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THE GAME-BREEDER 



hiake some experiments with black duck 

 eggs and possibly teal and; pther wild 

 fowl, using incubators at its experi- 

 mental farm. Some of the members of 

 the society also will experiment with 

 several species of wild fowl in this man- 

 ner. The results of these experiments 

 will make interesting reading for our 

 readers, no doubt. 



Safe Trees. 



Very curious facts about the preference 

 of lightning for certain kinds oi trees 

 have been collected by scientists in some 

 foreign countries. It has long been no- 

 ticed that oaks are more frequently dam- 

 aged by lightning than beeches. As a 

 partial explanation it has been suggested 

 that the smoother leaves and bark of 

 the beech, by producing a uniform wet- 

 ting of the surface in a storm, may 

 cause lightning to reach the ground from 

 such a tree with less damage than in the 

 case of an oak. But the statistics just 

 referred to indicate that the beech is 

 comparatively exempt from lightning 

 strokes. In ten years, within a certain 

 district, fifty-six oaks, about twenty firs 

 and three or four pines were struck by 

 lightning, but not a single beech was 

 struck, although the beech was actually 

 the most abundant tree in the district, out- 

 numbering the oaks almost seven to one. 

 It has been further suggested that this 

 furnishes a practical hint as to what kind 

 of tree to take shelter under in a thun- 

 derstorm, that is, if there are any beech 

 trees available for the purpose. 



The Kingbird. 



In these days, perhaps, it would be bet- 

 ter to write about the man-of-war bird 

 than any other, but as kings figure in 

 the present fighting and the kingbird fig- 

 ures in the fighting all the time, a word 

 or two about him may have a place in the 

 stricken field. 



The scientists call the kingbird Tyran- 

 nus tyrannus, doubling up on the tyran- 

 nical significance of the thing because this 

 bird of ours tyrannizes over other birds, 

 but it is grateful to say that his peck- 

 ing puernacity restrains itself in the cases 

 of birds smaller than himself. 



There are some good friends of" the 

 , kingbird' who will tell "you that the tyran- 

 nus of his name is used in its extremely 

 ancient significance, which was that of 

 ruler ra.ther than tyrant, but the kingbird, 

 is a tyrant, nevertheless, as one can find 

 out by asking any crow or hawk which: 

 flaps or sails within the domain of this' 

 guardian of the fields. 



Some country folk call the kingbird the- 

 bee martin, because he occasionally in his- 

 insect-catching life snaps up a bee. The 

 kingbird loves the orchard. There, while- 

 his mate is covering the eggs, he takes- 

 to a tree-top tO' look over the landscape 

 and the skyscape. When a hawk or a 

 crow comes in sight the kingbird is off for 

 a battle in which he does all the fighting. 

 Occasionally he takes a ride on the en- 

 emy's back for a yard or so, pecking his 

 hardest tO' make his victim exceed the 

 speed limit. 



The farmers like the kingbird, because 

 while he is about the chickens are safe 

 from those pirates of the air,- the sharp- 

 shinned and the Cooper hawk. There are 

 kings and kings. The days of some of 

 them, we hope, are numbered, but long 

 live Tyrannus tyrannus ! — Chicago Even- 

 ing Post. 



A "Coon-Cat" or a Nature-Fake? 



We shall be glad to hear from some of 

 our Maine readers about this news sent ■ 

 in a clipping to The Game Breeder. 



The so-called "coon-cat," -which is common 

 all over Maine, is held by natives to be a 

 cross between the cat and the raccoon. Biolo- 

 gists ridicule this belief ; nevertheless many 

 half -wild cats in Maine have the typical rac- 

 coon tail virith short forelegs, pointed snout 

 and long hair. 



Turtle and Hawk. 



In a despatch tQ the Evening World, 

 N. Y., from York, Pa., "The fable of 

 the hare and the tortoise" is surpassed. 



Miss Mabel Griest, walking through a 

 field, noticed a bird in the grass frantical- 

 ly beatuig its wings. Approaching she 

 found it to be a hawk with one leg se- 

 curely caught between the jaws of a tur- " 

 tie. The girl struck the prisoner with a 

 stick, killing it. 



