400 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LNov. 9,, 1805, 



cartridges in his rifle and fired two more shots. This time 

 I got to one side, so did not sustain such a shock. He 

 missed again. I then shot at a small one and killed it. 

 Then I gave my rifle to B.' and he shot at a small ram 

 and killed it dead. He was going to shoot at another, 

 but I told him we had enough, and he took the rifle from 

 his shoulder. As we were not a, great way from camp, 

 our shooting was interesting to C. 



We went ut> to where the big ram had stood when B. 

 shot first. He had over-shot with one barrel, but we 

 could not find where the second shot had struck. We 

 followed the ram's tracks a short distance, but not finding 

 any blood went tor camp, where C. was eager to hear the 

 details of our hunt, and seemed to be as well pleased as 

 we were. I started dinner while B. drove in the horses. 

 After dinner B. and I went and got our sheep. C. 

 thought the ram we brought in had a fine pair of horns, 

 and he asked me how old I thought it was. I told him 

 not over two years. He looked in its mouth and said it 

 was two years old if they had the same mouth the 

 domestic sheep have; , The lamb I killed was fat and good. 



After we had our sheep hung up B. said, "Lew, let's go 

 over on to that ridge m the cone, where you told me we 

 would find elk signs if there were any in the cone." I 

 rode C.'s horse, not wanting the mule to follow. It was 

 only a little over a mile to the top of the ridge. When 

 we got near the summit I showed B. where an elk had 

 gone along but a short time before. This seemed to ex- 

 cite him more than anything he had seen on our trip. 

 We tied our horses and followed on down the ridge 

 toward the Clearwater, and soon I saw an old bull elk 

 lying down, not more than 150yds. from us. I showed it 

 to B., who stood gazing at it for more than a minute 

 without moving. Then he squatted down and whispered 

 to me that he would give $50 if it were not Sunday and 

 C. were with us. I told him to. follow me. I retraced 

 my steps a short distance-and went up on a small mound 

 a little oloser and higher, where by crawling up we had 

 a fair view of the elk, which was chewing its cud. We 

 could tell from the. way his horns shook. It was about a 

 four-point. After satisfying ourselves, we crawled back, 

 returned to the horses and went back to camp, where B. 

 told C. what he bad seen. He thanked both of us for our 

 consideration of him, for I had told B. that if we shot 

 we might not find any on Monday or for a week, and it 

 would make CL feel bad if we killed one and could not 

 find any for him to shoot at.< 



Monday morning bright and early we were up and had 

 our breakfast by the time I could see to find our horses. 

 Then we packed all our game except the forequarters of 

 the young ram, which I hung up out of the way of var- 

 mints, and we were soon Tip into the cane and camped on 

 a small ridge about one mile, from where we had left our 

 elk the day before. We picketed horses, shouldered rifles 

 and started to find an elk; but before we left camp I got 

 the boys to promise that should we find any game they 

 would shoot only one barrel of their rifles at a time, for 

 when they fired both barrels in quick succession the recoil 

 of the rifle threw them clear off. We had been out an 

 hour when I struck the fresh tracks of a cow and calf. I 

 followed very carefully and in less than a mile saw them 

 feeding not iOOyds.. away. I cautioned the boys to take 

 time and not over-shoot; they got ready and both fired 

 almost simultaneously; then they fired the other barrels. 

 The cow fell; the calf ran up over the ridge, B. and I 

 after it, but it got into a fir thicket before B. could put in 

 a shot. We dressed, quartered and hung up our game, 

 and returned to camp feeling fine. The boys were in the 

 best of spirits. 



After dinner we went up on to what the boys thought a 

 high mountain, but when we reached the summit there 

 was another only a short distance which was much 

 higher, and had we gone to the top of that we could have 

 seen the Seven Devils, between the Salmon and Snake 

 rivers, much higher. i , 



We returned to camp tired and hungry, as usual; and 

 that, night we concluded that we would on the morrow 

 return home by way of Mt. Idaho. 



On our way out we saw where several elk had crossed 

 the trail in the night, but the boys had had all the sport 

 they wanted in one outing. 



Such was the disposition of two Englishmen who 

 hunted on Clearwater with Lew Wilmot. 



Andrew was ready with a wad of damp leaves to stop 

 up the hole the minute the tree struck. We thought he 

 had done his work well, until we saw the bees pouring 

 out from one corner, and we kept our distance, but soon 

 it was apparent that the night was too cold for them to 

 fly much, and after leaving them alone for a half hour 

 nearly all had gone back. About fifty were still out, but 

 all huddled together, and these I fixed by slapping a great 

 handful of mud on them and ramming it in the hole. 



You probably know how they do the rest. Guy cut a 

 neat hole just below and put in his sulphur "match," 

 blowing the fumes in from time to time, and then putting 

 a wad of leaves over to keep the fumes in. Then I par- 

 tially unstopped the first hole to give draught to the 

 smoke, while Guy blew it through the mass of bees. In 

 ten minutes the bees were harmless, and Ferguson jumped 

 on top of the tree and neatly cut off a slab, exposing the 

 combs. He cut a little too deep once, and bled the comb 

 in one place by cutting crosswise of the comb, but on the 

 whole it was done in a woodsmanlike manner. I guess 

 there were four bees to one honey, for it was a large 

 "swarm of Italians," but we only found about 61bs. in our 

 pails, after we had eaten all we possibly could. 



Guy knows where two more trees are, and when we 

 cut them I'll let you know how much we get. One thing 

 I noticed about Guy that rather surprised me was 

 that, although a splendid woodsman and hunter, a car- 

 penter, paper hanger, etc. , etc. , a man who can turn his 

 hand to anything, yet when it comes to plugging up a 

 hole in a bee tree he isn't in it at all. He's generally 

 about five rods away, telling you that they won't sting, 

 and "to just smush 'em with your buckskin glove and 

 plug her up." Heathcote. 



Lakk Champlain, Oct. 27. 



MORE ABOUT , BEE HUNTING. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Thursday night we cut a bee tree— one that Guy bad 

 located about a month ago, with only one bee to get his 

 line. He let the bee go four times, and three times it 

 came back, bringing with it its friends and relations to 

 the comb in the bee box. The fourth time it failed to 

 turn up, so Ferguson guessed, and guessed right, that he 

 had gone by the tree. His experience enabled him to find 

 the tree, not many rods from where he let the bee go the 

 last time. Ferguson located his tree, which was about a 

 mile from the place he caught the bee, on sweet-clover 

 blossoms. He never marks a tree, and has no other 

 guide than. his memory, but that is sufficient, and I know 

 he can go to any tree, though there be a dozen of them, 

 anv time, day or night. 



He and Andrew and I went to this tree by lantern-light, 

 Guy leading the way of course. He went almost directly 

 to it. It stood in quite thick timber, on a mountain ridge 

 which has some thousands of acres on it. It was a 15in. 

 oak and perfectly sound at the base. We each took turns 

 swinging the double-bitted axe or "pickerel bait," as Ed. 

 Phelps calls' them. You know Ed. came back from a 

 distant part of the Adirondacks, and told of a pond 

 where the pickerel were so big that the favorite trolling 

 snoon was an ordinary double-bitted axe. The Keene 

 Valley guides invariably speak now of a "pickerel bait" 

 where before they used "double-bitted" in describing the 

 kind of an axe used. 



I managed it so I had the axe when the tree fell, and a 

 terrible crash it made in the echoing woods on that still 

 night. The first feeling I experienced was that of appre- 

 hension lest the owner of those woods would hear too! 

 Conscience, you know, makes cowards of us all. But 

 there was no danger of that, for we were too far back on 

 the mountain. You know, it is rulable here for any one 

 who finds a bee tree to cut it and say nothing about it, no 

 matter who owns the woods, nor how much honey you 

 get out of it, nor how big the tree is, provided it is not so 

 near the owner's house that he would hear you chopping! 

 A while ago some one cut a bee ibree right near Willie 

 Fisher's house. But he's deaf. 



a handy dictionary, and explaining all the terms used in 

 these pages. It is believed that with little trouble the use 

 of this 'map' will smooth away any difficulty arising from 

 the occurrence of some unfamiliar word in the descriptions. 

 A glossary will also be found defining all the terms used." 



The plan of the volume is entirely simple. Following 

 the short preface come the table of contents, list of illus- 

 trations, outline plate of snipe and glossary of technical 

 terms. Then follows introduction, giving a short account 

 Of the family to which this group belongs, after which 

 come the short life histories, from one to three or f our 

 pages in length, each accompanied by its plate and descrip- 

 tion of the species. The work closes with an Appendix, 

 which consists of keys to the families, genera and species 

 which should enable any one to identify any member of 

 the group. There is a full index. 



This volume is especially admirable for its simplicity 

 and directness and for the very high quality of its many- 

 illustrations. These last were done by Mr. Edwin Shep- 

 pard, whose drawings illustrated Baird, Brewer and 

 Ridgway's Birds of North America, Mr. Trumbull's Names 

 and Portraits of Birds and other well-known works. 



Mr. Elliot's volume is entitled to high praise. Like Mr. 

 Trumbull's hook just mentioned, it fills a place hitherto 

 unoccupied, and it cannot fail to have a wide popularity 

 among all men and women who use the shotgun. 



For the accompanying illustration from the book we 

 are indebted to the courtesy of the publisher. 



NORTH AMERICAN SHORE BIRDS. 



Naturalists, sportsmen and bird lovers generally are 

 to be congratulated on the appearance and character of 

 this volume. It is what its author intended it to be, a 

 reference book for all these classes, and certainly no one 

 is more competent to prepare such a referepce book than 

 he. - 



Mr. Elliot's attainments in all three of these capacities 

 are well known, and while most of his works have been 

 of a more technically scientific character than the volume 

 before us, yet he has written a great number of papers 

 which were purely for sportsmen, and treat in a popular 

 and pleasing way of the open air life among the birds which 

 they love so well. Readers of Forest and Stream who 

 are acquainted with his pseudonym will recall many 

 charming accounts of wildfowl shooting from his pen, as 

 well as his recent interesting and valuable paper on the 

 Wild Turkeys. Well known in science as president of 

 the American Ornithologists' Union, Mr. Elliot's name is 

 known also among wildfowlers as long the president of 

 the Narrows Island Club, of North Carolina, one of the 

 most successful ducking clubs of our Southern seaboard. 



The title-page of this latest work gives in succinct 

 phrase its contents: "North American Shore Birds: a 

 History of the Snipes, Sandpipers, Plovers and their Allies 

 inhabiting the beaches and marshes of the Atlantic and 

 Pacific Coasts, the prairies and the shores of the inland 

 lakes and rivers of the North American Continent; their 

 popular and scientific names, together with a full descrip- 

 tion of their mode of life, nesting, migration and disper- 

 sions, with descriptions of the summer and winter 

 plumages of adults and young, so that each species may 

 be readily identified. A Reference Book for the Naturalist, 

 Sportsman and Lover of Birds, by Daniel Giraud Elliot, 

 F. R. S. E., etc., Ex President American Ornithologists, 

 Union, Curator of Zoology in the Field Columbian 

 Museum, Chicago; Author of "Birds of North 

 America."Illustrated Monographs of Ant Thrushes, 

 Grouse, Pheasants, Birds of Paradise, Hornbills, 

 Cats, etc. With seventy-four plates." This gives 

 a clear enough idea of what the volume contains, 

 yet falls short of doing it justice. 



Mr. Elliot's purpose being to make a book which 

 should be for the sportsman and bird lover rather 

 than for the naturalist, he has written his descrip- 

 tions so that they shall be plain and easily com- 

 prehended. This he has done not by using words 

 of one syllable, nor by writing the long and in- 

 volved sentences which would be required with 

 each description to explain what is meant by such 

 technical terms as primaries, axillars, lores and 

 so on, but by giving in the first pages of the 

 volume a large outline figure of a snipe on which 

 every space and every group of feathers which 

 has a technical name are plainly marked with 

 that name. No matter how unfamiliar he may 

 be with the names used in describing a bird's 

 plumage, the reader who goes over one or two 

 of the descriptions with this diagram before him 

 will at once learn the signification of these terms, 

 which will thereafter have no terrors for him. 

 On this point Mr. Elliot in his Preface says: 



"To the various portions of a bird's plumage 

 certain names have been applied by ornithologists 

 which to the non-scientific mind may savor of 

 pedantry. Some of these, however, I have found 

 it necessary to use, and although they may be 

 unfamiliar to the general reader, yet I believe 

 they will be as readily understood as any substi- 

 tute would be, though couched in apparently 

 simpler language. Thus, the long stiff feathers 

 of the wing, instead of being described by that 

 sentence, are called primaries, the ornithological 

 term, because they are the first or most important, 

 and without which no bird could rise and sustain 

 itself in the air. They are sometimes called 

 'flight feathers,' but this term carries with it no 

 clearer definition to the layman than 'primaries,' 

 and consequently attains the desired result of 

 simplicity or clearness no better. 



"The long sentence given above is, of course, 

 impossible, objectionable in two ways— the space it occu- 

 pies and the weariness that would arise from its constant 

 repetition. In order, therefore, to render clear any term 

 referring to, or describing any portion of, a bird's plu- 

 mage, a 'map' of a bird is given, and every part indicated, 

 with the »ame it bears, clearly portrayed, thus serving as 



NATURAL HISTORY AT ATLANTA. 



The exhibit of the U. S. National Museum in the Gov- 

 ernment Building at Atlanta is intended, in the language 

 of the catalogue, to convey to the mind an impression 

 similar to that received by visiting the Smithsonian build- 

 ings in Washington. 



Most of the objects exhibited are from the collections 

 of the U. S. Museum, and are so arranged as to give a 

 good idea of the character of the treasures therein pre- 

 served, besides illustrating the methods by which ani- 

 mals are studied, classified, arranged, labeled and dis- 

 played in a great museum. 



The first department represented is that of mammals. 

 Here the various types of mankind are shown either by 

 figures or portraits, the bright costumes of some of the 

 figures being very striking. Twelve of the most charac- 

 teristic types of the human species are thus shown. 

 Groups of Rocky Mountain sheep, Rocky Mountain goats, 

 prairie wolves, armadillo and American badgers are also 

 exhibited. 



Next in order are the birds, of which six cases are ex- 

 hibited. Five of the six cases contain groups, by far the 

 most instructive and attractive way to show these sub- 

 jects. First are the bower birds, fitted up with a play- 

 house such as they construct in their native wilds 

 in Australia. The bower is constructed of long twigs T 

 brought together above and below, forming a cylindrical 

 rHinway. This is decorated with bright feathers, shells, 

 bones, buttons— when they can steal them from the 

 natives— and other subjects. 



' The second group represents the lyre bird and its curi- 

 ous dancing mound. The third group is that of the 

 American flamingoes, showing the construction of nest 

 and the manner in which the bird sits upon the eggs. 

 This is a very showy group. Next are the long and 

 slender-toed jacanas from Mexico, whose peculiar habit of 

 walking upon the broad-leaved aquatic plants is here' illus- 

 trated. 



The fifth group, "The Interrupted Dinner," appeals 

 strongly to the mind of every lover of the gun. A red- 

 tailed hawk in the act of feasting upon a recently caught 

 grouse is suddenly set upon by a goshawk, and is 

 mounted with claws in air trying to keep the marauder 

 away. 



The last case of birds contains a fine collection of the 



KILDEKR PLOVER. 



From Elliot's " North. American Shore Birds." 



birds of paradise from New Guinea. About thirty kinds 

 of these birds, so remarkable for beauty of plumage, are 

 shown. Some of the specimens are very valuable, and 

 the exhibit, though not bo large, is well worth going to 

 see. 



The snakes are represented by such well-known friends 



