590 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 14, 1911. 
observation of the food habits of several species 
that I have had opportunity to make have borne 
out his conclusions very generally. My report 
on the red-tailed hawk in Forest and Stream 
for June 18, 1910, was as great a contrast to 
this account of the Cooper's hawk as are his 
reports of the stomach examinations of the two 
species. Frank C. Pellett. 
Squirrels in the Water. 
Buffalo, N. Y., Oct. 6 . — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In two recent issues of Forest and 
Stream have appeared articles in each respect¬ 
ing squirrels swimming voluntarily in the water 
for the purpose of going from place to place, 
the first article by William M. Foord, and the 
last by Benjamin F. Flowed. 
During a number of fishing trips which I 
have made in Northern Canada, it was not un¬ 
common to see squirrels swimming from is’and 
to island and also crossing narrow portions of 
the lake. In the French River, where there are 
many small islands, it was quite common to see 
them swimming from one island to another. 
There is reason to believe that many of them, 
like Jonah, are swallowed by large fish, but un¬ 
like Jonah they are not thrown up alive on dry 
land. 
While on the French River I met a man from 
Cleveland who informed me that he had 
caught two large mascalonge, and that each 
one had a red squirrel in his stomach. If these 
tigers of the water, as they have been cal ed, 
are so fond of red squirrels, why would not a 
squirrel make a good lure or bait to be used 
while trolling for mascalonge? 
While crossing Big White Trout Lake we 
found a dead squirrel nearly a half mile from 
shore, perfectly upright, with his tail raised up 
nearly, if not quite out of the water, which 
caused him to appear as though he was alive. 
He evidently forgot to take his compass with 
him when he went to sea, and having lost his 
bearings had died of starvation. Squirrels while 
migrating from one section of the country to 
another often cross rivers and other bodies of 
water. An acquaintance of mine from Kentucky 
told me that one fall nuts were very scarce in 
Kentucky, while there was an abundance of them 
across the river in Ohio. One morning he said 
the river was found to be almost literally covered 
with squirrels swimming from the Kentucky to 
the Ohio shore. Not only hundreds, but thou¬ 
sands were crossing the river. 
Many animals, birds and even insects undoubt¬ 
edly have a language whereby they can com¬ 
municate one with another of the same species, 
Whether it is an oral or a sign language has not 
yet been fully ascertained. How did those squir¬ 
rels know that nuts were plentiful on the other 
side of the Ohio River? Uiress they, like the 
Israe'ites of old, had sent some individuals over 
first to spy out the land who on their return re¬ 
ported that Ohio was a land flowing with milk 
and honey, as far as nuts were concerned. Then 
how were all the squirrels in the different for¬ 
ests in that section of the country notified that 
they were to migrate across the river at a cer¬ 
tain point on a certain day, unless scouts were 
sent out to inform them to be on hand for the 
journey at the time appointed? These certainly 
are hard questions to answer, un’ess we acknowl¬ 
edge that squirrels are much more intelligent 
beings than we have heretofore believed them 
to be. And also that they possess a language 
whereby they can communicate with each other. 
We once had a tame squirrel who was a great 
pet; was so tame that we could pick him up 
and fondle him as you would a kitten. He was 
kept in a tin cage with a revolving wheel in 
which he took great delight in running. The 
door of the cage slid up and down and was 
fastened with a hook and a tin cap which slid 
down over the hook which made the fastening 
more secure. One morning my daughter asked 
me if I had let the squirrel out of the cage. On 
my answering in the negative, she said she had 
found him out and had replaced him in the cage, 
and now he was out again. Not believing it pos¬ 
sible that he had learned to open the door him¬ 
self, I decided to watch him. After placing my¬ 
self on a lounge in the next room, I directed 
her to replace him in the cage and bring it into 
the room where I was and place it on the floor 
in a position where I could watch the squirrel 
and also the door of the cage. While she re¬ 
mained in the room he was perfectly quiet, but 
as soon as she left he became much excited, 
pricked up his ears, and after looking all around 
the room ran to the door of the cage and as 
quickly and deft'y as a person could have per¬ 
formed it, raised the cap covering the hook and 
held it up with his left paw, whi'e he unfastened 
the hook with his right, then raised the door and 
out he went. Nothing but fastening the door 
with a wire after that would keep him in the 
cage. I claim this act of his not only showed 
great intelligence, but also a certain amount of 
reasoning power. In order to gain his liberty 
he had watched how others unfastened the door 
and soon learned how to perform the same trick 
himself. 
A glance back over the yacht racing season 
just past reveals, beyond question, that not only 
was it a successful feature of the sport, but that 
it has developed to a tremendous degree in 
popularity. In yachting “higher up" circles 
there is the positive assertion that next season 
will find many more ocean races on the regular 
racing schedules. 
It was not supposed when the Eastern Y. C. 
arranged the race from New London to Marb e- 
head, for the Commodore Clark cup. that there 
would be such a record battle among the big 
ones. The alacrity with which the owners of 
Enchantress, Elena and Irolita, of the New York 
Y. C., showed how eager were these owners 
for an extended trial over a course that elimi¬ 
nated the flukes and shifts of wind generally 
coinbatted over club courses. 
The result of this race wrote a new chapter 
in yacht racing. Ideal weather conditions pre¬ 
vailed throughout. Elena’s performance be¬ 
comes indelible in yachting events, for she 
covered practically 200 miles at an average 
speed of ten knots, finishing at such an unex- 
I believe nearly all of the lower animals will 
take to the water voluntarily when they con¬ 
sider it necessary. On Big Joe Lake in Muskoka 
we saw a small animal swimming across the lake. 
On paddling up to him we found him to be a 
weasel, and when my guide extended his paddle 
to him he at once ran up it into the boat. On 
reaching the shore he took French leave for the 
woods without offering thanks, or offering to 
pay his fare. S. S. Green. 
Baby Gorilla Dead. 
The baby gorilla, whose arrival at the New 
York Zoological Park was recently noticed in 
Forest and Stream, died in her box in the 
primate house on Thursday, Oct. 5. Of a large 
number of gorillas captured for the Zoological 
Society, this is the only one which lived to reach 
the park. 
The little animal arrived in New York Sept. 
23. in very wretched condition. When seen 
on the ship it was thought that it would not 
live to reach the park, and for a day or two 
thereafter it seemed to be at the point of death. 
Then it grew a little stronger, and Dr. Horna- 
day hoped that it might live. The fruit of the 
plantain was telegraphed for to Cuba and 
efforts were made to induce the captive to take 
animal food in the shape of broths and cooked 
chicken. All these efforts were fruitless, as 
were also attempts to cheer her up by giving 
her chimpanzees for companions. 
The gorilla bears captivity very hardly, for it 
has not a cheerful disposition. It may be 
imagined that it will be a long time before 
Americans will have frequent opportunities to 
see gorillas in captivity. 
pectedly early hour as to almost take unawares 
the committee at Marblehead. Every owner of 
the fifteen boats that took part in this race be¬ 
came tremendously enthusiastic and is heartily 
in favor of a number of ocean races the coming 
season. 
Had conditions for entry in the Brenton’s 
Reef and Cape May races, that followed, not 
restricted the holding and challenging craft, 
there would have been in both these interesting 
events a big fleet that probably would have 
shown as interesting offshore racing as has 
been seen in America. 
Next season the Cape May cup race will be 
an open event and those owners inclined toward 
ocean racing will enter their yachts in such a 
liberal way as to make it as interesting a com¬ 
petition as has marked the series of races for 
this now famous trophy. 
It is said upon good authority that Robert E. 
Tod. owner of the schooner yacht Karina, will 
have the defense of the Brenton's Reef ’ chal¬ 
lenge cup on his schedule of races, as the chal¬ 
lenger, whom' ever he may be, will find no 
obstacle in the way of his getting a race. It is 
certain Karina will be a ready ocean racer for 
Ocean Yacht Racing. 
