236 
FOREST AND STREAM 
May, 1921 
At The End Of 
A Long Hard Day 
Healthily tired! — after a 
long hard day in the open ! 
then is when you will fully 
appreciate the comfort and 
convenience of a Gold Medal 
Folding Camp Cot. 
Made of durable rock elm, re- 
inforced with riveted steel 
plates and covered with 12 oz. 
double filled brown duck, it 
makes a springy, comfortable 
bed; when not in use it folds 
into a snug compact package 
that weighs only 17 pounds and 
is easily carried anywhere. 
For thirty years these well- 
built folding cots have been the 
choice of army men, explorers, 
hunters and campers, the world 
over. 
At Sporting Goods, Hard- 
ware, Furniture stores and 
Tent Makers. Catalog and 
dealer’s name on request. 
( GOLD MEDAL CAMP 
FURNITURE MFG. CO. 
1740 Packard Ave. 
RACINE WISCONSIN 
"Cold M eda C 
TRADE MARK REG.U.S.PAT OFF. 
Foldim© Furniture 
rim 
POLICE DOGS 
and PUPPIES 
AT THE 
BROOKFFORD KENNELS 
Eatontown, N. J. Mamaroneck, N. Y. 
In Writing to 
every thicket, and the blue grouse were 
constantly calling along the mountain 
ides. Their call is difficult to recognize ; 
but once known it is always prominent 
among the music of the woodlands. 
There was scarcely a time that one did 
not hear their deep call, “Hoot-co-hoot”, 
far in the timbered recesses. A ruffed 
grouse had two drumming logs near our 
tent. During the daytime he occupied 
the one about seventy-five yards distant; 
but he drummed all night on the one 
within twenty yards of our tent; and 
we wondered when that grouse slept. 
We often wished to vary our fare with 
a grouse, but we contented ourselves 
with Dolly Varden trout, which were 
readily caught in any of the creeks that 
enter the main stream. We caught only 
what were needed for food; and they 
were of such size that one trout was 
sufficient for a meal for both of us. We 
fished for the skillet rather than for 
sport. 
We had many feathered visitors at 
our camp. Arctic terns came morning 
and evening, flying along the shallow 
channels and sloughs, in search of small 
fish; tree swallows swept the bars for 
insect food; flickers hammered the dead 
trees ; robins sang vociferously, notwith- 
standing the snow and frost; innumera- 
ble warblers flitted about in the trees; 
thrushes sang from the dark forests at 
evening; a friendly rufous humming- 
bird alighted daily upon a bush near 
the tent; two quaint harlequin drakes, 
ardently striving for the favor of a 
homely mate, whom they accompanied, 
were seen for several days. The drakes 
swam along the shore of the river, while 
the duck fed busily at the water’s edge. 
From time to time one of the drakes 
made frequent rushes- at the other to 
drive him away. Finally, one of them 
must have conquered, for later we saw 
the pair swimming peacefully and, no 
doubt, contentedly down stream. 
Numerous mallard ducks nest about 
the beaver ponds. They are so tame 
that we approached within ten yards 
of one pair without frightening them. 
Conover thinks that the flight of ducks 
on the Stikine this spring was the larg- 
est in more than twenty years. He at- 
tributes the increase to the Federal Mi- 
gratory Bird Act. 
The mergansers were in small flocks, 
not yet having paired. Conover calls 
them “stem-wheelers” because, when 
rising from the water they leave a wake 
like that of the stern-wheel steamboat. 
The mergansers seemed more timid than 
any other wild fowl. Spotted sandpipers 
(tip ups) were plentiful and would not 
take to wing unless we approached to 
within ia few feet of them. Long- 
billed curlews were seen occasionally. 
According to the “Book of Birds” of the 
National Geographic Magazine, these 
curlews are marked for extinction; for 
.griculture is rapidly driving them from 
their domain. The authorities tell us 
that long-billed curlews breed from 
Central British Columbia southward. 
This year we saw them almost in the 
extreme north of British Columbia. 
Conover had never seen the long-billed 
curlew until this year. Perhaps the en- 
Advertisers mention Forest and Stream. It will 
The mountains in May 
croachments of agriculture have driven 
them farther north than their accus- 
tomed ranges. It is hoped that they 
may here find a home where they can 
remain undisturbed. 
B EAVERS exist in numbers along the 
Stikine and its tributaries; and one 
never tires of them and their cun- 
ning ways. They have a fascination 
for the trapper equalled only by the 
prospector’s fascination for gold. I ex- 
amined their ponds, their canals 
through the ponds, their dams, and their 
houses. We saw one beaver dam that 
was seven feet in height, and one beaver 
house that had been partially torn down 
by a bear. Along the shores there were 
numbers of large cottonwood trees that 
had been felled by beavers. 
Beavers do not possess the sagacity, in 
many things, that old timers would have 
us believe. There is a widespread be- 
lief that a beaver knows how to fell a 
tree so that it will fall in a desired po- 
sition. A beaver fells a tree so that he 
may feed upon its branches. We saw 
many trees that had been cut through, 
and had fallen against other trees. If 
he could fell a tree where he desired it 
he would certainly not fell it against 
another tree where he can no more feed 
upon it than if it were still uncut. There 
is further a popular belief that, when 
caught in a trap, a beaver will gnaw 
through his leg, in order to free it from 
the trap. This is neither true of the 
beaver, nor true of any other animal. It 
is established, however, that if an ani- 
mal can obtain a hold, such as will 
enable it to twist the trapped foot or 
leg about a stake, it will break the leg 
off. But the bone is broken ; not gnawed 
through. Sometimes an animal in a 
trap will gnaw such portion of the limb 
as may be below the trap ; but that part 
is numb, without sensation, and the 
gnawing causes no pain. That an ani- 
mal will cut its limb free, above the 
trap, has not been proved. 
Frequently, when in still waters, we 
would let the canoe drift to within a few 
identify you. 
