
FOREST ANDY STREAM: 







Comments and Queries. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your journal of June 29 a correspondent 
inquires regarding the whereabouts of the bobo- 
link. Stating that though it was formerly abund- 
ant in Connecticut he has not “for twenty years: 
seen one in summer plumage or in any situation 
where it seemed to be at home.” 
Although the bird has apparently become scarce 
in some sections it is still fairly abundant in other 
localities; it has not disappeared from the neigh- 
borhood of the sea coast, for considerable num- 
bers breed in the meadows and marshes not 
twenty-five miles from Atlantic City, the ‘rollick- 
ing song of the male bird being heard. far into 
the summer in and around Hammonton, N. J. 
In some portions of New England, however, 
it seems to be rarely seen, while in others it is 
quite abundant. In the country surrounding 
Fitchburg they are particularly numerous, several 
males often being seen in the same field. or pas- 
ture or mounting tn the air to sing their carols. 
In Lunenburg and in: Leominster they annually. 
breed in considerable numbers, and in our daily 
drives we invariably pass several of the merry 
singers. 
Another correspondent comments on the un- 
usual conditions which seem to prevail in the 
migrations of birds this year. 
There have been two migrations of many 
species this season, ard even now (June 29) there 
seems to be a rear guard arriving and locating, 
or passing still further north: I have had good 
opportunities for observing the irregularities of 
the migration this season, for I have daily passed 
through long stretches of the beautiful forest 
growth and have carefully noted the arrival and 
disappearance of many species. 
About four weeks ago the woods seemed to be 
alive with warblers of many varieties, and golden 
crowned thrushes were numerous. Then for a 
week or ten days the woods were almost deserted, 
hardly a warbler being seen or heard. About two 
another host arrived and as the sea- 
son is so advanced many of the beautiful feath- 
ered visitors are making preparations or have 
already begun nesting operations; the yellow 
warbler, chestnut-sided warbler, black-throated 
green warbler, redstart, golden crowned thrush 
and the vireos have apparently settled down for 
the summer. 
weeks ago 
) 
I regret to note the absence of the Maryland 
yellow-throat. I have not-heard one between Penn- 
sylvania and the New Hampshire line for two 
Have other ornithologists noted the 
scarcity of this species? 
The scarlet tanager is quite abundant this sea- 
son and it is preparing for nesting. Several rose- 
breasted grosbeaks have lately been seen, as well 
as indigo birds, goldfinches, wood and brown 
thrush and towhee bunting. The season is at least 
three weeks late so far as bird life is concerned, 
and in all probability many species will nest with 
us this summer. 
Mr. Hardy writes that the wildcat*or bay lynx 
(Lynx rufus) is “rarely found twenty miles from 
salt water.” In this he is in error, for this species 
is pretty generally diffused throughout the entire 
United States, being, according to Professor 
Baird, replaced in Texas and southern Califarnia 
by Lynx maculatus, and in northern Oregon and 
Washington by Lynx fasciatus, Audubon gives 
the lynx a wide range. It is often killed in the 
mountainous localities. of Pennsylvania, New 
York and New Jersey, and in. fact, it world be 
pretty difficult to name a heavily wooded district 
in. which it does not occur. I have handled speci- 
mens killed in the New England States over 100 
miles from the seaboard, and individuals are even 
now occasionally taken in Franklin, Berkshire 
and Worcester counties. Massachusetts, and sev- 
eral years ago one was killed in Townsend, eight 
seasons. 
miles from Fitchburg, after having disemboweled 
a dog. e 
Mr. Hardy also erroneously states that the foot 
of the Canada lynx is covered. with hair, dif- 
fering in that respect from the bay lynx, which 
has a bare foot. like that of the house cat. It is 
only in winter that the pads of the foot of the 
Canada lynx are concealed by a thick coating of 
hair which grows up between them. The pads 
are there and are naked just as they are ‘with 
the other lynxes, as one may easily prove by ex- 
amining the foot of the animal. The hairy coat- 
ing between the pads seems to be provided by 
nature to enable the animal to move easily over 
the snow, but most of it disappears after the snow 
is gone. The density of the hairy covering of the 
feet is largely dependent on the roughness of the 
ground. 
Mr. Hardy further says that the male lynxes 
do not engage in combat, but Barker and Dan- 
forth in their book on “Hunting and Trapping,” 
Chapter XXI, tell quite a different story. 
I quite-agree with Mr. Hardy that the Canada 
lynx is easily killed, for I have found that a 
charge of partridge shot will drop one in its 
tracks six or eight rods distant, and have known 
of several having been killed by a blow from a 
stick no thicker than one’s thumb delivered on 
the forehead of the beast. Occasionally, however, 
the Canada lynx shows remarkable toughness and 
requires a considerable number of blows to be 
put hors du combat. - 
Among my former Nova Scotia friends was a 
trapper-hunter of large experience. On one oc- 
casion he found a trap missing, and the lynx was 
discovered in a tree which it had ascended with 
the trap attached to its foot. Supposing that the 
animal was dead or exhausted the trapper climbed 
the tree, but.on reaching the crotch in which the 
lynx was crouching he found that the’ animal 
was very much alive, and it was only after. a 
desperate fight, the trapper having only his belt 
or hand axe for a weapon, that the animal was 
conquered, and when the pelt was removed the 
skull was found to be smashed by blows from the 
axe head. 
In dissecting both the Canada and bay lynxes 
I have been surprised to find the structure of the 
bones of both to be remarkably delicate, the ribs 
of either being not much more robust than those 
of the common hare; the bones of the arms and 
legs, however, are quite powerful, the clavicle is 
broad and strong and the muscles of all the mem- 
bers remarkably heavy. When the skin of either 
species is removed the body seems to shrink into 
insignificance. The following are average meas- 
urements of the specimens:I have handled. 
Canada Lynx.—Length from nose to root of 
tail, 2 feet 11 inches; length of head, about 6% 
inches; length of hind foot, 9 inches. Bay Lynx 
or Wildcat.—Lenegth from nose to root of tail, 2 
feet 5 inches; length of head, about 6 inches; 
length of hind foot, 614- inches. 
I quite agree with Mr. Hardy in that our 
lynxes are mean, cowardly brutes, and if I were 
an athlete six feet in height, with a fighting 
weight of 175 pounds, such as’ one of the nature 
writers boasts of, I should think it hardly to my 
credit to state that I was pursued a number of 
miles by a beast which, according to Mr. Hardy, 
almost any dog can conquer. 
I for one, although my rowing weight is nearly 
200 pounds, and I can crack a walnut in, my 
closed hands, would hesitate to throttle even a 
gocd sized domestic tom cat, for he can handle 
his hind feet in a very businesslike way; but to 
attempt to choke a lynx, whose feet are nine or 
ten inches long and armed with claws which 
are so sharp and powerful that they can inflict 
wounds an inch deep, I am free to confess I 
would not like to undertake the task. 
In another column of your journal it is stated 
that some woodpeckers “make darts from their 






























































perches to size insects which may pass close to 
them.” Can you inform me if anyone has ever 
known one of the true woodpeckers to, on the 
wing, seize a flying insect. If so, which species 
was it and by whom was the incident observed? 
Epwarp A, SAMUELS. 
Canada Lynx and Wildcat. 
FiusHING, N.. Y., June 30.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Mr. Hardy’s real information is delight- 
ful after the fairy tales that have been served ftp 
in the general run of magazines. I was much 
interested in his statement that the lynx was the 
easiest animal to trap. 
A few years ago when on the northeast coast 
of Newfoundland, my guide, a halfbreed named 
John Paul, told me he set a trap near the foot of 
a tree and blazed the tree on four sides about 
three feet from the ground, and used no bait 
whatever. He said that lynx (link, he called it) 
were very curious and would stop to investigate 
the blazes on the tree. 
The winter before (1903-4) he had completed 
his round of traps, the last one being in sight 
from a little eminence, when he sat down to 
smoke a pipe, as he could see the trap had not 
been disturbed. As he sat there a “link’’ appeared 
on the runway upon which the trap was set. The. 
animal walked up to within ten feet of the blazed 
tree before he noticed the blazes. He immediately 
sat down on his haunches in the snow and 
looked at the blaze for several moments and then 
got up and approached cautiously and walked 
completely around the tree several times drawing 
nearer and nearer. Eventually he stepped on the 
trap. John said he jumped straight up in the air 
and squalled. The last chapter was prosaic. 
Killed him with a blow of his axe handle, skinned 
him and started back to his “tilt.” 
By the way, John Paul made one other state- 
ment with relation to Newfoundland fauna that 
I should like to have proved or disproved. He 
said that many of the does (barren-ground cari- 
bou) abandoned their fawns as soon as_ they 
dropped them. That he and many others had 
found these new-born, and still alive. Also that 
when a doe had once abandoned her fawn she 
always did so thereafter. This last sounds like 
“theory.” There seemed to be a good many 
barren does. Perhaps they do not bred every 
year, but every other year.. Have any of your 
readers any information on the subject? 
Robeson L. Low. 
Turkey Buzzard in Connecticut. 
MirFrorp, Conn., June 15.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The turkey buzzard (Cathartes aura) 
has been reported a number of times from Con- 
necticut (see Merriam’s Birds of Connecticut) 
—chiefly I think from the shores of Long Island 
Sound—but the bird is sufficiently unusual there 
to make its occurrénce worth noting. 
On Sunday, June 9, while sitting on the piazza 
of my house a mile west of the village of Mil- 
ford, I saw a large bird come sweeping toward 
the house low over the ground from the east 
and almost immediately disappear over the house. 
I rushed to the other end of the piazza and se-* 
cured an excellent and close view of a turkey 
buzzard whose great size, manner of flight, color, 
naked’ head, and white bill identified it beyond a 
possibility of a mistake. The bird continued its 
soaring flight westward, and at last disappeared 
over a ‘piece of woods a quarter of a mile away. 
Many years before I had seen a buzzard in 
Milford, and I am much interested to have now 
recognized another. By CES a 
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