Oct. 19, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
483 
THE OUTDOOR LIBRARY 
Seasonable books dealing with every phase of life 
in the Open. Handbooks of sport. Books that 
make “roughing it easy.” Books for Fisherman, 
Hunter, Yachtsman, Canoeist, Camper, Nature 
Lover. Books of Travel and Adventure for 
CURIOUS AUSTRALIAN LAKES. 
Australia is happily free from earthquakes, 
but one never knows when the eruptive days of 
years gone by may recur. Apropos of this a 
strange occurrence is reported from Curdie s 
River, Victoria. Recently, all the water became 
quite white, with froth upon it, which afterward 
turned to green slime. Large numbers of fish 
in the stream died. The water gave out a pe¬ 
culiar odor and cattle refused to drink it. 
It was supposed to be the result of a volcanic 
disturbance in Lake Purrumbete in the vicinity 
of Mount Leura. There is an extinct volcano 
in this neighborhood. It is said that divers were 
sent down into the lake on a previous occasion 
to investigate, but the water was so hot that they 
couid not stay in it. 
In the country immediately north of Spen¬ 
cer's Gulf is an extensive area which may be 
called the lake district of Australia. It is neariy 
1,000 miles in length from southeast to north¬ 
west. First of all there is Lake Torrens, more 
than 100 miles long, but not very wide. Lake 
Erie, further north, is much larger, to the west 
is the extensive Lake Gairdner and to the east 
of Lake Eyre are lakes Blanche, Gregory and 
several others. 
All these lakes (which by the way are salt) 
are subject to great fluctuations in size, grassy 
plains being found in some years where exten¬ 
sive sheets of water at other times cover the 
country. 
Australia abounds in basins of inland water, 
which, however, are mostly saline and are very 
seldom flooded all the year round. They depend 
for their supplies, says the London Globe, main¬ 
ly on the rainy monsoons, possess no regular in¬ 
fluents of even surface springs, and lie mostly 
in the center of waterless, stony deserts. 
Near the center of Australia is the Finke 
River, which rises on the Tropic of Capricorn 
in the McDonnell ranges and flowing southward, 
receives many small tributaries. After passing 
Charlotte Waters Station on the Overland Tele¬ 
graph Line, it becomes lost in the desert. Fur¬ 
ther north and east are numerous other streams, 
which after a short course disappear in the sands. 
All these watercourses are subject at inter¬ 
vals to sudden and violent floods. The flood 
times are followed by long periods of drouth, 
during which many streams and lakes disappear 
altogether and never come back to life again. 
Next flood time Providence invents new rivers 
in new localities. 
On the New South Wales tableland, south 
of Goulburn, at an elevation of over 2,000 feet 
above the sea, is situated Lake George. In 1824 
it was twenty miles long and eight miles wide, 
inclosed by steep, thickly wooded hills. It grad¬ 
ually diminished in size, until about 1837 it be¬ 
came quite dry, and was converted into a grassy 
plain. 
After a few years it slowly filled again, till 
in 1865 it was seventeen feet deep. Two years 
later it was only two feet deep, but in 1878 it 
was again twenty miles long and about twenty 
feet deep. The old watermarks show that it 
has sometimes reached three feet higher than 
that. 
Coorong Lake, in South Australia, is a most 
peculiar arm of the sea. It has its opening in 
the southeastern part of Lake Alexandria, not 
far from the mouth of the Murray River, and 
runs parallel with the coast in a southeasterly 
direction for about twenty-five miles. The great¬ 
est width of this sheet of water thus caused is 
a little less than two miles. For the whole dis¬ 
tance there is only a narrow strip of sandhills 
lying between this lake and the sea. 
For some hundreds of miles to the north 
of the Lake District of Australia there is a 
limestone formation studded with what are com¬ 
monly called “Mound Lakes.” These mounds 
are usually about fifty feet high and ornamented 
on the summit with clumps of tall trees and 
bull rushes. They are natural artesian wells; 
the water, forced up from below, gushes out 
over the top to the level ground, where it forms 
small water channels. 
Young and Old. 
Uncle Lisha’s Shop. 
Life in a Corner of Yankeeland. By Rowland E. Rob¬ 
inson. Cloth. 187 pages. Price, $1.25. 
The shop itself, the place of business of Uncle Lisha 
l'eggs, bootmaker and repairer, was a sort of sportsman’s 
exchange, where, as one of the fraternity expressed it, 
the hunters and fishermen of the widely scattered neigh¬ 
borhood used to meet of evenings and dull outdoor days, 
“to swap lies.” 
Hunting Without a Gun. 
And other papers. By Rowland E. Robinson. With 
illustrations from drawings by Rachael Robinson. 
Price, $2.00 
This collection of papers on different themes con¬ 
tributed to Forest and Stream and other publications 
and now for the first time brought together. 
Forest Runes. 
Poems by George W. Sears (“Nessmuk”). With arto- 
type portraits and autobiographical sketch of the author. 
Cloth, 208 pages. Price, $1.50. 
American Big Game Hunting. 
The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club: Editors: 
Theodore Roosevelt and George Bird Grinnell. Illus¬ 
trated. Cloth, 345 pages. Price, $2.50. 
Trail and Camp-Fire. 
The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club. Editors: 
George Bird Grmnell and Theodore Roosevelt. 
Illustrated. Cloth, 353 pages. Price, $2.50. 
Like its predecessors, the present volume is devoted 
chiefly to the great game and outdoor life of Northern 
America; yet it does not confine itself to any one land, 
though it is first of all a book about America, its game 
and its people. 
American Big Game in Its Haunts. 
The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club for 1904. 
George Bird Grinnell, Editor. 490 pages and 46 
full-page illustrations. Price, $2.50. 
This is the fourth and by far the largest and hand¬ 
somest of the Club’s books. It opens with a sketch of 
Theodore Roosevelt, founder of the Boone and Crockett 
Club, and contains an extremely interesting article from 
his pen descriptive of his visit to the Yellowstone Park 
in 1903. Other papers are on North American Big 
Game; Hunting in Alaska; The Kadiac Bear; Moose; 
Mountain Sheep; Game Refuges, and other big-game 
topics. 
My Friend the Partridge. 
By S. T. Hammond. Cloth, 150 pages. Postpaid, $1.00. 
An inimitable study of ihe noblest of our game birds, 
following the ruffed grouse deep into his haunts, de¬ 
tailing the experiences of more than 60 years in the 
field, and throwing much light on the habits, life history 
and habitat of the game. A most delightful reminder 
of happy days with upland game. 
Inter-Ocean Hunting Tales. 
By Edgar F. Randolph. Cloth, 200 pages. Postpaid, $1.00. 
A collection of stories such as are told about the 
camp-fire. Mr. Randolph offers a hunting experience 
bounded only by the two oceans, replete with incident, 
interesting from its novel viewpoint, and dealing with 
every kind of game that falls to the rifle of the American 
sportsman. 
The Spaniel and Its Training. 
Bv F. H. F. Mercer. To which are added the American 
and English Spaniel Standards. Cloth. Illustrated. 
Price, $1.00. 
Men I Have Fished With. 
Sketches of character and incident with rod and gun 
from childhood to manhood; from the killing of little 
fishes and birds to a buffalo hunt. By Fred Mather. 
Illustrated. Price, $1-50. 
Training the Hunting Dog for the Field and 
Field Trials. 
By B. Waters. Cloth, 281 pages. Price, $1.50. 
This is the latest and best manual on the subject. A» 
an owner and handler of field trial dogs, and one having 
had an exceptionally wide experience in the field and at 
field trials, Mr. W aters was admirably equipped to writ« 
such a work. It has already taken its place as the 
standard authority. 
American Duck Shooting. 
By George Bird Grinnell. Cloth, 630 pages. With 58 
portraits of North American Swans, Geese and Ducks, 
Plans of Boats and Batteries. Fifty Vignettes in the 
text and a chart of the topography of a duck's plumage. 
Price, $3.50. 
My Sixty Years on the Plains, Trapping, 
Trading and Indian Fighting. 
By W. T. Hamilton (“Bill” Hamilton). With 8 full- 
page illustrations by Chas. M. Russell. New York 
Cloth. 233 pages. Price, $1.50. 
Manual of Taxidermy for Amateurs. 
A complete guide in collecting and preserving birds 
and animals. By C. J. Maynard. Illustrated. New 
edition. Price, $1.00. 
“The Long Shooters” and the Origin of 300 
Yards Revolver Shooting. (New.) 
By Wm. Brent Altsheler. Price 75 cents. Postage 4 
cents extra. 
Interesting alike to civilian and soldier, amateur and 
professional. A neatly bound volume; illustrated from 
photographs of shooters and shooting scenes. 
Woodcraft. 
By Nessmuk. Cloth, 200 pages. Illustrated. Postpaid, 
$ 1 . 00 . 
No better book was ever written for the help and 
guidance of those who go into the woods for sport and 
recreation. It is simple and practical, and withal a 
classic, written with a rare and quaint charm. 
Houseboats and Houseboating. 
By Albert Bradlee Hunt. The book contains forty 
specially prepared articles by owners and designers of 
well-known house-boats, and is beautifully illustrated with 
nearly 200 line and half-tone reproductions of plans and 
exteriors and interiors. A most interesting chapter i« 
devoted to houseboating in England. Extra heavy paper, 
buckram. The price is $3.00 net. Postage, 34 cents. 
Some Native Birds for Little Folks. 
By Dr. W. Van Fleet. Illustrated by Howard H. 
Darnell. Cloth. 146 pages, with 14 photogravure 
plates. Price, $1.00. 
Describes the wood duck, the great horned owl, ruffed 
grouse, killdeer, plover, bobolink, blueiay, chickadee, cedar 
bird, meadow lark, robin, woodcock, kingfisher, crossbill, 
and nuthatches. 
The Anglers’ Workshop. Rod Making for 
Beginners. 
By Perry D. Frazer. Cloth, 180 pages. Four full-page 
illustrations, 60 working drawings. Postpaid, $1.00. 
A complete, simple and thoroughly up-to-date work 
for the guidance of the amateur rod maker, carrying him 
from first principles through all phases of successful ro# 
making. There is no theorizing or speculation. All 
terms are simple, and all kinds of rods and woods are 
treated of. 
Modem Fishfiulture in Fresh and Salt Water. 
By Fred Mather, author of “Men 1 have Fished With,” 
with a chapter on Whitefish Culture by Hon. Herschel 
Whitaker, and a chapter on the Pike-Perch by Jame* 
Nevin. Illustrated. Price, $2.00. 
My Angling Friends. 
A Second Series of “Men I Have Fished With.” By 
Fred Mather. Cloth, 369 pages, with 13 illustrationa. 
Price $1.50. 
FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
127 Franklin Street, New York City 
