July 28, 1894.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
71 
Geysers at Norris'lBasin. 
A press dispatch dated July 32, from the Mammoth 
Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, announces re- 
newed geyser activity at Norris Geyser Basin. It says: 
"A telegram received here from a reliable source says 
a shock resembling an earthquake was felt at Norris 
Geyser Basin at 3 o'clock yesterday morning. The new 
crater geyser, which had been quiec for some time, broke 
out with terrific force, throwing rocks weighing 251bs. to the 
height of 200ft. Steam rose 500ft. , accompanied by a roar 
equalling the combined exhaust of a thousand locomo- 
tives, which could be heard for ten miles. Every geyser 
in the Norris Basin played for hours. The new crater 
now surpasses any geyser in action in the Park." 
Sea Gulls Nesting in Trees. 
Calais, Me., July 14.— Mr. J. H. Wilmott of Muskoka, 
Canada, asks if it is a common thing for sea gulls to alight 
upon trees. I would say that they do down this way, and 
several kinds breed upon the think trees about the island 
of Grand Manan, so the people tell me. The large black - 
back gull (Larusmarinus) and L. argentatus formerly had 
nests upon the ground, but they were so often robbed of 
their eggs that for many years they have had their nests 
upon the trees. Foxes were put upon the island and they 
have dispersed all the ground-laying birds. The Bona- 
parte gull (Lams Philadelphia) is said always to breed 
upon the trees, but not about the Bay of Fundy. 
Geo. A. Boardman. 
A Bobolink Picnic. 
We saw a pretty sight yesterday morning as we were 
driving near a crystal spring that gushes out from under 
a great brown rock. A dock of bobolinks were having a 
picnic. Some were strutting about like crows on parade; 
some, scratching for worms like chickens, some bathing. 
There were a dozen or more of them, and to have seen 
them there no one would have dreamed that they were 
the leaders of the whole bird-orchestra of all that grassy 
meadow side. Annie A. Preston. 
Connecticut. 
Sea Gulls in Trees. 
Indian Rock, Me. — It is quite common for sea gulls to 
light on dead trees around the Rangeley Lakes. One 
pair have nested on a dead tree, the top being broken off. 
I think it was used for several years. Young partridges 
are very plenty this season. C. T. R. 
" That reminds me." 
Five Minutes of Green Funk. 
I WAS reading one of "M. Quad's" rattlesnake stories 
about an army sergeant, who woke up with a rattler 
coiled bf side him ; and who was so scared that he lost his 
mind and died from the effect of the fright: and it 
brought to mind two snake stories, neither of them quite 
so far-reaching in their effects. I am constrained to 
say that I don't believe that about the big sergeant 
dying. I once tramped on a poisonous snake with my 
bare feet, and with both feet at that, and was neither 
scared to death nor bitten. But great Scott! the jump I 
made. I have always been considered abnormally quick; 
and my escape must have been owing partly to my quick- 
ness and partly to the fact that the snake, being trampled 
upon, couldn't get himself unlimbered in time. 
But one morning I left camp before any one else was 
awake and went over the shoulder of a hill toward a side 
canon to look for deer. Stepping quietly among the un- 
derbrush and grasses and flowers and leaves, I was sud- 
denly halted, nay, petrified, by a soft, indescribable whirr 
somewhere beneath or around me. It was a snake and I 
could not see him nor locate him. I stood there, I said 
five minutes, but I suppose in reality it was not more than 
five seconds, in the coldest, deadliest fear I know any- 
thing about. I had to go somewhere; the sound ceased; 
obviously it was safer to go back and back I went. I got 
up on a log and cocked my Winchester and looked care- 
fully for the cause of my scare. Then I got a rock and 
tossed it in there, but nothing moved or sounded again; 
so I went back to camp. I had sort of lost my hanker- 
ing after deer. I am a nervous, timed creature, prone 
to alarm, but after that fifteen minutes (for now that I 
begin to recall the sensation I am of opinion that I stood 
there fifteen minutes instead of five seconds) upon the 
side of the canon I seemed to think I had never been 
scared before. 
A perfectly truthful man once told me that he knew 
the following to have occurred : An officer had his arm 
shot off at the battle of Gettysburg; and when he regained 
consciousness after a fainting spell, a very large rattle- 
snake was sleeping upon his bosom. He simply swooned 
off again; and after a while when they began to collect 
the wounded, another officer found the two of them sleep- 
ing there, and killed the snake with a skillful sword-cut, 
and the wounded man recovered with the loss of his arm, 
but with as much sand in his craw as he ever had. 
Snakes travel a good deal on their reputation. They 
scare birds and small animals so they become helpless. 
We all know this to be a fact. And then when they get 
in a tight place with a man, they try to run a bluff on 
him. A lawyer in our town once met a rattlesnake 
down in the Ozarks, and began to experiment, or rather 
to let the snake experiment, to see if there was anything 
in the snake charming theory. He said that the snake's 
eyes got brighter and brighter and his scales became 
glistening and his, body seemed to swell up a little thicker 
and the whole outfit became so engrossing that he finally 
ran away from the snake in a dead scare and didn't get 
over it for a good while after. He told me that it was 
his belief that if he had kept company with that snake 
much longer he would have lost his wits. 
A 6ft. blacksnake once ran a bluff on me. I kept 
trying to kill him with stones: and he just kept right on 
toward his hole as slowly as if I was throwing the other 
way, and I saw him disappear unharmed, very much to 
my chagrin. A while after that I went back there and 
he was out "again, and when he saw me he up with his 
head about Sin. off the ground and came right for me. 
It was a cool bluff and it would have worked three times 
out of four too; only this time I r was good-and mad and I 
picked up a bit of a stick about an inch thick and a foot 
long and I met him half way and hit him a crack over 
his neck that knocked the fight and everything else out 
of him as completely as if I had hit him with a baseball 
bat. George Kennedy. 
A Close Shooter. 
Willie, who was wise at sixteen years of age, was the 
proud possessor of his first gun. His Mend Eddie was 
assisting him to admire it. Both knew all about guns. 
Said Eddie, "I don't believe that gun will kill a rabbit 
as close as ten steps." 
"I know it will," said Willie, "because papa said it was 
bored purposely for close shooting." B. Waters. 
BIG GAME IN CHICAGO'S SUBURBS. 
Ttme— November. 1893. Persons— Nephew, niece, hia wife and 
uucle. Game— Deer, bear, wildcats, rabbits, grouse, etc. Place— 
The camp as per caption above. 
And this is no libel upon that big city's fair fame, but 
is indubitable proof of its varied and unrivalled attrac- 
tions, as will be admitted by those who read this article 
to its close. 
Of all the months that drop from the fruit tree of time, 
what one is comparable with November for outdoor hunt- 
ing and camping. It is the mother of those marvels 
called Indian summer days. All above is gold-dust in 
atmospheric solution, and, immersed in this rare elixir 
for a few days, all the acidity of one's nature is extracted 
and only the honey-dew of "peace on earth and goodwill 
to men" remains. It is a time for day-dreaming and for 
close approach to nature's heart. 
There were three of us who took part in the joys and 
experiences herein described. A man whose brow had 
faced time's frosts and snows until they had lodgement 
in his locks, and a husband and wife whose faces were 
aglow with the light of life's forenoon. 
By the courtesy of Mr. C. E. Robbins of Chicago, we 
occupied one of the buildings of one of his then unoccu- 
pied lumber camps on the banks of the Big Eagle River, 
a rushing, rollicking, noisy stream, clear, pure and de- 
licious as it is healthful. By noon we have all our traps 
in place, beds snugly made (they are ticks filled with wild 
hay, both of which were secured from A. Baker, the 
guide and hunter of this region, and who conveyed us 
thither), and were ready for dinner. One hour more and 
we conclude to visit a lake a mile south. It is a lake, 
lovely as some gem in an ocean of green, a crystal set 
about with the fadeless green of pine and cedar trees. 
Abundant sign of deer is seen in a foot path around the 
lake, and gives us much hope of further conquests. We 
have brought axe, nails and boards to improvise a float of 
logs to enable us to fish on the lake, but after several 
hours of labor find our logs too much water-soaked, and 
our first attempt to fish is a failure. On returning, we 
think we may secure a deer, but instead we bowl over 
two fine rabbi ts, and we have meat if we didn't get fish for 
our first night in camp. And that supper, together with 
the subsequent breakfasts, dinners and suppers impels the 
writer to advise his fellow sportsmen to put a final veto 
on the old-time plan of taking a male cook or attempting 
the task of doing the cooking "by turns." Take your 
wife or wives with you. Generally speaking they, too, 
are true lovers of nature's charms, and more keenly alert 
to her beauties and subtleties, and carry with them, as at 
home, woman's mystic spell to make all joy more de- 
lightful, all beauty yet more entrancing and all comfort 
more restful. 
Supoer over the pupil must have instruction. 
N»phew — Uncle, now that we are on the ground you 
mu*t give us directions as to still-hunting deer. 
Uncle— Ml right. That is an easy task, but the doing is 
only acquired after many, many failures. A deer's danger 
signals are not his eyes but his ears and nose. Novices 
seldom get sight of these shy creatures simply because 
they hear them long before they see them. For long dis- 
tances a deer will hear the breaking of a twig, a low 
cough, a sneeze, the swish of a bush, which will send 
these vigilant listeners off in a twinkling, and the hunter 
knows nothing of their presence. These woods are now 
dry— exceedingly dry, and hence it is next to impossible 
to approach a deer unheard. You have seen that the 
little oak trees have borne an immense crop of acorns. 
Deer are gluttons for acorns. In a few hours they will 
load their stomachs with this food, and then they are 
ready to seek seclusion in a dense copse or swamp and 
snooze all day. If food was not so abundant they would 
be up an hour or two both morning and evening. As it 
is our only hope is a shot very early or late. 
Neplieiv— But that is not specially encouraging. Are 
they net often driven from cover in the day time? 
Uncle — Only when there are many hunters about, and 
even when aroused they seek dense copses or swamps in 
which to hide. The only hunters here are a small band 
of Indians and they are hunting west of us, so Mr. Baker, 
the hunter, informed me. The country, as you see, is 
generally very open, the timber having most of it been 
removed, so my advice is to confine yourself to watching 
runways at early dawn and twilight. If the underbrush 
was not as dry as tinder you could sneak through the 
swamps or dense spots for snap shots, but until it rains 
heavily it is almost a hopeless task. We will all go out 
in the morning if niece has the endurance, and do some 
prospecting. 
My niece thought that she would enjoy this new and 
exciting experience, "I'll shorten my skirts, put on extra 
lfgginB and be glad to join you." 
We decided to go down the stream on its right bank. 
The morning broke with not a ribbon of a cloud in the 
sky, with a nameless but delicious elixir in every inhala- 
tion of the crisp, pure air. Nephew and niece were jubi- 
lant and hopeful, for in the sands along the stream many 
trackB of deer, great and small, aroused their enthusiasm; 
but only once were we greeted by any other indication of 
game, and that was the whoof-vihoof of some deer whose 
keen scent had detected us, and he snorted an adieu to us. 
Ihe evening's tramp gave us rabbits only. 
For a week the days which dropped from the hand of 
time were of gold, and we had chubs, grouse and rabbits 
for our larder, but no venison. In vain did my nephew 
tramp or sit in silence near runways. I, too, essayed the 
watch at the crossings along the stream. 
One evening I had sat until I had grown chilled, and 
stepped out from my hiding place to start from camp, 
when I heard the breaking of some twigs to the right and 
across the stream, and instantly I prepared for a shot. 
Soon I saw a head and two great ears emerge from the 
brush. Then two or three steps forward and a halt. 
Meanwhile my gun was kept to shoulder ready for dis- 
charge. I must let it get well over the stream or have it 
to lug across if I kill. When it is midstream I move only 
a mite to avoid a bush, and before I can touch the trigger 
the doe springs and my ball strikes her midway instead of 
the shoulder. I leap back to give a second shot as she 
mounts the high bank. I stand ready, but she does not 
come. She has dashed along under the bank and disap- 
peared. It is now too dark to trace her, and I wait for the 
morning. Three roving hunters are camped near and 
they see the deer fall, and load it in their wagon and hur- 
riedly leave. This we learned from Mr. Baker, who saw 
the deer in their wagon as they passed his hotel about 
daylight she following morning. This was my only shot 
at deer. 
My nephew's first shot was in the roadway about the 
fourth morning. My niece and I were trailing a few 
yards behind him in a logging road before it was yet 
light under the trees when his rifle rang out. We heard 
the deer's strides as it dashed off through the under- 
brush to the right. It was too dark for anything but a 
chance aim at the disappearing white flag, but the young 
man had had his first shot, and displayed the quickness 
and alertness of the true hunter, though no evidence 
could be found that he had drawn blood. 
His second must be told by himself: "I was on my 
way to a crossing, or runway, above the first dam, and 
had started before day to reach the ground as soon as it 
was light enough to shoot. Just as I reached the top of 
the high hill this side of the dam, and in the dusk of the 
dawn, two deer bolted off, one to the left and the other 
to the right. It was in such an open space that I had no 
thought of game and was unprepared for them . As quick 
as possible I fired twice at the larger one to my right, but I 
scored a miss. If I had been on my guard as I came to 
the top of the hill I could easily have taken them by sur- 
prise instead of being taken unawares." 
"And this reminds me," said I, "that I have not 
impressed upon your mind sufficiently the importance of 
a few don'ts. 
"Don't reach the brow of any hill without great quiet, 
care and caution. Deer are more wise. As they approach 
such a place they invariably stop and carefully survey 
the surroundings, unless in flight. 
"Don't hunt with the wind, but against it, or at least 
at right angles with it- Remember a deer's scent is only 
equalled in keenness by his hearing. 
"Don't shoot on a level with a deer running straight- 
away, but aim at his legs. The tendency is to shoot too 
high. If it is running across your path don't aim at its 
body, but two to four feet in advance. 
"Don't shoot too quick at a deer that has not detected 
you. Take time to think a little, and if he is running or 
walking, whistle or bleat sharply, and be prepared to 
shoot when he halts. . 
"Don't walk too much. All beginners wear themselves 
out in vain tramping. Find where deer are using from 
'signs' and haunt these places, and be lazy about it. 
"Don't look too far away as you peer through the 
woods. Patiently, repeatedly and critically scan every 
bush, fallen treetop and brush patch nearest to you. One 
is ever inclined to keep his vision on distant points and 
entirely overlook a deer in plain sight." 
The third shot of my nephew was provoking. He had 
been hunting all day with the rifle, and without result. 
On our way to camp in the twilight he said to us, "You 
remain in the road and I'll take your shotgun and go 
along the stream and kill a rabbit." Soon we heard the 
report of the gun and with it a loud call for the rifle. I 
ran down to where he stood and he said, "O, if I had 
only had my rifle. It's just my luck. Why, a great big 
doe stood broadside -to me, but too far away for this rab- 
bit load. She was away over there at that bend in the 
stream." 
The third shot was about 9 A. M. My niece and I were 
in the road near the stream and my nephew was to the 
right and on the high bank or hill above us. I heard 
what I thought were deer crashing through the thick 
brush along the stream, and as I did so my niece cried 
out, "There is a deer! There is a deer! away over on 
the hills across the stream." 
I mounted a stump, and just then the loud roar of the 
rifle— once, twice, three times— rang out on the still air. 
A stalwart buck with splendid horns stood out in plain 
view on some bare rocks that formed the crest of the 
hill far across the valley. It was too far away for ef- 
fective shooting, even for these modern guns, and the 
buck seemed to know this, for he only ran away after he 
had taken a calm survey of the situation. 
Yes, this hunt was practically in Chicago's suburbs. 
One of the iron fingers of that giant hand of commerce, 
the C. M. & St. P. Railway, points to the north star and 
penetrates the heart of the lumber and iron regions of 
Wisconsin and Michigan. Enter a sleeper at early bed 
time in the Union Depot, and sleeping, one knows neither 
time nor distance. When the porter calls you to con- 
sciousness you are yet in Chicago in feeling, but really 
you are in a country rich in every charm and resource 
so dear to all lovers of nature's wild aspects. Crystalline 
lakes, limpid, icy brooks, rushing cataracts and complain- 
ing rapids, waters specially brewed and distilled in resin- 
ous woods and cedar swamps as a tonic for exhausted 
systems; airs filtered through a thousand pines and hem- 
locks, that are far better to vitalize the sluggish blood 
than nostrums or drugs. 
Wausaukee was the station where we left the train, 
and, taking car on a railway logging road for twelve 
miles, we were met by the team of Mr. Baker and driven 
to camp. The latter is a safe, truthful, conscientious, 
painstaking guide and thoroughly capable. This is said 
more for the benefit of sportsmen than for Mr. B., as such 
men are too scarce in hunting rtgions. His address is 
Wausaukee, Wis. Carey. 
