Nov. 11, 1886.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



807 



man having Dana Brooks for guide in a bog noi-th of Par- 

 maclieene Lake. Tliey were wa,tchiag from a crow's nest 

 or stand built in a tree in the bog for that purpose. The 

 gentleman also shot a caribou and missed a deer. A large 

 moose was killed by Capt. Thomas, of the Kennebago 

 steamer, last week, above the first Kennebago Lake. This 

 specimen stood 184^ hands high and was said to weigh 

 9001bs.; the head and horns sold for |75. Two moose 

 were killed on the Dead Eiver waters ten days ago, mak- 

 ing four kiUed in this part of the State the present month, 

 in two border counties. There are yet two months of 

 open season and doubtless manv more will be killed, es- 

 pecially if snow falls in November, for then they can be 

 tracked and more easily stalked. Moose, though scarce, 

 afford a grand basis for a hunt to any ambitious nimrod, 

 for he need not be confined to moose only, but take cari- 

 bou, which ai-e fauiy plentiful, and deer which are abund- 

 ant, and an occasional bear. 



While writing I have been informed that five moose 

 were killed in the vicinity of Moosehead Lake since the 

 first of the open season, and brought into the Mt. Kineo 

 House. They are reported plenty in that region, but we 

 imagine these were idlled in Mud Pond, down the west 

 branch of the Penobscot, and other waters below. There 

 ia a vast region of imbroken forest in the north part of 

 Maine — where the foot of man never ti'od and where the 

 wild denizens of the forest have unlimited freedom and 

 breed without obstruction— where a hunter can satiate 

 his love of the wildernees, and secure ail the variety of 

 fur-bearing animals, as well as venison, that his heart 

 desu'os. But the prize is secured only at an expenditure 

 of hard work, with endurance, exposure, cold, himger, 

 and a thousand discomforts; and to succeed, good judg- 

 ment and some knowledge of woodcraft must be had. 

 In Oxford and Franklin counties there is less game, yet 

 a fair chance of success, with less discomforts and less ex- 

 pense. The next two months ai-e open to all sportsmen 

 for lai-ge game in Maine, and "to the victor belongs the 

 prize." J. G. R. 



Bcthel, Maine. 



GAME PRESERVING IN BRITAIN. 



V. — THE GAME OF THE MOORS. 



The Red Ch'ouse, 



THE red grouse, which we in Britain simply term 

 grouse, applying the distinctive appellation of black 

 game to its more sombre congener, is exclusively con- 

 fined to the British Islands, and should, as many writers 

 have pointed out, be styled rather Tetrao britarimeus than 

 as it is, because it occui's as well in the other provinces of 

 the kingdom as in Scotland. Grouse is very i^lentifully 

 spread over all the moorland districts, but occurs in 

 greatest profusion in the Highland districts of Scotland, 

 and is less plentiful the fm-ther south we go, rmtil in the 

 new forest in Hampsline we find it but just holdurg its 

 own. Many English counties, notably the six northern 

 ones, Staffordshire and Derbyshire, are able to count it 

 among their game, while in Wales and Ii-eland it is also 

 very plentiful in some localities. 



The grouse is in every particular a thoroughly wild bird 

 and differs in this respect very mucli from the i)heasant 

 as preserved in many parts of England. It is a moor 

 bii"d, and as such very indisposed to suffer molestation 

 and disturbance by man or beast. The wild, unculti- 

 vated, neglected districts which it haunts, tend to remove 

 it far from the usual walks of man and away fi'om tiie 

 ever encroaching and disturbing hand of the agricultur- 

 ist. Whatever people may say there is no doubt but that 

 half the art of successful grouse preserving depends upon 

 the assiduousness with wliich the moors are watched and 

 the birds held free of disturbance. It is usual to turn 

 the waste hill lands where grouse abound toother account 

 by utilizing them as sheep runs, where large, very large 

 numbers of sheep and cattle are depastm-ed. This, of 

 course, bears great influence upon the quietude of the 

 moors, for with sheep come shepherds, and more particu- 

 larly sheep dogs, and the concomitant amount of dis- 

 turbance. 



Grouse seem to possess but Httle preference as regards the 



E articular natm'e of a moor, but on the whole these high- 

 mds of ours vary but little. They extend over great 

 distances and consist of series of large, midulating hills, 

 never rising to any great height, averaging probably 1,000 

 to 1,500 feet above sea-level. Invariably granite, here 

 and there and everywhere the stone projects through the 

 thin coating of soil which covers them. In parts the hills 

 will be of large extent net very marked in outline, but 

 reaching for many miles, large waving downs. In others 

 they will be steeper, more rugged, often in parts precipi- 

 tous and boulder-strewm, while occasional hiUs will rear 

 their weather-beaten heads high out above the surround- 

 ing moors. Bogs, mires and morasses often fill the valleys 

 between, and small moimtam streams dash their way im- 

 petuously between the steeper hiUs, widening out iato 

 broad and quieter waters where they meander thi-ough 

 the more level ground. Beyond surface verdure, vegeta- 

 tion there is none: no bush "or tree occurs to break the 

 monotony of the landscape, and everywhere one is made 

 cognizant of the wild, inhospitable, weatherbeaten aspect 

 of the ijlace, smile it never so sweetly beneath the warm- 

 ing rays of the summer sun. The verdm'e on these moors 

 consists of rough gi-ass, heather, heath, countless httle 

 moorland plants, occasionally goi-se, rushes, spret, and a 

 host of such usual growth. 'The soil is black and peaty, 

 full of small stones, granite refuse, and the surface of the 

 groimd is everyw-hero more or less scaiTed and broken. 



Upon such lands does the red gi-ouse love to dwell, but 

 it will also be found in localities of less inliospitable aspect, 

 where small plantations of larch and fir are springing up 

 in places and where the general surroimdings are of a nature 

 more calculated to suit the tastes of the black gi'ouse. Of 

 course, every moor does not find favor in the sight of 

 thess gams birds. On the contrary, they exhibit great 

 likes and dislikes as regards various expanses, choosing 

 one and neglecting another in very cm'ious uTegularity. 

 It is very difficult to point out what might guide the 

 birds in this respect: but, as far as one can judge, the 

 merit which bears most influence is that the formation of 

 the ground serves to shelter to some extent the particular 

 slope most affected by the birds so as to provide them 

 with some ijrotection agaiast severe weather. Then, 

 again, the ground must quickly rrm off the rain falling 

 upon it, for, although grouse are found in rainy localities, 

 they cannot stand wet camping ground. That the cover, 

 the heather, etc., should be thick is also, of course, an 

 mportant consideration, as is also the question of food. 



Beyond haunting a particular locality, grouse do no stick 

 voxy closely to one spot; they do not always go to roost in 

 the same place, but move from one to another from night 

 to night, from week to week. 



The red grouse is monogamous, strictly bo, in fact, 

 which is curious, seeing that the black grouse is the oppo- 

 site of this. Pairing commences at the end of winter or 

 very early spring, and by about the end of February the 

 mating time reaches a close. In anotlier month the hens 

 are laying and by the end of April this process is in full 

 force. The nest is placed in a characteristic spot beneath 

 some tuft of heather, at the base of a projecting granite 

 rock, or in any such similar dry spot where it will be well 

 hidden and remain reasonably dry even in the worst of 

 wet weather. The lining of the nest is simple in the ex- 

 treme, a few bits of moss, bents and heather being scraped 

 togetlier in the httle hoUow. The eggs, from four to 

 foiu'teen, and averaging probably eight or nine, are de- 

 posited in this apology for a nest and the hen then com- 

 mences her very serious incubation of them, lasting 

 twenty days, the cock taking no part in it, but assisting 

 assiduously in the rearing and protection cf the yoimg 

 brood, which remains in company of the old bh-ds until 

 well into the autumn when the brood is broken up, the 

 members of it pursuing their own lines of fife until the 

 bu-ds commence to "pack" in winter. By packing we 

 understand the consorting together of large numbers of 

 birds — the pack sometimes reaching as many as forty or 

 fifty grouse — which pass the winter season in company, 

 nnd are altogether very wild and far less "come-at-able" 

 than the ordinary coveys. 



The every-day life of the red grouse is distinctly in- 

 teresting and noteworthy, as is to great extent the case 

 with nearly all moor game. It is in every respect an 

 eai-ly bird, taking its first meal very close upon sunrise. 

 Indeed, I never remember to have been early enough 

 afoot to find the bu-ds otherwise than engaged in their 

 matutinal meal. After this grouse resort to certain par- 

 ticular harmts, where they will bask in the sun, dust 

 themselves, or appear otherwise very busy, according to 

 conditions of weather, until the afternoon, when the 

 acquisition of means to bodily sustenance again claims 

 attention rmtil dusk, when they retne to roost. Grouse 

 do not — unless actually dishu-bed— fly at dusk, much less 

 after darkness sets in, and I never remember having put 

 them up when moving across the moor at night time, so 

 that it is evident they lie uncommonly close. 



The food of the red grouse consists for the most part 

 of the natural vegetable products o£ the lands they affect, 

 and to enumerate all these would be of little service here, 

 but the mountain berries, which wo call craw, whortle, 

 crow and red bear berries and their new growth may be 

 mentioned. At times in winter grouse run very short of 

 food, and Ininger will then compel them to resort to the 

 stubbles of outlying moorland farms for then* food. In- 

 deed to such an extent ai'e gixmse now preserved that it is 

 a recognized necessary and common custom to provide the 

 birds with suitable food, chiefly gr-ain, durmg severe 

 weather. 



Our red grouse is a bird of from 15 to 16in. in length, 

 weighs about 20 or 21oz. on an average and in coloring is 

 a rich sienna brown, shading into nearly a true black 

 upon the belly, the under parts of the feathers being 

 white, the feet and legs being thickly feathered over 

 then- %vhole length. The female is slighter, lighter of hue, 

 but both birds differ largely in the intensity of then- col- 

 oring, some grouse being very light, others equally dark in 

 general coloring. 



Obviously the preseiwation of grouse is a vastly differ- 

 ent affair to that of partridges and pheasants, this bird 

 bemg much nearer a thoroughly wild bird than are either 

 of the two Wv3 have i)reviously taken note of, yet for all 

 that the science of grouse preservation, for science it is, 

 has made wonderful stritles iu this country, and almost 

 incredible quantities are annually killed upon oru- niuner- 

 ous and widely spread and widely differing moors. 



______ Moorman. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



In your issue of October 28, 1886, "Moorman" says in 

 his interesting accovmt of the woodcock in Britain : "The 

 woodcock CScolopax rusticola) of Britain is also the 

 woodcock of America and of almost every other country 

 under the sun which does not rejoice in a tropical cli- 

 mate." This statement is misleading, being trae in only 

 a very limited sense. 



At best, Scolopax nisticola can only be considered as 

 " occasional in Eastern North America." Indeed, a vast 

 majority of si^ortsmen, myself among the number, have 

 never seen this bird in American coverts. The woodcock 

 of this continent is not only specifically cUstinct from that 

 of the Old Wcrlcl, but also occupies a different genus, 

 PhiJohela, the swamp-lover, of Gray. The American bird 

 has hitherto rarely, if ever, been siiecifically confomided 

 with the European, there being a considerable diff'erence 

 in size, in favor of the Old World form. As early as 

 1788 Gmclin described om- bnd, giving to it the specific 

 name viino)-, which is retained to-day, and which alludes 

 to this difference in size, as jjerhaps most distinguishable. 

 Other characters, however, have since been pointed out 

 which are more radical, and upon these the generic dis- 

 tinction is based. 



Yet from tlie sportsman's point of view, these scientific 

 and technical differences are of minor importance, and 

 the habits and gaminess of the two 'cock cause them to 

 appear more akin, more so, mdeed, than science will 

 allow. Thus in the field, in workmg the dogs, and in 

 looking up coverts, they might be considered essentially 

 the same, nevertheless, it would not be well, even for the 

 sportsman, to eatu-ely overlook the distinctions men- 

 tioned above. Louis A. Zerega. 



Worcester, Mass., Nov. 5, — The hunting party which 

 left this city the first of last September returned home this 

 week after an absence of sixty days. It included Mr. and 

 Ivlrs. Jerome Marble, Mr. and Mrs. A. B. F. Kennv, Miss 

 Edith Kenny, of this city; Mr. and Mi-s. H. F. Allen, of 

 Grafton, Mass. ; juon. M. D. Richardson, of Oswego, N. Y. : 

 Dr., Mrs. L. and Master Corcoran, of Springfield, Bfass,; 

 Ml-, and Mrs. George W. Morris, of Hai'tford, Conn, and 

 Mr. W. H. Hutchinson, of Lynn, Mass. During their 

 absence the party have lived in the car "David Gan-ick." 

 They went across the continent to Portland, Oregon, stop- 

 ping at xJoiiits of interest in lUinois, Minnesota, Dakota, 

 Montana, Idaho and Oregon. The time was spent in sight 

 seeing and hunting. Tliey report plenty of sport and 

 game. During their absence they have traveled over 

 8,000 miles and had a fijie time from first to last. 



PENNSYLVANIA GAME, 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Summer woodcock shooting is allowed in Northeastern 

 Pennsylvania, so that in Pike county by the 15th of last 

 July at least 85 per cent, of the adults which nested there 

 and their broods were wiped out. This year was a re- 

 markable one for ruffed grouse, and but for the wood- 

 cock shooting sportsmen woidd at the proper time have 

 fotmd them more numerous than at any time during the 

 past twelve years. The demand, however, for chicken 

 partridges at a local Dehnonico's and by game dealers 

 collecting for the New York and Philadelphia markets 

 made everything a dog pointed at in July and August a 

 woodcock. It is estimated that 1,500 undeveloped birds 

 passed through Milford alone before Sej^t. 1. In spite of 

 this shooting has been more than fair this fall. 



There have been two small flights of woodcock; one 

 last week yielded forty-seven birds to two guns. In a 

 day's hunt from thirty to fifty pheasants or ruffed grouse 

 are seen, but the brush will not be clear until the 6th or 

 7th inst. The great flight of woodcock will be between 

 the 8th and 20th inst. , when there wiU be good sport. The 

 general sentiment is in favor of abolishing summer wood- 

 cock shooting, thus protecting the local nesting birds and 

 the grouse. 



Deer are cleaned out in the Log Tavern ponds region 

 along the Shohola. but there are many on the ridges from 

 Foster's Glen to Matamora, notably above Pond Eddy 

 and the Big YeUow Pine Swamp. Bears are more plenti- 

 ful than deer and there will be grand times with the next 

 snowfall. 



A good headquarters for aguimer with or without dogs 

 is George M. Quick's at the Shockapeo Farm, a mile and 

 a half northwest of Mifford, He is a good shot, lias ex- 

 cellent setters, liis wife knows how to cook and his terms 

 are reasonable. Milford is reached via Port Jervis on the 

 Erie and John Finley's stages. Quick does not hound dear, 

 but tracks with the first snowfall, and he has "meat" from 

 Nov. 15 till late in March. Trout must be given a rest 

 here next year. The streams were very low in the late 

 summer and autumn and the piscivorous snakes, birds 

 and animals had full swing. Amateur, 



SOUTH CAROLINA GAME. 



SUMTER, S. C— In my letter pubUshed Oct. 9, I ex- 

 tended an invitation to sportsmen to come down to 

 South Carolina to try their hand in the field. Several 

 gentlemen have written to me for information, and I have 

 endeavored to give it. I desire to add a word through 

 yom- columns. About Dec. 1 a loarty of us go down to 

 the waters around Georgetown after ducks. They are 

 just now beginning to fly in gi-eat numbers, but the large 

 ducks are not yet on hand. While it is generally possible 

 to hire decoys on the ground, we found it better to carry 

 them if we have time. We do not need camping outfits, 

 as we are always able to find lodging with the rice 

 planters, and in the rudely consti-ucted watchmen's 

 houses in the fields. Almost every rice-field negro is a 

 good cook. I sti-uck one chap this summer who prepared 

 so fine a dinner on a rickety old stove that I told him I 

 would recommend him even to a Delmonico. 



In my last letter I stated that I was not sure as to the 

 supply of quail this season, the spring rains having 

 broken up their nests. Being desnous of going out on 

 Monday, the beginning of the open season, I took 

 my dogs yesterday to see if I could locate any coveys. I 

 had scarcely gone beyond the corporate limits when my 

 pointer struck a trail, and in a few moments three dogs 

 were do-wn, and a fom-th one, a puppy descended from 

 Sensation, was standing off looking on. I flushed them, 

 but had no gun. Having joined the Protective Associa- 

 tion, I was afraid to trust myself with a gun. I went on 

 a little further, and Dingle ran out on a second trial. This 

 was the largest covy I ever saw. Retm-ning, Roger, a 

 setter, ran into a third covey, and I went after them, the 

 dogs coming to some beautiful single points. These three 

 coveys I found within less than three-quarters of an hour, 

 and at no time did I leave the road more than a few steps. 

 To-morrow I will be out. Having a puppy to break, I do 

 not expect much pleasure dm'ing the first few outings; 

 but if I fail to bag a thousand birds during the season, I 

 shall call it bad luck or poor shooting. 



If any of the gentlemen who have written to me, or 

 even others, should desire to visit this se<;tion of South 

 Carolina, it will give me pleasure to help them along. 

 The oidy difficulty lies in the fact that here no one hunts 

 on foot. Our horses are trained to the gun, and if others 

 come to join us, they are put to the expense of hiring a 

 horse. However, after a few days, they will learn the 

 fields, and then they can shift for themselves. I would 

 advise against too costly an outfit. There was one visitor 

 here who was "gotten up" at considerable cost, and he 

 tramped the fields for weeks, returning at night with 

 from one to four quail. He could do everything but shoot. 

 Several of om- non-professional shots bag three birds out 

 of five all day, shooting in close woods or in open fields 

 just as the birds rise, and even then they call themselves 

 unprofitable servants. However, when a fellow shoots out 

 of pure love of hunting, it does not make any diff'erence 

 how many bu'ds he bags. C. C. Brown. 



'•An Old Man's Activity."— A Ber fin dispatch to the 

 London Daily News says: "The Empei-or William re- 

 turned here this afternoon from Blankenburg, apparently 

 none the worse for yesterday's exertions. According to 

 the official report, his Majesty brought down with his 

 rifle twenty-eight head of large game, which is certainly 

 good proof of his keenness of hand and eye." It requires 

 no special "keenness of hand and eye" to bring down 

 game in the Blankenburg fashion. The hunters are jjosted 

 along lanes of netting; the game is driven through these 

 lanes and the guns belch at close range. It would require 

 "keenness" to miss the mark under such conditions. 



Sheldrake on the East River. — One morning last 

 week, while walking over the New York and Brooklyn 

 bridge, I saw a lai'ge bird coming from the direction of 

 the Navy Yard. Approaching with rapid flight the bn-d 

 suddenly saw the structure directly in his course. He 

 wheeled around several times, deciding whether to fly 

 below or above the bridge, or strike through the forests 

 (of masts) on either side of the river. In a moment he 

 had made up his mind and, rising, came flying directly 

 over me, when I saw that it was an ordinary sheldrake, 

 but more than ordinarily interesting for the few mom- 

 ents I watched its perplexity, — F'lin. 



