42 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



tArtirsr IT. 



names me well known in business and professions I circles, 

 and Die character of the company is such as to bespeak 

 for it the respect ami confidence of- the public. It is the 

 purpose of the company to manufacture, a wood powder 

 for use in shotguns. The past experience of American 

 sportsmen with wood powders lues not been such as to 

 Cause them to look with much favor upon new explosives 

 of this character. The manufacturers, however, represent 

 to us that in composition and explosive qualities their 

 compound will so radically differ from the Dittmar powder. 

 whose true character was exposed by us, as to be free from 

 the dangerous nature which was the distinguishing char- 

 acteristic of that explosive. None of this wood powder has 

 yet heen given to tin- public, and we have, therefore, not 

 had tin opportunity of testing it with respect to its safety. 

 So soon as if comes into our hands we shall subject it to 

 a searching analysis by a Competent chemist and report 

 the result. Pending that examination we have, upon the 

 representations of the manufacturer-, as above, admitted 

 their advertisement to our columns. 



Pacific Salmon Fisheries.— Unless our friends on the 

 Pacific coast are careful. I hey will find (heir streams nced- 

 Ing restocking in a few year- . The fact that the products 

 of their salmon fisheries have increased more than "twenty 

 fold within ten years points to the danger they are in of over- 

 fishing them. It means the killing of the goose. Already 

 the southern and more accessible rivers are nearly cleaned 

 out by the greed of the fishermen for present gain, not 

 enough fish being left each year for seed. The Sacramento 

 is far from being the salmon stream it was, and even the 

 seemingly inexhaustible Columbia is beginning to feel the 

 heavy drain that has been put upon it. When these rivers 

 are exhausted the canners will seek new fields in British Co- 

 lumbia, and even in Alaska: but something should be done 

 lo so adjust the yearly catch to the annual production that 

 the rivers will be in as good salmon bearing condition fifty" 

 years from now as they are at present. 



FOS ITHB London HhsrrEurEs Exhibition.— Ciipl,. .Joseph 

 W. Collins, of the United States Fish Commission, has gone 

 to Gloucester, Mass., to collect models of all boats, vessels, 



and apparatus used in the fisheries, to be used at the coming 

 International Fisheries Exhibition in London, next year. 

 Captain Collins is a practical fisherman, and had charge of 

 the fishing models and apparatus at the similar exhibition in 

 Berlin, in 1880, and therefore knows exactly what is wanted 

 in order to creditably represent: the means employed in our 

 deep sea fisheries. 



toed woodpeckers with nest of young. Cedar birds, one 

 flock. Nuthatch, rare. Olive-sided flycatcher, rare. Blue- 

 jay, common. Canada jay, a few. Humming-bird, one on 

 Fourth Lake, Small sandpiper, one. Woodcock, one, at 

 Forge House. Loon, one. Black duck and brood, one. 

 Shelldrakes and brood, three (this bird is common). Wood 

 ducks, two; quite rare. Blue heron, two. Bittern, heard 

 four. Hen hawk, three. Osprayor fish hawk and nests, 

 two. Culls, common on all lakes, Owls, heard seven. 

 Ruffed grouse or partridge, plenty." These notes may be 

 wide of the mark in some cases, but were taken as they oc- 

 curred to me in June and the first of July. 



Many broods of grouse were seen, and often the little fel- 

 lows would take to a tree when they rlid not appear to be but 

 a few days old. Frequently the mother bird fluttered ahead 

 of me, apparently sorely wounded, along the trail until it 

 suited her view of things to skim away to her brood. Once 

 I beat her at her own game. It v 

 my pack and get as tar ahead of 

 thai, the creaking of his boat could 

 careful step I kept on the lookoi 

 tree an old grouse started in disi 

 and crying almost like a dog. Knowing that her young were 

 hidden near. I stopped, hoping to see them, and the mother 



my habit to shoulder 

 ie guide as possible, so 



Iroopin; 



fallen 

 wings 



fluttered around 

 waited until the j> 

 for him dowu tl 

 evidently did not 

 considerable call 

 treat of seeing he: 



ADIRONDACK 8UMVEY .XOTRs. 



V.— =G.-\MK AMD OTirK.lt 1.TFK. 



TN no forest that I have seen has there been such an ab- 

 -L sence of life as in the Adirondaeks. True, deer are quite 

 plenty, and so are some other large animals, but! refer to 

 tlie- smaller life which is not classed as game, There is an 

 entire absence of squirrels, except the little red one and the 

 smaller "chipmunk." or ground squirrel: birds tire compara- 

 tively scarce, and reptiles are only represented by one or two 

 harmless snakes and one turtle. Toads are the most fre- 

 quent thing met ou the curries and frogs arc fairly numerous. 

 Few wading birds are seen and even woodpeckers are 

 scarce. It comes as near being a lifeless wilderness as 0119 

 can imagine, due, no doubt, to the short season and severe, 

 winters. The game of this season has no migratory mem- 

 bers except ducks, which are extremely scarce on the fre- 

 quented water-courses. 



Under the head of "Mammals Seen" my notebook con- 

 tains the following: "Bed squirrel, plenty: chipmunk, occa- 

 sional; ruuskrat, scarce, saw two. Rabbit, one, dead on 

 trail, been killed by hawk, owl, or some animal. Mink, 

 one. Porcupine, one. Bats frequent on Long Lake, but 

 observed nowhere else. Deer, plenty, saw six, and many 

 tracks. Bear, tracks of one. Saw live line otter skins in 

 possession of Alvah Dunning on Raqiiette Lake, Wolves 

 are extinct. Moose ditto, not over four lulled since Dun- 

 ning killed his last one about twenty years ago. ITe tells 

 me that he hilled his bust beaver over thirty years ago. the last 

 one about Lake Pispco, and the only one be ever took in his 

 nearly fifty years' residence in the woods. They were plenty 

 formerly, his father was a beaver trapper. lie says there is a 

 beaver dam on the Sarauac now." 



Under "Jieptiles and Batrachiaus" the note book say 

 •Frogs abundant in the marshes and small ones in 1he 

 springs. Toads of many colors frequent in the woods, 

 peeially on the carries. Snapping turtles, one- in Big Moc 

 Lake, would probably weigh twelve pounds. Garter sunk 

 two. Newts, three, " 



Birds appear in the note book as follows: "Bobins. plenty 

 near the settlements and quite frequent along the lakes; 

 none far from water. Wood thrush, occasional. Catbird, 

 rare. Kingbird, occasional. Song sparrow, a few. Yel- 

 low-bird, not seen since leaving Cedar Kiver, east of Blue 

 Mountain, 'Ali-day-piddley bird,' plenty. Crow, six on 

 Itaquette, and but few elsewhere. Haven, one; said to be 

 scarcer now since crows have come in. Kingfisher, scarce. 

 Blackbirds, plenty in swamps and along overflowed inlets. 

 Crossbill, five on Seventh Lake, Woodpeckers, many, but 

 not so plenty as expected, mostly the smaller kinds; ouly 

 three golden-wings or 'high-holes' seen ; found pair of three- 



back coaxing me to folli 

 ame past and saw her lead the way 

 h. while 1 hid behind a stump. She 

 it us. for she came back, and after 

 ithered her family, and gave me the 

 ■h close by with her treasures. This 

 took all of halt an hour, but it was time well spent to see the 

 little downy beauties picking at occasional insects as they 

 ran along. On another occasion 1 went so still as to surprise 

 alien and brood behind a log, and in her alarm at finding 

 danger so near, she approached me in so threatening a man- 

 ner, with wings down arid head erect, that I expected her to 

 strike my boot. 1 could easily have struck her with the 

 handle of the landing-net at any time for three or four 

 minutes. Her courage was admirable, and had she chosen 

 to strike me it would have heen charming. After holding 

 me at bay until her jewels were safely hidden she changed 

 her tactics and fried the lame device, and finally flew away, 

 well satisfied that her bravery had saved her brood from a 

 monster. 



Panthers are getting scarce in these woods and but lew are 

 seen. In my opinion it would be well to remove the bounty 

 on them and let them take their chances. Trjs view has 

 these reasons to support it. If the bounty were removed no 

 one would hunt them for profit, and they Blight increase to 

 a limited extent and afford sonic sport. For my part I would 

 give three times the bounty for the chance of killing a pan- 

 ther, and not ask the State to assume any portion of the cost, 

 nor would I give up the ears for the $20 or $30, or what- 

 ever the bounty is. The panther is the only animal which 

 eats and keeps down the porcupine, and th» latter are in- 

 creasing since the former became scarce. The porcupine is 

 a bigger evil than the panther, as any man who has a dog in 

 the woods soon finds out. and a dog somehow never learns 

 not to worry a porkey, no matter how terribly he suffers 

 from a mouth full of quills. 



Bears are quite plenty and mischievous, leafing up what- 

 ever you may hide in the woods. I have taken the bear 

 fever badly, and it will be necessary for me to kill' one in 

 order to be supremely happy. On this subject I held the 

 following conversation with my guide, the noted ■-.lack"' 

 Sheppaid : 



"How can 1 work it to kill a bear 7" 



"That's hard to tell; you might come up here and find oue 

 in a week and again you might be in the woods a year and 

 not see one." 



"What I mean is, can't I get a mau, yourself for instance, 

 who will let me know in the proper season where a bear is 

 likely to be found so that I could leave New York city and 

 be with him in twenty- four or thirty hours, and then spend 

 a week perhaps in finding a bear? I can't get away for a 

 long time, a week or two at most is all that I could spare to 

 interview bruin." 



"I don't see how it is to be done. In the first, place you 

 can't still hunt a bear in these woods very well, because he 

 will go ten miles to your one, and dogs are no use in these 

 mountains, as a bear will know of a leaning tree which will 

 take him to a ledge on the rock above and be miles away 

 while your dogs are howling at the foot of the tree. If you 

 happen to come on a bear you can kill it, but that is some- 

 thing you can never calculate upon, at least, not in the way 

 you want to." 



'Tt seems as if it might be arranged somehow." 



"1 don't see what you want to kill a bear for anyhow. 

 The skin ain't worth more than ten or fifteen dollars, und 

 the meal is worth all il will firing to get it out of the woodB. 

 I've killed bears and let. the meat lay because it couldn't be 

 got out without a hundred dollars worth of work. Then 

 see what it would cost you. You get me to go in to tele- 

 graph you and you come up and we go into the woods for a 

 fortnight, provisions and all it would cost you seventy-five 

 dollars at the least calculation, ft seems a foolish piece of 

 business to mo." 



"There you go again, Jack! You arc one of the most 

 calculating and mercenary fellows; you look at it from the 

 paying side. Why, Jack, I wouldn't sell the hide of a bear 

 that I killed for a hundred dollars. It would have a place of 



honor in the room known as my den. 7 I only want to kill 

 it to brag about, for I feel like very small potatoes here 

 among you men who talk of killing bears and panthers as I 

 do of taking trout am* bass. Mr. Colvin has lulled his 

 panther and perhaps a dozen bears, and here I am a fellow 

 who has no such record to point to. Why. if r had a bear 

 skin on the door which 1 killed in the Adirondaeks. an alli- 

 gator head shot, in Florida, a tiger skin which, with a pair ' 

 of elephant, tusks, fell to my rifle in Tndia, and perhaps a 

 dozen more such trophies. I would swell up big when I en- , 

 tered FoiresT and Stream office and make 'em all do me] 

 proper honor. Never mind the cost (mentally, if it isn't too 

 much); but I say. .Tack, can't this be done on my fall visit, 

 or next, Spring?" 



"I'll tell you how you can do it. I sometimes trap a bear, 

 and 1 might hold him until you come up, and then you could . 

 kill him in the trap." 



"Jack Sheppard! don't talk bears to me any more. If, 

 that is a joke I will forgive it, but if you mean if, which Ij 

 refuse to believe, thai thing would work my everlasting 

 ruin. I would be guyed to death if it got out, and if if didn't ' 

 I could never look an honest, bear in the face in the Central 

 Park menagerie. Let us talk about trout for a while," 



I afterward found a guide, Will Ballard, t\ ho tells me that 

 in the spring, when the suckers are spawning, the bears are 

 on the stream and feeding on the fish. He gives me hope 

 that my serious attack of bear fever may be allayed at that 



F. M. 



T I 



$he gportmt{m gowist 



A SWAMP EPISODE. 



«v ,\. yniVF.. 



lost beautiful part of Mississippi is in its northeast 

 prairies. From the rigln bank of the Tom-hig- 

 lUBtry bejrins to open— a series of rolling glades 

 ;s stretching westward— the swelling bosoms of the 

 mbrace of the groups of Trees 



id tin 

 )f flu 



open 

 use 



hnri 

 aaal 



:ied troopers ot 



like a pooling beauty in the arms of her 1 



Aftera few miles of this the openings 

 trees scarcer until finally there opens to t 

 sights no one ever fails to appreciate — tin 

 prairie extending for miles, without a bre: 

 living verdure until lost in the blue haze 

 zon. " This gem of prairie extends from 

 most continuously to North Mississippi, • 

 to fifty miles in width. It is evidently t 

 cicnt, lake or sea — the soil is a black, rich 

 and it was the granary of the Confederal 



Time and again did the shattered and - 

 Forest, ride down here to recover themselves and recruit thei 

 bony horses, among the open-armed planters and their sw T ol 

 len corn-cribs, and as often were they sent back fresh and 

 all ready for another six months' hard work. Of course the 

 devilish cotton has its strangling arms around the neck of 

 the lovely country yet, but the time will come when gras 

 and cattle will make it again a Paradise. 



The land lies high, being on the great watershed befweei 

 the Tombigbee. the Yazoo and the Pearl rivers, and for the 

 same season is naturally well drained. 



The western part of the prairie is for 

 tent bounded by the Suquctonsha creek : 

 creek drains an immense section of cou 

 quence varies from the proportions of a pi 

 of a great river. It overflows miles of swt 

 and is a nasty little stream meandering through a wide mar 

 gin of swamp when in its tamer mood. 



Of course the swamp is fertile and of course the hot sun 

 water and rich soil have together made a tremendous mora: 



considerable ex 

 I Swamp. This 

 ry and in const 

 v brook to thosf 

 P when in flood 



Waters, bu 

 features of 

 inished. Abltj 

 'or days in it» 

 it best s 



speak of [1 



Not SO large in limits as those of the Fatht 

 still large enough to present all the pecul 

 bottom in a form rather concentrated than 1 

 woodsmen have been known to become lo, 

 recesses, and those who hunt there and kn, 

 most careful to keep to their landmarks 

 dangers with the most respect. 



Before the Rebellion it was the refuge of all runaway 1 

 gers in the country. Many of them, after running off I'roi 

 mere impulse, would have their hearts fail when they read 

 the gloomy shadows of the swamp, and so he found skulkfij 

 along its edge. Some, however, there were, worthy of th 

 name of man, into whose soul tile accursed lash of shiver 

 had entered like iron, strengthening and supporting them I 

 they plunged into the deepest recesses of the mysteridj 

 swamp, often disappearing forever from human eyes, or 63 

 flitting like ghosts in the darkness around some isolated negv 

 quarters. 



But for those who knew how to hunt in it, the swam 

 was full of attraction. The bayous and lakes wej 

 full of fishes, wildfowl anil all sorts of vermin, while tli 

 groves were tilled with deer, turkeys, squirrel 

 sorts of game in profusion. Some hecame so fond of it thj 

 they pursued sport in the swamp nsa passion, and c :-n. da, 

 sought, its limits either to shoot or fish or L 



One boy I knew, and I was not 

 him, who" was always going into the: 



From his 



earli 



off any vi 



sitoi 



sheep am 



nan 



relatives. 





ception u 



men 



hind on h 



: 5 hi 



enough. 



lne 



iatural la 

 :de 



ite for 

 stop 



e liitel 



speaking terms 

 imp. The little 

 lehtei 





bis trait. He 

 >d before the house. 

 hunted up by agon 

 a junk-shop for the 

 vas myself. 

 ess a friend took me 

 in the swamp, It 



M\ gun was an old percussion musket whose daily taki 

 supplied a most convenient, excuse for those gem-rat and 

 quisitorial sorts of threshings we not in those days. But si) 

 was a darling to shoot. With a handful of powder out of 

 bottle, half of my mother's unread Chrixti<u> Adrnc/U: fq 

 waddin', and another handful of shot out of a pocket, the ol 

 Harper gave a pattern and penetration no modem gun ca, 

 equal, I've seen her shoot so as to make Herron's old bu 

 actually jump out of a thirty feet circle of rails, and ever 

 mule in the lot commenced to buck when he saw her nol 

 poked through the fence. 



However, thus equipped, from an early age 1 sought IB 



