204 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 4, 1&8. 



stay, we heard at intervals the muffled explosions from 

 the blasts in the tunnels, by which the railroad was 

 seeking an entrance into the valley on its way to Ukiah. 



The brush was not so thick in this section as at our first 

 camp and the dreaded white thorn was rarely met with, 

 but the clumps of bay were plenty, and here and there, 

 especially near the tops of the ranges, could be seen small 

 groves of pines. In some places hundreds of acres had 

 been burred over: in some oases everything destroyed, 

 and in others the brush killed, but only partially con- 

 sumed, leaving a snaggy skeleton residue that furnished 

 no shelter for game and' wrought destruction to all cloth- 

 ing not of the very strongest material. Many of these 

 fires, it was stated, were set every fall by hunters from 

 the valleys in spots where the brush grew so tall and rank 

 that the deer could not be dislodged even by the hounds. 



While we were surveying this grand landscape the 

 warning howl of the indefatigable Grip came to us from 

 a gulch, near the head of which we were standing. Rip- 

 pey and B. ran down the left and the writer the right hand 

 ridge to intercept the deer if possible, should he attempt 

 to cross over. I had reached a point opposite the dog and 

 stood awaiting f urther developments, when a magnificent 

 five-point buck, much the largest and finest that we saw 

 on the whole trip, bounded out of the bottom and began 

 to ascend the other slope. Rippey and B. had separated, 

 one going on either side of a large knoll toward which 

 the deer was now running. Neither of them could see 

 him, and I was too far away to warn them of his approach. 

 I could see B. walking slowly along in one direction and 

 the deer rapidly approaching in the other, the swell of 

 the hill preventing then seeing each other until within 

 30yds. ; and at this instant B, got his first sight, as the deer 

 came loping gracefully over the brush, -which at this 

 point was not over two feet high. It was a situation B. 

 had never before been placed in, and for that matter 

 never got into again, at least on that trip, and his aston- 

 ishment was apparent even at my distance. Up came 

 his rifle, however, like a flash, and he fired, seeing the 

 deer and no doubt the front sight, but probably nothing 

 more. Straight on came the splendid creatine until 

 within ten yards — I actually thought he was running 

 right over him — when B. put in his second shot. How 

 he managed to make a clean miss at that distance is one 

 of those problems "that no feller can find out,'' 

 but he did all the same, although he afterward 

 solemnly assured me that the deer at that range 

 looked larger than an ordinary house. The deer at the 

 second shot turned back toward the gulch; but before 

 he disappeared in the tall brush B. sent two more bid- 

 lets after him , the last at a distance of about eighty yards, 

 but without turning a hair with either shot. Rippey, on 

 hearing the rapid firing, hurried around the knoll on the 

 back track, but arrived too late to take a hand or even see 

 the deer, while the writer, who had witnessed the whole 

 affair, sank to the ground in a state of hopeless imbecility. 

 When I met B. nearly an hour later, he inquired if I had 

 a good heavy pair of boots on, and if so, to apply them 

 vigorously, but I thought he had been punished enough 

 already, and only hinted that it looked as if he had been 

 suffering from a slight attack of the buck- ague at the 

 time. Three or four more deer were started in that 

 vicinity, but none nearly as large as this; and about nine 

 o'clock Rippey, from his stand in the ridge killed a fair- 

 sized buck, but our joy was seriously moderated by the 

 loss of that proud monarch of the hills. B., like Rachel, 

 refused to be comforted, and even the writer could not 

 help contrasting the magnificent horns the lost venison 

 carried with the rather scrubby antlers of this one. 



Returning to camp before noon we took lunch, and 

 saddling the horses we paid a visit to the ranch. It was 

 a summer resort, with several cottages scattered about 

 the main building, occupied by guests from San Fran- 

 cisco and elsewhere, who, in addition to the pure air of 

 this high altitude, preferred the home life, with the deli- 

 cious fruits, the bountiful table and the Jersey mdk, to 

 all of which they had free access, to the more aristocratic 

 medicinal springs in the country, where there was far 

 more style than comfort. Mr. and Mrs. Randolph, who 

 own and manage the place, received us most cordially, 

 although entire strangers, and the apples, cherries, black, 

 berries, etc. , f urnished us a treat we shall not soon for- 

 get. There were several young ladies stopping there, but 

 unfortunately for B. the thread in camp had entirely 

 given out, and he had been obliged to mend the later 

 rents in his apparel by tying them up with strings; this 

 prevented him from making so favorable an impression 

 as usual. As for the writer, his age and disreputable 

 appearance generally left him entirely out of the race. 

 Having plenty of horses to use, the people took frequent 

 hunting and fishing excursions, especially the latter, 

 being less laborious; and from the stream in which we 

 took our Sunday bath they had already taken over 1,800 

 trout that season. We returned to camp before sunset, 

 bringing in a big sack of apples and a can of butter. 



The next day was oppressively warm and we remained 

 most of the time in camp attending to the meat, reading, 

 etc. It was evident from the number of deer we started 

 the day before that it would be an easy task to average 

 one a day; but we were not there to see how many we 

 could kill and had no desire to get more than we could 

 readily dispose of. One thing that struck me as rather 

 singular was the scarcity of "varmints;" for notwith- 

 standing the number of deer, there seemed to be neither 

 cougars, wildcats, coyotes nor foxes. The chickens at 

 the ranch wandered off into the brush unmolested; and 

 we saw in the hills a small band of sheep so wild that 

 they never came down into the valley, and a number of 

 them had already been shot like deer. In one deep canon 

 we saw the track of a small bear; and there was some 

 coon sign on the streams, but nothing more that came 

 under our observation. Rattlesnakes had formerly been 

 very plenty, but the bush fires had destroyed most of 

 these, and we killed but one, which although of only 

 moderate size sported twelve rattles and a button. 



Late in the afternoon time began to hang a little heavy 

 on our hands and B. and I strolled down into the valley 

 with our shotguns, where we had plenty of sport with 

 the quail of both species, doves and rabbits; but as we all 

 preferred venison for the table, they were wasted even 

 after being dressed, and we killed no more of them. 



Wednesday morning f ound us upon the hills with the 

 dawn, and ushered in the longest, hardest and most ex- 

 citing hunt of the trip, lasting from 5 A. M. until 4 P. M. 

 Nine deer were started that day, four of which were seen 

 within range, two fine bucks running the gauntlet down 

 a gulch under a crossfire of about twenty shots from 



both sides at 200yds. range as they reached out for the 

 tall timber at about a two-minute gate. Both escaped 

 untouched as far as we could discover and it was 3 o'clock 

 before we made a kill, getting a buck slightly larger than 

 the last. Not needing it for present wants we packed it 

 upon a horse and sent it to the Randolphs in return for 

 the favors they had shown us. 



Thursday morning did not find us climbing the moun- 

 tain to any great extent. The long hunt of the day before 

 made us loath to roll off the blankets much before the 

 lark, and the fact that there was still plenty of meat on 

 hand no doubt served to intensify the sweet do-nothing 

 disposition that seemed to pervade the whole camp. B. 

 and the writer had been gaining rapidly that which we 

 were most seeking, renewed health and vigor; the tallest 

 peaks had now no terrors for our toughened sinews, and 

 the jaded look we had brought from the city was entirely 

 gone. The change wrought in B. especially was wonder- 

 ful. The first day's hunt, although an easy one compared 

 to those wo took later, had used him up completely; his 

 stomach was also badly out of tune, and he had brought 

 along a pot of beef extract and a package of a particular 

 kind of tea, without which he believed fife would be in- 

 supportable. These had been tin-own to the winds some 

 time before, and a big chunk of roasted venison with a 

 tin pint cup of strong black coffee were now his usual 

 beginning of a "square meal." His vigorous constitution 

 had quickly rallied under the fostering influence of this 

 wild life, until Rippey himself could not wear him out in 

 a day's tramp among the hills. It is but doing him justice, 

 however, to say that he had discarded his shooting 

 jacket after the first day, and had found a woolen shirt 

 and pantaloons ample for all purposes. 



Late in the afternoon we took our guns and went out 

 for a short hunt, started three or four deer and banged 

 away half a dozen times at two running bucks at long- 

 range, with no visible result except to increase their 

 speed, returning empty-handed to camp at sunset. Old 

 Grip manifested his displeasure at this arrangement in a 

 very marked manner, but whether it was because he was 

 reluctant to return without meat, or simply disgusted at 

 our poor shooting, we had no means of ascertaining. 



On Friday, after visiting the ranch and bidding our 

 friends good-bye, we broke camp and started for Lake- 

 port. The shortest cut to the wagon was over two ridges 

 heavily covered with brush, and while slowly traveling- 

 Indian file along the crest of the first, a spike-buck, the 

 only deer we saw on the trip not started by the dogs, was 

 seen slowly ascending the other slope. Rippey and B. 

 were in advance of the writer, who was leading one of 

 the horses with the other following, and they both fired 

 at once, sending two bullets through his body; he ran a 

 short distance and fell. Rippey and I then* stopped to 

 keep him in sight, wdiile B. hurried down the slope to 

 finish the killing should it be found necessary. Just as 

 he approached the deer caught sight of him, and by a 

 desperate struggle regained his feet and plunged head- 

 long down the steep hillside, but in an instant Grip had 

 him by the throat and succeeded in stopping him within 

 fifty yards. We soon had him in a condition to pack: 

 and arriving at the wagon without further adventure we 

 reached Lakeport about dusk, much to the satisfaction of 

 B., the dusk part I mean, who instantly disappeared in 

 the nearest clothing store, side-tracking from there to a 

 barber's shop, from which he emerged gotten up in style 

 that would have passed muster on Market street. 



My story is now nearly told. Warm as-the weather 

 was we determined to take the horns of the spike-buck 

 home to our families, which we succeeded in doing by 

 placing them in flour sacks and hanging them up in the 

 stage and cars, reaching the city with them in good 

 order the next evening. While we had not exterminated 

 deer in that section, having killed only four and shot at 

 about twenty, we returned in excellent heath and spirits, 

 and with pleasant memories of the trip for many days 

 to come. B. , it is true, had a touch of pathos in his voice 

 and a far away look in his eyes whenever he spoke of 

 the big buck of High Valley, but that was to be expected 

 and was certainly pardonable. One of the most remark- 

 able features of that region was the perfect exemption 

 we enjoyed from all kinds of insect pests, neither of us 

 receiving a bite from anything of the kind during out- 

 stay in the mountains. 



I cannot refrain from saying a word about the people 

 we met there. The treatment we received at their hands 

 both in Lakeport and High Valley was of the most 

 friendly character, and the many unsolicited and unex- 

 pected favors of which we were the recipients, always 

 bestowed in the most unostentatious manner, incline me 

 to place them among the most hospitable people I have 

 ever met. Fokkjep " 



East Oakland, Oal. 



SNAKES AND THEIR YOUNG. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It is asserted by residents of the Rocky Mountain reg- 

 ions that mountain lions climb trees. I have never 9een 

 a mountain lion climb a tree. But have not I as much 

 right to say "it is a mistake," mountain lions do not 

 climb trees, as has Mr. Starkweather to assert, then, be- 

 cause he has never seen the act. young snakes do not 

 take refuge in the stomach of their mother? 



The largest portion of my life of forty years has been 

 passed out of doors, in the fields and on' the broad plains 

 of Iowa, with dog and gun, by the sides of her streams, 

 and in the forests lining the banks of her creeks and 

 rivers, beginning at a time when the home of the farmer 

 was the exception and not the rule. I also spent several 

 years on a prairie farm in this goodly State, at a time 

 when the prairies, the fields and the sloughs and streams 

 abounded in snakes of all varieties and species. Famili- 

 arity with them bred a contempt and roused a desire to 

 know something of them, their ways, their habits, likes 

 and dislikes, their fears and confidences. Consequently 

 I improved every opportunity to observe them, and soon 

 came to handle all the fangless species. Had I seen but 

 once the brood of young snakes take the way to fancied 

 security through the mouth of the parent I would wil- 

 lingly admit my liability to be mistaken, but it is a per- 

 formance that I have witnessed time and again. 



The first time I observed the operation I was uncertain 

 as to where the little streaks of snake had gone, because 



although I was sure they had taken refuge inside their 

 mother, she took herself into a hole in the ground before 

 I had opportunity to satisfy myself that I could believe 

 the evidence of my own senses, as I knew the said evi- 

 dence was sometimes defective. It was not long after- 

 ward that I witnessed the same grand entry again, and 

 in this case captured and killed the parent and found in 

 her more than twenty-five little reptiles. I have been 

 close enough to the actors in this little side show to see 

 the belly of the parent gradually distend as one after an- 

 other of the infants disappeared down the throat of their 

 harbor of refuge. There is no action on the part of the 

 receptacle of the swarm of wrigglers. She simply opens 

 opens her mouth, and the little snakes glide down her 

 throat with apparently as little effort as they would down 

 a hole in the ground. 



It is Mr. Starkweather, not Miss Wolcott, who is mis- 

 taken. I have seen both watersnakes and gartersnakes 

 perform this action, but never saw any other variety do 

 it. Dupont. 



Iowa City, Iowa. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have read with great pleasure and interest in your 

 valuable paper the pros and cons of "Snake Swallowing 

 Young," and though not a reptologist nor an expert in 

 names, genera, species, etc., I take the liberty to con- 

 tribute my mite in regard to facts. Some ten years ago 

 I came suddenly on one of the striped black and yellow 

 snakes, so common in New England, and was very much 

 surprised to see three or four small snakes run down its 

 open mouth. I kept quiet, and the old snake being not 

 especially alarmed, two small heads suddenly appeared 

 at the mother's mouth and tried hard to get away. A 

 year or two after my brother and 1 came across another 

 snake of the same kind, as I remember, but am not cer- 

 tain. She was very much swollen in the middle, and 

 when about to investigate this, she became alarmed, 

 raised her head, opened her mouth and some small snakes 

 ran in. Disposing of the mother we began to dissect her, 

 when two small snakes came from her mouth and we 

 also found forty other snakes inside in every degree of 

 development, from some almost ready to go off on their 

 own account, to those apparently in embryo. In what 

 part of her anatomy these were I do not pretend to say. 

 That some kind of snakes open their mouths and the 

 young run in there can be no doubt. Whether or not, 

 as Mr. Starkweather says, "there is misconception and 

 misrepresentation about* them," in this vicinity all kinds 

 are killed, for the simple reason that they kill so many 

 toads, and one toad is worth many snakes to a farmer. 

 In fact here we have found so many snakes, either with 

 toads inside them or else in the act of swallowing them 

 that we have almost come to the conclusion that toads 

 form then chief food and one will last a snake some 

 time. Steel. 



OTTERS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA. 



TTHE American who reads the angling and fishcultural 

 .JL literature of Europe cannot fail to notice the fre- 

 quency of otters in the thickly populated districts of most 

 of the countries which have such a literature, and to 

 wonder why this animal, which is practically extinct in 

 the older settled portions of America, should be a pest in 

 the salmon and trout streams there. Even in the moun- 

 tainous wilds of the. Adirondacks the otter is so rare as to 

 surprise the trapper, and in Maine it is not at all plenty: 

 but the German fishculturists have to contend with this 

 fish-eater and reckon it among then foes which must be 

 guarded against or destroyed. The German papers, 

 especially the Fischerei Zeiiung, publish weekly accounts 

 of the capture of otters in the preserved streams, and 

 print advertisements of ingenious devices for their cap- 

 ture. 



The English Fishing Gazette says: "The increase of 

 otters on the streams of the Cleveland and northeast 

 Yorkshire district, and the desire for this kind of pas- 

 time has led Sir Charles Legard to set up a pack of otter 

 hounds, and show some sport. The pack has only re- 

 cently been formed, and so far as it has gone has provided 

 much pleasure already. Last week it paid a visit to the 

 lower waters of the Rye, and the streams running into 

 it, and a bit of exciting work was shown to a large field. 

 Just before reaching the bridge a drag was struck, and 

 the hounds gave mouth. At once some very spirited 

 hunting began. The music of the hounds and horn, and 

 the shouts of the onlookers made the dale very lively for 

 a time, and though the hounds did capitally, and were 

 well handled by the huntsman, the capital fifty minutes 

 tip and down stream ended in the fish-poacher eluding 

 his pursuers. The chase had been a hot one, but the 

 otter which was a fine dog one, succeeded in getting into 

 deep water, and by diving hid himself and disappointed 

 his enemies. After this the Rye was hunted to its 

 mouth. The old Derwent was there struck into, but no 

 more sport was seen, and the pack turned homeward, 

 reaching the village of Old Jlalton about four o'clock. 

 Although the field was much chagrined that a kill could, 

 not be chronicled after such a day, they had the satis- 

 faction of knowing that a fine quarry exists for a future 

 day, which anglers will be glad to learn will be shortly." 

 In another issue of the same journal is given a spirited 

 description of an otter hunt in the Border Esk by the 

 Carlisle otter hounds, in which a dog otter of 271bs." was 

 killed by the hounds after an exciting run and a sharp 

 fight. 



In Scotland the "river poacher" is also plenty. A cor- 

 respondent of the Hawick News says that he has fished 

 the Tweed and its tributaries for over sixty years, and he 

 never saw otters so rife as at present. In all broad Scot- 

 land a pack of otter hounds does not exist, although otters 

 are plentiful, especially in the southern rivers. If a pack 

 could be got together, there is no doubt but splendid sport 

 of a particulary popular description would be the result. 



When it is remembered that these districts are well 

 settled ones, and that in America a pack of otter hounds 

 might range through hundreds of miles of almost prim- 

 eval forest without striking the trail of an otter, it is 

 evident that there must be a great difference in the 

 habits of the people, for the otter once ranged over all 

 the populous Eastern States of America, and is now 

 found only in the more thinly settled portions, and in 

 the wilds of the northwest and of British America. 

 Here the trapper and the hunter precedes the settler, and 

 the beaver, the otter and the wolf are exterminated, or 

 so thinned out as to be a rarity to the farmer's boy, be- 

 fore the district is at all populous, and the mink and the 



