April 8, 1911] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
531 
to her heart. Cony meanwhile', doubtless led 
by his sharp little nose, ran up to the foot of 
lateralis' rock, and ventured up beside him; but 
at this intrusion the superior squirrel made a 
pass at him that put an end to all Cony's 
friendly interest, and he ran off as fast as his 
feet could carry him, while lateralis complacently 
raised a seed to his mouth. 
While the provident conies of the rock slide 
were gathering stores, others were taking their 
ease, coming up from the dark hollows between 
the rocks to sun themselves in characteristic 
statuesque attitudes, some with heads up, some 
squatting with ears folded down like those of 
a frightened rabbit; while one was seen wash¬ 
ing its face with its paws like a kitten. While 
I was watching them quietly a squeak by my 
A Freak Robin. 
Fountain City, Ind., March 23 —Editor Forest 
and Stream: One of the robins in our yard 
saw his reflection in one of the cellar windows, 
and for four successive days he fought it until 
he was tired out. Then he would go away for 
a whi'e, and after a rest wou’d renew the at¬ 
tack. I aiso know of a sturdy turkey gobbler 
that came on the veranda and attacked his re¬ 
flection in the window glass with such vigor 
that the glass was broken. 
After all, these birds were not so different 
from some of us humans. No doubt a good 
many, perhaps all of us, have fought and wor¬ 
ried greatly over enemies as imaginary as the 
reflections of these birds. A good illustration 
devour their food in the presence of people. 
The cut printed in this issue is the best photo¬ 
graph ever taken of this species so far as known. 
Woodcock West of the Rockies. 
Jamesville, N. Y., March 27 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I recently noticed an editorial and 
some letters in Forest and Stream concerning 
ihe occurrence of woodcock west of the Rocky 
Mountains. 
A few years ago I was hunting the pools along 
an arroyo about three miles east of Nampa, 
Idaho, with a companion, when in a little moist 
patch near a pool I flushed and ki’led a wood¬ 
cock. On another day we flushed another with¬ 
in a mile or so of the same place which either 
side made me look just in time to see a young 
gray cony drawing back under a rock. He did 
not stay long, for there was a tempting little flat 
stone to sit on in the hollow at the foot of his 
big protecting boulder, and he could not resist 
one more look at the stranger. First a little 
white nose appeared, then a gray head, and 
finally the big ears and the gray body; but the 
face wore a solemn, anxious look, and after a 
quick glance, with a frightened squeak the little 
fellow disappeared down his cave. 
Safe shelter from prowling foxes and swoop¬ 
ing hawks the caves afford the conies in their 
long arctic night when roofed by the great 
white snow pile of the mountain sides! And 
with no work to do through all the long dark 
months, surely they may well afford to make 
hay while the sun shines! 
Florence Merriam Bailey. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
ELEPHANT SEALS in THE NEW YORK AQUARIUM. 
From a photograph by Elwin It. Sanborn. 
of this point is found in the story about the old 
German who, when he knew he was to die very 
soon, called his sons to the bedside and said: 
"Poys, listen vonce now to your tying fater’s 
atvise. Many drouples a'l my life haf I hat, te 
most of vich neffer happened." 
O. H. Hampton. 
The Aquarium’s Elephant Seals. 
The six elephant seals at the New York 
Aquarium are flourishing, we are glad to say. 
Each day they receive from twenty to thirty 
pounds of fish for the six. They are eating 
heartily and their appetite seems to be con¬ 
tinually increasing. They are offered small fish 
like tomcods and smelt entire, as well as cut up 
cod and larger fish. All this is eaten with relish. 
The sea elephants seem to be rapidly recover¬ 
ing from the nervousness that followed their 
long journey across the continent, and as has 
been said, are eating well and becoming used to 
their surroundings. They are not at all shy, but 
of us might have killed, but did not, because 
one woodcock seemed rather small game among 
a bag of ducks and sage hens. 
The bird we killed was seen by at least two 
witnesses, now resident in Nampa, Idaho, who, 
I have no doubt, would still recall the incident 
clearly. I myself know a woodcock at least as 
well as I know a Plymouth Rock rooster. I 
have no doubt that it will not be long before a 
freshly killed specimen will be forwarded from 
some point west of the Rockies. When I killed 
the bird mentioned I was not aware that the 
woodcock's range was not supposed to extend 
west of the mountains. 
I do not know that the statements made in 
your columns regarding the range of the ivory- 
bilied woodpecker are meant to cover any ter¬ 
ritory outside of the United States, but wish 
to mention that I have seen several specimens 
and killed one of these birds in the Sierra Madre 
about on the Chihualma-Sonora boundary line, 
perhaps 300 miles south of the border. 
W. W. Woods. 
