FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



45 



to assist the editor in making the scald as 

 thorough as possible. When any one kills 

 game illegally, or for the market, or acts 

 hoggish, it is our duty to report him to 

 Recreation at once, and assist thereby in 

 giving him a complete scalding. Let us 

 see that not only the bristles are taken off, 

 but the hide as well. 



There is no journal published that takes 

 so active a part in exterminating the biped 

 game swine as does Recreation. We 

 should all be thankful we have such a true 

 sportsman as the editor of Recreation. 

 Dan Wogaman, Quincy, O. 



MALLARDS AND FISH BAIT. 



Willits, Cal. 



Editor Recreation: For the last 3 

 months I have been in Mendocino county, 

 California, establishing a fishery station at 

 Little Lake valley, for the San Francisco 

 and North Pacific Ry. Co., to supply trout 

 eggs for their hatchery at Ukiah. The val- 

 ley proper is 8 or 10 miles long by 2 or 3 

 broad. The lower portion, toward the out- 

 let, forms a lake in the winter, grown up 

 with tule, cat-tail and marsh grasses, and 

 remains swampy throughout the year. 

 Mallard ducks breed in this swamp in great 

 numbers; remaining all the year and af- 

 fording good shooting when the season 

 opens. Later, the migratory ducks come 

 in. Recently we had quite a snow storm 

 and everything was covered to a depth of 

 several inches. A boy living here dressed 

 himself in a sheet and sallied forth to the 

 marsh. In the evening he came in with all 

 the ducks he could carry. He said they 

 took him for a snow drift. 



Last season a young man living here 

 tried the experiment of domesticating the 

 mallard. He went on a nest hunt and found 

 16 with from 15 to 20 eggs in each. He 

 took one clutch home and placed them 

 under an old hen who had made her nest 

 in a box partly full of feathers. In due 

 season the hen left her nest with part of her 

 brood, leaving 4 or 5 eggs among the 

 feathers, not hatched. He went to the box 

 and found the eggs cold, supposed them to 

 be dead and was much surprised, a few days 

 later, to hear a peeping in the box. On 

 looking in he found all had hatched. When 

 the brood were fully feathered they were as 

 gentle as the other fowls in the yard; but 

 one day he saw an old mallard duck light 

 among them and the whole brood took 

 wing, flew off to the marsh, and never re- 

 turned. 



One of our local fishermen asked me the 

 other day if I ever used mussels for bait. 

 "I have done so," I said. "Well," said 

 he, " I will put you on to a good scheme. 

 At the outlet of the lake there are lots of 

 mussels, and you may have noticed there 

 are lots of water snakes, too. Now, sir, 

 along in the spring these snakes go after 

 the mussels for food, and as the mussel 



lays with its shell open, the fool snake puts 

 his head in and mussel shuts down on him. 

 Of a warm day you will find lots of snakes 

 wiggling out on the bank with a mussc' 

 fast to their heads. All you have to do is 

 to pick them up and shake the snake off, 

 and you can get all the bait you want, in a 

 short time. 



Alfred V. LaMotte. 



CANADIAN GAME NOTES. 



Colles, Alberta, Can. 



Editor Recreation: The grouse shoot- 

 ing season in Northwest Canada closed on 

 December 15th. In this locality, at least, 

 judging from present indications, there is 

 no likelihood of the sharp-tailed prairie 

 grouse becoming exterminated, for ages to 

 come. In a narrow strip of brush on either 

 side the St. Mary's river, and scarcely a mile 

 in extent, there must have been at least 100 

 of these birds left over. These must be re- 

 garded as purely local birds, because dur- 

 ing the season they were much hunted in 

 this haunt, and consequently no outside 

 birds were likely to resort thither. During 

 the winter season, owing to their habits of 

 roosting on the ground at night, or bury- 

 ing themselves in the loose snow, many 

 will yet fall victims to coyotes, lynx, bob- 

 cats and horned owls all of which haunt 

 this locality. Nevertheless, should next 

 season prove favorable for the young 

 broods, these birds should be abundant 

 next fall. 



Farther up*stream, toward the mountains, 

 where there is more timber, ruffed grouse 

 are met with in fair numbers. In the moun- 

 tains proper, about 40 miles distant, the 

 blue grouse claims a share of the sports- 

 man's attention. 



The only winter birds I've seen thus far 

 in this vicinity, are the common snow bird, 

 the magpie — but this latter is a permanent 

 resident — the raven, the great horned owl, 

 and the snow owl. 



Six gray wolf dens were located, last 

 spring, in the vicinity of the international 

 boundary line, between Montana and Can- 

 ada, representing a juvenile wolf population 

 of 43. The largest number found in a den 

 was 11 apparently healthy youngsters, and 

 the smallest number was 5. In one instance 

 the mother wolf was caught in her den and, 

 with her 8 cubs, destroyed. W. M. 



MR. PRICE DENIES IT. 



Seattle, Wash. 

 Editor Recreation: In your March 

 number you printed an extract from a Seat- 

 tle paper, in which I am mentioned, and use 

 rather harsh language in commenting on 

 same. At the time this was published in the 

 paper mentioned I took occasion to call on 

 the editor and deny the same, and it seems 

 to me that before giving wider publicity to 

 an article of that kind you should have 



