466 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[JULY 13, 1SS2. 



copious draught of whisky, he explained that he had dis- 

 covered a hear'a den, inhabited hy a she bear and three cubs; 

 a monstrous male bear, the probable father of the cubs, had 

 followed him almost to Corbiu's. We hailed the last part of 

 his story with a hearty laugh; it was rather extravagant. 

 The Doctor proposed that we go for a bear hunt in the 

 morning, undoubtedly out of consideration for Rattlepate's 

 feelings. We decided to go. Unfortunate decision. 



in the morning we breakfasted early and started in pur- 

 suit of Rattlepate's bears, with no expectation on my part 

 of finding anything larger than a chipmuck. In his stupen- 

 dous fright Rattlepate had forgotten the precise direction of 

 the bears' den, and we had to help him hunt it up; a good 

 hall' day was exhausted in the search. At length the booby 

 discovered familiar land marks, and declared the quarry 

 just at hand. Sure enough it was, but no "b'ar." A col- 

 lection of cobwebs cover-id the mouth of the den that 

 seemed the accumulation of centuries, and probably noth- 

 ing more colassal than a spider had occupied it for many 

 years. The miserable boaster had merely found the hole in 

 the rocks, that was all; his craven imagination had conjured 

 the rest. 



Disgusted and chagrined we started for home, Mr. Rattle- 

 pate keeping far enough in the rear to avoid our remarks, 

 which were certainly not at all complimentary to him. As we 

 were passing through a, deep ravine, a wild cry from Eattlc- 

 pate silenced and stopped us. In an instant he repeated it. 



"Help! help! For God's sake, help!" 



Wilder and louder than ever the cries rang out. 'With 

 almost, superhuman bounds the Doctor hurried along the 

 back track to the rescue. Joe, Oorbin and I followed more 

 leisurely ; our faith in Rattlepate was considerably shaken. 

 We had arrived al the conclusion that he would bawl for aid 

 if a moscmrto bit him, and very much doubted that he was 

 in any danger. 



A shot from the Doctor's heavy rifle and a yell of rage 

 from a panther, hurried our tardy steps. A moment later 

 an opening in the underbrush disclosed to us an exciting 

 scene. A monstrous panther had attacked Rattlepate and 

 was stand '.ng astride the latter's prostrate body. The Doc- 

 tor's shot had taken effect in the animal's side and it stood 

 glaring at him with menacing mien, growling and lashing its 

 tail spitefully. The Doctor dropped his rifle and tackled 

 the panther with his knife; over and over they rolled among 

 the rocks and brambles, until exhaustion in both of them 

 terminated the bloody fight. 



The Doctor had kept up an incessant stabbing, and the 

 panther was bleeding from a hundred knife-holes; a bullet 

 in the ear from Jerry's rifle finished its career. The brave 

 Doctor was literally strung in pieces hj the animal's terrible 

 claws, and it had chewed his left arm to a pulp. We saw 

 at a glance that he could not live but a few minutes, and 

 that he was fully aware of his condition. He was too hor- 

 ribly mangled to be carried from the spot where he lay. 

 We washed his wounds with water from a stream that 

 flowed through the ravine, and did the little we could to 

 ease his last moments. 



"Boys, " he said feebly, much interrupted by the flow of 

 blood from his mouth, "1 am dyiog. and I think I am glad 

 So far as 1 know, you are the only ones on earth who will 

 miss me. I am dying the death I would prefer to all others, 

 in the service of a fellow mortal. I think it is the first ser- 

 vice I ever rendered any one in my life. Let me lie here in 

 the forest shade, away from all noise and tumult, alone, 

 forgotten and unknown." 



Unconsciously we had lifted our caps as he spoke, and 

 unconsciously we bared our heads. Several minutes he lay 

 there silent and motionless, then his face brightened, his 

 eyes gleamed, he raised himself half-way to a sitting 

 posture, gasped the name " Agnes," sank back with a smile, 

 and then his great, manly soul departed from its tenement of 

 clay, and Doctor Bug was dead. 



We buried him there in the woods he. loved, and the day 

 after the funeral our sad little party departed for scenes less 

 associated with tragedy. 



The Doctor's death was not all in vain, for it made a better 

 man of the one whose life he died to save. He, too, is 

 gathered to his fathers, but not until he first caused to be 

 raised, at the head of the Doctor's grave, a tombstone with 

 this inscription: 



Here lies 



ALL THAT IS MORTAL OF DOCTOR BUG: 



The Man 



■WHO GAVE HIS LOTS 



For a Liar. 



The following summer a veiled lady oue day alighted from 

 a carriage at Corbin's door and asked for theDoetor. Jerry 

 told her the circuuistknces I have so imperfectly narrated 

 here, and her grief knew no bounds. He guided her to the 

 lonely .grave, and she threw herself upon it and wept for a 

 longtime, murmuring, sadly, as she did so, "Too late! too 

 late!" On the way back she lost a rich lace handkerchief, 

 which Oorbin afterward found. In one corner was the name 

 that was Doctor Bug's last word on earth, "Agnes." 



JUNE IN THE NORTH WOODS. 



XHAVE just got back from the woods. Have hardly 

 shaken off the smell of tar oil or rubbed out the black 

 fly bites. My annual trip is to the "Brown's Tract" portion 

 of the Adirondacks, camping on the Fulton chain of lakes. 

 And surely there can be found nowhere, so near home, such 

 complete isolation from the outside world, where one can 

 line in sueb close and sweet communion with nature in her 

 truest and grandest forms, and so far separated from art and 

 all that is artificial. Each year we see the same grand old 

 hills, the same gleaming, laughing lakes, the same bubbling 

 streams, the same rushing, headlong rapids, and scarce can 

 note a change in them, though we feel it in ourselves. 



Of late there has been quite an increase in the accommo- 

 dations for visitors to this region. A few years ago there 

 was only one house where we could find lodgings oilier than 

 the open shanties, which at best are a wretched apology for 

 a shelter. Now we have the "Forge House," as of old the 

 terminus of the road entering the woods. This house is 

 pleasantly situated, and is well" kept, and the Messrs. Bar- 

 re ti are doing their best to please their patrons. About four 

 miles up the ~ lakes, beautifully situated on the shore of the 

 Third Lake, we come to the open door of Robert Feme's 

 "Third Lake House," a clean, cosy, cheerful place— oue 

 where the ladies uud the bairnies may enjoy rest and recrea- 

 tion, while the fathers and the brothers may wander off 

 after the trout or the deer. Here I have met many pleasant 

 people, and it is always a pleasant place to call at in pass- 

 ing. The other day while at Perrie's the toe of my hoot 

 came in contact with a canoe which locked the worse of the 



wear. Stooping down I turned it over, and as I did so the 

 name "Nessmuk," painted on its side, met my eye. Ah! I 

 see how it is now. "Nessmuk" paddled round the waters 

 in that miserable little cheese-box, cramped up, sitting on 

 the damp bottom of this boat. No wonder he told us such 

 pitiful tales of his coughing continually, being sick all the 

 time; finally going out of the woods disgusted, aud de- 

 termined to cry down the Adirondacks as a fraud and a 

 humbug. 



Now, Mr. "Nessmuk," when you go into the Adirondacks 

 again, go in a boat — take one of the new fifteen foot double 

 enders that weigh about sixty pounds, and as yon get into 

 it sit down on a seat six or seven incnes away from the 

 water, and with room to stretch out your feet, then lay hold 

 of the swivel oars and row like a man — let the Indians keep 

 to the paddle if they like — then you may be able to swell 

 out your lungs and fill them full of the health-giving air 

 which is so plentiful there, and thus shake off that cough 

 which so distresses you. I hope you may not belong to that 

 class of whom I met so many in the woods last summer — I 

 mean the incurables — for I do like to read your spicy letters. 



Further up the lakes we find on Fourth Lake the "Dun- 

 nagan Camp," which is kept this year by Thomas Clark, 

 formerly an employe of the old Rainbow Hotel in Beekman 

 street, New York, in the days when Howell ran the house. 

 Clark is working hard to make and keep a comfortable 

 house, and I know his wife can get up a good dinner at 

 short notice, for I had one. Then on the other side of the 

 same lake we find Edward Arnold's, a neat, cosy camp 

 where many of the old sportsmen gather during the season, 

 attracted by the remembrance of the old Arnold House, so 

 dear to them in the days that have gone, and which was kept 

 by "Ed's" father. A "new camp kept by Mrs. Sperry on 

 this lake, near the outlet, seems to be pleasantly situated. 

 All these houses take boarders. I mention them simply for 

 the benefit of travelers, having no interest whatever in 

 advertising them. 



On the evening of the 22d of June, there arrived at the 

 Forge House fifteen large cans, which might easily be taken 

 for milk cans. On their arrival they were taken down to 

 the dock and opened, and pronounced "all right." These 

 cans contained seventy-five thousand rainbow trout from the 

 State hatching house. As soon as the strainers could be 

 sunk into the cans and the siphons set to work, the water 

 was changed, aud theu they were loaded upon boais and 

 sent forward with all speed to their destinations. 35,000 of 

 these little fellows were put into Little Moose Lake before 

 midnight, there to found a colony of game fish for our future 

 pleasure and profit. The remainder were distributed through 

 the Fulton Chain and on the north branch. Many were dead 

 and the shiners preyed on some of the living. 



For the last four or five years I have noticed that in fishing 

 for salmon trout (or lake trout) our catch showed fish of 

 two distinct colors or shadings, but of the one species. One 

 of these was more dark and swarthy, and this was more ap- 

 parent in the larger fish; the others were lighter in color and 

 more bright and clear in general appearance. The first were 

 the natives; the latter the imported fish. I think fully two 

 thirds of the salmon trout that I have taken belong to the 

 latter class, to-wit: the imported fish. I have also noticed 

 that there seems to be more speckled trout caught of late 

 than we did four or five years ago, and the increase appears 

 to be in the smaller fish. In this species we have no distinctive 

 marks to show which are the natives and which are the im- 

 ported fish; but this we know: young fish are being put into 

 these waters every year, and were it not so, the species would 

 soon run out. The question is often asked, "Does restocking 

 pay?" If my humble vote counts for anything it will be a 

 hearty and emphatic "Aye, aye, sir!" 



One of the grandest sights of my late trip was the storm 

 of June 19. It came upon us quickly, but gave warning 

 beforehand in the ominous and fearful thunder-clouds which 

 were rolled up in dense masses, and then severed horizontally 

 by strong wind- currents, which caused them to sway and 

 surge from side to side. The lake became very rough with- 

 out any apparent cause, and then the fearful hush that pre- 

 cedes "the storm gave warning to "make everything secure 

 and get out of the way," followed as it was by the blast, re- 

 minding me of the story of the Scotch sailor who was ban- 

 tered by a big, blustering bully, who asked him what he was 

 going to do, answered, "I'll gie ye a crack in the e'e, and 

 thar it's," The windf airly howled, and in its mad career tore 

 off limbs of trees aud carried them off in its strong arms up 

 the lake. It seemed to cut the tops off the waves and dasn 

 them across the neck of land on which we were sheltered. 

 Everything movable was hustled about without order or sys- 

 tem. And then the rain that followed. All I can say is 

 there was lots of it, and it was an awful wet to get caught 

 in. After the storm we traced its course by the fallen trees. 

 Great numbers of them could be found along the lake3 and 

 through the woods. 



I want to tell of some good catches of fish, but must put 

 them on ice for another letter. J. R., Jit. 



June 28, 1882. 



<^tu\<d §i$torg. 



KANSAS NOTES. 



New Yokk, June 7, 1883. 

 Editor Fares/ and Stream: 



My brother, Ward B., residing at Newton, Southern Kan- 

 sas, writes me: "When I first came to these plains I saw 

 some birds that I have never seen mentioned! or described in 

 any ornithology. They have only rudimentary wings, being 

 a little larger than the quail; the head is covered with a 

 fleshy skin, bright steel blue in color, with some flesh-col- 

 ored patches. I was within six feet of them and drove them 

 into the water, when they swam rapidly off, with only the 

 head and back exposed. Since I saw them an acquaintance 

 has told me about his shooting one of them on the Pawnee 

 Fork, a branch of the Arkansas River, He fully described 

 the bird, as I have done, and this before I had told him 

 about my experience. They are excellent swimmers and 

 divers, and would be very difficult to kill unless one shoots 

 the head entirely off; and when 1 see them again I mean to 

 secure a specimen. I think they must burrow under the 

 banks of sti earns below frost to pass the winter, for being 

 unable to fly they could hardly migrate to any distance. 

 Did you ever see or hear anything of them? 



"1 often see accounts in the Eastern papers speaking of 

 the scarcity of small birds, and they generally wind up by 

 saying that the cats, and boys with pot-metal shotguns, are 

 to blame, but 1 do not think that is the cause, for there have 

 been hundreds of thousands of new homes started up in this 



State alone, many of them have groves (generally artificial) of 

 from one to forty acres, besides thousands of miles of hedges 

 already large enough to afford excellent sheHer, and the 

 birds are increasing' much more rapidly than they possibly 

 could by natural means. The impression here seems to be 

 that tlie small birds have taken Horace Greeley's advice to 

 young men, and are settling the West. A few years ago one 

 could scarcely see any birds except prairie chickens, "larks, 

 snipe of all kinds, plover and waterfowl. Quail are rapidly 

 increasing as the country fills up; but now bluebirds, robins, 

 jays, yellow hammers, woodpeckers, sparrows and doves 

 are getting quite plenty and even numerous in the more 

 settled localities. There are a few thrushes but no catbirds. 

 Martins are very plenty in the towns, and anyoue can secure 

 a colony by simply providing accommodations for them. 

 The doves and hawks nest on the ground. On some of the 

 streams raccoons are quite plenty, and for want of trees 

 they live in the ground like a woodchuck. We have two 

 varieties of polecats here : one like what you have in the 

 East, the other mucn smaller. Its bite is very poisonous, 

 resulting in something like hydrophobia, and is considered 

 deadly." A. B. B. 



[We cannot, from the very meagre description given, 

 identify the birds with the "rudimentary wings," but pre- 

 sume that they are either some small grebe or else the coot. 

 (Fulica americana). These birds, however, are sufficiently 

 well provided with wings to fly from North to South and 

 back again.] 



THE HOOP SNAKE. 



Opheosaurus ventralis. 



THIS is one of those singular animals around which ig- 

 norance and credulity have woven a. tissue ot super- 

 stitious nonsense almost rivaling the traditions of the famous 

 sea serpent himself. It is first credited with having two 

 heads, one at each end of its body, and next with having the 

 curious habit of taking its tail in its mouth and rolling along 

 the ground like a hoop. Just how these two traits can be 

 made to agree we don't know, bu! suppose we should not 

 question such time-honored lore — our fathers believed it and 

 why should not we? The double-headed snake, first appears 

 in history in the writings of Cotton Mather, who was assured 

 by the Rev. Christopher Toppan that "it had really two 

 heads, one at each end, two mouths, two stings or tongues." 

 The poet Whittier has immortalized it in his poem "The 

 Double headed Snake of Newbury," and draws from it a 

 most excellent moral. He thus speaks of it: 

 " Far away in tlie twilight time 

 Of every people in every elime, 

 Dragons and griffins and monsters dire, 

 Borne of water and air and lire. 

 Or nursed like ttie Python in the mud 

 And ooze of the old Deucalion flood. 

 Crawl and wriggle and foam with rage, 

 Through dusk, tradition and ballad age. 

 So from the childhood of Newbury town 

 Aud its time of fable, the tale comes down 

 Of a terror which haunted bush and brake— 

 The Amphisbaina, the Double Snakel" 



As this strange being is quite plenty in the Western States, 

 it may be interesting to ascertain just what the truth is in 

 regard to it. To begin with, it is not a snake, at all, but 

 merely a peculiar lizard with no limbs and a very slender 

 body. It is found from twenty to thirty inches in length. 

 and at first sight would pass for a snake, but a little exam- 

 ination shows the differences. The body is a little stouter 

 than that of most snakes, and the length is made up by the 

 tail, which is quite long. The head is very different, having 

 no neck constriction behind it, and the cephalic plates are 

 quite unlike those of a serpent. On the ventral surface, too, 

 we do not find the series of long, transverse plates (f/agtros- 

 teges) of the snake, but instead it is like the upper surface 

 covered with fine scales. In color it is a yellowish white 

 below, with more or less of brown above, which sometimes 

 takes the form of longitudinal stripes, and at others is a uni- 

 form tint. Like other lizards, this one has the peculiarity 

 of having its tail broken off very easily, only a slight blow 

 being necessary to cause the fracture. When in the normal 

 condition, the creature has a rather long, slender, pointed 

 tail, but so easily is it broken that more than half the speci- 

 mens captured are found to have lost more or less of this mem- 

 ber at some time in their lives; andso well known is this fact 

 thatit has given these animals a thi rd name, that of glass snakes, 

 and the story is told aud vouched for, that they will fly in 

 pieces upon the slightest provocation, and when left to them- 

 selves the parts get together and soon reunite. Now, when 

 one of them has been broken, its tail heals over in an obtuse 

 point; and when it happens that the fracture occurred at a 

 place where the body was of about the same diameter as at 

 the head, the healed stump is nearly the same size and shape 

 as the head itself, so that the mistake of thinking the reptile 

 has two heads is not a surprising one for an untrained ob- 

 server, as the eyes and mouth of the real head are incon- 

 spicuous and their absence at the other end is not noticed. 



How it ever came to be accused of taking its tail in its 

 mouth and rr.aking a hoop ot itself wc can i imagine. If it 

 attempted it its tail would break before it made half a dozen 

 turoB. We have had specimens brought to us which we 

 were assured had been taken in the very act of rolling along 

 the ground in this way and perhaps we ought to have believed 

 it but shall not till we can verify the fact by direct observa 

 tion, It is curious that one poor creature should be 80 

 ladened with myths while others have none at all. A more 

 harmless reptile" does not exist, it does not even have any 

 means of defence except its speed, add that is not remarkable. 

 Fable seems to delight in attributing the most fatal or the 

 most wonderful powers to the least dangerous animals or 

 plants, as witness the famous basilisk and deadly upas tree, 

 and in this case we have a very simple, creature accredited 

 with three most remarkable traits, viz. : first, having two 

 heads: second, breaking into fragments and then growing 

 tc.ether igam and third, taking its tail in its mouth aud 

 rofling along like a hoop, and with all these is supposed to 

 be terribly poisonous. As wc have shown there is a founda- 

 tion for the first two, but none whatever for the third, and as 

 to venom, it does not begin to compare with a mosquito, 



F. E. L. Beal. 

 As. College, Ames, Icwa. 



[The name "glass snake" and perhaps also "joint snake" 

 is applied to this lizard, but we have never heard it called 

 hoop snake. What reason there is for crediting this harm- 

 less reptile with all the dreadful attributes of the supposed 

 hoop snake, we know no more than our correspondent. 

 And if Opheomurus vtniralis is indeed the animal upon which 

 all the hoop snake stories are based, jt is certain that a cruel 



