LtfG. 6, 1S9S.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
108 
trousers, flesh included, much to the gentleman's as- 
tonishment and a loss of cloth. 
One night Zip slipped his collar and raided a neigh- 
bor's chicken roost. Hearing trouble in his chicken 
department, the proprietor slipped out with his gun, 
and seeing by the moonlight some kind of an animal 
he let drive, and on picking it up it proved to be old 
Zip with a chicken in his mouth, conclusive evidence 
of guilt not to be gainsaid. 
Assuming that more or less of the readers of Forest 
atcd Stream are interested in the habits of animals, I 
will devote my next chapter to my experience in domestic 
J>ets, especially bears, armadillos, peccaries, Mexican 
leopards, wildcats, etc. During a residence of two years 
in Texas I had them all ; in fact, had a private menagerie, 
much to the wonderment and disgust of my only two or 
three neighbors, who were far less companionable and 
interesting than coons and armadillos, and not greatly 
their superiors in intelligence. Podgers. 
Another Florida Pet. 
St. Augustine, Florida. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Reading Mrs. Moore-Wilson's sketch of her cranes in 
Forest and Stream, I thought you might be interested 
in the story of another Florida pet, and so send you 
the inclosed photograph of a Florida pet bear resting 
contentedly in the arms of one of her friends. Jen 
hie, for that is her name, was about a year old when 
the picture was taken, and had never been confined in 
any way, but had been brought up in the companion- 
ship of the whole family, servants, dogs and all; and 
consequently developed into a fully domesticated bear- 
She played with the dogs, one of which, a setter named 
■Flora, exercised quite a motherly care over her while 
telle was a little cub; but she found a more congenial 
companion as she grew older in the pointer Norman, 
with whom she could play as long as she liked. She 
would climb in at the windows, and would often be 
found upstairs curled up on a bed. 
If she were left alone she would cry for very lone- 
Someness. She would play with all the family, although 
sometimes inclined to be a little rough. Up to this 
time she had never left the house or yard, but after a 
while she began to wander around the neighborhood, 
returning always after a short call; but still as the 
neighbors did not always appreciate a friendly call from 
a bear her owner very reluctantly had to confine her. 
1 The tameness of even crow! when they are not dis- 
turbed is well shown just now by a flock, or family per- 
haps, of about a dozen who claim equal rights with our- 
selves to the figs in the yard, and their musical notes 
are heard quite early every morning as they are taking 
an early breakfast. When we go out in the yard they fly 
away, very much as an ordinary blackbird would, alight- 
ing in a higher tree in a neighboring yard, and after 
a while going about their usual avocations in the more 
distant woods, but returning regularly every morning 
f6r the ripe and delicate figs. The Florida crow has a 
plore delicate and softer note than his Northern cousin, 
developed, I suppose, in the more balmy air. 
Towser, the society dog, of whose habits I gave you 
■gome account last winter, has now joined himself to 
the Can't- Get- Aw ay Club and goes on the train every 
iday to the South Beach, sometimes spending -the night 
there, but generally returning to the city, where he can 
meet his very numerous friends and acquaintances. 
W. 
Nature's Compass Signs. 
A correspondent writes: I believe that the several 
points Mr. Dearborn mentions to guide one, as trees hav- 
ing more limbs on the south side, and more moss on the 
north side; gum being softer on south side, tops of 
cedar and hemlock pointing toward the south, hearts of 
trees being nearest north side, etc., have no more exist- 
ence "in fact than the widely believed condition of the goose 
bone, feathers on partridges' legs, thickness of corn husks 
and hornets' nests, and muskrats' houses, have to do with 
the weather. They exist- only in imagination. In over 
fifty years' traveling the woods in company with some of 
the best men (both Indians of several tribes and white 
men) who ever trod our Maine woods I have yet to see 
any man who ever received the least assistance from any 
of the, sources he mentions. Trees, as a rule, do not 
branch more to the south. Spruce and fir, whether 
crowded or in open spaces, branch nearly equally on all 
sides; pine and hemlock and all hard woods branch most 
toward the nearest open space; being crowded on one 
side they reach out toward the room offered on the other. 
Trees moss up sometimes on one side, sometimes on 
the other, sometimes all round, according to the slope 
or the exposure. One might hunt a week in the woods 
to find a tree with gum on both sides, unless some tree 
on a spotted line, as the gum exudes from cracks or 
wounds, and trees very seldom are cracked on both 
sides; and if any tree were cracked on both sides, in cold 
weather the gum would all be frozen so hard no one 
; could tell. 
I have had many thousands, of both cedar and hemlock 
trees cut, and can say positively that neither have tops 
pointing in any given direction; usually they point 
straight up. I have had more than 10,000 cords of wood 
cut, and the heart is in the center, except in cases when 
trees, especially pine, grow with the south side ex- 
•posed to the sun on the edge of an open space. 
The whole thing is theory, with no facts, but if all 
stated were true, it would not help a man any if he were 
in doubt as to his course in either a rain or snowstorm, 
I which are the only cases in which a real woodsman needs 
I any help, as in a thick snowstorm or rain one cannot see 
I Which sides are most mossed, or which way tree tops 
pomt. All the men I ever traveled with either depended 
I Somewhat on a compass, or went by intuition; that is, 
i they find their way just as an animal does. They carry 
1 the north point in their heads. I have been with excel- 
1 lent woodsmen who depended entirely on a compass, 
and equally good ones who never carried a compass. 
Most carry a compass, and on no account ever look at it 
Unless it is very cloudy or storms, or is very dark. When 
very dark, they light a match and take a look just to see 
if they are varying much. I have traveled hours at a 
time when too dark to see a man 10ft., unless he were 
dressed in white. We never think of any of the things 
that article mentions, but we note carefully the course of 
all brooks and every high land, and the courses of the 
ridges, when we first travel a new country. 
Some men are born woodsmen; some learn; many 
can never learn. Our guides tell me that not one man in 
ten they guide can go a mile straight back from a road 
and turn around and get back within half a mile of where 
BAY LYNX. 
Photo by Mr. E. Hofcr. 
he started, without a compass. A compass is usually of 
no use to a man who is lost, as he will not believe it. 
Hermit says: I agree with Awahsoose, that moss on 
the north side of a tree is an uncertain method of find- 
ing the points of the compass. Mr. Dearborn's paper, if 
reliable, will cause me to learn a new system of wood- 
craft, and I should be unwilling to do that, for my wood- 
craft grew up with my life from boyhood. My father 
sold out a store in Oldtown, Me. (where he traded large- 
ly with the Indians), when I was foui years of age, and 
practically moved into the wildness. My first lesson in 
woodcraft was a daily hunt for the cows with several 
country boys during the summer. The cows had the 
range of North America, and it was no small job to find 
them before milking time. Wolves and bears killed 
scores of sheep in Penobscot county, and deer were not 
A FLORIDA GROUP, 
plentiful until the wolves disappeared years later. My 
woodcraft received a stimulus from a hunter. He was 
not just right in his upper story, and was known as 
"Squire Thomas's fool," but William was no fool in the 
woods, and for ten years I worshipped his knowledge 
of woodcraft. He could tell one how not to get lost. 
Forestry in America, 
Some people seem to argue as if there was an inher- 
ent weakness in our republican form of government that 
disqualified it from taking care of its forests. France and 
Switzerland are republican, yet they have no trouble in 
managing their forests so as to derive from them a 
continuous net income. Within its proper sphere a re- 
public is as strong as any government. If a republic 
can carry a letter for a private citizen from Maine to 
California for two cents, it can take care of its forests. 
Let anybody meddle with the United States mails and 
they will see whether or not a republic has power! So 
there are opponents of forestry who talk as if science was 
something this country has no need of. Forestry science, 
they say, will do for Germany, but not for America. But 
if' such people had equipped our navy, Commodore 
Dewey could not have gained his splendid victory. It 
was because his ships were up to date in science that 
he could accomplish such a brilliant result. In those 
departments of our Government in which we are uo to 
date in science we are the equal of any other country; 
and if we will apply science to forestry we will, not soon, 
but in due time, have as good a forestry system as any 
other country. — C. C. Andrews, Chief Fire Warden of 
Minnesota. • 
East African Mammals. 
BY D. G. ELLIOT, F.R.S.E. 
{Continued from page 36.) 
Black-Backed Jackal {Canis mesomelas, Schreb). Native 
IName, Dowdo. 
We did not meet with this species until we were south 
of the Golis Range, and from there, during the remainder 
of our journey, it was frequently encountered. Its 
habits are the same as those of the common jackal, but 
I don't remember ever to have seen the two species 
consorting together. It is a much handsomer animal 
than its relative, the dark back contrasting finely with the. 
color of the flanks. I have seen as many as four to- 
gether in the early morning trotting along, evidently re- 
turning to their dens after a night's foray, but as a rule, 
like the preceding species, they are solitary in their 
habits, and it is not often that more than one is met with 
at a time. The peculiar markings of this jackal make 
it very conspicuous, and it was not difficult to distinguish 
the species even when at some distance away. The two 
forms inhabit similar areas, and it was a very common 
occurrence to meet with both in the same locality. It 
might be reasonably supposed that hybrids might be 
produced from animals so closely related, living prac- 
tically together, but I neither saw any myself nor heard 
of any having been seen by others. Like its relative, 
the present species has a wide distribution on the Afri- 
can continent, and is in no wise confined to Somali- 
land. 
Fox {Oiocyon megalotis, Demarest). Native Name, Golo 
War aba. 
This pretty species was first seen by me at Mandera, at 
the base of the Golis Range. It is, like all of its kindred, 
very shy and averse to exposing any part of its body 
to the gaze of man. I usually met with it when hunting 
the lesser koodoo, and would catch a glimpse of it as 
it stealthily crept along amid the aloes that covered the 
ground, stopping occasionally to look at me, but show- 
ing at such times merely a portion of its head over the 
thick clumps of long leaves. Of course, being after 
nobler game, I could not shoot it on such occasions, 
and many favorable opportunities for securing speci- 
mens of this species were thus lost. This fox is gen- 
erally seen singly, rarely in pairs, but more than two 
I have never seen together. The very long and broad 
ears give this animal a peculiar appearance, and its short 
legs make it appear much smaller than it really is. Of 
course, although we saw this species frequently at times 
when we could not shoot it for fear of starting nobler 
game, we never could find it when especially hunting 
for it, and this accounts for my only bringing back a 
single specimen; and at one time indeed it seemed very 
likely that we would have to return without any examples 
at all. While by no means common it cannot be con- 
sidered a very rare species in Somali-land, but its cun- 
ning disposition and secretive ways will always cause it 
to be a rather difficult animal to procure unless in traps. 
Two Strange Birds. 
As the collector of specimens, in whatever field, very 
commonly rates himself according to his proprietorship 
of some one which is unique, or of great rarity, so the 
possession of a living apteryx confers a sort of distinc- 
tion upon a zoological collection; although it must be 
confessed that any advantage derived therefrom lies . 
chiefly in pride of ownership, for so far as the instruction 
of the visiting public is concerned all that is open to 
them is the spectacle of a mysteriously empty cage, bear- 
ing a suitably descriptive label upon its front. This by 
reason of the nocturnal habit of these strange birds, which 
is so incurably fixed that during the two months' occu- 
pancy of a cage in the gardens, by two individuals of 
different species, all that has been seen of them has been 
a flitting glimpse during the dark hours of night, ex- 
cepting on the occasion when they were forcibly taken 
out of their burrow of straw and brush just long enough 
to be photographed by R. D. Carson, of the Zoological 
Society. 
The classification of birds is still somewhat kaleido- 
scopic in character, but as we "catch the transient hour," 
the apteryx, or kiwis, constitute the last order Apteryges 
of the subclass Ratitae, which includes all the other ter- 
restrial wingless birds, such as ostriches, emus and cas- 
sowaries. In these birds, without power of flight, the 
sternum is flat like a raft (Latin ratis), in opposition to 
all other birds; the Carinatae, in which, having developed 
wings, the action of the great pectoral muscles in flight or 
in swimming has pulled out the sternum, so to 
speak, in its central anterior line into a high ridge or 
keel like that in the bottom of a vessel (Latin carina). 
The five or six known species of kiwi are confined to 
New Zealand; that strange land, almost without native 
mammals, but which has produced nearly as many 
struthious birds as all the rest of the world, from the 
gigantic Dinornis, but lately extinct, down to the little 
apteryx, smallest of the group, which is now becoming 
so rare that it is obviously following^ in the path of its 
larger relative. They are said to inhabit moist or swampy 
localities, thickly grown over with ferns, making a nest 
either in hollow trees, crevices among rocks, or some- 
times excavating for themselves in the ground. In 
such soil they find plenty of insects and worms, which 
form the greater portion of their food supply, and these 
they probe tor in the soft ground with the long, slender 
bill, after the same manner as the better known wood- 
cock of our own climes. 
In captivity, where a sufficient supply of worms is be- 
yond possibility, they thrive fairly well on finely-chopped 
meat, a tew earthworms being added by way of a course 
of sweets; but in the morning, after rain, enough to 
moisten the ground, the bottom of their enclosure is 
seen to be covered with the punctures made by inserting 
the bill in the ceaseless search for a larger supply of their 
choice dainty. 
The external appearance and attitudes of these birds, 
as is shown bv the photographs, may be said to be. 
truly grotesque, to which an element of the unreal or 
uncanny is added by their stealthy, noiseless and shadowy 
