Feb. 11, 189S.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IBS 



occasionally heard, but very seldom seen, for they re- 

 main close in the thickets by day, They are not of re- 

 markably handsome plumage, and are most noted for 

 their three notep. They are about 9in. in length, of 

 variegated coloring. They nest upon the ground, laying 

 two or three bluish- white eggs. They feed altnost ex- 

 clusively rpon insects on the wing, and inhahit thick 

 brush. Tfffe kingfisher is familiar to everybody and is 

 found in almost everv woodman's collection. The black- 

 cap titmouse, or chickadee, is a friendly little bird. 



Several of the thrushes are seen here and there, particu- 

 larly the hermit, which comes from the South in May, 

 and the olive-backed thrush is sometimes mistaken for it! 

 I do not know that any of the warblers— some twenty in 

 number — are seen in the depths of the forest. The Lap- 

 land and white snowbirds are seen during most of the 

 winter, I am told. It is said that they breed in the north- 

 ern counties, but I have never seen .anybody who could 

 verify the statement They much resemble English 

 sparrows in their habits, except that they nest upon the 

 ground. The ruffed grouse, or partridge, is found every- 

 where, and in the fall in considerable numbers. It nests 

 upon the ground, and to protect its young will stay in 

 their vicinity, manifesting an instinct to mislead the per- 

 son or animal which may have cau?ed the disturbance. 

 The young, usually from ten to fifteen in a nest, are able 

 to liy and mainly take care of themselves in about two 

 weeks or twenty days from the time of being hatched. 

 They leave the nest immediately on coming from the 

 shell. If the nest of eggs should be destroyed another 

 "setting" will be made; otherwise there is but one nesting 

 a year. A most interesting sight is that of a young brood 

 surprised, when the birds at once dip their heads under 

 leaves, leaving their bodies exposed to view, the hen 

 meantime in a great fluster and seeking to divert atten- 

 tion. Since the nests are built upon the ground, it is 

 surprising that they are not all destroyed by vermin. 

 They are usually out of the reach of the eye of the owl 

 and hawk. The spruce grouse is of the same family, but 

 not much sought for. Its flesh is usually, particularly 

 in late fall and winter, of bad flavor, tainted with spruce 

 buds, of which the bird is fond when other food is difficult 

 to obtain. 



The great blue heron comes early and returns south 

 in the autumn. It feeds mainly on fish, snakes, crabs 

 and other water food, and being of nocturnal habits it 

 has been surmised that the down upon its breast is phos- 

 phorescent to attract fish by night. It is certain that it 

 will wade in water at night as well as by day, and its pur- 

 pose must be to secure food. It is said to breed in this 

 State, laying from two to three eggs. The little blue 

 heron, very like the one above mentioned though smaller, 

 is occasionally seen during August and September. It 

 comes north late and returns early. The heron and bit- 

 tern family is large. The crested grebe is another 

 water bird, better known as the dipper or hell- 

 driver, though there is a distinct bird knownas the 

 diver. They are very much alike however. They are 

 late comers, usually late in July and remain until ice 

 closes the lakes. The great loon is also a familiar object 

 upon almost all the lake3. It spends its winters on the 

 sea coast. They are difficult to kill with a gun, because of 

 their quick sight and action. When they observe the 

 smoke of a gun, they can dive before the shot or ball has 

 time to reach them. They soon become accustomed to 

 the ways of sportsmen and thereafter keep well out of 

 their way; but when smokeless powder is used they are 

 more frequently captured . The red- throated loon is occa- 

 sionally seen in some waters, particularly Raquette Lake, 

 but not often. The gull family is large, but the common 

 American gull is perhaps the only one known to the forest. 

 On some of the lakes, either wood or black ducks are seen 

 during the entire summer. They breed in many places, 

 but the greater part of their young are devoured by water 

 animals. Their flesh is delicious. Ducks of other kinds 

 make stops at many lakes during their fall flight, but for 

 want of food they soon take their departure. Unquest- 

 ionably there are other birds belonging to the forest with 

 which I am not familiar, or which I do not recall ; but 

 those above mentioned constitute at least nearly all that 

 the naturalist can discover. There are birds common to 

 the clearings and the margin of the forest which have not 

 been spoken of, but they belong to the State at large— such 

 as the barn swallow, Beveral of the flycatchers, the cow- 

 bird, the yellowbird, bluebird, robin and several of the 

 sparrows and others quite as familiar to most people, and 

 how out of their sphere they seem to be. They are birds 

 that seem to love the company of human beings, willing 

 to leave solitude for the enjoyment of their sisters, cousins 

 and aunts of various names and appearances. They be- 

 long to the class of domestic birds and carry their 

 habits with them wherever they go. Space forbids an ex- 

 tended description of the birds I have mentioned and their 

 habits; the reader who has special interest in their ident- 

 ification can readily find books that will assist him. It 

 is delightful divertisement for a woodsman to watch his 

 little visitors and be able to call them by name, when he 

 sits upon the bank of a stream or in his shaded boat wait- 

 ing for a "bite". Indeed, what pleasure there must be to 

 him who can also read the grasses and stones which sur- 

 round him and learn of them secrets hidden to most people. 

 What a field for the study of nature the Adirondacks af- 

 ford. Why should not all of our public schools have a 

 prescribed and thorough course of natural history? 



Syracuse, X. Y. 



Words of Appreciation. 



This new Forest and Stream possesses all of the desirable 

 qualities of a sportsman's (not sporting) journal. It has a certain 

 magnetism about it that is irresistible. The amount of good such 

 a paper as the Forest and Stream does the sportsmen of this 

 country can. never be justly estimated. It has created a reputa- 

 tion that is unsurpassed— It is original, does not imitate. I have 

 taken the Forest and Strbam for ten years, and have never 

 missed readkig every week's issue since then. I have taken (and 

 do take) other sportsman's journals, but the Foeest and Stream 

 "hlls the bill." I owe (not subscriptions) the Forest and Stream 

 much, as every true sportsman in the country does. Your kennel 

 columns as conducted by friends Lacy and Waters, and the trap 

 columns by C. H. Tovvnsend, cannot be excelled; in fact, every 

 department has a writer who knows what the sportsmen need — a 

 clean, sprightly, up to the times journal. Long may it flourish.— 

 A. C. Collins, President Connecticut Association of Farmers 

 and Sportsmen for the Protection of Game and Fish (Hartford, 

 Conn.). 



There are some things 1 can do without, but Forest And 

 Stream is not one of them,-W, H, Hyland (Peekskill, N, Y.), 



THE EUROPEAN BISON.— II. 



BY R, WAT.DBCK. 



LConUmwd from Page 9$ I 



IJSJ summer the bison lives in the lower and damper 

 parts of the wood, hidden in thickets and under- 

 brush; but in winter he moves up to higher and drier 

 parts of the foreet. Old bulls live for the most part by 

 themselves, but the younger ones congregate in troops 

 of from fifteen to twenty in summer and from forty to 

 fifty in winter. Etch troop resorts daily to the same 

 place for rest. Up to the month of August these ani- 

 mals live peacefully among themselves, but when two 

 bands live in adjacent parts of the forest, they often fight 

 if they come together, and the smaller band usually 

 avoids the larger one. 



The bison sleeps only a few hours each day. He feeds 

 during the day or at night, but his favorite time for 

 pasturing is in the evening and in the early morning 

 hours. If grass and weeds fail him he peels off the bark 

 of trees for food. He also rides down small trees by his 

 weight and feeds upon the leaves and smaller branches. 

 His favorite browse seems to be the ash tree. The pine, 

 of course, is not eaten. The foresters of the Bialowitz 

 woods bring hay from a distance and put it in stacks, 

 protected by roofs, on which the bison can feed in win- 

 ter. Sometimes the bison break into the enclosures of 

 the small farni3 near the woods and destroy the property 

 of the farmers, eating the hay and crops which he has 

 saved for his own cattle. 



Though the movements of this animal seem to be heavy 

 and ponderous, it is really quite active. Its gallop is as 

 fast as that of a horse and it can go over ground which a 

 horse would hesitate to traverse at a good rate of speed. 

 When the bison is galloping his head is held close to the 

 ground and his tail stretched out straight behind him. 

 He is a good swimmer and easily wades through marshy 

 soil, The sense of smell possessed by this animal is very 

 keen, but he does not seem to see and hear so well. In 

 many of its actions and habits it resembles our common 

 cattle. Their habits change with age. The younger 

 animals are lively and playful and quite good natured, 

 though they could not be called gentle or docile. Still 

 they are not at all sivage. The old bulls, on the other 

 hand, seem morose, savage, and very irritable. As a rule, 

 however, even the old bulls will permit a man to pass by 

 without attacking him, but they are subject to unac- 

 countable fits of passion, and light-colored objects or 

 clothes seem always to invite an attack. In summer 

 the bison generally avoid men, but in winter they avoid 

 nothing and will not move out of the way of a passer by. 

 A main road passes through the woods of Bialowitza and 

 in winter it frequently happens that men and teams have 

 to wait for hours until some bison, which is standing 

 across the road, sees fit to move a little to let them pass. 

 Very often the bison follows sledges crossing the forests 

 and if be scents any hay and the driver does not throw it 

 out to him at once, he will upset the sledge and break it 

 to pieces. When angry the bison stretches his blue-red 

 tongue well out of his mouth and without delay attacks 

 the object of his anger. Horses are usually afraid of a 

 bison and try to run away as soon as they smell him. 



The time of the rut comes usually late in the month of 

 August and lasts for three weeks. During this time the 

 bulls are in their best condition, fat and strong. At this 

 time serious fights often take place between the males, 

 and now, too, it seems to be a favorite pastime of the 

 bulls to uproot moderate-sized tx-ees, digging round them 

 with their horns and feet. Often it is seen that a bison 

 having overturned such a tree, cannot get rid of it at 

 once, the roots being twisted about his horns. This 

 makes the bull furious, and one has been known to run 

 about for hours carrying this singular and enormous 

 headdress. In fighting, they attack each other head on, 

 charging from a distance, and come together with such 

 enormous violence that occasionally a horn is broken off. 

 At this time also the old bulls, which are accustomed to 

 live by themselves and apart from the bands, rejoin the 

 others. Frequently the fighting is so serious that it may 

 cause the death of younger bulls, 



As soon as the time of pairing is over, the old bulls 

 leave the troops and go back to their quiet, lonely life in 

 the higher parts of the forests and mountains. The calves 

 are born generally at the end of May or early in June. 

 Two or three weeks before this, the cow looks out for a 

 lonely place, where she retires until the calf is a few days 

 old. A few days after birth the calf follows its mother 

 everywhere and is treated by her with the utmost affec- 

 tion. If it is too weak to walk easily, she pushes it for- 

 ward with her head. If its coat is dirty she licks it clean. 

 When she gives suck she stands on three legs, in order to 

 make it easier for the young one to reach the udder, and 

 while the calf is sleeping the cow watches to see that no 

 harm comes near it. In case of danger the mother fights 

 with great courage, and is furious for her young one. If left 

 alone the calf lies down, pressing itself to the ground, and 

 not moving until its mother has returned to its side. At 

 this time it is dangerous for man or animal to come near 

 the calf, as the cow at once attacks the enemy, over- 

 throws him and tears him to pieces with her horns. 



The calves are pretty creatures. They grow very slowly 

 and seldom attain full size before they are eight or nine 

 years. 



The bison lives to an age of from 30 to 50 years, the 

 bull being more long-lived than the cow. When they 

 grow very old both bull and cow become blind and lose 

 their teeth, so that they cannot provide themselves with 

 sufficient food, and finally dwindle away and die. 



In comparison with other kinds of cattle the bison 

 breed very slowly. In the forest of Bialowitza experi- 

 ence shows that the cows produce a calf only every 

 three years and that as they grow older the interval in- 

 creases sometimes to four, five and six years. In the 

 year 1829 from 258 cows only 93 calves were produced. 

 This is probably the reason that the bison is slowly dying 

 out. 



This species has few natural enemies to fear, and 

 against those which attack him he defends himself with 

 great force and courage. Bears and wolves are danger- 

 ous only to calves when by some accident the mother 

 has lost her life and the young one is ttnprotected. 

 Sometimes, however, when the snow is very deep, it 

 may happen that three or four wolves by attacking the 



bison singly one after another so tire him out that they 

 are able to kill him. 



In Europe the chase of the bison is over, but in ancient 

 days this sport was a favorite pursuit. Csesar writes 

 that it is a great glory and honor to kill the bison, and 

 many old Latin songs praise the hero who has killed bison 

 and aurochs. Of course two thousand years ago the 

 hunt of this species was different from what it has been 

 of late years, while in the middle ages, from 1200 to 

 1300 A.D., the old German heroes used to hunt the bison 

 on horseback, using only a spear, their men fighting on 

 foot. It was the duty of some of the footmen to attract 

 the attention of the bison by swinging red clothes before 

 him while others tried to pierce him with their spears. 

 Often in these hunts great dogs were used. 



In Hungary, and Transylvania as well, the chase of 

 the bison was a favorite pursuit with the kings and 

 princes and nobles of ancient times, and the killing of a 

 bison bull was looked upon as a heroic deed. They did 

 not always, however, kill him in fair fight as was done 

 in Germany. Frequently great pitfalls were dug ha the 

 runways of the bison and the helpless bull, who had 

 fallen into one of these, was killed with a spear from 

 above. 



Old literature is full of references of chases of this 

 beast, and many a book has been written of the great 

 hunts of Hungarian kings and nobles. In a volume 

 written in 1531 we read that a great troop of bison had 

 made its appearance in the mountains and forests of 

 Szeklerland, and that they did much harm totheZeckem 

 (the people of Szeklerland) by wasting their grain and 

 killing men and women. The sovereign of the country, 

 Majlath Istvan, arranged a great hunt in which many 

 hundreds of the peasants were forced to assist, for each 

 house owner in every village was obliged to appear at the 

 royal hunt and to assist in driving the bison together. 

 Again, a hundred years later, George Rakovzy I., Prince 

 of Transylvania, wrote to his friend, the noble Paul 

 Boraemisser, in 1643, in which he tells of a great hunt 

 which he had arranged. 



One of the most brilliant, and also one of the last hunts 

 held, took place in the reign of August III , in 1753. A 

 monument was erected and great books written in Ger- 

 man and Russian languages to commemorate this great 

 event. In one day 42 bison, 13 elk and 2 deer were 

 killed. The Queen alone shot 20 bison without missing 

 one, and still found time during the hunt to read a novel. 

 Long before the day appointed for the hunt about 3,000 

 peasants were occupied in looking for the game and driv- 

 ing it into an open space surrounded by an inclosure. On 

 the hunting day it was driven out of this inclosure 

 through a narrow passage, on both sides of which gal- 

 leries had been erected in order to give the hunters a 

 perfectly secure position. From their seats they killed 

 the game as it passed by. This hunt took place" in the 

 Bialowitza woods, which at that time were much larger 

 than they are to-day. 



In the year 1860 the Emperor of Russia took part in a 

 hunt in this forest. The Emperor himself killed 6 bison 

 bulls and a calf, 2 elk and 6 deer, 3 roes, 4 wolves, 1 

 badger, 2 foxes and a hare. The Duke of Weimar and 

 the Princes Charles and Albert of Prussia killed together 

 8 bison. A volume describing this hunt is written in 

 Russian, [to be continued.] 



MORE ABOUT SHARKS. 



IN the New York Sun for Dec. 20 was a notice of a 

 monograph on the habits of sharks with extracts 

 written by Com. G. P. Griffin, giving his observations in 

 various oceans. His conclusion is that sharks are not 

 man-eaters; moreover, that they prey only on dead matter, 

 never eating living creatures; that they are, in fact! 

 merely the scavengers of the ocean. The stories of living 

 men devoured by sharks Com. Griffin thinks are without 

 foundation, and he believes that when human beings are 

 taken off in the water in some mysterious way the seizure 

 is due to alligators. Perhaps the evil deeds of the sharks 

 have been exaggerated, but enough seems to remain in 

 trustworthy history to allow some of these things to be 

 charged to their account, and many disappearances of 

 men while swimming are related to have taken place in 

 regions where no alligators exist. 



As to the statement that sharks subsist entirely on dead 

 matter, I think the experience of most fishermen and 

 anglers is to the contrary. In Florida waters I myself 

 have several times had a channel bass of large size taken 

 from my hook when I was playing it, the fish being in rapid 

 motion, by a shark, bitten in two, leaving only the head 

 upon the hook, and this in clear water where the robber 

 was plainly visible. Any fisherman on that coast will 

 testify how the sharks tear up his nets and carry off the 

 living fishes from them. 



In those bays and inlets many large sting rays are 

 captured by anglers, and the boatman, after extracting 

 the hook alongside tbe boat, often cut and stab the ray so 

 as to draw blood freely, and then turn the ray loose. 

 Like the shark, the ray is tenacious of life, and will swim 

 away easily with many wounds, but it seldom can go 

 100yds. without being attacked and devoured by the 

 sharks, which appear to be very fond of their cousins, the 

 rays, and when a shark is cut open the weapon of the ray 

 is often found in its stomach. Like other carnivora, 

 sharks differ in their boldness and ferocity in different 

 places and circumstances. Where war is "waged upon 

 them they become wary. Where they only have to deal 

 with naked and poorly armed savages they are bold and 

 dangerous. There are many species of sharks, and those 

 in northern seas differ in many ways from the southern 

 species. These last are so sensitive to the cold that many 

 are found dead in the Florida inlets and bays after a heavy 

 norther, while those of high latitudes flourish among the 

 ice. 



Com. Griffin states that in spite of the legend he has 

 never seen a shark turn over to seize its food, which 

 agrees with my own experience. He is of opinion that 

 sharks are as numerous in the northern waters as in the 

 south, and believes that more of them are to be found on 

 the coast of New Jersey, between Sandy Hook and Bar- 

 negat, than on any equal stretch of southern coast. 



For myself, I have angled on the coasts of New Jersey, 

 Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine, as well as those 

 of Florida, and I have seen more sharks in one day in the 

 latter waters than in a month at the North. At the 

 North I was never molested by a shark, while in Florida 

 I have not only been robbed or my fish by them, but have 

 found them when in numbers so aggressive that my boat» 

 man thought it prudent to leave the place, 



