Sti-'j'. lb, 
Forest and stheaM; 
If tliere. is atiytiiing in the above description of our mode 
"f bee hunting that any would-be bee hunter does not 
'inderstand, I should be. very glad to explain more fully 
it hp will h.t me know wherein the difficulty lies. 
_____ Shawnek. 
A Midsummer Journey.— Ill, 
'The patties on nur homeward journfey were Brimfull 
and daughter, the two schoolmarms, for whom I must 
.purchase an edition of Seneca's "Camp Cookery" in large 
type; Shoshone, and a rustic damsel, concerning whom the 
following incident will tell more than a whole biography. 
We arrived at Sail Lake simultaneously with the volun- 
teers, and shai-ed the honors of the fete. The afoi'esaid 
damsel had wliite skirts and other female paraphernalia 
1(1 be done up ere she could make a respectable public ap- 
pearance, so she sallied down iMain street, and in the 
suburbs was arrested by the sign, "Whitewashing done 
here." She took in her bundle to get it whitewashed. 
Further comment is unnecessary. 
I applied to Indian Agent Howell P. Myton for a per- 
mit to fish on the reservation, but received no answer, and 
our rods were not taken from their cases, nor did we shoot 
at a chicken. I did, however, secure a few rare birds for 
my collection. So far as "varmint" were concerned, we 
had more than our share of scorpions and rattlers, by 
which we were not molested on the outward trip. A 
magnificent drill of colored cavalry compensated for many 
annoyances that we have heretofore experienced at the 
post. Horse feed was the best that I liaye ever seen, and 
the entire trip was enjoyable. • 
Near the Duchesne one of our horses gave ortt, and a 
wily Ute came to our aid with a pair of bronchos, for 
which he demanded $ioo, but which he sold, after a day's 
palaver, for $20 and an old pair of chops. Five days of 
.hard driving brought us home, and the main object of 
•this epistle is to catalogue some of the birds secured 
during our month's outing. 
Cathartes aura, Linn. — Buzzard. 
Accipiter atricapillus, Wilson — 'Goshawk. 
Buteo borealis calurus, Cass. — Western red-tail. 
B. swainsoni, Bonap. — Swainson's hawk. 
Aquila chrysaetos, Linn. — Golden eagle. 
Speotyto cunicularia hypogaa, Bonap. — Burrowing 
owl. 
Dryobates villosus harrisii, Aud. — Harris' woodpecker. 
D. pubescens gairdnerii, Aud. — Gairdner's woodpecker. 
Sphyrapicus varius nuchalis, Baird — Red-naped sap- 
sucker. 
5". thyroideus, Cass. — Williamson's sapsucker. 
Melanerpes torquatus, Wilson — Lewis' woodpecker, 
Colaples cafer, Gmel. — ^Red-shafted flicker. 
Trochilus platycercus. Swains. — Broad-tailed humming- 
bird. 
Myrarchus cinerascens, Lawr. — Ash-throated flycatcher. 
Carpodaciis mexicamis fontinaUsj Say — House finch. 
Spinus tristis, Linn. — Goldfinch, 
i". pinus, Wilson — Pine siskin. 
Chondesles grammacus strigatus, Swains. — ^Western 
lark sparrow. 
JuHco caniceps, Woodh. — Gray-headed Junco. 
Amphispim bileneata, Cass.— Black-throated sparrow. 
Melospisa fasciata montana, Hensh. — Mountain song 
sparrow. 
Pipilo maculatus megalonyx, Baird — Spurred towhee. 
Passerina amama, Say — Lazuli bunting. 
Lanius ludovicianus' excubitorides. Swains. — ^White- 
rumped shrike. 
Dendroica (estiva morcomi, Coale — Western yellow 
warbler. 
D. atiduboni, Towns. — Audubon's warbler. 
Seiurus noveboracensis notabilis, Grinn. — Grinnell's 
water thrush. 
Icteria virens, Linn. — Yellow-breasted cleat. 
Troglodytes aedon parkmanii, Aud. — Parkman's wren. 
Turdus fuscescens salicicolus, Ridg. — Willow thrush. 
r. ustnlatus swainsonii, Cab. — Olive-backed thrush. 
T. aonalaschkce auduboni, Baird — Audubon's hermit 
thrush. 
These are not all the birds collected, but I have simply 
given species that I have not before noted in the columns 
of Forest and Stream as coming from the Wasatch, the 
Uintas and the intervening ^''alleys. Shoshone. 
Real Names and Others. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
On returning from a long trip I find my file of Forest 
AND Stream awaiting me, and taking advantage of a day 
of enforced leisure, I run over the numbers, finding no end 
of things provoking question and discussion. Ampng 
them is j'our very interesting editorial on the desirability 
of using a '"pen name" instead of one's own proper name 
in signing letters. 
You made some good points, undoubtedljf, and it is 
true that there are a dozen or two of such names, from 
Frank Forester and Nessmuk down to Podgers and El 
Comancho and Jay Beebee and Shoshone and Pine Tree 
and Kelpie and Coahoma and Ransacker, and all the rest, 
ever welcome and sure to be appended to literature we 
wouldn't miss. But there is another side to the question. 
There may be a deal more glory in a pseudonym, more 
halo about it, more literary character to it, but there are at 
times others than the author to be considered. Let me 
illustrate. Out in the Canadian Rockies a few weeks ago 
I met some delightful people from Toledo. They were not 
hunters nor fishermen, and unfortunately for me — and for 
•themselves — they did not read Forest and Stream. But 
they were good people nevertheless, and I wanted to ask 
tbem if they knew Jav Beebee. I knew him •well once — 
■.by correspondence. That is, I knew one si4,e of him — the 
•cue that was interested in domesticating ruffed grouse— 
or at least inducing that splendid bird to breed in 
vcaptivity. 
I have a file of letters from him on that subject, and 
•over his own name, too, but out there in tlie Rockies I 
couldn't for the life of me remember anything but Jay 
Beebee, and I -was helpless. That pen name was, and 
•doubtless alwaj^s will be to me, the name I shall most 
readily remember him by. 
This was about the time, I should think, when he was 
.writing No, i of his papers on "Toledo and Thereabouts," 
i am glad to see his handiwork again, and ins "pen liame** 
signed to it, but if I want to write to him I might have to 
do it by way of the office of Forest and Stream, -with a 
trifle of bother to others and some delay in tinie. 
Now, here comes Pine Tree, v^ith his "Memories of tfie 
Connecticut Valley" — particularly interesting to me, by 
the way, by reason of my knowledge of his old atanlping 
ground — complaining in the very paper to which he signs 
his pen name, that another correspondent, whose letter in 
FoiiEST AND Stream he has enjoyed, has signed himself 
with two stars. Pine Tree adds, 'T wish he Avould not be 
quite so modest, but would give his name." 
And are we .so sure that we don't relish a good thing 
in oar paper quite as well if it is signed by the writer's 
real name instead of another ? Here in one issue of Forest 
AND Stream .T find letters or articles by Rowland E. 
Robinson, E. Hough, W. W. Hastings, J. B. Burnham and 
A, N. Cheney. Now do any of us care to ask Mr. Hough 
to sail under other colors? Who isn't glad to know that 
it was Rowland E. Robinson who wrote "Sam Lovel's 
Camp;' and "Uncle Lisha's Shop"? If W. W. Hasting.s 
had signed something else to that wonderful third num- 
ber of his "Types of Sportsmen" should I have been any 
more certain to cut it out and put it in my pocket for 
quiet re-readings and send out for another copy for a 
particular friend? .And isn't it good to know that about 
the keenest, most interesting and most veracious accounts 
of the Yukon country that have appeared anywhere are 
the work of J. B. Burnham? And as for Mr. Cheney — 
but the very suggestion that he should ha^ve hidden him- 
.self behind some other name is a bit ridiculous, isn't it? 
The truth seems to be that the good hunter and fisher- 
man and the good writer will win his audience no matter 
what his signature; that there is greater freedom for the 
Avriter under an assumed name, and greater convenience 
to his friends — and enemies, if he have any — if he use his 
own. C, H. Ames. 
The reference by Mr. Ames to Jay Beebe makes perti- 
nent this paragraph from a letter just received Irom our 
Toledo correspondent: 
"I am indebted to the Forest and Stream^ through 
Commodore Thompson Burton, of Youngstown, O., for a 
most enjoyable three weeks at Detour, Mich., in August, 
and for the acquaintance of a royal good fellow m Burton 
himself, between whom and the writer there sprang up 
qitite a mutual admiration society. This is an illustration 
of the good things the Forest and Stream is doing "on 
the side," as the boys say. Burton I had never met be- 
fore, but I was attracted by his letter in the Forest and 
Stream in June last, a correspondence followed, and the 
result was as heretofore alleged. He has bought a couple 
of adjacent islands in that delightful archipelago of the 
Soo River, just north of Drummond Island, and the 
Beebes are going up next summer to help him occupy 
them." 
Dixie, a Florida Pet. 
A SMALL boy from the rurals, a small box and a little 
impish black-eyed creature within the box. 
"How much will you'ns gimmee fur my muskrat?" 
was the query put by the barefoot boy. 
After many assurances as to its perfections, the trade 
was closed, and the little animal was ours. 
Dixie was the christening we gave to this small 
creature, pronounced by the natives of the county to be 
a muskrat. He was the greatest curiosity in the way of a 
pet we had ever possessed. No one of the many visitors 
that came to see him had ever seen an animal like him. 
In size he was similar to a large rat, his head resembled 
a mink's somewhat, his tail was bushy, he was beautifully 
marked with white and black stripes, and in his forehead 
was a perfect triangle of white, His movements were 
similar to those of a squirrel, although he could not 
climb so easily; his long slender claws served him well 
as he dug for insects or worms, and his jet black eyes 
were as keen as an eagle's. 
Dixie's introduction into tlie home was full of surprises 
and queries. Will he bite? What does he eat? Will he 
rvm away? and What is he? Immediately on being turned 
out of his box he commenced a series of acrobatic feats 
around the room, walking on his front feet, his bushy 
white tail standing erect, causing some one to call it a 
night-blooming cereus; others compared him to a rail- 
road truck as it is trundled along empty. He glided or 
seemed to roll along rapidly and smoothly on his front 
feet as if on an electric current, then back again with- 
out reversing; backward and forward like a railroad 
engine at a switch. Around and around he played in a half- 
teasing manner, but as we learned from better acquaintance, 
it was his mode of defense, and he was trying to frighten 
the many strange objects away. His movements were so 
quick and stealthy that he would pass out o£ view, leav- 
ing only a memory of a whisk of white. 
This cunning as well as impish little pet kept the cat 
and the kitten in peril many times, and while Mistress 
Tabby could have demolished him as easily as she would 
a rat, she did not have the authority, and Dixie would 
race her around the room, until she would leave in dis- 
gust. The kitten soon saw in Dixie a playmate, and 
they rollicked like two kittens, first one and then the other 
inviting a tussle. Dixie would give a tiny little squeak, 
the only voice he possessed, and heard only when in pain, 
then a cry from the kitten, and both would play "quits"; 
to begin again the next moment, playing hide-and-seek 
around the portieres. 
The next moment he might be seen frisking around the 
setter dog, circling round and round on front feet, that 
formidable tail erect, with the idea of frightening or 
teasing the big creature, who_ would skulk away as the 
temptation to snap at the impish little Dixie became too 
great to be resisted. 
With that perverse nature that wishes coaxing and 
petting, yet insists upon pursuit, he would hide and 
scamper away when he would hear the call "Dixie, Dixie, 
Dixie." Let the person _ become indifferent and begin 
to read or write and Dixie would come and climb upon 
our laps — ^but never still an instant — to be pushed off, 
b-nly to fetiiirn as often and as quickly- as he cottld make 
the ascent again. A-fter these rollicking plays, the little 
fellow would slip off as stealthily as a fox, and we would 
find him dead asleep in some favorite dark comer., curled 
up, with his tail over his face. 
Because this little creature was .50 pretty and showed 
so much reason he •vvas allowed many liberties that 
would not have been given to a less attractive pet. He 
was too cunning to bfc resisted when he cHmb'ed stealtH- 
\ly to the chair at meal time and reached small bits of 
meat from the plate and scampered off to a secluded place 
to enjoy the morsel, then back again until the edict 
"enough" went forth. In all his eating; he would seek 
a biding place to enjoy it. In these hiding places would 
be found trophies in the shape of cut paper, feathei-Si 
tish heads and bones; where he had found them was hard 
oftentimes to determine. Dixie had a sense of reason 
that surprised us very often. After finding his way into 
the cupboard he seemed to divine that the key played" an. 
important part; his little mind resolved the matter over 
and he would work by the half hour with his paws and 
teeth at the key and door fastening. 
Those who have lived or visited in Florida know the 
annoyance the roach is to the housekeeper, but in Dixie 
we found a roach catcher superior to aJl combined pat- 
ented devices. 
He loved to get out at night, and was small enough to 
slip through the slats of the French -window shutters; 
when once out, his society would be missed during the 
rest of the evening, but about midnight a rustle of the" 
shutter would be heard, a quick pattering of feet over the 
floor, and in a minute Dixie would be upon the bed, 
gently biting nose or ears, and playing like a frolicsome 
kitten. On such occasions he would be put into the 
closet, where he would get between the folds of some 
clothing and sleep till morning. 
His drinking cup, always ready, served also as his bath. 
He would dip his paws into the water and wash himself 
much as a person would do, or as a raccoon does. 
One night a cackling of the chickens announced an 
intruder, and on our looking into the cause of disturbance 
a whisk of white skirted by, and Dixie was found to be 
the culprit. It was his first and only offense, and he was 
soon forgiven. 
With the instinct of so many animals, he changed his 
sleeping quarters very often. In daylight he preferred the 
bureau drawers and the hat box of the trunk. While 
any one was in the room he would slip in and out as if 
in play, but when everything became quiet he would 
stealthily hide himself among ribbons, collars, etc.; but 
let him hear approaching footsteps and his cunning little 
face would peep out; then if no objection was raised he 
would quiet down and go to sleep. 
A few years ago a hunting party was out and saw 
one of these little animals skirt across the prairie in front 
of them and take refuge in a gopher hole. An intrepid 
member of the party ran his hand into the hole, felt a 
painful throb, and discovered that he had been jDitten by 
a large rattler, from the effects of which he died in a 
short time. Some Florida natives claim that this pretty 
little animal finds a home with the gopher (a species of 
land terrapin), and as the gopher's home is known to be a 
favorite retreat of the diamond-backed rattler, we may 
picture these three odd and strangely different creatures- 
inhabiting a common home and remaining friendly. 
For the benefit of the reader who may not have guessed 
the classical name of Dixie we will add that he is the 
little striped skunk {Spilogale putorius), found in some 
localities on the east coast of Florida. 
Minnie Moore- Willson. 
The Beavcf in the National Zoo. 
Dr. Frank Baker, Superintendent of the National 
Zoological Park, gives us some particulars of the beaver 
which were caught for the Zoo in the Yellowstone Park by 
Mr. E. Hofer. He writes: 
"Nine beaver, captured by Mr. Hofer in the Yellow- 
stone Park, were received at the National Zoological 
Park on Nov. 23, 1894. They were placed in an in- 
closure 100 by 230ft. in extent, situated in a rather secluded 
valley, which was supplied with running water and con- 
tained a considerable amount of underbrush and numerous 
small and medium sized trees. Two young were born 
there, which were first seen on July S, 1896, when they 
were a little smaller than ordinary rauskrats. They are 
now as large as the old ones. The fence around the in- 
closure, when the animals were put in, was a cheap, 
temporary affair, and they succeeded in breaking through 
this at one time in order to procure a supply of wood 
from the adjacent territory outside. One of them, ap- 
parently the father of the two young, escaped into Rock 
Creek, and although seen many times in the vicinity of 
the' inclosure, and at other places along the creek, could 
not be captured. He was finally killed about six. months 
later on the bank of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, several 
miles west of Georgetown. Two other male beavers were 
so seriously injured in fighting that they died, and two of 
the animals were found dead in the inclosure without any 
apparent cause. The remaining four of the original 
beavers, and the two young, are still here and in fine 
shape. 
"I should add that the beavers promptly cut down all 
the underbrush in the inclosure, as well as all unpro- 
tected trees, and have been given from time to time many 
wagon loads, of branches cut from trees of the species 
which seem Jo be tnost acceptable to them." 
It is no uncom_mon occurrence for trout that have been 
hooked, and are being played, to be seized and made away 
with by larger fish, but an experience that_ has fallen to 
the lot of a well-known angler when fishing the River 
Char, in Dorsetshire, is surely without a parallel. He 
had risen and hooked a trout, about J^lb. in weight, when 
a full-grown otter, which had just previously been dis- 
turbed from the near bank, swam out and went down 
stream, but returned and seized the trout just as it was on 
the point of being landed. The struggle between the 
otter and the angler for the possession of the fish was 
naturally short-lived, and resulted in the smashing of the 
cast and the triumph of the intervening poacher. — London 
Daily Telegraph, 
