146 
familiar with the habits of the animal assert 
is often the case. On my return from the 
woods I saw Mr. Middleton, the commis- 
sioner, and I trust that at the next meeting 
of the board they will decide to put in some 
more beavers. 
Kensett Rossiter, Cambridge, Mass. 

ANSWER BUCK SHOT. 
Buck Shot, Milnor, N. Dak., asks how to 
. poison coyotes. As a boy in the valley of 
the South Platte, in Colorado, I poisoned 
many in the following manner: [I would 
take say a quarter of the carcass | wished 
to poison and drag it in a circle 2 or 3 
miles across, and every few hundred yards 
would drop a small piece of meat with a 
killing dose of strychnine inserted in a 
gash, so the animal would not taste it. The 
drag always ended at the carcass. We 
would sometimes get 6 or 8 coyotes, some 
foxes, skunks, and occasionally a wolf. 
D. M. P., El Paso, Tex. 
Buck Shot, of Milnor, N. Dak., can 
poison coyotes in this way: Take fresh 
eggs, drill a small hole in the end of each 
and through the hole work strychnine into 
the contents of the shell. Then, after dip- 
ping the poisoned eggs in the white of an- 
other egg to seal the holes, leave them 
where a coyote will find them. You will 
surely get him. 
W. A. Stoner, Priest River, Idaho. 

NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
Are there 2 kinds or species of mallard 
ducks? What work on natural history 
would you advise me to get, to set myself 
and others right on questions of this kind? 
J. V. Myers, Larned, Kan. 
ANSWER. 
There is but one kind of mallard duck. 
The drake is marked by a conspicuous me- 
tallic-green head and neck and a gray body. 
The female is brown with black lines run- 
ning lengthwise of the body. In appear- 
ance, the male and female differ widely; 
just as many other ducks do. 
The best natural history will appear 
about February first, written by W. T. 
Hornaday, and published by Charles Scrib- 
ner’s Sons. Its title will be “The American 
Natural History,” and it will be advertised 
in RECREATION.—EDITOR. 

Please tell me if the whip-poor-will and 
the night hawk are the same bird. 
E. E. Aplanalp, Hancock, N. Y. 
ANSWER. 
The whip-poor-will and the night hawk are 
birds of different species, but they belong 
to the same family and their habits are 
much alike. In flight, the night hawk may 
always be recognized, in the daytime, by the 
RECREATION. 
large white spot underneath each wing. At — 
night, the whip-poor-will is of course re- 
cognized by its cry. The night hawk is 
much more given to flying by day for the 
purpose of catching insects in the air than 
is the whip-poor-will. The scientific name 
of the whip-poor-will is Antrostomus vo- 
ciferous; that of the night hawk is Chor- 
deiles virginianus.—EbITor. 

I recently saw, in low bushes at the edge 
of a wood, a bird with grayish black back 
and tail, grayish white under parts, light 
brown throat, and a brown spot on top of 
head. Can you tell me its name? I took a 
shot at it with a camera, but have not de- 
‘veloped the plate. 
F. M. J., Gloucester, Mass. 
It is impossible to identify the bird from 
the description you give. If you have suc- 
ceeded in getting a good picture of it, please 
send me the print, and I shall then no 
doubt be able to tell you what the bird is.— 
EpITor. 

I notice in August RECREATION an in- 
quiry from L. M. Badger about deer horns 
found in a crotch of an oak. Most likely 
the horns were placed there by some In- 
dian hunter. It is common among some 
tribes to hang up horns of deer, elk and 
moose, and the paws of bear in this man- 
ner. I once found a set of moose horns 
embedded in a poplar tree. Red squirrels, 
chipmunks, wood rats, weasels, and, in fact, 
almost any of the smaller forest animals, 
will gnaw deer and moose horns. 
F. L. Wilson, McEwen, Ore. 
‘Don’t you suppose it is possible for a 
man to go through the world without tell- 
ing a lie?” 
“T doubt it. Almost every man has been 
in love at some time in his life.”—Life. 

I like RECREATION more than any maga- 
zine I have ever taken, and like it all the 
more because you place the rooters where 
they belong—in the pen. 
A. E. Dabney, Staunton, Va. 

The melancholy days have come, 
The saddest of the year, 
When man goes out and shoots a friend, 
And thinks he is a deer. 
—Yonkers Statesman. 
I cannot do without Recreation. My 
sisters take as much interest in it as I do, 
and that is saying considerable. 
E. L. Cole, Pelican Rapids, Minn. 


I never read a magazine that pleased me 
better than RECREATION. 
’ Arthur E. Gage, Schenectady, N. Y. 

