304 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Apri 20, 1895. 
bime by fish cotch hold, you pull him out.' 'Bear he try 
dat an de ice froze bear tail, an' it come off, an' bear 
have short tail ever since dat time. Bear 'member Bre'r 
Fox fur dat t'ing, an' one day bear eatin' honey an' Bre'r 
Fox he wanter know whar Bear git dat honey, an' Bear 
tole him 'in de holler tree," an Bre'r Fox he put his head 
in de tree to git honey, an' de bee sting him, an' ever 
sence dat time Bre'r Fox he bin berry shy." 
The rest of the colored contingent added maxims and 
apothegms to the general fund of knowledge— thus old 
Joe Danner: "EE you gnt a chile what has red ha'r an| 
you put coon fat on dat chile's ha'r, it turn it black." 
'"De deer only ask God to take car a 'b him when he 
sleep, he take care ob himself when he 'wake." "De 
fish-hawk git a fish, an' de eagle come arter him, an' de 
fish-hawk he say 't'ief, t'ief, t'ief,' but de eagle he keep 
on comin', an' bimeby de fish-hawk he git a blow an' 
drop de fish, an' de eagle he take it, an' de fish-hawk he 
keep on singin' out 't'ief, t'ief, t'ief,' but de eagle he git 
de fish, an' de fish-hawk he ain't got none, an' de eagle 
he git fat, an' de fish-hawk he lean." 
Then one enthusiastic member sang with great feeling: 
* 4 Ham-bone am fat. chicken am good, 
Possum meat am berry, berry fine. 
Give me. oh! give me. oh! how I wish you would 
Dat water-million smilin' on de vine." 
And so the party sat up late and had a fine time, while 
the wind whistled through the pines, and the stars 
sparkled in the clear, cold air, until the Skipper, with 
hot water, lemons, sugar and other ingredients brewed a 
nightcap worth remeinhering, which sent them all off to 
bed to sleep the sl^ep of innocence and peace. 
And in the morning early to break camp and catch the 
tide for home, all arose and packed and lashed and 
stowed everything in the boats, and were off by eight 
o'clock. And so up Trencbard's inlet, and through Sta- 
tion creek to the river, feasting and singing, with merry 
talk and happy faces, bronzed by the sun and wind, 
sparkling eyes and a new stock of health, we came home 
again, with no deer, but a settled purpose to go again 
some day, if haply we may have so good a time repeated. 
C. H. Rockwell, 
Commander TJ. S. Navy. 
ADIRONDACK SPRING NOTES. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
It looks now as if spring had at last arrived. Blackirds 
iust came within a few days, robins have been here two 
weeks, and the song chips are along the creek banks. 
Snow covers only small patches of ground in the clear- 
ings, but in the woods it is still some inches in depth. 
The creek is open, and fishing will begin on the date set 
by law. 
To-day I saw a woodcock down on the flats. It was 
under a' bank between two heaps of snow beside some low 
bushes, and rose with a merry whistle on being waked 
up. It was the first I had seen or heard of this spring. 
Partridges wintered well. I saw a male.and female to- 
gether to-day not ten rods from the woodcock. Two 
robins fought in the trees of the back lot this morning. 
A pretty Miss Eobin was an interested spectator. Only a 
few of the birds have arrived as yet, and the buds are 
backward, the pussy willows having only just com- 
menced to fur. 
A good many foxes were killed during the winter, and 
their foot prints were notably ecarce in the latter part of 
deep snow, and so ground-resting birds will fare better 
than usual. Minks, skunks and martens were scarce, 
bat weasels and ermines hold their own. Blue jays and 
crows are numerous, and hawks have begun to arrive. 
From them the birds have much to fear. Owls were 
never very plenty. 
How the deer fared is a question. They were far 
bick in the woods in mid-winter and difficult to reach. 
"Whether many were reached or not cannot be told, but 
probably not so many were killed as usual, although one 
cannot tell what was going on about the lumber camps 
in the Moose River and West Canada regions. The 
Forest and Stream told of two men who were arrested 
for killing deer out of season in the Canada Creek region. 
Large numbers were killed, but what became of them? 
Were they killed for their hides, or were they sold to 
lumber camps for food? Who is responsible, the con- 
sumer or the creators of the demand? 
The dogs did not kill many deer, except in conjunction 
with men this winter. They would rather run near-by 
rabbits than go miles into the woods after unknown 
quantities. Dogs are sometimes as confused as men in 
unknown districts, hence so many dogs stray. They are 
only fit to go after cows anyhow, and when they are 
seen to get after sheep or deer they should be treated 
with lead, at least in the Adirondack region. It is 
curious that people cannot be made to understand the 
^fact that deer are steadily decreasing up here. 
I am glad that they will try to stop doe killing, but 
would be a good deal happier if they would stop buck 
killing too for five or ten years. Deer would get to be so 
plenty then that men could kill their two without fear- 
ing it would be their last. Deer hunting next fall will be 
poorer than ever, judging from present indications in 
Herkimer County. What can be said of the other counties 
in the forest preserve? 
The logs have begun to come down the creek. They will 
be fed to the mill at Hinckley at the rate of 1,800 a day 
next summer, probably faster. Fortunately there will he 
a little waste, for a pulp mill is standing by ready to 
take the edgings and sawdust. 
Some one introduced black bass into the West Canada, 
for numbers of them were caught here last summer. 
Good-bye trout fishing! Pickerel would have been better, 
because more sudden. Still bass fight well even if they are 
not pretty. Years ago a man could take a string, a 
penny fish-hook, a ten-foot birch, and in an hour snake 
out a dish pan full of trout. One, two, and even tnree- 
pound ones, but that day is past, and alas, never to re- 
turn. 
W. T. Finch built himself a fish pond last summer, and 
in the fall put in several thousand trout — six or seven- 
inch ones. Whether they will survive in this pond is a 
matter of conjecture among the woodsmen, as the bottom 
is not sandy or gravelly, but rather mucky, nor is the 
water plenty. It is to be hoped that the fish will prosper. 
Northwood. % Y., April 9, '95. Raymond S. Speaks. 
THE SUNNY SOUTH.— IX. 
COL. BILL PEABODY'S VACATION 
Chicago, Mai ch 30.— Mr. W. W. Peabody, Jr., or Col. 
Bill Peabody, as he may hereafter be termed in these 
columns, is a young man somewhere between twenty and 
fifty years old, I should say. For some time he has been 
assistant manager of the B. & O. S. W. R. R., whose 
offices are located at Cincinnati, Early last summer he 
was summoned to appear in the presence of the president 
of the road, and thither he went', expecting to be fired, 
perhaps, or suffer other personal injury. On the con- 
trary, it seems that the president had no such intentions 
against Col. Bill Peabody. All he wanted to do was to 
raise his salary about a thousand dollars a year, or a 
thousand dollars a month, I forget which, tell hira to 
take a vacation of a few weeks, and put at his disposal 
one of the best-equipped private cars that run out ol Cin- 
cinnati. At meeting his sudden reverse in fortune. Col. 
Bill Peabody staggered, placed his hands on his heart 
and said. 
"Thanks, noble sir; I have got you." Then he looked 
around for some good people to go with him on his hunt- 
ing trip. These lie found in the persons of his friends 
Mr. Wilbur Dubois, of the Executive Division of the Cin- 
cinnati post office, the quietest and nicest man on earth, 
and Mr. R. M. Burton, also of Cincinnati, as jolly a soul 
as ever pulled a trigger. To these were added Mr. 
Richard Merrill, the celebrated dog man of Milwaukee, 
and the writer, the two latter having had some expe- 
rience in Texas, which region had been chosen as the 
scene of hostilities by Col. Bill Peabody, after long con- 
sultation With all concerned. 
All the members of the above party excepting myself 
rolled into New Orleans on the private car on the morn- 
ing of November 24, and I having on the same morning 
arrived^ from Memphis, we effected a junction of forces 
early in the day. There we met once more Mr. Randolph 
Foster, whom I have mentioned as one of our hosts in 
our camp at the mouth of the Mississippi, together with 
other friends of the Cincinnati party. I had never met 
Mr. Peabody or Mr. Burton until that morning, but it did 
nDt take long to barn that they were fit parts of a jolly 
party, bound to have as nice a little vacation trip as any- 
one ever did have. We put in a pleasant day in the 
quaint old city of New Orleans, and just before sundown 
pulled out for the setting sun over the iron trail, well 
called the Sunset route, bound for a far distant portion 
of this magnificent and varied country of America, of 
which it has been my fortune this winter to see so many 
different parts in this section known as the South. I 
imagine that few happier or more care-free parties ever 
sat down to an evening meal than was ours as we 
gathered about the table prepared by Mitchell, the col- 
ored cook. We all felt very young and happy. 
We traveled all night, and we traveled all the next 
morning, and we kept on traveling, but still we did not 
begin to cross the vast empire of the great and unknown 
State of Texas. I say unknown, because the greater part 
of the Union, outside of Texas, does not know what Texas 
is, and what Tc^as has done; and what Texas may do or 
be in the future is something which no man is wise 
enougth or daring enough to guess. From the back plat- 
form of our palatial car, Texas appeared a vast gray, 
boundless spa, with hills and plains, with low gray forests, 
draped with tne Spanish moss, with now and then a 
water course, and once in a while a town. All this was 
new to most of our party. Willbur Dubois put his chair 
out on the observatory platform and looked out on the 
shifting panorama of brown and gray for fb r e hours, dur- 
ing which time he never said a word, but was apparently 
completely happy in the warmth of the generous South- 
ern sun. In the North we had left severe weather, but 
here there was a cloudless sky, and a climate so warm 
that we were obliged to lay off our coats in order to be 
comfortable. Evidently we were in the winter country 
of the migratory game. Often from the car we saw flocks 
of plover, and once along a little water course we saw 
some jack-snipe pitching in. All the birds seemed to be 
very joyous and comfortable and contented, and in good 
sooth, we who observed them were not less so than they. 
THE PARTY IS AUGMENTED. 
It was between 2 and o o'clock in the afternoon when, 
we pulled' into Kennedy Junction, the point where the 
San Antonio & Aransas Pass R. R. crosses the South- 
ern Pacific with its line between San Antonio and Rock- 
port, the latter being our objective point. Here our car 
was cut off aud transferred, nicely handled as usual by 
the Southern railroad people, and here upon the platform 
waiting for us, as per our telegram of the day before, was 
a certain burly figure about as big aroun,d as a tree, 
namely, Oscar G-uessaz, of San Antonio, the "Texas Field" 
of Texas and the Southwest in Forest and Stream. This 
was the one thing needful to make our happiness com- 
plete, and the one man needful to make our party perfect, 
at least in our eyes. At once we fell upon the burly 
Texan and dragged him, his baggage, and his dog Flirt 
upon our car, where soon everybody, including the dogs, 
had become netter acquainted and less huugry. -vnd 
then through the live oak country of Southern Texas we 
rolled on down to the gulf coast at Rockport, which point 
we reached about 9 o'clock in the evening. Here we met 
Mr. James Fulton, who had entertained Mr, Merrill and 
myself so nicely the winter before. At onfe we were 
scattered all over the little village of Rockport, the cog- 
noscenti showing to the strangers all the features oi the 
place, the post rffice, the hotel the streets paved with 
sea-shells, and the fish houses, where could be obtained 
the largest and most edible fish, oysters and other pro- 
ducts of the sea. 
JOHNNIE'S BABY. 
We had already arranged with the Bind worth boys for 
the yacht Novice, in which Dick Merrill and I had made 
our explorations the winter previous, and the boys were 
at the depot waiting for us when we got in. Jimmie and 
Jed were to take out the boat, it seemed, Johnnie bemg 
kept at home by reason of his solicitude over a certain 
young sailoress, recently arrived at his house, about three 
or four weeks old perhaps. This youngster we considered 
it our duty to call upon, and I made a personal inspection 
of same in order to see what made Johnnie take such a 
notion to it. It was verv pink in color, and could not he 
called large, gnd had evidently been born without any 
teeth, which I should call a defect in a human being, but 
Johnnie insisted it was different and better than any : 
other baby, and he having had better opportunity to study , 
its habits than the rest of us, we concluded he was per- 
haps right about the matter. So we left Johnnie at home 
and sailed next morning without him, after laying in good ; 
stock of provisions and ice. A fair breeze sprung up just | 
before noon, and as we left the village of Rockport and 
headed out for Copano Bay, the good ship Novice lay over 
in elegant style, and we tore through the green water at 
a rattling gait. We were all still very keen and fresh 
and full of excitement, incitient to a complete change of 
scene, so that we wandered all over the little boat and 
investigated every rope aud block with all the zest of 
discovery. The salt air made us hungry and exuberant, 
and I fear we were very undignified, but certainly we 
were all happy, and we all agreed that even if we never 
saw a cluck, the sail was recompense enough itself. But 
Jimmie the skipper smiled and said we should see some- 
ducks. 
AMONG. THE FOWL. 
We crossed the head of Puerto Bay and swung into Co- 
pano Bay well on in the afternoon, after a fast passage 
over. This bay, like all of the duck waters of the region, 
proved to be very shallow, so we had to drop anchor be- 
fore we got very close to the head of it; but we were 
gratified to see a few banks of birds and some scattered 
symptoms of a flight, though there was no great body 
working in the bay. Much to our surprise and pleasure, 
however, we saw quite a flight of geese across the bay, 
and after a little observation could determine one of their 
lines of flight, which was directly over the top of a cer- 
tain cut-bank bluff on the west side of the bay. 
We at once got into our shooting clothes after we had; 
eaten lunch, and started out on our-„several voyages of 
discovery. I took Mr. Dubois out in one of the skiffs, 
towing a sneak box for a blind, and left him on what we] 
thought might prove to be a gooddiar later in the even- 
ing, as we put up some birds from it going out. Others 
went still further down the bay than this. Guessaz and 
I then met at the yacht and joined forces for a cruise 
over a certain fiat at the head of the bay which seemed 
to be infested to a certain extent with fowl. H Rob Bur- 
ton came o^er also, and later Dick Merrill, with the brand 
new sink box he had had Johnnie make for him. Dick 
made quite a nice little bag of mallard and pintails, 
which began to come in toward evening in something 
like a flight. We discovered at the head of the bay there 
was a deep channel making inland, and spreading out 
into a connecting series of arms and ponds of shallow 
water, running back two or three, miles inland. It did 
not take long to see that this was the place to make our 
hunt, for as dusk approached the -ducks began to draw over 
this land-locked pond system, and we could see it was a 
favorite roosting ground. We had no decoys out, but 
took such shooting as Ave could get a t birds pa'ssing along 
the edge of the connecting channel, and though we had no 
great shooting, we each of us picke t down a few ducks, 
mostly at good, clean flight shooting, which is the most 
difficult style of wild-fowling. 
AH — OOK ! 
AVe saw very soon that there was something bigger! 
than ducks to be had on that strip of country. Just be-1 
fore sunset the geese began to come back to their roost^I 
ing grounds. It transpired that we had come into tliel 
bay too late to see them go out that afternoon, but wel 
learned that as usual for them on establishing feeding! 
grounds, they had two flights a day, out in the early! 
day, back before noon, out again at 2 or 3 o'clock, an'dl 
back again [at night fall. We were busy that first even- 
ing trying tu locate the line of flight correctly, and Gues- 
saz and I conclulel, after folJowing up the shallow bay 
for a distance, that the main line of flight was over the 
high bluff where we first saw some of the geese go out 
earlier in the day. They cros<-td the strip of land be- 
tween the bay and the inland ponds by flying directly 
over the highest ground there was, a bare ridge which 
offered little chance for concealment. Then t heir line lay 
right ov«u' a second high knoll beyond, the pond, ancj 
thence they swung at an angle and followed the highest 
and barest ground there was, clear out into the country 
where they fed or went for fresh waW. The Canada 
goose is a mighty smart bird, and we complimented the 
old head engineer of their forces who laid out this route 
for them. It was the very one along which there was 
the least cover for a hunter. The grass wrs not high 
enough to cover a man, and the geese were giving any 
chance cactus bush or mesquite clump a good wide birth 
as the shadows shut down. Over the low and grassy 
flat, where we were having our duck shooting these 
greater and more wary bircls'did not deign to By, except 
in an occasional much frightened and loud-honking bunch- 
apparently out of their reckoning. As dusk deepened 
into dark, we could hear them coming over in a long 
melodious processiou, whose music was very stirring and 
very promising. We had a lively bit of fun just before 
dusk in trying to get down a goose out of some of the' 
flocks that passed nearest, but though we could hear the 
duck shot zip against their coverts, we could do little 
with them. G-uessaz got down a snow goose out of .the- 
bunch, but we were, by no means contented with that, 
and returned to the boat much excited with plans for the 
morrow's crusade against the honkers. Those who had 
gone down along the edge of the open bay had not had 
much fun, though Mr. Peabody came back much ex- 
cited over a certain goose as large as a haystack, to which 
he had administered violent bodily injury, to the extent 
of knocking it down in the rushes back of his blind. He 
reported a good shooting point at a spit of land which 
ran out into the bay, over which he thought the geese' 
would fly well in the morning. Mr. Dubois bad had no- 
sport at all. We were on the whole not discouraged by 
the developments of the first evening, and after supper, 
lay down to sleep, impatient for the morning. We now' 
had eight in our party, almost too many for the Novice's 
accommodations, so that Guessaz and I bunked on tin- 
deck (which we found was made of hard boards) the. 
others having more sheltered but more crowded quarters 
below on the bunks or on the floor boards. We did n.-c 
sleep very soundly, and oft in the stilly night 1 could, 
hear a grunt of unrest from below, and see some un- 
fortunate sitting up a while to rest his ribs. 
THE TWENTY-GTJAGE DUCK CUN, 
I learned something that evening about shooting, in re« 
