604 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 19, 1888. 



Sept. 12, 1887— Two specimens collected in city. Con- 

 tents of stomachs, small pieces eggshell, road pickings, 

 broken oats. , 



Sept. 20, 1887— Four specimens collected on Don Mats, 

 near paper mill. Stomachs all contained small lepidop- 

 terous larva?, and fragments of grasshoppers. 



Of the 307 specimens collected from May 7, 1881. to 

 Sept. 20, 1887, the stomachs of 132, or nearly 43 per cent, 

 contained insects of several orders, and 85, or nearly 2i 

 per cent., contained grasshoppers of two species, C. 

 fermur-rubrum and (E. Carolina. These two, with C. 

 bivittatus, on which I fed them on Aug. 5, 1887, makes 

 three species on which the sparrows feed in the neighbor- 

 hood of Toronto. 



a rapid succession of plaintive barks, usually ending with 

 a sort of squeal or cry. The keys of it are high, while the 

 other wolves invariably employ a sweeping and sonorous 

 base, most truly howling. 



The gray wolf and the lobo are not sneaks like the 

 coyote. They rely for their support on their speed, their 

 strength and prowess, and the cultivation of these qualities 

 gives them a good countenance and a manly bearing. 

 Besides, thev have no special fear of anything except 

 man; and their feeling toward him seems to be more of a 

 respect, to be cultivated at a distance, than of fear. 

 Indeed, in spite of their destructive ways as to sheep and 

 calves, T have quite a good regard of these animals; of 

 whom more later on. N. A. T. 



Abii/enk, Tex. 



MORE ABOUT TEXAS WOLVES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I wrote you lately something concerning wolves. They 

 are a peculiar and whimsical race which have long 

 afforded me much curious study. They made a deep 

 impression on me on one occasion in my early days, and 

 from that moment I felt great interest in them. There 

 are said to be four sorts of wolves in Texas: the coyote, 

 or prairie wolf: the big gray wolf: the lobo, or loafer as 

 he is commonly called, and the black wolf. Of these the 

 coyote is the most numerous and the smallest, being not 

 much larger than the fox. He loves the prairies, and is 

 not to be found where there are no prairies: though where 

 there are both prairie and forest he is generally abundant; 

 and as much in one as the other. It seems therefore that 

 the prairie is in some way necessary to him; that he must 

 see it occasionally or die." He has a light yellow breast, 

 gray on the back, with bushy tail. In winter he has a 

 heavy, soft coat of hair, which is pleasant to the touch. A 

 few of their skins sewed together make a pretty and ex- 

 ceedingly comfortable robe, if they have been well dressed. 

 The big gray wolf and the lobo 1 take to be the same 

 animal, though nearly all my backwoods friends hold 

 that they are "distinct.' The gray wolf they say is two 

 and a half times the size of the coyote, while the lobo is 

 fullv a third larger than the gray; also that the lobo is a 

 "dark yellow brindle." I admit that point both as to 

 size and color, but it has seemed to me that these differ- 

 ences may be due to the greater age of the lobo: in other 

 words, that the lobo is merely the big gray wolf grown 

 fat and brown with age. Again, I have thought that the 

 gray wolf is the female of a certain race of wolves, while 

 the lobo is the male; and this supposition is somewhat 

 encouraged by the fact that I do not remember handling 

 a gray wolf which was not a female, or a lobo which was 

 not a male. However, such a difference between the 

 sexes of the dog group of animals would, I admit, be 

 unique. 



Also, another difference in favor of those who hold 

 that these animals are distinct, is that the gray wolf is 

 found wherever the coyote is, while the lobo is rarely 

 found except in mountains and remote parts. As to man, 

 the lobo is far more unsocial and morose, while the coyote 

 loves to linger round the haunts of man , and the gray 

 wolf not far away. But I have noticed this unsocial 

 character in the aged males of other animals. Thus, in 

 the season of the curiosity of the females, I have found 

 the brown and venerable bulls of the bison herding 

 morosely to themselves, far away in the mountain 

 valleys, hearing but not seeing the terrible battles that 

 the lusty young lords of their race were, fighting for the 

 mastery in love. They seemed to consider themselves 

 laid on the shelf, like books moth-eaten and out of date, 

 but they were then dangerous to man, ready to meet him 

 with a desperate front. 



The black wolf is mostly a mountaineer of the remote 

 parts, loving the wildest recesses, having little or no use 

 for man and his haunts. As a rule he is somewhat 

 smaller than the gray wolf, though sometimes they are 

 seen as large as the lobo. In the early days this wolf was 

 said to be common in the heavy timbers of eastern and 

 southern Texas, but he has long since migrated. I can- 

 not certainly say that I have ever seen him or not, but 

 was once forced up a tree by wolves at night, which I 

 was told were of this sort. 



The coyote is a great sneak, and this trait is as plainly 

 shown in his countenance as cunning is in that of the fox. 

 His ordinary gait is also that of the sneak, being slow, 

 cautious and cowardly, with a wistful and melancholy 

 look. It always struck me that he is a very melancholy 

 creature, passing his life between a sigh and a tear, and 

 this appearance may not be entirely deceptive. Thus, 

 while he is ever looking out for something that he may 

 catch, he is also ever on the alert lest something may 

 catch and devour him. For instance, the lobo when 

 hungry will chase the coyote on sight, and the latter is 

 very fortunate if he be not caught and eaten up. There- 

 fore, as to him, there is a very narrow gulf between eat- 

 ing and being eaten, and his full knowledge of this must 

 needs, I think, cast a somber shade over his spirit. Some- 

 thing else may also be added on this point, which I will 

 mention further on. 



The coyote loves to hang round the camp-fires of travelers 

 at night, smelling their cooking meats. He is then always 

 very close at hand, circling stealthily around the camp 

 or sitting on his haunches watching the pleasing scene; 

 his mouth, I guess, copiously watering as he inhales the 

 sweet odors. He becomes so fascinated that it is vain to 

 attempt to drive him away. He may be fired at, but he 

 will soon return to his gazing and smelling. When the 

 travelers fall asleep he slips into their camp, licks the 

 pots and pans under their very noses and steals all eat- 

 ables he may discover. I have known them to steal meat 

 from under the pillows of sleeping persons. Should any 

 of the sleepers suddenly awake at such a juncture, the 

 thieves scamper away a little distance and usually put up 

 a very pitiable howl, as if complaining of the unseasonable, 

 disturbance; to return as soon as all has become quiet 

 again. From this it seems that the coyote understands 

 the nature of sleep as well as the burglar M'ho enters our 

 houses to steal. 



A few days ago on going out of my house at dawn, I 

 saw a coyote in my yard, sitting between two calves 

 which were lying down. I do not think he meditated 

 any harm to the calves; rather that he was waiting for 

 my chickens to descend from their roost, hopiug to secure 

 one or two for breakfast. They are very fond of mutton 

 and chicken. Should a sheep "stray away from the fold, 

 he is surely lost if a coyote meets him. 



The voice of the coyote differs greatly from that of all 

 other wolves known to me. It is rarely a true howl, but 



California Academy of Sciences.— Officers elected 

 Jan. 3: President, H. W. Harkness; First Vice-President, 

 H. H. Behr; Second Vice-President. George Hewston; 

 Corresponding Secretary, Henry Ferrer; Recording 

 Secretary, William F. Smith; Treasurer, I. E. Thayer; 

 Librarian, Carlos Trover: Director of Museum, J. G-. 

 Cooper. Trustees: Chas. F. Crocker, D. E. Hayes, S. W. 

 Holladay, George C. Perkins, Jacob Z. Davis, E. J. 

 Molera, E. L. G. Steele. 



\mm j§zg nnd %m\. 



Address aU eimmunicaUom to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



Antelope and Deer of America. By J. D. Caton. 

 Price $2.50, Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

 Rifle. By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rifle, Rod and 

 Gim in California. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price $1.50. 

 Shore Birds. Price. J5 cents. Woodcraft. By "Ness- 

 muk, r Price $]. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents. The Still-Hunter. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price $2. 



PUBLIC OPINION. 



WHERE is the trouble? Is the sentiment in favor of 

 the conservation of fish and game, in the few 

 States where there is any fish and game left, losing 

 ground? Take up the Maine papers, some of them— hap- 

 pily not all— only a few from the backwoods sections— 

 and what do we see? Items like the following: 



He arrived too late this year for a hear hunt, but on the first 

 flay of Januarv succeeded in capturing a fine deer, which he 

 took to his home the next day to present to his many friends. 

 Go for him, George. 



This item was written from West Phillips, Maine, and 

 the sportsman mentioned was from New York. It is 

 against the law to ship game out of that State. The 

 George mentioned is Game Warden Geo. D. Huntoon, of 

 Rangeley. The deer was killed after the season had 

 closed, and yet the local paper has no word of encourage- 

 ment for the game warden; neither is it in sympathy with 

 the enforcement of wholesome statutes for the protection 

 of what might be made of great value to the locality 

 where the paper is published. Again in the same issue 

 of the same paper, a local correspondent from Madrid, 

 another back township in that State, vents his spleen 

 against the game la ws in this wise: 



Three feet of snow in the woods and a sharp crust. We hope 

 none of the hoys will think of going deer hunting as it would be 

 ■very wrong to kill tbem, and we are all very anxious to save 

 them for the sportsmen to slaughter next .Tune and July. But 

 say, hoys, if you should get one, just send me a piece as 1 am laid 

 on the shelf with the rheumatism and can't go. 



The local paper allows its correspondent to publish such 

 items and yet it does not give the fellow a smart rebuke 

 editorially. It does not say that the law against the 

 crusting of deer is designed for the purpose of saving 

 that game animal from annihilation. It does not stop 

 to say that the town in which the paper is pub- 

 lished reaps an annual harvest from sportsmen 

 greater than all its industries put together. That 

 paper does not explain that the game laws are designed 

 for the good of everybody — the citizens of the back- 

 woods, as well as the sportsmen who annually visit 

 the State. It never points out that the railroads of Maine 

 receive so great a part of their income from the sports- 

 men and vacationists, drawn thither by fish and g ame 

 attractions, that these roads could not exist without these 

 attractions. It has not for years pointed out that the 

 little railroad in its own little town derives a very large 

 proportion of its existence from sportsmen and vacation- 

 ists; that to annihilate the fish and game in the manner 

 that is indicated by the spirit of its correspondent's mani- 

 fest would leave tracks of the railroad for the use of the 

 rabbits and its locomotives to be sold for old iron. Now, 

 this paper, the Phillips (Maine) Phonograph, may not be 

 fully aware of the sentiment that exists among some of 

 its own subscribers; the sportsmen who have visited its 

 locality and have brought home the local paper with them 

 out of pure love for the hours they have spent in the 

 Rangeley region, for the scenes of gone-by days. Even a 

 little newspaper printed in that region has an attraction 

 for them. They take it and pay for it just to know 

 "how soon the ice is going out." They don't care a cop- 

 per for the paper; it is that little item about the trout 

 fairly caught or the moose or deer legally killed in open 

 season that they wish to read. It cuts like a knife to 

 find items in such a paper like the above. Is the senti- 

 ment of the people of Maine against protection and the 

 propagation of fish and game? If it is, then the fish and 

 game must go. The work of destruction will be a short 

 one. 



But the paper mentioned above is not the only one that 

 causes the true sportsman distress. The Industrial Jo ur- 

 nal, published in the same State, is avowedly hostile to 

 the enforcement of the fish and game laws. Or at least 

 it allows its correspondents all the latitude they desire in 

 the way of showing how these same correspondents hate 

 the Commission — but more thoroughly hate the whole- 

 some laws the Commission has tried with all their power 

 to justly enforce. That paper never starts out and says 

 a good word for fish and game protection, though it 

 claims to be an industrial journal, devoted to the best 

 interests of its location. The harm that such papers do 

 is great; not that their influence is great, or that they 

 reach a great many people, but because they afford com- 

 fort and consolation to the ignorant people of one idea 

 into whose hands they fall. To see that they are tolerated 



by a newspaper is greater consolation to many ignorant 

 men than falls to the lot of the pol itician to be elected. 

 Why, how would it do to start a paper somewhere for the 

 encouragement of thieves! Be assured that every thief 

 in the country would read it. Perhaps it would prove to 

 be the only paper that he would read. Yet the thief only 

 breaks the statutes of the State, made for the good of 

 everybody. Does not the man who persists in killing 

 game or taking fish out of season do pretty much the 

 same thing? 



Still the country papers are not the only ones that 

 trouble the lovers of fish and game with stuff that never 

 ought to be published. Periodically the smart writer in I 

 the daily papers trie* to be funny at the expense of fish 

 and game protection. The very first line he writes shows 

 his ignorance of the whole subject, but that matters not; 

 if he only wrote about that which he is well informed, 

 his pen would be stopped forever. But he makes a few 

 dashes at "what it costs to kill a moose in Maine or a deer 

 or a partridge in New Hampshire." Then he explains 

 that "it is a luxury which only the rich sportsman from 

 the city can afford," and winds up with a line of 

 sympathy for the local sportsman or backwoodsman who 

 has not the $100 to pay. He never is struck with the idea 

 that there is a long open season for all this game, and 

 that the local sportsman or backwoodsman is there all 

 the time, and that the game is just as free to him as to 

 anybody. In fact, his chances are greater than those of 

 any other man, for he is familiar with the location, as 

 well as with the game. The smart writer in the daily 

 papers never explains that the game in this open season 

 is in its prime, and that the cloBe season has been created, 

 after years of careful study, only to cover the breeding- 

 season and the season when the game would be in danger 

 from annihilation, for the reason that it could be all taken 

 during the season of snow crusts. But such writers are 

 familiar with every subject from theology to medicine, 

 and the only lucky thing there is about them is that they 

 know so much that they stick to one subject only for an 

 article; so that in the rounds of their big (?) brains but 

 one subject suffers at a time, and the turn of that subject 

 does not come every day. Special. 



SHOOTING NOTES. 



A LARGE flight of geese and ducks is reported to have 

 been seen from the shores of Long Island Sound, 

 moving south, on Monday, Jan. 9: the geese acted as if 

 they were fagged out and had come a long distance. Up 

 to that date the Sound gunners along the Connecticut 

 shove have been making small bags of black ducks and 

 coots, also killing an occasional goose. 



A female "dipper duck" that has been spending most 

 of the shooting season beneath the surface of Newark 

 Bay, was attracted by the street lamps in Kinney street, 

 Newark, on Monday night, Jan. 9. For over an hour she 

 bobbed about the lights, finally bringing up with a crash 

 against one of the wagons of the New York and Newark 

 Pie Company, limited. The driver thought he was being 

 held up and was nearly frightened to death. Hearing 

 something flopping in the street he got out of his wagon 

 and caught the duck, which was uninjured. He gave the 

 "dipper" to Griffin, who keeps an eating house at No. 314 

 Market street, Newark. Griffin gave the duck a soup 

 plate filled with water to swim about in, so that the duck 

 would not have the trouble to dive any more, which she 

 might do if put in a tub. The bird is very tame, living 

 on fresh caught smelt. She was tried with split corn but 

 refused to eat it. 



Clark's steam yacht Mohican still lies at anchor off Old 

 Point Comfort, Virginia. She has on board a party of 

 sportively inclined Newarkers, among whom are W. 

 Campbell Clark, Charles D. Halsey and Horace N. Con- 

 ger. They are shooting sea ducks from a steam launch 

 belonging to the yacht, getting about a dozen birds a trip. 

 The lower waters of the Chesapeake Bay are covered with 

 coots in all conditions of weather, and m calm times with 

 scattering flocks of geese and blackheads. Many of the 

 latter, under the name of "flock ducks," are netted across 

 the Bay in Tangier Sound. The geese can be shot by 

 running down on them with the wind, against which the 

 big birds are forced to rise, thus affording cross or over- 

 head shots. Years ago sailing for brant was common on 

 the New Jersey and Long Island bays. It was found to 

 drive the tords from these waters and was consequently 

 abandoned. What few ducks that resorted Newark Bay 

 six years ago were routed by small steam yachts hailing 

 from the Bergen shore, the shooters using very heavy 

 shoulder guns. In Long Island Sound a number of well- 

 known New Yorkers , Mr. Howard S. Jaffery being one, 

 follow the ducks about every week in light-draft tugs. 

 The effect of all this, especially in small bodies of water, 

 is to drive the ducks away. The bags are always small 

 and only second-class ducks are killed as a rule. 



There were no quail of any account in Kansas this 

 year, and but few as compared with former seasons in 

 the Indian Territory along the Kansas line. Northern 

 Texas to the eastward of the staked plains, however, con- 

 tains many birds, one of the best sections being Bowie in 

 Montague county. A friend with whom I shot last win- 

 ter in Texas writes me that he has been having some good 

 "Bob White" shooting near Moore's Station, in Frio 

 comity. There are lots of wild hogs in this section which 

 on off days will furnish lots of sport. I have also re- 

 ceived a Tetter from Osage county, Kansas, which says 

 that the praririe chicken shooting there has been very 

 poor; and the quail very scarce. 



Two Mends of mine who reside in El Paso, and are 

 first-class shots, have been down to Laguna Lake, in Mex- 

 ico, shooting. They had fine sport, returning with a bag 

 consisting of geese, brant, bluebills, golden eyes, two 

 kinds of teal, widgeon, sprigtails, sandhill cranes, yellow 

 legs and "Jack snipe." This is the place to make a gun 

 red hot without any trouble. It is only a quarter of a 

 mile from Laguna Station on the Mexican Central R. R. 

 Not a dozen sportsmen visit this place in a year. But 

 the best place in Mexico to go for wildfowl iB Lerdo 

 Lake, two days from El Paso on the M. C. R. R. There 

 the sportsman will kill ducks and wading birds of varie- 

 ties unknown even to many ornithologists. 



It iB not until one makes an extended shooting trip 

 through Central America and Mexico, that he discovers 

 what a large variety of game birds exist there. In all 

 there are over twenty different varieties of quail between 

 the Isthmus of Panama and San Francisco. The most cf 

 these I have seen and shot. The Mexicans trap the quail 

 about Paso del Norte, and sell them alive for $1 a dozen 



