} 
Oct. 26, 1907.] 
PORES) “AND STREAM: 
653 

g the chance that the animal would ‘put his 
ot in it’ on his way to break a trap at the end 
| the path. On my next visit I found that the 
fp was gone, but I noticed the blood and en- 
ails of a hare that had evidently been caught 
the trap and devoured by the carcajou on 
e spot. Examining his footprints I was satis- 
\d that he had not been caught, and I took up 
s trail. Proceeding about a mile through the 
ods I came to a small lake, on the banks of 

lich I recognized traces of the trap, which 
‘e beast had laid down in order to go a few 
ps to one side to make water on a stump. 
le had then returned and picked up the trap, 
nich he had carried across the lake, with many 
|twist and turn on the hard crust of snow to 
lislead his expected pursuer, and then again 
\tered the woods. I followed for about half a 
‘le further and then came to a large hole dug 
| the snow. A few yards further on, however, 
found a neatly built mound of snow on which 
l2 animal had made and left his dirt; this I 
jew was his cache. Using one of my snow- 
joes for a spade I dug into the hillock and 
‘wn to the ground, the snow being about four 
‘st deep, and there I found my trap, with the 
iss of a rabbit still in the jaws. Could it have 
len the animal’s instinctive impulse to hide 
prey that made him carry my trap so far 
brely for the morsel of meat still held in it? 
‘ did his cunning nature prompt him to hide 
2 trap for fear that on some future unlucky 
casion he might put his own toes in it and 
flare the rabbit’s fate?” 
jin his account of “Explorations in the Interior 
j the Labrador Peninsula,’ Mr. Henry Youle 
inde quotes an interesting account given him 
| an Indian trapper of the work of the carca- 
ja. The first work done by this trapper on 
jiching the point where he began to build his 
PS was to make a strong cache for his flour 
{qd pork to keep them from the carcajou. After 
| had established his trap line he had reason- 
ily good fortune, until one of these animals 
jind his trap line and followed him from trap 
; trap, taking all his baits. Knowing the use- 
dsness of attempting to trap under these cir- 




jmstances, the Indian rebaited some of his 
pS and then lay down on the snow behind 
jne bushes and waited for the wolverine. He 
jtched half a day, and toward evening, just 
he was thinking of going back to his lodge, 
saw the wolverine coming along the line. 
e stole up to the trap, smelled it and put 
his paw; the fall came down, but he pulled 
the bait just as if nothing had happened. 
hot him as he was eating it. It’s difficult to 
jke a cache which will keep the carcajou out; 
yy are very powerful and will break open 
jvost any house.” 
\n account is given of an ingenious device 
which an Indian preserved his pack of furs 
jm the wolverine by tying two little dog sleigh 
jls to the pack and tying the pack to the branch 

ja tree. When the pack was shaken the little 
Ils rang. 
ithe great strength of the carcajou is con- 
intly referred to in the written literature of 
{ animal. An example of this is given in Cap- 
41 Cartwright’s journal where he says, “In 
jiing to the foot of Table Hill I crossed the 
{zk of a wolverine with one of Mr. Calling- 
fn’s traps on his foot. The foxes had fol- 
jred his bleeding track. As this beast went 
yugh the thick of the woods, under the north 
> of the hill, where the snow was so deep 
licht that it was with the greatest difficulty 
{ould follow him even on Indian rackets, T 
ji quite puzzled to know how he had contrived 
Jprevent the trap from catching hold of the 
foches of trees or sinking in the snow. But 
}coming up with him I discovered how he 
{ managed, for after making an attempt to 
Jat me he took the trap in his mouth and ran 
n three legs. These creatures are surpris- 
y strong in proportion to their size. This 
4 weiched only twenty-six pounds and the 
4, eight, vet including all the turns he had 
jn he had carried it six miles.” 
gunning and careful of its own safety, as it 
filly is. the wolverine has plenty of courage 
ferocity. Many years ago an acatainrtance, 
|) had once possessed a captive wolverine in 
the Rocky Mountains, told us that a fellow set- 
tler, who had captured a Canada lynx, wished to 
prove his assertion that the lynx could overcome 
the wolverine. When, however, the two were 
put together in the wolverine’s stout log pen 
the last named animal simply ate up the lynx 
alive. 
The books tell us that the sight of the car- 
cajou is not good, and partly in confirmation of 
this declare that when Idoking at an object at 
a little distance the animal sits on his haunches 
and shades his eyes with one of his fore paws, 
just as a human being would do in scrutinizing a 
dim and distant object. Mr. Lockhart declares 
that. he saw the animal do this on two occasions. 
The young of the wolverine are said to num- 
her from three to five, and are born late in June. 
When they first make their appearance the 
young ones are whitish or cream color, 
The Reed-McMillin Trophies. 
MENTION was made in these columns last week 
of the fact that Mr. Emerson McMillin had fur- 
nished the money necessary to purchase the fam- 
ous Reed collection of natural history specimens 
for the National Collection of Heads and Horns. 
HEAD OF KENAI CARIBOU, ALASKA (Rangifer stone?) 
Reed-McMillin collection in the New York 
Zoological Park. 
In the 
Some faint idea of the importance of the collec- 
tion, therefore, may be gained by glancing at the 
pictures we have obtained of a few of the heads. 
The specimens themselves may be seen in the 
Administration Building at the New York Zoo- 
logical Park when that building is finished, some 
time next year. 
Newt or Neuter? 
In Forest AND STREAM of Aug. 
correspondent asked the true name of a Califor- 
nia animal called newt or neuter, and we re- 
plied referring to the tailed batrachian or sala- 
mander and to the fur called nutria. Our cor- 
respondent H. G. Dulog, however, writing us 
from Santa Barbara, Cal., tells us that the refer- 
ence is to the otter, called in Spanish nutria. 
There are still a good many otter hunters among 
the coast-living Mexicans. Several of them have 
passed many seasons on the Alaska coast and 
some have left their bones there or in the ad- 
joining sea. 
24; Dp: 203, a 

Bounty on Crows and Squirrels? 
Boston, Oct. 19.—Editor Forest and Stream: 
Not many days ago I was asked by the secretary 
of one of the affiliated clubs whether I would 
favor the placing of a bounty on red squirrels 
and crows. In reply I stated that in many States 
that had tried bounty laws the practical work- 
ing of such laws had been found so unsatisfac- 
tory that they had been repealed. But thinking 
the good and evil that are done by crows a sub- 
ject which might well be treated by someone who 
is both an experienced hunter and an expert or- 
nithologist, I requested that President William 
Brewster write his views on the question. With 
Mr. Brewster’s permission I send the letter for 
publication. He 
“You ask my opinion concerning the desir- 
ability of a State bounty on crows. I do not 
favor it. In the first place the crow renders 
very many ways to the far- 
says: 
service in 
mer. The 
valuable i 



good that he does by destroying cut 
worms, gypsy moth caterpillars, field mice and 
innumerable other noxious creatures probably 
more than compensates for the harm that he 
does by pulling corn and robbing birds’ nests. 
At all events he is a bird whose services can- 
not be dispensed with. Our only care should be 
that he does not become unduly numerous, There 
seems to be no danger of this at present, at least 
in those parts of Massachusetts with which I 
am familiar, for the crows are not more numer- 
ous than they have been for thirty or forty years 
At Concord where I have a farm they were un- 
usually scarce last spring and summer. On the 
whole their numbers throughout the State 
appear to be maintained at about the same stand- 
ard from decade to decade, although they fluctuate 
somewhat in certain localities and during occas- 
ional years, 
Ei at 


can be shown 
that we have too many 
crows in the State at large, and that it is de- 
sirable to reduce their numbers this could be 
done in ways other than by offering a bounty for 
their miscellaneous and unlimited destruction. 
Experience has shown that State bounties for the 
suppression of noxious and other animals 
rarely do any, permanent or even jmmediate good, 
while they often work very serious harm. I do 
not know of a single instance where they have 
been effective in dealing with a creature so com- 
birds 
mon and so prolific as our crow. His numbers 
are kept within certain rather definite limits by 
natural agencies more or less obscure. But while 
he cannot often pass these limits he can and does 
quickly attain them whenever his numbers fall 
much below them. For this reason an immense 
number of crows might be killed every year in 
Massachusetts and the loss to the species made 
good at the end of each season. It is like try- 
ing to bale out a pool supplied by living springs 
The water ever the same whether the 
surplus water be left untouched by man or not. 
This law of nature applies to very many creatures 
and it cannot be disregarded. In the case of the 
crow most, if not all, the money paid out in 
bounty for his destruction would probably be 
wasted. Moreover it remains to be shown that 
it is desirable to decrease his numbers. That 
must be proved before there is any reason for 
seriously considering the matter. My personal 
opinion is that he is not unduly numerous and 
that if left, as at present, without protection, there 
is no danger of his ever being so.” 
This letter was forwarded to the secretary 
above mentioned and in his reply to me he says: 
“T have yet to meet a farmer who did not con- 
demn them heartily.” 
level 1S 

He contends that they destroy eggs of game 
and song birds. Further, he mentions one of 
the Southern States where for three years a 
bounty of twenty cents has been paid and the 
result has been the “practical extermination” of 
the crows to the advantage of the quail. As to 
the destruction of birds by red squirrels, I have 
heard them condemned by many sportsmen, but 
an old-time friend, born and reared in the coun- 
try, and a hunter from boyhood, told me this 
week that he had seen a red with a young bird 
in his mouth. This may be of interest to a num- 
ber of your readers who are closely studying the 
habits of wild animals. H. H. KimMsBatt. 

