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1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Two Bird Papers. 
Last year's report of the Farmer's Institute of Ontario 
contains a paper by Mr. Chas. W. Nash, of Toronto, on 
tlie Birds_ of Ontario in Relation to Agriculture. This 
is based in part on the author's own observations and 
in part on the investigations made by Dr. Fisher for the 
United States • Department of Agriculture. Mr. Nash's 
conclusions correspond very well with those of the 
earlier paper, and he calls particular attention to the 
very great value to the farmer of the rough-legged hawk. 
While the owls are regarded by Mr. Nash as of very 
great tise for their mice-destroying proclivities, he men- 
tions a practice of the short-eared species of killing 
great numbers of small birds, apparently for the sport 
of it, which is not generally known. He says: "Near 
my home there is a large marsh, partially surrounded by 
meadows, which supports a rank growth of grass, rushes 
and reeds of various kinds. This place is much fre- 
quented in the autumn by sparrows and warblers mi- 
grating southward; in fact, at times the place fairly 
swarms with them. Suddenly, a number of short- 
eared owls will appear on the scene, and then numbers 
of small birds will be found lying about dead, some 
partly eaten and others with only the skull crushed and 
a few feathers plucked off. At these times I have shot 
many of the owls and have found the crops and stomachs 
to contain mice and small birds mixed. This will go on 
for a few days, or until the owls leave, and each morn- 
ing the number of dead birds lying about will have in- 
creased. After the owls have gone, the destruction 
ceases, only to begin again when the next lot of owls 
arrive. _ Mr. Nash next considers the crows, blackbirds 
and orioles, the woodpeckers, nuthatches, titmice and 
so forth, the thrushes, sparrows and swallows. The 
conclusion of the whole matter is that it is worth while 
to protect our birds. Mr. Nash's paper is written in 
simple, popular style, and should do much good. It is 
illustrated by thirty-two figures of different species of 
birds, ^ 
The interest taken in birds- by agriculturists is con- 
stantly on the increase, and is certainly most interest- 
ing, and a hopeful sign of the times. The paper just 
referred to shows one phase of this interest, while a 
preliminary Ust of the birds of Belknap and Merrimack 
counties, New Hampshire, with notes by Ned Dear- 
born, shows another. The paper in question was pre- 
sented to the faculty of the New Hampshire College of 
Agriculture and Mechanic Art last summer as a thesis 
for the degree of M. S. This list represents nearly 200 
species of birds, and while incomplete is authentic so 
far as it goes.* It is not surprising tliat the list of 
marine birds is a brief one. The duck hawk is not rare 
in the region where Mr. Dearborn has carried on his 
observations. The occurrence of the summer tanager, 
reported on the authority of a Franklin observer, is 
surprising. 
Furtlier observations will, undoubtedly, considerably 
enlarge this list. 
Jaguar Ways. 
I WISH to say something about jaguars. I have lived 
here in Mexico for the past twenty-live years, and have 
alwa,ys been a great hunter, and kept a pack of dogs. 
Jaguars are very hard to hunt,, as there is no telling 
just where to find them. The best way that I have found 
is to go down on the ocean beach and hunt them on moon- 
light nights, or with a jack lamp on dark nights. The 
jaguar comes to the beach, nearly every night, to hunt 
sea turtle, as they come out on the beach to lay their eggs. 
I have seen the tracks of three and four, where they had 
traveled up and down the beach in search of turtles. I 
have seen them out on the beach until 7 o'clock in the 
morning, but they generally get back into the forest -be- 
fore sunrise. 
The jaguar is very different from the panther or moun- 
tain lion. He takes to water freely, will swin a lake or 
river without any trouble, and strange to say, an alligator 
does not seem to touch him. An old Indian hunter once 
told me a fable of the alligator and the jaguar, and how, 
through an agreement which they made, neither one will 
trouble the other. A jaguar nearly always kills calves 
and hogs ; a mountain lion will always kill dogs and colts. 
The lion here very seldom troubles cattle, and they never 
come down on the beach after turtle. I have never kiiown 
a lion to swim a lake or river. They both, however, will 
climb trees. They have from one to two cubs each. A 
jaguar here is much larger and heavier than the panther 
or mountain lion. The jaguar will nearly always come 
back after his kill, even after the bones; the panther 
very seldom comes back. More deer are killed by the 
panther, and I think they are much more agile; the 
jaguar kills more wild hogs; one always sees the tracks of 
a jaguar behind those of a band of hogs. The best way 
to shoot them, as I said, is on the beach, for going in the 
jungle with dogs is hard work, and one gets so full of 
■ insects that he is unable to sleep for a week after the 
trip ; besides, the heat and the cutting to get through the 
forest are something beyond belief. 
The best kind of dogs for this kind of hunting is a 
cross of fox terrier and hound ; or cur dog of some large 
and fierce kind and hound. 
Some other day I will give an account of how I killed 
the largest jaguar I ever saw in this country; I was after 
him for nearly two years before I got him. I always knew 
him by his large track. I used a .45-110 double-barrel ex- 
'jjress. I do not believe in small bore rifles for big game, 
And I have been hunting for over thirty years, and killed 
more game than most people. I like my .40-70 Win- 
chester for deer, but nothing smaller. I think, however, 
better shooting can be done with a double-barrel rifle, and 
also quicker, than with the magazine rifles. 
When I speak of panther and mountain lion, I also in- 
clude the puma, which is the same animal. 
Mexico. GUATEMALA. 
Spring: Amvals. 
Brooklyn, N. Y,, March 8.— Yesterday, during the 
storm, I saw nine bluebirds and about twenty robins; to- 
day I saw twenty blackbirds and the same number of 
robins. That looks more like spring, doesn't it? 
' T. H. G. 
The Loon^s Flight. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I notice in your issue of Feb. 25, in Mr. Sawyer's very 
interesting account of a vacation on a wayback farm, he 
says, in speaking of the loon : "He is so heavy for his 
wing size that he has hard work to get out of the water, 
and if he were in a very small pond with high trees all 
around, he would be obliged to stay-there, as if he were in 
a trap." 
I wish to inquire if that Ls generally accepted as a fact, 
for it is not in accord with my experience. 
In 1872 I was one of a party of three landlookers locat- 
ing pine lands, in northern Michigan. We discovered a 
small lake of a type common to some portions of the 
State; a rather large sinkhole, filled with water to within 
25 or 30ft. of the top. This lake, as I remember it, was 
about eight or ten rods wide, and perhaps forty rods 
long, with no shore nor shelving beach, the banks going 
right down at the same steep angle to an unknown depth. 
The lake was a dark blue, though the water was as clear 
as a crystal. It nested in the heart of a Michigan forest, 
surrounded by high trees, without a break in its banks to 
denote an inlet or outlet. It was an ideal place for a 
camp, and we pitched our tent on the banks and stayed as 
long as our work would permit, for there were more black 
bass to the square rod in that little lake than any water 
I ever found. 
The first morning early I was 6\ft on the lake on a 
small raft, and had bass enough for the day, having just 
wound up my line, when over the treetops came a loon 
and dropped into the water within 20ft. of me. He gave 
me one surprised inquiring glance, and down he went. I 
could see him in the clear water, as he went straight down 
until he was lost to sight in the deep blue of the depths. 
In a moment, as I stood watching where he disappeared, I 
saw him coming up ; with incredible swiftness he shot into 
the air like an arrow, and I only had time to doff my hat 
and call a hasty good-by, as with a mocking laugh he dis- 
appeared over the treetops, G. O. Bignell. 
A Singular Rabbit. 
Cornish, Me., Feb, 21. — Mr. Win. C. Ayer, of this 
village, an ardent sportsman in general, and especially de- 
A^oted to hunting rabbits, bagged a specimen of his favor- 
ite game yesterday, which differed materially from 
anything in the rabbit line ever seen about here. 
In size it was about two-thirds that of the ordinary 
rabbit, its color, instead of white, a dark gray, mainly, 
with irregular lines of black showing on the back, the 
gray passing into a bright fox color (red) on the lower 
parts of the body and legs, with a spot of same on the 
back of the neck. The body was quite compact, the legs 
short, the ears comparatively small, but the head and 
face presented the most singular feature, the fore part of 
the skull being broad and flat, the chops full like those of 
a chipmunk, and the shape and expression of the fac^ de- 
cidedly cat-like, in striking contrast to the stupid frontis- 
piece of the common, every-day sort of rabbit. 
"Some one's pet bunny gone astray," will doubtless be 
the verdict of many who read this, but no one seeing the 
animal would entertain that idea for an instant. Old 
hunters who have shot hundreds of rabbits declare they 
never saw anything like it before. What think you, read- 
ers of Forest and Stream, is it a hybrid, a stray from 
some variety not common here, or, in fact, what is it? 
Can any of you name it from my imperfect description? 
' " Templar. 
[If Templar would send us the skin and the skull, iden- 
tification might be made.] 
Anti-Houading Laws. 
Laws forbidding the use of hounds for deer chasing 
are in force in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Oi egon, Ver- 
mont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, 
Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan, Maine, New York, 
Washington, Colorado, Utah, British Columbia, New 
Brunswick and Quebec. 
The Adirondack Deer Law. 
There are eleven Adirondack guides, all members of 
the Guides' Association, at the Garden. Some were 
sent to represent the Association, and others came of 
their own volition. The men are representative of 
Franklin and Hamilton covmties, in the heart of the 
Adirondacks, and the sentiments they express conform 
very closely, as far as your correspondent has been 
able to ascertain, to the sentiments of hunters who live 
in most of the other sections of the Adirondacks. The 
Fulton chain hunters, however, and those living on the 
southern edge of the woods are probably an exception. 
The names of the guides at the Garden are as follows: 
F. E. Sumner, Saranac (president of the Guides' As- 
sociation); B. R. Moody, Saranac; H. S. Moody, Sar- 
anac; Fred Sheldon, Saranac; Warren Cole, Long Lake; 
Lucien Trim, Meacham Lake; J. Howard Slather, 
Saranac; Fred Colbath, Saranac; E. J. Chase, Newcomb; 
Florimun Chase, Newcomb, and A. N. Billings, Lake 
Placid. 
Seven of these eleven men were seen and talked with, 
and all expressed themselves in favor of hounding. Of 
the other four, three are said with certainty to be in 
favor of a law permitting the use of dogs, and the other 
man was said to be on the fence. 
These guides are thoroughly representative, and the 
fact that there is such a practical unanimity among them 
on the hounding question indicates the current of local 
sentiment throughout the entire region. They want 
the month of October for hounding. For years Adiron- 
dack hunters have asked no more than this, but their 
wishes have received little attention, and they have grown 
accustomed to having laws forced upon them which 
they did not want, but had to obey. 
There are some apparent contradictions in the situa- 
tion which need explanation. Last year some of these 
same men who now express themselves in favor of 
hounding voted an indorsement of the non-hounding law. 
These men ate some of the most intelligent and far- 
sighted of the guides. They explain their position by 
saying that they believe it would be a good thing for the 
game of the Adirondacks if an effective prohibition could 
be put on the use of dogs. They argue that other States 
have benefited by such prohibition, and they are thor- 
oughly acquainted with all the evils of a hounding sys- 
tem. On the other hand, they say the anti-hounding 
law is a kid glove law that is not enforced, and that it has 
turned out a boomerang, as far as game protection is con- 
cerned. It works hardships on honest men, and, like 
the excise laws under some political regime, gives dis- 
honest men unusual advantages. 
It is a matter of common knowledge that under the 
law hounding has been carried on in every section of 
the Adirondacks. This journal has printed something 
about the laxness of protectors in the eastern Adir- 
ondacks. 
Touching on the same subject, as regards the Avestern 
side, Mr. Colbath states, "They have hounded right 
along, and there Avas more hounding last year than 
ever before. You couldn't go through the lakes any- 
where in the season but what you'd hear dogs hounding. 
Of course 'any man knows that spoils all still-lmnting. 
Mr. Sheldon said: "There have been hounds running 
all summer, and more deer killed under the anti-hound- 
ing law than any law Ave ever had. I come right out- 
and say if the law can be enforced I believe in it; but 
I don't want any more of this farce Ave have been hav- 
ing." 
It is only the minority of these guides, however, who 
believe that the prohibition of hounding if effectual 
vvoitld be beneficial. Most of the men present come out 
flat-footed for hounding, and nothing hut hounding, 
and say that for a number of years past, Avith hounding 
permitted, deer have been on the increase all through 
the Adirondacks. Major Fox's forestry reports indicate 
this. The great hubbub against hounding was the spas- 
modic outbreak of a number of men, most of whom 
never killed a deer, and none of whom lived in the coun- 
try for which the legislation was originated. The 
na'tive sportsman had absolutely no voice in the matter. 
Theoretically, it is a good law, but it isn't always wise:, 
to force a good thing on people who have no use for- 
it, simply because it is a good thing. Theoretically, 
religion is good for the savages, but when the Spaniards 
undertook to inculcate it with blunderbusses and swords 
thev made a mistake. 
■ The reason that the anti-hounding law has not been 
enforced in the Adirondacks is that it Avasn't wanted, 
and that it is an infringement of the principles of home 
government. The men who fostered the law tried 
to make it appear that the law was acceptable to the na- 
tive sportsman, and for a while they exerted a strong m- 
fluence on the guides, Avith the result that to the casual 
reader of the sport.sman's press tlie law was apparently 
regarded with favor in the region which it affected. 
They could not, however, reach the majority of the 
hunting population, and many of these men disregarded 
the law. and as no one liked the law, they were not 
punished. , , , 
It looks very much as if the anti-hounders have been 
going ahead too fast. Their Avisest course apparently 
would be to open a campaign of enhghtenment through- 
out the hunting country, and try and win over the 
bounders to their side. That is the only way to bring 
about effective legislation in this country. It is not 
the part of wisdom to misrepresent facts and bolster up 
an unpopular law by allegations that it is what the per- 
sons most interested wish. _ . 
There seems to be a growing setifiment through the 
Adirondacks in favor of putting the deer hunting on a 
new .basis from that which has ruled for many years, 
but till this becomes the majority sentiment the sponsors 
of the anti-hounding ■ law are committing an injustice 
in forcing it on the people, and may expect to se^ it 
largely a dead letter 
At the Sportsmen's Show. 
Nesodaro's Bear Story. 
Nesodara, the Stony Indian, entertained some visitoii 
with the folloAving bear story: . .. 
"Me hunt grizzly in deep snow on the mountain, - 
he began. 'Me and twin brother, name Joshua. _ Me 
got big cartridge forty-foxir caliber; Joshua, short torty- 
four caliber. Joshua like go hunt marten; got four httle 
traps. No like hunt bear. . 
"Me see track; grizzly come down mountain, so, 
and Nesodaro walked his clenched hands pintoed fash- 
ion across the top of the desk that occupied the center 
of the tepee. . 
"Me see track. Grizzzly stand up this way, all same 
man Broke tree down on snow. Went up same as 
man, caught tree in mouth. All cut 'em!" Nesodaro 
snapped his jaw to on the last words, and threw into his 
expression something of the savage ferocity of the beast. 
"Joshua he say, 'T'ink grizzly pretty bad? I say, Ah 
t'ink so, too.' ^ ^ ^ 
"Joshua say, 'My gun no good.' Go more; small trees 
bent down ; all cut 'em. Joshua say, 'Look out! Very 
bad bear; me no like hunt bear; ine go hunt marten. 
You like hunt bear, all time; you go.' 
But Nesodaro had no intention of lettmg Joshua 
back out. To assure the wavering hunter he said: 
"My rifle pretty good; bullet go quick! and he 
slapped the open palm of his left hand a resounding 
blow with his right clenched fist. Then Nesodaro told 
how the bear turned up a dry creek and climbed up to 
a grove of timber and began searching for a place to 
make a den. . . t \, a 
"Not too far; hear make hole m snow. In ground 
find 'em big stone. No make hole; no take em nothev 
place hunt; no take 'em. Hunt, hunt. Oh! lots of times 
no take 'em. „ ,11 
"Little coulee come down. Bear make hole now— 
way down. Three big tree fall 'cross. Branch reach 
down to ground. Bear go under. Last night take grass 
into hole;' little hay. • 
"I sav 'What do now?' Which side shoot r _ 
Nesodaro took a pencil and drew the three big fallen 
