NATURAL HISTORY, 



469 



gether. Once I slipped out from camp 

 about sundown, with my rifle, across a 

 small meadow and through the woods 300 

 or 400 yards, after a strange calling noise 

 I heard, to find it was a porky who was 

 probably lonesome. 



I have seen porcupines voluntarily swim 

 across a creek 75 feet wide. They seem to 

 hear better than they see. They will either 

 raise their quills and sit where they are, 

 disdaining to run, or will make immediate- 

 ly for cover, get to a log, stick their head 

 under it for protection and flirt their tail 

 at anything that comes within striking dis- 

 tance; or they will climb a tree. 



good photos from wild living rails, all 

 with tails turned straight up. — Editor. 



HOW THE RAIL CARRIES HIS TAIL. 



Are rails everlastingly sticking their 

 noses out ahead of them, as all taxider- 

 mists I ever knew make them? Do rails 

 always imitate wrens as to the positions of 

 their tails? 



Some time ago a picture of some Amer- 

 ican coots, by Allen Brooks, appeared in 

 Recreation. The coot in the foreground 

 let her tail hang down! But the next one, 

 as to distance, was poking its tail upward 

 for all there was in it. In 2 rail pictures 

 by Seton-Thompson the birds are pointing 

 their tails skyward. I could mention many 

 more wren-like pictures of rails. 



July 23d, 1899, a friend of mine caught 

 an immature Virginia rail, with which I 

 spent several hours in an unused room of 

 my friend's house. This rail seemed to 

 bear his misfortune philosophically and 

 did just what he pleased. While I was 

 with him he ate flies, spiders, spiders' eggs 

 and a locust an inch and a quarter long; 

 drank water, walked, ran and slept. Once 

 or twice he stretched his neck out enough 

 to catch a fly that was quite a bit higher 

 than his back. Never while I was watch- 

 ing did he point his tail upward at all. The 

 top (middle) feathers were sometimes in a 

 horizontal position, but they usually 

 pointed downward. 



Last spring I studied a live wild coot, 

 uncommon he-re. Whether on land or in 

 water it kept its tail pointing somewhat 

 down. 



Just once, last May, I saw a Florida 

 gallinule, that I found pointing his little 

 stubby "caudal fin" toward the heavens. 



There are my notes on the subject. 

 What are yours? These questions may be 

 of small importance, but I should like to 

 know what someone else thinks about 

 rails. 



Robert J. Sims. Jefferson, Ohio. 



ANSWER. 



Your observations are of great interest 

 and undoubtedly correct, but the fact, at- 

 tested by countless observers, is that the 

 characteristic attitude of rails is with tail 

 up. I have before me at this moment 3 



THE JUMPING MOUSE. 



In reply to William H. Franklin's query 

 in March Recreation would say that the 

 animal he mentions is the jumping mouse. 

 American jerboa. It inhabits Canada and 

 the United States, South and West, to the 

 Pacific. It is about 3 inches long to the 

 tail, which is 4 or 5 inches in length. The 

 color is a reddish or yellowish brown, as 

 the beholder is a judge of colors, on the 

 back; sides more reddish, with light belly. 

 When disturbed it starts off with long, 

 rapid leaps that carry it over the ground 

 with great ease. Though sometimes called 

 the kangaroo mouse, it belongs to the 

 rodentia instead of the marsupialia. The 

 gopher family has a somewhat similar 

 member called the kangaroo rat, with long 

 hind legs and tail. Its movements are 

 about the same — long, rapid jumps. 



H. J. Shelley, M. D., Ridgebury, N. Y. 



Can you tell me what animal I saw while 

 fishing in a creek. I was attracted by a 

 noise which sounded like a irog jumping 

 across the stream. On looking Is v a lit- 

 tle animal somewhat larger than a common 

 mouse, but smaller than a rat. with a very 

 short tail and tawny, or yellow fur. It 

 made leaps like a frog. I had often heard 

 the same noise in the same place, but never 

 saw the little fellow before. 



J. B. Haviland. 



Haverford, Pa. 



ANSWER. 



It must have been a jumping mouse. 

 Zapus hudsonius, whose long tail was not 

 visible to you in the imperfect light. — 

 Editor. 



A year ago last summer I was working 

 in a hay field and saw something jumping, 

 much as a frog jumps. I captured it and 

 found it to be a kind of yellow mouse, 

 about 6 inches long, of which 2^ inches 

 was body and head, the remainder tail. 

 What was it? 



D. A. Dewey, Coldwater. Mich. 



ANSWER. 



It was a kangaroo mouse, Zapus hud- 

 sonius. — Ed. 



PROBABLY DOV! 

 On a farm near this city there is a fl 

 of about 50 birds. I think they arc 

 pigeons. They feed in a corn field in the 

 morning, from 5 to 7. and again in the 

 evening about 5. They appear slate col- 

 ored when flving. I got within 10 J 

 of some and noticed they had yellow 

 breasts, Their backs are dark. IustT< 



