March 3, 1894.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



181 



CARIBOU HABITS. 



St. John, N. B.— In summer the caribou feeds chiefly 

 on common plants; it is especially fond of a broad-leafed 

 grass, growing in wet places and around the barrens 

 which are so numerous in various places in the interior of 

 New Brunswick, In September you will find them on 

 these barrens feeding on the reindeer moss (Cladonia 

 rangiferina), of which they are very fond. They will dig 

 for it when the snow is nearly or quite four feet deep. 

 They have been seen at this work when only their backs 

 were visible above the surface of the snow. When there 

 is a crust on the snow their operations at once cease, as 

 they are no longer able to work. Then they betake them- 

 selves to the black moss which hangs from the trees which 

 skirt the barrens. This they will, however, never eat so 

 long as they can get the genuine reindeer moss. Toward 

 spring they ascend to the high lauds and hardwood ridges, 

 where they remain until the snow has left. The dark and 

 white caribou are often seen together in droves. 



Not one out of every ten female caribou has horns; when 

 they do have them, they are much smaller than those of 

 the bull. The horns of the female have, however, in gen- 

 eral many more branches than those of the bull, and are 

 much more regularly and finely formed. The cows carry 

 their horns much longer than the bulls; they have been 

 seen here with horns in the month of April. The old bulls 

 shed theirs from the 10th to the last of November; they 

 hardly ever carry them after the month of November. 

 The young bulls shed theirs from the 1st of December 

 until the middle of February; the younger the animal the 

 longer he retains his horns. Edward Jack. 



Lynxes. 



Your correspondent "J. A. G." says, in issue of Feb. 8> 

 that he has seen tracks and heard howls which "Pine 

 Tree" thinks were probably the manifestations of a lynx. 



As these things happened in the Wisconsin forests, of 

 which I used to know something, I believe that "Pine 

 Tree" is right. The size of the tracks (3£in.j lis not unus- 

 ual. I used to track one old fellow which had an enorm- 

 ous foot, and I hardly expect to be believed when I say 

 that I measured it at several different times and its diam- 

 eter was 4rjin. 



I never saw any other track of lynx nearly as large as 

 this, and I was most anxious to see the creature; but al- 

 though these animals are often very bold and apparently 

 fearless of man, I could never manage to get a sight of 

 one. Yet I spent years in the forests where they were 

 common and often heard their cries. 



Once, about noon of a winter's day, I reached a logging 

 camp on the Oconto, where I found the men just come in 

 for dinner. They were hurrying about to get a gun ready 

 for shooting something. On inquiry, it appeared that 

 when they had nearly reached the camp a lynx was seen 

 by the roadside, and allowed the whole crew, fourteen in 

 number, to pass him within a few yards. They did not 

 get a shot at the animal. 



At the water-hole in the ice, near the same camp, a 

 man who was dipping water one morning threw his axe 

 at a lynx which came quite near. 



I suppose that they were the more fearless because of 

 the many men they saw; very few were armed with any- 

 thing more deadly than an axe. Yet it seems odd that 

 they were very rarely killed 



In this county, although I believe that they have been 

 seen, they are certainly very rare. I have never tracked 

 one or known one to be killed hereabouts. Kelpie. 



" That reminds me." 

 The Last Moose of Millsfield Pond. 



PARTIES who have traveled over the stage road from 

 Berlin Falls to Errol Dam, in New Ham pshire, have doubt- 

 less met or heard of John Chandler, of Dummer. Chand- 

 ler has the reputation of being a jolly, wideawake, first-rate 

 fellow; and his house is said to be the best place to stop at 

 in that region. 



Some four years ago, in October, two young men went 

 to Chandler's. Like most young hunters, they were very 

 enthusiastic and full expected to find game of all kinds. 

 They asked a great many questions about hunting. 

 Chandler said the woods were full of deer, bear and 

 moose; and he advised them to go to Millsfield Pon.d. 

 They were told to follow the stage road until they came 

 to an old logging road, which would take them to the pond; 

 and were cautioned to be careful when they got near the 

 pond, as there would be a moose in the water very near 

 the spot where the old road came to the pond. Chandler 

 drew a sketch of the route and also of the pond with a 

 moose standing in the water. Starting early, they found 

 the old logging road; and when the pond was reached, 

 there stood the moose and they shot him at once. The 

 return to the house was made in pretty quick time; and 

 when the boys saw Chandler they shouted , "We've got 

 him! We've got him!'' 



"Got what?" asked Chandler. 



"Why, the moose you sent us after." 



"You can't fool me," replied Chandler; "there has not 

 been a moose around here for the last twenty years." 



"We don't care if there has not been," said the boys, 

 "we found one in the pond, and he is there now; and we 

 want you to go and bring him out." 



An ox team was taken to the pond and the moose was 

 hauled out and taken to Berlin Falls. 



In telling the story afterward, Chandler would laugh 

 and say, "What a giveaway it was for me. Had I sup- 

 posed there was a moose about here I wouldn't have told 

 any one; I would have gone after him myself." 



Two weeks or so after this moose was killed, John Dan- 

 forth and I were on our way to Parmachenee, and we 

 spent a night at Berlin Falls. When we were talking 

 about the moose with the landlord of the hotel, he said, 

 "I suppose, it was the largest moose ever killed." 



"I heard it was a young bull and weighed 400lbs.," I 

 said. 



1 Yes," replied he, "that is what it weighed; but they 

 have been selling it at the butcher's here for 35 cents a 

 pound, and have sold already about 1 ,2001bs., and I guess 

 there is a little left." C. M. Stark. 



Whnchesteb, Mass. 



It was this way, 



Skavlem and I were shooting at our place on Koshko- 

 nong, and as we have nearly three miles of frontage 

 there in common with one other gentlemen we had plenty 

 of room. 



Skavlem thinks that twenty-five decoys are as good as 

 a hundred, while I think the reverse. So I had out nearly 

 a hundred and he only twenty-five, and the canvasbacks 

 were coming my way more than his, but he wouldn't 

 give up his theory. 



One day at dinner he was kicking about something. 

 The blind was not right, or the sun was in his eyes, or 

 something, I hardly remember what; but anyway I told 

 him to go into my blind after dinner and I would shoot 

 off the point, where he had another jam of decoys, and I 

 would show him how I could call the canvasbacks in. He 

 rather sniffed at it, I thought, but after dinner he poked 

 out in my blind, while I walked down to the point with 

 John, who was staying with us. Pretty soon John asked 

 me where I got the tall grass I used in my blind instead 

 of willows, and I went down along the shore to show him 

 and help him cut some, which was right in behind my 

 blind. While we were cutting it there came a big lot of 

 canvas headed in from the lake, but well outside of the 

 decoys. I began calling, and after they were about 

 twenty rods past Skavlem the whole gang, fifty at least, 

 came up into the wind, turned and struck straight for 

 him. As they circled over his decoys, John and I held 

 our breath, for we knew he had his 8-bore in the boat 

 and we expected to see a street cut through them. But 

 not a sound came from Skavlem and John said, "He 

 must be asleep." I began calling again and once more 

 the great flock swung back, bunched together over the 

 decoys and again we held our breath. But not a sound 

 from Skavlem. Then John and I walked slowly back to 

 the point meditating. John says, "Anyway, I reckon he 

 knows you can call 'em all right." Pretty soon we 

 heard Skavlem shoot and after that he kept it up pretty 

 lively, so we knew he was awake. 



That night after supper I said, "Well, I called 'em in 

 to you, didn't I, why didn't you shoot." "The safety 

 stuck." That was all he said, but I knew he felt hurt. 



Janesvillb, Wis., Feb. 21. A. M. VALENTINE. 



%mt[t §ag md (§mj. 



"GIVING THE ALARM." 



With your correspondent who wrote recently under 

 the above head, I have long observed the readiness with 

 which the shy little denizens of the forest warn each other 

 of approaching danger. All birds seem to have a language 

 sufficiently common to be able to understand alarm notes. 

 The scolding of a wren or catbird at a stray dog or cat 

 will assemble in a few minutes an indignant flock of the 

 bird family, of all names and sizes. It is a question, of 

 course, to what extent the larger animals make note of 

 bird cries. I have never hunted moose, but have under- 

 stood that they take alarm at the screaming of the Canada 

 jay. 



And speaking of jays, the whole family of them are not 

 only close observers and persistent meddlers, but most in- 

 veterate tcolds. The California jay will follow and yell 

 at the df er hunter till his patience is worn to the last 

 frazzle. In fact I have known instances where it was 

 quite exhausted and the worm turned. He has a near 

 relative down in this neck of woods in Mexico. I do not 

 know exactly who he is {Aplielocoma sieberii aiHzonce?), 

 but he has the same bad habit. I never had positive proof 

 that deer take notice of these forest tattlers, but probably 

 they do. 



I never was aware till painful experience brought it 

 home to me, that the Virginia deer is so much more cun- 

 ning than the California blacktail. Your editorial matches 

 my experience exactly when it says, "The Virginia deer is 

 the wariest and most cunning of any of his tribe, and 

 there is no task of greater difficulty than to take up the 

 track of a whitetail deer and kill it by fair stalking." The 

 suggestion that this wariness is the result of contact with 

 hunters for generations past, is hardly borne out by the 

 fact that here, where there is the minimum of hunting, 

 the same characteristic is exhibited. It might be inferred 

 from a sentence in the same editorial that all the white- 

 tail deer of Mexico are small. Those to be found where I 

 have hunted, in the dry hills and mountains of central 

 Mexico, average rather large, though not usually very 

 fat 



There is perhaps no better training for the still-hunter 

 as a boy than shooting squirrels with a rifle. And I have 

 about come to the conclusion that they ought not to be 

 shot any other way. With your correspondent I have 

 often noticed the baleful effects of a long wavering 

 shadow. When the sun is low the hunter must watch as 

 carefully where his shadow is to fall as he selects a place 

 for his feet. I have observed too the effects upon game 

 of the white face and hands of the hunter. Skillful hunt- 

 ers in the jungles of Africa are said to blacken their faces. 

 I think, however, that the reason little animals prefer to 

 come up behind one when he is sitting or standing still, 

 is not so much the color of his skin, as their desire to avoid 

 his eyes. All game is peculiarly sensitive to the eye, and 

 wild animals seem to know perfectly when they are ob- 

 served. Of course they sometimes discover this by the 

 movements of the hunter, but they doubtless mark the 

 glance of the eye much further than we suppose. 



A Mexican gentleman interested me very much telling 

 how he was initiated into still-hunting for deer. He and 

 his friends used to go out with their fine guns and wide 

 white hats, white coats, high-heeled shoes, etc., and 

 tramp for hours without so much as seeiDg a deer, though 

 they knew the hills were full of them. But one of the 

 farm hands only asked that they lend him an old carbine 

 and two or three cartridges and he would bring back 

 meat. This nettled the gentleman a good deal, and puz- 

 zled him even more. But one *day he came upon Julian 

 in the woods. He had discarded hat and shirt. His 

 trouseis were rolled high up on his thighs. The brown 

 skin mingled easily with the dull colors of the hillside. 

 The sandals even had been left off, and defying rocks and 

 thorns he was slipping through the brush like a ghost. 

 Don Luis took in the situation. He got him a green hat 

 and a green jacket; — the woods are green the year round 

 there — and with a soft sole of rope matting on his shoes 

 he became a still-hunter himself, and a good one, 

 Suitable footwear is the still-hunter's chief problem in 



this land. The hills which the deer inhabit are both 

 rocky and thorny. Nothing but stout leather and thick 

 soles can resist the fierce cactus thorns which almost 

 cover the ground. But no man can walk over loose rock 

 and gravel with thick soles and heavy heels on his shoes 

 without a racket that will give the whitetail ample warn- 

 ing. The natives, accustomed to the hills from childhood, 

 seem to avoid the thorns instinctively and walk about 

 barefoot or with light sandals on in apparent impunity. 

 T observe that I am learning myself what not to step on. 

 I may later be able to wear moccasins or sandals. I had 

 the heels taken off a pair of old shoes, and soft, spongy 

 soles put on, with the flesh side down. They were pretty 

 quiet on the gravel, but bruised my heels, as the inner 

 sole was thin. And as I came down a steep hill one night 

 in a shower I sat down far too often and too violently for 

 one whose spinal cartilage is beginning to harden. 



This is a lot of gabble, Mr. Editor, and about quite a 

 variety of nothing. But I have just been reading up 

 Forest and Stream for four months back — time which I 

 have spent away from home. I notice that when my 

 hour for recreative reading comes, even the illustrated 

 monthlies lie uncut on the table, while the "family paper" 

 has its innings, I would tell about my recent hunting 

 experiences, but they are as those giddy young men 

 found the M'dway, "Nothing to it." In fact, the experi- 

 ences themselves have been about nil. But now I am 

 going to make an earnest effort to wait till I have some- 

 thing to say. Aztec. 



San Luis Potos i, Mex. 



STOP THE SALE OF GAME. 



A Platform Plank.— TIte sale of game should be forbidden at all 

 times— Forest and Stream, Feb. 10. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The position you have taken in regard to the marketing 

 of game, namely, that at some future time the selling of 

 the spoils of the chase will be, and of right should be, pro- 

 hibited within the limits of the United States, has given 

 me much food for reflection. 



I think your attitude in these matters the correct one, 

 and I am glad that you have given expression to these 

 views, for this sentiment is destined to gain ground in 

 degree commensurate with the gradual extinction of the 

 game supply in such localities as are still free to the 

 public. 



I am very well aware that there are a great many per- 

 sons who will be ready to curse roundly any one who 

 gives expressions to such views as these; but let them 

 curse, and they will. 



For more than half a century I have hunted »nd fished 

 as opportunity occurred, and in many different States. 

 It has not ordinarily been my practice to go afield when 

 I felt it incumbent upon me to stay at home and attend 

 to business, but for all that I have hunted a good deal, 

 and as far as I can recollect, I never fired a shot on pre- 

 served grounds or cast a line over preserved waters. I 

 have lived in more than one place where men could exist 

 on the game that they could kill. I have seen it in vast 

 numbers, and where is it now? 



The old, old story is my answer; the senseless and 

 wicked wastefulness, the utter disregard of the plainest 

 lessons taught by the reckless slaughter of game and 

 fishes, seem to have been every where the same. In the 

 town and country where I write, where a few years ago 

 a good hunter could almost certainly kill a deer when 

 needed, it is not now worth while to carry a gun. The 

 very grouse — such of them as are! left, seem to have 

 changed their habits, and instead of haunting the road- 

 sides and open spaces in the forests during the autumn 

 season, betake themselves to the depths of the woods 

 where they are seldom seen unless by a chance land 

 surveyor. 



Every deer killed in this region costs the hunter, in 

 time and other expenses, a good many dollars more than 

 its market value, yet there are those who seek to eke out 

 the payment of these expenses by the sale of the venison 

 they may chance to secure. I cannot think this right. 

 Certainly this course has not conduced to the greatest 

 good of the greater number of hunters, 



Wherever there is still game enough for all — if there be 

 such a locality, it might seem that a poor man may as 

 rightfully market a superfluity of birds or animals killed 

 on public lands, as that a shareholder in a game preserve 

 should kill more than his needs require, for any purpose 

 whatever. But what business has any man, be he prince 

 or peasant, with more than a dozen birds in a day, or with 

 more than one, or at most two, deer in a season? 



I am in favor of game preserves, and do not care who 

 knows it. I would own one if I could, and so would 

 every other man who loves the gun. 



I am in favor of everything which shall tend to provide 

 against the threatened extinction of our game and fish, 

 that those who succeed us may not perforce hear only in 

 imagination the whistle of a buck, or the whirr of the 

 startled grouse; and the game preserves appear to me to 

 offer the only hope to this direction. But I would insist, 

 had I the power, that the number of game creatures or of 

 fish which may be taken on these preserves should be 

 limited to the same that any one outside their limits 

 should be allowed to kill; and this number should he very 

 small indeed, until the overflow from these inclosures 

 should at least begin to have its effect on restocking the 

 public lands. Kelpie. 



Towanda, Pa.— We have several market-huntera here, 

 who kill from 100 to 300 birds in a season. Pitt. 



Ohio Game Legislation. 



Toledo, O., Feb, 22. — Editor Forest and Stream: The 

 Strong bill forbidding the sale or possession of any game 

 or game birds during the close season (House bill No. 176) 

 which passed the House some three weeks ago, was de- 

 feated in the Senate yesterday. This is not a matter of 

 regret, owing to the crude and imperfect shape in which 

 the bill went over from the House. If enacted as it passed 

 that body, it would have prevented any common carrier, 

 club or individual, from bringing any live game birds into 

 the State, or from even feeding them through the winter, 

 for stocking purposes. Some of us attempted to secure an 

 amendment to the bill after it had gone through the House, 

 but without success. The section forbidding the sale of 

 dead game at any time in the year, and its possession dur- 

 ing the close season is all right, but people do not buy live 

 game to kill and eat, and the provisions of the Strong bill, 

 if it w;s to be impaiti Uy enforced, were too sweeping. 



Jay Beebe, 



