NATURAL HISTORY. 



139 



by their differential character, although no 

 one can say how many of them, 10 years 

 hence, may find themselves branded '"Syn- 

 onym;" which, being freely translated, 

 means "scientific error." 



In the above memoranda, the English 

 names of Orca minis kenncdyi, Alecs gigas, 

 and Ovis mcxicanus have been kindly sup- 

 plied by the editor of the Bulletin. Inas- 

 much as only 125,000,000 people speak the 

 English language,, and not more than 40,- 

 000,000 more are trying hard to learn it, 

 the gentlemen who described and named 

 those species did not think it worth while 

 to bother with the bestowal of ordinary 

 English names. — News Bulletin of the New 

 York Zoological Society. 



A FUR FARM. 



Editor Recreation : 



Bangor, Me. 



I fully appreciate the great courtesy you 

 extend, in soliciting data in connection 

 with my work, which may be interesting 

 to your grand and growing army of read- 

 ers, and in the course of time I hope to be 

 able to send you some details. To 

 me, the enterprise to which I am devot- 

 ing myself more and more each season is 

 not a novel one. The experimental side 

 of it is the outgrowth of definite plans 

 which were mentally laid down many years 

 ago, long before fox farming in Alaska, or 

 any other part of the country had been 

 heard of. Trafton's island, in Narra- 

 guagus bay which was acquired during 

 the past sej son, is about 24 °f a m ^ e m 

 length, and varies from about *4 to }/z 

 a mile in width. It is being stocked with 

 several varieties of fur-bearing animals, to 

 some of which the freedom of the entire 

 island is perpetually extended : while 

 others will be kept within fixed limits by 

 fences. 



For some time to come experimental de- 

 tails will be conducted with closed doors, 

 as far as the general public is concerned, 

 but the latchstring is always out to Mr. 

 Ernest T. Seton, who has ever evinced the 

 most lively and kindly interest in my un- 

 dertaking. 



One thing I shall try to determine is, 

 whether foxes can be bred to color. This 

 and other unsolved problems will make the 

 experimental part of the undertaking in- 

 teresting, as well as expensive. I have lost 

 many valuable silver foxes by confinement, 

 but have some fine specimens now running 

 out on an island in Narraguagus bay below 

 the town of Millbridge, protected by keep- 

 ers living on the island. 



The animals being colonized embrace the 

 following varieties : Black, or silver, fox ; 

 Pekan, or fisher ; pine marten ; beaver and 

 otter; besides several varieties of less 

 value. As early as practicable, experiments 



with Russian sable will be taken up. I feel 

 reasonably confident that the food problem 

 for the varieties enumerated has been 

 solved. 



Having derived much pleasure from time 

 to time from your reading contributors to 

 Recreation, I shall be willing to recipro- 

 cate to the extent of my ability in due time. 

 I wish you the full measure of your deserts, 

 and what more could you desire? 



N. E. Skinner. 



HAVE HEARD COON CALLS. 

 I have read with interest the articles in 

 Recreation about noises made by coons. 

 I have hunted coons in Florida for the past 

 15 years, and feel qualified to say that 

 coons do bark and chatter a great deal. I 

 have been in the woods at night and have 

 heard what I supposed were coons fight- 

 ing. When I took my dog there h~ never 

 failed to strike a coon trail, and tree him, 

 too. I have often shot coons and wounded 

 them, in the presence of witnesses, and the 

 coons would bark an/d chatter like a 

 screech owl. If unbelievers will get them 

 a tame coon apiece, they will soon change 

 their minds, about coons not making any 

 noise. I have had several tame coons, and 

 they all made the same noise, except that 

 the 'females never bark. When coons are 

 pleased they purr like a cat, and when they 

 are angry they screech and chatter some- 

 thing like a fox squirrel. When coons 

 are excited or frightened, they bark and 

 chatter as a fox sauirrel does when he is 

 angry. If F. W. Allard would get a wild 

 coon and try to tame him he would hear 

 noises, from that narticular coon, at least. 

 Both tame and wild coons make noises. I 

 could cite many cases of coons making lots 

 of noise, but possibly Florida coons are 

 different from all others. 



W. S. Marriner, Gabriella, Fla. 



I have 3 pet coons, which I have a good 

 chance to study. They make a loud, pur- 

 ring noise in the breeding time. When 

 they play at night they make a noise that 

 is between a growl and a snarl. They alsc 

 whine like a puppy when frightened. 



Harry Clark, Maple Park, 111. 



THE SQUIRREL A MEAT EATER. 



When a youth I trapped mink and musk- 

 rats on a small tributary of the Kennebec 

 river. I used the old fashioned squat trap 

 baited with fresh meat. One morning after 

 a light snow I found a trap with the 

 spindle swollen, preventing it from spring- 

 ing. The bait, however, was missing and 

 numerous squirrel tracks in and about the 

 trap told me where it had gone. The 

 next morning I found in that trap a red 

 squirrel, flat as a pancake. 



I once saw a chipmunk sitting on a rock 

 and eating a young field mouse. He would 



