The San Francisco call., 1897-11-14

, be accom- plshed by the use of a camera.
It must not be supposed that all the
pleasure or even great part OF 1t that is
| to he derived from the free life of the
wildwood, camera in hand, come from
| the hunting and photographing big game.
! There are thousand and one incidents,
adventures and experiences that bring the
! keenest pleasure TO woman as she feels
the freedom and exhilaraiion that come
| from the close contact with nature.
While It must be confessed that the ele-
ment of danger that enters into the quest
of a bear or noun tain lion adds zest to
the adventure it is also true that there Is
lust as much excitement attending the
effort to get close enough to squirrel to
catch him with snapshot as there is in
stalking a deer or crawling up on family
of wildcats al play. l have pictures of
quail Oh the wing, sea gulls fighting in
midair, lonely cranes standing by the
water 5 edge and a magnificent eagle bear
ing a rabbit away to his nest. To get
these took quicker work than is necessary
in the use of a gun, and while may not
get as many shots as my hus band ! get
trophies that are more lasting and more
interesting than those which he exhibits
with so much pride.
| have a further advantage over him
with his gun, in that l get much game
upon which he would not waste cartridges,
and in many of our ram bles | have been
the only one of the party who has brought
into camp visible results of the trip. l re-
mem Der one perfect little stroll taken In
the forests of Mexico. 1t was entirely ac-
cidental and unintentional, yet it con-
tanned more of interest than many of our
regularly planned hunts. We were going
in stage from Topic TO San Bias through
that dense tropical forest that skirts the
western shore OF The republic, when a
fallen tree across the road necessitated a
delay of the coach for about two hours.
Owing to the heat we had started at
O'Clock in the morning, expecting TO reach
the coast before the sun had much chance
to make things uncomfortable, and 1t was
lust at the dawn OF day when the coach
stopped.
Ny husbands guns were safely packed
away, but my camera was, as it always is
when travelling, at my side, and as we
started to walk ahead | got it ready foT
quick work. Nor was l disappointed, for
we had gone but few rods when a coyote
sprang directly in front OF US. not more
than twenty teet away. He stopped,
startled, for Just an instant, but it was
long enough for a snap shot, and al
th ough he bounded into the dense under
brush unharmed have a beautiful photo
graph of him as souvenir OF his unex-
pected visit. We walked four miles that
morning before the coach caught u.s. and
in that walk / secured pictures of the
aforementioned coyote, an eagle, group
of parrots quarreing on a treetop, flock
OF pigeons, two cunning little paroquets
a white heron and snake that was fully
ten feet long and as big around as a mans
arm.
There was one day, away down in the
mountains of New Mexico, when 1 con-
cIuded to Investigate the neig hborhood o1
a ragged cliff of rocks near our camp. a.
night we could hear the terwauIing of
family OF wildcats, and we were sure, from
the noise. that the family consisted of sew
eral half-grown kittens as we'll as papa
and mamma kitty. | had long since
learned that there is no danger In roam
ing the woods alone, and felt no other
fear as l made my way up the side of the
mountain than that | might fail to get
picture. l took full two hours IN ap
preaching the cliff, and finally ensconced