FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 8, igo6. 
80 
THE TOP RAIL. 
Frederic Foster, of Fond du Lac, Wis., writes 
me as follows: 
“I should like to get up a dinner for the duffer 
who was mentioned in Top Rail notes, and took 
along the napkins and tablecloth, and if he went 
into rough country could get along with granite 
in place of china. I certainly agree with Forest 
and Stream when it says, ‘Shades of Nessmukl’ 
I go deer hunting Thursday night. Go in at 
Florence, Wis., and drive over corduroy roads 
twenty miles. I should like to have that gentle¬ 
man join me and bring along the china.” 
X 
A correspondent commenting on a recent note 
in these columns wrote: “We seem never to 
read anythin? in Forest and Stream about the 
‘piscatorial artist who with crafty lure entices 
the finny denizens of the deep.’ Possibly the 
editor has an antipathy to him and blue-pencils 
him on sight. I would, too, if I had the chance. 
I never hear of this creature without being re¬ 
minded of the tonsorial artist who removes one’s 
redundant hirsute efflorescence. I think they must 
be brothers or otherwise closely related. When I 
go fishing I go to catch fish; I don’t go to in¬ 
veigle finny denizens. And if I were in the push¬ 
cart business Fd blow my horn and bawl, ‘Fresh 
fish.’ If I hollered hifalutin; something like 
this, ‘Here’s your piscatorially-artistically-in- 
veigled finny denizens of the deep,’ I shouldn’t 
expect to sell enough codfish to keep the children 
in shoes.” 
While discussing this subject it might as well 
be said that the “speckled beauty” offender also 
calls down the weight of the blue pencil. And 
did anyone ever see a silver trophy that was not 
called “a handsome silver trophy?” Then there 
is the “festive jack rabbit” and “the old bronz- 
backer.” The country newspaper writer never 
announces that so-and-so are anglers, but in¬ 
variably dubs them “successful Waltonians” or 
“true disciples of Tzaak,” always, misspelling the 
given name so that it appears as “Izaac” or 
“Isaac.” 
x 
So often is testimony offered to show that cer¬ 
tain birds and animals are “weather prophets” 
that we accept part of this evidence without 
question. Close observers of the habits of wild 
animals believe they have some means of know¬ 
ing in advance the coming of bad or good 
weather, and whether an approaching winter will 
be mild or severe. 
Granting that there are good reasons for be¬ 
lieving that animals are at times guided by some 
instinct or reasoning, it seems to me that this 
wisdom is partly acquired, just as the man who 
spends a great deal of his time outdoors ac¬ 
quires knowledge of what he may expect in 
regard to weather. Woodcraft he depends on 
largely, the animals’ and insects’ actions he relies 
on to a certain extent, and the air, the sun, the 
wind and the clouds guide him in other re¬ 
spects. Asked to explain why he is sure a 
thunderstorm may be expected during a day of 
clear skies, he may not be able to do so, but he 
feels a something that prompts him to prepare 
for one. Often he is wrong in his surmises, 
just as the lower animals make mistakes or are 
taken unawares. 
Why is it, if the lower animals know in ad¬ 
vance the coming of storms—as it is often 
claimed they do—so many land birds are found 
dead far out at sea after a storm? Do they, like 
small boat sailors, make desperate efforts to 
gain the shelter of land, only to be overtaken 
before they can reach it, or are they really 
ignorant of the approach of the storm? These 
are questions that cannot be answered positively, 
but very interesting ones, nevertheless. 
X 
A State of Washington correspondent in¬ 
forms me that a case came up in one of the 
courts there not long ago in which the prisoner 
admitted he had obtained a bounty of $7.50 in 
Washington on a wild animal scalp cut from a 
rug in Wisconsin, and that the State auditor 
had reason to believe a syndicate was working 
this game in various parts of Washington. 
This situation, and others similar to it, are not 
devoid of their humorous side, although the 
jokers appreciate the seriousness of being caught 
with the goods. 
X 
In all game regions there are men who have 
a sort of claim to private ownership over cer¬ 
tain beasts whose haunts they are familiar with, 
and if these haunts happen to be in a neighbor¬ 
ing State, where there is no bounty, and their 
own State pays bounties, why there are ways to 
force the bear or wolf across the line and dis¬ 
patch it. Men have even been accused of bait¬ 
ing places to attract coyotes from another State, 
and it is noticeable that when a State puts a 
new bounty law in force, scalps in quantities 
are presented to the county treasurers. 
X 
Flere’s a good one that a Duluthian has sent 
me. It was printed in a local paper: 
“With the color of the deer in his eye and 
the hunter’s blood bounding through his veins 
Frank Berry, one of the most noted nimrods of 
Duluth, laid low a valuable Irish spaniel belong¬ 
ing to Theodore Frerker last week while hunt¬ 
ing on the Cloquet River, twenty-eight miles 
from Duluth. Berry, with Frerker, Tom Story, 
A 1 Salter and three other Duluthians, own a 
hunting camp on the Cloquet, to which the party 
repairs every fall for a little sport with the big 
game, which is quite plentiful in that section. 
All of them have earned reputations for being- 
most careful hunters and Berry never sees a 
story of the death of a man, woman or child by 
the hunter’s bullet that he doesn’t inveigh wrath- 
fully against such carelessness. Never before, so 
he claims, has he made a mistake when he thought 
he was shooting at one of the four-footed in¬ 
habitants of the Minnesota woods. * * * Sud¬ 
denly, between the branches, he spied a ‘fawn’ 
reposing peacefully and entirely unmindful of the 
approaching danger. Sure that at last he was to 
prove his ability as a huntsman he advanced 
cautiously, always keeping that little patch of 
dark brown in view. Foot by foot and yard by 
yard he crept upon his unsuspecting victim with 
his gun raised ready for an instant shot. A twig 
snapped. The ‘fawn’ jumped. The rifle spoke 
and with an agonized howl Frerker’s prize spaniel 
fell over backward with a bullet from Berry’s 
gun imbedded in its shoulder.” 
X 
Over in Pennsylvania some twisters are spun 
occasionally, and this one, which a friend sends 
me, is all right: He says that a Mr. Rossi was 
after quail and rabbits in the woods when his 
dogs got on the trail of a rabbit. He shot the 
rabbit when it came into view, and was proceed¬ 
ing to the spot when he was surprised to see a 
big hawk rise in the air with the cottontail in 
its claws. The rabbit was not yet dead and was 
kicking vigorously. The hawk rose before Mr. 
Rossi recovered from his surprise. Then he 
blazed away at the robber and brought down the 
hawk and its prey with one shot. 
This is not quite like an experience of my own. 
I was on the shore of a river when I saw a big 
hawk swoop down and fasten its claws in the 
back of a fish swimming along near the surface. 
Interested, I watched the hawk ascend slowly 
to a dead sycamore and noted that the fish was 
large enough to fill my frying pan nicely. Tak¬ 
ing careful aim, I fired at the hawk, but the small 
bullet did not take immediate effect. The hawk 
tried to rise, but its double burden was too much 
for it, and it dipped lower and lower until it 
struck the water far out and the fish got away. 
After that I generally counted my game when it 
was secure in the bag. 
X 
M. F. W., who sends in the following para¬ 
graph, is justified in his remarks, but he does 
not mention that while the moose in the picture 
is supposed to be on his knees, the head and 
shoulders are in the same position as if he were 
standing on all fours, and the hindlegs seem 
short enough for those of a caribou or elk: 
“The attempts of ignorant illustrators to de¬ 
pict animal life are often exceedingly amusing. 
A case in point is to be found on p. 124 of the 
December number of The Wide World Maga¬ 
zine, wherein is shown a moose with antlers on 
wrong side front, with a tail reaching half way 
to his hocks, and a short bell depending from 
the lower jaw. Perhaps this is meant for 
whiskers. The moose is blowing a cloud of 
steam or smoke from his mouth. The cigar is 
not visible, but probably the moose dropped it 
when struck by the bullet which apparently cut 
his throat.” 
This reminds me of another picture published 
among the advertisements in popular magazines 
recently. The picture shows an angler with rod 
in one hand and landing net in the other, en¬ 
gaged in leading a fish, head first, up to the 
net. One might infer that at the proper time 
he would whistle and give it slack line, and the 
fish would accommodatingly rush into the net 
and wait to be lifted out, for there is no other 
way that it could follow. 
X 
On a famous rifle range there was an important 
team match one day, and the men were firing 
in pairs, one for each’ team, side by side. The 
best shot on the home team was given to aim¬ 
ing so long that bets were made on whether or 
not he had gone to sleep at the firing-point. 
Presently he withdrew his head from the stock 
of his rifle, lowered the barrel and asked his 
opponent, in a low voice: 
“Did I fire or did you?” 
Grizzly King. 
