July 8, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



467 



Let me say that a degree of faith must be taxed in this 

 abstract and brief chronicle. It cannot be helped. I did 

 not find that sheep. It was not because I did not shoot well, 

 that was all right, but circumstances interfered. Beaching the 

 viciuity of the base where I thought the sheep was lying, the 

 pony pricked up his ears, planted his forefeet decidedly, and 

 stopped suddenly as if something terrible had arrested his 

 attention. At the first glance I could see nothing. On the 

 instant, however, a huge cinnamon bear rose on his hind 

 legs to an immense height, leu or fifteen feet, it seemed, be- 

 fore it stopped getting up, and not more than seventy five 

 yards away. His tapering face, open mouth, outreaching 

 arms, and limp, banging paws, were exceedingly distinct in 

 the brief view I had of Ursus harribilis, variety cinnamon- 

 eous. As he reached full altitude the pony, who had never 

 seen a cinnamon bear before, not even a photograph or 

 crayon sketch of one, uttered a wild snort, whirled excitedly, 

 nearly pitching me out of the saddle, and went down that 

 slope with amazing energy. We would have made a good 

 acting charade of General Putnam at Horseneck escaping 

 fromlhe British. This time it was a bear. I was a careful, 

 but rather passive rider, giving the pony all the rein he 

 wanted and uttering no words of discouragement. 



Of course 1 know Ibis doesn't sound well. How much 

 grander and more dramatic it would be to write that the 

 pony was brought about with fierce determination, urged 

 onw'ard to within a few feet of the bear, careful aim taken 

 and a bullet lodged in the vicious animal's brain, and a few 

 other verbal shakes of sheet iron thunder. But nothing of 

 the kind occurred. The flight continued. At the distance 

 of a half mile, not bearing the crash of breaking limbs or 

 tumbling of rocks behind me, I tightened rein, and induced 

 the pony to stop, just a moment. Looking back 1 saw 

 bruin still in position, like a huge Stoughton bottle, appar- 

 ently wondering what was the matter with the party on 

 horseback. He had stood up to see who was coming to call 

 on him, and was an indifferent spectator at the subsequent 

 proceedings. 



At the camp an imprudent narration, of the adventure 

 caused some merriment, and raised some doubts as to whether 

 the sheep was killed. 



"Why didn't you work your way round to the other side 

 and get your game?" said one. 



"With that bear standing there ready for a row! Hardly. 

 Besides, the pony was too timid." 



"Was it a black bear or a cinnamon?" 



"Is a black bear fifteen feet high?" 



"No; not fair measurement and chained to a post." 



"Well, then, this was a cinnamon." 



Then one of the men said I had acted wisely. No one 

 man should get himself into a disagreement with a cinnamon 

 bear. It takes two good shots, that is two fellows that, un- 

 derstand the business. Each man must stand his ground 

 whenever they get a bear started; one must hold steady till 

 the critter comes up to strike, mouth open, claws out, and 

 blaze away into his mouth, if possible. If that doesn't 

 fetch him, the other man puts a ball under the bear's arm, 

 and cinnamon gets his medicine. 



This explanation was entirely satisfactory to me, and I 

 dropped the subject without supplementary statement. 



Although the day's excursion was a disappointment, I 

 turn to its recollection with unfeigned pleasure. The first 

 impression of the temple-like form of the mountain, or Hunt- 

 erberg Castle, cannot be effaced ; the sheep is still poised on 

 his airy pedestal as first I saw him; the grand panorama of 

 mountains is ever subject to call, and the animated, perhaps 

 melodramatic dissolving view down that slope, awakens 

 emotions, and revives the wit and humor of the camp quite 

 as vividly as it did on that memorable Fourth away out in 

 the Rockies. Jerome Btjknett. 



THE MAGALLOWAY OF TO-DAY. 



THE changes wrought by the lumbermen on the Magal- 

 loway River during the past three years have been so 

 great that if a person who went from Aziscohos Falls to 

 Parmachene Lake during the season of 1888 were to go 

 over the same route this year would be astonished at the 

 great change in the general appearance of the country. In 

 the fall of 1883 the Berlin Mills Lumber Company began 

 operations in Parkertown (which extends from below the 

 Narrows to the head of the meadows on both sides of the 

 river), and put into the woods a crew of about 250 men, and 

 that season cut about 10,000,0C0 feet of lumber. Their long 

 landings on both sides of the river from the foot of Emery's 

 Misery to lower Metalluk Pond, ga ve it a desolate appearance, 

 which was supplemented by a tornado and a (ire that swept 

 over about a thousand acres of land at the Narrows the fol- 

 lowing summer. The next season's operations were on a 

 somewhat larger scale, and timber was cut on both sides of 

 the river nearly to the foot of the meadows. The follow- 

 ing fall the company still further extended their operations 

 and put in about twenty camps and employed about 400 men, 

 and their landings now reach from Aziscohos Falls to the 

 head of the meadows, so now all the primeval forest left 

 below Parmachene is from the foot of the lake to the head 

 of the meadows. If they should extend their operations up 

 the river one more season the picturesque beauty of the 

 Magalloway will be one of the things of the past. 



For quite a number of years that has been one of the best 

 localities for large game in this region. Moose were not un- 

 common and some were killed every season. One was 

 killed at the meadows in 1884 that weighed 1100 pounds. Car- 

 ibou were found quite plenty by those who knew where 

 to look for them. There is a large caribou bog lying with- 

 in a few miles of Aziscohos Mountain. Deer were very 

 plenty and in winter herds of from half a dozen to ten or 

 fifteen were not uncommonly seen, and as late as the fall of 

 1883 a herd of seventeen yarded within one and a half miles 

 of the Narrows. The snow was deep that season and they 

 nearly all disappeared before spring. A logging crew of 

 fourteen men were camped near by; they made one quarter 

 of beef last them all winter and they never were stinted for 

 fresh meat. Perhaps that had nothing to do with the dis- 

 appearance of the deer. Munn Wornell, a Maine fish and 

 game warden, came to Brown's farm, inquired if any deer 

 had been killed or any fish caught, went fishing himself two 

 or three days, and then in the language of a well-remembered 

 writer, "marched back again." I don't know but the lumber 

 men have just as much right to kill and use deer during the 

 winter as guides and sportsmen have to kill them in close 

 season in summer, and use one or two meals and throw the 

 remainder of the carcass in the river to be wasted and taint 

 the air for rods around. This winter the snow has not been 

 so deep but what they could take care of themselves and 

 very few have been killed this winter. 

 The old hunters used to say that if deer ever became 



plenty here again the wolves would follow them. Their pre- 

 dictions aeem to be verified, for several have been seen and 

 tracked on the Magalloway this winter. One came into a 

 yard near George Waters's camp and was seen by several of 

 the men. It has been quite a number of years since wolves 

 were plenty, but their time is short if wolves in both hair 

 and "sheep's clothing" get after them. 



Fur is quite scarce around here now. It has been persist- 

 ently hunted ever since John Danforth came to this region, 

 and now it is a rare thing to find a beaver; and mink and 

 sable are also scarce. Fisher and otter are very seldom seen 

 and even now a bob cat is something of a rarity. 



The trout fishing has changed also, for now fish can be 

 caught only at certain places on the river, when formerly 

 they could be caught almost anywhere. Last summer a 

 friend of mine was at Little Boy's Falls, above Parmachene. 

 and where a few years ago he could catch plenty of fish of 

 from one to three pounds, and had taken one weighing over 

 five pounds, the largest one taken this trip weighed less 

 than a pound. I caught one ou my last trip up the river in 

 September, below the lake, that weighed five pounds two 

 ounces, and my companion took the mate to it in less than 

 five minutes after that weighed a trifle over four pounds. 

 The season before my largest fish weighed six and a half 

 pounds. But very few trout are taken above Aziscohos 

 nowadays as large as that. Those would not be considered 

 very large brook trout by anglers who have caught nine and 

 ten-pounders at Rangeley, but perhaps they might be called 

 very good ones by parties who have fished the same waters 

 two weeks at a time and caught nothing that would weigh 

 over a pound. 



No pickerel have as yet been seen above Aziscohos, but 

 they go up as far as the foot of the falls at Clark's, though 

 they are not as plenty there as formerly, and it is to be hoped 

 that they will disappear entirely from those waters. It is 

 also to be hoped that no one will try to help the matter by 

 stocking the waters with black bass, for if they do it will be 

 only a short time before you will find bass at Little Boys' 

 Falls and Rump Pond. 



This paper will give your readers some idea of the changes 

 going on in the Magalloway country, and perhaps save 

 somebody a good deal of disappointment who might expect 

 to find it just about the same as when they were there a few 

 years ago! S. J. G. 



Lancaster, N. H. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



DOMESTICATION OF THE BUFFALO. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Most of your readers are aware that Mr. Hornaday, the 

 taxidermist of the National Museum, was sent out this spring 

 to procure, if possible, a few skins of the American buffalo 

 (Bison americanus) to be mounted for the museum. Recently 

 Mr. Hornaday returned, practically empty-handed. The 

 melancholy interpretation of this fact is that the buffalo at 

 last has gone forever. These facts, I say, are pretty well 

 known to most of your readers, and to these it will be, I be- 

 lieve, a glad surprise to know that this magnificent species is 

 not doomed to extermination after all. 



The small herd of domesticated buffaloes kept by Mr. 

 Bedson at Stony Mountain, Manitoba, has contrived to thrive 

 and multiply and the four calves of 1878 are now represented 

 by 18 bulls, 25 cows and 18 calves ; these, I learn from a 

 recent article in Hcience, are to become the stock of a Mani- 

 toban company for the breeding of buffaloes. The great 

 value of the buffalo is now fully recognized, and the various 

 ways in which its physical powers and material products are 

 to be turned to account are set forth at 'some length in an 

 article-by the writer, published in Transaction No. 23, of the 

 Historical and Scientific Society of Manitoba, 1886, entitled 

 "The Mammals of Manitoba." When this was written the 

 fate of the buffalo was trembling in the balance and I took 

 the opportunity of urging its claims on our attention as an 

 animal that would be an invaluable addition to the stock 

 yard. Since then the matter has been pretty thoroughly ad- 

 vertised among the Manitoban business men and projects of 

 domestication favorably received. And 1 am sure that now 

 all who are interested either in the stock farm or the chase, 

 will be glad to learn that after all the buffalo has not "gone 

 forever," and since it is proposed to introduce the species on 

 the prairie ranches of the North, it is not unlikely that ere 

 many years have gone we may once again see the American 

 bison feeding and clothing a nation and darkening with its 

 thousands the boundless plains of the West. 



Ernest E T. Seton 



New Yoke, June 20, 1886. 



W. T. Hornaday, chief taxidermist of the United States 

 National Museum at Washington, was in the city yesterday 

 visiting friends. Mr. Hornaday has just returned from 

 Montana and other portions of the West, where an effort 

 was made to secure for preservation some specimens of the 

 buffalo, which is rapidly disappearing. To a Herald re- 

 porter Mr. Hornaday yesterday made the following state 

 ment: "On the 3d of May a party consisting of George H. 

 Hedley of Medina, an assistant and myself left Washington 

 for Montana in search of buffalo skins and skeletons for 

 preservation in the National Museum. We arrived in Mon- 

 tana about the 10th of May, and until the time we left, June 

 loth, we were continually on the lookout for the object of 

 our search. We were told that it would be impossible to 

 find buffaloes there, but after diligent search for a number 

 of days we were fortunate in securing two large bulls and a 

 fine calf. The latter was captured alive with the lasso and 

 was sent immediately to Washington. The skins of the 

 bulls were found to be almost worthless for the purpose in- 

 tended, as the animals are now shedding their thick coats of 

 hair. The skeletons, however, were sent to Washington. 

 Buffaloes are very scarce and few people know of any in the 

 West. In Montana there are probably twenty-five buffaloes 

 and in other Territories there are even less than that number. 

 In Yellowstone Park, however, where animals are not allowed 

 to be killed, there are about 200 buffaloes and 5,000 elks. 

 A fine of §50 and six months imprisonment is imposed for 

 violating the law in this matter. Small herds of buffaloes 

 are reported to be in the British possessions, but the species are 

 rapidly becoming extinct. In October 1 shall go West again, 

 prepared to secure at least twenty-five skins and skeletons. 

 In case Mr, Hedley does not accompany me in October, 

 Henry L. Ward, son of Professor Ward of this city, will go 



out with me. This Work should have been done some years 

 ago, when the plains were frequented by the buffalo. Vast 

 herds of cattle are now seen in place of buffaloes. Large 

 quantities of buffalo bones are being collected and are shipped 

 to Eastern factories for the manufacture Of fertilizing ma- 

 terial." Mr. Hornaday left fof Washington last evening.— 

 BocMsier Herald. 



TWO HINTS IN TAXIDERMY. 



MANY who have had occasion to make bird skins in the 

 field have regretted the sorry condition the specimen 

 presented when unpacked at home, owing chiefly to doubled 

 and twisted necks. And those who have made exchanges 

 know that occasionally a bird gets a broken neck even when 

 carefully packed and perfectly dry at starting. 



The skins made by some collectors are invariably weak in 

 the neck from using slender rolls of cotton. Having soon 

 noticed this defect in even my own specimens, I substituted 

 for the cotton a hard roll of oakum which extended from 

 the mouth nearly or quite to the tail. Of course every one 

 uses, or ought to use, a stout wire or long sliver of wood for 

 the necks of large birds, hawks, ducks, herons, etc., but it 

 is only in reference to small birds that I wish to call atten- 

 tion. In making skins of birds the size of sparrows and 

 warblers I began using matches with sufficient cotton twisted 

 around to make the neck of the required size. I have since 

 adopted the use of hard-wood toothpicks, and have already 

 used several hundred with quite satisfactory results. Cover 

 the wood with cotton by a dexterous twist of the fingers. 

 Insert this in the skin, letting it extend from the mouth 

 nearly or quite to the tail. With the bird lying on the back 

 the bill may be made to point slightly upward, as it should 

 in a well-made skin, by allowing the neck to rest on the 

 back, placing all or nearly all the filling over it. 



In my opinion the best skin is made in a modification of 

 the two extremes, with the bill neither in a line with the 

 back nor pointing upward at a right angle to the back, ex- 

 cept in case of owls, etc. An angle of forty-five degrees or 

 less is suitable for most small birds. For a robin a single 

 toothpick is scarcely long enough, and for such specimens I 

 use two toothpicks, letting the flat ends overlap, the cotton 

 will hold them together. 



A bird skin made in this way may be picked up by the 

 bill with impunity and in transportation the neck will not 

 be damaged. 



I used this method on a recent trip to Mexico, and my 

 specimens were transported, some of them when they were 

 scarcely dry, several miles down a steep mountain trail on 

 the backs of bronco mules, and received rougher treatment 

 than usually falls to the lot of even field skins, and yet there 

 was not one broken neck among over two hundred skins. 



The second point which I wish to bring to the notice of 

 naturalists is the use of absorbent cotton in the field. A spot 

 of blood that has formed on and among the feathers may be 

 scraped off with a knife blade, and then if absorbent cotton 

 is used, the place will be so effectually cleaned as to need, 

 with most birds, no after treatment; at any rate, nothing 

 more than a little corn meal before commencing to skin the 

 bird. 



This cotton possesses great advantages over ordinary cot- 

 ton batting, and is better to use than plaster, corn meal or 

 sand, which would form a cake not easily removed from 

 some parts of a bird without pulling feathers out or going to 

 the trouble of moistening it. W. E. B. 



Oakland, Cal., June 24, 1*886. 



THE AUDUBON SOCIETY. 



A Garden City, Kansas, correspondent, commenting on 

 the Florida man's queer notion of killing off the mocking- 

 birds because they eat strawberries, says : ' 'If Sam J. Kin- 

 nard, of Waldo, Fla., could be transported from his shady 

 nook in Florida to these vast, treeless prairies, destitute al- 

 most of feathered songsters, how his heart would leap for 

 joy at the sound of the first note of his much-despised mock- 

 ingbird, just as the writer's did lately on discovering that 

 the sweet- noted, restless, chirping robin redbreast and Sam's 

 nightingale had actually found their way this far west, and 

 were visitors, if not residents. I was born in the woods of 

 Ohio, where the scarcity of song birds is not known, and in 

 a region where small fruits and berries are the farmer's main 

 sustenance and his pride to protect, and where, too, it is 

 not an uncommon thing to see the birds feeding from one 

 stake while the pickers gather their share from another; and 

 there seems to be enough for both. It was with a thrill of 

 pleasure that I discovered a mockingbird here only last 

 week, hopping about in the few stunted trees that are scat- 

 tered about the city, and how he makes the welkin ring. — 

 Budg. 



A Rutherford, N. J., observer estimates the work of a 

 band of four boys in that town in 1885 to have been the 

 destruction of between seven and eight hundred birds' eggs 

 and nearly five hundred old birds. 



The observant Orillia Packot says that "this summer, hum- 

 ming birds are few and arrived quite late. Can it be that 

 the lessening in number of the little beauties is caused by 

 the freaks of fashion in ladies' attire?" There is not a doubt 

 about it, and as our able contemporary has joined the Audu- 

 bon Society, he cannot do better than exert the influence of 

 his journal in disabusing the fair sex of a craze that carries 

 such carnage into the ranks of the beautiful birds of our 

 woods 



A Westerville, O., correspondent says: "I feel a deep 

 interest in the welfare of the birds, and have beheld with, 

 astonishment their unwarrantable destruction. I discovered 

 that in this community about thirty young boys were 

 engaged in the work of destroying birds' eggs, or rather 

 gathering and shipping them to a taxidermist of Geneva, 

 N. Y. I found upon investigation that they had gathered 

 no less than 14,000 eggs, and I immediately, through our 

 local newspaper, made a complete exposure of who they 

 were, and which resulted in putting a stop to the business. — 

 M." 



Recent Arrivals at the Philadelphia Zoological Garden.— 

 Purchased— 2 red bellied squirrels (Sciurus aureogaster), 2 yellow- 

 winged sugar birds (Careba cyanea), aad 4 crowned pigeons (Goura 

 coronata). Presented— 1 opossum and 10 young (Didelphys virgini- 

 anus). 1 screech owl {Scops asio), 2 alligators (Alligator mississippi- 

 ensis), 1 Gila monster (Relodenna suspectum). and 50 horned lizards 

 (Phrynosoma cornutum). Born id Garden— 2 faUojv deer (Cervus 

 dama), 2 elk {Cervus canadensis), 2 buffalo (Bison americanus), 1 

 Virginia deer (Cervus virginianus), and 6 red -headed ducks (Fuligula 

 ferina americana). 



Men Have No Right to expose their families to the risk of being 

 thrown helpless on the world when they can prevent it at small cost 

 by taking a policy in Thb Travelers, of Hartford, Conn.— Adv, 



