cambridge, deep rose color, fine form ; Sigis- 
mund Rucker, lilac rose, bordered white ; Souvenir du Prince 
Albert, double, bright rose, white margin; Stella, bright 
orange scarlet ; Roi d' Holland, deep scarlet. 
We may also mention that in Mr. Bennett’s orchid house 
may be seen at present the finest lot of Cypripedium barbatuni 
and its varieties round New York. Anthurium Schertzen- 
anum also (seedling plants) shows larger and more finely 
colored spathes than we have seen elsewhere. 
The Opossum Onoe More.— Editor Forest and Stream : 
In reply to a query by “ Tonic,” in your issue of April 11, 
on the “Embryonic Development of the Opossum,” let me 
say that I have hunted and taken many scalps of the opos- 
sum, and have heard some absurd theories on the breeding of 
the varmint— said theories all conjecture— taken from Ue for- 
mation of the 6exual organ of the male. lt „ 
As the hunting season is not the time to answer 1 omc 8 
query, we must go back into early spring-and just here 
2omi the difficulty. I believe the female lies close con- 
cealed during the period of gestation. After some years 
of careful watching, I have never found the female when car- 
rying embryos. 1 have found them in many stages of growth 
in the marsupium or pouch. Have found one with 6even 
young— small, hairless and blind, and apparently not many 
hours old— fast to the fount of all infantile comfort— the ute- 
rus of the mother showing all the marks of having given re- 
cent birth, conclusive evidence to me at least that the young 
were placed in pouch after birth. The opossum, when not 
hybernaiing, have no permanent abiding place— here to-day, 
elsewhere to-morrow, wherever food is most abundant ; noc- 
turnal in their habits, and putting up at the first safe retreat 
on the approach of day. Of five, size of half grown rats, 
taken from pouch in July and marked iu ear, one was cap- 
tured by myself the following winter, two miles from place 
of first capture, two were captured by another party, six 
miles away, and two I never beard of. I have marked many 
other lots— the contents of different pouches— but never 
heard about them afterward. There are probably others who 
have had more time and been more successful in their search, 
and, as “Tonic” says, let us have it. 
Thomas Chalmers. 
P S On April 17, when out trouting, I obnerved a pair of 
partridge with a fine brood of chicks. On Wednesday, May 
22 on'my way home from Iroiit brook, raised a pair of wood- 
cock ; female earned off three young hanging to her. The 
young were well grown, and so heavy the old one could carry 
them but a short distance. 
HaviDg nothing better to do, I am spending a few days 
tenting on the old shad ground. On Friday of last week, 
24th, took twenty-two shad; Saturday p. m., eleven; Mon- 
day p. m., eleven. T. C. 
Holyoke, Mass . , May 28, 1878. 
[April 17 is certainly unusually early for young ruffed 
grouse to be out, but then we all know that this is an “excep- 
tional season.” Woodcock have been seen to carry off their 
young before, but never three at a time, we think.— Ed.] I 
THIS DEPARTMENT IB EDITED BY W. 3. DAVIDSON, 8B0. N. Y. 
HORTIOULTVRAL SOCIETY. 
THE CHINESE AZALEA. 
T HERE is no plant cultivated for winter or spring decora- 
tion in the greenhouse or conservatory, that will give 
better returns for a little extra care and attention than the 
Azalea, and when the varied and gorgeous colors of many of 
them are taken into consideration we cannot wonder at the 
admiration expressed and love shown them by the true florist, 
as he admires his pets and goes into ecstasies over a newly 
imported variety, or mayhap a seedling of his own, that, in his 
estimation at least, is better, or richer, or purer than any other 
variety of the same color. We are led to these remarks by, 
the other day, with Mr. William Bennett, Florist, Flat- 
bush, L I., looking over and comparing with each other the 
different varieties in his large and interesting collection, and 
thinking a few notes would be acceptable to our readers we 
here present them. Much complaint exists among botanists 
iu regard to the hybridization of plants, as causing confusion 
—breaking up the natural division of plants by crossing the 
species ; but wo feel assured that instead of confusing the la 
bors of the botanist it has been the means of more clearly de- 
fining these divisions, and has given to the world thousands 
upon thousands of plants far more beautiful and useful than 
the types from which they were produced. 
The production of new varieties by the artificial crossing of 
flowere, by which we can blend the best characteristics of 
eac h, affords a source of pleasure and interest, to which there 
are no bounds. Although the art of producing new varieties 
in this way is of comparatively modern origin, it has now be- 
come the acknowledged source of improvement, and the best 
means for the acquisition of new and improved varieties. For 
many years florists were content with the old A. indica alba, 
pupurea, Pboenicea and other varieties of comparatively early 
introduction ; but since the newer varieties discovered by For- 
tune in China have been obtained a large stride has been made 
io the production of superior sorts, for many of which we 
have to thank our Continental nurserymen, who iu these, as 
with the hardy Azalea pontica, have taken the leading posi- 
tion in their cultivation. A most desirable cross or hybrid 
might be accomplished between the Azalea indica alba, which 
is hardy in Grehnwood, and some of these hardy Japanese 
sorts, such as A. ammna, A. obtusa, and others. Hybrids 
between the two latter have been raised in England, and are 
spoken of as models of elegance and beauty, and exceedingly 
useful for decorative purposes as well as for cut blooms, the 
small flowers being much more useful for that purpose than 
the larger varieties. 
In the treatment of established plants it is essential that the 
IP* §ttmiL 
.UW >■ — 
1-0 CORBE*PONDENra.-ThoBe desiring 03 to prescribe tor tnelr dogs 
please take note of and describe tno following points In caon anl- 
1 Age. 8. Pood and medicine given. 8. Appearance of the eye ; 
of the coat ; of the tongue and Ups. 4. Any changes in the appearance 
of the body, as bloating, drawing in of the flanks, etc. e. Breathing, 
the number of respirations per minute, and whether labored or not. 
8 Condition of the bowels and secretions of the kidneys, color, etc. 1. 
Appetite ; regular, variable, etc. 8. Temperature of the body as Indi- 
cated by the bnlb of the thermometer when placed between the body 
and the foreleg. 9. Give position of kennel and surroundings, outlook, 
contiguity to other buddings, and the uses of the latter. Also give any 
peculiarities of temperament, movements, etc., that may be noticed, 
lgn of suS erlng, eto. 
“PODGERS” AND HIS DOGS AT HOME. 
San Fbanoisoo, June 15, 1878. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
For the article in a recent issue headed “The Dog Care- 
fully Considered,” also your editorial notice of the recognition 
of the labors of Captain John M. Taylor in the cause of the 
dog, I return hearty thanks in the name of all dogs, especially 
the half-dozen I own. As I read the article a terrier lay 
coiled up in my lap, and three others of various breeds lay 
stretched out at my feet; for know ye that I maintain a little 
den of my own, that is, my dogs and I are joint owners. It 
is a little room fourteen feet square, overlooking the back- 
yard. Its wood-ceiled walls are covered with pictures of 
yachts, dogs, birds and beasts, with a glass-case for my guns, 
racks for my rods, shelves for baskets, a chest of drawers for 
my tools, and, in order to give it a nautical character, it is 
fitted up with lockers at the side and cushioned two lengths 
of berths long, so that when my friends drop in to spend an 
an evening they need not drop out until mo. mug. All that is 
necessary is to turn up the cushions aud draw iorth from me 
lockers underneath plenty of blankets, and they are com- 
fortably camped. If I could only give my habitation a little 
oscillating motion, in imitation of a yacht at anchor, it wouia 
be delightful. . M 
Here with my dogs I spend most of my evenings, no 
feminine rights are recognized, no foothold permitted. iOU 
won’t liud any hairpins, those vestiges of woman creation, on 
my floor. The dogs understand this, and when an occasional 
iernale head is hesitatingly thrust in iu quest of information 
on some domestic point, the dogs all turn their heads lazii) 
toward the intruder, Iheu rolling their eyes up at me ami 
languidly wagging their tails in recognition of being ac- 
quainted ; but there is an expression of countenance wmc 
plainly says, “Bhe has nothing to say around .here; she aon i 
run our end of the schooner, does she ?" Those dogs kno 
just as well as I do that this is our domain, and they streieu 
themselves out at full length on the cushions and watch roe 
as I write with a faint wag of their tails iu recognition oi roy 
favorable mention of them. If I should read this to tuero 
they would understand it. A dog and a woman are never i - 
sensible to admiration and attention. They both prize 
highly, and in one other particular they are alike, iney 
