FOREST AND STREAM. 
t^EB. i6, i20t. 
season. A Wilson's snipe patrols the brook, a cinnamon 
teal feeds and swims about the little lake, while a soli- 
tary golden eagle views the valley from his lofty perch, 
now and then taking a sail to suit his fancy. 
A^ery few ducks passed this way during the fall migra- 
tion, although I saw some nice bunches of mallards down 
on White River in October. 
We have had an addition to our ava fauna within a 
month. It is a pair of English sparrows, the first I have 
seen on the Western slope, although there may be others. 
I have declared war on them, and they must go the way 
all pirates should go. Geo. A. Morrison. 
Emma, Col., Feb 1; 
— ^ — 
Proprieiurs of •hooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
■:bein in l<°ORKaT ahd bTKIAM. 
Notice. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to t>c Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual co'inecied with the paper. 
Discoveries in Central Africa. 
In a recent number of the London Nature is given an 
abridgment of interesting discoveries made by Sir Harry 
Johnson in the Uganda Protectorate and sent by him to 
the Royal Geographical Society. 
The explorer succeeded in making large and interesting 
natural history collections in that part of the forest which 
stretches from the basin of the Ituri River to the neigh- 
borhood of the Semliki. Here many photographs were 
taken of the curious dwarfs which inhabit the region, and 
of their dances, implements and dwellings. Two types 
of these dwarfs exist — one black-skinned, with a good 
deal of stiff curling black hair about the body, and one 
red or yellow skinned, with the hair of the head reddish 
and that on the body yellowish gray. Some of the 
dwarfs, especially the younger ones, have quite hairy 
bodies, and not infrequently the women are more or less 
bearded. They are remarkable for the large size and flat- 
ness of the nose, and they also have a very long upper 
lip, which is scarcely, if at all, erected. In this and in 
many other respects they are curiously ape-like, but on 
the other hand they are very intelligent, and notwith- 
standing their extreme ugliness they are usually cheer- 
ful, winning and graceful. 
Sir Harry Johnson has ascertained that in these Congo 
forests there exists a remarkable species of horse not 
hitherto known. Both gorilla and chimpanzee exist here. 
Some weeks were devoted to an examination of 
Ruwenzon. On this mountain snow was found at an 
altitude of 13,000 feet, and permanent snow at 13,500 feet. 
J^mong the animals collected near here were one new 
monkey, .a new hyrax (cony), and a new antelope, besides 
a number of birds, reptilesi and insects not previously 
known. 
Another Mammal Approaching: Extinction* 
Among the large mammals on- the verge of extinction 
is the Caribbean seal— the first seal met with by the 
early explorers of the new world. In a paper read not 
long ago before the Biological Society of Washmgton 
Mr. E. W. Nelson estimates that of this form there are 
now living not more than 100 individuals. 
Although one of the least known of North American 
mammals, not having been accurately described until 
1884, this is an animal of considerable size, and formerly 
had quite a wide distribution. Mr. Nelson had an op- 
portunity to observe it during a recent visit to certain 
islands in the Gulf of Campeche, to which the _seals ap- 
pear now to be restricted. They are unsuspicious ani- 
mals, sluggish, very easy to approach, and making no 
defense when attacked. While on the shore they com- 
monly lie on their backs basking in the sun for hours, 
although the heat was so intense that iron exposed to 
the sun became too hot to handle with comfort. 
These seals are killed for oil, which is sold for lubricat- 
ing purposes, and it is this killing that has so greatly re- 
duced their numbers. 
It will be remembered that a few years since a pair of 
these seals were brought to New York and for some time 
were on exhibition in the New York Aquarium. One 
oi them died some years ago, but the other lived and did 
well and is still on exhibition there. He is notorious for 
his practice of occasionally spurting water from his mouth 
at spectators. 
Winter Rotin in Quebec. 
Sherbrooke, p. Q.. Jan. 23.— I saw a robin to-day 
(migratory thrush), not a grosbeak. It was m full 
plumage, fat and healthv looking. About the end oi 
March we usually expect to hear the welcome song of 
returning robins, but a robin in January is rare in this 
locality. ^, , , , • u<- 
Coons are always rare around Sherbrooke, but one night 
last month a citizen heard a noise downstairs and de- 
scended armed for burglars. He found a coon m the 
kitchen— a real ring-tailed coon. How it got there or 
from whence, none can tell. The nearest woods is a mile 
awav and the temperature below zero all that week 
Jos. 
He Robbed Shooting- Camps. 
Last summer a number of camps in the Adirondacks were 
robbed and practically cleaned out of their supply of sporting 
goods, and a lot of complaints were made to the authorities by tbe 
owners of the camps, who asked that better protection be aftorded 
tliem. The conviction at the last term of court m St. Lawrence 
county of a man named Johnson, which was secured by the 
authorities after a hard legal battle, will, it is believed, put an 
end to such deoredations. The burglarly for which Johnson was 
convicted was that of the camp of Col. W. A Barbotir at the head 
of Tupper Lake on July 4. Suspicion pointed to two brotners, 
Elmer and Thomas j6hnson, of Clinton, the former an ex-convict 
and they were arrested. The detectives found that two men of 
their description had ridden sixty miles over the mountain road 
on their bicycles from Tupper Lake to Newton Falls and there 
expressed a package to Clinton. The detectives drover over the 
same road and found a man who had picked up a f^shmg rod 
dropped by the Johnsons. This was identified by Col. Barbour 
as his property. With this and other evidence, all of vvhich was of 
necessity purely circumstantial, the men were taken to St. 
Lawrence county, and their trial lasted six days Elmer Johnson 
because he was an ex-convict, was tried first. His brother is still 
awrkiting trial. With this conviction the authorities believe that 
the pillaging of shooting camps will be ended.— Adirondack Enter- 
prise. 
The Forest ahd Strkam is put to press each week on Ttiesday. 
Correspondent* intended for publication should reach hs at tJx 
tetert by Monday and u mueh «Bli«r u pnctickbl*. 
A Good Bear Story. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Having recently received a letter iu which is tuld one 
of the best bear stories I ever read, and feeling it is too 
good to keep all to myself, I will repeat it, first referring 
to the manner in which I received it, going to show how 
strangely events will entwine themselves around each 
other and reveal peculiar coincidences in a way least ex- 
pected. 
One af'.ernoon while seali'd i" a (rain not far from 
Johnstown there was introduced tu me a gentleman with 
whom I became engaged' in conversation, incidentally re- 
ferring to a then contemplated hunting trip to the West 
for l>ig game. During our talk he told me of a friend of 
his from Cleveland who had had a very exciting adven- 
ture with three .grizzly bears, and briefly mentioned the 
facts as he remembered them without stating Just where 
it had taken place. I thought little of it at the time, not 
having been given suflicient details to-make more than a 
passing impression on my mind. 
During the early part of October, however, in company 
with a couple of friends. I arrived at the Jackson Hole 
country, Wyoming, and, in accordance with previously 
arranged plans, went into camp on Slate Creek, near the 
foot of Mount Leidy, some forty miles south of Yellow- 
stone National Park, with S. N. Leak, of Jackson, as 
head guide. Any one who employs Mr. Leak will find he 
has obtained the services of one of the .most gentlemanly, 
agreeable and competent guides to be found anywhere. 
We spent a most delightful two weeks there, of which 
much might be written, but as this is to be a bear story, 
and as we were not fortunate enough to see any bears, I 
will pass it over by saying that we thoroughly enjoyed it 
all, riding up and doAvn the steep ridges, along edges of 
high precipices, through and over dead timber one would 
have thought it impossible to get over, climbing the high 
peaks, and last, but not the least interesting, securing our 
game, which in all amounted toi five fine elk specimens_ 
and four antelope, besides obtaining a nice collection of 
very interesting views of wild game and the Western 
countrj'-, some seventy-five in number. Not bad, we 
thought, for our first trip. 
One night, while "swappin' " the usual camp-fire stories, 
I gave the bear story, repeating the facts, as I remem- 
bered them, of the accident that had happened to the gen- 
tleman of Cleveland, and was greatly surprised to have 
our guide say that he knew of an exactly similar incident 
which happened to a hunter at a place just twenty 
miles west of wdiere we were then encamped. He knew 
the guide's name, but did not know of the name of the 
hunter. I thought it a strange coincidence in case it 
should be the same, and on my return, after securing the 
name and address of the gentleman in Cleveland, I wrote 
him, and asked for a full description of the incident, tell- 
ing him of what our guide had said, and also that he 
censured the other guide for having deserted him. I was 
pleased, and not a little surprised, to find on receiving 
his reply that it was the same incident, and that, while 
the story as I first heard it was merely given as having 
occurred "somewhere out West," a term known to cover 
a big part of the country, yet we had gone into camp 
within twenty miles of the exact spot where it had oc- 
curred. 
No clearer or more vivid description of the incident as 
it actually occurred can be given than by reproducing the 
letter just as T received it, so here it is. 
Cleveland, O., Jan. 6, 1901.— My Dear Mr. M.: You 
need never fear that a letter relating hunting experiences, 
however much space it may cover, will weary me. 
I began my big game hunting "way back" in '64, when 
buffalo were plentiful. I started to cross to the Rocky 
Mountains with a party comprised mostly of miners. Our 
party was attacked by Sioux Indians, corralled for about 
three weeks, surrounded by Indians, and finally rescued 
by a United States regiment. So you see my tribulations 
began early. Nothing can stir me to greater enthusiasm 
than the contemplation of these Rocky Mountain trips, 
unless it is the active participation. I have been to the 
Rockies so many times that I feel as if I kncAv them by 
heart. 
Well, to tell of the one experience I had with the three 
grizzlies. In the first place, I want to say that I in no 
way blame the guide. He had no weapon more deadly 
than a jackknife. We had left my other gun back by the 
horses— a foolish thing to do, as T have learned by ex- 
perience. Then, as he says, he told me to "run for the 
hill." I was too slow, and he was too far along for me 
to catch up, and when I did start, the bears were so near 
that I onlv took a dozen steps before they were at me. 
Now, as some one remarked. "It was better for one man 
to be chewed up than for two." It was a vei-y exching 
time, I can assure you, especially for me, and it was all 
done so quickly that I had no time to do any thinking. 
To tell in detail what you ask will have to be done at 
the risk of being long-winded. Our trip of six weeks 
would make a book, if all written up. our fishing and all. 
One of our partv caught a seven and one-quarter pound 
trout near the outlet of Jackson's Lake, and three-pound- 
ers were common. I had my setter along and had fine 
sport after the mountain grouse. 
We had been hunting elk from our camp, some twenty 
miles south from Jackson Lake. It was located on a 
small creek that ran north to the lake or river. It was 
a beautiful place for such a camp— good wa'er, good feed 
for horses, and wood everywhere. The elk we hunted 
invariably went to the very tops of the mountains, to the 
southwest of us, so two of our part}' of three, I and one 
other, concluded to take a guide each, our blankets, and 
an extra pack animal, and, by makmg a wide circle to the 
southward, get around the country where these elk were 
daily feeding. We were prepared to be out two or three 
nights. 
We started very early one morning and had a hard day's 
ride up and down places where one would hardly believe 
horses could go, and just about sunset were on top of 
the highest mountain in the range. We slept under a big 
pine, with a roaring fire near by. Before daylight the 
next morning we heard the elk bugling on every side. 
We had breakfast and then, as soon as we could see, we 
started in different directions, I, with my guide, going 
south from where we spent the night. We went over the 
very crest of the mountain, which was not over 200 yards 
from our camp. As we were descending, we heard a bull 
elk bugling. He was evidently coming up; so we hid 
behind a large pine near the same trail we were follow- 
ing, and soon saw his antlers over a small rise. He took 
a step or two more, and his whole head and neck were in 
sight. He was just iii yards from me down hill; we 
paced the distance. I fired, hitting him full in the center 
of the heck, and he dropped dead. Pie had a fine head, 
which we cut off and prepared for the taxidermist, then 
started back for a horse to pack it in. I was very 
anxious to get a fine specimen of a spike bull's head. T 
had any number of chances for other shots at a five-point 
bull and some six-point ones, but did not care to shoot 
them, when my guide pointed to a small herd of seven or 
eight elk slowly going up a steep ridge, and said one 
of them was a spike bull, and he told me which one. 
They were among some aspen, and I did not see his 
head. I let go at him, and he stumbled, turned down, and 
rushed at a break-neck pace downward. I fired three 
more .'^hots from m}'^ .45-90 Winchester at him before he 
disappeared over the ridge. We went to the top, and he 
was nearly dead, with all four balls in him, but he was a 
five-point bull, and I was sorry I killed him. We got our 
horse, brought in our head, and on the way in I shot 
three grouse. We spent several hours on the head clean- 
ing it, and about 4 o'clock cooked some grouse and had 
our dinner. Then I suggested that we follow the crest of 
the mountain to its end, about one-half mile from camp, 
and try for a shot at a spike bull. My guide took no gtm. 
He was whittling at a couple of elk's teeth he had taken 
from one I had killed. .A.t the place where we sat down 
to wait there was, about 500 yards below, a plain or park. 
The grade down was very steep, so much care would be 
required to avoid sUpping and tumbling the whole way. 
Behind us, at about the same distance, say thirty yards, 
was a patch of dense woods. Here we waited to try for 
our spike bull, should he come up from the park below 
to sleep in the woods. 
As we sat, I several times thought I heard something 
in the woods back of us, but the guide did not notice it, 
so we paid no attention. Suddenly we heard a large dry 
limb snap directly behind, and we both jumped up and 
saw an immense grizzly, on his hind legs, looking over 
the bushes directly at us. It was a beautiful shot. I 
aimed for his throat. I could easily have hit a silver dol- 
lar where he stood. Just as I was about to pull the trig- 
ger two more stood up beside the first, like three soldiers 
in a row. My guide .said, "Don't shoot; run for the hiU." 
I did not hear the last part distinctly, and, still pointing 
my gun, I looked around, and my guide was half way to 
ihe brink of the hill. Before I had time to think, the 
three bears, uttering what I called a bellow — it was so like 
a bull, but the guides called it a roar— started for me with 
a rush through the low bushes. I knew it was no use 
to shoot, so turned to run. Before I had gone a dozen 
steps, the bears were near me, making a fearful noise. I 
concluded I was done for any way. and turned quickly to 
shoot one of them if I could, but they were so close thai 
they were inside of the muzzle of my gun. It hit one on 
the shoulder, and the ball as I fired did not touch him. 
This one had me by my left leg in an instant, and fairly 
lifted me and turned me over so that the back of my head 
hit the ground. One other grabbed me by the side, get- 
ting the edge of my coat in her mouth, which so filled 
it she did not reach my flesh. As I went over my head 
must have hit one of the numerous stones that were 
around, for I was knocked out as clean as if McCoy had 
pounded my chin. This is all I know until I saw, as in 
a dream, the three bears quietly waddling off into the 
woods. I do not. remember getting up or picking up my 
gun, but I did get it; and, as I stood in a dazed condi- 
tion, I saw the head of my guide appear over the ridge. 
He asked me where the bears were. I told him. He 
asked me how badly I was hurt. I said I did not know; 
and as my left leg between my hip and knees felt as if 
torn to pieces, I did not propose to examine it until back 
at our temporary camp. When there, we took account 
of stock. My leg was bitten to the bone the first bite, 
the two long teeth cutting like lances. Then there were 
numerous places where it looked as if the bear had 
snapped at my leg, not getting full hold. Long, hard 
lumps about the size of a good-sized man's thumb were 
numerous. My leg from knee to hip turned black and a 
pectdiar brown color. The doctor thought l would have 
some abscesses as a result, but as I was in good shape 
they were absorbed, and I have no trouble save a lame 
leg. 
We slept under a pine tree that night, and got back to 
our permanent camp the next afternoon, but we had a 
very disagreeable night of it. as rain set in that turned to 
snow. One peculiar thing was that in the left pocket of 
my coat I had an aluminum match box, full of matches, 
aiid when bear No. 2 grabbed at me she bit through the 
coat, match box, and all, and fired all of the matches. 
They burned their heads oft" and went out. The box was 
all smashed out of shape. Two holes show where the 
long teeth went through, and prints of the small teeth 
ran along one side. 
I was interviewed by numerous curious people after- 
ward. One party, who was noted as a bear killed, said to 
me that not one link in the chain of events could have 
been left out and my life saved. His theorv was that 
I being knocked out and lying perfectly still the bear 
supposed I was killed and left. The bears had been eat- 
ing whortleberries, as we could see by stems and pieces 
of leaves left on my clothes, where they had bitten at me, 
so that they were probably not hungry. These bears do 
not ahvavs rush out and attack people as these did; but, 
according to "old bear hunters," this was their running 
season, and then a male accompanied by a female will 
attack anj'thing alive within range. Then the third was 
