150 
FOREST AND STREAM. 


permeate the whole body, and especially the breast and 
belly, where a visible ripple passed slowly along puffing 
out the skin and raising the plumage. It was curious to 
see this wave advancing slowly to the point of complete 
distension, and then as gradually recede in the opposite di- 
rection until the collapse was total. I should judge that 
about an eighth of the mean bulk of the body was alter- 
nately increased and diminished by this inflation and 
shrinkage—a difference, perhaps, sufficient for the required. 
change in specific gravity. It is certainly enough to ac- 
count for the different depths at which a grebe is observed 
to swim on the surface, sometimes resting almost out of 
water, and again sinking until the back becomes, as the 
writer aptly says, ‘‘ barely awash.” 
But the amount of air a bird may take under water can- 
not be presented to determine its subsequent course. When 
a loon starts after a fish he cannot foreknow the direction 
of pursuit and take a stock of air accordingly. If his 
course depend upon assimilation of his specific gravity by 
this means, he would be foiled in pursuit as often as the 
fish went the wrong way for him. UH, for instance, he let 
out air enough to sink himself he could not rise or go hori- 
zontally without effort, and consequently diminished 
speed; for obviously he has no way of lightening himself 
with additional air. Besides, it appears improbable that 
an animal in which the respiration and circulation are so 
active as they are in birds, could remain for so long a time 
submerged without a considerable supply of air. I think 
that the eollapsed grebe above instanced could not, in that 
state, have performed one of its ordinary reaches under 
water. 
While I believe that the progress in any direction of 
birds under water is adequately explained upon the mechan- 
ical principles above given, I am far from denying that 
some slight change in specific gravity may occur, and be 
effected moreover, independently of respiration by a change 
in the set of the plumage. By the action of certain cuta- 
neous muscles, a bird’s feathers may be collectively raised 
on end or laid flat, at will; and provided the elevation of 
the plumage be insufficient to admit water in the intersti- 
ces, the bird’s superficial area would be increased, to the 
displacement of more water, and consequent lessening of 
specific gravity; and conversely. The loons I observed 
looked remarkably compact and trim under water, and 
probably all birds dive with the plumage very ‘‘ close 
hauled.” 
As for birds actually walking under water on the bottom, 
as they do on land, observations are wanting to show that 
it ever occurs. Loons and grebes, indeed, can scarcely 
walk at all anywhere, without trailing on the belly, and 
this mode of progression under water would be particularly 
slow, laborious, and disadvantageous. I have no idea that 
it is ever accom lished. The very remarkable case of the 
pirds of the family Cinclidaé, or dippers, (near allies of the 
thrushes) often instanced in point, of birds walking on the 
bottom of streams, is sufficiently disproven by the obser- 
yations of Macgillivray, who, in his History of British 
Birds, explains their movements with his usual fidelity and 
power of graphic description, They progress with the 
wings like the birds we have been considering. They are 
not web-footed and cannot swim, but dip down under the 
water and jy through it, till the bottom is reached. There 
they go bobbing along, with the head and body diagonally 
inclined forward and downward, moving the wings inces- 
santly in the effort to keep down. The moment they relax 
exertion they are borne upward, and sometimes swept sey- 
eral feét down the brawling mountain streams they in- 
habit. Dr. Eviiorr Cours, U. 8. A. 
———— J 
—Bernard A. Hoopes, Esq., President of the Philadel- 
phia Sportsmen’s Club, and one of the members of the new 
Philadelphia Zoological Society, has sent us the following 
description of a new species of white hawk, with some 
beautifully colored plates of both male and female, speci- 
mens of which are now in the museum of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia: 
BurEeo BorBAuis, variety Krippriu. Pl. 5. Entire head 
and nape pure white with the exception of a few feathers on 
each side of the forehead at the base of the upper mandi- 
ble, which are tipped with dark brown. Cheeks white, 
with several lines of feathers, narrowly tipped with dark 
brown, extending down the sides of the neck and a short 
distance under the wings. Back brown, largely spotted 
with white, which is the prevailing color of the base of the 
feathers, some of them are edged with yellowish brown; 
many of the feathers on the upper part of the back are 
arrow shaped, or pointed, faintly edged with white. Tail 
white, with an ochreous tint, darker toward the ends of the 
two middle feathers, banded with eleven irregular trans- 
verse bars of brown, the feathers rounded, or slightly 
pointed and tipped with white. Throat, breast, and entire 
under parts pure white, inside of wings the same, first five 
quills edged with bluish ash. Toes, dark lead color, large. 
Claws black and strong. 
The female does not differ much from the male in the general 
appearance of the plumage, is considerably larger, as usual 
with the birds of prey. The back is rather lighter brown, 
the white spots larger. Tail darker, more of an umber 
tint on the middle feathers, which are edged with white. 
The forehead is white, but the feathers of the head and 
neck are tipped with small lanceolate spots of brown. Un- 
der parts entirely white, with fewer spots on the flanks 
than the male, the tarsi and feet more robust, and of a 
similar cclor. Dimensions: Male, total length 204 inches; 
tail 9 inches. Female, total length 224 inches; tail 94 
inches. 
The above description is made from two specimens, male 
and female, collected in Winnebago county, Iowa, by Mr. 
John Krider, of Philadelphia, in September, 1872, and care- 
fully prepared by that gentleman. He mentioned having 
_een several others, and described them as having the habits 
“nd manner of fiight common to the buzzard family, and 
a 


from their being noticed in the autumn, were possibly mi- 
grating from more northern breeding grounds. During a 
previous visit to the same locality, in 1871, he saw a speci- 
men evidently similar to these, but was unable to secure it. 
Being informed by residents of the country that the ap- 
pearanee of a ‘‘whitehawk” there was not an unusual oc- 
currence, he felt confident of ultimately procuring one, and 
has not been disappointed. Being convinced that it is un- 
described, I have named it in honor of the veteran naturalist 
to whom we are indeebted for the discovery. 
oa — 
THE GROWTH OF FISHES. 
Sos ee 
SAW, a day or two before I started for the woods, a 
newspaper article, in which it was stated that ‘some 
years ago Prof. Agassiz suggested to George 8. Page, of 
New York, President of the Oquossoc Angling Association, 
amethod of determining approximately the age of the fa- 
mous Rangely trout, which grows to the weight of seven, 
eight, and even ten pounds. The mode adopted was to take 
a small platinum wire, pointed at one end and flattened at 
the other, and marked at the flat end with the weight and 
the year. Then insert this wire in the dorsal fin, selecting 
a mark according with weight and time, and return to the 
water.” It seems that in 1870 fifty trout were caught and 
marked in this manner and returned to the water. This 
year, among alot caught by the artist Moran and some 
friends, was one marked 1870—weight, halfa pound. It 
weighed nearly 2? pounds, showing an increase of nearly 
1 pounds in three years, or a little over half a pound a year. 
Now this may be a very fair test for that particular lake, 
but the annual growth of fishes depends so much on cir- 
cumstances that it is impossible to establish a general rule 
from any local test. The increase of all fishes changes ma- 
terially, both with abundance of feed and extent of range. 
A difference arising from kind and abundance of food 
would be expected, but it is not so easy to see why extent 
of range should have so marked an effect on size. Yet, you 
put a trout in a well or small spring, and give it all the food 
it will eat, and its annual increase is hardly preceptible. 
But give it wide range and a full supply of food, and it in 
creases rapidly. One might think that its cramped condi- 
tion in a well by confining its exercise, destroyed its appe- 
tite, and so prevented its eating a sufficient quantity to has- 
ten its growth. But we find that fish vary in size according 
to the size of the sheet of water they are in. This is true 
of catfish, every one knows, and of pickerel. In this 
State or New England, take two ponds, only a quarter of a 
mile apart, and wholly disconnected—the one ten rods in 
diameter, and the other a half mile, and the pickerel in the 
latter, though in the same kind of water, and living on the 
same kind of food, will average nearly double in size those 
found in the former. I should like some explanation of 
this well known fact. No man goes toasmall pond for 
large pickerel. 
The rapid increase in growth is still more marked, and often 
something marvelous, when the same fish is transferred to 
different waters in which is different food; I remember, 
twenty-eight years ago, when I was at Lake Schroon, on 
my first trip to the Adirondacks, a party of men brought 
ina large quantity of pickerel, some of them weighing 
ten twelve, and onefourteen pounds. The fish had been put 
in the lake four years before, and an act of Legislature obtain- 
ed forbidding any fishing in it for four years. The four years 
having expired the fishing commenced, and the above was 
the result. Now supposing the largest taken was one of 
the original number put into the lake; he had increased 
nearly three pounds a year, or three times hissize. ‘This is 
wonderful. A still more remarkable instance has just oc- 
curred here in Long Lake and in the Raquette River. Four 
years ago, the last time I floated down this wild, beautiful 
river, no pickerel had ever been seen in it. Now it is abso- 
lutely swarming with them. They crowd it so that I verily 
believe a good fisherman might half fill his boat on a good 
day. The change has come about in this way. Five years 
avo some men put thirteen pickerel in Long Lake, much to 
the disgust of the colonists there, who feared they would 
destroy the trout, as they doubtless will. That very winter 
four of the number were caught through the ice, leaving 
only nine to stock the lake and river. This year, or four 
years from the time they began breeding, the lake is found 
to be full of them, and the Raquette River also for 180 or 
140 miles, clear to Potsdam. The original nine fish averag- 
ed about a pound in weight. This summer they take them 
weighing from two to twelve pounds. The other day a son 
of my old Indian friend, Mitchell Sabbatis, a boy only nine 
years old, took one weighing seventeen pounds, or fully as 
long as himself. The fish towed him half across the lake, 
and how the little fellow managed to capture him is surpris- 
ing, None but a young Indian could have done it; but he 
would have stuck to him till he was dragged overboard, 
and, I have no doubt, even after. Now, granting this to 
have been one of the. original nine, he had increased about 
four times his size every year for four years. Others may 
have heard of such rapid growth before, but I never have. 
In four years those nine pickerel have stocked to repletion 
Long Lake, fourteen miles long, and Raquette River for 
over 100 miles, and Trapper Lake and several small ponds, 
till millions apparently swarm in them. At first sight, the 
increase in numbers may seem quite as marvelous as the 
increase in size, but on reflection it is not. It is doubtless 
owing to the fact that for some cause the spawn escaped 
the destruction that usually overtake it. The pickerel, one 
of the most voracious of fishes, eats its own young in im- 
mense numbers, but the abundance of better food in these 
waters, especially such delicate morsels as young trout, 
would prevent this, and hence a greater proportion reach 
maturity. Now Ido not know how many thousand eggs 
are in pickerel weighing a pound, but there are more than 
one thousand. Supposing a fraction of these, say one hund- 
red, reaches maturity, that would give from the nine pick- 
erel nine hundred saved. The same ratio in four years, 
would show the sum total of ninety millions—a number 
large enough to stock many a hundred miles of water. If 
the ratio saved was larger the number would be proportion- 
ably increased. But with the increase of the size of the 
fish, the number of spawn would be doubled and tripled, 
so that the result would be still more astonishing. The 
fact is that the number of fishes that usually reach maturity 
in prortioion to the eggs laid is infinitesimally small.— We zo 
York Tribune. 


THE MUSCULAR STRENGTH OF IN- 
SECTS. 
RES ee 
HERE isno phase of life, however simple or com- 
T plex, but furnishes food for profound study. There 
is no study connected with existence, but affords lessons of 
absorbing interest, and embodies suggestions of a most 
valuable character. Human life is a mist incessantly evolv- 
ing perplexing issues, while animal life as contradistin- 
guished from that of rational beings, is not only constantly 
inviting science to solve its problematic points, but eliciting 
the tests of experimental philosophy, to compass the strange 
workings of its hidden nature. 
In the last number of the Hclectic there appears inter- 
spersed among varieties from Chambers’ Journal some 
singular disclosures, touching the muscular power of in- 
sects. It seems that one Felix Plateau, a young Belgian 
naturalist, ason of the distinguished physcian, has been 
recently engaged in some delicate experiments with the 
view of testing the muscular development of insects, as 
has been done on previous occasions, with the man and the 
horse. It may not be generally known that the strength of 
the last two has been determined through the agency of a 
machine, technically called a dynamometer, the tension of 
aspr.ng iscounterpoised by an effort exercised for a very 
short time. Strange as it may sound it is alleged that man 
has a power of traction equal to five-sixths of his weight, 
while the horse can only claim the half, or two-thirds of 
his weight. And yet it is demonstrated that both of these 
tractive powers are insignificant in comparison with the 
strength of insects, many of which can draw forty times 
that amount. The ingenious method of experiment adopted 
by M. Plateau, as‘ authentically announced, is worthy of 
the subtle conception that entertained the idea of fer- 
reting out the latant capabilities of insects, and the suc- 
cess that crowned his patient and persistent labors. It is 
said that he literally harnessed the insect, by a horizontal 
thread which he passed over a light, moveable pulley, to 
which he attached a balance, loaded with a few grains of 
sand. To prevent the insect from turning aside, he forced 
it to walk between two bars of glass on a board covered 
with muslin, in order to effect a rough surface. Stimula- 
ting it forward, he gradually poured fresh sand into the 
balance, until it refused to advance further. The sand 
and the insect were then weighed, and the experiment re- 
peated several times in order to ascertain the greatest 
effort each could possibly make. .The tabular results showed 
the greatest degree of strength inthe lightest and smallest 
insects, or in more scientific language, that the relative 
force is in inverse ratio to the weight. The strongest insect 
proved to be those more familiar, peradventure, to the 
naturalist, described as living mainly on lilies aud roses, 
and known to scientists as crioceres and trichies. These 
tiny beings drew a weight forty times in excess of their 
own, and one, which would be regarded in the arena as the 
giant of the entomological group, drew sixty-seven times 
its own weight. A small beetle, it is related, has achieved 
the same feat. But the most remarkable fact the writer 
relates is of a horn-beetle, which actualiy held between its 
mandibles, alternately raising and lowering, its head and 
breast, arod of thirty centimeters length, weighing four 
hundred grammes, its own weight being but two grammes. 
Thus it will seen that insects are superior to the larger 
animals in the strength of their muscles, and that the law 
determining their relative muscular development is equally 
applicable to experiments in flying and pushing as well as 
in drawing. To conclude, we may add to their powers of 
traction their skill and ingenuity in devising means for 
overcoming obstacles, and illustrate the same by an inci- 
dent narrated by the reviewer. A small wasp was once 
attempting to raise a caterpillar, which it had just de- 
stroyed. ‘The caterpillar was five or six times heavier than 
its conqueror. Six consecutive times, weary and despondent 
at its failure to consummate its end, it abandoned its prey. 
_At last an idea seemed to flash upon its mind. It returned, 
placed itself across the caterpiller, as if on horseback, 
with its own middle feet it embraced its victim’s body, 
raised it against its breast, and contrived to walk on the 
fore feet which were at liberty. Thus it soon crossed a 
walk of six feet wide and laid its prey against a wall. 
————— i 6 
UniricATion oF Manxinp. All the various races of the 
world are now drawing near and assimilating of their own 
accord, Fashion has been the forerunner in this extraordi- 
nary and significant movement. It is sufficient to make us 
pause, when we reflect that the tailor has done more toward 
the unification of mankind than Alexander, and the hatter 
has woven a bond of union among them which is of ada- 
mant in comparison to that which the Cesars forged. 'The 
pantaloons and dress-coat may be seen as frequently in 
Constantinople now, as in Paris or London. Even the fe 
is slowly receding before the inevitable stove-pipe hat. It 
is not unusual now to have the Bedouin ride down upon 
you in jack-boots and slouched hat. Even the Kirgheez of 
the Steppes are not indifferent to black frock-coats. 
Nor is it in the matter of clothes alone that the world is 
being unified. There is a demand among civilized nations 
for a universal coinage. It is felt that there is no necessity 
far the many brokers, who with much profit to themselves 
furnish the money of one country for that of another. As 
gold and silver is the universal medium of exchange, why 
shall not all nations coin their money in denominations 
of equal value? In like manner there is a want felt 
of auniversal postal law, under which letters can be 
sent everywhere for equal charges. And upon the top of 
all we have a scheme for a sort of Olympian Bench which 
shall hereafter decide all questions of international law that 
may arise among nations.— Overland, Monthly for October. 
SS 
AynmaLs Far up Norta.—The Hall expedition in reach 
ing the extreme northern latitude of 82°, the highest ever 
attained on land, during the month of May sent out hunting 
parties. Twenty-eight musk cattle were killed,. also 
hares andbirds. This, we think is the furthest north, on 
our continent, that animals have been seen and killed. 

—The buckwheat season approaches when the head of 
the family eats fourteen cakes at a sitting, to the un- 
bounded satisfaction of himself, and to the unmitigated 
disgust of the oldest boy, who cripples his digestive ap 
paratus for life in a vain attempt todo the same. 
Set 
—The mean man who is honestly entitled to what monu- 
ment is due the champion, is he of Slawson, who instead 
of smoothing the dying pillow of his father, took it from , 
the bed that he might use the case for chesnuts. 






