446 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 24, 1894. 
IN AUTUMNAL COVERS. 
Boston, Nov. 4. — Editor Forest and Stream: We make 
many trips to the tangled thickets and sunny hillsides; 
hoping to get a fair snap Bhot at a swift-flying partridge, 
but we have not had our ambition realized as yet. If 
ever it shall be our luck to stop one of those wily birds, 
we know how we will prize it. 
"We love to hear the startling whir of the frightened 
grouse; but we love the grand old woods still more, and 
week after week we find ourselves heading for the 
fragrant pines; never disheartened, never wearied at our 
repeated failures. Perhaps when writing my next letter 
to Forest and Stream I may have the pleasure of record- 
ing my first capture. 
Two years ago one could stroll through the woods of 
the Russell Estate in Milton, and be entertained by the 
antics of the gray squirrels on the old stone walls and 
among the tree tops. But the grays have gone, and we 
experience a sense of sadness at the loss of the nimble 
tenants of the ancient woods. The partridge too have 
vanished. The ruthless hand of the gunner has succeeded 
in driving off Our most noble of game birds. How much 
better if we would lay aside our guns for a few years, and 
use note book and pencil instead. 
We could note the stock that is left remaining, and by 
careful observations would be pleased at the increased 
number of birds and small mammals in a few years. But I 
feel as though it were of no avail to expect such a state 
of things to occur, even though sanctioned by law. We 
have a class of shooters in Boston, who would be utterly 
incapable of understanding the wisdom of such a course. 
We have the Italian shooter with us, who is no respecter 
of person or life. Last Sunday while out for chestnuts 
through the woods of Hudson, we encountered three of 
those fellows with guns on their shoulders. And it would 
have been an extremely dangerous undertaking to have 
tried to stop them from gunning. 
The gunners of our towns and villages are the ones to 
be appealed to. They know where the mother grouse 
hides with her yellow brood, also where the quail trains 
her young. •, They have observed the nests long before 
the young, were hatched. And what an easy task to get 
the whole family, while the city man tramps over miles 
of ground looking for what is not there. I mentioned an 
instance last year of a farmer going behind his barn and 
shooting quail before the law allowed him to do so. 
We have a club made up of boys from the office who 
confine their sporting proclivities to pickerel fishing. We 
had some gay old times on the ice last winter, and even 
now we are overhauling our traps and taking the rusty 
edge from our ice chisel, anticipating the pleasures of the 
first trip when the pickerel bite best. We took through 
the ice last winter some 5 and 6lbs. fish, and we are 
hankering to get at the "big mouths" again. 
The ' 'Dingbat Club" has one member on its books who 
was green last winter, so green was this fisherman that 
he sat at a trap watching it for half an hour, then turned 
his head for a moment, when looking again he had a flag 
up, and he exuberantly drew up a big tomato can. 
My boy of eight years, at this moment asked me what 
a fish-hog was. He is reading a copy of Forest and 
Stream and found the word in its columns. The boy is 
my companion on many of my trips, and he is fast de- 
veloping into an enthusiastic lover of bird and wood-life. 
I noted last week some curious traits as exhibited by 
our hornets. I climbed a tree over 50ft. high for one of 
their nests. And again I found a half-dozen nests within 
a foot of the ground. Some of high pretensions, and 
more others humbly inclined — just like humans. 
Jay Pee. 
NEW ENGLAND GAME GROUNDS. 
Boston, Nov. 17.— A meeting of the New England 
Fish and Game Commissioners was held at the State 
House on Friday. The object of the meeting was the 
discussion of fish and game laws in the several New Eng- 
land States, with the hope of some time arriving at some- 
thing like uniformity in the same. A resolve was passed 
by the Massachusets Legislature last winter recommend- 
ing such a meeting to be held annually. At this meeting 
every New England State was represented except Ver- 
mont. There were present: For Rhode Island, J. M. H. 
South wick, Charles W. Willard. C. W. Williams, Henry 
I. Root; for Connecticut, R. E. Follett; for New Hamp- 
shire, N. Wentworth; for Maine, O. B. Whitten, Henry 
M. Stanley, Thomas H. Wentworth; for Massachusetts, 
E. A. Brackett, J. C. Young. Prof. Putnam, curator of 
the Peabody Museum, was also present as the guest of the 
Commissioners. 
A good part of the ground covered by the game laws of 
the several New England States was gone over in the dis- 
cussion, with various recommendations for uniformity. 
These recommendations were answered, pro and con, 
with all the difficulties of the climate and seasons dwelt 
upon. It was also suggested that several of the States in 
the southern part of New England required greater pro- 
tection — if indeed not perpetual close time — than the 
more northern and eastern portions do, where the country 
is very sparsely settled. There was a general discussion, 
aiming toward the better protection of tho lobster. The 
general opinion was that protection of lobsters under 
10£in. in length was sufficient to save the species in fair 
abundance, though the Rhode Island delegation was in 
favor of a lOin. law. The meeting attended a banquet at 
Parker's after adjournment, subject to the call of the 
chairman. 
Commissioners Stanley and Wentworth, of Maine, are 
greatly delighted with the increase in deer and other 
large game that has been going on in that State for the past 
8 or 10 years. Both are in earnest and very enthusiastic 
in the work. While in Boston they visited the markets, 
and are reported not to have seen as many Maine deer 
there as they had been led to expect. 
Mr. W. T. Farley with his friend Harry Clarke started 
for Andover North Surplus, on a deer hunt, Monday, 
Nov. 12. If they had good luck, taking a moose or a 
bear, they were to telegraph me. Saturday I got a tele- 
gram saying "Come at once! Having great luck." 
George H. Cutting, who has guided Mr. Farley so often 
at Camp Stewart, is guide. Andover North Surplus is 
some six miles from Andover Me. 
Mr. David B. Blanchard has lately returned from a 
partridge hunting trip into Maine. He went this time to 
Patten, in Aroostook county, and on the line of the New 
Bangor and Aroo3took Railroad. He -had fair success in 
shooting, but he devoted more of his time to missionary 
work among the guides and citizens whom he was 
thrown in contact with. He comes out of the 
woods perfectly astounded with the slaughter of 
game that is going on in that section. The 
hunters reach the very heart of the forests from sev- 
eral of the stations on that road, and are within a few 
hours' walk or paddle with canoes of the game they seek. 
The woods are full of hunters He counted twenty-nine 
dead deer on the train he came out on, and this was ex- 
plained to him as not a very great day for deer. He 
talked with the guides he met, and suggested to them that 
such slaughter could not be continued. He found them 
reasonable, and he believes that they will gladly sign 
petitions to the Legislature for some changes in the Maine 
game laws that shall regulate this killing of game. Many 
of the guides he met are of the opinion that one deer in a 
season is enough for a hunter, and nearly all are in favor 
of a perpetual close time on cow moose. He found they 
universally agreed that ruffed grouse should not be legally 
killed till the 1st of October. Guns in the woods should be 
prohibited till the full open season begins, and that should 
extend over but two months — October and November 
He found that they generally agreed that December is a 
dangerous month to the big game to be open, from the 
fact that the snows have so often become deep before the 
end of that month, and the animals have begun yarding. 
Special. 
TEXAS AND THE SOUTHWEST. 
Ducks In Nueces Bay. 
San Antonio, Tex., Nov. 16. — I don't believe that there 
are words in the English language that I can use to con- 
vey an idea of what A; B. Critzer, of San Antonio, and 
the writer saw on the 9bh of this month while on a duck- 
ing trip up the Nueces Bay. There are more ducks this 
year on the Texas coast than ever known before. All 
day long, sharply outlined against the western sky, 
could be seen a swaying and continuous mass of flying 
bluebills, canvasbacks and redheads, headed for the 
sweet water of the Nueces River. We were shooting in 
the bay and only caught stragglers, but they came in so 
rapidly that we had a magnificent day of it. 
As usual, the natives about the place made all kinds of 
fun of the 20-gauges, but we made them so tired before 
the day was over. We had plenty of ducks — not too 
many — not as many as the day last winter when we were 
accused of killing 812 to two guns, 20-gauges at that. 
Mr. Gaston Naquin, of Rockport, brought in 63 canvas- 
backs and redheads as a result of three hours' shooting on 
Copana Bay. 
Deep Water. 
A good story comes from Portland, once a town near 
Corpus Christi. 
A real estate man and a party of Northern tourists 
were on the beach last winter watching the flight of 
bluebills and admiring the play of the mnllet. The R. 
E. M. was expatiating on the virtues of the soil, extolling 
the advantages of the geographical position of the town 
and using such other arguments as might induce his 
hearers to buy land from the "Portland Town Co." 
"How much water is there out in the bay?" asked one 
of the tourists, pointing out toward the shallows. 
"About 18 to ^5ft.," grandiloquently responded the R. 
E. M. 
Just then one of these puttering, everlasting, long- 
billed cranes, just skipping the water, flew into the line 
of sight and gracefully alighted, the water hitting him 
about the "knees." 
"By George!" said the tourist, "I am sure of one of two 
things. Either you are telling a lie about the depth of 
that water or that is the longest legged bird I ever saw." 
They buried the real estate man right there in the sand. 
Moody's Fence. 
Col. Moody, the market-hunting banker of Galveston, 
of rice-duck-farm fame hasn't drained his lake yet. He 
has been very busy of late repairing his fence. By actual 
measurement, the fierce barrier that repels the sportsmen 
of Texas consists of one wire, with posts 90ft. apart. If 
Mr. Moody succeeds in draining Lake Surprise, a com- 
pany will be formed to hold back the waters of the bay 
so the rice in the Colonel's farm can flourish. 
Texas Field. 
An Open Door. 
In the Paterspn (N. J.) Press of Nov. 14, Wm. C. De 
Graw, the hotel keeper who was one of the party charged 
with unlawfully shooting ducks on Greenwood Lake, 
writes of the excursion in the steam launch: 
In regard to the duck shooting case, "the worst lie ever invented, as 
the entire party will swear," there was not a duck shot in that expe- 
dition Not a gun was fired on that trip except one, and that was in 
New York State, shot by Judge Inglis, which he does not deny, and 
only did that remarking he had not unloaded his gun during the trip 
of one hour's time as a pleasure trip. I have not violated the law in 
any respect and will prove it. 
In reply Game Warden Charles A. Shriner makes this 
proposition to open a door wide open through which all 
the parties to walk out: 
In regard to that charge of shooting ducks from his steam launch I 
am sorry to see that Mr. DeGraw characterizes it as a fabrication. 
By so doing he calls into qnestion the veracity of at least half a dozen 
persons residing along the shores of Greenwood Lake. If Mr. DeGraw 
was innocent why did he not stand trial? He certanly had most emi- 
nent witnesses. However this may be I desire to make a proposition. 
If the eminent gentlemen who were with him in his steam launch on 
the 17th of October will give me their word that they did not violate 
the law by sailing for ducks or by shooting at them I will disregard 
the proffered oaths of ten persons, and will recommend to the Fish 
Commission, at whose particular command the prosecutions wer« 
begun, to have the cases dismissed at once; if the Commission should 
decline to follow my recommendation I shall resign the office of war- 
den, which would end the cases. I am perfectly willing to take the 
words of such men as Judge Dixon or Judge Inglis, and by accepting 
this proposition they can save themselves the annoyance of a lawsuit 
and also stand acquitted before the community of even an uninten- 
tional infraction of the law. 
A Modest Moose Hunter. 
New Yoke, Nov. 16.— Editor Forest and Stream: Yours 
of the 14th to hand and noted. I would like very much 
to accommodate the readers of your journal with a recital 
in detail of my moose hunt in the Maine woods, but the 
aversion of seeing my name in print, particularly in the 
capacity of a moose slayer, deters me from writing at all 
on the subject. I am naturally a bashful man, and a 
sketch of the hunt in question would give me jusb that 
notoriety I am only too anxious fco avoid. 
James N. Jabvib. 
Stop the Sale of Game. 
A Platform Plank. — The sale of game should be forbidden at all 
times.— Forest and Stream, Feb. 10. 
Stop the sale of quail. Yes, by all means stop it. When 
I think of the outcome of market-shooting and that it 
means destruction to our game, I realize that it is time 
something is done to put an end to it. I am aware that it 
takes time to get at things of this kind, but there should 
be some restriction in our game laws to prohibit the sale 
of game. If we don't awaken to the facts, and that very 
soon, too, we shall not need the advice of brother sports- 
men in the choice of a gun, for there will be no use for 
one, unless one indulges in trap-shooting. To buy a gun 
to use on game will be useless and a foolish waste of 
money. It is a shame and an outrage the way our game 
is slaughtered and transported to market for money. 
Stop the sale of quail, and the time will come, as in days 
of old, when we can go out and make a good bag without 
tramping one's legs off. — Correspondence Evansville 
Tribune. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Keep a-hammering away at your platform "Stop the 
Sale of Game." The Pittsburgh game dealers had rabbits 
and quail for sale for more than a week contrary to the 
game laws of Pennsylvania. Informations have been 
made against several of them, but they claim that they 
had them shipped from Indian Territory last December, 
1893, and had kept them in cold storage ever, since. But 
the bluff won't work with Fish Warden E. B. Todd, who 
is going after them with a sharp stick. These violators 
are going to take their cases into the courts, but their 
claims won't hold water. Mr. Todd is a new fish and 
game warden for Allegheny and Beaver counties. 
P. F. S. 
The Persian Partridge. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have read with pleasure in Forest and Stream the 
statement that the Mongolian pheasant is to be placed in 
the Middlesex Fells of our new metropolitan park system. 
Allow me to call the attention of the proper authorities to 
a suggestion of Sir Austen Layard, of fame in the explor- 
ation of Nineveh. I find it in Frank Buckland's admir- 
able book, "Notes and Jottings from Animal Life": "He 
[Sir Austen] regretted we had not yet introduced the 
gigantic partridge, the ourkakiek, the royal partridge of 
the Persians, or Caspian snow partridge." 
This suggestion has in a way the indirect approval of 
that most sensible naturalist and warm-hearted lover of 
birds and beasts, Buckland, and is, at all events, worthy 
of serious consideration. It would be of interest if the 
Metropolitan Park Commissioners of Boston would give 
them a trial, either in the Middlesex Fells or in the Blue 
Hills, and I know of some one who would pay for the first 
pair if the Commissioners would procure the birds from 
Persia, which, I should think, might easily be accom- 
plished by the aid of the United States Minister to Persia 
or of the American Consuls to that country. A. S. 
Some Oshkosh Ducking Ways. 
Chicaoo, III. — Editor Forest and Stream: I have just 
returned from atrip to the marshes adjacent to Oshkosh, 
Wis. , and found ducks scarce. No wonder at it, as in the 
mating season the mallards are shot off their nests and 
the nests robbed, the miscreant considering himself in 
great luck with a day's food ahead. In the hunting sea- 
son the birds do not seek the marshes until after dark, 
and even then local hunters have developed the faculty of 
shooting them in the almost dark, and pick up the birds 
next morning. Those birds that rest in the marsh are out 
before daybreak and remain in the open lakes, where they 
are unapproachable. For these reasons hunting is poor. 
The weather was too warm for the northern ducks, and 
they had not arrived. Some bluebills were in, and these 
were being netted on their feeding grounds by fishermen, 
who ship them in barrels to market. The birds dive and 
get tangled up, and drown in the nets, set purposely for 
them. There ought to be some way to stop this netting of 
ducks. A. H, 
With the Webfeet on Nigger Slough. 
Los Angeles, Cal., Nov. 6.— On the 3d inst. Messrs. 
James Matfield and John Winston, both well-known 
sportsmen of this city, left for a day's shoot on the 
grounds of the Dominguez [Gun Club, of which they are 
members. They opened the ball with the webfeet at 8 
A. M,, on the 4th, and after three hours shooting, picked 
up 101 ducks, principally teal and sprig. They shot from 
a blind in the tule, over a flock of fifty decoys. The 
Dominguez Gun Club controls the Nigger Slough, a body 
of water six miles long and about sixteen miles distant 
from Los Angeles, The above club numbers among its 
members some of the best duck shooters of this city, has 
a comfortable club house, boats and other accessories, 
and the members enjoy some capital sport during the 
season. Culpepper. 
' Christian County Hunting Club. 
Seventeen members of the Christian County (Ky.) 
Hunting Club are on the way to the happy hunting 
grounds of Quiver River. They carry with them a unique 
outfit, consisting of one coach carrying the hunters and 
two cars carrying 21 saddle horses, 34 hounds, wagons, 
feed for stock and food for man. They have six servants 
to do their bidding and to act as guides to camp, should, 
any of them get lost in the woods. They carry with them 
their feather beds and chairs. This club is 43 years old. 
Captain Parrish said last night that he had taken, includ- 
ing this one, 42 annual hunting trips during his member- 
ship of 43 years. He was one of the charter members. — 
Memphis Avalanelie. 
Barnegat Ducking. 
Barneoat, N. J., Nov. 12. — Gunning continues to be 
good. Two of our gunners one day last week (William 
Chandler and Oscar Ridgway) killed twenty-five redheads, 
black ducks, broadbills and others. Wm. J. Inma.n. 
An Adirondack Bear. 
Elizabethto wn, N. Y, Nov. 12.— Edgar G. Jenner, of 
Lewis, caught a 400-pouni bear Saturday last. It was one 
of the largest bears ever caught in this section. — ; 
' " " ~ ,G. L. B. 
