FOREST AND STREAM 
169 
Clouds and Showers of Quails is California .—We 
liave heard of the abundance of quails in California, so 
great in certain sections as to be voted a nuisance by the 
farmers who devise all sorts of contrivances for tlieir de¬ 
struction; but we never expected to hear of their flying in 
clouds like the myriads that fed the congregated camps 
of the Israelites in Scriptural times. Surely, in that favor¬ 
ed country, whatever the blessing may be, “it never rains 
but it pours.” Now read what, we And in a copy of the 
San Barnardino Argus, and put up your shot guns—sell 
them for old iron—cut them into sections for binocles—you 
will never want them any more if yon will only hunt in 
California. Like the green Irishman in America, who dis¬ 
covered a half-soverign in Gold street—“all yez hav to do, 
is to stoop down and pick them up!” 
“Agua Mansa, Cal., March 80th, 1870. 
“Bear Argus: —Seven miles west of Riverside, on the road 
to Spadra, is a beautiful valley called Sicamorc Canon. 
It is used by Francisco Alvardo as a sheep rauch. On ap¬ 
proaching it I saw a dark cloud and heard a distant noise, 
and soon discovered that it was a great cloud of quails; 
they came by the thousands; the air was darkened with 
them; the cloud was accompanied with a noise that could 
have been heard at a long distance. The valley was so 
covered with them that an army of hungry men might 
have eaten to their fill. I had never seen or heard of such 
a case before, and strange as it may appear, there was a 
bright plumage on the quail’s heads about four inches long, 
“Thomas 15. Kazan. 
Not the least remarkable paTt of this story is that the 
Argus believes in it, and actually vouches for Ihe veracity 
of the relator, whose statements are authenticated and 
confirmed by other witnesses. Would that these showers 
of quail might immediately follow the showers of grass¬ 
hoppers that plague the vast areas of Kansas, Nebraska, 
and Minnesota. Quail on toast! Why, the amount of 
grain they would save if made into toast, would not only 
provide provender for all the inhabitants of those Stales, 
but furnish a “bang-up” dinner at Delmonico’s or the 
Hotel Brunswick, for all the gourmands and epicures of 
Gotham. ' 
By the way we notice witli pleasure, that our esteemed 
contemporary, the Turf, Meld, cmd Farm, is urging the in¬ 
troduction of foreign quail into this couutry for propaga¬ 
tion. It is well, but of wbat need, when we have such an 
inexhaustible supply at our very doors; yea, even at the 
Golden Gate of the Pacific? 
Fixtures for the Centennial.— The Centennial Com¬ 
missioners have issued the following circular naming the 
proposed dates for the exhibition of agricultural products, 
live stock, trials of speed, etc: 
Agricultural Products. —Pomologieal products and 
vegetables, May 16 to 24; strawberries, June 7 to 15; early 
grass butter and cheese, June 13 to 17; early summer vege¬ 
tables, June 20 to 24; honey, June 20 to 24, raspberries 
and blackberries, July 3 to 8; Southern pomologieal pro¬ 
ducts, July 18 to 22; melons, August 22 to 26; peaCh« , s, 
September 4 to 0; Northern pomologieal products, Sep- 
11 to 16; Autumu vegetables, September 19 to 23; cereals, 
September 25 to 30; potatoes aud feeding roots, October 2 
to 7; Autumn butter and cheese, October 17 to 21; nuts, 
October 23 to November 1; Autumn honey and wax, Oc¬ 
tober 23 to November 1. 
Field Trials. —Mowing machines, tedders, and hay 
rakes, June 15 to 30; reaping machines, July 5 to 15. 
Live Stock, —Horses, September 1 to 14; dogs, Septem¬ 
ber 1 to 8; neat cattle, September 21 to October 4; sheep, 
October 10 to 18; swine, October 10 to 18; poultry, Octo¬ 
ber 27 to November 6. 
The above dates may be favorable for the assembling in 
Philadelphia of societies and associations interested iu the 
specialties above enumerated. 
The right to amend or aunul this circular is reserved. 
A. T. Ooshorn, Director-General. 
Burnet Landreth, Chief o£ Bureau of Agriculture. 
Philadelphia, April 1, 1876. 
Free Passes at the Centennial.—W e commend to 
the public the following very sensible views from our es¬ 
teemed contemporary, the Scientific American: — 
“Every politician in office, every newspaper man, in 
fact everybody who can conjure up even the shadow of a 
reason for the privilege, deems himself entitled to enter 
the Centennial grounds free, and the consequence is that 
the Commission is unable to fix any limit as to where this 
deadheading shall terminate, li seems to us that there is 
one, and but one solution, to the problem, and that is to 
issue no free passes at all. It must be evident that, in order 
that the Exposition shall pay back the money invested in it, 
a very large daily attendance will be requisite, even at fifty 
cents per head admission. Every free pass given, there¬ 
fore, is simply a diminntion of receipts, and when the 
number of passes swells, as it easily may, into thousands, 
the loss will be one to make itself felt. This deficit will 
have to be made up, and there is only one source avail¬ 
able, and that is the pockets of the general public; so that, 
reduced to its simplest terms, the pass system involves the 
payment by the people for the admission of a privileged 
class. Of this class the individuals are ten limes better 
able to pay for themselves than half the masses who will 
flock to Philadelphia. 
“The only people who should have free entrance are the 
employees of the Commission, the exhibitors and their ser¬ 
vants, and the judges. The only exception we would 
hare made to the fixed tariif would he in favor of working 
men. It would be a sensible act for the Commission to 
sell them tickets at a reduced price.” 
—Lake Pontchartrain, below New Orleans, though 
some hundred of square miles in extent, is fast Ailing up by 
deposits from the waters of the Mississippi, both from cre¬ 
vasses which often let the waters across to the lake, and from 
settlemonis by the eddying of the waters as they flow round 
from the gulf. The annual filling up of this lake about 
four or five inches a year, and even within the time of the 
settlement of our country, has changed it from a salt to a 
nearly fresh water body, and the fish have all changed their 
quarters accordingly. 
GAME PROTECTION. 
Protection in Maine. —The sportsmen of Washington, 
Maine, recognizing the necessity of some organization 
which shall have for its object the enforcement of the laws 
relating to fish and game, have issued a call looking to 
the formation of a club to be known as the Washington 
County Game Association. They say in their call: 
“In this portion of our State, deprived as we are of many 
conveniences and luxuries, we yet have many sources of 
recreation, many spotting privileges which, if judiciously 
preserved, might be continued to us for years, and even ex¬ 
hibit au annual increase. But, on the other hand, a wan¬ 
ton disregard of existing laws, an indiscriminate onslaught 
upon the treasures of our woods and streams, and iu a lew 
years more wc may idly wander through fire-scathed, game- 
less forest, count our last partridge, and include upon out- 
list of exterminated species, the names of the deer, wild 
duck, and trout. 
Now wc appeal for co-operation’to every lover of the 
gun and rod, to every man who recognizes (he distinction 
between reckless butchery and a fair matching of ‘skill 
against skill:’ between the wholesale slaughter of deer, 
With dogs and during unseasonable months, or the occa- 
casional shooting of a single deer, within the few weeks 
which natural and civil laws designate as ‘a proper sea¬ 
son:’ between the pot-hunter’ who greedily ‘bags his 
pounds of flesh,’ or the man who delights iu the health-giv¬ 
ing air of wooded hill and balsamic lowland, who appreciates 
the charm of forest and lake—not voiceless aud deserted— 
but. as the Great Giver iulendcd, the habitat of active life 
and harmless increase.” 
—The New Hampshire Fish aud Game League, at its an¬ 
nual meeting at Manchester, appointed a committee to con¬ 
fer with New England sportsmen, in order to secure uniform 
game laws in contiguous States. 
—Our correspondent “Seneca," complains of the viola¬ 
tion of the game laws in Ouondago County. He says, 
(April 17th): 
“Parties fish with dip-uets every day in Onondaga Lake, 
or its tributaries, and are unmolested, though Syracuse 
brags of two sportsmen's clubs whose objects, (according 
to the constitutions) is ‘the enforcement of all laws aud 
ordinances against the uulawful killing or selling u£ game 
and fish.’ While I was out on the above lake last Wednes¬ 
day after ducks, (unsuccessfully) I counted eleven of these 
nets in operation, though none of them seemed to be taking 
many fish. 1 was told by one of the operators that the 
principal catch was made at night, and that he had taken 
seventy pounds of fish tha previous night, among them a 
“lawyer" weighing twenty-five pouuds. 
Minnesota. —We noticed recently the formation of the 
the Lake Pepin Sportsmen’s Club. Our correspondent, Dr. 
D. C. Estes, writes us from Lake City under date of April 
7th, as follows:— 
"As a club, we are making calculations to properly enter¬ 
tain all sportsmeu that may come this way this season. 
Every member is to keep au accurate record of all game 
killed aud every fish caught, with notes and iucidcnts re¬ 
lating thereto, so when winter comes again, you see, we 
will have a fine time in our club meetings, in looking over 
these records and comparing notes. And then again you 
see, wc shall find items for letters which no doubt will 
prove interesting to all. Aside from this every member is 
to make an effort to secure something for our collection, 
which is already large.” 
—We are glad to learn that they are taking hold of the 
game laws in good earnest in the Southern States. There 
is great need of a law regulating the killing of game which 
is done indiscriminately and at all seasons. Our corres¬ 
pondent “Guyon,” of Corinth, Mississippi, writes:— 
“We have a game law at last, such as it is, but as the 
old fellow said about some bill that he tried to get through 
the Texas Legislature, ‘Owing to the astuteness of some 
of tbe members, and 1 lie tootasness of the rest, it is not 
what it should be.' It protects all birds and game animals 
from May 1st to September 15th. We have secured the ser¬ 
vices of the best lawyer in our city to prosecute offenders, 
and we will give them the best we’ve got in ihe shop if 
they do violate this law.” 
The following are the leading provisions of the bill:— 
Skotion 1. Be it. enaoted by the Legislature of the State 
of Mississippi, That it shall be unlawful in any plnct: in 
this State to catch, kill or injure, or pursue with sucli in¬ 
tent any wild buck, deer, cloeor fawn, between the fifteenth 
day of May and the fifteenth day of September; and it 
shall be unlawful to catch, kill or injure, or pursue with 
such intent any wild turkey, between the first day of May 
and the fifteenth day of September; aud it shall also be uu¬ 
lawful to catch, lull or injure, or pursue with such intent 
any quail, sometimes called partridge, between the first day 
of Aptil and the fifteenth day of September; and it shall 
be also unlawful to catch, kill'or injure or pursue with such 
intent, any turtle-dove, sometimes called mourning- dove, 
or any starling, commonly known as field lark, between the 
first day of April and the fifteenth day of September; and 
it shall be unlawful at any and all seasons to catch, kill or 
injure or pursue with such intent, the mocking bird, cat 
bird, or thrush. 
Sec. 2. Prohibits the destroying the nests of any wild 
bird whatever, excepting crows, black-birds, etc. 
Sec, 3. Makes it unlawful for any person to purchase or 
have iu possession any of the birds or game mentioned in 
section one. 
Sec. 4. Relates to and prohibits transportation of game 
during the close season. 
Sec. 5. Names the flue as not less than three or more 
than ten dollars for each bird, and from ten to twenty dol¬ 
lars for each buck, doe or fawn. 
Sec. 6. Relates to mode of prosecution. 
Sec. 7. Relates to informers moities. 
Sec. 8. Specifies the duties of sheriffs, constables, market 
masters, etc., under the act. 
Sec, 9. Relates to trespass upon posted lands, the fine 
for same being not less than teu or more than fifty dollars. 
Speaking of this bill our attentive correspondent, G. E. 
Eytich, of Jackson, says:— 
“ It was signed by Gov. Stone, March 31st. Tbe law 
met with a good deal of opposition from some of our Repre¬ 
sentatives; who ‘wanted to hunt foxes in winter and deer 
iu the summer,’ etc.; the clause to prohibit trapping and 
netting partridges hud to be stricken out, or else tbe Bill 
could not have passed, as a great many gentlemen in the 
House consider netting the acme of sport; at any Tale they 
cannot net them around here as tbe birds, having been shot 
at so much, will uot drive worth a cent. Next session we 
will go fordbe trap in an amendment. 
The law is at least a break in the old monotony of killing 
any and everything all the year around; as it is the law 
will he a dead letter, except near large towns. 1 am in 
hopes that we shall he able to form a club here to enforce 
Ihe law around Jackson,” Game clubs are now being 
organized iu different pavls of the State. 
—Canadian Game Laws are evidently a nullity if they 
can be violated with impunity, as is shown in the follow¬ 
ing statements from the Ottawa Free Press. We are glad 
that there appears to be even a disposition to abate the 
evil and that the Free Press is lending its assistance. “Tito 
depth of snow this spring, and lire crust formed after the 
moist weather, have exposed moose and red deer to the 
mercy of dogs and men, Wc are told that in the Gatineau 
and Coulogne regions several hundreds have been killed, 
tlieir skins stripped off and the meat left to rot id the 
woods. Further east and south, on both sides of the Ot¬ 
tawa River, red deer have been hunted down and killed 
almost daily. Within fifteen miles of this city, near East¬ 
man’s Springs, seven wore chased out of their yards the 
week before last and killed by settlers. It seems to be a 
common practice iu the adjoining townships to let deer 
hounds and curs run loose among the deer yards, and 
drive out the animals so that the farmers aud others can kill 
them near their houses and hide the carcasses at once. The 
local magistrates everywhere appear to think it no duty of 
theirs to enforce the game law. These poor animals are now 
perfectly helpless,the does having lawns, and the deep crust- 
cd snow preventing all chances of escape. The local gov¬ 
ernments shouLd certainly do something to cause tlieir 
statues to be respected, and the legislative assemblies ought 
to attach some responsibility to the owners of dogs which 
mu these deer and worry their young, just as is done to 
protect sheep aud iambs. We would suggest to sportsmen 
iu this city the immediate collection of Ti fund to employ 
detectives and send them to find out the offenders, and trace 
tip tbe owners of dogs doing so muck mischief, and fol¬ 
low up the informatiou obtained so as to make some severe 
examples.” 
m>r Forest and Stream. 
THE END OF MR. BISHOP’S LONG 
JOURNEY. 
TIIE “CENTENNIAL UEFUBLIC" EN ROUTE FOR THE NORTH. 
I N my wanderings up and clown the rivers and lakes of 
Florida, I have met with many persons who had seen 
Mr. Bishop on his voyage, in the paper canoe, last year. 
The frequent mention of the name of oue who had per¬ 
formed the wonderful feat of rowing from the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence to Florida, and the appearance of his in frequent 
letters (only two, written exclusively to Forest and 
Stream) kept alive the desire of meeting with him. Know¬ 
ing that it was his intention to visit Fernandina before 
leaving for the North, I felt, sure of seeing him, but it was 
ouly by accident that, at last, the desired end was reached. 
On the steamer Sedgwick, (last Friday, the 31st March,) 
among the passengers going North from St. Johns, was a 
native of New Jersey, who recognized, in passing, in ibe- 
St. Mary’s River, a Barnegat "sneak box." It was being 
propelled at a rapid rate, with long powerful strokes, to¬ 
wards the town of St. Marys, a few miles distant. We 
were convinced that it was Bishop in that boat, and strength¬ 
ened in our convictions when the steamer blew him a long 
salute. The news of bis arrival spread rapidly in Bt. 
Marys, for it was here that he received the most delightful 
tribute to bis skill and courage last year, in tbe torch-light 
procession, the speeches of welcome, and hundreds of 
bouquets given him on the 24th of April. 
Hastening to offer my congratulations, I found him in 
the hands of Mr. Fordham, the owner of Orange Hal), 
who insisted that he should first have something to cat and 
drink, aud hurried him forthwith to the house. In the 
evening I called upon him with a friend and found him ap¬ 
parently fresh and strong, though rather sleepy. We, 
itowever, went over the voyage that evening, and from the 
notes given me then, and from our conversation during the 
two days we spent together in lovely 9t, Marys, I extract 
a few items of interest to the readers oi Forest and 
Stream. Tile last letter, you will remember, was sent 
from Apalachicola. From there, thiough Crooked River 
and Oldokonee Bay he passed into open Gulf waters and up 
to St. Marks. Here he received mauy attentions and pro¬ 
ceeded on his journey after a short delay. All along iliis 
coast to the Suwanee River are immense marshes dotted 
with palms, and with long stretches of forest, oak and 
cedar swamp, massed behind them. The water is very 
shallow, and five miles from shore a depth of seven feet 
only is obtained. A strong gale off shore will quickly re¬ 
duce this depth of water to two feet, making especially 
hazardous an extended cruise along this coast. The details 
of the voyage from St. Marks were meagre, as Mr. Bishop 
groups and generalizes his facts in a manner that renders 
them only valuable to himself, or au eye witness who can 
afterward elaborate at leisure. That he kept both eyes 
open, however, his conversation attested, aud 1 doubt if 
there is anything of interest to be seen and noted that lie 
has not made a note of. At St. Marks, he obtained infor¬ 
mation respecting that “voleauo;” but this, as well as bis 
theory regarding it, I withhold for the present, consid¬ 
ering it too valuable to lightly throw away. 
At Dead Man’s Bay occurred an incident that serves to 
illustrate his camp life. In the morning, after camping at 
night in the “Devil's Wood-Yard”—whether so-called from 
the character of the country, the fuel, or the inhabitants, 
T canuot state—as lie pushed the little boat from shore, a 
man who had shared his camp discovered, lying in ll o 
mud, au alligator the length of the boat. From every ii - 
diealitm, it had lain there all night, with but a few inches 
of water between itself and the little boat—the Centennial 
Republic. Considering that it had had glory enough for 
