Nov. 15, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



323 



ance of the "Mikado"'; and while I think the finer wit of 

 the play was in a measure lost, a more appreciative 

 audience could not have been asked. One good thing 

 about the crowd, that some of our more civilized audi- 

 ences would do well to copy, was the total absence of 

 that "trial" who has "seen the play before" and will in- 

 sist upon humming the airs and telling you what comes 

 next. 



The second night "Mascot" was presented to a crowded 

 house. Now, this opera, as we all know, is one in which 

 the skirts of the ladies are by no means long enough to 

 impede free action, and if I remember aright, certain 

 characters appear as pages in a garb in which the skirts 

 are— well— wanting. The entrance of these not unusual 

 adjuncts to the drama of the day, had a most amusing 

 effect upon that somewhat verdant audience. Sweet- 

 hearts giggled, blushed furiously and hid behind fans, 

 escorts stared straight before them with stony gaze, 

 while the "boys" encored the appearance of the chorus 

 with a vigor that showed their appreciation. 



It is needless to add that the third performance was 

 witnessed by an overwhelming majority of the male por- 

 tion of the population, but the female element was almost 

 entire! v wanting, held back by the primitive ideas of a 

 primitive people. Alex, M. Reynolds. 



Address all wmnmnieaUmis to t/ie Forest and Stream Pufr. Co. 



GAME IN TOWN. 



LET me add another to the notices you have already 

 published, of the appearances of ruffed grouse in the 

 borders of civilization. 



I had been out for a stroll over the hills last Monday 

 afternoon, and on entering the village on my return, just 

 before sunset, my opposite neighbor, Sherman Paris, 

 called to me from' his piazza, where he was sitting, and 

 at the sound of his voice, a fine ruffed grouse sprang out 

 from under a Norway spruce within 1 Oft. of him, and 

 touching the rail of the piazza, and whirling across my 

 face, disappeared in the direction of the woods, which 

 approach the village very nearly at the lower end of the 

 principal streets, between which no house is situated. 

 After Mr. P. got over his astonishment at the sudden rise 

 of the bird so close to him, he told me that he had picked 

 up one a week ago under a horse-chestnut on his lawn, 

 dead, but still warm, which had apparently been killed 

 by flying against the tree, as there were no wounds on 

 him. He said that he ate that one for his breakfast the 

 next morning, and found him all that a grouse should be 

 on the table. I do not know whether the one I saw had 

 come in town to vote or not, but he did not put in ap- 

 pearance at the polls the next day. 



The appearance of so many of these birds in our New 

 England villages this season is rather remarkable, and I 

 do not know to what cause to attribute it, unless it may 

 be that the almost continual rainfall of the last two 

 months, which may have prevented the ripening of the 

 usual crop of berries in the woods, and driven them into 

 the towns in search of food. There have been plenty of 

 butternuts, chestnuts and acorns for the squirrels, but no 

 gray squirrels to eat them, although there are enough 

 red ones and chipmunks, but the raspberries drhd up on 

 the bushes-in July, Blackberries were not much better, 

 and I have seen no fruit on the thorn trees or cornels. 

 CHARIiKSTOWN, X. H., Nov. 9. Von W. 



Oct. 29, while the Harvard Freshman field sports were 

 being contested, a flock of quail flew across the track in 

 Holmes's field, and just over the heads of the audience, 

 alighting in the yard back of the Jefferson Physical 

 Laboratory. There were ten of them; they were small, 

 not over half grown. Of course some of the crowd must 

 run over there, and scatter them, but it was not long be- 

 fore we heard them calling themselves together. 



Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 8. J. G. L. 



A few days since a Mr. Pearson from the country 

 brought to my son to be mounted a grouse that had flown 

 against his house and been killed. A day or two after 

 one flew through an open window and against the oppo- 

 site wall of the Holly Manufacturing Co.'s building, 

 which is situated in the very center of this city. I have 

 reported to the Forest and Stream: within the past few 

 years a number of such instances of self-destruction of 

 our noblest game bird. In 1886 a law was passed pro- 

 hibiting the killing of grouse and quail for three years (it 

 should have been five years) in this county. The time 

 does not expire until Sept. 17, 1889, and the prospects are 

 good for grouse and quail shooting at that time. 



Lockport, Niagara County, N. Y. J • L. DAVISON. 



A Peculiar Ecfped Grouse. — E. T. Smith brought to 

 bag, Wednesday, a most peculiar ruffed grouse, which 

 differs most remarkably in color from the generality of 

 birds. This bird is of a brownish color, especially well- 

 marked on the ruffs, which are generally dark-colored. 

 The bird closely approaches some of the Western varie- 

 ties of the ruffed grouse, and is entirely different from 

 anything which has been shot in this vicinity within 

 the records of sportsmen. The bird is in the hands of 

 the taxidermist, and will be mounted for Mr. Smith. — 

 Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel. 



Arrivals at Philadelphia Zoological Garden in Octo- 

 ber, 188d.— Received by purchase— Two axis deer (Cervus axis) i 

 and ? , two polar bears (Ursus maritimus) t and ? , one manariil 

 (Cynocephalus mormou), one sooty mangabey (Cereocebus fuligin- 

 osus), two long-tailed weaver birds (Chera progue), one golden 

 oriole (Oriolus galbulus), one Alexandrine parrakeet (Palcoornis 

 alexandri), two Arizona diamond rattlesnakes (Cro talus adam- 

 anteus atrox), two giant salamanders (Sieboldia maxima), one 

 carpet snake (Morelia vanegata), four banded rattlesnakes (Cro- 

 talns horridus). Received by presentation— One opossum (Di- 

 delpbys virginiana), three common deer (Cervus virginianus), one 

 herring gull (Lams argentatus), one golden eagle (Aquila chrysa- 

 etos), one common bittern (Botaurus minor), one banded rattle- 

 snake (Crotaius horridus), one horned lizard (Phrynosorna corn- 

 uta), eight worm snakes (Storeria dekayi), four alligators (Alligator 

 mississippiensis). Born in the garden— One American elk (Cervus 

 canadensis), one Indiau buffalo (Bubalus buffelusj, four slow 

 worms (Anguis fragilis). three spotted salamanders (Diemyctylus 

 miniatus). 



§mne §;tg nni §utf. 



Address ail ctrmmunieations to the Forest and Stream Pitt). Co 



ADIRONDACK DEER HUNTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have just returned from a hunting trip at North Elba, 

 and some incidents connected with it might be of interest 

 to others. It certainly would be if my pen could picture 

 what I saw. We were a party of five, two natives and 

 three ''city folks." It was just dark when we emerged 

 from the woods at Freedman's Home, and still five miles 

 of very bad road before us. The plan of staying at some 

 house on the road was discussed, but all favored reaching 

 Jake Wood's that night, and a little past eight we reached 

 his house. When I saw the little house I wondered where 

 it was possible for so many to sleep. But after a consul- 

 tation with Mrs. Wood, Jake bade us come in, they would 

 find some place to stow us away. Mrs. Wood proposed 

 to give up her room and spread a bed on the kitchen floor. 

 But Jake gave a very decided no to that. There was one 

 other bedroom, that I afterward suspected was vacated 

 by some of the family for two of us; the rest and Jake's 

 four boys went into the loft over the living room. In a 

 very short time the table was spread with a very sub- 

 stantial supper, and then gathered round the fire we 

 discussed the morrow's hunt. 



I wish I could give you a picture of that family. Jake 

 Wood is a man of about fifty years of age, 6ft. 4in. in 

 height and weighs 180. He reminded me very much of 

 Abraham Lincoln in figure and manner. A very intel- 

 lectual face, a clear blue eye, and a voice as mild and 

 gentle as a woman's. Mrs. Wood is a rather delicate- 

 Looking woman, but with plenty of energy, and we voted 

 her the best cook in the Adirondacks. " There are four 

 sons, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen and nineteen years of 

 age. Two daughters, one fourteen and the other but a 

 baby. In the time we spent there I did not hear a cross 

 or impatient word; every request for aid from any one 

 was complied with quickly and cheerfully, and some- 

 times a little hesitation would have been excusable. For 

 instance: One very dark night, when we were having a 

 merry time with cards and stories, and all were a good 

 deal fatigued after the day's hunt, there came a rap at 

 the door, which was answered by Mr. Wood. He came 

 back to know if any of the boys felt like taking a lantern 

 and showing a gentleman the way to "The Lodge." five 

 miles through the woods. Two of the boys promptly re- 

 sponded, and one was sent. 



At another time we were on our way to the hunting 

 grounds, when Mr. Wood suddenly remembered that he 

 had told the lame boy to go on horseback to Lake 

 Placid to inquire for a dog that had driven in that direc- 

 tion the day before and had not returned. He said: 

 "Now he may take the colt, and she is apt to shy, and 

 with that lame foot I fear he may get hurt. One of us 

 ought to go back and tell him to take old Billy. " One 

 of the boys at once sprang out of the wagon and ran 

 back two miles to warn his brother, leaving the rest of 

 us to ride on to the hunt, and he to follow on foot with 

 the chance of being too late for the first race. I think 

 there are few boys who would have obeyed such a request 

 with no sign of impatience. 



Jake decided where each was to watch. He and one 

 of our party went with the dogs on to the side of Mount 

 McEntire. ' The first day my post was at a point in the 

 river, where in previous races nearly all the deer had 

 crossed. There was a very cold north wind blowing 

 and a slight fall of snow. Every one who has watched 

 a runway near a stream knows how many times the 

 sound from the water startles you with the idea that the 

 dogs are coming, and how for the first two or three hours 

 every sense is alive and the rifle kept ready for a hasty 

 shot As the hours wear away hope dies out, and 

 the notes of the wood birds, or the antics of a squirrel, or 

 other animal, are a welcome relief. Thus the hours 

 passed with me till the sun had gone below the mountain 

 (though its face had been hidden all day). I was hoping 

 for a signal that the hunt was up, when I was sure I 

 heard a splash in the river above the bend. At once my 

 rifle was ready, and I gazed eagerly through the bushes 

 in the direction of the sounds, when there came a whistle, 

 and immediately after I saw one of the boys wading the 

 river and drawing behind him a deer. He had shot it 

 early in the day two miles above me and had waded all 

 that distance in the water, ice cold, in preference to 

 carrying it through the woods. He advised me to remain 

 half an hour longer, as he had heard the dogs while on 

 his way down. 



I remained till called away by a shout from the road. 

 There I found two of the party and a large doe that I had 

 seen before being towed down the river, it was so cold 

 we decided to walk toward the lodge, as our team had 

 been taken there. We reached there after a two-mile 

 walk and found that Mr. Wood and one of the party 

 had not come in, and as shots had been heard, there was 

 hope of another deer. In half an hour a shout from the 

 edge of the woods made us rush out, and we found Mr. 

 Wood and our friend with a fine buck. 



This was my good luck for the first day, and there was 

 still a chance of finding another at the house, as the 

 "lame boy" was to keep a lookout there. On reaching 

 the house" we learned that a large doe had run across the 

 open lot north of the house, but too far off for a shot. 



On entering the house we found an addition to the 

 family, a gentleman and wife on a visiting trip had come 

 there for the night. I wondered how the house could 

 hold one more. But the family appeared in no way dis- 

 turbed, and after supper I noticed Mrs. W. quietly remov- 

 ing bed clothes to the kitchen, where she and Jake made 

 their beds on the floor, giving up their room to the visitors. 



The next day we started out confident of success. The 

 starters had found enormous tracks the day before, and 

 could start them with "no trouble at all." But when we 

 met at night it was to hear of deer that had crossed where 

 they never did before, just out of sight of the men on the 

 runways. The bucks had run up stream, and no one had 

 a shot. 



Saturday morning, with the snow falling fast and the 

 north wind still blowing, found us on our watch grounds. 

 I had barely reached my station, when I heard six shots 

 in rapid succession in the direction of the west branch of 

 the river. An hour later one of the dogs came to us, and 

 remained half an hour, then he leisurely walked round 



the large rock beside which I stood, and giving one or 

 two short barks, he started off on a track. He "worked" 

 near by for ten minutes, then took a straight course for 

 the point on the river where I had watched the day. be- 

 fore. I learned later that he drove the deer some two 

 miles and then lost it. 



At night I learned that the six shots I had heard were 

 fired by one of the Wood boys. The first one was aimed 

 into the woods ahead of the deer to turn it back into the 

 river it had just crossed. It succeeded, and a large doe 

 gave a great leap into the middle of the scream, and the 

 second shot had wounded her, but she still ran, but was 

 brought down by one of the later ones. 



I had nearly forgotten the point of my story, the one 

 circumstance that led me to write this rather long letter. 

 Perhaps some of the gentlemen who like to testify before 

 game committees could use it as proof of the humanity 

 of hounding. A large fawn was started by one of our 

 dogs and driven to another party who were hunting near 

 us. It was shot at, and a .44 ball struck it in the lower 

 part of the abdomen. Some of the small intestines ran 

 out and caught on bushes as the little thing ran. They 

 were jerked out till, before it reached the river, sixty 

 rods from where it was shot, all the small intestines had 

 been pulled out, and a portion of the paunch. It then 

 swam the river, but the ice-cold water entering the cavity 

 of its body was too much for it. It ran two rods further; 

 and as it fell the dogs sprang upon it, and before the 

 hunter could beat them off, they had mangled it so badly 

 it was unfit to use. It made me ashamed of hunting witli 

 dogs. 



I have been interested in letters in some late numbers 

 of Forest and Stream, relative to bears and bear hunt- 

 ing. I have never believed that a bear could be provoked 

 to attack a man, unless it was wounded so that it could 

 not run away. But in this town a week or two ago we 

 had evidence that there are exceptions. A man living 

 three or four miles north of here went to look at a bear 

 trap, carrying a fight muzzleloading gun, loaded with 

 fine shot. ' He found a bear cub in the trap, and while 

 bending over it, suddenly saw the old bear rushing at 

 him. He turned and sprang into a small spruce tree, and 

 the old bear caught his boot with one paw, but he got 

 away and up the tree out of her reach. There were no 

 branches large enough to support him, and he had great 

 trouble in holding on. Twice the bear climbed up the 

 tree far enough to bend it nearly to the ground, but by 

 kicking and clubbing her with the gun that he had held 

 on to, he managed to drive her hack. He was unable to 

 fire his gun, whether from fright or fault with the lock I 

 don't know. But he was kept up the tree from 4 in the 

 afternoon till 11 at night. Then his wife became alarmed 

 and sent men to find him. They found the old bear near 

 by, but feared to shoot in the dark. The man was so 

 chilled that he was unable to walk when they helped him 

 down. He will probably take some other weapon with 

 him the next time he visits a bear trap. 



Another of our hunters and trappers was out a few 

 days ago setting traps and was followed by a bear and 

 cubs (attracted by the bait he carried probaldy). He 

 shot the old bear'twice, but she escaped with one cub; 

 the other he killed. He has before now killed a bear 

 with a club, and I've heard it remarked many times that 

 there was no bear could tree him, gun or no gun. They 

 are very numerous this year; or probahiy not more numer- 

 ous than usual, but there are so few beech nuts this 

 season that they are driven nearer the settlements for 

 food. 



We still hear talk of deer heing very thick; hut I notice 

 that all over the woods the hunters do not hunt near 

 home as formerly, but go thirty or fifty miles to some 

 place far from any settlements and dogs; and they come 

 back with fewer deer than they killed in half the time 

 ten- years ago without going out of hearing of their own 

 dinner horns. 



I have been urged by many native hunters to try and 

 get a law forbidding the killing of does at any season. 

 If we cannot have a law- forbidding hounding that would 

 be the next best thing. Something must be done or the 

 deer will be as scarce as buffalo in a very short time. 



Au Sable. 



Essex Cou^tt, New York. 



A PLEA FOR THE CHASE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It has been a great surprise to me that with all the 

 facilities and material for field sport, so little of it should 

 be practiced by the young people who spend their winters 

 in the South. Iam sure you will sympathize with me in 

 lamenting the departure from those good old days of yore, 

 when the hunter's horn would awaken the echoes at early 

 morn to rouse the lagging out from their downy beds, to 

 take the saddle and away to the woods while the dew 

 still holds the scent of the "deer or the fox, which always 

 feed at night, or rather very early in the morning. 



What a gay sight it would be to behold a group of well- 

 mounted ladies in suitable dress, with each her attendant, 

 just as the sun peeps above the horizon of a Southern sky; 

 the hunter, with his trained pack of hounds, all wild to 

 trail and start his majesty of the forest. Can there be 

 any recreation, or any exercise, more conducive to exu- 

 berant health than an early start, when the frost lies crisp 

 on every blade of grass and shrub, and the air is filled 

 with the flight of all manner of winged creatures seek- 

 ing their feeding grounds for the day, guided thither by 

 an unerring hand. 



How tame seem the tennis or the croquet grounds. Yet 

 they need not be entirely ignored. The timid ones, who 

 delight in dancing backward and forward to catch a ball, 

 might fill up the leisure moments that otherwise might 

 hang on their hands, or quarrel over the order of play at 

 croquet, which seems to be more frequent than the gain- 

 ing a conquest. But those who would course in an excit- 

 ing ride, when twenty hounds were in full cry, perhaps 

 see the antlered beauty for a moment as he dashes through 

 some thicket, would hardly tame down to any of the 

 games of the day. 



When a young man, many a day it was my delight to 

 follow the hounds in full chase, after both fox and deer. 

 This may be why I am surprised that the fancy does not 

 attach itself to the young men of this generation. Stir 

 them up, Mr. Editor. One good ride of twenty miles will 

 do more to harden the muscles and send the blood cours- 

 ing on with new life than all the automaton games ever 

 invented. H. C. 



Tarrytown, N, Y. 



