358 
FOREST AND STREAM 
A careful inspection of this fish by knowing ones shows 
that it is that variety which has long existed in American 
waters, and is known as shad. Some time since Mr. Seth 
Green, the note i fish culturist, introduced this variety into 
the waters of the Genesee, where it multiplied rapidly, and 
soon found its way to Lake Ontario. It appears now for 
the first time in ‘ great quantities on the northern shore, 
and is a great boon to us all. We regret, however, that it 
should be so largely caught as it has lately been before 
reaching maturity, and hope some means will be found to 
prevent this and encourage '.he growth and increase of this 
splendid fish in our vicinity." 
SHAD IN LAKE ERIE. 
Cleveland, Ohio, July 10th, 1875. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
Over a year ago several thousand young shad were put In the San- 
dnsky River near Fremont, at a point about twenty miles from Sandusky 
Bay, which opens on Lake Erie. On drawing seine for minnow at our 
club bouse (Bone’s Point) we captured several of the young shad. They 
are about throe inches In length, and as lively as could be expected of 
the salt water Osh In the lakes. Wc nre watching closely their action 
during the hot months, but think that there is no doubt of the success 
of raising shad in the lakes, and if shad can be raised, why not salmon? 
We will keep a close watch on these denizens of the ocean and post you 
on any new points In their case. Jno. T. Deweese. 
JUflfnral |p istarg . 
For Forest and Stream. 
THE VACATION OF AN ORNITHOL- 
OGIST. 
A N ornilhologist looks forward to holidays and vaca- 
tions from business as welcome seasons of uninter- 
rupted work. Tbe most careful plans are laid long before- 
hand to get the utmost amount of valuable results with the 
least expenditure of time, regardless of labor and trouble; 
and he reckons the value of the vacation by the work he 
has done, not by the rest he has taken. Yet it is really the 
best of rest to him, and every business man ought to have 
a similar avocation, which shall take him out of doors and 
away from the pavements every spare day. My collection 
lacked Southern birds, and accepting the invitation of gen- 
tlemen of the West Va. Oil and Oil Land Company to 
make their offices my home, I went to Petroleum, Ritchie 
county, W. Virginia, on the Parkersburg division of the 
Baltimore and Ohio Railway. Any other appellation for 
this forlorn little station would be a misnomer, for it 
looked, felt, tasted, and smelled of oil— thick, greenish 
black, villainous stuff, but the best lubricator in the world. 
The whole country thereabouts is on edge. So many high 
hills are there, that there is scarcely room for valleys be- 
tween, all densely covered with a primeval forest of both 
hard and soft woods, and jungles of bushes and brambles, 
knit together with trailing vines and creepers, the haunt of 
rattlesnakes, et aL It is the well marked scene of a geo- 
logical riot long ago, and the streams, searching out the 
■weakness of the shattered rocks, ever betray the savagery 
of nature, which the luxurious vegetation is making every 
effort to conceal. 
In 6uch a country, then, I spent nearly four weeks in 
collecting, with marked success. The first day, however, 
was just after a cold storm, and I saw none but the com- 
monest, such as robins, bluebirds, blackbirds, crows, gold- 
en wings, and song sparrows. The next day I was a little 
more successful, for 1 added to my list a king-fisher, turtle 
dove, a mocking wren, a blue-gray gnatcatcher, and oth- 
ers. From this time every day brought varieties. The 
king-fishers do not seem abundant, but a few nest in a 
steep bank a mile or two down the road, in company with 
another troglodyte— the rough-winged swallow. The bur- 
rows of these two birds are very different, although it is 
not always easy to tell their entrances apart. The king- 
fisher goes straight in several feet and lays her eggs on 
three or four straws; if anything at all, (it is the British 
species that builds its nest of fish bones,) while the swallow 
pierces her narrow tunnel only a few inches, and usually 
makes an elbow in it, at the end of which a little chamber 
is hollowed aud a warm nest of straw and feathers lucked 
in. This is also the habit of its congener, the common bunk 
swallow, aud all three of them lay pure white egg?, like 
roost birds that nest in dark holes— the woodpeckers and 
owls for inslauce — though there seems no direct connection 
between the facts. 
How i he king fisher happened to be chosen to figure in 
that gentle legend of Halcyone, or rather how such a de- 
lightful tradition of his origin ever arose, is a wonder to 
me, for he is associated with anything but quiet and re- 
pose, and the canoeist on an American river would regard 
the presence of our Cergle Alcyone as in indication of rough 
water, however the gubernatur of a Roman trireme might 
have welcomed the birds. He is, note, too, as noisy as can 
be, and the immortal Alexander Wilson, whom nowadays 
we are too near forgetting, described it perfectly when he 
compared it with a watchman’s rattle. 
Just where I found these nests Goose Creek makes a 
sharp bend to tbe righ 4 , sheering away from a high wall of 
rocks and plunging down some lively rapids. On the right 
bank there is a little flat, thinly covered with bushes and 
young trees. Amid these were many birds, and it was a 
favorite resort of mine throughout the whole vacation. 
Here came the shy little Carolina chickadee, a miniature of 
our northern black crested one, with his constant friends, 
the black aud white creepers and the “sapsuckers," the sad 
wood pewees, whose slender plaint always seems to me 
significant of blighting Borrow courageously overcome by 
moral strength; the loquacious blue jay, more brilliant in 
this warm latitude than ever I had seen him North. You 
hear many minstrels that you cannot see. Down the 
creek afield sparrow is still singing creep, crce-ep, cree eep, 
catch 'em, catch ’em, catch ’em, as mother tells me he 
sang it when she was a girl. Up stream, the few clear 
notes of the mocking wren, which are all his own, ring 
out upon the air, and on the other side a cat bird is person- 
ating a whole choir. Business like robins are discussing 
with one another; angry chenricks are bustling about in 
real agitation, making the dead leaves fly from under the 
riers as though a small tornado was dispersing them; a 
pair of goldfinches are quarreling loudly out there by a 
dead tree, and altogether this little grove seems a sort of 
avian exchange. . 
Hark! What a keen, strong, parrot-like whistle from 
that lofty hill! I splash through the creek, scramble up 
the rocky wall, clutching the trailing hemlock roots, and, 
forgetting the things which are behind, press forward to- 
wards the mark of the high calling of that strange bird 
on the hill top. How soon he would stop if he knew 
whom his clarion was guiding! At last I see him— a brave 
looking bird, standing high upon his legs in the top of a 
tall ash, his head crested, his tail long and restless; above 
he is ruddy brown, below ash-white and yellow. I knew 
him— the great-crested fly catcher, first cousin to the king- 
bird. Down he comes, dead! I straighten him out, wrap 
him up tenderly and put him away in my trout basket. 
Then I sit down. There is little use indeed when collect- 
ing in the woods to move about much; the birds will come 
to you, if you are quiet, just as surely as you can go to 
them. There is a different sort up here, less of the skulk- 
ing bnsli and pasture lovers, more of the dendricoline and 
open air birds, like this poor handsome fellow in my bas- 
ket, and that hawk coursing over yonder ridge. Presently 
I hear a flue squeak overhead, aud after a long search dis- 
cover a pair of great catchers (Polioptila carulea) laying the 
foundation of their nests, which is too elegant a structure 
to pass unheeded. It would just about fill a coffee cup, 
and a thimble would just about fill it. It is matted of va- 
rious soft vegetable fibres and cottony substances, particu- 
larly downy within aud encrusted outside with green and 
gray lichens and bits of wood moss. The bird itself is a 
tiny, slender little sylph, blue-gray above and white under- 
neath, with black bill and feet. They went away, and re- 
turned again and again, always both together, with their 
mouths full of fluffy material. I wanted the PaUoptilas 
badly, but had'nt tbe heart to shoot them in their busy 
bliss; so I left them aud they 
“Perfected all their labor of love, 
These joyous birds that I tell you of.” 
The next bird that attracted my attention was a warbling 
vireo, as firm t.ud modest as Priscilla, the Puritan maiden. 
It is a common bird in all our New England elms iu May, 
and I need not stop to describe it. The sight of the birds, 
together with the ways of the little architects I had just 
been watching, reminded me of a pair of red-eyed vireo 
that I saw in Connecticut the previous Summer. One had 
its beak full of a great wad of cotton which it was trying 
to mat into a pellet, and at the same time to sing as loudly 
as its mate (with what musical success you may judge), 
very soon, of course, dropping the cotton. But the other 
vireo, snatching the morsel, also tried to go on singing, and 
dropped it, when it was caught by the first one, and so on 
till the wad was sufficiently compact, when they both 
started for the nest in great glee. Their intense happiness 
in all this was very amusing, being perfectly unconscious 
of my preseuce, although 1 stood within six feet of them. 
On tlie way down hill, a couple of Swainson’s, or lawny 
thrushes, scudded away through the underbrush, showing 
their rufous backs. Just on the edge of the clearing I shot 
a warbler, intently gleaning in the lip-top of a tall sapling, 
which proved to be only a Parula, the blue, yellow back 
readily distinguished by the bronze crescent between the 
shoulders of his blue mantle garb, the reddish, changing 
yellow on his breast, fadiug into white under the tall. A 
little further down I easily ascertained the whereabouts of 
a certain noisy cardinal, or “red bird,” and crept cautiously 
up, for they are very shy, till near enough for my tine shot 
to take effect, and then tired hastily. Much to my surprise 
he neither flew away nor came down, nor could I shake 
him down, but had at last to climb the tree and take him in 
my hand, when he awoke from his stupor (for he was’nt 
the least injured) and resisted manfully. Ilis dark eye di- 
lated and flashed iudignant remoustraucc; his great beak 
suapped viciously and unceasingly, as if be would eat me 
up, if only I were not so provokingly big; his strong claws 
clutched everything and held on desperately, but before 
the next night he felt better and sang iu his cage. You 
know their song; how it is an endlessly varied succession 
of whistles, sharp, prolonged, three-cornered, like their 
beaks. But the following day brave cardinal died, and I 
stuffed his gay coat. 
I had loitered so, that when I got home the purple mar- 
lins were wheeling under and over the level rays of sunset, 
and before long a solitary whippoorwill began calling down 
by the creek. To-morrow I must work more whether or 
not I think less. 
Every morning after this I was out early and home about 
noon, so as to have time to skin my birds before dark. The 
northward migration was at its height by the 5tli of May, 
and I saw the best of the travelers. I explored all sorts of 
localities, one day going to the dense distant woods aud 
great second-growth brier patches on the high hills; anoth- 
er following the windings of the creek, or some one of the 
many little "runs” which tumbled down ravines that an ar- 
tist would love, for every turn brought out some new scene 
of picturesque loveliness. These narrow glens are be- 
loved of the birds, and I find such warblers as the Ken- 
tucky, the hooded, the Blackburnian, the golden- winged, 
and the worm-eating, with the golden-crowned thrush, and 
his rarer brother, the water thrush (Seiurue ludovicianuu), 
for whose nest I searched unsuccessfully, though it must 
breed in this region. It was here, too, that I was most apt 
to find the least fly-catcher, and his brother, the green- 
crested Acadian fly catcher, three of whose old nests lcauie 
across in one morning. Another species of this genus 
(Empidona) is the yellow bellied. It has the same olive- 
green plumage as the rest, but differs in being bright lemon 
yellow underneath. Its song seems to one a string of co- 
quettish questions, and is very pretty. 
And now 1 am "at the end of my bobbin'," and liave’nt 
begun to tell what 1 intended of this vacation in the Alle- 
ghanies, or the birds and bird-notes it added to my ac- 
quaintance; for though you may know of many birds, it 
takes time to really get acquainted with even a few. Per- 
haps, too, I preach too much. Ingue. 
A correspondent sends us from Danville, Maine, the fol- 
lowing interesting account of his attempt at raising ruffed 
grouse, the only successful one ever brought to our notice: 
Danville, Me,, July 10th, 1875. 
Editor Forestand Stream:— 
Lost Kail 1 obtained (our wild partridge# (probably ruffed grouse, 
Bonrua vmbcUus, Is the correct name.) They Wintered finely in a cage 
3 by 2. This Spring I built an IncloBure— a circlo ten feet in diameter, 
walls five feet In height, with conical tent top— setting tho ground with 
little pine# and furs, in a clone clamp of which I pat dry forest leave#, 
of which they soon made a nest aud deposited eighteen eggs, but when 
setting time came they quarreled about tho nest and threw out the egg*, 
so I took away tho eggs and put them under two hens, "a bantam ami 
a big one." During tho third week some miscreant animal destroyed 
tho hen’s nest, but Miss Bantam brought out four young ones. I rc . 
moved tho old partridges from thoir house and put In bantam and her 
tiny brood. Sho seems to have a deep affection for them, for which 
they make a poor return, Inking but little notice of her anxious cals, 
and I frequently have to go iu during the night to pluco one or two of 
tho crying chicks under her. They are tho hardest pots to keep caged 
that I ever dealt with, but 1 am very anxious to keep them, ns I think It 
the only instance known of brooding tho wild partridge In captivity. My 
experience with these will enable mo to curry It out entire another sen- 
son without tho help of domestic fowl . M . W. C, 
CENTRAL PARK MENAGERIE. 
Department or Public Parks, i 
New York, July 11, 1875. | 
Animals received at Central Park Menagerie for tho week ending July 
10th, 1875:- 
One Brown Capuchin Monkey, Cebus appella. Presented by Capt. J. 
W. Llndsley. 
Two Tapirs, Taplruv Amsricanus. 
One Wood Ibis, Tantalus loculator. /Tab. Southern United States. 
Two Great White Egrets, Aretrea egretta. 
Five Pea Fowl, Paco crltlalui. Born in the menagerie. 
W. A . Conklin, Director. 
The following are recent arrivals at the Philadelphia 
Zoological Garden: — 
Garden op tub Zoological Society, I 
Fairmount Park, Philadelpuia, July 5th, 1875. ( 
One Wild Cat, Fells rafa. Presented by Major C. U. Boyd, Louisiana. 
One Black Cormorant, Oracular tarbn. Preeeuled by E. C. Stead, 
New Jersey. 
Four Prairie Dogs, Cynomes ludovirlanus. Born in Garden 
Two Golden Eagles, Aquila Canadensis. Presented by Gen. Gibbon, 
U. S. A. 
One Wapiti Deer, Cervus Canadensis. Born in Gardens. 
One Wombat, Phascolornys wombat. Purchased. 
One Bennct’s Wallaby. Ilalmalutn * Bennetti i. Purchased. 
Two Sulphur-crested Cockutoos. Cacatua galerlta. Purchased. 
Two Black Vultures, Cathaites atratus. Presented by Mayor Cun- 
ningham, Charleston, S. C 
Four Speckled Tortoises, Emys guttata; twenty Muhlenberg’s Tera- 
pins, Emys Muhlenberghii; twenty Box Tortoises, Clstuda Carolina. 
Presented by G. N. Peacock, New Jersey. 
One Albino Woodchuck, Arctomys monax. Presented by J. S. Patter- 
son, Vermont. 
§£ he fennel. 
— Our friend W. H. Brummitt, of Pontiac, Mich., sends 
us a photo and description of his pointer dog Roger. 
Judging from the picture, Roger must be a strong limbed, 
well marked dog, and, os our correspondent slates, able to 
do a good days work in any weather. We should like to 
see his tail a little less heavy than shown in the picture, 
but photos are not always reliable, and Roger may be all 
right in this direction. His head, chest and legs nre excel- 
lent. 
Tiik Great Chicago Poultry and Dog Snow, to be 
held at the Exposition Building at Chicago, in January 
next, promises from the liberal premiums to be given, and 
character of those interested in the matter, to be the largest 
ever gotten up in this country. In addition lo those gentle- 
men mentioned in oijr last issue as having consented to 
act as judges, we understand that Mr. E. T. Stoddard, Mr. 
T. O. Logan, of Cincinnati, and Mr. L. II. Smith, of 
Slrathray, Canada, have also be invited, and we believe ac- 
cepted the invitation to assist os judges for the different 
classes of dogs. 
Boston, Juno SOtb, 1875 
Editor Forest and Stream.— 
I would like your opinion and views on the following circumstances, 
which occurred during my last Full's shooting. My Imported bitch 
Beauty In quail shooting set five or six times In u week on iih many 
bevies. By set I mean that she first stood her game and then came llm 
on her belly. This to mo Is a new feature, at 1 have owned aud shot 
over many good dons, aud It Is the first lime It Ims occurred with me. I 
soe that Frank Forester says that it Is very unusual lu this country (it 
It?) In fine bred dogs? I should slate that the ground over which I wn- 
then shooting was open, with a growth of red laurel aud bay berry 
buthes, so-called, and ubout twenty miles from the city. 1 am very 
happy to write you that quail have come through our severe winter In 
flue order, and promise to be unuBuully plenty this Fall In Barnstable 
and Plymouth counties. 8. 8. 
[We do not agree altogether with Frank Forester when 
he say3 it is a very rare thing for dogs in this country l“ 
go down on their points. Our field editor — who has per- 
haps done as much shooting over sellers and pointers as 
any one— has owned quite a number of dogs which wen' 
given to the habit of dropping to point, aud many fine 
nosed, staunch dogs, will drop to point, when turning upon 
tho wind and finding themselves too near the game. One 
pointer we owned would invariably drop to point when 
the covor was light, and then in dense cover would rise ns 
high upon hie feet as ho could stand. 
"Schuyler,” a famous setter we shot over in Wisconsin 
a full season, would invariably drop to point on pinnated 
grouse and quail, but never when pointing snipe. — E d ] 
LAVERACKS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: — 
In your Issue of July 1st I noticed a communication In the Kcnr.ol I' 1 ] 
pBrtmcnt from Mr. John M. Taylor— “Lavorack Setters, True or Kid* 1 ’ 
—In which he says there nre only three pure Laveracks in this country, 
basing his assertion on a letter from Mr. Laverock, In which Mr. 
says: "I have sent but threo dogs to America,” and further on he 
“I never sold but the throe above mentioned." The above, to mo. 
n wrong Impression, us implying tliut Mr. Laverack had only and u 
them, when it is well known that there nre several gentlemen, us re * 
und as perfectly nblo to furnish pure Laveracks u» Mr. Lavorack h 
self, for he has sold for many years and Is still selling thorn; ho ths ^ 
breed Is not now his exclusive property, ulahough ho for o long li'» e '' 
tho only reliable retainer of It. If any nno bought a dog with n pe 
purporting to bo puro Lavorack from such gentlemen us K- *■ r ^ ’ 
Esq . , P, R. Henning, Esq . , Purcell Llowellon, Esq., it would he es V 
