NATURAL HISTORY. 



m 



Linota cannabina; *lisken, Carducla spinus; 

 ^goldfinch, Cardzvelis clcgans. 



Those marked with asterisk have been 

 already successfully acclimatized in Ore- 

 gon, with many others, both useful and 

 beautiful, which we ought to have. The 3 

 first, nightingale, blackcap and whitethroat, 

 have for ages been considered unrivaled in 

 song. Who will be the Carnegie to give 

 America these birds, worth all the opera 

 singers that ever crossed the Atlantic? 



Edward K. Carr, Kerrville, Tex. 



WILD HOGS. 



About 40 years ago someone started a 

 hog ranch on an island off our Western 

 coast. The venture failed, and the hogs 

 were left to run wild among the rocky can- 

 yons and sand dunes, where they exist by 

 grubbing up cacti roots and eating kelp 

 along the shores. 



The foreman of the sheep ranch now oc- 

 cupying the island has waged a war of ex- 

 termination on these wild hogs, and has 

 driven them back to the wildest part of 

 the island. Probably 15 generations of 

 freedom have made these animals wholly 

 unlike their domesticated ancestors. Their 

 activity and strength are marvelous, and 

 they are exceedingly tenacious of life. Brown 

 in color, their razorback look is increased 

 by a mane of long bristles extending in a 

 narrow strip from, the ears to the rump. 

 The old boars have long, sharp tusks and 

 are probably as formidable antagonists as 

 bears. 



Recently while riding across the island I 

 had my first encounter with them. Many 

 canyons with steep, rocky sides run across 

 the island. On coming to the mouth of 

 one of these I saw a hog some distance 

 above me. Seeing me, she ran up a path 

 toward the ridge, while I threw balls from 

 my 45 revolver at her. A deer couldn't run 

 faster over the same ground. At the 6th 

 shot she came down, with 2 holes in her, 

 the last through the heart. The distance 

 was about 100 yards. 



As I reloaded my revolver I saw a large 

 hog running up the canyon 200 yards away 

 and spurred my horse after him. After a 

 mile or 2 he turned up a rock canyon with 

 straight walls, and with only a narrow 

 path about 100 feet from the bottom. The 

 hog stopped in a crevasse and suddenly 

 jumped out not over 60 feet away. I emp- 

 tied my revolver at him, the horse mean- 

 while on the gallop, and could see I hit in 

 at least 2 places. Here the cactus was 

 thick and while reloading I lost sight of 

 the boar. Turning back I was amazed 

 to see where I had been riding, as I could 

 drop an empty cartridge 100 feet straight 

 down at places. 



On turning a sharp curve I met another 



boar. He promptly charged, but 2 bullets 

 changed his mind and he turned up a lit- 

 tle path that led to the open land above. 

 Just as he reached the edge a ball caught 

 him in the side, coming out of his back. 

 He fell and rolled to the bottom, probably 

 250 feet. When I found him it took 3 more 

 half ounces of lead to put him out. He 

 was hit 7 times out of 13 shots, and 4 balls 

 had gone through his lungs. 



Such tenacity of life is equalled by few 

 animals. The foreman recently hit a 

 charging boar 10 times with a 44 Winches- 

 ter. A friend of his, with a Savage, using 

 soft nose bullets, found it necessary to 

 "keep a-shooting" in order to stop them. 

 Of course, brain, heart or backbone shots 

 are fatal, but they will stand for appalling- 

 wounds that do not touch those spots, and 

 still carry themselves handily ; one broken 

 leg is almost no handicap at all. 



H. J. Angle, Santa Rosa Is., Cal. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 

 Last fall I shot a white deer in Maine. 

 I have received so many inquiries in regard 

 to it that I would like to know if any pure 

 white deer was ever shot before. I have 

 seen a number of so-called white deer, but 

 they were all more or less spotted. The 

 one I shot was a 179-pound buck, 6 points. 

 The only color was a narrow strip on top 

 of forehead, extending to the antlers. I 

 have had the skin mounted and shall soon 

 have some photos of him. A number of 

 guides have seen him and told me they 

 never saw one as white, so I am naturally 

 interested to find out if this is a rare speci- 

 men. 



G. E. Palmer, Revere, Mass. 



ANSWER. 



White deer are so common they are of 

 little interest except locally. Museums 

 care little for them. Mottled or piebald 

 specimens are more common than those 

 entirely white, but there are in the United 

 States several mounted specimens that are 

 absolutely white. Albinism is much more 

 common among white tailed deer than any 

 other deer species known, except the fal- 

 low deer of Europe. Of that, a white 

 breed exists in a few private parks in Eng- 

 land. — Editor. 



An old hunter here, locally accepted as 

 an authority on all questions pertaining to 

 the habits of game, says that, in districts 

 where their nests are liable to molestation 

 by weasels and other vermin, geese occa- 

 sionally nest in trees and carry their young 

 to the water m their bills. Do you think 

 he is right? 



A. Delanny, S. Omaha, Neb. 



ANSWER. 



In reply to above, Mr. C. W. Beebe, Cu- 



