NATURAL HISTORY. 



TRAPPING BIRDS. 



Union City, Pa. 



Editor Recreation: In your answer to 

 R. E. Borhek, in August Recreation, you 

 say the chances are 10 to I wild trapped 

 birds would languish and die, in captivity. 



Having been a bird fancier for over 20 

 years, and having trapped and kept nearly 

 every kind of bird that can be kept in cap- 

 tivity, I can honestly say birds trapped in 

 the early spring, before they have begun 

 nest building; or late in the fall when they 

 are migrating, seldom die if given proper 

 food and kept in large, roomy, semi-dark 

 cages, for the first few days. 



Of course birds trapped when they have 

 eggs or young usually grieve themselves to 

 death, no matter what attention they re- 

 ceive, and no true fancier would think of 

 trapping a wild bird during the nesting sea- 

 son. 



Young birds taken from the nest are far 

 more difficult to raise than most people sup- 

 pose, and only people whose entire time is 

 their own can hope to have success, as regu- 

 larity in feeding is of even more importance 

 than the food itself. 



I have been a reader of the magazine of 

 magazines, Recreation, for a long time, 

 and as it speaks of everything I would like 

 to ask: Why can't the amateur bird fanciers 

 have a corner? At present their only means 

 of communication is through the mails, 

 which is far from satisfactory. 



There is no more interesting study, with 

 which to pass away your idle moments, than 

 Ornithology — not with a gun in one hand 

 and a skinning knife in the other, but in the 

 study of living, breathing specimens, whose 

 melodious notes thrill us with pleasure. 

 Who, that has ever seen an aviary, or bird- 

 room, filled with native songsters, with 

 their sprightly movements and beautiful 

 plumage, will say the birds are not happy? 



Now, Mr. Editor, give us a little space 

 and see if you can't induce some of our 

 fanciers to devote a few moments, once a 

 month, to fill it. I promise to do my part. 

 Shall also be pleased to correspond with 

 any amateur fanciers who may care to write 

 me; with a view to organizing a club, or 

 merely for mutual entertainment. 



C. T. Metzger, Union City, Pa. 



Your suggestion, as to the establishment 

 of a department of Ornithology, is a good 

 one, and I should be glad to hear from other 

 readers on this subject. For the present. I 

 should have to print such contributions as 

 may come, in the Natural History depart- 

 ment; but if a sufficient number of con- 

 tributors can be secured to sustain a sepa- 

 rate department of bird lore, I will gladly 

 establish it. — Editor. 



ABOUT TH'AT SKUNK STORY. 



Eufaula, I. T. 



Editor Recreation: In your August 

 number I find an article by W. T. Horna- 

 day on the striped skunk, wherein he also 

 speaks of the Indian. I should like to say 

 that Mr. Hornaday's theory is not correct, 

 because an Indian is better posted in his 

 style of doctoring than his white brother is, 

 and can and does cure rabies, whether re- 

 sulting from a skunk or from a dog bite. 



Friend Hornaday is certainly a hunter 

 and yet can learn something from an Ind- 

 ian hunter that may be useful. I am one- 

 half Indian. My father was a white man 

 and of course when the Indian question is 

 brought up I am interested. If Mr. H. 

 would come to this, the Indian Territory, 

 the Indians would cook a skunk for him in 

 a fashion that would surprise him. 



Five years ago 2 young bloods came 

 here from the great State of Texas, to go 

 on a camp hunt, with 4 half breed Indians. 

 The Y. B.'s were driven to the half blood's 

 came at 10 o'clock p.m. The half blood 

 had a negro 4 cook who had killed a skunk 

 and had fixed it up and baked it for his 

 breakfast. It was baking when the Y. B.'s 

 landed. They had missed their dinner, and 

 were hungry. One of them scented the 

 odor of the baking skunk, which odor was 

 very different from that of the live skunk. 



He asked the cook what was cooking. 

 The darkey told the Y. B.'s he had killed a 

 possum, and was going to eat him later. 

 The Y. B.'s said they had never eaten a 

 possum,but had heard so much about them 

 they would like to try some of it. So 

 the negro took the well browned baked 

 skunk, placed it on a plate, put it before 

 the Y. B.'s, and there, under the towering 

 pines, the Y. B.'s fell to; tore the possum 

 limb from limb, devoured him bodily, and 

 pronounced him as fine meat as ever went 

 into their gizzards. 



After the hunt the negro gave the snap 

 away; but more possum, of that kind, was 

 called for by the Y. B's. It might be the 

 same way with friend Hornaday. 



The Indians have a sure cure for rabies, 

 also a sure cure for rattlesnake bite. The 

 remedy for rabies is a secret; but the other 

 is simple and will not fail. It is this: 



Take an onion, the size of a hen's egg, 

 a piece of tobacco and common table salt, 

 each of about same weight. Cut the tobacco 

 up fine, also the onion. Then put all in a 

 dish. Take a potato masher, or something 

 as blunt, and mash the 3 together. The 

 sap in the onion will mix up the poultice 

 nicely. Spread on a piece of cloth and 

 place on the wound, the poultice being ex- 

 posed to the skin. Do this as soon as pos- 

 sible after the bite is inflicted. Let the 



317 



