44 and Dad uses a single barrel Iver. 
Johnson Champion with matted ribbed 
barrel, 12 gauge, and the old Shadock 
single barrel, 12 gauge. That is the 
gun I took my first hunt with. He has 
had this gun for forty years and it 
has been used lard. 
The season does not open in this 
state until November 1st and the leaves 
are mostly all off the trees, and to 
get your limit of twenty under these 
conditions is no easy matter for one 
who does not understand the nature of 
these gamy little fellows. The man 
or boy who does not enjoy this sport 
is missing something. 
Squirrel hunting is one of America’s 
oldest sports and Dad and I have spent 
many days together in the Fall hunting 
the gamy little fox and gray squirrels. 
They will linger in memory as days 
lived that really were worth while. 
LUTHER W. EPLEY, 
Littlestown, Pa. 
A Letter from New Hampshire 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
ieee magazine.comes regularly and 
we are delighted with it. The cover 
designs alone are worth all it costs. 
“Notes an a Game Protective Experi- 
ment” by Dr. Robert T. Morris is very 
interesting. I wonder if the writer is 
the same Robert T. Morris who caught 
suckers in Brown’s brook, who fished, 
skated and trapped on Hopkin’s pond 
and caught trout in a thunder storm? 
Lou and I went trouting one day last 
week and there came up a thunder- 
storm and roiled the brook all up and 
that ended the fishing for the day. The 
following Sunday we had _ thirteen 
inches of snow and that is April in New 
Hampshire. 
When we got home I took from my 
bookshelves “Hopkin’s Pond and Other 
Sketches” and read that chapter “Catch- 
ing Trout in a Thunder Storm.” The 
only difference I could see in our expe- 
riences: he caught them and we didn’t. 
It is a fine book, but I never saw but one 
copy and I own that one. 
Above my desk hangs the picture of 
Rowland E. Robinson, an inspiration 
to all good sportsmen who look upon it. 
What a fine man and interesting writer 
was the creator of “Uncle Lisha’s Shop” 
and “Sam Lovell’s Camps,” books worth 
while then and just as interesting now. 
CHESTER B. PRATT, 
Andover, N. H. 
Another Viewpoint on the Black 
Squirrel Question 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
T has been a long time since I have 
attempted to get into print through 
the columns of your very interesting 
magazine, but there are times. when 
some of the much learned and respect- 
Al6 
ed men of science insist upon trying 
to make us believe many possible but 
not probable things. 
Perhaps a distinct species of black 
squirrel is not known to_ science. 
Nevertheless a real “sure enough,” 
“dyed in the wool” black squirrel is 
positively known to exist, and is well 
known by the old time hunters who 
have spent many, many days in the 
woods of various states, in the quest 
of squirrel, where both grey and black 
were very numerous. In every case 
I have found grey squirrels where the 
blacks were, but have not always found 
blacks where the greys were. 
My first sight of a black squirrel was 
in the Wisconsin woods, approximately 
ten miles out of Kilbourn City, in 
Adams County, about 1883. Most of 
the timber in our woods here was red 
oak with a sprinkling of pine. I well 
remember that the grey squirrels were 
in the lower end of the timber, while on 
the hillsides of the upper or northern 
end, a large colony of blacks made their 
home. They were seldom seen together 
there. There was but little difference 
in their size. In all the time of my 
living in that state I never found a 
black and grey den in the same tree, 
or denned up together. 
In 1997 and 1909 I had the pleasure 
of being one of a party of deer hunters, 
making a trip to West Carrol Parish, 
Louisiana, along the Beauff River. 
Both years, while on these trips, we 
saw hundreds of black squirrels and 
without doubt as many greys. In all 
this timber, we found but one tree, a 
large red gum den tree, with a score 
of fox squirrels living in same—the 
only fox squirrels we ever saw in that 
country. 
It was while hunting in this timber, 
owned by the Pioneer Cooperage Com- 
pany, that I killed the largest squirrel 
I ever saw, and a black one at that, a 
Photo by U. 8. Forest Service. 

very old one. The blacks in these woods 
were in most instances as large or 
larger than the greys. 
I had been sitting on a deer trail from 
daylight until ten in the morning. It 
had turned very warm, and no deer 
were moving at all. My interest lag- 
ging, I looked about for other sport and 
noticed a large black squirrel run up 
a tall stub. I carried with me a 38 | 
Special, target sighted S and W re- 
volver, and as this was my first attempt 
at shooting squirrels with a 7s 
was astounded at the result of my shot. | 
The squirrel was sitting up with a clear 
sky showing behind him. Taking slow, j 
steady aim and holding with both 
hands, I fired and was very much sur-_ 
prised to see him jump out and fall. 
My next surprise came when I picked. 
him up. He was a third larger than 
any grey I ever saw, and as large as 
the largest fox squirrel I ever killed or 
found in all the woods hunted for years.” 
The mating season was on just be- 
fore we left and it was in this southern 
timber that I saw the blacks and greys 
chasing through the tops of the large 
gums and oaks—and if it has any sig- 
nificance to our scientific friends’ way 
of thinking, in every instance the 
blacks were chasing the greys. The 
den trees were always separate, but in 
the same locality. 
DEWEY NEWMAN, 
Wichita, Kansas. 
Statistics on Black Bears Wanted 
DEAR FOREST AND STREAM: 
GS any of your readers supply 
records of black bears killed in 
Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Is- 
land, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia or 
South Carolina, preferably since 1900, 
but in Rhode Island and Delaware any 
recent date? 
ERNEST THOMPSON SETON, 
Greenwich, Conn, — 
Ae sn 
lV. 
- Wee 
This is the way-a charming bit of forest looks after a careless camper has let fire sli 
the leash and run wild in the woods. 
