64 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
tjAk. ij, 1964.. 
the railway station by a committee who conducted 
him to the village store, where was an assemblage of 
the notables, who accorded him a cordial welcome. 
After some general conversation, the chief notable 
arose, and formally welcomed the old man, telling 
him that his reputation had preceded him and how 
proud they were to have a man of his eminent talents 
among them (at which tliere were cries of "Hear! 
Hear!")- The speaker then proceeded to say that as 
there were doubters in the village, as there were m 
every village^ — men who never believed anything un- 
less they had ocular demonstration — he repeated ocu- 
lar demonstration (a cry of "Shame") — certain wagers 
had been laid on JNIr. Squalls' ability, and in order to 
decide these wagers and cast confusion upon the 
doubters, he now requested that their distinguished 
fellow citizen, as he hoped he might call him, would 
give them a proof of his powers. What they were all 
anxious to know was, when were they likelf to have 
rain? 
The old man arose, trembling slightly, and thanked 
the speaker briefly. Then regaining more courage, 
he walked to the door, put out his hand a moment, 
and exclaimed: "Wind south— we'll have rain!" 
On hearing this, the assemblage, for the most part, 
broke into a roar of laughter. 
The fact was that in that section of the country 
it blew nearly always from the south, and there was 
rain only when it blew from the east or west. 
Poor Obadiah had lost his reputation, and from 
that moment he pined away and died. 
Francis Moonan. 
**It Just Happened So.** 
Carthage, O., Jan. 10. — The coincidences given in your 
editorial in Forest and Stream of January 2 interested 
me very much, and are now again quite in evidence. In 
the issue of January 9, in reading Mr. Spears' "Floating 
IDown the Mississippi," I was charmed with his researches 
and the exhibit made of th(;n and now in the history of 
St. Genevieve and Kaskaskia ; and having completed the 
perusal of the number from ad. to ad. of first and last 
pages, took up a volume just received entitled "The Con- 
quest — the True Story of Lewis and Clark," by_ Eva 
Emery Dye, and was ere long perusing with eager inter- 
est the story of the exploits of Gen. George Rogers Clark 
at those very places, and the aid given him by Vigo and 
others named in Mr. Spears' article. 
"The Conquest" is most truly "an epic of the West," 
written in terse epigrammatic style that holds the reader 
from beginning to end. E. S. Whitaker. 
— 
Vagaries of Horses' Appetites. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Hardy in the current number under the caption of 
"Cats Eating Corn," gives an instance of a horse which 
ate cooked beef. I have in mind some three different 
horses which may be said to have had a perverted appe- 
tite. One, a small half-breed Texas horse which I had for 
a few months, would eat a fresh piece of beef as large as 
a dinner plate and an inch thick. He ate it just as a dog 
would, holding it down with his fore foot, then tearing off 
chunks of it and swallowing them. This appetite for 
fresh beef was so well known that none of it was ever 
left within his reach except by-^cident. When it was, 
whoever left it never saw it againh 
The troop that 1 first served in had a horse that died 
in it when he was twenty-three years old. Seventeen of 
those years had been put in with this troop, fifteen of 
them under the saddle. He had been shot several times, 
once through the neck, and once in his flank; but neither 
shot had sent him to the rear. He never had been sick 
a day. , • , 
The last two years of his life he spent on the retired 
list, but was still marked fit for duty in order to keep 
him there ; any other horse would have been condemned 
and sold ; but he was kept as a matter of sentiment, and 
had nothing to do but eat and sleep. The only other 
horse that I ever knew to be treated this way was the 
one which survived the Custer Massacre; he was kept 
in a troop of the Seventh Cavalry until he died. He was 
saddled up and led out in every mounted inspection, but 
was never ridden by anyone. 
This old horse of ours (we called him Bummer) was 
never tied in the day time, but let go where he pleased. 
He paid regular visits to the cook house, there getting his 
bead in the slop barrel he would half empty the barrel. 
It did not seem to make any difference to him what he 
found there— bean soup, stale bread, cooked meat, or po- 
tato parings— all went. He did not need the stuff, he. got 
just what the other horses got to eat twice a day. 
Soon after the close of the war we were dismounted at 
Macon, Georgia,' and- sent to Texas; here we got the old 
horses that the Eighteenth New York had been riding, 
and I kej.t a lookout for a sorrel, but the best I could get 
was a small sorrel mare. Mares are never used in time 
of peace, but for the last four years before this anything 
that could carry a saddle would be used. We had three 
of these mares by the time we were all mounted. They 
had been "captured" down South ; none of them had been 
bought. My mare just suited me; she could carry me 
fifty miles a day, then carry me back again next day if 
I wanted her to do it. 1 had her about two days when 
I found out that she chewed tobacco. She grabbed a 
small package of fine cut out of my hand, and then stood 
chewing it, paper and all. Seeing that it did not hurt her, 
I kept her in tobacco, buying the leaf tobacco that all 
these Alexican stores sold here then, a large "hand" of 
it for a silver dime; that would not have paid the duty on 
it had any been paid, but the collector had not got here 
yet; when he did come these men had to stop selling it at 
any' price, i never went near my mare without bringing 
her tobacco; if she did not get it right away she would 
begin to shove me with her nose, and keep it up until I 
gave her the usual chew. When we were ordered to turn 
in our mares a few months after this I parted with her 
with more regret than I have since felt when parting with 
9 better horse than she was. 
I rode a horse for four years, my race horse Charley, 
which would eat half a peck of peaches as fast as I could 
remove the stones out of them. The same horse could 
eat a pound of sugar or candy without even stopping. 
Cabia Blanco. 
An App!e Bird. 
Auburn, Cal. — Editor Forest and Stream: In your 
issue of September 26 there appeared an article by Forked 
Deer in which mention was made of some "apple birds" 
which stirred up considerable discussion in your columns 
regarding their identity. The loose and unscientific 
description gave rise to considerable "guessing," some 
ol which was right and some wrong. The name of the 
gentleman in whose orchard the bird was observed is 
Bloomiingcamp — not "Woolmincamp," and the name of the 
stream is Bogus, not "Bogers." There is a post-office at 
the ranch of the same name. 
Having passed through this section several times on 
annual outings, and having seen many specimens of the 
Lewis woodpecker there, I was satisfied that it was the 
bird in question. But thinking that the better way would 
be to procure a specimen, I wrote directly to Mr. Bloom- 
iingcamp, asking him to send me one. He replied that 
the fruit season was over, and the birds had gone, but 
that he would send me one at the first opportunity, as he 
was anxious to know what the bird was. 
He has now kept his word, and has sent me a specimen, 
which I forward to you, under separate inclosure, together 
with his letter, a copy of which follows : 
Bogus, Jan. 7.— Dr. Rooney — Dear Sir: Being able to 
kill one of those apple birds that you wrote to me about 
under the date of October 26, 1903, I send you the speci- 
men by to-day's mail, hoping you will give me a full 
description of the same, and oblige, 
Fred. Bloomiingcamp. 
The skin sent me, as you will see, is a Lewis wood- 
pecker — ^just as I expected, and as guessed by your editor. 
And now the guessing contest is over, although without 
the specimen, no one could possibly suspect the bird from 
the description given; they could only just guess. 
R. F. Rooney, M.D. 
[The specimen has been received as stated. It is a Lewis 
woodpecker {Meianerpes torquatus), as suggested in a 
footnote to Forked Deer's article describing the bird.] 
Notes on the Night Hawk. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your notes on the night hawk in Forest and* Stream 
of January 16 are full and interesting, but I can add some 
facts which are not included. 
As a youngster I was quite familiar with the night 
hawk, or mosquito hawk, as he was popularly known in 
northwestern Massachusetts among the Hampshire Hills, 
and in midsummer often located their nests on the bare 
rocks near thickets and running water. We used to 
watch their erratic flight, so like a bat's that in the 
South they are known as bull bats, and supposed that the 
two raptors hunted insects in similar fashion. We al- 
ways assumed that the downward dive, with a whirr, was 
a grand scoop with wide open mouth by which the birds 
took in the biggest part of a swarm of gnats, flies, or 
other diptera ; while the sound they uttered was a grunt 
of satisfkction. Years after, while at Thousand Island 
Park on the St. Lawrence, and strolling just outside the 
canvas limits, I was moved by the simulated lameness of 
a night hawk to scan a ledge of rocks for her nest. It Wc.s 
the month of July, and so I expected to find half-fledged 
younglings, which would be more easily detected than 
sandy-hued eggs; but 1 quartered the ledge carefully in 
the vicinity in vain, paying no heed to the old bird's ma- 
neuvers, until I finally stood still quite discouraged, when, 
chancing to look down at my feet I discovered what 
seemed to be a bunch of angleworms ! Then I saw that 
I was standing right on the nest, which held three chicks, 
and from one of them the entrails protruded. 
I find that when the night hawks gather in the Lauren- 
tides and New England to begin their seasonal migration 
southward, they follow the trend of the Allegheny Moun- 
tain range, passing through the Middle States into Vir- 
ginia and the northwestern part of North Carolina. In 
both of these States where observed the birds are shot at 
for practice and are eaten in large quantities as game. 
I have observed them at Asheville by the thousand early in 
September. Where they finally settle and locate I am not 
informed, but they are common in winter in Mississippi 
and Louisiana. I suppose they keep south of the Appala- 
chians until they pass the terminal foothills in the vicinity 
of Anniston, in central Alabama, and then scatter. Mean- 
while they have halted for sport and food (grub?) at 
numerous stations en route. 
Let me add that your replica of the Audubon plate is 
simply exquisite, and shows the great advance in photo- 
engraving which has been made since 1873 ,at which date 
the first crude products of the American Photc-Engraving 
Company were used by the Harpers for a partial illustra- 
tion of my "Fishing Tourist." Charles Halldck. 
New Sottthweit Coast Mammals. 
An interesting paper containing descriptions of Twenty- 
Seven Apparently New Species and Sub-species of Mam- 
mals has recently been published by Dr. D. G. Elliot, 
Curator of the Department of Mammals in the Field 
Columbian Museum. It constitutes No. 14 of Volume HI. 
of the Zoological Series of the publications of that 
institution. 
The first animal described is a new sub-species of 
mountain sheep under the name of Ovis cervina cremno- 
baies from the San Pedro Martir Mountains of Lower 
California. 
In a paper published some time ago on the "Mammals 
of the San Pedro Martir Mountains," Dr. Elliot referred 
a number of specimens of mountain sheep collected by 
Mr. Heller to 0. c. nclsoni, with a query explaining that 
he had not had an opportunity to compare them with 
undoubted examples of that form. Recently, however, 
such a comparison has been made, and Dr. Elliot con- 
cludes that the Lower California form should stand by 
itself. This determination bears out the opinion ex- 
pressed to us some years ago in letters from Mr. Anthony, 
the ornithologist, that the Lower California form of 
mountain sheep diffei-ed from the Nelson sheep. 
Besides several new forms of hare, and many other 
rodents. Dr. Elliot describes a fox from San Bernardino 
county, California, Vull^es arsif^us ; n new species of black 
bear, Ursus hylodromits, allied to the h'H.:k bears of the 
Olympic Mountains; a new civet cat, Dassariscus albipes, 
from Vera Cruz, Mexico. 
All these specimens were collected by Edmund Heller. 
Ski Running. 
Ski running as a sport is modern, though the' use of 
the ski dates back many hundreds of years. Up to less 
than thirty years ago these shoes were used almost alto- 
gether for practical purposes; that is to say, for getting 
about from one place to another over the deep snows. But 
in the decade between 1870 and 18S0 a few citizens of 
Christiania, who found skiing to be a good ;:and pleasing 
exercise, formed a ski club, and set on foot those ski 
exhibitions and competitions in Norway which have since 
become so famous. For nearly forty years skiing has 
been practiced , in the Rocky Mountains, and in many 
places there it would be imposible to get about except by 
this means. All the winter iravel through the Yellow'- 
stone Park is on skis, and many of the high mountain 
passes further to the south are traversed only by this 
means. A few years ago Mr. El wood Hofcr taught, a few 
people in New England the use of the ski, and the time 
v.-ill come when in the northern portions of the United 
States these, shoes will be extensively used. Recently a 
Fig. 2. — Skrid-FiTmer hunting (Olaus Magnus, ca. 1550) 
Fig. 3. — Skrid-Finner (Olaus Magnus, ca. 1550). 
ski club was organized in England, and a bonk on "Ski 
Running" has been published there by Horace Cox, whi:h 
is practical and useful. It is a composite hook, written by 
D. M. Crichton Somervilie, W. R. Rickmers and E. C. 
Richardson, who also edits the volume. 
There was historicab mention of the snowshne before 
+he Christian era, while Norwegian traditions dating back 
some 1,600 years make mention of tire ski. Perhaps the 
Lapps were the first skiers, and it is sngcstcd that they 
may have brought the skis from Central Asia in their 
migrations so long ago. In Olaus Magnus are. curious 
old cuts illustrating the .ski running of the Lapps. In 
America the tendency seems always to have been to use 
the aboriginal snowshoe, commonly called webs, and skis 
never seem to have been used in Canada. Even in the 
northern Rocky Mountains, where timber is thick, web 
snowshoes of varying type are mostly used, and skis very 
little or not at all. 
Needless to say the greatest skill with the ski has been 
acquired in tho.se lands where it is part of the everyday 
outdoor life, and the peasants — men and women — of the 
district of Telemark are still perhaps the most skill fid 
skiers in the world. At the same time the sport is easily 
acquired by any young and active person, and among the 
cavalry men stationed in the Yellowstone National Park 
are many men very skillful in the use of these implements. 
It is declared to be far less troublesome to learn to ski 
moderately well than it is to learn to skate moderately 
well, and the opportunities for skiing are very much more 
frequent than those of skating. 
Obviously the important thing in learning, to use the 
skis is to have good ones. These are fully described, as 
well as the outfit — including always the pole^the cloth- 
ing, and any food that may be taken. Following this 
are pages, fully illustrated with photogra[ihs and dia- 
grams, as to the very best methods of passing o\er dif- 
ferent surfaces, and after instruction in walking comes a 
chapter on ski jumping, also very fully illustrate !, and 
with directions which are easy to follow. A chnptei called 
"Odds and Ends" brings out the good many inteiesting 
small points. It is suggested that to teach child fen to 
ski nothing more is needed than a couple of barrel staves 
pointed and rounded with toe pieces to hold the foot. 
One would imagine that south of Scotland the British 
ski runner would not have much of an opportunity to use 
his skis, but it is altogether probable that a time is com- 
ing when ski runnig will in this country be a sport in 
high favor. Price, $1.25. ^ 
