Apbil 27, 1898.J 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



359 



Besides the Indians and hide butchers they have another 

 scheme for extermination, and that is by capturing nlive 

 and shipping them to game preserves east and west of 

 here. It may be a benefit to those points where they go, 

 but it will not preserve the game in this section. Last 

 season two car loads were shipped East. One went to 

 Austin Corbin's game preserve in New Hampshire. I be- 

 lieve it was a success to those concerned, and this winter 

 Tom, Dick and Harry are after elk calves, running them 

 in the snow with snowshoes, horses and dogs. Where they 

 catch one and save it they kill two or three more, and 

 their main object is to get all the females they can. If 

 those preserves are not supplied in two or three years I 

 am afraid they will have to go somewhere else for their 

 supply, for the game will be scarce here. 



Where the game has not been distiurbed too much it 

 has done excellently this winter, for up to this time the 

 weather has been very moderate. The mountain sheep 

 range I have never seen better; hundreds of acres blown 

 bare above timber line, with plenty of grass upon it. The 

 feed on the elk, deer and' antelope ranges is also plenty. 



MOTTNTAINEER. 



"PODGERS'S" COMMENTARIES. 



San Frajjcisco, April 15.— AH hail to you! All honor 

 and credit to the Forest ajsto Stream for its victory 

 over reluctant District Attorneys seeking how not to do 

 itt Three cheers and a tarn many for this triumph! and 

 to the Forest and Stream do we return "much thanks" 

 for its dogged perseverance and never-let-up persistency 

 in the woodcock case. You cannot, shake your gory 

 locks and say we did not do it, for you did, and your 

 proverbial modesty shall not screen you, and if my credit 

 was good for a bran new tile anywhere in Broadway, the 

 editor and even the head-ing of the paper should have each 

 one. I have lived to see one case of prolonged avoidance 

 brought to book and the supremacy of the game law made 

 manifest. If I was given to celebrate joyful occurrences 

 in the flowing bowl, much I fear there would be a case of 

 severe headache in the morning, for I have just read on 

 the editorial page of the Forest and Stream the an- 

 nouncement of the end of the Jarndyce and Jamdyce 

 woodcock case and the payment of the fine. 



Four hundred and fifty cold dollars, eh? Rather an ex- 

 pensive supper that! and the host paid the bill. Wood- 

 cock bills are proverbially long, and this one is no excep- 

 tion. Who will tender the entire staff of the Forest and 

 Stream a woodcock supper (in season) to commemorate 

 the victory? I will engage to pay the man to wheel th( 

 editor home at the close of the proceedings, as I don't 

 think I would be in a condition to do it myself, if present. 

 There are times and occasions when man may be justifi 

 able in losing the use of his legs, and this Avould be one ol 

 them, but at this distance I should have to do it by prosy , 

 and no doubt I could find one on much less provocation 

 to do some tall artistic work in red paint. 



We do not have woodcock on the Pacific coast, but all 

 sportsmen here have felt much interested in the case and 

 rejoice in the victory of the Forest and Stream in the 

 face of the determined opposition it had to overcome; but 

 at last success has crowned its efforts, and in the words of 

 the poet we say, "Bully for you!" 



1 am greatly obliged for the suggestion of your con- 

 tributor, the "Doctor," how to suppress a man who will 

 persist in making pims on unseemly occasions, i. e. , by 

 going into an explanation of his puns and thereby knock- 

 ing him out. But how about it if the puns have no point 

 to be explained? The Doctors friend must have been an 

 exception if he made any that had. To fire puns at a 

 man when he is all anxiety to fire at ducks is of itself a, 

 flagrant offense, and justifies expending a couple of 

 cartridges on him and thereby make him see the point — 

 of the gun, at him. No right-minded jury would bring 

 in any other verdict than justifiable pun-ish-meant. 



I notice that there is a growing tendency on the part of 

 contributors to bear, deer and double shot stories to en- 

 large the sphere of the marvelous— not that I would for a 

 moment insinuate that any sportsman or writer for the 

 Forest and Sitieam would exaggerate. But don't you 

 think we are being called upon to hoist in some very won- 

 derful modem instances? It has been remarked that 

 truth is stranger than fiction, and allowing the evidence, 

 the wonder grows that truth is so wonderful. I never 

 take up the Forest and Stream nowadays that I do not 

 expect to read of such exploits in the way of chance 

 shots as to make one wonder whether the cow counties 

 have all been heard from and if all the double shotters 

 have got in their work, and if it is not time for the treble 

 and quadruple feUows to tune up the lyre and sing of 

 their exploits. Shall we not go back now to the beginning 

 and open the chapter with the sworn to yarn of the fellow 

 that by mistake left his ramrod in his gun in shooting at 

 a long row of pigeons sitting on a hmb, and spitted an 

 even dozen? 



I have not shot a cartridge away in two years, having 

 been so discouraged at the wonderful shots that are 

 being made. For what, and where, will us old timers be 

 who have ever been content to get one bird to a barrel, 

 and not always doing as well, when we read in every 

 Forest and Stream of doubles and two of a kind to each 

 barrel, end on, athwart ships and at every other angle 

 of the compass. It has a tendency to make one feel he 

 was born too early when things were in a primitive state 

 and our boyhood days were associated with the gims of 

 our fathers — flint-locks, then percussion, then breech- 

 loadei-s, and lastly hammerless and magazine weapons. 

 ■ When promenading down Broadway I have often stop- 

 ped to look in the window of a certain gun store and 

 stood a quarter of an hour admiring a double barrel flint- 

 lock, j)ut there, doubtless, to show what our daddies used 

 and how we have progressed. The gun in question is 

 beautifully finished and one can fancy Avith what pride 

 its owner exhibited it to his shooting friends, and what 

 talk there was of the Squire's new "shotgun", as all 

 were then called, and by the rifle shooters "scatter guns." 



_As I say, I am discouraged and believe I will leg,ve my 

 trio of double-barrels in their cases, for what chance have 

 I, a very ordinary shot at best, to knock over three or 

 four birds "stern to" in a straight line, and unless I can 

 "Where am I at" in these days? 



I see that "Piseco" has retired from the competition 

 and does his shooting by proxy. I can sympathize with 

 him in his preference for piscatorial pursuits, and there is 

 where I feel myself the equal of any fellow disposed to 

 tackle me on that weakness. Shooting I cannot claim as 

 my strong point, but when it comes to fishing— well, I 

 won't boast. I weU remember "Piseco's" contributiojis 



from Alaska, and bis fishing there, and have often hoped 

 to meet him, for I see in him a kindred spirit, one who 

 prefers the rod and reel to the hammerless. 



The last issue of the Forest and Stream that has come 

 to hand is a good number; not that all are not good, but 

 this is particularly so. 



Mr. Thos. H. Farrell's article on the Mongolian pheasant 

 is especially interesting and instructive. 



The article on "Suckers," by Leonard Hulit, carries me 

 back to my boyhood days and many a ducking when 

 standing on a rolling sawlog with a spear (grains) watch- 

 ing for them to work up the stream below the old saw- 

 mill, and when making a dart for them usually with such 

 earnestness as to follow the spear overboard, with the 

 consequent ducking, which coimted for nothing if I 

 secured the fish. There were two kinds, one of which we 

 called shad suckers, and were considered very good table 

 fish, and really did have a flavor very similar to the shad. 



My experience in suckers did not end with my boyhood 

 days. I have encotmtered them all my life and a'lways 

 "had a longing desire to put the grains iiito them, but they 

 generally reversed that game on me. It woiald have been 

 very satisfactoiy to have had the species under water and 

 devised some means, of keeping them there. I rather 

 think the majority of^ readers of the Forest and Stream 

 are very familiar with the suckers in great variety. 



There are many other good things to review in this last 

 number, but I perceive I have already taken up more 

 than my share of your space. But don't forget my sug- 

 gestion to start in on "remarkable occurrences." It would 

 not do, I suppose, to head the column "Munchausenisms. " 

 I won't suggest that, as I may come in myself with a 

 "yam" some fine day. You might call it our' column for 

 "Things that Happen Out West," "Out West" being ex- 

 ceedingly indefinite, has to stand a multitude of sins as it 

 is, and a little more of the same sort would not hurt 

 mucli. PODSERS. 



THE OLD AUDUBON TOMB. 



MAINE'S VANISHING GAME. 



Bangor, Me. — As "M." of East Saginaw, Mich., has 

 very sensibly discussed the wild pigeon question in Forest 

 AND Stream of April 13, let me add a few words about the 

 wild pigeon of Maine. Wben 1 was a small boy, thirty 

 years ago, and used to cany a suiweyor's chain in the 

 woods of Maine, wild pigeons were fairly plentiful. On 

 an average I would see from two to three flocks, of from 

 fifteen to fifty, every late summer and antumn day I was 

 out. Then they grew fewer year by year, until about 

 1876 or 80, a man might hunt for weeks without seeing a 

 pigeon. I had made up my mind that, like the dodo and 

 the great auk, the wild pigeon of Maine at least was ex- 

 tinct. In the fall of 1888, however, I saw several above 

 Moosehead Lake. Again in 1889 and 90, I found still 

 more in Washington and Hancock coimties, and in 1891 

 several flocks of from ten to twenty-five were seen in 

 Holden and Eddington within ten miles of Bangor. Last 

 year I failed to find any, though several Bangor gunners 

 reported seeing them. 



Now comes the "nub" of my hypothesis. As soon as 

 the wfld pigeons fell oft' the blackbirds began to gain in 

 numbers. Every year the flocks grew; they invaded the 

 orchards, they pilfered the cornfields and haunted the 

 treetops in flocks of from 100 to 500 for weeks. The boys 

 shot, snared and trapped them, and the farmers "shooed" 

 them with maledictions; but still they came and kept 

 coming more and more. Early in the eighties I left 

 Maine, and, save for short visits, did not live here for six 

 years. On my return in 1887 the horde of crow black- 

 birds had diminished. The flocks were smaller and fewer 

 to the flock; and manj^ of them were winter residents, 

 living in the deep arbor vita? awamps through the coldest 

 weather, and coming out lively in the spring. Thus they 

 have diminished in numbers year by year, until this 

 spring I have not seen more than 100 in all my wander- 

 ings. 



So from casual and very much localized observations I 

 conclude that pigeons and blackbirds are like rival circus 

 companies, and all reciprocally, each taking an innings 

 for from ten to fifteen years, and then giving place to the 

 othei-s. Of course, there is no logical connection between 

 the two facts. Blackbirds and pigeons belong to widely 

 distinct classes in ornithology, and all they have in 

 common are their gregarious habits. Of the two the 

 pigeons are far more prolific, I believe, and would natur- 

 ally stand a better show in the struggle for supremacy. 



But the pigeons, while swifter of wing, are not so alert 

 as the blackbirds, particularly during the migrating 

 season, at which time, the old residents say, the slaughter 

 of pigeons was terrible. 



Our spruce partridges are nearly all gone now; otjt 

 ruffed grouse are losing ground eveiy year, as also are 

 snipe and woodcock, while om- upland plover come later 

 and go earlier as the seasons pass. The Messina quail will 

 not stay with us. Bob White refuses to be naturalized, and 

 all bird Ufe which a sportsman likes to squint at over a 

 breechloader is growing less plentiful and more shy. 

 What is a Maine gimner going to do? A few deer, less 

 caribou, and least moose still linger miles out of our 

 reach. Foxes and rabbits are plentiful, but our hounds 

 and beagles are killed for chasing deer. Must we all get 

 popguns and peg away at the English sparrows, the only 

 imported bird that has yet succeeded in America? 



Tom Ford. 



The Devil of the Woods. 



Readers of the natural histories and woods people gen- 

 erally will doubtless be interested in the following letter 

 from Manitoba by Mr. Thos. Johnson, in regard to the 

 habits of the wolverine: 



c -■eputation for eating enormous quanti- 

 ties of food ai'e erroneous. We had one in captivity liere, when I had 

 every opportunity of observing its tendencies in that direction, and I 

 also know a good deal about it in its wild stnte. I have no doubt that 

 the re^json every authority I have read have fallen in the error of 

 thinking it a voracions eater is its habit of despoiling everything it 

 can get at in the shape of food besides what it eats up entirely. 

 Every kmd of ingenuity had to be used to prevent this by trappers 

 and others when traveling in a district where wolverines were known 

 to have been. The deposit from this creature has a very offensive 

 odor. 



It is not only guilty of this selfish habit of steaUng or spoiling all 

 you have m the shape of eatables, but its bump of destructivness is 

 simply awful. I don't wonder at the squaws shuddering when you 

 mention the name of what they term the little "black devil." Their 

 tenacity of life is also marvelous. Mr. Matheson, the Hudson Bay 

 Company's factor at Patportage, told me that he once lassoed one 

 and tying the other end of the rope to his saddle he galloped for some 

 miles without its having any apparent effect, and he hacf to shoot it. 

 An old Ojibbeway squaw was in the store when Mr. Matheson was 

 tellmg me his story and having asked her some questions about wol- 

 verines (through an interpreter) I had repeated to her Mr. Mathe- 

 son "s story, at which she got off the first Munchausen story that I 

 ever heard an Indian tell. 



She said that one of the band she was with caught a wolverine and 

 desiring- to torture the animal they skinned it alive. The day was 

 very cold, about 40° below zero, so cold that the Indian's hand got 

 numbed tmd Mr. Devil in Black skooted across a river they were near, 

 and sheWaid would certainly have escaped them had he not fallen 

 down the opposite bank— frozen ! 



The pelt makes a most excellent robe, especially for parlor foot- 

 robes. One quality it possesses I don't know of in any other robe: 

 you can dance or stamp on one all day and by giving it a -shake it 

 looks new again. 



Come up here and I will show further particulars about wolverines 

 that will make you think with me that his Satanic Ma.iesty has either 

 his double or his son in the woods of British North America. 



The clii^ping in question has not the name of the paper 

 appended, and can not be credited, but reads as below: 



THE WOLVERINE. 



Naturalists have disputed the classification of this animal since the 

 days of Linnteus, who placed it in the bear family and named it Ursus 

 luscus. a majority, however, have pronounced the wolverine of North 

 America and the glutton of Siberia and northern Europe to be one 

 and the same. On this continent the wolverine is known by several 

 names, the Hudson's Bay bear, the carca.nou, the quick hatch and 

 diable des bois. The last is the most appropriate of all, for certainly 

 no more fierce and devilish creature exists than the wolverine. The 

 Indians and hunters abhor the be^st. He is their bete noir, their spoil 

 sport; immediately that aline of traps are nicely placed, along will 

 come a wolverine and spring every ti-ap and steal the baits. He never 

 gets caught, he is far too cunning for that. Should he come upon an 

 unguarded camp in his travels he devotes all his energies to destroying 

 everything in and about it. Provisions, clothing, blankets, even the 

 tent and tent ropes are cut, torn and destroyed in pure maliciousness. 

 A wolverine is known to have destroyed sis bags of pemmican and 

 nine sacks of flour which were cached by a C. P. R. engineering party, 

 scattering the contents all over the ground. His appears to be a re- 

 lentless hatred of man and aU pertaining to him. 



He is a formidable looking customer and one that one would be shy 

 to encounter in the open. About the size of a prairie wolf or red fox, 

 but shorter and stouter in build, short muscular legs ending in large 

 paws armed with enormous and powerful claws, much seem out of 

 proportion to the size of the animal, a small bear -like head, with 

 small beady eyes and prick ears. A mouth, which is continually dis- 

 tended in a snarl which discloses two rows of long sharp teeth sugges- 

 tive of lacerated flesh and crunched bones. His color is dark brown 

 almost black on the back and belly but several shades lighter on the 

 sides, his tail is long and bushy. The fur is soft and is highly prized 

 on account of its color and fineness as well as for its rarity. 



It is seldom that the wolverine is captured alive, in fact it is difficult 

 to get a shot at one at all so exti-emely cautious is he. Traps and dead 

 falls are open books to him and it is onl3' by excerising the gi-eatest 

 ingenuity that the hunter can secure a wolverine pelt. 



The Zoological Gardens, London , England, boasted the possession 

 of a live specimen of the glutton a few years ago. Of course natural- 

 ists say that the wolverine is a glutton and vice versa, but if the de- 

 scription given by Rev. Mr. Wood, of the "Zoo's" glutton is a true one 

 it was not a wolverine. The reverend gentleman, after describing the . 

 animal's appearance, remarks that the "expression of the face is 

 rather pleasing than otherwise." Now. the expression on a wolver- 

 ine's face is that of a fiend, but perhaps Mr. Woods belongs to that 

 class of persons who are easily pleased. 



As far as the writer can learn there is at the present time but one 

 wolverine alive in captivity, and that one is in Winnipeg. It was cap- 

 tured with infinite trouble when a kitten— would you call it?— near 

 Whitemouth, on the C. P. R., by Bob Meyers, the well known trapper 

 and hunter. 



The gentleman who owns it took it in charge at the time of its cap- 

 ture and did all that kindness could suggest to tame the wild little 

 creature, but in vain, it was as savage then as if full grown, and no 

 effort has succeeded in training it in the slightest degree. It is said 

 that some of the Eastern zoological gardens exhibit wildcats or lynx 

 as wolverines, and many persons confound these animals with one an- 

 other. 



Mr. McDonald, of the Albion Hotel, is the proud possessor of the 

 "ojily wolverine," and he takes great pleasure in showing his pet to 

 visitors. E. Hough. 



Meeting^ of the Canada Institute. 



At the meeting of the biological section of the Canadian 

 Institute, Toronto, ' on Monday, April 17. the following 

 gentlemen were elected as ofiicers of the Natural History 

 Society for the ensuing year: President, John Maughan; 

 Vive-Presidents, G. G. Pursey, C. Armstrong and Arthur 

 Harvey; Secretaries, I. B. Williams andS. HoUingsworth; 

 Treasurer, Arthur Harvey; Curator, James Noble; Mem- 

 bers of Council, J. Maughan, Jr., E. V. Eipon and James 

 H, Flemming. A very interesting lecture on the "Oste- 

 ology of Birds" was given by Prof. R. Ramsay Wright. 

 He introduced his lecture by pointing out some of the dif- 

 ferences of the modern classification of birds from the 

 systems adopted by the oldej" naturalists, and then pro- 

 ceeded to point out various points of resemblance between 

 the skeletons of birds and reptiles, and phowed how, in 

 the gradual evolution of birds from reptiles, the various 

 bones liave been changed and modified. He took up suc- 

 cessively different parts of the skull, neck, backbone, wing, 

 leg and foot, and illustrated the subject with diagrams 

 and numerous beautiftflly prepared specimens from the 

 tmiversity museum. 



