April 21, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



229 



easy position for an aim and pjessed my eyes intensely 

 through the darkness to try to discover something tangible, 

 and presently saw what I took to be a bunch of bushes di- 

 rectly ahead, and soon after the bushes seemed to turn partly 

 around- Then I knew it was a living animal, and at the 

 same time the Captain touched my back with his paddle and 

 1 drew a, bead on him and tired and instantly grabbed the 

 rifle for. tlie last chance; but the smoke of mv discharge cut 

 oil - all chance for a second shot, and I suns 'out, ''Captain, 

 •we have lost him. for I cannot see or hear him." But Cap. 

 pushed ahead nishingly now. and soon run the bow against a 

 large moose wallowing in the mud in his death struggles, and 

 after cutting his throat we paddled our way back to camp and 

 rested until morning, when we went back and dressed htm 

 off and divided him between us. J. 6. B. 



Bethel, Maine, April, 1881. 



DO CROWS BEASON? 



Port Royal, Tcnn. 



I N your issue of February 2-1 " K. B. 0." asks, " Do crows 

 -L reason?" 1 think they do. I have watched the crow 

 closely ever since I have been a shooter, and 1 know him as 

 well as he knows himself. Crows either reason or talk. If 

 not, why do they always know what's up? A crow will sit 

 on a limb and caw and caw and look saucily at you and allow 

 you to approach very near him, provided you leave jour 

 gun behind ; but just shoulder your gun aud the argus-eyed 

 black demon will take wing and keep out of range. Does he 

 know what a gun is? As well as you do. And he appears 

 to know wiuit, you intend doing with it too, as tho following 

 circumstance will show. A brother sportsman recently in- 

 formed me, while discussing the cunning and sagacity of the 

 crow, that he once attempted to "slipup" on a flock of 

 wild geese, in a field to get a shot at them ; but a dock of 

 crowsgot between biin and the gun and, as he put it, "let 

 me get right up on them. Never did crows let me got so 

 near them before -with a gun. Now, they knew my business 

 in that held as well as 1 did — knew I was after larger game. 

 " Do not tantalize me too much for Til shoot, if it doeB make 

 my friends mad who are approaching the geese from another 

 direction." Rang, 1 went, and down came a crow and up 

 went the geese, aud then somebody was mad. 



1 have been amazed at the statements of some of your 

 correspondents when they speak of the crow as the farmer's 

 friend. With us, here in the South, they are nearly as de- 

 structive to young chickens as are hawks. They never tackle 

 a grown fowl, hut go for a brood of young chicks. 

 The crow is a great epicure — nobody so fond of eggs as he ; 

 and he has such a hankering for young birds— « ill gobble 

 up the last one he can find. Rut he is not a success as a 

 depredator till spring comes and you plant your corn. Then 

 lie wiil take it up row by row. To shoot him is out, of the 

 question, unless you have agun that will lull across a twenty- 

 acre field. This is the way to deal with him then : Take 

 hair from a horse's mane or tail, get a sewing-needle of ma- 

 chine size, " thread" a hair in it as in sewing, pierce a grain 

 of corn with the needle, draw the hair halfway its length 

 through the grain and then tie it. Prepare a number of 

 grains that way and scatter them where the crows frequent. 



II the crow swallows one of those grains he may swallow the 

 grain, but he will find six" or eight inches of horsehair not 

 swallowed, but protruding from "his mouth. Then you will 

 sec an energetic, lively crow — then you will sec him cut (all 

 Bhincs. He will begin to scratch and pull and claw to get 

 rid of that grain of corn and hair, which will attract other 

 crows. Every crow that hasn't got a hair in his throat will 

 be on hand, aud when a large flock of them'lhus congregates, 

 each one trying to see wlii ii can caw the loudest aud longest, 

 what a rack.t! Now that crow will have to lly — perhaps 

 not like Prentice's " proud bird" that could 



"Soar through heaven's unfathomable depths, 

 Aii'l brave ttiu fury of the northern hurricane, 

 And bathe its plumage in the thunder's howl" — 



but he will have to keep on the wing, for his relentless pur- 

 suers will not ceise till they have worried and picked him to 

 death.— Biuno. 



of them with gun and dog. I don't know how truthful his 

 sta'Cflii il is: I do know the locality he gave for their trap- 

 ping to be one of the best about here for game. It is plain 

 to see where our game is going. If trapping aud vermin, 

 which destroy our "birds and EggB, were exterminated, we 

 should have "abundance of birds" in spite of hard win'ers. 

 Where are our men that can bug six or even four partridge 

 per day with dog and gun, in our cover here and with our 

 number of birds? I tell you they are few that can average 

 it. I have always hunted partridge, aud it is no trap work, 

 I can assure you. 



Those that have followed this swift, wily fellow know 

 it is not. lie will steal away from you every chance he has, 

 and you aud dog have got to work very hard to average four 

 per day. You will have au appetite' every night, and also 

 appreciate your bed. The most, partridg. s I ever bagged in 

 one day was nine, and these over Dan the day he was nine 

 months old. But what a day that was. It never will be 

 forgotten. I had hunted none for two years, aud was badly 

 "off ;" Dau young, and had to be watched; but he whipped 

 me badly, and where are the old dogs that can do much bet- 

 ter? To be sure we found many birds that day, and had I 

 done my duty I should have had nearer thirty than ten. 

 Many men find fault with their dogs, when the dog will beat 

 the gun two to one every day. 1 have been other days and 

 worked just as hard, and had but my pair of partridge to 

 show for it. I do not mention my good luck to boast, but 

 only to compare with the snaring of these men. I am sorry 

 to see the partridge so fast diminishing here. They are our 

 best game birds. ""We all know they will lake care of them- 

 selves during the winter, and are able to hold their own with 

 the gun. I would say we always call our rough grouse part- 

 ridge, so that no one will misunderstand my meaning. 1 

 have spun out much longer than I intended. Rook. 



BIRDS IN CONNECTICUT. 



Sobers, Tolland Co., Conn., April 11, 1881. 



SPRING has surely come to us again, and with it has re- 

 turned many of our birds, which make nature more com- 

 plete. I am seated on the old barnyard gate, south of the 

 barn, where the sun shines warm, and not any one to disturb 

 the quiet seat, I possess. The ilics f.re buzzing, blackbirds 

 are singing in the trees, robins are happing among the corn- 

 stalk bills in the lot nearby, and old Dan (I will not give his 

 correct name, as he is known far and near) my setter, is en- 

 joying their presence by working them up slowly and giv- 

 ing very good apologies for points. Here he comes now, 

 with some of those pests of the setter which abound here in 

 great numbers — burdocks. What is much worse to extract 

 from the setter's fur than one or more of these dry things ? 

 All the snow disappeared from this locality some four weeks 

 since, and since then the weather has been slowly improving. 

 The earth is nearly settled and dry now, and we are looking 

 for steady pleasant weather. Some few ducks have been 

 seen to pass up the stream and stop at the head of the ponds 

 a mile above. Last Friday two swallows made their first ap- 

 pearance and seemed to enjoy sailing, darting and dodging 

 about the buildings. Sa'urday another was with them, and 

 I also noticed a kingfisher sawing out his song on an old tree 

 near the river. The presence of all these of the feathered 

 tribe give us full assurance that spring is surely with us. 

 We all arc thankful for the change, as the winter has been a 

 long, hard, cold one ; aud if we are grateful how much 

 more so must be the poor partridge, quail and other game 

 that has had to find food and shelter through all this long, cold 

 winter. A good number of foxes and skunks have beeu 

 trapped here this winter, I have taken no walks yet where 

 the partridge aud quail are to be found, therefore cannot tell 

 how they have stood the winter. Some reports give us hopes 

 of good shooting next fall. Chance, a few days since, threw 

 me into conversation with a man that a year ago last fall 

 made a business of trapping for the market. He said that a 

 man came into their town, which is in this county, that had 

 been in the business before, and told him what they could 

 do, and proposed to go shares with him. He went in with 

 him, and they commenced to build their hedges u bout the 

 first of August, aud by September 1st they had three hun- 

 dred ready to set. The first month they made $100, or $53 

 each. They caught over 300 partridge, and sold what they 

 could of the rabbits caught, and gave away the rest. He 

 said the}' took six partridge from less than au acre of swamp 

 brush one afternoon, where a maucouJd not have bagged two 



""Wilton Ignorance ts Ri.iss."— My son Lew and his 

 young friend Joe thought they would like to go a-gunniug. 

 "i laving secured the loan of a gun they trotted off for a marsh 

 some three or four miles distant in tie country, and calculated 

 on having some sport shooting at marsh hens. Neither one 

 of them knew a marsh hen from a turkey buzzard, never 

 having seen one ; but. somebody had told Lew that the marsh 

 was full of them, aud as the mud there was not over knee 

 deep, by wading through it he could find plenty of birds and 

 have lots of sport popping away at them. Away they went, 

 skipping along the road like frisky colts in their haste to 

 reach the marsh. The moruing was clear and beautiful and 

 the exhalations from the foliage aud clover fields would have 

 been called delicious by their city friends. Rut what cared 

 they for the sweet perfumes with" which the morning air was 

 charged ! All such nonesense they left to those who could 

 appreciate it. They wanted to shoot marsh hens, and had 

 the air been as fragrant as the "perfumes of Araby " they 

 should have enjoyed the smell of burned powder a hundred- 

 fold more. In due time they reached the marsh. As they 

 walked along its edge a great blackbird suddenly rose up, aud 

 Lew, who was on the lookout, took aim and fired. Down 

 came the bird, about thirty feet, but in the marsh, and out 

 Joe waded after him. The mud was up to his knees, but ho 

 persevered until he recovered the bird. 



" What is it, Lew ?" Joe inquired. 



" It's a marsh hen, Joe. Ain't he a thin one. What long 

 legs he's got !" 

 "" How^strong he smells!" Do they live on fish, Lew ?" 



" I guess he's lived on skunks by" his smell. But people 

 say they're awful good cat in'! You carry him and I'll 

 shoot." 



They soon flushed another marsh lieu, aud Lew brought 

 him down. This kind of game was plentiful, and by the 

 time they turned toward home they had bagged about a 

 dozen. Lew divided fairly with Joe, triving him about one- 

 half of the lot. 



On their way homeward they had ample time to examine 

 their birds. They were all neck and legs, and, as Lew said 

 before, " awful thin." The effluvia emitted from them was 

 nauseating, but they hung on to them, thinking that the 

 strong smell was caused by something in the marsh which 

 had got on their feathers. 



They entered the village with their birds flung out con- 

 spicuously, for they felt proud to exhibit, such a magnificent 

 lot of game. 



Just before they got home they met Bill Somers. 



" What kind of birds have you got there, Joe ?" said Bill, 

 taking Joe's bunch in his hands. 



•• Marsh hens, Kill; Ain't they thin?" 



"Marsh hens, Joe? Phew! Skunks, vou mean!" said 

 Bill, dropping them quicker than he lode them up. 



" What are you going to do with them. Joe?" said Bill. 



"Have them 'briled'for supper, Bdl. Lew's going to 

 keep his for a picnic." 



Bill seemed lost in astonishment for a minute, and then he 

 yelled out : 



"I say, Lew, you old duffer; don't you know that them 

 birds ain't marsh hens ? Them'* ptrket!" E. Manning. 



Untimely Shooting— Indianapolis, April 4.— A few days 

 since I saw a man — not sportsman — walking along the street 

 carrying a half dozen or more squirrels. This is enough to 

 make one angry. 1 wish it was in my power to punish those 

 fellows who shoot game out of season. Any man with com- 

 mon sense and a. spark of humanity knows better thau to 

 shoot sqirrels at this season of the year, especially north of 

 the Ohio Liver. Every time a man shoots a squirrel now 

 he runs great risk of starving a nest of youugones. For how 

 can ho tell whether it has not, before he brings it down, a 

 nice little family, perhaps a week or two old in a hole in the 

 neighboring oak ash ? There should be a law preventing such 

 fellows from carrying a gun at all. A man that will do it 

 will shoot a farmer's ducks aud chickens, and is a disgrace to 

 the name of sportsman. The middle of May, better still the 

 first of June, is soon enough to shoot squirrels in this section, 

 for then the young ones are old enough to take care of them- 

 selves. If the single case that prompted this letter were the 

 only one it wouldn't be so bad, butit is not. There are hund- 

 reds of "shooters" in every large city who take advantage 

 of the first nice days of spring to shoot every squirrel they 

 can find. Shame on them. Very few hunters, however, 

 think the birds have suffered to any great extent. I no- 

 ticed some time since in your Faiiland, Ind., correspondent's 

 item that he declared there were very few birds iu his sec- 

 tion. Would say for his and other's benefit that about the 

 middle of last November a f rieud and myself raised nine good 

 coveys with a single dog, and On a space not more than 100 

 acres within five"miles of his place — S. H. S. 



Iowa Duck Shooting— Hastings, Iowa, April 11.— Wo 

 are located on the C B. & Q. B. B., about thirty-five miles 



from Council Bluff. The West Nishnabotna Biver runs 

 close to town. The. duck shooting this spring has been very 

 fine; they did not arrive till March 23, pvytng to the cold 

 weather, but they came with a rush— red hearts, sprig tails, 

 mallards and tea), all at once. The river is out of its bank 

 and spread over the bottom for a mile in width, so we can 

 only get at them in boats as they come in from the fields and 

 light iu the river bends, among the willow and cotton woods. 

 I bagged nineteen iu two hours shooting, eighteen of them 

 mallards; killed them all but one dead the first shot. It is 

 almost impossible to secure cripples as the current is very 

 strong and the brush and driftwood prevent a dog doing good 

 work. 



As soon as the river runs down we will have good shooting 

 in the sloughs and river bends, aud a little later at geese in 

 the fields. I find U drams orange ducking No. 4 and 1£ oz. 

 No. 4 chilled shot make a good " duck call," with my gnu, 

 a 10 gauge, 10 lbs. We don't go much on 12 gauges here, as 

 most of our shooting is duck and geese, although we have 

 very fair quail aud chicken shooting. The past winter was 

 very severe on quail. Numerous crows have been found 

 frozen.— M. 



Minnesota Notes.— Sauk Centre, Minn., April 9.— Fol- 

 lowing is the amendment to our game law passed last winter : 

 "No person shall kill, or pursue with intent to kill, any 

 woodcock, saving only during the mon'h of July, after the 

 third day of said month, and during the months of August, 

 September and October, nor any prairie hen or chicken, nor 

 any white-breasted or sharp-tailed grouse or prairie chickens, 

 save only during Hie months of September, October and No. 

 vember, nor any quail or partridge, nor any ruffed grouse or 

 pheasant, save only during the months of September, Oco- 

 ber and November, nor any aquatic fowl, save only between 

 the first day of September and the fifteenth (15) day of May 

 succeeding in any year." The foregoing will save our prairie 

 chickens for a period of two weeks, and they will be much 

 more difficult to kill, owing to the increased strength of their 

 wings. This noble game-bird has received fearful persecution 

 since the advent of the. breech-loader and in a very few years 

 would become extinct "Old honkers have put in an ap- 

 pearance, and the breech-loader is in active service once more. 



We expect grand sport iu the stubble the coming fall, 



for geese and ducks will be unusually plenty. — Diir.1.5 



Exterminating toe Hawks. — The Clinton County, O., 

 Forest and Stream Association, with headquarters at Wil- 

 mington, offered a series of prizes for the destruction of 

 hawks. The result of the endeavor is thus told : " The For- 

 est and Stream Association of Clinton County on Thursday 

 received aud counted the hawks killed in the county and 

 awarded the prizes as advertised. Arthur W. Johnson had 

 twenty-two hawks and took the first prize, $10; Wm. Polk 

 took the second of $f) with forteen hawks ; W. II. Bailey 

 third, $2, with ten hawks; Messrs. Lewis, lluddles.m, Pick- 

 eral, Bichardsou and Mc.Gillery had twenty-seven, making 

 seventy-three in all. The association paid eight and one-third 

 cents e'ach for the hawks in addition to the cash prizes. Tho 

 scheme has been very successful arid has resulted in the de- 

 structiou of nearly 200 hawks. Our fanners ami sportsmuu 

 are very anxious to rid this secliou of Ibis pest and they are 

 making strenuous efforts to secure the passage of the ' Gren- 

 ier Hawk Bill,' which provides for the payment of fifty 

 cents each, out of the surplus Dog-tax Fund, f.>r each hawk 

 killed in the Slate. There is a surplus of over $1,300 in Hie 

 fund iu this county, and our sportsmen and fanners, who 

 pay this tax, very properly claim they have a right to some 

 part of il for the protection of game, as they (ihe fporlsuinn) 

 have no Bheep, and numbers of farmers who are paying dog 

 tax have no sheep killed, so the money lies idle while the 

 hawks are busy. It is expected that our Stale Senator, 

 Creamer, will support the bill." 



Later.— We learu that the "Greater Hawk Bill" has 

 passed. 



Chinese Birds in Oregon'— Portland, Oregon, April'lfi, 

 1881. — Hon. O. N. Denny, a former resident of this city, and 

 now U. S. Consulat Shanghai, has sent to the sportsmen's club 

 of this city, through Mr. A. II. Morgan, a fine lot of game 

 birds. He shipped by the Otiuro GG Mongolian pheasants, ? 

 Chifoo partridges and" 12 Mongolian sand mouse. There were 

 received 17 pheasants, 5 partridges and 11 .and grouse. The 

 pheasants and partridges were placed in the. bauds of Mr. 

 Gconre Green, a thorough sportsman and bird fancier, who 

 has aflne place twelve miles from the city, where he will 

 (urn them out. The sand grouse were sent to Ciatsop beach 

 and will be properly taken care of. They were, line birds, 

 especially the pheasants, which were large, strong and very 

 brilliant in plumage. If tiiev live they will be quite au ac- 

 quisition to the game birds of this State. 1 will keep you 

 posted with regard to their welfare.— Stansel. 



Tim Pond.— Kennedy Smith, of Eustis, Me., gives in sub- 

 stance the same report of the good fortune of ruffed grouse 

 in his section of the country given by your correspondent, 

 "Penobscot," of Newport, Me. He says these birds have 

 wintered well from same reasons given by " Penobscot," and 

 are unusually plenty, and if they are. successful in their nest- 

 ing there will be excellent sport "about his Tim Pond cabins 

 next September. For the first time the law has fully pro- 

 tected tho trout in Tim Pond during ihe close season. Visi- 

 sors will appreciate tho fact the current season. Smith is 

 making preparation for his guests, of which more anon. —J. 

 W. T. 



New York Association.— The p:-izo committee have an- 

 nounced that, execptiug cash, no prii >s will be received niter 

 April 23, as the committee on printing must have all matter 

 for the elaborate programme by that date. The Washington 

 Gun Club have secured the following prizes; Emil Zeiller, 

 of W. Sachse & Company, New York, donate two casBa of 

 Moselle wine and two of Rhine wine, valued at $50 ; O. W. 

 F. Dare, N. Y., donates one baby carriage, valued at §50 ; 

 John E. Lenz, Brooklyn, N. Y., a meerschaum pipe, valued 

 at #2Sfj Trans-Atlantic Fire Insurance Company, of Ham- 

 burg, Germany, donate through Charles II. Hibbs, assistant 

 manager, $25 cash. 



A Florida Lawyer in tub Bnsir.— "Blackstoneis thrown 

 aside while Ihe Foksst and Stream is consulted by tho 

 court since his return from Tampa; in fact, Hie dW-SWn 

 forms an admirable position in his library." 



The editor of the Key 0/ the Kitlf indulges in the above, 

 just because the United States district, judge, attorney ami 

 clerk, recently went on a camp hunt from Tampa, Florida, 

 aud helped kill six deer in three days, len miles from 

 town, the judge killing his first deer. Rifle. 



