Walter Deane (1848-1930) Papers; Journal Jan-June 1900. Botany Libraries, Archives of the Gray Herbarium, Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, Mass.

15 1900 Feb. 21 to Mar. 10 (10)

do curl up, they show nothing but a round ball of fur.

Two cages contain Mink. They are fierce little animals, graceful in movement.

A large, broad, tall wire cage with an oak tree, 4 to 5 inches through at base and about 15 feet high planted in the center, contains twelve Raccoons. This cage is always surrounded by an amused crowd. The Coons are almost always up in the tree, resting in the most astonishing attitudes. One will crawl out to the end of a bare branch about three quarters of an inch thick and in a fork at the end will roll himself up, in an apparently, absolutely untenable positon and go to sleep! A Coon will rest in perfect security and comfort in any kind of a fork. I saw one hanging asleep from a fork with the head and front legs in the fork, and the entire rest of the body hanging down. He looked as if he were dead. It was amusing to see one try to oust another from a good place. Sometimes a bunch of three or four would get into a single large fork and form one indistinguishable ball of coon fur. I never saw creatures more at home in a tree than the Raccoon.

16 1900 Feb. 21 to Mar. 10 (11)

An exhibit by the Province of Quebec attracts much notice and I would visit the show to see it alone. A large trough filled with water and containing various landing places is occupied by four Beavers. I never saw these creatures alive before. Outside of the cage and near by is a large pile of poplar sticks, 2 or 3 in. in diameter and about a foot long, with some poplar twigs lying close by. Above there is a sign "Beaver Food". In the water several of these sticks are floating, and the Beavers feed on the bark. I saw one skillfully drag one of these sticks on to a shelf above the water and then, holding the end of his two front paws, knaw at the back with his long sharp teeth. I stooped down by him and saw his teeth chisel into the bark. I even felt of the broad, flat tail, and it felt like hard gristle. Sometimes when the Beaver is swimming, he raises his tail out of the water by curving it upwards. There is more flexibility to it than I imagined.

Near by are some sections of tree trunks showing the work of the Beaver in cutting down trees. A solemn Indian in costume is always stationed by this exhibit to see that visitors do not trouble the animals. Nothing at the show is more interesting than this.

17 1900 Feb. 21 to Mar. 10 (12)

In a large pen in the centre of the main room behind a wire fence is a herd of ten Elk from the Cabin Park. They are noble creatures, two of them males with antlers. I stroked the head and neck of a female for some minutes.

In a section of the same pen are two Rocky Mt. Goats in find condition. I never saw these creatures before and was much interested in them. The fur was very long and pure white. the hoofs are very deeply cloven.

Other interesting animals were Timber Wolves One grown up, immature; three young ones, the latter in a cage by themselves, pretty creatures. Mountain Lions A pair together, very handsome, at times, quite active. Grizzly Bear A young one, claws exposed, long. Canada Lynx A pair, large cats, with pointed tufted ears. Wild Cats. A pair, very different in appearance from the Lynx. Fisher A fine specimen, some 3 feet long, rarely seen in captivity, and hence of special interest. He is black and somewhat resembles a large weasle. Squirrels, Red, Gray & Flying These were in cages of varying sizes and attracted much attention. The Grays had a large enclosure with a tree in the middle.

18 1900 Feb. 21 to Mar. 10 (13)

One cage contains two large Eagles. They are labelled "Golden Eyes". The birds are immature, and so they sit on the perch or the floor, the feathers of the breast hangs over the feet and completely hide the tarsus, where the diagnostic character lies, that distinguishes the Golden from the Bald Eagle. However by stationing myself near one of the birds that was on the perch, and waiting and watching I finally had a good view of the tarsus as the Eagle stretched himself. The tarsus, at the lower portion was bare, making that bird a Bald Eagle. Whether the other one was so or not I do not know, but probably both birds are the same species.

A young Cinnamon Bear, a Wild Boar of Europe and a Hog Deer of India a queer little fellow with oddly shaped horns completed the list of animals that are on exhibition. I might mention that a pair of Moose horns are hanging by one of the pens, with a label telling that they were shed on Feb. 15. That is a week before the show opened.

The exhibit of live fish was most attractively gotten up. The tanks ran along one side of a large room, and strips of bark are fastened between and around the large glass fronts makng a continuous wall of bark with the glass set into it. Strong lights are thrown on to the water from above, and

19 1900 Feb. 21 to Mar. 10 (14)

fresh water is constantly flowing into the tanks. The fish seem floating in air. They are mainly salmon & trout of various sizes and ages. Two trout from Newfound Lake, N.H. from the New Hampshire Fish Commission are exactly two and one half feet long. I measured them as they lay close along side of the glass front. They are magnificent fish.

I have wandered among the various camps, erected by hunters, and guides, illustrative of wood life, and examined the many taxidermists' supplies all of which are most attractive and instructive. There are mounted animals of all kinds, skins made into rugs, antlers, buffalos' heads Indians tents, with the Indians at work. One Indian at intervals blows the moose call on a birch bark horn.

In the large room where the exhibitions occur there is a huge water tank for aquatic sports, and a floor for basket ball.

The only event of interest that I have seen there was a representation of spearing salmon by two Indians in a canoe, one paddling, the other handling the spear. A light of burning bark on a pole was in the bow. It was a beautiful sight to see the Indian deftly spring from to side to side after an imaginary fish and finally plunge the spear, down and capture him. I expected to see him really land a fish into the boat —