104 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



TSbpt. 3, 1885. 



game keeper was appointed and a house tor his use was built 

 inside the inclosure. An incubator on a very large scale, 

 and all the artificial arrangeuients and appliances necessary 

 for the purpose of raising mid protecting the game were 

 supplied. All the drains running through the preserve were 

 cut to occasion the accunnilatiou of moisture. A series of 

 three ponds was arlilicially arranged, chietly supplied with 

 water pumped by a large wmdra'fll from a stream near by 

 and also from an artesian well. About eighteen thousand 

 young trees, locusts, eic, were set out to afford sufficient 

 cover._ A large house was built of wii'c netting walled with 

 an inside netting of twine, the latter so arranged on the in- 

 side to be six niches from the wire, thus preventing injury 

 to such liirds as niiaht fly against the sides and roof. Tin's 

 house was built espeeially for the English partridges. Inside 

 there is a dense growth of shrubbery, while tlie building 

 itself is sif Liated in a labyrinth of vines" Avhich were arranged 

 and set out under Mr. LoriUard's personal direction. The 

 ■first consignment of English partridges soon disappeared. 

 They were most probably killed by vermin or hawks. At 

 all events a raid was instituted against the pirates of the land 

 and air, which having been vigorousty kept up ever since, 

 has resulted in the killing of about 500 cats, 80 minks, 1.50 

 weasels, 100 opossums and 500 hawks. Over 200 hawks 

 were shot this spring. They are nailed to a tree near the 

 entrance gate, entirely covering the trunk far up into the 

 branches. 



The first lot ot English pheasants also proved a failure, as 

 they, too, soon disappeared. One hundred pair of pinnated 

 grouse (prairie chickens) were then obtained at a cost of $7 

 a pair, and these followed the partridges and pheasants; the 

 couutrymen who watched in wonder the establishiuH: of the 

 preserve, "Gue.ss'd they took out fer th' Pines.'^ which, by the 

 way, is the orthodox Mecca in South -lersey for every rest- 

 less creature of fur, feather or epidermis. As far as is known 

 not one chicken was ever seen after it left the preserve. 

 Several more consignments of quail consisting of lots from 

 250 to 1,000. have been liberated in the preserve, and these, 

 and the subsequent lots of English pheasants and parti'idges, 

 have thrived splendidly. 



The method of rearing the pheasants as now pursued is to 

 keep the old imported birds in coops. These coops are cir- 

 cular in shape and about nine feet in diameter. They are 

 made of slats and roofed about four feet from the ground 

 with canvas and twine netting. There are about thirty of 

 these houses or coops in the preserve, and when occasion re- 

 quires they can be moved. In each coop there are one cock 

 and five hens. The eggs are taken away daily and set under 

 Bantam hens and tame hen turkeys. The latter were tried 

 as an experiment this season and thus far we are informed 

 they have done very welt. By some it was thought that 

 their weight was so great that it would be sure death to 

 every young i^heasant chick stepped upon. But it has been 

 observed that the turkey foster mothers move with such care 

 that an accident from crushing has but rarely happened, 

 and they have proved to be excedeut and watchful pai-euts. 



During the hatching period the nests are placed in a dry 

 locality, surrounded by picket coops, and thus are protected 

 from ground vermin. When the young are hatched, pens 

 arc built in front of the coops to allow the young birds a 

 little run without giving them the chance to stray away. In 

 1884, from eighty imported pheasants that were kept up, 

 1,400 eggs were obtained, of which 800 were hatched out. 

 Many of these pheasants were turned out in the preserves, 

 and at all times the birds can be seen scattered over the 

 fields near the game inclosures. 



The partridges were at first reared in a manner quite 

 similar to that described ; but as they have now become ac- 

 climated they take care of themselves, and coveys are often 

 found miles away from the preserve. 



^^hile these birds have afforded some excellent sport to 

 Mr. Lorillard and a few of his friends, care is taken to kiU 

 as few hen pheasants as possilile. On this subject Mr. Ohl, 

 manager of the Rancocas Kennels, talks enthusiastically, 

 and having a penchant for the poetic, he is pretty sure to 

 observe : 



"But when the hen, to thy discerning view, 

 Her sable pinions spreads of duskier hue, 

 The attendant keeper's prudent warning hear, 

 And spare the olTsiJring of the future year; 

 Else should the fine, which custom laid of old, 

 Avenge her slaughter by the forfeit gold." 

 In this way with poetic license Mr. Ohl conveys the idea 

 that the shooter of a hen pheasant on the Rancoca," Farm 

 will be ' 'fined" by Mr. LoriUard's directions. Indeed, it is 

 said that the guilty party will never in a natural lifetime be 

 again summoned to the chase at Oobstown. 



While speaking of the pheasant, Mr. Ohl observes that 

 "the fact of the female bird assuming the plumage of the 

 male has not yet been noticed." In America as in England, 

 both the pheasants and the partridges are both very suscep- 

 tible to diseases, the nature of which in this country is as 

 yet imperfectly understood. At times they are found to die 

 off very suddenly, generally at that pei-iod when they are 

 being denuded of their crest "and tail feathers. Often their 

 death occurs without any apparent preliminary sickness. 

 Their feeding must be regular, and the character of the food 

 nutritious, such as chopped hard-boiled hen's eggs, shredded 

 beef, ants and ant eggs; pepper pods and other aromatic 

 plants are Mkewise used in small quantities. 



It takes all the time of Mr. LoriUard's three gamekeeepers 

 to attend to the birds, especially in winter. Then houses 

 and brush shelters arc built on the edges of the covers, 

 where the birds congregate and are fed Saily. In the early 

 spring strips of land are plowed for the purpose of turning 

 up the worms and insects, and other patches of the preserve 

 are cultivated ; perhaps altogether twenty acres are planted 

 with rye, wheat, buckwheat, millet and other cereals solely 

 for the use of the game; berry bushes have also been set out 

 in different localities. 



The growth of the timber has been more rapid, and part 

 of the cover is very dense, being grown up with wild grass, 

 weeds and green briers. Through the thickest parts drives 

 have been cut to aiford easy shooting. During the early 

 autumn the birds are scattered over the country for ten miles 

 around, but the laud owners through the Rancocas section 

 have appreciated Mr. LoriUard's efforts, and support him by 

 forbidding shooting in the vicinity. But for all that there 

 is nothing to prevent "outside shooting," and it is said that 

 when the season is at its height wagon loads of shooters from 

 Mount Holly swoop down and string out along the east road 

 and keep up "a regular Fom-th of July." 



It is when the snow flies that the best shooting is to be had 

 at Mr. LoriUard's. The quad of the locahty which in former 

 years used logo to "The Pines," now draw to the dense 

 cover of the preserves, so that during the winter months 

 thousands of birds that woidd otherwise perish in the snowS) 



starve to death, or be killed by vermin, hawks or "huddlers," 

 find a haven of safety in the three inclosures. 



During the winter of 18S4 and 1885 other instalments of 

 game than those varieties mentioned were turned out; these 

 included wild turkeys, ruffed grouse, v/ild geese, wood ducks, 

 English hares, German roe fVeer, and also ten head of com- 

 mon American deer. We are told that aU are thriving and 

 producing. 



The three ponds are filled with carp and pickerel. They 

 have been stocked with French mallards, which in the spring 

 and autumn attcact the passing flocks of wildfowl. 



It wiis from personal observation and from agreeable chats 

 with Mr. Lorilknd, Mr. Ohl and the head gamekeeper at 

 Jobstown that the foregoing story of the "preserves was 

 learned. In Mr. LoriUard's^ library he showed the game 

 record for last season, which reads as follows: Quail, 916; 

 English phcnsanta, 54; English partridges, 10; rabbits, 28; 

 wUd ducks, 21; English snipe, 1; total head, 1,030. 

 _ From the above it will be seen that the killing of the for- 

 eign game was very limited. Only a very few of Mr. Lor- 

 iUard's friends enjoyed the sport, and then only a couple of 

 hours at a time were devoted to shooting. The partridges 

 were protected by Mr. LoriUard's orders, but on grand occa- 

 sions each visitor was permitted to kill a brace of pheas- 

 ants. Mr. LoriUard himself did not take the field until after 

 the snows were on the gTound. He then had the drives 

 cleared with snow ploughs, and did the most of his shooting 

 over the .setter Grousedale. 



That the Jobstown undertaking has been successful thus 

 far there is not a shadow of a doubt, but it would not sur- 

 prise us to hear at any time that his preserve had had a set 

 back. In fact such mishaps enter into the calculations of all 

 large game preserves. In Scotland the red grouse are at 

 irregular periods attacked with disease, unknown almost, 

 certainly incurable, and for many successive seasons the few 

 survivors on the moors are necessarily protected with a view 

 to replenishing the stock. At such time the shooting stops. 

 In both Norfolk and Suffolk we have seen the pheasants die 

 off by hundreds. Can it be that overstocking occasions 

 these great mortalities? How often in the Southwest below 

 the snow line have we noticed the quail in the greatest 

 abundance one season, and then without appai-ent cause 

 scarcely a bird would be found on the same range the next year. 

 The attempt has been made unsuccessfully to introduce the 

 Messina quail here, and equally unsuccessful have been the 

 efforts to introduce the American quail into England. We 

 spent some time on a very large estate in Norfolk which had 

 been largely stocked with American quail, and saw them die 

 one after anothei until none were left, though everything 

 was done that ingenuity could devise or money secure to save 

 the little Bob Whites. We have always had a desire to see 

 the ruffed grouse introduced in the mountains of Wales and 

 the forests of Devon, believing that the liardy bird would, in 

 a trans-atlantic home, live long and prosper. We know that 

 from our suggestion the experiment will be tried. Several 

 years ago the ruffed grouse almost entirely disappeared from 

 Northern New Jersey. The season before these birds had 

 never been more abundant. From what we have seen we do 

 not advocate the stocking of wild lands with unacclimated 

 quad where already a good crop exists. That contagious 

 diseases can be imported there is no doubt, that disease can 

 be created especially by change of feed and temperature is 

 more than probable. If the stocking of lands has to be re- 

 sorted to, it should be conducted with discretion and not over 

 done. At least these are our opinions given for what they 

 are worth. X. 



August, 1885. 



ADIRONDACK DEER. 



Editor Fairest and Stream: 



There is but httle doubt your judgment in "Jack Bluff 

 and Bluster" of Aug. 20 is derived from a veiy thorough 

 acquaintance with the sentiments of Adirondack hotel 

 keepers and guides on the subject of game legislation. It is 

 to be supposed you are in possession of the observations of a 

 great many individuals, whereas the individual, even while 

 on the ground itself, has little bej^ond his own. So far as I 

 remember, I have seen nothing in Forest and Stream from 

 the western part of the Adirondacks. I therefore take the 

 liberty of conti-ibuting to the discussion my mite of ob- 

 servation taken with some care, and principally from the 

 Cranberry Lake region since August 1. I am satisfied 

 the hotel keepers and the guides regard their interests as 

 one. They are specially concerned in whatever brings the 

 tourist and sportsman to them, especially the sportsman. 

 When he comes both sportsman and guide become guests of 

 the hotel. They know that their occupations depend upon 

 the preservation of the deer. AYithout deer guiding would 

 soon become a lost art in that region, and the custom of I he 

 hotels would be a sickly affair if it depended on fishing alone, 

 Without exception, so far as I could learn, both guide and 

 hotel keeper were in hearty sympathy with the law in its 

 effort to preserve the deer. The constables were alert, and 1 

 heard of no instance of deer hounding. Doubtless the law 

 was violated and will be violated just as every law wiU, but 

 there is a fine large opportunity there for any man who 

 wants to stock up on deerhounds. 



The closing sentence of your article intimates that an attack 

 upon jack-shooting m the next Legislature is not an improba- 

 ble thing. On this method of deer hunting I add a few 

 observations. WhUe the guides will miss the music and ex- 

 citement of deer hounding, they know the extermination of 

 the deer by that method is simply a question of time, and a 

 veiy short time at that. For that reason they are perfectly 

 satisfied to see it go. Thej^ feel they have everything to gain 

 and nothing to lose by the enforcement of the law, since it 

 will deter no sportsman from going to the woods. They are 

 satisfied also that the deer wiU survive, and survive in great 

 numbers, all the floating that can be done, first, because the 

 deer themselves soon get to understand the game and cannot 

 be taken by it. The old bucks are specially apt, and one 

 flash of the jack is enough to bring a resounding blast, or 

 series of blasts, that puts every deer within a half mile of the 

 lake on his guard, and relieves the hunter of a wonderful 

 tension of expectancy. His remarks on the buck, however, 

 are usually earnest and terse, and are liable to be original. 

 Second, because floating puts the killing of deer, to a very 

 considerable extent, into the hands of the guide. There are 

 men who know exactly when a guide is working up to his 

 art, but the vast majority who go into the woods do not. To 

 such a guide will give a deer or not pretty much as it pleases 

 him. If floating is to be the only method of deer killing 

 until snow comes, the guides are satisfied that three years' 

 enforcement of the law will give the Adirondacks three deer 

 for every one they have now. 



There can be no doubt that a law prohibiting floating 

 ■would result injuriously. Could it be enforced it would 



practically put an end to the business of the guide and also 

 of the hotel keepers, since it would adjourn deer hunting 

 until the coming of the snow. They will support and help 

 execute the law as far as it has gone, but no further. If the 

 number of deer cannot even be depleted, much less exter- 

 minated, by floating, they can see no good reason for its 

 prohibition. The charge that many are shot to death that 

 are never found has no foundation in fact. When it is pos- 

 sible to approach a deer at all with a jack it brings the hunter 

 so close to it that his ball tells with fatal effect. 1 took some 

 parties out myself and knew of many m(n-e, but I know of 

 no instance in which the deer succeeded in getting out of the 

 water. Some may get away, but I know of no method of 

 hunting that enables the sportsman to bag all he kills. That 

 fewer escape, thus to perish, from floating than from any 

 other method is simply certain. I met one man who was 

 opposed to floating and outspoken against it. He was a 

 farmer and lived just as near the Adiroudocks as any man 

 can live and have a farm at all. I definitely ascertained that 

 h(! was deeply interested in dogs and slau'glil^er. The sym- 

 pathy of such a fellow for a wounded deer is something rich 

 in its way. In brief, the feeling is, "we have what we want 

 and are content to let well enough alone." J. L. P. 



Syracu.se, n. Y. 



DICK'S LAST WOODCOCK. 



"Le plus je connait les hommes, 

 Le plus i'admire les chiens." 



ONE afternoon late in August, 1879, my friend W., my 

 mentor in field sports, and I started for a two days' 

 woodcock hunt on the islands of the Upper Allegheny, as 

 we had about exhausted such covers as lay conveniently 

 within reach of home. 



Our first objective point was the viUage of Puckram, let 

 rne call it, twelve miles distant, where we were to stay over 

 night, and which was to be our base of operations. Behind 

 our horse and buggy was W.'s sadelle horse, which he in- 

 tended riding in the field and from whose back he was in the 

 habit of shooting the pirouetting woodcock. 



We arrived at Puckram just as the sun was setting, and 

 put up at the only hotel, one of those bucolic hosteliies kept 

 in the style, a couple of days" acquaintance witli which com- 

 pletely reconciles the average guest to any sort of sublun- 

 ary misfortune. After supper we sat upon the hotel porch, 

 about which was collected the usual motley village crowd, 

 with some additional ones attracted by the brace of newly 

 arrived strangers. Of course our hunting trip was soon 

 made the principal topic, and we received the usual amount 

 of valuable information concerning the numbers and whero- 

 abouts of the game we were in quest of ; the most of our 

 friendly informants regarding woodcock and woodpecker as 

 synonymous terms. 



The conversation finally shifted to rattlesnakes. We knew 

 there was a likelihood of our meetini;' these unwelcome rep- 

 tiles on our trip. It was the season of the year when they 

 betake themselves from their rocky fastnesses, seek the low 

 grounds, and lie about prone and sluggish, and the islands 

 we intended to hunt had a sua kjj^ reputation. Each of our 

 raconteurs had his own stock of snake stories (generaUy per- 

 sonal experiences) which he retailed with gusto, and appro- 

 priately punctuated with copious expectoration of tobacco 

 juice. As a consequence, my night's rest, such as the Pro- 

 crustean bed I occupied permitted me, was distm-bed by 

 dreams in which the .snake species played an important part, 

 and the whistle of the woodcock and the "zip-zip" of the 

 festive rattlesnake were confusedly intermingled. 



In the morning we found it raw and foggy on getting up, 

 but we buttoned up our coats and drove to the uppermost 

 island. The weather came off clear and warm about 9 

 o'clock, and we had fair sport and reasonable luck during 

 the day. Our dog was a setter belonging to my friend W. 

 Dick was not of blue-blooded stock. He could boast no 

 proud ancestral lineage. But sterling fidelity and thorough 

 usefulness atoned for these genealogical deficiencies. He 

 was staunch on point, persistent in pursuit, patient under 

 reproof and infallible in retrieving. 



'•Not all the blood of all the Howards" 

 which ever flowed in canine veins could have made him 

 dearer to his master or the friends who hunted with him. 



We returned to our headquarters at night without mishap. 

 The next day we hunted the islands nearest the village. 

 These were the dangerous ones. As my friend W. was 

 mounted he was out of harm's way. For my part, my steps 

 were cautiously taken when practicable, but when one had 

 10 plunge headlong through thick-growing nettles that 

 reached to the middle, there was little chance for delibera- 

 tion or care. And in the ardor of pursuit everything was 

 forgotten but the bird which was marked down and momen- 

 tarily expected to be flushed; but occasionally I would step 

 upon a twig or branch of a more than usual yielding or wrig- 

 gling nature under foot, when the feai'ful idea of snake 

 would seize me and up would go my leg quickly with the 

 peculiar movement of a raw recruit in the goose-foot drill 

 or of a string-halted mule. 



We had about finished our day's hunting. The birds had 

 been fairly plenty; Dick had behaved in his handsomest man- 

 ner, and we had scored less than our usual percentage of 

 misses, when it was suggested we should wade up the river 

 a distance and try, by way of conclusion, a bunch of willows 

 at the mouth of the creek. Here we found several birds, 

 and the last one which was shot at could not be found, either 

 dead or alive, although we beat the ground thoroughly to 

 get it up again. Finally, giving up the seai'ch, we started 

 back. Dick accompanied us a sliort distance, when I noticed 

 him stop in a reflective sort of way, and turning tail he gal- 

 loped back to the cover just left. 1 called to hira, but to no 

 purpose. We kept on our way, coasting along the river's 

 edge, sometimes crossing to the islands and back again. A 

 half hour had elapsed and we had gone over a mile. Noth- 

 ing had been seen of Dick. Fearful of some accident, we 

 concluded to wait awhile for him. After some time of 

 anxious watcliing and misgiving, far up the river we saw 

 him coming, following exactly our wake; wading the stream 

 when he could, swimming it when necessary, at other times 

 making his waj' through a tangle of nettles and weeds, com- 

 ing slowly but resoluteiy. We remained till he came up (his 

 master somewhat out of patience with him), his last course 

 being to swim from the point of an island to the shore where 

 we stood. Then it was seen, to our great surprise and to 

 Dick's everlasting glory, that he held in his mouth the wood- 

 cock we had sought so" long for, which in reaUty had been 

 kUled and which Dick had remained behind to successfully 

 find. We praised him heartily by voice and patted his head 

 to his manifest pleasm-e and content, little thinking that this 

 splendid achievement we were lauding was to be his last act 

 of prowess. 



In the middle of tlie afternoon we were on our way ho me 



