^46 
^Sept. 29, 1066. 
"I saw the goat on the Columbia River, at the mouth of 
the Wenaichie, in the winter of 1871-72— I think in 
December, 1871. It was caught by an Indian hunter in 
the Cascade Mountains, near the headwaters of the 
Wenatchie, where they are quite abundant. It was very 
small when taken, and was given to a trader living at 
Wenatchie, and raised by him. It was a male, and less 
than a year old, but seemed nearly grown. It ran around 
the house and w^as a great nuisance, as it could not be 
kept out of the house, but would hide itself under beds or 
wherever it could, and would be found in the morning 
sleeping on the cook stove. It would go out and eat hay 
wiJi the cattle, and was most pugnaciously inclined, and 
woe to the cow that dared provoke its wrath, as it would 
follow her for half a day, butting her at every opportunity. 
Like the true goat, it was omnivorous, and this caused its 
death, as it found a pair of old buckskin pants and de- 
vuored the same, which was the cause of its untimely 
decease shortly after I saw it. From what I saw of it I 
think there would be no difficulty in domesticating the 
animal if taken young." 
About the year 1884 a Mr. Frank Dickson, of Butte 
City, Mont., had three goats which were captured when 
about six weeks old in the Cable Mountain about eighteen 
miles from the present city of Anaconda. Mr. Dickson 
was then living close to timber line, and allowed these 
animals entire liberty to go where they pleased.^ They 
sometimes wandered miles away from home during the 
day, but always returned at night. 
■ About ten years ago Mr. James Geery, then post- 
master at Wisdom, Mont., wrote us concerning a tame 
goat which he had owned. He said of it : 
"We shot the old one and then caught the two kids 
with dogs. One of the kids was bitten so badly that it 
died before reaching home ; the other was raised on cow's 
milk. After it had become accustomed to being fed by 
one person, it would almost starve before it would eat 
anything offered it by another. But this was only while 
we were feeding it on milk. As it grew older it would 
eat almost anything — potatoes, bread, sugar, and it was 
particularly fond of dr'ed fruit of any kind. It would 
follow the members of the family about, was very playful 
and not at all cross. It would lie on top of the house, on 
a place I. had prepared for it, and would see a moving 
object two miles off much more quickly than a man 
would. 
"If a stranger approached it. it would stand perfectly 
still and look him straight in the eye, not moving a muscle, 
looking to me as if it were on the watch for any hostile 
movement. 
"We have caught several, both young and old. but few 
of them have lived long. We have caught old bucks that 
would weigh over 300 pounds. The old wild ones are very 
dangerous, as their horns are sharp and they know how 
to use them. When caught young, however, they are 
easily tamed, and I have caught yearlings that in a 
short time would learn to eat out of the hand." 
Whether the white goat will live in captivity far from 
its home is not certainly known, and the specimen in the 
London Zoo will be watched with great interest. . 
The Vanishing Wild Flowers. 
From ike Springfield Republican. 
A Chautauqua lecturer the other day enlarged upon 
a theme very familiar to the Republican's readers, and 
whose lesson in these many years ought to have been 
borne in upon their consciences; we mean the wanton 
picking of flowers. 
This is a matter particularly worthy of consideration 
in the summer months, when the rich pleasurers and the 
fresh-air children from the cities and the good bourgeois 
as well rush into the country for better air and water 
and the beauty of nature. All of these have the same 
mischief in their hands for the flowers and ferns — they 
cannot content themselves with witnessing the beauty of 
the earth and enjoying the sight, but they must grab 
their handfuls or their armfuls of flowers. If the new 
ideas of education as a development of human charac- 
ter to finer sort could reach all these people, they would 
not commit these outrages, which are destroying all the 
rarer beauties in the country as they have long since 
banished them from the immediate surroundings of the 
city. Thus the trailing arbutus used to be very abundant 
around Springfield. Chicopee and Holyoke; and now, 
while it may yet be found in a good many spots, there 
are hundreds of its old haunts that know it no more. 
Blake's woods, now a memory of the past, abounded 
with it twenty years ago; it was found in many a piece 
of West Springfield woods; it was frequent near Inger- 
soll Grove. In Forest Park it is catalogued as still ex- 
isting, but it can only be said to exist — it does not flour- 
ish.' Mt. Tom, since it became a resort, is not only al- 
most denuded of arbutus, in comparison with the past, 
but the walking fern, one of the most curious and inter- 
esting of plants, has nearly disappeared, and the cardinal 
flower is quite extinct. It is the common fate of lovely 
things in the rush of human greed. Connecticut was so 
alarmed over the plunder of the beautiful climbing fern 
and the arbutus some years ago that the Legislature 
put both under protection by statute; Massachusetts 
ought to do the same, for the climbing fern does grow 
north of the State line, though fortunately very few know 
it. The lack of respect for nature w^as .shown, by the 
way, in the use to which this lygodium palmatum was 
put by those for whom it was grabbed up by the roots. 
Delicate and graceful, with a light, wild fragrance, all 
these qualities were killed by smoothing it out with hot 
irons in order to hang in festoons over lace curtains 
and disfigure "parlors." The maiden-hair fern is another 
marvelously beautiful plant that is treated in similar 
fashion. If any one wants to see what comes to a comi- 
try where tourists and summer people abound, they can 
do it in the Scottish Highlands, wherever the Cook and 
Gaze parties and the cockney excursions have traveled. 
Whoever sees a flower or fern in crossing the Trossachs? 
Except of course the heather, the gorse and the bracken, 
which are too hardy and too ready at multiplication to 
be exterminated. They, like our own mountain laurel, 
s-weet fern, our dicksonia and eagle fern (the same as the 
bracken of Scotland, though less in stature), survive ill- 
usage, ■ But many years ago Lucy Smith (see Mr. Mer- 
riam's beautiful memoirs of "William and Lucy Smith") 
lamented the destruction of the daintiest forest flowers 
in Scotland and northern England at the hands of "cits" 
who thought they loved them because they destroyed 
them. 
Of course there are flowers that may be plucked lib- 
erally without stint, such as the goldenrods and asters, 
the ironweed and the vervain, the ox-eye daisies and the 
black-eyed Susans, the evening primroses, the St. John's 
worts, the clovers, the loosestrifes, the milkweeds, the 
joepye, the hawkweeds, the lettuces and other hardy 
myriads. But the anemones and spring beauties, the 
polvgalas, the arbutus, the spring yellow lily, the colum- 
bine, the pyrolas and pipsissewas, the cardinal flower and 
the fringed gentian — all loveliest of the floral realm — 
such vanish before the vandalism of those who ignorantly 
think they love flowers. It is a trait of human nature- 
love is but a symbol of sacrifice, commonly the sacrifice 
of others, . 
U n Qaest of the Missing: Link. 
Several months ago press dispatches from Germany 
announced that an eminent scientihc man was shortly to 
sail for the Island of Java lor the purpose ot making 
careful search for further remains of the lemarkable mam- 
mal Pithecanthropus crectus, the discovery of which some 
years since created such an interest in scientitic circles. 
A few weeks ago it was stated that Mr. David J, Wai- 
ters, a Yale student, was setiing out for Java on the same 
errand, and that Mr. Geo. W. Vanderbilt is delraying tne 
expenses of this expedition. 
As will be remembered by the readers of Forest and 
Stream, Pithecanthropus was discovered in Java by a 
Dutch phvsician. Dr. Du Bois, and appears to be either 
the lowest of men or the highest of the antliropoid apes— 
in other words it seems to be what used to be called the 
"missing link" which bridges over the gap between the 
lower animals and man. Twenty years ago the absence 
of this "missing Hnk" was one of the stock arguments 
advanced against the theory of evolution by its oppo- 
nents, who appeared to be ignorant of the fact that only 
the very smallest fraction of the earth's crust has ever 
been explored, and that the number of animals which 
have existed since life began on this globe is known 
only by a very small fraction of species. 
The remains of Pithecanthropus were characteristic, and 
consisted of a brain case, a thigh bone and some other 
small fragments. No more interesting contribution to 
science could be made than the securing of additional 
examples of this animal, and it is to be hoped that both 
the explorers who are starting for the island in which 
it has been found may succeed in their quest. 
^'Blue Vapor.'* 
From northern Kentucky comes a snake story which 
tells of an invasion of hissing vipers, which stand erect 
on the tail before emitting their deadly venom, at the 
same time hissing with a hiss which may be heard 200 feet 
away. "If the venom comes in contact with a person's 
skin." it is averred, "whether the fangs strike or not, death 
is almost certain to ensue." As yet, we are told, only one 
nest of these poisonous serpents has been found, their cus- 
tom being to travel in pairs. "Last week at Ft. Thomas, 
near the scene of the Pearl Bryan tragedy, a number of 
soldiers who were taking a stroll were attracted by the 
hissing sound in a clump of bushes they were passing. 
Approaching the spot they were horrified to see a cluster 
of hissing reptiles, all spitting forth a volume of what 
appeared to be blue vapor. They summoned assistance, 
and with the aid of several shotguns succeeded in killing 
the entire lot, amounting to twenty-three." 
Thus are the wonders of nature improved upon by, 
the imagination of man. 
American Wildfowl and How to 
Take Them.— IV, 
BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELU 
[Coniinued from page 225.] 
The White-Fronted Goose. 
Anser albifrons (Gm.). 
In the genus Anser. the bill is much less stout, than in 
Chen, and the nail, which terminates it, is thinner and 
less strong. The present species is generally grayish- 
brown in color, the feathers immediately about the bill 
heing in adults white, bordered behind by dark brown. The 
head and neck are grayish-brown, darkest on crown of 
head and back of neck. The body is grayish, many of the 
feathers being tipped with white. The primaries are 
black, the rump slate-brown, the upper and under tail 
coverts white, and the tail grayish-brown margined with 
white. The under parts are grayish, variously, often 
heavily, blotched with blackish-brown ; bill, legs and feet, 
pinkish; the nail of the bill white; length, 28 inches; wing, 
over 15. The young closely resembles the adult, but lacks 
the white about the bill, this being dark brown, and has 
no black blotches on the lower parts. The nail of the bill 
:is black. 
The Avhite-fronted goose is found in the northern parts 
of both the Old and the New World, though the two 
forms are separated by many ornithologists and made 
different races. The American bird is slightly larger than 
that of Europe, but the difference is small, and is based 
on nothing but size. At all events, -for the purposes of 
the gunner they may be considered a single species. The 
white-fronted goose is generally distributed throughout 
this country from the far North to our Southern border, 
but is rare on the Atlantic coast. It occurs in Cuba as 
well as in Greenland. 
In all the Mississippi Valley region it is abundant during 
the migrations, where it is known as laughing goose, 
speckled belly, harlequin brant, pied brant, prairie brant, 
and often simply as brant. It is abundant also in Cali- 
fornia and occurs in large numbers as far south as south- 
.ern California. In summer the white-fronted goose is 
found in Alaska, where some breed, and in great numbers 
on the islands of the Arctic Ocean. All Northern explorers 
report it as abundant on the Mackenzie and throughout 
the country bordering the Barren Lands. In America it 
appears to be generally a bird of Western distribution. 
The white-fronted goose feeds largely on grass, and in 
former times did much damage to the young crops of 
wheat on the Western coast during its migrations. It is 
said to feed also on berries, and to be seldom seen on 
the water except at night or when molting. The south- 
THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 
ward migration is undertaken late in September, and the 
flocks of white-fronted geese usually make their appear- 
ance on the Western prairies early in October, when they 
are often associated with snow geese, in company with 
wh'ch they feed and journey to and from their feeding 
grounds. 
The flesh of the white-fronted goose is highly esteemed, 
and is spoken of as being more delicate than that of any 
other goose, except possibly the young of the salt-water 
brant. 
The nest of the white-fronted goose is usually built on 
the low ground, near fresh-water ponds or marshes, and 
the six or eight yellowish-white eggs are commonly cov- 
ered with down when the mother leaves them. 
Emperor Goose. 
Philacte canagica (Sevast.). 
The emperor is one of the handsomest of the Amer- 
ican geese. It is a bird of very limited distribution, being 
confined to the Bering Sea and its vicinity, though veiy 
rarely specimens straggle southward in winter along the 
Pacific coast of the United States as far as California. 
The emperor goose may be known from all the other 
North American geese by the remarkable form of its bill ; 
this is extremely short, with a very broad and thick nail, 
which occupies almost one-third of the length. The 
tarsus, or naked portion of the leg, between the toes and 
the joint above, is very short in proportion to the toes. 
In the adult emperor goose the head and back of the 
neck are white ; the front and sides of the throat and neck 
are brownish-black, slightly spotted with white; the tail 
is slate-color at the base and white at the end; the rest of 
the plumage is bluish, each feather having at its end a 
EMPEROR GOOSE. 
narrow bar of white, bordered by a crescent- shaped black 
marking. The secondary feathers of the wing are slaty- 
black, margined with white ; the long quills black. . The 
bill is bluish or purplish ; the nail white, darker at the 
edges, and the legs and feet bright yellow. 
The young are similar to the adult, but have the head 
and neck lead color, sometimes sprinkled with white. 
AH the explorers of Alaska have found this specie.s 
more or less abundant in that territory. It also occurs 
on some of the islands of the Bering Sea, as well as on 
the Commander Islands, on the Siberian coast. Mr. H. 
W. Elliot tells us that flocks sometimes land on the 
Pribilof Islands in an exhausted condition, so that the 
natives run them down on the grass, the birds being un- 
able to fly. Mr. Dall speaks of the exceedingly strong 
odor of garlic proceeding from the raw flesh and skin, and 
says that this odor makes the work of skinning the birds 
very disagreeable. With cooking, this smell disappears. 
The emperor geese breed on the flat, marshy islands 
of the Alaskan coast, the nest sometimes being placed 
amid the driftwood, even below high-water mark. Like 
most other geese, the female covers the eggs with down 
from her breast. 
When the molting season begins the Eskimo kill these 
geese in common with others, capturing them by means of 
nets set on the marshes, into which the molting birds are 
driven. At this time the destruction of the birds is very 
great. 
This species in Norton Sound is called white-headed 
goose, while the name applied to it by the Russians^ is 
sa-sar-ka, meaning guinea hen, evidently from the coloring 
of the plumage. 
t 
