Nov. 8, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



308 



in a sailboat. There was quite a party of us, of all ages 

 and as I was supposed to know more about the manage- 

 ment of a boat than the rest it fell to my lot to steer the 

 old tub we had up that stream, with a stiff breeze on the 

 quarter and a strong tide and current dead against us. 



The river was narrow, and it was one of the tightest 

 pieces of navigation that I ever undertook. We were 

 rounding a bend, and I was steering as fine as silk, and 

 beginning to congratulate myself on the pro?pect of tak- 

 ing the boat through the river without accident, when 

 this benevolent old lady, seeing the stiff pull I had on the 

 mainsheet, thought to help me, and grasping the rope, 

 gave it a yank which caused the old craft to sheer to port 

 in a way that nearly sent us smashing on the rocks, with 

 which that part of America is liberally besprinkled. 



I gave a yell and she dropped the rope as though it had 

 burned her fingers. Just what was the nature of my 

 remark I cannot say, though I remember that I apolo- 

 gized. Dear old lady; she long since sailed in a golden 

 bark for her home in the Isles of the Blest. Kelpie. 



Central Lake, Mich. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I think your Chicago correspondent is in error in 

 stating that the Egyptian lotus grows at Grass Lake 

 and on the Calumet Marsh at or near Tolleston. But 

 though not identical with the lotus of the Nile it 

 is still a very showy and beautiful member of the 

 same family, growing not only in the waters men- 

 tioned but at^many places in the West and South, 

 notably at Louisana, "Mo., and I think also in Reel- 

 foot Lake. He will find a cut of the singular cup-shaped 

 seed receptacle on page 126 of "Gray's School and Field 

 Book of Botany," and also a description of the flower it- 

 self on page 47 of the analytical key in the back part of 

 the same book. Habry Hunter. 



Highland Park, 111. 



Editor Forest and. Stream : 



I notice in a communication from a Western cor- 

 respondent in issue of Oct. 4 he mentions the Egyp- 

 tian lotus (Nymphcea lotus) as being found at only one 

 place in the United States. I know it is found in at 

 least three places in the United States, viz.. the place 

 he mentions, also at Sodus Bay in northern New York, 

 and at Seldens Cove, Hamburgh, Conn., which is in 

 the town of Lyme. At this latter place they bloom in 

 August, and I have myself seen leaves as large as a hogs- 

 head picked at this place. The nearest route to this 

 place is to come to Essex, and row across the Connecticut 

 River to the cove, which is opposite. A. W. J. 



Centerbbook, Conn. 



The Doom of the Eagle. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 I see it announced in a Long Island paper that a gunner 

 near South Hampton shot and killed an eagle measuring 

 7ft. lOin. from tip to tip of its wings. What a pity that 

 so noble a bird should have fallen a victim to the unerring 

 aim of a pot-hunter? Yv^hat more beautiful sight than a 

 pair of these noble birds soaring aloft and sailing in the 

 sunlight of a clear blue sky? Unless some means" of pro- 

 tection be resorted to the American eagle is doomed to 

 extermination, and that very shortly. The State of Con- 

 necticut, I believe, has been foremost in passing a law 

 for its protection, whereby a tine of $100 is imposed upon 

 any one wantonly killing an eagle. Would it not be well 

 for some one of our legislators at Albany to introduce a 

 bill to the same effect for the protection of the American 

 eagle, and have it become a law at the session of the 

 Legislature this winter? — D. L. Gardiner. 



mm md %ut\* 



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

 Price S2.50. Wing and Glass Ball Shooti?ig 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- 

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

 50 cents. Wild Fowl Shooting; see advertisement. 



DEER HUNTING IN CALIFORNIA. ' 



YOUR genial and fascinating correspondent "Forked 

 Deer" has given my writing finger the itch. Four 

 happy summers have I had my outing in the mountains 

 of which he writes, lying between Lake and Mendocino 

 counties, and though I may see them no more, they are a 

 precious memory. I, too, have seen the low-lying, un- 

 pretentious lake, dominated by Uncle Sam, both from its 

 shore, where it seems a commonplace pond, and from the 

 mountains, where it shines a gleaming mirror set in the 

 soft brown and green of the summer hills. California is 

 the camper's paradise. Fresh cool nights, making a fire 

 comfortable even in midsummer, absolute immunity from 

 rain or even heavy dew, and the absence of all annoying 

 insects, is a . combination not to be despised. The best 

 deer hunting is always away from wagon roads, a <- pack" 

 of from one to ten miles being usually necessary. The 

 favorable conditions of camping, requiring so little lug- 

 gage, are a great advantage. 1 have often packed upon 

 one horse everything necessary to a week's camp for two 

 men. 



Deer hunting is practiced as your correspondent de- 

 scribed last week, or by still-hunting. In all parts of the 

 State where I have hunted deer are nocturnal, though 

 they often come out of then- hiding a little before sunset 

 and remain out till half an hour or an hour after the sun 

 rises. These are golden moments for the still-hunter, but 

 it requires a light step and a quick eye to make success- 

 ful use of them. My chief difficulty at first was to see 

 my game before it moved. Never having hunted deer, I 

 found it impossible to distinguish one at rest from the 

 surrounding objects. Nothing but practice can overcome 

 this. Another thing must be learned by experience, and 

 that is to rightly gauge distance. All depends upon this 

 in the use of the modern rifle. Devices for elevating the 

 sight are practically worthless in ordinary shooting. 

 Make allowance and blaze away; you will soon learn, 

 especially if you use the same gun all the time. The 

 still-hunter will, of course, sometimes "jump" a deer and 

 jaay kill him, but the chances are against him. I can 

 recall only one instance in my experience, and that was 



by the bare accident of a snap shot as he was waving his 

 flag over the top of a thicket 80yds. away. 



The desirable dog in these mountains is the one that 

 will not ' 'hound" the deer. A cross between the ubiqui- 

 tous sheep dog and the hound usually produces the best 

 result. Only rarely will a full blood hound have the 

 virtues of Grip. To go willingly into the thickets, to en- 

 dme beat without water, to run a sound deer only a few 

 hundred yards and a wounded one all day, if necessary, 

 and then catch and hold him, are the points. 



Many incidents out of my summerings in California 

 (over now, alas!) which might be "good readin'" for my 

 brothers of the rod and gun who are forced to seek the 

 fields and wood through Forest and Stream occur tome 

 as I lookback. How vivid they all are! How I could 

 spin them off if we were sitting around a camp-fire! I 

 will take a day from the last trip. Monday, July 16, 

 1888, my brother, B., and I were camped in the same 

 range of mountains of which "Forked Deer" has told you, 

 about twenty miles north of where he had his hunt, at 

 the head of one branch of the beautiful Russian River, 

 sometimes heard from in the canoe department. We had 

 hunted several days without a dog, and had seen a 

 number of deer, but killed none. Sunday we rested, 

 and Monday morning took a big round but saw no deer. 

 At dinner we planned and threatened. The day was hot 

 and our game would seek water. We would follow 

 along the rough canon where the little, stream ran and 

 take turns playing dog. So about 3 o'clock we started. 



The weather was scorching. Two hundred yards down 

 the gulch from our camp a deer of some sort thundered 

 over a steep, rough point, out of sight but making a 

 prodigious noise. We did not get a chance to see him. 

 A little further, and two yearlings rattled up the hill, 

 giving me a snapshot which only accelerated their 

 retreat. Poison oak, bay bushes, scrub oak, manzanita 

 and chemisal filled the spaces between huge boulders, 

 giving the game an easy escape. Then we turned up the 

 main canon, B. toiling along the hillside and I in the 

 bottom of the gulch. Presently he heard something and 

 stopped to investigate, and I passed on a little ahead. As 

 I clambered up the steep bank of a small canon making 

 into the main one, thump, thump went a fine, fat forked- 

 kora from right under my nose. Catching a glimpse of 

 him through the brush I banged away, but a twig turned 

 my bullet, and striking the hard hillside it went scream- 

 ing by B.,so near that he yelled "Look out." But though 

 the bullet came near him the deer didn't, and we saw 

 him no more. This was getting vexatious. 



We tramped out at the head of the canon, crossed an 

 open ridge, struck a timber belt, found a spring and sat 

 down to rest. We were talking pretty loud, not expect- 

 ing game. B. had just stretched himself on a big piece 

 of fir bark, and was expressing his approval of it as a 

 camp bed, when I heard the rapid rip, rip, rip of running 

 deer. Looking up I saw two brown streaks crossing an 

 opening a hundred yards away on lightning express time. 

 How they did run! I jumped up, gun in hand — I now 

 sit down out of reach of my gun — but it would have been 

 as easy to hit a flying bird. A puff of dust near where 

 they disappeared was my only reward. It was fun to 

 see so many, but not much to get none of them. We 

 wanted meat. 



Night came on as we hunted further, and we turned 

 toward camp. Just above our camp was a large thicket 

 of chemisal (the last syllabic of this word is invariably 

 dropped in the vernacular) covering many acres, and 

 fringed on one side by a fir grove, on the other by open 

 pasture land. We approached on the open side. As we 

 came over the top of the ridge I saw in the dim afterglow 

 of sunset a red form walking along the side of the thicket 

 on the red earth, at least two hundred yards away. No 

 cattle here, thought I, and promptly blazed away. "It's 

 a long shot, but you went over, my boy; I saw the dust 

 cloud." So did my buck, and springing out into the 

 open he threw up a fine head and looked around. • Steady 

 now. Allowing about half my ivory bead I cover him 

 again. It was so dark my gun spit fire, but I saw by the 

 sudden jump that my aim had not altogether failed. The 

 deer wheeled into the brush, and I made quick time across 

 the intervening space. There lay pieces of bone and 

 skin, but very little blood. I stepped into the edge of the 

 chapparal and immediately heard him go plunging down 

 the mountain. I shouted to B., who was below, and he 

 heard him pass but did not see him. Dark was coming 

 rapidly. We rushed into the thicket, B. in the canon and 

 I on the hillside above. I scuffled to the top of a little 

 ridge, thick with chemisal about waist high. Just as I 

 looked on the top I saw a bush shake right in front of 

 me, and crash, bang, thump went something down the 

 hillside. If a deer wants to sneak he can do it, but if he 

 doesn't choose to be quiet he can make a noise in running 

 which the uninitiated might think produced by a rhinoc- 

 eros. I squared myself, seeing he must soon cross an 

 open point, my trusty little .88-cal. Winchester at the 

 ready. What a show he was as he broke cover, head up 

 with great horns black with velvet high in ah, his great 

 hams and broad back showing him to be in perfect con- 

 dition. I saw by his movement that he was not the 

 wounded one. All this went through my mind like a flash . 

 At the same instant I swung my gun into fine for a shot 

 at live center of the swift moving bulk and its report rang 

 out sharp and clear. The bullet seemed to paralyze every 

 muscle, for at the instant of the report over he went, head 

 down and heels flying, like a running hare caught by a 

 load of shot. It is worth days of wearisome travel and 

 hunting to bowl over an a-ntlered monarch in such style. 

 My nerves tingle yet at the thought of it. He tumbled 

 into a ditch, and after waiting a moment to see if he 

 would get up, I went in. My shot had taken him in the 

 top of the shoulders, being from above, anclhad paralyzed 

 his spine. But these fellows have wonderful vitality, and 

 his head was up. A shot through the neck finished the 

 work. Next morning we searched for the wounded one, 

 but failed to find him , having no dog. We carried out the 

 dead one. He was fat and fine, and that afternoon broke 

 camp and returned to "boiled shirts" and civilization. 



San Diego, Cal., Oct. 17. -AZTEC. 



Ruffed Grouse and Boston's Gilded Dome.— North 

 Bridgton, Me., Nov. 5. — Mr. Henry J. Thayer's report of a 

 ruffed grouse in the city of Cambridge reminds me that 

 in November, 1883, while employed as taxidermist by C. 

 J. Maynard & Co., Boston, we mounted an adult ruffed 

 grouse for a gentleman who had shot it in a yard on 

 Pinckney street, hardly a stone's throw from "the dome." 

 —Black Spot. 



GOOSE SHOOTING ON THE ROANOKE. 



THAT part of the Roanoke River which flows through 

 Warren county and between the upper portions of 

 Halifax and Northampton counties, North Carolina, has 

 long been a favorite feeding place for the wild geese. As 

 soon as the first biting frosts come in October great flocks 

 of geese take up their winter abode in these waters. 

 Huge boulders or rocks in midstream furnish them roost- 

 ing "places at night without fear or danger of invasion 

 from man or beast. These rocks are always situated be- 

 tween swift-running, though shallow, water, rendering 

 their approach by night almost impossible. The river is 

 a succession of falls for several miles. In the clefts of 

 rock, hollowed out by long friction, lodge quantities of 

 various berries, acorns and rich nuts, floated from up 

 stream. There, too, is the tender watercress abundant. 

 This— the berries a,nd nuts— is the food of the wild goose. 

 The river is a quarter of a mile wide, unnavigable, save 

 for a light flat-bottomed canoe, such as is generally used 

 by fishermen and sportsmen in small streams. There is 

 nothing to disturb the serenity of the geese save the gun 

 of the sportsman. They are so little hunted, that they 

 disport themselves in the gurgling waters or sit on the 

 rocks not heeding persons or vehicles passing along the 

 road on the river's bank. Often they present an easy 

 mark for a rifleshot, which is always almost sure to bring 

 down one or more, as they are huddled so close to each 

 other. One "sturdy old gander" stands sentry to the 

 main flock. With vigilant eyes, one foot updrawn in his 

 feathers, he gives notice of approaching danger by a loud 

 honk-honk. They take his advice promptly and leave for 

 another feeding 'place, generally in the falls, higher up 

 or lower down stream, due entirely to the direction from 

 which the danger conies. One great comfort to the 

 hunter is that their flights are very rarely over a mile at 

 the longest, and he can soon have another pop at them. 



The romance of rising in the weird and misty light of 

 the morning without any breakfast or hot punch and 

 sneaking to the river's bank is entirely left out in our 

 plan of goose hunting on the Roanoke River. Tjiere is no 

 crawling through mud and briers for a half mile. The 

 geese -wait for you to get yovu* breakfast and dinner too 

 if you want it, before you pay them your respects in the 

 manner which I shall presently describe. You just ride 

 along on the bank of the river as you might if you in- 

 tended going to church or a funeral on a quiet Sunday 

 morning in the country. You try to strike the stream at 

 the lowest part where the geese frequent and follow up 

 the water's edge until the geese are sighted, and at some 

 points you can see them for a mile or more. It is always 

 necessary to have two men, and it is better to have a 

 party of three to make a successful hunt. More than 

 this number overloads a boat and lends a cheerful pros- 

 pect of a good ducking in the rapids by stranding on a 

 smooth, half ' sunken rock. 



We take a boat, usually kept just above or below where 

 we expect to find the geese, and paddle to one of the 

 hundreds of small islands in the river, from six feet in 

 circumference to several acres. We select a small island, 

 dry and full of driftwood, debris of bridges swept away 

 in freshets and soft grass; We select a small island be- 

 cause the birds, wary of the shore, will not approach 

 so close to a large one as to a small island. Here we are 

 perfectly secreted by bushes and driftwood, not at all 

 cramped in posture while waiting for a shot. The dry 

 grass or a log gives choice of a seat. The man in the 

 boat, who is to be the "driver," then scuds along the 

 bank furthest from the grass so as not to alarm and put 

 them to flight. As soon as he passes them sufficiently far 

 to make them believe he has gone on some other busi- 

 ness up the river, he heads his boat directly for them, 

 just drifting wfith the stream and often whistling a merry 

 tune so as to attract then attention without doing so too 

 suddenly. The geese watch the bearing of the boat, and 

 when it floats toward them they swim away from it. 

 The man in the boat is an old hand and knows full well 

 when he can push them. If they show signs of restless- 

 ness he paddles away, pretending not to notice them. 

 The object, as seen at once, is to start and keep them 

 swimming with the current. Once set them fairly to 

 moving, and here comes a solid quarter of an acre of 

 geese swimming gracefully with the undulations of the 

 water right down to the muzzles of our guns. 



How we tremble with excitement and impatience! You 

 whisper through chattering teeth to your neighbor to 

 keep quiet till you shall say fire. The distance on the 

 water deceives an inexperienced eye, and your neighbor 

 wants to shoot; but you beg; him to hold on yet, and wait 

 until they are within thirty or forty yards. One gives 

 the word to fire to the right and the other to the left: 

 two barrels in the water and two shots as they rise; and 

 such flapping and beating the water was rarely ever seen 

 before. You rush delighted from your hiding place to 

 yell to the man in the boat to gather the dead and 

 wounded birds, and there maybe anywhere from four to 

 a dozen. If there are some only wing-tipped, here is fun 

 indeed, for a goose uses his feet for all they are worth, 

 and aided by the rapid current, makes good time in 

 search of a hiding place in the rushes of an adjoining- 

 island. An extra boat now comes in well. A dog is no- 

 where. Once carried past the island in trying to retrieve 

 a dead or wounded goose, he cannot swim against the 

 current. 



This mode of shooting has been successfully followed 

 for years by Col. Hamlin, and hundreds of geese have 

 fallen to the gun of "Jim'' House, the fat and typical 

 jolly landlord of the Siller ton Hotel. If you fail in kill- 

 ing geese the lowlands on either bank of the river afford 

 good bird shooting, and you have a chance for a day's 

 sport at all events. Mr. William S. Moore, a keen sports- 

 man, of Hawthorne, Florida, has made engagements 

 with some friends for a goose hunt early in November on 

 the Roanoke River, just live miles from this pl«ce. 



Littleton, North Carolina. L, J . PlCOT. 



To wanda, Pa., Nov. 3. — T wo of our sportmen brought 

 in after a three houirs' hunt, on Thursday afternoon last, 

 eleven full grown quail. The covey consisted when first 

 put up of about twenty birds. In years gone by fine 

 quail shooting could be found in this neighborhood, but 

 severe winters and deep snows have made sad havoc 

 with the birds and only a few bevies can be found after 

 days of faithful search with good dogs. A large flock 

 of wild geese passed over this place on Saturday morn- 

 ing last going south. Our market is well supplied with 

 ruffed grouse— Sus. Q. Hannah. 



