S46 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tMAir 4, igot. 
Cutting: the Rattles Off a Live Snake. 
Editor Foresl and Stream: ^ 
"Experiences with Wild Animals" reminds me. It was 
on a hot August day, and we were driving up the side 
of a Blue Ridge mountain. It was a long, hot, dusty 
pull, and we were giving the horses their own way, and 
they were making haste slowly with their heads well 
down. 
A short distance ahead at the side of the road I espied 
a rattlesnake, fully grown and stretched as straight as a 
ruler upon the dusty roadside, its head being covered by 
some leaves. As we neared the reptile it did not move or 
show any signs of life, although the horses stepped within 
a few inches of its numerously buttoned tail. Coming to 
the conclusion that the snake had been perhaps stoned by 
some previous passer by, I was seized with the desire to 
secure the rattles as a trophy, and reaching for my jack- 
knife, expressed my intention of jumping out then and 
there and securing them. My older companion refused 
to pull up the horses, and held me in the seat, advising 
that I leave the rattles alone until we returned along the 
road later in the afternoon. I carefully marked the spot 
by a dead and fallen chestnut tree. 
In due course we on our return journey reached the 
spot. We pulled up the horses at what we were certain 
was the place whsre the snake lay dead, but nothing was 
tliere. I jumped from the wagon and walked a few feet 
ahead, and there sure enough was the trail of the serpent 
in the dust as he had crossed the road after his nap and 
glided down the ravine. A momentary chill went down 
my back as I .stepped into the Wagon, and then I pictured 
myself grabbing for the buttons on the snake's tail and 
those rattles springing suddenly into life, an instantaneous 
coiling of a, mottled bidy, an uplifted ugly head from 
within the coiled body and — a wild race to town for 
whisky. Charles Cristadoro. 
St. Paul, Minn. 
The Red Squirrel* 
The red squirrel is popularly credited with a taste for 
bird eggs and nestlings, and is for that reason regarded 
as a nuisance. In our issue of last week Hermit com- 
bated this view, and related incidents which had come 
under his own observation tending to show that the squir- 
rel was harmless in its relation to the birds. In com- 
ment on this a correspondent writes : I have carefully 
read Hermit's article. He is usually a close observer, but 
I wonder that he gives a red squirrel such a good char- 
acter. A red squirrel is much worse than a weasel, as he 
destroys more young birds and eggs, and does no good 
catching mice as a weasel does. I know surely that a 
squirrel will take large young robins from the nest, taking 
one after another till all are taken. I have seen one rob- 
bing the nest of a chipping sparrow close to the window 
of a house in a large village. Very often in June red 
squirrels come in numbers into our villages for no other 
reason which I can think of except to rob the birds' nests, 
which are more plentiful close to houses than in the 
w^oods. They are cannibals, as they will eat each other. 
I have dozens of times had one eat another which had 
got into traps set for game. They are a perfect nuisance 
in sable lines or among mink traps, as they will come 
to a meat bait much quicker than a weasel, as the weasel 
prefers to catch his own food. It is nice to have a weasel 
around a camp, as he will drive off the mice and squirrels ; 
but a squirrel will destroy your provisions and eat holes 
in every bag, and even in one's clothes. I have studied 
them carefully, and consider them the most bloodthirsty 
villains we have in the woods, not excepting a mink. I 
like to see them, and never hunt them, but lots of things 
laid to crows are their work. 
^ug Httd ^nn* 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Experience with Wild Animals. 
Grand Rapids, Mich., April 22— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have been much interested in the articles 
regarding dangerous wild animals, and send the follow- 
ing incident as additional evidence of the fact that bears, 
at least, are not so black as they are painted. The story 
is a sort of tradition in the family, and for personal 
reasons I do not wish my name to appear in connection 
with it, but I am willing to vouch for its accuracy. 
It was when the Tonawanda Creek country in the 
northwestern part of New York State was mostly a 
wilderness. My great-grandmother was the wife of_ a 
pioneer there, and among other belongings they had a nice 
young pig confined in a log pen near the house. Early 
one evening, before the men had returned from their 
day's work in the woods, the good woman heard a terrible 
squealing, and what was her surprise, on going to the 
door, to see a large black bear attempting to get the pig 
out of the pen. Without thinking of danger and intent 
only on "saving her bacon," she seized a small fire shovel 
and charged the bear, which immediately dropped the pig 
and made for the woods at his best pace. The bear in 
this case was evidently hungry, and I have always been 
quite proud of this evidence of courage in the family, but 
the outcome shows that the element of danger was entirely 
wanting. A. J. S. 
Boston, Mass., April 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Reading Mr. Adam Moore's letter in last week's Forest 
AND Stream moves me to remark that there are excep- 
tions to all rules, and here is one of them : 
One quiet Sunday morning in December about twenty- 
seven years ago I was crossing a tamarack swamp in the 
Province of Quebec. About a foot of snow had fallen the 
day before, and I was driving a quiet old horse hitched 
to the forward half of a bob sleigh, on which I sat with a 
buffalo robe for cushion and covering. Ahead of me I 
saw a big caribou cross the wood road and stop in the 
open. I drove up, and when opposite the caribou stopped 
at about 30 yards distance and looked him over. As the 
beast stood perfectly undisturbed and seeming to be much 
interested in my team and myself, I got off the bob and 
walked toward him. He did not budge, and when I got 
to within about ten or fifteen yards 1 stopped and threw a 
snowball at him to see him run-. I saw him all right. He 
ran, but the wrong way, for with two or three snorts and 
after pawing the snow like an angry bull, he trotted right 
at me, and I ran, too, for mj^^ sleigh, and called "Get up" 
to my old horse. After we got started the caribou ran 
alongside the horse for nearly a quarter of a mile, until 
the road entered some big woods, when I lost sight of 
him. 
Now I had no weapons, not even a pocket knife or 
whip, and perhaps the caribou knew it, or he may have 
been attracted by the horse, or the fact that it was Sun- 
day may have encouraged him, but any way he did not 
act as he ought to have done according to the rule of Mr. 
Adam Moore. 
I will add that it was a very large caribou, without 
horns, fat and in fine condition, and as my horse was a 
sleepy, slow fellow and would only just jog in the snow, I 
had a chance to admire the clean, active steps of the 
caribou as he slowly trotted alongside, distant about 20 
feet in the frozen swamp. The snow did not bother 
him in the least. M.-\ttapan. 
CHICAGO AND THE WE: T. 
Snipe Season a Fai'ure. 
Chicago, 111,, April 27. — The snipe season in this part 
of the country is by all accounts a complete failure, and 
in fact there has not been one decent bag reported which 
one can believe to be of authentic nature. Upon the 
other hand there are a great many shooters who have 
been out and who bring back stories of little or no suc- 
'cess. The birds seem to be well below this latitude, if 
indeed there is to be any flight at all this spring. Last 
Thursday settled the matter for this State, and although 
there is a general belief that one cannot be prosecuted 
in Indiana for killing snipe, under the terms of the new 
law. there are only a few who care to change it. Between 
the non-resident license law, the involved construction 
of the new statute, and the strict Sunday law which the 
average Jndiana warden this spring has no hesitation 
about enforcing, it requires a certain amount of hardi- 
hood to enable a Chicago shooter to go out after the 
elusive jack snipe within the confines of the dark and 
mysterious State of Indiana. The average Chicago shoot- 
er is this week consoling himself with the fact that the 
birds are lean and wild and not very good to eat anyhow. 
It has been the best spring for ducks in fifteen years, 
and thus far about the poorest for jack snipe, although 
this latter phase of the shooting season is contrary to 
reason and expectation. , 
There has been no golden plover flight of any conse- 
quence, according to the reports of those who have been 
out west and northwest of the city. Hon. Hempstead 
Washburne spent the last day of the season on the 
marshes west of Evanston with a team, four dogs and 
two companions, and he saw absolutely not one single 
jack snipe, although he found the ground good and 
passed over a wide strip of country. He met two young 
men who said that they had been out all day and had 
seen just three snipe, or three apparitions which they 
took to be snipe. The season ended very dismally for 
this part of the country. E Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, III. 
Non-Resident Licenses, 
Portland, Ind. — Editor Forest and Stream: It seems 
that the State of Indiana has put her foot down hard on 
Chicago sportsmen. Well, what is sauce for goose should 
be sauce for gander. For some years now Indiana lovers 
of the, chase have been practically shut out of the deer 
range. A sportsman who does not like a scatter gun can 
sit at home and nurse his grievance, realizing at the same 
time that the law that would not hesitate to lay' a heavy 
hand on him winks at all rnanner of transgressions by 
resident shooters. I have no ill-feeling for Chicago sports- 
men, though in the past they took many of our wildfowl 
and hooked our finest bass; but wouldn't I like to get a 
grip on Milwaukee! I wouldn't do a thing to those fel- 
lows 1 Oh, no ! Come over, gentlemen, and get some 
of our birds and bass. Be neighborly. 
The last time I was in Wisconsin I killed one deer and 
a few grouse and rabbits, and was then advised that a 
non-resident license law would be enacted. The parties 
Avho thus informed me that they intended to protect their 
game against non-residents were hounding deer every day 
in violation of law, and they were prominent citizens of 
Milwaukee, too. 
Well, they gave it to us good and strong — a $30 license 
for two deer. Then Michigan followed, and if she had 
put it $10 for two deer instead of $25 for five, she would 
have received our blessing. No hunter should kill five 
deer in a season, and it is the opinion of the undersigned 
that no hunter should be deprived of the God-given 
privilege of hunting in season, nor restricted beyond 
reason. G. W. Cunningham. 
Bigf-Gttns. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I was much interested in your quotation in the Forest 
and Stream of an account of shooting ducks with a punt 
gun. 
That is strange reading to one who knows the big-gun 
fowl shooter only as the outlaw of the Chesapeake. And 
yet from the standpoint of true sportsmanship, if we take 
into account the arduous nature of the pursuit, the 
physical exertion, the caution, patience and self-control 
requisite, we may readily concede that as an achievement 
successful punt gun shooting ranks quite as high as the 
art of lying hid in a blind and potting decoyed fowl. And 
there is good reason to believe that if our coast shooting 
conditions were like those of Great Britain, and the con- 
ditions of the game supply similar, the use of the swivel 
giin would be as legitimate here as there. Battery, 
Jefferson Cottnty Association. 
The Jefferson County Sportsmen's Association, of 
Watertown, N. Y., is bound that the game laws shall be 
lived up to, and with that end in view at a recent meet- 
ing a resolution was adopted offering a reward of $25 
for information which might lead to the conviction of any 
person violating the amended game law relative to the 
shooting of web-footed fowl during the close season. 
The law as amended provides that no web-footed fowl 
shall be taken in any manner between the first day of 
February and the first day of September. Before being 
amended the season for shooting or taking of this kind of 
fowl game was extended from Sept. i to May i. 
Another resolution was adopted offering a reward of 
$10 for information which might lead to the arrest and 
conviction of any person shooting pickerel at any time. 
In years past it has been customary for many persons to 
frequent Black River Bay and shoot large numbers of 
these fish in a single day, and few years have passed when 
arrests have not been made. 
This move by the Association will doubtless cause the 
slaughter of pickerel to be stopped. 
Water Killing Deer in Ontario* 
MiLTON, Ont., April 2Z. — ^Though the Game Commis- 
sioners in their report recommended the prohibition of 
killing deer in the lakes, which meant the forbidding of 
hounding also, no action was taken. I am afraid the 
slaughter next season will be heavy. 
Wm. Panton. 
100 $pomitten'$ find$. 
Some of the Qtieer Discoveries Made by Those Who Are 
Looking for Game or Fish. 
58 
Cornelius Evans, while fishing near Easton, Md., 
caught an unbroken and uncorked jug, which had 
small oysters and barnacles attached to the outside. When 
Mr. Evans poured the water out he found there was 
something alive inside the jug and too big to be got out 
through the jug's neck and mouth. The only way to 
find out certainly what was the live thing was to break 
the jug, and when this was done a large, fat, and healthy 
toadfish, or dowdy, or miller's thumb, as it is variously 
called, tumbled out. The fish had evidently slipped into 
the open mouth of the jug when young and small, either 
when looking for food or as a place of refuge when pur- 
sued by an enemy. Finding comfortable quarters it was 
content to stay there. A current would naturally flow 
past and into the jug's mouth, bringing an abundance of 
fish food. — Baltimore Sun. 
59 
"Some of the richest gold mineS' in Colorado were • 
stumbled upon in the most accidental way," said a miner. ■ 
''When the gold fever was at its height several years ago, 
a party of prospectors traveling through the mountains 
came upon the dead body of a man lying beside the trail. 
'Poor fellow,^ said one of the men, 'he has passed in his 
checks; let's give him a decent burial.' They accordingly 
began to dig a grave. Three feet below the surface they 
discovered signs of gold. The stranger was buried in 
another place, and where they had located a grave a gold 
mine was opened up which turned out to be one of the 
richest claims in that section of the country. The mine 
was named '.Dead Man's Claim.' Another instance is 
where an adventurer who drifted into Leadville awoke 
one morning without food or money. He went up into 
the mountains and shot a deer, which in its dying strug- 
gles kicked up the dirt and disclosed signs of gold. The 
poor man staked out a 'claim' and opened one of the 
most profitable mines ever worked in Colorado." — St. ' 
Louis Globe-Democrat. 
Norton*s Barn. 
It was long^ and dark as a winter's night, 
And the old roof arched to a lofty height; ( 
Like tawny ribs the rafters loomed 
In the high old top where the swallows roomed ; 
While down below was the mow and bay, 
In summer void, but filled with hay 
When the chilly days of winter fell — 
The winter days that we loved so well! 
The square old beams with their coats of dust, 
The gray barn doors with their reddish rust 
On hasp and hinges, quaintly wrought, 
By the village smith from iron brought 
In English ,ships of the long ago — 
Do you remember how we'd go 
To Norton's barn on a rainy day 
And hide and seek in the tons of hay? 
We walked the beams in the dusky loft, 
Or jumped to the depths of the haymow soft. 
And burrowed deep m the yielding straw 
Till the frightened cattle thought they saw 
The robbers come from their caverns deep, 
And phantom ghosts from the roof-tree leap! 
We dug us holes in the rustling hay. 
Where the hired men fell in sad dismay. 
And the fussing hen who hid her nest 
And thought us a bothering childish pest I 
How proud she was when at last she found 
A nest that 'scaped our searching round! 
The lame old horse with the hungry maw. 
We fed him to oats when no one saw — 
How we pick'd the lock on the grain box tight -i 
And call'd it "Robbing at dead o* night 1" j I 
O Nortdh's barn I I see thee still. 
Homely and quaint on the side m the hill, 
With weather stains, and knotholes shot, 
A rickety, cranky, queer old lot — S 
But to my boyish mind of old 
A castle fit for a baron boldl 
And the boys and girls who used to play 
At hide and seek — oh, where are they? 
—J. Otis Swift in Springfield Republican. 
Address all communications to th& Forest and 
Stream Publishing Company. 
