
FOREST AND STREAM. 
103 


How LEATHER IS MADE, AND COBBLING DONE IN BLIDAH, 
AvG@ERIA.—The manner which shoe-leather is prepared in 
this part of the world is curious. Whena skin has been 
removed from a cow, for instance, the Arab proceeds first 
of all to cut off the head, together with the horns and 
the hoofs, ‘’nd then, hanging it up, he serapes off all the 
fat that may have been left clinging to the inside. When 
this is done it is well rubbed with salt, and placed out in 
the middle of the road with the inside exposed. Passers 
by trampling it under foot all day; then, when it is per- 
fectly dry, it is taken up and cut in rectangular pieces about 
afoot long by five inches broad, which are sown onthe 
shoes—as soles—with the hair outside. Arab shoes when 
new cost from two to four shillings a pair, for which the 
very best may be obtained, and the charge for resoling 
them generally varies from a shilling to fifteenpence. <A 
considerable trade is done in second-hand shoes among 
Arabs in needy circumstances. Wherever, for example, a 
Bedouin buys a new pair he is sure to make an _ arrange- 
ment to be allowed a certain sum for the old ones. These 
the cobbler mends, and eventually sells to some less for- 
tunate countryman, who, having none at all, and perhaps 
very little money to purchase any with, is glad to procure a 
pair cheap. Thus the market cobblers have always a stock 
of second-hand shoes with them, which they generally man- 
age to get rid of during the course of the morning be- 
sides sewing on ten or a dozen pairs of soles.—Gentleman’s 
Magazine. 
—_—»—__—_——. 
TuHorEAU.—It was his habit to go abroad every day to 
the fields or woods, or to the river. ‘‘I go out to see what 
I have caught in my traps, which I have set for facts.” He 
loved the world, and could not pass a berry without a ques- 
tion. Men who had seen the partridge drum, caught the 
largest pickerel, and eaten the most swamp apples were 
the men for him. The farmer who could find him a hawk’s 
egg, or give him a fisher’s foot, he would wear in his heart 
of hearts. He admired the toil-worn workers, seasoned 
like granite and pine, slow and silent as the years, “‘ like 
the sweetness of a nut, like the toughness of hickory.” 
‘“‘The farmer spoke to me, clear, cold, moderate as the 
snow when he treads. Yet what a faint impression that 
encounter may make on me after all. I see men like frogs ; 
their peeping I partially understand.”—Channing.. - 
Aatural History. 
THE NOTORNIS A RARA AVIS. 
HE last number of Nature has some very interesting 
facts in regard to this exceedingly rare bird, the Notor- 
nis, which though discovered and described in the last cen- 
tury, naturalists have for a long time been doubting. Mr. 
Newton, in Nature states that ‘‘no specimens are known to 
have been brought to England for upwards of eighty years, 
and that only two are believed to exist in museums, one in 
Liverpool and the other in Vienna.” He adds: 
This bird, which has been variously assigned to the genera 
Gallinula (moor-hen), Fulica (coot), and Porphyrio, is now re- 
ferred to the genus Wotorwis, contaiinng only one other 
species, the ‘‘ Takahe,” of New Zealand (W. mavtellc), itself 
nearly, or quite, extirpated. It was about the size of a barn- 
door fowl, with the bill and legs red. The Vienese specimen 
seems to be entirely white; the example at Liverpool is 
mottled with purple, but not enough to gainsay the name 
of ‘‘ White Bird,,’ by which it seems to have been known 
both in Norfolk and Lord Howe’s Islands. It would no 
doubt, if taken alive, be easily kept in confinement, and I 
need not say how highly a living example would be valued 
by the Zoological Society; but this is perhaps more than 
can be reasonably hoped for, and so far as I am concerned, 
I should be well content with a specimen in spirit or a skin 
with all the bones acompanying it, for the Cambridge 
Museum. 
The species is most likely extinct in Norfolk Island, but 
a passage in a pamphlet by Mr. Edward Hill, published 
at Sydney, in 1870, seems to show that it may still exist in 
that of Lord Howe—though, if so, doubtless on the verge 
of extermination through the pigs with which the island is 
said to be overrun, for the bird is believed to be unable to 
fly. Should any examples be still living, it would certainly 
be better that their remains should be placed in our mu- 
seums, than that they should contribute to the formation 
of pork; andI write these lines that they may attract the 
attention of some Australian readers of Natwre, who may 
be disposed to do a good turn to the University of Cam- 
bridge. 
G7 Sis 
MricRATION oF FrRocs.—The Logansport (Ind.) Star re- 
lates and vouches for the truth of the following recent oc- 
curence in Cass County, that State: ‘‘For some days past 
the weather had been dry, and the ponds on the prairie 
failed in water. The turtles and frogs that had been living 
in the vicinity of one of these stood it for a day or two, but 
it finally became too dry for frogs and they decided to mi- 
grate. “The nearest pond that contained water was three 
miles distant, and to this turtles and frogs started in solemn 
procession, the turtles in advance sagaciously piloting the 
way, and the frogs bringing up the rear. ‘Ihe procession 
stretched out over the prairie a quarter of a mile long, and 
steadily marched to the gaol.” 
eat ee 
ANIMALS AND INSECTS SUFFERING THE, PENALTY OF THE 
Law.—In the year 1120 the Bishop of Loan thundered 
against a plague of caterpillars a sentence of excommunica- 
tion. In 1576a swarm of caterpillars was formally tried 
before the Court of Troyes, an advocate being appointed, 
for the defence, and being found guilty, were summoned to 
withdraw in six days on pain of being declared accursed 
and excommunicated. Several instances occur in France 
0! pigs being hanged and their bodies reduced to ashes, 
for devouring little children, or for attacking grown per- 
sons; but in all cases, they received. a fair trial.—Saint 
James Magazine. 

pa tens) Types 
—Tue Toap on Grand MANAN.—Visiting the island of 
Grand Manan, New Brunswick in the summer of 1872, I 
observed the common toad (Bufo americanus) in large num- 
bers. Iwas informed by Mr. Walter McLanghlan, keeper 
of the Gannet Rock Light that none were to be found until 
1854, when he introduced a pair from Maine. From these 
parents the whole of the island has been stocked in eighteen 
years. Mr. McLanghlan proposes to introduce turtles in 
the same way. G. Brown GOODE. 



Tur HERRING AND I's Fors,—One of the most prolific 
fish of the seas, according to its size, is the common her- 
ring, which, as a general rule, is only a few ounces in 
weight, and yet yields many thousand eggs—far surpassing 
in that respect the salmon. But the herring requires to be 
enormously prolific in the reproduction of its kind, because 
the waste of herring-life is enormous. Man annually robs 
the shoals to a vast extent, and although man’s depreda- 
tions are enormous, they are reputed to be trifling compared 
with those of many other agencies which are daily at work. 
Man only takes his tens of thousands, but the codfish, 
we are told, takes hundreds of thousands, and the gulls and 
gannets of the neighboring rocks are constantly engaged 
in exacting daily tribute from the herring shoals. We have 
examined the internal economy of a codfish, which con- 
tained in its stomach no less than eleven. full grown her- 
rings! If a few hundred thousands of cod fish go day by day 
devouring herrings at this rate, their devastation in the 
course of years must swell to a vast figure. Then the cod 
is only one of the sea-enemies of the herring: there are also 
dogfish, which follow the shoals in immense numbers, eating 
the herrings out of the nets in which they have been enmesh- 
ed. It has been calculated that the cod and ling fish taken 
in one year in the seas and friths around Scotland would 
devour more herrings than could be caught by fifty thous- 
and fishermen. Solan geese live upon herrings during 
those seasons in which they can be obtained: A calculation 
of the herring-eating powers of these birds has been made, 
which is as follows: Say that the island of St. Kilda has a 
population of 200,000 of these birds, and they feed there for 
seven months; let us also suppose that each bird, or its 
young ones, eats only five herrings per diem—that gives a 
sum total of one million of these fish; and counting the 
days in the seven months from March to September as 214, 
that figure may be taken to represent in millions the quanti- 
ty of herrings annually devoured; by these birds.—Chambers 
Journal. 
Che Kennel. 
HE deer-hound is a noble specimen of his race, his 
proportions being quite as good as those of the grey- 
hound, in which he resembles the rough variety of that 
beautiful dog. He is possessed of better powers of scent 
than the grey-hound, and in chasing game depends as much 
on his nose as on his eyes. It is curious that, although he 
makes use of his nose when running, he holds his head 
higher from the ground than the grey-hound, which only 
uses his eyes. The purity of the breed is judged a good 
deal by the coat, which should be very wiry, long, without 
being woolly. The old deer-hound is becoming scarcer 
every year, and a cross of the fox-hound with the deer- 
hound makes the most useful dog to hunt the stag. The 
object is to obtain a fine nose, so as to hunt a cold scent, 
but united with such speed that he may beable to keep the 
deer in sight, 
We have many letters from gentlemen who. have point- 
ers, setters, and fox-hounds, asking us to write on their 
management and keep; also what kind of kennel is the 
best, and what food. One of the very best authorities is 
“Stonehenge,” but in some instances we differ from him, 
such as in giving large quantities of oat meal, &c, The 
kennels intended for pointers and setters should be dry and 
well protected from the weather; but they should be kept 
cool, on account of the exposure to wet and cold which 
shooting dogs incur. Many persons keep their dogs 
chained up toa small yard kennel, but the plan is nota 
good one. , In your yard, have a space set apart sufficiently 
large to allow the dogs room to move round easily; pave it 
with hard bricks, keep it washed; but it should not be 
roofed in, as the rain serves to harden these dogs, who will 
not suffer from it, if their beds are dry. An inner room 
must also be provided, but don’t make any bed during the 
summer. In order to keep the yard as sweet as possible, 
it should have a fall from the centre, where there should be 
a trapped grating to carry off the washings of the yard. 
When dogs are kept long in kennel they are almost sure to 
contract some eruptions of the skin, which is often caused 
by parasites of one kind or another, such as fleas, ticks, 
and lice, which are great pests and difficult to eradicate. 
The proper method. is to dress the dogs once or twice in a 
season, with a mixture of train oil and brimstone, which 
may be rubbed into the roots of the hair over the whole 
body, or take white precipitate in powder, rub it well into 



the roots of the hair, let it remain. for two or three hours, . 
taking care the dog is carefully muzzled, then brush all out 
and keep the dog dry for some days. 
Now, as tothe food: Indian meal mixed with a little 
oat meal and table refuse, all boiled together, will make ex- 
cellent food for shooting dogs, in an ordinary way. Bones 
are eminently essential to health, for unless the dog has 
something to gnaw, he does not produce the amount of sal- 
iva which is required for his digestion. Green vegetables, 
such as cabbage, potatoes, carrots and turnips should be 
given twice a week during the summer months, and by 
pouring alittle soup broth over it they will be glad to eat 
it. . Throughout the months that dogs are idle, they require 
no flesh, and their mess need only be flavored with broth. 
When dogs are hard at work, there is nothing better than 
sound horse-flesh, boiled; but this should be given’ gradu- 
ally, and it is well to give them an occasional meal of it 
during the summer, to avoid the chance of its disagreeing 
in the fall, which it often does, when given for the first 
time. 
Dogs are too often sadly neglected. They are sometimes 
left ina kennel for weeks, and even months at a time. 
When this is allowed, they become fat, inside and out, and 
are not able to work. The shooter is well aware of this 
fact, as exhibited in his own person, and yet he will often 
ignore it as concerns the inmates of his kennel. He should 
remember that the setter travels over six times the ground 
which he does, and at a fast rate instead of awalk. Some 
dogs have naturally thin soles, but even these may be made 
thicker by use. Let every shooter see that these precau- 
tions are used, and he will not suffer from the disappoint- 
ments which are so frequent, owing to their neglect. Many 
amistake is caused by want of condition, and not from 
want of a good nose, for a blown and exhausted animal is 
not in possession of the sense of smell. 
Sr. Lours,September 15th, 1873. 
Eprror or Forest AND STREAM:— 
In your paper of the fourth instant in ‘‘ Answers to Cor- 
respondents” I note remedy for worms in dogs. 
Let me suggest worm seed: One teaspoonful to be 
given a full grown dog at evening, to be followed 
the succeeding day by castor oil, one ounce. Repeat after 
three days. For a pup less than one year old, half that 
quantity of seed and a proportionate quantity of oil: Two 
doses will probably cure; certainly will not kill. 
With your permission I will tell your friends how to cure 
mange: whale oil soap, four ounces, which dissolve in 
clean water, four quarts; but not in a brass or copper ves- 
sel. Wash the dog thoroughly; probably three washings 
will cure, if not, repeat the washings. It rarely fails, but 
should it, take oil of tar, two pints, sperm oil, one pint, 
mix thoroughly; anoint the dog with the mixture; two ap- 
plications ought to cure any ordinary case, but may not if 
of long standing; if not, then wash thoroughly with suds 
from castile soap and repeat the anointings. It will cure, 
but it is harsh; whale oil soap suds is preferable. 
Almost this same receipt for mange we find in the last 
number of Land and Water, only linseed oil is substituted 
for sperm oil. J. J. asks if we know of any way to rid 
dogs of fleas, and keep the brutes clean of these pests. 
Tn our number five we recommended insect powder. See 
‘‘Answers to Correspondents.” 
We add what we believe to be a most useful receipt, if 
not for curing, at least for alleviating distemper. We 
know it was tried by a friend of ours last year with suc- 
cess. We copy the article in full from Land and Water. 
‘“T formerly used to lose two-thirds of the pups I bred, al- 
though using all the remedies given in different sporting 
works, but for the last ten or twelve years I have nevycr 
hada single case of distemper in my kennel. My plan is 
simply this: Soon as I take the pup from the bitch, I give 
twice a week doses of garlic, and continue this treatment 
till the dog isa year old. After that I consider him safe, 
as the disease generally attacks dogs between six and nine 
months old. While the pup is very young, a piece of gar- 
lic the size of a pea will be enough for a dose, and asit 
grows older it may be increased to the size of a bean or 
hazle nut. If at any time it should purge too much the 
dose should be diminished. In cases where distemper has 
attacked a dog, I would give garlic three times a week, 
and keep him warm and dry. Innine cases out of ten 
this will effect a cure, and has been used with great suc- 
cess.” 

aAuswers Ca Correspondents. 
Dr. A., Brooklyn.—For mange in setter bitch; take of compound sul- 
phur ointment, four ounces; spirit of turpentine, two ounces; mix and 
rub well into the skin twice a week; or take of iodide of mercury, one 
drachm; lard, one ounce; mix and rub avery little iuto the roots of the 
hair every day. 
J. W. B., Brooklyn.—Red mange is a constitutional malady, and can 
seldom be cured without internal medicines. Arsenic in minute doses, 
coutinued for some time, is a great specific against the foul condition of 
the blood, but never give it on an empty stomach, but mixed with the 
food. Solution of arsenic, five to eight drops; add to the food, and give 
twice a day, the dog being fed mght and morning. If in a month the 
whites of the eyes do not become red, increase the dose gradually until 
they do, then diminish a drop per week till the redness disappears, when 
continue the dose till the eruption is gone. 
G. G. E., Jackson, Miss.—Have shown your letter to C. B. He says ‘‘he 
would be willing to leave the question to acommittee of sportsmen whether 
anine or ten bores may be termed swamp angels.’’ All he did as to 
killing birds was perfectly legitimate. The gentleman in question we 
know tobe athorough sportsman, who has done as much for the pres- 
ervation of game, and making of game laws as any one in the country. 
§. H.—Keep your dog well fed, and he will seldom attack sheep. 
Reeuius.—There is no acting Fish Commissioner of the State of Vir- 
ginia at present. One was appointed last year, but the funds appropriated 
for this Commission are now exhausted, owing to the deplorible condi- 
tion of the public finances. 
A. M., Madison Avenue.—If you will give us explicit details, being 
above all swre of your facts, we will put the matter before Mr. Bergh. 
An example of this character is what is wanted. Gentlemen who keep 
horses, are often terribly at fault in not supervising their stables: Cases 
of cruelty by grooms and coachmen are of too frequent occurrence. 
HotmAN.—Antlers with forty-two points are not uncommon. They be- 
long to the black tail deer, and probably came from Texas. 
CALDER—We have heard of the voluntary domestication of the wild 
pigeon before. That is tosay, it remained with the tame flock six months, 
but if we remember rightly, about the time of the migration of the wild 
birds, it took wing and never came back. 
§. R. N.—Largest of Australian carnivora is the Tasmanian wolf, 
or Zebra opposum, (Thylacinus cynocephalus). 
Grpson.—Average rain fall in England and in Eastern countries about 
thirty four inches; in the hilly countries forty-eight to fifty inches. New 
York is about thirty-six inches. 
K. L.—A horse is quite a large one when he weighs 1,200/pounds, Noth- 
ing more easy than for you to put him ona coal-dealer’s scale and get it 
toa quarte of a pound. 
J. N.—Sometimes, when nothing better can be had, a good dressing of 
wood ashes will keep a skin in fair order. 
X. E. X.—There is probably no sporting question so frequently asked 
as ‘‘Childer’s”? time. He is said to have accomplished three miles in 
five minutes fifteen and one-half seconds. Itis doubted. It seems to be 
traditionary, but very possibly watches were not correct in 1721. Eclipse’s 
four miles in eight minutes, is eyen more doubtful. 
Argrys.—Gloan’s book in a few words gives the answers you want. 
“The size (of shot) which lies the most compactly with the fewest in- 
terstices, will give the best pattern and penetration combined.” To try 
this experimentally we have taken a pill box from our druggist, just 
about the size of the bore of the gun and counted the shot, which ex- 
actly 1ay on the bottom, 
Fanoy.—A good. carrier pigeon, an undoubted bird, will cost, you $25. 
Some were sold, notable ones, in Englaud lately for no less than £20. , 
K.—From description would say it was the sage. cock, (Centrocercus 
urophasianus). They are found in Arizona and are represented as 
searce. Said to feed on wild sage. 
