FOREST AND STREAM: 

[SEPT. 21, 190] 



A DUCK 
From an old photograph. 
HAWK 
the Mississippi River and of course includes all 
of the islands and mud lumps at the mouths of 
the great river. 
The Shell Keys Reservation is about two hun- 
dred miles west of the Tern Islands Reservation 
and is just south of Vermilion Bay. 
Duck Hawks in Massachusetts. 
SPRINGFEILD, Mass., Sept. 4—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The accompanying picture of a duck 
hawk and nest is a copy of a photograph taken 
about thirty-five years ago, on the traprock range 
of mountains that crosses the Connecticut Valley 
some fifteen miles north of Springfield. For a 
number of years before that time, one or two 
pairs of these birds had annually chosen for their 
breeding site some almost inaccessible peak in 
lis range of mountains, and now, although often 
isturbed by egg gatherers, and the mountain 
having been made easy of access by reason of 
the building of trolley roads, they still persist in 
trying to raise their young there. 
These duck hawks are bold and alert in the 
efence of their young. While on Mt. Tom, one 
f the peaks of this range, I once saw an eagle 
y gracefully, a thousand feet above and over 
1e Connecticut River, and enter the territory 
iat the duck hawks had adopted for their sum- 
mer home, when one of these hawks pounced 
upon it, as a kingbird will upon a crow, and re- 
peated its attacks until the eagle sailed away 
over the mountains. A year or two ago a man, 
approaching their nest when the young had just 
been hatched, was attacked by one of the parent 
birds and he had to beat it off with a stick. 
The duck hawk, or peregrine falcon, was one 
of the birds that were trained and used to capture 
game before firearms came into general use, the 
duck hawk ranking second in point of merit of 
the birds of prey that were used for this pur- 
pose. The gyrfalcons were considered the best 
and were allotted to royalty, the duck hawk was 
given to an earl, the goshawk to a yeoman, a 
sparrow hawk to a priest and a kestrel to a 
servant. 
Darwin says that the amount of food supply 
is one of the principal causes that governs the 
increase or decrease of any species of mammals 
or birds. There may be a few less wild birds 
for them to prey upon than formerly, but from 
the cliffs of this range of mountains, looking 
down into the beautiful valley of the Connecticut, 
ae 

_ 

tet HHO 


AND HER EGGS. 
the telescopic eyes of the duck hawk must bring 
to view accessible poultry and doves in much 
larger numbers than in the sixties, when the 
presence of these hawks there was first dis- 
covered, but the number of breeding birds re- 
mains the same. Ropert O, Morris. 

Prof. Reed’s Finds. 
A pispAtcH to the New York Times from 
Cheyenne, Wyo., says that Prof. W. H. Reed, 
paleontologist of the University of Wyoming, 
has made some important. discoveries in the 
Hell’s Half Acre region, which lies southwest 
of and about thirty-five miles from Casper. 
Among the fossil remains unearthed by him 
there is a perfect skeleton of a beaver which re- 
sembles in every way the beaver of the present 
time, wh‘le another one, according to the re- 
port, is that of a horse “which was no larger 
than a fox of to-day,” and it is therefore con- 
tended that “Wyoming was the birthplace of the 
equine race.” 
Another addition to the collection, which is 
to be sent to the museum of the University of 
Wyoming, is the complete skeleton of a dog of 
the tertiary age, the size of the animal not dif- 
fering from that of the average dog of the pres- 
ent, the long, sharp teeth showing that the an- 
cestor of the present canine was a flesh eater 
and hunter. 
Lynx and Wildcat. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The several articles on the lynx and wildcat, 
and the call for incidents, prompt me to relate 
one. It does not throw additional light on the 
subject, but is given for what it is worth merely 
as an incident. 
A few years ago I took my nephew, a lad of 
twelve, into the woods on the opening day of the 
deer season. Approaching a place that had often 
afforded us venison, we were walking carefully, 
the boy about three rods behind me. Soon he 
came up and said: “What was that?” He de- 
scribed a large, cat-like animal which, when he 
saw it, was on a log beside the trail I had just 
passed over, facing him with glaring eyes and 
low growls, and slight working of the feet and 
claws. He was within ten feet of the beast. He 
did not call to me as I had cautioned him to be 
quiet. But retreating a few steps backward, his 




feet caught and he fell; whereupon the cat 
away. Then the boy came and told me and 
he thought it was a wildcat. I asked about 
size, length of tail, and whether the ears y 
plain or tufted. He said the tail was short, 
ears tufted, and the cat about three or three 
a half feet long. I said, “My boy, I think 
have seen a lynx.” I did not see the animal, 
describe it as immediately described by the 
who had a good view and was not excited. 
searched for it a while, but without avail. 
character of the ground did not permit an 
amination of track. In more than twenty-}: 
years’ Adirondack experience, this is the « 
time I have been, to my knowledge, near 
such animal, JUVENA|, 







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< 
Origin of the Domestic Cat. 
Unover this heading a brief abstract of Mrf 
I. Pocock’s paper on “English Domestic Caf! 
read before the Zoological Society, was giver? 
the London Field of Feb. 23, 1907; the aut}! 
referred the origin of the striped tabby to } 
crossing of the European wildcat (Felis sylt 
tris) with the Egyptian wildcat (F. ocrea 
As there were at that time in the small mamf' 
house a male wildcat from Scotland and a fen 
Egyptian wildcat, taken as a kitten in Ugai 
he determined to subject his view to the 
of experiment, and the animals were mated. 
result has been all that could be wished. 
kittens appear to be typical striped tabbies, </' 
though at the time of writing they have 
been handled for fear lest the dam should t 
against them, one of the keepers has descri| 
them as being marked like zebras, while anot' 
uses for them the name of “mackerel” cats f1/! 
the transverse bars on the sides. I 








































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= = ae 
Death of a Prominent Naturalist.’ 
Mr. CHartes A. Wricut died at his hcl 
near London, England, recently, in his severil 
fourth year. He was a naturalist of note, } 
confined his researches for the most part il 
birds. He was a member of the British Orit 
thologists’ Union and the Linnean and Zoolog it 
Societies. His private collection included a lah 
number of birds, plants and shells. Some i 
the best of these were gathered at Malta, wh? 
he resided for several years. i 

New Publications. h 
In “What I Have Done With Birds’ Gel 
Stratton-Porter writes a pleasing story of s) 
cess or failure that crowned almost number! | 
efforts to win the confidence of wild birds all 
study their ways as well as to record their hat! 
and dispositions by means of the camera and ‘|. 
dry plate. How well she succeeded is told tt 
the beautiful half-tone and color-plate pictul\ 
with which this large volume is embellished. \i 
heartily endorse her views regarding what 
simply vandalism on the part of so many pho) 
graphers of living birds. She says: “The great) 
brutality ever practiced on brooding birds cc? 
sists in cutting down, tearing out and _ placitt 
nests of helpless young for your convenien) 
Any picture so taken has no earthly value, 8 
it does not reproduce a bird’s location or chi 
acteristics. In such a case-the rocking of iil 
branches, which is cooling to the birds, is ll 
changed for a solid location, and the leaves {tl 
the severed limbs quickly wither and drop, } 
posing both old and young to the heat, so tli 
your pictures represent, not the free wild life 
thicket and wood, but tormented creatures Icill 
ing and bristling in tortures of heat, and tryi 
to save their lives under stress of forced alt 
unnatural conditions. If you cannot reprodt}t! 
a bird’s nest in its location and environme? 
your picture has not a shred of historical vah 
My State imposes heavy fines for work of tl} 
sort, and soon all others will do the sami 
With her story, which is in a popular and pleefi 
ing vein, is woven a natural history thread, 
that the volume is of value to the sportsman a'f' 
the nature lover. The reproductions from photfl 
graphs are most excellent, and as the book is}! 
large one, the numerous full page colored plat|) 
show many of the birds life size. Published || 
the Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Irfli 
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