FOREST AND STREAM, 
461 
ut bravely for the shore, and as long as we could 
ee him he kept the right direction. 
About an hour before sunset we reached the head 
f the lake, and struck into the headwaters of the 
loshnukee. We landed, "shingled down" a bed, got 
-ipper and "left this weary world." The next day 
as as fine as the'preceding one, and we glided down 
tream with no more work than to keep the bow 
eaded into the strong current. 
I So a week and a half passed as in a dream; trout 
e had , in plenty, together with a stray pickerel or 
iss. Partridges in abundance fell to George's rifle, 
) our larder was well filled. Ducks we had not seen 
ntil one evening, as we were quietly drifting down 
ream, under the lengthening shadows, we came upon 
flock of about fifteen mallards. For some time we 
atched them gamboling, playing and splashing along 
le shore without being discovered; and before they 
)uld get 'away, we had three. 
Oil the last day of the second week out we heard the 
)und of chopping one morning, and upon investi- 
ition discovered a crew of about forty men. They 
ere getting out birch and "popple," and had bee.n at 
ork about two weeks. After taking dinner with 
r em, we struck a bargain with the cook for flour and 
I bacco and started on again. In the afternoon we 
•i,:ruck a long series of "rips" and landed to begin 
s' eparations for a mile carry. Two trips were neces- 
ry to get all our stuff over, and while on my sec- 
it id trip I discovered the tracks of "fresh venison" 
le ading down the carry in the same direction in which 
■: was going. Hastily filling the magazine of my 
f'f )'30, I stole quickly forward, hoping against hope 
at something would keep George from returning 
• 1- his second load. Suddenly I heard his lusty voice 
t iging his favorite song, 
"His father was chasing his boy round the room," 
? cl to my surprise, a buck and two does came up the 
'[ rry directly toward me. When within a short dis- 
';' ice, I drew a bead and fired at the buck. I fired a 
:ond time. He stumbled a few feet toward me and fell 
" th a crash. One bullet had passed through his neck 
''id out the shoulder; the other had broken his fore- 
•j rhe sound of . the shots brought George "on the hot 
:>t," and together we dressed the deer and took the 
'y-id off; Although the head itself was not a pretty 
■ e, still it had eleven points. We cut up the deer 
\ quickly as possible, made our last trip across the 
' 'ry, and pushed on. All that day we traveled 
" ough rips and rapids, where the water rushed down 
■ ough gorges, with perpendicular walls of smooth 
'' :ks. Great masses of boulders lay in the stream, 
' )und which the water boiled and roared. Whenever 
as possible we avoided the roughest water by 
' rting the rocks, though , at times the waves broke 
^ er the canoe both in the bow and stern at once, 
''■aile we . swayed and tipped from side to side. We 
along at a frightful pace, and finally neared a 
int where the river narrowed till one could almost 
ow a stone from bank to bank. The trees were 
rred and scraped where ice and logs had rushed 
iivn in the spring, and some marks were twelve or 
een feet high on the trees. It now began to grow 
;k, and we had hoped to be well out of the rapid 
'■'ore night settled down. On we went, faster and 
•ter, until we suddenly shot out into clear, still 
■ter. 
'; A'^e landed, two thankful, tired men. Now, we were 
, i ting toward civilization again. We came upon the 
'mains of a camp-fire and "lean-to" which were 
;'dly a week old, and the next day we met a couple 
Canucks, who informed us that our destination 
jis not ten miles distant. That was our last night in 
' woods. , . - 
low I disliked to go back to a spring bed, plates 
']! a table, to meet the razor, boot brush and city 
!: thes. Why is it that a man cannot live as nature 
':ended that he should, without formalities and con- 
itionalities? No matter, our trip was over. Next 
■ we arrived at our final point, and after shipping 
canoe and deer head, George and I had a "bang-up 
d," and shook hands long and hard to keep us over 
the following year. 
„ Charles B. Floyd. 
"oreign Game Birds and Eggs. 
i VERY important Bulletin, soon to be issued by the 
ted States Department of Agriculture, treats of the 
ortation of game birds and eggs for propagation, by 
T. S. Palmer and Henry Oldys. The object of this 
letin is to furinsh information respecting the game 
Is brought into the United States since the passage 
the Lacey act of 1900, and the eggs of game birds 
orted and of the egg act of 1902. 
: will be recalled that following the exploitation of 
great American duck egg fake, exposed in Forest and 
EAM nearly ten. years ago, Congress passed a law pro- 
ting the importation to the United States of wild birds' 
5. The intentions of Congress were of course excel- 
, but its knowledge of the subject was extremely lim- 
, Instead of protecting the wildfowl of Alaska and 
ish America, the act of 1894 merely made it impossible 
anyone wishing to bring in the eggs of game birds 
n European countries for the purpose of propagating 
isants, partridges, or what not, lawfully to get the 
> to hatch. This law was modified in 1902, and eggs 
now be imported for propagation under regulations 
cribed by the Secretary of Agriculture. The Lacey 
has been in effect for nearly four years, and as the 
■etary of Agriculture has charge of importations, and 
:r that act, as well as under the egg act, the data that 
: accumulated are considerable. 
le older, generation of sportsmen will remember the 
•est felt in the importation of the migratory quail of 
Dp^ during the late seventies, and the utter failure of 
ittemptSjthen made. Not very, long after that, Asiatic 
Bants were imported into Oregon, and did so . well 
b that importers of birds -w^ere much .encouraged. 
Until the passage of the act of 1900, there were no means 
of ascertaining the number or kinds of birds brought to 
the United States, but under present conditions a reason- 
ably close knowledge is had of the birds that come in, 
the officials of the customs service checking the importa- 
tions, and giving figures which enable the Agricultural 
Department to approximate to the numbers of the birds. 
Within the last four years more than 23,000 game birds 
have been brought into the United States, divided as fol- 
lows : In the fiscal year 1901, 6,584; in 1902, 5,281; in 
1903, 9,126, and in the first six months of the fiscal year 
1904, 2,187. Of these, 3,866 were pheasants, 16,609 
quail, 753 partridges, 1,473 ducks and geese, and 
477 miscellaneous. 
It must be remembered that this includes all the birds 
imported, and not merely those brought in for purposes 
of sport. Ornamental pheasants for the lawns of country 
places, like ornamental foreign wildfowl, or birds intended 
for menageries or zoological parks, are all included. 
Pheasants constitute about 17 per cent, of the total im- 
port, but these are in addition to those now bred in con- 
siderable numbers in the United States. The total num- 
ber brought to this country during the last four years is 
very small, when compared with the numbers raised each 
year in some places in Europe; for Newton states in his 
"Dictionary of Birds" that in 1893 there were sold from 
one estate in Suffolk, England, 101,000 pheasants' eggs, 
while 9,700 pheasants were killed there. 
Most of the imported birds come from Canada, Bel- 
gium, England, Germany, China and Japan. Canada and 
Belgium each send in from 300 to 600 birds a year, almost 
all pheasants, the two countries furnishing about three- 
fourths of the pheasants imported. Most of the par- 
tridges come from Germany, and are the common gray 
partridge of Europe. China sends practically all the 
quail and about 500 pheasants. The quail are mostly 
eaten in San Francisco, and there is no way of determin- 
ing whether the pheasants come from China or Japan. 
Japan furnishes mandarin ducks, and has sent a number 
of pheasants to Plonolulu from Yokohama. The other 
birds come from many countries, and are of many kinds. 
One of the most important importations was that of 
capercailzie from Sweden. 
Of the 3,000 pheasants imported, more than 2,000 went 
to the six States, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jer- 
sey, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, while about 500 
were consigned to points west of the Mississippi or in 
the South. 
Pheasants intended for liberation are of two sorts, the 
English pheasant of Europe (Phasianus colchicus) , and 
(P. torquatus), the so-called Mongolian pheasant, more 
properly termed the ringnecked pheasant. About twenty 
ornamental species have been imported for aviary or ex- 
hibition purposes. 
The importation of partridges has been undertaken only 
on a very small scale, and the bird has not as yet estab- 
lished itself at all. Of 300 imported for Oregon, only 97 
lived to be liberated, most of the others having died in 
transit. When turned out they seem to do well, but not 
having been protected, they are reported to have been 
nearly exterminated by gunners. A lot turned out in 
March, 1901, near Corinth, Miss., have suffered the usual 
fate of exotic birds without protection. 
The ducks and geese imported are chiefly ornamental, 
though a few wild birds have been brought in; and it is 
curious that of these wild birds a number are our own 
wood duck, which apparently have been bred in domesti- 
cation in Europe. 
An especially interesting importation is that of ten 
black game and 65 capercailzie. Of these capercailzie, 57 
were imported by the Ontario Game Commission, and 8 
for a private club. Most of the 57 were liberated in 
November, 1903, in the .Algonquin National Park in 
southern Canada, and since then have occasionally been 
seen. Just how well they are doing appears not to be 
known. 
Nothing of any moment has been done as yet in regard 
to the importation of eggs. The total consignment • 
amounts to only about 2,000 eggs of pheasants and 100 
eggs of partridges. It is true that the act permitting the 
importation of eggs has been in force for two years only, 
but we should have supposed that more eggs would have 
been imported. There can be little doubt that after a 
lime eggs will be brought over in large quantities and 
many birds hatched here, and that this will be a success- 
ful means of introducing exotic birds. 
It will be recalled that the so-called English pheasant 
and various other pheasants, the jungle fowl and the 
guinea hen, have done well in many places to which they 
were not native. The red grouse was introduced into 
the Shetland Islands and into southern Sweden, and the 
capercailzie has been re-established in Scotland. In- 
stances of this sort are many, and there is no reason why 
foreign birds should not be successfully introduced here, 
so soon as we are disposed to take sufficient care of the 
birds and give them protection at the proper time. 
On the other hand, certain States which to some extent 
have been engaged in the work of raising and distributing , 
pheasants, have given up this work. Such States are ' 
New Jersey, Ohio, New York, and Massachusetts, the 
last named being the only one that continues it. New 
York gave up the work only a short time ago. 
Pheasants are protected in most States, and this is 
essential if they are to become established there. The 
difficulty with almost all the States is that they protect 
for a few years and then remove the protection until the 
birds have almost been killed off. On the other hand, 
California, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, and 
Nebraska and Utah protect the birds permanently, as they 
should. The law in most of the Canadian Provinces is 
much better than in most of the States, giving also per- 
manent protection. 
The Bulletin in question is full of interesting informa- 
tion, and its authors have performed a good service to 
sportsmen. ________ 
Rocky Glen Patfc, 
The Rocky Glen Park Company, of Scranton, Pa., are 
constructing near that city an extensive park in which is a 
large and beautiful lake. When completed the park will 
be a gre^t addition to the beauties of Serajitoji, 
In Central American Mountains. 
Perhaps in no other part of America is hunting at- 
tended with more excitement or exhilaration than in the 
picturesque Cordilleras of Central America. In these high 
tropical plateaus two conditions are found highly favor- 
able to the enjoyment of the Nimrodian sport: abundance 
of game and an agreeable climate. The first is due to the 
naturally wild state of the country, not yet invaded by 
the pioneers of the ax or seekers of the yellow god ; the 
second to the high altitude and resulting low temperature. 
There, m the glory of undisturbed nature, among the 
giant oaks and crystal streams of virgin forests, can be 
found the fleet deer and the tapir, the wild boar and the 
agouti, the iron-clad armadillo and white-fleshed pac. The 
abundance of wild turkeys, golden-plumed pheasants, 
partridges, grouse and other innumerable specimens of 
the gallinacean tribes known only to these mountains, may 
well delight the heart of the most exacting sportsman. 
If he has a liking for a touch of danger mixed with 
the sport he need not go further, for felines of every kind 
and description, from the small wildcat to the treacherous 
jaguar, lurk on every side, and at any time are ready to 
drop on the shoulders of the unwary hunter. Or, if he is 
a lover of beautiful scenery, an admirer of artistic nature, 
the volcanoes of Guatemala, the lakes and islands of 
Nicaragua, and the mountains of Costa Rica, will afford 
him spectacles well worthy of description, and once seen 
are not forgotten. 
It has been the privilege of the writer to witness the 
rising of the sun from the summit of the highest volcano 
m Costa Rica, 12,000 feet above sea level, and incidentally 
to behold that rare and remarkable spectacle, the sight of 
both oceans, Atlantic and Pacific, from the same spot and 
at the same time. To the north and to the south, as far 
as the eye could reach, the evergreen forests extended 
over hills and valleys like an enormous velvet mantle, 
broken here and there by glistening, snake-like water 
streams. 
In these thick, wild forests, where the traveler may ' 
wander for days without ever seeing the sky above him, 
thousands of animals, small and large, pretty and hideous, 
inoffensive and destructive, fly, jump, climb, and dig, en- 
joying the liberty that was given to them ever since the 
beginning of things. Early in the morning and at the 
approach of night the woods seem fairly alive with their 
noisy occupants. From 5 to 6 o'clock in the morning 
an incessant racket is kept up. Small birds, with large 
yellow beaks, emit guttural and grotesque sounds, which, 
to the inexperienced woodsman, may seem to proceed 
from some huge carnivorous monster. Redheaded par- 
rots, clad in bright green and gold, scream and screech 
from among the treetops. Monkeys of every kind, 
description and size call to each other from hill to hill 
m discordant tones, while grouse and partridge sing hap- 
pily to the beginning of a new day. At night the noises 
are of a different nature, and not so pleasant; it is then 
that wildcats, pumas and jaguars proclaim their presence 
by an infernal roaring far into the night. 
Countless species of frutal plants for the wild boars; 
high liana-entangled treetops for the monkeys, sloths, 
parrots and pheasants; soft, damp soil and roots for the 
cavies and other rodents to burrow; cavies and other 
rodents for the jaguars to devour; and broad tracks of 
thickly wooded, well watered land for all, contribute to 
make the Central American forests a paradise for its ani- 
mated inhabitants, and an Eldorado for the hunter.— G. 
L. Michaud, Jr., in Springfield Republican. 
Experiments with Wild Birds, 
Prof. W. E. D. Scott, of Princeton College, who ha« 
devoted much time to experimenting with the domestica- 
tion of wild birds, and has raised large numbers of voung 
ones, has within the last two or three years inducea 
canary birds to incubate the eggs and rear the young of 
wiid birds of the finch family. The eggs put under these 
canaries— which in all cases appear to have been excellent 
foster parents— were those of the song sparrow, field 
sparrow, cow bunting, chipping sparrow, savannah spar- 
row, and bobolink. In all he placed 41 different eggs of 
wild birds under the canaries, all of which were hatched ; 
but of these 41 young, all except one died within a very 
short time, although at the time of hatching the young 
seemed strong and vigorous. Usually the bird died in 
from three days to a week. One or two which lived long 
enough to leave the nest seemed feeble, and unable to use 
their legs. The parent birds were devoted to the young, 
but all their attention was in vain. Mr. Scott calls atten- 
tion to the remarkable fertility of the eggs with which he 
experimented, all of them hatching, something that does 
not happen with eggs laid by ordinary cage birds, or wild 
birds semi-domesticated. It seems altogether probable 
that the food given the young by these canaries was not 
suited to their well being, and Mr. Scott believes also that 
the character of the nest lining had something to do with 
the early death of the young. 
Nebraska Chicken Season. 
Omaha, Neb., May 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
It is to be regretted that the next Legislature will surely 
advance the open prairie chicken season from October r 
to September. There has been a loud call for the change 
from the residents of the chicken country, and yet no 
change should be made. October i is plenty early 
enough to begin the killing of this royal bird. But the 
faction that wants September chicken shooting have the 
votes, and that settles it. The change will be made. 
Game legislation, like tariff legislation, is too often based 
on the selfish ends of the party in power. Sportsmen 
should have as little to do with it as possible. If they 
all thought alike, it would be different. What A. con- 
siders needful for his section, B. declares would not do 
at all for his. The growing scarcity of game and im- 
provement in sportsmen's weapons have developed an 
alarming state of selfishness in lovers of field sports that 
is rapidly eliminating all semblance of the old-time 
camaraderie that existed in those good old days before a 
network of grotesque laws made shooting possible only, 
to the few, and made poachers out of honest men. 
Sandy QRiswoLg,, , 
