140 



RECREATION. 



clap it in his mouth, suck on it a while 

 and then take it out, at the same time ut- 

 tering a shrill note of defiance. 



While I stood watching him, an old field 

 mouse ran from under the sidewalk on 

 which I was .standing with one of her 

 young in her mouth, carrying it much 

 after the manner in which a cat carries 

 her kittens. She entered a stone wall a 

 few yards away, evidently seeking a place 

 of safety for her remaining little one. 



Horace W. Ward, Bath, Me. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 

 Last Friday I saw a curious thing. A 

 workman coming into the shop after his 

 lunch, brought a large ruffed grouse 

 which he claims fell almost into his hands 

 on one of the principal business streets of 

 this city. As far as I could find out, he 

 was walking slowly when he happened to 

 look up and saw the bird falling through 

 the telegraph wires. The bird was warm 

 when I first saw it, so I took this story to 

 be true. Have you or any of your readers 

 ever heard of a similar case? 



W. C. Buell, Jr., Troy, N. Y. 



Yes, I often hear reports of birds strik- 

 ing telegraph wires in flying, and killing 

 themselves. I have found several birds 

 myself that had met a similar fate. — 

 Editor. 



Does any reader of Recreation know 

 thoroughly the habits of crows? The rea- 

 son I ask is that in this part of Minnesota 

 we have always had an abundance of gray 

 squirrels until this year. Those I now find 

 are old ones, and the crows were never be- 

 fore so numerous. They nest in the same 

 woods that the squirrels do. Does anyone 

 know if crows kill or destroy young squir- 

 rels before they are old enough to care 

 for themselves ? I have watched closely 

 and have come to the conclusion that they 

 do. Should like to hear from other ob- 

 servers. 



W. S. Jones, Albert Lea, Minn. 



While going through a blackberry thicket 

 I noticed the vacated nest of a yellow 

 warbler. Struck by its appearance, I drew 

 it from the bushes and found it was 2- 

 storied, so to speak, one nest above another. 

 Opening the lower one, I found the rea- 

 son of its peculiar construction. It con- 

 tained a cow bird's egg. Unable to cast it 

 out, and unwilling to hatch it, the warbler 

 had built a second nest on the first, in 

 which she had reared her own brood. 



R. Schieb, Akron, O. 



I noticed a number of articles in Recrea- 

 tion about the muskrat. I do not think 

 anyone who has ever trapped them could 

 have any doubt about their eating either 



fish or flesh. I have caught them in traps' 

 set for mink, baited with both, and have 

 often seen them eating fresh water clams 

 that they had brought up from the bot- 

 tom of streams or ponds. I have shot 

 them and found the partly eaten clams and 

 fresh shells at the edge of the ice. 



W. J. Cross, Becket, Mass. 



Has any reader of Recreation ever seen 

 a gray flying squirrel flying upward from 

 the trees or ground? I have on several 

 occasions watched them and noticed that 

 they always ran up a tree and swooped 

 downward to another. I never saw them 

 fly anywhere near a level, and they climbed 

 a tree not less than 15 or 20 feet to fly to 

 the n^xt. Amateur, Kelsey, Mich. 



September 18th a white deer was shot 

 a few miles from here. It was the first 

 albino deer seen here in many years. 



C. F. Dalling, Woodstock, N. B. 



It is not too early to begin planning 

 your summer vacation. Where will you 

 spend it? If you expect to camp out or to 

 take a canoeing trip, a tent is the first 

 necessity. I can send you, as premium, 

 one of almost any size you may wish on 

 the basis of one yearly subscription to 

 Recreation for every dollar of the price 

 named in manufacturer's list. Write me 

 for further particulars and begin taking 

 subscriptions at once. The manufacturers 

 have time now to fill orders. If you delay 

 until their busy season opens, your entire 

 vacation may be spoiled by an unavoid- 

 able delay in the shipment of your tent. 

 By having everything ready for a prompt 

 start you will enhance the pleasure of 

 your trio tenfold. Send in your club at 

 once and I will do the rest. 



An old woman entered a savings bank 

 the other day and walked up to the desk. 



"Do you want to withdraw or deposit?" 

 asked the clerk. 



"Naw, Oi doant. Oi wants to put some 

 in," was the reply. 



The clerk pushed up the book for her 

 signature and said : 



"Sign on this line, please." 



"Above it or below it?" 



"Just above it." 



"Me whole name?" 



^Yes." 



"Before Oi was married?" 



"No, just as it is now." 



"Oi can't wroite." — Cambridge Tribune. 



Mother.— "Why, baby, what's the mat- 

 ter?" 



Baby (who has been stung by a bumble- 

 bee) — "The automobile bug bit me." — Ex- 

 change. 



