136 



RECREATION. 



2 places it is known as the Chinese. The 

 birds that come from Mongolia are called 

 Mongolian pheasants, but are in fact the 

 same bird as the Chinese. The English 

 pheasant derives the name it now has 

 from its being found in England, but the 

 English bird originated in China, the 

 same as others of the species. 



The difference in plumage is caused by 

 the differences in the climate of the coun- 

 tries where the birds live. The brightest 

 come from China. In fact, almost all our 

 pheasants come from China; a few from 

 Japan and India. 



In regard to size, some birds will grow 

 larger than others. I have had 2 birds 

 hatch from the same litter and when 

 grown one would weigh i]/ 2 pounds more 

 than the other. In breeding these pheas- 

 ants I have had a pen of 4 hens and a cock 

 confined in a yard 14 feet wide and 20 feet 

 long. Ninety-five per cent, of the eggs 

 hatched. I have had cock birds with the 

 white ring one inch wide clearly shown 

 and cocks from the same litter with hardly 

 any ring. When you get Chinese, Mon- 

 golian or English pheasants you get the 

 same thing only from different countries. 

 Let us hear from someone else. 



C. L. Darlington, Stoneham, Mass. 



always failed, until finally this year I was 

 rewarded. They fly much faster than our 

 tame pigeons, and are larger and stronger. 

 Their wings are very powerful. They are 

 Columba oenas, wood pigeon. 



Otto Luhdorff, Visalia, Cal. 



WILD PIGEONS. 



Wild pigeons have been a little trouble- 

 some in some sections of the interior of 

 San Joaquin valley this year. The farmers 

 in a few sections have complained and 

 have reported that the pigeons destroyed 

 a great quantity of their seed. The pigeons 

 come nearly every year, especially in the 

 fall, from the higher Sierra Nevadas to the 

 lower foothills, where they remain a few 

 months, and then they depart again, going 

 either North or to the higher mountains. 

 There were many thousands of them this 

 year. Generally we see only a few bands 

 of them, and they seldom become trouble- 

 some on account of large numbers. They 

 usually come when the acorns and coffee 

 berries are ripe. These furnish at certain 

 seasons the principal food of the pigeons, 

 and this in such aMegree that their meat 

 is not inviting in such times. As a general 

 rule, they do not trouble the grain much, 

 and so I find no excuse for those people 

 who killed them in large numbers. The 

 pigeons are not here when the fruit is ripe. 

 There were great snow storms in the 

 mountains, which drove the poor birds 

 for a time to the valley. Being short of 

 food, they had to come and they had to 

 eat something. Some farmers may have 

 suffered a little, but I pity the poor birds, 

 which have been killed by thousands. 



For many years I have tried to catch a 

 few pigeons alive for propagation, but 



PREFERRED TO BE A PET 



Last fall I brought a chipmunk, or 

 striped squirrel, from another part of the 

 State and kept him in a cage at my home 

 in the city of Augusta, Me. My little 

 5 year old granddaughter, who has a great 

 liking for wild birds and animals, began 

 to think it was cruel to keep him a cap- 

 tive and wanted him put back into his 

 native woods. I therefore put him in a 

 small box, around which a paper was 

 closely wrapped, and with the child went 

 out of the city about a mile, deposited him 

 at the root of a tree, placed plenty of 

 nuts and corn by the box and left him. 

 The next day he was back at my house, 

 trying to get into his cage, which was 

 out of reach. The cage was placed on the 

 ground, and the squirrel in the mean- 

 time ran into some shrubs near the house. 

 The next day he was found in his cage 

 running his wheel at a lively rate. How 

 do you account for it? He did not s:ee 

 the light of day from the time we started 

 to the place where we left him. After we 

 left him we traveled about the woods a 

 good deal before coming home. It is 

 needless to say he will be one of the fam- 

 ily from now on. This evidence of the 

 affection and knowledge of birds and 

 animals calls for the kindest of treatment 

 at the hands of man. 



E. C. Farrington, Augusta, Me. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 

 The enemies of the robin, the thrush, 

 the scarlet tanager, the blue bird, the che- 

 weet, the blackbird, the bobolink, the 

 oriole, the wren and the lark are legion. 

 None but wanton wretches take their lives, 

 unless it be the natural enemies of birds. 

 Game animals and game birds have a hard 

 struggle for existence here in Idaho. 

 The Indians leave their reservations but. 

 to slay and waste. The wolf, the lynx, 

 the coyote, owls, hawks, and eagles, 

 are waging war on ruffed grouse, blue 

 grouse, plover, prairie chickens and 

 meadow larks. Hide hunters have slaught- 

 ered deer within a few miles of here, 

 leaving the grinning skulls in heaps as 

 horrid reminders of broken laws. Gov- 

 ernment must aid in saving the remnant 

 of birds and animals. 



- A few years ago it was not unusual to 

 see 20 to 60 deer in a day in the Priest 

 Lake country. Now you may travel a 

 week and not see one. I have not shot 



