Aran, 6, 1882.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



187 



An Intekesting Race. — A writer in a recent number of 

 flie (\ipr Ann Adra-tteer gives an interesting account, of a 

 trial of speed and endurance between a frog and a snake 

 which ia certainly worthy of record. Most people who 

 spend ranch of their time in the open air and have their eyes 

 about them have seen snakes in the act of devouring frogs, 

 but to have seen such a race as I his, occurs, we imagine,' to 

 but few. The account is as follows: I started one warm 

 summer morning, as was my custom, to milk the cows that 

 were confined over night in'the yard adjacent to our barn, 

 which was situated at quite a distance from the house, to 

 reach which I was obliged to pass along a road until I 

 reached a gap in the wall at my left. Beside this road ran a 

 brook eight to ten feet wide; from the gap in the wall ran a 

 foot path up a gentle incline to the barn. I had reached a 

 point in this path about midway between the wall and barn, 

 when ray attention was drawn to a large-sized frog, coming 

 toward me down the path, making the most desperate leaps. 

 It; seemed to ray boyish eyes as though every jump must 

 have been at least a' rod. But what could make 'this frog in 

 such haste? lie appeared to take no notice of me, but was 

 Only intent, upon escaping from some impending evil. I 

 stepped nne side to let. him pass, and as I stood looking after 

 him something passed my feet like a flash, which a second 

 glance showed me to be a large black snake, four or five feet 

 long, with bis head carried at an elevation of about a foot 

 from the ground. As you may suppose, I began to get inter- 

 ested, and followed on* as fast as I could. When the frog 

 reached the wall he. made one bound over it into the road, 

 the snake went through a hole without any diminution of 

 speed, and on they sped across the road and brook. The 

 frog Then reached a stone wall of unusual height, over which 

 I feared he could not jump, but he made a tremendous leap, 

 and landed in the tall grass on the other side; he did not stop 

 here, however, for the snake was still after him and gaining. 

 After the snake entered the grass of the mowing field, I lost 

 sight of him, but cotdd see the frog making his long and 

 regular jumps, and, pursuing as fast as 1 could, I saw him 

 make another flying leap over a wall into an adjoining en- 

 closure. When I reached the latter place, neither frog nor 

 snake could be seen, but after searching about for a few 

 minutes in the grass and bushes, I was rewarded by Seeing 

 the tail of the snake disappearing in a large pile of stones. 

 The frog I did not, find ; but I have a strong suspicion that 

 after recovering his breath. Air. Snake sat down to a good 

 breakfast, at which the frog was present. How long the 

 chase had been in progress when I became a witness of it, I 

 do not know; but the earnestness and spirit with which it 

 was conducted, was surprising to me. 



Monkey Twins. — This climate is fatal to monkeys. Most 

 of them die. of consumption. They cannot be successfully 

 bred in this country. The birth of a pair of twins at the' 

 Madison Square Garden, in this city, last Monday, is there- 

 fore quite worthy of note. The Tunes reports the event as 

 follows: A pretty faced and intelligent looking little monkey 

 called Minnie, belonging to the Barnuin show, pressed a 

 diminutive image of herself to her breast yesterday, and cast 

 half-affrighted glances through the bars at the crowds. "Min- 

 nie presented Jock, the father, with twins yesterday," ex- 

 plained keeper Sam Hodges. "Both were "females' One 

 never drew the breath of life, but the other, safe and well in 

 its loving mother's arms, will doubtless grow up tli,e pride of 

 its parents." When Mr. Hodges arrived at the Garden Sun- 

 day morning he found Minnie with a babe in either arm. 

 One was limp and motionless, but the other was applying 

 itself industriously to the task of extracting nourishment 

 from the maternal breast. Mr. Hodges mounted the step- 

 ladder to take away the dead babe, aud Jock, the father, 

 w T ho w T as in the next compartment in "murderer's row," be- 

 came greatly excited. He almost succeeded in wrenching 

 open the door, aud he did succeed in grabbing Mr, Hodges 

 by the hair of the head. He pulled unmercifully, and only 

 by vigorous action in compelling him to release his hold did 

 Mr. Hodges save himself from premature baldness. When 

 he had caused Jock to relax his grasp, Mr. Hodges reached 

 into Minnie's compartment and took her lifeless infant, from 

 her. She cried like a child at the loss while the tears coursed 

 down her cheeks. She was nearly distracted, and, with her 

 live offspring in her right hand, extended at arm's length, 

 ran into the far corner of the cage. She moaned and whined 

 for a while, but finally dried her eyes when she saw that she 

 was safe from further interference, and gave her undivided 

 attention to her young one. All day long yesterday she held 

 her babe, tightly in her arms, and was as solicitous for its 

 welfare as any mother could be. Mr, Hodges said it was the 

 first time twin monkeys were ever born in captivity. The 

 surviving twin is about five inches in length, with a tail 

 about an inch longer than itself, an abnormally developed 

 bead, and a perfect picture of its mother. Minnie is four 

 years old and weighs about fifteen pounds. She was brought 

 from Africa when a year old. Jock, the father, has reached 

 the age of ten and weighs twenty pounds. He was captured 

 when four years old. 



Titf. Massena Quail. — We have recently received from a 

 valued correspondent in Southwestern Texas, a beautiful 

 specimen of the Massena quail, one of the most, brilliantly 

 colored of the North American PmuMeida. This species is 

 only found in the United States in the Southwestern Stales 

 and Territories, its habitat being Southwestern Texas, New 

 Mexico, and Arizona, and to the southward. It occurs as 

 far north as the. thirty-fifth parallel. The specimen received 

 is an unusually fine "and high phrmaged male. The sender 

 says of it: The specimen was killed near Devils River in 

 this vicinity. As far as I have been able to study the habits 

 of this bird, observe that they are generally found upon the 

 high, rough rocky hills and ridges peculiar I o this region. 

 They feed about, in thicks numbering from four and five to 

 a dozen or more. When first approached they appear to be 

 quite unconcerned and docile, feeding about, uttering a soft 

 clucking, purring note. On seeking cover they lie very 

 close, and are flushed with difficulty, A friend tells me 

 that he actually picked one from the ground where it had 

 squatted and was being pointed by the dog. They are quite. 

 plentiful in Southwestern Texas. I have never found them. 

 however, further east than the Frio River, but as far west as 

 I have been, to the Pecos, they are abundant. 



Vitality of Menopoma. —Some interesting observations 

 on this subject are recorded in the April JSaturalist by Mr. 

 Wm. Frear, who has been studying this amphibian. He. 

 says: One specimen, about eighteen inches in length, 

 which had lain on the ground exposed to a summer sun "for 

 forty-eight hours, was brought to the museum, and was left 

 lying for a day longer before it was placed in alcohol The 

 day following, desiring to note a few points of structure. I 

 removed it from the alcohol, in which it had been Completely 

 submerged for at least twenty hours, and had no sooner 

 placed it on the table before it began to open its big mouth, 

 vigorously sway its tail to and fro" and give other undoubted 

 signs of vitality. On another occasion, desiring to kill one of 

 these creatures, which had been out. of water for a day, T 

 made a little slit in the back, hoping to be able to penetrate 

 between the cervical vertebne with a stout scalpel, and cut 

 the spinal cord. After several trials, in which I succeeded 

 only in breaking the scalpel. I gave up the attempt,; but with 

 all my cutting and pushing, it manifested not the slightest 

 signs of pain or irritation, while if I but touched the tip of 

 its tail with my finger, it would make a vigorous protest by 

 lasliing its tail and snapping its jaws. I doubt if even the 

 redoubted snapping-turtle could show signs of a more "rug- 

 ged" constitution. 



The Excelsior Geyser.— In his report for 1881. Mr. P. 

 W. Norris. the Superintendent of the Yellowstone National 

 Park, gives an account of the. violent eruptions of a geyser 

 which he bas named the Excelsior. During a considerable 

 part of the summer of 18S1 this geyser sent up to a. height of 

 from 100 to 300 feet, sufficient water to render the rapid Fire 

 Hole River, nearly 100 yards wide, a foaming torrent of 

 steaming hot water, and hurled rocks of from' one to one 

 hundred pounds' weight around the edges of the crater. 

 When the geyser is not in motion the column of steam rising 

 from the crater forms a conspicuous landmark in the park. 

 An excellent map of the park accompanies the report, 



Mountain Goat Specimens. — Apropos of the article in 

 your last, issue on the. mountain goat, it may be of interest to 

 note that Major Ronan. Indian Agent for the Flatheads, has in 

 his possession a pair of stuffed male and female goats with one 

 kid, and that Lieutenant Cooke, Third U. S. Infantry, on a 

 recent hunt, killed some dozen of them. The skins were 

 worth at, Frenchtown, M. T., four dollars apiece two years 

 ago; from which it is fair to presume that they are not much 

 sought after in the market either by collectors or furriers. — 

 U. 3. A. "_ 



Free Lectures at Washington. — A bill has been intro- 

 duced into Congress providing for annual courses of lectures 

 upon mining and metallurgy, applied chemistry, agriculture 

 and horticulture, veterinary science, mechanical engineering, 

 fishculture, entomology, microscopy, electricity, forestry. 

 architecture, navigation and ship-building, meteorology, 

 botany, anatomy and physiology, and" geology and mineral- 

 ogy. The collections of the Smithsonian Institution are thus 

 to be utilized. 



Springfield, Mass., March 22. — For the last few days 

 wc have had very pleasant, spring-like w r eather here, and 

 the bluebirds and robins have made their appearance among 

 us; but this morning we find two or three inches of snow, 

 and, in spite of this, the birds are chirping merrily, and will 

 doubtless live to see better days, — C. R. K. 



RECENT ARRIVALS AT THE PHILADELPHIA ZOOLOGICAL 

 GARDEN.— One wild eat,. Li/nv rii/ns; two leopards, Felis print its. 

 both females: two roe deer. Cervus eapmolus, one mate and one 

 female; one crowned crane, Jlali-arira pavanina; two goldfinches. 

 Carduelis Oegans; two siskins, riin/somitris spinas; five bullfinches. 

 Pgchnla rabicilln; nin- r>-d birds. Cirdinalis riraininnns; two passe- 

 rine parrakeets. Psittitcihi pu.-is'-ri.iu; two ecrav-brea,ted parrakeets, 

 b-f,ll,orh,/„rlurs mnnaelins; four reed birds, riolMiom/.r on^ivrinm; 

 two Java sparrows. Padda ori/iirnrn ,' two scaly ground doves, 



three r^Lcr.'-st.-deardi-nK t: ,',■■, .,,■','■> ',■„. ■:,!!, ,t,,' : oucbisj.'black-iieaded 

 l ml ':. .'■-•-.•" i,i mania; four Am-rican wid^-eous, Mareea americana; 

 lire red-beaded ducks. Falainla /■ rina; throe mallard ducks. Anas 

 bosahas; one golden-eyed duck, Bwxphata clangula; one pintail duck, 

 Daflo uriitn; one canvas-back duck. Fnlianla rallisncn'a, one ruddy 

 duck. Erixnmtura rubirla: and five black ducks, Anas ote:»ra; ail 

 by purchase. One opossum, Didflphi/s virt/hiiono.; one raccoon, 

 Proeyon lotta-i one European blackbird. Tardus merula; one screech 



owL Scops wrio; three red-taJled nawtoj, Bides boreaXU; one ring 



i la 



i-tn 



Allin'ator mississippiriisis; all by presentation. 

 Canis dinyo; born in the garden. 



Habjts of Woodpeckers. — Under this title we quoted 

 last week from the observations of Dr. Merriam, as published 

 in tbeNuttall Btrlhtin (IV., p. 1), and said: "In the central 

 district [of the Adirondack region] they really do consider- 

 able misjchief, etc." This should have read, "In the central 

 .district '[of Lewis county, N. \ .] they really do considerable 

 mischief, <etc." 



TRIBUTE FROM AN ORNITHOLOGIST. 



Washington, D. C, March 27, 1882. 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



I have made my personal acknowledgements to Mr. H. B. Bailey for 

 the copy of the Index to the. Bird flatter of Forest akt> Stream, which 

 I owe to his kind attentions. But, that need not prevent me from 

 testifying publicly my sense of the value of this bides to all those 

 who, like myself , have occasion to consult the published records of 

 North American ornithology. While the work is not fruitless— no 

 index of any extent ever was— it answers every practical purpose, 

 and will he of the greatest, possible assistance. Something of tins 

 sort was urgently needed, and Mr. Bailey has accomplished his self- 

 imposed task with manifest care, which I trust will he rewarded with 

 the success it deserves. My copy at once takes its place at my elbow, 

 when 1 it must remain as long as I have occasion to write about 

 American birds. Congratulating you upon the fact that rhe rich 

 ornithological contents of your paper are made so readily available 

 by Mr. Bailey's labor, I remain, very truly yours, Elliott Coues. 



Dynamite, Dittmar. Monument, Dog, Beau, Skele- 

 ton. St. (iOTIIARD. — The public has been more or less inter- 

 ested lately in two explosions: more in that of some dyna- 

 mite which blew Up the Fields-Andre monument at Tappan. 

 audless in that of a charge of ' 'Dittmar sporting powder" which 

 it is reported, blew up the gun of John S. Dusron, at East. 

 Newark. It is proposed, in this monumental age, to 

 give one to old Israel Putnam, the man who feared neither 

 British lion nor American wolf. An old man in Rhode 

 Island last week tried to drown a dog, but fell into the water 

 and was drowned himself. When a bear is biting a man. a 

 Boston paper advises: "Don't kill the bear, but give him 

 some powerful medicine which in time will cause his teeth 

 to decay. " Some Georgia fox-hunters, when cut ting down a 

 hollow 'tree to capture the fox, discovered in the stump a 

 skeleton, a powder-horn and bullet-pouch. The. St. Gothard 

 hospital, kept by the monks and their dogs, will not. be 

 closed, as was sapiently reported by a New York paper some 

 said paper having also absorbed from a foreign ex- 

 change some Very feeling comments on the supposed disper- 

 sion of the St. Bernard garrison. 



§mn$ §ng m\& §m\. 



AN ARKANSAS BEAR FIGHT. 



PAHT n.— CONCLUDED. 



If was agreed that all should be ready to start for the 

 "Mountains" the next day by noon, and by one o'clock 

 on the morrow all were on the road. Old Tigewas yet in 

 the hospital (wagon), but all thought he would be as good as 

 ever by the next day. They camped that night in I be edge 

 of the highlands, and by noon the next day they had reached 

 their destination — the edge of a wide creek bottom covered 

 by immense oaks, pecans, persimmons and other "mast" 

 bearing trees, through which bears and wild hogs could range 

 at will, with superabundance of the richest of food, grow- 

 ing so fat. and oily that they would fairly glisten in the sun. 

 Here were wdd deer, turkeys, 'coons, 'possums, squirrels, 

 wild pigeons and "pheasants" without end. 



Her© lived the native "Arkansawer" in all his glory. 

 Such a thing as money be bad never seen, and never cared 

 to see, He knew that a 'coon skin would buy a drink of 

 whisky, and if an extra tine one. two drinks; and that an 

 otter skin would buy for him two or three pounds Of powder 

 and a "chunk" of lead. This was all he knew about com- 

 merce, and all he cared to know. As for politics, they got. 

 together once every four years and voted for "Old Hickory" 

 for President; and when they had a spare "nigger," they 

 sold "it" and entered their land. 



The edges of the "kriek" valley were bordered by precipi- 

 tous sedimentary rocks cut into deep gulches and ravines 

 by weather and water. The strata of the rocks were made 

 up of alternate layers of lime and sandstone. In the lime- 

 stone were numerous caves and holes of all sizes and depths. 

 In these bears and other wild "varmints" had their dens. 



The plan of hunting and capturing or killing the bear here 

 is very different, from what it is in the bottom lands among 

 the canebrakes. Here, when the bear had left his den for a 

 feed of persimmons, frogs or ants, the bear dog takes his 

 trail and chases him back to his dcu, where he thinks him- 

 self safe from all harm — at least he feels certain of "licking" 

 all the dogs that may venture to follow him in. But lie gen- 

 erally finds himseli sadl\ mistaken, for the hunters in this 

 region have found out that they have a "very soft thing" on 

 the average bear, when the dogs have chased him into his 

 cave. They make themselves a large torch of pitch-pine 

 splinters. One takes this lighted torch, the other usually a 

 heavy shotgun well charged with heavy shot, but sometimes 

 with a rifle with a heavy" ball, and boldly crawl into the den 

 side by side. As they approach the bear he retreats to the 

 farthest extremity of the cave and crouches down, nearly 

 frightened to death by the light. The hunter approaches 

 quite near and blows' his head all to pieces with the gun. 

 Rarely, but very rarely, the bear will bolt out beside or over 

 the hunters and out among the dogs and men. The men 

 shoot him, if possible, and" if they do not, the dogs soon 

 "tree" hiin again. This seems very dangerous and requiring 

 great bravery to the uninitiated, but it is not; no one was 

 ever known to be killed or severely hurt in this way. 



Our hunters arrived at their camping place. Old Tige 

 got out of the wagon nearly as well as ever. All of a sudden 

 while the men were arranging camp, he up with his head, 

 took a few sniffs of air, and burst off through the bottom, 

 bin-king. The other dogs followed, and soon they were 

 heard roaring through the woods- on a bear trail. Bill aud 

 Jim wanted to follow right on after them, but old Sol said, 

 "Never mind, boys, the dogs are all right; don't be in a 

 hurry. Let us get'our dinners first. If its a baah, and the. 

 dogs' tree it, well soon find 'em." The dogs soon passed out 

 of hearing, but when the men -were nearly through dinner 

 they heard them coming back toward the camp, but up the 

 creek. Bill seized his rifle and rushed off up the foot, of the 

 rocks. He soon came back saying, "Come on, men, hurry 

 up; they have got him up here in a cave, lie is a beauty, too; 

 I cotched a glimpse of hirn as he holed." The hunters 

 hurried off to where the 'logs were barking, and found 

 them at the mouth of a cave about three feet high and six 

 feet wide, a short distance up on the side of the bluff. 

 While Jim went up the precipice or bluff after some dry pitch 

 pine for a torch, Sol and Bill looked carefully to the priming 

 and caps of iheirguns, for old Sol had brought along his great 

 heavy duck gun and had her loaded "Ave fingers, "with heavy 

 buckshot. Sol wanted Bill to take in the old shotgun to kill 

 the bear with, but Bill said, "Blast your old scattergun; it 

 wouldn't hurt a baah, and if I shot it, it would kick me clean 

 out of the den." The torch was carefully made, firmly 

 bound together with willow withes; and in Jim and Bill 

 started side by side lo interview the bear. The cave being nil 

 along of about the same width and depth ascended very grad- 

 ually. When they were in about fifty feet they caught a 

 glimpse of the bear and heard a low growl, a bad sign. They 

 approached so that the muzzle of the gun could be placed 

 within six feet of his head, and Bill raised his rifle to shoot. 

 This bear did not crouch down so badly seared as usual. 

 .lust as Bill was pulling trigger there was a rush, the torch 

 was knocked from Jim's band and he was stunned. The 

 old rifle roared, and then all was still. "Jim. Jim, where are 

 you?" cried Bill. No answer. Bill seeing the torch on the. 

 ground picked it up and gave the fire a sudden puff with his 

 breath. It flashed into a blaze just as Jim rose up unhurt, 

 and they started out of the cave. "Did you hit him, Bill?" 

 "No: lie rushed, and I suppose the jar caused me to pull the 

 gun off. Are you hurt, Jim?" "No. 1 guess not," said Jim, 

 "I w T onder what old Sol done; I beam his gun go off," said 

 Jim. Old Sol had placed himself at one side of the month 

 of the cave about fifteen feet away, determined if the hear 

 • rushed" that he would blow a hole right through him. 

 He waited patiently, but when the bear did come out he 

 came so suddenly as' to startle him. He heard I he report of 

 Bill's gun aud 'saw the beat pop out at about the same, 

 instant, and go tearing down the hillside. Old Sol took 

 quick and deadly (in his mind) aim al the hear shut both 

 eyes, hanged away, and killed one of the big dogs about. 

 feet behind the bear. 



Away went bear and dog up the foot of the bluff. The 

 hunters listened. Soon there was a halt. They moved for- 

 ward about a quarter of a mile and found that the dogs had 

 chased the bear into a deep, narrow gqjch that ran back into 

 the rocks about fifty yards and then terminated with smooth 

 perpendicular sides' near a hundred feel high. The back 

 part of the gorge or chasm was about six feet wide, the walls 

 overhanging somewhat. The bear stood on his hind feet, 

 with his back against the wall. His position was ii . 

 ble so far as the" dogs were concerned — they could not touch 

 him. One of them lay dead in front of him, stretched life- 

 less with one stroke of his paw. He was a splendid specimen 



