^6 
come. There were yelps, snarls, and activity of all kinds 
in that pile of briars and vines at the foot of the tree. 
The night was very dark, but the tree stood ou a sand' 
bar. The sand was comparatively light, and presently 
some dogs scrambled out. After a little delay a large 
dark mass rolled out on the sand. This dark mass, I 
inferred almost immediately, was Dick, yet he had more 
to say and said it with more energy than is usual to 
those of his race. I regretted it, but it seems it is natural 
for even an Indian to cuss with almost civilized elo- 
quence when sufficiently encouraged. After a time we 
got a light and found that after all the excitement and 
noise nothing of consequence liad been accomplished. 
Dick was scratched a little about the face, either by the 
coon or by the briars. The coon had escaped to the 
water in the bewilderment of the dogs. The idogs ,wcre 
uninjured, but much rattled by the ferocious descent of 
the fat Indian at an unexpected time. As near as could 
be ascertained, at the explosion of the gun the coon 
had 'jumped into Dick, the light went out, Dick thought 
he was shot all to pieces, and he let go. 
The foregoing is a true tale and I have enjoyed telling 
it before. But somehow I never could get the funny 
things all in. The best parts of funny stories never get 
into print. Since that time I have engaged in other coon 
hunts, but of late years have not made them a specialty. 
.1 commenced this writing to teU of coons I bagged only 
three nights ago, but it was not a real coon hunt, though 
1 got all I could carry. 
My shack, which I had perhaps better alhide to as a 
mansion now, as it has a woman in it, is on the bank of 
Mountain stream. At this season the stream is a roaring 
torrent, icy cold. From the verandah (that I am in the 
habit of calling a porch) night before last I heard, even 
above the roar of the stream, the clatter of coons. They 
were evidently fighting, but they are not of tlie species 
that do it with razors. I called Shep, my dog, who is 
always ready for business, and he came promptly. I went 
a few steps toward the creek and told Shep to fetch 'em. 
He seemed to know what was wanted, for he went 
directly in the proper tangle of vines and alders, im- 
mediately treed something, and began barking excitedly. 
Believing it to be a coon or coons I went into the house, 
got my .22 rifle and a lantern and went to investigate. 
Shep was barking up a clump of alders that overhung 
a deep pool in the rocky bed of the stream. There was a 
surrounding jungle of vines, briars and shrubbery, and 
although not two hundred feet from the house it was 
a difficult place to reach by night. After scrambling 
through the little jungle to the trees I tried for some 
time to throw the light of the lantern so that I could see 
whatever might be overhead. The night was very dark 
but there were some stars visible. Several times I mis- 
took stars shining through the trees for the glint of 
animal eyes, but it was half an hour before I caught the 
flash of the real thing. Suddenly about half way up one 
of the trees there was the gleam from two luminous 
spots, but for some time they would appear but for an 
instant. By shaking and snapping the bushes I finally 
fixed the shining eyes upon the light hung behind me. 
The same light sent its rays along the barrel of the little 
rifle which gave its spiteful snap and sent the shot be- 
tween the glaring eyes. Then there was a brief struggle 
up the tree and coon number one dropped with a splash 
into the pool in the dark under the bank. A second 
splash told that Shep was in after him. In a few mo- 
ments the snorting of the dog and sound of his move- 
ments in the vines on the bank below informed me that- 
our coon was laid out. Thinking it probable there was 
another, I resumed operations with the lantern. After 
seme time again I caught the glint of eyes, but to get the 
light in the right position to catch the sights of the gun 
and the. eyes at the same time was a long and tedious 
task. "The animal was unusually shy about looking at the 
light and would do so but an instant at a time. Out of 
patience I began shooting by guess, without the light, 
and fired a half dozen shots to no purpose. Then, trying 
the lantern again, I shortly caught the gleam of eyes 
at the right instant, and coon number two dropped into 
some bushes from which Shep secured him before he 
could flounder into the water. ; 
I now had a good bag of coons, as both were bTg, fat 
specimens, but I considered that there might be more, 
and if they were coming into my dooryard after trouble 
or chickens I would give them plenty of the former: I 
turned the light down, looked up through the tree tops 
to the sky, and soon saw a dark bunch that might or 
might not be coon, still higher up the tree. I had about 
given it up to be a bunch of vines or branches, when 
with the lantern I again caught the uimiistakable gleam 
of fiery eyes. Number three was more wary than the 
others about looking at the light and it was a long time 
before I got a shot, bringing him with a splash into 
the stream. Shep plunged in after, but the coon ap- 
parently sank in the swift water and was swept down 
stream. Shep hunted faithfully, shivered with his ice 
cold plunges, but we did not find number three until 
morning. Yesterday the three coons were skinned and 
hung up arow. They are fat as pigs and ought to be 
good meat. I know of no recipe for cooking coons. Do 
sportsmen eat 'em? 
The pelts are apparently in their prime, and when 
tanned will make very handsome fur. The natural history 
I glean from this experience with coons is, that they are 
not very shrewd animals when up a tree. Under the 
circumstances and in the situation they were, two at 
least might easily have jumped down and made their 
escape. By daylight I would have been ashamed to shoot 
" such silly creatures. As it was it took me over two hours 
to get them, but I might have done it in ten minutes with 
a shotgun, and some one to hold the light. There may 
have been more of them in the trees, but I had enough 
coons for the time. Shep, and Thomas, the cat, shall 
have coon meat to their utmost capacity. 
Ransacker. 
Shasta, Mountains, Cal., December. 
"I marvell, therefore, so much the more at them who 
are of opinion that fishes and beasts in the water have 
no sence. Why, the very cramp-fish torpedo knowes 
her own force and power, and, being herselfe not be- 
nummed, is able to astonish others." 
"Wonderfull in my conceit is the wit and subtletie of 
some fishes."— Pliny. 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
^ 
The American Rabbit. 
BY R. B. BUCKHAM'. 
The American rabbit, Lepus sylvaticus, has always 
been a favorite with the sportsman. Even in early times, 
when the woods were well stocked with game of all 
lands, hunters and woodsmen preferred a rabbit stew, 
now and then, to anything else, and time and again the 
deer and the bear has gone undisturbed while bunny was 
hotly pursued. The rabbit always was abundant, and is 
to this day. Every swamp and wooded marsh, suffi- 
ciently retired from the vicinity of man to afford any 
promise of freedom from molestation, has at least one 
family of these animals living in it, though their presence 
is often quite unsuspected. 
On almost any occasion if is a comparatively easy un- 
dertaking to find the whereabouts of a rabbit. Though 
he is constantly hunted by all sorts of animals, of both 
earth and sky, he yet sets them all at defiance and his 
tribe continues to multiply. It is always safe to count 
on fair success at rabbit hunting. 
There are three principal reasons why this timid and 
defenseless animal should be so constantly on the in- 
crease. First of all, he is very prolific, rearing such 
families as would put most of the wood folk to shame, 
though they boast such superiority over him in valor and 
fighting qualities. 
And again, food is always abundant with him. He can 
make a very fair dinner off from almost anything in the 
way of a plant or tender shoot coming in his way, and 
so the woods is onfe vast storehouse for him, filled to 
overflowing with iimumerable good things. But in addi- 
tion to this, say what you may, he has no mean or ordi- 
nary skill at evading his pursuers, and leaving them 
safely in the lurch. 
Two traits which the rabbit displays serve the hunter 
as means of locating his probable whereabouts at once. 
One familiar with these can detect with a mere glance of 
the eye over the woods, where is the proper place to 
look for him, as unerringly as though the secret was 
written out in characters so large that they could be 
seen for miles away. 
One of these is his domestic habits. He is a home 
boy, a stay at home, and usually spends the day within 
the circumference of a circle which a great oak could 
compass with its shadow from the rising to the setting 
of the sun. He does not waste much of his time in roam- 
ing aimlessly about, though he could run through two 
counties, without feeling any unpleasant after effects, if 
he so desired. 
The other is his mode of selecting a feeding ground. 
He always prefers the vicinity of the lowlands, since they 
afford more succulent verdure, which with its shelter 
and abundance of moisture, longer defies the attacks 
of the late autumn frosts. Always look for him about the 
swamps and the low grounds. You will rarely find him 
elsewhere. 
Strange as it may seem, though so fond of home, he is 
content with almost anything in the way of a resting 
place. He displays no exacting and fastidious tastes in 
the selection of the location of his form. A thick clump 
of ferns, or a pile of brush, or hollow log satisfies him 
completely, and in such an exposed situation as this he 
will live winter and summer, unmindful alike of cold and 
rain and snow. 
Though the rabbit generally is known, as a burrowing 
animal, the American species does not resort to this 
method of supplying himself with a shelter. The writer 
has never been able to detect him engaged, in such a pur- 
pose. But he will on occasions adopt , the abandoned 
burrow of some other animal as a horne, provided that 
it serves his purposes well. 
The annals of science record that a European rabbit's 
burrow played a large part in determining the antiquity 
of man's existence upon the earth. A French peasant 
while' attempting to dig out one of these animals, sud- 
denly came upon the now famous Aurignac cave, in which 
were found human skeletons, together with the bones of 
several extinct species of mammals. Doubtless the cave 
had long been the home of some carnivorous beast, how- 
ever, which having been abandoned, bunny had appro- 
priated, and so made himself a place in history. 
The farmer is always glad to see the hunter after the 
rabbit, for in the dead of winter, when food becomes 
scarce, he will girdle young trees in such a manner as lO' 
kill them in large numbers. Indeed, it is one infallible 
method of determining whether a certain locality is the 
habitat of these animals, to look closelj'- for any signs of 
girdling on the small wood and underbrush about. 
When bunny has once located his home, the next thing- 
is to render it as secure as possible. This he does by 
searching out all the densest bramble patches and brier 
bushes about, and cutting himself a way through them,, 
blazing it with his nibbled twigs. Now when his dreaded! 
enemies, the fox or the dog, press him hard, he turns tO' 
these pre-arranged havens of refuge, and running through 
them, leaves his pursuer in the lurch, he being unable to 
follow. Thus he gains a long lead on his foe, and pos- 
sibly even succeeds in eluding him altogether. 
There is no other animal in all the woods that has 
so many pursuers after him as does the rabbit. He is so 
harmless and defenseless that all the cowards in the 
woods are after him, day and night. Yet he is as placid 
and contented in spite of them, as can be, not seeming- 
to take the situation in the least seriously, and strange tO' 
say usually getting the better of the whole tribe of them,, 
and growing fat and lazy at it. 
That terrible, treacherous fellow, the fox, that skulks, 
so noiselessly through the woods, like a yellow ghost;: 
the lynx, with its great green eyes and cushioned, silent: 
paws; the prowling dog and house cat; even the skunk: 
and the weasel, every one are looking for the chance,, 
constantly, of getting the better of poor bunny. Then,, 
too, there is that horrible bugaboo of the night season,, 
the owl, which with his quick wing and sharp talons 
would swoop down and bear him away in a moment, if 
the opportunity once fairly presented itself. But the 
cottontail knows them all well, of old, and is familiar 
TJan. 10, 1963- 
with all their ruses, with the result that they usually 
go hungry if they devote themselves constantly to him. 
The rabbit knows how to take good care of himself. 
He can keep out of sight as cunningly as any of the wood 
dwellers. He can steal abroad and feed without stinting 
himself in the least, and yet keep his movements from 
being observed as skillfully as any animal that lives. He 
is an expert at it. It is his only safeguard, and he knows 
it. To keep out of sight of the enemy is the best means 
of defeating him, is the code of the tactics to which he 
resorts. 
But now and again, in spite of himself, he falls a prey 
to the skilled woodcraft and quick aim of the sportsman. 
The well trained hounds soon learn some of his weak- 
nesses, and among other things that he cannot stand the 
apprehension of lying long in his lair while their clarion 
note rings through the woods. He must necessarily jump 
up and run for safely. 
Thus the dogs soon tease him into the chase, and once 
his trail is come upon fresh and warm, they are able to 
follow him, no matter whither he may choose to run. 
Nevertheless, the hunter who wends his way homeward 
with one or more of them in his gamebag, may congratu- 
late himself that he has outwitted as crafty and sly and 
cunning a fellow as runs in the woods. 
Game in the National Park. 
Gardiner, Mont., Dec. 28. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. C. J. Jones ("Buffalo Jones") has lately killed at 
Livingston, Mont., five buffalo steers. These were from 
the Goodnight herd in Texas. The meat was sold in 
the markets in Livingstone. The heads are to be 
mounted and sold. A few other bull buffalo, ugly ones, 
from the Allard herd, purchased by Howard Eaton, 
have been killed, and their heads mounted by Frank 
Tolhurst, of Livingstone. Every one of these buffalo 
can be accounted for. 
One buffalo cow was killed at Livingstone this spring. 
This cow w^as one of the carload Mr. Howard Eaton 
sold to the Government for the Yellowstone Park, 
where they were to be delivered .in good condition in- 
side the inclosure. The cow was hurt in^loading, and 
was not received by Mr. Jones. It was t'aken back to 
Livingstone and killed. All the loss fell on Mr. Eaton 
because he received pay for only those delivered inside 
the inclosure. Mr. Eaton, when he first purchased the 
herd of buffalo (he now handles and is selling), killed 
several stags or steers and a few ugly bulls, and will 
continue to kill off any that are too dangerous to 
handle. Young bulls are being exchanged with Mr. 
Goodnight and others who have buffalo. The buffalo 
purchased for the Park from Mr. Eaton were cows. 
The bulls are from the Goodnight herd in Texas. All 
are looking well. 
Lately I have been paying more attention to the ani- 
mals I see from the streets of Gardiner, Montana, and 
along the roads between here and Golden Gate. 
On Christmas day, evening, a few moments before the 
sundown gun was fired, I saw ten mule deer walking 
and feeding toward the gun. The gun was just around 
a point of Capitol Hill from me. Major and Mrs. 
Pitcher and I walked up to the Hot Springs and re- 
turned about five or ten minutes after it was fired. The 
gun is just across the road from the guard house, and 
constantly in sight. Those deer were close — some less 
than 20 yards — when the gun was fired, and were even 
less than that distance from the gun when we returned. 
It don't seem possible that they should lose all fear 
of the report of guns (cannon) and rifles. Truly the 
gun is fired but twice a day, morning and evening. Last 
spring, while the troops were at target practice, deer 
were often seen. Once a band of mule deer came walk- 
ing and feeding across the line of fire, and in such a way 
that the men had to stop firing and drive the deer away. 
At the same time a band of elk came to the brow of 
the hill under which the firing was done and stood there 
looking down on the men, and finally lay down. The 
deer are feeding all among the buildings at the Fort, 
and the hotels and dwelling houses. Some of the people 
living at the Mammoth Hot Springs and around the 
buildings at the post have small grass plots. These the 
deer frequent every evening, and paw for the grass 
through the snow. One officer came out of his quar- 
ters, and just as he shut the door saw a deer within 
three feet of the house, feeding. The jar of the door 
startled it a bit, but it did not go far. It is nothing for 
people at the post to see from ten to twenty deer every 
evening, and so tame, one can scarcely believe they 
were ever wild. Some very fine photographs have been 
taken of them. Major Pitcher has scattered some hay 
for them, but they don't seem to care for it, now and 
then taking a little. When the snow gets deep they 
will be given alfalfa, something they are fond of. 
On Dec. 27 I went out as far as the Silver Gate. 
Along the road I saw eighteen very fine bucks and 
seven does, and at about dusk five more does walked 
out from between the "K. O." office and guard house. 
While looking at the deer Major Pitcher and I with 
glasses saw over 200 elk on Mt. Everts, and quite a 
number down part way to Gardiner River. 
Saturday, while coming down to Gardiner, I saw one 
band of thirteen and one of thirty-two mountain sheep. 
One of the rams with the larger band was extra fine. 
I also saw six whitetail deer and a lot of antelope. 
Speaking of antelope, there is never a time during a 
clear day when they cannot be seen from the Front 
street of Gardiner. 
About two weeks ago the camp of road-builders at 
Lower Falls saw a band of elk crossing the Yellow- 
stone above the mouth of Lower and Antelope creeks, 
coming off Mt. Washburn country and going up on to 
the west point of Specimen Ridge. They did not stop 
to count them, but the elk were timed, and it took two 
and a quarter hours for the band to cross. They were 
constantly moving. I have seen elk crossing at this 
point many times, and would venture to say there were 
not less than 1,500 that crossed during the two and a 
quarter hours the road crew saw them. This is a regu- 
lar crossing, and the only good one for many miles. 
The trails leading to the ford are more like wagon 
roads than trails. 
