NATURAL HISTORY. 



30i 



scampers around the room, runs up the 

 window curtains and will climb to the top 

 of any piece of furniture on which he can 

 get a foothold. 



He carries his bushy tail in a straight line 

 with his body when running. When put 

 back in his cage he seems glad to get 

 home. A never ending source of amuse- 

 ment to the little ones is to watch him 

 wash his face. This he does every time he 

 gets through eating, and as they are con- 

 stantly feeding him he performs his ablu- 

 tions with great frequency. Harry looks on 

 and remarks grimly that he is glad he is 

 not a chipmunk. His antipathy to water is 

 proverbial, and to him cleanliness is only 

 vanity and vexation of spirit. 



The squirrel begins by licking his paws. 

 Then he rubs them together carefully, and 

 again licking his paws, he commences on 

 his face and head, which he rubs with great 

 rapidity, whirling his paws over his ears 

 as if he were taking a regular shampoo. 

 He finishes bv smoothing his breast and 

 then settles for a nap. 



He is an amusing pet, but sometimes he 

 seems to want to get out ; and Harry says 

 he will soon carry him back to the woods 

 and give him his freedom. 



A. M. M., Vernon, la. 



SOME WISCONSIN BIRDS. 



Milwaukee, Wis. 

 Editor Recreation : 



May 11, while visiting Forest Home 

 cemetery, the finest near the city, I noticed 

 a robin's nest, apparently just built, but 

 empty. The eggs had either been taken 

 out, or the bird had not yet laid any there- 

 in. The nest was in a crevice of a head- 

 stone, about 3 to 4 feet from the ground, 

 the stone being in shape of a tree stump, 

 and being about 5 feet high. 



May 10 we had a severe snow storm 

 here, but the martins and tree swallows 

 did not mind the storm, staying inside their 

 houses, the temperature 36 degrees. Rob- 

 ins and purple grackles fed in the yard, 

 the latter on bread thrown out to them. 



My pair of bluebirds are again all right. 

 The box they are in is not over 6 feet from 

 the ground, and I can easily reach the en- 

 trance with my hand. This seems too low 

 for the English sparrows, who give the 

 house a wide berth. 



Two purple martins arrived that must 

 have been here last year, as they at once 

 made themselves at home. In fact, one 

 of them had a severe fight, in one of the 

 rooms of the birdhouse, lasting fully 20 

 minutes, with a martin that had been here 

 over 30 days. 



It does not appear to be generally known 

 fhat the male martins do not get their 

 purple coat until the second year. Neltje 



Blanchan describes the male martin as 

 purple, the female grey. This is an error, 

 as all the yearling males are also grey, dif- 

 fering only slightly from the females. Last 

 year I had 5 pairs of martins, none of the 

 birds being purple, showing the certainty 

 of grey mafe birds. The males generally 

 have darker feathers about the head, and 

 a few prominent dark feathers on the 

 breast. Otherwise they look like the fe- 

 males.. The purple ones know the young 

 males very well, however, and many 

 a fight have I seen between them. The 

 males will not fight with the females, but 

 will allow themselves to be pecked by 

 their mates without retaliating. 



A house wren visited me this year, and a 

 dozen cedar waxwings. Robins are nu- 

 merous throughout the city, nesting on. 

 shade trees. Frederick Wahl. 



RATTLESNAKES AND ROADRUNNERS. 



The old story about the roadrunner fenc- 

 ing in a sleeping rattlesnake with cactus 

 was retold in March Recreation. When I 

 first heard the story some years ago, I 

 doubted that the rattlesnake could be 

 caught in that way, and asked old settlers, 

 Mexicans and Indians, if they had ever 

 seen it done or knew of anyone who had. 

 All said they had heard the story from 

 somebody who had heard it from somebody 

 else; none had seen evidence of its truth. 



Rattlesnakes live among cactus, and glide 

 along where the ground is thickly covered 

 with prickly pear and chollas balls of the 

 most spiny kind. If fenced in by chollas 

 it would not disturb the reptiles in the 

 least ; they could easily push it aside or 

 glide over it, without suffering any incon- 

 venience, as their skin is not easily pene- 

 trated. It would be impossible for the 

 roadrunner to use the prickly pear lobes. 

 They are not shed, the bird never could 

 break them off, and could not lift one if 

 he did. 



A rattlesnake will sometimes, when in 

 anger or agony, bite or grab a part of his 

 body. He does not use his fangs or strik- 

 ing teeth, but instead, the small seizing 

 teeth of both jaws, and closes his mouth in 

 so doing. When striking, his mouth is 

 wide open, and the fangs are thrust for- 

 ward from the upper jaw. 



I have never heard roadrunners chatter 

 and had always believed them voiceless. 

 One day last summer while sitting on a 

 hillside, a roadrunner came through the 

 sage brush to within a few feet before dis- 

 covering me. He bristled up his feathers, 

 pointed his tail straight up and uttered a 

 sound nearly like the note of a cuckoo 

 only more harsh. This he repeated sev- 

 eral times, getting a little farther away 



