394 



RECREATION. 



became of them. One day I saw a crow fly- 

 down on the ground and walk toward the 

 coops, slowly and in a zigzag course, until 

 he was among the chickens. When one 

 came near enough he grabbed it quickly 

 and flew into a tree, and before I could get 

 my gun and stop him he had eaten off the 

 chick's head and neck. Since then I have 

 not loved the crow. If they will catch 

 chickens, why will they not take ruffed 

 grouse, quails, and other similar birds? 

 1 believe it would be a Godsend if the black 

 thieves were exterminated, and I hope we 

 may have some laws that will help do away 

 with them. 

 F. B. Estabrook, East Northfield, Mass. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



I enclose a clipping from a little one- 

 horse bird paper, showing the reproduction 

 of a photo of something worse than a 

 game hog, making pin money by robbing 

 bald eagle nests. It is a shame and an out- 

 rage that such things should be tolerated. 

 The Government should interfere. It t is 

 bad enough to rob ordinary birds' nests, but 

 when our national bird is destroyed . as 

 Ryman himself tells, it is too bad. I trust 

 you can burn him. He should be behind 

 iron bars. None of us do our part, I ad- 

 mit, but your suggestion that readers write 

 letters expresing their views is good. Such 

 a course would certainly make most human 

 beings ashamed. 



B. A. Carpenter, Salem, N. J. 



The article to which Mr. Carpenter re- 

 fers is written by J. J. Ryman, of Palm 

 Beach, Fla. He states that every season he 

 robs the nests of bald eagles ; that last year 

 he made his first trip in December, found a 

 beautiful nest in a tall pine tree and carried 

 away the 2 eggs it contained. Later he 

 took 2 more eggs from another nest; and 

 he and his son made a systematic round of 

 visits to a number of nests, securing what 

 Mr. Ryman calls "sets" of eggs without 

 specifying how many. — Editor. 



While out strolling with my dog, he came 

 to a point on a bird standing on the shore 

 of a small pond. When I came in view the 

 bird flew slowly into a poplar tree near. 

 The bird was about the size of a bluebill 

 duck. It had a long neck and yellow legs 

 about 5 inches long. The bill was 24 mcn 

 long, the upper part being black with a lit- 

 tle yellow; lower part light brown. The 

 top of its head was blackish green, side of 

 head reddish brown, and under head and 

 neck yellow, with brown spots. Its body 

 was brownish black, except the breast 

 where it was yelloAV, with brown spots. 



Will you please let me know through 

 RECREATION what kind of a bird this was? 



I am an ardent reader of Recreation, and 

 share your views in regard to the roasting 

 of game hogs. 



C. A. Dosen, St. Paul, Minn. 



ANSWER. 



Your description does not agree with that 

 ! of any species of North American wader, 

 j The bird is probably a lesser yellowlegs, 



Totaiins flavipes, or a greater yellowlegs, 



T. melanoleucus. — Editor. 



While I was visiting a farmer friend re- 

 cently he made the statement that last 

 spring he saw 3 or 4 passenger pigeons on 

 the Austin farm at Austin, R. I. They were 

 on an old dead tree which stood alone and 

 about 50 yards from him, so he saw them 

 distinctly. One of them flew to another 

 dead tree within 20 yards. He pointed 

 them out to his wife and told her what they 

 were. He said he had killed a great many 

 in his younger days, and knew them well. 

 He said he would answer any inquiry you 

 might wish to make. I believe his state- 

 ments will be truthful. His address is 

 Alonzo G. Wood, Summit, R. I. 



C. W. Geer, Providence, R I. 



Has any other reader of Recreation seen 

 any passenger pigeons in Rhode Island or 

 elsewhere during the past summer or au- 

 tumn ? — Editor. 



Who can beat these for spread? I have 

 in my possession a pair of antlers from 

 an elk which was killed in the Big Horn 

 mountains in 1884. The antlers are still 

 on the skull, and measure as follows : 



Spread 70% inches 



Right beam 5414 " 



Left beam 54 " 



Total beam lengths across skull 114 



Longest prongs .' 19 



Shortest 5 " 



Total number of prongs 17 



Pueblo Williams, Hyattsville, Wyo. 



The wife of the governor of North 

 Borneo is said to have a strange pet. It is 

 a baby rhinoceros which was captured in 

 a jungle near the governor's house. It 

 drinks 16 quarts of milk a day and is grow- 

 ing rapidly. It follows its mistress about 

 the grounds like a dog and bids fair to 

 become a formidable protector. 



Not long ago I killed, and have had 

 mounted, an entirely white English spar- 

 row, a true albino with pink eyes. Is this 

 not a rgre specimen? 



"W. E, Barnard. Middletown, Del 





