April 23, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
327 
sistance to 3'ou in framing amendments to the existing 
game act. 
I beg to say that in presenting it in the manner done 
I have only been actuated by the desire to have a law 
placed on the statute books of the Province that would 
commend itself to the sport.stnen. 
(Signed) G. B. BorradAILe, 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST, 
Close Season. 
Chicago, April 15. — To-day ends the open season on 
ducks in Illinois, and henceforth the wily jack snipe 
will occupy the center of the stage. The spring of 1898, 
so far as can be determined by a general review, was 
about in proportion with preceding springs, that is to 
say, there are fewer ducks this spring than on the spring 
before. This is a conclusion reached rather by a look at 
the amounts of game marketed than by anything else. 
Of course we had the customary reports of heavy flights, 
which were indeed true, so that there was foundation 
for the usual rumor that the ducks were "more numer- 
ous than for ten years past." We always hear that 
report when a good flight is in on some of the better 
known marshes. The flight comes in big waA^es, not in 
a steady flood, and when one of the great north-bound 
bodies of fowl drops in it surely seems that there are 
ducks enough for everybody for all time to come. In 
due course, however, comes the corollary, scattered ad- 
vices that So-and-so went to such and such a place, on 
the strength of reports that there were thousands of 
ducks, but So-and-so was very much disappointed to 
discover that the ducks were very scarce. The shoot- 
ing was very patchy this spring, as one must conclude 
after Avatching the varying reports. After the first heavy 
bags, made just as the ice was breaking up, A^ery little 
good shooting was had along the Kankakee country. 
It was better on the Illinois River, but very irregular 
there. Lake Senachwine and Swan Lake offered sport 
beyond the average of some years, I should say. The 
Mississippi River flight was better than it was last year. 
More birds were killed in upper loAva than for some 
time. In Wisconsin I should say the shooting Avas not 
so good as it was last j^ear, and this I am disposed to 
believe applies also to Minnesota. The Arkansas River 
flight Avas not so good as it should average, but on the 
contrary the flight on the Platte Avas better than it was 
last year, though ordinarily there is some relation be- 
tween the numbers of birds on these two standard 
streams. I have heard of some good bags of redheads 
and canvasbacks in upper Iowa, but do not think that 
the Lake Koshkonong, Wis., canvasliack shooting was 
so heavy this spring as it Avas last; at least I have not 
gotten word of so many parties having success. A 
week ago Harry G. Carter, of Janesville, made a bag of 
fifty-six on Koshkonong, but he reports a good many 
hunters unsuccessful, though there was quite a body of 
birds in on the lake, keeping out in the open. 
Job Lot of Albinos. 
By all odds the rarest and most valuable bag of fowl 
made this spi'ing in this vicinity, so far as I can learn, 
w^as that made by Henry Ehlers, of the Diana Club, whose 
grounds are across the river from Water Valley, Ind. 
Mr. Ehlers killed on the same day tAVO albino red- 
h.eads, a male and a female, beautiful specimens both of 
them, and very much prized by the hunter, as may be 
supposed. But not content with this, he killed on the 
same day a white mallard, his third albino for the day. 
I tliink this bag Avill hardly be duplicated for some time. 
Mr. Ehlers has had all three of these birds mounted, and 
it Avill be many a day before they cease to interest him. 
It is singular hoAv adventures flock to a man some- 
times. This same hunter, Mr. Ehlers, on this same trip, 
was trying for a shot at some geese on ground Avhere 
he had a right to expect some geese. He had out a 
couple of dozen of goose decoys, and was Avell con- 
cealed in his blind. He had arisen early, and became 
sleepy, and the blind being comfortable, he fell asleep. 
He was awakened by a slight noise, and sat up to Avitness 
his decoys mixed up with a flock of wild geese Avhich 
had alighted among them and were trying to make out 
what made the stationary birds so unsociable and hard 
to get along Avith. Mr, Ehlers was so sleepy that he 
hardly kncAV Avhat he was doing, and managed to dis- 
charge his gun before he was quite ready, but he killed 
two geese at the first shot, and got another with the 
second barrel. This little hunt of his was a remarkable 
one, Mr. Ehlers thinks. Of course down in Texas or 
up in Dakota no one would think of boasting^much about 
killing three geese, but along the Kankakee this is to-day 
a great feat. Perhaps I should add, by way of interest, 
that none of the geese was an albino, Mr. Ehlers having 
concluded to kill no more birds which were not fast 
color. 
Jack Snipe. 
The flight of jack snipe is in and has been for a Aveek, 
and it is to be said that this erratic bird is proving about 
as near a constant quantity as he has been for some 
time in these parts. Last Saturday at the marshes along 
the Kankakee River a great many guns were out, and 
nearly all got bags. At Koutts, Ind., Oswald von Len- 
gerke and Mr. Shaw got 31 jacks, mostly on the edge 
of the marsh and on meadoAvs Avhich were pretty dry. 
Around the Calumet River, near the Calumet Heights 
Club, last Saturday 17 jack snipe Avere bagged by dif- 
ferent members. 
At Maksawba Club last Saturday a number of guns 
were out, and the sport was good so far as abundance 
of birds was concerned. John Watson and his retriever 
got an even dozen birds between them, counting in the 
cripples the dog picked up. L. R. Brown got 8 jacks 
in an hour's shoot. W. P. Mussey got the same num- 
ber in a short time, and Mr. R. B. Organ and man 
secured 28 jack snipe and 46 prairie plover ("grass 
snipe")- Of these latter small but temptingly accessible 
birds each gun took liberal toll as the big flocks swept 
■ by. W. R. Haskell killed two or three dozen of them, 
and six or eight jacks also. Each man came in with 
stories of plenty of birds, and the flight kept on drop- 
ping in all day long, but the birds were wild and the 
wind very high, so that the sport was rather exacting. 
The Avater was just beginning to fall, so as to put the 
marsh in good shape, but the feeding grounds were yet 
too deep under water over the greater part of the marsh. 
On ground like this the birds got little feed, and would 
not lie well, going up at 35, 45 or SOyds, ahead at the 
first sound or sight of a hunter. It took long range 
work, but made good fun for the shooters. The latter 
all report that, contrary to what might have been sup- 
posed, the wettest marsh, close along the banks of the 
stream, and not out at the far edge, along the dry fields, 
was the best place to find the birds. The Avays of the 
jack snipe are inscrutable, and nobody but a Kankakee 
marsh man can find them out. 
The Jack Snipe's Paint Brush. 
I mentioned abdVe tfie name of Mr. W. R. Haskell. 
The latter is an old-time club member and all-round 
shooter of this city, a good woodsman or marsh man, 
and not altogether a bad naturalist. It Avas he who told 
me something AA'hich I never knew before, and A^'hich 
perhaps a great many others never knew about the jack 
snipe. 
"Do you know where the finest paint brush in the 
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. 
A Victim of the Snare. 
world comes from?" he asked me, "a brush finer than 
the finest camel's-hair, and more prized than any other 
by artists for certain sorts of Avork? I'll tell you. It's 
out of a jack snipe's wing. 
"An artist told me this once — a portrait painter able 
in his profession. He said that he used this natural 
paint brush a great deal in his Avork, more especially 
in painting in the eyes of his portraits. He said that 
he would not be without one of these fine little brushes 
for any money if he had no way of getting another. 
Now tell me, Avhere do you suppose this paint brush 
is carried by the jack snipe?" 
I had to admit that this Avas all news to me, and Mr. 
Haskell continued: "Well, Ave'U see if we can find it. 
I said I would show it to you, and now let us see if I 
can find it myself. It's here on the wing of the bird, 
just at the outer edge of the long wing feathers, close 
up to the butt of the quills of the outer edge. See, here 
it is." 
He had been examining and turning up the feathers 
along the edge of the wing of a jack snipe as he spoke, 
and sure enough he produced the paint brush, a delicate 
little feather about three-quarters of an inch long, with 
a fine little quill running up the middle, and edged with 
just the finest, most minute little hairy bristles of web, 
the Avhole terminating in a point which made the feather 
look like a solid little splinter. Touched on the end, 
these fine fronds were seen to spread apart into little 
soft teeth, closing up again, when released, like a stiff 
but delicate brush. It Avas indeed an exquisite little 
brush, suited for soft light touches of color. 
I do not imagine that very many men ever knew of the 
jack sdipe's paint brush, and perhaps not everybody 
will be able to find it noAV, but it is there. _ For what 
purpose, I wonder, this rudimentary little quill with its 
soft tip? Surely a wilder or more elfsome tool never 
grew ready for the hand of man. Methinks some artist 
should do great things yet with this brush, which should 
hold many strange things in its power, many scenes of 
many lands, fitful and evanescent, but fascinating and 
alluring. It is a weird thing, this jack snipe bird, and 
this is the weirdest thing I ever learned about it. 
Ffom the Musk Ox Cottntry. * 
There arrived at Winnipeg, Man., last week a trav- 
eler from a strange country, clad in strange garb and 
telling a wonderful story of experiences. This Avas Mr. 
L. Clifton, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society 
of England, who has spent a year in the far North, be- 
yond even the most adventurous gold seekers. Mr. 
Clifton left Winnipeg in March a year ago, and trav- 
eled to Fort Churchill, the last post on Hudson's Bay. 
He then went north to Hell's Gate, thence going among 
the Eskimo tribes, with whom he went on to Chester- 
field Inlet, where he arrived in October. From this 
point he traveled 250 miles to the Maxendegate Hills, 
which he was the first white man to visit. At this point 
he concluded to go on a trip after a musk ox, and set out 
on a journey of thirty-five days further into the Arctic 
wilds. He was successful at last in getting a good head, 
Avhich he brought all the Avay out with him, though he 
nearly had to eat it before he got back to Chesterfield 
Inlet. Not daunted by the horrors of the Northern Avin- 
ter he set out from Chesterfield Inlet Dec. 30, having 
with him three Eskimos, nine dogs, lolbs. of flour 
and 3lbs. of tea. It was 600 miles to Fort 
Churchill, but he made it safely, an unprecedented win- 
ter trip. Thence it was a small matter of 900 miles more 
to Norway House, and he seemed to be Avell and hearty 
at Winnipeg. Mr. Clifton travels for the love of it, and 
knows northern Mexico, northern Africa and northern 
Russia very well. In 1894 went over the Chilkoot 
with Wm. Ogilvie and explored the Yukon River from 
source to mouth, and learned then of the gold fields 
which have since been so largely exploited. One envies 
Mr. Chfton his active life in wild regions, but the story 
of his traA^els leaves one but small hope of CA^er getting 
into a new country, so far reaching already, it seems, has 
been th.e eager human foot. 
With Pack Trafn to the Yukon. 
Mr. Flamlin Garland, a well-known literary man of the 
West and of the East, called at the Forest and Stream 
office this week on his Avay to the coast. Mr. Garland 
has a commission from McCIure's Magazine, of New 
York city, and will take a very interesting journey across, 
a very nice part of the moinitain country of the West. 
He goes to Ashcroft, British Columbia, and thence trav- 
els- horseback over the old Hudson Bay trails to the 
Hazelton post and Stickeen river. He will descend the 
Hootalinqua to the Yukon waterway, and thence drop 
down to IDawson City, Avhich point he expects to reach 
not later than September, He will then come out from 
DaAvson OA^er the Dalton trail, Avhicli he thinks will by 
that time offer post horses for a price and feeding sta- 
tions at proper intervals. Mr. (jarland will have but 
one companion, and they Avill take but three pack horses, 
or five horses in all. They expect to go over a practically 
well-knoAvn country, and will have permits to outfit at 
the Hudson Bay points, so that they Avill not need to 
take in much outfit. They will pass over a splendid 
game country, including some of the best bear country 
of the continent, it is said; but Mr. Garland says he has 
not lost an3^ bear and is only going after types for use in 
literary work. Of course he cannot expect to get much 
knowledge of the resources of the country in so hurried 
a trip, but as a vacation undertaking it should prove a 
distinguished succes-s and any man who CA'cr toted a gun 
must envy him the good fortune which makes" it pos- 
sible. Mr. Garland expects to be back in- Omaha, via 
'Dawson City, by next October, to fill engagements as 
chairman of the literary congress at the Omaha Expo- 
sition. For my part, if I CA^cr got tangled up in that 
bear country, they could take their old exposition. 
Wolf under Chicago Post-Office. 
In the old days, yet not so very long ago, here in 
Chicago, they used to shoot ducks at Pullman, deer at 
Madison street, Indians at Rush street and wolves about 
anywhere. On the spot where the Chicago post-office 
stood — the old post-office which was last year torn down 
to make room for another and bigger one — there 
prowled in the old days the foot of many a big gray 
wolf, as we may Avell imagine. But no one Avould sup- 
pose that a gray wolf would ever be found underneath the 
foundations of the old post-office. Such, however, was 
the case, as I may of my own ej'-es testify. When they 
began excaA-ating for the ncAV foundations the work- 
men came upon a very good quality of clay, not a A^ery 
pretty clay, in fact a sort of slaty blue c\a.j, but none 
the less a plastic and tough and enduring clay. In some 
way word of this came to Mr. Edward Kemeys, the 
famous sculptor of wild animals, whose home is in a 
subin-b of this city. Mr. Kemeys made a visit to the 
old post-office grounds, and saw that the clay was good 
modeling cla}'. He had four tons of it taken to his studio, 
and he has been making Avonderful things out of it 
since. The first piece which he modeled Avas the figure 
of a big gray wolf, a wise, knowing, thoughtful but 
cynical gray wolf, such as no doubt at one time 
trotted over the site of the post-office, looking back over 
his shoulder to see if anything of interest AA'as going on 
behind him. This is the wolf which was under the post- 
office, and it is a good wolf. A great many million peo- 
ple have passed that spot, never dreaming that the wolf 
was there at all. E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago. 
Berlin pays a salary to a professional bird-catcher, 
who keeps scientific institutions supplied with birds, 
nests and eggs. He is the only m^n in the empire permit- 
ted to do so. 
