166 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sbptismbkr 30, 1880. 



BEEEDINU yUAIL IN CONFINEMENT. 



Reaj>inoton, Hunterdon County, N. J., Sept. 1th. 

 Editor FoTcst and Stream : — 



1 have been thoroughly iuteieated in acquainting my- 

 self with the .successful attempts of Mr. Benbroot; of 

 Raritan, Somorsut County, N. J., in raising quails in con- 

 finement. I have notii^ed in several papcr.s, Forest and 

 Stream included, a brief notice of tlie fact ; but I think 

 the matter of aufiicieJit interest to warrant more extended 

 notice. 1 called yesterday to si^e Mr. Benbrook, and 

 found him busy in constructing a house tor their confine- 

 ment and security. And just hero I would like to offer 

 a suggestion and also to state a lad. First, the /acf. 

 Mr. Benbrook labors against great odds in his attempt to 

 prove the fea.sJbiUty of rearing quails ; for the following 

 reasons : he is a. per.soii of very limited means and cannot 

 at all afford such an expenditure as is required in order 

 to secure the birds against accident. He has not lost a 

 single bird from disease, but all he has lo.'it has been from 

 exposure to the numerous enemies with which they are 

 surrounded, but which could be succo'ssfuUy overcome 

 by proper protection ; but tliis demands what Jlr. B. 

 cannot afford. If there was any profit in it, the matter 

 would he very different : but it is all outlay and no in- 

 come, and were he not so thoroughly interested in and 

 devoted to the accomplishment of his purpose to prove 

 that birds can be (so to speak) artificially propagated and 

 our country stocked with them, just as' our streams are 

 stocked by artificial means, he would no doubt have 

 abandoned the attempit before this time, requiring, as 

 it has, such unceasing care and constant watchfulness 

 ;uid no inconsiderable expense. And now let jne oiler a 

 bint which my readers lia^'ealready nodoubtanticiiiated. 

 Is there not. among tlie many wealthy sportsmen of om- 

 country, some one who, in the interesls of the experi- 

 ment, wUl come to tlie relief of Hfr. B., and furnish "him 

 with such an' outfit as is really necessary in order to 

 complete success V 1 suggest this upon my'own responsi- 

 bility and wilhuut Mr. B.'s knowledge.' If 1 had the 

 means I would freely assist bim, and give him a fair op- 

 portunity to pro\-e the practicability of his scheme. I 

 am heartily in sympatliy with the efforts, of late years 

 especiallv. to improve tile various strains of bird dogs. 

 Dog shows, field ti-ials, etc.. are all in order ; but if, with 

 the increased excellence of doga and the multiplication 

 of Sfiortsmen. the birds should become so sr'arce. as they 

 have already, in a great many localities where thoy for- 

 ni.erly abounded, of what practical utility is the "keen- 

 nosed pointer or setter. The value of the dog depends 

 upon tlie abuniiaiice of the game. 



I^ul I have digressed from my purpose almost entirely, 

 which wa-s to state the present facts with reference to 

 Mr. Beidirook's quail hatchery, lie has learned from an 

 experience of between two and three ye;u-s how to care 

 for the birds with reference to diet, mating, nesting, 

 hatching, etc, and I venture to suggest th.at his experi- 

 ence is worth more than any one's else in our country, 

 at least in these respects. Among other things perfect 

 quiet on tlio part of strangers in the vicinity of the birds 

 is a matter which he considers positively essential, and 

 yet he will go among them liimsolf without creating any 

 alarm. It is re.ally^ ironderful, knowing this natural shy- 

 ness of the birds, to see him take them up in his hands 

 when only a week or more old. From one pair he has 

 now, after two summers' laying, twenty-eight birds and 

 more eggs in process of incubation. There seems to be 

 no difficulty in getting the hens to lay. I tliink he told 

 me that they had laid this smnmer about 200 eggs, and 

 they are laying yet, but do not seem inolmed to set. So 

 he luis been c'lmpelled to provide an unnatural mother 

 in the diminutive bantam. But here we have altogether 

 too much weight upon the eggs, and after such of ten- 

 der eggs as have survived this pressure have freed the 

 chicks, the little fellows have to run the gauntlet of a 

 fussy, noisy, scratohing foster-mother, who flies at every 

 living thing thatcornes near her almost, at the great dan- 

 ger of trampling the little things to death. And here I 

 am anxious to test the virtue of an incubator, but I have 

 none and Air. Benbrook has none. Who has? and who 

 will provide one in the interest of the experiment '? 



But I must close. "WUl any one of the "Westminster 

 Kennel Club, or any other club, take the trouble to run 

 up to Raritan, on the C.R.R. of N. J., and take a look and 

 convince themselves? 



If an incubator will hatch the eggs, I believe Mr. B. 

 can with his present stock, next summer, rear 1,000 full 

 grown, acclimated birds, aii'i tlieu after that he can sup- 

 ply, in the followtug spring, all clubs desiring to stock 

 such localities as they may prefer. Any one who will 

 devote a few hours to a run up to Raritan, on the C. R. 

 R. of N. J., can .see for themselves, and 1 liave no doubt 

 will return with the conviction that our lively hltle game 

 bird can be so successfully propagated as to revive the 

 good old times when a covey could be flushed in any 

 stnbble. Partds. 



Cleveland, Ohio, Sept, 18th. 

 In July, 1.S79, I purchased a pair of common quails 

 for the purpose of breedhig, which w.ts a failure, the 

 bii'ds not mating. During the winter .and spring months 

 they exhibited signs of mating. July the mating was com- 

 plete, the female laying twenty -three eggs. After the sev- 

 enth egg-iaying, two eggs a day for four consecutive 

 days. After twenty-seven days of incubation (six days 

 overtime was due to dry floor, which might have been 

 prevented by the sprinkling of warm water upon eggs 

 and nest on the twenty -first or twenty-second day), sev- 

 enteen chicks were hatched out. The chicks are now 

 one week old, and are now doing fmely. The quails are 

 confined in an aviary, associated with other birds (song) 

 in a room on third floor of building. The aviary is six feet 

 square, thirteen inches high. Have placed foiu' inohes 

 of fine sand upon floor lor dusting purposes. Twice a 

 week I renew coarse gravel for digestion. The gravel is 

 kept wet by spattering of water from the other birds 

 bathing. Quails will not use dry gravel. Before, and 

 during the laying periods, I fed the female housefUes, 

 beetles, grasshoppers, mealworms and ants' eggs, tlie 

 male reserving all to the female. Seeds : I fed kemp, 

 Canary, rape, millet, wheat and buckwheat. Lettuce, 

 grated carrot, sweet apple, and cabbage chopped fine, for 

 green food, wdiich is an important item, preventing the 

 female from becoming egg-bound, a fatal condition. 

 Ala n plenty of fresh watgr. Quails are immense drinkers, 

 would suggest to thos'j having failed in having their 



eggs hatch out chicks, to separate males and females 

 one montli or more previous to breeding month— July 

 — the male will then be more ardent. 1 may add. that 

 tbe male assisted during the nest-making process, after 

 which, taking veiy little interest, however. On the 

 twenty-first day he" eonnnenced to t.ako an acti ve inter- 

 est, visiting the nest often. On the twenty-seventh I 

 noticed that he had entire charge of the hatching, the fe- 

 male taking charge of the drving of chicles as soon as 

 hatched. During the progress of hatching, both male 

 and female remained on nest and still continued to do 

 the same. Our feeding young quail have boiled eggs 

 chopped fine, mixed with rolled crackers, mealworms 

 and housefUes. They also have access to prepared food 

 for soft-billed birds. " Bradley Hull, M. D. D. D. S. 



DirFJUQDE. Iowa, Sept. ir}th. 

 Mr. S. Root, a photographer of this city and an ardent 

 sportsman, purchased a pair of quail last'winter that had 

 been trapped, and this spring he made a wire screen and 

 ])laced it against a stone wall at an angle of about forty- 

 five degrees from the ground, so as to make a place of 

 about fifteen feet long and three feet wide, and then put 

 his quail inside. About three weeks ago the female 

 made a rough ne.st and laid ten eggs (one was unfortu- 

 nately broken) and a few days .ago five young ones w^ere 

 hatched. Mr. Root informs" me that after laying the hen 

 deserted the nest, and tlie male took full charge and sat 

 on the eggs and hatched them out, and even now takes 

 all the care of them, and at the first note of alarm from 

 him they all run rmder his wings and hide. Mr. Root 

 also states that when he first commenced to set on the 

 eggs he appeared frightened whenever any person came 

 near, but after a few days would get very angry and 

 ruffle up his feathers, but w-uuld not get off as formerly. 

 Mr. Root is very fond of his pets, and next year is going 

 to have a larger place, and put in a number of pair in 

 separate apartments, aa his idea is that they will not 

 breed if all put in together. I shall watch his experi- 

 ment with a great deal of interest. Jdlien. 



S^ff §ttlimfi. 



—AddresH all communications to " Forest and Strmm 

 Publishing Company, New York. " 



FISHWAYS, AND NEW \ORK LAWS THEREON. 



Rome, N. Y., Sept. 9th. 

 Editor Forest and Stream: — 



There is a story told of a man residing in Paris, during 

 the past and frequent changes of administration of gov- 

 ernment in France, who made an agreement with his 

 landlord, to pay a certain sum per week for lodging, and 

 an extra sum to awaken h im every morning and tell liim 

 what form of government he was under for that day. 

 Any one who has been trying to keep track of the game 

 laws and the amendments that have been going on for 

 the last few years, will appreciate the need of j\ist such 

 a landlord. As all sportsmen are assured who are ac- 

 quainted with the characteristics of trout, know that in a 

 lake these trout in the fall of the year go up the inlet 

 and dowai the outlets into the stream to spawn, and to 

 return again to the lake in the spring. liy building a 

 dam on an outlet of a lake, the trout in "the fall pass 

 easUy over the dam into the streani and spawn, but";u-e 

 unable in the spring to retiu-n up to the lake on account 

 of the dam. 



In a few^ years, a lake which before the erection of 

 such a (lam abunded lu trout, would be almost entirely 

 destitnde of them. I have just such a lake in mind. The 

 legislature tried to obviate this difficulty by enacting in 

 1871 (Laws 1t371. chapter 721, p. 30): ''Every person 

 building or maintaining a dam upon any of the fluvial 

 waters of this State, which dam is highe"r that two feet, 

 shall likewise build and maintain during the months of 

 Marcli, April, May, tSeptember, October and November, 

 for the purpose of the passage of (ish, a sluiceway m said 

 channel, at least one fo.jt in depth, at the edge of the 

 dam and of proper Nvidtli, with four inch square cro.ss 

 pieces upon the bottom of the sluiceway three feet ajiart. 

 which sluiceway shall l)e jUaced 'it .m a"ngle of not more 

 than seven degrees, and exteudli"'' entirely to the run- 

 ning water below the dam, ar^=;!^'nii;h sluiceway shall be 

 protected on each side liy an ^'"irDn at letist one foot in 

 height, to confine the water theveiu," and mak)n,g it a 

 penally of §25 for each niunth's viola tions of the above. 



Section 40, of the act of iSrO, is deemed to have re- 

 pealed laws of 1871, cliaptera 7;il and 831, ,-md the other 

 laws following tliereaftei, which brings us down to game 

 laws, of ISSO, which say uothiu.g regardhig shjicewavsin 

 dams. Hence we are without, a \ery valuable law, a'nd ] 

 think too, uue that the compilers of the game law-s had 

 no intention of removing. 1 had occasion to look this 

 matter up, intending to have a certain owner of a da.m 

 comply with the statute, bUt I find that until the statute 

 is again amended, he can arect a dam without a sluice- 

 way, without fear or molestation of the law. * 



THE POUND-NET LAW. 



AT a meeting of the Board of Supervisors of Suffolk 

 County, N.Y., on Sept. 20th, Mr. Halsey p,resented 

 a numerously signed petition of inhabitants of Sag Ifar- 

 bor for the piassage of a law forbidding the setting of 

 pounds, fykes, nets, etc., for fish or eels in the Otter 

 Poutl and Cove, or' within one mile of North Haven 

 Bridge leading thereto. On invitation, Wni. White, of 

 Sag Harbor, was heard in advocacy of tlie law asked for. 

 On motion, petitions were referred to the Cominitteo on 

 Resolutions, and Mi'. Keev'es, from the comraittee. re- 

 ported favorably the foUowiug resulutiou, stating that its 

 piissnge was petitioned for by 109 citizens of Sag Hiirbor, 

 tliat tlie i:oinmittee had considered the sul'ject mid unan- 

 imously agreed to the report. The resolution was read, 

 put on its passage and adopted, all the members present 

 voting in the afiirmative : — 



BESOLUTION so. lil. 



An Act to prevent the taklug of lish and eels in the Otter Pond 

 and Cove at SaK Harbor and tlie waters of the bay near the 

 North Haveu Bridge, in llie lown nf .Southampton. 

 The autliiirlly to pads tills resolution is found in Chapter 4sao 



the laws ol 1S75. It waa passed Sept. 2l3t, IM), bya vote of two-t 



thirds of^ail the luembors elected thereto. 



The Board of Superviaora of the County of Suffolk do flnact :• 

 follows: — 



.Section I. No peri3..n sliall Hah tor ui- orttrh or take an v l'i«!i 

 eels, in any pound, fyke or nci, nor .set or draw anv poniid, : ; 

 or net, in any of the waters of tlmOIO.r Vciiid or the ("ove at : : 

 Harln r, in the Inwu of Southampton, nor in the waters of ^ 

 Harbor Bay within one-lmlf mile of North Haven Bridge. exc. 

 between the fsl of FcliTunry and ihe l.ith nf April, in any yi- 

 and then only lor Ihe piirpi«e of etUehina: frost Oah Hnd alBWlv 



Sep. 2. Adv iroi-fon who shall violuie any of theprorisioiis . i 

 this i!i t Hi, fill oil ronvletina I'orffit and pav the Sum of $35. 



Si;r-;i. Any pii.-on may in bis own nurae helnre any Jusltce n|' 

 tiic ij!.:u'.- oi I hi- lown of ISoulhamptou prosecute for and r.^- 

 cov=r thf peni-.liy ?ppcitled in this net, and on recovery shall ri' 

 ecivij r.he iieimlly after deducting- the espensea. 



Sec. -1. Tills act Khali lake elfeet iitnnndlatelv. 



T. H. UouwiN. Clork. .lOIl.N S. IIA^^ENS, Chalrmau 



;Mr. Reeves, from the same committee, reported ad- 

 verselv uii the petition of rcsuleuts of North Srsi ami 

 vicinity for a law to forbid the setting of seines, fvkes. 

 or set nets in North Sea Harbor and ths channel tlier.- 1.. 

 during March, April and May. The report was adopted 

 and the committee discharged from further consider i 

 tion of the subject. _ 



Dr. GtAjtLicK's Book.— We learn that while the hool., 

 which we noticed in om- issue of 16th inst., was in th- 

 hands of the printer, some one stole out all the portion 

 relating to the famous Bachman controversy, and tl 

 letters of Prof. Baird on this subject, and the authi 

 being an invalid did not discover it until the whole edi 

 tion was bound imd he had received a copy, which necessi 

 tated his rewriting it, and having the entire edition in- 

 bound in order to get it in its place. 



Coruinent upion such an act is unneceaaairy, and we 

 think the man who did it, capable of stealing acorns 

 from a bUnd sow. The Doctor merely wished this to a|i- 

 pear as an act of justice, and to show that there was no 

 longer any misunderstanding lietween persons who in I li ' 

 search for truth had taken other paths. A slip of the p- 

 in the notice made us say. "The angling portion of il. 

 book gives no notice of the black bass, white b.ass,'" etc.. 

 when we meant to say that it did give some account 

 of them. _ 



How THE First Shad Were Katched. —"Aquadal, 

 Pond," Wenonah. N. J., Sept. I7it7i.— I noticed in yom 



issue of the Kith inst.. the communication of Mr. Sell 

 Oreeu. referring to mine, upon "Shad hatchingand Sli; 

 Laws." and expressing a desire to be informed of Hi 

 name and address of the -'old tisherman" who lii 

 hatched the shad at South Hadley Falls. For the infom 

 ation of Mr. Green and others interested, I will make 1 1 

 following statement. During the latter pari of last ih<: 

 I visitetrSouth Hadley Falls lo make an examination 

 the fishway attached to the Holyoke dam, ,'ind to obt;. 

 such general information as I could, in rcpird to i 

 matters at that point and vicinity. While making .soii 

 investigations in the city of Holyoke, I referred to whai 

 supposed was the fact, that Mr. Green hatched the fii 

 shad at that point. I ^vas surprisedupon being inforni' 

 that an old shad fisherman at the Falls was the ni.i 

 w^ho first succeeded in tlie attempt. I asked his naio^ 

 and wtis informed that it was "Smith." (I presumo Mi 

 Ureen may have heard of that name before.) There .i 

 peared to be two or tliree gentlemen in the group, cc 

 versant with the facts, but I know none of them. I li: 

 in my pocket, however, a letter fromE. A. Bracket, Ee j 

 one of the Massachusetts Fish Commission, which coi 

 tains the followmg paragraph : "C. C. Smith of Sour 

 Hailley lalls. is as' well informed in regard to fish in ti. 

 river as anv one I am acquainted with." Havinglearn 

 from others that the .shad fishing at the falls was iu r 

 hands of ■■Capt. Smith." 1 concluded he w-as the lu.in ' 

 ferred toby the different parties, and having occa.^ion i 

 call upon him the same day, I referred casually to Sii 

 Green's success in hatcliiug shad there. He at once fi' 

 plied that Mr. Green's attempt was a failure, and then n 

 peatedwhatl had already heard at Holyoke, and su 

 stantially what I said in your issue of Aug. SOtli, ili 

 father of Capt. Smith being the old fisherman referred I 

 I beheve he has been dead some years. 



The following clause in my former article, viz: 

 believe ]\lr. i.ireen received the credit/' should have bee 

 further qualified, and Mr. Green should have been crt 

 ited with the method, and Mr. Smith with the idea of 1 1 

 proper location. Mr. Green claims that the hatcbing a 

 done in the river, but either himself or Capt. Smith hi. 

 the otliers there have forgotten the location, ami po. 

 sibly other facts. Milton P. Pkiroe. 



The First Decade of thk United States Fish 

 Commission.— In om- report of the paper read by Pro l 

 G. Brown Goode before the American Association for tl 

 Advancement of Science, Boston, Aug. 38tli, in our issii- 

 of Sept. I'd, there occurred an error which we now tal 

 pleasm-e in correcting. What Prof. Goode said was 

 folloivs : " I am indebted to Prof. Verrell tor the folio;,- 

 ing estimate of the number of species added within tii 

 past ten years to the faima of New England, mainly I 

 the agency of the Commission ;— 



Formerly Known. Additlong. Now Kno"ii 



Crustacea. . 105 MS :;'•« 



Pvenogoulda .-.. 5 lu ii 



Annelida 67 m ;' ; 



Vermes 39 100 J' 



.Mollusea 31T 10» «<' 



Ki'hinoriermata 47 41 ^ 



Authoz.ui or Polyps 20 35 f 



HyOiozi.aorAcalbphs.... lOa 78 m 



o„oda. 



, m 



'I'otjll 80O 



91 



1,000 



liit'O 



TNlAOKBREL Fab Sooth.— The Charleston, S. C, AY'i' 

 says : '• On Saturday last, while the crew of the flshirif 

 smack Hannah E. Thompson were fishing on Black Fish 

 Banks, oft' the bar, they struck a school of genuine down 

 Fast juackerel, and succeeded in taking one of thera. 

 None of thera have ever been seen south of Cape LotiK' 

 out. It is possible that the confusion, which seems to 

 agitate the State of Maine, may have driven these Hsli to 

 seek the seclusive and quiet waters of the South Atlantici 

 The epecunen taken is a perfect beauty, about 1'2 mcb('» 

 m length, The same fishermen also caught an unusaily 

 large aea-robin or flying fish." 



