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RECREATION. 



Oroville to find out what I can in regard 

 to the alleged pest in Butte county." Again, 

 under date of February 7, Dr. Jordan 

 wrote : "I have looked into the matter re- 

 ferred to in your letter of the 24th ult., and 

 I find no evidence that Belgian hares are 

 running wild in Butte county." 



Let Mr. Montague now come forward 

 and defend his statement, made in January, 

 1902, Recreation. 



Wilmon Newell, Wooster, Ohio. 



PROVIDING HOMES FOR BIRDS. 



Milwaukee, Wis. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Last year I had 15 pairs of purple mar- 

 tins in my 26 compartment bird house, and 

 who reared 45 to 60 young martins. 



About 8 pairs of old birds returned early 

 for the season of 1902. The young birds 

 generally return about May 10th. 



I had some trouble to get a pair of tree 

 swallows to nest in a separate house, year 

 before last, and I experimented with the 

 size of the entrance, until finally the swal- 

 lows were able to enter and the English 

 sparrow not, as I thought. The tree swal- 

 low is a fighter, and will whip a sparrow, 

 or, for that matter, a purple martin, in the 

 open ; but when the sparrow once gets in- 

 side the house, the swallow will not follow 

 in, but will give up the house. The swal- 

 lows kept the sparrows away at first, and 

 the entrance being small for the English 

 pups, the swallows were able to raise a 

 brood of young. After the young swal- 

 lows had left the house, I one day observed 

 a male sparrow enter, after hard work. A 

 wren being also about to take possession 

 of the house, I drove a nail in the center 

 of the entrance, allowing Mr. Wren to 

 enter on either side of the nail, and Mr. 

 Sparrow gave up in disgust. 



Last year I fastened a small flower pot 

 to a pole, with wire, and enlarged the 

 water drain hole to suit the tree swallow's 

 size. The sparrows, although numerous, 

 never molested the swallows, who reared 

 a brood. The tree swallows are here 

 again, but the sparrows go into the flower 

 pots this year. Can any of your readers 

 give dimensions of hole which tree swal- 

 lows can enter, and sparrows not? 



Will bluebirds enter gourds? I under- 

 stand sparrows will not enter nesting 

 places for martins, made from gourds, sus- 

 pended by twine, and swinging freely. As 

 I have no gourd at hand to make a bird 

 house of, I shall suspend a flower pot by 

 a cord for an experiment. 



The sparrows drove out of their house 

 the only pair of bluebirds that came around 

 here to nest for 10 years, but I shot the 

 sparrow that interefercd, and lowered the 

 house so it is only about 6 feet from the 

 ground. The sparrows did not like this, 



and am in hopes, with good luck, to raise 

 a set or 2 of young bluebirds, as the old 

 ones are again building in the house. 



Following is an article I wrote to the 

 local Daily Journal a short time ago : 



Last year I had a single house wren, who was 

 a bachelor, built his own nest, but apparently 

 could find no mate. This same thing was the 

 case in 1900, the bird staying about all summer. 

 Can any of your readers explain why the bird 

 failed to secure a mate? I can not say it was the 

 same bird both seasons, but each year only one 

 bird was about and each built a nest. Careful 

 watching and examination of the nests after the 

 bird left in the fall failed to show that young 

 birds were raised therein. 



The sparrows are plentiful here, but the purple 

 martins, when once located, will fight them to a 

 finish, and whip them every time. There, appears 

 to be a general" idea that English sparrows drive 

 away all other birds. Careful observation for the 

 past 10 years goes to show that not more than 

 one sparrow will attack another bird at a time 

 and then only when both birds want the same 

 testing place. 



Blue birds are scarce now, and seem to nest 

 in the woods instead of in bird houses as for- 

 merly. 



Fred Wahl, 



CONVINCED THAT LYNX DESTROY DEER. 



I read in May Recreation the article 

 "Does the Lynx Destroy Deer." Several 

 years ago, in January, my father, the late 

 Chief Pokagon, and I were crossing Black 

 river, in this State, with a yoke of oxen 

 and a sled. We were startled by a strange 

 bleating on shore to the right of us. and 

 at the same time we saw a whirling about 

 in the brush, which at first appeared like 

 a small wirlwind. but in a moment we saw 

 "suc-se" (a deer) struggling to free her- 

 self from "bi-su" (a lynx). Father 

 grabbed from the sled a stake which he 

 used as a war club, and tried to beat the 

 brute off the deer. "Bi-su" escaped the 

 war club and skulked away out of sight. 

 Our sympathy was awakened for poor 

 "suc-se," that lay prostrate on the ground, 

 and we raised her up. She was a large doe, 

 but to our surprise she was dead. We 

 skinned her and found that her throat was 

 severed, and neck mutilated in a frightful 

 manner. We took the skin and saddles 

 home with us, after staking down the re- 

 mains of the animal, beside which we care- 

 fully set a large bear trap that we happened 

 to have with us. 



The following morning we went back to 

 the battleground. We found "bi-su" 

 caught by one fore foot in the trap. Father 

 walked up toward the brute with a heavy 

 war club, and struck at him. "Bi-su" 

 dodged the blow and jumped toward father 

 with such ease as led him to believe "bi-su" 

 had freed himself from the trap. Again 

 and again father repeated his blows, fol- 

 lowed by the desperate leaps of the brute, 

 determined to foil his adversary. Finally 

 by a well directed blow, father struck the 

 lynx on the head and "bi-su" breathed his 



