

692 

FOREST .AND STREAM. 
) 
[Nov. 2, 19% 



unfrequented swamps and bayous, and wherever 
they are numerous, they are impertinent to a 
degree. Two swampers in their pirogues, re- 
turning to»camp along a float road, met a huge’ 
fellow who claimed the right of way. When 
they struck their spike poles into him he fiercely 
attacked them, following them on to a floating 
crib of logs, fortunately near, where they killed 
him with axes. * A friend and brother sports- 
man, since a victim of that more hideous dragon, 
yellow jack, shot one through the body with his 
rifle as it was lying on the bank of a small bayou, 
and after it had crawled out on the opposite 
bank to die, as he supposed, he got a rope with 
which to tow his game and started across the 
bayou in a small boat. When he was some thirty 
feet from either shore the alligator slid down 
into and under the water and in a few seconds 
came up under the boat and swamped it, then 
seized my friend by the shoulder, but fortunately 
for him the water was not very deep, so getting 
a footing, and being strong and active he suc- 
ceeded in tearing himself loose, but losing 
some meat and clothing, and by diving and dodeg- 
ing at length seized the branch of an overhang- 
ing tree and pulled himself up out of reach. 
The old saurian was game to the last, for when 
my friend reached the shore and returned with 
his rifle it met him ready to renew the attack 


and received its death wound while advancing 
toward him. 
I have never encountered an alligator that 
showed fight. I once shot one in the head with 
a small rifle and it soon came up after diving, 
floating in a dazed sort of way. Seeing some 
Frenchmen in a skiff I desired them to push the 
alligator ashore, which one of them did with 
his paddle. At it was muddy near the water’s 
edge he, being bare-footed, got out of his boat 
and laid hold of the alligator’s tail and pulled 

1t out of the water near enough for me to help 
him; then we started up the sloping bank to- 
gether. It was a heavy tug and I did not look 
back until, hearing a loud gander-like hiss, I 
looked around and found the Frenchman some 
yards away, and the ’gator on his feet, threaten- 
ing dire results if I, too, did not let go, which 
I did instanter; indeed, I found I was as sudden 
gaited as the Frenchman. 
ligators are given to playing *possum, and 
fi 

they will not do to trust. In illustration: While 
on a fishing picnic I shot one that crawled ashore 
to die. To hurry up matters I shot it again 
through the head. After a convulsive flop of 
its tail it lay still. Wishing to draw it further 
up on the bank for the inspection of the ladies, 
a gentleman took it by the relaxed under jaw, 
putting both hands in its mouth to ae fash 

get 
hold, while I pulled by the fore leg. Tugging 
together we hauled it to the top of the bank, 
when presto! on one of the party poking it in 
the side with a pole it got on its feet to resent 
this last indignity and subsequently battled with 
its tail against the axes of the Zulus of the party, 
On this same expedition a young couple, wish- 
ing to enjoy greater solitude, strolled down tl e 
Jake, and taking their seats on a root in the 
shade of a large cypress that grew on the water’s 
edge, dipped their fishing poles in, more busy, 
however, angling for each other than for fish. 
The lady, to hide a blush or take time for re- 
flection turned her head and gazed into the open 
countenance of a monster ’gator that had noise- 
lessly joined their téte-a-téte, and was floating 
within five feet of them. Her bold knight was 
equal to the emergency, and with a rapid fusi- 
lade from a small pistol covered the somewhat 
hasty retreat of Beauty from the Beast. As no 
innocent bystanders were around nobody was 
hurt, and if anybody was alarmed it was not the 
alligator, which even advanced with still more 
inquisitive interest. Reinforcements being called 
for by the lady I moved up and with a ball from 
my rifle put an end to its speculations and caused 
the deep to boil like a pot with its struggles, 
after which it sank to the depths, not to remain, 
however, for the next day it was seen floating 
in reverse with its aldermanic paunch high out 
of the water with a buzzard gallantly manning 
the craft, vainly striving to get at the iron bound 
treasures which he knew by instinct were there. 
But it is only when the alligator has met with 
such reverses that the buzzard can venture on 

familiarities, for as it lies at the water’s edge, 
half submerged and much resembling a rotten 
log, it knocks the buzzard over with its tail 
when he comes to drink. 
It is amusing to see a party of experienced 
buzzards advancing with their peculiar stage 
stride to drink where they have reason to fear 
a concealed alligator. The flutter of a minnow, 
the break of a wavelet, or even their own 
shadows will cause a panic by retreat, and a 
series of absurd movements only possible to 
buzzards which are as ungainly and awkard on 
their feet, as they are graceful in their aerial 
motions. The only other enemy of the buzzard 
that I know of is the wolf, that kills it whenever 
possible; not for food, but out of a spirit of 
rivalry or, perhaps, revenge for guiding hun- 
ters to their odious dens: by hovering over and 
about them. 
Creole negroes believe that a diet of alligator 
tails procures immunity from malarial attacks, 
and they think the oil almost as good for rheu- 
matism as rattlesnake. The alligator oil is a 
good lubricant and its skin is marketable for 
making leather; its teeth are valuable also, sell- 
ing at $5 per pound, and a very large ’gator will 
yield a pound of teeth, 
There are many ways of calling alligators 
within gun shot, as imitating the cry of a puppy, 
grunting like a hog, or clucking like a hen. On 
one of the Federal ironclads, stationed at the 
mouth of a southern river, during the late war, 
the officer on deck, one brilliant moonlight night 
noticed a suspicious and nearly submerged craft 
moving around and asked an old salt what it 
was. He was told it was an alligator. “If you 
have no objection, sir,” said the sailor, “I will 
bring him up for closer inspection.” The officer 
willingly consenting, the sailor tied a tightly 
corked bottle to a cord and threw it in the way 
of the ’gator. When it approached the bottle 
moved slowly to the forward part of the ship 
where the sailor had stationed himself with a 
boarding pike. When the alligator was just 
under him he made a furious lunge with the pike 
which glanced on its scaly side. and not meeting 
the resistance he counted on, Jack followed the 
weapon, and falling broadside on the ’gator in- 
voluntarily clapsed it in his arms. The sleepy 
crew thought from the row that occurred that 
the Confederates were boarding their vessel, or 
that a torpedo had exploded near it. The alli- 
gator being as badly frightened as the tar, both 
were glad to haul off and repair damages. 
Pious JEEMS. 

Blackcock for Newfoundland. 
Firty blackcock were recently turned loose at 
Whitbourne, N. F. This will be a valuable addi- 
tion to the game supply if the birds do well, 
multiply and increase. A few days after they were 
liberated, one large bird was found with its wing 
broken, the result of some mischance. The bird 
was taken care of and it will likely recover from 
its injury. The birds were let loose on the Coli- 
net Road in from Whitbourne. 
The blackcock or black game (Tetrao tetrix), 
is a species of grouse abundant in Europe—in 
Britain and in the high lands of Europe generally 
—wherever there are moors of considerable ex- 
tent, and more particularly where there are bogs 
and morasses with rank herbage, or, adjacent to 
the moors, natural woods or young plantations 
of pine and fir. They are abundant in the moun- 
tains of Austria and in parts of Switzerland. 
Comparatively rare in the south of England, 
they become more common toward the north, and 
plentiful in the mountainous parts of Scotland. 
It is found in some of the Hebrides, but not 
in the Orkney or Shetland Isles. On the conti- 
nent of Europe, it occurs in both mountainous and 
marshy countries, as on the Alps and in Holland: 
it is found as far south as the Apennines, and 
as far north as the forests of Lapland; it abounds 
in most parts of Scandinavia, where it is care- 
fully protected, the males only being killed, great 
numbers of which are sent to the London mar- 
ket; it is diffused over almost all parts of Rus- 
sia, and is found in Siberia. The male is much 
larger than the female, sometimes weighing as 
much as four pounds, while the female weighs 
only about two pounds; they also differ very 



) 

much in plumage. The male is of a shi 
bluish-black color, with a conspicuous white 
on the wings below the ends of the great 
coverts, and a mixture of black and white or 
legs; there is a piece of bare scarlet skin i 
the eye; the outer feathers on each side of 
tail are elongated and curve outward, givit 
a very peculiar appearance. The female, c 
the gray hen, is of a rust color, darkest or 
upper parts, everywhere barred and mottled 
a darker color; the tail is straight and eve} 
the end. The young males resemble the fen? 
in plumage. The shank in this species is ff 
ered, but not the toes. It is a gregarious | 
the different sexes, however, in winter gene 
keeping in flocks by themselves. In spring |‘ 
males resort to elevated and open spots wh 
they crow, and also make a sound which has 
likened to the whetting of a scythe, thus inv| 
the females to repair to them; they strut |! 
trail their wings like turkey cocks, and f 



























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contests often take place among them. 
J 
North Carolina Notes. k 
Mr. T. Girpert PEARSON, who has been in { 
York, attending the meeting of the Nat 
Association of Audubon Societies, reports 
the spring breeding of seafowl—gulls, terns \ 
others—was much delayed last summer by | 
peculiarly high tides which overflowed 
islands and sandbars on which the birds | 
accustomed to breed, washing away and dest [ 
ing thousands of eggs. The breeding season | 
thus delayed a month or six weeks, but at i 
the tides ceased to be so high and in some si} 
tions the birds were measurably successfu | 
rearing their young. : 
The last session of the Legislature in N 
Carolina was an active one. Some of the cf 
representatives went to Raleigh with the | 
pressed intention of breaking up the protec}. 
associations, repealing all game laws, and gi 
everybody license to kill when and where 
pleased. Somewhat to the astonishment of t I 
radical gentlemen, it was found that the pe F 
of the western counties of the State were } 
much disposed to insist on the passage of a 
forbidding the shipment of wildfowl out of }! 
State. As a large part of the income of a n F 
ber of the coast counties is drawn from kil} 
and shipping wildfowl, this suggestion on 14 
part of the inhabitants of the western countie | 
the State stopped and alarmed the people 1|' 
were about to abolish all game laws. They), 
once took moderate ground and were at 
thankful to receive the assurance that the Au}. 
bon Society did not think the passage of a |: 
forbidding the shipping of wildfowl wise at 
present moment. ’ he 
In some respects the laws of North Caro 
regarding wildfowl are improved, in others t | 
are not so good as in past years. One noti! 
improvement is the fixing of the hour for st 
ping shooting as “sunset,” instead of as d:¥ 
Sunset, of course, is a fixed time, whereas d 
is largely a matter of opinion. 
Strong efforts will be made this season to 
force the laws in Currituck Sound, especii 
that law which forbids night shooting, and wh 
in years past has been so much more hono 
in the breach than in the observance. 

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The Pheasant Hatch in Illinois. |; 
Ir is learned from reports made to the St 
Game Commissioner by Illinois farmers, who 1 : 
spring received consignments of pheasants, t!! 
these eggs showed a 55 percentage of hatch. 1}, 
great trouble found in distributing the eggs 4 
the rough handling they were subjected to by 
express companies. 
‘The majority of farmers reporting hatches st ; 
that the birds are doing well and are now m 
than half grown. If some means can he devi: , 
whereby the express companies will give grea ' 
care and attention to the eggs, this method ; 
restocking the State will be a success. Next ey 
son it is proposed to have the deputies from th 
various counties of Illinois call at the office | 
the game department in Springfield and take if 
eggs home with them and distribute them fri” 
their own offices. 


































