Deo. 18, 1890.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



431 



somewhat strengthened by seeing some of the identical 

 traps in the hands of the aforesaid vagabonds. 



The loss of a few traps, however, although I felt cer 

 tain that each of the stolen traps held a fur animal of 

 some kind at the time of its abduction, did not much dis- 

 turb me. The hunt was not for profit or for the purpose 

 of seeing how much game might be destroyed by one 

 rifle in a season's hunt, but just for pure, ardent love of 

 forest life and sylvan sport. Many a deer passed me that 

 autumn and went away scatheless, which I might have 

 knocked down with certainty, and I spent days in tra- 

 versing the country, rifle in hand, with no wish or attempt 

 to shoot a deer, although I think I have never hunted a 

 region where they were more abundant than there. I 

 could not make out the exact whereabouts of the camp 

 by the aid of a pocket map at the time, and I have never 

 visited the spot since, although often promising myself 

 to do so. It certainly was not the point to which Peter 

 was hired to pilot us by thirty mile3 or more, and must 

 have been near the eastern line of Osceola county, where 

 the river crosses it from Clare county. At all events, 

 the location was a most satisfactory one for a sportsman, 

 and during the crisp, frosty autumn weather nothing 

 could be finer. I still think that such a camp, with good 

 health and an eternal succession of glorious Octobers 

 would be all the heaven I should ever require. 



I killed but few deer, and those nearly all bucks, as T 

 chose to let the does and fawns for the most part go clear 

 — a mode of hunting which I venture to recommend in 

 any country where deer are yet plenty. The hams, 

 "lines" and skins of those I did kill were carefully 

 "tended," and I began to ask myself how the long winter 

 days and nights were to pass, when it was too stormy or 

 cold to hunt, and the snow lay deep all over the vast 

 northern wilderness of Michigan — when, steady cold 

 weather having set in, a full supply of meat being on 

 hand, the deer having become thin in condition and 

 scarce by reason of wolves and Indians— there would be 

 no one to talk to at night and nothing to interest a man 

 by day. It did look a little, just a little dreary. But 

 then, couldn't 1 find my way out of the forest should it 

 become unendurable? There were lumbering establish- 

 ments at no great distance below, whence, doubtless, th re 

 would be a good road to Muskegon Bay, and it would be 

 time enough to think of leaving camp wheu sport gave 

 out. So I took it easy and enjoyed the sport hugely. 



A friend of mine who was selling sporting kits in the 

 quiet little village of Gotham had besought me earnestly 

 to procure him an elk's head with antlers at least six feet 

 long; and another friend had commissioned me to get him 

 a bear skin with claws, jaws and teeth entire — trifling 

 jobs, which each of them seemed to imagine could be ac- 

 complished by any man who had a few spare days on 

 hand. In fact the Gothamite had expressly mentioned 

 that he "wouldn't trouble me if he could afford to leave 

 his store for a few days." 



As they were both good fellows, and as I rather liked 

 the notion of sending an elk'santlers for exhibition in the 

 windows of a Broadway shop, I did my best to get the 

 articles as requested. 



Now, it is a fact that, while deer were plenty and easy 

 to bring under the bead, bear and elk were somewhat 

 scarce and hard to be got at. The elk seemed to delight 

 in large open pine swamps, reed beds and marshes: while 

 bruin affected the dense thickets and chose to hide him- 

 self therein, issuing thence for his craotidian acorns 

 mostly by moonlight. After a particularly dark, rainy 

 night, however, bear are sure to feed early in the morn- 

 ing; and on such a morning I got a beautiful shot at one 

 in the openings. I discovered him busily at work among 

 the acorns, and taking due heed of the wind, cautiously 

 approached him under cover of the oak trunks until 

 within thirty yards, when I got a good ready and waited 

 for him to show. This he presently did, moving unsus- 

 piciously among the fallen leaves for choice acorns, hav- 

 ing found which he sat up on his haunches and was 

 munching aw T ay leisurely when the sharp crack of a rifle 

 rang through the openings, a pea ball fitted him snugly 

 at the butt of the ear, and he subsided as calmly as an 

 nfant. 



He was an ursine beauty; otter-legged, glossy black, 

 and very fat, with a splendid set of claws and teeth — 

 decidedly the finest animal that has ever fallen to my 

 rifle. It took me the best part of two days to dress and 

 dispose of him properly, for, be it known, a fat bear in 

 camp at the commencement of winter is no slight acqui- 

 sition. The meat keeps sweet longer than any other, the 

 fat is not only valuable for burning in a "witch light," 

 but makes a good substitute for butter, and a well- furred 

 bear skin is invaluable in a winter camp for sleeping 

 purposes. Moreover, there is no exaggeration in saying 

 that a man while Jiving mainly on bear meat will endure 

 fatigue better, can travel faster and further, and will 

 find himself much stronger, than on any other diet what- 

 ever. If two men of equal powers and skill were to en- 

 gage in any trial of strength and physical endurance, the 

 one having trained on beef and the other on bear meat, I 

 should most certainly consider the latter a good invest- 

 ment at two to one. I cannot be mistaken in this; I have 

 tried it on myself and seen its effects on others too often, 

 and I only wonder that the fact — for fact it is — has not 

 not been observed and acted on by some trainer among 

 the athletic "profession." 



During the latter half of November I hunted for the 

 most part about the swamps and marshes in the hope of 

 getting another bear or two and an elk — particularly the 

 latter. This kept me too much about wet muddy places, 

 and I usually came into camp late, wet and tired; also, I 

 often got lost, and was obliged to lie on wet leaves, with 

 little or no fire, and without supper. Such a course of 

 life could not fail to affect the most robust, and I soon 

 began to feel the effects of it in cold streaks and flashes, 

 which ran along the limbs like electricity and were im- 

 mediately succeeded by feverish heat. T took the hint, 

 and resolved to hunt the swamps and marshes no more. 

 The resolve was a good thing, but it came too late: I was 

 already booked for a severe run of "fever 'n' ager," and 

 neither saltpetre nor quinine could save me— T tried 

 both. 



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 will be furnished responsible parties free on application to the 

 undersigned. Playing Cabds.— For 15 cents in postage you can 

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 the undersigned, P. S. Bustis, General Passenger and Ticket 

 Agent, C, B. & K. R., Chicago, It). — Adv. 



PELAGIC BIRTH OF FUR-SEALS DENIED. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



Several years ago, 1880, in my published "Monograph 

 of the Seal Islands of Alaska," I called attention to several 

 erroneous statements made by James G. Swan, who as- 

 serted in a letter to Professor Allen that be knew by his 

 "own personal observation that fur-seals had their young 

 in open ocean off the entrance to Fuca Straits." I said 

 then that "it was a physical impossibility for the fur-seal 

 (Callorhinus) to bring forth its young in the water; the 

 pup would sink like a stone instantly after birth, and the 

 mother be wholly helpless to save it," 



Curiously enough, the aditional evidence of the truth 

 of what I then stated appears in the form of the sworn 

 statements of a number of British sealing vessel masters, 

 which is appended to a reply of Sir Julian Pauncefote, 

 the British Minister at Washington, to Mr. Blaine, dated 

 April 30. 1890. (51st Cong., 1st Sess., H 'R, Ex. Doc, No, 

 450), pp. 57-60. 



Fred Gilbei fc: "I am a seal-hunter. I never shot or saw 

 pups with the cows in the water, nor have I ever heard of 

 such a case." 



Win, O'Leary : "I am a master mariner, and have been 

 seal hunting on the Pacific coast four years, three of 

 which I was in Behring Sea as well. I never saw cows 

 in the water with their young with them." 



H. F. Sievvard: 'T have been a master sealer for two 

 years. I. never saw a female seal with her young in the 

 water beside her." 



George Home, a pelagic sealer: "I never saw a young 

 pup alongside its cow in the water." 



Wdi. Fewings, a pelagic sealer: "I never shot, nor 

 have I ever seen, a female seal with a young one beside 

 or with her." 



Walter House, a pelagic sealer: I never saw a cow 

 seal in the water with her young beside her or near her, 

 nor have I ever heard of such a case." 



James Wilson, a pelagic sealer: "I never saw a cow 

 seal with her young beside her." 



J. D. Warren: "I am a master mariner, and have been 

 actively engaged in the deep-sea sealing business for 

 twenty years. I never saw or heard of a cow having her 

 young beside her in the water, either on the coast or in 

 Behring Sea." (Statement Aug. 10, 1839, Victoria, B. 0.) 



I am moved to make this fact prominent, that what I 

 stated as a fact, in 1874-1880, is to-day declared true by the 

 practical sealers themselves, since Mr. George Dawson, 

 D.S., F.G.S., F.R.S.C., F.R.M.S., assistant director of the 

 Geological Survey of Canada, says in a recent letter to the 

 Hon. Mr. Tupper (pp. 49 of Doc. cited above) that he 

 thinks Mr. Swan's statement should be received with re- 

 spect, although I "stoutly deny" it. The above citations of 

 Canadian sealers amply confirm my ground. I leave Mr. 

 Dawson and Mr. Swan to settle the sealers — but the more 

 these gentlemen look into the matter the better their 

 understanding of the truth of my declaration will be. 



Henry W. Elliott. 



Smithsonian Institution, Dec. 8. 



A SKELETON OF THE IVORY-BILL. 



A FEW months ago the writer was engaged upon a 

 general review of the osteology of the woodpeckers 

 of the United States, and for this purpose it was neces- 

 sary that there should be at hand the skeleton of a spe- 

 cies representing at least every genus known to our 

 avifauna. 



It was a year and a half before a specimen of Xenopi- 

 cus albolarvatus was secured for this purpose, but anally 

 a fine male (in the flesh) of this species was sent me from 

 Klamath, Oregon, by Mr. Samuel Parker, and a good 

 skeleton was obtained from it. 



Campephilus principalis, our far-famed ivory-bill, how- 

 ever, defied my best efforts to procure, and at last all hope 

 in that direction was abandoned, and I satisfied myself 

 with a study of the imperfect skeleton of the body of one, 

 and the skull of Campephilus imperialis, both loaned me 

 by the U. S. National Museum. The largest museums in 

 this country were communicated with, but none pos- 

 sessed in their collections the skeleton of this bird. Even 

 skins of it are now high-priced, it being found only in 

 certain restricted districts in the South, where every 

 year it is becoming rarer, and no doubt is on the high 

 road to extinction. 



It seemed a great shame, almost amounting to a dis- 

 grace that this, so distinguished a form in our avifauna 

 should, by those interested in scientific ornithology in this 

 country, be allowed to pass out of existence without a 

 single example of the most important part of its anatomy 

 left to grace any of the collections in our museums. 

 Not a single skeleton of the ivory-bill to pass down to our 

 naturalists! Nothing but skins! 



As these thoughts possessed my mind, I wrote to my 

 talented ornithological friend Mr. Frank M. Chapman, of 

 the American Museum of Natural History of New York 

 city, who was then collecting in Florida, but in his reply 

 little or no hope w r as held out in so far as securing Cam- 

 pephilus was concerned. Later on, however, it was my 

 good fortune to meet Mr. Chapman in Washington at the 

 last Congress of the American Ornithologists' Union, and 

 in his account to me of his Floridan experiences, my esti- 

 mation of his knowledge of the demands and require- 

 ments of our common science was fully confirmed, and 

 it was very evident that he for one did not believe that 

 the sole aim of ornithology w T as "to shoot a bird, skin it, 

 and then throw away the characters." 



Mr. Chapman saw but one specimen of the ivory-bill on 

 his Florida trip — an old male in full plumage — and bring- 

 ing his woodcraft into play he promptly bagged it. It is 

 not difficult, even for me. to picture the various dubita- 

 tions, perplexities and waverings that entered his head as 

 he handled that elegant bird in the flesh, and cogitated 

 upon the real value of the capture in its varied aspects. 

 Think of the mute look of horror that must have crept 

 over Mr. Brewster's visage, who was with him. on that 

 occasion, when my friend finally suggested that he meant 

 to utilize the specimen for its skeleton! 



Be it recorded with honor that his good judgment fin- 

 ally prevailed, and his prize was duly sent to Mr. H. A. 

 Ward's science establishment in Rochester with the view 

 of having the skeleton prepared in their best manner for 

 final disposition in its proper case in the American Museum 

 of Natural History in New York city. 



Judging from what I have already seen in the skull of 

 Campephilus imperialis, there will be found some very 

 interesting structures at the base of that part of the skele- 

 ton in the ivory-bill, and so it is to be sincerely hoped 

 that the specimen will fall into the hands of Mr. Ward's 

 best preparateur, that these delicate parts may be most 

 carefully preserved. The writer is not an advocate of 

 Professor Huxley's and Professor Parker's saurognafch- 

 ism of the Pici, and the more I see of the skulls of wood- 

 peckers, and take the general structure or morphology of 

 their skeletons into consideration, the more I am com- 

 pelled to believe that the medio palatine of Parker is, 

 when present, the vomer in these birds. The skull of the 

 ivory-bill will throw additional light upon this important 

 point in classification. R. W. Shtteeldt. 



TAKOMA, D. C, Dee. 8. 



CHINESE PHEASANTS. 



LAST winter the snow was at one time 9 in. deep and 

 the weather pretty cold, about G° above for a fev7 

 nights, and in looking about to see how the ringnecks 

 were getting along, I found where they had been hunting 

 weed seed and scratching down to the ground under the 

 bushes and other places in their search for food. They 

 roosted on the ground like prairie chickens. When there 

 is no snow they roost either on the ground or in trees, as 

 their fancy suits. The snow lay on the ground for more 

 than three weeks, yet I don't think the birds suffered 

 much. They will come into the feed yards and eat any 

 grain that they may find there. From what I saw of 

 them last winter, I think that they would stand the win- 

 ters in the States east of the Rocky Mountains all right. 

 The winters would be longer and colder, but there is a 

 great deal more ieed for such birds there than there is 

 here, such as corn, wild sunflowers, etc. 



When spring came the cocks began crowing and they 

 are occasionally heard even yet. They begin the crow 

 and the flapping of their wings at the same time and 

 make a few flaps of the wings after the crow has ceased. 



They are polygamous. I have seen as many as five 

 females with one male and many of them had two wives. 

 The hens lay from l'S to 18 eggs about the size of those of 

 the prairie chicken and of the same shape, hue of a light 

 brown color. They make their nests in stubble fields and 

 along fence rows and such places. In plowing 90 acres 

 of stubble this spring we found four nests. The fewest 

 that any hen was sitting on was 13 eggs. On one nest of 

 8 eggs the hen had not begun sitting. They will not 

 come back to a nest when it is removed to the plowed 

 ground. 



The 18 eggs from the first nest found were placed under 

 a domestic hen, and in 25 days 1 1 of them hatched. The 

 nest was not in a very favorable situation, which may 

 have had something to do with the time of hatching and 

 strength of the birds. We put the hen in a pen about 

 12ft. square on the ground, for a couple of days until the 

 birds learned her language, then we let them out. But 

 the hen was of the idiotic kind and would take them out 

 in the wet grass and weeds in the chill morning dew and 

 they would get wet and cold, then get lost and die. Three 

 of them grew to be large enough to fly a little when two of 

 them disappeared. The remaining one got to be nearly 

 as large as a quail when one morning it was found in the 

 yard almost dead and was taken into the house and cared 

 for, but it died. 



Uf six others that were hatched by a domestic hen on a 

 farm near here, two grew to be large enough to take 

 care of themselves, when they went off with their wild 

 brothers. 



It has been stated that they raise two and three broods 

 a season, but I must see more evidence than I have seen 

 this season before I can believe that. I think that there 

 was not a hen in this neighborhood that reared more than 

 one brood last summer. 



They increase in this State, though, much faster than the 

 Bob White quail which were introduced here more than 15 

 years aao, and I have not seen one of them here yet, 

 though 1 have heard some calling. J. F. L. . 



Wheatland Ore., Nov. 29. 



Yellow Rail in Chicago. — Editor Forest and Stream: 

 While spending an evening near the last of September 

 with a friend, a teacher in one of the high schools, he 

 chanced to remark, "One of my boys brought in a 'corn 

 crake' the other day." Investigation developed the fact 

 that the "corn crake was a yellow rail (Porzana noveho 

 raeensis). By a somewhat singular coincidence, while 

 snipe shooting the next day with this same friend, I shot 

 another of these rare little buds. Although I am not 

 certain of the fact I have the impression that the two 

 birds were killed in the same marsh. I am sure they 

 were from the same locality. Both specimens were 

 secured in one of the grassy marshes within the city 

 limits of Chicago. We have hunted the same ground 

 several times this fall and this is the only yellow rail we 

 have seen. Possibly other Chicago marsh-trampers may, 

 in their wanderings about our city streets (1), have met 

 this odd little dweller of the sedges. Although I have 

 neither "met with the nest of the yellow rail" nor "ob- 

 served its habits" further than as above stated, perhaps 

 Dr. Gibbs, or others, may be interested in this hasty note 

 of the occurrence of the species as a city resident! — Korax 

 (Irving Park, 111.). 



Evening Grosbeak in New York. — Ithaca, N. Y.. 

 Dec. 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: While walking 

 through the Cornell University campus to-day, I noticed 

 a female evening grosbeak feeding in a box elder tree. 

 My brother, who saw the bird, had seen three of the 

 same species apparently near the same spot several days 

 previous. The grosbeaks were recordpd here last winter, 

 but their returning for a post graduate course was a genu- 

 ine surprise.— Morris M. Green, 



Recent Arrivals at the Philadelphia Zoological Gar- 

 den. — Purcha=ed - T wo pr nar-tnrned an te lopt sliAiit ilocapra amer- 

 ioana), four yellow a camera ( fimberiza citr India), and two cardinal 

 red birds (Carrttnalis virginianus. Presented— One rhesus macaque 

 (Macacus eruthrmus), one Derby's opossum (Didelphys deriiana), 

 two common opossums (Didelphys virginianus). one red-tailed buz- 

 zard (Buteohorcalis), one short-eared avrl(Bfacjhyotnspal<u9tris), one 

 screech owl (Scops astol, two alligators {AiUgati*r mississippiemte), 

 two water moccasins (Aneistrodon piseivorus), one green snaKe 

 Oyclophis vprnalis) one common hog-nosed snake (Heterodon 

 ■platyrhinm) . one box tortoise (Cisludo Carolina), two diamond- 

 backed terrapins (Mal.acoclemmys palustris), one red-bellied terra- 

 , pin (Pseudemys rugasa)* and two menobranchus (Menobranchtis 



