£>EC. io, 1898. J 
martin, or king bird, as between the South and further 
south. The bee martin is a summer resident of the cotton 
States, where he is widely diffused over the country in 
pairs during the breeding season. He does not commend 
himself in any special manner to his human neighbors, 
but nobody ever thinks of molesting him, though he does 
sometimes levy contributions upon the bee hives. 
In the fall he migrates -to the southern coasts of 
Louisiana, where, like the robin, he congregates in large 
flocks, and betakes himself to the berries and the business 
of getting fat. They change their name as well as their 
habits and general character when in winter quarters, be- 
ing called by the Creoles grassei. They are esteemed a 
great delicacy by the Louisianians, and it is said that 
they become so fat as to burst when striking the ground 
after being shot, even as do the "pepper bot" (whistling 
plover) . 
The moral intended to be conveyed by this rambling 
dissertation is that there are two sides to most all ques- 
tions. Coahoma. 
Missifcsrwi. 
An Uncommon F°x. 
E Dumbarton, N. H.— Editor Forest and Stream: Oc- 
casionally in this part of New Hampshire a black fox is 
reported as being seen. Sometimes it is a silver-gray, in- 
variably whoever sees it (unless it be some experienced 
fox hunter) is very positive 'of its being a pure black fox. 
About the tst of November I was out one morning after 
a fox, when 1 met two men, who were strangers to me, 
driving along the road. They asked if I was after a fox 
and whether I had ever seen a silver-gray fox. 1 said I 
never had seen nor heard of a genuine one being killed in 
this section. One of the men said : "We just saw a sil- 
ver-gray fox about a mile from here." The fox had 
crossed the road within 50yds. of them, and they had a 
good chance to look it over. I questioned them pretty 
closely and made up my mind that what they had seen was 
a fox which is partly gray and black. Once in a great 
while such a fox is killed about here. A number of years 
ago i shot one and saw another. 
I made up my mind to try and get that fox, and T have 
been several times to the vicinity where it was said to 
have been seen. I shot two foxes there and saw another ; 
but they were our common red foxes. On the morning 
of Nov. 26 I went out in the same country, and my dog 
soon had a fox started, and had been driving him in some 
small spruces and pines for about fifteen minutes, when 
I saw the fox crossing a small open place 50yds. away. I 
saw at once that it was not a red one, and I killed it in- 
stantly at the first shot. When I went to it I found I 
had killed the handsomest fox I ever shot. It was an old 
dog fox, and weighed i2lbs. The whole of the under side 
of head, neck, breast and belly, and the back parts of hips 
was black. The legs jet black all the way up to body, 
brush very black, with a large white tag at end; the sides, 
back and upper part of head were gray. A small patch of 
red was on each side of neck. The only white was a 
small spot between the hind legs and the tip of brush. 
Now this fox is not a black one, nor is it a silver-gray, 
'yet I am pretty confident it is the one which has been seen 
and reported as being jet black. I do not know just what 
it would be called, unless a sort of mongrel. I know it 
had a very handsome pelt, and I was glad to get it. 
C. M. Stark. 
The Lmnean Society of New York. 
Regular meetings of the Society will be held in the 
American Museum of Natural History, on Tuesday even- 
ings, Dec. 13 and 27, at 8 o'clock. 
Dec. 13. — By members, "The Warblers of North Amer- 
ica." Exhibition of specimens, with discussion of dis- 
tribution, habits, etc., of Lucy's, Virginia's, Nashville, 
Calaveras, orange-crowned, lutescent and Tennessee 
warblers. 
Ernest Seton Thompson. — Observations on Texas Wild 
Cattle. 
^ Dec. 27. — J. D. Figgins, "Notes on Birds Observed in 
Greenland with the Peary Expeditions of 1896 and 1897." 
Illustrated by specimens. 
By Members.- — "The Warblers of North America." Ex- 
hibition of specimens, with discussion of distribution, 
habits, etc., of Parula, Usnea, Sennett's, Cape May and 
olive warblers. Walter W. Granger, Sec'y. 
AMERICAN MUSRUM OF N/VTURAL HlSTORY. 
A Wolf Track Reported in Maine. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
My brother. Dr. Walter Chrystie, who has just returned 
from the Maine woods, reports that last week he saw a 
track in the snow which his guide, Jim Grey, of Greene- 
ville, Me., said was made by a wolf. As they were in 
the wilderness about six miles southeast of Loon Lake 
there can hardly be any mistake as to the track being made 
by a wolf, as it is extremely unlikely any dog was in that 
neighborhood. Percival Chrystie. 
Hudson River Wolves. 
"Cortlandt Town, Dec'r 3, 1789. — Then Received of 
Pierre Van Cortlandt by the hands of Javis Dusenbury, 
Twenty-four Shillings, in full for the killing of four 
Wolfs, that were killed within twenty miles of Capt'n 
Boyd's in Philip's town as appears from the several 
certificates showed at the time, I say rec'd by me. 
Samuel Taylor, his mark by order. 
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. 
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Subscribers are asked to note on the wrapper the 
date of expiration of subscription ; and to remit 
promptly for renewal, that delays may be avoided, 
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FOREST AND STREAM.. 
tfiffu ^ag md %un. 
Proprietors of fishing and hunting resorts will find it profitable 
to advertise them in Forest and Stream. 
The "Briefs" 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 26 
cents, or your dealer will supply you. 
Lies that Never Were Told. 
Let me hasten to explain that they were never told be- 
cause there was no occasion to tell them, it was a false 
alarm. The amateur Ananias has thought it all out, at- 
tended to every detail, made it so it would hold water, 
complete and perfect, and well learned. In this it differs 
somewhat from those mysterious "songs that never were 
sung,'' which we hear about being way down in the 
bottom of the singer's soul — vague, sweet, half-formed, 
inexpressible thoughts, corked up like a bee in a bottle. 
All fishing and hunting is conducive to lying. The hero 
who conquers the temptation is painfully exact, and 
spends his life combating a natural desire to exaggerate. 
But no one should be too severe with the sportsman who 
twangs the long-bow now and then. In his poor, weak 
way he is trying to convey an idea of his sensations when 
he tells of fighting the fish that broke away, or fixes the 
distance at which he killed the deer. An abler man could 
have enthused his hearers by dilating on the exact truth. 
Thus women, who can express their discontent in good 
words, are often hard on their erring brother, who finds 
his only outlet in profanity. 
But as to cases in point, to bear out our text. There 
are three incidents in my mind, one of which is a con- 
fession, and all are connected with deer chasing in days 
gone by. As every one knows, when a man drops work 
and leagues with a gang of men to drive deer, his whole 
duty to society is to kill the deer if it comes in rifle shot 
of him. If he fails to do it, he has "shot the albatross," 
and with no eye to see, he often concocts a tale for the 
ears that hear the repeater that raises the echoes of the 
hills. For such unfortunate mortals should noiseless pow- 
der be invented. 
L 
On one afternoon a short chase Was arranged, and I 
was sitting at the root of a dead sugar, with the waters of 
a mountain stream rippling at my feet. It was late in the 
day, and I thought the chase must be over, and I took 
a book from my pocket and a pencil, and was making a 
calculation on the fly-leaf of some question of figures that 
was a live issue then, but forgotten now. My rifle, a 
Winchester of .32cal., was resting on my knees. My at- 
tention was attracted by the click of a deer's feet on the 
rocks of the river, and about 100yds. above me was a doe 
coming down stream. The book and pencil were laid 
aside, and I had the deer covered in an instant. The deer 
came on with the steady gait of a deer running in water, 
and it was pointing out to the bank nearly opposite me. I 
held on a point behind her shoulder, and fired when she 
was broadside on. I distinctly saw the bullet hole over 
the heart, and it made a great impression on me. 
It seemed to have no effect on the deer, which disap- 
peared in the woods, giving me four more shots as it ran 
jumping through thick brush in the dusk of evening. 
Then I was in trouble. If the deer had been hit, I 
thought, where I saw the bullet hole, it would never have 
got out of the river. I was the youngest man in the party, 
and I had a wholesome fear of the consequences. We 
had been chasing for several days without having got a 
deer in gunshot. Then, in my distress, I prepared the 
following statement of facts : As I was sitting open-eyed 
and alert, a small deer had jumped into the .river just 132 
steps above me, and turned up stream. Catching a 
glimpse of the gray in my sights, I had pulled on the deer, 
and the deer had fallen down. It had immediately gotten 
up, however, and I had fired four times at it until it had 
gone out of sight around the bend. Such were the short 
and simple annals of that fiasco. 
In my misery I wandered aimlessly across the stream 
and into the thick brush where I had last seen the game. 
There, at the root of a tree, lay the deer, shot through the 
lungs. Of course, there was a great revulsion of feeling, 
and Richard was himself again. 
II. 
On another occasion, a hero of many a stricken field 
confessed to nervousness on the deer stand, and a desire 
to avoid consequences by patching up a reasonable ex- 
cuse. A battle-scarred veteran, the Captain, was placed at 
a stand on Williams River which is peculiar in the respect 
that the place at which the deer usually come in is at a 
certain time in the morning directly between the stander 
and the sun. On this particular morning a doe came into 
the stand at this place, and the sun was in exact line and 
in the hunter's eyes. The Captain fired and missed, and 
instead of throwing another cartridge in place, he cocked 
his Winchester and snapped when he caught sight. By 
the time he got a cartridge in the barrel the deer was just 
entering the woods, and he took a snap shot at it. 
He sat there devising some means of explaining why he 
had not killed the deer, when the- cry of old Dan was 
heard, and down the mountain he came like Nemesis, and 
there was an accusation in every note to the man who 
had missed the deer. 
The Captain spoke apologetically to old Dan, but the 
hound paid no attention to him whatever. Dan went into 
the woods, and in a moment reappeared with the deer 
before him. The deer was badly wounded, and came 
staggering down the river, Dan walking behind and not 
saying a word. When nearly opposite the Captain, he 
says. Dan stopped and looked at him as much as to say, 
"Now, you tenderfoot, shoot that deer." The Captain 
killed it. He had shot it through the body before, and 
but for the hound it would have died where it had 
stopped in the woods. 
Hl, : ' 
The next instance is one which the famous Senator 
466 
Kenna, whose statue is in the Capitol at Washington, 
was fond of recounting. That distinguished gentleman 
hunted regularly in this section. He was an ardent sports- 
man, and fond of killing deer, but he laid down his gun 
to_ photograph a bounding buck on one occasion, and 
succeeded in getting a good photograph. 
In this case the excuse was actually told to Senator 
Kenna, but it did not live to be repeated before the de- 
liberative body around the camp-fire, and so not having 
been produced in that high and honorable pew-Wow, it 
may be classed as an account that just showed itself 
enough to let people know it was there before it was laid 
on the shelf. 
Senator Kenna had included in his camping party an 
old gentleman who was extremely anxious to show the 
younger men how to kill deer. In assigning him a stand 
he was put near the Senator, on the river above him, just 
out of sight around the bend. In an hour or so the Sena- 
tor heard a couple of shots at the stand above him, and 
saw a deer come round the bend, scramble up the bank 
and fall dead. He immediately started to the stand, but 
was surprised to see that the stander did not come to find 
the deer. Thinking' he would give him a pleasant sur- 
prise, he went to him and found the old gentleman stand- 
ing looking very cold. 
"Did you shoot?" asked the Senator. 
"Why, no, what makes you ask that question ?" 
"I thought I heard you shoot. What are those shells 
doing on the ground?" 
"They don't belong to my gun." 
"Didn't a deer come into this stand a few minutes 
ago ?" 
"No, there didn't," and by this time the old gentleman 
was resenting his cross-examination by swearing a good 
deal. The hounds then came in. 
"What are these hounds doing here?" 
""Running sheep, for all I know. Confound it, John, 
don't you believe me?" 
"Why, certainly, only I saw a deer come right from 
here and had heard some shots, and the deer tumbled over 
dead. I thought you had killed it." 
"What?" 
"It's lying right there beyond that pine brush." 
"Say, John." 
"Well." 
"I killed that deer. I was lying a minute ago, John. I 
just couldn't help it." Andrew Price. 
Marlinton, W. Va. 
The Colorado Game Law. 
Denver, Colo., Nov. 15. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your note asking about the constitutionality of the 
Colorado game law came duly to hand. I went to the 
commissioner's office in order to get the best informa- 
tion, but he was absent — in the western part of the 
State, where it-was reported the Ute Indians were invad- 
ing the State and threatening the game. To-day he 
sends me the enclosed, which I think covers all the cases 
that have been in litigation involving the game law. 
There is no decisive conclusion. The most important 
case is the El Paso county one, in which Judge Harris 
decided ex parte ihat the law is unconstitutional. We 
understand that Judge Harris is an enemy to game pro- 
tection, and that his decision was a mere expression of 
his own feelings. 
The only defect in the law is in the fact that more 
than one subject — viz., game, fish and forestry — are treated 
under one heading or title. We shall try to have this 
technical objection removed at the coming session of 
the Legislative Assembly — beginning the second week in 
January. The warden has continued prosecuting new 
cases under the law; has been very vigilant, and has 
secured numerous convictions under which various of- 
fenders have been punished, Wm. N. Byers. 
-Commissioner Forestry, Game and Fish, Colorado. — 
Denver. Nov. 14. — Hon. W. N. Byers: Replying to 
your inquiry concerning the present status of the game 
laws of the State, I have to advise you that they are 
still in statu quo so far as relates to any trial in the 
courts as to their constitutionality. 
About one year ago the present month I filed several 
informations against the Brown Hotel Company, this 
city, in the court of Justice Hunt, for printing the names 
of certain game on their bill of fare, and for having 
game in possession, and for offering the same for sale. 
The State secured judgment in this court; and we were 
again successful in the county court, Judge Steele, on 
appeal on the merits of the case, the county court de- 
clining to consider the points raised as to the constitu- 
tionality of the act. At the same time he remarked that 
there was some question in his mind as to the constitu- 
tionality of an act embracing under one head the three 
subjects of forestry, game and fish. This case is now in 
the Supreme Court on appeal, and I am in hopes it may 
be passed upon by that tribunal early in the session of 
the Twelfth General Assembly, if indeed it is not pos- 
sible to get a decision before the meeting of that body. 
My understanding is that the Brown Palace people have 
until April next in which to file their arguments in the 
case, but I have requested the Attorney General to file a 
request with the court that the case be advanced. 
About one year ago the present month also I paid a 
visit to Cripple Creek, and there found grouse offered 
for sale in the market in violation of law. I seized all 
I could find so exposed at several markets, and filed 
informations in the county court at Colorado Springs 
against the parties. Afterward, and before these cases 
could come to trial, this court declared the game law 
unconstitutional in the trial of a case brought by the 
Humane Society against some persons for shooting- 
pigeons from traps,, in a manner authorized by Sec. 
15 of the act. It is quite probable that so much of the act 
as relates to that subject is unconstitutional, and has no 
place in a game and fish law. 
On advice of the district attorney of El Paso county, I 
went to Colorado Springs and signed new informations, 
and the cases were dismissed in the county court, and 
new information filed in the district court. Time passed 
and I received no notice of the trial of the cases. Finally 
the district attorney wrote me, urging the dismissal of 
