July 23, 1954.5 
FOftgST AND STREAM 
appeared and attempted to approach the float, but frog 
No. 1, with a savage rush, chased him away. ** 
Not long after this one of our party shot a. red squirrel, 
and his skin (turned inside out) was thrdwi£'$ttto the 
water. Soon a number of sunfish were pulling it about, 
'and that was the signal 'for -frog No. 1. This time he ap- 
proached boldly on the surface, caught hold of the mov-. 
ing skin, shook it, pushed it with his forefeet, and en- 
deavored to swim away with it. After a few ineffectual 
efforts to swallow it, he abandoned it and disappeared. I 
have known frogs to snap at worms, red flannel, artificial 
flies, bare hooks, and lead sinkers, and I believe they will 
endeavor to swallow any moving object: that comes within 
their reach, and that is not too large. ' 
Turtles and frogs are very much attached to each other, 
and if opportunity offers, it is only the question of : size 
as to which shall occupy the outside position, and which 
shall be strictly in it. 
Regarding suspended animation in fishes, I have seen 
catfish which had been speared through the ice, frozen 
stiff, left in that condition over night, and on being 
thawed out in cold water swim around, apparently little 
the worse for their treatment. Edward F. Ball. 
Brooklyn, N. Y., July 17. — Editor Forest , and Stream: 
In your issue of the 16th inst, I notice with interest G. 
B. G.'s note on the frog's provender. In substantiation 
I cite the following, which might prove > interesting to 
some of your readers. Along back in the '60s, an ac- 
quaintance of mine resided at West Hills, just back of 
Huntington, L. I., on the old Cold Spring Harbor road. 
Opposite his pasture lot was an old pond, where his 
cattle watered and his ducklings took their- first lessons 
(and generally their last) in aquatic accomplishments. 
Through this pond ran an old division post and rail fence, 
the bottom rails of which were partly submerged, leaving 
the upper surface above water exposed to the sunlight. 
Here during the greater, part of the day the frogs— great 
green fellows, with voices like fog-horns — could be seen 
basking in the sun. One dav as I passed on my way to 
shoot woodcock, I noticed a fine brood of ducklings sport- 
ing in the water, and as I gazed a ripple appeared, and a 
duckling disappeared beneath the surface and did not re- 
turn. Shortly after another frog mounted the rail, look- 
ing pretty self-satisfied. Two more ducklings disappeared, 
and a little later two more frogs as big as good sized 
kittens mounted the rail. I moved around the pond so as 
to get a raking fire on the rail, which held ten big frogs ; 
I raised^ my gun — a 12-gauge muzzleloader — pulled into 
them, and got nine of them. Smith, who had witnessed 
the performance, came running out, crying, "Soak it to 
'em, Doc. Consarn them critters! So them's the fellers 
I been raisin' ducks fur!" Just then a big frog paddled 
up on the rail, Smith's 10-gauge went "ka-souse," and 
Spangles went to the bottom like a deep sea lead. We 
fished them out later and, their hindlegs, nicely browned 
in pork fat, were certainly a delicacy; and why shouldn't 
they have been, considering the nature of their diet? 
G. W. Beatty, M.D. 
Tenacity of Insect Life. 
My attention was called the other day to an instance 
of extreme tenacity of life in an insect. I saw a long, 
slender, very active insect rambling over the inside of 
'the wire window screen in my room, evidently trying to 
get out. The creature was fully an inch long, the greater 
part of that length being undoubtedly devoted to digestive 
purposes, and attached by a very slender articulation to 
the chest or the upper section of the insect. I have never 
made any study of entomology, and cannot identify this 
creature. It had a number of lortg, slender legs, and long, 
gauzy wings. It was only a common, everyday summer 
insect, a specimen of one of the numerous species that are 
hovering about constantly in warm weather, and adding 
anything but pleasure to human existence. I 
Well, I didn't want the insect in my room, and taking 
up the stick of a burned match I watched my opportunity 
.and drew the end of the stick across the creature just 
at the point of articulation, and cut it in two-., I expected 
to kill the insect at once. The lower and main portion of 
its body fell to the window-sill, but, to my surprise, the 
remaining part of the insect went ahead flitting over the 
window screen just as if nothing had happened. I waited 
some time to see what would take place, and then, to put 
an end to the mutilated creature, I drew the match stick 
again across its body just back of its wings, cutting, it 
again in two, but the upper part, now consisting of noth- 
ing but its shoulders, if an insect can be said to have 
shoulders, head, wings, and perhaps a pair of legs, kept 
on flitting over the screen as lively as ever. 
My heart smote me. I was sorry for the poor thing, if 
it was only a troublesome summer fly. I desired to kill it, 
not torture or mangle "it. Finally 1 was compelled to 
grind what remained of it to powder before lite was ex- 
tinct. I thought it a remarkable case of tenacity of life, 
and I have- thought since that it was perhaps worth mak- 
ingra note ofy as a slight contribution to the general stock 
of iknowledge. of natural history. ' T. J. Chapman. 
Ducks Can Smell—and so Can Beats* 
"Truth crushed to earth will rise again," Coahoma to 
the contrary on the duck smelling proposition notwith- 
standing. They think so at Currituck and as well down 
on the east coast, where they fix their decoys and blinds 
so as to carry the least scent to the ducks. However, We 
will not revert to Limburger, but turn to pleasanter 
things. _ . ", .. . , 
Silver-tips — synonymous with the grizzly of the viilgas 
— and black bears do not play peaceably in the same yard; 
at least they frequently disagree, from what I can under- 
stand from a friend, when they meet at the trysting place 
of the -Yellowstone bears, the garbage-pile back of the 
hotel. . 
Down the hill cOmes a shambling black Ursus, sniffing 
the good things among the refuse and sails in. With his 
nose deep into the Lord knows what, and smeared to his 
eyes, he lifts his head, gives a grunt, and shambles up 
a near-by tree, hugging it, and looking all the world as if 
, his hide had been tacked up to dry. The cause— a pair 
of young silver-tip cubs now coming on the scene;* The 
black bear sizes them tip, and with a disdainful sniff 
descends the tree with much scratching of the bark, and 
...... . > 4 to si' .;■■.,■■■■■<-.*, 
again sails into the mass of refuse and pays no attention 
to the rooting cubs not far away. Many minutes have 
not elapsed before black bruin lifts his smeared snout 
high in the air, and with a grunt of rage he hikes the 
other way — not climbing a tree this timer— as only a 
scared bear can, as six immense silver-tips demerge from 
the woods into plain sight. Evidently that Amer-icanus 
could smell more than one odor at the same time, and 
knew how to distinguish. 
I can't keep bringing in this Limburger, but I knew of 
a case ; where the boys "had it in" for a German sports- 
man, and how they saw to it that when going quail shoot- 
ing -his dogs, before starting, got a piece of Limburger 
^deftly wrapped in a wad of rye bread. The theory was 
'that it would ruin the nose of the dogs for the day, and 
as the man was a good shot and had good dogs and shot 
over a good quail country>and never brought home more 
thart half a dozen, the boys said their theory held good in 
practice. And this leads me to ask myself the question as 
to what would have happened had that big black bear been 
reveling in a stray piece of Limburger and had failed 
to smell anything else? How could he smell anything 
else? What would have happened had that herd of 
gigantic silver-tips advanced upon him unawares? The 
Roman arena with its wild animal fights would not have 
been in it; but I am afraid it would have been all up 
for the black one, unless he could have found a friendly 
tree at hand. 
As it is a rule of the Park to invite no such hostile 
encounters, I hope the keeper may take warning and see 
that in all cases refuse Limburger be not thrown on the 
garbage heap, but be cached good and deep, and thus may 
all trouble be avoided. ■'■•.. ' Charles Cristadoro. 
Whippoomill, Night-hawk, Bullbat. 
Olcona, Pa. — The following incident prompts me to 
ask, Are not the night-hawk and the whippoorwill one 
and the same? Something over twenty years ago, while 
seated with a comrade in the doorway of a northern 
Pennsylvania lumber camp, our attention was attracted by 
an unusual number of night-hawks foraging for their 
evening meal, just between sunset and dusk. The main 
flock drifted to a distant part of the valley, but a few 
remained to flit and dart almost directly over the camp. 
Suddenly one of the number dropped, with that unmis- 
takable whizzing of the wings mentioned by Nuttail, 
alighted on a plank at our feet, and at once began piping 
his troubles in that oft-repeated whippoorwill. This he 
continued at intervals for fully five minutes before flying 
away, and in full view where even his eyes and every 
marking upon him were distinctly visible. E. D. L. 
Berryville, Va— I would like to have the oft-discussed 
argument decided. Is the bullbat, so familiar to us here 
in the valley of Virginia, identical with the whippoorwill 
so often found in low places and near water? Rarely are 
the plaintive notes of the whippoorwill heard here, and 
yet there are hundreds of bullbats seen darting in all 
directions during the entire summer, whereas near the 
Potomac and Chesapeake Bay the cry of the whippoor- 
will is heard incessantly. E. A. L. 
[Bullbat and night-hawk (Chordeiles virginianus) are 
one species; whippoorwill (Antrostomus vociferus) an- 
other. The two birds are easily distinguished if held in 
the hand, but if seen flying at a distance a practiced eye 
would be required to say which was which. Why does 
E. D. L. think that the bird which gave the whippoorwill 
call was a night-hawk?] 
That Nursing Kitten* 
Wymore, Nebraska, July 14.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I was interested at. once in the story of Mr. C. 
H. Ames in regard to the queer nursing habits of his kit- 
ten, and I think 1 can help him out. The kitten is 
afflicted with the disease which may be described as wind- 
sucking. A horse afflicted in this way is called a stump- 
sucker. The disease among horses is quite destructive in 
Pennsylvania, but almost unknown in "Nebraska, because 
we. have no stumps. r : 
Speaking of stumps,, reminds me of a visit I took to an 
uncle of mine in Iowa when I was a boy. I spent some 
weeks there, and one day I went to Van Meter to mill, 
with a neighbor boy. Van Meter was on Coon River, 
west of Des Moines, and to reach it we had to go through 
a great deal of timber. There was an old settler in the 
neighborhood by the name of Stump, who owned several 
pieces of that timber. As we passed from one place to 
another on our road, the boy with whom I was riding 
told me the names of the owners of the various places; 
and finally coming to a piece of land from which the tim- 
ber had all been cut and the stumps left standing, I asked 
the boy whose land it was, and he said, "This is old 
Stump's timber." Thinking he was getting off a pun at 
my expense, I swatted him at the butt of his right ear, 
and just then the board that we were using for a seat 
slipped off the wagon box at his end and dropped him 
into the bottom of the wagon, and naturally let me fall 
on top; and I soon realized that it was a good thing that 
the seat dropped at his end instead of mine, as he proved 
to be one of those erratic creatures who don't know when 
they are licked. A. D. McCandless. 
Colors of Birds in Captivity* 
All keepers of avaries or zoological gardens know how 
difficult it is to keep fresh and bright the color of bril- 
liantly plumaged birds. Those which are generally red in 
color are the most easily affected by captivity, and there 
is no more familiar example of this than is offered by 
the flamingoes or the scarlet ibises seen in our zoological 
parks. 
A recent article of some length in the London Field 
discusses this question and "instances a great number of 
birds in which changes take place in captivity. 
We have always supposed that the change in color in 
case of the flamingo was due to the lack, in captivity, of 
some, food which the wild birds commonly eat; and, in- 
deed, no more than this appears to "be known by the 
writer, of the article in question, who suspects that live 
food or natural food has much to do with the retention 
of their color by birds of high plumage. : 
Can Quail Move their Eggs? 
>> McConnellsburg, Pay, July \s.~Editor Forest and 
Streamy I wish to submit the following for the consider- 
ation of your readers. 
Yesterday morning, July 14, while Mr. Dan F. Trout, 
of Willow Home farm, just on the edge of our town, 
was engaged in mowing clover, his machine passed over 
a quail's nest containing sixteen eggs. The old bird flew 
away uninj tired, after going through the usual perform- 
ance to entice him away from the nest. He dismounted 
from the machine, counted the eggs, and carefully placed 
some hay over the nest in such a way as to protect it 
from the sight of crows. Then he marked the place with 
a stick and dul not return until 2 P. M., when he found 
but eleven eggs left in the nest. 
He carefully removed one of the eggs and broke it, 
finding within a young quail just formed. At about 5 
o'clock P. M. he again returned to the nest and found 
but two eggs remaining, and saw two old birds rise from 
the stubble close by and fly away. 
At 7 P. M., upon visiting the nest, the eggs had all been 
removed ; no broken shells whatever remained in the nest, 
and as Mr. Trout had "kept an eye" in the direction of 
the nest all day, he is positive that no crows could have 
carried away the. eggs or destroyed them. 
It is very evident to me that the heads of this quail 
family carried those eggs away to a place, of safety, but 
I submit the facts to you and your readers, knowing full 
well that the matter will be settled even beyond the 
faintest shadow of a doubt. \ Leslie W. Seylar. 
Migrations of Martins. 
Morgantown, W. Va. — A well known local sportsman, 
Capt. Joe R. Miller, is asking the question, "Where do 
the martins go?" It is said that there are only'fwb 
known places in the world which they inhabit— f he United 
States and China. They are never seen to migrate ip&tp. 
one locality to another. They are said to leave "the 
Southern States at the same time they do in the North, 
and when they have left one locality in the fall they ap- 
parently leave the whole of the United States and are 
seen no more until the lleXt season, and what the Captain 
wants to know is, where do they go? Anyone giving an 
answer to this query will have the thanks of those inter- 
ested. The Captain has a pet theory of his own in regard 
to the matter, which we will withhold' until some other 
light is given'. Emerson Carney: 
[Martin is a generic term applied to several species of 
the swallow family. We have house martins and sand 
martins, the name martin apparently being derived frbtft 
the German mar tern, to. torment, and presumably : refer- 
ring to the pugnacious disposition of swallows, and their 
readiness to attack and drive away the larger birds which 
venture near their homes. Our house martin goes- south 
in winter, and is found in Mexico; the Cuban martin is 
found in Florida and Cuba, ' while another form inhabits 
southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South 
America.] " .'• ' < - :'!••■ . \ . 
A Mephitic Alignment 
An occasional correspondent, Wm. B. Boardman, of 
Minneapolis, is. fond of natural history, as his distin- 
guished, father was. "The other day," he writes, " I saw 
a funny sight while out riding with my family. Just on 
the edge of Fort Shelling we surprised a litter of four 
skunks in a little opening about fifty feet from the road. 
When they heard us they all got in a row, facing us, 
with their tails high in the air, _ I regretted exceedingly 
that I did not have a camera along so as to take a snap- 
shot at them, as they would have made a unique picture." 
Fortunate, perhaps, that they did not take a snap-shot at 
him ! When an essence peddler gets his range finder in 
position, he is ready for action, 
loo Sportsmen's Tinas. 
Some of the Queer Discoveries Made by Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish; ; 
■ 99 . .. 
John Biddle, of Mine Hill, N. J., caught in Budd's 
Lake, on Sunday, July 11, a 12-pound pickerel; in the 
stomach of which was found a watch stolen from her 
three years ago. ■ "-' ;i - •• 
The Biddle home was robbed of all the jewelry in it by 
a burglar, who, when caught, said that he had rowed out 
into the middle of Budd's Lake and dumped the ' Stuff 
over-board. He was convicted and sentenced, but none of 
the plunder was recovered until the watch was /so 
strangely restored to Mrs. Biddle. She thinks;; of 
fishing everv day to see if she cannot recover the rest of 
her jewelry. - -■ - - .'-■' ■ -■ - -.>.■.? ■ 
Dr. Charles Richet, a French statistician, estimates 
the number of men who died in the wars waged by 
Christian nations during the last "century to be 14,606,000: 
The estimate is made up as follows : Napoleonic wars, 
8,000,000; Crimean war, 300,000; Italian war, 300,000; 
American Civil War, 500,000; Franco-German war, 800,- 
000; Russo-Turkish war, ' 406,000 ; civil wars in South 
America, 500,000; various colonial expeditions in India, 
Algeria, Mexico, Tonquiri, Abyssinia, South Africa, and 
Madagascar,; 3,000,000. 
"American Big Game in its Haunts." 
Commenting on the new volume of the Boone and Crocketi 
Club's, book, the New York Evening- Post says: •• '--••■ 
"President Roosevelt contributes the first chapter, which is on 
'Wilderness Reserves,' and tells of his visit a year ago to Yellow- 
stone and Yosemite Parks; and the Grand Canon of the Colorado. 
He writes of the abundance of game in the Yellowstone, their 
apparent indifference to" human beings. The President is cer- 
tainty enough of a huntsman to know whereof he speaks. His 
description of the beauties . of the Yosemite and his final appeal': 
'There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the 
Yosemite, its groves : of giant sequoias and redwoods, the Canon 
of the Colorado, the three Tetons; and the representatives of the 
people should see to it that they are preserved for the people, 
forever, with their majestic bea-aty all unrriarred'— should r.Ot 
pass unheeded." - 1 .'■;•.■•'•. p ;: - ■■ . - ,.. / • . 
