Raw with balsam odors a wind floats up from 
below. The bear raises a cold snout and sniffs 
deeply with a toss of his shaggy head. He pauses 
a moment to paw aside a number of flat rocks, but 
finding nothing, passes on. Suddenly he halts, his 
attitude one of questioning and listening, then he 
lifts his nose to the sky as if to snare something 
from the wind. His ears catch a dainty sound far 
down the ridge of rocks rolling suspiciously. 
Soon a brisk wind sweeps up from the green 
depths, and his nostrils twitch eagerly, almost 
yearningly, until all of a sudden he breathes 
strongly of the man smell.. A malignant glitter 
appears in his eyes, and the little ears lay back as 
he moves backward a step or two until a clump of 
dwarf spruce hide his black hulk. 
He knows men, regards them with a certain 
amount of hostility and an equal share of respect, 
yet at the same time he owns a strange feeling that 
comes near the danger line of friendliness. At odd 
moments he wants to run and meet man with a 
sobbing whine, with a vague curiosity, with an in- 
stinctive unrest, but something warns and the 
instincts of a thousand years’ association close to 
man always send him headlong to shelter. Silent, 
_ motionless, with ears attuned and nose snatching 
at the air, he waits and watches until the man 
smell is gone. 
Sd w w 
TUBERCULOSIS IN RUFFED GROUSE 
PORTSMEN and friends of wild life generally 
will be deeply interested in the results of a 
study of the life history of the ruffed grouse 
by Dr. Alfred O. Gross for the Roosevelt Wild 
Life Station of the New York State College of 
Forestry at Syracuse, preliminary reports of 
which have just been published. Dr. Gross has 
examined specimens of grouse from New York 
State, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island 
and Maine, and announces the occurrence of three 
hitherto unreported diseases of ruffed grouse in 
the wild state, namely, tuberculosis, pulmonary 
mycosis, and a third disease as yet not identified. 
For some time it has been known that a certain 
stomach worm infested the grouse, which is be- 
lieved by some to be responsible for the fluctuation 
or periodic-decrease in the numbers of birds. The 
careful observations of Dr. Gross seem, however, 
to prove that the problem actually is more com- 
plicated than thus far supposed, and that the new- 
found diseases mentioned may, in connection with 
the diminished number of grouse, play a more im- 
portant role than has heretofore been suspected. 
Among seventeen specimens of dead or diseased 
grouse examined by Dr. Gross, six were infested 
with the previously known stomach worm; three 
gave positive identifications of tuberculosis; two 
presented cases of pulmonary mycosis, a diseased 
condition caused by the growth of a fungus in the 
lung and air sacs, and of well known occurrence 
among domestic fowl under the name of brooder 
pneumonia; one was infested with an intestinal 
worm; and one had apparently succumbed to a 
growth in the abdominal cavity, which, owing to 
the state of decomposition in the dead bird, did not 
permit of positive diagnosis. Authoritative diag- 
nosis of tuberculosis had been made by Dr. F. N. 
Whittier, late professor of Bacteriology in Bow- 
doin College, and of mycosis by Dr. E. E. Tyzzer, 
: 
: 
of the Department of Comparative Pathology of 
the Harvard Medical School. 
Of the three cases of tuberculosis, one came 
from Duchess County, New York, one from Maine, 
and one from Connecticut, showing the disease to 
be of wide distribution. As a result of his studies 
the author draws attention to the surprising num- 
ber of diseases in the small number of specimens 
examined and emphasizes the importance of mak- 
ing autopsies of the entire bird. 
Dr. Gross stresses the great importance of pre- 
serving all bodies of grouse found dead, or in 
which disease is suspected, for, “Examinations of 
large numbers of specimens extending over a 
period of several years must be completed before 
we can hope to make generalizations concerning 
the conservation and perpetuation of the ruffed 
grouse.” 
w Ww Sad 
AUTUMNAL THINGS 
O complaint can be made against autumn. 
There is no chance for an argument or criti- 
cism concerning the weather, the beauty of 
earth. From the countless hills over the farm- 
lands and cities to the shores and blue distances 
of seas, the beauty is living, thrown in abandon- 
ment, free as the winds. 
Laws, discipline, labors of earth are swept into 
the past, for Nature’s work is done. After months 
of preparatory endeavors she rests; she lays aside 
care and fret to survey a monumental achievement 
which is a landscape wide-swept with splendor 
and storied plenty, in epic miles of earthen fruits 
and the poetry of colors, in fulfillment and con- 
templation. A melancholy spirit holds sway, but 
it is spiritual, a mood. Beyond this, nature seems 
to ask if man could do greater. 
You cannot rebel at the lure and wild control 
abroad. Beyond the last lamp post and the last 
house the tramper feels an abluent joy in the 
length and breadth of miles. Beauty holds forth 
in variant forms. To look is to forget cities, and 
suddenly cares and thoughts are magically ab- 
ducted. One touch of nature works wonders. 
One glimpse of the flambeaux of silver maples 
ablaze along the brook, one ear tipped to catch the 
primitive scream of red-tailed hawk questing the 
fields of wheat stubble and corn, and the last, re- 
luctant intimacy of city and enmities melts away 
before the abradant overtures of nature. 
of w w 
GOLDEN ANGLING HOURS 
E is a true angler who, despite the promp- 
tings of Nimrod, keeps faith awhile with 
Izaak Walton. Surely this patron of the 
gentle recreation will look to his welfare. 
Under the witching spell of October, your late 
season angler shall find much that verdant June 
lacks. He shall know the delights of azure lakes 
whose forested banks are clad in purest gold. Aris- 
ing early, he shall taste the romance of centuries 
in the misty moorlands. No stifled yawn shall 
escape his mouth, for the enervating heat of sum- 
mer has passed, leaving the atmosphere bracing 
as a draught of spiced wine. 
Nor shall sport be lacking. Game fish will be 
as knights errant, eager to accept the challenge 
of a shining lure. 
Wise indeed is the angler who lays not aside his 
tackle till the eleventh month. 
599 
