Jan. 29, 1898.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
87 
A Night Watch in the Adirondacks* 
(N. B.— Not in violation of the game law.) 
We were in camp in the depths of the forest, and sev- 
eral small ponds were easily accessible. They were good 
places to watch for afternoon and morning shots. We 
had some. So did the deer. Among the party of hunters 
was one who had been West, and claimed to have killed 
much and various big game there. This trip was but 
incidental, yet he was anxious to kill a deer. He had 
some opportunities, one as follows: In the arrange- 
ments for one night and morning watching, it was his 
turn to stay in camp alone for a while, as the others 
were going to remote ponds — some to stay over night 
and watch in the morning, others to watch as long as 
they could see that night, and then return to camp by 
lantern light. Crossing the trail, those last would travel 
over several big runways. Some of them intersected in a 
ravine. Near the junction grew a large beech tree. It 
was suggested to the to-be-lonesome man that he take 
a position in that beech tree and watch for a passing 
deer. Just the thing, and a shotgun would do the busi- 
ness! Accordingly, while en route to the pond, the party 
helped him into the tree and enjoined his absolute silence 
until he saw a deer — or the returning camp lantern. He' 
promised faithfully to observe all instructions. He had 
ample time to think over and digest them. The limbs 
supporting him grew tired. Limbs of beech or of flesh — 
it makes no difference — both were used in supporting 
him, and both were tired. He climbed higher. The limbs 
changed, but did not rest much. Darkness came, but no 
deer. At noonday that ravine was dark — at midnight it 
was black. Had a buck stopped_ imder that ver\^ tree, 
frosty morning, or strung for a half mile along some 
stake-and-rider fence. Indeed, I had hopes that game 
would be so abundant in the coming years that shooters 
of meager abilities, such as Mr. Farmer and myself, 
might expect to bag an occasional bird. To have these 
hopes dashed to earth by the strong right arm I had been 
leaning on for support and comfort was a sad blow. My 
grief was of course assuaged in a great measure on 
being assured that Mr. LoA^eday is an exceptionally tine 
field shot, and did the work itp in a neat, sportsmanlike 
manner. It woitld have l)een almost too much to bear, 
to know it had been done after the manner of the ordi- 
nary butcher. 
Mr. Harbaugh, veteran sportsman of this county, and 
father of the Gencsco Sportsmen's Club, tells me that 
he was out with Mr. Loveday's party on the first of the 
two days put in on the Allerton farm, and that five i^f 
them bagged just eleven chickens, and he don't think 
those staying for the second day did any bet-ter. He 
thinks there must be some mistake, and that perha])s a 
misplaced cipher has done the mischief, and that Mr. 
Loveday will rise and explain as soon as he can stop 
laughing. Will Mr. Farmer investigate this matter, and 
report later? __E. P. Jaques. 
Nantucket Rabbits. 
New Bei>ford, Mass., Jan. 14. — ^A party of (jid sports- 
men took a sail the other day to Nantucket on a rabbit 
shooting expedition. The party was composed of 
Messrs. Fred Tripp, N, E, McCully and C. T. Brownell, 
the veteran Gordon setter breeder of New Bedford. 
Arriving at Nantucket, we were taken for a seven-'mile 
IN CAMP AFTER THE LEOPARD HUNT. 
From "Trail and Camp-Fire," 
the man could not have killed it, unless by accident. 
Will those fellows ever return? They are in no hurry — of 
course, he is having a good time — and besides, they must 
not interfere with his shot by returning too soon. He 
has pfotnised to await their coming^ — he cannot well do 
otherwise, for he canllot get down in the dark nor travel if 
he could. About five or six hours he waited. Did he 
have fun? We did the next day, for he had learned how 
it is sometimes done in the Adirondacks, Juvenal. 
Henry County Prairie Chickens. 
Editor Poi'est and Stream: 
Ybtif correspondent, Mr. George T. Farmer, seems to 
have got things a little mixed in his communication in 
your issue of jati. 1S<, He says those martyred seventy 
prairie chickens of which 1 -tvrote some time ago were 
not killed by one, but by four mefl. Now, in rebuttal, I 
will quote the game warden's own stateffient in regard 
to those chickens: 
■ "Mr, Loveday, in his talk with me, said that in Bufeatl, 
Wayne, Henry, Clay and Kankakee counties, the chick- 
ens were abundant this year. In two days' shoot in 
Henry county he bagged seventy birds himself, a bag 
greater than I have heard of to one gun in any part of 
the West this fall." — E. Hough, in "Chicago and the 
West," Forest and Stream, Oct. 16, 1897. 
Brother Farmer will see from this that he is not only 
barking at a knot, but that even the knot is on another 
tree. If the warden, in company with others, killed sev- 
enty other chickens, then those other chickens must have 
come in from adjacent counties, as I am very sure of 
the original seventy. In fact, I challenge Mr. Farmer to 
prove there were more than seventy chickens in Henry 
county on Sept. i. 1897, and if he succeeds, I will agree 
to plead guilty of neglect, and resign my position as 
statistician. But my letter concerning those Henry 
county chickens was not intended to call attention to my 
work as chicken counter. Neither did it have any refer- 
ence to the time when the game warden, in company with 
(Others, shot seventy or any other number of chickens in 
(two days, but were some reflections that came to me on 
-reading the account of the time when the warden got 
seventy chickens in two days to his own gun. This 
tale, coupled with the disappearance of my wards, 
brought a train of reflections that were somewhat tinged 
with sadness. I had watched the increase of the chickens 
in this county with much joy, and when it was an- 
nounced that at last we had an efficient warden I began 
to have visions of an old-time chicken crop, such as 
■when we used to see them clustered in the trees of a 
drive by Mr. Sidney B. Folger, a hunter of high stand- 
ing, to his home at Siasconset Village, where we were 
cared for by his kind wife, who knows just how to cater 
for a htmgry hunting party. We put in twenty-eight 
hours rabbit hunting, and with Mr. Folger and Mr. Al 
Pitman as backers captured seventy -two cottontails 
and two jack rabbits. 
Who says there is no game in Massachusetts? 
- C. T. B. 
Fraudulent Scalps. 
J. T. Mackintosh was arrested at Council Bluffs, la., 
last week for importing wolf scalps from Wyoming and 
collecting bounty on same in various parts of the State 
of Iowa, where bounties are offered of a size making the 
operation , a profitable one. The defendant was taken to 
Wintersct, Madison county, where he has been pro- 
ducing a good many wolf scalps in a practically wolfless 
country. Mackintosh was in camp on the Coon River, 
and fifty-eight wolf scalps were found about his camp 
when search was made, to say nothing of a box of scalps 
which was found at the express office addressed to him 
from a point in Wyoming. Mackintosh is one of a party 
of men who are alleged to have regularly worked the 
western counties of Iowa with their fraudulent scalp 
game, and have escaped detection until lately, wheti 
fheir luck seemed altogether too good to be true. 
E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE BuitDiNG, Chicago. 
North Carolina Ducks, Geese and Brant. 
New Berne, N. C, Jan. 11. — Advices from Bogue 
Sound state that the waters down there are swarming 
with "thousands and tens of thousands of dticks. geese 
and brant." The weather was never more favorable for 
both the sportsman and the fowl. It is just cold enough 
to keep the birds moving, and warm enough to be com- 
fortable for the gunners. There will be legitimate shoot- 
ing on the Sound until March i. Besides ducks there 
are deer and quail to one's content. J. J. W. 
Florida Quail. 
Bkooksville, Hernando County, Fla., Jan. 16. — Col. 
H. T. HoUiday, of Virginia, and the Rev. Dr. Watkins, 
of South Carolina, have been spending iwo weeks hunt- 
ing in Hernando county, bagging about twenty-five feirds 
a day. Hunting season in Florida is from October to 
March 15. J- W. L. 
Mongolian Pheasants. 
TiiK Massachusetts Commission makes report as fol- 
lows of the work of breeding and distributing Mongolian 
pheasants during 1897: 
The rearing and distribtttion of these ftirds during the 
past year has been fairly successful, the only drawback 
being the unprecedented wet and cold weather during the 
early part of the breeding season, which proved fatal 
not only to the early broods of pheasants, but all ground 
birds appear to have suffered from it 
As the Mongolian pheasants have come to stay, what- 
ever information may tend to facilitate their introduction 
is important. We have therefore spared neither time 
nor expense to find the simplest and most effective way 
of breeding them. 
As has been heretofore stated, great numbers of Eng- 
lish or ordinary ' ring-neck pheasants are annually bred 
in Europe. According to the best publications on this 
subject, and confirmed by breeders with whom we have 
personally conferred, the young of this variety are fed 
on hard-boiled eggs or custard mixed more or less with 
chopped vegetables. A well-known English breeder 
."States that he raises from 40 to 60 per cent. Not only 
in our own experience, but in that of all others of whom 
we know who have attempted to raise the Mongolian 
plieasant, this food has proved a failure, and it was not 
uittil the introduction of maggots as food that they 
were successfully bred in confinement. So pronounced ' 
is this, that it is only necessary to know what a breeder 
is feeding his diicks to know what variety he has. . 
Not only is the feeding of larvae necessary, but it is 
much cheaper than the eggs and custard. Six sheep's 
plucks a day, costing from 3 to 5 cents each (according to 
locality), will provide food for 300 chicks until old 
enough to feed on scalded grain. 
Larvae for Food. 
It is neGGSsary, throughout the breeding season, to 
provide a good stock of breeding flies, for they lay their 
eggs and die If their increase is not provided for the 
whole neighborhood will become exhausted of them. 
The varieties we most encourage are the blue-bottle fly 
and the flesh fly, the latter being the most desirable. 
In the beginning we had only the blue-bottle; now more 
than one-third are the flesh fly. As the larvae of the 
latter are much larger, it is easy to separate them with 
suitable screens, allow them to change into tlie pttpa 
state and hatch as many as may be required. Six plucks 
will give from six to eight quarts of maggots. Placed 
in pans in a refrigerator, at from 40 to 45 degrees, de- 
velopment is arrested and they may be kept for weeks. 
We ustially have from one to two bushels on hand, to 
provide against stormy or cold weather when flies are 
are not otit. 
In our early experiments we found the stench from de- 
caying meat almost tmbearable, and we were liable to be 
complained of as a nuisance. We tried deodorizing, with 
no effect. Either the plant must be abandoned or moved 
to some other locality (neither of which could be done, 
and carry out the conteitiplated work), or some other 
method of raising larvae must be devised. We were 
therefore compelled to a scientific study of the nature and 
habits of the fly. It was soon discovered that flies do not 
lay their eggs on tainted meat. They are clean feeders 
from choice, and thrive better on fresh meat. Giving the 
flies fresh meat, and feeding the maggots on thinly sliced 
fresh meat twice a day, giving them no more than they 
will eat up clean, the disagreeable odor can be almost 
entirely overcome. Withotit entering further into, detail 
of this laboratory, which has attracted the attention of 
several scientists, we append the statement of Mr. Kirk- 
land, of the State Board of Agrictilture, as showing the 
possible results of such an establishment. Mr. Kirk- 
land writes: 
"In fulfillment of my promise to furnish you some 
notes on the common blow-flics, I send you the follow- 
ing: 
"The species which furnish the greater part of the 
insect food of your birds are the blue-bottle fly (Lucilia 
caesar). the flesh fly (Sarcophaga carnaria), and in small 
numbers the blue-tail fly (CaUipIiora vomitoria). All of 
the.se species commonly breed in animal matter. The 
females hibernate in sheltered places, and emerge with 
the warm weather of early spring to deposit their eggs. 
The flesh fly is responsible for the largest maggots. 
According to Packard, the females of this species, after 
being fertilized, retain the eggs until they have hatched. 
They deposit large numbers of living larvae on exposed 
meat and animal refuse. Prof. Lugger states that single 
females of this species may give birth to 20,000 of these 
larvae. Pieces of meat which I exposed Aug. i were 
soon infested by the larvae of this fly. The maggots were 
fully grown Aug. 6 and pupated Aug. 7 and 8; the flies 
emerged Aug. 24 and 25, thus showing that about twenty- 
four days are required at this time of the year for the 
transformations of a brood. This period of time wiU be 
found to vary, I believe, according to the prevailing tem- 
perature, hot weather hastening, and cold weather re- 
■ tardiiig, the development of the insects. If we should 
allow an average of twenty-one days for each brood, 
seven broods wotild be possible in the five months of 
May, June, July, August and September. Owing to the 
variation in the length of the larval stage, where food is 
continually supplied, as at your establishment, there are 
no well marked broods, but a continual succession of 
maggots and flies. 
'•The blue-bottle fly in point of numbers is the most 
common species at your place. Unlike the flesh fly, 
this insect deposits eggs instead of larvae, and, as you 
pointed out to me, exposed meat is soon covered Avith 
masses of the eggs of this insect. In a short time the 
eggs hatch and give rise to maggots, somewhat smaller 
than those of the preceding species. Single females con- 
fined July 31 laid respectively 74,143,223. eggs, but under 
normal conditions the numbers doubtless would have 
been larger. These eggs yielded imagoes Aug. 14 and 
15, making the period' required for the transformation 
of this species about fourteen days. This would allow 
ten broods during the months previously mentioned. As 
