FOREST AND STREAM. 
(Aran, la, 1902. 
brown with a white rump patch, and a broad whitish 
band on the lower part of flank behind shoulders which 
rapidly narrows backward and is lost in the general dark 
color. Below this white band is a dark band. The top 
of shoulders and neck are light gray, the breast is dark 
brown, the belly white, the msides of thighs white and 
the backs of the legs whitish. The tail is white with a 
dark band on its upper surface which runs thourgh the" 
white rump patch and joins the dark at the back. The 
female is considerably lighter than the male. A six- 
months' old calf is very much lighter than the female, 
the dark areas seen in the adults being so hidden by the 
long white tips of the hairs as to appear merely like 
a clouding of the white skin. The two calves have 
spike antlers still carrying the velvet in November. 
The collector's measurements, which Dr. Allen gives, 
shows Grant's caribou to be very small compared with 
any of the woodland species, and yet to have a tail 
longer than the mountain caribou, though that is a very 
much larger animal. The skull of Grant's caribou re- 
sembles the Greenland caribou, but is smaller with longer 
nasal bones. It is much smaller than Stone's caribou, 
and its antlers are strikingly different. 
The Opossum's Bad Name. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Perhaps you will answer this request for information, 
or give it place in your columns, so that your army of 
sportsmen and naturalists may give their testimony. 
Staten Island swarms with opossums. It is claimed 
by some persons that these apparently^ harmless animals 
kill and eat chickens and other domestic and wild birds ; 
also that they catch and eat our wild rabbits (hares). 
Are these statements founded in fact? I have seen 
numbers of opossums in my hunts and woods walks, and 
their behavior has always been mild, and their offensive 
tactics limited to noiselessly opening and shutting a noi 
very dangerous-looking mouth. Yesterday my little thir- 
teen-inch beagle killed one weighing 'seven pounds, and 
the opossum did not attempt to fight. My observation 
of these animals led me to believe them logy, low- 
spirited and harmless. Didelphys. 
Port Richmond, N. Y. 
[Perhaps there is no familiar beast — unless it be the 
common rat or weasel — that has a worse reputation 
among poultry raisers than the opossum. _ It is called 
chicken thief and egg stealer, and it is certainly true that 
opossums are frequently found and trapped in the vicinity 
of chicken coops and hen houses. Yet it is impossible 
to conceive of an opossum running down and catching a 
lively chicken, and still less of his steeplechasing across 
the country after a cottontail rabbit. We regard the 
question asked by our correspondent as extremely perti- 
nent. Who ever saw an opossum catch a chicken, or 
found one feeding on a freshly killed fowl? That the 
opossum will eat the eggs and nestlings of wild birds, and 
will rob the nest of the setting hen cannot be doubted, 
and its reputation has probably been earned by evil deeds. 
Yet all naturalists would be glad to have some definite 
information as to the basis of fact on which the opossum's 
bad name is founded — whether this animal does actually 
kill chickens. The food of the opossum is supposed to 
consist largely of insects, with fruit in its season. They 
are very slow and inactive animals.] 
Montana Buffalo. 
Montana to-day is a great buffalo ground of the United 
States — if such a term can be used about any portion of 
the country. The AUard herd is said to number about 
180; C. W. Conrad & Co., of Kalispel, have between 35 
and 40 head, and there are a few buffalo, perhaps 25 in 
all, in the Yellowstone National Park. 
The Allard herd, belonging to the sons of Charles Al- 
lard and to Michel Pablo, has been reduced in numbers 
by the selling of bulls for beef and to taxidermists, but 
it is not probable that any cows have been sold. There 
are said to be a number of mixed bloods in this herd. 
Mr. Conrad's herd includes seventeen cows, and last 
year he had nine calves. All the Conrad buffalo are 
full bloods. 
There was a recent sale of six bulls to Frank Tol- 
hurst, of Livingston, Mont., and to Howard Eaton, of 
Medora, on the Little Missouri. Messrs, Eaton and Tol- 
hurst went to the St. Ignatius Mission and thence to 
where the buffalo were herded .on the west side of the 
Pend d'Oreilles River. With a good deal of trouble the 
buffalo had been rounded up there, but it was not easy to 
hold them when the company of strangers who were to 
do the butchering reached the ground. However, after a 
little difficulty a bull was shot by Mr. Eaton, but he 
turned and charged the men, most of whom took to the 
trees. Tolhurst, however, stood his ground and killed the 
bull when very close to him. Six young bulls were 
butchered, and all were very fine specimens. The heads 
and hides were 'taken off and freighted to the railroad. 
Mr. Tolhurst will mount these specimens — three for Mr. 
Eaton and three for himself. It is said that he has con- 
tracted for two large bulls in the Allard herd to be 
killed next winter. 
PUBLISHERS' DEPARTMENT. 
Washington. 
THREE-DAY PERSONALLY-CONDUCTED TOUR VIA PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD" 
The next Pennsylvania Railroad Personally-Conducted Tour to 
Washington leaves Thursday, April 17. Rate, covering railroad 
transportation for the round trip, hotel accommodations and 
guides, $14.50 from New York, $13 from Trenton, and $11.50 from 
Philadelphia. These rates cover accommodations for two days at 
the Arlington, Normandie, Riggs or Ebbitt House. For accom- 
modations at Regent, Metropolitan or National Hotel, $2.50 less. 
Special side trip to Mt. Vernon. 
All tickets good for ten days, with special hotel rates after ex- 
piration of ho**l coupons. 
For itineraries and full information apply to ticket agents: 
Tourist Agent, 1196 Broadwav, New York; 4 Court street, Brook- 
lyn; 789 Broad street, Newark. N. J.; or address Geo. W. Boyd, 
Assistant General Passenger Agent, Broad Street Station, Phila- 
delphia.— A dv. 
Two prime essentials to the provisions that the camper takes with 
him on his outings are lightness and concentration. These, we are 
told, are found in Egg Flake, advertised by the Pure Food Co., 
which is the whole egg evaporated. It is not a substitute, but the 
real thing.—/, dv. 
<8> 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Streak. 
Duck Roosting in Big Bay, 
"Say., Doc, there's lots of ducks up in the bay now : 
don't you feel like goin' up and roostin' them ttus 
evenin'?" said Jim Griffin, my man of all work, one cold, 
gloomy day in December. 
"All right," said I; "bring the buggy 'round at 2 
o'clock and we will take, a try at them." 
The time appointed found ns setting out on our . five- 
mile trip in a not very common phenomenon for this lati- 
tude, a blinding snowstorm. Griffin had his ax along 
and stopped by the way to tackle the butt of a boxed 
pine log, from which he secured several slabs of the 
fattest of fat light wood. 
The Big Bay, so called from its unusual size, covering 
as it does some two or three thousand acres, is one of 
those flat, marshy cyprus swamps covered with a well- 
nigh impenetrable growth of stunted bays, gall and hur- 
rah bushes, interwoven and matted with thorny vines, 
which abound throughout the southern pine belt. Its 
outlet is a large branch called Sammy Swamp, and just 
at the point where the stream emerges from the bay is 
the dam of the ancient and still-existing Weeks' mill 
pond. The back water from this dam, shallow and 
bristling with stumps and snags in low water, covers 
hundreds of acres of the bay in high water to a depth of 
from a few inches to two or three feet. 
Reaching our destination by the side of the old log 
n. ill house at the end of the dam, we harnessed out, cov- 
ered up the horse and built a roaring fire with some 
of our fat. lightwood. While I was toasting myself, 
Griffin produced a cracked and battered old fiddle from a 
bundle under the buggy seat and went over to banter old 
man Mcintosh, the miller, for a trade. This momentous 
deal was finally effected, after much haggling and ex- 
change of backwoods' wit by Griffin giving Mr. Mack his 
fiddle, a dollar watch and ten cents in money for the old 
man's fiddle, which was a very superior instrument to 
his own. 
After concluding this episode, Griffin unearthed a 
venerable and not very water-tight bateau, made with a 
tlat bottom and a long-pointed nose for the purpose t of 
threading the shallow mazes we were to encounter high 
up the pond. Breaking the ice in which it was coated 
and bailing out the accumulated water with one 
of the paddles which he had brought along, and we were 
icady for our arduous trip into the fastness of the ducks. 
As the pond was about a foot below high-water mark 
and the snags were consequently just near enough to 
the surface to be run on, we had to proceed rather slowly 
and cautiously, and even then got hung a time or two. 
and only got off with much and warming exertions. 
Near the dam the pond is comparatively narrow and 
walled in on ea«h side by dense groves of cypresses. 
These, bare of their summer foliage and draped with 
great streaming festoons of Spanish moss, seen dimly 
through the mist of falling snow, had a peculiarly gloomy 
and forbidding appearance. 
A few hundred yards from the dam we came to ice 
and found that the pond was frozen over from edge to 
edge. Griffin had to kneel in the bow and cut a passage 
with his ax — which we were obliged to return to the 
dam and get for the purpose — while I paddled. In this 
way we crawled along for about a quarter of a mile, 
Griffin from time to time stopping to cast off superfluous 
garments and mop the sweat from his brow. We had a 
tough job of it, as the ice was an inch thick, and some- 
times required two or three sturdy blows before it would 
break. The snow had meanwhile ceased to fall, and a 
cold wind, which but for our strenuous exertions would 
have chilled us to the bone, was blowing across the ice. 
Finally the ice began to thin, and we ran into open 
water, caused by the current from the vast flats in the 
bay pouring their overflow into the back water of the 
pond proper. Here the scene had undergone a marked 
change. We were in a vast shallow flat, where bunches 
of thick, scrubby bushes five to twelve feet high separated 
the channels and comparatively open stretches of water 
and green, spongy moss bogs. Far off in the distance in 
front and on either side were the walls of gnarled and 
hoary cypresses, the monotony being occasionally relieved 
by a stunted juniper with its dense evergreen frondage. 
From time to time small bunches of ducks, frightened 
by the noise we made in our passage through the ice, had 
been getting up out of range and decamping for regions 
higher up the bay. Presently a mallard pitched down 
in an opening off to the left, and as we had very nearly 
reached the head of bateau navigation, I got out in my 
rubber boots to stalk him. Griffin, who did not have 
boots, remained in the boat and moved slowly on up the 
bay. The water was only a few inches deep, but the 
bog underneath seemed almost bottomless in places, and 
I would frequently sink over my knees and have much ado 
to extricate myself and avoid shipping a boatful of ice 
water. As a consequence, the duck got up at very long 
range, and my effort to bring him to bag only increased 
his speed in departure. 
I turned my course up the bay again, making very slow 
progress through the vegetation-choked water and' bogs, 
and taking care to avoid alligator dens and other deep 
places, some of which would have engulfed me head and 
ears. Sometimes I would strike a patch of frozen moss 
and bushes and walk along as easily as on a paved street, 
v,hen suddenly I would break through without warning 
up to my knees or over, and then have a scuffle to get 
out again. Going on in this way, I finally arrived a little 
in advance of the boat at the beginning of the duck roost 
proper. Here dense thickets of taller bushes blocked the 
way, and one had to grope his way through small winding 
passages to the patches of open water scattered around 
among them. In these open places the ducks were in the 
habit of roosting. 
I left Griffin in one of the first of these bewailing his 
bad luck in not having a pair of "them wad in' boots." He 
was armed with a big io-bore breechloader and some 
shells, which he said he had loaded with four drams 
of powder and two ounces of No. 6 shot, wadded with 
newspaper in default of cut wads. He "calculated on 
droppin' enough lead on their backs to stop a duck or 
two anyhow." 
Setting off up one of the winding passageways, after 
considerable labor and much circumnavigation to avoid 
old alligator dens and quaking bogs, which the staff 
with which I had provided myself showed rather de- 
ficient in bottom, I finally arrived at a promising looking 
opening about a quarter of a mile further on and took 
my stand between two clumps of bushes to await the 
retting of the sun and the' coming of the ducks from 
their feeding grounds in the Watnee Swamp and other 
nearer swamps and ponds. 
All became silent save the occasional quack, quack 
of a drake in some distant puddle, and the more high- 
pitched and valuable response of his fair partner, varied 
occasionally by the whistle of a wood duck. 
Soon after sunset birds of all descriptions began pour- 
ing in to roost. First, a long procession of carrion crows 
(black vultures) with an occasional turkey buzzard, came 
sailing along with now and then short, brisk strokes of 
their wings, and settled on the outstretched branches of 
dead cypresses which stood here and there like white 
skeletons far above the stunted growth of the bay. Occa- 
sionally, too, many would light on the same limb and a 
crash result, followed by a great commotion and flapping 
of long black wings. 
Then came the robins ; not in dozens or scores, but in 
hundreds. From all the country for many miles around 
they came to seek refuge for the night in the dense water- 
surrounded thickets. They pitched by me so close at 
times that I verily believe I could have struck down a 
few with my gun had I been quick enough, and such a 
chattering and chirping and fluttering as they kept up! 
Fast behind the robins came the doves, in ones and 
twos and little bunches. Every now and then one dash- 
ing by at close range would cause me to throw up my 
gun in sudden anticipation of a shot at a duck, only to 
lower it again the next second as I discovered my mis- 
take. 
Then as a semi-twilight began to creep over the scene 
and the dim snow clouds ceased from work for the time 
being, took on dull yellow and reddish tints, a big bunch 
of teal dashed by out of range and went on down the 
bay toward the more open water of the pond. And then 
the ball opened. Teal in bunches, and greenheads and 
black ducks in ones and twos and half-dozens, and here 
and there_ a pair of summer ducks — but always ducks 
of some kind in the sky. I soon found that I was out of 
their line of flight, and that the bulk of them were evi- 
dently going down at a point between Griffin's station and 
mine, so I set out to retrace my steps in the hope of 
getting a better position before it became too dark to 
shoot. 
As I was warily scrambling over a half-submerged log 
a pair of black ducks shot by at close range. I threw up 
my gun, and at the report had the pleasure of seeing one 
of them double up and come down with a plunge in or 
behind a clump of thick bushes behind me. I immediate- 
ly ,floundered out in the moss box to retrieve him, but 
search as I might I could not locate my game. It was 
probably only wounded and had succeeded in concealing 
itself in the thicket. While searching for this one a 
single drake came by, and I dropped him on a patch of 
ice and snow some distance in advance. I got this 
one without much difficulty. 
Then followed a series of misses. Owing to the fast- 
deepening twilight, I could only get momentary glimpses 
of passing ducks, and the shooting was rather too quick 
and snappy for my eyes. I could hear many ducks pass- 
ing overhead and around me that I could not see at all, 
or only after they had got out of range. Finally I 
succeeded in bringing down and securing another black 
duck, and came to the conclusion that if I was going 
to get out of my environment that night I had better 
be starting about it without further delay. Tying my 
two ducks to a piece of twine, I slung them over my 
shoulder and set out in the now exceedingly difficult 
job of retracing my steps. 
Griffin had been keeping up quite a lively fusilade. 
First one and then both barrels of his io-bore would roar 
in quick succession ; he was evidently more in the thick 
of the ducks than I was. Guiding myself by the direction 
of his cannonade and keeping in the most open water 
I could find to avoid getting confused and tangled up in 
the numerous cul de sacs and moss bogs that branched 
out on every side, I proceeded to do some of the hardest 
work that ever fell to my lot. Sometimes I would bring 
up against an impenetrable wall of bushes and thorny 
vines and have to retrace my steps until I could find a 
way out or around. Then I would narrowly escape get- 
ting beyond my depth, or that of my boots, in an 
alligator den; or find myself sinking in a quaking bog, 
from which I would only extricate myself by seizing the 
nearest bush and pulling myself out by main force, one 
foot at a time. Once I sank down until the water rushed 
in over the tops of my hip boots, and the shock of the 
icy old bath nearly took away what little breath re- 
mained to me. 
When I reached Griffin and the boat, which I finally 
did, I found him the proud and happy possessor of a 
black duck, sole result of the vigorous bombarding I had 
heard. After stopping a few minutes to recover my lost 
wind, I deposited my gun and game in the boat and 
waded on behind, while Griffin poled. This was neces- 
sary for some distance, owing to numerous sunken logs 
and concealed snags, which could not be well gotten over 
with two in the boat. This was not near so tedious as 
my former wading, since I now had the benefit of Griffin's 
guidance, and had the boat to cling to if I got in too 
soft or deep a place. As we worked along, ducks were 
constantly getting up around us, and at very short 
range. Of course it was too dark to shoot them, as night 
had fallen. 
When we reached the more open and deeper water I 
resumed my place in the boat with a groan of relief, and 
we were soon passing through the ice path we cut going 
up. After getting to the dam our first care was to buila 
a blazing fire with the lightwood we had brought along. 
I pulled off my boots, poured out the water, and set my- 
self to the agreeable task of getting my feet warm and 
dry again. In the meantime, Griffin, who had gone to 
look after the horse, returned with the alarming intelli- 
