Feb. 17, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



188 



man, a resident, however, of the district (Algorna), but 

 had just returned from a somewhat lengthy visit to his 

 mother country, and besides carrying a superfluity of 

 "haitches" which he fired at ''memorandum" — as old 

 Dave Edwards did at the rebels — he was loaded with some 

 snob phrases that he had doubtless picked up among the 

 swells and dudes on the other side, with which he made 

 us weary with what "Old Knots" used to call "the damn- 

 able iteration, " 



Any statement that was mildly surprising to him — and 

 there were a good many such sprung on him — invariably 

 moved hini to relieve himself with a string of "oh-oh- 

 ohs!" usually adding to the three ohs "ah, oh!" as a 

 clincher. Then anything said that he coincided with, he 

 put the seal of approval on with "oh, yes, yes! quite so, 

 quite so; ah, quite so," repeated with a" rapidity that be- 

 tokened a fear that some of the "ohs" and "quite sos" 

 would get away from him before he got out of breath. I 

 fished with him a few hours in the afternoon in a boat 

 where I couldn't get away, and when we got back to 

 camp I was so "oh, oh'd" and "quite so'd" and "asper- 

 ated" that had I undertaken to write my name I doubt- 

 less would have started it with a capital hi instead of an 

 haitch. 



However, I reached camp without quite losing my 

 hidentity, albeit I was not in a very 'ilarious mood, but I 

 felt relieved, "quite so, quite so." 



But, as I said before, our friend "hA." was a bully good 

 fellow, and a sportsman, which makes amends for aheap 

 o' sins of commission and homission. Brother Geo. 

 Dyer, too, near whose kitchen door we had our camp, is 

 a John Bull from 'way back, and pays as little attention 

 to a misplaced "h" as he would to a turtle track in the 

 sand; but he also is a good fellow and a sportsman, and 

 we did not split with him because he haspirated a trifle 

 when he talked through " 'is 'at.' 



But our simon pure Canadian neighbors round about 

 us did not misuse the aspirate to any noticeable extent — 

 the "howl don't 'oot in Halgoma" — and I am sure, "quite 

 so, quite so," that Kelpie did not intend to "put the Cock- 

 ney dialect into Canadian mouths" when he wrote the 

 last paragraph of "A Kingfisher Corollary," but had in 

 his mind's eye one, or maybe both, of our aforemen- 

 tioned English friends. I say friends, for the "King- 

 fishers" look on every angler and sportsman as a friend 

 and brother, whether he hadd hon a hextra haitch where 

 not needed or drop one hoff where it might be better 

 'itched hon, and besides, I can't see why brother "Pin- 

 tail" should flare up and work himself into a "category" 

 if an Englishman, or a Canadian for that matter, does 

 misuse the aspirate, especially if he is built that way and 

 "cawn't 'elp it, ye know." 



B|We found our brother sportsmen in Canada to be very 

 much the same as those we meet on our side of the 

 boundary— gentlemen — and our Canadian neighbors were 

 clever and obliging, and "plenty good enough fur the 

 Joneses." And now, I trust Br'er "Pintail" will pardon 

 me for taking up the pen in my old friend "Kelpie's" 

 behalf, for I know him to be a conscientious, considerate 

 and veracious chronicler, and he usually knows what he 

 wants to say, and writes of things fairly and fearlessly, 

 just as he hears and sees them. Kingfisher. 



Cincinnati, Ohio 



u That reminds me." 



A WEST VIRGINIA IDYL, 



The story which I am about to narrate to the truth- 

 loving readers of this paper, was told by a charming 

 young lady from Virginia. When I first heard it I con- 

 fess that I did not believe it, but when I expresspd a doubt 

 regarding a fewminor details, she appeared to be so hurt 

 at my implied disbelief in the main facts, that rather than 

 bring tears to the depths of those truthful eyes, I swallowed 

 it all and have never doubted a word since. I make no 

 question that those who read it here will believe it im- 

 plicitly, otherwise I would not tell it. 



"It all happened about three years ago," she said. "I 

 remember the time because it was my first night-ride 

 in a sleeper over the Central. The road was awfully 

 rough in those days. That was the time I was pitched 

 out of my section right across the aisle into the opposite 

 section, and did not wake up at all. I thought it was just 

 an ordinary jounce, and slept right along till morning. 

 However, that has nothing to do with the story I was go- 

 ing to tell about the cow. It was the morning after I got 

 home that the Colonel came up to show me his new horse. 

 The Colonel was a great fox hunter, and he wanted to 

 show off the horse and make him jump, but there wasn't 

 anything for him to jump over only old Chloe's cow that 

 happened to be lying down in the road. So he rode 

 straight at the cow and just as the horse jumped, the cow 

 got up. Such a mess you never saw. The cow and the 

 Colonel and the horse were all mixed up, and you couldn't 

 tell one from the other; but at last they got unsnarled 

 and then you ought to have been there. The horse wasn't 

 hurt, and the Colonel was so mad that he didn't know 

 whether he was hurt or not, but the cow was a wreck. 

 About that time old Chloe came out, wringing her hands 

 and crying, and carrying on so that the Colonel had to 

 buy the cow to make her keep still. So he paid about 

 four times what it was worth and then he didn't know 

 what to do with it; but he was bound to get rid of it, and 

 gave it to Charlie, who did all he could to patch the poor 

 old thing up, but it was no use and that night it died. 



"The next day an old darky was skinning the cow when 

 Jim happened to come along. Jim and Charlie were 

 always great chums and loved duck shooting better than 

 anything, and they hatched up a scheme between them 

 for getting at the ducks down in the marsh where there 

 was not any cover. They stretched the skin over some 

 hoops and dried it, so that it looked considerably like the 

 old cow, and then they were ready. Charlie got inside 

 the skin and made the front legs, and poked his gun up 

 through the cow's neck so he could shoot out of the cow's 

 eyes. Then Jim got into it to make the hindleg-s and he 

 put his gun up through the cow's tail. Then they started 

 across the open marsh toward the ducks. Such a sight 

 you never saw. Jim had to walk backward because he 

 was facing the tail, and if there was ever a crazy-drunk 

 cow that one was. I never laughed so much in all my 

 life. First Charlie, would stumble and down Would go the 

 cow's nose in the dirt; then Jim would lose hia balance 



and the cow's tail, that was as straight as a gun barrel, 

 would wave in all directions at once. I never saw such a 

 circus anywhere. Of course, the ducks could not stand 

 it, and when they put their necks up and Charlie saw 

 they were going to fly pretty quick he started to run; but 

 Jim couldn't go any faster backward and down went the 

 old cow all in a heap. Jim's gun went off and blew the 

 tail all to pieces, and we up in the woods laughed till I 

 thought we should die right there. The boys were awful 

 mad. They didn't know there was any one watching 

 them and I am not sure they have forgiven us yet. 



"I have not seen the Colonel for a long time, but old 

 Chloe lives with us now. She is the best old darky you 

 ever saw. Why, hot nights she will stand by my bed 

 and fan me all night long, and be just as sound asleep as 

 I am. Never stops fanning for a minute; I don't see how 

 she can do it, do you? I don't know what I should do 

 without her." 



That ended the story and th« story telling. Some of us 

 had intended to state a few facts ourselves, but we saw 

 the absolute futility of Massachusetts attempting to cope 

 with West Virginia in telling stories that were strictly 

 true, so we forbore and the party soon dispersed. 



Bradley. 



GROUNDHOG DAY. 



"I have heard old farmers say: 

 You must save for Candlemas Day 

 Half your wood and half your hay; 

 Though the sun go down on the buds so brown, 

 And the south winds blow on the melting snow, 

 There are very many days, there are very many days 

 Ere we see the pretty flowers of spring." 



—Old Song 



Candlemas, Groundhog Day, 1894. An old farmer in 

 my native town once quoted the substance of the above 

 proverbial rhyme to another, thus: 



"Half yer wood an 1 half yer hay, 

 Fer to-morrer's Can'lemas Day." 

 "Yes," replied the other, 

 "An ! ef there's a chance for snow er rain, 

 A plenty o' meat 'n grain." 



As far as my observation goes, it is not a general custom 

 with American farmers to burn superfluous candles on 

 this important anniversary. They seem to have more 

 cheaply compromised the matter by giving over the duties 

 of its appropriate celebration to the bear and the ground- 

 hog, and no member of either species, if of correct princi- 

 ples and competent education and acquirements, ever fails 

 on the second of February to climb out of his den, sit up, 

 and diligently look about him in search of his shadow. 

 If he sees it, he forthwith returns for a further nap of six 

 consecutive weeks; if he sees it not, he goes not back to 

 his lair, but stays outside and waits for warm weather. 

 To-day has been quite sunny, and shadows were easily 

 seen, and an old neighbor of mine said: "It's astonishin' 

 haow many the' is 't b'lieves that there story." 



Our winter here in northern Michigan, though it began 

 in November with weather of unusual severity for that 

 season, has been for the most part quite mild. The snows 

 are not as deep as they were two months ago, as rains and 

 thaws have not been infrequent. There is a good deal of 

 crust on the snow which is not favorable for some sorts of 

 game, but I think the deer have not fared badly, and I 

 have heard of no crust-hunting. 



Speaking of groundhogs, or woodchucks, they were 

 formerly very plentiful in this region, but within six or 

 seven years, the badgers (as well as the skunks) have 

 appeared in this county, where none of either was ever 

 seen before; and the badgers have as far as I can learn, 

 nearly destroyed the woodchucks. They are said by the 

 farmers to dig them out, kill and devour them. 



I should think that this might be a good thing, as where 

 mowing machines are in use, the hillocks thrown up by the 

 woodchucks are apt to cause some profanity on the part 

 of the mowers. Kelpie. 



Central Lake, Mich, 



ALBINO SPECIMENS. 



New York, Jan. 31. — In your issue of Jan. 27 I notice 

 an article by J. S. Ricketts about a white deer. It is 

 strange that so few understand what this is or what it 

 means, it is so often written about and as being some- 

 thing wonderful. It is liable to occur in any family or 

 in any living thing. It occurs even in the grasses. 

 White deer, white corn, white fox, white squirrel, etc., 

 are all albinos and only freaks of nature. A. M, D. 



[It is well enough understood that albinism is a ' 'freak 

 of nature," nevertheless records of its occurrence are in- 

 teresting and should be noted.] 



Ottawa, Kans. — In January I killed a fine white quail, 

 not a snow white, but of pink cast. Turn the feathers 

 wrong side out and it is a decided pink; but when they lie 

 in proper manner they are between the color of a turtle 

 dove and pink, with variegated mottles. The head has 

 the distinct marks of a male quail. Being a taxidermist 

 myself, I have preserved and mounted him, and have him 

 in my office. He is the first one of the kind I ever saw. 



H, B. P. 



The famous Chicago albino blackbird, which for some 

 time has been numbered among the interesting adorn- 

 ments of Billy Mussey's billiard hall, and which is prob- 

 ably as perfect a specimen of the albino blackbird as was 

 ever seen, has a little history which may be interesting. 

 The bird was killed at Mak-saw-ba Club, on the Kanka- 

 kee River, Indiana, by L. R. Brown, who saw it among a 

 number of blackbirds which had alighted on the frozen 

 ground. Getting within 50yds. or more, and fearing to 

 alarm the flock by trying to go closer, Mr. Brown fired 

 and broke the wing of the bird. It was still lively and 

 in trying to catch it all the tail feathers were pulled out. 

 Mr. Brown carefully gathered these and brought them 

 with him, keeping the bird alive. It was alive, active 

 and very pugnacious when brought to the city, and 

 would probably have lived a long time, though it was 

 thought best to preserve it in full and undraggled plumage. 1 

 The taxidermist put on the tail feathers when the bird | 

 was mounted. It is a very perfect specimen, milk white 

 i' vcept for a faint tinge of ruddy feathers on the butt of ' 



the wings, which makes the bird all the more interesting, 

 as it was found in a flock of crimson-winged blackbirds. 

 As shown now, the eyes are of a little lighter pink than 

 they should be. In life they were fairly dark. Most 

 albinos are more or less unsatisfying, but this little bird 

 is pure white and beautiful, one of the rarest specimens 

 in the country, and probably the best of its kind ever 

 known, if, indeed, the white blackbird was ever really 

 seen before. 



At Mak-saw-ba a white muskrat was killed not very 

 long ago, and it seems natural for all sorts of unnatural 

 things to happen there. 



Lately I was speaking of black foxes, red foxes, etc., in 

 the matter of a letter from Dakota. Since then I learn of 

 the capture of a black fox, as see the following clipping 

 from the Saginaw, Mich. , Globe, which is sent me by some 

 one unknown: 



At Henning & Holden's place, 405 Genesee avenue, there are dis- 

 played to day three fine specimens of fox, which were killed within 

 two hours' time near Reese on Saturday. One of the animals is "a 

 black," pronounced by old hunters to be the only specimen of the kind 

 ever seen around these parta. The fortunate hunters who did this 

 big work were Charley Frueh, Chris Waltz, William Body, Tom Gaff- 

 ney, Alvin Fox and William Held. It was a field day for the boys and 

 they are justly proud of their accomplishment, The dog that was 

 used belonged to E. G. Fox, of Reese, and is said to be a thoroughbred 

 English foxhound. Charley Henning thought so much of the dog's 

 achievement that he to-day purchased him. 



Incidents like the above are so unusual as to be of great 

 interest. E. Hough. 



"Malevolence in the Lower Animals." 



In an interesting article in the Ohio' University Bulletin 

 on the above subject, Prof J. E. LeRossignol gives the views 

 of Dr. Wesley Mills and Mr. B. Waters bearing on heredity 

 of bad temper. He propounded six questions as follows: 



"1. Is bad temper hereditary? 



"2. Is training or environment of greater importance than 

 heredity in determining the good or bad temper of a dog? 



"3. Are good and bad temper respectively characteristic of 

 any particular breeds of dogs? 



"4. What is the proper method to employ in overcoming 

 hereditary bad temper in a puppy? 



"5. What sort of treatment is calculated to spoil the tem- 

 per of the puppy? 



"6 Do the answers to questions 1 and 2 apply also in the 

 case of horses?" 



Dr. Mills replies as follows: 



"1. I am satisfied that any trait may be hereditary, bad 

 and good temper included. I would hesitate to breed from 

 a bad-tempered dog of either sex, no matter how excellent a 

 specimen otherwise, especially if of a larger breed, as being 

 more dangerous to man and his canine companions. 



"2. Heredity, I believe, by far the stronger. 



"3, No; though it occurs more frequently among certain 

 breeds perhaps. A bad-tempered setter or spaniel is rare. 

 Bad temper may be said to be much more common in cer- 

 tain breeds than in others, rare in some, but absolutely con- 

 fined to none. 



"4. Furnish an environment free from temptation and 

 encourage a sense of justice — for dogs have this in a fashion 

 at all events— from the first. Give him little chance to 

 quarrel, but insist on his realizing that if he does it willingly, 

 punishment of some kind— not necessarily corporal— will 

 follow. I have found separation sometimes a severe punish- 

 ment for dogs. They seem to know in some measure what 

 it means. Disapprobation, scolding, is severe punishment 

 for some dogs. 



"5. Teasing, hard usage, over-punishment, injustice, &c. 

 Highly bred dogs especially suffer much psychically under 

 bad usage, especially punishment in anger and to excess. 



"6. Yes." 



Mr Waters's answers were: 



"1. It sometimes is; not often. Bad temper, or rather 

 capability of bad temper is in most cases acquired. But few 

 dogs are so fortunate as to go through life without being 

 maliciously teased or abused. Certain actions, looks, or 

 people are associated with mal-treatment or pain. Even 

 when in ill temper, dogs oftenest merely make a pretense of 

 biting, if they make any effort at all. All dogs have more or 

 less latent ill temper, the same as human beings. They are 

 usually good-tempered. I never saw a dog ill-tempered from 

 pure wantonness. Of course, heredity asserts itself in the 

 disposition as in all other phenomena of the organism; but I 

 never saw a dog born with an active ill temper. 



"2. Training and environment have everything to do with 

 it. There is no dog but can be made ill-tempered by im- 

 proper treatment. No dog is ill-tempered but kind treat- 

 ment will cure it. 



"3. Some breeds are more courageous than others. Bull- 

 terriers, fox-terriers, other terriers and some breeds are 

 quarrelsome among themselves, not necessarily from ill- 

 temper. Toward their master or acquaintances they may be 

 affection personified if kindly treated. If pain is inflicted 

 the instinct of self-preservation prompts a defense. 



"4. Kindness. I never saw a naturally ill-tempered puppy. 

 I do not consider that a display of anger at ill treatment or 

 teasing is ill temper. Kindness quickly dispels ill-temper in 

 a dog which has had good raising. 



"5. The same which would spoil the temper of a human 

 being. Confinement, punishment, teasing maliciously, in- 

 sufficient food and inflicting pain wantonly and constantly. 

 However, a dog is very forgiving, and will forget a lot of 

 previous abuse if treated kindly. He will resent any attack 

 on his master sooner than if offered to himself. Cowardly 

 dogs often show great fortitude in defense of those they love. 

 Apparent ill-temper is sometimes only a manifestation of 

 jealously. Some dogs are so attached to those they love that 

 they resent the approach of strangers. This is apt to become 

 habitual if the master shows the slightest approbation of it. 

 "If their love is not recognized, or a rival dog is shown more 

 favor, the defeated dog often shows dejection and grief, 

 sometimes going in hiding to mourn alone. 



"6. These answers do not apply to horses. Horses are not 

 so affectionate as dogs. Some colts show malicious ill-temper 

 from birth." 



There is in these answers a diversity of opinion as to 

 whether bad temper is hereditary. We must say, however, 

 that our experience prompts us to lean to Mr. Waters's 

 view. The old saying "Train up a child in the way he 

 should go, etc.," is very applicable here. Very few dogs, in 

 fact they are the exception, are born with bad tempers, 

 they either become vicious by environment through associa- 

 tion witn other dogs or through the ill-advised treatment of 

 their masters. Prof. Rossignol takes this view when he 

 says: 



"Unkind and unfair treatment of animals by men has the 

 effect of rendering them chronically ill-tempered. It is 

 partly for this reason and partly, perhaps, because of the 

 fact that animals possess the tendency to imitate, the quar- 

 relsome people generally possess ill-tempered dogs. 'Like 

 master, like dog.' On the other hand, people of kindly 

 manners are. generally found surrounded by animals of like 

 disposition, showing that environment exerts a power equal, 

 if not superior, to that of heredity. Ill health is frequently 

 the cause of bad temper in animals as well as in men. Yet 

 it is well-known that animals will often endure severe sur- 

 i gical operations without resentment, as if conscious of the 



Igood intention of the operator." 

 If some of our large breeders could he induced to give 

 their views on this important question of hereditary bad 

 temper they would prove both valuable and interesting, 



