^rov. 36, 1891.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



869 



sheep rarely on the heights, coyotes occasionally in the 

 vicinity of the springs, and a few jack rabbits and cot- 

 tontails. The number of diurnal mammals is never large. 

 For the most part the birds are absent, the reptiles and 

 batrachians hibernating, the mammals nocturnal and the 

 plants in a state of rest. 



Kagu and Fillaloo Bird. — On page 119 of the 

 "Standard Natural History, Birds," Vol. IV., is to be 

 found the following interesting account of some of the 

 antics of the Kagu from New Caledonia. The bird is re- 

 lated to the sun bittern, and from its actions one would 

 associate it with tiie story of the wonderful fillaloo bird. 

 The observations here recorded were made by Mr. Bart- 

 lett, superintendent of the London Zoological Garden, 

 from a captive specimen : "With its crest erect and wings 

 spread out the Kagu runs or skips about, sometimes pur- 

 suing and driving before him all the birds that are con- 

 fined with him in the eame aviary, and evidently enjoy- 

 ing the fun of seeing them frightened. At other times 

 he will seize the end of his wing or tail and run around, 

 holding it in his bill. From a piece of paper or dry leaf 

 he derives much amusement by tossing it around and 



again to the farm, and then home again after the hunt, 

 took more than ordinary zeal. But then Split Rock was 

 a really good hunting ground. 



About 10 o'clock on the night of Nov. 15 we were await- 

 ing his arrival, seated about the kitchen stove. We heard 

 a shot outside. "There's Guy, boys," and we all were on 

 our feet in a moment. (Everybody under forty years is a 

 "boy" here.) We were not at all daunted by the fact 

 that the night was as "dark as a pocket" and that it 

 threatened rain. Each of us carried a lantern. There 

 were two clogs. Hunter, Guy's dog, who had run more 

 than one good race after deer some five weeks previously 

 under "Old Dix" back on the Adirondacks, and my own 

 hound, wholly unacquainted with the ways of coon. 

 After following the Whalon's Bay road for a half mile, 

 we struck ofi: for the cornfields under Split Eock Mt. 

 Almost immediately after reaching the first cornfield, the 

 little hound struck a fresh track. Ofi: to our right in the 

 darkness we heard him "straightening it out," as Guy 

 said. Presently he got it straightened out, and awaj they 

 went, little hound and big hound, the latter barking at he 

 knew not what, but wild with excitement. Sometimes 

 we heard the big dog ahead barking the track, but he 

 would over-run and have to come back to take it again 



stood between me and a 30 ft. precipice and I might hug 

 it as my best friend. I scanned every limb as I passed, 

 to the best of my ability. Seeing nothing I concluded he 

 must be in the very top of this giant pine: so on I went 

 until the trunk was no larger than my wrist, but no 

 coon. Then to make perfectly sure, I parted with the 

 fingers of one hand the very top so I could see the sky, 

 a shade lighter than the tree. Surely there is no coon 

 in this tree. I jarred every limb on my way down and 

 strained my eyes for the second time to be doubly sure. 

 "What do you say now?" I said to Guy on reaching the 

 ground. 



"I say there's a coon in that tree, and mind what I say, 

 and I'll bet any one in the crowd a fiver against a quar- 

 ter. Hunter never lied to me yet, and if iti's only to find 

 out whether he's lying or not I'm going to wait till it's 

 light enough to see for myself. Here Hunter, talk to 

 that coon." Hunter got up from his warm nest by the 

 fire in answer to his master's command. Standing on 

 his hindlegs, and reaching up the tree as far as possible, 

 he gave two prolonged barks and then, as if that ought 

 to satisfy any one, he curled up by the fire again. For 

 further proof as to there being a coon up the tree, Guy 

 found a cobweb, or something, which he said was a 



AMOKG THE "WILDFOWL.— XII. 



Beoadbills and Canvasbacks. All Quiet on the Potomac; 



running after it. During his frolic he will thrust his bill 

 into the ground and spread out his wings, kick his legs 

 into the air and then tumble about as if in a fit." 



"How TO Collect Bikd^.''— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 In yours of Oct. 1 the writer of the article on "How to 

 CjUect Bu'ds" recommends corn meal as the best thing 

 to use as an absorbent, and names clean sand and plaster 

 of Paris as possible substitutes in its absence. Having 

 tried all three, also several others, I find that none can at 

 all compare with fine hard-wood sawdust, such as one 

 gets at a last factory. Any one who has once tried it will 

 never use any other, it combines the advantages of all 

 the others named above without their disadvantages, — 

 E. E. T. 



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

 Price $2.50. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting with the 

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

 Grim in California. By T. 8. Van DyJce. P?nce $1.50. 

 Shore Birds. Price 15 cents. Woodcraft. By "Ness- 

 muk.' Price $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Pi'ice 

 50 cents Wild Foivl Shooting; see advertisement. 



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

 tories and British Provinces are given in the BooTi of the 

 Game Laws. 



THE BIG COON OF SPLIT ROCK. 



FOR several weeks I had heard some whistling after 

 sundown in the cornfields under the mountain, and 

 even down on the shore of the lake. Hunting instinct is 

 so strong in me that it was hard to curb my impatience. 

 On the evening of Nov. 14 last I extorted a "promise from 

 Guy Ferguson that he would be on hand on the follow- 

 ing night with his dog Hunter, of undisputed reputation 

 in his line. Now Guy is an old hunter and fond of his 

 calling, but to walk home two and a half miles and back 



from the small dog. This coon had employed old coon 

 tactics. Following up a small water-way, often crossing, 

 sometimes wading, he hoped to throw off the dog. If he 

 had known what dog was after him, he would have saved 

 himself the trouble. 



At the intersection of a rail fence the track left the 

 hollow and now it was fun to see that little hound walk 

 the rails. The coon could not have done it better himself. 

 For at least a half a mile the coon had kept the fence 

 and the dog kept the track leading directly for the 

 mountain. At a sudden turn in the fence the dog made 

 a break for the timber in full ciy. Guy forged ahead, 

 for we were unable to keep up, and yet we seemed to be 

 doing our very best. We could hear Guy talking to his 

 dog and calling to us out of the darkness, "He's got him 

 up, boys." We stumbled along as fast as we could in 

 the direction of his lantern. "He's up here, boys; up in 

 this big pine," "But how do you know thai?'" we asked. 

 "Where's your dog gone, and why don't you follow 

 him?" For by this time we could hear Hunter away 

 down the mountain, barking like all possessed. "There's 

 more than one of 'em, and one's up this pine: perhaps 

 we'll get them both." 



We kept our doubts to ourselves, skeptical as we were, 

 for Guy must know his dog better than we. So we scat- 

 tered in all direction in search of fir wood and soon were 

 warming ourselves by a good fire, for we had become 

 chilled standing in the night air after such a chase. The 

 fire lighted up the side of the pine tree next to us very 

 well, but the further side was as black as the night; so 

 the coon might be concealed away out on the end of one 

 of those heavily plumed branches reaching over the 

 precipice, "Well, who's going up? Don't all speak at 

 once." Now if we had suspected there was a coon up 

 the tree, if we could only have seen something that 

 looked like a coon, we all would have volunteered at 

 once. Finding I would be disappointing no one and 

 skeptic that I was, I volunteered my services. With the 

 lantern strapped between my shoulder blades and begin- 

 ning the ascent from Guy's shoulders I began to climb 

 that father pine. A lantern tied on to one in this way is 

 never in the way and does not dazzle me. 



For the first 26ft. there were no branches and I had to 

 do a good deal of hugging. At that moment the tree 



hair from the coon's belly, rubbed off in the scramble 

 up the rough bark. 



Seeing that we were in for it for the rest of the night, 

 we hunted up more lire wood and made ourselves as com- 

 fortable as possible. Smoking and story telling passed 

 away the time not unpleasantly. With the first streaks 

 of dawn we were straining our eyes, going systematically 

 over the whole tree, as we thought. Soon it was so light 

 that it seemed absurd to look further, so most of us 

 gathered again about the fire, making mental notes. But 

 Guy was intent on something, and Hunter was setting up 

 and glancing first at his master and then at the tree. 

 "Boys, come here," said Guy, "what do you call that?" 

 Sure enough, way out over the precipice, on a long limb 

 about mid- way up the tree, was a bunch, which even now, 

 in nearly broad daylight, at first sight seemed only a 

 bunch, but on close examination resolved itself into a 

 coon, and a very large one, too. Now, old fellow, lie low, 

 for there's a bead being drawn on you. Each of us four 

 took our turn at him with a 22-cal. long, but only suc- 

 ceeded in making the bunch move. I volunteered the 

 second time to shake him down, provided they would 

 stop popping away with that small gun. As I approached 

 the coon, he began growling and threatened to run by 

 me, but his courage failed him and he retreated again to 

 the very end. Then I shook until I was weak, but his 

 strength gave out about tbe same time and down he went 

 over the precipice, but struck fairly on his feet. What a 

 Babel two dogs and three men can make. There followed 

 barking, yelling, growling, fighting. 



We got four other coons last fall, but none out-weighed 

 this one. He weighted 251bs. The smallest weighed 

 ISilbs. 



We all were glad it was Sunday morning so we could 

 go to bed with an easy conscience. Kin, 

 Essex, N. J. 



Michigan's Tracking Snow.— Central Lake, Nov, 16.— 

 The first good "tracking snow" came on the 14th, and 

 some hunters were out for deer. One man reports one 

 track, but I hear of no carcasses,— Kelpie. 



New Jersey Coast Duck Shooting is reported from 

 Bay Head, Forked River, Tuckerton and Brigantine. 



