Feb. i6, igoi,] 
FOREST AND « STREAM. 
12 S 
snow, rendering, in the old figure of speech, darkness 
visible. 
All has become still in the farmhouse. The occupants 
have sunk to slumber, lulled by the soughing of the elms 
above the roof. (Who that has thus been lulled to sleep 
has not a haunting recollection of it! In the deep silence 
of the countr}' how solemn and yet how soothing is this 
soughing of hoary trees!) 
With the darkness has come a sense of loneliness and a 
vague insecurity. Something tells us that man has no 
business now to be abroad. We take the hint and leave 
old Nox to his mysterious reign. F. Moonan. 
A New Way to the Pole, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
An admirable opportunity now presents itself for some 
resident of this country to win enduring fame for himself 
and the nation by equipping a polar expedition with such 
mechanical means for mastering the ice as the experience 
of previous explorers has proved to be expedient. 
Heretofore too much trust in mere chance, and the re- 
sisting power of wooden ships, has been relied on to 
carry navigators to the high latitudes with the chance of 
drifting to the Pole. Nansen's voj'age in the Fram ought 
to convince all who are interested in the subject that the 
plan of pushing into the ice of the Polar Sea and depend- 
ing on chance to drift the vessel to the Pole and back to 
open water is so unscientific and unpromising that it 
ought to be abandoned as a needless risk of life. One of 
the most important facts established by Nansen's venture 
is that a ship can be built that will sustain the utmost 
pressure that the ice of the Arctic Sea imposes on its 
sides. But a ship held in the ice is absolutely helpless 
when depending on any means that have thus far been 
provided for rendering it mobile. The resources of me- 
chanics have not, however, been exhausted in aid of the 
polar explorer, for the rational scheme of sawing a chan- 
nel in the ice by steam-driven saws has not been tried. 
No extraordinary engineering talent is required to con- 
trive comparatively simple and entirely feasible apparatus 
for use on a steamship by which the ice can be cut with 
steam power, and a way opened in which the ship carry- 
ing the sawing device can be driven through the heaviest 
ice and propelled to the Pole and back. 
The Russian proposal to force an ice-breaking ship to 
the Pole is as unreasonable, compared with the sawing 
plan, as it would be to employ men with mauls instead of 
saws to harvest ice on the Hudson. One man with a saw 
will make his way through more ice than a hundred men 
could loosen who tried to break it by the crude method 
of assault, as it were, with a club. A gang of large cir- 
cular saws projecting in front of a ship, on arms under 
control from the vessel, would cut the ice in strips paral- 
lel with the ship and enable the latter to break the strips 
into small cakes and move forward at a steady rate. 
The Polar regions appear to be the sole extensive re- 
maining ones which man has to explore. There may be 
no hope of reaching the South Pole, with our present 
knowledge, but there is a good prospect of attaining the 
North, if reasonable means be employed. It would be a 
creditable achievement, and there are hundreds of Amer- 
icans who would not miss the money required to defray 
the cost of the expedition. If this crowning maritime and 
geographical prize is to be American, no time should be 
lost in preparing for the voyage, as others might covet 
the glory. Edmond Redmond. 
RocHEsrER, N. Y. 
The Early Half Century FootbalL 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have just been reading some copies of the New York 
Times of ten years ago which describe from various view 
points the celebrated game of football between the Sopho- 
mores and Freshmen of Yale in 1850, when the Freshmen 
were for the first time in history victorious in two innings 
out of three. I was a member of that athletic Freshmen 
class, and am moved to allude to the game here just for 
the purpose of unearthing some facts which have been 
overlaid for more than half a century, and which, I may 
add. involve the origin of the rubber football as well, 
which same is not of record, I ween. 
Up to the year 1846 nothing but a "beef bladder" had 
ever been used on the campus on either side of the At- 
lantic, and I recall very readily the pains it required to 
knead, distend and gradually work it out so as to fit it 
for field service, and how we blew it up with a quill after 
it was placed in its leather case and laced up near the top. 
This was at Hopkins Grammar School in New Haven. 
Such a ball was necessarily oval in shape, and seldom 
if ever a sphere. It scaled and wabbled ungracefully 
whenever it took aerial flight. It was very light, too, and 
scarcely one-fourth of the weight of a modern football. 
It was at that school where (Gen.) Alfred Terry and 
Lester M. Dorman, the man who was selected to "cant" 
the ball at the memorable Yale game in 1850, obtained 
their manhood and soldierly training by processes and 
methods much more merciful and superior to those in 
vogue at West Point of late years. 
It was about the year 1846 that the great evolution in 
American rubber manufacture took place, and the same 
genius which conceived the improved rubber overshoes 
brought out the round rubber football, which was imme- 
diately adopted on both sides of the Atlantic as a welcome 
subst'tute, its only objection being its weight, though 
even this permitted of its being kicked to greater dis- 
tances than the beef bladder. It was cleaner, made no 
trouble and had more bounce. It was a live ball. It was 
naturally introduced at New Haven becaiise the Good- 
year factory was there. Charles and Robert, sons of the 
inventor, happened to be among my schoolmates in the 
early forties. In England it Avas first introduced at the 
First Grammar School in Birmingham by the late eminent 
Rabbi Raphall, who was resident in New York for many 
years previous to his death, Charles Joselyn being the 
principal. 
The original rubber shoe was a simple envelope of crude 
material set on a mould of the same shape as the foot of a 
sock, barely covering the instep. It was of a deep coffee 
color, and quite translucent when held to the sun, and 
vyas usually ornamented with scroll work on the front, as 
difJerent as possible from the shapely and improved vul- 
canized footgear which soon superseded it. Down East 
these overshoes were known as galoshes (Fr. galoche), 
and at the South as gums. "Walk in, stranger, and wipe 
your gums on the mat" was the customary salutation to 
a caller in wet weather. Charles Hallock. 
Mf. Robmsoii*s "Writingfs. 
It gives one a sad feeling to realize that we shall never 
see any more of Mr. Robinson's writings. Although I 
have never had the pleasure of seeing him, an acquaintance 
by letter for some years has made him seem to me like an 
old fri,end. In spite of his great affliction he seldom re- 
ferred to it, and his last letter, written only a few days 
before his death, was so bright and cheerful "that the news 
of his death was a great surprise to me. It was always a 
wonder to me how one who was blind could so accurately 
describe things he had not seen for years. I know of no 
writer who was so accurate, even to the smallest detail, in 
describing anything of which he wrote. When Cooper 
wrote of Indians, animals and birds, in spite of his 
fascinating descriptions his writings were full of errors. 
Even Thoreau was sometimes inaccurate, but I have never 
seen a single instance where Mr. Robinson made a mis- 
take. I know of no one who can fill his place in his 
particular line of writing. M. Hardy. 
Rapid Transit in the Arctic Circle. 
Surveyor J. M. Bell^ a nephew of Dr. Robt. Bell, chief 
of the Canadian Geological Survey, who surveyed Great 
Slave Lake in 1899, was left behind to winter at Fort 
Resolution, and then to pvish out to Great Bestr Lake in 
the spring. Evidently he preferred the comforts of civiliza- 
tion at Ottawa, for Dr. Bell writes : 
"He returned here about Christmas, having gone over 
an extraordinary amount of ground for one season, in- 
cluding a pm-vey of Great Bear Lake, part of the Cop- 
permine River and a new route back to Great Slave Lake. 
The journey from Fort Rae at the head of the 180-mile 
long northwest area of Great Slave Lake, back to civiliza- 
tion at the close of a big summer's work, was itself quite 
a feat. He thinks that some parts of the region he was over 
will be of great value for minerals, but it will require 
some Yankee enterprise to turn them to account." 
C. Hallock. 
"The Cottntry of the Horse*** 
That was a good little article by Frederick Irland on 
"The Country of the Horse." There was truly "horse 
sense" in it. His serving up of the newspaper rubbish 
about Roosevelt and a dangeroits mountain trail was ex- 
cellent. C. H. Ames. 
Panthers in Maine. 
Mr. C. H. Ames, who started the Maine panther inquiry, 
sends us the subjoined letter from a correspondent in that 
State, which describes the killing of one of the species. 
Mr. Ames writes that he is on the trail (or believes that 
he is) of another Maine panther. 
Brunswick, Me., Jan. 12.— Mr. C. H. Ames: Dear 
Sir — My attention has been called to your communica- 
tion in the last Forest and Stream on the subject of 
"Panthers in Maine." I think I can vouch for there 
having been at least one killed in this State, probably 
about the year 1845. This animal was killed in the, town 
of Sebago, which is situated in Cumberland county and 
about thirty-five miles northwest of Portland. I was at 
that time a boy of some seven or eight years, and my 
father kept a country store in the adjoining town of 
Bridgton. I perfectly recollect the animal being brought 
to my father's store and remaining on exhibition there 
for a few days. It seems to me that I can see him as 
plainly to-day as I saw him fiftj^ odd years ago, hanging 
by his hind feet from a wooden pin in a beam of the 
old low-posted country store, and his front paws nearly 
if not quite touching the floor. Since that time I have 
seen in menageries many animals variously labled as 
"panther," "cougar," "mountain lion," etc., and can 
recollect that this animal in respect to size, color, length 
of tail, and other characteristics, was apparently the same 
thing. Making all allowance for the exaggeration of 
my boyish eyes, he must have been a full-grown speci- 
men. At that time the "lucivee" or Canada lynx was 
very common in that section, and the wildcat (by which, 
I presume, is meant the bay lynx) was not uncommon. 
So it is hardly probable that any one would mistake 
either of them for a panther. The long tail, which I 
recollect as being as long proportionately as that of a 
common cat, would settle the question of species at a 
glance. 
Some twenty or thirty years ago I met one of the men 
who was in at the death of this animal, and he gave me 
an account of the circumstances. It seems that this man 
had been at work chopping wood late in the fall, and it 
coming on to snow he started for home in the middle 
of the afternoon, carrying his axe with him. On the way 
he fell in with a neighbor, who had been partridge hunt- 
ing, having with him a small cur dog, and armed with, of 
course, in those days, a single-barreled gun. As they 
went along they came upon the track of this animal 
where he had crossed the road a few minutes before, and 
taking up the track followed it up on to the side of a 
mountain for half a mile or more, where they found the 
panther up in a scrub oak tree. The man with the gun 
promptly fired a charge of shot at him, on which he 
jumped down from the tree, and running only a few 
rods, took up a position under the trunks of two fallen 
trees which had fallen across each other but were up 
a matter of two feet from the ground. The gun (like 
most of the guns of our youthful days) had its individual 
peculiarity, which was that the screw holding the hammer 
on was missing, and parties using it were expected to 
hold their thumb on the hammer to keep it on. In the 
excitement the man forgot to properly thumb the ham- 
mer, and it was lost in the snow, disabling the armament 
of the party. In the meantime the small dog, with more 
pluck than judgment, was skirmishing round the panther, 
but getting a little too near was gathered in with a swipe 
of the paw, and was having the life mauled out of him. 
The man dropped his gun and rushed to the rescue of the 
dog. He grabbed the panther by the tail (note the long 
tail again) and undertook to pull him off the dog. The 
panther promptly changed ends, and coming out from 
under the logs was proceeding to mix it up pretty lively 
with him, when a fortunate blow with the axe by the 
other man put an end to the fight. The man with the 
"tail holt" came out of it with some bad scratches, and 
not many clothes to speak of, but otherwise was un- 
hurt. Whether the dog lived to fight another dog, I do 
not remember. Certainly a small cur with sand enough 
to tackle a panther ought not to be cut off in his youth. 
I think the old gentleman told me that the skin of this 
animal was mounted, and after being shown around the 
country for a while was finally put in the Boston 
Museum. The animal was very thin, and his lips and 
nose were badly swollen, being full of porcupine quills. 
This may account for his not putting up more of a fight. 
So much for this panther. It may not be evidence 
enough to convince others, but I shall always be satisfied 
that the State of Maine is entitled to score one panther at 
least. Gardner Cram. • 
In the article "No Panthers in Maine" mention is 
made of panther tracks having been seen. The track 
of Felis concolor is in size and shape almost an exact 
counterpart of that of the Canada lynx. It often re- 
quires close scrutiny to distinguish the track of a big 
lynx from that of a panther. The stride is nearly the 
same, and owing to the fact that the ball and toes of 
the foot of the lynx are completely covered with fur, 
thus increasing, the size, and the spread of the toes great, 
the footprints in snow are much alike. 
The main difference is that the impression of the 
toes and ball of the foot in the lynx track are blurred 
and indistinct, owing to the fur, and the heel mark runs 
more to a point, while the footprint of the panther is 
clear cut and perfect, the heel mark being broad. Neither 
track will show any claw marks on level ground. 
The big timber wolf has a track much like a panther, 
but the two middle toes project further ahead, making the 
footprint pointed instead of round, and the claw marks 
show. Wm. Wells. 
I noted with interest the article by Emerson Carney — 
"The Fear of Wild Animals." I cannot certify to an 
instance where a man was attacked by a "painter," though 
I know a trapper who bears a niimber of ugly scars that 
were evidently inflicted by teeth and claws. The man 
lives in Colorado — ^or did when I met him— and either 
the wounds were inflicted by a mountain lion or the 
man is a liar — I am unable to determine to a certainty. 
When he told me the story. I did not feel disposed to 
express any doubt, and while I might perhaps do so 
with greater safety, at this time, I still believe that his 
statement is true. While I was in Stuart, Id., in the fall 
of '99, a child four years of age was killed by a lion on a 
ranch up Maggie Creek, about four miles from the vil- 
lage. The killing occurred in daylight and within a few 
rods of the ranch house. I do not imagine that Mr. 
Carney had the lion in mind when he referred to panthers, 
though in many places they are alluded to an "painters." 
I have reason to believe that in both of the cases above 
mentioned the assault was made by a brute who mistook 
his prey. Counselor. 
Colorado Winter Bird Notes^ 
The Canada jays — or, as they are known here, the 
camp bird — have this winter sought a lower altitude than 
usual for some reason. 
So far several have spent the season in the valley, and 
one or two in particular have visited the house regularly 
every day for scraps thrown from the back door. Old 
residents say they have never seen them in the valley 
before. 
Every hunter in the Rockies knows this bird, for he 
introduces himself within a few minutes after camp is 
made, and makes himself right at home. 
In the timber, he has a variety of whistling notes that 
are sometimes startling in their plaintiveness ; then he 
gives you that laugh, very human, as he peeks and pries 
around. A companion whistles, he answers and is away. 
Who ever heard a bluejay warble? Nonsense! You 
don't mean to say a jay, one of those noisy, boisterous, 
scolding fellows, can sing ! Yes, that is the very same 
fellow. The first time I heard one was early in January 
a year ago. I was at the spring house. It had snowed 
for several hours, and the sun was just breaking through the 
clouds. The side hill was all aglow, when I suddenly 
heard a strain which I thought came from the throat of a 
catbird. 
I got up and looked all about for the "early arrival," but 
could see no signs of life save a long-crested jay that 
was hopping about among the scrub oaks just above rne. 
He stopped, the throat swelled, and the song came again, 
and still again, and I was mightily glad to have heard it. 
Before the winter was over I heard the little song sev- 
eral times. It consists of two or three strains of perhaps 
a dozen or more notes, and is as soft and well modulated 
as that of the catbird in its most amorous mood of a May 
morn. I have heard the little song but twice this win- 
ter, but it's the same sweet bit of melody. 
Just now, as I write, I can hear a group of these birds 
by the brook, chattering, scolding and laughing as they 
sport among the shrubbery. This bird also has another 
note that is mightily deceiving. It is a perfect imita- 
tion of the scream of the red-tailed hawk. Many a time 
I have looked high in the air upon hearing the scream, to 
locate the hawk in its widening circles, when, not finding 
it and coming back to earth, I have located the source of 
the scream in a long-crested jay, hopping about the oak 
brush. 
I saw a flock of about 100 Bohemian waxwings on Jan. 
29. Their flight was as erratic as that of the snowbird, 
but they always moved as a solid phalanx. 
There are but fevv straggling visitors here this winter 
