464 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
cephala), heavily built birds with plumage very much like 
that of the Baltimore oriole, enthusiastic bathers that 
plunge and spray vigorously for a long while whenever 
they enter the water, are very pugnacious and chase every 
venturesome tomtit in sight to the brush bottom. The 
song of these grosbeaks is not equal in beauty to the 
song of the rose-breasted variety of Wisconsin, but is 
more like that of the robin or scarlet tanager. During the 
nesting season their notes are heard mornings and after- 
noons from every direction. The propensity of these 
birds to destroy fruit has made them exceedingly unpop- 
ular with ranch owners. 
Scrubbing the basins with a broom several times a 
day is pleasant labor to me, as the birds seem to be so 
grateiul for the pure water they always find, and so many 
of them come. Orioles in every shade of yellow, Cali- 
fornia jays feathered in blue, slate-colored cafion tow- 
hees, Oregon towhees with white shoulders, sapsuckers. 
Western wood thrushes and wood pewees, fly-catchers 
with plumage like that of Eastern snowbirds, yellow- 
breasted chats, golden warblers, tufted titmice, nuthatches, 
vireos, bush tits and so many other visitors come to the 
pools I tend tha.t it is impossible for me not to feel as 
though I with my well water were a reformer and might 
in time win every straying chickadee from the gutters 
and other low haunts of the neighborhood — a worthy 
ambition, surely. Little bush tits in swarms, shoulder to 
shoulder, often line the shores of a basin. They are a 
pretty sight. Almost any depth is "over head and beak" 
to them. The California woodpeckers, grotesque with 
their black and white faces, are clumsy harlequins that 
endeavor to assuage their thirst from leaky spigots while 
clinging to the upright pipes. I think they never bathe. 
Lark finches (Chondestes grammaca) , enormous spar- 
rows that exhibit a great deal of white on head and long 
tail, are not only very handsome, but are also very able 
songsters, and great numbers come here every morning 
to perch in the trees after a visit has been paid to the 
water and entertain us with music that is even sweeter than 
the notes of the delightful little song sparrows, the chorus 
seeming to be most animated during the hottest weather 
ahd thus becoming an incentive to us to be courageous 
too, for the heat is something remarkable at times in these 
valleys. The perforitiers deploy themselves over the 
ground at intervals to search for food; but even during 
these slight cessations a few persistent birds are likely to 
warble on among the limbs. The cheeriness of these birds 
has made them great favorites with us. 
The California thresher is a peculiar individual. Their 
slaty plumage, like that of many other local ground feed- 
ers, corresponds very nearly with the color of the dark 
soil. One of these large thrushes gave me an opportunity 
to study him a few mornings after we arrived. After 
taking a deliberate drink he approached within a few feet 
of where I was sitting and then probed with an odd mo- 
tion of his head the insect holes in our walk. The un- 
gainly, bent-billed creature could not have been proud of 
his looks or his awkward stride. His flight afterwards 
was that of a clu»isy bird. 
The hummers are feather gems. The green of their 
back is various. Throats are black, white, rosy, and oth- 
erwise marked. These bird midgets are very tame and 
sometimes touch my hand in their efforts to drink from 
the hose. Flocks of them play in the mist of the garden 
sprinkler when it is running. Numbers of them come, 
from the weeds in the pasture lot whenever the spigot near 
my tent is allowed to flow early in the morning, and are 
daring. 
The red-shafted Mexican flickers are very handsome. 
They are quieter than the yellowhammers of the East 
and seldom utter a note. Flocks of common doves forage 
about the grain fields, where they become very fat. They 
are protected by a game law and offer great sport to the 
wing-shotj. Some of the stray specimens I have observed 
as they darted down mountain caiions had acquired a 
terrific speed. They recalled to me the frightened doves 
I had seen in the Florida wilderness. The meadowlarks 
are less like the Eastern variety. A noticeable difference 
can be detected in their song. It begins with the simple 
notes of the Eastern bird, but becomes a frenzied out- 
burst delicious to hear. 
Valley quail can often be heard in the creek bottom 
calling to one another in raucous voices not unlike those 
of the Virginia bird when half grown. A few couples 
have cveri been flushed from distant rosebeds. During a 
walk down the creek road I saw many coveys. One lot 
had started across the road when they perceived me com- 
ing up from a ford' and wheeled; but after a short pause 
they began grossing again to climb the mountain side, 
their gala head plumes waving, their blue uniforms a 
striking display. Some hid and a few took to their wmgs. 
A puffy general concealed himself far up the hill and 
screamed for help. Dewey and Schley ascended the fore- 
tops of the nearest saplings to inspect me. The rank and 
file behaved courageously. The troops went out Of sight. 
The piping could be heard among high-up boulders; the 
review was a thing of the past. California game birds 
are very pretty. . , . 
Deer and quail had become almost extinct here a few 
years ago from indiscriminate slaughter by would-be 
sportsmen, but efficacious laws were passed, as results 
already prove, and game is becoming plentiful again, for 
I flushed at least a dozen quail coveys during my walk 
that morning, and I have heard from reliable sources of 
the deer being more numerous in the canons this sum- 
mer than they have been for some time. Deer hunting, 
which is a summer sport in this part of the country, tests 
the endurance of the toughest when pursued among 
mountains where every hill is a red hot stove thousands 
of feet high and every breeze scorches, where shade is 
not abundant and water is scarce; but many of the local 
guns go, and some day I may try my luck. The canons 
are driven for game, T have been told. Qail hunting. . a 
winter sport, is good in the valley and must be delight- 
ful where the atmosphere is so bracing and the natural 
surroundings are so beautiful. , , • j . ^t. 
Singular, isn't it, how writing about the birds at the 
pool has led me astray till I seem, once mojre to be an 
a<;tonished creature among whirring coveys and hopping 
Vicks' Forest birds, when seen about the house, always 
did recall to me life in the wilderness with its pleasures, 
and dooryard birds, when seen around camp, have just 
as surely reminded me of home— with its pleasures! 
I n« K. oTEIGER. 
V?;t»TURA CODHTY, Ca) 
The Angora Cat. 
The saying that "a cat has nine lives" may be true of 
certain felines whose tramp life has made them tough, 
but an intimate acquaintance with the aristocratic and 
pampered household cat has brought to my considera- 
tion the painful fact that not only has it but one life, 
but that this one hangs on a very delicate and pre- 
carious thread. Frequently what might have been superb 
specimens of the Angora species have come under my 
observation emaciated creatures, with rough, dry fur, 
lack-luster eyes., and a cough which a stage Camille might 
well envy. Tuberculosis, pneumonia and various 
bronchial diseases have in each case been assigned as the 
cause, but long experience has brought its wisdom, and 
when such a sufferer comes under my treatment I 
diagnose its symptoms as "milk," and I have yet to find 
where my diognosis has failed, for all cats, whether of 
high or low degree, if fed on milk, sooner or later come 
to this condition. I have long since given up wondering 
why the cow, that creature of coagulation and curds, 
was ever invented. It is responsible for nine-tenths of 
the suffering and mortality among the creatures who 
come under the misnomer of "pets." 
"But my darling loves milk" is often brought forward 
as an argument in favor of this erroneous diet by 
ladies, who are more sentimental than hygienic. I can 
only answer, "Yes, but your darling does not love the 
caseine and the lactic acid which the milk produces after it 
has undergone its chemical change in his stomach. The 
parasites which are bred from these conditions and thrive 
on them do love milk, and it is only a question of the 
survival of the fittest — which shall live, the cat or the 
worm." 
Not long ago a skillful veterinary made an autopsy 
on an Angora milk-fed cat which had died presumably 
of consumption, and I am convinced that had the people 
who persist in giving milk to their pets seen the waxen 
lump, swarming as it was with biting, squirming, hungry 
life, in the animal's intestines, they would have forever 
more forsworn milk. 
The cat is essentially a meat-eating animal, and in 
order to keep it in good condition it must have meat. 
By meat I mean beef or mutton, for I do not dignify 
by the name of meat either veal, pork or liver. These 
will produce all sorts of disorders. The meat is better 
if given raw, and beef kidney is nutritious and easy of 
digestion. Second to meat is fish, if it is fresh from the 
water, and is supremely wholesome if given alive to 
the animals. Even so great an authority as good old 
Dr. Johnson erred when he went to the fishmongers for 
oysters for his cat, for the oyster is a pernicious ptomaine 
poison in the cat's system. Lobsters, clams, muscles 
and scallops, on the contrary, are wholesome. 
Now and then I have had the pleasure of meeting an 
Angora in exuberant health. These shaggy animals had 
been fed in kittenhood on malted milk, or some prepared 
food in which the deleterious properties of milk are de- 
stroyed, and in addition to their daily raw meat, they 
would eat cooked vegetables (notably carrots); eggs, 
raw and hard-boiled ; bananas, and baked sweet potatoes. 
In order to keep the fur of the Angora glossy and 
luxuriant it must be thoroughly brushed and combed 
every day, and a sponge dipped in tepid creoline water 
(twenty drops of creoline to a cup of water) will keep 
the coat lustrous and long. The fine, silky hair on the 
cat's belly is apt to become a tangled mat unless say once 
a week vaseline is rubbed in and permitted to remain 
over night. The dead hairs comb out easily in the 
morning. Unless it is removed the cat will be covered 
with fleas, for these pests use the warm cocoons as in- 
cubators in which to hatch their eggs. But uiider no 
circumstances must any preparation of_ carbolic acid 
come near a cat's skin, for it means certain death. 
In purchasing an Angora, it is always well to look 
at its mouth. If the roof, gums and tongue are the 
color of pink coral you may be sure the animal is in 
good health. 
The ignorance in regard to the hygiene not alone of 
Cats, but of all pets, is something stupendous, as well as 
pathetic, because it too often goes with a very sincere 
affection, and a very poignant grief when all is over with 
the unfortunate sufferer. 
As a certain kind old lady once said to me when her 
kindness had brought to an unnecessary death^ a mag- 
nificent white Angora, whose value was $ioo, "I don't 
see what killed poor Muftie. My butler made him a 
lobster mavonnaise every day, and I kept an Alderney 
cow so that he should have a bowl of fresh cream for his 
breakfast, and T bought him all the marron glaces he 
could eat." I had no heart to enlighten the poor lady— 
her grief was so genuine — that the secret of love for one's 
pets lies in the word "abstain." To give animals food 
that is distinctiv bad for them because they like it is 
after all only a form of self-indulgence which hurts the 
cat more than its mistress. 
In a word, then, if you really love your cat and would 
keep him in health, happiness and a good long life— the 
allotted term of which is from ten to twenty years— you 
must bear in mind that one word — "abstain." 
Justine Ingersoll. 
New Haven, Conn. 
Jttst Because a Snake is a Snake. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I read with much interest the various comments on the 
serpent family that find their way into the columns of 
Forest and Stream, and although I know that for the 
most part, so far as the human race is concerned, they are 
harmless, yet I seldom spare even the least of them. The 
trail of the serpent— great or small— is ever marked by a 
line of suffering indescribably horrible. I have heard too 
often the agonized cry of the helpless toad and of the 
suffering mother bird robbed of her young, ever to stay 
my hand. The snake is but taking his food m his own 
way, and as he has a perfect right to do ; but it is such a 
loathsome, horrible way, and it is always the innocent that 
suffer ; for the fighting tribes, the cranes, herons, hawks, 
crows, and to some extent, at least, the blackbirds (for 
once while fishing at the Southwick Ponds in Massachu*^ 
setts I saw a flock of them chase a fair-sized water snake 
across a narrow strip of water), can fight him off aad even 
carry the war into the enemy's camp. But the smaller 
tribes must give up their lives. I fully recognize the 
extreme beauty and grace of the serpent's form and 
coloring, but none the less crush him when I can. 
Pine Tkee. 
Perhaps a Vatying Hatc» 
Morgantown, W. Va.j, Dec. 2. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Last Thursday a party went rabbit hunting from 
here and killed and brought home with them the largest 
common gfay rabbit that has ever been heard of about 
here. It measured 32 inches from tip of ear to tip of 
tail, and weighed 9 pounds. It was to all appearances 
an ordinary "cotton tail" in all but size. 
Hundreds of people came to see it. It was run about 
three miles by hounds before being killed. The hide is 
preserved as a curiosity by Mr, Kiger, who killed it. 
' Emerson Carney. 
Linnaean Society of New York. 
Regular meetings of the Society will be held in the 
American Museum of Natural History on Tuesday even- 
ings, Dec. 12 and 26, at 8 o'clock. 
Dec. 12. — ^Thomas Proctor. "Our Chewink and His 
Friend: A Story from an Aviary." Living illustrations. 
Dec. 26. — William P. Lemmon. "Notes on the Taking 
of a Duck Hawk's Nest on the Palisades." Illustrated by 
a series of photographs. 
Long Flight of a Partridge. 
Sing Sing, N. Y., Nov. 28.— What is the limit of the 
flight of a partridge? Not long ago two were scared, 
probably by the blasting in the gravel quarries under 
Hook Mountain, and flew from the top of the mountain 
across the river to the edge of the bluffs here, a distance 
of four and one-half miles. One was so tired that he was 
killed with a stick. The other managed to get away. 
Chas. G. Blandford. 
West Virginia Game. 
"Are you going hunting to-morrow ?" This question 
is asked in Romney more this fall than for thirty years. 
Why? Because game is more plentiful than for the past 
ten years. To the sportsman desiring to hunt within 
easy access of Washington or Baltimore there is no 
place that presents the advantage that he can secure in 
Hampshire county. Owing to the law not allowing the 
hunting of ' deer for five years the deer have had an 
opportunity to breed unmolested, excepting in rare in- 
stances. But as the game has increased our wise or 
otherwise Legislature has seen fit to pass a prohibitory 
law demanding of the hunter of another State a license 
of $25, good only for one season and in the county 
which the license is issued. This license practically 
shuts out the sportsman and gives the game hogs and 
pot-hunters who hunt to sell a "trust' on the hunting 
business. Of course the license law exempts the gentle- 
men who own game preserves. The whole cry of law 
makers on the game subject is Protect the game! In the 
State of West Virginia we have to-day a game warden 
drawing a salary who has never appointed a deputy 
game warden, nor has never been heard of since his 
appointment east of the mountains. Consequently 
strangers are coming in hunting without a license, resi- 
dents are pursuing deer with hounds, and no particular 
effort made to punish violators of the game law. 
Then we have a law which prohibits the shipping of 
game outside the bounds of the State. This law works an 
injury to the real sportsman who might possibly come 
and take out a license. He, if lucky enough to kill any 
game, is confronted with this, and if a man of very strict 
views on the game question will not attempt to take it 
out of the State. Not so with Mr. Man who hunts for 
the money. He brings his game to town, sells to the 
merchants, and as is being done here, he ships to Mar- 
tinsburg to a party there who is running the risk of 
being caught and is reshipping to other States. 
This being in the height of the season, and the weather 
being fine, our local sportsmen are bringing in lots ol 
deer. The past week showed up nine deer brought in, 
all killed within five miles of Romney. They have com- 
menced the week beginning the 20th by killing four 
deer, one being a six-pronged buck weighing 180 pounds. 
Altogether there have been over forty deer killed near 
Romney since the season began, commencing Oct. IS- 
The season for deer ends Dec. 15; but last fall although 
against the law the grand-dad deer of West Virginia 
was killed on Middle Ridge, eight miles from Romney. 
It was an enormous buck, weighing 284 pounds, gross. 
This deer head was mounted by a taxidermist of Pitts- 
burg, and the gentleman who owns it has refused several 
offers pf $35 for it. Strangers will find our people as a 
rule very hospitable, and our game territory not as 
rough to hunt over as one would expect, Romney is 
situated on the South Branch of the Potomac, 150 miles 
west of Washington, and is reached by the B. & O. 
R. R. , „ 
In the early fall wild turkeys were plentiful. But at 
present the flocks have become scattered, and conse- 
quently are not as easy to kill as they were before be- 
coming scattered. Pheasants are more plentiful than 
they have been for years. With a dog broke for pheas- 
ants, and a man that can hit them, a splendid bag could 
be made in a day. During the summer months par- 
tridges seemed to be plentiful; later on they seemed to 
disappear from the fields, and I have flushed several 
largp coveys in the woods while driving for deer. A 
getitleman from Martinsburg secured twenty-two here 
in one day's hunt. 
As to our black bass fishing, many Washmgtomans 
can testify that years ago this stream was unexcelled. 
But owing to many atid varied causes, it is not as good 
as it used to be, but still aflfords some fine fishing. 
Our fish laws are as peculiar as our game laws. Foi; 
t 
