264 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Oct. 25, 188S- 



the surf ace of the ground in places where their entrances 

 are the least likely to he observed, as in tufts of grass or 

 similar spots. Among the other soft substances chosen 

 to line the central nest, it is said that the female often 

 plucks her fur to assist to the same end. 



Agriculturists charge this animal with barking and 

 thus killing many of then fruit trees, more especially 

 pears, plums and apples; and no doubt in the vicinity of 

 gardens and nurseries it is often guilty of doing no little 

 amount of damage. Sometime during the early spring 

 the female brings forth in her underground nest some 

 six or seven young ones, and I believe they bear but once 

 during the year, possibly twice. Should one attempt to 

 capture with his unarmed hand one of these creatures, he 

 will find that they can use their sharp incisor teeth with 

 wonderful effectiveness, keeping up a series of sharp 

 squeals at a high note during; the entire t ime. Gophers 

 can travel backward down then burrows nearly as fast 

 as they can by the usual forward method of locomotion, 

 and it is said that they often fight among themselves, 

 using their snouts for the purpose, as we often see pigs 

 do. As in the case of rata and other rat-like animals, 

 they will, when eating, sit up on their haunches and use 

 then f orepaws to hold the food which is being consumed: 

 and like so many others of the order to which they be- 

 long, they are very fond of dressing then fur and whiskers, 

 using their forepaws for the purpose, and they will often 

 scratch their sides by bringing up their hind paws, per- 

 forming the action in a rapid and nervous manner. Dur- 

 ing the cold winter months these animals hibernate, while 

 at other seasons they are chiefly nocturnal in their habits. 

 [to be concluded.] 



JELLY FISH IN FRESH WATER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I was trout fishing last week with three friends at a 

 pond on the Barrens, about fifteen miles from here, and 

 about fifty yards from the railroad: the officials of which 

 obligingly made a flag station for our convenience. "We 

 spent three pleasant days in camp, and thanks to Doctor 

 Nessmuk we bade defiance to the flies, both great and 

 small. His prescription for "punky dope" proved most 

 efficacious, but very dirty. I suppose most of your readers 

 would call the fishing good. One of my companions in 

 about ten hours caught eleven dozen beautiful trout, 

 weighing from a half-pound to a pound. I caught about 

 two dozen and fished no more, thanks to Forest and 

 Stream ethics, which I tried in vain to inculcate, but my 

 young friend listened and fished on. He was not un 

 I'hien du sentiment, and no appeal in favor of posterity 

 affected him. "What did posterity ever do for me that I 

 should deprive myself of a pleasure for their sake?" is a 

 ready and smart answer, but of the earth-earthy. 



All this by the way, but my object hi writing is to state 

 a fact and ask a question. This fact is, we saw and ex- 

 amined jelly fish in this fresh- water poud. They were 

 numerous, both large and small; the largest five to six 

 inches in diameter, the small about the size of a half- 

 dollar. They were of a greenish color and convex shape, 

 and I thought closely resembled, except in color, those 

 found in sea water. 



I have fished for many years and never noticed them 

 before, and I will be obliged if you inform me whether 

 they are known or are common in your American ponds. 



Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, July 12. B. 



[If our correspondent will send on a specimen we may 

 identify the "jelly fish."] 



A CAPTIVE GROUSE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Speaking about grouse, I was just admiring the rich 

 fall plumage of the male bird sent me last October 

 by Mr. Edward Swift, of Elmira, N. Y. This bird, evi- 

 dently a last year chick, has moulted nicely, and is as fine 

 a specimen as one would wish to see, all his markings 

 perfect, and the tail especially very full and long, with 

 the two central feathers characterized by the broken 

 irregular band at the end, while all the other tail feathers 

 are banded in clear black and white. When he came to 

 me, a year ago, he was the wildest specimen I had ever 

 received, having been but a few weeks from the woods. 

 Now he comes up readily when called, and if I sit down 

 in the coops he walks up my leg, or jumps at once into my 

 lap, where he feeds readily from my hand. He even 

 thinks it great fun to reach up and take kernels of corn 

 from between my hps, a trick which he performs with 

 great dexterity. 



It still seems to me that I cannot afford to give up the 

 attempt to rear a brood of grouse without one more effort, 

 and I am hoping to get one or two hens this fall to take 

 the place of the one lost last May. And if any of the read- 

 ers of Forest and Stream can put me on the track of 

 any female ruffed grouse which have been "reduced to 

 possession," I shall feel exceedingly grateful to them, and 

 to the paper as well. ' J. B. Battelle. 



Toledo, O., Oct. 17. 



American Ornithologists' Union.— The sixth Con- 

 gress of the American Ornithologists' Union will convene 

 in Washington, D. C„ on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 1838, at 11 

 o'clock A. M. The meeting will be held in the lecture 

 room of the U, S. National Museum. The presentation of 

 ornithological papers is expected to form a prominent 

 feature of the meeting.— C. Hart Merriam. Secretay 

 (Washington, D. C). 



Breeding op Grizzly Bears.— In Mr. Thompson's 

 paper on grizzly bear breeding last week the type made 

 him say eighty instead of sixty days for the period of 

 young bears leaving the nest. 



A Dining Caii Lute to the Pacific Coast.— The completion of the all rail 

 line between Portland, Ore., and San Franeteco gives the Pwclflc coast trav- 

 eler an opportunity to patronize the famous Dining Car and Yellowstone 

 Park Line, the Northern Pacific Railroad. The sportsman traveling In the 

 West, whether a lover of the rod or gun, naturally seeks this road, pene- 

 trating as It does the lake park region of Minnesota, and running through 

 the valleys of such trout streams as the Yellowstone, Gallatin, Hell Gate, 

 Clark's Fork, Spokane, Yakima and Green Rivers, for a distance of fully 

 1,500 miles, as well as lying Immediately contiguous to the finest hunting 

 grounds in the United States, viz., The Big Horn, Snowy Belt, Bitter Root, 

 Coeur D'AIene and Cascade Mountains. Information In regard to this 

 region can be obtained by addressing Charles S. Fee, Q eneral Passenger 

 and Ticket Agent, N.R, R„ P. St. Paul, Mlnn.-vldt!. 



<§<itm §zg mid §ttq. 



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 

 Gun in California. By T. S. Van Dyke. ' Price $1.50. 

 Shore Birds. Price 1 5 cents. Woodcraft. By "Ness- 

 muk." Price $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents. Wild Fowl Shooting: see advertisement. 



NOTES FROM THE ROCKIES. 



PUEBLO, Colo., Oct. 10.— At the Union depot of this 

 town there is shown the stump of an enormous Cot- 

 tonwood, which bears this inscription: "Pueblo's Big 

 Tree, the Old Monarch. Age, 380 years; circumference, 

 28ft.; height, 88ft." This tree was cut down in Pueblo 

 on June 25, 1883, at an expense of $250. It was known 

 throughout Colorado as the oldest landmark in the State. 

 During the Pike's Peak excitement this tree sheltered 

 many a weary traveler. In 1850 there were thirty- 

 six persons massacred by the Indians while camping near 

 the tree. Kit Carson, Wild Bill, Buffalo Bill and other 

 noted Indian scouts have built their camp-fires under 

 this tree. It is said that fourteen men were hanged on one 

 of its limbs at different times. The first white woman 

 who died in Colorado was buried under its branches. 



Veta Pass, Oct. 11.— Morning— I woke up on the train 

 flunking I was a corkscrew. It is only the curves. 



Alamosa.— A good breakfast. The landlord says trout 

 of good size can be caught near by, in the Rio Grande. 

 Mountain sheep and deer are plentiful in the Conejos 

 range, which we approach. Wagon Wheel Gap, just 

 above us, is a grand locality for trout. I weep that I can- 

 not stop off for a day at least. The mountains exercise 

 their old fascination. 



Conejos. — The conductor refuses to stop the train 

 while I get off and catch a trout. He is a very cruel man. 



Subiette. — The country is wonderful, wonderful. 

 Stream after stream is passed and all have plenty of trout. 

 I am gradually growing wild. I want co fish. 



Foltec. — A herd of fifteen deer were scared off the 

 track near here yesterday. The Foltec Gorge is grand. 



Charma. — A good dinner. Chief of interest, however, 

 is the fact that a man caught 27 nice trout here yesterday. 



Monero. — Miners near here to-day killed a big bear, 

 not over a mile and a half from the railroad. 



Tor of the Continental Divide. — I have just taken 

 a subscription for Forest and Stream. That is all right. 

 Forest and Stream always is on top. 



Amargo.— Twenty-eight miles north of here, in the 

 heart of the unbroken wilderness, are the wonderful 

 Pagosa springs, whose medicinal properties are known all 

 through this section, and should be through all the 

 country. The little community about these springs has 

 in it some splendid fellows and genuine sportsmen. I 

 doubt if a better point .could be found for the summer 

 visitor who comes West. Bear and deer are numerous 

 near at hand, and you can catch three-pound trout almost 

 from the hotel door. The scenery is magnificent. The 

 San Juan, Piedra, Blanco and Navajo rivers are all easily 

 accessible, and all swarm with trout. What more could 

 you want? 



En Route. — The Navajo and San Juan rivers tumble 

 along beside us, mile after mile. They are magnificent. 

 The air is full of trout. The conductor will not stop the 

 train. This isn't right— to be so near to such streams and 

 not to fish. Four wild turkeys are seen running up the 

 side hill near by. A coyote races with us. Numerous 

 wickiups of the Jicarilla Apaches are seen along the way. 

 These Apaches were put on the Mescalero reservation in 

 New Mexico in 1883. I lived there then and know how 

 troublesome they were. They have since been allowed to 

 come back here to their former reservation. Further 

 down we see the tepees of the Southern Utes. The 

 Government gives them canvas to cover their tepees. 

 They cut big round man-holes in it to make it look 

 natural. 



Ignacio. — The Pine River here affords the finest trout 

 fishing in the world. I shall go wild. My watch has 

 stopped. This is enough to stop a clock. But the con- 

 ductor won't stop the train. 



Dorango. — Better and better. Within thirteen miles 

 of here, up Junction Creek and in the Hermosa Moun- 

 tains, bears can be found any day the hunter likes. Mr, 

 S. G. Lohr killed a big cinnamon to-day within five miles 

 of town. He says he knows where five more are, not 

 any further off than that. Last week Messrs Ed Ray, G. 

 W. Kephart, Charles DePauw and B. W. Ritter brought 

 in a noble bull elk from the La Plata and Hermosa Divide. 

 This is the last house in the row. I don't see why any- 

 body lives anywhere but here. 



Mr. J. A. Butler, ex-member of the Legislature, planted 

 down fifty Nebraska quail near here last March. They 

 stood one severe snowstorm all right, -and are now all 

 alive and lively in then lofty mountain home. Mr. But- 

 ler is active in urging measures of prevention of the hor- 

 rible waste of fish life now in Colorado, and of which 

 later mention will be made. Mr. Butler shot some ducks 

 at Alamosa yesterday. It seems strange, but great num- 

 bers of ducks follow the Rio Grande through the moun- 

 tains. Over a hundred a day to a gun is not unusual at 

 Alamosa when the mountain flight is on. It is too early 

 for that now. 



Durango is a grand town and beautifully located. The 

 delightful Animas River tumbles right through it. There 

 is an excellent hotel — the Strater House — and the men of 

 the town are such fellows as you don't see outside the 

 mountains. I wonder how many trout streams there are 

 near here? We have crossed dozens of them. I am com- 

 ing back here again, if I live. 



Oct. 12. — With heartfelt regret I turn East. It is sim- 

 ply horrible to be forced to leave all this great country 

 untried. But what I can't do, some other fellow will tell 

 to Forest and Stream from this country. 



En Route East, — The wonderful, wonderful, noble 

 mountains! They are so grand. 



Alamosa, Oct. 12. — Human nature can stand it no 

 longer. I am a frail and human man. I don't care what 

 becomes of the country during my absence, but I wish 

 I may die if I don't stop off right here and go fishing! I 

 will not have it said of me that I weakened in the hour of 

 danger. Here goes! I feel better already. My watch 

 has begun to run. We're all right! 



Pueblo, Colo., Oct. 13. — On the way up from Durango 

 I met Special Land Inspector Barnett, who has spent the I 



past six months on the Ute agency at Ignacio. Mi-. Bar- 

 nett tells me that the country about Ignacio is a wonder- 

 fully attractive one to the sportsman. He caught twenty- 

 seven fine trout in the Pine River the day before he left 

 and last week killed a bear, besides several turkeys. 



Indian Agent Van Neff, of Ignacio, says that bears 

 are numerous between the agency and Pagosa Springs 

 and that anybody can kill turkeys and deer who will 

 take the trouble to go after them. 



At Chama bears are reported unusually plentiful in the 

 adjacent range. A. D. P. Coupe, an English hunter, 

 who has been in the range over a year, is now over on 

 the Brasos. He and his party have killed over forty bears 

 this fall. Mr. Coupe has four or five men in his employ 

 and is having a grand time. He had just sent over to 

 the railroad after a photographer as I passed his station. 



A band of sixty-three elk is on the range between the 

 San Juan and Alamosa mountains. Bears are reported 

 numerous within twenty miles of Wagon Wheel Gap; 

 and parties in Alamosa also claim to have located a small 

 bunch of mountain sheep. 



Mr. Baker, of Baker's ranch, ten miles from Ignacio, 

 caught a large bear in a trap last week. He has taken 

 several in this way. 



Mr. H. M. Morse, perhaps as old and experienced a hunter 

 and trapper, and one as familiar with Colorado as any 

 here or elsewhere, says that he can reach elk within a 

 day's drive from this point. He also has a small band of 

 mountain sheep located. Mr. Morse killed an antelope 

 last week on his ranch, about thirteen miles from town, 

 I believe. 



Tbe boys here report great numbers of ducks at the 

 stone quarry lakes, about fifteen miles north of town. A 

 few canvasbacks are seen among the teal. 



La Junta reports plenty of ducks and geese on hand 

 and accessible. 



The trout season is over, but a great many trout are 

 still being taken. They lie deep and prefer bait, rising 

 to the fly readily only in the middle of the bay. 



E. Hough. 



THE MAINE DEER SEASON. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The deer question promises to excite considerable inter- 

 est in the Maine Legislating this winter. It is understood 

 that the Commissioners are in favor of opening either a 

 part or the whole of September to the legal hunting of 

 deer, and it is certain that sportsmen and guides will 

 generally favor such a measure. Under such circum- 

 stances it would seem that the measure would reasonably 

 be sure of success. But it may not be a success after all. 

 though the Commissioners feel certain that could dog 

 hunting and crusting be generally stopped, the deer of 

 Maine could still be trusted to keep on increasing though 

 the month of September be opened to still- hunting. The 

 lumber interest may kill such a bill. In the first place, 

 there is a feeling among some of the large owners of lum- 

 ber tracts in Maine that they do not desire the presence 

 of hunters in their region. They say they fear their fires. 

 The men who do the lumbering are many of them willing 

 to let the deer remain unkilled by sportsmen till the 

 loggers arrived. Every moose or deer killed saves so 

 much beef. This is not true of all the loggers, and indeed 

 the feeling is rather confined to the eastern section of the 

 State. It should be stated in defense of the people who 

 lumber for E. S. Coe, who, together with the Pingree 

 hens, is the largest owner of lumber tracts in the State, 

 that generally they do not favor the illegal destruction of 

 deer. Mr. Wilson, of the firm of Bearce & Wilson, who 

 locates camps and has some 500 men engaged in lumber- 

 ing every winter for Mr. Coe, says that he does not know 

 of a deer or moose being kiUed by his men last winter. 

 Just before Christmas they killed two caribou, as they 

 had a legal right to do. He said that he certainly should 

 not countenance the killing of deer by his men out of 

 season. Indeed, his men have no time to hunt. They 

 must be at work at daylight and work till dark on 

 week days, and on Sundays they mend their clothes. 

 Neither should he permit the harboring of hunters in his 

 camps who proposed to hunt deer or moose out of season . 

 Would that there were more managers of camps like 

 him. He is something of a sportsman himself, and 

 believes in legal protection of game in certain seasons of 

 the year. 



But the deer law is not obeyed as it should be in other 

 parts of Maine, It is notorious, if a fact, that certain 

 Boston sportsmen can visit Alligator Lake and there find 

 dogs and guides in waiting, and deer can soon be brought 

 down to the water. I have only the statement of one 

 who says that he did this tiling a year ago and said that 

 he could do the same thing this year, did time permit 

 him to take the trip. He says the dogs are ready there 

 for those who have the password and the grip, each 

 properly oiled with cash. My informant is a Boston 

 merchant. Again, the jacking of deer has been practiced 

 this season more than would at first appear. Now I 

 must tread on the corns of Mr. John Danforth of Par- 

 macheene Lake — that is, if he has corns in the direction 

 I shall hit upon. A perfectly reliable Boston merchant 

 tells me that deer jacking has been considerably practiced 

 at Parmacheene this fall, and that, too, in September. 

 He says that it is done without the knowledge of Mr. 

 Danforth, or at least, if one wishes to go deer jacking in 

 September, he, with guide, must steal away from camp, 

 and keep the trophies from the sight of Mr. Danforth. 

 But the tiling has been done this year and in September. 

 The gentleman — my good friend Commissioner S til well 

 would hardly admit that he is a gentleman — does not say 

 that he killed a deer in September there himself, but he 

 was there in September and he shot a deer, or at least he 

 began his account with the manner by which he paddled 

 him up to the game. He says that Mr. Danforth is in no 

 way to blame for this illegal jacking. He claims that it 

 is the result of a law too strict in the point of prohibit- 

 ing hunting deer in September. His idea is that every 

 guide in the Parmacheene region would stand up for the 

 law, were it changed so as to allow hunting in Septem- 

 ber. He feels certain that these very guides would, 

 under no circumstances, "float" a sportsman in June or 

 July; since he heard them express a good deal of feeling 

 against a man who would kill a deer in summer, when 

 the young are helpless. 



If this gentleman is right, then the sentiment is cer- 

 tainly better than it is in the Dead River region; for it is a 

 fact that deer jacking was done there in the early sum- 

 mer this year. The result of camp keepers and sports- 

 men or guides shooting each other has already been told 



