Nov. 80, 1895.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



467 



did any work for the association, as Mr. Collins, the con- 

 tractor who built the pens, and others can testify. As to 

 where the trouble existed it is hard to say, as there are 

 said to be no books showing what the expenditures or re- 

 ceipts have been. 



The expenses in starting were about as follows: Ten 

 capercailzie at $14. each, nineteen black game at about $10 

 each and one hundred pinnated and sharp-tailed grouse 

 at $1 each. To this must be added the cost of transporta- 

 tion in each case, so that the whole cost of the birds when 

 they reached the grounds of the association was not far 

 from |650. The pens cost about $200, so that the entire 

 cost of starting was not far from $850. To this the cost 

 of feed for a year and a half must be added and the 

 keeper's salary — if it were paid. The whole outlay up to 

 the present time, has been about $1,500, a portion of 

 which still remains to be paid and probably will remain. 

 At this rate the thirteen remaining birds have cost over 

 $100 a piece, and it has been suggested that they be kept 

 in gold cages after this, or better, in fire-proof vaults. 



As to just how much money has been paid into the 

 association for membership fees and private subscrip- 

 tions it is doubtful if any one can tell or ever can. Mr. 

 Gay stated on several occasions that "the money was 

 coming in freely," and that "the association could have 

 all the funds it wanted." This was when the broom was 

 new. It did not sweep so clean afterward. 



As to the grouse mentioned as being liberated in other 

 places, no certain results can be given. People living in 

 those localities reported that they bred the first season ; 

 but it is thought that all were shot in the fall; at least no 

 further indications of them have been seen. 



It is a great pity that the venture should have so nearly 

 fallen through, for while it has always been a question if 

 the pinnated grouse could be made to thrive in a thickly- 

 wooded country like the State of Maine, there is no doubt 

 of the feasibility of introducing the capercailzie and black 

 game — especially the former. They are magnificent 

 birds, nearly as large as turkey*, and are accustomed to 

 a wooded country. Minister W. W. Thomas, Jr., thinks 

 that they would thrive well in Maine and would be a great 

 addition to the game of the State. Why could not another 

 importation be made and the birds liberated in the central 

 part of some one of the nearly unoccupied townships, say 

 in Oxford county? A special act of protection could 

 easily be gained from the State Legislature for that sec- 

 tion, and continued for a term of years. Three or four 

 hundred dollars expended in procuring birds, to be 

 brought here and liberated the last of March or first of 

 April, would be almost certain to make the test a success, 

 and the money could be easily raised if some one inter- 

 ested would lead off. Outsider. 



Commissioner Stanley writes us of the bird enterprise 

 under date of Nov. 18: 



In your paper, Nov. 2, I read with much interest an 

 article from Mr. C. H. Ames in regard to the attempt that 

 has been made at Auburn by the Maine Game Protective 

 Association (so called) to breed in captivity the young of 

 sharp-tail and pinnated grouse, black game and capercail- 

 zie, also an editorial note making some inquiries and criti- 

 cisms on the subject. * The Maine Fish and Game Com- 

 missioners had nothing to do with the enterprise, but as I 

 the experiments have been conducted on our grounds at 

 East Auburn, where the bird pens are located, perhaps I 

 could give you the 'in formation as to what has been done 

 as well as anyone. I am at the hatchery every few days 

 and see the birds often and know how they have been 

 treated. The Maine Game Bird Association should not be 

 confounded with the Maine State Fish and Game Associa- 

 tion. They are separate, with no connection or common 

 pecuniary interests whatever. The Bird Association was 

 Btarted for the express purpose of raising in captivity new 

 and desirable game birds for the purpose of stocking the 

 forests of Maine. The expenses of the experiment de- 

 pended entirely on subscriptions from its friends. 



One year ago last spring the Association started in, I 

 think, with about twenty birds each of the pinnated and 

 sharp-tail grouse. A portion of these were sent to New 

 Hampshire and Bar Harbor last season. I think six of 

 the black game and the same number of capercailzie were 

 purchased in Sweden. The black game arrived in good 

 condition. The capercailzie, when they arrived in New 

 York,, I understand, were all right, but through some 

 mismanagement or misunderstanding were shipped by 

 freight instead of by express, were several days on the 

 road without food or water, and, as might have been ex- 

 pected, were dead or dying on their arrival at Auburn. 

 A farmer near by was hired to care for the birds. Their 

 feed was almost entirely corn, with but little change. 

 Very seldom was any green vegetable given them, of 

 which they appear to be very fond. Yet with what I 

 call poor care the larger part of the birds have lived. 

 The grouse of both varieties laid a few eggs which were 

 hatched under bantam hens, but died in a few days. 

 They were not strong when hatched. Last spring the 

 black game laid a few eggs for the first time, which 

 hatched and died the same as the others, probably from 

 the same cause. The man who had charge of these birds 

 was apparently ignorant of their habits and food neces- 

 sary for their young. The care they have had was no 

 better, if so good, as that given by the average farmer 

 who lets his poultry shift and care for themselves. That 

 the few birds that are left are even in as good condition 

 as they are now is more than I should have expected. 

 There are now left five sharp-tail and five pinnated grouse, 

 three black game, one cock and two hens. 



Owing to lack of means further to carry on the experi- 

 ment, the Association turned over the birds to the Maine 

 Fish and Game Commissioners a few days ago. We have 

 thoroughly renovated and cleaned the pens, have set out 

 evergreens, and are giving the birds a variety of grain 

 and seeds, also vegetables of various kinds, of which they 

 are very fond. We have also ordered from Sweden four 

 hens and two cocks each ef the capercailzie and black 

 game. We intend to try breeding them for one season. 



As to the success of the experiment I am skeptical, but 

 it can be done with very little expense to us, and perhaps 

 is worth trying. Of course we are ignorant as to the 

 proper treatment of the young birds and must depend on 

 common sense and what information we can gather from 

 others. If any readers of Forest and Stream can give 

 us any information to help us, it will be thankfully 

 received. 



If we fail in raising any young birds next year, we shall 

 take what stock we have left back into the forests of 

 Maine as far as possible from the haunts of the sportsmen 



and turn them loose, which course appears to me would 

 be the most likely to be successful. 



I have had considerable discussion with Hon. W. W. 

 Thomas. Jr., our late Minister to Sweden, which is the 

 home of the capercailzie and black game. He has seen 

 and hunted them in Sweden and is familiar with their 

 habitp, etc. The climate and forests of Sweden are identi- 

 cal with ours. He is firm in the faith that they will 

 thrive in Maine as well as in Sweden. But he thinks as I 

 do that the proper and surest way to succeed is to buy the 

 birds in sufficient numbers, turn them loose in some 

 secluded locality in our forests and let them do the rest. 

 If successful they would be a great attraction and addition 

 to our game birds, and well worth the cost. As for the 

 pinnated and sharp-tail grouse, I have no faith in their 

 introduction into Maine. We shall not waste any money 

 in trying experiments with them. Henry O. Stanley. 



TEN DAYS WITH THE PRAIRIE 

 CHICKENS. 



Marysville, O. — Editor Forest- and Stream: Who 

 would sell a farm to join a circus? I would not, or at 

 least that is what I thought about Sept. 1, '94. It had 

 been my misfortune to sigh with the Kirkhart show early 

 in May, and we traveled in the State of Iowa the whole 

 season, lb was far from a P. T. Barnum outfit, yet it did 

 stay out all the season, and I should not have shed a tear 

 had it "busted" the second month out; still, if it had done 

 so I would have missed ten days of the finest chicken 

 shooting that ever fell to my lot. 



The season had been extremely dry and hot, and it was 

 anything but pleasant. About Sept. 1 I was congratulat- 

 ing myself on soon returning home, when I chanced to 

 make the acquaintance of a young ' man named Bert, at 

 La Verne, on Sept, 7. I was invited by him to take a 

 ride after the show was over to find some chickens, and I 

 accepted. 



Bert was one of those fellows who make you feel, after 

 a few minutes' conversation with them, that you had 

 been on familiar terms all your life. He was a farmer, 

 owned a good horse and buggy, and two as fine English 

 pointers as ever stood staunchly, and which were as finely 

 broken as they could possibly be. He owned a double- 

 barreled Parker and a repeating shotgun. 



Soon after 3 P. M. Bert and I were driving for the 

 chicken grounds as fast as a good road horse could take 

 us. We stopped at a cornfield about three miles from 

 town, turned into it, and as there were no fences we had 

 full sway. The dogs first worked out a stubble field 

 through which we were going, but without finding, it 

 being rather early in the afternoon. The birds were rest- 

 ing in the corn where the sun could not strike them, a 

 fact which the dogs well knew, as they turned from the 

 open field and made for the corn. We waited about five 

 minutes for them to come out, but they not appearing we 

 concluded to investigate. We had not entered more than 

 five rods into the corn when we found" them both stand- 

 ing as if they had grown there with it. Talk of living 

 pictures! There was one. The order to flush was given, 

 and was promptly obeyed, The result was not quite 

 what we expected. Only a single cock bird fiuslifd, 

 which at that time of the year are always found by them- 

 selves. He rose and soared away, but not far, as Bert 

 had leveled the Parker on him, and I had the repeater. 

 He hit the ground with a thud and was retrieved nicely 

 by Little Dick, who acted like a trained dog. His brother 

 Ben did enough of the ranging to make matters even. I 

 doubt if I ever saw two dogs work better to each othei^s 

 interests, and without a spark of jealousy. They are a 

 brace to be proud of. 



After we had worked the cornfield for a while without 

 finding any more birds, we returned to the buggy, the 

 horse having quietly grazed in our absence. 



The sun was now going down in the west. We worked 

 for a stubble not far away which we could always mark 

 by the straw stacks, and where there was a stubble there 

 were chickens, providing that it was in the cool of the 

 morning or evening. Once near the stubble, the dogs 

 worked with a vim , and soon they were both stiff as a 

 stick on a point. I am not a very lazy man, but to ride 

 up to the dogs is much easier than to walk when one is 

 hunting prairie chickens. We got out, gave the order to 

 flush, and the moment that the first bird fluttered both 

 dogs dropped to wing. 



To one whose shooting has been confined to Bob 

 Whites, which, when flushed, rise all at once with a 

 whir, chicken shooting offers something qui e different. 

 The chickens rose two at a time, just long enough between 

 times to permit us to get ready for the next pair. Bert 

 scored two, and if he had taken advantage of the oppor- 

 tunity he could have reloaded his gun and shot two more 

 before they flew out of range. As for myself, all I had 

 to do was to stand and pump, and with fairly good 

 results too, for by the time I had fired five times the 

 birds had stopped rising. I had one cartridge left in my 

 gun, and a remaining bird tried to Bteal a march on us 

 and nearly did so. He flushed wild all of 60yds. away, 

 when I pulled on him with little hope of bringing him to 

 grass, but he fell with a broken wing and ran toward the 

 corn. However, Little Dick had his weather eye on him, 

 and as soon as he tried to steal away Dick ran after him, 

 and soon both were out of sight in the corn — not for long; 

 in a short time Little Dick came out with much dignity, 

 trotting to us with the bird in his mouth. 



On counting the result we found that we had seven 

 birds besides the old fellow we got in the corn at the 

 start. 



We had marked the birds down and had no difficulty 

 in finding them again, and in the next flush we brought 

 three more to bag. This was enough for one day and we 

 then returned to town. 



We were billed to show at Algona on Sept. 17, and as it 

 was not more than ten hours' drive from La Verne I ar- 

 ranged to join Bert for ten days. 



If I were to tell of even half the sport we had with the 

 prairie chickens it would crowd the pages of Forest and 

 Stream. There were about fifty people with the circus, 

 and for ten days they had all the chickens they wanted. 

 We had all the morning to hunt between towns, as the 

 jumps were not long, then in the afternoon from 3 o'clock 

 till dark we hunted and shot when we found the chickens 

 to shoot. At Algona I shook the hand of Bert in farewell, 

 and said good-by to Little Dick and Ben and the horse. I 

 left the show there and took the train for Ohio. Icould 

 not remain longer. I expect to see them all again soon, 

 but I will not be with a circus. H. S. . 



NEW BRUNSWICK GAME. 



Fredeeicton, N. B., Nov. 18.— The season for gathering 

 feathered fruit is now about over in this region, and many 

 of the gun cranks are beginning to den for the winter. 

 Of course our chief game bird is the partridge. The crop 

 has not heen up to the average of former years. The 

 fruit has been well ripened, but hard to pick. The cranks 

 have patrolled all the country roads faithfully, and once 

 or twice in a while have been able to persuade some ir.- 

 fatuated bull partridge to lay aside formality, fuss and 

 feathers. But no large bags have been taken — except in 

 the newspapers. 



Woodcock have been more plentiful this season than 

 for years past here. Harry Atherton, as usual, is top- 

 notcher in this style of Bport with a total of 67. Rainsf ord 

 Wetmore has accumulated 44, and George Hqegg 35. 

 Other gentlemen have been seen by reliable witnesses 

 punching holes in the twilight, but without any heedless 

 shedding of blood. Of course accidents are bound to hap- 

 pen and birds are apt to be killed or wounded by the 

 hasty disoharge of firearms at some other bird. 



The star actor down here in the drama of the chase has 

 been our genial friend, "Rains" Wetmore, whose score 

 of over 100 geese, brant and duck at Mi3cou is not going 

 to be easily duplicated. Rainsf ord assures me that he saw 

 some birds over there which he did not shoot. 



Our equally genial friend, Will Chestnut, is away in 

 the region of Little Sou- West Lake with that king of 

 guides and woodsmen, Henry Braithwaite, and though 

 the weather has not been up to specification, it is dollars 

 to doughnuts that moose or caribou, or both, will fall to 

 William's deadly rifle. 



This reminds me to remark that the most genial of all 

 our friends, Fred Irland, of Detroit, was down here this 

 fall and as usual went home covered with gore and glory. 

 He shot a fine bull moose and a bull caribou, and his 

 companion, Herbert Flowers, who is only 14 years old, 

 shot another big caribou right in the neck. There wasn't 

 any fluke about it. Of course the gun knocked Herbert 

 over, but Herbert says he didn't mind that when he saw 

 the caribou come down. Some of these grown-up 

 people who indulge in buck fever ought to communi- 

 cate with Herbert. 



Some people have more luck than some other people. 

 A bicyclist was down here from Boston the other day. 

 His name was Wintergreen. He said he would like to go 

 hunting. He did not care whether it was moose, caribou, 

 bear or deer— most anything would do him. He went 

 out to Zionville, and in company with a boy named Tommy 

 Evans, son of a well-known trapper, entered the forest. 

 Then hadn't gone more than three miles from the house 

 when they flushed a flock of three bull moose. Mr. 

 Wintergreen promptly shot two of them and brought the 

 whole business into town next day. He says this is a 

 great country for moose, and if he has a week to spare 

 next year he is coming down here to get a few more. 



With each succeeding season deer are increasing in 

 number in this Province. They are drifting over the line 

 from Maine all the time and threading their way on 

 nimble feet into the remotest regions of the wilderness. 

 If the game authorities can prevent the indiscriminate 

 slaughter of deer by crust hunters in the winter they 

 will soon be very numerous. As yet the only deer shot 

 this season by a Fredericton marksman was the fine fat 

 doe scored by Frank Risteen a fortnight ago on the Mary r 

 land road. It is certain that others will be taken as soon 

 as snow falls. 



Jimmy Hawkins had a sad experience the other day. 

 James is a deadly foe of the bull partridge, so the other 

 day he chartered a buggy and in company with his wife 

 drove out on the Wilsey road. Becoming suspicious of game 

 at a certain point he got out of the carriage and strolled 

 up an "old road." While James was gone four partridges 

 scuriied across the highway in front of the horse, and 

 immediately afterward a large luoifee ran across, appar- 

 ently in pursuit of the birds. Mrs. James called aloud for 

 her husband, but without success. When James finally 

 emerged and learned of this he made a few hasty re- 

 marks and plunged into the bush in pursuit of the lucifee 

 and the partridges. He was gone a good while and went 

 a good ways, and therefore he did not hear Mrs. James, 

 who was again calling aloud for her husband. At last 

 James appeared, and Mrs. James showed him where a 

 great big deer with horns on had come out the "old road" 

 and then gone into the bush as though in pursuit of James 

 and the lucifee! The exact words used by James are not 

 known. Of course he went into the bush in pursuit of the 

 deer, but this time he kept his ears wide open, and hence, 

 when Mrs. James once more called aloud for her hus- 

 band, he reached the road so quickly that Mrs. James was 

 able to show him where a large bear, not more than a 

 minute before, had crossed the road and gone into the 

 bush in pursuit of the lucifee, the partridges, the deer 

 and James! James then turned the horse and started in 

 pursuit of— home. He says the next time he goes into 

 the woods he will leave the gun in the vagon. 



Prowler. 



Deer in Rhode Island. 



A few days since, a reputable resident in the vicinity 

 of Sneech Pond, near Cumberland, R. I., reported as hav- 

 ing seen a good sized buck deer in that neighborhood and 

 Btated that if he had at the time had his gun he could 

 easily have proved his story. Such stories circulate now 

 and then here, but of course the teller is well laughed at 

 and his hearer seldom believes the yarn. 



For the past few days my chum and I have been the 

 laughing stock of various friends, and in going to and 

 from the office I now haunt the back streets, and all 

 because we report deer tracks in the vicinity of Greene 

 near the Connecticut line. It came about in this way: 

 We went down to our old grounds rabbit and squirrel 

 shooting, and in talking with men who hunt in that 

 vicinity were told that a deer's tracks were plainly visi- 

 ble. Where these traoks were seen no cattle have been 

 and the explanation that they may be hogs' tracks is off- 

 set in the same way. The hogs are confined, or killed off. 

 The tracks are sharp and clear, having been made during 

 the last week when the ground was soft from the rains. 

 Now what is the opinion of the brethren of Forest and 

 Stream? Could a deer find its way down into our State, 

 and what domestic animal is there whose tracks could be 

 mistaken for one of these animals? 



The simple fact of seeing the tracks might be overruled, 

 but the fact that a deer was actually seen may prove that 

 some strayer has found his way down among us. Tode. 



