536 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LDec. 22, 1898. 



any fair odds in the struggle'for self-preservation. The 

 country is admirably adapted for them, and the occasional 

 kicking farmer should be looked upon not as a nuisance, 

 but a blessing. Every posted farm is a preserve. The 

 shooting about Warsaw is the best of any I have struck in 

 Indiana this fall, though I struck it much too late to see it 

 at its best, "in Thanksgiving week Messrs, Douglas and 

 M-oran killed on one bit of dry marsh, in three days of 

 Thanksgiving week, 53, 72 and"64 quail, also half a dozen 

 grouse. We passed across this same country, and it was 

 covered with roosts and sign, a veritable paradise for 

 quail apparently. Next year, if I have luck, I am going 

 to try to own at least half the runninsr gear of a good 

 dog, and I think I will leave him at Warsaw. I don't 

 see how a Chicago shooter can do much better than 

 make Warsaw his base of operations, if he likes an occa- 

 sional turn at the prettiest of upland shooting. As for that, 

 no small part of the anticipated pleasure would be the 

 prospect of again meeting Mr, Irvin and Mr, Douglas, 

 and again bringing up the question of which of us really 

 could "get the most quail in a,day, at unknown angles. 



E. Hough. 



175 MONHOE Strbet, Chicago. 



BOSTON MEN IN CANADA. 



There are several stories of albino deer taken in Maine 

 this fall, but none so well authenticated as the one that 

 comes from Lowell, Mass, It is given me by a reliable 

 gentleman, though he did not see the deer, nor the man 

 who shot it. It seems that H. E. Sbaw, a real estate 

 agent in that city, with the cashier of the First National 

 Bank there, W. M, Sawver, have been down toMjluncus, 

 Me., on a deer hunt, and have taken four of these beauti- 

 ful game animals. But one of them was the most re- 

 markable deer ever seen in Maine. It had a small brown 

 spot on the head, but otherwise it vras perfectly white-. 

 It was a buck, with a fine set of antlers. It is also re- 

 ported that the skin is to be mounted. Mr. Shaw thought 

 the deer was a ghost when he first saw him, but not to he 

 intimidated by spirits in the woods he put a rifle ball 

 through the animal's brain. The theory is that this deer 

 must have been a very old one. Dr. Sraith of Portland, 

 Me., is also reported as having killed a deer this fall that 

 was nearly white. 



Mr. Henry B. Moore, of C. E. Soper & Co., of t>ie Boston 

 grain trade, is as fond of a good story and a good joke as 

 he is fond of the fly rod and the shotgun or rifle, and that 

 is saying a good deal. Some of his hnnting stories have 

 occasionally been read by the patrons of the Forest 

 Stream Now he has been up to a practical jok*^ on his 

 cmsm, G. C. Moore, a manufacturer of North Chelmsford, 

 Mass. The hunting trip this fall of the Harry Moore 

 party was made to the Inglewood camps, in New Bruns- 

 wick, quite early in the season, as has already be^n stated 

 in this paper. The party was pioneered by Leroy S. 

 Brown, of Blarney Brown & Co., and he took a great deal 

 of pains to have the visit of the gmtlemen of the partj 

 to the Inglewood region as pleasant as possible, since Mr, 

 Brown hiaipelf is one of the hnu=f cornmittee of that 

 club. la the party were also Mr. Faulkner, a manufac- 

 turer of Lowell, Mass., and Mr Cdvin Austin, superin- 

 tendent of the International Steamship Co. here. This 

 time it was the main object of Harry Moore to keep the 

 rest of the party in the best of spirits, Fince both hunt- 

 ing and fishing were none of the best. Sometimes he had 

 to resort to practical jokes in orrler to carry out his pur- 

 pose, and his cousin, of vyhom Harry thinks the world, 

 was oftenest the victim. Arriving at St. .John, where the 

 party made a halt, Harry procured a team, with the view 

 of showing his cousin the city. He desired to show him 

 the insane hospital, which is situated on a hill a little way 

 from the center of the town, where the view is eppecially 

 fine. They drove a short distance, when Harry was sud- 

 denly conscious that he did not know the way. He reined 

 the horse up to the sidewalk, where a respectable looking 

 gentleman was standing, with the request that he would 

 direct him to the insane hospital, as he had a gentleman 

 in the buggy whom he was anxious to get there with as 

 soon as po^pible. The look on the gentleman's face was 

 enough. Mr. Geo. C. Moore saw the point.- 



But the worst j ike of all was reserved for the trip 

 home. They stepped at McAdam jurction to connect 

 with the Maine Central train, and also for the customs 

 official to h3ve an opoortunity to examine their posses- 

 sions. Mr. Leroy S. Brown had kindly looked after this 

 part of the programme, making the usual deposit on the 

 way in for each gun and rod, and returning the money 

 to his fellow pportsmen on the way out. Now, Mr. Geo. 

 C. Moore is one of the most methodical of men. He car- 

 ries his belongings in a strong box on his hunting and 

 fishing trips. The cover is screwtd down with many 

 screws. But the owner always has the required screw- 

 driver in his hand bag. Stopping at McAdam junction 



the otbcer a wink or something, and he "took on" in a 

 moment. Hurry had previously arranged with the con- 

 ductor of the train to say, on being asked, that his train 

 would start "in about two minutes." The Custom House 

 officer passed all of the parties' baggage with scarcely a 

 glarce till he came to George's strong box. 

 '■AVhat'sin thib?" he demanded, 



George protested that it contained nothing but hisner- 

 sonal effects. ^ 



"But I must look into it!" said the officer. 



Poor George went for his handbag and his screwdriver 

 He went at the dozen screws gloomily but with a will" 

 The box was opened at last. 



"Take things out!" demanrled the officer. "I must see 

 the whole of it."' 



Shirts, both soiled and clean, came out, with stockings 

 and other things in the same condition. At last the bot- 

 tom of the box was reached, with the things all in a heap 

 on the platform. The officer gnod-naturedly remarked 

 that he found nothing dutiable, All this lime the boys 

 hart stood one side, ready to burst with merriment. 



George began the rather hopeless task of righting his 

 belongings, which had been inspected by everybody, 

 H-irry then stepped up. J 



';Tou will have to hurry. Do you know what time this 

 tram leaves?" 



••In abcut two minutes," replied the conductor. 

 fv,<>r?j^^^*'!.^'\^ lushing and a general smashing of 

 Snr^l.^'V'' ^"^rr^'l' ^"^^^^ stood i« beads ou 



George 9 fape, The bo,ys coyia stand it no longer. They 



roared with laughter, George saw lb all then in a 

 moment. 



"Confound you, Harry Moore ! If I don't get even 

 with you for this, it will be because I don't live long 

 enough." 



Now Harry is generally expecting something when in 

 George's company. 



The gunning season is about ready to close. On Jan. 1 

 game in New England can generally breathe easier. The 

 legal open season will then have closed. Tbis season has 

 been a fairly good one for Massachusetts gunners and a 

 remarkably good one in Maine. The number of deer 

 taken is the greatest on record, not even excepting the 

 earlier times, for then there were no records. 



Mr. F. R. Shattuck, of L. A. Shattuck & Co., metal 

 brokers, and Mr. George Litider, of Linder & Meyer, were 

 down to West Barnstable on a gunning exppdiiion two 

 days last week. They were on the lands of C ipt. .James 

 H." Jenkins, Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner at that 

 point. The captain had been saving the quail for these 

 hunters, or at least he had not permitted hunting know- 

 ingly on his grounds. The weather proved to be stormy, 

 in fact, it rained both days that the gentlemen were at 

 the hunting grounds. They himted early and late, put- 

 ting in all the time they had, though wading in water on 

 the meadows a good part of the time. The thickets of 

 scrub oak and brier were almost impenetrable and loaded 



A DEATH LOCK. 



with water, but both gentlemen are plucky to the last, 

 when on a hunting or fishing excursion. They were ac- 

 compmied by Mr. Linder's excellent eetter, Jim, and he 

 proved to be one of the stanchest and best ti aimed of his 

 kind, though the rain made the fcent of game weak and 

 hard to follow. They shot several partridges, but no quail. 

 The partridges proved to fje very wild, not lying to the 

 digs scarcely at all, but were plump and heavy when 

 really obtained. They were greatly surprised at not 

 findmg any quail, ar^d were about ready to believe that 

 the Captain's ground^ had b^en huntpd surreplidously, 

 since they found fresh shells that had evidently been 

 loaded with smokeless powder, but the worthy Captain 

 could scarcely believe that the boys had been "over him 

 on the sly." On the way home ihfy had to be at the 

 train fairly early, and were somewhat chagrined to hear 

 lots of quail whi«tling in the meadows, as they rode to 

 the station. But thp weather had cleared, and here was 

 juvst the dilf f-r^nce. They novv believe that rainy weather, 

 especially in December, is not favorable to quail hunting 

 at Barnstable. Special. 



THOSE VERMONT QUAIL. 



Port Henry, N. Y., Dec. 15.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: In your issue of Dpc. 15. under the article 

 headed "Vermont Quail," Mr. John W. Titcomb, of Rut- 

 land, states that "on Dec, 9, a woodchopper near Bristol 

 had discovered a lot of quail about 100 in the flock," and 

 wonders where they came from. 



I think that very possibly I may be able to give him 

 the information desired, and that both the theories ad- 

 vanced by him may be wrong. 



Early this year I procured from Mr. Woodward, of New 

 York, some ten dozen quail. Some of these 1 turned 

 down on the point on which the historic forts St. Fred- 

 erick and Crown Point were built and some in Addipon, 

 Vermont, just across Lake Ctnamplain, which at this 

 point narrows up to about a third of a mile in width. 



These quail were turned down as an experiment, and 

 incidentally to break some pups on, and for the pleas- 

 ure I expected to have with both after Nov. 1. The 

 birds did remarkably well, mated and hatched out some 

 large bevies. While looking after them early in the 

 summer, numerous nests were found filled with eggs, and 

 only one nest was afterward discovered that was deserted 

 and did not hatch out birds. The whole country round 

 about there at sunrise seemed filled with the unusual call 

 of Bob White: and as the young birds thrived and grew 

 Hooked forward with great anticipation to the time of 

 the opening of the season. 



It was no unusual thing to find earlv in the season 8 or 

 10 bevies during a short afternoon. About October how- 

 ever, many of the bevies began to travel, and at onetime 

 there were seen one lot of perhap= 40 or 50 birds travel- 

 ing and successfully to cross the lake into Vermont, and 

 the last seen they were headed toward Bristol 



This lot seen in Bristol (if some of those turned down 

 by me, and I thmk they muBt be, as none of Dr. Webb's 

 hare m preyioy^ year$ a|)peai'ed in Addison) is the seeoa^ 



lot of traveling birds heard of by me, some earlier than 

 these having been seen near Lake Bomcz°en in Vermont. 

 If any more havo been, or are, seen in Vermont or this 

 section of New York I should be plensed to know of it 

 and to find out how far and where they travel to. 



The birds remaining here I shall have fed and looked 

 after during the winter months. 



It may interest somf to know that the pheasants turned 

 down on Shelburne Farms by Dr, Webo are scattering 

 around the countrv. A cock and hen were seen late in 

 September by Mr. M. Barnes on his farm in Addison, some 

 30 and more miles from Shelburne Farms. 



W, C. WiTHERBEE. 



COLORADO GAME INTERESTS. 



Gordon Land, State game rnd fish warden, accompanied 

 his biennial report to the Governor with the following 

 letter t 



To His Excellency, John L. Routt, Governor of the State 

 of Colorado : 



I have the honor to submit, herewith, my report for the 

 years 189l-i)2. The work of the Fish Commi3>ion for the 

 past two years has been very satisfwctory in its results, 

 since every ( fi-'ort has met with a marked measure of &uc- 

 cess; not only have the growth and introduction of trout 

 into new waters shown the wisdom of such planting, but 

 the people have realized in many instances, direct and 

 substantial benefits much sooner than was expected. 

 Each year the demand for trout to stock either new or 

 depleted waters has grown beyond the ability of the pres- 

 ent State hatcheries to supply. Si urgent aiiid interested 

 have the people become in their desire to obtain a stock 

 of fish for the available waters of the many sections they 

 represent, that it is with pleasure I place before you the 

 manifest needs of this growing and desirable branch of 

 the public service. 



Fishculture is no longer an uncertain field of labor, 

 nor is it an occupation tit only for the award of some 

 political favor, but replete with a broad and evi-r ii^creas- 

 iog opening for the exerci-e of intelligent skill and im- 

 partial judgment. I find s) much to do in order to prop- 

 erly provide for the needs of the State in this desirable 

 industry, that I d^pre cite the unwise action that prompted 

 the last General Assembly to impose the added duties of 

 a game warden upon the Drparrment of Fish Culture, 

 and ask that you recommend the immediate repeal of 

 the entire act relating to game and fish wardens, as the 

 expeiience of the past two years has shown that such a 

 law is a complete failure in if! present form. So imber- 

 fect and crude an act rarely finds a place upon the pages 

 of even frontier legislation. 



The experience has been costlv, the damage to our game 

 interests great. The utter inefficiency of It cal wardens, 

 who are influPEced by their surroundings and governecl 

 by their friendship', the unwillingness upon the part of 

 those who live in remote teetions of the State to inform 

 upon their neighbors or in any way aid m li e enforce- 

 ment of laws for the protection of the game that they 

 believe is solely to benefit the tourist and city sporlsman, 

 and, finally, when these people who are in every other 

 regard honest, upright, intelligent and law-abiding cit- 

 iz-^ns. witness, as they do every succeeding year, the 

 wholesale killing of ourfotir-footed game by skin-huntera 

 and Indians. I am only sui prised that they do not kill 

 more than th<^y find conveni^nt for their winter's use. 

 Whatever the game laws may be for the needs of the 

 future, the rights of those who occupy a place on the 

 confines of our Western wilds should not be forgotten. 



I would also ask that no bounty laws be passed that 

 embrace a premium on either b-ar or mountaia lions. 

 The claim made that these animals are paiticulaily 

 destructive to both stock and game is not well founded, 

 since in the case cf game, as is well known, the deer, 

 antelope and elk existt eJ iu far greater abundance when 

 there were no such laws, than they do now ; and as for 

 the killing of stock by mountain lions, I am of the opinion 

 that the worthless beings, I will not call them men, who 

 pursue and hunt these animals with dogs, solely for the 

 reward, are far more destructive to the live stock interests 

 than are these solitary beasts of jirey. 



As for the wolves and coyotes, I am led to advocate for 

 the sake of the sheep and cattle interests, the passage of 

 an act giving a greater bounty, and one in which the 

 punching of a clear cut hole in each ear of the scalps 

 presented, shall serve as a sufficient cancellation, and 

 thereby allow of the skins and t-calps being subsecjuently 

 sold entire, thus enhancing their value to the hunu r. 



I do not desire to be understood as advocating the 

 abandonment of any form of protection of cur four- 

 footed game, but rather favor the enactment of euch re- 

 strictive laws as shall tend to make their enforcement 

 less difficult and provide a State game and fish warden 

 whose superviaon shall extend over the entire Scate and 

 who shall have power to arrest without warrant until 

 such process can be had at the proper place, and al-o be 

 authorized to seize all illegally killed game and confis- 

 cate and dispose of the Fame for the benefit of the game 

 and fish interests, and above all things, provide him with 

 fund's to defray his necessary expenses and not expect 

 him to use his meagre salary for such purpose, as is now 

 the case with the stupid law that at present mars our 

 statutes. I do not favor a law that will call for such a 

 number of wardens as that i ow in force, it is not ne cps- 

 sary; nor do I favor the enactmfnt of a law that wiU 

 create districts, for that calls for patronage and political 

 preferment, and the loast experierjce has shown that such 

 local officials are of little use. The Scate has not the 

 money to spare to support such an army of paid partisans, 

 nor is it necessary. One well paid < fficer or State marshal, 

 with two deputies, can, if the prop-r man is selected, 

 enforce the game and fi-ih laws over the entire State, he 

 having no fixed section in which to ree de and become too 

 well known. Such an officer would command the re- 

 spect of the people and render violations of the game 

 laws extremely hazardous. 



My report in detail, which is to follow this outline, 

 will show many points of interest to the general public, 

 the angler and the hunlsmar. 



Iq concluding this brief mention of the work entailed, 

 I beg to submit for your approval and recommendation 

 the real need of as liberal hn app-^opriation as the merits 

 of this branch of the public service deserve. Veiy truly 

 yours. GoKDON LA.XD, State Pish Corcmisi-iuner. 



Buffalo Bill and party have returned from their hunt- 

 ing trip. Col. Ingram, of dime novel fame, wbo was one 



of the partjr, ftQiused hipieelf wbUe m CtpTer '^^Hbti'^ 



