May 28, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
851 
ter of a cord in twenty-four hours. We have 
the best of rock maple wood which we cut three 
feet long. We select that which will split easily 
and the most of it is as clear and straight grained 
as rift pine. 
“As soon as I could see I went up and brought 
down half of the bear. Went out on my Indian 
line, got two sable and made three more traps. 
Rufus came in before dark with seven sable and 
a puss beaver. Snows some to-night. 
“Nov. 3. We both stayed in camp all day. 
I went up early and got some of the bear meat, 
and having my rifle with me, shot two par¬ 
tridges. We have been skinning, stretching and 
cooking. I stepped against the edge of a sharp 
hatchet and cut clear across the toe of my boot 
close to the sole. As there was not slack leather 
enough to nail down with tacks, as I have done 
sometimes, I asked Rufus to try to sew it, for 
he had needles and shoe thread and was, I knew, 
quite handy with them. He said that it was 
so close to the sole that it could not be done 
with needles, hut that if he had bristles he could 
do it. I asked him how the smellers of some 
animal would do, but he only laughed at the 
idea. However, I did not wish to give up beat 
till I had tried. I eou’d not get what I wanted 
on any of the bears, but got some good ones 
from the “bank’’ beaver. Beavers which live 
in houses usually have their smellers chewed off 
by the young ones of the family. He at first 
said that he could not split them like a hog’s 
bristle to fasten them on to the thread, hut he 
succeeded at last and sewed a good seam, mak¬ 
ing my hoot watertight. 
“We had beaver tail soup for dinner. Quite 
warm and snows some. 
“Nov. 4. Started to walk round the lake to 
where we left the tent and the canoe on the Sis. 
FIG. 9 — OTTER SKIN, SHOWING FRONT AND BACK. 
Did not reach there till about 3 P. m. Rufus 
cooked while I took the canoe and -looked some 
mink traps- at the foot of the lake and down 
the main Caucomgomoc stream. Seeing a Canada 
jay flying toward the bark camp where Brassua 
had camped, I thought that something must at¬ 
tract him and went to see. I found the remains 
of a fire and the bed where about ten men had 
slept. I followed the trail and found where a 
batteau had been launched and loaded by some 
lumber crew who probably had gone up Loon 
Stream. . 
“Dined on a partridge 1 had shot on our way. 
Started up the Sis as soon as we had eaten din¬ 
ner.’’ The ice in the deadwater stretches was an 
inch and a half thick and we had to break it with 
poles.” A great horned owl crossed the stream 
ahead of us with something in his claws and 
alighted on a lone ash tree. As the wind was 
ahead, the canoe swung as soon as 1 took my 
paddle out of water, but I fired as she swung 
and was fortunate enough to kill him at some 
seventy yards. It proved that he had a full- 
grown rabbit (Lepus amcriccmus v.rginianus) in 
his claws. He was one of the largest owls I 
ever saw. It seemed singular that he could have 
caught a rabbit when neither of us saw one in 
all our travels except one which got into a log 
mink trap. The scarcity of rabbits explained 
why lynx were no more plentiful, as they feed 
mostly on rabbits, especially where, as here, 
there are no deer. When the rabbits fail they 
have to migrate. 
“By hard work we reached Round Pond a little 
before dark. It was coming on bitterly cold 
and we could not be warm in our A tent. We 
felled a large yellow birch for camp wood, and 
as it had a wide fork which lay up some four 
feet from the ground, we trimmed out the inside 
branches and lined it up inside with long fir 
boughs. Laying sticks across the forks we cov¬ 
ered the top tightly with fir boughs, sloping 
them down at the further end so as to reflect 
the fire. We made a large fire which kept all 
night, and after piling up a good bed of fir 
boughs, we used the tent as a coverlet, as we 
had only a blanket apiece. We slept perfectly 
warm, although water I had left in a pint dipper 
froze clear to the bottom.” 
3C 
D 
A 
A 
Arbor and Bird Day in Wisconsin. 
Governor Davidson's proclamation last March 
appointed May 6 as Arbor and Bird Day for 
Wisconsin, and its approach was heralded by the 
publication of the Arbor and Bird Day Annual 
for 1910, compiled by O. S. Rice, State Library 
Clerk, and issued by C. P. Carey, State Superin¬ 
tendent. 
It is a handsome volume. The foreword very 
properly mentions the name of J. Sterling Mor¬ 
ton who, when a member of the Nebraska State 
Board of Agriculture, introduced the resolution 
which designated April 10, 1872, as a day to be 
“set apart and consecrated for tree planting.” 
A knowledge of the usefulness of our birds 
and their close connection with agriculture and 
tree culture has become greatly extended during 
the almost forty years that have elapsed since 
Governor Morton set aside Arbor Day; and this 
increased knowledge is in no way better exem¬ 
plified than by the constantly more serious man¬ 
ner in which many of the States are celebrating 
Arbor Day and Bird Day. 
The Wisconsin Annual contains a great deal 
of useful and pertinent matter dealing with con¬ 
servation problems. Especially useful is the 
paper on tree planting by E. M. Griffith, State 
Forester. The paper on the “Birds of Wiscon¬ 
sin,” by Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Mitchell, is illus¬ 
trated by a number of colored plates, and con¬ 
cludes with six plates showing in tabular form 
observations of Wisconsin winter birds and a 
migration record. / 
Audubon Plumage Law. 
New York City, May 19. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The most prolonged and bitterly op¬ 
posed fight which the National Association of 
Audubon Societies has ever conducted to a suc¬ 
cessful issue is the one which has just resulted 
in the passage of the Shea-White plumage bill 
through the New York Legislature. The bill 
was signed by Governor Hughes May 7 and is 
to take effect July 1, 1911, thus giving the whole¬ 
sale millinery dealers opportunity to dispose of 
their stock now on hand. 
This law makes it illegal to possess for the 
purpose of sale the feathers of wild birds and 
applies equally to those taken without the State, 
provided they belong to the same families as 
those represented in the State. The following are 
the only exceptions, viz.: game birds for which 
an open season is provided, birds not protected 
by the general game laws, ostrich plumes and 
feathers of the birds of parad:se. One great 
effect of this law will be the stopping of the 
sale of heron aigrettes. In passing this bill New 
York State has followed the examples of Mis¬ 
souri, Louisiana, California, Oregon and Massa¬ 
chusetts. all of which have already adopted simi¬ 
lar statutes. T. Gilbert Pearson, Sec’y. 
But What Are Elk Points? 
The Helena (Montana) Independent, of April 
24, reports that Deputy Peter Nelson has noti¬ 
fied State Game and Fish Warden Henry Avare 
that he has arrested seventeen men on the borders 
of the Yellowstone Park on the charge of selling 
elk points. They were each fined $25 by Justice 
J. W. Prant, at Electric. 
