346 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 22, 1904. 
life you will find that you can learn many things even 
from a muskrat. See here," and I broke the bleached 
extremity of the bulrush which was brittle, and squeezed 
from the end a thin whitish fluid into the palm of my 
hand. "There is what Mr. Muskrat was after— the milk 
of the tule root." 
"Where do you suppose he is now ?" and the boy gazed 
off toward the soggy dome of the haystack protruding 
from the distant waters. 
"Safely out there, right where you are looking, in his 
home in the heart of that hay." 
"Just what sort of an animal is a muskrat, Dad? They 
don! look any at all like the real rats in town. Are they 
• plentiful about these lakes?" 
"Very. They are a species of the beaver genus, and are 
peculiar to this country, being extensively distributed in 
suitable localities all over the northern part of this conti- 
nent, clear from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the 
Rio Grande to the barren grounds bordering the Arctic 
Sea. They are always interesting to me, and I seldom 
shoot one in wantonness." 
"But do they come out much in the daytime?" 
"No. They are most active at night, and spend the 
greater part of the day concealed in their tule : built 
houses, or in their burrows in the banks, which consist of 
a roomy chamber with numerous passages, all of which 
open under the surface of the water. Like all rodents, 
they are omnivorous in their habits, although I doubt very 
much if they will eat flesh. Duck hunters, you know, 
think that it is the rats that carry away the dead ducks 
they are compelled by darkness to leave where they fell 
over night, but in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is 
a skunk, mink, otter or owl that gets the prize. However, 
while the dentition of the mushrat — we always used to 
call them mushrats, and I like the old-day name, it takes 
me back to the Little Reservoir and Widener's Pond, 
when I was a little 'un like you— is adapted particularly 
to certain kinds of vegetable food ; they are always mux- 
ing around any dead bird or animal they may stroll upon, 
but I hardly think they ever partake of much of the flesh 
of the same. The mussels of our streams, however, are 
devoured voraciously by them, and old Captain White- 
head, the old cabin boatman with whom I used to shoot 
on the Illinois, swore that they opened these, mollusks 
without injuring the shell. So do you wonder that they 
know how to pull up a tule root? But funnier than this, 
Gerard, the old captain declared that a mushrat finding a 
mussel with the soft parts extruding, seizes it so quickly 
that these soft parts are pinched and become paralyzed, 
after which he finds no trouble in parting the shell and 
extracting the bivalve. This, however, I know from 
absolute research, is literally untrue, and it is only old 
codgers of the Whitehead stripe that believe such absurd- 
ities. But, say, Gerard, the ducks seem to have gone to 
sleep. What do you say, let us stroll back over toward 
Clear Lake and try them in the pass this evening?" 
"All right; but the decoys?" and the boy motioned to- 
ward the bobbing counterfeits on the water. 
"Oh, they are none of our doings. The Judge and 
Charlie will probably be back here themselves to-night. 
Here, shove these mallards and the merganser— or shall 
we take them both? Very well, push them all into my 
back pocket here ; they won't bother me much, and you 
can tote the shell case awhile. That's the caper. Come 
Sandy Griswold. 
on." 
Massachusetts and Maine. 
Boston, Oct. 15.— Editor Forest and Stream: Brant 
Rock, Marshfield, is a well-known resort for sea fowl 
shooting. Last Sunday eighteen boats were ranged in a 
line stretching a distance of about iV 2 miles out to sea 
from the shore. One solitary warden, Mr. Thomas Stack- 
house, on shore, saw them and heard the shots. He pro- 
cured a boat, but not unobserved by the many friends of 
the hunters who had gathered on shore to watch the 
sport. Some one of these had a huge megaphone, through 
which he sounded notes of warning to those in the boats. 
Other friends put out in a power boat, which was the sig- 
nal for those in the dories to deposit in the launch the 
birds they had killed and their guns, thus preventing the 
officer from securing evidence. Mr. Stackhouse arrested 
one of the party, but was unable to produce in court such 
evidence as to satisfy the judge of his guilt, and he was 
discharged. If the Sunday law is to be enforced against 
the sea fowl gunners, there is need of a great number 
of officers at this season to cover the many points on the 
Massachusetts coast where gunners are to be found. _ 
In some towns the local officers are doing good service 
for protection. One of the policemen of Plymouth had 
three Portuguese in court yesterday for shooting robins. 
One was fined for nineteen birds $190; one for thirteen 
$130, and the third man for two birds $20. 
It is reported that the moose secured by Dr. Bishop, 
as mentioned in my last letter, weighed 1,200 pounds. 
There are not always the conveniences at camps to get 
the actual weight of the big game killed. Of course, if 
one is guessing, it is just as easy to guess liberally as 
any way. If any of your readers have obtained the actual 
weight of moose they have killed, such information would 
be interesting, and if reported in these columns lead to 
the compiling of valuable statistics. 
Mr. Freeman N. Young, of Arlington, has devised a 
novel conveyance for a hunting trap in Maine, combin- 
ing a house and an automobile. The idea is a develop- 
ment of the "hay rigging" which Mr. Young used on his 
auto in a celebration on the 17th of June last. The house 
consists of the hay-rack boarded up on the sides and at 
the rear end. Two iron girders support a mattress on 
which the travelers sleep. Under the bed section is a 
kitchen. Electric lighting and heating are provided. On 
this trip of two weeks or more, Mr. Young is accom- 
panied by Dr. A. H. Tuttle and Mr. R. A. Frye, of Cam- 
bridge* 
Although it was cold and wet at Barre. most of the 
week, the Brunswick Fur Club meet was a snecess in 
furnishing much sport, although it would appear from 
the results of the chase that the foxes in that region are 
"on to the game," as the saying goes. Conspicuous among 
the lady riders were Mrs. T. W. Pierce, of Topsfield, and 
Mrs Raymond Whitman, of the Myopia Club. 
To-day is the first of the open season on moose in 
Maine, and it continues till December 1. Reports that 
have come in from various sections of the State indicate 
that moose are more than usually plentiful. The figures 
for the first two weeks of the deer hunting season show 
a falling off in the number from 393 in 1903 to 368 the 
present year. 
The past week has seen quite a hegira of Massachusetts 
sportsmen for the Maine woods. A good_ idea of the 
number of hunters who leave Boston for Maine in the fall 
may be obtained from the fact that for licenses ($15 
each) the firm of Iver Johnson & Co. last year returned 
to that State over $3,500. On Friday Messrs. H. A. 
Spear and W. H. Pierce, of Boston, left for the North 
Woods. W. O. Taylor and two friends have been waiting 
at Moosehead for an opportunity to slay the king of the 
forests. One of the crack shots of the University City, 
Miss Carrie Lamb, with her mother and guide, is already 
at Ox Bow. Mr. R. D. Jones, of the B. & M. ticket office, 
and his wife, will soon leave for a hunting trip in New- 
foundland. They go into the region north of Eagle Lake, 
where no white woman has ever been. 
Mr. H. W. Davis, a well-known Boston sportsman, has 
just returned from Palfrey Lodge, just across the border 
from Vanceboro, with a fine moose, and yesterday Mr. 
H. M. Sears, of Boston, and two friends started for the 
same place. Mr. William S. Hinman, president of the 
Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, 
left Boston for the Maine woods with a party of friends 
last Tuesday. Central. 
King Edward as a Sportsman* 
Nowhere where pheasants fly is the rearing and shoot- 
ing of them more carefully organized than on the King's 
estates at Sandringham. Mr. Jackson, the head keeper, 
has the regular duty of rearing 10,000 pheasants annually. 
The eggs are placed in incubators until within four days 
of hatching time, when they are laid ten at a time under 
I, 000 barn-door fowls, each setting in a separate box. 
It may be imagined that the hatching season is one 
of no small, care and anxiety to the head keeper. When 
they have emerged from their shells the. young birds are 
placed in little pens and dragged on trolleys to woods on 
different parts of the estate. They are carefully watched, 
protected, and fed, until the time comes for turning them 
loose into the woods. Even then they are the subject of 
the keeper's unceasing care. 
As for the weapons of attack, his Majesty is one of the 
best judges alive of a good gun, and his gun room at 
Sandringham, with its glass cases fitted with guns for 
every conceivable purpose, is admitted by all his sport- 
ing companions. Complete as it is to the last degree, 
scarcely a year passes but some new gun is added to the 
collection. The sort of gun which his Majesty most likes 
is one which is quite plain and unornamented, and which 
has a very light pull on the left trigger. 
It is a great day at Sandringham when the King and 
his party are abroad with their guns. Notice of the 
shoot has been given in advance all over the estate, and 
farm work is partially suspended, so that there shall be 
no undue disturbance of the birds. In the early morning 
of the day of the battue, the keepers in their bright royal 
livery of green and gold take a hundred beaters out with 
them and station them at their places. 
In their blue blouses, with white lace fronts and wear- 
ing soft felt hats with scarlet colored bands, the beaters 
themselves are picturesque enough. The rendezvous and 
time of assembly are fixed the night before, and it is the 
custom for the guests to make their way to the appointed 
place in any manner which best suits their convenience, 
and there await the coming of the King. 
It is seldom that the numerical strength of the party 
exceeds eight or ten guns, but all of them are first-rate 
shots. It is not that the King has retained any anxiety 
since that distant day when, as Prince of Wales, and out 
shooting with some friends, he was hit by a quantity of 
pellets from the gun of one of the latter, but that being 
a first-rate shot himself and enjoying all the best instincts 
of the true sportsman, he simply cannot tolerate bad 
work with the gun. 
Each member of the party works with two loaders and 
from two to four guns. The game book at Sandringham 
has been most carefully kept for many years, and it shows 
that on more than one occasion from two to three thous- 
and head of game have been accounted for in a single 
shoot. - 
Game carts have in advance been despatched to various 
places, and in due course the big bag is sent home to the 
royal larder, which, capable of holding 6,000 head, is 
second in size only to that established by the late Baron 
Hirsch, which will contain 10,000 head of game. 
The shooting luncheon, either at Wolferton Station, 
the little cottage which goes by the name of the "Folly, ' 
or at one of the farmhouses on the estate, is always a 
most delightful meal on such occasions as this. It is plain 
but good, the chief item on the menu being not infre- 
quently a kind of Irish stew, which is particularly grate- 
ful after the hard morning's work. 
The Queen and her friends will often seek out this re- 
treat and join the party at luncheon, but both then- 
Majesties are conspicuously averse to the practice which 
has obtained at some country houses of ladies walking 
with the guns. At the close of the day the total bag is 
laid out on the lawns for the King's inspection before 
being finally consigned to the larder, whence it is 
despatched to hospitals and charitable institutions, his 
Majesty's friends, and his tenantry. 
Sixty-two years of life have increased rather than de- 
creased his Majesty's ardor for the gun, and his hand and 
eye are as good as ever when he has to deal with high 
birds with the wind behind them. The single indication 
of the sexagenarian is in the increasing use of the little 
shooting pony.— London Daily Express. 
Pheasants in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 11.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: About seven years ago this commission pur- 
chased some 400 Mongolian pheasants in Oregon, which 
State was originally stocked direct from China, and 
where they gained a substantial foothold. The climate 
of Oregon is much more suited to the birds than is that 
of California. They require plenty of cover and water. 
In places of that kind they seem to have done well and 
increased in this State. In addition to the. birds pur- 
chased in Oregon, we secured about 200 more direct from 
China. They were liberated in localities that were deemed 
most suitable, and while they do not show a marked in- 
crease, still there has been a gain, especially along some 
of the river bottoms that are heavily wooded and con- 
tain plenty of underbrush, although in such places the 
ground varmint seem to destroy many of the nests and 
young birds. 
On some of the large "ranches" where range-riders are 
employed and the varmint are trapped and destroyed, the 
birds have made a very perceptible gain, but taken as a 
whole, they have not increased sufficiently to allow any 
season for killing, There is an absolutely close season in 
effect at this time. 
We are endeavoring to secure Bob White quail, believ* 
ing they will do well in our large valley grain fields. 
Chas. A. Vogelsang, Chief Deputy. 
Col. B. W* Sperry. 
I have just heard, with a sense of personal loss, of the 
death of Col. B. W. Sperry, of Jacksonville, Florida, and 
1 ask myself, Who next? For Col. Sperry, though a man 
approaching sixty years, was still in the prime of life in 
vigor and activity, and seemingly one of those spirits 
which know or acknowledge neither years nor the in- 
firmities that years impose. As a sportsman he was just 
what the word sportsman implies. All who knew him — 
and they were many, from every section of the country — 
were prone to say, "The Colonel is of the stuff that men 
are made of." Those who were so fortunate as to have 
been afield with him, will recall with a keen pleasure his 
generosity as a field companion, and regret, as does the 
writer, that those days can be no more. Experience 
teaches us all that the record our memory makes of the 
men with whom we have fished and hunted is not alto- 
gether of a symphony of human souls. On the contrary, 
these records oftentimes reveal a series of disappoint- 
ments in men; so that a mental glance of our past ex- 
periences is like a visible study of the stars at night; 
some are brighter than others, and it is the bright ones 
that interest us most, and their disappearance would make 
the world darker. And so as to Col. Sperry, I feel that 
in my little world of acquaintances one particularly bright 
and interesting star has gone, and a sadness comes with 
the knowledge. 
For over thirty years Col. Sperry was a subscriber to 
Forest and Stream, and one of the first things he called 
the visiting sportsman's attention to on entering his office, 
were the racks containing these papers. Then came his 
gun and rod cabinets, with the cordial assurance of "If 
vou are short on anything, I can probably help you out, 
and I'll be glad to do so." T. E. Batten. 
In the New York ! Line Counties. 
Elmira, N. Y., Oct. 15.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Noting in your "Notes from the Game Fields" the report 
from Sayre, Pa. (M. Chill) that game is plenty in this 
section, I would request that Brother Chill use the words 
"has been", as I can vouch for a big lot of good hard 
hunting and tramping on the part of both dogs and men 
with very little to show for it in the way of game. 
Bruceport, Erin, Park Station, and Van Etten, all along 
the L. V. R. R. from this city, are shot out. I was told 
of three men getting 21 birds in a day's hunt some time 
ago in that section. I think the larger part were wood- 
cock. As for quail, there is none- to speak of in this sec- 
tion. Have had reported one or two small bunches seen 
this fall. However, they must be scarce, as I have 
tramped this country over in good shape with good men 
and dogs and have not started one quail. 
The grouse are so well educated that at the first flush 
they light on the clouds. What rabbits have been killed 
are as poor as Job's turkey. Why? I can't tell, except 
the fat is all chased off them. I never killed them in 
better condition than they were last year. 
E. H. Kniskern. 
Fined for Dusking Ducks. 
Centre Moriches, L. L, Oct. 13— There has been much 
"dusking," or shooting after sunset, for black ducks since 
the season opened, and Howell C. Smith, of East Mo- 
riches, a special game protector, knowing that parties 
might not take kindly to arrest, took ex-Police Sergeant 
William E. Petty with him a few evenings ago, hoping to 
catch somebody red-handed. They sneaked along the 
beach to where a party had out decoys, and when a flock 
of ducks were shot at and one fell dead, the two men 
were right at hand. There was some pretty hot talk, but 
the ex-sergeant carried and displayed a revolver, and the 
arrest of the "duskers" was made without trouble. The 
men were taken before Justice R. P. Howell, of East 
Moriches, who fined each $25. 
The men were George Humphreys, of Brooklyn, who 
was here with his steam launch, and his assistant, Alonzo 
Horner. After it was all over, Mr. Humphreys told the 
game protector that the latter had only done his duty, 
adding that "dusking" ought not to be allowed.— Brooklyn 
Eagle, Oct. 15. 
His Thoughts. 
From the New York Times. 
IN THE COUNTRY. 
As I lie beneath the willow, 
With the whole earth as a pillow, 
The whistle of the quail breaks all my joy; 
For that whistle clear and free, 
Brings the office back to me, 
And unthinkingly I shout: "Oh, drat that boy! 
IN THE CITY. 
Oh, my bosom heaves with joy, 
As the orankful office boy 
Sits loudly* whistling up and down the scale; 
. For that whistle clear and free, 
Brings the country back to me, 
And unthinkingly I look up for the quail. 
F. P. PlTZER. 
Helped Through the Phrase. 
"P-rdon me " said the- .seedy-looking man, who was laboring 
over "a letter in the hotel writing room, "but can you tell me how 
to spell 'temporarily'?" ^ j • a 
"Certainly," replied his shrewd neighbor, giving the desired 
information, "and the other word is 'e-m-b-a-r-r-a-s-s-e-d. — Phila- 
delphia Press. 
