330 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 21, 1885. 



Orange City, but a change of programme was now suggested 

 by two mercurial and sanguine members of the company 

 (any one acquainted with Messrs. Croffut and Boynton will 

 readily comprehend the allusion). These gentlemen pro- 

 posed to investigate the country midway between the Sabine 

 and Lake Calcasieu, where, 'they had it upon excellent 

 authority, we should find bigger game than cluck. Their 

 persuasive and magnetic utterance had its effect. Within 

 an hour we had engaged horses and wagons, piled in 

 blankets, tents, a supply of food, and, lastly, ourselves. 

 Whoop! Off for the wilderness, on a grand cross-country 

 drive. The air was delicious, the riding easy, save in one or 

 two instances. I think we struck one rut. I have a distinct 

 recollection of turning a somersault in the air and landing 

 with some force among a lot of reeds and palms, from which 

 the gentlemen finally extricated me with tender compassion 

 and politely suppressed merriment. T was only scratched a 

 little. 



It was long past 4 o'clock when we halted to locate our 

 camp, in good clear space, having only an occasional live- 

 oak. We. were all tired, and after our camp supper were 

 glad to crawl into our two tents — a small and a large 

 one— and sleep serenely. The weather of the next day was 

 highly propitious. Breakfast consumed, we set forth in 

 twos, each lady appropriating a gentleman; six gentlemen 

 doomed to walk with those of their own sex. and the 

 thirteenth leading the way with evident spirit. We were all 

 good walkers, and not one complaint was heard when we 

 began the entrance of a deep wood, where the cypress 

 stumps made footsteps rather uncertain. I think my only 

 regret was that I had to carry a pistol for my own use, and 

 risk the chance of borrowing a gun from one of the men, if 

 I really couldn't do without killing a duck or two. 



We had wandered for an half hour in this forest, when 

 some one cried out sharply: "Oh. look quick!" I turned; it 

 was Miss G.'s voice. She was very pale, and her gaze was 

 lifted to the lower branch of a massive live-oak a few yards 

 ahead. I put on my glasses quickly. Now a murmur ran 

 from lip to lip, and yet the men seemed paralyzed by the 

 sight. It was beautiful and strangely fascinating. A crea- 

 ture larger than a large-sized dog, yellow-coated," sleek, sup- 

 ple, liery-eyed and at liberty. It awed one; it shamed one 

 to think of destroying such a magnificent living shape. And 

 then there was the quick sound of raising guns. Mr. Boyn- 

 ton and Granville Shaw were in the lead, the first-named 

 dangerously near the beast, which now showed signs of in- 

 tense anger. Every one seemed to take aim save the poetic 

 Mr. Croffut, who stood next me and appeared powerless. "I 

 can't/" he whispered hoarsely, "I can't kill anything so beau- 

 tiful." 



'"Give me your gun," 1. cried, snatching it from him. 



And to this minute I believe I might have covered myself 

 with glory, but the poetic gentleman interposed with an- 

 other dramatic and imploring whisper: "For heaven's sake, 

 don't!" 



Of course I didn't. One doesn't like to be made feel a 

 murderess. Bang! It was Boynton's gun. Then a wild 

 cry from all. The beast had suddenly leaped from the tree 

 down upon the Boston gentleman. Another stunning sound ! 

 Then the smoke rolled away. Man and beast lay prone 

 among the harsh undergrowth, beast atop; but a hopeful 

 voice reassured us: 



"I am all right, but he's awful heavy; please get him off 

 me." 



Granville Shaw's cool head and steady arm had saved all. 

 The panther, for such it was, was quite dead. It was truly 

 a strange experience. I have given it here as prosaically as 

 possible, and with strict regard for the truth. But I shall 

 always maintain — and feel a little regretful thereat— that but 

 for the poetic sentiments of the New York journalist, whose 

 gun I bad snatched, /might have been the one to shoot the 

 panther. Lily Cuisry. 



Philadelphia, May 1G. — Shore birds are on in force, and 

 the passing flights on the New Jersey coast are now being 

 well saluted on their way north. Few flocks stop to feed, 

 but every southerly wind forces them to keep close to the 

 bay side of tfie beaches within sight of the decoys and within 

 hearing of the gunners' whistle. The grounds near to Cape 

 May Court House, N. J., have been visited this week by 

 a number of Philadelphia sportsmen with only moderate 

 success. A party of three, just returned from Ocean City, 

 on Sinnepuxent "Sound, killed over 200 in two days, mostly 

 brown larks and willets. The birds "went a begging" when 

 they reached Philadelphia, and none but the unsophisticated 

 could abide their sedgy flavor, which is more noticeable in 

 the spring than in the autumn, when it is bad enough. — 

 Homo. 



The Woodchuck as a Tkee Climber.— Chester C aunty, 

 Pa., May 13. — This morning while walking in the meadow 

 back of my boarding place, I heard the farm dog barking 

 loudly a little distance ahead behind a knoll, the note indi- 

 cating that he had treed something. I hunted him up and 

 found him at the foot of a large chestnut tree, to the bare 

 body of which, at a height of about twelve feet, clung a 

 large woodchuck or ground hog. There was no limb near 

 the animal nor below it, the trunk being smooth from the 

 ground to the fork (some distance above the spot where the 

 frightened creature had flattened itself against the bark), and 

 here the tree was easily eighteen inches in diameter. The 

 trunk was perfectly straight and perpendicular. He sleeps 

 in the valley. — S. 



Colin Instead or Quail. — A North Carolina corres- 

 pondent again calls attention to the fact that the bird which 

 in this country is called vanousty quail, partridge and Bob 

 White, is properly the colin. The Michigan Sportsmen's 

 Association, it will be remembered, some years ago made an 

 effort to reform this nomenclature, but the term colin was 

 not taken to very kindly, and we doubt if it ever will be. 



A Joke With a Great Fdture.— Long after many 

 other kinds of wild animals have been exterminated, Ephraim 

 will hold his own in the fastnesses of the wilderness, and 

 long after the pelt of the last grizzly shall have been done 

 up into a rug, that fine old joke about "not having lost any 

 bear" will do duty as a choice specimen of indigenous 

 American humor. 



Connecticut Game Laws remain unchanged. 



* 



"That reminds me." 

 152. 



IMJE Forest and Stream is like a trick at euchre, if you 

 don t take it you never can get the fun back. I would 

 not have lost the last number, which contained a .narrative 

 of "A Long Shot at a Swan," for a great deal. It was 

 intensely exciting, especially that part which introduces "the 

 small boy." So accurately does "Amateur" describe the 

 loading of his gun, its weight, the charge of ducking and 

 system of wadding, that it induced me to anticipate as I pro- 

 gressed that he had finally rammed the "small boy" into the 

 shell, and that the trumpeter had come fluttering down with 

 the youngster bestride of its back. Laugh not— there is noth- 

 ing original in the idea to one who has seen the statuette of 

 Leda and the feathered Jupiter in the Accademia della Belle 

 Arti, at Venice. I feel grateful to "Amateur,"' for he re- 

 minds me of a still more remarkable shot than the one which 

 he recounts, which I made myself. It was in the good old 

 days of the muzzleloader, long before choke bores became 

 the most powerful of all game preservers. It was the cus- 

 tom of those times for thorough sportsmen to stick a tallow 

 dip in the muzzles of each barrel and let them burn down 

 while holding his fowling piece in a perpendicular position. 

 This prevented the outside of the gun from rusting and 

 greased the way for the deadly charge. I had been shooting 

 and had exhausted all my shot at an endless flight of ducks, 

 "and the old gun was shooting as slick as grease." 



Presently I observed a "whiteness" of swan feeding far 

 up in the mackerel sky. Knowing that I had no lead in 

 my gun I naturally concluded that the birds must be fishy. 

 Still they were provokiugly in shot, certainly not more than 

 a mile and a half off. I had two clay pipes in my pocket. I 

 broke the bowls off, dropped a stem down each barrel, and 

 instantly fired. The well greased stems no sooner had issued 

 from the gun than the air rushing through their apertures 

 began sounding sweet and mellow notes, singularly like those 

 uttered by extremely young cygnets. This attracted the 

 attention of the swans who answered, and two large male 

 birds left the flock and began descending with terrible 

 velocity. They had almost reached the ascending pipe 

 stems when they discovered their mistake and hastened to 

 retrace their flight. Then came a most exciting and exhilar- 

 ating race to contemplate, between the two swans and the 

 two stems, both giving forth strange sounds. At first the 

 birds were ahead, but finally the pipe steins overtook them 

 and entered the thorax of the swans, thereby producing an 

 escape of air and thus depriving the fair birds from uttering 

 those sweet songs with which they are said to celebrate their 

 death. Josephus. 



Kennebunk Port, Me. 



ha mid Oliver 



"Sun" Cholera Cure.— Take equal parts of tincture of 

 cayenne, tincture of opium, tincture of rhubarb, essence of 

 peppermint, and spirits of camphor. Mix well. Dose fifteen 

 to thirty drops in a wineglass of water, according to age and 

 violence of the attack. Kepeat every fifteen or twenty min- 

 utes until relief is obtained. 



EARLY AND LATE FISHING. 



THE early bird catches the first worm, and the early 

 angler generally catches his first trout with a worm. 

 But the early anglers' are none the less anxious for the ice to 

 go out of their favorite waters. The weather is cold and the 

 season is very backward. One week ago nearly fifteen 

 inches of snow fell in Bangor, Me., and the lumber regions 

 beyond, and eight to ten inches in the Moosehead Lake 

 region. Further west, in the section of the Androseoggius, 

 but little snow fell, but the weather has been cold ever since, 

 and some nights ice has formed nearly an inch thick. Hence 

 but slow progress has been made toward the clearing of the 

 old ice from the celebrated Maine trout waters. The ice 

 cleared from Moosehead last year about the 8th of May; 

 from Kichardson on the 11th; from Mooselucmaguntic and 

 Rangeley, one day later. Capt. Fred C. Barker, whose ex- 

 perience dates back fifteen or twenty years, writes that the 

 ice should leave Mooselucmaguntic by the 12th, but since 

 that letter was written the weather has been cold and it is 

 probable that these lines will reach the eye of the reader 

 before the Androscoggins are clear of ice. 



It is possible that somebody may think I attach too much 

 importance to this ice question, but they should look at it 

 from a Boston standpoint. More than one hundred mer- 

 chants, tradesmen and men in the professions are deeply 

 interested. Part of them have special arrangements for get- 

 ting the news of the clearing of the Maine lakes by telegraph. 

 They vie with each other in being the first to announce it. 

 The' fever is on them, and nothing will cure it but the 

 annual spring trip to the Maine lakes. They will many of 

 them go early, because they cannot wait. The fever runs 

 too high. Some of us talk patience, and picture the miser- 

 ies of cold winds aud woods full of snow, but the ardent 

 ones— the early fishermen — retort upon us with the horrors 

 of black flies and mosquitoes and mosquitoes and black 

 flies. We preach moderation and the beauties of nature in 

 the late spriug time; the evil of taking hundreds of small 

 trout with a worm, as against the ecstacy — the skill — of 

 taking a few noble fish with a fly. Again they retort with 

 "black flies and mosquitoes and mosquitoes and black flies." 



Well, a man who is afraid of a mosquito and is not master 

 of a hundred black flies should not go a-fishing. It is mean 

 to rush off the moment that the ice is out and destroy the 

 trout by thousands just as soon as they catch the daylight 

 after their six-month's' confinement. The fish are hungry 

 then, and it is as much sport, to take a lordly trout then as it 

 is to "hook up a sucker" in August. But just here let me ex- 

 plain how one may actually endure the woods, even in black 

 fly time— from the middle of June generally, till about the 

 middle of July. In the first place put on a handkerchief. 

 Not one sportsman in a dozen knows how this is done. Even 

 "Nessmuk" has not described the process on the blade of his 

 hatchet. Tie a good-sized handkerchief around your neck, 

 not by the opposite coiners, but by the corners at one side. 

 It will now hang down your back in the form of cape. Take 

 hold of the two corners at the other side and bring it up over 

 your head. Tie these corners together in a knot just above 

 your forehead. If you have drawn the last knots down 

 tight, your head, neck and ears around to your very eyes, 

 will be completely protected. By the way, this form of 

 handkerchief hood makes an excellent sleeping cap when 

 camping out. 



Now put on your hat. Well, but the front of your face 

 is exposed. Use the Oil of Joy. We gave it tins name 

 ten years ago, when on a June trip to Moleehunkamunk, 

 because the only joy we felt was when it was fresh on our 

 faces and hands. The mosquitoes and flies were .thicker 

 than — the workmen at the Upper Dam; tough Canadian 



Frenchmen were driven "to smudge" by them. Relief from 

 misery would have been a better name. Take one part of 

 Carolina tar— not coal tar— three parts of sweet or olive oil, 

 and shake them well together. Enough essence of fiehhy- 

 royal should also be putln to give the mixture a. strong per- 

 fume, like the Carolina forest in spring time and the penny- 

 royal sheep pasture in August. This constitutes the Oil of 

 Joy. Use it, like royal incense, on your face and hands 

 freely, it will need renewing once every hour, when the 

 sun is hot and the flies are particularly bad. Watch the 

 result. The flies come up like a swarm "of bees, within two 

 leet of you. They can go no further. The tar and penny- 

 royal are too much for them. They form a complete halo 

 around your head. Crazy flies outside, next the Oil of Joy, 

 inside the fisherman 1 



Bah ! You hold up your hands in holy horror. The nasty 

 stuff on my face! Never! Not quite so fast. It acts ex- 

 actly like a soft tar soap. It actually makes a good lather 

 when you come to wash up. Even ladies have found it to 

 protect the skin from tan and sunburn. Special. 



JVIav 19.— The ice is out of the Maine trout lakes, and the 

 Sportsmen with rod and reel are on the wing. Three or 

 four Boston parties started on Friday and Saturday, and an- 

 other party of six will go on the 23d. Besides these, all the 

 New England towns are represented. The wonder is that 

 there is room for so many of the disciples of the gentle 

 Izaak, and even a few trout for all, in the wilds of Maine. 

 Truly some movement should be made for the. perpetuation 

 of so much health-giving recreation. The Maine woods and 

 waters ought to be preserved forever from the vandalism 

 which has so nearly depleted the Adirondacks. 



A FISHING TRIP TO LEWIS POND. 



r pHERE is a town in Northern Vermont near the New 

 JL Hampshire line that until within a tew yearSbad never 

 been lotted and was an unbroken wilderness. The former 

 owner having died, commissioners were appointed to survey 

 and lot it, and they spent several weeks during the latter part 

 of the summer in the work. 



From their account of the wonderful quantities of fish audi 

 game to be found there, Will C. and myself made arrange- 

 ments for a trip to Lewis Pond, a body of water lying some- 

 where in the limits of the town. 1 saw one of the commis- 

 sioners and got directions to enable us to find it without em- 

 ploying a guide. He told me to go to North Stratford on 

 the G. T. R. R., take a team to the "Stone Ham," on the • 

 Nulhegan River, and take an old logging rosd to the mouth , 

 of the "Black Branch," thence about six miles to the Lewis , 

 town line and follow that until we found a "spotted" tree 

 marked "three miles," where was a spotted line leading at 

 right angles to the left that would lake us directly to the 

 pond. I didn't think to inquire the distance from the 

 "three-mile tree" to the pond, but we found out all about 

 that later. 



One afternoon about the middle of August, we packed • 

 our outfit, taking but a small quantity of provisions, for we • 

 intended to live "principally on trout! and we didn't want to . 

 carry any more than was absolutely necessary, lor it was a 

 long tramp. If we had known how long, perhaps this would . 

 never have been written. We took the evening train from . 

 Lancaster to Groveton Junction, changed cars for North . 

 Stratford, where we arrived at 8:80 o'clock P. M. The 

 moon was at its full, and it was almost as light as day, so we 

 concluded to take a team to the Stone Dam,' four milts, and . 

 camp, thus giving us so much of a start on to-morrow, in 

 stead of staying at the Willard House over night. We hired . 

 a team and "driver of "Heme" Folsoin, and in ahout half an , 

 boor were landed safely at the dam with our luggage at ■ 

 just 9:80 o'clock. The ey T ening was so light and pleasant,, 

 that we shouldered our traps and started up the road whichi 

 followed up the Nulhegan River. It was pretty good travel 

 ing, and we soon came to where the Black Branch emptied 1 , 

 into the river. We left the river and followed up I he branclu 

 for perhaps an hour, when comiug to thicker woods it be- 

 came harder walking, so we found a dry knoll and built a* 

 fire, and concluded to wait till morning before going furl .her-. 

 Toasting a liberal slice of bacou on a forked stick, we. made- 

 a hearty meal on that aud a slice of bread and a dipper oil 

 water from a small stream that noisily came tumbling down* 

 a hill within a short distance of our camp fire. We didn't 

 sleep much that night, for we had no shelter except that 

 afforded by the trees, and our fire got low before inor»uig, 

 when it came on/oggy and quite chilly. 



We ate breakfast as soon as it began to be daylight, 

 shouldered our knapsacks and were off. In a short time, 

 our legs were wet to our knees, for the old road was grown 

 up with bushes that were dripping with water. 



We passed two or three sets of old logging camps, and 

 arouud one we saw where a bear had trampled down and 

 wallowed in the raspberry bushes that grew with the great 

 est luxuriance, and probably eaten his fill of the luscious 

 fruit. I have several times come quite close to them while 

 they were busily engaged in berrying before they saw me, 

 when with a sudden "woof" they "would turn, and smashing 

 through the bushes, be off without waiting to make a close 

 acquaintance. They are still quite plenty in the backwoods 

 in this vicinity, and when wild fruits and mast arc scarce 

 in the woods do considerable damage to fields of late corn 

 and oats, and by killing sheep. Last fall bear steak was for 

 sale in Lancaster village several times, and 1 know one man 

 who trapped ten and killed eight of them last season, 

 before the middle of September, when he moved his traps 

 to another locality, but as I aidn't see him after that I don't 

 know how many more he caught. 



After awhile the fog cleared away and we came to an old 

 dam, partly burned away on one side, leaving a fine pool and 

 eddy with a large flake 6f foam circling 'round on its surface, 

 and as it had quite a fishy look 1 thought we would try it. 

 We put together our rods, and while Will put on a bait hook 

 and impaled a big grasshopper that he hail caught coming 

 along 1 had looped on a Jeader and with a Montreal for a 

 trial fly, made a cast, dropped it on the ball of foam and no 

 sooner had I drawn across, and it stiuck the water than with 

 a sudden flash a tail came out of the water and i had him. 

 hooked. Will dropped his 'hopper on the foam, and it had 

 hardly sunk below It when he had a strike, and lifted out a 

 trout "that would weigh over a pound. Mean while mine bach 

 begun to circulate around, and was trying his best to tangle 

 my leader around the timbers of the old dam, and I trying 

 my best to keep him in the open water. Soon he seemed to 1 

 tnink I was getting the best of it, when he made a sudden 1 

 dash down stream, and as the current was very strong he- 

 made the reel buzz right merrily. As I y,aye him more 

 line and moved down the stream I kept him in toward the 

 nearer shore and turning him into shallow water, inside a 

 large rock, he gave a flop and broke away. 1 dropped my 



