372 
the stovepipe, making a seemingly almost im¬ 
possible jump. 
They are protected by the State law, and about 
the only relief is to take a wire trap and catch 
them and then take them out into the country, 
but they are so thick in the city that this is 
about like taking a teaspoon to empty the ocean 
with. If it were not for their killing the young 
birds I suppose that we could willingly spare 
the fruit to them in return for the pleasure of 
seeing them around in the winter. 
W. B. Mershon. 
West Indian Seals at New York Aquarium. 
Several specimens of one of the rarest of 
mammals have recently been received at the 
New York Aquarium. The species is found in 
the Caribbean Sea, and is now supposed to be 
nearly extinct. C. H. Townsend, director of 
the Aquarium, in a recent number of Science, 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
gives an account of the receipt of these animals 
and something about the species. He says: 
“The New York Aquarium received on June 
14, 1909, an adult male and three yearling 
specimens of the rare West Indian seal 
(Monachus tropicalis). One of the latter was 
in a weak condition and died the day after 
arrival. The others are apparently doing well. 
The specimens were procured from a dealer in 
live turtles at Progreso, Yucatan, who re¬ 
ported the species as a great rarity. They were 
presumably captured at either the Triangle or 
the Alacran islets in the Gulf of Campeachy, 
the only known resort of the species at the 
present time, so far as I am aware. 
“They are probably the only specimens of 
this nearly extinct species now living in cap¬ 
tivity. Its original range included the coasts 
of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas. For 
the last half century it has apparently been re- 
[Sept. 4, 1909. 
stricted to the islands of Yucatan. It was well 
known to the sailors of Columbus and was later 
the basis of a seal fishery. 
“In Science for April 13, 1906, I recorded the 
killing of a specimen at Key West, Fla., on Feb. 
26, 1906. The species had not been seen in 
Florida for about thirty years. 
“The New York Aquarium received two 
specimens in 1897, one of which lived in the 
Aquarium until 1903. Both of these animals 
had the singular habit of filling their cheeks 
with water and blowing it suddenly and with 
considerable force into the faces of visitors 
leaning over the pool. It will be interesting to 
discover whether the specimens now in the 
building develop this trick, which for years 
excited the amusement, and sometimes the 
wrath, of visitors. Unlike the other Phocidse 
kept on exhibition here, Monachus is noisy, the 
young often roaring harshly.” 
The Deer Problem. 
Boston, Mass., Aug. 19. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: At various times I have noticed com¬ 
ments in Forest and Stream and in the daily 
papers relative to the destruction of crops by 
deer and the complaints made by farmers. 
From my own observation I am satisfied that 
deer do not destroy crops to any extent, but the 
damage done is by hedgehogs, woodchucks and 
rabbits. I am the owner of a tract of land in 
the Adirondacks of about 9,000 acres. This tract 
is forest land and is eight miles from the nearest 
village. There are no houses or clearances 
near it. 
For the convenience of my family, during the 
summer months I maintain two gardens on this 
tract of land about two miles apart, and the 
deer do not molest these gardens. One garden 
is located near my camp on Lake Ozonia. I 
raise all varieties in this garden that we require 
for summer use for ourselves and for winter 
use for my man. The deer have been around 
both of my gardens all summer and we have 
seen them at all hours of the day in the imme¬ 
diate vicinity of the garden, agd frequently 
found the tracks of does and fawns in the gar¬ 
dens. In these two gardens in June we set out 
a lot of cabbage plants that I took from Massa¬ 
chusetts. The next day we found that they 
were all eaten at one garden. We knew that 
they had not been eaten by deer, as there were 
no tracks of deer where the cabbages had been 
eaten. We commenced to set traps at this gar¬ 
den and we have already caught eleven hedge¬ 
hogs, four woodchucks and two rabbits. These 
various animals have eaten beets, peas, lettuce, 
cabbages and beans, and nothing in this garden 
has been touched by deer during the whole 
season. 
In the latter part of July I found that some 
animal had been in my garden near the lake and 
had eaten the centers from all of the lettuce 
heads all along one row and had reached up and 
eaten the tops off of my row of Champion of 
England pea vines, which grow quite tall. I 
at first thought it must be a deer. I examined 
the ground and found that there were no deer 
tracks and, in fact, could not make out any 
tracks. Deer, however, had been in the garden 
fifteen feet away and had walked through it, 
but had not molested anything where they had 
walked. We set a trap and the next day we 
had a fine woodchuck. Nothing has been touched 
in this garden since, although deer are around 
it and in it frequently. 
As far as my observation goes, deer are not 
inclined to seek as their food anything except 
the natural wild food that they can get only in 
the woods. They are very fond, however, of 
cow lilypads, roots and grasses that grow in 
ponds. 
I think that if those who now feel sure that 
the deer have molested their property will set 
some traps, that they will catch the intruders 
and will find that the deer are innocent of dam¬ 
age to their gardens. Frank A. Cutting. 
Bennington, Vt., Aug. 28.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I must apologize to your readers for 
attempting to continue the argument in regard 
to deer in New England, especially in Vermont, 
but I insist that Stanstead’s letter in a recent 
issue demands an answer. I wish to indulge in 
no personalities, but confine myself to facts. 
However, I have always observed that people 
who are compelled to swallow a bitter pill 
usually make wry faces. Stanstead says when 
he left Vermont two years ago there were as 
many deer in Franklin county as any other county 
in the State. How things have changed in Ver- 
r mont! The last report of deer killed in this 
State by counties is as follows: Windsor, 384; 
Washington, 349; Rutland, 269; Windham, 191; 
Bennington, 147; Lamoille, 137; Orange, 134; 
Caledonia, 115; Chittenden, 127; Addison, 107; 
Franklin, 93; Orleans, 90; Essex, 61, and Grand 
Isle, 1; total—2,205 bucks. 
It will be observed from this that Franklin 
county ranks well toward the “tail end” and the 
probabilities are that Windsor, Washington, Rut¬ 
land, Windham and Bennington counties have 
five deer where Franklin county has one. Stan¬ 
stead says when he thinks of “all the money 
spent for fish and game protection” in this State. 
Vermont appropriates $5,500 for the use of the 
fish and game commission annually. There are 
slight additions to this fund in the way of fines, 
etc., but the fact remains that Commissioner 
Thomas has less money for his department than 
any commissioner in the country where the State 
makes a pretense of protecting the fish and game. 
Now for deer damaging crops. Stanstead says 
these claims for damage come “either from some 
irresponsible party or from some poor fellow 
who was trying to eke out a living on some 
sterile rocky farm up among the mountains, and 
who was not above trying to help out his scanty 
income by taking something from the State 
treasury.” In the name of hundreds of honest, 
industrious and forbearing farmers of this State 
who have suffered considerable loss by deer, I , 
resent this insinuation as unworthy of argu¬ 
ment. In my experience I have come in contact 
with only about two such cases. But are all the 
honest farmers to be judged and condemned by 
so few isolated cases? We can never have any 
sort of fish and game protection unless the far¬ 
mers favor it, and that they as a class have al¬ 
ways been interested and public-spirited has been 
my experience. I know of several instances 
where farmers have suffered damages by deer 
for four or five years before they finally com- 
I 
