Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
'erms, $4 A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) ^NT H’~\7V "Y" SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1908. ! No. 346 Broadway, New York. 
Six Months, $2. ) 7 ^ 
THE PROBLEM OP THE COYOTE. 
The coyote used to be a characteristic feature of the 
)lains. In the old da}^s of the buffalo he was often a 
:heerful, friendly, not to say impudent, companion of the 
iraveler, but of late years, since the white men have come 
nto the country, have destroyed the old-time food, and 
•eplaced it by a multitude of other, strange but not less 
lalatable, animals, his nature has somewhat changed. He 
las become modest, almost shrinking, and the unthought- 
:ul people who catch a glimpse of him as he slips out of 
sight with head hung low and tail depressed are apt to 
sail him “sneak.” But who, we should like tO' inquire, 
yould not shun observation, if he knew that every man 
:hat he encountered stood ready to throw a charge of 
shot, or half a dozen bullets at him? 
Among the new inhabitants of the West the coyote can 
lardly be called popular. He is an athlete— of small size 
t is true, belonging to the midget class — yet keeping him- 
self constantly in the best of training and thus requiring 
in abundance of food. If he does some good by a faith- 
ful destruction of mice, ground squirrels, gophers and 
prairie dogs, he does much harm by killing the game 
airds and breaking up their nests and by destroying do- 
mestic fowls, lambs, pigs and calves. There are many 
places in the thickly settled West where it is impossible 
to raise turkeys on account of the coyotes. 
Of all the wild animals of North America the wolves — 
which are only wild dogs— are the most intelligent, and 
of the wolves the coyotes are by far the smartest. The 
old-time trapper appreciated their wisdom, for he saw 
them do many curious things. But long before the trap- 
per had come the Indian had already acknowledged the 
coyote’s cunning and had invested him with an atmos- 
phere of mystery, had come to regard him as sacred, and 
considered him as possessed of supernatural power, almost 
a god. 
The Biological Survey has recently been investigating 
the coyote in its economic relations, and the results of this 
inquiry have been published in a bulletin by Mr. David E. 
Lantz. The dozen species of coyotes which extend from 
Mexico to British America have all of them similar char- 
acteristics, and, as a rule, what is true of the habits of 
one will be true of all the others, subject only to special 
conditions of environment, which may give those of one 
district greater or less wisdom than those of some other 
section. In many parts of the well-settled West coyotes 
are still abundant, and notwithstanding the fact that 
bounties are offered by the States and often added to by 
the ranchmen of certain localities, the number of coyotes 
on which bounties are paid fluctuate but little from year 
to year. In Kansas from July I, 1903, to June 30, 1904, 
bounties were paid on 19,514 coyotes.- 
The paper referred to has in it much that is interesting. 
Mr. Lantz, however, appears to have ovejlooked the very 
good chapter on the coyote which appeared in the volume 
of the Boone and Crockett Club entitled “Trail and Camp 
Fire.” The various methods of destroying the coyote, 
such as poisoning, trapping and running with dogs are 
briefly alluded to, but by far the most interesting point 
brought out by Mr. Lantz is that the prairie coyote does 
not willingly jump over a fence more than thirty inches 
in height. It is well known that the coyote is a good 
climber, and that he can squeeze through a very small 
hole, but it is perfectly easy to understand that the ani- 
mals brought up on the plains may not jump a fence of 
very moderate height, just as in old times we used to be 
told that an antelope would not jump a two- foot fence. 
On the other hand, we have seen an antelope which had 
become accustomed to a fence, sail over one four feet 
high with the grace of a deer. 
In Cape Colony, Africa, it was found that for a year 
or more a fence of wire netting two feet six inches in 
height served to keep out the jackals from the inclosed 
flocks. In the same way years ago the coyote, with his 
usual suspicion, would not crawl under an ordinary- 
barbed wire fence.. It took only a short time, however, 
for both the wild animals named to become accustomed 
to these fences, and when they found that they were 
harmless — were not traps — they crossed them without the 
slightest concern. Mr. Lantz gives accounts of a num- 
ber of simple and inexpensive fences which may be used 
to keep out the coyoes, and the Survey’s experiments will 
be continued. 
Extermination of the animal is difficult, while fences 
are extremely expensive, and we venture to predict that 
for quite a term of years our old friend the coyote will 
continue to trouble the ranchman and stock raiser of the 
West. 
AFRICAN GAME PICTURES. 
The astonishing progress made within the past few 
y'ears in reproducing scenes of nature by photography 
is familiar to us all. It is nothing uncommon now for 
photographers to capture on the dry plate the wildest and 
most unapproachable creatures, and for these photographs 
to be reprinted for the benefit of a tremendous public 
that never has the opportunity to see the animals in na- 
ture. Examples of this are so numerous that it seems 
almost invidious to mention any particular one; neverthe- 
less Mr. Wallihan’s “Camera Shots at Big Game,” Mr. 
Herrick’s “Home Life of Wild Birds,” and Mr. Chapman’s 
extraordinary contribution to- the natural history of the 
flamingo may be named as noteworthy examples of what 
has been done in this branch of the photographic art — or 
of nature study, whichever one may please to term it. 
This work has by no means been confined to America. 
In Great Britain books are constantly coming from the 
press, which contain half-tones of greater or less excel- 
lence, showing the birds and mammals of those islands in 
their native surroundings, and some of these books are 
very charming. It was reserved for Germany, however, 
to make the most striking contribution to literature of 
this description. 
For a number of years Mr. C. G. Schillings has been 
engaged in collecting specimens of the African fauna for 
museums of central Europe. He has brought back splen- 
did collections, including some species and subspecies 
hitherto unknown, and it is said that through his efforts 
not less than seven of the museums of central Europe 
have been greatly enriched. Not content with what he 
had already done, Mr. Schillings, on his last trip to 
Africa, carried with him a large photographic outfit, in- 
cluding tele.scopic cameras and flash-light material. It 
was his purpose tO' supplement the superb collections that 
he had made by a series of pictures of the living animals 
in the big game country of Africa, and to give true pic- 
tures of the animals of the wide treeless plains, the 
tangled jungle and the silent forest. 
In many cases it was impracticable to approach these 
animals near enough to secure effective pictures with an 
ordinary camera, but his telescopic lense, effective at a 
great distance, gives clear detail of a multitude of the 
operations of the daily life of these wild creatures. Here 
we may see the zebra, the antelope and the gnu feeding 
undisturbed on the plains, the giraffe cropping the foliage 
from the trees, the elephants tearing- off the branches and 
the rhinoceros drinking at the water hole. The animals 
of the open plain and the daylight presented fewer diffi- 
culties than the carnivorous animals of the forest, where 
light is much less and where often the exposure had to 
be made at night and by flash-light. With this method 
also Mr. Schillings was very successful, though at the 
cost of many weary nights’ watching within a zareba of 
thorn bushes ; nights which sometimes yielded nothing or 
again gave some splendid picture which repaid this hun- 
ter without a gun for all his toils. 
It is difficult to speak with moderation of the interest 
and scientific value of these photographs, which show the 
animals in their natural surroundings and give the cir- 
cumstances of their daily lives.- No written description 
can tell the story so well as a picture, and there is much 
to be learned from these of Mr. Schillings. One of his 
photographs shows a giraffe and two elephants which, 
during the three weeks that Mr. Schillings saw them, 
seemed to be constantly together. The gnus and the 
zebras are also constantly found together, and frequently 
appear on the same plate. The picture of the elephants 
and the giraffe, besides its interest as an example of the 
association of different species, with its -context, seems 
to indicate that these African mammals are as local in 
their habits as are those of North America. 
Within a few years many of the species which Mr. 
Schillings has photographed are doomed to become ex- 
tinct, and w^e shall have of them only a few museum 
specimens, melancholy caricatures of the beautiful crea- 
tures whose innumerable hosts once covered the wide 
African veldt. But in the photographs are found repre- 
sentations of these animals in life and in nature, which 
will help to preserve forever the memory of what these 
species actually were, 
THE AMERICAN HANDICAP. 
The Interstate Association’s Sixth Grand American 
Handicap at Targets, held in Indianapolis last week and 
fully reported in other pages, was one of the most re- , 
markable events in the trapshooting annals of America. 
The meeting was record breaking, both as tO' the number 
of participants and as to the scores made. The entries 
numbered 352, and of these 335 actually took part. The, 
Handicap was won by a score of 99 out of a possible 100; 
and there were several scores superior to the 96, which 
was the best achievement in 1904. Thus the winning 
scores of former years were the losing scores of this year. 
The growth of the Handicap has been phenomenal; and 
yet it has been only what we might have looked for, when 
we consider that the enterprise has been under the 
auspices of such powerful trade institutions and has been 
promoted by talent of a very high order. The competi- 
tion, moreover, is one which has appealed to the very best 
class of shooters ; the annual lists of competitors have 
been representative of the type which has given the 
sport of trapshooting its high place among outdoor 
recreations. As conducted by the Interstate Association, 
trapshooting is a gentleman’s recreation ; and we use the 
word gentleman in its best sense, not necessarily denoting 
wealth or poverty or social exclusiveness, high or low, 
and least of all that caddishness which sometimes mani- 
fests itself as a mistaken substitute of the characteristics 
we all recognize as those of a true gentleman. The meet- 
ing at Indianapolis last week, both in the participants and 
in the gathering of friends and spectators, was of a com- 
plexion which reflected the highest credit upon trap- 
shooting, and one result of the success of 1905 will be 
further to popularize a sport which is growing in public 
favor by leaps and bounds. 
The list of entries shows that the Handicap is truly 
national in scope; competitors were present from all parts 
of the country, from Maine in the East tO' California 
in the West, and from Minnesota to Louisiana. It was a 
notable assembla ge of the shooting talent of the continent. 
Polar exploration still holds out its lure. Comniander 
Robert E. Peary has come to New York with his new 
ship, the Roosevelt, built especially for work in the far 
North, and in which in a few days he will set out for 
another -effort to accomplish the undertaking which has 
baffled the adventurers of centuries. The new expedition, 
has been planned for with much care, and the ship and 
the equipment of the party embody the fruits of Colonel 
Peary’s extensive polar experience. The vessel has many 
peculiarities of construction which it is believed will fit 
her for the work. A wedge-shaped bow, raking stem and 
a form of side which cannot be grasped by the ice are 
features of the model. The bow is filled in almost solid 
where it meets the impact of the ice ; the rudder post is 
strongly reinforced to prevent twisting, and the rudder 
is so arranged that it may be lifted out of the water to 
prevent damage by ice. The short bowsprit can be run. 
inboard when the ice of high elevation makes this de- 
sirable. Bow and stern are heavily armored, and screw 
tie-rods bind the ship together. From New York the 
Roosevelt will proceed to Sydney, C. B.j for coal, thence 
to Davis Straits, along the west coast of Greenland 
through Melville Bay to the Whale Sound regions and 
Cape Sabine, where the Eskimo contingent will be taken 
aboard; thence through the Kennedy and Robeson chan- 
nels to the north shore of Grantland. From there the 
party — three white men and the Eskimo sledge drivers — 
will start about the ist of February, 1906, on a dash to 
the Pole. 
It 
The sport of hunting, whether it be a trip to a remote 
wilderness in pursuit of big game, or an afternoon’s quail 
shooting on the home farm, is an experience of so many 
varied and complex elements, that no one of its constitu- 
ent phases may rightly be singled out as that which al- 
ways constitutes the attraction, the enjoyment or the 
pleasurable recollection. For this reason no one who 
has not himself been a field sportsman can write of field 
sports intelligently, or concerning them express views 
based on an information which would give his views 
intelligence or importance. What some of the writers of 
the day who denounce sport and sportsmen actually 
know about the things and the men they discourse upon 
amounts to about as much as the old writers on witchcraft 
actually knew about the simple and inoffensive girls and 
old women they denounced as witches, , , | , , , 
