106 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Septembee 9, 1830, 



inland districts of the colony by tlie white clasKee. 

 They are also export, rl intfiior "to the Diamond Fiflds, to 

 Nat»l and to tlie island of JMiiuritiiis, whnrp thpy are 

 chiefly eonsum. d by the colies, or East Indian laborers. 

 who are employed on fclie sugar plantations of tlie island. 

 They are a cheap food, and being very tender wlien 

 (hied or smoked, are palatable and bette'r suited to the 

 stomach in a warm climate, where strong meats are 

 injurious. Such aie a fevv noies conceraing snoek catch- 

 ing at the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Caj)e Town, South Africa, 



^^Address all communications to " Forest and Stream 

 Publishing Company, Is'ew York.'' * 



ANIMALS OF THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTH CARO- 

 LINA AND TENNESSEE. 



Editor Forest and Stream :— 



inthesuujmerof 1858 lexplored the mountains of North 

 Carolina and Tennessee, botanizing and measuring their 

 beigl.ls with barometers. In the Jiarcli (1859) nunjber of 

 the Amertarn Jouriiul of Hcifnce 'b an article iromme 

 about these mountains. As the Jouiual has a small cir- 

 culation, 1 give the following eslracts from the article: 

 '■The tedium of the night, when encaniping on the 

 mounlairip, is almost always enlivened by ilie'stories of 

 the guides of their Hdventures in hunting. They all 

 positively assert that tbe bears in parly spring, when first 

 emermng Irom then- winter quarters, arc as fat as ifihen 

 they tij-st retire for the winter. During the winter they 

 elitd tlie soles of their feet, which renders their walking 

 dflicult in the first spring. Then (heir food consists of 

 young plants, on which diet they soon berome lean, and 

 remain so until the ripening of beixies in August and 

 September. They are very fond of liogs and pigs, pork 

 and honey being their favorite diet. "Why they bite and 

 scratch the bark and limbs of the balsam and black 

 spruce, I cannot tell. It cannot be for food, because they 

 do not generally leave the marks of their teeth on a tree 

 except in one or two places. Sometimes they rise on 

 their hind legs and make long, deep scratches iii the bark 

 with their forepaws. It may be done for sport, or to let 

 their companions know their whereabouts. We have 

 seen these fresh bites and .scratches on different trees dur- 

 ing the entire warm season. The bears show great sa- 

 gucify in feeding to the leewai-d of the paths of the 

 mountain ridges, along which the hunter is almost 

 obliged to travel ; hence, if the wind bhiwg, it is almost 

 impossible to get a shot at them, their keen scent discov- 

 ering the hunier long before he gets within shooting dis 

 tance. 'I'bey are stupid and unwary about traps, enter- 

 ing without fear the log pens, which are shallow, with 

 a depth of not more than two feet, over which is raieed 

 B. very heavy top, which falls and crushes the bear when 

 he diatuibs the bait. Hundreds are caught in this man- 

 ner every year. In the unfrequented parts of the moun- 

 tains the large steel trap is concealed in the bear trail ; 

 but this is dangerous, and liable to catch dogs, of which 

 we saw two caught in one morning to our great sorrow. 

 The piteous yells of these dogs rang in our ears long 

 afterward. The bears rarely disturb calves or young cat- 

 tle, but in one locality of the Smoky Mountains we were 

 told that they did much damage in kiUing young cattle, 

 and that there could be no mistake about it, because a 

 large bear had been caught in the act of killing a young 

 steer. 



'•The panther, wild cat and wolf are all trouHesome to 

 the mountain farmer of these regions. The panther de- 

 stroys sheep and hogs ; the wild cat, lambs and pigs. 

 Botli are cowardly and thievish, being rarely seen. 



••The red squirrel (Scinru^ liiKhunrus), called mountain 

 buma in North CaroUna, is common in all the higher 

 mountains. It rarely descends into the valleys. It is 

 fond of tiae sends of the balsam and black spruce (Alriesi 

 fraseri and nigra), and as it is rarely molested hy the 

 hunters it is very noisy, active and fearless of man. 



"We were told by a traveling fur merchant whom we 

 met that the skins which he bought among the moun- 

 tains equal in fineness and goodness those of the North, 

 and that Northei-u mei'chants could not tell the differ- 

 ence ; still, in order to get the higbest price, he was 

 obliged to send his skins to New York tluou.gh ijhio, via 

 the Krie Railroad, as if tliey bad come from the North- 

 west. The principal furs obtained in the southern Alle- 

 chHuies aro the skins of the otter, mink, black fox, red 

 fox, raccoon and muskrat." 



To the above extracts let me add that twenty rears ago 

 trout and deer were abundant in those mountains and 

 streams ; that twenty-four of their jieaks are higher than 

 Mount Washington ; that they have liner and grander sce- 

 nery than any other portion of the Appalachians extend- 

 ing northward to Canada. Also, there is another a eiy 

 important item in favor of the Southern mountains as a 

 place of resort — mosquitos and gnats are not there to 

 torment one, as in Maine, Canada and Minnesota. The 

 valleys are from one to three thousand feet above the 

 sea ; hence these mountains and valleys have a Northern 

 climate, On many of the higher mountains I found spe- 

 cies of plants which 1 had previously seen on Mount 

 Washington, in New Hampshire. S. B, Buckley. 



AUatin, Texas, Aug. I6tli. 



Editor Forest and Stream :— 



In a late number of your paper, you refened to the 

 question of the best breed of dogs for hunting bears. 



On the map of North Carolina, in Macon County, may 

 be observed a place called Aquone, in the western portion 

 of the State. This little village of three or four hou.ses, 

 witli a post-ofllce, 2,6U0 feet above the sea, and seventy 

 miles fioin a railroad, lies at the base of two ranges of 

 high mountains, the Nautihela on the east, and the Val- 

 ley Mountain on the west. The surrounding countr3% l:ie- 

 ing thickly wooded and thinly settled, abounds with 

 many varieties of game, such as bears, panthers, deer, 

 •wild turkey, etc. , which are hunted only wii,h difficulty, as 

 the mouu tains are steep and lolty. 



At Aquone lives jUec Mundy, a man as well known 

 for his genial, social qualities, as for his prolloiencv in 

 hunting, I have had ttie pleasure of enjoying Alice's nos- 

 piiality on four occasions, when passing through that 

 loniily mountain country, as he lives on the road leading | 



from Cleaveland, Tenn., via Ducktown, to AshevUle, N. 

 C. His favorite sport is bear hunting, and he keeps two 

 well-trained dogs for that purpose. On the last occasion 

 when I was there, he told me that the dogs then in his 



E obsession had assisted huu in killing more than tivenly 

 ears. Through hun I became quite well posted in •■ bear 

 literature." Among those mountains the bears usually 

 " den up " early in January, and come out at;aiii almut 

 the 20th of April, when a particular plant is lar,;.? enough 

 for them to eat, with which they purge themsehes. Tlioy 

 are fat when they '■ den up," and are fat when they come 

 out again, but soon become poor, and remain so tmtil au- 

 tumn, when they feed on acorns and chestnuts. A fat 

 bear soon comes " to bay," but a lean bear i-uns like a 

 deer and "makes" for the nearest precipice, either to 

 ascend or descend in order to escape from the dogs. 

 When descending, they double up and roll down. Alec 

 says his dogs can find a bear any day in season. When 

 they overtake one, each dog assumes 'his position, one on 

 each side of their enemy. Dog No. 1 seizes a thigh of 

 the bear, which immediately turns to fight it off. 'No. 1 

 lets go contemporaneously with a bite from No. 2 on the 

 other thigh. Bear turns with i-age to No. 3, which lets 

 go synchronously with another bite from No. 1. In this 

 manner bruin is entertained until Alec comes up on 

 horseback, dismounts at some distance, then approaches 

 quite near with his shot gun, which he perfers to a tifle. 

 On several occasions, when a bear was wounded, it 

 rushed at him with purposes not peaceful, and he might 

 have been killed, but; bis faithful dogs, apparently know- 

 ing the danger to thfir master, seized the bear by the 

 thigh, and diverted its attention long enough for Alec to 

 reload his gun and fire again. Alec says the requirements 

 of a good bear dog should be courage to attack, and cow- 

 ardice to let go when the bear attempts to seize it. He 

 states that a cross between a bulldog and foxhound meets 

 the case belter than any other dog he ever saw. 



Trout are quite abund'ant in the Nantihela River, which 

 flows past Alec Mundy's house. I have never found 

 them in the Southern States in waters further south or 

 west than in tide river or its tributaries. I have heard 

 contradictory reports of their existence in Georcaa in the 

 headwaters of the Oconee, a branch of the, Hiwassee. 1 

 think the extreme southwestern distribution of this fish 

 IS a very interesting subject for inquiry, and it could 

 probably be determined by some of your Southern sub- 

 scribers. I mean the stream where they occur naturally, 

 as well as that where they thrive well after being trans- 

 planted. 1 have not found trout in North Carolina at a 

 lower altitude than 3,000 feet above the sea. In Macon 

 County, N. C, these fish may be found in the headwaters 

 of the Sugar Fork Creek, 4,00<) feet above the sea. This 

 is probably the highest altitude where they may be found 

 in the United States east of the Mississippi River. 

 Philaddphia, Pa. .j w 



HERONS AND CORMORANTS. 



ON the 31st day of August, the present year, I was in 

 heavy, tall timber in the Illinois River bottom, 

 twenty-iive miles above Peoria, bee hunting, when I was 

 surprised to find myself in the midst of a large nesting 

 place of the great blue heron (Ardf.a Jierodias) and little 

 white egret or snowy heron (Ardea canUidissima) in about 

 equal numbers, and with a few nests occupied by the 

 two young to a nest of either the double crested cormo- 

 rant (G4aeidu.s diloplius) or the Mexican cormorant (ff. 

 mexicamis). The nests occupied by all appeared to be 

 exactly the same in every way, and I should judge, or 

 rather guess, that the cormoraius had dispossessed the 

 herons of their uests.or at least occupied an old nest from 

 the beginning of the season, for it is hardly rea-sonable 

 that birds of such very different characters would build 

 nests exactly ahke, and it is a well known fact that these 

 nesting places and nests are used by the herons yea rafter 

 year. The nests were placed in the highest forks of the 

 tallest trees. 



These cormorants are known by the "boys " on the Illi- 

 nois River as " nigger geese," and are quite plenty, and 

 1 had for years tried to capture one to determine their 

 species; so 1 picked out the lai-gestpair I could see— they 

 were all standing or sittuig, for they always stand up sit- 

 ting down, holt upright in their nests— and let go at them 

 with a very good shooting No. 13 gun— a first-class glass 

 ball gun, and loaded for balls with 4 drachms and lA oz, 

 No. « shot— the yoimg coi-morants merely shook their 

 heads, snapped their bills' and chattered a' little at this 

 salutation. I gave tliem the other barrel with the same 

 result, then both again— they appeared to enjoy the fun. 

 I then got a little mad, took another positioii and gave 

 them my best choke, and pulled the trigger very hard. 

 I guess the one nearest to ine "stubbed his toe '' and fell 

 down, but lie "got ri^ht up," and sat oown on his tail 

 again. Well, 1 thoughi there must be something the 

 matter with my gun, so I tried it on the younc; blue her- 

 ons, which I think thought the Fourth of July had come, 

 as they had nearly tdl lett their nests and walked out on 

 thedry limbs to see the fun, llet loose on the biggest 

 one I could see, and down he came, and so did three 

 more. By this time the old herons began to think there 

 was trouble in camp, and came squawking in from every 

 direction. 1 sainted the first one that came near, and 

 killed him so ha.rd tliat he fell down like an empty sack, 

 and also three more twenty to thirty feet above the 

 trees. I then concluded I would make the two young 

 cormorants lay do«'n or empty all my shells at them, so 

 I climbed up on an enormous log, drew a bead on their 

 heads, and let go, when one laid calmly down on his 

 back in the nest and the other pitched forward and came 

 to the ground, and the long wished for " Nigger goose " 

 was mine. I think he had as many as one hundred and 

 fifty No. 8 shot in his corpus. I found his hide was about 

 as tough as that of an old woodchuck, and thickly cov- 

 ered witli stifl' feathers and matted down, passing through 

 his pelt and riveted on the inner side like that of a loon. 

 I now had my bird, but how was I to find his proper 

 name? For the information of other voung students in 

 ornithology, I will tell how I did it.' If my bu-d had 

 been known by any common name that Dr. Coues had 

 ever heard of, I could have turned to the general index 

 of his "Key to North American Birds," and found it, 

 but the Doctor's early education was neglected, and he 

 had never heard of " Nigger geese." In his " Key to the 

 Genera," Dr. Coues groups aU birds in four great groups 

 by the number and position of theii- toes. My bird, I 

 found, had four toes. I look at the Key and find " Toes 



four, two in front, two behind," and " Toes four, three 

 in front, one behind." Now my bird has four toes, aU in 

 front, BO far as I can see, and what makes it worse, the 

 four toes are firmly connected by three full welw. Have 



I struck a snag? 



If tliere was a class of birds with one toe in front, two 

 at the siile and one behind, I could get .nking, but there 

 was no such group. Well, there were four toes, and one 

 of them miglit be called a bhid toe if it did not point to 

 the front when the bird "stood up ;" so I turn to Group 

 4, and then to Hiib-Kronp A (the hind toe elevated). 

 Trouble again, for I have found a hind toe. I cannot 

 see that it is elevated, but I follow down to Sub-sub- 

 group 1, "Feet totipalmate (all four toes webbed, hind toe 

 semi-lateral and barely elevated (A)." So I follow down 

 until I find A, and further down I find all the characters 

 of my bird in the genus Oracuhis, to which I turn, but 

 as my bird is young and notquite full fledged or colored, 

 I am not able lo certainly determine wdiich species i:f 

 Gi-acu/if.'i or cormorant it is : so, the "Nigyer Goose" 

 question must remain unsettled for the present, so far as 

 I am concerned. But 1 write this to give my testimony 

 on two facts in Natural History, to w-it, that tliese two 

 herons in this region 1 have always found breeding to- 

 gether in the same grove, and generally with more ilian 

 One nest of each on ^the same tree : that their nests, so 

 far as can be observed from (lie ground, are exajtly al-ke, 

 and that a cormorant was using^and rearing its young in 

 exactly the same nests, and that all three birds had young 

 of about the same maturity— almost full fledged, just 

 leaving their nests on the 31st day of August, this year 

 of 1880. I am of the opinion tliat I hey s're ahout three 

 weeks late this year. Who can give facts? And, also, 

 how long is it fi'om egg-laying until the birds leave the 

 nests ? 



As a student, I thought it very strange that a bird with 

 feet like this corraorant,with fourtocs completely webbed 

 together, should habitually perch and roost on trees ; so 

 I could not beUeve that niy young bird was a '-Nigger 

 Goose" until I got the opinion of some of our old river 

 gunners. I saw the old ones at the nests ; they looked 

 exactly the same as "N. Geese," and all said the young 

 was a "Nigger Goose." This bird must, when it perches 

 on a tree, clasp its toes ai'ound the twig just as a man 

 without thumbs would grasp. Bvrne. 



Lamn, III, Aug, iitli. 



OWLS. 



ABOUT the middle of last June I found a young 

 screech owl in a box which 1 had placed high up on 

 one of the posts of the verandah at the hack part of the 

 house, intending it as a home for some wrens, but they 

 would not occupy it. The old owl had sat day after day 

 on the brackets of the adjoining posts. This led me to 

 get the step-ladder and look into the box. No nest was 

 there. The bottom of the box was nearly covered with 

 the elytra and wings of insects, mingled with the wings 

 and feathers of small birds. 



The young o«l was nearly full grown, but still covered 

 with cinerous or ashy colored down with whiter bands 

 across its head. Its horns were prominent and composed of 

 small feathers. When the yovmg owl fii-at saw me he re- 

 treated backwards to the far corner of the box, and 

 fronting me gave vent to a hissing noise, opened and shut 

 his jaws, looking as fierce as i.ossible- a real comical 

 chap. As I wasabotit to take him in my hand he threw 

 himself on his back and presented his claws and open 

 mouth. I brought him down and placed him on the floor, 

 where he stillshowed a pugnacious disposition. His per- 

 formances and appearance were so singular and amusing 

 that I afterwards showed him to some visitors, when he 

 was as brave as ever. His feathers came out rapidly, 

 so much quicker than I expected that lie flew an ay and 

 escaped a prison cage. I intended also to shoot one of 

 the old birds for close inspection. I saw or heard nothing 

 of them for several weeks, but recently I have heaid them 

 or others like (hem at nigiit, 



I am not sure that these are tioie screech owls {Scops 

 asio). They may bo Western mottled owls (Scops ma- 

 raltii). They certainly make a noise at night very much 

 like screech owls, and also resenilile them in plum'age. 



Do the old owls cany their young from place to place 

 for safety ? No nest was in the box and but one young 

 one. I think the other young birds were killerl and this 

 one carried to the box by the parent birds. The box was 

 in a frequented place near the kitchen window, and the 

 old ones would have been apt to have been seen there 

 abouts when eggs were being laid and set upon, but they 

 were only seen a short time before 1 stiw the young one. 

 In the winter of lS76 a snowy owl (A'yclea nivea) was 

 shot near Austin ami brought to me for name. 



AusiuL, Tt.ais. Aug. Mill. S. B. Buckley. 



Cool,— About a week since, while examining the web 

 of a well-fed house spider of ordinary size which had 

 stretched his net across the comer from the body of the 

 house to the extension, and had supphed his larder with 

 a goodly stock of mosquitos, motlis, etc., 1 observed at 

 the same time a bluish looking wasp come boblj'mg along 

 the side wall, when all at once bang he went into the 

 spider's web. I thought he was caught, sure-. i'>en- 

 half second he would kick and shake as though indeed he 

 was entangled, but was he? We shall .see. The spider 

 was slow in responding, but after a number of shakes he 

 darted out and attempted to secure the wasp, but no 

 sooner had he cast a strand of his web arounil the foot 

 of the wasp than the latter gave the web a jerk , bringing 

 the spider within his grasp. Before tlie spider could re- 

 cover himself enough to tliink of running he was inclosed 

 in the deadly embrace of the wasp, anti in less than a 

 second the latter had doubled up and bad tnerced the 

 poor spider with his deadly sthig a dozen times. One 

 would suppose the web would offer some obstacle to the 

 wasp, but not a bit ; he was as much at home in the web 

 as the spider. He took the dead spider in his mouth, de- 

 liberately crept through the web, went down on the in- 

 side, out under the bottom and bore off his victim, I sup- 

 pose, to fatten the young progeny of the captor. 



Stkaight Bokb. 



In this connection we would refer our readers to an 

 article entitled "The Solitary Waspe," printed on page 

 878 of roiume XI. of tbia joumaL 



