Nov, 6, 1890. 



forest aNE> stream. 



30? 



his life away in feebler and feebler efforts. Oh, the un- 

 conscious cruelty of the boy! Why was he not taught to 

 mercifully kill his captives, and not let them die a slow 

 death by torture? (Fathers, do you teach your sons to 

 perform this merciful act; or do you even practice it your- 

 selves— ail of you?) 



So the afternoon slips away, and the willow twig is 

 adorned with a score "f poor, dried and stiffened effigies, 

 covered with bits of leaves and twigs, with patches of 

 sand on their shrunken scales, their gaping mouths and 

 iusterless eyes making mute protest against their sad con- 

 dition ; while clouds of flies seek every chance to settle 

 upon the poor defiled creatures, 



Suddenly pole and fish are dropped, and all else for- 

 gotten at the entrancing sight of a shy bird with 

 modest apparel and spotted breast, which is perched upon 

 a branch of an adjacent free. At regular intervals it 

 gives forth mysterious, thrilling notes, tint haunt the 

 'memory through life. Not for all the trout in the brook 

 would that little urchin have moved, for fear of frighten- 

 ing away this fairy songster. Never before had his long- 

 ing eyes beheld the source of those matchless notes that 

 had so often ravished his boyish ears. Has he not, during 

 all his short years, been trying to get sight of this very 

 bird? And here in this secluded nook by the brookside , 

 in all its modest beauty, it swells its spotted breast and 

 sends ringing through the silent woods those wondrously 

 sweet and tender notes. 



But here comes the rattle and dust of an approaching 

 team, and the scribe rubs his eyes and finds himself on 

 the summit of the Sierra Nevada, with those dreamed-of 

 scenes lying forty years behind him. Heigh o! Such 

 tricks can the unexpected voice of a little bird play upon 

 the memory! Areear. 



Auburn, Oal. 



A PLEA FOR THE COWBOY. 



THE real cowboy, the cowboy of tradition, of the open 

 range, of great round-ups, of endless trail drives, 

 and of wild, reckless deeds and orgies, is almost an ex- 

 tinct species. As toon as the absolute freedom of an un- 

 bounded horizon was destroyed by the advent of wire 

 fences, one by one they either gave up their calling, 

 adapted themselves to the new regime or pushed West, 

 and their places are now taken by the steadier class of 

 less-interesting herders, that run the scientifically-con- 

 ducted ranches in which Eastern capitalists have invested. 

 The present class, while following on a smaller scale 

 almost the same calling as did their predecessors of ten 

 years ago, pursue it in a very different way; and are 

 what they should be in the present condition of affairs, 

 only the motive power to be directed by the business 

 heads of the companies by whom they are employed.. 



So soon as the land became valuable enough to fence 

 into limited ranges, theold harum-scarum ways, that were 

 successful enough in former days, were discarded and 

 more precise methods adopted, based on business princi- 



Sles. Some of the "old timers," who had regarded with 

 oubting eyes the fencing of lands that had been wrested 

 from savagery by their efforts, submitted to the inevit- 

 able and sought employment with the new cattle men: 

 but generally, with a lofty disdain of the despised "ten- 

 derfoot''' ways, they sought that ever-narrowing belt of 

 country know as the West, where they might Herd their 

 cattle a few years longer, unrestrained by strands of 

 aggravating wire. 



They were a strange class of men, those old-time cow- 

 boys, reared almost entirely in the wild Western land, 

 away from all civilizing and refining influences, and 

 seldom possessing more than the merest rudiments of an 

 education, they had in them traits and characteristics 

 that were full of individuality, and they formed in them- 

 selves a race as different from the average Eastern far- 

 mer as is the cossack of the Steppes from the dweller in 

 St. Petersburg^ 



In order to understand the life of these men it must be 

 remembered, that, ten years ago all of western Texas was 

 virtually unfenced, and except for the cattle ranches 

 was entirely unsettled. Over this wild stretch of coun- 

 try the cattle were allowed to roam at will, in the sum- 

 mer grazing where water was most abundant, and in the 

 winter seeking shelter of canon or valley and eking out 

 a subsistence on the grass that remained over from the 

 summer. Very few cattlemen owned land, and the 

 country was literally open to all who might choose to 

 come into it, build a temporary shelter and turn a herd 

 of cattle loose upon the luxuriant pasturage that every- 

 where existed. 



The principal feature of the work of a cowboy centered 

 in the round-up. Every spring at a given time each 

 ranchman would send so many hands; with perhaps six 

 or eight horses apiece, to some designated place. Here a 

 foreman would be selected, under whose orders by tacit 

 consent the round-up was to be managed; the camp was 

 governed by a rude system of discipline; certain men 

 were deputed to do the coooking, others to herd the 

 horses that were not in actual use by the riders, while 

 the rest of the "outfit," as it was called, scoured the 

 country and drove into one large herd all the 

 cattle to be found in a certain section. This herd was 

 held until the new calves had all been marked with the 

 brands of their respective owners and the marketable 

 beef — steers— taken out, Avhen they were once more, 

 turned loose to roam, for another year in undisturbed 

 freedom. By dividing the land into sections and working 

 each carefully, surprisingly few cattle were passed by, 

 and it is safe to say that not mere than 2 per cent, of 

 calves would be overlooked by a round-up composed of 

 men who understood their business. One reason of the 

 thoroughness of this work was the absolute unanimity 

 w ith which all hands worked together. Each helped the 

 other, and in the round-up personal brands were disre- 

 garded, and every cow man would brand for his neighbor 

 as carefully as for himself. Thus a ranchman owning 

 perhaps a thousand head of cattle while only hiring one 

 or two men, would have the entire force of the country 

 working to his interest, while he on the other hand would 

 be aiding every one else. The interests were thus pooled. 

 The spring round-up lasted generally two or three months, 

 then came a period of inactivity for a few weeks, followed 

 by a short space at work called the fall round-up, when 

 any calves born late in the season were branded. 



This about ended the regular work of the cowboy for 

 the year. During the winter, while still employed, his 

 duties were rather those of a free-lance; he rode about 

 over the country looking at the cattle, and if any large 

 bunch was seen, straying off they were herded back and 



kept as much as possible in the vicinity of the ranch. 

 During northers, to prevent "drifting," as it was called, 

 an imaginary line from east to. west was daily patrolled, 

 and all cattle found going south before the piercing wind 

 were herded back and kept as much as possible within 

 certain general boundaries. 



The winter work, however, while often presenting 

 times of great ha rdship and labor, was generally of a free- 

 and-easy character and. permitted the wandering about of 

 the hands; and it was during this period that the frolick- 

 ing was generally indulged in. It was a rough, devil- 

 may-care sort of a life, here to-day and there to-morrow; 

 ranches were at all times open to receive any who might 

 choose to partake of their hospitality, and there was a 

 great deal of free masonry among the boys. A party 

 when roaming about would stop for the night at the first 

 ranch that presented itself, waiting for no invitation ; but 

 simply riding up to the door they would throw off their 

 saddle and proceed to make themselves comfortable, it 

 mattered not if the owners were or were not at home. 



I can very well understand how, to persons unfamiliar 

 with the country, and more particularly with the men 

 themselves, the cowboy does not seem to be a shining 

 light, as anything except a cowboy. They are usually 

 seen by tourists and others at their worst, and the traveler 

 who, during a short stay in a frontier town, sees the cow- 

 puncher in his reckless moments is very apt to form 

 opinions not just and seldom flattering to the object of 

 this sketch. For, be it confessed, the cowboy in town is 

 usually the cowboy on a tear. It must be taken into con- 

 sideration, however, that the men do not get into town 

 more than half a dozen times during the year; and then, 

 after weeks of isolation on lonely ranges, it is not so very 

 surprising, if under the exhilaration of certain liquid re- 

 freshments, deeds not exactly in accordance with the law 

 are perpetrated. And yet in an experience of four years, 

 during which time I was with the boys, indeed was one 

 of them, I cannot remember a single instance where the 

 fun did not prove of the most harmless sort; though per- 

 haps not always according the deference due to the laws 

 of the commonwealth. Yet it was fun; fun of a wild, 

 reckless type, perhaps, and terrifying to those unaccus- 

 tomed to the perpetrators; but just such a series of antics 

 as one would expect of a lot of over-grown school-boys let 

 loose on a frolic. 



A party of say a dozen cowboys ride into some frontier 

 town. They have not been away from the ranges for 

 several months, and the hundred dollars that are burning 

 holes in their pockets it is their steadfast determination 

 to get rid of in the speediest manner possible, and to have 

 what is known as a "royal Bengal tiger" time in so doing. 

 So they seek the limited amusements that the place 

 affords^ live as high as possible under the circumstances, 

 gamble, smoke bad cigars, go to the dance houses, and 

 alas! make veritable "tanks" out of themselves and fill 

 up on the "forty-rod whisky" of the frontier. As a natural 

 consequence, ;i.fter two or three days of wild, riotous 

 delirium, which is their idea of a good time, all of their 

 money has disappeared into the hands of the blacklegs 

 and saloon keepers, and the crowd is left stranded and 

 broke it maybe a hundred miles from home. "Well, 

 never mind, boys, we've got our bronchos left, and we've 

 had a bully time, so what's the difference? Whoop!" So 

 philosophically taking a few more "smiles" to drown a 

 passing recollection of money wasted, they mount their 

 norses and proceed to leave town. 



And now sometimes occurs what is to the cowboy as is 

 the playing of "hookey" to his junior type, the school 

 boy. One of the crowd suggests that they show their 

 contempt for the town by racing at full speed through 

 the streets, whooping and yelling and firing off their pis- 

 tols— "shooting up the town," as it is called. After a 

 cautious survey of the lay of the land, and a careful 

 noting of the positions of the cartridged sheriff or any 

 of his deputies, away they go at a breakneck speed, yell- 

 ing like demons and emptying their six-shooters into the 

 air. Out of the startled village they race, and over miles 

 of desolate prairie, until safe from all pursuit, theybivouc 

 for the night, to begin on the morrow the long ride back 

 to the ranch, where another three months of labor will 

 enable them to repeat this rather questionable kind of 

 enjoyment. 



Sometimes the sheriff gathers up a posse and follows, 

 and occasionally after a long pursuit comes up with the 

 miscreants, but generally with an exclamation having in 

 it something of the pride of a father while watching the 

 pranks of a mischievous but promising son, he " 'lows he'll 

 get them the next time they come into town,'' and lets 

 the cow punchers undisturbed regain their native fast- 

 nesses. 



When the retreating forces are followed and overtaken, 

 occasionally very severe fights occur, for dazed by the 

 bad liquor and exhilarated by the effects of their dash, the 

 wild riders are in no mood to be taken captive or pay an 

 inconvenient fine, and it is under such circumstances 

 that most of the shootings occur. 



1 remember one case particularly, when two cowboys 

 late one afternoon rode out of a little town in the Pan- 

 handle of Texas, and going through the usual antics dis- 

 appeared over the prairie. The sheriff, a gallant officer, 

 though possessing a reputation rather of rashness than of 

 discretion, had prided himself on never permitting his 

 town to be "lit up," and followed at once with two depu- 

 ties. One of these, while going down the trail at a break- 

 neck speed, was thrown by the falling of his horse and 

 had his arm broken, but pluckily remounted and passed 

 on with his companions. The pursued were overtaken at 

 a ranch about len miles from town, where they had en- 

 sconced themselves behind the stone wall of a branding 

 pen, and were awaiting with interest the arrival of the 

 minions of the law. 



A desperate, though rather one-sided, fight ensued, in 

 which the sheriff and his remaining able-bodied deputy 

 were badly wounded; and it is probable that the entire 

 party would have been dispatched had it not been for the 

 interference of the ranchman, who prevailed upon the 

 cowboys to cease hostilities and go about their business, 

 while he cared for the wounded members of the sheriff's 

 posse. 



While legally and viewed in the strict light of right 

 and wrong the action of the sheriff was correct, still as a 

 matter of discretion, it would have been far better to have 

 overlooked an action which, though lawless, was harm- 

 less; and at some future time, when the perpetrators had 

 recovered from their spree and returned to town, he 

 could have enforced the majesty of the law. 



And such, indeed, is the general way of regarding the 



cowboy and his escapades. They are prompted by noth- 

 ing save mischief and an exuberance of animal— and it 

 may be a dash of vegetable — spirits; and while, of course, 

 such actions could not be overlooked in a large commu- 

 nity, in the small frontier hamlets in Which the law is at 

 best but an experiment, they may be winked at without 

 endangering the lives or estates of the townspeople. 



I must relate a rather amusing incident that will well 

 serve to illustrate the half bullying, half good-natured 

 cowboy on a tear. It was in a small, almost unnamed 

 town on the extreme frontier of Texas. The place was 

 absolutely lawless, no sheriff was present to interfere 

 with the hilarity of the boys, and there was scarcely a 

 bar to anything in the way of reckless deviltry. One 

 evening the tattered stage brought up to the door of the 

 cabin that served as a hotel that most invincible of all 

 the parasites of advancing civilization, a drummer. Now, 

 I have generally noticed that your commercial traveler 

 is a person of peculiar adaptability, and that he usually 

 adopts as one of his mottoes that one which advises always 

 do in Pome as the Romans do. This chap, however, with 

 singular lack of tact, had ventured into the wild West 

 attired in a most fashionable garb, and as though to 

 tempt fate wore a high silk hat. All went well, however, 

 Until about dusk, when two cowboys, evidently the worse 

 for liquor, caught sight of the unfamiliar sight, and in a 

 very short time the despised tile was on the ground and 

 serving as a target for two six-shooters. Surprised, 

 doubtless, at a social custom so different from anything 

 that he had seen in Boston, the drummer beat a retreat 

 at what might be termed a dignified fast walk. This 

 roused the lounging crowd, and after him they all went, 

 finally coralling the naturally dismayed man in the bar 

 room of the hotel. "Why, pardner." hiccoughed the 

 destroyer of the hat as he held up the battered tile, "we 

 don't want to rob you of your hat. Just having a little, 

 fun. You must 'scuse us. Here, you take my hat, it's a 

 blame sight better than your old one." And without 

 more ado the drummer was adorned with the big greasy 

 sombrero of the cow puncher, while that worthy assumed 

 the once elegant vestige of civilization and wore it over 

 his own long locks. 



One of the boys then proposed a drink, "just to show 

 that there was no ill-feeling about the trade." So all 

 hands, including the drummer, who probably thus hoped 

 to get rid of his unwelcome company, engaged in asocial 

 glass. Another followed, and still another, until all 

 were like a crowd of bosom friends. The last I saw of 

 the crowd that night the drummer, with the sombrero on 

 his head and a six"-shooter buckled around his disordered 

 frock coat, was going down the street of the town, his 

 arms around the necks of the two assailants of a few 

 hours hefore, one of whom still wore the perforated plug 

 hat. All three were yelling, the drummer as vocifer- 

 ously as any, and all were in equal terms leveled by that 

 greatest of all levelers— drink. 



Bad men there certainly are among the cowboys, as 

 indeed there arc among all classes; but take them all in 

 all they are a most clever and peaceable set. 



Go to the ranges and see them month in and month out, 

 enduring dangers and hardships, living together peace- 

 ably and quietly during the round-ups and passing their 

 bold free lines un trammeled by the luxuries and vices 

 of civilization, and you will be more ready to overlook 

 the recklessness of a few wild days in town, and account 

 them as they should be accounted— men — rough, good- 

 natured, reckless at time3 perhaps, but always ready to 

 attend to the cattle placed under their charge and look 

 after the interests of their employers, if necessary at the 

 risk of their own lives. No one ever saw a true cowboy 

 of the old type shirk a duty, go back on a friend or fail 

 to have that doglike virtue— gratitude. 



Alex. M. Reynolds. 



WOODCOCK, WHISTLE AND WORM. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



"D. T. T." writes in your issue of Oct. 23 that the wood- 

 cock makes the whistle with his wings. I quite agree 

 with him that the bird makes the noise with his wings 

 and not with his bill. Twice in one afternoon this month 

 have I been satisfied of this, on my handling two large 

 birds that were wounded, and held them both by their 

 legs and bills. In trying to fly and get away they 

 whistled loudly. I have been quite satisfied in my own 

 mind upon former occasions over and over again of this 

 fact. Any sportsman having shot woodcock to any ex- 

 tent must have had this fact demonstrated to him over 

 and over again. 



Woodcock, when boring for worms, have the power, 

 when a worm is felt, of dilating the end of the upper 

 mandible from the lower or outer part of the middle 

 third to the end; in other words, of open ing the end of 

 the upper mandible from the lower mandible while their 

 bill is in the ground. The lower mandible of the wood- 

 cock is composed of one solid piece; not so the upper, it 

 being composed of two plates or laminae, the upper or 

 narrowest plate being movable upon the lower. Any one 

 interested can ascertain this by pinching the lower max- 

 illary bone at the base of the bill (in a recently shot 

 woodcock) between the thumb and index finger, when 

 the end of the upper mandible will be found to dilate or 

 raise up from the lower mandible. 



In proof that the woodcock has the power of seizing a 

 worm while his bill is thrust in the ground, I might state 

 that I recently found a spot on the side of a creek where 

 woodcock had been boring. The clay was stiff and ad- 

 hesive. Always anxious to learn more of this game bird, 

 I took my knife from my pocket and sliced the earth 

 piecemeal away from above downward, and C found that 

 one out of every half dozen of the holes made by the bill 

 of the woodcock was large at the bottom and top, and nar- 

 row at the middle, like an hour-glass. The other holes 

 corresponded exactly to the impression a woodcock's bill 

 would make by being thrust into the ground, being larger 

 at the top than at the bottom, and gradually becoming 

 smaller from top to bottom. My inference from this is 

 that the bird prods away until he feels a worm, and on 

 doing so, opens the end of his bill and seizes it. Whether 

 he swallows the worm while his bill is still in the ground 

 or pulls it out before doing so, I am unable to say. 



H. B. N. 



fJOOK8TOWN,Ont. 



