224 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Aprtl 17, 1884. 



Of that a few words, and I submit lists, errors and reply to 

 the public. The author confesses that, to use a slang phrase, 

 he may be "way off" in this announcement; he still believes 

 that be can sustain his position. Too much credit must not 

 be given to the "natives'' in cases of Scientific accuracy, yet 

 everywhere in spring the "natives" recognize three kinds of 

 "passing ducks." One kind stay and breed— the eider 

 proper. Two kinds, they say, remain each onlv a few weeks 

 and then disappear. Of these, if there be two, one 

 is the king eider, 8. spectaMUs. I have shot these by 

 the dozen from flocks of as many thousands, while the 

 native gunners kept saying, "Wait, and you'll get the other 

 kind;" aud then again, "There's another kind yet that you 

 haven't got." One day, while shooting, several of the gun- 

 ners pounced upon a duck I had just shot and exclaimed. 

 "There's the other kind." I hastily examined the bird, but 

 Could find little or no difference between it and the king 

 eider, a, pile of which latter birds lay near us on the rocks. 

 Now, one thing I know, in one of the so-called "kinds" the 

 black mark of the chin was rounded at its apex; in the other 

 it was as clean cut a V-point as it was possible to inake^t. 

 I laid the bird aside to stuff, and the not too scrupulous 

 cook consigned it to the oven in my absence as the fattest 

 one in the mess. I heard occasionally from other parties 

 along the coast who had "shot the other kind of passing 

 ducks," but did not secure a specimen. I still believe 1 can 

 procure suitable specimens of 8. p-mgra from Labrador. Of 

 this kind, if it so be, the guuners say, "It only stays here a 

 week or ten days," and is not found like "the other passing 

 duck," all the spring. W. A. Steakns. 



Amherst, April 4. 



\nv\t §%g m\d 



SOUTHERN 



QUAIL AND 



LIMIT OF 

 GROUSE. 



HAS the extreme southern limit of the Bob White and 

 the ruffed grouse ever been definitely ascertained? 

 Several years ago I crossed on horse back, or rather on mule 

 back, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, through the Republic 

 of Costa Rica, C. A. For forty or forty-live miles after leav- 

 ing the west coast the road constantly ascended until we 

 reached an altitude of 7,000 or 8,000 feet, from which point 

 we looked down upon the beautiful Catanro Valley, where 

 lie the coffee plantations and the towns of San Jose,'Catargo 

 Alajuela, etc. On the coast grew the banana, plantain, 

 cocoa palm, and many other species of purely tropical 

 vegetation, but as we "reached the higher altitudes this 

 gradually changed until near the summit we found the range 

 covered with deciduous trees and a general landscape that 

 strongly reminded me of New England. Here we found 

 several flocks of ruffed grouse which were feeding and dustiug 

 themselves at the side of the road; they were comparatively 

 tame and gave us ample opportunity" to observe them, the 

 cocks strutting about with expanding tails in the manner so 

 familiar to every one. who has ever had the pleasure of hunt- 

 ing this splendid bird, while over their heads high in the air 

 flew the great, gorgeous scarlet macaws, screaming like 

 calliopes. 



A few miles west of the summit was the little village of 

 San Mateo, situated at too great an altitude for the banana 

 and plantain, but not too high for the orange, and on the 

 stone walls that surrounded the small fields in the suburbs of 

 the town sat our old friend Bob White, whistling as loud and 

 clear as we ever heard him in an old whortleberry pasture. 

 We saw neither quail nor grouse after entering the valley, 

 nor did we see or hear either in the hundred miles of tropical 

 forest that closed in upon both sides of thenarrow trail lead- 

 ing from Catargo to the Atlantic. But there is no mistake 

 about their being there, and I am a little curious to know 

 where the southern limit of their range is found. 



San Francisco, Marcti 24. FoitKED DEER. 



A ZOOGENIC PARADOX. 



THERE is nothing which so perplexes one in charge of 

 zoological collections, as the peculiar habits and actions 

 of animals in confinement. He is so constantly brought face 

 to face with occurrences which completely upset all precon- 

 ceived ideas of animal economy, that he finally becomes so 

 case-hardened as to cease to look for what are" supposed to 

 be natural actions from any of his charges. The following 

 recent occurrence will serve to show the last stumbling block 

 in my perplexing calling. 



On the 31st of last December the female axis deer 

 {Ck'vmx axis) in the Society's collection gave birth to 

 a fully developed male fawn, which has grown apace and 

 promises to become a fine specimen. On the 5th inst., 

 a few days over three mouths after the first birth, she 

 bore a fully developed female fawn, which in less 

 than an hour after birth, was strong enough to frisk 

 around its mother. Immediately after birth the mother was 

 found to be seriously sick, and in less than twenty -four 

 hours died. Very naturally, on dissection, the generative 

 organs were first examined, and were found in a healthy 

 coudition, Mr. Dury, the Society's prosector, remarking to 

 me: "If you had not have told me of her having recently 

 given birth to a fawn, it would have been almost impossible 

 tor me to have detected the fact from the state of the organs." 

 Further examination proved that the prime cause of death 

 was fatty degeneration of the heart, hastened by acute inflam- 

 mation of the left lung. At present writing, April 8, the 

 young one is being nursed by bottle, appearing perfectly 

 hearty and healthy, and giving every indication of being 

 successfully reared. Now here is an instance of an animal 

 giving birth to two fully developed young ones within less 

 than one hundred days of each other, whose period of gesta- 

 tion is well known to be eight months, and as customary 

 with the family, only produces once a year. Is it possible 

 that she could have been impregnated at two periods, with 

 the above intervening space of time? If so, those who hme 

 made the zoogeny of the deer a special study, will have to 

 write a new chapter on the subject. Frank J. Thompson. 

 Zoological Garden, Cincinnati. 



KEEPING QUAIL IN CONFINEMENT. 



Editor Foi'rst and Stream; 



As the secretary of the New Jersey Game and Fish Pro- 

 tective Society, it fell to my lot to be designated as one 

 member of the society to care for the large number of live 

 quail procured in December last, to be kept through the 

 winter months for stocking purposes in the spring. The 

 first installment of birds came about the middle of last De- 

 cember, from Tennessee. They were at once turned loose 

 into an inclosure previously constructed on the floor of a 

 large room in the third story of my office. The size of the 

 coop or inclosure was as ( follows:' 16 feet long, 8 feet wide 

 and 2 feet 9 inches in height. Tne top was covered with 

 muslin, stretched tight. The front of the coop was con- 

 structed of open lath work. The back and sides were the 

 brick walls of the building. Two windows over the in- 

 closure allowed streams of sunlight to enter, and gave venti- 

 lation by lowering the top. As fast as other install men ts of 

 birds were received they were turned loose among those 

 already received until there were some 250 in the coop. 

 Another lot of 100 birds being procured from North Caro- 

 lina, another smaller coop was constructed along the west 

 wall of the building. 12 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet 

 high, covered with muslin. The front of both coops were 

 covered over with burlap, shutting out all sight excepting 

 the door where food and water was furnished them. The 

 bottom of each coop was covered with sand and small gravel, 

 wood ashes, and the screenings from hay mows, which 

 formed a covering to the depth of several inches, in which 

 the birds scratched and wallowed. 



At the suggestion of Mr. John J. Willis, of Westfield, N. 

 J., who has had considerable experience in keeping game in 

 confinement and breeding: them, each corner of the inclosure 

 was provided with small limbs or boughs of cedar trees. 

 These were covered over with straw and in one corner with 

 corn stalks. Under these the birds made their roosting 

 places. In two corners were also placed the crates the birds 

 came in, turned upside down, with a small aperture left so 

 they could enter it. These they did not take to much. For 

 food I gave them alternately every two days cracked corn, 

 wheat, and screenings from the grist mill, with pounded 

 oyster shells, and occasionally a little buckwheat. Twice a 

 week cabbages, celery tops, water cresses, or some other 

 greens were given them. Self-feeding drinking cans, such 

 as are used in chicken hatcheries, furnished them water, 

 which was changed every day, and cans were occasionally 

 scalded out. The birds ravenously ate the greens provided 

 for them. And now for the mortality. The birds had been 

 cooped up several days in the crates and were in an exhausted 

 condition upon their arrival. 



In the first weekl lost six of ihe Tennessee birds and two 

 of the North Carolinas. None of them died until Feb. 3, 

 when two more died. Then followed three on the 5th, one 

 on the 6th, nine on the" 9th, two on the 11th, twelve on the 

 12th, and then one and two birds on the 13th, 17th, 18th, 23d 

 and 26th. When the increased mortality occurred on the 

 9th and 12th, at the suggestion of Mr. Willis, who examined 

 them and pronounced the trouble distemper from indigestion, 

 I put a small quantity of sulphur and a number of old nails 

 in the water. After that, they began to improve. During 

 March I did not lose a bird, and only two or three up to the 

 time they were liberated from the 1st to 1 0th of April. About 

 300 were thus kept in good condition, plump, with beautiful 

 plumage and strong of flight, when let loose. The greatest 

 mortality occurred among the Tennessee birds. The North 

 Carolinas seemed stronger and larger birds, and were much 

 wilder. Those in the larger inclosure became quite tame, 

 and did not attempt to fly against the brick sides but against 

 the muslin top when disturbed, which prevented them injur- 

 ing themselves. When it became necessary to catch them, 

 I would crawl into the coop and the birds would seek cover 

 under the cornstalks and straw, where they were easily cap- 

 tured. A large number were also caught under the before 

 mentioned boxes by closing up the entrance to the .inside of 

 it, aud turning it over after they had entered it. If' this 

 statement is of any benefit to others who have had experience 

 in endeavors to keep over quail for breeding purposes, they 

 are welcome to it. W. L. F. 



Platnfield, N. J., April 11, 1884. 



not the method practiced by those who censure fox shooting. 

 Their idea is to play what they consider a fair and equal 

 game, and it is but simple justice to stale that I have never 

 known a hunter of this class to sound a view-halloo. On 

 quest or trail they will aid the dogs with every resource of 

 woodcraft and cheer the chase with all the stimulus of voice 

 and horn, but they would no more think of calling from 

 trail to a sight race than "Awahsoose" would think of taking 

 a pot shot at a huddle of quail, and I cannot put the case 

 stronger than that, for 1 recognize in his letters (fox shooting 

 apart) the unmistakable tone of a true sportsman. 



It is by this scrupulous observance of laws, based on fun- 

 damental qualities of hound and fox, that the issue of the 

 chase is held in nicety of balance, and therein, I take it, lies 

 the fascination of all sport. For in its last analysis sport is 

 conflict, and without approximate equality conflict is im- 

 possible. 



If quail were as slow on wing as sora, who would care to 

 hunt quail? Why do we prefer ruffed grouse to prairie 

 chicken? or woodcock to turkey? The rejected birds are 

 larger than the chosen ones and certainly as toothsome. 



Glance for a moment at the history of field sports and 

 observe how this principle has been illustrated by the sweep- 

 ing changes which have followed each improvement in the 

 fowling piece. With the introduction of the matchlock 

 falconry decayed, and the beagle and harrier began to extend 

 their domain. These, in turn, received a relative check from 

 the flintlock, which widened the sphere of the shotgun and 

 extended its scope to slow-flying birds. With the invention 

 of the percussion cap came still greater changes. It gave us 

 modern wing-shooting and all that modern wdng-shoofing 

 implies— pointers, setters, breechloaders and all the parapher- 

 nalia of the field. It enthroned the neglected quail as prince 

 of game birds and debased ground game into vermin. It 

 gave us a literature of sport which reacted upon and exalted 

 every form of outdoor amusement and made possible the ex- 

 istence of such a journal as our splendid and beloved Fokest 

 and Stream. 



But amid all these changes, these constant efforts toward a 

 maintenance of equilibrium in presence of the ever disturb- 

 ing factor of mechanical improvement, the old sport of fox 

 hunting remains what it was of yore. 



''Age cannot wither it, nor custom stale 

 Its infinite"— stability. 



Horse and rider, hound and fox, are to-day substantially 

 what they were in the centuries gone by, and the devotees of 

 the chase simply ask that an extraneous agency shall not 

 be employed to compass the destruction of their chosen 

 sport. 



Of "the Newport style of hunting" I know nothing. The 

 anise-seed bag I suppose is pretty much a counterpart of the 

 glass ball, and need scarcely excite one's indignation. Dan- 

 dies, it is said, make excellent soldiers, and for aught we 

 know, fops may develop into acceptable sportsmen. In any 

 case, let us give these gentlemen a fair chance, for surely t he 

 dude affords as noble a spectacle when chasing a burnt bone 

 over the open fields, as when carrying a cane on the pave- 

 ment. In short, it is a move in the right direction, and for 

 my part I sincerely hope that he will not "break his neck in 

 his servile imitation of British sport." For a fellow who takes 

 those chances has good stuff in him, and the fact that he 

 was not cradled in the saddle adds immensely to his merit. 

 The new theory that "it is unsportsmanlike to shoot foxes 

 because it is un-English," sounds somewhat peculiar to us, 

 inasmuch as our fox hunting usages go back to an earlier 

 time than the lauding of the Pilgrims, or the first settlement 

 of New York. 



To throw the matter into a sentence: There are deadlier 

 ways of taking all kinds of fish and game than those prac- 

 ticed by sportsmen, and if sportsmen themselves willfully 

 ignore each others' methods, how can they expect the gen- 

 eral public to give even a patient hearing to their claims? 



Glen Allen, Va., Aj>ril 6, 1884. WatIZEE. 



BrnD Note. — I inclose report of my observations of the 

 arrival of birds during March: P. R. — March 6, crow 

 iCorvtis amr/ira/tiix), common. W. V. — March 7, Acadian 

 owl (Nyctale aeadiu), rare; 18th, great northern shrike 

 (Lanius Jborealis). S. R. — March 5, Phoebe (Oonlopu* fun- 

 common; horned lark (EremopMla alpc-vtrix); 0th, rob- 

 ins (Turdus migratarius), males only; 21st, bluebirds < 

 sialis), males only; song sparrows (Meloxpisa inclodia), com- 

 mon; red winged blackbird (Agdmua pkomicem), common; 

 24th, purple grackle (Quiscaius purpureas), common; 28th, 

 robins, (2'nrdvs ■migraiorius), females; 31st, bluebirds [Sialia 

 sialis), females; cedar waxwings (Amp/Ms cedrwum), com- 

 mon.— J. L. D. (Lockport, N. Y., April 5). 



ETHICS OF FOX HUNTING. 



THAT was rather an unhappy remark of mine on the 

 subject of fox shooting, for I see that "Awahsoose" 

 takes my hyperbole in sober sadness, while on the other 

 hand my fox hunting friends are reproaching me for treat- 

 ing a serious subject with unbecoming levity. , 

 From which I infer that methods of Sport are indeed 

 matters of faith, and, of course, when the emotions are chief 

 interpreters, irony becomes perilous unless property qualified 

 by an explanatory foot ,note. I will be more careful in 

 future, and to avoid all possibility of misconstruction, will 

 follow the illustrious mother of the modern Gracchi and put 

 "all the indignation in capitals and all the sarcasm in italics." 

 However, I have no idea of taking up the cudgels for my 

 fox hunting friends. In the first place they would not let 

 me, for I have laughed too often at the extravagant terms in 

 which they denounce the shotgun exterminators. 



And yet they have a case; a pretty strong case. For of all 

 creatures which exist, the fox, and the fox' alone, meets, and 

 exactly meets, the full requirements of the chase. The hare, 

 the deei', the boar, the bear, the 'coon, the badger, all these 

 are hunted by dogs, and are either shot from runways, 

 brought to bay and dispatched, or worried in their dens. 

 But the chase of the fox is altogether different. Different 

 not merely in degree but in kind. It is a mixed game of 

 well balanced strength and skill, mind and muscle, nerve, 

 finesse and fortitude, unfolding constant scope for new re- 

 sources, and dashed with just enough of the element of 

 chance to make results forever uncertain. The fox under- 

 stands his opponents, knows their powers and methods and 

 often their individual characteristics. He is sophisticated, 

 lie ha* passed his life behind the curtains and is familiar 

 with every rope and pulley. His profession is to hunt the 

 hare — single, double, "ride and tie. " To him the mystery 

 of scent is an open book. He knows the value of each arti- 

 fice, makes his road-runs with cool astuteness, notes the re- 

 sult of his doubles, and holds muscle in reserve for needed 

 exigencies. 



Of course, he may be hunted differently. You may head 

 him off, cut his doubles and throw the dogs on him when- 

 ever he shows up, as in average hare hunting; but that is 



THE FIRST GEESE OF THE SEASON. 



C'l AME here this winter has not been so plentiful as some 

 X seasons before, on account of scarcity of rain, and so 

 ducks and geese could find very little food; and many an 

 eager look has been directed toward the southern horizon 

 during the last few months in search of rain clouds. When, 

 therefore, our ears were greeted by the "gentle patter of the 

 rain upon the roof," one night last January, you can imag- 

 ine how delighted we were. We were glad, too, to have it 

 continue for three or four days; and many were i he boasts 

 made by this one and that one as to who should first get to 

 the "honkers." Many an eager look was directed toward 

 everv farmer who chanced to"come into town after the rain, 

 and ""Any geese out your way?" was often repeated, only to 

 be replied to by a solemn shake of the head and a correspond- 

 ing droop on the part of the quest iouer. 



At last, however, I was delighted to hear that an immense 

 band of "honkers" had located some twelve miles out, and 

 immediately hunting up young Morgan, we engaged a team 

 and driver and arranged to start the ensuing Tuesday. 



Tuesday morning came — cold and rainy, but we got away 

 about 7 o'clock, a late start, and in due time reached the 

 place near where I was informed the geese were, but after 

 taking observations all over the surrounding country in 

 every direction we came to the conclusion that we were 

 "badly left," for not a goose or track could we see. We 

 were on the mesa or high plain overlooking the ocean up 

 the coast about fifteen niiles, and distant from La Jolla, a 

 favorite seaside resort, twelve miles; from town, about three 

 miles- 

 There being a large canon coming down to the ocean, be- 

 tween us and La Jolla, and as it was next to impossible to 

 get on to the beach from the mesa, we should have to make a 

 return drive of about six miles to get to La Jolla, and by 

 the aid of a glass we could see, or thought we could ,_ some- 

 thing foreign on the sidehills at La Jolla. We decided to 

 attempt to get there by going on the beach, as we were after 

 geese, and Morgan and 1 were both pretty certain we saw a 

 baud of them light on the mesa opposite La Jolla. So down 

 we went. There had never been a wagon down there be- 

 foie, so far as we had heard, and it was an open question 

 for a time whether we would get down right or wrong side 

 up, \\ T e Avere decided at length by seeing an almost obliter- 

 ated wagon track ahead of us, and continued on down de- 

 spite the remonstrance of our driver. 



By taking the horses off once and drawing our wagon by 

 hanil over a cut or two, we arrived safely at the beach, and 

 we were delighted to fiud easy traveling the remainder of 

 the way. On arriving to within a short distance of the hills 

 on which we supposed the geese were feeding, we left the 



