810 
FOREST 'AND STREAM. 
« 
[Dec. ^5, im. 
THOSE HENRY COUNTY CHICKENS. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Having just returned from a two months' sojourn in. the 
game regions of South Dakota, I have been somewhat be- 
hind the times in the matter of keeping posted as to what 
was going on. The first thing that attracts my attention 
in going over the back numbers of Forest and Steeam, 
collected during my absence, is an item which says that 
Game Warden Loveday, of Illinois, went down into Henry 
county and bagged seventy prairie chickens in a two 
days' shoot. Now, I was born and raised in Henry 
county, and have used a gun for the last thirty years, and 
many of the shooting seasons of that period were spent in 
this county yet I never shot the half of seventy chickens 
in any one season in Henry county. 
A mile and a half to the west of where I live is a rise of 
ground, surrounded bj^ marsh lands, that has always been 
a playground for prairie chickens in the spring. A couple 
of years ago the stock of prairie chickens in Henry county 
was reduced to just twelve; yet, so great was their love for 
this dear old stamping ground, that when the April 
breezes began to whisper tales of a life beyond to the 
withered grasses, they would all gather on this little knoll 
to boom out their welcome to the spring. Here, within a 
mile and a half of a gathering of 5,000 people, they were 
safe. The boy with the catapult, who spares nothing else, 
animate or inanimate, withheld the destroying pebble 
from these. The gawky country youth with his zulu 
passed them by on the other side, and harmed them not. 
The gray-haired market-hunter looked upon them with 
reverential glances, for he deemed them the last remnant 
of a rapidly disappearing race. The farmer scattered the 
choicest of his grain for their nourishment, and his 
orchards, groves, and even sheds and barns were freely 
tendered to shelter them from the snows of winter. Fos- 
tered thus, they increased, until on Sept. 1, this year, 
there were just seventy of them. 
Before starting for the far fields of Dakota, where I 
went for my shooting, to escape the odium of being 
pointed out as a relic hunter, I went out and counted 
them over and took note of their condition. When after an 
arduous campaign, lasting over two months, I started for 
home,_ I was happy in the consciousness of having bagged 
six chickens, to say nothing of other game too numerous 
to mention. As I swept in homeward on the morning 
express, I glanced expectantly out at that knoll. It was 
there — that is, part of it — but oh ! how sadly changed. The 
once tall and graceful blue stem was much trampled and 
broken, and withal black and grimy with powder smoke. 
Its old-time tenants were gone. Evolution had turned 
up a new period. A once familiar landmark had passed 
away. All around were the evidences of a mighty strug- 
gle ; here and there a mottled feather fluttered in the 
wind as it clung to a withered rag weed, but nothing of 
life remained, there had been a struggle for the survival 
of the fittest. The game warden had been there ! Aye, 
"he had come and seen and conquered;" and when the 
■warm April sunlight makes glad the heart of the bull 
nettle there will be no booming welcome to the spring. 
The boom is busted. 
Seventy chickens in two days! Not one of Henry county's 
more than 100 market-hunters has equaled this bag in the 
entire season in this or any other county, which goes to prove 
that "protection does protect," the game warden anyway. 
Thirty-five dollars' worth of chickens in two days! This 
would go far toward helping out the poor compensation of 
a game warden. But shame on such reflections. Far be 
it from me to detract from the pleasures of hard-earned 
success. The meanest thing that breathes is the fellow 
who, too lazy and indifferent to achieve success himself, 
shouts game hog at the hard-working student that does. 
But, spirit of commerce, away with thee! and loiter not in 
the pathway of him who would carve his name high on 
the battlements of fame. Utility, get thee hence! let us live 
on wind pudding if we must, but leave the field clear to 
him who would send his achievements ringing down the 
corridors of time — like "a tin can tied to a dog's tail," 
Let no one suppose that any of this Spartan seventy went 
to waste. They are preserved beyond any possible ero- 
sion of time "in history's golden urn;" but the story of 
their taking ofl" should be put in brine, or it will sour long 
before our old speckled hen shows a tendency to set on 
the corn cobs underneath the feed box. E. P. Jaqiies. 
Qeneseo, 111. 
A FIELD COMPANION. 
Wymoee, Neb., Dec. 10,— I do not know whether my 
old friend, Elias 0. Wilcox, ever fished with Fred Mather 
or not, but he is dead. 
For fifty years he had hunted and fished, camped, out, 
tramped the forests, fields and prairies, and told stories, 
But for all that he had held many offices and positions 
of trust, and for the last ten years of his life he was the 
cashier of the bank in which I kept my overdraft. 
He was a constant reader of Fobest and Stream, and 
regarded Frank Forester as the highest authority on all 
subjects pertaining to field sports. 
We were friends for twenty-five years, and hunted 
together a great many times. The last few years of his 
life he lived in Wymore, and was my neighbor. During 
that time he had an old black team of horses and a buggj^, 
and two large old-fashioned liver and white pointers, sire 
and son, and they were great dogs. 
I remember one day that we were hunting quail to- 
gether, and the old dog pointed, and the young dog backed 
him; I never saw them work any other way. We came 
up and got ready to shoot, when I noticed a rabbit sitting 
about 3ft. in front of the old dog. I called the old 
man's attention to it, and he stood about a minute and 
then said, "Mac, if that dog is pointing that rabbit, this is 
his last hunt." I could see that the old man meant just 
what he said, and was delighted just at that time to see 
the rabbit get up and dust, and the old dog hold his point; 
and within 2ft. of the place where the rabbit had 
been sitting we flushed a flock of quail. After we had 
emptied our guns Wilcox called the dog to him, stooped 
down and patted him on the head and played with his 
ears, and when the old man straightened up tears were 
running down his cheeks. 
The old man's story-telling was his long suit; e\Qry- 
thing that anybody said or did reminded him of some- 
thing. To me he was the soul of honor, and I believed 
everything he said. But once in a while I had to admit 
that he had an impediment in his arithmetic. For in- 
stance, one morning when the boys were all assembled 
in Given & Fogg's drug store, something reminded him of 
a goose hunt he once had back on the Wabash. He said 
there was a cornfield about a mile from his father's house 
in which the corn had been cut and shocked. He was 
about fourteen years old and had his first gun, a muzzle- 
loader. He noticed that the geese were lighting in that 
field, and he loaded up and went down there and got into 
a shock of corn. The geese were all large Canada geese, 
very fat, and none of them would weigh less than 201bs. 
The geese began to light all around him and he began to 
shoot, and in less than an hour he had twenty of them 
down; and he said, "as he did not want to make a hog of 
himself, he picked up his geese and his gun and went 
home." 
After the old man went out some of the boys expressed 
doubts as to the truth of the story, but I thought it was all 
right until one smart alick who had been away to college 
figured out that that fourteen-year-old boy had carried 
over 4001bs. of goose and his gun over a mile. I regretted 
that my old friend had not gone home and gotten an ox 
team and hauled his game home; but it could not be 
helped then, so I adjourned the meeting. 
The old man was born somewhere in the East, and had 
lived in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, always on 
the frontier. Very few men ever lived who killed more 
game of all kinds than he did. He wore glasses all the 
years that I knew him, but he was a dead shot. 
He was a true friend, a kind and generous man, a too 
indulgent father, and was many times imposed upon. He 
died respected and mourned by all that had known him. 
If a kind Providence provides a happy hunting ground for 
good men after this life, he is there. He will enjoy it and 
get his share of the game, and if any ghostly Nimrod hunts 
alongside of him he must needs hold dead on, or the old 
man will wipe his eye. And so I bid him farewell. 
And now as I read this over, it occurs to me how much 
better it could have all been said by dear old Nessmuk: 
"Soul that no treason nor guile could inveigle, 
Dying in patience and pride that was regal, 
Firm hand of the fearless, bright eye of the eagle, 
A greeting \Ye send to thy grave by the sea " 
A. D, McCandless. 
RING-NECKED PHEASANTS IN NEW 
JERSEY. 
From the Annual Report of the Fish and Game Commissioners of 
New .Jersey for 1897. 
The details of what has been done in stocking the woods 
and fields with birds and the waters with fish have been told 
in the preceding part of this report, and your Commission 
now proposes to give such facts as are in its possession rela- 
tive to the success attending such stocking, and what may 
be hoped for in the future. 
Ring-Necked Pheasants — The introduction and propa- 
gation of these birds have been confined almost altogether to 
individual enterprise, and very few States have assisted in 
the work. The consensus of opinions of those best versed 
in the matter of introducing the foreign game birds seems to 
indicate the advisability of confining all such etiorts as far 
as pheasants are concerned to what is known as the ring- 
neclied variety, this being a cross between the Chinese 
pheasant and the dark-necked English bird. Mongolian 
pheasants have been introduced in a few States, but they do 
not appear to have done as well as the ring-necked, the latter 
bird being not only hardier and a swifter flyer, but also more 
likely to remain in the neighborhood selected for its future 
home. A great deal has been written in connection with 
the rearing of these birds, but most literature of this kind 
has emanated from persons pecuniarily interested in the sale 
of the birds. 
It has been argued by persons who deal in pheasants that 
these birds do better here than they have ever done in Fog- 
land, and that the mother takes better care of her young 
here, the latter fact being attributable to the prolific insect 
life in this country; in Eogland the hens are more apt, not 
only from the small supply of insects, but also from many 
years of half-domestication, to leave the care of the young 
to man. It frequently happens that a change of country 
effects a material change in the habits of the transplanted 
animals, and we have been assured that such is the case with 
the ring-necked pheasants. We have also been assured that 
they have developed insect-eating proclivities far in excess 
of the bird in England, and that consequently the birds here 
will be of economic importance to the farmer as well as 
affording sport and food. On the other hand it has been 
argued that the stock from which the birds sprang has, by 
many years of domestication, lost many of its wild traits, and 
that the bird consequently more nearly approaches the 
domestic hen than our wild grouse. "Those who favor the 
introduction of the bird into this country have insisted that 
the b.rds quickly regain their wild traits, and that in a short 
time— when not pampered or too closely looked after— will 
afford an excellent substitute for our ruffed grouse. The 
latter is unquestionably diminishing in numbers, and its ex- 
ceedingly wild nature has prevented its propagation by 
means of transplanting from regions of country where it is 
still numerous. 
If the ring-necked pheasant is at all adapted to introduc- 
tion in this country, there is perhaps no State better qualified 
by nature for that purpose than New Jersey ; for here the 
bird will find sulflcient of cultivated lands, of forests and of 
streams to provide it with all that is necessary for its well- 
being. For the purpose of ascertaining whether the place of 
our native grouse can be taken by the foreign bird, your 
Commission caused the distribution of a number of them, 
taking care in every instance that the new environment of 
the bird should be as well calcutated to its success as was pos- 
sible. These birds were nut out in the spring of the year, 
the largest number being sent to the southern part of the 
State, where they had a better chance oc escaping the guns 
of the hunter than in the more thickly settled northern part. 
The introduction of the birds in this State is still in its [ex- 
periniental stage, and what the probable success of this ex- 
periment will be can be readily judged from the following 
extracts from letters received from persons who had received 
some of the birds. 
Hon. S. H. Stanger, Senator from Gloucester, writes: "I 
have heard from some of the sportsmen that the pheasants 
have done very well, but they fear that they are too domes-* 
tic to live in the woods down here, as there are a great many 
hawks." 
Hon. Robt, B. Engle, Senator from Ocean, writes : " I had 
them put out where we hope to protect them for a few 
years and not have them killed, 1 heard from only two of 
them. during the last summer, and then under unfavorable 
circumstances, both of their nests being in a field, and both 
destroyed by mowing machines. I think each had from 
twelve to fourteen eggs. 1 would be glad if there was a fine 
for killing them for a few years." 
Hon. Robert C. Miller, Senator from Salem, writes: "I 
have made inquiry in regard to the pheasants put out here 
in April. Only one person, as far as I can learn, has seen 
them, and he saw one with young during the summer. I 
presume if they are still here we will hear from them as soon 
as the gunning season comes in." 
Hon. .Joseph B. Crispen, Assemblyman from Salera, 
writes: "The pheasants have done exceedingly well. We 
have seen two old ones with their young almost as large as 
the old ones. Some of their nests have been found in other 
places with as many as thirteen eggs in them. I think they 
will do well here if we give them some protection, say for 
three years or more, so as to give them a chance to multiply. 
We will try to secure some protection for them this 
winter," 
Hon. David 0. Watkins, Assemblyman from Gloucester, 
writes: "The pheasants sent me seem to have thrived very 
fast and have furnished considerable sport for our sports- 
men. The only complaint that seems to be made is that 
they are not as gamy as the Mongolian and other pheasants, 
and not as well calculated to protect themselves, being much 
slower flyers and more of a domestic nature." 
Col. J. Howard Willets, of Port Elizabeth, Cumberland 
county, writes; "I have been keeping a close watch over 
the experiment we made with the 'ring-necked pheasants 
and they have exceeded all my expecLations. I released 
twenty-four. One cock and two hens I gave to a friend 
who is in the pigeon business here anji h^s good pens, etc. 
One hen only laid eggs and she laid thirty-two. Sixteen of 
these he placed under a Seabright (bantam), and she 
QREEN-WISGED TEAL. 
Prom "Birdcraft, ' by conrtesj of The Macmillan Company. 
