86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Arci--! 80 



quito's bill, and the sides did not come together, but healed, 

 leaving dd opening bhrough the proboscis which gave the 

 man B ludicrous appearance 1 cannot grye even an esti- 

 mate of the size of the mosquito'* weapon, but no small 

 one could bore a hole so targe; the victim could shove a 

 penholder through it. and carry il there, instead rrf over his 

 ear-, as I have often seen him do. \propos of thissnbjeeti 

 1 once heard an old river man get oil the following: 



"It was sometime beforeihe war, In '59, 1 think, a steamer 

 was burned someway.- below Memphis. Everything above 

 the water was i i troyed exc ipl the maebinery,-and thatwas 

 more or less injured.' The disaster occurred 'just before the 

 spring fre-hct.'whioh came on in a few days, and nothing 

 could be done toward saving the old iron till the wSterasub- 

 sided. In the meantime. I was employed as a watchman, to 

 see that, no wandering vagabonds helped themselves to the 

 old iron. 1 lived there on the wreck for over a month, and 

 I tell you, musquitoes were thick and big! Well. I'll tell 

 You what happened, and von can Judge, i tried every war 

 to keep away from "em. uutit wan't any use. They broke 

 down bars and fought their v, av through smoke. I used an 

 old tish seine for a canopy, loir 'il only Kept out. a Few of the 

 very largest, the half-grown ones squeezed through the 

 meshes. Finally, one night 1 crawled into one of the boilers 

 and barricaded the end and got a good night's sleep, though 

 I nearly smothered. But in the morning, wdien 1 got up, 1 

 found the inside of the boiler covered with a million sharp 

 points, aa though it was a big hedgehog skin turned inside 

 out- I couldn't understand it at first, but when I crawled 

 out into the light i saw that the boiler was covered with 

 struggling musquitoes that had hored through the half-inch 

 boiler iron to get at me, and had stuck fast in the holes. 

 That's a solemn fact, sir. If you'll come with me. I can 

 show you the very spot where the boat was anchored, to 

 prove it." 



The determination mosquitoes display to get at a victim 

 when once thev catch sight of him, is something remarkable, 

 and the intelligence they exhibit equally so They stand 

 next to the aut in the category of intellectual insects. No 

 person who has witnessed their performances will he guilty 

 Of Speaking of their instinct, since reason a tone can account 

 for their actions. I remember once, while on a skiff voy<.ge 

 down the Mississippi, we bad a small cotton tent just large 

 enough for two ot us to sleep in, This tent we could never 

 contrive to pin close enough to the ground hul what there 

 would be numberless small openings lett all around the bot- 

 tom. We hoped at first the mosquitoes wotdd not discover 

 these openings, but our hopes vanished "tike thesnowflake 

 on the river" the first night we tried it. The mosquitoes 

 knew the conditions of our existence better than we did 

 ourselves. They knew, as it was a very hoi. night, outside, 

 it would be absolutely unbearable in the font, and they 

 reasoned that we had either left openings or would soon be 

 compelled to open the tent. As soon as this brilliant idea 

 struck them they began, with a persistency worthy of a 

 better cause, to search for those openings. V, e could see 

 their moon-mae'e Shadows as liny hew around the tent, 

 alighting here and there to stick their bill through the cloth 

 to try its thickness. We could bear them singing, and 

 learned to distinguish their various notes as they now cheered 

 each other in the search, or growled over their non-success 

 or exulted when, their hills slipping easily through 

 some slackness of the woof, Oley imagined thev 

 had found an entrance, and then we could hear 

 shrill, spiteful shrieks of disappointment at finding the hole 

 too small lor their purpose. At last, one of them found an 

 opening away down toward the foot and came in. My first 

 intimation of her success was a prickling sensation on my 

 big toe, where she had slopped to rest before exploring fur- 

 ther. I was not much surprised, for I had come to regard 

 some such bad luck as my normal lot and condition, but 1 was 

 mad— so mad that in raising my arm to dislodge the little 

 wretch 1 did so with so much vehemence die reaction struck 

 my partner in the tender muscles of the ea If of the leg and 

 made him howl with pain. The mosquito retreated at once 

 through the opening, but within five minutes she came back 

 with three or four" million of "her sisters, her cousins and 

 her aunts," till we were forced to throw open the flops and 

 retreat to the open air. where, as 1 well remember, fill that 

 mortal night we walked up and down (rial beach looking 

 like ghosts of despair, alternately singing and praying and 

 slapping and scratching and cursing mOFQtfitoes, Ou another 

 night, when the dews were falling heavily, we entered the 

 tent but did not close the flaps, as we had found the insects 

 would gel in anyway. And this gave us a glimpse of a 

 unique phase of their character. When the tent was packed 

 so full there w-as no room lor any more, the vast hordes on 

 the outside clustered around the door and began singing to 

 eneouiage those inside, or to bin ry them up. And may 1 

 never see another mosquito if th ir voices bad not been 

 trained to join in tone.-, and they sung as plainly as any 

 church choir ever did, "Hold the fort, lor we are coming" 



There are numberless devices for escaping from musqui- 

 toes, but 1 have never, during a somewhat extended experi- 

 ence, found one that was perfectly reliable, in the lower 

 valley of the Mississippi. ! have tried pennyroyal, in its 

 various potent and non-potent combinations, and the first 

 night it seemed very i fticaelous; but alter that, the reader 

 may believe it or not. , v.-n blamed mosquito that visited 

 onr camp carried a piece of Spanish moss under his wing, 

 With which to wipe the pennyroyal off our skins, so be 

 could get his work in. (Several live oak trees were com- 

 pletely denuded of moss from this cause. 1 tried smoke— 

 smoke, actually so thick it could be cut with a knife; so 

 thick, indeed, that mosquitoes who rushed into it could not 

 flap their wings. But this did not keep them away long. 

 They went to 'where a species of coarse, shnrp-biaded grass 

 was' growing, and plucking spears of this, tunnelled holes 

 through the" smoke to reach us. They were always worst 

 ou moonlight nights, but on dark nighls they were bad 

 enough in some places, since we lotiud that whole coloioe- 

 Of them had trained lightning bU£S to attend them to search 

 for their victims. The ordinary netting does Dot baffle 

 them. I have seen two groups of mosquitoes get hold of the 

 threads of a cinopy, and pull opposite ways, until an open, 



ping at them is tiresome, and only of partial avail, since, 

 when the warfare becomes too vigorous, they will divide. 

 and one group attract the victim's attention, by buzzing 

 around his ears, while the other group attacks some other 

 place, the groups alternately changing places till all are 

 satisfied. The crying demand of lie- sporting world is for 

 some successful invention in this line. 



What mo-quiloos li v. on. in tie absence of man I cannot 

 guess. They sometimes cover horses and cattle, hut there 

 aremany places where mosquitoes abound where men and 

 cattle do not abound in sufficient numbers to keep alive all 



the mosquitoes. Perhaps if we only knew of something 



thev liked better than blood we might' devise some way to 

 so cloy their appetites they would leave us in peace. 



The capability of mosquitoes for blood-sucking is limitea 

 onlv by the size* of the reservoir thev carry behind them. 

 Were this larger the results of their attacks* on man might 

 be as fatal as they are annoying. The reafler has doubtless 

 Observed that when a mosquito first attacks a person the 

 large bag forming the after part of the insect, is light-colored 

 and transparent, but grows gradually opaque as it is filled 

 with blood. To fill this hag is the mosquito's one and only 

 ambition. They never cease sucking your blood rill tilled 

 to the brim, unless scared away or "killed. An experiment 

 I once fried proved to my satisfaction that man's only salva- 

 tion is the small size f the mosquito's blood reservoir. One 

 day a large mosquito lit on my arm and pioceedcd to busi- 

 ness. Being in an investigating mood, 1 determined on an 

 experiment. With a pair of small, sharp scissors 1 cut off 

 the extremity of the insect, so the blood flowing in at one 

 end could run out at the other. I was enabled"" to do this 

 from insects being devoid of all sensations of pain. 1 then 

 held my breath and watched. 



II was a very interesting experiment. As a mosquito 

 always sucks until she feels herself filled, she kept on suck- 

 ing for two bouts and fifty-four minutes, the blood running 

 out as fast as, it. weut in.' It trickled down my arm on to 

 the floor, and a kirce stain on the carpet still marks the spot 

 where it fell. It flowed in a regular stream, and the insect 

 never seemed to suspect any tiling was wrong until, just 

 before the expiration of the third hour, it fell ovcrirom 

 sheer exhaustion and died How much blood passed through 

 her in that time I cannot say, but I know that, I was so faint 

 fiom its loss that on trying to rise I could only do so by 

 supporting myself on a chair. I have known a strong man 

 to be killed by a mosquito sting on the neck, the bill having 

 penetrated the base of the brain; but if their stomachs were 

 larger, deaths from mosquito bites would be too numerous 

 to excite comment. 



I had intended to insert many more curious and important 

 facts bearing on this subject.' hut this article has already 

 errown to such proportions I dare not go further. But per- 

 haps other pens may take up the subject, and present the 

 public with an exhaustive array of fact's and fancies relating 

 to this much-detested, but, leally important game bird. 



' "Gut BrvRus. 



HIS FIRST ANTELOPE. 



1^ WHAT do you say to going out and see if we can 

 • , get an antelope? I haven't had any fresh meat 

 in so long that I have almost forgotten how it tastes." Thus 

 spoke Dave F., the genial foreman of a sheep ranch near 

 Bvers, Colorado, one morning. 



""All right," said 1, "I am with you," and taking the 

 Sharps carbine from its resting place iu Ihe corner, oil we 

 weut. I was the teuderest kind of a tenderfoot, having 

 never seen an antelope, and the way I questioned Dave in 

 regard to their habits and the methods used in hunting 

 them, would have surprised a Philadelphia lawyer. We 

 walked about a mile east from the ranch, when Have saw 

 two in a draw about a half mile from us. "Wewrill go ovei 

 into the next draw so as to get out of sight, and then we can 

 get within good shooting distance," said lie. We had not 

 gone two hundred yards when I saw two lying down about 

 three hundred yards in front of us. "Get down, Dave," 

 said I, "there 'are two right in front of us." Down we 

 dropped out of sight, and commenced to work toward them, 

 crawling along like snakes. After traveling about a hun- 

 dred yards or so in this manner we saw we could not get 

 any nearer without alarming them. 



"Shall 1 raise them?" says Dave. 



"Yes," and we both rose to our knees. Up rose one of 

 the antelope. There she stood looking at us. curious to 

 know what wc were. Fatal curiosity. Raising the lilte, 1 

 held for the white spot on her breast, and pulled the trigger. 

 It was a center shot. I had kill, d my first antelope. With 

 a veil that could have been heard a mile, Dave hounded for- 

 ward and cut her throat. The ball had entered the breast, 

 gone through the lungs and come out near Ihe flank ou 

 the right side After*! had fired I bail a genuine attack of 

 buck lever. I trembled as though in a heavy chili, and it 

 was at least a quarter ol an hour bet ore 1 got over I he attack. 

 I expected the attack before 1 tired, not alter, and the only 

 reason 1 can give lor not Having it, is that I forgot all about 

 it. We paced the distance 1 was from her, and ioiindit was 

 a hundred and seventy live yards. Dave shouldered the 

 antelope, ami we arrived at the house, having been absent 

 about an hour, as happy as lords, Have because there was 

 fresh meal, find I because 1 was one degree nearer an "old- 

 timer." That Office Hoy. 



&( 



PENNSYLVANIA NOTES. 



T'WO weeks since I wrote you of having heard the notes 

 of rail birds as they were passing over our city on their 

 way to the reed flats of the Delaware River. Since that 

 time another flight has been heard, and although neither 

 flight may have beeu large ones, I think it safe to predict 

 that our rail shooters will find birds more numerous when 

 ilie season opens, Sept, 1, than ordinarily, and. 1 trust the 

 tides will be* good Ones for the first week of the coming 

 month that the "birds can be reached. The migrations of ail 

 the varieties of our winged visitors have been very early this 

 year, lia.y birds came in advance of last year's date, and 

 the martins left us at least a week before the time of depart- 

 ure last summer. 1 predict an earlier and more severe winter 

 than that of 1832, and venture to state it will be of more 

 than ordinary severity. 



We are fast coming to the time, in our State, when wood- 

 cock shooting will be a sport that once was— now only 

 talked about. This summer a very small number were 

 killed. Fortunately the feeding grounds for the few birds 

 that bred in our State were extensive, owing to the general 

 wet seasons, and consequently many of them escaped the 

 gun— still Pennsylvania is much like Connecticut in refer- 

 ence to the woodcock. They are becoming very hard to 

 lind in the most propitious seasons, and it is. in the greatest 

 measure, the fault of the law allowing them to be shot in 

 summer; our sportsmen will not see it. 



Fiom all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Maryland, and 

 Delaware, comes tue story that quail are plentiful this year, 

 arehcard whistling every where, and have bred well. Let 

 us hope they will not be set back again this winter, but I 

 have my doubts. Homo. 



New Brunswick. — St. John, Aug. 21. — "About Ana- 

 gance Portage the prospects tor partridge shooting are ex- 

 cellent. Woodcock are very plentiful in that locality." 



Some Pect'lh: Think— That, bullets go straight from the 

 gun to the target. That the gun is pointed at "ihe buliseye. 

 That any man who can hold a gun steady will make a good 

 shot. Thai the rifling of a barrel is about teu times its real 

 depth, which is from two-thousandths to five-lhoicandths of 

 an inch. That a rifleman osiu answer all the questions, of 

 half a dozen lookers-on, and continue to do good .shooting. 

 That, a .gun made to special pattern should be furnished in a 

 few days. (It takes three months to make a shotgun.) 

 That it, is an easy matter to shoot clay pigeons. (Try il and 

 see.) That any one can make a good" bullet. That i'ue tink- 

 ering of weapons improves them. That it is advisable to 

 change ammunition frequently. That additional ve.oeily 

 and accuracy are obtained by using i xtru huge charges of 

 powdci in a 'title or shotgun." That trick shooliug on the 

 stage, at a distance of a few feet, with no vaiying phases of 

 light and shade, wind, temperature or atmoi-phcre to con- 

 tend with, is to be compared with open-aii shouting, That 

 Daniel Boone. Davy Crockett, or any of the other old- 

 timers (peace to their ashes) could have' won any kind of a 

 prize iu a modern rifle match. That unloaded shotguns 

 won't go oil'. That, a toy pistol ri a proper plaything for a 

 boy. That it requires a brave man to carry a revolver or 

 brace of deringcrs, and that he can hit anything at ten paces. 

 That, gun manufacturers pay attention to the advice ten- 

 dered them by correspondents who are totally ignorant of 

 the subject discussed, and don't know it. That*" a ballet's 

 flight can be correctly ciphered. That, the zero of a vernier 

 sight is. or should he. m exact line with the prolongation of 

 the axis of the bore; and that the points do, or should, n p- 

 resent minutes of elevation, without regard to Where the 

 sight is placed. That either the gun or ammunition is re- 

 sponsible for all poor shooting. (There is a greater oppor- 

 tunity for improvement iu men than in guns.) That any 

 stoiy is worthy of credence, if it happens to support their 

 peculiar theories. — Sacramento Bee. 



TnE First Camp-Fiius.— Syracuse.— The Forest and 

 Stream and I ate twins, for the year and month th t ushered 

 it into this world opened lo me a'new life. It was then for 

 the first time that I spread my blanket by the camp-fire and 

 listened to the waves as they broke against, the rocky New 

 England coast, Before that 1 had lugged around'an old 

 musket, metamorphosed into a fowling piece, and had 

 rowed up anil down the river and bay in a leaky ilat-hot- 

 toin boat, and had fished in every river, brook, "pond and 

 lake in the county, but "camping out" was a new experience 

 tome. Oh! those glorious nights under the stars, listening 

 to the whippoorwill and the owl, and at last hashed to sleep 

 by the lullaby of the waves. Since then 1 have, floated Over 

 those dear old waters in storm and sunshine. 1 have camped 

 ou the rocky coast and Upon its numerous islands, anil 

 though I have wandered far from my native coasts, have, 

 paddled my cauoe over river and lake, have followed the 

 sports of gun and rod for weeks together, have built my 

 camp on the banks of lonely rivers, ami in lire whispering 

 forests, still the rir-t flicker of light from my camp-lire on 

 that eventful night iu my boyhood, has shone along my 

 path like a beacon light. — L. P. U. 



Detroit Notes. -Detroit. Mich., Aug. 27.— Marsh ducks 

 have done well about here and will be"" abundant this fall. 



While at St. Clair Flats a, few days . since I took 1 eulai 



pains to ascertain if ducks had been shot out of, i i 

 our Canadian friend, "GO. 1).," Wits into tdkrt. for miles 

 ground each of the larger clubs the ducks have not been 

 molested in any way, anil are more plentiful than feu- years. 

 "C. O. D." can rest* assured thai whether the land or marsh 

 is surveyed or not, that any law-breakers ou Ihe American 

 side of the river will be promptly punished, The profes- 

 sional punters around the flats nie sensible nan and are. as 

 a rule, deeply interested in the preservation ot game and 

 tish. Lots of ducks are also reported ou the marshes along 

 Lake Brie, and the mallard shooting will be immense. 

 Woodcock are having a nice vacatiou. The heavy falls of 

 rain have driven them from their usual haunts to "pastures 

 new." Thine have beeu at least six guns out to one bird 

 killed, and the hot und tired "summer fiend. ' having d.awn 

 the old grounds in vain, now exclaims "no birds. ' "Bide 

 a wee," gentlemen, there will be some good bags made alter 

 the moulting season, and the birds will be tine, Strong fel- 

 lows.— Delta. 



Iowa Game Notes. — Morning Sun. Aug. 28. — I learned 

 yesterday that young ducks, mallard and wood-duck, w, re 

 quite plenty o\cr ou the river hotioms, ami that there could 

 lie pretty fair shooting on the ponds and sloughs between 

 the Mississippi and Iowa, Soon a party ol us will go over 

 and see how it is. Prairie chickens are not very plenty, I 

 bagged nine last Saturday evening in a three-hours' tiamp in 

 the "Wappillo Bottom. Found nvo bevies of about nine or 

 ten each. There seem to be none on the upland, where we have 

 usually found them. Taking ii. altogether, t would say that 



in this county chickens were scarce. I was out last ■ 



ana did uoi get a bird; found bi t one bevy and they flushed 

 wild, s-oing so far that I concluded not to follow . There 

 was a rifle match in our place the olhet day, some twelve 

 participating. The prize was a Remington spoiling rifle; 

 distance. 500 yards, any position. There was a hard wind 

 blowing across the range, and the shooters had to face the 

 situ. Three tied on iiil out of a possible 25, and in the shoot- 

 off Tom Anderson won. scoring a lull-eye. 1 thlnkthls 

 will be the opening wedge to other mulches of the same 

 nature. — Mark. 



Minnesota Game.— Minneapolis, Aug. 2ft.— 1 was out 

 gunning last week with two others after cmckeus at Windom, 

 in the southwestern part, of this State, bUt We found the 

 birds scarce and very .small. In one covey the bird- >., ,, ,,,, 

 la rger than meadow "larks. One reason for not finding many 

 chickens may have been the scarcity of stubble; for the crop 

 of oats in thai pari of the State is very heavy this year, and 

 they have cut that fiist. leaving the wheat to Ihe last, and 

 when we were there they laid just begun cutting. The 

 farmers all say the chickens are scarce, ami after Ihe severe 

 winter wc had, t shouh. say they must be. Xone of the 

 birds shot were anywhere near the size of Ihe old ones. 



Ducks, as usual, will" be plentiful auti give lots of 



Franklin Bennkr. 



Georgia.— Autru-ta, Aug. 22.— Birds are plentiful iu this 

 section — partridges, woodcock, snipe, doves, and so on. A 

 partv of hunters last season went on a two bay.-' camp hunt, 

 about a hundred miles from here, and bagged 207 paitridgcs 

 ou the trip. Dove shooting is now in full "feather. A party 

 of seven yesterday killed Mil birds in two hours. — Anas i a 



