378 



RECREA TION. 



This will be a dose for a large dog. Give 

 it 3 times a day for 4 days, and you will find 

 it effective. 



CHICKEN POULTICE FOR SNAKE BITE. 



Boston, Mass. 

 Editor Recreation: Reading the letter 

 of A. M. Kenney, on " snake bites," I feel 

 called on to give information on this sub- 

 ject which may prove a benefit to those liv- 

 ing where it is impossible to obtain either 

 a hypodermic syringe or permanganate of 

 potash. As Mr. Kenney says, sucking a 

 snake bite is dangerous. The following 

 story will, I hope, keep some one from fol- 

 lowing that dangerous method. We have 

 in Virginia a poisonous snake, which we 

 call a " highland moccasin." This snake is 

 rarely more than 3 to 5 feet in length. Its 

 body is large for its length and its tail is 

 short and blunt. In color it is a light brown, 

 striped across with a dark brown streak. 

 When it becomes old the stripe disappears, 

 and its skin gets dingy and rusty. One of 

 these snakes, about 4 feet long, was coiled 

 in the cut fodder in the feed room of our 

 stable, when a hired man went to feed the 

 horses. The man attempted to fill a basket 

 with cut hay. Feeling a sting, he pulled his 

 hand back, dragging the snake with it, for 

 the fangs stuck fast. He shook the snake 

 off, bound a cord around his arm and ran 

 to the house. Father met him, ran to the 

 hen house, caught a chicken from the roost, 

 split it open down the back and put it over 

 the man's fast swelling hand. Mother 

 brought whiskey, and between that and the 

 chicken, the man's life was saved. When 

 this chicken was taken from the bite its 

 flesh was green with the deadly poison 

 drawn from the hand. Wm. A. Bruce. 



THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



The haunts of the ruffed grouse are high 

 mountainous and wooded country, and 

 they appear to especially delight in a thick 

 growth of young hemlock trees, where, as 

 their manners are solitary, they are rarely 

 found in coveys of more than 5 or 6; and 

 more often in pairs or singly. They leave 

 their haunts in the deepest woods early in 

 the morning, and seek an old road or path 

 to pick gravel and glean among the drop- 

 pings of horses. Sometimes in the winter 

 they approach the farmhouse, and I have 

 known them to be shot, even in the autumn, 

 in alder thickets close to a house. 



They are excessively fond of the seeds of 

 wild grapes, and often eat ants, chestnuts, 

 blackberries, poke-berries and various 

 vegetables. In the late fall their flesh is 

 often delicately flavored with the little 

 aromatic partridge berry. In midwinter 

 their crops are found packed with laurel 

 and alder buds, deep snow preventing their 

 obtaining other food. 



Drumming is a peculiarity of the ruffed 



grouse, and is performed by the male. It 

 reminds one of distant thunder. Wilson 

 compares it to the sound emitted by the 

 striking together of 2 inflated bladders. 

 Just how this sound is produced is a mys- 

 tery. 



When flushed the grouse rises with a 

 loud whirring noise and flies rapidly. I 

 have frequently, unobserved, watched them 

 rise of their own accord, and they moved 

 from place to place without producing this 

 whirr, which seems to depend on their be- 

 ing forced to rise. 



Ruffed grouse begin to pair in April, and 

 the hen deposits her eggs in May. The 

 nest is usually at the root of a stump or be- 

 side a fallen log, and is well surrounded by 

 dead leaves. The eggs are from 9 to 15 in 

 number, and are a trifle smaller than those 

 of a pullet. The young leave the nest as 

 soon as hatched, and accompany the mother 

 after the manner of young chickens. 



As a game bird the ruffed grouse has no 

 superior. It is no easy target and will hold 

 its own after many other game birds are 

 practically exterminated. 



W. D.. I. Arnold, Du Bois, Pa. 



CORRECT COLORATION OF ARTIFICIAL 



EYES. 



I have just read your kindly and generous 

 note with regard to myself and the hereto- 

 fore — so far as I was concerned — vexed 

 question of the sale of game. You may 

 henceforth rely on me as a co-operator witn 

 the League's platform. 



I have been interested in the notes, from 

 time to time,»on the color of eyes of animals 

 and birds. For some years I have devoted 

 much attention to this subject, and have 

 made a number of careful water-color draw- 

 ings from the eyes of animals, birds, and 

 fishes. From these I invariably paint the 

 glass eyes of commerce; for nothing can 

 be more hideous than the eyes usually 

 sold, even those of the best makers. The 

 more expensive, and ostensibly more 

 perfect ones, are really the most unnatural. 

 I believe any artistic taxidermist will bear 

 me out on this point. The plainer and 

 cheaper eyes are better than those in which 

 veining has been attempted. It takes an 

 artist to turn out a natural looking eye; 

 especially in the Felidae. Unfortunately, it 

 is often impossible to get at the natural eye 

 before it is glazed. But anyone having ac- 

 cess to the great zoological gardens could 

 make an interesting and valuable collection 

 of sketches. What does Mr. E. S. Thomp- 

 son think of this suggestion? When I was 

 a constant visitor to the " zoo " in Lon- 

 don, I might easily have done this, but I 

 neglected the chance. I never let a chance 

 slip by, now, of making a careful study in 

 color of eyes, beak, and legs, or any part 

 liable to change tint. An illustrated book 

 on this subject need not be a large one, and 

 I am sure it would find a ready sale. I am 



