Jan. 17, 1S89 ] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



G-eographical Club was held on the evening of the 8th at 

 the home of its president, Mr. Win. Hornaday, when 

 the following officers wore elected for the ensuing year: 

 Wm. Hornaday, President : Mrs. F. E. Upton , Vice- 

 President; Dr. Geo. A. Stout, Secretary; and Messrs. O. 



B, Brown, Charles Fail-man and Mrs. F. Young, Enter- 

 tainment Committee. This club comprises gentlemen as 

 well as ladies. 



Prof. Lester F. Ward lectured on the same evening 

 before the Anthropological Society on "The Sociological 

 Position of Protection and Free Trade." His views in 

 favor of protection were ably combatted by President J. 



C. Wellinr, and the subsequent discussion between mem- 

 bers was carried on with manifest interest. 



Dr. Wm. H. Gardner, post surgeon at the Washington 

 Barracks, is delivering a series of lectures on "Accidents 

 and Emergencies," with a view to instruct the men at 

 arms. The first lecture, given last week, was on hemor- 

 rhages, and this will be followed by several others. This 

 is part of a plan to provide each officer and enlisted man 

 with a manual and outfit, after the vogue of the German 

 army, containing in a compact form the quickest and 

 simplest means of rendering surgical assistance in time 

 of need. Such a vade mecwm would be of almost equal 

 value to gunners and other sportsmen who are alike 

 exposed to sudden accidents. I remember that a manual 

 of this kind was published in 1874 and distributed, to the 

 number of 50.000 or more, by the Mutual Life Insurance 

 Company of New York. Perhaps they can be had now. 



The new and beautifully illustrated catalogue of Field 

 Books and Natural History, works just issued by the For- 

 est and Stream Publishing Company, attracts attention 

 here. It indicates how rapidly this field of literature is 

 broadening, and also serves as a practical guide to students 

 who are interested in the various specialties treated. As 

 the bibliography includes no less than 322 titles, it is appa- 

 rently comprehensive enough to serve the needs of all 

 sportsmen who require a library of reference, especially 

 as the authors selected are among the best informed and 

 most reliable among us. It looks as if the Forest and 

 Stream Publishing Company were destined to take the 

 lead as promoters of standard sporting literature. Verily 

 the work which Mr. Hallock, its founder, began fifteen 

 years ago, is assuming enviable proportions. 



Some of your readers will be interested to know through 

 the Century Magazine, if they were not already informed, 

 that XL S. Fisheries Commissioner Col, Marshall McDon- 

 ald, who is Prof. Baird's valued successor, was mili 

 tary instructor at the Virginia Military Institute, at Lex- 

 ington, during the war. Obviously he is equal to scaling 

 fish as well as breastworks. 



I notice through a French paper that a troop of Cos- 

 sacks and Circassians are exhibiting at the Jardin d'Ac- 

 oliinatation in Paris, cl la Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. 

 They have their tents, horses and accoutrements with 

 them, and show off their well-known tiding feats to the 

 intense satisfaction of spectators. 



The weather in Montreal seems to be cold enough to 

 insure the building of the customary ice palace. The ice 

 blocks are over a foot in thickness, and the construction 

 of the edifice is already far advanced. 



Mr. James Green, of Green & Cunningham, real estate 

 brokers in this city, who recommends the Climax U. S. 

 cartridge in Forest and Stream, is, with his partner, 

 Mi". Seymour Cunningham, a member of the Capital City 

 Gun Club, and one of its best wing and saucer shots. He 

 ran the Marlboro field trials for setters last month in 

 Maryland. The club has a club house and ample shoot- 

 ing area on the flats at the foot of Twenty-second street. 



El Mahdi. 



Biological Society of Washington.— The annual 

 meeting was held Jan. 12 in the assembly hall of the 

 Cosmos Club, 70 members being present. The minutes 

 of the secretary show that 54 papers were read during 1888 

 by 25 members, the highest number by any one person 

 having been 6. Although the number of papers was 

 smaller than in 1887, the discussion was much more gen- 

 eral and thorough. The largest attendance during the 

 year was 49, and the smallest 21. The society has 40 

 honorary members, 51 absent members and 118 active. 

 The results of the balloting for officers for the current 

 year were as follows: President, Lester F. Ward; Vice- 

 Presidents, C. Hart Merriam, Richard Rathbun, Charles 

 V. Riley, Frank Baker; Corresponding Secretary, F. A. 

 Lucas; Recording Secretary, J. B. Smith; Treasurer, F. 

 H. Knowlton; Additional Councilmen, Geo. Vasey, Tarle- 

 ton H. Bean, R. E. C. Stearns, F. W. True, C. D. Wal- 

 cott. 



Some Recent Papers by Charles Girard.— It may 

 not be generally known to American zoologists that Dr. 

 Charles Girard, the assistant of the elder Agassiz and the 

 associate of Baird, in his reports upon reptiles and fishes 

 obtained by Government expeditions several decades ago, 

 is still living and writing at Neuilly sur Seine, France. 

 In Le NaturaMste, Paris, May, 1888, he has a brief sketch 

 of the blind fishes of the American caves, accompanied 

 by a figure of the species found in Mammoth Cave, Ken- 

 tucky. In the October number of the same journal he 

 notices briefly the subterranean fishes of North America. 

 He has also published, in English, a "Systematic Cata- 

 logue of the Scientific Labors of Dr. Charles Girard," 

 containing ninety titles. Loyal to the memory of pleas- 

 ant associations he signs himself "Dr. Ch. Girard (de 

 Washington.) ' 



California Academy of Sciences. — The officers 

 elected for 1889 are: President, H. W. Harkness; First 

 Vice-President, H. H. Behr; Second Vice-President, 

 George Hewston: Corresponding Secretary, Frederick 

 Gutzkow; Recording Secretary, J. R. Scupham; Treas- 

 urer, I. E. Thayer; Librarian, Carlos Troyer; Director of 

 Museum, J. G. Cooper. Trustees, Chas." F. Crocker, D. 

 E. Hayes. S. W. Holladay, Geo. C. Perkins. E. J. Molera, 

 Irving" M. Scott, John Taylor. 



Jack Snipe in January.— Granville, O., Jan. 7.— I 

 was out with my gun the 3d of this month, and crossed 

 wet piece of ground near a spring, and to my surprise, 

 jack snipe flew up. I then looked for more and found 

 four. I write to know if it's not unusual and remarkable 

 for them to be here at this season of the year?— G. C. P 

 [Yes, quite unusual, but it fits well with the summer 

 weather of the present winter.] 



An Albino Swallow. — Toledo, O.— Mention in issue 

 of Dec. 27 of a white teal duck reminds me that I have 

 a snow white swallow which I killed, — G. H. W. 



"THE SUPER-SENSE OF ANIMALS." 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My reading of the article entitled "The Super-Sense of 

 Animals," in your issue of Dec. 20, came pat on top of an 

 anecdote, that had just been told me by Mr. Jas. Cadman, a 

 civil engineer, well known in the eastern provinces of the 

 Dominion. 



When engaged in locating a railway in New Brunswick, 

 e was compelled one night by a very severe snow storm to 

 take refuge i n a small farmhouse. The farmer owned two 

 dogs— one an old Newfoundland and the other a collie. In 

 due time the farmer and his family went to bed, the New- 

 foundland stretched himself out by the chimney corner, 

 and Mr, Cadman and the man with him rolled themselves 

 in their blankets on the floor in front of the fire. 



The door of the house was closed by a wooden latch and 

 fastened by a bar placed across it. Mr. Cadman and his man 

 were just falling asleep when they heard the latch of the 

 door raised. They did not get up immediately, and in a 

 3hort time the latch was tried again. They waited a few 

 minutes and then Mr. Cadman rose, unfastened the door 

 and 1 ooked out. Seeing nothing, he returned to his blankets, 

 but did not replace the bar across the door. Two or three 

 minutes later the latch was tried a third time. This time 

 the door opened and the collie walked in. He pushed the 

 door quite back, walked straight to the old Newfoundland 

 and appeared to make some kind of a whispered communi- 

 cation to him. Mr. Cadman lay still and watched. The old 

 dog rose, and followed the other out of the house. Both 

 iresently returned, driving before them a valuable ram be- 

 ouging to the farmer, that had become separated from the 

 rest of the Hock and was in danger of perishing in the storm. 

 Now. how did the collie, impart to the other dog a knowledge 

 of the situation unless through some super-sense unknown 

 tons? 



I told Mr. Cadman of another instance of canine sagacity 

 that had come to my own knowledge. Where I boarded 

 many years ago was an old dog, quite too old to he of any 

 service. This dog would never leave the house or yard with 

 any person except my wife, but whenever she went out he was 

 certain to follow her. One day she started to visit a friend 

 living about a mile away. It was early spring and there had 

 been a freshet, but the water had partially subsided and the 

 stream had slightly frozen over again. My wife attempted 

 to cross a little brook, the bridge across which was over- 

 flowed, on the thin ice. The old dog placed himself in front 

 of her, and t>y vigorous barking, a thing very unusual with 

 him, and even by taking hold of her dress, tried to prevent 

 her from risking herself on the ice. He did indeed prevent 

 her from crossing at that point, but she thought she might 

 crawl along safely by holding on to a fence that cressed the 

 brook a little further up. Inconsequence she broke through 

 and got a gBtod wetting, simply through disregard of the 

 repeated warnings of her guardian, who really seemed to 

 have a better appreciation of the strength of the ice than 

 she had. He would go on himself without hesitation, but 

 objected to letting her try it. 



Some time afterAvard this dog's master remarked in his 

 hearing that he was growing so feeble and helpless that it 

 would really be necessary to kill him. The poor creature, 

 altogether contrary to his usual habits, left the house and 

 went away some distance into the woods, quite alone. A 

 few days afterward he was found lying dead under the larg- 

 est tree in the vicinity. 



These are only dog stories, and the world is full of them, 

 but they come in so'apropos in connection with the article 

 I have referred to, that 1 could not resist the temptation to 

 mention them. G. de Montauban. 

 Quebec, Dec. 26. 



December Arrivals at the Philadelphia Zoological War- 

 den.— Purchased— One wildcat (Lynx rufus), ODe prong-horned 

 antelope S (Antilocapra americana), one badger ¥ (Taxidea atueri- 

 cana), one prairie wolf i (Canis latrans), one song thrush (Turdus 

 musicus), one starling t (Sturnus vulgaris). Presented— One In- 

 dian elephant o , Bolivar (Elephas indicus), one white-cheeked 

 cebus(Cebus lunatus), one common quail (Ortyx virginianus),one 

 Teat horned owl (Bubo virginianus), three rnenobranchus (Meno- 

 jranchus maculatus), one liorse snake (Chilomeniscus ephippi- 

 cus), and eight Dekay's snakes (Storeria dekayi). Born— Twelve 

 spotted salamanders (Salamanrira maculosa.) 



%mnt mtd %ttt{. 



A WATER HAUL. 



rpOM thought, and I thought, a hunting trip to Arkansas 

 J. (how do you pronounce that name?) would be about 

 the proper thing. That most delightful part of every 

 such expedition, the planning of it, was enjoyed to the 

 full. There are no freezing mornings nor drizzling days 

 in the outing as you look forward to it. The game is 

 always plenty when you make out the programme for a 

 trip through forest and along stream. 



When we reached Cairo and had purchased our sup- 

 plies, including a little sheet-iron stove, which looked 

 exactly like an inverted wash boiler, with a sliding door 

 at the end, with hole cut for skillet and with the pipe 

 deftly packed inside, proving afterward a great treasure 

 in the tent on a rainy day, we sallied out along the streets. 

 Several deer hanging here and there before the markets 

 were the most attractive things we saw, and we carefully 

 inquired where they came from, studying where the 

 fatal shots pierced them, for we wanted to know where 

 to place our bullets when we found deer in the woods. 



Meredith, a lumber station on the Cotton Belt route, 

 and nearly due east of Little Rock, wag our objective 

 point. All night long the train crawled toward it, and 

 when we looked at the track the next day we were glad 

 it had not attempted to make more than twelve or fifteen 

 miles an hour, for it would have gone into the ditch 

 surely at a higher speed. The conductors we found ac- 

 commodating, but the other trainmen were far from it. 

 They all seem to be working the traveling public, especi- 

 ally hunters, for tips. We had to do our own baggage 

 hustling and fight to keep from being charged extra on 

 our baggage because it was in the shape of camp outfit. 

 This road advertises for the patronage of hunters and 

 ought to treat them better. 



We reached Meredith Dec. 28, and that afternoon took 

 our first plunge into the woods. We did good stalking. 

 The novice, hunting game where stealthy approach is 

 required, sometimes does as well as the older hunter in 

 approaching the game because less confident of success. 

 We did splendidly until a doe rose up before me about 

 40yds. distant and hurried away to the left. If I had 

 not heard all my life so much about buck ague I would 

 have killed that deer. I felt -that I ought to be excited, 

 but I was not. The deer improved the time to hustle 

 some trees between us. Perhaps I had buck paralysis. 

 Certainly 1 was a little too deliberate, but have a faint 

 idea that when the loggers get one of those trees to the 

 mill the big saw will snag itself on a chunk of lead in- 

 tended for the doe that got away. It was by all odds 

 the best shot, in fact the only decent shot I had during 



the week. Going on a little further, cautiously peering 

 through the brush, we sat down on an old log. Before 

 long we lieard a tremendous racket behind us, just be- 

 yond an old fallen treetop and caught a glimpse of a 

 vanishing deer, his white flag waving. Too late for that 

 deer, but not for a skunk crawling about among the 

 leaves in another direction. Through him I sent a ball, 

 hoping to be able to secure his beautiful skin. I never 

 saw as finely marked a specimen, but soon abandoned 

 the idea of taking his coat. The neighborhood was too 

 odorous. Cannot some reader of Forest and Stream 

 tell me some way to destroy the horrible smell and render 

 it possible to skin these truly beautiful animals? Some 

 one suggests that by being careful the scent bag can be 

 cut out. But this is usually emptied by the animal while 

 dying and fumigation is necessary. To have brought 

 home enough skunk skins for a floor rug would have 

 been to have secured a handsome souvenir of the trip, for 

 no skins are finer for the purpose. 



Few dogs are used in that neighborhood for hounding 

 deer, but one day a Mr. Edwards took his three and went 

 with us for a drive. But he did not know where the 

 runways of the deer were and the dogs hindered rather 

 than helped us. They ran several deer into the dim dis- 

 tance and on one trail gave us some fine music. Tige, 

 the old dog, struck it and went tearing away making 

 the woods ring with his magnificent bass notes, closely 

 followed by Fly with her alto and Spring with a fine 

 tenor. It was a magnificent trio, such music as I had 

 often wished to hear. 



Hardly a day passed, as we roamed through the woods 

 that we did not catch a fleeting glimpse of a deer or 

 two. The only chance of shooting them was to let drive 

 at moving bushes, or the place we guessed the game 

 might have reached through the dense thicket. There is 

 no sport in such shooting. It is all mere chance work. 

 Tom carried a Winchester .38, and I had my new 3-barrel 

 Daly, the shot barrels 12-bore and the rifle .38. This 

 mongrel seems to me the ideal gun to carry through 

 ordinary cover. It might not be just the thing for elk 

 or grizzlies, but in a country where you may jump a 

 deer, or start a mallard, or put up a turkey it just about 

 fills the bill. No gun could perform better than mine 

 has so far as I have been able to test it at a target and in 

 the woods, and I am in love with it. However, Tom and 

 I rather thought the best gun for Arkansas brush would 

 be a gun that would shoot rope and enough of it to wrap 

 around a ten acre brush patch and corral the game that 

 is hustling through it somewhere, |jbut you can't tell 

 exactly where. 



Big gray squirrels were in abundance. We stood one 

 morning where at least a dozen were in sight. We 

 killed only a few where we might have killed many. 

 One big swamp rabbit, a monster, and a mallard duck, 

 completed our bag of game. We saw some bear signs 

 but not a single turkey. If we killed a deer we did not 

 know it. We called the hunt a water haul. 



Hoping to retrieve our fortunes a little on ducks and 

 geese, we came north to Paw Paw Junction, and Dave 

 Wilkerson took us four miles up Little River to an island 

 about 40ft. square, just a dot of land, where we camped, 

 surrounded by the boundless overflow, forming the finest 

 duck range I ever saw. Here was abundant smart weed, 

 wild rice and celery. The lotus was also very abundant. 

 It was too late, of course, for the flower, but the huge 

 leaves and big flat seed pods— the latter so attractive to 

 the mallard's eye — were to be seen everywhere. It is the 

 same as that I have seen growing in the little lakes all 

 along both the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and locally 

 called "yawkernut." One day a Japanese student in my 

 library picked up one of these seed pods, and, as he rat- 

 tled the iron-hard nuts in their dry little beds, cried, 

 '"The lotus! the lotus! that is my people's emblem of im- 

 niortality." The one who wrote about some locality in 

 northern Illinois as the only American habitat of the 

 lotus was writing about a widely distributed plant, very 

 much the same here as in other countries. 



The two days we spent on Little River were bright and 

 very warm, and out of consideration for us, perhaps, the 

 wildfowl were probably up about our old snooting grounds 

 on the Illinois River, where we wished we were, too. 

 Not a bird did we even get a chance to kill, and so we 

 turned our faces homeward. I was rather sorry we had 

 not camped and watched on the levee at Cairo, for a few 

 days later a deer swam the Ohio River at that point, 

 rushed up the levee, and in the confusion plunged through 

 a plate glass window. We might have got that deer. 



It was a water haul. However, if we secured little 

 game we got plenty of ozone, tired muscles, improved 

 digestion, and lived for a while, as men should now and 

 then, the care-free life of the tent and the wilderness. 



Richard Gear Hobbs. 



Kearney, Neb., January.— Having occasion last month 

 to take a trip among the sandhills of the Loup River, I 

 found pinnated grouse in small bunches, and large coveys 

 of quail. The chiokens frequent the draws that open 

 upon the river, while quail are to be found in the thick- 

 ets or upon upland timber claims. Back from the rail- 

 roads the quail have not been hunted to any extent with 

 dogs, and they run at a lively rate at sight of a pointer. 

 Geese have almost entirely disappeared; but on the 

 evening of Dec. 13, a large flock of snow geese (brant) 

 and a few Canada geese passed over town. In the Wood 

 River "Valley quail shooting is better this season than for 

 several years past. In the vicinity of Kearney, jack rab- 

 bit hunting is becoming a favorite pastime with young 

 ladies and gentlemen who enjoy a cross country chase. 

 If the fad continues the "Wild West" will soon produce 

 riders who will rival those of the Long Island and Essex 

 county hunts. — Shoshone. 



HoneSdale, Pa. — There have been quite a good many 

 grouse shot and sometimes a stray duck has been shot. I 

 saw a woodduck (male) bought of a farmer, that and two 

 grouse for a dollar. The duck was a perfect beauty in 

 full plumage and not a bit cut by the shot, he has been 

 mounted and the owner is very proud of his investment. 

 —A. P. T. 



Beaver, Pa., Jan. 7.— Weather very mild. Coldest 

 day to date 6° above. Plenty of quail and ruffed grouse 

 left for breeding. On Wednesday, Dec. 26, temperature 

 57% in the garden saw five pairs of bluebirds, and on the 

 evening of the 5th inst. saw a bat flitting around a natural 

 gas lamp, temp. 47° F,— G. A. S. 



