Aug. 39 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
16B 
"STING SNAKE" AND RATTLER. 
Mississippi, Aug, 16. — Editor Forest and Stream: In 
the description of my "stinging" snake your typo made 
havoc of the colors by a little error in punctuation. I 
wrote: "His body is of uniform color, not quite black, 
but dark, with a tinge of wine color; underneath, the 
ground color is scarlet," etc. The types made it read: "a 
tinge of wine color underneath," etc., which made some 
confusion in the description. I kept "McKinley," as I 
called him, for about six weeks. I frequently gave him a 
bath in a tub of water, when he invariably went to the 
bottom, crawled around with some show of animation, 
and acted as if he wished to burrow into the bottom and 
sides of the tub. I gave him frogs and grasshoppers 
while in the water, but he paid no attention to them, and 
ate nothing during the whole time that he formed a part 
of my family circle. He generally filled up on water, 
though, when in the tub. 
A few days ago I carried McKinley on my arm down 
to the Sunflower River, a quarter of a mile away, and 
liberated him. While on the way I encountered a citizen 
who exclaimed in great excitement, "Why, man, that i« 
a stinging snake! the most dangerous snake in the world! 
Look out! if he popS his sting into you he'll kill you?" It 
was with some difficulty that I convinced this gentleman 
by ocular demonstration tha.t the snake was harmless, 
when he finally remarked, in a tone of disappointment. 
"Well, the stinging snake is a myth then, along with all 
the other myths." When I released McKinley at the 
river he immediately burrowed down into the mud and 
wriggled himself away through the soft mud, which leads 
me to believe that mud is his habitat and feeding ground. 
About two weeks ago I secured a fine specimen of Oro- 
talus horridus, or in plain English a rattlesnake, some- 
thing over 4ft. long, with ten rattles. He was a vigorous 
specimen, noisy and disputatious, by name Bryan. I 
turned Bryan and McKinley loose together in a spare 
room with two rather small chickens for a whole after- 
noon. The snakes paid attention neither to one another 
nor to the chickens, which latter exhibited a mild 
curiosity when Bryan crawled by them, but no fear. 
Bryan was domiciled in a box about S^ft. long, one side 
being of glass and with auger holes bored through the 
other sides, A few days after he came to live with me I 
left him on the porch in the afternoon, where the sun 
reached him, and when I returned in the evening Mr. 
Bryan was stretched out in his box, stone dead, 
I had supposed that rattlesnakes could stand a high 
temperature, but do not know any cause of this one's 
demise except the heat of the afternoon sun on the glass 
side of his box. Coahoma. 
BLACK DUCK BREEDING GROUNDS. 
Mk. Thomas Johnson writes from Edmonton, North- 
west Territories, under date of Aug. 8: 
I have found out the breeding ^rounds of black ducks. 
We have no black ducks in Manitoba, and when Mr. 
Hough was a guest of my friend, W. B. Wells, their shoot- 
ing was principally of black ducks — that is, at their club 
preserve at Mitchell's Bay. It was a puzzle to Mr. Wells 
and myself to know their breeding grounds, but I found 
it at Lake St. Anne, about forty-five miles west of here. 
They are in thousands, and a peculiarity they have dur- 
ing the breeding season is similar to that of the coot, or 
water hen, viz.: they won't fly, but dive or swim out of 
danger. Another lake, named Lac la Biche, is also a 
great breeding ground for black ducks. This lake is 160 
miles north of here. 
Buffalo and Furs. 
I saw to-day two of the largest buffalo robes T ever saw, 
and I have seen tens of thousands. Tne buffalo were 
killed in March last, north of here. I measured one and 
it was 8ft. 6in. wide and 9ft. Sin, long, the skin measur- 
ing only from the shoulder, as the Indians who killed 
them are very superstitious about the heads of buffalo. I 
met to-day on my way in from Big Lake Mr. Frank 
Hardisty, going to the Yellow Head Pass with two young 
Englishmen on a mountain sheep and goat hunt. He told 
me that he had offered the Indians |25 — or its equivalent 
— to tell him where he could find the heads of the buffalo, 
but they would not under any circumstances give him the 
information. It is what they term "bad medicine" to do so.' 
You could hardly credit the number of furs brought 
here. I send you a clipping from to-day's Edmonton Bul- 
letin, showing the quantity of one trader. When I tell 
you that near $350,000 worth have already been brought 
in this season it will give you a fair idea of the immense 
number: 
"Colin Eraser's fur consisted of 2 963 marten, 570 mink, 
35 fisher, 71 otter, 110 cross fox, 185 red fox, 20 wolverine, 
451b8. castorum, 1,148 beaver, 34 silver fox, 382 lynx, 8 
wolf, 3 skunk, 6,690 rats and 135 bears. Bids were 
offered this morning and the lot was secured by the H. 
B. Co. for $19,397." 
A Dragon Fly Attacks a Nonpareil. 
St. Atotjstine, Ela., Aug. 6.— The following is, I take 
it, a rather remarkable story, and as it comes from an en- 
tirely reliable source, I send it to Forest and Stream as 
the best place to bring it to the notice of naturalists, to 
learn whether any one has known of any similar case, 
As Mr. and Mrs, Heth Canfield, of this city, were sitting 
on the porch of their cottage a few days since, they 
noticed a little bird known as a nonpareil fall fluttering to 
to the ground from a cedar tree near by, and as the dog 
sprang out to catch it Mr, Canfield hastened to rescue the 
bird. As he stooped over it he found that a large mosquito 
hawk or dragon fly had fastened upon its neck. 
Picking up the bird, which seemed nearly exhausted, 
Mr. C, shook off the insect, which flew away with the 
bunch of feathers plucked from the neck of the bird still 
in its jaws. 
The bird was taken into the house, where after a while 
it recovered from its fright and exhaustion and flew 
away. The neck showed plainly where the fierce grip of 
the insect had taken the feathers. 
I have often seen the large mosquito hawks catch but- 
terflies and the large horse flies, but I never knew they 
attacked anything as large as a bird. The nonpareil, a 
beautiful little bird of the South, is somewhat less in size 
than a canary. "W". 
The FoRBST AND Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
atest try Monday, and as much earlier as practicable. 
§Hg mid ^tuh 
CAN IT BE STOPPED? 
■ 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have seen with much interest and satisfaction the 
vigor and constancy with which Forest and Stream and 
many of its contributors uphold the stand taken to stop 
the sale of all kinds of wild game. That the foremost 
journals, devoted to the highest order of outdoor sport and 
recreation, and that the most intelligent and observing in- 
dividuals, who are nearest and most intimate with nature 
and natural conditions, should advocate a cause so 
earnestly and unanimously, stamps the undertaking as 
undeniably judicious and right. 
Indeed, so far as my observation goes, and it is not con- 
fined to narrow limits, I am surprised that there should 
be any opposition to a proposition so clearly humane, sen- 
sible and economical. If Americans consulted no other 
sentiment than their fundamental principle of the greatest 
good to the greatest number, the population of the conti- 
nent should unite upon so plain and simple a method of 
protecting their own interests, and there should be no dis- 
senters. The miserable pot-hunters themselves should be 
thankful if such a means of livelihood is denied them. 
The eternal scramble for dollars and dimes, that seems 
to be an inseparable ad junct to civilization, is demoralizing 
enough under most "circumstances, but let us not forever 
continue to encourage it to extend its blight to every nook 
and cranny of the continent of America. There should 
be some precincts sacred from the blasting touch of 
avaricious greed and itching palms. The protection of 
game, natural conditions and wildernesses may have a 
greater influence upon the welfare of a nation than most 
of those nearly concerned are aware of. There are coun- 
tries where aristocrats alone can leave stone pavements 
and smoky, impure and choking air and find relief in 
their private parks. There are places where only the rich 
may taste of grouse and venison. There are examples 
enough, not only in the history of old countries, but in 
many parts of our own, to fix beyond question forever the 
judiciousness, desirability, the imperative demand that 
the avaricious destruction of natural and common pro- 
visions should be prevented. 
About the only reasonable plea that is advanced by 
those who desire to kill game for money comes from 
pioneers — remote settlers an(^,mountaineer8. These claim, 
and not without reason, thaft they must depend upon 
what nature puts in their way. They must catch fish 
and kill deer and other game, and take it to towns and 
trading posts to exchange for necessities. This plea will 
continue as long as there is an acre of vacant forest or a 
timber-clad mountain, or a trout stream, open to the 
public. 
But if the claim of this class is admitted where will re- 
striction begin? After the pioneer comes the sawmill to 
denude the land of timber, the miner to drain the streams 
for mining, or the farmer to utilize the water, or the 
smelter or factory to poison it. All of these interests 
have their advocates and the usual result is that private 
or corporate greed asserts its supremacy at the expense of 
the conservative or helpless majority. The finale will 
come inevitably and within a few years. History will 
continue to repeat itself. 
To stop the sale of game is the very wisest if not the 
only means to prevent its extermination, and even this is 
not all that must be done. The professional hunter who 
kills game for money is not the only one who kills it 
ruthlessly, although in most places he is the most destruc- 
tive. There is a class of excursionists, and another of 
vandals, who raid the country in game districts and who 
seem to enjoy themselves chiefly by killing or destroying 
— but in continuing I am only reiterating what has so 
often been more vigorously stated in these columns. 
One thing I have observed in many persons and places 
is this: the genuine backwoodsman, the true sportsman 
and observant lover of woods and streams is not, and 
never was or will be, wantonly destructive of wild life. 
The most experienced hunters I have kftown, and the 
oldest mountaineers and frontiersmen, have been reli- 
giously humane and the most reluctant to kill any creature 
wantonly. When such men shoot they always know 
they are aiming at seasonable game, and they kill it only 
to supply their needs. 
In California, heavily timbered and mountainous as it 
is, many varieties of wild game have been exterminated. 
There is not now an elk within its boundaries. The 
grizzly bear is extinct or only a stray one occasionally 
heard of in its migrations. A remnant of a band of an- 
telope was heard of a year or two ago in a northern 
county, and the fact was a thing to be wondered at and 
published from Siskiyou to San Diego. They were so 
well advertised they probably went off "like hot cakes." 
The California Legislature finally did a good thing. It 
passed a law against the sale of venison and elk (the elk 
were long gone), and better yet, stopped the sale of deer 
skins. The effect is not yet noticeable, but it will be. I 
have seen campers return from the mountains with a 
wagon load of freshly killed deer skins and no meat (be- 
fore the law was made) and I have known of men who 
employed Indians to kill deer by the hundreds — perhaps 
thousands — for their skins alone, an industry common 
enough in the West. 
The sale of venison and deer pelts in this State is not 
profitable now — not being altogether safe — but since 
March, 1895, other game and fiah laws languish. The 
Legislature ki 1895 renovated the laws and made some 
good changes — and one bad one. They made the fines 
imposed go to the public coffers and did away with the 
provision allowing informants pay for their time and 
trouble. They "authorized" counties to appoint wardens. 
Some few of the counties appointed wardens, but most of 
them refused on account of "an unnecessary expense!" 
Then some wise judge gave it as his opinion that the appoint- 
ment of wardens was unconstitutional, and many unripe 
journalists of the State saw in this an opportunity to de- 
nounce all game laws. Just why country newspapers 
enjoy obstructing game laws I can't guess, but they do it 
with relish, zeal and peculiar idiocy. Perhaps they do it 
because they like to denounce things beyond their com- 
prehension. The next Legislature may agree with the 
aforesaid immature people that our game laws are all 
imconstitutional. 
In this vast country of ours it seems that not only 
eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, but eternal vigi- 
lance and contention are necessary to the protection of 
the natural advantages of the great commonwealth. 
It is, I think, proverbial that the great enemy and ob- 
stacle to progress is ignorance. This, I am inclined to 
think, is peculiarly obvious whenever a rural journal or 
grocery store orator denounces game laws. If all such 
obstructionists would read PoeeST and Stream for a 
while, thereby nourishing their ideas — or perhaps their 
reasoning power— they might not only favor game pre- 
servation, but unite in the effort to stop the sale of it. 
Charles L, Paiob, 
CAILBPOaNIA. 
ADIRONDACK GAME NOTES. 
Dead Deer. 
During a recent trip through the Adirondacks, which 
began at the Fulton Chain of Lakes and ended at West- 
ort, on the D. & H. R. R , I heard much about the num- 
er of deer that have been seen this season in the North 
Woods. Without a single exception deer were reported 
at the various camps to be on the increase, and it is safe to 
say that never again will the Fisheries, Game and Forest 
Commission be able to gather accurate statistics of the 
number of deer killed in one season. One man was frank 
enough to say to me that if he had known what use the 
Commission was to make of his report he would not have 
reported so many deer killed as were killed by a party of 
which he was a member. He said if the Commission was 
to use the number of deer killed as an argument against 
hounding he would not help the argument with another 
report of the number actually killed. At two places I 
was told that between twenty and thirty deer were seen 
at each place in or around a single lake in one day. It is 
evident enough that there are many deer left in the 
Adirondacks, but it is also evident that deer are killed il- 
legally, and it is a most difficult thing to detect the vi- 
olators of the law, 
A little way down the Raquette River, after leaving 
Long Lake, our nostrils were saluted with a stench which 
incited us to look for the cause of it. In the water near 
the bank a dead deer was found with wounds in head and 
breast. The animal was not in a condition for a close ex- 
amination, but circumstances seem to point to the fact 
that the deer had been shot by jack light, and though 
badly wounded had escaped the hunter, only to die in a 
manner to render the venison worthless when found, even 
if it was found by the hunter. Two other dead deer were 
found in the same river lower down, and a game pro- 
tector had been hunting for the violators of the law with- 
out success up to the time of our visit. Miles away from 
the spot it was known that the deer had been killed and 
where the carcasses were, which was natural, for such 
news travels in the woods, but nothing could be learned 
of those who did the killing. I happen to know some- 
thing of the strenuous effort made to find the guilty ones, 
but it is not strange that they should escape in the wilder- 
ness. 
One of the State game protectors told me he had just 
been to Deer Pond, in St. Lawrence county, in conse- 
quence of reports that deer were being killed. Within a 
space of four rods square he found the carcasses of eleven 
deer, ten of them does. From one but a single ham had 
been taken, and but little more meat had been taken from 
the other carcasses. The protector said it was not likely 
that these deer had been fire-hunted, as he saw eighteen 
deer in or around the pond during an hour's time. The 
deer had been shot wantonly, and in all probability be- 
tween fifteen and twenty fawns had bsen left to perish 
after their mothers had been killed, for if they did not die 
at once they would be so poor and weak that they would 
not survive the winter. There is a possibility that some 
of the miscreants who did the shameful work may be 
brought to justice. 
Breedinsr of Deer. 
In a deer park at Loon Lake, Mr, Ferd. Chase, the pro- 
prietor of the hotel, has a number of deer which have been 
captured at various times during the open hunting sea- 
son and turned into the park, where their habits may be 
studied, instead of turning them into venison in the 
ordinary way. The conditions existing in the park are 
not unlike those to which the deer have been accustomed 
in a wild state, except that their quarters are circum- 
scribed. Two years ago a female fawn was born in the 
park, and this year that fawn is the mother of a fawn. 
Her fawn was bora whea she was about one year 
old, and this was to me brand new information concern- 
ing the natural history of the Virginia deer, as it was t;) 
Col. Wm. F. Fox, Superintendent of Forests of the Fish- 
eries, Game and Forest Commission, and it is possible 
that it may be unusiial in the breeding habits of the deer, 
and I note it to obtain light on the subject from those 
who have deer in confinement an 1 under observation. 
Does vs. Bucks. 
Last autumn during the deer hunting season I heard 
from two sections of the Adirondacks that more dry does 
were killed than in many years before, and it was ac- 
counted for by the fact that it had become the rule in 
those sections to kill only the bucks and spare the does 
During my journey through the woods the matter of dry 
does was brought up at a number of stopping places or 
hunting centers, and while it was admitted that such was 
the case, I heard it charged to hounding during the 
breeding season; that the dogs so harried the deer and 
separated them that the increase in the deer herd was 
less than it otherwise would be. This theory was com- 
bated, it is true, but it seemed to be as reasonable as the 
other, for really more does were killed last season than 
bucks, the proportion being 3,307 bucks to 3,693 does. 
Adirondack Moose. 
The last moose to be killed in the Adirondacks was 
killed in the 6O3, I think. I have heard Alva Dunning 
credited with killing the last moose, and also heard 
Mitchell Sebatis credited with the same act. Be that as 
it may, I think the last moose was killed near Long Lake. 
A few days ago the register of the Threehouse Hotel 
in Glens Falls, N. Y,, for the years 1843 and '44 was 
brought to light in the village, and a newspaper man has 
been looking over it. The register has been kept in a 
private family as a sort of scrap book, as it was in the day 
of it more than a register of the arrival of guests. Under 
date of Oct. 10, 1844, is recorded the arrival of two men, 
with this legend, "Returned from Long Lake. Killed 
twQ moose, three bears, five deer (one big one), one 
