442 
FOREST AND STREAM 
remain there a moment. Returning over this enchanted way 
to the miirgin of the lake, we quickly gathered up our traps 
and headed homeward, where we arrived about sundown with 
black bass for the whole town. Boz. 
Kentucky Ftsn Commissioners’ Report .— 1 Through the 
courtesy of Jlr. William Griffith, of Louisville, we have be- 
come possessed of the (first) report of the Fish Commission- 
ers of Kentucky for 1878, of which only 100 copies were 
printed. This report embraces the operations of the Com- 
mission from the date of their beginning, in 1876, until Nov. 
1, 1877 ; and besides, we have an unpublished statement of 
the work done subsequently, from both of which we are en- 
abled to make an intelligent summary of all that has been 
done. 
Although some ten years behind the foremost of her sister 
States, Kentucky has accomplished a gTeat deal in the brief 
two years of her endeavor, considering the small appropriation 
allotted for the purpose ($3,000). She has built a convenient 
hatching house near Louisville, on the farm of Col. Allen 
Polk, in Jefferson County, with a capacity for hatching and 
nursing 300,000 young fry, which was erected under the 
supervision of John O. Palmer, Esq., the well known fish- 
culturist of Boscobel, Wisconsin; she has imported and 
hatched out California salmon fry enough to amount to about 
2 10,000 in all, which have been widely distributed through 
the State; and she has liberally planted land-locked salmon, 
shad, salmon trout and wall-eyed pike (Stieostedion amcri- 
canumj, called salmon, pike-perch, etc. The latter is indige- 
nous here ; it is a fine edible and game fish, and ought to 
thrive . Every endeavor should be applied to its cultivation. 
Up to Nov. 1, 1877 (the period covered by the report), 46,225 
California salmon (S. quinnat) had been placed in forty-four 
tributaries of the Ohio, Green, Kentucky, Licking and Cum- 
berland rivers. These fish were a modicum saved from an 
importation of 200,000 from California, the greater part of 
which was destroyed by an October freshet in 1876. The 
fry were in the troughs of the hatching house at the time, 
and, it is believed, were killed by some poisonous substance 
washed into the spring by the rains, as the muddiness of the 
water would not of itself be fatal. Up to Nov. 1, 150,000 
shad had been deposited in the Licking and Green rivers. 
All the fish planted are thriving and dcing well, 60 far as is 
known. 
The Commission has been especially busy during the spring 
just passed. In January and February, 71,500 additional 
California salmon were placed in tributaries of the rivers al- 
ready named, and also in the Big Sandy ; in April and May 
5,500 land-locked salmon were distributed among the waters' 
of seven counties ; in April, May and June 45,000 salmon 
trout were planted in twenty-five counties ; and in May, over 
a half million of wall-eyed pike were deposited in twenty 
counties. This is a very good beginning, and the results are 
sufficiently encouraging. Many of the waters of Kentucky 
are excellently adapted to fish propagation, and should event- 
ually become as well stocked as in the days before they be- 
came depleted and barren. At present, Louisville alone pays 
a quarter of a million of dollars for table fish brought from 
other States, and possibly the consumption of the whole State 
is as much more. A half million dollars is worth saving, and 
a not too liberal appropriation of $10,000 to $15,000 per 
annum for the next three or four years will guarantee it. 
Some fish-passes must be constructed over dams, and money 
must be paid if necessary to prevent illegal netting, etc. The 
capacity of the hatching-house should also be increased. 
Park Thomas, Esq., was the pioneer of practical effort. 
He was the first President of the Commission of ten gentle- 
men, among whom Mr. William Griffith, of Louisville, has 
perhaps been most prominent lot industry and perseverance. 
We believe that the feeling of the community throughout the 
State sustains the Commission in its commendable labors. 
The number of the members of the Commission should be 
reduced to three. 
in 1876 seem to be going down to salt water this year, as we 
hear of them in various localities all the way down the river. 
This does not agree with old theories, as it proves a full 
residence of two years in fresh water before they return to 
the sea, but it is an unquestionable fact. I hope to get a full 
grown fellow to-morrow or next day to send Prof. Baird for 
his collection at the Smithsonian Institute. 
.» — 
Hahits op Eels. — Editor Forest and Stream: I have but 
one question to ask your correspondent “ B. T. B.” How 
did he know whether the eels he saw in the Susquehanna were 
going up or down the river ? R. B. Roosevelt. 
To Prevent Disease in Tkoot — South Side Sportsmen's 
Clvb, Oakdale , L. July 5. — Editor Forest and Stream : 
Having read an article on the aquaria disease in brook trout 
by Mr. Fred Mather, I would like for the benefit of those en- 
gaged in raising trout to say a word in regard to this disease. 
1 tiuil by experiment that this disease can be produced ih a 
healthy trout in from teu to twelve days, with the water 
at 60 deg. F., by being irregular as to time and quantity of 
food given. I have trout, that are doing well with water at 
74 deg. F by being regular as to time of feeding, quantity of 
food given and keeping a constant supply of freshwater 
running through the ponds. As ofien as once a week I brino 
the water with pure rock salt., which parities the bottom of 
the ponds and prevents accumulations of unhealthy gases in 
food, which is liable to collect on the bottom. Regularity in 
time, quantity and quality of feed given seems to effectually 
prevent the aquaria disease in trout. I feed beef hearts and 
lungs, chopped fine, once a day, to all my old trout, aDd twice 
a day to the yearlings, all of which are in fine condition. 
Would like to hear from others on this subject through the 
columns of your paper. R. 
Furnish Food for Fish. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
While the different States have become enthusiastic in the 
business of fish culture, wonderfully increasing them by art 
of production, hatching and protecting the young fish till 
they can take a fair start in the race of life, it is astonishing 
to me that they are not making provision to feed them. It 
seems to me that in all waters where fish are planted their 
natural food should be planted also. I know of lakes in 
Michigan where foreign fish have been put, and little or none 
of the natural feed for them. I know one lake where land 
locked salmon were put, and no other fish in it except an oc- 
casional minnow. Our fish commissioners have mastered the 
art in hatching young fish, and beat nature itself. Now, let 
them turn their attention to give them food. Many of our 
inland waters are not sufficiently provided with food for the 
kind and numbers of fish put into them. The consequence is, 
the predacious fish, like “ kilkina’lato,” devour one another 
or starve. In some waters there is a super- abundance of 
small fish, minnows aDd the like, not used as game fish. 
Here, at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, spring and fall, 
are millions of small fish, an inch to an inch and a quarter 
long. They appear to be a lake shiner ; slim, symmetrical, 
fine, soft, shiny scales ; in shape like a ciscoe or herring; 
lack second dorsal like those fish, otherwise look almost the 
same ; not as blue on the back as ciscoe. These shiners are 
from three to four inches long when mature. They are the 
climax of bass and pickerel bait ; in fact for any fish. The 
mature ones are caught along the lake shore with mosquito- 
net seines. They would be, I think, fine, put up as sardines; 
no bones. These fish, that can be caught by the millions, 
could easily be put into all inland lakes to feed other fish ; 
take those an inch long. The small worm that whitefish 
feed on put in lakes for whitefish, etc. Lutbon. 
St. Joseph , Michigan, July 1. 
history. 
BREEDING HABITS OF THE GOLD- 
FINCH. 
C°ME interesting features are connected with the domes- 
tic life of this common and well known bird— the black- 
winged yellow-bird, hemp-bird, salad-bird and goldfinch of 
common Bpeech, and the Chrysomitris tristis of systematists. 
It being distributed over the northern United States in sum- 
mer, from Atlantic to Pacific, and by no means rare or retir- 
ing in disposition, we ought to be well informed in regard to 
its breeding habits (as indeed we are); but in looking into 
the subject, I find several gaps in our knowledge— or, more 
accurately, perhaps, I find gaps in ^knowledge, which I am 
in hopes of having filled by observers'who may care to read 
a brief review of present information upon the subject. 
Of the courtship of the goldfinch Mr. Tlios. Gentry paints 
a very pleasant picture. Whether all the details are to be re- 
lied upon as solid facts the reader himself can judge. Mr. 
Gentry’s statements of bird life, especially as regards their 
nesting, often cause us to wonder how the fortunate observer 
could have ascertained such minutias. I quote : 
“In the month of April the flocks dissolve into small par- 
ties, preparatory to mating. It is quite common to see two 
males and one female together, the former lavishing the most 
endearing attentions upon the latter, and besides occasionally 
regaling her with the most delicious melodies. Whimsical and 
exceedingly variable, she selects one suitor and almost the next 
moment discards him for the other, which at this moment is 
perched near by, pouring out his love in the most charming 
manner. Tins condition of things lasts during a couple of 
days before the final choice i8 made. It seems to require the 
utmost condescension, as well as the greatest effort for the 
successful suitor to retain his hold upon her affections, for 
sbe is likely to waver in the interval of time which elapses 
before unification is begun. This duty so completely en- 
grosses her time and attention that the tendency to flirtation 
so to speak, has not time to manifest itself, and is soon aban- 
doned. 
“Subsequent to mating, and just before nidifleation, the 
successful mate and his partner ramble together in quest of 
food. When weary of this business they may be seen perched 
upon a common twig, when the former with his sole energy 
pours out his passion in the most charming language, ever 
and anon turning toward the object of his love as if to Ascer- 
tain whether it meets her approval or not. A soft, low note, 
which may be expressed by twe-yah, is her sign of recogni- 
New Hampshire— Nashua, July 6.— Salmon are running 
freely in the Merrimac. Borne large ones were taken ai 
Amoskeag Falls, Manchester, the 2d. and were seen by somt 
who have hitherto been skeptical on the subject of the fisl 
coming up over the Lawrence fishway. - Wbub. 
Salmon in the Merbimao. — The Fish Commissioner o: 
New Hampshire, Samuel Webber, Esq., writes us fron 
Manchester as follows, under date of June 30 : 
Having heard such wonderful stories about the swarms o 
Balmon coming up the Merrimac River, I went up to Amos 
keag Falls this morning to look for myself. I saw two beau 
ties— one of eight to ten pounds and one of fifteen pound! 
apparently — lying in the eddy below the main fall ; and od( 
of from hfteen to twenty pounds— at aDy rate as long as mi 
walking stick— in the canal above the fishway, where he had 
been detained by the closing of the canal gates, in order t( 
allow the workmen to do some stone-laying on the new fish 
way which we are buildiDg. Mr. Kidder, the late warden 
had seen him, about fifteen minutes before I got there iusl 
below the mouth of the fishway, and in that time he’ hac 
gone up and got trapped in the canal. The gates will b< 
opened again in a few hours, and be will undoubtedly go or 
up the river and join bis companions, several of whom havs 
already been taken in one seine and placed in our storage 
pond at Livermore’s Falls, to await their proper time foi 
spawning next autumn. The run of full grown fish thit 
year is gratifying to all of us, aDd we hope to get a good loi 
of spawn to restock the river with. The young fish put ir 
tion. The song of the male is loud and clear in intonation 
and produced with the varied moderation of Fringilla carui 
The site selected for the nest is a tree or stout bush, i n n 
upright crotch of which, or among supporting twigs tha? 
sprout from a horizontal branch, perhaps far from the trunk 
the nest may be securely fastened. Apple, pear, manle an i 
birch trees, willow, and other thornless shrubs, are the moni 
common choice. Mr. Gentry asserts that in his region it to 
quires six days to complete the structure, and that “ovino' 
sition commences on the ensuing day.” Dr. Brewer saw' 
nest built and one egg laid in half that time in Boston, while 8 
Michigan correspondent alleges two weeks as necessary th er * a 
Probably circumstances alter cases. The female appears tn 
be the sole artificer. Sometimes dire destruction, j n tl 0 
shape of a gale of wind, or otherwise, overtakes ’the half 
finished homes of these birds and wrecks all their labor • bi t 
they will courageously rebuild, as witnessed by Mr. J p 
Hutchins in Central New York, and Gentry tells of a pair rp 
newing the attempt to erect their nest in the same Dine/* 
ter being baffled four times. 
Few specimens of orintliic skill in architecture have been 
more elaborately dwelt upon than the nest of th e gold- 
finch. Yet, allhough very attractive in its result, it is by no 
means a conspicuous example of a bird's ingenuity, os is the 
well woven purse of the Baltimore oriole ; for the’ goldfinch 
simply mats her pretty materials together by movements of 
her feet and body, not attempting to interweave much r>l 
knit by the aid of the bill. CQ 0r 
Not being particular as to kind, so that the requisite softness 
and pliability are obtained, and gathering materials close bv 
the various substances entering into the composition of half 
the goldfinch’s nests collected would make a long catalogue 
Outwardly the ordinary nest, which is about the size of a 
large teacup (ODlym most cases much higher), exhibits a felt- 
ing of vegetable fibres, shreds of reddish bark, fragments of 
ragged grasses, leaves, hemp, bits of fungus, tassels and 
flowers of various delicate weeds and grasses, with more or 
less vegetable wool, spiders’ webs and lichens loosely attached 
Through the surface, in such a way as to hold it stoutly 
place, pass the supporting twigs of the crotch in which the 
whole rests. The mass of these materials, in which often a 
great deal of wool, fern-down and the like stuff is mixed, causes 
the walls to be thick and dense. Interiorly a receptacle' for the 
sitting bird is hollowed and lined with fine rootlets, horse 
hair, “ plumose appendages, or pappus of the seeds of com- 
posite plants,” raw cotton and fern-wool. In all these nests 
one element is sure to be present— thistle-down. The gold- 
finch adorns the walls of her boudoir with its glistening silk 
and makes her bed of the elastic gossamer that floats through 
the summer air. fa 
As I have remarked, the date of egg-laying varies greatly 
It seems to occur earliest on the Southern Pacific coast, late 
in May ; at Sacramento and in Utah about the middle of 
June ; at Trenton, N. J., Dr. Abbott tells me he found their 
eggs from May 17 to August 3 ; Gentry puts the time at 
Philadelphia as “generally from the 10th to 15th June in 
New England, Samuels gives June 10 as the earliest date 
while Dr. Brewer says it is usually past July 10 before their 
nests are constructed, and September before the broods are 
able to fly ; in Michigan, eggs are recorded from May 20 to 
September 25, the first week in August being regarded as the 
height of the season. It is evident, then, that though the gold- 
finch breeds late, as a rule, yet sometimes it nestles quite as 
early as the majority of birds. Upon this point we need more 
observations. That the same individuals may and do vary 
greatly in the time from year to year I have no doubt ; why 
it is impossible, perhaps, to guess. That they have the’ power 
of retaining their eggs, or rather of repressing their desire to 
lay to a much greater extent than is supposed to be the case 
with most birds, is proved not only by the long delays which 
have been known to take place in their nest-buildiDg, with a 
successful finale, but also from the fact that those specimens 
dissected in April show an equal readiness and development of 
ovaries and testes with those shot late in the summer. I 
doubt whether anything more rational than caprice can be 
assigned as the cause of their anomalous irregular breeding ■ 
the usual explanation, scarcity of proper food for the young 
in early summer, has no supporting evidence in what we 
know of the bird’s diet, and is distinctly proved of no weight 
by the fact that frequently some goldfinches do nest early 
while others postpone it until very late, and this in the very 
same district. 7 
The eggs of this species are five, and often six, in number, and 
in color faint bluish-white immaculate, the blue tint appearing 
less strongly in empty specimens. Measurements of an aver- 
age clutch were: ,66x.51, .64x.50, .63X.50 and ,62x.50ofan 
inch. Occasionally, as noted by Dr Abbott and others, 
spotted examples are seen— the markings faint and scarce— 
but this is very rare and exceptional. The elaborately blotched 
eggs described by Wilson, Richardson and some other early 
authors, are surely erroneously identified. 
About ten days appears to be the period of incubation. As 
no second brood (invariably?) is to be anticipated, the youDg 
are diligently attended by both parents, who exhibit the most 
clamorous distress whenever danger threatens. Cases are re- 
corded of their returning not only to the same locality two or 
three successive summers, but even constructing a new nest 
upon the foundation of the old. I have seen such a structure, 
and observed not only that the height was twice its diameter, 
but that the materials of the second were precisely similar to 
those used in the first nest. It is said, also, that this species 
will bury under a “second story” the parasitic egg of the cow- 
bird, when it is so unlucky as to have one thurst upon it, as 
does the other yellow bird, DSjidrceca (estiva. When almost 
a fortnight of age, the young leave the nest, and soon the 
little family groups combine into the merry flocks that we see 
gaily playing about the sere reeds in autuuiD, or drifting 
away in a cloud of thistle-down before the October breeze. 
Ernest Ingbrsoll. 
Procreation of Skates. — Editor of Forest and Stream: 
The communication on “ The Procreation of Skates” in the 
last number of Forest and Stream (June 27, 18781 
induce me to believe that a little further information 
may be acceptable. In the order of Raiat viparity is 
the rule, and oviparity the exception. These facts have long 
been known, and have been co-ordinated with morphological 
characteristics. Thus, after the definition of the family Raja 
or Ratidce, Muller and Herb state that “ they are the only egg- 
lay trig rays." (Sic sind die eimig'n eierlegenden Rochen.) 
1 he facts that the Trigonidw as well as the Myliobatida, 
Lephalopteri dm, Torpeelinidm, Rhidobatidce and Fristidai are 
viviparous were long ago recognized. It is therefore singular 
that Professor Agassiz, as late as 1855, should have alluded to 
the information conveyed to him by Mr. Thuyer S. Alert— 
that the stingray of the coast of North Carolina brings forth 
