424 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 28, 1898. 
the stones fly. They went out onto the plain and stop- 
ped under a bush. We followed them unsuccessfully for 
an hour or more. The third time, thoroughly tired with 
a long stalk, and nearly dead with the heat, I was looking 
for my boys to return to camp when, turning to take a 
last look at the sides of the peak, I saw at the top, clear- 
ly defined against the sky, three pairs of great ears in 
a row perfectly motionless. I imagined the animals had 
seen me before that morning and had become reckless 
when they supposed they were taking a farewell look at 
me. I started to stalk them when they wheeled and 
disappeared. With my remaining strength I climbed 
to the top of the peak, where I had a commanding 
view on all sides, but I never saw them again. - ••• 
- Of all the antelope Ave hunted this species is the most 
difficult to capture. Their color assimilates so com- 
pletely with the stOHy ground they frequent that at a 
kundred yards, unless the animals are moving or stand 
on the sky line, it is almost impossible to see them,_ even 
though you know almost exactly where tliey are. This 
practical impossibility of observing them, together with 
their wonderful speed, accounts for the few that are 
killed and the rarity of the species in museums. 
[to be continued.] 
Philadelphia Zoologfical Society* 
The twenty-sixth annual report of the Board of Direc- 
tors of the Zoological Society, of Philadelphia, has just 
been received. It shows the operations of the Society 
for the year ending Feb. 28, 1898. The total member- 
ship, exalusive of loan holders, in 1981. The admissions 
during the year were 173,999, of which almost 113,000 
were adults paying at the gate, and more than 40,000 
children paying at the gate. The largest attendance dur- 
ingany month was 26,711 in August, and the smallest 5,147 
151 December. The greatest number of visitors on any 
one day was 4,373, on Saturday, May 29; the total receipts 
from admissions for the year was $23,908.76, an increase 
over last year of $128.54. The, receipts during the year 
on Sundays amount to $9,393-77; on Saturdays to $6,- 
382.40, while the days of the smallest attendance were 
Tuesdays, which footed up only to $1,370.92. During 
the year 725 specimens were added to the collection, of 
which 191 were mammals, 134 birds, and 410 reptiles and 
batrachians. 
Among the specimens of special interest received were 
three young West Indian seals (Monachus tropicaUs), a 
little known species which has only recently been seen 
alive in this country. Unfortunately those received at 
Philadelphia did not live long. Two pairs of South 
African ostriches were purchased by the garden within 
the year — bred in Southern California. Three beautiful 
specimens of the Carolina parokeet were received during 
the year, a fourth one still living in the garden, having 
been there since 1884, having been presented by Mr. 
Robert Ridgway, of the U. S. National. 
Among the animals born in the garden were three 
prairie wolves, five elk, two buffalo calves, one red deer, 
two Indian antelope. The garden lost in November, 
1897, a splendid male orang, a most unfortunate mis- 
chance. The superintendent notes that, "while it has 
more than once been pronounced by high authority an- 
atomically impossible for an orang to maintain any at- 
titude without touching some means of support, this 
animal was repeatedly observed walking about his cage 
in an absolutely erect position without having his hands 
in contact with any fixed object." 
An Indian elephant and a fine male Rocky Mountain 
sheep were also lost during the year. Some changes have 
been made in the locations of different animals in the 
garden, and several n&w and modern cages for mammals 
and birds have been erected. The buffalo herd in the 
garden, perhaps the finest in the country, is m excel- 
lent condition. 
A Colorado Audubon Society. 
At a recent meeting of the Denver Woman's Club, an 
earnest plea was made to , preserve the little songsters 
from the ravages of a market which supplies their 
feathers for hats and other trimmings. So great was the 
interest aroused that an Audubon society was formed. A 
petition also was introduced and signed, to be forwarded 
to the Colorado State Senators and Representatives at 
Washington, urging that they help Senator Hoar m hia 
efforts to pass the bill against importing birds and 
feathers from Europe for millinery purposes. In order 
to more effectually spread the idea against bird destruc- 
tion a committee was appointed to wait on the school 
boards of the city and secure their interest and co-opera- 
tix)n to introduce Bird Day in the public schools which 
might be observed the same day as Arbor Day. i he vast 
audience present promised by pledge and unwritten as- 
sent to not wear feathers anymore in their hats. Next 
autumn they will absolut&ly refuse to buy a hat trimmed 
with birds. The business men will find little demand 
for feathered trimmings from the 3.000 or more 
women constituting the club membership, which body 
in its influence-may be counted upon to mean three tunes 
that number. 
"Wild Pigeons in Illinois. 
Macomb. 111., May 19.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Since Avritmg to you last week, a gentleman saw two 
flocks of wild pigeons about three miles from this city. 
The first flock was flying, and there were not less than 
^00 in it. The next, of about seventy-five, soon 
followed but it was very near the ground and some of 
them flew into some tress and remained for a short time 
and then followed the others. W. O. Blaisdell. 
The Mttae Afield. 
Mr Otto Stechhaw, of Indianapolis, publishes a little book 
of verse inspired by field sports and otitdoor life. The title is 
"TJiiS/rr Rod and Gun: Poems of Nature." My Dog and I, 
Fh^lfshinE HuStin« the Pheasant, I'n the Mar.h, The Deer 
Hunt, Hunting the »iiper-these are some of the titles. 
0mti^ ^Hg md 0m. 
Reminiscences of an Old 
Sportsman. — XIL 
{Continued from page 265.) 
I SHALL never forget how one of my favorite covers 
came to me. It was in the sweet springtime, when the 
modest cowslip was at its best, and trout were in their 
prime, and I was in a state of mind to enjoy to the full 
the beauties of the one and the gamy qualities of the 
other. I had followed the well-known woodland path 
to the headwaters of a favorite trout stream and had 
fished down to the old mill, where I usually found a 
few good 'fish in a pool a short distance below the dam. 
There was a foot-bridge across the stream just over 
the dam, and at one end of the dam there was a chute 
for waste water about 3ft. in width, made of planks that 
extended down to the water below at an angle of about 
forty-five degrees. At the end of the chute there was 
a broad pool 2 or 3ft. in depth, which extended about 
15ft. to a ledge below, where the water poured over the 
rocks in a narrow channel into one of the most trouty 
looking pools that I have ever seen. Standing back 
from the ledge, where the water was about a foot in 
depth, I was just ready to make a cast when I heard a 
light footstep on the bridge behind me, and turning I 
saw a girl of some fifteen or sixteen summers crossing 
it I have ever been an admirer of the beautiful, and as 
she was very pretty, I of course admired her as she 
gracefully tripped along. When she was just over the 
chute there was a sudden crash of breaking boards, a 
half stifled scream and she disappeared from view, but 
only for an instant, for I at once caught sight pf her 
coming my way down the chute at a rate of speed that 
was not at all calculated to display the easy grace that 
I had been admiring. Although the mouth of the chute 
was not more than loft. from me, she got there before I 
was more than half way, although I rushed through the 
water at my very best rate of speed. When she reached 
the end of the chute her feet struck the bottom of the 
pool, she straightened up, leaned toward me, and with 
all the force engendered by the momentum of her rapid 
descent, that natty spring hat struck me just below the 
belt, and in less that the tenth part of a second I was 
standing on my head in 3ft. of water. I was young and 
active in those days, and gained my feet in time to assist 
her to rise. She was game and tried to turn the affair 
into a joke, but her laugh was a trifle forced and ended 
in a moan of pain, when she informed me that her 
ankle was so badly sprained that she could not bear her 
weight upon it. There was only one thing to be done 
under the circumstances, and of course I volunteered to 
do it, and placing her arms around my neck I clasped 
my arms around her, :and with many misgivings as to 
my ability to get safely over the slippery stones I finally 
succeeded in carrying her to the bank .without a single 
misstep, and seated her on a stone; then, at her request, 
I went to the house, which was only a few rods distant, 
and informed her parents of the accident, and we were 
soon by her side, when her father and I, clasping hands, 
seated her upon the chair thus formed and carried her 
to the housfi Her parents were very grateful and could 
not do enough for me, and I was at once rigged out in 
the miller's best suit and my clothes were put to dry by 
the kitchen fire. 
At noon the brother of my water nymph came home, 
and as he thought the world of her he was even more 
effusive in thanks than her parents had been. While at 
dinner the young fellow expressed sorrow -that he was 
not a fisherman in order that he might .be of some 
service to me in showing me the best place^l; addinjj that 
if I were only a hunter he could show rne the best place 
for woodcock in the whole region. Now I had explored 
all the visible covers in this section in search of a wood- 
cock cover that I had heard of as something wonderful, 
but had been unable to find anything that approached 
the description, and had given up the search, thinking 
that the wonderful cover was either a myth or that some 
one had perhaps struck it rich during flight time, and in 
this way laid the foundation for the tale, so when he 
spoke of a good place for birds this tale came into my 
mind, and as I found upon questioning him that I had 
never seen the place he described, I proposed that we 
should visit the spot at once, to which he readily agreed, 
and as it was only about two miles from the house, we 
were soon on the ground. The cover was situated upon 
a gentle slope and contained about one hundred and fifty 
acres of springy land covered with a scattered growth 
of alders and birches, and was indeed an ideal place for 
woodcock. I had not found it when exploring in the 
vicinity, for it was impossible to see it from any point 
until one was actually in the cover, as it was surrounded 
upon three sides with a heavy growth of timber, while 
a ridge of high land upon the upper side completely hid 
it from view. I was well pleased with the appearance 
of the cover, and made my companion happy by promis- 
ing to visit it with him as soon as the season opened. 
When the first of September came I made an early 
start and as the place was only about ten miles distant 
I was soon at the miller's house, where I received a 
most cordial greeting from the whole family. Taking my 
young friend in the wagon, we drove to the cover and 
were soon among the birds. When we returned to the 
house in the middle of the- afternoon we counted out 
twenty-two woodcock and nine grouse, a very good 
showing for a half day. After this I was a frequent 
visitor to this cover, and found it to be one of the surest 
places for both woodcock and grouse that I knew, and 
many famous bags have I made here, especially in flight 
time, when the score upon several occasions has ex- 
ceeded forty birds. 
There were birds in those days, and as pleasant mem- 
ories of the good old times bring back to me no nig- 
gardly portion of the joys of these glorious days of suc- 
cessful sports, there are few of them that outrank some 
of those that came to me in this one of my favorite 
covers. 
T was once exploring a very good looking range of 
covers in the town of Thompson, Conn., and had beaten 
out all the best looking places upon one side, and was 
about to turn back and work the other edge, when I 
was startled by a full chorus of feminine screams and 
shrieks that came from the edge of the thicket a few 
rods beyond. Now in cases of this nature both youthful 
training and natural impulse prompted but one course, 
and before the first scream was half accomplished 1 was 
tearing through the brush in the direction of the sound 
at the best speed I could make, fully determined to 
rescue the score or more of distressed damsels from the 
deadly peril that I had no doubt threatened them. When 
I arrived at the edge of the thicket and glanced at the 
very exciting panorama that was in process of demon- 
stration I blessed my lucky stars that had guided, my 
footsteps in this direction. In the fence corner some'Soft. 
to my left were three girls; one little sprite of ten 
summers was balancing herself on the top rail of the 
fence, while the two others of fifteen or sixteen years 
were hugging each other and winding themselves together 
in the most bewildering manner, in the corner of the 
fence, and all with wide open mouths were screaming 
louder and oftener, and in a more heart-rending man- 
ner than I would have believed possible had I not been 
there to hear. The little darling on the fence completely 
won my heart by the very artistic and sylphlike man- 
ner in which she performed her role, and I have often 
wondered how it was possible for even a skilled rope- 
dancer to go through such evolutions upon so shaky 
a support with never a miss or falter in tone or quality 
of the highest notes. The two in the fence corner were 
also well up in their parts, and taken all together the 
performance was decidedly the most interesting tha.: 1 
had ever witnessed. The star performer, however, was 
a big red bull that was three or four rods away in the 
open lot also performing his part with a gusto and 
abandon that never come to second-raters. Just in front 
of him was, as I afterward learned, the twisted remains 
of what had once been a parasol, and as I came upon the 
scene he had lowered his head and with a most porten- 
tous half growl, half bellow, he viciously charged upon 
it, and catching it on his horns threw it some loft. to 
one side, and as it struck the ground he prepared for 
another charge, but he never got there. He was headed 
from me, and as ' he again started for the mutilated re- 
mains my gun somehow came to my shoulder, and just 
as he lowered his head and uttered the first note of 
that growling bellow somehow the gun went off, and that 
porteijtous growl ended in one of the most surprised 
howls that I ever heard, that head came into the air 
and how those legs did take him away from there 
straight to the opposite fence, through which he went 
with a crash, and the last we saw of him that tail was 
still gyrating in big and little circles as though trying 
to put on more steam. 
Beauty in distress brings out the finer feelings of 
our nature, is always interesting and all that, but con- 
sidered merely as beauty the distressed damsel can never 
hope to compete with her own bright eyes and mantling 
cheeks that sparkle and flame as she gazes upon the 
valiant knight who, with couched lance, has met and 
overcome the dragon in her path, especially when that 
dragon takes the shape of a dreadful loud-roaring bull. 
It was with thoughts something like these that I ap- 
proached the trio of maidens in the fence corner, and 
with my very best bow gave them good afternoon and 
tried to look and appear as unconcerned as though I 
were only an ordinary mortal instead of a full-fledged 
hero, but it was of no use, they would not have it. 
yiy innate modesty of course could only blame 
that incomprehensible mystery called mysteria for 
the treatment I received, and I never for a moment 
thought the girls were to blame in the least. The little 
elf on the fence set the pace, as with a flying leap she 
came to the ground, and approaching me with words 
of praise and thanks, threw her arms around me, and 
in less than a second I was the center of one of the 
"most interesting groups that I ever encountered. After 
matters had becorne straightened out a little they began 
all together, as fast as they could talk, to give me a 
synopsis of the eventful occurrence, from which I learned 
that this was a blackberry party, as indeed I had known 
from the first by the tin pails that were scattered 
around promiscuous like, to say nothing about the tell- 
tale marks on their cherry lips and rosy fingers. I also 
learned that they were having just a lovely time until 
the aforesaid dragon, with hideous roarings, had charged 
upon them, and that just before he had caught and 
killed them all the parasol was inadvertently dropped, 
which the monster at once tackled, thus giving them 
a short respite, when 1 so fortunately came to the rescue, 
and by my well-directed shot saved them from their ex- 
pected doom. When they reached the climax, hysteria 
again seized them, and once more the bewildering evo- 
lutions that had so confused me were repeated, but the 
little sprite broke up the performance with a shriek 
of laughter, in which we all heartily joined, when she 
called attention to the numerous blackberry stains that 
somehow had become quite a prominent fixture upon my 
countenance, thus turning to a jest one of the most sol- 
emn and interesting episodes that had ever come to me. 
With one accord they insisted that I should accompany 
them to the home of the little one, near by, where the 
other two weie visiting, in order that they might pre- 
sent to their friends the preserver of their lives. So we 
started for the house, where we soon arrived, and I 
was presented to the parents of the little one in due 
form, and received their hearty thanks with becoming 
modesty. Her father was profuse in praise of the part 
I had taken in the affair, adding that he had always 
thought that hunters were a worthless lot, and he had 
never allowed them on his grounds, but now that he 
had found one who was the right sort he just wanted 
me to take my dog and gun and go with him, and he 
would show me partridges and woodcock enough to 
make up, as he put it, for the time I had lost on account 
of the girls. This suited me, and we were soon walking 
up the green slope behind the house. When we arrived 
at the top of the rise, some quarter of a mile away, and 
I gazed upon the extensive and inviting looking cover in 
the valley below, I began to think that my new-found 
friend must be correct in his estimate of the number of 
birds to be found here, for sweeter spot to look at I 
