mal 
N. J. Trumbull! declares that in 1869 a few still 
survived in Monroe and Northampton counties. 
On Long Island in the scrub oak barrens which 
somewhat resemble the present abode of the heath 
hen at Martha’s Vineyard, they may have lingered 
later. It is recalled that in early years of the 
decade 1870-1880, Shepherd F. Knapp, then a 
member of the Southside Club, who died about 
ten years ago in New York, told of seeing two 
prairie chickens that had been killed about that 
time near Islip, L. I. These, however, may have 
been part of a number of birds set free about 
1870, which did well, reared broods and disap- 
peared. 
The early volumes of ForEST AND STREAM are 
a perfect mine of information about this bird as 
indeed they are about many another species of 
American wild creatures, which have now become 
so scarce as to be known to the average sports- 
man only by name, 

An Underwater Monster. 
Winturop, Mass., Jan. 24.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The account, in a recent number of 
Forest AND STREAM, of a successful moose hunt 
at Bluffer Pond, in the State of Maine, re- 
minded me of a bit of natural history which I 
had the pleasure of observing there, which to 
me was new and interesting. 
It was about noon when we arrived at Bluffer 
camp, one day last summer, after a six-mile 
tramp; and while Frank was preparing dinner, 
and my better half was resting, I sought out the 
pond to see if any of the permanent residents 
of the vicinity were there, and to spy upon their 
doings. Carefully making my way to the edge 
and to a point where I could look all over the 
little pond, I was disappointed in seeing no 
moose, but was partially rewarded by being able 
to watch the movements of three deer which, 
all unaware of my presence, were enjoying them- 
selves at the water’s edge. When I had been 
looking at them but a moment, I became con- 
scious that something had disturbed the water 
at my left—not in the direction I was looking. 
Turning that way, I waited, and in another 
moment was electrified to see not ten rods away 
a huge pair of antlers rise part way above water 
and disappear again. 
I believed for a brief space that I was wit- 
nessing the last struggle of a mired moose; and 
was casting about rapidly in my mind for some 
means by which three people, with next to noth- 
ing to do with, and two of them a quarter of a 
mile away, could rescue the noble creature from 
such a fate, when the antlers partly appeared 
again, and the muzzle of the brute was thrust 
out placidly chewing away at a ponderous root- 
stock of lily which he had detached from the 
muddy bottom. My fears for the safety of my 
newly found friend vanished as quickly as they had 
come. He was contented and happy, and was, 
no doubt, on familiar ground. This considera- 
tion, however, did not make the case any less 
interesting to me, and I hurried back to the 
camp for the camera and assistance to take a 
picture. 
But dinner was hot and readv and the blame 
may not all be laid to my companions that I was 
persuaded that it would be better to eat first, 
and that the moose would be there a half hour 
later just the same. Possibly if the moose had 
known that his portrait was to be taken at 
close range, he would have waited, but as he 
had no way of knowing that, I shall not blame 
him for the fact that upon our return to the 
spot after dinner he had sought a firmer founda- 
tion on the opposite side of the pond, and was 
standing in water up to his body apparently lost 
in absorbing thought. The wind being favor- 
able, we were able to observe him for a long 
time; and I fear he would not have been puffed 
with pride, if he had known all of the fun we 
had at the expense of his awkward form. And 
maybe we have more to be thankful for than 
we think, in that we did not have a chance to 
approach him in deep water with two wretched 
paddles in a battered canoe. If that is not so, 
then his looks belied him. Later in the same 
place we found a cow feeding in the same deep 
way, and the manner in which she stood her 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Marcu 24, 1906. 

ground with hair rising on her neck as the 
bow of the canoe approached was very satis- 
fying to say the least. 
Now when these two moose were feeding, and 
had their heads down, they were entirely under 
water; and from a distance of ten rods away 
there was nothing whatever above water to mark 
their presence. When the cow raised up, her 
head and a part of her neck came above water, 
but the bull seemed to be in deeper, for when 
he rose he showed only his muzzle and the 
upper part of his antlers. Before this, of course, 
I knew the use of their long legs, and that 
moose fed upon the rootstock of the lily; and 
I have seen them standing in water up to their 
sides reaching for the same, but I did not know 
before that they ever fed in water so deep that 
their bodies were entirely submerged all of the 
time, so that, when the head was lowered, not 
a vestige remained above the surface to mark 
the spot. 
I fear for the fate of our old bull, for I have 
learned from Frank that, in the last shooting 
season, three patriarchs of the forest from 
Bluffer made a pilgrimage to the happy hunting 
grounds. CaDa: 

No one, we think, who has never had an experi- 
ence like that related of the bull moose could 
quite understand our correspondent’s feelings 
when this monstrous thing rose from the depths 
of the water. We have occasionally had sensa- 
tions which we fancy were akin to his when, 
standing on the banks of some mountain stream 
in the Rockies or toward the Pacific coast, we 
have suddenly seen a little water ousel pop up 
out of the water, and swim or fly to some near- 
by stone or to the shore. The blank and help- 
less astonishment which one feels at seeing some 
land creature appear without warning from the 
depth of water where no land animal is supposed 
to be can hardly be expressed. 
It is well known that the Indians of North 
America very generally believe in the existence, 
at the bottom of lakes and streams, of various 
beings, which, though in most respects resem- 
bling those that dwell on the land, neverthe- 
less pass most of their time under water, and 
are called underwater people, underwater ani- 
mals, or underwater monsters. It is conceivable 
that some incomplete observations of some 
such occurrence as that related by our corre- 
spondent has furnished the basis for beliefs of 
this sort. 
We recall an occasion, now many years ago, 
when, sitting in a canoe on a small lake in the 
mountains of the West, we listened to the bay- 
ing of distant hounds which were in pursuit of 
a deer. As we sat there, a monstrous object 
appeared, passing over the unruffled waters of 
the lake from one point to another. It moved 
slowly, and was like nothing that we had ever 
seen before; as much as anything it resembled a 
box two or three feet square, followed by long 
indistinct objects passing through the water. 
We said to our Indian companions, “What is 
that? Can it be the deer?” to which he replied 
in trembling tones, “It is no deer, it is no deer: 
it is an underwater monster. Let us get away 
from here.” Instead of going, we pushed out 
toward the “monster,” and in a very short-time 
were able to recognize it as a deer’s head 
crowned with a fine pair of antlers in the velvet, 
among which were twined a number of long 
fern stems, picked up by the animal in its flight 
through the underbrush. The reflection of horns 
and stems in the mirror-like water, and the long 
stems trailing out through the water behind the 
head, made the whole object at a little distance 
absolutely unrecognizable and perfectly inex- 
plicable. It is altogether probable that if the 
Indian had not been in our company, he would 
at once have left the lake, and would ever after 
have declared, in perfect good faith, that he had 
seen on this lake a terrible underwater monster. 
It may be suggested that if one of the writ- 
ers of the modern schools of natural history 
fictionists had been with us and seen this deer. 
he would have written a long article to explain 
that in British Columbia it was the custom of 
deer to entwine their horns with fern stems in 
order that the Indians who saw them swimming 
in the water might take them for underwater 
monsters and be frightened and run away, and 
that the deer might thus be protected from 
destruction. 
Mr. Geo. B. Raymond’s Library. 
SPORTSMEN, perhaps more than other people, 
are fond of gathering together the literature 
which pertains to their recreations, and when 
they are unable to indulge in these recreations 
they love to read about what other people have 
done. President Roosevelt has one of the best 
libraries in the country on big game hunting; 
Mr. Charles Sheldon, whose experience with the 
mountain sheep of Alaska has-been far greater 
than that of most men, is also a collector of books 
on sport; Mr. Russell W. Woodward collects 
angling literature and prints dealing with angling 
subjects, and so with many another. 
Mr. George B. Raymond, of Morristown, N. J., 
a sportsman of the older school, has devoted 
much time to collecting books on angling, shoot- 
ing, field sports, natural history, the dog, gun, 
horse racing and kindred subjects, and has. had 
much pleasure in this work. A copy of a cata- 
logue of his library, printed for private distribu- 
tion in 1904, has just come to our hands. It is 
full of interesting titles of books ancient and 
modern, but is especially rich in complete sets of 
rare magazines. Among these are the fifteen vol- 
umes of the “American Turf Register and Sport- 
ing Magazine,” which is very scarce; eighty vol- 
umes of “Baily’s Magazines of Sports and Pas- 
times,’ complete from March, 1860 to 1903; forty- 
five volumes of the old Spirit of the Times, 1835- 
1836 and 1838-June, 1861; the Sporting Magazine, 
156 volumes, from 1792 to 1870, all published; 
ForEST AND STREAM, complete from the beginning 
There are many books new and old dealing 
with all the outdoor subjects above enumerated, 
so that to the sportsman it is a keen pleasure just 
to look over this beautiful volume and to read its 
titles. The latest volume, included in the addenda 
is W. T. Hamilton’s “My Sixty Years on the 
Plains.” It will thus be seen that the catalogue 
is brought down to the end of 1905. In his pre- 
fatory note Mr. Raymond speaks of the pleasure 
of accumulating these books and of the equal 
satisfaction given the owner by reading them. 
The collection was started many years ago but 
was partly destroyed by fire in the year IgolI. 
Among the books lost at that time were Mr. 
Raymond’s library of standard works, and many 
books on sport and natural history, including vol- 
umes of Bell’s Life from 1845, and Audubon’s and 
Elliott’s magnificent works. 
The making of a catalogue of one’s library has 
always seemed to us a duty that ought to be per- 
formed by one who has brought together a con- 
siderable number of volumes. It is natural that 
one should keep his books to himself, but it is 
desirable that he should make a record of what 
volumes he has accumulated, since many interest- 
ing works are now so scarce that the whereabouts 
of each one ought to be known. The making of 
a catalogue, while it involves considerable trouble, 
is nevertheless worth while for the purpose of 
giving information to other people who are in- 
terested in kindred subjects. Mr. Raymond is to 
be congratulated not only on the valuable library 
which he possesses, but on the public spirit which 
led him to prepare this catalogue, of which only 
100 copies were printed. 
Evmira, N. Y.—While I am very much pleased 
with the new form, it did seem to me like the 
passing away of an old friend when I put in the 
binder the last copy of 1905 of the ForEST AND 
STREAM we have known so long and well. I put 
away with about a dray load of others in my den 
the 1905 bound copies, and only hope I will be 
spared long enough to read the new ForEST AND 
STREAM and enjoy as I always have the true sport 
it teaches. ee = en 

Bancor & Aroostook RAILROAD, Office’ of the 
General Passenger and Ticket Agent, Bangor, 
Me.—I congratulate you on the splendid appear- 
ance of the paper and am sure it will be found 
decidedly more convenient than the previous size. 
C. C. Brown, G. P. & TL A. 
