284 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Nov. 5, 1885 • 



the appointed time. He, accordingly, put in two days as 

 requested, but Mr. E. H. FI. and party were not to the fore. 



A few days aftf-r I happened to" learn that they were 

 camped on Lewis's Island; and about that tiu)f- I chanced to 

 meet one of tliem, and sent by him a note to Mr. E H H. 

 statinff the facts, and adding that I presuuvd— which I cer- 

 tainly did— that he would pay the teamstrT for services ren- 

 dered. Thjs was the last "l saw or learned of that party, 

 except that I heard, and did not doubt, that they had vic- 

 timized another teamster near Belliire. 



Now. had I written and sent to Mr. E. H. H. a request 

 that he should on a given day hnve in waiting a hack at the 

 Burnett House or a dray at Pier No 7, what would his feel- 

 ings naturally have been had I failed to put in an appear- 

 ance, or to fee the drayman, or to compensate Mr. E. H. H. 

 for the ducats he would have appropriated to sucb use? 

 What sort of a party is it whose leaders can unblushingly 

 commit such acts? 



A genuine sportsman should be a man of houor— «s a_man 

 of honor; and to such an oni\ be he peasant or be he prince, 

 I am ready to extend the risht hand of fellowship. Not to 

 every maii whose cast of flies shall fall upon the wave '"like 

 thistle down," whose shot is death, can I apply the name of 

 "sportsman." And to the blackguard, who, with gun or 

 rod. goes through the world like Sir Artegal's iron man 

 Talus, with his flail, "beating" every unsu-picious victim 

 within his, reach, I saj^ in the words of the shipwrecked 

 Hibernian, "The back o'me hand and the sowl o' me fut t' 

 ye." Kelpie. 



Ckntral Lak^, Mich., Oct. 23. 



IN THE FORESTS OF NEW BRUNSWICK. 



A FTER our log canoe was made and launch' d into the 

 J\. still water on the head of the Little Southwest Mira- 

 michi, a few miles west of the blazed line which marks the 

 division between the counties of Victoria and Northumber- 

 land, we retired to our little cotton tent for the night. This 

 Btill water of the Little Southwest is bounded on either side 

 by barrens, which, however, are not extensive and soon meet 

 the base of the hiuh, hard wood covered ridges, with which 

 this country abounds. For four miles there is no visible 

 motion of the water, which is dark and deep, and here is a 

 favorite haunt of the black duck, the most wary of birds. 

 Beaver too were at work, as was shown by the freshly 

 gnawed wood which we saw on the banks of the stream; 

 indeed one of ou? party who had walked down from our little 

 tent to the water cauaht a full view of one beaver swimming 

 about in the af ternoon. 



After our night's rest we packed up our blankets, cooking 

 utenfils and food which we placed in the canoe, which two 

 two men were detailed to paddle to the foot of the still water, 

 the rest of us followirg the shores, over hummocks and 

 among hardback bushes concealing many a hole which the 

 industrious otter had dug lor getting readily out of or into 

 the water. Signs of otter were numerous and many were 

 fresh. At the distance of three miles we came to a narrow 

 place in the still water, where the scrubby spruces which 

 stood scattering over the barren grew close down to the 

 water's edge. The brook here was shoal, and there was a 

 rocky bottom formed by a ledge which crossed the barren 

 for a long distance, its top being only a few feet above it — a 

 singular formation looking like an entrenchment, extending 

 from one side of the barren to the other, and through vi^hich 

 the still water in the course of time had worked its silent 

 ■way. At this place, called the "Jaws." we met the canoe. 

 "We saw here a pile of nones whitening in the sun and rain. 

 They were those ol the loup m'vier, or Canadian lynx. One 

 of our party, a hunter of great experience, had taken advan- 

 tasre of the known dread of this cunning animal to show 

 himself in a barren or open piece of land, and having set his 

 traps here had cauuht twenty -six of the animals two winters 

 before, and it was the bones 'of these which we saw. 



A walk of a mile brouoht us to the foot of the still water, 

 where the stream ran among granite boulders and over little 

 rapids, and where our canoe would be of but little service to 

 us; we took our things out of it, therefore, and carried them 

 up to an old hunting camp which we temporarily repaired 

 for our night's lodging, part of us sleeping outside under the 

 tent. I here noticed in one of the wooden sable traps the 

 bones of an owl's head. The bird had evidently been rob 

 bing the trap when fate overtook him. The little Abenaki 

 Indian, one of our party, called the owl "koo koo kus"in his 

 language; a word more expressive than our name tor this 

 bird. The Canada jay or moose bird is greatly hated by the 

 hunters, as he also wdl follow their lines of deadfalls for 

 miles and steal the bail out of them, rarely losing his life 

 in the attempt. This bird at the time when trout are spawn- 

 ing will follow the shores of the streams hunting for and 

 devouiiog the ova. 



We were now nearly in the center of the great New 

 Bruuswick forest, on this elevated land firs grew so thickly 

 that they incommoded our traveling and we concluded thaf. 

 some of our party should take their axes and cut a trail 

 thr. .ugh tlie woods to the foot of the rapid waters on the 

 stream, a distance of about six miles, while the two canoe 

 men poled and dragged the empty craft down the rocky 

 stream to that point where it would again be of use to us. 

 We did not get more than three or four miles before night 

 overtook us, when we pitched ou'- tent on the bank of the 

 stream in a thi k growth of large mixed woods. The soil in 

 this part of New Brunswick is of no value, indeed, although 

 there is a large forest growth, the whole surface of the 

 country, when the moss is removed, is nothing but a mass 

 of angular stones, generally of small size. Bo that this 

 country can never be of any value for agricultural purposes 

 and is only tit for the production of timber and as a cover 

 for game of various kinds. The next evening brought our 

 party to the foot of the rapid water where, after rippling 

 over a gravelly bed for a few yards, it was lost in another 

 large still water, or, as it is appropriately called by the New 

 Brunswiek lumbermen, dead water, a very appropriate 

 name. The canoemen had brought the canoe down and 

 had hauled it up on the little beach, and 1 had gone off to 

 look out a good camping ground. 



On my return to the party a strange scene met my view 

 An English gentleman, who was accompanying us as a friend, 

 was just taking the nuuler's rifle out of tht; canoe, and draw- 

 ing otf the cover hastily, evidently there was something ud 

 The Abenaki boy, Fr>.nk, was standing motionless on il'ie 

 shore gazing steadily into the trees on the other side of the 

 brook, where th^re was a high bank. As I drew near be 

 looked at me, and pointing with his finger at the thicket on 

 the opposite side ot the siieam, said in u whisper, "Moose 

 moose." Directing my eyes to the place where his fino-er 

 pointed I saw, sure enough, a great head with maiestic 

 horns looking out of a spot among the thick foliage of the 



dark spruces, a vignette, as it were, bough-surrounded. A 

 moment more and the Englishman was at hand with the 

 rifle. He raised it slowly, taking deliberate aim at the noble 

 forehead which could not have been more than 150 feet 

 from him, he fired. As the smoke slowly passed away T 

 looked into the darkness of the woods and saw again that 

 grim head motionless as before. I rubbed my eyes, as 1 

 said to myself this nan be no moose's head, it must be the 

 gnarled and tangled boughs of cedar. The breechloader 

 was chai-ged again in a moment, again raised, aim taken, 

 and fired. There was a crashing of branches, ami as the 

 smoke again rolled away a blank dark space was left in the 

 spot where the head had been. The Englishman and the 

 Indian boy rushed over the stream on the trail in the woods. 

 Half an hour brought them back with the usual story of hav- 

 ing seen drops of blood in the track, but I believe that the 

 animal went off unhurt. Had it been killed it would have 

 necessitated our curing the meat by smoking, as we had no 

 salt, and this process would have been long and tedious, and 

 thus 1 was well satisfied at the result. Edward Jack. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



HABITS OF CRAYFISH. 



Ediior Forest and Stream: 



I have read with much interest the communication in your 

 columns by Mr Tarr, entitled "Habits of the Crayfish." 

 What he says of the burrowing crayfish (Cambaro dioqcnes) 

 was of special interest. I have seen the chimneys of these 

 solitary creatures, and it has often been a matter of wonder 

 to me how they managed to pile up th( ir frail structures to 

 such an altitude, and whether in doing so they serve a useful 

 end or m'^rcly gratify an aesthetic taste. 



In the North Mississippi prairies we have another species 

 of crayfish, or as they are locally called crawfish.which bur- 

 row in the ground ; but apart from this are very different 

 from the C. diogeiiei. Underlying the soil of the prairies is 

 a stratum of soft limestone at varying depths. The cray- 

 fish burrow down to this rock and here excavate a cistern 

 which contains many gallons of water, accumulated by seep- 

 ing through the porous soil and retained by the impervious 

 rock. Thence they sally forth after a spring shower and 

 cut down and carry into their biurows any "tender green 

 h' rb," not excepting the growing corn or cotton. So thor- 

 oughly do they perform their work, that the ground, in 

 localities where the crayfish are thick, is kept perfectly bare 

 of vegetation. As may be supposed they are very hurtful 

 to the crops, in many places preventing the farmer's getting 

 a "stand" and at other times delaying the planting until 

 May. 



We have a few of the chimney-biulding crayfish, but they 

 are said to do no damage to the crops, and are found always 

 near the branches and ditches or in the "swags, " while the 

 destructive variety are often found in the highest land on a 

 plantation, the chief requisite for their favorable existence 

 being a considerable depth of soil above the bed rock. 



After May 1 the crayfish retire to their burrows, rarely 

 venturing forth, unless there chances to come an unusually 

 wet season. They subsist upon the vegetation laid away in 

 the spring, 1 have never sf en any account of this specie's of 

 crayfish and am ignorant of its technic^d name. I suppos(% 

 however, that it has been studied and classified, and I should 

 be glad to learn more about its habits, and especially glad to 

 receive information of some cheap and effective method of 

 destroying it, as I have some fifty acres of otherwise very 

 fine land which is rendered practically useless by the presence 

 of the crustacean. Wnx. 



Aberdeen, M^ss. 



THE BIRDS GONE. 



XT is now some time since the summer residents left these 

 parts. A fi rst migration took place on Aug. 35. We 

 had a cold rain on that day, and the next morning the ther 

 mometer registered 50°, with a cool north wind that con- 

 tinued blowing for a good part of two days. At this time 

 many robins, catbirds, thrushes, and orioles disappeared. I 

 was more surprised at the robins and catbirds going than 1 

 was at the thrushes and orioles leaving. It could not have 

 been the want of food that sent the robins off, for the cherry 

 trees that they had fed upon so much during- the summer 

 were still loaded, and for more that, two weeks after their 

 flight the ground was covered with fr'iit. We have thought 

 that this early migration accounts for the return of the same 

 birds for several yea s in succession. Those that take their 

 flight in Auau!-t escape the robin slaughter that commences 

 here ostensibly in October; but I am afraid it sometimes 

 begins before that, and it does not end until the last red- 

 breast leaves these parts. 



But by the SOtli of August there were very few robins 

 present, and the number of catbirds was still smaller. Nor 

 did they seem to me like birds that had been reared in the 

 vicinity. They were wilder, and did not appear to know 

 where the cherry trees were nor the elderberry covert. 



One of the last birds to leave was the warbling vireo 

 ( Vireosylvia gilva). I heard him sing fr^ quently up to the 

 bOth of August, after the other birds had gone, and when 

 the mercury stood below 65°. On the 30th of August 1 left 

 home for ten days. When I returned 1 found neither robins 

 nor catbirds, and all the summer residents except the phcebe 

 birds had taken their departure. We had a cold storm the 

 first week in September, and this seemed to complete the 

 migration in this place. 



During the latter part of Julv several little families of 

 nuthatches (Sitta carolinen.»is) were around. Tbey left my 

 feeding places early in Mny, and I did not notice them until 

 the time I have mentioned. It was easy to see that many of 

 the birds were young ones and had not" acquired the facility 

 of running up and down and around the trees that their 

 parents had. And I also observed that one or tw<j of the 

 birds— the (id ones. I supposed— would almost invariablvfly 

 to the pear tree where they had fed last winter and examine 

 it most carefully, scolding meantime while they peered into 

 the knotholes. However, some of them have alreadv com- 

 menced to peck out the fat that I provided during the first 

 week in October. One of them spent the greater part of the 

 morning ot the 17th in transferring it to several locust trees 

 just across the way. 



What applies to the nuthatches in respect to their summer 

 visits, applies with equal force to the chickadee (Parus utvi- 

 capiUm), on\j I did not notice them around until the first 

 week m August, when almost every day a troop would come 



! and .saucUy lisp a single note as they fed around or near the 



i old places. 



The downy woodpecker {Picus piibescem) never seemed to 

 I leave me at all even for the month* of June and Jidy My 

 own opinion is that he raised one brood in the dead limbs of 

 an old chestnut that stands in the field opposite. Where the 

 other nest was 1 have no idea. It could not have been very 

 far away, though, for young and old were around all the 

 summer.' All these residents, I flatter myself, are preparing 

 to make their home for the winter iu the vicinity of this 

 house. 



I observed that while the nuthatches and chickadees sang 

 through the winter and spring, they were as a general thing 

 almost silent when the summer songsters arrived. The first 

 date that 1 have of the nuthatch singing is Jan. 3, 1885; the 

 chickadee was some weeks later. They were usually heard 

 on fine, pleasant mornings when the thermometer stood 

 among the twenties, or higher. A. H. G. 



SCARBOKOUGH, N. Y. 



SKELETONS OF DOGS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is very desirable that the Department of Comparative Ana- 

 tomy of this Museum should have, for study and exhibition, 

 a good series of skeletons and crania of thorouglibred dogs to 

 illustrate the great variety of size and form which exists 

 among the various breeds. Considerable progress has been 

 made in this direction, but owing to the great difficulty of 

 obtaining good exampl s of certain important races, many 

 desirable forms are still lacking-. Foremo4 among these are 

 the greyhound, mastiff and St. Bernard, as exhibiting either 

 the extreme of sizp or lightness of structure. The blood- 

 hound, staghound, sheep dog and thoroughbred foxhound 

 are also very desirable. Should any reader of Forest and 

 Stream be so unfortunate as to have one' of the above men- 

 tioned dogs die, it would be a decided favor if he would 

 kindly take the trouble to pack in a box or barrel and for- 

 ward to the museum. Some object to having any disposition 

 other than burial made of their favorites, but there are also 

 many who would be perfectly willing to have a valuable dog 

 placed after death where its value and good qualities would 

 be perpetuated. Frederic A. Lucas. 



Asst. Dept. of Comp. Anatomy, U. S. National Museum. 

 Washington, D. U., Oct. 28. 



§^tfi^ §^g ^nd §utf. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Fublish- 

 ing Co. 



NOTES OF THE WILDFOWL. 



A FEW ducks have visited the Schuylkill in this vicinity 

 during the past month. They were terribly persecuted 

 during their stay here, and did liot tarry long. Oct. 18 a 

 flock of twenty-five or thirty took up their quarters along 

 the shores of Barbadoes Island, and although it was Sunday 

 a large number of bouts and shooters (I will not say sports- 

 men) were after them all day, and before night the most of 

 them were driven westward beyond Catfisii Dam, four miles 

 from here. I Avas out on the river in the afternoon, and 

 accidentally chased two ducks within easy range of three 

 young men in a boat. One of them raised a double muzzle- 

 loader and snapped twice but it did not go. They then 

 called to me: "Have you any caps?" I answered, "No; I 

 use a breechloader, but cot on Sundays." They then ex- 

 plained that they had killed a duck in the forenoon, had 

 exhausted their supply of percussion caps, had sent a boy to 

 a drug store for more, but the druggist had ^old out and the 

 gun stores were not open. Here was an illustration of 

 human thirst for gore. These young men were rowing a 

 300- pound boat around all afternoon after the ducks, snap- 

 ping the hammers of their gun at every opportunity, hoping 

 that it might go off and kill something. Such perseverance 

 was deserving of a better cause. 



In another boat a .\oung man was practicing with a 

 revolver. He would get in one shot on the water at about 

 twenty yards, and then give them two more on the wing. 

 The l)ullets did not hit the wings in any instance, but the 

 spectators on shore were in great danger. 



On the following day I went out and killed two ducks, 

 presumably the only ones remaining within two miles of the 

 borough. 'On my return to the boat house 1 met a man who 

 informed me that one of my ducks was a "crow duck," and 

 said that if I would throw it aw iy he would give me four 

 good ones, and further informed me that he was a great 

 duck hunter, and had killed sixteen the day before I 

 thanked him and told him that I would risk the crow, and 

 had enough for dinner. Such men make me tired, and there 

 are many hereabouts. There are sport'^men here, however, 

 and the fact that several copies of Forest ash Stream 

 reach here once a week is evidence of the fact. 



I find that a light boat wuth bow-facing oars is an excel- 

 lent combination to use in the pursuit of ducks, and I pro- 

 bably have killed more than ray share, considering the large 

 number of shooters and the small numljer of ducks killed. 

 The cartridges used are brass, and were loaded more than 

 three years ago. Not one has missed fire up to date. 

 NoREisTowN, Pa., Oct. 31 E. A. Leopold. 



Great preparations are being made at the Havre de Grace 

 and Gunpowder River ducking grounds for the opening of 

 the season the beginning of November. Many blackheads 

 and redheads have taken possession of the flats at the mouth 

 of the Susquehanna Rivei-, although canvasbacks have not 

 yet arrived in quaniity. Since the storm on Thursday and 

 the clearing up cool weather of the ending of the past week, 

 more of the latter variety have come on and may be every 

 day expected in increased numbers. 



The flight of ruddy ducks or "stiffies" to our Delaware 

 river and bay is something enormous, and we hear from all 

 quarters that this stupid little duck is unusually plentiful 

 everywhere this autumn. In our Philadelphia market many 

 are being palmed off on the unsuspecting tor teal. Of course 

 they ai'e picked when thus sold, and in general appearance 

 (save the head) in this condition very much resemble the 

 latter variety. Homo, 



PmLADELPHIA. Oct. 31^ 



Wild geese, crane and brant made their appearance here 

 in considerable numbers about Oct 10. Mallai'd ducks ap- 

 peared about the 30th. As soon as it gets a little colder in 

 the north ail will be here in large numbers. They are in- 



