Jan. 4, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
7 
these color phases seem to have no relation to season or 
to age. One of these is usually redder than the other, 
though the difference is not always easy to define. Mr. 
John Fannin, Curator of the Provincial Museum of Vic- 
toria, declares thaj: on Vancouver Island the brown color 
is the common one and the red is rather rare. On the 
mainland of British Columbia the red is more common. 
In the case of the Rocky Mountain species — which Dr. 
Merriam has named horse killer (hippolestes) — Mr. 
Roosevelt describes the colors of the cougar as red and 
blue, and of those which he killed, six animals were red 
and six were blue. 
Dr. Merriam in the paper in question enumerates and 
describes eleven species and sub-species of cougar, which 
!he calls': 
Adirondack Cougar, Panther (Felis couguar, Kerr). 
The material for the study of this form is very limited, 
since the animals inhabiting Pennsylvania, New York, 
New England and the higher Alleghanies have almost 
altogether disappeared from the face of the earth. One, 
killed in 1881, was shot in Barnard, Vt., and is now in the 
State collection at Montpelier. 
Florida Cougar {Felis coryi, Bangs). 
This is the Florida form characterized among other 
things by a rich, rusty, reddish color and large size. 
Rocky Mountain Cougar, Mountain Lion (Felis hip- 
polestes, Merriam). 
This is the form commonly found in the Rocky 
Mountains of the West. Its skulls are larger and more 
massive than those of other members of the group, except 
the Pacific coast form, and the sagittal crest, or bony 
ridge, running lengthwise along the top of the back of 
the skull, is enormously developed. One of the males be- 
longing to President Roosevelt's series is a giant, and 
has the largest skull of any puma Dr. Merriam has ever 
seen. In the flesh this animal measured 8 feet in total 
length, and weighed 227 pounds. 
Pacific Cougar (Felis hippolestes olympus). 
This is the cougar found in the coast region of British 
Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. Like 
many birds and mammals of coasts, it is darker than its 
near relative which occupies the Rocky Mountains. The 
skull is large and massive and the frontal bone much 
swollen. 
Mexican Cougar (Felis hippolestes aztecus, Merriam). 
This is a large and powerful beast, yet deicdedly smaller 
than the Rocky Mountain form, and now first described. 
It is very much paler than the red Florida cougar. It 
is found from Arizona south through Mexico. 
Brazilian Puma (Felis concolor, Linn.). 
Dr. Merriam's description is based on two skulls, which 
on the whole are lighter and smoother than those of any 
of the North American forms. 
North Andean Puma (Felis bangsi Merriam). 
Is similar to the Brazilian form in the skull characters, 
but with some color differences. 
Central American Puma (Felis bangsi constaricensis, 
Merriam). 
This is a new sub-species based on two skins from Costa 
Rica, presented by the World's Fair Costa Rica Commis- 
sion in 1893. The Central American puma, while gen- 
erally similar to F. bangsi, is very much darker and red- 
der, particularly on the belly, which is red like the sides 
with only a narrow white line down the middle. 
Andean Puma (Felis puma, Molina). 
This form has the skull and teeth large and massive, and 
is grayish in color, instead of being fulvous. It inhabits 
the high mountains. 
South Andean Puma (Felis puma patagonica, Mer- 
riam) . 
This is another large form, gray in color, with large 
and massive skull and teeth. As its skull is described, one 
would imagine it to be low and long rather than high and 
round. It comes from the base of the Andes. 
Santa Cruz Coast Puma (Felis puma pearsoni, 
Thomas). 
This puma is described as being clay color, as having a 
short tail, and the back of the ears and the toes very pale. 
It comes from the coast region of Patagonia. 
It will surprise many people, who have not given atten- 
tion to the subject, to learn of the existence of so many 
forms of puma on the American continent^ Yet, as we all 
know that animals vary with the conditions of their 
lives, it was to be expected that different regions of the 
two Americas should have developed forms of cougars 
which differ widely one from another. 
Yet opportunities seldom occur to compare members of 
a single group from regions as far apart as Canada and 
Patagonia and the Atlantic and Pacific. 
Christmas Trees. 
Barre, Vt., Dec. 22. — Editor Forest and Stream: In 
the last issue of Forest and Stream mention was made of 
the destruction wrought by the Christmas tree industry 
upon our forests. While every effort should be put forth' 
to preserve our infant forests, there is, however, another 
side to the Christmas tree traffic, as observed by me in this 
State. The trees which are harvested would in no way 
help to benefit the coming generation in way of building 
material. The pasture land that is now used for grazing 
is fast growing up to scrub or dwarf spruce, which would 
in ordinary events be cut and burned to keep it for 
pasturage. Many owners of forest land t have at least the 
protection of the young growth, and in cutting simply 
weed out, giving space for the more vigorous growth 
for those remaining. 
The children of this age should reap some of its fruits. 
There are thousands of little ones who are not privileged 
to play beneath the growing branches and breathe in the 
perfumes of the forest air. There are, too, older mem- 
bers of the family made quite as happy as the little one, 
and the fragrance of the spruce carries them back to boy- 
hood days on the farm. The Christmas tree is to the 
child of to-day what the stocking was to the child of the 
past. Who would have those memories wiped away? I 
believe there is a more monstrous steal from our forest 
along other lines than the. yearly Slitting of stunted ever- 
greeny *' 1"..'".'.:.^,^=' B'A'lr 
The Porcupine's Quills. 
Montreal, Que. — Editor Forest and Stream: Though 
the birth of the Forest and Stream was not many decades 
ago, and it has not yet arrived at the period of being eyen 
middle-aged, it is in some respects a mature giant. In 
its columns many old-time beliefs have been thrashed out, 
in many were found only chaff, while in a few were found 
well-developed grain, well worth the threshing. It has 
cleared up the mystery about the panther's scream, and 
has decided that the panther does scream — that is, those 
east of the Rockies can do so, though their hearers' hair 
cannot rise nor their blood curdle. 
It has taught us that the silver gray or black fox are 
mostly of the masculine gender, if a few are of the 
opposite sex they are always sterile. 
The "hoop snake" has been declared a "myth," and 
the snake with a stinger or horny spur in his tail . 
Well, some years ago we expected to have thrown some 
light on this subject, and have sent a specimen of such 
a tail to the natural history editor of the Forest and 
Stream, but our darky stable boy found the specimen in 
the buggy and threw the "no account snake's tail" out for 
the ducks to gobble down. The Rev. Horace Jones, one of 
our readers, can vouch for this, as he was present at that 
time, as we cannot show the tail, we make no public 
claim that it had either stinger or thorn, though we 
privately know that it had some such a thing, and that 
it used its tail "mighty queer." At the time that we killed 
it we were both sober, and not given to optical illusions, 
though the writer once in the winter saw a black and tan 
hound running that neither gave tongue nor left a track 
in the deep newly fallen snow. 
Let us have more light on the following question : Can 
the common, every-day hedgehog "throw his quills" ? 
If so, How does it do it ? and How far can it throw them ? 
We here make a claim that they can do this, and throw a 
shower of a dozen or more at the same time. To back 
us up in this statement, we can quote as authority a well- 
known United States fishery official, a gentleman who is 
a close observer of what he sees in the woods, as well as 
on the streams, and is one not given to making rash 
assertions, quiet, unassuming and a most' dangerous op- 
ponent at a game of chess. Regarding this quill-throwing, 
in one instance the animal was clinging to the body of a 
tree some seven or eight feet from the ground, and it 
discharged its darts fully fifteen feet from the tree by 
giving a muscular "whack" with its tail against the tree. 
Who else has observed this fact? Stanstead. " 
[The myth that the porcupine can discharge its quills 
to a distance is one of very great antiquity, and, like many 
myths, it has at its foundation a grain of truth. The 
porcupine's defensive armature lies in the quills scattered 
over its body, and above all, thickly implanted in its tail. 
When threatened by enemies, it uses the tail as a weapon, 
thrashing and jerking it about from side to side, to the 
great danger of any living creature that may be within 
reach of it. Now the quills of a porcupine are so 
loosely inserted in the skin that they become detached 
very easily. They are sharp-pointed and barbed, and so 
stick into anything that they may be roughly brought in 
contact with. Any one who has ever poked a porcupine 
with a stick will remember that in a very short time many 
quills were found with their points buried in the stick. 
The violent thrashings and blows given by the tail of 
the porcupine which is defending itself, loosen many of 
these quills, which often are thrown short distances, but 
never more than a few inches, since the quills are far too 
light in weight to carry any distance. The fact is that 
quills may be — and often are— shaken from the tail of a 
porcupine and fall near it. Stanstead in the last sentence 
or two of his letter explains precisely the way in which 
these quills are loosened and then fall to the ground. It 
is interesting to notice that the thrashing of the porcu- 
pine's tail against wood, or the ground or leaves, is accom- 
panied by considerable noise, and that the quills rattle 
against each other. It has been suggested that this sounds 
like a challenge and that it is also a warning.] 
A Maine Fox Farm. 
Boston, Dec. 28. — The ravages of the great freshet 
were many in the hunting and fishing regions of Maine. 
Deer were seen swimming for their lives at several points 
along the overflown intervales and marshes on both the 
Kennebec and Androscoggin. At Moluncus they evi- 
dently attempted to cross the stream above the dam, where 
it had been solid ice for two or three weeks before, They 
broke in, and guides and lumbermen say that they fared 
hard in the icy water. 
Elijah Norton, of Dover, Piscataquis.county, Me., has a 
novel farm at that town, only a few minutes' walk from 
the village.^ He raises nothing on it but foxes. It is a 
rocky, hillside pasture and piece of woodland, surrounded 
by a high wire fence. The fence, or a continuation of 
it, is sunk into the earth four or five feet, to prevent 
the foxes burroAving out. In this direction it has proved 
a success, for in the three or four years the farm has 
been run, not a fox is known to have escaped. Mr. Nor- 
ton has silver grays, Alaskan blues and a few of the 
common red foxes in the inclosure. He raises these ani- 
mals for profit, and so far the fox business has been a 
success, although the original Alaska blues and silver 
grays cost a good deal of money. He has about fifty 
animals in all now, the different breeds being kept in 
separate inclosures. They have become quite tame, and 
will come at the whistle of their owner, to be fed. Some 
very high prices have been received by Mr. Norton for 
fox pelts, especially the silver grays, single skins counting 
well up into the hundreds of dollars. 
Special. 
A Strong- Calf. 
New York, Dec. 26.—Editor Forest and Stream: Dur- 
ing a recent visit to the Southern Cheyennes in Oklahoma 
Territory I was told by an old Indian, Wolf Chief by 
name, of an odd incident of buffalo hunting in the old 
days, which seems worth repeating. 
In 1868, while running buffalo on Crooked Creek, a 
tributary of the Cirnmaron River from the north, the 
Cheyennes killed a very large cow. They skinned her, 
and after the hide had been taken off opened tie carcase. 
It contained, a yery Jarge calf, and those wh.g were) 
butchering dragged the sack containing it off to one side 
and left it there. 
When they had finished cutting up the meat, some one 
noticed that the sack moved, and cutting it open found 
that it contained a big living calf, which at once began 
to breathe. 
Wolf Chief's son worked over the calf, rubbing it dry 
and taking off the false hoofs, and before they got through 
with their work and were ready to move away the calf 
stood up and raised its tail over its back. This showed the 
strength and spirit of the calf. 
Nothing like this was ever seen by the Cheyennes 
before. G. B. G. 
§mi(e gng mid §un. 
<s> 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
A Hunting Trip to Catfish Lake. 
Frank Tweed is an enthusiastic hunter and fisher- 
man, is a good farmer, provides well for his family, and 
in fact, possesses all the qualities necessary to make a 
man a good neighbor and a good citizen. His house is 
everybody's home. 
It was Christmas week, and Frank had his full share of 
visitors from town and county, mostly relatives. As soon 
as he could excuse himself he came over to my house and 
invited me to go Avith him on a camp hunt, saying that 
he would be gone about a week, and that he had invited 
Mike Man, Dan Parker and Paul Monro to go with us. 
These boys were our relatives, and clerks in grocery 
stores in the town of Kinston when not in school. 
"I want to start this afternoon," he said, "for I never 
was so tired of fools and 'pop crackers' and 'squealin' 
horns' and drunken hypocrites in my life. I want to 
get where truth is — in the woods." I left the preacher 
at my house, and he was complaining of indigestion 
when I left. I encouraged him to stay till we returned, 
which he promised he would do, as a kindness to me. 
But I do not think he wanted me to leave, at least he 
did not encourage me anv to go. 
"What did he say?" I "asked. 
"Why, he asked me if it would not make us all sick 
camping in the woods? I told him there was not half 
as much danger in getting sick from camping as there 
was from eating so much rich food." 
"How did he reply to that?" 
"Oh, he said, 'Don't you think it cruel to kill the 
pretty deer?' I told him it was no more cruel to kill 
deer to eat than it was to wring a chicken's head off, and 
that was done every Sunday morning before church, and 
nothing said about it. He changed the subject a little 
then by telling me that, 'he had read in some State paper 
that it cost more to keep the dogs of the State than all 
the preachers were paid.' My wife (who had all the 
while been listening) then asked, 'What answer did you 
make?' Why, I told him we must keeps hounds or the 
foxes and minks would destroy all the poultry. And 
quoted these lines from Scott to help me out: 
" 'The slow hound wakes the fox's lair, 
The greyhound presses on the hare. 
* * * « * • 
Man only mars kind nature's plan, 
And turns the fierce pursuit on man.' " 
He asked no more questions then, but told me he was 
very fond of venison, and especially the liver, and if we 
killed a deer to be sure to bring the liver with us. I 
assured him that he should have the liver, and he might 
look for us in a week or sooner." 
Catfish Lake, for which we were bound, is very se- 
cluded. The state owns it and 100,000 acres that adjoin it, 
so that no one could prevent us hunting on it. The lake 
is about ten miles from any railroad, and three miles 
from any dirt road, with only a very dim path (over 
tussocks and briers) leading to it. Consequently, there 
is not much hunting done around it, and there is plenty 
of game, which was my main reason for going there. We 
concluded to take only four hounds, the oldest and best 
trained — -Roosevelt, Major, Hot Stuff and Potlicker. In 
about two hours we were in a coA'ered farm wagon be- 
hind two lively mules, with Roosevelt chained to the 
wagon and the other dogs running loose, heading for 
Catfish Lake. 
It was about dark when we arrived in Kinston. We 
found Dan, Mike and Paul ready and waiting for us. 
They had prepared enough cakes and canned food to 
last their healthy young appetites at least two weeks. 
Boys at their age have good appetites. I was once a 
boy, and know. 
We were soon on the road again, and when we were 
out of town we stopped to eat supper and feed the mules. 
(Teams ought to be fed at their regular time if you ex- 
pect them to hold out on the road.) We soon had a 
bright fire of dry brush, and when the coffee had boiled 
we began eating a supper that surpassed anything we 
had seen during Christmas. Try it, you dyspeptics, and 
get well and live. 
When we started on, Tweed thought it best to fasten 
the other dogs as they would probably run off after 
something, and we would lose much time in getting them 
back again. However, he concluded not to tie Hot 
Stuff, but would let him go loose, and he said that he 
would take the lantern and walk ahead of the wagon 
and hunt some. 
"What do you expect to catch, Uncle Frank?" asked 
Mike. 
"Well, I don't know; a coon, possum or a polecat. 
T want to walk some, anyway, if Mr. Mewboorne wilt 
drive the mules. You youngsters can come with me." 
I understood Frank. It was more to amuse the boys 
than anything else. I well knew that his possum hunt- 
ing days (as well as mine) were past. That is sport 
only for boys. I can never forget the hunts with the old 
slave negroes on my father's farm when I was a boy. 
The very thought of those happy days thrills my soul 
With joy. I know I enjoyed them as much as Lipton 
does his yacht Shamrock. 
"How are they blotted from the things that be." 
Frank and the boys had not gone more than a mile be? 
