12 
They are not so brave with cats. I have seen 
them fighting one and seen the cat crouch, an 
when the bird made a dart at her she sprang 
at the bird, and several times came very near 
catching her. . . 
A pair of bluejays also have a nest m an oak 
tree within fifty feet of our back door. Down 
in the pasture, about 200 or 300 yards from the 
house, the warblers hold high carnival night and 
morning, and it is curious how many different 
songs one can hear. 
I noticed a letter in Forest and Stream some 
time ago about the ivory-billed woodpecker. In 
the bottoms of the River Sabine, near here, I 
have seen many of these now very rare birds. 
On one occasion while hunting squirrels last 
winter I watched a pair of these birds indus¬ 
triously searching for food on an old dead oak 
which stood in a pond of water. They seemed 
oblivious of my presence and worked away as 
industriously as a pair of. beavers,. throwing 
their chips almost on my hat. This bird is fast 
disappearing from the land, and I remember 
twenty years ago—when I first landed in Texas, 
a little further east—the ivory-billed woodpecker 
was almost abundant, but the wanton destruc¬ 
tion of our feathered friends—not altogether for 
the benefit of the milliner—has almost depleted 
the forests of this country of its most attractive 
feathered inhabitants. 
It is a pity that Texas has such poor game 
laws. Of course there are some sportsmen of 
the State that try to live within the bounds of 
the common law of supply, but alas, they are 
greatly in the minority. 
An Interested Reader. 
The Martin House Escaped. 
Brewer, Me., June 16. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: In connection with the recent discus¬ 
sion of martins and martin houses the follow¬ 
ing clipping from a local paper may prove of 
interest: 
In the fire which wiped out property valued at a 
quarter of a million dollars and made nearly 500 citizens 
homeless in Presque Isle village, early last week, the 
colony of bird houses tenanted by martins, which Judge 
George H. Smith had called to his back yard during 
thirty years, had a narrow escape. 
Judge Smith is a lover of purple martins. About 
twenty-five years ago these birds began to disappear 
from New England, and ornithologists said the martin 
would soon be extinct. Judge Smith built bird houses 
and set them aloft on tall poles. Last summer he 
counted forty-four pairs of purple martins in and about 
the houses. The fire swept the whole street, and Judge 
Smith’s home was destroyed, but the martins escaped. 
The martin house is a very common object 
throughout all this section, but during the past 
ten years, owing probably to the continued and 
seemingly ever-increasing scourge of English 
sparrows, the tenants are growing gradually 
scarcer until now in this immediate locality not 
one house in three has so much as a solitary 
pair of martins to give it warrant for its name. 
They are all getting to be sparrow houses and 
until people begin to see that it is not a crime 
to shoot sparrows and then help clear the pests 
out, we shall see very little I fear of our friends 
the martins. W. M. H. 
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. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Wild Life Along the St. Lawrence. 
Cape Vincent, N. Y., June 18.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: When I came back here to live 
four years ago I found that the kingfishers, loons 
and mink, which were common in my boyhood 
days, were nearly extinct. I well remember 
when I was fishing off the rocks one day some 
twenty years ago I heard a rustle on the bank, 
and looking round I saw a mink eating out of 
my bait dish. They are shy little creatures and 
in the last four years, although I have seen 
signs of them, I have never caught a glimpse of 
the little rascals. Early in the spring of 1905, 
while looking around the shore just after the 
ice went out, our party found a pile of clam 
shells, more than thirty in all, very beautifully 
tinted in delicate pinks and lavender. I thought 
them the remains of the winter feasts of some 
water mink. 
A little later in the year I heard the unearthly 
scream of a loon one morning and soon I saw a 
large specimen swimming and diving a short 
distance from the shore. Ever since we have 
observed the lonely bird occasionally, until last 
spring when we saw him, he had another bird 
with him. Evidently he had found a mate. All 
summer long and until late in the fall were 
heard the strange cries of these birds. This 
year the old loon is alone again. I am afraid 
some hunter has shot the other bird. 
I see kingfishers occasionally. We have wild 
ducks and geese and some wild pigeons. Our 
main sport is fishing for the gamy black bass 
or trolling for the pickerel which sometimes 
weigh eight or ten pounds. 
The country round about is a fine farming 
section and very thickly settled, though to go 
by boat from Clayton to Cape Vincent one would 
think it a wilderness, for the river road is back 
from the shore most all the way and of course 
the farm houses are located on it, while the 
shore is for most of the distance thickly wooded 
with cedar. 
Summer visitors are beginning to buy up river 
property and soon I suppose the shore above 
Clayton will be thickly dotted with summer 
homes as are the shores and islands below. 
E. R. F. 
Chamois for the United States. 
According to the Luzerner Tageblatt, five 
chamois (two bucks and three does) have been 
sent by the Federal Council to the Government 
of the United States, which wished to introduce 
these European antelopes into the Yellowstone 
Park. Each was packed in a box by itself, 62 
inches high, 40 inches wide and 64 inches deep, 
the interior was padded, and the top covered 
with sail cloth. To provide for ventilation about 
an inch was left open between the boards at 
the sides. Mountain hay, oats, bran, beets and 
salt were taken for food on the journey, and a 
sportsman from the Bernese Oberland, who had 
spent some years in America, traveled with the 
animals to New \ork. 
These chamois, while originally intended for 
the Yellowstone National Park, were not sent 
there. The plan was changed after the animals 
reached New York and they were turned over 
to the National Zoological Park in Washington. 
There are as above stated two males and three 
females, where they now are and in excellent 
condition. 
[July 3, I 9 ° 9 - 
They have not finished shedding as yet, and 
still look somewhat ragged. They have gained 
in weight and the new coat is bright and smooth. | 
One female, the most timid, was very thin when 
received, and has gained less than the others. 
When the chamois reached the National Zoo¬ 
logical Park, May n, they were placed in a 
rather small inclosure, so that they would be¬ 
come accustomed to seeing people nearby and 
to the various other new sights and sounds. 
From the yard they have access to a cool, welt 
ventilated house, where they are entirely undis¬ 
turbed. At first they kept to the house rather 
closely, but now spend much of the time in the 
yard. All were quite shy and timid, except one 
of the males, which was inclined to be pug¬ 
nacious and never showed any fear. At firai 
the keepers went into the inclosure only wher. 
the chamois were in the house. Now the arm 
mals are not in the least disturbed by the clean¬ 
ing of the yard, and frequently lie down closi 
to the fence where they are within a few fee: 
of visitors. 
Unusual Nesting Places. 
Here are two odd nesting places recorded i 
England. The Westminster Gazette says: 
“For the sixth year in succession a pair c 
bluetits have again this season built their ne 
in a two-gallon oil can which is suspended P 
a piece of string to the wall at Biel East Lodg 
Prestonkirk. The birds are remarkably tan 
and the tin can can be taken from the wall at 
returned again without the birds being in tl 
least disturbed. The adroit manner in whin 
the birds drop in through the narrow neck 
the can has been a source of much interest : 
onlookers.” 
This note is taken from the London Eveni 
Standard: ' I 1 
“A wagtail has built its nest .in a beehive 
West Ashby, near Horncastle, and is sitting 
ten eggs, despite the bees being busy at wc. 
below. The bird enters by the roof of the h 
through a small hole. It has carried quits 
heap of hay and other material bit by bit throi 
this hole. The bees are by no means disturl: 
by their lodger.” 
Passenger Pigeons? 
Detroit, Mich., June 26.— Editor Forest 
Stream: A correspondent of the Free P: 
notes that near the club house on the Pig 
River (once a famous grayling stream) a : 
has been discovered which, it is believed 
owned and occupied by a pair of passei 
pigeons. The case was at once referred to 
Mershon, but as he was obliged to go Eas 
called another expert into consultation, with 
structions to visit the spot and make a diagn 
It is to be hoped that he will report the r 
of his investigations to Forest and Stream. 
Jay Bee 
REDUCE THE CARES 
of housekeeping. One decidedly practical 
is to use Borden’s Peerless Brand Evapoi 
Milk in all cooking where milk or crea: 
required. Results will be more satisfat 
than with most “fresh” milk. The cor 
ience and economy will please you. L 
Peerless Milk with water to any desired 
ness.— Adv. 
