400 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 12, 1894. 



and skirting the shores of Portage Lake for three miles, it 

 was a happy party, though cold and wet, that landed 

 about dusk at Bob's home camp. A good fire soon 

 warmed and dried us and the camp, and caribou steaks 

 were quickly in the pan. After supper we retired, but 

 not before we had "talked it all over again." 



The next morning the bright sun showed us the beauties 

 of Portage Lake, the largest of that region. Well wooded, 

 irregular shores, its surface studded with several islands, 

 it is indeed beautiful. Opinions differ as to which is the 

 more beautiful, Portage or Penobscot. They are fortun- 

 ately close together, and a camp on one or the other is 

 almost equally convenient, with perhaps the odds in favor 

 of Portage. 



We spent several days at Portage eatmg our carihou, 

 visiting the lakes and ponds in the vicinity, and fishing, 

 which we found superb. We seldom went without bring- 

 ing in enough for camp use, and had we been more 

 enthusiastic and diligent could have supplied Fulton 

 Market. 



There are thirteen lakes and ponds within a small 

 radius of Portage, and nearly all contain trout of good 

 size and game qualities. Some of these lakes are unknown 

 except to Bob and at all of them one may be sure of the 

 very best sport, as up to the present time they have been 

 but little fished. Bob says in June and July he can fill a 

 canoe in short order. He says that sometimes during 

 the summer, when not in the woods, he gets fish hungry, 

 and leaving Mrs. Rainey's in the early morning he goes 

 to Portage and is back the same night with as many as 

 he can carry. 



At last we had to leave, and so Albert was sent out to 

 see his baby and get Llewellyn and the team. They came 

 the next evening and the following morning we started 

 with our belongings on a buckboard with two horses 

 attached, and made the nine miles to Mrs. Rainey's in 

 about five hours. Dinner, a civilized wash and. city 

 clothes were»resumed. The settling up was rapidly and 

 agreeably accomplished, and by 4 o'clock we were en route 

 for Jackman with sincere regrets that we must ever leave 

 the country and the people. Staying all night at Jack- 

 man, the early morning train carried us to Lennoxville 

 and thence home by sleeper, and thus ended the most 

 glorious and satisfactory trip I have ever taken. 



In conclusion I would like to say: The trip from New 

 York, compared with that, to say, the Adirondacks, is 

 long and expensive, but the gain more than compensates. 

 The scenery is beautiful. It is as yet a region but little 

 traversed. One can go assured of getting his full share of 

 fish and game. Robert Elliott and the men he employs 

 are truthful, honest, temperate and obliging. They are 

 engaged at Mrs. Rainey's and paid from that time, saving 

 the two or three days' extra pay for guides brought from 

 a distance and the transportation for them and their be- 

 longings. They are thoroughly familiar" with the country 

 and are first-class woodsmen and hunters. We made a 

 detour of about forty-five miles, as our wish was as much 

 to see the country as to shoot and fish. One can spend 

 the time at his disposal with perfect satisfaction in one 

 camp, and I would recommend that at Portage Lake as 

 preferable, all things considered. If one wishes to travel 

 and explore, there are miles of wilderness to the east- 

 ward but little known to sportsmen and full of fish and 

 game. 



Every one you meet is anxious that you shall have a 

 good time and will take any amount of trouble to facili- 

 tate it. The charges are extremely moderate, and we can 

 pronounce no better recommendation than to declare with 

 enthusiasm that we hope to go there again next year. 

 Mr. Talcott had not employed the language of hyperbole — 

 it is indeed a "Sportsman's Paradise." F. W. G. 



Quail Packs in Texas. 



Oshkosh, Wis. — Editor Forest and Stream: Your staff 

 correspondent speaks of quail "packing" in Texas as 

 though he expected to be "called down." Four years ago 

 this winter I saw at least seventy-five quail in one pack 

 on the Nueces River in Texas. They rose out of the thick 

 weed on a flat side of the river. We were not 20yds. from 

 them when they rose. They flew about 150yds. and 

 alighted in a pack, but scattered the next time they were 

 put up. Mr. N. T. Wilson and I had rifles, while ex-Gov. 

 Baxter, who was with us, had a shotgun. He followed 

 the quail up and down that field of weeds two hours, and 

 by the poorest shooting I ever saw killed six brace in about 

 fifty shots. 



I reported the size of this flock in print, and some cor- 

 respondent told me I had seen nothing marvelous, as he 

 had seen a thousand quail in a flock. I subsided. These 

 were Bob White quail. As to the size of Texas quail, I 

 have weighed a good many and they average about three 

 to the pound. I don't know how that compares with 

 Northern quail, as I never had the good fortune to see a 

 covey since I was big enough to shoot a gun. When the 

 cover is good I think Texas quail run very little, except 

 toward spring, when they begin to pair off. The Mexican 

 blue quail of Texas run like turkeys, and disgust a dog 

 as well as the shooter. Agamak. 



Who Introduced the English Sparrows? 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Nil mortuis nisi bonum. Is it known or remembered 

 that the Rev. Dr. Okeson, who lies buried in St. Paul's 

 churchyard at Norfolk, Va., introduced the pesky English 

 sparrows into America? Evidently the birds have not for- 

 gotten him, for they flock all about his grave and swarm 

 in the ivy which mantles the old church walls. They 

 could not have been more attentive to the historical babes 

 in the woods. C. Hallock. 



North Carolina 'Gators. 



Newbern, May 2— Mr. George H. Moulton, taxidermist, 

 has just finished mounting an 11- foot alligator which was 

 shot last week in Onslow county by a son of President 

 Mclntyre, of the Wilmington & Newbern Railroad. This 

 is a large saurian for this section, which is near the north- 

 ern boundary of its habitat. 'Gators are not uncommon 

 in Trent and Neuse rivers above Newbern, and are numer- 

 ous in localities not thirty miles distant, C. Hallock, 



A Buffalo Herd Reported in Texas. 



San Antonio, Tex., April 29.— C. H. Moran, a sheep 

 man of Valverde county, is in the city and brings news of 

 the discovery of a herd of about forty wild buffalo m the 

 remote mountains of that county, near the Rio Grande 

 border. It has been rumored for years that a herd of 

 buffalo existed in that section of the border, but these 

 rumors were never verified. — Press dispatch. 



First Otter in Forty Years. 



Ithaca, N. Y., April 28. — A live otter was caught April 

 26 in the town of Enfield, in this county. When caught 

 he was in an open field at least half a mile from any creek 

 or body of water. This is the first otter that has been 

 caught in this county in over forty years. The Cornell 

 University now have it in their possession. W. H. W. 



Iiinnsean Society. 



At a regular meeting of the Linnaean Society, to be 

 held at the American Museum of Natural History on May 

 22, Mr. Frank M. Chapman will read a paper entitled, 

 "Notes on a Second Visit to the Island of Trinidad." 



*n& 



THE HIGH ART OF STILL-HUNTING. 



Silverdale, Wash. — In your issue of April 14 I see 

 "Ransacker" comes back at me on the dog question and 

 declares for the dog. His "definition of a dog" is a good 

 one — for those who admire these animals. 



I also know Indians who have dogs; indeed, the Indian 

 who does not is an exception; but the hunters among 

 them — that is, the ones who do nothing much but hunt — 

 do not as a rule use a dog. They prefer to match their 

 own skill against the instinct of the game, and they are 

 the successful hunters among a tribe of people who were 

 in early days forced to hunt or starve. Sioux or Siwash, 

 it is all the same, the best of them don't use a dog. 



"Ransacker" says he takes a dog along more for com- 

 pany that for use. I may say to him as I said to "B.," he 

 must "learn to study little things" and he won't miss the 

 "company" very much. 



There may be a difference in the definitions of still- 

 hunting, which accounts for the difference in opinion on 

 the dog question. In my school, still-hunting meant not 

 only absolute silence, watchfulness and an accurate 

 knowledge of the habits of my game, but the ability to 

 put this and that trivial circumstance together and de- 

 duct a correct opinion. It is a study of cause and effect 

 coupled with a faculty of reading "sign" at a glance. 

 For instance, start two hunters into the woods for squir- 

 rels, one a still-hunter, the other a man who hunts with a 

 dog. Let a crow see a squirrel and commence his racket, 

 cawing and scolding as they always do — then which man 

 notes the disturbance the most quickly and forms his 

 opinion the more nearly correct? The still-hunter, be- 

 cause he has trained himself to investigate anything and 

 everything he sees or hears on the trail. The other man 

 will likely note the actions of the crow just as quickly, 

 but only as a passing incident, one of the private affairs of 

 the bird, and none of his business. The same principle 

 holds good whether it be crows or deer. A deer may 

 pass to leeward of your dog, unknown; but if in passing 

 it startles a jay or magpie to noisy remonstrance the still- 

 hunter knows something has passed within the bird's 

 range of vision and an investigation is in order. Another 

 advantage the still-hunter has is his training as a trailer. 

 A bent blade of grass, a hit of overturned bark or gravel, 

 a faint hoof mark amid the fallen leaves are but a few of 

 the many signs which the still-hunter reads at a glance, 

 and which serve to guide and govern his future actions. 

 In short, everything must be perfectly natural, both in 

 appearance and sound, or the still-hunter is alert in a 

 moment, for he has studied nature and is familiar with 

 all the trivial details which others pass unnoticed, but 

 which he is forced to know from his very method of 

 hunting. The man who hunts with a dog is like the man 

 who handles dynamite, "apt to get mighty careless," and 

 to be a loser in the end. 



As to shooting, "Ransacker" says that a "snap shot often 

 results in a wounded deer." Here again I beg to differ, 

 provided the hunter is a snap shot. To be a good snap 

 shot a man must use the same gun, and shoot enough to 

 be able to throw his gun to his shoulder in exactly the 

 same way every time, with the sights in line with his eyo. 

 He must practice until he is an expert. I know cowboys 

 who lash the trigger of their six-shooter back against the 

 guard or take it out altogether and work the hammer 

 with the thumb. This requires whirling the gun around 

 the forefinger, which is inserted in the trigger guard, and 

 as the gun barrel whirls forward and downward the 

 thumb catches the hammer only to release it again when 

 the position of the barrel brings the weight to bear at a 

 certain point. There can be but one result when this is 

 practiced until a man becomes an expert — that is, accu- 

 racy. When a man handles a six-shooter this way he can 

 put the whole six bullets in almost the same spot; but in 

 doing so never tises the sights, it is merely a mechanical 

 action, and practice makes perfect. 



So it is with a rifle. Try it yourself by taking your 

 empty gun and "covering" a target as fast as you can. 

 Don't pay any attention to the sights, but throw your gun 

 to your shoulder and lower it again for several times in 

 rapid succession. You will see that it "jumps" to almost 

 the same level — that is, your line of vision — every time, 

 provided you only watch your target and pay no attention 

 to the gun. Practice will enable you to cover a given spot 

 and shoot almost in an instant. Then you have learned 

 snap shooting in a manner that will be of practical value 

 when a deer is in sight. ♦ 



I sketch a great deal, and derive as much enjoyment 

 from that as from hunting, and it serves to bring details 

 to my notice which perhaps otherwise I would overlook. 

 This I find of great value in studying game, too; and it 

 may in a measure account for my preference for still- 

 hunting, for half learning will not serve for sketching. 

 Your knowledge must be complete, comprehensive and 

 accurate lest you get into ' 'deep water" and paint your 

 smoke against the wind. \ 



Again, my hunting has been mostly in open country, | 

 where game could be seen further than it can west of the 

 Cascades, and a lost deer from escaping wounded is an ' 



unknown chapter in my book so far because I learned to 

 trail among men who wore moccasins and no bat. 



"Ransacker" will probably use bis dog and continue to 

 kill his dog, for it would be useless to try to convince him 

 otherwise on paper, but should our trails cross I have an 

 idea that I could show him a whole lot of sport, an end- 

 less array of company and a few snap-shot deer with a 

 hole square through the shoulder, all. on a still-hunt, 

 "Injun fashion." This dog business is only a matter of 

 taste, anyhow, unless the dog is used to run deer into run- 

 ways or a lake, where they can be butchered in a cold- 

 blooded way tha.t raises my ire. Then, you hear me, if 

 I'm in that neighborhood, my gun will crack and some- 

 body will have a chance to bury a dead dog. 



El Comancho. 



THE RIGHT AND WRONG OF IT. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When I launched my small pebble on the subject of the 

 wanton killing of snakes, et cetera, I did not expect to set 

 rolling so many stones as your columns of late give evi- 

 dence of. It is gratifying, however, to note that the 

 suggestion of extending more considerate treatment to 

 the dumb creation appears to have excited a sympathetic 

 chord in the minds of so many of our worthy brother- 

 hood of sportsmen. I think the exasperation exhibited by 

 our friend Mr. Kephart, in his last article, while quite 

 natural, was based upon a misconception of the animus 

 of the discussion, as the fate of his particular blacksnake, 

 and his own attitude in that encounter, were lost sight of 

 in the larger subject of the general treatment to be 

 accorded to the creatures of the woods and fields. 



I have read with much interest all the contributions on 

 the subject, and will crave the forbearance of yourself 

 and readers while I offer some reflections on the various 

 expressions therein noted. 



The article of Mr. S. H. Greene, in a recent number, 

 opens up a wide field for discussion. An adequate reply 

 to his question "where are we at," in relation to the 

 ethics of the subject, if all the lines of thought suggested 

 by him were fully considered, must be not only compre- 

 hensive enough to cover all the questions that have been 

 raised, but would doubtless fill a good sized volume. 



I will, therefore, endeavor to simplify my treatment of 

 the case by assuming a general concurrence in the propo- 

 sition that man is truly the "lord of creation," in so far as 

 this little world of ours is concerned. I think it may be 

 assumed as accepted by philosophers of all creeds, in a 

 practical way at least, that all mundane creatures exist 

 only with reference to man's welfare and happiness, hav- 

 ing no rights except those which he chooses to accord to 

 them. This is practically true, and in the nature of 

 things must be so, whatever theories may obtain on the 

 subject. Under this view man has a right to destroy all 

 creatures whose existence is inimical to himself, to restrain 

 the growth of those whose increasing numbers threaten 

 his safety or welfare, and to cultivate such as are con- 

 ducive to his comfort. This involves the right to slay 

 creatures f^r food, regardless of the pain inflicted, and 

 even to find enjoyment in their persecution, if he can do 

 so. Viewing the matter then from a strictly selfish 

 standpoint, let us consider what is man's logical attitude 

 toward the multitude of living creatures that nature has 

 placed under his dominion, always assuming that his con- 

 duct toward them is to be regulated solely with a view 

 to his gratification, and with no reference to the good of 

 the creatures themselves except in relation to his interest 

 or pleasure. 



All animated creatures appear to be divided into three 

 great classes. The carnivorous on the one hand, the her- 

 bivorous on the other, and the omnivorous between the 

 other two. In the order of nature the function of the 

 herbivorous creatures is to supply food for the carnivor- 

 ous and. omnivorous: the function of the carnivorous is to 

 prevent a too great multiplication of the other two, and 

 the omnivorous acts as a balance between the two former; 

 all with reference to the well-being of their master, man. 

 In man's savage state his chief concern was to supply his 

 stomach with food and his back with raiment. These 

 he procured from the birds and beasts, fishes and reptiles, 

 probably from insects also. As he developed a faculty for 

 amusement and exultation over his enemies, the suffer- 

 ings of his victims were a sweet savor to his soul. This 

 most degrading characteristic of barbarous man still 

 clings to him even down to the present day. The evi- 

 dences of this spirit in all its original barbarity, in un- 

 tutored boys, and men of a low degree of refinement, are 

 too palpable and common to need enumerating. As men 

 grow more refined in their sensibilities, the sufferings of 

 the creatures they pursue for food or sport cease to afford 

 them enjoyment. In the evolution of this sentiment the 

 second stage is to be merely apathetic concerning them ; 

 after this the consciousness of pain inflicted becomes a 

 disagreeable incident of the chase, which is smothered or 

 tolerated from habit or as being subordinate in import- 

 ance to his supreme right of enjoyment. But as he comes 

 to more fully realize the vast extent and degree of suffer- 

 ing imposed by him on the lower creatures, when his own 

 sustenance has ceased to be an object, and sport alone is 

 the incentive of the chase, then it may be that the mental 

 discomfort which he thus inflicts upon himself will come 

 to outweigh the sense of pleasure derived from such 

 pursuits. 



It is possible that a few individuals among robust man- 

 hood have already arrived at that sublimated condition 

 of intellectual apprehension, but it must be confessed that 

 the great mass of us who flatter ourselves with the conceit 

 that we are in the forefront of highly civilized develop- 

 ment, are at best only in the tertiary stage, and habitu- 

 ally smother the "still, small voice" in order to the enjoy- 

 ment of what we call sport. 



But what is the nature of the enjoyment we thus 

 derive? When we kill domestic animals for food we do 

 not subject them to unnecessary physical pain, and the 

 absence of apprehension of danger, which constitutes 

 man's greatest misery, relieves them of all pain whatso- 

 ever. The death of unconscious brutes without physical 

 pain, is not a hardship. We do cut off such measure of 

 enjoyment as their life may afford them, but others take 

 their places, so that the sum total of such enjoyment is 

 not diminished. Now, what is the element in what we 

 call field sports that affords us enjoyment? We take no 

 pleasure in killing beeves and hogs. It is no sport to 

 6hoot into a covey of partridges (or bevy of quail, if you 

 prefer those terms), when huddled together on the 

 ground; or to shoot a buck when tied to a tree. It may 



