Oct. 18. 1883,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



! 2 3 



lay lifcfi gems hi this sombre setting; Beyond were the 

 white bluffs toward the Little Medicine; further to the 

 south the brick fed point of one of lire Freeze-Out Hills, and 

 ' ii:ii::. |,o fch right lite higher hills, umvooded ex- 

 cept for an occasional black pine tree toward the summit. 

 Tbeairwas Pragranl with, the odor of Hie aspens! aid was 

 soft and «moky like an Indian summer day, and Beaut Fell 

 into :i !vv(;ri iu which his rnind went back to other distant 

 'lays. To a Mine When Ho railroad bad brought civilization 

 into these hills and when Nature was sole [Distress here, 

 Wheathe valloj below was dotted wifii the black buffalo, 

 When The rocks among which he was now resting were 

 tlie feeding ground of the bighorn, when there were 

 among these pines n hundred elk Olid fleer where 

 now one is found, and "'hen the red masters of 

 the Pofl made fhejr camps here, inipontftmiiajited by 

 the white man- eiees. and undisturbed by his un- 

 i ontrollable £recd for theirluratinggroands. To days when 

 he and one or two companions would make their semi-an- 

 nual visits to old FOrl Laramie for ammunition and supplies, 

 and wbllld spend the remainder of the year far in the moun- 

 tains, hunting and setting their traps, I § i-p -ful and 



Contented life, wishing for nothing more than the rock-ribbed 

 hills yielded them. "And now.' 1 sadly thought the dreamer, 

 "I have to chop logs, or drive team, or punch cow's for $30 a 

 month end board, Jbmprra tnvMntur,et noamutamw 

 —so much of my Lai in T remember. Better to hare been killed 



in sonic Indian £jght than to lotAc fr.llon lo tins." For Seout 



was one of few surviving relics of the days when the region 



west of Missouri was truly the Far West . a elaSS of men who 

 have almost disappeared, and yet who were, in their day, 

 characteristic of this wild country, and were its only while 

 inhabitants. They have disappeared with the buffalo they 

 used I o hunt, and the Indians they used I o fight. On this 

 broad continent there is OO longer n place for them. 



But as the old man sal, in the sun and mourned over the 

 day:, that arc gone, be heard the footsteps of the horses, and 

 -aw them appear over the ridge. Then rising, the ropes 

 Were taken off the saddles, blankets rearranged and ainches 

 drawn tight, and the meat of two elk was ipjickiy packed on 

 the horses. Then with their titles in their hands and lead- 

 ing the hi uses, i he two hunters took their way toward the 

 ranch. So. 



fgortrnqm ^ottri$U 



THE OFFICE FLY'S MISSION, 



rpiIE office tly is the embodiment of evil. He is very 

 JL playful, making at every brother fly that comes near, 



ear, or tlie same bald spot on one's cranium. Of course a 

 gentle wave of the hand shoos him off, just as effectively 

 as fchG wild drive with the paper-covered check book, and 

 wilh just as much injury to the fly, although the check hook 

 he badly wrecked and the inkstand upset. One can sur- 

 round himself with sticky fly-paper," and grimly enjoy the 

 en! rapping- of hisfoes. but even (bat satisfaction is slightly 

 marred hv the beheavior of the victims, as beside evident 

 surprise, tin y act as (hough they had been taken an unfair 

 advantage of, and have a meak, submissive, injured air, and 

 heal the long roll steadily with drum slick and wing, as if 

 to buzz your crime and meannesss into your ears as long as 

 life shall last. As they accumulate in 'numbers so that "the 

 accumulation is simply a black mass, you smother your con- 

 scientious reminders, and secretly en joy the deposition of 

 the carcasses in the back door yard. You wonder where in 

 the world they all come from ? Well, that li irery stable heap 

 near by accounts for the most of them. Their usual breed- 

 ing nest is in such. 



But, one can get the most satisfaction out of the presence 

 of the oitiee tly. and circumvent him best, by arranging with 

 the clerk lo ran the business and leaving on a vacation. Tlie 

 office fly's mission is to bring this about, if he lias any mis- 

 Bion, 



tine's serenity of temper can he regained, and his nerves 

 quieted, hy trt-ading the rocky bed of a favorite trout .stream, 

 smoking the while the pipe of peace. We always adopt this 

 course when we can, although the remedy is an old one, and 

 the account of its working the old, old story. The greedy 

 trout strike and rush about the stream, holding one's atten- 

 tion close hound and fixed, to the exclusion of all other 

 troubles. Every successful trouler knows how efficacious it is 

 and how nothing save a fleet aud transitory thought of busi- 

 ness conies to him, if it eumes at all. Success in this par- 

 ticular constitutes Hie larger pari of the value of a vacation 

 to some Of us. Fishing, and more particularly trout linking 

 in rapid streams, does this work better than perhaps any 

 other known sport or amusement. Travel, unless in unusu- 

 ally interesting places. (.Iocs not fix one's attenlion exclusively. 



Trouting is a continuous effort, and if 'he effort meets with 

 success, surely it is exclusive of other things: and if unsuc- 

 cessful— well, how much harder do we noi work, and dili- 

 gently try after, a measure of success. 



By' the way. I believe 1 have now arrived at the point of 

 inquiry as lo who that dreadful fellow is that is so much 

 canted about, of late, the "trout hog';'' 



If one. has "enough" and should take "no more" — judged 

 b\ the base standard of what bis stomach can care for ois if 



a man went trouting for his stomach's benefit) — what shall 

 make biiu cease when enjoyment is at the highest, and throw 

 ovei The rest ot that blessed dav thai is exceptional in a long 

 experience, and may not. in long months after be met with 

 again Suppose you have your basket well tilled, say full 

 to the brim; say. also, that you have strings ol' the victims on 

 a willow bough, who says the interest pales in consequence, 

 but Wither thai it does not increase 'in intensiU as vet an- 

 other and another 18 added to the String? Hurrah'' How 

 they bile. Mere at ki*t have I struck fishing. Here at last 

 is one day noi. to, I w arm, not too cold, not too bright, not 

 too dark; water not too high, not too low— here at last is tin- 

 realization of ii fisherman's ambitious dream. How long 

 have you struggled in search of it? And yet, my brother, 

 as you emerge iu the dim light of the vanishing day at the 



place of rendezvous, laden down with the rich and preciou 

 spoil, you will find yon have 'overdone'' it, and you must 

 . ©the frown of the eorreetor-in-general— himself probably 

 unsuccessful— and yea. verily, be dubbed a "trout bog," 

 Behind the back of this professed reformer of evil ways and 

 ascerbale critic I shake hands with you. mv brother fisher- 

 man, m a congratulatory way, and wish for you yet other 

 such red letter days before finally shaking off The fisherman';- 

 trappings. 



Does our critic tell of better ways? Probably tie only in 

 rhieiiee that can persuade a man to cease his catch on a 

 mountain stream, possibly at mid-day. is an appreciation of 

 and love for the things in nature generally. He must have 

 cultivated tastes in that direction. Yet have I, a lover of 

 bugs and birds, gone year after year down an alder-fringed 

 Stream, amid the songs of birds unfamiliar tome: timid flut- 

 tering azure butterflies that were not to be found at my home 

 locality and were not shown in my insect collection, and yet 

 paused not to capture or identify one. 1 hear in memorv the 

 year around a certain wild, perplexing jumble of song thai 

 finals over my Iront stream, prolonged to an extent, that no 

 other bird can equal- noi excepting the bobolink — until one 

 would think the warbler would drop breathless; and wonde 

 who the singer can be. and each time purpose ascertainin 

 all about him on the nexl trip, and vet each time tlo 1 fail to 

 lay aside my rod and basket to follow him through the wood: 

 to make the identification sure. A friend has hinted tome 

 that this bird is the wood thrush, and that 1 cannot see him, 

 follow where 1 will, yet do 1 purpose doing so. if my will 



The fact is, 1 am what every other true fisherman is, so far 

 as nn' personal knowledge- go..->, a fisherman from early dawn 

 to dewy eve, be the catch poor or good. If the catch he 

 good and I get an overplus, judged by some tide I knownot 

 what. I cannot induce myself to qiiif because thereof. I 

 hope the professions of critics arc true and not false, and 

 that there be men who do say hold, enough 1 when catching 

 trout, and thereat qui. and go home like models to their fel- 

 lows; but would it not be well to challenge the record to get 

 at tlie facts? Before it becomes quite the thing for you to 

 call a lucky fellow a bad name, would it not be welf to ex- 

 amine whether or not there be a boom in thine own eye? 



I will only say further to the critic that is about to lay his 

 lash over the successful fisherman, pause, and turn back to 

 your own record and consult your own experience — if you 

 have any — and think how many trips have been yours at an 

 expense of time and money that resulted in nothing. How 

 many long, weary days you have fought among the tangled 

 alders, in vexation of spirit, bruising your shins, fracturing 

 the slender tips, losing the leaders, and overturning the bait 

 box. and at night found yourself gamelcss. tired, hungry. 

 dissatisfied? Right heic in conclusion of Hie subject, comes 

 a happy thought: perhaps if I can gel consent to average up 

 the record, the very good with the indifferent and Very bad, 

 I, even I, after this terrible confession, can claim title to rank 

 with tlie elect — those that don't do very well, or take "but a 

 few." 



There is auother way, however, than this grand day off 

 trouting, to equalize tlie irritation of the office fly. and the 

 bills and accounts that he so delights lo audit by the affix of 

 his little black seal, and is simply to go afield, afoot, every 

 day about your home. Perhaps, 'though, you consider this 

 simple and somewhat threadbare advice. Anyhow, don't 

 ride. Don't fasten your affections on a horse. The fast 

 horse is a baleful influence. The man that loves a fast horse 

 and light rig loves not other things. I fear. He docs not 

 even know by chance acquaintance the birds that sing by the 

 roadside, the" insects thai flit, over the field, or the dowers 

 that bloom in the grass or swale. Pasl all these does he go 

 in haste, grasping tightly tlie ribbons, eyes on the mark 

 straight ahead; and although he travels fast and goes far, 

 yet goes he nowhere; though he sees much that hurriedly 

 goes past him. vet sees he nothing. 'Tis but the railway 

 train in a lesser degree, which is itself but less in degreethan 

 a streak of lightning. Healthy? There may be pure air and 

 plenty of it for the blood, yet will Ihe blood lie stagnant 

 even to the "putting to sleep" of the legs aud not flow to 

 reach it. Intellectually stimulating? Hardly. Theman of 

 the horse will either cuss or discuss with the horse as a sub- 

 ject, to the exclusion of other things, aud will not acquire a 

 varied knowledge. And the horse-man is a most abject 

 slave. He rises early in the morning that he may have' his 

 steed in shape for an early "spin" about some artificial, bar- 

 ren, beaten track. He hastens home at noon that he may 

 provender it, and at night, as at morning (if he cares for his 

 own), must he grovel in dirt and inhale foul air, miscalled 

 healthy, that the animal may be in trim to enable him to 

 Squander the rest of that day begun with the horse, and 

 ended with the horse, wilhafew hours' filliugiuiu the way of 

 business. Duplicate this day Ihe year around, and what a 

 record of sameness it produces. 



A friend of mine owns such a rig, or the rig owns him, 

 aud he entirely fails to see why one should go about afoot, 

 alone, along the roads, over the fields, tramp, tramp, tramp- 

 ing. This man thinks there is a wide breach between him- 

 self aud a "darn fool:" so do I. for myself. 1 had oue day 

 speni some time along a small brook, observing the behavior 

 of the nest-building pugnacious sticklebacks: the hunting 

 habits of the Dytiscw lafvffi— oue of which 1 saw capture anil 

 kill a minnow larger aud heavier than himself — and study- 

 ing the various smaller creatures by the aid of a glass; when 

 ■along the road near by, in advance of a cloud of dust, came 

 my friend with his clipped roadster. "Jim. won't you have 

 a ride?" Now. I was iu almost abstract worship at, n favor- 

 ite shrine. I had fled from the town, from men, from horses, 

 as readily as one would turn from the pestilence or other 

 noxious thing. 1 ride? It was a home thrust, and intended 

 so to tie. aud Ihis time was not one for acceptance, hut. a time 

 for throwing down the gauntlet and leveling a shaft from a 

 full struug bow. Yet was 1 sorely wounded myself. Should 

 the traveler that has business to do, idolize the steam engine 

 that carries him abOUt? Hoes the naturalist at the seaside 

 worship the craft that enables him to pass among the reefs 

 while on his quest? Should one mistake the means for the 

 end? I remember reading that the great Thoreau was once 

 overtaken by a neighboring farmer and asked, iu all kind- 

 ness, doubtless, would he have a ride' 1 The poor fellow 

 had never dreamed of such a road a- Thoreau traveled, and 

 doubtless his request was never thereafter repeated. A horse 

 isa conveyor, aud has a value as such, fully appreciated bv 

 the writer' when going across country a -fishing, but for that 

 purpose one is as e od as .mother'. My friend above re- 

 ferred lo never can" go n -fishing. His outfit is too valuable 

 for the Trip over the rugged hills; and go without it, leaving 

 his idol behind, of course he cannot, 



Had I been behind a horse the other day, instead of lying 

 about on the grass, I would not have noticed how the natty 



chimney swallow secures the twigs for its simple nest. In- 

 breaking them from the dead I ree-tops while on the wing. "I 

 would not have realized how the white clouds ran form iu 

 Ihe blue sky under one'sobservation, and disappear again but 

 a little lortheron. I would not have seen a little stealth] 

 swamp finch, without Hie ability to Stand on one leg. le-ii 

 like, and scratch with the other, overturn the leaves Of the 

 woods, by ingeniously and quickly jumpiugfroru the ground 

 with both feet, grasping at the same inslanl the leaves to be 

 removed, and sending them high in the air in the rear, quite 

 as effectually as a hen or partridge, and with a surprising 

 amount of rustle and noise for so small a creature. 



Nor would I have seen a weasel get his suppei . One fine 

 afternoon, near evening. I saw what appeared to lie two red 

 squirrels having a chase up a I rcc. The chase was an eager 

 one, however, and attracted my attention; and as they as- 

 cended to the topmost limb anil followed mil toils extremity. 

 I saw that my foremost was a poor chipmunk, and the other 

 a weasel with a black tipped lail. I felt greal apprehension 

 aud wonder as to what would be Ihe result at the limb's ex- 

 tremity, not thinking but that Ihe finale was there lo come. 

 But this was not so." With but slight hesitation, and wilh a 

 sharp weak cry, the chipmunk sprang from the limit into the 

 air. his legs wide extended, and fell a distance of some forty 

 feet to the ground. Bravo! I saw that he was apparently 

 unhurt, and that he made directly to another tree near bv. 

 and then turned to see if the weasel was to follow. Ko, not 

 by the aerial route, but quick as possible, and without a 

 moment's hesitation, he turned around and ran down the tree 

 to the ground. By this time the chipmunk was nestled ou a 

 limb about halfway up tlie secoud tree, and provided the 

 weasel had trouble to find him, I thought the outlook not so 

 bad for the pursued, if he could stand such leaps, ami the 

 other would not take them. But the weasel followed to the 

 correct tree, notwithstanding there were numerous others 

 about, as readily as a houud would follow a scented fox. 

 The poor fellow realized his danger quickly, and wilh notes 

 of alarm ran again to the topmost limb's extremity, the pur 

 suer close behind. Again was the leap taken, this time into 

 a clump of bushes, but the flyer was again unhurt and made 

 for a third tree not far off, w'hich he 'ascended. There the 

 first operations were gone through with, with the variation 

 of a slip and a fall, in his eagerness, bv the weasel from a 

 height of about twenty feet. No time was lost in conse- 

 quence of this mishap, as he had at once reascended, tin-less 

 as fate, and apparently bound up soul and body in his mur- 

 derous pursuit. How' eager is this chase for 'life, and this 

 flight from death! What tragic interest centers iu such a 

 contest where there is hut one ending if might fail gels the 

 right, or the opportunity. I watched wilh increasing inler- 

 est the result of this search for a victim's blood; and as the 

 scene shifted to a stone wall, in which the chipmunk hid and 

 along which his weaselship searched and craned his long 

 neck very like a snake, in and out among the stones. 

 in a vain effort to find his victim. 1 hail hopes 

 an escape from his pursuit might yet occur. It was 

 not long, however, before a slight " rustling could lie 

 heard among the leaves over the wall, which was significant 

 although it was attended by no cry or other noise: and soon 

 thereafter appeared Ihe successful huuterupon the wall, bear- 

 ing high by the nape of the neck his victim, which he carried 

 iu difficult leaps down the wall and over the grass to hi,-, 

 hidden nest. 



Such little incidents, which can be indefinitely recounted, 

 serve to give interest to one's study of nature, anil these, with 

 an intimate knowledge of other living things than a man 

 and horse, are the results of an anti-horse, go-a-foot method, 

 and are in their results a very good Corrective of tlie annoy- 

 ance of that office business in which ihe very familiar fly 

 loves to take an active part. ' ,1 QuAV. 



DOWN IN BERMUDA. 



IP one has not seen the little cluster of islands, almost "un- 

 espied on the ocean's bosom," it will be difficult tocom 

 prebend the gem-like beauty of the land, the wonderful 

 clearness of the water, and the rare scenery of ihe sea at 

 Bermuda. Everywhere, when the surface is' unruffled, one 

 can see into the water to a depth Of from ten to forty feet; 

 and at times, for instance, wdicu looking over the rail of your 

 boat, you are scarcely conscious that there is anything more 



palpable than air between yourself and the coral forma 



which are spread out in such an infinite variety of shapes aud 

 colors on the floor of the ocean. And talk of Persian car 

 pels, Smyrna rugs, tessellated pavements, classic stuccoes, 

 and rich mosaics; the elaborate work of the patient and per- 

 sistent zoophytes dowu there surpasses them all. Not only 

 is the bottom of the ocean decorated with coral tapestry, but 

 in the hills and valleys of the nether sea are reared s! ruitures 

 of coral that exceed in beauty and grandeur many of the re- 

 nowned temples that have been erected by man". Much of 

 this may be seen with the unaided eye. and more with a 

 single water-glass placed by the side of your boat, revealing 

 a hitherto unknown world. 



You may see the fishes swim into Hie great doors of the 

 submarine temples and disappear, as if they were gathering 

 for the performance of some piscatorial rite and the display 

 of pomp and ceremony. Many of the roofs of coral are sup- 

 ported by great columns and pillars, among winch the fishes 

 move sedately, .virile the sunlight illumines the odd struc- 

 tures, and adds brilliancy to the flashing of lins and scales. 



The islands are the. top of a moutain in the sea; they are 

 cavernous to a gTeat extent, and the shores have openings 

 beneath the waves which penetrate far into the land, and 

 into which the fishes go. probably for an afternoon Bap or 

 something. 



When you are wearied looking down into this wonderland, 

 sit up and take in the beautiful little world that (jes about 

 you. Several times when I was fully equipped wilh lines 

 and bait, for struggles with sheepsh'ead, po " 



yellow-tails and othera, I fi 

 the whole programme in contt 

 in the midst of which I was s 

 face of the water, showing wh 

 where again they are far dow 

 green tracings, marking the d 

 boat may sad: the indeserlbah 

 islands, "with their myriads of 

 and palmettoes, the 

 ribbon-like roads, w 



ng the 

 The 



and abandoned 

 scuiifulacec) it 

 ichlv tinted sur- 



l.hat ( 



irpr 



bottle-green and pale- 

 channels in which the 



ry of the numerous low 

 trees, oleanders, palms 



snow-wdiite houses and 

 iuding"in and about from water to sum- 



e and admiration ; aud it is little ■-'. 



beholding the picturesque elab- 



lugbt e 

 orations of land and wa 



There are. perhaps, few lovelier places to sail and Bsh and 

 have a good, quiet time, The bays and channels aud 

 Stretches of water between the islands" the nooks and corners 

 into which one may go exploring, the constantly changing 



