Dec. 16, 1893.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



B2i 



This from the m^.n who is disturbed by trifles. At last 

 the team arrived, and within three-quarters of an hour 

 the cook had ready broiled steak, roast potatoes and such 

 biscuits! The face of the over-particular man was 

 wreathed in smiles once more, and he allowed that if he 

 could have the best bunk in the camp, he should be happy 

 again. He was told to take his choice and he did so, 

 afterward wishing that he had taken any other bed of the 

 lot. Not a man would change with him, however, and in 

 a short time every man but the one who gave me this yarn, 

 was asleep. Did they snore? Ask any nervous man who 

 has ever slept in the camp with a lot of tired hunters and 

 guides. The roof did not come off, but it might have, 

 the snoring was loud enough, only that it was heavy 

 logs. Alas, for the nervous man!" His eyes would not 

 close. He twisted and he turned. He twitched and he 

 rolled over; all in vain. His eyes would not close. He 

 thought the other boys were all asleep, but one lay with 

 the blanket stuffed into his mouth to keep from bursting 

 with laughter. The nervous man sat up in bed and 

 looked at the boys to see if there was one awake that he 

 could talk to. Every man but one actually snored, and 

 that one made believe snore. No. All were asleep, and 

 the nervous man lay down again. He went through the 

 same maneuvers perhaps a dozen times. He twisted and 

 he turned. At last he could endure it no longer. He 

 jerked up in bed, he kicked off the blankets, and jumped 

 for the floor. "This is a lot of fun!" he roared. 

 Every man was awake in an instant, and such a laughter, 

 [t was worth a whole trip to Gerrish's Camp. Later the 

 aervous man calmed down and drowsed a little. The 

 hunt for deer the next day cheered him up, and he slept 

 better the second night. Now he talks of the glorious 

 sport, and wants to go again. 



E. S. Dorr, A. D. Kidder and J. F. Desmond, of Boston, 

 with W. F. Clark, of South Rumford, Me., have recently 

 returned from a successful deer hunt at Clark's Pond in 



have had no other wish than to get at the truth. To have 

 read the Maine papers this season and many of the papers 

 outside of Maine, a novice in hunting would have got the 

 impression that all one would have to do would be to go 

 to any part of that State and he would find moose, deer 

 and caribou as thick as sparrows and to be had for the 

 shooting. I must again add that these papers have only 

 recorded the successes, while on the subject of the disap- 

 pointments and weary days spent in hunting, only to go 

 home empty-handed, they have been entirely silent. 



Special. 



FOREIGN CAME FOR MAINE. 



Bath, Me., Dec. 9.— Editor Forest and Stream: In re- 

 sponse to a circular letter (Ittter inclosed) which had been 

 sent to all sportsmen of prominence in the State, the fol- 

 lowing gentlemen met at Hotel Rockineham, Lewiston, 

 last Thursday: E. M. Blanding, editor of the Maine 

 Sportsman, Wm. Ledyard and J. C. Higgins of Bath, E. 

 L. Post of New York, Geo. E. Thompson of Bath, Edward 

 E. Hardy and Fred Sutherland of Boston, and Dr. Crock- 

 ett, Dr. Irish, Dr. R. H. Daintree, J. A. B. Farnham, T. 

 R. Catland. H. E. Doten. A. F. Field. D. S. West, George 

 Gifford, J. F. Moody, H. A. Bates, W. H. CoUins, E. H. 

 Gledhill and Frank Cain of Lewiston. 



Mr. E. G. Gay introduced the vice-president of the 

 Massachusetts Fish and Game Association, Mr. Edward E. 

 Hardy. Mr. Hardy related the experiences of the Massa- 

 chusetts association since IST-t. He said that in that State 

 sharp-tail grouse, prairie chicken and Rocky Mountain 

 quail have been found the best birds. "Our greatest 

 difficulty," said Mr. Hardy, ''has been with the shipping. 

 In many cases the birds were not properly packed . The 

 boxes in which the game 1=? shipped must have cloth tops 

 or the birds will dash their brains out, the first impulse of 

 a game bird being to jump in the air when frightened. 



seventh part is worked. There is no doubt about our 

 winged game being on the decrease. It is worth our while 

 to put our hands in our pockets, but we require legislation 

 to protect the birds. If we do introduce these birds we 

 must not allow our birds to be shot too soon, as has been 

 the case in Massachusetts. 



"I think our Maine people, once they are alive to the 

 fact that protection is necessary, will make the very best 

 game wardens in the country. We are thoroughly alive 

 to Ihe necessity of tish protection, and the poaching of 

 past years is never attempted now. It will be the same 

 with game birds. Mr. Gay is deserving of our thanks for 

 calling this meeting." 



Mr. Edward M. Blanding said: "The subject is an im- 

 portant one and cannot be lightly considered. With wise 

 laws better enforced Maine will, indeed, become a sports- 

 man s paradise. But in importing game birds we must 

 take good care not to injure our native game, than which 

 none better exists in the world. I think Minister Thomas's 

 opinion is particularly valuable, as he is a Maine man. I 

 trust we shall see you all in Bangor on Jan. 2, when the 

 Maine Sportsmen's Fish and Game Association will hold 

 its first annual meeting." 



Letters were then read from Col. E. C. Farrington, 

 secretary Maine Sportsmen's Fish and Game Association; 

 Hon. P.'O. Vickery of Augusta, Hon. J. Manchester Hay- 

 nes and others, expressing expressing regret at not being 

 able to be present at the meeting, and showing warm in- 

 terest in the objects of the Association, promising their 

 personal and financial assistance. On motion of Mr. Led- 

 yard the meeting organized by electing E. G. Gay Presi- 

 dent and J. C. Higgins of Bath Secretary and Treasurer. 



The constitution and by-laws of the Massachusetts Fish 

 and Game Protective Association were adopted by the 

 association. The meeting adopted as a name the Maine 

 Game and Protective Association. 



The following vice-presidents were elected: Eugene 



CAPERCAILZIE— Male and Female 



Photo from Pair Imported in 1893 by Mr. D. F. Slillman, of phode Island. 



Mexico, in that State. They killed a remarkably heavy 

 buck deer, which the hunters took to Boston. It is said 

 to have weighed nearly SOOlbs. 



Megantic Fish and Game Club. 



Boston, Dec. 9. — An important meeting of the directors 

 of the Megantic Fish and Game Club was held in Boston 

 the other day. President Alexander Taylor, Jr., w as on 

 from New York, and presided at the meeting. Superin- 

 tendent Robert Phillips was just in from the preserve, 

 and made suggestions in regard to improvements that 

 can be made on the preserve this winter. He is to finish 

 up the hatchery, begun this season, so as to make an ex- 

 periment in the hatching of trout eggs this spring. 

 Another important feature considered at the meeting was 

 the advisability of reducing the price of some of the 

 treasury stock. It was finally voted that a few shares of 

 the treasury ssock— sufficient "to bring the membership up 

 to 800 — be sold at $50 each with the assessments of 1893 

 remitted. A committee was appointed to make arrange- 

 ments for the annual dinner of the club, to be held early 

 in January. Superintendent Phillips brought from the 

 preserve with him two beautiful specimens of caribou, and 

 the members of the Megantic Club are pretty sure to eat 

 caribou at their annual dinner. They are not obliged 

 to "first catch their rabbit;" for the caribou, right from 

 their own lands, are ali'eady caught. 



I owe ]Mi-. J. G. Rich, a correspondent of Forest and 

 Stream who is always interesting, an apology. The 

 statement that he had claimed that 100 deer a day were 

 being killed in Maine was an error. Mr. Rich actually 

 wrote "lOO deer weekly," and it was so published in the 

 Forest AND Stream. So far as my frie nd Crosby, the 

 taxidermist, is concerned, the figures he objects to in re- 

 gard to the number of big game heads he has for mount- 

 ing, or had had up to the date he mentions, were given 

 to me by a gentleman who had visited Mr. Crosby's place, 

 and I so stated in my account in the Forest and Stream. 

 My objections to the newspaper statements concerning 

 the quantity of big game being killed in Maine this season 

 have been founded on the complaints of sportsmen who 

 have visited that State this season without success, and I 



The boxes must be so low that the birds cannot jump high 

 enough to hurt themselves. 



"We feel, that the sharptail is the best bird we can get 

 for Massachusetts. It can stand any cold, and is not 

 fond of the heavy timber, but prefers the edges of the 

 woods. Great care must be taken to place the bird in 

 suitable localities. We experimented with Rocky Moun- 

 tain quail, California valley and mountain quail, and we 

 found the Rocky Mountain quail to succeed the best. 

 Last winter practically exterminated our native quail in 

 Massachusetts, and our work this season will have to be 

 rep.airing this disaster." 



Mr. Gay said that quail was not being seriously thought 

 of by Maine sportsmen, but the capercailzie and black 

 game of Norway and Sweden were the birds most favor- 

 ably talked of. 



Mr. Thompson read the report of Minister Thomas re- 

 lating to these birds; this has already been published in 

 Forest a^'d Stream. 



C. A. Brambe, of the Boston Herald, was called upon 

 by Mr. Gay to speak on the black game of Sweden, where 

 he has passed many seasons with the gun. He told inter- 

 esting things about the food of the black game, showing 

 that Maine has an abundance of birch, etc., that furnish 

 food for the black game. He mentioned the f.sct that 

 Sweden's forests were so like Maine's that the first time 

 he visited this State he could have easily imagined he was 

 in Sweden. 



Dr. R. H. Daintree of Lewiston, who has shot the black 

 game and capercailzie in Scotland, expressed his convic- 

 tion that the birds would succeed in Maine, and went at 

 some length into the methods to be followed in rearing 

 the birds, which is similar to the course pursued in rear- 

 ing i^heasants. 



Mr. E. F. Field said: "Our game birds are decreasing, 

 and unh^ss %ve do something to restock, we shall be with- 

 out. Woodcock are getting scarcer each year, and part- 

 ridge seem to me to be getting few and far between. If 

 we could introduce capercaUe and black game it would be 

 a great step." 



Mr. J. L. Moody said: "Maine has thirty-five acres of 

 land for every man, woman and chUd, and not over one- 



M. Hersey, Dr. C. A. Packard, George Thompson, H. A. 

 Bates, E. L. Post, E. F. Field, P. O. Vickery. William 

 Ledyard and E, L. Merrill were appointed an executive 

 committee. 



In order to make the society as far reaching as possible, 

 and that no sportsman should refuse to join on account 

 of expense, the membership fee was placed at $2, and the 

 yearly dues at §1. The meeting showed one thing, at 

 least, very plainly — there is a singular unanimity among 

 those who follow the gun upon the subject of game im- 

 portation, and that the Maine sportsmen will stand shoid- 

 der to shoulder in this matter. L. 



President Gay has issued a circular letter dated Dec. 9, 

 in which he suggests "that the buying of birds and liber- 

 ating them promiscuously over the State, is not feasible, 

 on account of a very heavy expense, and the innumerable 

 dangers that all young birds are subject to. 



"My plan of proceeding in this matter is to secure a 

 suitable place, build suitable coops, yards and pens for 

 hatching, which can be built at an estimated cost of 

 about $3.. 50. The birds can be secured at no great cost, 

 and then you are ready to proceed to business. All game 

 birds can be bred in captivity. The black game is bred 

 extensively in this manner in Scotland and in England, 

 and in my judgment it is the only plan where success can 

 be assured. Year by year you (;an liberate all of the 

 birds that you do not require for breeding purposes, and 

 the bu'ds thus released wdl help the cause along by breed- 

 ing for themselves. 



"I have already perfected plans for the procuring of 

 black game, sharptail and pinated grouse, and if these 

 plans meet with the approval of this association, in three 

 months' time 1 ^ill have the houses and pens cojnpleted, 

 the birds procured, and will be raising the chicks this 

 coming spring. I would estimate the cost of all work, in- 

 cluding the building of coops and pens, for the coming 

 year, from §.800 to .^1,000, and with this a grand good 

 work would be commenced that would be as lasting as 

 our Maine hill. I would also like to add in connec- 

 tion with this that in two years' time we can make this 

 self-supporting. 



