Mat 12, 1892.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



448 



other end (is it tail or body?). As I approached it its head 

 assumed a defensive attitude, and when I held my foot 

 up to it, it struck the shoe with more force than I ex- 

 pected. I then held a stick near it and it paid no atten- 

 tion to it; but when I again held up my foot it struck a 

 number of times. I left it in this condition, and on my 

 return three hours later it still showed fight. I then 

 killed and measured it and found it to be 5*ft. in length 

 and 2in. in diameter— not the common water snake, but 

 a real black snake. This was the second I had killed in 

 the same position. Five years before at Stony Point, 

 above mentioned, I shot one that measured 6ft. 3in.; the 

 next moment after I shot it I saw a robin fly up from the 

 ground within a rod of the snake. 



I started on my return, and was hurrying along the 

 trail, when a' 'streak of brown feathers" suddenly started 

 up from the ground and disappeared around a ledge just 

 in front of me. A few minutes after I saw something on 

 a rotten log, about eight rods away, that I took to be a 

 ruffed grouse: and knowing that I had a No. 6 shell in the 

 left-hand barrel, I concluded to shoot from where I stood. 

 To my surprise the grouse did not move, and I concluded 

 it was not a grouse and started forward, when to my 

 great surprise it took wing and disappeared. I walked 

 up and examined the log where it had stood, and found 

 no signs of shot marks. I then remembered that after 

 shooting the snake I had felt a rattling in the gun. The 

 recoil had loosened the wad, probably, and the shot had 

 dropped out. On examining the shell in the right-hand 

 barrel I found the wad was loose, and I came to the con- 

 clusion that I had fired a blank cartridge at the only 

 grouse I saw that day. 



When 1 reached the boat, I found it was 5 o'clock and 

 that I had a six-mile row before me. I took it easy and 

 reached the village at 7 o'clock, having had the most 

 pleasant excursion since the one through the Arirondacks 

 the year before. 



The next morning I again visited the old wood back of 

 the house accompanied by a cocker spaniel and carrying 

 the gun; and had hardly got into the wood when the dog 

 put up a grouse, at which I shot, but only had the satis- 

 faction of picking up part of one of the tail feathers. 

 The grouse passed out of the wood toward the village. 

 When I returned the gun to my friend that evening, he 

 said that during the morning a grouse had flown against 

 one of the plate-glass windows of the store adjoining his 

 and was killed. I presume it was the same bird that I 

 had shot at; but, as it had been picked and cleaned, I 

 could not prove my claim. 



I had gone but a'few rods when another got up; but he 

 managed to put a large oak tree between us; and when I 

 shot he was too far away. He fled over the ledge in the 

 same place as on the previous occasion and'into the thick 

 hemlock below, where I followed, but without finding 

 him. Here I strike the old cow path that led to the back 

 pasture; and as I mount the hill I recognize the hemlock 

 tree (forty years ago was but a small shrub) under which 

 I killed my first game with the new gun, a 34in. 16g. 

 double-barrel muzzleloading English arm. On that 

 eventful day I was accompanied by my youngest brother. 

 We had got an early start with the cows; and as we had 

 often seen partridges und*>r this small hemlock, we ap- 

 proached carefully. I saw what I took to be the head of 

 a partridge, raised the gun, blazed away, and then there 

 was a rush through the smoke for our game— to find that 

 I had killed not a partridge, but an old hen and five well- 

 grown chickens. We never before had seen a hen in 

 those woods, and could never explain kow they happened 

 to be there at that time and under tbe very bush where 

 we had time and again seen partridges. 



Leaving this never-to-be-forgotten spot, I take the old 

 wood road running along below the ledge, now thickly 

 overgrown with small hemlocks and beeche3 — a perfect 

 shelter for game: and come to the place where I chopped 

 my first and only cord of wood, which I delivered to the 

 local jeweler to pay for the first gold pen I ever owned. 

 If I remember right, that wood was not first-class hard- 

 wood; but then the pen was not over 10 karat fine. To 

 the west of me, and on the opposite side of the gully, was 

 once a cornfield, and it reminds me of the time that we 

 went coon hunting long time ago: also of the melon patch 

 on the further side next to the wood, which made it con- 

 venient for the boys from the village. Following the old 

 wood road south and passing through a clearing, I am 

 where once was the old maple sugar bush, now shorn of 

 all its majestic maples, wide-spreading beeches, shaggy 

 hickories, rugged birches and the few large pines that 

 reared their tops far above their neighbors. Not a ves- 

 tige remains but a few blackened stumps and roots of the 

 pines, While through the center of where all these once 

 stood is a deep cut of the Utica & Black River Railroad, 

 and the rest of it is so barren that a billy goat would 

 starve to death if it were not for the dry pine roots and 

 sheep-sorrel. I follow up a gully looking in vain for the 

 spring of cold water that flowed from under the old hem- 

 lock on the hillside. A short distance from here my 

 oldest brother and I with the aid of hound dug out the 

 first fox that I ever saw run to hole. At the head of this 

 gully was a large stone that time and fire had not de- 

 stroyed. On this stone was where I had, alone and un- 

 aided, killed my first partridge when I was thirteen 

 years old; and on the ledge just above six years later I 

 killed five one morning and was back in the store by 8 

 o'clock; this was late in one September, and was done 

 with the new gun. That faithful weapon is now nearly 

 useless; but as I write this screed, it hangs with the pow- 

 der flask and shot bag on a fine pair of antlers above the 

 door of a room containing a collection of over three hun- 

 dred, mounted specimens of birds, among them the laat 

 grome I shot with the gun. In the same case with this 

 bird is treasured the first one kdled by my oldest son with 

 his new breechloader, thirteen years ago. But I have 

 strayed a long way from my boyhood home. 



J. L. Davison. 



Lockpokt, N. Y. 



In my language class in school one day the sentence "He 

 earns his livelihood 'by hook or by crook' " occurred, and I 

 asked the class what "by hook or by crook" meant, and only 

 one boy raised his hand. "What does it mean?" I asked of 

 him. ''Oh, catching fish or catching sheep, I'm sure."— 

 Youth's Compan ion . 



Customer.— Show me a hat to go fishing with. 



Clerk (examining the one he has and making a selection!.— 

 How will this do, sir? 



Customer.— That's all right, But I want it two sizes 

 }arger than ordinary.— Clothier and Furnisher. 



SOUTH AFRICAN REPTILES AT HOME. 



IE.— CH AMELEONS. 



ALMOST as frequent as tortoises in some parts of Cape 

 Colony and quite as popular as domestic pets, are 

 chameleons. A school boy on a holiday ramble would 

 not find much difficulty in picking a chameleon off a bush 

 did he know where to search for it. "Oh, I'll get you 

 plenty of chameleons," say my young friends to me, not 

 far from Port Elizabeth. On flowering shrubs they are 

 most frequently found and in gardens. In a garden in 

 Cape Town I one day gathered four off a pomegranate 

 bush. Two were full grown and of a brilliant iridescent 

 green with reddish markings; one was only half grown 

 and had not full colore; the fourth was a tiny scrap like 

 some stout legged insect and was so exactly the color of 

 the stem of the bush on which it was resting, that only 

 the inequality and unevenness of the spray attracted my 

 notice at first, when looking closer this mite was per- 

 ceived. It did not change its tints rapidly and vividly 

 like the others, but retained its pale, inconspicuous hue, 

 excepting at night, when like the rest it turned "white," 

 that is, extremely pale, the markings being then almost 

 inconspicuous. 



Chameleons, as no doubt the readers of Forest and 

 Stream are aware, all belong to the Old World, and par- 

 ticularly to Africa. In their tongue, their feet and their 

 eyes they differ remarkably from other lizards. Their 

 feet, though possessing five toes, are divided into two 

 grasping groups, looking like a hand in mittens, and only 

 by close examination you perceive the presence of the 

 two or the three opposing toes respectively, but so close 

 together as to appear like one broad one. On the padded 

 soles or palms of these grasping limbs you can feel and 

 see the small — may one say — palpi which enable them to 

 grasp so firmly, that it is difficult to detach a chameleon 

 from its foothold. These clinging feet, together with 

 their prehensile tail, enable them to sustain themselves 

 on the branches in the strongest gale. The tongue is 

 wonderfully extensile and extensible. By the former 

 word I mean the distance it can be thrown out of the 

 mouth: by the latter word its own elongation is inferred, 

 for I am sure there is not space sufficient in the lower 

 part of the mouth to accommodate the eight-inch tongue 

 which can be thrown out unless it is greatly contracted 

 again. We know that it lies "folded" in the mouth, but 

 it folds into a very small space, and when I have held a 

 chameleon's mouth wide open to try and get sightof this re- 

 markable member it lies so compactly in the loose lower lip 

 that to see it is next to impossible. The more so because 

 an angry chameleon (and who would not be angry to 

 have his mouth held forcibly open) swells out his loose 

 lower lip and the tongue lies in a well quite out of sight. 

 Illustrations do not generally convey a true idea of this 

 slender and delicate member with the expansive tip on 

 which the glutinous saliva is secreted. For the most part 

 a chameleon's tongue is represented as a stout and rigid 

 club. The distance to which the little reptile can throw 

 out its tongue on an emergency can be satisfactorily de- 

 cided by those who have tame chameleons, or are on a 

 visit to the reptile house in zoological gardens. Many of 

 my readers have no doubt seen those at the London Zo6- 

 logicalJGardens when the keeper is holding some enticing 

 food within reach. Six inches is the usual distance and 

 I have seen the food held as much as eight inches off, 

 and caught by the quickly thrown out tongue. When at 

 liberty and feeding themselves they approach stealthily 

 and much nearer to the insect they covet. 



Pet chameleons in Cape Colony are utilized as domestic 

 fly-catchers. A lady of my acquaintance one day took 

 the trouble to count the number of flies her tame chame- 

 leon caught while it was resting on her hand. When she 

 saw a fly on the wall or table she held "chammy" near it, 

 when out flew the tongue and the fly disappeared. She 

 had the patience to count one hundred, and thought that 

 was enough flies for one day and restored the fly- catcher 

 to its cage. School boys make bets with each other to see 

 whose chameleon will most quickly catch say twenty, or 

 fifty flies, as may be. So cuameleons in hot countries 

 where insects abound are not without their use. In a 

 large cage in which were several lizards, birds and chame- 

 leons, I threw in some locusts the other day, and was sur- 

 prised to see one of the chameleons creep up to a large 

 one, 2in. in length, and catch it. It was a big mouthful 

 and the little green fly-catcher found that to swallow the 

 stiff morsel was less easy than to catch it; but at last it 

 disappeared and the feeder took several minutes to re- 

 cover itself. They always creep upward wherever they 

 may be. In a window they manage to cling to the frame 

 between the panes of glass and by great perseverance get 

 higher and higher, never looking but always feeling for 

 foot-hold, and extending in turn each searching foot 

 which moves cautiously and feels its way until it man- 

 ages to effect a grasp, and this with much patience and 

 perseverance, the wood-work of a window not being easy 

 to grasp. 



One of the chameleons, which had been a long while 

 in a cage, had become so entirely the color of the wood 

 that it was not easy to distinguish it. I placed it among 

 plants and on the grass, but it did not turn green again, 

 and then I left it on a vase of flowers, in the center of 

 which I placed a tall stiff spray. Soon the creature 

 found its way to the very summit and there it remained 

 "as still as death," until a fly happened that way; then 

 there was a very slight movement, a click was heard 

 and the chameleon resumed its silent observations as if 

 no fly had been swallowed. There is something cun- 

 ning and weird, almost sinister, in the expression of that 

 very small eye in the center or apex of its mobile globe, 

 now turned upward, now downward, one eye forward 

 the other backward, so quietly yet so watchfully, rarely 

 the two eyes looking the same way. The chameleon 

 must surely be endowed with duality of brain, for it 

 certainly must take in two ideas at once through its two 

 eyes, or why should it move both so ceaselessly in con- 

 trary directions? Motionless is the animal hour after 

 hour, the eye being the only Bign of life it displays. The 

 one at the top of a spray in the vase of flowers remained 

 in the same position day after day, only throwing out 

 its tongue to catch a fly when one flew by, and otherwise 

 moving only its ever restless eyeB. At night it changed 

 its color, growing gradually paler as the day closed and 

 becoming almost white as darkness set in. If disturbed 



or touched it immediately became dark and thus re- 

 mained until its anger subsided. The rapidity with 

 which chameleons change their color is marvelous. 

 Xbu gather one from an outdoor shrub and immediately 

 it becomes dark, almost black, hissing and with its 

 mouth wide open, threatening to bite. Meanwhile it is 

 never still, but continues to crawl upward whenever pos- 

 sible; up your arm, up your sleeve, always upward. By 

 degrees the angry black changes into whatever color is 

 nearest. If one's dress is of a brownish color so is the 

 chameleon's. Upon a crimson cloth it becomes almost 

 crimson, move it upon a gray surface and the bright 

 tints will quickly subside. But at night, whether dis- 

 turbed or not, it invariably assumes its palest tints. 

 Those two which I caught in the Cape Town garden, 

 which were of a very brilliant metallic green^were 

 splendidly decorated. On the back or sides, some- 

 times saddlewise and sometimes lengthwise, were slashes 

 of red. The markings vary in the individuals. The 

 crest and decorations on the head and back are like fret- 

 work, the whole body and limbs are dotted with very 

 fine warts or tubercles like shagreen, and when angry 

 all these distinctive features are exaggerated, the gills 

 and crest are swelled and the skin of the chin is puffed 

 out out so as to show white stripes, while the creature 

 opens its mouth wide, displaying tbe yellow, fleshy in- 

 terior, and closing its teeth on your finger should you 

 provoke it to do so. Otherwise it only emits the hissing 

 sound, which, however, is not a true hiss but more like 

 the sound produced by the expulsion of our breath with 

 the tongue against the teeth. When very angry or sud- 

 denly alarmed chameleons utter a squeak like a young 

 bird. My friend, the Rev. G. Fisher, of Cape Town, an 

 enthusiastic naturalist, whose name is familiar to the 

 visitors to the reptile house in the London Zoo Gardens 

 from the number and frequency of his contributions 

 there, informs me that one day he was surprised to hear 

 a loud squeaking and commotion in an adjoining room 

 where were some pet chameleons, and going thither he 

 found that the disturbance really proceeded from these 

 small reptiles on account of a cat who was surveying them 

 through the wires. Cats, by the way, are their dreaded 

 enemies, who catch and devour them whenever possible. 



The bite even of the largest chameleons does not f ecth 

 blood, though the teeth leave indentations. I often pro- 

 voke them to bite me in order to witness their habits, 

 and only once, when one caught me between the fingers 

 where the skin is tender, was I really hurt. On this oc- 

 casion the thing held on so persistently and firmly that I 

 could not for some time free my finger. At last I was 

 obliged to call some one to get it off by forcibly opening 

 its mouth. Even then it did not pierce the skin, its teeth 

 are too fine and regular, but the dotted triangular im- 

 pression of the little teeth was very red and distinct for 

 some minutes. The instinctive habits were displayed 

 even in that tiny creature which I picked off the pome- 

 granate tree. It opened its mouth and hissed to the ex- 

 tent of its capacity, and when I inserted my finger in its 

 wee but wide-open mouth it bit with a force astonishing 

 in such a mite, and it was able to produce some slight in- 

 dentation with its minute teeth and feeble jaws. It also 

 became immediately darker, but not black like the 

 grown-up specimens. 



As chameleons become tame they change color less 

 rapidly, showing the habit is protective and to render 

 itself Jess conspicuous. Indeed the power of assuming 

 the color of its surroundings is the only protection these 

 helpless creatures possess. Mr. S. D. Bairstow, of Port 

 Elizabeth, F. L. S., etc., and ex- president of tbe Eastern 

 Province Natural History Society, of Cape Colony, in- 

 forms me that he was watching a chameleon on a shrub 

 when a wild bee or two came out of a nest close by, and 

 immediately the chameleon doffed its bright green dress 

 and became nearly black and therefore inconspicious. 

 Their turning white at night may find reason in the pre- 

 dominance of shining foliage in the South African trees. 

 The leaves of most trees and shrubs glisten under the 

 bright stars, and the moonlight and so appear white. A 

 chameleon without reasoning on cause and effect, sees 

 bright white leaves and imitates them? 



South Africa. CATHERINE C. HOPLEY. 



ANTLERS OF EXTINCT IRISH DEER. 



nPHE photograph from which the figure of the skull and 

 JL antlers of the gigantic extinct Irish deer (Cervus 

 gigante-us) is copied was kindly forwarded to us by Mrs. 

 Graham Lloyd, of West Felton Grange, Oswestry, Salop, 

 with the information that it was taken from the finest of 

 a series of Irish examples obtained by her late father, the 

 Rev. T. O'Grady. The height of the chair in the figure is 

 2ft. llin., and we thus gather that the span of the figured 

 antlers from tip to tip of the longest snags can be but 

 little, if at all, less than lift. Now, anything over 10ft. 



in span in the antlers of the Irish deer indicates an 

 unusually fine example, although specimens are now and 

 then obtained measuring slightly more than lift, in total 

 span. There are, however, no such unusually large ex- 

 amples in the British Museum (natural history) at South 

 Kensington; the largest antler in that collection measur- 

 ing 10ft. 7in. in span, while three of tbe finer of the two 

 mounted specimens are 9ft. llin. 



It is thus apparent that the specimen we now figure is 

 an unusually fine one. and it is further noteworthy on 

 account of its remarkably perfect state of preservation. 

 That deer capable of carrying antlers of the enormous 

 dimensions and weight of the above must have been of 

 gigantic size goes without saying; and Professor Ball 

 estimates the height of the largest stags at the withers at 

 upward of 7ft. (21 hands). The cause of the total extinc- 

 tion of such a magnificent beast as the extinct gigantic 



