258 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Feb. 13, 1909. 
Camp'Fire Club’s Ladies’ Day. 
The annual ladies’ night dinner of the Camp- 
Fire Club was held Feb. 2 at the Astor Hotel, 
New York. The president, A. A. Anderson, 
presided and also acted as toastmaster. There 
were about 250 guests present. In each window 
of the room was a transparency showing moun¬ 
tain scenery, and at one end was a stage on 
which was a tent and the accessories of a camp 
. ^nd four singers dressed in outdoor costume 
who, during the dinner, sang, to the great pleas¬ 
ure of their audience. After the dinner was 
over, Mr. Anderson, after a few happy remarks, 
introduced John J. White, Jr., of New York, 
who has recently returned from a hunting trip 
in Africa. Mr. White read a number of ex¬ 
tracts from his journal, telling interestingly of 
lion hunting and rhino hunting. 
On one occasion when riding over the veldt 
at the head of the safari, they came upon six¬ 
teen elephants out in the open plain before them. 
All were cows and calves and so were not dis¬ 
turbed. A little further along one of the men 
called out simba —lion, and on the other side of 
the valley, some 300 yards away, a big lion was 
seen slouching along. One method of lion hunt¬ 
ing here is to mount a rider on a swift trained 
pony who chases the lion and brings it to bay, 
and when ordered to go, the speaker’s Somali 
syce jumped on the fast pony and was off at 
once. The white men followed on their mules 
as fast as they could, the gun bearers hanging 
on to the animal’s tail. In some way Mr. White’s 
gun bearer missed his connection and was left 
behind. After riding 600 or 800 yards they came 
upon the Somali sitting on his pony, and saw 
the lion about seventy-five yards further on also 
sitting down. Mr. White’s gun bearer not hav¬ 
ing come up, he took his companion’s small rifle 
and prepared to shoot. The lion irritated by 
the pursuit was angry and growled fiercely. The 
ball fired by Mr. White struck the animal fair 
in the chest and it fell, but in a moment was 
up again and charged. It rushed straight for 
the white pony and as the Somali galloped off, 
the lion swerved and came straight for the two 
white men. Judd fired twice and at the second 
shot the lion seemed to rise straight up in the 
air, hang there for an instant and then fall in 
a heap. Another shot by Mr. White finished it. 
The power of the rush and spring of the great 
animal was most impressive. The skin after 
it had been taken off measured eleven feet and 
ten inches and had a very fine mane, said to be 
the best killed in Africa for several years. 
One day Mr. White, while hunting, saw what 
at first was thought to be a dark rock, but the 
glasses showed it was a rhino. They commenced 
to stalk it and soon saw a second rhino with it. 
Then they discovered immediately ahead of them 
a lion and a lioness, which they tried to ap¬ 
proach, but to get close enough for a shot would 
have given the rhino the hunter’s wind, and a 
rhino when alarmed almost invariably charges 
up wind. Presently the lions went off and the 
hunters went back toward the rhinos. Mr. White 
told the story of the outcome with much humor; 
“I insisted on a plan of campaign with a tree 
in it, and fortunately about eighty yards from 
them there was a tree, not a very big one to 
be sure, but tolerably bushy at the roots. So 
Judd crawled up to it and peeped through at 
them, coming back to report that the biggest 
had a fairly massive head, but that the horns 
were not very long. So my last excuse having 
failed, I took the .450, removed my field glasses, 
so as not to be impeded in tree climbing, and set 
out. Judd went with me, and old Nur Jama, 
my Somali gun bearer, insisted on making one 
of the party. I urged him strongly to get be¬ 
hind a tree, but he scorned the idea. Before 
starting, Judd went back to the mules and told 
the syces (the slave who carries my camera, and 
the man who comes along to go back and bring 
out men from camp if we kill anything) that 
there was going to be trouble, and they had 
better get the mules and camera out of the 
range of a charge, and you should have seen 
them obey. I envied them, but said in a firm 
voice that I was ready. So we crawled up to 
the tree and got down behind it. 
“Rhinos seem to have a sixth sense. Their 
sight is poor, so that crawling up against the 
wind they could not sec, hear or smell us, but 
both seemed uneasy. Fortunately there were no 
rhino- birds about or they would have been more 
alarmed, and probably gone off up wind. One 
was a fairly big beast, probably about two tons 
weight, the other smaller. I cast my eye aloft, 
saw a fairly strong branch to cling to in case 
of trouble, so I took heart and pushed the double 
barreled .450 through the scrub, waited until the 
big one swung broadside on, caught my aim on 
the shoulder and let her go. She hardly seemed 
to feel it, but continued to move around, and 
as she turned away I let the second barrel off, 
when to my intense astonishment she plunged 
forward on her shoulder, rolled on her back, 
gave a couple of shrill squeaks and lay still. By 
this time the other was thoroughly aroused and 
plunged around in all directions in a circle. I 
expected every second to see her head for our 
party, as she certainly would have done as soon 
as she saw or smelled us. Judd suggested firing 
a shot from a small rifle at her so as to scrape 
her ham, which he did, whereupon she gave a 
whistle and went off up wind as hard as she 
could with her tail straight up in the air. 
“I grew calmer as she disappeared, and we 
went up to the dead one. She had a front horn 
fifteen inches long and twenty-two inches around 
at the base; second horn shorter, but about as 
thick. We sent in for men to bring back the 
trophies to camp.’’ 
Other speakers were W. C. Demorest, Rev. 
Chas. A. Eaton, J. P. Howe and A. Fiala. 
Antelope in Colorado. 
San Francisco, Cal., Feb. 5.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: I was an eye witness of the fol¬ 
lowing interesting experience lately. On Sun¬ 
day afternoon, Jan. 10, while train No. i of the 
Burlington line was near the signal station of 
Valley in Eastern Colorado, seventy-one miles 
east of Denver, it came to a stop to allow a 
band of antelope to cross the track. They had 
been feeding on the right of the track, and as 
the train approached began to cross the track, 
where several others were scattered about. It 
was very cold, about ten degrees below zero, 
and the ground was covered with about six 
inches of snow. They crossed the track very 
leisurely in single file, readily jumped a wire 
fence and occasionally several would gambol 
about for a few moments. I counted in all forty- 
seven that crossed directly in front of the 
engine, and there were at least a dozen more 
browsing several hundred yards away on our 
left. 
The train conductor stated that he had seen 
none before for seventeen years. It seemed the 
general opinion that the cold weather had 
forced them from higher places and possibly 
that the State authorities had provided feed for 
them, though we saw no signs of this. The 
snow was well stamped down on both sides of 
the track, clearly indicating that they had been 
there for some time. 
Valley is merely a name for a locality, there 
being no station, and is at the headwaters of 
the Republican River. A passenger told me 
that he had heard that sometime before a train 
had run into a band in a cutting and killed 
several, but I could not get more definite par¬ 
ticulars. William Palmer. 
United States National Museum. 
[An account of the killing of antelope by a 
Burlington train in Colorado not long ago was 
printed in Forest and Stream for Jan. 30, 
1909, page 198. This is very likely the oc¬ 
currence referred to by our correspondent.— 
Editor.] 
New York Legislature. 
Senator Cobb has introduced a bill in the 
Senate which relates to hares and rabbits in 
Oswego county. Second reading. 
These bills have been introduced in the As¬ 
sembly: 
By Mr. Hawley—To repeal Section 32 of the 
forest, fish and game law. This section relates 
to disturbing fish or game or trespassing on 
private parks or lands. 
By E. L. Smith—Relating to hares and rabbits 
in Oswego county. 
By Mr. Klein—To amend Section 241 of the 
game law so that “fish, game or flesh’’ can be 
shipped to private persons in this State from 
other States or countries, provided it was taken 
in the open season in the State or country from 
which it is shipped. 
By Mr. Millen—To amend the game law by 
inserting several special provisions as to the open 
season for deer in Sullivan and Orange counties. 
Also one relating to hares and rabbits in Sulli¬ 
van county. 
Legislation in North Carolina. 
Raleigh, N. C., Feb. 6. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: At last an extensive and definite 
movement to protect quail is being made. 
Senator Empie, an ardent sportsman, has in¬ 
troduced a bill in the Legislature, and Gilbert 
Pearson, secretary of the Audubon Society, has 
for some time been at work to create sentiment 
in favor of the measure. The time is well 
chosen since the floods last August drowned 
great numbers of birds, and it has become ap¬ 
parent that they are being almost wiped out in 
a number of sections. Not for many years have 
they been so scarce as at present. The Senate 
and House committees, which have such matters 
in charge, are in sympathy with the movement, 
and favorable reports were given by each branch. 
The bill passed the Senate by a very fair major¬ 
ity and is now before the House where interest 
is being made for it. It has been shown that 
the real slaughter of the birds is for purposes 
of sale. Fred A. Olds. 
