Nov. 9, 1895.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



401 



as diamond rattler, banded rattler, prairie rattler, copper- 

 head, harlequin snake and water moccasin. The poison- 

 ous snakes of the United States thus brought together in 

 a group make an interesting exhibit. 



Next are shown representatives of seventy-two families 

 of American fishes. These are preserved in alcohol and 

 exhibited in flat-surfaced jars. 



Next we come to the department of anatomy, where in- 

 teresting structural developments of various animals are 

 to be seen. By the use of specimens and models some of 

 the internal secrets concerning the development of em- 

 bryo, skeleton modifications, etc., are to be seen at a 

 a glance. For instance, under modification of the skele- 

 ton for locomotion is shown the kangaroo, the ape, the 

 sloth and the dude (mentioned in the order of their 

 value). 



Among the marine invertebrates are to be seen many 

 pretty objects, both dried and in alcohol. 



The department of mollusks exhibits a case of showy 

 Bhells, and must not be overlooked. 



A very fine exhibit of insects is made, the popular por- 

 tion being eight frames of beautiful Lepidoptera and 

 Coleoptera (butterflies, moths and beetles), gathered from 

 the four quarters of the globe. 



Passing on, we come to the fossils; next the geological 

 exhibits; then the minerals, and on to the ethnological. 

 Here we see many things of interest pertaining to the 

 life of the sons of the great American forests and plains. 



That the Smithsonian and National Museum exhibits at 

 Atlanta will instruct the people drawn to it by its attrac- 

 tiveness cannot for a moment be doubted; the educational 

 values of great museums cannot be computed, and the 

 unstinted evidences of hearty appreciation of the Gov- 

 ernment display by the President of the United States 

 and the members of his cabinet during the recent visit to 

 the Atlanta Exposition was fully merited. 



B. A. Bean. 



THE VELVET OF THE ANTLER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your issue of the 24th inst. Mr. Tenner says it is evi- 

 dent that I have not had opportunity to observe the habits 

 of deer or I would not deny the well-known fact that deer 

 get rid of the velvet on their horns by rubbing them on 

 young trees. As to my chances of observation, I have 

 killed deer since the winter of 1854, and have been in the 

 mountains continuously since the 10th of June, 1860. So 

 on that score I believe I have had good opportunities. 

 From Mr. Tenner's statement I am led to believe he thinks 

 the velvety covering on the deer's horns during their 

 growth is fast to the horn, which it is not. The horn is 

 covered with skin and that skin is covered with fine hair. 

 Now, while the horn is growing to break that skin makes 

 a scar on the horn, and the deer are very careful about 

 hurting their horns at this period. When the horn gets 

 ripe, or has attained its natural growth, this skin bursts 

 open and comes off in strips. I have killed bucks which 

 had strips 8 or lOin. long hanging to their horns. 



For quite a while before the horns begin to peel they 

 attain their growth, and no blood circulates in any part 

 of them. 



Here the horns of some are now beginning to peel, yet 

 I have killed them as late as Oct. 5 with velvet on parts i 

 of their horns and they had begun to horn brush. I have 

 never been able to find where a deer has horned the brush 

 until about the time the bucks separate in the fall, and 

 the horns are ripe and mostly pulled before that takes 

 place. 



Now, Brother Belknap, I want you to keep your eye on 

 the gun and when you go up into the glades around 

 Camas Prairie this fall to kill a buck while he is in the short 

 blue; I want you to observe how early you find where 

 one has horned the brush, for I am going to send Forest 

 and Stream some of the skin with a little velvet on from 

 the horns of the blue buck I killed last Labor Day with 

 my .22, and I am going to try to send a horn with the 

 ripe velvet on. 



I send with this a little of the skin covered velvet from 

 horns that I got last Labor Day; they were too ripe to 

 show good. I hope to be able to secure a pair of horns 

 this fall that will show them partly peeled. 



Lew Wilmot. 



[The belief that deer rid their horns of the velvet by 

 rubbing them against young trees and bushes is certainly 

 very general, and is confirmed by the books on natural 

 history. Mr. "Wilmot, we fear, has undertaken a large con- 

 tract if he expects to prove a negative. It is not unusual 

 to see deer and elk "shaking," as it is sometimes called, 

 at the very time that the velvet is peeling. We have 

 often seen elk "shaking" in the Rocky Mountains in the 

 very first days of September, and at that time of the year 

 have killed bulls that still had patches of velvet clinging 

 to the antlers near the base, and at the same time had this 

 rough base filled with finely crushed pieces of green bark 

 and leaves. On the other hand it is altogether probable 

 that deer fight bushes long after the velvet has disap- 

 peared, acting when- doing this just as they do when rub- 

 bing off the velvet. Domestic and wild animals often do 

 this, sometimes apparently in play and sometimes to 

 scratch the head and neck. We have seen this done by 

 domestic cattle and by buffalo. We should be glad to 

 receive from our readers all over the country facts bearing 

 on this question with regard to all species of deer.] 



Bluebirds and Robins in Colorado. 



Denver, Col., Oct. 27. — Mr. W. R. Gorman, of Paschal, 

 Ga., inquires through Forest and Stream of Oct. 19 

 about the bluebird. I don't know whether a report from 

 this section of the country will interest him or not, but 

 suppose it will do no harm. 



Bluebirds arrived here from the South last spring, 

 March 2. They were throughout the city in great num- 

 bers for a few days until they ate up the ivy berries, and 

 then they gradually thinned out, scattering throughout 

 the country. I think about the average number nested 

 in town. Many nest in the mountains up to an altitude 

 where frost is frequent all through the summer. In the 

 fall they did not assemble in such great numbers in town 

 as usual, probably because food was so exceedingly plenti- 

 ful all over the country. The season was unusually fruit- 

 ful. Last year bluebirds appeared Feb. 16, robins ten or 

 twelve days later. This year robins came March 5. Both 

 birds differ somewhat from those of the Eastern States, 

 and I think in their migration they follow the mountain 

 chains southward into Mexico. William N. Byers, 



Woman, Fashion and Plumes. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Will you kindly allow a woman to say a word in de- 

 fense of her sex? In your issue of Oct. 5 you publish an 

 article by E. Hough, How little he knows the sex he 

 traduces. Because there are a few women who, through 

 ignorance, insist upon having choice plumes, the whole 

 sex is scored; at least those who have the wealth to satisfy 

 their whims. Oh, Mr. Hough, how little you know the 

 warm heart that beats under the sealskin as well as under 

 the $2 jacket. I think you have never been sick and 

 alone among strangers. 



In my thoughtless youth I wore a part of the bird of 

 paradise in my hat. But when I was informed that the 

 beautiful bird was sacrificed for the few feathers I used 

 ostrich feathers instead, as I was assured, that they would 

 be dropped later by the bird if they were not cut in their 

 prime. I think nearly all women have kind hearts, and 

 could Mr. Hough's article be disseminated through the 

 land, no real woman would wear the plumes and the 

 species would not become extinct. But oh, Mr. Hough, 

 you who are so tender and gentle in your searches into 

 nature's heart, and who can listen to the song of the 

 mouse and interpret it to us with such entrancing word- 

 music, I pray you, teach us a little less roughly and give 

 us credit for some heart. 



Another thing, Mr. Hough, although I do not deny that 

 women like to be admired (so does the other sex), still I 

 do not think the extremes of fashion are intended for the 

 opposite sex so much as for their own; and where one 

 woman is a slave to fashion thousands are giving the best 

 that is in them to promote the health and happiness of 

 their families and their fellow-men. Mater. 



Another Grouse Incident. 



CantOn, Pa., Oct. 31.— Curious incidents that happen 

 while hunting ruffed grouse are common, but perhaps the 

 following may be of interest to some of your readers. 

 Last October, while grouse shooting on a hill south 

 of and overlooking the village of Canton, Pa., I flushed 

 and fired at a large bird which went off in a direct line 

 toward the village, though intervening bushes prevented 

 my marking his flight for any great distance. In the 

 afternoon a gentleman in town told me that his brother- 

 in-law, while at work on the south side of his house, on the 

 lawn which faces the hill where I was shooting, was 

 startled by a large grouse which flew against the side of 

 the house and fell dead. I inquired the time and it cor- 

 responded almost exactly with the time I had shot at the 

 grouse on the hill three-fourths of a mile away and about 

 400ft. above the village. I could not ascertain whether 

 the bird had any shot marks or not. Probably it was the 

 same bird at which I fired — at least the coincidence was 

 curious. Grouse are very plenty this fall in this vicinity, 

 but quail were never so scarce in my recollection. 



J. W. P. 



Prairie Chickens in Confinement. 



i Toledo, O.— Friend Ames's letter in this week's Forest 

 and Stream reminds me that within a few days I have 

 learned of a "plant" in this State where it is reported that 

 the rearing of prairie chickens in confinement is carried 

 on with success on quite a large scale. I am looking the 

 matter up, and hope to be able to give the facts in the 

 case to Forest and Stream before long. There is nothing 

 improbable about the story, if the man in charge has the 

 requisite skill and knowledge, and both these birds and 

 quail ought to be reared about as easily as barnyard 

 chickens. The man who had the care of the birds Mr. 

 Ames saw must have been a very dismal failure. 



Jay Beebe. 



An Editor who Hied. 



Our silence for the last two weeks we must attribute to 

 the fact that our junior has taken a lay-off and we were 

 compelled to hie ourself to the bad lands to secure our usual 

 supply of venison for the winter. We were also fortunate 

 enough to secure a few wolf hides. The bounty on the 

 latter will enable us to purchase paper, ink and other 

 material necessary to run a newspaper with. Our tat- 

 tered garments float humiliating but boldly out to the 

 breezes, and the gentle zephyrs glide stealthily through 

 our whiskers, but we will be in it all the same. — Sandusky 

 Miner and Prospector. 



The Iiinnsean Society of New York. 



A regular meeting of the Linneean Society will be 

 held at the American Museum of Natural History, Sev- 

 enty-seventh street and Eighth avenue, on Tuesday even- 

 ing, Nov. 26, at 8 o'clock. A paper will be read by Mr. 

 Frank M. Chapman, "Remarks on Birds Collected in 

 Greenland by the Peary Expedition." 



Walter W. Granger, Sec'y, 

 American Museum of Natural History. 



Soon or Early? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I notice in the South a very general substitution of the 

 word "soon" for "early." Where a New England resi- 

 dent would say he got up early in the morning, the gen- 

 tleman of Dixie would remark that he got up soon. Or, 

 to perfect the paraphrase: The "early bird" catches the 

 worm, but the "sooner dog" takes the rabbit. Would 

 this be correct? C. H. 



American Ornithologists' Union. 



Portland, Conn., Oct. 18. — The thirteenth congress of 

 the American Ornithologists' Union will convene in 

 Washington on Monday, Nov. 11, at 8 o'clock P. M. 



The public meetings will be held at the U. S. National 

 Museum, commencing Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 11 o'clock 

 A. M. M John H. Sage, Sec'y. 



Game Laws in Brief. 



Thk Game Laws in Brief, current edition, sold everywhere, has 

 new game and fish laws for more than thirty of the States. It covers 

 the entire country, is carefully prepared, and gives all that shooters 

 and anglers require. ± See advertisement. 



J?#£ met 0nn. 



WHEN THE SEASON OPENS. 



The dog days of 1895 are a thina: of the past and the 

 days of the rabbit have arrived. The odor of the damp, 

 decaying leaves of the oaks and the maples is as incense 

 to the nostrils of the hunter who is fond of the cry of a 

 hound in pursuit of a rabbit. The season when bunny 

 can be hunted legally is always looked forward to in no 

 uncertain spirit by a large number of devotees of the dog 

 and gun. 



Love of sport in some shape or other is really inherent 

 in us all, did we but know it Sanaa have different ideas 

 of it from others, it is true, but it's there, all the same. 

 The man on his $400 hunter who follows a pack of hounds 

 that is driving a Kentucky red for all he is worth, or who 

 is galloping over the springy turf of Ex moor after a war- 

 rantable stag, is worthy of the name of sportsman. The 

 man who risks his limbs and expends mu'-h wind in his 

 efforts to circumvent the wily goat of the Rockies or the 

 agile chamois of the Alps; the man who, gun in hand, 

 clambers up the boulder-covered slopes of the Alleghenies 

 and reckons himself fortunate to come home with his 

 body whole and a solitary ruffed grouse in his pocket, and 

 all others who seek their game in the forest or on the 

 field, these men all exhibit the love of sport cropping out 

 in some sort or other. 



We don't have it all alike. As is the case with measles 

 or chicken pox, some take it more severely than others. 

 Why then should the man, who with his gun, shells and 

 little yellow dog sallies forth to force mild-visaged. rab- 

 bits to their own undoing, be looked upon as less worthy 

 of the name of sportsman than those who fly at bigger 

 game? 



Have you ever been rabbit hunting on Long Island? 



And if you have, did you ever leave New York city 

 during the afternoon or evening hours of Oct. 31 via the 

 L. I. R. R ? 



The open season for hunting rabbits on Long Island 

 commences Nov. 1, and the exodus from New York dur- 

 ing the hours mentioned above is worth witnessing. 

 Thirty-fourth street ferry and James Slip both deliver a 

 varied assortment of hunters, doers of all kinds, guns and 

 demijohns, at the Long Island City depot of the L. I. R. 

 R. No one portion of the island appears to be more 

 favored than another; main line or branches, it's all the 

 same, the baggage cars are turned into temporary ken- 

 nels for dogs, whose duty it will be on the morrow to 

 drive the cotton-tail from hi8 form and to send him 

 round the wood so that the man with the gun can have 

 a chance at him. 



Illustrations in the English sporting papers have made 

 us familiar with the exodus to the North that takes place 

 in London on the eve of the opening of the season on 

 grouse. The dogs that appear in those illustrations are all 

 high-toned setters or pointers (comparatively few of the 

 latter), and all of them are led by porters in the uniform 

 of railroad employees. Gun cases and other hand bag- 

 gage strew the platform and make it hard work for the 

 porter to lead his charges to the place set apart for the 

 canine passengers. 



But here in New York we have a latter-day exodus that 

 has many different features from those portriyed in the 

 above-mentioned illustrations, although the general ob- 

 ject — sport — is the same in both cases. 



Take Oct. 31 of this year, for instance. Rain, after a 

 long-continued dry spell, was coming down in torrents. 

 The "sidewalks of New York" were running with a muddy 

 stream that made things under foot decidedly unpleasant. 

 They were slushy, to say the least of it; the man or 

 woman who had to walk found that out very quickly. 

 Yet through it all, and cheerfully too, came by ones, twos 

 or threes, men with guns over their shoulders, and with 

 a dog or dogs in tow. What did they care for the rain! 

 The wet weather of to-day would make the scenting just 

 so much the better on the morrow. With good luck they 

 might not have to buy a single rabbit on their way home 

 to save their reputations as nimrods, a thing that had hap- 

 pened on more than one occasion previously. 



On the ferryboats the aspect of affiirs changed. 

 Friends greeted friends while their talk was all on the one 

 theme — rabbits and how this or that dog was "the best 

 you ever saw." Men with two dogs and with guns in fine 

 cases looked down with a soupgon of contempt upon the 

 man with a single animal and nis gun encased in stout 

 wrapping paper, little thinking how, on the return trip, 

 the tables might with justice be turned. 



In the waiting room there was a little moreexcitempnt; 

 two dogs had disagreed and their respective owners were 

 likely to do so too. Another man, whose gun and grip 

 bothered him somewhat, found that he had a big contract 

 on hand with two excitable dogs, each attached to him by 

 separate chains; one tugged him forward while the other 

 pulled him just as forcibly to the rear. A sportsman who 

 tripped over the leading dog added a few words to the 

 general conversation. It was a spirited ecene. 



Just as a main line train was ready to leave, a stout 

 man, whose sole baggage was a gun in a brand-new can- 

 vas case and a shawl strap that held a bundle evidently 

 composed of three bottles of something that was to be 

 used in case snakes were met with, ran up to the ticket 



office and asked for a ticket to . Where was his 



pocketbook? Ach! What had he with the dollar bills 

 done? His friends, who had been waiting for him, urged 

 him to hurry up; he. did so, but not a cent of money could 

 he find. At the sound of "All aboard!'' one paid for his 

 ticket, another seized his bundle (they all seemed very 

 anxious about that), and together they ran for the train. 



With such an excellent service to all parts of the island, 

 the departure of the hunters was not so noticeable as it 

 otherwise would have been had there been only a few 

 trains at their disposal. Still there was lots of fun, and 

 a couple of hours, say between 5 and 7 P. M., any Oct. 

 31. could be spent very pleasantly in the Long Island City 

 depot of the L. I. R. R., watching the departure of rabbit 

 hunters who claim this city of New York as their home. 

 Our illustrations will convey some idea of what may be 

 seen during those two hours; 



North Carolina Deer and Bear Country. 



New Berne, N. C, Nov. 1,— Deer and bears are very 

 abundant near here at the Fine Lakes, at White Oak 

 River, atRichlands, on the Quaker Bridge Road, and at 

 Brown Sound, Bucks, run up to 1351bs, dressed, C. H 



