^ FOREST^ AND J STREAM. 
[May !4, 1904. 
Birds of Prey do Good. 
1 Wisa I could make a naturalist's plea for the preser- 
vation of birds of prey. Must these species, even in our 
enlightened land, still be the butt of all classes of 
humanity, after it has become known by the exartiiriatiort. 
of their stomachs that most of them live very largely 
oil the very vermin with which sportsmen and fattriers 
class them? 
Every farmer and game-keeper should have a copy of 
the Biological Survey's report on the stomachs of birds 
of prey. Beside immense quantities of mice, hawks and 
owls kill snakes, rats, weasels, skunks and squirrels,^ all 
of which species destroy more or less young game birds 
and the eggs of game birds. Therefore it becomes neces- 
sary to know whether the bird of prey himself or all 
these other enemies kill the most game before judging 
of his harmfulness. The killing of a hawk or owl is 
probably almost always the killing of one of your game 
preservers, whether or no he takes some game in pay. 
You might as well abolish policemen because they some- 
times offend. . , 
Even when the bird of prey gets game birds, it is 
probable that his victims are most commonly the less 
vigorous or wounded specimens, so that his influence in- 
vigorates the breed by eliminating sickly propagators. 
In the meantime we naturalists beg sportsmen not to 
decimate this, one of our most interesting classes of 
birds, when they may learn too late that they have killed 
their own natural game wardens. 
There would not have come down to us any race of 
game birds if the existence of hawks, etc., tended to 
destroy it. . 
In the same respect the fish case is remarkably simple. 
Sportsmen wage war against herons, kingfishers and 
fish-hawks. Now, since it is well known that the main 
devourers of trout spawn and fry, for instance, are not 
any kind of bird, but certain species of fish, you^ are 
probably helping thin your trout by removing these birds, 
since the latter doubtless prey more on the spawn- 
devourers than on the trout. This is plain, because trout 
are swifter and hence harder to catch and live commonly 
in deeper water than other species ; so that what the 
heron and kingfisher get are no doubt generally the ene- 
mies of your trout. . , 
Is it not hard that we naturalists must lose our beauti- 
ful herons and the wild-voiced kingfishers, and you your 
trout, because you will not think and understand before 
you act? Abbott H. Thayer. 
MOHADNOCK, N. H. 
Do Bears Destroy Game ? 
Ft. Wrangel, Alaska, April 16.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: This question can be answered by simply say- 
ing yes. In speaking thus I speak from actual experience. 
While hunting in the mountains in the southern part of 
Humboldt county, Cal., in the spring or early summer of 
1892, I saw a large doe come out of the timber into the 
open prairie country, turn round and round in a strange 
manner several times, and then travel in the direction 
of a clump of willows growing around a small spring 
which was several hundred yards from the timber, into 
this she went and disappeared. 
It was a beautiful evening. I had watched the sun set 
out in the grand Pacific Ocean. The moon had risen 
above the eastern horizon. It was growing dusk, the 
shades of night were falling. The doe was not of much 
interest to me. A big old five-point buck that I knew in- 
habited that section was what I was after, and it was 
high time that he, too, was coming out of the timber 
and into the edge of the prairie where he could have the 
pleasure of dining to his heart's content on a rich assort- 
ment of wild pea vine, white and red clover, and many 
varieties of wild native grasses. . 
I was in the act of giving up in despair and wending 
my way to camp, it having become almost too dark to 
see the sights on my rifle so that I could do good shoot- 
ing, when I saw a medium sized black bear come out_ of 
the timber on the doe's trail and follow in the direction 
of the clump of willows where she had taken refuge. 
Naturally I waited developments. He seemed to ap- 
proach with much caution. No sooner had he entered 
the cover of the willows than there was a great commo- 
tion, the calling death-cry of the doe, mingled with that 
gurgling sound that told me that her windpipe was be- 
ing severed or closed by the fangs of the bear. I lost all 
interest in the beautiful surroundings, and traveled hard 
in the direction of the scene of the death struggle, hoping 
to be able to have a hand in it myself; but as I gained the 
opposite side of a timbered ravine that separated us, 1 
?aw the bear shambling off at a lively pace toward the 
timber, it having got wind of me. I had two shots at it 
before it reached cover, one of which took effect, but 
not fatally. I then went to the scene of the killing, where 
I found the dead doe and her newly born fawn a few 
minutes old. . , 
This is the bear's strong point in taking advantage of 
;,nd kiUing game animals. I have seen them follow the 
bands of mountain goats and sheep in the mountains ot 
Alaska for weeks at that time of the year when the 
females were giving birth to their young. The same with 
the caribou in western and northern Alaska. I helped 
hunt a Kadiak grizzly in 1895 that killed a full grown 
domesticated cow in the outskirts of Kadiak, Kadiak 
Island, Alaska. A cinnamon bear and cubs killed a 1,200 
pound five-year-old mare on my brother's stock range in 
California in 1897. While mining on the south fork of 
the Trinity River, northern California, in the summer of 
1896, my attention was almost daily directed to a large 
hear — grizzly or cinnamon — and a very large cougar, or 
California lion, that hunted together. I found the re- 
mains of several deer that had been killed and devoured 
bv them. They have been known for years in that sec- 
tion by the stockmen and miners, who count their depre- 
dations by the score. , . 
Bears adopt many cunning tactics in getting and kill- 
ing game and domestic animals. My father has told me 
in detail of how he has watched several grizzlies sur- 
round a band of cattle, circle round and round them until 
they could get one singled out from the herd, when they 
all would give chase, run it into the timber or thick 
brush, where it would invariably be killed and devoured. 
I have seen cattle and sheep that had been fun over 
cliffs and into miry, swampy ground by bears, a feat that 
was sut-ely nevef accomplished by accident on the bear's 
part, but wholly intentional and in accordance to his best 
interests. 
The bear needs no ptotection in Alaska _ beyond the 
limit of say oiie black or grizzly and one brown per 
season per sportsman. Let the Indians kill all they can 
or care to. 
Stop or restrict the head and hide hunting of moose, 
caribou, deer, goats and sheep in Alaska and all will go 
well. A $5 bounty for wolves and $50 on eagles would 
be of very great benefit to the small amount of game left 
ill that country. 
There is a concern in Alaska that has taken from 
50,000 to 75,000 barrels of herring from those waters per 
season for the past several years' and converted them into 
oil and fertilizer. These are the finest herring in the 
world, and a most excellent food fish. Provision should 
be made to stop this wholesale slaughter of this valuable 
fish._ Apparently all the interest is centered on the pro- 
tection of salmon. The herring are just as important 
as the salmon. U. S. Fish Commission take notice. 
C. H. B. 
Erroneous Assertions. 
BY MARTIIC HUNTER. 
Much of what Mr. U. J. Pocock, F. Z. S., advances as 
natural history in "How Nature Preserves Animals," 
published in the Pall Mall Magazine for January, is con- 
trary to fact. 
He says : "To match the snow of the Arctic winter, 
foxes, stoats, hares and ptarmigan turn white, but 
they recover their normal dark coloring to harmonize 
with that of the soil and vegetation of the following 
spring." 
In the case of stoats, hares and ptarmigan he is quite 
right, but regarding foxes he is wrong. 
The white — or as they are commonly called, Arctic 
foxes — remain white summer and winter ; not quite such 
a pure white in summer, but still decidedly white. They 
could not be expected to be as pure in summer as in win- 
ter, seeing they come in contact with clay burrows, burnt 
sticks and decayed leaves. 
The writer of these lines trapped two white foxes as 
far south as the north shore of the Gulf, of St. Lawrence 
in October, and they both were of a soiled white. 
Furthermore, a white fox is a distinct fox, just as red,, 
cross, silver and black are of other colors. His state- 
ment is still further at variance with the fact and mis- 
leading when he says, where I have quoted him "foxes." 
Now, as there are foxes of all colors inside of the Arctic 
circle, he will not surely imply that red and black ones 
change with the seasons. Therefore, seeing that both 
black and red foxes have to get their living by preying on 
hares and ptarmigan, they must, as a result of their color, 
be considerably handicapped in securing food. 
With all respect to Mr. Pocock, I beg to be allowed 
to correct another fallacy— in fact two. 
He says : "In the case of many of the Arctic seals the 
pups are clothed with fluffy snow-white hair so that while 
still unable to swim and compelled to lie on the snow they 
may escape the notice of the polar bears." 
How does he reconcile this explanation with the fact 
that seals pupped in the end of May or first week in June 
on the north shore of Gulf of St. Lawrence are sim- 
ilarly clothed in fluffy white, and this where there are no 
polar bears to molest them? 
And inasmuch as bears can only see a few feet ahead 
of them, I do not comprehend how the color could be of 
much protection. Bears have very acute scent and sharp 
hearing, but no eyesight. 
My criticism would be incomplete were I to omit to 
state that seal pups have not to lie on the ice or land to 
gsin strength before venturing to swim. On the contrary 
they can and do swim as soon as born, and this I assert 
from my personal observation of their habits and endow- 
ments. 
Mr. Pocock goes on further to explain the reason of 
the stripes of the tiger, the light color of the underside 
of wild horses and asses, but this is outside of my ken, 
and therefore, like a prudent man, I stop where my 
knowledge terminates. 
The Building of Birch Canoes. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
In the communication of William Wells, Esq., on page 
353 of your issue of April 30, one of our most interesting 
and accurate writers of to-day is taken to task for his 
description of the method of building a birch bark canoe. 
I have seen bark canoes built frequently in the country 
where the scene of the book referred to is laid, and in a 
number of other places, and by various tribes of Indians, 
and I have yet to see a canoe built as Mr. Wells describes. 
The process I have always seen is as follows : 
Bark is gathered in the spring. Cedar is gathered — 
long strips for gunwales, long strips split very thin and 
about four inches wide to go between bark and ribs, and 
thick strips for ribs. Black spruce roots are gathered 
and split for sewing. 
These things ready, a flat piece of ground is selected, 
the strip of bark laid on it (if several pieces are to be 
used they are sewed together at the edges), a form for 
the bottom of the canoe is made from sticks and laid on 
the bark, and large stones for weights are put on bark 
and form. The bark is now bent upward at the sides 
and held in place by stakes driven into the ground. The 
inner gunwale frame is suspended inside the "shapeless 
bag of bark" from stakes at the ends and sides, and the 
bark fastened to its outer side. The outer gunwale strips 
are then fastened in place, great care having been taken [ 
all along to bring the bark up so it shall not "belly" any- 
where. The longitudinal thin strips are next put in 
(after removing the bottom frame and as many stones as 
necessary), and the ribs, already shaped by being "nested" 
into the two middle ribs, are cut to the right length t6 ' 
make them fit tight and put in, the tips being put under 
the inner gunwale strip and "swayed" down into place 
and driven home with a hammer, for it is only in this 
way that the bark can be stretched taut. The ends are 
then shaped and sewed with boiled spruce roots stripped 
of their bark, the gunwale sewing done, the seams- 
pitched, and the canoe is finished. 
I forbear from quoting the last paragraph in Mri 
Wells' letter. T. J. Eastman, 
Boston, Mass, May 1. 
[The question as to methods of construction of birch 
bark canoes has been raised in these columns before. It , 
is not strange that there should be such a diversity of 
opinion on the subject, as the process varies in the main 
or in detail with each tribe. To cover every tribe's ways 
of building canoes, it would be necessary to give a de- 
tailed account of the construction used by each. 
The latest correspondence' that appeared in these 
columns on this subject was in 1902. For the benefit of 
those interested we would refer them to an article en- 
titled, '"Birch Bark Canoe Building" in the issue of 
Forest and Stream of January 11, 1902. In the follow- 
ing number (January 18), Mr. Stewart Edward White re- 
plies to the criticisms of the correspondent whose views 
appeared in the previous issue. These two letters treat 
of the methods used by the Penobscot and Ojibway 
tribes.] 
Trails of the Pathfinders. 
Portland, Ore., April 29. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Permit me to express to you my great appreciation of, 
c'lud profound pleasure in, the series of articles now run- 
ning in Forest and Stream^ "Trails of the Pathfinders." 
To me they are the most entertaining reading that has 
ever appeared in our beloved magazine, and that is say- 
ing a great deal. 
Most of us are too much disposed to live in the present, 
thankful, of course, for our wide and bounteous country, 
cur improved arms, our modern equipments, etc., with- 
out pausing to reflect upon the hardships and privations 
that were endured a century, ago. by others that made it- 
possible for us to have such: a country. 
Alexander Mackenzie must have been a wonderful man; 
—the personification of determination, force and good 
judgment. S. H. Greene. . 
North American Bovines. 
Musk Ox, Bison, Sheep and Goats. By Caspar Whitney, George 
Bird Gnnnell and Owen Wister. The Macmillan Company. 
Cloth. 284 pages. Illustrated. 
This IS another volume of the American Sportsman's Library 
edited by Caspar Whitney. 
Mr. Whitney describes his experience in musk ox hunting 
somewhat as he did in his book "On Snow Shoes to the Barren 
Ground." It is an interesting and vivid story. He describes the 
method of travel, of life and of hunting, and the seasons at which 
one must visit the Barren Ground, and tells what he should take 
with him. The narrative is graphic and the pictures are ex- 
tremely interesting. 
The bison, whose story is told by Mr. Grinnell, has in it much 
that IS interesting and quite a little that is new. One point of 
especial interest is the local habits of the buffalo as given in 
Major Stouch's description of the herd of buffalo which furnished 
the post of old Fort Fletcher in Kansas with beef during the 
whole winter. 
The mountain sheep chapters are interesting accounts of hunt- 
ing, interspersed with much close observation and many of Mr. 
Wister's charming lefiections. 
His goat article is equally good, and throughout both of these 
accounts are interspersed characteristic and telling bits of the 
color of the old-time West. Here, for example, is an incident 
of a night at some little town, let us say in Washitigton: 
'-They gave me a room. * • • I was glad to see as little of 
it as possible. I washed in the public trough and basin which 
stood in the office between the saloon and the dining room; and 
1 spent my time either in the saloon watching a game of poker 
that never ceased, or in wandering about in the world 
outside ♦ * • I went to my room to go to bed, turned , 
down the bed clothes, and saw there not what Ifeared, 
but cockroaches to the number of several thousand, I should 
think. They scampered frantically, jostling each other like any 
other crowd. Then I lifted one pillow and watched more cock- 
roaches hurry under the neighboring pillow for shelter. Then I 
saw that the walls, ceiling and floor were all quivering and 
sparkling with cockroaches. So I told the landlord downstairs. 
I said that if he had no other room I would throw my camp 
blankets on the office table and sleep there, if he had no ob- 
jection. He was sympathetic, and explained that the cock- 
roaches must have come up from the kitchen, which was below 
my room. This was Saturday night, and every Saturday night 
the cook put powder in the kitchen; so that must have sent 
them up. This explanation was given me in a voice full of 
confidence. And I replied that very likely this was how they 
came, and that sleeping in bed with so many at a time would be 
impossible. He entirely agreed with me." 
Here is another bit that will appeal to many big-game hunters 
of the old West. 
"I feel confident that those who have done much hunting of 
big game have sometimes heard such words as these: 'The 
mountain used to have a bunch of sheep on it all the time; 
three hundred sheep'; or, 'Just about here last season I ran into 
a band of twelve hundred elk'; or, 'I passed two thousand an- 
telope on the flat yesterday,' The person who says this to you will 
have been your own guide, or some visitor to camp who is com- 
paring notes and exchanging anecdotes. I, at any rate, have 
listened many times to such assertions; and now and then I 
have been tempted to observe (for instance) in reply: 'Two 
thousand anHslope! When you'd counted nineteen hundred and 
ninety-nine, I should think you'd have been too tired to go on.' 
But these are temptations that I have resisted. , I think, too, that 
the men believed what they said — in a general way. But here 
with the goat was a famous opportunity. We could see them 
clearly; they were across a caiion from ourselves, a mile or so 
away; they were lying down or standing, some eating, some 
slowly moving about a little; they were in crowds, and in smaller 
groups, and by ones and twos, changing their position very 
leisurely; and they seemed numberless; they. were up and down 
the hill, everywhere. Getting to them this day was not pos- 
sible, since most of the day was already gone, and we were high 
up on the opposite mountain side. 
" 'There's a hundred thousand goat!' exclaimed T., and I 
should have gone home asseverating that I had seen at least 
hundreds. 
" 'Let's count them,' said L We took the glasses and did so. 
There were thirty-five." 
Following each species is a brief description with the Latin 
iiame and its distribution, together with sothe measurements of 
horns. 
The illustrations of the species are chiefly by Mr. Rungius,. 
though the frontispiece, an artotype, is by Mr. Philip R. Good- 
win. 
Mr. Rungius' pictures are, most of them, exceedingly good, 
though of all the bison pictures in the volume it may be said 
that buffalo very rarely get their heads up as high as they are 
shown in all these pictures. The very excellent sketches of 
mountain sheep show different forms known as 0. canadensis, 
stonei, nelsoni, dalli, and the so-called fannini. 
The present volume has an especial interest as treating of two 
of the three exceedingly odd and unrelated kinds of bovines found 
in America, "and while — except in the case of one species — all 
those here discussed are looked lat pnly from the big-game hunt- 
er's standpoint, there is much that is worth reading in these- 
pa^es. 
