84 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
[Aug. 1, 1896. 
E., to which I have before alluded; to the east the River 
Saguenay and the Bt. Urbain Road. 
The more important rivers taking their source within 
the park, and flowing: through it, are the Jacques Cartier, 
St. Anne, Tourilli, Metabetchouan, Upikauba, Boisvert, 
Mare, MuiTay, Montmorenoi, and their tributaries, also 
some of the larger tributaries of the Batiscan. 
The great divide, from which flow waters to the four 
cardinal points of the compass, is literally peppered with 
lakes, big and little. In one expedition to this country, 
on snowshoes manv years ago, in eleven days' journeying 
we were never off a lake more than twenty minutes. 
This will give the reader some idea of the immense 
number which dot the surface of this plateau. Great 
Lake Jacques Cartier, the source of the river which bears 
its name, has a shore line of some twenty-five miles, and 
is justly celebrated for the abundance and eize of its 
trout. I shall have occasion further on to say more of 
this lake, as well as of Snow Lake, the head of the Mont- 
morenci River, another famous sheet of water. To the 
west a few miles from Lake Jacques Cartier is Lake Noah. 
Lakes des Roches, Vert, Long, a Ncel, 4 la Coupe Fraser, 
a Regis, a I'Epaule, all discharge into the Jacques Cartier 
River, and are easily accessible by the colonization road. 
Why attempt to further name the lakes in this section, 
it would only confuse the reader, and the subject is far 
too vast for the scope of a chapter. I would refer those 
who seek for more detailed information in this direction 
to a little pamphlet recently published in Quebec under 
the auspices of the Department of Crown Lands, entitled 
"Our Rivers and Lakes." The southwest, west, north- 
west and north edges of the park have been leased to 
angling clubs, and this is a wi^e measure for the greater 
protection of the fish and game within the park limits. 
These organizations are all directly interested in the in- 
crease of fish and game, and jealous guardians of their 
own leaseholds. It has drawn a cordon of keen watch- 
fulness around the park, and poaching or killing game 
out of season is rendered almost impossible without in- 
stant detection. 
The whole of the unleased territory within the park, 
some 1,500 or 1,600 square miles, is to be thrown open to 
the American and Canadian angler-sportsman upon con- 
ditions that every true lover of sport will be only too 
ready to subscribe to. At present only one section is 
readily accessible, but as this is to be the highway into 
the greater domain, and as it embraces some of the best 
fishing waters and caribou coimtry, I shall describe it 
more fully, with suggestions to intending visitors. 
The last house on the Jacques Cartier River is Bayard's, 
a famous little resort for those of the angling fraternity 
who have been initiated into the comfort and good fare 
provided by mine hostess, Madame Bayard, and the ex- 
ceptionally fine fishing in the river hard by. Both are 
dpstined to become more widely known in the near future. 
The Bayards are already adding a wing to their house to 
provide more ample accommodations. It is twenty-seven 
miles from Quebec over a fairly good road, and may be 
reached in a four and a half hours' drive. 
Mr. George Colvin, the guardian of that section of the 
park known as the Jacques Cartier Basin, resides here, 
and under his superintendence parties going into the park 
can be supplied wiih guides, canoes and tents. I know 
the guides on this upper section of the river, and they are 
all capital river men and thoroughly familiar with the 
country, trails and lakes. 
The Jacques Cartier is canoeable to the Grand Portage, 
after which it becomes too turbulent, broken by falls 
and heavy rapids. To this point, however, there are 
numbers of famous pools from which trout of 71bs. and 
over are not infrequently taken. At the mouth of the 
Sautoriski River, and for some distance up that stream, 
trout are particularly abundant and of grod pize, and this 
statement applies as well to the River a I'Epaule, both 
tributaries of the Jacques Cartier. The scenery is mag- 
nificently wild, the mountains broken into every conceiv- 
able form, a great chaotic upheaval, through which the 
river winds its noisy, fretful course. With Bayard's as 
headquarters, trips may be made either up or down the 
river, with as much or as little camping as the angler 
cares for. 
To him who seeks the wilderness "far from the mad- 
ding crowd," and prefers the shelter of his little tent 
or bark lean-to, with the bush and the waters as his for- 
aging ground, a trip to Grand Lake Jacques Cartier will 
afford a variety of experiences and adventure, and the 
record breaking big brook trout may be lured by his fly 
and fall a victim to his skill. Monstrous fish lurk in these 
waters. A 9-pounder has already been placed in the 
scales, but better than this may be expected. 
The loijg disused colonization road from Quebec to 
Lake St. John passes close to Lake Jacques Cartier, which 
is distant about thirty miles from Bayard's. An effort 
will be made to have this road reopened for the passage 
of buckboards this season, and canoes and boats placed 
permanently upon the lake, besides a substantial log 
camp at the discharge. 
The Department of Crown Lands charges a small fee to 
sportsmen fishing or hunting within the park limits, and 
a permit must be taken out either in person at the Depart- 
ment in Quebec, or by letter to Mr, W. C, J, Hall, the 
superintendent. Parliament House, Quebec, who will 
supply all necessary information and secure guides and 
canoes if wanted. 
This schedule is in force of charges for visitors to the 
park: For angling, $1 per day; hunting, |1 per day; 
angling and hunting, $1,50 per day. A nominal charge 
of |1 per diem will be made to parties for the use of 
canoes and camp equipment. 
Tourists merely desirous of making a visit to the park 
(and not intending to fish or hunt) may, at the discretion 
of the Commissioner, be granted a permit for that pur- 
pose without charge; if camp equipment be used the 
usual charge for same will, of course, be made. 
FOREST AND STREAM OFFICE i 
346 Broadway * 
NEW YORK LIFE BUILDING 
Present Entrance on Leonard Street 
SOME TENNESSEE MAMMALS. 
In Part I. of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Acade- 
my of Natural Sciences, which covers the months of Jan- 
uary, February and March, 1898, Mr. Samuel N, Rhoads 
has an interesting paper on the Mammals of Tennessee. 
The material on which this list is baspd was collected dur- 
ing the months of May and June, 1895, and the present 
paper is the third of "Contributions to the Zodlogyof Ten- 
nessee," by the same author. Mr. Rhoads's list compre- 
hends all the species known to belong to the Tennessee 
fauna, including not only the wild mammals which are 
found in the State at present, but also those which have 
been exterminated since the advent of the white man. 
Mr. Rhoads calls attention to the in frequency of refer- 
ences to the mammals of Tennessee in scientific literature 
and adds that in popular literature the hunting stories of 
David Crockett form the most voluminous "source of early 
information on this topic, and these have been supple- 
mented in later times by occasional papers and notes pub- 
lished in FOEEST AND STREAM." 
Mr. Rhoads expresses especial thanks for and apprecia- 
tion of the close observation and generous assistance of 
Mr. B. C. Miles, of Brownsville, Tenn,, whose assistance 
in ornithological matters he has acknowledged in an 
earlier paper. 
The opossum {Didelphis marsupialis virginiana) is 
common all over the State below the elevation of 2,000ft. 
Some of the negroes believe that there are two species 
here, one with black, the other with white feet, and the 
author suggests a possible tendency in the opossums of 
southwestern Tennessee toward the Texas form. 
As shown by Dr. Allen in his "Monograph of the Ameri- 
can Bisons," the buffalo (Bison bison) was once abundant 
in Tennessee, but it is believed that this soecies was for 
the most part confined to the Cumberland Valley and its 
tributaries, in middle Tennessee, The point of their great- 
est abundance was probably in the Blue Grass region near 
Nashville, and about the salt and sulphur springs in 
Davidson county, Buffalo River, and towns called Buffalo 
in the southern portion of the State, would seem to point 
to the former existence of the species in that locality, and 
there are other geographical names in Putnam, Washing- 
ton and Cocke counties. There are many historical ac- 
counts which go to show that the central basin of Ten- 
nessee and the Blue Grass region of Kentucky were a 
sort of neutral hunting ground or debatable land, to which 
the hostile tribes of Chickasaws, Natchez, Creeks, Ohero- 
kees and Shawnees resorted at certain seasons to hunt the 
buffalo and, if they met, to fight one another. In the 
forests and canebrakes which covered much of this land 
the buffalo had a home where food was abundant and 
they were infrequently disturbed. Nor were buffalo the 
only or perhaps even the most numerous game found 
here, since an account of a hunting excursion by twenty 
men in 1780 says that they killed "105 bears, 75 buffalo 
and more than 80 deer," Mr. Rhoads is told that the last 
buffalo in Fentress county was killed by an old resident, 
now dead, named John Yoimg, but the date of the capture 
is not known. 
The Virginia deer (Dorcelaphua virginianus) is still 
foimd m Tennessee, but in surprisingly small numbers, 
Mr. Rhoads believes this to be due to the large number of 
negroes and poor whites who spend their lives in hunting 
instead of working. Mr. Miles, who made careful inquiry 
in Heywood county, says: "As far as I can gather there 
are about twenty now alive — one buck was killed in Feb- 
ruary and a doe in August." Efforts are being made to 
protect, and so to restore, this species; and recently the 
Tennessee Legislature passed a law forbidding the killing 
of deer in certain counties in the State for a period of five 
years. 
At the beginning of the present century the elk (Cervus 
canadensis) was probably found at times in every county 
in the State. It was abundant in the mountains, it fre- 
quented the licks near the present site of Nashville, and 
was more or less abundant in the glades and canebrakes 
of the Mississippi bottom. Mr, Miles, who made careful 
inquiry about the elk in this section of the State, wrote 
to Mr. Rhoads, saying: "The last elk killed in west Ten- 
nessee that I can learn of was at Raelfoot Lake in 1849. 
The late David Merri wether, of Madison county, Tenn., 
killed it. In 1865 I heard that an elk was killed in Obion 
county." Putnam's history of middle Tennessee speaks 
of a park on the famoits Belle Meade Farm, south of 
Nashville, where Gan. Wm. G. Harding had "200 deer, 
twenty buffalo and half a dozen elk in captivity." This 
reference is to a period anterior to 1859. It is not known 
whether any of these animals are still kept there. 
Mr. Rhoads's notes on the swamp hare (Lepus aquaticm) 
will prove so interesting to Northern readers that we 
quote them entire: 
"On the borders of Raelfoot Lake, in the closest prox- 
imity to the water, I found this large hare. It preferred 
hiding among the half-sub merged vegetation and piles of 
driftwood, and when it broke cover would run with bold 
high leaps from log to log for so great a distance that it 
was difiicuit to find it again. 
"The following, relating to its habits in the vicinity of 
Brownsville, is from the pen of Mr. Miles: 'Though re- 
sembling the cottontail closely in color and in diet, as 
well as in movements, there the similarity of the swamp 
rabbit, as we term him, ends. Never seen on the hil& 
and seldom in the open, he is at home in canebrakes and 
deep woods, far from the homes of man. The more deso- 
late the situation the more certain he is to be found, ever 
wide awake and ready to test his speed and cunning with 
that of any enemy; and he has no friends. In the over- 
flow (spring freshets) I have seen him for hours seated on 
a floating log, as much at home as a raccoon, and when 
disturbed take the water for a BOOyds, swim as readily as 
any land animal that I know. When hotly pursued he 
always takes the water, and once there I have never seen 
him caught. Twice only, while hunting at night, have I 
seen him take a hollow tree, seeming generally not to resort 
to such a refuge in the day, The young are born with 
eyes closed and without hair, and fewer in number than 
the cottontail, I have only seen one nest, that in an old 
root. The swamp rabbit has fully held his own in num- 
bers in my day, though nothing more, and I see about 
one specimen a day when hunting in our deepest bottoms. 
The largest ppecimen I ever weighed was ISlbs., and 
would say 13in. at the shoulders. Negroes think_^him 
good eating, and, if properly prepared, I agree with 
them.' 
"In another letter Mr. Miles refers to this hare as fol- 
lows: 'As to the aquatic habits of the swamp rabbit, they 
are very pronounced, and he will take to water as readily 
as the raccoon. I have seen him when not pursued swim 
a slough 30yds, wide and shake himself when on the 
other side, hopping off as though it was all right, * * * 
I saw one swim several hundred yards down and across 
current when pursued by my pointer, and the dog did not 
gain on him, but was the most exhausted of the two when 
he gave up the chase. The rabbit makes the 'dog lick' 
when in the water, the rump rising and falling as in the 
swimming horse,' " 
The contrast in the condition of the young of the swamp 
hare with those of the cottontail rabbit at birth is inter- 
esting, the young of the last-named species being born 
with their eyes open and fully haired, according to Mr. 
Miles 
At Reelfoot Lake Mr, Rhoads visited a beaver house 
situated in a cypress swamp west of Sanburg. It was not 
then tenanted, but there were signs of fresh beaver work 
near at hand. There are a few beaver {Castor fiber cana- 
densis) left in this neighborhood, and a resident of San- 
burg contracted with Mr. Rhoads to furnish the gardens 
of the Z;ological Society of Philadelphia with some 
young during the coming winter. Mr. Miles is quoted as 
saying that the beaver is more numerous now than forty 
years ago, because less hunted. Within nine miles of 
Brownsville he knows a house which is inhabited now 
and has been for twenty-five years. Beaver were for- 
merly abundant all over the State. 
Squirrels of several species are abundant in Tennessee, 
as is also the raccoon. The otter is a rare but constant 
inhabitant of all the larger streams. The fisher is proba- 
bly long ago exterminated. 
The black bear is now very scarce even in the wildest 
parts of the State, though formerly so abundant. In 
many sections they have all been killed off. Mr. Miles 
writes: "A bear was killed in the west border of Haywood 
county in 1865— the last one, I think — though in Laudejc- 
dale county one is occasionally killed now. 
But the gray fox and the red fox are abundant in the 
State. 
In middle Tennessee the wolf seems to be extinct, but a 
few may exist in the southern Alleghany Mountains. 
About the vear 1883 one was seen near Cloudland Hotel, 
and in 1887 Dr. Merriam found the wolf still existing in 
the Smoky Mountains. 
Mr. Rboads says: "Their status in the lowlands of 
west Tennessee may be gathered from the following 
quotations from letters sent me by j^Ir- Miles, the first of 
which was the result of a publication as to the specific 
identity of black and gray wolves made in Forest and 
Stream for A.ug, 31, 1895. 'Since the article for Forest 
AND Stream was written Major Shaw, an old hunter of 
this county, tells me that many years since he captured a 
litter of seven wolf whelps, three of which were gray and 
four black. * * * Our present wolf is larger and 
very much fiercer than those of my childhood, at least 
those specimens were which came under my observation. I 
suppose our present big gray wolf has always been here 
and some favorable circumsiance must have developed 
his numbers.' In a more recent note Mr. Miles announces 
the killing of two wolves by poison about Dec. 10, 1895, 
within seven miles of Browns viUe by a man who had 
killed hogs and heard the wolves howling near, when he 
put out poison with the above result.' " 
The wild cat {Lynx rufus) is abundant in all the wilder 
parts of the country, and Mr. Rhoads, with a query, in- 
cludes the Canada lynx in his list, on the authority of 
Prof. E, D. Cope, but especially states that he has found 
no evidence of the existence there of this species. 
The panther {Felts concolor) seems to have been exter- 
minated in all parts of the State except in the impassable 
brakes of the bottoms of Lauderdale county, where 
Mr. Miles feels confident that a few still exist. 
Range of the Blackfooted Ferret, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In Dr. Merriam's interesting Synopsis of the Weasels of 
North America the geographical range of the blackfooted 
ferret {Putorius nigripes) is given as "Great plains, from 
western North Dakota and northern Montana to Texas; 
not known west of eastern base of Rocky Mountains." 
As the blackfooted ferret is usually regarded as rather 
a rare animal, and, owing to its nocturnal and secretive 
habits, is seldom viewed by the non-scientific observer, I 
venture a word or two on what I have seen of its range. 
I have found it as far north as Milk River in Montana, 
quite close to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and 
have a specimen given me by an Indian from that region. 
The man who secured it did not appear to be familiar 
with it, and from the fact that he called it a spotted mink 
I concluded either that the animal was rare there or else 
that it was seldom seen by the Indians. Further south, 
on the great plains, the animal is well known by the 
Pawnee Indians, who give it the name of "ground dog." 
They recognize its secretive habits, and in one of their 
mythical stories, in which the animals talk and generally 
act like human beings, the ground dog is made to speak 
of itself as "staying hid aU the time." The Pawnees have 
some quite curious beliefs with regard to this species, 
many of which I have noted in my book "Pawnee Hero 
Stories and Folk Ta'es" (p. 113), as well as in my later 
book, "The Story of the Indian" (p. 175). 
I do not clearly know what Dr. Merriam means by the 
statement that the blackfooted ferret is not found west 
of the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. I do not 
know of its ever being found on waters flowing into the 
Pacific, but it is not uncommon in some parts of the great 
central plateau, for example in the Shirley Basin on 
streams forming the head of Muddy Creek, which is the 
tributary of the Medicine Bow River from the north. 
The Shirley Basin is about thirty miles east of north of 
the town of Carbon on the Union Pacific Railroad in 
Wyoming, and is about 7,500ft. above the sea level. 
At least one family of blackfooted ferrets had their 
home one year in some deserted sheep sheds near a ranch 
in this basin, and on more than one occasion they were 
routed out from their hiding place by men who were pull- 
ing down the walls of the shed, and two or three of them 
were killed, and were afterward seen by me. The man 
who destroyed them spoke of them as ferocious little 
creatures, ready to turn and fight if too closely pursued, 
and as not especially swift of foot. 
GE©Res Bird Grinijell, 
