Bktshbeb 23, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



T47 



Panama Carolina (Lion). Baird. Sora rail, Carolina 

 rail. Ort Ian. 



Length 8-9 inches. Above olive brown, varied with, black, 

 and streaked at d i-pott- d with white. Flanks black, white 

 baned. In adult birds the face and throat is black, and the 

 sides of head and the breast sk'e blue; belly and under tail 

 coverts fulvous. The young lack the black face and have 

 the throat write, the breast being whitish or fulvous. This 

 is the common rail on all our Atlantic coast, to which, how- 

 ever, it is by no mta'S confined. It is distributed every- 

 where over the continent, and we have kided them on the 

 alkaline lakes of I he high central plateau of the Rocky 

 Mountains, as well as on the low river bottoms of the West- 

 ern Slates. 



Purzana nowioracemis (Gmel.) Ba'rd. Little yellow 

 rail. 



Smaller lhan the last, about 6 inches in length; above 

 varied with black and tawny; young birds marked with 

 white dots, which, Uowever, the aiiults lnck: below yellow- 

 ish brown, paling on throat and whitening on the belly; 

 flanks dark brown, white barri d. Not an uncommon bird, 

 but rareh kided save by chance. When flying it may be 

 recognized by the white tips of the secondary quills, which 

 are (hen conspicuous. 



Pormna jamuioen4i (Gmel.) Baird. Little black rail. 



Smaller; length a'rout 5 inches; blackish; head and under 

 parts dark slaty, paler or whitening on the throat; above 

 sperkled with white, the cervix and upp^r back varied with 

 dark chestnut: livwer belly, cissum, flanks and axillars 

 wbi'e barreit ; quills with white spots. (Coues). A tropical 

 species i an Jy seen in the United States. Sportsmen i-houid 

 be on the watch for this, and should see that any specimens 

 killed are preserved and their occurrence reported. 



T.ie Gallinules are much like the genus Pormna in their 

 general configuration, bin the forehead bear* a conspicuous 

 horny plate, extending up from the bill, and the toes have a 

 m rgici at membrane 



ToivjrnU fifartinica (Linn). Reich. Purple Gallinule. 



Head. neck and underpays beautiful purplish blue, blacken- 

 ing on the belly, the crissum white j above, olivaceous green, 

 the cervix and wing coverts tinted with blue j frontal shield 

 blue ; bid red, tipp d with yellow ; legs yellowish. Young, 

 with head, neck and lower back brownis'', the under parts 

 most'y white, mixed with ochrey. {Ooues)— Length 10£ 

 inches; a southern species ; but stragglers have been taken 

 a-t far north as New England. 



OaWnula, galeala (Licht) Bp. Florida gallinula. 



General col r slate, darkest on head, and paler on belly, 

 back olive, flanks and under tail coverts white-striped, le*s 

 and toes greeni h ; bill, frontal plate and a ring around tibia, 

 red ; length 12 to 15 inches. Rather southern in its distribu- 

 tion, but occurs regulady as far north as Ma-sachusetts. A 

 few are taken every year in the marshes of the Middle States. 



Fu'ica americana — Gmel. Coot, Mud-hen — This sub-fam- 

 ily differs trom the preceding mainly in the character of its 

 plumage, « hich is th ck and duck like ; and in the feet, 

 which are much better adapted for swimming than iu any 

 oth r members of the group. The feet are lob tte, that is, 

 they are furnished with semi-circular flaps for swimming, 

 something like the feet of the grebes, butstill more like those 

 of th • phalaropes. The c >ots spend much of their time 

 upon the water and ae excellent swimmers. In color the 

 coot is dark slate, changing to black on the head and neck, 

 and becoming paler on the brily. The under tail-coverts 

 and tips of secondaries are white. Bill white, with a choco- 

 late -colored spot near the end; frontal-plate chocolate- 

 brown; leng h about 14 inches. The cod, is exceedingly 

 abundant in the interior as well as in the South and on the 

 Pacific coast. In the New England and Middle States they 

 are n -t particularly abundant, but they are seen in small 

 numb, rs throughout the fall. 



Rabbits and Foxbs as Swimmers. — Sept. 14, 1881. — I 

 have seen rabbits, and foxes b ah take to water, in winter as 

 well as aummer. But the longest swim I ever knew a rabbtt 

 to make was in the summer. Several of us were, standing 

 on the shores of a creek, listening to bounds on the opposite 

 side, when, much to our surprise, a rabhit ran out from the 

 brutb on the other side, plunged into the water and -swam 

 over to us ; he landed i-afely, and made his way in peace. 

 The place where he crossed was two hundred feet wide, and 

 the hounds did not fodow. I have several times kncwn of 

 a fox swimming crei ks to escape when hunted, and once 

 knew one to get a cold bath while on a hunt himself. This 

 happened in the winter. There had been a light fall of sdow 

 on the evening ptevious, so several of us started in the 

 morning to hunt white hares. On getting into the swampy 

 bottom near Ma; le Springs, we ran where some hungry 

 fox bnd taken a hare's track. His hareship made a bee Hue 

 for the brook and foxy followed. They reached the brook 

 where it was sixteen or eighteen feet wide. The evidence 

 on the other side showed that the hare must have cleared it 

 at a bound ; but nots n with the fox. As he neared the brink 

 it looked too wide, or else, as the banks were icy, he dared 

 Dot try. His speed was such, however, that all efforts to 

 stop were in vain. The ice which covered the snow at the 

 margin of the brook only made makers worse, and a'though 

 he sat down, 'twas no use ; in he went, and his atdor for 

 hunt ing was • uddenly cooled. A few yards down stream we 

 could p'ainly see the prints which a wet fox lift as he 

 crawled out of an ice-cold trout brook. Meugus. 



East Mti.ton, Mass.— Speaking of rattlesnakes, there was 

 one killed here ten years ago on a limb as high as a man's 

 head, and one lust week on the lower limbs of a pine tree 

 about two feet from the ground. J. G. S. 



Thk very great variety of rubber goods, useful and orna- 

 mental, now manufactured for the use of sportsmen, is well 

 shown by the catalogue of Messrs. Hodgman & Co., which 

 we have just, received. Mist of the thing? that one needs 

 in the field seem to be provided, and are for sale at their two 

 houses in this city. They are among the oldest of our ad- 

 vertisers. 



"GoroK and Swtnth.k"— Kingston, Sept. 12.— As a unit 

 of the hearty and eentlemanly fraternity of sportsmen a'low 

 me, with all sincerity, to second the motion put by our good 

 friend " Podgers " in regard to the firm of " Gouee and 

 Swindle." Spoilsmen seem to be the legitimate prey of 

 all sorts of vultures. If a man be seen carrying a gun or rod 

 the universal partnera of the "Gouge and Swindle" firm 

 are ever on the alert, to take him in. Let us Boycott them. 

 Why not reorganize our army and give dear old " Podgers " 

 the command ? — Ax. 



%mr\t ^ag and %uiu 



\*For table of game seasons see last issue. 

 DEER HUNTING IN NORTHERN ONTARIO. 



EEV. Myron W. Reed says: "There are ppople who, 

 failing to catch the whooping cough in childhood, are 

 caught by it late in life. These have it 'hard.' Bo it is 

 witn shooting. A man may lead a blameless existence until 

 the. white du-t of the road of life is in his hair, und then 

 fall." Just so it was with the present writer. I had led the 

 "blameless existence" for over half a century and the 

 "white dust" had settled thickly, and then and not until 

 then did 1 "fall." 



Allured by the word " sport " I, who had never in mv life 

 fired a shot at a deer, was temped to join a deer-hunting 

 party. Probably the party itself had a share in the tempta- 

 tion, for a better lot one need not wish to fall in with than 

 were the Judge, the Sheriff, l he Lawyer and the Doctor. 



The spot selected was among the lakes of Northern Ontario. 

 Meeting at points on the road we reached together the ren- 

 dezvous at the extreme limit of public conveyance. Here. 

 after partaking of a supper of fried venison that whetted the 

 appetite for more, we met and arrauged with our guides, 

 cook and teamsters, laid aside some of the garments of civi- 

 lization, retaining only the necessary or useful, and prepared 

 for a plunge into the woods. 



That was indeed a beautiful October morning on which 

 we wended our way toward camp. Dela\s appeared to b - 

 the order of the day. and the sun buna: " hi h in his path- 

 way" before we were fairly started. The J ud*re. Lawyer 

 and Sheriff started ahead on foot with some of the d igs. 

 Some time after the baggage wagon got under way, the Doc- 

 tor and I occupying prominent, If not cotnfortahl •, positions 

 upon it. Anon followed another Wagon, bearing five large 

 canoes, and the men, leading the rest of the dogs, 'brought, itp 

 the rear. It was unders'o id that ou catching up with the 

 leading pedestrians the Doctor and I were to give up our 

 places to them, but, fortunately for us, they took the wrong 

 road, and we did not see them again until some time after 

 reoching the end of our land journey. The road wa-t simply 

 shocking, and our driver was so very conridera' e (of his horses) 

 that he made us get out and walk up every hid, lilt e or big. 

 on the road ; an' I after all it did not appear that we had so 

 much the advantage over those who walked ad the way. It 

 was not un'il late in the aftcruo >n that all parties arrived. 

 Wagons unpacked, dinner cooked and eaten, and canoes 

 launched and loaded, we set out for a four-mile paddle to our 

 ulimate destination— the east side of Long Lake. And bv 

 the fme the trip was accomplished, tents pich d and fur- 

 nished, supper attended to, and everything made snug and 

 comfortable, all were quite ready and willing to retire for the 

 niuhf. 



Our men were George Green, the leader of the hunt, his 

 brother John, son William, and brother-in-law Story, all 

 firs ■ class bushmen and canoeists. J >hn fell to my lot. A 

 better paddler need not be wanted, but a temporary aff-ction 

 of the eyes made him use'ess as to r.hos- organs for wa ch- 

 ing. Will was supposed to go with file DJctor and Story 

 with the Judge, while the Sheriff and Lawyer were to go to- 

 gether, "paddling their own canoe" But these arrange- 

 ments were by do means constant. I muw not omit to men- 

 tion the cook, who rejoiced in the name " Jim," and wh >se 

 chief characteristics were a beautiful ignorance of everything 

 pettaining to the art of cooking and enormous (that's t he 

 word) vocal powers, whicl he would persistency display 

 just as I wanted to go to sleep. My piteou3 appeah to th 

 others to choke or drown him were of no avail. The D >ctor 

 and the Judge did succeed in driving some ideas about cook- 

 ing into his head, but nothing could quench his sonorous 

 voice or the inclination to exer-ise it. 



1 tented with the Judge. The Sheriff and lawyer were 

 together in another tent. The Doctor had one to himself, 

 aud the men a larger one a short distance away. I was fortu- 

 nate in my companion, for anything he does not know in the 

 way of making himself comfortabe on such occasions is 

 hatdly worth "earning, and I hid the benefit of his experience 

 and forethought. A small stove in the tent added very ma- 

 terially to our comfort in wet and cold weather. O ir three 

 tents were placed in a circle, with the openings to the centre, 

 where a fire was kept burning. We first camped, for con- 

 venience, on the bank of the lake, bu r after a very windy 

 night I missed the Judge early iu the morning. He had not 

 been able to sleep on account of the storm, aud went out to 

 pro-pect for better quarters. The result w is a transfer of the 

 whole camp to a spot cleared for the purpose m the shelter of 

 a gr .ve of balsams. The bright fires, white tents and dark 

 green surroundings made indeed a very pleasant picture. 



Our hunting grounds were Long Lake, a very irregular 

 body of wa'er about sis miles long: Round Lake, west of 

 Long Lake, on the outlet, about three fourths of a mile in 

 length ; Spruce Lake, another irregular oue about two mile3 

 long, east of Long Lake, with a half mile portage between, 

 and an unnamed lake north of Long Lake, reached by a por- 

 tage of about a mile. Except f >r the work of lumbermen, 

 the whole of the surrounding* wore as nature had left theril. 

 To the south there was a settlement five or six miles away. 

 In all other directions many miles would have to be traversed 

 before a farm or clearing could be found. We had a hunt 

 almost daily, Sunday excepted. At first we tried it twice a 

 day, but found it was too much for the drivers, the. dogs aud 

 ourselves. Other hunting parties were in lhe neighborhood; 

 and it was arranged all around that the deer should "follow 

 the dogs." That is, if a dog start' d a deer, that deer, no 

 matter who might shoot it, should go to the party owning 

 the dog that started it. An honest old trapper propi ised this 

 to the Judge the night of our arrival, and he was so taken 

 with the idea and the man that he assented at once. It took 

 only a few hours, as we shall see, to show him that the trap- 

 per was decidedly ahead in that arrangement: 



Our first hunt was on Long and Spruce Lakes. The Judge 

 and Sheriff had their canoes carried ados-: to the latter lake. 

 My watch was at «n island nearly opposite the camp. The 

 Lawyer, alone in a " bark," was more to the n >rth, and a ill 

 farther on, near the bead of the lake, the Doctor had his posi- 

 tion. Green went out with the dogs northward between the 

 two Ink- s, and we all wem to our positions. \ watched long 

 and faithfully, watched standing; sitting, lying, walking, 

 gized across the water in all directions until the eyes grew 

 dim and weary, and fancy conjured up all kinds of visions in 

 the mist that at first obscured and the dazaling sunshin 

 afterwards lighted up the water, watched until I was rred of 

 wa'chiDg, and still watched on and on and saw noil: ii 

 least nothing that would pass for a deer. Tried to convince 



myself that, this was exhiliara 1 ing sport, but could not succeed. 

 Watched on until the other canoes came down the lake, and 

 then went iu to the rarnp and found the Doctor in possession 

 of a fine doe. It had taken the water ou the Lawyer's watch 

 and got, a good start across the lake before he saw it. 



The wind was dead ahead blowing hard, and lie could not 

 get, within hot. Finding it getting away from him he fired 

 twice ineffectually and gave it up. The Doctor in the mean 

 time had foreseen Hie lesult and, his canoe being double 

 manned, he bastenui to intercept the deer and succeeded in 

 doing so before it reached lhe other shore. 



Soon aft- r we landed, the Jud^e made his appearance, 

 looking anything but. nappy, lie had Uaggad a noble buck, 

 the best of (he wh le hunt, and was congratulating himself on 

 his success, when the honest old trapper aforesaid, put, in 

 and es'abllshed his claim to the deer, on the ground of his 

 dogs having run it in. The Judge wanted to know where 

 his, the trapper's watchers were, and found that he had 

 none. He had made a splendid one-sided nrrmgement, by 

 which we were to spend our time iu hun ing deer for his ben- 

 efit, without any possibility of return. It is needle 8 to say 

 thai that agreement was cancelled m quick time, and it took 

 the whole of the day to restore the Judge to his wonted good 

 humor. 



The next day we bun' etl the wrst side of Long Lake. This 

 time the watch was not so tedious. 1 soon had an opcortu- 

 lunity to distinguish myself, and succeeded admirably in do- 

 ing so. We could, from uur canoe, hear the dogs working up 

 the lake, and paddled up slowly after ihem ; finally, pausing 

 a few hundred yards frdm the shore. Although John's eyes 

 were of little use, his qu'ek ear d-tee'ed a deer taking to the 

 wafer. We went io ward it, but owing to the red dim of 

 the trees, and not knowing what a deer in the water was 

 like, I could not see it for some little time. At last lob- 

 served it swimming from point to point of a shallow bay. 

 We tried, without avail, to cut it off Loin the shore, and then, 

 by hard paddling, to get within shot. Bv this, I made my 

 s-ior, for we got quite neai enoug - for. any one else to bit it. 

 Seeing it about to land, 1 blazed away with one barrel (buck- 

 shot) aud missed, of course. John begged me to hold the 

 other barrel until the deer struck the bank, when I would 

 have a larger mark. But who, in a bad case of " buck 

 fever," ever listened to advice? Besides had I not my rifle 

 ready as a final resort. So I fired again with the same result. 

 The deer was then close io land, und as it sprang up the bank 

 I rook hurried aim with the ride, bur the thing would not go 

 off. I had forgotten to cock it ; and before tint trilling pre- 

 liminary could be attended to, the deer was out of stisht. To 

 say that, I was crest, fad- -u and disgusted, is putting it very 

 mildly. The boys behaved very wed over it through. Kept 

 d ura' iheir laughing as wellas they could, and good naturedly 

 circulated all s rtsof excuses for what they wer- kind enough 

 to term my "bad luck." The Sheriff sc ireda fine buck, and 

 the Judge a doe, on this hunr., so the game began to count 

 up, notwithstanding my bu -gliug. 



The Lawyer shot one at Spruce Lake soon after, and even 

 I was not al ogether " whitewashed." I was watching the 

 upper end of Long Lake, bad the canoe drawn up on the 

 hrach under some trees, aud was sitting very comfortably on 

 its bow, when I saw the head and then the ears of u deer pass 

 a projecting point not a hundred yards away, and st, irt across 

 the lake. I was- cool enough now. We waited quietly until 

 it was too far out to return, and then s'aried af er it and of 

 course got it. Tne poor thing had no chance, even with me. 

 1 had Only to get near enough t i make sure of hilling it with- 

 out injury to carcass or skin, and then tire. Shall I confess 

 that 1 did uot like this much better than be tedious watching 

 of ihe first d^y, or lhe miserable failure of the see md ? 



A day or f wo of unsuitable weather interfered somewhat 

 with i, ur hu- tin-, and we had been out five days and only 

 bagged as many d-er. T*o days more only remained to ns, 

 and s anething must be don-. Green determined to br ale 

 new ground and iry southward between the lakes (Ling and 

 Spruce), watching on both. I went to the extreme south end 

 of Long Lake, heard one shot but no dogs, and saw no deer. 

 Waited until noon and then started for camp. Going up the 

 lake we heard signal shots fr iu a deep bay aud, turning aside 

 to see what was up, met the Judge, w ho said the} wanted us 

 to help to "bring iu their bneks." They had secured three 

 deer, aud soon af er our arrival in camp the party from the 

 other lake came in with two more, making five for that day's 

 hunt. 



The next (and last) dry we tried the same ground. It was 

 proposed, as everybody was now in an asreeahle humor, that 

 I should take a watch tluu would give me a better chance of 

 getting ano her d er. But I declined. I had got one and 

 that was ad I wanted. Beside?, John had to go and hunt up 

 ano her team to take out the deer that bad so .suddenly in- 

 creased on our hands. So I went again to the landing at 

 South Bay, sent John out to the settlement, and remained on 

 watci alone, for the first, time. This bay is nearly squa-e, 

 about half a mile across, wi h a ni-m coming in from the 

 north. Around this point a short narrows leading to a second 

 bay uot so wide, and after c-ossing it a e'aauti 1 nearly half a 

 mile long leads into the 1 .ke. I bad no thought of seeing a 

 deer, and paid but little attention ro the watch, but habit of 

 observation and quickness of perception had grown up n me 

 even in one short week, and I was watching without know- 

 ing it. Au unexplained ripp'e at the extreme, northeast cor- 

 ner of the bay after a while developed a swimming deer 

 making for the west t-ide. i waited until it had got" so far 

 that it could not turn hack to the point, and then set out to 

 intercept it. But I was too hasty, and had hardly started 

 when it turned and made for the point. i s trained every 

 nerve and muscle to reach it or head it off, but Without avail, 

 and iu desperation tired a parting shot, unsuccessful, of 

 course. I wai ed u moment to see if it. would again take the 

 water on rual side, add ihcu paddled through the narrows. 

 On emerging 1 saw it in the next bay, again making for the 

 west sWo ami headed ii oif ,o 'lie pej - ■ asr, not 



get ing wi bin she.-. I ihen paddled through Ihe channel as 

 fast as* I could, hoping to get a shot a* ihe deer as it passed 

 the outlet. On my reaching the hike the deer had again 

 taken the water, but instead of makiiiL' directly for the west, 

 was turning a poipt to the east about a qua' I, r of a mile 

 away. I waited until it was out, of sight and ihen followed 

 iu lee of [he point. Rounding it. I saw the deei off the next 

 point, but fartLer out, I paddled close in 10 the shore, and 

 r observing me, made for the open water. Along 

 peninsula stretches inf- ihe lake from the west, tor which 

 the deer now made, but 1 Succeeded in h, tiding it, off, getting 

 within shot and securing ir, after over two miles of by far 

 the hardest paddling 1 ever did. 



Leaving my deer I went back to pick up my man. On 

 his arrival we started for the camp. I milking niyse'f as 

 comfortable as I could aud dcclaritg 1 would not "touch « 

 paddle that trip. Going through the first narrows I taw 



