06i'. 30, 1890, 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



tag to know if the female (the probable cause of the con- 

 flict) was near by, I advanced rapidly, and started her, 

 together with the victor, and a short distance away the 

 defeated bird. Dorp. 



THE LION OF FANCY AND OF FACT. 



" IT^ROM the earliest times," says the writer in the "En- 



J? cyclopedia Britannica," "few animals have been 

 better known to man than the lion." If by knowledge is 

 meant tbe possession of a series of connected facts such as 

 will enable one to arrive at the truth concerning anything, 

 this statement is very far from being accurate; but. on 

 the other hand, if the author means that this animal has 

 been for ages much talked of and the center of innumer- 

 able superstitions, traditions, fanciful tales, etc., no one 

 will question the truth of the observation. ' 'The strongly 

 marked physical and moral characteristics" of the lion 

 impressed themselves powerfully upon the imaginations 

 of many peoples. His habitats placed "the king of beasts" 

 in contact with races who were capable of recording their 

 impressions, idealizing their feelings and representing 

 their fancies in cabalistic forms. Formerly it was cus- 

 tomary among authors regardful of their reputations to 

 put down all they remembered, and all that could be col- 

 lected indiscriminately from books, concerning the sub- 

 ject treated of. Furthermore, quantity of reference was 

 usually taken to be indicative of quality in material, and 

 a boot or essay was conventionally called learned, and 

 was assumed to be valuable, in proportion as it was 

 a patchwork of opinions. 



Now, books are used as evidence; as witnesses to facts 

 which require to be correlated with other facts and with 

 theories, failing in which respect they are discredited. 

 There are a certain number of principles in biology which 

 have ceased to be matters of opinion, and it is with refer- 

 ence to these that the testimony of observers will be 

 reviewed, so far as it relates to the descriptive natural 

 history of tbe lion. 



Without entering upon any detailed examination of 

 the question, it may be assumed that thex-e is only one 

 species of lion extant in this era. It is quite certain that 

 the present African and Indian lions are identical. 



Organic likeness does not, except in general outline, 

 imply likeness in character and habit, and the lions of 

 these continents and of different localities in the same 

 continents differ in the way of temper and behavior very 

 greatly. The famous hunters exhibit an entire absence 

 of unanimity in respect of the unity of species among 

 lious, as well as with regard to their character, and there 

 is scarcely any better illustration of the causes of error 

 which beset ordinary observation than can be found in 

 their works, 



A certain vanity in discovery is nearly universal in 

 mankind, and this is obviously a disturbing element in 

 the mental processes involved in discovering anything. 

 In addition to this it must with reluctance be admitted 

 that eminent sportsmen have not generally been either 

 highly cultured or very thoroughly trained zoologists, 

 and that they have not commonly exhibited a tendency 

 to generalize from undistributed premises, to put ignor- 

 ance in the place of knowledge and to confound inference 

 with observation. 



Sir Samuel Baker's observations upon recorded judg- 

 ments in the case of the Cingalese buffalo perfectly apply 

 to the majority of those which have been promulgated 

 about the lion. No opinion, he remarks, of the habits 

 and character of a wild beast "can be depended upon," 

 unless its pursuit "has been followed up as a sport by 

 itself," because the traits of no class of animals can be 

 inferred from those displayed by any particular beast. 

 "Many persons kill a wild buffalo now and then," but no 

 one, says Sir Samuel, had to his knowledge hunted the 

 buffalo exclusively; "and unless this is done, the real 

 character" of the animal "must remain unknown." 



Gerard seems to have been the only man who fulfilled 

 to any extent this requirement, but his lions unfortu- 

 nately were often too much Gallieised by a residence in 

 the French provinces of Africa to adequately represent 

 the race. However, like Capt. Sheriff, as described by 

 D'Ewes ("Sporting in Both Hemispheres"), the famous 

 Spahi pursued mainly the great cats, and so far as facts 

 go. he has materially contributed to our store. 



A misconception of the nature and origin of instinct 

 has very generally involved the erroneous idea that ani- 

 mals inferior to man are vitalized machines, and that 

 they act, and must act invariably, in a definite manner. 

 What is called instinct is not a supernatural endowment 

 that supplies the place of reason ; it is the experience of 

 the race and of the individual, organized to the extent of 

 having become automatic in action. This physiologically 

 recorded experience differs in every class and in every 

 subdivision of class, according to the circumstances under 

 which the groxip has developed. Such diversities, corre- 

 sponding to diversities in the environment, imply that 

 they were acquired, a conclusion which the study of in- 

 stinct in every phase corroborates. 



That wild animals have, as a rule, an instinctive fear of 

 man, is a very common opinion, and rests upon the same 

 basis as that concerning the occult power of the human 

 eye. It is questionable whether any proof whatever can 

 be adduced to show that man, as man, is dreaded, before 

 he has made himself terrible to the animals who fly from 

 his scent or sight. In the latter instance, it may be said 

 that, for anatomical and physiological reasons, smell is 

 in many species as ideally representative as hearing or 

 sight; and everything goes to show that in these instances, 

 where acquaintance with his destructive power and pro- 

 pensities is not the cause of dread, it is the unusual that 

 excites terror apart from its manifestation in any particu- 

 lar form. This is so universal a trait among all highly- 

 developed animals, including man, that it seems unneces- 

 sary to do more than specify its existence. 



"In the attack upon the tiger or other savage animals," 

 says Captain Shakespear ["Wild Sports of India"], "the 

 human eye, fixed without wavering in its steadfast gaze 

 from the eyes of the animal, exerts a power which of 

 itself appears to be sufficient either to stop the meditated 

 attack, or to turn the animal in its career." It may be 

 remarked of this statement, first that there is no indica- 



Hn in his work that its author had ever found the plan 

 icceed. He always turned charging tigers with a 

 * J e-barreled rifle. In the second place it might be 

 whether it be improbable that there is something, 

 «ps, apart from the power of the eye that may have 

 * j-mted to the result, as, for example, the man's atti- 

 ; v^, r arms, expression, not to speak of the inherited 

 . knowledge upon the beast's part that his enemy had the 



power to destroy him. Anderson mentions the belief in 

 this eye power over the lion, and supposes that it may 

 have averted death in certain instances, as in the case of 

 Diedrich Muller, who confronted a wounded lion that 

 finally drew off. Drummond's hunter, however, shut his 

 eyes, as he confessed, when he unexpectedly found him- 

 self in the midst of a family of lions, whence he escaped 

 unharmed, and Cert Schepus was killed under circum- 

 stances peculiarly favorable for overawing the lion with 

 a look. Moffatt ["Missionary Labors and Scenes in South 

 Africa], of whom Anderson says that he "probably knew 

 more about the lion and his habits than any other man," 

 remarks in this connection, that eyeing the beast is of 

 doubtful efficacy. It may succeed "under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances," but if he be hungry or a man-eater, "he 

 does not spend time gazing on the human eye * * * 

 but takes the easiest and most expeditious way of rnak- 

 inga meal of a man." 



With respect to these preliminary matters then, we 

 may conclude that there is but one species of lion, which 

 includes many temporary varieties in color, length of 

 mane, size, and character. That maneless lions, either 

 naturally, or from having dragged their hair out in 

 jungles, are purely imaginary species, the lion being 

 maned in Asia, Africa, Asia Minor, Persia, Syria, Asiatic 

 Turkey, and the Valley of the Euphrates. Further, that 

 the wild lion has, as a rule, less mane than the captive 

 animal, and that his instinctive fear of man, and of 

 man's eye, is a fable in the sense in which it is ordinarily 

 accepted. J. H. P. 



[TO BE CONTINUED. J 



HALF-HOURS IN THE SIERRA NEVADA. 



IV.— THE LITTLE CHIEF HARE, 



IN the autumn of 1888 I promised Dr. R. W. Shufeldt to 

 procure him some specimens of the little chief hare, 

 preserve them in alcohol and forward the following sum- 

 mer, If he sees this he will know why I did not keep 

 my promise. I went up in July of '89, carrying a full 

 supply of alcohol and proper receptacles for the speci- 

 mens, but for the first two weeks on the lake there was 

 good fishing, and the trip after the hares was deferred 

 from day to day. On our trips to Echo, B. takes a shot- 

 gun and I carry a rifle, a small one for small game. One 

 afternoon, the fish not rising, I took the rifle and went 

 out to shoot a woOdchuck. I had climbed the mountain 

 some hundred feet, when I heard the thin piping cry of 

 the little chief in an unexpected place. I sat down on a 

 rock to see if I could locate him, and after ten or fifteen 

 minutes' close scrutiny of the rocks above caught sight 

 of the little fellow. They are very difficult to detect, as 

 they seldom leave the rocks in which they dwell, and as 

 they are almost the color of granite, one can look for a 

 long time without seeing them. Their small size also 

 helps to keep them unnoticed, and although they will 

 allow one to approach within a distance of 25 or 30ft., 

 only the sharpest eye can detect them in the crevices of 

 the rocks. I sat down to watch for this little chap, and 

 after getting my eye on Mm brought my rifle carefully 

 to bear on a rock above his head, hoping to kill him by 

 the spattering of the bullet. If I had shot him through 

 the head or body the specimen would have been spoiled. 

 I fired and procured him, but was chagrined to find that 

 his lower jaw had been torn away by a fragment of the 

 bullet and the teeth all destroyed. As this partially 

 ruined the specimen I did not keep it, but determined to 

 climb the mountain next day with the shotgun and get 

 some good ones. 



On the following afternoon B. took his Kodak and 

 accompanied me, carrying his shotgun, and I again took 

 the rifle. Up, up we climbed untilabout 800ft. above the 

 lake. It was just at the edge of the timber, where I knew 

 the colony to be located. It was arduous work, and we 

 were both pretty well tired when we arrived. The scene 

 was magnificent, and B. succeeded in taking a landscape 

 view with his Kodak, which proved to be very fine. An 

 enlarged copy hangs above my head as I write these lines, 

 but it only embraces a view of the upper lake and the 

 mountains beyond. A little higher and Lake Tahoe un- 

 folds its flat bosom beyond Mount Tallac's frowning face. 

 Away to the left Mount Pyramid cleaves the air, 1,500ft. 

 higher than where we stand. At our feet the mountain 

 falls away almost perpendicularly, and snugly ensconced 

 at its base lie the two Echoes. Lake Nanon can also be 

 seen, flashing in its quiet bed, while to the right looms 

 Job's Peak and other mountains of the eastern summit. 

 We entered a deep gorge in the mountain side, where on 

 the three sides the cliffs rise 500ft. or more in sil°nt 

 majesty. The bottom of the gorge is filled with peren- 

 nial snow, which, while not forming a glazier, hardens 

 into ice-like solidity and never entirely melts away. 

 Here B. again shot the scene with his Kodak. That was 

 all we did shoot, however. After a/ long two hours' wait, 

 with the coveted animals piping on' all sides, we had to 

 give it up and return. Not a hare could either of us get 

 our eyes upon, although there were probably a hundred 

 within gunshot. On three other occasions did I climb 

 that steep mountain side, and each time I got nothing for 

 my pains. Hence it is that Dr. Shufelt did not get his 

 specimen. 



I regretted not keeping my first, as it was not mutil- 

 ated enough to spoil it, and it would have shown my good 

 faith in the matter. The fact was, I never for an instant 

 supposed I could not procure dozens of the little fellows 

 if I tried, as on previous visits to the locality I had al- 

 ways seen numbers of them. 



V.— A SWIMMING SQUIRREL. 



One morning I was rowing down through the lakes, on 

 my way to the road where the stage driver caches our 

 mail, packages of vegetables, etc., when he passes to and 

 fro from Placerville to Lake Tahoe. The stage makes 

 two weekly trips each way, and after each up trip we 

 visit our cache for such things as may be left, and also to 

 take out an occasional box of trout for some of our 

 friends at home. After entering the lower lake, there 

 being no wind stirring, my attention was arrested by a 

 peculiar ripple on the water, away down the lake. The 

 ripple was triangular in shape, with a very sharp angle, 

 and I at once suspected it was made by some creature 

 swimming across the lake. Whatever it was, was headed 

 for the south shore, was half across the lake or more, and 

 was making good time. I put on a greater spread of my 

 ashen sail — so to speak — and after a sharp chase overtook 

 the object of my curiosity. My surprise was great when 

 I found it to be a Douglas pine squirrel which was cross- 



ing the lake, and making excellent time, too. He had 

 chosen the widest point of the lake at which to cross, and 

 must have deliberately started in for a mile swim. When 

 I began to get pretty close he worked for dear life, and it 

 was wonderful the speed he attained. It took some 

 moments to overtake him. rowing a boat laden with only 

 myself and a box of fish, and I caught him only when 

 within a few yards of shore. He fairly forced himself 

 upon top of the water, and almost ran on it, so great 

 were his efforts. When I got alongside he was pretty 

 well exhausted and turned to the boat and tried to climb 

 its sides. This he could not do, until I thrust down an 

 oar, up which he ran in a tired way, and jumped from it 

 to my shoulder, from there he clambered to the top of 

 my head. On finding that I was not a tree, and that he 

 could go no higher, he sprang into the water again and 

 resumed his journey. I headed him off, and a second 

 time took him on board. This time he ran rapidly around 

 the gunwales of the boat two or three times, sprang upon 

 my head as before, and back into the boat and hid under- 

 neath the seat in the bow. I stopped rowing, and lay 

 upon my oars until the other boat containing B. arrived, 

 when I told him to come and see what I had picked up. 

 The instant the two boats touched, the little fellow shot 

 from bis hiding place, leaped into the other boat, then 

 upon B.'s head, from there to the boatman's (whose 

 Christian name was George Washington, but we always 

 called him "Hatchet" for short) then back to mine, and 

 again took to the water. This time I let him go, and in 

 a moment or two he reached the shore, where I hope he 

 is yet. 



All this time I could hear another squirrel calling upon 

 the south shore, at the point the first squirrel was swim- 

 ming for, and from the nature of his remarks I have no 

 doubt he was engaged in reviling the latter, and daring 

 him to come across and tread on the tail of his coat. I 

 think this was the solution, for it was too late in the 

 season for him to be a Leander, swimming the Helles- 

 pont to meet his Hero. These squirrels are very bellig- 

 erent and will answer each others' challenges as far as 

 they can hear. It being a very calm morning these two 

 got to abusing each other across the lake, and probably 

 one of them called the other such outrageous names that 

 he could stand it no longer and started over to see aboutit. 



Over forty years ago, in the little schoolhouse in the 

 East, near where I was born, I remember reading in the 

 old school reader about a squirrel that came to a stream 

 and not being able to swim it launched a piece of bark, 

 got aboard and hoisting his tail for a sail gaily reached 

 the other shore, dry-footed. This had appealed to my 

 boyish mind as a striking example of animal sagacity 

 and of a wonderful adaptation of means to the end. 

 Alas! this beautiful story has been proved false. Thus, 

 one by one, have the beliefs of youth passed away. And 

 when I hear that the great round-topped mountain, that 

 used to flank that same schoolhouse, has become a small 

 and insignificant hill, then will I be ready to disbelieve 

 all things, give up this unsubstantial life and seek another 

 land. Arefar. " 



Auburn, California. 



American Ornithologists' Union.— Portland, Conn., 

 Oct. 6.— The eighth congress of the American Ornithol- 

 ogists' Union will convene in Washington, D. C, on 

 Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 11 o'clock A. M. The meetings will 

 be held at the U. S, National Museum. The presentation 

 of ornithological papers will form a prominent feature of 

 the meetings, and members are earnestly requested to 

 contribute, and to notify the secretary in advance as to 

 the titles of their communications, so that a programme 

 for each day may be prepared. — John H. Sage, Sec'y- 



'mnt J?#g mid %m\. 



A HIGH OLD TIME WITH A COON. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your editorial, "The Coon Hunters," calls me out, but 

 I cannot report "nights with the coons," as so far this 

 season I have not engaged in the sport. 



This is a famous locality for raccoons. The ledges and 

 boulders, for which rugged Cape Ann is noted, affords 

 them a secure retreat, and the hundreds of acres of white 

 oak forest provides an abundance of food. Last season 

 ten coons were killed in the immediate vicinity of my 

 cabin. This season, so far, the hunters have bagged 

 eight, but not in my neighborhood. 



An unusual thing happened in the hunt last season near 

 my cabin. Two coons were started from Ledge Hill at 

 the same time. They soon separated and both were fol- 

 lowed. The trails diverged so much that at one time 

 they were a mile apart, but strange to tell, the coons 

 came together, at last, and were both killed from the 

 same tree. 



The coon hunters of Cape Ann do not start a fire and 

 stand guard till morning, when a coon takes to a tall 

 tree. Some one of the party, skilled in the business, 

 straps on a pair of climbers and goes up, and up, till he 

 disappears in the gloom of the dense and dark foliage. 

 Then he lowers a cord and draws up a lantern, by the 

 light of which he searches the limbs until the coon is 

 found. The coon usually climbs to the topmast branch. 

 He is killed by a pistol shot and falls to the ground. 

 Sometimes, however, he is only wounded and then makes 

 it hot for the dogs before he is laid low. 



I well remember one exciting coon hunt in which I 

 participated. Five of us treed a coon near a steep ledge. 

 I mounted the tree and found his coonship on a lower 

 limb. I thought I would have a little sport, so instead of 

 shooting the coon I shook him off and he fell to the 

 ground. Then, perched on a pine limb, forty feet in the 

 air, I witnessed a strange and weird scene. A seenethat 

 would make one's fortune could it be transfered to the 

 stage of a theater. 



Dogs, hunters, coon, lanterns and leaves were mingled 

 in one furious, struggling, confused mass. In the uncer- 

 tain light of the swaying lanterns. I could only half dis- 

 tinguish what was going on; but there floated up on the 

 night air the sound of whirling leaves, the snarling and 

 spitting of the coon, the sharp cries of pain from the 

 dogs, the shouts of the excited hunters, and I became 

 fully as excited as the combatants. I felt an insane de- 

 sire to jump from my lofty perch, so anxious was I to 

 take part in the fray. The fight was on the brink of the 

 ledge, and Gus, the heavy weight of our party, lost his 



