Oct. 29, 1885.1 



FOREST AMjl) stream. 



268 



BLEATING FOR DEER. 



I HAVE killed two deer to date. Deer arc very plenti- 

 ful, but it requires some Icnovvlodge of the Indinn mode 

 of hunting before ouc can be successful iu shooting them. 

 Ihad a number of uuauccessful long-rauft-c shots at them 

 before we weut to Kash-an Bay. There we took on board 

 a Haidah Indian as hunter and guide. The first time he 

 went out 1 accompanied him to get his style. He halts at 

 the edges of the clear spots, which are quite frequent in the 

 limbGr, These places have no undergrowth, though there 

 may lie trees and there arc usually pools of water scat- 

 tered about, and the grass is green and plentiful. There 

 he conceals himself and uses the deer-call, which is two bits 

 of wood, slightly concave on their approximate faces, and in 

 the space thus" made there is secured a thin ribbon of the 

 inner bark of the cedar tree. If you have ever made music 

 with a blade of grass between the two thumbs brought to- 

 gether you will have a clear idea of a deer-call, held hori- 

 zontally. 



Well, this day he took me a fearful tramp up and over 

 mountains, where he said the largest deer were to be found 

 at this season. Finally we halted at the edge of a space 

 nearly at the summit of one of the mountains, and we had 

 not been there long when a deer, in response to the call, ('ame 

 rushing out of the underbrush at the side into the midst of 

 the opening. The Indian got in the first shot and missed, 

 but as we were well concealed and did not move, the deer 

 stood his gj'ound, only moving around partially, startled by 

 tlie noise. I then put in my shot, but he bounded away as 

 if a pack of hounds were "after him. The Indian was so 

 disgusted at his bad luck that he said the deer was not hit, 

 and_ he sat still blowing his call. His gun is a miserable 

 affair, but mine I knew was good and would shoot straight 

 if held straight, and I did not believe it possible that I would 

 miss such a deliberate shot. xVfter sitting still a few mo- 

 ments I concluded to go and see if there were traces of blood 

 about. Sure enough, drops of blood were very evident, and 

 we followed up the trail without much difficulty and found 

 the deer lying dead about 300 yards away, shot through the 

 lungs. It was a magniliceut doc, fat, and weighing "about 

 150 pounds. As the Indian had to pack it down to the 

 beach, this was the end of our hunting that day. I was sure 

 T never could get one out of the timber without cutting it 

 up and bringing it out by piecemeal. 



On Saturday we went out again, another officer and 

 myself, with "the Si wash Indian. We saw a number 

 of deer, and we all got a shot around and missed. 

 The Siwash got a second chance and killed. The dav 

 was misty and raining, and we jumped most of the dee'r 

 from their forms. We saw five in all. The first got 

 away without being fired at. A short distance off a second 

 got up and my mess mate fired a point blank shot at it stand- 

 ing, and scored a clean miss. As I ran around to get a shot 

 at the same one two came Into a clearing. They did not 

 seem to be in a hurry. They were not running, 'but walk- 

 ing, and I was not more than seventy -five yards away. I 

 shot and knew at the time that I had not good aim, but I 

 was flurried with running and with fear that they would get 

 away before I could shoot. It is needless to say that I 

 missed. About 10:30 the Siwash got his second shot and 

 killed a doe, and we returned to the ship at 1 :30. Two days 

 after I went out again with another mess mate without the 

 Indian. We were paddling along in a canoe when we saw a 

 deer on the beach. They come down to the beach at low 

 tide to get salt. We pulled in for him, but he ran off the 

 beach before we were near enough to shoot. Deer in this 

 country are so little hunted that they are not very timid. 

 They don't fear danger fi'om the water and are not usually 

 .frightened at the sight of a canoe, if it is to the leeward of 

 them. This fellow walked the whole length of the beach 

 parallel to the water and stopped occasionally to look around. 

 As soon as he disappeared in the timber I landed above him 

 and ran back from the water several hundred yards until I 

 found a clearing. Here I concealed myself and began call- 

 ing. It was not long before I heard a rushing through the 

 bushes, and then everything was still. To save my eyes I could 

 not see the deer. I knew he was close by, but I continued 

 calling and searched the bushes on all sides. Presently I 

 again heard a rustling, and turning my eyes to the left I saw 

 him in the bushes about thirty yards off, standing stock still 

 shaking the deer flies from his head . He had circled half 

 way round me; I had expected him from the other side. It 

 did not take long to draw the bead, and I knew I had him 

 by the way he bounded off, wobbling from side to side. I 

 went to the spot and took up the trail of blood and followed 

 it a few hundred yards to where the deer was lying down, 

 shot through the back part of the abdomen. It was a spiked 

 horn buck, in velvet, in good condition, and he won me 

 the reward offered for the first deer killed by one of our 

 mess and brought aboard ship. This reward— of five dol- 

 lars—was posted on our way round from New York by one 

 of the officers who had made a cruise in Alaska and who 

 does not have much faith in the hunting skill of the average 

 naval officer. I had not claimed the reward on the other 

 deer I killed because there were two shots fired at it and I 

 did not wish that there should be any doubt in his mind 

 when paying it, and I knew it to be only a question of time. 



Our experience has corrected a great many wrong impres- 

 sions about this country, which we got second-handed. First 

 the impenetrable character of the country and the Indian 

 mode of hunting. We were told that it was impossible to 

 get back far from the waterways and that the Indians sta- 

 tioned themselves at the end of a deer trail where it comes 

 down to the water and waits there until the deer comes if it 

 takes a week. They tell a story of an EngUshman who 

 came up here to hunt. He hired an Indian to go with him. 

 He was stationed on a trail and told to keep quiet. He soon 

 got cold and wanted to build a fire, but the Indian said, 

 "No, scare deer." Then he wanted to smoke. Siwash said, 

 "No, scare deer." After a while he asked when the deer 

 was coming. Indian said, "Maybe to-day, maybe to-morrow ; 

 no come to-morrow, come next week." 



Now, this officer on our ship had faith that no white man 

 would have patience to hunt in this fashion, and he was right ; 

 but he has lost his five dollars. 



The Indian hunts with a deer-call. 



There is another story which I have heard as frequently 

 repeated, this is, that Alaskan trout will not rise to an artifi- 

 cial fly. Only in the last batch of Forest and Streams 

 which you sent me did I read an article about trout fishing 

 near Port Wraugel, signed "Reel-Plate," in which he reiter- 

 ates the old navy tradition, Now I have fished with nothing 

 but artificial flies since I have been here, and my score to 

 date— from June 3 to July 9— is 134. In this time I have 

 been out but eight times, and it is remarked by every fisher 

 on board that I have more rises than the bait-fishers. I give 

 you my score for one day. and it was not mv best either in 



point of numbers; but it was the only time that I weighed 

 them: Total, 19, weighing 31 pounds. Of these eight 

 weighed 7 pounds, one weighed 1 pound 10 ounces and an- 

 other 1 pound 8^ ounces. I know no more exhilarating 

 sport than fighting a two- pound trout on the end of your line 

 and playing him skillfully until he is exhausted. You are 

 obliged to do this because you cannot land him with your 

 light rod until he is played out. I have had them sulu on 

 the bottom so that all the strain I could put on my rod with- 

 out breaking it would not move them, until I would think 

 my hooks were foul on the bottom. Then to sec them dart 

 off, carrying out nearly all the line on the I'eel, shooting the 

 rapids, leaping high out of the water in their struggles to 

 escape, is exhilarating eaough. When you have landed one 

 of these fellows you feel very proud. 



I am well pleased with the performance of my rifle. It 

 is a .45-caliber and shoots 70 grains of powder and 405 

 grains of bullet. I have enough confidence in it to face even 

 a grizzly bear. I have had very little use for a shotgun, as 

 it is not the season for ducks and geese; but I hope to put 

 in some good work with it later in the season. I have had 

 some grouse shooting, and in every instance have used my 

 rifle. The caliber is too large for these, especially if one 

 wants the bird for the table afterward. t will add that all 

 of my birds have been in good condition for the table after 

 shooting. There are several kinds of grouse found here, but 

 I have killed only the spruce or Canada and the sooty 

 grouse. The latter is as large as a year-old hen, or what we 

 call a spring pullet. It is good sport shooting these with a 

 rifle. They sit in the tall spruce trees and make a booming 

 noise which can be heai'd at a long distance. But it is not 

 so easy to see the bird as it is to follow up their call, I have 

 walked around a spot where I knew there was a grouse for 

 a half an hour, and the bird was booming all the time, be- 

 fore I could locate it. They are gifted with ventriloquism, 

 it is said. They sit on the larger limbs close to the body of 

 the tree, and are very difficult to discover. I hope to go on 

 a bear hunt as soon as we return to Kash-an "village, and I 

 may get a chance at a mountain goat when we get to work- 

 ing along the mainland. They ai'e never found on the isl- 

 ands off the mainland. 



Another tradition about this country is that, although it 

 rains or is cloudy three hundred days out of the year, yet 

 clothes dry quickly under an awning and things never nul- 

 dew. I cannot say how true this is, but in our experience 

 there has been plenty of sunshine and there has been no need 

 of awnings to dry clothes. It has been so dry that forest 

 fires have been common; but then the oldest inhabitant 

 comes along and tells us that we are having an exceptional 

 season. Tom. 



RANGE OF THE GRIZZLY. 



Editor Foreni and Stream: 



I have not seen Mr. Roosevelt's article. "Still -Hunting the 

 Grizzly," and don't wish to enter into the discussion of the 

 petty points raised by some of your coii'espondents; hut I 

 would like to ask one question of your bear editor while the 

 subject is up. Is the true grizzly of the Sierras and moun- 

 tains further west ever found east of the main divide of the 

 Rookies, or even as far east as Idaho? Old California hun- 

 ters whom I have met this summer declare not. Witli them 

 it is a saying that the buffalo is never found west of the 

 divide and the grizzly never on the eastern side. I have not 

 been hunting myself, but an extended trip through Western 

 and Central Montana has thrown me in contact with some of 

 the oldest and best hunters in the Territory. I have seen 

 bear skins by the bale at Fort Benton, and have heard the 

 matter discussed scores of times by men who have traded for 

 years with the Indians and "breeds," but have as yet dis- 

 covered no trace of the true grizzly in Montana. •* 



The silvei'-tip, brown or cinnamon, and the smaller black 

 bear are all here, the first named being the most common, 

 and from what I can learn probably the animal that fell to 

 Mr. Roosevelt's gun on his slill-hunt. They grow to a great 

 size as compared with the black bear of our northern woods, 

 sometimes, when in good condition, running up to 1,200 

 pounds, and are often savage and dangerous to attack, even 

 when thej' have a chance to run, but if we can accept the 

 current stories of the live grizzly's disposition, their compar- 

 ative ferocity would be about as between a bob cat and a 

 tiger. 



Mr, R. 's article has called forth some criticism from old- 

 timers, but nothing in comparison with the remarks indulged 

 in when Wm. A. Baillie Grohman and his mountain goat are 

 led into the ring. 



The goat is plentiful in the Bitter Root Mountains, owing 

 to the fact that his pelt is too coarse for the furrier and his 

 hide is not considered valuable by consumers of deer and an- 

 telope skins. In other words, he has no market value as 

 yet and so holds his own iu plain sight of the thickly settled 

 valley extending from Missoula to the headwaters of the 

 Bitter Root. At all times keeping near the snow line, his 

 capture in summer enteils a hard climb, but later in the year 

 the hunt is attended with no particlar hardships or uncer- 

 tainty as to result. 



The confessions of a buffalo butcher in your issue of July 

 16 show up the hide hunter in one of his mildest forms. Up 

 to within three or four years ago the true professional 

 worked differently, A couple in partnership would hire 

 five or six laborers to skin, go on to the range in summer, 

 make a permanent camp, put up hay for their horses and 

 await the coming bands. Hundreds of carcasses piled in a 

 small area show where they succeeded in getting a band to 

 stand. Riding around them continuously kept them "mil- 

 ling" in a densely packed mass, while the slaughter went on 

 until all were down or a break was made. When this 

 occurred, a chase of a few miles enabled them to round up 

 again and thus whole bands were wiped out. The sudden- 

 ness of their extinction is something surprising, even when 

 we take their treatment into consideration. In 1883 one 

 firm of post traders on the Missouri handled over 6,000 

 hides, the next year not one. 



The fertile, thickly grassed plains of Central Montana 

 were undoubtedly their favorite feeding ranges, for you find 

 theh remams here, scattered almost as thickly as in 

 Wyoming you meet with the bones of starved beef steers. 



T. M. W. 



Ubet, Mout., Oct. as. 



[The old-timer who says that the grizzly is never found 

 east of the main divide of the Rocky Mountains, and that 

 the buffalo is never found west of it. is neither more nor less 

 than a particularly ignorant man. There is little use in 

 talking with such an one. 



ABOUT SPONGES. 



WHAT we are familiar with as the sponge of f)rdinary 

 use is, of course, only the skeleton of the animal. 

 This skeleton, as any one may sen from an examination, is 

 made up of a great number of tiln-es interlaced and inter- 

 woven together, but leaving very many holes and canals 

 between their bundles. Some of these holes are quite large, 

 but tiie great majority of them are exceedingly minute. It 

 is these smaller holes which retain the water when a dry 

 sponge has been diiii)f d into it. We shall see presently that 

 in the living s])ongL: tlie smaller and larger apertures have 

 precisely ojiposite functions. 



Now, when the living sponge is taken out of the watef, 

 its skeleton is covered all over, inside and outside, with a 

 soft jelly-like matter, much like white of egg to look at. 

 This constitutes what may be called the sponge flesh. A 

 bit of it placed under the microscope is seen to be made up 

 of distinct cells, and further examination will show that 

 while tlie flesh appears to cover the skeleton in a single 

 layer it really consists of three layers. These we will call 

 the inner, middle and outer layers. Each layer is made up 

 of cells of its own kind, and each has a distinct function to 

 perform in the life of the animal. The work of the inner 

 layer is to secrete the skeleton. The work of the outer layer 

 is to procure food for the animal. The middle layer is con- 

 cerned in the reproduction of the species. 



Let us now consider a little more in detail what the func- 

 tion of each of these layers is and how it is performed; we 

 shall then have a good idea, not only of how the sponge is 

 made, but also of how it lives. Beginning with the outer 

 layer, let us see how it accomplishes what is' mainly its part, 

 the procurement of food. The aid of the microscope is re- 

 ciuired to determine this. For it is only by the use of this 

 instrument that it can be seen that many of the cells of the 

 outer layer are provided with short vibrating hairs or cilia, 

 which project out into the canals by which the spouge-raass 

 is everywhere pierced. Now these hairs are constantly lashing 

 to and fro, and as they move iu one direction (say forward) 

 more rapidly than in the opposite direction (backward) it is 

 readily seen that the etrecc of their motion is to cause cur- 

 rents of water to flow througli the canals. We have now only 

 to observe that these ciliated cells line only the smaller of the 

 pores of the sponge-mass to understand why it is that in the 

 living sponge currents of water are all tlic while passing out 

 of the large openings and into the small ones. No mechan- 

 ism is required to cause the water to flow out of the sponge- 

 mass; the cilia which line the small pores causing the inward 

 current, the outward current takes care of itself. 



It used to be a great puzzle to naturalists to tell what 

 caused the currents of water to flow in and out of a sponge. 

 The discovery of the ciliated cells solved the riddle. 



A living sponge, then, has all the while currents of water 

 flowing through and through it. It is in this way that the 

 sponge gets its food, for the currents are laden with small 

 food particles, and as these flow along past the cells of the 

 outer layer the latter appropriate them to themselves as food. 

 Think of each cell as a minute lump of jelly, and the food 

 particle as being received into it (probably "by the action of 

 the cilium)in the same way as a marble may be thrust into 

 a ball of clay, and you have an idea of the way in which the 

 sponge cells take in their food. The food having thus beeu 

 received into the substance of the cells, it undergoes diges- 

 tion and assimilation— that is to say, it is built up into the 

 living tissue of the cells. Should any part of a food particle ' 

 be composed of indigestible matter it is discharged from the 

 cell into the passing current, and so finds its way to the out- 

 side of the sponge. x\ due portion of the food matter taken 

 up by the outer layer of cells finds its way (probably by a 

 process of absorption) to the cells of the middle and inner 

 layers. A part of that which reaches the inner layer goes to 

 build up the tissue of its cells, w^hile another part furnishes 

 the material out of which the skeleton is made. 



This brings us to a consideration of the work of the inner 

 layer of cells. Their office, as stated above, is to manufac- 

 ture the skeleton. The skeleton of the ordmary sponges is 

 composed of a material closely allied to horn iii its chemical 

 composition. Now, these cells have the power of transform- 

 ing the food matter of the sponge into this horny material. 

 This is done by a process of vital chemistiy caHed^secretion. 

 It is in the same wa^'^, of course, that coral is made by the 

 coral polyp. 



It remains to consider the function of the middle layer of 

 cells, viz., the reproduction of the species. At the proper 

 season of the year (toward the approach of winter in the 

 fresh-vfater sponge) both the male and female elements— 

 sperm-cells and ova— are developed in this layer. The ova 

 undergo fertilization and partial development before leaving 

 the sponge. When first set free the young sponge is a small 

 ciliated organism capable of swimming about freely in the 

 water. Thus for a time it enjoys an independent and loco- 

 motive existence, and it is in this way that sponges are dla- 

 tributed over wide areas. After a time they attach them- 

 selves at the bottom of the sea and are henceforth fixed ani- 

 mals. I have never seen any explanation of the different 

 forms sponges assume in their growth. Some are decidedly 

 plant-like in appearance, consisting of a central stem or axis 

 from which branches are given off in symmetrical arrange- 

 ment. Others acquire the form of a tiol low cylinder, and 

 still others are cup-shaped ; the latter are often called basket 

 sponges. Many grow according to no definite pattern; in 

 other words, are amorphous. 



Not all sponges secrete the kind of skeleton which fm-ms 

 the sponge of common use. There are, in fact, three cls^ses 

 of sponges, the classification being based on the nature of 

 their skeletons. First, there are the horny sponges, being 

 those of common use; second, the calcareous sponges or those 

 whose skeletons are composed of lime, and third, the siliceous 

 sponges, or those having skeletons of a flinty nature. Some- 

 times there are two kinds of material in the skeleton ot 

 the same sponge. In some of the coarser horny skeletons 

 of common use, grains and lumps of Umy matter are often 

 present. A very beautiful example of the siliceous sponges 

 is the Venus flower basket, which has beeu described^is 

 resembling a goblet of spun glass. They are found near the 

 East India Islands, and are said to live anchored in the mud 

 at the depth of about ten fathoms. Most of the sponges of 

 commerce are obtained from the Mediterranean Sea. Many 

 are also imported from the West India Islands, but are of 

 inferior quality, being coarser. Soft, brittle sponges of no 

 commercial value abound everywhere on the sea-shore 

 attached to stones, shells, etc., between and below tide marks 

 I have seen large quantities of them taken up by a dreage at 

 a distance of a mde or so from shore. When taken out of 

 the water they have a peculiarly disagreeable ordor. All 

 sponges are marine except one, the spongilla. This occurs 

 in nearly all parts of the world, iu streams and ponds, 

 attached to stones, sticks, etc. Sometimes it grows in sewer 



