*> ^ FOREST AND STREAM. 226 
-yellow adding to its formidable aspect, lies a huge 
imcn of the most deadly of American snakes, the 
lond rattlesnake. True, this serpent has been reared 
aptivity from a youngster of 15m. long into this 
ster of 6ft. in length; but the instinct of its parents 
iherited. When approached a deep-drawn hiss is 
d, and the reptile rises slowly as if inflated by a bel- 
P a t this time the rattle begins to quiver, and a sharp 
ing sound is heard, exactly like that produced by 
ield locust. ' Let me sleep," protests this formidable 
ture as it lies sullen staring at the object of its an- 
mce. 
it old rattlesnake flag bore a very appropriate motto, 
;he rattlesnake, as well as all of our venomous ser- 
s, seeks to warn before striking. The copperhead 
lly shakes the tail when alarmed, producing a sharp 
ir.g sound; the vipers of Europe and Africa hiss 
ly when disturbed, while the cobra and hamadryad, 
most formidable reptiles known, raise the forward 
of the body from the ground and spread the neck 
ood before biting, 
though these poor creatures have been so merciless- 
landered, they are hy no means so had as most 
ile imagine, for of the entire serpent race only one- 
1 is composed of dangerous species, and all of these 
Id much rather seek security than combat. More- 
. snakes are of economic value, as they destroy in- 
ius creatures of the field. 
Raymond L. Ditmars. 
Voices of the Night. 
\ this season of the year all persons may note the 
ige of birds at night by the calls that come floating 
x from above and that continue until daylight ap- 
5. The most prominent is a clear whistle ttiat is 
the most persistent, beginning in north New York 
in August and continuing through September, 
its that are lowery or foggy are more musical than 
hose that are clear and flooded by moonlight. Re- 
ses come to the calls from right and left, and one 
is to the gradual lessening of tone as the wanderers 
i far on in the darkened south. To note the first 
:hat floats through the open window of early August 
ne reclines for slumber brings the feeling of sad- 
that the summer is ending. Who can escape that 
lg of regret that the year has reached its full, has 
ght forth the earthly kind, and is thenceforward to 
nc? 
is doubtless true that bird migration is generally by 
t, and the birds seem to use a note that is unfamiliar, 
baffles one to distinguish by day, so that identifica- 
by the sound alone is difficult. The light, cheery 
of the hair bird is familiar as it passes overhead 
:ely out of reach, but that clear, tantalizing whistle 
ng from near and from far may be of the bobolink 
>riole— who can tell? Beyond the St. Lawrence 
herly is no great stretch of settled country, and 
ice comes the vast multitude that" is nightly for six 
igbt weeks en passage? And are there other silent 
ders? What note has the robin, blackbird, song 
row, grosbeak, catbird? Why so slight variety? 
lere a universal migratory call, to keep the whole 
horde, scattered by darkness, true to the southern 
se, as it were to march by touch of elbow? And if 
t by night and food and rest by day be the rule, what 
e passers south from the New England shores? At 
k Island I hear the same familiar sound fading 
; in the dim south, and can but wonder what of the 
on the morrow, and where will the final landing be? 
d and endurance must here struggle with hunger 
sleepless days, or a tiny form must drop lifeless 
the great sea. Bird migration is a great mystery 
leads to much speculation. Cannot correspondents 
itRest and Stream take it up to advantage? 
J- Quay. 
Anomalous Appetites and Affection, 
r. E. Brinker, of Central City, W. Va., a merchant 
rtquestionable veracity, declares to having owned a 
i that would eat live jnice with as much relish as a 
oes, and with a mighty sight greater dispatch. This 
)t all, A chicken could not come within tempting 
nee or its life would pay the forfeit of its temerity, 
would devour a hen, feathers and all. He would 
mice from the hand. He was in no respects vicious, 
knew a magnificent Norman stallion that would 
Lime tobacco in- such quantity as would astonish 
I have a male cat that beats anything of the feline 
r in the variety of his menu. Bananas, pawpaws, 
cucumbers, raw potatoes, sweet potatoes, green un- 
I ed corn, raw tomatoes, etc., were a portion of the 
on which he grew and thrived. 
rhaps not less peculiar than this was the affection 
uotherly care of a hen belonging to Mrs. Metcalf, of 
ral City, W. Va. This hen, I think, was of the Leg- 
variety. During the whole year she did not evince 
east desire to start a family. But after one of her 
•s had left the brood which she thought sufficiently 
to take care of themselves, the former adopted them 
bestowed upon them all the foster-motherly care that 
1 be desired. She would hover them, and call them 
lucking, and strange to say, she grew thin in flesh 
ouite pale. I wonder if she surmised that some of 
feg-s that gave birth to some of those chicks were of 
::g? N. D, Et.ttnc. 
Here is a Chance for Bears. 
iRT ford, N.- C, Aug. 19. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
farmers in the section known as "Up River" are 
gaining that their crops of green corn are being 
oyed by bears to an extent almost unheard of; 
three to six good-sized bears enter the fields every 
t and feast on "roasting ears." Our pack of bear 
ds having been killed out, and having no others 
mough to take their places, the owners of the fields 
■esorting to "set guns" with little result as yet 
has been an extremely wet summer, and the bears 
near the shore, on higher land than usual, and 
tre missing the fun of hunting them for want of 
A. F. R. 
mt(e §ag m\A §imt. 
The "Briery Pictures. 
The illustrations in the current edition of. Game Laws in Brief, 
Mr. Charles Hallock says, well represent America's wilderness 
sports. The Brief gives all the laws of the United States and 
Canada for the practical guidance of anglers and shooters. As 
an authority, it has a long record of unassailed and unassailable 
accuracy. Forest and Stream Pub. Co. sends it postpaid for 25 
cents, or your dealer will supply you. 
A Grist of Things. 
Occasionally something appears in Forest vnd 
Stream which seems to demand an immediate answer; 
but the cares and worries of everyday life intervene, in- 
dolence and inertia grow with the years, and procras- 
tination steals another opportunity. Forbearance has 
however, ceased to be a virtue, hence this ultimatum. 
Some one writes that the raccoon can be trapped in 
only one way; that all other methods are absolutely worth- 
less. "If any one ever told you he trapped a coon in 
the woods, he told you what never happened," etc. 
There are several people in this world of ours besides 
the interesting correspondent just quoted; and as Uncle 
Remus remarks: "Ole man K. now all died las' year!" 
I studied this art of trapping furred animals in my 
younger days, and some three or four years since bought 
a small kit of traps, and together with my son Bruce— 
now a soldier of the First Montana Infantry in Manila- 
started out to thin the' ranks of the chicken thieves and 
other vermin along the Colville River, near our home; 
and among the animals trapped were some hundreds 
of muskrats, fourteen minks, four coons, one skunk, two 
cats (domestic), and a dog. The coons were all caught 
by myself, and were all caught in the timber: and it 
was no great performance either. 
Even though, as Mr. Mather so charmingly insists, 
"Ole Misser Coon's a cunnin' t'ing, 
He ramble in de dark; 
Nuffin' seem' to 'sturb his mine 
Till he hear ole Ringo bark" — 
yet he will put a foot in a trap if the trapper is master 
of his trade. All these coon traps were set on dry land, 
and all were baited. So much for "Misser Coon." 
In Mr. Buruham's very interesting account of his 
trip to the Klondike, I read of his difficulty in finding 
coarse feed for his horses in the terrible struggle with 
the hardships of the mountain pass; and I, together prob- 
ably with many other men familiar with the wilder- 
ness, wonder why so intelligent a man did not observe 
the Cottonwood bushes along the trail, and offer the 
hungry animals the benefit of this useful "browse." 
Strange, indeed, how the useful little things of life 
elude observation, Possibly I myself would appear still 
more stupid and awkward to him or any other city 
resident who should catch the old uncle in town trying 
to ring up somebody on the hello machine. Every man 
to his trade. I'd rather try to trap a coon any day in 
the week. 
And how strangely true it is that human life so often 
hangs suspended by some attenuated thread of circum- 
stance. How very certain it is that Lieut. De Long's 
party of explorers would have escaped the perils of the 
Siberian wilderness and returned safely to country home 
and friends, had they left one-half their rilles arid am- 
munition at the ship, and taken instead an equal weight 
consisting of a shotgun and its ammunition. 
The plan of walking round the arctic hare in narrow- 
ing circles, as it sat upon the snow, vvould have sug- 
gested itself to some one of the starving adventurers- 
and instead of straining their trembling nerves and 
snow-blinded eyes in a vain attempt at a successful 
rifle shot at the vanishing mass of white, with no help 
from the dazzling background of snow, the scatter gun 
would have made the daily hunt a daily pleasure, and 
brought food, comfort and joy to the hungry camp. 
In this connection I want to tell of a plan to circum- 
vent the jack rabbit which evolved itself from my 
inner consciousness the first time I tried a shotgun on 
the speedy brute. This plan may be common enough 
now in places where the jack rabbit is plentiful, yet as 
I have not been familiar with this race horse' of the 
plains for many years past, I do not know that such is 
the case, and I hereby ask those of the readers of 
Forest and Stream who live in a country similar to 
the one where I made his acquaintance to try this plan 
and report results. 
I do not know of any one else ever trying it, but it 
will work to a charm if worked properly' There must 
1 e no "hobble," however,, or the silly creature will see 
through the gauzy sham. It can be worked only in a 
country where the grass is short enough to keep the 
fleeing animal constantly in sight, and over a plain level 
enough to admit of this also, for the whole stratagem 
depends upon this one thing. 
Go alone, leave -the dog at home, and when you 
jump a jack too far off for your No. 6s, note the direc- 
tion of his flight, and if you see a slight rise of ground 
likely to hide him from your view, run to that soon as 
you can — you only need to be sure that you can see 
clearly over the face of the country beyond — then stop 
and watch him carefully. Before he stops you will 
note that he is about to do so by his slower, shorter 
jumps, and uncertain manner, as. though lie were about 
ready to sit up. 
The moment you see this, two things are to be done 
on the instant; and the result will demonstrate whether 
you indeed have the sharp eyes and keen instincts of the 
hunter, or are only a "numskull" gunner who wouldn't 
become a hunter in a thousand years. Mark instantly 
with your eye, by the configuration of the ground, and 
by the surrounding objects, the identical spot where you 
see the rabbit making those slow, 1 hesitating jumps, so 
that, Were you to close your eyes for half an hour, 
you could upon opening them detect the spot in- 
stantly — and drop completely from sight before he sits 
up. If you can do these things correctly and on 
time, the jack is yours. Of one thing be assured, he 
must not see you when he sits up and looks back, which 
he is now stopping to do. 
Lie quietly, just as you are, for ten or fifteen minutes. 
Don't be in a bit of a hurry. And when finally you rise 
up the jack will be nowhere visible. After he has looked 
for you for a long time, until he is satisfied you are not 
pursuing, he will crouch in the identical spot where he 
sat up, lower his long ears and vanish. 
Now pick out the spot where last you saw him, and 
advance — not directly toward him, but as far from it 
as will bring you in good fair shooting distance when 
opposite. You will see no rabbit until you get square- 
ly opposite the spot and turn directly toward him, and 
take a step or two more. 
Up, from out the very earth apparently, will rise a 
pair of ears like palm leaves, surmounting a streak of 
vanishing gray, and — now's your chance! 
Stevens County, Wyoming. OWN BELKNAP. 
Reminiscences of an Old 
Sportsman.— XIX, 
While Ethan and I were discussing the suicide of 
the partridge, we walked along the bank of a dry ditch 
that was some 3ft. in depth, when Phil came back to us 
along the bottom of the ditch. When he was nearly op- 
posite us he started to get out of the ditch, but with a 
sharp cry sprang back again and came out on our side, 
and stood there whimpering and rubbing the side of 
his nose with his paw. We were wondering what was 
the matter, but did not have long to wait before we 
found out, or at least I did, for a yellow jacket gave it 
to me in the neck red hot. When I screeched and vig- 
orously slapped the torment you should have seen that 
dog, as with an inquiring look he came to me and 
touched me with his nose, then with quickly vibrating 
tail and open mouth he actually joined with Ethan in 
laughing at my mishap. There could be no mistake 
about it, Phil understood the matter, and plainly showed 
by his actions that he thoroughly enjoyed it. Not the 
least interesting, part of the performance was the be- 
havior of Gipsey. She was only a short distance from 
us when Phil uttered his cry, and she at once stopped 
and gave him an inquisitive look; but when I received 
my dose she came and sitting down as close to me as 
she could get she fixed here wondrous brown eyes 
upon my face and sat there, the very incarnation of 
sympathetic sorrow. Ethan pronounced it the most 
wonderful exhibition of the kind that he had ever wit- 
nessed. He then proposed that I should stand on the 
bank of the ditch while he stirred up the yellow jackets 
with a pole, just to see Gipsey perform, but I told him 
that it was cruel to play upon the better feelings of 
even a dumb brute, and that I could not conscientiously 
allow myself to consent to anything so wicked as this. 
The remainder of the day passed without further inci- 
dent worth mention, and at night we returned to our 
stopping place with full pockets, well satisfied with the 
result of our day's tramp through this newly found 
sportsman's paradise. The country was not nearly so 
rough as we had been led to believe when we first saw 
it, and the covers upon the whole were very satisfactory, 
although some of them were rather dense, but, as Ethan 
well said, plenty of birds will smooth the roughest 
ground, and good shooting will denude even briers and 
brambles of their thorns. In this connection I have often 
found that good work by the dogs and not least in 
the category, congenial companionship, will also often 
cause us to remember with pleasure country and cover 
that otherwise would be recalled as drear and forbid- 
ding. 
Ethan had good cause to remember this trip pleas- 
antly, for I laid myself out to make the occasion an 
agreeable one, and both of us had a most enjoyable 
time. Ethan shot like a hero, killing nearly, if not quite, 
two-thirds of the bag. This alone would have made him 
supremely happy, for he was somewhat inclined to be 
a bit jealous in this respect, and always appeared to be 
a little down in the mouth when any of his companions 
had the better of him in shooting. Although he and I 
were the best of friends, and he freely admitted that I 
could beat him out in heavy cover, I knew that, he 
thought himself at least my equal in open shooting, 
and I was entirely^ willing that he should, for, with two 
or three exceptions, I never had any feeling whatever 
so far as beating a companion or being beaten by him 
was concerned, for I always enjoyed going afield with 
a comrade who could perform his part in an artistic man- 
ner. N 
In addition to plenty of birds and good shooting our 
trip was most enjoyable in every respect, with not one 
disagreeable feature to mar our pleasure. The second 
day Ave devoted to exploring some very promising look- 
ing country that we had seen the previous day, finding 
plenty of grouse and quail, but no woodcock until nearly 
night, when we found nine in a little springy spot of less 
than an acre, at the head of an alder run. The first 
one we found gave us quite a turn, iia fact this per- 
formance was the. only really exciting incident that 
came to us during the day Old Tip pointed just in- 
side the edge of the cover, and as Ethan went to her h& 
stepped squarely over a woodcock that got up behind 
him, and before it rose as high as his head the bird 
went in a circle completely around him and not more 
than 2ft. from him, and then flew down the run and 
settled some 20yds. away. I had a clear view of the 
whole performance and enjoyed it immensely. When he 
first turned around he caught sight of the bird, going, as 
he thought, in the opposite direction, and he again 
turned with the bird, but not quickly enough to catch 
up with it, and he never saw it again, although he 
looked in every direction, including straight in the air. 
It was worth a long journey to see the expression upon 
his face during the whole performance, especially when 
he realized that there was anything funny about it, as he 
did at once, for he well knew that 1 did not go into 
convulsions in that manner unless there was some- 
thing worth laughing at. 
The next morning jve bade adieu to ©ur host and 
drove north, nearly to Hop River, rounding out our trip 
with some capital sport among the grouse and quail. 
At 1 o'clock we returned to the team for lunch, and then 
smoothed out the plumage of our birds and laid them 
* 
