May 15. 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



803 



his eyes open in time to catch a vanishing glimpse of the 

 affrighted deer, and now that it is too late, discovers the bed 

 of his would-be victim under the fallen treetop, at his very 

 feet* 



The hunter rarely sees the whole outline of a deer in still- 

 huuting. Tiie foiesta are so thick, and the evergreens so 

 loaded with snow, that an object is not commonly visible at 

 any great distance, and a part of the leg or a pateh of hair 

 constitute the target usually presented to his eye. He some- 

 times tires directly at what he sees, and sometimes "allows 

 a trifle," aiming a little ahead or a little behind, as the ease- 

 may be. If severely wounded, without being killed out- 

 right, the animal is* generally left for several hours, or 

 until the next day; for if pursued it would 

 continue to nui as long as its strength held out; while, on 

 the other hand, if left alone it soon lies down and will prob- 

 ably never rise again. Judge Catou says: "But few animals 

 will cr so far and so fast after receiving a mortal wound. 

 as a Virginia deer/'f and 1 have myself followed a buck, 

 shot through both luugs with a ,44-caKber rifle-ball, more 

 than a mile and a half through the woods. 



In localities where deer are abundant, an expert still- 

 hunter frequently kills two or three iu a single day, but such 

 hunts are very laborious, for the track often leads many 

 miles, in a tortuous course, over hard-wood ridges, across 

 stretches of spruee and hemloek. and through dense balsam 

 and cedar swamps. Tt is a long distance to camp, but 

 thitherward, at nightfall , the weary hunter wends his way. 

 His course lies through a swamp in which the evergreens 

 grow so near together that the eye is uuable to penetrate 

 further than a few paces in any direction, and are so 

 loaded with snow that the dark green of the few uncovered 

 branches contrasts markedly with the uniform white of the 

 tent-like cones from which they protrude. The silence is 

 oppressive, and unbroken even by the sighing of the wind. 

 The imagination, aided by the gathering shades of dusk, 

 sees in this picture a primeval forest, among whose time- 

 worn trunks stands the long deserted encampment of a by- 

 gone race. The well-preserved wigwams of spotless white. 

 bleached by many winters, and pitched upon a floor of 

 alabaster, mark the final bivouac of an unremembered 

 nation. 



Of the three methods of hunting heretofore considered, 

 driving is the least, sportsmanlike, and affords the deer the 

 smallest chance of escape. It requires neither skill nor cun- 

 ning on the part of the executioner; for patience, and a very 

 ordinary amount of common sense, are the only essentials. 

 It has this advantage, however, that the deer, if wounded at 

 all, is almost certain to be killed outright— which cannot be 

 said of the other methods. 



"Floating" requires one of the actors to be expert in the 

 use of the paddle, and is really quite an exciting diversion. 

 This is partly because it can only be practiced by night, and 

 partly because each change of position of the boat, and each 

 curve and bend of the shore brings new objects into the 

 limited field of vision, keeping the expectation iu a state of 

 acute tension. But after all, when the novelty has worn off, 

 one canuot, help realizing that it is like carrying a lantern, 

 any dark night, through a frontier pasture, and shooting the 

 first unlucky cow that chances to stand in the path. - 



In still-hriuting, on the other hand, the hunter is thrown 

 entirely upon his resources, and it is the only method of 

 taking' the deer in this Wilderness that requires any particular 

 skill or labor on his part. The guide is here superfluous, 

 unless it be to string up the game and find the shortest way 

 to camp when the hunt is over. 



Still-hunting tends to toughen the muscles, to sharpen the 

 vision, to quicken the hearing, and to impart to the whole 

 system a glow of health and vigor. It calls into play the 

 exercise of functions that are apt to be neglected by the 

 student and man of business, and inspires - the lover of 

 nature with a zeal and enthusiasm not easily extinguished. 



In addition to the three foregoing legitimate (!) methods 

 of hunting the deer, there are sometimes practiced here two 

 other ways of killing — I might say butchering — that are too 

 despicable even to be spoken of without a feeling of shame. 

 They are: by means of licks and by crusting. 



A lick is a place where salt is put % and the supply from 

 time to time replenished. The deer, being exceedingly fond 

 of salt, after having once discovered the place, repair to it 

 with great regularity. When they have visited the lick 

 nightly for some little time, which is ascertained by examin- 

 ing the ground round about for tracks, the murderous pot- 

 hunter, armed with a doublebarreled gun loaded with buck- 

 shot, secretes himself at dusk behind some convenient 

 covert, or in a neighboring tree, and in silence awaits the 

 approach of his unsuspecting victim. 



"Crusting" is a method of destruction that is still more 

 unfair and atrocious than that just described, and is 

 only practiced by the most worthless and depraved vaga- 

 bonds. It depends, fortunately, upon a condition of the 

 deep snows that is usually of short duration, and rarely 

 occurs save in the months of February and March. When 

 the snow averages fcur or five feet in depth on the 

 level, a thaw, followed by a freeze, converts the sur- 

 face into a stiff crust, which renders the deer very 

 helpless. Taking advantage of this state of things, 

 the crust-hunters sally forth. Their snowshoes enable 

 them to skim lightly over the surface, while the poor deer 

 are unable to move except by the greatest effort, and are soon 

 exhausted. They sink to their bellies at every plunge, the 

 sharp hoofs cutting through the frozen crust, which lace- 

 rates their slender legs till the tracks are staiued with blood. 

 The cruel foe. is upon them, and well do they realize that 

 the struggle is for life. Every muscle is strained to the 

 utmost in the frantic effort to escape, but in vain. Every 

 leap tells bitterly on the fast-waning strength, and they soon 

 sink in the snow, breathless and with heaving sides. Their 

 large liquid eyes are turned toward their brutal pursuers, as 



*Deer greedily devour the lichens that adhere to the branches of 

 trees that have long been dead, and the buds and twigs of those that 

 were living when thev fell. This fact is well known to woodsmen, 

 who invariably assert that if a tree falls during the night, tracks of 

 deer can always be found there next morning. And 1 have heard 

 more than one old hunter affirm it to be his sincere belief that deer 

 know the cause of the noise produced by a falling tree, and, guided 

 by the sound, at once set out in quest of the spot. Mr. John Con- 

 stable tells me that he once shot a deer iu t-he act of browsiug upon 

 the lichens that clung to a fallen treetop. The animal was standing 

 on its hindlegs, with its forefeet resting upon a large limb, and was 

 reaching up for the lichens. 



tLoc. Cit., p. 3&s. 



J The only natural deer lick in the Adirondacks, so far as I am 

 aware, is thus spoken of by Oolvin; -I observed in a moist place a 

 deposit of marly clay, a rare thing iu this region. What was most 

 Interesting, however, was the fact that this was a natural deer-lick, 

 many places showing where the deer had licked the clay, possibly 

 obtaining a trifle of potash, alumina and iron, derived'from sul- 

 phates from decomposing pyrites." (Report of the Adirondack Sur- 

 rey, 1880, p. 193). 



if to implore mercy, but none is given, All share a like 

 fate— they are butchered in cold blood. 

 Deer Protection, 



For many years an army of hardy lumbermen, wood- 

 choppers, and' bark-peelers has been steadily at work, to- 

 gether with its concomitant devastating fires, in making pro- 

 gressive and disastrous inroads upon the ill-fated forests of 

 the Adirondacks. Much of the proper borders of the region, 

 long since stripped of timber, present to the eye a desolate 

 and barren waste, whose present irregular boundaries are 

 still contracting with ominous rapidity. 



New Sawmills, pulpmills and numerous other manufac- 

 turing establishments that consume vast quantities of wood, 

 are constantly being erected; and, as if this were not. enough, 

 it is possible that before the snows of another winter cover 

 the earth, a railroad will pierce the very heart of this grand 

 Wilderness. 



It augurs ill for the deer when the footprints of the 

 panther or wolf are found near its winter quarters, but the 

 cold steel tracks of the iron horse admonish us of the pres- 

 ence, of a tenfold more insidious and subtle foe ; for the rail- 

 road not only brings the deer's greatest enemy, man, into its 

 immediate haunts, but destroys and carries off the forests 

 that constitute its home. Hence it naturally follows that 

 unless the region is early converted into a State preserve, 

 which, unfortunately, seems hardly probable, the laws that 

 heretofore sufficed to enable this animal to hold its own will 

 soon prove inadequate. Therefore, the subject of deer pro- 

 tection becomes one that claims earnest and thoughtful con- 

 sideration from our sportsmen and hunters, and demands 

 intelligent and judicious legislation. 



The present law was a fairly good one at the time of its 

 enactment, but it has ceased to meet existing conditions; 

 that it will prove ineffectual agaiust the demands of the 

 rapidly increasing occupancy and destruction of the forests, 

 requires no great perspicacity to foretell. 



There are two weak poiuts in the law as it now stands: 

 First, the open season is too long by at least a month; and 

 second, there is no limit put to the number of deer that a 

 party, or an individual, may kill during this period. The 

 season begins with the month of August, aud when the 

 weather is propitious more than a hundred boats are nightly 

 engaged in floating, on the various watercourses of the Adi- 

 rondacks. Now it is an undisputed fact that by this method 

 of hunting, more than twice as many does 'as bucks are 

 killed, and that a large percentage of those fired at are 

 wounded, and escape into the woods to die. It is also a fact 

 that, as a rule, each doe has two fawns, and that fawns de- 

 prived of their mother's milk before the first of September 

 usually die. Hence the appalling truth becomes apparent, 

 that for every twenty-five deer secured by floating, at least 

 fifty (and probably a'much larger number) "must be destroyed ! 

 Therefore it seems proper that the season should not open 

 before the first of September. The second weak point in 

 the law is also a vital one. It is notorious that during the 

 past two years many hundreds of deer have been slaughtered 

 over and above the number necessary to keep the parties 

 killing them supplied with venison. " In parts of Canada, 

 and in the State of Maine, the law sets a limit to the number 

 of moose, caribou and deer that may be killed by an indi- 

 vidual or camp during a given period, and I see no reason 

 why a similar- law might not be enacted and enforced in our 

 own State with like good results. 



SUPERFETATION IN THE DEER. 



IN Forest and Stream of April 17, 1884, p. 224, under 

 the heading, 'A Zoogenic Paradox," Mr. Frank J. 

 Thompson, Superintendent of the Zoological Garden at Cin- 

 cinnati, records the following very interesting case : "On the 

 31st of last December the female axis deer(Cm>«g amis) in the 

 society's collection, gave birth to a fully developed male 

 fawn, which has grown apace and promises to become a tine 

 specimen. On the 5th inst., a few days over three months 

 after the first birth, she bore a fully developed female fawn, 

 which, in less than an hour after birth, was strong enough 

 to frisk around its mother. * * Now here is an instance of an 

 animal giving birth to two fully developed young ones within 

 less than one hundred days of each other, whose period of 

 gestation is well known to be eight months, and as custom- 

 ary with the family, only produces once a year. Is it possi- 

 ble that she could have been impregnated at two periods, 

 with the above intervening space of time? If so, those who 

 have made the zoogeny of the deer a special study, will have 

 to write a new chapter on the subject." 



In response to Mr. Thompsons inquiry it may safely be 

 said, not only that it is perfectly possible that this deer was 

 impregnated at two distinct periods separated by nearly one 

 hundred days, but that this is the only rational explanation 

 of the facts. Had the fawn bora Dec. 31 been expelled pre- 

 maturely, the case might be regarded simply as one of twin 

 pregnancy, but this was not the case, for Mr. Thompson ex- 

 pressly states that both fawns were "'well developed," and 

 both were alive and doing well at time of writing. The case 

 falls under the head of superfetation, and has many parallels 

 in the human subject. In the Edinburgh Medical Journal 

 for 1865, Dr. Bonuar, of Cupar-Fife, recorded several ex- 

 ceedingly interesting cases, in which the time intervening 

 between the two deliveries varied from one hundred and 

 twenty-seven to one hundred and eighty-two days. Dr. Ty- 

 ler Smith, in his "Manual of Obstetrics,'' states that a woman 

 "miscaiTied at the end of the fifth month, and some hours 

 afterward a small clot was discharged, inclosing a p:rfectly 

 healthy ovum of about one month. There were no signs of 

 a double uterus in this case." When a double uterus is 

 present, superfetation is of far more frequent occurrence, 

 and a large number of authentic instances have been re- 

 corded. 



Now it must be remembered that while a double uterus is 

 exceedingly rare in the human female, it is the normal con- 

 dition in the great majority of mammals, including the 

 deer. Hence the question arises, Why is superfetation not 

 more frequent in those species of deer which normally bear 

 but one young? There arc two excellent reasons: First, 

 because as a rule the physiological process of ovulation is in 

 abeyance between the time when conception takes place and 

 the expiration of pregnancy; and second, because in the 

 deer, as in the majority of wild animals, there is a definite 

 period of rut, after which no impregnation takes place till 

 the next season. The artificial life of captivity, in inclos- 

 ures of limited size, and particularly where the animals are 

 subjected to unnatural climatic influences, coupled, as is 

 commonly the case, with a more or less radical change in 

 the nature of their food, brings about a modificatian of the 

 animal's habits, and frequently perverts the reproductive 

 function. Therefore, instead of "a zoogenic paradox" we 

 have simply a very interesting example of superfetation in 



the deer — a case which does no violence to the well-known 

 physiological laws, and which was rendered possible by the 

 artificial conditions incident to the semi-' - 

 in which the auimal lived. C. Hart 



LocrsT Grove, N. Y. 



-domesticated state 

 Merriam, M.D. 



Decrease of Song Birds.— Boston, Mass., May 7.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: I notice in your advertising 

 columns the advertisement of a Boston taxidermist, who calls 

 for "all kinds Of native birds.'' You may not be liable to 

 be taken to tusk for so aiding and abetting the violation of 

 our bird laws, but I am inclined to be wroth over it. You 

 may not recall the fact of my having for some thirteen years 

 noticed the simultaneous arrival of the Baltimore oriole 

 with the opening of the cherry blossoms here, or rather at 

 my home. This year the trees blossom almost one month 

 late, and still "Lord Baltimore" has not been seeu or heard. 

 1 account for it, perhaps, on the ground that other taxider- 

 mists have advertised in local papers to same effect as above, 

 for last summer I saw in the window of a large millinery 

 store here over one hundred and fifty stuffed skins of the 

 Baltimore oriole all together, labeled 75 cents each. I was 

 so mad I didn't get over it for a week, and my family shan't 

 spend a cent in that store if they go bareheaded the remain- 

 der of their lives. — Reignolds. 



Philadelphia, Pa. — The past week did not bring the flights 

 of black-breasted plover, robins, snipe and dowitchers, looked 

 for by some. The season is backward, but they will no 

 doubt arrive on our coasts within the next ten days, especi- 

 ally if a southeasterly storm occurs during the period of 

 time mentioned. As these birds treated us last spring, so 

 will they act this — a sudden appearing and a very brief stay — 

 it may be but for a day or two. Many of the warblers have 

 shown themselves. The black and white creeper of course 

 is here, the summer yellow bird arrived some days ago, and 

 on Sunday, the 3d inst., the blue- winged yellowback could 

 be seen among the fruit blossoms in "the rural sections of 

 Philadelphia. Both the Baltimore and orchard orioles have 

 been present for several days, and the yearly war on the part 

 of the so-called collectors of birds for scientific purposes 

 against these bright-plumaged songsters has begun. Each 

 collector, anned with a copy of our game laws, which al- 

 lows the shooting of insectivorous birds for scientific pur- 

 poses, goes forth, fearing no interference, when every 

 feather secured finds its place in the hat of the fashionable 

 milliner, instead cf on the shelves of the ornithological cabi- 

 net. We have a city ordinance that can be enforced in the 

 case of these people. It is that of discharging firearms within 

 the county limits, for which there is a fine for every offense. 

 When the State law is faulty the city law should be resorted 

 to. — Homo. 



Corn Crake {Ores pratensify, — Owing to the number of 

 Forest and Stream for Feb. 14 being mislaid until a few 

 days ago, I did not see Mr. Park's communication on the oc- 

 curence of this bird in the State of New York last November. 

 Some years ago, I think in 1859, I saw a specimen which 

 was shot by one of the officers in Halifax garrison while on 

 a sporting trip in Newfoundland. More singular still, a 

 specimen was shot by my lamented friend, the late Lieut, - 

 Col. Wedderburn (42d 'Highlanders) in the remote Ber- 

 mudas. Here is Col. Wedderburn's account of it in our ' 'Nat- 

 uralist in Bermuda" p. 45: "The Landrail of Europe (< 

 pratr'nsis).— On the, 25th of October, 1847, while out shooting 

 in the dusk of the evening, in Pembroke Marsh, my good 

 old dog Flora pointed, and a well known bird took wing, 

 which I most fortunately killed, and it proved to be a young 

 male landrail of the year. I sent the specimen to the late 

 Mr. Yarrell, and at the sale of his effects it was purchased by 

 Col. Di-ummond, who recognized the skin. The occurrence 

 of this bird in such an out of the way place as Bermuda, 

 and so far to the westward of its line of migration, is most 

 wonderful, and it certainly gave me more pleasure to find 

 this single bird, than the whole of the other birds put to- 

 gether. I sent a notice of the occurrence of this bird to the 

 Zoologist, in 1849." To reach the Bermudas from the Amer- 

 ican continent, this bird must have traversed some six or 

 seven hundred miles of ocean; no small distance for a mem- 

 ber of a family not specially fitted for continued flight. — J. 

 Matthew Jones (Fern Lodge, Waterville, N. S.). 



Chimney Swallows.— Saratoga Springs, May 4.— Last 

 evening and this evening I witnessed the unusual sight of 

 myriads of chimney swallows circling around and dropping 

 into an unoccupied chimney of a house adjoining the Arling- 

 ton Hotel. Fully one thousand of these birds were together, 

 attracting the attention of parties in the vicinity by their 

 chippering cries and erratic evolutions, as they passed over the 

 chimney top, halting for a moment, when apparently their 

 courage gave way and they would circle around again, till 

 at last some of last year's veterans (evidently posted as to the 

 internal arrangements of the chimney) dropped confidently 

 down, when bushels followed in rapid succession. Evidently 

 the birds have just arrived, and use the old chimney as a 

 sort of assembly rooms, where they discuss matters pertain- 

 ing to the coming season, pah off "and seek permanent nest- 

 ing places. The' habits of this bird are singular, it is the 

 only one of the feathered tribe that never alights, except in 

 the dark recesses of its nesting place. It breaks a twig for 

 its nest while on the wing; it gathers its food while on the 

 wing; it is a perfect barometer, predicting storm or rain by 

 skimming along near the surface of field or road, and soar- 

 ing high for its food when a high temperature exists near 

 the surface. The stormy petrel, purple martin, whipporwill, 

 swallows and all apparently tireless birds are seen to rest 

 occasionally on land or water, but the chimney swallow never. 

 -A. B. F. 



N. - 



Another Seal in Lake Ontario. — Learning that a 

 harbor seal {Phoca groznlandica) had recently been captured 

 iu Lake Ontario, near Henderson, Jefferson county, N. Y . 

 I addressed a letter of inquiry to Mr. C. H. Sprague, of that 

 place, and have received the following reply: "A^seal weigh- 

 ing 100 pounds was taken from a trap net set in the head of 

 Henderson Bay, near Henderson Harbor, Sunday morning, 

 April 20. He was dead when taken out, evidently having 

 drowned. He was of a grayish color, and a perfect speci- 

 men. This is the only one that has been captured here."— 

 C. Hart Merriam, M. D. (Locust Grove, N. Y., May 10). 



Death of Wilson Flagg —Wilson Flagg, the naturalist 

 and author, died at his home in Cambridge on Monday, after 

 a long and painful illness. Mr. Flagg was born iu Beverly 

 in 1805. He received his education" at Andover Phillips 

 Academy and at Harvard College, and afterward studied 

 medicine, but never practiced the profession. He removed 

 from Andover to Cambridge in 1856, where ho had since re- 

 sided. — Boston Adcertiser, May 8. 



