- 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
245 
well how attractive he has made this portion of his work. 
The illustrations which adorn this portion of the Key are 
numerous, and very many of them of great beauty, A. con- 
siderable proportion of them haye appeared before, but a 
large number were drawn especially for this work, and are 
now seen for the first time. It may be said briefly that this 
portion of the work represents the old Key, and that of this 
old Key scarcely anything now remains, since it has all been 
changed, re-written, added to and improved to meet the re- 
quirements of the ornithology of to-day, 
Part TY. consists of a Synopsis of the Fossil Birds of North 
America, and thus corresponds {o the appendix of the orig- 
inal Key. The list has been revised by Prof. Marsh, whose 
important labors in this department of ornithology are so 
well known, 
Taken as a whole, the new edition of Coues’s ‘‘Key to 
North American Birds” is a superb work, and one which 
reflects additional glory upon one to whom literary and sci- 
entific honors are by no means new. And students of 
ornithology who open this volume for the first time will 
acknowledge again how much they and their science owe to 
the continuous and devoted labors of the author. 
Key To NortH AweRIcAN Birps. Containing a concise account of 
every species of liying aud fossil bird at present known from the 
continent north of the Mexican and United States boundary, inclu- 
siye of Greenland. Secon! edition, revised to date and entirely re- 
written; with which are incorporated General Ornithology: an out- 
line of thé structure and classification of birds; and Field Orni- 
thology; a manual of collecting, preparing and preserving birds. By 
Elliott Coues, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., Member of the National Academy 
of Sciences, etc,, ete, 
Profusely illustrated, Boston: Estes and 
Lauriat, 1884, 
THE MOOSE. 
BY CHARLES L, PHELPS, 
t lea moose is the largest of the deer family. When full 
-grown it stands seven feet high. The body is as round 
and well shaped as that of ahorse. It is not an awkward 
animal, but the head is large and ill looking. The horns are 
broad and fiat, with short points on the ends, ‘The wide 
part is sometimes thirteen inches across, and they are often 
four feet in Jength. The upper lip is very long, overlapping 
the under lip, and is used to twist off branches and leayes, 
something: as a horse will take a whisp of hay. 
The moose will break off a limb as large as a man’s thumb 
with its upper lip, and with the teeth of the under jaw it 
will scrape the bark from the roots of a tree to a height of 
nearly ten feet. From the under jaw hangs a tuft of hair 
about six inches long. Both the male and female have this 
tuft, but the male alone has horns. The hair is a dark brown 
on the back and shades to a lighter color on the sides. Both 
sexes have a short mane on the shoulders. The moose never 
Tuns, he trots. 1 have seco them trot over a rail fence with- 
out breaking their trot, and through snow three feet deep, 
reaching sixteen feet at every stride. Ii disturbed they will 
start off and never stop until they have gone twenty miles; 
but if followed by dogs they will stop to fight them, and 
thus may be come up to. Their hearing and sense of smell 
is much more acute than in a deer, and they will not stand 
to look at you like the deer, but as soon as they perceive a 
mau they are off. They eat the large roots of the pond lily 
and coarse grasses in summer. In winter their food consists 
mainly of twigs and the bark of the striped maple, called 
moose wood. When they move through the woods they sway 
their heads from side to side and make quite a noise with 
their horns. They live to be ten or twelve years old, 
The first time 1 ever saw a moose I was seven years old. 
I was with my father in a field hoeing corn in the town of 
Leyden, Lewis county, N. Y., about three miles and a half 
from Black River, near Tug Hill. There were no settle- 
ments cast of the Black River at that time. This moose 
was driven through the field by dogs, He had horns as big 
as a rocking chair. Moose were very plenty in the Adiron- 
dacks and on John Brown’s Tract from 1850 to 1855. They 
were not killed off, but went away to Canada and Maine. 
They all left in one season, Four or five were brought back 
to the Saranaes, but they did not stay. 
Although moosé are timid, they are savage enough when 
at bay, and will kill a dog at one blow of their feet. I was 
once out hunting with Owen Roberts and Sim Ruby, when 
we came upon three moose. We ran them into a ravine 
where the snow was so deep they could not getup. When 
they found they were cornered they turned on us, and I and 
the rest jumped behind trees to.keep from being killed. 
Sam Dunnigan and I once went up the plains on Moose 
Riyer and started a moose, but it commenced to rain, and 
the going wassobad we went down the slream to Stone 
Dam Shanty, and staid there nearly a week before the 
weather changed. When if gotso we could go on the ice 
we started. At daylight we were where the dogs left the 
moose the week before; we followed and found him where 
he had stopped to feed. He had gone twenty miles without 
breaking his trot. It was in a little pond. We killed him 
in the water and made a bridge of logs and poles and got 
him out. That night we made a shanty of his hide, and the 
next day get hometo Alder Creek, having been gone four 
weeks, killed one moose, and made our last ten meals off of 
frozen Johuny cake. 
The young moose is uot difficult to catch. The last moose 
ever seen or heard of in John Brown’s Tract I led out of the 
woods—he was with his mother. 
Jim Burnett and a man we used to call Schoharie, were 
taking care of some cows at North lake, Herkimer county, 
and in February, 1855, Sam Dunnigan and I went out there 
one afternoon. We started to bunt rabbits, and when I got 
to the top of a high hill to the east of the lake I saw moose 
tracks. I went back and told the men, and the next morn- 
ing we started, We had not been gone more than fifteen 
minutes before I killed the mother. 
then muzzled the dogs, and started after the young one, as 
we wanted to catch him alive. The dogs soon came up with 
him, and le fought them for awhile, but soon did uot care 
for them. We followed him over to the Bysbys, to where 
the Seymour camp now stands, then around north to Jack’s 
Lake and back again to North Lake. By this time it was 
dark, and Schoharie and Jim Burnett were about tired out. 
and we had to carry Schoharie nearly all the way to the 
shanty, Next morning Sam and I took the track alone, and 
in about two hours we had come up to him; as soon as he 
saw us he started, but we had kept the dogs back and soon 
were close to him. 
We promenaded around him just as the dogs did, until, 
striking at the dogs, he fell down, when I jumped on him, 
We got one leg up out of the snow and knee-banded it with a 
strap. We then built a fence around him of brush and logs, 
and made it high and strong, so there was no danger of his 
ack to the shanty, 
getting out, This took us all day, and at night we went 
\ 
We dressed her and 
The next morniug we baked some Johnny cake and took 
it fo him, He was much frightened at first, but after giving 
him a piece he would eat out of our hands. The next morn- 
ing he was watching for us. We used to go in every day 
and pat and feed him, I made a halter and taught him to 
lead, He was very kind and never kicked, Ihave seen an 
old moose kick hard enough to take the bark off a tree with- 
out hitting it. We kept him a week inside of the fence, 
when we led him to North Lake and from there out of the 
woods. On the way out he walked faster than a man, and 
Dunnigan fell behind. I was walking in one track and the 
moose in the other. J had onehand hold of the halter chain 
and the other over his shoulder. When we came to the top 
of “Railroad” hill he looked back, and, seeing Dunnigan in 
the distance, became frightened. It was two miles and a 
half to Dawson’s, and we were there in ten minutes. He 
never broke his trot, and all I had to do was to lift my feet. 
I never traveled so fast before. At Dawson’s he was not afraid 
of the men, but when he saw Mrs. Dawson he went up in 
the air in a minute, and it was some time before we could 
quiet him, We started in the morning from North Lake 
and got to Alden Creek by 2 o’clock in the afternoon—twenty 
miles. 
I Kept him in the barn for some time, and one day he got 
out. I took a halter and some Johnny cake and caught him 
Without much trouble. JI afterward took him to Utica and 
sold him to a man who kept what was known as the City 
Garden. He died the next 4th of July, 
ANTIDOTE FOR RATTLESNAKE BITE. 
Editor Forest and Strearn: 
When about nine years old three boys of us were in the 
woods after berries, in the southern part of Iowa, where 
rattlesnakes were plenty, A rattlesnake struck one of my 
companions on the side of his foot twice, leaving three 
marks, as ifa large needle strnck him and was forced out by 
tearing through the skin. We were a mile froin the nearest 
house for which we started at once. Having to cross a 
stream. we doused the bitten boy in the cold water to keep 
him cool. By the time we got him to the house his foot and 
leg was swollen to twice their size. The mother of third 
boy took in the situation at once, and made the bitten boy 
drink all he could hold of new milk, with all the indigo the 
milk would hold in solution. This was kept up until danger 
was passed and in a week the boy was as well as ever. 
Wau E. Pirxn. 
OHARLES City. Iowa. 
Liditor Forest and Stream: 
A friend of mine recently killed a very large diamond 
rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus), It was six feet in length 
and ten inches in circumference and had seven rattles and 
the button, I took off the skin to preserve. This is the 
sixth one that has been killed near the same locality re- 
cently. They aie pairing at this season and earlier, and 
traveling about the low scrub and palmetto woods more 
than at any other time, which makes them particularly dan- 
gerous in September and the earlier part of October. I haye 
been here ten years, but never heard of any oue being bitten 
by one. A good plan is for a sportsman to carry a small 
vial of strong ammonia, inclosed in a little case made from 
part of a hollow section of bamboo fishing rod. This im- 
mediately poured into the wound, after it has been enlarged 
if possible by a sharp knife, is probably the best remedy one 
can carry with them, Rep Wine. 
GLENGOR, Fla., Oct. 14. 
Tur Grounp SNAKE.—Glencoe, Fla., Oct. 16.—Some time 
since | mentioned the fact that I had sent a ground snake to 
the Smithsonian Institution, with request for information, 
but had never received a reply, This week I received a letter 
from Dr. H. C. Yarrow, Curator Department of Reptiles of 
above Institution, in which he states that he had just re- 
turned from an extended visit in Utah, which was the cause 
of delay in answering my letter of inquiry. For the inform- 
ation of those who wish to learn more of the ground snake 
I will state that Dr. Yarrow says its scientific name is 
Khineira floridana, popularly known as ‘‘ground snake” or 
“thunder worm,’ It is supposed to come out of the ground 
when it thunders and rains, <A full description of it may be 
seen in the “‘Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 
Sciences,” Philadelphia, 1861, page 75.—Rep WiNG. 
ALBINO SquirrReL.—New York, Oct. 5.—While shooting 
in Livingston county this summer, I ran across rather a curi- 
osity which was nothing less than a white squirrel. It was 
about the size of the common gray, had pink eyes, with an 
extremely full bushy tail, and when shot, althought brought 
to the ground, was not apparently much injured, and I suc- 
ceeded in keeping it alive. On examination, 1 found its skin 
was literally “perforated” with shot much finer than that 
used by me (No. 7), showing that it had been previously 
shot. Is this a distinct species or a freak of nature?—YBLOC. 
oe gray squirrel no doubt (Sevwrus carolinensis leu- 
catis), 
. 
a 
SS SSS Se 
POT LUCK FROM EXCHANGES. 
A favorite Danish dog was with the Emperor Alexander II., 
in the tragedy of 1881, and escaped the catastrophe in which 
his master perished. The animal was taken possession of by 
the Princess Dolgorouki, and may have been frequently seen 
escorting the Princess and her children in the Champs Elysees. 
Tt has now just died at Imcerne, and will probably be sfuffed 
and sent to St. Petersburg. 
Dr, Parker went hunting some time since, and seeing a 
squirrel poke his head out of a hole in the tree, he fired, but 
not seeing the squirrel drop, he came to the conclusion that 
he had missed it. Almost mstantly he saw what he supposed 
was the head of the same animal, and again fired. Still the 
squirrel head appeared at thesameplace. He fired thirty-four 
shots, and, as he did not see the game drop, he came to the 
conclusion that it was useless to continue the bombardment, 
and started to go further into the grove. Loand behold when 
he had passed the tree on which he had seen the one squirrel, 
he saw thirty-four lying ina heap upon the ground.—Char- 
tiers Valley Tribune, 
An extraordinary incident occurred at Seaconnet Point a 
day ortwoago. it appears that an ox was grazing near the 
shore where the fishermen had spread their seine to dry, He 
strayed on to it and his feet became entangled in its meshes, 
which so enraged him that he attacked the seins with his 
horns. Then the fun began. With each plunge of his head 
the beast brought the seme nearer te his feet by continuall 
looping up the seine upon his horns, in consequence of whic 
he was thrown to the pround. The fishermen saw the occur- 
rence and, after some trouble, extricated the captive, The 
seine was badly broken and the ox prea var? subdued. This 
is the first ox ever caught in a seine at Little Compton or any 
other place.—Hachange. 
Game Bag and Gan, 
DUCK SHOOTING IN NEW BRUNSWICK. 
W. have been gunning at intervals all the fall. We 
sometimes did not need a game bag, but we had a 
good deal of gunning all the same. Gar ambition was roused 
by reports of ducks in Charter’s Lake at Memrameook. We 
agreed on a day and went early to pick a good position for 
the evening shooting. J had thirty cartridges and Bob used 
a muzzleloader. e crossed the marsh to the bottom of the 
lake, and when near a small canal we disturbed a dozen or 
so snipe. While waiting for ducks we tried the snipe. In 
about fifteen minutes we had fired all our ammunition and 
bagged two snipe and a ‘‘bunkum.” Weare not crack shots, 
and we came home without killing any ducks. We went fo 
the same place on a subsequent evening and opened fire on 
the snipe again. We got four that time, and saw a French- 
man who had that morning killed five ducks at one shot 
with an old musket. 
We rested for a day or two, Then we heard how Hem- 
enway and Smith, two “down Hasters” from Portland, had 
killed eighty-five snipe in one day and ninety in another, in 
the adjoining parish, and we went down in the marsh near 
the Intercolonial Railway and gunned snipe. Bob killed 
one dead and [had one down inthe grass badly hurt, but 
could not just locate him, when George McKay, of Phila- 
delphia, came along. He had been down to the Memram- 
cook River with his 36-inch double breechloader, and to en- 
courage us emptied his game bag onthe grass. Twenty-two 
jacksnipe, two golden plover and some sandpipers comprised 
his pot, He went along on his way nome and put up and 
killed another snipe which we had marked down. We went 
home by way of Palmer’s Pond, however, and Bob killed a 
muskrat. It fortunately couldn’t fly, and we gathered him 
to his fathers. Our spirits revived somewhat, and when I 
got a pot shot at a flock of six fall plover and killed the 
whole lot, like Richard, 1 was myself again. 
Then came the news of how Dr. Ailen last week had dis- 
covered a haunt of ducks in the Point de Bute Bog, a few 
miles from here, and had killed forty-seven in a few hours, 
and missed as many more through bad marksmanship. I 
remembered a Jake in the heart of the woods hetween here 
and Sackville where ducks used to congregate, and Bob and 
J immediately planned to go there. We started last Friday 
taorning at daylight, There had been a frost in the night, 
and the air was keen as our carriage crashed through the 
frozen puddles, We had to drive ten miles to New Gallo- 
way, and then walk four miles through the forest primeval. 
We stopped at Deacon Lawrence’s to get his dog. The 
Deacon is fully restored to grace since his oneslip last spring, 
at the same time, wild geese should still beware how they 
tempt him cn Sunday. The Deacon has forgiyen me for 
writing up that Sunday shot of his and lent us his dog, and 
going on we soon reached New Galloway, where we left the 
horse. The accommodation af New Galloway is limited. A 
lumber camp and two deserted frame huts comprise the only 
habitations. It is a mile from the main road in the heart of 
the woods, and exists more for the purpose of having public 
money used on its road than anything else visible to the 
naked eye. 
We picketed the horse in a fence corner and started for 
our lake, After walking a mile or so, the effects of the 
frosty air wore off, and we were making good time when 
Bob stepped ona rool made slippery by the frost and fell 
headlong, sending his dinner basket into a dense brush heap. 
I waited for him as he groped around in the jungle for stray 
chunks of bread and sandwiches and raw beefsteak, and 
strangled my emotions and said nothing, for I did not want 
to hurt his feelings. iuck came from the mishap, for 
while Bob was still gathering into his basket the fragments 
of the loayes and fishes, the familiar sound of a partridge 
drumming came from a thicket just below us. I hurriedly 
started back on the road so that we might converge 
on the point where the bird was. I hadn’t gone 
twenty steps before my turn came, and the treacherous 
frost on another root gave me a header into a spruce 
bush. I fared better than Bob with my dinner, as it was 
stowed away in my coat. Bob did not see me go, so I again 
strangled my emotions and said nothing, for this time 1 did 
not want Bob to hurt my feelings. He did see me putting 
on my hat, and with his mind on the partridge, asked if I 
saw anything. I said no, and added with guile that it was 
impossible to see very far without stooping down pretty 
well. Bob does not know yet why I went down. 
Before we got far into the thicket the partridge drummed 
again, and then I saw him standing facing me not thirty 
feet away, on a log, with feathers ruffed and an apparently 
good opinion of himself and the world in general. J fired at 
his head, he was so close, and he bit the dust instantly. He 
was a splendid fellow, as big as a hen. It seemed like 
slaughter to kill him as he stood up there, buf we kill them 
that way here. Our Canada partridge (ruffed grouse) are 
not educated as they are in New Jersey, and never think of 
skulking as snipe do. They are frequently seen on the car- 
riage roads through the woo. s, and after trotting off into the 
brush while a team passes, ‘will return to the road to roll in 
the dust like chickens, Our game was duly stowed away 
and we again pushed on. Our road principally lay along an 
old logging road, but occasionally we would branch off and 
go by dead reckoning. 
I don’t know what time it was when we reached the lake. 
My watch was wholly disabled, and Bob’s indicated half-past 
4, His was a stem-winder, with the winder broken, and he 
had the night before, in honor of the occasion, put forth an 
extra effort and wound it wp with a corkscrew, but had for- 
gotten to set it. 1 took the sun with the compass, however, 
and it was so near south that we concluded to call it noon, 
and Bob set his watch accordingly. 
Where the path branched down to the lake Bob held the 
dog, while I went ahead to prospect. From behind a bush 
on the shore I could see two ducks out in thelake, and then, 
right from the bank beneath me three black ducks swam out 
in a line all in range not twenty feet away. I would not fire 
because Bob had no show for a shot. The ducks finally saw 
me and flew over to the opposite shore. The lake is nearly 
round and about 800 yards in diameter. I returned to Bob 
and we went up the road to an old logging camp which we 
made our headquarters, and unloaded ourselves of all but 
guns and ammunition. We then crept down to the lake, 
where an old root made a good blind; but no ducks were 
within range from there. The main flock of about twenty 
was up the shore about a hundred yards with a bog behind 
them, which was hard to cross without heing seen. I 
decided to try it, and leaying the dog with Bob 1 made a 
detour through the woods and came out on the bog so as to 
