Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1900, by Forest and Stream Publishing Go. 
ERMS, f4 A Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. I 
Six Months, $2. ) 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1900. 
j VOL. LV.— No. 14. 
( No. 846 Broadway, New York 
^The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its. 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
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particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
NEWS FROM A FAR-OPF LAND. 
'Far from the common routes of the tourists, between 
the Shetland Islands and Iceland, and almost under the 
Arctic Circle, lie the Faroe Islands. Twenty-two in 
number, mere dots upon a stormy sea and only to be 
reached in fair weather, they consist of elevations of 
basaltic rock rising sometimes to a height of 3,000 feet 
above the waves that dash about their base. The cli- 
mate — modified by ocean currents — ^is not cold, yet the 
win.ter is almost one long night and the summer a 
scarcely interrupted day. The constant winds and the 
furious hurricanes which blow much of the time prevent 
the growth of trees and forbid the ripening of the hardiest 
grain. The people that inhabit the islands are of Norse- 
descent and support themselves by fishing, bird catching, 
egg gathering and by the flocks of sheep which pasture 
on the sweet grasses that the islands produce. They 
gather peat, tend their flocks, capture the sea fowl and 
catch the fish. Perhaps above all other men the Faroe 
Islanders are at home on the storm-swept sea, or on the 
narrow cliffs that the birds frequent, and they are most 
expert in the killing- of whales and seals. They are a 
hardy, vigorous and loyal race, but the life that they live 
is as different as possible from anything that we know. 
To this distant land Miss Elizabeth Taylor has gone 
to live among these simple people, and we shall soon be- 
gin the publication of a series of letters from her pen 
describing the life of this far-away corner of the globe. 
Miss Taylor is a born traveler and her achievements are 
well known. Not the least of her undertakings was a 
journey to the mouth of the Mackenzie "River, a trip per- 
haps never previously made by any white woman. Be- 
side being a traveler Miss Taylor is a trained observer, a 
naturalist and a graceful writer, the charm of whose let- 
ters is not unknown to readers of Forest and Stream. 
In her letters from the Faroe Islands she feelingly de- 
scribes the perils to which their dwellers are exposed, 
tells of their different pursuits — of the egg gathering, the 
bird snaring and the whale killing — and tells it all with 
so much grace and feeling that these letters will prove of 
exceptional interest to all Americans who read them. 
And as we peruse the story of this hard life and realize 
how much of what must have happened is left unsaid, we 
may well wonder at the courage and endurance which 
carried a frail woman through scenes of such hardship 
and danger. 
OCTOBER. 
October first has come and gone, and in many of the 
States the shooting season is now open. It is a day long 
looked forward to and eagerly awaited, above all by the 
young, and great are the preparations made for taking ad- 
vantage of it. Gims are cleaned and polished, cartridges 
loaded or ordered, and every effort is made to have all 
things ready for the great event. 
Too often the joyful anticipations felt with regard to 
the opening day are disappointed. If the weather has 
long been dry, it is found that the scent does not lie, and 
the dogs fail to do the good work expected of them. 
Often, too, it is exceedingly hot, dogs are fat, and, not 
liaving been used for many months, are excitable and 
difficult to control. If the shooting takes place in a 
wooded country the leaves still hang on the trees and 
obscure the sight; working through the swamps is 
laborious in the hot weather, and before the day is half 
over man and dog are likely to be exhausted. The quails 
and partridges have not settled down to their winter 
haunts, the woodcock have not yet come on from the 
north; It is a time "between hay and grass," and very 
often an unsatisfactory season for shooting. 
Ic is true tljat some of the migratory ducks have bjegun 
to come on, and there is a {>ossibility of starting from 
the wide brook pr from some little lake or pond a small 
bunch of wood ducks, teal or black ducks, and the bring- 
ing down of .one or a brace of these gives satisfaction to 
the gunner; an occasional snipe may be found on the 
meadows, but we all know how uncertain snipe are. In 
•October the shooting is often a disappointment. 
Different people are likely to take different views of it, 
but to our notion it is far better to wait until after the 
sharp frosts have come to freshen up the heavy atmos- 
phere of September, to clear the leaves from the trees, to 
kill down the rank vegetation along swamps and sloughs 
and river bank, before taking the field for serious all-day 
shooting trips. Then the birds are larger, stronger of 
wing, better able to take care of themselves and more 
satisfactory to bag. The work of finding them is far 
easier for the dog. He has then run off the fat accumu- 
lated by a season of idleness, and is no longer crazy with 
•excitement, but has settled down to business and hunts 
in a workmanlike fashion that is the greatest pleasirre 
to his owner. Then, when the birds jump, it is possible 
to see them, and sometimes to make the clever double or 
the careful long shot that gives such a feeling of satisfac- 
tion when it is accomplished. For dwellers in the coimtry 
and those who have plenty of time on their hands, the 
early days of the shooting season might profitably be em- 
ployed in making short jaunts of two or three hours to the 
known home of some brood of quail, or to some piece of 
woods where an old partridge is known to dwell, there 
to give the dogs some exercise, and to work off his 
superfluous spirits and bring him down to the business of 
the year. Longer shooting trips might well be postponed 
luntil the weather conditions are more satisfactory. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
A New York banker, who was, arrested in New Jersey 
the other day and made to pay a fine for shooting on 
Sunday, displayed a fine feeling of outrage at the in- 
dignity to which he had been subjected. ' They usually 
■do. Let a visiting sportsman get caught in a transgres- 
sion of the game law, and the probabilities are a hundred 
to one that he will fume and bluster and tdl loudly and 
earnestly of what a big fellow he is at home, and how 
because of his distinction and importance he should be 
considered as exempt from the law. Such talk. 6t course, 
avails nothing, except to add to the humor of the situa- 
tion; but it is always interesting as being so significant 
of that common trait of human nature which leads so 
many of us to imagine that legal restrictions are for all 
other sportsmen but not for ourselves. Indeed, it would 
be by no means difficult to find among some of the 
sternest and most uncompromising advocates of the strict- 
est laws with the heaviest penalties those who are them- 
selves in actual personal practice consistent and constant 
violators of law. They believe in close seasons, in 
limited bags, in non-export laws — but always for the 
other fellows, and always with a reservation in favor of 
exemption for themselves. 
A 'Ijjoa constrictor," "the very worst trust in the 
world,"'" or "vampire'' — these are hai'd names, but even 
such terms fail to express the character of the enter- 
prise which is denuding the mountains of New Hamp- 
shire, and bringing ruin and desolation upon them, as 
described in another column. The gravity of the situa- 
tion cannot be exaggerated. What the remedy may be 
does not appear. For while on the one hand the peopte 
of New Hampshire have to deal with the remorseless 
greed of the lumber operators, on the other they are 
handicapped and shorn of might by their own indiffer- 
ence and ignorant want of appreciation of the evil and 
the necessity of its cure. There is one way, and one way 
only, to save the White Mountain forests, and that is by 
condemnation and the taking of the land by right of 
eminent domain. 
In our issue of July 7 last we printed two very re- 
markable photographs of live wild deer; and a third is 
given to-day, with Mr. Seib's description of the method 
by which the result is achieved. The success of photo- 
graphing wild deer dose to depends upon two factors: 
the first is the deer's disregard of an immovable object, 
and the second is the photographer's ability to remain 
perfectly still despite cramped limbs, buck ague and 
the fly that lights on one's nose. The pictures were 
taken by Capt. L. A. Myrick, and we have never seen 
any similar views to surpass them. 
MARSH FOLK.-~n. 
It is the birds that first catch the eyes of most ob- 
servers; and they are of all sorts and conditions. Larg- 
est and most noticeable are the fish hawks, now slowly 
faring southward, with many a pause for rest and food, 
but all to be gone before the advent of cold weather. 
Patient fishermen are they, circling high in air over the 
wide waters and the level marsh and the wooded hillsides, 
checking themselves now and then over the water, and 
then moving in short circles and perhaps hovering for 
a moment over some spot, just as often a kingfisher or 
a sparfow-hawk or a bluebird may be seen to hover. If 
the prey seems near enough to be seized the bird drops, 
like a falling stone, or sometimes in long spirals, and 
when it nears.the water it either pauses, if the fish has 
taken the alarm, or drops into it with outstretched legs 
and a mighty splash. For a moment it rests on the 
water, and then with .slow flappings of the broad wings 
rises diagonally in the air with the fish held firmly in 
the long, crooked talons. Then, perhaps, for a time be- 
fore alighting, the successful bird flies about in the air, so 
that the fish may die before it begins its meal. The great 
birds are wonderfully graceful in flight, whether they 
merely circle widely about with deliberate flappings or 
scan the water with keenest eye or make swift diagonal 
darts downward from some great elevation, when they 
wish to change their place. Their white heads and under 
parts make them conspicuous against the dark green of 
the forests, and then they seem larger than they really 
are. Sometimes, in these September days, a dozen may 
be seen at one time flying about over the river, and of 
these two or three will seem always to have a small fish 
in their claws. 
Greater even than the fish hawks is the great blue heron, 
which sometimes stops on the meadow. He does not 
come often, nor when he comes does he remain long. 
There are too many people about, the steamboats are too 
frequent and the trains pass too near. His ta,ste is for 
more quiet surroundings. When he alights he stands 
for a long time absolutely motionless, and many a gun- 
ner has passed, without noticing it. what seemed to be a 
stake standing at a distance in the meadow, and then has 
been astonished to see the stake all at once come to life 
and fly away just out of gunshot. 
But if the great blue is rare, his cousins the bittern and 
the little green heron are much less so. And there is 
yet another, less in size than any of these, the least bit- 
tern, which is known to few .save the ornithologist, 
When by chance one is killed by a gunner, its capture 
causes much speculation and all hands wonder what this 
strange bird may be. With a body hardly larger than a 
rail's, it spends its time among the close-set stems of 
reeds and grass, which its streaked plumage so closely 
resembles that with a background of grass stems it might 
stand in plain view and never be detected, unless by 
' chance it should move. Its big relative, the common 
bittern, is less secretive, though he is very much dis- 
posed to keep to himself and is seldom seen unless the 
boat is shoved close to him or the gunner walks upon 
him. He, too, is protected by a coat of brown streaked 
with yellow, and on the ground may easily escape ob- 
servation. His scent is strong, and sometimes the dogs, 
careering over the meadows after snipe, will stop and 
stand the bittern as they would a brood of quail. 
The green heron is far bolder than any of these. Per- 
haps he has not sense enough to be shy and to keep 
out of reach of the gun. At all events, when started from 
the grass in autumn he may fly but a short distance and 
then alight again and stand watching the intruder with 
more curiosity than alarm, but with all the feathers of 
head and neck standing on end, like a rooster going 
into battle. Let us not shoot the little fellow, who does 
' no harm and is an interesting dweller of the marsh. 
The noisy crows, which in respect of their constant 
presence with us are like the poor, are seen now in little 
companies, each of which may perhaps be a single family. 
They wing their way over the tree tops of the valley, up 
and down the river, bent on various errands which we 
cannot guess. Often at low water they riiay be seen 
stalking solemnly over the inud flats and beaches, search- 
ing for food. They will not make their presence evident 
by great gatherings and much noise until the weatheT* 
grows colder. "" ■ 
