Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1896-11-26
The Ancient Horse.

The Ancient Horse.
In the present relationship between
the man and the horse undoubtedly there
is change due to the bicycle, and so we
are becoming less under obligations to
animal locomotion. 1t is, however, the
old form of horse which is again coming
to the front. Perhaps the general reader,
not specialist, has become somewhat
tired reading of the original fOur-tOed
horse, as his fossil remains are found in
Kansas. and how in time he gradually
changed until he became the single
hoofed creature. cancelling his earlier
toe formation 1t is the true wild horse,
as he may exist today, which we have
been looking for. The first find of him,
some years ago, was questioned. Any
how. the creature was called Equus Drge-
yalskii, and in recent journey, the
Russian explorer, Prjevalsky, hunted in
vain for him in Central Asia, in the
Desert of the Hashun Cobb.
Recently the two travellers, &. r.. and
M. e. Grum Grzimailo, have come across
wild horses in the Dzungarian desert and
they succeeded in shooting two OF them.
AS to their height, they stood some LAG
meters, were possessed of stout back
and chest, and with the neatest and
trimmest Of legs, as clean as those OF a
race horse The head was heavy, with
an abnormal width of forehead. The
tail had it's peculiarities, being parti-
colored, taking the hue of the coat of the
horse above, but black underneath. and
not long haired: The coat was scant,
somewhat curly, but that might have de-
pended on the season. One marked
point was the presence of side whiskers,
long stiff hairs, extending from the ears
to the chin. One thing these animals
did was to adhere to the custom of our
present horses, for they neighed, where
as the wild ass brays. The GrZimailos
say that though the Mongols occasional
ly capture foals, they never have sue
ceeded in DEMONSTRATING them
Primitive man has left us q fairly good
picture of his horse hunt. 1t is Il stalk
ing scene. One horse is down, and an
other is being followed. The type OF the
heads of the horses closely resembles
that of the Equus prjevalskil. Looking
over more recent equine studies, sue
cessful cross has been made between a
male zebra (Equus burchellil and a we'll
bred Scotch mare. The offspring IS
tinely-formed foal, resembling the
mother, with the zebra stripes OF the
sire. In this experiment in hybridism
great work is expected. We are at work
with the broncho, and are tracing back
his genealogy. or what he may become
in the future-Harper's Weekly.
DICK, the sea OuIs MAbSANS'
Capt Fogarty and his men are mourn
ing the probable death of Dick, the sea
gull that became famous for having
passed twenty-four consecutive winters
on or in the vicinity of Brenton's Reef
lightship, about two miles off the south
shore Of Newport. Dick began to attract
attention nearly twenty years ago, pc
cause about October of each year he
would appear off the lightship, and re,
4 ,>ni11 xxyhn no
fly northward for the summer. AS years
passed and there was no break in the
regularity of Dicks coming and going,
his fame grew and not few persons
visited the lightship to see him. Capt.
Fogarty and his predecessors have been
called upon to write many letters regard
ing the gull and there have been hun
whether the stories about Dick were true.
Last winter it was noted that Dick was
quite feeble with age and 1T was sug-
gested that he be shot and stuffed for eX-
hibition in the Smithsonian institution,
for it was thought that he would never
be able to get back to the lightshlp, even
if he survived the winter. But Capt
Fogarty and his men refused to harm
Dick. They wanted very much to have
the gulls body mounted, but they We're
SO attached to him that they would do
him no injury. They were willing to
await his natural death, trusting that
he would die where they could secure
his remains. 1t appears, though. from
his failure to appear at the lightship so
far this fall, that he has died in other
parts, and the half dozen scientists and
institutions who hoped to have his re-
mains will be disappointed.
IL may be that Dick had been a regular
visitor at the lightship for more than
twenty-four years, but, if so, he had not
made himself known. The first that is
remembered of him was in the winter
of 1S71-72. He was q gray gull, spe-
cies that is considered very rare, Early
in his career at the lightship he had re-
markedly smooth and rich plumage, but
as years went by he gradually lost his
beauty and during the last few winters
he possessed very shabby coat. He
was royalty treated by the captain and
his men of the lightship, who had his
meals, of salt pork mostly, prepared on
time, and when the hour arrived for
Dick to eat he would call for his food
under the side of the boat. Beside his
regular habits, Dick had other very re-
markable chara cteristics, one Of which
was his desire always to be alone. I'm
like others Of his kind, he was never
seen with other gulls.
Attacked by Mountain Lion.
George w. Cooper and youth named
Nienberger had a desperate encounter
with mountain lion while driving into
Piedmont Wyo. They We're coming in
from q lumber camp without arms of
any kind, and when nearing the city q
massive mountain lion SnraDp from the