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RECREA TION. 



Sturnus vulgaris, Linnaeus — he will find 

 them a bird of different sort from that pest 

 — the English sparrow. Their chief food is 

 insects, although they will eat fruit and 

 grain when hungry and insects cannot be 

 obtained. If taken when young from the 

 nest they can easily be taught to talk or 

 whistle tunes. In size, shape, habits and 

 color they are like the American blackbird 

 except that the feathers, from head to tail, 

 are edged with white. The flight feathers 

 are in great demand all through England 

 for trout and grayling Hies. 



S. Howarth, Florissant, Col. 



I want to ask about the mule deer. I 

 spent some years in the Rocky mountains 

 and have killed many white tail and black 

 tail deer. Recreation speaks of the "black 

 tail and the mule deer." I thought they 

 were identical. I may have killed both and 

 not known them apart. I killed the largest 

 blacktail buck, near Leadville, I ever saw. 

 Have always regretted not having had 

 means of weighing him. All blacktails have 

 large ears; that is one reason I thought 

 they were called mule deer. I once killed 

 2 at one shot with a rifle; they were about 

 25 or 30 yards apart. 



C B. R., M.D., Carroll County, Mo. 



The deer you refer to is the mule deer, 

 and not the black tail. The latter is found 

 only on the Western slope of the cascades 

 and the coast range of mountains, in Ore- 

 gon and British Columbia. — Editor. 



What is the red squirrel? Here in Mis- 

 souri we have the fox squirrel that is often 

 called red squirrel, the little gray squirrel, 

 an occasional black squirrel and the ground 

 squirrel. I have killed many squirrels and 

 some of them had been mutilated. Old 

 hunters told me the mother squirrel did 

 this, never leaving but one perfect male in 

 a litter. But some of your writers speak of 

 the red squirrel as mutilating both the fox 

 and gray; thereby indicating that the red is 

 a separate species, with which I am totally 

 unacquainted. Most of these writers I 

 notice are from the East. I don't think we 

 have the real red rascals in the West. 



C. B. R., M.D., Carroll County, Mo. 



In spite of all that has appeared in Rec- 

 reation against the red squirrel, I am still 

 his friend. He is pretty, interesting and 

 generally harmless. Defying extermina- 

 tion, he is the life of many a little copse that 

 would otherwise be desolate. Courageous 

 and sprightly, you will find his track in 

 deep snows when other animals do not 

 venture out. His bird neighbors, who are 

 the best judges of him, show no sign of fear 

 on his approach. If he acts as a sentinel to 

 warn his larger neighbors of the approach 

 of danger then indeed is he the true sports- 

 man's friend. J. M. Noel, Lilly, Pa. 



In July Recreation Mr. R. H. Mertz 

 speaks of the ivory-billed woodpecker as 

 being common in Montana. He probably 

 refers to the pileated woodpecker. The 

 ivory-bill is a wild, shy bird, only locally 

 distributed and more or less rare. Its 

 habitat is the Mississippi valley and the 

 Gulf States. While on an expedition 

 through Southeast Missouri and Northeast 

 Arkansas, in December, '96, I saw but 3 

 ivory-bills. Indications are that within a 

 few years this " prince of woodpeckers " 

 will be extinct. I trust Mr. Mertz will par- 

 don my making this correction. 



M. B. Rice, Omaha, Neb. 



Have any of the readers of Recreation 

 ever tried keeping any of the wild ducks, 

 grouse or quails in captivity? If so with 

 what success? Did they breed at all? 

 What was their food and what sort of a 

 yard had they? What species could win- 

 ter in Southern Ontario? I should be 

 greatly obliged for answers to these ques- 

 tions and for any other information needed 

 in the breeding of wild game birds in cap- 

 tivity. 



I take Recreation through my news 

 agent and am well pleased with it. I ad- 

 mire you for your stand against spring 

 shooting. Crum, Toronto, Ont. 



Has anyone ever heard of a cross between 

 a pintail and a mallard? Do these 2 ducks 

 interbreed? If they do, what are the mark- 

 ings of the offspring? While shooting last 

 fall I killed a duck which had the exact tail 

 markings (except the curled feathers) of a 

 male mallard, while on the breast, back and 

 head it resembled a female pintail. It was 

 killed in company with a flock of mallards. 

 Last spring a friend killed one in company 

 with a flock of pintails. 



J. E. K., Boulder, Col. 



Last summer I was fishing at a pond in 

 a wild and timbered country near here. 

 At a deserted camp I found the remains 

 of 4 hedgehogs. The skin of each animal 

 had been turned inside out and the bones 

 picked clean, but the entrails lay close by 

 untouched. One skin was quite fresh, the 

 others were more or less decayed. What 

 animal in our woods will kill and eat 

 hedgehogs? An answer will oblige mem- 

 bers of Recreation Gun Club, of Barre, 

 Vt. J. F. Perry, Barre, Vt. 



Norton & Robinson, of this town, have 

 lately engaged in raising foxes. They are 

 stocked chiefly with blue foxes from Alas- 

 ka. They have also some native red foxes. 

 They intend to have some black ones also, 

 but have not yet succeeded in getting them. 

 Any of your readers who have such for sale 

 might profit by corresponding with these 

 gentlemen. / 



Box Magazine, Dover, Me. 



