FOREST AND STREAM. 
July 4, 1908.] 
; ; 
md, remember, this was in the heart of the 
. msiness district—by running along the telephone 
vire to the court house, crawling to the roof 
md over it until he came to another wire on 
he other side over which he went, and then 
>y wire to the Government building, going thence 
o the park. And it did not appear to him as 
f he had done anything out of the ordinary. 
7 rom the old executive building to the conserva- 
ory in the park is stretched a guy wire and 
t is a common thing to see three or four squir- 
-els disporting on this wire. 
These squirrels are great thieves, sad to say. 
Due day, after they had grown accustomed 
:o man and no longer feared him, one of these 
squirrels found his way to the yard back of 
Congressman Olmsted’s residence, about four 
docks from the park. In this yard is a Japanese 
walnut tree full of nuts, and that was the first 
and only thing that engrossed that squirrel’s 
attention for the entire day. He stayed there 
and ate until he could not hold any more, and 
:o vary the monotony of eating he buried a few 
auts. Then he went back to the park and he 
must have gotten communicative during the 
night, for the very next morning he returned 
o the Olmsted yard and with him were his 
entire family, including his sisters and his 
;ousins and his aunts, and they “scutched” that 
tree of every nut. Another squirrel that left 
the parental box to see the world ran along 
1 the telegraph wire until he got to the corner 
af Second and State streets where a grocer had 
displayed in front of the store a large basket of 
juicy shellbarks. He saw the feast that had 
been spread for him, ran down the telegraph 
! pole, and made for the nuts. He a.te what he 
wanted before being discovered, and when 
chased away he gathered one in his mouth, tried 
to hold another in his paws and failing, scamp¬ 
ered away. The grocer was wise, for the next 
day, when the squirrel and his family arrived 
at the grocer’s place of business, the nuts had 
been put in a safe place. 
They are so tame, these squirrels, that they 
wander all over Harrisburg, and strange' to say 
but few are killed by the dogs. Occasionally 
one gets in the way of a trolley car and meets 
his death, but it is seldom that a dead squirrel 
is seen. The people have formed themselves 
into a society for the protection of gray squir¬ 
rels, and it is as much as a dog’s life is worth 
for him to chase a squirrel; but they do a lot 
of mischief, do these little fellows. They are 
great destroyers of fruit. They climb peach and 
apricot trees; in fact, any tree that has fruit 
bearing a large seed, and bite into the fruit 
until they reach the seed, which they eat. Peo¬ 
ple having fruit trees in their yards have tried 
to circumvent the squirrel by placing a tin-pro¬ 
jecting protector around the tree trunk which 
1 halts the progress of the squirrel, but he gets 
j around that where the tree is near the house 
by climbing to the roof and making a flying leap 
to the tree. 
This story is written for the sole purpose of 
warning people against feeding peanuts to the 
I pet squirrels in parks. At least that was what 
' it was intended for when I started it. I hope 
it will have its effect. Thomas M. Jones. 
[Gray squirrels are known to kill young birds 
and eat their flesh, though their offenses of this 
1 nature are not nearly so bad as those of the 
red squirrel.— Editor.] 
Audubon’s Gun. 
Chicago, Ill., June 20 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: From time to time, you have illus¬ 
trated and described in your paper, guns and 
rifles which were once the property of famous 
hunters and sportsmen. I feel sure that you 
have many readers who would appreciate an 
illustration of a double-barreled shotgun, which 
was used by so famous a man as the great 
painter-naturalist, John James Audubon. On the 
rib of the barrels is engraved “Conway, Man¬ 
chester, J. J. Audubon, F.R.S.L.,” etc. 
The gun was evidently made to Audubon’s 
order, and judging from its size, must have been 
used for collecting small specimens. Its length 
is but 34 inches; length of barrels, 18 inches; 
weight, 5 pounds, and the gauge is 20. The en¬ 
graving on the lock-plates represents two pointer 
dogs standing several pheasants. 
For some time this arm has been the property 
of W. Nones Ralston, Wilmington, Del., who 
writes me that it was given by Audubon to one 
Col. Hayes, of Alabama, who in turn presented 
it to Mr. Ralston’s grandfather, Capt. H. B. 
Nones, U. S. R. S., in 1841. The captain died in 
1868, and his son, the late Capt. H. B. Nones, 
Jr., U. S. N., wrote out and signed a statement 
of the above facts. 
This interesting relic has become the property 
of Chas. H. Davis, Saginaw, Mich., a keen lover 
of Audubon and his works, and it was my pleas¬ 
ure recently to examine it. Another of Audu¬ 
bon’s guns, which he carried on many of his ex¬ 
peditions, and which was familiarly known in 
his “Episodes” as “Long Tom,” is still in pos¬ 
session of the family, but since Audubon’s death 
the barrels were cut off to more modern pro 
portions. Ruthven Deane. 
Skunk Testimony. 
Valleyfield, Que., June 24. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have been greatly interested in 
the discussion of skunks and their habits that 
has been going on in your pages for some time, 
and must say that according to your correspond¬ 
ents the habits of the “critter” must vary with 
the locality in which he is raised. My first ex¬ 
perience with a skunk was in the spring of ’73, 
a few weeks after my arrival in this country 
from Scotland. I was then living in the town 
of Dunham. In company with two other lads 
and Prince, a collie, I was having great sport 
digging out woodchucks from a steep hillside. 
We would find a hole, and if Prince would dig 
at it we were sure there was a woodchuck in 
it. The other two lads like myself were Scotch 
and knew but little about what kind of animals 
we were apt to find in holes in Canada. When 
Prince by his scratching would show that a hole 
was tenanted we would dig until we could see 
the woodchuck, then the dog was allowed to pull 
him out. 
1 I 
This time Prince had notified us in the usual 
manner that the hole had a tenant, and after 
digging a short time a black woodchuck was 
seen to occupy the hole. It would never do to 
let Prince tear that lovely black pelt, so he was 
sent home, and I told the boys that as the wood¬ 
chuck’s head was not toward me I would pull 
him out of the hole by the hind legs and they 
must be ready to club him as soon as I got him 
out. Jack and Hugh took up their positions, 
each armed with a good cudgel. I went down 
on my hands and knees and grabbed the ani¬ 
mal by the hind legs, and just then 1 got the 
most infernal dose that ever I was treated to. I 
gave a yell and threw myself over backward. 
The boys say that I turned somersaults till I 
struck the level ground at the foot of the hill. 
I noticed that one of your correspondents says 
that a party that was treated to a shot in the 
eye by a skunk was able for a short time after¬ 
ward to see very clearly in the dark. I cannot 
say the same, as my eyes pained me so much that 
I could hardly see anything for some time. I 
have trapped and killed a great many skunks 
since; in fact, one fall I killed sixty-seven and 
I have never got any of their scent on my 
clothes, but I may say also that I have not pulled 
any more black and white “woodchucks” out of 
holes by the hind legs. 
I have repeatedly lifted a skunk by the tail 
without anything happening. The skunk does 
not seem to be able to shoot unless his feet are 
on the ground, or have a bearing on something 
else. I remember once a friend of mine picked 
a skunk up by the tail and held him for me to 
kill, which is done with a sharp blow from a 
stick across the back just above the hips. The 
skunk was squirming considerably and I struck 
it across the shoulders instead of the small of 
the back, bringing all four of its feet on to my 
friend’s chest. There was an immediate dis¬ 
charge which caught my friend in the neck. He 
has held no more skunks by the tail for me to 
kill. I have never known a skunk to be the 
aggressor nor to discharge his scent unless 
struck, not even when caught in a steel trap, 
and I have caught more than a hundred in that 
way. I have never known a skunk to discharge 
its scent when struck a sharp blow across the 
small of the back. Take a short stick about two 
or three feet long and one good blow puts the 
skunk out of business forever. If you are not 
sure of your aim, better take a long pole; the 
longer the better. W. J. G. 
WHERE QUALITY IS FIRST. 
Campers and sportsmen who demand the best 
should note that the equipment of every scientific 
and exploring expedition for the past fifty years 
has included a supply of Borden’s Eagle Brand 
Condensed Milk. Keeps in any climate and 
under all conditions. The original and leading 
brand since 1857.— Adv. 
one of audubon’s guns. 
