Jan, 7, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



9 



WILDFOWL AT COHASSET. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



For a number of years! I have kept careful record of the 

 different species of Anatidce taken at Cohasaet, Mass., 

 and have been surprised at the number of varieties shot, 

 many of -which are doubtless of merely casual occurrence. 

 1 have fully identified no less than twenty- four species, of 

 which the "following is a list. Red-breasted merganser, 

 hooded merganser, mallard, black duck, blue-winged 

 teal, green-winged teal, baldpate, shoveller, pintail, 

 woodduck, redhead, canvasback, American scaup duck, 

 lesser scaup duck, golden-eye, harlequin duck, bufrle- 

 head , American eider, American surf and white- winged 

 scoters, ruddv duck, Canada goose, brant. 



E. H. Clark. 



BOSTON, Mass., Jan. 1. 



A Connecticut Buffalo.— The Lake Kenosia serpent 

 incident calls to mind the time when this section was 

 considerably stirred up over the presence of a buffalo. 

 That was about fifteen years ago. Where the animal 

 came from is not known, but it was said to have escaped 

 from a passing circus. The buffalo was very large, and 

 was Feen many times between this place and Georgetown 

 and Newtown. Sometimes he would frighten the wits 

 out of women and children by appearing before them in 

 the road. Many a valiant hunter has been so startled 

 by the buffalo that he fled in terror, leaving his gun in 

 the woods. Sometimes the buffalo would make himself 

 at home among a drove of cows and would create a sen- 

 sation about milking time. Stories of the strange beast 

 spread broadcast, and the sensationalists of the day en- 

 joyed themselves immensely relating Munchaueenish 

 tales of alleged personal experiences with him It will 

 be remembered that until the animal was killed it was 

 not at all Certain that it was a buffalo. One day four 

 hunters ran across the buffalo in the woods between 

 Bridgewater and Brookfield. and after a desperate battle, 

 the most of which was fought from trees in which the 

 hunters had taken refuge, the enemy was vanquished. 

 The carcass of the dead menagerie attraction was brought 

 to Dan bury, where it was viewed by hundreds of curious 

 people, many of whom came miles to see it. The hunters 

 were Eugene Shepard, Samuel Ward, a Mr. Hedden and 

 another whose name we do not recall. The skin of the 

 buffalo was removed and placed on exhibition, where it 

 wa • an object of interest for many weeks.— Danbury 

 (Conn,) News. 



A New Ornithological Association.— A number of 

 a-' mleraen interested in ornithology met in Allegheny 

 City, Pa,, Dec. 30, 1891, and laid the foundation for the 

 We'stem Pennsylvania Ornithological Association, an 

 organiz itfon whose work will be somewhat similar to that 

 of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, of eastern 

 Pennsylvania. An interesting paper on the migration 

 of birds, written by Mr. Harry Gordon White, of Massa- 

 chusetts, was read by Mr. W. E. Clyde Todd, of U. S. 

 Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Mr. Todd 

 showed how the best results are obtained from studying 

 the flight of migrants, and also gave some veryuseful in- 

 formation concerning the avifauna of western Pennsyl- 

 vania. Twenty-five persons, exclusive of those present 

 at the meeting, were elected as associate members. Offi- 

 cers were elected for the ensuing year: President, Dr. A. 

 D. Johnston, Allegheny; Vice-President, Thos. Harper; 

 Allegheny; Secretary and Treasurer, H. H. Wickham, 

 Beaver. "All communications relating to the Association 

 should be addressed to the secretary. 



A Nkw Jersey Cray Fox.— New York, Dec. 16.— On 

 Dee. Ill shot, between Monmouth Junction and Rocky 

 Hill, N. J., a genuine gray fox, weight 9Jlbs., and meas- 

 ures 3ft. and Gin. from nose to end of tail. I did not 

 know that she was a genuine gray until I consulted Mr. 

 Wallace, of William street, New York, who has the fox 

 to mount for me; he say3 it is a fine specimen and in fine 

 far, My dogs were four hours running the fox before. I 

 got a shot, and we little expected a fox, as we were out 

 for rabbits. Every year for the last six years while 

 shooting in this locality we have struck what we thought 

 was a fox trail, but now we are certain that the dogs 

 knew their business when they got on this trail and 

 brought her in. The boys in Jersey, also the farmers, 

 are very giad the fox is out of the way, for we know how 

 destructive they are on game and chickens. — H. 0, W. 



A Black Rat.— Editor Forest and Stream: Mr. H. W. 

 Raymond has- a black rat on exhibition at his store 33 

 Main street, Gloucester, Mass. The animal was caught 

 in Boston and was presented to Mr. Raymond by a friend. 

 I suppose this rat is the Mms raft us of the books, but I did 

 not know they could be found in this country. This ani- 

 mal is smaller than the brown rat. It is covered with long 

 black hair that glistens in the sun, but under this cover- 

 ing is short thick lead-colored fur. its ears are large and 

 light colored on the inside. In shape it resembles the 

 brown rat. It attracts much attention.— Hermit. [This 

 is no doubt an example of the black rat QL rattus). It 

 is rare in this country,being everywhere driven out by its 

 larger and fiercer convener, yet we have seen it in Califor- 

 nia and in the South. J 



In the Yellowstone Park.— Winter is here and the 

 snow is getting deep in the Park, 30, 40 and 60in. on a 

 level. We have had another cold snap, the thermometer 

 standing at — 22 ; , —38° and — 16° on different days at the 

 Hot Springs. It has been down to — 4P at Soda Butte 

 and to — 45 c at Norris Geyser Basin.— H. (Dec. 28, 1891). 



Boohs iivilis good holiday gifts, and giae more pleasure in 

 proportion to tlvi money expended than, anything else. If you 

 ■want a good book, on shooting, fishing, natural history, or any 

 ■rf'ier subject eo>meele I with outdoor life, consult the list of the 

 Spurtsmtt'i's Library in this paper, or better still, send for 

 Forest and Stream's /ree illustrated catalogue of works on 

 outdoor sports. 



A Book Auocr.c Indians.— The Forest And Strkam will mall 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. G-rhinell's book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-tales," giving a table rti content)? 

 and specimen illustrations $roru the volume.— Adv. 



'mm §ag mid %m\> 



Antelope and Deer of America, By J. D. Caton. 

 Price $2,80. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

 Rifle, By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rifle, Rod and 

 Gun in California, By T. S. Van Dyke. Price $1,50, 

 Shore Birds. Price 18 cents. Woodcraft. By u Ness- 

 muk.' Price $/. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 50 cents Wild Fowl Shooting; see advertisement. 



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

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Booli of the 

 Game Laws. 



CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 



[Fro//i a Staff Correspondent,'] 



CHICAGO, III., Jan. 2.— Mr. Dick Merrill., of Milwau- 

 kee, much esteemed in this country as a sportsman 

 of the quiet and gentlemanly sort, is the owner of the 

 setter Paul Bo, which won at the lower field trials and so 

 bore out his owner's confidence in him, which was not 

 shaken by the defeat at Bicknell. It seems that some one 

 else has a notion to Paul Bo, and last week the dog turned 

 up missing. All day long, in the rain and mud, Dick 

 searched the city over for his dog, feeling as only a man 

 can who has had his favorite dog stolen. At night Dick 

 went home, and a little later Paul Bo appeared also, a 

 broken string around his neck testifying as to the cause 

 of his forcible detention. Meantime the walk in the wet 

 had given Dick a cold, and last Saturday this had grown 

 into a sickness which prevented him from shooting the 

 match with Rolla Heikes for which he was scheduled. 

 The dog thief recks not of consequences. 



Mr. Ed. Bingham, a well-known shooter of Kansas City, 

 spent a day or so in Chicago this weei . It would be 

 pleasant to have Mr. Bingham come here to settle down. 

 We need a few more Kansas City men like Andy Thomas. 



It might possibly be borne in mind by somebody that 

 a couple of years ago I described a little fishing party that 

 went down to the Tippecanoe River in Indiana in a special 

 car. One of this party was Mr, C. E. Chapin, at that time 

 editor of the Chicago Herald, Mr. Chapin was sick, but 

 plucky. I shall not soon forget the picture he made us; 

 clad in nothing but a suit of white underwear, he cast the 

 fly for bass on that warm summer day. Mr. Chapin did 

 not fish enough, and lately his health broke down en- 

 tirely, and he left the city editor's chair of the Herald 

 this time, to go to Cape Cod for a rest. He drifted to 

 New York one day last fall. To-day, with so slight a 

 knowledge of that city as a month or so of life there 

 might mean, he is city editor of the New York World'. I 

 c iii'fc help wondering what sort of waders he will wear 

 next summer. 



The fun which the city game warden was intending to 

 have with the cases against B. Aaron & Son, mentioned 

 earlier, came to an untimely end. Justice White fined 

 the defendants $5 apiece for the five birds on which suit 

 had been brought. The defense pleaded statute of limi- 

 tations, very justly, for the three months had elapsed. 



Mr. A, ii. Harry man is back from a shooting trip below 

 Indianapolis, which was productive of abundant rabbits 

 and squirrels. The squirrel law of Indiana is out on Dec. 

 20. Ihe clause reads peculiarly, the fine being ".$2 

 for each squirrel so killed and $1 for each s quirrel so pur- 

 sued." For pure comedy go to the game statutes. 



Last week I was out in Iowa for Christmas, and I spent 

 one. day in the woods with a certain elderly gentleman 

 of whom I think a good deal. We found the rabbits very 

 scarce in that neighborhood, near Newton, although once 

 they were so numerous as not be noticed as game. Yet, 

 in that denuded country, where little or no shooting is to 

 be bad now, there happened to us a most singular and 

 unexpected thing. J. B. H. was looking into a thicket 

 after a rabbit which he had seen go in, and called to me 

 to come up on the other side to intercept the rabbit. 

 This brought me upon the top of a lictle ridge, above the 

 thicket, which lay in a gully. Looking down I saw steal- 

 ing out of the thick brush a long gray figure which at 

 once I knew was a wolf. It did not seem possible that a 

 wild wolf could be there in that old country, within a 

 mile and a half of town, and I thought it was a pet be- 

 longing to some farmer. "Here's a wolf," I called out, 

 "I think it's a pet one. Shall I shoot him?" 



"Yes, give it to him," called J. B. H., not understand- 

 ing what I said. So I let the wolf have it, through the 

 heavy ha z?l brush, with No. 0 shot and at a distance of 

 not over 30yds. The charge, what little of it got to him, 

 struck him in the hip and flank and staggered him, but 

 be sprang on , and I fired again directly at him with the 

 left, though the dense growth almost hid him. In the 

 open either shot would have killed him, but here he got 

 off over the hill. Had the snow been heavy eaough we 

 should have found him before noon, for he was hard hit 

 after all. J. B. H. told me there were a good many 

 wolves that still hung around the Cherry Creek bottom, 

 but said that in the forty years he had hunted in that 

 country he had never had a shot at one, or seen any one 

 else who had. We found a carcass near by, at which the 

 wolf had eaten the night before. The accident of our 

 coming up on opposite sides of the thicket was what led 

 to the chance at the wolf. We regretted much that fate 

 was against us. The animal was what is usually called 

 in this s ction a gray timber wolf, but in reality it was a 

 coyote, very large, and of a lighter color than the ani- 

 mals of the plains. 



A family in the same town of Newton has a fine setter 

 dog, and also a thoroughbred fox-terrier, for neither of 

 which is there much actual use, game being scarce. This 

 being the case, the dogs go poaching for rabbits outrage- 

 ously, and work well together, the fox-terrier putting 

 them up and the setter catching them. The latter is 

 trained to retrieve, and faithfully brings to the house all 

 the rabbits he catches. It so happens that these two dogs 

 cannot distinguish between a rabbit and a oat, and the 

 fox-terrier being naturally much disposed to hunt cats, 

 the result is that the neighborhood is nearly cleaned up of 

 cats. Each defunct pussy cat is dutifully carried home 

 as soon as killed, and it puzzles the dogs a great deal, ap- 

 parently, fro know why a long-tailed rabbit is not prized 

 as much as a short-tailed one. The day before I was out 

 there these two degenerate scions brought in a beautiful 

 Maltese kitten, dead as Julius Caesar, and they appeared 

 to think they had shown themselves peculiarly gifted. 

 There is a huge Thomas cat near by which has thus far 



defied assault, but I am inclined to think the fox-terrier 

 will get him yet. 



The other day, out in this same town, J, B. H. saw 

 an encounter between a mink and a rat, the latter a very 

 large one. The animals came, out from under a grain 

 elevator, and were so busy fighting they paid no atten- 

 tion to the human spectators. They reared up and strug- 

 gled like dogs, fighting for quite a time. The mink, 

 though much the smaller, had the best of it. At length 

 the rat broke away, and ran directly up to the men who 

 stood by; as if to claim their protection. It went under a 

 building, and its throat was bleeding badly with the usual 

 murderru3 mink wound, so tbat^doubtless it died. 



The Acme Gun Club has changed its name to the Doug- 

 las Gun Club. The Gar field, Douglas and West End gun 

 clubs all have grounds close together. 



Cumberland Gun Club at its annual meeting elected 

 the following officers: Pres., Mr. Al. Hofmann: Vice- 

 Pres., Mr. Geo. T. Farmer; Stc'y, Mr. W. L. Shepard; 

 Treae., Mr. John Hieland; Board of Managers, Messrs. H. 

 W. Loveday, II. D. Nichols and J. B. Sanborn. 



"Good mawnin', Captain, may the Lawd bless an' pros- 

 pah you, sah," said he, as he drifted into the office and 

 addressed the man in plain clothes. 



"Well?" said the man in plain clothes. 



"Ken you give a moesei fo' the upbiidin' of a temple in 

 Zion, the new Afercam Mefodis 'Piscerpal chu'eh, sab?" 



"That's the man you want to see," said the man in 

 plain clothes, pointing to the editor, who wore rather bet- 

 ter clothes. 



"Good mawnin', Colonel, may the Lawd bless an' pros- 

 pah you, sah. Does you feel like insertin' a few bricks 

 er two in the temple of the Lawd, the new Afercan Mpfo- 

 dis 'Piscerpal chu'eh, sah? I'se a deacon in dat chu'eb. 

 sah, an' we'se a needin' of de sinners of wah to fight de 

 evil of dese yer times, sab." 



The editor was just fixing to go fishing. He couldn't 

 get the paper out unless he had a certain bundle of 

 proofs, and these must come within half an hour, or he 

 couldn't catch his train. They had not come. The 

 editor pointed to the clerk, who was better dressed than 

 anybody. "That's the man you want to see," said, he. 



"Good mawnin', Ginneral, may the Lawd bless an' 

 prospah you, sah. Does you feel it in yo' haht to jine us 

 to de extent of a quahtah in de upbuildin' of de cause of 

 the Lawd, sah? Tse a deacon in de new Afercan Mefodis 

 'Piscerpal chu'eb, an' we all is pow'ful anxyus to finish 

 owah temple in Zion, sah. We has the foundashun putty 

 well stahted , but we needs mo' 'n a foundashun befo' we 

 ken hole sarvices in de tabernickle. Ken I count on you 

 f er a quahtah, sah ?" 



Just then the printer's boy came in with the roll of 

 proofs. The clerk saw him and pointed to him. ' That's 

 the man you want to see," said he. 



He turned to the boy, who in garb and color approached 

 himself. 



' Good mawnin', son," said he, "may the good Lawd 

 prospah you. Ef you is of the colah, as I thinks you is, 

 I hopes yo' mammy'll take you to de noo Afercan Mefodis 

 'Piscerpal chu'eh, w'en we gits it finished. Wat bizness 

 is yo' fadah, chile?" 



"Aw, wot yer givin'us 1" said the printer's boy. "Dat's 

 de feller youse lookin' fer, over dere," pointing to the 

 editor. "You better not take me fer no nigger, er I'll 

 give it to yer in de neck , see? ' 



The editor was glad to see the proofs. Now he could 

 go fishing. His heart changed. 



"Old man, here's a quarter for your church," said he, 

 tossing the coin into the ragged hat. "It'll bring me 

 good luck!" he muttered to himself. "Sometimes fish 

 won't bite." Then he added, turning to the clerk, 

 "Julius, I think you may as well not come back after 

 lunch. V/ e shall not need you this afternoon." 



Julius was glad. Now he could go to the races. 

 "Here's a quarter for you, uncle," said he, and the hat 

 came his way. "It'll change the luck," thought Julius 

 to himself. "I ought to pick a winner to-day." 



The man in plain clothes looked up. "Thank heaven! 

 the office will be clear this afternoon," thought he, "and 

 I can work out that scheme in quiet. Here, old man," 

 he said, "is a quarter for you, and see you only use water 

 in mixing up your mortar for the church. It'll bring 

 me luck," he thought, and so he whistled to himself 

 softly. 



"Good mawnin', gennelmen, all of ye," said the old 

 man as he shuffled out, pausing at the door, "May the 

 Lawd bless an' prospah you, one an' all. Hit shohly do 

 eeecu laik de Angel of Grace done tetch yo' hahts mighty 

 suddent, right yer in dissher room." E. Hough. 



ABOUT COONS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The coon stories in the Forest and Stream have re- 

 called to the memory of old sportsmen the exciting hunt- 

 ing scenes of our youth. That animal was my "big game ' 

 in my boyhood daysin western New York, Many a night 

 after a hard day's labor have I and my companions hied 

 away to the woods, and perhaps after a long tramp, 

 drowsy and fatigued , seated ourselves upon a log, waiting 

 for the dogs to arouse the game, in the meantime passing 

 frem drowsiness into sleep. But soon those faithful and 

 truthful animals would give tongue and then sleep would 

 depart and fatigue vanish. 



Since those youthful days the writer has hunted much 

 for large game, sometimes with dangerous surroundings, 

 but never with half the enjoyment and excitement of 

 those youthful times. 



There appears to be two opinions as to whether the rac- 

 coon hibernates in winter. My observation is that it does 

 not. Usually the coon hunting I could do in winter 

 would be on Saturdays, when there would be no school. 

 Then myself and mates would watch the winter thaws 

 and then go to the woods to trail the coons on the soft 

 snow to his home. In a few instances 1 have hunted 

 them in the winter at night with dogs and caught them. 

 Twenty years ago, or thereabouts, when camping out for 

 deer during a January thaw, we took a tramp of five or 

 six miles in a circle, and when within about a mile and a 

 half of camp came to a wet weather water course, filled 

 from melting snow and about hip deep. To get to camp 

 we had to take back tracks or ford the water course. We 

 adopted the latter method. The water, of course, wan 

 cold, but the bank where we landed was covered with 

 scrub oaks, and a plenty of down dry timber. Soon with 

 the aid of our hunting axes we had a rousing fire to dry 



