1012 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 25, 1910. 
mountain system of the Cordillera, are conse¬ 
quently interrupted in this part of their length. 
The range of which the northern extremity is 
here found has a length of over 1,000 miles. It 
extends uninterruptedly southward to the inter¬ 
national boundary, and is still further continued 
into Montana to about latitude 46°. The width 
of this persistent mountain range probably aver¬ 
ages throughout about fifty miles, and its main 
physical and geological features are almost iden¬ 
tical in all parts of its length. Where the par¬ 
ticular line of crumpling and upheaval of the 
earth’s crust, to which this range is due, dies 
away at the Liard, another similar line begins 
nearly in the same latitude, but about eighty 
miles further to the east. The mountain range 
produced by this line of disturbance extends 
northward nearly parallel to the general course 
of the Mackenzie to the Arctic Ocean.” 
This interruption of the Rocky Mountain 
ranges, separated by eighty miles of flat, tim¬ 
bered country, thus occurs about in the latitude 
of McDame’s Creek. It may be a reason why 
goats do not continue further north. 
The limit of the Rocky Mountain goat in the 
interior mountains of British Columbia should, 
therefore, be considered as latitude 59 0 10', the 
most northerly positive record established by 
Warburton Pike. 
There are no positive records further north; 
in fact, the evidence is quite conclusive that 
goats do not occur along the mountains west of 
and parallel with the Mackenzie River north of 
the Liard River. The evidence of Mr. Camsell 
tends to disprove that goats occur in the Too- 
Tsho range near Frances Lake. The exact 
northern range can only be fixed by the most 
positive evidence, not by hearsay. 
Charles Sheldon. 
The Mudhen’s Nest. 
New York City, June 15. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I read recently an article from Forest 
and Stream about the mudhen’s nest, and as it 
differs in some slight degree from my observa¬ 
tions, I should like to report what I have seen. 
I live in Cape May county, New Jersey, in 
the summer, the salt meadows of which, in the 
autumn, are filled with mudhens, which are shot 
and eaten with relish after a little parboiling. 
On these meadows the mudhens weave their 
nests from meadow grass in the form of a plat¬ 
form, the nest being built on the platform, which 
is so constructed as to be above the highest tide 
up to the time the eggs are hatched. The height 
of these nests above the meadow indicates to 
the boatman the height of the highest tide up 
to hatching time, and this sign is usually trust¬ 
worthy. 
I have examined these nests and found that 
the mudhens weave dead meadow grass about 
tufts of standing grass, thus attaching the stems 
of the standing grass to each other. The nest 
is built on this platform and stands clear of the 
water until the eggs are hatched. Though they 
can stand a few wettings by a tide or two, I 
have never seen a floating nest. I have seen eggs 
in a stationary nest. J. H. J. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
Fooled by a Partridge. 
Milford, Conn., June 11 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Last Saturday I was passing along the 
edge of a piece of woods about noon, when from 
the foot of a soft maple tree about four feet 
from me an old partridge, and at least half a 
dozen young ones nearly as big as robins, rose 
from the ground and scattered. The old bird 
flew along the edge of the open field, close to 
the woods and only a foot or two above the 
ground, and my dog had started in pursuit as 
soon as she flew. Bird and dog were going di¬ 
rectly from me and the two looked to be very 
close together. For a moment I was frightened, 
fearing that the dog might make a great spurt 
and overtake the bird. In other words, although 
I have seen the same trick played by the mother 
partridge perhaps fifty times, she fooled me on 
that day as she has often done before. Of 
course the dog never had any more chance of 
catching the bird than he had of catching one 
of the swallows that play about over the 
meadows, but for a brief second or two I 
shouted after him in real anxiety. In a minute 
the old bird whipped into the woods and the 
dog came back. 
I did not venture to go back too near the 
place where the bird started from for fear of 
stepping on one of the little ones, but I looked 
at the place from which they had started, a 
charming nook sheltered from the rain by a 
leaning tree trunk and overhanging ferns. D. 
Bird Refuge in Cincinnati. 
Mrs. Mary M. Emery, of Cincinnati, has re¬ 
cently purchased in the residence district of that 
city a tract of wooded land which she has placed 
in charge of Prof. H. M. Benedict, of the Uni¬ 
versity of Cincinnati. The tract is to be held 
as a city bird reserve. The land is to be sur¬ 
rounded by a cat-proof fence. Water, food and 
other necessaries of bird life will be provided, 
and an effort will be made to bring back to the 
city the native birds. So much interest is now 
being taken in the protection of wild birds, 
shown not only in the passage of laws for the 
preservation of song birds, but also by the es¬ 
tablishment of breeding refuges for sea birds, 
that it is not surprising that persons are taking 
measures in various directions to increase bird 
life in towns and cities, as well as in the country. 
The great State park of New York and New 
Jersey, which has recently been set aside, and 
which is due chiefly to the generosity of Mrs. 
M- A. Harriman, is an ideal refuge for birds 
and mammals alike. Properly cared for and pro¬ 
tected, this and all other such refuges cannot 
fail to add to the health and happiness of the 
public in a thousand ways. 
Leaping Salmon. 
At the annual meeting of the American So¬ 
ciety of Zoologists, Central Branch, held at Iowa 
City, Iowa, in April last, Prof. Henry B. Ward, 
of the University of Illinois, read a paper of 
much interest to anglers. It was entitled ‘‘The 
Factors Which Control the Leaping of the Pacific 
Salmon.” 
Many of Prof. Ward’s observations were made 
on salmon swimming about in pound nets or 
traps. He says that the same fish does not exe¬ 
cute a series of leaps, but only a single one. 
This leap does not appear to be an effort to 
escape capture, nor the preparation of the ascent 
of the stream later. It is considered a type of 
play, which, however, finds expression only as 
the reproductive season approaches. Jumping at 
falls, of course, appears to be for the purpose 
of surmounting an obstacle, yet in a great num¬ 
ber of cases the effort is unsuccessful, and seems 
to display lack of accuracy in direction as well 
as in height. Fish wou’d be expected to jump 
for the most part in parallel lines perpendicular 
to the face of the fall, yet as a matter of fact 
they jump in a seemingly erratic fashion. This 
is probably caused by the. confused water cur¬ 
rents at the base of the fall: Sudden and irregu¬ 
lar changes in the fuller pools where the fish 
lie waiting for the- opportunity to jump no doubt 
modify the direction of the leap and cause the 
fish at times to execute many that are apparently 
without definite aim. 
Pictures of Glacier National Park. 
Persons interested in the Glacier National 
Park and desirous of getting some idea of its 
scenery will be glad to know where pictures of 
it may be had. Thomas B. Magee, of Brown¬ 
ing, Montana, has a series of ten colored post 
card pictures of mountain and lake scenery in 
the park, and no doubt will be glad to corres¬ 
pond with anyone who may wish to purchase 
them. 
New Publications. 
In the Grip of the NYiKA,by Lieut.-Col. J. H. 
Patterson. Cloth 8vo., 389 pages, illustrated 
from photographs and with maps, $2 net. 
New York, The Macmillan Company. 
No one who has read Colonel Patterson’s 
“The Man-eaters of Tsavo,” will care to miss 
another opportunity to follow the hunter in his 
journeys through the British East African nyika, 
or wilderness. Indeed, the present narrative 
opens with a further description of the depreda¬ 
tions of lions among the builders of the Uganda 
railway, though the visit Colonel Patterson de¬ 
scribes in this volume occurred several years after 
the railway he helped to build was in operation. 
His first hunting party was joined by two men 
whose wives were with them, but later one 
couple turned in another direction. He gives 
a vivid description of the confusion that arose 
in camp one day when a rhino suddenly charged 
Mrs. S., who was sitting on the grass with a 
sun umbrella in her hand. None of the men 
was armed at the time, but the woman, taken 
unawares, waved her umbrella at the beast and 
startled it, so that it veered off and went on into 
the bush. 
A second expedition, to Marsabit, was joined 
by a Mr. B. and his wife. The former con¬ 
tracted fever and was buried in the desert, while 
both his widow and the colonel suffered severely 
from the malady ere they returned to Nairobi. 
There are many thrilling descriptions of nar¬ 
row escapes from big game in the volume, which, 
unlike so many of the recent African books, is 
not a record of slaughter. Instead it is full of 
human interest, and the illustrations really serve 
that purpose. 
How many difficulties must be overcome in 
bringing home good negatives may be understood 
when it is known that despite great care, about 
200 of the author’s films were destroyed by the 
heat and damp. 
