446 
lished in/this volume of the Bulletin {antea, p. 41), in 
which he states that he does not think the present number 
exceeds fifty, and that their compete extinction, in spite 
of the efforts of the Canadian Government to protect 
them, will be consummated wiihin the next three years. 
The nuiiiber of wood bison esimated to exist at different 
times during the last ten j^ears may be ^summarized as 
follows : 
Hornaday, 1889 550. 
Russell, 1894 , a few hundred. 
Jarvis, 1897 about 300. 
Moberly, 1897 250-300. 
Stone, 1899 50. 
From the above it appears that the wood bison, during 
the last six years at least, have occupied a portion of 
country considerably to the north of the region w^here they 
were located by Mr. Hornaday in 1889, and by myself in 
1876. It is likely, however, that they never wholly forsook 
the region they now occupy, and that the two maps above 
cited were in this respect erroneous. It is pretty safe now 
to assume, however, that they have been entirely ex- 
terminated from their former range south of the Peace 
River, and that a few years more will suffice for their 
complete extermination. 
The extirpation of the plains bison (Bison bison) has 
already been practically effected. Mr. E. Hough, of 
Chicago, an excellent authority on this subject, states in a 
recent number of Forest and Stream (Vol. LIV., No. 
12, p. 248, March 31, 1900) that in 1895 there were pos- 
sibly twenty to twenty-five wild examples in different 
parts of Montana, Wyoming and Colorado, and 100 to 125 
in the Yellowstone National Park. Now (March, igoo) 
he says : "On the face of all discoverable information on 
this head it is safe to say there are not a dozen live wild 
buffalo outside the Yellowstone Park in the United 
States, and if there is a single one I do not know where it 
is. Inside the Park there may be tAventy head or so." 
The dift'erent domesticated herds he estimates may con- 
tain, all told, "between 300 and 500." 
Thus the American bison is already practically ex- 
terminated in the wild state, and its perpetuation depends 
upon the care and skill exercised to preserve the domesti- 
cated herds. 
Newfoundland Caribou with Rifle 
and Camera. 
After planning and going over the trip to Newfound- 
land in our minds for several weeks we at last really 
made the start. E. D. Ward, E. S. Carlton and C. K. 
Reed on the morning of Sept. 12 left Worcester, Mass., 
at 9 o'clock for Boston, and took the Plant Line steamer 
from there at 12 o'clock for Halifax and Hawksburg. 
This part of our trip had very much sameness to it for 
all three of us; in fact, too much sameness by far. Din- 
ner was called on the boat at i o'clock, just as we were 
getting outside the harbor and into rough water. 
Having a good appetite on, we invested in 75-cent dinner 
tickets. We had just got well seated at the table and our 
first course brought on, when Mr. Ward decided he 
. would go on deck and see if there was any danger, as 
the boat was beginning to roll considerably, and some- 
how his appetite was not as big as he thought. Mr. 
Carlton decided it was not right to let Mr. Ward go 
alone, so followed him, and I — well, I followed them 
and found them both in their berths and looking fright- 
ened, or at least ver}' pale. That is where the sameness 
started in, and it lasted until the next afternoon, when we 
reached Halifax. We had two or three hours' stay, so 
went ashore to see the sights; but somehow the land 
there had an unpleasant way of moving up and down 
very much after the manner of the boat. Leaving Hali- 
fax in the evening after a good night's sleep, we find 
ourselves at Hawksbttrg in the morning, and here also 
have several hours to look about and enjoy ourselves in 
a drizzling rain. In the afternoon we take the train and 
cross Cape Breton, arriving at North Sidney early in the 
evening, where we go aboard of the elegant little steamer 
Bruce, which leaves about 9 o'clock, and in the morning 
we find the boat at Port aux Basque, and are soon on the 
island of Newfoundland. 
Making a few inquiries, we find we can obtain our 
licenses here of the game warden, and have our luggage 
looked over by the customs officer. We find all of these 
gentlemen very courteous, and all seem, so far, to try 
and make everything pleasant as possible for us. AVe 
again take the train about 9 o'clock, and late in the after- 
noon reach Bay of Islands, where our head guide, Mr. 
Robert Brooking, meets us. We make a stop here over 
night and lay in a supply of provisions. We find quite a 
stoore, •with everything necessary for camping, and 
Messrs. Bagg Brothers soon have us all fitted "out with 
provisions, etc., for a party of eight men for two weeks. 
Here we see our first caribou — four little ones oiily a few 
months old in a small yard — and they were very tame, 
taking leaves and grass from our hands. The next morn- 
ing (Saturday) we again take the train for Gaftopsail, 
where we are to meet the rest of our party, and we find 
them all there on hand and in readiness for us. The 
second guide, Robt. Saunders; our cook, Fred Le Drew, 
and two men for carriers, Tom Hinds and John Wells, 
all from Alexander Bay, Newfoundland. They are all 
strangers to us, but we soon find out that there has been 
no mistake, and that we have a fine party, and all are 
anxious to get away from the track. We have to pitch 
.our tents here for the night, as we are- in a wild country, 
with no accommodations, no station or signs of civiliza- 
tion except the railroad, which runs only one traiii each 
way every day. The guides have been in to where they 
propose to camp, atid early Sunday morning" we are up 
for breakfast, and break camp and start for a ten-mjle 
tramp north, the carriers and guides packing iii- -some 
heavy loads. We find the traveling very good, and 
make our camp by 3 o'clock, and have tents up and 
everything in good shape before sundown. 
We have seen several caribou ori our way in, and the 
first evening in camp soon passes, and wdth big expecta- 
FOREST AND _ STREAM, 
tions of the coming morning, we turn in to dream of 
the caribou we will get another day. 
Monday morning finds all hands up early, and rifles 
and ammtmition about in abundance. The weather nice 
and clear, but very warm for the caribou to travel about 
much, so the guides tell us. Two of us, with one of the 
guides start in one direction, the other two going in the 
opposite way to get the lay of the land and see what we 
can for the first day. The two carriers start back for the 
railroad for another lot of provisions. 
Our first day we see quite a number, but none that have 
very large horns. We must have some meat for camp, 
NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU. 
and Mr. Ward bxings down the first, a nice fat doe, from 
which we have our first caribou steaks. Another day 
passes in much the same way, and we do no shooting, 
though we have seen many and some better heads; but 
as the guides call them not good enough we let them 
pass and use the camera when we can in place of the 
rifle. 
The next day the guide thinks we had better change 
our camp and move about two miles further in and 
nearer the white hills, where there is a fine lookout. With 
eight of us at work the change is soon made, and we 
have a much better location. Friday afternoon Mr. 
NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU. 
Ward and Brookings bring in the first good head, and 
it is a fine one. We have all seen quite a number of good 
ones that we could not get within fair shooting distance 
of. The next day Messrs. Ward and Carlton bring in 
two more large fellows. Upward of fifty have been 
seen, one herd of twelve, out of which with our glasses 
we could count ten good sets of antlers; but we did not 
get a shot at them. 
Monday, our banner day, we bring in five, all of them 
big fellows with elegant antlers. Messrs. Ward and 
Reed, with Guide Saunders, bring in four, which we got 
within an hour, taking our pick from several herds. Mr. 
Carlton also comes in with another a little later. The 
first two were the largest taken, and were a pretty sight. 
From our lookout w^e saw three caribou nearly two miles 
away, and could see at that distance with our glasses that 
two -of them were large stags with immense antlers, and 
they were coming nearer all the time. We changed our 
position less than 50 yards, and allowed them to come 
to within about- 7S" i'^rds of us, when Mr. Ward and 
myself tired at the same time, bringing down our game; 
not with the first shot', though, as Mr. Ward's required 
two and mine the thfrd from our .45-90 Winchesters. 
We find them not easy to bring down at a single shot, 
in nearly every case requiring the second or third, though 
the first might be fatal. The country is very open, and 
there is no chance for the game to get away if in good 
range and one has a full magazine. 
I'he next day Mr. Carlton, after looking over a large 
doe with nice even antlers, and in the velvet, decided it 
would be nice to have one mounted in that way if pos- 
sible, and secured it, and taking good care to wind the 
horns with cloth for protection, now has it mounted wath 
the velvet in perfect condition. We are now getting to 
be very particular as to what we shoot, and what we 
called fine at first are now allowed to pass by, and all 
heads are carefully looked over with the aid of our 
glasses before we try for them. 
We found the game easy to get at if we could keep 
the wind in our favor. SoiTietimes even when they 
would see us they would not seem alarmed until they 
would get scent of us, when they would be off in a 
hurry and it was lively work to stop them. 
Thursday, Sept. 28, we had taken our full nurnber of 
heads, and breaking camp, we started on our twelve- 
mile tramp for the cars, Tom, one of the carriers, having 
as his pack out five large heads (skinned), but bringing 
the scalps with the horns. He made easy work of his 
load, and his only trouble was that some one might see 
him and shoot at him for an immense caribou. 
I must speak of one thing that we found in abundance 
and because it was so late in the season seemed very 
strange to u^ This was the most delicious blueberries 
any of us had ever seen. Sttch large ones, and at their 
very best! No matter how eager any of us was at any 
time for a shot at caribou we could always find time to 
grab a handful of berries, and the number of quarts that 
were eaten would be hard to guess, besides the blue- 
berry pies ottr cook always had for us. 
We took the cars Friday morning for home, and after 
crossing from the island' -in the Bruce concluded we 
would not use our return tickets by boat, but come back 
all rail, and so had a much more agreeable time than 
on our trip down. We arrived in St. John Sunday 
morning, and found we had got to spend the day there, as 
there were no Sunday trains for the States. Tuesday 
morning finds us back again in Worcester, with one of 
the most enjoyable trips to look back upon and bring- 
ing with us sixteen fine heads of caribou and a collection 
of photos that will recall many of the events of our trip 
for years to come. Any one contemplating such a trip 
cannot find a more willing and agreeable party of guides 
and helpers than the ones I mention. 
I inclose photos of two heads, showing great variation 
in make up of the horns, one being quite like the deer, the 
other with palms 10 and 12 inches in width. 
Chas. K. Reed. 
Worcester, Mass. 
In the Heart of the Wild Woods. 
BY PAUL TARBEL. 
A BEAR, three deer and one wildcat. 
The bear a black one, weighing 208 pounds; the deer, 
splendid specimens, above the average in weight, and 
tiie "bobcat" was a devil in disguise. 
All this game was bagged in three days, while camp- 
ing in a forsaken, dismantled logging camp in Vilas 
county. Wis., twelve miles from the nearest white man 
or Indian. 
I believe the trip will interest the reader, and if he will 
follow me with his mind's eye I will repeat the experi- 
ence. 
Vilas county is one of the garden spots of the earth 
for the sportsman. Within its lines are located 296 dis- 
tinct and separate lakes and streams. The majority are 
joined by thoroughfares; those that are not, a portage 
varying from ten rods to a mile will make the connec- 
tion. 
The glory of the woods and water! The exhilaration 
of air and exercise ! The sleep of the gods on beds of 
balsam fir! The solitude, with no neighbor but nature 
in all her varying moods! The Virginia deer, the most 
beautiftil of all the forest's inhabitants, are in constant 
review. See that red fox slyly stalking after partridge 
or sage hen? Hundreds of chipmunks and squirrels, 
scolding, scolding all the time. Look up and watch the 
majestic movements of the white-headed eagle; listen to. 
the plaintive, melancholy wail of the loon. Hundreds of 
mallard hens in yonder marsh, teaching their young 
all the tricks of a wary life. What's that? Yes, it's a 
bobcat, as perfectly harmless as its larger brother, the 
lynx. That tip-up is a cute little fellow. Blackbirds, 
ravens, hawks of all kinds, and a multitude of song birds. 
At dusk, when the mother leaves the nest to seek 
nourishment, the male the while sits on a limb, guarding 
the treasure, and to appear perfectly nonchalant begins 
its command of "whip-poor-will." Soon another and an- 
other and another takes up the refrain, until hundreds 
combine in the threat, and I'm sure if their commands 
were obeyed every poor Will in America- would receive 
a sound thrashing. Do you know that the male continues 
this cry uninterruptedly until the female returns to nest, 
be it five mhmtes or two hours? 
What in the world is that? A bear cub? Oh, no. 
Don't you know a Northern "porky" when you see 
one? We will have a little fun with Mr. Porcupine. 
Tame? Of course he is. Can't run fast. I'll show you 
how to humljle him. Look out for his tail! There, he 
has darted two of his quills clean through your shoes. 
Turn him over on his back with this stick. Now lay 
this little limb across his stomach. You hold one end, 
T the other. Now look at him. Grunts like a human 
being. His face is slightly human; his nostrils extend 
and inflate; his four red teeth remind you somewhat of 
a squirrel; he squirms, grttnts, until this unwonted exer- 
cise exhausts him. He ceases his tail flappings, gives 
one long, human-like sigh of subjection, and now you 
can handle him with comparative safety, but keep away 
from his tail. Let him up. He is so fat he won't run. 
Very deliberate in his movements. Stops every few feet 
to see if you are coming. Now, at the base of a tree, he 
gives one quick look around, and is 15 feet un that 
Norway pine before you can say Jack Robinson. Climbs 
like a lineinkn. Agoing up a telegraph pole. There he 
stops. Like rthe- partridge, as long as he is above you^ 
he imagines himself in perfect safety. How he grunts! 
Yes, just like a little pig. None but a brute or a starving 
man would shoot a "porky." In the fall of the year they 
are good eating, so our Indian friend says, but his taste 
