Maech 81, 1894.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



269 



Lepido-ganoids, and a number of modern Placoids. 

 Agassiz concluded that it was possible for some modem 

 form of the Enaliosaurans to still exist in the American 

 aeas; why not have some descendant from the cretaceous 

 Moaasaufs, of which there were at least fifty, different 

 species, some reaching a length of 7Sft., or from the many 

 forms of Plesiosaurs of the Jurassic period? 

 Flainfield, N. J., Feb, 37. STEPHEN A. KllOM. 



[If correspondents who are especially interested in this 

 subject will turn back to the issues of Forest and Stream 

 for Dec. 14, 1882, p. 381. and Dec. at, 1882, p. 406, they 

 will find there a good deal that bears on the "sea serpent" 

 question.] 



A PET BAT. 



I have often glanced over your Natural History 

 columns, and been both amused and instructed. As one 

 of your purposes seems to be to rid the readers of an 

 unnatural and inhuman antipathy to all forms of life 

 lower than man, allow me to aid by describing my experi- 

 ence in taming and making a pet of a common bat. This 

 little animal is too often stamped and beaten out of exist- 

 ence on grounds as ill-founded as those on which all 

 snakes are condemned. 



I found my bat on a window sill one spring-like day in 

 mid-winter (1894), and brought him in to save him from 

 freezing to death. I gave him the free range of the two 

 rooms more particularly appropriated to me. For some 

 days the bat was quite shy and hung himself away during- 

 daylight behind a picture frame, coming out at nigbt to 

 circle around, perhaps in search of food. On these occa- 

 sions I would place a very fine piece of raw meat on my 

 finger, and waiting for him to light, would place it near 

 his jaws. He soon learned to snatch it off and devour it, 

 chewing it a long time. I then gave him a few drops of 

 water from my finger or a pencil, and he would fly around 

 for a while and then hide himself away. For a week or 

 $ight days at a time he would chatter and snap (and bite, 

 too) at any one touching him.* However, his bite would 

 scarcely penetrate the outer skin. 



He soon got so tame that I and my twcy ear-old boy 

 Could handle him with impunity, and my boy grew much 

 attached to him, and always asked for his "bug" to be 

 placed on his head or hand, and would carry him around 

 that way for some time, the bat clambering all over him. 



The bat seemed to become quite attached to me. "While 

 I was sick in bed he would lie for hours in my half closed 

 hand or against my neck, and by the time I got well 

 could often be called to me. On such occasions he 

 seldom flew right on me, but would fly near, alight, and 

 come up my pantaloons, up my vest, and seek his ease 

 hanging on my collar or in my bosom. This habit even- 

 tually caused his death, for having to wear a flannel cloth 

 on my chest soaked in camphorated oil, the fumes one 

 day overpowered him, and clogging his lungs suffocated 

 him. Before this happened I found out that this little 

 mammal is capable of a great deal of affection and will 

 prove a familiar and interesting, if odd, pet. He would 

 forsake his haunts at any time to be on me, and when I 

 tired of him and gave him a toss into the air he would as 

 likely fly back to me as anywhere else, next preferring 

 tbe headboard, window or door-casing, or bookcase, 

 where he would hang upside down. 



Further, I succeeded in proving to my wife and mother 

 that a bat's ambition in life is not to fix itself in a woman's 

 hair, and that if he did get in that it was not necessary to 

 sacrifice the hair to get the bat out. And that, instead of 

 being covered with insects, the little animal was very 

 cleanly* I never discovered, and I searched carefully and 

 microscopically, any vermin on him. After eating he 

 would fly to the window-casing and there, upside down, 

 would perform his ablutions, always keeping his fur as 

 soft and clean as could be desired. 



T'his pet bat I kept alive and thriving on raw meat 

 chopped fine or scraped, milk and Water, and he soon 

 learned his feeding place and the feeding hour. Of course 

 the season being mid-winter, no trouble was experienced 

 in keeping him prisoner. My mother and wife got to 

 regard the little fellow favorably and would allow him to 

 crawl on their hands and arms, which I considered a 

 great victory over prejudice, antipathy and superstition, 

 for the bat is unfortunately rated among the unlucky 

 possessions. 



After death, though reluctantly, I dissected the little 

 fellow and found a large brain half as large as the first 

 joint of my finger. His backbone with ribs was termin- 

 ated by a finely tapering set of bones forming the tail. 

 This mammal is not far below man in development, and 

 in zoology is rated above birds, reptiles and rodents. He 

 had lungs, heart and liver in proportion to his size and a 

 stomach much resembling the human stomach. 



If this eulogy of my pet bat is doubted, I would say 

 that this is by no means the first time a bat has been 

 tamed and made a pet, as will be found by referring to 

 books on zoology (Cheiroptera), Chambers' Encyclopedia 

 and Brittanica; but I do hope I am the first to relate such 

 an experience in your columns. Lloyd J. Smith. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Mountain Sheep Horns. 



* Cora, Wyoming. — Editor Forest and Stream: I would 

 like some of your correspondents who have hunted and 

 killed Rocky Mountain sheep give the size of the largest 

 horns of the bucks measured around the base, that is, the 

 circumference. I have killed a good many bucks, and 

 some of them were so old that they were almost toothless, 

 and I never got horns yet that were over 15^in. in size. 

 Some of the old ones would measure as much a foot from 

 the base as at the base, but the points are most always 

 badly worn off by long usage, especially when they come 

 in front of their face. I hear of 18, 20, and even 22in., 

 and one report is that a party has offered $500 for a pair of 

 22£in. I think he can offer $5,000 and not be afraid of 

 having to pay it; I do not think that such a sheep lives in 

 the Rockies. I have my doubts about the 20in. and I 

 would like to see the 18in. Mountaineer. 



A NEW-SUBSCRIBER OFFER. 



A bona, fide new subscriber sending us $5 will receive for that sum 

 the Forest and Stream one year (price $4) and a set of Zimmerman's 

 famous "Ducking Scenes" (advertised on another page, price ¥5)— a 

 ¥9 value for $5. 



This offer is to new subscribers only. It does not apply to renewals. 



For $3 a bona fide new subscriber for six months will receive the 

 Forest and Stream during [that time and a copy of Dr. Van Fleet's 

 handsome work, "Bird Portraits for fcbp Young" (the prloe of whlob 



§mt{e §xg nni %n% 



IN DIXIE LAND.-IV. 



[Prom a Staff Correspondent.] 

 An Iliad of the Trousers. 



As I WAS saying, it was early morning at Morrilton, 

 and the nigger hadn't called ua. and the train had whis- 

 tled, and we wanted to catch that train the worst way in 

 the world. "We had two guns and a shell box and a bag 

 or so apiece, besides the four dogs and other odds and 

 ends. The crossing between the hotel and depot was 

 paved with large, irregular stones. When one adds that 

 it was dark, and supplements it all by again reverting 

 to the incomparable creases in Dick's trousers, what more 

 remains to be said? The mind at once leaps to the con- 

 clusion that Dick had both hands full, that he was hurry- 

 ing, that in the dark he stumbled and fell and that his 

 trousers 



Ah, why is it that the good die young, that flowers can- 

 not last, that one's good girl marries some one else and 

 raises a large family, that the beautiful is the perishable, 

 that the sun of life's hopes is the total of life's disappoint- 

 ments? Of Dick's trousers I approved fully, and they 

 must have been a source of secret satisfaction to that 

 modest young man himself, they sprung so nicely over 

 the hips, hung so faultlessly straight and easy, clung so 

 delicately but firmly in at the heel, dropped chastely at 

 the instep, and withal supported so severe, so ascetic a 

 crease, the same extending not too high, but just high 

 enough. Why, then, was it in the cynicism of fate that 

 Dick must fall, must strike one of the yawning cobble 

 stones, and rise again still running, with face flushed 

 with the dominant determination to catch' that train, but 

 with a wide and ragged cut across the knee of his trousers 

 at right angles to the divine crease and extending indefin- 

 itely far to the right and left until lost in the gloom of the 

 early morning twilight? 



It is enough. The sun rose. The train whistled and 

 pulled in. We boarded it. We sat attempting to con- 



THE ALAMO. 



verse in figured carelessness. We gazed from the window 

 at the passing show of the landscape. In pity one offered 

 Dick a cigar. As best we could we assumed a gaiety 

 we little felt. Useless. We could not disguise the fact 

 that Dick's other trousers were locked fast in his trunk 

 at Little Rock depot; that the said trunk was checked 

 through to San Antonio; that we had just three minutes 

 time to make the connection with the south bound train 

 at Little Rock; that our plans necessitated our making 

 this connection; that therefore in a few short hours he, 

 Dick, would be speeding southward, not twenty yards 

 behind another pair of trousers, reaching for them, yearn- 

 ing for them, longing for them, knowing they were there, 

 there in the baggage car, so near, so impossible, so like a 

 flitting, evanescent dream, while strive as he might, he 

 could gain no nearer to the quest, but must sit for a day 

 and a night hopeless and uncomforted, until relief and 

 San Antonio should come. We could not evade this 

 heartless truth. Meantime, there was lack of woman's 

 musing, there was dearth of woman's tears, and not a 

 safety pin in the outfit. Dick crossed his knees convul- 

 sively and I thought I heard a sob. 



Southward Nevertheless. 



But we hasten. Let us only say that we were late .into 

 Little Rock, and instead of three minutes had only twenty 

 seconds in which to catch the Iron Mountain train south. 

 Here Chicago training was useful. In fifteen seconds we 

 had our guns and pack bags aboard, our dogs slammed 

 into the baggage car, the crate thrown in after them, the 

 waiting trunks from the Little Rock depot slung in after 

 that, our breakfast ordered at the buffet, and were stand- 

 ing on the platform waving adieu to our kind Little Rock 

 host, Mr. Irwin, who stood holding in one hand our 

 enormous bundle of birds, and in the other the chains of 

 his faithful friends, Nancy and Jack. Perhaps it is as 

 well the adieus were short, for we couldn't have thanked 

 Mr. Irwin enough for his kindness to us if we had tried 

 all day. 



'And so we sped southward rapidly, putting in most of 

 the time eating soft boiled eggs, and pork and beans from 

 the buffet, for Dick's appetite was now as impetuous as 

 my own. The public may lose interest in this appetite, 

 but it goes, because I know that the main thing in a 

 winter trip for rest is an appetite that increases with 

 every roll of the wheels away from home, That means 

 that a trip is a success. Try it, and you will find it a 

 success in your own case of g'rudge against the world, the 

 cook and the sons of men. 



I hope that on your sleeping car there will be a pretty 

 girl. There nearly always is, especially in this part of 

 the country, and there may be worse things to help pass 

 the time, if the girl be not too disturbingly pretty or 

 inane. There was one on our sleeper. But Dick — what 

 did Dick do? Alas! He convulsively crossed his knee 



and looked out of the window; and again I thought I 

 heard at least a sigh. 



I hope also that, when you take your trip, you will have 

 made proper commissariat arrangements for your dogs. 

 We still found the baggage man polite and kind to a de- 

 gree, but dogs can't eat newspapers or oranges, and there 

 was nothing else left on the train. The short stops al- 

 lowable at the meal stations left us only time to take the 

 dogs out on the platform for a little exercise, and not time 

 enough to get any table scraps for them to eat. The only 

 thing we could depend on was the staple lunch counter 

 sandwich, the price of which remains ten cents, no matter 

 how far south you go. When it comes to supplying a dog 

 with a body 6ft. long, every inch of which is filled with a 

 yearning, craving want for food, with railroad sandwiches 

 enough at ten cents each to keep the craving want in even 

 reasonable subjection, the situation is one deserving the 

 attention of our ablest financiers, especially if you are a 

 trifle hungry yourself, as I believe I have said we were. 

 Dick would go to the baggage car and take out the dogs 

 when we came to a meal station, and I would go to the 

 lunch counter and get a long paper sack full of the most 

 desperate sandwiches. Then we would anchor the dogs 

 to a post, and surrounded by a curious crowd of grinning 

 niggers, proceed to feed the dogs. This latter was a 

 simple thing. You held in your hand a large, luscious 

 sandwich, and fixed your eye upon Nip's generous mouth, 

 which was practically a red-lined sandwich cistern, that's 

 all it was. You dropped the sandwich delicately, with a 

 slight turn of the wrist. Nip did the rest. 



Still in Great Game Country. 



Meantime we must not lose sight of the fact that we 

 were still in a great game country. Arkansas is one of 

 the very best game States in the Union to-day. It is per- 

 haps only a question between Arkansas and Texas. The 

 West is out of it now. The West is done, and its game 

 is gone. The story is told in effect for that country. The 

 story will not be told so soon for the South, for there the 

 conditions are more favorable for game. Moreover, the 

 settlers of the South are not apathetic foreigners who care 

 nothing for a gun, but sportsmen themselves, who know 

 how to value sport. Hospitable to the point of puncti- 

 liousness, they will welcome gentlemanly shooters, but 

 that is the only kind they will welcome, and therefore I 

 believe it will be a long time before they are going to allow 

 their game to be killed off as it has been in the West. You 

 will not have to study far to reach in the South a very 

 pronounced sentiment which is the best possible protection 

 for game — a sentiment which is inherent and natural, 

 not artificial or compulsory. 



At Texarkana, for instance, one can stop off and make 

 a central headquarters as at Ltttle Rock. He will be in 

 the heart of a country full of quail, turkey and deer. At 

 any one of a dozen points between these two cities, one 

 can find himself in practically the same sort of situation. 



I have said something earlier about bass fishing in this 

 country. We hear nothing of it as we do of the Northern 

 famous waters, yet there are Arkansas streams by dozens, 

 which would drive the fly-fishers crazy. The bass are 

 there and they will take the fly, and one can depend on 

 his catch. Our host at Little Rock told us that he had 

 had the finest fly-fishing for bass he ever had in his life, 

 in the streams and bayous about that favored city. Of 

 course, the best of this sport comes earlier in the season, 

 and we did not try for the bass, though with bait the 

 members of the little club whose house stands only a few 

 miles from the city, were taking fine strings of bass late 

 in December. As the weather grows cooler the bass take 

 to the deeper water, but they hardly hibernate and will 

 bite on warm days practically the winter through. In the 

 summer time Arkansas is not a desirable country for the 

 Northern angler, they told me, for the danger of malaria 

 is very pronounced. 



I found the Little Rock anglers using the most modern 

 appliances. For instance, the Johnson Fancy fly was one 

 of our host's favorites. Bait-fishing also was much done, 

 and our friend showed us a very killing minnow trap in- 

 vented by his father. It was simply a fiat basket made of 

 fine-meshed wire, the top of the wire being so drawn in at 

 the edges as to make a covered rim around the entire top. 

 The basket being baited is thrust down in the water like a 

 dip-net, by means of a pole. When brought up, the min- 

 nows dart down and out at alarm, as is their habit, but are 

 caught and held in by the covered rim. This I was assured 

 was a very deadly style of minnow trap, and was the 

 invention of an old and very successful angler, Mr. Irwin 

 pere, who lives at Kansas City, and is an ex-president of 

 the Missouri State Association. 



Half and Half. 



At Texarkana you are half in Texas, half in Arkansas, 

 and wholly in paradise, if the weather is as balmy as it 

 was when we were there. Here we left the Iron Moun- 

 tain road, our car now continuing south over the Texas & 

 Pacific Railroad, still in a game country, and still among 

 baggagemen different from the genus intraetabile of the 

 North. Therefore, the trying question of transporting our 

 dogs became a task of pleasing lightness. I think the 

 baggageman of the South has a soft spot in his heart for 

 a dog. Also, he knows a pointer from a setter. 



At Longview the fast train continues its way still south, 

 but now over still another road, the International Great 

 Northern. And still you are in a shooting country. 

 Gradually the character of the country is changing now. 

 You approach the plains, the mesquiteand the cactus; but 

 always there remains with you the gray aspect of the 

 tangled coverts, the wide cotton fields and the rude cabins 

 of the negroes. The cabins grow more and more pic- 

 turesque, and apparently less and less habitable. Evi- 

 dently you are reaching a land where easy weather is the 

 usual thing. Presently the mesquite will grow grayer, 

 the moss will show more on the trees, the cabins will turn 

 from logs laid crosswise to logs standing upright or to 

 adobe. A still greater languor will be in the air of the 

 local life. The sun will be shining warmly, brightly, not 

 keenly but dreamily. There is no ice, no snow. You are 

 a million miles from winter and from care. Life is not a 

 stark spectre, but a swimming, radiant dream. You are 

 young, you are again happy, you are— 



In short, you are asleep, and it is a good sleep. 



San Antonio. 

 When you awake you are away, 'way down South in 

 Dixie, and things have drawn about them in the night, you 

 find the intangible serape of half-Spanishness. And pres- 

 ently you are in Sac Antonio, San Antonio the old, the mys- 



