NATURAL HISTORY. 



223 



I have heard that no one ever saw the 

 spawn of an eel. A fisherman whom I 

 have known for years has promised to ob- 

 tain some eel spawn, and I will send it to 

 you in alcohol. My friend says that with 

 a microscope the eggs can be plainly 

 seen. I hope you will find someone to^ex- 

 amine what I shall send you, and so settle 

 the question. 



S. W. Shailer, Ivoryton, Ct. 



"WHAT WAS IT?" 



Beaver Falls, Pa. 

 Editor Recreation : 



A year ago last fall, while fishing for 

 bass in Little Beaver creek, a small 

 stream near the Ohio State line, and there- 

 fore keeping as quiet as is possible under 

 the annoyance of swarms of zealous mos- 

 quitos, my attention was drawn to a pecu- 

 liar sound, which at first seemed to be the 

 tapping or pecking of some small bird of 

 the woodpecker species on a tree a short 

 distance away. Listening intently, I de- 

 cided that the sound was too dead, or 

 muffled, and was neither frequent nor reg- 

 ular enough to be made by such a bird. 

 From where I was sitting, on the bank, 

 it was difficult to determine the location of 

 the peculiar noise, and it was some time 

 before I partially satisfied myself that it 

 was caused either by a movement of en- 

 tangled branches in the dense clump of 

 woods to the left a short distance, or by 

 the swinging of some of the thick under- 

 growth against a barbed wire fence that 

 cut through the woods. There was not the 

 slightest breeze stirring the leaves on the 

 trees, which was puzzling. Then I noticed 

 more particularly a small tree a short dis- 

 tance down the creek whose roots had 

 been gradually undermined by the current, 

 until it had slipped over, leaving its full 

 leaved top "lying in the stream, but nearly 

 all out of water by reason of the shallow- 

 ness of the creek at that point. This tree 

 had fallen in such a way as to leave its 

 roots intact, for it was not only growing 

 but apparently thriving in that position. 

 Against the branches where they touched 

 the water was drifted a small quantity of 

 old bark, short sticks, roots, rotten wood, 

 etc., held together by a mass of dirty foam 

 from a ripple just above. I finally con- 

 cluded that the questionable tapping came 

 from the dense foliage of this fallen tree 

 where it lay against the water. I cast a 

 stone therein and several small birds flew 

 out. Then silence came. I thought those 

 birds had something to do with the noise; 

 but I went home still puzzled. 



Last September, in company with my 

 brother, who claims to know something 

 of animals and birds and their habits, I 

 again went after bass in the same place, 

 on the same kind of a good hot day. We 

 had scarcely cast our lines when we heard 



the same tapping noise that had mystified 

 me a year before. Believing it came from 

 the same recumbent tree, which the past 

 year's freshets had left undisturbed, I set 

 my rod and moved up by the tangled roots, 

 determined, if possible, to discover its 

 cause. I sat a long time. A few of the 

 same small birds darted in and out of the 

 branches, and a poor little field mouse, with 

 a mouthful of something, poked its head 

 out from a clump of matted leaves on the 

 water to see if the coast was clear and 

 then ran rapidly up the trunk over the 

 roots and disappeared in a hole in the 

 bank. I thought perhaps that was a solu- 

 tion, but the noise soon continued. Short- 

 ly afterward, by the interruption of the 

 glancing rays of the sun where they fell 

 on a small patch of the above mentioned 

 drift in an opening among 'the leaves and 

 were reflected to my face, I noticed that 

 the debris had been slightly disturbed. 

 That was a clue, and on further careful 

 observation I saw that the tapping always 

 accompanied a slight disturbance of some 

 part of the drift. I do not know any clear- 

 er way to explain the nature of the sound 

 and the quality of disturbance than to say 

 it seemed as if some strong billed bird was 

 underneath in the water and pecking up- 

 ward at the various small pieces of drift- 

 wood, or bark. I called my brother's at- 

 tention to it and asked him what was caus- 

 ing it, but he gave it up, after suggesting 

 it might be muskrats, for it happened 

 sometimes simultaneously, at several dif- 

 ferent places in the debris, but always ac- 

 companied by the inevitable tapping and 

 the slight lifting of the small piece of 

 wood disturbed a little upward in the 

 water. I will be grateful if you can in- 

 form me what animal was causing the dis- 

 turbance and sound described, if it was 

 feeding, etc. 



T. F. Covert. 



Can any reader of Recreation explain? 

 — Editor. 



COON CHATTER. 

 I notice an article written by F. W. 

 Allard, Atlanta, Ga., who claims that 

 coons make no noise, He is entirely mis- 

 taken. A coon makes a great deal of 

 noise and can be heard on a still night 

 in the fall almost a mile. Their call is 

 hard to describe, but it is shrill 

 and quivering, and in timber or a corn- 

 field is hard to locate. I remember at one 

 time, when a boy, having a pet coon, 

 caught when quite young, the mother hav- 

 ing been killed a few days before. In a 

 few weeks after being captured cooney had 

 the run of the farm, and during the time 

 she remained with us never took an egg or 

 killed a chicken, although for mischief I 

 never saw anything equal her. Several 



