66 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



I Feb. 17, 1887, 



butes remarkable power to tbe little animal; tbe first 

 necessarily accredits Mm with the forethought of seeing 

 the necessity of laying up winter stores, and the wonder- 

 ful memory that enabled him to locate the particular spot 

 at which he had planted the acorn. The second solution 

 accredits the squirrel with a nose Which would do credit 

 to a pointer or setter. Yet he appeared to be searching 

 by scent when I saw him find the acorn. Ah-Pe. 

 Madisonville, Tenn. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It must appear positively plain, I think, after what has 

 been said on this subject, that neither red nor gray squir- 

 rels hibernate, at least in the latitudes of the United 

 States. But nothing has been said about the little chip- 

 munk. He goes into winter quarters in early November, 

 and does not show his head until April, thus making five 

 good months at least, underground, in northern Maine. 

 They are a pest about the orchard, not so much for what 

 they eat, but because they will cut off the apples very 

 fast, dropping them to the ground, all throug h the fall 

 months, thus destroying lots of fruit. He is very sly 

 about digging his hole, carrying the excavations some 

 distance, away from the mouth of the hole, so that it has 

 been said that he begins to dig at the other end of his 

 burrow. He lays in large quantities of supplies of com, 

 nuts, etc., for winter use, and we may well suppose he 

 spends some of his long winter evenings making way 

 with his stores. J. G. E. 



Bethel, Me. 



"Gun or Field Glass?"— Syracuse, N. Y., Feb. 10.— 

 Editor Foi'est and Stream: I dislike to pick a quarrel 

 with any one, and do not intend to now, but with your 

 permission I would like to say a few words in response to 

 what was meant for a cutting criticism wliich appeared in 

 your columns for Feb. 10, on the sentiment of my article 

 in Scientific A merican, which owing to a misprint was en- 

 titled "Our Warbler" instead of "Our Warblers." In the 

 first place the article was written for the purpose of bring- 

 ing the study of birds before the mind of the average 



Eerson, as will be seen by reading the first eight or ten 

 nes. Mr. Sumner evidently has not studied birds much, 

 or eLse he is a very slack student. How is it possible to 

 study birds and know what species you are studying un- 

 less you do kill occasionally for identification? Mr. S. 

 suggests 1 'using field glasses. ' ' All right, take your glasses 

 and go into a country containing a bird fauna with which 

 you are unacquainted, (if such an one can be found) and 

 see of how much service they will be to you, until you 

 have learned to distinguish at sight the various forms. 

 Bear in mind the statement that the article was written 

 mainly for those unacquainted, with this family, or with 

 birds in general, and then tell me whether "or no my 

 statement will not justify me. Further on, Mr S. alludes 

 to the shooting of the parent birds for identifying the 

 nests and eggs, in a disparaging manner. Here again he 

 is mistaken. Of what value would a nest and eggs be to 

 science without being identified, and if I find a nest and 

 eggs, and fail to recognize the parent bird, am I not justi- 

 fied in killing it to identify, providing I do not repeat the 

 performance on that species again ? I have studied birds 

 constantly for eight years, and have yet to commit an act 

 in the woods that would cause shame to a true naturalist. 

 Mr. S. speaks of "wanton slaughter." Where in my 

 article do I allude to "wanton" or any slaughter ? I would 

 state for Mr. Sumner's benefit that after I have once seen 

 a bird, and know what it is, I seldom fail to recognize it 

 a second time, and if I do, have no scruples in killing it a 

 second time. If Mr. Sumner's method for identifying 

 birds, and studying them scientifically, differs from this, 

 I should be glad to hear from him and receive some sug- 

 gestions.— E. M. HasbrotjCK. 



Habits of the Beater.— Bethel, Me.— Your Cache 

 Creek correspondent "R. M. C." wishes some light thrown 

 on Gen. Dragon's assertions about the beaver's sinking one 

 pine tree and floating another. I hunted among the 

 beavers for twenty-five years of my life, and have seen a 

 great deal of their works. I have" never happened to see 

 where they cut pines for food; they cut everything that 

 is handy for building dams and houses, but their food 

 consists more of the willow, birch, maple and ash than 

 any other, although they do use some other kinds of 

 wood when hard pressed for a choice. The process of 

 sinking their food timber has been and is still a mystery 

 to hunters and everybody else. The Indians say that 

 after the wood is cut into lengths (usually about two or 

 three feet) a beaver gets at each end of it and sucks the 

 air out, when it immediately sinks; others say they load 

 it with mud and sink it, but "it is a fact that they do sink 

 all their whiter food in the pond they have made with 

 their dam, and then dive down through the under door 

 of then- house, under the ice of the pond, and bring up a 

 stick, as wanted, into their house and eat off the bark and 

 throw the stick away on top of the ice or on the bank near 

 thek house. — J. G. R. 



Risso's Dolphin in American Waters.— Angelo Heil- 

 phin, of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, in a note 

 to the Philadelphia Ledger, says: "It may be of interest 

 to many of your readers to know that the cetacean 

 recently stranded at Atlantic City, and recently brought 

 to this city, is a form practically vmknown on this side of 

 the Atlantic, and, indeed, as far as I have been able to 

 determine, one which has never before been noted as oc- 

 curring on the American coast. It is the variety known 

 to naturalists of Grampus rissoanus, Risso's dolphin, a 

 form peculiar to the Mediterranean and adjoining seas, 

 and first described in 1812. The axnnial is apparently of 

 full size, measuring about 11 to 12ft., and is readilv dis- 

 tinguished from other allied cetacean forms by the 

 peculiar slaty lines which traverse the body in all direc- 

 tions. Its occurrence on our coast is an interesting 

 feature in geographical distribution, and proves the im- 

 practicability of drawing sharp lines of demarcation in 

 the delimitation of marine faunas." 



Short-Eared Owls in Illinois.— Carrolton. 111., Feb. 

 7. — The short-eared owl (Asia aicipitrinns) is quite plenti- 

 ful in this vicinity this winter. I obtained three speci- 

 mens within the last four weeks, two of them almost in 

 our city limits. A friend informed me that he shot six 

 in his cornfield last week and saw more than a dozen 

 other specimens in the same field. I presume our resi- 

 dent birds have been reinforced by migrants driven from 

 the north by the severe winter. — J. G. Henderson. 



Robins and China Berries.— Bainbridge, Ga.— The 

 robins come here in January, remaiiiing until March: they 

 keep together in large flocks and feed upon various kinds 

 of berries. They are especially fond of the berry, a seed 

 which hangs in clusters to the china tree, wliich is found 

 everywhere in Decatur coimty. They will eat so many 

 of tliese seeds that they frequently fall from the branch 

 to the ground and are occasionally picked up dead; 

 whether the seed intoxicates them or not I do not know, 

 but after a surfeit of them they are often caught alive 

 under the trees lying on the ground. The robin when 

 feasting on this favorite seed frequently flies off to the 

 nearest pool or stream to drink, returning again to the 

 tree. The wild black cherry which grows here has the 

 same effects on some other birds as the berry of the china 

 tree has on the robin. — Edward Jack. [The intoxicating 

 effects of the china tree berry on robins was noted in our 

 columns a few years ago by : 'N. A. T.," of Texas.] 



The Weight of Quail in the South.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: In this section of country we have two 

 varieties of quail— one "uses" (as the negroes term it) 

 about the swamps, while the other "uses" in the pine 

 hills and highland fields. The swamp birds weigh at least 

 two ounces heavier than the other birds, and are con- 

 siderably darker in color, i killed one of these swamp 

 birds some time since that weighed lioz. The average 

 weight of the highland bird is jjj oz. Have any of your 

 readers noticed this before ? What is the average weight 

 of quail in the North and East ?— J. M. W. (Augusta, Ga.). 



The White Goat.— Victoria, B. C, Jan. 29.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: I have read with much interest the 

 letters on white goat hunting, by J. W. Schultz, which 

 appears in Forest and Stream of" Dec. 30 and Jan 6. Mr. 

 Schultz has not taken advantage of the ignorance, which 

 to a very great extent prevails respecting the mountain 

 goat, and sacrificed truth for the sake of sensational "tall 

 talk,'" but so far as my experience goes with this animal, 

 he bas painted it in its natural colors, and I take the 

 libei'ty of thanking him for his indorsement of what Mr. 

 Griffin and myself have written on this subject. — John 

 Fannin. 



mm J?## mid (§w(. 



Address all communications to the Forext and Stream Pub. Co, 



BEARS AND BEAR DOGS. 



[WAS much pleased to find in the Forest and Stream 

 a few lines from my esteemed friend, J. G. Rich, of 

 Bethel, Me., in which he gives a brief sketch of his ex- 

 perience in bear hunting. May we entertain the hope 

 that he will give us a full account of the days which he ' 

 spent alone in the wilds about the Rangeley Lakes, espe- 

 cially in those cabins hid away in that lonely region, at 

 the extreme end of the vast arm of Richardson Lake? It 

 woidd have great interest forme, for I camped with him 

 almost twenty-five years ago. 1 recall those long winter 

 evenings when 1 sat by the camp-fire, thinking could 

 those old logs speak what rich tales' they would tell. Did 

 he ever catch fur nearer home than we did that winter? 

 We found that an old lynx was at the door nights after 

 the crmnbs thrown out from our meals, so we built a 

 "cat house" at the shore a few steps away and caught the 

 old villain, also a fine mink in the shed by the door. We 

 had found he was stealing our trout, so we took him and 

 had his skin stretched in less than an hour after setting 

 the trap. 



I wonder if " J. G. R." remembers how he lost a drink of 

 tea by not smelling of the bottle, and thinking it empty 

 because- it was light. I will relate how this occurred, that 

 no other hunter may be caught in the same fix and go 

 without a drink when it can be had by the taking. One 

 cold, wet night late in the autumn, on returning from our 

 traps, we found our friend "J. G. R." at the camp very 

 wet and tired, having come from the foot of the lake. 

 He had been at the camp some time; said lie had "ex- 

 hausted all means to find our tea," knowing that there 

 must be some there. There were a number of black 

 bottles; how many times those were shaken I don't know, 

 but the fact that they were well filled with tea was not 

 discovered by our friend. Always smell in the bottles. 



I agree with Mr. R. that a small dog will often stop a 

 bear when the bear and dog can be got together, but when 

 a dog lias to follow a bear a long way into the dark 

 swamps to come up with him, such a dog would be of no 

 account. In following bears on the first snows it is as 

 difficult to get near him as it would be to do so were he a 

 fox. therefore good tracking dogs must be employed. 



Our friend "Ursus" seems to think that a bear hunter 

 has little regard for truth and only draws his bow to suit 

 the game. Our friend "J. G. R." can tell if my brother 

 or myself would be likely to tell a cheap lie. " I under- 

 stand why I was not believed; it is because he is a resident 

 of Maine, where they do not believe a dog can stop a bear 

 because such mongrels as they own will not do it. A 

 good dog costs money. How can it be supposed that 

 good dogs can be found in a community where, in a day's 

 travel, not a person could be found that would pay over 

 five dollars for a dog; and I think it safe to say that a 

 blooded dog cordd not be found in a day's ride. I was 

 laughed at for supposing that a dog could be found that 

 could be depended on to stop a bear, but after much effort 

 for several years I have convinced those skeptics that it 

 can be done. I do not depend on one dog, but have taken 

 the advice of my Southern correspondent and got dogs 

 for tracking and dogs for fighting. I have one dog that 

 can dodge a bear so as to escape its claws and in an in- 

 stant be upon the bear again. Had our correspondent 

 seen the froth upon an old she bear's back last fall, he 

 would think the truth had been told fit for an honest 

 hunter to read. I don't believe the story of "a bear with 

 a lot of dead dogs around him." In over twenty-five 

 years of hunting and travel among hunters I never knew 

 of a dog being killed or disabled by a bear; will "J. G.R." 

 tell us if he has such information, or can "Ursus" give us 

 proof that one dog got killed or badly hurt? and tell us 

 more about this great hunt, did they kill the bear? Who 

 owned one of those dogs that got a broken back, and does 

 a bear kill a dog every time he paws him? 



A bear does not strike a blow sufficient to kill a lamb, 

 as can be proved by a great number of wounded sheep 



and lambs, showing that they were cut through upon the 

 sides by the claws; in all cases the claws did the work. 

 The only dog I ever saw wounded by a bear had been clawed 

 up and left with a sore back. In all cases the bear de- 

 pends upon the cut of the claws, and only strikes to pro- 

 duce such an effect. Put a muffle upon the claws of a 

 State of Maine bear and he might paw over a dog all day 

 and not hurt the dog in the least. I don't think this 

 would apply to a grizzly bpar. Thev always attempt to 

 fasten to their prey and draw them" in toward them to 

 enable them to use their teeth. Let us hear from others 

 upon this subject. The bear is the onlv large game that 

 can be hunted when you please and as" you please. Fine 

 sport can be bad with good dogs among the bears. Mr. 

 Haughton laughed last fall, when we went on a bear 

 Imnt, because some one took a rope to drag out the bear 

 with. So upon returning with his colt that evening, he 

 came leading the colt up the road with his handkerchief 

 tied over its eyes, to "prevent it from seeing the bear." 

 But you ought to have seen how cheap he looked when he 

 saw a fine bear lying in the yard. He now has more 

 faith in our way of taking bears. 



Can any one tell me of one person in New England that 

 ever made any special effort to hunt bears with dogs for 

 that purpose, or ever tried different dogs? or did any- 

 thing more than to try whatever curs they might chance 

 to have? I lost much time fooling; with hounds; they are 

 lacking in courage. Bruin. 



Salem, Mass. 



SEAFOWL SHOOTING AT BERWICK. 



THE ancient historic town of Berwick stands on the 

 north side of the river Tweed, in what, hi geo- 

 graphical strictness, ought to be the southeast corner of 

 Scotland, but which legally and politically constitutes 

 the northeast extremity of England, a portion of some 

 nine square miles having been snipped off from its 

 natural affinity and united by Act of Parliament to the 

 southern adjacent country. 



The town itself stands at the junction of the river 

 Tweed with the German Ocean. The eastern wall of the 

 ancient fortification, the inner rampart of which still 

 remains nearly entire, though disarmed and partially 

 dismantled, approaches within 200yds. of the edge of the 

 sea-cliff, the base of which is washed by the waves every 

 tide, and from the southeast angle of the cliff a substan- 

 tial stone pier extends in a straight fine 220yds. to the 

 southward, when it turns off at a right angle and runs 

 eastward out to sea some 800yds. , and is surmounted at 

 the end by a neat stone lighthouse. At the landward 

 end of the pier the seacliff has a height of about 30ft., 

 and from this point it rises gradually i'or about two and 

 a half miles, when it culminates at Marshall Meadows 

 in a precipice of 800ft. It then sinks again in a short 

 distance to some 200ft. and maintains that average eleva- 

 tion for nearly twenty miles, when it terminates in the 

 black and frowning precipices of St. Abb's Head, the 

 eastern extremity of the vast mass of basaltic whin 

 which forms the bleak and barren range of the Lammer- 

 niuir hills. 



These riven and contorted cliffs, at the base of which 

 the billows of the North Sea beat incessantly, afford a 

 refuge and breeding place to countless myriads of sea- 

 fowl of various species — cormorants, razor-bills, puffins, 

 guillemots and gulls, from the great blackback with its 

 5ft. of wing-spread to the kittyhawks of 30in. Besides 

 these, hooded crows, jackdaws and rock pigeons have 

 their special quarters, and in the most rugged and inac- 

 cessible recesses two or three pairs of peregrine falcons 

 have established their aeries. 



This iron-bound coast extends along the northern arm 

 of Berwick Bay, while its southern arm is encircled by 

 the low and sloping shore which, commencing a short dis- 

 tance south of the mouth of the river Tweed, sinks down 

 into the oozy expanse of Goswick Sands and Fenham 

 Flats, and terminates in the bold promontory of Holy 

 Island or Sindisfarne, southward and eastward "of which 

 lie the Fame Islands and Staples Rocks, the scene of 

 Grace Darling's heroic rescue of the crew and passengers 

 of the wrecked steamship Forfarshire, in 1888. These 

 islands are the resort in the breeding season of numerous 

 gulls, terns and other sea and shore birds, and especially 

 of that grand bird, the eider duck, at one time nearly ex- 

 tinct, but now strictly protected against the incursions of 

 gunners and egg hunters. 



Every day when the tide answers, the gulls leave their 

 roosting places at St. Abb's Head to forage for then- living, 

 and while some of them troop off northward to the sands 

 of Dunbar and the shores of the Frith-of -Forth, others 

 wing their flight southward to their feeding places on 

 Goswick Sands, Fenham Flats and Holy Island beach, re- 

 tm-ning in the evening to their homes on the Head. 



To intercept these in their flight, the sportsmen of Bei- 

 wick have made what they call "gull-holes" on the pro- 

 jecting points of the cliff, by digging on each a hole about 

 8ft. diameter by 4 or 5ft. deep, in which the shooter can 

 crouch unseen by the birds until they come within killing 

 distance. From these blinds gulls are shot at ail seasons; 

 but the principal time for enjoying this sport is during 

 the months of August and September, when the young 

 birds have attained their full size and plumage, and are 

 able to accompany then parents in then flight to their 

 distant f eeding places. The most favorable condition is a 

 breeze from the southeast with an ebb tide. 



One evening near the end of August, 1884, having 

 awakened rather earlier than usual, and not feeling in- 

 clined to sleep again, I arose, took my gun, a single barrel 

 of 71bs,, 20-gauge, and sauntered along to the "Genesis" 

 gull-hole, about a mile and a half from my dwelling. 

 When I arrived there the sun was still below the horizon 

 and his beams were madiating the edges of a long low- 

 lying streak of cloud which appeared to rest upon the 

 extreme verge of the sea. The surface was as smooth as 

 a mirror, only agitated by the faint ground swell wliich 

 ever rises and sets in that stormy region; the tide was re- 

 ceding, and pretty well out. From my lofty perch, 100ft: 

 above the water which rippled gently among the rocks 

 at the base of the cliff, I looked out over the expanse of 

 Berwick Bay and noted the flight of the solan geese 

 passing along in strings of 8 or 10, their large white 

 bodies close to the surface, their long necks stretched out 

 straight before them (whence their local name of poker- 

 necks) and their black wing-tips ever and anon dipping 

 in the brine. A few solitary gulls, well out to sea, were 

 winging then- deliberate way southward, and two or 

 three of a smaller species kept hovering and circling 



