


SEPT. 14, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

Western Lynx and Wildcat. 
Wymore, Neb., Aug. 26.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I am enjoying the articles of Forest 
AND STREAM on the subject of lynx and wild- 
cat. And I cannot help thinking, that as a 
country becomes old and effete, its wild animals 
must degenerate, and perhaps this is the cause 
of much of the difference of opinion displayed 
in the discussion of these two animals. Brother 
Hardy lived and bought and sold furs in Maine. 
he Illinois 
That never saw an or Nebraska 
lynx or wildcat is quite evident to one who 
has seen and killed them. That a lynx or a 
wildcat could be killed with a club while fast 
by one foot in a trap I do not doubt, but it 
would not be with a little stick. That either 
could be killed with the naked hands I do not 
believe, and that an ordinary dog can _ kill 
either one when full grown I know to be an 
impossibility. 
I saw a lynx killed in a swamp in Cherry 
county, in this State, two years ago by six 
hounds. These dogs were large and very sav- 
age, being a cross of greyhound with the stag- 
hound. They were kept and used for killing 
coyotes and wolves. They are owned by Mr. 
S. E. Stilson, of Pullman, Neb., and any one 
interested can learn something about lynx and 
wildcat and the fighting ability of each by writ- 
ing to him. I have seen a good many packs 
of good fighting dogs in the coyote country, but 
never one as formidable as the Stilson pack, 
and I can verify the fact that when they got 
through with the lynx they were each and all 
badly used up; but that same pack of dogs will 
kill a coyote and never get a scratch. [ have 
seen and hunted wildcat in that same swamp, 
but never succeeded in getting one with the 
dogs, as they take to holes in the bluffs as soon 
as they find that they are being hunted. But 
take an ordinary wildcat, when free, and try 
hitting him with a club. You will learn some- 
thing. A club is of no use to you. Try it on 
your neighbor’s dog. You may hit the dog 
once in a while, but not the wildcat. 
When I get a little leisure I will give some 
actual experience in: fighting wildcats. 
A. D. McCann tess. 

Shooting Loons. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Why should one kill a loon? What is he good 
for after you pick him up? The only two uses 
I ever heard a dead loon put to were, viz. : using 
the fatty lining of the skin by the bay gunners 
to rub their guns with and prevent rusting by 
the salt air, and making a muff out of the breast 
feathers and skin for a child. 
Eatable? A man who was invariably pestered 
by an Irish porter for game on his return from 
a hunt only too frequently, when there was not 
enough to go around, brought home a loon and 
palmed it off on Mike for a wild goose. Mike 
reported that “it took the old woman three full 
days to pluck the devilish thing, and as to cook- 
ing it, they biled it and they biled it, and then 
they roasted it, and when it came to carving it, 
well, it might just as well have bin mahogginny.”’ 
Loons are fishers and kill trout. But they 
follow only their natural instincts in so doing, 
and in the long run I imagine they do not throw 
out the balance of nature to any great extent. 
xX 

New Publications. 
“VOYAGES OF SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, 1604- 
1618,” is one of the volimes comprising the 
“Original Narratives of Early American His- 
tory,” reproduced under the auspices of the 
American Historical Association. The Narra- 
tives are edited by W. L. Grant, M.A.. of Ox- 
ford University. Briefly, the various chapters 
come under the general captions: “The Voyages 
of 1604-7,” “Voyages to the Great River St. 
Lawrence, 1608-12”; “Second Voyage to New 
France in the Year 1610,” “Third Voyage of 
Sieur de Champlain in the Year 1611,” same, 
fourth voyage, 1613; “Voyages and Discoveries 
in New France From 1615 to 1618,” and “Voyages 

FAMILY OF FULLY 
and Discoveries in the Year 1618.” The volume 
is one of 361 pages, and contains Champlain’s 
drawing of the settlement on the island of Site. 
Croix, his map of New France and his plan of 
the Iroquois fort, from the originals in the 
Lenox Library. Published by Charles Scrib- 
ner’s Sons, New York. 
“From Fox’s. EarTH TO MouNTAIN TARN” is a 
descriptive volume of days among the wild 
animals of Scotland, by J. H. Crawford, author 
of “Wild Life of Scotland,’ and “Wildflowers 
of Scotland.” “I preserve the eagle but shoot 
the peregrine,’ wrote the Duke of Argyle, whom 
Mr. Crawford quotes to show how many persons 
in ignorance endorse the opinion of another 
writer, who said: “We are better off without 
the one, and I do not see that the other is of 
any use.” “There are moors with grouse, large 
if few,’ Mr. Crawford declares, “and a golden 
eagle will pick up a grouse. Still,” he insists, 
, 

FLEDGED 
FLICKERS 
“an eye with the light of reason in it might see 
that this is not serious. And it is quite con 
ceivable that the intelligent owner of a moor 
might look on with tolerance. The depreda- 
tions of a pair do not greatly lessen the August 
bag. Some have found the blue hare a greater 
enemy of sport than they, and acknowledged the 
services in its removal. To spare the golden 
eagle over the purple heather and against the 
speedwell blue of the sky is to borrow from 
nature a spark of beauty at very little expense.” 
A very interesting chapter deals with the history 
of crosses between wild and tame cats in the 
highlands, records the attempts made to prove 
or disprove the existence there of the wildcat, 
tells of the depredations against game by the 
half-wild domestic cat, and concludes, “The wild- 
cat will continue so long as there is a tabby.” 
The volume is a valuable addition to the natural 
history of Scotland, and is illustrated with un 
usually fine half-tone plates. Published by The 
John Lane Company, London and New York 


