Noy. 9, 1907.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 

Structure, it is expected that the people of New 
York and the thousands who annually visit the 
city on their various missions, will be able to 
see for generations to come specimens of the few 
surviving members of the animal kingdom which 
are capable of conveying some idea of the size 
and appearance of prehistoric animals. 
Carried a Live Skunk by the Tail. 
West Park, N. Y., Oct. 28.—Editor Forest and 
| Stream: Both of our hired men have often in- 
| sisted that a live skunk could be safely carried 
by the tail, insisting that they had often seen it 
| done. Since the veracity of both men happens to 
| be absolutely unquestionable, my father did not 
hesitate to mention ‘this fact in his writing. He 
| was at once “called down” by several naturalists, 
one of them being Prof. Bailey. So it happened 
that the other morning, when I caught a skunk 
{in a trap set for rats insfront of my hen house, 
in at once informed father that I had a skunk for 
| him and it was a good time to put his theory 
lin practice by taking his own medicine, etc. We 
jall had our misgivings, but were also secretly 
, delighted when he proved, in spite of his seventy 
Jyears, to be game. 
| By means of a long pole the poor skunk was 
| dragged about and roughly treated to get him 
,good and mad. Then my father liberated him, 
, bare-handed from the trap, seized him by hi 
}waving plume-like tail, and jerked him quickly 
linto the air. There was nothing doing, Prof. 
| Bailey to the contrary notwithstanding. Whether 
Jor not the skunk could have discharged his phos- 
\phorus-sulphurous essence cannot be said; cer- 
tainly he did not. After exhibiting and being 
|cheered by the spectators (who all stood out of 
jrange). my father dropped the skunk in a barrel. 
| Having often watched skunks distharge their 
jperfumery I am firmly convinced that no skunk, 
jheld in mid air by the tail, could shoot. This 
lis affirmed by a good skunk story that the hired 
jman tells. he being an eye witness: 
| “One night when we were out coon huntin’ 
‘the dogs ran a skunk in the wall. So and so 
pulled him out by the tail, holding him up with 
one hand, while he threw rocks at him with the 
other. Unluckily while feeling for a stone he 
‘lowered Mr. Skunk so that he got his front feet 
mn the wall. Quicker’n lightning, before the 
thought, he got soaked for fair right in his eye. 
[He just rolled on the ground; it near blinded 
Hye rf) 


— een ee _ 
: 
(Then someone always asks, “What became of 
Nhe skunk ?”) 
|. The nature fakirs often misuse the skunk, 
s3peaking of him as though his terrible odor were 
nlways present, it being one of his external fix- 
ures. In truth there is no neater or cleaner 
jweimal than a skunk or one -with* less odor. 
[hose who have very often dug out skunks in 
Jhe winter time say that their den, even when 
)ccupied all winter by five or six skunks, is od6r- 
Jess, dry and clean. JULIAN BURROUGHS, 

| Wild Animal Dangers in India. 
A RECENT report of the East Indian Govern- 
ment gives statistics as to the number of deaths 
aused by wild animals, as follows: 
“The total number of persons killed by wild 
jnimals in 1906 was 2,084, as .against 2,05I in 
1905. Wolves are reported to have killed 178 
Jiersons in the United Provinces, and in the 
}{adras Presidency tigers were responsible for 
}he greatest mortality reported, while a mad wolf 
1 the Sholapur district, Bombay, caused’ sixteen 
Heaths. In Bengal the number of persons killed 
jy elephants rose from nine in 1905, to eighteen 
#1 1906, and a proposal has, it is stated, been 
jiade by the magistrate of Cuttack for the or- 
janization of khedda operations in that district. 
| “Tigers killed a larger number of persons than 
#{ 1905 in Madras, Bombay, the United Provinces 
j1d Burma, and steps have been taken for the 
jestruction of man-eating tigers in these pro- 
jinces. Three man-eating tigers were destroyed 
}t Sambalpur, Angul and Mandia in 1006. 
| “The persons reported to have died from snake 
}te numbered 22,854 as against 21,797 in 1905, 
}ie increased mortality being ascribed to high 
#20ds, which drove snakes into houses and home- 
eads,” 
) 
4 


CONGO, THE PYGMY ELEPHANT OF A NEW SUB- SPECIES. 
Alligators in China. 
A RECENT issue of the London Times announces 
the receipt at the Zoological Park of three young 
Chinese alligators (Alligator sinensis). This is 
a matter of very great interest, for up to the year 
1879 it was generally believed that alligators be- 
longed to the new world exclusively. It is true 
that nearly ten years before Swinhoe had 
demonstrated the existence of a great saurian 
in the Yang-tze-kiang described as a crocodile. 
In 1879 a French official of the Chinese customs, 
Mr. Fauvel, published a detailed account of the 
animal, which showed it to be an alligator not 
distantly related to the well known alligator of 
the Southern States, though much smaller. It 
is greenish-black above, and yellowish and gray- 
ish below. This is believed to be the origin of 
the famous dragon of the Chinese. 

The Kuskwagamutes. 
A press dispatch says that Dr; George B; Gor- 
don, curatof .of the department. of American 
archeology of the. University of Pennsylvania, 
who has gust returned to, Philadelphiasafter pene- 
trating the Alaskan wilderness for 2,000 “miles 
on the Mrs, C. C. Harrison expedition, reports 
the discovery’ of a small tribe of aborigines, 
hitherto unknown to ethnologists. 
Dr. Gordon calls these unknown American in- 
habitants “Kuskwagamutes.” He brought here a 
collection Of their clothing, arms and utensilé. 
The tribe was found about 800 miles from the 
mouth of the Kuskokwim River, and they were 
few in number. This people, Dr. Gordon says, 
came of Athabascan stock, but have been con- 
quered by the Eskimos and have almost been 
absorbed by them. Instead, however, of wear- 
ing furs like the Eskimos, they made the skins 
of loons and other great birds into robes for 
clothing, 

Deer and Bicycle Lamp. 
It is reported from Sayville, L. I., that on the 
night of Oct. 31—which it is to be noticed was 
Hallowe’en, a time when spirits are said to walk 
and all sorts of unexpected and uncanny things 
to happen—Wm. E. Gorton, riding along the 
highway on a bicycle, was charged by a deer, 
upset and thrown far. It is said that Mr. Gorton 
was riding near the Cutting estate, and that the 
deer, a buck, attracted by the light on his bicycle, 
charged the light and a considerable mixup fol- 
lowed, 
After the bicycle had been overturned, 
light still burned, and the buck charged it a 
second time. It passed on over the light and 
struck the wire fence about the Cutting place, 
and after charging the fence several] times, as if 
it were an enemy to be defeated, it started off 
down the road. 
the 

THE Forest AND STREAM may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly, 

THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S YOUNG 
INDIAN RHINOCEROS, 

