FOREST ANJb STREAM. 
28^ 
Experience with Wild Animals* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
As the talk concerning wild animals and their nature 
grows apace, it brings out more reliable information and 
becomes in turn more intersting. When the stories of 
our grandfathers' days began to appear again 1 thought 
the subject had as well be dropped if a rehash of tradition 
was to be the entire result. 
In those days we had witches and goblins, but they 
have receded before the glare of the torch of reason, even 
as the panther that was chasing a man on horseback 
was abashed by the glare of light through the open door. 
We all have our traditions which are dear to us because 
grandmother told them. And what grandmother told 
"was so, whether it was so or not," but tradition and 
histoTy have two separate and distinct places in literature. 
Let us be in earnest in matters of history. 
To clear up the fog that has gathered round the" sub- 
ject of animal nature, as well as many others, is a field 
by no means overworked. It is a ripe subject, and 
fakism is crowding into it from all sides. Fakism is even 
more insistent than tradition. The leading magazines of 
the country are nearly all dabbling in it more or less. 
Only last night I read a review which stated that some 
magazine had sent an eminent writer into the wilds to 
WTite up the beaver in his native haunts. This had been 
sxipplemented by sending an eminent artist to illustrate 
him. The article, which was to appear in a current num- 
ber,' was expected to be a stunner, and I can readily 
imagine it will be, if the reader chances to know any- 
thing of the subject. 
A good many years ago X spent three winters in a 
country where beaver were fairly plentiful. I learned to 
know their workings very well. One winter I caught 
thirty in steel traps. I spent much time prying about 
the;r dens and trying to pry into their secrets, but* the 
results were meager. About the only thing I learned was 
to doubt the assertion that they plaste.-cd up their houses 
with their tail. I do not believe a beaver uses its tail 
as a trowel othfer than as the tail drags in the mud as 
rhey move about. 
In three years I never saw but one beaver alive that 
had not been trapped, and he would have made a poor 
subject for illustration, as he lay far back in a dark den 
under the river bank, or as he shot, through the water 
like a fish. Yet these men are expected to go from the 
land of the effete East and find out all about beaver in a 
tew days. In my beaver experience they were quite 
plenty; now they are a rarity. I doubt if any great num- 
ber of beaver are congregated in any part of the United 
States. 
If the men had gone to some city park where beaver 
are kept they might have found out a Httle; in the wilds 
they can only vivify their imagination. The trouble is 
that what we don't know is so much more wonderful than 
what we do, that what we do know is lost in the shuffle. 
The greater part of what there is to learn of wild animals 
is how much of what we already know is false and with- 
out foundation in fact. 
Forest and Stream, with the aid of such correspond- 
ents as Wm. Wells, is in a position to advance the cause 
of truth in the matter. It is an unfought field. Let the 
good work go on. 
The grimace made by some of the sportsmen in swal- 
lowing recent game protective laws reminds me of one 
of Capt. Hurd's favorite yarns: A party went out for a 
camp hunt, and decided to draw lots to see which should 
do the cooking. Whoever drew the prize was to officiate 
until some one found faujt, and then the fault finder was 
to step in and do the work. The first dish at the first 
meal was soup. The first man to taste it looked blank 
and said, "well, if that ain't the dashety dashed mess I 
ever — but^^ but — er, I lik^ it first rate." 
E. P. Jaques. 
£lmo, Kan. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The efforts Forest and Stream is making, backed by 
the personal experiences of many practical hunters, to do- 
away with the old yarns of men being wantonly attacked 
by wild animals should meet with the success it deserves. 
I think, however, human nature likes to be harrowed by 
the blood curdling tales of furious combats between men. 
and panthers, wolves, snakes or even eagles and hawks. 
(For further particulars, see Philadelphia Sunday Times, 
of any date.) For my part, I think almost any animal 
will fight when wounded or cornered, but if given half a 
chance it will put as many miles of country between itself 
and the genus homo as possible. And this seems to be the- 
general opinion, though sometimes there are exceptions. 
Personally, I believe I've been in considerably more dan- 
ger from a savage old sow or cross-grained bull than I 
ever was from any other animal, though it's only fair to 
say that I have hunted more feathered than fur game. 
I had an adventure with an alligator, however, some 
eighteen years ago. which, for a few minutes, Avas rather 
exciting. 
I was in Florida at the time, and one morning a neigh- 
bor rode over to ask me to go out on the lake and shoot a 
couple of alligators in order to get their oil for rheu- 
matism or something of the kind. My boat was a small! 
double-ended alTair, just about capable of carrying two 
men. and in that we paddled out on the lake. I soon had 
a shot at a rather big fellow, hitting him in the back 
of the head and killing him, as I thought, as he turned 
over and waved one foot in the air. We ran the boat 
up to him, and leaning over the bow I was in the act of 
passing a line around him, when he came to life very 
unexpectedly, made a vicious sweep with his tail, just 
missing my head, and dove. My friend promptly backed 
water and the boat was some little distance from where 
he had gone down, when lie came to the surface and 
rushed at us, mouth wide open and displaying a fine set 
of teeth. 
I had picked up my rifle,, so fired directly into his mouth 
at six or eight feet. This shot laid him out again, and we 
got the line around him and towed him into shallow 
water, but when he touched bottom he came to life, for 
the second time, and before we could do anything to 
prevent he was half in our cranky boat. We would have 
been willing to get out. but the saw grass was full of 
snakes, and T couldn't shoot for fear of hitting Jim, but 
he ended the excitement by splitting the 'gator's head 
with his hatchet. That time he stayed dead, and we 
towed him down to the landing. 
I had shot lots of them before, and also aiter that 
adventure, but never knew one to show fight. And I 
don't know that that partictilar alligator knew what he 
was doing. He was doubtless stunned by the bullet and 
may or may not have charged with evil intent. 
I had a tamish episode with a mountain lion in the 
Sierra Madres four years ago. We had gone part of the 
way up Wilson's trail and were camping for a couple of 
weeks. There was a small, two-roomed frame house 
with a gallery along the front, and at one end I put up 
my tent, in which two of us slept, while my daughter and 
little five-year-old boy had- cots in the living room of the 
house. The weather was very warm and as the windows 
were covered (except one) with heavy wire netting, she 
only closed the doors at night, while we slept with the 
tent flaps open. 
I had been told that a pair of lions had been recently 
seen near there, but that didn't trouble any of us. Oiie 
day my daughter went down to the village to be gone till 
the following afternoon, leaving the little fellow to_ sleep 
in the house alone. Somehow that unguarded window 
was left open, and I was awakened by a crash of falling 
tinware in the kitchen. I dashed into the house, and all 
I could find was some tin plates and cups on the floor. 
I had no light except some matches, so couldn't see very 
well, but fearing the youngster might be frightened_ if 
he found himself alone, I gathered him up and carried 
him into the tent, where I soon fell asleep. 
Before long I heard another rattle-to-bang in the 
kitchen, and made a rush, catching up my hunting knife, 
and that time I heard a soft thump as an animal of some 
kind jiunped out of the window. Procuring a light from 
a candle in the tent. I discovered, as before, tin things 
all over the floor, and a leg of mutton gone from the 
kitchen, that had just been sent up. I at once surmised 
that a lion had been there, but in making his exit the 
first time he must almost have jumped over the baby. 
Fortunately he preferred dead mutton to live kid, or 
there would have been serious trouble in the camp. 
The next day When my daughter came back I told 
her of our visitor, and she expressed some objection to 
sleeping in the shack by herself, but as I closed up the 
open window and told her the beast could get in no 
other way, she was at length satisfied. Besides, I didn't 
believe it would come back, and wasn't sure that it was a 
lion anvhow. 
Wellj that night was dark as pitch, but I laid my rifle 
handy and would have stayed awake had it been possible 
to see. About midnight I heard a scream and rushed 
out, but a frightened girl was all I found. She said that 
she had been unable to sleep, and lay on her cot for 
hours. All at once she heard tlie floor of the gallery 
creak, and some heavy, soft-footed animal walking up 
and down, occasionally giving a snif¥; she lay still, hoping 
I was awake and would hear it, but when it presently 
reared up and putting its paws on the wire netting, looked 
in the room, her nerves gave way and she screamed. She 
had a good look at it, as its head was against the sky, and 
it was undoubtedly a m'ountain lion. I afterward made a 
pointer dog stand up on her hind legs under the window, 
but a person inside could not see her head over the win- 
dow sill. 
The next night I was resolved to get a shot. There 
was no moon, so we all moved into the house, and before 
tuning in I fried a bit of bacon and carried the pan out- 
side the house in order that the smell might float around, 
then spilled a trail of hot grease along the gallery up to 
the window, and hung what was left of the meat inside 
the netting. I then made a bed for myself on the floor so 
I could see the head of any animal against the sky. Well, 
I did this for three nights, and thought it a good scheme, 
but— the cat didn't come back, and I lost the best part of 
a good story. Clifford Morris. 
Easton, Md., April S, 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your discussion of the wolf and man subject remmds 
me of a verv effective painting which I saw in the art gal- 
lery of the World's Fair at Chicago. It pictured a winter 
night scene. In the distance was a cottage, the door 
open, and in the doorway, through which the light was 
StreaiTting. stood a woman looking out and watching, as if 
for the return of some one. And in the foreground was a 
wolf devouring the some one. It was all very gruesome 
and effective, but as the scene was laid in a foreign 
land we may not cite the artist's canvas as any evidence 
that in this country the wolves eat up the good man of 
the house when night overtakes him abroad from homt. 
Sarcel. 
Southern California Notes. 
Nordhoff, Cal., April 2. — Southern California, after 
passing through three excessively dry years, has been 
restored to previous condilions by heavy rains this winter, 
and now the surface of the country is covered everywhere 
'with luxuriant verdure and rich with pretty streams of 
ithe clearest water, thus insuring a good crop of -quail and 
plenty of trout in the near future. The first heavy rain- 
fall occurred about Nov. i8, a deluge of nearly half a foot, 
and ever since there have been spells of wet weather. 
My sleeping tent was leveled by a hard storm, and living 
in Ihe house since has been almost a new experience to 
me, for I had lived chiefly in the open air for twenty 
months. iBut one grows accustomed to the change. 
■Outdoor air, sent up from the sea and mixed with moun- 
tain sparkle, had been an elixir quite wholesome. 
The first downpour was nuts to pupils of the Thacher 
Schools in th,e Ojai, our valley. Every boy up there has 
-a pony. .Ml the creeks were dangerously flooded. Boys 
at Nordhoff were ambitious to get to the schools, and 
those at the schools just had to get to Nordhoff. There 
was a fine mix-up. Many had to go around Robin Hood's 
barn to make the trip. In a few instances horses accom- 
plished deep fords only by swimming. Then the head 
of the schools, at the end of a telephone, assumed charge, 
and some of the pupils were housed at the hotel near 
town ; others no doubt were closeted up there. Much to 
the joy of the valley people, who take great interest in 
the schools, an unusual sentiment, there were no mishaps 
except a few deliglitfuT duckings, a phase of the sport 
that makes this item strictly suitable for your paper. 
" For a week this winter the sprouting grain in the valley 
suffered from the presence of thousands of ban-tailed or 
collared pigeons, a"' variety not unlike blue Antwerps, 
specimens averaging a pound, and I crossed the creek 
one day to guard a piece of barley on the mesa beyond, 
only to find every tree, bush or ditch occupied by a gun. 
It was a wearisome wait then. Toward evening, flocks 
began to drop into the field from a nearby range of hills; 
but these assaults were warmly received by every man 
doing his duty. No large bags were made, yet it was 
lots of fun — for us. Perhaps those millions of passenger 
pigeons that used to visit the East in the "good old days" 
were something of a nuisance in spite of all the senti- 
mental regret we read in the papers; perhaps the good 
old farmer shed a tear or two with a better thought in 
mind when he saw the sprouting grain destroyed. 
California has just passed a new set of game laws. 
One feature of them is that they cannot be modified by 
county regulations. The open season for deer now begins 
Aug. I instead of July 15. If a dog chase or destroy 
game out of season his owner becomes liable. I have 
seen, only a brief synopsis of what has been done, but 
hope to get ftiller information. Ventura county, so far 
as I know, has not a game club. Santa Barbara and 
Los Angeles counties, though, have live associations of 
this kind, and these by rewards are doing a great deal 
to prevent illegal himting. Public sentiment everywhere 
favors rigid measures to protect sport. 
H. R. Steiger. 
A Bit of Buffalo Histoiy* 
Yuma, Ariz., April 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The following curious item appeared in the Citizen, a 
newspaper published in Tucson, Ariz., June 17. 1871 : 
"Time's wonderful changes never realized a more 
marked illustration than by the introduction of a bill in 
the House of Representatives prohibiting the indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter of buffaloes along the line of the Pacific 
Railroad, and providing for the preservation of the bison, 
which, under the present system of wanton destruction, 
would soon be exterminated. The author of this game 
preserving article, Mr. McCormick, of Arizona, informed 
the House that in passing over the Kansas Pacific Rail- 
road last winter he was snowed in, and for ten days the 
on\y food for about one hundred passengers was buffalo 
meat, and had this not been at hand they must all have 
starved. It is in view of the probable recurrence of cir- 
cumstances of the same character for years to come that, 
as a measure to preserve those animals, the bill was sug- 
gested and will be supported. When the idea of a Pacific 
railroad was first broached in Congress a quarter of a 
century ago, the opponents of the 'improvement' insisted 
that no railroad could ever be maintained on the plains 
for a single week, because of the herds of buffaloes that 
would trample the tracks and sleepers out of place and 
deep into the soil, and now, before the Pacific Railroad 
has been an actual fact for tlxree years, it is deemed 
necessa.ry to protect the buffalo that he may serve as 
food to the passengers crossing the continent over the 
very roads that his vast and roaming herds were to render 
an impossibility." 
The Mr. McCormick referred to is the Hon. Richard 
McCormick, then delegate to Congress from Arizona, but 
more recently delegate to Congress from the First Dis- 
trict, New York city. To Arizona then belongs the honor 
of having first introduced a bill in Congress for the 
preservation of the buffalo. Notwithstanding the fears of 
Mr. McCormick, Congress could not be induced to take 
action and prevent the total annihilation of the vast herds 
it was feared would trample a railroad out of existence, 
and which were themselves trodden out of existence by the 
iron hoofs of the very thing it was feared they would 
destroy. Pima. 
The Elk and the Sheep* 
Albany, N. Y., April 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Upon reading Judge Smith's "Appeal for the Wapiti," 
published in Forest and Stream of April 6, I am con- 
strained to join my voice in the protest which I hope 
may be effectually raised against the invasion of the Snake 
River Basin by those bleating besoms of destruction, the 
domestic sheep, and the consequent annihilation of the 
noble wapiti. 
While my acquaintance with the West is not as varied 
and intimate as that of many others, yet I have had some 
opportunities there to observe the results of the invasion 
of the game ranges by large bands of sheep. In my 
opinion Judge Smith's statement of the case is not ex- 
aggerated, and if the sheep come in, the wapiti and the 
ranchmen's cattle as well must go. In feeding over a 
range the sheep utterly destroy for that year the food 
resources of every acre they scarify with their cloven 
hoofs, and they also defile the country to such an extent 
that all game as well as other animals will avoid it for 
the season. 
Last auttimn, after traveling for several days into the 
game ranges of the Hoback's (or Fall) River Basin in 
northwestern Wyoming and encamping late one evening 
in what was known to be an excellent country for wapiti, 
we awakened the next morning to the discordant bleating 
of thousands of domestic sheep, which before our arrival 
had been bedded for the night within less than a mile from 
us. During our absence on a hunt our camp was over- 
run by the advancing horde. Upon our return the feed 
for our horses was gone and about all that remained of 
vegetation after the passage of the destroyers were the 
ashes of the camp-fire, and even those were polluted. It is 
scarcely necessary to say that no wapiti were found in 
that region. T had previously seen large tracts of coun- 
try which had been devastated by 'sheep, but this ex- 
perience impressed more deeplyiithan ever before upon my 
mind their destructive qualities. Small wonder that the 
Jackson's Hole settlers are fepdy to expel the woolly 
invaders vi et armis. If the combined action of sportsmen 
can accomplish anything toward preventing the sacrifice 
of the last small remnant of our noble wapiti to the sheep 
industry, I for one am ready to lend a hand. 
Chauncey P. WiluamSj ] 
