April 22, tb^.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
SOB 
Pemmiean as an Army Ration. 
The value of pemmiean as a food ration is not by any 
means confined to excursions where means of transporta- 
tion are limited. Its value has been demonstrated many 
times on the frontier where fresh meat was abundant and 
easily obtained. 
My attention was first called to it in 1868 while en- 
camped with some Red River people north of Mouse 
River in the British Northwest. These people were in the 
habit of going out to the buffalo range every spring from 
the Fort Garry settlements and putting up tons of pemmi- 
ean for the winter trade, and to supply the northern trad- 
ing posts. The mode of making it was as follows; 
Buffalo meat was sliced with a knife in huge slabs about 
rin. or les in thickness, and .suspended over frames for 
drying in the sim. A small fire was built underneath to 
keep off flies until a thin glaze was formed on the outside 
of the dried flesh, which effectually protected it from at- 
tacks of flies. When thoroughly dried the meat would 
have shrunk to less than one-third of its former thick- 
ness. Then it was roasted .slightly to make it brittle, when 
it was pounded with flails and reduced to fine particles. 
The whole was poured into rawhide sacks and incorpor- 
ated with melted marrow fat. 
When cooled the sacks M^ere stored away in a dry place 
and would keep for years. This was the crude process 
used for the trade, there being several grades of this 
pemmiean. 
The value of well-made pemmiean lies' in the fact that 
it contains the maximum of nutrition with thfe minimum 
of weight and space, added to its keeping qualities. It is 
always palatable whether eaten in the raw state or cooked. 
While in the interior of Alaska with Captain Glenn's 
exploring expedition, in July, 1898, I had occasion to dry a 
quantity of mountain sheep meat to keep it from spoiling. 
When it Avas perfectly dry, I roasted it slightly on some 
coals at the camp-fire, and afterward pounded it in a 
canvas sack. In this state it was delicious. It served 
many a time for refreshment on the trail, even when fresh 
meat was obtainable. Once a handful of it mixed with 
boiled rice served a treat for twelve hungry men. 
Its excellence as a food ration for soldiers on the march 
cannot be disputed. Soldiers in camp can take perishable 
meat, and by drying and pounding it in the method de- 
scribed have most acceptable sustenance in small btilk, 
lasting many days. 
I have never known it to catise bowel disorders or 
other complaints, such as are sometimes induced by a 
sudden change to a fresh meat diet. 
As an economical food ration, I regard pemmiean as of 
great value. An authority states that it "was introduced 
into the British navy victualing yards in order to supply 
the arctic expeditions with an easily preserved food con- 
taining the largest amount of nutriment in the smallest 
space." For arctic regions I would add sugar to pemmi- 
ean, as I found by actual trial it was very agreeable. 
Sugar in my estimation is equal to chocolate in sustaining 
power, and the desire for it in Alaska is something that 
impresses the traveler very quickly. 
Luther S. ICelly. late Captain, U. S. V. 
The Wild Pigeon in Iowa, 
Some thirty years ago, when I resided near Rockforcl, 
in northern Iowa, the wild pigeon was exceedingly 
abundant at certain seasons of the year. During their 
migrations from the South to the North, especially, they 
were often seen in this region in immense flocks. 
This interesting bird did not, however, stop for any 
length of time with us, and it was the exception rather 
than the rule to see a few individuals which remained 
during the season to rear their young. 
During the times of the flight of these birds over this 
region, many were shot; yet not in sufficient numbers to 
make any peceptible diminution in their numbers. Dur- 
ing certain years scarcely any of these birds would be 
observed in this portion of the State, while at other 
times they would, as stated, appear in great numbers. 
Why this only periodical appearance I am at present 
unable to state with certainty. At that early day this 
species occurred in vast numbers to the north and north- 
east of us in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Their 
Jine^ of migratory flight over this portion of northern 
Iowa appeared to be an exceptional one. 
The few individuals which remained with us to breed 
were always wild and shy, and for the most part inhab- 
ited only the more open timber tracts, where were seen 
tall dead and scattering trees. They would always alight 
oil the topmost branches of these ancient monarchs of 
the forest, and keep a sharp lookout for approaching 
danger, and fortunate indeed was the sportsman who was 
able to get within range of them. 
For reasons which I am unable to fully explain, scarce- 
ly an individual of this species has, so far as I am aware, 
been observed in northern Iowa during the last fourteen 
or fifteen years. 
In the fall of 1876 the writer and his brother Merton, 
together with an old schoolmate by the name of Wiil 
Rumsey, spent some time in hunting on and around 
l.ake Albert Lea, Minn. In the heavy timber at the foot, 
or southern end of the lake, which was indeed a beautiful 
one, we had rare sport in Inmting wild pigeons. 
Two of us would station ourselves behind trees in die 
heaviest portion of the timber, most frequented by these 
birds, while the others would beat the woods and "drive 
the birds around" in our direction, where from our covers 
we would shoot them as thej^ flew swiftly past overhead- 
In this way the flocks were kept going until we had suffi- 
cient for use in our camp. The fall of 1876 is the last 
date of which we have any definite knowledge where this 
bird has been known to occur in numbers in the south- 
ern portion of Minnesota. 
Some forty years ago the wild pigeon was often seen 
in southern and southeastern Iowa in immense flock.--. 
In fact, then there were points in this State where these 
birds nested — "pigeon roosts," as they were generally 
called. These birds existed in veritable mj^iads, migrat- 
ing in vast flocks, which sometimes reached across from 
the eastern to the western horizon. 
For many years it has been generally understood that 
this species was practically extinct — exterminated by men 
at their roosts or nesting places, or decoyed by them into 
nets during their migration from one portion of the coun- 
try to the other. The defenseless young birds were also 
destroyed by various means in untold thousands. 
Whether this assertion is true or not, the apparent de- 
striiction of a species of such vast numbers over so wide 
an area in our country, and at so recent a period, is in- 
deed one of these startling facts in natural history, and is 
paralleled only by the destruction of the buffalo and , the 
prairie chicken. 
Since writing ^he above we observed in Charles City, 
la., last summer a large wild pigeon in company with a 
couple of mourning doves, and at frequent intervals for 
a couple of Aveelcs it was seen, and excited considerable 
intterest. Clement S. Webster, 
Reason and Instinct. 
Edilor Forest and Stream: 
Permit me to commend Mr. Wade's excellent letter in 
issue of March 11. A little slack-twisted science is all 
very well at times, between such friends as your corre- 
spondent and your readers; but then it ought not to be 
carried too far. For Forest and Stream has a reputation 
to sustain and we must all look to it. A certain charac- 
ter in Carroll's delightful "Plunting of the Snark" had 
laid down for himself a sort of "modus yivendi," a good, 
easy, practical, natural, average, working rule, which I 
have oftai wished could be made the law of this whole 
broad land. It was simply this: "What I say three 
times is true!" Now, most any old rule will do if it is 
only imderstood and lived up to, and T take pleasure in 
bringing this forward, and suggesting a trial of it. We 
ran, for instance, let it be said once, or even twice, that 
anima,ls possess reason as well as instinct, and nobody is 
to say a word. But when it comes to be said the third 
time, may Forest and Stream never lack a loyal reader 
who, like Mr. Wade, shall rise up and remonstrate. 
And this leads me on. There is another of these slack- 
twisted ideas about animal instincts, which is forever 
making a nuisance of itself, even in good society; and it is 
high time it were well stamped on. It is called up by Mr. 
Wade's letter, in which he refers to it indirectly, though 
without endorsing it. It is the hoary old idea that ani- 
mals teach their young what to do and what not to do. 
It depresses me to think how many excellent people an4j 
lots of ladies among them, are going to have to answer in 
the next world for writing, for instance, that they have 
seen parent birds teaching their young ones how to fly. 
They have, indeed, seen the young birds, impelled by in- 
stinct, at exactly the right period of their development, en- 
deavor to fly, and endeavor with exactly the correct stroke 
and feathering which suits their wings and musctdar 
power. And they have seen the parents hopping around, 
doubtless much interested, but not at all acting as if teach- 
ing a class in calisthenics, which lessons in flying would 
very much resemble if flying were not taught by instinct. 
Similarly, at an earlier age, instinct taught the young 
to open their mouths, to cry for food, and to eat. And, 
similarly, many months after the young and the parents 
have parted and forgotten each other — but again exactly 
at the right period of their development — instinct will 
teach each bird to mate with the opposite sex, and will 
teach them to build the nest, and all that follows. It is 
surely not necessary to argue a question so simple, when 
once the all sufficiency of instinct is appreciated. But, if 
it were, the well-known phenomena of incubated chickens 
and of young birds and animals raised hy mothers of other 
species, would furnish abundant argument. One further 
suggestion in the same connection. 
In corroboration of the theory that wounded or fright- 
ened animals do not transmit their experiences or fears 
to their progeny, Mr. Wade cites as a strong example, the 
alligator, which rarely ever sees its own young. Strict- 
ly the question to which he refers, in citing the example, 
was whether the experience of ancestors is transmitted by 
inheritance to their progeny. I am reminded of a rare 
old storjr. A carpenter put to work upon a fiat-boat tied 
up to a tree upon the river bank, Avished to sharpen his 
adze. He told his son to take a bucket and go to the well 
and get a bucket of water for the grindstone. "Yes, 
father." said the boy. "I'll dip one here." And suiting the 
action to the word, he dipped one from the river as he 
spoke. "My son," said the father, "that is a good idea." 
On the question of the inheritance of experiences, the 
best of all examples is the most obvious. For endless 
generations every human ancestor has knoAvn that fire 
will burn. But every human infant still has to acquire 
the knoAvledge for himself. Only after he has become a 
l.inrnt child will he dread the fire. Jactc Htldtgo. 
Bird Notes and Other Strains. 
Provo, Utah, April 8.— On the evening of March 8 a 
small boy brought me a bird that I had never seen before 
in this region. His plea Avas to the point : 
"Prof. W., I Avas down a-huntin' ducks an' there cum 
a reg'lar cloud of these 'ere birds, an' settled in the bull- 
rushes, an' T thought ye might want one to stuff, so I 
brung her up." 
Other duck shooters told the same story of the un- 
precedented migration— a "cloud" of birds "at night and 
all gone nortliward A\'ith the rising sun. The bird in 
question proved to be the CA^ening grosbeak {Cocco- 
thraustes vespertimis. Coop). 
I noticed another strange migration on April 4. Five 
days previous I had been duck hunting, and had not no- 
ticed a single killdeer. On the afternoon of April 4 a 
tremendous flock of Aegialitis vocifera came from the 
South and dropped down by squads and platoons in everv 
marsh for twenty miles along Utah Lake. The birds im- 
mediately proceeded to pair, and nesting is now well un- 
der way. The killdeer had for an adA^ance guard a few 
jacksnipe that are now well scattered through the low- 
land country. 
County Game Warden Myron Newell has been making 
it "hot" for violators of the new game laAV. Some two 
years ago the Telluride Power and Transmission Com- 
pany built a dam across Provo River, the greatest fish- 
way in Utah, and last year tons of trout failed to get over 
the fall, and were either captured, exhausted or dynamited 
in the pools just below the dam. This year both county 
and State authorities have taken the matter in hand, and 
as a result, provisions will be immediately made for the 
trout to get up the river to their natural spawning 
grounds. As Commissioner Newell and County Attorney 
Evans were on a trip to the power dam last week, they 
noticed Avhere a large irrigating ditch had been diverted 
from its course. They soon came across two young men, 
one an old offender in this line of work, who were getting 
trout and mountain herring out of the drained pools. 
The boys threw their fish back into the water, but all too 
late. They are now serving ten days apiece in the county 
jail. Four others have also been convicted this week. 
Two of the outfit claimed that the trout had been made 
a present to them, but as they refused to tell the name of 
their munificent friend, they had to "pungle" $20 into the 
county treasury — and the good Avork goes on. * ' 
Shoshone. 
Snake and TrotJt- 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The discussion rimning through recent numbers of 
Forest and Stream on the subject of reason, instinct, 
heredity, etc., in the animal creation reminds me. Some- 
time in the 70s I fished for trout in streams' (brooks) in 
York county, Pennsylvania, near what was known as the 
Jack Toean, and the locality will be recognized by your 
subscribers in York, Lancaster and Dauphin counties of 
Pennsylvania. At that time I could kill a good creel full, 
say .10 to lalbs., of trout averaging from 8 to 140Z.. and 
took none less than 6in. in length. 
Upon one occasion fishing up stream and coming to a 
bend in the stream, I was attracted by a noise that could 
not be made by the riffle of 'the water, Decause the watet 
on the brook ran placidly and quietly over the gravel 
bottom. I stopped and listened for a few seconds before 
turning the bend in the stream. When I did turn the 
bend, I was very much surprised, as well as interested, in 
the fact that I Avas not the only one fishing for trout in 
the brooks. A water snake Avas also fishing. It had a 
trout, say 3 to 4in. long, caught nearly in the middle, and 
was trying to get it out of the water, preparatory to swal- 
lowing. I watched the operation of the snake with great 
interest. It Avould carry the trout up to the margin of 
the stream and so soon as the trout touched the gravel it 
would "flop" back into deeper water. This was kept on 
for a few minutes, and I Avalked to within a few feet of 
the snake Avithout its having taken anj^ notice of my pres- 
ence. When the snake found it could not get the trout 
out "head on" it turned, and took it out tail first, that is, it 
backed out and drew the trout out on to the margin of 
the stream. I was so close to the parties m interest that I 
put my foot on the snake, liberated the trout and sent it 
away rejoicing. Now was this reason, instinct, or what in 
the snake that taught it to carry the trout out of the -tvater 
tail first when it found it could not do so head first? 
Will our good friend, Mr. Mather, please say if this snake, 
which I suppose is one of the descendants of the "old- 
time" fellow, inherited its cunning or only got it by the 
fall. E. S. Y. 
The Van Courtlandt Park Buffalo. 
About tAvo Aveeks ago the complete skins with feet and 
skulls of eight buffalo were received by Wm. W. Hart & 
Co., the Taxidermists, of East 12th St. These repre- 
sented the last of the herd of thirty buffalo that Avere 
loaned by Austin Corbin to Van Cortlandt Park. . 
It will be remembered that the animals were given im- 
proper pasturage in the park and soon became diseased, 
one after another dying. When seven had died Mr.. Cor- 
bin decided to remove the survivors back to his preserA'e 
in New Hampshire. He was obliged to leaA'e one coav, 
which could not be captured. The others Avere taken to 
Newport, N. H. They were all sick and had to be kept 
isolated from the rest of the herd. They ncA^er recovered, 
and either died or had to be shot. The eight recently 
sent to Hart & Co. finishes the chapter of, a sad and ex- 
pensive experience. 
These skins are cured and put in specimen shape and 
sold to museums for mounting. Wm. W. Hart & Co. rep- 
resent the Austin Corbin Preserve at NeAvport, N. H., in 
the sale of their surplus live game such as deer and elk. 
Mr. Corbin^ .still possesses probably the largest and finest 
herd of buffalo in existence, comprising about 'lao head. 
White Tigers. 
A WHITE tiger is not oftetx heard of, and in these days 
of .skepticism the existence of such would be denied 
many or accounts of its discovery would, at least, be re- 
ceived \yith extreme caution. That there have been well- 
authenticated cases of complete or partial albinoism in 
tigers, however, admits of no doubt: there is Major D. 
Robinson's specimen (lift. 9><in.) shot at Poona, and 
the skin of one was exhibited, if Ave remember rightly, 
some nine or ten years ago in London, to go no further 
back for records. Noav we have another instance in the 
tiger recently shot in the Dibrughar District. Assam, by 
Mr. Greenish, of Nahorkutia. We have inspected the 
skin, and are inclined to think that in this latest instance 
we haA^e probably the most perfect specimen of the Avhite 
tiger ever obtained. The hair is perfectly white, the 
black stripes being in the skin, and only visible Avhen the 
hair is wet. like the body markings on a fox terrier. The 
skin measures about gft. 6in. from tip to tip, and evident! r 
belonged to a fine young tiger in good condition.— The 
Asian. 
Locked Antlers. 
Mr. Harry McCourt reports in the ChippcAva Falls. 
Wis., Herald, the possession in that town of a pair of 
locked deer horns. They were found on the Manitowisli 
in December. 1897. The animals had been dead for some 
time, and the ravens had destroyed the hide on the 
heads so that they could not be used for mounting at 
the time nor until the '98 season. When hides werc'^oli- 
tained from fresbb'-killed deer. The tAvo heads .-ire inter 
locked with one of the horns on each. 
