^ov; 4 1905-i 
ichers to keep himself and his partner supplied, be- 
ise the ranchers were to lazy to get anything much. 
)'cum and Yensen were now so full of energy, other 
^ple were afraid of them. T. hey had accumulated a 
of property, including cattle, horses, mules and sheep 
1 other ranchers missed things of the same brand, but 
/ of them were curious enough to inquire of Slocum, 
:ause he had grown too impulsive. It was all on ac- 
jnt of the altitude,” concluded the old gentleman, 
le higher some men get in these mountains the 
rder it becomes for them to control themselves, 
iking posts and rails, the use of a crosscut saw about 
1 hours”— 
\t this point I began to lose faith in my grandfather, 
d I quietly reached a trout from a pan m the next 
Dm, rubbed the .nose of Jack, the bear^ with it, and 
;n put it hastily away. Jack had been sound asleep 
•the floor, but he got up immediately and began a 
r dance, squalling for the fish that he couldn’t find, 
ithing made Jack so ambitious and noisy as the 
ell of fish, and as an interruption to conversation at 
critical time he was a squalling success. The old 
ntleman had had considerable experience_ with wild 
ars, and he did not put sufficient faith in Jack_ to 
ntinue his story at that time; he preferred to retire 
- it was past his bedtime, anyhow. He rarely told 
:h long yarns as this one, and while telling it he had 
en busv with other things, such as the fire, wood, 
,ter and what not, while he gave a good deal of time 
watching Jack’s doings, allowing that animal con- 
lerable freedom, but always a little suspicious of his 
locence. I may have misconstrued some of the de- 
ls of his narrative about Slocum, but after we had 
en at this place some days all of us believed the most 
h. . Whenever I set oflf with an ax or other iinple- 
=nt of industry, Enochs would tell Dick to look out 
r Slocum, and chain up the blankets and provisions. 
Although we were out for an easy time, we found , 
rselves getting up before daybreak, eating five or six 
nes a day, hunting, fishing, chasing Jack about, doing 
erything except resting. About a mile and a halt 
St and west of us were canons, the headwaters of the 
Dw creeks, and we made frequent trips to them for 
h. The streams were so small at their heads, and 
ere was so much brush and chaotic confusio^ of 
len trees, logs, rocks and boulders in these canons, 
ere was no chance for fly-fishing. Trout were there 
large numbers, but there were few holes or eddies 
ore than eight or ten feet wide, while much of the 
iter was defended from our encroachment by im- 
■netrable tangles of vines or precipitous banks. We 
ok ’all the fish we wanted with bait, and found our 
nusement in watching the hundreds of trout in the 
;-eper holes. , t- , 
Dick was an expert fisherman, but Enochs was the 
lorest excuse I ever saw attached to fishing tackle, 
e would work harder and longer in making prepara- 
ons, break down more brush and driftwood, have 
ore trouble and make more fuss at it than a woman, 
inally he would get m a conspicuous position above 
ime pool, where he could hang over the water, and 
:ter he had scared every fish out of it, he would sink 
s bait to the bottom and wait with wonderful patience 
that is to say, wonderful for him. A peculiar look of 
ilicitude and anticipation would rest upon his counte- 
ance, and after a while he would pull his line carefully 
D the surface with now and then a water dog or a 
irtle upon it. If any one was watching he would 
uietly let his catch sink to the bottom again, while he 
luttered inexpressible things. After a while he would 
aul in and release his catch by slyly cutting the line, 
n hunting he was no more successful. He would get 
p and out at daybreak, hunt with great enthusiasm 
idustry, climb the steepest, rockiest and brushiest hill- 
ij,gs without seeing a deer or firing a shot. I believe 
e.-ikilled a squirrel or two in the time we were out, 
ut .squirrels might be shot at any hour from our camp, 
lmo§t any time from our wagon when upon the road 
Upon these trips we let Jack follow, and he usually 
wagge^ed along with us for a while until he found 
omething about some old log or tree of interest, when 
e, wouldJstray off by himself, usually returning to camp 
bout the time he guessed that we would be cooking 
omething ,Qr dressing game or fish. At such times we 
lad to chain him up, as he persisted in taking a hs-^d, 
■r, rather, both hands in the operation. He liked his 
enison and fish raw, but he accepted it cooked, 
ooked, or, in fact, otherwise. Sometimes we would 
;ive him a fish or a piece of meat hissing hot from the 
ire in an effort to teach him some little deliberation, 
ie never attempted to gorge these hot things, but he 
^(ould paw them about with great gravity and patience 
or an animal with his capacity for things _he 
t was often diverting to see the jealousy manifested by 
ack and the dogs while food was in course of prepara- 
ion, for they were nearly always hungry. _They were 
lot often cross, but they were so distressingly eager 
hat we often fed them the first thing. I could not see 
hat it took any more to satisfy Jack than it did the 
logs;-- while the bear seemed the more contented and 
ila^fful when he had been supplied. He sometimes took 
ro'm the dogs a bone that he preferred, but upon the 
vhole there was an amicable understanding between the 
hree that never culminated in trouble. It might have 
leen different if any one of them was suffering foi 
Do what we might, and- try as we could, we could 
leither suppress our inclinations ^ to be alnpst con- 
tantly moving about, or to be eating something. Un- 
•est and hunger . seemed to be in the air we breathed, 
iure- enough, and the same spirit and energy and ap- 
letite filled all the animals. Our horses, as docile and 
veil trained as any could well be, were now a source of 
inxiety. If there ivas a loose stake or rail they would 
3-et out of the pasture or out of the stable, while they 
Tied themselves ivith timothy hay until their hides 
I .vere stretched and the hair was scattered about upon 
•hem almost at rare intervals. , ' 
I would not like to be quoted as saying that our 
horses got so full of hay that they had no more hairs 
to the square inch of hide than a Chinaman has of 
whiskers but b . say with entire assurance and without 
undue qualification, that the hair upon them was not, 
at such times, as thick as the trees of the surrounding 
{prests When one of them was patted he reverberated 
^OkESt ANb StREAM. 
like a big drum, and if you . punched one of them vig- 
orously his elastic reaction would knock you down be- 
fore you could take your fist away. A well hung punch- 
ing bag would be no comparison,, while all this time 
the horses were taking in more hay. When we first 
arrived at the summit, we could lead those horses about - 
anywhere between the trees, but after we had been there 
a week we had to lead them long distances around to 
get them tb water, or we had to take the road. Why, 
when we wanted to pass one of them we saved time 
bv cra'wling under; it would be a close squeeze between 
his midway elevation and the ground, but none of us 
wanted to be all day about getting around a horse or 
even a haystack. Tiie animals got away from us several 
times, but it took them so long to squeeze between trees 
in their distended condition, we soon overtook them 
and worked them back to camp. I tried to ride one of 
them bareback, but owing to his spherical development 
and my inability to adapt my legs to it, I decided to 
walk. I have seen cowboys that might have done it, _ 
for some of them are arched like a rainbow, besides, 
they commence riding horses before their legs get into 
shape, and they keep them going that way. 
Ransacker. 
The Turtle^s Direction Sense. 
Knoxville, Tenn., Oct. 26. — I read with great interest 
an article in a late issue, on “How Fishes Find Their 
Way in the Water.” I lived several years, on the east 
coast of Florida at a place just being settled, by a 
colony from New Britain, Conn. I arrived there the 
latter part of November, 1875. .With the exception of 
one or two small farm houses, the settlers were living 
in tents and palmetto shanties, and were engaged in 
setting out wild orange stumps as fast as they could 
clear the land. I went to Florida to. spend the 
winter hunting and fishing and to get away from the 
cold northeast winter of my home in New Hampshire. 
I was given a hearty welcome and soon had a com- 
fortable camp to live in. The east coast at that time 
was some forty miles from the line of Florida travel; it 
was seldom visited by northern sportsmen, and I soon 
found that it was a veritable sportsman’s paradise. 
Bear, deer and wild turkey were abundant. 
My first bear was as fat as a seal. I had been there 
but a few daj^s, and this was the first fresh meat the 
people had had. Everybody got bear meat and bear 
grease a-plenty. It is the best in the world for cooking, 
as you cannot burn it. My reputation was firmly es- 
tablished as a hunter; they all, even the women, knew 
the report of my gun. I fire-hunted a great deal. One 
old fellow said whenever they heard the report of my 
gun, “You can bet your life D’s bringing in meat.” I 
remember once killing two deer, one with each barrel, 
so quickly that those who heard the report thought I 
had accidentally pulled both triggers. 
During the summer months, from May to August, the 
loggerhead, or big sea turtle, lay their eggs on the 
beach. They come possibly hundreds of miles, and if 
undisturbed will land within a few yards of the same 
place year after year. They crawl up the beach in 
the night and make their nest in the sand just above 
high water mark. I have watched them from behind 
a sandhill, but a few feet away. They dig the hole with 
their hind flippers, and after . covering it over, first 
filling it with eggs, they will go a few feet and make 
another place, I always: thought as a blind, for one 
looks just like the other. They lay each month usually 
during the high tides of -that month, beginning in May 
and ending in August, froin 90 to 185 eggs, that can 
be put to more uses than hens’ eggs. 
During the summer of 1876 I found and brought into 
camp 2.755 eggs. The yolk in coffee is as good as rich 
cream, and for butter cakes and egg-nogg they have-- 
no equal. I put some in the sand near our camp, arid 
in twenty-seven days the top eggs hatched; the re.st in 
three days more. .The little turtles would dig out, 
raise their little heads and sniff the air a. moment, then 
start for the river, 100 yards away. It was always a 
mystery to me how a turtle could find the same place 
on the shore. When a short distance -out ' at sea it all 
looks alike— just sandy- ridges, with scrub palmetto- and 
coarse grass. There are no jAndinarks for miles, and 
miles. " . . S; B. D. 
Philippine Ctocodile and Scott . 
Camp Connell, Samar, P. I., Sepk~!^^23.-^Bditor 
Forest and Stream: The following- excerpr'from a letter 
written to me by Contract Surgeon J'. A. Escobar, U. S. 
Army, stationed at Oras, Samar, P. I;, under date of 
Sept. 18, may be of interest to members- of the Forest 
AND Stream family; . _ , 
“As you are a hunter and interested in natural history 
the following account may be oif^nterest to you. Some 
ten days ago, in the evening, 'wji^n .two scouts at Cagpili 
were bathing in the Oras River, one of them was taken by 
a crocodile. A week ago yesterday I went hunting for 
these reptiles on the, same, river, and was fortunale in 
killing and securing one whose length was, upon measure- 
ment, one inch less than eighteen feet and whose girth 
was about seven or eight feet. The saurian was brought 
to Oras, where its stomach was opened and the following 
contents withdrawn therefrom: The remains of two 
monkeys, two pieces of tin can and the bones of both arms 
and both legs of what had been a human being._ Whether 
these bones were those of the scout _ who disappeared 
while bathing, or of some other individual I am,^ of 
course unable to state positively, but anatomically I have 
no doubt of their having been human bones.” 
A .45-90 Winchester repeater, with the regular black 
powder cartridge (300-grain bullet) was used by the 
doctor, who fired twice, the first shot taking effect be- 
hind the foreleg, the second between the eyes of the man- 
eater. . , -r 
The reptile killed by Dr. Escobar is readily identified as 
a true crocodile, not only from the shape of the head, but 
also from the position of the canine tooth -of the lower 
^^Captain O. P. Robinson, of the Philippine Scouts, is. 
the happy owner of an albino monkey. The animal was 
caught in eastern Samar some months ago, and is becom- 
ing quite domesticated. A. M. Macnab, 
First Lieut. Philippine Scouts. 
A Blackbitd^s Victim. 
St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 25. — Editor Forest a>nd Stream: 
Last Sunday I visited the big bird cage in Forest Park 
and witnessed a tragedy among the inhabitants. 
My attention, was attracted by a fine specimen of a crow 
blackbird; which appeared to be testing the flyaway 
capacity of the great cage. As the bird returned from a 
rapid flight to the east end of the cage and passed very 
close to where I stood I noted the blackbird was chasing 
a sparrow. Suddenly both birds wheeled and darted to 
the ground, almost at my feet, with a thud that scattered 
the sand and dust on the bottom of the cage. 
The fight, that ensued was fierce for several moments, 
when the weight and strength of the larger bird began 
to tell, and finally taking the sparrow by the neck and 
holding it on the ground the blackbird actually stood 
upon its victim until it ceased to struggle. Then carefully 
releasing its hold on the neck the black murderer pro- 
ceeded to pound the head of its victim with its sharp 
bill until there was not a kick or a struggle left in the 
unfortunate sparrow. 
With hundreds of people about and many of them as 
intensely intersted as myself we watched the murderer 
finish up the job. It was when, with one foot still clutch- 
ing the body of the dead bird, the blackbird deliberately 
began to pick its victim’s eyes out, that many ladies and 
little girls retired from the scene. How I wished for a 
camera with which to record the evidence against this 
black murderous cannibal.' 
When all was over I hunted up the keeper, who tells 
me that almost daily the blackbird kills a sparrow. At 
this season most of the smaller birds have been removed 
from the cage, otherwise, I presume, the killing would not 
be confined "to any particular kind of the smaller birds in 
captivity. I doubt if the result would have been as above 
described if the attack of the blackbird had been made 
in the open, at least I have never read nor heard of such 
a thing. ; Noynek. 
Ruffed Grouse Vagaries. 
New York, Oct. 25. — Editor Forest and Stream^: I 
have read with much interest various accounts of the 
vagaries of ruffed grouse. These have been of the usual 
plunging-througli-windows or against-wires variety. An 
Eagle Lake (Ticonderoga) farmer and hunter related the 
following incident last .summer ; “I was sitting on my 
porch one afternoon when I was frightened by some 
heavy object striking hard against the side of the front 
door. I turned around and found a large partridge lying 
as if stunned under a chair. Before I had time to get 
out of my seat another object seemed to come out of the 
clouds and struck almost where the bird did. It was a 
large hawk. Before I could get my wits about me the 
partridge started off again as well as ever, and the hawk 
followed. Both were going in a straight line, and I am 
sure that the hawk could catch his prey. Whether the 
bird flew to the house for protection or hope,d that I 
would shoot the pursuer I don’t know. These hawks are 
death to any bunch of partridges that they get after. I 
have known a covey of a dozen or more to be wiped out 
one by one by them.” 
I wonder if the bird in question was a duck hawk. It 
was in a mountain valley near a pretty large lake and 
abounding in creeks and streams. I have never before 
heard of a hawk trying to fly down a grouse oh a long 
distance Course. Perhaps some of your readers have. 
Peter Flint. 
[Within, the limits of New York city we have on two 
occasions seen an English sparrow dash into a room in 
flight from a sparrow hawk.] 
More Bird Resefvations. 
Washington, D. C., Oct. 24. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Since the writing of my article in the Forest 
AND Stream of Oct. 21 on bird reservations, the Presi- 
dent has issued three additional orders establishing bird 
reservations as follows : “Siskiwit Island Reservation, 
embracing a group of unsurveyed islands at the mouth 
of Siskiwit Bay on the south side of Isle Royal, in Lake 
Superior, Mich. ; the Huron Islands Reservation, includ- 
ing all unsurv.eyed islands of the Huron Islands group 
along the south shore of Lake Superior in Tp._ 53 N., R. 
29 ' Wi, Mich.,- and the Passage Key Reservation at the 
mouth of Tampa Bay, on the west coast of Florida.” 
From 6,000 to 10,000 herring gulls breed annually in 
the Siskiwit Islands and many other forms besides, and 
in* the IJufon Islands about 1,500 gulls with terns and 
other species, breed. Passage Key is the greatest breed- 
ing ground for" terns and other water birds characteristic 
of that locality found -along the Florida coasts. Effort 
was laeing made to get possession of Passage Key for the 
purpose of exploiting it as a resort at the time the Execu- 
tive order was issued, and the signing of the order was 
extremely opportune since the bird population would have 
been annihilated in six months more. 
All three Executive orders are dated Oct. 10, i^S- The 
National . Association of Audubon Societies will place 
wardens in charge of these reserves at once. 
Frank Bond. 
Fttivotis Tree Dticfc in Washington. 
Newspaper reports on natriral history matters are pro- 
verbially untrustworthy, yet -often are worth investigating. 
An item appearing in a recent issue of the Seattle Post- 
Intelligencer is of this character. The fulvous (Dendro- 
cygna fulva) tree duck is a tropical and sub-tropical spe-, 
cies found in Mexico, parts of California and Nevada, 
Louisiana and Texas. Its occurrence so far north as 
Washington would be very surprising. The item says: 
The first specimen of the fulvous tree duck ever killed 
no,rth of British, French and Dutch Guiana was shot a 
few days ago by Phil. Locke, of Aberdeen, near Grays 
Harbor. The bird has been stuffed and is now in the 
possession of the hunter who killed it, and is prized as a 
rare trophy; by him. 
The creature is much, like the, American wood duck, 
recognized as one of the most beautiful of birds. In 
color it is light brown on the breast and a beautiful 
mottled brown on the back. In shape it is much the same 
as the American wood duck, but is considerably more 
leggy. 
