242 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
l^BF%. m, 1896. 
ARKANSAS BEAR LORE. 
Mountains of Polk County, ArkansaB.— On June 29 we 
left Dallas with our equipage with the proposed object of 
exploring the lodes of manganese ores in the different 
mountains of the Cossetot range in Polk county, Arkansas, 
but determined to get all enjoyment possible from the 
sport that the bass of the mountain streams could fur- 
nish. We were Messrs. F. M. Reeves, Edwin Walters, J. 
F. Ward, and myself. 
We left Dallas early in the morning and reached the 
foothills of the mountain about 11 o'clock. As we ap- 
proached the ford of Board Camp Creek, a deep pool rest- 
ing against a base of a high rocky cliff attra,cted our 
attention, and on examination we saw plenty of black 
bass from 1 to Slbs. in the clear, pure water, basking close 
to the rocky cliff. We decided to camp and have broiled 
bass for dinner. The fish refused flies and spoons, so an 
old guimy sack was put to use for catching minnows, and 
it was astonishing how hungry those bass were. Al- 
though standing in plain sight of them, at every- cast of a 
minnow several would rush for the bait, and the first one 
would swallow it without ceremony. As we had agreed 
previously that our catch should not exceed twelve at any 
one time, as soon as the dozen were secured we ceased 
fishing, and it did seem that, as Capt. Ward said, the 
many left in the pool were disappointed in not being given 
,a chance to get a minnow for dinner. 
Leaving the creek valley, we followed the road up 
among the giant pines, which here cover all mountain 
tops, and over the top of the Cossetot Mountain down to 
the valley of the Cossetot River for several mUes to Twin 
Springs, in the gap where the river breaks through the 
Haxmah Mountain. Here we encamped by the east end 
of the West Hannah Mountain, near the home of Capt. 
Bill Wylie, the noted bear hunter of this region; and after 
supper we were visited by him. 
Wylie stands 6 ft. and has muscles of iron. He is afraid 
of nothing but the extra large black and gray timber 
wolves of these raountains. He told us that two years 
before a pack had driven him and a companion upon a 
towering rock, and had given up the battle only after the 
men had emptied the magazines of their Winchesters 
three times in the dim light from their nearby camp-fire, 
leaving thirty-one dead wolves upon the field of battle. 
"Since that night," Captain Bill said, "hit haint any 
use to deny hit, I haint any use for and haint ashamed 
to deny I'm afraid of the cussed varmints." 
"Is there much game in these mountains now, Cap- 
tain?" I asked. 
"There's a big lot of turkeys, a heap of deer and some 
b'ar; but hifs only time now to kill old gobblers and bucks, 
and the b'ars are going to begin to git fat on the huckle- 
berries, and just as soon as he gits in good order on acorns 
I'd like to have you fellows here when I go after one big 
he there is in here." 
The geologist asked, "Do you know all the bears in this 
region?" . , 
"Pritty well, sum-at. There's an old she and two cubs 
on this West Hannah; a she and one cub and a two-year- 
old he on East Hannah; a three-year-old he on East Sugar 
Tree, and a big old he that I can't git acquainted with. I 
don't know whether he sleeps on Eagle* and feeds on 
Fodder, or whether he feeds on Eagle and sleeps on 
Fodder, but soon 's he begins to git in good order, he's 
my meat." 
"How can you tell when he gets in good order?" asked 
the geologist, to be met with such a look of disgust, sur- 
prise and commiseration as the bear hunter looked at him 
for a moment, and then walked to the fire, wh^re he ap- 
plied a live coal to his pipe, puffed a moment, came back 
and sat down, replying, "Wall, I'll be gol-darned. I 
thought you knowed sumthing. Why, when a b'ar gets 
in good order he hulls his acoims. When he's poor he's 
like a hungry hog; he eats them huUs and all. But just 
as soon as he begin to git fat he takes time and bites the 
shucks off, and only eats the kernels. When you're on 
his track if you look at his droppings you can mighty . 
soon teU. by the acorn huUs coming through whether he's 
poor or fat." 
"How can you tell whether it's a two-year-old or a 
three-year-old he bear on Sugar Tree Mountain or the 
Hannah Mountain?" I asked. 
"Wall, you lawyers don't know everything, but you 
can beat tlie devil axin' questions. I'll tell you all about 
b'ars if you'll just let me alone. We a he one gets to be 
two years old he begins to think he's something of a 
b'ar, and about once a day he's got to measure how 
he's growed, by reachin' up and gnawing and scratching 
a big tree, leavin' his mark. He gits more sense when 
he's three years old and has had some tussels with other 
he-s, and he's mighty careful about his mark and only 
makes hit about once a week." 
"What does a bear liye on in spring and early sum- 
mer?'' I asked, at the same time offering my tobacco 
pouch to Capt. Bill for a fresh fill. 
"When he's got the mast all cleaned out on the moun- 
tains by spring he's mighty fat, and can stand poor pick- 
ing for a time, and hit's mighty poor picking he gits, 
bugs, grubs, once in a while a pig or shote, till suckers 
runs, and then he goes grubbing, standing in the riflflss 
of the big creeks and rivers, and grubs lote of suckers out 
of the lot crow din' up stream, throwin' them on the bank 
with one swipe of his paw. When he thinks he's grabbed 
all he can eat he makes his meal, unless a bigger one 
comes along; and then, mister, he don't make any fuss, 
but lights out for another shoal. 
"After the suckers are gone he gits some crayfish, but 
has a niighty poor living till huckleberries git ripe, and 
then he camps in the patch and eats and sleeps till dew- 
berries git ripe; and then it's dewberries and huckle- 
berries all through May. The high blackberries git ripe 
in June and 'arly in July the white washitawsf are ripe, 
and he has a plcknic till fox grapes are fit, and by the 
* Eagle Peak and Fodder Stack are local names for two mountain 
peaks about half a mile apart, each about five miles long and between 
Cossetot Mountain and the Hannah Mountains, which do not approach 
the Cossetot Elver valley. . 
t White washataw is the common name of a wild white grape (the 
ouachita, as named by horticulturists) that is as large as the Concord 
and of a most delicious flavor, unequaled by any cultivated grape. 
It grows so abundantly upon the north and west slopes of the moun- 
tains that its vines form a network barring all travel except in the 
game paths under the vines. 
time they're gone acorns and chinquapins are gittin' fit 
to eat, and when you see by the trees that he's begin 
lappaingt he's fat enough to make mighty good eating; 
and you see he lives about as well the year round as most 
folks." 
- As Captain BiU sat quietly smoking after the delivery 
of this long speech, I remarked: "Captain, from the 
number of bears you know of in this region, they must be 
pretty thick and more plenty here tiian usual, are they 
not?" • 
He blew a cloud of tobacco smoke and said: "No, sir, 
there hain't any bears in here to speak of, but if you will 
go with me this fall over in the Kiomeshg or the Blue 
Bouncer Movmtains when the bears is lapping you'll think 
from the dead leaves on the trees that there's be'n a big 
fire, and in one day with Ketchum [his dog, about the 
size of a Scotch terrier, and of unknown breed] v(q can 
kill more bear than two horses can pack out." 
As I sat meditating on the knowledge of nature the old 
man had acquired in the school of experience, and how 
superior it was for ministering to his wants to all that I 
had learned in school and college, the subject of conver- 
sation was changed and in a short time Capt. BiU took his 
departure, and the drowsy god of slumber chained us all 
until day broke in the valley at 5 o'clock next morning. 
After a dip in the waters of the Cossetot, what enjoy- 
ment we realized as we breathed in the ozone of this 
mountain atmosphere laden with the perfume of the 
pine, sweet-wiUiam, pennyroyal and wild honeysuckle, 
and as we watched the sun rise just east of the Slope of 
East Hannah Moimtain, over the crest of Raven Roost 
Mountain, thirty-five miles away, in Montgomery county, 
the scene defies words of description. Ten minutes' 
work at the pool above the ford with jointed rod and 
minnows gave us our twelve black bass, each weighing 
about If lbs. when caught, for our broiler, and as soon as 
breakfast was eaten I started ahead of the party on foot, 
following the road as it passed up over a spur of West 
Hannah to avoid a long bend of the river around the foot- 
hills of the mountain, carrying my 10-gauge breech- 
loading shotgun, in case I might be in danger from the 
attacks of the gray and fox squirrels, whose number is 
legion. 
As I reached the crest of the spur I paused and gazed 
in admiration at the tall trunks of the pines and oaks 
rising heavenward, with no trace of hand of man. 
Walking on a short distance, I saw a small dust cloUd 
hovering over the road about 200yd8. ahead of me, 
which by close attention I discovered to be caused by a 
mother wild turkey and her brood of about two dozen 
young, about as large as full-grown quail, taking a dust 
bath. As I stood watching them the watchful eye of the 
mother saw me, and as she jumped into the air with a 
cry of "q-7'-r-r-ttr all darted down the mountain side and 
disappeared in the bushes. 
Half a mile further on, as I looked across a small gulch, 
at a distance of about 250yds., I saw a deer family taking 
a morning walk — a stately buck, with wide, branching 
many-pointed horns, followed by a meek-looking doe, 
with a lovely spotted fawn closing up the rear. As they 
did not discover my presence, I watched their stately 
march down the mountain side until they vanished from 
sight in the underbrush. 
we made our camp that night near the end of West 
Hannah. The next morning we crossed over another 
spur of West Hannah Mountain to the bed of Brushy 
Creek Valley and ascended it until we came to the gap in 
the Sugar Tree Mountain and camped in an empty cabin 
here. At this camp we were visited by Capt. George 
Tibbs, a Virginian, who made the charge with Pickett's 
Brigade at Gettysburg, and who is noted for his prowess 
as a deer hunter, as Capt. Bill is as a bear hunter. We 
gathered around the light knot fire in the stone fireplace 
of the cabin in conversation and smoking, and it is aston- 
ishing what a place in the lives of these people the fat 
dry pine light knots fill. As an illustration, we stopped for 
a drink of water next day on our return journey at the 
cabin of a former West Virginian, who had filed upon a 
homestead on a mountain slope of the 160 acres, of which 
not more than ten acres can be cultivated. I asked him 
how he ever came to select such a rocky mountain side 
for a home. "Mister," he said, "that patch of clearing 
will raise all the corn and truck we want; there's lots of 
grass and mast on the mounting for hogs and cattle; 
there's as good a spring as you'll find anywheres, which 
never goes dry; and there's more light knots on that 
mounting than any place you ever seed.'' 
Capt. Tibbs has a tame doe running loose accompanied 
by her two yearling bucks and her two fawns as tame 
and as fond of petting as any Jersey cow. The herd is 
protected by a bell upon the neck of the doe and strips of 
red flannel around the necks of the young ones. 
"Don't the hounds run your deer off, Captain?" I 
asked. 
"We don't allow hounds to run deer in this neck of 
woods, leastwise they don't run long after we hear them, 
our deer's got to be still-hunted. Two hounds came in 
here a short time ago and got after my two yearlings and 
I took my big photgun and got after them. Mister, I 
don't know where them hounds come from, but I know 
where they're now, and they won't run no more deer." 
Asked about turkeys, he said he had three hens with big 
broods of about two dozen each on West Sugar Tree, four 
more on East Sugar Tree, and two or three dozen more 
up toward Boar's Tusk and Smoke Rock Mountains, and 
there was one big drove of . about fifty big gobblers that 
stayed nowhere, but just gad Jed round from mountain 
to mountain. 
The conversation changing to incidents of the civil.war, 
our geologist, a veteran of "the Blue," and Capts. Ward 
and Tibbs, veterans of "the Gray," fought the battles of 
the war over again, long after, as I was told next morn- 
ing, "You dropped over and snored so you almost shook 
the cabin, and kept it up till we had to quit talking." 
At peep of day next morning the cabin door was opened 
by Capt. Tibbs. He said he had invited himself to break- 
fast, and not wanting all the bass caught out of the 
Brushy, had brought something to take the place of the 
fish, and he deposited upon the cabin table six three- 
t Lapping is the name given to the action of bears breaking the 
82ialier boughs and branches of oak and chinquapin trees (a small 
species of chestnut) as they pull themselves up to the larger limbs 
taat will bear their weight, for they feed upon the acorns and nuts 
before these are ripe enough to fall to the ground. 
gKiomesh is the local term applied to the Kiomeche Mountains, 
forty miles west of Dallas in the Indian Territory, a game and flsh 
paradise, fifteen miles from any settlement of either white men or 
Choctaw Indians. The Blue Bouncer Mountain is one of this range. 
quarter grown chickens all ready for the broiler. While 
we had not expected such a change from our regular 
ration of twelve broiled bas8 for each ttieali we gladly 
accepted it, and were soon pattakitig of hbt corn bread, 
canned corn, broiled Chicken and black coffee. And what 
appetites we had foi" the bountiful supply 1 If all invalids 
suffering from dyspepsia or lung troubles could but spend 
the month of May in camp in the Cossetot Mountains by 
the side of some of their clear running streams, drinking 
the clear, cold, absolutely pure water of the legion of 
springs, and breathing the life- quickening, ozone-laden 
air, perfumed by the breath of the pines and wild honey- 
suckle, they would gain more health and strength in one 
month than can be obtained in swallowing the remedies 
of their favorite physicians for years. 
After breakfast we examined the rocks in the tunnel 
and climbed the mountain side to the shaft on the man- 
ganese lode, examined five other lodes of manganese, and 
then descended to the valley of the creek, inspecting two 
veins of kaolin. I can see that the advent of the railroad 
into and through this country means an entire change of 
everything in the near future. Miners will develop these 
stores of mineral wealth, farmers will Clear and cultivate 
the sections now covered by heavy timber, towns and 
cities will spring up to minister to the wants of tke 
miners and farmers, and in addition to all these will come 
an army of sportsmen to deal destruction to fish and 
game. It Can be but a few years at most until there will 
not be a deer^ bear or turkey here, where they are now 
so plentiful. And I could but ask myself the questions, 
"Where Can such men as Captains Tibbs and Wylie go 
and find contented homes? Where can they discover a 
region like this, so fuU of game? Do they realize what 
the whistling of the railway locomotive in these mountain 
solitudes will do for them?" 
These Arkansas mountain hunters are a new class of 
men for me to become acquainted with. They are free, 
generous, warm-hearted. The latch-string is always out- 
side the door of their cabins, and their time is always at 
the disposal of the true sportsman who can rough it with 
them in camp and on trail; and who, like them, can (or 
will learn to) still hunt deer or bears, and be satisfied to 
kill enough for present needs: will do his share of the 
camp toil and not attempt to boss it o'ver them. But woe 
to the game hog who wishes to take away with him all 
the game he can kill; they will turn out and drive all the 
game out of his reach, and if he brings hounds with him 
to run the deer the dogs will never return to camp. As 
for the dude sportsman, who relies upon his wealth to 
hire guides to find and kill game while he sits in state in 
camp, he will find that his money is useless, and that 
their services and knowledge of game and mountains are 
not for sale at any price. 
On our return to the cabin we broke camp and returned 
to Dallas, without further incident except drinking of the 
clear water of Wooden Shoe Spring. This is encased in a 
rock casket attached to the rock of the mountainside, 
exactly resembling a large wooden shoe, the water filling 
the shoe about 4in. deep, flowing in at some point in the 
toe and overflowing at the heel, colorless as ether and icy 
cold. It is a queer spring in its queer setting of rock. 
W. F. RiGHTMIRB. 
AUDUBON BIRD PLATES. 
A series of reproductions of Audubon plates of game birds, from 
the original edition, 1887-35. Half-tone engravings from photograph 
made especially for Forkst and Stream. The description of the 
Black Duck, or Dusky Duck, which follows, is from Audubon's "Orni- 
thological Biography." 
THE DUSKY DUCK. 
Anas ohscura, Gmel, 
PLATE coon,— MALE AND FEMALE. 
This species, which is known in all parts of the United 
States by the name of "black duck," extends its migra- 
tions from the Straits of Belle Isle, on the coast of Labra- 
dor, to the province of Texas. Strange as the fact may 
appear, it breeds in both these countries, as well as in 
many of the intermediate districts. On May 10, 1833, 1 
found it breeding along the marshy edges of inland pools, 
near the Bay of Fundy, and on Whitehead Island, in the 
same bay, saw several young birds of the same species, 
which, although apparently not more than a week old, 
were extremely active both on land and in the water, 
On April 30, 1887, my son discovered a nest on Galveston 
Island, in Texas. It was formed of grass and feathers, 
the eggs, eight in nuniber, lying on the former, sur- 
rounded with the down and some feathers of the bird, to 
the height of about Sin. The internal diameter of the 
nest was about 6in, , and its walls were nearly 3in. in thick- 
ness, The female was sitting, but flew off in silence as he 
approached. The situation selected was a clump of tall, 
slender grass, on a rather sandy ridge, more than a hun- 
dred yards from the nearest water, but surrounded by par- 
tially dried salt marshes. On the same island, in the 
course of several successive days, we saw many of these 
ducks, which by their actions showed that they also had 
nests. I may here state my belief that the gadwell, blue- 
winged teal, green-winged teal, mallard, American 
widgeon and spoon-billed duck all breed in that country, 
as I observed them there late in May, when they were 
evidently paired. How far this fact may harmonize with 
the theories of writers respecting the migration of birds 
in general is more than I can at present stop to consider, 
I have found the black duck breeding on lakes near the 
Mississippi as far as its confluence with the Ohio, as well 
as in Pennsylvania and New Jereey; and every one 
acquainted with its habits will tell you that it rears. its 
young in all the Eastern States intervening between that 
last mentioned and the St. Lawrence, and is of not less 
frequent occurrence along the margins of all our great 
lakes. It is even found on the Columbia River and on the 
streams of the Rocky Mountains; but as Dr. Richardson 
has not mentioned bis having observed it in Hudson's 
Bay or further north, we may suppose that it does not 
visit those countries. 
On arriving in Labrador on June 17, 1883, we found the 
dusky ducks in the act of incubation, but for nearly a 
month after met with no young birds, which induced me 
lO puppose that this species does not reaph that country at 
