Oct. 22. 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



24 B 



THE NIGHTHAWK. 



WE do not aa;ree with the opinion expressed by "Curtis" 

 in his "Notes ou the Nighthawk," Forest and 

 STK.BAM:, Oct. 8, when he says "there was possibly never 

 more of a misnomer in natural history tlian the name of this 

 bird." We thinlt that "hawlc," with the limiting word 

 "nitrht," is a name tliat is quite as appropriate as hundreds 

 of other popular names, and it is certainly much more sug- 

 gestivethan many vernaculars. Although the writer coodemns 

 nighthawk in his first paragraph, he goes righr, along using 

 it throughout his article, occupying two-thirds of a column, 

 nor does he suggest a substitute. It is just as well perhaps 

 tliat he does not. for there is no doubt that nighthawk is the 

 liest English name we have for the bird, notwithstanding the 

 fact that "Curtis" tells us that "its hairy head, large eyes, 

 and rapidity of flight should have prevented its being classed 

 ■with the birds of prey !" 



Our ignorance may be inexcusable, but we were not aware 

 that the nighthawk had ever been "classed with the birds of 

 prey." As regards hany head, large eyes and rapidity of 

 flight we might say that the only hair on the head of the 

 nighthawk is that constituting the rictal bristles, while many 

 hawks have a comparatively large amount of hair among 

 the feathers of the head ; large eyes are to be found in the 

 owls, which we believe are "classed with the birds of prey;" 

 and rapidity of flight— need we remind "Curtis"? — is a 

 feature for which the birds of prey are remarkable. 



A little thought on the part of any one will convince him 

 that there are characters in which the nighthawk resembles 

 ceitain of the smaller rapacious birds, especially those of the 

 family Strir/idm, and it will be very easy for him to account 

 for the cornmon name. The nighthawk is crepuscular or 

 nocturnal in its habits, under ordinary circumstances; its 

 mottled coloration, its barred tail and under parts, its flight, 

 its "swoops," its long wings, its large head, and its acute 

 vision are points on the strength of which the average person 

 would feel justified in dubbing the possessor nighthawk. 



We do not call attention to the above features to attempt 

 to demonstrate that there is any aflinity between the hawks 

 and owls and the nighthawk, but simply to show that there 

 is a strong superficial resemblance, which should not be over- 

 looked when considering- vernacular names. S. 

 Washington, Oct. 19. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In FoKEST AND STREAM for July 30, 1885, Dr. E. Sterling 

 writes he has never met with the night hawk's {Gaprimulgux 

 mr(/i)ri''riiit<} eggs protected by stick, straw, or material of 

 any kind whatever. I found a nest of two eggs this summer 

 at side of small orange tree. The eggs were upon a bed of 

 pine needles placed about the tree as mulch. 



Frank H. FuLiiER. 



Fm:iTLAND, Fla. 



Doo-WoLF Hybrids. — The Philadelphia Prent/ has a note 

 about the "Zoo's" dog-wolf hybrids recently noticed in these 

 columns: "The three surviving members of the half -dog 

 and hulf-wolf family, born at the Zoological Gardens three 

 months ago, arc showing their savage nature more every day. 

 Yesterday afternoon keeper McCadden heard a noise in the 

 pen in which they are kept, and in which was also a little 

 red fox. Running to the cage he saw the three dog-wolves 

 attacking the fox. The keeper made a rush for the cage, 

 but before he could get in the red fox had been torn limb 

 from limb by his vicious companions and was being eaten 

 up. Head keeper Bryne said he had been expecting some 

 trouble from that quarter for some time, and as the wolves 

 grow older they exhibit a very bad disposition on account of 

 being half-breeds^ 



'^n(^ ^tid ^utf. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream, Ptcblish- 

 ing Co. 



NOTIONS ABOUT SHOOTING. 



Editor Forest and 8irmm: 



I have always been an advocate of the maxim "The best 

 is the cheapest, " but have not always been successful in find- 

 ing out the best. In the autumn of 1883 I purchased a sup- 

 ply of powder, for which I paid $1.60 per pound; and at the 

 same time my brother got a lot for the removing of which 

 the storekeeper fined him the sum of 38 cents per pound. 

 (That is the way I put it at the time.) One day he proposed 

 that we try the relative strength of the two brands. We 

 loaded a dozen shells from each lot with 3+ drams, 1^ ounces, 

 and shot them all from the sanie gun at a target, distance 

 from 25 to 45 yards, and we could tell no difference in the 

 pattern or penetration, and the fouling of the gun was about 

 the same. This may sound like a "barefoot-boy-with-a-pin- 

 hook" story; but I don't care, it is correct. 



1 noted the strictures of one of your correspondents on 

 hammerlessgun. I admit that they have a sort of "remem- 

 ber -Tam-O'Shanter's-mare" look, and at first sight impress 

 one about as favorably as an earless pig; but the man who 

 thinks that they will decline in favor surely reckons without 

 his host. I have many a time failed to get in my second bar- 

 rel because the game jumped suddenly and I had no time to 

 cock it; but in the hammerless both barrels are controlled by 

 the same motion of the safety brake, and with me this ad- 

 vantage neutralizes any argument that can be brought against 

 this form of gun. The exception taken by the same corre- 

 spondent to the expression "hammers below line of sight 

 when cocked" savors a little of captiousness. He might as 

 well argue that we cannot compare the levels of lakes Mag- 

 giore and Geneva with a line drawn along the summits of 

 the Alps ; that the lakes would have to be side by side and 

 under the Alps before the expression "below the level of 

 their summits ' would be legitimate. 



I Avonder why some manufacturer does not bring out a 

 hammer gun with a safety brake. I believe it would "take." 



1 think "Ah-Pe" has fallen into the same error that he 

 places at the door of a certain "gunmaker and author," that 

 of discriminating unfairly in favor of the products of his own 

 country. 1 think some of his statements are not quite justified 

 by facts. He insinuates that any person who shoots an Eng- 

 hsh or Belgian gun costing less than |50 does so at the risk 

 of his Ufe. Now in this country there are hundreds of such 

 guns in use, costing all the way from $18 to $45, and I have 

 heard of but one case of bursting of barrels, and that was 

 the fault of the shooter. Moreover I can show two guns 

 (side-snap and under-lever actions) that cost $33 and $24 re- 

 spectively, that have seen six years' usage on our marshes 

 and are not "shaken to pieces" by a jugful. In this vicinity 

 guns that cost over $50 are hke the proverbial angels' visits. 



Again, he says that it is not worth while to go over the 

 water for a gun, except you want "external show," and then 

 you should patronize Purdey and some few other London 

 makers. He also says every dollar' you pay over $350 is 

 for "external show." The gun that Purdey sends out here 

 for $450 is plain, no engraving, and, according to "Ah-Pe," 

 we pay him a clear profit of $200. I wo\ild rather take the 

 profit and buy a good Birmingham gun with it. I may have 

 a depraved taste!, but I would take' a Scott, Richard.s, EUis 

 or Greener hammerless before a Purdey, as the latter has 

 gearing enough for a sawmill, and some of the forces used 

 in operating it are a long distance from their points of apph- 

 ca+ion. I have nothing to say against American guns, but 

 "Brummagem" is good enough for me. L. I. Plowek. 



New Brunswick. 



MOOSE AND DEER IN MAINE. 



'l^HE work of enforcing the Maine moose and deer protec- 

 X tive laws is bein^ pushed with the usual vigor. It is 

 believed by those deeply interested that there has been less 

 poaching the past opes season than the previous year, or 

 perhaps any season since the rigorous pursuit begun of those 

 who shoot when the law says nay. But still everything 

 is not yet exactly as it should be. Even gentlemen (?) sports- 

 men stoop to shooting deer out of season. In Richardson 

 Pond, a few rods from Richardson Lake — one of the Andro- 

 scoggin chain — could have been seen the bones, half denudfed 

 of the flesh, of two deer— were seen Sept. 35— the Maine 

 open season begins Oct. 1. No use whatever had been made 

 of these deer; every bone was intact. They had evidently 

 been in the water a month or more. On this pond are the 

 camps of two gentlemen— handsome summer cottages. These 

 gentlemen have been in camp, with their families and friends, 

 also a large force of guides, since early summer. They say 

 that they have even taken their ladies out, behind the jack- 

 light, and given them the sight of a deer; so plenty are the 

 creatures. But they are silent upon the subject of shooting. 

 Who killed the two deer left in the water? No outsider 

 could have done it without the knowledge of the owners of 

 those camps or their guides. 



But there is trouble with the Indians. They have killed 

 some deer in the northeastern part of the State, whether gen- 

 tlemen have tolerated such a breach of sportsman-honesty in 

 the western p>art of the State or not. A Calais paper says 

 that Lewy Mitchell, a Passamaquoddy Indian, who can read 

 and write, and is intelligent enough to understand the game 

 laws, came to town tlie other day, on the warpath after 

 Warden French, who had poisoned his hound found run- 

 ning deer near Clifford Lake. The Indian employed a law- 

 yer, with the idea of recovering damages for the loss of his 

 dog, which he claimed to be warranted under treaty right. 

 But he found that there was ' 'no property in dogs ;" that the 

 warden had done lus duty; that a warrant could not be 

 granted. The satisfaction took another turn. Warden 

 French got a wan-ant for the arrest of the Indian for viola- 

 tion of the game laws. The case excited a great deal of 

 interest, and able arguments were presented both for the 

 Indian and for the prosecution. The result was the finding 

 of the red man guilty, but the judge imposed the lightest 

 fine under the law — $40. Against this ruling the Indian ap- 

 pealed, and the case will come before the April term of the 

 Supreme Judicial Court at Calais. 



Warden French has had further trouble at Clifford Lake. 

 Indians appeared hunting deer with dogs. The warden 

 came on the scene. The Indians took alarm and fled to the 

 woods. Warden French found they had gone to Little 

 Munquosh, where there were four other Indians in tempo- 

 rary camp. In the dead of night he started after them. He 

 arrived at their camp at 2 A. M. Landing from his canoe 

 before the Indians took alarm, he dropped into their midst, 

 flashing his dark lantern. He ordered the Indians to lie 

 down. " Terror-stricken they obeyed. He then shot the poor 

 dogs, two in number, who showed more courage than their 

 guilty masters, attempting to bite the officer. He then en- 

 tered his canoe and paddled away, telling the Indians he 

 would attend to their case before the courts. It was a brave 

 exploit. 



The Calais Times finds that moose are returning to the 

 borders of Dobsis Lake, one of their best natural breeding 

 and feeding grounds. One weighing 900 pounds was killed 

 there on Monday before the open season began on Thursday, 

 with no attempt to bring it out till the proper time. Alas! 

 for the pains those styling themselves gentlemen will take to 

 evade a wholesome game law — a law which, under the un- 

 willing obedience it has received, is restoring this lordly 

 game to its natural haunts in the remote parts of the Pine 

 Tree State. A sportsman who goes into the remote sections 

 of Maine every fall and Ls not over-particular about the 

 season remarked the other day: "Let them enforce the law 

 the best they can. It is not half so hard to find a moose as 

 it was two j^ears ago. They are beginning to increase. It 

 takes some courage to kill a moose nowadays, even just be- 

 fore the 1st of October!" And yet this man is not willing to 

 obey a law he sees to be of so great value to other sportsmen. 

 True friends of the Maine game laws who go there annually 

 begin to feel toward those who kill out of season just as 

 they would toward a thief who should steal game from 

 them which they had lawfully killed in open season. 



When we were boys we had our lines of mink and musk- 

 rat traps every fall. The ground was too great to be gone 

 over each day by any one of us. We visited the traps by 

 turns. There was true honor among the boys. Each was 

 sure of what' had fallen to his own traps. This went on lor 

 many years. At last one boy began to find too much in his 

 traps. We stood it till we knew he was guilty of stealing, 

 with only the silent trees and murmuring brooks as witnesses. 

 Then we turned him out. We also failed to further set our 

 traps while he remained in the neighborhood. We believed 

 the skins would all fall to his clutches. All confidence in 

 trapping was gone; a thief, against whom we had no means 

 of defense save his own honor — this was void— was among 

 us. We felt toward that boy just as we feel to-day toward 

 the man who will go on to our hunting grounds — everybody's 

 hunting grounds in open season — and Icill a moose or deer 

 contrary to law and sportsman's honesty, just because he can 

 do so and evade the law, either through his position as a 

 gentleman or an expert in keeping out of the way of de- 

 tectives. 



As showing that moose are increasing in Maine it may be 

 mentioned that a train of cars killed one not long ago be- 

 tween Danforth and Forest. Also, a gentleman driving in 

 Fredericton, met, below Nashwaak, a large buU moose wnich 

 showed fight toward the horse, pawing and striking vpith his 

 forward feet tiU frightened away by the gentleman himself. 

 A moose also walked leisurely out into a cornfield in King- 

 field one day last July. Special, 



THE FOX AS A TREE CLIMBER. 



Editor Fo-restmid Stream: 



I am invited by your correspondent Mr. Conway to ex- 

 press an opinion as to whether the fox which treed twice the 

 same day in front of Gen. Washington's hounds wa^a gray 

 or a red. It was a gray beyond the peradventure of a doubt. 

 The red fox goes to earth always. 



I possess a knowledge of the accumulated experience of 

 three generations upon this point, which I have heard often 

 discussed by my father and his friends. For fifty years my 

 father kept a pack and followed them with a zeal and skill 

 perhaps never surpassed. I have myself given many days 

 to the sports of the field and study of the habits of game. 

 With the lights before me I am not prepared to believe that 

 a red fox ever took to a tree in front of the hounds. I am 

 not to be understood as calling in question any man's vera- 

 city; but if anybody believes that he has ever seen a red fox 

 up a tree my opinion is that he is mistaken. On the other 

 hand, the gray fox trees habitually when pressed by hounds, 

 and doubtless often when pressed for food. 



This arboreal habit of the gray fox is, so far as my knowl- 

 edge extends, entirely exceptional among the wild Ganido'., 

 and is a nut for the Darwinians. Know they anjrthing of 

 any tree-climbing cani& toward whose arboreal habitTthis 

 proclivity of the gray fox of to-day is a rever.sion ; and why 

 do not reds revert also, or any modern dog whatsoever? 



There is a peculiar tact of geographical distribution to be 

 noted concerning the territoiy occupied by the reds and 

 grays. The seat of my maternal ancestors was Gunston 

 Hall, within sight of the home of General Washington, at 

 Mt. Vernon. My father's family owned, and some of them 

 always occupied large estates near Fairfax Court House, and 

 my own home was in Loudoun county. My own personal 

 observation of the habits of the fox covers, therefore, the 

 very ground over which General Washington rode to his 

 hounds. In my early life a red fox was seldom seen in that 

 ])art of Fairfax, the grays had almost exclusive possession. 

 In comparatively recent years the reds became tolerably 

 numerous about Fairfax Court House, but the grays are still 

 most numerous in that section. Twenty miles north of Fair- 

 fax Court House, where my Loudoun home was. I have never 

 to this day seen a gray fox, nor heard of one being seen 

 within the last thirty years, though I have hunted over every 

 acre, I believe, within a radius of ten miles hundreds of 

 times, and have started and killed many scores of reds. 



One more fact and I will have done. The red fox pro- 

 duces its young invariably in an earth den. Sometimes 

 when a den is al3andoned for cause the young are temporarily 

 deposited in the root of a hollow tree, but rarely and under 

 exceptional circumstances. The gray fox habitually pro- 

 duces its young in a hollow stump or log, or in the root of a 

 hollow tree. M. G. Ellzet, M.D. 



Washington, D. C. 



IN THE BAD LANDS OF DAKOTA. 



NOVEMBER had come. The beautiful cool weather was 

 just such as to entice one to enjoy outdoor exercise. 

 The sky clear, the sun bright, the stars countless in their 

 splendor. The first day's travel at an end, the sheet iron 

 stove was in full blast; just within the tent two of the boys 

 were cleaning the prairie chickens killed along the road on 

 our way; and soon the potatoes and the chicken and the 

 biscuit were all before us for oui- first supper in camp. Then 

 we talked of the sport in store; there was to be no uncertain- 

 ties as in the East. That we would get deer we were certain. 



For three days we go north, into the Bad Lands ; all the 

 way the hunting is good for birds and deer. We know we 

 are passing hundreds of them, but our hearts are set on a 

 certain place and we keep on for that. Our path leads along 

 the Missom'i River all the way. We have no timber in this 

 part of Dakota except a narrow strip on each side of the 

 river, where you will find forests of from one to tive thousand 

 acres, very thick with willow and other brush. This makes 

 a splendid cover for deer and other game. All the deer for 

 hundreds of miles come to the timber in the fall, when prairie 

 fires burn over all the country and drive all game to the 

 timber. Hats are thrown into the air as the last camping 

 ground is reached. It is a beautiful spot on the bank of the 

 river. Two of the boys must go out and see what the signs 

 are. In twenty minutes the sharp report of a rifle is heard; 

 then another, and still another; and we know we are certain 

 of meat for supper. The boys come in, and it is only one 

 hour from the time they left. "Hitch up," is the command. 

 This means deer. "Well, boys, what success?" "An ante- 

 lope." We start with the wagon and reach the spot without 

 any trouble, for both deer and antelope are almost always 

 shot out in the coolies, or up on the prairie away from the 

 timber, where they come out to feed in the evening or morn- 

 ing. Antelope never go into the timber at all. We reach 

 the spot just at the edge of the timber, and are surprised to 

 find no antelope, but instead two large blacktail deer. A 

 deer steak, to men who are hungry, is just about as fine a 

 dish as one can find. 



The night is so beautiful that we all gather outside the 

 tent around a bright campfire. One old fellow, who has 

 hunted for years in the Northwest when a white man was 

 hot certain of living one hour, as the Indian were ever after 

 him, spins his tales of adventure and tells of the countless 

 thousands of bullalo he had seen swimming the river at this 

 point, years before, when the steamboat was often stopped 

 because the river was fuU of them. This seemed a little 

 large, but all the old river men will tell of the same. The 

 buffalo is no more. 



The old man is heard calling the camp to breakfast when 

 the clock points to 4. At daybreak we must be stationed 

 along the timber to watch for the incoming deer, which is 

 often a beautiful sight; and when the boys open tire excite- 

 ment runs high. It is not long before the clear sharp report 

 of Will's Marlin is heard from a treetop, where he has 

 climbed, and a lone deer is seen coming our way with that 

 long swinging bound which they take when not very much 

 frightened and not certain if they should leave their fallen 

 mate. When within seventy-five yards she rears high in air, 

 makes a few bounds and falls in answer to the call of the 

 rifle. Now we all look at the two deer, for Will had gotten 

 a fine buck, and start for the high gi-ound and the deep 

 ravines. These coolies are very narraw, deep ravines with 

 here and there a patch of an acre or two of brush. Deer 

 often stop in these for the day; we soon jumped two and 

 took them on the run. By the time we had the game in 

 camp it was noon. Then we got ready for a drive. Three 

 of us stationed ourselves on an old road which leads one 

 mile from the prairie into the river. Two of us went out of 

 the timber a few miles, and riding two Indian ponies worked 

 down slowly. The chances were good of getting good shots 

 at retreating deer. Two were shot during the afternoon by 



