i o 16 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 27, 1908. 
The Goat Pest in Hawaii. 
Honolulu, T. H., June 12 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The wild goat of Hawaii has in recent 
years become a serious menace to agriculture 
in various parts of the Territory. Secure among 
the almost inaccessible cliffs of the mountains, 
thousands of these nimble animals find a con¬ 
genial home, and although no systematic efforts 
have as yet been inaugurated for exterminating 
them, they are nevertheless extremely wary and 
difficult to approach. 
California and Australia have had their 
scourges of rabbits, and various Western States 
still have their troubles in combatting prairie 
dogs and gophers, but these pests injure the 
agriculturist directly by attacking his growing 
crops, while on the other hand the goats of 
Hawaii do the same thing indirectly by ruin¬ 
ing the mountain forests which conserve the 
rainfall on which the water for irrigation pur¬ 
poses is dependent. This was not for a long 
time appreciated, but of late years, with the 
rapid increase in the number of goats, it has 
become very apparent. In some sections of 
mountain districts, once heavily wooded, there 
is now scarcely any vegetation at all, due solely 
to the destructive feeding of the goats. 
All of the islands in the group have large 
areas of extremely broken and rugged moun¬ 
tain country, of no value except for the water 
sheds they afford, but this of greatest impor¬ 
tance. Although the rainfall on the windward 
sides of the islands is very heavy, in some in¬ 
stances ranging as high as twenty or thirty 
inches a month, the lea sides in many cases get 
almost no rain at all, all the moisture being 
wrung from the steady northeast trade winds 
by the chill of the high altitude of the great 
volcanic mountain ranges over which they pass. 
These dry districts in many instances have 
splendid soils, and extensive irrigation systems 
have been built to carry the water from the wet 
sides of the mountains in order that they may 
be cultivated. But owing to the precipitous 
nature of the mountains and the porous char¬ 
acter of the volcanic formations, without a good 
covering of forest growth to hold the rain, the 
greater part of it runs off to the ocean in foam- 
ing torrents almost as fast as it is precipitated. 
The Territorial Government is doing much in 
the way of forest planting, and in the encour- 
agement of forestry, but its work has in some 
instances at least been undone by the wild goats 
and cattle. Not only do the goats destroy the 
foliage of the smaller vegetation, but when this 
supply falls short they dig out and eat the 
tender roots. 
Goat hunting is a popular diversion in some 
parts of the Territory, and as a sport is by no 
means to be despised. Although the animals 
are numerous, it requires some hard tramping 
and climbing to get to their haunts, and then 
a true aim and good eye for distance in order 
to have much success. Occasionally parties are 
organized and a week or more spent in goat 
shooting with the result that sometimes several 
hundred are slaughtered. Were it not for the 
injurious characteristics of the little animals, 
the slaughter would seem wanton in the ex¬ 
treme, for no value is placed on the carcass, 
and it is usually left where it falls. Indeed, the 
character of the mountains would often make 
it difficult to secure the quarry after it is shot, 
and it is only in case of an especially large 
animal which the hunter may desire to secure 
as a trophy that any attempt is ever made to 
recover the body. 
The fact that there seems to be no market 
for the skins prevents their being hunted for 
any other purpose than the sport, or in order 
to reduce their numbers where they have be¬ 
come especially troublesome. Could some use 
be found for the skins there is no doubt that 
a great number could be secured at little cost. 
The goats are of the common backyard, tin-can¬ 
eating variety, brought here years ago, and find¬ 
ing the conditions especially congenial they have 
increased very rapidly after breaking away from 
the dominion of man. Will J. Cooper. 
Recent Publications. 
King Spruce,” by Holman Day. Cloth, 372 
pages, $1.50. Illustrated in colors by E. 
Roscoe Schrader. New York, Harper & 
Brothers. 
Although a novel, Major Day’s latest booK 
treats of much that is new to the sportsman 
tourists who visit Maine only in summer and 
autumn, although it is true of the every-dav 
life of the backwoodsmen and women of that 
State, who, however, know and like his ‘‘Up in 
Maine, ' "Kin o’ Ktaadin” and other books. 
King Spruce is a story of the “lumber barons” 
and the river drivers, of the camp bosses and 
the strange characters who make their homes in 
the woods, and of course the hero is worthy 
of the admiration of the reader, while the 
heroine is—but read the story yourself. Every 
chapter opens with a sample of backwoods 
verse or a snatch from a song of the log 
drivers like this: 
And never a knight in a tournament 
Rode the lists with a jauntier mien 
Than he of the drive who came alive 
Thro’ the hell of the Hulling Machine. 
and this: 
So we fellers of the camp, when the wind-spooks rave 
and ramp. 
We fasten up the dingle-door with spike and extry 
clamp; 
For it ain’t a mite against ’em if the boldest chaps do 
hide 
When the big trees go tumblin', crash and bang, on 
every side. 
Books Received: “Our Trees and How co 
Know Them,” by Arthur I. Emerson and Clar 
ence M. Weed; Lippincott. “African Nature 
Notes and Reminiscences,” by F. C. Selous; 
Macmillan & Co. “The Book of Fish and 
Fishing,” by Louis Rhead; Scribners. “Kedar- 
Kross, a Tale of the North Country,” by J. 
VanderVeer Shurts; Boston, Richard G. Bad¬ 
ger. “The Heart of the Red Firs,” by Ada 
Woodruff Anderson; Boston, Little, Brown & 
Co. “The Lackawannas at Moosehead,” by 
George S. Kimball; Boston, the Ball Publish¬ 
ing Co. “In the Woods and on the Shore,” 
by Richard D. Ware; Boston, L. C. Page & Co. 
“Motor Days in England,” by John M. Dillon; 
New York, Putnams. 
The Forest and Stream may he obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularlv. 
Newfoundland Caribou. 
St. Johns, N. F., June 13. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The following clippings will be of in¬ 
terest to caribou hunters. They have been cut 
from the local papers during the last three 
weeks: 
"The train hands report numerous caribou 
crossing the railway track these days in the 
vicinity of Howley. On Friday a herd of ninety 
crossed just west of the coal shed.” 
During the past few weeks thousands of 
deer have been seen crossing to the feeding 
grounds north especially at West Brook and 
Kitty’s Brook, and it is a pretty sight to see 
them pass by in herds sometimes within the 
sight of passengers on the trains.” 
“Trainmen say that a large deer raced ahead 
of the express Friday and kept the track until 
it came to Cook's Bridge, from which is jumped 
into the water and swam up stream. The ex¬ 
press struck one on the track, breaking its leg, 
and it ran ahead on three legs until it reached 
a lake, across which it swam, but it could not 
climb the shores. On several occasions of late 
numbers of deer have headed off the trains.” 
“C. Paulett returned to the Log Cabin, Spruce 
Brook, by Sunday morning’s accommodation 
train, with seven caribou, three stags and four 
does. 1 hree of them are two years old, while 
the others are yearlings. They were captured 
in Sandy Pond region and conveyed in a boat 
down the stream to the railway line. Six of 
these animals will be shipped by to-day’s ex¬ 
press and exported to the United States for a 
private park, the other one will be placed in an 
inclosure with two or three caribou Mr. Dodd 
has had the past year or two. Mr. Paulett re¬ 
ports very few caribou crossing Sandy Lake this 
season, the water being icy cold, but along the 
beaches of the lake were to be seen hundreds 
of these animals. The animals secured by Mr. 
Paulett were all captured in the water, and the 
chase was very exciting, the young bucks being 
spritely, and it was with difficulty they were 
kept under restraint after landing until they 
were crated.” w. J. Carroll. 
Knowing Animals. 
Norman, Oklahoma, June 21 . — Editor Forest 
and Stream: On the farm in Indiana my grand¬ 
father owned a horse called “Tom,” which had 
taken several premiums at the fair and was 
known far and near, as a good, sensible horse. 
“Old Tom,” as we children called him, had 
learned many tricks, as he grew older and wiser. 
He could throw down a rail fence and walk into 
pastures new, open barn door and help himself 
to feed, and do one other thing that we con¬ 
sidered especially sensible. 
Old lorn had often watched us children clean 
out the trough at the well. A pin stopped an 
auger hole at the lower end of the trough, and 
when this pin was pulled out, the stale water 
flowed out, and then the pin, or corn cob, was 
replaced and the trough filled with fresh water. 
Tom saw how it was done, and with his teeth 
would often pull out the pin and stand and wait 
for the children to come and give him some 
fresh water. L. J. E. 
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. 
