Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-03-29
Estate HOUSE.
Outlook is Good for Spring
Log Driving.
Not so Many Brown Tail Moths
in Maine as Last Year.
Freak Specimen in Museum Declared 10 be
a Weasel.
sTATEHOUSE CALENDAR.
Next Meeting Of Governor and Council
Tuesday, April "a, at 10 A. M.

or the corning spring, Hon. Edgar f..
ting Of DrOnO, commissioner Of for
'stry, said Wednesday that conditions
oDKed favorable for good spring for
irving. Ii is reported that tcere are
rom four To five feet of snow in the
woods of ArCost1ok, upper Penobscot
nd PiScatdQuiS counties, and while
he water in the brooks and streams is
lew, as il always is at this season of
the year, there is SHOW enough TO fur
nish waite. for driving. Most of tn"
peratOrs are ont Of the woods, and
" ith the exception of the locality
rround Chamberlain lake on the Eas.
branch ara on the north branch OF
the West branch of the P"nobScOt. and
:.rcund Russell stream which flows in
TO Chesunc"ok the logs are practically
all i'm. Provided that the logs all ar
li.e, it is estimated that there vii! De
about 10000 900 feet of logs RATED into
the PcnobScot boomS t!.rS SeaSoi. winch
is about l8,o0O,G00 more than We're
RATED in for the season Of 1905.
Prof. f. f. Hitchings was at the
Capitol for II few hours Wednesday,
on his way 10 Winthrop Center. where
he lectured in the afternoon. The
season is proving very busy one for
linn, as j.: addition to his work in
The crusade against the br0Wh-tail
moths he has appointments 10 speak
at many places in the STATE. Inc Sea-
son for hunting th1 'vinter nests of the
moth. however. is getting near the end.
.Gr as soon rs the foliage appears on
tire trees the nests are not as easily
Cetected, Snd the young catcrpiliars
scatter over the trees in which the
nests are located.
The hunt which is being conducted
This spring is a very thorough on,
ana il is reported on the whole that
r. are not as many of the brown
iail moths IN the State as there We're
last year, and t:iat in some sections.
mostly i'll the e:St, none of the nests
haH- been found this season. Tie
pests nave been ronfir"d mostly to the
,o"St towns, ANA il is believed that
those who are engaged in the work
Of hunting them have the situation
wen in hand. In York, where about
geo 900 nests We're gathered last year.
the number found This year will not
figure up half of that amount, and in
Portland. Wht r. tho number Of neSt >
found ia 1905 WAS .0,OOU,' the. number
"ni iHll iar short fhr iIii,b.'r IF
400.
The identity Of The specimen which
was recently received al the depart
mrnt of inland fisheries an. SarI Z, ard
which has been the subject Of much
discussion because If its peculiarititS,
Sc, ms to have been established, a.id
u i'll hereafter be considered a weasel
col. r.. g. Fl":irgtOn has taken II s'rrat
interest in the animal, and with u vie'v
If ascertainng what il was took its
measurements and description air.
sent them To Manly Hardy of Brewer,
lie well-known trapprr and guide, who
probably knows as much about th..
d,nisonS of the Maine forests rs anyone
in the state. and has received from him
III. follow i"g letter, which would seem
to settle the question beyond doubt:
Brewer. Me-. March &C. 1906
Col. F.. c. harrington. Augusta. Me
Dear Sir:-I am in receipt Of yours Of
the 24th. While it ia not 50 easy to
identify an animal by description as by
seeing it, ! think there is little doubt
that the animal you describe is Il
weasel. think 50 because in hand
ling some $4,000 mink skins | have
never seen one caught at the season
that this was caught as small as this,
while | have seen quite number Of
weasels as large or larger. | have
the measurements Of one taken last
January whose body was thirteen
inches long with n tail seven inches
long.
There is no possibility of its being
hybrid, as ! can find no record of any
two kinds of wild animals mating
Buffalo. in captivity. do breed with do
mcstic cattle. and dogs are said TO in
terbreed with wolves but no two kinds
of wild animals ever do.
As to color. this may he case
where for some cause the animal has
ret aimed the color which it had when
partly turned, which would naturally
be sort of maltese, or ii may be
freak. Besides having seen cases of
entire or partial albinism in most
kinds of our animals and of mechanism
which is the opposite of albinsm. |
have seen many freaks as ! should call
therl | have a mounted red squirrel
which has the ends of the hair gray
and all the under fur white. with a tail
partly red and partly white. In hand
ling some 10000 skins of the pine mar
len I have had three which We're Of a
bright lemon yellow except the usual
white head and orange throat. l have
had several mink which We're brown or
maltese, so that they looked as much
like 4 sable as a mink. | have had
several skunk which had the white
stripe pink, and one where the stripe
WAS brown. l have had foxes of a
variety Of colors beside the normal.
So think il is pretty certain that your
animal is a weasel. If you wish to be
very sure, loosen the wires SO as to
coo the bottoms of the hind feet. and
= you find that they are covered with
coft short fur somewhat like rab-
hit.s il is a weasel. Its ears are also
larger in proportion than those of n
| mink.
Very truly yours
MANLY HARDY.