News from Oregon 



A part of a letter from John W. Thompson 

 Clatskanie, Ore. 



I am living on a piece of logged off land that has grown up in 

 second growth. This growth furnishes admirable shelter and 

 protection for many small denizens of the wood. I am going to 

 do some close observation work as soon as I "get settled," as I 

 have previously been a normal teacher, but have answered the call 

 of the big out-doors, and now live here and teach a nearby rural 

 school. I have two boys and two girls, the oldest, a boy of eight. 

 Dallas Lore Sharp may wake up some morning and find he has a 

 hitherto unknown brother on the "other side," near the Columbia 

 and the Pacific. 



After my school hours today I took a walk to see a neighbor in 

 my own likeness, but in reality I observed many that were not 

 like him, but were far more interesting. The band-tailed pigeon 

 is quite common here, and I watched a large flock sitting quietly 

 in the sun on the top limbs of a dead maple that stood near a 

 patch of logged-off land. When one became hungry, he flew down 

 to a large clump of blue-elders,* and dined peacefully with robins, 

 russet-back thrushes, and sparrows. 



Since here I have seen mountain beavers, little spotted 

 skunk, Oregon chipmunk, Douglas squirrel, California gray squir- 

 rel, one large mink, song sparrow, Oregon Junco, pine siskins, 

 Oregon jays, blue-fronted jays, western horn owl, wood rat, king- 

 fisher, Oregon towhee, varied thrush, russet-back thrush, hermit 

 thrush, mountain quail, western blue-bird, western robin, Oregon 

 chickadee, western house wren, cedar waxwings, violet-green 

 swallow, red-winged blackbird, red-shafted flicker, northern 

 pileated woodpecker, western rabbit, pigeon hawk, turkey vulture, 

 China pheasant, and what surprised me most, was one morning I 

 found what resembled the eastern flying squirrel. I have never 

 known the range of the flying squirrel. Is there any species 

 credited to this locality ? 



As Dallas Lore Sharp struggles against the fox, so my boys match 

 their wits against the little spotted skunks, but with better suc- 

 cess. They have caught six that will never trouble chickens again, 

 and I am in danger of bankruptcy giving bounties if the supply 

 of skunks is very much larger. Wood rats trapped also draw a 

 bounty from my pocket, as there isn't a worse disturber of slumber 



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