388 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dbobmbbb IS, 1881. 



SNOW GEESE IN THE DELAWARE. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



I have lately received a letter from Mr Win, Dtileher, of 

 your city, making inquiry relative to the yearly pr s i in 

 great numbers of the snow goose in the nei il 



Bombay Hook, Delaware Bay. Iu my commit, n ca 

 you a week or so since 1 stated that "duos Bhool I il -<y 

 tli a yearly I lock of snow geese that appears in the Delaware, 



below Bombay Hook, ha? cot yet shown itself." 'I 



lead persona to think the floek makes a regular autumnal ap- 

 pearance there, I Ekould have stated the yearly Hoc 

 snow geese that makes its appearance every spring in the 

 neighborhood of Bombay Hook has not shown ill ; hi 

 fall. Further inquiry Leads me to believe it Is only seen in 

 great bodies in the spring, and for the benefit of those inter- 

 ested in Ihe nioi ate I 1 would state that, to 



my knowledge, ten years ago an ccasi inal bract; or two of 

 8now geese, shot in our bay, could be found at the 

 dealers of Philadelphia. 1 generally purchased them when- 

 ever I found them, and no one seemed to know what tbey 

 were, or of lheir delicacy when served for the table. Ah n 

 four or five years ago two of our most expert professional 

 duck shooters. John McCullum and John Brown, were down 

 the Delaware, below Bombay Hook, and finding ducks very 

 scarce came across immense flocks Df snow geese. Not 

 being acquainted with the fowl, but knowing they belonged 

 to the goose family, they paddled on them, got several shots, 

 and filled their skiff. Tins was in the spring of the year, 

 either the last of March or 1st of April. The birds "were 

 sent to Philadelphia, but could not be sold, hardly given 

 away. Mr. John Krider and Mr. Abbott got a number of 

 skins; at least your correspondent saw litem at Iv rider's 

 store. The flock has yearly made its appearance since then, 



so I am told by these g 

 spring, Gapt. A. II. Clay, i 

 amateur duck shooters, fou 

 hood, and, not'c'mi 

 to feed ou the young grass i 

 inch and a half board sevi 

 them white. From an imp. 

 and killed some of the tow 

 whete the geese started f 

 sitting in immense flocks) 

 noise their gabbling male 

 him, and instead of com 

 which case he could have 1 

 seemed to take its flight 



are not molested. Last 



Philadelphia, one ot out best 



A them in the same neighbor- 



•esorted to the burned meadows 



st shooting up, cut out from an 



al profile decoys, and painted 



unpin blind he got several shots, 



lie staled to the writer that 



an the bay (where they were 



or their feeding grounds, Lite 



as they flaw in almost deafened 



ihg to him in small parties, in 



ad bettor shotting, the great body 



two divisions, and thus became 



alarmed together when shooting began. 



Oapt Clay told your correspondent, for a long distauce 

 along the shore the grass had been so pulled up by the fowl 

 in then: feeding as to resemble the Footings of swine. 



If 1 am not mistaken, the writer sa v among the skins of 

 the snow geese which were killed in j rat len- 



ders, those also of the white-fronted goose. Of the informa- 

 tion I give of the former I am positive. I know of no local 

 gunner at Bombay Hook, but Mr. Hatcher can get all 

 additional information he may desire by addressing "Capt. 

 A. H. Clay, cave John Krider, Second aod Walnut streets, 

 Philadelphia; or of John McCullum and Joha Brown at 

 Siine store," either of whom, or both, would be glad, 1 

 t. 'link to procure goad specimens for Mr. Hatcher next 

 spring. Homo. 



The Tajik Quail "Bob"— Editor Forest and Stream : N. 

 D. Elting, of Huntington, W r . Va., has a quail domesticated, 

 so tame juaeed thai he can be carried through the streets upon 

 an umbrella. Mr. E. will take him into the middle of the 

 street and let him roll in the dust. A crowd will gather 

 and vehicles pass, but " Cob" goes on with great gusto and 

 nonchalance, taking his dust ba'h with a chuckle of perfect 

 satisfaction. He was taken to the woods one day, and he 

 called up another bird that was piping in the fence, and 

 offered him battle. The conflict was "sharp, but Mr. E. 

 parted them before victory was decided. In lighting, the 

 quail strikes as the barnyard cock does while holding on with 

 tic Dill. Mr. E. has bad several quails, but couid not tame 

 them as thoroughly as he has " Bob."* 



la Tamed —Mr. Franklin Satterthwatte, 

 iaVi fu'a, write in a private letter, of 

 u of Ihe editors of Fottsts'l' asd Stkuam 

 b experience I i domesticating wild fowl, 

 t again: "I have two crippled brant, for 

 tig-tipped and one of them took food from 

 a rad day of his incarceration fh an old pig- 

 e kept. They are beauties and I have he- 

 al to them. They will Vie shipped to you 

 iru, cabbage, grass, etc. The weather has 

 the geese to come, but ducks and brant 



-In the cm rent 

 8tntes NattOBal 



led a in."., wii 

 and of St. Chris- 



poclfli 

 her iii May 1880. 

 e bill, as a rule, 

 is of the birds of 

 .blecontril 



A Bk:\xt R-sAtM 

 at present shooting 

 the 5th inst., to run 

 who has had a littl 

 and wishes to try i 

 you. Both ere we 

 my band on the se 

 pen, where they at 

 come much attach* 

 soon. They eat cc 

 been too warm for 

 are plentiful." 



A New Sob-Spkoiks of Lu.vcii i.v.- 

 volume of the Proceedings of the United 

 Museum, Mr. Geo. S. Lawrence has descril 

 of Loxigilla portoriceniis, collected in the i-' 

 topher, W. I. This bird, to whl h tbi 

 qrandi's has been given, was taken by Mr. 

 ft resembles L. )mrto?keasi^ but is larger, (h 

 markedly so. Mr. Lawrence's investtgatioi 

 the West Indies Islands ha eebeen most va.lun 

 to our knowledge of American omil I il ij 



A Duck's Appetite — Toms River, Ocean Co., New 

 Jersey, Dec. 1, 1831. — A friend of your correspondent at 

 Manakawken, in this county, owned a Muscovy duck two 

 years old, which had never had a Fl square" meal" Desiiiug 

 to ascertain the storage capacity of the duck my friend 

 it, an unlimited quantity of corn. The duck succeeded in 

 consuming two quarts of the whole amount, and then lay 

 down and died.— N. II. L, 



A Quail's Momentum. — Editor Forest and Stream: Prime 

 idea of the solidity of the quail and his velocity in flight 

 may be conceived from the fact that B man riding on the 



cars was struck in the face b. of Lb e birds, and was 



Jelled as if by a stone. He , 



know who had knocked bim clown, lie Was shown the 

 quail that had fallen at his feet, which he picked up, and in 

 passion hurled it. to the ground. ! 



Loading FOB Game.— Much diversity of opinion prevails 

 as to the correct loading for different ad ■ game. It. is 

 a subject upon which wc should like to hear tie; experience 

 of gunners. 



§$mii? §ag mid g«m 



THE VALLEY QUAIL AS A GAME BIUD. 



TITR THBEATEKED " QUAII.-OASNEl: Y." 



Bii ramesto, Cal., Dec. 1, IS8I. 

 Editor Forest and Sire.. 



Beading iu your interesting journal of last week an edi- 

 torial paragraph concerning regular shipments of vast quanti- 

 ties of American, game to Europe, reminds me of the fact 

 that strong legislation will be necessary one of these (lays to 

 prevent the extermination of Ihe quails of this State. That 

 these birds are yet numerous in some places, is due ouly to 

 the fact that ours is but a young State as yet, and spareely 

 settled. The thirst for slaughter is rapidly growing, bow- 

 ever, and go where one will in CalifOl nia to day, he will find 

 that the pot-hunter and representatives of that class of shoot- 

 ers, whose sole idea of sportsmanship is to kill the greatest 

 number of birds in the shortest possible time, have been 

 there before him. 



When the writer came to California, twenty-seven years 

 ago, game of all kinds was abundant— quails particularly so 

 —everywhere. To-day one must go at least twenty miles 

 from this city, to the nearest foot-hills of the Sierras or Coast 

 Range Mountains, in order to find enough of these birds to 

 make even a reasonable bag in a day. Formerly the birds 

 could be found any where, even in the valleys, where they 

 frequented the bushes along the watercourses, and mornings 

 and evenings could be seen running in the public highways 

 in flocks. But, like the deer, they are yearly being driven 

 into the leas frequented places, and even when found in any 

 considerable numbers, it is generally where the cover is so 

 thick; lhat it is difficult to hunt them successfully. This is 

 the case in central and northern California, while in some of 

 the southern counties they are said to be still very numerous. 

 But even there the plunderers have commenced their nefari 

 ous work by netting the birds by wholesale and sending 

 them to the San Francisco market. Here they are offered 

 for sale at from 75 cents to 81.25 per dozen as long as they 

 Will keep. ; and when they begin to spoil they are disposed of 

 to itinerant peddlers, who hawk them about the streets for 

 about 50 cents per dozen. This fall the newly organized 

 State Sportsmen's Association took this matter in hand, and 

 causer! the arrest of several parties engaged in the business of 

 trapping, who were prosecuted, convicted and severely pun- 

 ished for their disregard of the law. Still it will be difficult 

 to prevent the wholesale trapping of quail for the market, as 

 the trappers can pursue their illegal callingin such out-of-the- 

 way places that it will be next to impossible to hear anything 

 against them. The result, will be that in a few years wo will 

 hear no more of flocks of quails numbering from 500 or 1,030 

 in the comities of Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Di'-go, 

 San Bernardino and elsewhere in the southern parts of the 

 Slate. 



This brings me to the matter suggested by the paragraph 

 in the Foeest asd Stbbam, above alluded to. It is said that 

 there are persons who have actually in contemplation the 

 starting of a quail cannery in this State. Think of it— an 

 establishment for canning quails! Of course, in order to 

 keep such an institution running during the season, every 

 locality frequented by the birds would be scoured by the pot- 

 hunters and trappers; the conscienceless emissaries of the, 

 creatures who would enrich themselves at the expense of 

 robbing the people of the State of their choicest game birds. 

 From quail-canning they would come in a short time lo 

 shipping the b.rds out of the State by rati, aud I can see no 

 way in which to prevent a result of this kind except by the 

 Legislature awakening to the importance of the occasion, 

 and making it a penal oU'ence for any person to do either— 

 to engage in quail cunning or quad exportation. With 

 proper care the quails in California can be so protected as to 

 furnish excellent sport— even a reasonable market, supph — 

 for at least another generation, and at least in some parts of 

 the State.- and it behooves the sportsmen of California to 

 take an active interest iu the, matter. 



The California quail it not a stranger to some of our 

 res [i i in ihe Eastern States, as many of them have visited 

 oar State and enjoyed the rare sport of hunting them. I 

 refer, of course, to the "valley" quail, the olher species 

 known as the "mountain" quail being rarely met wil ' 6 ce] i| 

 in the higher moutains, close to the snow bell. Th Eorn iri 

 a, very game bird; lha U, he is wary and cunning. II baa 

 been asserted that he will not, i'e well to I he dog, audi his is l rue 

 to some extent, but is not the tule. A "great deal depends 

 upon circumstances. If you can get the birds on favorable 

 ground, where the foliage of the trees and bushes is not too 

 thick, and the undergrowth sparse, tbey will— after the first, 

 flushing — lie so clote that a staunch dog might, point one of 

 '.hem for half a day, and often the hunter has to kick them 

 OUt of tneir hiding places. 



One day last fall, while enjoying an afternoon's hunt in a 

 l'tile wood, on the ranch of a friend a few miles down the 

 rtver from here, my .log, running very fast, came suddonh 

 Upon B quail crouched by a little sprout of oak, in the grass. 

 was running so fast and came so suddenly upon the 

 bird (ihe day was warm and the ground was dry, so that the 

 scent was very slight), lhat. when he drew up his nose 

 was probably not mere than feix inches from it. Whether 

 unduly excited by the proximity of ihe bud, or whether the 

 latlei made a movement of some kind, I know not, but the 

 dog eo far forgot himself as to make a spring and catch it, 

 to me unhurt. This I proved by giving it. wing 

 until it had reached twenty or thirty yards, when (of course) 

 1 br night it down. 



That the birds give out a strong scent there can be no 

 doubt. About three years ago I was out duck shooting about 

 three miles from town, when a storm came up aud I was 

 forced to seek a vacant shanty in a neighboring pasture, in 

 which there were fifreeu or twenty acres of trees, wild-rose, 

 thickets aud cockle-burra. While waiting for the shower to 

 I heard some quails calling near by, and changing 

 in; No. B'S for 8's soon made Off toward where the "no-you- 

 don't " notes were coming from. 1 had not gone far through 

 ■- : and wet e.rass before my setter, which had ranged 

 oil to my right and was then coming toward me (against the 

 wind), came to a beautiful point, He had been worked 

 bl tei on quails atid 1 was not a little stir- 



i walked toward him, aud 

 whi il within abj u 6f e, n yards flushed a quail altiaosl from 

 under my feet aud in a direct line with bis point. The bird 

 llew on over the dog and I killed it, the dog retrieving. As 

 soon as he reachi d the same spot, however, with the turd in 

 his mo'Ulh, he stopped., sniffed the air a second or two as if to 

 make sure, and then came to another staunch point as before. 



I advanced a few steps and flushed a bird (the one he had 

 first poiuied)at leastlenyards in front ■ I bun. this was worth 

 more than a cartload ol wonld unci so 1 confined 



my attention ihe rest of Ihe afteTUi OH 



ground was moist bich must have increased the birds' 



scent, as Ihe do; w irds ol Iri i ts within a 



couple of hours, thf re being two or three coveys of quails on 



the place. In one il e he center] i 



been near;- . - distant unci thirty feet from the 



This o M ■■ ini ■ ' ae that, Ui ■ ; i Itions, there 



is no bird lhat affords belt,: r sp >rl, for the gunner, i r prel 

 tier work for the dog, than the blue valley qu cift 



slope. Of course we cannot hunt them in stubbleS .. ioi 



1 nfiel iut friends east of the Rockies do their quails 



and prairie chickens, and we have o, 



somen to find then i they are 



found they will give the best of shots :.. ugb lo do to bag 

 ope to see them introduced in the Middle and 

 Southern States some dav, and then you can try I hem your- 

 self. N. E W, 



OLD TIMES AT MONTAUK. 



'■: 



visited thei 



n, and one 

 i the c 



iELPHIA, Dec. 3. 

 : a communication 

 nei, in which he 

 'lay situ- 

 1 of Long Island, 

 e, but at that time 

 of the very best 



000 acres, if I remember 

 as one vast grazing ground, 

 known as the Indian Fi I d. 



IN a recent issue of your pa] 

 front Isaac McLel'lnn, of 

 speaks of Great Pond, a once I 

 ated i D Hontauk, the extreme 

 It is some twenty years since I 

 it was a paradise for sportster, 

 points for wild fowi si 



Montauk lire per contains boi 

 correctly, and When I knew it 

 Or at, least so much of it a3 w 

 The land was owned principally by farmer! 

 towns of East Hampton, Amagansett and Bridg 

 and at stated intervals the cattle were driven on and off, and 

 these drivings wore the great events of the season in that 

 locality. The ride from Sag Harbor to East Hampton was 

 delightful, and from there to imagaosetl tolerably so, bui 

 across M apt-ague Beach and on to the light-house it w is a, 

 lerror, as many an upset would fully prove, 

 kept by Pat Gould, and he "entertained ins \ 



table manner. Judge Abraham T. Kose, of Bridge Qani] 

 was a, regular visiior there, and Hubbard Fordhain, Henry 

 Phelps, Henry Huuttmg and Daniel Z. Bellows c uiltt be 

 depended on to respondal short notice when Gould suit a 

 message to them at&as. Harl i bn pmewasal undant. .It, 

 was told of Judge Rose, thai Ik was trying an important 

 cast- when For'' am si n| v.-, ird'i eose 



Montauk in great num. rs, wh< . suddenly dis- 



covered that important papers were missing and the ease 

 must lie over for one week; and it was positively asserted 

 that in a half hour's time he was seen cleaning out. his gun in 

 the back-yard. ThfiBfi gent] enl it ports- 



men of the old school, end w6M a eredit Lo the sporting 

 fraternity in their day add generation; but they have pjssed 

 away. 



One of the institutions in those days on Montauk was old 

 Putnam, a, negro, who lived with Gould; aud to hear him 

 describe the acres of geese and duck he had seen and the 

 swarti! he cut, through them with, bis Oh . 8 really 



a in ag, for he had told the sti ' 

 them himself. 



Beferring to the pond again, I was net aware the salt 

 water had hectt let into it, -and if the present owner, wh 

 he may be, will put an end to it he wilt be al 

 and I wamld really like to sec the experimont tried of sowing 

 it, or at least a portion of it, With Wild sice. 1 doubt ll '", 

 ever, if there is ever a return of the old Bight, for it is this 

 incessant hammering, I dropping, that wears 



away the stone, and the fowl nal laces of greater 



Bafety and away from the centres ol c vilization. 



The breech-loader may not be directly responsible, hut, ttS 

 advent among sportsmen has increase I their number by 

 thousands; aud who would think of . 

 wiih a muzzle gun, or how ma ay city sportsmen especially 

 would goto Bill Lane's, few instance, and go through the 

 old pr, cess of loa'ling with froz;n : Ivertng 



bodii s. The game would not. be worth t he eand le a for using 

 a breech- loader for on sason, and in fact is hardly worth 

 the candle now in many local ties mi Long Island ati [01 a 

 the .N( w Jersey coast, f .see ni sure for pt to 



abandon all shooting until the fowl ,i inled hick again, 

 suitably pjQtectiBg tl.ein, unil another 

 iw. The business of some would no 

 pleasure rtf many i ithers wouli I bi 

 obtained would, 1 think, most amply 

 lemporary restriction, fears ago the 

 s now Atlantic City was mosl escelteut 

 nt, noW, Wl ares to. alight — 



berei I I hi rfLer them from 

 ass. and if they succeed in tunning the 



v, eo hi in fleptji or wood embraced, . 

 Snmi' Laijjil r Isiai 



and one that cannot be reached in by tail, 



mth t smokii . I til of gunners. I havevisited every 



hoi i ig ! ic i. , ', irn ffontaulc Point to Cobb's Island, Va., 

 ami I Sear Ihe same old stoi'i of what used to be before 

 3h nii'i-i b td bi e na< sue! isslii ie, and before; 



.oil' had 

 become so common, We must go slow;, gentlemen, or we 

 shall tdon have no s ooti in eat all. 



I will ,''i iby Id-tltae 



correspoudepts "Engineer," ' Forty-five," "Straight Bi re," 

 " Glenn : " etc., etc.' They were tiasy and graceful Writers; 

 and their letters were read With much i i - i nk it 



high time they were stirred up and given to understand that 

 they must come to the front Or be .end out of r lunch, 



Pink Edge. 



('AKimuj KJELBD WITH A 33-CAiIBBB RkVOLVEB — Buffalo, 

 Dec. & — Editor Forest anil Stream; The Quebi/j iJ.u'ly 

 Telegraph, under date of Novemb tmns a 



sworn affidavit by Franci. Kenned; tad I if 'lefiae, 

 of Douglasstown, Province of Qua ercin ihoy 



certify to the killing by a Smith & Wesson SS-Cftlibra 

 reviver, at, a distance of ton y-twoyards, of a caribou 

 of 175 pounds weight oft I be caribou was 



shot through of 



buntc's. wl oba ly neverdi ower of 



t calibre tesce ., lem-e 



a Basin, OUS of ilie heel htmt- 



ing grounds I'm '. re, ai, as thecounii is an 



i e. and almost inpenelrable wilderness.— Chablss 



Ll.NIVBN. 



and then pi 



.-s laws 



t'iniig, enfon 



e the 1 



doubt an Iter, 



and Ihe 



tailed, bul CI 



resulti 







shooting abo 





,.i ,- IcS IB 





in or oui of l 





all points of 



/ 



gauntlet they 







