39§ 



RECREA TION. 



less body of a young robin. Looking up 

 into the tree I heard a scratching but could 

 see nothing as it was so dark. 



Determined to know what was after my 

 robins I hung an old coat on the tree, and 

 early the next morning investigated once 

 more, pistol in hand. A moment's search 

 revealed Mr. Hudsonicus, who came down 

 at once at the call of a .22. 



He was an old male. The robin would 

 weigh nearly as much as the red, though its 

 wing feathers were not fully grown. I had 

 supposed all the young robins were on the 

 wing 6 weeks ago. Another thing. Only 

 2 weeks ago I killed a gray squirrel in the 

 same tree, the cries of the robins having 

 called my attention to him. 



A young man here who heard of my 

 squirrel declared he had once frightened 

 away a gray squirrel that was devouring a 

 young chicken. Next! 



P. P. Beal, Lisbon Falls, Me. 



KILL THE SPARROWS. 



Is the English sparrow an insect eating 

 bird or a game bird? The Cincinnati au- 

 thorities have offered a reward of 25 cents 

 a dozen for the heads of these birds, which 

 would seem to indicate that they should 

 be classed as legitimate game anywhere. 

 Is there any law forbidding the killing of 

 sparrows in Kentucky? 



E. J. Covington, Ky. 



I do not know of a law prohibiting the 

 killing of sparrows in any state and cer- 

 tainly there should be no such law. Near- 

 ly all incorporated towns and cities have 

 laws forbidding the discharge of firearms 

 within their limits. This is necessary for 

 the protection of human life and for the 

 preservation of the peace. All the same, 

 these city and town ordinances should at 

 once be amended in such a way as to per- 

 mit the killing of sparrows. A number of 

 expert shots should be employed as police- 

 men in every town where sparrows 

 abound. These officers should be required 

 to kill every sparrow they can find. The 

 bird is generally considered an unmiti- 

 gated nuisance and should be destroyed as 

 fast as possible. 



Many people, through a mistaken idea 

 of kindness, feed the sparrows about their 

 houses. This is all right enough, but the 

 food they put out should be soaked in a 

 strong solution of strychnine. 



Under existing conditions, the only 

 thing sportsmen can do is to kill these 

 birds outside of the corporate limits of 

 towns and cities and to destroy their nests 

 within such corporate limits. If all lovers 

 of our native song and insectivorous birds 

 would engage in a war of this character 

 and keep it up a few years, these ornery 

 little English pests might be exterminated. 

 — Editor. 



BREEDING HABITS OF SOUTHERN QUAIL. 



Haslin, N. C. 

 Editor Recreation: I notice, in October 

 Recreation, a letter from J. P. Buford, 

 of Virginia, replying to my notes in the 

 May number relative to quails rearing 2 

 broods of young, in one season, in the 

 South. It appears to me his position is un- 

 tenable at best, and I am somewhat sur- 

 prised that, with the experience and obser- 

 vation of 40 years to draw on, he does not 

 advance a better reason to prove what he 

 claims. I fancy he would find it hard to 

 convince quail shooters that he is able to 

 distinguish, alive, at a distance, one pair of 

 quails from another, without natural or ar- 

 tificial marks. Yet on this point he seems 

 to base his belief that quail, in the South, 

 often rear 2 broods in one season. From 

 careful study of this bird, in no case do I 

 believe this true. When quail lose by rain, 

 robbery or in any way the eggs or very 

 young birds they will, if it be early in the 

 season, attempt to rear another brood. But 

 I've yet to find an instance where there was 

 the least evidence of one pair of quails 

 hatching and bringing 2 broods to matu- 

 rity in one season. I often see quail of dis- 

 tinguishable sizes together with only 2 old 

 birds to care for them. This, I've no doubt, 

 has led many to believe that the old birds 

 were the parents of both lots. This is an 

 error. The parent birds become an easy 

 prey to their most stupid enemies in try- 

 ing to draw attention from their young. 

 It is an acknowledged fact that when young 

 quail or any other birds which are reared in 

 broods on the ground, are deprived of their 

 leaders they at once associate themselves, 

 if possible, with others of their kind. This 

 is the case when birds of 2 sizes are found 

 together with only 2 old birds to lead them. 

 F. P. Latham. 



FANTAIL OR FLAGTAIL DEER. 



In January Recreation, Mr. Thompson 

 asks about the fantail, or flagtail, deer. I 

 have hunted them extensively and know 

 their habits. They may be found in large 

 numbe'rs along the Rio Grande bottoms, in 

 Western Texas and New Mexico. They 

 are still more common in Grant, Socorro, 

 and Sierra counties, New Mexico, in the 

 Mogollon and Black Range mountains. 



They are extremely wild and will carry 

 more lead than any other animal I ever 

 hunted. They are generally found on the 

 highest peaks and where live oak grows 

 thickly. I have known them to lay in 

 thick brush and let a man walk past them 

 within 30 feet. They feed on foliage as do 

 other deer. They never leave their high 

 ranges unless driven out by heavy snow, 

 and then they descend only far enough to 

 escape the worst of the storm. 



I have killed a number # of does that did 

 not weigh over 50 or 60 pounds and a buck 

 weighing 100 pounds is an exception. 



