NATURAL HISTORY. 



3*5 



then hide again, disappearing so suddcntly 

 as to make it impossible to follow him. 

 His favorite hiding places were the loops in 

 the lace curtains near the top. One morn- 

 ing late in the fall he disappeared. We 

 never knew whether someone stole him or 

 killed him. Wm. J. Whitwood. 



NOTES ON PHEASANT CULTURE. 



I am pleased to see the growing interest 

 manifested in the various species of pheas- 

 ants. Unquestionably the pheasant is one 

 of the most beatuiful and useful game birds 

 ever introduced into our country. They 

 are easily propagated, and in the wild state 

 will take to the haunts of our quails and 

 grouse, where they readily thrive on the 

 many insects, berries and seeds. They 

 stand our climate admirably, and even do 

 not seek shelter when the thermometer 

 registers 20 or more degrees below zero. 



In confinement the common Chinese 

 or English hen will lay 40 to 50 eggs a 

 season, and rarely sits. Now and then 

 a pheasant hen will hatch and raise a brood 

 of young in confinement. I have one that 

 has raised a brood 2 successive seasons. 

 The Cochin bantam is the best mother. A 

 good Cochin bantam will raise 2 broods a 

 season. 



I have been most successful with early 

 hatches. By time hot weather begins the 

 chicks are beyond the ravages of the louse, 

 which, in my experience, has been the most 

 serious obstacle to contend with. Even this 

 has been reduced to a minimum by the 

 judicious use of disulphide of carbon. 



For feed I have tried hard-boiled eggs, 

 maggots and the various other things 

 recommended, but have realized the great- 

 est success with Spratt's patent game meal 

 and prairie meat Crissel with greens. These, 

 judiciously fed, will never cause indigestion 

 or diarrhoea. 



Coops must be kept clean and well venti- 

 lated, and should be moved to a new piece 

 of lawn every day. 



The English and the golden pheasant are 

 the most easily raised, but all inexperienced 

 breeders will have a fair-sized pheasant 

 cemetery. 



I look forward to the day when, through 

 the efforts of our most aggressive editor, 

 the many kinds of hogs will have been 

 stripped of their bristles. Then we, true 

 sportsmen and breeders, can, without ex- 

 posing them to immediate destruction, 

 populate our fields and forests with this 

 king of all game birds. 



Louis M. Bachhuber, M.D., 



Mayville, Wis. 



loon he had shot. In '89, when living in 

 Minnesota, I shot a loon with a 44-40 Win- 

 chester, at about 80 yards. The bird drifted 

 toward shore, belly up, until it was so near 

 I could see blood on its breast. I went a 

 _ short distance away and got a boat, but 

 when I returned could not find my bird. 

 That night there was a severe storm, and 

 the next morning the loon was found 

 washed ashore. 



In April, '85, when the ice began to break 

 up in Lake Sally, near Detroit, Minn., a 

 crack opened about 500 yards from shore. 

 A loon alighted there, and I fired at it with 

 a 40-70 Ballard rifle. At the first shot the 

 bird turned on his back and floated per- 

 fectly motionless, but before one of the 

 men could walk out on the ice the loon 

 disappeared. Several of us then pushed a 

 boat out on the ice, and the loon was finally 

 killed with a small Winchester. We found 

 the first shot had cut off the bill close to 

 the head, the shock being sufficient to stun 

 the bird for a minute or more. 



The loon is not hard to shoot, if you can 

 fire when he is not looking toward you 

 or has not been alarmed. He will dodge 

 a bullet if on the alert, and I could never 

 kill a loon with shot under any condition. 

 C. G. Brackett, Millis, Mass. 



You are in error about the loon being 

 able to dodge a bullet. That theory has 

 been sucessfully controverted many times. 

 — Editor. 



TWO LOONS. 



I noticed in January Recreation an ac- 

 count by W. F. Aulds, of the sinking of a 



MORE COON CHATTER. 



I have hunted 'coons over 30 years and 

 am positive that they have a cry or call. 

 I first heard it when a small boy. Taking 

 me out one day, my father set a line of 

 traps for coons, baiting them with perch 

 heads. He bade me note their location, 

 saying I might take care of them. A 

 severe storm kept me from looking after 

 the traps until the morning of the fourth 

 day. Then my brother and I started out. 

 When within 50 rods of the first trap 

 we heard a coon call. We got to a knoll 

 whence we could see the animal, and we 

 watched him fully 5 minutes. He was 

 caught by the toes of one forefoot and 

 was sitting on a little pile of stuff he had 

 scraped together, calling. Since then I 

 have heard the call scores of times. 



B. W. Farr, Erie, O. 



I can add my testimony to Mr. F. W. 

 Allard's that the peculiar noise which 

 some maintain to be coon chatter is really 

 the call of the small barn owl. Only a 

 few nights ago my hired man came down 

 from his room and insisted that he heard a 

 'coon calling near. I went out quietly, 

 listened, and presently heard the familiar 

 sound. Going to the back of the house I 

 saw an owl sitting on the eaves-trough and 



