Mat 19, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



305 



were creeping would fade out, and we would have to retrace 

 our steps till a more available point was found. Win; ,, k;,; 

 was the case, the old "Facile descensus" theory was proved 

 to be incorrect. Going down was harder than coming up. 

 Places ■which, had been passed carelessly on the ascent, be- 

 came terrific when looked at the other way. Possibly 

 because, in descending we had constantly before our eyes the 

 result in case we made a mis-step, and were therefore made 

 cautions and timid; while, iji going up, our hacks being 

 turned, it became " out of sight, out of mind." [gnotus had 

 climbed ike lee shrouds in a'white squall off the Caribbecs, 

 and had pulled himself up hand over hand ou the slimy iron 

 chain, when the cage had stuck in the five hunched foot level 

 of the Highland Mary, but, as we reached the top and fell 

 exhausted upon the grass, he panted out, " That beats all 

 the climbing ever I saw." 



There are'mauy beautiful bits of scenery nestled in among 

 these everlasting bills, but there arc none fresher in my 

 memory than the Larriweep Mesa. Perked np a flinessn': 

 feet, in air, rearward guarded by El Conquistador risice two 

 thousand feet more in to the clouds, flanked by black trachyte 

 cliffs, wind-rent and thunder scarred, I would take another 

 such a climb to-day, to look on it once more. Irish turf is 

 not greener, Florida blossoms not lovelier, Norway pines not 

 statelier, nor Italian skies bluer, than the grass, the flowers, 

 the trees, the skies, that together rnadfc up that mountain 

 garden. For the skies, and the air, and the glitter of the 

 snow upon the peak, and the pungent smell of the balsam 

 fir, and the muffled drumming of the great blue grouse, and, 

 it may be, the idle thoughts and fancies horn of that restful 

 time, were as much a part of that garden as the grass and 

 the flowers. How much of the charm was subjective, and 

 how much objective, it were hard to tell. The charm was 

 there, however, and had the Lotos Eaters appeared, "bearing 

 sweet twigs of that enchanted stem," I fear I should have 

 hailed them as brothers, and have eaten of their witch-grass, 

 as a matter of course. Even when Ignotus, laying his hand 

 t|uiet!y upon my arm, points out a group of black-fails, which 

 Ms keen woodsman's eye has discovered in a grove of firs, 

 where they are hardly to ;be distinguished from the russet 

 tree-truuks around, even then I can shake off the spell only 

 long enough to nod a lazy assent to his proposal to " try and 

 get a crack at 'em." Not the least thing that makes dear this 

 mountain friend of mine, is his patient tolerance of what tic 

 good-hurnoredly terms my "darned day-dreaming:" and on 

 this occasion, recognizing that I am " under the influence," 

 he undertakes, alone, the difficult task of stealing upon the 

 uuwary game. The grove in which the}- are, is nearly a mile 

 away, and between them and us is no cover, except scattered 

 bunches of gramma grass, eight or ten inches high. By 

 crawling some hundred rods to the right, one might, bring 

 himself into line with a small clump of firs in the edge of the 

 grove, which would yield him partial concealment. 



Prone on his face, with his gun balanced across his neck, 

 Ignotus begins his reptilian journey. 



Bo slowly that he hardly seems to move, he widens, inch 

 by inch, the distance between us. 



Unslinging my glasses, I bestow my attention upon the 

 deer— a buck, a doe and two fawns. The latter are curled 

 comfortably together in one group, one fawn resting its head 

 upon the shoulder of its mother, who, every now and then, 

 lovingly licks her offspring's face. This one is seemingly the 

 baby and pet— and a spoiled darling it is, too, as it usually 

 meets its mother's caresses by an impatient butt of its li ttle 

 head, as who should say, "Don't bother ; let me go to sleep." 

 The other younker, whose nose is evidently out of joint, 

 slumbers peacefully upon the other Bide. Paterfamilias lies 

 a short distance off, head erect, keeping a sharp lookout for 

 Strangers and foe?. A splendid fellow he is, with branching 

 horns that would do honor to a " stag of ten." What little 

 wind there is blows from the peak, and to that quarter his 

 attention is turned. "With delicate nostrils on the stretch, and 

 pointed ears quivering, he challenges every aerial undulation 

 that sweeps past him, if, perhaps, it may bring warning of 

 peril near. It is a mistake 10 suppose that wild animals, 

 especially deer, place much, if any, dependence upon their 

 eyes for the avoidance of danger. The sight of a man will 

 often not alarm them in the least, when the slightest, sou id, 

 or the whiff of a tainted breeze will send them skurrying off 

 in dismay. On one occasion, as I was sitting on a soli'ary 

 rook in the middle of a little park about a quarter of a mile 

 across, a deer stepped out of the edge of the woods, and cast- 

 ing a glance around, began composedly to feed. As I was 

 waiting for a friend, I had purposely takea my seat in the 

 most conspicuous place I could find, but the deer, after one 

 glance, paid no more attention to me than if I were part and 

 parcel of the rock on which I was sitting. Curious to see 

 what the effect would be, I waited till he raised his head, 

 and then began to cautiously lift my right arm. He looked 

 puzzled, and, after gazing for a moment, began to draw 

 slowly toward me. "Dropping my arm as quietly as I had 

 lifted it, he stdl showed no fear, but continued to advance. 

 Ou attempting to raise my arm again, the sleeve caught for 

 a moment on the handle of my hunting- knife, which chinked 

 lightly on the rock. Though the sound was not louder than 

 the tap of a lady's thimble on a table, he took the alarm, 

 wheeled instantly, and was off. 



Come we back to our muttons. Some indefinable sense of 

 danger seemed to Tender the buck uneasy. Once, he turned 

 his head in my direction, and I could almost have been sure 

 that he caught my eye. The powerful field-glasses brought 

 him so near, that it was hard to realize, that he was not a 

 few score, instead of as many thousand yards away, and 

 instinctively I held my breath, fearful lest he should hear. It 

 seemed contradictory, that he should be so near to me, and I so 

 far from him. I felt as though it were taking a mean advantage 

 of him, and as if I were a modern Peeping Tom of Coventry. 

 Suddenly he flashed up, as though a spring had been loosed 

 under him, but at the same instant a puff of smoke floated up 

 from the edge of the grove, and he gave a convulsive spring 

 and fell. The doe and fawns jumped up, dazed and bewil- 

 dered by the sudden interruption of their drowev ruminating. 

 Another jet of smoke puffed out, the eldest born sank quietly 

 down, and the widow and the orphan dashed wildly away. 

 I felt as though I had beenassistiug at a cold-blooded murder, 

 and only the potent question of meat-supply reconciled me to 

 the cruel performance. 



Joining Ignotus, we concluded, as we had been so fortunate, 

 not to camp out for the night, as we had intended, but to 

 return to the cabin, carrying the fawn between us, and com- 

 ing back the next day with a pack-animal for the buck. 

 Him, having first disemboweled, we hoisted up into a tree, 

 out of the. reach of wolves, and then turned our steps home- 

 ward^ We chose a more roundabout way for returning, 

 avoiding the precipitous cliff up which we had climbed. 



Half-way down, while picking our way through an old 

 windfall, Ignotus kicked something which rattled. Stooping 



mementos, we could only conjecture. v\ as it red man or 

 white, hnntfci , v. i n i Mr, miner or prospector, who had perished 

 miserably in this gloomy thicket? filial was the tuaanei of 

 .v oil— by wasting disease, by famine, by ravening 

 wild beast, oi by bis br ithei matt F was it, indeed, a man's 

 skull at all, auclnot, perhaps, a woman's? Let us hope the 

 former, £ot one would not like- to fancy anylbiugin the Sua] i| 



sucli a solitude i i i< oiies scattered lover these mountain 



slopes and gnawed by the fox and "wolf. Taking the skull, 

 that it, at least, might havcC'tiristian burial, ail hours' sliding 

 and scrambling Brought as down into the. valley, and we 

 reached the cabin just as the shadow of El Conquistador 

 darkened the pines on the Opposite MIL H. P. U. 



Hi 



CANOE TOURS THROUGH MAINE. 



" Forest und Stream, ; 



nag received a number %£ inquiries regarding the 

 pleasures and perils of the long canoe tours through the 

 Maine wilderness, permit, me to trespass with a few answers 

 which may be of service to the future tourist. 



None of these trips, which have for their point of departure 

 Moosehcad Lake, should be undertaken without a guide. If 

 one is willing to do most of the drudgery about camp, from 

 cutting wood to dressing game and flail, feels perfectly com- 

 petent to "paddle his own canoe" through the rough and 

 dangerous waters of the many falls, to" overburden bis 

 shoulders on the ■'■'carries,'' ptos&My one guide to a Large 

 party might suffice. But after paddling all daylong one 

 hardly feels like swinging an axe, as added labor to erecting 

 tents, gathering boughs for bed and attending to other duties 

 of camp life. Two men to a canoe, with their baggage, is 

 sufficient load for the frail birch bark, and, besides jeopard- 

 izing the craft, the tourist will soon turn pleasure into labor 

 if he follows any other plan. This refers to following the 

 downward course of streams from day to day like the~Basl 

 or West branches of the Penobscot or St. John's rivers, and 

 not, when one locates permanently on some lake or stream 

 for one or two weeks. 



Economize s i anything but provisions, and have these of 

 the simplest and most substantial character, as it's no joke 

 to be thrust entirely upon the resources of the woods. In a 

 c. i aoe tour of over 400 miles i he writer made last autumn, from 

 Moosehead Lake through the Aroostook river to New Bruns- 

 wick, provisions gave out, and, but for the timely capture of 

 a number of beaver, it would have gone hard with the 

 party. 



The easiest tour is that of the St. John's River, which has 

 been rendered less difficult the past season by the ser- 

 vices of one Arisen B. Smith, who, for three dollars a canoe, 

 will transport the baggage of the spoilsman six miles across 

 I'mbazooksiis and Mini Pond "carries." Of the two urailchK 

 of the Penobscot River, I think the east is the more pictur- 

 esque, although the Ripoger.us Falls on the West Branch are 

 well -worth seeing, but necessitate a lone carry. 



The East Branch of the Penobscot abounds in falls from ten 

 to forty feet in height, but the carries around them do not 

 exceed a mile at the longest. The great drawback to this 

 tour is the passage of Webster stream, which, if low, requires 

 a. seven mile carry. The stream is ten miles long from Web- 

 ster lake (its Bource) to Grand Falls, at which point one is 

 obliged to make a portage of three-quarters of a mile to the 

 left to reach the East Branch, the cauyou-Hke formation of the 

 rocks below preventing the further passage of its waters. 

 After leaving Moose-head, the tourist can purchase provisions 

 at Chesuncook or Cbambeilin Lake farms, and ou the East 

 Branch at Trout Brook or Hunt's farm. The passage of the 

 East Branch can be made in fifteen days, of the West Branch 

 in ten days, while twenty days is none too much time to 

 allow for the St. John's tour, all, of course, depending on 

 the "pitch of water" and the disposition of the cauoeist. 



The new tour through the Aroostook River to New Bruns- 

 wick can only be made by hard work, plenty of guides, and 

 unlimited time. In point of picturesqueuess it does not be- 

 gin to compare with the tour of the East Branch, but its 

 hi.iiwh.g i'-n-jriiius sir tar in excess of any other route* 

 This leaves ihe St. Johns tour at Churchill's Lake, and fol- 

 lows eastward North Twin Stream to Marsh Pond, Spider 

 and Beaver lakes, 



_ Osgood Carry, two miles in length, the watershed of the 

 St. Johns and Aroostook waters, interposes a serious barrier 

 to Echo Lai e, the source of the last river, but, once sur- 

 mounted, the balance of the tour is easy to the three beauti- 

 ful Mansungun lakes below. These lakes are encountered in 

 their reverse order— Third, Second, First—Echo being some- 

 times called the Fourth Mansungun Lake. This Third Lake, is 

 over five miles long and about one anda half wide. Through 

 a picturesque outlet of one-eighth of a mile the waters enter 

 the Second, which is about the same length as the Third 

 Lake, bat broader. Passing a shallow bar one enters the 

 First, or last lake, of only two miles in extent. The outlet 

 of litis lake is the Mansungun River, which, after twelve 

 miles of uncertain wandering, unites with the Millnoket 

 Stream to form the great Aroostook River. The sportsman 

 will find excellent camping grounds on the left bank, at the 

 head of Mansungun Stream, but beware of the falls five 

 bttiles below, at the foot of the "deadwater" One- can fol- 

 low the Aroostook into the Provinces, until it unites with the 

 St. Johns River, or he can bid it adieu at the town of Cari- 

 bou, and take' the cars of the New Brunswick Railroad— the 

 latter is the better choice. On account of the low state of 

 water last Autumn the writer was seven weeks making this 

 trip, and experienced hardships and privations little antici- 

 pated in a pleasure excursion. 



After canoeing over seven hundred miles of the interior of 

 Maine's waters, the writer must confess to great disappoint- 

 ment in it s opportunities of good trout fishing outside of 

 Moosehcad Lake and vicinity. Chesuncook, Chamberlin, 

 Eagle and Churchill Lakes offer meagre sport to the fly fisher- 

 man, and that is only to be had at the mouth of streams and 

 at the old logging dams. However, the efforts of the angler 

 will be rewarded by a trial of his Bkill at either of the locks 

 ou Chamberlin <Lake and at the mouth of Chamberlin 

 River. 



On the East Branch a goodly string of trout can be taken 

 at head of Telos Cut and Tolos and Webster dams, while 



* Mr. Steele will soon publish a book on this new route, trader 

 the title of "Paddle and Iv.i'tatie from Monsehead Lake to the 

 Aroostook River, Maine." The book will be oven more exquisitely 

 illustrated than his last work, "Canoo and Camera," which was 

 one of the most artistic additions to the sportsman's library that 

 has been issued for many years.— EittTOB. 



the writer has captured salmon of small proportions just be- 

 low the dam, on Ma'agamonsis Lake. 



Lmiess one enjoys the unadulterated life in the woods, the 

 Mt. Kiuco House, Ou Muosehead Lake, with iis surround- 

 ing,;, oiler greater charms lo the sportsman than any inland 

 region of JIailTC 



The building has been greatly enlarged during the past 

 winter, forty large and comfortable rooms added, gentleman's 

 reading- and writing apafttneri.ts-, while a telegraph wire has 

 pushed its way through from Gn euville to Birch Point, and 

 a cable will be laid across the lake to the hotel ou the open- 

 ing of the, season. 



rim ice disappeared from the lake May 10, and the sports- 

 man is already wending his way thither, Among the manv 

 places about Moosehcad Lake where the efforts of the angler 

 will be rewarded are Centre Island, W Farm, North Bay, 

 Spencer and Indian ponds, but a lake forty miles in extent 

 has so many points of interest that it is difficult lo suggest 

 all of them. What, lover nt the rod has not longed, after a 

 successful day's sport, v. hen away back in the primeval, to 

 exhibit to his wife and friends I he results of his skill ? Here 

 one can enjoy both the delights of angling and the society of 

 his friends, while the exchange of yarns on the piazzas 

 with brother sportsmen adds interest to the life, he their 

 truthfulness ever so uncertain. T. Sedgwick Steele. 



^ntmal Jjjiptortt. 



TEXAS QUAIL. 



Uvalde Co., Texas, May 2, 1881. 

 Editor Fonsl find Bream : 



Will you or some of your readers tell me something of the 

 two kinds of quail found in tills vicinity, or are they the va- 

 riety known as the Calilornia quail? One variety bears a 

 very marked resemblance to the Bob White quail. They are, 

 however, larger, the plumage much more brilliant, ' With 

 quite a prominent tuft on the head. The male bird is very 

 beautiful: its breast is mottled something like a guiuea fowl, 

 With a line of dark extending from under side of throat 

 down over breast,- spreading out in the shape of a fan. In 

 the female the colors are more subdued, and the resemblance 

 between it and the female Bob White is more striking. 



The other variety is of a bluish or dove color, with a very 

 prominent tuft of feathers upon the head, which in the male 

 bird appears white, or partly so. In size they are the same 

 as the other variety. 



I have not attempted to capture any of the beauties yet, as 

 this is the nesting season. My description is meagre," and I 

 have been able to gather it only from chance sight of the 

 birds as they show "themselves among the cactus and chap- 

 paral. This county is quite a paradise for Bob White, and 

 his call may be heard in every direction. He has few 

 enemies and excellent cover, together with mild climate. 

 Altogether this is a strange country to find htm in. There 

 are very few settlomtn's, and no farms at all, only now and 

 then a sheep ranch. And you know he is fond of a wheat 

 or any kind of grain fields, and generally collects where the 

 farmers are found. 



Here beseems to flourish ou seeds of plants, insects, etc., 

 etc. I will venture to say that next season will find this a 

 very fine shooting ground. The one great drawback here in 

 hunting with dog is the number of cactus and other thorny 

 bushes, which would soon use a dog up, uale33 be w, s accus- 

 tomed to them. 



Turkey aud deer abound, and afford some fine sport. 



This portion of Texas is about, fifty miles from the Mevican 

 frontier.— P. 



Although, as our correspondent states, his descriptions are. 

 meagre, yet they seem to point to two well-known species of 

 quail inhabiting our south western tertitory. The first species 

 mentioned is probably the Massena quail (tiyrtpnx Mimpna), 

 and the second may be the scaled partridge or blue quail 

 (Uuttiprplu ar/uaniata). 



HABITS OF QUAIL. 



PEHHAl'S, as I am oue of the best friends, as well as 

 one. of the worst, enemies of the quail in this section of 

 the country, a few words concerning the effect, of this severe 

 winter upon them may interest some of your readers. 



I have no hesitation in saying that, as far as my experi- 

 ence goes, a quail will never freeze if he can procure suffi- 

 cient nourishment to keep him in good condition: he must 

 be starved first, and frozen afterward. 



Whole bevies of them are not infrequently destroyed even 

 when well nourished by their habit of roosting in some shel- 

 tered sp.it. A favorite resort is under a cedar bush, or in the 

 secluded corner of a fence, where they remain huddled to- 

 either during a severe storm until the snow, either by bear- 

 ing down the boughs of the cedar or drifting about their re- 

 treat wherever it may be, consigns them to a living tomb ; 

 under which circumstances when found they will be in the 

 last stage of emaciation, showing that starvation more than 

 cold had to do with their untimely demise. Many perish in 

 this way. especially during the past winter, where several 

 thick crusts were formed at different thru:.-. 



With a light snow and no crust they can generally make 

 their escape. Of quail lost in this uav few are found in the 

 spring in this part of the country where late in fall they 

 congregate in the bogs, about the margin of ponds, which af- 

 ford them excellent cover and abundance of food from the. 

 sedge (carex) which grows in great profusion in such spots. 

 If caught in this retreat, by deep snow, crust, or both com- 

 bined, the freshets carry them into the adjacent pond where 

 they become food for fish instead of the epicure ; but if tbis 

 were the only danger to which our little friends are exposed, 

 we could still hope to have good shooting in the autumn. 



But, alas! starvation, which tames Mfcmt/i natwram, also 

 tames the quail, and drives him to seek shelter and protection 

 from one of his most treacherous foes— the farmer. 



The farmer, or the farmer's boy, cannot resist the tempta- 

 tion of taking down the old Queen's arm when he sees a bevy 

 of half-starved quail seekiug for food about the out-buildings, 

 and should any escape the fatal shot the farmer's cat wilt be 

 on the qui-vive for her share of the unwound dainty. 



But of tbis no more, for the Fokest atsd Stkram has been 

 thoroughly over the ground, and the only way to prevent the 

 cat from going over the ground as thoroughly as the Fokkst 

 and Stkeam is to take the Fobest and Siheam's advice about 

 that as well as all other sporting matters. Nemo. 



