4S 



]:<OREST AND STREAM. 



[Auo. 12, 1886. 



DAYS WITH CALIFORNIA QUAIL. 



DURING a residence of twelve years in tbc early set- 

 tlement of California, I improYed my abundant op- 

 portunities for enjoyinec a shoot among the^e lively birds; 

 and the delight still lingers with me like the remem- 

 brance of a pleasant dream, as I recall the many tramps 

 in piumut of them I have had over the chaparral-covered 

 hills and valleys of Eldorado county. 



The two varieties of these birds, whicli have been often 

 Sescribed and nre well known, are quite distinct in their 

 nature, habits, and the localities they frequent, as well as 

 in their size, Gok>T and general appearance — and I think 

 there is a slight difference in the flavor, and a perceptible 

 difference in the tendernee^s of their flesh, though both 

 are delicious when properly cooked in almost any way. 

 I do not know the ornithological name of either, and 

 would not give it if I did, preferring to designate them 

 as I learned and knew them— the smaller as the blue or 

 valley quail, and the larger as the mountain quail. Their 

 relative weight is about as 5 to 3; and though I have 

 Tveighed them together and remember distinctl}' this pro- 

 portion, I do not x-emember the exact weight of either. 



The blue quail does not differ much in size from our 

 Eastern quail, and I should judge would weigh about the 

 same, possibly a trifle more, as its flesh is flrnier and more 

 compact. This bird was common throughout California 

 anywhere below the snow line; and although a strong and 

 very lively bii'd, it shrank from the frost and snow and 

 generally "kept beyond the reach of the la,tter. 



Below an elevation of 2,000ft. above sea level they were 

 generally secure from the reach of ''the beautiful." Tliey 

 bred and thrived in the ravines, flats and ridges of the 

 foothiUs of the Nevada Mountains at this elevation, but 

 were more nmnerous in some of the lower valley counties. 

 They were very rapid and strong flyers, much more so 

 than our Eastern quail, making generally a longer flight, 

 and were much more tenacious of life, requiring a strong 

 ebot to cut them down at once, and would often continue 

 their flight a long distance, much Like the partridge, even 

 when mortally wounded. I always have made it a point 

 in shooting quail, parti-idge or chicken, if I see them 

 quiver when the gun cracks, to watch if possible the ter- 

 mination of theii- flight, and have often been rewarded by 

 seeing them go down in a lump. I will go half a mile any 

 time to recover a dead bird, even though I know the time 

 it takes will deprive me of the privilege of bagging two 

 others while I am gone for this one. 



In riding the accounts of quail shoottag in California 

 in recent years I sometimes wonder whether the sports- 

 men and dogs or the quail have been the more educated 

 in my absence. Sportsmen now tell of bagging fifty and 

 even more in a day's shoot, wliile I have to confess the 

 most I ever carried home was twenty-five, though I may 

 have killed and failed to retrieve a few more. 



They tell us now how nicely these birds lie for a dog, 

 while "then I could seldom get a dog mthin gunshot of 

 them while in the open field ere they Avould flush and skip 

 for the chapparel. Sometimes, early in the season, I have 

 found a yoimg brood, perhaps three-quarters groAvn, and 

 have bad them act as though they were civilized, and 

 would wait to be killed in a sportsmanlike manner, but 

 after they had become full grown I seldom f oimd them 

 submitting to any tiling like this, but they would "git" for 

 dear life at the first sight or sound of an intruder. My 

 f ailtire to induce the bii'ds to be killed in a sportsmanlike 

 manner may have been caused by my lack of skill in the 

 business, but as no one with who'm I'was acquainted suc- 

 ceeded any better than I did, I conclude it was not 

 entirely my fault. Neither will I permit the fault to be 

 charged against my dogs, for having had four dming the 

 twelve years — two setters and two pointers — which I 

 think were a fan- average with dogs of those days, and 

 one of wliich, a pointer, was brought to this counti-y by 

 an Englishman who came to visit &en. Fremont; I believe 

 they tried faithfully to do their part of the business in a 

 skiilfvil and artistic manner. So I conclude it was the 

 fault of the bu'ds; they were imtutored, uncultivated and 

 uncivilized in the delicate and pleasing arts of being .shot 

 "according to rule." I am glad to leam tliat since then 

 they have been educated up to the proper requirements 

 of being bagged scientifically. 



■ The best siiort I could get was to find a locality where 

 the chaparral was not more than breast Mgh, and it was 

 generally so thick as to preclude seeing the dog or ground 

 ten feet away, and by working the dog carefully within 

 ehort range, shoot as the birds raised within shooting dis- 

 tance; and as they generally got up 25yds. or 30yds. away 

 the hunter having no joremoEdtion whether it was to be 

 in front or to the left or right, and it took but an instant 

 for them to malce a blue streak 75yds. or 80yds. away, 

 where it was good luck or an accident if you cut him 

 down at that distance. The dog was indispensable in re- 

 trieving, for without him you would not find one dead 

 bird in ten, so thick was tlie cover; and to simply wing a 

 bird wa.s generally to lose him, as he would outrun and 

 out-dodge a dog for an hour in this tangled thicket. 



When I say that quail of this variety were very plenty 

 and that I have raised hundi-eds in a day's tramp, some 

 one will be ready to exclaim, "Why didn't you get more?" 

 Well, I used to wonder at that myself, sometimes, after 

 banging away 3a of shot in l^oz. doses from a 10-gauge 

 Manton muzzleloader (and a good one, too, I thank you), 

 and then I would brush up my 'gam and my wits and try 

 it again some other day with about the same result; and 

 I think if Mr. Wliy-didn't-you-get-more had been with 

 me we should probably have bagged about double the 

 birds that I did; and if he had increased the number be- 

 yond tliat, he would have been an exception to the gen- 

 eral rule. I tell you they were strong and rapid flyers, 

 very tenacious of life, and would carry to the end of their 

 flight more lead than any other bird of the same size I 

 ever followed ; but for these very reasons, and because 

 they were delicious food I enjoyed their pursuit. Many 

 a time have I stripped the jacket from one, washed him 

 clean in a mountain stream', b-mlt a fire, and on the point 

 of a stick broiled him brown and crisp, and with a little 

 eeasoning of salt and pepper, if there be any morsel more 

 sweet to a sportsman's taste I have never foimd it. 



In the early fall, after the long parching summer had 

 dried entirely many springs and small streams, water in 

 some localities would be much like the proverbial visits so 

 often quoted. Then, in such localities, these birds would 

 gather at morning and evening in gi-eat numbers at the 

 ijafrequent pools and springs to slake their thirst. I am 

 sure I have seen a hundred or more rise at once from such 

 a place; and confess to liaving tried to sneak up and mm*- 

 der them like a pot-Iiunter, but also have to own up that 



I never succeeded, as some wary sentinel would always 

 give the alarm and leave me sneaking on the ground, 

 while the birds were off' to the chapan-al. 



After tVie rains set in, generally the last of October, and 

 water coidd be found any where, the broods would scat- 

 ter somewhat, and only bunch near exceptionally good 

 cover or feeding ground. 



Notwithstanding what I have described as the faidts in 

 the education of these birds, and their persistence in re- 

 maining in the thickest of cover, they offered me much 

 delightful sport. 



The mountain quail seek higher ground— a rougher and 

 wilder country — generally among or in proximity to heavy 

 spruce or hemlock timber, where there are patclaes of un- 

 derbrush of a species of lam-el, or a cover of manzinita, 

 seldom coming out into the open level coimtry, but living a 

 more quiet, weird and retired life ; and though not nearly so 

 shy and wild when pm-sued as the blue quail they seem 

 to delight in seclusion and obscurity, much like the wood- 

 cock. Tliey are not as rapid flyers' as tlie blue quaU, and 

 though not fast runners, will not take wing until they 

 have tried .skulking and a short race, and find themselves 

 too closely pressed; and when they do take wing they do 

 not fly as far as the blue quail. They will lie very nicely 

 for a dog, but being f omid in very tlaick cover and gener- 

 ally among evergreen timber one has to shoot at short 

 range, which is quite likely to destroy it entirely. They 

 resemble somewhat the sage hen in their skidking habits, 

 and if they could only be induced to leave the tangle of 

 their steep, rocky and almost impenetrable haunts, they 

 would make one of the most dahghtful game buds I 

 have evev followed. Unlike the blue quail I never knew 

 one to take a tree or bush at the end of its flight. 



I have on several occasions found a bevy in fairly open 

 country, and had an hom-'s shooting, thepleasm-e of 'which 

 still lingers with me. I once bagged nine from a bevy of 

 fifteen, which, with their copper-hued, black-tipped feath- 

 ers and long, slender plumes, and above all their plump, 

 delicious bodies, made it the finest string of birds I ever 

 handled. I had at this time the English pointer before 

 named, and he did his work admirably. On this occasion 

 I made a double shot, the birds falling near together on an 

 open spot, and when I sent the dog for them they were 

 bouncing up and down hke hens with their heads cut off. 

 Seizing the one he came to first, he quickly tried to pick 

 up the other only to have the first fall from his mouth. I 

 watched him without a word, and after ti-ying this for 

 several times and evidently satisfying himself that the 

 storage capacity of his mouth was not equal to the task 

 before him, he hurriedly gave me one and immediately 

 bounded back for the other. I have seen some dogs— and 

 men, too, for that matter — ^who seemed proud of their 

 achievements; but I shall never forget the magnificent 

 pride of that old dog as he looked up at me and seemed to 

 say, "Did jou see how nicely I managed that little job?" 

 If I were an artist and could place that scene upon can- 

 vas as I saw it, I should cherish the picture as I still do 

 the remembrance of it. Incidents like these, which seem 

 to the outside, every-day world insignificant, are the gems 

 which a true sportsman cherishes as among his choicest 

 treasures; for when he looks them over they bring up 

 visions of the past that make his heart tender, gentle and 

 mellow. A, 

 July, 1886. 



THE FIRST GUN. 



THERE is one day which stands out in my memory 

 Avith a vividness which not even the .fiwift passage 

 of the years can efface — the day when for the first time 

 I sallied forth, the hajspy possessor of a real gun, to initi- 

 ate myself into the mysteries and the joys of the sport-s- 

 man's craft. I had been afield before, but never in the 

 rdle of principal. I had always acted as an accessory, a 

 sort of subsidiary fiddle, to many a schoolmate of my 

 own age and size, whose good fortune in being actual 

 possessors of actual g-uns I was wont to envy most in- 

 tensely, and yet with kindliness of feeling that made me 

 fairly worship them. O beati! had I been familiar with 

 that classic vocative, woxild have expressed ray feelings 

 toward them better than any term I can muster from a 

 limited vocabulary of ancient and niodcru tongues. For 

 in my eyes these lads were heroes, raised as high above 

 ordinary boys — boys without guns and without ambitions 

 for guns— as kings above peasants, as the crowned men 

 above the hatted men of this sadly sycophant and hero- 

 worshiping world. 



But at last I had risen from the vulgar throng to be one 

 of the heroes. After long and patient waiting, beseech- 

 ings innumerable, promises thick as the leaves on the 

 trees in spring, dutifid and honorable deeds at home and 

 in the flowery paths of knowledge, I had secured the 

 coveted permission to purchase the gun of my choice. 

 How with trembling hands I broke the seal of the little 

 bank where my pennies had been hiding for years, and 

 coimted the precious store as if my very life depended 

 upon the result, the reader need not be told; nor yet of 

 the bitter tears that flowed when I found my fund too 

 small; nor of the smiles and sunshine that followed when 

 my indulgent parents made up the deficit and sent me on 

 my way to the express office rejoicing. The money was 

 sent, the gun came, and a happier boy them I surely never 

 danced over the face of this green earth, 1 verily believe 

 my heart was so light I could have flown had it not been 

 for the precious box beneath my arm. 



When at last I stood equipped, the shining little breech- 

 loader in my hand, the handsome fringed gameljag at my 

 side, my pockets stuffed with new brass shells, I felt 

 every inch as great and grand as Ctesar ever felt; and as 

 for George Washington, he and his Httle liatchet and his 

 monumental veracity faded away into contemptible 

 juvenile obscm'ity. What were a boy in knickerbockers, 

 equipped with a common store hatchet, to a boy in long 

 pants, with a real gam in his hand and a genuine sports- 

 man's gamebag slimg over his shoulder? How vividly I 

 recall, even to-day, my sensations as I crossed the fields 

 beyond the old house and cHmbed the ridge beyond. Only 

 the boy who has had a devoiiring passion for something 

 — an inborn, natural passion — and has realized his desires 

 just at their height, can appreciate or understand my 

 feelings on that glorious day in early winter. The fight 

 carpet of snow AA-ith which the landscape was covered 

 gleamed about me like a floor of marble, a nd the spotless 

 blue of the sky was like a cerulean dome surmounting the- 

 temple of Gods beautiful and happy world. There was 

 absolutely nothing left for me to desire. For once, and 

 only once in my life, the summit of attainment and the 

 horizon of hope were one — ^there was nothing beyond! 



Over the hill I passed and into the dark, stiU woods. 

 My feet in the soft covering of snow made no soimd, and 

 I seemed to be home along as in a dream, too happy, too 

 light of heart to feel fatigue or discomfort of any kind. 

 My precious gun, with loaded chambers and in readiness 

 to shoot, occupied my chief attention; but with the natural 

 instinct of the sportsman I glanced, as I passed, into ever}- 

 promising covert in search of the nervous, winding trail 

 of the wary grouse, or the bold, broad imprint of the 

 "snowshoes" of the hare. So alert Avas everv nerve that 

 the twitter of the little chickadee, the swish'of the tAvig 

 from which it sprang and the flutter of its wings made 

 me thrill all over with a delightful excitement. Not that 

 I actually expected to bring home wdth me the lordly 

 tenant of the covert, or even puss Avdth her bright eyes and 

 big ears; but the spirit of the huntsman was upon me, and 

 it was delight and satisfaction enough to explore the 

 secrets of the woods, gun in hands, conscioiis of the power 

 of some time attaining my share of- their hidden treas- 

 ures. 



Shall I ever forget the moment when, -as I entered a 

 dusky bit of wood road between tAvo almost unpenetrable 

 thickets, a magniflcent grouse flushed from underneath a 

 small hemlock at my very side, and was roaring away 

 through covert as ray'gim sprang instinctively to my face? 

 No! for at the next moment the hammer fell, there' was a 

 bewildering loud report, a msh of smoke that filled tlie 

 air before me like a curtain, and Avith an exultation and 

 bounding of heart that I never expect to know again, I 

 hem-d my glorious prize bea ting its death tattoo in the 

 depth of the thicket. How I gloated over that bird; how 

 I hugged, nay, even kissed my precious, my incomparable 

 gun; and then how proudly, as though walking on air, I 

 marched through the Avoodsall that long Avinter afternoon 

 with the grouse hanging m the network of my game bag, 

 and my gun at fuU cock and ready for.the next that rose. 

 Fortunate it was for my exalted mood that no hurtling 

 grouse again called the little gun to shotdder and evoked 

 the cloud of smoke and fire. Experience has long since 

 taught me that all that flushes is not bagged, even by an 

 enthusiastic boy with a brand neAv gun. 



Since that day I have OAvned a A'ei'y respectable armory 

 of guns, good, bad and indifferent, but I have never re- 

 garded any combination of wood and steel with the entliu- 

 siastic affection and almost Avorship which I bestowed on 

 my first little single-barreled breechloader. I have long 

 since parted with it (for who does not sometimes part with 

 the object of his first, his most romantic affection? — 'tis 

 the irony of fate) but I shall never cease to think of it in 

 my Avaking dreams, and long for something of that inex- 

 pressible, that fresh, unspoiled delight with which I 

 looked upon its shining outlines and called it mine. 



Paul Pastnor. 



The Woodcock Fund.— The ardor of the enthusiastic 

 game protector, who sits up all night Avriting letters to 

 the newspapers, is apt to cool quite suddenly when he is 

 asked to put his hand in his pocket or to take any trouble 

 to help to do Avhat he so eai-nestly advocates. Our corres- 

 pondent ' ' Ajax" who a week or two since offered to furnish 

 the evidence to conAuct certain New Jersey violators of the 

 game laws expresses himself as idterly disgusted with his 

 fellow sportsmen for their a.pathy. We have received a 

 number of subscriptions toward the fund to pay the legal * 

 expenses of the prosecution referred to, but their sum 

 does not yet amotmt to one-tenth of what AA^ould be required. 

 There is an old and vidgar, but very ex]jressive saying to 

 the effect that "talk is cheap, but it takes money to buy 

 land." The average sportsman is quite Avilling to con- 

 tribute his share of talk — he has a lot of it, more in fact 

 than he knows what to do with — but when it is a question 

 of money, his interest is apt to abate. This is not true 

 of all men by any means, but it is of a A^ery considerable 

 number. It seems ciu'ious that the law-abiding sports- 

 men of New .lersey should not interest tlaemselves in this 

 matter. We have heard from a few of them, but not 

 from as many as in New York. It is difficult to say, per- 

 haps, wliether their indifference arises from lazmcss or 

 stinginess or from both combined. At all events it exists 

 a,nd its existence is an explanation of the inefficient jiro- 

 tection afforded to our game. If the s]:iortsraen do not 

 take interest enougli in protection to exert themselves in 

 the matter it is certain tliat no one else will devote thought, 

 effort or money to this object. Our correspondent did 

 his fellow sportsmen no injustice when he indulged in a 

 little quiet sarcasm at the difference between their preach- 

 ing and then- practice. 



Ark^vnsaS. — Clarendon, Aug. 6. — ^I am haAong royal 

 sport sliooting summer ducks. " Yoimg ones just getting 

 to fly well, are full gxown and fat as butter. Have killed 

 one hundred in the last two weeks, also fifty squirrels. 

 The crop of young quail is large, and the birds are in fine 

 condition, haAdng been unmolested as the game law is on 

 till Sept. 1. Then I pity them, as many new guns are 

 being bought, and old ones rubbed ux> for the fall shooting. 

 Some people in tlais and adjoining counties don''t seem to 

 know there is any game law at all, as they have never 

 stopped kilUng deer and tiukeys the Avhole summer. 

 Some of them had better look "a leedle out" when the 

 Grand Jury meets. Send you newspaper" accoimts of lilr. 

 A. Stinson killing two bears recently. Since the above 

 was put in type two more have been killed not over five 

 miles from tOAvn, the first two were killed li miles from 



tOAVn.— CAVALrER. 



Meaoham Lake, N. Y., Aug. 3. — Editor Forest and 

 Stream,: What has become of the game protector for this 

 district ? Has Paid bought him, price $25 ? or have the 

 parties who made such an outcry against hounding gone 

 to night-hunting ? The first party we hear of kflling deer 

 in this section Avas from St. LaAvrence county, where all 

 the good boys come from, who would not kill deer oiit of 

 season. Why not spm- up some of the good ones and 

 send them into the Avoods to stop the killing? We see 

 deer in the clearings and about the lake nearly every day 

 — three Avere seen yesterday and two to-day, aU by guests 

 of the house. All are waiting patiently for Aug. 15 — 

 then we expect venison. — A. R. Fuller. 



Kansas. Prairie Cstckens.— Chico, Kan., Aug. 6.— _ 



Chickens are more plentiful than, for a number of years, - 

 on accormt of dry weather^ Quail are also plentiful, and 

 every one has chosen liis companion for the glorious Ist of 

 September. — ^Plover. 



