242 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



t April 19, 1888. 



THE ROCK CLIMBERS. 

 XVI.— VISITORS TO THE GAMP. 



"VTERY few men have their powers of observation 

 " trained in more than one direction. Even those who 

 live in the wilds, keen-eyed though they are and quick to 

 detect whatever is of interest in the particular calling 

 which they follow, miss a great deal of what goes on 

 about them. The practiced hunter is ever on the watch 

 for game, but he does not see the fossils in the rocks over 

 which he follows his prey. The packer is intent on his 

 animals and their loads, and notices at once the bad 

 places in the trail over which he has to pass, but he does 

 not see the game unless it is immediately before him. 

 The trapper has his eye always on the ground or the 

 water looking for beaver sign, and is blind to almost 

 everything else. The senses of each one of these have 

 been developed in one particuUr direction. He has 

 become in a sense a specialist. 



The man who goes into the mountains for the first 

 time sees but a small portion of what goes on about him, 

 and a long training is required before he learns to use his 

 eyes. It is not unusual to hear those who are new to the 

 plains and mountains remark upon the absence of life in 

 these uninhabited regions. The silence of the forest 

 depresses them, and they miss the bird songs, which are 

 such a feature of our Eastern country life in summer. 

 This only means that they do not know how and where 

 to look for the birds and the mammals. They are there. 

 Even in the narrow valley where the Eock Climbers were 

 camped, walled in as it is with mountains whose ribs of 

 rock are bound together by bands of everlasting ice, and 

 whose summits are white with perpetual snow, there 

 were birds, and beautiful ones, and some of them came 

 close about camp. 



The day after the ascent of the glacier, Jack and Appe- 

 kunny, starting at daylight with their saddles and bridles 

 on their backs, crossed the head of the lake, caught two 

 horses, and went up stream to climb the mountain and 

 bring down the meat of the sheep. They tried to pass 

 around the north side of the lake just below the glacier, 

 but the way was so rough and rocky that they were 

 obliged to abandon their horses and to perform half the 

 journey on foot. Reaching the base of the precipice, 

 they climbed it and reached the place where the sheep 

 lay. They then, with great labor, brought it to the sum- 

 mit of the cliff, and lowering it down from shelf to shelf 

 by means of ropes which they had provided, at length 

 got it to the lake shore, and then carried it on their backs 

 to the horses, which packed it into camp. It was a 

 long and hard day's work, however, and when they 

 reached camp that night they were thoroughly ex- 

 hausted. 



Yo, whose note book was somewhat behindhand, and 

 who wished to bring it up to date, determined to remain 

 in camp, ah*d after finishing his task, to search with his 

 glass for the huge male goat seen two or three days 

 before, and, if it could be discovered, to climb the moun- 

 tain and try to secure it. He wrote for several hours, 

 and then taking his glass and rifle and going out to the 

 edge of the snowslide, swept the mountain long and care- 

 fully, but was unable to find a single goat. Somewhat 

 discouraged, he returned to the fire and resumed his 

 writing. 



There was a good deal that was delightful in his soli- 

 tary day, even though nothing very exciting happened 

 and no blood at all was spilled. The forest, which to the 

 casual traveler seems so silent and so destitute of life, 

 was not without its sounds and its inhabitants, w r ho made 

 themselves very much at home about camp. Early in 

 the morning a friendly little water ouzel came feeding 

 along the shore, and after he had finished his breakfast 

 perched himself on a drift stick which ran out into the 

 water, and sat there for hours practicing the thrush-like 

 song with which next spring he was to charm his mate 

 and lighten her labors all through the long summer days. 

 He was a young bird, . but his song, though low, was 

 sweetly musical. And he tried it over and over again, 

 stopping whenever he made a mistake and beginning 



• anew, with a patience and a perseverance that was most 

 admirable. He seemed a very humble bit of life as he 

 stood there clad in Quaker gray, and hardly to be dis- 



; tinguished from the stones of the beach about him; but 

 no one could help admiring the little fellow, or being 

 delighted by his liquid notes, which the surrounding 

 silence made only more sweet. 



On one of the trees hung the shoulders of the sheep, 

 and these, shining red against the dark green, soon at- 

 tracted the notice of a vagrant family of gray jays which, 

 bike a troop of devil-may-care marauders, were skylark- 

 ing among the pines. What amusing rascals these meat- 

 hawks are. They are incomparably impudent, and their 

 daring compels your admiration. If they happened to 

 care for it they would have no hesitation in trying to 

 steal the nose off your face. Perhaps they could succeed 

 in doing it, who knows. At all events they would make 

 a bold effort for it. To use an expressive Western phrase 

 "they would steal the cross off a mule" — if they took a 

 fancy to it. A gray jay has no hesitation in alighting 

 within three feet af your face and winking at you in a 

 rakish rollicking way as much as to say, "Don't you wish 



you could catch me?" He will stand on the legs of a deer 

 which is hanging in a tree while you are skinning it, and 

 will dart down to the ground after every little bit of meat 

 or fat that drops from your knife. Sometimes two or three 

 will stand about your feet, almost like hens about a per- 

 son who is feeding them. You can entice them almost 

 up to your hand by judiciously tossing bits of meat to 

 them, making each one fall a little nearer you than the 

 last. 



And yet they understand very well how to take care 

 of themselves, do the gray jays. Talk about catch- 

 ing a weasel asleep, why a weasel is a fool to a gray jay! 

 They watch you suspiciously with their keen black eyes, 

 always on the alert, ever ready to taie flight to avoid a 

 snare. Treat them as generously as you please, they will 

 not trust you. They have borrowed their motto from 

 theMantuan bard, and each one of them lives up to it most 

 religiously, and thinks, if he does not say, Timeo Danaos, 

 et dona f event es. Still they plunge down on to your 

 meat or close to your fire with an audacious flirt, which 

 makes you feel that the camp really belongs to them and 

 that you are only an intruder and ought, if you have any 

 modesty about you at all, to withdraw and take yourself 

 off into the timber. Then there is a flirt of wings and 

 tail, a sort of experimental trial of the limbs to see that 

 they are in good working order in case they should be 

 suddenly called on to use them. The next thing is to raise 

 themselves to full height as if standing on tiptoe to get a 

 good look on all sides. A couple of hops bring them to 

 the coveted morsel. If it is not too large they cany it 

 off bodily to a neighboring branch, and then holding it 

 under one foot, hammer and tear it until it is so divided 

 that it can be swallowed, but if it is a large piece of meat 

 they tear off bits and strips until they have a good beakful, 

 and then fly to a safe distance to eat it, returning almost 

 immediately for more. They sometimes cling and hang to 

 a piece of meat like titmice, up side down. Usually only 

 one will be present at a time, and the moment he leaves his 

 position, another takes his place. If two should happen 

 to alight together, the younger almost immediately re- 

 tiree, for the other holds himself very straight indeed, 

 slightly erects the feathers of his head and utters a low 

 flute-like whistle, which seems to be a note of warning, 

 and is almost always respected. They are not satisfied 

 with taking what they want to eat, not at all. After 

 they have satisfied their appetites, they continue to come 

 and plunder, carrying off then- booty and laying up in 

 secret storehouses that they have far up above the earth, 

 where it will be safe from the depredations of any but 

 feathered thieves. More on this point will be told else- 

 where. 



But though the gray jays do not fear mortal man, there 

 is one of their own kinsfolk that they hold in high re- 

 spect, and for whom they at once make way. As Yo 

 sat there with his back against a tree and with his open 

 book on his knee lazily watching the robber brood, a dark 

 shape flashed across an opening in the spruces and a mo- 

 ment later a superb Steller's jay alighted in a small tree 

 which overlooked the camp, erected his long crest, looked 

 about him for an instant, and then hopping from one 

 branch to another, ascended to the topmost spray, where 

 he hung for an instant, swinging backward and forward 

 on the slender twig. Then he darted down and lit upon 

 the meat, and after another glance around him, to see 

 that all was safe, attacked it vigorously, sinking his sharp 

 bill into the tender flesh at every stroke. He was a fine 

 fellow, beautiful in color and shape, with dark blue 

 wings and tail and a smoky-brown body and head, a long 

 crest and light blue dots on his forehead; trim, graceful, 

 alert and quick in all his motions. He remained but a 

 little while about the camp, and then dashed away into 

 the forest. Perhaps there was something about the mo- 

 tionless figure that sat within five or six feet of him 

 that aroused his suspicions, or perhaps he was merely 

 too restless to stay long in one place, and .having taken a 

 bite or two, felt he must make explorations in some other 

 direction. At all events he went, and the camp saw him 

 no more at that time, though later in the day he or an- 

 other of his family returned, took a few bites of the meat 

 and then hurried off as if called by pressing business. 

 The gray jays came back again when the coast was clear, 

 and so persistently did they attack the meat, that Yo 

 finally drove them off and threw a coat over it to pro- 

 tect it. 



There were other birds about the camp, and the jays, 

 though the most conspicuous by their size and their bold- 

 ness, could not monopolize the attention of the watcher. 

 The modest little juncos, birds bike the black snowbird of 

 the East, now and then crept out of the forest, and ad- 

 vancing by cautious hops to the neighborhood of the fire, 

 feasted on the bread crumbs that had been dropped on 

 the ground. Feasted and almost fought, for, though they 

 seem the most timid and shrinking little creatures you 

 can imagine, they have a spirit of their own, and when 

 one had found a choice bit of bread, and was picking it 

 to pieces, he allowed no one of his companions to come 

 very near to him. An approach was promptly met by a 

 threatened attack, and the claimant of the bread, with 

 grimly lowered head and bristling feathers, prepared to 

 defend his rights. They never quite came to blows, 

 I though once or twice war seemed imminent, for the 



individual threatened declined to be bullied, and promptly 

 threw himself into a defensive position; but after eyeing 

 each other fiercely for a few seconds one or the other- 

 would take a little hop to one side, and then the other 

 would move off, and presently the ruffled feathers would 

 bo smoothed down mid peace would once more resume 

 her sway. 



Sometimes, from far back in the wood, there would be 

 heard dull tappings and drummings, which told that the 

 carpenters among birds were about, and after a while 

 one of these dashed into camp, and alighting near the 

 top of an old dead stub, stood there for a while as if wait- 

 ing to be admired. He was handsome enough to be 

 looked at, with his glossy black back relieved by white 

 shoulder knots and his satin-bound cap of red. A jolly 

 fellow, as energetic as could be while at work, but with 

 a liking for frequent intervals of rest. He would hammer 

 away at the wood as if his life depended on it, making 

 the chips fly this way and that, but when he had secured 

 the grub that his keen ear told him was concealed there, 

 and had swallowed it, he would sit quite still for some 

 moments as if meditating on its excellent flavor. A 

 sudden movement of the gray jays, which still loitered 

 about in the hope of being able to steal something more, 

 would sometimes alarm this gentleman, and cause him 

 to dodge round to the other side of the stub with a little 

 shriek of alarm, but he would at once peer out from be- 

 hind it again, and finding that his fears were groundless, 

 would go to work again. 



Two rather distant cousins of his also made their 

 appearance. Banded three-toed woodpeckers they were, 

 somewhat more modestly clad in black and white, with 

 yellow silken caps. They worked more on the trunks of 

 the higher trees, and their larger limbs, corkscrewing 

 about them and pecking away in a modest fashion as if 

 anxious to escape observation. One of them ensconced 

 himself in a hollow in the back of a great spruce, and 

 staid there for a long time, taking a siesta, it was con- 

 jectured, before starting out for his evening meal. 



Once in a while there would be heard far back in the 

 forest a tremendous row — shouts of fury, screams of pas- 

 sion and volleys of oaths and bad language, as if two 

 ruffians had had a falling out and were abusing each 

 other with all their might, but the listener was not 

 greatly disturbed, for he knew that the racket only indi- 

 cated that something had occurred to ruffle the temper 

 — always somewhat uncertain — of a little pine squirrel , 

 who was now railing against fate with all the power of 

 his small lungs. 



The day passed thus in quiet fashion, and Yo sat about 

 the camp and welcomed the visitors that came to it. 

 Once or twice he went out to the snowslide and looked 

 at the mountains, but the great goat whose head and hide 

 he longed for could not be seen. It was not worth while 

 to climb the hills to kill another small one, for they 

 already had quite as much meat as they were likely to 

 use for some time, and the mere killing of an animal is 

 not sport. 



On one of his walks to the snowslide he met two 

 Franklin's grouse, pretty dainty little birds quite igno- 

 rant of fear. He looked at them and they at him for 

 some time, and at length one of them flew up into the 

 low branches of a spruce and ruffling up its feathers 

 and cuddling down, seemed disposed to take a nap. Yo 

 was tempted to try whether it would not be possible to 

 accomplish with this bird what he had seen done in Can- 

 ada with its close relative the spruce grouse. Those 

 birds are so gentle and unsuspicious that they may be 

 caught by means of a noose tied to the end of a pole 

 eight or ten feet long. The noose is slipped over the 

 bird's head as it sits on a limb and it is dragged from its 

 perch to its captor's hand. He even got out a bit of twine 

 from his pocket, made a loop in it and looked about for 

 a pole, but before he had completed his preparations he 

 thought better of it, and gave over the attempt. There 

 was really so much that was appealing in the perfect 

 trust and innocence of the little creature that sat sleepily 

 there above him, that he had not the heart to disturb it, 

 much less to compass its destruction. 



All through the afternoon the sky had been overcast, 

 and the weather looked threatenirig. The peaks about 

 the glacier were hidden in clouds, and it seemed to be 

 snowing at the head of the valley. A storm was brewing. 

 As it grew later Yo made excursions into the timber and 

 brought into camp a plentiful supply of wood, for he felt 

 sure that when the men returned they would not feel 

 much like "rustling." By and by he made a fire and 

 began preparations for supper, getting everything ready 

 so that ten minutes' work would suffice to "put the meal 

 on the table." 



It was almost dark when the tired men came in, and 

 by the time their packs and saddles were taken off and 

 the horses turned across the lake, supper was ready. 



Yo. 



House Bill 271, introduced by Mr. Stranahan in the 

 General Assembly of Ohio, provides a machinery for the 

 enforcement of game and fish laws in Ohio which appears 

 to be excellent. If its provisions be intelligently carried 

 out. it should be productive of a great deal of good. 



