188 



FOREST AND STRKAM. 



fS^PT. 30, 1886. 



GAME PRESERVING IN BRITAIN. 



IV. — THE GAME OF TEE WOODS. — CONTINUED. 



THE capercaillie, wood grouse or cock of the woods 

 {Tetrao uragallus) was in days gone by an extremely 

 abundant game bird. The march of civiUzation, in other 

 words the persistent persecution and the destruction of 

 our woods forests, however, led to a rapid diminution in 

 its numbers, until by the year 1780 it was entirely extinct 

 in these islands. For nearly fifty years the capercaillie 

 was not reckoned among the game of Great Britain and 

 Ireland. Several attempts between 1828 and 1837 were 

 made to reintroduce the capercaillie, but it was only in 

 the last named year that the first serious endeavor was 

 made. The previous ones were either on a too small 

 scale, or the circumstances under which the attempts at 

 reintroduction were made were not conducive to success. 

 In the summer of 1837, however, Sir Thomas Buxton ob- 

 tained, through the medium of Mr. L. Lloyd, a number 

 of birds in Sweden, which were presented to the Marquis 

 of Bredalbane, and turned do"svn in the woods of his 

 estate, Taymouth Castle. At the same period endeavors 

 were also made to rear the bird by hand from imported 

 eggs, but the experiment was in all jn-actical respects a 

 failure. Four years later additional assistance was lent 

 to the project by the siiccessful rearing by wild quey 

 hens of eggs placed beneath them, and also by the stib- 

 sequent successful hatching under fowls and hand-rearing 

 of further numbers. This went on from year to year 

 until in 1865 there were counted over 1,500 head of caper- 

 caillie upon the lands of Taymouth Castle. Various other 

 fostering hands have been at work, and at the present 

 time these birds are very plentiful all along the Tay val- 

 ley as far as Dunkeld, the estates in the district being of 

 a character peculiarly well suited to the tastes and re- 

 quirements of this splendid game bird. In course of time 

 I have very little doubt that we shall reckon the caper- 

 caillie a plentiful bird of sport, and with the aid of skill- 

 ful preserving maintain it in its increased plentitude. 



The haunts of the cock of the woods are such as its 

 name imphes. Thick pine forests are held in favorite 

 e^stimation, and also the thickest and wildest parts of other 

 fir and beech woods. Small covers or coppice never holds 

 the capercaiUie. and it is oiily the old forest land of our 

 northern lands which harbor the birds. Although essen- 

 tially a bird of the woods, it is by no means addicted to 

 ti'ee life, and by far the major portion of its existence is 

 spent beneath the boughs. At night time, however, it 

 perches upon the trees, and during cold weather, particu- 

 larlj^ when it is snowing, it will spend all its leisure time 

 in the trees. This game bird is for the most part mono- 

 gamous and usually foiuid in i)airs, except during winter, 

 when the bu-ds "pack" to a large extent, males and 

 females in separate fl^ocks. 



April is the month when the preparatories for incuba- 

 tion are commenced, and like most of the Teti'aonidas, the 

 wood grouse indulges — that is, the male— in a good deal 

 of play, so-called. In a bird of this size and splendor, the 

 play would naturally be very interesting, and in the case 

 of the capercaillie it is unquestionably so. May is the 

 usual nesting time in this country, the nest being gener- 

 ally formed beneath some bush or tree among some long 

 sedge grass or heather. It is invariably chosen with due 

 regard to the questions of shelter and security from ob- 

 servation. Some four to twelve eggs are deposited and 

 the hen alone sits, incubation being completed about the 

 thirtieth day, the male bird keeping guard over his mate. 

 As soon as the eggs are hatched, both parent birds pro- 

 tect and provide for the young birds until such time as 

 they can do this for themselves, when the male at first, 

 and the female subsequently, leave the brood to its own 

 devices. 



The food of the capercaillie — which, by the way, it ob- 

 tains xm.der circumstances of routine similar to those of 

 the black grouse, and these I shall detaU hereafter — con- 

 sists of various berries, chiefly among which juniper, 

 black and cranbenies, the shoots and leaves of various 

 firs, the buds and tendiils of many trees, notably the wil- 

 low and birch, and also of a large amount of insect life. 

 When it can obtain them, many cereals will be consumed, 

 and the young seem to require ants and worms to com- 

 plete their dietary. 



In its wild state ceiliog coed, asom- ancient British fore- 

 fathers used to dub it, is very hardy indeed; hxii reared in 

 confinement it becomes much less so, and the process of 

 hand-rearing the young is troublesome and difficult, more 

 so than with any other British game bii-d, black game 

 perhaps excepted. 



Its general plumage and aspect is, of course, known to 

 the great majority of my readers and needs no description 

 here. I may mention that occasional varieties — hybrids — 

 are met with, as also capercaillie feathered more or less 

 thickly with wMte. The hybrids are results of crosses 

 between this bird and the black grouse. 



There is little more to add concerning this game bird 

 beyond exjpressing om- hope, and I am sure American 

 sportsmen will join with us, that before long we may be 

 able to count the capercailhe as a numerous and wide- 

 spread bird of sport among us in Britain. Mooeman. 



[TO BE CONTINUED.] 



Fort Worth, Texas, Sept. 23. — Quail shooting has 

 opened well with us; the bu-ds are well grown and strong 

 on the wing, and the bevies large. On account of the 

 lack of rain during the breeding season, the bnds have 

 for the most part gone on to the creeks or kept near the 

 tanks that are to be found throughout this section. 

 Prairie chickens are also very fairly j^lentiful, and some 

 good bags have been made in tliis vicinity. There are 

 large quantities of acorns in the oaks, and if we have our 

 usual supply of rain this fall, ducks are certain to stay 

 with us in large numbers. Sportsmen have a very bright 

 outlook this season in Texas as far as feathers are con- 

 cerned, and, no doubt, deer and antelope will prove to be 

 as plentiful as usual. I heard last night that quite a large 

 herd of antelopes were seen not a himdred miles from this 

 toAvn. We have had an itnprecedented dry summer. The 

 genial rains have, however, at last found us, and the 

 grass is growing rapidly. — ^Ajithtjr Stert. 



Massachusettb Wildfowl.— a law forbids shooting 

 wildfowl 01- shore birds from boats in the harbor and 

 great ponds of Nantucket, and the waters in and around 

 the islands of Tuckernuck. Muskeget and the Gravelly 

 Islands. [Approved May 28, 1886.] 



Poaching Braggarts.- I think "Special" has "sized 

 up" the Boston Sunday Times correspondent about right 

 when he ventures the assertion that he has Med. That 

 class of liars are too common, and the injm-y they do om- 

 game interests is nearly, if not qrute, eqiial to pei-petrat- 

 ing the mean crimes they would like to, but for Avhich 

 they lack courage. Many who listen to their senseless 

 gabble accept it for truth, and are forever convinced that 

 the game laws are a dead letter or are only made to pre- 

 serve the game till the "city folks" can come in and take 

 it. Every locaUty has its chronic gnimblers who. when 

 holding forth in the country grocery, give one the im- 

 pression that they know of '"lots of cases where game 

 laws have been broken," but if carefidly questioned it 

 takes short time to discover what an exjjerienced person 

 would have known at the start, that it was simply gas 

 escaping. There is another class who do know of viola- 

 tions of game laws and would Hke to see the poachers 

 brought to justice but do not dare to give the information 

 themselves, yet blame the wardens for not bringing the 

 culprits to time, forge btuig that it is impossible to accom- 

 plish anything without evidence; and a warden who acts 

 without pay cannot afford to support a whole detective 

 biu'eau. If aU who are interested in protection would 

 make themselves understand that the man who takes fish 

 from the spawning beds or grouse and deer out of season 

 has wronged the community as much as any other thief, 

 and would give then testimony accordingly, then poach- 

 ing would die a natural death. In om- State any man, 

 whether he holds a commission or not, can prosecute a 

 game law -notation. — Black Spot (Sebago Lake, Maine. 

 Sept. 20). 



Bergen County AssociA'riOi^.— Editor Forestt and 

 Stream: At a regular meeting of the Bergen County 

 Association for the Protection of Game and Fish, held at 

 the residence of Edwin Ackerman, Hackensack, N. J., 

 Sei^t. 21, the following officers were reelected: President, 

 Wakeman Holberton; Secretary and Treasurer, Edwin 

 Ackerman; Counsel, C. W. Berdan. The counsel reported 

 two cases having been settled favorably to the club, and 

 the rewards were ordered to be j)aid. " He also reported 

 two more cases to be tried. These were all for shooting 

 out of season. The papers for the incorporation of the 

 club were reported to be nearly ready. The members 

 present expressed themselves strongly in favor of repeal- 

 ing that i3ortion of the game law which allows reed bird 

 shooting five days before rail can be killed. A letter was 

 read from the secretary of the Plainfield society urging 

 the calling of a convention composed of the different pro- 

 tective associations for the pm'pose of reaiTanging and 

 condensing the game laws. After considerable routine 

 busmess had been transacted the club adjourned. — Nev- 



ERSINK. 



Wellsville, O., Sept. 21.— Editor Forest and Stream: 

 The Amateur Sporting Club of this place have just re- 

 turned from a two weeks outing on the Tuscarawas River, 

 in vicinity of Trenton, O. They report having a splendid 

 time, and an abundance of game; having secured all the 

 squirrels, fish and ducks they could make use of. The 

 country jseople there claim to have been imposed on by 

 Bridgeport and East Liverpool clubs, but will treat all 

 campers with com-tesy that have the fii'st principles of 

 gentlemen, and charge them only fair prices for pro-vis- 

 ions. It is to be hoped that these two offending clubs will 

 lear^i to be time sportsmen. At a regular meeting of the 

 Amateur Sporting Club on the 20th inst. the following 

 officers were elected for their fiscal year: President, C. R. 

 McDonald; Vice-President, G. C. Shull: Secretary and 

 Treasurer, J. Louis Burnett. — Jo. 



Mistaken for a Grouse.— A Parish, N. Y., gunner of 

 youthful years and impulsiveness, fired into a clump of 

 bushes at what he took to be a p;u.-tidge, but turned out 

 to be his companion. The only moral is Don't! 



mid Miv^r 



Adilress all commimications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Go. 



SHANTY LIFE. 



THERE is a vein of selflslmess in our natui-es, and some 

 writer, not very religiously inclined, has declared 

 that it is well that it is so; since if we do not love and 

 look out for self, wlio will do it for us? But this little 

 streak of selfishness crops out wliere we should least ex- 

 pect it, even in another, say nothing of our weU-organized 

 and well-governed selves. ' We take our annual outing to 

 the trout lakes and streams every sirring, never once think- 

 ing that our wives and children need the rest — the recre- 

 ation — as much as we. It does not look selfish to us. 

 But then it does actually save about half the expense, 

 you know. We reason it out all right. Says one, and his 

 answer will answer for all, "My wife wouldn't like any- 

 thing of the kind;" or "My wife isn't at all adapted to 

 anything of the kind." Well, how in the name of com- 

 mon sense should she be? Ten to one you have never 

 invited her to share yom- annual trouting trip with you, 

 and all she knows about it is involved in the pains you 

 have taken to make her believe that it is too hard for 

 her. Now it has been my happy fortune to organize 

 several trouting excursions where the ladies have been 

 included — in fact the camp around which the little ad- 

 ventures mentioned in this article cluster w-as not built 

 f«r single gentlemen. The wife of the writer is always 

 there when her husband can catch a few days ofi' to catch 

 trout. Friends in-vdted for the first tune invariably answer, 

 "I shoidd like very much to go, but I don't beheve my 

 wife would like anything of the sort." But several times 

 I have urged that the -wife be invited. What has been 

 the result? In almost every case the doubting husband 

 has retm-nrd the answer, * "Why, she is perfectly de- 

 lighted!" And the entu-e trip goes to show how actually 

 delighted the lady proves to be. Then what can be more 

 pleasing than to "take our better halves over those old 

 haunts and fishing grounds, and Avitness this keen enjoy- 

 ment of what we have exiierienced before. Our word 

 for it, she Avill take it all in. She will adapt herself to 

 all the roughness of camp life in a, Avay to sm-^jrise you, 

 and ten to one you shah find that she has been reading 

 up on the subje'ot m Forest and Stream and other pub- 

 lications which you never dreamed that madam deigned 

 to notice. 



The trouting trip, Avhich is the freshest in the ndnd of 

 the Avriter, was built upon the principles mentioned above. 

 We started May 31 for— if you ai-e a friend of the Avriter 

 he -will tell you where, proAdded you Avill agree to take 

 your AAife, but he has not the shghtest notion of giving 

 away any choice fishing grounds already deeded over to 

 the ladies — of telling 8X)ortsmen who go single, where 

 they may be foimd. There were tluee happy Avives and 

 three proud husbands of us. The babies were left with 

 aunts and grandmas. Each of the husbands and one 

 of the wives had been there before. A jolly crowd of 

 six, we met in the railroad train in the mfffning. We 

 met as staid Mrs. and Mr. But this was soon dropped 

 for plain Anne, Grace, Emma, George. Omerand William. 

 We might have A^orn the dignity of the JeAveler, the 

 Apothecary and the Scribe, but dignity does roU off in 

 the Avoods, especially Avhen we all come to Avash hands 

 from the same dish, or all put on the same kind of tax to 

 keep off' black flies and mosqiiitoes. The railroad ride 

 Avas pleasant; the rain had fallen the night before and 

 there Avas an absence of dust, that great affliction of rail- 

 road travel. The stage ride among the green hUls and 

 along the winding brooks was charming. The buckboai'd 

 creeping up among the hills and doAAoi beside the ghsten- 

 ing mountain streams, AAdth the taste of clear mountain 

 an-, raised the spirits of the Avomen of the party to a pitch 

 of enthusiasm Avhich made the more experienced of us 

 fear for -the reaction. But no need of such fears. The 

 string of pleasant surprises Avas continuous and the OTit- 

 door life and days of rest from the cares of home keep- 

 ing were full of gladness. Up the lakes in the httle 

 steamer brought no particular adventure. But the beauty 

 of the Avooded and mountain-fringed shores was a contin- 

 ued source of pleasm-e. 



Our camp was reached toward nightfall— a plain 

 wooden stracture, of lumber newly saAvn, rough-boai-ded, 

 but tight overhead and di-y, qualities much to be desired 

 in a camp. There Avere rooms enough for each couple 

 and the cook, Avith a large sitting-room and a chance for 

 a l)right open fire. Such a fii-e is always a somre of com- 

 fort in a camp, especially where there is a great abund- 

 ance of Avood. A nice little cook-room formed the L of 

 the camp, and here Oscar presided. He is a good camp 

 cook. His experience in that deiiartment of the lumber 

 camp has been of much benefit to him in tliis direction, 

 besides, he is the son of one of the best guides in that re- 

 gion. In short, he belongs to a race of gTiides, and is him- 

 self a thorough woodsman— enthusiastic and obUging. 

 What more coidd be wanting in a cook and guide? The 

 camp was opened. Nnt a living creature had been in it 

 since Ave closed it — another hapijy hunting and fishing 

 party, on the 2d of October, 1885— not a living creature 

 except the mice, and they had been there in numbers too 

 numerous for the good of our sleeping accommodations. 

 The first night in camp! A\dio can ever sleep except the 

 old campers? Oscar snored, so did two or three other 

 men, but they Av-ould hate to admit it and they don't Avant 

 me to tell of it. The ladies of the party wore the night 

 aAA-ay listening to the humming of the mosquitoes and the 

 occasional night cry of the loon. The mosquitoes made 

 night hideous in a small way, but they could go no 

 further, and that was what made them the more enraged. 

 Each bed was coA^ered with mosquito netting, with the 

 musical pests outside of it. 



The first morning daAvned duU and calm, Avith a dense 

 fog mantling the face of the waters, and hiding objects 

 not fifty feet aAvay. But fishing tackle Avas made ready 

 about as early as the daylight came. The boats skipped 

 away through the fog. What Avas the result? Several 

 nice trout, one weighing 2flbs. and another 2|lbs. We 

 had trout for breakfast. To say th.at is sufficient. No 

 need to go into ecstacies about their taste, in a pubhcation 

 like the Forest and Stream; it is imposing upon the in- 

 telhgence of the "old stagers" who have been there 

 before. Every day afterward, till the end of the good 

 time came, we caught trout; not by the himdreds— there 

 were no trout butchers in om- number — but Ave caught 

 enough for the table, as Oscar can bear Avitness. The 

 ladies did a good part of the fishing, and they unade the 

 most of it in the A^^ay of enjoyment. They were on the 

 Avater cA-ery day, and grcAv brown as berries, and by the 

 end of the third day two or three noses, red with simbm-n, 

 appeared at the table. But they brought with them con- 

 siderable excitement, and sucii api)etites! Oscar immedi- 

 ately doubled his exertions, putting on the full force of 

 the "lumber camp — liam and eggs, fried pork, doughnuts 

 and all. The girls caught trout. Our Avives Avere girls 

 again by time they had been in the woods tAvo days. They 

 caught "trout and "lost the biggest ones, just as the men do; 

 and had to tell of it at the dinner-table and at the camp- 

 fire after nightfall. Annie caught a three-pounder; Grace 

 caught a great number of lesser size; Emma caught a fit 

 of seasickness— actual mal de mer—on the fresh water, 

 when it was extremely rough, with a south wind, one 

 afternoon. 



But the sights and sounds which came to our lot on thia 

 happy trip must not be forgotten. It seemed almost as 

 though natm-e put herself on exhibition specially because 

 the daughters of Eve Avere there and the sights were new 

 to them. The moimtain storm rushing down the lake, 

 with its line of rain pouring white witli foam up to Avithin 

 a few rods of us before a drop fell upon our heads! The 

 fleecy clouds forming on the lowlands and then climbing 

 the mountain, as if to picture just hoAv the storm is made. 

 Then animated natiue had some sights for us and some of the 

 best of them ^ve^e caughc by Omer's camera, to be devel- 

 oped at home. The results Ave anxiously wait. Among 

 the views caught hy the instantaneous dry-plate process 

 Avas the nest of the" great blue heron. Tlie bird had car- 

 ried sticks and twigs, some of them as large as a man's 

 arm, and placed them on the top of a lone and branchless 

 dead pme 60ft. from the ground. In order to obtain a 

 good view, the camera liad to be put up another tree. The 

 nest of the Avoodduck — or rather the hole Avhere the bird 

 entered, doubtless its nest— was also discovered and 

 brought in range of the camera. A cm-ious httle loonlet, 

 or rather the few-weeks-old young of the gi-eat noi-thern 

 diver, a bird very common in the lake regions, was 

 caught alive and photogr-aphed. A funny bird he proved, 

 absolutely declining to partake of ;iny sort of food in cap- 

 tivity, though given a bucket of water to rest on. The 

 poor little teRow died the second day. His capture cost 

 a hard sti-uggle and Avould have proved an impossibility 

 but fi-om the fact that he Avas chivon ash. , re by being sin-- 

 rounded bv three boats. He was found a short distance 

 up a broo'k, whore it Avas impossible to capture him. 

 Though not bigger than a half -groAvn chicken, he would 



