1^8 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
Pte 13, 1904. 
reach the boat, your whistle doing gallant work. Now 
you are m, bringing with you considerable watery down 
you go— and where are the birds now ? They are well off 
to the west, close together, and your whistle is of no 
avail. You groan as you think of the lost opportunity, 
and your only comfort is the two birds in the water. 
Out you go again to pick them up, but not without a 
sharp look-out, and the operation of picking them up is 
accomplished without much delay, I can assure you. 
You go over in your mind, as you are once again 
ready for business, the last incident. Now where did 
those birds come from ? It is hardly possible, you say, 
that they came from the east; it was only a few minutes 
before their appearance that you carefully looked in that 
direction. Nothing was anywhere in sight. Oh, well, 
those dead birds can't tell you, and no one knows. They 
may _ have been spending the night somewhere inland, 
and just started on their southern trip, coming from the 
west. You see they are quite young, and it was evidently 
their first experience with the gun, and nothing had dis- 
turbed them, or you may be sure they wouldn't have 
' come so gently," as the phrase is down there. What 
infernal luck to be out there among those decoys like a 
scarecrow in a cornfield. It's a blessed wonder that you 
got a shot at them at all, so say nothing ; thank your stars 
that you got two. 
The sun is now well up, and the shooting will be slow, 
probably, until later in the day. You have time to pick 
up and get home in plenty of time for lunch. You stalk 
out into the water, pick up your stool, and pack it away in 
the box, storing everything well forward in the scooter. 
Your mast up, and sail spread, you can, with a good 
breeze from the southwest, make your run home quickly; 
you slowly run out through the channel into the bay. 
wondering, as you do so, how you could have missed 
Hong Kong so easily in the dark. 
Try this some fine August morning, if you have never 
done so, and let me know your opinion. Scooter. 
Connecticut Cover Notes. 
New Haven, Conn., Jan. 30. — The unusual and pro- 
longed severity of our New England winter, has caused 
me to pay more than casual attention to the condition 
of our feathered friends who make their sojourn with 
us through these difficult winter months; and from per- 
sonal observations, and reports gathered from the sur- 
rounding country districts, the conclusion is one which 
makes us indeed solicitous for their existence, with the 
hope of early prospects for milder weather. 
As for the quail, they seem to be holding their own 
very well against such adverse conditions, and only 
one instance is recalled where they have succumbed to 
the rigors of weather — a pathetic remnant of four birds 
being found, which had escaped dog, gun, and other 
"varmints" of the open season, only to pass over to 
the happy feeding grounds, where it is hoped there is 
no pursuer. 
Two large coveys have been seeking food in the 
stable yard of a farm nearabouts, for the past three 
weeks, and the thoughtful proprietor has furthered their 
larder by scattering buckwheat and wheat so that they 
can readily find it. 
A week ago, after one of our severe snow storms, I 
took a tramp through a winter cover where quail in- 
variably are found, and was much elated to start two 
medium sized coveys which flushed strong and vigor- 
ous, and evidently had stood the battle well. Subse- 
quently a few spaces of six or eight feet square have 
been cleared of snow, and feed scattered thereon for 
them. 
Probably it is well known, to the ever increasing 
membership of the Forest and Stream "Humane So- 
ciety," that after a snow storm, quail will seek bare 
ground upon which to feed if such be available, and a 
little time and trouble thus employed in clearing a small 
space where one is about to feed the birds, well as- 
suredly attract them the more readily. 
Situated in the town of North Madison, about twenty- 
five miles from New Haven, is the home and cosy 
club house of the Hammonassett Fishing and Shoot- 
ing Association, the membership being a small one, and 
composed of sportsmen from New York and New 
Haven, and the president and leading spirit of this 
organization is Stephen Whitney. Esq., of New Haven, 
a true sportsman of both the old and the new schools. 
This meagre description of the club is given at this 
time, as by their good works let them be known. 
Not only have dozens of southern and western quail 
been liberated in the early springtime throughout their 
broad acres, thus increasing the depleted covers for 
many miles around, but annually buckwheat is planted 
on cleared field and left without harvesting, wholly for 
the food and benefit of the quail. At the edge of each 
buckwheat field a heavy brush shelter is constructed, 
or a barrel is placed, open at one end, toward the 
south, and firmly fixed by stakes, then covered with 
brush; so that when snow, sleet and cold rains come 
the quail have a dry and sheltered rootsing place. 
. When the snows are deep and crusty the employes 
of the club distribute grain to them, and seldom if 
ever are dead birds are found. 
Recently, upon one of our coldest mornings, a crow 
was found walking about the writer's kitchen porch, ap- 
parently blind, pecking haphazardly at everything with 
which he came in contact. Picking him up, which was ac- 
complished without the slightest show of fear on his part, 
it was seen that his eyes were entirely white and re- 
sembled small globules of ice. He was ravenously 
hungry when food was offered him, and for two weeks 
was warmly housed and fed, but the sight was entirely 
gone from his former watchful eyes, and with regret he 
was helped over the divide. Song sparrows and chicka- 
dees have been daily visitors at the kitchen door, and 
the small favors rendered have undoubtedly been thank- 
fully received. . 
Never in my experience of twenty years' observation 
have the conditions of bird life and winter been so 
perplexing— robins a numerous flock, two rose-breasted 
grosbeaks, bluejay-s, and song sparrows contending 
against the seeming never ending snow and cold. 
Let us hope that the worst of our winter has passed, 
and that when the warm winds from the southland 
bring their messages of returning bud and leaf, the 
pipe of the quail will reward us for any little attention 
we have given him during his struggle with the north- 
ern winter. NuTJiEG. 
A Law Against Boys' Guns. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
If such action proves necessary to defeat the measure, 
every gun owner in the State ought to protest against the 
bill_ introduced in the Senate by Mr. Armstrong to pro- 
hibit the use of small rifles, air guns, etc., -by boys under 
sixteen years of age. So many needless and vexatious 
laws are_ passed thoughtlessly that this one may go 
Ihrough if no one appears in opposition, and the result 
might be widespread injury. 
If l am allowed in time to take the seat in the Assembly 
to which I was elected, I shall oppose the passage of the 
bill on the ground that it proposes to violate the Consti- 
tution of the United States, and is against public policy, 
i'he second amendment to the Constitution says : "A well 
regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free 
State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall 
not be infringed." This would seem to guarantee a boy 
of fifteen years old the same right to carry a gun that a 
boy of sixteen would have under the proposed law. The 
bill would infringe on the instrument in such a ma^rked 
manner that there can be no doubt of its fate on the first 
occasion it came before a competent court. 
But even if it were constitutional, it ought not to pass, 
for it not only deprives boys of a source of wholesome 
outdoor sport, but would work injury to the State. We 
spend a large sum of money annually to train members 
of the National Guard in the use of arms, but this bill 
would close the best school in which familiarity with arms 
can be learned— a free school that costs the public noth- 
ing, but turns out experts in the most important branch 
of a modern soldier's art— that of shooting straight. 
The avowed purpose of its author is to protect boys 
from hurting themselves with guns. The intention is 
commendable, of course, but age is no assurance against 
the careless handling of arms, or there would not be the 
annual list of hunters who are shot in mistake for deer. 
If boys must be guarded by statute against danger, the 
next law will, no doubt, be one to prevent them putting 
on skates, for they sometimes break through the ice and 
get their feet wet. 
The earlier boys learn to handle guns the better, if they 
are ever to use them with effect. The famous President 
Paul Kruger, of the South African Republic, shot a lion 
and saved his own life when he was but twelve years old ; 
and we know that the heroic defense of their country 
made by his followers was largely carried on by boys 
under sixteen years of age. The fathers of youngster? 
ought to know when boys are old enough to have a gun. 
Better that now and then a lad should blow a finger ofT 
than a whole generation grow up ignorant of the art of 
shooting. Edmond Redmond. 
Rochester, N. Y., Feb. 1. 
The Camp-Fire Club. 
The dinner of the Camp-Fire Club, held last Saturday 
evening, Feb. 6, at the Aldine Club, in this city, was an 
event of very great interest. About ninety persons were 
present, and President W. T. Hornaday, Director of the 
New York Zoological Park, occupied the chair. Mr. W. 
H. Boardman was toastmaster, and the guests of the 
evening were Rev. William J. Long and Col. C. J. Jones, 
better known as Buffalo Jones. 
Among the members present were: D. T. Abercrom- 
bie, A. A. Anderson, T. E. Batten, Daniel Beard, T. P. 
Berens, W. H. Boardman, M. T. Bogert, Henry M. Bris- 
tol, Dickson Q. Brown, H. L. Cadmus, Dr. A. Caille, 
Wm. Edw. Coffin, C. C. Curtis, E. W. Deming, M. P. 
Denton, W. H. Drake, J. Seymour Emans, E. H. Fitch, 
F. L. Gamage, Wm. T. Hornaday, L. C. Ivory, H. L. 
Luques, A. J. Millbank, Dr. R. T. Morris, J. E. Nichols, 
Carl Pickhardt, George D. Pratt, E. H. Raymond, Jr.; 
E. H. Raymond, E. B. Rogers, George T. Rogers, A. F. 
Rice, Carl Rungius, Martin Schenck, William Schickel, 
Edmond Seymour, Julius H. Se3miour, Chas. S. Sheldon, 
Abel I. Smith, Jr. ; Olen J. Stephens, C. H. Stonebridge, 
Benjamin B. Tilt, H. H. Todd, C. H. Townsend, Theo. 
K Tuthill, H. Vreeland, H. C. Walsh, H. D. Whitfield, 
A. D. Williams. 
Among the guests were F. S. Hyatt, C. W. Ailing, 
Frank Bartlett, Geo. Bird Grinnell, Robt. B. Lawrence, 
Kenneth Fowler, George Henry Clemmons, Knox Tay» 
lor. Jas. M. Seymour, Jr.; Louis A. Ziegler, Dr. H. J. 
Gundacker, H. W. Hall, Dr. M. W. Ayers, Walter 
Brown, D. B. R. Chapman, A. J. McGrath, William Law- 
rence Breeze, Jack Williar, T. Wallace McMullen, 
Donald Geddes, W. W. Greene, G. V. Schenck, Richard 
W. Hubbell, Dean Sage, E. M. Ward, Alex. J. Fraser, 
Roderick Stephens, Frederick W. Becker, Albert Tilt, 
Pitt Barrows, Johp B^nnon, Beverly S. King. 
Dinner was served about seven o'clock, and among the 
unusual edibles were Puget Sound oysters and Tyee 
(chinook) salmon— presented by Mr. Chas. B. Hurley, of 
Tacoma — and seaweed soup. With the oysters and the 
salmon Mr. Hurley had sent on some of the giant long 
clams of the north Pacific Coast, but they had been so 
long in transit that they were more pleasing to the eye 
than they would have been to the palate, and so were 
not served. The salmon was highly enjoyed by all, and 
the oysters were delicious to the few whose taste was 
educated, though not so acceptable to those accustomed 
only to our eastern mollusc. 
After the coffee the toastmaster began his duties in 
most happy vein, and after a short and very humorous, 
introduction brought to his feet the Rev. Wm. J. Long. 
Mr. Long spoke on the wild life of the woods, and from 
the first held his audience closely. He referred to the 
criticisms of his writings, declaring that it was impossible 
to judge the acts of animals by any other standard than 
that of human psychology, since that is the only 
psychology that we know anything about. On the ques- 
tion of instinct he spoke at length, expressing the view 
that each animal was a free agent, and that while ex- 
ternally all members of a species were alike, there was 
within the species as much individuality as among men. 
Each individual of the species, therefore, must be judged 
by its own acts, which man must interpret as he can. 
This is not science, he said ; this is nature study. ' 
Mr. Long told of a great humber of things that he had 
seen in the woods, and gave the theories which he had 
devised to account for them. For example, he stated that 
the otter and the beaver, both good natured and peaceable 
animals, invariably fight when they meet, and that he 
believed that for this hostility there were these reasons: 
(i) The otter sometimes swims through the canals or 
trenches made by the beaver, and the beaver, when it sees 
this, takes the otter for a muskrat, which may burrow 
through it« dam* itfid so' destroy them. (2) In winter, 
when streams and lakes are ice-covered, the otter often 
takes its prey into the entrance of the beaver's house 
to devour it, instead of going to an air hole for this pur- 
pose. Now, the beaver dislikes fish, and because the 
otter leaves the bones and slime of the prey in the en- 
trance to the beaver's house, the beaver feels injured, 
and treats the otter as its enemy. (3) The fisher, a close 
relative of the otter, is a fighter, and kills 
young beaver; the beaver takes the otter for the 
fisher and so fights with it. Incidentally it was 
mentioned that the otter is a good tree climber, and that 
when fish cannot be had in the streams, it takes to the 
woods and hunts other prey. Much was said about the 
schooling of young animals, and about communication 
between animals, not by sound or language, but by some 
sixth sense representing what we call telepathy. The 
now familiar example was given of the osprey, which, 
the speaker said, would naturally hunt birds and rabbits 
in the woods, except for the instruction of the parent 
bird. Several examples were given of the peculiar direc^ 
tion sense possessed by an Indian that Mr. Long had 
known, who at night, in terrible storms over mountain 
and valley and marsh, had led his companions to Camp 
and safety. 
Mr. Long talked rapidly, earnestly, and often elo- 
quently. ■ His hearers listened to him with close attention. 
His address was an interesting mixture of fact and 
theory, and was beyond all question most entertaining. 
Dr. Robert T. Morris told of the difficulties and dis- 
appointments encountered in procuring the food for this 
dinner. He had written to a friend in the north for a 
white bear, a seal, and a caribou, but had received no 
response; then he had applied to a member residing on 
Puget Sound with the result already given. He gave a 
number of interesting reminiscences of life in the north, 
including some habits of the white bear and the seal, and 
some odd foods that he had eaten. 
' !^l^gn the toastrnaster called on Buffalo Jones, he ^ske4 
