May B, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



307 



way to kill the beaver. Remembering we had a trap in 

 our outfit. I told him that if the boys would consent to 

 stop over a few days I would try my hand at catching 

 them. I told him not to disturb the dam next morning 

 until we could look the ground over. The boys consented 

 to lay over, and the next morning saw us all gathered at 

 the dam, but not a soul in the party had ever trapped a 

 beaver. Remembering the stories of my grandsire, I 

 undertook the leadership. Taking a short axe 1 went out 

 on the dam and cut a section about a foot square out of 

 <he center, letting the water pour through. The ditch at 

 this point was about 9ft. wide and 4ft. deep, then taking 

 a short pole I set the butt end securely into the bank 

 under water, and springing the small end arouud, T 

 fastened it to the trap, sticking willows through the trap 

 to hold it in position till loosened by the struggles of the 

 beaver when he would be swimming around under water. 

 The trap must always be fixed so as to keep the beaver 

 under water, since if left high and dry he will proceed to 

 gnaw his foot off, which is all you'll get for your pains. 



The first one we caught was the largest beaver I ever 

 saw. We carried him to the ranch and made out his 

 weight by the old-fashioned steelyards to be just 401bs. 

 After that they grew smaller, until we caught the last 

 one, which was about the size of a large muskrat. Poor 

 little fellow, he had tried to do the work left him by his 

 fathers, as a bunch of willows the size of a lead pencil 

 drawn up on the dam attested. The ranchman was pro- 

 fuse in his thanks, and nothing was too good for us. I 

 believe he woidd have considered a pony apiece small 

 pay for the work done. We had lost nearly a week's 

 time, but the pack mules had rounded out in great shape 

 on the luscious grass in the river bottoms. 



We had done a little hunting and fishing, and antelope, 

 grouse and trout had been on the bill of fare almost every 

 day. But all were anxious for a start, so we lost no time 

 in getting ready for the trail again, and it was a jolly 

 crowd that left for the reservation that morning. 



Fox Lake, Wis. WANDERER. 



A BIT OF ADVICE. 



IF you have not laid out your vacation for the season, 

 begin now, and you will enjoy it in anticipation from 

 now until you go. I always get a years pleasure out of 

 my summer vacation, in anticipation, participation and 

 retrospection. Now a word to those who cannot spare 

 the time for a summer outing. It is a well known and 

 generally accepted fact that the aggregate results of a 

 year's labor will be greater in the case of the man who 

 works ten months and plays two in the year than in 

 the case of the man who works twelve straight months. 

 And from an economical point of view such outings are 

 cheaper than staying at home: also when looked at from 

 a physiological standpoint, see the grand results. The 

 recuperation of vitality and rest for brain and body is 

 Avorth more than many times the cost of the trip — paid 

 out for medicine and doctors' bills. 



I do not mean for you to go to some fashionable summer 

 resort, have your mail come from the city every day, and 

 indulging in dancing, bathing, dinners and all other sorts 

 of social dissipations. This would only be jumping from 

 the frying-pan into the fire. What I mean is to go to 

 some quiet farmhouse in the mountains, or with your 

 family or a few jovial friends go and camp out in the pine 

 woods, on the banks of a clear pure spring or lake, where 

 you can get good fishing and hunting. Take along your 

 rod and reel, gun and dog, leave behind your mail, ex- 

 cept your Forest and Stream, and all business matters. 



What you want is change — a change from the din, 

 rush and worry of city life, to quiet rest and enjoyment. 

 Try it once, and I know you will not miss taking a regu- 

 lar summer vacation every season if it is possible to do so. 



FOREST City, Iowa. W. H. S. 



tni[dl l§wtorg. 



FOREIGN GAME FOR AMERICA. 



In a report to the Department of State, our valued cor- 

 respondent, Hon. W. W. Thomas, Jr., Minister to 

 Sweden, recommends the introduction of the capercailzie 

 and black game in A merica. This interesting report is 

 given in full below: 



I have the honor to call your attention to the import- 

 ance and practicability of introducing the capercailzie 

 and black game of the Old World into the United States. 



The capercailzie and black game are the two most im- 

 portant wild birds in Sweden and Norway, and make a 

 valuable addition to the food of the Scandinavian people. 

 These birds are excellent upon the table, their flesh re- 

 sembling that of our prairie chickens. 



Throughout the fall and most of the winter you may 

 see the capercailzie and black game hanging up in large 

 bunches or lying heaped up in great piles along the mar- 

 ket-places of Stockholm: scattered about as profusely as 

 wild ducks in the markets of Chicago and Minneapolis in 

 the month of October. 



THE CAPERCAILZIE. 



The capercailzie is the largest a,nd noblest of the grouse 

 family — the family to which our pinnated grouse (prairie 

 chicken) and ruffed grouse (partridge or pheasant) be- 

 long. 



The full-grown male capercailzie weighs from 10 to 

 121bs., and some specimens considerably exceed this 

 weight. These birds, in fact, approach very nearly the 

 size of the wild turkey of America. 



The home of the capercailzie extends over a wide range 

 of latitude and temperature in two continents. From the 

 wooded, mountainous regions of northern Spain and 

 Greece, northward throughout Europe, this bird is found 

 in most of the lofty forest districts suitable for his abode, 

 and where he has not been exterminated by man, This 

 grouse is abundant in the great pine, and spruce forests of 

 the Scandinavian peninsula, Finland and Russia, and the 

 vast forest stretches of northern Asia. 



The capercailzie is an extremely hardy bird. In Swe- 

 den and Norway he is found in large numbers up to and 

 beyond the arctic circle, as far as the seventieth parallel 

 of north latitude. He can endure the severest cold and 

 deepest snows of the longest winters. He often avoids 

 the bitterest cold by burrowing into the snow, thus ob- 

 taining warmth and shelter. 



This bird subsists on the coarsest and commonest food. 

 He feeds upon the bude and leaves of trees, the needles 



or leaves of the pine and spruce, young pine cones, clover 

 and grass, berries of all sorts, seed and grain, and insects 

 of every kind, In the depth of winter a capercailzie has 

 been known to live for more than a week in the same 

 pine tree, subsisting entirely upon pine leaves and young 

 pine cones. 



The capercailzie is preeminently a bird of the pine 

 woods, or pine mixed with birch, spruce, maple and other 

 growths. He loves wooded hillsides better than wooded 

 plains, and he must have fresh water near by — either a 

 brook or pond or a piece of swampy ground. 



He is a local, not a migratory bird, though sometimes 

 lack of food or other causes may drive him to extensive 

 wanderings. In his habits he much resembles our 

 American ruffed grouse — though in size he is nearly ten 

 times as large — and, I believe, will thrive anywhere in 

 the United States where our ruffed grouse (called part- 

 ridge in New England and pheasant in the Middle States) 

 is found. 



BLACK GAME. 



The black game inhabits nearly the same regions as 

 the capercailzie. He is equally hardy, and can with- 

 stand the cold and snows of the most rigorous northern 

 winters. His weight is about 31bs. — about the same as 

 our prairie chicken. The male bird is a lustrous, metallic 

 black in color; hence the name. He has, however, a 

 white stripe in his wings, and his jet black, outward- 

 curving tail feathers are much prized as a hat ornament 

 in the Tyrol. 



The black game is also a grouse, and he is often found 

 in company with the capercailzie, or at least in close 

 proximity. The black game is also a bird of the woods, 

 but the birch is preeminently his tree, though he is met 

 with in mixed growths of almost every variety. He does 

 not frequent the deep woods so much as the capercailzie; 

 he loves better the borders of the forest, and woods and 

 groves with frequent openings. He is also fond of cran- 

 berry swamps, and in swampy lands is often found miles 

 away from any forest. 



His food is much the same as the capercailzie, though 

 not quite so coarse. It consists chiefly of the buds and 

 leaves of trees, berries and insects. In summer the black 

 game is very fond of blueberries, raspberries and cran- 

 berries; in winter he feeds principally upon the buds of 

 the birch, hazel, alder, willow and beech, and when 

 pressed for food will eat the young green cones of the 

 pine. This bird seems to be equally fond of animal food, 

 and readily eats snails, worms, the larva} of ants, flies, 

 beetles, etc. 



He is a more social bird than the capercailzie, and 

 comes out more into the fields and clearings and nearer 

 the abodes of man. 



WILL THEY THRIVE IN THE UNITED STATES V 



Hundreds of times when traveling through the forests 

 of Scandinavia I could scarcely resist the conviction that 

 I must be back again in the woods of New England, Here 

 in Sweden are the same hillsides and mountains, the 

 same swift, clear brooks foaming in their rocky beds, and 

 the same forest trees — the pine and spruce, the birch, 

 maple and beech, the oak and ash. Here are the same 

 wild berries, too; and in Sweden you may pick wild 

 strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries, 

 just a with us in Arneriee. 



Then take the two grandest and most useful of the 

 wild animals of Scandinavia. The reindeer of the f jelds 

 is almost identical with our own caribou, and the most 

 expert naturalists have been unable to distinguish any 

 substantial difference between the Swedish elk and the 

 moose of America. The fact is that a great portion of 

 the United States— at least one-third, perhaps one-half — 

 is fitted to be the home of the capercailzie and the black 

 game, for there is a suitable climate, a suitable broken 

 country of hill and dale, well watered and covered with 

 a suitable forest growth; and this forest growth, together 

 with its underbrush and bushes, will not only provide 

 shelter for these birds, but will furnish them with all the 

 food they require until they become as plenty as Euro- 

 pean sparrows now are in our streets and public parks. 

 It is my firm conviction that these valuable birds will 

 thrive throughout all the wooded districts of New Eng- 

 land, New York and Pennsylvania, and westward through 

 the greater portion of the States of Michigan, Wisconsin 

 and Minnesota. They will also find a congenial home 

 along the wooded slopes of the Rocky Mountains for their 

 entire length, as well as in the wooded ravines and de- 

 clivities of the mountain ranges of California, Oregon 

 and Washington. And not only here. The fact that 

 these birds are found among the hills and mountains of 

 Europe as far south as Greece, Italy and Spain renders it 

 almost certain that they will find a congenial climate and 

 nature throughout the entire ranges of the Alleghenies, 

 Blue Ridge and the Cumberland Mountains, together with 

 their spurs, sidebills and outlying forest districts, and 

 may thus easily be acclimated over large sections of the 

 Slates of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. 

 And besides the districts above enumerated there are 

 doubtless many other portions of the United States well 

 fitted to be the home of these magnificent game birds. 



THEIR INTRODUCTION INTO THE UNITED STATES. 



The easiest and cheapest way would be by obtaining 

 their eggs, sending them to America and having them 

 hatched out there. I am sorry that I cannot recommend 

 this course. Eggs ha ve repeatedly been sent to Germany 

 and Great Britain, but every such attempt has turned 

 out a complete failure. The only other method is to pro- 

 cure and ship adult birds. This method has also been 

 tried, and the results are such as to give us great encour- 

 angement. 



The capercailzie was originally found in Scotland. His 

 great size and fine flesh caused hirn to be keenly hunted 

 and some generations ago he was utterly exterminated. 



About fifty years since some 150 capercailzie.adult birds, 

 were shipped from Sweden across the North Sea to Scot- 

 land. They arrived safely, were liberated in a suitable 

 locality and lived and increased. Their descendants are 

 living and increasing to this day, and the capercailzie is 

 again added to the food birds of Scotland. 



I find there have been several shipments of both caper- 

 cailzie and black game of late years from Sweden to 

 various parts of Germany, Austria and Hungary to local- 

 ities where these birds have been shot out or where they 

 had never existed. In the instances where proper care 

 has been exercised most of the birds have arrived in good 

 condition, have taken kindly to their new homes and are 

 breeding well there. 



Within four years a considerable shipment of black 

 game was made from Sweden to southern Austria, near 

 the Italian boundary, and, notwithstanding the birds 

 were ten days upon the road, and that there were many 

 changes of trains, they all arrived sound and well, not a 

 bird dying on the passage. There are now direct steamers 

 from Gothenburg, Sweden, also from Copenhagen, just 

 across the sound, in Denmark, to New York and Boston. 

 The passage in the summer time occupies some twelve or 

 thirteen days. Surely the fatigue and hardship of this 

 passage would be less than ten days in freight cars. 

 Neither will the salt air have any bad effect upon the 

 birds. Both love to inhabit the wooded islands along the 

 coast, and fly readily from one to the other across great 

 reaches of water. I think the best time for transporta- 

 tion would be late in August or early in September. 



THE COST. 



I find the birds recently shipped to Germany have cost 

 $12 each for capercailzie and $7 for black game. These 

 prices seem to me high. I found, however, that many 

 of the birds are injured in snaring, and many more die 

 after a few days' confinement. Birds suitable for export, 

 and for which the above prices are asked, are all strong, 

 full-grown birds, without injury or blemish. They are 

 kept for a considerable time in captivity, and are, in fact, 

 nearly half domesticated before they are considered suit- 

 able to ship on a long voyage, so that the prices may, 

 perhaps, be only a fair compensation for labor and time 

 and the inevitable large mortality among the birds dur- 

 ing the earlier part of their captivity. I believe that at 

 least one hundred birds of each species should be shipped 

 to give the experiment a fair trial. In case we can ob- 

 tain no reduction in the price this will make — 



One hundred capercaizie, at S12. - $1,200 



One hundred blacK game, at 87 700 



Total... $1,900 



The birds must be placed in roomy coops of the best 

 construction, and not crowded. They must have a light 

 and airy position on shipboard, and some one should be 

 sent to take charge of them, or some sailor or steward on 

 board must be specially instructed, so as to properly feed 

 and care for them. The expense of building the coops, 

 of freight and caretaking will be considerable, to which 

 must be added freight and expense from the American 

 port of landing to the destination ; so that, allowing for 

 all contingencies, a sum of $3,000 will be required for the 

 undertaking. 



WHERE SHALL THE EXPERIMENT BE TRIED? 



It seems to me the National Yellowstone Park is the 

 proper place to first liberate these birds, and to make the 

 first attempt to acclimatize them on American soil. I 

 have never had the pleasure of visiting this grand park, 

 but if the accounts I have read are correct, there are to 

 be found within its borders hillside forests, well watered, 

 which will furnish these birds With all needed shelter 

 and food. In the National Park, also, the birds can be 

 protected by the Government against poachers. The 

 only objection to the park is the long journey by land 

 necessary to reach it; and this, added to the long sea 

 voyage, might be more than the birds could endure. 

 However, upon the arrival of the birds in New York, a 

 proper person could decide whether they were in a fit 

 condition to stand the western trip. If they were not, 

 there are hundreds of places within twenty-four hours 

 of the Atlantic where the birds could be liberated with 

 advantage. 



Should our Government be willing to try this experi- 

 ment with a liberal hand, other shipments could be made, 

 and separate flocks of capercailzie and black game be set 

 free in different sections of the Union, The great forests 

 of northern Maine, the Adirondack region in New York, 

 the Allegheny Mountains, and the woods of eastern Min- 

 nesota would be especially adapted for this purpose. 



I have made the matter of the introduction of the caper- 

 cailzie and black game into my native land the study of" 

 leisure hours for many years, and have sought informa- 

 tion which would throw light upon the undertaking from 

 every available source. And it is only now, when I am 

 convinced that success is reasonably certain, that I ven- 

 ture to recommend the experiment. 



It appears to me that if we take into consideration the 

 value of these birds as articles of food, the great size of 

 one of them, the hardy qualities of both species, their 

 power to withstand cold and snow and the utmost rigors 

 of our climate, and their ability to live and thrive upon 

 the coarsest of products of our forests which products 

 now largely go to waste — it appears to me, I say, that all 

 these considerations together are amply sufficient to war- 

 rant our giving the acclimatization of the capercailzie 

 and black game in America a fair and thorough trial. 



For my own part, it will be a labor of love to assist, in 

 every way in my power, any effort to add these noble 

 birds to the fauna of America. 



W. W. Thomas, Jr., Minister. 



United States Legation, Stockholm. 



Evening- Grosbeak in Pennsylvania.— Montoursville, 

 Pa., May 1.— Editor Forest and Stream: Early in last 

 January a friend described to me a flock of strange 

 birds he had seen the day before. From the imperfect 

 description given J concluded they were snow buntings, 

 and so paid no further attention to the matter. A few 

 weeks later he killed three of them, and then I saw at 

 once they were unlike any bird I had ever seen here. 

 Upon investigation I found them to be evening grosbeaks. 

 They have never before been recorded as appearing east 

 of Ohio, and but seldom east of Lake Superior, but as is 

 well known a number of specimens have been taken in 

 this State and in New York during the past winter. 

 The birds numbering about forty, have kept together in 

 a single flock all through their stay. Their food seems to 

 consist entirely of wild cherry pits. They readily crack 

 the stones with their stout bills, and a flock feeding on 

 these makes a noise resembling a miniature Fourth of 

 July celebration. The male has a loud, clear and beauti- 

 ful song, while both birds have a peculiar piping whistle, 

 which is apparently used as a call note, and is kept up 

 constantly. Two or three weeks ago the birds became 

 quite uneasy, keeping well to the tops of the trees and 

 ranging for miles up and down the river; but they finally 

 returned to then- old haunts, and now seem to have lost 

 in a measure their tribal organization, and to-day, April 

 30, they are to be found in all parts of the grove, making 

 love to each other in much the same manner as turtle 

 doves, seemingly well contented with what I believe will 

 prove to be their summer home.— F. F. Castlebury. 



