426 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



\ps€}, 17^ 1891. 



IN MAINE WOODS.-IV. 



FCAMP, Piscataquis County, Me., Oct. 28.— Our traps 

 are undisturbed this morniner, and the great question 

 whether it was a bear or a fisher that dragged away the 

 entrails of the deer remains unanswered. Next to the 

 fun of solving such a question is the fun of having it to 

 speculate about and discuss. It is another glorious "camp 

 day." 



The wind is high and the lake wild, with the white 

 caps chasing each other like wild horses across its sur- 

 face. The rain of last night was snow on the mountains, 

 and what we can see of Katahdin is white and the lesser 

 peaks all wear powdered wigs. "Whew I How the wind 

 inu'it tear across those peaks! The sight reminds me 

 again of Lieut. Peary and his faithful wife and his little 



Eavty left away up on the western coast of Greenland. I 

 ave thought much about them of late, and wonder 

 whether his broken leg has healed and whether they will 

 succeed in their attempt to reach the northernmost point 

 of Greenland, and if they will ever succeed in getting 

 back in their little eggshell of a boat across Melville Bay, 

 with its jostling and grinding icebergs. 



This again reminds me to look for a newspaper clipping 

 which I preserved from the account by the ''special cor- 

 respondence of the New York Herald," which I iind, and 

 from which I want to quote a few lines. The correspond- 

 ent of the Herald who accompanied the expedition on 

 the steamer Kite, which landed Peary's party on the 

 Greenland coast, writes from the Straits of Belle Isle, 

 Newfoundland, under date of June 15. The portion of 

 the account which I give is as disgusting as one often 

 reads. It will be remembered that the expedition was a 

 "scientific" one, and was under the patronage of the 

 Philadelphia Academy of Sciences, one of whose repre- 

 sentatives was in charge, if I mistake not: 



AFTER WHALES WITH BIFLES. 



''We have sighted large numbers of whales coming up 

 to the Straits. Half a dozen sportsmen gunned for them 

 with rifles. Mr. Gibson, I believe, hit one, for the mon- 

 ster bellowed as if in distress, We shot many ducks and 

 pufians, but did not succeed in getting a smgle one. 



"If the firearms are discharged at the rate at which 

 they are going off now for a few more hours we shall 

 reach Greenland helpless and the bears will be saved." 



What a truly scientific procedure and what an edify- 

 ing spectacle this must have been! Think of these 

 "scientific gents," as "Truthful James, of Table Moun- 

 tain," would have called them, sailing along serenely on 

 the deck of their steamer and pouring rifle bullets into 

 the sides of whales till they were afforded the refined 

 pleasure of hearing the wounded monsters "bellow in 

 distress." Think of these same people blazing away at 

 the sea fowl and slaughtering myriads, not one of which 

 did they recover. 



In the same way have alligators been shot from the 

 decks of Florida steamers, and buffalo from the windows 

 and platforms of Union Pacific trains. Well, what is to 

 be done about it? Nothing except to hold it up to the 

 execration it deserves, and to publish the names of the 

 doers wherever they can be found out, and to preach at 

 all times and places the better gospel. "All honor to For- 

 est AND Stream for the good work it is doing in this 

 cause," say I. 



It will tell in the end. Would that it might tell before 

 the end! But the humane sentiment may come about in 

 season to save a few robins and bluebirds that our child- 

 ren's children may see for themselves and not have to 

 depend on tradition to prove to them how marvelous a 

 thing was the flight of a bird through the air. 



It is plain, however, that before that time women will 

 so far become — what shall I say?— enlightened that they 

 will see the enormity of wearing crushed and mutilated 

 song birds on their hats. Will you let me quote the words 

 which Longfellow puts into the mouth of the Preceptor in 

 his "Birds of Killing worth:" 



"Do you ne'er think what wonflrous beings these? 



Do you ne'er think who made them, and who taught 

 The dialect they speak, where melodies 



Alone ai-e the interpreters of thought? 

 Whose household words are songs in many keys, 



Sweet^er than instrument of man e'er caught? 

 Whose habitations iu the treetops even 

 Are halfway houses on the road to heaven! 



"Think every morning when the sun peepa through 

 The dim leaf-latticed window of the grove, 



How jubilant the happy birds renew 

 Their old melodious madrigals of love. 



And when you think of this, remember, too, 

 'Tis always morning somewhere, and above 



The awakening continents, from shore to shore, 



Somewhere the birds are singing evermore." 



Let us, in mercy's name, teach our children such woi'ds 

 and sentiments as these if we would hope for better 

 things. We shall wake up some day to the real nature 

 of this slaughter. The rage to kill we can forgive in the 

 boy, but in the man it is shameful. The boy's healthy 

 impulse we can guide into good channels without de- 

 priving him of his enjoyment. The noxious beast shall 

 still be trapped or shot, and legitimate game shall still be 

 lawfully pursued, but for the rest the camei-a and the 

 aquarium shall come in to help, and life preserving shall 

 absorb the healthy energy and furnish delight more 

 helpful to the coming man than slaughter ever could 

 have done. 



I am, it seems, iu a quoting and wrathful mood 

 to-day, and while it is with me let me ask space for one 

 more quotation. It is from a New York Tribune review of 

 the book "New Light on Dark Africa" (remember the 

 title), by Dr. Carl Peters, leader of the German Emin 

 Pasha relief expedition of 1889, 



The movement was set on foot by German statesmen and 

 in behalf of German interests, and among its avowed 

 purposes was not only the advancement of German com- 

 merce but to "fulfill a debt of honor." Fifteen thousand 

 pounds were subscribed for it, and into Africa went Dr. 

 Peters with a small army of soldiers and carriers. What 

 ideas of "honor" governed the leader, and how much 

 "new light" he carried into "Daik Africa" let the follow- 

 ing tell: 



"From Dr. Petere'sBtandpointtheMassaishad no rights 



which the Germans were bound to respect, and their 

 demand for compensation in return for safe conduct 

 through their country was looked upon as a species of 

 insolence to be answered only by bullets. At one place a 

 large force of natives seemed determined that their rights 

 as lords of the soil should be recognized, and made a 

 strong hostile showing. An insult like this to the great 

 German nation could not be for an instant tolerated, and 

 Dr. Peters at once determined to punish its perpetrators. 

 Waiting till they were sound asleep in their village he 

 arranged his men for an attack. On their way they met 

 an old native in charge of a large herd of cattle. In 

 answer to his request that they would not frighten the 

 cattle, says Dr. Peters, 'a bullet passed through his ribs 

 and permanently silenced his insolent tongue.' A sudden 

 charge was then made upon the village, and the Massais 

 were shot down like sheep as they sprang frightened from 

 their- huts. Na,turally the survivors resented the action 

 of the white mpn, and it was only by the greatest good 

 luck that any of the party escaped from the country 

 alive. In traversing the region ocoupipd by another 

 tribe, driving a flock of stolen goats and sheep, the older 

 natives refrained from any attempt at annoyance, but 

 some of the young boys of the tribe tried several times 

 to steal a sheep. On each occasion the party fired volleys 

 into the bushes, and the shrieks of the children 'pro- 

 claimed that just punishment had overtaken the evil- 

 doer.' Evidently both the natives in the employ of the 

 party and those of the different tribes encountered were 

 alike regarded as of no account. One of the carriers fell 

 ill and could not travel. He was left to die on the road, 

 and Dr. Peters naively remarks, 'The lions, which 

 roared on that night louder than usual behind us, unfor- 

 tunately left no doubt as to the poor fellow's fate.' " 



I know of no form of comment that can add to the bare 

 statement, 



Evidentlv our game protective associations will have to 

 include wild men with the wild birds and animals they 

 seek to protect, if they are to be comprehensive and do 

 their full duty. 



I have shot but one bird since I came into the woods. 

 It was a rufi'ed grouse and it was shot with a ,45cal. 

 Winchester, and properly, too, the body remaining intact, 

 the back part of the head and a portion of the neck being 

 carried away by the ball. It was not sport. It did not 

 "advertise to be." It was mere chicken killing and be- 

 cause we wanted partridge stew. 



Guide killed another and in precisely the same way, 

 and our appetites were good. In former years I have 

 often takeri a shotgun into the Maine woods, but latterly 

 I have taken only my Winchester and relied solely on 

 what I could do with that. 



Evidently shotguns have been here, for on a tree I 

 found hung up a noble spfcimen of that now all too rare 

 bird which Antoine Bissette calls the "pill-heatin' wood- 

 pecker" and for which the wanton killer could find no 

 better use than to hang it up on a tree for a target. I dis- 

 sected the fine creature — in my way — wishing I had Dr. 

 Shufeldt at my elbow to tell me the hundredth part of 

 what he knows about it. 



I preserved his crimson crest, his wonderful chisel bill 

 and ivory skull, his needle-sharp claws and his stitt' and 

 bristly tail, on which he rests so much of his weight 

 when he taps out his telegraph message on a dead stub. 

 He proved of interest enough to fill one long evening. 

 He will outlast his larger cousin of the Southern States, 

 him of the ivory bill, but he will finally go down before 

 the breechloading shotgun and the man who must shoot 

 at everything that flies. 



To-morrow we hope for a good day on the bogs and 

 something to make subject of a dift'erent sort of letter. 



C. H, Ames. 



THE FALL HUNT. 



AT the foot of the range on the headwaters of the 

 noisy little brook which crawled out from under 

 the rocks and went dancing along on its merry way down 

 the deep canon to the sound of its own sweet music, the 

 camp was made under the drooping firs; and near by a 

 steep hillside, carpeted with bunch grass, offered suste- 

 nance to the sweating ponies, tired out with their long 

 climb up the mountains. A hearty dinner was next in 

 order, and a plump blue grouse, the head of which had 

 been neatly clipped with a rifle ball by my eldest son 

 I Byron while on the toilsome climb up the mountain, and 

 now dressed, cut up and broiled on the bed of hot coals, 

 was pronounced too good for a king. 



As the sun was rapidly sinking behind the range, no 

 time was lost; and while the two younger members of 

 the party climbed the mountain to the north and north- 

 west, the old uncle followed the little brook down the 

 cation to begin his climb ^further to the southward. 

 Half a mile down stream I turned to the west and began 

 the toilsome ascent of the mountain, cheered to some- 

 thing of the oldtime eagerness by the fresh deer sign 

 along the brook and the old game trail I was now follow- 

 ing. 



On the first shoulder of the mountain I found myself 

 leg- weary and out of breath: and as a big tree was found 

 fallen across the trail, I seated myself on its trunk to rest 

 and scan carefully the hillside above. About 150yds. 

 above me, across a small ravine, something was seen 

 shaped Uke a pair of ears, but in color blending perfectly 

 with the background beyond and difficult to distinguish 

 with certainty. 



A slight movement of the creature's head soon satisfied 

 me that it was a deer, and also of the fact that it was 

 watching me intently. Its body could not be seen , and as 

 I dared not move and the deer appeared to be lying down 

 with its body hidden behind a big log, no other plan save 

 that of a careful shot at its head seemed at the time at all 

 feasible. The distance was too great for a sure shot, but 

 taking the best aim possible to me I touched the hair 

 trigger. At the sound of the rifle the ears disappeared 

 and a lucky head shot seemed to have been the result. A 

 moment after the ears again appeared, slowly rising to 

 their original position, and it became evident that the 

 ball had passed just above the head, causing the ears to 

 droop, but a clean miss after all. On trying to eject the 

 empty shell it was found to be wedged fast and C'uld not 

 be ejected. Nothing remained save to find a Ptick or rod 

 with which to punch out the clinging shell. A stick was 

 found with but slight movement on my part, bufc-in my 

 haste to trim and prepare it for the emergency, a hurried 

 slash of the knife blade cut the thing off three inches too 

 short. StiU the patient deer waited motionless upon the 



necessary pantomime and I grew wildly excited as I 

 crawled back along the tree in search of still another rod. 

 Found at last and the villainous shell ejected, another 

 shell was hurriedly inserted, and as I rose to see if the 

 Job-like patience of the courteous deer still held out, I 

 was amazed to observe that my change of position 

 revealed the fact that the deer had all this time been 

 standing up broadside to, and that the drooping bough of 

 a fir tree growing in the little ravine between us had 

 heretofore completely hidden its whole body, now plainly 

 in sight. The waning light on the east side of the range, 

 already in deep shadow, tended to obscure everything in 

 view. A second shot was more successful and dropped 

 the deer in its tracks. It proved to be a buck fawn, 

 which, by the way, always seemed to me to be the fool of 

 the deer family. Certainly he had only himself to blame, 

 as his inordinate curiosity had proved his ruin. Night 

 having come by the time the deer was dressed. I returned 

 to camp, and soon both the unlucky boys appeared empty 

 handed. 



The daylight of the next morning found us breakfasted 

 and girt for another weary climb. Eich having chosen 

 his own route, we separated and again the toil began. 

 Up, up, higher and still higher the old uncle toiled wear- 

 ily, until the summit was reached without the sight of a 

 single deer. 



The sun was now far above the eastern horizon, and the 

 wary deer were already well hidden in the dense thickets 

 which clothed the mountain side, in places entirely to the 

 crest of the range. 



Following along the crest to the northward, suddenly 

 the plunging jumps of a deer were heard just below me 

 in a dense thicket, and as the sound indicated that the 

 direction of his run was campward diagonally down the 

 mountain, I followed as silently as possible. Coming at 

 length into a grassy opening, the deer sprang into view 

 from the edge of the thicket and went bounding off down 

 the open hillside with the strange bound of the mule 

 deer, every foot leaving and striking the ground together, 

 and with all its legs hanging down like table legs while 

 in its bouncing flight through the air, and as the gun 

 came instinctively to my shoulder I saw at a glance that 

 its next jump would land it on the very crest of a knoll 

 in front and the next would carry it down the steep pitch 

 beyond, possibly entirely out of view, so steeply did the 

 mountain side break down at this point. It was evident 

 that the deer must be caught on the next rise, and al- 

 though I have no recollection of cooking or aiming the 

 gun, the whole thing was done instantly "with the finger 

 of instinct and the eye of faith" (never was there a truer 

 expression) and as the graceful body, bunched together 

 in his plunging flight, rose again like a glass ball from a 

 trap, the sharp crack rang out; and I stood in delighted 

 astonishment, wondering whether the deadly stricken 

 animal ever would stop rolling and tumbling down the 

 steep mountain side. However, he brought up at last 

 against some bushes, and I hurried down to find a young 

 buck with the most beautiful antlers I had ever secured. 

 Their beauty seemed perfection itself. Two slender tines 

 without prong or spur, and perfectly matched, they rose 

 nearly a foot above his shapely head, and cuiwing grace- 

 fully inward they gave him the appearance of an African 

 antelope, I inwardly resolved to attempt the impossible 

 and mount the beautiful head at all hazards. But alas 

 for the unexpected! On our rettirn homevrard late that 

 night (the hunt for the two boys having proved a blank) 

 while one of them was unloading the deer from the pony 

 it slipped and fell heavily to the groimd, breaking one of 

 the antlers off short, 



" 'Twas ever thus from childhoood's hour!" 



Orin Belknap. 



WAYS OF THE RUFFED GROUSE. 



IN several ways the grouse alights on the ground. Al- 

 though for this purpose the bird maneuvers according 

 to circumstances, and adapts himself to his surroundings, 

 yet it appears to be his object and desire to place himself 

 in such a position that the moment he touches the ground 

 he can instantly look in the direction of the danger he 

 hhs left behind. 



For this reason, perhaps, it is, as well likewise as to 

 lead his pursuer astray, that the bird usually before 

 alighting turns off to the right or left, and describes in 

 his flight the segment of a circle. 



The grouse always lights in an opening or on ground 

 that is comparatively free from shrubbery. And he often 

 stands and gazes intently through the covert at the per- 

 son approaching. 



Rarely indeed the grouse completes a circuit. I have 

 seen one only do this, and it was a grand siaht. This 

 bird started 200yds, away, and being shot, came toward 

 me, standing in the shadow of the forest trees. When 

 nearly opposite, he swerved suddenly and went sailing 

 round in a circle of about 20ft. in diameter, and alighted 

 within it, facing his puisuer. In no other way could the 

 bird have stopped at this point, flying as he did, while to 

 ha,ve done so immediately would have been perhaps dis- 

 astrous. 



Occasionally a grouse, by a mere flourish of one of his 

 wdngs, will whirl round, hardly more than on his own 

 axis, and then drop on the ground. 



But the ruffed grouse at times in his flight does not 

 deviate at all, alighting in a straight line. When the 

 bird does this, he sometimes sails along till he reaches the 

 ground, and the moment he does so he runs on swiftly. 

 Or perhaps he may take refuge under a dwarf evergreen 

 or other thick cover beside which he has come down. 

 Under the evergreen he stand? on the ground with his 

 back against the body of the shrub, precisely as he 

 stands on a limb with his back against the body of the 

 tree. DOBP. 



SCiHENECTADX, ST. Y- 



Favored Texas.— Norris. Texas.— I am a thorough 

 sportsman, and think I live in the best game country in 

 the United Stages, there being bear, panther, def^r, turkey 

 and quail without number, besides the finest black bass 

 fishing imaginable in Devil's River, which is abiut five 

 miles from the ranch. I keep a pack of hounds and a 

 pointer. Have killed 13 panthers in a little over twelve 

 months.— H. C. G. 



