July 20, igoi.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
46 
the same amount of grass; but wild horses; as a rule, do 
not feed in places in which rapacious animals can steal 
on them, but rather in open plains or prairies, and they 
are not usually liable to be attacked. I have read of 
colts of mustangs being seized by bears and prairie 
wolves; but that must have happened when stallions were 
not near by, for there is no more savage animal than a 
wild stallion, nor one that is better able to defend him- 
self; and I have no doubt one could readily beat off a 
bear if he were attacked by it. 
"Now, in addition to this habit of chewing the cud, 
many of the ruminants have been given other means of 
self-preservation. The female deer hides her young fawn 
in a secure place while she hurries away in pursuit of 
food, and when she returns to her offspring she has the 
faculty of withholding the scent so that her tracks may 
not be followed." 
"The moose brings forth her young often on an island 
in a lake," said Ralph, "so that her great enemy, the bear, 
may not destroy it; sometimes, however, he discovers 
her retreat, and usually, in that event, her calf is killed. 
She gives him battle, of course, and the blows she can 
strike with her sharp hoofs are far from insignificant, but 
he is too quick and crafty for her, and the calf is 
devoured." 
"I suppose the various rapacious animals attack their 
prey differently?" 
- "Yes," replied the Doctor; "the cat tribe, in which 
occur the lion, tiger, panther, and even our lynx, steal 
silently upon, their victims, and burying their sharp, re- 
tractile claws in them, drag them down." 
An old hunter, who has killed large game in Africa 
and India, says that liens, tigers and panthers kill in the 
same manner, usually by seizing the throat, and so drag- 
ging the beast to the ground. He says that he has found 
claw-marks on the withers when the kill has been a 
big animal, such as a water buffalo, showing that the 
beast had sprung on its back first and then buried its 
teeth in the throat. Death is caused sometimes by a 
broken neck, but more often, he is inclined to think, by 
suffocation. He once saw, in broad daylight, a panther 
seize a goat. It was the work of an instant; the panther 
rushed in, made a complete somersault with the goat in 
his jaws, then sprang up, dropping the goat, which lay 
still with a broken neck. Our American panther and 
lynx and the South American jaguar often lie concealed 
cn the large limb of a tree that overhangs the runways 
of animals and drop on them; there is hardly any escape, 
for the victims of the sharp, retractile claws of the savage 
beast are fixed on them. 
"What do you mean by retractile claws, Doctor?" 
asked Mrs. Murray. 
"I mean that Felidje, or cat tribe, have claws which 
are, when not in use, incased in a sheath. If you will 
examine the feet of your house cat you will find that the 
claws are completely unsheathed, and they are not un- 
covered unless the cat seizes a mouse or bird with 
them." 
"You are right," exclaimed Phoebe, who had taken the 
cat into her lap, and was pulling at its claws; "the sharp 
talons are completely enveloped by the tough skin." 
"Yes," continued the Doctor; "it is a provision by 
flature that they should be thus protected; for, if they 
were exposed like those of a dog, when their owner is 
traveling about, their sharp points would soon be dulled, 
and their prey would escape. Now, when one of these 
cats seizes its prey its claws recurve or hook themselves 
into its flesh and the marauder cannot easily be shaken 
off. The wolves, which hunt their prey in packs and 
run it down, do not need the sharp claws that the cats, 
which slyly steal and spring upon their victims, require. 
The fox secures his prey usually by strategem and by 
stealing upon it like a cat, and it is astonishing how suc- 
cessful he is in killing his game." 
"I agree with you. Doctor; the fox is a very destructive 
animal," said Ralph. "He can depopulate a large tract 
of game in the course of a year." 
"Yes," replied the Doctor; "Reynard is a pretty expen- 
sive denizen of our woods. He kills all kinds of game 
birds and animals; has been known to capture the fawns 
of the common deer, and his attacks on the farmers' 
poultry have rendered him an object of detestation. 
Some idea of his destructiveness may be found from a 
statement made by a correspondent of one of our Ameri- 
can periodicals who discovered a fox's burrow, and on 
partially digging it out he found in it four partridges, 
a large hen, and a woodchuck, Four days later he com- 
pleted the work of unearthing the family of five foxes, 
when he found eight partridges, three rabbits, and an- 
other very large woodchuck." 
"Well. Doctor," said Phoebe, when he had finished, 
"these animals, as you say, have their mission, and it 
seems to me that it is an injurious one, so far as we are 
concerned. All those you have named destroy other 
animals and birds which man needs for food and, conse- 
quently, they are working against his interests all the 
time." 
"You are in a great measure right," he replied. "If 
things were in their original condition the services of 
the rapacia would be unnecesary; but we have destroyed 
the equilibrium, have broken nature's balance, and this 
requires a readjustment, to meet the change. The best 
example of the evil effects of disturbing natural condi- 
tions is seen in the stocking Australia with European rab- 
bits. They have, owing to the favorable climatic condi- 
tions into which they have been introduced, by their 
enormous increase become a pest of the most destructive 
order. You see natuix's conditions were changed. Now 
we find that we more and more need as food the game 
which was intended originally as food for carnivorous 
animals antl birds. We cannot have woodcock and 
grouse, such as we shot to-day, if the woods are over- 
run with foxes and lynxes and other destroyers of game; 
and, in consequence of the increase of mankind, there 
would be no danger of too great a multiplication of these 
birds, even if they were unmolested by their old-time 
foes." 
"You are right. Doctor," said Ralph; "there would 
be no danger of the country being overrun by partridges 
even if every animal and bird of prey were destroyed; 
but the}^ have no peace now, and the wonder to me is 
thn* any are left." 
"Yes," was the reply; "the ruffed grouse is, in my 
opinion, although the most important and valuable of all 
the game birds of eastern North America, the species that 
IS most hunted and persecuted." 
"Your are right," said Ralph; "and I repeat the won- 
der is that any are left, and yet they are sometimes very 
tame, particularly those which have always been in the 
forests, far away from the settlements." 
"Yes," replied the Doctor; "I have no doubt that the 
distrust of man that we find among birds is acquired 
only after long persecution. Darwin affirms that the 
distrust is not acquired in a short time, even when they 
are much persecuted, but that in the course of successive 
generations it becomes hereditary." 
In treating of the tameness of birds before man has 
molested them Darwin mentions a numljer of species 
in the Galapago Archipelago which were astonishingly 
unsuspicious at the time he visited those islands, in 1835. 
He says: "This disposition is common to all the terres- 
trial species ; namely, to the mocking-thrushes, the finches, 
wrens, tyrant-flycatchers, the dove, and carrion 
buzzard. All of them approached sufficiently near to be 
killed with a switch, and sometimes, as I myself tried, 
with a cap or hat. A gun is here almost superfluous; 
for with the muzzle I pushed a hawk off the branch of 
a tree. One day, while lying down, a mocking-thrush 
alighted on the edge of a pitcher, made of the shell of 
a tortoise, which I held in my hand, and began very 
quietly to sip the water. It allowed me to lift it from 
the ground while seated on the vessel. * * =1= For- 
merly the birds appear to have been even tamer than at 
present. Cowley (in the year 1684) says that the 'turtle- 
doves were soi tame that they would often alight upon 
our hats and arms, so that we could take them alive; they 
not fearing man, until such times as some of our com- 
pany did fire at them, wherebv they were rendered more 
shy.' 
"These birds, although now still more persecuted, do 
not readily become wild. In Charles Island, which had 
then been colonized about six years, I saw a boy sitting 
by a well with a switch in his hand, with which he killed 
the doves and finches as they came to drink. He had 
already procured a little heap of them for his dinner." 
In conclusion, he says: "From these several facts we 
may, I think, conclude, that the wildness of birds with 
regard to man is a particular instinct directed against 
him, and not dependent on any general degree of caution 
arising from other sources of danger. * * * With 
domesticated animals we are accustomed to see new men- 
tal traits or instincts acquired and rendered hereditary, 
but with animals in a state of nature it must always be 
most difficult to discover instances of acquired hereditary 
knowledge. In regard to the wildness of birds toward 
man, there is no way of accounting for it except as an 
inherited habit. Comparatively few young birds, in any 
one year, have been injured by man in England, yet 
almost all, even nestlings, are afraid of him. Many indi- 
viduals, on the other hand, both at the Galapagos and at 
the Fallilands, have been pursued and injured by man, 
but yet have not learned a salutary dread of him. 
"Although we may well believe," added the Doctor, 
"that the distrust of man, which exists among animals 
and birds is an acquired habit, yet there seems a curious 
modification or relaxation of it at certain seasons of the 
year among game animals. Every sportsman has noticed 
that during the close season the moose, deer, etc., are 
tame and unsuspicious to a remarkable degree. In the 
open season, when they are legitimate prey for the 
hunter, they are almost unapproachable, yet at other 
times they will hardly move away at the approach of 
their enemy. There are curious traits yet to be explained 
in the lives of these animals, and the field for study is 
very large. But it is 10 o'clock," he added, "and Satur- 
day night, at that; we will have a quiet day to-morrow 
and no lynx adventure. We passed a little church on 
our way here, about a mile up the road. Are there to 
be services there, to-morrow?" 
"No," replied Mrs. Murray; "but there will be a week 
from to-morrow. Our preacher alternates between this 
and the next settlement, and it is their turn to-morrow." 
"Well, we'll rest quietly, then," he said; "and a quiet 
Sunday you will have no doubt in your little settlement. 
And now, good night, all," he added, as Mrs. Murray 
handed him his bed lamp; "good night, all, and pleasant 
dreams." . ^ . 
Egrgfs Hatched by the Heat. 
MiLFORD, Conn., July g.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
My farmer reports a rather curious incident in connection 
with my chicken business, A Brahma hen was due to 
hatch her brood last week during the heated spell. She 
had stolen a nest in a barrel which lay on its side in a 
distant corner of the yard. She hatched out ten chicks, 
and three eggs were bad, or supposedly so, and were left 
in the nest, when the hen was transferred to more com- 
modious quarters. My man passed the barrel constantly 
afterward in watering and feeding. He thought many 
times of throwing the three bad eggs away, but did not 
do so. It was exactly sixty hours afterward that in 
passing the barrel he found that one egg had hatched, a 
healthy chick lying there and calling loudly for food. 
Two nights and three days had elapsed. The tempera- 
ture during those days never went below 80 degrees _F. 
at night, and was doubtless over 100 degrees F. during 
most of the time. Morton Grinnell. 
No Sport About It. — "I see that the Cup defender Con- 
stitution takes trial trips on Sunday. _ Is it right to indulge 
in a sport on the day of rest?" "Trips in a Cup defender 
don't come under the head of sport. They are classed as 
dangerous scientific experiments." — Cleveland Plain 
Dealer. 
s 
Take inventory of the good things in this issue X 
of Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund was j{ 
given last week. Count on what is to come next 
week. Was there ever in all the world a more jt 
abundant weekly store of sportsman's reading? 2 
Fro;)rietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stkeam. 
A Mountain Lion Hunt. 
Leaving New York Dec. 24, we arrived in Denver the 
following Thursday. Upon making inquiries as to a 
good hunting ground, we were directed to Mr. W. R. 
McFadden, the taxidermist, and as a great part of his 
stock is game of his own killing, he is thoroughly com- 
petent to advise as to hunting grounds in all parts of the 
West. He recommended the town of De Beque, Colo., and 
as a guide Joe Crandall. We found Joe Crandall and also 
Lem, his brother (who went with us on our last trip), 
all right in every sense of the word. They are first-class 
hunters and guides, dead shots, and, moreover, gentlemen. 
De Beque, over the D. & R. G., fourteen hours' ride 
from Denver, took us through the Royal Gorge and gave 
us a view of some of the grandest of scenery. On our 
arrival we went at once to the De Lano House, kept by 
Frank De Lano, and were well entertained. 
Next morning we found Mr. Crandall, the guide, but 
were sorry to learn from him that he had lost his two 
dogs, without which it would be of little use to go after 
lions. Nevertheless we told him we should like him to 
take us out, and, if possible, to get other dogs. 
On our first hunt we went to Mr. George Newton's, 
about fourteen miles from De Beque, on what is called 
Roan Creek. Here we secured two dogs. But we met 
with no success; there seemed to be no lions in that sec- 
tion, and after four days we returned to DeBeque. We 
then got two dogs belonging to Lem Crandall — a fox 
hound and a large bloodhound, the latter not afraid of 
anything on earth — and with these went to what is called 
Wallace Creek, where there is a large ranch owned by 
Mr. Harry Rawlings. Here we hunted four days, but, 
although there were plenty of signs of lions, we again 
failed, for the fox hound was young and not accustomed 
to running alone, and the other dog was not trained for 
tracking. 
Once more we returned to De Beque empty handed. We 
were now somewhat discouraged, and were thinking of 
returning to the East, but just at this time a Mr. Ander- 
son, who had two lion dogs, came to town, and hearing 
of our failures, came to see us. He had such faith in the 
ability of his dogs that we concluded to try them and en- 
gaged him on the spot, recalling Mr. McFadden's ad- 
monition that we could surely get a lion if we only had a 
little "sticktrativeness." 
Joe Crandall had, in the meantime, left town in search 
of the dogs he had lost, and we engaged his brother Lem 
as guide. Lem thought tliat the Wallace Creek country 
was as good as any, and next morning we started for Mr, 
Rawlings' again, where we were met by Mr. Anderson 
with his two dogs. Trail and Drive, and Mr. Crandall' s 
fox hound. We found the first two all that their owner 
claimed. The next morning our party, consisting of 
Doctor, myself, Mr. Crandall and Mr. Anderson, started 
for the Big Alkali (this is a name given to a place in the 
mountains where there are several deep gorges running 
back five or six miles from the main trail). The distance 
traveled from the ranch was about fourteen miles in all. 
This was made on horseback in about three hours. We 
arrived at the hunting ground at 10 o'clock, and at once 
saw signs of game in the presence of lion and wildcat 
tracks. We started up what is known as the left-hand 
prong of the gulch, and rode along some time without 
finding any lion tracks that appeared to be fresh. There 
were plenty of old ones, and the dogs, who were leashed' 
together, would put their noses on them, look up, whine, 
as much as to say, "We can follow them if you will only 
let us go," but the guide thought them too old to be 
followed successfully, so we moved along up the gulch. 
About noon we halted under a big overhanging ledge; 
here we ate our dinner and then pushed on. We were on 
foot now, as it was too rough here for the horses. We 
concluded to untie the dogs and let them hunt for them- 
selves. 
We proceeded up the trail a mile further, and had ar- 
rived at a hillside where the snow had melted, leaving 
the ground perfectly bare, when suddenly old Trail gave 
tongue, telling us in good plain dog language that he 
smelled game, and as we knew from the nature of the 
ground it would be impossible for him to follow an old 
track here, we watched him with interest. The other 
dogs, not having Trail's powers of scent or intelligence, 
dashed here and there, adding their voices to his, but 
waiting for him to pick the course, which he carefully did. 
They were soon out of sight up the gulch, and getting 
along faster as the trail led into the woods, where the 
ground was covered with snow. They had been running 
perhaps five minutes, when all three redoubled their bark- 
ing, and we knew they had jumped the game or come up 
with it. We soon crossed the trail ourselves, and saw 
at once it was a lion they were after and a large one. 
Up the gully he ran for about a mile, then circling twice 
around the top of a small mountain, with the dogs in full 
cry behind, he came down toward the gully again from 
which he_ had started. On he came, until almost to the 
bottom of the gully, and not a hundred yards from where 
we were standing the sharp yelp of the dogs changed to a 
steady howl, and we knew the lion had treed. We found 
he had selected a large spruce, about two feet in diam- 
eter, standing on the hillside near the bottom of the gully. 
Creeping through the bushes to a point about seventy-five 
yards from the tree, we had our first good view of him. 
On a large limb, about fifty feet from the ground, looking 
away from us and toward the dogs, he stood, lashing his 
side with his tail, and presenting a sight which well paid 
us for our former failures. His position was not good for 
a dead shot, but thinking he was about to jump, I fired, 
the bullet striking him in the flank, passing forward 
through his body diagonally, inflicting a terrible wound, 
but one that would not have proved at once fatal. Had 
he jumped from the tree at this time we should, no doubt, 
have lost a dog or two, for he was not greatly disabled. 
As smokeless powder was used, he connected all his trou- 
bles with the dogs, but when struck he jumped to another 
