The Surprise Was Beyond Conception. 
employed by the islanders to get some rest and 
comfort in the early part of the summer nights; 
they retire early and get up late- Twelve hours 
good solid sleep, with a half dozen naps during 
the day are sufficient to keep them alive. About 
sunrise we started for the shooting grounds about 
a mile away, a team carrying our guns and shells. 
The mosquitoes were out in force and literally 
covered our bodies; but with the nets covering 
our heads, the gloves our hands, we bade defiance 
to them. 
“Skeeters is bad certain,” remarked Shant, 
clutching a handful of¥ his neck and crushing 
them in his palm. “They will carry me off, 
wagon and all, ef they keeps on this way; almost 
drain my blood.” 
“What blood can they get out of you, Shant, 
tell us that,” remarked Cap. 
“They ain’t after my blood,” said the driver; 
“but after the supper I ate last night, I reckon, 
and then they will suck my bones ef I let ’em.” 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Then he got down, broke off a bunch of bushes 
and fought them as if a swarm of ireful yellow 
jackets were on the warpath. 
'Fortunately for the sportsmen, the beams of a 
hot sun, or a stiff breeze causes these pests to 
sink out of sight, and but for this wise provi¬ 
sion of nature such a thing as hunting bay birds 
on the North Carolina coast would be an im¬ 
possibility. I have had some hard experiences 
in my life with these insects. I have fought the 
Jersey mosquitoes off the coast, battled with them 
in the Florida everglades, and suffered torments 
from them in the swamps of Cape Charles, but 
for persistency, bloodthirstiness and relentless 
persecution, I give to the North Carolina coast 
mosquito the palm. They seem to me larger 
than any other species I ever met, and as these 
shallow pools on the sea meadows are their 
breeding places, they literally are in swarms. In 
the drive through the bushes they covered horse, 
cart and occupants, and not until we got out in 
69 L 
the open and caught the strong wind from the 
ocean did they leave us. 
We occupied blinds a couple of hundred yards 
or so apart. A few bushes stuck in the ground, 
a small box to sit upon, a couple of dozen tin 
decoys stuck in the shallow ponds, and we were 
ready for work. The cart put back to the house, 
Shant telling us he would call about io o’clock. 
All around were the flying birds, and at once the 
snipe began circling over the decoys, and each 
gun was ringing out in the morning air. I alone 
had taken a trained setter to the club, who 
crouched in the blind awaiting my signal to bring 
the killed and wounded birds. The bay birds 
here rarely fly in flocks, and consequently all our 
shots were singles and killed flying. The birds 
seemed to detect the cheat as they approached 
near the decoys, and invariably shied off, thus 
bringing the gunner’s skill in full play. I sup¬ 
pose we averaged a shot every two minutes, 
though of course not regularly. Sometimes we 
would fire so fast but for our thick gloves we 
could not have held the heated barrels, then a 
lull would come of a minute or two. For over 
one hour 1 made preparations to light my pipe, 
but before I could succeed I would have to stop 
to shoot, and my friend and comforter was taken 
up and thrown hastily aside a dozen times be¬ 
cause the birds came so fast. 
There was no necessity for calling them, they 
would head for the decoys of their own accord, 
and it required at times some fancy shooting. It 
was comparatively easy when they circled or beat 
against the wind, but when they darted by, borne 
on the pinions of the breeze, they went like a 
rocket, and one had to sling the muzzle of his 
gun fully five or six feet in front to knock them 
over. (To be concluded.) 
THE VICTIM OF A HEADLESS HUNTER. 
Duluth, Minn., Nov. 12—The body of Peter 
E. St. Mary, shot Tuesday afternoon in the wilds 
of Koochiching county by Dr. William F. Linder, 
a Minneapolis dentist, when mistaken for a deer, 
was brought to Duluth today, accompanied by 
the other members of the party. Mrs. Linder 
came from Minneapolis to meet her husband. 
Carelessness on the part of the victim, it is 
said by the others, caused the accident. He had 
been assigned to a position to the left of the 
party and had been told to wear a red-tasseled 
cap. Instead of obeying he not only retained 
his brown corduroy cap, but left his position and 
circled to the front of the place where his broth¬ 
er, William, and Linder were stationed. 
Seeing the brown through the brush, Dr. Lin¬ 
der believed it to be a deer and fired, the bullet 
entering St. Mary’s head close to the nose and 
emerging back of the ear. 
Miss Lucy Stone, aged 60, of Columbus, has 
entered the department of Journalism at Ohio 
State University, and is a reporter on the Col¬ 
lege daily, “The Lantern.” She is studying with 
this end in view: 
“I am greatly interested in nature, and I want 
to learn the ethics of good newspaper writing 
before I try to express my thoughts to the read¬ 
ing public. Most of the birds and the flowers 
are so misused to-day, that I want to try and 
remedy the conditions.” 
When she has finished the course Miss Stone 
is going to write bird and nature stories for the 
farm papers. 
