New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-08-14
HUNTING FOR A MUSEUM.
"A WESTERN BIOLOGIST AS AN EXPERT
HUNTER

mammals from the field notes OF Lewis .o Inv
and curator of birds and mammals N va ESwnrds
sas State University. by Ciat eeto ~ e. Co.
1t Is not always that a professor of zoology Is
40 enthusiastic a sportsman as Professor Dyche
He is as ready and shlful with the gun as
with the tools Of the anatomist or the taXiderms'
His hunting exploits told in this book by another
hand. but apparently with little effort TO expand
his own notes taken down in the Held are as
Varied as those of Gordon Cumming. for example
in South Africa. His grizzly bear is as dangerous
as the lion. and his mountain sheep and goats
more dhicut stalk and shoot than any crea-
lures of the torrid zone. Evidently he came by
his tastes as IA hunter from lifelong experience
1t is said of him here that he was born In an
emigrant wagon. and WIS nursed by an Indian
souaw in Kansas until his mother recovered her
health sufficiently TO take him In charge. IFS
parents seeking new home in the wider
ness Thus his life practically began at the camp
fire. and apparently his greatest pleasures IN lie
have been the campfire from that raw
March day when he first felt its glow down to the
present time. AT the of nine he was hunt
ing and trapping along the banks OF the Nauhd
russo River. His paymates were his dogs MS
playthings were the beasts and birds his play
grounds were the woods and prairies ana the
camps of the Indians" His pioneer father
was also an adept with the gun APP
parently for the attributes much OF MS
success to a parental maxim, which the poorest
marksmen should be the quickest to appreciate
always see that the sights on the gun was
the admonition before you pull the trigger. Al
sixteen he expert in the lore OF the WOODS
and plain and river, but almost as innocent OF
books a babe. Then he began to think Oh an
education, and his first adventure In thiS he"
field was at the State Normal School of Kansas.
After three years there he turned to the State
University His unconventional manner OF me- 80
different from that known to college-bred men, Is
shown In the fact that during his first summer at
the university he camped out Only the coiu
weather suffced TO drive him into house. AS ne
went on with his studies he found that All 'he
practical knowledge of animals which he had
gained In youth was of use TO MN III the
sciences 10 which he especially attracted
He knew how TO skin an animal and what 10 10
with the pelt long before he had ever heafd OF
taxidermy md familiar with the bones OF
skeleton long before he knew their scientific names
On the other hand, his schooling reacted on his
habits as a hunter He concluded that he could
train himself for shooting game of which he had
only book knowledge by experiments on the uni
yersity campus The fact that so little was really
known by naturalsts as to the peculiariues or the
Rocky Mountain sheep and the Rocky Mountain
goat, and that all wild animals were rapidly dis
appearing led him to plan journey to British CO.
lumbia. But. while he had acquainted himself with
the habits of deer and bear In regions more acces-
sibe by the ordinary methods Of the hunter he felt
that in this he must know what he could do
araton included daily target practice with two new
rifes-a Winchester 1852, model of 1885, and
40-75 Remington. Day after day the practice was
continued. until forty pounds of lead had been
shot at every conceivable form of target, under
every possible circumstance which his experience
had taught him he might expect In the woods or
the Cascade Range Rolling and stationary targets
were fired at from standst or while running;
he would at full speed forty or fifty yards and
then fire. until he became familiar with his guns
under all circumstances. and until he felt that he
had full control over his nerves and muscles. as
we'll as a perfect knowledge of just what his guns
would do" II must be remembered that this was
simply additional training scientific plan for
q man who already dead shot on ground
with which he was familiar. The result was that
when he reached the mountains he wasted scarcely
q single cartridge. The only things his expert
mental method did not prepare him for were the
Icy rivers which he had ford, the snow fields and
the thin air of the heights. But he seems 10 have
had nothing to learn cragsman. and he ven
tured upon precipices almost as coolly as the goats
themselves.
In all his hunting he aimed to kill only the ami
mails necessary for his purpose. He never but once
fred into hord of deer standing close together,
and his conscience smote him on that occasion.
When he had secured specimens of all ages and
sexes in a given species. that he could mount
what might be called family group. then he
turned his sporting instincts upon new game. He
found the Rocky Mountain goat very different
animal from that usually pictured and described
He marked its general appearance as that of a
diminutve American buffalo of dirty white color
in pictures generally the goat is represented with
Its head above the line of its body This. the pro-
fessor points out. is anatomcay impossible. The
hump between the animals foreshoulders is mat
ter of bony structure and not of fatty tissue.
He found also in all the specimens which he
cured that the hearing practically destroyed
by the mass Of ticks which had embodied them
Altogether "A far
less wary animal than the sheep Its real pro-
lection lies in the fact that the flesh Is so mprcg-
mated with musk to be revolving TO both smell
and taste. When Dyche fell among the Indians and
tried to get their experience about game, one of
the savages, pointing up to the mountains where
the goat passed his time. remarked. ME hunt
him." and his companions laughed. No wonder
the Indian does not hunt what he cannot eat. The
animal most difficult of capture the professor found
10 be the moose He became expert with the birch
bark trumpet. used in Turing this wary beast with
in gunshot. but he had many night OF misery in
frozen swamps before he got the specimens he
sought.
From the point of view of general natural history.
this book would have been more interesting if
the professor were man of wider observation
His notes. unless they belle him. to indicate
that his eyes are trained only to hunting and
taxidermy. In spite of his youthful friendship with
the Indians in Kansas, he unable TO draw
out the northern red men when their supersttious
practices excited his curiosity. Where another
naturalist would have reproduced with graphic skill
the whole environment of the animals 50 difficult
TO obtain this book supplies only fragmentary de-
tails. Some of the geological Information Is so /
elementary that it is positive irritation to strike
page of 1t. II every line Of it had been omitted
and equal space had been given to the geographical
setting for the various hunting exploits Of Pro- |
fessor Dyche. the book would have been the bet |
ter for II. But the showing made for the work of !
the professor in his own field is surprising. The |
book is illustrated with numerous Photographic
views.