Aug. 14, 1890.) 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



67 



tfivery exposed portion of my body. My forehead, wrists, 

 neck', ears and throat were Boon in a state of violent in- 

 flammation. X slapped my hands about and waved my 

 handkerchief before my face, and although I must have 

 killed hundreds of them, yet as there were several thous- 

 and millions left the slaughter did not make much differ- 

 ence. In the midst of nay agony I heard a great splash, 

 and looking up found that Bill had got a fish on his line 

 and his rod was bending and turning and twisting every 

 way, and the fish was alternately jumping out of the 

 water and going forward and back, while Bill was letting 

 bim go a little and then pulling him back and letting him 

 go again, by means of a reel attached to the rod. The 

 rod was sometimes bent almost double and looked likely 

 to break in two every moment. It seemed very silly to 

 me, for I could not see why he should not have taken a 

 good strong stick with a stout cord tied to it and when a 

 fish got on the hook pulled him right in at once without 

 all that bother, much the same as I saw the men do with 

 the codfish down at the Cape once when Bess coaxed me 

 to go out in a boat with her and some fishermen. After 

 a while the fish seemed to give up the game, and Bill 

 slipped a kind of a net with a hoop in it and a pole under 

 him and took him into the boat. He was very bright and 

 shiny, with pretty spots on him and rather bigger than 

 those I had eaten for breakfast, but although Bill was 

 greatly pleased at having got him I thought it the most 

 foolish way of fishing that could be contrived. 



Bill remarked that the flies were beginning to come 

 round, although I was sure they had begun long before. 

 He took a bottle out of his pocket and daubed the con- 

 tents over bis face and neck and advised me to do the 

 same. I didn't like the stuff, for it was pungent smelling 

 and at first made my eyes water, but it kept the flies 

 away, although it did not cure the bites I already had. 

 Bill kept on fishing and got five or six more of about the 

 same size as the first, and several smaller ones about 7 or 

 Sin. long that he handled carefully and put back into 

 the water, telling them to come again next year. I think 

 I should have kept them for fear I shouldn't get them 

 again. We went back to the cabin and there I found a 

 new kind of pest, a little invisible creature that pricked 

 like nettles whenever he got a chance. Bill spelled out 

 his French name for me, B-r-u-l-o-t, and said he was 

 ''sand fly" in English. He ordered a good fire built out 

 doors, which drove them away, but the heat was a little 

 annoying. We talked about politics, in which I take 

 great interest, until it grew rather dark, and I was just 

 wondering how people spent their evenings in the woods 

 when Bill remarked that it was bed-time. It was dread- 

 ful to go to bed at half past eight o'clock on a beautiful 

 summer evening, but I had to do it. 



When we went into the cabin we found thousands of 

 mosquitoes already in possession. As far as any pros- 

 pect of sleeping was concerned I might as well have 

 been in New Jersey. Bill shouted something in French, 

 and his man came in with a tin pail full of coals and 

 swung it about much as I have sometimes seen a censer 

 swing in churches. This made such a smoke that the 

 mosquitoes couldn't stand it and went outside. Bill hung 

 some netting over our beds and we lay down. He did 

 not take off many of his clothes, and I thought best to do 

 much as he did, dreadful as it was. 



My cup of misery was nearly full. No bed but branches, 

 no sheets, no pillows, no nightshirt, no anything to make 

 a person comfortable. It was simply horrible. And then 

 all my fly bites began to smart again, and I scratched 

 myself till the blood ran. Bill lighted a candle and made 

 me wash myself in water fresh from the lake and anoint 

 my sores with weak ammonia water. This made me a 

 good deal easier, but I reckoned that one night in a fish- 

 ing camp would satisfy me forever. I got to sleep after 

 a while and did not wake until I heard Bill coming in 

 from his bath in the lake, heard a fire crackling in the 

 kitchen and found it was daylight. E. Rastus, 



[TO BE CONCLUDED.] 



^utn\nl jfjjiistarg. 



HABITS OF THE WHITE GOAT. 



BY JOHN FANNIN AND OEO. BIRD GRINNELt,. 

 [Concluded from Page iS.~] 



THE most important enemy of the white antelope is 

 man. White hunters kill but few of these animals 

 in comparison with Indians, for there are some tribes of 

 the latter that depend for animal food almost wholly on 

 this species. Among such tribes must be mentioned 

 especially those of the northwest coast, but other inland 

 tribes also hunt this animal a good deal. Such goat 

 hunters are the Kootenais and the Stonies, and no doubt, 

 others living further to the north. 



Setting aside man, the white antelope probably suffer 

 more loss from the attacks of eagles than from any other 

 animal. These birds in spring and early summer, before 

 the young have acquired much strength or experience, 

 are persistent in their attacks on them and kill consider- 

 able numbers, seizing them on the cliffs which they 

 frequent, and easily carrying them off to lower levels, 

 where they devour them at their leisure. The Indians 

 report that the destruction from this cause is often large, 

 but the old ones defend their young, and where two 

 or three families are in company, do this successfully. 

 On the coast the destruction is, no doubt, greatest from 

 the white-headed eagle (Haliceetus leucoeephalus), but 

 further inland, where this species is to a great extent 

 replaced by the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaUos), this 

 bird, no doubt, does its share toward diminishing the 

 numbers of the white goats. 



The attacks of the eagles on the young of this species 

 have been witnessed by more than one observer, and we 

 are glad to be able to give two such accounts by eye 

 witnesses. 



Mr. L. L. Bales has written to us as follows: "I once 

 witnessed an attempt made by two large eagles to capture 

 two kids from a group of two ewes and two billies. I 

 was watching the gronp which was feeding on the moss 

 that grew on a high slope of a rock, thrown up by the 

 movement of a glacier, when suddenly they bunched in 

 a hurry with the kids under them. They sat on their 

 haunches and kept their heads and horns up and out, the 

 four larger ones forming a circle. They were a good 

 half mile away, yet I shall always believe I heard the 

 rush of those two eagles through the air in their attempt 

 to capture a kid. The eagles managed their attack with 



method. They did not rush simultaneously. The first 

 one made hia rush about ten seconds before the second, 

 and from my point of view I thought the first eagle 

 rushed with the object of frustrating the older goats, and 

 the second one waited to take advantage of the moment 

 of excitement and capture a kid. I saw them make four 

 unsuccessful assaults that day, but that they are success- 

 ful at times I do not doubt. If they were not, they 

 would not make so many attempts." 



The following account, published in Forest and Stream 

 in 1881, of the capture of a young mountain goat by a 

 white-headed eagle, is interesting in this connection: 



"As the old man was in bad humor, I decided to re- 

 turn to camp, but on reaching the canoe, an exclamation 

 from Charlie drew our attention to a mountain on the 

 opposite side of the creek, where, in a small opening, 

 we discovered a she goat with a young kid, the latter 

 appearing like a mere speck of snow skipping among the 

 rocks. 



"Before starting out I had offered a fair reward for the 

 capture of a kid, and this was the old man's opportunity. 

 As he stripped for the chase, he turned to Charlie and 

 commanded him to remain below and occupy his time in 

 catching trout, with which the stream abounded. He 

 then disappeared in the dense growth of timber which 

 intervened between the creek and the foot of the moun- 

 tains; while I took up a favorable position with my glass 

 to watch the success of the chase. The ascent must 

 have been difficult, for two hours passed before the form 

 of the Indian appeared in the opening. A short time be- 

 fore this the old goat must have snuffed the danger, for 

 she started up the mountain, and at the moment the 

 Indian came in sight had reached a shelf to which the 

 kid was unable to follow. All this time a large white- 

 headed eagle soared in majestic circles directly over the 

 scene. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach its 

 dam, the kid started back toward the point from which 

 the Indian was advancing, but before proceeding very 

 far sprang down a narrow shelf and stood concealed 

 beneath an overhanging bush. 



"The Indian in the meantime working his way upward, 

 stopped within a few feet of the place, but from his 

 actions I was satisfied he was ignorant of the kid's posi- 

 tion, and fearing the prize would escape, in my excite- 

 ment I shouted at the top of my voice; but the sound 

 must have died away before reaching him, for he took 

 no notice. Presently he raised his musket and leveled at 

 the old one, which still remained in the same position on 

 the shelf above, but lowering it again he commenced a 

 search among the rocks for the lost kid. His stupidity 

 annoyed me, for had he kept his position he commanded, 

 so far as I could see, the only way by which the kid 

 could escape; for below was a perpendicular cliff of a 

 thousand feet against the side of which no possible foot- 

 hold for anything without wings could be seen. But in 

 this I was mistaken, for a rock, loosened by the Indian's 

 foot, rolling over the cliff started the little animal from 

 its hiding place, and with a bound it sprang outward and 

 down. The thought of its fate sent a shudder through 

 me. A thousand feet, sheer down, to be ground to atoms 

 on the rocks below. But no — down it went fifteen or 

 twenty feet, alighting on a rocky cone which stood out at 

 a slight angle from the main cliff, on the top of which 

 there was scarcely room for its feet huddled together. 

 Had it started from that point and soared away over the 

 tops of the trees which studded the valley it would not 

 have surprised me in the least, and I waited breathlessly 

 for its next move. 



"For a moment it rested like a speck of snow upon the 

 dark gray granite cone, then with a downward spring of 

 perhaps ten feet it reached a narrow shelf which had be- 

 fore escaped my notice and which ran along the face of 

 the cliff to the wooded mountains on the right. But a 

 sadder fate awaited the unfortunate animal than if it 

 had fallen into the hands of the Indian. The terrible 

 bird which in narrowing circles had kept about the scene, 

 and whose piercing eye had taken in the vantage of the 

 position — the kid separated from the protection of its 

 dam — stopped suddenly in its course, then swooped 

 downward swift as the lightning's flash, its great wings 

 cleaving the air, and seizing the poor kid, just when life 

 and liberty seemed so near, bore it clear of the cliff, 

 fluttered a" moment in mid air, then drifted downward 

 along the mountain side, disappearing below the tops of 

 the swaying firs." 



The large gray or timber wolf is a dangerous enemy to 

 this species and destroys many of them. We have found 

 the hair and wool in the droppings of the wolf, as has 

 been done by others. Mr. Anderson speaks of the danger 

 to Mazama from wolves and says: "Wolves are great 

 enemies to goats, and no doubt make great havoc when 

 the kids are young. Old goats, that is full grown ones, 

 have a habit of sharpening their horns, the Indians say, 

 always at a certain season to prepare for fighting. 

 However that may be, their horns certainly bear the 

 marks of having been whetted on stone on the outside of 

 the points, and are as sharp sometimes as knife points." 



Mr. L. L. Bales writes us: "That the large gray wolves 

 catch them I know, as I have seen the wool and hair in 

 the droppings left by the wolves." The coyote or prairie 

 wolf (C. latrans) has also, it would seem, a fondness for 

 the young of this species. Mr. Joseph Kipp has in- 

 formed us that in the "Colonel's Basin" in the St. Mary's 

 Lake region, Montana, he has seen tracks in the snow 

 where young and old goats have been chased by coyotes. 

 It would seem, however, that an old female goat should 

 have no difficulty in beating off a single coyote which 

 might attempt to seize her young. 



Mr. John Willis writes us, saying: "The mountain 

 lion is their worst enemy, as they go among the rocks 

 where it is easy for them to spring on the goats." 



It is possible that lynxes and wildcats occasionally kill 

 young goats, though probably this does not happen often. 



Largest, but least dangerous of the enemies of the 

 white goat, is the black bear, which, on the Pacific coast, 

 at least, lies in wait for these animals among the rocks, 

 and, if it fails in its first attempt at capture, often 

 pursues it for a short distance. We witnessed an occur- 

 rence of this kind on one occasion on Mt. Yo, on the 

 North Arm of Burrard Inlet in British Columbia. The 

 goat was seen trotting down the extremely rough slope, 

 which lay between the summit and a bench where we 

 stood, and not far behind it was a bear in pursuit. Both 

 animals were going slowly on account of the extreme 

 roughness of the way. They came down to within 50 

 yards of where we stood, when the goat turned off to the 

 left. Our companion then shot at the bear, which there- 



upon gave up the pursuit, and ran off. The goat after 

 proceeding a short distance stopped and looked back. 

 It is doubtful whether a bear could overtake a goat 

 among the rocks, though it could do so on level ground., 



SNAKE GOSSIP. 



THERE have lately appeared several interesting items 

 in Forest and Stream about snakes which seem 

 to invite a few more words from me, and subsequently, I 

 trust, a few more words from those correspondents who 

 are interested in the matter. 



First and once more, "Coahoma's" "stinging snake," 

 the one which is, he says, " jet black on top and pink un- 

 derneath." These colors might indicate one of the Hete- 

 rodons; but from such slight data one cannot speak with 

 certainty. Since mv communication of July, 1889, I 

 have consulted Holbrook's "North American Reptiles" 

 and other works for some possible clue; and moreover, 

 have referred "Coahoma's" description to Mr. G. A. Bou- 

 lenger, of the Reptile Department of the British Museum. 

 He regrets being "unable to identify the snake without 

 seeing a specimen, or without a proper (that is, a scien- 

 tific) description of the reptile." Scientific men will 

 never compromise themselves by haphazard guesses, and 

 I am afraid we cannot hope to assist in identifying this 

 snake on so slight a description. As regards its ' 'stinging 

 tail" one can only repeat that no snake with a weapon of 

 this kind is known to science. 



But curiously very soon after my paper on "Snake 

 Weapons" appeared I was told that in a, late official re- 

 port to the U. S. Government on the animals of Venez- 

 uela by Consul Plumacher he particularly mentions a 

 shake under the vernacular name Sobadora, harmless so 

 far as venom is concerned, but using its tail with consid- 

 erable force as a weapon of defense. It is said to attack 

 men and "whip their legs with its tail," lashing that mem- 

 ber about much as "Coahoma" described his black snake 

 to have done, and as I have already stated some other 

 snakes when angry are known to do, though perhaps 

 with less intention and power than this Venezuela snake 

 seems to possess. Mr. W. H. Hudson, whose delightful 

 contributions to natural history in Longman's and other 

 magazines, must be known to many of our readers, in- 

 formed me that in South America he had seen snakes 

 and also lizards thus use their tail aggressively; that some 

 of the larger lizards would even lash a victim — some 

 small rodent — to death in this manner. I was unable to 

 obtain that official report here in London, and regret 

 therefore so slight an acquaintance with the very inter- 

 esting information it must have contained. Should 

 "Coahoma" meet with another of those mysterious snakes 

 I would beg leave to suggest that it should be at once 

 dispatched uninjured to the authorities at the National 

 Museum, Washington. It is a pity that the man who 

 killed it did not first test it with his own hand instead of 

 a stick. The "bristle-like sting" would then have told 

 its own story. 



One other' point of interest is the mention by F. S. Dug- 

 more, in the issue of first of May last, of a snake with "a 

 long, sharp lower jaw tooth, too long to allow of the 

 mouth closing without its being folded back, as it evidently 

 is, after the manner of a poisonous fang." The snake 

 was no doubt Elaps fulvus, the onlv Elaps of the United 

 States, and known from southern Virginia to the Gulf and 

 westward. It is commonly called the bead snake in South 

 Carolina, and is known also as the harlequin snake. Dr. 

 Yarrow, of the Reptile Department of the National 

 Museum, consider^ the fangs "slightly mobile," but I was 

 quite unaware of any lower teeth of this kind. From its 

 size and its peaceable disposition it is not, I think, con- 

 sidered a dangerous snake, though being an Elaps it is of 

 course venomous. I think I may venture to say that such 

 novel or doubtful specimens would be always acceptable 

 to any of the well-known and official ophiologists, and 

 might be sent for indentification, If alive so much the 

 better, as in any case there are the zoological gardens to 

 receive it. 



In conclusion I beg to refer once more to the subject of 

 dentition. In giving the three examples (July 11, 1889) 

 of the arrangement of teeth from Fayrer which most 

 commonly "prevails in the palate and upper jaw of ' 

 snakes," I did not occupy Space' by any mention of the 

 many species that are exceptions, such as the Oligodons 

 (few toothed), the Anodons (no teeth), and many that ap- 

 proach to the lizard forms, such as Typhlopidai, Uropel- 

 tidoz, etc. The Anodon or Deirodon of South Africa, 

 remarkable for gular processes which take the place of 

 teeth to crush the birds' eggs, is an exceedingly interest- 

 ing exception, and I believe the only species with no 

 teeth or only a few very rudimentary ones. The grdar 

 or spine teeth are projections or processes proceeding 

 from the vertebra into the throat, and though of a bony 

 structure are tipped with dentine. By various ophiolo- 

 gists this little tree snake, which feeds on the eggs of 

 small birds, has been named Raehiodon, from rachis, the 

 spine; anodon, no teeth; and by Prof. Owen Deirodon, 

 neck-toothed; indicating the position of the spines, 

 though a snake has no true neck or cervical vertebra. 

 Linnaeus considered it edentulous, without teeth, as it 

 comparatively is. Then another naturalist classed it 

 with the Oligodons, but these being ground snakes and 

 of different habits, the egg-eating snake was again separ- 

 ated and became a distinct type. We have got rather 

 away from the original subject, but we gain some insight 

 into the long and patient investigations which naturalists 

 bestow on every single example before deciding on the 

 best name to be assigned to it. Thus, also, are accounted 

 for the many synonyms we meet with, and which, though 

 at first so tiresome and perplexing, we are led to excuse 

 and even to appreciate, when we know at what cost of 

 time and trouble they have been bestowed. 



Catherine C. Hopley. 



Sea Lions and Buffalo.— Fair Grounds, St. Louis, 

 Aug. 2. — A few days since one of our sea lion cows gave 

 birth to a bull calf, born posthumously. Its father died 

 on Feb. 4. The youngster throve amazingly well for 

 ten days, when one night a cold spell unfortunately came 

 and caused two other of the cows to break down the par- 

 tition erected to separate them from the calf and its dam. 

 In their efforts to huddle together they most unfortu- 

 nately over lay the baby and killed it. I am in hopes 

 that another of the cows is with young. On July 16 our 

 buffalo cow gave birth to a fine heifer calf which is doing 

 excellently, and which I have every hope of rearing, 

 although it is terribly in-bred, being by the son of its 

 mother. — C. W. Bellairs. 



