472 



•& 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 14, 1881. 



there is in explaining tbe origin of any other instinct— that 

 of running away from danger included. Moreover, one of 

 the animals to -which Preyer refers, viz, the Armadillo ml- 

 garis, not ODly remains motionless when alarmed, hut rolls 

 itself up into a ball— an action which certainly cannot be ex- 

 plained on the hypothesis of kataplexy. The most, there- 

 fore, that can be said for this hypothesis is, that possibly in 

 its first initiation the instinct may have been assisted by the 

 ( ccurrence of Cataplexy. 



The time during which the katapleclic stupor lasts varies 

 in different species of animals, and also in different individ- 

 uals of the same species. The maximum duration observed 

 in the case of rabbits was twelve minutes; but fowls and 

 Guioca-pigs continue stupefied' for a somewhat longer time. 

 By watching carefully for the first, indications of recovery, 

 and by preventing tho voluntary movements in which these 

 indications consist, animals mav be kept in a state of kata- 

 plexy for an indefinite, time Warm-blooded animals do not 

 suffer from such prolonged experiments, but the latter are 

 fatol to frogs. In mammals the most characteristic features 

 of the kataplectie state, besides that of unconscious stupor, 

 ere violent tremblings of the extremities, blinking of the 

 ryes, movements of the jaw and pupils, irregularity of the 

 pulse and breathing, pallor of ears in rabbits', occurrence of 

 defecation and micturition. On recovery the abnormal state 

 parses off suddenly, leaving the animal bright and brisk as 

 before, and thus, as in so many other respects, the state of 

 kataplexy differs from that of ordinary sleep. 



One other point of interest must be noied. Preyer finds 

 (hat it is impossible to produce the state of kataplexy in any 

 animal that is "newly-born." In the case of guinea-pig's 

 suteeptibility to bo thrown into this state only begins to 

 show itself during the first week after birth, and then gradu- 

 ally increases through two or three weeks. This curious fact 

 is explained by the hypothesis that the volitional centres— or 

 the centres which are supposed to be affected by kataplexy— 

 require sometime after birth to be brought into functional 

 relation with the lower centres. 



On the whole, then, it will be seen tbe facts relating to the 

 hypnotism of animals are much more definite than the theo- 

 ries by which it is sought to explain tbem ; and although wo 

 rimy be prepared to agree with Preyer that these facts in 

 some way depend on certain unusual stimuli acting in some 

 peculiar manner on some inhibitory centre or centres, we 

 must feel that this statement of the case brings us only to 

 the threshold of an explanation. 



yovtmm Eonmt 



TWO WEEKS WITH THE BASS AND PICKEREL. 

 At iBl'KBMKDiiTB Lake, Antkiu Co., Michigan. 



HY KtSOFfflHER— PAKT IIT. 



THE sun was well past the noon mark when we headed 

 for camp, with a gentle breeze in our favor. 



For two miles or more we tried the "shiners," but as we 

 did not get a run we were g'ad we had not wasted more time 

 incatcbing them. 



When opposite Johusou's the wind freshened and was 

 foou blowing half a gale down the lake, curling ihe waves lip 

 out in the middle to a height of three or four feet and cov- 

 ering the surface of the water with a fleecy foam of white 

 caps. 



We kept near the east shore where the water was a little 

 smoother, that in ease our boat should broach- to and " flop" 

 we could easily wade or swim ashore and save our tackle. 

 We, however, managed to keep her before the wind, and 

 went forging and wallowing ahead at a rate that sometimes 

 nearly buried her bows under water. Our Editor, who is a 

 little timid on rough water — albeit he never did take kindly 

 to it— shut his teeth hard together, and, grasping thi sides of 

 the boat with a firm grip, sat stiff as a telegraph pole, all the 

 while keeping his weather eye out for "rollers" that every 

 moment threatened to come in over the stem. 



A couple of miles above camp we shot around a point into 

 a little cove sheltered from the wind into quiet water, where 

 we could light a pipe and look out with a feeling of reiief 

 from our haven at the foam-capped waves tumbline and 

 roaring out in mid-lake. The Editor so far forgot the squall 

 as to hook on a sma'l green frog, one of three or four pro- 

 cured from Bre'r Smith, and in ten miuutes was mixed up in 

 a'petsonal difficulty with a five-pound lougface, right there 

 in the rushes. He was a game and cunning rascal,' working 

 hiiVway around inshore, and thou dashing under the boat 

 where we lay in four feel of water. A fit of abseutminded- 

 ness on "Jim's part came near losing him his fish, as he forgrjt 

 to let the line run from the reel, and in a flash the tip of the 

 rod followed the fish under the boat. For a time we thought 

 the line or rod would certainly snap, as Jim still refused to 

 surrender his grip on the reel handle ; but by the excellence 

 of the tackle and a liberal outlay of main strength solely on 

 his part, longface was finally worked back from under the 

 boat, when the Scribe jerked the gaff in his jaw and deftly- 

 knocked him on the head. 



We lay under the lea of tho little headland for over an 

 hour, waiting for the blow to go down, the Scribe meantime 

 taking a couple of large-mouthed bass and Jim another pick- 

 erel. I tried the shiners again, but could not stir a fin. 

 Poor day for shiners! The wind and sea went down as tho 

 afternoon wore on, and starting, we followed the shore 

 around 'till opposite the island, when, as the shadows began 

 to creep out on the water from the west, we crossed over to 

 camp and into quiet wa'er. Johnny had seen us coming 

 when away up the lake, and had a fire started and supper 

 well under way when we arrived. We broiled a pair of 

 bass, and when the Scribe had brewed a pot of coffee that 

 would carry a bead equal to "Old Crow," we sat down to 

 supper with appetites well sharpened by the pure air and the 

 fourteen miles' work at the oars. 



It is astonishing how an appetite will develop and hang 

 around one when camped out in the woods, and the quantity 

 of groceries and provisions, fish and game bid away seems 

 to be limited only by the capacity of a party for storage. 



Our Johnny was always huugry and ready to tackle a 

 square meal on the slightest pretext, and after watching him 

 manipulate his knife anel fork for three-quarters of an hour 

 without missing a stroke, wc concluded he was hollow from 

 " eend to eeml" But he was a growing youth, modest and 

 cautious withal, and never ate more than he could hold. 

 Frpm force of habit rather than for warmth wc lingered 

 around the fire till it went out, talking over the incidents of 

 the day's trip and planning a day's trouting up Cedar River. 



We awoke late next morning and stepped out of the tent 

 into a fog so dense it could almost be felt. Everything out- 

 side a radius of ten yards was completely hidden in a white 

 bank of mist, and the only signs or sounds of life were a 

 few bird notes issuing from the surrounding gloom and the 

 measured snore of the camp boy in the small tent. Over 

 near Ihe water, in some low bushes, a dozen or more swamp 

 blackbirds were making the air vocal with a morning re- 

 hearsal, and a half dozen of our Utile brown friends that 

 came around the table every day for the crumbs thrown to 

 them were twittering and peeping from a low tree near the 

 kitchen fly, wondering, no doubt, if breakfast would soon 

 be over; while overhead, in the branches of an elm, a small 

 colony of lestless, inquisitive blue-jays flitted and hopped 

 and peered furtively at, us through the mist and the dripping 

 foliage, scolding and jeering at us and calling us a score of 

 unpronounceable names in the jay language for being so lato 

 asti'-. 



The tents and fly were wet and shrunken till the guys were 

 taut, as drum-core's ; leaf, brunch and twig was covered with 

 a thin film of moisture, and a touch of a bush brought down 

 a shower of glittering drops like a rain. The air was cold 

 anil raw, and Jim and I proceeded to construct a rousing 

 fire, over which we hung the coffeepot, while our hollow 

 youth sonorously and peacefully snored. 



About eight o'clock the warm rays of the sun lifted the 

 fog, giving us a glimpse of the opposite shore, and in half an 

 hour more we were ou our way up the lake in search of the 

 " bull bass." 1 used up Ihe forenoon fishing along the west 

 shore two miles or more above camp; total result, one little 

 bass a trifle longer I ban tbe frog I baited with. I dropped 

 him back into the lake with a piece of good advice to grow 

 up with— emulate our camp boy, and never tackle anything 

 to cat That he couldn't get away with. 



When we drifted back to the island about 1 v. M. for 

 lunch, I told my carefully prepared story about the little bass 

 to (he. boys, and was greeted by the scoffers with what 

 smacked of undue levity for so small a fish (story). They 

 w T ere jubilant over a fine string of laige bass, and three or 

 four pickerel in the bottom of the boat had evidently found 

 the fighting editor in when they called. But I had my re- 

 venge in the afternoon. I fished the east side above the mouth 

 of the little stream, and on comparing notes at camp in the 

 evening, I scored one over Ihe boys with a small mouthed 

 black bass that stopped the scale at six pounds eight ounces 

 —a glorious game fish that tried the temper of my little rod 

 a dozen times till my heart was in my throat, and gave up 

 the fight only when reduced to the last feeble " wiggle" or 

 his broad tail. 



The handling of that bass in thirty or forty feet of clear 

 water no roots, rocks or snags for him to whip around and 

 break away— approached as near to pure delight as is usually 

 vouchsafed a follower of the gentle Izaak in a lifetime, and I 

 was in a very serene frame of mind over it Ihe rest oft.be 

 evening. Eight other bass of from three to four and a half 

 pounds each, and three longfaees made up an afternoon's 

 sport not soon to be forgotten. The boys had taken more 

 fish than I, but none the peer of old "moss back" at the 

 head of my string. 



Sitting around ihe fire in Ihe cool night air, between pulls 

 of smoke, the incidents of the day were related and battles 

 \\ itb fierce pickerel and cunning bass fought over again, which 

 lost no'hing in the recital. There, off the little round island 

 above the camp, Jim had a masterful fight with a four-pouud 

 buss, the largest one he had even taken, and which he vowed 

 with a mighty clincher, was worth the whole cost of the ex- 

 pedition. "Some hope for him yet I" muttered the Scribe. 



A little further up thcScribe took five heavy bas3 in work- 

 ing over a hundred yards of water. 



Off " pickerel point" the writer struck a mighty longface, 

 aud after an evenly balanced fly lit of half an hour, the line 

 Hew back over his hi ad wbh Ihe remains of a badly-frayed 

 double-gut enell at the end of it as a reminder of the mean- 

 ne.-s of pickerel in general. 



The Scribe changed his crossed legs, shoved a fresh shell in 

 his pipe and remarked that " it was natural and proper, as 

 fish stories go, for one to always lose his biggest fish ; he had 

 frequently done so himself, but as to the ' enormousness' of 

 my pickerel, he had only iny unsupported word, and he 

 would have to put it down as another one on my old score of 

 whoppers ;" and so ou till the fire went down and the pipes 

 out. 



The scene was so quiet and restful that we sat around the 

 dying embers till the candle burned low in the old bayonet 

 candle-stick in the tent, the deep silence of the night being 

 oulv broken by the splash of a fish or muskrat off shore, and 

 the'occasional weird, lonely cry of a loon far Up the lake. 

 The soft beams of a nearly full moon Spread a silver sheen 

 over the placid waters between us and the east shore, and 

 crept in hazy linos through the misty shadows in the foliage 

 overhead. " Camp talk" lagged, and stopped, and each sat 

 buried in his own thoughts till the spell was broken when 

 the candle burned down into its socket iu the old bayonet and 

 dropped through, warning us that it was time to be in bed 

 and in dreamland. 



Next day the boys fished below, in the pocket, while I went 

 up the lake alone, as usual, and had a quiet, dreamy day to 

 myself. Floating or pulling lazily along the margin of the 

 ■ir.ii" ;u i " .'. y-pads in the blue haze, feasting the eye on the 

 scarcely ruffled lake and the green shores, the angler may 

 dream away the hours, all too short, of a long summer day 

 and wish Ihe hard realities of life were fewer, and their angles 

 a trifle less angular. If the liah are a little "off feed," he 

 may set his rod, lie back in his boat, and draw comfort from 

 the happenings around him ; for your angler, pure and simple, 

 is, in. the eternal fitness of things, a lover of Na'ure, and sees 

 beauty and harmony in all her creatures ard belongings. 

 From a pleasant reverie he is suddenly aroused by the Bharp 

 chatter of a kingfisher as he winds up his reel, with the click 

 on, and flaps slowly away from his perch on a dead branch 

 overhanging the water. Balancing himself on a projecting 

 limb a few yards further away, he resumes his solitary watch 

 for the small fry that live in the shallow water among the 

 reeds and rushes, and cm which he must count for his dinner. 

 Watching a bald eagle soaring a quarter of a mile above the 

 trees the man has forgotten the kingfisher and his dinner, 

 when he is startled by"a splaih inshore and turns in time to 

 see him rise, dripping from the water, with a straggling min- 

 now in his mandibles. He hunts a convenient perch, bolts 

 bis prey at two gulps and winds up his line for another cast. 

 He frequently misses his fish but never gets dbcouraged. 

 " Better luck next time," is a bit of philosophy drilledinto 

 him from the time he first peeps from his shell. Verily, the 

 lines of the kingfisher are not always cast in pleasant places. 



The silent man in the lioal may follow up with his eye, 

 yonder two little V shaped waves to their point of divergence 

 aiidcatcha glimpse of the brown head of a "musquash" 



with a mussel in his mouth, as he. disappears Uebiud a branch 



of spruce dipping into the water, and if he keeps quiet a 

 minule, he will see him crawl out on yon gnarled root at the 

 edge of the water and open his prize. Yonder, dressed in 

 his summer suit of dark brown, skulks a mink along the 

 shore, his mouth no doubt watering for the mess of frogs he 

 appears to he in search of. 



The muskrat finished his mussel and slid into the water in 

 quest of another, and I was on the point of taking the oars, 



when out from the bulrushes a few yards ahead of i In. I 



emerged a beautiful summer duck, and swimming closely 

 after, I counted nine litt'e baby ducks not larger than wal- 

 nuts, aud looking like little bulls of mottled brown fur. 



They bad apparently not noticed me, but a stroke of the 

 oars alarmed them, and at a low "quack " from the mother, 

 they huddled closely together and paddled vigorously up the 

 lake, she following between them and the boat, directing and 

 encouraging Ihem from time to time by a motherly ; < quack- 

 quack !" A few more strokes placed me between them and 

 the rushes, when a word from the mother headed them out 

 into the lake, and I watched them bobbing up aud down on 

 the tiny waves till they disappeared, mother and litre ones, 

 behind a long point on the opposite shore. It is not likely that 

 the mother raised her whole, brood, as, no doubt, one of more 

 of them found their way into the hungry bowels of a sneak- 

 ing pickerel, or fell victims to some prowling mink or "sly 

 old coon." I saw Ihem a day_ or two afterward, some dis- 

 tance away, but they slipped into the rushes aud hid before 

 I could gel near enough to count them. 



The whimper of a little stream flowing into the lake to the 

 left was a welcome sound, as I was hot and thirsty, and 

 cramped from sitting so long in the boat, and guided by the 

 sound of the rippling water— for the mouth of the stream was 

 completely hidden from view— I forced the boat half its 

 length through a dense growth of overhanging bushes, and 

 crawling under and through them, gained a footing on tho 

 shore Inside the wall of bushes, as far as the eye could 

 penetrate the shadows, the low, spongy ground was strewn 

 here and there with fallen tree trunks, dead, molderiug and 

 mossoOvexed. The woods were damp and chilly, and, coining 

 in from the bright lake, they looked dark and gloomy, Ihe 

 thick branches overhead allowing never a. ray of sunlight to 

 gladden the, face of the little I inkling brook that (lowed with 

 a ceaseless murmur through the dismal shades. Where it 

 splashed and sputtered over a cedar root, into a little pool, 

 cold, and clear as crystal, I dipped up and drank a tin cup of 

 the water and fat refreshed, but the gloom and dead stillness 

 of the- Scene so oppressed me that 1 pushed the boat out from 

 under the bushes, glad when I was once more back Oil the 

 laughing lake and into tbe warmth of the welcome sunshine. 

 II. look an hour and an, exciting tight with a four pound 

 bass to warm my blood and get it back into healthy circu- 

 lation again. 



1 fished, and floated, and idled away the afternoon, now 

 and then adding a bass or Jongfade to the string on either 

 Bide Of '... boat till, ere I Was i ware Of it, the sun was below 

 the trees, and soft wavy lines of mist began to creep along the 

 shore, and assume strange fantastic shapes as they whirled 

 and eddied through the fringe Of bulrushes. Away across the 

 lake, from out tile deepening shadows, came the prolonged, 

 plaintive, cry - ;i loon, the embodiment of utter loneliness ; 

 and from a huge nest of dry sicks in the top of a dead cedar 

 tack in the swamp, a half-mile below, the shrill cries of the 

 y^oung eagles clamoring for l heir supper warned me that 

 night was falling and it was time to turn the bow of my 

 boat campward. 



As I swung around in tho gathering gloom, the stillness 

 was further broken by tbe profound bass too-w/wo of a great 

 owl away back in the hills, Which WBS directly answered by 

 the mellow tenor of another across the lake. Back again 

 from the bids came the response of another, different in tone, 

 and far up the lake still another took up the strain, for 

 twenty minutes or more the CQttversa'ioiJ was kept up by the 

 quartette, and then all was Suddenly still, the marauders 

 probably seeking the rendezvous agreed upon during their 

 talk, where plans for a night foray on the neighboring hen 

 roosls would be matured, aud each robber assigned to his 

 particular territory. 



Passing close by Long Point, I was raised nearly off the 

 scat, and each individual hair straightened in a combined 

 effort to lift the hat from my head, byau unearthly wall, 

 seemingly under the very hows'of the boat. For an Instant 

 my heart" stood still, and" each hair felt as if it was an electric 

 needle thrust into the scalp, but by the. lime Ihe cry was 

 half uttered I knew it was a loon, although I could not see it, 

 in the shadows and increasing darkness. 



Once sure that the cry proceeded from nothing more than 

 a loon, the hair went down and the heart resume.! its wonted 

 tunc ions, but tbe sudden, shock drove the "awl quartette" 

 out of mind and brought me to a realizing sense of my 

 whereabou's. 



The gleam of the camp fire a mile down Ihe lake meant 

 supper and rest for my cramped legs, aud lifting the two 

 heavy str'mgs of fish into the boat to save the drag, a long, 

 Steady stroke soon brought me abreast of the island. "Boat 

 ahoy! who comes ihrre?" from the camp, and the answer, 

 " The lone fisherman," brought Iho boys to the landing with a 

 lighted lantern, to see, my fish and help put them away. 

 They had been in camp since before sundown, and had eaten 

 supper, satisfied that " Old Hickory" would turn up affright 



A cup of Lot qoftee and « bountiful supper took the kinks 

 out of my legs and added a cheerful glow to the fire that 

 softened Ihe shadows iu | In- surrounding bushes, and put 

 new life into ihe monotonous weah-ere»k Of a solitary cricket 

 that had taken up quarters in the commissary lent. 



The frequent and fragmentary remarks of the Editor to the 

 " slteetefs " were soon lost in the recital of the adventures of 

 the day. The boys had spent » must enjoyable day below, 

 and had brought in a fine string of fish, but, as usual, bad 

 lost the bin one. The Scribe struck him near the lower 

 island ; a lovely bass of such extraordinary size that he de- 

 clared mv Hi pounder might have easily hidden under one of 

 his peciorafhns. Jim here chipped in with a batch of elab- 

 orately prepared testimony lo sustain the Scribe, and I was 

 Bilenced and overwhelmed, and gave up Ihe unequal contest- 



As for myself, I had passed a pleasant, happy day, Ashing, 



idling, and'dreaming: a day thai leaves plea-ung ine,,..,r;es 

 to come after ; a day with Nature in one. of her best moods, 

 listening to her many voices aud quainl -a.-ruious, and 1 Colt 

 thai 1 was belter for it all. 

 or a Until, the sublle influences, the wonders ami inysle- 

 ;s of the woods and the waters arc beyond our ken. 

 ;: coNi-t.STlio. 



It lei: ifftuw of A Good Resokt ioj; CiiieiN'O audSuooi- 

 iisu when the season opens, report it for the benefit of others. 



