Nov. 38 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
423 
convenient bush afforded, I waited anxiously for her tto 
afford me a better view, She greedily snapped the suc- 
culent food, first here, then there, eyes and ears constantly 
on the alert for danger. Finally she turned and ad- 
vanced toward me, and suspecting or perceiving danger 
she threw her head high in air, posing in such artistic 
manner as would rejoice any photographer's heart. 
Instantly the click of the shutter was heard on the still 
morning air, a splashing in the water, a white streak van- 
ishing in the bushes— and another prized plate was 
secured. 
Hastening on, I had just focused the camera when the 
three canoes shot around the bend, each stalwart guide 
standing erect and looking a veritable Triton; and, oh, the 
beauty of the picture as they shot over the falls in the 
morning sun I 
Another click and another prize — worth hardship and 
toil to secure, and that would be the envy of many a less 
fortunate mortal. 
The canoes were soon beached, loads readjusted, and 
away went the expedition as light and graceful 
"As a painted ship upon a paLnted ocean." 
A tremor of trepidation took possession of roe at first, 
but having one of the very best canoemen in Maine, with 
whom I had made many a hazardous trip without mis- 
hap, I was soon lost to all sense of danger, and minutes of 
superlative pleasure ran quickly into enchanted hours. 
The guides had but to use the paddles to keep the frail 
canoes in mid-stream, and let them shoot onward with 
the swollen and quick-flowing current. 
A keen eye and skilled hand was at all times needed to 
steer the craft clear of derelict logs and concealed, boul- 
ders which made powerful eddies that would quickly 
swamp a canoe in unskilled hands. Rapidly traveling 
without effort, the oscillation of the canoe as it rode the 
swells and smoothly glided to lower levels, it seemed as 
if we were borne through space in the kindly arms of 
some mighty giant, and unconsciously I reveled in the 
many pleasant sensations evoked by the varied experi- 
ences of the past few weeks, and exulted over the many 
and varied picturesque and novel subjects which my 
forty-eight plates would enable me to share with my 
friends at home. 
Again my thoughts would turn to other days and other 
themes, and pleasure came in recalling the fact that down 
this very stream plowed the canoe of the red man bear- 
ing the sainted Fr. Druillette on his mission of Christian- 
ity and civilization to the Abenakis 350 years ago. 
Persecution born of ignorance and fanaticism had de- 
stroyed the missions along the coast and driven hence 
the devoted missionaries, and the dusky sons of the forest 
were unconsolable. A deputation was finally sent to 
Quebec in 1646, which returned with the beloved black 
gown, who erected his mission cross at Norridgewock 
where he made his home for several years. He was the 
first white man who ever crossed the trackless forest from 
Quebec to central Maine. 
His ascetic form seemed to rise before us, and the 
soughing of the summer breeze in the tree tops seemed 
as the dying cadence of his Ave Marie Stella. 
And anon the martial music of fife and drum, the stern 
command and noisy bustle of the forces of the Continen- 
tal army under Benedict Arnold, which laboriously urged 
their crude batteaux against this self-same current en 
route to attack Quebec, seemed to break in as a note of 
discord as it muse have done more than 100 years ago. 
And again the worths of Byron seemed wedded to the 
scenes and surroundings: 
"How often we forget all time when lone, 
Admiring nature's universal throne, 
Her woods, her wilds, her waters— the Intense 
Reply of hers to our intelligence." 
Onward we sped as a feather through space and pleasure 
kept pace with our speed. Delight grew with our progress, 
little dreaming we that 
"Violent delights have violent ends." ' 
I noticed that the canoe some 100 or 150yd8, in advance 
made a detour and hugged the shore, and soon the reason 
was obvious. A huge boulder lay concealed beneath the 
surface, and the water foaming about and above it made 
great eddies on either side. My guide did not make suffi • 
cient allowance for their volume and force, and soon we 
were caught in the trough, and over we went in an in- 
stant. 
"Look out!" shouted the guide, but before a sound fell 
on my ears we were floundering about in the water— 
duffle, camera, plates and all! 
' -Hold on to the canoe ! Hold on to the canoe!" shouted 
I, while making a desperate effort to secure the fly-rods 
and camera; but my plates, alas! the prizes of the trip 
went quickly to the bottom! 
My guide secured the wearing apparel, but away shot 
the canoe down stream, as if glad to get rid of its burden. 
Our noise attracted the attention of those in the other 
canoes, and they came quickly to the rescue, our canoe 
being captured and returned to us by those in advance. 
We soon reached shore, wrung the water from our 
clothes and resumed our journey, but our thoughts were 
diverted from the fascinations of our environment, its 
history, poetry and sentiment. Our spirits, like our 
bodies, were dampened, imagination refused to undertake 
a lofty flight, so we reconciled to the utilitarian and 
prosaic. Would Salmo oquassa or Salvelinus fontinalis 
know the value of their had and turn it to gooa account? 
Would their sages assemble in intellectual convention 
and with becoming condition discuss the action of light 
upon a sensitized plate? Would they take them to a 
dark room in the depths and develop them only to have 
some old croaker of their number with more stomach 
than brains break in with Cui bono? Would the intellec- 
tual triumph over the ba-se and selfish? Would the future 
angler, when doing his best for distance, delicacy and 
accuracy, be startled in his pleasure by seeing in the 
waters before him a camera fiend in the act of taking a 
snap shot? or would he be able to relate to his wondering 
friends on his return how he captured and landed a 
swimming photograph gallery? Or would all their possi- 
bilities sink to the level of the gormandizer and be 
swallowed simply as so much negative soup? Who can 
t^U? Geo. McAleer, 
WORCKSTKE, MaSS; 
The FoRBST AND Stoeam is put to press each week on Tuesday 
Correspondence inte^ided for puUioation should reach ifg at fhn 
lai*H by Monday, a'nd c^t rtmch tarlUr practicaiiit. 
DEER AND LILYPADS. 
The habits of deer with respect to feeding on lilypads 
have been discussed at some length in these columns. 
The question was brought up by the assertion of a Michi- 
gan correspondent, Juhan, that deer do not eat water lily- 
pads. To quote hie statement, as reiterated after several 
writers had recorded their observation of deer eating the 
lilypads, Julian's contention is this, in his own words: 
"They do sometimes pull off a stem perhaps, but not 
often, and when they do pull off a stem or leaf it ia by ac- 
cident, and the leaf or stem always comes up with a 
mouthful of other tender water weeds that they feed upon. 
They never swallow a lily leaf or lily pad or a stem of a lily 
plant. They sometimes take them into the mouth with 
other food, but they spit them out, and never swallow the 
pads or any part of the lily plant." 
In further comment upon the statement of a corre- 
spondent who wrote that deer ate the root of the lily, and 
the testimony of Dr. Robt. T. Morris, of this city, that he 
had found partially digested fragments of water lilies in 
deer killed, by him, Julian writes as follows: 
Lansing, Mich. — Editor Forest and Stream: I was in 
hopes that I had so far established the fact that deer do 
not eat lilypads that I would not be obliged again to tres- 
pass upon your space or weary your readers by an over- 
production of proof upon the subject. Mr. Cook, of 
Boston, however, has entered the field, and states that the 
root is the part of the lily plant eaten by deer. Mr. Cook 
is mistaken; or, to state it better, he has been imposed 
upon by his guide. Deer do not eat the root of the lily, 
and you cannot starve a deer and make him eat it; nor 
can you fix up a root, or any part of it, and entice a deer 
to eat it. Audubon states that moose will eat the root of 
the lily, but no man on earth ever before set up the claim 
that deer eat the lily root. During the past week I have 
talked with at least twenty of the most experienced 
woodsmen in Michigan regarding the subject, and every 
one of them states positively that deer do not eat the root 
of the lily or any part of the lily plant, On any lake 
where lily plants abound you can find plenty of pieces of 
the root of the lily floating on the surface of the water at 
any time of the year, and more particularly so in the fall 
of the year. Nature in plant life has a way of casting off 
portions of unnecessary root growth; and aided by aquatic 
animals of high and low degree the work of root exfoli- 
ation is oftentimes carried on to a considerable extent. 
But deer are not root eaters, so far as the lily plant is con- 
cerned. They never assist in this work of root pruning, 
nor in any way manifest a desire to disturb the growth 
of the lily plant, except accidentally when engaged in 
feeding upon water weeds, which always gro w abundantly 
among the lily plants. You cannot get a deer to eat a 
piece of a lily root in any way, shape or manner that you 
can fix it. Mr, Cook may be honest in his statement, and 
actually believe what his guide has told him; but he and 
his guide are both mistaken in the matter. 
Dr. Morris, of New York, is a gentleman for whom I 
have the greatest respect. I know that he would not 
make any statement he did not believe, and only then 
after a very careful investigation. If Dr, Morris will 
take his microscope with him when he again visits the 
woods and will make a study of the lily plant, fresh from 
the water, and will compare the lily leaf with what he 
finds in the stomach of the deer and now believes to be 
fragments of the lily plant, he will at once see the mis- 
take that he now labors under. He will at certain sea- 
sons of the year find plenty of water plants in the stomach 
of the deer, and if taken when the deer are feeding there 
is no great difficulty in determining the plants that they 
are feeding upon. The plants will not be chewed so fine 
nor the contents of the stomach sufficiently changed to 
render identification by the microscope impossible. If 
he will dissect a lily plant, fresh from the water, under a 
glass of low power and compare the lily plant with 
the contents of the stomach of a deer that has been killed 
while feeding among the lily plants, and do this im- 
mediately after the deer is killed, he will see at once that 
what he now believes to be fragments of the lily plant 
are really of some other plant. Julian, 
Dartmouth Medical College, Hanover, N. H, , Nov. 
9. — Editor Forest and Stream: In the "Daer and Lily- 
pads" discussion it would seem as though the disinter- 
ested testimony of even a few witnesses who say they 
have seen deer eat lilypads ought to outweigh the testi- 
mony of any number of persons who declare to the con- 
trary, for the simple reason that deer are not constantly, 
nor even for a series of meals, under observation in the 
wild state. How can any one be sure deer do not eat 
lilypads? 
It has been the writer's good fortune to meet Dr. Henry 
Skinner, of the Academy of Natural Sciences, of Philadel- 
phia, referred to by one of your correspondents in Foeest 
AND Stream of Oct. 31, and the opinion formed of him 
while in camp in the Maine woods was that he is a re- 
markably well informed man, and a very careful and ac- 
curate observer. 
If more witnesses were needed to establish the fact the 
writer would like to add that in the summer of '93 he 
watched a doe wade into a small pond from the opposite 
shore at a distance of not over 200yd8. from him and feed 
on the leaves and stems of the yellow water lily. She 
was in sight for at least fifteen minutes, and fed from the 
surface of the water about her for about a third of that 
time. In this instance the deer did no immerse her head, 
Grapho, 
The Academy of Natural Sciences, op Philadel- 
phia.— £Jditor Forest and Stream: I notice in Forest and 
Stream of late issue that the gentleman under the name 
of Julian contradicts everything I said about deer eating 
lilypads. His remarks read like a papal bull in the six- 
teenth century, or the vaporinga from the oracle of 
Apollo at Delphi, When the oracle was to be consulted 
the priestess sat upon a tripod which was placed over a 
chasm in the ground, from which a certain gas or vapor 
ascended which affected the brain, and the words ut- 
tered in this excited condition were supposed to have 
great authority, but were really equivocal or obscure. 
The credit of the oracle continued long unimpaired. 
Mr, Julian aseunjes <;he position that what he has not 
seen no one has. He must think that Dr. Robt. T. Mor- 
ris did not really find fragments of lilypads in the deer's 
stomach, but what he saw were buckwheat cakes. The 
gentleman also says: "There are many things in this 
world which pass for facts, but which have no founda- 
tion whatever, and one of the greatest errors is this mis- 
taken notion about deer eating lilypads. If one should 
say that the deer feed among the lilypads, that would ex- 
press the matter as it actually is, but to say that deer eat 
lilypads or any part of the lily plant is misleading and 
such a statement is not correct." Just under these lines 
Mr. C, S, Cook says: "Daer do not eat lilypads, but they 
do eat the tuberous root of the water lily and are exceed- 
ingly fond of it." D)e8 Mr, Julian also assume that Mr. 
Cook mistook eels for lilypad roots and that the deer were 
eating them? 
Our gentleman also says: "When lilypads are in a con- 
dition to be snipped off the deer is in his short coat, and 
when he is off his feet in the water he has something else 
to think of besides feeding; he has all he can do to keep 
his head above water." Now, there are many readers of 
Forest and Stream that know something about the 
swimming capabilities of deer and probably mildly doubt 
that "he has all he can do to keep his head above water." 
In Maine in June and July the ponds are veritable 
natatoriums for deer, and in the small lake in which I 
saw a doe and a fawn swimming and feeding sixty deer 
have been seen during the middle hours of a single day. 
Mr. Julian can see about three miles of water and lily- 
pads in the long box at Spencer, Me. I would advise Mr. 
Julian not to attack credible witnesses who have no de- 
sire to distort the truth, and also learn that one man does 
not know or see all the facts of nature. 
Now, to sum up, I have seen deer eat lilypads, Dr, Mor- 
ris has found them in the deer's stomach and Mr, Cook 
has seen them eat the roots. Doubtless others of your 
correspondents have also published similar facts. Have 
we all been hypnotizad and is Mr, Julian correct, or what 
is the matter? Henry Skinner, 
Hollywood, Adirondacks, N. Y.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I saw in the Forest and Stream of Oct 31 a 
statement by Dr. Henry Skinner, of Philadelphia, that he 
had seen where deer had fed on lilypads along the bank 
of a river for a long distance, and that they would go in 
the water and swim and feed on the pads. Later, a 
gentleman signing himself Julian claimed that the state- 
ment was untrue. I would state that it is true. I have 
watched them for hours at a time feeding on lilypads. and 
have seen them swim out in a lake and eat pads for an 
hour at a time, Julian says it is impossible for a deer to 
swim and eat pads. They seem to do it very easily. They 
commence to feed on pads about June 1, according to thia 
depth of water where the pads grow, and continue to feed 
on them until November, Late in the fall I have cut 
acres of pads, and let them drift ashore with the wind for 
the deer. If any man who thinks deer do not eat lilypads 
will call on me in June, July. August, September, Octo- 
ber, or the first ten days in November, he can see them 
eat lilypads. Henry Day, 
Supt. Kildare Club, 
Philadelphia, Nov. 16 —Editor Forest and Stream: It 
seems rather strange that there should be any contention 
on this subject, as the matter is one of such general 
knowledge among people of experience that it is hard to 
imagine that it can be doubted for a moment. It is al- 
ways unfortunate to have inaccurate information given 
on subjects of this character, especially those so suscep- 
tible of solution. If our friend Julian will hie himself to 
one of our beautiful lakes any time during June, July, or 
the early part of August, and watch the timid subjects of 
this controversy feed, all doubt will be dispelled from his 
mind. In an experience gained from ten successive sea- 
sons in the Adirondacks and the Maine woods, I have 
never failed to find indubitable evidence that proved be- 
yond all peradventure that deer do eat lilypads. Not 
only have I seen the pads partially eaten, and also the 
stems entirely denuded of leaf; but on numerous occasions 
I have actually seen the deer tear the pad from the stem, 
either partially or wholly, and masticate it. I have seen 
them feeding in the shallow water on. the edges of the 
lake, and watched them for many rninu^tes nipping the 
pads and chewing them. 
I have also seen large and small deer swim out into the 
comparatively deep water feeding as they swam, with ap- 
parently very little effort to keep afloat, this being in 
places where the pads in the shallow water had been de- 
voured and nothing but the stems remaining sticking up 
above the water, I remember one bright moonlight 
night seeing two fawns swim out into the lake, all the 
time feeding on the pads exclusively. They did not dis- 
cover our presence and kept on feasting until fully satis- 
fied, then swam back to shore and we lost sight of them. 
In the course of my travels I have, of course, met 
many sportmen and professional guides, and never heard 
one of them question that deer eat lilypads. 
Toward the end of August the pads become tough and 
then the deer cease to eat them, but do feed on a short 
bright tender grass that grows on the bottom, and in pul- 
ling this grass up I have frequently noticed the lilies 
pulled out by the roots, but otherwise imtouched. Indeed, 
when looking for "signs," the first search is among the 
pads, and if you do not see evidences of their being eaten, 
there is very little chance that deer have been there. I 
could name lake after lake and bog after bog, covering 
miles, where it would be impossible to go during the sum- 
mer and not find absolute proof of this question by 
ocular demonstration. Of course, the feeding of all 
animals is dependent somewhat on the locality in which 
they are found, and conditions have some influence on 
their habits. The statement that deer do not eat lilypads 
(where Iflypads are abundant) can only come from a lack 
of experience and observation. C. H. Guilbert. 
Blue Mountain Lake, AdiTODdachs— Editor Forest 
and Stream: I do not profess to be an authority as to 
what deer do or do not eat in Michigan, as I have never 
hunted them nor studied their habits in that State; but, 
from observation during thirty years of hunting, trapping 
and guiding in the Adirondacks, I am prepared to state as 
a fact that our Adirondack deer do eat lilypads— both 
kinds— and also a certain fine grass which grows on the 
bottom of certain lakes and ponds near the shore. I have 
often seen deer while in the act of eating them both by 
night and by day, and if any person in this region should 
dispute the fact it would be taken f ojr granted either th^i^ 
