Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-09-30
Hunting Animals.


mails are narrow and often inaccurate. we
assume that certain animals can do certain
things. and can do nothing else There Is
the COW. The accepted theory OF the COW Is
that she can give milk. but is entirely WORTH
less for any other purpose while she is alive.
Now, the truth Is, that while professional
cows. in charge of milkmen. undoubtedly
do give part Of the fluid known as the MIX
of commerce, the private COW belonging 10
the suburban resident rarely gives any mix,
even of the bluest variety; and that, although
the Anclo-Saxon lets his COW lead perfectly
idle existence. the native African uses his as
n saddle animal. and gallops over the coun-
try. leaning fences and bitches, or attaches
her To a trotting sulky, and wins prizes at
the Iriiii agricultural fair. These are facts
that are universally known; and yet we
cling to our oli-fashioned, one-slded theory
OF cows with pertinacitv that nothing can
shake.
EoualIy erroneous are our views of dogs.
II ia firmly believed by nearly everybody
that the dog is useful in hunting birds Dur
inc the shooting season hundreds of men car
rvine guns. and accompanied by mlsceilane-
Gus dogs. cross the Long Island ferries IN
search of birds. They always return with
emptv game bags, but their faith IN the hunt
ing powers of the dog never seems to fali,
and they would scorn the suggestion that the
dog is really unfit for hunting. or that there
are other animals which could be made OF
real use as helps to the sportsman
A very little reflection will show that the
dog was never meant 10 hunt birds. Owing
to the nature of his legs and the inefficiency
i. mi fx-
Anv one who has hunted quail with dog
will support this assertion. By the time the
dog has laboriously climbed the tree and
reached the limb on which the quail are
roasting. they have usually taken the alarm
and flown miles away. At other times, if the
dog is so fortunate as to reach the roosting-
place without alarming the birds, he is al
most certain to lose his hold of the limb and
fall TO the ground as he attempts to catch the
nearest bird.
The dog is no more successful in duck
hunting. As is well known, the duck, when
disturbed bv the approach Of the hunter,
dives to the bottom of the water, and there
remains until the hunter goes home to dinner.
1t is, of course, expected that the dog will
dive tor the ducks and bring them up, but
how often does he succeed in finding them? An
estimable clergyman. who went duck-hunting
local dog warranted to be of unusual skill,
asserts that his dog never brought up single
duck. although he dived at least fifty times
in the locality pointed out to him with peb-
bles as the place where the ducks vanished
under the water The clergyman asserts that
if he had had a good drag-net and two or
three men to help him, he could probably
have secured the entire school of ducks,
amounting to fully forty pairs, but he does
not believe that the dog ever caught a duck
in his life.
Such being the inefficiency of the dog, it is
encouraging to find that man in Maine has
discovered the great skill of the cat a
hunting animal. This man goes forth armed
only with a game-bag, and with his faithful
and accomplished cat trottng by his side.
When he reaches the forest where squirrels
abound, the cat hunts eagerly with his nose
on the ground until he scents the trail of a
squirrel. Following it to the tree where the
squirrel makes his home, the cat nimbly
climbs the tree and catches the game.
Sometimes there is brisk chase. The
squirrel leaps from tree to tree, followed
closely by the cat, but in a short time the
fleeing animal is Overtaken and seized.
Sometimes the squirrel takes refuge in a
hole, in which case the cat sits by the hole
until the squirrel, thinking the danger is past,
puts his head out and is caught. The cat
brings the captured game promptly to his
master, and in the course of days hunting,
if the sky is overcast, and the squirrels rise
freely, the lucky man usually fills his game
bag with fifty or sixty fine gray squirrels. No
dog could begin to rival the success of this
squirrel hunting cat, and, in fact, it is a very
rare thing for a dog to catch even a single
squirrel.
If cat can hunt squirrels, the same able
animal can hunt birds. Indeed, cats often
hunt birds for sport, and without any previ-
Gus training. There is no doubt that in
hunting squirrel, cartridges, sparrows, and
other game birds that roost in trees, the cat
would be an invaluable aid to the hunter but
it must be admitted that, owing to the cats
natural dislike of water, he would probably
be of little use in diving for ducks. The cat,
however, might be substituted with great ad-
vantage for the hounds with which the Long
Island anise-seed bags are now hunted. If,
instead of anise-seed, bag were to be filed
with catnip, pack of cats would follow the
trail for almost any distance. Or, if fiercer
animal than catnip bag were to be desired,
the Queens County Hunt could have excel
lent sport by following pack of cats in full
cry after iield-mouse. The cat is evidently
to be the future companion of the hunter,
and we shall see the pretentious and over
rated dog ANONYMOUSLY dismissed from the
society of the earnest sportsman.-Ner York
Times