June 1, 1895.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
441 
MONGOLIAN PHEASANT HABITS. 
Milwaukee, Wis. — Editor Forest and Stream: I notice 
in your issue of May 18 an article from a correspondent 
at Oneonta, N. Y., in which he states that the Mongolian 
pheasants pair off when liberated. I thirjk he has made 
a mistake, according to the best authorities and my per- 
sonal experience. Last year, before I succeeded in get- 
ting our protective law passed, we liberated three hens 
and one cock. Each hen raised her brood within a quar- 1 
ter of a mile from the place where she was set down. The 
birds act in confinement the same as they do in their wild 
state. It is almost impossible to change the nature of a 
bird in confinement. They can be tamed to a certain 
extent, but the Chinese pheasant cannot be domesticated. 
In my pens, of which I have a score, I put five hens to a 
cock and find that all my eggs are fertile. 
If people before turning out birds would study some 
good authority they would save money— Tegetmeyer, for 
instance. 
I have been instrumental in getting a law passed this 
year protecting them in our State for a term of five years, 
consequently I am very much interested in these birds. I 
have not yet pinned my faith on either the Chinese or the 
English birds. I have both in my pens and am watching 
them very carefully. Next spring I shall turn out both 
Chinese and English. I have two localities in mind, and 
Bhall turn out one strain in each and watch them care- 
fully, and shall be pleased to give the benefit of my experi- 
ence to brother sportsmen. 
There is another fallacy in the article from your corre- 
pondent from Oneonta, and that is as to their raising two 
broods in a season. We will take his statement, although 
I think twenty-five to a brood is a great many. The hens 
commence to lay from April 15 on. Out of a hundred 
hens I received my first egg April 28. We will, however, 
say the hen commences to lay April 15. The period of 
incubation is twenty-four days. It would take twenty- 
five days for the hen to lay her eggs for a brood of 
twenty-five birds; consequently it would be May 9 before 
she would commence to sit. Providing she hatched out 
every bird and with twenty-four days for incubation, it 
would be June 2 before her brood was hatched. The hen 
cannot leave her brood until they are two months old, con- 
sequently it would be Aug. 2 before she could commence 
to lay. Another sitting taking twenty-four days to hatch 
the eggs, it would be Sept. 1 before the young birds were 
out, when it would be impossible for the hen to rear her 
brood, as cold and dampness are death to young pheasants. 
If a hen should have her nest destroyed by vermin or 
some other cause early in the season, she would in all 
probability go to work and build another, which will ac- 
count for the young broods found early in the fall. 
I am very much interested in these birds; have been 
breeding them and studying their habits for three years; 
.have been working to get them introduced in our State, 
and hope to see the time when they will be found in every 
State in the tinion. H. F. Bosworth. 
A Montana Elk Farm. 
Minneapolis, Minn.— Editor Forest and Stream: The 
Bert Bryant spoken of in the inclosed clipping is C. A. 
Bryant of Columbia Falls, Mont., an old friend of mine. 
I spent one year in the vicinity of Columbia Falls, and 
found it a great country for large and small game. 
D. A. B. 
The report reads; "The business genius of the ranchman 
of Flathead valley is not confined to the raising of wheat 
and spuds, the opportunity for side issues is gradually 
being improved. Bert Bryant, a year ago decided that 
the raising of elk would prove a profitable and pleasant 
pastime^more profitable than cattle or cayuses— and 
having a ranch especially adapted to the industry, he 
Started for the mountains to Catch a pair of the wary 
animals for a starter. To start to catch the fleet-footed 
elk would appear to be a task to discourage the average 
mortal, but Bert says it's easy when one knows how. 
Last winter Bert Bryant and G. Christiansen captured 
two handsome calves, a male and a female, but the male 
broke its neck on a picket rope within ten days of its 
arrival at the ranch. The other calf thrived and proved 
domestication possible. This year Bert Bryant and Ernest 
Christiansen went out and returned Thursday with six 
handsome specimens. A i^year-old bull, four cows and 
one calf were brought in and on Friday were taken to the 
ranch. Three of them attracted considerable attention as 
they were led through town. They were fat, sleek, and 
Carried their pretty heads high in the air, but their keen 
eyes observed everything that went on. 
"To capture an elk requires several unusual accomplish- 
ments. One must be expert in throwing the lariat, and 
must be able to ride the kind of snowshoes known as 
'skis.' The elk browse in the ravines and the hunters 
keep along the hills, several hundred feet above. When 
a band of elk is seen below the hunters select the route 
with the fewest obstructions and then start down. The 
fastest coasting ride is slow compared with the flight of 
the smooth 'skis,' and before the elk have had time to 
start the hunters go whizzing into the band and the lariat 
has been thrown over the neck of one or more. The cap- 
tured elk will struggle vainly for awhile, then get mad 
and show fight, and the hunter who gets familiar too soon 
will find himself in the snow with four sharp feet pounding 
him with surprising force. After an hour or two of 
patient work the eikmay be led, although frequent efforts 
i'or freedom will be made. 
"Mr. Bryant now has seven of the animals, and as 
•elk can be raised as easily as cattle the enterprise is sure 
to be profitable. Competition is not likely, as there is 
hardly one man in a thousand who could capture an elk. 
This band of elk will prove one of the attractive sights of 
\ the valley, for it is safe to assert that comparatively few 
persons have seen an elk." 
Michigan Spring Birds. 
White Lake, Montague, Mich., May 28 —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The spring birds have all been late in arriv- 
ing here this year, in fact, some have not made their ap- 
pearance, yet. I have not seen a single bluebird. Scarlet 
tanagers are unusually numerous. Robins are numerous, 
also Baltimore orioles, but I have only seen two pewees. 
Kingbirds, kildeer, tipups, chipping sparrows, orchard 
orioles, martins, swallows and blackbirds are here in 
abundance. Wrens, catbirds, chewinks and thrushes 
have not arrived. We had a very cold snap last week, 
ccompanied with frost and snow, and most of the birds 
mentioned above as being here, arrived after the [cold 
weather disappeared. 
I have seen only two nests that contained eggs, one a 
bluejay's, the other a flycatcher's. Crows are unusually 
numerous, also hawks of all descriptions. Grouse are 
fairly abundant. Squirrels of ail kinds seem to have dis- 
appeared. 
Trout fishing has been very good this season, some extra 
large catches being made. Capt. Lysaght, of the White 
Lake Life Saving Station, made a catch of fifty-six brook 
trout May 1, some very large ones, too. All the streams 
in this vicinity have been well stocked with trout, and we 
have had good fishing for the past four years. This is the 
nearest point to Chicago where good trout fishing can be 
obtained. 
I saw a large flock of ducks in the lake this evening. A 
flock of geese stayed here all the spring, but they migrated 
last Thursday. The water in White Lake and in Lake 
Michigan is nearly 3ft. lower than it was a year ago. 
Several times of late I have heard and seen whippoor- 
wills. This bird is to be found in large numbers in this 
part of Michigan. E. S. D. 
Florida Flume Birds. 
A St. Augustine correspondent who has been inter- 
ested in the effort to secure a more effective law for the 
protection of plume birds, writes as follows of the defeat 
of the bill in the House: Well, the "Birds of Plumage" 
bill, which passed the Sena,te so easily under the leader- 
ship of Senator Gennar, who introduced it, was killed 
after all in the House. It is too bad. Of course there re- 
mains the old law, which is better than none, but is far 
from being as effective as the amendments would have 
made it. At the next session of the Legislature we shall 
renew the contest, we hope with better success. The 
birds of plumage, which give such added effect to much 
of the scenery of Florida, must be protected if any are to 
remain. Great efforts will be made to secure the enforce- 
ment of the present law, failing to secure the passage of a 
better. W. 
Adirondack Indian Relics. 
New York, May 22.— Editor Forest and Stream: Being 
somewhat familiar with the Adirondack region, and hav- 
ing made a small collection of Indian relics in that local- 
ity, I have lately been asked to advise one of our public 
museums as to the best places for systematic exploration 
in the interests of archaeology. That I may do this intel- 
ligently, I ask the courtesy of your columns to inquire 
whether any of your readers know of Indian village sites, 
burial places or mounds in the Adirondacks or other 
places where relics have been found. If so, I should be 
greatly obliged if thoy would write me, giving such par- 
ticulars as they think would be important. My address 
is 111 Broadway, New York city. Herbert M, Lloyd. 
Robins Island Pheasants. 
New York. — Editor Forest and Stream: The Robins 
Island Club have purchased, through Mr. John Glessing, 
of Forest Gate, London, some fifty to seventy-five pheas- 
ants, the purpose being to introduce fresh blood into 
their present stock, as we all know too well the conse- 
quence of inbreeding. 
The superintendent gave the members most excellent 
sport last fall on these game birds, and by this importa- 
tion he expects to excel all previous efforts. These pheas- 
ants have been purchased in small numbers from differ- 
ent aviaries to get as many changes of blood as possible. 
William Glessing. 
The Rifle on Grouse. 
Portland, Ind.— When one of your sportsmen lays 
aside his shotgun, chains Tobe to his kennel, takes up a 
rifle, and, going into the brush, picks the heads off half a 
dozen grouse while they are walking, please print it in 
italics so I will be sure to see it, and I will write and call 
him brother. C. 
Carrier 'Pigeon J. C. D.— 1894-3. 
A pigeon which seems very tame and quite exhausted . 
came to us last Friday. We wish very much to find its 
owner, and the fact of its arriva 1 ; please insert in your 
paper. The mark upon it is "J. C. D.— ISM— 3." The 
owner may find it at 28 Crescent street, Fitchburg, Mass. 
§mt[e §zg and §tm. 
ONE DAY WITH THE QUAIL. 
In your issue April 20 last I enjoyed "A Quail Hunt on 
Horseback," by Meb Worcester. It encourages me to 
give you an account of one I had last fall in Munroe 
county, Georgia. 
While we had a fair crop of birds in Georgia the past 
season, yet there were not so many as we ofttirnes have, 
large bags not being very frequent. 
Early in December last I met at Dames's Ferry on the 
Southern Railroad, 18 miles above Macon, my clever 
friend H. W, E., to take an outing after bob whites. 
E. had a young pointer bitch in training for a friend of 
his, taken in hand about two months prior to our hunt. 
When he got her she was very green, and the gentleman 
offered to wager that E. would never teach her to take a 
bird in her mouth. We will see how great a mistake he 
made ere our hunt is over. I had my old dog Max, of 
whom you have heard before, not thoroughly trained, but 
a fine hunter and fair "all-round" dog. 
We mounted our horses, and having heard of a covey 
near by proceeded thitherward and Max soon located 
them. I was shooting a Winchester "pump," my second 
days' experience with one in the field, and when the covey 
flushed I took a right hand bird, which I did up in fine 
shape, but failed to put in the second shot, as the gun 
worked awkwardly to me. E., however, bagged three 
birds at two shots, thereby scoring two on me. We fol- 
lowed them into a fairly good place to shoot. One got up 
wild, which I killed, and then another, which I shot, but it 
went wabbling down into a thick place, but the dogs 
failed to secure it. Several more were flushed, but we 
failed to score another. 
Mounting our horses, we go forward, and in a short 
while had located a very fine bevy, in fact, it was th' 
largest IJjhave seen in quite a long time. We bagged four 
birds on the rise, and I worked the gun on as satisfactory 
a double as one could wish, except the second bird flew 
100yds. before falling. We followed the birds into a 
thicket, where E. secured one and I another. There was 
too much woods to kill many. Leaving these birds, we 
go on, and in a few minutes Max had located a small 
batch of birds. Quickly tying our horses, we soon had 
them up. but under such disadvantages that I got only 
one, while E. did not get a feather. The birds followed a 
branch bounded by thick canes. One bird flushed and E. 
grassed it with a quick snap-shot. A little lower down, 
and E.'s dog had one pinned down on the bank of the 
Ocmulgee River, when he called to me, "What shall I do 
with this bird if it flies over the river?" I replied, "Why, 
shoot it." He flushed it, fired and it fell 30yds. out in the 
water, when the bitch, that "wouldn't ever take a bird in 
her mouth," sprang into the water, swam quickly to it 
and retrieved it beautifully. Not only did she retrieve 
the bird, but on every occasion when she could get the 
bird did she promptly bring it, handling gently and de- 
livering it to E. with great satisfaction. She is one of the 
best I ever saw in the field, and to my mind a good field dog 
does not nearly reach perfection unless he faithfully and 
promptly retrieves your dead birds. The best dog I ever 
owned, as to bird sense, would not retrieve, and hence I 
could not call him first-class. 
When E, fired at his bird, two others flushed; one com- 
ing directly over me. I turned and fired at it. Though 
hit hard, it flew into a cane thicket, arid the dogs could 
not find it. Moving on up the railroad, and near to the 
river, we found a covey in a small pine thicket; got them 
up, and scored one bird each. We soon found the scat- 
tered birds. I bagged one and missed another; then E, 
got two more, and I followed suit by bagging two and 
then missing one. This covey gave us more sport than 
any we found. 
Pushing forward, we covered considerable distance be- 
fore we found another small flock. I got one bird. E. 
bagged one and missed one, and I likewise. E. then 
killed one, and I shortly afterward got another very satis- 
factory kill. We passed over a steep hill down into a 
branch crossing, paused to water our horses, when, in at- 
tempting to pull up a steep bank, my horse slipped, fell to 
her knees, while in the struggle I came very near being 
badly bruised, besides ruining my gun. Outside of con- 
siderable scare, with much grit and sand on my gun, I 
was soon o. k.. when we mounted, and shortly had lo- 
cated a remnant of a covey, out of which we secured 
three birds. I mad« here a seeming inexplicable miss; 
but, following my bird, found it barely able to fly, and 
had the satisfaction of knowing I did not make so bad a 
miss after all. 
We hunted over considerable territory after this, bear- 
ing around back toward our starting point, but away 
from the river. We lingered at a branch to refresh the 
inner man with a very enjoyable lunch, mounted and 
anxiously looked forward to the next covey. We finally 
reached good and familiar ground, where Max pointed a 
bevy in the edge of a patch of short-leaved pines, which 
rose very badly, out of which I scored one very excellent 
shot, while E. failed to bag one. We did nothing further 
with that cover, unless it was one more bird, and I am 
not sure of that. 
Passing over and beyond a branch the dogs struck a 
familar path leading over a long hill, and on toward the 
top Max rapidly sped, for he had several times found birds 
there. When I reached the top I found both dogs on a 
staunch point. Tying my horse I called to Henry to 
hurry forward, which he did. We had shot birds several 
times here, and you may imagine our surprise when a 
large covey rose instead of six or eight birds, as we ex- 
pected. I bagged two birds and badly wounded another 
on the rise, which I got later on at another shot. Henry 
killed two or three out of that covey and I killed four. 
The last bird I shot at towered high into the air, flew be- 
hind some pines and I failed to secure it because I could 
not mark it down. I generally count all such birds as. 
my meat, if I can locate them, as it is invariably the case 
that an eye is out, or the bird is crazed by a shot in the 
head, consequently it is easily caught if located. 
Having gone several hundred yards I missed Max. Call- 
ing E., we retraced our steps, and turning aside over the 
hill opposite where we found the last birds, the dog had 
spotted another small bevy in pine thicket, out of which 
we got only two birds. Our hunt was rapidly drawing to a 
close, and as we followed a footpath I noticed Max, ahead 
of me, drop suddenly into a beautiful point. Having 
passed a bevy in the sage, I grassed one, followed into the 
woods and downed another there, but the dogs could not 
find it. Thus ended quite a pleasant shoot. We had 
thirty-nine birds — honors about even — with several more 
to my credit than to Henry's. Old Subscriber. 
Canvas Boats. 
Omaha, Neb. — I wish to assure E. R. E. that it was far 
from my intention to condemn the folding canvas boat. 
I fully agree with him that for the purposes for which it 
is intended it stands without a rival, and that but for its 
aid I would have many times been debarred from much 
pleasure. But just the same, when I get in one it is with 
fear and trembling, and my sensations are much the same 
as those experienced by a tenderfoot when he first at- 
tempts to ride the festive bucking broncho. I simply re- 
corded my experiences. 
On the trip in question we were 20 miles or more from 
the railroad, and but for the folding boat would have had 
but little shooting, for there was no wooden boat there 
and we did not have the facilities to transport one so far. 
I have often seen my friend George go out in very rough 
weather in the canvas boat and not ship a drop of water, 
but when I am aboard it is a hundred to one shot that we 
get ducked before we get back to land. George says what 
I need is a big raft, and he knows. He always insists on 
my lying down in the bottom of the boat and wants me 
to part my hair in the middle as well. W. R. H. 
Smali-Bore Bullets. 
Now that the small-bore army cartridges are adapted 
to sporting rifles, it seems in order for any who have tried 
them to give us some light as to the killing qualities of 
these missiles. Is there any proof that a deer hit by a 
,30cal. bullet, half- jacketed or otherwise, will "drop as if 
struck by lightning," as we are told? "I want to Know," 
and I imagine there are others in the same fix. .Aztec, 
