34 



THE OOLOaiST 



grassy country at the mouth, of the 

 river, which can be reached from here 

 in two days, where many Ducks, 

 Cranes, Gulls and shore birds nest. 



The Short-billed, Bonaparte's Gull 

 and Arctic Terns being among them, 

 and a few Red Phalarope." 



How many of our readers would 

 enjoy a spring collecting experience in 

 such a territory. R. M. Barnes. 



Just As the Sun Went Down. 



I gave up deer hunting for the day 

 and decided to take my shotgun and 

 go to a water hole and watch for 

 some turkeys not far from camp. A 

 wind mill furnished water that ran 

 into this hole in the ground. A small 

 wooden tank was near the mill and 

 had a pipe running into it. The wood- 

 en tank was about six feet long and 

 one foot wide; this would run full of 

 water as the wind ran the mill. Then 

 the tank would run over and fill 'ip 

 the water hole I was watching. I hid 

 in the brush in shooting distance. 

 Armadillos would come, get a drink 

 and go. All animals that came to 

 water while I was there would drink 

 from the water hole. All birds would 

 drink from the wooden tank. No big 

 game showed up and I think several 

 thousand Doves drank from the tank 

 while I lay hidden in the brush. I 

 got up and went to the tank, and to 

 my surprise it was empty. The birds 

 that had watered there in one hour's 

 time had drank it dry, and it was half 

 full when 1 first went by it. A Dove 

 does not drink much, but you can tell 

 what a bunch of Doves watered there 

 to drink the tank dry. At times you 

 could holler as loud as you pleased 

 and you could not hear yourself for 

 the racket that the thousands of 

 Doves made as they flew in, flopped 

 around, drank and made it away to 

 their roosting grounds. I think every 

 state in the United States must have 



been represented at that Dove water- 

 ing hole. 



Now the sun is down and the moon 

 has begun to peep, so I made a bee 

 line for camp. I had walked a short 

 distance and to my right I heard a 

 roar. It sounded like the lions that 

 roar in a cage at a circus. I knew 

 what it was, and slowly walked along, 

 watching every opening. To my sor- 

 row, I was loaded with Turkey shot 

 only. Another roar came from the 

 brush and another, then the panther 

 came into sight; he was not in shoot- 

 ing distance and funny, but it's the 

 truth, I was glad of it, as I was not 

 armed properly for such big game. 



The panther saw me, but kept his 

 distance; he was going the same 

 course I was, but several hundred feet 

 to my right. Now and then he would 

 roar to let me know he was still com- 

 ing. As darkness fell I lost sight of 

 my friend Mr. Panther. I came to a 

 gate not far from camp and saw a 

 light flash at this gate. I was glad to 

 see it. It was Mr. Anderson, one of 

 our party. He was loaded with Tur- 

 key and was waiting for my father to 

 arrive at the gate before they went 

 on to camp. Father soon arrived with 

 a big gobbler, and I said did you all 

 hear that blood-curdling racket over 

 there? Mr. Anderson laughed and 

 said no. But my father spoke up and 

 said yes. So we came to the conclus- 

 ion that the panther did not want any- 

 thing to do with me because I did not 

 have any fresh meat, and he was slip- 

 ping on my father, who had passed 

 in a short distance of him with a wild 

 Turkey. As it was too dark and we 

 were loaded with Turkey we did not 

 look for the panther. I can say one 

 thing truly, there is one panther in 

 the Blue Mountains that would be in 

 my shop right now if I had of had a 

 Winchester instead of a shotgun and 

 bird shot. The rest of the party bar- 



