NATURAL HISTORY. 



467 



doubt it is poisonous, as they eat car- 

 rion ; but they are gentle and sweet tem- 

 pered and there is little risk in handling 

 them. Be sure they have snug, dry quar- 

 ters. Make dens for them out of old shoe 

 boxes, etc. Cover the boxes with earth 

 and roof them to keep dry. Besides the 

 value of their hides, skunk oil, made from 

 their fat, is valuable, being used as a 

 medicine for membranous croup and 

 worth about $1 a pint. A fat skunk has 

 a much nicer pelt than a poor one. Go 

 to the nearest hide buyer and find out 

 who brings in skunk hides to sell, and I'll 

 wager whoever does will get you all the 

 live skunks you want for $2 apiece. 



C. P. J., Portland, Ore. 



NOTES ON THE BEAVER. 



I am surprised at the ignorance of some 

 people about beavers. In April Recrea- 

 tion a trapper calls the beaver the wildest 

 and most cunning animal of this day. He 

 may have hunted beavers, but has never 

 observed them. I have studied the beaver 

 carefully for several years in their native 

 haunts and give below some notes from 

 my j ournal : 



July 15 — Have seen beavers almost every 

 day 'for the last month. One afternoon 

 about 4 o'clock I saw 5. They had cut 

 down a tree which had fallen into the 

 water, while some of the limbs were about 

 3 feet above. Two of the beavers sat in 

 the crown of the tree, and 3 of them were 

 in the water most of the time. I watched 

 them about 15 minutes at a distance of 

 about 10 feet. Would never have believed 

 beavers could climb as these did if I had 

 not seen them. 



July 19 — A boy 12 years old shot a 

 beaver at the above mentioned tree, but 

 could not pull it out of the water on ac- 

 count of its weight. I found the carcass 

 100 yards below, 3 days later. The boy 

 said he saw 6 beavers together when he 

 shot the one, at 5 o'clock p. m. The re- 

 maining 5 left the pond. 



July 24 — They now live about Y?. mile 

 up the river and about 200 yards from 

 my cabin. They can be seen almost any 

 time after 3 o'clock p. m. in good weather. 

 Have seen beaver in daytime until about 

 the middle of November ; from that time 

 only after sundown. 



July 5, 1900 — Yesterday I saw 11 beavers 

 at one place, and about ^2 mile farther 

 on 6 more. Time, an hour or 2 before 

 sundown. 



July 15 — See beavers every day. They 

 seem to know me now, for the old ones 

 swim past at 10 yards or less without div- 

 ing, though the young ones are a little shy 

 yet. 



July 20 — Yesterday a young beaver not 

 much larger than a muskrat was outside 



I In- don at to o'clock a. m. Tried to catch 

 him bul could not gel nearer than 5 feet. 



July 29 — E. B. shot one braver early in 

 the morning while hunting ducks. 



Sept. 2 — This morning, soon after sun- 

 rise, I saw o beavers swim past at 10 

 yards. They all dived as they came oppo- 

 site me and came up about 30 yards away. 

 They had not seen me before in the morn- 

 ing. There are no beaver dams in the 

 Musselshell, but several in the creeks 

 that run into it. I was informed last 

 spring that one fellow trapped 19 beavers 

 at the place where I made my observa- 

 tions, last winter. If this goes on the 

 beaver will soon be exterminated. If a 

 game warden would watch the country be- 

 tween Musselshell P. O. and Roundup P. 

 O. he could round up some of the law 

 breakers. There is no reason to call the 

 beaver wild. On account of being per- 

 sistently hunted he is getting shy, but it is 

 the same with all other animals. I do not 

 think much skill is required to photo- 

 graph a beaver. I wish I had a picture of 

 the 5 before mentioned, 2 of which were 

 in the branches of the tree they had cut 

 down. 



July 24, 1901 — Since above was written 

 I took a stroll down Flatwillow creek, 

 where I am now camping. Did not think 

 there were any beavers here, but one mile 

 below camp there are two dams, and about 

 100 yards from camp I saw a beaver work- 

 ing on one of them. I could not get 

 nearer than 50 feet on account of the noise 

 my shoes made, but observed him careful- 

 ly from that distance. He paddled around 

 the dam for a quarter of an hour pressing 

 the mud, but never coming fully out of the 

 water. Time 5 o'clock p. m., and the sun 

 high. Joseph Brunner, 



Flatwillow, Fergus Co., Mont. 



DO DOES LEAD? 



To Mr. Sperry's question as to whether 

 does usually lead in a bunch of their spe- 

 cies, I answer that they do, as a rule ; but 

 there are distinctions to be made. 



With deer, an unalarmed bunch is al- 

 ways led by an adult, fawnless doe, if 

 there is such a one in the band. In case of 

 alarm the buck will be first to run, re- 

 gardless of the others, to save his own 

 skin. The does, yearlings and fawns 

 usually follow him, and he thus becomes, 

 for the time, a leader, merely because he 

 is the biggest coward of all. 



With antelope, the head buck is never 

 found in the lead unless he suspects the 

 presence of wolves. Then he will take the 

 lead, and I have often, when the wind was 

 favorable, brought a bunch within 10 

 yards of me by hiding and imitating the 

 bark of a wolf. 



Bunches of grey wolves consist of the 

 mother and her pups. They keep together 



