FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Dsvotbd to Field and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural History, 

 Visa Culture, the Protection of Game, Preservation op Forests, 

 and the inculcation in Men and Wosien of a Healthy Interest 

 in out-doos kecreation and study: 



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NEW TORE, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1878. 



. To Correspondents. 



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I*" Trade supplied by American NewB Company. 

 CHARLES HAULOCK, Editor. 



T. C.BANKS, 



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S. H. TURRILL, Chicago, 



Western Manager. 



Albateoss and Cape Pigeon.— Was the bird which the 

 Ancient Mariner killed an Albatross, or was it a Oape pigeon? 

 To be sure, Coleridge ought to have known, but then he was 

 writing poetiy, and for the poet's purpose, so far as the de- 

 mands of romance, rhyme and rythm go, Albatross is by all 

 means preferable to Cape pigeon ; it rounds a sentence better. 

 And could Dore ever have given us such effective pictures if 

 for that great wide-winged bird he had substituted a petrel! 

 But after all it is barely possible that we must give up the Alba- 

 trosB. Old sailors say that it's all nonsense, and they know. 

 Albatrosses arc first-rate eating if they are not too old and the 

 cook understands how to fix them tip. Let an Albatross come 

 within range of a sailor's gun and there's no superstition to 

 save it from the pot. Superstition at the expense of a good din- 

 ner is too dearly bought. But it is unlucky to kill with cross- 

 bow or blunderbuss the beautiful Cape pigeon, which is not 

 edible. The offending ship will go, or ought to go, straight 

 to Davy Jones' locker, where many a Staunch and gallan t 

 ship has gone before her. Seamen are very careful about 

 these things. The British bark, J. Walter Scanndl, bringing a 

 cargo of nitrate of soda from Iquique, Peru, arrived in this 

 port last week with Daniel Maguire, the second mate, in irons. 

 The testimony in the court was somewhat conflicting, as such 

 marine testimony always is. But Maguire himself confesses 

 thaL when rounding the Cape he tried his new revolver on a 

 pigeon. The bird escaped, otherwise we should never have 

 heard of the bark at all. The offense, even as it was, was 

 grave enough, as any orthodox sailor knows, and it was per- 

 fectly just that the man of the revolver should be hand-cuffed 

 Into the irons he went, and when he was smart enough to 

 wriggle out of them and cist them down to the bottom of the 

 sea, sea, sea, ' the ship carpenter, equal to the occasiou, de- 

 vised ll pair of stocks where the fate-defying tar lauguished 

 without much of anything to eat uutil he reached New York. 

 Like the Ancient Mariner, he now, with his skinny eye, hold- 

 6th not the weddiug gueat out the willing reporter, Queer 

 allows those sailors. 



THANKSGIVING UNIVERSAL. 



THE observance of the time-honored Now Eugland festi- 

 tival is rapidly becoming widespread, though not with 

 the unction of the forefathers. It is scarcely forty years ago 

 that the voices of the pious Governors of Massachusetts and 

 Connecticut were almost the only ones who proclaimed thanks- 

 giving to the Good Giver and death to predestinated gobblers 

 and barnyard chanticleers. Those were solemn occasions 

 theu, when grandpa and Aunt Maria mounted the old chaise 

 in the van, and the rest of the family stowed themselves into 

 the six-seated carryall, and all plodded their silent way up 

 the long hill toward the meeting house to listen to the ser- 

 mon. We remember how the youngsters shuddered as they 

 looked askance at the wicked boys who desecrated the special 

 holy day by kicking foot-ball in 'Squire Jones' ten-acre lot ; 

 and how the old folks pointed them out as a striking example. 

 Much more sinful was that conscience-smitten young man 

 who quietly drew his gun through the fence rails as he 

 sueaked into the rustling thickets of the November woods ! 

 The morals of the country had not at that early period be- 

 come corrupted by turkey-shoots; and prophets had not 

 prophesied the mission of Bergh. Those who then hoped 

 for tlie millennium, would have shuddered at the latter day 

 saints as we see them now. 



What beautiful homilies the Ministers used to read on grati- 

 tude and benevolence and the pleasures of giving! LTow 

 they dwelt upon the fulness of the past harvest, and the pro- 

 spective, abundance of the big dinners to come— after the serv 

 mon ! Ah ! those promises were like the pillar of cloud to 

 Moses, to guide their hearers out of the desert of starvation 

 into the beatitude of mince pies and the indulgence of reple- 

 tion. Meanwhile, as the good people listened to the long- 

 drawn applications which emphasized the text, the cavities of 

 their stomachs grew empty and emptier ; the comforts and 

 duties of self-denial became weaker and less imperative ; un- 

 til at last the benediction came like a blessed release, and all 

 the spring wagons and carryalls under the meeting house 

 sheds clattered off down the hill to the base level of carnal 

 appetites and natural desires. To the boys the only redeem- 

 ing feature of Thanksgiving Day was the privilege to eat 

 without stint. The older people, too, as well as the Minister 

 himself, recognized this special Providence, and thanked God 

 for their capacity of enjoyment. With that comfortable 

 'dreaminess which comes from the complete satiety of a 

 healthful appetite, they folded their hands and eyes in their 

 easy chairs after dinner and blessed their good fortune that 

 they were not born in heathen lands where there was no 

 Christian Thanksgiving. 



Gradually, in course of years, Ohio and other neighborly 

 States drew into line, and proclamations from the Western 

 Reserve began to repeat the utterances which came out of the 

 East. Then this good President who plaeed the proper esti- 

 mate upon the character of the Hobday, and realized the ne- 

 cessities of the American people for more recreation and more 

 public festivals, nationalized this New England Anniversary 

 and proclaimed (bless him!) universal thanksgiving through- 

 out the land. And now we have it from shore to shore I But, 

 as we said at the beginning of this short chapter of reflections, 

 the day is not celebrated any more as in the olden time 

 Truly, in many New England homes, — in quiet nooks of the 

 Green Mountains, and.along the pastoral shores of Cape Cod, — 

 the ancient sanctity prevails, and the time-honored forms of 

 observance are held as sacred as the day itself ; but in most 

 all other sections of the land the day seems set apart for ex- 

 cursions and promiscuous amusement. No more do even 

 the descendants of New England people gather in family as- 

 semblages as of old. In vain do they send out their summons 

 to tha claus. Not even the odor of the steaming turkey nor 

 the groans of weighted mahogany lure them to the hearth. 

 Individuals plead previous or more congenial engagements; 

 and so perchance the stocked and ruffled portraits of our an- 

 cient grand-parents look down with mornful visage out of their 

 gilded frames upon the empty seats and broken circles which 

 love and kinship ought to keep forever warm and full. The 

 foreign elements of the great cities give new shape and feature 

 to the day's observances, while those to the manor born take 

 down their guns and hunt for partridges, quail and ducks ! 

 How many appointments for a Thanksgiving hunt 

 are made weeks before the day is designated ! What 

 allotments are set upon! For weeks our readers have 

 been asking us where they shall go for game on that eventful 

 day. Most of them have but the day to spare, and the cus- 

 tomary demand is for some place (confidentially indicated) 

 within an hour's Tide of New York where they can go and 

 fill their bags. Poor men ! the pipe of the quail is no more 

 heard within the environs, and the voice of the wary goose 

 soundeth high over head. Were the vicinity covered with 

 game, there would not be a bird for each gun. Every line of 

 wagon and burse road leading to the purlieus would be lined 

 with gunners like soldiers on a review. We fear those who 

 have but a single day to spare will have to forego their shoot- 

 ing. However, there are pigeon shoots, and glass ball shoots, 

 and turkey shoots innumerable, and at these popular sports 

 the knights of the trigger may while away their time. 



Iu these progressive days it is nut for ministers or governors 

 to designate what observances shall apply to the Holiday we 

 celebrate. Foreigners will have no sympathy with the primi- 

 tive Bentiment, while descendants of Puritans have outgrowu 

 their swathing clothes. So each of. us must choos 

 self that pastime which seemeth most congenial, and what- 

 ever tLat may be, or by whomsoever of the readers of the 



Fobbst and Stream it may be chosen, we wish for each and 

 all of them a comfortable Thanksgiving. 



A. BONNIE SCOT. 



/""APT. A. WILLIAMSON, of Edinburgh, Scotland, a 

 >— ' veteran gentleman hunter, who was introduced to our 

 readers last September on his way to the Far West, returned 

 to New York this week full of trophies and admiration of our 

 grand Rockies, and will sail for home to-day. Not "from 

 the bonnie highland heather to the modest lily of the vale" 

 has he found such crags, such evidences of good shooting, 

 and so many Indian sign, as he has done iu the E.v+'.e and 

 Piney Ranges. Among those depths, passes, and mountain 

 parks he slew 13 bull elk, 10 black tail deers, and 2 grizzly 

 bears. Two other bears would he have slain had they not 

 carried off within their lacerated hides two dozen hollow Ex- 

 press bullets, which are of no account ou big game, he thinks. 



Mr. Williamson speaks with a friendly feehug and a warmth 

 of interest regarding that kind Providence which smiled upon 

 his secluded camp at all times, excepting when John Hines, 

 of Georgetown, charged him $40 for jacks and an extra tariff 

 ou hams and general provisions. 



One of the biggest elk he killed stood 16 hands two inches 

 high, measured 8 feet 9 inches in length from nose to tail, and 

 6 feet 4 inches in girth. Its horns alone weighed fully tit) 

 pounds, measuring 58 inches in length of horn, 51 melius iu 

 span, and 15 inches around the burr (where it joins the occi- 

 put). Wonderful but not at all improbable are the stories he 

 tells of the vitality of the groat denizens of the wilderness 

 which he visited. The hollow Express bullets which he used 

 could not do the necessary execution. One of them struck a 

 bear at 35 yards squarely in the shoulder and the bear thought 

 it was a humble bee. He rolled over on the ground to scratch 

 the place, and then the Captain gave him a second barrel in 

 the other shoulder at the like dktauce. Up got the bear and 

 ran five miles without halt; then took to the shallow bed of 

 the Piney creek for half a mile and came ashore at the foot of 

 a big pool, with the trail lost so that the hunters never found 

 it again. Such sagacity was never known among such var- 

 mint. Even old Bill Williams of '49 would have wondered at 

 his "savez." 



The way they hunt bears is this : " Skinners " hunt mostly 

 for the skins; gentlemen hunt for heads and horns. In 

 cither case the stripped carcass is generally left as bait for the 

 grizzlies whose pelts are worth $18 the plew. Plews are an 

 object. In the darkness of the night the hunters lie perdue, 

 within easy range of the bait, down the wind, so as to get 

 the scent and sound. With a good solid ball which weighs 

 500 ex. and 108 grains (4 drachms) of powder, Bruin is made 

 to do his coup tie grace without ado— usually. But " best laid 

 schemes gang aft aglee," and this is how one of them went. 



Topsy is an 8-months old pup which can scent a bear as 

 easily as most dogs smell an Indian. The hunters were pust- 

 ed one night not more than ten yards from the bait (the car- 

 cass of an elk), the wind being fair for the. bear, so that Top 

 sy's nose was "fiat," and wholly discounted, out of Use. 

 Now Topsy, the Captain says, never growls at anything but 

 bears. On this occasion he growled! Ergo a bear. But the 

 bear took wind and sloped in a jiffy. The problem remains : 

 How did Topsy discover that the creature was a hear ? Had 

 he an intuitive perception that his master was hunting bears ? 

 and having heard a step or snapping of a twig, surmised that 

 it was a bear ? or was he like a young lady of Brooklyn who 

 can see things without eyes and perceive things which are 

 hidden? 



One more incident the Captain relates of two bull elks 

 which were fighting for conquest. He waited for the decision 

 of the battle, and killed the victor ; then chased the other a 

 good distance and captured him. 



The woods are full of romances like these. Tlie only 

 drawback, the Captain says, is that there are too many hunt- 

 ers. Six mouths ago at a certain hillside ledge there was not 

 a solitary inhabitant. Now, after six months, there are said 

 to be 30,000. The new city is a mining town, and is known 

 as Leadvillc. The number of men hunting for the Leadville 

 market is what diminishes the game. 



We congratulate our friend upon his success. He was un- 

 attended except by an old mountain man as guide. 



A Curious Book.— We have recently received from Mr. D. 

 N. Allison, of Fulton, Blinois, a very interesting little book, 

 wliieh we imagine few of our readers have ever seen. The 

 litle page tells us that the work is— "A Natural History of a 

 variety of Birds and Beasts, Extracted from the best Authors. 

 New York. Printed by W. Dwell for Benjamin Gomez ; 

 1800." The volume, which bears evidence in its appearance 

 of its age, is about four inches long by two and one-half wide, 

 and contains but twenty-eight pages. It is possible, however, 

 that it is incomplete, for the covers and the sewing are gone. 

 Twelve different kinds of " Birds and Beasts" are 

 in it, and the remarks upon them are extremely qo 

 in the light of our present knowledge, amusing. We are told 

 in this volume of the cunning of the fox, the ferocity of the 

 tiger, the obstinacy of the ass, and the intelligence of the dog. 

 Besides, each article is illustrated by a wood cut representing 

 the animal treated of, and these venerable engravings aie not 

 the least amusing portion of the work. 



Mr. Allison, with an interest in our behalf for wliieh wo 

 cannot too warmly thank him, has considerately sent us thia 

 volume ; with what motives lie iias iom 80 bis note subjoined 

 plainly shows. , He says ; 



