148 
FOREST AND STREAM.* 
[Feb. 22, 19XL 
^ Some; r Foreign Gamef Birds. 
The exhibit of game birds, which win be a feature of 
this year's show af the Massachusetts Sportsmen's Asso- 
ciation, will be the most comprehensive exhibit in its line 
that lias ever been brought together, and will give the 
sportsmen of New England an opportunity to study at 
close range, not only the birds with which they are 
familiar, but many varieties from distant parts of the 
world. 
Peculiar interest attaches to this collection of imported 
game birds from that fact that it has been arranged to 
turn them over, at the close of the show, to the Massa- 
chusetts Conimisioners of Fish and Game for the pur- 
!>ose of experiment in breeding them. The Commission 
las two well-equipped breeding stations (at Winchester 
and Sutton), where the Mongolian pheasant has been 
successfully raised for some years, and at these stations 
the experiments in breeding the foreign varieties will be 
carried on. If they prove successful, as seems highly 
probable, the offspring will be used in the Commission's 
work of restocking the Massachusetts covers. 
One of the varieties which seems to hold out the most 
promise of adapting itself to Massachusetts covers is 
the mountain quail of the Pacific coast. The native Bob 
White breed well here, and are at present quite plentiful, 
bat Massachusetts is the extreme northern limit of their 
range, and an unusually severe winter is liable to sadly 
deplete the present stock. The fact that the mountain 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST 
In the Interest of Science. 
Chicago, 111., Feb. 14. — Justice Hildebrand, of Water- 
loo, la., last Saturday fined Harry Fields, of Cedar Falls, 
$120 and costs, penalty for killing six quail. In doing 
this Justice Hildebrand casts a certain damper upon the 
ardor of Mr. Fields in the interest of science. The com- 
plaining witness was Victor Speer, who claimed that Mr. 
Fields killed the quail in his orchard Jan. 22. Mr. Fields 
admitted the impeachment, but said that he had shot the 
birds under the broad powers of a commision from the 
Iowa State Normal School, to procure specimens of 
birds and animals for mounting and display in the scien- 
tific department of that school. Professor Arey, of the 
institution above mentioned, testified that Mr. Fields had 
done such work. It was the argument of the prosecution 
that to allow the killing of so many quail to go unpunished 
would incite others to shoot the birds illegally and to set 
up a similar defense. No case of a similar nature has 
ever been taken to the Supreme Court of Iowa. 
Snowshoes for the Rockies. 
Mr. John M. Phillips, of Pittsburg, Pa., writes: 
"Some years ago you were experimenting with snowshoes. 
I' want a pair for Rocky Mountain travel. My guides 
have advised me to get Canadian shoes, three feet long 
and fourteen inches wide. I would esteem it a favor if 
you would kindly advise me where I could get a first-class 
very manv more deer. He also states that so far as hei 
can see, the annual take of fur at Moose Factory is about 
as good now as it was many years ago. 
I asked Linklater whether he had ever seen sign that 1 
moose were killed by bears, and he said no, "1 don't 
think the bears destroy very many young moose," said 
he, "or at least I don't know that they do, but they kill 
a great many young beaver, that I know very well." He 
stated that he has twice seen proof of the fact that the 1 
fisher can kill a full-grown lynx. The Indians also tell 
him that the fisher frequently kills lynx. He states that a 
polar bear was once killed at Moose Factory on the lower I 
part of James Bay (this is, of course, salt water). The 
bear came down from the north and was killed while chas- i 
ing a squaw, who had gone down to the water hole after 
a pail of water. 
I asked Mr. Linklater what sort of weapon he preferred 
for killing moose or deer, and he said that the .38-55 was 
a good_ enough gun for him. He one time killed three 
moose in three shots with the .38-55. I asked him if he ' 
thought the .30-30 was good, and he said yes, although 
he once had to shoot a moose three times with that gun. 
Asked what animal he considered to be the shiest and 
hardest to stalk, he said that the red deer was very much , 
more difficult in his opinion to kill by still-hunting than 
the moose. 
As to the killing of moose by bear, our old friend, 1 
Henry Braithwaite, of New Brunswick, states that he 
is sure that bears often kill moose calves, and on one 
occasion he saw a bear in the act of killing a three-year- 
old moose. The bear had the moose down and was biting I 
~"~~ v 7 ' 7 " . C ■ ' 
quail "buds" when the ground feed is cut off, ought to 
enable it to survive a season that would prove fatal to 
the Bob White, and, being a larger and more wary bird, 
adds to its desirability. 
Of the European varieties, three, which are sure to 
attract much attention are the French, the Armenian 
and the Hungarian partridges, shown in the accompany- 
. ing illustration. The French partridge is a very showy 
bird and of good size, but, being a native of a warm 
climate, is liable to find the New England winters a trifle 
severe. 
The Armenian partridge is somewhat larger than the 
French and is quite as handsome a bird. In its mark- 
ings the French and Armenian varieties are very similar. 
The French bird has the sides of the body barred with rich 
reddish brown, the corresponding color in the Armenian 
being black, and its white throat patch extends further 
down the neck, the black border not being so sharply 
defined, nor has it the speckled black and white upper 
breast of the French bird. 
The Armenians, which have been here for several 
weeks, have become quite tame, and there is a possibility 
that they may not prove sufficiently wild for a prosperous 
career in so thickly settled and so hard-hunted a State 
as Massachusetts. However, they will be given a trial, 
and upon being liberated, may prove tills fear ground- 
less. 
The Hungarian partridge is smaller than either the 
French or Armenian, and a less showy bird. In size 
he is midway between the Bob White and the ruffed 
grouse, resembling the former in body coloring, while in 
shrewdness he is reputed to rival the latter— and that 
is as good a recommendation as he could bring to New 
England shooters. Being a native of a cold climate, there 
is no doubt of his being able to winter here, and the Com- 
missioners feel that this is the bird which will prove the 
most valuable addition to our game bird supply. 
i As the Massachusetts Commission is sadly hampered in 
its efforts at restocking, through lack of funds, it is a 
matter for sincere congratulation that, through the 
courtesy of the Sportsmen's Show management, they will 
be able to secure so extremely desirable a line of game 
birds for the coming season's work. 
C. H. Moan. 
All ewwMHBiaatU** iatea4t4 for Film abb Svbbam should 
always »« rtdmuei to Am Fete* and Stream WvWMpg C«„ and 
cat to £»jr iaiuOuai mwummmi with Am p*pm. 
THREE FORMS OF THE EUROPEAN PARTRIDGE. 
Shown, at the Boston Sportsmen's Show. 
pair. Like yourself, I have been trying to get a fall 
grizzly, and after reading your last spring's experience, I 
have concluded to try to get one on the spring snow. I 
hope some day to read in the Forest and Stream the 
obituary of your grizzly." 
The Canadian shoe is not suitable for use in the damp 
snows of the spring in the Rocky Mountains, where 
there is nearly always some thawing during the day. It 
is all right for a cold, dry snow, but packs up horribly 
when the snow begins to stick. I have found the long 
Alaska-bow snowshoes the best for straightaway travel- 
ing, but for climbing in the mountain country of the 
West, I am on the whole disposed to believe that the most 
practical shoe is the bear-paw model, such, as may be found 
in the Northern Rockies. I presume they could be bought 
at Kalispell, Mont. These are a short, oval shoe, about 
fifteen inches in length and perhaps twelve inches in 
width, and the filling is very coarse, indeed almost any 
kind of a crazy ariss-cross in thongs, the thongs being 
cut very wide and stout. It is astonishing how these 
shoes will carry one up. In climbing they hold better than 
a longer shoe, as one can dig in his toes. Moreover, and 
this is a very valuable quality of the bear-paw shoe, when 
one has gotten up above the snowdrifts upon the bare 
rocks, he can carry these shoes on his back and they 
will not inconvenience him in his hunting. A longer 
shoe is much in the way in climbing a steep pitch of a 
mountain face, where very often one cannot keep on his 
feet at all, but has to wallow upward the best he can. I 
think if Mr. Phillips would write to Mr. J. B. Munroe, 
Kipp, Mont., that Jack Munroe could get him a pair! 
They are not very beautiful, but they get there. 
Hudson Bay Guide. 
It was a pleasure to talk this week for a little time with 
George Linklater }< an old Hudson Bay man, who is in 
town. "Linklater is one of the quiet, retiring sort, and 
he does not limber up very much at first, but it needs no 
practiced eye to discover in him the real article. Link- 
later has worked for twenty-eight years in all for the 
Hudson Bay Company, and for five years was stationed 
at Moose Factory, at the foot of James Bay. He says 
that the new radroads heading north through Ontario 
are going to open up a great game country, more espe- 
cially for moose and caribou. He says that in the early 
days of his Hudson Bay service, moose were almost un- 
known, having been either killed out »r not having moved 
into that northern country. He thinks the moose are 
steadily working north toward the Tames Bay, and says 
there are very many more mcese m Ontario now, and 
at its neck. Henry shot the bear through with a Wesson 
rifle, but had only the one shot with him, and the bear 
escaped. The moose was past surgery by that time. 
Henry says he has always had it in for bear ever since. 
The Wariest Creature 
By the way, speaking of the relative wariness of game 
animals, I have always personally believed that the wild 
turkey is the hardest of American game creatures to kill 
in legitimate fashion. Of course, one cannot classify 
roosting turkeys as sport, and I refer only to the fair 
outwitting of the bird in the daytime. This week I saw 
Mr. Charles Payne, of Wichita, Kan., very well known 
as a dealer in game animals, and of considerable ex- 
perience in the field, and I asked him what, in his opinion, 
was the hardest bird or animal to kill by fair means. 
white-tail deer than one wild turkey." 
From Wyoming. 
Another outdoor man who is in the city this week is 
Ben Sheffield, of Livingston, Mont., a well-known West- 
ern guide. Mr. Sheffield hunts in one of the best elk 
countries of the Rockies— the Jackson Hole region below 
the Yellowstone Park. I asked him what he thought 
about the supply of elk, and he said that elk are decreasing 
very rapidly, and that unless something be done promptly 
within five years they will practically be exterminated. 
Mr. Sheffield thinks that the Wyoming law is respon- 
sible for the death of a great many elk. This law re- 
quires that the visiting shooter take out not only a license, 
but a licensed guide. All sorts and conditions of men 
offer themselves as such guides, many of them being of no 
account. Unable to' make a living at guiding, they do a 
turn at a little elk killing upon their own account, ac- 
cording to Mr. Sheffield. 
Salt the Hides. 
William Kaempfer, the Chicago taxidermist, comment- 
ing upon the condition of a lot of hides recently received, 
offered the following advice : "It would be a good thing 
for sportsmen to know that nearly alt hides killed in warm 
climates, or hides which have much grease on them, 
spoil very quickly if left in the sun, or if rolled tight with 
the fleshy sides together. If you spread a hide out and get it 
well dried, it will not sweat so quickly as if you put the 
fleshy surfaces together. If the grease once fries into 
