Deo. 8„ 1892.], 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



489 



ANOTHER MINK TRAGEDY. 



HlGnijA.NDS, N. C— For a couple of months I have been 

 trying to solve the problem of a dead mink I found lying 

 in my barn on my return to my home here. The mink 

 had been dead but a short time, and had no wounds upon 

 it except at the throat where two small holes had let out 

 its life blood. How it came to its end has troubled my 

 mind ever since, until I read the account of a mink 

 tragedy in Forest and Stream of last week. There were 

 no cats in the barn, and the rats "instinctively had left 

 it" as well, during my absence from home, i at length 

 concluded that two male minks must have had a quarrel 

 in the barn and one had become a victim of the fignt. 



The barn is close to the dam of one of my ponds, and 

 has been frequented by minks in pm-suit of the chickens 

 •which sometimes took up a night's lodging in it. But as 

 they were removed to other quarters the minks miist 

 have had the building all to themselves. I skinned the 

 body, which could not have been dead many hours, and 

 the marks in the throat showed that only one firm and 

 deadly grip had been taken, Tiie graphic account of the 

 tragedy referred to brought the whole thing to my mind's 

 eye, and this occurrence must have happened in precisely 

 the same manner. It is interesting to know that these 

 cruel beasts have no bowels of compassion even for each 

 other. H. S. 



PHEASANTS IN CONFINEMENT. 



London, Ontario. — I am only a novice in the business, 

 ana coobequently my ixjd dixit may not carry much 

 weight, but, I think there are many who would like to 

 keep a few of these pheasants if they knew how easy it 

 is to do so, and how much pleasure they would have to 

 , watch these most beautiful birds. I have had them for 

 over two years, and I feel that 1 have lost many years of 

 pleasure in not having them before. They are most in- 

 teresting from the day they leave the shell till they strut 

 about showing off their variously colored plumage. There 

 is no bird that flies that can be compared to the various 

 species of Ph asianidce. One is only more attractive than 

 the other. 



My collection consisted of Reeves, Swinhoe, Lady Am- 

 herst, versicolor, silver, golden and ring necks. There 

 are many others, but even this lot gave me plenty to do 

 to look after and care for, but I found it was very simple 

 work. All they needed was plenty of room, plenty of 

 food, green and hard, with fresh water, and not to be 

 disturbed too much. 



My coops are not very large, but I find they thrive very 

 well in tuem. They are 4Et. wide by 18ft. long, with a 

 covered space of 4ft at one end. The outside rim is 5ft. 

 high and covered with wire netting. I should advise lin. 

 mesh, as in that way it will be rat proof as well as 

 sparrow proof. I find these little thieves take almost as 

 much food as the pheasants, I have the coops covered 

 with am, mesh. Added to this, my coops are in a small 

 grass plat surrounded by a 6ft. board fence with several 

 catalpa trees growing in it, which affords shade in the 

 very hot days. 



I allow all my birds out in this in closure, having first 

 cut the wings of any that is particularly wild. They 

 won't fly unless frightened by the appearance of a stranger 

 or any animal, such as a dog or cat. It is wonderful to 

 see how soon they know tneir own coop, and when it is 

 necessary they go to their own place much more easily 

 than chickens. 



This next summer I intend to cover this whole inclosure 

 with old fish nets supported on high poles, so that the pre- 

 datory cat may not get in nor the birds fly out if disturbed. 

 Always get the birds to their coops before roosting time 

 or you will find them perched up on the trees or fences; 

 and it is quite a business to get them in, but if driven in 

 before that time, say at 5 P. M, in summer and 4 P. M. in 

 winter, you will have no trouble. 



I feed my birds twice a day, the same as my chickens. 

 In the morning soft feed, corn meal, barley meal, oat 

 chaff, one part to three parts of millings, and added to 

 this occasionally boiled vegetables and meat or Spratts 

 biscuit and ground oyster shell. I give lots of lettuce 

 leaves when I can get them or any other green food. The 

 grass from the lawn mower is splendid in winter, with 

 cabbage, beets, apples, etc. The second feed is wheat, 

 buckwheat, corn, narley, etc. I don't stick to any, but 

 just change about from one to another. German millet 

 18 much appreciated, also hemp seed, Paeasants don't 

 eat very much, so that the actual cost of feeding is very 

 little. 



I have three houses and runs covered with about four 

 inches of fine gravel, and a dust box in each of them, as 

 they dearly love to duat themselves, especially when the 

 sun shines. Fresh water is given daily, oftener in the 

 hot weather. I find that even in our Canadian climate 

 they prefer to roost in the open on the very coldest night, 

 and I have seen them in the early morning with an inch 

 of snow on their backs and the thermometer 10 or 12 

 below zero. It does not seem to affect them as much as 

 the extreme hot days of summer. 



They are usually very amiable, bu.t sometimes the cock 

 birds are very cruel to ihe hens and it is necessary to sep- 

 arate them: this happens in the fall and winter, but they 

 are quite peaceable in the breeding season, which begins 

 about the middle of March. 



For the most part pheasants are polygamous and you 

 may have four or five hens with one cock, but with sil- 

 vers I think they mate with one hen only; but I am not 

 suffioiently acquainted with the various breeds to know 

 defiuitely, bub I do know that if you have two silver hens 

 with one cock the eggs of one only are fertile. 



Pheasants sometimes will lay their eggs in a nest, if 

 they have a retired spot, but for the most part they drop 

 them anywhere, and I find that if they are disturbed 

 much at this time that the eggs will come while the birds 

 are flying, and consequently they are broken. It is neces- 

 sary to pick up the eggs as they are dropped, as pheasants 

 are egg eaters to a very large extent; they generally lay 

 their eggs in the afternoon or evening. They lay, gener- 

 ally, alternate days, sometimes two days and stop one, 

 I find that in confiuement they produce fourteen or 

 fifteen eggs each, but if they have larger runs they are 

 said to lay twice that number. 



Hen pheasants sometimes set in confinement and bring 

 out their young, but I think this is the exception and not 

 the rule, therefore it is necessary to be provided with 

 foster mothers for their eggs, and as hatching and rear- 

 ing of the young pheasants is quite a large subject I will 

 give it in another paper. I do not intend going into the 



wholesale raising of pheasants such as is done in Eng- 

 land for the restocking of coverts, and also in this coun- 

 try by Mr, V. de Gruise, of Mahwah, N, J,, but to give how 

 I raise a few for pleasure and the having. M. B, 



Grouse in Confinement. 



Mr. Clark Black, of this town, is the possessor of a 

 group of interesting tame partridges. The birds, which 

 are three in number, were taken by Mr. Black a year ago 

 last summer, soon after they had left the nest, and at 

 present they have lost their natural timidity sufficiently 

 to associate with the poultry and to permit Mr. Black's 

 young daughter, who has made them her special charge, 

 to capture them with her hands. Farther than this, they 

 will take food from the hand of other members of the 

 family and are easily approached except by strangers, 

 During the past summer the birds, which are" all females, 

 nested and laid some thirty-five eggs. It is unfortunate 

 that the absence of a male among them should have pre- 

 vented Mr. Black's experiment from throwing any de- 

 cided light upon the problem of the breeding of partridges 

 in captivity — something about which ornithologists ex- 

 press a doubt; but so far as the evidence goes it is cer- 

 tainly in favor of success in the experiment under the 

 proper conditions. Perhaps some reader of the Union 

 can assist in throwing light upon the problem?— ilfcDon- 

 oagh {N. Y.) Correspondence Chenango Union, 



kttje md 



"Game Lawfi in BHef,^' United States and Canada, 

 illnstrated, 25 cents. "Bonli of the Game iftm'" {full 

 text), 50 cents. 



NOTES FROM THE PENINSULA STATE. 



Detroit, Mich,, Nov. 39. — Michigan, great hunting 

 and fishing State that it is, appears .to me to get inade- 



ED. BANKS AND HIS GllOUSliJ, 

 See "Olivers aud Twisters." 



quale representation in the columns of the old reliable 

 Forest and Stream, "Kingfisher," with his realistic 

 letters from that heart-stirring camp on Carp Lake, has 

 done his part, it is true, and ' Kelpie" occasionally drops 

 in a line or two in behalf of the Wolverine devotees of 

 rod and gun, But there are wide territories and count- 

 less incidents of sports afield in the State that are never 

 heard of. Here in the peninsula State the angler may 

 find a long array of brooks, rivers, streams and lakes, 

 from the cold spring rivulet to the wide waters of Lakes 

 Huron, Michigan, Erie, Superior, and St. Clair, the swift 

 and magnificent Detroit, St, Clair and Sault Ste. Marie 

 rivers, and the hunter revel in the deep and untrodden 

 forests of the upper and lower peninsulas and the islands 

 of the lakes. Here the trout and grayling and bass and 

 maskalonge, game to the backbone, and all their lesser 

 brethren of fresh-water findom, are ready for the fly and 

 the less aristocratic live bait; here the black bear, the 

 Virginia deer, the lynx, the panther, the wild duck, the 

 Canada goose, the partridge, quail, all the snipe family, 

 an occasional wild turkey and a few pinnated grouse are 

 still to be found in their season by tne gun that is not 

 handled by a porker on two legs. 



Most of the fish and game appear to be increasing in 

 numbers, owing to the increase in effectiveness of the 

 machinery employed in enforcing the game laws of the 

 State. State Warden Charles S. Hampton, of Petoskey, 

 has proved himself energetic and impartial in his work, 

 and during his two years' incumbency of the office has 

 taught the violators of the law that the office of chief 

 game warden was not created for the mere purpose of 

 drawing another fat salary from the.pockets of the tax- 

 payers. There has been a change in the State adminis- 

 tration, and a new game warden is to be appointed. It 

 is to be hoped Gov.-elect Kich will have the foresight to 

 select a man who will be as efficient and intelligent as 

 Mr. Hampton. 



The Turtle Lake Club, which owns practically the 

 whole of Turtle Lake, 40 miles into the wilderness west 

 of Alpena, is composed mainly of Detroit business and 

 professional men, E. H, GLllman, one of the most en- 

 thusiastic of Michigan sportsmen, is the ruling spirit. A 

 number of members of the club have been up there lately 

 after deer. They took a party of guests with them, in- 

 cluding a judge or two, a few doctors and lawyers, and 

 several others. They are just retiu-ned and report a most 

 successful hunt, Thirty-three deer fell to their guns, and 



feathered game beyond counting. John C. Merrill, of 

 Lock Haven, shot a white (albino) fawn weighing 871bs., 

 which he presented to Howard Barnes, of Detroit, who 

 will have it mounted. 



S jme idea of the game conditions existing close to the 

 most populous portions of the State is given in a letter 

 from Algonac which lately appeared in the Detroit Free 

 Prefts. Algonac is a small town on the American side of 

 the St. Clair Kiver, near its mouth, 30 miles from Detroit 

 and contiguous to the famous St. Clair flats. The writer 

 says: 



" From a sportman's point of view the fall of 1892 has 

 c rtainly made itself worthy of remembrance, as having 

 afforded more game and consequently better sport, than 

 has been enjoyed by St. Clair and Wayne county sports- 

 men during the past five or six years. All species of 

 game are exceedingly plentiful and in fair condition, 



" More ducks have been killed in the Sfc, Clair marshes 

 this year than has been the case for several seasons 

 previous. When one takes ,into consideration the im- 

 mense number of guns which have been at work this fall 

 among the duck on the St. Clair flats, and also the large 

 bags which have been made by both sportsmen and pot- 

 hunters alike, the question arises in one's mind, ' Where 

 do such countless numbers of duck come from, and how 

 long will they last ? ' and this latter question is a very 

 pertinent one. 



"It is conceded by the majority of sportsmen that it 

 can be but a question of time ere the mallard, red head 

 and other species of duck which are obtainable in such 

 large quantities now will follow the much prized canvae- 

 back, the ruffed grouse and the wild turkey, formerly so 

 common, into almost total extinction. The statement of 

 Chris and Henry Smith, of Algonac, more skilful duck 

 hunters than whom do not pull trigger in America, to 

 the eff'ect that in a day's shoot resulting in perhaps a bag 

 of 150 ducks, only an odd flock of canvasback will be 

 decoyed, is proof of this assertion. 



"The only game bird which seems unaffected by the 

 onward march of civilization, and which, in the estima- 

 tion of many, is the most royal game bird in America, is 

 the quail, and they are as plentiful or even more so than 

 ever. In spite of the reports published in sporting col- 

 umns early in the fall to the effect that the heavy rains 

 had drowned the first broods, quail are to be met with in 

 large bevies in almost any direction. Large bags have 

 been made in the country around here and Robert's Land- 

 ing in St, Clair county, and a staunch dog, a good gun 

 and above all a man to hold it straight, go far to make up 

 the wherewithal of a day's enjoyable sport. Algonac can 

 be recommended as a good center for a week's shoot. It 

 is centrally located for both marsh and field shooting, 

 accommodation can be obtained at a very reasonable 

 figure, and it is within easy reach of Datroit by boat. 



' Grouse, though not so plentiful as quail, can be found 

 in fair numbers in this vicinity, while the gray rabbit, 

 deemed nothing short of vermin by some, can be found 

 under nearly every brush pile. Owing to the extreme dry 

 weather prevalent in the early fall, no large bags of snipe 

 and woodcock were made, although snipe were killed at 

 a later date this season than is usually customary for 

 them to be found. 



"A sight which is well worth a journey to see is the 

 Smith Bros,' boat house on Sunday after the result of a 

 week's shooting is all sorted ready to ship to Detroit and 

 Eastern markets. A Free Press correspondent paid them 

 a visit last Sunday, and found the two well-known hunt- 

 ers literally up to their knees in ducks of every size and 

 variety, from the weighty mallard down to the diminu- 

 tive butterball. On inquiry Mr. Smith stated that can- 

 vasback and pintal, though quite as numerous as hereto- 

 fore, are too well educated and too wary to be killed in 

 any quantity. Immense quantities of redheads are 

 shipped to New York and there sold by the restaurant 

 keepers as canvasback, which species they closely resem- 

 ble, both in color and flavor." 



Some time ago I noticed in Forest anu Stream an in- 

 quiry from Walter B. Savary, of Tacoma, Wash., who 

 quoted a news telegram from Detroit in the Boston 

 Traveler^ which told a story of an eagle in Presque Isle 

 county, carrying off a child six months old. Mr. Savary 

 doubts that an eagle is capable of lifting a child of that 

 age, which ought to weigh at least lOlbs. I am sorry 

 that I cannot set Mr, Savary's mind at rest on this subject, 

 but I can at least do so as regards this particular incident. 

 Iq the course of my duties as a daily newspaper editor I 

 had this eagle case investigated. As I suspected, I quickly 

 found that the whole thing was a "fake," The story 

 originated in the imaginative brain of a special corres- 

 pondent in Detroit, who took this means of increasing 

 slightly a depleted exchequer. 



The big Monroe Marsh has afforded some excellent 

 duck shooting this fall, This marsh is owned mainly by 

 wealthy Eastern gentlemen, only three Michigan men 

 possessing shares. It is shot over only four weeks in the 

 year, two in the spring and two in the fall, and night 

 shooting is confined to one evening a week. This policy, 

 with a most rigid warden system, has naturally made the 

 marsh each year a better hunting ground and a favorite 

 stopping place for the birds on their migrations north 

 and south, W. J. Hunsaker. 



Ithaca Marsh Ducks. 



Ithaca, N, Y., Nov. 26.— This fall the best duck shoot- 

 ing experienced in years has been enjoyed on the Ithaca 

 marsh bordering the head of Cayuga Lake. No phenom- 

 enal bags have been scored, but the shooting, all the 

 same, has been uniformly excellent considering the com- 

 paratively limited extent of marshland. Very few ducks 

 were shot in October, but in the early days of November 

 the fun commenced in good earnest, culminating this 

 week in some tumultuously exciting morning shoots. In 

 the evening the birds invariably flew high and well out 

 of reach of the 8-bores, but in the early morning they 

 just as regularly flew low and decoyed beautifully. 

 About thirty birds were scored the 22d.' Between forty- 

 five and fifty the 33d, fifteen of that number falling to 

 the guns of Walker and Miller, and the remainder being 

 scored by Billings, Brown and Billy Hill. A good ma- 

 jority of the ducks bagged on this date were redheads, 

 mallards and black ducks. The flight on Thanksgiving 

 morning was not satisfactory, but a desultory fusilade 

 was kept up during the day, the score being, as near as I 

 can learn, between thirty and forty birds. Since the 

 24th, owing to the freeze up, the shooting has been de- 

 cidedly poor. M. C. H. 



