
_ Valley and always in the timber. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 







Canada Lynx and Wildcat. 
Editor korest and Stream: 
I have read with great interest’ the different 
articles on lynx in ForREsT AND STREAM. Some 
writers seem to think that a 25-pound lynx 
should walk out in the broad open light of the 
day, spit on his paw and sail into the first 200- 
pound rifle-armed, bowie-knife-heeled old-time 
fighting tough of the Kentucky breed he comes 
across. No one doubts the courage of the 
average frontiersman, but most of us would 
doubt his sanity if he filled himself with fighting 
whiskey and bare-handed prowled around the 
mountains, hunting a scrap with a ‘silver tip 
eight times his own weight. So with the lynx; 
I have seen an old male lynx put up as game a 
fight as any animal wrapped up in that amount 
of skin could be. expected to furnish. 
We were hunting wolves and coyotes in the 
Sweet Grass Hills and had five hounds. One 
of them was a very large brindle stag that 
would weigh 100 pounds. There were four more 
big half-gray and half-stag hounds, some of 
them good. Besides there were five mongrel 
dogs that would attack from behind. This made 
ten dogs in all, or about 650 pounds of as hard 
fighting dog as the most ardent fancier could 
desire. They would catch and finish a coyote 
with a fair start in five minutes. 
We found only two gray wolves on this trip, 
and one was put into a bad land cave after a 
few moments’ run. Three of these cur dogs 
went into that hole, and.though finally whipped 
out by the wolf, worried it so that my partner 
crawled in and finished her with a shot. The 
other was a very large old she gray buffalo wolf, 
and the dogs did not like to kill her, but they 
finally did so, after half an hour’s fighting and 
the expenditure of much fur. We had no gun 
and the fight was a running one. Those who 
attacked her in front were punished badly, as 
she seemed to take out a chunk of dog at every 
opportunity. The curs cut her down behind, 
and the fight was over soon after we came up 
and helped with rocks. I mention this to show 
that these dogs could and would -fight and stay 
with it. 
One day about 10 o’clock A. M. I was out 
alone with the pack. The dogs wére fresh and 
eager. I saw a lynx prowling along the foot- 
hills of the mountains, where there were no 
trees and no cover. The dags had anly. about 
three hundred yards’ run and were in fine con- 
dition for a battle. The lynx saw us, ran about 
thirty yards to a clump of rose bushes about 
1% feet high and waited for us to open the 
game. The dogs knocked him over at the first 
rush, but fighting on his back seemed to be his 
long suit. You could not have heard it thunder 
during that row,'and the dogs furnished all the 
noise. Lying on his back, the lynx’s long legs 
seemed to saw the air in all directions, and 
every saw brought a howl and blood. 
Four times did he clear himself of those dogs 
and four times they came back, as I encouraged 
them to attack. I rode up close, and the lynx, 
evidently taking me for a friendly stump, cleared 
the dogs—or they, expecting the usual shot 
sometimes given to save the pack, backed off— 
and sprang for me. He caught one paw in an 
old pair of chaps I wore; the other caught the 
cayuse on the muscle of the foreleg. A _ big 
hound caught him from behind as soon as he 
struck, and when I had quieted that cayuse, the 
fight was ended. Every dog was scratched and 
cut, mostly under the chin and around the neck 
on the under side. 
One old black dog of this pack treed twenty- 
two mountain lions in the course of three years, 
and all of them were shot by myself and other 
parties He also treed during this time a great 
many lynxes; all this being in the Flathead 
We usually 
shot the lynxes and they would hang to the tree 
until nearly dead. 
An old trapper told me that when the snow 
is deep lynxes kill more deer than the lions do. 
On the South Fork of the Flathead, I saw 
where one had killed four deer in the space of 
a couple of weeks. The snow was deep and I 
was following his tracks, and came across the 
carcasses. 
Trappers tell me that caught by one toe in 
a small No. I marten trap, they will calmly 
await death, and make very little resistance. 
Resistance, to a burly trapper, armed with a 
large club, with his victim- weighing not to ex- 
ceed 40 pounds, and handicapped by lying 
caught in a trap for 24 to 144 hours, may mean 
one thing; and a fair fight under fair conditions 
another. 
I have often thought that all animals of the 
cat kind were badly handicapped in aaylight by 
their eyesight. I have always been careful never 
to send a dog on a lion track late in the even- 
ing. I believe all animals of the cat kind in day- 
light are somewhat like a man in a dark room. 
On a dark night I should not care to visit 
a trap that contained a husky lynx, and in the 
attempt to bat him with the usual club, ,merely 
knock him loose front the trap. I think even 
a 25-pounder could give a fair account of him- 
self under proper conditions. 
There may be some romance, but I think 
there is also some fight in a full-grown lynx. 
If one of our noted fighting men was caught 
bare-handed in an African jungle by a bull 
gorilla armed with a four-foot club, do you 
think he would stop to argue the point? Most 
of us would outrun the lynx. Yet some people 
call a lynx cowardly. J. B. Monroe. 
Montana, Aug. 1. 
The ‘Heath Hen.” 
From the Report for 1906 of the Massachusetts Commis- 
sion of Fisheries and Game. 
Frew persons in Massachusetts realize that the 
island of Martha’s Vineyard still retains one 
feature which no other section in the whole 
world can boast. True, even here, this one 
feature has nearly vanished. Yet there is still 
a chance for determined effort to maintain and 
doubtless increase the number. Every man, 
woman and child in Massachusetts should know 
that the few heath hens now living on Martha’s 
Vineyard are all that are alive in the whole 
world to-day. It seems scarcely credible that 
a bird that was formerly numerous from Cape 
Ann to Virginia, and so abundant in Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Islard and Long Island that it 
was necessary to stipulate that the apprentices 
should not be compelled to eat heath hen meat 
oftener that twice. weekly, should within less 
than the allotted time of the span Of life of 
father and son be shrunk to the present pitiable 
remnants. The less than 100 heath hens now 
living are the sole survivors of the vast army of 
these birds which formerly furnished delicious 
food and invigorating sport for thousands of 
people. Whether or not the heath hen shall be 
blotted from the earth absolutely forever rests 
largely with the inhabitants of Massachusetts 
and particularly of Martha’s Vineyard. If the 
citizens individually resolve to respect the law 
passed last winter for a closed season for five 
years, and will encourage the development of a 
public sentiment which will prevent the killing 
of these birds by hunters and collectors and the 
destruction of the nests and young by -brush 
fires and by stray cats and dogs, at the end of 
these five years we may hope to see the bird so 
firmly re-established that a suitable open season 
with satisfactory shooting may be enjoyed. 
Public sentiment anda loyal local pride, com- 
bined with the legal fine of $100 for hunting, 
taking or killing, or for buying, selling or other- 
wise disposing of or of having in possession a 
heath hen, or any part thereof,. for the next 
five years, should effectually prevent violations 
of the law. The number of birds now is so 
much reduced that even the killing of one bird 
may have serious effects. 
Linneus’s original description of the “prairie 
hen” or “prairie chicken” was from a “heath 
hen” said to have been killed in Virginia. For 
generations the prairie chicken and the heath 
hen were believed to be identical, but in 1885 
our -eminent Massachusetts ornithologist, 
William Brewster, Esq., of Cambridge, Mass., 
discovered that the heath hen of Martha’s Vine- 
yard (locally pronounced “hethern”) was a dis- 
tinct species, differing from the bird of the Mis- . 
sissippi valley in size, in color and in shape of 
the feathers which compose the so-called neck 
wings. These feathers are decidedly fewer in 
number, and in shape described as lance-acute. 
This bird inhabits the brush plains, blueberry 
barrens, scrub oaks, grass lands and cornfields. 
Its food consists in summer largely of insects 
and clover leaves; in winter, of weed seeds, 
acorns, etc. It is far more rugged than the 
quail, and is well adapted to withstand the 
rigors of our New England climate. On ac- 
count of its size, and habit of perching upon 
the tops of the low trees in the open country, 
it 1S a conspicuous mark for the pot-hunter. 
Undoubtedly the great slaughter of these birds 
was made by the early colonists. In the neigh- 
borhood of the Plymouth and Massachusetts 
Bay colonies the birds were practically exter- 
minated during the dark ages of ornithology, when 
the economic value of this bird was unconsidered, 
when there was a bounty on ruffed grouse, and 
when ‘little thought was given to protecting the 
native song and insectivorous birds on account 
of their value as destroyers of insects. It lies 
well for the dog, and its strong, rapid flight 
makes it a very satisfactory mark for the sports- 
man. The flesh is dark, of delicate texture and 
delicious flavor. 
Since comparatively few persons have had an 
opportunity to study the habits of this rare bird, 
the heath hen (Tympanuchus cupido), the follow- 
ing, from notes made at Martha’s Vineyard, 
May I, 1906, may be of interest: ; 
At 6:00 P. M. we arrived at the. point where 
we hoped to find traces of the heath hen. In a 
cleared field about 30 rods from the road we 
distinctly saw two large birds. On our nearer 
approach they squatted close, and their pro- 
tective coloration was so effective that, although 
we knew almost exactly the precise location of 
the birds, we could not distinguish them. We 
crawled behind the nearest cover, and remained 
motionless for perhaps ten minutes. At length 
the long shadows from the descending sun en- 
abled us to distinguish the birds as_ they 
crouched with head close to the ground, among 
the very scanty vegetation. After another in- 
terval of motionless activity on our part, one 
bird quickly arose and began feeding, apparent- 
ly without suspicion; soon two more birds arose 
as if by magic from the ground. Then began 
the most interesting series of antics which it 
has been my lot to see. 
. These birds were joined by five others, com- 
ing in singly and on foot from the scrub in 
various directions. The birds came frequently 
within forty paces of our hiding place, and in 
one instance alighted on a small oak tree 
twenty-three paces from our camera. While 
not near enough for successful photographing. 
we were well situated for using our field glasses. 
The birds were all actively feeding in the open 
field, apparently on grasshoppers and other 
insects, but nipping red clover leaves very free- 
ly. They moved leisurely about. Frequently 
two birds, sometimes as much as one hundred 
to one hundred and fifty yards apart, ran direct- 
ly toward each other, dancing and blowing on 

