March 12, 1904.] 
Of course it is not denied that the birds whose nests 
were destroyed as related very probably rebuih, nor that 
the martins and swallows may thrive and increase next 
year, but that the chances for a repetition of the same 
tragedies are just as probable can also not be denied, 
and it is because "we are," as Mr. Brewster says, "so 
nearly powerless to foresee and prevent such tragedies" 
that attention has been drawn to them with such 
particularity. 
Given so many evils we cannot control, what shall be 
done about some not of that class? Make stringent laws 
and see they are enforced. The key to the future lies in 
the hands of the children, and they are not likely to sym - 
pathize very deeply with "the poor little birds," however 
poetically persuaded, so long as their mothers wear whole 
bodies or even their breasts. Assurances of their being 
made from feathers of domestic fowls may satisfy their 
wearers, but even with the milliner's certificate attached, 
the distinction is too fine for the average boy or girl. 
They are simply dead birds to them, and the habit of re- 
garding them legitimate spoil, whether killed for sport, 
for food, or to ornament the gentler sex, has become too 
firmly fixed for anything to cure, save the making and 
enforcing of prohibitive laws, and unless we do this, next 
year's production will fall short of this in an ever-increas- 
ing ratio as time goes on until nothing remains. 
Mrs. L. McG. Stephenson. 
Helena, Ark. 
The Starling. 
Jersey City, Feb. 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: In 
answer to Robt. T. Morris, in Forest and Stream of 
February 13, as to how starlings feed during winter, I will 
say from personal observation that large numbers of these 
birds can be seen almost any day feeding along the 
Hackensack meadows on a seed called "blue bens." This 
plant is very common on the meadows, in some places 
covering many acres of ground, growing to a height of 
three feet, and hanging heavy with seed. 
It not only serves as food for the starlings, but all small 
birds that remain on the meadows during winter feed on 
it, and a friend of mine tells me he killed a black duck 
during the very high water of late last fall, and found 
him to be full of this same seed. I inclose some which I 
gathered to-day, and would be pleased to have you state 
whether "blue bens" is the right name or not. 
A few years ago blackbirds were very common on the 
meadows, and to-day they are anything but common, and 
in their places we see large flocks of starlings. What has 
become of the vast numbers of blackbirds? I do not see 
half as many to-day as I did a few years ago. Has our 
friend the starling anything to do with it? 
W. _H. Keim. 
[Some of the British bird books say that in Scotland, 
where in winter the frost and snow cover up most sources 
of food supply,, the starlings feed on the sea beach, sand, 
rocks, and mud flats uncovered at low tide. They have 
been observed feeding on the mud flats of the Harlem 
River, below Highbridge, New York, this winter. The 
grass sent by Mr. Keim is the tall smooth 
panic grass {Panicum virgatimi., L.), one of the 
millet grasses which grows quite commonly over the 
whole Atlantic Coast, and spreads widely toward the 
west. The panic grasses are an important group of food 
grasses which afford fodder and grain food to many ani- 
mals and birds. The blackbirds, about which our corre- 
spondent inquires, have grown scarce in many localities 
where once they were abundant. These birds do enormous 
damage to the rice crops of the South, and are there 
destroyed in great numbers. At the same time we have 
seen at various places in the South in winter vast flocks 
of these birds.] 
* New York, March 2. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 
flock of starlings in Lawrence Park is apparently being 
broken up by the fancy that comes when' a livelier I'ris 
changes on the burnished dove, and the males are in full 
song. They may be seen and heard at almost any time 
of day. The starling will probably rival the fox sparrow 
as an early songster, and it is interesting to note the 
early mating, after a winter so severe that all ordinary 
food supply has been out of reach for weeks at a time. 
Robert T. Morris. 
South Orange, N. J., Feb. 22— Editor Forest and 
Stream: In last week's number of Forest and Stream 
T notice that your correspondent mentions the fact that 
starlings are increasing the area of their range in his 
locality. In the immediate vicinity of South Orange, N. 
J., I had never observed them previous to a couple of 
months ago, when a flock of some forty or fifty indi- 
viduals suddenly appeared in town and remained during 
the cold weather. At first the birds were rather wild, and 
it was only with some difficulty that I secured one for 
purposes of .identification ; but during the coldest days, 
and especially after a snowfall, they became quite 
familiar, spending their time either perched in the apple 
trees, or picking away at the ivy which grew on the 
house, while at night a number roosted behind the shut- 
ters on the third story. Crumbs and grain they persist- 
ently refused at all times, but they cleared my ivy of ber- 
ries, and pecked at every frozen apple in the orchard. 
It is now some years since starlings were first intro- 
duced into this country, and it would be interesting to 
learn from other sources just how far these familiar 
European birds have extended the area of their range. 
From all reports they are increasing rapidly, and it is not 
improbalile that within a decade , at least they will have 
become well established in many localities. 
It is always interesting to watch the progress of a 
foreign species which has been introduced into a new 
environment. Let us hope that the_ little stranger will 
not develop any of those qualities which sometimes prove 
introduction a disastrous failure. Australia suffers from, 
the ravage's of the rabbit. The mongoose is the greatest 
calamity which ever befell Jamaica; and to-day there is 
hardly a village in the United States which does not suffer 
the tyranny of that diminutive rascal, the English spar- 
row Wm. Arthur Babson. 
Prince's Bay, N. Y. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Robert T. Morris asks about what English starlings 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
had to eat this winter. In a recent number of Forest 
and Stream he will see where I referred to their eating 
frozen apples on the trees in my yard. Of course that is 
only one article, but it shows they are fond of such a 
diet when snow has covered the ground. - *** 
Winter Visitors from the North 
Pole. 
During the summer of '80, I was sent by the head of a 
big lumber concern to take charge of a small mill they 
had completed at St. Jerome, a French settlement lying 
thirty miles to the north of Montreal. This mill was 
situated a mile from the village, and, to be near it, I 
found quarters with an old English settler whose farm 
adjoined our place. Summer passed, and fall merged 
into winter, which proved a severe one. Snow fell in 
such quantities as to about obliterate the wooden fences 
lining the country roads, the top posts alone showing. The 
mill hands all departed for the logging camp, and I had 
little to do beyond looking after the company's property. 
With the snowstorms, which were of frequent occurrence, 
great flocks of snowbirds (Plectrophenax nivalis) made 
their appearance from their Arctic home. r 
It was fun to watch them revel amid the feathery flakes, 
flying, like the blackbirds, in large numbers, generally 
against the north wind, and alighting to feed on the seed 
pods of the tallest weeds which stood in patches through 
the desolate fields, their heads alone showing above the 
white mantle that covered them. As fast as the first 
birds would alight, those coming behind, flying over their 
heads, pitched down a little in advance of them until they 
had all settled, when the leaders, who were now the hind- 
most, repeated the operation. In this manner those hardy 
little fellows all found food. They were graceful, easy 
fliers, and some of them were ever in sight, hovering over 
the wintry landscape. 
Farms there were a half mile apart, and our nearest 
neighbor's twO' boys had, by setting snares near their 
homes, captured a pair of these birds which I noticed on 
passing their house one day. These I determined to ob- 
tain. A little silver did the business. They were male 
and female, beautifully colored in brown, yellow, and 
white, the last predominating. I secured a roomy cage 
for the pair, and hung it in the kitchen of the farmhouse, 
near a double window. The captives were exceedingly 
wild, and seemed to dislike the air of this warm room, so 
the cage was placed outside on the^porch in a spot shel- 
tered from the wind. Here they thrived much better, and 
in a few days I heard the male singing a low sweet warble 
to his mate. While they became used to. my daily pres- 
ence, and grew much tamer, yet I noticed they seemed to 
miss something, though their home was plentifully sup- 
plied with seed and water. I flattered myself that I 
understood birds and their wants in captivity pretty thor- 
oughly, having had many varieties for the purpose of 
studying their ways from my boyhood up ; but here I was 
evidently at fault. I racked my brain for the cause, and 
only found it by accident. 
One day, when standing near, a bit of snow from the 
eaves fell within reach of the female on the cage. She 
eagerly devoured it, and looked about for more. The 
male seemed equally interested, so, taking,, the hint, I 
placed a generous lump inside the cage. The two fell 
upon it as though famished, eating a piece as big as a 
small apple in a few minutes. I had perceived that they 
cared little for their water cups, which were hardly dis- 
turbed during the day, and here was the solution of the 
problem that troubled me. Nature had ordained that 
these birds should foverer dwell in a region where the 
water is always in a congealed state, but at the same time 
given them- the power to eat snow with impunity. 
Daily after that discovery they were supplied with it, 
and it seemed to me that the male now sang louder than 
before. As the wild flocks, at the first sign of spring's 
approach, began to disappear, my pets became uneasy, so 
on one March morning, noticing a small number of their 
species taking an early breakfast in a pasture opposite 
the porch, I opened the cage door to its widest extent, 
and the now happy pair, finding it out, flew joyfully over 
to join the others. A week later not a snowbird was 
about. W. Warren Brown. 
A Wild Cat and Railroad Rail 
Noticing the account of the hundreds of jack rabbits 
that became frozen to the surface of the ice when they 
were trying to cross a pond, and which were mowed down 
and gathered up, we are moved to report a similar 
occurrence. 
One morning last month, a section hand on the Green- 
brier Railway was coming to his work before daylight, 
and came upon a wildcat or red lynx which seemed to 
be fast in a trap. He attacked the animal with stones 
and a club and killed it. 
Upon investigation it was found that the wildcat had 
swum the Greenbrier River and had one of its feet frozen 
to the iron rail of the railway, which waS about thirty- 
five feet from the edge of the water. 
The thermometer was six degrees below zero that 
morning. 
The wildcat was killed about four miles from where I 
live, and the report caused a good deal of discussion as 
to whether it was worthy of belief. 
I was inclined to give the story full faith and credence, 
and in this -I was supported by many of those who are 
used to finding many strange things happening in the 
woods. 
If this story was presented to a jury, I fear that 
learned opposing counsel would try to laugh it down, 
but there is much that could be urged in support of it. 
In arguing the evidence it could have been shown that 
the killer, a negro man, left home unarmed, and appeared 
at the section house a mile away with a freshly killed 
wildcat. The tracks of the cat proved conclusively where 
it was killed. If the cat had not been in some sort of a 
trap, the man could not have approached it. There is no 
animal so rarely seen in the woods as a wildcat. 
The tracks showed that it had come out of the river, 
and had not crossed the track. 
The wildcat is a good swimmer, and takes to the water 
209 
readily. Instances could be quoted where the wildcat has 
swum the distance of two miles. 
Again, when the wildcat in its peregrinations arrived 
at the railroad track and was about to cross it, it would 
have noticed the open right of way and would have been 
mtent to see whether any person was in. sight, and would 
have taken a careful observation. In doing this, it is the 
nature of the beast to plant its fore foot on some ele- 
vated spot and listen and look intently for some moments. 
He rears on a log generally, but in this instance the rail 
was the highest point available, and therefore it planted 
its foot on the cold iron, and so mef its fate. 
Then, too, it might be urged that all members of the 
cat kind are very easily taken when trapped by the foot. 
One of the largest panthers ever taken in this section 
was trapped in a small steel trap such as boys use to 
take muskrats. The trapper was trapping for raccoon, 
and was rewarded by a large panther. The wildcat can 
be held by the weakest of traps when the foot is 
compressed. 
On the whole, I think the story is true. I submitted 
the case to Harvey Cromer, a timber scout for a large 
land com.pany, and one of the best woodsmen I ever saw, 
and he, after going into the matter, was inclined to be- 
lieve it. 
All of which is respectfully submitted. 
Andrew Price. 
BiAr'-rNTON, W. Va, 
Beats in Dens, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I see in your last issue that in Mr. Grinnell's story of 
Alexander Henry, he mentions Henry's killing a female 
bear in the den in January, and that they found the fat 
"six inches deep" in several places, and that, "the Indians 
remark that the bear comes out in the spring with the 
same fat which, he carried in in the autumn." This ex- 
actly agrees with my experience with bears taken in the 
den, and is exactly contrary to what scientists say, and 
what the majority of people believe. Scientists assert that 
the bear lives in winter on his accumulated fat, and comes 
out poor in the spring. It has been my fortune to handle 
a good many bears taken from the den at all times in 
winter from early in December to, in one case, the very 
last day of March. I can now remember fifteen large 
bears which I have examined, and the most of which I 
skinned, all, without exception, were fat — some of them 
as fat as any I ever saw. One which was nursing two 
cubs, taken the very last day of March, was in good 
flesh. 
The cubs are born in January, and at first are not much 
larger than gray squirrels. I have known of cubs evi- 
dently several days old to be taken the 8th day of Janu- 
ary, although I think more are born later in the month. 
I have seen one with three yearling cubs, but never saw 
one with yearlings have any lately born. I think that 
m.any bears do not breed every year. 
Heni-y speaks of "female bears always making their 
winter lodging in the upper parts of trees." With us this 
is different. I can recall four cases where female bears 
with cubs were either under roots or in hollow logs. 
Many people think that bears sleep all the time in win- 
ter. While no one can prove that they do not sleep some, 
I know surely that the bear is a great part of the 
time. I have known of instances where bears had 
backed intO' hollow logs and their eyes were seen open; 
but the most conclusive evidence is a case where Henry 
Clapps, of Brewerville, Maine, kept two bears two win- 
ters. They were denned in his haymow, and he told me 
that he looked at them nearly every time he fed his 
cattle, and that they always had their eyes open. 
M. Hardy. 
The Comingf of the Changfe. 
Sayre, Pa., March 5. — There are visible and exhilarat- 
ing indications of spring. The buds of the soft maple are 
swelling, the tag alders are growing uneasy, and the pussy 
willows are perceptibly responding to the mysterious in- 
fluence of nature's awakening. Wild geese have been seen 
repeatedly railroading northward during the past fort- 
inght, while bluebirds and robins are everywhere in evi- 
dence. In the memory of the present generation no win- 
ter has equalled the one just closing in severity. Reports 
from local covers are to the effect that ruffed grouse have 
withstood the winter in excellent condition, but the quaii 
have in some sections suffered terribly, and many bevies 
are said to be sadly depleted. It is hoped, however, that 
the birds will emerge from the long existing Arctic condi- 
tion in better condition than reports would now appear to 
warrant. 
Fishing tackle is beginning to steal into the store win- 
dows, and anglers are here and there unlimbering their 
wading boots in anticipation of the trout season. 
M. Chill. 
A Complete Mastodon* 
The newspapers report the discovery, on a creek near 
Dawson, Yukon Territory, of a complete mastodon. The 
beast was covered with thirty feet of ice and gravel, and 
appears to be absolutely complete. It is stated that the 
skin and hair are perfectly preserved, but that the flesh 
is decomposed — two things that dO' not seem to go to- 
gether. The value of the complete skeleton is placed at 
$50,000; it may possibly be worth one-fifth of that sum. 
Deef Driven in by Hangfet* 
Altoona, March 2. — The unprecedented severe weather 
of the present winter is driving the non-hibernating ani- 
mals from the mountains to the settlements in this sec- 
tion. Martin McCartney, a farmer living in the Alle- 
gheny foothills, west of the city, saw a herd of six deef 
in one of his fields, almost starved and digging dried grass 
from beneath the snow.— Erie (Pa.) Dispatch. 
All communicaiions for Forest and Stream must be 
directed to Forest and Stream Pub. Co., New York, to 
receive attention. We have no other office. 
