The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1916-04-06

Il
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;
z. 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 mammaIo-
gist, whose particular work Just at
present, and one in which his heart is
engaged, is the subject Of the preser-
vation of the game, both birds and
mammals, of the United States.
The biologists of the government
service own a rocky island in the Po
tomac river at some distance from the
city of Washington. The island was
neglected spot for years. being un-
suited for residence purposes be-
cause of its situation. 1t is a wild
place, and it is the hauUt because OF
its sequestered Iacatios of many rare
species of birds. and it $50 is the abid-
ing place Of some Ok 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 risee
about seventy feet ous of the water
to a rocky point upon the top of which
stands a snug cabin with a huge fire.
place at one end. Tbs is the early
spring season in Wash 'hgton, 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 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 o
happy existence just below the cabin.
1t is the wish OF the scientists to
have growing on the island every sp4
cies of wild flower which this section
of the country has to offer. One b.
one the species have been gathered
and transplanted. In the spring the
place is garden.
Speedy Cavalry Chasing Villa.
The speed of an army is the speed
of the least speedy of the organiza
tions which make it up. General Per
shing when first pushing into Mexico
made about thirty-fve miles day
through sand and rocks and thickets
and mountain defiles. Army officers
in Washington have been watching the
outcome of the bandit hunt in Mexico
and they are also watching the records
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 wal
days of speed expeditions" in which
so many men were engaged as is the
case in the Pershing advance. Tai ing
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 new mark for rapid
ity of advance.
The movement of Pershing, ho~.
ever, with his thousands of troopers
is slow as compared to the records
made by small detachments of regu.
lars in the past when they were on
vital hurry-up errands Col. Theodore
A. Dodge, United States army now de.
ceased, collected the osficial records
of long-distance cavalry rides and made
them 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 |
lean 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 |
reports.
In the year 1879 when the Utes sue.
ceeded in getting some United States
troops into what afterward was known
as Thornburg's rat hole" several
mounted troopers succeeded in slip
ping through the circling line of say
ages. All of them reached the column
of General Merritt 10 miles distant
in less than twenty-four hours The
exact time was not taken for as Colo
mel Dodge puts it, rescue was of more
Importance than records"
Some Fast Riding.
Four troops of the Fourth cavalry.
volunteers for the service, rode in the
summer of 1870 from Fort Harney tc
Fort Warner with dispatches and were
told to make the best time that they
could without killing their horses
They made 14O 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 Lawton, who when ne be.
,ame a major-general was killed in
he Philippines, rode in the year 1876
rom Red Cloud agency, Nebraska, to
Sidney in the same state, distance Of
-25 miles, in twenty-six hours He was
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