39 6 



RECREATION. 



Searsburg, N. Y. 



Editor Recreation: The statement of 

 E. S. Billings, in April Recreation, with 

 regard to the red squirrel, is correct. 



I have seen red squirrels chase gray 

 ones and nip them as they ran. I had 

 often heard of this and called it "fishy"; 

 but I had to believe it when I saw it. In 

 woods where reds are plenty and wax fat 

 and are secluded from ine haunts of man, 

 you will rarely if ever see a pray or a black 

 squirrel. 



It is 'not my province to find fault with 

 the people who fill our magazines with 

 doubtful tales. They mean all right, but 

 do not study their subjects sufficiently. 



The red squirrel, when the breeding sea- 

 son has passed, has other thoughts than 

 those of love and hate. A good repository 

 for the coming crop of nuts; the selection 

 of the nest for his children, and many 

 other business cares, that no doubt escape 

 our notice, occupy his time. 



In order to study wild animal and bird 

 life successfully one must spend not only 

 one season in the woods, but many. 



D. D. Wakeman. 



THE CACKLING GOOSE. 

 Br ant a Minima. 



ALLAN BROOKS. 



(See j>age 34b.) 



The Cackling Goose is the smallest of the 

 4 subspecies of geese forming the canaden- 

 sis group, and is only found in extreme 

 Western America. 



It is an almost exact reproduction, in 

 miniature, of the Canada Goose, and can 

 best be described as a Canada goose with 

 the form and proportions of a brant; by 

 which name it, and its near ally, Hutchins' 

 goose, are often known on the Pacific 

 coast. 



_ The cackling goose can always be dis- 

 tinguished from Hutchins' goose by its tiny 

 bill, which resembles that of the brant. On 

 the wing, even at long range, it can gener- 

 ally be told from Hutchins' goose by the 

 proportionately longer wings and shorter 

 neck. Its " honk " is high pitched, but its 

 peculiar cry is the chatter or cackle from 

 which it derives its name. This I have 

 heard only in fine weather, when the flocks 

 were flying high, and I have never heard a 

 similar cry from any of its allies. 



The cackling goose is not confined to the 

 coast or Western Cascade region, as I have 

 taken it at Okanagan lake, 200 miles from 

 the coast. This bird passes through B. C. 

 late in the spring, and arrives later in the 

 fall than Hutchins' goose. This indicates 

 a more Northerly breeding ground. I do 

 not think it breeds anywhere in B. C. 



I have noticed a strong, sea-weedy smell 

 in birds of this species, shot in the fall, 

 which I have never noticed in other geese 

 of this group. 



It is the tamest of all geese, here in B. C, 

 except perhaps the white fronted. I have 

 walked up to within 40 or 50 yards of both 

 these species, in open ground. 



In spring the flocks of cackling, Hutch- 

 ins' and snow geese often perform the most 

 wonderful evolutions, shooting high into 

 the air, with a chorus of cries and then 

 hurtling earthward with one impulse. The 

 thunder of their wings may be heard for 

 miles, and the whole performance suggests 

 a flock of plovers or sandpipers. These 

 antics are generally the precursor of a 

 storm, or a change of weather. The weight 

 of the cackling goose varies from 3 to 5 

 pounds, being only a little more, on an 

 average, than that of the mallard. 



ARE THE PANTHER AND WILDCAT DAN- 

 GEROUS? 



I should be pleased to learn through 

 Recreation, regarding the panthers and 

 wild cats, of the Eastern States. While I 

 believe them perfectly harmless, unless 

 wounded or cornered, I have been told they 

 would jump from trees and attack any one, 

 with little or no cause. Do those animals 

 differ so much from the cougars and wild 

 cats of tlhe Pacific coast? 



Your magazine is all right, especially as 

 to Guns and Ammunition. 



Fred. Wiesman, Barbe^ton, O. 



ANSWER. 



The stories you have read and heard, 

 regarding the ferocity of the panther and 

 the wild cat (lynx) of the Eastern States, 

 are entirely fictitious. These animals are 

 just as cowardly here as elsewhere, and no 

 matter how skilfully a man may hunt a 

 piece of country which they or either of 

 them inhabit, he will rarely get sight of 

 one. I do not believe that either a lynx 

 or a panther ever attacked a man, in the 

 East or in the West, unless trapped or in 

 some other way compelled to fight. 



I get a great many stories of these ani- 

 mals attacking human beings, but prompt- 

 ly return them to the writers, for I know as 

 soon as I read them, they are false. — Edi- 

 tor. 



CRATER LAKE TO BE A NATIONAL PARK. 



The House Committee on Public Lands 

 has unanimously agreed to report favorably 

 the bill introduced in Congress, by Mr. 

 Tongue, of Oregon, which provides for 

 making a national park of Crater lake. As 

 provided for in the bill, the park will cover 

 about 250 square miles which includes the 

 lake, its surrounding wall, and the adjacent 

 mountainous country for a few miles in 

 each direction from the lake. It does not 

 include any agricultural or mineral land, 

 and there is not a single settler within its 

 proposed borders. 



It is said the bill will meet with no oppo- 



