1881 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
99 
The American Smelt. —Osmems viridescens. 
If one were to place a Smelt, perhaps the 
smallest fish regularly brought to market, by 
the side of a 20-lb. Salmon, he would have 
the two extremes of the Salmon Family, one 
that produces some of the most highly valued 
food-fishes. Here 
belong the vari¬ 
ous Trouts, so 
generally esteem¬ 
ed ; and the 
White-fish of the 
Western lakes, is 
another impor¬ 
tant member of 
the family. The 
Smelt, rarely a 
foot long, and 
mostly about six 
inches, is very 
gracefully shap¬ 
ed, is silvery be¬ 
low and greenish 
above, and has a 
satin band run¬ 
ning its whole 
length. The en¬ 
graving gives the 
appearance of 
this fish, which 
is found along 
our coast from 
New York north¬ 
wards to Lab¬ 
rador, going up the streams in spring to 
spawn, and descending again in autumn. 
Were the Smelt unable to live where it could 
not reach the ocean, it would not have half 
the interest it now possesses. In cases 
where the fish had passed up fresh-water 
rivers into fresh ponds, and their return to 
the sea cut off, it was found that the fish at 
once adapted itself to its changed conditions, 
and bred when confined to this form of cap¬ 
tivity. This fact has led to the stocking of 
interior waters with Smelts, and allows those 
who live far inland to enjoy one of the 
choicest products of the sea. There is a 
species much like ours in Northern Europe, 
while upon the Pacific coast there is still 
another. Smelts are caught by hook and 
line, and also in nets. Though small, it is, 
like most others of the Salmon Family, a 
“ game ” fish, and those who do not measure 
sport by the size of the catch, are very fond 
of Smelt fishing. Immense numbers are 
caught in the Eastern rivers by means of 
nets, and when frozen are sent all over the 
country. It has been successfully propa¬ 
gated artificially. When first caught, the 
Smelt has a marked odor, and a similar flavor, 
likened by some to that of fresh cucumbers, 
and by others is mentioned as a ‘"rose-flavor.” 
This odor is recognized in the name of the 
genus, Osmerus, which is from the Greek for 
“ a smell.” When the fish has been long and 
improperly kept it loses this peculiarity, and 
then is not especially desirable for food. 
Some Common Birds. 
-O- 
The Yellow-Heade<l Blackbird— (X rnthocephalus 
ictero:ephalus.) 
This is a prairie bird, and found in many 
localities from Wisconsin south to Texas and 
west to California. The 
larger meadows and 
rush-bottom marshes 
of the Western States 
are the favorite haunts 
of this Blackbird, 
where it breeds in 
large communities. In 
partially overflowed 
marshes the birds build 
their nests around the 
stems of the water 
plants, and conceal 
their young so thor¬ 
oughly, that they are 
found with difficulty. 
The eggs, usually four 
in number, are of a 
pale greenish - white, 
covered with dots of 
an umber-brown color. 
The ‘ ‘ Yellow - heads ” 
associate with other 
Blackbirds, especially 
the Cowbird, which 
they resemble in their firm and graceful gait. 
Their note is a cluck, similar to, but deeper 
than, the Red-wing. This bird has an agri¬ 
cultural value in destroying large quantities 
of grasshoppers and other injurious insects. 
The “ Yellow-heads” usually move in flocks 
of two hundred or more, and when upon 
the ground, the rear ones keep continually 
flying to the front, thus advancing the line 
of march. The general color of the bird is 
black. The head and neck and the fore part 
of the breast are 
yellow. There 
is a conspicuous 
white spot at 
the base of the 
wing. The fe¬ 
male is smaller 
and brownish, 
with the yellow 
confined to the 
head. Length of 
male ten inches, 
one of which is 
shown much re¬ 
duced in figure 1. 
Capped Wood¬ 
pecker, (Hylotomvs 
pilcalus.) 
This handsome 
bird is very wide¬ 
ly distributed, ex¬ 
tending from the 
Gulf of Mexico 
to the far north, 
and from the 
Atlantic to the 
Pacific Ocean. It 
almost always 
breeds in the interior of forests, and frequent¬ 
ly on trees over streams or ponds of water. 
The hole for the nest is from 12 to 18 inches 
deep, about 3 inches in diameter until near 
the bottom when it expands to 5 or 6 inches. 
The nest is constructed of the fine chips 
which are made in digging the hole. The 
Capped Woodpecker or “ Black Woodcock,” 
| as it is sometimes called, is one of our shyest 
birds, and its habits are not very well known. 
Hunters find it difficult to shoot these birds, 
. they greeting the follower with a loud cry, 
not unlike a derisive laugh as they fly from 
I tree to vee. The color of body, wings, and 
I tail, is a dull greenisli-black; with a white band 
THE PXLEATED OR CAPPED WOODPECKER. 
from the nostrils along the side of the head 
and neck. Crown and crest, scarlet red. 
Length 18 inches. Figure 2 shows a male 
bird. The female has less red upon its head. 
the AMERICAN smelt ( Otmencs viridescens). 
