Sept. 3, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



123 



The river ran between high banks, which completely 

 concealed it from the hunter, as quite oblivious of the 

 trap into which he was running, or of the fact that his 

 garments, rent by the boughs in his reckless ride, streamed 

 out like pennants in his rear, he still spurred on, keeping 

 "time to his horse's tramp with the clash of his whirling 

 chain. 



The other horseman, close upon his track, shouted to 

 him to change his course, while I waved my hat and 

 yelled, and pelted oh in the vain hope to cut him off, but 

 all without avail. 



Up the last slope went wolf, hounds and horseman, only 

 to find too late that it terminated in a bluff some 20ft. in 

 height, beneath which swirled the cold current of the 

 Stream in a deep, dark pool. 



So hot was the chase that not for an instant could the 

 quarry pause. Over he went, and after Mm followed 

 hounds and horseman, whose cries were stifled in an in- 

 stant by the waves; and as, a moment later, I came upon 

 the scene, the horse Avas swimming for the further shore 

 with Eliduc clinging to his mane, while white tusks 

 clashed in the crimsoned foam, where hounds and wolf 

 went down. A bullet from the rifle of one of the hunters 

 ended the struggles of the wolf, which had already been 

 wounded by the first shot I had heard, or the chaseniight 

 have terminated less successfully. As it was his was the 

 only life lost on this occasion, but many were the jokes 

 cut at the expense of the Frenchman, who swore point- 

 blank in several languages that he would never again 

 undertake to lead a hunt where he knew nothing of the 

 country. 



Some heads of the sturgeon which we saw upon the 

 banks of the river remiuded us that the fish were form- 

 erly so abundant in this stream that the Indians named 

 it Sturgeon River (Nahma Sebe in then* language). What 

 with fish, deers, bears and maple sugar, all in abundance, 

 the natives must have had pretty fair living in the north- 

 ern country in their day; and with wild rice and other 

 vegetables, they had really a good variety of food. While 

 we talked of these and kindred subjects. Konan was 

 making bean soup. It took so long for the beans to cook 

 that he got cross and started out for venison, while Itook 

 a different route and saw bear sign and woodcock borings. 

 Toward evening the hunter returned unsuccessful, where- 

 at I rejoiced, for I failed to see what use we could make 

 of the greater part of a deer. Still, I suppose that if I 

 had "jumped" one, I might have shot at it. Queer, don't 

 you think so? 



The next day our route led for a few miles through a 

 tamarack swamp, succeeded by an elm flat, after which 

 we passed a good sized stream flowing in from the west, 

 supposed to be "Big Murphy Creek." Trout are taken in 

 that river, but the dense cedar swamps render the fishing 

 toilsome in the extreme. From this to Indian Lake 

 stretch miles of tamarack and cedar swamps, with hardly 

 a dry spot large enough to lunch upon. We saw a few 

 ducks, one sparrow hawk, and a large red-headed wood- 

 pecker, besides many muskrats. I could have killed some 

 of these with my paddle. 



Signs of bear, deer, and otter were abundant. About 

 noon we reached Indian Lake. There seemed no place 

 dry enough to land, and the wind blew so strongly into 

 the mou h of the river that we waited in the boat for 

 several hours until it lulled. The river here is deeper, 

 but apparently no wider than where we landed our boat. 

 It is one of the most crooked streams I know, and I think 

 that in this respect it beats the Cupsuptuc. No bright, 

 clear trout brooks are seen along its course, but instead, 

 sloughs and sluggish bayous are often met with. 



It is my belief that in twenty-five years there will be 

 more deer in these forests than at present. The dense 

 swamps furnish good cover, and when the lumberers 

 have cleared the country of its more valuable timber 

 there will be nothing left likely to attract settlers. The 

 supply roads will fall into disuse and become in many 

 cases impassable, so that a deer killed at a distance from 

 the railroad cannot be easily hauled out for shipment. 

 Besides, the effect of the recent prosecutions by the game 

 wardens will have a good effect. 



Indian Lake is about four by six miles in extent. It is 

 marshy and muddy to the north and west, where many 

 ducks were seen. On the south and east the bottom is of 

 limestone rock. There are pickerel and wall-eyed pike 

 here, but the Indians gill-net them, and they are not 

 plentiful. 



"Big Lake," said Konan, "but not as big as Lake Michi- 

 gan." 



"No, but it's just as wet," said I, for we were stdl lying, 

 about 4 P.M., in the mouth of the river, with ho dry spot 

 in the neighborhood; and the wind still blowing half a 

 gale, made the prospect of a dry camp for the night seem 

 rather remote. In about an horn, however, the wind 

 lulled and we pushed out into the lake, from which arose 

 many ducks as we left the reedy shores. We held straight 

 for the only two buildings in sight, which stood on the 

 southeastern shore and about four miles distant. They 

 were owned by Indians, who were not at home when we 

 pulled up our boat upon the rocky shore and proceeded 

 to take an observation. We pitched our tent m a little 

 grove, and thoroughly wearied as we were, cooked and 

 ate a meal which was unanimously pronounced a "per- 

 fect stunner" in its way. 



Not far distant was Pere Marquette's old blockhouse, of 

 which we had been told, and alone I strolled in its direc- 

 tion. 



The moon shone dimly through its cloudy veil as I 

 neared the heavy ruin — not truly so-called— for though 

 through roofless walls and yawning portal the moonbeams 

 shed a dim, uncertain light, yet through the storms of the 

 centuries the grim old fortress well had held its own, and 

 in my mind's eye there floated still against the darkening 

 skies the banner blazoned with the cross— the lily flag of 

 France: while the stern sentinels, with mail and morion, 

 pike and caliver, paced steadily below their nightly 

 round. Is that a firefly or the lighted linstock of the 

 cannoneer? I paused, and breathless waited for the 

 "Qui va la?" 



Nearing the ancient fortalice, through chink and shot 

 hole came the faint glimmer of the stars, but where those 

 walls, crenelled for musketry, had spouted forth their 

 flame, and rang to the war cries of their stout defenders, 

 while plume and pennon waved amid the smoke, all now 

 was hushed, the cannon's voice was mute, and birchen 

 branches waved athward the sky. 



Musing, I turned away, and silent sought the shelter 

 of my tent. Whether through the influence of the storied 

 past, or of the astounding supper I had eaten, is not for 



me to say, but through my dreams that night careered on 

 neighing steeds the steel-clad warriors of another age. 

 Rehabilitated as by magic, the ancient block house once 

 more stood forth in its pristine strength, and within its 

 massive walls, Des Monts and Frontenac dispensed justice 

 at one end, and Pere Marquette religion at the other, the 

 whole concluding with a grand ball, in which Cabeca ele 

 la Vaca danced a minuet with Pocahontas, and Ponce de 

 Leon a saraband with the Queen of the Cannibal Islands. 



Suddenly, Marquette sprang to his feet, and flinging 

 Ids calotte in the face of Pocahontas, shouted, "Caw, 

 caw, caw." 



"Cuss that crow ," exclaimed Konan, "where's my rifle?" 



Away, on the wings of the carrion bird, fled the wild 

 visions of the summer's night. Sword-belted knights and 

 black-robed priests were relegated to then - misty realms 

 as Konan said: "Come, it's time to wake up. I've been 

 up to the old block house, and it ain't no block house after 

 all. 'Taint more'n thirty year old, 'n' them portholes 

 along the sides was jest for the 'overlay.' " 



Sadly I revisited the scene of the orgies of my dream, 

 and found it even so. While attempting a sketch of the 

 building, the wind arose, and hastily stowing the cargo, we 

 started for the river, singing the while a song of the 

 lakemen, with the refrain: 



"Watch her, catoh her. 



Jump up 'n' a ju-ba-ju. 

 Give her the sheet and let her howl, 



We're the boys kin put 'er through." 



It w T as tight work, with a heavy sea on our starboard 

 bow, but we weathered it and made the river, passing on 

 the way whatever might have remained of Marquette's 

 church, which we had not courage to examine. We saw, 

 however, on the bank of the river, a Yankee cheese-box — 

 this also had no doubt belonged to Pere Marquette. We 

 soon reached the dam, two miles from the village of 

 Manistique, and as the river below was blocked by logs, 

 we here drew out our boat. Just above we came upon 

 the carcass of a deer, from which only the head and skin 

 had been removed. I took a bath, walked to the village, 

 and sent a team for the boat. The more pretentious 

 among the hotels was named the Ossawinamakee, but the 

 name looked so forbidding that we chose another. 



Next morning at 7 we took the steamer Van Raalte for 

 Petoskey. Manistique is a typical lumbering town, and 

 belongs — or most of it — to the Chicago Lumbering Com- 

 pany. This concern would seem, by all accounts, to lose 

 no opportunity of making charges, and we were told that 

 all sorts of tricks were played off on the dock agents, who 

 let nothing pass free if they know it. To one of these we 

 paid the sum of forty-five cents for storing our boat over 

 night. We thought that he might as well have made it 

 an even half dollar, and are still of the opinion that he 

 made a mistake of five cents in his bill . This was the 

 only freight or dockage charge on our boat during the 

 trip, and I desire to make particular mention of the ex- 

 ceeding courtesy of all officials of the D. , M. & M. R. R. 

 with whom we had to do. 



At 7 in the evening we were again in camp at Harbor 

 Springs, half a mile from the village, where we supped 

 on whitefish and enjoyed the prospect and the cool 

 evening breeze. The red lantern on Harbor Point was 

 opposite our camp, the lights of Petoskey twinkled across 

 the bay, while those in the summer cottages of the 

 nobility were scattered westward along the shore. 



The north star had apparently shifted a point more to 

 the east since our last camp, and having noted this 

 pecularity in the heavens we turned in and slept. Taking 

 the morning's steamer we reached Charlevoix at ten; at 

 one we were at East Jordan, near the mouth of the fam- 

 ous torrent stream. Here we chartered a farm wagon, 

 and driving some four miles were at nightfall in camp on 

 the Intermediate. At 1 P. M. on the following day we 

 made fast the Otter at our own landing, I having been 

 absent exactly two weeks^. 



The cruise of the Otter was ended, and though diversi- 

 fied with no very marked incidents was satisfactory to 

 us. True, Konan returned without his bear, but neither 

 of us had much doubt that while on the Indian River, 

 had we chosen to hunt, we could have seemed a specimen. 



I may here note that this river is known on the railroad 

 maps as the West Branch of the Manistique. There are 



{denty of trout in the brooks and in the river, toward its 

 lead, and had their capture, or the killing of deer, been a 

 leading object of the journey, we need not, as I think, 

 have been disappointed. 



Of the ten loaded shells I took with me, I emptied only 

 three, with which I shot three ducks. 



It may interest some of my readers to know that aside 

 from supplies taken from home, the cost of the trip was 

 about $25 for each. We returned refreshed in mind and 

 invigorated in body; and intend when the gods are propi- 

 tious to give the Otter another outing. Kelpie. 



A NEBRASKA COLLECTING TRIP. 



IN the Great American Desert you may think that we 

 do not have much to excite our longings for the haunts 

 of bird and beast. But though our State is not filled to 

 overflowing with fowl of air and water, this is a paradise 

 for rich experience. Bright and early one Saturday 

 morning in the early part of June in company with Mr. 

 C. J. Pierson, of Auburn, who is an enthusiastic natural- 

 ist, I started from Peru, Nemaha, coimty, bound for 

 Lehigh's Lake, five miles N.W. of Peru and about three 

 miles west of the Missouri River, having for our object 

 the collection of specimens of Anatidce, Ardeidce, Rallidce 

 and Scolopacidce. We find the cheewink busily engaged 

 in his ceaseless hunt among the fallen sticks and leaves for 

 stray worm or insect, or with noisy flutter of wings and 

 tail as he darts hither and thither, oocassionally giving 

 vent to his feelings in a melancholy whistle or his harsh 

 cry of chee-ioink. We get a glimpse of crimson, white 

 and black among the green, and we welcome back to his 

 summer home the rose-breasted grosbeak, the gayest of 

 our guests, except perhaps another friend we see presently 

 flitting by, the Baltimore oriole. And so we might con- 

 tinue the list with numerous warblers, vireos, chats, 

 robins, jays and woodpeckers, but remembering our 

 ob ject we hasten onward regretting that we cannot finger. 

 The inhabitants of this section are mostly backwoods- 



men, gaining their living by chopping wood, and by 

 trapping and hunting on the lake. One man had trapped 

 over 600 muskrats in one season. The houses are either 

 dugouts in the bluffs or board shanties in the woods, the 

 usual style being a low, narrow, long building, the walls 

 made by driving two parallel rows of stakes and filling 

 in between with small willows and earth, making a waU 

 about 6ft. high and 1ft. thick, with a roof of undressed 

 wide stock lumber. Approaching one house we saw sit- 

 ting on an immense stump near the house, a young boy, 

 bare-headed, bare-footed, ragged and dirty, and evidently 

 much entertained by the antics of a bony-looking cur. 

 As we came up he stopped suddenly and with wide eyes 

 looked at us in bewilderment, thinking no doubt that 

 "he was going to be took." We approached the door of 

 the house and looking in saw no less than three very 

 untidy women, each one with a small child in her arms. 

 Making inquiry for the man of the house, we were in- 

 formed in a somewhat curt manner that "he was not at 

 home." Concluding that our chance to get a boat here was 

 rather slim, we "mosied on." At some distance from 

 the house we came to a couple of wildcats, which had 

 been killed, their skins removed and their carcasses left 

 hanging in a tree by the wayside. Here was a capital 

 chance for a couple of skeletons and we regretted very 

 much the lack of time for their proper preservation. 



In a short time we came to the lake, which covers an 

 area of some five or six square miles, and is thickly set 

 with trees and patches of rushes and slough grass. We 

 searched for some time in the hopes of discovering a boat, 

 but in this we were unsuccessful, and so decided to try 

 it without. As we made our way along the bank, which 

 was covered from the water's edge to some rods back by 

 a dense growth of rushes and grass, beyond which is a 

 skirting of willows, we saw in a small open space on the 

 bank a large flock of pectoral sandpipers (Tringa maeu- 

 lata) and yellowlegs {Totamis flavipes). Of these we 

 captured three, and proceeded on our journey. As we 

 looked up the lake we could see that the water was 

 literally covered with American coots (Fulica americana) 

 with here and there a blue- winged teal or mallard, so we 

 walked along, keeping our eye out for a stray duck near 

 the bank. Directly I wounded one; off came my clothes 

 and into the water I went. After some skirmishing I 

 succeeded in bringing it to land, to find that I possessed 

 a fine female shoveller (Clypeat a spatula), something rare 

 here, so I felt amply repaid for my trouble. 



Hastily resuming my clothes we went further up, 

 where we found scattered thickly through the water 

 muskrat houses. These are hemispherical, placed in the 

 shallow water, rising out of it from 2 to 5ft., and being 

 from 3 to 6ft. in diameter. They are composed of bitten- 

 off rushes and grass closely and firmly laid together, 

 forming a hollow hemisphere, with an opening on oppos- 

 ite sides at the bottom. On top of a number of these 

 houses coots were sitting. And we were much engrossed 

 in studying then- actions, as they would sit for a few min- 

 utes perf ectly still and then suddenly slide off mto the 

 water, diving as they did so, remaining under for a min- 

 ute or more, with nothing visible except the tips of their 

 tails. Then they would as suddenly rise, and with a 

 splutter and splash be off again. Very graceful are they 

 as they glide smoothly along, turning their heads from 

 side to side, their white bills flashing in the sunlight in 

 strong contrast to their glossy blue coat. They arrive 

 here the last of March and nest"in April. Though I have 

 often found their nests, I have as yet been miable to 

 secure the eggs. Mr. Goss, in his "Birds of Kansas," 

 describes them as being of an oval form, in color cream 

 white or pale olive drab, thickly and evenly spotted with 

 dark brown ; size 1.92x1.32. The nests are built in the tall 

 weeds and rushes which grow in shallow, muddy places 

 in ponds and sloughs on top of the broken-down old 

 growth that forms a sort of platform just above the 

 water. It is a deep, hollow nest, composed of bitten-off 

 stems of weeds and rushes. As we were already supplied 

 with specimens, we did not take any of these. 



Walking on for a mile or so without sighting anything 

 else, we concluded to cross over and come down on the 

 Opposite side; and as the water appeared quite shallow 

 we thought we could wade it without removing our 

 clothes. Once in the water we found we had mistaken a 

 soft and yielding bottom for a firm one. But as we were 

 "in for it," we made the best of it and continued to wade. 

 With an occasional rise on the top of a muskrat house 

 we finally reached the shore in safety. Just as we did 

 so I saw close at hand a flock of mallards and let drive 

 at them as they took wing, bringing down a female, but 

 falling in the thickest rushes she was not to be found 

 when sought for. As we came down the lake we saw 

 skimming over it, with bills pointing straight downward, 

 their white coats and black heads flashing, several speci- 

 mens of the least tern (Sterna anUllarum), As we wished 

 very much to secure one of these we waded out into the 

 water, and concealing ourselves in the rushes, waited for 

 them to come within range, but though we waited long 

 and patiently they did not come, and we had to content 

 ourselves with watching their movements at a respectable 

 distance. 



Wading on through the rushes we started several 

 American bitterns (Botaurus lentiginosus), and although 

 we emptied numerous cartridges in the attempt, it was to 

 no avail, and they went scot free. 



As it was now after noon, with the sun boiling hot, we 

 decided to seek a cool retreat and eat our "snack," the 

 while discussing our morning's work and the ups and 

 downs of a naturalist's life. After some time spent in 

 this way we proceeded on our way homeward. Having 

 again to cross the lake, this time we waded about a 

 mile in water knee deep. Buoyed up by the hope of 

 another duck we cheerfully but slowly worked away, 

 Mr. Pierson succeeding by numerous stratagems in cap- 

 turing a blue-winged teal. We reached home about 9 

 P. M., tired, hungry and sleepy, having for our trouble 

 two ducks, several snipe, sandpipers and yellowlegs, 

 Thus ended one pleasant and long-to-be-remembered little 

 trip. G. A. C. 



London, Neb. 



Recent Arrivals at Philadelphia Zoological Garden.— 

 Received by purchase— Two gray foxes (Vulpcs dneren-armntatm), 

 one Daubenton's curassow (Crax daubentoni), one yellow-bellied 

 songster (Liothrix lutetUt) and one white-fronted parrot (Clirysotis 

 leucoccphalus). Received by presentation— One macaque monkey 

 (Macacus cynomolgw) i one opossum (Bidclphys vlrginiana) y one 

 great-horned owl (Bubo virginianus), one great blue, heron (Ardea 

 herodias), three screech owls (Scops asio), one alligator (Alligator 

 miasissippiensis), one banded rattlesnake (Crotalis horridus) and 

 one garter snake (Eutosnia sirialis). Born in the garden— On» 

 female lion (Felis leo) and one aoudad (Ovi& tragelapMi). 



