July 2t, 1900.] 
FOREST . AND . STREAM. 
46 
e camp. The few weeks we remained in camp were 
aned by gathering pecans, chinquapins (which resemble 
small chestnut) and shellbark hickory nuts. While on 
nutting excursion the next to the last day we were 
that camp, the judge was fortunate enough to kill Cap's 
ize buck: What a beauty he was, carrying ten points on 
ach of his stately horns, one of the finest deer heads I 
ver saw. The Judge said, "His head is fine enough to 
ay me for all the time we have been in camp, even if I 
ad got nothing else. ' While the Judge had the finest 
eer's head, I had fine bear and panther skins for my 
"izes, and Cap and his assistants had been successful in 
rve3dng, and had found a suitable railway crossing 
^er the river, nearly five miles west of our camp. It 
as with feelings of deep regret that we at last bade good- 
>• to the flowing .spring and the beautiful park land 
herein we had passed so many pleasant hours. We 
rO;rised ourselves that we would return again at some 
Iture day, a promise that unforeseen circumstances al- 
ays prevented us from filling. When Ave gave the parting 
ind to King, Cap and the rest of the party at Arkansas 
ity, It was with a sense of the deep obligations we were 
ider for nearly two months of the most solid enjojanent 
lat ever fell to the lot of two lawyers upon a hunting 
ip. While we returned to our routine of work in our 
spective law offices, it was with that heartv strength and 
;rfect healtb that can only come to the office worker by 
I indulgence in that close association with nature to be 
lund by .sports afloat or afield. 
In conclusion, let me say that if any reader of the 
5REST AND Stream in passing over the line of the Gulf, 
jlorado & Santa Fe Railway in the Indian Territory will 
st his eyes to the eastward when near the South Fork 
the Canadian River, he can see in the distance upon the 
irth side of the river the rolling woodlands which were 
e scenes of the adventures we enjoyed while guests of 
e surveying party, and that every- reader of the Forest 
JD Stream may have as good fortune as we enjoyed in 
=i Sports afield is the parting wish of 
Frank Winchester. 
The Rearing of Game Birds. 
[Iranford, N. J., July II.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
lave read with much interest the articles in your paper 
late date in regard to the heath hen of Martha's 
neyard; and I must say that I am very much interested 
this bird, as also in any I'are and disappearing game 
d of this country. 
[ have often thought that it would be a good idea for 
I several States to have a game bird propagating divi- 
m in connection with the fish hatcheries of the several 
ates that are making a fine and great showing in hatch- 
? and distributing fish. That they have met with such 
and success seems to me to be a good reason for the 
ne officers to undertake the hatching of game birds that 
ve become scarce in this part of the country. 
After thinking the matter over very carefully, I have 
Therefore, if the j^oung bird can be got to take the food 
offered, there is a first-class chance of raising them, pro- 
viding they are kept free from lice, which is an easy 
matter to do if the hen is properly treated with some 
powder or insect destroyer. If some one could procure 
say two pairs of the heath hens, and they were in runs, and 
properly taken care of and treated kindly, I am sure 
they would become tame enough in a year or two to com- 
mence lajang, and I have no doubt but what the hens 
would be able to hatch their own young, providing they 
had the right care, by the right party. I think that 
women do the best in raising pheasants, quail and other 
birds of the game variet}-. 
I know of one Avoman Avho raises quite a number of 
pheasants each year in her vegetable garden on a plot of 
ground about 100 by 175, and some of the birds nest and 
raise their OAvn young here j^ear after 3^ear, and the old 
birds become so cross Avhile the hen is nesting that they 
Avill attack any one cdming into the yard, and Avill also 
drive away any cats that may venture into the vard, and 
I can tell from experience that it is no laughing matter 
to haA^e the cock bird strike one on the shins Avith his 
.spurs. _ 
I also see that one State has started to talk about' hatch- 
ing game birds artificially, and I hope they Avill do so at 
once Avith the heath hen and then the rufifed grouse, so 
that these grand birds Avill once again be fairly plentiful. 
C. W. Johnson. 
Bird Studies with a Camera* 
Of the many books on nature study which haA^e come 
from the press within the past few vears, very few can 
equal in interest Mr. Fraiik M. Chapman's volume on 
bird photography. It takes the reader to places where few 
have an opportunity to go, and shows him the birds in 
their homes, and often occupied with what is the most 
important business of their lives. 
Mr. Chapman is Avell knoAvn for his useful and enter- 
taming volumes on birds published by the Appletons, and 
we believe this to be one of the most useful of those that 
he has given us. 
In his first chapter he defines bird photography, and 
tells us of its scientific value and of the pleasure that it 
may give. He shows too that quite as much skill is 
required and even more lasting pleasure derived from 
hunting Avith a camera than from hunting Avith a gun. 
Whether one is the photographer or not, the chapter on 
the bird photographer's outfit, fully illustrated as it is, 
can hardly fail to interest the reader, and the methods of 
the photographer are even more interesting. 
All this, hoAvever, is introductory, and it is only on 
page 40 of the book that Ave are introduced to the birds 
themselves and have an opportunity to look over the 
Avonderful collection of pictures which begins with the 
chickadee and goes on Avith least bittern, night heron, 
SAvalloAVS, terns, the sea birds of the Gulf of St. LaAvrence 
and ends Avith the pelicans of Florida. The book is pro- 
fusely illustrated, with a cut on almost every page, and 
the pictures are of singular beauty, while the text has a 
charm of feeling that fits in Avell with these beautiful pic- 
tures. It is not necessary to say that Mr. Chapman is an 
ardent bird protector, and it may be imagined that the 
GANNET ON NEST. T\\^0 NESTS IN FOREGROUND. 
From "Bird Studies With a Camera." Copyright, 1900, Ijy D. Appieton & Co. 
le to the conclusion that it would be an easy matter to 
nesticate any of the Avild birds of our AA^oods so that 
> Avill lay in confinement, and then have the eggs 
i lied under bantams and so raise the young birds. 
> r a fcAv years' time, I think the heath hen could be so 
flight forward to become partly domesticated, and that 
» eggs would be fertile and hatch under the common 
i ini hen. The only difficulty to be encountered aa^ouM 
■ le food question, as I knoAV from experience that 
M of the Avild birds that are hatched under hens sIoaa-- 
nii surely starve to death because of their not having 
I'l-oper food, or by not being taught to take the food 
led to them, and in every case the fault lies with tlie 
feeding, and not Avith the young bird, 
-r instance, any one trying to breed any variety of 
: or partly domesticated birds, which haA-'e been hatched 
h a foster mother, must knoAv that the call of the 
ter mother is altogether different from the Avild bird, 
jl that the young hatched bird Is sure to run aAvay from 
foster mother at the first opportunity, simply because 
young birds do not understand the call of' the hen. 
lesson ot this volume all for good. He shows in Avords 
and in pictures not a few examples of the readiness Avith 
Avhich wild birds respond to advances made to them by 
man, and among others offers us a photograph of a chick- 
adee called doAvn, so that it alighted on his fingers to take 
food, resting on the palm of his hand. 
Naturally, very many of the pictures in the book are 
those of nests, sometimes Avith the mother bird sitting on 
them, or of nests containing voung birds, but there are 
not a fcAv— and some of them the most perfect in the book 
— Avhich shoAV the bird rocks of the northeast coast cov- 
ered Avith resting birds, only a portion of AA'hich are en- 
gaged in hatching their young. 
That Mr. Chapman's little book deserves to reach and 
to be enjoyed by a Avide public is very certain, and we 
cannot doubt that in these days of interest in natural 
history it Avill haA-'e a A-ery capital success. 
The first of the illustrations Avhich are here reprinted 
from Mr. Chapman's volume is of a tern lighting on its 
nest. The photograph was taken on an island in Buz- 
zard? Bav near the entrance to Wood's Holl. Here in 
July of 1899 Mr. Chapman found betAveen three and 
four hundred birds, and he succeeded in getting a number 
of interesting views of the nc6ts and the birds, old and 
young. "Both the nature of the birds' haunts and the 
manner in which the members of a colony spread an 
alarm," he writes, "make it practically impossible to 
surprise the tern upon its nest. But by lying prone upon 
the ground one attracts far less attention than when 
standing. The hovering flock of birds gradually disperses 
and those which are incubating soon return to the vicinity 
of their nests, hanging over them and dropping nearer 
and nearer until at the end of fifteen or twenty minutes 
they swoop doAvn beside them, raise their wings high 
over their backs, then fold them gentlv, then settle upon 
their eggs.." 
One of the most interesting chapters in the book is an 
account of the author's expedition to the famous Bird 
Rock, an isolated rock which rises from the sea about 
fifty miles northwest of Cape Breton, and is the home of 
thousands of sea birds — petrels, gannets, murres, puffins, 
kittiAvakes and others. Among the many views here se- 
cured Avere tAvo of nesting gannets, and the work was done 
under circumstances which go to show that bird photog- 
raphy as a sport is not Avithout its spice of excitement. 
"I took the tAvin lens, fastened one end of a rope about 
my Avaist, and gave the other end to Captain Bourque, in 
order that, unhampered by thought of fall, I might creep 
along the slippery ledges where the birds nested. 
"The fog had lifted, but the day was gloomy, and 
only the Avhite plumage of the birds and a wide-open 
lens yielded successful photographs. 
"It was my first visit to the big white birds, who, in 
•spite of persecution, have as yet acquired but little fear 
of man, and as Avith hoarse croaks and a dashing of 
Avings they pitched into the narrow ledges near me, their 
size and boldness, in connection with my somewhat in- 
secure footing, aroused in me a feeling which I had not 
experienced when surrounded by the smaller murres, auks 
and puffins. The main nesting ledge was out of reach 
below, but small groups of birds were nearer, and these 
I photographed at a distance of about jo feet." 
Florida Curlews. 
F. A. Hendry writes to the Fort Myers Press from Ft. 
Ihompson, Fla., of the curlews which abound there: 
"Birds of plumage are often seen. The pink curlew and 
the white curlcAv of plumage are birds of exquisite beauty, 
Ihen Ave see clouds of the common white curlew along 
the green marshes and lake margins, reminding us of a 
luxuriant cotton field all ready for harvest. Those birds 
fill up a rich chapter in nature's book, one which we 
delight to read and reread. To see these thousands of 
white-winged, angel-like fowls gathering to their nest- 
ing place at night, covering the cone-shaped willow 
clusters so common to south Florida, is a sight compara- 
tively feAv people enjoy; a blending of the deep green 
with immaculate Avhite fills our souls with both in- 
spiration and admiration. It is a feast indeed to the 
olj^'"l°r beautiful to see them early in the morning as 
Uld bol rises m the east, Avinging their way to their 
leedmg grounds miles away, all in uniform lines the un- 
broken perfection of Avhich excels the best drilled regi- 
ments the world ever saw, and is a sight no pen can portray 
it .is here and on this line our thoughts Aoav apace, and 
Ave thmk and Avonder how can man be so cruel and un- 
mindful as to institute a system of slaughter of these 
towls, the fancy work of nature's deft fingers. Still it is 
a lamentable fact that these birds are going rapidly by the 
hand of man Were it for food or for doAvny pilloAvs to 
rest the tired and aching head of man they are being 
sacrificed, then it would be well, but, alas ! their feathers 
and plumes are captured to bedeck the heads of the fanci- 
tul and fasluonable fair sex. If the fair sex needed these 
plumes to make them pretty and sweet there would be 
some excuse, but nothing on earth or in the waters under 
the earth can make any improvement on a lady when 
simply and neatly dressed. A cultured mind, accom- 
plished manners, a happy and cheerful disposition, to- ' 
gether with all the graces belonging to her sex, is the 
noblest and most beautiful workmanship of God No 
bird plumes are necessary-she is a beauty of nature's 
own pluming. "ctumca 
At Sight of Flying Geese. 
Editor Forest and Stremt: 
one "orvonr" R '^^^-^h ^e<=ei^ed from 
one ot your Boston correspondents last April in 
Havana, and though the incident belongs to the spring 
hme he touch of nature in it is characteristic and wor"f 
pieseivmg, and shnnng Avith others. So I send von 
two paragraphs: ^ 
;T saw from my office chair the other day a flock of 
wild geese away up in the sky flying in V-shaped plan 
I sprang from my chair and watchfd them as long as 
I cou d see a trace of them, and experienced a In? nf 
mental quickenings and vibrations that for the tfme pi? 
ch:i:to^J^t "^^^^^^'^ --are to let ottrseTves'^be 
cneated out oi open-air life as we do. 
then I Avent back to my desk and asked mv steno<r 
rapher Avhere I lelt of¥, and what it was about^" ^ 
^ihat was a gratelul reminder when I read it in Aoril- 
and it IS no less grateful to-day. Marvelous what -; 
fascination t ns sight of a flock of AAi d °Seln the 
heavens Ifas for all of^us^ " Refugee 
Pafticulars of Snake Story Wanted. 
Boston, July i4.—Edttor Forest and Stream ■ Tn^t n 
postal card to ask Juvenal the name of that "dSingSed 
educator ' on AA'hose authority he gives that h?ai tffnl 
and time-honored old snake story Ld to rerSnd 
n the"^ name of the weed 
to which he black snake always resorted for cure Avhen 
bitten by the rattler This little omission of names I so 
apt to happen, you knoAv, in snake stories, and esScfallv 
P„t it ' r ^"''^ rattlesnake bit?? cS s ' 
But It does generally happen so. c. H. Ames " 
Photogfrapli o£ Nesting Partridge. 
The illustration of a nesting partridge, printed in these 
MrsTfi^f. w'^r^'^ ^^T^^ copyrighted%hoSgraph I v 
Mrs. Eugena W. Games, of Greenfield, Mass. ^ 
