338 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LApril 20, IttVU. 



A TEXAS COLLECTION. 



Sajst Antonio, Texas.— iJdttor Forest and Stream: In 

 Texas a man may possess a ranch to which he can go and 

 bring a,wa,y with him a carload of everything that 

 pertauis to game. And such is the position of om- 

 friend S. B. WitcheE, of this city. He is the happy pos- 

 sessor, of a fine tract of land in the Nueces Canon, some 

 sixty or seventy miles west of tliis city. Nunrod of 

 sacred lore may have been a mighty hunter in his time, 

 but he did not know anythmg of Texas or the Nueces 

 Canon. This canon is in itself the ne pfws ultra for hunt- 

 ing. No part of this grand State can show finer huntmg 

 grounds; it may justly be staled the hunter's paradise. 



Mr. Witchell is a great promoter of the art of taxidermy. 

 In the accompanying photograph may be seen as the 

 central figm-e a fine specimen skin of the Bengal tiger, 

 a Mexican jaguar or tigre, from the Sinaloa Mountains, 

 also an- Asiatic leopard on the left and a black leopard at 

 the bottom, a Texas-raised white Angora of silky softness, 

 a monster pair of Texas steer horns, a Texas armadillo 

 and a black Texas bear. Amid all this display stands the 

 figure of Mr. Robert Hall, of CotuUa, Texas, now eighty- 

 two years of age. He fought in all the Texas, Mexica,n 

 and Civil wars. With ' all this Mr. HaU is strong and 

 hearty, and acts as "Witchell's pilot." Mr. Witchell him- 

 self comj)letes the group. 



Another collection, and one which is by far the greatest 

 curiosity, is a large collection of horns and antlers, horned 

 frogs, alive and dead, well preserved in na,tural form and 

 color, with a large variety of other 

 animals. Mi-. Witchell has large ideas 

 of the commercial possibilities of the 

 rattlesnake. He is now arranging for the 

 manufacture on a large scale of an assort- 

 ment of ornamental curiosities from rat- 

 tlesnake skins, such as belts, ladies' bags, 

 girdles, card cases, and neck scarfs ^vith 

 rattles for pins. I send you one of the 

 rattlesnake scarf designs; probably it 

 would attract much envious notice if 

 worn on Broadway. 



Mr. Witchell was awarded six highest 

 premiums and two gold medals for his 

 trophy displays at the DaUas exposition. 



Speaking of snakes, the dormant winter 

 stupor of the northern rattler is not part 

 of his existence down here. I have found 

 them while on my travels over the south- 

 western prairies and in the "brush"' dur- 

 ing December and January, moving about 

 with as much, if not more, agility than in 

 the midst of triipical summer. 



One time, wliile I was connected with 

 the Government service at Laredo, I 

 was on a mission down the river. My 

 guide, Wm. Cannon, who had been in 

 the TJ. S. military service during the 

 . Mexican war, and who was familiar with 

 every water trail, cow path or dirt road 

 in the country, said to me: "There is a 

 rattlesnake in that bunch of grass," point- 

 ing to a dwarfish mesquite bush and tall 

 grass. We fastened our horses some dis- 

 tance away and, revolver in hand, ap- 

 proached the spot, where the music of 

 the rattlers were now heard. Mi'. Cannon 

 found a forked sti<"k, and bending down 

 the grass pinned the reptile's head down 

 and told me to fire into the open jaws. 

 But I begged to be excused from that 

 part of the performance, and taking hold 

 of the stick I let Mr. Cannon do the ex- 

 ecution. We took the rattles, which con- 

 sisted of eleven rings, leaving the dead 

 snake on the ground. The next day on 

 our return we found the inverted skin of 

 the snake hanging over the limbs of -a 

 bush, but nothing was seen of the body. 

 Surprised at this, my guide told me that 

 he had seen the tracks of Mexican unshod 

 horses for some time in the road, and was 

 convinced now that Mexican herders had 

 passed; they had seen the snake and 

 skinned it for the purpose of eating the 

 meat, which they claim after the head is 

 cut off is as fine a morsel as any eel. 



At another time, when I was accom- 

 panying a train of some eight or ten ox 

 wagons loaded with goods from Browns- 

 ville to the Upper Rio Grande, a dinner 

 halt was made in an open prame near 

 some pyramidal shaped rock piles, fifty or sixty feet high, 

 seemingly remnants of some eruption. The rocks were 

 bare and weather beaten, but between the irregular 

 shaped openings and crevices mesquite and cactus had 

 grown. We were young then, and a desire for investiga- 

 tion was at once put into practical execution. Climbing 

 and stumbling to within 25ft. of the top, I stopped on 

 hearing some singing noise not much different (as I 

 thought) from that of a large grasshopper; and I started 

 to investigate as to what was making the music. I kicked 

 about with my heavy boots and spm's and pushed away the 



5 arubbery with the aid of my riding whip, and saw under 

 one of the overshelving rocks huddled into one large mass 

 at least twenty large rattlesnakes shaking their tails 

 while making ready for defensive positions. Introductory 

 compliments were dispensed with and the descent by 

 leaps and jumps from rock to rock was an act that would 

 have brought applause in a well regulated circus. The 

 return to the rock pile was indefinitely j)ostponed. 



Mr. Paul Stein, a druggist, and for a long time a 

 resident of San Antonio, used to make it a practice to get 

 all the live rattlesnakes brought to the city. He had a 

 cage of strong woven Avire with trap door, in which he 

 would keep as many as six or eight large snakes at one 

 time. By some contrivance he would get a snake out and 

 grasping it tightly around the neck with the head above 

 his thumb and first finger, holding it at arm's length 

 away from him, he would call on bj^^standers to come and 

 see his pets. Mr. Stein had rat and mouse traps continu- 

 ally in position to catch food for his snakes. 



An amusing incident Avas told me by a man who was 

 actively engaged in the westward buUding of the Texas 



6 Pacific Railway in the early 70s. "It was in early 

 morning just before dawn," said he, "our camp was aU 

 astir and preparing to go to work when at a short distance 



our attention was drawn by some unusual noise. It was 

 the flopping of wings on the ground. Looking closely we 

 could see an owl which liad caught a ra ttlesnake by the tail. 

 It drew the snake some 10ft. into the air and let it drop, 

 and this was repeated many times until the owl seemed 

 to have tired out or disabled the snake, and then flew off 

 with it. It was a curious sight, and is even now very 

 vividly before my mental vision." Sport. 



TEXAS COYOTES. 



Abilene, Taylor Cormty, Texas, March 15. — Your pic- 

 ture of the coyote reminds me to inform you tha,t this 

 annual, imlike the other wild carnivores, is gi-eatly in- 

 creased in this region. Two yeavs ago I seldom saw one 

 when in my saddle; a year ago I saw them often, and 

 now I can hardly walk in the pastures without seeing 

 several. I hear their serenades every night, and more 

 than once of late they have let fly with their music in my 

 yard, within a stone's thi'ow of my bed-room. On two 

 occasions lately, on looking out of my window about 

 dawn, I have seen the creattu-es prowUng about my 

 premises. A few nights ago they entered the town of 

 Abilene and kiUed and devoured two suckling calves in a 

 gentleman's yard. Their increase is a subject of general 

 remark. 



Their great incumbency upon us is mostly due, I think, 

 to the decline of the sheep business. A few years ago 

 that business was a great industry in this country, and 

 the flock-masters kept a sharp lookout for the wolves, 



A TEXAS COLLECTION. 

 Messrs. S B. Witchell, Robert Hall and trophies. 



poisoning them by wholesale. Owing to the pressure of 

 the Austrahans, wool dechned till there was no profit in 

 growing it, hence our fiocks have been sent to the 

 shambles and the occupation is practically abandoned. 

 There being none left taking interest enough to poison 

 the coyote, his strong recuperative powers are threatening 

 to overrun the countiy with him for a while. At the 

 same time his food supply is greatly diminished. The 

 deer and antelope disappeared before the sheep, and he is 

 now driven for his Mving to the uncertain chase of the 

 jack rabbit or capturing the prairie dog by stealth, and 

 pilfering in the towns and villages at night. I am per- 

 suaded that they come into my yard to steal my chickens, 

 and they have surely caught a good many of them. One 

 of my neiglibors was fond of cultivating the turkej% and 

 he had quite a flock of them which roosted on a fence 

 near his house. The coyote recognized his opportunity 

 in this flock. He cultivated them so well that my neigh- 

 bor has not now a kirkey to lois name. 



The coyote does not attack cattle, because he knows if 

 he should do so he would have hundreds of fierce bellow- 

 ing creatures upon him in an instant. He wfll, of course, 

 puU down a suckling calf if he finds it unattended, but 

 this is a treat he rarely enjoys. In a coimtry where large 

 carnivores are numerous, cattle are very watchful of their 

 young. 



In other days the coyotes I was accustomed to see were 

 generally in good order, as we say of a fat hog or steer, 

 but now he is lean and lias a dejected look. I think his 

 culminating point has been reached and tliat henceforth 

 he dwindles away. _ N. A. T. 



Lansdownb, Fa..— Editor Forest and Stream; My congratulations 

 to you on the success of the suit against Delmoiiico. 



George D. B. Darbs. 



SENSE OF DIRECTION IN ANIMALS. 



Bethel, Maine. — ^In a long experience of a hunting and 

 trapping life in northern Maine, many curious facts, 

 tending to show a direction sense in some animals are 

 apparent and interesting. 



The very able article by C. F. Amery, in Forest and 

 Stream of Dec. 29, 1893, on this subject, recalled many in- 

 stances of the kind in our own obseiwation in our old, 

 long ago hunting life. Many wild animals have what we 

 hunters used to call a beat; for instance, in setting a line 

 of sable traps over mountains and along their sides, when 

 we struck a track in the snow we set a trap, and in about 

 two weeks we w^ere siu'e to get a sable. They made large 

 circuits of the region and were sure to come tiie same 

 way again, even though there had fallen a foot of snow 

 since the track was made. 



So also with the fisher, although they traverse thick 

 forest growth over mountain ranges and through dismal 

 swamps, yet when they return to their former haunts 

 they follow almost the same line of travel as when last 

 in a given place, a trap set within a few yards of their 

 former signs is almost sure to take them in a week or 

 tAvo. So of the fox, which lead the dogs a half day's 

 jom-ney from hfll to hfll over and around mountains and 

 return near their starting pomt; also the hare when pur- 

 sued wiU return to the very spot from whence they 

 started; and bears which den in the deepest recesses of 

 the forest, in cliffs of the ledgy mountains, and follow 

 down to the valleys in spring time and perhaps roam 

 hundreds of miles dm-ing the sumtner in 

 all directions, but mark then- straight 

 comse back to the same mountain and 

 very same den for tlie next winter's 

 hibernation. 



But the moose have direction sense 

 above aU other wild animals, they know 

 longitude, we hunters used to say. They 

 go from mountain to mountain in rainy 

 or sno-wy weather, straight as an arrow, 

 no matter how dark, when a man would 

 be bewildered and lost in an hour. In 

 the month of June bark will readily peel 

 from almost any tree. At that time the 

 moose will strip up long pfieces of the 

 bark of the willow and maple. Hunters 

 observe these works of the moose, for 

 where these signs are found they are sure 

 to find the moose the next fall, and 

 hunters follow these fall signs to the very 

 yards of the moose on the mountains. 

 They travel from mountain to moimtatn, 

 the shortest way, through dense woods 

 many miles, and through swampy val- 

 leys,'while intelligent man has to climb 

 trees to make discoveries of his course or 

 use a compass. The fact is, moose know 

 longitude. J. G. Rich. 



Acquired Habits of California Quail. 



One of the best fllusti-ations of modified 

 habits acquired by change of environment 

 is afforded in the following interesting 

 statement of a correspondent of the New 

 York Evening Post, who remarks: "Noth- 

 ing in the varied bird life of the farm is 

 more interesting than the modifications 

 in the habits of the California quail, caused 

 by the development of orchards. When 

 the pioneers came to this district, all the 

 quail were dwellers in the rolling lands 

 about the rim of the valley, or in the 

 rougher champagne coimtry east, between 

 the canons. Great bands of cattle kept 

 the valley pastured so close that quail 

 found better hving in the hfll country. 

 Still, they were the round-plumed valley 

 species, not the slender-plumed quail of 

 the Sierras, and when American hunters 

 began to thin them out, scattered coveys 

 sought the willow copses along the creeks, 

 and the shelter of the acfeg of wild 

 mustard. In twenty years more, every 

 well-sheltered wheat farm had a few 

 quafl, grown very shy and cunning, who 

 dwelt in the pastiu-es and bottoms, and 

 foraged in the fields of wheat and corn. 

 The farmer lads often hunted them down 

 to half a dozen paire, or entirely destroyed 

 their foothold on aU river ranches, but 

 the willows made so good a shelter that 

 others came from the canons. Then the orchard period 

 came, and better protection for quail, so that they forsook 

 the wiUows altogether, and took up their abode in the vine- 

 yards, the berry fields, and the nursery rows, becoming in 

 a few seasons so tame that they now pick up grain with 

 the chickens, and fly up into the walnut trees, beside the 

 farmhouse, every night. Sometimes they display even a 

 greater degree of confidence in the new regime than these 

 matters imply, and hide their nests under the fuchsias 

 and heliotropes in the garden." 



Mongolian Pheasants are Good Swimmers. 



Farmington, Conn., AprU 11.— I find upon my retui'n 

 home from the South, where I have passed the winter, 

 that my Mongolian pheasants have wintered most excel- 

 lently; they are in fine condition and most beautiful 

 plumage. 



They seem very tough and to stand the severest weather 

 without trouble. Most of the winter they remained out 

 in the open pens, with but a few bushes to protect them 

 from the snow. 



During a large freshet they were caught in the high 

 water and compelled to swim for nearly an hour before 

 they could be caught and taken to a diy place. It seemed 

 to make no difference, the next day they were as happy 

 as eve. 



They have not commenced to lay yet, but they are 

 commencing to act as though they would in a very short 

 time. I had to separate the birds, putting three hens and 

 one cock in a "pen. The cocks were trying to kill each 

 other. They seem to be great fighters. 



My impression is, from what I have seen of them, that 

 they can stand our New England winters just as well aa 

 the ruffed grouse do. N. Wali-aoe, 



