514 General Notes. [May, 
where I easily caught him. After looking him over, and com- 
paring him with Dr. Brewer’s lucid description, I let him go. 
Catching him did not seem to have caused him any alarm or dis- 
comfort, for he remained about the premises quite as tame and 
sprightly as usual. 
In addition to the chewink, a robin has also been a frequent 
visitant here. We saw him some days ago, and again last night, 
when the mercury was down to — 20°. But it is not at all un- 
usual for robins to be here in winter, though I do not remember 
having ever seen more than one at a time. 
On the afternoon of the 18th instant, our dear little chewink, 
which we had come to regard with great solicitude, met with a 
very sad fate. Going into the barnyard, I saw a couple of birds 
dart down to the side of a hay-stack. One was a jay, and at the 
first glance I thought the other was also. But in an instant it 
occurred to me that the jay was killing the under bird. I sprang 
forward hoping to rescue it. I was just an instant too late—for 
the jay picked up the bird, now dead, and flew away with it! 
The load was a heavy one, and as the cannibal flew off across a 
ravine, it bore him down almost to the ground. The quick 
glimpse I had of the glossy black head and back, the chestnut 
sides, and the white under parts, showed that it was our poor 
chewink—whose fortitude in braving our terrible winter had met 
with a sad requital. I have always defended the blue jays, 
though I know they are addicted to a great deal of “crooked- 
ness” in their treatment of other species of birds; but this inci- 
dent has quite disgusted me with them.— Charles Aldrich, Web- 
ster City, lowa, Fan. 29, 1885. 
How FAR DOES THE JERBOA Jump?—On page 71, of his 
most entertaining volume, A Naturalist’s Rambles about Home, 
Dr. Charles C. Abbott, in speaking of the pretty “kangaroo 
or Jumping-mouse,” quotes Godman to the effect that it leaps 
“five or six feet at every spring;” but expresses a doubt on the 
subject. He says: “Without the means of determining this 
point, I should judge that one-half that distance was more nearly 
correct.” While living at my old boyhood home, in Cattaraugus 
county, New York—forty years ago—I used occasionally to see 
one of these very interesting little animals. The first one I ever 
saw was in the meadow, where I was raking hay with a common, 
old-fashioned hand-rake. The mouse made a sudden spring, and 
“went for it” with my rake. After chasing it two or three 
rods I hit it with the rake-head and killed it. My recollection is 
very distinct, that it “leaped at least five or six feet,” at tl 
—though it appeared to tire out very quickly, reducing the 
=ngth of its leaps to not more than two or three feet. I conclude 
o that both writers have recalled their observations correctly, and 
-that the condition of the animal, possibly also its age, may deter- 
mine its jumping capacity. I remember that in this, as in other 
A 
