24 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 13^ iQOt. 
Now Mr. Flynn's description of his beaver's antics was 
so like what I saw the otter doing that I shall likely 
always entertain a suspicion that these beaver, like my 
first, were indeed otter. 
The otter is a constant traveler, and is often seen in 
day time, usually in pairs or families. The beaver has 
a permanent home, and only moves when increasing 
population compels it. It lies very close and is seldom 
seen in daj^ time, though it is easy to understand how 
under the conditions described by Mr. Flynn the beaver 
might have been drowned out of their dens by the 
freshet and compelled to show themselves in day time, 
whether it was their nature -or not, just as we see musk- 
rats at flood time taking refuge in trees, stumps and 
logs. " E. P. Jaques. 
Elmo, Kan. 
Animals and Man, 
Jn a recent Forest and Stream W. Wade asks for 
information as to the effect contact with civilized man 
has on wild animals. It has been my experience that ani- 
mals of the cat tribe change their habits least of all. I 
have gone into parts of the mountains where all game 
was very tame and had little fear of man. Ten or fifteen 
years afterward every animal but the cats had changed 
their habits more or less, but I never could see that the 
cats changed at all, even close to the settlements, where 
they were constantly hunted. 
One spring a couple of us were trapping bear doAvn 
near the Colorado-Utah line. There were no indications 
that the country had ever been trapped before for any- 
thing but beaver, and all game was very bold. The coun- 
try was full of foxes, and do what we could we could not 
keep them out of the bear traps. As the foxes had shed 
we did not want to catch them, but they would get caught. 
At one trap we caught eight cross foxes in eight nights, in 
spite of the fact that we laid the body of each fox caught 
out in plain sight, hoping it would keep the others away. 
At another trap we got five cross and a jet black silver- 
gray inside of two weeks. 
We blocked up the trap pans as stiff as we dared, but 
the foxes would run back and forth over the traps until 
they displaced the covering, and knocked out the sticks. 
As long as they did not spring the trap it was all right, 
as the bear didn't know what a trap was, but it would 
be aggravating to find a worthless fox in a trap and the 
bait taken away by a thirty-dollar bear. Bear would travel 
around all day, and we shot as many as we trapped. But 
though the country was full of cougar and bobcats (Lynx 
rufus), it was a rare thing to see one. 
Ten years afterward one would never see a bear m 
daylight, and you could not get a fox anj'where near a 
trap unless you took great pains, but the cougars and cats 
were just the same — ^no shyer, no bolder — the same sly, 
sneaking brutes as always. I afterward had the same 
experience with foxes around Battle Lake, in Wyommg. 
In neither case could the foxes have been hungry, as the 
country swarmed with mice, moles and small game. It 
was simply that the foxes didn't know what a trap was. 
Speaking about foxes, it was always my idea that the 
red, cross and silver-gray were all the same fox. A 
hundred skins from a good fox country would show all 
grades from red up, and I have watched litters of young 
foxes that were all colors, from red to black. One family 
that I watched for over a month consisted of a red dog, a 
bitch that looked nearly bure black, and four cubs that 
graded from red to dark cross. (A cross fox is a red 
fox with patches of the dark, silver tip, silver-gray fox fur 
on shoulders and rump. A first-class cross fox will have 
the silver-gray fur all over his back, shoulders and rump.) 
The den was only a mile or so from camp, and nearly 
every evening I used to go over and watch the outfit with 
a slass. The old foxes would bring in all sorts of game 
for the cubs. One evening I met the old she fox coming 
in with a mouthful of moles. She dropped them and 
bolted, and she had been carrying nine big moles in 
her mouth. How she did it was more than I could see. 
For several years I hunted cougars with dogs in one 
small tract of country hardily ten miles square, killing 
in all fifty or sixty cougars, but they were just as thick and 
bold at the last as at first. The last year I was there the 
brutes killed every colt belonging to a bunch of twenty- 
five mares that were kept in a pasture close to the ranch 
house. A long range of rocky cliffs came down to the 
upper end of the pasture, and the cougar stayed among 
the rocks during the day, and as the scent would not he 
on the hot, dry stone, the hounds could not work out a 
trail. " , , . 
No matter what happens to the other game here m 
the Rockies, it is very likely that cougar and wolf will 
furnish plenty of sport for a long time. 
Mr. Wade is right about the wildcat being a fighter. _ It 
the cougar had half as much grit he would be a bad thing 
to hunt. A cougar does not seem to be able to turn 
quickly, or to strike a quick blow with its paw. A bear is 
much more active on its feet, and handier with its paws. 
But a wildcat is all teeth and claws, and if cornered will 
put up a pretty good fight, though they are so small that 
an active dog that knows where to take hold can kill one 
at one bite. The big gray lynx does not seem to be 
much of a fighter. , , rr , 
I suppose that the explanation of the little effect that 
contact with civilized man seems to have on the cats is the 
natural habits of the beasts. Being a nocturnal animal 
and adept at hiding, they seem to know that they are 
safe when other animals would be in danger. When 
disturbed a cat will hardly ever run far. and will never 
make a wild, frightened da.sh for safety if it thinks it can 
creep away. I have many times run across cougars when 
I had no dogs or gun, and if tracking was good could 
always come back with the hounds during the day and 
jump' the beast inside of a quarter of a mile, whereas if it 
had been a bear or wolf it would have been twenty 
miles away. And if one runs info a pair or family of 
cougars and the dogs tree one, the others will not go 
far. I have several times bagged a whole outfit that 
way one after another within a few hundred yards. 
W'M. Wells. 
Wells, Wyo. 
Fearless Robins. 
Troy, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: About 100 
feet from Second avenue, north, through which the United 
Traction Company run their noisy trolley cars every few 
minutes, there stands an apple tree fully sixty years 
old, in which the robins have built for years. 
This season, however, a pair of these birds have built 
their nest inside the second story of a two-and-a-half-story 
brick building, within 12 feet of the old tree, on three 
strips of wood, making a platform not over 6 inches 
wide, near a window which has the upper sa.sh lowered 
8 inches, the nest being 7 feet from the floor. 
This building is used as a floor oil cloth printing house, 
and the printers and presses make such a racket ten 
hours a day that they can be heard a square away when 
the windows are open. The occasional removal ot the 
wooden bars on which the cloth is hung in folds within a 
few feet of the nest does not disturb the birds. After 
the nest was partly built it was thrown on the floor by 
one of the men, who thought it rubbish thrown in the 
window by some mischievous person, but one of the 
printers rearranged it four hours later, whereupon the 
birds finished building it, and within a week four eggs 
were found in the nest, and all four have hatched. The 
male birds seem to be the more shy of the two ; but con- 
sidering the noise and bustle within and without the build- 
ing those of us who know of the circumstance consider it 
1 
. JH| - . ^ ^^^^ ' I^^H 
s 
''^l^^^ mm 
AU communications intended for Forest aiid SmxAu should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual connected with the paper. 
A NEAR \T:EW. 
quite a remarkable occurrence. We succeeded on May 
28, after quite a few failures, in obtaining a photograph 
of one of the old birds standing on the edge of the nest 
about to feed its young, but as will be seen from a copy 
which I mail, their constant motion has blurred the pic- 
ture. The camera was held within 4 feet of the nest. 
Edward F. Powers. 
Later. — The robins which built their nests inside the 
brick iDuilding commenced the same April 29, and in 
about seven days later commenced to set. 
The four birds were hatched about May 16, and they 
left the nest on the 31st. The old birds seemed to have 
no difficulty in getting three of their young through the 
window near the nest, and on the old apple tree, but the 
fourth bird flew about the building and was caught by 
one of the printers, who let it go near the other birds, and 
the old ones showed their appreciation of the kind act by 
flying at him with many angry cries. We have seen 
two of the young birds since their exit from the build- 
ing, and believe all four are alive, and they seem to be 
almost as large as the old birds. The photograph was 
taken May 28. E. F. P. 
Hawks. 
Philadelphia, Pa.~Editor Forest and Stream: One 
of your very appreciative readers invariably indulges in 
a quiet smile upon reading in your columns or other 
publications the opinions of learned ornithologists and 
ether observers to the economic value of hawks. Per- 
haps it is because his memory recalls the trials of a 
certain freckle-faced boy of eight or nine, or it may be 
his faith in the theory that early impressions are the 
strongest. He probably remembers the boy's love for 
pets, which was in a measure gratified by his father 
bringing home a pair of young pigeons, and how the 
little home was built for them, and more care and at- 
tention lavished upon those pretty fantails than upon all 
the "chores" allotted to him. On his coming home from 
swimming one day only one of the pigeons came to 
eat from his hand, and a thorough search failed to reveal 
the whereabouts of Spotty. It was with grave mis- 
givings that the boy went to bed that night, hoping for 
the best. Next day the lad searched high and low for 
his lost pet, and still no trace. The following day, how- 
ever, all doubts were set at rest by finding a mass of 
feathers, easily identified — mute evidenc'e of the tragedy 
in which a hawk had played the part of villain. Then 
it was that the oath of vengeance was made. Through 
his tears the boy might have been heard to mutter, 
"Just wait till I'm old enough to have a gun!" Other 
pigeons were given the boy, but none seemed quite so 
dear as'his lost one, and many also met a like fate. As 
the father frowned upon any suggestion that a gfn 
would be a handy thing to have around the_ place, 't 
was several years before the boy's opportunity cam*. 
Made bold by continued success, a hawk levied on 
old Speclcle's brood of chickens for ten consecutive 
mornings, whereupon the parent was heard to say that 
"we" would have to get a gun. Then the boy felt free 
to make a dicker for an exceedingly light single barrel 
shotgun, rather uncertain as to action of lock, etc. About 
this time the boy began to learn his trade in the village, 
so the gun was hidden away, and every opportunity was 
taken to wage Avar on the sworn enemy. Many and 
varied were his first experiences with his toe. He would 
- frequently spend Sunday afternoons in the woods 
searching for the nests of the hawks, and when found 
would go there in the morning or evening and "do busi- 
ness." After firing at a large hawk sitting within easy 
range and getting no results 'save a handful of feathers, 
he concluded he needed a heavier weapon. However, 
he had several notches on his gun stock, when he be- 
came the proud possessor of a double lo-bore muzzle- 
loader. Then "business" improved. He learned a val- 
uable lesson concerning recoil when, to make assurance 
doubly sure, he deliberately pressed both triggers at 
one and the same time (the gun having been heavily 
loaded with BBs for a chance shot at low-flying geese 
in the spring) ; but when he picked himself out of the 
brier bunch and saw the hawk toppling out of a distant 
tree he was satisfied. 
And in after years, as he graduated in turn with the 
breechloader and finally a hammerless, and killed many 
quite beaiitiful pigeons himself, he would neglect no 
opportunity to get a shot at his enemy. Once he scored 
five straight within five minutes, and took them all 
home, too. And even to this day the boy will forsake 
the pursuit of legitimate game of any kind if he spies 
a hawk. Only recently while engaged in rifle practice 
■with a few friends a short distance from the city he was at 
the score, with four of his ten shots still to shoot, when 
a hawk was observed on a distant tree. Result: a wild 
scramble, considerable laughter among his comrades, and 
another notch on the gun stock. 
Thus it is that a smile more or less grim spreads over 
the face of the aforesaid reader as he notes certain 
scientific facts advanced. He has no quarrel with the 
scientist. Ocean. 
To Domesticate the Zebra. 
By name at least the tsetse fly of South Africa is well 
known to most readers and it is recognized as a meas- 
urable bar to the settlement of portions of the country. 
It lives not very far from the coast and renders the coun- 
try that it inhabits impossible for horses. It is more or 
less migratory in tendency and it is impossible to say 
just what its boundaries are. 
The tsetse fly is not much larger than a common 
horse fly, is brown in color with yellow bars across the 
abdomen. It is especially active during the heat of the 
day, and its bite is almost certain death to ox, horse 
and dog. Wild animals of the country that it inhabits 
are not affected, nor is the jackass. The fly lives by 
sucking blood, and a few days after the. animal has been 
bitten it dies. 
Mr. R. J. Stordy has recently written the report on 
veterinary work in British East Africa and Uganda pro- 
tectorate, in which the question of this fly is touched 
on, and shows that by protecting horses from its bite 
by the use of horse boxes with fly proof windows, the 
disease may be practically eradicated. He urges in the 
same, connection the domestication of the beaver as a 
rneans of transport, as this animal does not suffer from 
the ravages of tjie tsetse fly disease. He sa^s: 
"I am convinced that, should the government enter 
upon a scheme for its domestication, it would prove one 
of great value, and that at not very distant date a sup- 
ply of animals would be available, not only for African 
service, but also for army transport work at home or irt 
India. The great difficulty so far has been the domesti- 
cation of the adult animal. I have, however, to suggest 
the following plan for obtaining a possible way out of 
the difficulty: I would propose that a kraal be formed 
within a district where firearms are non-existent, as in 
the case of a preserve. The kraal would have two ex- 
tending arms leading from open country into it, and 
would be constructed large enough to hold a herd of, 
say, fifty adult animals. Seve'"al mounted Cape boys 
would be employed, whose duty, in the first instance, 
would be to accustom the zebras in the neighborhood 
of the kraal to the sight of horses and mules. If my 
anticipations prove correct, the zebras will in the course 
of a few days follow the horses or mules, and advantage 
could be taken of this to lead them into the kraal. If 
it were, however, found that thev would not be led it 
would be necessary to have them driven in by the Cape 
boys, assisted by swift-footed natives. 
"The animals being in this way confined within the 
kraal they would naturally propogate their species. It 
is with the offspring that I would propose that the experi- 
ment in the way of domesticity would begin. As is well 
known, it has been found nearly impossible to rear a 
zebra foal apart from its mother. I would not propose 
to separate them; they would live along with and be 
nurtured by their mothers. A few months after birth 
the young animals could be caught and by various ways 
become accustomed to the sight and presence of man. 
I am very hopeful that in this way a number of young 
animals of both sexes would become domesticated and 
prove useful for transport service, and also in propagat- 
ing their species. The second generation, if my experi- 
ment prove in any way successful, would be even more 
domesticated than their parents, and I am sure that in 
the course of time a large supply of the domesticated 
zebra would be forthcoming for the future use of trans- 
port work at home and abroad. The initial cost would 
be a little more than the first results might justify, but 
there is no reason to doubt that in the long run the ulti- 
mate results would far more than compensate for the 
initial expenditure." 
While the zebra has long been believed to be untamable 
there are a number of cases on record where it has been 
broken to harness and driven. Certain it is that it breeds 
quite readily in captivity, not only with its own kind, but 
Idas been used in crossing with other equine animals. 
Mr. A. E. Brown, superintendent of the Philadelphia 
Zoological Gardens, has, we beheve, bred quite a number 
of zebra at one time and another. „ _^ 
