146 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



While fishing One year he threw back about eighty troul 

 weighing four ounces each, era little under, Brsl cutting n 



narrow strip from the top of (he back lin or a corner from 

 the aide 'fin. The next, year he caught Bfteen or twenty 

 iims marked, weighing from one-half to thTee-fonrths of a 

 pouud. 



At certain seasons a fresh spring bubbling from the earth 

 in the middle of a lake nifiy be the bead-centra forhun- 



rout. Quietly the bail descends in theft n 



a lot of wriggling angle worms. An unsophisticated link' 

 fell ivv nibbles at it, is carried Up some distance, squirms 

 Olf the hook, or takes it down to "carry the news" !0 bis 

 kin-folk. Tben all effort to inveigle them during patient 

 hours proves unavailing. They "lie low," or temporarily 

 disperse. One egg in & thousand becomes a. fish; because 



tbey prey upon the spawn. Kvcrj Stream of course lias ils 

 best time for success. We have polished I lie lionesof four 

 or fire scptirrels al odd poverty-stricken times, but I have 

 issued a liitt that .we marauders shall subs si ou "bread 

 ■ i her th.in interfere with their innocent devices. 

 At twilight I be hazy sunbeams still linger, tile branches of 

 l.e trees all growing toward Ibe lake, crowd each other 

 to catch the lignt and b orb I te moisture, and are reflected 

 in exquisite mosaics Of Nile green, the lustrous sheen of the 

 birch, i be pinkish grey of the Spanish moss and the maple 

 turned to crimson and ochre, all repeated iu one gleaming 



mass, it is so silent here that out every word is echoed 



from hill to hill, and each day we fear that the axe will 

 drive away any- stray deer. 'They are ever on the alert 

 and have signals of warning to their brethren. Something 

 of their habits 1 gather while luxuriating, prone upon the 

 earth, comfortably snuffing the iuvigorating smell of the 

 mouldering cones, burs aud leaves; then applying my ear 

 to the ground, try to interpret the pleasant small sounds of 

 the forest. L am content so remain in ignorance, when an 

 uncoutb spider « uii prying eyes ami sevi u legs menaces om 

 Meantime oamp life goes on and is delightful. An aequisi- 

 • bog (ravels nightly 10 our vicinity to lap up auy 

 appeal our of .-:dt. ami lield mice and ferrets make a clean 

 sweep of lisb bones and bread crusts casj aside. The cabin 

 is trim by tf A. .\1.; the blarkets and red II .minis airing on 

 the outposts. The "smudge? 1 ' at the proper stifling pitch 

 lieunii. b iug the blood-thirsty bugs and turning the bipeds 

 —a rare Loudon smoke. 1 adorn the joists of o tr house 

 with Baring yellow lilies and astringent choke berries, but 

 are we happy? Nay, verily: the heart of man is singularly 

 jrtasping. we arc pining to capture adeer, to decoy a buck 

 into our deathly clutch. 



Through several evenings we have blinked over the fire 

 and heard fagulans tales of bunts, and We longed to figure 

 in such happy excitement, So on these dark eights "at the 



hour of lairs' ban and spell," we nave stealthily put out, 



slaying the guileless venison. One our is 



: used as a paddle; noiselessly we glide along the 

 :. hunter, armed to the teeth, is crouched in the 

 bow under the jack-, (a piece of Dark holding two lighted 

 eanilles ) They twinkle and reveal ghostly shadows among 

 the white aiders. To the naive buck of the primeval wood 

 we are u floating enigma. We breathlessly strain our 

 vision and crane our necks that we ma_\ be first to lind hiin 

 eating of the great velvety lily pads. Anxiously and dog- 

 gedly we swing around the circle, but the bounding gazelle 

 may have chosen other scenes for bis midnight pulpy 

 least. Clearly the mosquitoes arc in this case reprcheii- 

 sihle in not desperately goading him. In Ibe interims we 

 conversation shall be in whispers, aud that wood 

 shall be cut very early, that the daily routine may not reach 

 their coverts, But our precautions were futile. " 1 had got 

 to the pass of settling with my conscience for, perhaps, 

 despatching with an oar a limid fawn rushingpast our boat, 

 .. such. We decided iu solemn conclave to send for 

 some bounds. Seventeen hours were passed in feverish ex- 

 pectancy, when two noble dogs arrived quite eager for the 

 tray, Men were stationed at the different "runways." 

 m In ilaki !, three down iu the clearing by the week, 

 id the last plodded through fern and feu to find the track. 



Phe day wears on. from a great distance we 0& • i ally 



hear the baying dogs. We fast, more or less, as at any 



imeil tve may see the raft of them iu 1)01 pursuit, but, 



alack ! the fates* are leagued against, us, our game dinner is 



a delusiou and a suare. Nightfalls and the hunters reluru. 



lUtsicfer, a novice, declares that a deer swam the 



Stream within twenty live rods of him; we all deiide him 



and accuse him of sleeping at his post; Mien we retire iu 



dudgeon to the seclusion of our blanket:. It rained all the 



next day. We were obliged to sit like Turks, (no chairs in 



camp.) and anoint our faces witll pennyroyal oil, in order 



i,o withstand the onslaught of heavy detachments of 



iff] , After supper the dogs returned, their heads 



r, I wiib porcupine quills. They invariably go hack to 



the spol where they were put upon the scent. They were 



abject and whined pileotisly. 



iVc have but a few more days to stay. Our last expedi- 

 tion Wits to "the Oregon," four miles distant, after fish. 

 The coarse sodo d grass n dden down, it was said, by 



. tl met) i ha mountains and spend thou 



,i i i here in social accord, and mildly teed upon rasp- 

 ,m i ir-7 Unlike the bears of baby memory, these run away 

 upon ibe approach of man. They "den up" and hibernate 

 in November. The creek bad lieeu "whipped 11 extensivelv, 

 so we were content with sixty five trout, f patiently sat 

 for live mortal hours upon a very hard board, passed the 

 fly-book, expressed oracular opinions concerning 1 Ue theories 

 of Mr. : i.n . n, and observed the animated auimdes 

 of a lingiu-lnurcd youth with unalloyed satisfaction. NoW 

 .,,...'. ; ling ' - ■ i ■■' " I Lhal the lumps behind our 

 ears and blisters on our hands are quite tolerable. We 

 have a net supported by a. frame ot Indian tobacco wooo. 

 I have interviewed the guide about .other desirable localities 

 ami lads is the digest. From Lake f'lcasanl to Kacquelle 

 Lake, thirty-six miles by the State road. For a tramp, Ibis 

 -From here to Jessup's River, thence to Indian 

 i. ... from. Indian Lake Palls to Jackson's Hotel on Cedar 

 ■,-. up the river ten miles to Blue Mountain Lake, iif- 

 , nil ... H neile, then to Long Lake, down the out- 

 let lo Stony Brook, thence to the Saranac. This distance 

 . one hundred miles. Indian Lake is the reservoir for 

 K .up'-. IMver. Cedar River is the outlet of Cedar lakes. 

 i ained for speckled trout. Racquette, the largest inland 

 IS lull of salmon trout, and at Long Lake may be bad 

 Pass 'and pickerel. The- best guide at Lake Pleasant is Lurr 

 Siurgcs. 



We are home now at the hotel. We have heard the 

 ravens croak for the last time this year. We bade reluc- 

 tant jjooJ-bya to the little cabin, The allurement* of sky 



and mountain, on the way and from the piazza, arc like a 

 Changeful face, scarcely twice the same. There is a new 



carpet for the parlor' and it has been stretched with a 

 pitchfork. 



fn. deer have run Into Elm andXake Pleasant hiour 



absence. After all said and done we cannot wish to ex- 

 change our slock of brawny health for a glimpse of them, 

 SO we are glad we went. Deer really are plenty, that is 

 the aggravating side of it. The requirements are, "no wind, 

 no moon, then in the dim religious light demolish your deer. 

 The other Sunday a good divine was discoursing of the 

 Better Land to the boarders and some farmers, when an 

 urchin with bare feet and cap aloft bonuced iuto the room 

 shouting. 'There's a deer in the lake !" If walls have 

 then the worthy man of God had auditors after this 

 thrilling statement. 



The people here arc mostly indigent. No wheat is raised 

 because of the short summers. Trapping for four months 

 of the year is lucrative. The animals follow the trail of 

 the trapper, who pulls a rabbit, a piece of venison or a 

 bird wing by a rope along the path. Muskrats are caught 

 teel traps set in the water. The fisher, a species of cat, 

 lives on the uplands. .Mink reside in streams and valleys. 

 These, with martens and otter, are enticed by hunger into 



"dead falls." Three stout slabs of wood are driven into 

 the earth in a square, then brush is piled over the top, three 

 withes in the shape of a figure four, the bail ou one end, arc 

 propped up in the centre of this little cage. A log pro- 

 portionate in size is then placed across the withe. The 

 beast, coveting the morsel, has but one mode of ingress 

 through the small aperture under the log, then ils spfne is 

 broken or it is instantly killed. It is not unusual for one 

 man to have set. fifty steel traps and twenty-five dead falls 

 at one time. So it takes constant toil, a hardy constitution 

 and a practiced eye to find the "blazed" trees' that mark the. 

 course. There are fur-traders wdio come up here and barter 

 for the pelts. 



Bowing on the lake is agreeable exercise, and we rest in 

 the shade of "The Speculator,' 1 a mountain that frowns at: 

 us from the altitude of three thousand feet, The angular 

 school mistress does not "board around," but waits at table 

 for the city-bred. If, perchance, we dawdle after the lark 

 soars from her nest, this august pedant, raps us up savagely, 

 I hat she may proceed to "the educational edifice. Here 

 there is charming unconsciousness of any plane where 

 social distinct ion draws conventional lines, hut the weary 

 mid misanthropic are rejuvenated aud lind potent panacea 

 in the marvellous efficacy of the. camp cure. 



Oct. 11th. — After having outlived (lie disappointment of 

 missing all the deer, at camp, I enthusiastically chronicle 

 :. Eacl that we have got one at last, amid jubilant rejoic- 

 ing's. This morning there started for the Sacandaga River 

 three gentlemen and four guides. The hunt occupied all day. 

 !i tvas doubtless stupid enough maintaining such quiet, lor 

 weary hours; with a bread roll and a small flask, perhaps a 

 book, it is made endurable. Of course we were all resigned 

 to total failure, but at sunset there was vociferous demon- 

 stration and Hie partner of my earthly span loomed up in 

 the road bearing high in air the head and antlers of a mag- 

 nificent buck which he bad shot. We shouted triumph- 

 antly, insisting upon specific detail of the affair — how 

 the deer looked wdiile pursued, etc., etc. It is too bad that 

 we "l'eminiles" could not have been "in at the death." 

 The poor savory fellow is carefully packed away in the 

 capacious ice-house, and bis head shall be preserved as a 

 trophy. And we will have an old-fashioned barbecue 

 when we return home. Sarah Uoodyeak. 



For Forest- and Stream. 

 SHOOTING WILD PIGEONS. 



ALTHOUTH I have been reading your paper for nearly 

 one year I have seen little in its columns concerning 

 the wild pigeon, its habits and the country which it selects 

 for its habitation during the winter months, and its nesting 

 places in summer. 



Although not strictly a game bird, 1 esteem it one of the 

 most interesting birds in this country as regards its habi 



i tint 



it, 1 know of no 

 n the columns of 

 fore, ask any of your 

 ay come, to add by a 



with some few of which 1 am acqu 

 desirous of becoming more fan '"' 

 better place to seek for informs 

 your valuaole paper; 1 would, 



correspondents, to whose eye 11 



future letter to my Information, 



At. this season of the year the Alleghany Mountains are 

 literally alive with them, and from mom to eve nothing in 

 the best localities can be heard but the sharp crack of rifles 

 and the heavier sound of shot gnus. Everyone seems to 

 ipressed with the idea thatl 



of the 

 c a gu 



indise 



,-ild i 



(Hades 

 the m 



ison,aud consequently 

 no mailer of what kind, si 

 ninate war upon the poo 

 lills and valleys to 

 s which are found i 



• that ( 

 forth I 



in pri 



pi 



d upon Ibe acorns and 

 the greatest profusion ou 

 in a strip of country called the 

 open spaces devoid of trees in 

 orests covered by tall grass aud 

 lor perhaps lil'ty 'miles on top of 

 the mountains, mid are- from fifteen to twenty miles in 

 breadth. This section of the country seems to be the 

 I avoi ii e ground for pigeons iu Ibe fall of the year, when 

 tbey are making Ihcir way from the northern frosts to find 

 a more congenial clime in the Southern States, 



Bearing of the immense quantities of pigeons in this 

 section oi our Slate, rav friend .1. and myself determined 

 to lake a little trip to see if we could not kill a few of the 

 Countless multitudes that were swarming in the mountains. 

 We took the afternoon express on the Baltimore and Ohio 

 Railroad from Cumberland, and after a two hours ride ar- 

 rived at Deer Park, a summer resort, on the line of the 

 Baltimore and Ohio, and no sooner had we stepped upon 

 the platform and cast, our eyes about us, than w T e saw large 

 flocks flying in every direction. We left the station and 

 walked about one hundred and fifty yards in the woods, 

 when 1 succeeded iu bringing down the first pigeon; that 

 shot seemed to open the hall, and we never ceased to load 

 aud tire until darkuess closed the day. Although late in 

 the evening when we commenced shooting, and the dead 

 birds being difficult to find, on account of the thick jack 

 oaks, our bag contained fifty pigeous. 



\\ e stayed all night with an old gentleman named Friend, 

 and the 'next morning, just as daylight begun to wake a 

 sleeping world, we hurriedly dressed, and for fifteen or 

 twenty minutes had delightful sport; as lite pigeons left 

 the roost fur their feeding grounds we stood iu an open 

 field, and as flock after flock passed over each ouy con" 



tributed to our bag. In half an hour not one pigeon could 

 be seen, and although we hunted diligently all day, some 

 thirty pigeons rewarded us, until four in the evening, when 

 the gorged birds began to seek their roosting place of the 

 previous night. W'e selected one of the glades, of which I 

 have before spoken, where the grass had beeu mowed, and 

 the pigeons sweeping over its surface gave us pi. mini 

 spoil, as the most we shot could now "ue found. But all 

 things must have an end, and so bad our hunt, here; but on 

 counting our pigeons for the afternoon, found we had 

 bagged ninety-four, 



we determined thai wearied nature needed repose, and 

 our old host, Mr, Friend, insisting upon our staying, we took 

 Up our quarters for another night with him, " and the next 

 morning being Sundav, we started for home. The moral 

 sense of the community was shocked, and nothing that, we 

 could do or say seemed' to have any effect upon the highly 

 religious people of Cumberland. No express wagon could 

 be iound to transport our game to our respective homes, 

 and necessity compelled us to brave the world's ceusureand 

 carry our own game, wdiieh we did, regardless of those 

 envious ones who blamed us for what they were sorry they 

 had not done. Yours, Obsekvbu. 



For Forest and 5V-m<m . 



"COME, YE DISCONSOLATE." 



"There's not a day tint to the nnin of thought 

 1/ Betrays seine .-eeret that itirows new reproach 



\ On life, ami make., nim siek of seeing mail.'' 



''pHERE is some truth in the above lines, and we might 

 X make many other quotations of a like dismal senti- 

 ment from the pen of Dr. Young. We say Some truth, but 

 far from being the whole. Heaven has indeed furnished 

 the only panacea for these sore and multiplied ills. Still, 

 fhere are partial reliefs of a subordinate character that are 

 not to be overlooked in our efforts to augment the sum of 

 human happiness. Giant, that human sympathy and 

 human effort cannot reach their full measure of the Divine 

 — they are good as far as they go. It is good to find out 

 the nature of that ailment, thai isspreading such a cloud of 

 sadness over the face of your fellow man"; aud when you 

 have found out, see what* can be done to roll off the cloud 

 from his face and the burden from bis soul. 



Had that worldly miuded Doctor, in lieu of lamenting 

 "our loo brief correspondence with earth," gone forth to 

 the forest aud stream, in their beauty and "majesty, he 

 might have found more frequent occasion for a smiling 

 thought and have learned at least to know 

 "How suri lime a thing: it is 

 To »uu\r and he strong." 



Wc must confess to a liking for the name of your journal. 

 It awakens in our mind a host of pleasant memories. The 

 forest, field and stream have furnished our needful recrea- 

 tion for more than thirty years of severe professional life; 

 and hence it is that the very name comes to us embalmed 

 with pleasing recollections no pen can describe. 



There is something suggestive of a nobler and manlier 

 way of unbending from The mental and physical tug of 

 life" than the too common method of following a crowd in 

 the old beaten paths to some "deer lick" or other place 

 hoary with the stories a thousand times repeated, of dissip- 

 ation and folly. 



Although your correspondent can boast a "home" in one 

 of the most favored spots to exercise one's skill in the use 

 of "gun or rod," he must not, and cannot, if he would, be 

 enrolled in the category of sportsmen; still, on their part, 

 be has never been refused whatever there may be of sport 

 and manly athletism in the broad domain of field and 

 forest, lake and streamlet. We have ever found the gen- 

 uine sportsman a genuine gentleman, all unlike what Frank 

 Forester has yclept, "pot-hunters." 



So far as our observation goes— frankness of speech, ur- 

 banity of manners and honesty of heart, devoid of allcant 

 and cocknevism, defines the true sportsman. But whether 

 we are able 10 give the real sportsman his true position or 

 not, one truth stands boldy out challenging the consider- 

 ation of every thinking man, that some kind of relaxation 

 from the exhausting effects of too close application to study 

 and business are imperiously demanded. What shall they 

 be? We answer emphatically, field sports, if we would pre- 

 serve a sound body, sound mind aud sound heart; or if 

 more to the taste, while equally exciting and less fatiguing, 

 learn to handle the rod and the troll. One need not ask, 

 Where? Bo such country as ours for the latter sport on 

 the globe. In all the Northern Slates from Maine to the 

 Rocky Mountains, our lakes and moulhs of large rivers 

 abound with Ibe sea trout, the bass, maskalonge, pike and 

 pickerel. If you prefer that of all fish, the "speckled 

 trout, 1 "' learn to throw the fly, and practice the art piscatorial 

 upon the cold streams that flow the bluffs inMinuesota aud 

 Wisconsin, and through various channels mingle with the 

 dark waters of the Mississippi. 



It is pleasant to know that professional men— especially 

 city pastors— are spending their vacations ou the shores of 

 our northern lakes, or among the elifts of the mountains, 

 boating, fishing ami enjoying the free air of heaven "with- 

 out money and without price." It may be replied that this 

 kind of sport, will answer for the ministers. It will; and 

 we hesitate not to affirm that the most active and effective 

 men in the American pulpit have been, aud are, with few 

 exceptions, those who have sought renewed energy in the 

 debt, on the streams or lakes. We never pa.-s among the 

 Thousand Islands of the St. Lawrence, or revisit them in 

 imagination, without associating with the whole scene, the 

 name of the eloquent Dethune. We never shoulder the 

 "trusty gun" and go forth to the wooded hills without 

 thinking of the lamented Dr. Todd, who added years of 

 usefulness to His working life by indulging heartily and 

 joyously in these manly sports. To the" man boin'in, of 

 na lituati ..; to, s condition of mental and physical torpidity, 

 .■;,. ■..- mid feel no more quivering of the nerves at the 

 leaping of a trout from Ibe foaming basin in it mountain 

 gorge, than at the fall of a "Tumble Hug" from his little 

 hillock of mud, we say of such an one, who never felt 

 the recoil of a brain struggle in the study or ou Hie plat- 

 form — who never once got excited, such a one knows no 

 necessity for these safety valves in the life of the earnest, 

 toiling man. They see no demand for the Fouest and 

 Stream. They cauhot understand it. TJupca Hey 



never bad a throb in their own breast.-., and tteve) produced 

 one in the soul of a fellow man. i'ney cannot see Whj 

 President Lincoln fell compelled at tunes to tell a story ol- 

 die; or why others at times must Sway to i he forest or 

 stream, or there will be an upsetting of the tbinkiug ma- 

 chinery. Such are to be pitied. Exempt, they may have 

 been, ind sver will be, from a single paroxysm of internal 



