Dec. 26, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



449 



municate with Mr. Dickson, and on receiving fuller par- 

 ticulars would let us hear from him again, but up to this 

 time we have received nothing from him. It seems not 

 improbable that these animals, or some of them, may 

 have been those captured by Mr. Dobson's party in 1879. 

 At all e vents they must have been taken in almost the 

 same locality, though fuller information is needed to 

 absolutely connect the individuals. 



On May 24, 1889, a Cree half-breed named Burd cap- 

 tured on Red Eagle Mountain, overlooking Red Eagle 

 Lake, in Montana, a young female goat whose mother he 

 had killed. Of this animal Mr. J. W. Schultz, Burd's 

 partner, wrote: "We feed the goat mare's milk, three 

 pints a day, and she is doing finely. She seems to be 

 much more hardy than a young sheep [i. e. , Ovis cana- 

 densis], and when she is not asleep she is jumping about 

 and playing all sorts of antics. I notice that she uses her 

 knees a good deal when climbing a steep place. Instead 

 of bleating, the noise she makes is more like the mew of a 

 cat." This little animal died June 11. The cause of its 

 death is not known. In a letter received from Mr. Schultz 

 in November, 1889, it is stated, on the authority of Burd, 

 that a Blood Indian recently caught a goat alive on the 

 McLeod road near Lee's Creek, and took it into the settle- 

 ment, where he sold it to a rancher for $8. It soon died. 



The history of the various individuals already men- 

 tioned seems to indicate that with proper care and feeding 

 there is little difficulty in rearing and domesticating 

 Mazama montana. if it is captured when quite young, 

 and is not removed from the region to which it is native. 

 These domesticated individuals become, like many others 

 of our American herbivorous animals, so familiar as to 

 be very troublesome. They are too affectionate. Their 

 life in captivity is somewhat precarious, owing to the de- 

 praved appetite which seems to be common to them and 

 to tame mountain sheep, antelope, deer and elk. All 

 these animals pick up and chew or eat a variety of sub- 

 stances which are not food. They will devour paper, 

 cloth, tobacco and even meat, and this extraordinary 

 appetite often causes their death. 



The adult white goat probably cannot be tamed. We 

 have never heard of one that long survived captivity, and 

 Mr. John Willis, who has had some experience with them, 

 wrote us some time ago, "They are very easy to trap, but 

 I do not think they would live out of the mountains. I 

 had one kept in. [It did well] as long as I staid in camp, 

 but when I brought it down out of the mountains it did 

 not seem like the same animal. It just grieved itself to 

 death." G. B. G. 



A TAME SNIPE. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



A domesticated surf snipe your readers may say is im- 

 possible, and yet it is an undisputed fact. Every shooter 

 who goes to the sand dunes of the Great South Bay dur- 

 ing the summer months, to sit for hours at the time in 

 the broiling sun, lying in wait for the restless snipe, has 

 probably seen the beautiful turnstone (Strepsilas inter- 

 pres), commonly called the horse-foot snipe, coursing the 

 sands alone or in company with one or two of its own 

 species. One of these handsomely plumed birds fell a 

 victim to my 12-bore, or rather was made a captive last 

 July while crouching behind a few highly scented empty 

 barrels 30yds. away from my stools, out on Rockaway 

 Beach, better known as the "Point." The bird appeared 

 to be stunned, and was but very slightly injured on the 

 tip of the right wing. 



I caught it after a brief chase, and being struck by its 

 extraordinary beauty, resolved to take it home and try 

 to keep it alive. My friends assured me that my experi- 

 ment would prove a dismal failure, as the snipe would 

 not feed in captivity, and furthermore, it would be very 

 difficult to find out just what kind of food to offer it. 



Our noble turnstone was very reluctant the first three 

 or four days to partake of any of the tempting morsels 

 put before it — boiled rice, the white of a boiled egg, 

 mockingbird food and meal worms; all these remained 

 untouched. Then I tried an oyster on the half shell. 

 The bird fairly pounced upon the bivalve as soon as 

 placed within his reach, and devoured it in short order. 



Oysters, mockingbird food and an occasional meal 

 worm form its regular bill of fare now. It seems to 

 thrive on it, is growing fat and plump, and has become 

 thoroughly tamed; it takes its food from my hand, and 

 leaves at d re-enters its cage whenever so inclined. 



Wm. Schott. 



Brooklyn, N. Y. 



THE SNOWY OWL. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



My request for information as to the winter zone of the 

 snowy owl (Nyctea nyctea), appearing in your issue of 

 Nov. 28, 1889, has brought me such a considerable volume 

 of information from many willing correspondents that I am 

 encouraged in attempting to further ascertain all I possi- 

 bly can concerning this bird. I shall be exceedingly 

 obliged to any one who will send me facts about the 

 snowy owl, telling particularly of early, late, or extreme 

 southern appearances. I suggest the following heads as 

 convenient for grouping the information to be sent, and 

 as outlining the ground I wish to cover: 1. Where and 

 when you have seen the snowy owl. 2. What you know 

 of the observations of others in your vicinity. 3. If these 

 birds occur in about the same numbers annually with 

 you, and if they arrive and depart on uniform dates. 4. 

 Of any local or common names for this bird, also of 

 names in other languages than English. 5. Of the cry 

 of the snowy owl. 6. Food of this owl; state if informa- 

 tion is from examined stomachs. 7. Measurements and 

 weights. 8. Plumage of adults, albinos, or melanistic 

 specimens. 9. If its flesh is ever used as food by man, or 

 by other animals, i. e., its enemies. 10. If at any time 

 they are gregarious. 11. Nest: eggs; plumage of young. 

 12. Newspaper clippings. 13. Thermometrical and bar- 

 ometrical records bearing on the movements of this spe- 

 cies. 14. Of the life of the snowy owl in confinement. 



L. S. Foster. 



New York, Dec. 12. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



About Dec. 1 a large snowy owl was killed eight miles 

 east from this place > and since that time no less than ten 

 have been reported to me. I have never seen or heard of 

 one in this locality before, and old settlers say the same. 

 We have had very mild weather all the fall; in fact, the 

 ducks have not left us yet, and yesterday (Dec. 12) I 

 killed three jack snipe, which would seem to indicate 



a continuance of pleasant days. Owls of all species are 

 more abundant than I have ever before seen them, par- 

 ticularly the great horned owl. C. P. Hubbard. 

 Broken Bow, Nebraska. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Within the last month five snowy owls have been shot 

 near here; and two have been captured alive and are ap- 

 parently doing well in coufinement. Some of those 

 killed were very large, measuring nearly 6ft. from tip to 

 tip. The contents of the stomachs of some of those 

 killed show them to have been feeding on birds. This is 

 their first appearance here for some seven or eight years. 



H. 



Edgar, Nebraska, Dec. 12. 



A Late Fawn.— Thetis, Washington.— Editor Forest 

 and Stream: On the farm of Mr. Robert Legerwood, 

 near Thetis, Washington, was found on Nov. 10, 1889, a 

 dead doe, which, at the time of her death, a few days 

 previous, was carrying a fawn. Mr. Legerwood had 

 fired at a large buck the day before, and observing his 

 dog sneaking into the bushes in the direction where last 

 he had seen the escaping buck, he went, accompanied by 

 his neighbor Mr. R. B. Lane, to see if the dog had not 

 found his deer dead. They found instead the dead doe. 

 The day following (Nov. 12) I hastened to Bee for myself 

 this strange sight. I found the dead deer, a large doe of 

 the white-tail species (Cervus virginianus), and the fawn 

 was a doe apparently perfectly developed and almost 

 ready for birth. It was the opinion of all who saw the 

 little wonder that had the mother been unhurt its birth 

 would not have been later than Dec. 1. The mother doe 

 had been shot with a small solid bullet, which struck her 

 too far back, and the unlucky hunter had in consequence 

 lost a really fine specimen. Another illustration, by the 

 way, of the practice of carrying pop-guns in pursuit of 

 large game. Four persons stand ready to testify to these 

 facts, Mr. Legerwood, Mr. Lane, my son Bruce Belknap, 

 and myself. So out of the usual order of nature is this 

 strange fact, and so contrary to my own observation for 

 thirty-five years, that I call upon my brother sportsmen 

 and hunters to produce if possible a parallel instance.— 

 Orin Belknap. 



Wanted— A Devil Fish.— There is not in the National 

 Museum a good skin of the devil fish, sea devil or manta 

 (Mania birostris), which is so effectually described in 

 Elliotts's "Carolina Sports," published three decades ago. 

 This immense ray, with a disk breadth of twenty feet, is 

 said to be common enough still in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and we have seen many individuals off the coast of Yuca- 

 tan. As the delight of many of our angling fraternity 

 is in big game, we invite their special attention to this 

 huge creature, which will furnish sport for a boat's crew. 

 The museum will pay the cost of transportation, and in 

 winter it will not be necessary to use ice for packing: the 

 ray can be shipped in a box or cask, simply wrapped in 

 gunny sacks, canvas or some other coarse material, and 

 addressed to the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 

 D. C. This ray will be readily recognized by its great 

 size and the long ear-like appendages on its head, com- 

 monly referred to as horns. A figure of the species is 

 given in DeKav's "New York Fauna," Fishes, plate 67, 

 fig. 219. * 



Great Grat Owl in New York.— An adult female 

 specimen of the great gray owl ( Uhda einerea) was taken 

 by John Wright, of Watson, Lewis county, N. Y. . Dec. 

 17. The big bird flew into the yard where they were 

 butchering and perched in a tree near them. Mr. Wright 

 had been told by Mr. James BL. Miller, of this place, to 

 shoot any owls he might see and bring them to him. 

 When Mr. Miller was shown the bird and was informed 

 that it had been purchased for him, said, "I will take 

 this as a Christmas present and ask for nothing else." 

 When he told me where it had been shot and by whom, 

 I could but heave a sigh, for only the day before I had 

 been rabbit hunting in the very woods the bird flew out 

 of when first seen, and my horse had been hitched in the 

 very yard where the bird was shot. The measurements 

 were: Length, 24in.; extent, 58in. The stomach was 

 empty. This is the first authentic record of this species 

 having been taken in Lewis county, so far as I am aware 

 of.— O. Stewart Bamber, M.D. (Lowville, N. Y.). 



Locked Antlers. — Kankakee, Mich., Dec. 14. — Messrs. 

 Harrison Loring and F. S. Campbell have just returned 

 from a hunt in the Upper Peninsula. They report game 

 very scarce and wild, and hunting bad on account of 

 being dry and very noisy in the timber; nevertheless the 

 party killed eight deer. Mr. Campbell killed two very 

 large bucks caught fighting. When they were surprised 

 their antlers were so firmly interlocked the bucks could 

 not separate themselves, and thus fell an easy prey. The 

 united efforts of Mr. Campbell and Mr. Loring with their 

 naked hands could not separate the antlers, and they had 

 to resort to levers. Mr. Loring and Mr. Campbell say 

 that if any of their friends should go to Metropolitan, 

 Mich., and desire a lively rig they recommend their 

 friends to call on Case Anderson. They received many 

 courtesies from Peter McCrimon, a foreman of the Ford 

 River Lumber Company, near whose quarters they were 

 camped. 



Albino Squirrel.— Granby, Conn. — I have just had 

 brought me to mount a pure white (albino) common 

 ground squirrel (TttWias striatus). Man had kept it in a 

 cage for over a year, but it got out and his cat killed it. — 

 N. E. ■ 



Photograph of Grouse on Nest. — The gentleman 

 who left at this office recently a photograph of a grouse 

 on her nest will greatly oblige by sending in his address. 



Those Antoine Bissette Letters.— New York, Dec. 

 20, 1889. — Editor Forest and Stream: I can not help 

 writing to thank Mr. Robinson through you, for those two 

 Antoine Bissette letters. I have read and re-read them; 

 finding more and more points in them each time, aside 

 from the patois, which is inimitable in itself. They bring 

 to mind "Uncle Lisha's Shop" and good "Sam Lovel's 

 Camps," which with my pipe have been my solace on 

 many a rainy evening at home. A Merry Christmas to 

 "Hoi' M'sieu Robyson." May his "heyesaght" last and 

 may "he gat great many hole wan he'll come dead," — 

 D. A. W. 



"FOREST AND STREAM " GUN TESTS. 



THE following guns have been tested at the Forest And 

 Stream Range, and reported upon in the issues named. 

 Copies of any date will be sent on receipt of price, ten cents: 

 Colt 12, July 25. Parker 10, hammer, June 6. 



Coi/r 10 and 12, Oct. 24. Pahtceb 12, hamrnerless, June H. 



FolSOm 10 and 12, Sept. 26. Remington Ifi, May 30. 

 Francotte 12, Deo. 12. Remington 12, Dec. 5. 



Greener 12, Aug. 1. Scott 10, Sept. 5. 



Greener 10, Sept. 12, Sept. 19. L. C. Smith 12, Oct. 10. 

 HoT.nrs 10, Nov. 7. Winchester 10 and 12, Oct. 3. 



THE SMALL BOY AND THE GUN. 



FROM A MOTHER'S STANDPOINT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Ten years ago, the question of allowing my son, a boy 

 of eight years, to use a gun was a vexed one in my mind. 

 One day it was decidedly settled — first in my own, and 

 later in the minds of the boy's father and grandparents, 

 and in this wise: 



It was a beautiful sunny day in October; a day when 

 young people, as well as their elders, felt it almost a sin 

 to remain indoors, when my aforementioned son of 

 eight years came rushing into my sitting room where 

 the family were assembled, with a white scared face and 

 trembling voice. "Oh, ma, Mrs. Perkins says Jimmy 

 has been killed out in the woods. She wants you to go 

 right over there!" This exclammation, although a trifle 

 incoherent, was lucid enough for me to understand that 

 some accident had happened; and I left the house, only 

 to return some hours later saddened by the sight of the 

 death of a promising lad of ten years, caused by the care- 

 less handling of a shotgun. "To think!" exclaimed the 

 heart-broken mother, while she was surrounded by sev- 

 eral sympathetic friends, "I have always had such a 

 horror of firearms, and never allowed Jimmy to handle 

 a gun. Where could he have gotten hold of this one?" 



Poor child, and poor mother! My heart ached for her; 

 but it did seem to me as if she had not cared for her boy 

 in the right way, and that she was almost to blame for 

 his death. Almost any boy will get hold of some sort of 

 firearm and "go hunting." If he has to do it by stealth, 

 so much the worse, but do it he will, and to the astonish- 

 ment and wrath of Jack's grandmother, the horror of 

 Jack's grandfather, but with the approval of Jack's 

 father, Jack had a gun. It was a small light gun, but 

 well made and entirely reliable; and the boy's delight 

 and dignity were indescribable. Do you suppose he had 

 it to play with or unconditionally'!' Not at all. It was 

 in vain I tried to quiet the apprehensions of the mothers 

 of the neighborhood by telling them my reasons for the 

 gift. In time two or three came to argue with me, and 

 their sons had the same privilege as mine, but it was a 

 long time before I had any followers. 



In the first place, as Jack's father was not much of a 

 sportsman, I took the boy to a man who lived in the 

 neighborhood, who often spent a day in the woods, and 

 told him just what I wanted, viz., that Jack should learn 

 the proper use of a gun— that he should know the dan- 

 gers of firearms and also tbe pleasure of a day spent in 

 the pursuit of game; and after applauding my ideas, Mr. 

 Stearns readily agreed to take Jack as a pupil. After 

 this, on Wednesday and Saturday, if the weather per- 

 mitted, Mr. Stearns and Jack would "go a-hunting." 

 Sometimes I went also; and when Jack was twelve years 

 old Mr. Stearns's company was sometimes dispensed with 

 and we went together. As Jack grew older, he saw more 

 and more the necessity for care and caution, and now 

 when he goes off with dog and gun I feel no uneasiness. 



Why is it, I wonder, that mothers so often fail to under- 

 stand the natural longings of their sons. Is it too much 

 to ask that they put themselves occasionally in the boy's 

 place, and feel that the gun, the bicycle, the new base 

 ball bat or the camera will save the boy from the tempta- 

 tion of the cigarette, the saloon, the vicious literature or 

 other evils of the day? Let some other mother be heard 

 on the gun question. Olivia Hoard. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The excellent letter of "Picus," in the issue of Dec. 5, 

 would be perfect if it spoke of the shotgun as it does of 

 the rifle. With him I say not only that every boy, but 

 every girl should learn to shoot. Why should our sex 

 monopolize the most delightful of recreations? In these 

 days of small-bores, light weights and powders of slight 

 recoil, why should not the girls accompany us in the 

 field, shoot, handle the dogs, and, while greatty increas- 

 ing our enjoyment, themselves taste the pleasure of 

 shooting over setters and pointers? It is true that, as a 

 rule, they do not seem to care about it. But is not this 

 merely because they do not know what they are declin- 

 ing? Indeed, many women go so far as to believe that 

 our only object in going out is to kill, that we cannot en- 

 joy a day in the field unless we return with a big bag! 

 No wonder they think it a cruel sport and do not care to 

 join us. But let them once see our dogs work, and 

 understand wherein our enjoyment lies, and they will 

 appreciate and share it. As for conventionalities, if it 

 is proper for a young lady to take a walk, it is certainly 

 quite as proper for her to carry a gun while she walks; 

 and if a chaperone is necessary, let her come — she can 

 carry the game and extra cartridges. Setter. 

 Annibton, Alabama. 



Smith's Mills, Pa., Dec. 9.— Four of our hoary-headed 

 hunters accompanied by Bruno (an all-around dog), 

 sallied forth on the 30th ult. to the head of Moshannon, 

 to show the young bloods what their sires could do. 

 They were back inside of six hours with an immense 

 specimen of a wildcat and excited tales of having seen 

 two more. Bruno did the business in connection with 

 their old-time muzzleloaders. Some of the lads bagged 

 an oppossum in a neighboring swamp last week. I have 

 never heard of one being captured before in this section. 

 Small game of all kinds continues abundant. You should 

 have seen the Doctor and the Professor from Houtzdale, 

 with five dogs, scaring the fife out of a poor little cotton- 

 tail which had hid in a brush pile. But I must close; my 

 pipe is out, also my fire, and the wind howling around 

 the sanctum seems to foretell snow, and that means get- 

 ting up at 8 o'clock to go to the happy hunting grounds. 

 Did you ever hear of three deer at one shot? It has been 

 done. I may some time tell you of it. — C. D. 



