148 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[mucH IS, 1891. 



carrying a free lance on all topics, and the rest of us join- 

 ing in or listening as the ball of conversation came to U3 

 or rebounded. 



The camp is, as its constructors claitn, "a suns; little 

 wicket" of logs, with a roof of split cedar, large enough for 

 at least a doz?n men and several ladies. It is in the midst 

 of a fine hunting and fishing country, the best of scenery 

 on all sides, and within easy reach of four lakes besides 

 First Pistol. Built larimarily for the use of sporting par- 

 ties, it is resorted to by some who care only for the 

 scenery and rest. Many ladies go there. The gentlemen 

 whom we met at the place declared in their enthusiasm 

 that the next year should see not only themselves but 

 theii" wives there. We were told that next year the camp 

 was to be improved by the addition of a separate cook 

 room; though, it' 1 were to be there, I would beg the privi- 

 lege of sitting in the kitchen to look on, for both the 

 pai-tners are famous cooks, as well as first-class water- 

 men, workmen and hunters. Souiewhere on the trip Jot 

 told us a story of Long which I had heard before from 

 another source, of how, when a boy of sixteen working 

 in a lumber camp on Birch Stream, he saw a moose track, 

 and starting out with nothing but a three-dollar shotgun, 

 a half-pint tin cup and a little uncooked oatmeal, fol- 

 lowed on the track for five days, sleepmg in the snow 

 without blankets and crossing both the Piscataquis and 

 main Penobscot rivers, where they were open, on rude 

 rafts, at last overtaking the moose in the town of Lee, 

 where he killed him and sold him for a good price before 

 returning. 



In the afternoon we started out to see Side Lake, which 

 lies to the right of the Pistol Inlet at the end of a two- 

 mile carry; but we were not permitted to go before prom- 

 ising to return to camp again. 



The carry to Side Lake, which is one of the Pistols, was 

 partly bog, though most of the way good walking throuah 

 taU growth, hemlock partly, I should say, with a vague 

 remembrance of feathery saplings; but some of the 

 undergrowth was beech. Nea,r the end the carry divides, 

 one part going to the Third Pistol and the new right-hand 

 branch to Side Lake. With the sun in the quarter where 

 it now was, Side Lake was softer in its color than the 

 glowing gem of the morning, but even clearer in its trans- 

 parency. It was absolutely calm, and looking down we 

 could see the bottom for a long distance from the shore. 

 A canoe and paddles lay near by but we would not rulfle 

 its tranquility. To me such clear, still water suggests 

 solidity more strongly than anything else, so that the 

 comparison to glass or marble seems not only highly ex- 

 pressive, but the only allusion properly explanatory. It 

 is not the surface of the water alone, Milton's ''clear 

 hyaline, tbe glassy sea," but its depth and body, so to 

 speak, which, in proportion to the transparency of the 

 water, gives it more and more this appearance of being a 

 solid block of glass, an under world m which the fish are 

 imprisoned. Our clearest ice looks scarcely more impen- 

 etrable than such pure still water to which may be given 

 the fine Horatian phrase, splendidior vitro, not of surface 

 only but of depth. We tarried awhde, watching the little 

 fishes, and tossing in bits of moss and dry twigs to see 

 them rise and draw under the coveted but disappointing 

 morsels. We wished we had something better to give 

 them; but finding that they learned nothing from experi- 

 ence, gradually withdrew our repentance and kept up 

 our sport. Tti'ey were beautiful, both chubs and breams, 

 though the. latter had put ofi: iheir brilliant summer garb 

 of green and copper color and scarlet, and were now but 

 shadows of their former splendor, rec jgnizable only by 

 the black spots on their gill cover i and their pretty 

 motion. A fish out of water is a coarse, clumsy, limbless 

 creature; in its element it is sylph-iike. 



We stopped again at the camp, according to our promise, 

 and again were entreated. The camp and all that was in 

 it was ours to control, u^e, or carry away. But we had a 

 tent standing with open doors on the Green, and we steered 

 out into the blaze of the declining sun. 



Father walked down the carry, not to overload tbe canoe, 

 as the water seemed to be falling, and Jot and I went 

 down by stream. A changing color hung in the treetops, 

 amethyst or purple, or between the two; the first chill of 

 early evening lay along the stream; from the shadows of 

 the trees the great rociis stood out more boldly, and the 

 little onps lifted up their heads where the waters parted 

 round them to rejoin in a trailing ripple; and others hid 

 beneath the crowning current which mounted them 

 smoothly on one side to run away in white-curled wave- 

 lets on the other. There was no sound above the voice of 

 the stream but the ring of the metal-sh^d pole on the 

 rocks as, now dipped on one side now on the other, it 

 directed or restrained our progress. 



We went back across the lower part of the carry at the 

 time when, earlier in the season, the hermit thrushes 

 would have been at vespers; but it was too late in the 

 year for their mu-ic. Instead of their melody there was 

 stillness throughout the woods, until Jot, coming after 

 with the caooe on his head, gave a cheery hail as be 

 passed on down to the landing. 



Fannie Pearson Hakdy. 



COREECTION. — I will not mention all the errata, I 

 wrote worse than u-ual and deserved it; but, gentle 

 reader, for ' Eod P^uha" in the last issue, pLase read 

 K3d Pnrk. I shall have more to tell about him later. — 

 F. P. H. 



"That reminds me." 



IT is well known that most animals, quadrupeds, are 

 natural swirnmers, but I know of an exception which 

 is as well authenticated as it is ppculiar, A gentleman of 

 our neighborhood had a foxhound which was mortally 

 afraid of deep wa<:er and could swim but a few strokes. 

 His head would invariably go down and his hindquarters 

 up, when he would have to be rescupd. A friend who 

 well knew the dog's failing, made a bet with the owner 

 that tbe unfortunate beast c nld not swim across a good- 

 sized stream which they had to cro>s. When the stake 

 was put up the proprietor of the phenomenon calmly at- 

 tached a good sized stone to the canine's tail, and with 

 equalibrium thus restored in this novel manner he success- 

 fully swam the stream with head and shoulders trium- 

 phaatly poised, winning the wager for his ingenious 

 master. Deacok. 



HORN SNAKE- FOX SPARROW. 



Editor Forrest and Stream: 



I desire knowledge on two points in natural history, 

 and confidently turn to Forest and Steeam for the 

 needed information. 



Is there a work on natural history in which a snake, 

 wiih a horn on the end of its tail, is described and named? 

 The works which I possess, and others to which I have 

 access, fail to mention such a snake. 



Will some correspondent tell me where the fox sparrow 

 {Passerella ■iliaca) winten? The fox sparrow comes to 

 my cabin home (in the woods) twice a year. He arrives 

 in the fall, about Oct, 1, and leaves for the south about 

 Nov. 15, I have fed the birds spring and f nil for the last 

 six years. This season they left Nov. 16, but after a 

 month's abserce one bird returned. He remained here 

 ten days and then left, or perhaps was shot. Hermit, 



Gloucesteh, Mass., Feb, 38, 



[The snake with a horn or spine in its tail is mentioned 

 in more than one work on natural history and undoubt- 

 edly exists, but that this horn is used as a weapon of 

 defense is another matter. This is, however, a popular 

 belief which is hundreds of years old. One of the best 

 known of the American spine-tailed enakes is Trigono- 

 ceplialus piscivorus, described in Lawson's "History of 

 Carolina," 1707, and again in Catesby's '-Natural History 

 of Carolina," 1731, Holbrook, in his "N. A, Herpetology," 

 New York, 1842, also describes it quite fully. Another 

 spine-tailed snake is Lachesis mutus, a South American 

 species. There are others. The fox colored sparrow win- 

 ters not very far south, and on warm days in winter may 

 often be seen in New Jersey, New York and even Con- 

 necticut, Probably the great majority of tbe birds go 

 further south. We have seen them in Yirginia and North 

 Carolina in winter,] 



DRAGON FLIES AND MOSQUITOES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Doubtless hundreds of Maine people scattered through- 

 out the land have read and enjoyed '*In the RegionEound 

 Nioatowis," by your spirited correspondent, Fannie Pear- 

 son Hardy, 



The perusal of her article has been a source of much 

 pleasure to me. First, because all things relating to my 

 native State are of interest; second, because many of the 

 localities described are familiar; and third, because of 

 the glimpses of natural history sparkling through every 

 sentence. 



That description of the pickerel is perfect. The people 

 of Maine do appreciate the good qualities of this fish. For 

 one, I remember it with genuine pleasure, and even now 

 I respect it for the numeroixs frights it gave me in my 

 boyhood. 



But after all your correspondent has sinned almost be- 

 yond forgiveness. She has made light of my pets, the 

 dragon flies. Read what she says: ''I never' yet saw a 

 dragon fly do anything worth mentioning, except to 

 whizz about like a portable windmill, or to sit on a stick 

 and duck his head and rub it just like a fat bald-headed 

 man," 



If your correspondent could drop down on Cape Ann 

 some May or June afternoon, at twilight, and see the 

 "Hermit'" sittins before his log cabin with half a dozen 

 dragon flies whizzing about his head preying upon mos- 

 quitoes, she would change her mind and admit that a 

 dragon fly can do something worth mentioning. 



GnotiCKSTER, March 4, HERmT, 



Note on the White Goat. — New York, March 3, — 

 Editor Forest and Stream.: It may be remembered that 

 in Forest and Stream of Feb. 19, 1S90 (Vol XXXIV. 

 63), I prmted some notes on the range of the "white 

 goat" {Mazama moiitana), in which I spoke of the re- 

 ported occurxence of this species in the Bull Mountains 

 of Montana. These Bull Mountains are a range of low 

 buttes out in the prairie at a considerable distance from 

 the main range of the Rocky Mountains, They are on 

 the southeast side of the Musselshell River in Yellowstone 

 county, Montana, and being low and in a very dry climate 

 seem not at all fitted to be the home of this species. The 

 evidence of its occurrence in these hills came from Mr, J. 

 W, Schultz and Mr, H^nrv Norris, and was in each case 

 secondhand, and so a little doubtful. An additional bit 

 of testimony on this point has just been sent me by Mr. 

 Sdiultz, who under date of Feb. Vi writes me as follows: 

 '•Last night we were talking about a number of goats 

 which hhve been seen lately on Birch Cn ek, A rail- 

 roader, Chas. Ross, who was present, said: 'I saw some 

 goats last fall in the Bull Muuntaios.' 'How many?' I 

 asked, 'Not many, but lots of sign. I believe I saw six 

 head, also a number of sheep.' 'What are the Bull M mn- 

 tain&?' I said. He replied, 'They are butte'^, most of them 

 with rocky wails and fl.it prairie tops,'" It is possible 

 that amnng those who read this note there may be some 

 who have actual knowledge of _the occurrence of this 

 species in the region referred to, if so I should be greatly 

 obliged to any one who would send me a full and detailed 

 statement of the occurrence, giving date, place, number 

 killed and all particulars possible. — Geo. Bird Gkin- 



NELL, 



Another Pet Flying Squirrel. — Montreal, — Read- 

 ing the article signed "F. B., Ottawa, Kansas," about 

 flying squirrels, moved me to write of one I had for a 

 pet when a boy living in Worcester county, Mass, I dis- 

 c ivered a nest of two which looked like youngrats. One 

 soon died, but the other we raised — we — that is my 

 mother, for she ran the culinary departnient and always 

 claimed the credit of keeping afive any animals or birds 

 that I brought home from my wanderings through the 

 woods or fields. As he grew older he made his home in 

 my pockets, and was my constant companion in m.v 

 gambols and at school. I often sent him up into trees, 

 and as soon as I called he would come sailing down and 

 catch on to some part of my body. It was a very sad 

 day for the boys when be was drowned by a careless 

 servant. I was very much surprised to read in your 

 issue of Feb. 13 that coons capture and eat rabbits, and 

 would like to see some more direct evidence on the sub- 

 ject. Perhaps that coon was red and had a large bushy 

 tail.— IBVINS, 



DruIiQIINg of the Grouse.— Bay Farm, E-sex Co., 

 N. Y, — In this locality ruffed grouse have repeatedly been 

 seen drumming on a stone. The general ( pinion is that 

 the male always selects a log, generally a hollow log. on 

 which to perform. Many think the liollowness of the 

 log has a good deal to do with the pecuUar sound: but the 

 noise was exactly the same made by the one drumming 

 on a stone as one drumming on a hollow log, [This sub- 

 ject is one that has been pretty thoroughly thieshed out 

 in past issues of Forest and Stream, and many observ- 

 ers have contributed notes on it. The grouse drxims on a 

 log, a stone or a stump, but it may be doubted if this 

 position is assumed for any other purpose than that of 

 raising itself above the ground so that it may have a 

 wider outlook,] 



Birds op Minnesota, — We have received from Mr. 

 George G. Cantweli, of Colorado Springs, Col,, a copv of 

 bis ''List of the Birds of Minnesota," publi-hed in 1890, 

 The material for this list was accumulated during six 

 years' field collecting in the vioinitv of Minneapolis, near 

 Lake Minnetonka, and in Lacquiparle county, supple- 

 mented by the local lists which have been issued from 

 time to time by Dr, Roberts, Mr, Bonner, Dc Hatch and 

 by tbe notes of other observers whose names are given. 

 The list, which is briefly annotated, makes mention of 

 295 species and sub-species of birds, two or three of which 

 appear to be now included in the State fauna for the first 

 time* 



Snowy Owl, in New York —Red Hook, N. Y., March 

 9 — About three weeks ago a snowy owl was seen in this 

 neighborhood. It soon disappeared and was supposed to 

 have gone to a climate better suited to its taste. To-day, 

 however, it apneared again, and three gunners started in 

 search of it, One of them, John W. Bain, was fortunate 

 enough to get a shot at the bird. At a distance of 120yds, 

 he made a center shot. Though the rifle was a ,38cal,, 

 the specimen was not injured. The bird goes to John 

 Wallace, 16 North William street, New York, to be set 

 up.— C, 



Snowy Owl,— Westfield, Mass., March 5.— There is on 

 exhibition in the show window of Conner's stationery 

 store, a magnificent specimen of the Canadian snowy 

 owl (Nyctea scandiaca), which attracts considerable 

 attention, as it is cjuite a rare thing to see so fine a speci- 

 men of this beautiful bird. The mounting was done by 

 "Prof. Scott," of this place, The owl was shot in Green- 

 ville about Christmas time, by John D, Ripley of that 

 place.— WoRONOCO^ 



English Pheasants for Vermont.— Dr. W. Seward 

 Webb, of this city, has received at hip Shelburne Farms, 

 Yt,, twenty-three* English pheasants, which will be turned 

 out there. Gamekeeper Liddiard, of Yorkshire, Eng., 

 came over with the birds, and will have charge of them. 



dtne ^dg md ^utj. 



The full texts of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Book of the 

 Game Laws. 



THE CORBIN GAME PARK. 



HERE is an interesting study in human nature— a pic- 

 ture of the inception and growth of an enterprise of 

 great moment to the naturalist and sportsman and of in- 

 terest to every one. Six years ago a friend presented to 

 Austin Corbin, the weU-known railroad man, a few young 

 deer, Mr, Corbin accepted them, and having a great 

 country seat that included many acres of woods as well 

 as cleared fields out on Long Island, he caused a part of 

 the woods to be f-uitably fenced and turned the deer into 

 the inclosure, Mr, Corbin at that time was neither a 

 sportsman nor a naturalist in the Fense in which those 

 terms are understood by the readers of Forest and 

 Stream, He had no ppecial interest in wild animals of 

 any kind. Nevertheless, as a lad he had lived on a farm 

 in New Hampshire among the foothills of the White 

 Mountains and had trapped woodchucks, and shot part- 

 ridges and chased foxes, and the good healthv delights 

 of those days lingered in his memory. Small wonder 

 then that the gentle pets his friend had given to him 

 won their way into his affections from the moment they 

 became his. It was a new pleasuie — something he bad 

 never known before— to go and watch their graceful 

 motions and gaze upon the beauty of their forms. More- 

 over, Mr, Corbm had a son, a lad, almost a man grown, 

 in whose veins runs a deal of the energetic blood gener- 

 ated in back country of New Hampshire, tbe S'lrt of 

 blood that makes young gentlemen take as kindly to 

 athletic and out-of-d or sports as they do to a square meal 

 after a day in the field, Austin junior was as much (if 

 not more) delighted with the pets as his father was, while 

 the father was delighted because the boy was delighted. 

 There was ample room on the Long Island farm for 

 more than the few de^r, and tbe Corbins decided that 

 more should be bad. This led to the examination of sun- 

 dry books on the subject of deer culture, if one may use 

 the term— books like Judge Caton's, for instance, while 

 the Forest and Stream and other periodicals printed for 

 men who kno w howio live were necessarily read regularly. 

 Certainly the love of nature grows with what it feeds 

 upon if any emotion of the heart does. If deer could be 

 kept, why not the deer's cousins, the elk, Ihe moose, the 

 antelope and the buffalo — especially the buffalo. 



Mr. Corbin had lived in Iowa when a young man, and 

 in the days when his law oflice shingle was becoming 

 weather-beaten in Divenport the herds of buffalo on the 

 plains of Nebraska, Kansas and Te:xas numbered untold 

 thousands. It was .a great pity that such noble animals 

 were likely to become extinct, and the Corbins deter- 

 mined to join in the effort to perpetuate tbe species. 

 They had begun with a few deer, and they added the ellr, 

 the antelope and the buffalo, and then it became apparent 

 that the Long Island estate was too small for the proper 

 care of these animids, or at least for the care which the 

 owners desired to give them. 



It is to be particularly noticed that the Long Island es- 

 tate was not suited to the sort of care that the Corbins 

 wished the animals to have. From caring for the few 

 pets had grown the deeire to rear herds of these animals 



