July 18, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
4S 
in use at that time, were accustomed to control the ebulli- 
tion of the heated sap by dropping into the same a piece 
of fat poi-k, and certain fragmentary portions of this sub- 
stance, which had been placed for convenience or safety 
upon some of the logs of the camp, had been dragged 
down by the unwelcome visitor and diverted from their 
legitimate purpose and destination. The snow was depp, 
game was scarce, and under the circumstances no self- 
respecting wolf could be expected to pass by without 
sampling it, a more or less attractive chunk of fresh ''bog 
meat." At any rate, this particular wolf had decided 
upon his course — that is, the first course of his breakfast — 
and when the farmer had hove in sight had disposed of 
this item on the bill of fare, and was seeking more of the 
same sort. 
Like other hunters, Young had but little fear of these 
animals, and although unarmed, he advanced with a 
shout, expecting, of course, that the wolf would turn tail 
and flee. He didn't; on the contrary he displayed a most 
formidable looking set of teeth, and deciding that if raw 
farmer was not the second item of the menu it ought to 
be made so at once, he sprang forward with a savage 
growl. To say that Mr. Young was surprised wouldn't 
express his feelings — he was a good deal more than that; 
but promptitude in such a situation is more than half the 
battle, and the woodsman held his ground, took in the 
newly added features of the situation, and at once decid- 
ed that something had to be done or he might be late 
home to dinner. 
As I said, he was unarmed and the wolf was between 
him and his axe, which was sticking in a log near the 
camp, but the beast growled some more and kept coming. 
Young afterward remarked that "It seemed as though 
the critter was three hours on the way, but he guessed 
arter all it wa'n't much more'n three seconts." 
Tbe ancient Scots had a proverb: "Willing hand 
never lacked weapon," (I wonder if O, O. S. remem- 
bered it when he reached for that handspike and knocked 
the stuffing out of the panther out on the Pilchuck.) 
That, by the bye, was the best panther story I ever 
read, but it somehow reminded me of the performance 
of the play entitled "The Fatal Cow-House, or the Mur- 
dered Milkmaid," as reported by the author of "Little 
Pedlington." You will recollect that the hero and the 
heavy villian at last met in the fatal cow-house, where 
they providentially found two shields and two broad- 
swords, and as Cy Larkin might have said, "Jest nateral- 
ly tit it out." 
But this may be regarded as a digression, and you 
needn't print it unless you choose. In fact, I only put it 
in in order that O. O. S might realize how these panther 
stories affect a fellow. 
Every one who has read "Woodcraft," or has camped 
much in our Northern forests, knows that hemlock knots 
make a mighty good fire (Miss Fannie Hardy says she 
likes poplar and I suppose she knows whereof she speaks, 
but I have lived in a poplar wo"d, and I prefer any one of 
some twenty different sorts of timber for my fire). 
Besides raw pork, Mr. Young had thoughtfully provided 
a fair-sized woodpile, upon the top of which lay a series 
of huge knots, which he had collected where had lain the 
trunk of an enormous hemlock tree, the softer portions of 
which, long since rotted away, had left the great resin- 
ous knots exposed to view and easily drawn from their 
resting places in the decaying wood. 
Readers familiar with the works of the historian Bar- 
bour, or with those of Sir Walter Scott, may remember 
that just before the battle of Bannockburn the Bruce ter- 
minated an existing difference of opinion between himself 
and Sir Henry de Bohun by bestowing upon the helmet 
of that gentleman a slight taste of his battle axe. Young 
may not have been familiar with the above incident, and 
had he been his axe was out of reach, but he sprang for the 
woodpile and grasped the largest knot at hand; but just 
in time, for as he swung it aloft the animal, with a furi- 
ous snarl, leaped right at his throat. 
But the stern training of the backwoodsman had 
brought foot and hand and eye in perfect unison. Like a 
flash he moved aside and on the wolf 
"the whiles he paased, 
Fell that stern dint, the first— the last, " 
and the fierce brute with a muffled growl rolled lifeless on 
the snow. 
The catastrophe was so sudden and satisfactory that the 
most of us would have felt disposed, in Mr. Young's place, 
to have ppent a little time in rejoicing and self-congratu- 
lation; Young merely remarked to himself, "Well, ef 
they's any more o' them critters that's pork-hungry, I 
guess we'll manage to give 'em a bellyfuU, somehow." 
His family, however, attached more importance to the 
incident, and that old hemlock knot is now, since the 
death of the old woodsman, treasured among their most 
cherished possessions. Kelpie. 
YELLOWSTONE TROUT AND GAME. 
Mammoth Hot Sphings, Wyo., July 2 — jBditor Forest 
and titream: If the spirit of Izaak Walton is roaming 
over the earth looking for happy fishing grounds — 
groimds that go near to make up a sportsman's paradise — 
it must keep very near to the mountain streams of the 
Yellowstone National Park in the summer months. 
There are other places where more fishermen congregate, 
and of which good fish stories are told, but in the Yellow- 
stone Park men who never handled a reel, and have been 
afraid to admit that they loved to go fishing, have sud- 
denly made the discovery that they can beat the expert 
fishermen of the Eist in casting a fly so that it will bring 
the fish to the hook. 
Secretary Hoke Smith. 
Hon. Hoke Smith was out here in '94, and when asked 
if he did not want to go trout fishing, he replied, "I want 
to bad enough, but I am no expert; I won't be able to 
land any fish! It takes an expertl" Mr. Huntley, gen- 
eral manager of the Transportation Co. , finally induced 
Mr. Smith to accompany him on a fishing expedition to 
Willow Creek, and the result is that Mr. Smith is now an 
avowed disciple of Izaak Walton. They were at Willow 
Creek exactly one hour and forty minutes and returned 
with 138 trout, principally of the rainbow variety, Mr. 
Smith caught fitty-two of the 138, which was exceed- 
ingly good for one who had never fished for trout before. 
Secretary of War Lament. 
Last year Hon. Daniel Lamont visited the Yellowstone 
Park with a party of friends, When asked i£ he fished. 
he said, just as Mr. Hoke Smith did, "Why, it requires 
an expert to catch trout." Mr. Lamont waa in the Park 
just a week and he caught enough fish to feed the Demo- 
crats still out in the cold the remaining term of the pres- 
ent administration. He saya that now be is a fisherman, 
and not afi-aid to acknowledge it when he goes back to 
Washington. 
Judgre Lamoreaux on Segregation. 
Jude'e S. W. Lamoreaux, Commissioner of the United 
States Land Office, of Washington, D, C, who was in 
Yellowstone Park recently on a tour of inspection, said: 
"I spent a week in the Park, which, being under our 
department, I was anxious to visit, As a result of my 
visit there I shall have something to say on the question 
of cutting off the northeast corner of the Park, when I 
get back to Washington. That question has been before 
Congress for a long time. There was a bill before Con- 
gress at the recent session with that object in view. The 
idea is to enable a railroad to build through what is now 
a part of the reservation. 
"The members of the Montana delegation were anxious 
for me to visit the locality, and assured me that I would 
be able to find no objection to the proposed change of 
boundary. Well, I rode into the northeast corner on 
horseback — it was too rough for a vehicle — and I discov- 
ered that the Montana delegation did not know what it 
was talking about. None of its members had ever visited 
that section of the coimtry. 
"The proposition is to move the boundary line from the 
top of the mountain to the base of the mountain, I dis- 
covered that the side of the mountain is covered with for- 
est, and shelters all the kinds of game that are to be found 
in the Park. The elk and antelope seek these moun' ain 
slopes in hot weather, and in winter work down into the 
beautif ul valley below. If we fixed the stream at the 
base of the mountain as the dividing line we would drive 
all this game out of the Park, and I have accordingly 
determined to report adversely on the proposition. 
"No railroad company has ever been organized to build 
the proposed line along the mountain side, but I under- 
stand that 100 men of wealth stand ready to jump in and 
bid for the concession should the boundary of the Park 
be modified in the manner proposed. Such a railroad 
might be a money-making enterprise, but I do not think 
the game in the Yellowstone Park should be sacrificed 
for the benefit of a railroad corporation." 
Judge Lamoreaux and party put in several days fishing. 
The judge and a friend went out for two hours on a Sim- 
day and they brought in eighty-three fish, weighing 
llSibs. The judge immediately called Mr, Jay Haynes, 
the Park photographer, to have himself and his string of 
fish photographed for the benefit of his friends in Wash- 
ington, who would be sure to laugh at his fish story with- 
out the indisputable proof from the camera to confirm it, 
Buffalo, Wild and Tame. 
For several years before the passage of the severe 
Federal law which provides a penalty of two years' im- 
prisonment and $1,000 fine or both, hunters made their 
way into the Park and inflicted serious injury upon the 
herd of buffalo there, and now it is doubtful if over 120 
of them remain in the whole Park. In 1890 it was sup- 
posed by Uncle Sam's guardians that there were 300 m 
the herd. A good buffalo head is reported to bo worth 
$500 and the hide $150, so the temptation to slip into the 
great reservation and break the law has been great. The 
Park is sixty-two by sixty miles square, and is guarded by 
a small force of soldiers, who cannot cover the whole 
territory. 
The Government has made an effort to preserve the 
buffalo and other wild game, and placed a good man, 
Capt. George Anderson, in charge, but with the few 
soldiers under him he has been unable to catch every 
hunter who has slipped in. It is a big territory, covered 
by mountains, great canons, rivers and forests; neverthe- 
less Capt. Anderson has brought a number of men to book 
and captured and saved some fine specimens. 
Col, Waters, of the Lake Steamboat Co,, has, it is re- 
ported, purchased quite a good-sized herd of buffalo at 
Montreal, Canada, and will place them on Dot Igland, a 
piece of land containing about 150 acres, four miles from 
the north shore, in Yellowstone Lake, Among the buf- 
falo recently purchased is a bull buffalo weighing 
2,2001bs. Mr, Waters has secured a permit from the Gov- 
ernment which allows him to have all sorts of game native 
to the Park, including elk, deer, mountain sheep, bears, 
antelope and smaller game, F. J, L. 
COLOR OF THE SCARLET TANAGER. 
Dr R, W. Shufeldt's interesting paper on the scarlet 
tanager published in a recent issue of Forest and Stream 
has called forth a letter to him from one of our subscrib- 
ers, Mr. August Koch, of Williamsport, Pa., from which 
we are permitted to print some extracts. That the color 
of the scarlet tanager is subject to great variation is well 
known, and it is of interest that such variations should be 
noted. Mr, Koch says: 
"I have read your very interesting article on the color 
of the scarlet tanager just published in Forest and 
Stream, My collection contains some specimens of tana- 
gers, aescriptions of which may be of some interest to 
you, and I have therefore thought that I would send you 
some notes on specimens which are normal except for the 
points mentioned. All except one of these specimens was 
taken during the month of May. 
"No. 1. Full dress, scarlet, except that two of the 
smallest wing coverts on each wing are red. Back of 
neck and central part of back have a strong sooty — almost 
melanistic — appearance. Upper tail coverts, green and 
sulphur yellow mixed with red. 
"No. 2, Three of the smallest wing coverts on each 
wing are red, forming conspicuous bands over the wings. 
"No. 3. A bright yellow spot on each wing, the spots 
consisting of a group of yellow dashes on smallest wing 
coverts, some of them being in the center of some of the 
black feathers. A fine male, otherwise in normal plum- 
age. 
"No. 4. The color is an admixture of bright orange 
and scarlet, a beautiful effeot being produced by the two 
colorB, 
"No. 5 The fourth tail feather on the right side is per- 
fectly white, except for a bright rosy tint at the termina- 
tion of the feather. The specimen is otherwise normal. 
"No. 6, A confirmed albino, the ground color of which 
is a creamy whitish with some admixture of very light 
sulphur and pink. The pink and sulphur become stronger 
toward center of abdomen, forming a stripe on the latter. 
"No. 7. A male in the dress of a female, except for a 
large black spot on each wing, including all of the small 
wing coverts, and similar to the red part of the redwing 
blackbird. This last specimen was taken Aug. 24, and 
another in the very same dress was taken, I think, the 1st 
of September, and presented to Dr, B, H, Warren. I am 
rather disposed to think that the black spots change to 
green later in the season, after migration. The sex of 
both these birds were determined by dissection. 
"While collecting in the vicinity of Apalachicola, Fla., 
last spring, I noticed a scarlet tanager m full dress March 
26, 1896. I am rather sorry that I did not shoot the bird 
to observe the amount of sreen among the red plumage at 
that season while in the South." 
THE SOUTH AMERICAN OSTRICH. 
BY ADOLB' BBIOH BOEOKING, PH, D. 
CConclufied.) 
The flesh of the nandii is regularly eaten by the Indian, 
the Gaucho and the hunter. It is coarse, somewhat re- 
sembling horse meat in color as well as in taste, but is not 
inferior to the average beef. No doubt domestication and 
a modified diet would improve it, but the white people eat 
only the young birds or the wing and liver of the f uU 
grown. My deerhounds and setters refused to eat it raw, 
even when hungry, but they would gnaw it when cooked. 
The setters never noticed the track of the bird. During 
the season when the ostrich is in its best condition, it is 
very fat, and this fat, when fresh, is excellent to cook 
with, but it cannot long be preserved. The natives use it 
for tanning, for which purpose it is excellent. From the 
skin of the neck, stripped off unsplit, some Indians make 
stockings for their children and purses. From the skin of 
the abdomen with the tail plumes still attached, we are 
told that showy head dresses used to be made for the 
chiefs of the Abipone Indians. Stout snares are made by 
young people out of the long shafts of the wing feathers, 
and with these attached to the end of a bamboo pole they 
catch the tinamous. Bridles and ornaments for horses are 
sometimes platted from these same tail shafts by the men. 
The long wing and tail plumes are exported for use on 
women's hats and bring from $10 to |3o per pound. 
Instead of being a stupid bird, this ostrich is one of the 
wisest and most wary. About the dwellings of white set- 
tiers, who have neither the time nor the inclination to 
disturb him, he becomes so tame that he unconcernedly 
mingles with the poultry and milch cows as if he too 
were domesticated. He is always fearful of men on 
horseback, but is not at all disturbed by the approach of 
people on foot unless they are followed by dogs. These 
he greatly fears. On the plains he often associates with 
the deer or the guanaco, and an alarm of any kind will 
send them rushing away together. 
A bitter enemy of the ostrich is the little spur-winged 
lapwing of the pampa, which attacks the great bird when- 
ever it ventures near its home. They hover over him 
with loud cries, darting at bis neck and head, and ulti- 
mately driving him off, while they remain behind to 
mount high in the air and exult over their victory. 
The Indians and the Guachos kill the ostrich for his 
flesh and for sport, using the bolas, the Indians prefer- 
ing the hola brava, which has only two balls joined by a 
6ft. cord of raw hide, while the Guachos commonly use 
the bola mansa, which has three balls on shorter cords.- 
Of course the pursuit is always on horspback, and at least 
two men take part in it. They approach the bird under 
cover as nearly as possible, but as soon as the troop be- 
comes restless put spurs to their horses and follow, They 
always endeavor to cut off one individual from the herd 
and follow it. While the ordinary step of the ostrich 
covers only from 20 to 24in., when it is trotting it lifts its 
wings and covers S^ft. with each stride; but when more 
closely pressed and running hard, its head and neck are 
stretched forward, each step is 5ft. long, and its legs 
move so quickly that they can hardly be seen. If too 
closely pressed it dodges, turning at an angle of 25 or 30° 
from its previous course. When the pursuer is within 
reach he throws the bolas, which, after revolving a few 
times, strike the bird and it falls, usually killed by its 
own momentum. Should the first thrower miss, the sec- 
ond will not; but if the bird should succeed in reaching 
heavy, wet ground or underbrush, where the bolas cannot 
be used, it escapes. 
When pursued in this manner, the ostrich prefers to 
run against or across the wind, and if there are bushes in 
sight, or swamps or shallow lagoons, it makes for them at 
once. It jumps gullies and creeks a dozen feet wide, and 
while in the air may be seen to flap its useless wings just 
as its remote ancestors used to. I have never seen the os- 
trich swim, as has been reported; nor have I ever, after 
repeated trials, been able to drive a bird into the water. 
The ostrich is often coursed with a mongrel breed of 
hounds employed by the natives. Thoroughbred grey- 
hounds cannot be used to advantage in the tall, rank 
grass, for they run too close to the ground to keep the 
game in view. Besides this they are constantly in danger 
of getting lost in the grass. In coursing, care must be 
taken that at least one of the hounds in the leash is accus- 
tomed to the sport, for the ostrich has a habit of kicking 
backward when gripped, and the inexperienced dog is 
likely to be hurt and perhaps cowed, unless there is an 
old dog present to back him up and show him how to 
seize. My coursing was done with a brace of kangaroo 
hounds, but they never seemed so fond of this sport as of 
following four-footed game. 
In stalking the ostrich with a rifle it is to be remembered 
that they can carry a good deal of lead, if shot in the 
front part of the body. A shot which enters the entrails 
will at once disable a bird. 
In more remote parts of the pampa, where people are 
seldom seen, the ostrich is still afraid of a rider, but does 
not seeji to recognize a person on foot as especially dan- 
ferous. There they can be decoyed to within shot of the 
unter, if he will wave his handkerchief or his hat on 
the end of a ramrod. The birds will slowly, cautiously 
and with many pauses move up quite close to the hunter, 
unless he should betray himself by some incautious move? 
ment, or the wind ehould change so as to jjotify the birds 
