Jan. 9, 1890.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



497 



to accomplish the feat by constant crawling and climb- 

 ing, dislodging the sand above them until they emerge on 

 the beach, and hasten to the sea. Of the many young- 

 turtles I have liberated, carrying them as close to 

 the barrier as possible, not one made a mistake in go- 

 ing straight to the ocean: and although repeatedly tossed 

 back by the surf they always righted themselves a,nd 

 made for the water again. 



For an experiment 1 brought part of three nests home, 

 handling them with great care, placing them in warm 

 moist sand in the same position and depth as I had found 

 them, and where they would be exposed to the full heat 

 of the sun. They did not develop as rapidly as the eggs 

 on the beach and the embryos were poor and feeble. The 

 first indication of life and movement 1 found on the 

 twentieth day, and sixty days from laying to hatching I 

 found to be the correct time' for the twenty-three nests I 

 have carefully observed. 



HAWKS THAT KILL HENS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Here in Howard county, Maryland. Ave have just now 

 extraordinary numbers of hawks, broad wings predomin- 

 ating. This morning, Dec. 30, my son, Mr. J. Murray 

 Ellzey, surprised and shot a broadwing, which had seized 

 near the house a large Plymouth Rock rooster, which he 

 had lacerated and almost* denuded of feathers along the 

 back, and certainly would have killed but for timely 

 rescue in a very few moments. This is the second in- 

 stance this season in which Mr. Ellzey has shot this 

 species in the act of seizing poultry. At West River in 

 this State some weeks ago broad wings appeared in greater 

 numbers than ever before remembered, and numerous 

 complaints of their attacks upon poultry were made. 



Redtails are also very numerous this season. This 

 species is well known as a hen hawk. A short time ago 

 I saw a roughleg seize and carry off a red squirrel. Those 

 who know the quickness of this animal will recognize a 

 feat more considerable than Mr. Audubon's chronicle of 

 the seizure of a "lethargic frog" as the most considerable 

 feat of this species witnessed by him. I also saw a marsh 

 harrier seize and carry aw T ay a partridge not many weeks 

 ago. 



I do not know what would be found mostly in the 

 stomachs of hawks around here now. I take it mice, as 

 there are more mice than partridges or Plymouth Rock 

 roosters or red squirrels to be had by them. There is no 

 doubt that the professional ornithologists have been led 

 into error as to the innocence of many species of the 

 hawk by deduction from the contents of their stomachs, 

 which rather represent the food supply for the time 

 being accessible to them in the district they are foraging. 

 Three weeks ago any hawk killed near here would very 

 likely have had remains of partridge in his craw. To day 

 I doubt if there is a partridge in Howard county. About 

 the middle of December every year they leave here; 

 where they go I cannot say, I suspect to the Potomac. 

 About the "same time numerous hawks of various species 

 appear here, and T believe drive the partridges off. 



M. G. E llzey, M.D. 



Snowy Heron on Lake Ontario.— Mr. E. E. Chapman 

 writes us from the shores of Lake Ontario as follows: 

 "Looking down upon me from his perch over my head is 

 a bird that I am told is a white or snowy heron. This 

 bird was shot by me at Mexico Point, south shore of 

 Mexico Bay, Lake Ontario, in July, 1888. The taxiderm- 

 ist who put him up for me says that so far as he can 

 learn this is the only one ever seen as far north as Lake 

 Ontario. Thinking that this might be of interest to you 

 1 take the liberty of making it known. The bird is per- 

 haps 30in. from end of bill to tip of tail, pure white with 

 yellow eyes, light bronze bill, and legs and feet black." 

 [If this is Ardea candidissima it is certainly an unusual 

 occurrence, and is very near the northern limit of its 

 range.] 



Large Antlers. — From a private letter received from 

 our correspondent " Persy val" we extract the following 

 notes on large antlers. He says: "My friend Mr. B. tells 

 methatinthe post-office at Lusk, Wyoming, he saw a 

 blacktail | mule] deer head with a very abnormal growth 

 of antlers. H counted fifty -four points on them. They 

 tried to secure the specimen, but were not able to do so. 

 Lately Mr. H. returned from the field and brought in 

 an elk's head, obtained in the Bighorn Mountains, which 

 has an enormous pair of antlers. The crown is at least 

 4in. in diameter, and the pair have nineteen points be- 

 tween them." 



A January Frog.— Scarborough, N. Y,, Jan. 3. — A 

 half-gro%vn bullfrog put in an appearance here yester- 

 day. He' found the weather so delightful that he couJd 

 not resist the temptation to give himself a sun bath. We 

 have dandelions in bloom and caterpillars crawling 

 around. The frog was not musical. — Stillaboy. 



mine 



1&g mid 



"FOREST AND STREAM " GUN TESTS. 



rpHE following guns have been tested at the Forest AND 

 JL 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 12, hammerle&s, June <>. 



Colt 10 and 12, Oct. 21. Remington IB, May 30. 



Folsom 10 and 12, Sept. 2fi. Remington 12, Dec. 5. 



Francotte 12, Dec. 12. Remington 10, Dec. 26. 



(tREEner 12, Aug. 1. Scott 10, Sept. 5. 



G-reeneb 10. Sepr. 12, Sept. 10, L. C. Smith 12, Oct. 10. 



Hollis 10, Nov. 7. Winchester 10 and 12, Oct. 3. 



Parker 10, hamtner, June 6. 



HOUNDERS AND STILL-HUNTERS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In a recent issue was a letter from the pen of Wm. H. 

 Gordon, setting forth the destruction of deer in the past 

 open season by hounding in the Adirondack country. 

 He reports that a young man from Clinton county, in 

 going as far as Indian Lake, Hamilton county, during 

 the hounding season, had said, "I'll bet you I saw over a 

 thousand deer beside the road, in wagons and ©very 

 w r ay." What a scene! Nevertheless, but a few years 

 since that same thing could have been said by a person 

 passing through some portions of the State of Pennsyl- 

 vania. Never was there a country in evesy particular 

 more suited to the deer family than the Keystone State. 

 It was argued at the time that the dog and deer flourished 



together. True of the former, but where is the latter? 

 "None left to sing his requiem." And now the Adiron- 

 dack country is being denuded of its game in the saute 

 manner and by the same class of sportsmen, while the 

 laws of the State uphold them, allowing two months and 

 a half for driving deer in warm weather to ponds and 

 lakes, where they can be potted over while in the water, 

 and completely at the mercy of the hunter. And this 

 crusade going on season after season, while men call it 

 sport to destroy hundreds of animals, when not one- 

 fourth of the meat— owing to the temperature of the 

 weather — can be utilized. 



I recently had a conversation with a noted hunter who 

 used to hound deer in Forest county, Pennsylvania, and 

 said to him, "If you had some of those deer back again 

 in the woods, that you used to kill by dogging into the 

 river, off of Bald Hill, you could now— since the law 

 prohibits hounding — go down in November or December 

 and kill one or two by still-hunting to use in your family 

 through the winter."' I knew that he had spent a week 

 the fall before down on his old stamping ground, still- 

 hunting upon snow, seeing but the track of one deer and 

 a man ahead of him on that, and came home quite out 

 of sorts about still-hunting deer, 



"Yes," said he, "1 can now see where we missed it, for 

 we did clean the deer all out of that section in two or 

 three falls' hounding." 



It will be just the same in this State within a very few 

 years, unless the law is altered. It does not pay the dis- 

 tant still-hunter to visit the Adirondacks any longer, for 

 the sake of bagging one deer in warm weather, among 

 the baying of hounds, which game, if shipped, would be 

 found stinking at the end of the route. Not many, I pre- 

 dict, will be found visiting those woods under such cir- 

 cumstances. 



The State of Maine, thanks to her law makers, has a 

 good wise game law, giving the still-hunter the months 

 of October, November and December to follow the trail, 

 limiting the number to three deer, two caribou and one 

 moose for each hunter during open season. There he 

 can go and pursue his chosen game unmolested from the 

 noise of the dogs, and bag it late enough in the season, so 

 that every pound can be utilized before it spoils; and 

 there game is plenty and increasing steadily from year 

 to year. . Cap Lock. 



Frewsburgh, N. Y., Dec. 30. 



TRAMPS WITH A POCKET RIFLE. 



IT.— A WINTER DAY. 



THE December morning was well advanced by the 

 time the sun had risen above the bank of leaden- 

 hued vapor stretching along the horizon. For over an 

 hour, in the chill of the gray dawn, a rigid form pre- 

 served its motionless position, seated on a rock in the 

 center of a grove of chestnut trees. At intervals there 

 issued from this apparently inanimate object a faint 

 "bark." The perseverance of this human squirrel is re- 

 warded ere long. Suddenly I discovered several of the 

 wily rascals among the treetops. One came' down a 

 chestnut and commenced skirmishing for breakfast 

 within twenty feet of me. My long vigil on this old stone 

 had rendered nay nerves a trifle unsteady, and I could not 

 trust myself to draw on him until be ceased scampering 

 around. Slowly, without any sudden movements, the 

 little elongated pistol rose to my face. He stops for an 

 instant, raises himself on his hindlegs. and looks sus- 

 piciously in what he has perhaps imagined to be an old 

 brown stump. The sight paused for a second in line with 

 his pert head; a delicate pressure released the hair trig- 

 ger: a tiny spurt of fire; a sharp report— but one little life 

 had gone where noises of this earth no longer have 

 power to frighten him into a break for safety toward 

 some hole. 



Like a ball of dull fire the sun appeared in the south- 

 east for but a few minutes. Gradually the fog swept 

 between in thicker stratas. The sky clouded over with 

 neutral vapor that betokens storm, and the noises of the 

 forest resolved into a softened hum. Along the edges of 

 the wood some of the oaks have still retained their dead 

 and dry leaves, and the wind that comes in scarcely per- 

 ceptible breaths, as it moves among them awakes a mur- 

 mur of protest against the hand of winter. It is not to 

 be one of those still storms, in which the earth is wrapped 

 in a dream of unbroken silence. In increasing and vary- 

 ing gusts the vanguard of the storm comes out of the 

 nor'east, rousing the sleeping music of the gaunt limbs, 

 now singing in wild cadence, suddenly sinking low into 

 a strain so weird and mournful that it haunts the memory 

 of the listener months, yes years, after. How strangely 

 in sympathy with each other nature's moods are some- 

 times. Solemn as these mutterings are, yet they are in 

 perfect accord with the desolate appearance of brown 

 fields and bare, striped branches of the wood. 



And now come the tiny, innumerable advance scouts, 

 traveling swiftly downward and noiselessly dropping 

 upon the grass. Howfinethe flakes are at first; butw'ait; 

 their size will increase fast enough. Soon the storm is 

 under full headway, and the fitful gusts of wind hurry 

 the driving bits of white onward in great curves like the 

 spray fr om the break of some enormous surge. How the 

 wind does rollick among those swaying, tossing branches, 

 and pipe a lively accompaniment to the dance of the old 

 North King's breath. Even the pines are forced to suc- 

 cumb to its power. The soft snow is the only garment 

 that can change the foliage Of the evergreen pines. They 

 rise in silent majesty like a troop of white-robed spectres. 



In many a snug little crevice old Br'er Rabbit is safely 

 ensconced, and the cheery quail have huddled together 

 beneath the sheltering junipers, while the feathery flakes 

 drift over their warm bodies, keeping them still better 

 protected from the cold without. The area of vision is 

 bounded by a restricted radius, and yet sometimes there 

 comes a lull, the snow ceases for a few moments and I 

 catch a glimpse of the lowlands in their white shroud; and 

 then the waves of wind recommence, shutting out the 

 distance. The deathlike silence, intensified rather than 

 broken by the mournful sobbing of the wind, forced my 

 thoughts into a channel of dejection. I had fallen into a 

 reverie upon the shadowed side of life. 



Wandering aimlessly on, 1 followed unconsciously an 

 old road through the woods and was absorbed in kicking 

 up the dry powder underneath my feet. Suddenly a 

 whirr startled me, and I collected my senses just in time 

 to see five or six hustling brown balls disappearing in the 

 underbrush. Now for a still-hunt, with the chances ten 

 to one in Bob White's favor. The trees in t he direction 



the bevy flew were all opeu and tall. Swiftly, the car- 

 pet of snow making my advance noiseless, I crept for- 

 ward as far as I judged they had gone and found myself 

 on the border of a clump of white birches. The stump 

 of a decayed button-ball was just the thing for an am- 

 bush, and I stowed myself behind it. For five minutes 

 nothing but the harsh quank-qnank of a cheery little 

 white-bellied nuthatch broke the stillnesss, as lie circled 

 thej rueged bark of an oak, head downward. Faintly at 

 first, and then perhaps gathering courage from the an- 

 swered call, the notes grew louder, and soon by scruti- 

 nizing carefully the underbrush I detect one of the flock. 

 Slowly I reached my hand around to the pocket where I 

 had the noiseless conical cartridges, opened the breech 

 and inserted it instead of the .22 short. The background 

 of leaves and dark shadows render a clear sight or even 

 a sight at all a matter of extreme difficulty. I held the 

 rifle to my shoulder fully three minutes before I got a 

 chance. He paused a second in front of a little opening 

 and the white snow behind made him stand out plainly. 

 The light snap, scarcely louder than the breaking of a 

 small twig, of the cartridge, did not frighten away the 

 remaining birds. Two more ran up against a small 

 leaden pill and then the rest took warning and departed. 



It is about time for me to vamose also, for Ihavenearly 

 an hour's walk ahead before I reach the way and means 

 of transportation. How the vacillating wind plays with 

 the driving snow, twisting it around in great columns and 

 anon sweeping it along in great sheets with such power 

 that its Hakes sting when they strike the unprotected 

 face. For two miles along this dreary, lonely road I 

 walked before I saw the welcome glow from one of the 

 houses of Hinsdale. The light was dimmed so by the 

 intervening feathery blast and gathering darkness that I 

 was almost abreast of the house before its gleam was per- 

 ceptible. 



"Unwarned by any sunset, light, 

 The gray day darkens into night." 

 And still through the gloom come the low, fluctuating 

 moans of the wind, and when there comes a lull, the sift- 

 ing of the snow through the trees along the roadside fills 

 the short respite with a steady, incessant sound. Every- 

 thing seemed muffled and unreal. A wagon passed by 

 like a mass of animated shadow — a. couple of forms, muf- 

 fled to the eyes, I see advance for a second and fade 

 swiftly back into obscurity, like spectres. The thin, far 

 away whistle of a locomotive comes trembling through 

 the air, sounding like a mere wraith of an echo. Even 

 the train seems to glide instead of coming to a stop with 

 a grating of the brakes and jumble of cars. It moves 

 much more silently, but none the less swiftly, for I have 

 just begun to review the incidents of the day when 

 "Brooklyn" from the other end of the car settles matters 

 in that line, until I recline again in my "den." Rex B. 



WID MEDFORD. 



^pHE enterprise of Mr. J. C. S. Timberlake, manager of 

 JL the St. Elmo Hotel at Monticello, Fla., deserves 

 recognition. Having genuine attractions for sportsmen, 

 in a country blessed with game, Mr. Timberlake tells of 

 them in a full-page advertisement in this issue, to which 

 we invite attention. The quail shooting at Monticello 

 has frequently been reported in past years in our columns, 

 and the letters of Mr. Hoey and others show that the 

 game supply still holds out. 



In response to our request for some particulars about 

 WidMedford, Mr. Timberlake writes: 



This remarkable personage, who is referred to in the 

 article on Monticello, Florida, is extensively and most 

 favorably known by the thousands of summer visitors 

 who for the past fifty years have thronged the mountains 

 of western North Carolina. He has been from his youth . 

 up a " mighty hunter before the Lord," in which capacity 

 he has slaughtered more bear, deer, panthers, wildcats 

 and rattlesnakes than any living citizen of the United 

 States. 



In personal appearance, in manners, in independent 

 bearing, in quaintuess of phrase, originality of expression 

 and sterling integrity, he is an exact representative of 

 Cooper's celebrated character "Old Leather Stocking.'' 

 He has often been aptly described as the Leather Stock- 

 ing of the southern Alleghanies. 



There is not a cove, nor mountain height, nor trout- 

 bearing streamlet in that majestic chain of mountains 

 with which he is not perfectly familiar. 



His feats of prowess and bloody encounters with deni- 

 zens of the woods are innumerable, full of romance, and 

 a simple narrative of them is of never-failing interest to 

 the listener. The courtly deference which he pays to 

 the ladies, with whom he is invariably a favorite, is as 

 marked and admirable as if he had obtained bis educa- 

 tion in the ball rooms of fashionable society. 



Though his hair is bleached with the snows of seventy 

 winters, his eye is undimmecl, and the vigorous step with 

 which he scales the mountains is as elastic as m the days 

 of his early manhood. 



This unique and celebrated sportsman with his pack of 

 well trained bear hounds will spend the winter at the 

 Hotel St. Elmo, at Monticello, Florida, during which it 

 will be determined whether the tactics of the dogs trained 

 to pursue the bear among the laurel thickets of the 

 Balsam Mountains will be equally successful among the 

 bay galls, palmetto brakes and 'chapparal of .Jeffer.sou 

 county, Florida. 



It is suggested that our friends who contemplate join- 

 ing in the "hunt for large game take with them their 

 Winchester rifles as well as their bird guns and fishing 

 tackle for gentler game. 



Two Biblical Allusions —Baltimore, Sept. 23.— 

 Editor Forest and, Stream : I beg to congratulate you on 

 your Christmas number. Forest and Stream is always 

 interesting, but this number particularly so. Apropos, 

 is not Mr. Hough a "little off"' in his Biblical reading 

 when he wrote, " almost as did a Naomi of old, wherever 

 you go, I will go, etc.?" It is Ruth who is recorded as 

 having said to Naomi, not Naomi. I like my brother 

 sportsmen to be correct, even in their quotations from 

 Scripture, — E. S. Y. [This is not so bad as something 

 the Churchman did the other day. In this city a certain 

 plot of ground, to which an Episcopalian church sup- 

 posed it had good title, has been successfully claimed by 

 a Roman Catholic institution, and the Episcopalians have 

 been holding a fair to raise funds for buying off the other 

 claimants, "determined," says the Churchman, "that no 

 i Romish Naboth should possess that vineyard." | 



