FOREST AND STREAM 



421 



I'he hal iits <rf 'lie America erav rabbit are so well described 

 by Audubon that we give his language. He says that "it 

 abounds in our forests, even in their densest coverts , also fre- 

 quents farms and plantations, occupying the coppices and 

 grassy spots in the neighborhood of cultivation, remaining in 

 its form by day, concealed by brush heaps, a tuft of grass, or 

 some hedge-row on the side of an old fence, from which 

 retreat it issues at night to regale itself on the clover, turnips 

 or cornfield of the farmer. It. frequently divests the young 

 trees In the nursery of their bark. It often makes inroads on 

 the kitchen-garden", feasting on the young green peas, lettuce 

 cabbages, etc. , and doing a great deal of mischief ; and when 

 it has once had an opportunity of taking these dainties it be- 

 comes difficult to prevent its making a nightly visit to them. 

 Although the opening at which it, enters may be carefully 

 closed, the rabbit is sure to dig a fresh hole every night in the 

 immediate vicinity, and snares, traps, or guns are the best 

 auxiliaries in such cases, soon putting an end to further 

 depredations. When first started it runs with great swiftness 

 and makes fewer doublings than the northern bare. Having 

 a bundled yards or more, it stops to listen. Find- 

 ing itself pursued by dogs, should the woods be open and 

 free from swamps and thickets, it runs directly towards some 

 bole in the root of a tree or hollow log. When briar patches 

 afford a place for concealment, and to elude the pursuit of 

 dogs, it remains On'fcMM much longer. When the males are 

 engaged in combat, and when alarmed at night, they have the 

 habit of stamping with their hind feet upon the ground. 

 During the breeding season it is sometimes seen seeking food 

 at midday instead of as usual at early morn or late in the eve- 

 ning. Its voice is never heard except when wounded or cap- 

 tured, when it utters a shrill cry, like a child in pain. This 

 rabbit breeds freely in warrens, but does not easily become 

 domesticated, and always seems ill at ease when an attempt 

 is made at domestication. In the state of nature it never bur- 

 rows, but in trying to escape will dig to the depth of a toot 

 or more to effect its object. When taken quite young, and 

 freely handled, they become quite tame and contented in do- 

 mestication. The gray rabbit is very prolific. In the North- 

 ern States it produces about three litters during the season, 

 from five to seven at a litter; while in the South it breeds 

 "from February to October." 



HABITS OF DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was raised in Western New York, and can remember 

 when the whole western portion of that State was compara- 

 tively an unbroken forest, aud seemed to be the natural home 

 of the deer, the wolf, the panther, the bear and numerous 

 other kinds of game, which at that early day were seldom 

 disturbed by the crack of the white man's rifle. I have lived 

 to see the wilderness disappear, and with it the noble game 

 that used to roam there in untold numbers. Northeastern 

 Pennsylvania Btill retains some of its former glory in the way 

 of deer hunting and trout fishing, but it is being fast en- 

 croached upon by railroads, coal diggers and oil producers. 

 The elk that used to inhabit that portion of the State have 

 gone the way of their ancestors, and naught 'As left to mark 

 the locality of their former favorite haunts"! except a few 

 half decayed horns that are occasionally found there. I have 

 hunted and fished, and feasted and fasted on nearly all the 

 sources and tributaries of the Allegheny, Susquehanna and 

 Clarion rivere long before breech-loaders were invented. A 

 breech-loading or repeating rifle would have been a fortune to 

 me in those days. I have occasionally hunted the deer in 

 Wisconsin, Indiana and here in Tennessee. The deer are 

 about one size smaller here than in the Northern States, but 

 the venison is of excellent flavor. 



The horns of a deer are the most heavy and hardest of all 

 horns, and yet they are grown and perpetuated in less than 

 five months. The horns of a full-grown buck begin to grow 

 about the last of April, and by the middle of June they will 

 be ten or twelve inches in length with two or more forks, the 

 points or ends being large, soft and spongy, and the whole 

 horn being covered with a velvety skin with a thin coat of 

 short, stiff, hairy or plushy fur of a reddish-gray color. The 

 horns then begin to curve, the prongs or snags grow out, 

 being the largest and softest at the extreme points, and gradu- 

 ally hardening toward the base as they continue to grow in 

 length. By the middle of August the full-grown horns in 

 the velvet are developed. While this wonderful natural pro- 

 cess is going on, the buck has been strictly non-combative, his 

 whole business being to protect his growing horns from in- 

 jury. He is sensitive to the slightest touch and careful not to 

 bring his horns in contact with any hard substance, as the 

 slightest scratch will cause them to bleed profusely, especially 

 if it be near the tender pulpy substance at the extremities. 

 About the .first of September the ends of the horns begin to 

 flatten and shrink, the skin crack3 and peels, the buck begins 

 to rub the small saplings, and bloody strips of skin will hang 

 like ribbons from nearly every snag. During this month he 

 gets his horns cleaned and polished, and the horns of October 

 are very different from the horns of August. The nature of 

 the animal seems to be suddenly changed ; he knows that he 

 has now got the weapons of war, and he is not slow to use 

 them. The horns are so curved that when he curbs his neck 

 for a fight every prong points forward and downward instead 

 of upward. I remember a case illustrative of this fact, that 

 happened many years ago ir: the State of Ohio. An old 

 hunter being out on a still hunt in the month of November 

 (that being the rutting season), came suddenly close upon a 

 big buck, and in the excitement of the moment shot 

 carelessly and slightly wounded the deer. Before he was 

 really aware of his danger, the buck made a sudden spring, 

 striking him near the hip, ripping down pants, skin and 

 flesh as with a knife, while another prong struck the top of 

 his foot, near the instep, penetrating through the foot, thence 

 through the sole of the shoe, literally pinning him to the 

 earth. At that moment his dog (a large cur) came to his re- 

 lief, aud catching tho deer by the flank, turned his attention 

 in another direction, otherwise it might have been still worse 

 for the old hunter. We would naturally inquire what the 

 hunter was doing while all this horrible gashing was being 

 done. Reader, please inform me what you could do during 

 the time it would take a streak of lightning to run down a 

 man's leg ? 



By the 1st of January most of the old bucks have shed 

 their horns. Some of the young bucks shed a little later. I 

 am not aware that they ever bury their horns, and I have of- 

 ten found them soon after they have been dropped. I do not 

 believe that they even notice the horn after it falls. 



It is often asserted that deer get up and feed at moonrise, 

 and lie down when the moon goes down. I know that deer 

 are more likely to get up and feed when the sun goC3 down 

 and lie down at sunrise or soon after, and especially so in the 

 months of August, September and October; but In June and 



July, the nights being short, they will occasionally travel and 

 feed until tei dock a, m. But in November they 



will run more or less day aud night, that being fl 

 season. 



It is also said by the oldest deer hunters that fawns leave 

 no scent in the track until after the spots are off. I have not 

 OB that point, having never fallen into the 

 horrid practice of worrying deer with (logs, unless wounded. 

 Have shot some large bucks during my bunting days, and do 

 not remember that I ever killed more "than two that would 

 turn the scale at more than 300 pounds each. It is not always 

 the largest buck that carries the largest horns, and the age 

 cannot, be ascertained by the number of prongs. Ahti.rr. 



Piney Falls, Blim Co., Tmn. 



ON BEARS AND OTHER ANIMALS- 

 1718, 



R,\loi, Mass., Nov. 7, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and stream : 



Since reading the "Two Bear Stories,' 1 by "Penobscot," 

 published in your interesting journal, I have, through tho 

 courtesy of Henry Fit?, Waters, Esq.. of Salem, whose anti- 

 quarian researches arc well known, been allowed to copy an 

 original MS. by Paul Dudley, F. K. S., written about 1718, 

 on the " Habits of the Bear aud Other Animals." I give it 

 to you as near verbatim aa I can, as follows ; 



'"'Bears sleep from 15th Nov. to April. 



11 Black Bears— When the snow is deep they den, and don't 

 come out till the snow is so wasted as they can trail then- 

 food — nuts, acorns, frogs, berries, crickets, grapes— and preys 

 also. Don't carry food into their dens ; generally den alone, 

 unless it be a she with her cubbs of the first year, sometimes 

 in a Hollow Tree, a Hollow Log, under the Root of a Tree, 

 cleft of a Rock. Dog scents them & Barks, then they come 

 out. But if the snow be deep they won't stir. Kill them, 

 nothing in their gutts but slime; they will put fire in the Hole 

 of a Tree then the Bear will come Thundering out whether 

 they are asleep or only mope, for they easily wake. Bear 

 bring forth but once in 3 years. Suckle their young. 



"Racoon — goes to Bed at the Time of the Bears and den as 

 the Bear. But more m Company from 3 to 7. Come out 

 rather sooner, carry in food. 



" Woodchuck — lyes still in his Borough in the ground 

 wholly the same Term of Times, carries nothing. 



"A striped squirrel will sleep — Mr. Lynde. 



" A Turtle Boroughs in the mud— and so do frogs." 



Paul Dudley, Fellow of the Royal Society, and son of 

 Gov. Joseph Dudley, died at Koxbury, Mass., Jan. 21, 1751, 

 aged 75. He was born Sept. 3, lu'75, graduated at Harvard 

 College 1G90, finished his law studies at the Temple in Lon- 

 don, and returned in 1702 with the commission of Attorney 

 General of the Province of Massachusetts, which he held 

 until 1718, when he succeeded Lynde as Chief Justice. Mr. 

 Dudley published a number of articles in the transactions of 

 the Royal Society. Am not sure that the above is one of 

 them, but the "Discovery of the Hive of Bees in the Woods " 

 was so published, and Mr. Waters has the original notes, of 

 which I will send you a copy next week. 



Tours respectfully, C. T, J. 



HABITS OF THE SILVER GAR. 



WE clip the following correspondence from the Albany 

 Sunday Press, which was headed "Sword Fish" : 



Editors Sunday Press: Your interesting article upon "Ec- 

 centricities of Sword-Fish," and especially one paragraph in 

 which it is said, "Nobody on the American coast, so far as 

 reported, ever saw a little sword-fish," makes one think the 

 following circumstance will not be uninteresting: 



In the month of August, while crossing the Columbia street 

 bridge, a friend (captain of a steam tug) drew my attention to 

 a school of sword-fish swimming in the basin. They were 

 from six to eight inches in length, including the sword, and 

 were very lively, darting with great rapidity upon the appear- 

 ance of a head over the railing." I mentioned the circumstance 

 to a gentleman in the habit of fishing in the river opposite the 

 lower part of tha city, aud he said he also had seen one off 

 the dock. 



When we consider that they are salt water fish, aud that 

 this city is something like a hundred miles above brackish 

 water, their appearance here is remarkable and worthy of 

 being noted. Yours, etc., *** 



Editors Sunday Press: I noticed an article with the above 

 heading in a recent copy of your paper, in which the writer 

 speaks of a school of young sword-fish swimming in tho 

 xllbany basin. 



Having spent my youth in Albany, and since given much 

 time to the study of ichthyology, I may therefore be pardoned 

 for presuming "to state that the fish in question were not 

 sword-fish, although it was by that name they were familiar 

 to me in boyhood. 



I do not think that the sword-fish proper, the Xipliias 

 gladius, ever enters fresh water. 



The fish in question are the young of the silver gar or bill- 

 fish, Belone tongirostris, and are often seen in schools in the 

 upper Hudson when from four to ten inches in length, and 

 appear of a transparent green hue. 



I have made some efforts to discover the breeding-place of 

 this fish, as I am not. aware of the adult ever entering fresh 

 water, but so far have not succeeded. 



Tho adults are perhaps 30 inches in length and are round 

 bodied, about two inches in diameter, and are often found in 

 Now York markets. 



They must not be confounded with the fresh water gar, 

 Lepidosteiis, whose habitat is the great lake and MississFppi 

 basins, but has often been found in the Hudson since the Erie 

 Canal was built. 



The latter is a "ganoid," with almost adamantine scales 

 in diamond pattern, and belongs to an order now nearly 

 extinct. 



I willfeel under obligations for information concerning the 

 silver gar, its breeding place, length of stay in fresh water, 

 regular or casual appearance, in fact anything which will 

 throw light on the habits and movements of a fish who is in 

 history is little known. Yours, etc., Fred Mather 



Frogs in Winter Quarters.— Our correspondent, Mr. 

 Frank Schley, author of " Partridge and Pheasant Shooting,' 

 gives an interesting account of the finding of a lot of frogs, 

 which had retired to the waters of a warm spring to pass the 

 winter. Writine; from the foothills of Sugar Loaf Mountains, 

 Frederick Co. , Maryland, he says : 



Here J fouud quite as great a curiosity as I did in beating 



out the first i-ii vine. I came across a small spring, and not 

 having my drinking cup in my pocket, I got down on my 

 hands and knees and took a drink- When drinking, I ob- 

 served a little cloudy water ooze out from under a large gtone 

 partly covered with water in the spring, and embedded and 

 surrounded with sort mud, nearly covered with leaves. 1 

 thought it likely there might be a snake under it, as I have 

 often found snakes in springs late in autumn, and to satisfy 

 my curiosity I got hold of the stone with my hands and 

 turned it up. To my surprise, instead of there being a snake, 

 as I fully expected, I found thirteen large frogs, all in one 

 mess, and in a bed of soft mud, water aud leaves. I removed 

 the leaves off of them and threw them out or the water one 

 by one, counted and examined them. Eight of the thirteen 

 were large bullfrogs; the balance were of the striped species. 

 All were very thin and semi-torpid, not having much life 

 about them. The spring being the warmest water, all the 

 frogs in the branches, no doubt, made their way up there and 

 found shelter under this large flat stone for winter quarters. 



TnE Retort Oourteoub— Mr. Editor; I see that friend 

 Garlick objects to my characterization of his name for the 

 big-mouth black bass -&rtf$te& mefiaskmia as " meaty." I did 

 not intend to use the latter word in the sense of "pertaining 

 to meat," nor yet in the sense of Webster's definition of the 

 word, "fleshy, but not fat." I meant simply that, like a nut 

 or an etrg, the name was "full of meat," or, in the words of 

 Mr. Garlick, it "hit the nail square on the head ;" or, with- 

 out metaphor, was very appropriate, inasmuch as it expressed 

 the most marked character of the fish. 



Inington, Ind,, Dec. 12, 187S. David 8. Jobdah. 



aniamls Reomveb at Philadelphia Zoological gardens for 

 the Week Esdcsg Dec. 81 —One pamkeat, trow South America 

 presented by James M. Foy, PMa.; one gazelle, Gazelle dorcaa, irom 

 North Africa, presented by Capt;. Earl Engltea, U. S. Navy 4 one puma, 

 Fetie wncolor, from Argentine Republic, presented by the Smlthaonlnn 

 Institute, Washington, 1). C. Author e. Bkown, Oen'l, Snpt, 



foottlmid, $<mn mnd (gurdmu 



THE FLORIDA EVERGLADES. 



FEW persons, who have never visited the southern portion 

 of our peninsula, have any definite conception of what 

 is meant by the term " Everglades," or what sort of a country 

 it is which is designated by that name in Southern Florida. 



The writer, when a youth, used to look on the map and 

 wonder, and dream, and imagine all sorts of weird and fan- 

 tastic peculiarities belonging"" to this region, and now has a 

 distinct recollection of making a boyish vow, that when man- 

 hood came one of his first, journeys should be a pilgrimage to 

 the mystic land of the Everglades. But, like most of the 

 dreams of extreme youth, it was soon forgotten in the more 

 serious concerns of life, and not until the winter of 1874-5, 

 when, owing to failing health and an anxious desire to escape 

 for awhile from business cares, were these dreams recalled 

 and the proposed visit at length made. 



Journeying from Jacksonville up the St. Johns to Lake 

 Harney by steamer, thence across to Sand Point by mule 

 power, thence by sail-boat down Indian River to Jupiter, 

 where empties a narrow and tortuous stream, known as Jupi- 

 ter Creek, the waters of which, though deep, are. clear as 

 crystal, and abound in a species of fish here called trout, but 

 are really the well-known black bass, with which Selh Green, 

 the enthusiastic pisiculturist, is stocking Northern waters. 

 Up this stream some ten miles, propelled by oars and poles to 

 tho rapids, and the begiuuiug of the Everglades is reached. 



Imagine a low, flat savanna, a mile or more in width, over 

 which the water is one to four feet deep, and entirely covered 

 with a dense growth of mammoth saw-grass, which some- 

 times attains an altitude of ten feet or more, through which 

 runs a channel, varying from a mere alligator's trail, scarce 

 large enough to float au Indian canoe, to broad lagoons or 

 lakes of unknown depth — the surface covered with floating 

 lily-pods or leaves of the dog lily, which here attain about-thc 

 size and shape of an old-fashioned Quaker sun-bonnet, and 

 are a serious impediment to navigation. These lakes are the 

 natural home of the alligator, hundreds of which may be seen 

 on sunny days stretched on the grassy banks or prowling 

 lazily about in search of food and amusement, their ugly heads 

 and repulsive bodies sometimes in much too close proximity 

 to be pleasant or soothing to sensitive nerves. Water-snakes, 

 including the venomous moccasin, also find in the waste of 

 waters and reeds a congenial pleasure-ground, and curious and 

 rare birds disport their plumage among the rank grass. 



By dint of much rowing, poling and pushing, not to 

 mention a vigorous use of impolite words, a small boot may 

 be forced through the eight or ten miles of this channel, 

 finally reaching the Haulover, a sandy ridge, some three 

 hundred yards wide, separating this branch of the Everglades 

 from Lake Worth, and over which boats and baggage must 

 be dragged and carried as best they may. The settlers on 

 Lake Worth designate the most prominent difficulties of this 

 route as the " Seven Woes," each one of which is worse than 

 the last. Indeed, it is a curious study— the mixture of 

 courage and despair, of patience and profanity, in which 

 these navigators of the saw-grass indulge in their frequent 

 journeys this way. 



Once fairly across the Haulover, and launched on the 

 waters of Lake Worth, aud a pleasant, scene is reached. A 

 beautiful sheet of water, some thirty miles long, by, perhaps, 

 one aud oue-half wide, surrounded by the finest country the 

 writer has yet seen in Florida, lies before you, absolutely be- 

 low frost line, perpetually fanned by the ocean breeze, a 

 temperature ranging from fifty-four to eighty-five degrees 

 much of the soil of excellent quality, tropical and semi-tropical 

 fruits can be growD, which will not thrive in more Northern 

 latitudes, and will make this section of Florida, at no very 

 remote period, one of the richest, portions of the State. It is 

 claimed that the lake itself was originally fresh and without 

 communication with the sea, until some few years since a 

 Mr. Long, a German gardener, who had settled on its banks, 

 cut a channel into the ocean, since which time the waters 

 have been tinctured with salt. Fish, in myriad forms, 

 abound in the lake, and game, such as bears, deerand turkeys 

 roam on its banks, or hide in its hammocks, and its ocean 

 beach is rich in shells and other curious gems of the sea. 

 But, as even the Garden of Eden had its serpent to destroy 

 happiness, so Lake Worth has its musquitoes, and during its 

 summer months the "seven plagues ot Egypt," were lightly 

 borne in comparison with the misery of its musquito bites. 

 They swarm in the air, they sail on the water, they ride in 

 the breeze. The torments of the damned in "Dante's In- 



