Aug. ^4, 1901.3 
^oMEST AND StREAlvt. 
Dr. G. Lincecum, in the American Naturalist (Vol. I.), 
states that on being stung all animation is absolutely sus- 
pended. In this condition it is then dragged by the wasp 
to some suitable place, where she excavates a hole five 
inches deep in the earth, places the great spider in it, de- 
posits an egg under one of its legs, near the body, and 
then covers the hole Axry securely. A young tarantula 
killer will be produced froin this egg, if no accident be- 
fall it, about the first of June of the ensuing year. 
Dr. Lincecum has found under shelving rocks and other 
sheltered places daubers' nests that were doubtless several 
years old. "In some of the cells, where the egg had 
proved abortive, the spiders were there, still limber, with 
Texas Tarantula, 
no signs of decomposition about them. They did not seem 
to be dead, but looked as if they could almost move their 
legs, and were, perhaps, not imconscious of their de- 
plorable conditiorL" 
The sting of the wasp is one of the keenest pointed 
weapons that can be conceived of, the point of the finest 
cambric needle, when compared with it, seeming coarse 
and serrated. This is well shown in the appended illus- 
tration, which is a reproduction of a drawing by Dr. N. 
Lieberkiihn, of Berlin. 
The poison gland is attached to the sting by a hollow 
cord of about the length of the gland itself, and the course 
of the cord can be traced down down the bod}'' of the 
sting. It is similar in shape and size to that of the ordi- 
nary spider. 
[to be continued.] 
The Raven and Other Ravenous 
Birds. 
We must go to philosophy for truth, and as that won- 
'dei-iul young man and rare poet, Keats, wrote, "Phil- 
osophy will clip an angel's wing." This may be possibly 
a foresighted thought of the present condition of things. • 
for now we are studying all kinds of matters on_ their 
actual merits, and superstition — using this word in its 
broadest sense— goes now for nothing. And in regard 
to some tilings, most of what we think we know of them 
;is mere superstition. This applies to the bird of ill omen 
iin all ages — ^the raven — the unclean bird of the old Jew- 
iish dispensation and the cruel, vile thing which we now 
Iknow it is. "Take thy beak from out my heart," is the 
tsuie expression of the ferocity and cruelty of the abomi- 
nable bird which another poet, Poe. applied to it in his 
never-to-be-forgotten poem, "The Raven." 
In fact, the raven is not onlj^ ferocious, but it- is essen- 
tially cruel, seeming to torment its weak and helpless 
victims in the most malignant manner, reminding us of 
the similar habits of our own race in unregenerate con- 
ditions, when malignity was distilled to find the most 
excruciating torments for the helpless victim of the 
savage man. 
This bird is a member of the crow family, the head of 
which, although it may not be as black as it is painted, is 
■ still cruel and malignant, as might well be the character 
■ of the head of all this ravenous family. Doubtless the 
worst animal living has its use in nature, if only for the 
purpose of lessening the other, otherwise too rapidly and 
inconveniently increasing, animals which might be a nui- 
sance if too abundant. It has the excessivelj^ cruel habit 
of first disabling its victim, always some inoffensive, 
helpess animal — a rabbit, or a hare, or a sheep, or some 
■smaller birds or their helpless brood, so that it may be 
'.tortured slowly to death without any hope of escape. 
My attention was first turned to this bird by its attacks 
upon my sheep, pasturing in a field adjoining a large 
.tract of untouched forest in the mountains of North 
'Carolina. The sheep were found in every case to have 
'the eyes torn out, and the body mangled from the anus 
:into the interior. The hind part of the sheep was torn 
•open and the bowels eaten, the carcass being left on the 
jground untouched otherwise. There were onlj^ four of 
ithe ravens in the gang, and when two of them were shot 
Ibe others left. It is a curious fact that a number of 
buzzards are always seen along with a gang of ravens, 
their business apparently being to clean up the residue of 
the carcasses after the ravens have taken their few 
mouthful s. never touching the carrion after. 
There is always some redeeming fact in regard to 
most, if not all, other birds of predatory habits. That is. 
they seem to have been made for the express purpose of 
preying on other birds or animals, so that what we call 
the balance of nature may be preserved, and every race 
be able to exist so far as to maintain themselves. 
Another cruel bii-d, a relative of the raven and equally 
cruel, is the bluejay. Its special business during the 
summer is to feed upon the eggs and unfledged young of 
other birds, notably the robins. In the grove in which 
my house is situated there are hundreds of robins breed- 
ing year after year, and rearing their two or even three 
broods within sight of the windows, so that the nest may 
be seen quite frequently. .Some of these nests have been 
raided by bluejays. wdiich suck or eat the contents of the 
eggs, or devour the helpless nestlings. Some furious com- 
bats have occurred the present summer between the jays 
and a dozen or more of the robins, united by common in- 
terest in driving off the intruders, which, in fact, is fre- 
quently accomplished when one of the robins happens to 
be at home and an alarm is given, and the screams of the 
mother bird fighting vigorously in defense of her young 
ones bring immediate help, which is quite often success- 
ful. But when a nest is unguarded, the eggs are sucked 
and the shells thi-own . down. This bird, too, preys 6n 
the nests of the quail. I have seen them feeding on the 
eggs and also on the .young birds, as well as on those of 
the pheasant or partridge or grouse or by whatever name 
it may be called, as well as those of smaller birds. 
While the bluejay, a noisy fellow, which has all the 
peculiar habits of its relatives, the crow family, excites pity 
for the poor, helpless robin whose nest he has raided 
upon and eaten the eggs, or the young fledglings, is to 
be discredited for its cruel habits; yet nature has a use 
for him, unquestionably, and thi.s is to keep the balance 
of it even, for the general benefit of mankind. In fact 
everything on the face of the earth seems to^ have been 
created, and to be supported for man's use or pleasure. 
But as a shepherd I must draw the line at the raven, and 
coimt him among the creatures to be exterminated. The 
bird is quite numerous in this locality, and many of the 
prominent clififs and rock^' ledges are occupied by them 
as nesting places every year, so that these localities are 
named after the bird, as Ravencliff, Ravensnest and other 
similarly connected words. 
We may, I think, trust to nature to some extent for 
preserving a satisfactory balance in these ways, for it has 
happened that when mankind has interfered with nature's 
disposition of things, we have brought trouble on our- 
selves. And so we may try to steel our hearts against 
the cruelties we may see enacted, and consider it all as 
inevitable and as the methods of nature to preserve a 
balance, .so that even animals which might be desirable in 
some ways may not become a pest by their overwhelming 
numbers. But let me make an exception in' regard to 
the ravens, for 1 have an affection for the sheep, and 
especially for the little lambs, both being inoffensive, 
helpless, and, as old Fitzgerald quaintly said a good many 
years ago, "The most profitablest animal a man can 
iiave." And yet nature, even- in this case, permits it to 
go to the dogs and the birds of prey, unless the shep- 
herds watch and protect it. 
I have omitted to saj'' that raveiis attack deer in the 
same way as they do sheep, and I have found the car- 
casses, eyeless and partly disemboweled, lying in the 
woods, still warm, and only the ravens in sight on the 
surrounding trees or cliffs. H. Stewart. 
Highland, N. C. * 
mm 
Proijrietors of shooting resorts 'Will find it profitable to advertlsS 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Cotintmg: Chickens Before They Ate Hatched. 
MiLFORD, Conn., Aug 15. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Some weeks since one Lorrin Ford was working at some 
mason work not far from Nigger Pond, a fresh-water 
lake of small area. His twelve-year-old boy was with 
him. and while wandering about, flushed a hen quail, 
and then searching found the nest, which held twenty 
eggs. .He reported his discovery to his father, who said : 
"We will watch it and see when the young ones come 
out." The boy visited the nest several times, but finally 
came to his father and said that the old bird was on the 
nest and would not fly off as usual, and he thought the 
chicks were hatching. 
The father for the first time went to look at the nest, 
and, sure enough, he could see the old bird squatting 
close over the eggs. Curiosity impelled him to come 
nearer, when he thought that the quail must be asleep, as 
her head -was on one side, drooping over her body. Still 
closer inspection showed that the hen quail Avas dead on 
her eggs, and stiff and cold. Two of the eggs were al- 
ready picked by the chicks, but all were dead in the shell. 
A careful examination of the bird disclosed nothing ex- 
cepting a few feathers gone from the "back of the head." 
Can you elucidate this tragedy, if it was one? 
^IoRTON Grinnell. 
The Birds of Springfield, 
In years past we have had more than one catalogue 
of the birds found at Springfield, Mass., and at places 
not far from there, and now conies to us an attractive 
little volume of more tlian fifty pages, entitled "The 
Birds of Springfield and Vicinity." by Robert O. Mor- 
ris. In it Mr. Morris gives about 255 species of existing 
birds found within twenty-five miles of that town, to- 
geether with a dozen other species, some likely to occur 
but not certainly observed, others introduced, and others, 
still, extirpated. The list is preceded by three pages of 
introduction, describing the situation of Springfield and 
the attractions which it offers to birds, and the species in 
the list are briefly annotated. 
A brief bibliography, a table of errata and a good index 
conclude the volume, which is well printed on good paper 
and handsomely bound. We notice more typographical 
errors than should have been allowed to occur. These 
are seen not only in the scientific names of the birds, but 
in other placeS; as where Brewster is printed for Brewer, 
etc. 
s * 
Take inventory of the good things in this issue 
IC 
s 
n 
of Forest and Stream. ^Recall what a fund was 
given last week. Count on what is to come next 
week. Was there ever in all the world a more 
abundant weekly store of sportsmen's reading? 
l^he Professor^s Grizzlies. 
I WAS nursing a broken leg when my son brought me 
Forest and Stream of June 27, and had been reading 
Texas Tom's story of the killing of Old Splayfoot, the 
big grizzly, which I think is hardly as good a story as 
the one in your isstie of Jan. 19, 1901, under the head- 
ing, "In Frontier Days— III," giving the particulars of 
the killing of Old Splayfoot, several years before, when 
my old friend. Professor , just arrived from Oregon, 
came to see me. 
The Professor is a good musician, and had left here 
many years ago, following his profession of teaching 
vocal and instrumental music in Flqrida and Mis,souri, 
finally landing in Oregon a number of years ago, where 
he remained teaching and selling musical instruments, 
until now, when he returns to revisit the .scenes .of many 
years in this State and Ohio, and^ renew the acquaintance 
of those who remain of his old friends on this side of the 
great divide. Like many of his native State of Massa-' 
chusetts, he takes a lively interest in inventions, and now 
owns a valuable patent right on an article which he pro- 
poses to sell throughout the State of West Virginia, 
although he is either 74, as he avers, or 83 years old; but 
with never a day's sickness in his life. He sold me a fine 
old violin in 1858, which he said his guardian had bought 
for him in Boston twenty-two years before, when he was 
]8 years old. I have the record of it made at the time, 
and this would make him 83. He is a remarkable man 
physically; his vitality seems about as strong as thirty 
years ago, but his memory seems a trifle impaired in 
regard to some things, as shown by the error about his 
age. When he left Missouri, about a dozen years ago, 
he first landed at a small town in Cahfornia, on a Satur- 
day, his finances in a dilapidated condition. _ Sunday, hear- 
ing a church bell ringing, he had a curiosity to see how 
they conducted religious services in that far-off and prim- 
itive section of our cotuitry. He was surprised to find 
a nice, new church, filled with a bright and intelligent 
congregation. The preacher congratulated the members 
on the^possession of such a good church edifice, which 
he said, through their generosit}'. was entirely paid for 
and likewise a good organ; but, unfortunately, they had 
no one who could play upon it, and he made the request 
that if there was any person present who could play he 
would oblige them much by coming forward. The Pro- 
fessor, after some apparent hesitation, went forward, and, 
as he tells me, "I don't think I ever played better in my 
lite; the audience seemed carried away as by storm, and 
(he preacher said, 'I did not know that there was such 
music in that instrument.' " He was invited to make 
some remarks on music, and the result was that the 
next day he had eight pupils on the piano, six on the 
organ, and several on the violin, which, after a time, en- 
abled him to continue on to the northeast part of Ore- 
gon, where he bought a home and remained until 
recently. 
"Well. .Professor." said I, "you must have been ni a 
pretty wild region. Did you ever come across any large 
game there — grizzly bears or anything of that kind?" 
"Why, yes,T;herc was plenty of large game there; but 
I never saw but one live grizzly bear. I traveled about 
a good deal, teaching and selling instruments. One time 
I came to a house and arranged to stay over night. As 
It was only the middle of the afternoon, I took a walk of 
a few miles around to view the scenery, and, as was my 
habit there, took my repeater with me; and weU it was 
that I did so, because, as I was passing along the side of 
a clump of bushes, an immense grizzly bear rose upon 
his hind legs not over ten feet away. T was too close 
to him to run, and I knew that I had to kill that bear 
or he would kill me, so I shot him and kept shooting. 
He did not move alter the first shot, until he tumbled 
over dead. I had killed him the first shot. He w'as as 
large as a good-sized steer." 
"Well, what did you do with him?" 
"We skinned him and took what meat we wanted, it 
was more than could be used there, and, besides, took a 
large strip and hung it up on the side of the log house. 
Meat Avill keep that way in that climate a long time. 
That night, hearing a nojse outside, I looked out of the 
chamber window, and in 'the clear moonlight saw a large 
cougar sniffling the bear meat hung on the house. With- 
out wak-ing Badgley. who was sleeping in the same room, 
I shot and killed the cougar (or mountain lion). The 
report brought Badgley out of bed scared nearly to death. 
He went down and skinned the cougar. Afterward we 
shipped the .skins to a tannery and had them tanned. I 
gave the cougar skin to Badgley. The bear skin green 
weio'hed 169 pounds. The skins dressed with the fur on 
brought $40 for the bear and $15 for the cougar." This 
was told by the Professor in the forenoon. Rather late 
in the afternoon an old Irish friend,' a neighbor, called 
in to see how the leg was getting "jinted up and all 
rio'ht" and was introduced to the Professor with the 
remark that, as the Professor had been a long time 
in the State of Oregon, he could tell him something of 
the big game out there. 
"Well, I would loike to hear it: did ye iver see enny 
hio- bears out there,^and ain't they dangerous?" 
"Yes I have seen some large game. I shot the largest 
bear that was ever seen out in that part of the country 
■ where I lived ; at least, all these old settlers said so. At 
one time an enormous griz7,ly was reported to be near 
the foot of the mountain, only a few miles away, where 
he had done considerable damage to stock, for, so far, no 
one had been able to kill him. and many did not hke to 
attack him on account of his great size. One day he was 
seen not far off. Indian boys had seen him m the dis- 
tance about two miles away and were afraid to shoot at him 
because their guns were poor ones. It was concluded to 
trv and stop his depredations on the cattle, so a few oi 
us went along, including the Indian boys, to show where 
Ihev had seen him. The party had not gone over two 
miles when they found him eating a cow that he had 
killed I knew that 'a grizzly did not care anything lor 
