Sept. 8, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



20S 



kittens. They could not be got at without more help., and 

 the entrance to the den wa.g closed with a boulder, and no 

 one returned to get them. 



The common mpthod of the cougar in killing large 

 game is to creep up to it as near as pi*acticable and then 

 to reach it by a few vigorous leaps. They follow the trail 

 made by a deer in the snow for a long distance to find it 

 lying down, and a quick spring generally secures it. If 

 not, and the chances of success are good, they will pursue 

 for a mile or more. 



After a deer gets over the first fright unhurt, if the 

 ground of the race is not in favor of the pursuer, the 

 cougar has all he can do to catch his prey. One very 

 cold New Year's Day, in company with two older boys, I 

 went to a place on the east side of Johnson's Pond, where 

 we expected to find a dozen deer in yard. When we 

 arrived there were no deer in sight, but tracks in the 

 snow showed they had been recently alarmed and had 

 escaped in all directions. We found that a cougar had 

 crept into the yard that morning, and failing to secure 

 one just there had singled out one and pursued it in 

 direction of the pond. We pursued rapidly and found the 

 deer was intending to cross to the west shore on the ice, 

 then so covered with snow as to prevent 8lipj)ing, It 

 was a race for life with the deer — a fat two-year-old doe, 

 but a good runner. The cougar s tracks ran parallel 

 with those of the deer and two or three yards away. It 

 was about a mile to the opposite shore and the" deer 

 cleared as much snow at a leap as did the cougar. But 

 could it endure as long and spring as often as did the 

 pursuer? If the deer could reach the thick cedars of 

 that shore it was safe. When within a dozen yards of 

 land we found the body of the deer, yet warm, with a 

 part of one ham eaten out, and the tracks of the cougar 

 leading from there to the thicket on shore. The deer 

 had fallen dead and no struggle or movement of a leg 

 had occured after it fell on the light snow. We supposed 

 the cougar had struck the deer while in the air and 

 broken its neck. But not so. We skinned and opened 

 the deer. There were no marks of a blow on the neck 

 or injury on the outside except the ham. On the inside 

 some of the tallow had melted and lay in congealed drops. 

 The deer had died of fright and overheat, the only in- 

 stance of the kind I have ever seen, though I have 

 dressed deer more than once that have been run down 

 by dogs. We planned, in order to kill the cougar, that 

 two should go round to open timber in the rear and I, 

 as the youngest of the party, should, after a proper time, 

 go into the cedars and drive the beast out. But it was 

 too cold waiting on the ice and I went in too soon, and 

 none of us got a shot. 



I have found the cougar more plentiful in the moun- 

 tains of southern California, Arizona and New Mexico 

 than elsewhere. They not only do mischief among the 

 sheep and calves, but show a-great liking for colts and 

 sometimes attack the jacks of pack tx-ains, when tired at 

 night, they are turned out to browse among the hills. 

 Sometimes the jack beats off the cougar even after the 

 poor pack animal has had his neck cut in a fearful 

 manner. 



The Apacho Indians kill a great many cougars. Many 

 of their arrow cases are made from the skin of this 

 animal. 



In the North and perhaps elsewhere they subsist partly 

 on rabbits and porcupines. They devour porcupines as a 

 cat eats a rat, beginning at the head and rolling over the 

 skin as they go, until there remains only a skin turned 

 wrong side out, 



A cougar climbs a tree when frightened, by first strik- 

 ing the trunk of a tree as high from the ground as it can 

 conveniently jump, then ascending until at the first 

 strong limb running out nearly horizontally, it stretches 

 itself out and waits its pursuer, or takes a sleep if it is 

 not pursued. While often found on perches of this 

 kind, I doubt if it springs upon its prey from such a 

 position. 



They have their young generally in some hole among 

 rocks, where the mother cares for her kittens until about 

 half-grown, when she travels with them and they begin 

 to hunt for themselves. In one instance the nest was 

 found in a thicket at the bottom of a steep ravine. The 

 hunter shot the old one and his dog ran in and held one 

 of the kittens until the hunter came, and found it too 

 strong to be manageable, and so dispatched it with his 

 knife. 



When the hunter approaches a tree where the cougar 

 has found his favorite perch on a limb, the animal 

 lashes his sides with his tail and shows signs of an imme- 

 diate intention to jump, but very rarely does he do so, 

 even when wounded quite severely. In a case occurring 

 recently, when a very large one which had killed many 

 domestic animals in the neighborhood and finally killed 

 a two-year-old steer, a young man treed it with his dogs 

 and began shooting at it with his revolver. He wounded 

 the beast several times. His ninth bullet found the life 

 and it fell dead from the tree. 



In the Northern States the cougar mates in the month 

 of March. In other localities it may not be so. 



So far as my observation extends the cougar has all the 

 instincts of the domestic cat. Sly and cunning, the man 

 who succeeds in still-hunting one and getting it is lucky 

 as well as skillful. And I might appeal to the experi- 

 ence of any hunter who has pursued one for half a day 

 in a large cedar swamp to bear me out in saying he has 

 found himself hunted by the cougar more than half the 

 time. 



In the West the animal is known as mountain lion. 

 Some differences are noticed between the Eastern and 

 Western species. It should be so. The climate is difl;er- 

 ent. The conditions and necessities of life are different. 

 It is so with the Vu'ginia deer, and with cattle and horses 

 of the same breed on their removal across the continent. 

 That the cougar should not in appearance be just the 

 same as found on the almost bare hills of our Territories 

 or the high grassy plains of South America as in the dark 

 heavy forests of the Adirondacks and the North seems to 

 me only perfectly natural. G. H. W. 



Idaho. 



New York Grouse and Woodcock. 



Whitehall, N. Y., Aug. 18.— I find partridges very 

 plenty tbis season, but on account of too much rain 

 woodcock are scattered and hard to find. With a friend 

 1 bagged four partridges and three woodcock the 15fch, I 

 always enjoy a day's sport with any true sportsman who 

 is a good wing shot and not careless with a gun. 



C. B. P. 



'dtrie md 0utj. 



The Book of the CiAmb Laws has all fish and rjanielckvs 

 of United States and Canada. Price 50 nents. 



STILL-HUNTING WITH A CAMERA. 



Mr. Gd.0. Shiras, 8d, of Pittsburgh, Pa., sends us some 

 capital specimens of work done with the camera on wild 

 game— deer and grouse— and writes: 



PiTTSBUEaH, Pa., Aug. 13,— "It is with the sense of 

 considerable 8a.ti8faction that I have noted the Forest 

 AND Stream's advocacy of the new field open to sports- 

 men by the use of the camera in photographing live 

 game. 



"As one of the pioneers in this new sport, is is a pleas- 

 ure to welcome all new comers, which, to some extent, 

 self -protection has prevented the devotees of the rod and 

 gun from doing in the past. The close season has terrors 

 no longer for the camera hunter, but, on the contrary, 

 affords the best opportunities for successful snap shots 

 with his new and noiseless weapon. 



"Six years ago I began still-hunting the red or Vir- 

 ginia deer, with one of the so-called detective cameras, 

 only to find that the experience gained in that period has 

 been largely offset by the advance in photographic ap- 

 paratus, so that at the present time the beginner can 

 start on almost even terms with the few who may have 

 preceded him in this branch ©f sport. Next season I 

 hope to use with greater advantage the new methods for 

 instantaneous work. 



"My collection now consists of 32 pictures of deer, taken 

 at distances ranging from 15 to lOOft. As a reminder of 

 the many efforts, I have in addition about 100 plates, 



DOE, 



From a photograpb by Mr. Cieorge Sliiras, Bi. 



(Forest and Stream Amateur Photography Competition.) 



Thp photoKraph was taken July 1, 1892, 1 P. M. Camera just liigh enough 

 to clear the grass, upon which the deer's eyes are riveted when takea. 

 Distance 18 to SOft. Note the odd effect the shadows from the ears kIpr to 

 thj'oat and chest. 



wherein deer can be faintly seen, the failure arising from 

 innumerable causes, such as under exposure, improper 

 focus, shadows, intervening brush, faulty shutters, "buck 

 fever," and the like. The inclosed unmounted prints 

 were all taken last month and are a fair average of past 

 hunts. With one exception they were taken from the 

 bow of a canoe, where the instrument rested upon a 

 movable support, shoulder high and capable of being 

 swung noiselessly at all angles, much after the manner 

 of a swivel gun. The canoe was used on a small stream 

 and along the shores of a grassy lake, the paddler obey- 

 ing the signals of the camerist as to the proper maneu- 

 vering when the critical time arrived for "pressing the 

 button." It is unnecessary to add that both parties, in 

 such cases, must be experienced hunters of large game, 

 or the opportunity of getting within 30ft. of deer would 

 seldom occur. But that it can be successfully accom- 

 plished, and that frequently where game abounds near 

 water courses, is well known, the only difficulty being 

 that the actinic power of the sun requires the instan- 

 taneous exposure to be made between the hours of 9 and 

 4 on bright days, the interval in which wild game usually 

 seeks the seclusion of the swamps or dense timber, 



"On one warm night in June last year I tried the mag- 

 nesium flash light upon seven different deer, the approach 

 being made by the jack light and canoe, and in no in- 

 stance was the picture satisfactory, although the deer in 

 some cases were not over twenty feet away and seemed 

 but little disturbed by the flash. This year the moon was 

 full on my brief visit to Lake Superior, and I made no 

 effort to try night hunting with the camera. I have a 

 number of plates capable of indefinite enlargement, and 

 if of interest to your readers the same are at your 

 service. 



"While the instantaneous pictures of large game must 

 necessarily be confined to a limited number of very patient 

 sportsmen, yet the photographing of large game after 

 killed affords an invaluable souvenir in subsequent 

 years. Then, too, the varied opportunities in camp make 

 such an instrument the winner over both rod and gun, 

 after the flesh pot has been put away and recollections 

 and reminiscences must recall and recount the days gone 

 by. 



"The pictures of rufted grouse were taken incidentally 

 while deer hunting, and are not fair specimens of what 

 could be done by any one making the proper effort. 



"I am convinced your paper will be pleased and also the 

 public by the new methods of illustration now afforded 

 by the photographic processes. The day of wood cuts 

 seems to have departed, and in their place is a substitute 

 equalling the steel engraving in artistic effect and sur- 

 passing it infinitely in realism." 



ELOKOMON ELK. 



Editor Forent and Stream: 



The article: "Trouting on the Elokomon," in your issue 

 of May 19, attracted to that country two genuine sports- 

 men from the far East. Soon after its publication your 

 correspondent rece.ved numerous letters of inquiry from 

 that prince of sportsmen, Dr. S. T. Davis, of Lancaster, 

 president of the State Board of Health of Pennsylvania. 

 The earnestness with which the Doctor went about the 

 investigation, his close and careful inquiries regarding 

 the character of the country, its accessibility, guides, 

 supplies, etc, , created some misgivings in the breast of 

 him whom the Doctor had seen fit to place on his inquis- 

 itorial rack, and as the Doctor has remarked , he observed 

 a manifest disposition to "hedge" in your correspondent. 

 But the impetuous Doctor, in his eagerness to investigate 

 the secrets about the ;headwaters of the Elokomon, was 

 not disposed to listen to any suggestions about better or 

 more accessible hunting grounds, and so, on Aug. 6 the 

 Doctor and his "pard" Wm, S. Ellis, of Pottstown, Pa., 

 were in Portland, Ore., where they stopped only long 

 enough to pay their respects to their old friend Col. Mil- 

 ton Weidler and their obedient servant, the undersigned, 

 on their way to the Elokomon country. 



To-day they returned, and their exuberant praise of the 

 Elokomon country, its game, its forests, its fish and its 

 other agreeable attributes and pleasing rewards for so 

 long a trip is truly gratifying to him who in a great 

 measure is chargeable vdth their visit to this country. 

 Among tlieir numerous trophies none seems to please 

 them more than the head and antlers of a gigantic seven- 

 pronged elk, killed by Mr. Ellis about Monday, Aug. 21. 

 (Tlie Doctor will, on request, explain the apparent dis- 

 crepancy between the day of the week and its chrono- 

 logical relation to the August calendar). But truly, it is 

 a remarkable head, one that any sportsman would prize. 

 The beard is black and about a foot long, and the general 

 appearance indicates that Mr. Ellis secured the patriarch 

 of the herd. When the Doctor, in his account of the 

 tragedy, incidentally remarked: "We could easily have 

 killed a dozen or more out of that herd, for the elk stood 

 staring at us, evidently strangers to white man and his 

 little gun, but we had all we wanted and kUled no more," 

 my admiration for such a manifestation of true sports- 

 manship could only find utterance in: "Doctor, that is 

 not the way the natives hunt elk in the Elokomon 

 country." S. H. Greene. 



Portland, Ore., Aug. ST. 



ECONOMIC RICE CULTURE. 



Referring to Mr. Ernest Thompson's monograph on 

 wild rice and its propagation, recently published in 

 Forest and Stream, I will mention for the benefit of 

 such of your Eastern readers as may not care to send to 

 Wisconsin or Ontario for seed that the Hackensack 

 marshes, close by New York, include many areas and 

 patches of wild rice (locally known as wild oats, I be- 

 lieve), which will soon come to seed, and may now be 

 distinguished by its light green color in contrast with the 

 darker green of the cat-tail flags, among which it grows, 

 in the small creeks and sloughs which border the drier 

 land . Mr. Thompson has done well to refer bis readers 

 to the earlier volumes of Forest and Stream for collat- 

 eral information on the botany and culture of this valu- 

 able plant, covering pretty much the entire ground 

 included in his admirable synopsis, Mr. Richard Valen- 

 tine being then as now one of the foremost authorities on 

 this subject. 



Seven years ago, at the New Orleans World's Exposi- 

 tion, I took the pains to illustrate objectively the Indian 

 method of gathering wild rice vsdth canoes, being at that 

 time superintendent of the frontier division of Minnesota 

 exhibits, and it seems to me that a reproduction of the 

 same at the Columbian Chicago Exposition would prove 

 practically useful and interesting. A blanket is laid in 

 the bottom of the canoe to receive the grains of rice 

 which the squaws beat out from the bended stalks with 

 heavy billets of wood. I showed not only this process, 

 but the method of curing, and samples of prepared rice 

 as well, much to the gratification of the mice in the 

 exposition building. Mr. James H, Hallett, Indian trader 

 at White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, can always 

 furnish wild rice in quantity to order, parched or un- 

 parched. My opinion is that the feet of his clients are 

 somewhat cleaner than those of most other bands, which 

 is a comfort to know if the grain is to be eaten, for the 

 approved aboriginal method of threshing is to tread out 

 the grain d la pied, Charles Hallook. 



ONTARIO NON-RESIDENT LICENSE. 



Game and Fish Commission of Ontario.— A. D. Stew- 

 art, secretary and chief warden, Court House, Hamilton, 

 Aug. 30. — Editor Forest and Stream: By virtue of the 

 amendments to the game acts passed by the Ontario 

 Legislature at its last session, foreign sportsmen are now 

 required to take out a license at a cost of $25 before 

 they can hunt in the Province of Ontario. 



The duck season opens this year on Sept. 1, and it may 

 be that many foreign sportsmen who are in the habit of 

 coming annually to shoot in Ontario, have forgotten the 

 license fee to which I have referred, 



I would be glad, therefore, if you will, by publishing 

 this letter, or in such other manner as you may think 

 best, draw attention to this fact in your widely read col- 

 umns, in order that American sportsmen who intend vis- 

 iting us may make the necessary arrangements and thus 

 spare our wardens the unpleasant task of visiting them 

 with the penalties provided by law. 



I think I cannot do better than quote the section in the 

 game act which refers to the above, and which reads as 

 follows: 



No person not a resident and domiciled in the provinces of On- 

 tario and QiiebeG shall be entitled to liunt, take, kUl, wound or 

 destroy any moose, elk, reindeer, caribou or other deer, mink, 

 otter, fisher, sable or any other game animal or bird referred to 

 in this act, without having first obtained a license in that behalf; 

 every such license shall be signed by the Chief Fish and Game 

 Warden and countersigDed by the Provincial Secretary or his 

 deputy, and shaU be in force for one season only, and shall he 

 subject to the provisions of the game laws in force in the Prov- 

 ince at the time the said license vvas granted. The fee to be paid 

 therefor shall be $25 and shall be payable to the Provincial Treas- 

 urer to be applied toward the expenses incurred in carrying^ out 

 the provisions of the game laws. 



A. D. Stewart, Chief Warden. 



