I 
' Sept. 23, 1899.I 
eeps the hair from bristling along your back is the ab- 
!nce of the hair. . . 
Go to lovely Lake St. John if you wrill,. where you may 
Itch the ouananiche unawares in front of the hotel." That 
too easy for me. I would rather try for him in Mis- 
issini. 
Watch the caribou as like ghosts they file up the rocky 
isses of the Bald Mountains. Try to determine by ex- 
mence the relative merits of a Miramichi pirogue and 
I Ottawa birch-bark, and see, finally, that each is fitted 
its environment, the evolution of countless generations 
: experience. 
Seduce the guileless trout which still swim unharmed 
the lakes back of Georgian Bay and Superior. Swing 
mr legs to th.e "elitterrclatter" of snow shoes on the 
lassy crust. 
Encamp in a foot of snow, in an open tent, before a fire 
; gteen birch logs^ and learn what it is to be really warm 
id comfortable. 
These are some of the things you can do, and thereby 
arn how you have wasted your previous life. 
Some years ago the eminent card professor who settles 
sputes about casino and pinochle for the New York Sun 
;dly queried, "Why will men waste their time over all 
ese foolish games when they might play poker?" 
When I see men with time and money, 'who fool around 
ewport and Long Branch, and mountain hotels, who 
ear red coats and do various idle things, I wonder what 
ey are thinking of. They might be camping out with 
e best guide and cook in New Brunswick, with a mink 
atching to steal the grilse out of the spring hole close by. 
When I come to my last camp-fire and no more behold 
e rising sun, I hope I shall go where they will have to 
irry me out in the bottom of a canoe. And whether 
sath catches me in my bed or in a foaming rapid, or no 
atter where, my last regret will not be that I leave wife 
; friends, because these, please God, I shall see again. It 
ill be that never more, so far as I have any means of 
lowing, shall my eyes behold the sweep of the dark 
:een Northern hills or my sleep be sweetened by the rush 
the nearby rapids, or my senses lulled by the incense of 
e balsam and the spruce. 
You men who never camped in Canada in the fall, I 
II you, go! Don't waste any time practicing law, or 
aking monej^, or fooling with politics. You can get 
ick in time to vote. Go this week! Almost anywhere 
the Dominion will do. Some day you will get an ink- 
ig of what you have missed. Suppose, when you die, 
e Lord asks you, "My child, what do you think of the 
aurentian lakes?" You will be compelled to reply, 
)a_shed, "Well, Lord, the fact is, I was so busy doing 
nith out of a little money I never heard of those lakes!" 
Frederic Irland. 
New York Zoological Park. 
A VISIT to the park of the Zoological Society in New 
ork shows that within the last three months marked 
•ogress has been made in the work being done there, and 
ves every reason to believe that before cold weather sets 
considerable collections will be exposed to the free in- 
lection of the people of New York. Even during the 
ist summer, while the park was torn up and when there 
as nothing to be seen there but grass and trees and 
3en ditches and buildings in process of erection, the 
irk Avas a favorite resort, as many as xo.ooo people hav- 
g visited it on a Sunday. We may imagine that as the 
)llections accumulate and are put on exhibition, and as 
e fact of their existence becomes better known, the park 
ill be one of the most attractive resorts in New York, 
Jt only to those who are interested in zoology, but also 
• that great mass of the people whose pleasures are few 
scause most pleasures cost money, and with them 
oney is hardly obtained and must be carefullj' expended. 
The Zoological Society is already making the begin- 
ings of its collections, and has on hand something like 
)0 specimens of animals, large and small, with more 
)ming. Of those at the park, most are American species, 
id we understand that it is the purpose of the society 
r the present to devote itself especially to gathering to- 
ither as complete a collection of American forms of life 
i possible. 
In the elk pasture are three superb specimens received 
om the Brooklyn Prospect Park. They were brought 
lence in two huge vans, the cow and calf in one, and the 
ill in the other. The wagons were driven into the pas- 
ire, and first the cow and calf walked timidly down the 
ank to reach the ground, and, with head high and ears 
rown forward, moved off over the grass with the smooth 
ot that the hunter knows so well. The bull came next, 
icking out of the van clumsily and finally stumbling off 
le plank. After he had trotted a short distance he 
opped and bristled up the hair on his back while he 
oked about in search of his companions, and then, see- 
g them, his mind became more eaasy and he joined them 
id the three fed on quietly over the hill. 
In the inclosure known as the moose range is a calf 
iribou, a gentle little animal, which should have a mate. 
1 one of the bear dens are four sea Hons from Santa Bar- 
ira. Gal. They are the ordinary barking sea lion of the 
alifornia coast. 
In the temporary inclosure behind some_ shops, where 
lost of the specimens are housed, and which is not yet 
pen to the public, are two black bears, one of them from 
lorida, of immense size. Here also are two wolves, sev- 
•al wildcats, a South American anteater and a great 
umber of smaller mammals, of Florida birds, of hawks 
id owls, and of reptiles. 
Besides the animals already .on hand, a number of ante- 
tpe are coming from the plains, several bears have been 
:cured in the Rocky Mountain region, within two weeks 
)me buffalo are expected to arrive from Kansas, and two 
f the largest polar bears known in captivity are on their 
'av from Europe. 
The quarters for all these animals are in a forward state 
f preparation; the reptile house is completed, and one of 
s wings is now being fitted up with gorgeous tropical 
lants, ariiong which the animals to be confined will have 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
their homes. Each case for snake or lizard will, contain 
rocks, earth, or .sand like that of the animal's natural 
home, together with the plants which would grow there. 
Seen through the broad sheet of clear glass, the effect on 
the observer will be very much that of seeing the creature 
in nature. 
The bird house is completed, but not yet furnished with 
cages. The huge flying cage, so large that it will con- 
tain several great trees, is being erected. The quarters 
for the wild fowl are completed. The beaver pond, otter 
pools, prairie dog inclosure, wolf dens, bear dens and 
homes for the small burrowing rodents are all either com- 
pleted or lack only the fences which are to surround them. 
Besides this, all the larger inclosures for deer of various 
species, antelope and buffalo are erected and some of the 
shelter houses built. The foundations are laid for many of 
the roads. Through the whole a water system has been laid 
and tested. On the whole, there is every prospect that 
before the ground freezes the Zoological Societv's park 
and its exhibition will be accomplished facts. 
It is well worth the while of any one interested in these 
matters to make the trip to the park to see for himself 
what is going on. As has been said, it is already a fa- 
vorite resort, and likely to become more so. It may be 
reached either by the Third avenue elevated and the trol- 
ley hne, or by the Harlem Railroad to Fordham Station, 
whence twelve minutes' walk or a drive of half that time 
will bring one to the ground. 
Big Game in Mexico. 
_ Aztec has had nothing to say on this subject for some 
time past, mainly because he has ceased to be Aztec and 
has lapsed to his oiginal condition of Gringo. But my 
good friend Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the U. S. Biological 
Survey, has just bobbed up on the northern edge of the 
Sierra Madre de Occidente, and sends me following 
breezy letter. To a man sweltering on the plains of 
Texas, and who has not smelled the pine woods for more 
than three years, such a letter and the editorial on "The 
Challenge" are tantalizingly refreshing. In &ie trip out- 
lined by Mr. Nelson for the next two months he should 
certainly find the game he mentions. The location of 
bighorn sheep is particularly desirable, as there is little 
doubt that at present Mexico offers the best place for se- 
curing a head of this rapidly disappearing animal. I hope 
he will return another year to work the mountains of 
northern Coahuila; also that I may join him there. He 
writes from Nueva Casas Grandes, under date of Sept.3: 
Aztec. 
_My Dear Aztec: Ya estamos! We came out of the 
Sierra Madre a few days ago after a pilgrimage of two 
months. Got plenty of deer, with a sprinkling of bears, 
wolves, coyotes and turkey. I have nine bear skins, both 
black and silvertip, four gray wolves and plenty of smaller 
stuff'. I had some good times with the bears, of which I 
killed three still hunting and caught three in traps; so you 
see I had my share of the fun. Had two exciting chases on 
horseback after other bears that got away. In one case I 
tried to head off a big silvertip from a deep canon, but he 
was too fast for ine and passed about zoj^ds. in front of my 
horse's nose. I swung in behind him, and when he went 
over the rim I was only about loyds in his rear. I sprang 
off my horse, but the excited beast wheeled in such a way 
that my foot caught in the stirrup. After a struggle I 
managed to get loose and rushed to the edge of the gulch, 
only to see my bear about looyds away already and going 
still further at a rate that seemed to defy my 30-30 bullets. 
At least, he showed no sign that any of them overtook 
him, and quickly vanished from my agonized view. ? — ? 
• — ■? — ? ! — ! — ! — ! — ! I will not repeat my remarks! But 
it was great fun while the race lasted. As he raced by in 
front of me his claws (these silvertips have claws from 
3 to 4in. long) showed up to great advantage, and as 1 
turned in behind him the long hair on his back flapped up 
and down like a rug that was being shaken. 
Not far from the same place I trapped the biggest bear 
of the season — a silvertip, weighing about 40olbs., though 
in his summer flesh. When fat, in the fall, he would 
weigh from 500 to 6oolbs. This was a tricky fellow. As 
soon as caught he went about 30yds (it was in an open 
flat in the pine woods), lay down and deliberately gnawed 
in half the heavy sapling I had thrust through the ring of 
the chain as a drag. The interesting point was that he ate 
in half this 4in. pine pole just at the ring, which of course 
relieved him of both ends. Then Mr. Silvertip started 
off through the forest with only the weight of the trap on 
his foot. As fate would have it, however, he walked in the 
wrong direction for his welfare, for as I rode up to the 
summit of a little slope that morning, on my way to the 
trap, we met face to face. Tableau! He evidently recog- 
nized me as the owner of the rtap he was stealing, for he 
at once turned and galloped away. I put spurs to my 
horse, and in about 250 or 300yds. rounded him away 
from a deep cation, after which I relieved him of further 
earthly trouble by administering a couple of Dr. Winches- 
ter's justly celebrated soft-nosed blue pills. 
Two large bears escaped, carrying traps with them, 
which were never recovered, as the heavy daily rains de- 
stroyed all trails a few hours after they were made. I 
trailed one with a trap attached about two miles and a 
half, and when I was sure he was quite near a drenching 
shower came on that obliterated his trail. The deer hunt- 
ing was fine, and we could have become typical game hogs 
if inclined that way. We leave to-morrow for a long trip 
across the plains of northern and northeastern Chihuahua 
in search of antelope on the plains, blacktail deer on the 
foothills and mountain sheep in the higher desert ranges. 
We expect to come out at Sierra Mojada, in western Coa- 
huila, where we shall wind up our season's work and dis- 
pose of our outfit. This will cut us off from the pleasure 
of j^our company on a hunt in northern CoahuHa, a finale 
I had counted on earlier in the season. We have been 
unable to cover as much territory as I hoped at the begin- 
ning, but we are getting some good things in the way of 
large game, of which series were much needed. Expect 
to wind up in NoA^nnber. 
The Forest and Strkam is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Monday and as much earlier as practicable. 
2 4B 
A Onc-Win^cd Plover. 
Matjjitoba, Sept. '8,^^00t Forest, and Stream/. While 
locating a, line for the Northern Pacific Railway eleven 
miles west of Portage la Prairie, our party found a three- 
quarter-grown upland plover with only one wing. The 
bird was examined by six men, and none could discover 
any evdence that it had ever had more than one. At the 
shoulder where the wing should have been was a slight 
lump and a few feathers about 2in. in length, but no sign 
of a wound or scar. The bird was in splendid condition 
and showed no alarm at being handled. When released, it 
walked leisurely away. Ed-w-ARP F. BaIjL. 
'^nie ^ag md 0un, 
The Buck I Shot. 
This is a story of the mountains where the deer live 
and where I have killed my first buck — the theory that a 
woman cannot shoot a gun, silently stalk a deer or 
leave her cozy nest before dawn, to the contrary notwith- 
standing. 
With sympathizing pity fof those who could not, and 
scornful pity for those who would not, leave the un- 
profitable summer city streets, I took the "ram-you jam- 
you" narrow-gauge train from San Erancisco to Ukiah. 
Thence we drove a day and a half up and up and into the 
mountains of northern Mendocino county, till we reached 
the hospitable ranch house of Jim White. His latch 
string hangs out for hunters of deer in summer, and of 
bear and mountain lions in winter — the last spot holding 
civilization's comforts before you reach the upper heights 
of the Coast Range. 
A hunter himself, Jim was more than willing to under- 
take the placing of our camp on the summit of Bald 
Mountain, about fifteen miles as the crow flie-s and at 
least thirty as a horse walks, above his ranch. 
I did not say much about my determination to kill a 
deer, for the mountaineers have quite St. Paul's idea that 
a woman's proper place is at home, and this is the 
country of the mountaineers, whose wives are held of 
small account unless they can tell of a record of ten or' 
twenty years without going out of sight of their homes. 
A mighty hunter and trapper, one Sure Shot O'Leary, 
was engaged to provide two pack mules and himself as 
guide. This Sure Shot was a wonder in his own way—'' 
not always our way. He quite refused all pecuniary re- 
ward; he was insulted that one could think his time, 
his services, his property, himself, were not waiting hos- 
pitably for any guest of the mountains. A judiciously, 
quietly given present of two yellow eagles did not wound 
his dignity nor define his services. 
He brought his impedimenta and proudly showed 
his outfit, including a collapsible camp oven of his own 
invention and fastened to his pack saddles b^ diamond 
hitches. It looked to me like a brace of cowskin bags 
hitched on a small sawbuck converted into a saddle, and 
having a rope snarled around it. As he expected ad- 
miration, and was the only obtainable mule owning 
guide, T could not but exclaim upon the wonder of that 
diamond hitch. 
A red-eyed, pinky white, crossbred bull terrier was with 
Sure Shot. 
"What is his name?" I asked in my most conciliatory 
manner. 
"Wall, marm, I call him Peter; sorter arter the Apostle, 
'cause he's a good un in water and on land. And," he 
continued, looking affectionately down at the beast be- 
tween his feet, "I've traded my watch for him that Bill 
Jacobs gave me for trapping 183 coyotes in three months. 
It was a good watch, but what do I want with a watch? 
I know when it's daylight, and -I know when it's dark, and 
I know when I'm hungry. But that dorg there — ^wall, 
wait till I git him trained and he'll beat any dorg in 
Cal. 'dennin' ' coyotes. And deer — ^wall. you'll see. 
There won't no deer git awav from him, I'll warrant 
ye that." 
It was a long rough trail to our camping place on 
the mountain and most of the way was too steep for 
riding, so I led my horse, who would hang the rear half 
of himself over the edge of the steepest cliffs. Moun- 
tain-bred horses are a trial for the fii'st few days till you 
are sure they are only teasing and have too much regard 
for their own necks to tumble them down among the 
rocks 50ft. below the hand-wide path. There was not a 
house or fence or human being or sign that man had ever 
been in those resting primitive hills. Tracks of bear 
and wildcat, coyotes, foxes and coons, and countless 
traces of deer we saw. 
Just before nightfall at the bottom of a cool deep 
canon I thought I saw a rabbit feeding, but they told 
me it was a doe. _ I have not yet made up my mind that 
it was not a rabbit. 
In tangled manzanita thickets the hen of the mountain 
quail fussed and called to her half-fledged brood tempt- 
ing Providence with her noisy scolding. Doves and 
f2;rouse and squirrels invited shots, but the law protected 
the grouse, and we did not want the others badly enough 
to shoot and scare the deer. 
It was quite dark when we sat down by our crackHng 
camp-fire to otir beans and bread and butter and coffee. 
T was too tired to stay long away from my bed of sweet- 
smelling spruce bronse in the lent which had been pitched 
for Minnie and me. 
"If you git scart in the night, you girls jist screech. 
I don't sleep much when there's any responsibility to 
look after," Sure Shot said. 
It was lonesome, with the .sUencie sourads of the Moun- 
tains all about. 
The last I heard was the voice of Sure Shot out by 
the camp-fire, where our men were smoking a last pipe. 
"You ought to have -been here thirty years ago, the 
first trip I ever made to this here mountain. Do you 
see that gulch oyer there — that one that looks all a shadow 
behind that whitish cliff? Wall, I was all tuckered out 
and hungry enough to eat raw rattlesnakes, and my 
moccasins were clare worn through from walking. I 
wanted to git up here and camp wliere I could keep my 
eye on Injuns. I wa'n't afraid of the cussede.st Injun 
