1012 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 27, 1908. 
reptiles for showmen and for the oil which is 
disposed of to drug stores. 
Just north of Boston and over the southern 
border of New Hampshire deer have become 
so numerous that one can occasionally see them 
—as I myself have—from a trolley car out of 
Lowell. 
This wild life is, however, only to be dis¬ 
covered by the leisurely stroller through the 
parks, boulevards and environs of a great city. 
The hysterical rushing-to-catch-a-car chap, if he 
ever caught a glimpse of a fox, would imagine 
it merely a new sort of collie; and a muskrat, 
which might have crawled from a city brooklet 
to nibble at the tender shoots lining the bank, 
would be thought a giant wharf rat. 
Livingston Wright. 
Woodcock and Young. 
Sullivan County, N. Y., June 16. — Editoi 
Forest and Stream: I hope that the ruffed 
grouse have bred well, but May was wet and 
rather cold. How does the woodcock carry her 
young? We know that she does it. A friend 
saw a hen bird carrying two young woodcock 
this spring. She had been alarmed by dogs and 
the little ones were attached to her legs in some 
way. I think she holds them between her legs. 
Possibly they may cling to her. This is a wise 
bird in spite of the fact that when suddenly 
flushed, in bright sun, they may seem stupid, 
being half asleep. Night is their busy time. 
I have seen a woodcock deliberately enter the 
water and swim across a quiet stretch of a 
mountain brook in southern Pennsylvania. This 
is a tough story, but true just the same. These 
birds breed in many odd places, but usually 
move by August. I have seen a brood in the 
gardens of a small Michigan village. 
The days are long now and the robins begin 
singing about 3 o’clock in the morning before 
it is light. The catbirds and bobolinks have 
not been as tuneful as they were a week ago. 
The former does pretty well as a substitute for 
the mockingbird. I wish that the English spar¬ 
row was back in his native isles. He is a nuis¬ 
ance to our birds and to us. The worst enemy 
of birds in the country is the domestic cat. A 
pussy that has taken to hunting is always kill¬ 
ing something—young birds, rabbits, chipmunks 
—a murderous creature. 
Theodore Gordon. 
Breeding Prairie Chickens. 
Wilmington, Del., June 18 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have a batch of prairie 
chicken’s eggs now in process of incubation 
under a good natured domestic hen. If every¬ 
thing goes well the chicks will be due to show 
up about two weeks from this date. Will some 
of your readers be kind enough to give me the 
benefit of what experience they may have had 
in raising prairie chickens in confinement and 
also give me some hints as to what possibilities 
there are for increasing my stock from these 
chickens, provided I carry them successfully 
through the winter into another spring? Any 
hints of the breeding of prairie chickens in con¬ 
finement will be gratefully received. 
Blue Hen. 
Newfoundland Reindeer. 
St. John, N. F., June 13. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: As many readers of Forest and 
Stream are interested in the experiment now 
being tried by Dr. Grenfell, viz.: the introduc¬ 
tion of domesticated reindeer into the island, the 
following newspaper notes, which give the latest 
information, will be welcome. Dr. Grenfell is 
very enthusiastic over the success of the venture 
so far, and is sanguine as to the future. Every 
lover of nature the world over will sympathize 
with the learned doctor and hope the experi¬ 
ment will be brought to a successful issue. 
“From Captain Bartlett, of the Strathcona, we 
learn that the 250 reindeer imported last season 
are now all at St. Anthony and are proving a 
splendid success. There is every sign that they 
will increase quickly, as since they have been 
brought there, seventy fawns have been born, 
so that the herd has now increased to over 300. 
All the fawns are alive with the exception of 
two, which were born dead, and three killed by 
accident. The others are all doing well, and 
have proved to be splendid beasts of burden, 
being engaged all the winter hauling out logs 
from the woods, some six miles inside of St. 
Anthony, for the construction of mission build¬ 
ings at that and other places. 
“The deer are thriving splendidly on the moss 
which is found there in profusion, enough being 
at St. Anthony to support hundreds of thou¬ 
sands of the animals, and which the Laps say 
is as good, if not better, than the moss found in 
Lapland. 
“A splendid sight greets the visitor to St. 
Anthony, who enters by water, as the deer can 
be seen on the point browsing on this moss. 
Very little trouble, if any, is experienced' in tak¬ 
ing care of the animals. It is expected at the 
present rate of increase that within a few years 
the herd will be trebled or quadrupled. The 
Laps are at present in charge of the deer, but 
the doctor has some of his own people assist¬ 
ing them, and these are learning quickly to look 
after the deer, and to handle them properly. 
The animals do not travel with the speed that 
the doctor expected they would, with light loads 
and good going, but he is nevertheless satisfied 
that his experiment in bringing the reindeer to 
Labrador will be an unqualified success.” 
W. J. Carroll. 
Those Maine Panthers. 
In Forest and Stream, of May 23, a corres¬ 
pondent describes an encounter between Charles 
A. Daisey, the well-known camp owner of Nor- 
cross, Maine, and two animals said to be 
panthers. According to this account Mr. Daisey, 
while walking along an old trail in the Katahdin 
region last autumn, on the way from his camp 
on Sourdnahunk Lake to Norcross, saw two 
animals which he at first thought were deer. 
One of them, on scenting or hearing him, sprang 
into a tree, and its mate jumped on to the trunk 
of the same tree, then dropped into the bushes 
and was not seen again. Mr. Daisey fired sev¬ 
eral shots from his revolver at the one in the 
tree, and possibly injured it, for he said it 
squalled, jumped to the ground and vanished 
in the undergrowth. 
In the winter Captain Sawyer and Frank Has¬ 
kell, while trapping, tried to find these panthers 
—as they are believed to be—and Mr. Haskell 
reported that he saw one of them for a momei, 
but got no shot at it. 
Mr. Daisey wrote us, under date of June 1 
that he has seen the tracks of these anima 
since, as well as previous to, his meeting wit 
them, but has not had another opportunity t 
see the cats themselves. He estimates the 
length at not more than four feet, possibly 
little less. As he had a good view of them, fi 
tells us he is confident they were panthers. 
The Starling. 
New York City, June 16. — Editor Forest ar\ 
Stream: There is no doubt that the starlii 
is increasing rapidly. During the present sprii 
I have observed them everywhere about Ne 
York. In the district lying east of Brooklyi 
that is, Flatbush and Flatlands, they appear 
be especially numerous. The presence of : 
many old barns and outhouses there would a 
count for this, for the starling loves to ne 
in such places. Lacking these, however, it w 
readily take to holes in trees. It lays five < 
six eggs and nests at least twice a year. Ha 
ing showed that it can survive our winters, 
is safe to predict that it will eventually becon 
as numerous almost as the English sparrow. 
The question now is whether it will prove 
blessing or a curse to this country. Certain 
it is an agreeable bird, has a handsome preset 
(indeed the sheen of its plumage is unsurpassec, 
and a charming voice. This it employs in rui 
ning the scales or a series of exercises, so 
speak. Singularly enough it has never learnt 
to sing. In domestication, however, it w 
imitate the songs of other birds with which 
may be confined in the same room quite clever! 
And it can even be taught to repeat phrases, 
once heard of a tailor in the old country wl 
had taught one to repeat every morning: “Tin 
to get up! Time to get up!” 
While all this is to the credit of our ne 
importation it will weigh but little, I opine, 
the bird should take to devastating orchards, ; 
is reported of it from Australia. In the Briti: 
Isles, where it is very numerous, no serioi 
charge of this kind has been brought again 
it, but of course a change of habitat makes f( 
a change in habits. We cannot be sure, ther 
fore, whether we shall eventually have reasc 
to rejoice or lament at the introduction of tlj 
starling. This, however, may be said, that su< 
introductions, except in the case of game < 
edible birds (which are pretty sure not to 1 
allowed to increase beyond bounds'), are risk 
experiments and had better be left alone. Natuil 
is extremely jealous of her balance, and at 
attempts on our part to interfere with it ai 
apt to be resented. Frank Moonan. 
Honduran Hardwood. 
A railroad in Honduras, which has just beej 
opened to traffic as far as Ceiba, thirty-fh 
miles, was built with creosoted pine ties fro: 
the United States. It is worthy of note th; 
while creosoted pine ties are being shipped fro: 
the United States to Honduras, hardwoods aij 
coming to the United States from that countr 
Americans are doing the shipping both way 
A tract of 8,000 acres in Honduras has bee 
secured by an American company which will ct 
the mahogany and other valuable hardwoods an 
ship them to the United States. 
