The demands of the privet as to soil, situa¬ 
tion and exposure, are extremely unselfish. 
It seems needless to say that it will thrive 
best when well cared for in every particular ; 
but it will flourish in any situation—under 
tree-drippings, in the shade, in the sun, in 
damp places, in sandy soil, in clayey soil—no 
exposure is too hot, none too cold. It has 
stood alike twenty degrees below zero and a 
south-eastern exposure under eaves within 
two feet of a brick foundation without harm. 
We have grown it upon sandy hillocks, in 
clavey hollows and along the banks of a lake 
not over a foot above its surface water. We 
have seen it doing very well close to the old 
building in a northern exposure of the poison¬ 
ous New York City Hall Park where, as is 
well known, few plants live for any length 
of time even in its most favored parts. And 
between these several privets—in situations 
so diverse and opposite—no corresponding 
differences wore apparent in their develop¬ 
ment. 
All this may honestly be said of the com¬ 
mon privet, and it can be said of few, very 
few, other shrubs. We suggest to our nur¬ 
serymen, therefore, that they remove it from 
A curious, but not very sportsmanlike 
method of Woodcock shooting, is in vogue 
at the South, termed “fire hunting.’' It is 
practiced at night, and in this wise t—A 
A NEGLECTED SHRUB-PRIVET 
bearer carries a vessel Bet on a pole, some ten 
or twelve feet In length, in which are placed 
pine knots, or some such light-producing 
combustibles, which are lighted on arriving 
at the feeding grounds, to which the birds 
resort at night-fall. A light is shed for some 
yards around, and the shooter walks close to 
AMERICAN GAME BIRDS.-III 
BY E. S. CARMAN 
THE WOODCOCK—SCO LOPf l MINOR. 
The Woodcock is abundant throughout the 
Middle and Eastern Slates, and equally abun¬ 
dant during Winter in the Southern ones, 
though it is seldom seen, Biuee it is nocturnal 
in its habits. 
Its head is singular in Bhape and appear¬ 
ance, with the eye fixed at a remarkable dis¬ 
tance from the bill, and high in the head, 
thus giving a greater range of vision, and se¬ 
curing the eye from injury while the bird is 
searching in the mire. The bill is double the 
length of the head—yellowish brown, 
straight, slender, tapering, deeper than 
broad at base, upper mandible with nearly' 
erect sides, sloping out to the soft, obtuse 
edges; tip dusky, blunt, knob-like ; lower 
mandible broader than upper; sides marked 
with u deep groove, sloping in toward the 
b&Be, outward toward the end, edges Boft 
and obtuse, tip rounded ; head somewhat 
triangular, rather large; neck short and 
thick ; body full; toes free, slender—the 
third longer than the tarsus ; claws blackish, 
small, arched ; plumage soft, elastic, blend¬ 
ed ; the fore part of the head short; neck 
full; wings short, rounded : the first quills 
extraordinarily attenuated, narrower be¬ 
yond the middle ; secondaries broad ; tail 
very short, wedge-shaped, of twelve narrow 
feathers, which taper towards the rounded 
point. 
On the upper part of the head are two black¬ 
ish-brown, broad, transverse bands of light 
red, a brownish-black local band und a nar¬ 
row, irregular lino of same across the chuck; 
down the back arc three broad, longitudinal 
bands of brownish-black, barred with light 
yellowish-red, and separated by two bands 
of aah-gray. The Inner wing coverts and 
secondary quills are barred in a like manner; 
the outer ones pale, grayish-red, faintly 
barred with dusky; upper tail coverts 
barred ; tail feathers brownish-black ; tips 
gray ; sides of the neck reddish-gray ; lower 
parts Jight grayish red ; length, 11 inches; 
bill, 2; tail, 2>tf. The female is like the 
male, only larger, and the young, when full 
fledged, are like the old birds. 
The Woodcock feeds and moves from place 
to place, almost exclusively in the night. 
Wilson says It seldom stirs till after sun¬ 
set ; at that time, and in the early morning, 
he rises by a kind of spiral course to a con¬ 
siderable bight in the air, uttering, at times, 
a sudden “quack,” till, having gained the 
utmost bight, he hovers around in a wild 
and irregular manner, making asort of mur¬ 
muring sound, then descends with rapidity, 
as he rose.” Their food consists of various 
larvie and aquatic worms, for which, during 
the night, they arc almost always turning 
over the leaves with their bills, or searching 
in bogs. 
The Woodcock usually begins to lay in 
April. The nest is of simple construction, 
being formed of a few dead leaves and grass 
stalks, and placed on the ground in some re¬ 
tired place in the woods, often near an old 
stump. The eggs, four or five in number, 
are of a dull clay color, marked with spots 
of brown, interspersed with others of pale 
purple. They are 1>£ inches long, 1 in diame¬ 
ter, tapering suddeuly toward the small end. 
The clearing up and draining of swamps, 
and the alluvial borders of streams, are 
enough to cause a great diminution in the 
numbers of Woodcock, Add to these the 
summer slaughter of them in their greatly 
circumscribed haunts by sportsmen, pot¬ 
hunters and market-shooters, and the wonder 
is that they are not exterminated. 
But there are still left feeding-grounds and 
cover enough for the rearing of a few broods 
in the oldest part of the country, and of these 
broods a few members escupe the ruthless 
onslaught of the shooters to save their race 
from extinction. Sportsmen should unite to 
procure the abolition of summer Woodcock 
shooting, which begins before any of the 
young birds are matured, and while many 
are yet unable to fly, and probably, not uufre- 
quently, in late and unfavorable seasons, 
while the mother bird Is still sitting. 
Woodcock are found in swamps* wooded 
intervales, the thickets along the borders of 
streams, sometimes in corn-fields, where the 
soil is moist and loose, along the oozing mar¬ 
gin of small rills ; in short, in almost all places 
which afford them food and shelter, or shel¬ 
ter alone, that is contiguous to feeding 
ground, but never in the depths of the pri¬ 
meval forest. One summer evening, at dusk, 
a Woodcock walked leisurely into our kitch¬ 
en, and I have frequently started them, at 
that time, from the grass about the house. 
While we contemplate the selection of 
hardy shrubs and trees with which to em¬ 
bellish the grounds about our homes, how 
DOES THE BEE DAMAGE FRUIT 
Chas. V. Riley, State Entomologist of 
Missouri is reported as having made the fol¬ 
lowing statement of his present position on 
this question, w hich is in some sense a modi¬ 
fication of former views, or at least embraces 
a clearer qualification of them “ Mr. Presi¬ 
dent, I think highly of the honey bee, very 
highly indeed; I am a friend of the bee, I 
think it does a great deal of good ; but in 
some seasons, in time of great drouth, when 
bee forage is scarce I Hunk it does damage, 
indeed I am certain of this. I watched the 
bee very closely for several years before I 
could tell whether it did any damage or not; 
but one season, a very dry one, 1 saw two 
acres of Herbemont grapes nearly ruined by 
them. I think it is only on exceptional 
seasous that it does any damage. I would 
not recommend poisoning them, but think 
persons living on a small plot of ground 
ought not to keep them, in sufficient numbers, 
to annoy their neighbors at times when bee 
forage is scarce. Oft the whole, I consider 
the bee more of a friend than an enemy.” 
ATTACHING ANIMALS AS MOTORS 
M. Marey has laid before the French 
Association for the Advancement of Science 
some interesting observations on the employ¬ 
ment of animals as motor powers. He proves 
by means of very elaborate instruments that 
the movement of animated beings as motor 
powers takes place by jerks, whence results 
shocks and consequently a waste of labor. 
As an illustration of this theory, M. Marky 
cites the effort necessary to draw a burden 
behind one. If the necessary force be trans¬ 
mitted by means of ft rigid or almost unex- 
tensible strap, for instance, of leather, the 
movement is jerky and more difficult than 
if it were transmitted by an elastic strap. 
It would therefore be better to attach horses 
to the shafts with India-rubber traces. He 
also gives as an illustration the manner in 
which boats are always dragged along the 
towing-paths by long ropes. It would be 
impossible, or at least very distressing, to 
employ short ones. The length of the rope, 
which alternately tightens or slackens by 
slow oscillations, has in this case the same 
effect as India-rubber. 
NOTES AND QUERIES 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES, 
Preserving Wooden Labels .— After the 
wooden labels are made soak them in a strong 
solution of sulphate of iron. Let them dry, 
and then place them in lime water, giving 
time for the lime water to permeate the 
wood thoroughly. Insoluble sulphate of 
lime will be formed throughout the pores of 
the wood, which will prevent the absorption 
of water and consequent rotting. Twine 
used for tying up plants may be similarly 
preserved .—London Garden. 
Varnish for WhiU9 Woods .—The Scientific 
American says :—Dissolve 3 lbs. of bleached 
shellac in 1 gall, spirit of wine ; strain, and 
add 1% more gallons of spirit. If the shellac 
is pure and white, this will make a beauti¬ 
fully clear covering for white wooden arti¬ 
cles. 
Cleaning Silver.—A fresh, concentrated so¬ 
lution of hyposulphite of soda wifi dissolve 
at once the coat of sulphid of silver, which is 
the cause of the blackness produced by mus¬ 
tard, eggs, etc., or anything containing 
sulphur. 
assume a more or less pyramidal rorm, tne 
center shoots growing heavier and faster 
than the others, resembling in their far neater 
and more elegant profile, the laurel-leaf 
willow—So Ox laurifolia; but the branches 
may be cut without stint to suit the sur¬ 
roundings, and as an ornamental hedge-plant 
it stands, as we view it, unequaled in rich¬ 
ness and grace, though offering no impene¬ 
trable barrier to the intrusion of animals. 
The flowers are small, white, and borne in 
terminal panicles, succeeded by conical 
bunches of black berrieB. The tough leaves 
are untouched by ordinary frostB and will 
retain the evergreen look, during usual win- 
tern, until Christmas. 
