JuLV 22, I§9S».ll 
another one was built on the end of a log under the eaves 
of a shanty once used as a chicken roost. The past spring 
a pair of these blackbirds built their nest in the cavity 
uf a pine stump near where I was at work, and which 
had been used formerly by woodpeckers and sparrow 
hawks, before the wood had rotted away from the out- 
side, rendering it unserviceable. Here their first set was 
destroyed by bird enemies, but after the lapse of several 
days another set was laid in the same nest, which nothing 
thus far has disturbed. 
We might mention other as peculiar positions as those 
already related, but enough has been written for the pur- 
poses of this article. P. L. Jones. 
BuBLAH, C6]6., June 28. 
Age Attained by the Right Whale. 
Corresj/iondence London Field. 
In the Field of May 27 is a note by Mr. Harting, in 
which he alludes to the fact of a harpoon having been 
found embedded in the body of a right whale killed in 
Bering Sea, which there is evidence to show had been 
Carried by the whale between tliirty-six and forty years, 
and he raises the question as to the age attained by these 
cetaceans. Many instances of the finding of harpoons em- 
bedded in the flesh of whales are recorded by Scoresby, 
Eschricht and Reinhardt, Dr. Brown and others, and I 
may mention two recent occurrences of the sort. In 1889 
llie Windward killed a very large bull whale in the 
Greenland Sea, the longest slip of whalebone of which 
measured lift. Sin. Embedded in the blubber was found 
a harpoon of. a fashion which was introduced about the 
year 1850, but, being found inferior to the usual pattern, 
was soon discarded. This harpoon must, therefore, have 
been carried by the whale little short of forty years. In 
1894 the Terra Nova killed a very large whale, with 12ft. 
whalebone, in Lancaster Sound, in which was found an 
■old harpoon bearing the name of the Jean, of Bo'ness. As 
this vessel had been lost in the ice thirty-seven years be- 
fore, the harpoon must have been carried something lilve 
forty years. There is a curious similarity of time in 
many of these instances. It appears that the harpoons 
become encysted in gristly substance, and are often quite 
bright when recovered. 
But it is the concluding portion of Mr. Harting's note 
which raises a point of great interest, and one with 
regard to which very little is known, viz., the age attained 
by these giant cetaceans. That it is very considerable I 
think there can be no doubt; but, as might be expected, 
there is^ very little direct evidence ; and from the nature 
of the case it can hardly be expected it should be other- 
wise. Judging from analogy, an animal which requires 
twenty-seven years to arrive at maturity would probably 
survive under favorable conditions to at least 100 years. 
Florida Egrets and Steamboat Shooters. 
But incomparably the handsomest member of the fam- 
ily (I speak of such as I saw) was the great white egret. 
In truth, the epithet "handsome" seems almost a vulgar- 
ism as applied to a creature so superb, so utterly and 
transcendently splendid. I saw it — in a waj^ to be sure 
of it — only once. Then, on an island in the Hillsborough, 
two birds stood in the dead tops of low, scrubby trees, 
fully exposed in the most favorable of lights, their long 
dorsal trains drooping behind them and swaying gently 
in the wind. I had never seen anything so magnificent. 
And when I returned, two or three hours afterward, from 
a jaunt up the beach to Mosquito Inlet, there they still 
were, as if they had not stirred in all that time. " The 
reader should understand that this egret is between 4 and 
Sft. in length, and measures nearly 5ft. from wing tip to 
wing tip, and that its plumage throughout is of spotless 
white. _ It is pitiful to think how constantly a bird of 
that size and color must be in danger of its life, 
Happity, the lawmakers of the State have done some- 
thing of recent years for the protection of such defense- 
less beauties. Happily, too, shooting from the river 
boats is no longer permitted— on the regular lines, that 
is. I myself saw a j^oung gentleman stand on the deck 
of an excursion steamer, with a rifle, and do his worst to 
kill or maim ever}-- living thing that came in sight, from 
a spotted sandpiper to a turkey buzzard! I call him a 
"gentleman"; he was in gentle company, and the fact 
that he chewed gum industrioush'^ would, I fear, hardly 
invalidate his claim to that title. The narroAv river wound 
in and out between low, densely wooded banks, and the 
beauty of the shifting scene was enough almost to take 
one's breath away; but the crack of the rifle was not less 
frequent on that account. Perhaps the sportsman was a 
Southerner to whom river scenery of that enchanting 
kijid was an old story. More likely he was a Northerner 
— one of the men who thank heaven they are "not sen- 
timental." — Bradford Torrey in Atlantic Monthly. 
Hens as Mousers. 
We need not go to Kansas to find a mouse-catching 
hen, Pine Tree ! Come right back to the Pine Tree 
State. Thirty years ago I lay in a burrow on the haymow 
with mv head out, and that buried in the tale of "Heavy- 
hatcheti the Bold Scout"— did you read it, P. T.? Near 
me a small black hen roamed across the hay, singing and 
making darts. A big, dark grasshopper (?) sprang from 
a hollow and after him ran the hen, with feet twittering 
over the straw and wings half-opened. The pace was too 
hot for the hopper. The hen seemed to turn as swiftly 
as he, and presently he took a headlong dive for the 
floor, some 12ft. or more below. Well, that hen went right 
after him. A hawk couldn't have made the swoop pro- 
fessionally better than she, with wings half-closed. Be- 
fore she struck the floor I was in the air after her— why I 
didn't break something Heaven only knows — and as she 
scudded toward the hen house I ran too. to see what her 
prey was, and it was a big surprise to me to find it a 
good-sized rnouse. I guess Maine hens can do as well to- 
da}^, on a pinch. ^ J. P. T. 
_A well-known ornithologist and author of books on 
birds writes : "I have read with much satisfaction a con- 
tribution from Did3'mus and editorial comment on a 
reply thereto in late numbers of Forest and Stream." 
FOXIEST AMD STREAM, 
%m}\c^ ^ag md 0tm. 
The July number of the Game Laws in Brief and Woodcraft 
Magazine is now ready. See advertisement of it. 
New Brunswick Notes. 
Your correspondent. Special, whose preference for facts 
is well known, seems to have picked up an odd specimen 
of fiction when he s^s that "Mr. L. Dana Chapman, of 
the Megantic Fish artd Game Club, has positive informa- 
tion that the Canadian Government has decided to open 
September to the hunting of moose, caribou, deer, par- 
tridges and other birds." The Canadian Government has 
no jurisdiction over the subject of game except as it 
comes within the scope of the customs laws. The game 
laws in vogue in Canada are the product of the cheerful 
ignorance of tlie respective provincial legislatures. None 
of these laws in any way resemble each other. Nova 
Scotia, for instance, prohibits the shooting of ''Ameri- 
can elk," while the solons of New Brunswick offer a 
bounty of $5 per head upon non-resident wolves! 
Possibly Special has reference to the New Brunswick 
game law, which was amended at the last session of the 
Legislature and then put on the shelf. The big game sea- 
son here for the past two years has opened Sept. i and 
closed Jan. i., and such is the law this year. In 1900 it 
is probable that the opening will be changed to Sept. 15. 
An argument which has been used in favor of the change 
is that in the great majority of cases the horns of moose, 
caribou and deer, especially those of the younger bucks, 
are in the velvet until after Sept. i. It is also pointed 
out that the aquatic habits of moose and deer in the 
warm weather months render them too easy a mark on 
that date. A further contention is that if the opening 
were later fewer carcasses would be rendered valueless 
by hot weather. 
When the bill now before the Canadian House of 
Commons enabling visiting sportsmen to take out the 
carcass, or any part thereof, of game animals killed by 
them is passed, and when the section in the New Bnms- 
wick law requirinb the sportsman to take his oath on a 
$100 bill that he will not break the law is repealed, there 
will remain few, if any, legitimate grievances on the 
statute books of Canada with regard to the visiting 
sportsman. Doubtless the hunting grounds of Canada 
would be more popular if no licensing system existed; 
yet I trust this will not under present conditions be re- 
pealed. So far as New Brunswick is concerned, the li- 
cense has kept the slaughter of game within bounds, in- 
somuch that moose, caribou and deer are now foimd in 
localities where they were formerly unknown. It has 
enabled nine out of every ten sportsmen who have visited 
New Brunswick during the past three seasons to go 
home with a halo of antlers instead of adjectives. It 
has helped to provide a game protection fund whereby 
invertebrate game officials have been replaced by men 
who are determined to enforce the law. If the principal 
or only game of the Province were deer, no license would 
be required, as none is now required for this kind of 
game. But the moose — an animal whose habitat is be- 
coming more contracted year by year — is too valuable to 
be exposed to the slaughter that would follow the aboli- 
tion of the license system. There are now probably ten 
moose in New Brunswick where there was one twenty 
years ago, owing to the license and other restrictions 
placed upon big-game hunters. 
The stalwart Adam Moore, of Scotch Lake, has pur- 
sued every known species of game in this country, from 
the reminiscent ground hog to the monarch moose. His 
lo-bore cannon has rung the requiem of many a scud- 
ding teal and lifting snipe. His opinions in the matter 
of sport are entitled to respect, and Adam says that run- 
ning the rapids on the head of the Nepisiguit in the 
spring of the year, dropping anchor now and then to 
pick up a bear, is good enough sport for him. This was 
Adam's first experience in bear trapping, and there were 
twenty pelts in his pile. Three of the specimens are re- 
markably fine, and will be mounted and added to the 
collection of game birds and anirnals in the Crown Land 
•Department. 
A fishing party composed of Dr. Norris and friend, of 
Philadelphia, returned the other day from the Nictau 
country delighted with their outing. They caught plenty 
of trout, though none of the big 7lb. lakers that were in 
evidence earlier in the season, and thirty-five moose in 
their wanderings, in addition to a goodly count of deer 
and caribou. The Doctor is going up there in Septem- 
ber. 
J. H. Holmes and Prof. Brown, of Buffalo, relate 
weird tales of their experience in the Long Lake county, 
up the right-hand branch. One evening, at Mud Lake, 
nine moose and four deer were sighted on the lake 
shore. The next morning a cow moose chased by a bear 
ran through the tent yard and demolished a fiddle be- 
longing to the guide. In the course of his travels, ex- 
tending over a period of four weeks, the Professor tallied 
fifty-four moose, thirty-tw-o deer and six caribou in the 
Trousers Lake and Long Lake country. ' He, too, will 
return when moose are ripe. 
There is a game country heretofore unknown to sports- 
men, unless of the strictly hayseed type, in the vicinity 
of Grand John Lake, at the head of one of the branches 
of the Nashwaak. It is reached by an excellent portage 
road only six miles long from Upper Keswick station. 
Moose and caribou are numerous and the cottontails 
flicker in the gloaming on the ridges. The country is 
open, interspersed with lakes, ponds and barrens — a good- 
ly show in every way for the man who wants to get his 
moose without sweat or swearing. Woe is me that I 
should reveal it. 
I suppose if all the incredible things that really hap- 
pen in the woods were chronicled, the late Ananias would 
be canonized as a saint. While fishing at one of the 
Keswick lakes last week your correspondent hooked at 
his first cast and brought to net three trout whose ag- 
gregate weight was 4i41bs. In the remainder of the day's 
fishing, though he stood .upon the ramcat and flogged 
springholes many hours, he got only five more fish. On 
the following day his companion, Harry McLeod, at the 
same spot, just below the lilypads, hooked at his first, 
cast and brought to raft three trout whose combined 
weight was precisely 4>jilbs. Yet during the residuum of 
that day Mr. McLeod fished with strenuousness and only 
caught five more fish. Three things no man can under- 
stand: How the bull moose walketh.off without a sound, 
how the caribou fatteneth his ribs on the dry, white moss, 
and the ways of the lake trout in summer. 
Frank H. Risteen. 
Fredericton, N. B., July 11. 
Self. 
Portland, Ind. — Editor Forest and Stream: Of late 
I've been studying the subject of self. Though not a sub- 
ject, strictly speaking, it is the root of many evils^ lip- 
rooting, in point of fact, money, said to be the root of evil. 
Webster says: "The word self signifies personal interest 
or love of private interest; selfishness;" and quotes from 
Watts thus: "The fondness we have for self furnishes an- 
other long rank of prejudices;" and from Pope as fol- 
lows: "A man's self may be the worst fellow to converse 
with ih the world." Observe that Pope says "may be." 
I believe we can converse with self with perfect safety 
and derive much benefit, if we have within what I shall 
denominate a regulator. But if we have not a regulator 
within, the animal nature will surely lead us mto ex- 
cesses. Of course, the law steps in, and first cautions, 
then demands of the conscienceless sportsman (?) that 
he restrain himself. 'Tis pity 'tis true, but so Jong as 
there are men without regulators there will be use for the 
law. Here self asserts itself. Without a regulator it de- 
vises ways and means to make the' law inoperative, except 
as to the other fellows. Instead of saying, "Brother, come 
up and I will show you fine sport; but bear in mind, we 
kill only what we can readily consume," he says to him- 
self, "I want these deer-,and trout; that license fee of $25 
will keep the other fellows out; there won't be anyone 
up here to watch me, and I can hound and jack as I 
please. The market will be better, too." This is self as 
Pope saw it. The legislators of Indiana said, "Fish may 
not be taken in any of the streams or lakes during the 
months of May and June;" but self (without the regula- 
tor) comes into the State from Chicago to fish in Bass 
Lake in the fore part of June. 
Laws are sometimes not made so much for the pro- 
tection of game and fish as they are in the interest of a 
class of men. I've been thinking about this, and I can't 
see but what the p'oor game is being compelled to jump 
"out of the frying-pan into the fire." A duty on lumber 
stimulates the destruction of our forests, and, naturally, 
the game. The wealthy lumberman cares not for the 
game, and his friend, the lawmaker, has it run into his 
private park, where he and his friends can enjoy the 
chase with none to molest nor make afraid. These are 
men who converse'' with self, but have no regulators. 
I have asked myself. When will this thing end? Will 
the States that have game take some interest in the protec- 
tion of it before it is all destroyed? Will they continue 
to protect a class of influential men, and incidentally all 
men within the State that have no regulators, or, seeing 
the beginning of the end, will they open the doors and 
say: "Take it; kill and sell"? 
I have stopped by the roadside a few times lately and 
gone into small wood lots with my gun in the hope that I 
could find a fox squirrel, I struck an eighty-acre lot on 
my brother-in-law's farm near the Ohio line last Satur- 
day. The wood was grown up in brush on the high 
ground, and with tall coarse grass in the swales. My ten- 
year-old boy, who is a pretty good shot, was with me. 
We hunted that wood all over and went through two 
other more likely looking pieces of wood, but saw only 
one pine squirrel and one young fox squirrel. We got 
the fox squirrel, but I let the boy try for the other until 
he lost it in the branches of a tall tree. He had a target 
rifle and I had my .38 Winchester. We had to fight our 
way through swarms of mosquitoes, and I was surprised 
to see how the little fellow went through the ordeal. 
Later in the day he got a pine squirrel off a tree by the 
roadside. At another place he called my attention to two 
young rabbits sitting among some brush inside a wood 
that was^posted: "No hunting on this farm until you see 
When I think how scarce game is here now (except 
rabbits and quail), and that back in the old home of my 
ancestors— Viriginia and the Carolinas — game is more 
plentiful than here, I am impressed with a kind of night- 
mare feelmg, as though time was turning backward, and 
that I might yet experience some of the things told me 
in childhood. Would it not seem strange to go back 
East to hunt a century or more after my people left that 
country and followed in the wake of the Indians as they 
were driven westward before advancing civilization? 
Back there to find game we can't find here any more? 
Here there is no waste land. Year by year the coimtry 
is being more improved. We burn natural gas for light 
and fuel over a large area. We have graveled highways 
in every direction. There is on an average not more than 
lop acres of uncultivated land in each section, or square 
niile. Less than seventy years ago this was a wilderness 
infested with wild game and Indians. My people lived 
on the Virginia border in Simon Girty's time. My father 
had a great aunt who with a babe in arms was taken cap- 
tive by the Indians. Her arms were pinioned behind (so 
the story goes) and her babe placed on her hands in 
front. She became exhausted, and an Indian took the 
babe and dashed it against a tree. Later Girty bought 
her liberty. Though a renegade, he must have had a 
better regulator than some people who converse with self 
these latter days. 
"I have just received No. 25, and I read in "Chicago 
and the West" items this: "Mr. Geo. Murrell and his 
friend Mr. Crosby, of this city, have gone to Bass Lake 
(Ind.) again after big mouths." This little boy of mine 
thinks it wrong to violate the law. He has fretted a good 
deal because he can't go down to the little muddy Sala- 
monie and catch little pot-bellied mud cats. Prior to 
May I the little fellows spent all the time allotted them 
along the creek; but I have heard of no fishing in this 
State smce then, except as reported from Chicago. So 
I ve been thinking about it. I've commenced with self 
and I have concluded that the rich man should be held 
amenable to the law as well as the poor urchin He 
should not be allowed to violate the law and escape 
through friendship or the payment of a nominal finCi 
