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Dr. Grenfell’s Reindeer. 
St. John’s, N. F., Sept. 5.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The following clipping from a local 
paper will interest those of your readers who 
are following Dr. Grenfell’s experiment with 
interest: 
Among the passengers to the city by the 
Prospero Monday morning was W. G. Lindsay, 
an Irishman, who has charge of the reindeer 
now at St. Anthony, imported last fall by Dr. 
Grenfell. 
Yesterday we had the pleasure of an inter¬ 
view with Mr. Lindsay, who has had many in¬ 
teresting experiences, being formerly in the 
army and later ranching in the United States. 
He has spent the greater part of his life look¬ 
ing after animals and has the science of cattle 
breeding and raising down to a fine point. 
Last year when Dr. Grenfell was making 
arrangements for the importation of the rein¬ 
deer. he engaged the services of Mr. Lindsay 
to look after them upon arrival and care for 
them afterward. Since that time Mr. Lindsay 
has had full dharge of the animals and that he 
has done good work the following will show: 
After the departure of the fifty deer purchased 
by the Harmsworth Company, the herd at St. 
Anthony consisted of 250 deer, comprising 200 
does, 25 stags and 25 working stags. Since that 
time, 150 fawns have been born alive and of 
these only one has died and that one was born 
sickly and lived for two weeks only. All the 
others are doing splendidly and are in the pink 
of condition. 
The moss found there is splendid and in un¬ 
limited quantities and the Lapps say they have 
never seen anything to equal it in their own 
country. At each new camping ground they 
are more and more astonished at the quantity 
and quality of the moss. 
In summer the deer do not eat much moss, 
as they browse on the tops of birch and every 
thing green that they find, exactly similar to the 
caribou. 
Mr. Lindsay and the Lapps are camped out 
with the deer all the time, changing the camping 
ground as often as necessary> The first work 
every morning is to collect and count the deer 
and for this purpose they are rounded up and 
driven to the camp, being then allowed to 
roam away again at will till the next morning. 
If any of the animals become sick or injured, 
they are carefully looked after by Mr. Lindsay, 
who takes the greatest care of them, and on 
several occasions has kept them in his tent 
until well. The Lapps do not take the same 
interest in the sick deer, because in their own 
country where they are so numerous they are 
used to letting them perish, but that does not 
suit Mr. Lindsay, and he takes care to preserve 
the lives of any that get sick or injured. 
Mr. Lindsay informs us that he treats the 
deer exactly the same as he would wild cattle. 
That that method is a good one is proved by 
the fact that the percentage of births among 
his deer to date is over sixty, while in Alaska 
the latest report available gives the percentage 
of births there as only forty. 
Mr. Lindsay had only been engaged here for 
one year, but has decided to remain for a sec¬ 
ond. During the winter he will have four ex¬ 
perienced trappers down from the Labrador 
and will train them for the work to act as 
herders. 
The time of the two Lapps now there expires 
in November and one of them is returning to 
his own country. The other remains, however, 
and another is expected out to take the place 
of the departing herder. 
Mr. Lindsay speaks in glowing terms of Dr. 
Grenfell and his work, and expresses the 
greatest admiration for him. He returned to 
St. Anthony by the Prospero this morning, hav¬ 
ing made but a brief visit here for the purpose 
of purchasing supplies for the winter. 
W. J. Carroll. 
Habits of Grizzly Bears. 
Louisville, Ky., Sept. 20.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: In his “Wild Beasts,” a most excel¬ 
lent and thorough analysis of the characteristics 
of several large quadrupeds, J. Hampden Porter 
makes the definite statements, to wit: 
(1) That the grizzly does not climb trees. 
(2) That the grizzly does not hibernate. 
I have heard reliable guides, who, from the 
character of their lives among the ferae naturae, 
one would naturally expect to find better posted 
than the average book writer, make positive 
statements contradictory of Mr. Porter’s asser¬ 
tions in his scholarly treatise. 
Inasmuch as the grizzly ( Ursus horribilis ) is 
the most formidable carnivore in all the Ameri¬ 
cas and, in the estimation of some old hunters 
with experience extensive enough to make their 
opinion reliable, his vigorous character is en¬ 
titled to equal rank with that of the lordly lion 
and the royal tiger, it would reasonably seem 
that such traits as “climbing” and “holing-up,” 
indisputably established in connection with the 
similar smaller and more numerous species of 
the arctoidea, should be readily settled for good 
and all in reference to the grizzly. 
Anyone who possesses more than a mere 
superficial interest in natural history would, I 
am sure, like to have a settled conviction as to 
two of the most interesting traits of ursine char¬ 
acter as they apply to the head,of the family, 
the grizzly, and, perhaps, the editor or reader, 
since this question is raised, may provide in¬ 
teresting observations throwing additional light 
on the subject. Brent Altsheler. 
CAMP SUPPLIES. 
Camp supplies should include Borden’s Eagle 
Brand Condensed Milk, Peerless Brand Evapor¬ 
ated Milk and Borden’s Malted Milk, all of 
which contain substantial and compact nourish¬ 
ment, and supplying every milk or cream re¬ 
quirement.— Adv. 
Texas Mockingbirds. 
Redbank, N. J., Sept. 13. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: You print a letter from Alma, Aric., 
signed J. E. Loudon, dated Aug. 17, in which 
he relates a story of a pair of mockingbirds 
killing a blacksnake. He says he has “always 
looked upon the mockingbird as the most 
timid of birds, and adds there are many of 
them in this country, etc.” 
I know nothing of the bird in Arkansas, but 
have a life-long acquaintance with it in Texas. 
And then, far from being a timid bird, it is 
rather a feathered fury when angered. It will 
attack any thing from man down, and as to 
birds of prey, cats and dogs, it renders their 
life miserable. Many a hawk, owl and Mexican 
. eagle, whose presence has been betrayed to me 
by these birds, have fallen to my gun. The 
minute they sight them, they begin circling 
about their perch, or following their flight, 
emitting angry calls aloud, “Chert, chert,” 
and darting down on them from aloft always 
from behind, making feathers fly at each on¬ 
slaught. A pair of them have often bested a 
hawk or owl and driven them from their chosen 
range before my eyes. You know each mock¬ 
ingbird, or rather pair, have a certain beat, or 
range, wherein they allow no rival. They 
patrol it diligently, and vigorously attack any 
other bird that may poach upon their preserves. 
During the nesting season they vigorously 
prosecute any cat that dares appear within this 
territory, hovering over it, darting down upon 
its back, tweaking its ears or tail, or pulling 
hairs, they drive it to shelter, knowing by ex¬ 
perience that many a thriving nest of young are 
destroyed by these pests. One qld Tom of my 
acquaintance was a dangerous^ enemy to the 
older birds. Several times I have seen him, 
when undergoing such an attack, suddenly 
whirl and leap into the air, catching the assail¬ 
ing mocker before he could dart away. It is 
needless to say his own end was as sudden, 
for a charge of No. 6 shot avenged the death 
of the third mocker. 
Dogs often catch the 3'oung birds while learn¬ 
ing to use their wings, so come in for a just 
amount of enmity from the adult birds. I well 
remember the sufferings of a Boston terrier, 
“Bobs,” from such attacks. They seemed to 
know that the stub of his docked tail was the 
most sensitive point they could assail. He was 
a dog of much dignity of bearing, and it was 
amusing to see the mocker dart upon him from 
an adjacent bush, tweak the hairs upon that 
stub tail, then flash away. Bobs would give a 
yelp of pain, whirl around, look foolish and 
start off again with an injured air, only to re¬ 
ceive another attack from the rear, until he 
took to ignominious flight. 
He would often try reprisal, lying on the 
gallery apparently asleep, but with one eye on 
the scolding mocker, who, after a time, would 
drop from his perch to the lawn in search of a 
luscious worm or venturesome grasshopper. 
