894 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 6, 1908 
CAMP OF THE FLATHEAD INDIANS. 
ward them a puff of wind wafted the scent of 
the Indians below to the leader, who sprang 
into the air as though shot and started off at 
a gallop. My first shot, fired hastily, kicked up 
the dust under him, and followed by the entire 
band he disappeared in the thick pines before 
I could even eject the empty shell. I sprang 
up and rushed around the pines to where the 
open slope stretched below me, just in time to 
see the band stop three hundred and fifty yards 
distant and look hack before their plunge into 
the gulch below. My last chance had come 
Steadying myself as best I could, I held the 
gold bead on the shoulder of the leader and 
pressed the trigger. Instantly the sheep dis¬ 
appeared as completely as if the earth had 
opened up and swallowed them. Half dazed by 
the suddenness of it all, I ran forward to the 
ledge half blinded by the wind in my face, and 
there lay the grand old leader on his side, his 
eyes already glazed with death, his magnificent 
horns, fourteen and one-half inches, and more 
than a full circle, making me realize my hunt 
for the finest trophy our country has to offer 
■was over, and I was satisfied. 
Frederick W. King. 
Grouse and Dog Lore. 
Los Angeles, Cal., May 25. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: As the “wise animal” with long ears 
said as he looked over the gate, “I told you so,” 
so we could have told you over half a century 
ago, and we had it from old hunters and trap¬ 
pers who knew the fact in their boyhood that 
if a person had muscle enough to hold a skunk 
out at arm’s length so that it could not touch 
any object with nose or feet it could be carried 
almost any distance with safety so far as scent 
was concerned, though personally we only saw 
one person who had tried this feat, and he car¬ 
ried Mephitis all right until he let it down on a 
log while he got a fresh tail hold, then Steve 
got it where black Tom said that he hit the 
grouse, on the head, neck, all over. 
Regarding the scarcity of ruffed grouse. Last 
season with a friend I hunted well over the 
northwestern part of Vermont with poor success 
so far as grouse were -concerned. Very few 
birds were found either old or young. One 
afternoon we made a trip across the line into 
Canada. Within a mile of the line we found 
good-sized coveys of young grouse. In one 
piece of bush we found two coveys of at least 
ten or twelve birds each. Now, the Canada line 
is no barrier against such enemies of these birds 
as foxes, weasels, etc., but with the high Cana¬ 
dian tariff on imported guns it is a most effectual 
barrier against the cheap American single barrel 
shotgun which has flooded our country, and is 
to be found in the hands of nearly every b( 5 y 
and idle person in Vermont. These cheap guns 
will cause our grouse and kindred game to be 
wiped out of existence unless we have at once 
a good stiff gun tax that will restrict both the 
sale and use of these guns and at the same time 
provide funds to pay an effective corps of game 
wardens. 
An old reader, and I believe occasional cor¬ 
respondent of Forest and Stream, Mr. Barbre, 
station agent at Campbellton, N. B., had a couple 
of large black rough-haired retrievers that were 
in the habit of begging coppers from the fre¬ 
quenters of the station. When they received a 
copper they would rear up at the refreshment 
counter and drop their money on the counter 
and receive in exchange a cookie. One day as 
the older dog, the mother, handed in her money 
the attendant carelessly swept it into the till 
and passed along. This made the old dog very 
angry. She would have jumped over the counter 
and helped herself if the fellow had not come 
back and handed her the cookie. After that 
whenever she deposited a coin on the counter 
she would place one foot on it and keep it there 
until she received her cake. 
One morning in the same town I was down 
on the bay shore watching a fisherman gather¬ 
ing driftwood for fuel. He had a large black 
curly-haired dog harnessed that he was using to 
haul his wood up to his shanty. If the stick 
that the dog was hauling struck against a stone 
or other obstacle the dog would stop and turn 
around to see what the trouble was, then walk 
off to one side and yank the stick away from 
the stone, then go on his way homeward. This 
I saw him do fully a dozen times. 
One cold frosty morning I was walking down 
a back street accompanied by Snipe, a bright, 
lively Norfolk spaniel. We came across a big 
dog eating a piece of meat in the middle of the 
street. When Snipe saw him he stopped and 
gazed at him a moment, and then with a sort 
of a side trot he passed along behind the dog, 
jumped in and gave him a most vicious bite in 
the rear. The next instant he was running down 
the street with the big fellow tight at his heels. 
When they were fully one hundred yards away 
Snipe dodged, came back with a rush and seized 
the meat, but the piece was so large that he 
could not carry it and he had to drop it to save 
his own bacon. 
One day while quail shooting in Tennessee 
with a companion and using an old pointer who 
found a covey of birds in a cow path, the birds 
would not lie, but kept running ahead of the dog. 
The old fellow stopped and looked at the run¬ 
ning birds for a moment and then made a long 
sneak around through the field and came into 
the path below the birds and soon had them mov¬ 
ing back toward us. As they rose we of corn 
downed four of them, and when the dog ! 
trieved them he did it with an air that seem 
to say plainly, “It takes a wise bird to fool 
old chap of my experience.” Stanstead. 
North Pitcher, N. Y., May 12.— Editor Fori 
and Stream: I have been much interested 
the discussion as to whether animals reason 
not. 
Here is a little incident absolutely true. J 
grandfather owned an old hound that persist 
in following my aunts whenever they went aw 
from home, calling or visiting. One day th 
planned to visit at the home of a neighbor, E 
ward Smith, distant one mile, and talked qu 
a little about the visit and said among oth 
things, “Wish we could get away and not ha 
that old hound go with us.” 
When my aunts left home the hound w 
nowhere in sight, and was not seen at all 
them until they entered the hall at Mr. Smith 
where they found him curled up on the m; 
having reached the place some time in advan 
of them. 
This seems to me something that would 
very hard to explain as an action prompt' 
solely by instinct, as this was not a place th 
the hound was in the habit of visiting. But 
had heard them tell where they were going, ai 
instead of going too he went ahead. Just he 
I will leave this for someone wiser than I 
explain. H. S. Dickerson. 
Contentment in Virginia. 
Someone has said that it is the boast of Eas 
ern shore Virginians that a man in those pai 
can with a string, a piece of raw meat for ba 
and a broken clam shell for sinker catch in 
few minutes enough crabs to buy a comple 
fishing outfit; that with hook and line he c: 
soon catch enough fish to buy a boat, and th 
with a boat he can in a few seasons catch enouj 
oysters to buy a farm. With a farm any Eas 
ern shore man is contented and independent 1 
the world. 
