NATURAL HISTORY. 



59 



of your readers have, doubtless, seen Mr. 

 Owen's articles in the newspapers in which 

 he attempts to smirch the veracity of Capt. 

 Stevenson, who has been dead many years, 

 and Mr. Langford, an honored resident of 

 St. Paul, Minn., in his endeavors to support 

 his pretensions to priority. These attacks 

 Mr. Langford has, it appears, been com- 

 pelled, out of regard for the memory of 

 Capt. Stevenson, to notice, which he does 

 in a reply recently published in the New 

 York Herald. 



Recreation, I know, desires only to be 

 fair, and has, doubtless, been led into pub- 

 lishing the notice of Mr. Owen's ascent and 

 the tacit acquiescence in his claims, from 

 having seen some of Mr. Owen's news- 

 paper articles. But the honor of the first 

 ascent of Grand Teton unquestionably be- 

 longs to Mr. Langford and Mr. Stevenson. 



Luther B. Yafle. 



Recreation certainly desires to be fair in 

 this, as in all other matters. I said, in com- 

 menting on Mr. Owen's ascent of the Grand 

 Teton; "They are believed to be the first 

 men who have accomplished this feat." I 

 should have said, " They claim to be." Mr. 

 Owen admits that Langford and Stevenson 

 went nearly to the top, but claims they did 

 not reach the extreme summit. However, 

 Mr. Langford seems now to have clearly es- 

 tablished his claim to having reached the 

 highest pinnacle of the main peak of the 

 Grand Teton, in 1872. — Editor. 



ROBINS OR GRAPES. 



Buffalo, N. Y. 



Editor Recreation: Complaint recently 

 came to me from Lockport, Niagara Co., 

 that a Dr. Ringueberg was killing or al- 

 lowing to be killed many robins, on his 

 grape farm. I could get no evidence and 

 then saw the doctor personally. He ad- 

 mitted that last year he had stationed his 

 man on the farm, and that he had killed 

 about 3,000 robins, he thought! Neighbors 

 and the ex-Game Constable, Pomroy, made 

 complaints and the doctor has this year 

 killed no birds, although he has his man 

 firing blank cartridges to drive the birds 

 away. He says he will not allow them to 

 be shot so long as the law is prohibitive, 

 although he would be willing to make a 

 test case of owners' rights, if he could get 

 other fruit growers to back him. 



I believe the doctor is more conscientious 

 than many other fruit farmers in this end 

 of the state. Two years ago they tried to 

 amend the law so as to allow property own- 

 ers to kill birds on their fruit trees. I op- 

 posed this bill and it was defeated. We 

 may look for other efforts of this kind, and 

 must try to show the farmers that the 

 amount of harm done by the song birds is 

 more than compensated by the good they 

 do. 



It might be possible to convict Dr. Rin- 

 gueberg on his admission of last year's kill- 

 ing, though I hardly think it feasible. He 

 is an accomplished ornithologist and ought 

 to know better;' but feels very bitter toward 

 the robins and orioles. He values his Dela- 

 ware grape crop at more than their lives. 



Eben P. Dorr. 



ANSWER. 



The case you report is certainly a serious 

 one. Primarily, it would seem these men 

 had a right to protect their grapes, but this 

 is a question that has frequently been adjudi- 

 cated in the courts and they have always de- 

 cided that a man may not kill game in close 

 season, even on his own property. 



It seems Dr. Ringueberg has adopted 

 about the only remedy he has, and it will be 

 comparatively easy for him to keep the birds 

 away by firing blank cartridges at them. 

 People of the whole United States certainly 

 have rights of property in the robins that the 

 few grape growers are bound to respect. In 

 this case, as in many others, the few must 

 bow to the will of the many. 



I should not advise prosecuting this man 

 on a confession as to his last year's killing. 

 If he has really quit, and is now willing to 

 abide by the law, I think the better course 

 would be to overlook his past sins. This 

 would encourage his neighbors to follow his 

 example. — Editor. 



THE FANTAIL, FLAGTAIL OR GAZELLE DEER 

 —ODOCOILEUS TEXANUS. MEARXS. 



The hunters have long maintained that 

 there existed such an animal, distinct from 

 the Virginia whitetail, and on January 27, 

 1898, this elegant little dwarf of the moun- 

 tains was formally and publicly recognized 

 by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, and a description 

 of specimens published in the Proceedings 

 of the Biological Society of Washington.' 



In general it was described as a dwart 

 white-tail, of pale colors. Bucks weighing 

 about 100 pounds; does about 75. Its skull, 

 teeth, etc., are also peculiar. 



Dr. Mearns' specimens are from Fort 

 Clark, Kinney Co., Texas, on the Rio 

 Grande: but according to Captain Kendall 

 the species abounds in the wooded moun- 

 tains to the Westward and Northward, into 

 Mexico and New Mexico. It is claimed 

 this species is also found in other regions, 

 such as the Bighorn mountains (Lieut. 

 J. H. Gardner), the Yellowstone Park 

 (M. P. Dunham) and other parts of the 

 Rockies of Montana. None of these re- 

 ports are backed up by specimens or photo- 

 graphs. What we want now is specimens, 

 skins or skulls with the horns on; and 

 photographs with stretched tape-line for a 

 scale. 



We also want notes on the habits of the 

 species. 



It is described as frequenting the rough- 

 est upland woods, avoiding the bottom- 



