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Ivy Poison—Animal Habits. 
Raleigh, N. C., Sept. 16.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I was glad to see mentioned in the 
article by E. S. Whitaker the fact that ragged 
milk weed would cure oak or ivy poison. Such 
facts should be generally known by all who love 
to roam the woods. Being in the w r oods nearly 
all the time, I used to be bothered every sum¬ 
mer getting poisoned two or three times every 
season. I learned of the milk weed cure acci¬ 
dentally, as I would rub the itching places with 
all kinds of shrubs and weeds until one day I 
let the juice of a milk weed run on some of 
the ridges on my hands and noticed that it dried 
up the blisters and stopped all itching. Since 
then I have tried this remedy in many different 
cases and at all stages and it has invariably 
cured every case. I have had to cure some 
tentedly. I had to run him up the tree when 
ready to leave. The old one was up the tree 
calling all the time 1 had him. She was evi¬ 
dently carrying him to the home tree from which 
he had strayed. 
Last spring I had an interesting experience 
with a pair of blackbirds. They had built their 
nest in a narrow swale of cat-tails in plain sight 
of a public path. Knowing it would soon be 
destroyed by passing boys, I thought best to 
take the eggs and put them in some collection 
where they would be appreciated. As there were 
several feet of mud and water to get through, 
I went up on the hillside to break down some 
young pines to keep from sinking too deeply in 
the mud. The birds had been keeping up a 
continual calling since I first stopped. When 
I came down the hill with an armful of pine 
have been with me and seen their actions would 
agree that it could only be explained as intelli¬ 
gent action on their part. I hated to break up 
their home and I hope they had better success 
in choosing another site for their nest. I have 
observed many intelligent actions on the part 
of birds, but this is the most striking one I have 
noticed. E. L. Bailey. 
What do Coyotes Eat? 
New York, Sept. 22 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Two years ago I was hunting prairie 
chickens near Dawson, N. D., with my friend, 
Fern Werner, of that place, and on several 
occasions we saw a few coyotes in the vicinity 
of a hay meadow. Werner said to me one day 
that he would bring his rifle out and try to get 
a shot at one of the animals. One morning he 
MOTHER SQUIRREL CARRYING YOUNG. 
From a Sketch by E. L. Bailey. 
people two or more times before they would 
believe in the milk weed, as they were using 
other things at the time the milk weed juice was 
applied. 
Several weeks ago one of your readers in¬ 
quired how a squirrel carried its young. As 
I have had several to pass within ten feet carry¬ 
ing a young one, I inclose sketch showing her 
appearance. Some weeks ago one passed right 
at my feet with a young one at least three- 
quarters grown. She was about five feet from 
the tree she was making for when a dog rushed 
at her. The youngster lay perfectly flat when 
she dropped him, although on a cement walk, the 
dog going on after the old one. I ran over to 
keep off the dog, as I did not know she would 
fool him so well. The little squirrel made no 
attempt to bite as I picked him up just as the 
dog grabbed for him. Although nearly grown, 
he did.not try to escape, sitting on my arm con- 
tops they were both hovering around a nest 
some thirty yards down the slough, lighting 
near and peering down in the nest very solici¬ 
tously, whistling and calling to each other, and 
although I could see the nest near me was new, 
their actions made me believe I had made a 
mistake in the nest, and so I carried my pine 
tops down to the other nest, threw them in and 
waded out to a small willow. I was very much 
surprised to find it an old nest, and their trick 
had worked successfully. They had attracted me 
away from their real home, as I found aiter 
going back and getting another load of pine tops 
and placing them as I had intended, I waded 
out and found a new nest and four fresh eggs. 
The birds kept up their calling and hovering 
at the old nest until I had placed my second 
load of pine tops and started out to their real 
nest, when they became silent and sat swaying 
on the tips of the pines all the time I was get¬ 
ting the eggs. I believe that anyone who might 
put his rifle in the wagon and on reaching the 
vicinity of the hay meadow we saw a coyote 
on a small rise of ground, a long distance from 
the wagon. The horses were stopped and Wer¬ 
ner made ready to try a shot at the coyote, sit¬ 
ting on the front seat of the wagon and care¬ 
fully resting the rifle on his arm over the dash¬ 
board of the wagon. At the crack of the rifle 
the coyote disappeared, and I supposed it had 
run on the other side of the rise of ground, as 
I thought the distance seemed almost too f„r 
for the rifle to carry there. What, therefore, 
was my surprise on driving to the spot where 
the animal was, to find him stretched out on 
the grass dead with a bullet through his heart. 
This was one of the best shots that I have ever 
seen made. 
We put the coyote in the wagon and during 
the day discussed what their chief article of food 
was, as I could not see how they could live on 
anything which we saw in that vicinity. On 
