


NATURAL 
point is whether red squirrels castrate 
aray squirrels. I once saw it done. ‘I 
have skinned probably 30 or 40 gray squir- 
rels, % of which were males. Of these 
li Dit -2 on 3) *had.) been, J maimed, 
and the scar was plainly visible. I 
had heard about the testes being retained 
in the abdomen and have looked for, but 
never found them there. Perhaps a train- 
ed observer could have found what I 
missed, but my belief is that the organs 
were gone. I have killed and dressed 
hundreds of red squirrels, have killed them 
in every month and nearly every week in 
the year; and in the few cases where the 
testes were missing either the specimen 
was very young or there was a scar to tell 
what had happened. 
‘There is another problem that vexes 
me. In heavy spruce or pine woods in in- 
land Main. it is pessible to find robins all 
winter. Do some robins stay at home 
the year round while the greater number 
fly South at the approach of cold weather? 
If so, why? Or are our winter robins 
migrants from lands North of us, and if . 
that, why are their numbers so few? 
D. C. Clark, Norway, Me. 

A SINGING MOUSE. 
The stories written of “musical mice” 
and “singing swans” sound poetical; but 
as a zoological proposition I never be- 
lieved in ether until a few nights ago. 
Now I am open to conviction regarding 
the swan’s song. 
For several weeks, after retiring I have 
heard within my room, low musical sonor- 
ous sounds. The cadences rose and fell 
like a far distant ec'ian harp. Last night, 
while my wife and I sat.reading and all 
was quiet in the room, the pleasing sounds 
began. Casting my eyes into the corner 
of the room I saw a mouse couchant; its 
head thrown slightly supward, and eyes 
closed. The little animal seemed in an 
ecstacy, or trance. This continued for 
about one minute. Suddenly springing 
to his feet he ran about the room ap- 
parently in a perfectly normal state. Half 
an hour later the song was repeated. I be- 
lieve the sound is produced by the rapid 
vibration of the alae of the nose. 
I do not believe castration was ever 
performed by the red, black or gray squir- 
rels or any animal as an instinct. I know 
the idea is prevalent, but it is untenable. 
The testes do not descend into the scro- 
tum until the animal is several years old, 
except at rutting time, and not then in 
young individuals. I have examined hun- 
dreds and never failed to find the testes in 
situ. I never saw a lacerated animal 
nor one with a‘scar, indicating that such 
an operation had ever been attempted. 
The raphe of the scrotum may have been 
HISTORY. 219 
mistaken for a scar by inexperienced 
persons. 
W. F. Work, M.D., Hot Springs, Ark. 

NOT THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 
I learned there was a flock of wild 
pigeons roosting in a small canyon near 
here and investigation proved them to be 
the genuine wild: pigeon. There are about 
100 of them. The canyon is dark and full of 
- brush, so I could not see them very well. 
I was told a flock, presumably this one, 
had been stopping in the same canyon sev- 
eral years, on their migratory flights, and 
that when first seen there were only about 
a dozen of them. My informant has been 
watching them, has gone every year to see 
if they had returned and has noticed with 
interest the increase in numbers. 
I saw in April RECREATION a story about 
pigeons, spun by a sea captain. If he sailed 
in the North Pacific, his story is probably 
true, only the frozen pigeons were sea 
pigeons and not wild pigeons. There is a 
bird on the shores of the Pacific that is 
called sea pigeon and which follow the 
schools of sardines in vast numbers. The 
birds are about the size of the wild pigeons 
and resemble them somewhat, especially at 
a distance. They roost on the water and 
would be easily killed by sleet storm. 
I have never heard of the wild pigeon 
being found on the shores of the Atlantic 
or Pacific. Their flight is along the streams 
of the interior. 
What has become of the wild pigeon? 
The market hunters, pot hunters, net 
men and game hogs who infested their 
feeding grounds a few years ago, and ship- 
ped them by the barrel can answer more 
correctly than anyone. 
Val, Eureka, Cal. 
The flock you saw in the canyon is prob- 
ably the band-tail pigeon and not the pass- 
enger pigeon.—ED. 

WILL NOT-ROB NESTS. 
I am well pleased with your decision. A 
few years ago I took it into my head to col- 
lect bird’s eggs and got about 1oo kinds; 
but after reading RECREATION I saw my er- 
ror and have stopped and am not going 
to get any more. My reason for getting 
them was that I love birds, as I do every- 
thing in nature. You do not think Taxi- 
dermy is a good business. How would 
it do to get 2 or 3 kinds of every bird 
and animal there is for my own use, as 
I have a great deal of time? 
RECREATION is the best sportsman’s 
paper. published, and the way you 
give it to the game hogs ought to re- 
form them if anything will. There is one 
thing I will have to find fault with. I don’t 
think you treat the animal they are named 
