Sept. S, ISse.J 



FOREIST AND STREAM. 



IDS 



"JuUuk me," Sara answered, "when I fust com' daown 

 here. The well water an' sech didn't squench my tliirst 

 no more 'n it 'ould to open ray maouth an' let the moon 

 shine in to 't. It's hard, all on 't; 3^011 can't Buds a pint 

 on 't with a ban-el o' soap! But I'm a gittin' use to 't, an' 

 the 's a brook back here 'at dreene the snow aoutin the 

 woods that you find toll'able satisfyiu' 'f you drink tew 

 three pailfuls on 't. Me 'n' Antwine goes over once a 

 day reg'lar an' fills up. Draw up!" lie continued, seating 

 himself beside the slab, "di-aw up, Peltier, an' make yer- 

 self to hum an' help yerself . The" might be better, an' 

 the' is wus. You 've got to wait an' eat to the secont 

 table, Drive, 'f you be comp'ny," and the hound who had 

 been wistfully regarding the setting of the table, creirt into 

 the shanty and" curled down on a buft'alo skin, and 

 watched the jDrogress of the meal out of the corners of his 

 eyes. 



Wlieh they werexeady to start, Bam. down sti-eam, An- 

 toine up stream, leaving Pelatiah to wander at his will 

 along the safe and stable shore, the sun was rising above 

 the mist and glorifying it, transmuting the gray vapor 

 into a long sun-glade of floating gold that stretched from 

 the hills to them. The night had been such a mild and 

 dark one as the muskrats delight to go abroad in upon 

 their affairs, and Sam found in his ti-aps many a poor fel- 

 low whose wooings and nightly wandering had been 

 ended forever since the last sunset. He was ptishing his 

 canoe among the trees and water brush that stood ankle 

 deejD in the shallow water, when he heard another boat 

 scraping the bushes along its comrse, the rubbing of the 

 setting pole on its side, and presently the form of a man 

 aj)peared gHding over the water, upheld by some invisible 

 buoyant agency which was revealed Avhen a light skiff 

 emerged from a thicket of button bushes. Sam at once 

 recognized the occupant of the little craft as the oixe who 

 had made such a vigorous protest against then- trapping 

 here, and the salutation that he received left Mm in no 

 doubt that tliis was Antoine's revUer. 



"Hello, Gum-chawer! Praowlin "raoxind on my trappin' 

 graound yit, be ye?" the man shouted as if Sam had been 

 a mile away. "Say, haint ye got a chaw o' gum to give 

 a feller this mornin'?" 



"Yes," Sam answered very quietly, tiu'ning the canoe 

 toward the skiff, "tew on 'em 'f ye want." 



When the gunwales of the two boats touched, the 

 stout man regarded the tall mountaineer with a puzzled 

 half grin, for there was a queer look in Sam's eyes, not 

 quite in keei^ing Avifch his apparently friendly movements. 

 "They came abreast and Sam arose to his feet, let go his 

 hold of the paddle with his right hand, fronted the quar- 

 relsome pre-emptor of the marshes, and quick as thought 

 dealt him a sounding fisticuff full in the face, knocking 

 him sprawling overboard and nearly capsizing his skiff. 

 The fallen foeman floundered to his feet in the hip-deep 

 water, and sputtering out mixed oaths and water, splashed 

 toward his antagonist, who was balancing himself in the 

 canoe, that rocked violently from the recoil of his blow. 



"If you come anigh me," Sam said, raising his paddle 

 for a two-handed stroke, "I'll knock ye gaily west!" and 

 the man halted, doubting whether it was better to incur 

 the execution of so dire a threat, or to retreat. "Naow," 

 Sam continued, seeing that his enemy showed little dis- 

 position to renew his hostiUties, " 'f you've gpt what gum 

 jou wanter chaw to-day, wade ashore an' Til shove yer 

 boat tu ye." 



The cold water had well nigh quenched his valor, if not 

 -his anger, and after a moment's hesitation and one more 

 look at the still upraised paddle, the man turned sullenly 

 and swashed his way slowly to the nearest land. The 

 victor in this little naval encounter, seehig the vanquished 

 crew safely landed, set about getting the water-logged 

 craft into port, and with no little trouble accomplished it. 



"Naow," he said, as if advising an unfortunate and 

 misguided friend, "if I was you, I'd emj)ty the Avater 

 outen my boat an' my boots an' my gun, an' wring aout 

 my close, an' go up to aour shanty an' build up a good 

 fire 'n' dry s.Qut. 'N' then, 'f I was you, I kinder 'tend tu 

 my own consarns, an' not be tu sassy to folks 'ats a 'tend- 

 in to theirn." 



To this hospitable offer and wholesome advice the 

 soaked trapper made no rejjly, but sat down on a log and 

 attempted to pull off his boots. They were as perverse 

 as wet boots ever were, and yielded no more to the own- 

 er's desperate tugs than to the accompanying contortions 

 of his visage, his grunts and explosive curses. 



"Gi' me a holt on 'em," Sam said, stepping ashore, and 

 without waiting for one of them to be held forth, seized 

 the nearest stubborn boot and began pulling at it. The 

 unhappy wearer slid off his seat, Ms back bone grated 

 over the log, and he grasped wildly for some anchorage 

 on sedges, brush and sapliugs wliile his body plowed a 

 broad black fiu-row in the mat of last year's leaves, and 

 yet he said not a word. 



"Wal!" Sam puffed, stopping while both took breath, 

 "it does stick onaccaountable! If ye won't kick, I'll give 

 ye a bootjack?" 



The man shook his head, and Sam turning his back to 

 him ■ took the boot between his legs, grasping it at heel 

 and toe while the other set the free foot against him, and 

 after a short struggle the boot came off, and in the same 

 way its mate soon followed it. 



"There, I guess you c'n git the rest o' your duds off 

 alone, an' 's mebby you're Mnder modest, I'll clear aout." 

 Sam stepped into his canoe and pushed off. His recently 

 aggressive acquaintance, still sitting on the ground and 

 beginning to fumble at his buttons, looked after Mm and 

 said at last: "Wal, I swear! you're the curiest ctiss ever I 

 Bee; but I guess you're wliite. I do' know as I can say 

 that I'm much 'ijleeged tu ye — but you can trap an' be 

 damned for all I care." 



"I'm a goin' to ti-ap," Sam said and went Ms way. He 

 made the round of his traps and at noon was at camp, 

 where he fomid Antoine returned and getting diimer. 

 Pelatiah soon came in triixmphantly bearing by the gills 

 a huge imcouth fish with a wide mouth, eyes like a pig's, 

 coarse yellowish-brown scales and a roimded caudal fin 

 that looked as if it had been trimmed to match the con- 

 tom- of the thick clumsy tail. Holding up Ms prize at 

 arm's length for them to admire, he said, "Wha' d' ye 

 tMnk o' that for a mornin's work?'' then laying it down 

 tenderly and kneeling before it, "Supper 'n' breafus'! 

 wish I 'd a brung it hmn time er nough for dimier. My 

 maouth is a water in' for a taste on 't. O, 'f I hain't hed 

 fun alive! I was a pokin' 'long the bank over yunder, 'n' 

 I seen a big wake scootin' off, 'n' then I seen him 'baout 

 twenty feet off a moggiu' 'long kinder easy 's 'f he didn't 

 pare a dam for all creation — an' sir, I drawed up 'n' let 



'im hev, ker^bim! an' he rolled tother side up *n lay 

 jUBt as still! 'N' I was a lookin' raound for a pole or 

 sutMn' to claw him tow- ward me, an', sir, ho begin to 

 wriggle an' flop, 'n' I just dropped my gim 'n' in arter 

 him clean up to my crotch, an' sir, by gosh! I got him, 

 an' aint he an ol' soUaker? I wish to gracious," bending 

 over the fish and carressingly arranging the fins, "I wish 

 to gracious I 'd.ha' brmig him time enough; would n't we 

 ha' hed a dinner!" 



' 'You ant wan' be sorry for dat, Peltiet," Antoine said, 

 with suppressed laughter twinkling in his eyes and almost 

 bursting out all over his face, "he be jus' good for dinny 

 nex' week as las' week, prob'ly better. Ah dunno 'f he 

 ant he don' be no wusser, sartin." 



"What kind of a dimimed critter is it, Antwine?" Sam 

 asked, after examining it closely, ' 'I never see no sech a 

 fish!" 



"Feeshl" cried the Canadian, "Dat ting don't feesh! 

 Dat 6oM)-/ms." 



"Whyj Antwine," Pelatiah asked, the happiness fading 

 out of his face, "haint he good to eat?" 



"Heat!" he said with disgust, "Bah gosh! he don't no 

 more good for heat you was! No sah, no more as you 

 boot. Ah dunno what he was be mek for only feel up de 

 water. You was bring heem here for heat? Oh, Peltiet! 

 dat too fun for me!" and he laughed loud and long. 



"Wal," Pelatiah said with a sigh of resignation, as the 

 visions of glory and feasts vanished, "I hed fun a gittin' 

 on him, an' he is a reg'lar ol' sollaker, anyway." 



"Come," said Sam, "le's eat an' be off, an' see 'f we 

 can't git a fish 'at Antwine '11 'prove on — a rand turkle, 

 f'r instance — he eats them riptiles!" 



"Mud turkey!" the Canadian said, stopping half way 

 from the fire to the slab with the smoking frying pan in 

 his left hand and raising his right impressively, "Bah 

 gosh! sell, you give it me mud turkey, Ah show you some 

 80uj)s mek you wish dis worl' was big mud turkey, an' de 

 sky was tip over for one big kittly for bile heem in, an' 

 you was sit on aidge an' heat dem soup wid moon for 

 spoon, more as tousan' year! yes, seh!" 



Then they fell to, and contenting themselves with such 

 fare as they had, were soon ready to set forth. 



Address oR commtmicabiom to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



BIRD MIGRATION. 



THE past year opened with a grand effort to settle the 

 question of bird migration, if there was one. This, 

 to young ambition, seems an easy matter, and tliat one or 

 two years is ample time in which to do it; but my own ex- 

 perience has proved, to one person at least, that annual 

 revision and amendments are necessary, and that at the 

 end of, say, half a century the first reliable conclusion is 

 reached, which is, that nothing definite is concluded; the 

 single fact alone remaining that birds go north in the 

 spring and go south in the autumn, hastened or retarded 

 by causes xmstable as the weather and unreliable through- 

 out. 



If we begin, as we must, to grant latitude of weeks and 

 often months between pioneers and laggards of the same 

 species, the actual scientific character of the work is gone 

 forever, and any particular addition to human knoAvledge 

 has gone w-ith it. While I would be the last to discourage 

 any laudable research, I cannot forbear "freeing my 

 mind" when measures like this come up m rapid succes- 

 sion, promising aU. that is necessary to be known on the 

 subject in hand, but less satisfactory as the improve- 

 ments go on. The reason is too j)lain to be stumbled over 

 as it is done. When a pair of young eyes (or even old 

 ones, as to that matter) are opened to the beauties of 

 natm-e, the view is enchanting, bewildering. But orru- 

 thology is the most fascinating and unsatisfactory of all, 

 because beautiful forms and brilliant colors flash in the 

 sunlight, and, in conti-ast with living green, display 

 charms which no pen can describe, no color truly repre- 

 sent. 



I well remember how I felt on first sight of the 

 Baltimore oriole, although a smaU boy at the time. 

 An older brother called to me, "There's a fire bird in 

 the willows close by." I flew across the garden over 

 flower beds and "tater tops" alike, to where the black and 

 the orange flashed through the green. Talk about de- 

 scribing what I felt and what I saw! Don't attempt it. 

 My first sight of the rose-breasted grosbeak was Hke that, 

 only more so. I was hunting deer in Northern Maine, 

 and so fearful was I that the fairy would vanish that I let 

 drive a charge of buckshot, and the bird came down in 

 fragments with a shower of leaves and cut branches. I 

 gathered and replaced the remains and sat an honv study- 

 ing the shape and the sharp outlines of color presented. 

 The wMte gross beak, the jet black head and neck, the 

 full rose and crimson breast, the white belly, and to cap 

 all, the carmine lining of a gauzy wing, a paint not 

 carried by any other Hving bird. 



Now I doubt not that in the hands of high authority the 

 one hundredth of an inch variation in toe nail or in man- 

 dible would be duly noticed, while the great object above 

 and beyond, that for which the bird was created, would 

 not be reached at all. What to me was microscopic vari- 

 ation common through the great realm of oi'ganic life, 

 when my whole soul was filled with wonder and admir- 

 ation at a combination of beauties, language and color are 

 both powerless to reproduce. 



More times than I can number and too often among my 

 own pupils I have found the student of a month up to 

 the neck in literature, Avriting out a system of ormthology 

 wMch should be "right," and of course "fill a void" and 

 be "satisfactory to all," but natural laws are inflexible 

 and merciless "ephemera" continue and will continue to 

 succeed each other, swept by adverse winds into the pool 

 and forgotten, oMy to be followed by new attempts in 

 the same direction and with the same result. 



If the question is asked, who is responsible for this 

 state of things, we must reply, not one author from the 

 Mghest to the lowest is exempt. The lowest is most ex- 

 cusable, the Mghest most blamable, for not piercing the 

 painted screen where the word science hides from their 

 sight the beautiful fields beyond. What thinking men 

 not chained to a hobby regret is the advantage compilers 

 seem to take of tMs growing desire to reach the beauties 

 of natm-e. They aU promise the same things and all 



reach the same result, iSeven-eighths rehash of old hast 

 with all its impurities, one-sixteenth perhaps true record of 

 experience, the other sixteenth "probabilities." If we 

 are to be treated to a volume on the migration of bii'da 

 and one on nomenclature, all we can say is, spare us. good 

 Lord, this repeated infliction, save us from the avalanche 

 in ijrospect. Look at the yellow-bellied bark-pecker de- 

 scribed by evei-y author of the century — a bird whose 

 life, character and habits were unknoAvn till they ap' 

 peared in the Forest and Stream; also the imperial 

 tluaish. Both survived the researches of science, and at 

 this late day appear literally new birds. 



Blind classification, too, hands down through succes- 

 sive generations errors which should not exist. Do not 

 forget that muskrats eat meat and "j)robably" fish; that 

 the woodchuck has abandoned clover fields for cooked 

 food and human society, eating fish like an otter; and 

 lastly, recently I saw from my window a man launching 

 furiously one member of a large "happy family," a squir- 

 rel that was eating Ms canaries. 



But I have gone astray, let us return to migration of 

 birds. Take the wild goose, which sweeps across the 

 country with astonishing regularity. The pioneers north- 

 ward pass Springfield, Mass. , early in March. I saw a 

 dozen rise from the river at that place the middle of May 

 and wing their way in the same direction. The return 

 commences in November. I was startled one evening by 

 the long mellow honk of geese going south over the city 

 of Bangor, Me., the last week in December, 1845, the ther- 

 mometer at zero, as it had been that whole month. Among 

 smaller birds similar facts meet us. I have knoAra the 

 meadow lark and the golden-winged wood drummer to stay 

 in Springfield till Febraary. I have a jack snipe shot here 

 in January. A dozen towhee buntmgs staid Avith me till 

 February, feeding on some bundles of hemp in an unoc- 

 cupied hen house, bright and lively on the coldest morn- 

 ings, and left only vA^hen the food Avas exhausted. Then 

 again the man who first describes a bij-d, perhaps from 

 sight, perhaps from heresay, is hardly to be credited Avith 

 all that may yet be known of it, to stereotype that page 

 for future and all future reference is not safe proceed- 

 ings. 



Last auturmi, September 25, at North Thetford, on the 

 upper Connecticut, there was a cold rain, and all the 

 summer residents left with it. (The same was reported in 

 Forest and Stream from noi-thern New York.) The 

 river shores were loaded with cherries, grapes and ber- 

 ries, and not a bird remained to feed on them till ex- 

 hausted, as is usual. 



The Avarblers left early in September. I obtained a 

 specimen of the black and yelloAv variety in good con- 

 dition the last week in October. I went up to the spruce 

 belt on Mount Silicon, 2,500ft. above the surrounding 

 country. The spruce bullfinch was "at home" there, un- 

 mistakably the same gentle, imsuspicious character, com- 

 mg near me AAdien sitting doAvn to rest. They were 

 feeding on the spruce buds and crimson berries of the 

 mountain ash, seemingly never so brilhant or abundant. 

 The fact can be no longer doubted that they Avill be found 

 Avherever the spruce belt caps our mountains, and only 

 in Avinter, when the spruce is covered with snoAv, are 

 they driven below that line for food. So that with all 

 science can accomj)lish, exceptions are in their numbers 

 to science appalling, and often shatter an otherAvise fair 

 structm-e. If bu-ds would all start at a given time and 

 pm-sue a giA'en route, something definite might be reached; 

 but when, as at present, inmimerable appai-ently trifling 

 causes make the course of migration devious and wild, 

 accelerate or retard the flight so that it covers weel^s and 

 months, it is the private opimon of one man at least that 

 science has made little progi-ess, and that the addition to 

 human knowledge is indeed microscopic. 



It is in no cynical or unfriendly spirit that I Avrite this. 

 It is only to sustain the position aAvarded to the Foe.est 

 AND Stream as a most invaluable work on natural 

 history, and every way likely to maintain it. To report 

 from the ends of the earth on the migration of birds is 

 just wliat the publication has done, is doing and will con- 

 tinue to do unless they "sell out," a contingency not likely 

 to occur at present. Reapers have had their day and are 

 noAV mostly employed in tangling the gTain that remains. 

 It is, therefore, necessaiy that they give place to gleaners 

 who haA^e at least learned to teU what they knoAv and 

 have seen, and Avisdom to stop when that is done. There 

 is one personal grievance I Avish to lay before the friends 

 of Forest and Stream, although they may not lay it to 

 heart as I do. I am often gratified and instructed bj'" a 

 communication which is half taken away by a signature 

 not found in the directory or Webster's unabridged. Now 

 friends, if you are ashamed of your name and residence I 

 am heartily sorry for you. If you are ashamed of what 

 you AATite, stop Avriting. In any case, for truth's sake let 

 us know who is talking. Facts on record grow as other 

 facts are placed beside them, but dreadfully stunted when 

 the author-ity is Mdden under a cheap umbrella. 



B. HORSFORD. 



Spring riELD, Mass. 



The Hawk Was After a Meal.— Amboy, 111., Aug. 

 23. — I was duck shooting on Aug. 21, and while wading 

 through a slough, started many coots, or mud-hens as 

 they are called here. One Acav high, and a hawk struck 

 him in mid an with such force as to brmg him down as if 

 he had received a charge from a gun. The haAvk made 

 two attempts to secure his game while falling, but my 

 being so close frightened him from his prize. I cannot 

 find the scientific name of the hawk. Do you think this 

 an accident or an attempt to secure food? — P. S. 



Tarantulas are sometimes imported with bananas. A 

 correspondent, C. L. P., writes from New Bedford: "In 

 a car load of bananas that came to this city recently from 

 the Isthmus, I discovered a tarantula on one of the 

 bunches. He was covered with fine, light-broAvn hair, 

 and when his legs were spread out he covered over a space 

 as large as a saucer. He was quite savage, trying to bite 

 a stick held near Mm, and ahvays facing it Avhen moved 

 around him. I captured him and he is now preserved in 

 alcohol." 



A Caribou in the Adirondacks. — The ammal killed 

 near Long Lake in the Adirondacks some months ago and 

 reported to have been an elk, was, we are now told, a 

 caribou, one of two wMch had been kejit in confinement. 

 Its mate died and the caribou Avas turned loose and killed 

 afterward as noted. 



