500 
FOREST AND STREAM 
tion of the mamae indicated that she had recently 
nursed young. This was the only specimen of 
skunk seen by us, and no efforts to get more 
specimens were made; the species is undoubted¬ 
ly fairly common throughout the region. 
Putorius cicognanii (Bonaparte). Common or 
short-tailed weasel.— A female specimen was shot 
by my assistant, Mr. R. C. Chapman, along the 
lower Isabella river, just above L. Bald Eagle, 
in August of this year. It is the only weasel 
record that we obtained for this territory, but 
there is good reason to believe that the species 
is common. 
Putorius vision (Schreber.) Mink. —During the 
summer of 1912 we saw what seemed to us sur¬ 
prisingly few signs of mink for a region of 
this character. Only two of these animals were 
actually seen; this was at camp III. This last 
summer furnished much more evidence of their 
presence, at least in the territory about camp 
III. Four specimens were here obtained and a 
number of others observed. There was evidence 
that the entire region traversed by us had in past 
years been extensively trapped, but not very re¬ 
cently. Judging from the usual “sign” and the 
number seen during our many excursions, which 
were extended, and covered territory excellent 
for mink, these valuable fur-bearers did not ap¬ 
pear to be as plentiful as they should be in a 
protected region of this sort. 
Vulpes fulvus (Desmarest). Red-fox. —An 
adult red-fox was observed on July 15th, 1912, 
along the South Kawishiwi, west of camp II. 
On July 10th of that year a young male of this 
species, about two-thirds grown—the permanent 
canines were just breaking through the gums— 
was shot on the shore of a long, narrow bay 
of the South Kawishiwi river, near the portage 
to Lake Gabro. This is a black phase of the 
red-fox; the head is strongly marked with grey, 
the rest of the body black, with dark-brownish 
tinge on the belly; tail black with white tip; a 
sprinkling of grey-tipped hairs on the back. The 
vicinity was searched for a possible den, and 
traps were kept in the neighborhood for a week, 
but there was no evidence that there were other 
members of the family about. In no part of the 
territory did we 'find fox “sign” common, and 
no other specimens were seen. 
Canis nubilus (Say.) Timber-wolf. —Tracks of 
the timber-wolf were of common occurrence 
from the region about Lake Bald Eagle, east¬ 
ward to the limits of our survey, namely, the 
head of Lake Isabella. In the latter part of 
August, and the first week of September, 1912, 
we heard their howl in the evening and at night, 
on three or four occasions. On September 3d,, 
same year, I unexpectedly surprised one of these 
wolves, at about 3.30 in the afternoon of a windy 
day, while it was feeding upon the carcass of an 
adult cow moose which lay in a rather narrow 
but deep part of Isabella river just above a 
rapids. I was within fifty feet of the animal 
before it became aware of my approach. Wheth¬ 
er the moose had been accidentally drowned or 
had been driven into the river by a family of 
wolves and had been harrassed and prevented 
from getting out, I cannot say. Escape up stream 
was impossible as the river was crossed by a 
wall of drift timber. The west bank was lined 
with huge boulders and a few yards down stream 
was a steep turbulent rapids, making escape 
also very difficult in those directions, but 
easy exit was afforded on the east bank. Nu¬ 
merous wolf tracks along the soft edges of both 
banks in the vicinity, some of which were smaller 
than others suggested that perhaps a family 
with the season’s young had been engaged. It 
had all taken place during a four days’ absence 
from our main camp within a half mile of which 
it occurred. 
The lumbar region of the back had been eaten 
into several inches when the carcass was found, 
and as the water was much beyond their depth 
and the carcass lying on its side, afloat, it was 
necessary for the animals to “tread water” when 
feeding. The first glimpse of the wolf was ob¬ 
tained while it was struggling and splashing 
rather energetically in the water beside the back, 
but unfortunately it detected my presence before 
it was possible to get in position for a clear view 
of the interesting process. 
Calling the Moose. 
To what extent moose and deer suffer from 
depredations of the timber-wolf in this region 
we obtained no positive evidence, as is to be ex¬ 
pected for this season of the year. 
Ursus americanus (Pallas). Black bear. —In 
July, 1912, a black bear was seen at the lower 
end of Lake Gabro; and in September of the 
past year one crossed the river at camp III, at 
mid-day. These were the only ones seen, but 
signs of bear were observed in the region about 
each of our main camps and they undoubtedly 
occur in moderate numbers throughout the terri¬ 
tory. The district ranger informed me that he 
had never seen a bear in the course of his patrols 
in this region and seemed inclined to believe 
that they were not common. 
Odocoileus virginianus borealis (Miller). 
Northern whitetailed deer. —As -is usually the 
case with deer, we saw them most frequently 
nearer the settled districts at the west end of our 
route, while very few were seen in the more re¬ 
mote parts. In the region about camps I and II 
approximately sixty in all were seen during our 
stay here of five weeks, in 1912. In the terri¬ 
tory about Lake Bald Eagle and eastward to 
Lake Isabella not more than a half dozen were 
seen in a period of six weeks- 
DEER PLENTY IN MAINE. 
Portland, Me., October 10. 
The present season promises to be a good one 
for big game in Maine. The writer has just re¬ 
turned from a week’s trip in the Sandy River 
region, and although the season is late, and up 
to this time very dry, there is every indication 
of some good deer hunting a few weeks later. 
At this time the deer are not moving about much, 
but in the cedar swamps and thickets there are 
plenty of tracks everywhere, and our party se¬ 
cured two fine young does to bring home. 
The foliage is fully ten days behind the aver¬ 
age, so that on October 1st the leaves had 
scarcely begun to fall, but a few sharp frosts 
and a little rain has made rapid changes, and 
from now on conditions will be much improved 
for hunting. 
Partridges in this locality were very scarce, 
only two unbroken broods and a few shy old 
birds being found in our week’s stay, and not a 
solitary woodcock was seen. It is thought by 
old 'hunters in the region that the fact that foxes 
are very plentiful may be one cause for the 
scarcity of feathered game. Signs of black 
bear were seen, and they are reported quite plen¬ 
tiful in the Rangeley region. A. N. ROGERS. 
ONTARIO’S BIG FISH. 
The Bristol Steel Rod fishing competition for 
the largest fish taken in 1914 in Ontario waters, 
has brought forth many claims for the angler's 
championship honors. A beautiful fish weighing 
28 lbs. won premier place in the grey (lake) trout 
class. This was taken by Mr. Fred E. Ringwold, 
of New York, in the southwest arm of Lake 
Timagami. Second place went to Mr. Frank J. 
Barber, Georgetown, Ont-, with a 20 lb. trout, 
caught in Ragged Lake, Algonquin Provincial 
(Ontario) Park, while the third prize was se¬ 
cured by Mr. Lawrence Brown with a 17 lb. trout 
from Buck Lake, Algonquin Park. 
The largest entry of small mouth black bass 
was that of Mr. C. C. Fox, of Kensington, Pa. 
This fish, weighing 4 lbs. 4 oz. was caught in 
Rock Lake, Algonquin Park, on Sept. 3rd. 
The State College of Forestry at Syracuse finds 
that the Norway Maple is particularly suited to 
the climatic and 'soil conditions of New York. 
It is urged in perference to the Sugar Maple for 
shade tree purposes as it is not so severely at¬ 
tacked by boring and other serious insects and 
tree disease. The College has been investigat¬ 
ing the shade trees of Syracuse and other cities 
during the past year and has found that often 90 
per cent, of the maple trees of a city are injured 
and dying through the work of insects. It is use¬ 
less, therefore, to plant the Sugar Maple when 
it is very sure to be destroyed within a com¬ 
paratively few years by insects. Unfortunately 
this is somewhat the case with the American Elm. 
While this Elm is the most graceful in outline 
of any of our forest trees, it is now so subject 
to the elm leaf beetle and other insects that the 
College feels it is not safe to plant it generally. 
