Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1916-04-11


The chief of the bureau of biologi
cal survey is Henry ". Henshaw
who has written volumes about birds
and beasts, who has camped when in
pursuit of his studies in every sec
ton of the United States and in many
other parts OF the world. Mr.. Hen
shaw has been connected with the
bureau for a good many years. He
succeeded DR.. C. Hart Merriam as
chief of the bureau when the latter left
Uncle Sans service to become the
chief of the Hartman Geological
foundation a few years ago.
Biologists of Fame.
Others of the biologists of national
fame are DR.. A. K. Fisher, who is the
great authority on the birds of prey
E. NJ. Nelson, who knows TO a hair
every beast of the field and to a feath-
er every bird of the air, and DR.. T. S.
Palmer, ornithologist and mammalo-
gist, whose particular work just at
present, and one in which his heart is
engaged, is the subject of the preser-
walton of the game, both birds and
mammals, of the United States.
The biologists of the government
service own a rocky island in the Pc
tomac river at some distance from the
city of Washington. The island was
a neglected spot for years, being un-
suited for residence purposes be
cause of its situation. 1t is a wild
place, and it is the haunt because of
its sequestered location of many rare
species of birds, and it also is the abid-
ing place of some of the mammals
which are not often found in other
places near Washington in these days
of encroaching civilization.
The island thai the biologists go to
whenever a vacation day comes rises
about seventy feet out of the water
to rocky point upon the top of which
stands snug cabin with huge fire
place at one end. This is the early
spring season in Washington, and the
birds are beginning to come back, but
all winter long on this island of the
biologists the winter birds have been
fed constantly and made happy there
by even when the snow was drifting
and the cold was closing in.
There are bird breakfast tables, din
ner tables and supper tables spread
all about the biologists cabins.
There are a good many quail on
the mainland near the scientists is
land. The quail are fed in the cold
weather when the snow is deep and
their natural food, the weed seeds, is
covered. Foxes occasionally visit the
island, and there is a thriving family
of woodchucks, or groundhogs, as
some people call them, leading
happy existence just below the cabin
1t is the wish o. the scientists to
have growing on the island every spe-
cies of wild flower which this section
of the country has to offer. One by
one the species have been gathered
and transplanted. In the spring the
place is a garden.
Speedy Cavalry Chasing Villa.
The speed of an army is the speed
of the least speedy of the organiza-
lions which make it up. General Per.
shing when first pushing into Mexico
made about thirty-five miles a day
through sand and rocks and thickets
and mountain detiles. Army officers
in Washington have been watching the
outcome OF the bandit hunt in Mexico
q nd oil tcI, ID IL
of travel made by the troops.
There are records in the war depart
ment of scores of long, hard rides
made by American troopers, but there
are no records since the Civil war
days of speed expeditions" in which
so many men were engaged as is the
case in the Pershing advance. Taking
into consideration the size of the
Pershing outfit, the material that it
necessarily must carry with it and the
awful condition of the country through
which it must travel, it perhaps al
ready has made a new mark for rapid
ity of advance.
The movement of Pershing, how
~
is slow as compared to the records
made by small detachments of regu-
ars in the past when they were on
vital hurry-up errands. Col Theodore
A. Dodge, United States army, now de-
ceased, collected the official records
Of lOng-distance cavalry rides and made
hem public, so that it was possible
to compare them with the performance
Of soldier horsemen of other nations.
Almost Beyond Belief.
Some of the performances of Amer
can cavalrymen are almost past be-
lief, but they are attested by witnesses
and in most cases the attestation is
known to be valid because the hour of
starting and the hour of arriving were
taken down and put into the official
In the year 1879 when the Utes sue
eeeded in getting some United States
troops into what afterward was known
as Thornburgs rat hole" several
troopers succeeded in slip
ping through the circling line of say
ages. All of them reached the column
IF General Merritt 40 miles distant
n less than twenty-four hours The
exact time was not taken for as Colo
lel Dodge puts it, rescue was of more
than records"
Some Fast Riding.
Four troops of the Fourth cavalry,
for the service, rode in the
summer of 1870 from Fort Harvey to
Fort Warner with dispatches and were
old to make the best time that they
could without killing their horses.
They made 140 miles in twenty-five
hours. At Fort Warner they rested
4 day and returned to Fort Harvey
IN the same horses at the uniform rate
If sixty miles a day
Colonel LawtcH, who when ne be-
zane a major general was killed in
he Philippines, rode in the year 1876