294 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 2, 1888. 



he ^gortett\mt flautist. 



PUGET SOUND JOTTINGS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



An incident that occurred last April while I was circu- 

 lating one of the Forest and Stream petitions for the 

 preservation of the National Park, was brought to mind 

 a few days ago, and it struck ine that it might interest 

 some of your readers. 



I had taken the petition into a jewelry store where 

 several friends had congregated, and, after they had all 

 signed it, we were engaged in a discussion of various 

 features of the National Park, when in came a settler 

 from Whidby Island. I recognized him, and knowing 

 he was fond of hunting, asked him to sign the petition. 

 I instantly saw by the expression of his face that the sub- 

 ject was entirely new to him, and that he had evidently 

 never even heard of the Yellowstone Park, sol explained 

 the situation to him at great length. He then refused to 

 sign the petition, and I asked him why. He replied: 

 "Because I have so much trouble with deer that I don't 

 want them protected anywhere. They get into my 

 garden and eat everything up, making life a burden." 



This statement was the more surprising when I remem- 

 bered that during the previous season the hunters almost 

 invariably came home empty-handed, so I concluded to 

 investigate. The result was to convince me that rather 

 than decreasing the number of deer was on the increase 

 on this island, This is due to two causes: Firstly, the 

 extermination of cougars, which formerly preyed on the 

 deer. Secondly, the education of the deer to the white 

 man's fatal modes of hunting and consequent change of 

 habits. They now hide away in the dense thickets during 

 the day and can only be found by the use of dogs, which 

 is prohibited by law. At night they steal forth and make 

 raids on the truck patches of the settler. That is the 

 reason the deer, though as numerous on the islands as 

 ever, are not so frequently seen as formerly. 



A good story is told on Joe Lynch, one of the best 

 known and most successful of the veteran hunters of 

 Puget Sound. It is a common report among the boys 

 that every deer on the islands know Joe. He formerly 

 lived at "Deception, on the south end of Fidalgo Island, 

 but has been away all winter, returning for a visit a few 

 M'eeks ago. During his absence some blasting operations 

 on the other end of the island drove the deer all over 

 around Joe's old home, and his former companions were 

 having great sport until Joe appeared on the scene. The 

 instant the deer heard of his return they all disappeared, 

 knowing it was certain death to remain in that vicinity, 

 and have not been seen since. 



By the way, this same gentleman has the honor of hav- 

 ing killed the only bear ever seen on Fidalgo Island since 

 the advent of white men. This island is some fifteen 

 miles long and eight wide, and is only separated from the 

 mainland by a channel some 400 or 500yds. wide. How- 

 ever, though bears were found on the other island, the 

 hunters, with the exception of Mr, Lynch, always averred 

 that ther e were none on Fidalgo. Joe took exception to 

 the statement, and for years maintained that he had seen 

 signs of bruin and would yet bag his game. He finally 

 demonstrated the truth of his assertion by locating and 

 killing the "critter," and as evidence of good faith brought 

 one of the claws to my office on June 23, 1887, 



Owing to the open winter, extending as far north as 

 Alaska, ducks were not nearly so numerous on Puget 

 Sound as usual this year. Though not appearing in such 

 countless myriads, there were still enough to astonish the 

 average tenderfoot, but the continued fair weather has 

 spoiled the hunting, the ducks all flocking to the center 

 of the bays, instead of seeking the Blougbs and land- 

 locked waters. Even the Indians, though frequently 

 bringing canoe loads to market, were not so successful as 

 usual, and ducks on the hotel tables were a rarity — some- 

 thing that was never before known to occur. 



Indications now point to an early ran of salmon this 

 year. The Indians are already bringing in many sal- 

 mon trout. We expect good trolling in July or August. 

 Last year it was much later, I believe, the best sport 

 being about the 10th or 15th of October. June. 



La Conneb, W. T., April 15. 



RANCHING IN TEXAS. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



This country has, by legislative enactment, been laid 

 off into counties, or what are to be counties when they 

 become sufficiently populated to organize. It is now a 

 stock country, where ranches are ten, twenty and thirty 

 miles apart, and our grandfathers on the frontier knew 

 no more primitive style of living than at present obtains 

 in this country. After having traveled all day without 

 seeing a ranch, the traveler unacquainted with our style 

 and knowing he was approaching a ranch where the 

 cattle are numbered by the thousands, might naturally 

 look for a neat and substantial house, with extensive and 

 well-filled barn, stables, etc., all with strong pretentions 

 to architectural beauty. This is the imaginary part of 

 ranch life. When the imaginative traveler has found it 

 in reality, there is a pit or cellarlike excavation about 

 14x16ft., generally in the side of a hill, fronting south, 

 with poles laid over the excavation and about a foot of 

 earth thrown over the poles for a roof. Another similar 

 Structure near at hand, if it be winter time, will be filled 

 with flour, bacon and other provisions, and a lot of sacked 

 corn or oats, all hauled long distances over nature's roads 

 and often some of nature's pretty rough work. These 

 "dugouts," as the pits are called, serve to protect the 

 ranchmen from the snows and "northers" of winter, and 

 occasional rains in spring, summer and fall. 



Winter is the season when there is little work with 

 stock, and most of the ranchmen and many of the stock 

 hands leave for the towns and settlements where they 

 can enjoy some of the advantages of civilized life. It is 

 also the season for hunters from the towns and settle- 

 ments to come and kill the surplus game which has grown 

 during the year. One of these hunting parties has just 

 completed a ton days' hunt and returned to their homes. 

 The results were, one bear, nine deer, ten antelopes, one 

 panther, forty-seven prairie wolves, two large gray 

 wolves, three catamounts, one fox, a few wild turkeys 

 and some smaller game. They found the trails of two 

 other bears, but from the loss of some of their favorite 

 hounds the bears were not taken. Hunting parties are 

 always pa,rticularly welcomed by the stockmen, as large 



numbers of calves and colts are destroyed by the carnivor- 

 ous classes of wild animals, and it is a great saving of 

 stock to have the beasts killed. A bounty law is in opera- 

 tion, but it is a local option matter with the county of- 

 ficials, to which these unorganized counties are attached, 

 and is inefficient. The mountain lion is the most savage 

 animal with which we have to contend, and they are ugly 

 creatures, sometimes killing horses which are tied out to 

 graze, This was done some time since, not far from 

 where I now write. 



I have been in camp through the winter. We have not 

 had ice exceeding a quarter of an inch in thickness, and 

 toward the end of January I heard wild turkey gobblers 

 for the first time. Birds begin their spring songs in that 

 month. The winter was unusually mild, but thunder 

 showers of warm rain have fallen at frequent intervals 

 all winter, with bright sunshine usually following. Stock 

 have done well. 



Winter is now past, and the last hunting parties are 

 about closing their sports for the season. The number of 

 deer and turkeys killed is not as great as formerly, for 

 the reason that they are not as plentiful. The great 

 number of panthers and catamounts caused parties to 

 equip specially for them, and as a result many more than 

 usual have been killed. One man on the Double Moun- 

 tain Fork of the Brazos River killed ten panthers up to 

 the first of February. The number since has not been 

 learned. One of my shepherds a few days since came 

 across a large deer that had just been killed by a panther 

 or a mountain lion. It was yet fresh, but coyotes or 

 prairie wolves, as soon as the beast that had killed the 

 deer had left, at once pounced upon the carcass and com- 

 pletely tore it to pieces. The shepherds often find it diffi- 

 cult to keep these coyotes off of the flocks of sheep during 

 the day. Good wolf -proof corrals keep them off at night. 

 One of my shepherds is a new arrival from "the States," 

 as we old Texans say when speaking of the older States 

 of the Union. This shepherd had never seen a wild tur- 

 key. I showed him some large trees about half a mile 

 from camp, and told him to go there after dark and he 

 would find them. He went, and soon came back puffing 

 and blowing with two large gobblers and a hen. Said he 

 would have taken more, but that was all he could carry. 

 The next day his shepherd dog treed a fox, which he 

 killed. Then his dog bounced a catamount, but it bounced 

 off again, glad to let his catship alone. Great numbers of 

 calves, colts and sheep are annually killed by wild ani- 

 mals, and the Legislature of Texas, now about to adjourn, 

 have for some time been discussing a law with the object 

 of paying a sufficient bounty for the destruction of these 

 animals, to make it an object to hunt and destroy them. 

 It is to be hoped such a law will soon go into effect. 



Great activity will soon prevail among stockmen, as 

 the annual roundups are soon to begin, when thousands 

 of cattle will be thrown together every day, the owner or 

 his representative being there to cut out and claim his 

 own. 



I was driven from city and office life, where overwork 

 had ruined my health, to this rough life, and have gained 

 in health wonderfully by the change, while my purse is 

 not suffering, having cattle, horses and sheep, the 3,500 

 sheep demanding my attention and keeping me in win- 

 ter camps. Stockman. 



Jayton, Kent County, Texas. 



WOLVES AND OTHER THINGS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Have just returned from a trip into Stonewall county, 

 about seventy-five miles west. There they have the big- 

 gest wolves in the world, I think. And their voices are 

 very great and sonorous; so that when a few of them let 

 fly in concert, they seem to shake the hills. They make 

 the atmosphere tremble very distinctly. It is worth one's 

 while to go into that region and sleep a few nights in the 

 grizzly canons to hear the music. In order that there 

 may be a large number in chorus, it would be well to 

 hang up the skinned carcass of a deer or antelope near 

 your couch; then retire to rest and the serenade will soon 

 begin. The more savory the carcass, so that it be not 

 spoiled, the more earnestly will the musicians perform. 

 They will usually end every song or role with a smart 

 smacking of their jaws, as if they were tasting in fancy 

 the rich meat. I dare say that while thus performing, 

 with all eyes gleaming on the savory carcass, then- 

 mouths are watering copiously. One who has not heard 

 such a serenade is ignorant of one of the most interesting 

 things in nature. There is just enough of suspicion of 

 danger attending these concerts to keep the attention 

 keenly alive. There is not much probability that one 

 would fall asleep, and so miss some of the music, even 

 though the performances be kept up till good dawn of 

 day. Indeed, a good wolf concert, with the performers 

 a few yards off, is one of the most wakesome things in 

 the world. There are few people in Stonewall county, 

 but wolves are very numerous; gray wolves, black wolves 

 and coyotes. 



I secured the skin of one which measures now 6ft. 6in. 

 from tip to tip, and 3ft. in width. It has been dry some 

 months, and is greatly shrunken. It was no doubt more 

 than a foot longer and a half -foot or more wider when 

 stripped from the animal. I shall dress it for a robe, and 

 under the treatment I expect it to reach its original size. 

 This wolf was a gray wolf. At the same time I obtained 

 two beautiful coyote skins. In fact all three of the skins 

 are very beautiful and rich. 



I met a cowboy who had a couple of skins of the black 

 wolf, which I vainlv tried to persuade him to part with. 

 They were not all black, but there were streaks of rich 

 brown, and the hair was very soft and silken. Their 

 ears are deep black; those of the gray wolf and coyote 

 are yellow, or in color precisely like what is often called 

 a "yaller dorg." I wrote you some months ago about a 

 white wolf that had been seen near this place. They tell 

 me he has lately been seen again. I would his skin were 

 mine. But as this beautiful wolf's life is probably as 

 dear to him as mine is to me, I will not put a price upon 

 him, lest some of the bad boys about here be tempted to 

 kill him. 



I wish Forest and Stream would publish a recipe for 

 dressing skins with the hair on. I am ignorant of this 

 art and would like to learn it. I find a strange fancy 

 growing upon me to own many dressed skins of wild 

 beasts. 



On this trip I saw many blue quail (Callipepla squa<- 

 mata). After crossing the 100th meridian they became 

 very numerous. On the east of that line I saw but a 



single flock, and they were not far from it. About five 

 years ago I observed this bird closely, and never before 

 saw one further east than about twelve miles this side of 

 the 101st meridian. Thus it appears that they are slowly 

 advancing eastward, becoming civilized probably. 



On this trip I saw a most noble country, wonderful for 

 fertility and most lovable for beauty and climate. Has- 

 kell county, lying east of Stonewall, is for the most part 

 level like a billiard table; stoneless and almost treeless, 

 except hackberries, elms, cedars and plums along the 

 streams. The latter grow in great abundance, and their 

 fruit is large and luscious. The algeretta, a sort of ber- 

 berry, is also abundant in places, yielding a berry delight- 

 ful for pies, and I think it would also make good wine. 

 Throckmorton, east of Haskell, is a region of rolling 

 prairies, underlaid by limestones of the Permian or upper 

 carboniferous age. Haskell is Triassic. Stonewall has 

 also much fine country, but there are parts which are 

 fearfully rough and forbidding; ghoul-like, witch-like, 

 terrific, and full of snakes and skunks. The ah- is often 

 laden with the odor of these walking rosebuds, the most 

 impudent creatures that exist. 



A peculiar feature of the country west of Haskell is 

 the mountainous peaks that usually stand solitary, some- 

 times two together, looking over a vast expanse of prairie, 

 many miles apart. Such are Double Mountains, Kiowa 

 Peak and Buzzard's Peak. These mountains, as I am 

 told, are capped with massive limestone, probably of 

 Jurassic age. They are historians, venerable historians, 

 informing: us of the elevation at which the surface of this 

 country once stood, and the vast erosion that has been 

 wrought by water. 



In the western part of Haskell county the Brazos Eiver 

 divides into two nearly equal streams, one coming from 

 southwest sweeping by the base of Double Mountains, 

 and hence called Double Mountain Fork: the other from 

 northwest, very salty, and hence called Salt Fork. The 

 Double Mountain Fork is good water. 



As I gazed on the Double Mountains, which I had not 

 seen since thirty years ago, my mind filled up with remi- 

 niscences and comparisons. Some of these we may tell 

 later on. N. A. T. 



CahbondatjE, Tex. 



FIVE DAYS A SAVAGE.-IV. 



NOTES OF A HUNTER-NATURALIST IN THE NORTHWEST. 



pi TJLF OF GEORGIA, British Columbia. — Early on the 

 VJT morning of the fourth day I turn out and built up 

 my fire with some great logs, for it is very chilly here in 

 the early morning. Then sitting down, I skinned my birds 

 killed the day before, using an old barrel for a table. T 

 took breakfest with the fisherman, whose squaw was a 

 good cook. In fact, so far I have found that these squaws 

 who have married white men are nearly all good, cooks, 

 and they say that one of the squaw-men would not ex- 

 change his squaw for the best white woman that ever 

 lived. Well, there is no accounting for tastes. 



There was a little dinghy drawn up on the beach, which 

 the fisherman used to go out to his boat. His three chil- 

 dren (of whom the youngest was not three years old and 

 the oldest about ten) would run to this little box of a boat, 

 pile in, and, the oldest taking the oars, they would dash 

 out on the bay, the boy pulling as if his life depended on 

 it. Then turning, he would row ashore, and all would 

 pile out into the water and pull up the boat. They 

 seemed perfectly at home on or in the water. When I 

 told the squaw that I had shot some birds, and showed 

 her the cormorant as one, she seemed surprised, said they 

 were hard to kill and that they were good eating. This 

 was news to me, as I supposed they would have about 

 the flavor of a kerosene lamp wick. However, as I now 

 had more respect for the Indian's taste in culinary mat- 

 ters, I resolved to try one for dinner. Talking with the 

 man about birds, he said there was a rock a few miles off 

 on the east side of this island where there were many 

 sea birds, and that with this tide I might just about 

 reach it, 



I determined to try. But the fisherman was wrong, 

 for the tide turned and a head wind sprang up, and when 

 within half a mile of the island I was vexed to find I 

 could not gain another foot. As the wind and tide were 

 both fair for me to return to the rocks where I had spent 

 the day before, I put out for them and soon landed on 

 the larger of the two. Here I explored the rocky face 

 on the west side, and found in the crevices numbers of 

 the beautiful eggs of the pigeon guillemot. It seems 

 that this rock had on it a flock of sheep, which were con- 

 tinually climbing up and down. I suppose the birds 

 became so accustomed to this that they paid little atten- 

 tion to my presence. At any rate some of them sat so 

 closely on their eggs that I caught them alive. I found 

 here a few of the black oyster catchers out on the reefs, 

 and crawling up carefully I shot a pair of them. Going 

 out on the edge of the reef to get them I looked for signs 

 of nesting and finally saw a nest and one egg. As I do 

 not know that the nest of this bird has been described I 

 will give a description. 



On these outer reefs there is here and there in a hollow 

 between two ridges a round depression, saucer -shaped 

 and perhaps 6 to lOin. in diameter, which has been hol- 

 lowed out probably by the action of the wind, which has 

 for ages whirled the sand and debris round and round. 

 The rock itself is a kind of conglomerate or pudding 

 stone and full of little pebbles, dark and mottled in color. 



Some of these as they become loosened by various 

 causes, roll down into the cavities. Well, right in one 

 of these saucer-shaped depressions lay the egg, and it 

 seems that the bird had been arranging pebbles under- 

 neath it, for they were nicely laid in concentric circles 

 with the egg in the center. The dark mottled egg har- 

 monized well with its surroundings, being almost exactly 

 the color of the vein in the rock and but little lighter 

 than the pebbles. To say that I was pleased feebly ex- 

 presses my feelings, as I had been looking for this for 

 two weeks, I hunted the island over, but although I 

 found a few more birds and one or two nests, the crows 

 had been there before me, and not another egg did I see. 



Climbing the sides of the cliffs I found a few nests of 

 the glaucous-winged gulls with eggs, but no nests of 

 the white-headed gull, though a number of them were 

 flying about. I found one gull's nest containing a young 

 bird and two pipped eggs. I took the little downy young 



