Nov. *?, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



808 



OUT-OF-DOOR PAPERS. 



1 1 1. — W INDBOUSD ON CHAMBEELAIN. 



T T used to be the custom of the old cartographers to 

 A leave no blank space on their maps; and when their 

 geographical knowledge gave out they filled the unex- 

 plored regions with pictures symbolical of the dangers 

 supposed to be lurking in those wilds — lions and unicorns, 

 dragons, griffins, wyverns, ttatant, couchant, saltant, 

 rampant, guardant, saliant— neither the animals nor their 

 attitudes being calculated to soothe the apprehensions of 

 the adventurous. In like manner we to-day imagine 

 that the woods are full of wild creatures, yet when I re- 

 viewed my woods notes to find some red-letter clay full 

 of the birds and their doings, I could not think of one 

 which compared with many spent in field and hedgerow. 

 There are few birds in the woods. The wilderness is a 

 wilderness indeed, barren of life; and you can find more 

 birds, more plants and more game within five miles of 

 settlements, than in an equal space of forest. As Thoreau 

 says: ''Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does 

 not howl; it is the imagination of the traveler that does 

 the howling." Since Icannot find a day which is at all 

 noteworthy for the observations it afforded, something 

 prompts me to select one which was wholly ordinary, and 

 yet pleasant to remember; that day when, having crossed 

 Mud Pood Carry, we camped on the side of Chamberlain. 



Those who remember the "boundary dispute" of 1842 

 may locate this lake, on being told that it lies just north 

 of the highland which the English claimed, the Dutch 

 Commissioners debated upon, and Col. Graham surveyed, 

 as the northeastern boundary of the United States, said 

 "highlands" being Mud Pond Carry et al. Those who 

 know the country best concede great credit to Col. Gra- 

 ham's ability in his survey, not only for discovering that 

 the land here is high, but that there is any visible above 

 water. Mud Pond Carry is the most famous road in the 

 State. Thoreau says of it, with a pun on one of our 

 lumbermen's terms, "This was the most perfectly swamped 

 of all the roads I ever saw;" but the remark is lacking in 

 originality to those who have seen the place. Mud Pond 

 Carry leads to Mud Pond, and Mud Pond outlets into 

 Chamberlain Lake, the largest lake in Maine tributary to 

 the St. John. 



We were belated in crossing the carry, and we de- 

 layed a little paddling across Mud Pond, for after a week 

 of rain this morning seemed doubly fine, and the view 

 of Katahdin — grand old Katahdin — lacking nothing of 

 being a perfect mountain, and as savage to-day as when 

 Lief Erickson landed, was so glorious that we' could not 

 resist it. Then there was half a mile of quick water at 

 the outlet, where the canoe had to be "waded" down, 

 while the passengers went overland by the carry until 

 they reached the meadows, where they (the passengers 

 aforesaid) stood on stuthps in order to keep out of the 

 water, and surveyed the wide, green meadows, fair in 

 color, but desolate to look on, becau-e of the standing 

 dead trees, kdled by the fiowage, until the canoe came 

 down. Then there was a short voyage through the 

 meadows, past newly -built muskrat houses. At one 

 place the wind brought down the smell of tainted meat — 

 some moose or caribou which had been left to spoil. All 

 these delays consumed valuable time, and meanwhile 

 the wind had risen as we had feared it would, when we 

 were so hindered in crossing the carry. When at last 

 the lake was reached, such a sea was running that it was 

 deemed imprudent to attempt to cross. 



Chamberlain Lake is twelve miles long by two to three 

 miles wide and has the name of being a very ugly lake, 

 which in woods parlance is equivalent to dangerous. It 

 lies over 900ft. above the sea, extended from northwest to 

 southeast, without an island in it capable of affording any 

 shelter, and not only exposed to all the winds, but sub- 

 ject to draughts which raise a cross and choppy sea. It 

 is also distinguished by having two inlets and two out- 

 lets, one of them artificial. It is not a beautiful lake. 

 There is no high land near it , and the shores, which are 

 straight and forbidding, are even to this day fenced with 

 the trees killed by the fiowage when the locks were built 

 nearly fifty years ago. The locks, about which a word 

 should be said, are at the natural outlet — two dams with 

 a space between them, built for the purpose of driving 

 the logs cut on the lower lake, which naturally would 

 go down the St. John, up into Chamberlain,' thence 

 through Telosiuis and Telos, and down the artificial "cut" 

 into the Penobscot. The locks having nothing to do with 

 navigation, no boat larger that a batteau ever floated on 

 Chamberlain. 



We held the canoe in the Mud Brook inlet for a time, 

 and looked at the heavy sea which was running outside ; 

 listened to the doleful creaking of the dead wood as the 

 waves sawed one long tree against another, and subsid- 

 ing showed ugly black snags sticking out, on which a 

 canoe would be wrecked instantly; looked again at the 

 farm opposite, and reluctantly drew back. Experience, 

 in one of her hardest lessons, had taught one of the perty 

 not to dare Chamberlain needlesslj\ As we turned we 

 saw some small duck dipping and feeding among the 

 driftwood, but just as the gun was pointed at him he 

 saved himself by diving. One may be a strict bird de- 

 fender at home, but in the woods everything goes to fill 

 the kettle. 



We were more easily consoled for our failure to ei'oss, 

 because it was dinner time. We managed with some 

 difficulty to get ashore on the right side of the stream, in 

 a growth of sapling birch and poplar; and, fortunately, 

 remembered to build our fire where the smoke would not 

 attract the attention of the men at the farm. For now, 

 as in Thoreau's day, a smoke near the inlet is a signal for 

 the farm to send a canoe across, some two miles and a 

 half. Even in their great sea canoes this would have 

 been no easy task on such a day. Mr. Coe, the owner of 

 the farm, tells me that in winter they always leave a 

 lamp burning all night, to guide any wandering lumber- 

 man belated on the lake. 



Dinner is not an elaborate meal in the woods. Ours 

 was soon finished, and we had the afternoon before us; 

 for evidently we were windbound. "And yet the wind 

 might go down," we said, watching the treetops bend, 

 and knowing: very well that there was no such happiness 

 in store. How beautiful across the angry lake the farm 

 looked, seated on the sloping hillside among fields colored 

 with the soft rich hues of growing grain, of grass land 

 and of cultivated soil. Not one of the other "supply" 

 farms compares with this in picturesquenesB, as seen 

 across the lake. 



These jgreat farms are a surprise to strangers. Here is 



Chamberlain, some 80 miles from the nearest railroad, 

 and CO from the nearest main road, one of the only two 

 houses on a block of twenty-eight townships — a space 

 larger than the State of Rhode Island. What can be 

 done with the produce of these hundreds of acres? It is 

 all for the winter's business. For fifty years this farm 

 has raised bay and grain for the lumbermen's cattle, and 

 potatoes for the men themselves, It is too cold here to 

 ripen maize, although at Trout Brook Farm 30 miles to 

 the east a little is grown. A few staple vegetables are 

 raised, and these, with the large quantities of grain and 

 hay, are the objects of the farm's existence. 



While we were thus forced to lie still, there was a good 

 opportunity given to watch the birds; but except for a 

 kingfisher which sat on the other side of the stream, and 

 some impudent Canada jays which came ca-ea-ca-iug 

 about, I saw nothing. The jays tiptoed about on the 

 trees, bowing and bending; they fluttered down with 

 spread wings and tails, and made themselves such nuis- 

 ances, that until one of them came under the scalpel of 

 the taxidermist there was no peace to be had. I should 

 not omit from the list of birds two partridges, which 

 made an excellent stew a little later, and a herring gull 

 which sat on a rock in the lake about 200yds. off, and was 

 saved only by the ball falling a little short of him. 

 These large lakes are close reproductions of the seashore, 

 even to the sea gulls which breed here, although they 

 are never seen between the lower end of Mooosehead and 

 salt water. It would be unkind not to mention the 

 beautiful green caterpillar that lived on a poplar near by, 

 so strong, so firm in his muscles, so silken skinned, and 

 so intelligent in his determination to go to the place he 

 had in mind, that I remember him with pleasure. But, 

 except a dish of raspberries, that was all that the woods 

 had for us. What city garden would not have yielded 

 more in half a day? 



The wind did not abate as we had hoped; so, at last, the 

 tent was pitched on the same spot where some one else 

 had been windbound before us. But the afternoon had 

 not passed unpleasantly; it was too great a treat to see 

 blue sky above us after our rainy week to demur at 

 having to wait for the wind. And, then, wehad resolved 

 to get up before the wind the next morning. That night 

 a woods mouse came into the tent and hopped over me, 

 tapping my face softly. Camping out sometimes gives 

 one strange bedfellow? — toads, lizaids, bats, flying squir- 

 rels, and mice to wit; but it is all part of the fun. 



The next morning our first call came at 2 A. M,, but 

 this was reconsidered, and for two hours more we were 

 allowed to sleep. Then a hasty toilet in the dark, a cold 

 bite, and the tent was struck, the baggage packed, the 

 canoe loaded, and we were off before daylight. The lake 

 was smooth as glass; yesterday's swell was lost in the 

 calm which on fresh water follows so quickly on the sub- 

 sidence of the wind. Off in the east a red line pierced 

 the gloom, and spread until it lighted all the heavens on 

 that side with fiery, vermilion-tinted hues, leaving the 

 treetops black and jagged as the walls of a burning 

 building. Overhead flew a young herring gull, and he, 

 too, looked black in this morning conflagration. 



And now the water began to curdle like hot milk. Be- 

 fore the sun was fairly up the wind began to ripple over 

 the surface of the water, gathtring force as it went, 

 which was in a direction opposite to that from which the 

 curdle came. Tne wind was up, the waves rolled and 

 broke, but we were across Chamberlain. 



Fannie Pearson Hardy. 



WAYS OF THE WHITE-FOOTED MOUSE. 



HPHE white-footed mouse is the only species of the genus 

 x Hesperomys found in the District of Columbia, the 

 golden mouse being absent, and from what wr know of 

 its geographical distribution, not to be confidently ex- 

 pected north of the Louisianian fauna. A large scries of 

 the local form presents some differences from the animal 

 of the more northern States, being shorter-tailed and 

 darker-colored, resembling specimens from North Caro- 

 lina. 



Before the writer learned to trap these mice success- 

 fully he found them alive in their daytime retreats more 

 easily than dead in trap?, and with the advantage of 

 learning a little of their habits. Several years ago, in 

 the vicinity of Morristown, N. J., I found many of them 

 while searching for the nests of screech owls in neglected 

 apple orchards. Usually they were found in a natural 

 cavity of some small limb, sometimes enlarging a cavity 

 with their teeth, leaving tell-tale marks easily recognized. 

 Old bluebirds' nesls were popular with them, and in 

 winter the mice comd be tracked over the snow to some 

 downy woodpecker's or chickadee's burrow. On one 

 occasion I frightened a white-footed mouse out of a large 

 flicker's hole, and it struck me that the mouse might 

 have found a smaller place, and one less apt to harbor 

 his enemy, the screech owl. 



In the' vicinity of Washington there are not many 

 orchards, but the mice are abundant, and quick to find 

 any desirable crack or cranny in a tree. Jan. 7, 1S88, 

 teeth marks about a knot hole in a dead apple limb led j 

 me to climb the tree and knock on the limb. No sooner I 

 done than out came Hesperomys, leaping ten feet to the 

 ground and vanishing in a burrow before my companion 

 below could slay him. So far I have never found a nest 

 without a burrow in the ground below where the animal 

 could take refuge in an emergency. 



March 1G, 188P, about half past five in the afternoon, 

 while rambling through the woods, I noticed some leaves 

 protruding from a crack in the side of a hollow tree. 

 Peering in my gaze met that of a white-footed mouse 

 sitting on a platform of leaves and regarding me quite as 

 intently as I regarded him. He soon vanished inside the 

 tree, and when the cavity was raked with a switch ran 

 out. He was caught, and soon another brightly-colored 

 adult came out, after his patience and endurance had : 

 succumbed to a liberal switching. This fellow escaped I 

 in the ground. Affairs had become so interesting now 

 that I expected an txodus of mice from that tree, never- 

 theless a great deal of switching and prodding brought 

 out oue more mouse only, which followed its predeees or i 

 into the ground, leaving me of the trio hut one, which 

 | was taken home for a pet. This has bwerl the ouly case 

 in my experience where more than a simile animal or a 

 female with a litter of young were found in a nest 

 I To the outdoor naturalist there will seem to be consid- 

 I erable analogy between these nervous, active creatures 

 | and the fidgety wrens. Like those birds, they will ex- 

 ' plore any knot'cele, crevice or woodpecker's hole, and if 



the situation is desirable, proceed to lug in a lot of rub 

 bish and fit up a home with all the modern conveniences 

 known to them. The analogy is rendered still more com- 

 plete by the habit these mice possess of climbing a bush 

 or a smilax vine to a bird's nest, such as a chat's or cat- 

 bird's, and roofing it over, have a nest not unlike that of 

 the marsh wren, that babbles out his cork-drawing notes 

 in the marshes. The mice are quite variable in the choice 

 of the material used for nest making. Leaves and bark 

 are usually staples; feathers, fur and grass are used, and 

 I have found one nest that was made almost entirely of 

 cat-tail down. This nest was in the hollow limb of a 

 willow tree on the edge of a marsh, from which the 

 material must have been brought. Though the white- 

 footed mouse has achieved some notoriety as a climber 

 and architect in the treetops, probably the majority live 

 in the ground. Numerous burrows are constructed, and 

 they also trespass on the burrows of pine mice. These 

 latter animals are very industrious and steady, and must 

 consider any intrusion by their lively and pleasure-loving 

 neighbors a decided bore. 



The food of the white-footed mouse is procured mainly 

 on the surface of the ground, and consists of seeds and 

 nuts rather than roots and grasses. When they can be 

 procured the pits of the wild cherry and the seeds of the 

 basswood seem to be preferred to anything else. At cer- 

 tain times of the year there is no better place to trap these 

 mice than a group of wild cherry and basswood trees in 

 woodland, and the ground beneath is littered with frag- 

 ments of husks and kernels. Any low bird's nest, a vireo's 

 basket, for instance, in the vicinity is usually full of 

 refuse from the food carried there by the mice. Very 

 often you will find a pile of eaten pits or seeds in a corner 

 made by the juuetion of the roots of a tree with the trunk. 

 Apparently Hesperomys, like certain monkeys seen in 

 zoological gardtns. prefers to dine in a corner where 

 comrades cannot break in or steal. Rosehips, beech nuts 

 and seeds of the dogwood (Cornus florida) are elso eaten. 

 When captured, these mice make interesting pets, being 

 amiable and contented. Placed at liberty in a room, 

 they explore every crevice and endeavor to clitnb up the 

 walls or the legs of chairs. At times they rise on their 

 haunches like a squirrel, drop their hands on their breast 

 and peer about in an inquisitive way. 



In this locality the species is found almost everywhere 

 — in the woods, in grassy meadows, under logs or brush 

 heaps, in stone walls and rocks, and on low land or high. 

 T.ieir favorite locality is a dry wooded hillside with 

 plenty of brush. i\] ORRIS M. GREEN. 



Division of Ornithoix>gy, Department of Agriculture. 



A Tame Wild Duck.— Ashburnham, Mass., Oct. 28.— 

 There is quite a curiosity here in the shape of a tame 

 black duck. A farmer found a brood of" them just 

 hatched, and as he had some domestic ducks he caught 

 one of the wild ones and put it with them. This was in 

 the spring of 1888. It was as tame as auy of the ducks, 

 but in the fall it got to flying to a pond about a mile 

 away. It would get its feed of corn in the morning, then 

 leave for the water, coming back just at dark again. 

 The 1st of April it di?appeared, and it was supposed that 

 some one had killed it. It came home, however, and is 

 as tame as ever. It arrived on Sept. 1; so it must be well 

 posted on the game liws. Partridges are very plenty 

 this fall in this section, but there are no gray squirrels 

 nor woodcock of any account. — H. C. Newell. 



Ruffed Grouse Wanted. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 Copious rains the last day cr two have broken up a pro- 

 tracted season of drought, and while they have virtually 

 ended the stream fishing, they have put the woods and 

 fields in better condition for the approaching fall shoot- 

 ing. Grouse are quite plentiful a few miles out from To- 

 ledo, and the crop of quail in our vicinity is moie abund- 

 ant than for several years. Personally, I am stdl hoping 

 to secure one or two ruffed grouse hens this fall to mate 

 with my male bird, and bring up that long expected 

 brood of grouse chicks. Doubtless some of the readers of 

 the Forest and Stream can aid me in finding any of 

 these birds now in captivity^ and I shall certainly be 

 under lasting obligations for any such assistance. — Jay 

 Beebe (To edo, O., Nov. 2). 



A Blue Heron over Central Park.— New York, 

 Nov. 1.— While crossing Central Park in this citv on 

 Oct. 26, I observed a large blue heron pass over, flying 

 northward and not more than 50yds. high. At first 

 glance I unconsciously threw up my cane in mock aim 

 at him. He saw the movement and wearily rose a few 

 feet, when I noticed a broken leg dangling helplessly. 

 Somebody had "held too low" and lost a fine specimen. 

 The bird had evidently flown far and was much exhausted 

 and I pitied the cripple. However, musing upon the 

 habits of herons and remembering their preference for 

 one leg When restmg, I consoled myself with the thought 

 that none of our birds would be less inconvenienced with a 

 single stilt than this same blue heron. — II. R. 



BLACK Foxes.— Ashburnham, Mass., Oct. 20.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: "Stansteai" concludes a note on a 

 black fox, "It is needless to say the fox was a male." A 

 few years ago there was quite a discussion as to whether 

 any female black foxes were ever killed. At the time I 

 was sure that the only black fox I ever saw that was 

 killed in New England was a female; and last winter one 

 was caught in a trap at Cavendish, Vt., and the skin was 

 bought by Henry F. B jnd, of Westminster, Vt. , who car- 

 ried the skin with him to show while buying furs in the 

 country towns in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. — 

 H. C. Newell. 



Migration of Ducks. — On Oct. 12 there were in Buz- 

 zard's Bay a consid rable number of scattered flocks of 

 ducks, princip ;dly whitewing scoters, and also a few 

 large flocks of the same species. Three or four days 

 later the birds had not entered Vineyard Sound. On the 

 18th of the rwonth a few flocks appeared in that locality, 

 From this it would seem that the migrating birds arrive 

 in Buzzird's Bay from the north earlier than in Vineyard 

 Sound; but this may vary in different years.— J. W. C. 



Birds of Niagara County. — Lockport, Oct. 12. — I 

 find two more errors in "Bird* of Niagara County," viz.: 

 No. 4S, WiWm's snipe, "no <e"' .-hou d read "rare," and 

 in No. 141, Bohemian «-:ixwing, "summer" should read 

 "winter."— J. L. DAVISON. 



The Isle Of Cormorants Experiment of Sir George 

 Grey, as related by Mr. Wakefield, furnishes an instruc- 

 tive chapter <ar acclimatization enterprise. 



