5 ° 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July ii, 1908. 
boys with a five dollar bill and paid a negro 
another dollar to help them clean up the foul¬ 
smelling mass which had been dumped in front 
of the hotel. 
We returned to my house and the question of 
a guide presented itself. All the good guides 
are engaged weeks in advance of the shooting 
season. I only knew of one man, Dennis Ryan, 
brother to Paddy Ryan, and almost as good a 
guide when sober. The American who had en¬ 
gaged him had wired me at the last moment 
that he was unable to come down. Dennis lived 
a couple of miles beyond the house I was going 
to, and Mr. Wilson suggested that my wife and 
I should go there in the auto and he would send 
my wife home with Pierre. He also suggested 
that I should look over his camp equipment and 
armament and tell him what part of it he had 
better leave behind. 
d he gunsmith who fitted that boy out must 
have made a pretty good thing out of him. He 
had three rifles, one an express which weighed 
eleven pounds; two hammerless ejector shot¬ 
guns and a huge revolver. The guns would 
have made St. Hubert himself break the tenth 
commandment. The rifles were exquisitely 
made, but utterly unsuitable for our woods. The 
revolver was neither of use nor ornament. The 
camping kit was of the best quality, but oh, the 
weight of it! The tent alone must have weighed 
thirty pounds. What it would have weighed 
w'hen wet I am afraid to say. I weeded out 
two or three hundred pounds of luxuries, in¬ 
cluding a portable bath and a collapsable bed¬ 
stead. By my advice Wilson discarded the shot¬ 
guns, the revolver and two of the rifles. He 
selected the unwieldy express as his “shooting 
iron.” 
It was somewhat late when these little matters 
were adjusted, and my wife and I mounted the 
car. The chief’s reprimand had had its effect, 
and Pierre was careful not to exceed the legal 
rate of speed. Twenty miles an hour is quite 
fast enough for any man to travel on a narrow 
country road, when every second team you meet 
is an ox team loaded with timber or cordwood. 
On one occasion we had to halt for a quarter 
of an hour while a load of spiling, drawn by 
two yoke of oxen, went ahead of us to a spot 
where we could pass them. Dennis Ryan was 
at home, and I found him willing to take charge 
of Mr. Wilson. He looked somewhat dejected 
when he found that the entire stock of stimu¬ 
lants consisted of two bottles of whisky and a 
pocket flask of brandy. I did not inform him 
that there were two bottles more cached in the 
bushes within half a mile of his house. 
“And so that’s the filthy shanty you slept in 
last winter! I wonder the man doesn’t live in 
the barn and let the pig and the steers sleep in 
the house.” commented my wife when Mr. Wil¬ 
son and his effects had been left and we were 
on our way to my friend’s place; “I wouldn’t 
sleep in that place for twenty dollars a night, 
and as for eating bread made there, I wouldn’t 
let Tom Crib touch it if I could get anything 
else for him.” 
The auto delivered me at my destination. My 
wife, Pierre and I had a light luncheon there, 
and after luncheon Pierre took my friend’s wife 
and daughter for a short spin. Two days later 
my friend got a farrow cow moose and we got 
the meat out and I came home. The motor car 
hung round town for a week or so, then it dis¬ 
appeared. I received a polite note from Mr. 
Wilson thanking me for my trouble, and inform¬ 
ing me that he had secured a fine head. I also 
saw by the papers that he had been fined the 
limit for furious driving in the town of Amherst 
with the intimation that the next offense meant jail. 
[to be concluded.] 
How a Bird Artist Works. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
It may be of interest to readers to read about 
the methods of a bird artist. Mr. Louis A. 
Fuertes, whose game bird calendar is familiar 
to them, has been pronounced by Dr. C. Hart 
Merriam the best bird artist in the country. I 
happen to know something about his manner of 
working. 
Mr. Fuertes, knowing that the best way to 
see a thing is to draw it, began to sketch birds 
in order to fix in mind the various markings 
and color gradations of different species which 
closely resemble each other. This taught him how 
to distinguish one bird from another, when they 
look much alike. The young fellow became 
such an able artist that, in 1897, when he gradu¬ 
ated at Cornell, he illustrated “Birdcraft.” Then 
he became a pupil of Mr. Abbott H. Thayer, the 
well known artist. 
Artist fashion, Mr. Fuertes makes sketches 
often. When he sees a bird in the field he may 
make a few strokes of the pencil to catch a 
certain pose; or, if it is a dead specimen—and 
it must be added -that he never kills a bird un¬ 
less it is necessary—he may make a sketch, 01- 
even a painting, of merely a bill or a foot. He 
does this since the bill and feet of some birds 
lose their color soon after death. Complete 
sketches of some live birds are difficult to ob¬ 
tain; therefore it is necessary to draw from 
dead specimens or prepared skins. These he 
’ .4 
props up, the smaller ones on a table, and the 
larger ones he ties in the desired position on 
the floor. A propped-up bird, especially if it 
is merely the skin, scarcely appears as in nature, 
and it is here that long observation of the vari¬ 
ous poses and habits of birds comes in, as well 
as do the sketches. The defects in the position 
of the propped bird are remedied by the use of 
previously made sketches, and by the man’s 
knowledge of how the bird appears in 
nature. 
Photographs also are useful. He has always 
been fortunate in having an expert photographer 
along on his big trips. When at the Bahama 
Islands, studying the rare flamingoes, it was 
Frank M. Chapman. 
Whenever possible he draws the live bird, 
and for this purpose he has a ten-power field 
glass a foot and a half long. The bird is ob¬ 
served at a distance, since, a hawk, for example, 
which has been approached and has dropped its 
prey, while on the alert and ready to fly, is quite 
a different bird from one that is free and un¬ 
disturbed. It is the pose in nature that Mr. 
Fuertes is after. 
His ability to infuse the breath of life in his 
birds is the essential feature of his success as 
a bird artist. Audubon’s famous bird pictures 
are now much prized, but too often they lack 
this essential which makes a drawing the best. 
Audubon’s birds are often active and flashy, 
while in nature all birds are not of that char¬ 
acter. This, is not true of the work of Mr. 
Fuertes. He draws the flashy redstart brim 
full of activity, but he draws the slow-moving 
cuckoo so as to give it that appearance. He 
follows nature faithfully and closely as he 
knows how. His backgrounds are always ap¬ 
propriate and often beautiful. His groupings 
likewise are according to nature. Thus, when 
he is compelled to represent several birds of 
prey on one plate, those that fly high in the air 
are placed at the top of the page, while the ones 
that skim close to the ground are represented 
in that manner. 
It might be added that he is an able imitator 
of bird songs—it shows that he studies all sides 
of the birds. He declares that the songs are 
mere imitations, but those who are familiar with 
the swinging song of the veerie, or the inspir¬ 
ing tune of the hermit thrush, are always for 
the moment transported to the haunts of these 
birds. Some time ago a friend heard him at 
a scientific meeting and reported the occasion 
to me as follows: “A fellow was talking about 
and whistling some thrush songs, when Frank 
Chapman had occasion to call on Louis for a 
hermit song. Louis sorter hesitated while they 
were clapping, and then said he didn’t know 
about it, it didn’t always work; it was the way 
you happened to strike it. Then after some¬ 
body gave him a glass of water, he proceeded to 
give as divine and pure a hermit song as was 
ever heard. I guess it almost phased the other 
fellow by comparison.” 
Eldridge A. Spears. 
