772 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 12, 1910. 
be complete, for Mr. Mathews has the active 
assistance of a large number of field ornitholo¬ 
gists in Australia, and is receiving constant as¬ 
sistance from them. The plates, which are being 
drawn by some of the best bird artists, among 
whom is G. E. Lodge, will be hand colored, and 
judging from the sample received will be beauti¬ 
ful works of art, as well as exact reproductions 
of the species figured. The text is handsomely 
printed on a rag paper. 
New Publications. 
The Black Bear, by William H. Wright. Cloth, 
127 pages, illustrated from photographs, $1. 
New York. Charles Scribner’s Sons. 
As a bear story alone, Mr. Wright’s opening- 
chapter is a gem of its kind. “The Story of 
Ben” is the life history of a black bear which the 
author took from its mother when it was only 
a few days old, and which was his companion 
until it had attained its growth. But while many 
of its comical actions are described, Mr. Wright’s 
study of its habits is of value, because its early 
life was spent in a hunters’ camp where it was 
free to follow its natural bent in its search for 
food. This cub was taken in the spring when 
there was snow on the ground, and had tasted 
nothing other than its mother’s milk and the 
food given it in camp until in the summer, when 
it began to dig for roots and bulbs and to search 
for berries. “I was amazed,” says Mr. Wright, 
“to find that he knew every root and plant that 
the oldest bears knew of and fed on in that 
particular range of mountains [the Bitter Roots]. 
He would work around by the hour, paying not 
the least attention to my presence; eat a bit of 
grass here, dig for a root there, and never once 
make a mistake. When he got something that 
I did not recognize, I would take it away from 
him and examine it to see lyhat it was, and in 
this way I learned many kinds of roots that the 
bears feed on in their wild state. I have seen 
Ben dig a foot down into the ground and un¬ 
earth a bulb that had not yet started to send out 
its shoot. Later, when it was time for the* sarvis 
berries and huckleberries to ripen, he would go 
about pulling down bushes, searching for berries. 
Not once in the who'e summer did I ever see 
him pull down a bush that was not a berry bush. 
This was the more remarkable because he would 
occasionally examine berry bushes on which there 
happened to be no berries at the time.” 
When grizzly bear meat was cooked for the 
dogs, Ben would eat a little of it, but no other 
meat. Every time a new bear skin was brought 
to camp, Ben would work himself into a rage, 
but just why was not evident. The only black 
bear skin in camp, that of Ben’s mother, he 
would whimper and howl over and lie on. 
“He was far and away the best lookout I ever 
saw. We used to amuse ourselves by trying to 
surprise him on our return to camp; but, come 
in as quietly as we might, and up the wind at 
that, we would always find him standing behind 
a tree, peering around its trunk with just one 
eye exposed, ready to climb in case the danger 
proved sufficient to warrant it.” 
The chapters which follow are, respectively 
Classification of Bears, Description and Distri¬ 
bution, Characteristics and Habits, Food and 
Feeding. In the concluding chapter the author 
calls the black bear the Happy Hooligan. The 
danger in hunting black bears, he says, is about 
equal to that of hunting'a spring calf in a pasture 
with an air gun. All animals are quick to un¬ 
derstand when we are afraid of them, and many 
seem to enjoy taking advantage of the fact. The 
black bear makes the most of his ability to in¬ 
spire terror; he trades on it and is one of the 
most accomplished of bluffers. Mr. Wright tells 
of numerous instances. 
The book is one it is well to read. 
Hunting Trips in Northern Rhodesia, with 
accounts of sport and travel in Nyasaland 
and Portuguese East Africa, and also notes 
on the game animals and their distribution, 
by D. D. Lyell. Large quarto, cloth, 118 
pages, illustrated. London, Horace Cox. 
It is refreshing to have Mr. Lyell’s opinion 
that, following the imposition of stringent regu¬ 
lations, the game of Northern Rhodesia is in¬ 
creasing. It is, indeed, in marked contrast with 
the statements printed in so many of the recent 
African books, in which the authors relate with 
pride the part they played in thinning out the 
game, and yet they regret that its extermination 
is not impossible. 
While the narrative relates to numerous trips 
after game, and is therefore not monotonous, as 
diaries of continuous journeys sometimes are, 
Mr. Lyell gives information which it will be well 
for sportsmen to have in preparing for an Afri¬ 
can journey. Unlike many Britons, he prefers 
the magazine rifle to the double rifle. The former, 
he says, is far less costly and not likely to get 
out of order, though he points out the possibili¬ 
ties of the set triggers often put in it of being a 
source of danger. A .275 and a .400 rifle he 
deems an excellent battery, with cartridges 
loaded with solid and lead-point bullets only. 
J. W. Viljoen, he says, killed eighteen elephants 
in one day with a 7.9 mm. rifle, while the late 
A. H. Neumann killed fourteen in one day with 
a .303 rifle. This he regards as ample proof 
that expanding bullets in the small bores are 
powerful enough for big game. 
Books Received: “Hunting Camps in Wood 
and Wilderness,” by H. Ilesketh Prichard; New 
York, Sturgis & Walton Company. “The Mis¬ 
sissippi River and its Wonderful Va ley,” by 
Julius Chambers; New York. G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons. “The Airy Way,” by George A. B. 
Dewar; New York, the Macmil’an Company. 
“Hunting With the Eskimos,” by Harry Whit¬ 
ney; New York, the Century Company. “World 
Corporation,” by King C. Gillette; Boston, the 
Northeastern News Company. “Alongshore,” by 
Stephen A. Reynolds; the Macmidan Company. 
“Notes on New England Birds” (Thoreau), 
edited by Francis H. Allen; Boston, Houghton 
Mifflin Company. “Lives of the Fur Folk,” by 
M. D. Haviland; New York, Longmans, Green 
& Co. 
Erratum. 
In our issue of Oct. 15 we printed a picture 
entitled “A Forest in the Northern Rockies.” 
Instead, the Cascade Range should have been 
referred to. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
What I Saw from My Windows. 
The following charming sketch by Mrs. Eckstrom was 
published twenty years ago in Forest and Stream. It 
has a peculiar value because it shows so clearly what we 
all may see about our own homes, if only we have in¬ 
telligence enough to use our eyes. All who live in the 
country, or in any communities except the largest cities, 
may see from their own windows bits of nature that are 
well worth considering and enjoying. 
For three years my front windows overlooked 
the main street of a small Massachusetts city 
and the side window faced toward the Catholic 
church which stood near by. The prospect was 
not an extensive one, although from certain 
angles there was a glimpse of mountains, and 
the street widened just below into what used to 
be called a “heater piece,” where beautiful elms 
overarched the greenest grass. Had it not been 
for the vacant lot between me and the church, 
with its old apple and pear trees, its grape vines 
and quince bushes, and the tall Norway spruce 
which grew just beside the corner of the piazza, 
my windows would have afforded few oppor¬ 
tunities for seeing the birds, except now and 
then the meteor streak of an oriole flashing 
through the elms below or the gold of a thistle 
bird in the shrubbery across the street. But they 
came to the apple trees, sang there, nested there 
and were social. From behind my closed blinds 
I could spy on all their movements, and by the 
aid of my field glass bring even the most distant 
under strict surveillance. 
During the summer there was rarely a time 
when some bird was not to be seen in the apple 
trees; either the sparrows and ‘robins which 
nested there, or some visitor from a home more 
or less remote. The oriole, whose hammock 
was slung in the neighboring elms, used to flaunt 
his co’ors amid the apple blossoms, and the 
sober-habited catbird, stealing from his home 
among the alders and hiding himself unseen, 
would establish a Dodonan oracle in the quince 
bushes. From the bare twigs dissenting flycatch¬ 
ers proclaimed each his peculiar doctrine, eking 
out a living by catching flies between whiles. In 
their season warblers of all kind's haunted the 
branches, singing all the variations of tweedle-. 
dum and tweedledee that are put down by the 
ornithologists. With a few exceptions, such as 
my cheery friend the summer yellow warbler, 
whose strong clear voice was as unmistakable 
as his habit of singing his best when he was 
about his work, I seldom undertook to identify 
them by their voices alone. My note book never 
made their songs read twice alike, and a descrip¬ 
tion of the music too often resolved itself into 
mere words. 
By putting different materials on the piazza 
roof I was able at once to help the birds in their 
nest building and to see what they preferred 
when they had a choice offered them. The king¬ 
bird wanted cotton. As soon as he saw a bit 
of it on the roof he would cease his chattering 
and fly boldly up to the window, yet with such 
a wild look and such a belligerent attitude as 
indicated either apprehension on his own part or 
a desire to frighten others. He invariably ele¬ 
vated his crest when he put on this ferocious 
appearance, but never in such a way as to show 
the beautiful crown patch in the center of it. 
Hair combings were in great demand. The 
cherry birds especially sought for these, and with 
their usual greed got the lion’s share. The 
cherry birds also carried off large quantities of 
string, showing a decided preference for white, 
(Continued on page 791.) 
