Читать книгу: «Birds and Nature, Vol. VIII, No. 4, November 1900», страница 3

In the study of the geographical distribution of our fresh water fishes, we are able to make a few generalizations as follows: Two rivers in the same latitude, and belonging to the same great drainage basin, and draining similar areas, will have similar fish faunas. Thus we find a great similarity in the fishes of the Washita and the Tennessee rivers, a much greater similarity than we do in the fishes of the Washita and the Cedar rivers. If the stream is a large one, the fishes near its source will be much unlike those near its mouth. The fishes of Minnesota differ greatly from those of Louisiana, though the drainage of these two States is in the Mississippi river basin. Limestone streams have in them more species of fishes than do sandstone. All things being equal, the larger of two or more streams will contain the most species of fishes. There are few, if any, rivers as rich in species as the Mississippi river and its tributaries. It drains one slope of each of our two great mountain systems, besides an immense area of wood-land and prairie, and numerous swamps and marshes. Its upper course and many of its upper tributaries lie in the region once covered by glaciers, though now traversed by great moraines. Its fishes are as diversified as the area it drains. In its mountain streams we find such fishes as the trout, darters, minnows and suckers. In the upland streams are darters, shiners, suckers, sunfishes and small-mouthed black bass. In the channels of the larger tributaries are found the large suckers, buffalo fishes, gar pike, channel catfish, drum, pike and pickerel. The lowland streams contain the dogfish, pirate perch, some sunfishes, the large-mouthed black bass, some suckers, catfishes and other species. Minnows, darters, suckers and sunfishes are found in lowland, upland and mountain streams, though not the same species in each. These fishes belong to families which are made up of many species, some being strictly upland, others strictly lowland, each having a limited range. In the same way we have fresh water fishes and salt water fishes; some fishes, as the trout and salmon and eel, live in both salt and fresh water. Many other fishes, as the killifishes, thrive best in brackish water. Each species of fishes is best fitted for a particular region into which it has been forced to live, either to escape its enemies or to be able to get a living easiest. In its migrations it has moved along lines of least resistance, and has colonized those streams where Mother Nature has been able to do the most for it. The darters are small, perch-like fishes, which seldom exceed a length of six inches, the average being about three. All are active and swift swimmers and well suited for a life among the rocks and swift water of our smaller streams. All countries have small, swift, rocky streams, but few have darters. In their stead we find loaches, gobies, characins, sculpins, and the like. These fishes have "become dwarfed and concentrated, taking the place in their respective habitats which the darters occupy in the waters of the Mississippi valley. By the same process of 'analogous variation' the cichlids of South America parallel the sunfishes of the United States, although in structure and in origin the two groups are diverse."

Dr. Jordan tells us that the trout of the Pacific coast came to America from Asia, and gradually spread eastward and southward until now it is found in all the streams of the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, the Cascades and the Coast range. It is but a short distance from Kamchatka to Alaska, and this distance is traveled by trout to this day; once over, a fish able to spend much of its time in salt water could easily colonize all our coast streams. Whether or not all of our Pacific trout are descendants of one species, the cut-throat trout, is more or less uncertain, though it is quite certain that all have descended from not more than two or three species. In many places they have been able to pass from the head waters of one river to that of another, just as they now pass from the head waters of the Columbia to the Missouri by the way of Two Ocean Pass. The ancient lakes, Lahontan and Bonneville, no doubt assisted them in their migrations. Since these have disappeared each colony has had to remain more or less isolated. In time they have become somewhat changed, to better adapt themselves to their new environment. These changes have developed certain peculiar characters, by means of which we can distinguish one kind of trout from another, just as the farmer distinguishes his Berkshire from his Poland China. Spread, as the trout are, over such a large area, in such an immense variety of streams and lakes, and with a vertical range of over one thousand feet, we would certainly expect as large a number of species and varieties of trout to be developed as we find at present in the streams of our west coast.

Fishes are found in the deepest parts of the ocean. Some of these are peculiar to the deep waters, none of the shore fishes resembling them. On the other hand, many deep sea fishes belong to families well represented in the shallow water. The flounders are found in water at all depths, and the same is true of the bat fishes, rock fishes and other shore fishes. It is easy to understand how these fishes have found their way to the deep water. It was either to escape their enemies or to extend their range for some reason; as Mr. Garman puts it, "They have slid down," as it were to the bottom of the ocean.

In general, animals migrating will always move along lines of least resistance. Some deep-sea fishes have a considerable vertical range. It is thought that some move into shallower water to deposit their eggs or place their young in warmer water, and where the peculiar kind of food they need early in life is the most abundant. To study deep sea fishes is difficult, and so little has been done that we not only know them imperfectly but also know very little concerning their life histories.

In February, March and April of 1891 the United States Fish Commission steamer Albatross explored a portion of the region between the coasts of Mexico and Central America and the Galapagos Archipelago. Besides obtaining a large number of shore fishes, about nine hundred specimens of fishes were secured, ranging from a depth of one hundred to twenty-two hundred and twenty-three fathoms. This collection was carefully studied by Professor Garman, of Harvard. He found the collection to contain one hundred and eighty species, eighty-five per cent. of which were new to science. The bottoms of the oceans are far from level, and each deep basin has its own peculiar fauna. The shallower parts of the sea prevent migration of the deep water forms and no doubt living as they do in eternal darkness and in a temperature near the freezing point, there is little to induce them to much activity. The fact that they are easily captured in nets of comparatively small size would indicate that they move about slowly.

Dr. Jenkins, who has lately studied the fishes of the Sandwich Islands, informs me that less than five per cent. are found on our American coast, while a large per cent. is found all the way to the Red sea. In other words, the fishes of the Sandwich Islands are East Indian rather than American. This is no doubt caused from the fact that the deep water between the islands of the American coast forms a barrier which has always prevented the two fish faunas from mingling with each other. Between Africa and the Sandwich Islands this has not been the case. A recent study of the fishes of the Galapagos Archipelago shows its fauna to be American, though in what respect its fishes differ from those of our west coast they resemble all the more the fishes of the Sandwich Islands. Two fish faunas will usually differ from each other if separated by an impassable barrier; especially is this true if the barrier be older than the two faunas.

Any barrier which prevents or hinders fishes in their movements from one body of water to another will separate two more or less well-marked fish faunas. These barriers may be mountains, or shallow water, as in the case of deep sea fishes; deep water, as in case of shore fishes; muddy or alkaline water, or water of different temperature. Temperature no doubt has far more influence in governing the movement of fishes than is generally believed. It plays an important part in guiding salmon up stream to their spawning beds. It explains why they reach the head waters of some streams and spawn earlier than in similar streams not far distant, but of different temperature. If you would know to what extent fishes of one region differ from those of another, study well the barriers between the two regions, learn to what extent and how long they have existed, consider the age geologically of the two regions, and how fishes may have migrated to one or the other, and in a general way you will have the key to the situation, which a careful study of the fishes is quite sure to verify.

Seth E. Meek.

THE LOUISIANA TANAGER

(Piranga ludoviciana.)

The family of Tanagers is remarkable for the number of species, the gaudy coloring of many and the interesting fact that they are confined to the Americas and the adjacent islands. Dr. Ridgway says, "that the five families of Neotropical birds, which are represented by the greatest number of species, are absolutely peculiar to America, these families being the Tanagers, Tyrant Flycatchers, Wood-hewers, Ant Thrushes and Humming-birds. None of these families have even true representatives in any part of the Old World."

The family of Tanagers includes approximately three hundred and eighty species, of which not more than ten per cent. have a range extending as far north as Southern Mexico, and only four, or at the most five, species are known to the United States. Of these only two, the Scarlet Tanager and the Summer Red-bird, are generally known as far north as Canada.

The Tanagers make their home in the trees, and, being of a retiring disposition, are more numerous within the bounds of the forest. During the breeding season they retire still further into the interior. No wonder that they are more numerous in tropical regions, where the luxuriant foliage of the forests furnishes them with a safe retreat, and where there is an abundance of food suited to their taste. This tendency to avoid the society of man has made the study of their habits much more difficult, and but little has been recorded except that which pertains to the more northern forms.

The food is chiefly insects, especially in the larval form, and berries. To some extent they also feed upon the buds of flowers. Mr. Chapman tells us that "the tropical species are of a roving disposition, and wander through the forests in search of certain trees bearing ripe fruit, near which they may always be found in numbers." Their nests are shallow and the eggs, usually three to five in number, are greenish-blue in color, speckled with brown and purple.

The Louisiana Tanager is a Western species, ranging from British Columbia on the north to Guatemala on the south, and from the Missouri river to the Pacific coast. Our illustration well represents the male. The female, like its sister tanagers, is plainly colored, but still beautiful. It is olive green, with the underside yellowish. The feathers of the wings and tail are brown, edged with olive. It resembles the female Scarlet Tanager. The young are at first like the female. Then appears the black of the back, mixed with some olive and a slight tinge of red on the head.

It would seem that its name is a misnomer, as it is not found in the State of Louisiana.

CHATTER OF A CHAT

I'm the "Chat." You've heard me if you haven't seen me. But there isn't a better lookin' bird in our wood, either. My olive-green coat is a beauty. My yellow satin vest would dazzle your eyes. And my white china spectacles are heirlooms in our family. My wife dresses just as handsome as I do. I'm a prey to high spirits. Some folk call me a "wag." Don't know what that is, but I don't see the use in bein' doleful. Why, when I get back from Mexico, I feel obliged to holler. So I just holler. The way old Mother Earth rigs up in the Spring makes me full of life. I get down and cool my legs in the deep grass. It brings my appetite back a-whizzin'. My! If I don't eat a thousand bugs a day. "Juicy" don't describe 'em. Then I climb a tree-top and holler. If I eat a thousand bugs seems like I have to give two thousand hollers. I holler straight through a moonlight night. You see, I hate to let old Whippoorwill think he's the only bird alive. Mornin' after folks stop talkin' 'bout how bad they slept and say, "What's that?" somebody says, "That's the Chat." Then they always laugh. And I laugh, too – a very Falstaffian laugh, as if I'se shakin' great fat sides out of their accordion plaits. Then I give a beautiful whistle. And they say, "Now, what's that?" The fellow I know says, "That's the Chat." Then I give a surprised whistle, just as if you stepped on a tack or took a drink of red-hot coffee. And they say, "And what's that?" And the wise man says, "That's the Chat again." Well, says the other fellow, "I'll never know that bird." But the bad sleeper says, "Well, you would if he kept you awake all last night as he did me. He never knows when to stop." But even that fellow will never know when I've said my last word!

These rag folks are awful stupids, anyhow. I call 'em "blunderers." Do more harm than good wherever they're at. My wife knits our house among thorns just to plague 'em. They hate to get their rags torn. Then they'd better keep scarce of our door. If it ain't in blackberry jungles it's in catbrier tangles. I could yarn from sun-up to sundown 'bout how rag folks come blunderin' round interferin'. Barrin' o cat's, they've got the most meddlesome forefeet I ever saw. But it ain't often they find us. Cause why? We keep still. Our next-door neighbor's Dame Indigo. Can't a body go by she don't pop up scoldin' like a house afire. Then they blunder round till they find her nest-eggs, too! Lots of other feather-heads just like her! There's Topknot Cardnal makes such a fuss anybody'd know he's got something to hide. Sure enough, he's had such lots of kin behind the bars it makes him scary. But I'd show more pluck, anyhow.

Once this summer a blunderer smarter'n common came along by us. We had a nice place, too, in a dreadful blackberry tangle. A small sassafras threw a nice shadow over it when the sun got hot. Well, I shut up quick, I tell you. Was just tellin' Mrs. Chat a few things while she kep' an eye on our four eggs like. We kep' still as mice. But didn't that blunderin' rags march right up to our door and push and scratch till she saw what we had? Had a little rag blunderer with her. An' she held her up to look in, too. Every single feather we had stood on end! It was good riddance when they went along. Couldn't believe my specs when I saw they had left our eggs alone. Seven suns after, big rags came back. We're in a peck o' trouble. Our four bairns just out the shell. We both had to scratch round with all our toes to feed and keep 'em breathin'. Been rainin' for a solid week. Dame Chat said she just knew they'd get a chill and die. But the blunderin' party didn't stay long.

Well, sir, we hadn't got rid of that blunderer yet. The nex' time she brought another, bigger one, along. Both crowded up and looked in our door. You never saw such beauties as our bairns that day. Just gettin' so plump and featherin' right along. But it meant a sight o' work for us. They just sat and took in every mouthful we could rake and scrape. They kep' us busy. Well, when these blunderin' rags shook the house the bairns all up and spread their jaws wide open. Rags thought it was awful cute, but I'm thankful they didn't offer to feed 'em anything. Did bad enough, anyhow. Big one said, "Why don't you take their picture?" First rags said she couldn't. Second rags said she'd try, anyhow. With that, first rags began to snap off our best defenses – without so much as by your leave. They scratched her good, anyhow; for she said so. Well, she put some kind of square black gun right up to our door. Dame Chat went into hysterics and those little Chats just boiled over like a teakettle and went out the nest in four different directions! The two blunderers went off in a hurry, both talkin' at once and one suckin' her paw. Thankful to say ain't ever seen 'em since. But Dame Chat's a nervous wreck from the fright they gave her; and I'm worked to skin and bone takin' care of the little Chats. I just wish all the town's fenced in so's blunderers couldn't get loose to meddle round in their bunglin', elephant, rhinoceros way!

Elizabeth Nunemacher.

 
He comes – he comes – the Frost Spirit comes! You may trace his footsteps now
On the naked woods and the blasted fields, and the brown hill's withered brow.
He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth,
And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth.
 

– John Greenleaf Whittier.