NATURAL HISTORY. 



141 



brutal ; and in these days when superstition 

 is no more, shows only gross ignorance. 

 Antipathy has little standing; but of course 

 I draw the line at venomous snake protec- 

 tion. Percy Selous. 



The letter of L. W. Brownell, Nyack, N. 

 Y., eulogizing the red squirrel, must be a 

 huge joke. Otherwise, I should not like to 

 experience the sensation which permeated 

 his anatomy as he read the letters of Min- 

 ton, Mofrett and Wakeman. The latter 

 gentlemen are correct regarding the habits 

 of the pine squirrel, but I would not be too 

 hard on the little fellow, for I have thought 

 him as much of a game preserver as a de- 

 stroyer. He seems to stand sentinel for all 

 the game in his section, for, much to the 

 disgust of the hunter, on approaching the 

 woods he hears the wavering chatter of this 

 little red rascal, which is taken up by his 

 neighbor and heralded all over the forest. 

 All other animals, as well as birds, seem to 

 regard this as a danger signal, on hearing 

 which they seek hiding places. Thus the 

 hunter's sport, in a measure, is cut off. 

 While this squirrel is a thorn in the flesh of 

 almost every hunter, myself included, no 

 doubt he was made for some good purpose; 

 but, frankly speaking, that purpose is hard 

 to discover. 



Wm. A. Bruce, Windsor, Vt. 



I mail you to-day the pelt of a " critter" 

 that is new to me. Do you know what it 

 is? I can't name it. Old trapper Johnson, 

 who captured it and its mate, did not know 

 what it was, though he has spent his life 

 trapping in these hills. He caught it near 

 Pistol Creek, Idaho. 



M. W. Miner, Weiser, Idaho. 



ANSWER. 



Yes, this is a new animal for America. 

 It is a black breasted Eversmann's ferret 

 (Putorius eversmanni) and Dr. Merriam, 

 to whom I showed the skin, says he has 

 never known of but one other being found 

 in this country. He has the skin of this 

 one, which is probably the same one 

 Trapper Johnson refers to. The true home 

 of Eversmann's ferret is in Siberia. — 

 Editor. 



I am much interested in Recreation, 

 and especially in the Natural History de- 

 partment. Would some reader give me a 

 few points on how to stuff and mount small 

 birds and animals? 



R. H. W., N. Y. City. 



This is too large a subject to treat in any 

 one article, in a magazine. It would take 

 hundreds of pages to do it justice, and to 

 give such instructions as would be intelli- 

 gible and useful to a beginner. Your best 

 plan therefore, is to buy a copy of Horna- 

 day's Taxidermy and Zoological Collect- 



ing, published by Scribner's Sons, this city. 

 The price is $2. , 



THE CACKLING GOOSE. 



I read Allen Brooks' interesting descrip- 

 tion, in May Recreation, of the cackling 

 goose, and should like to set him right as to 

 the range of these birds. He says they only 

 frequent the Western coast, and go but a 

 few hundred miles inland. If Mr. Brooks 

 will come with me to South Dakota, I will 

 show him where they nest. I killed several, 

 last fall, and have one, alive, that I 

 brought from there. She wintered out 

 doors, with my Canada geese. I have 2 

 Canada geese that will follow me when I 

 hunt. They have helped me kill several 

 hundred birds. B. A. Shaw, Clinton, la. 



Our open season for deer ended Febru- 

 ary 28th. Some of us obtained some fine 

 specimens. Our turkey season closed on 

 March 15th. I have heard of and seen 

 many large antlers on red deer, but I shot 

 one last November that I think is a record 

 breaker. I will give some measurements, 

 and if anyone can show a larger set I 

 should be glad to hear from him. Of course 

 larger ones are found on mule deer, but we 

 are now matching horns with some man's 

 red deer. These antlers measure 23 inches 

 long, 19 inches wide at points, 22 inches at 

 widest spread, and 5^2 inches in circumfer- 

 ence 2 inches from head. 



Munsey Carson, Frostproof, Fla. 



I give measurements of a mule deer 

 head that I have, and if any reader of 

 Recreation has a larger one I should like 

 to hear from him. Spread of horns, 41 

 inches; number of points, 15; measurement 

 around beam, 5 inches. I am mounting 

 this head and will send a photograph of it 

 as soon as I get it finished. 



John E. Davis, Butte, Mont. 



Last winter I turned a jack rabbit over 

 with a load of BB shot and nitro powder, 

 at 97 yards; this was the 3d shot at the 

 jack, so you may know he was losing no 

 time. On a goose I got a killing pattern 

 at 127 yards, with No. 2 shot. Have no 

 faith in small shot at long range. 



Paul F. Mueller, Ft. Worth, Tex. 



I clip the following from a newspaper: 



" The superintendent of the Missouri State Fish 

 Hatchery was recently surprised, on draining off 

 a pond containing bass, to find few fish in it. At 

 first theft was suspected, but closer investigation 

 revealed the missing fish in a condition of hiberna- 

 tion, or winter sleep, in the mud covering the 

 bottom of the pond. 



I should like to know if it is a fact that 

 bass remain buried in the mud all winter.* 



* Black bass occasionally hibernate, but not al- 

 ways. Several accounts have been published in 

 Recreation, of their being caught through the 

 ice. — Editor. 



