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[AuG. 3, 1907. 


NATU 




RAIL ELISTRORY 


Beaver in Norway. 
THE action of the Montana Legislature in re 
moving all protection from the beaver of that 
State, permitting them to be killed at all sea- 
sons of the year, calls attention to the- history 
of the European beaver in Norway, where at 
one the was very abundant, then 
becarne almost extinct, and now is found on cer 
tain rivers, but only in small numbers. 
\s late as the middle of the eighteenth century 
time species 
beaver were found sparingly over almost the 
whole of Norway, but from some rivers imme 
diately north of Christiania they disappeared 
about that time, though they continued to be 
found near Kongsberg on the Laagen up to 
about the year 1800. In the last half of the eigh- 
teenth century they were still found in the dis- 
tricts of Trysil and along the Faemund River 
as far as Roros, yet in 1784 a writer describing 
Trysil Parish says that the numbers of beaver 
there were much less than formerly and _ that 
they no longer lived in colonies, though remains 
of their dams and houses could be seen. It was 
about this time that beaver began to grow fewer 
in numbers all over middle’ Norway, yet in some 
places they held on longer. In the upper valley 
of the Nid, a stream which discharges at Trond 
hjem, a beaver was shot in 1820 by a Lapp, and 
in the unfrequented valleys of Nordland, beaver 
lasted well into the last century. 
Beaver were once very plentiful in Finmark, 
and in the year 1850 one was said to have been 
captured in a salmon net at the mouth of the 
Pasvig River. As late as the year 1860 two 
skins were offered for sale by Lapps and in the 
same year a young one was killed. 
Nevertheless about 1845 an effort was made to 
protect the beaver, and in that year a law was 
made torbidding their destruction or molesta- 
tion 
For some years now they have been pro- 
tected by 
y the game laws. 
At the present day beaver are found in small 
numbers in southeastern Norway along certain 
short rivers. It is claimed that they do great 
damage to the forests, but when it is recognized 
that they do, not get far from the streams it may 
be understood also that this damage cannot be 
very extensive. 

Boys and Birds. 
Fountain City, Ind., July 23.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: When the average boy sees a bird 
his first thought is to look for a stone to throw 
at it. It is one of the boy inclinations which 
needs correcting, and it is not difficult to cor- 
rect it. It is an easy matter for parents and 
friends to interest the boys in taming and study- 
ing the birds instead of persecuting them. Our 
village is an example of what may be done in 
this line. 
It is a town of-six hundred people, the houses 
mostly have ample grounds and they are shaded 
by thousands of trees. There are birds by the 
thousand, and the town also swarms with boys. 
I have never seen one of these boys throw a 
stone at a bird, and it is nrobable that if a stone 
were thrown, the boy would be reproved by 
almost any one who saw it done. Some years 
ago we had some lectures from “Brown, the 
bird and bee man.” His lectures are along the 
lines of bird protection, and he organizes the 
boys into a society for the protection of them. 
Each boy signs a pledge not to molest birds or 
their eggs, and receives a “bird button” to pin 
on his coat. The pledge and the buttons are 
placed in the hands of some citizen who is 
popular with the boys, and it is not long before 
each boy has a button on his coat and is proud 
of it. Of course the buttons are soon lost, for 
a boy can not keen anything long, but the im- 
pression made on his mind is not lost, and he 
ago 
takes an interest in birds and their protection 
that takes the place of the stone-throwing in- 
clination with which he seems to have been 
born. 
Birds are quick to learn who are friends and 
who are enemies and they swarm by hundreds 
on aur lawns and most of them may be ap- 
proached to within ten feet before they take 
wing, I have stood within four feet of the yel- 
lowhammers (called high holders, flickers and 
eolden-winged woodpeckers, in different locali- 
ties), and watched the old ones dig for ants, 
while from two to four young ones waited for 
their feed. The old ones, having found a nest 
of ants, bore into it, and the ants swarm out 
and are picked up so rapidly that the eye can- 
not follow the motions. When a bill full has 
been collected the old bird turns to one of the 
young ones who opens his bill to the fullest ex- 
tent, the old one thrusts her bill down the throat 
of the young one, which then closes his bill and 
holds on while the old one shakes the ants into 
its throat. The shaking is very rapid, and while 
it is going on, one of the birds makes a chirping 
noise- which is probably an expression of satis- 
faction as he feels the ants tickling his throat, 
which they doubtless do, as it is literally a case 
of “eat-’em alive.” Jt is a very comical per- 
formance! O. H. Hampron. 
Longevity of the Box Tortoise. 
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa., July 23.—Edilor Forest 
and Stream: While | have been a close reader 
of ForEsT AND STREAM §.nce 1875 and have read 
numerous articles relating to snakes and many 
other- kinds of crawling and wriggling critters, [ 
1 
do ‘not recollect seeing any reterence to the 
habits of the common land or box turtle, or 
any mention bearing on its longevity. From 
time to time items go the rounds of the country 
papers that so and so found a turtle with the 
name of such and such a man, and such a date 
or year engraved thereon. Some of these items 
are no doubt, true, others are probably exag- 
gerated, but perhaps the following record of 
my own experience in the turtle line may in- 
terest some of your readers, . 
In the year 1866 I carved my name and the 
iumerals of the current year on the bottom 
shell of a land turtle and gave it its liberty. In 
1876 Emanuel Weigel, a son of the farmer on 
whose farm ,the turtle was located, carved his 
vame and the year on the same shell. In 1890 
Williams F. Mitterer found the turtle and turned 
it over to me. The names and dates were quite 
egible, though somewhat overgrown. [ 
freshened up the old letters and figures with a 
sharp instrument and added the initials “W. F. 
M.” and the year “1890.” The turtle was 
urned loose in its usual haunts, and yesterday, 
July 22, it was found by W. E. Collins and again 
brought to me. It is now again at liberty with 
the old records fréshened up, and the letters 
“W. E. C.” and the numerals “1907” added to 
its repertory. 
How old the turtle was in 866 when I first 
marked it is of course beyond human-ken. One 
remarkable fact is that it was always found in 
the same woods within a radius of less than 
a quarter of a mile, although the woods in which 
it harbors extend for many miles, in several di- 
rections and therefore nothing would interfere 
with its wandering to an indefinite distance. It 
seems to show that this species is to a great 
extent local, knows its surroundings, and never 
wanders far from its happy home. I will add 
that the gentleman who marked the turtle in 
1876 died two years later: Mr. Mitterer is enjoy- 
ing a hale old age; M. Collins is a young man; 
T am no spring-chicken, but, judging from the 
facts related. not that old turtle hid fair 
to outlive all of us? Epmunp G. Kocn. 

does 
Comments and Queries. 
Editor Forest and Stream: K 
In Forest AND STREAM of July 20 it is stated 
that various species of woodpeckers, such as 
the yellow-bellied, red-headed and _ golden- 
winged all catch insects while on the wing. 
This information is not new, for almost every 
ornithologist knows of this habit of these birds, 
but they are not true woodpeckers, Picus, such 
as I requested information concerning. 
A correspondent states that he has observed 
a Rocky Mountain form of the hairy wood- 
pecker capture insects while on the wing, and 
if this is the case, it is the first observation of 
the fact that has come to my knowledge. 
The true woodpeckers have,barbed tongues 
which are not properly shaped for manipulating 
insects when caught; the tongue of the hairy 
woodpecker, for example, being beset with 
barbs and capable of being protruded more than 
an inch and a half in pursuit of the wood-boring 
larvae, on which it subsists, while the tongue of 
the yellow-bellied sapsucker is more fleshy and 
very similar to. that of the robin, being well 
adapted to aid in swallowing an insect if such 
is captured. 
In treating of the tongues of woodpeckers, 
Frederick A. Lucas, Curator of the Department 
of Comparative Anatomy, United States National 
Museum, in the report of that institution for 
1895, Says: 
“The tongues of some species of wood- 
peckers, the flicker, for example, haye but one 
or two barbs at the tip; others have half a 
dozen, and still others twenty to thirty, the 
barbs becoming finer as they become more 
numerous; finally in the sapsucker the barbs 
have degenerated: into stiff hairs, which, instead 
of raking backwards, stand out from the side 
like bristles on a chimney cleaner.” 
So that we may readily perceive, that while 
the bills and tongues of the true woodpeckers 
are adapted to the capture of the larvee of wood- 
boring beetles and not to the destruction of fly- 
ing insects, those of the sapsucker seem to be 
especially formed for procuring the liber, or 
soft inner bark of trees; while the Melanerpes 
are seemingly more fond of fruit than are any 
other species, and they are the most omnivorous 
of the North American woodpeckers 
It is greatly to be hoped that our ornitholo- 
gists will attentively observe our woodpeckers 
and put on record their observations regarding 
their insect-catching proclivities. 
E. A. SAMUELS. 
Crinkle Root. 
Enctewoop, N. J., July 25.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Mr. E. S. Whitaker, in the issue of 
July 20, asks for the botanical name of a spicy- 
rooted plant which his guide used to gather and 
call “crinkle-reot.” From Mr. Whitaker's de- 
scription | think the plant was the ,togthwort or 
pepper-root (Dentaria laciniata) which is found 
here in New Jersey growing in rather damp 
woods, generally, in my experience, along the 
banks of brooks in quite rich soil. There are 
several other allied varieties of Déntaria, but 
most of them are not found as far north as the 

Adirondacks. R. S. LEMMON. 
New York, July 24—H#ditor Forest . and 
Stream: I note in the July 20 copy of Forest 
\ND STREAM in Adirondack Tours that the writer 
mentions finding “crinkle root,’ and wonders if 
any of the readers recognize it or know its 
botanical name. 
I do not know the latter, but remember find- 
ing it in one place when a boy when living in 
Cohocton, Steuben county, New York. I have 
roamed the woods there for miles about, and the 


