Sept. 19, 1903.I 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
219 
neek and their h^ads are covered wlth loilg Woolly llaif^ 
Vvliiell Hangs oVer tlieir eyeS and interferes with tlieir 
seeing wdl Their Horns are sHort and tHii;k> but like 
those of a hull; theif fump and buttocks are shaped like 
thbse of a Hbg; their fofefeet ^ild Ictife'eSj j[nd ffom there 
up lintil the junction with the shoulders^ Sfe eoydrSd with 
long woolly hair, like the beard of a goat; Their tail .iS 
iigkfed tb n^af its. end, where it has a heavy tuft of Hair. 
The ffenialfe ha^ fbut. tfeatS; They.wei-e about the size of 
neat cattle; they looked it p6oplfe in a sideilong way like 
wild boars." — National Geographic Magazine. 
The Catcajou. 
Brooklyn, September 11. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
As to the identity of the carcajou: Audubon, in his 
"Quadrupeds of North America," places the carcajou as 
the French Canadian synonym for the wolverine or glut- 
ton (Gulo luscus Linn.), and kuickhatch as the English 
Canadian synonym for the same animal. He adds: 
"* * * Carcajou appears to be some Indian name, 
adapted by the French, and this name has evidently been 
applied to different species of animals. * * * Charle- 
voix, in his 'Voyages to America,' Vol. I., p. 2ol, speaks 
<i(t t * '-pi^g carcajou of quincajou, a kmd of cat 
with a tail so lottg that he twists it several times afound 
his body, atid with a skin of a bfownish-red.^ He 
(Charlevoix) then refefS to his clinlblrig a tree, whefe 
two foxes have df Iven ati elk under the tree ; the dat, be- 
ihg oh the Watch, pounces on it, iri a manner ascribed to 
the Wolverine. Hetej he evidently alludes to the cougai-j 
as his long tall and colof afipi^ to no other animal iri out 
country * * *." . . . , 
Audubon evidently had tieVef s6eh a s^fegimeri. tif the 
t(uineajbUi or kjnkajou, from. South America, wHitih vi?jts 
so well deserjbed (with illustration) iq Fores*. and 
Stream early last spring. .Moi'eover,; I .do riot, think, 
from its size and habits, that the kirtkajod Would eyei" 
meditate an attack on any living animal the size of an 
elk. There is an excellent specimen from northern South 
America, I think, at the Bronx Zoo. 
J. K. Hand. 
[Not much confidence can be placed in the natural his- 
tory of Charlevoix, as is shown by his statement that two 
foxes drove an elk under a tree. He confused the names 
carcajou and kinkajou, the latter an animal about the size 
of a domestic cat. For many years carcajou has been 
used only for the wolverene, Gulo. Who can tell what 
animal it is that the Indians call weazle bear?] 
mm 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Nebraska Game Fields. 
Since I have been writing for the Forest and Stream 
and giving away the secrets of Nebraska's grand hunting 
grounds I have received so many inquiring letters from 
sportsmen abroad, especially from the larger eastern 
cities, that I aometimes think that l have made a mistake 
in thus advertising these good things to the world. By 
a little ingenuity the reader could have been misled as 
to locality without impairhig the interest in the story, 
and thus insured, for years to come, to myself and local 
sportsmen alone, the rare enjoyment that is so plentifully 
accessible to us. That there will be more foreign hunters 
visit Nebraska during the present season than ever be- 
fore, (he inquiring letters I have received bear ample 
Itstiniony, and in the long run it will be all right. He is 
a poor sportsman, indeed, who is Hot willing, in a 
measure, to share the goods that arc so bountifully his 
with his less favored but just as enthusiastic brethren 
from abroad. If they are willing to subserve our laws, 
and pay for the morsels we have to offer, all well and 
good. He should be welcome to them. So let them come 
—the more the merrier, and so far as I am personally 
concerned they will find me both consicentious and truth- 
ful in my advice and guidance. 
In reply to a bunch of inquiries which I cannot even 
hope to answer individually by mail, with reference to 
chicken and wildfowl shooting in Nebraska and sur- 
rounding States, I will say that in this State a non- 
resident license of .$10 is assessed and 50 birds permissi- 
ble per gun per day, and 50 birds can be carried or 
shipped out of the State when accompanied by the man 
who killed them. The open season begins here on Octo- 
ber T for chicken and November i for quail. On wild- 
fowl and v/aders the open season began .September i. 
In South Dakota a $ro non-resident fee is charged, and 
but 15 birds are allowed per gun a day, and 50 birds can 
be carried from the State. This fall the crop of birds is 
said to be very large, and the shooting prime alrnost any- 
where. The season opened September r, as it did in 
Iowa. In the latter State the non-resident license is $10 
for each county, 25 birds to a gun per diem, but none 
can be taken out of the State. The quail law in Iowa 
is up November i. 
I notice in the reports of Nebraska's late field trials 
several of the writers complain of the scarcity of chickens 
on the grounds, and why shouldn't they have been scarce 
after half a hundred men and two or three hundred dogs 
have been ravaging the country for miles around for 
months previous to the trials? The fact is the birds 
were literally driven away from the -locality long before 
the trials opened. Holt county, and particularly round- 
about O'Neill, where the late competitions were held, has 
always been a famous chicken country, and the birds left 
over last fall were abundantly numerous to insure a great 
crop this season. 
And so far as all the chicken country in this State is 
concerned, the present year has been and is still a won- 
drously favorable one for the birds, and the field has 
been a tremendously large one. The past winter was 
jnst the right sort of texture to presage good things in 
the way of bird increase throughout the summer. While 
the weather has been especially hard on the agricul- 
turalist, it has been superb for the grouse family. Small 
grains have suffered iRUcb, and it w«is feared that the 
corn Would fall woefully short, but later developments 
show that it will not^ However, be this as' it rnay, the 
thickens everywhere in ehidken country are thrifty and 
plentiful. The early spring and summer could not have 
been more propitious for breeding^ and up to very re- 
cently the favorable conditions continued to prevail until 
now it is .too late for any serious results from meteoro- 
logical illfiuenees. Right after the hate'hitlg of the eihicks 
there WaS a eonsid^trable Spell of nice dry weather, in 
which they throve aind greW farnously, gaining such sizie 
and a capacity for protecting themselves that they have 
SUjffered comparatively little from the fecfent terrific rain- 
falis. Owing to- our new game laws, and the better senti- 
ment prevailing among a large preponderance of spofts*- 
men, there was a mudh larger number of birds left over 
last fall than usual, and noW from all the wild and un- 
trammeled localities come reports of the remarkable 
plentitude of birds. That they will ever again be restored 
to our limitless prairies in anything like their old day 
swarms is a fact patent to all sportsmen familiar with 
the possibilities of the bird. Neither is the present pleas- 
ing increase to be continued for many years, except in the 
most remote and inaccessible regions.^ The condition of 
things is such as to absolutely prohibit anything but a 
temporary thrift on the part of these most royal game 
birds. 
The prairie chicken is a bird that thrives and multiplies 
with the first stage of civiliziation; stands still at the 
second stage, and fades away forever with the third, The 
third stage is rioW rapidly possessing this great State of 
otirs. 
Despite the fact that the law does not permit the kill- 
ing of these birds this year until October 1, and despite 
the fact that we haVe a dorps of ^active game wardena 
pattolling the chicken districts, the killing has been going 
oil sihriost everywhere, but by no means as extensively as 
of yore. That the constitutionality of the present statute 
governing the matter is nov^ being tested by certain male- 
factors, will in nowise lessen the activity of the wardens, 
and sportsmen everywhere anxious to get in the field are 
warned to keep within the bounds of the law as it reads. 
October i is plenty early enough to commence killing 
chickens in Nebraska, notwithstanding the claims of 
those wlio would like to exterminate the birds before 
they are strong enough to lift themselves but of the tall 
grass. 
All we have to do is to curb our patience. _We affi 
promised great .sport this autumn — sport which, in many 
places, may approximate that which Avas so generously 
showered upon the gunners of former generations. 
Surely no bird ever lent a greater charm to its environ- 
ments than the chicken to Nebraska's broad prairies, 
yuCea-CoVeted sandhills, fertile valleys, and sunflowered 
fields. , it has been ana is to these more than the rose- 
Wood quail is to the WheSt stubble, the cornfield, and 
tangly creek's bottom^ ot the tinkling Upland plover to the 
big pastures, the mystic jack to the bog and damp 
meadows. It is what the Canada goose is to the long 
barren bars of the Platte, and the miallard and the red- 
head to the marsh and the rice beds. Without it out 
great plains would lose more than half their enchant- 
ment, and were it not for the never ceasing "chip-chip- 
chip-chip-dce-tee-eee" of the song sparrow and the piccolo 
cf the meadow lark, they would relapse, indeed, into a 
lifeless expanse, a fitting home for the skunk, the badger, 
and the coyote. No sound ever stirred more thrilling 
sensations within the sportsman's thoracic department 
than the far-reaching "boo-oom ! boo-oom ! 00m 1 oom-m- 
m-m" of an old cock swelling from the distant hillside 
or Cottonwood barricade before the faint azure of the 
liverwort beams beside the soggy and bedraggled snow- 
bank in the shade of blow-out or draw, or the bright 
face of the sweet clotonia lights of the scrawl of the 
burnt prairie. 
When the mallards and the widgeon have departed 
from the frozen marsh when Bob White has fled to the 
matted towheads for protection from the wintry blast, 
when the yellow vest of the nleadowlark no longer flashes 
amid the brown verdure of the plain, and when the reso- 
nant "auh-unk ! auh-unk !" of the wild goose southward 
bound, grazing the gauzy clouds with his ashen sails far 
above your head, is the only sound of all the medley of 
game life in the melancholy autunm time, then the prairie 
chicken is the only companion, save the ever frowsy 
wolf remaining for the wayfarer of the prairie! 
But what I have said of the plentifulness of the chicken 
will also hold good with the quail. The three years' pro- 
hibitive period which ends with the last day of October, 
has resulted in a very decided recuperation in the ranks 
of this precious little game bird. The past season, espe- 
cially, has been the most favorable for years, although the 
winter was severe and many were destroyed by the cold 
and heavy snows. This summer, however, the_ conditions 
have been extremely propitious for fecundation among 
the birds. The whole trysting, laying and hatching 
season was an unbroken stretch of exquisite weather, 
with no continued drouths or excessive rainy periods, but 
of uniform temperature and general conditions particu- 
larly adapted for the purposes of nidification. That they 
did not allow the golden opportunity to pass unim- 
proved is attested by their unprecedented plentifulness 
this fall. Almost every stubble field holds its bevy, and 
more birds are to be found along the Missouri, Platte, 
Elkhorn, Loup, Rawhide, Republican and Niobrara Val- 
leys than there has been in a quarter of a century. To be 
sure, the late prodigious rains may have destroyed a good 
'many birds, but the number will prove comparatively 
small to what it would have been had they come a month 
earlier. The chicks are now full grown, the most of 
them, and well prepared to protect themselves against 
excessive dampness, and the loss has not been so great, 
probably, as one might expect. 
But as the season stands, now is the time to begin to 
enjoy, at least, the full fruition of the happiness a ram- 
ble over the fields and in the woods affords. Whether it 
be in eager pursuit of lagging plover, turtledove, or 
yoiuig duck, or in the simpler study of the character of 
the early autumn lime, in breathing the invigorating air, 
with its suspicion of frost, or in merely seeking a tem- 
porary relaxation from business cares, the glorious 
month of September yields an appreciable reward which 
no other month, save the always peerless October, affords. 
The true hunter's idyl. 
But what a shame it is that pessimists should endeavor 
to excite our mistrust in nature and put dangerous 
knowledge in our heads which could only have ripened 
on the tree of evil.' Yet only yesterday I ran across a 
column and a half of merciless type in an alleged sports- 
man's magazine which warned our September ramblers 
of woods and fields of poison in the fall blossoms. 
Almost every flower in my long category of favorites 
seems to have some taint or bane; the buttercup, the 
anemone, hellebore, poppy, laburnum, bryony, parsley, 
nightshade, foxglove, ambrosia, the spurges, sorrel, smart 
and ragweed, goldenrod, and even the dear old-fashioned 
sunflower is not exempt. What a queer lot of scientists 
the world is producing. Their one aim seems to be to 
make life miserabk- Sandy Griswold. 
Wanted: Moral Courage. 
San Francisco, September 4. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A short time ago I directed a letter of some 
length to you anent the unreasonable slaughter of game 
in Colorado and California. Though there has been very 
much written and printed about the subject, it seems that 
no matter what is uttered, either in ink or by word of 
mouth, the slaughter will continue. Perhaps, in time, 
the utterances and publications against the nefarious 
practices and indulgences will have some effect, and pub- 
lic opinion will shame and awe the game-hog into de- 
cency. So far it appears that the latter is unmune to all 
scoldings, reprimands or lectures. Perseverance, how- 
ever, may result in good, and the doctrine of game pro- 
tection may be sown upon fertile ground and take root, 
with results of good to all concerned, brute as well as 
human animal. And it is high time that the gospel of 
game protection be made a tenet of the everyday life of 
every good citizen, and that the same be constantly 
preached, so that the just and unjust may hear alike. 
The just and innocent will not be offended; the unjust 
and guilty may have their consciences awakened. But 
there is really more than this matter of ethics involved. 
It is a matter of moral courage — moral courage to see 
that the. law be enforced. 
The other day I read in a California paper of instances 
where the prevailing game laws were ruthlessly violated, 
but, the paper Stated, no one seemed to care to file the 
information with the proper authorities for prosecution. 
There's the whole fault or weakness in a nutshell. The 
parties who had knowledge of the violations of the law — 
call it crime, misdemeanor or felony— none were willing 
to go before the court and bear witness against the 
offender ! We lack moral courage. I ignorainiously con- 
fess to that weakness myself. That's a degrading confes- 
sion, all right, I admit, but why did I show such weak- 
ness? Simply because I got no support in my fight 
against the transgressors from those who should be in 
sympathy with me. It was probably on the basis of that- 
old obnoxious truth that "what is everybody's business 
is nobody's business." I incurred the enmity of the man 
1 sought to bring to justice, and was denounced as "a 
d~— -d fool" by others for having made the attempt. 
That is human nature, as illustrated in America, when 
it comes to one's attempting to have game properly pro- 
tected. , 
As intimated before, perhaps time and the everlast- 
ing-keeping-at-it" idea will have potent effect. I wish to 
say here, however, that Forest and Stream is entitled 
to sincere and unlimited laudation for the space it gives 
to these complaints and agitation. I feel, in this matter, 
that if you and all other publications interested will keep 
up the agitation for more strict observation of all game 
laws, something will turn up, as it did for one of the two 
frogs who unwittingly jumped into the can of milk- 
something is bound to turn up if we keep a-kicking. 
Apropos of all the foregoing I would like to quote the 
following from the Victoria (B. C.) Daily Colonist of 
August 26 last : 
"Arrivals in Victoria from the Comox district have 
some decidedly interesting stories to tell of the strange 
state of affairs which has for some time past existed in 
that quarter owing to the conduct of the wandering bands 
of striking coal miners, who have taken the Comox Val- 
ley as their especial camping ground, and have been car- 
rying things with a rather high hand. 
Soon after the labor troubles began at Cumberland, 
parties of the colliers were noted roving over the fertile 
farm lands of the Comox Valley, each member of the 
parties armed with a shotgun or rifle. While they were 
ostensibly after game, they displayed a catholicity of taste 
which enabled them to include in their bag such small 
deer as prize milch kine, imported cattle, and even valu- 
able horses. The poultry, of course, stood a still poorer 
show of escape, and many a fine collection of fowl was 
decimated. 
"Naturally enough the farmers objected, but they were 
quicklv informed that it would be worth their while to 
keep their mouths shut, as the man that informed would 
have a short and stormy experience of life after the in- 
formation was laid. Indeed, one farmer who declared 
that he w'ould certainly inform and claim protection from 
the law, was warned that if he did so his life _ would 
not be worth an hour's purchase. He did not inform, 
although his loss was heavy and hard to be borne. 
" 'As a consequence of the depredations of those_ visi- 
tors from Cumberland,' said one gentleman in an inter- 
view last night with the Colonist, it is almost impossible 
to find a game bird within many miles of the Comox Val- 
ley, so thorough have been the murderous operations of 
the striking miners. They have now gone back to work, 
but they have wrought irreparable damage to that region, 
for it will be years before the shooting will be worth 
anything. Formerly that valley was famed far and wide 
for the plentifulness and variety of its game. The feel- 
ing in the valley is very bitter against the marauders.' 
"Careful inquiries have been made by the Colonist in 
the quarters supposed to be the best informed on the sub- 
ject, and it is greatly to be regretted that there seems to 
be a' unanimity of opinion there that the prospects for the 
sportsman on the first of September are none of the 
brightest. Reports from all the surrounding districts are 
in agreement in declaring that, owing to the unrestrained 
ravages of the" unlawful hunters for months past, there 
will certainly be a serious shortage in the number of 
game birds, and those that may be encountered will be so 
wild that success will be exceedingly hard to attain. 
