464 



RECREATION. 



science by procuring and sending to the. 

 New York Zoological Society some pelts' 

 or pieces of skin, which will establish the 

 fact. It may be entirely possible that this 

 animal is given to freakish variations in 

 color, such as are not found in <any other 

 hoofed animal in the world. One fact in 

 this connection is of interest and impor- 

 tance ; namely, that no such variations as 

 you describe have ever been observed in any 

 other section of the home of the white 

 sheep than around Dawson ! 



No one claims that all sources of infor- 

 mation in regard to Ovis fannini have been 

 exhausted. On the contrary, Mr. Horna- 

 day's description of this animal is only the 

 first step in the development of its life his- 

 tory, and all new facts regarding this crea- 

 ture will be of general interest. At present, 

 however, the species seems to be well 

 founded. 



While it is quite true that many portions 

 of the Northwest were explored many 

 years ago, by Hudson Bay men, I must 

 remind you that even the white sheep, with 

 its wonderfully wide distribution, remained 

 absolutely unknown to science and the 

 world at large, until discovered by a na- 

 turalist of the kind that you seem to de- 

 spise, in 1884 ! It makes no difference how 

 many men went through the Stickine 

 country before Mr. A. J. Stone ; the fact 

 remains that he was the explorer who dis- 

 covered a remarkable, and unmistakably 

 new, form of mountain sheep, and brought 

 it out for introduction to the world, by Dr. 

 Allen. Men who go about in strange places 

 with their eyes shut are not explorers, in 

 any sense of the word ! 



It is now up to you, Mr. Bull, to furnish 

 some proof that the white sheep varies in 

 color as you describe in your letter. 



— Editor. 



GROUSE SOMETIMES DRINK. 

 In regard to grouse drinking : A full- 

 grown grouse that a friend of mine has in 

 captivity drank, from the first, the same as 

 a hen, only with a quicker movement in' 

 securing a mouthful of water before raising 

 the Lead ; but a younger one I secured at 

 one time would only take water as it came 

 down from above, as if the natural idea 

 was to sip from the dew-laden leaves of 

 plants at a level with or above the usual 

 height of the head, or else take both food 

 and water from the old birds, as do the 

 nestlings of the robin or other birds of that 

 class. As the little fellow had to be fed 

 and watered by himself, although in a 

 brooder with brown Leghorn chicks of 

 about the same size and age, which were 

 drinking and picking up food all around 

 him, he was so much trouble that he was 

 taken to the woods near the house, where 

 the mother, that I had watched since she 



laid her first egg, could raise him in her 

 own way. She was probably glad to re- 

 ceive him, as the 13 she had hatched were 

 reduced to 3 or 4 the first montlj. The old 

 bird in captivity here takes food and water 

 about as a brown Leghorn hen does, and is 

 enjoying the winter without hustling for 

 himself. 



F. S. Morgan, Milton, Vt. 



In reply to the query by W. J. W., in 

 March Recreation, "Do Grouse Drink?" 

 would say I saw a grouse drink at 

 least once in my life. In the fall of 1900 

 I was hunting grouse and quails in the 

 Southern part of Seneca county, near the 

 postoffice of Lodi, N. Y. I was accom- 

 panied by Mr. William Brown, of Seneca 

 Falls, N. Y., and Robert Neely, a farmer 

 of Lodi. We entered a piece of woods 

 and stood on the edge of a ravine which 

 had a stream of water at the bottom. A 

 large, strong grouse flew down the opposite 

 bank, and, alighting at the edge of the 

 running water, proceeded to drink, .dipping 

 its bill in the water and raising it skyward 

 alternately until the action had been sev- 

 eral times repeated. When Mr. Neely 

 could not stand it any longer he launched 

 his old 10-bore at the bird. I was glad 

 to see it dart away unharmed. I think 

 there is no doubt that the ruffed grouse 

 drinks, as do the rest of its species, which 

 of course include our domestic fowls. 



Frederick W. Lester, Seneca Falls, N. Y. 



One day in November, 1900, I was quiet- 

 ly walking through a swamp on a corduroy 

 road, when I saw a female ruffed grouse 

 sitting in the middle of the road at the 

 edge of a little pool of water 30 yards dis- 

 tant. I stopped, and she must have seen 

 me, for there was no obstruction to hide 

 me from her view. She gently lowered her 

 head and sipped the water, then raised her 

 head to swallow, precisely as a chicken does. 

 She then paused a moment, drank again, 

 and flew into the timber. 



Wm. C. Held, Saginaw, Mich. 



DOUBTS AN AMERICAN IBEX- 



I notice a drawing in Recreation of a 

 head with the query, "Is it an ibex?" As I 

 have hunted ibex a great deal, and have 

 secured several good specimens, may I be 

 allowed to express my most emphatic opin- 

 ion that it is not. Enclosed is a sketch of a 

 pair of ibex horns from the Eastern Sou- 

 dan. They are about 36 inches in length, 

 curving outward and backward, and do not, 

 to my eyes at least, resemble in the smallest 

 degree those in the drawing you reproduce. 

 The head of an ibex is quite different from 

 that of the animal of the Canadian Rockies, 

 being more massive, shorter, and squarer. 

 An old buck ibex with horns 3 feet long 



