366 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jtjne 4 1885. 



r (ht St$mtm\mi %onri$t 



HO FOR THE WOODS! 



/"\UT of the madding crowd, 

 ^-' Away from wolflsh caie. 

 On the might of white-winged steam, 



Away through the July glare; 

 What hope and promised peace, 



In the stretch of the iron track, 

 To the north-land's wind-swept lakes, 



And its hemlock shadows black. 



Cast not a look behind 



At the cornfields, waving black, 

 Or the white heat quivering o'er 



The wheat -land's golden back; 

 And ne'er a backward thought 



Of the pulsing, dusty ways, 

 Where thick walls mesh the sun, 



And thrall the burning days. 



But on, with deep desire. 



Where blue waves lap the shore. 

 And jagged pines keep watch 



By th' white beach evermore; 

 Where Norway columns red, 



Lift dusky arches high, 

 Murmurous as summer seas. 



To north-land's violet sky. 



There, where no axe hath cleft 



In solitudes profound 

 The sinuous trout streams run, 



Darkling the rocks around ; 

 And by some lonely lake 



The red deer antiered stands, 

 'Mid flowering lily -pads, 



Beyond its hoof-marked sands. 



When evening's sun sinks low, 



In deeps of rose and gold, 

 When weird loons, shrill high. 



In strong flight, sw'ft and bold; 

 When mellow whip-poor-wills 



Make sweet the thicket's gloam, 

 And through the clear, crisp dusk, 



The whizzing night-hawks roam- 

 Then pile the resined logs 



'Till red flames flush the night. 

 And showers of sparks on high 



Glow each tall pine alight; 

 As jest or stories pass 



From lip to lip with zest, 

 Like children out of school 



Recline in careless rest. 



Then think, in blest content, 



Of summer's quivering heat, 

 O'er field and parching plain. 



And the pulsing, dusty street; 

 Fair gleams the forest tent 



Against night's starry crown, 

 And sweet its hemlock couch 



As monarch's bed of down. 



Mrs. M. E. Banta. 



ON THE GREAT MEXICAN DESERT. 



A DESERT is wot generally supposed to be very enjoy- 

 able, but among the pleasant recollections that I shall 

 always bave of Mexico, the days that I spent last winter on 

 what is known as tbe desert in the State of Durango, will 

 bold no subordinate place. This desert, whicb covers a 

 large part of what is known on tbe map as Bolson De 

 Mapimi, is called a desert because the rain is in general in- 

 sufficient to raise crops, and springs or streams are too far 

 apart to make it available for live stock without digging 

 wells. Most of tbe soil is, bowever, very good, and under- 

 ground water is not so deep as in many good sections of tbe 

 United States. Much of it is well covered witb buncb grass, 

 and none of it bears any resemblance to tbe sterile deserts of 

 Nevada or Arizona. 



"When tbe sun rises upon this country in the morning it 

 looks like an enchanted land. The rugged mountain chains 

 in the distance are cut up into turreted castles, witb miles of 

 space between them ; lofty towers arise where yesterday you 

 saw nothing, and whole miles of mountain that yesterday 

 bounded the horizon are suddenly gone. Broad lakes with 

 timbered islands shimmer in tbe distance, and miles of dried 

 bunch grass far out upon the plain arise in a long, yellow 

 palisade beyond it. Many of the effects of the mirage con- 

 tinue through the day, but tbe most wonderful are just 

 about sunrise. 



Climb one of the highest hills and you look down upon a 

 vast succession of stupendous plains, gray and yellow, and 

 brown and dark, according to the vegetation, but nearly all 

 as level as a ball-room floor, and most of them of a soil of 

 great richness when properly wet. Among them rise ranges 

 of low ragged hills, some rolling four thousand feet above 

 the plain, but most of them from one to two thousand feet 

 high. Over these hills your eye may wander in vain for 

 timber, streams or springs. It rests upon no soft green 

 mountain meadows, no timbered canons, no grassy slopes. 

 All is a dry, bare, dreary waste of rock and rubble, with a 

 few bushes and an endless variety of cactus struggling for 

 existence in the openings among the stones. 



Little would one expect to find any game upon such a 

 tract. The hare you think may live there, but you little 

 suspect the existence of antelope, deer or wild pigs on a vast 

 reach where you can see no sign of water, no green grass, 

 no green bushes, scarcely cover enough to shield a hare~from 

 the noonday sun; yet they all live there, not indeed in gen- 

 eral abundance, but concentrated enough at times to make 

 good hunting in places. Those broad sweeps of bunch grass 

 contain antelope, though the land may there be too level to 

 stalk them. Those wide expanses of dark, weary looking 

 brush that so thinly cover the plains in places often contain 

 plenty of deer. Vainly you would look for them in these 

 hills, for they do not keep in them as deer generally do, 

 though none too rugged for their nimble feet to traverse. 

 But upon the low mesas and rough washes by whicb the 

 mountains slope away into the plains, where the Spanish 

 dagger and other varieties of cactus stand so dense upon the 



f round that you must watch nearly every footstep, you will 

 nd the large mule deer as fat and glossy as ever you saw a 

 well-groomed mule. And when he runs it will not be 



toward the hills, as you would expect, but toward tbe brush 

 that stands upon tbe open plain below. Into this brush on 

 the plain it is quite useless to follow a deer; and in it there 

 is little use of hunting unless upon horseback or in a wagon, 

 to raise you above the brush enough to see a deer to ad- 

 vantage. Though comparatively tbin and low and easily 

 threaded, it is still dense enough to conceal a deer at any 

 considerable distance, and high enough to hide his body at 

 a very short distance. But with a horse from which one 

 can shoot with a rifle, fine sport may be had in most of it, 

 and deer would be even less afraid of a wagon. 



On the rolling washes and mesas between the mountain 

 and the plain, I found the best hunting; but even there I 

 found extreme caution necessary. The deer were much 

 wilder than I had expected to find them in a place where no 

 one hunted them, and the ground being stony and rough 

 they were easily alarmed. Even with the advantage of 

 moccasins I could get not a bit too near to any of them. 

 They were also extremely hard 1o see, even in the low cover 

 of thin brush and cactus that clad tbe slopes. Often only 

 the head and part of the neck could be seen. Three in suc- 

 cession I shot through the neck purposely, it being impossi- 

 ble to tell where the body was. Though I have fired thou- 

 sands of shots at deer, I never before shot deliberately at so 

 many necks in so short a space of time. In spite of these 

 disadvantages, however, I found it about as pleasant hunt- 

 ing as I ever had. There were no big hills to climb, streams 

 to cross, or bogs through which to flounder. Cactus I knew 

 how to traverse long ago, and there was no brush through 

 which it was necessary to force my way. Deer were plenty 

 enough to make a shot at one or two almost a certainty when 

 I went alone, and it was not necessary to go more than three 

 miles from the house to find them, and generally not half of 

 that. 



The weather was absolute perfection. It was just warm 

 enough to allow one to hunt in thin clothes and lie upon the 

 ground to rest, or sit upon knolls and look over the surround- 

 ing brush, yet just cool enough to be bracing. This com- 

 bining with the elevation (4,000 feet) and the extreme dry- 

 ness of the air, produced a ravenous appetite. Even without 

 any game it would be a luxury to lounge about in this moun- 

 tain air in shirt sleeves after reading of the blizzards and 

 snowdrifts and polar waves that have swept the North this 

 winter. I have but one opinion of the man who will stay 

 and stand such inflictions when he can get away from them. 

 The more time I spend in luxurious climates and think of 

 what I used to endure, the more I feel that after all fine 

 weather is about half that is worth living for. It is an old 

 remark that you "cannot live on climate." But you can 

 come very near it. Get the climate and it takes a very small 

 amount of lubricant to overcome the rest of the friction of 

 life. The climate of this part of Mexico is much superior to 

 to that of the Valley and. City of Mexico. It is infinitely 

 drier, even the rails of the Mexican Central being nearly 

 always perfectly dry at sunrise. During the three winter 

 months that I have spent at various points from Lerdo on 

 the southern edge of Durango to Chihuahua, there have been 

 but three rainy days and five others cloudy. All the rest 

 have been bright and warm, with an absence of wind that is 

 most remarkable for such great plains. When a polar wave 

 rolls over the north it is felt here in cold nights which 

 occasionally make ice, but when the sun comes up it is soon 

 warm. 



The deer here range with freedom in the thickest cactus 

 and run through both prickly pear and Spanish dagger in a 

 most reckless manner. I found the stomachs of five filled 

 with the lobes of prickly pear which they had swallowed in 

 large pieces without apparent inconvenience from the spines. 

 Their feeding upon this and also the central stalk of a low kind 

 of dagger plant explains their living without water and the 

 good condition in which they are found late in the winter 

 when deer elswhere are getting poor. Many, however, stay 

 far out in the brush of tbe plains and rarely go to tbe hills, 

 but will £0 many miles for water. 



In most all the hilly sections of this tract and even well 

 out in the brush of the plains the Mexican wild pig, or 

 peccary, is found. It is built more like a sunfish on legs 

 than a "hog, is extremely watchful and can vanish through 

 the brush in fine style, unless wounded, in which case you 

 had better vanish if any of its companions are near by. They 

 travel in bunches of five, ten or even more and beat regular 

 trails or runwavs on the rough ground, but are even harder 

 than a deer to get sight of, as they are so low and do not 

 holdup their heads as deer do. They are said to be very 

 good eating if a gland in the back be removed and if they 

 are kept a few days before cooking, but having plenty of 

 venison I did not try any of them and did not hunt for them 

 at all. 



The large hare occasionally sprang from my path and 

 darted away with ears brushed back as he plunged through a 

 large clump of bunch grass or under some projecting stick, 

 and in a moment skimming an open open spot with lofty 

 jumps and ears upraised, stopping at the opposite side, per- 

 haps to inspect me. The little hare, too, whisked out of an 

 occasional bush and dodged, with tail of flickering white, 

 quickly out of sight. Quail like those of Californiain general 

 color of the body and energy of legs ran along the ground 

 well out of shot or rose with a whizz when surprised. These 

 quail instead of having a single plume as the California quail 

 have topknot of several feathers, a dirty gray below and 

 white upon top, the white showing plainly when they fly. 

 About the only notes tbey make at this time of the year are 

 the alarm notes, a faint week-ieee, week-wee, in quick succes- 

 sion and a chine/, eking at intervals of a few seconds. Both 

 of these are different from the notes of the California quail. 

 This quail keeps in coveys and docs not pack into large 

 flocks as the California quail does, which would materially 

 lessen the possibility of making a large bag of them. They 

 are, however, of much better flavor and a trifle larger than 

 the valley quail of California. 



But small game is not here abundant enough away from 

 the water courses, lakes and irrigated fields to make its pur- 

 suit worthy of much special attention. All through Mexico, 

 wherever there is water there is generally plenty of water- 

 fowl and English snipe in winter. I have not had time to 

 inspect the lowlands, the tierra caliente or hot country, but 

 would advise any one going there to take both gun and rifle, 

 as one is liable to stumble upon fine shooting where one 

 least expects it. Not one in a hundred would expect to 

 find deer on such ground as I have described, and the hills 

 between Jimulco and Eresnillo, wdiich abound in both mule 

 deer and the white-tail or Virginia deer, most hunters would 

 pronounce worthless for deer hunting. 



On this desert the deer bave ah the little tricks of brush 

 deer generally. They will lie still and let you pass them 

 without moving at all. They will stand still in the brush 

 with heads down, and in the same way let you pass tbem. 



They will sneak off on a low trot without raising their 

 heads or making any noise that you can hear. As with other 

 deer, their curiosity often gets the better of them, and after 

 they have neatly avoided your eye and got well past, they 

 cannot resist the temptation to bave a look at you. One of 

 the finest bucks I got here let me pass him about sixty yards 

 on one side. When I had got nearly one hundred yards 

 past him I looked around again, as on account of this trick 

 it is my custom always to look around on each side, behind 

 as well as in front. There, in a place where a minute ago 

 there had been nothing at all, was a huge head and horns 

 and half of the long gray neck in plain sight, with a full 

 battery of curiosity from "the big ears and black eyes play- 

 ing full upon me. 



Some of the streams that cross this vast tract contain 

 plenty of fish— in fact, contain about the only fish worthy 

 of mention to be found in the highlands of" Mexico. At 

 Lerdo 1 have seen a half a dozen donkeys each staggering 

 under a load of catfish, and as many more beneath a load of 

 suckers. The catfish run from half a pound to twelve 

 pounds in weight, with an average of about six pounds. 

 They are caught with the hook, also with nets. These are, 

 by all odds, the finest flavored catfish I have ever seen, being 

 as much superior to the catfish of the United States as the 

 catfish of the East is to the "mud cat" of the lower Missis- 

 sippi. They are plainly a different variety ; but it is so many 

 years since I have seen a catfish that I cannot accurately 

 describe the difference. The suckers run as high as eighteen 

 pounds in weight, with an average of about eight. These, 

 too, are differeni from anything I have ever seen East or 

 West. They are deeper than the Eastern sucker, in whose 

 capture with tbe spear I took so much delight when a boy, 

 yet not so deep as the "buffalo fish" of the Western waters, 

 with which it is here classed by some. It is also much 

 thicker than the "buffalo fish" and a different fish entirely. 



This sucker I did not try, being satisfied with the very safe 

 presumption that a sucker is a sucker the world over. They 

 do not take tbe hook, but are taken with nets and spears, 

 etc. Both these fish are extremely cheap, the catfish selling 

 at two cents a pound and the suckers at about one cent. So 

 far as I can learn by tbe most careful inquiry among natives 

 and Americans and other foreigners who have lived here 

 many years, there are no trout in Mexico. From the high 

 mountains that form the southern rim of the Valley of 

 Mexico tumble brooks as clear, as cold and as foamy as ever 

 gladdened the soul of an angler. Every pool or ripple 

 speaks of trout, but none are there. And among the natives 

 are no traditions from which one could conclude that there 

 ever were any. Still there is reason to hope that in the 

 great range of the Sierra Madre, abounding in deer, bears, 

 turkeys, squirrels, etc., and almost unknown to any but the 

 Indians, there are trout. These mountains are of' vast ex- 

 tent, abounding in fine forests, parks and brooks, and will 

 afford a splendid field to the sportsman for many years to 

 come. The greater part of the range is free from the 

 Apaches and has never been troubkd by them. 



By the way, it is refreshing to note tbe progress of the world 

 in matters of natural history. A short time ago, some one 

 shot from a train on the Central a sickle-bill curlew. It was 

 pronounced a woodcock by every American on the train, 

 one gentleman from Nebraska snuffing out my feeble light 

 with the remark that he "had shot thousands of woodcock 

 and knew what he was talking about." I forgot to take his 

 name and address. So far as T can learn there is not a wood- 

 cock to be found on the Mexican highlands, and all the 

 natives I have questioned insist that the English snipe is the 

 only Picolargo (long bill) that they know of that kind. 



T. S. Van Dyke. 



tn\nl Wffl 0T U* 



THE LESSON OF A MARKET. 



ON March 28 of the present year I took a glance at the 

 market of Norfolk, Va. ' On entering the market 

 square my attention was called to the strings of small birds 

 suspended from the booths, and I at once examined all I 

 could see exposed, and carefully noted the species and their 

 condition. The hour was late, it being midday, and I have 

 no doubt an earlier hour would have shown a much larger 

 exhibit, besides, probably, adding to the number of species 

 observed. The following were the species exposed for sale : 

 Robin, Turdus nnigratorius; catbird, Mimus earolinensis; 

 brown thrush, Jlarporhynchus rufits; bluebird, Sialia sialis; 

 yellow-rumped warbler, Dendraxa coronaUi; cedar waxwing, 

 Ampelis cedrorum; red-eyed greenlet, Vireo olivaceaj logger- 

 head shrike, Lanius ludovk-ianus; English sparrow, Passer 

 domeslims; purple finch, Garpodaeus purpurettis; savanna 

 sparrow, Passerculus savanna; grass finch, Poceceles gram- 

 iiwus; song sparrow, Melospiza fasciata; cinereous snowbird, 

 Junco Memalis; white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albkolUs; 

 fox sparrow, Passerella iliaca; chewink, Pipilo erythroph- 

 thahnus; cowbird, MoMJirus ater; field lark, Sturnella 

 magna; red-winged blackbird, Agelmis phmniceus; purple 

 grackle, Quisculus purpureas; common crow, Corms frugi- 

 •writs; red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus; 

 flicker, Colaptes auratus; screech owl, Bcops asio; Carolina 

 dove, Zenaidura caroUnensis; besides the various species of 

 sandpipers, plovers, snipe and ducks, the only legitimate 

 game birds seen at the market. 



In point of numbers the robin was by far the most numer- 

 ous of those not considered game birds. Next to the robin 

 was the field lark, then cherry birds or cedar waxwings and 

 blackbirds (including the grackles and cowbirds). Wood- 

 peckers were upon almost every string and bench. _ The 

 sparrows were perhaps the most prominent of the remaining 

 birds in the list. Some twelve or fifteen booths or stands 

 had these birds for sale, along with limited quantities of 

 every conceivable animal and vegetable that the fields, 

 woods or water could contribute. While some stalls had 

 three or four hundred small birds, others would have but a 

 dozen or two. I regretted that I could not have seen the 

 market before the sale of the day began, as undoubtedly 

 most of the stuff had been disposed of before I arrived upon 

 the scene. Nearly all of the venders were colored people, 

 and doubtless most of the buds were captured by the same 

 class. A glance at the list will show an utter disregard of 

 the game, laws, if indeed such laws exist. Several purchases 

 were made in my presence, and the vendors laid great stress 

 upon the good qualities of the waxwings, sparrows and 

 blackbirds as being superier to the shore birds and robins, 

 which latter are more commonly and abundantly offered 

 for sale. 



At one stand I was amused to find a crow and a screech 

 owl. To the question, "Are owls good?" the darkey re- 



