256 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 22, 1885. 



but we were very agreeably disappointed as it did not ram where w. 

 were but passed to the north of us. Early the next morninK we had 

 our last meal in the woods, aud it was eaten rather sorjwfully, lor 

 we both would have liked to prolong: what had beea a very pleasant 

 trip. The country we passed chroufch this morniug was quite familiar 

 to us and soon we bef;au to see familiar faces at every lock and plane 

 we passed, and had to answer iunumerable questions, but cutting: 

 them as shore as we could, we kept on until we reached Washington, 

 the end of our trip of over 2^1 miles by actual measurement. Here 

 ended our outins of 1885, aud if nothing: interferes we expect to maK 

 a more extended tour in 1886. The Cbew of the Mischief. 



A GOOD IDEA. 



Kditor Fm-est and Stream: 



1 beg to offer for consideration by the A. C. A. and its committees 

 the following proposition; i-*- „ ■„ 



Whereas. One of tbe chief impediments to general competition in 

 the regatta.s by the maioritv of members has been the probability 

 (almost certainty) that; I he 'prizes would be secured by members 

 alreadv known as experienced and ,skillful sailors or paddlers. Ex- 

 periment (in 188;S) has proved that the attempt to provide separate 

 subdivisions in each race for these, complicated the programme 

 beyond practical use. Yet the regatta aims and should aim to stimu- 

 late competition among this majority of members .f sP^^ally to pr^^^^ 

 mote perfection of rig and equipment, and of skill among cruisei s 

 aud general canoeists. Further, the regatta committee and its staff 

 is charsed with duties so onerous that they should be lightened rathei 

 than increased. Therefore, I propose to relieve }Pl^^''%^l^^^f^3, 

 the few insatiable experts by reviving the old distinction of seDio's 

 and promoting them into it. At the same time the regatta committee 

 can be eased of further labors by allowing seniors to make up matches 

 upon their oyvn arraneements. Of course, it is not advisable to 

 entirely separate the crack canoeists, so they should surrender not 

 the right to race, but only the right to take the prizes. 



I can hardly suppose that seniors will be reluctant to pass prizes in 

 the general races; but in order to make it clear that it is a promotion 

 and not a disqualification only. I suggest the giving of a pennant to 

 sailors and flag to paddlers upon their attaining the distmetiou of 

 winrung four first prizes in either one (not both} of the methods ot 

 propelling a canoe. , , , , i_ 



On the other hand, it should be distinctly understood that members 

 not so graduated are m no wise slighted. They should not be called 

 j unit rs, and perhaps a better word than seniors can be found for 

 the graduates to prevent any such inference. Champions will not 

 do, because only one or two among them can be fairly entitled to 



Tbe adoption of this system can hardly fail to increase the interest 

 among less fortunate racers to a very great extent. I hope it may in 

 any case be tried. But the first need is discussion, and little time re- 

 mains before the committees meet. 



Now, my dear reader and comrade in canoeing, please take time 

 by the forelock and bold him tmtil you commit your ideas to paper 

 tor the printer. In the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom. 

 Tbe following Is a draft of the necessary rules: 



A. C. A. RACES. 



1 Members who have won four first prizes in A. C. A. sailing (pad- 

 pling) races shall be passed into a separate class, and shall be 

 awarded in token thereof a white pennar t (flag) with a blue star. 



3- They will not be eligible for prizes in any regular programme 

 sailing (ipaddling) race or for record, but will arrange matches by 

 challenges with" one another, and will select theii- judges and time- 

 keepers for such events, who shall report them to the regatta com- 

 mittee, and arrange tbem with due regard to the committee's author- 

 ity, and the regular sailing courses shall only be used at such times 

 as the conimittee or their judges permit, so as not to interfere with 

 the regatta stall", but rather to relieve them of excessive duty. 



3. Tbe members of the special class shall be known as seniors. 



4. Seniors shall be entitled to enter and *ai! (paddle) ia all races as 

 heretofore, and their records shall be rejgistei ed and announced, but 

 the prizes shall be awarded in all regular prograiame races as if no 

 jsenlors had competed. . , . 



5. Seniors shall be eligible to receive special prizes unless distmctly 

 baiTed by the conditions of any such event. 



6. Seniors may arrange for flags as prizes in their matches, and 

 such prizes shall be presented to the winners at the regular presenta- 

 tion. 



7. Any member not being a senior may, of course, challenge and 

 race in such matches, and seniors shall have no privil^es or rights 

 over other members except to carry the pennant. R, W. Gibson. 



Mohican C. C, Albany, N. Y., Oct. 19, iS'-B. 



WHY I DO NOT RACE. 



Editor Forest mid Stream: 



I suppose I am the "friend of the bumble, but convenient sneak- 

 box" alluded to m your editorial of the last issue, who "fled ingiori- 

 ously from the field with tUe asHeriiou that, though his boat was the 

 fastest, he was not a racing mau," after the sneakbox canoe con- 

 troversy of last year. Now sir, let me remind you that the controversy 

 of last year arose from the query in your columns of a gentleman 

 who wanted to know the best craft for cruising on open waters. You 

 told him he wanted a canoe; I told him he wanted a sneakbox. Thai 

 a whole lot of us had a friendly squabble over It which ended by 

 some canoe man challenging me to race— as if a race could determine 

 which was the better for cruising purposes. When a man writes to 

 FOEESTAND STREAM to IcDow what boat he shall buy for a racer, I 

 won't put my oar in at all, for I never was in a race in my life, and 

 have no sympathy with racers or racing machines; but when a 

 cruiser asks for information my heart goes out to him at once with 

 sympathy, for lam a cruiser myself , and if my thirteen years' expe- 

 rience of single-hand cruising in canoes, yawl-rigged sailboats and 

 sneak boxes has taught me something that I can in turn impart to a 

 brother cruiser, it afi'ords me the greatest satisfaction to do so. 



When a racing canoeist asserts that the canoe will outsail the 

 sneakbox in the average weather encountered on open waters, he 

 states what I know to be untrue. I have cruised in sailing canoes of 

 tbe best model of the Nautilus, Shadow. Pearl and Smibeam build, 

 and also in sneakboxes. I am never in a hurry when cruising, but I 

 have noted that my sneakboxes have left the miles behiwl as rapidly 

 as the fastest canoe I ever sailed, and in rough weather much more 

 rapidly and far more comfortably;. Yet I will not pit my sneakbox or 

 Barnegat cruiser against a canoe in a race, and I will tell you why. 



"When I owned my first canoe (a Rob Roy) in iSTC. there were very 

 few canoeists in this country, and we followed the lead of McGlregor, 

 tbe father of canoeing, and were cruisers. We corresponded with 

 one another, exchanged hints on outfits, etc., and initiated all our 

 friends whom we knew to be lovers of grand old Nature into the quiet, 

 gentle pastime of canoeing. Like McGregor, too, we were sohtary 

 cruisers. Sociable, company-loving fellows we were ordinarily, but 

 there-.were times when, to appreciate and fully commune with Nature, 

 and worship her in the solemn quiet of the woods and stream, we felt 

 that to be accompanied by a ohattering companion would be sacri- 

 lege. Therefore we loved the little canoe, which only permitted a 

 solitary occupant. But some of the friends whom we in itiated into 

 canoeing also initiated some of their friends, aud some of these last 

 novitiates couldn't see "any ftm" in poking around all alone in a boat. 

 They didn't love the woods, and the rocks, and the marshes, and the 

 streams for themselves, they only looked upon them as of a certain 

 utiUcy for picnicking, or for killing game. When they went 

 cruising alone they were "lonesome." and therefore their 

 cruises were short. They were nice fellows, all of them, but 

 they didn't have it In them, that "it" which drives a man who is a 

 (rue lover of Nature, a man who is neither a hermit nor a mis- 

 anthrope, back once in a while into a state of semi-savagery to 

 worship alone at the altar of great Nature, alone with his feUows the 

 beasts, and the birds, and all mid things. Welt, vft. couldn't put that 

 "it" into these fellows, so we watched them with some dismay as 

 they built tandem canoes that would carry two. and wentotf chatter- 

 ing and shouting together on what we called "picnicking" excur- 

 sions. Then they tii-ed of this and looked around for other uses for 

 their canoes, and they took up racing. We watched tbem ^vith 

 increased dismay as they put on their craft such things as rudders 

 and deck tillers, foot steering gears, innumerable ropes for down- 

 hauls, toppinglifts, roeflcg lines, forestays and backstays, with decks 

 covered with cleats and blocks. When they also introduced taber- 

 nacles, double centerboards and lead-weighted keels we said "Well 

 Buch things as these can never becalied canoes, after all. Why should 

 we grieve? Oiu- little simple craft will still and always be the canoes 

 and these racing machmes will have to take another name. " But we 

 were mistaken. The men who couldn't see "any fun" in poking 

 around all alone ui a boat were numerically in the ascendant. They 

 called their machines "canoes," and canoes they still remain We 

 old fellows (old in canoeing, I mean) know that for racing these ma- 

 chines are well enough, and that for saiUng or paddling about a 

 harbor of an afcerauon they will do; but we also know that for 

 cruising on small streams they are too heavy aud cumbersome, and 

 fur cruising «u ouen waters they ;ti e r';-o dangerous and uncomfort- 

 able. What wedonotlike is the aiiplioariuu of the term "canoe" to 

 these c»-afl. We have seen "canoeing"' degenerate from a romantic, 

 quiet, cruising pastime to a hurly-burly, helter-skelter racing siDort; 

 aud uaturally we are sore over it. We confess it; we are, if you Like, 

 "sore heads," just as the devoted musician miKht be if his beloved 

 Cremona were used by a multitude of sports as a base ball bat, and if 



these sports, who couldn't see "any fun" in music should therefOT 

 call themselves violinists. I am one of these sore-beads, and that is 



"^rM^t Ty^- calling the man who enters for ^^fj^^^^^ 

 Challenge Cup a canoeist, and placing me alongside ot hmi ns ine 

 canoeist's critic, and therefore, presumably, not a '.'^"^"-'^^^^..^i^S' 

 still and always a canoeist, and shall never criticise t ue ^^noe mg^ 

 You will hardly class McGregor as an anti-caioeisu .ye^^^^^^ 

 McGregor cruised in the open waters of the Cbannel and th, l^iench 

 coast he did so iu a flush-decked yawl 21x7x3. Did .you ever heai ot 

 the father of canoeing taking partan a race? ^niifarv cinoe 



N. H. Bishop is the "father" of the A, C. A., a solitary can^^^ 

 cruiser like McCxregor. Yet when he cruises on oP^^Tf^f "^J'l 

 a sneakbox, as he did on his memorable voyage down the Ohio and 

 Mississippi and through the Gulf of Mexico. 



"Nessmuk'' has probably done more canoe cr'usmg than any man 

 in the country. Yet be uses the simplest form of canoe, ampler than 

 those of McGregor and Bishop, because it has no deck Do you thmk 

 if "Nfssmuk" were to ciTiise through the great lakes or the Gulf of 

 Mexico that he would do it in one of the macbmes nowaday.s styled 

 canoes, with lead keel, tabernacle and complicated gearf In my 

 opinion he would use either a Barnegat cruiser or a sharpie. 



1 give these three instances because they ai-e canoeists known by 

 repute to every man who handles a canoe; but if you wiO cou over m 

 your mind the men who cruise in canoes tot- the love of nature, and 

 hence go alone, who are not "hotel cruisers." but men who stay out 

 when they go out, rain or shine, you will lind that these men do not 

 enter races for cups; that they adhere to the same simplicity m a 

 canoe that McGregor's Rob Eoy had aud still has, and that when they 

 cruise on open waters they do it in some other kind of craft. 



I still own, after a trial of all kinds of canoes, my ideal of the per- 

 fect cruising canoe, the Rob Roy Gypsy; but when I cruise on the 

 open I find the Barnegat cruiser the "some other kind of cr-aft" that 

 suits me best. Seneca. 



AN EXPERIENCE IN A SQUALL.— A correspondent of Dr. Neidc's 

 sends tbe following account of a novice's experience in a squall which 

 may serve as a caution to others who arc just learning to use center- 

 boards. We have seen several similar cases where the boards have 

 been badly damaged and even the keel and garboards injured by 

 beaching the boat w'itli board down: "I have had a delightful time 

 with my boat and tested her so thoroughly, di-^proved so many dero- 

 gatory estimations of her that I can fully understand your meaning 

 to the remark that you 'fairly loved your boat ' I did 'not sail from 

 New Orleans but have used my craft all along the easteru shore. That 

 she has been admired, praised and her value guessed at, you may 

 well be assured. 1 shall never forget the scene the evening 1 first 

 launched her on the bay. The entire number of guests at the hotel, 

 with the denizens living 'along shore,' lined the ^vharf, and my start 

 oS was in a moderate gale and a heavy sea. To me at the time it was 

 an exciting moment, but I came through creditably. I must explain 

 to you why it was I did not house my centerboard. In the morning I 

 was sitting patiently eying a cork in the trustfulness that something 

 would pull it pown or eat the rod up, when a sailor friend addressed 

 me, 'I say, Mr. K , what is all this nonsense I hear you have been 

 telling these people you could go to windward?' The crowd standiug 

 on the wharf laughed in great glee at this mode of attack, and I, quit e 

 nettled, bet $50 I could point within two points of where his cut rig. 

 an 18 footer, pointed. So with considerable chaff we finally arranged 

 that we would try it, and I immediately invited the heaviest man in 

 the hotel to sail with me. lie weighs ' at least 310 pounds and fij^ft. 

 high. About a half an hour before time I hoisted sail and got ready 

 in spite of the heavy squall coming up and white caps rolling in with 

 a big surf. My heavy weight not with mc but coming in on the 

 steamer just landing. The squall struck me like a blizzard, and with- 

 out a reef in either sail you can imagine how I climbed over and went 

 through the water. It was coaming down and lO.T pounds to wind- 

 ward. Heavy weight and the lawyer stood on the wharf and watched 

 me, and the brilliant idea seized me a.s I grit my teeth, if I can onlv 

 make a successful jibe I will convince that duifer my boat can do 

 something. I took my chance between two puffs, jammed hard 

 down and the tiller split the yoke, or rather tore away one side of the 

 notch. It was all hands lively then, and as far aft aspos.sible; the 

 jigger flew around, sheet rope eased off, and then the mainsail 

 quivered, hesitated, and got over on the other side about as quick as 

 anything I ever saw. The jibe was done, and in grand style, and I 

 was calculating how long she could stand the terrible presstu-e on the 

 bow, when a flaw, and then whizz, and the tornado had me. The 

 lower jaw on the mainsail gave M^ay, and Uke a .seagull wounded and 

 folding its wings the boom started a cuid on the lop of the mast. The 

 shore was a quarter of a mile distant, and no mistake. Hard-a-lee with 

 one leg as a backwater, and antics of a tight rope walker, till within 

 water shallow enough to go overboard and unship foremast. As I 

 walked ashore through surf Heavy Weight came down to me and we 

 jerked the boat up out of serious danger, but alas the centerboard 

 had been forgotten, I have had the most amusing adventures. One 

 was while my sails were up drying, three female pirates in bathing 

 costume untied the boat from the stake and proceeded to cruise over 

 sandbars, stakes, etc., and answered the troubled skipper ashore 

 with, 'Go way you hoiTid thing,' and 'We will never speak to you 

 again.' " 



SPRINGFIELD C. C. RACES.— The report of the Springfield C. C. 

 regatta was received too late for insertion this week. 



No Notice Taken of Anonymous Corregpoudenta. 



IvELPiE.— The season for deer in Lower Peninsula of Michigan begins 

 Oct, 1. 



E. D. B., Kissimmee City. Fla.— Is the sheldrake a North American 

 bird? I do not see it iu Coues, hence this question. Ans. Yes; the 

 name is given to several birds of the genus Jfci-^us— rotmd-billed flsh- 

 ducks— but is most commonly applied to the red-breasted merganser 



(M. serrator). 



Jay Bebe. Toledo, O.— Is there anyrefiable test by which the male 

 ruffed grouse can be distinguished from the female? To say that the 

 plumage of the female is the same as the male, "only a little duller," 

 aa do some of the books, amounts to less than nothing, where birds 

 of widely different localities are compared. Ans. We know of no 

 certain method by which the sex of ruffed grouse can be determined 

 except by dissection. 



L. J.. Tunkhannock.— Does the black bass spawn twice a year or not? 

 I caught fom- last week, Oct. ii. that had eggs in them nearly ready 

 to spawn. It is evident that some of the bass spawn in the spring and 

 some in the f aU, or else twice a year. Ans. The black bass spawns la 

 May and June, possibly a few late ones in July. The eggs you saw in 

 October w'fare probably developed for next spring's spawning. This 

 fiih is not active in the winter in Pennsylvania, and to Jjud^e of tbe 

 ripeness of eggs is often a difficult matter to one not a practical fish- 

 culturist. We know nothing of anv black bass spawning in October 

 or later. 



FORESTS AND CLIMATE. 



THE third miuiber of Potermann's "Mlttheilungen" for this 

 year contains an article by A. "Woeikof ou the influence 

 of forest on climate. The commencement of a scientific mvest- 

 igation of this subject was made when the Bavarian forest 

 meteorological stations were esta.blished, and when Pi-ussia, 

 Alsace-LoiTaine, France, Svsritzerland, and Italy followed the 

 example. As a general rule it may be laid down that in the 

 warm seasons as between fore&ts and places close at hand 

 which are treeless (I) the temperature of the earth aud air 

 are lowerd in the former, ('2) their variations are less, (3) the 

 relative humidity is greater, After exaiuiniug observatioits as 

 to evaporations, Herr Woeikof states that the influence of 

 forests in diminishing evaporation from water and the soil is so 

 great that it cannot be accounted for alone by the lower tem- 

 peratm-e of the hot months, the greater humidity, or even by 

 the shade. An important influence, which has hithei'to been 

 but Mttle appreciated, is the protection from the wind afforded 

 by the trees, and this the writer regards as more important 

 than all the others together in reducing the degree of evap- 

 oration. With regard to the influence of forests on rain and 

 snow-fall, there is yet only a single series of obsei-vations sup- 

 plying ' comparative statistics, and extending over a suffi- 

 ciently long period. These were taken in the neighborhood of 

 Nancy, and they show an important influence ol forests in in- 

 creasing the rain-fall. It might appear that the effects of for- 

 est on rain in the climate of central Europe in winter would 

 be small, for the dift'erence between the temperatm-e and hu- 

 midity of the forest and the open is veiy little, and the 

 quantity of moisture in the atmosphere is small. But the 

 observations show that it is more at this time of the year that 

 forests get much more rain. This the vrriter attributes to the 



clouds being lower, the resistance which the forest offers to 

 the movement of the air and to the moist west wind. Forests 

 retain rain by the undergrowths of grass, moss, etc., much 

 better than opsn gromid, and let water off superficially only 

 after a heavy rain-fall; the remainder filters upward slowly, 

 and much of it is used for the evaporation of trees. Although 

 forests, especially thick, luxiu-iant forests, cannot exist with- 

 out certain suppMes of moisture, yet it is the same to them 

 when the supphes come, for they retain what they get, and 

 use it over a long period. One" example of this is the Len- 

 koran forest, on tbe west coast of the Caspian, where the 

 vegetation is more luxuriant than in any other part of Eiu'ope, 

 yet very httle rain falls in summer, but the rain-fall in autumn 

 aud -winter is great. The water is stored up by the forest, 

 and is used in evaporation dm~ing the heat of summer. Hu- 

 midity of the atmosphere, however, is not inconsistent with a 

 high temperature, as the Red Sea shows ; but in the forests 

 the humidity is due to the evaporation of the leaves— in other 

 words, to a process by which heat is converted into work, 

 and hence the coolness. 



Herr Woetkot then endeavors to ascertain the influence of 

 forests on the climatic condition of then- neighborhood of the 

 western parts of the Old World, between tbe .3Sth and 53d 

 degi-ees north latitude, the place selected being in ail cases in 

 the open. Thus for the b2d degree eight stations are taken be- 

 tween Valencia in Ireland on the west and the Kirghiz steppes 

 on the east ; for the 50th, Guernsey on the west, Bemipalatinsk 

 on the east, and 13 stations, and so on for each two degrees of 

 latitude, to 38 degrees. The general result of the obseiwations 

 in 50 stations in six different degrees of latitude, is that in 

 western Europe and Asia large forests have a great influence 

 on the temperature of places near them, and that by then- in- 

 fluence the nonnal increase of temperature as we travel east- 

 wai'd from the Atlantic ocean to the interior of the continent 

 is not merely internipteti, but they give places far removed 

 from the coast a cooler summer than those actually on the sea. 

 A striking example of this is Bosnia. An examination of the 

 statistics show (1) that in Bosnia the summer is 2..5 degrees to 

 4..5 degrees cooler than in Herzegovina; (2) even ou the island 

 of Lissa, in the fuU iniluence of the Adriatic Sea, the summer 

 temperature is more than a degree higher than that of Bosnia, 

 which is separated by lofty momitam ranges from the sea. 

 Bosnia owes this comparatively cool summer to its great for- 

 ests, while Herzegovina is almost disafforested. To sum up: 

 Forests exercise an influence on climate which does not cease 

 on their borders, but extends over a larger or smaller adjacent 

 region according to the size, kind and position of forest. Hence 

 mau by afforestation and disafforestation can modify the eh- 

 mate arotmd him ; but it is an extreme position to holrl that by 

 afforestation the waste jjlaces of the earth can be made fertile. 

 There are places incapable of being afforested, which would 

 not give the necessary nourishment to trees. — Naiwe. 



POT LUCK FROM EXCHANGES. 



Hooking and lying are the fishermen's crying sins.— <Sf. Paul 

 Herald. 



The father of lies— A fishing expedition.— Pitts&wj-gr Chron- 

 iclr-Telegrcqjh. 



Amateiu* Fisherman to O-wner of Pond — "You said there 

 were plenty of fish here." O. of P.— "There are millions of 

 'em." A. F.— ' 'Then I must say they are very stupid." O. of 

 P.— "Stupid?" A. F.— Yes, they don't seem to catch on."— 

 Boston Courier. 



Prof es.sor Bragsch has just returned to Berlin from Persia, 

 where he spent some time collecting notes and material for a 

 work on that country. The Persians are very fond of wild 

 beasts for pets. One day the Professor met on tbe sidewalk a 

 man leading a full-grown lion by a rope ; and such sights he 

 says are not imcommon. 



George Washington went fishing at least once. And on 

 that occasion he caught a trout four inches long. While 

 down at the corner groceiy iu the evening, after return- 

 ing from his angling tour, he was asked how much the trout 

 weighed, when he uttered those memorable words, viz: "I 

 cannot tell a he. It weighed seventeen and a half pounds." 

 Norristown Herald. 



The Berlin Aquarium has at last accomplished the dilBcult 

 feat of showing a school of live herring in its sea-water basin. 

 These fish are so dehcate that when caught in their native ele- 

 ment even a moment's exposure to the air wUl kill them. 

 They had therefore to be caught under water and to be care- 

 fully transported from the seaboard. Ten out of the nineteen 

 wMch were taken in the Baltic, near the Island ot Riigen, 

 reached Berlin alive. 



A remarkable circumstance is reported from Whitstable, 

 England, by a local natm-ahst. Recently two or thi-ee oystei-s 

 were put away in an earthen pan, aud during the night a 

 couple of young mice fotmd out the dainty dish and inserted 

 then- himgry mouths within the open shells of one of the 

 bivalves. In the morning they were fotmd fast held by the 

 closed shell of the oyster, and of course quite dead. The oyster 

 continued its firm hold on the intruders, and the trio having 

 been handed to Mr. Sibert Saunders, a mamber of the East 

 Kent Natural History Society, were at once immersed in 

 spirit, and will in due coui-se be placed in the local museum. 



The eels of the ponds in the woods of Vincennes, France, 

 leave tbem everv spring in large numbers, making then- way 

 to the Seine or the Marne, several kilometres distant. They 

 take advantage of rainy weather, when the herbage is wet, 

 and their instinct guides them du-ectly to their destination. 

 New species have been repeatedly introduced into the lakes, 

 but in vain; all seem to have this disposition to leave. Some 

 have thought that the water of these ponds, having been col- 

 lected by hydi-aulic engines, has undergone some change which 

 drives the eels away. But the phenomenon of such migTations 

 by eels and some other fishes is not uncommon. Thus in the 

 marshes of Picardy eels ai-e often found on the grass, going 

 from one pond to another. 



A sudden aud melancholy ending (the Paris correspondent 

 of the London Daily Telegraph says) has befallen the hon 

 Sidtan, who so tmpmdently broke away from his cage and 

 took to inhaling the sea breezes on the beach of St. Brevin 

 I'Ocdan. His keeper spent three days scouring the country m 

 search of him, but without any result. Sidtan, however, im- 

 f ortunately for himself, was obsei-ved roammg about the beach 

 by three bathers who happened to have guns in their possas- 

 sion, having come out on a shooting excui-sion, preparatoiy to 

 which they were enjoying a swim. Alarmed at the extra- 

 ordinary apparition of the wanderer, they ran for their g-uns 

 and discharged a voUey of slugs and shot at the unlucky beast. 

 Sidtan succumbed to his wounds in a short time, and was. 

 boiTie away from St. Brevin in a cart, amid the wonder of the 

 inhabitants. 



The f ollo-wing curious freak of some water rats was observed 

 bv a Plymouth gentleman a few days ago in the Exeter canal. 

 On the side which he was walking a dead dog was lying m the 

 water. A rat emea-ged from a hole on the opposite side of the 

 canal, and, taking to the water, appeared soon to be sniffing 

 something. The rat at last reached the dog, and after smell- 

 ing about it a short time, apjiearing quite satisfied with its ex- 

 amination, swam back again to its hole. Our correspondent 

 then moved the dog vrith his"^-stick a short distance from vvhere 

 the rat examined it. Presently, the l at again emerged fi'onci 

 its hole, followedby several other rats. They all took to watei', 

 led by the pioneer, and swam across to where the dog hrst lay. 

 The leader again indulged in sniffing around in au excited state. 

 He swam roimd about the spot for some little time evidently 

 hunting for the dog. At last the poor rat seemed completely 



