jvm ds, 1904.3 
and all the chores, and hoe the garden, and milk the 
cow, but if she caught me. sitting down in the shade, 
having a quiet smoke, she'd call me lazy and shiftless, 
and tell me to throw away that dirty old pipe, and go 
to work; and I would rather risk one with a disposition 
like a robin; they take things kind o' easy. But what 
made me think about getting married! I'm married 
now. That little wren is awful cute; she has her nest 
in the coal house, and has made about a hundred trips 
out after grub for her babies since I have been sitting 
here, and each time she stops on the roof, and looks 
at us, and tilts her tail up and dances a, jig, seems 
sociable, but never says a word, acts as though she 
wanted to be friendly, but waiting for an introduction. 
My, what a scrap those blue-jays are having, acting 
like a lot of cowboys shootirig up the town. I wish 
they would get up a regiment of rough riders among 
themselves and go to Port Arthur or some other out- 
landish place. They remind nle of an old lawyer I 
once knew, who could set his mouth to going, and then 
go off and leave it. 
There, that bunch of yellow and orange in the peach 
tree is a beauty, it is a wild canary, or summer yellow 
bird, and when it sings, you can hear water rippling 
along in a brook, and some one playing a harp away 
out in the lake, and imagine that there is not a person 
within a thousand miles of you, except your sweet- 
heart. Why don't they sing all summer? Well, I don't 
know; but guess they are like folks, they quit singing 
when they begin to raise a family. And the orioles 
don't even show themselves after they get married 
and settle down. Those bee martins don't light on 
the ground when they come down after a fly or a bug, 
but just hover in the air, and they would rather fight 
than eat; they all seem to want to get on the police 
force. And those nests that we made for the little 
blue birds under the water tank are all occupied by 
English sparrows. And there comes those three little 
rabbits that were born under the sidewalk to the coal 
house' — aren't they cute? If they were an inch longer, 
they would be as big as rats. They seem to like those 
red clover tops. Now we must go and eat again, and 
to-morrow I have to work. I wish I could stay here 
and help Billy monkey with that lawn mower, and I 
heard Billy say, "I wish you could." I wonder what 
he meant? I'll bet I know. If I took hold of that 
lawn mower for ten minutes, he would make a sneak 
and go a-fishing. Well, I'll take no chances. 
A. D. McCandless. 
FOH£St__AND STREAM. 
A Moose Head Fteak. 
South Brookfield, Nova Scotia, June 6. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: I inclose you a photograph of a 
freak of nature of a moose head. This is the face 'and 
horns of the moose head. You will observe that the 
nose is cut oft". The antlers, or horns, as you may choose 
to call them, are solid, and appear like a lot of knobs or 
balls. They are of a browhish color. It measures from 
tip to tip 35 inches on one side ; a few inches from the 
face the horn is 26 inches, on the other side 25 inches 
in circumference; near the tips they are each 14 inches 
in circumference. Its weight now is 60 pounds. The 
rings have grown down so that the moose was almost 
blinded. Had he been allowed to live another year, in 
all probability he would have been entirely blind. Mr. 
Jas. B. McLeod, our young sportsman and guide, got him 
last winter back about 18 miles from any settlement, and 
had to carry the head and meat out on his back through' 
the woods four miles to the nearest lumber camp, where 
he was able to get it on a team and home. The meat . 
was very tender and sweet. 
Moose are thought to be far more plentiful this season 
than ever before. They are often seen out in the fields 
and on the main roads. Men out from the lumber woods 
say they never saw them so thick before. 
George Seaman. 
The Love-Mafcingf of P« Domestictis. 
On one of those bitter mornings so common last win- 
ter, I was on iny way to business, muffled up to the ears. 
Turning from an avenue into a side street, my attention 
was attracted by the strange behavior of a sparrow on a 
snow bank. I saw it spread its wings, hop about (the 
snow was frozen hard), and chirp. On a fine May morn- 
mg this behavior would have been quite intelligible, but 
on the pre.sent occasion it puzzled me. Finally I said to 
•myself, "The poor bird has been driven crazy by cold and 
hunger." But no Sooner had I reached this conclusion, 
than up jumped a female from a dent in the snowbank. 
"What," I exclaimed, "a flirtation! Great zero, is it 
possible?" Surely tile force of passion could no furthei- 
go. 
But although it appears from this that there is nothing 
chilly about P. domesiicus when it comes to love-making, 
there is a part of his behavior which has always seemed 
to me curiously anomalous. After paying attention to a 
female as above (sometimes alone, sometimes in the com- 
pany of rival gallants), he (or they, as the case may be), 
will suddenly desert her. She for her part takes the 
desertion with the utmost indifference apparently — will 
begin to plume herself or search for food — and after a 
while will take wing in probably quite a different direc- 
tion from that of her fickle wooers. And this, as it is 
certainly contrary to all female behavior in like circum-' 
stances, generally adds to the mystery of the situation. 
Now, the obvious explanation would be that P. do- 
mesticus is a Platonist, or a devotee of Platonic love, but 
seeing that he increases at a rate of something like 
100,000,000 in every ten years (at least that is the official 
computation), the obvious explanation won't do. What 
are we to suppose, then? That P. domesticus is a roue 
and makes love only to married ladies (who are a'U 
strictly virtuous) ? But if this were so, why does not 
the lady's husband show up occasionally to defend her? 
I have never seen him, and I am sure he is not held back- 
by cowardice. Here speculation seems to fail. Alto- 
gether the problem is most profound, and I am sure that 
m.any discussed in problem novels can't hold a candle to 
iu. But doubtless it is susceptible of explanation, and I 
trust that this communication may incite some ornitho- 
logical genius to give his mind to it. F. M. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always ■ be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
Shooting in the Terai. 
' The Terai (a word meaning marsh or meadow) is the 
name given to a tract of jungle extending along the foot 
of the Himmalaya Mountains for several hundred miles. 
It varies in breadth from forty to a hundred and twenty 
miles. The Jumna, the Ganges, the Ramgunga, and other 
fivers, great , or small, pass through it. Many of them 
;have quicksands which are dangerous to animals or men 
when fording them. On one occasion I was walking 
through a shallow stream only thirty yards wide, and 
paused for a few seconds to speak to a, native pn the 
bank, when I sank half way to the knees in a cavity full 
of sand. I had great difficulty in struggling out. 
A large part of the land between the rivers is, in many 
jplaces, very swampy. In others, even when fairly dry, 
•it is covered for miles in extent with tall reed-like grass, 
jinterspersed with these tracts resembling prairies, are 
iforests containing trees of numerous varieties, upon 
■Avhich grow various climbing or parasitic plants. Lianas 
ihang from one trunk to another like huge cables. A 
ispecies of dodder (Cuscuta) appears like a mass of half- 
(dried grass thrown across the tops of the smaller trees, 
mostly on acacias. It is composed almost entirely of 
istalks, there being no leaves or roots,_ and only small 
iflowers of a greenish white color. I think it derives all 
iits nourishment from the air. 
A Loranthtcs, allied to the mistletoe, lives, like it, upon 
tfhe sap of several 'varieties of trees by piercing the bark 
•and becoming firmly attached to the woody stem. It 
■grows in the shape of a dense bunch of twigs the size of 
■a large crow's nest. These bear dark green leaves from 
two to five inches in length, and showy flowers shaped 
ilike those of the European honeysuckle, and pink in 
color, merging into yellow at the open end. 
The "elephant creeper" (Argyreia speciosa) climbs to 
fhe tops of the tallest trees and hangs down on every 
side, resembling a large green tent. Its leaves are heart- 
shaped, six or eight inches long and four broad. Its 
flowers are formed like those of the convolvulus, and are 
of a light violet tint. It is not actually parasitic, but 
sometimes kills trees by excluding the light from them. 
I have seen a large banyan (Ficus indica) so completely 
covered that only one branch was visible when walkmg 
round it. The leaves of the elephant creeper are a favor- 
ite food of the Sambhur deer (Rusa aristoteUs). 
During the rainy season, and afterwards until the 
ground becomes dry, the Terai is very unhealthy from 
tnalaria. Europeans have sometimes been fatally attacked 
by fever when only passing through it for a few hours, 
and in many parts the natives born in it are obliged to 
leave it for some months every year. The Terai formerly 
swarmed with every kind of game from snipe to ele- 
phants, but in many places it is now comparatively scarce, 
owing to its having been destroyed by European sports- 
men and native hunters, the latter being in the habit of 
killing both birds and mammals during the breeding 
season. 
Elephants are protected by the Government, being so 
valuable for commissariat purposes and for dragging 
heavy cannon, that a fine of five hundred rupees is im- 
posed for killing one, unless he has been advertised by 
the magistrate of the district which he haunts as a 
"rogue" — that is, a solitary male elephant which has been 
driven out of a herd and becomes savage. These animals 
lie in wait near roads and villages and kill people without 
any provocation. 
Both leopards and tigers are fairly numerous in certain 
localities. The former are very rarely seen by hunters 
in the jungle, and are usually shot when they happen to 
acquire the habit of attacking domestic animals near 
villages or camps. _A goat is then tied beside the path by 
which the leopard is likely to come, the sportsman hiding 
near it behind a bush or in a tree. 
There is a very slight chance of obtaining a shot at a 
tiger except during the hot season, when, the smaller 
pools and streams having dried up, the drinking places 
are few in number. Tigers then remain all day within 
easy reach of water, and the native hunters find out the 
parts of the jungle where they hide. Even then elephants 
are usually required, the grass being so tall that when 
the tigers are driven out of it a man on foot is unable 
to see them. The sport of shooting them is therefore 
confined almost entirely to the local Government officials 
and their friends. It is fortunate for the natives that 
these animals are difficult to kill. Very few leopards or 
tigers in that part of India ever become man-eater-s, and, 
with the exception of those which prey upon the flocks 
and herds of the villagers, they are a great blessing to the 
agriculturists, because they keep down the swarms of 
wild pigs and various kinds of deer which would other- 
wise destroy the crops. The pigs are a special nuisance 
in districts where too many beasts of prey have been 
killed, for they will travel in the night time many miles 
from the dense jungles where they hide, eating and 
trampling down the crops of sugarcane and grain. 
The large game usually found by sportsmen consists 
of the swamp deer (Rucervus duvancellii), Sambhur 
{Puso arisioteMs), Bara Singha or 12-tined deer, Cheetul 
or axis deer (Axis maculaius) , Para or hog deer {Axis 
/>orciiitts). Pig are plentiful, but rarely shot. The small 
game of houbara, a kind of small bustard (Ortis hoti- 
bara) ; floriken, a bustard still smaller than the above 
{SypJieotides auritus) ; jungle fowl {Callus ferrugineus) , 
b.iack partridge {Francoliniis znilgaris), gray partridge 
{Ortygonis ponticeriana) , common quail {Cottirnix com- 
munic), duck and teal of various kinds. Peafowl are 
plentiful, but seldom shot, the, chickens only being fit to 
eaf. The full grown birds are so tough that they are only 
used for making soup. The Hindoos look upon them as 
in some degree sacred, and in the neighborhood of vil- 
lages have a great objection to their being shot. 
In 1875, at the latter end of February, I was in a bat- 
tery of Royal Artillery which marched from a military 
station in northern India to the borders of the Terai, 
28 miles distant, in order to engage in the annual target 
practice. Outside the jungle there was a wide belt of 
uninhabited country several miles in length, and only one 
small village near our camp, the ground being unculti- 
vated, partly owing to the depredations of wild animals, 
such as pigs and deer, and partly because of its unhealthi- 
uess in the rainy season. 
I had been frequently assured that it was useless to at- 
tempt to shoot there without the help of an elephant, ow- 
ing to the height and density of the jungle; but as there 
was' then no chance of borrowing one, I determined to 
try what could be done on foot. There were several ele- 
phants in camp belonging to the commissariat and con- 
stantly engaged in bringing food from the station for the 
soldiers of the battery. 
We used to rise at the earliest dawn, take some tea or 
coffee to keep out the malaria, and finish the target prac- 
tice in time to return to camp and have our breakfast at 
midday. It was therefore impossible to try one's luck 
with gun or rifle before the afternoon. 
; I left the camp one day about two o'clock, accompanied 
by two coolies who were always in my employ, and two 
men from the village who were acquainted with the' 
jungle. My" weapons were a single .45 express rifle with 
the Martin breech action, and a 12-bore shotgun made 
7^2 pounds in weight so as to carry bullets well. The 
rifle cartridges held 110 grains of powder and a hollow- 
pointed bullet of 280 grains. The rifle weighed B^/^ pounds, 
and was sighted point blank for 150 yards, the highest 
part of the bullet's trajectory for that range being about 
3^ inches. The shotgun carried accurately up to 50 
yards when loaded with 3 drams of powder and balls 
