432 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 25, 1905. 
shank of the hook at the first strain. Enochs and Dick 
each drew up his line, to find the hooks had been 
nipped from them as cleanly as mine had been. 
We were now all trembling with excitement and an- 
ticipation, while we got out our largest ringed hooks, 
of which we happened to have four, and hastily attach- 
ing these to our lines, we baited and lowered theih, 
this time putting on bait proportioned to the size of 
the hooks. Our lines had scarcely sunk ten feet when 
we were all very busy, and our lines were hissing 
through the water and sawing into the edge of the turf 
and sod. “Easy, boys! Easy! Tire ’em out. We 
can’t raise them with these lines; the lines ’ll snap 
sure!” I exclaimed. Enochs said “d— n,” and drew up 
his line minus hook and sinker. Dick, more patient; 
was still playing his fish, and at last I could feel , that 
mine was yielding stubbornly, but surely, little by little. 
When I had worked him almost to -the surface, I got 
down flat and reached for him under the water. I was 
fortunate enough to get my fingers into his. gills and lift 
him out just as he was about to lunge away in a final 
effort. Dick followed my methods, and lifted his fish 
out also. Big trout? Why, these fish were patriarchs — 
six, possibly eight-pounders, and looking more like 
salmon than trout. 
Certainly we were baited and in after them again 
with more speed and celerity than is common to probate 
courts; but in our excitement we got our lines almost as 
much tangled as legal phraseology, and in our struggles 
with the tackle, one of us — I think it was me — got into the 
water. I was wet to the middle, but was too game a 
fisherman to admit that I nearly froze to death. But I 
wonder to this moment how it is that such icy water 
remains liquid. However, we got our tackle straight 
and were at once busy with fish again, for a few instants, 
and then each of us swore a word or two as we pulled 
up our limp lines all minus bait, hooks and , sinkers. 
This was serious, as we had no more hooks, other than 
brook trout fly-hooks, which were utterly useless here. 
Remembering a collection of pothooks made from 
heavy wire that were in the old stone chimney, we hur- 
ried away to the hut and spent the balance’ of a valua- 
ble forenoon fashioning them into fish hooks. While 
Enochs and I were engaged fixing hooks and tackle, I 
told Dick to dig another hole down to water at a dis- 
tance of about a hundred feet from the one we had 
made. I figured that this would enable us to see down 
into the water. 
In making the hooks we got the most of them 
ranging in size from a large trout .hook to some large 
enough for sturgeon; but I determined to have at least 
one that would stand the strain that anything likely to 
be lurking in our subterranean lake would put it to; 
so I made a hook about the size and form of a shark 
hook. I then got the stay chains from the wagon and 
linked them together, making a chain about ten feet 
long, to which I attached the shark hook with a sort 
of swivel coupling. I next got the lash ropes arid our 
picket ropes of three-quarter inch manila, and after get- 
ting these all spliced together, I had ,’a line a hundred 
yards long. It looked like mighty stiff tackle for trout 
fishing, but I like to be prepared for emergencies. 
After bolting a lunch, no incident of which I can 
now remember, we again hurried to our promising fish- 
ing ground and went into the business for all there was 
in it. Dick had not completed his hole, but he could 
not resist the temptation to take part in the fishing, and 
so we postponed that project. _ 
We baited the smaller of our improvised hooks first 
and lowered these attached to our heaviest trout lines 
and such pack thread and cordage as we found about 
our blankets, the tent and various parcels in our outfit. 
We had no sooner lowered these lines below the sur- 
face then we had begun to participate in some of the 
liveliest fishing I ever heard of. It would seem that our 
experiments of a few hours had aroused the fish in 
that underground realm until they were ravenous, if 
not crazy. We began to pull them up — trout, salmon- 
trout, fish that seemed to be salmon, and others that 
belonged to no fish family with which we were familiar. 
About every third fish we hooked, however, either 
straightened out our hooks, which were not stiffly 
enough tempered, or our lines parted, and we lost most 
of our improvised tackle. Every little while we hooked 
fast to something that carried away bait, hook and 
sinker without seeming to notice any impediment in the 
process whatever. 
In the meantime we had hoisted out a collection of 
big fish that were now floundering about us in the water 
holes and upon the grass, and several had been carried 
away by Jack. Most of the fish seemed to be of the 
salmon family, while others looked like mackerel, cod- 
fish, pickerel, and one had a mouth like he might be- 
long to the sturgeon or shark division. When the 
smaller tackle was exhausted, I resolved to put the 
shark tackle into commission. As I arranged the pile 
of chain and rope I was joshed by Enochs and Dick, 
but neither of them could do it with much sincerity. 
I simply asserted that if there was anything too large 
in that hole for the outfit I now had, some one had to 
go for more rope and competent tackle. Telling Dick 
to finish the second hole, so that it would give us some 
chance to see in the depths below, I put on about two 
pounds of meat and let down the line yard by yard, 
until I had paid out at least a hundred feet of it, and no 
bottom sounded. I let down more' and more, until I 
thought it wise to reserve enough to make fast to some- 
thing, and to allow a little to play out with. 
Some time passed without anything more than nib- 
bles at the big bait. Once in a while there was a jerk 
that pulled out a foot or more of the rope, but I judged 
from the feel of it that it was fish of not more than 
twenty or forty ponds — possibly salmon. Enochs had 
been examining the fish we had landed, and he was 
about half persuaded of the correctness of my theory, 
that this buried lake of ours inight be connected with 
the sea by some subterranean river or channel. It is 
true we were about two hundred miles from the coast; 
but not many miles north of us there was at least one 
river that had no known outlet, but sank and lost itself 
in the earth. These fish were certainly different from , 
any known inland fish and 
About 'that time there was a tug at the rope that 
nearly took my breath, and' I barely escaped getting a 
leg fouled in the coils of rope that now rapidly ran out. 
Enochs and I both grasped it, gave it the strongest 
jerk we were capable of, and then we immediately had 
our hands blistered for our pains. The rope ran out 
like it was either foul of a whale or a freight train. I 
got a half-hitch around the end of the largest pole, and 
as the rope ran out, it fairly burned a collar on the pole. 
It smoked and sparks flew, sO that I cast the coil loose 
in the water, while Enochs made the extreme end fast 
to a cross-pole. 
As soon as the slack rope had paid out a little it 
stopped, and as far as we could see our fish-^or what- 
ever we had hooked — had apparently pulled loose or got 
off the hook. We began to take in rope, and kept coil- 
ing it on the pole platform .until -we had it about two- 
thirds in; then we felt sometliirig to which we were fast. 
It felt like a log or fouled line, and. we gave it a good 
jerk, for which we were immediately paid by more 
blisters upon our hands. I again hastily dumped the 
coils of slack rope into the water, while it kept us busy 
to keep from going along with it, as it now ' fairly 
whizzed and sizzled as it cut down into the water. 
“We’ve got to make fast to something with spring to 
it,” I said. “If it rushes the rope all out like that, some- 
thing has to give way. Carry the end out as far as it 
will go. Therei’s :;a sm.all tree over there near our 
wagon. If it will reach the tree, tie it as high up as 
you can, so the tree will answer for a springpole. Be 
lively !” ' 
Enochs rari'with the rope out to the edge of the wet 
ground, while the slack was coming in nicely. Dick 
ran to his assistance, while I steadily reefed in. They 
had almost reached the tree,' when I felt the old dead 
weight, there was a sudden strain on the rope below, 
and away she started. The boys reached for the tree, 
failed, felt the rope slipping from them, and in despera- 
tion they ran the end around the wagon tongue, and 
made it fast. They had barely accomplished this, when 
the line went taught and the wagon started forward 
w'ith the ready speed of an automobile. The wagon was 
ernpty, and ran comparatively easy, so I shouted to 
Dick and Enochs to get in, while I ran for it myself. 
We all clambered in, for a novel ride indeed. As the 
speed increased I put on the brake, but as the wheels 
had reached wet ground the wagon slid along like a 
sled. 
We went right along, notwithstanding the brake, and 
we could see the rope smoke where it paid over a pole 
at the brink of the hole. As we approached the open- 
ing in the sod Enochs and Dick began to climb back 
out of the seat and crowd me further toward the rear 
end of the wagon. It looked as though we might de- 
velop into a submarine affair, and we had begun to 
mutiny and desert the ship, when the rope again slack- 
ened, just in time to save us from thinking we were 
scared. 
We all got out of the wagon with a great deal of 
anxiety that had been steadily accumulating. This kind 
of fishing was getting laborious. The rope was slacking 
again, and I reefed it in, while I urged the boys to run 
the wagon back. This they did until they had the wagon 
back to the old stand. They were trying to get it to a 
position opposite the tree, when I again felt the old 
ominous strain. I was going to be more cautious now, 
so I signalled the boys to hold fast, and let a little 
slack. 
I hurried to the wagon and explained that we were at 
the danger point, and we would now let the fish take 
the initiative a little. We all got into the wagon again, 
and Jack’s attention having been attracted, he, too, 
came and clambered in. He seemed to have about all 
the fish he could hoist on board. We had just fairly 
got comfortably settled, when there was a tightening of 
the line, and then we started forward, but with very 
respectable moderation. I again manned the brake, 
which answered very well as a sort of drag, while our 
wagon wasn’t such a bad substitute for a reel, or, at 
least, for a sort of capstan' in effect — that is, in its 
effect upon the rope. 
We started forward, as I say, with respectable mod- 
eration, but we presently began to scorch a little. I 
applied the brake until it locked the wheels, and then 
we struck the wet ground and went forward as though 
we had lost respect for ourselves entirely. The next 
thing I remember we had collided with the crib about 
the hole, and as the wagon pole went down the 
momentum we had attained flipped us -over endwise into 
the surrounding swamp without any remorse whatso- 
ever. Ransacker. 
Squirrels and Glass* 
In a shop window were confined two full-grown gray 
squirrels. A section of tree-trunk perhaps five feet in 
height, had been placed upright in, this window, and the 
gray squirrels would playfully skip up and down its sur- 
face, and would occasionally jump from it on to the 
smooth polished and perpendicular glass, perhaps a foot 
or a foot and a half distant, and glide rapidly, and some- 
times slowly, over it. Again they would stop and remain 
stationary on the glass for a short time. This was a 
common feat performed by these little animals and many 
onlookers observed it. 
These squirrels , seemed to glide over the smooth sur- 
face and apparently did. not lift their feet. All my life I 
have known and studied the habits of the gray and other 
species of squirrels in various portions of the United 
States, but never, except in the two cases mentioned, have 
I observed or known of these little animals possessing 
such a power. 
How Do Hares Act When Attached? 
Monadnock, N. H., Nov. 18. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: May I advertise through your paper for infor- 
mation as to how hares behave when attacked by birds 
of prey? Whether they commonly squat, on the appear- 
ance of such an enemy and generally continue to do . so 
to the last, rather than betray motion, even when already 
seen by the hawk or owl ; or, in short, under what cir- 
cumstances dO' they resort to running to save themselves 
from birds of prey? Abbott H. Thayer. 
Field Notes from Old Sullivan* 
Having passed several months in- Sullivan and Ulster 
counties this season I should say that game is as abun- 
dant as an> time within the last ten or fifteen years. The 
stock of ruffed grouse is large and the birds usually wild 
and well able to take care of themselves. The man who 
wishes to succeed with these grouse must use straight 
powder and not allow himself tO’ be easily discouraged. 
Long tramps over a very rough country are the rule, and 
none but the most thoroughly broken dogs are of much 
service. A wild, heedless pointer or setter is a nuisance, 
as nine times out of ten the birds are flushed far out of 
shot. An experienced animal who knows his game and 
works carefully will establish his point in many cases, 
and is simply invaluable. In the absence of such a dog 
two or three men will do better and get closer shots by 
themselves. 
The flight of woodcock began in the, first moon in 
October and the last birds passed through on the 31st 
of the month. In many of the covers the soil is too sandy 
for these birds, as there is very little feeding ground. In 
a few places, where the ground was really suitable, fair 
bags were made. Personally, I was quite satisfied to pick 
up a couple of woodcock when grouse shooting, and only 
accounted for about a dozen, all told. I found good cov- 
ers but poor feed. 
Quail have been .practically exterminated by the ex- 
fremely seyere weather of the |ast two winteps. J ||a.ve 
heard of a few birds but have seen none. 'Without re- 
stocking it will require several years to re-establish quail 
in this part of the State, and conditions are much the 
same further south. 
The deer season opened Nov. i for fifteen days in Sul- 
livan county, but I can hear of very few of these ani- 
mals in this section. In the southern part of the county 
they are said to be quite plentiful. They are abundant in 
Ulster county, where, as yut, there has been no open sea- 
son. A very large bear was shot near Willowemock on 
the 2d of the month. She- had two cubs with her, one of 
which was killed at the same time. The men had only 
two bullets, I am told, when they came upon this family 
of bears, or they would have, bagged both cubs. 
A kingfisher has been hard at work upon the spawning 
beds of the trout for spqri& time, and it was only on 
Election Day, Nov. 7, that I was able to bring him to 
book. This is the latest date known, I believe, for this 
bird to be found on the 'Neversink, but he. had too good 
a thing to leave, i. e., great numbers of small trout in the 
shallow tributaries of the main stream. On several occa- 
sions I had seen this kingfisher with trout six or seven 
inches long in his bill, but’ he was too smart for me until 
this particular afternoon. He was intent upon selecting 
a victim, and I crept up. .within thirty yards. Even then 
I was ashamed to pot him. as he sat, and he was making 
his escape when the sflot- overtook hirii. Such scruples 
are fooH-sh when one fegiem.bers the enormous damage 
done by this one bipd dpfipg- fhe past month’ All his 
companions migrated southward long ago. These birds 
were unusually numerous on the trout streams of Ulster 
and Sullivan counties this summer. Probably the low 
water, caused by the long drouth, was quite to their taste. 
At one large trout hatchery I was told that nearly fifty 
had been killed. They are handsome birds, and I would 
no care to have them exterminated ; yet, their numbers 
should be kept within bounds. 
A few of those beautiful birds, the osprey, or fishing 
eagle, are seen every summer on the Neversink. This 
river is. still at its old tricks, arid frequently does great 
damage when on the rampage. Meadows and banks are 
washed away and many of the pools are far shallower 
than a few years ago ; indeed, some of the smaller ones 
had disappeared altogether, and the stream has changed 
Its course entirely. 
As far as I can learn. only two deer were killed in -the 
first week of the season in the northern part of Sullivan 
county, one near Mongaup Pond and one in the neigh- 
borhood of Sundown. 'What has. become of the many 
deer known to inhabit this section it is hard to say, un- 
less they were killed in the deep snow of last winter. 
Many complaints were made of the dapiage done by 
these animals to crops and garden patches. As long ago 
as seven years last June I remember seeing the high 
wide inclosures placed around vegetable gardens to pro- 
tect them from the deer at night. This was far up in the 
West Branch in Ulster county, If a tracking snow should 
fall before the expiration of the fifteen days open seasoi^ 
