466 



RECREATION. 



TAPPING SOUND MADE BY CATFISH. 



I notice in March Recreation a letter 

 from Mr. T. F. Covert, wanting to know 

 what caused a tapping sound under the 

 water. 



Some time ago, while on a visit to Iowa, 

 I had an experience similar to that of Mr. 

 Covert. I had gone fishing on Grand river, 

 and was sitting on an old log, which reached 

 almost across the stream. Beside the log 

 was a lot of driftwood, foam, etc. Under 

 this trash I heard a peculiar noise. I de- 

 cided to investigate ; so I sat down to 

 watch. I noticed that whatever made the 

 noise, was moving, as the noise was in dif- 

 ferent places and occasionally the drift 

 rose half an inch or so. Then the 

 object moved to another place. The 

 water was shallow as the river was low 

 at the time. Finally a small particle of 

 the drift floated loose, and started off, and I 

 saw a channel catfish about 10 inches long 

 make a grab at the drift piece. The water 

 was clear, and I could plainly see the fish. 

 It opened and shut its mouth while making 

 the noise. All at once it darted off into 

 deeper water. The noise sounded, as nearly 

 as I can explain, like tapping on an empty 

 egg shell with a lead pencil. I suppose the 

 fish was feeding. 



J. C. Warner, Stockton, Cal. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



In February Recreation I saw a question 

 which I can partially answer, regarding 

 crows destroying young squirrels. I had a 

 pet crow which was taken from the nest 

 when quite young. It was cared for until 

 full fledged, and then allowed to roam at 

 will about the premises. It had its leg 

 broken, which, for the want of proper care, 

 healed crooked. This bird never grew to be 

 more than 2-3 as large as the ordinary 

 crow. Neither did it ever fly far from the 

 premises unless caught out and driven far- 

 ther by wild birds, and never on such oc- 

 casions did it fail to give chase. Notwith- 

 standing its inferior condition, I have 

 known this crow to attack and kill full 

 grown chipmunks, rats and mice. 



If this crow in its inferior condition, 

 could do this, would not a full grown wild 

 crow destroy young grey squirrels? 



I have also seen a flock of crows flying, 

 one of which dropped the body of a partly 

 grown grey squirrel. I am confident that 

 crows not only can, but do, destroy young 

 squirrels. 



Elmer S. Perry, Richwood, Ohio. 



has feathered legs and has not sharp shoul- 

 ders or sharp angles anywhere. This bird 

 lives on prairie squirrels, young rabbits and 

 snakes. In the position in your illustration 

 the tuft of feathers should cover the leg to 

 the toes. J. H. Mackay, Norfolk, Neb. 



The bird you describe and that in Rec- 

 reation are both red-tailed hawks. Your 

 bird has a naked tarsus, just the same as 

 the other, but it is partly concealed by the 

 long feathers of the thigh. The only hawks 

 which have the legs really feathered down 

 to the toes are the rough legged hawks, of 

 the genus Archibuteo, and they are dis- 

 tinguishable at a glance from the members 

 of the genus to which the red-tail belongs, 

 Buteo. — Editor. 



Mr. Duxbury's gem of information about 

 the mink in Recreation for March recalled 

 to my mind a pleasing incident of an after- 

 noon spent on Maple river, Michigan. I 

 was casting up stream to the right when 

 my attention was attracted by a mink div- 

 ing into the water on my left. Resting on 

 the bank and jutting out into the water 

 was a corduroy log about 4 to 6 inches 

 through. About 2 inches were in the wa- 

 ter. The mink dived off this log with the 

 current, came up on the other side, crawled 

 upon the log and repeated the performance 

 6 times as I watched it. Finally it came 

 up with a good sized trout in its mouth, 

 which it carried away up a well defined 

 runway to its home beneath a pile of drift. 

 The little animal was perfectly oblivious 

 to my presence, and nothing could excel 

 the grace and ease of its sinuous motions. 



James D .Ermston, Anderson, Indiana. 



There must be some mistake in the illus- 

 tration of a red-tailed hawk in your Janu- 

 ary issue; at leas.t it is not the bird we 

 have out here. Our hawk with the red tail 



Will you kindly inform me, through 

 Recreation, what are the distinguishing 

 markings, color, etc., of the cross, silver 

 grey and black foxes. In fact, anything 

 that will enable me to distinguish them 

 apart, and more particularly between cross 

 and silver grey. 



N. W. Jackson, Clayton, Mich. 



ANSWER. 



The cross, silver grey, and black foxes 

 are merely color phases of the common red 

 species Vulpes fulvus, and not infrequently 

 individuals are found which show con- 

 siderable intergradation between the typi- 

 cal forms. The cross fox usually has a 

 black cross over the shoulders, the pelage 

 of the black fox is uniformly black, and 

 that of the silver grey variety is black with 

 white tips,— Editor, 



