284 
tApRiL 10, 1897. 
COYOTES HUNTING IN BANDS. 
Orovillb, Wash., March 22. — Editor Forest cmd Stream: 
In your issue of the 6th insi, Mr. Thompson asks for in- 
formation in regard to coyotes hunting in bands the same 
as the big wolf. They do so here in this part of the coun- 
try. 
A few years ago along in the spring I toot my rifle and 
started up into the open hills to kill some grouse, and when 
I got up on to the top of a small ridge that puts down be- 
tween my creek and the Columbia River, I stood still for 
a while listening for a grouse to hoot. 
Across from where I stood was quite a higli mountain, 
covered with bunch grass and a few scattering pines; the 
snow had not all gone, especially near the top. I had not 
stopped very long when I saw a deer coming over the hill, 
and from the way it was coming I knew there was some- 
thing after it. Soon I saw two coyotes down to the right, 
and the way they were running I thought they were try- 
ing to head the deer ofl" from the river. Soon I saw two 
more on the trail, and then I saw two more to the left, and 
it looked to me as if those that were on the flanks were 
running the fastest. Tliere was a crossing in a gap in the 
ridge I was on, and I knew the deer would come through 
that gap; so I ran down toward the gap, not that I wanted 
to shoot the deer, but I wanted to shoot at the coji-otes that 
were on the deer's track. 
I had not got quite down to the gap when the deer came 
through. It was a white-tail buck and he was doing his 
best to get to the river. I had but a short time to wait 
when the two coyotes came along. I whistled when they 
got opposite to me and tliey stopped and looked up. I 
fired at the one that looked the largest. At the crack of 
the rifle it started and ran as fast as it could for about 
50yds. and rolled over dead. Tlie other followed it for a 
few yards and then turned off up the hill, and when it saw 
its mate roll over it stopped. I shot at it, and as I did not 
make the right allowance for distance undershot and 
broke one of its legs. I put my dog after it and he soon 
brought it to bay, and I had the satisfaction of killing it. 
On another occasion I was coming down fcoTn a neigh- 
bor's, and when near the bottom on the Columbia I noticed 
a couple of coyotes hunting through the grass and low 
bushes; they had their tails up like a dog and seemed to be 
as busy. 
Soon they were joined by two more and all had their 
'tails up, and as they had not discovered me I waited to see 
what they were after. I never saw dogs hunt through a 
flat more "diligently than they did, and it looked so amus- 
ing to see them with their tails up. I think they were 
hunting chipmunks. Not having anything to shoot with, I 
started on,. and when they saw me they trotted ofl^ up the 
gulch, but lowered their tails, coyote-like. 
I have often been told by white men and by Indians 
that they had seen as many as fifteen after one deer. This 
winter while on a trip to Curlew I had to go down on 
Kettle-River, and I saw where six deer had been caught 
by coyotes. I examined to see whether any big wolves 
had been among them, but did not see a track. An old 
Indian told me that a few days before the coyotes had 
run a deer down on to the ice and canght it and he heard 
it bleat, and he ran down, but when he got there they had 
almost eaten it up. 
This has been a rough year on deer in this part of ITncle 
Sam's domain. First came the prospectors, then the 
Indians from below, then a hard winter, and now the 
Indians along the Okanogan are hunting in the rocky 
blufis for what few that have run the gauntlet of the wolves 
and snow. It is the first winter in over forty that I have 
not killed a deer, and I have no inclination to kill any 
more, although should I be where I needed one for grub I 
would kill one or more. And yet it will be some time 
before you will see a .38-55 rifle offered for sale by 
Lew WiLMOT. 
DID THEY REASON? 
Vinton, la., March 19. — Editor Forest and Stream.' A few 
days ago my business aflairs (pulling one end of a cross-cut 
saw) took me to the grove between my cornstalk field and 
hog lot. In the grove is a board gate. East from this gate 
is an osage hedge and on the west a woven wire fence. 
Shep and Mick (the latter a cross between a spaniel and a 
setter) jumped the gate and went into the stalk field. 
Soon I heard a yep! yep! and a rabbit came spinning 
through the gate. Shep made a clean jump, Mick landed 
on top of the gate and the rabbit ran under the hen house, 
The dogs came back smiling and wagging their tails and 
went into the stalk field again. In a little while there 
was a yep! yep! and we straightened up to see tlie hurdle 
leap. This time Mick was in the lead, and when the rab- 
bit went through the gate he went around through the 
hedge and so lost time, but old Shep came pounding along 
and sailed through the air like an athlete. The rabbit 
rushed in among some hogs, which snorted and jumped in 
all directions, and frightened the rabbit so that it squatted 
down, which nearlj"^ proved fatal; but it stretched its legs 
out just in time to get under thecorn crib. Back came the 
dogs wiggling all over and grinning, and again went into 
the stalk field. 
Mick started the third- heat witli a couple of yeps. A 
long way ahead of Mick and coming down a corn row that 
led straight to the gate was old Shep, knocking the stalks 
right and left and making the run of his life. I saw that 
there was no rabbit -ahead of him and wondered what 
could be the matter with the old fool. But Shep was no 
fool, he was using the best kind of reason. Occasionally 
Mick would give a yep, and Shep would let into it all the 
harder. Soon I saw the rabbit back of Shep and coming 
up a corn row, which also led to the gate and about 12ft. 
from the one that Shep was in. Five rods from the gate 
the rabbit was running abreast of Shep, who paid no at- 
tention to the rabbit, but was kicking the mud into the air 
to beat all. 
The rabbit reached the gate first, but jumped to one side 
and ran along the hedge, and that was what old Shep 
wanted to do, but he was under too much headway and 
had to make the jump, but it was not that graceful leap 
that he had been making; his ears stuck up, his legs were' 
sprawled out, and he was so anxious to get to the ground. 
When he had pulled himself together he stalled down 
along the hedge. Mick came up iust then and went down 
he other side. 
Now, when Mick had started the rabbit he had hallooed 
to Shep to let him know it; but Shep, instead of run- 
ning to Mick and the rabbit, ran for the gate, which 
M^as in the opposite direction. There is no doubt that 
Shep reasoned that Mick would bring the rabbit to the 
gate, and that he tried to get there first. 
This winter my son started up a rabbit near the creek, 
and at that point there was a hole in the ice. The dog 
ran the rabbit in a circle, and when it had got to the start- 
ing place the dog was pushing it hard, and it ran straight 
for the open water, jumped in and swam under the ice. It 
stayed under long enough to fool the dog, but when it 
came out it was so far gone it could not stand. I let it 
stay in the house until it became dry, then let it go. Mick 
took its track and ran it into a hole. I went there and 
found on the side of the hole a fresh, full-sized rabbit tail. 
That was a smart rabbit, but if it jumps into another 
water hole, what will the poor thing do with no rudder to 
steer with? 
Not long ago I saw a rabbit play a trick on a dog that I 
. never saw done before. A dog ran a rabbit into the road, 
and it came near running under ray horses, but jumped 
back, and the dog came near catching it, but it dove into 
the snow out of sight. The dog grabbed into the snow 
where the rabbit went, but did not get it. Then the dog 
put its head into the enow above its eyes and pushed along 
in the snow. The rabbit came out of the snow 3ft. from 
the dog and went under a bridge. When I went out of 
sight the dog stood thei-e wondering how it was done. 
It seems to me that the dogs and rabbits did about as I 
would under similar circumstances. Mount Tom. 
CoUisioos in the Air. 
Seattlb, Wash. — The champion story-teller, according to 
one of -pour correspondent?, ws the man who saw two wild 
ducks flying in opposite directions meet and hit each other, 
hath being killed hy the shock. 1 believe the case may have 
been ti'ue. On Pug^t Sound sea gulls are protected by law. 
In consequence they are very tame, and follow the steamers 
"which ply from point to point, searching for scraps of food. 
They frequently fly near the upper guards, and passengers 
throw food to them to see them swoop and catch it on the 
fly. Coming from Dungeness on the Evansel recently, I saw 
two gulls, both swooping for a bit of breafi, run into each 
other so hard that one of them lost his balance and fell 
nearly to the water. On the trip from which I was return- 
ing I saw distinctly two wild geese in a flock, into which I 
had just fired, run into each other, though going in the same 
direction. This last happened though. I surmise, because I 
had just fired a reir qutirteriug shot (rifle) in front of the one 
who bunched up into hia neighbor. 
V/hile watching the gulls I have SDoken of, the mate of the 
Evangel told uie, what I bad noticed myself, that the gulls 
on the Sound seem to have regular beats like a policeman; 
that is to say they pick up a boat at a given spot, and leave 
her at another. The mate said that on a certain run he had 
fcrmerly made he and the crew identified a certain gull hy 
a prculiarly broken leg; and that as regular as clockwork 
daily for months, as long as he was on that steamer, that 
bird would appear off a certain point and leave at a certain 
rock on their course. X. Y. Z. 
Crocodiles of Nicarag'ua. 
Calais, Me. — Editor Forest and Stream: The Spanish 
Main notes, by J P. Le Baron, are verv interesting, but I 
cannot urdersland about the crocodile's upper jiw being 
tiinged diii'erent from the alligator, so that it can be thrown 
up at right angles to the body. If that is the case they must 
be diifefent from the south Florida crocodiles or the South 
American, as you can .'re by the skulls io most any large 
museum, but the Nicaraguau crocodile may he different I 
should like to know. Geo. A Boakdman. 
.Iacksontille, Fla. — Editor Forest and Stream: As to 
the statement of mine that the Nicaragua crocodile opens its 
jiw at right angles, you may rest assured that it is correct. 
1 have seen 1hem on probably a dozen different occasions 
lying in that way, and have shot them when in that position 
also. The hotter the sun the more they are apt to assume 
this attitude. Thenpperjiw is thrown up perfectly per- 
pendicidar, and I have seen them lie this way for hours at a 
time on a sand bank in the San Juan River, opposite my 
headquarters, when in charge of ihe surveying parties on 
the canal. Olher members of the expedition observed them 
also, and it would he easy 1o establish the fact by others. 
1 am also informed by a civil engineer who has spent several 
years in South America, in Bogota and Peru, that he had 
often obseiVLd them in the same attitude there. 
J Fkaecis Le B.iB.aN. 
Birds of the Galapagos. 
The "ProreVdings of the United States National Museum 
for 18%'' contain, among other things, an i xtremely inter- 
esting paper on the birds of Galapagos Archipelago, by 
Robert Ridgway, Curator of the Department of Birds. 
While tbis lonely group of islands, lying off the coast of 
Ecuador, has very often been visited, it cannot be said that 
any oae of its members has been thoroughly explored The 
present woric is intended to embody practically all that is 
knosvu of the birds of these islands, yet for the reason men 
tioned it cannot claim to be exhaustive. At the same time 
it gives detailed descriptions of 105 species of birds, repre- 
senting forly-six genera. Many of these are wandering- 
species, which have a very wide range; but there are sevf ral 
genera which are pecuHar to Ihfse islands, and which show 
relationships in two opposite directions. Thus two of these 
genera seem to hive their ne arest allies in American forms 
of birds, while three of them have a very obvious leaning 
toward well-known Hawaiian forms So it is that the bird 
life of these Archipelagoes presents many puzz'ing 
questions, which are not tfl-be settled without furthtr in- 
formation. 
Mr Ridgway gives a number of lists of birds to be found 
on the different islands of the Archipelago, and repeats fre- 
quently a small outline chart of the islands on which are 
set down localities at which certain genera and species have 
been found. The paper contains two plates giving o nil iues 
ol bills of three characteristic forms ol Galapagoan birds. 
Bluebirds in Central Ifew York. 
Ithaca, N. Y. — Bird observers note the fact that the blue- 
birds were early March arrivals in this locality, the old ticEe 
haunts, which for the past two or three years have known 
ihem not, being frequented by them quitenumerouslj^ much 
to the delight of ornithologists in general, M, CnitL. 
^mtie ^Hg mid ^mu 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
In the Blackfoot Country. 
Bl,ackfoot ResertatlON, Blackfoot, Mont., March 26. — 
A year ago some of the Blackfoot people made a visit Eist 
to the Sportsmen's Ekpo ition, at New York, as guests of 
the Forest and Stream This visit is well remembered by 
very many friends who met them at Madison Square Gar- 
den, and these friends will be glad to hear of them all again. 
In turn they have b^ccme hosts, and a rtpresputative of 
FouEST AND Stream is their fortunate gue t Bear Chief, 
.J W. Schuhz, Billy Jackson, Natoka and the little favorite, 
Natoye, are all here and all well Theie is slid another lit- 
tle one in Billy Jackson's family now, an infant that is 
striving to wrest away from Natoye her supremacy, though 
the latter is too fat and chipper to evince much dread of 
that or of anything else. Bear Chief is the same as ever, 
and he bore a beaming smile when he met ns at the train and 
bade us welcome to his country. These several friends of 
FoHEST AKD t^TREAM and also Mr. Jos. Kipp, of Kipp, 
Mont., vouched lor Mr. O S. McChesney, of Troy, N Y., 
and for the writer, so the agent of this reservation, Maj 
G'O. Steell, pulled down the big bars marked "fj. S." and 
told us to corLe ahi adand run the reservation for awhile. 
We have been doing that very pleasantly and successfully 
now for a couple of weeks, as we shall later attempt to set 
forth in part. We shall give Maj. Steell back his res.rva- 
tion with unfeigned regret, and turn East again witb the 
same old sinking of the heart which every one feels when he 
turns his back on the Rockies and starts out into the flat 
monotony of the prairies, the cities and the mill-round cf 
modern business life in the busy centers. The gupst<< of 
FoKEST AND Stkejm say that they ihjoyed their visit East, 
but surely it must have been a mild pleasure cum pared to 
that felt by those who are now their guests. 
This is an inspiring country. Imajdne a grr at wide prairie, 
illimitable, dow flat and even, now broken by cou ee and 
butte, beniuning at the edge and running lo the unseen ulti- 
mate. This prairie itself has a great meaning. But out of 
it, upon the west rn edge, rise up, boldly and unpremedi- 
tatcdly, without excuse and beyond need ot apology, a grand 
swing of one of the noblest mountain chains of the world. 
You see the Rockies in Colorado, in New Mexico, and they 
beg your pardon in a thousard foothills These mountains — ' 
the St. Mary's, the Two Medicines — tarry not at all, but rise 
at once strongly up out of thelevel. In no other part of the 
Rockies is this peculiar abruptness so noticeable. And far 
away across the prairies, apparently only forty miles away, 
but really about 100, lie the storied Sweet Grass Hills. B^^- 
t ween these rocky rims is a gi and level cup full of history, 
of adventure, of hunting, and of war and of p^ace and 
progress. Much of all this has been told in Forest and 
Stream at better hands, and much of it set down in the 
"Blackfoot Lodge Tales;" but to see this country and to 
learn even a little of it adds new charm and zest to every line 
one has ever read about it. 
Yesterday Billy Kipp took McChesney and me out -wolf 
hunting, and we rode some forty miles or so over what was 
once the buff lo country. We found one frayt d and weath 
ered bull's horn, the only reminder of the old herds. But 
we saw thousands of the spotted cattle, and we saw the 
houses of the people who have now forsaki u the chase and 
turned their hand^ to other things. The Blackfeet are now 
a great family, living in peace and content No tribe of the 
American Indians has made such rapid progress as they. 
Their agent speaks of his people with affection and pride, 
and it is only just to say that this is returned hy the people. 
Common supposition, which is common ignorance, pictures 
a sad state of affairs always in progress on an Indian reserva- 
tion. The Indians are supposed to be always slothful and in 
heed, the agent always avaricious and in plenty. It will 
take years of education to remove this cruelly false belief. 
Here is a people anxious to work, anxious to learn ; and their 
executive and head both gives acd receivts of a confidence 
worthy of nothing less than the highest name. However it 
may he uprn o'her reservations, here at least is one where 
the Indiana and the agent believe in each other. Let us hope 
that politics will not soon interfere to unsettle this mutual 
content 
The Blackfeet have ceased to be hunters. They have cat- 
tle. They raise oats, potatoes, many things upon their 
farms. Among them are many who do not go up among 
these mountains which fence tbeir reservation. Last year 
they sold a mihion and a half dollars' worth of land to the 
Uoited States for the use of the miners, who want the St. 
Mary's and the Two Medicines fo'- their own. It is quite pos- 
sible that the Indians bargained well, but this spring there is 
to be seen again in force one of the qaeer Western crazes, » 
mining boom, if not a miniug stampede. Before the grass has 
lost Its green again there will be a newspaper printed in the 
St Mary's, the sound of its hand lever within earshot for the 
strange white goats and for the big-horns. There will be doc- 
tors, lawyers, merchants, thieves, in the St. Mary's this sum- 
mer. They will bore holes and burn powder, and frighten 
the sheep and goats. Then let us hope they will go away, 
and leave the sheep and goats to a country which is naturally 
their own. 
There is no portion of the Rockies more rugged, more pic- 
turesque or more fascinating than this wild range of moun- 
tains which lies before me as^l write. Ic is the best sheep 
and goat country of the whole Rocky range, in all probabil- 
ity. It is not surpassed by any section for the size and num-- 
her of its grizzly bcrs. Indeed, so confident do Messrs 
Schuhz and Jackson feel about the abundance of bears that 
they publicly offer any gentleman who has lost a bear to take 
him out free of charge if he does not get a shot at his bear. 
This is fair enough, and a bit unusual, I take it. The month 
of May is tlie one for the bears They are not quite ripe yet 
or we would pick a few of them. Thi.^, pending the coming 
of the newspaper and the location notice, rem-^ios a corner 
of the genuine West; for two, McChesney and I, under the 
fritndly guidance of J. W. Schuhz and Billy Jackson, have 
been sampling the keen delights which are to be found 
nowhere except in that genuine We? t. That such an expeii- 
ence was possible is to be attributed distinctly to the Forest 
AND Stream luck. When 1 say that Maj. Steell told us to 
go up in the mountains and kill a few rams (the State lavvs 
not applying on Indian lands), and when 1 add that we did 
go up into the mountains, and that the Forest and Stream 
Juck still held, 1 have said about all that seems meet just 
now. There remain yet a few more things to be seen and 
done before the wrench of parting from the Rockies I sup 
pose that fellows have sweethearts and that sweethearts hav 
