189^,] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



S83 



scraj) of philosopby, bit of poetry or thought, showing a 

 keen insight into things in earth and air and sea, came 

 from him; but at length silence reigned unbroken over 

 Riverside C imp. I vcas aroused the next morning by a 

 most unearthly sound, which at first I was puzzled to 

 account for, but soon found came from a great tin boat 

 horn, at the small end of which was ivioses, who in this 

 way was calling the graders to breakfast. I aroused Jack, 

 whowassleepiuE: the Sweet sleep of innocence, seemingly, 

 and after breakfast we went down to the beach where we 

 stayed all the forenoon, watching the waves, lying on the 

 sand and gathering agates, of which we secured a large 

 number, some of which were very beautiful. "Oh," said 

 ■Jack, "isn't this just grand?" It certainly was: and noon 

 came before we thought as we played like two schoolboys 

 on the beach. In the afternoon we again tried the river 

 for trout, but without result, save the good solid enjoy- 

 ment obtained from nature in her wildest dr^-ss as repre- 

 sented by river and wood. At length, giving up the river 

 in despair, we took an old trail off into the woods, which 

 we followed hither and thither, until we came around to 

 our camp. 



The afternoon was very warm and -as soon as we 

 reached camp we took a pail and cup, some lemons and 

 sugar went down to the lake and made some lemonade, 

 using the clear sparkling water of Superior. Upon a 

 wave-tossed and r< ck-battered log we sat and drank our 

 lemonade, while the waves came thundering in, for a 

 stiff breeze was blowing on the water, although we had 

 not felt it in woodd or along the river. We went to bed 

 early, intending to put in a good long night in sleep, but 

 t'was decreed otherwise. It seemed to me that I had 

 scarcely gotten to sleep when a cow bell rang furiously 

 right by the tent, and the tramp of feet outside told of 

 cattle near by. I rushed out and there stood an old bell 

 cow not 4ft. from the tent, complacently chewing her 

 cud, and now and then giving a vicious shake to rid her- 

 self of flies and mosquitoes. I sent her oil in short order 

 and went back to bed, but back came that cow twice at 

 intervals of about an hour, and clattered the bell by the 

 tent. The last time I saw her otf with such dispatch thnt 

 we heard the bell no more only as a faint tinkle off in the 

 edge of the woods. V7e went to sleep again, only to be 

 aroused by a thunderous bellow close at hand. Jack 

 turned over and murmured sweetly, "Is that Moses blow- 

 ing his tin horn, or the angel Gabriel Avith his trumpet 

 I had to laugh as provoked as 1 was, I inve-itigated and 

 found that it was neither Moses nor the angel, but a black 

 and white bull who was leisurely walking away. When 

 daylight came we were loth to get up, and the result was 

 we had an 8 o'clock breakfast, after which we packed up 

 and loafed around until the west-bound train came along 

 and stopped, at my signal. We were soon aboard, and 

 waving a good-by to Riverside Camp, and Moses, and 

 the bull and the cow with the bell, we reached Daluth in 

 time for dinner. After dinner we made our final prepa- 

 rations for our trip down the North Shore and to Isle 

 Royal, bought our tickets, had our baggage transferred 

 from the depot to the steamer, and then spent the rest of 

 the afternoon and evening in seeing the city, which was 

 familiar enough to me but not to Jack. We went tip the 

 incline railway, and from the lookout viewed city, lake 

 and bay, shipping and network of railroad tracks, and 

 across the bay through rifts in the smoke we caught 

 glimpses of West Superior. We took in scenery enough 

 Jack said, "to last us for years." 



Coming down from the lookout we went into the 

 power-room and saw the mighty engines and powerful 

 machinery that winds and unwinds the cables which 

 pull up and let down the cars on the incline. From the 

 power-room we went out to see the deer, which are kept 

 in a little inclosute near by. There was a buck, with 

 horns nearly grown, and three mottled sided fawns; all 

 were panting with the heat, for the August sun smote 

 fiercely upon than rocky hilltop and the half dozen small 

 fir trees stuck in the ground at one end of the inclosure 

 were only a pitiful mockery of the free wild wood's 

 soothing shade. I told Jack that "I heartily wished I 

 could let them out and see them safe away." Near by 

 was another inclosure in which three bears— two black 

 and one brown— were chained. They, too, were suffering 

 from the heat. Each had a tub partly filled with water, 

 into which they would go and sit every few minutes, 

 Oae of them was especially mischievous, and when the 

 keeper came in to clean up the incloeure made several 

 attempts to trip him with the chain. The man, however, 

 kept close watch and frequently shaking his finger at the 

 bear, said: "Ye think ye are pretty smart, but ye don't 

 down me this time." The bear winked and blinked at 

 him, and bided his time. The man turned to answer a 

 question. Quick as a flash the bear made a rush out be- 

 yond the man, then doubling back, looped the chain 

 around his feet and laid him on his back with neatness 

 and despatch. We applauded the bear, but a very angry 

 man got up out of the dust, and with many oaths and 

 fist shakings uttered dire threats at the bear, which now 

 stood facing him, evidently ready for the next move. 

 The man did not touch him, however, and we turned 

 away, and boarding the car went down the incline still 

 laughing ovpr the discomfiture of the man. We next 

 took the ferry and went over to West Superior to look at 

 the three great whalebacks that were being finished. On 

 our return we went to every store where there was a 

 collection of agates and harrowed the souls of the shop- 

 keepers by our search after such an agate as is not yet 

 found. I chanced to think that I wanted some swivels, 

 a simple want, surely, and one easily supplied, but in 

 this instance we found that swivels were in the other 

 store, down the avenue or just around the corner. From 

 place to place we went, causing tribulation and con- 

 fusion in every place we entered, and had about given 

 up the qu( st when we found what we wanted in a gun 

 and tackle store ucder the Spaulding House. We went 

 to our hotf 1 and to bed, sleeping the sleep of innocence. 



Nine o'clock the nest morning we were on the steamer, 

 bag and baggage, watching the other passengers come 

 aboard. A mixed lot they were; pleasure parties, cruis- 

 ers, with their packs, residents of the North Shore return- 

 ing home from a trip to Duluth: fishing parties with 

 boats and elaborate outfits, and camping parties pure and 

 simple, promptly on time we steamed out through the 

 canal and Jack drew a deep breath of content. "We're 

 started on our long anticipated trip," he said, "and the 

 day is as perfect as if made to order." It was true. The 

 lake lay like a great burnished mirror, and the shore was 

 like a panorama, new and more beautiful views unfolding 

 each mile. Past Lester River we went, where the Stars 



and Stripes were waving from the flag-pole in the 

 grounds of the United States Fish Hatchery. Soon Knife 

 Island began to loom up, and as we passed our camp site, 

 could be plainly seen. Twenty-seven miles down from 

 Duluth, and the steamer stopped at Two Harbors. We 

 went ashore for a few moments and looked at the great 

 ore docks. As we went back we stopped on the lower 

 deck to see the dunnage piled there. 'Twas an amazing 

 assortment. There were trunks and grips and boxes, and 

 tents and lunch baskets, rolls of bedding and packs, trout 

 creels and landing nets, guns in cases and out, fishing- 

 rods and tackle boxes in profusion, and four boats. All 

 this, beside the usual merchandise the boat carried to the 

 North Shore ports and fishing stations. Ten miles further 

 down the lake we passed Split Rock, a famous fishing 

 place where 'tis said brook trout hide of size and cunning 

 that defy capture. Jack and I do nothing but sit and 

 admire the scenery. It is all new to him, and his love of 

 the grand and beautiftil enables him to keenly enjoy it 

 all. Thirteen miles further and we are at Braver Bay, a 

 picturesque, weather-beaten little town, high above the 

 lake, with a great mass of detached rock making a pali- 

 saded island at the entrance to the landlocked bay. "A 

 veritable Old World picture," says Jack. "I forget just 

 where its counterpart is located, but it's across the sea 

 somewhere." A young girl comes out to the steamer in 

 a boat and some of our fellow- passengers leave us. The 

 scenery grows more and more grand and beautiful. The 

 Palisades, over -SOOEt. high, lift their reeky tree-crowned 

 mass from the waves at their base. At the famous Bap- 

 tism River four empty boats come out to meet the 

 steamer, and three of these are soon piled high with dun- 

 nage and fishing tackle. Evidently, a large party is 

 going ashore to recruit those already at the club house, 

 which is so beautifully situated, with a green lawn reach- 

 ing from the piazza to the top of the bluff. A little up 

 the shore from the club house is a group of tents on the 

 beach. Very inviting they look, and Jack and I wish 

 that we were getting oft" here instead of this party of live 

 ladies and eight gentlemen, who, crowded into two boats, 

 are taking merry leave of the rest of ua on the steamer. 

 The trout must hide now, for there's mischief brewing for 

 them. 



At Pork Biy two gentlemen go ashore with enormous 

 packs and I wonder how they are to carry them, as they 

 are evidently not accustomed to that kind of work. But 

 looking ashore I see two packers awaiting them, and 

 ere we leave the bay the packers, with their burdens, 

 followed by the two gentlemen, have disappeared in the 

 woods. "Going to look up pine land," some one near 

 me says. That sheet of molten silver coming down the 

 rocks there is Manito Falls, beautiful as dream of poet. 

 I do not wonder that the Indians regard Little Manito 

 with reverence, and if we were on shore we should find 

 a scene of such stern and savage grandeur that we too 

 would be impressed with the strength of the Almighty 

 who formed these everlasting hills. Near the setting o'f 

 the sun two more left us. They had their own boat and 

 a complete outfit for camping and fishing. They went 

 ashore at Two Islands and their intention was to fish 

 every stream from there up to Baptism River. How 

 clear cut the outline of the hills was against the sky 

 after the sun had set. How placid the lake and how 

 plainly defined the reflection of those same tree-clad 

 hills upon the water. 



Quite a number of passengers were to stop at Grand 

 Mai'ais and camp there for a month or so, but ere the 

 boat reached there Jack and I were in our stateroom 

 sound asleep. It was broad daylight when I awoke, and 

 looking from the window saw through the mists of early 

 morning Pie Island and other bold headlands, which I 

 knew marked the entrance to Thunder Bay, During 

 the night we had passed Chicago Bay, where last year 

 Stephens and I left the steamer and began our trip in 

 our canvas boat, Mesquatawanga River, where we caught 

 our big trout. Red Rock, where we had sxich a delightful 

 camp, Tu Duelled Rock, where we were cast away, and 

 Grand Portage, where we waited for a steamer which 

 never came. All of these memories came o'er me as I 

 crept back into the berth, where I lay until Jack ex- 

 claimed, "Where are we now, and wbat are we coming 

 to?" I looked out and saw that we were neariug Port 

 Arthur, the Prince Arthur's Landing of the ante-railroad 

 days. Mybon Cooley. 



DETHOIT CeTT, MlDD. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



A SNAKE'S STRIKING. 



KiLAMA.zoo, Mich. — Editor Forest and. Stream: Since 

 the articles appeared on spitting snakes and how snakes 

 strike, in .July last, the general press of the country has 

 adopted them. As many as ten leading papers copied the 

 articles on "skin shedding" and "snakes striking," while 

 sections were stereotyped and sent to the lesser lights 

 throughout the land, and are still circulating. It is the 

 old idea; every one is interested in snake lore. Several 

 friends, readers of the Forest and Stream, have asked 

 for further information on the subject, while some criti- 

 cise my assertions. 



In regard to a snake's striking. In addition to the 

 description and illustration given in the issue of July 21 

 last, the following demonstration is submitted to those 

 who persist in maintaining that a snake can strike its 

 length from a coil. Take a coil of rubber tubing, common 

 lawn hose is best, and lay it flat on the floor or ground. 

 Have an assistant hold the lower circles in place. Then 

 with a stout pair of forceps seize the upper end of the 

 hose, which represents the snake's head, and pull. It will 

 be found that the tension is exactly in proportion to the 

 coils straightened, and if one complete circle is pulled 

 out, then the hose or tubing will be twisted but once, or 

 twice if two circles of the coil are pulled out. Now, al- 

 lowing that the motion of the snake's head and body 

 when striking must be like the action of the hose when 

 clinched tightly by the pinchers and puUed straightaway, 

 then it follows that the reptile's body must be twistedi 

 According to this theory, which is plain and convincing, 

 the vertebral column of the rattler would be twisted once 

 for each circle uncoiled straightaway, if it could possibly 

 strike from a coil, Morris Gibbs, M.D, 



"A Habit of the Robin." 



Kalamazoo, Mich.— In your issue of Sept 1, was a 

 suppositional observation, by Mr. N.'D. Elting, headed as 

 above, which principally annoyed me from its utter un- 

 fairness. 



The item claims that the parent robin invariably caught 

 the voided excrement in its bill and swallowed it. This 

 idea places the cleanliness of our favorite in a bad light, 

 and I am .willing in the robin's behalf to refute the asser- 

 tion most emphatically. Robins ai-e scrupulously clean 

 about their nests and do not allow a particle of extraneous 

 or excrementitious material to accumulate on the prem- 

 ises. As soon as a pellet of excrement is found in the 

 nest, it is seized by the old bird who has just visited the 

 young with food and carried away. The robin drops the 

 pellet while on the wing, and when from 6 to '20ft. from 

 the nest. When the nest is in a tree and the birds have 

 run-ways or more properly fly-ways to and from it, the 

 pellets may be found quite numerous near the tree if 

 looked for. When the pellet is picked up by the old 

 bird, it is of course very soft, and the robin is liable to 

 crush or drop it. The head is then frequently thrown 

 upward and backward, in order to secure a better hold, 

 as is often seen when a worm or other food is secured. 

 It is this motion which Mr. Elting probably mistook, for 

 the act of swallowing. Had bis eyesight been trained, 

 he would have seen the bird drop the pellet a few feet 

 from the nest. 



The act is simply another evidence of the excellent 

 house-keeping qualities of the robins, and shared in, as it 

 is, by both of the old birds, shows that each strives to 

 keep the premises clean. Morris Gtrbs, M.D. 



Dispersal of Animals and Plants. 



In a paper contributed by Mr. Clement Reid to the 

 Transactions of the Norfolk Naturalists' Society, "he 

 treats of the natural history of isolated ponds, confining 

 himself to those of artificial origin, usually of quite recent 

 date; and it is astonishing to find how rapidly these small 

 pools of water become stocked with a varied fauna and 

 flora. Certain aqtiatic animals and plants seem to be 

 transported with the greatest ease; and the problem is to 

 determin,e not only the mode and means of dispersal, but 

 also the effect of changed environment on the organisms 

 concerned. So far as Mr. Reid's observations have ex- 

 tended it appears that the main transporting agency is 

 that afforded by the feet and feathers of wading and 

 bathing birds, for the commonest plants in isolated ponds 

 are the brittle species with finely-cut leaves, such as col- 

 lapse and cling when lifted out of the water. The asso- 

 ciated moDusks are usually the species that live among or 

 attach their eggs to these plants. 



"With regard to the changes produced by environment 

 we may also allude to some remarks by Mr. Robert Hol- 

 land in the August number of Nature Hates (Vol. IIL, 

 pp. 147-153) which have reference to similar observations 

 previously published by Mr. CoUinggwood Hope. It ap- 

 pears, as might be expected, that fishes placed in stag- 

 nant ponds soon become stunted, rarely growing to their 

 normal siz^; but it is interesting to have proved that even 

 after several generations this dwarfing in the case of the 

 tench is not permanent, the small fishes attaining their 

 usual dimensions as soon as they are removed to a shal- 

 low pond with a plentiful stipply of fresh water."— iVaf (t- 

 raJ Science, Oetoher. ISM. 



Extermination of the Ant-Bear. 



Some men seem never so happy as when destroying 

 animals theoretically lower than themselves in the scale 

 of creation. Illustrations of this fact.will readily occur 

 to any one who is familiar with the so-called "sport" 

 which has threatened, and in some cases almost effected, 

 the extermination of large, but comparatively helpless, 

 animals of land and sea. A fresh reminder of this thirst 

 for killing is brought forward by Mr. A. C. Macdonald, 

 of the Agricultural Department of Cape Colony, in the 

 warfare now being waged against the ant-bear. Although 

 one of the most valuable friends of the farmer, because 

 of its whosesale destruction of ants above and below 

 ground, it is, nevertheless, hunted with persistency and 

 killed by the most cruel methods. According to Mr, Mac- 

 donald, in Nature, "it is sought after by the natives for 

 its skin, which is valued at about 15 shillings, and also 

 for its flesh, which resembles superior pork. With the 

 white race 'sport' is the inducement, this fun taking the 

 form at times of forcing the poor brutes out of their holes 

 by flooding with water, or drowning them and digging 

 them out afterward." 



Food Habits of the Frog. 



Wadsworth, O., Oct. 13,— Reading the account of Mr. 

 Jewell's frog pond and the feeding of the frogs with live 

 mice brings to mind what I saw last summer but could 

 not quite understand. While out shooting frogs one day 

 last spring in company with two companions, I shot a 

 very large frog. On removing the saddles I opened the 

 stomach to see what he had last eaten, and to my great 

 surprise I found a ground squirrel (chipmunk). It was 

 only partly digested. I called the attention of my com- 

 rades, and we were all greatly surprised, but thought 

 that the frog had gobbled him up after the squirrel was 

 dead. But after reading abouc them eating two and 

 three live mice at a meal I am led to believe that he was 

 captured while alive. 



Two years ago I found a small turtle in the stomach of 

 a frog. What is the limit of a frog's diet? Dr. D. 



Ruflfed Grouse Come With Woodcock. 



HiGHGATE, Vt., Oct. 8.— After a big storm here a few 

 days ago, a heavy flight of woodcock came along, and at 

 the same with the woodcock a large jact of ruffed 

 grouse appeared. Who ever heard of thek migrating? 



STANSTEAD. 



As the Baking Powder Folks Say, "Once Tried, 

 Always Used." 



Office of xhr Register of WhjIs and Recorder op Deeds, 

 Blair cuunty, Pa., J. Lee FJummer, Kegister and R-corder.— 

 Hoi ida5 siTirg, Oct. 13, 1802.— Forest anoJ Stream PublisMn'j Co.— 

 Gentloncn: Bnclossd piPase find my cbeck for $i for one year's 

 subscription to your paper. I first took Forest and Stream for 

 fiis months oa trial to aee how 1 would like it. 1 find now that I 

 cannot get along without it. i'ours respectfully, 



J, L-EE Plummer. 



