THE WEASEL 
‘ORE of the most interesting of our 
smaller animals from the stand- 
point of both the naturalist and the 
conservationist, is the weasel. Its 
courage and destructiveness are out of 
all proportion to its size, and even some 
animals and birds larger than itself 
consider it a dangerous adversary. 
Occasionally one of the hawks or larger 
raptorial birds will attack a weasel and 
attempt to carry it off, but not in- 
frequently the weasel comes off victor. 
Instances of this kind have been re- 
ported, where the weasel by twisting 
its long and flexible neck, bit its ad- 
versary to death while the latter was 
in the act of flying away with it. It is 
sometimes stated that a weasel seldom 
if ever kills except for food. It is a 
well recognized fact, however, that it 
frequently invades a hen roost and 
kills a number of hens for the pure 
lust of killing. Occasionally, if the de+ 
mands of hunger are not pressing, the 
weasel will bury its kill and devour it 
at some later time. Its usual method 
of attack is to bite its prey through 
the head and into the brain, which is 
generally eaten first. Due to its ex- 
treme agility and long, flexible body, 
it can readily follow mice, moles and 
rats into their holes. Its scent, too, is 
extremely keen and it has no difficulty 
in tracking its prey by this means. 
The weasel seems to have no par- 
ticular fear of man either, except, per- 
haps, in the vicinity of civilized com- 
munities where it is persecuted. Fre- 
quently, I have come within 20 or 25 
feet of them. On most of these oc- 
casions they evinced no evidence of fear 
whatever, but only an unbounded curi- 
osity. They would skip about, and 
cocking their heads to one side, would 
scrutinize me from various angles, 
sometimes peering at me through the 
crevices of stone walls or from behind 
fence posts, stones or trees. After 
having satisfied themselves that they 
had no particular occasion to fear me, 
they hopped away indifferently and 
went about their business. 
From a conservation standpoint, tho 
number of weasels in a locality should 
be controlled within reasonable limits 
at least. They frequently attack and 
kill some of our finest game birds, such 
as the partridge and woodcock. Rab- 
bits, too, not infrequently fall a victim 
to this predacious little animal, and 
poultry yards are a favorite field for 
their dépredations. They sometimes 
spring into the air after a partridge 
at the moment of flushing them and at 
times are successful in bringing them 
down and killing them. Such instances 
are typical of the weasel’s daring and 
craftiness. _ ; 
In’ localities where the weasel is mo- 
lested, it is rather difficult to hunt and 
keep in control, as it becomes very 
wary and suspicious. It is also very 
prolific, giving birth to four or five at 
a time and breeding sometimes two or 
three litters a year. Because of these 
facts, its predacious and bloodthirsty 
habits are liable to become a serious 
menace to the wild life of a community. 
Strenuous efforts should be inaugu- 
rated to reduce their numbers, and it is 
a wise and safe rule to kill every one 
Rao 
on sight. 

FOX ~ DOES 935: ieMILES 2 aN 
HOUR BUT FAILS AT 40 
A FRIEND of mine, while riding in 
his car one evening, perceived a red 
fox trotting along just ahead of him. 
Thinking to have some fun with the 
animal, my friend pushed the car up 
to 35 miles. The fox kept to the road 
and had no trouble in maintaining his 
distance. My friend then shoved the 
speed up to forty, overtaking the ani- 
mal and killing it. 
SKUNK STRONG FOR 
REVENGE 
A GENTLEMAN riding along in his 
car late at night accidentally ran 
over a family of skunks. The mother 
had the good fortune to escape unin- 
jured, and as the driver looked back to 
ascertain the extent of damages, he was 
surprised to see the animal coming 
along in hot pursuit. Needless to say, 
he did not wait. i. Li. BAILEY. 
“THE FIGHT FOR EVER- 
GREEN TREES” 
THE people of the United States con- 
sume twice as much softwood lum- 
ber, says the New York State College 
of Forestry at Syracuse University. 
The softwoods are cut off more rap- 
idly because of their better adaptation 
tv man’s needs and their lighter weight. 
The pines, the hemlocks and spruces 
float, and this makes transportation to 
the mills comparatively easy. They 
are hauled by bobsleds or sent by flume 
or chute to a stream or lake and floated 
to the mills. The maples, beeches and 
birehes will very often sink, which 
necessitates artificial means of trans- 
portation, such as motor trucks, trac- 
tors and railroads, or expensive raft. 
ing. Even where such costly transport 
is required for softwoods the greater 
value of the product has made lumber- 
ing profitable. But with hardwoods 
this type of logging is too expensive 
except where the hardwoods are espe- 
cially fine and*the demand is good with 
a near market. 
The dwindling supply of softwood 
timber is making it more profitable to 
plant evergreen trees than ever before. 
Today many hardwood forests and 
farm woodlots are being converted to 
the more valuable softwoods. It often 
pays on such woodlots to girdle un- 
merchantable trees so the undergrowth 
of softwoods that have been artificial- 
ly planted or naturally reseeded will 
not be retarded by the shade of the 
older hardwoods. By cutting the bark 
around the hardwood trees their foliage 
will disappear and the trees will die, 
thus allowing enough light to fall upon 
the young softwoods to give them their 
natural rate of growth. In the -aver- 
age forest such elimination of hard- 
woods allows the coniferous or softwood 
species to take on additional volume of 
about one-quarter cord annually for 
25 to 30 years, depending upon their 
age. This increase in growth will off- 
set the expense of girdling and keep 
the forest on a profitable basis. 
N. Y. STATE COLLEGE OF FORESTRY. 
Syracuse, N. Y. 
REMARKABLE TRAPSHOOT- 
ING AVERAGES 
ee Ye in the history of trapshoot- 
ing have the averages compiled on 
clay targets been as high as in 1923. 
John R. Taylor, of Newark, Ohio, is 
credited with the best average ever 
made by a trapshooter. Taylor shot 
at 2,000 targets and broke 1,969 for an 
average of .9845. The best previous 
average was made in 1922 by Frank 
Troeh. His figures were .9838. Tay- 
lor is a professional. The best ama- 
teur average in 1923 was .9823 by P. 
R. Miller of Dallas, Tex. W. H. Heer 
of Guthrie, Okla., also went over the 
98 per cent. mark in the amateur ranks 
and Fred Tomlin of Glassboro, N. J., 
went over in the profesional ranks. 
In 1922 the Winchester Shooting 
team had an average of .9728. In 
1923 the Winchester squad averaged 
.9745—the best ever compiled by five 
representatives of any one concern, 
Not only did this team outclass all 
others, but Duncan broke all world’s 
records when he smashed 621 targets 
straight and 648 out of 650, and Tom- 
lin broke 248 straight from 22 yards, 
also a world’s record, and the best two 
trapshooting performances of the year. 
These shooters used the Winchester 
ventilated rib gun and Repeater shells. 
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