FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Jan. i6, 1964. 
and swing around, so as to pick up the tracks where ottr 
boys had seen them. We went around till we had passeJ 
clear around, and, not finding any tracks, started for the 
camp, expecting to find others there, and when we had 
got to within about half a mile of the camp we came to 
Dan M. and Johnnie, who were following a track. I tol 1 
theni that was not Billy's track, it toed out too much, 
and if they followed that track a while they would find 
it came back to camp. This they did, and the track re- 
turned. Some of the boys at camp had been after birds. 
We went to camp, but none of those could tell just where 
Billy had left, and which ridge he had started up. Dan 
M. and Johnnie went up the ridge. Lew Murphy and 
Harford went up the next ridge above, I we*it out about 
a quarter mile from camp and made a complete circle of 
the camp; and when I got back to camp I found what 
I took to be a trail made by our boys, but it was very 
dim, as there had been rain all Sunday night, Monday, 
Monday night and Tuesday and Tuesday night, and till 
noon Wednesday. The snow that had fallen from the 
trees had put out all tracks under the trees where they 
were thick. I followed the ti-acks I found for over a 
mile, and came to where a track had gone up the hill, 
and this I felt certain was Billy's tracks. I followed for 
at least three miles and came to where a very big pine 
tree had fallen across a sharp point of the hill ; it stuck 
up several feet, and under this I found Billy's tracks, as 
well as those of his dog. 
When I got out on to the open ground I could see the 
track quite plainly. I hollered for the boys and soon they 
answered and came. We followed the tracks quite fast, 
separating a little way, and in keeping the direction when 
one would lose the tracks the other would pick them up. 
We followed till half-past one, and stopped for lunch. 
Then we took up the tracks, and went right along. Soon 
we came to where Billy had started some deer; we could 
tell by the many impresions in the snow, but we had 
trouble in finding where he had gone, as we tracked him 
'round to where he had recrossed his tracks several times. 
^ was getting late. I found where he had gone down a 
..ill toward Nine Mile, and I told the boys we had 
better return to town and get pack horses and come out 
again, as it would be after dark before we got back. This 
was agreed to, and it was dark before we got to the 
summit, and when we got down in sight of Billy's house 
we saw a light, and I tell you we were greatly pleased, 
for we thought he had come in, which proved to be true. 
We hollered at him, as the road did not go close to the 
cabin, and we thought we would learn the particulars 
later. He had wounded a deer where we had left the 
tracks and followed it down toward Nine Mile, and he 
laid out Sunday night, and Monday he went down Nine 
Mile to a miner's cabin, which he reached at 4 P. M., 
tired and hungry, and as it rained all day Tuesday he 
stayed in camp, and the same Wednesday. He said he 
never thought of us hunting him till Thursday morning, 
when he started home, which he reached a little ahead 
of us. I tell you we were glad that we did not have to 
return next day, for following tracks is hard work for 
Lew Wilmot. 
The Cfttismg Otttfit. 
AN OPEN LETTER TO RAYMOND S. SPEARS.' 
Dear Sir — I have read with interest your account of 
preparing for a trip down the Mississippi River. There 
seems to be something lacking; but of course no two 
could have agreed on everything. There are a few things 
I insist on; one is comfort. There is only one way to 
enjoy this perfectly on such a trip. You must have a 
7x7 tent, 3 foot wall, and a good tent stove. Not an oil 
stove to cook on ; you can take one of those, too, if you 
iike; but a sheet iron tent stove to burn wood in and 
keep you warm and cheerful on rainy, gloomy days and 
nights. A box 7 inches square and 14 inches long, with 
2^ inches pipe, not smaller, will keep you warm in the 
coldest of weather inside a good 7x7 tent. Also you could 
take a folding cot, then you will be complete in that 
line, and have added only about forty pounds to your 
load, which in a boat so commodious as y&irs is nothing. 
Now, I want you to add these, for I am gomg to think of 
you often during the winter, and I would like to think of 
you on rainy nights as camped on a bayou under the mis- 
tletoe or cypress, as the case might be, tent walls aglow 
with fire and lamp light, leaning back in deepest reverie 
or jotting down the events of the day. You are at home. 
You have grown familiar with your surroundings, and in- 
side with the flaps closed you are comfortable and con- 
tent, no matter in what wild spot or how the rain patters 
of the wind moans through the pines. I have been there 
through many hundreds of crooked miles. Now, help a 
iellow out and get in shape and "I'll be with you 'til the 
roses bloom again." E. P. Jaques. 
**lt Just Happens So/* 
Your editorial (in issue of January 2) is in line with 
experiences of my own. Time and again when finding a 
man out and awaiting his return for a reasonable time — 
in other words, when I became satisfied that time was 
up — I have brought the man into his office by simply 
writing him a note. Sometimes he comes in before I have 
v/ritten two lines, and again as the note was finished. 
Repeatedly have I done this. Sometimes I have said to 
the clerk, "I guess I will hurry Mr. So and So up. 
Please give me a piece of writing paper and see if he does 
not return at once." And so it would happen. 
I even did this on you once. I think you had been out 
to lunch a matter of two hours or more. I, too, here 
called you to your desk and duty by writing you a note, 
only to tear it up as you walked in. It works every time ; 
in fact, I can recall no case where I tried it and failed. 
I never tried it on a man who had gone to Europe or out 
of town; I do not know just how it would work in such 
cases. Write this up for the benefit of humanity. 
Charles Cristadoro. 
All communications for Forest and Stream must^ he 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, to 
receive attention. We have other oiHcf. 
- — . ^ 
Cats Eating Corn. 
As I see that several writers seem to think this an 
unusual occurrence, I will say that my experience is that 
a large majority of cats will eat sweet corn both when 
cooked and also raw off the cob. They do this from 
choice, and not because pressed by hunger. Many cats 
will also eat turnip, squash, and potato when cooked. 
While scientists separate animals by dentition into 
rodents and carnivora, the fact is that nearly all of the 
rodents will eat both flesh and fish, and most of the car- 
nivora will eat some kind of vegetable food. Rats, mice, 
squirrels and porcupines will eat meat as quickly as any 
of the carnivora; squirrels will not only eat meat, but 
will kill young birds and suck eggs; chipmunks will kill 
and eat mice, and I have known of one carrying in his 
mouth a snake a foot long which he probably intended to 
eat. Flying squirrels will eat others which are in traps. 
Anyone who has ever set traps for bears knows how often 
porcupines and rabbits get into their traps. Some will say 
that they are attracted by something salt which was used 
tor bait, but I have taken porcupines where the bait 
was perfectly fresh meat, and have taken rabbits in log 
ti-aps when set for both sable and mink, which in some 
cases were baited with perfectly fresh fish, and in others 
with fresh meat. I have known muskrats to be caught in 
a log trap baited with meat. Samuel Hearne, in his 
"Journey from Prince of Wales Fort to the Northern 
Ocean," says, in speaking of a tame beaver, that he has 
kept several of them, and that "in general during the 
winter they lived on the same food as the women did, 
and were remarkably fond of rice and plum pudding. 
They could eat partridges and fresh venison very freely, 
but I never tried them on fish, though I have heard that 
at times they will prey on them." 
The only rodent I know ot which will not at some times 
and under some circumstances eat meat and fish is the 
woodchuck, and I should not be surprised but, if taken 
young, one could learn. 
On the other hand, nearly all carnivora will eat vege- 
table food. Wolves and foxes will eat beech nuts when 
they can get plenty of other food. I have seen where a 
wolf ate beech nuts where just before he had eaten deer 
meat. I have seen a wolf taken in a bear trap in June 
whose stomach was full of young beech leaves. There 
was no doubt that this wolf was very hungry, or else he 
would not have entered into the trap, but it proves that 
in some cases they will eat even leaves. Every hunter 
knows that both bears and raccoons will eat every kind of 
grain, nuts, or berries. Bears also eat many kinds of 
roots, some of which — like the Indian turnip (Jack-in- 
the-pulpit) — few other animals would touch. Pine mar- 
tin and fisher will eat the berries of mountain ash, also 
beech nuts. Whether any of the deer tribe will ever eat 
meat is something I do not know, but I have seen a horse 
eat a dish of stewed meat, and travelers tell us that in 
some parts of Norway and Sweden the cattle in winter 
are fed on dried fish heads, so it seems there are no hard 
and fast rules as to what animals will, or will not, eat. 
M. Hardy. 
Breiver, Me , Jan. 8. 
The Meadowlark Again. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Your worthy contributor, M. of Northside, in a recent 
number of Forest and Stream, made such kindly allusion 
to some of the letters of Coahoma, that my appreciation 
thereof is but little marred by the mild censure that fol- 
lows. Yet am I constrained to offer defense of what I 
consider to be a very natural position assumed by me 
concerning the shooting of meadow larks, which resulted, 
unfortunately, in wounding the sensibilities of M. of 
Northside, and perhapi> of others, who view the question 
from a difi^erent standpoint than my. own. 
My courteous opponent appears to have retained a 
somewhat mixed impression as between my own utter- 
ances and some that were quoted by me from the pen of 
John James Audubon; as the suggestion that meadow 
larks were an easy mark for young sportsmen to practice 
on was Audubon's and not my own. Your contributor 
seems also unmindful of the circumstances that called out 
my article of which he complains, which was to defend a 
minister of the church, who is a Southerner, against the 
unseemly abuse of a brother minister, who rudely charged 
him with moral turpitude of the grossest character be- 
cause he shot some meadow larks, and in doing so un- 
wittingly violated a local game law. My object was to 
show that it was perfectly natural for a Southerner- — at 
least one from the Gulf States — to shoot these birds with- 
out the slightest suspicion of wrong doing in the eyes of 
other people; and used arguments to that end which 
merely reflected the common and generally accepted view 
of the matter in this part of the country. 
■ The simple fact is, as I endeavored to show, that in 
the Gulf States the meadow lark is regarded as a game 
bird and not as a song bird. This is sufficiently attested 
by reference to the game law of Mississippi, which in- 
cludes the meadow lark in the category of game birds, 
along with doves and partridges ; and affords him the 
same measure of protection by fixing for him a close 
season along with the other named game birds. The 
meadow lark here is more in evidence during the fall and 
winter months than in the spring and summer. He is 
found in association with doves and partridges, feeding 
on the same ground and possessing the same general 
habits; and is, moreover, very abundant, with everything 
to suggest the propriety of shooting him along with the 
others, except that he is not held in the same esteem as 
a target for skillful shooters. 
It would probably never occur to dwellers in the Gulf 
States that the meadow lark is to be considered as a song 
bird; and the suggestion would strike such an one as de- 
cidedly novel. As between the frequent, clear, and 
musical call of Bob White, and the feeble and infrequent 
notes of the meadow lark,_ the former would probably be 
voted to have much superior claims of the two to be ex- 
^tflpte^ from the list of game bird? and exalte^ to that 
of, the songsters in this part of the country ; artd yet S«ch 
a proposition would be regarded as absurd. 
We are apt to forget that there is no such thing av 
bird ethics, except as created in the human mind, with 
leference to human sensibilities and utilities, and the kind 
of esteem in which different birds are held by diilerent 
people if purely a question of environment, depending 
upon latitude and climatic conditions, which in turn con- 
trol the local character and habits of the birds. 
But it is difficult for any of us to overcome that inborn 
spirit of provincialism in this and other matters that pre- 
vents us from making due allowance for the differing 
views of those who are differently environed, and looking 
at a subject from a different standpoint. 
I trust that my esteemed friend, M. of Northside, to 
whom I should like to extend a hand of welcome, both 
as an "Old Virginian" and one of the noble Forest and 
Stream brotherhood, will vouchsafe a modicum of 
charity toward his less sophisticated (in bird ethics) fel- 
low Southerner from further South, and at least accord 
to him as favorable a footing as that of "the poor be- 
nighted Hindoo," etc. 
With a happy New Year to Forest and Stream and all 
its readers, I subscribe myself, everybody's friend, 
Coahoma. 
P. S.— I will suggest to the editor that he apply the 
refrain put into the meadow lark's song by the Southern 
iiegroes_"laz-i-ness kill yo-u-u"— to the musical notes 
given in the last Forest and Stream as representing its 
musical expression, and note how more* perfectly they 
fit its cadence than do the words "Spring o' the year." 
Coahoma. 
The Night Hawk. 
The communications relating to the night hawk have 
been of more than passing interest to me. I have on a 
number of occasions seen these birds flying about in 
Manhattan, their flight being sometimes high in the air, 
and as often hardly above the roofs of the buildings. 
That they deposit their eggs and rear their young on the 
flat roofs 1 have not the shadow of a doubt, for as they 
are here in considerable numbers throughout the sum- 
mer we can hardly imagine that they do not breed here, 
and it would be nothing strange that they should do so, 
for it is their habit to nidify on the flat tops of buildings 
in other cities. 
I have on several occasions found their eggs on flat 
roofs in Boston, and when I was connected with the State 
Cabinet other specimens of the eggs that were also found 
in such places were brought to me for identification. 
In W. A. Steam's book on birds (edited by Dr. Coues), 
it is stated that the eggs are laid on "the flat concreted 
roofs of houses in large cities, where the heat of the sun 
helps to incubate them, as it does those of terns and 
sandpipers, while the birds are flying about in broad day- 
light." 
Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, who was in his day an 
ornithologist of repute, affirms that the mansard roofs of 
many of the houses in Boston afford "a safe and suitable 
shelter at night, as well as a place of deposit for its 
eggs." 
Dir. Tumbull also states that the flat roofs of extensive 
warehouses in Philadelphia near the river were employed 
for similar purposes. The birds are more numerous as 
summer residents in New York than most persons im- 
agine ; in fact, the number who have noticed them here in 
their peculiar erratic flight is probably very small. 
A good point from which their aerial evolutions may 
be witnessed is the Battery; dozens of the birds may 
occasionally J)e seen there on summer afternoons darting 
about in pursuit of their insect prey. 
In their woodland homes they construct no nest, but 
deposit their eggs on the earth or dry humus, or the 
moss-covered surface of a ledge. 
An extract from the description I have given of the 
habits of this bird in my book on ornithology may be 
of interest here. 
"This bird arrives in New England about the tenth of 
May; at this time great numbers may be observed at 
early twilight coursing through the air in different direc- 
tions, sometimes at a great height, and often just above 
the fields and mn hes when near the sea coast, where 
they destroy gre:il numbers of insects. 
"Their flight is very rapid, their long wings giving 
quick, powerful sweeps, and as they dart about in many 
eccentric movements busily gleaning their food, they 
utter at oft-repeated intervals their short note or squeak, 
which almost exactly resembles that of the common Eng- 
lish or Wilson's snipe. 
"About the middle of May, or certainly by the twentieth 
of that month in a latitude as high as Maine, the male 
comrnences his attentions to the female, his movements 
at this time, are interesting, and from their common 
occurrence are famihar to all who live in the country. 
"At -early evening and in <:loudy weather throughout 
the greater part of the day he ascends into the air, and 
when be has attained a considerable height partially clos- 
ing his wings he drops with great velocity through the 
distance of seventy-five or one hundred feel, sometimes 
nearly to the earth. 
"The sound made by the air passing through the wing 
quills is so loud that I have often heard it at certainly 
the distance of half a mile; it resembles, as Nuttall truly 
says, the sound produced by blowing into the bung-hole 
of an empty hogshead. This act is often repeated, the 
bird darting about_ at the same time in every direction, 
and uttering his snipe-like squeak. 
"Wilson was of the opinion that this habit of the night 
hawk is confined to the period of incubation, the male 
acting in this manner, as he thought, to intimidate any 
person from approaching the nest. 
_ "I have had abundant opportunities for observing the 
bird in all times of the summer and during its stay in tb* 
north, and I should unhesitatingly affirm that from the 
time of early courtship until the young are hatched, if not 
after, the male acts in this eccentric manner. 
"The eggs are two in number, efliptical in ihape, of a 
dirty white color, with fine dottings of different shades- 
of brown, with obscure markings of slate color, and some 
spots of lavender. I have found numbers of their nesting 
places in northern Maine, where invwalking over a pas- 
ture or rocky field T have flushed, sometimes, a bird itt 
