538 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[June 9. 1898. 



for the illegal sale of the latter, as we have frequently 

 pointed out in our columns, and the legitimate outcome 

 of such traffic would be the depletion of streams in which 

 tbe great public is most interested, aud this for the benefit 

 of only a few trout breeders. Throw around the brook 

 trout all the safeguards which the law can give it and its 

 struggle for existence will still be a severe one. Tbe 

 steady onward march of civilization, with its increased 

 demand for fish and with its ever-growing pollution of 

 waters and consequent restriction of spawning grounds, 

 will sufficiently limit, and we fear too seriously limit, the 

 increase of trout and salmon. Let us then not still far- 

 ther endanger the future of these noble fishes by encour- 

 aging their sale during the season of spawning and de- 

 velopment of the eggs. 



SNAP SHOTS. 

 The great American showman was so well known that 

 foreign letters addressed to "P. T. Barnum, America," 

 used to reach him without delay. Forest and Si ream 

 has become so much of an institution ia the West that a 

 Colorado letter addressed simply "Forest and Stream, 

 Chicago, 111.," finds its way promptly into the hands of our 

 Western representative. This speaks well for our grow- 

 ing fame and is gratifying, but correspondents who may 

 desire early attention will do well to Bend to the home 

 office. 818 Broadway, New York. 



The big seizure of illegal game in a storage ice house, 

 which has brought Game Protector Robert Brown, Jr., 

 of the first district, into such prominence, is by no means 

 the first important action of that officer in the pursuance 

 of his duties. In the summer of 1890 Protector Brown 

 accomplished the arrest and secured the conviction of 

 107 "bunker fishermen" who were taking menhaden on 

 Raritan Bay contrary to the law. Among these were six 

 captains of vessels who were fined $100 apiece. 



It is said that there are in New Eigland, in round 

 numbers, 400,000 French Canadians. But there is only 

 one pen that can delineate the Canuck as he canucks; 

 that is the pen of R jwland E. Robinson, the author of 

 ''Uncle 'L'.sha'B Shop" and the creator of Autoine Bissette. 



DOES THE RATTLESNAKE SPIT? 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



Do Bnakes spit venom? I think not, Prof. Cope to the 

 contrary notwithstanding. Does the rattlesnake, in coil, 

 awaiting an opportunity to strike, hold his mouth open 

 and fangs erect, dripping poisonous saliva, which by for- 

 cible expiration of air from tbe lungs is spat out at his 

 enemy? I think not, unless on very rare occasions. ;Ihave 

 seen rattlers in coil, and seen them strike from coil very 

 often, but never saw one holding its mouth open , with 

 erect fangs, dripping poisonous saliva. That which I 

 have considered most remarkable in this reptile is the 

 lightning-like suddenness and celerity of its stroke. The 

 jaws are separated, the fangs erected and the stroke de- 

 livered with such celerity as to render it difficult for the 

 eye to follow the movement or take in what has hap- 

 pened. This suddenness and celerity of the stroke seems 

 to me to be a very dangerous characteristic. It is so un- 

 expected in a reptile so slow and apparently torpid in its 

 general movements. It is certain that not a few persons 

 have lost their lives by striking at a rattler in coil with 

 too short a weapon, the snake dodging the blow with 

 astonishing quickness and at the same instant striking 

 back at the assailant with deadly effect. I have never 

 seen the rattlesnake eject its venom, but I have seen 

 the copperhead do it repeatedly, but not by spitting or 

 expectorating it. The ejection takes place when the 

 snake strikes ineffectually at an object beyond its reach 

 and is literally a wholly involuntary thing. The venom 

 may be thrown as much as two or three feet as the result 

 of the ineffectual stroke. I do not undertake to say ,aat 

 what Prof. Cope states has not happened, but I f n 'say it 

 does not happen as a rule, with either the commou moun- 

 tain species or the diamond rattler of the South. To me 

 the statement of poisonous saliva dripping from the fangs 

 of an open-mouthed rattler seems incomprehensible. 

 The saliva of a snake is not poisonous; it is extremely 

 viscid and will not drip any more than the slime will 

 drip off an eel, nor does a snake possess the power to ex- 

 pectorate, or spit at all, and certainly not -with its mouth 

 wide open. I think we should hear further from Pro- 

 fessor Cope what he actually intended to say. Scientific 

 statements concerning so deadly and dangerous a crea- 

 ture as the rattlesnake ought to be very strictly accurate, 

 and it appears to me that the frightful celerity of the 

 stroke should be emphasized. Readers of Forest and 

 Stream will remember the unhappy fate of the English 

 gentleman who about a year ago struck at a diamond 

 rattler in Florida, with the result that the snake dodged 

 the blow, and striking back at his assailant at the same 

 instant, drove its fangs into his head, and he died in 

 great agony in a short time. Shortly after that sad 

 occurrence we read again of a gentleman from the North 

 attacking one of these formidable creatures with a 

 buggy whip. Some years since I encountered a company 

 of "sans:" hunters in the mountains in Rockingham 

 county, Virginia, who had just had an adventure with a 

 rattler. A young man finding one in coil struck at it 

 with his "sang" (ginseng) hoe, and the rattler dodging 

 the blow struck back and drove his fangs against the hoe 

 handle so forcibly as to leave their marks on it about an 

 inch below the young fellow's hand. In my judgment 

 there is no danger of any one having any poisonous 

 saliva spat into his face by a rattler in coil, but a well- 

 grown diamond rattler if struck at in coil with a buggy 

 whip or short stick, might easily plant his fangs between 

 the eyes of his assailant. If such a snake had not fool- 

 ishly disarmed himself by dribbling away and spitting 



out his "poisonous saliva" his bite would be almost 

 certainly fatal. According to information personally 

 collected by me of a number of persons who have them- 

 selves recovered or known others to recover from the 

 bites of the mountain rattler, I believe its bite is much 

 less deadly than has been generally supposed. 

 Woodstock, Md. M. Gr. Ellzey, M.D. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In response to the request made in your last issue for 

 the views of correspondents as to tbe cause or exact pro- 

 cess of the "spitting" of the rattlesnake and other veno- 

 mous serpents, I give here the views of Prof. S, Weir 

 Mitchell, whose careful experiments entitle his opinions 

 to great weight. Describing the striking of these rep- 

 tiles he says: The snake "throws himself into a spiral, 

 and about one-third of his length, carrying the bead, 

 rises from the coil and stands upright. * * * Then 

 his head and neck are thrown far back, his mouth is 

 opened very wide, the fangs held firmly erect, and * * * 

 he strikes. The blow is a, stab and is given by throwing 

 the head forward while the half-coils below it are 

 straightened out. * * * As they (the fangs) enter the 

 temporal muscle closes the lower jaw on the part struck 

 and forces the sharp fang deeper in. At this moment 

 the poison duct is opened by the relaxation of the muscle 

 which surrounds it and the Fame muscle which shuts 

 the jaw squeezes the gland and drives the venom 

 through the duct and hollow fang into the bitten part. 

 In so complicated a series of acts there is often a failure. 

 The tooth strikes on tough skin and doubles back or 

 fails to enter, or the serpent misjudges distance and falls 

 short and may squirt the venom 4 or 5 t. in the air in so 

 doing." J. S. M. 



La Grange, Ky., May 30. 



THE CLASS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



Persons. — Tom, Dick, Harry, S, M. E., and the Editor 



of Forest and Stream as Teacher. 

 The class, in place for recitation. The uplifted hand of 

 S. M. E. is observed. 



Teacher. — E., what's wanted? 



E. — Please, sir, will you explain this occurrence? East 

 fall, while in Tenderfoot Ctinou, Belt Mountains, the dog 

 flushed a ruffed grouse, its whir was distinctly heard, 

 making its way down the canon. I was walking ahead 

 of our party with two rifles and a shotgun on my shoulder 

 (we were moving camp) when I saw the grouse on a tree 

 some 30yds. away, facing me, tiptoeing on a limb, its 

 neck erect, the whole looking like a brown streak set up 

 as a study; he was quickly covered with the shotgun. 

 Then, thinking of a new Lyman peep on the .45 90, the 

 shotgun was laid down and the rifle picked up; this was 

 in its canvas case, and before it could be taken out the 

 bird flew directly toward me and about 10ft. from the 

 ground, its eyes being on me all the time. 



Standing perfectly motionless, as it drew near I raised 

 my open right hand, expecting it to swerve to one side. 

 To my surprise, it came full force against my out- 

 stretched hand, forcing it out of tbe way without the 

 slightest apparent effort and passing on into and beyond 

 a thicket in the rear. 



Query. — What prompted its action; was it fear, anger, 

 or curiosity? The chances are it had never been fired at 

 or hunted before. 



Another queer incident: 



In driving along a grade on a mountain side my point- 

 ers put up a jack rabbit some 300 yards away and below 

 us. The rabbit ran (or flew) up the mountain side until 

 striking the grade. My companion was walking ahead 

 of the team some thirty yards and seeing the rabbit ap- 

 proach in the trail he stopped, then lay down in the road: 

 the rabbit came on and ran squarely over him, as did tbe 

 dog also, neither of them changing: their course the 

 slightest, except to swerve out a foot or so to pass the 

 team and wagon. I, in the meantime, yelling with 

 laughter and encouraging the dog in his efforts to catch 

 "long legs and ears." He didn't catch him, all the same. 

 I can understand the action of the rabbit, but have Tom, 

 Dick, Harry or Prof. Editor any reasonable explanation 

 of the action of the grouse, or a similar case to report? 



S. M. E. 



Oreat Falls, Mont. 



KEEP A NOTEBOOK. 



The sportsman who shoots for pleasure, rather than 

 for a big record, picks up many interesting bits of natural 

 history lore that others pass by unheeded. Being careless 

 or lazy they often fail to record these little scraps of per- 

 sonal observation and so much valuable knowledge and 

 many interesting and amusing incidents are lost. Here 

 is an example: Mr. C. B. Holden of Worcester, Mass., a 

 veteran sportsman, and trap-shooter, while passing to and 

 from his house, noticed underneath a pear tree a large 

 pile of pear cores and pieces of pear, apparently bitten off 

 or as the boys would call them "chankins." Being a 

 careful student of all things pertaining to nature, Mr. 

 Holden decided to investigate and discover if possible 

 what sort of creature went to tbe trouble of depositing 

 the bits of pear all in a pile. 



Taking his stand near the tree one day, after watching 

 quietly for some time he detected a movement among 

 the top branches of the pear tree, and soon saw a red 

 squirrel bite off a pear and carry it to a larger limb near 

 the ground, where be proceeded to nibble a, way at the 

 pear, dropping the pieces to the ground till he came to 

 the seeds, which he quickly extracted and ate, dropping 

 the remainder of the pear on the pile, and immediately 

 returning to the top of the tree for another pear, which, 

 he gnawed to pieces in the same manner. Tins was re- 

 peated several times, the squirrel returning always to the 

 same spot on that particular limb to do his eating. This 

 accounted for the remarkably large pile of "chewed 

 pear." 



Nothing remarkable in it to be sure, but stored away 

 in the minds of our observant sportsmen are thousands of 

 such little bits of knowledge scquired through personal 

 research during their many days spent in the woods and 

 fields. 



And these little things that escape the majority of 

 sportsmen, are the very things that make up the valuable 

 fund of reminiscence, bo pleasing to draw upon when a 

 few congenial spirits are thrown together about the camp 

 fire at the lunch on the bank of some trout stream. 



Hal. 



New Editions: TJie G-un and its Development, SB. 50. 

 The Modern Shotgun, $1. For sale at this office. 



"PODGERS'S" COMMENTARIES. 



Referring to your remarks in last issue of Forest 

 and Stream on the subject of the destruction of birds for 

 their feathers, which fashion has decreed shall adorn 

 women's hats, you draw it mild in your estimate of the 

 number of birds that are destroyed and used for this pur- 

 pose. 



I have personal knowledge that one party sent out 

 South by dealers in millinery killed more than fifty thou- 

 sand birds. 



It would naturally be supposed that women with their 

 presumed tenderness of heart toward birds would rise in 

 revolt against a fashion that led to such cruel work, but 

 it is about as useless to undertake to enlist their sym- 

 pathies in any cause that conflicts with fashion as to blow 

 against the wind. They will shed tears in sympathy, but 

 take one feather out of a love of a bonnet? not much ! and 

 the man don't live that can make any woman do it, nor 

 can he make her change the style of wearing her hair if 

 she is conforming to the fashion. She will make any 

 sacri6ces, leave parents, home, friends and share poverty 

 with the man she loves, but if he wants to try the extent 

 of his influence on her, let him ask her to wear her hair 

 some other way, that may be much more becoming, al- 

 though possibly not the style at the moment. Do you 

 think she will do it? Just try it on and see. What a 

 lamentable failure all your boasted influence will be, and 

 how small you will sing at her positive refusal to change 

 one hair, and it is pretty much so as regards a hat or 

 bonnet. So you see how futile it is to attempt any reform 

 in the question of wearing birds and birds' feathers. The 

 only thing that can save the birds from almost utter 

 annihilation is a change of fashion, pray for that; even 

 though the prayer of the wicked availeth not. What are 

 the fiats of kings and emperors to the arbitrary ruliDg of a 

 fashion? In old times, perhaps, such a thing might have 

 been, but that was before women knew their power. 

 They were humble creatures then, meek and. lowly, but 

 now? "Things is different," Can't come any such game 

 over them in these days. They are playing the first violin 

 and man comes in a poor second, The moral of it all is 

 that as long as it is the fashion to wear feathers in hats 

 they won't abate a bird to save your life nor the birds' 

 lives, and we will have to do as we are always obliged to 

 do in such an unequal contest — give it up. 



Bears and bear Btories having gone out for the present 

 from Forest and Stream legends, I see that snakes have 

 the floor. I think I prefer to go back to the bear and 

 will agree to enter no protest hereafter against bruin if 

 you will let up on snakes. They are uncanny. By the 

 way, the annual sea serpent stories are due. The season 

 is "in," and the watering places must hustle and be get- 

 ting the proverbial old reliable ship captain down to busi- 

 ness. Let us hear from him. 



I am greatly obliged to your correspondent "Pigarth" 

 for the information he supplies as to the existence of 

 that elysium, which I and doubtless many others have 

 been seeking, and I am glad to know it does exist and 

 is bo easily reached, and I shall advocate that he share 

 in the honors awarded to Columbus for the discovery. 



I am equally under obligations for the bringing to my 

 attention by your Port Jefferson correspondent of still 

 another place where the blazer young man or the athletic 

 young woman prevaileth not, and I have made a memo- 

 randum in the notebook of my memory of these two 

 places. It is late for the Chincoteague locality, the 

 bird season being over, but next fall will see me 

 there. The other place, however, is nearer and in season 

 and I shall make a desperate effort to avail myself of the 

 joys that good fishing and sailing bring to a mind dis- 

 eased and a brain that is weary with the din, dust and 

 heat of the great city. To both of these gentlemen I 

 give "much thanks." 



The suggestion by your correspondent "Rogers," that 

 the way the deer with the big antlers got through the 

 forest was by pulling them in, is not a bad solution of 

 the question and is accepted, and which suggests that 

 the "pull" the politicians have in these days is no mere 

 string after all, although the politician is not so much 

 given to pulling in his horns as "taking" them in. 



There seems to be a wide difference of opinion as to 

 the relative merits, so far as danger of accidents is con- 

 cerned , between the old style half-cock and rebounding 

 lock question. 



If all men were of one mind there would be no object 

 in any deviation from one fixed rule once accepted; but 

 it so happens that scarcely any two think alike, for- 

 tunately for mechanical genius and enterprise. 



Theieal gist of the thing is that accidents will happen 

 with the beBt regulated locks. It is not so much the fault 

 of the locks as of the people who use them; and when we 

 think of the great number of inexperienced men who 

 never should own a gun and the proverbial man who 

 "did not know it was loaded," and other multitudinous 

 and multifarious careless gunners, the wonder is that 

 there are not ten times the number of accidents. The 

 locks are nearer right than the people who use them. 

 The gun-lock or man is yet to be invented that won't 

 now and then go off at half cock anyway you can fix it 

 — or them. 



"C. H. M." writes of fishing in a stream in Pennsyl- 

 vania called Wopwallopen. Great Scott! what a name 

 for a creek. How can any right-minded trout consent to 

 live in a stream with such a name. 



The names of some of the lakes and streams in Maine 

 are bad enough— so bad that a man can hardly reconcile 

 himself to fish in them, and the growing scarcity of fish 

 in the waters with such jaw-breaking names is owing 

 doubtless to the disgust of the fish themselves. The 

 names did very well when the "noble red" inhabited the 

 country. They could forgive it in him for giving out 

 such names as he knew no better, but in these enlightened 

 days the fish expect better things than Wopwallopen! 

 Perhaps the trout bit so well in sheer desperation in their 



