FOREST AND STREAM 
| ArRiL 25, 1908.] 
,oiled up in the snow, and these were being 
ufied so fast that we had to kick the snow away 
p follow them. Dad said, “We are having hard 
.ick, but I expect to find him not far away. It 
4 a hard storm and may drive 11s off the trail 
1 the end.’’ 
“Yes,” I replied, “his chance of escape looks 
cry favorable, while the chances are all against 
s.” 
We were now past the big ledges, wind blow- 
lg, trees chafing, branches springing up, throw- 
lg off their heavy load. We were wet to the 
kin. We tried to observe some sign so as to 
ell which way he had gone. The track had 
ong been filled in and smoothed over, and we 
.ere losing ground every minute. We had not 
ad any dinner, and twelve long miles to beat 
path back to camp in a howling northeast 
torm, blowing a gale over the tops of these 
loud crest hills. I looked at my watch; it said 
:20 P. M. Dad showed signs of regret as we 
?ft the trail and said, “He has won. He put his 
kill against ours and we lost. You are tired 
nd so am I. We will go down in the ravine, 
ollow it to the North Branch valley, find the 
lain stream, and make tracks to camp.” 
T his we did, pulling in at 8:40 P. M. too tired 
i eat or relate the account of our absence. We 
ad the satisfaction of chasing bruin to the 
mit, and had it not been for nature coming to 
he rescue, the bear would not be sleeping in 
ie wildwood to-night. 
Burton Tomath. 
Two Daring Lion Hunters. 
iditor -Forest and Stream: 
Thirty-five years ago I moved from northwest 
exas to Colfax county, New Mexico, and 
ettled in the Raton Mountains, a spur of the 
tdekies. 
At that time there were few white people hi 
nat country, and sometimes in very cold weather 
he wild animals would come down' to the hills 
/here the ranchmen lived and kill cattle, sheep 
nd colts, and our losses were sometimes heavy, 
’he sheep men were generally the principal 
users on such occasions, but calves, colts and 
veil the patient burros sometimes fell victims 
d the mountain lions and timber wolves. The 
attle men, nearly all of whom were white, did 
ot suffer so much as the sheep men who were 
lostly Mexicans. Much bad blood existed be- 
ween the cow men and sheep men, and they 
eldom joined forces against the common enemy. 
I owned a small herd of cattle, and one of 
he cows died and left a young calf, which I 
ave to my little daughter who fed and petted 
until it was quite gentle. The calf came in 
nd out of the yard at will, and one morning, 
■ hen Maggie went to feed it, it was missing, 
lie whole family were out looking for the calf, 
nd I soon found the tracks of a lion and fol- 
>wed them about a quarter of a mile from the 
ouse, and there I found the remains of the pet 
alf. There was some snow on the ground, so 
took my rifle and followed the trail of 
he lion, which led me quite a chase through 
ocks and brush along the mountain side. I 
railed him to the edge of what seemed an ex- 
intt volcano among large boulders. There I 
3St the trail and, while I was trying to find it 
gain, he sprang out from under a large rock 
.ithin twenty feet of where I stood. He made 
rapid time jumping from ten to fifteen feet from 
one large rock to another. 
I followed as fast as I could until I got to 
where I could see him. I then dropped on one 
knee, took as good aim as 1 could, and fired. 
He was all of eighty yards from me, and a bad 
chance for a sure shot, but I did my best, and 
fortunately my first bullet struck him in the 
Hank, ranging forward and lodged near his 
shoulder. He fell, but was at once on his feet 
again and coming directly back for me. I sat 
down on a rock and fixed myself to give him 
a warm reception. As the magazine of my rifle 
was nearly full I had no fear of his ever reach¬ 
ing me. I waited until he got about half way 
back, and just as I was taking aim he suddenly 
disappeared. 
After waiting awhile and not seeing him I 
threw several small stones at the place where 
he disappeared, but he did not show up. So I 
decided he had fallen dead and went out to 
where I had last seen him and found he had 
gone in a cave under a large boulder. 
I had two very savage dogs at home, which 
was not over half a mile away, and I began call¬ 
ing them. They soon came, and with them a 
young man from a neighboring ranch. As soon 
as the dogs got there they started into the den, 
but the lion put them out in a hurry. There 
were two entrances to the den and the dogs kept 
him busy defending both places, which he did 
valiantly. In his passing from one entrance to 
the other I could see him through a crack in 
the rock, and I kept trying to hit his head 
through that crack. Finally I did hit it and 
killed him, but I did not then, know it. The 
fight between him and the dogs stopped, but i 
could not coax them to entei me cave. I got 
hold of a good, long pole and felt all around 
until I found the body which I gave several 
severe punches without making him move, so 
we were sure that he was dead. 
We were perfectly satisfied that he was dead, 
but we were both afraid to go in after him. 
After talking the matter over, the young man 
went down until he could see a part of the lion. 
By means of a stick he slipped the noose of his 
rope over one of the lion’s feet. We then tried 
to draw him out, but the body became wedged 
in between some rocks. We failed to draw him 
out. The young man positively refused to go 
down there any more. I tried to convince him 
that as he was a young man and no one was 
dependent on him, it was clearly his duty to go 
in and get that lion out of that cave, but he 
failed to see it that way. I wanted the lion 
badly, but the young fellow was a better man 
than I was, so I could not put him in. I then 
accused him of cowardice, but he said I was the 
man. I finally ventured down there and turned 
the lion around and then we drew him out with 
ease. 
I have often since thought what fools we 
mortals are.: But I got my lion and avenged 
the poor little calf. It was the largest one I had 
ever killed. G. W. Waters. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Lazos in Brief. See adv. 
657 
New York Legislature. 
Mr. Cobb’s bill to amend the penal code in 
relation to killing or wounding a human being 
in mistake for game, has been passed. It fol¬ 
lows : 
Any person who, while hunting and in pursuit of wild 
game or game birds, negligently or carelessly shoots or 
kills a human being shall be guilty of manslaughter in 
the second degree. District attorneys and sheriffs, in 
their respective counties, shall promptly investigate any 
alleged violations of this section, and prosecute every 
person accused thereof; for failure so to investigate 
and prosecute, each of said officers shall be punished 
by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and shall be 
removed from office. 
Sept, i next is the date named for the pro¬ 
posed law to take effect. 
Senator Allds has introduced a bill which is 
intended as an amendment to the new forest, 
fish and game law, making the trout open sea¬ 
son in Chenango county April 16-July 31; in 
Spring Creek, Livingston county, April 16-Aug. 
31, and permitting night fishing for trout. 
Mr. Robinson has introduced a bill in the 
Assembly which is intended to permit the sale 
of wildfowl from Sept. 16 to Jan. 9. He has 
also introduced a bill which proposes to so 
amend Section 141 of the general law that all 
references to game are omitted, leaving only 
the regulations for the cold storage of fish dur¬ 
ing the closed season. 
To Gunners in North Carolina. 
Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, secretary of the 
Audubon Society, informs us that, with the as¬ 
sistance of Mr. C. S. Brimley, he is preparing 
a work on the birds of North Carolina. The 
volume is to be fully illustrated by drawings and 
photographs, and when completed will no doubt 
be a valuable contribution to ornithology. 
Since it is extremely desirable that all possible 
data should be had, and above all every occur¬ 
rence of rare forms in the State, Mr. Pearson 
requests that all gunners or students of orni¬ 
thology, who may have taken rare or unusual 
birds in North Carolina, report the same to him 
with as full data as possible. In their frequent 
winter visits to North Carolina many of our 
readers have presumably captured rare birds, and 
each one of these is asked to contribute such in¬ 
formation as he may have to Mr. Pearson, at 
Greensboro, N. C. 
Crow Meetings. 
St. John’s, N. F., April 2 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: A curious circumstance was noted 
lately by farmers and others in the Eastern 
suburbs of the city. Early in March hundreds 
of crows congregated in the meadows near the 
town. They foregathered for a day and then 
separated again, leaving only about a dozen or 
so in this neighborhood. These are regular habi 
tants. as they nest in the woods near here. The 
peculiar part of the story is that exactly a year 
ago they gathered in force in the same place. 
There must have been thousands of them, but 
after a day or so they dispersed and left only 
a very few behind. The farmers were wonder¬ 
ing what their coming portended, but I have not 
heard that anything peculiar happened as a re¬ 
sult of their meeting. W. J. Carroll. 
