June 24, 1899.) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
487 
suming a sitting postiu'e, stripped it of all its berries by- 
sweeping his forepaw upward along its length, _ the 
branches passing through and between the long scimitar- 
like talons, which stripped them of leaves and berries 
alike. It was a grotesque, half-human posture, and the 
manner in which he bi-ought the handful of bruised ber- 
ries and leaves to bis mouth, and gulped them down, was 
absolutely human in its gluttonous avidity. I had but a 
fleeting glimpse of this rare and unusual spectacle. His 
next move was to sliamble a little further off, and his 
huge gray form grew qttickly indistinct in the fast-falling 
darkness. 
After eating we extinguished the fire and moved up 
nearer the meadow, where we secured a commanding 
position, and rolling up in our blankets lay in wait. 
It was intensely still. The stars shone brilliantly in 
niid-heaven, but we were compassed about with darkness 
by the steep mountain ranges that arose around us. I 
started when I turned as I lay, and saw, high as a balloon, 
in the dark depths of the western sky, a gleaming point 
of molten silver. The moon, not yet risen for us, had 
found the snowy crest of some sky-piercing pinnacle. In 
the darkness we heard some animals moving on the 
mountain side, the rattle of the dry, dead shrubs and grass 
coming crisply through the keen air .from far above us, 
and then the measured slosh, slosh of another moving 
with long, low strides along the swampy edge of the 
meadow. Oh, for a few moments of moonlight! Our 
gaze is riveted on the mountain tops, which are ablaze 
with silvery refulgence. Slowly the light steals down, 
while the minutes drag their slow length along, until at 
last the full-orbed hunter's moon rests upon the rim of 
the eastern range, and floods the scene with its mellow 
and treacherous light. 
Dan remained to watch the meadow, while Chad and 
myself cruised in the canoe along the lake shore. We 
spread our blankets on the bottom to deaden any sound, 
and I sat in the prow while Chad propelled the craft as 
silently as the shadow of a cloud. Hour after hour we 
stole softly along in the shadow of the shore. At last 
there came a sound, clear and unmistakable, a heavy ani- 
mal moving through the brush. With frequent pauses it 
approached. Nearer and nearer came the sound, with 
intervals of silence when it paused to feed or listen. To 
our excited senses the sound was exaggerated, and with 
all my senses concenti'ated upon it in that intense silence, 
I felt that the animal was as big as an elephant. Neither 
of us for a moment doubted that it was aught but the 
giant of the Cerv ides — the moose. 
We were ambushed in a cove whose surface was dotted 
with water lilies, and whose shallow bottom was ramified 
with their long, fibrous roots, the greatest food in the 
world for moose. We waited with bated breath to see 
some big palmated bull wade out into the water and 
souse his head beneath the surface in search of the de- 
lectable vegetable. I determined to take no chances. I 
made up my mind to wait until he should wrench a root 
from its bed in the mud, and stand in the bright light 
perfectly still, broadside on, chewing away in bovine con- 
tent. 
At last the animal is at the water's edge. Each leaf 
fringing the brush-bordered shore shone like silver in 
the moonlight. We heard tlie tinkle of the ice that had 
frozen along th.e margin, his hoof splashed into the 
water, and across the glossy surface a hundred gleaming 
circles sped in rippling, wavy chase. The next moment 
the bushes parted and gave egress to — a doe. Chad 
dropped his paddle with an exclamation of disgust. The 
deer threw up her head, and for one moment stood at 
gaze, the incarnation of startled terror, then, wheeling, 
she bounded back into the brush and crashed up the 
mountain side. 
We returned empty-handed, and found Dan sound 
asleep where we had left him. We had our vigil in vain. 
But I recall it with no regret. 
Never shall I forget the scene when the full autumnal 
moon rode high in the heavens. For a long time I lay 
awake and looked upon it. Above us towered the tre- 
mendous ranges of eternal snow, silvered by the moon- 
light, which splashed many a jagged precipice edge besides 
with the gelaming metal, but the precicipices themselves 
and the lower steeps were all in indigo blue. The lake 
lay like a mirror. Faintly, from far above, was wafted 
the bugling of the bull elk. 
Upon such a scene I closed my eyes past midnight, and 
when I awoke all was chill and gray, the pine-clad slopes 
were somber, and the upper steeps were dun-colored in 
the dawn. 
Francis J. Hagan. 
[to be continued.] 
Kansas Quail. 
Pheasants m the Genesee Valley* 
Rochester, June 5. — There was a large and enthusias- 
tic meeting of sportsmen in the office of F. J. Amsden, 
in the Powers Building, last night, for the annual elec- 
tion and reports of the Genesee Valley Fish, Bird Pro- 
tective and Propagation Association. 
The society is in excellent condition. T. W. Fraine, 
chairman of the breeding committee, reported that twenty 
pheasant had been liberated at Riga, Clifton and Fishers; 
sixteen dozen quail at Irondequoit, Chili Fishers and 
Seneca Park; he also reported that several dozen pheasant 
chicks were seen last summer by members of the Asso- 
ciation. 
Superintendent of Pheasantry Toogood reported that 
he had two cocks and nine hens breeding pheasants for 
the Association. Nine chicks have recently been hatched. 
The matter of having the members endeavor to inter- 
est the Legislature in extending the season for breeding 
pheasants was discussed, and an effort will be made to 
do this. According to the present law it will be lawful 
to shoot pheasant in 1900. It is believed that a longer 
period would result in stocking the forests so that there 
would be little danger of the bird becoming extinct. The 
treasurer reported that the liberation of birds had cost 
the Association about $100. There is a balance in the 
treasury of $117.4.^. 
Officers were elected as follows: President, James H. 
Brown; Vice-President, E. C. Meyer; Treasurer, T. W. 
Fraine; Secretary. F, J. Amsden. H. S. Woodworth, 
Daniel Bascom. W. F, Brinsmaid. A. B. Lamberton, 
Thomas R. Griffith, E. H. Burrson. L. N. Ely and C. C. 
Laney were elected members of the Executive Coramittee. 
Emporia, Kan., May 30. — Am back hefe On my old 
hunting grounds, and on looking them over am very glad 
to say that the quail are in more than full numbers. The 
first stroll I took I flushed a bevy of about twenty within 
sixty rods of tlie house, They are now nesting, and this 
morning I saw a flock of young birds. There is one pair 
that I am sure have a nest within ten rods of the house. 
The breeding season is long here, and I think they must 
raise two broods, aS I have seen their eggs as lat& 
Sept. 20. 
In the face, oft all daiins to the contrary, I think Kan- 
sas is yet to be, so far as quail are concerned, the best 
shooting ground in the country. Instead of decreasing 
with the settlement of the country, they increase. The 
old settlers say that when they first come here, aside from 
in the timber along the creeks there were but few quail; 
but now nearly every line of hedge, or orchard, or bunch of 
brush that has sprung up in the pastures since the prairie 
fires were stopped, and each weedy, unburned slough, has 
its bevy of birds. 
It is pleasant to be among them. Often, as I sit in 
the house at sundown, I can hear the notes of from two 
to half a dozen pair coming up from the grass lands 
about here; and in June I have ridden for mile after mile 
and not been out of sound of their whistle — the male 
bird sitting on the fence-posts or some prominent place, 
sending out his strong, clear "Bob White," or rather 
■'More wet," as we used to interpret his note in New 
England, while up from some secluded place in the grass 
lands would come the softer, more plaintive note of the 
mother bird brooding over her treasures. Then often 
one or both of the old birds would be seen scuttling atong 
the road or standing by the roadside looking at us as we 
THE VERMONT DEER M KTNtEy. 
passed. I could not understand this at first, but I soon 
learned that not far away was a brood of cunning little 
ones, and the old ones were simply trying to draw our 
attention away from their families to themselves. How 
I wish I could make them understand how safe tliey are, 
so far as I am concerned, and so persuade them to bring 
out their little downy treasures for inspection; but I can- 
not talk quail language, so I seldom get more than a 
glimpse of them until they are big enough to fly. As they 
grow larger they gather into the hedges, and it is always 
a pleasure to see them trotting along, feeding as they 
go; or at the call of the old birds bunching together. 
It is this habit of bunching up that does more to thin 
their numbers than any other one thing, for there are 
but few hunters here who will not take advantage of it, 
and to secure from two to a dozen quail at a single shot 
seems to be something to be boasted of. One "man" 
boasted to me that in one of the snows of the past winter 
he potted thirty five at one shot as they were huddled to- 
gether in the cold. I did not believe him. Neither did 
I call hard names, but simply said: "I should be ashamed 
to tell of it if I had done it." And I have reason to think 
this did more good than harder language, for it brought 
out much discussion, both at the time and later, and I 
know certain persons have something to think of in re- 
gard to game matters more than they ever had before. 
One habit of the quail here that does much to keep uji 
the supply is that of staying close around the farmhouses. 
On many of the farms there is a bunch of quail that feed 
in the corral and even with the tame poultry, and the 
farmer gets so attached to them that while he leaves the 
rest of his farm open to any one who cares to hunt, he 
yet v\^atches and protects that particular bevy as closely 
as his flocks of hens. Then other bevies, on being, 
flushed, make directly for the vicinity of the house. One 
bevy that I know of, when shooting begins find refuge 
in an evergreen tree in the dooryard, where they are 
never disturbed. If this is not just as much the exercise 
of reasoning power as for a Kansan to go to the cellar 
when he sees a cyclone coming, what is it ? Here on the 
Cottonwood River there are several bunches that on 
rising invariably cross the river, and so never get cleaned 
out. 
But, as I have said once before, the Kaffir cornfields 
are getting to be the stronghold of the Kansas quail, af- 
fording as they do both cover and feed. The corn is so 
dense that the young are safe from the hawks, which are 
very abundant here at just the time they need such pro- 
tection, and as the crop is usually left in the shock 
through the winter, they can find food in all weather, 
and I am satisfied it is this that has carried them through 
the terrible storms of the past winter; and I would again 
recommend this grain to any who are interested in game 
preserves. It is not too late to plant it yet. 
I would thank Mr. Cook for his pleasant words in 
regard to the quail holding their scent, but what I wanted 
to know is bow they do it, and if the act is involuntary 
or voluntary; and if the latter, why they do not exercise 
that power ofteher. Would also like to know how many 
eggs the quail lays befo' e sitting. In several instances 
have found from sixtcei/. to nineteen, and in one instance 
twenly-one. 
Have read with much interest Capt. Gallup's comments 
on the eagle. From my own observation, I think that in 
anything but strength and power of flight he is not much 
of an ornament on the shield of a republic. Would like 
to say to the old gentleman that though I have wandered 
far from the ancestral homestead, yet I am on the mater- 
nal side a Galltip of the Gallups. 
Pine Tree. 
[There is no definite number of eggs; the nets noted by 
Pine Tree may be taken as typical, perhaps.] 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Kcwanee Storage Case. 
H, Clay Merritt, of Kewanee, III., whose illicit traffic 
in game has often been the cause of comment in the 
columns of the sporting press, is to go once more un- 
whipped of justice. ITis case coming up for trial under a 
judge more technical than wise, the jury had in.structions 
which left them no option, and the greatest offender in 
this State, or at least the one best and most publicly 
Itnown to be an offender against the game laws, is for the 
time free to try it all over again. This may literally be 
the case, for the State warden, Mr. H. W. Loveday, will 
move for a new trial and cite the earlier decisions of our 
Supreme Court as ground. Should new trial be denied 
the case will go to the Supreme Court direct. From the 
history of these several Kewanee cases, the people may 
gather a notion of the magnitude of the game dealers' in- 
terests in this State, and the hold they have in defending 
their great but lawless corrmierce. It is a long cry to the 
Forest and Stream Plank of "no sale," but it looks as 
though that was likewise the measure of the safety, of 
our Western game. Any sale is all sale. 
Movements* 
Mr. A. W. Adams, of this city, and one of our best 
known sportsmen, starts to-night for Greene, in Chenango 
county, N. Y., where he will spend a month or so with 
his brother, Mr. Piatt Adams, of the latter place. 
Mr. PTarry Marlin is in Chicago this week on a business 
visit, and reports trade good, both East and West. It is 
his first trip on the road for some time. 
Mr, J. Dyer, representing the Remington gun and the 
allied trade interests, is making a short stop in Chicago. 
Mr. Dyer is one of the oldest men on the road in the 
sporting trade, having sold shells and guns since the year 
1, but he seems good for many years more of doing good. 
Singing Mouse No. 15, 
If I lose proper count in my record of singing mice, I 
IiDpe to be corrected, but I believe that it is singing 
mouse No, iS that I have now discovered. Here is his 
history, written by Mr. PI. B. Smith, of Williams- 
burg, Va.: 
"I have noticed your announcements from time to time 
in the Forest and Stream in regard to the singing 
mouse, and as you seem to be making a methodical rec- 
ord of the existence of such a thing, please let me add 
one more instance to your list of authentic reports. 
Some years ago one of my sisters informed the family 
.that she had frequently been awakened late at night by 
a strange, chirping noise, and that she had been forced 
to the conclusion that the sounds were made by a moilse. 
Investigation proved that nearly every night a mouse 
entered the room from a closet to get water, and after 
drinldng indulged in peculiar vocal demonstrations. The 
whole household became very much interested in the 
matter, and the strange midnight singer was promptly 
adopted by the family as 'our singing mouse,' and espe- 
cial pains were taken to protect it from the cat. One 
morning a dead mouse was found floating in the basin, 
and as the sounds in my sister's room were never heard 
afterward, it is reasonable to suppose that the drowned 
mouse was 'our singing mouse,' This drowned mouse 
was of the usual mouse color, and showed no abnormal 
structural development. As this letter is written simply to 
record a fact and not to evolve an anomalous species, I 
think it proper to say that no song birds have ever been 
kept in our family. The sounds produced were a succes- 
sion of chirps, which, while they could not be mistaken 
by any one for the song of a canary bird, yet were so 
birdlike in tone and arrangement that the mysterious ser- 
enadcr was supposed to be a bird until my sister proved it 
to be a mouse." 
Michigan Watdenship. 
The new game warden of Michigan, Mr. Grant M. 
Morse, resides at Portland, in Ionia county, and he is 
reported to be a busy man already. Hon. Chase S. Os- 
borne, ex-warden, and now Railroad Commissioner, is 
a rising man. It would not surprise me to see him Gov- 
ernor of the State some time. Mr. Morse may feel that 
he is on a ladder which runs upward if he likes. 
The Pfince a Poor Shot. 
I don't know but I have, at different times, mentioned 
in these columns the visit of the Prince of Wales to the 
little town of Dwight, 111., many years ago. Yesterday I 
was talking to Mr. Edward Kemeys, of this city, who 
lived at Dwight at the time of the Prince's visit. He says 
that the Prince had quite a retinue with him at the time, 
although he traveled incognito. Mr. Kemeys says that 
His Royal Highness was at -that time a very poor shot. 
Of course, there were no breech-loaders m those days. 
A gamekeeper would load a gun and hand it to His 
Highness, and the latter would promptly blaze away 
without effect as the big birds whirred up. The Duke 
of Newcastle, an old gentleman, was a very good shot. 
He would wait until the bird missed by the Prince was 
well out, and would then kill it easily. "Your Highness," 
he would then remark, calmly, "that was a fine shot you 
made. You couldn't have come closer to the bird without 
hitting it." Mr. Kemeys tells me that he has shot over 
old Jock of Hazeldean, the pointer sent to Dwight by the 
