Jolt 21, 1894] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
49 
The Trick of a Grouse Mother. 
Boston, July 7.— In the woods about Winchester last 
Sunday I was picking berries, when I heard a squealing 
or crying that sounded like a puppy. Proceeding to in- 
vestigate the cause I was startled by seeing a grouse flut- 
ter away as though her wing was broken. My first 
thought was to capture her and try and heal her broken 
wing. But the way she hobbled over stumps and rocks, 
up hill and down, plainly indicated that she was in the 
race to stay. 
After sprinting about 50yds. after the wounded bird, 
with perspiration pouring down my face, she surprised 
me by sailing away over the treetops. Then I remem- 
bered all the stories I had read in my school days about 
the artful bird, and her clever tricks to entice one from 
the vicinity of he'* nest. 
When I came back in a hour's time she went through 
the same performance, but I refrained from filling my 
part of the bill. I hunted around among the rocks and 
succeeded in capturing a tiny baby grouse about Sin. in 
length. The little fellow's cries soon brought the mother 
to the scene, but she kept at a safe distance from us. 
After admiring him a while I put him on the ground, 
when he was soon snugly hid beneath a big brown leaf. 
The timidity of the grouse is much stronger than the 
parental love. Not so with our insectiverous birds, though. 
Coming upon the nest of a wood thrush recently I found 
young ones in it. The female sat so close that I stroked 
her feathers once or twice before she got off the young 
ones. Then both birds proceeded to drive me from the 
vicinity. They would charge at my head in a very vicious 
manner, and made a gallant attack in defense of their 
young. Jay Pee. 
Trout and Water-Snake. 
Dan vers, Mass. — I noticed the experience of Mr. E. M. 
Brown with a trout-eating snake. I think the water- 
snake one of the worst enemies of the brook trout. While 
fishing a brook I came to a large dug-out hole near an old 
bridge where cattle drink. Looking into the water and 
examining the bottom covered with small stones, I saw a 
half-pound trout sunning himself. He saw me at the 
same time and consequently would not take my hook. A 
large water-shake suddenly made his appearance from 
under a stone, seized the fish by the throat and carried it 
four feet on to the bank, so with the assistance of air to 
kill it. I did not consider to watch the proceeding, as t 
should have done, but attacked the snake, which escaped 
to the water. The fish was not dangerously bitten, but 
was well scratched up where he was seized. I returned 
him to the water alive. J. W. B. 
MAINE DEER, MOOSE AND CARIBOU. 
Lowell, Me., July 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: I 
write to give your readers who are not already posted 
about the game in Maine, some idea of the amount of big 
game there is here. I traveled last winter from the 
southeastern coast to the Aroostook waters. There waB 
little poaching excepting deer killing by the settlers. My 
travel was mostly among the lumber camps. Things 
among the lumber camps have greatly changed within 
the past five or six years, so that little poaching is done 
by them. 1 found no deer nor moose killed by them. I 
found where a man was chasing a moose; I followed him 
&bd got him and his moose, and had him fined $100 and 
costs. He appealed, but I have evidence that will hold 
him. He was a young man without any family and 
killed the moose just for the sport of it. 
Deer never were more plenty in Maine than they are 
now. Anywhere from the Canada line to the east and 
southeastern coast they are plenty. The same section is 
quite well stocked with moose, but from the east branch 
of the Penobscot River to the eastern coast they are not 
plenty, though there are scattering ones all the way 
through. Last October I called for moose on one of our 
lakes one still night to the north of Katahdin Mountain 
and got four answers in four different directions. I was 
then with a party of sportsmen. My man got his big 
bull moose and a big bull caribou. We killed one deer 
and passed by them several times in easy range but let 
them alone, as we had no use for them. 
Caribou I think are leaving for the north, as they are 
not so plenty as usual and not many have been killed. 
The further I go north the more signs I see of them. 
I found in my last winter's travels through my old 
hunting grounds in the Aroostook that many club houses 
and camps have been built, for fishing and hunting pur- 
poses, and not many of them are occupied during the 
winter. 
I have leased my camps at Nicatowis Lake for this sea- 
son, so that I can go north for moose and other game with 
parties; and as I have more or less calls every year into 
our northern hunting grounds, I shall sell out my place at 
Nicatowis when I can find a good party to take it. 
The Bangor & Aroostook Railroad opens up quite a coun- 
try for sportsmen. The deer are very plenty about the 
lower lakes on the West Branch of the Penobscot River, 
and lots of sportsmen will probably visit them this fall; 
and I shall consider it dangerous for a man to travel in the 
woods, as there will be so many careless shooters there, 
and especially when the flask is taken along, as the con- 
tents often makes every moving thing look like a deer. 
At those lakes one can almost step off from the train into 
a boat or canoe. This will be quite a resort for winter 
fishing, as there are good trout lakes and streams scat- 
tered all through the country back from thp. main lakes. 
A great deal of fault is being found with the present 
system of enforcing our fish and game laws in our eastern 
sections. The sportsmen are staying at home or going 
elsewhere, and many camps are closed in consequence. 
When in these hard times guides and parties who have 
put their last dollar into camps for the purpose of accom- 
modating and entertaining sportsmen, have to close them 
on account of the illegal practices of some of the wardens, 
this is a matter that should be looked into and straightened 
out. We have too much law, too many game commis- 
sioners and too smart wardens. The appropriations given 
us by the State will not support them all, and they resort 
tn il.egal and unprinoipTed methods to get money. They 
will induce boys and poor men to break the law for the 
express purpose of obtaining money from them. 
I have lettersvfrom reliable'jmen''stating"thatjcertain 
wardens have off eredjthem* sums of 'money or T a # portion 
of the fines if they would go' to my camps and induce or 
hire me to violate the game laws; then the warden would 
arrest us both; and then let the man go free that hired 
me. Last year I paid wardens French and Carliss $63 for 
two deer's feet and a hide found on my land or premises 
at Nicatowis that I knew nothing about nor who carried 
them there. I took a receipt for the money and I shall 
try and find out if such transactions are legal. They 
were not satisfied with this, but told lots of false state- 
ments to newspaper reporters; and then they told some 
of their supposed friends that they were going back to 
the lake to kill a deer in September (close time) and take 
a part of it in the night into my possession, and the next 
day go there and find it and arrest me*for it. But I 
went away about that time with a party a hundred miles 
away and they did not try their scheme. If we have any 
law for such transactions, something should be done to 
have it enforced, as I believe it is of more importance to 
protect our citizens and sportsmen than it is to protect 
our game, as by doing so we protect both, for such men 
are an injury to game protection, and the sooner they are 
looked after the better, 
I believe our Fish and Game Commissioners are men 
that wish to do right, but there is trouble somewhere and 
it is believed to be with a party connected with them who 
seems to be running the business. J. Darling. 
GAME PROTECTION IN 1874. 
As Forest and Stream was started nearly a generation 
ago in the interest of game protection, it is interesting to 
review the efforts in that direction during the past twenty 
years and observe what has been accomplished. To 
summarize: 
The year 1874 was the phenomenal year for protective 
club organization. In that year there was an all-per- 
vading interest in game and its preservation, which 
amounted to enthusiasm, and the movement reached its 
climax. The necessity for special legislation which 
would check the prodigal and wanton waste of such 
of our fauna as were mainly pursued for food and sport 
impressed itself so universally that suggestion became 
conviction. In every State almost so-called sportsmen's 
A BROOD OF CANADA GEESE . 
Bred In confinement by Dr. M. M. Benschoter, Ohio. 
clubs were promptly organized for the declared purpose 
of protecting the game and fish, and promoting propaga- 
tion. It was like the old-time rally for the flag. The 
International Association and the National Game and 
Fish Protective Association were both foremost among 
the rest, and the most influential of all, because they em- 
braced a moiety of available, intelligent information on 
these special subjects or objects. The powerful Illinois 
State Sportsmen's Association was also formed in 1874 and 
similar combinations affected in other progressive States. 
Even the Pacific Coast was conspicuous in the general 
movement. The Oregon Legislature passed an act mak- 
ing it unlawful ' 'to kill or offer for sale any deer, moose, 
or elk during the months of February, March, April, 
May and June," and making it unlawful "to take or kill 
at any time elk or deer for the purpose of obtaining their 
horns and skins." This was a tight cinch on the skin 
hunters within its jurisdiction. In Congress Mr. Fort, 
of Illinois, introduced most opportunely a bill to check 
the destruction of our buffalo, which, if it had been 
passed, would have prevented their subsequent almost 
total extinction. The desperate Indian question of the 
day, however, made it expedient to exterminate the buf- 
falo, so tnat the motion did not prevail. The American 
Fishcultural Association was an efficient and industrious 
factor in this direction, too, and went so far as to draft 
a code of co-operative laws upon which all States could 
systematically unite. This code was drawn on scientific 
principles, as primarily suggested by the International 
Association, to accord with the breeding seasons and 
habits of the several varieties of game specified and in- 
cluded within the provisions of the act. 
There is no doubt that the impetus given to the subject 
of game protection in 1874 was most healthful and far- 
reaching in its effects, and, although protective measures 
such as were suggested were not adopted immediately, 
nor have yet bee n en bloc, they have nevertheless animated 
all subsequent action in behalf of the objects for which 
they were formulated, so that we have to thank the con- 
servators of 1874 in great part for the quantum of sport 
which we enjoy ta-day. Very much has been learned in 
the interval of twenty years, which enables our legislators 
to act intelligently (if they only would), so that, in spite 
of increasing population and spread of settlement, the 
proportion of game to population has not been reduced, 
to say the least. Our country is likely to bear as great a 
strain as those countries of Europe have done where there 
are even now mountain fastnesses and wild moors which 
afford, perhaps, as good shooting as our own ranges, while 
the fishing streams are even better cared for than ours. 
Charles Hallock. 
A SHOT SPREADER FOR CHOKEBORES. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
It is now pretty well admitted that the chokebore gun 
is superior to the cylindrical or open bore barrel for all- 
around shooting; but since there is nothing perfect under 
the sun, so the chokebore gun, too, has its demerits. It 
is not the best suited weapon for shooting game in covert 
or at close quarters. But a great number of shooters aTe 
not in a position to own two guns, one chokebore, the 
other with open bore barrels, and some sportsmen again 
have become so much accustomed and attached to that 
fowling-piece which they use principally at the trap to 
their chokebore gun, that they prefer to employ this also 
in preference to one shooting less close for the class of 
field shooting previously referred to, even then, when 
they are acquainted with the fact that in using such a gun 
at small game and at distances from 15 to 25yds. they are 
liable to miss many a bird clean, or if they kill them, to 
find them rendered unfit for the kitchen. 
This sad experience would very likely not have occurred 
if the patterns had been of larger dimensions, if the shot 
could have covered a larger area of space. To achieve 
this last named result with a chokebore gun, sportsmen 
have all along endeavored to find suitable means for 
causing the chokebore barrel to spread the shot at olose 
quarters, but they have found that they were confronted 
by a rather difficult task. While it is comparatively easy 
to produce a larger pattern, it is quite difficult to accom- 
plish this with the same penetration as produced by the 
regularly loaded shell. Various methods for loading the 
shot so as to produce an enlarged pattern are known to 
the sportsmen and have been employed by them, but all 
of these methods have their faults; in some cases the 
patterns produced were extremely irregular, and in other 
instances they proved very tedious in execution. 
Messrs. Winans and Simrock, of Newark, N. J,, havp 
recently introduced a new patented shot spreader, which 
requires no skill in its application, and which can be used 
in any length of a 12-bore shell with apparently the same 
effect, and although made at the present only of one size, 
for the 12-bore gun, can, as the inventors claim, also be 
employed in 10-bore shells. The American Testing In- 
stitution has been asked to subject these shot spreaders to 
a trial, and has done. so. The result of this trial is set 
forth in the annexed table which will enable the reader 
to draw his own conclusion in regard to the real merits 
and usefulness of the spreader. 
The figure 1 in the table stands for the regularly loaded 
shell, figure 2 for the shell provided with the spreader; 
the letter A stands for the diameter of the pattern in 
inches in the 30in. circle, letter B for the number of pel- 
lets counted within the skeleton of a pigeon placed within 
the center of the target. 
Load, 3drs. E. C. powder; l^&oz. shot No. 8, 476 pellets; Smokeless 
shell: 
10yds, 1. A. 4in. B. 270 pellets. 2. A. lOin. B 50 pellets. 
15yds. 1 A. 6in. B. 180 " 2. A. 28in, B. 20 " 
20yds. 1. A 12in. B. 60 li 2. A. 26in. B. 18 " 
25yds. 1. A. 15in. B. 40 " 2. A. 28in. B. 16 " 
30yds. JL A. 22in. B. 28 " 2. A. 30in. B. 12 " 
Load, 3d rs. Schultze hard grain powder; lj^oz. shot No. 8, 476 pel ? 
lets; Smokeless shell: 
10yds. 1. A. 4in. B. 278 pellets. 2. A. lOin. B. 51 pellets. 
'2> A 15in. B. 26 
15yds. 1. A 7in. 
B. 100 
20yds. 1. A. lOin. B. 70 
25yds. 1. A. 12in. B. 38 
30yds. 1. A. 16in. B. 34 
2. A 30in. 
2. A. 30in. 
2. A. 30in. 
B. 15 
B. 4 
B. 11 
Load, 3drs. American wood powder; IJ^oz. shot No. 8, 476 pellets; 
Smokeless shell: 
10yds. 1. A.3J^in. B. 290 pellets. 2. A. 8in. B. 60 pellets. 
15yds. 1. A. 8in. B. 98 " 2 A. 16in. B. 30 
20yds. 1. A. lOin. B. 80 " 2. A. 24in. B. 15 " 
25yds. 1. A. 13in. B. 30 " 2. A. 28in. B. 15 " 
30yds. 1. A. 15in. B. 26 " -2. A. 30in. B. 9 " 
Load, 30grs. Walsrode powder; l^oz. shot No. 8, 476 pellets; special 
shell: 
10yds. 1. A.3J£in. B. 296 pellets. 2. A. 8in. B. 63 pellets. 
15yds. 1. A. 9in. B. 170 " 2. A. 15in. B. 25 
20yds. 1. A. 12in. B. 61 " 2. A. 25ia. B. 18 
25yds. 1. A. 20in. B. 28 " 2. A. 24in. B. 13 
30yds. 1. A. 21in. B. 15 ' 2 A. 28in. B. 6 " 
Load, 3drs. E. C. powder; l^oz shot No. 7, 336 pellets; Smokeless 
shell: 
10yds. 
15yds. 
20yds 
25yds. 
30yds. 
1. A. 4in. 
i. A. 6in. 
1. A. 12in. 
1. A. 22in. 
1. A. 25in. 
B. 200 pellets. 
B. 80 " 
B 50 
B. 24 " 
B. 19 
2 
A. 12in. 
2. A. 18in. 
2. A. 26in 
2. a. 30in. 
2. A. 30iu. 
B 40 pellets. 
B, 18 
B 6 " 
B. 6 
B. 4 
Load, 3drs. Schultze hard grain powder; t%oz. shot No. 7, 336 pel- 
lets; Smokeless Bhell: 
10yds. 1. A, 7iD. B 150 pellets. 2. A. I Sin. B. 39 pellets. 
15yds. 1. A. 8in. B. 100 " 2. A. I3in. B. 13 
20yds. 1. A. 13in. B 48 ♦{ 2. A. 28in. B. 8 " 
25yds. 1. A. 15in. B. 30 " 2. A. 30in. B. 3 
30yds. 1. A. 22in. B. 15 " 2. A. 30in. B. 3 " 
Load, 3drs. American wood powder; l^goz. shot No. 7, 336 pellets; 
Smokeless shell: 
10yds. 1. A. 4in. B. 160 pellets 2. A lOin. B. 48 pellets. 
15yds. 1. A. lOio. B. 120 ' 2. A. 24in. B. 15 " 
20yds. 1. A. 12in. B. 70 " 2. A. 24in. B. 24 " 
25yds. 1. A. 13in. B. 32 " 2. A. 30in, B. 10 " 
30yds. 1. A, 16ia. B. 20 " 2. A. 30in. B. 5 " 
Load, 29grs. Walsrode powder; l>.0z shot No. 7, 336 pellets; Special 
shell: 
10yds. 1. A. 5in. B. 149 pellets. 2. A. lOin. B. 36 pellets. 
15yds 1. A. lOin. B. 90 " 2. A. 24in. B 15 " 
20yds. 1. A. 13in. B. 32 f* 2. A. 24in. B. 7 
25yds 1. A. 14in. B. 21 » 2. A. 28in. B. 5 " 
30yds. 1. A. 20in. B. 19 " 2. A. 30in. B. 7 " 
As will be noticed, the spreader proves most beneficial 
at distances from 15 to 25yds. It hardly scatters the 
shot sufficiently at such close quarters as 10yds. and at 
30yds. the chokebore barrel with the regular load will 
begin to spread the shot enough for all practical pur- 
poses. But the results as established show that the 
spreader can be used to great advantage at all distances 
between 15 and 25yds., and that here it appears to do all 
what reasonably maybe expected of such a convenient 
and inexpensive contrivance. Akmin Tenner. 
The FOREST AND STREAM is put to press each week cm Tues- 
day. Correspondence intended for publicrifion should reach 
us a 1 Ihela'esl by Monaoy, and a* much earner as practicable. 
