FOREST AND ^STREAM. 
these parties had been guilty of wanton slaughter of 
game fish. Sixty-eight trout, "some of them weighing 
over 3 pounds," would certainly be about as many as 
sixty-eight men would use for food before the fish 
spoiled; and there is' no indication that the party in tbis 
case was. a large one... The statement that the -picture 
represfeiks "what was left after the cooks had .finished 
their work" seems to remove all doubt about the matter. 
Those who fish and shoot merely for the sake of killing 
— who arc. willing to pull out a lot of fish which they^ know 
they cannof use and leave them to spoil — belong in the 
class v/i,tlf( poisoners, dynamiters, spawning-bed fishermen 
and stream netters. Will Messrs. Pventice and Chap- 
man show cause why they should not be included in this 
class? Sportsman. 
— ^ — 
Fixtures. 
BENCH SHOWS. 
' Jan. 14.— New Orleans, La.— LoTiisiana Kennel Club's annual 
show. A. E. Shaw, Sec'y. 
Jan. H-19.— Pontiac, Mich,— Pontiac Poultry and Pet Stock Ex- 
hibition's dog show. Daniel Thomas, Sec'y- 
Jan. 23-26. — Chicago.— Chitago Pet Dog Club's annual show. 
Mrs. J. T. Buhrer, Sec'y. 
■ Feb. 19-22.— New York.— Westminster Kennel Club's twenty-fifth 
annual show. Tames Mortimer, Supt. 
March '6-9.— Pittsburg. Pa.- Duquesne Kennel Club's annual 
bench show, F. S. Stedman, Sec'y. 
March 13-16.— Chicago.— Mascoutah Kennel Club's eleventh an- 
nual show. John L. Lincoln, Sec'}'. 
FIELD TRIALS. 
Jan. 14.— Coronado, Cal.^Pacific Coast Field Trial Club's tmls. 
AJbert Beltz, Sec'y. 
Jan. 14.— Green\alle, Ala.— Fifth annual field trials of the Alabama 
Field Irials Club. John B: Rosenstihl, Sec'y, 
Jan. 2L— Benton County, Miss.— Tenth annual field 'trials of tlie 
Lnited States Field Trials Club, W. B. Stafford, Sec'y, Trenton, 
lenn. 
February (First Week).— Grand Junction, Tenn.— Championship 
Field irial Association's annual trials. W. B. Stafford, Sec'y. 
The Wellman Fox. 
From tinie to time pttt of mind the fox has been referred 
to as the. personification, of all that is wily and cunning. 
How much this is deserved only those who have seen 
and liunteJ him in his native haunts can understand.' 
It is no doubt exciting and pleasurable to follow the 
hounds across country . on a , cool autumn day. bttt this can 
scarcely be cailed fox. hunting, - as' in-'tliis case the fox js 
regarded ■ sittipTy as a means to an' einH, and is generally 
brought to the field in a bag. • 
But if thp hti^nter seeks his red .coated game .with shot- 
gun and-^diieMQit:' 4jiw3''-y|j©fi-tfied'^hoilnd5, -aiiid by matching 
his soundness of wind and reason, against Reynard's en- 
durance and cunning either brings Rim down or sees him 
escape by ::-s6m^ wdU^^^^ i'S that he 
sees to the tulf ' 'all f hi 'cleverness that an old and ex- 
perienced fox will develop in order to throw ofif his pur- 
In my TOomri mm t*o rugs, each made from the skin 
of six fox€»i ' arid' over the fireplace stands a superb 
mounted specimen, which was locally known as the Well- 
man fox. He was nmd3..<d,arger, thant.an . ordinary fox. 
measuring 18 inches at the shoulder and 4 feet 4 inches 
from tip- m trip-; Arid of how my brother, Tom, and I 
hunted hi«n and'-fin^illy brought him Idw, this story will 
deal, i-r ■ ' . r . .■ . 
The s%ht of these''trophies brings to tiiind Idng, still 
days spent in the deep woods' in the late autumn; when the 
dead leaves rustle under foot and the hazy air is laden 
with their faint, aromatic perfume; and days on the 
bills in the: depth of winter, when the keen, frosty air 
sets the' blood' to tingliiig, and makes ihe'very act of living 
a. delight. " " 
Three miles'<fo fhe southward of my hom'e is a stretch 
of rough, hilly country extending southward six miles to 
the Uradella River and culminating in a small mountain 
named Tassel Hilt. This section is very thinly settled, 
and among '"the 'barren hills and thickly wooded valleys 
live many 'foxes, chief among which, by reason of his 
superior size arid cunning, Once lived the Wellman fox 
CWellman being the name of the owner of the land on 
which the fox was most generally sepn). ■ " 
Tom arid I own two fox hounds, named respectively 
Pilot arid Napoleon. Keen scented, deep chested and 
strong, they are capable of running many hours at full 
speed, and . are able to unravel most of the twist's - and 
turns of their fleet-footed prey. ■ ■'' ■ •' 
Our first passage at. arms .with the, Wellman fox was 
one cold November morning two years ago. A light fall 
of snow the night before tnade an ideal day for fox 
hunting, as the snow holds the scent and a fox can be 
seen at a greater distance than on bare ground. 
Calling the dogs from their snug kennel, whence they 
ca'me forth yawning and shivering, but aroused into new 
life at the si.ght of the guns, and almost too. eager for 
the hunt to gobble their breakfast of johnnycake, we set 
out for Tassel,; the dogs- leaping about us arid uttering 
short, impatient bai^ks, a'g i.f Urging us to hasten our 
steps. ■ ' " .-'.i:.-. 
We reached and cHmbed the first ridge of hills in the 
course of an hour, and were traversing a narrow plain 
that lay between us and the next height, when the dogs 
stopped short,' and after sniffing the air for a moment 
started up wind at full speed toward a clump of ever- 
greens grow-ing;i;nfa:s;fli^1:p6eket in the hillside. 
As they disappeared unvler" the snow-covered branches 
they burst into fuU'ciy, and the Wellman fox broke cover 
and darted up' the hillside^! jHe was out of gun shot, so we 
could only stand '-and watchrthe chase. No time for tricks 
now. The dogs, .were .pressing him close, and before two 
minutes had elapsed pursued and pursuers had vanished 
over a hilltop half a riiile.away, and only the clamor of 
the dogs borne back on the breeze showed the direction of 
the chase. After listening a few moments, we found that 
the fox 'was,;tui*mng neither to the right nor the left, but 
was ftmniug straight for the river, the fierce otucry flf the 
dogs showing that they were still close behind. 
Tassel H^l^^a^' .half a rnile away, and we ran Ipward it 
and up its thinly woode4 si4es in a long, swinging '^dog 
li'at*' tbali ii M'.m*y m mMr\s t& one wholi nQcua- 
:pR}fif}4P if; .-f pt^:^ p>hfi^ tPp, <amewhfit breath- 
less from our long climb/ -Ve could at first see no sign dl 
the chase. We both carried small but powerful telescopes 
and with these carefully scanned the distaiit horizon; and 
finally caught a glimpse of the hounds disappearing into a 
valley three miles to the southward. 
There was nothing to do now but to wait with what 
patience we could summon till the 'fox returned, and on a 
cold day this is by no means a pleasant thing to do. There 
v/as no help for it, however, and seeking a sheltered spot 
we vvhiled the time away talking about other hunts .and 
speculating oh the possible outcome of this one. Three 
long hours passed before down the bi'eeze came a faint 
o-o-ough, and hurrying to the highest point, we caught 
sight of the fox coming along as lightly and swiftly as a 
thistledown blown by the wind. He was then about a mile 
away, and half that distance ahead of the hounds, and as 
he was coming straight toward us we could not tell 
whether he would pass over the hill or along the easterti 
side. So Tom ran down to the foot of the hill in hopes 
to get a shot at him if he passed that way, while I re- 
mained where I was. I soon saw that the fox was not 
coming my way, ^0 I slipped behind some evergreens 
whicij grew on the eastern slope, and bending low made 
my way to a projecting ledge, from where I knew I could 
see Tom. Reaching the point, I threw myself flat and 
crept to the edge and peeped over, 
Tonr was crouching behind a stump witli his gun dt his 
.'shoulder, and evidently ready for the fox, who was com- 
ing straight toward him, and was then less than thirty 
rods away. Eager to see the shot, I drew myself for- 
ward a little, when my elbow dislodged a fragment of 
rock, which went boimding and rattling down the face of 
the cliff. Startled at the sound, tlie fox whirled sharply 
to the right, and slipping under a worm fence near by was 
lost to Aaew behind the brushwood that fringed it. As he 
disappeared, Tom ran to the fence and climbed to the top 
rail, where he stood for a moment, then raised his gun to 
fire. The sudden motion made hira lose his balance, and 
to save himself from a fall he leaped toward the ground 
on the further side. And then T, who was watching him, 
saw a strange thing. Apparently in mid-air he stopped, 
swayed, then threw up his arms wildly and pitched heavily 
to the ground, his gun escaping from his grasp and ex- 
ploding as it struck. Thinking that I knew what had 
caused his downfall, I hurried across the intervening 
space, and on reaching the fence found my conjecture 
correct. A barbed wire was stretched from corner to 
corner, and he had landed squarely on this, when the 
spring of the wire had thrown him headlong. He had 
risen when I reached him and was trying to rub him- 
self in several places at once, while he vowed vengeance 
on the fox, and said that as he lay on the ground par- 
tially sttmned the fox had come up the fence to within a 
few yards of him, stopped, and, as he solemnly asserted, 
grinned broadly and then struck off .across the fields. The 
dogs had passed by in the meantime and were now some 
distance away. We decided after a short consultation to 
cross over to a valley about a mile to the east and station 
ourselves there in hopes that when the fox turned back 
toward the river he would pass that Avay. 
But now the wind, whjch had held in the northwest all 
day, veered suddenly into the south, and a driving storm 
of mist and rain came on, which quickly drenched us. 
And as it blew' directly from us toward the point where 
we expected the fox to appear, we were forced to give up 
the chase, and shouldering our guns we plodded along 
toward home. 
Before we reached it, however, the increasing violence 
of the aform forced us to look for shelter, and Tom pro- 
posed that we stop at the house of Uncle Jack Wells, an 
old farmer who lived near by. Uncle Jack had been a 
mighty hunter in his youth, and when his rheumatism 
would allow him, still enjoyed a day with dog and gun. 
He greeted us heartily as we entered, and made room 
for us by the glowing fire, while plump Aunt Mary bustled 
about, suggesting dry clothes and hot drinks, and finally 
setting a pan of crisp ginger cookies on a chair be- 
t-\veen us, urging us "to pitch in and fill up." Knowing 
Aunt Mary's cookies hy experience, we waited for no 
second invitation, and while we munched we recounted 
otir adventures to Uncle Jack. 
"You'll never get that fox, boys," he chuckled. "I've 
tried for him dozens of times, and never came much nearer 
"to him than you did, and .lots of other fellows with as 
good dogs as yourn has tried to get him, but he always 
gets away." 
"If he hadn't skipped out when that rock fell I think I 
would have killed him," remarked Tom. 
"Don't you ever believe it, my boy," retorted Uncle 
Jack. "Ef he couldn't hev got out of it any other way he 
would hev dodged the charge of shot. Why, I remem- 
ber " and he recounted some of his hunting experi- 
ences, in the midst of which he "was interrupted by a 
scratching at the door and a chorus of impatient howls. 
"Let yer dogs in, boys. I would not keep my worst 
enemy out of doors on a day like thi.s," said Uncle Jack. 
So Torn opened the door and both dogs came in with a 
rush and made straight for the pan of cookies, which I 
caught up just in time to save from an assault. 
Uncle Jack's story and the storm came to an end at the 
same time, and we departed for home, which we reached, 
.just in time for supper, to which, in spite of our feast on 
Aunt Mary's cookies, we managed to do considerable 
execution. 
Farm work put a stop to our hunting for some time, and 
it was not till early in December that we were at liberty 
to go again. Then we made several trips to Tassel and 
were rewarded hy the capture of several foxes, one of 
which ran into a woodchuck hole as soon as started and 
was ignominiousb^ dug out and slain with a shovel. 
But the Wellman fox seemed to have deserted his old 
haunts, as we saw no sign of him, There was but little 
snow that year till Christmas Day, when the skies pre- 
sented us with about 6 inches of soft snow. There was no 
wind the next morning and we were astir early, and this 
time held the dogs in leash, meaning not to slip them till 
we found a good track. Leading, or rather being led by, 
the dog.s, we were s.ooon climbing the hills, and quickly 
foimd the first tracjc. which we decided not to let the • 
dogs follow, as it led away from the hiUs down toward 
'the open cpuntry. The dogs, however, were of a different 
min4. and we hacj to drag t\\mt away by n^ain foFCf, whilf* 
they filled tho air with iheir h&vyl§ of |ndi|nfint protest, 
Cli|]tf3|n^4 rat] fence SQma fiaif-,T}jl^ fi^v'thef Ofi, 
atiother track on a slope a few yards away, so I sat 
on the top rail and held the dogs while Tom went forward 
to examine it, whereupon the dogs promptly jerked me 
head foremost from my perch in a frantic effort to follow 
hira. 
After a careful examination of the trail, Tom .-an- 
nounced that he believed it to be the Wellman fox on 
account of the size of the prints, which were :SQ n-iuch 
larger tlian those of an ordinary fox. Bringing the dogs 
up to the trail, we released them, and they set off with 
a chorus of deep bays, overrunning the trail at a poinit 
where the fox had made a sharp turn. But they soon 
picked it up again and disappeared in a nearby wood. We 
hastened to place ourselves in favorable positions, and 
listened for that furious outburst which would announce 
that Reynard had roused himself from his sleep behind 
some sheltering stump or stone pile and was flying for 
his life. Soon the welcome sound came echoing through 
the still air, setting the heart to throbbing faster and caus- 
ing us to thrill with excitement. Several times the fox 
circled through the woods, and the music of the dogs grew 
louder or died away, as they followed on the track. 
Presently the fox broke cover, and came along the edge 
of the wood. Though he could not see us, he was sus- 
picious that something was wrong, for he cast frequent 
glances in our direction and would not come within gun- 
shot. Coming to a rail fence, he sprang upon it and ran 
along the top rail as nimbly as a squirrel. Some distance 
above where the fox mounted it the rail fence was inter - 
sected by one made of boards nailed to posts. When the 
fox reached this fence he sprang upon the top board and 
proceeded along this narrow highway, waving hi? heavy 
tail from side to side just as a rope walker does his 
balancing pole. For some rods he proceeded in this man- 
ner, apparently undisturbed by the outcry of the hounds, 
which had almost reached the rail fence. Suddenlj^ he 
came to a point where the top board was replaced by a 
barbed wire. I half expected him to walk this also, but 
he evidently had no liking for such a thorny path, ■ for 
crouching on the last post, he gave a mighty spring and 
hurled himself through the air, landing at least 20 feet 
from the fence, and slipping into a gully was lost: to 
view. 
Thinking that such cleverness deserved some reward, we 
did not help the dogs, but watched to see how they would 
unravel this tangle. On coming to the fence, they crawled 
through and started across the next field, still in full 
cry. A few moments sufficed to show them their mistake, 
and they commenced casting about in wide circles in 
search of the missing trail. After a few moments of 
this fruitless work, old Pilot, who had had much ex- 
perience in the ways of foxes, ran to the fence, climbed 
to the top and in a moment a joyous bay called Napoleon 
to his side, and together they raced up the fence, stopping 
every few moments to sniif at the rail. They soon passed 
the board fence, and not until they were some distance 
above it did they seem sure that the fence bore no scent 
of thir elusive prey. 
Back they went to the starting point and worked up 
the fence more slowl}!- than before, and this time they 
found where he had left the fence, and th^n the circling 
tactics were renewed, with the result that Napoleon dis- 
covered that the board fence had served as a passageway. 
Being assured of this fact, they set off at full speed and 
passed the point where the fox had made his leap. After 
they discovered this they seemed completely puzzled, and 
ran up and down the fence several times.; finally they 
began circling, and at last struck the track and set off 
after Reynard, who had gained a couple of miles by this 
clever maneuver. 
The dogs passed over Tassel Hill and down the other 
side, but just as their voices were growing faint in the 
distance they suddenly ceased and then we knew that the 
fox had played another trick on them. 
We climbed Tassel and could see the dogs running aim- 
lesslj'^ up and down in a road that lay a mile to the west- 
ward. They gave tongue once in a while, but in a 
baffled howl, rather than their usual deep bay. 
We followed their track down to the road, where we 
lost it, as teams had been passing along and the dogs had 
run in every direction in their effort to pick up the trail. 
We waited for an hour or more, then gave it up and 
started for home, the dogs following dejectedly. 
Our way lay by Uncle Jack's, a'ud as we passed by he 
came out of the barn and hailed us : "T heard yer dogs up 
on Tassel ez I was comin' from Waterville," he . said. 
"Where's yer fox?" 
"We didn't get him," replied I; "he was playing tricks, 
on the dogs all the morning, and finally threw them off en- 
tirely on the road below "Tassel." 
The old man appeared greatly amused at my reply, and 
when Tom asked him if he had seen the fox, he said : 
"I was comin' along the road by Tassel when I first heard 
the dogs, and just then that big fox that you hev b'en 
chasin' so much jumped out into the road just ahead of 
(he horse and ran along the road a few yards ahead. I 
yelled at him and tried to get him to turn out. but 'twa'n't 
no use — -the cunning varmint knew that I hadn't no gun, 
and he kept on that way for half a mile or more, then 
turned off into a patch of woods. Oh, I guess that old fox 
has a considerable time to live yet, boys !" he concluded 
with a chtickle. 
Uncle Jack's friendty taunts aroused in us a determina- 
tion to capture that fox before we shot at another, and it 
began to look as if the Tassel Hill foxes had taken on a 
new lease of life, as far as we were concerned, for day 
after day, as the weather permitted, we slipped the hounds 
on the trail of the Wellman fox. Some days we never saw 
him at all, and on others we might see him sitting on some 
distant hillside watching the dogs unravel some bewilder- 
ing network of tracks he had woven for them in the val- 
ley below, until finally we were almost ready to believe 
that he bore a charmed life. 
New Year's Day was ushered in by a furious storm, and 
for a week after the weather was too cold and stormy to 
venture out, and when we did go we saw no sign of the 
.Wellman fox, and concluded that he must tta-vje deserted 
his old haunts for good. 
One night in early Febniai-y I was awakened by the 
full moon shiping in at my window and casting over the 
earth a white "radiance ahnost equal to the light of day. 
As I marked this I thoughl; that it might be possible to 
hunt; by moonlight-- -somethfeg I Eftd never ihsitghf 
af ffnif^^, Inasmuch the moon nm nm? io sf^f 
