March 8, 1888. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



123 



aUery howling, and between howls endeavoring to chew 

 b something, this latter feat he successfully accoin- 

 fiab.es later in the day to the infinite disgust of Mrs. 

 aridson, as her dancing pumps will need patching be- 

 ne the season's gaieties are under way. We are off, 

 pe down the hill, ford the "creek by the house," and 

 iinfully the horses tug us up the steep hill on the 

 jJ&Bite side. With visions of a former balk in this same 

 at before us, two of us lighten their load by jumping 

 £» When the top is reached we bowl along' at quite a 

 •eiy gait over the lovely level greensward for a mile or 

 ore. We open the gate and pass through the wire 

 •i .the horse pasture, and a little further George and I 

 #,ve the hack and strike it afoot across lots for the ground 

 •6 are to begin on. The boys are lost to sight over the 

 til beyond. We have not gone far before we hear them 

 mging away, and wo know that they have run into 

 a#il by the roadside. They tell us that night that after 

 jpfiated hangings (which we heard and were much bless- 

 ig our hard luck oven seven birds were brought to bag, 

 good beginning for the day, 



After trudging through the heavily dew-laden grass, 

 ij.I should judge a mile, we strike the little creek, and 



* iter waiting awhile for the boys to reach their grounds, 

 e start down stream, George taking one bank, I the 

 fter. Little Nip hunts close to me this morning and 

 Ml not too much ambition to tire either of us, but old 

 ob is chuck full of his usual store of vim and go and 

 ,kes in every inch of the ground for 300 yards on either 

 de of the ravine. Ahead four woodducks in radiant 

 Ititnage spring into the air, out of shot, and dart down 

 le creek ahead of us. I sing out to George that we will 

 itthem next time, and such proves to be the fact, as later 

 il make two (though I do say it) most extraordinary 

 lots, stopping a duck each time with No. 8s, as I get but 

 snap-shot a good way off with only a shadow of the 

 ^ijs vanishing through the scrub oak's. 



Hns warm work for us and warmer for the dogs, but 

 J. they make a break for the water and take a good swim 

 f$ry little while, they are able to do fair work. We 

 far an occasional shot from the boys coming down the 

 be, and are not idle ourselves, as we have made good 

 lies in two coveys that old Bob has found, and which 

 hve been carefully worked out after scattering by Mis- 



Fine noonday sun is hot over head and we must be near- 

 ly the forks where Ed and Brooks promised to wait for 

 1 they i et there first, wben suddenly Miss Nippy 

 lall awake. For some time she had not taken much 

 ■.erest in the proceedings, but now, what ails the dog? 



ith nose up she is quartering the ground at a rapid gait 

 lim the water's edge to the prairie edge of the post oaks. 

 |ir here the ground is quite rough and covered with small 

 forns, just the spot for turkeys. Suddenlv she stops, 

 idecided which way to turn, and before I have time to 

 11 out for George, up gets a big turkey from a bunch of 

 ■een tangle on the hillside, fifty yards ahead. I sud- 

 mly realize that I have only three-quarters of an ounce 

 No. S in my little lC-bore and curse my luck. The 

 rkey flies straight for the cover along the creek ahead, 

 d as he crosses in front of me, I pull on him well to the 

 mt and have the satisfaction of seeing him drop all of 

 leap. I shout my good luck to George across the ravine 

 d tell Nip to fetch, but as the turkey is thrashing 

 [xund at a great rate, she can't get hold of him until 

 d Bob takes a hand, and proudly half drags and hall 

 rries the bird to me. Miss Nippy flunks she has done 

 and says so as plainly as a dog can, which is plain 

 ougli for me. She shakes herself, jumps up on me, and 

 yes vent to several loud yawns, or youws, I now 

 lagine that the other boys must have gotten a flock of 

 rkeys scattered at the forks and this one was skulking 

 er here, so I am on the lookout for more. After cau- 

 sing George I send Old Bob down into the creek bed, 

 d at once up jumps a big fellow before he had time to 

 >p, out of my reach, but goes directly over George not 

 •enty feet high, but Mr. George has disregarded my 

 ation and is sitting down with his gun between his 

 ?s, lighting his pipe. He tumbles over, bangs his gun, 

 i A never touches him, though he swears feathers flew 

 the second shot. We all of us do this on principle, 

 d no one can contradict the assertion. After talking 

 e matter over, we concluded that this bird had gone 

 ross the river and there was no use following him at 

 esent. 



Expecting to meet the boys and not knowing whether 

 ey had gone to the ranch or were still above us, we sat 

 wn on the banks where the two streams joined and 

 T aU.ed developments, first to wait for the boys to join 

 ir , and next we wished to see if any turkeys would call. 

 » iter sitting in this way about twenty minutes and not 

 arlng anything, I took up a turkey call and gave a few 

 » Ips. Nothing was heard, but the silence of the prairie 

 i! Ck of us and the woodlands ahead. Again it was 

 lj peated with like results, and about discouraged, after 

 n uting a few moments I tried it again, when away off 



# the other banks of the stream I heard a yelp in re- 

 e inse. Soon I had them cabing all around me, and they 

 I aned to be coming in my direction, when with a bow- 

 ls >w^wow, the dogs gave notice of the approach of some 

 a e through the sumac, and sure enough there was 

 !? orty sent from the house on horseback to hunt us up. 

 « e others had come in and had had their dinner and 

 « <re waiting for us at the ranch to finish the day's hunt 

 t« another direction. Of course the dogs' barking had 

 i osrfeTed with the turkey calling. We got Shorty off 

 il art his horse, and all quieted down, and waiting a little 

 t ule soon had the turkeys calling again, but the oppo- 

 iion from an old gobbler on the other side that could 

 ill louder than myself, made the flock, instead of join- 

 !r5i e! J oin hirn ' and majestically move over the hill in 

 i«i distance. 



liVe crossed over, and Shorty on Ms pony circled around 

 lahead of them and succeeded in getting them scat- 

 riled. Wben they are frightened this way and skulking, 

 afir he to a dog like a quail, and it is fine sport to hunt 

 l^m over points. But about four out of six I always 

 oIjSB, because I get so excited that the birds seem bigger 

 mm all outdoors, and where my shot goes I do not know. 



Proved to be the case to-day and three or four good 

 ml its were missed. However, among us we secured 

 iil"ee turkeys, and sent Fred back for the boys to come 

 !l on the other side of the stream and hunt along its 

 #aks, as we were certain turkeys would be found there, 

 jlifey joined us an hour afterward, but with poor success. 



teorge and I were walking along the back of the river 

 ■eouraged, and giving up all hope of finding anv more, 



when suddenly I looked down below us and saw Old Bob | were of course wolves, and I perceive that thev had no 

 as stiff as a rock pointing toward an old clump of leaves I trouble in making these new and valuable friends ] 

 jus t beyond me. . Calling out to George to watch out, presume that Adam's sons were the first who tamed and 

 tnat there was a turkey there to a dead certainty, I started trained the wolf; furthermore, I fudge that Ninirod that, 



— rkey t 



toward hirn when up .rose a gobbler of huge proportion*, 

 and started directly over the river. Our guns both 

 cracked at the same time and he tumbled over, striking 

 in mid stream. Bob was told to fetch him and he swam 

 out to him and took hold with a vim, but with the 

 turkey's floundering and flopping and the weight of the 

 bird, and the running water, the chances were very 

 much in favor of the dog's being d row ned unless he let 

 go of the bird. Under and over they went. Every time 

 he would attempt to raise him, the turkey would flop in 

 Ids death struggles and sink the dog out of sight. Miss 

 Nippy stood on the baiik whining, and recognizing her 

 companion's trouble plunged in and swam to him and 

 and took hold of the bird's wing, and side by side they 

 swam to the shore. 



This ended the day's sport as far as we were concerned, 

 and we were very well satisfied, having had a long 

 tramp, and a very comfortable bag. 



The other, however, got into a, very large covey of 

 quail, and we heard them banging away like a Fourth of 

 July fusilade, and of course thought they would Come in 

 with a bag full, but it seems their marksmanship was 

 poor, and when counting the birds at night we found that 

 George and I had discounted the others. 



A funny thing happened to the party on the other side 

 of the river this afternoon. As they were riding along 

 with guns loaded with Hue shot, not ten feet ahead of 

 Brook's horse, up jumped a fine deer, and without stand- 

 ing on ceremony bounded over the prairie and disap- 

 peared. No one thought of shooting, but all of them 

 wished they had had buckshot or a rifle or something of 

 the sort. After much talk and hilarity on the subject 

 they moved ahead, but had not gone inore than thirty 

 feet when the performance was repeated, a deer jumping 

 out from under the nose of the Doctor's horse, and going 

 away with the same freedom as the other. This hap- 

 pened to us several times while we were at the ranch, hut 

 we were never prepared for them and did not have any 

 luck. 



The only way to do is to make a business of hunting 

 deer and nothing else; then you will have your rifle 

 ready and not be bothered with fine shot, when once 

 within shooting distance. 



Each day's hunt was only a repetition of the one just 

 described. The City Official rather beat us on elegant 

 and artistic shots, but in the bottom lands it was so hot 

 the clogs cotdd not work well, and the quail were sure to 

 pitch into some miserable tangle where it was impossible 

 to get more than one or two shots at them, and we finally 

 concluded, after shooting three or four days, that we had 

 had enough of the quail. 



We had expressed a desire to more closely examine a 

 turkey buzzard. We knew it was against the law to kill 

 one, but we were anxious to know more about them, and 

 finally concluded that we would kill just one in the in- 

 terest of science, though we did not break the law as the 

 sequel will show. Going home one afternon from a long 

 jaunt down the Cimarron, we noticedjabove us a long and 

 continuous flight of these black noiseless birds, sailing 

 one after another in the same direction. George cracked 

 away at one of them and I did also, but somehow or other 

 it seemed to have no effect upon them, for they really 

 must have been a long way off, but in this clear atmo- 

 sphere a bird of ordinary size will look very near when 

 really it is out of gunshot. The City Official picked up 

 my 16-bore with the remark that he would show them 

 how it was done and pulled on one that was sailing over- 

 head. It doubled up like a jack-knife and fell near us. 

 Of course we supposed it was a dead bird and gingerly 

 pulled out three or four of the large symmetrical quills 

 from the wing and examined the bird, and where about 

 to throw it one side as a dirty piece of rubbish, when with- 

 out a word of warning it suddenly gave a flop aud sailed 

 off, seemingly as well as ever. It was like the Irishman's 

 toad, "Be jabbers, but you would be a fine bird had I not 

 shot your feathers off." 



We had a hearty laugh over this incident and congrat- 

 ulated ourselves that we had gained the information 

 desired and not broken any law. 



We reached the ranch that night in good spirits, having 

 had an excellent day's jaunt, and we were ready for the 

 homeward journey on the morrow. The boys concluded 

 that it was best to divide up the party, and after packing 

 up our baggage, each being supplied from the generosity 

 of Shorty with a box holding half a peck or so of the 

 nicest pecans any one ever tasted, we prepared to say 

 "good-bye" to this pleasant spot. Wm. B. Mershon. 



Secretaries o f gun clubs and others who are interested in the 

 protection of the Yellowstone National Park are invited to co- 

 operate with this journal by securing signatures to the petition 

 printed elsewhere. See instructions on editorial page. 



THE WAYS OF WOLVES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When a litter of suckling wolves is discovered by the 

 hunter, they receive him with no more concern than if 

 they were dog pups. They can be handled and tickled 

 at will, and they will not snarl nor try to bite. Like dog 

 pups, their breath has a peculiar smell, as if they had 

 been eating mild onions. When they are old enough to 

 frisk around the bed, they show a little amazement at 

 the hunter's approach, but are not vicious. The spirit of 

 fight seems not to come to them till the male parent has 

 led them out on a hunting excursion and taught them a 

 few valuable lessons. Then when the hunter would 

 handle them he must be cautious, as they growl and snap 

 very viciously. 



But vicious as they are at first, it is remarkable how 

 readily they yield to kindness. When they learn that 

 the hunter wishes to be their friend, they surrender their 

 whole heart, and will meet him more than half way. 

 They will love him just as any other young dog will, and 

 he can have a rough-and-tumble play with them as with 

 young dogs. So far as I can observe, their temper is 

 altogether as amiable as that of the young dog. They 

 learn their names just as readily, and are as brisk in re- 

 sponding to the call-off. The first dogs of our ancestors 



,,hty hunter before the Lord, randy went afield with- 

 out a pack of tamed wolves at his heels. 



It is observed that most dogs have a strong fondness for 

 the social warmth of a tire; the hound particularly being 

 so fond of it that he will sometimes lie down by a fire on 

 the hottest days of summer, seeming to en joy its warmth 

 very much The tamed wolf has the sauie'fond ness; so 

 much so that it will lie your constant fire-side companion 

 if you will let him. If you will build a fire in your yard, 

 ten to one he will go and toast his shins by it all' a summer 

 day; and I fancy that this singular fondness for the 

 sociable fire was a powerful charm in leading him to the 

 companionship of man. He would not have it in the 

 society of wolves alone, and therefore when be got a taste 

 of it it is not remarkable tint he had no more taste for the 

 society of wolves. When a wolf -is tamed you cannot 

 drive hmi off from you. The wild wolves' may howl 

 never so lonely near him, but he simply seems to have a 

 SCprn of them and their ways. Lie seems to turn up his 

 nose at t hem as the slaves of the rich planters of the South 

 used to turn up their noses at the "poor white trash." 

 Having found what he thinks is belter, he can by no 

 means lie tempted to leave it. He is a picture of great 

 contentment, 



Nor do I think it would be clifficult to tame the grown 

 wolf. The cowboys of Texas sometimes ride them down 

 and catch them with their lariats, and when they are not 

 immediately killed by these rough riders, but kept a 

 little while and treated with some kindness, they become 

 quite docile, permitting any one to stroke them gently 

 about the head. But I have never known a serious 

 effort to tame the fully grown wolf. 



I never knew but one tamed wolf to project the long 

 howl, and he seemed to do it solely out of a spirit of mis- 

 chief making. He was a frequent companion of some 

 ladies on their walks, and in some way he learned that 

 lie could give them a great but 1 armless scare by hou 1- 

 lng. Therefore, every now and then at a favorable 

 opportunity he would let fly, and when the ladies 

 squeaked and screamed he would appear to burst almost 

 with the fun of the thing. This wolf grew eo fond of 

 this experiment that he seemed to watch out for passing 

 ladies, and would hide himself near their way in order to 

 give them a most unexpected and startling salute. But 

 as to this latter part I report it from hearsay, the person 

 who gave it firmly believing it. 



They have some very evil ways in their taming which 

 sometimes demand severe an l repeated correction with 

 a switch. They are exceedingly fond of poultry, and 

 wdl soon destroy an entire hen roost if not watched. 

 They also show great cunning in stealing a hen. For 

 instance, they have been known, when supplied with a 

 piece of bread, to go off with it to a secluded place in the 

 yard, where they will crouch flat on the belly with the 

 forefeet stretched out before them. They will then 

 crunch the bread so as to have a great many crumbs lying 

 quite near the mouth and all around it. A chicken will 

 soon be attracted, which, when observing, the wolf will 

 shut his eyes and appear to fall in profound sleep. How- 

 ever, he never was so wide awake, The foolish chicken 

 draws nearer and nearer to the fatal mouth;. Suddenlv 

 the wolf seizes it and kills it before it has time to squeal 

 To devour it, feathers and all, is but. the work of a mo- 

 ment. It is hard to whip this chicken-stealing propensity 

 out of the wolf, and some people become tired of them 

 on this account and kill them. An old farmer, living a 

 mile or two from where I write this, had a pack of seven 

 tamed wolves, with which he considered himself the 

 greatest man of the country, being a great hunter; but 

 as each wolf must have a chicken nearly every dav, th • 

 women of his family finally took offense and caused 

 them all to be killed. They have the same weakness as 

 to ducks and turkeys, but will not kill pigs and sheep, as 

 wild wolves do. 



The wolf may be set upon other animals like the dog, 

 but he sets out to kill, and will most surelv do so if let 

 alone. The dog is content to seize a hog by the ear and 

 hold linn, but the tamed wolf will take by the throat and 

 kill. They make excellent deer dogs, rapid in pursuit 

 and of great endurance, but when thev catch the deer 

 they will eat him if the hunter comes not up very soon. 

 But dogs must be taken with them on the chase, as they 

 give no mouth, and their pursuit is silent and swift like 

 the arrow. Therefore, without the noisv hound the hunter 

 would soon be utterly lost from his pack. An old hunter 

 who has practiced them much assures me that their scent 

 is keen and unerring, but when the game is once in sight 

 they abandon the nose and depend entirely on the eye. 

 The dog follows straight after the flying game, always 

 on its track; the wolf once in sight, heeds not the track, 

 but shoots ahead by the shortest route possible. For this 

 reason, when the dog and wolf hunt together, the wolf is 

 quite sure to get there first. 



In old days there lived in Texas a numerous tribe of 

 red men called Tonkaways, now reduced to a handful 

 living on a strip of land reserved for them by the Go* em- 

 inent in the Indian Territory. It is common report in 

 Texas that there was a close friendship between t'-iese 

 red men and the wild wolf, so much so that the wolf 

 freely entered the camp of the Tonks and sat down with 

 them at the social board. This pleasant relationship con- 

 tinued, as is said, up to the last moment of the residence 

 of the Tonks in Texas, which occurred only a few years 

 ago. Here in this country where I write, the Tonks 

 lived many years, and the tale is more heard here than 

 elsewhere. Yet I have seen no person who could testify 

 personally to the fact, though fully believed by mnny. 

 Perhaps some of the army officers in" the Indian Territory 

 will inquire of the few remaining Tonks concerning this 

 strange tale, and give us the result of the inquiry. I 

 hope so. As for nryself, from my knowledge of both the 

 red man and the wolf, I do not regard it as an absurd 

 tale, or unreasonable. N, A. T. 



Texas. 



Coming of the Birds.— Salem, Mass,, Feb. 29.— Blue- 

 birds (S. sialic) have been here for over a week, though 

 the past forty-eight hours' cold wave must make them 

 feel decidedly blue. Cherry birds (A. eedrorum) are found 

 in flocks now, aud the "puBsy" willows started smart last 

 week. Specimens of the great horned, barred and 

 Acadian owls have recently been shot, and a few quail 

 are surviving up to date. Robins seen frequently in our 

 pastures, but not yet in city limits.— X. Y. Z. 



