FOREST AND STREAM. 



345 



or courtesy. The inhabitants of a settlement are called 

 "HvierB," and if any district lie uninhabited there are said 

 to be no "liviers" in it. Au expressive phrase is used to 

 indicate a fall in t lie temperature, "To-day is a jacket 

 colder than yesterday." "How do times govern in St. 

 John's?" is a common question which is answered by re- 

 counting the price of fish, oil and provisions. "Praise the 

 fair day at e'en." is a Scotch proverb which has its counter- 

 part in Newfoundland: "Praise the bridge that carries you 

 over." The folly of lazy, shiftless expedients is well ex- 

 pressed by saying: "He sits in one curl of the tilt, and 

 burns the other." When admiration of a benevolent man 

 is expressed, he is described as "a terrible kind man;" or 

 the weather is commended by saying "it's a shocking tine 

 day." Clever, in Newfoundland, means stroug-ot large. A 

 "clever man" is a stout, huge man; a "clever baby," is a 

 hearty, big baby, A singular use of tile word "accommo- 

 dation" is eommon. A person of bad repute is said to have 

 "a very bad accommodation ;" or a servant on leaving his 

 master requests "an accommodation," evidently a corrup- 

 tion of "recommendation." 



Willi all their primitive and often amusing peculiarities 

 and local customs, the hsberfolk of Newfoundland have 

 many sterling qualities of head and heart; and all they 

 want Lo put them On. a level with corresponding classes in 

 other countries more advanced in the arts of civilized life, 

 lseducatiou. No one could live among them without lik- 

 ing them. In simplicity of character, warmth of heart, 

 kindness and hospitality, they are unsurpassed. 

 •*•♦ 



Florida. Routes. — The increase in the number of tour- 

 ists traveling to Florida every year, to enjoy its balmy 

 climate and tropical scenery, and to avoid the fierce blasts 

 of our Northern Winters, has caused the steamer and rail- 

 road companies to make every effort that would add to the 

 comfort of travelers. In order to place such a trip within 

 reach of r,ll classes of invalids the Pennsylvania Railroad 

 Company has made such terms with connecting roads, as 

 far as Jacksonville, that excursion tickets for the round 

 trip from New York to Jacksonville can now be purchased 

 for from $50 to §00, according to the route selected. The 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Company is entitled to the thanks 

 of the public for its enterprise and energy. 



Reply. — In order to obtain all possible information re- 

 lative to the advantages of each style of rifle manufactured 

 in the United States wo have addressed letters to every 

 manufacturer of arms containing specific questions, but we 

 are sorry to state that few indeed have responded, .and they 

 are those whose weapons are best known. We return 

 IhanksHo Lieut. Metcalfe, of the Springfield Armory, the 

 Remington Company and the Whitney Arms Company, for 

 their prompt alacrity in answering our note. If the other 

 companies would benefit themselves as well as an inquiring 

 public they ought to respond, even if their answers are 

 only partial. 



— All officers of the Army and Navy, by authority of the 

 higher powers, will be permitted to make collections of the 

 fauna of any portion of the world in which they may be 

 stationed for the benefit of the Zoological Society of Phil- 

 adelphia. This interest in science will be duly appreciated 

 by all interested in the natural history collections of our 

 country. 



— A. B. Lamberton, of Rochester, has accepted an in- 

 vitation to read a paper at the next annual meeting of the 

 National Sportsmen's Association at Cleveland in June 

 next. His subject will be on Nomenlature. 



■»•♦ 



HOW TO RAISE QUAIL. 



WE reproduce from our issue of Feb. 12, 1874, the fol. 

 lowing article, in order to serve the interests of 

 many of our readers at tin: present time, and also to supply 

 in part the demand for this particular issue of our paper, 

 which is now out of print. — Ed.] 



Office of West Jersey Protective Society, 



February 10th, 1874. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



I have been requested by a fellow member of the West 

 Jersey Protective Game Society to give you a slight sketch 

 of my small experience in the raising of partridges, with 

 the hope that others who have, or do interest themselves, in 

 the laudable p&slime of raising and protecting game, may 

 derive some benefit, however small, from my slight ex- 

 perience. • 



There are three ways of raising or protecting partridges 

 in this country, and everyone who is interested in the pro- 

 tection of game, should, if possible, adopt one of these 

 three ways according to his means and time. The first and 

 most common way is to feed the birds by throwing out 

 either screenings of oats, rye, wheat, or some corn, in some 

 place where the birds are in the habit of roosting. This 

 should be done with some, discretion, otherwise it would 

 become expensive and burdensome to a poor man to feed 

 birds every day. If, however, it is done two or three time^ 

 before the heavy snows of the Winter have set in, the birds 

 will be likely to" remain in the neighborhood, and when the 

 snow has entirely prevented them from' getting their food, 

 a few days feeding at such times will enable them to out 

 live the storm and Winter. This plan is very commonly 

 adopted all over the country, and when judiciously man- 

 aged, has been found to be of great success. But I will 

 here add, if more extensively carried on, it would greatly 

 increase the amount of game. 1 would suggest to those 

 who "have farms, and who either lease them or employ their 

 owu farmers, that a small reward of five or ten dollars to 

 their tenants or farmers for their trouble in protecting and 

 feeding the birds ovoi' the Winter, would insure many more 

 birds tor the Fall shooting, and would be well worth the 

 outlay. 



The second plan is the more expensivo nnd troublesome, 

 and defends much upon the means and accommodation one 

 has at hand to carry it, out. The plan is that of putting the 

 birds in a room or "loft, and arranging bushes around the 

 room so that, when frightened, the birds can hide in the 

 bushes. The plan is objectionable for several reasons, and 

 should not, lie adopted unless one has no other moans hi 

 hand. It is objectionable because the birds are kept to- 

 gether and thus are liable to pack in the Spring, and hence 

 all your time and trouble goes for naught, and it is also at 

 fault because it makes it difficult to clean the room, and 

 when you wiish to turn the birds out, of a box, in a desirable 

 place, "(which is the only proper way, and not, as is often 

 done by opening a window and letting them fly out,) the 

 birds are liable either lo hurt themselves whop thus fright, 

 ened, or to be injured by being too roughly handled. If no 

 other way, however, is feasible, this plan of rising birds 

 should be adopted. 



The third and last plan, and the one in which I have had 

 the most experience, is perhaps the most expensive and 

 troublesome, but, is by far the most desirable; it isthe keeping 

 and raising of birds in pairs in boxes. In raising birds, 

 light, air, cleanliness, and proper food, are the first and 

 most important essentials to be looked after, in Order to 

 have the birds in -rood condition to turn out in the Spring. 



The box in which these birds are confined should he made 

 as follows:— It, should be seven feet wide by ten feet long 

 and one foot high; let the top be padded with some soil 

 substance like cloth or muslin, so that when frightened, the 

 little fellows will not hurt their beads against the lop of the 

 box on flying up. The trouble, however, of padding can 



be avoided by making the box lower, but this is not desir- 

 able, as the birds have very little room to use their wings; 

 and I have found on letting them out in the Spring, that 

 from their long confinement, they have not for several days 

 regained the full USO of their wings. Divide this box in 

 the middle by a piece of board running the whole width of 

 the box and "divide each half thus made, lengthwise, by 

 nine partitions, (or as many as you wish,') this will give you 

 twenty separate boxes, each one foot by three and a half 

 feet long. The partition, running the whole length of the 

 box, gives yon a light and dark box, which communicate 

 bv a door with a slide which cam be gently raised and shut 

 down ut your discretion. The object of the boxes is, that 

 while the birds are in one box you can clean the other 

 without disturbing them, and when you approach the front 

 of the boxes they will run from the light to the dark box. 

 The communicating door being gently closed enables you lo 

 throw in feed or clean the boxes as you wish. 



flan— scale, 7-24ths to the foot. 



The front door to each box or partition should be its en- 

 tire width, and made of slats half an inch apart, and should 

 be hung on hinges from the top and fastened at the bottom; 

 this enables you to clean the partitions more readily and 

 also feed the" birds. The sides of the dark box should be 

 bored with half inch auger boles for ventilation, as also the 

 back door of the dark box, which is the same width, and 

 humr and fastened like the door of the front box. 



SLAT DOORS. 



The communicating door is large enough only to let one 

 hird pass through at a time, and the slide that covers this 

 door is lifted up from the top, and regulated or kept up by 

 a little wooden pin. These boxes can be made for fifteen 

 or twenty dollars, and I have found from experience are 

 excellent both for air, light, &c., and are most handy. Care 

 should be taken to see that the boards on the inside are 

 smooth, so that the birds cannot hurt themselves. The 

 next important step is the food. 



DARK DOORS. 



The best food is mixed biid seed, and occasionally a little 

 wheat; wheat, itself, is too strong, as is also corn for birds 

 confined in. this way. Gravel and sand should also be 

 thrown on the floor of the box and occasionally a clod of 

 dirt. ' A zinc bath tub, three inches high and sU inches 

 long, with the edges turned down, so that they eahnot cut 

 then- feet and heavy enough not to turn over, should be put 

 in the box with fresh water every morning, This is very 

 important, as the birds on coming out of ilic rjaj !■ 

 b« observed almost, ii, variably -:, ■take then 



bath, and I am satisfied, from experience, that their condi- 

 tion is greatly improved by it. The box should also be 

 cleaned every morning, as nothing is more injurious to the 

 health of a bird thus confined than a dirty box, In such a 

 box, with the capacity I have just described. I coidd Clean 

 all the boxes, water and feed all my birds without frighten- 

 ing or disturbing them, in the space of ten minutes. In 

 two or three instances, where I have irivcu the above direc- 

 lions as lo the building of boxes, to other gentlemen desir- 

 ing to raise birds, I have in each ease been told that not a 

 single bird has been lost, although it was their first exper- 

 ience in raising them. 



The next step is the letting out of the birds. This is 

 most Important, as you may have all your Winter's trouble 

 and labor fruitless if the proper precautions are not; taken 

 at the proper time. The time, therefore, and the way in 

 which the birds arc to bo let out, are I wo very important 

 steps in the object you wish to achieve. 



As soon as the snow is well off the ground and the grass 

 commences to start, then let them out in some thick cover 

 by pairs or iu fours, two cocks and two hens, and at the in- 

 terval of a day or two between each pairs or fours, as the 

 case may be. Thus, by letting them out rather late iu the 

 season, and by pairs or fours, you attain two objects, 

 which are desirable. The first is, "that birds confined iu a 

 box and regularly fed, will migrate BtwaJ miles, unless 

 they are able to get their food when first let loose, and it 

 would not he amiss for one or two days to drop some fowl 

 at the box door, as they are almost sure to come back if 

 they are not able to feed themselves. By letting them out 

 in close cover you give them a warm place at night and a 

 place 1.0 retreat to from their mortal enemy,, the hawk. 

 Secondly, by letting them out by twos or fours you enable 

 the female to change her master, if she so wishes, which is 

 often the case, and you prevent that which is more import- 

 ant, the whole covey from "packing," as it is called. 

 Packing is where a covey, instead of pairing and breeding, 

 stay together, and so travel all through the breeding season. 

 Should this happen, all your pains are taken for nothing. 

 This I have seen occur twice, and entirely from the fact, I 

 think, of their being let out too late, which was done dur- 

 ing the latter part of the month of June. Whereas, birds 

 ke"pt in the same box and a part of the same covey let out 

 in the early part of the month of May, all paired off and 

 had their young. I would, therefore," advise their being let 

 out as soon as the Spring has well set in. They thus get 

 food and warmth, (for the change is great for them, from a 

 covered box to a roost in the open air,) and protection from 

 hawks. A swamp is an excellent place tc let them out. Iu 

 conclusion, I would advise that no bread should be given 

 as food, as I have known it at times to have killed many 

 birds, and on opening them have invariably found the bread 

 caked iu their craws. 



Under the method I have, just described, I have raised 

 eleven coveys out of twelve pairs of birds let out, and again 

 six coveys out of six pairs turned out, and also six coveys out 

 of eight pairs turned out. 



I have recommended the birds being paired in the boxes 

 for the reason that when the breeding season commences, 

 about the end of February, the birds will commence to 

 tight, and I have lost in onc"night all my birds, except one 

 cock and hen, which were so cut up as to be of no use. As 

 you never know when such a disaster may take place, it 

 would be safer to pair them as soon as you get the birds. 



I would advise all clubs to use this system of raising 

 birds; the expense can be more easily borne, and as it will 

 be under one person's direction, it would therefore be more 

 likely to be successful. 



If," Mr. Editor, you should think this r article worthy of 

 your paper, I will live in the hope that some trustworthy 

 person, having read it will be induced to try it, 

 and thus attain the object for which it is written, viz: the 

 successful raising and breeding of partridges. 



Protector. 



Wisconsin Poultry Association. — The Wisconsin State 

 Poultry Association will hold its annual exhibition at Mil- 

 waukie, February 26th, and will continue it until March 

 5tb. Besides the premiums for poultry, some excellent 

 ones have been prepared for cage birds and household pets, 

 such as guinea pigs, white mice, dormice.squirrels, rabbits, 

 ferrets, minks, cats, and dogs. The Association prizes for 

 dogs are $5 for first and $3 for second, for each variety ex- 

 hibited, and Forest and Stream has added three special 

 prizes in the shape of three of its yearly subscriptions, for 

 the best hound, setter and pointer in each of those classes. 

 Many prominent sporting gentlemen in Chicago and Mil- 

 waukee have promised to aid the society rather liberally, 

 and to exhibit their animals besides. The managers of this 

 exhibition are enterprising gentlemen and deserve much 

 praise for their effort to improve many of the domestic 

 animals of their State. 



— Grasshopper-eaten Kansas settlers are migrating to 

 Florida in considerable numbers. 



— The temperature at New Smyrna, Florida, on Christ- 

 mas Day, was sixty-four degrees at 7 A. M„ seventy-six at, 

 2 P. M., and sixty-nine at 9 P. M. 



++v — 



—A meeting was held in Detroit last week for the pur- 

 pose of having the next regatta of the National Amateur 

 Association at that, place. The sum of §1,500 is needed to 

 bear the expenses, and it is supposed that this amount can 

 be readily raised. Wilkes'' Spirit saj-s: — 



The citizen? of Saratoga are intent upon securing the re- 

 turn of the collegians to Saratoga Lake for the next re- 

 gatta. A meeting was held last week, and it was then re- 

 solved to increase the facilities of transportation to the lake 

 by building a railroad thereto. The meeting was adjourned 

 to last Wednesday evening, and the sub-committee on slock 

 subscriptions has issued an appeal to the citizens to come for- 

 ward and subscribe, so that the road can be paid for in cash, 

 thus diminishing the cost of construction. Messrs. Ferry 

 of Yale, Van Duzer of Harvard, and Rers of Columbia, 

 have visited Saratoga with a view of ascertaining -what 

 would be done to further the interests of the regatta" We 

 trust the Saratoga folks will not overlook the necessity of 

 providing a faster boat to accompany the race, quite as im- 

 portant to the success of the regatta as the accommodation 

 of visitors in getting to and from the lake. 



