282 



RECREATION. 



killed the bird, exclaiming, " That's the 

 way we do it in Detroit." He also said he 

 had a permit to shoot specimens for his 

 brother. 



When he pleaded guilty he said he mis- 

 took the plover for a pigeon ha,wk. This 

 is all bosh. 



Most people who commit overt acts call 

 them mistakes afterward. These " mis- 

 takes " are a poor thing to hide behind. 

 S. B. M., Kalamazoo, Mich. 



I see the justice made Marks pay for not 

 knowing the difference between a hawk 

 and a plover. I do not believe there is any 

 truth in that excuse; but if there is, a man 

 who does not know any more than that had 

 no business to be out with a gun, and 

 his plea stamps him as a " sport " and not 

 a sportsman. A sportsman knows the dif- 

 ferent kinds of birds and one of the few 

 things a sport knows is how to work a 

 pump gun at trap shooting. 



W. B., East Saginaw, Mich. 



A GAMY HOG. 



One day last fall I went to the Post (Ft. 

 McKinney) garden to get a grouse. I failed 

 to find any game but was a witness to a 

 curious encounter. The Post has been 

 abandoned for 4 years. Last year some of 

 the land was sowed to grain and the rest 

 was filled with weeds which attained a rank 

 growth. On these weed seeds and what 

 little grain was scattered during harvest the 

 grouse feasted. Two brood sows with lit- 

 ters roamed over this garden at their own 

 sweet will. 



I had been lying in the shade of a bunch 

 of willows for half an hour or more when 

 I saw a coyote come trotting out of a draw, 

 toward the garden. I determined to wait 

 a little longer and watch him. He came 

 across the frozen alkali holes and under the 

 fence, and I could see he had a jack rabbit 

 breakfast in mind by the way he hunted 

 around. All this time the sows and pigs 

 were grunting around in the weeds, as ob- 

 livious of the coyote's presence as he was 

 of theirs. All at once he stopped, threw his 

 nose in the air, and leaped up, as a dog will 

 when wishing to see something over the 

 sage brush. He made but one jump and 

 must have seen what he had heard, for he 

 started in the direction of the pigs. When 

 about 50 yards from them one of the old 

 sows saw him. She gave a warning grunt, 

 whereupon the other sow and all the pigs 

 came scampering to her. Mr. Coyote, how- 

 ever, " kept a comin'." He made a dash for 

 a pig, which was foiled by a charge from 

 one of the sows. Then he circled them un- 

 til I thought they would all drop from 

 dizziness. When he found this would not 

 work, he tried to rush them again — but his 

 attack was headed off, as before. Then he 

 retreated to the ditc-h bank and sent a howl 

 for assistance. This was too much for one 



old sow and she ran him about 100 yards. 

 All this time the pigs were closely huddled 

 about the other sow. As it was growing 

 late I arose to go home. The coyote saw 

 me and trotted off out of sight. 



Red Cross, Buffalo, Wyo. 



A MOUNTAIN LION. 



I saw in Recreation an account of the 

 largest mountain lion ever captured in 

 the State of Washington. In the Capitol 

 at Montpelier, Vermont, is a mountain 

 lion, or catamount, shot in the town 

 of Bernard, Vt, several years ago. It 

 measures as follows: Tip of nose to tip of 

 tail, 88 inches. Girth around belly, 46 

 inches. Girth around neck, 27 inches. 

 Breast, 41 inches. Foreleg, 18^ inches. 

 Foreleg at foot, 11 inches. Hindleg, 17 

 inches. Spread between ears, tip to tip, 

 11^2 inches. Between base of ears, 8 inches. 

 Nose to base of tail, 48 inches. Girth 

 around head, 26 inches. This cat was found 

 by 2 boys, 8 and 12 years old, and a small 

 dog. 



One boy, with the dog, staid and watched 

 the cat, while the other went after a man to 

 come and kill the beast. The gun used was 

 an old 12 bore muzzle loader, loaded with 

 B shot. 



The shooter had no knowledge of what 

 he was going to shoot, until, crawling un- 

 der the bushes, he came within 18 feet of the 

 lion's face. 



He planted the whole charge of shot in 

 the animal's heart, tearing a big hole in his 

 throat and breast and killing him instantly. 

 The lion was fat and weighed 200 pounds. 



In setting him up, they bored through 

 one inch of solid bone, over his brain. The 

 brain was but a trifle wider than the mid- 

 dle finger. 



In another sportsmen's journal I saw an 

 account of the killing of a mountain lion, 

 by Mr. C. H. Watson, at Clarence Station, 

 near Shamokin, Pa., measuring 13 feet, and 

 weighing 300 pounds. As 13 feet 6 inches is 

 the greatest length recorded of a Royal 

 Bengal tiger, I should be glad if Mr. Wat- 

 son would inform me if the length and 

 weight of his lion is correctly reported. 

 Carlos L. Smith, Montpelier, Vt. 



FOES OF THE MOOSE. 



The logging operators of Minnesota buy 

 moose carcasses for use as beef in their 

 camps. 



Most of these operators are men of means 

 and good standing at their rromes in St. 

 Paul and Minneapolis. They would look 

 with disdain on the evildoer who by chance 

 found himself in a police court, yet they 

 constantly encourage violation of the game 

 laws. Camps of 80 or 100 lumbermen sel- 

 dom see any fresh meat other than moose 

 or venison. The hides are openly taken to 

 the tanneries, and from this source we see 



