FOREST AND STREAM. 
493 
March 30, 1907. 
On this same side, the side best preserved 
nd the side from which the slab came away 
hole, is an imprint of a shell—one-half in the 
lake the other half in the removed pieces. 
I heard of this through my neighbors and 
ent to Kentzer’s house, 120 Lockwood avenue, 
lew Rochelle, N. Y. 
My impression was that it was a plaster cast, 
ut a close examination convinced me it was 
ot, and the man’s story so simply told left no 
round for suspicion. He said the marble it 
ame from was part of a shipload brought over 
•om Caen, Department of Calvados, France, 
ud, as he remarked, “They call it marble, and 
polishes like marble, but it is more of a 
indstone, being soft and easy to cut.” 
, The stone is known as Caenstone, named after 
le place from which it comes. I took four 
hotographs, 3^2x3^ of it, which I inclose. 
C. G. Davis. 
[The specimen is a fossil ammonite, related 
1 the living Nautilus. It belongs to the Jurassic 
eriod of the Age of Reptiles; the Caen lime- 
ones are referred to the Middle Jurassic by 
uropean geologists. The specimen may be of 
le genus Cocloceras, but there are so many 
ifferent genera of ammonites that it cannot 
2 certainly identified from the description, 
hese shells are characteristic of the Age of 
eptiles, but are said to be rare in the Caen 
tnestones, and this appears to be rather a 
. ne specimen. The resemblance of the mouth 
art of the shell may be accidental, or is pos- 
bly due to some traces of the animal which 
habited it being preserved. The latter would 
2 a rather rare occurrence.— Editor.] 
The Starling a Nuisance? 
Dammeretz, Germany .—Editor Forest and 
tream: Well, yes, the starling is a nuisance 
ith some, when he takes to fruit for example; 
it we here in the “Old World”—in the coun- 
y—love him, build homes (boxes) for him in 
irks and where there are old large trees. 
The starling is the farmer’s greatest friend, 
s soon as plowing begins, the starling fol- 
ws the plow-man, gathering all injurious 
orms, grub of the cockchafer and others, all 
11 can get hold of, and helps very often to the 
iccess of good crops. The landowners and 
j rmers therefore do not grudge him the fruit, 
ou can drive him away from the cherry trees 
1 shooting in the air and so on. 
7 he thousands of starlings here generally 
ave their breeding grounds as soon as the 
iung ones are able to follow their parents, 
hen they take to the extensive meadows and 
| over fields, where they find more of their 
itural food. In the evenings they congregate 
many thousands at their roosting places, 
>nds with strong reeds, where they sleep. You 
n hear them chatter for hours before dark, 
ley commit then another nuisance, if you like, 
hey break many reeds in trying to get a com- 
rtable site for the night. The slender reeds 
e much sought after with us for thatching pur¬ 
ges, but we do not mind it. We do not 
I sturb our out friends. We try to encourage 
| em to breed here and do all we can to foster 
j em. The profit is on our side! 
Baron Laffert. 
Beavers in Scotland. 
1 The Shooting Times, commenting on a 
tREST and Stream editorial in relation to 
avers in the West, says: 
A colony of beavers exists in Scotland, and 
believe, multiplies and flourishes. We won- 
1 why some of our large landowners have 
t introduced beavers on their domains, as we 
! nk they would, besides being interesting, do 
; od, and be a source of profit in waste places 
! !ere there were small streams.” 
larch 12, 1907.—Enclosed please find New York Ex- 
nge m the sum of $3 to pav my annual subscription 
. vour publication. I have missed a few copies of the 
, er during the past twelve months, and I hope you 
,t e - in future that mv name is not overlooked on your 
img hst, as I read Forest and Stream with more 
re F man any other magazine or paper that reaches 
, A. YV . Jones. 
A SKETCH AND A PHOTOGRAPH OF MR. KENTZER’S FIND 
‘Hay Makers.” 
This is a local name given in certain localities 
to the little chief hare, which is also called rock 
rabbit, coney and pika. It is related both to 
the rabbit and the guinea pig and belongs to the 
genus Ochotona. The animal is a familiar one 
to those who travel in the high mountains of 
the west, and yet one might travel among these 
animals for years and not notice the odd little 
creatures. At a recent meeting of the Biolog¬ 
ical Society of Washington, Mr. Vernon Bailey 
read a paper on this curious little animal which 
was very interesting. 
1 he little chief hare lives among the rocks 
high up in the mountains, and often above tim¬ 
ber line from New Mexico and California to 
Alaska. They are more often heard than seen, 
their call or alarm note being a squeak or 
bleat, which is often compared to the sound of 
a small tin trumpet, such as a child uses, but 
which Mr. Bailey justly says somewhat re¬ 
sembles the bleat of a very young lamb. They 
are about the size of a large guinea pig with 
short legs, no visible tail and rounded ears. 
During the latter part of the summer and 
early autumn the little chief hare gathers a 
LITTLE CHIEF HARE. 
Bailey N. A. Fauna No. 16. Biological Survey, U. S. 
Department of Agriculture. 
winter store of grasses and plants which it 
heaps up in sheltered places among the rocks. 
The habit gives them their name “hay maker.” 
A bushel or more of such vegetation may be 
gathered under the shelter of the broken rocks 
that lie on the steep mountainsides, and within 
a comparatively small area a dozen or more 
such stacks are found. The plants gathered 
se6m to be any of those within reach, and in one 
place Mr. Bailey recognized thirty-four species 
of plants in a single stack. Sometimes the stack 
contains dried flowers and even berries. 
The winter habits of the hay maker are un¬ 
known. They are buried deep under the snow, 
but in spring the stacks of hay are practically 
gone, only a few dried stems and sticks being 
left. The hay makers are an interesting feature 
of the high mountains, and well deserve further 
study. 
Frogs Catching Birds. 
Nfayburyport, Mass, March i Editor Forest 
and Stream: In your issue of March 9, P. D. 
F. tells of frogs killing crossbills, in the vicinity 
of Chapin’s camps on Beaver Lake in the 
Adirondacks. This calls to mind a little inci¬ 
dent of wild life of a somewhat similar nature 
that came under my observation a few years 
since, in which “ye bulle frogge” appeared in 
an altogether new role. 
I was idling along a little woodland brook on 
a July afternoon and had been watching a pair 
of black and white creeping warblers as they 
hunted^ along through the trees and shrubbery 
in their peculiar, almost woodpecker fashion, 
when one of them made a dash in pursuit of an 
insect, following the latter down almost to the 
surface of the stream, whereat a large bullfrog, 
whose presence previously I was wholly un¬ 
aware of, made a jump and captured the little 
warbler in his capacious mouth, and in less 
time than it takes to tell it, the frog had disap¬ 
peared under a protruding root, where, I sup¬ 
pose, he disposed of the bird at his leisure. 
Anything of this sort on the part of frogs 
was wholly new and unexpected to me, and I 
have never heard of a like occurrence since 
until the article in your columns. Any ex¬ 
planation or further comment on this, which 
seems to be a habit or occasional action, would 
be acceptable and highly interesting. 
B. W. S. 
[That frogs are ready to eat birds is well 
known. That they are quick enough to catch 
living birds is not generally known. We recall 
very well some years ago the shooting of a 
chimney swift on the salt meadows, where the 
bird fell into a little pool of water in which no 
grass grew. The collector, on going to pick 
up the bird, saw the tips of its wings sticking 
out of the water and a closer look showed that 
these wing-tips protruded from the mouth of a 
large bullfrog which had swallowed the bird. 
Other readers may have made observations on 
this point which we should be glad to print.— 
Editor.] 
THE CAMPING OUTFIT 
of the thoughtful camper invariably includes a supply of 
Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk. With this in 
camp, the most important food item is taken care of. 
Eagle Milk keeps indefinitely in any climate. The 
original and leading brand since 1857. Always uniform.— 
Adv. 
