492 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 26, 1908. 
whereupon Bobs would make a valiant rush 
and chase the mocker, who apparently enjoyed 
the game, flying low and just fast enough to 
keep out of his reach until his favorite bush 
was near, there perching, would begin his scold¬ 
ing, “Chert, chert,” until Bobs’ back was 
turned. Then the chase was reversed, and 
Bobs was glad to seek the house. 
As to their attacking snakes, I know they 
never failed to sound the alarm in most strenu¬ 
ous fashion whenever they saw one. Black- 
snake, chickensnake and moccasins have many 
times been betrayed to me by these keen-eyed 
patrols. And they always perched on the bushes 
or shrubs nearby and watched the destruction 
of their enemy, with an alert air of satisfac¬ 
tion. 
They become very tame. I have time and 
again had certain ones that, winter and sum¬ 
mer, appointed themselves the companion of my 
garden labors, perching near me, darting down 
to take the worm or beetle that my spade ex¬ 
posed at my very feet, eyeing me saucily and 
following me wherever I went. One I had that 
came in the open window each morning when 
I breakfasted, perched on a chair, often alight¬ 
ing on the table to eat crumbs; but his favorite 
dish was lard. He would perch on the rim of 
the open pail and plunge his bill into the white 
substance again and again, swallowing it with 
every appearance of enjoyment. His coat soon 
showed the effects of this diet, .being much 
darker and glossier than his companions’. He 
amply repaid us by his exquisite melody night 
after night, and to show his confidence, he and 
his mate built their nest in a plum tree not ten 
feet from the kitchen door, and this, too, when 
there were several children playing about; but 
they never meddled with the birds, which reared 
their young in safety. 
I have never personally known of their actu¬ 
ally destroying a snake, but have little doubt 
they could, as they are persistent and very cour¬ 
ageous, and punish them severely, I know. 
If they discover a person taking their young, 
they will fly into his face, pluck his hair, and 
generally show fight; nor will they cease when 
the nest and young are removed, but assail the 
ravisher on his every appearance in that vicinity 
for days afterward. 
They hold their own against the host of 
English sparrows, in spite of overwhelming 
numbers, and are the only bird that I know of 
so doing. P. C. Tucker. 
A Deer Mystery. 
Woodbrook, hid., Sept. 12. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On Thursday, Sept. 10, I went with a 
neighbor to look at the remains of three deer 
about one-quarter of a mile north of the Gettys¬ 
burg turnpike near Monterey, Franklin county, 
Pennsylvania, close to the “Devil’s race course.” 
Nothing remained except the skulls and a lot 
of the bones, ribs, vertebrae, femur, etc. Two 
of them lay side by side and the third about 
forty feet away. Apparently they were near 
about of an age, judging from the size of the 
skulls and the condition of the teeth. Some of 
the hair was found under each one of them. 
What could have killed them all practically in 
one place? We found no skins nor hoofs nor 
horns, and we did not find—except in one case— 
anything like a pelvic bone. 
We think that they died late last winter of 
some common trouble, but there is just a chance 
of their having been shot. Deer are not gen¬ 
erally found so far south in this locality. 
W. M. E. 
[It seems improbable that these deer died of 
exposure and starvation at a point so far south. 
Perhaps some of our readers in Pennsylvania 
may be able to throw light on the cause, unless, 
as seems possible from the close proximity of 
the skeletons, they were shot.— Editor.] 
A ’Gator in a Puddle. 
Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 15.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: After the recent heavy rains 
which caused a pond to form in front of a 
street of dwelling houses of South Jacksonville, 
a group of small children were wading in it and 
having great fun, when I noticed a scattering 
among them. 
“Oh my! there’s a -big old ’gator. Let’s run !” 
they cried. 
Just then a young man, hearing the excite¬ 
ment, came rushing up with a rope and called 
on several little colored boys to lend a hand. 
“No sah! I dasn’t. Why, man, I ain’t much 
used to seeing dem t’ings in de streets a-crawlin’ 
’round. I ain’t gwine to trust myself ’round 
him,” was the answer he got as he was busy 
pulling the captive in. It proved to be an eight- 
foot alligator, which puffed and snorted at the 
thoughts of leaving his rainy bed. 
The young man led him like the Irishman 
does his pig up the street between a gaping 
crowd of spectators with a crowl of friends 
following behind, urging the reptile onward, and 
a group of little blacks with white children 
among them following with wide open eyes and 
rather scared looks at the reptile crawling 
leisurely along. 
Many friends are now calling on this young 
man to see the capture made in a rainy puddle 
in the streets of a Southern town. 
Maggie Gilmore. 
Reeves’ Pheasants for Vancouver. 
A correspondent in Vancouver writes as fol¬ 
lows to the Field: 
“I have been requested to ascertain whether 
it would be feasible to introduce some Reeves’ 
pheasants on Vancouver Island. From what I 
have seen of them in China, in a part where the 
winter is more severe than it is here, I should 
judge that they would do well, especially as in 
the part of China where I shot them they were 
always found where the timber was big, and that 
is certainly the case in Vancouver. My experi¬ 
ence of them in China was that they gave even 
better sport than the common pheasants, and I 
do not think that they would interfere with the 
ringed-neck pheasants in a wild country like 
this where there is plenty of room for both. In 
China I have shot both on the same day on the 
same hill.” 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
MOCKINGBIRDS. 
F. T. Webber, who made this photograph of young mockingbirds in Colorado, says that the disordered 
appearance of nest and young was occasioned by the fact that in order to get the light on the nest it was 
removed from the tree and placed on the ground, whereupon the birds kept jumping out. After the photo¬ 
graph had been made and the nest was replaced in the tree, they settled down quietly again. 
