March 23, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



168 



THE WlLLET (SyMPHEMIA SEMIPALMATA) ALIGHTING ON 



Trees.— While collecting in the vicinity of Charlotte 

 Harbor, Florida, in the winter of 1883-84, I was surprised 

 to see the willet, or semipalinated tattler alight on trees. 

 Although willets were common at many places visited 

 on the coast between Cedar Keys and Puiita Rassa, I no- 

 ticed this habit in only one locality, which was near a 

 small creek extending a' short distance into the mainland 

 6pposite Gasparilla Island. This creek was navigable 

 for a small boat nearly its entire length at high tide, but 

 at low it was merely mud flats. The ftees near the creek 

 were scattering pines, several of which were dead, with 

 only a few limbs remaining. The willets were abundant 

 along the creek, and when any number were started 

 from the flats one or more were almost certain to alight 

 in the dead trees. One tree, situated on the edge of the 

 flats with the top broken off about twenty feet from the 

 ground, was the most frequently chosen. In nearly every 

 instance the birds would alight on the lowest limb or 

 stub, and on several occasions I saw two on the same 

 bough. For a few moments after alighting they would 

 keep their wings elevated and extended, as if to aid in 

 getting a balance on the perch. I do not remember of 

 seeing this habit mentioned in any of our works on orni- 

 thology, excepting in the far North, where most of our 

 shore birds breed.— John C. Cahoon. 



Wolves and the Tonkaways. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream: If "N. A. T." will consult back files of Harper's 

 Magazine, I think he will find an illustrated article in 

 which is given a wolf dance of the Tonka ways. As I 

 recall it, the Tonkaways believed that the first Tonk was 

 discovered and dug up by wolves; so to commemorate it 

 they privately buried a man in the medicine lodge floor 

 and a group* of Tonks disguised as wolves loped around for 

 a while, and finally, amid impressive ceremonies, resur- 

 rected him, a sort of reversal of the "laying the corner- 

 stone' 7 business. One of the illustrations represented the 

 new-dug man as being gravely shaken, pawed by a set 

 of wolfish individuals with long noses. Such a legend 

 would account for any unusual reverence or familiarity 

 Jwith the tribe hqms on the part of the Tonka ways.— John 

 Treston True (Boston). 



'mm j§ag mid §>utj. 



AMrm all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



Every person who is sufficiently interested in the National 

 Park to do his share toward securing protection for it, is in- 

 Inted to send for one of the Forest and Stream's petition 

 blanks. They are sent free. 



THE PARK PETITIONS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am greatly in favor of the bill that is now before Congress, In 

 regard to the protection of the Yellowstone Park. Please send 

 me some of your blanks and forms of resolutions, and I will see 

 how many names I can got outside of our own club. If I cannot 

 ever enjoy the pleasure of the Park, I hope I can aid in its pro- 

 tection for my fellow-sportsmen, as well as others. 



S. S. Hbdbpoiil, Sec'y. 



Jolly Hunting and Fishing Club, Creighton, Pa. 



MAINE LARGE GAME. 



"DECENT reports from the Maine lake regions indicate 

 JlV a vast body of snow. The late storm, which was so 

 severe in New York and in southern New England, was 

 of less importance in the Maine woods, though there was 

 a fall of heavy snow, which continued over three days, 

 Contrary to the usual plan of the weather in that part of 

 the country at this time of the year, the storm was not 

 followed by a freeze. Hence there is little chance that a 

 crust w T as formed sufficiently strong for moo.^e and deer 

 j crusting. This is as it should be, but the deer have yet a 

 month of danger. The snow is very deep in the woods 

 | of that State. There was from three to f our feet before 

 | the last storm, but this did. not increase it a great deal. 

 The threats and boasts are numerous from nearly all the 

 Maine backwoods sections that the deer will be "crusted." 

 The Commissioners have no money with which to enforce 

 the law. The wardens cannot work without pay. and 

 the laot Legislature provided that the fines for breaking 

 the game laws t-hall go to the counties, instead of the 

 wardens who do the work. The result is that there is 

 not a game warden in Maine who is putting any soul into 

 the enforcing of the game laws. One or two are work- 

 ing, but such are receiving some special incentive or pay 

 from persons deeply interested in the preservation of the 

 game. 



The lumbermen have generally about completed their 

 contracts, and they are getting out of the woods. They 

 do not like to be at their work later than the 20th of 

 March, for at that time and later there is much danger of 

 such thaws as will almost cut them off from civilization, 

 by raining their winter roads and breaking up the ice in 

 the lakes and streams. Many of these lumbermen claim 



I that the moose and deer have not been molested by then- 

 men this winter. Their tracks have been numerous; the 

 location of their yards have been known, but generally 

 the bosses have given orders to their men that the deer 

 be let alone. This is doubtless true in the cases of the 

 lumber bosses who make the assertion, but there are 

 many more yet to be heard from. Indeed, if law break- 



. ing has been done no more than these lumber contrac'ors 

 are willing to admit, it is plain that the deer and moose 

 have been left to increase. But alas for human nature! 

 Men will tell lies. It is a great pity that gangs of men 

 should be at work within such easy reaching distance of 

 the moose and deer during the time when they are en- 

 tirely helpless from the deep snows, but it cannot be 

 helped. Still there is growing a better feeling, even 

 among the lumbermen, in the direction of letting the 

 deer alone during the seasons of deep snows. In some 

 cases this winter strict orders have been given by the 

 contractors to their men not to molest the deer. Would 

 that as much could be said of every case. 



Mr. Jonathan Darling, of Nicatous Lake, claims that a 

 good deal of crusting deer is being done in his section 

 this winter. He also says that the lumbermen are slaugh- 

 tering them. In one case he visited a lumber camp him- 

 self. In the cook camp the cook was boiling something 



DESIGN OF AUDUBON MONUMENT. 



See notice of proposed Audubon monument in our ed- 

 itorial columns. The monument will be 20ft. in height. 



in a big kettle over the stove. Mr. Darling, removing 

 the lid, asked the cook if he did not know that he (Dar- 

 ling) was a game w r arden? The cook answered, with an 

 oath, that he did not care if he w r as. The pot contained 

 all the ingredients for a venison stew. Mr. Darling does 

 not want the lumbermen to kill the deer, but he is in 

 favor of allowing the hunting of them with dogs, by the 

 sportsmen who visit his camps at Nicatous Lake. He 

 will not admit that there is danger of dogging the deer 

 all out of the country. He excuses the unsportsmanlike 

 and cruel method of driving deer to the water with dogs, 

 there to be clubbed to death by sportsmen who haven't 

 the skill to still-hunt them — he excuses this brutal sport 

 with the plea that the deer cannot be got in any other 

 manner. He asks other sportsmen to mention the num- 

 ber of deer that have been killed in the Maine woods 

 without dogs. He asks this with the assurance that he 

 can show that it is next to impossible to still-hunt deer in 

 those woods. 



Well, it can be said in reply that the number of deer 

 shot by the only true sportsman's method, still-hunting, 

 in the Maine woods during the past two years is numer- 

 ous. But they were still- hunted in parts of that State 

 where dog hunting is not tolerated. I have a record of 

 three or four in the season of 1887 before the close time. 

 Are the deer so wild in the Nicatous region that they 

 cannot be still-hunted? Ex-Governor Connor, of Maine, 

 formerly had a record of having still-hunted his deer 

 every fall and that too, though very lame — almost a 

 cripple. Maine is suffering to-day rather from the non- 

 enforcement of her game laws than from any fault that 

 Mr. Darling can find in them. It is only to be hoped that 

 nature will favor the deer this season by not providing 

 the crusts and that the Legislature of that State will, by 

 the time another crusting season comes around, have 

 provided the means for so thoroughly enforcing the law 

 that both the crusters and dog hunters may be brought to 

 justice. Special. 



COUNTY GAME LAWS. 



AUBURN GUN CLUB, Auburn, N. Y., March 18.— 

 Editor Forest and Stream: In a recent issue of your 

 valuable paper you speak editorially of the advisability of 

 the New York State Association for the Protection of Fish 

 and Game changing its name to that of some trap-shoot- 

 ing association. Your suggestion is a good one, and I 

 think it would be well for the convention to consider the 

 matter. 



However, if all the clubs in New York State, and 

 especially those who are members of the State Association, 

 would take the action that the Auburn Gtm Club has 

 taken there would be no need of your suggestion. At a 

 recent meeting of the cluh it was passed by a majority of 

 the members of the club present that a committee be 

 appointed to secure the passage of a law that wouid affect 

 the county and prohibit the killing of game for market. 

 At a special meeting of the board of supervisors of the 

 county of Cayuga, held Feb. 7, a law was passed to pro- 

 hibit killing or exposing for sale any partridge, grouse, 

 quail, rabbit, gray squirrel, mud hen or woodcock, and 

 making it a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprison- 

 ment, one half of the fine to go to the Auburn Gun Club. 



If a law could be passed similar to this in every county 

 in the State it is reasonable to suppose the shooting would 

 improve and those concerned in securing the passage of 

 such laws would earn well merited praise. 



Charles E. Kerr, Sec. 



A CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. 



MY friend Mud left on the train last night, for Sand- 

 ford, at the invitation of Fred Pusher, for a trial at 

 the birds which are said to abound on Deep River, in the 

 northern part of the county of Moore. During a recent 

 hunt in Chatham Fred was victorious over Mud; and our 

 hero thinking it was only an accident, not depending 

 upon superior skill on the part of his antagonist, indicat ed 

 his desire for another encounter. For this reason Fred, 

 at the suggestion of others, and not out of malice or even 

 a laudable desire for triumph, was induced to send a 

 challenge. Mud is the owner, and has been for years, of 

 a 16-bore Scott Premier, which, so far, he has not suc- 

 ceeded either in swapping or selling, however nearly he 

 may have approached it, and by neglect the gtm has be- 

 come very unsightly on the inside. He says that it does 

 not shoot hard enough, and in consequence of that defect 

 he often wounds but fails to bag his game. He alleges 

 that this was the cause of his defeat in the late contest. 

 This time he took a Lefever 16-bore hammerless, some- 

 what choked, and felicitates himself that, thus armed, 

 'he can make Fred yield the banner. Perhaps so. But 

 Mud has not become fully acquainted with the hammer- 

 less manipulation, and sometimes forgets whether the 

 gun is safe, when the sign stares him in the face, or when 

 it does not. At Georgetown, S. C, not long ago, while 

 he sat cramped up in what the boy Hux called the starn 

 of the boat, waiting for ducks, contending that his gun 

 could not be fired when he could not see the letters indi- 

 cating safety, he pulled the trigger in entire confidence. 

 But the gun did shoot, discharging the contents in the 

 marsh. So soon as he put in a fresh shell he shoved the 

 button forward, having forgotten what his experience 

 should have impressed upon his mind, and pulling the 

 trigger, wasted another load. Now he may, for aught I 

 know, have the gun safe when the birds rise, and not 

 shoot at all, and thus become so completely demoralized 

 that he cannot hit a hogshead from a rest. 



In anticipation of the contest, Mud says that his nerves 

 have become unstrung, and he has slept badly ever since 

 he determined upon the trip. So I am apprehensive that 

 when he returns wit h his tail feathers all bedraggled and 

 torn, he will ascribe his discomfiture either to his nerves 

 or to his hammerless gun. If to the latter, then we shall 

 probably hear at an ea-dy day of another gun swap. 



Our season is now nearly over. I do not know that I 

 shall hunt again. The birds now "get up and get" in a 

 hurry, and a man who expects to kill has no time "to 

 swap knives" after they take to flight. Despite the fact 

 that many of them have been killed, there will be an 

 abundance left to fill the fields when the middle of Octo- 

 ber ©omes. Wells. 

 Rockingham, 1ST. C, March, 18&S. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



The present winter has been a very hard one for the 

 deer in the Adirondack region, for the deep snow and 

 heavy crust has made it next to impossible for them to 

 travel any distance in search of food. There is a heavy 

 penalty for killing deer on the crust or in their yards, but 

 it is difficult for the game protectors to get around in the 

 woods in the winter, and the result is that immense num- 

 bers of deer have been slaughtered by the pot-hunters. 

 For two or three winters past not so much of this kind of 

 killing was reported as had been the case in years before, 

 but this winter, if reports are true, the law-breakers are 

 disposing of the deer at a very rapid ral e. I learn that 

 lumbermen hailing from the. vicinity of Glendale have 

 killed the deer in one or more yards in the wilderness 

 east of that town. It also stated on the best of authority 

 that the middle of last month a party of a dozen or more 

 men from Piseco completely cleaned out a deer yard at 

 the foot of the Upper Stillwater, on the east branch of 

 the West Canada Creek, above Pine Lake. A very plain 

 trail led from the scene of the slaughter eastward to the 

 head of Piseco Lake, and persons who ran across it and 

 followed it a short distance found the heads of twenty 

 or twenty-five deer lying about on the snow. The deer 

 had been butchered, their heads cut off and their car- 

 casses dragged on the snow to Piseco Lake by the trail 

 alluded to. The law-breakers were very careless and 

 evidently expected that a heavy snow storm would cover 

 up all traces of their villainy before they were discovered. 

 The men engaged in the slaughter did not make any pre- 

 tense at discrimination, but killed old and young, does 

 and bucks alike. The pot-hunters wore snowshoes, and 

 their trail was easily followed, and had there been a game 

 protector in that part of the country it would have been 

 an easy matter to have caught some one of the offenders. 

 It seems as if the people living in that part of the woods 

 might be content with having driven the speckled trout 

 out of Piseco Lake by stocking it with pickerel without 

 making such strenuous efforts to exterminate what few 

 deer remain in that locality. * 

 Utica, N. Y., March 7. 



About Sights. —Editor Forest and Stream: In your 

 issue of March 1, Mr. W. D. Zimmerman says that in my 

 communication in your issue of Feb. 23, 1 fell into a some- 

 what singular error. He is right; and it happened in this 

 way: In your issue of Feb. 9 there is an interesting article 

 from Mr. Zimmerman, and just preceding it is one of 

 interest from Col. Cecil Clay. The blank space between 

 the two articles is so small that in glancing at the page 

 to get the author's name I thought the article of Col. 

 Clay on "The Hunting Rifle" was Mr. Zimmerman's. I 

 now wish to amend by saying, "That Col. Cecil Clay 

 should prefer Capt. Clay's peep sight to the Lyman is to 

 me a little queer."— -Dynamite (Hillsdale, Mich.). 



Benton Harbor, Mich., March 1.— The Berrien 

 County Sportsman's Club, organized Jan. 27, met on 

 March 7 and elected officers for the coming year: H. W. 

 Ray, President; James R. Clarke, First Vice President; C. 

 Colby, Sr., Second Vice-President; Geo. B. Thayer, 

 Secretary and Treasurer. The objects of this organiza- 

 tion are to render all possible aid to the deputy game and 

 fish wardens of this county in the enforcement of the 

 laws of the State; to aid in the introduction and propaga- 

 tion of game birds and fish in our fields, forests and 

 waters, and the formation of a local shooting club with 

 the view of improvement in the art of fishing and shoot- 

 ing for our enjoyment.— -Geo. B. Thayer. 



