Oct. 28, 1905.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
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Sunset in the Blind. 
By the grassy edge of a shallow pool, 
Where shore birds wade and rest; 
Yonder the roaring surf on the beach 
And billows’ silvery crest; 
A pile of eel grass, sticks and hay, 
A rough board placed behind, 
A haven of rest for the weary man. 
The sportsman’s blind. 
Decoys are planted out before 
Where shadows come and go; 
The sun sinks lower in the west. 
The clouds begin to glow. 
The heron’s croak, the curlew’s wail 
Come drifting down the wind; 
Ah, who once there will e’er forget 
The sportsman’s blind? 
W HISTLEK. 
In New England. 
b Boston, Mass., Oct. 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
V report from Dr. Raymond, of Rehoboth, just at hand 
ays both. quail and partridges have nearly disappeared 
n spite of the fact that some were liberated by the Ana- 
/an Club last year. A few have been seen. He says the 
aws are generally well observed. 
Mr. Gilmore writes from Lenox that the Sunday law is 
onstantly violated. He is also told on good authority- 
hat gunners are shooting pheasants and deer. The law 
gainst the sale of woodcock and ruffed grouse is fairly 
veil observed, owing mainly to the co-operation of the 
esidents, though, of course, there are exceptions. There 
vas some shooting by “sooners” before the opening of 
he season. The local club, he informs me, has employed 
I warden for three years without any assistance from 
lie State, and no warden from outside comes into the 
dace. Under these circumstances, he thinks, it is no 
nore than fair that the State should give them a paid 
leputy. 
I - The town of Coleraine, Franklin county, bordering on 
/ermont, like all other towns in that county, lays without 
he quail zone, nevertheless, Mr. Russell, of the local 
dub, writes that the hunters are after quail some at the 
iresent lime. This, of course, is a surprise. Mr. Russell 
las been active in the cause of game protection for many 
'ears. 
Letters have come in from two more towns of Wor- 
:ester county. Mr. Colby, of Barre, writes that both 
t juail and ruffed grouse are very scarce. A letter from 
i’rinceton reports no quail and few partridges. It may 
3e that these informants may find more birds later in 
he season. 
Mr. C. A. Taft, of Whitinsville, on the occasion of a 
recent call, said that he was surprised to read in the 
i^riter’s reports so many expressions favorable to a close 
leason for a period of years. He very justly remarked 
hat the opinions of men who are not practical sports- 
men are entitled to less weight than the views of those 
vho are such. This position seems to me sound, and the 
abject of your correspondent in presenting to the read- 
;rs of Forest and Stream the views of those men who 
nave sent them in is to let the sportsmen know, as far 
is possible, what people think should be done to increase 
the number of our game birds, or, at any rate, to prevent 
their ultimate extermination. It is not strange that men 
who have -not made an exhaustive study of the under- 
lying principles of protection nor had an opportunity to 
learn from years of experience in the covers in pursuit 
of game, should say we must first of all prevent the kill- 
ing, whether by foxes, cats, skunks, etc., or by the man 
with a gun. But it should not be forgotten that a close 
period is no remedy for the destruction of the elements 
nor that of the natural enemies of game. 
Had the years 1901-2 been closed to quail shooting in 
■New England, more birds would probably have died from 
starvation in the winter of 1903, but no more been left 
|;dive in the spring of that year, and those sportsmen who 
iderived needed recreation by hunting birds in 1901-2 
Iwould have been deprived of their favorite pastime, and 
to no purpose. 
I know of no one who by long experience and intelli- 
gent observation is more competent to state the valid 
objections to long periods of close time than Mr. Taft, 
and if he should see fit to present his views to your read- 
ers I am sure they would be read with a great deal of 
interest, and I hope he will do so. 
Mr. Taft has recently returned from his camp at Shaw 
Pond, near Flagstaff. He was accompanied by Mr. Will- 
iam Taft and Mr. Hazeltine, of Whitinsville. They had 
guides and secured a deer apiece and a good number ' of 
partridges. The abundance of game and the delightful 
weather made the outing one of rare pleasure. 
Mr. A. B. F. Kinney, of Worcester, recently passed 
through Boston on his return from what he describes as 
a restful trip to Deer Island (Moosehead Lake), Me. He 
was in camp two w'eeks and says, “I shot all I wanted 
to.” He did not stay for a moose, feeling that he already 
had his share of them. He expresses the opinion froim ' 
his observation that moose are increasing in Maine. .He 
says summer campers are killing more deer than ' .the. 
sportsmen, and should be prohibited from taking, a rifle 
into the woods with them. w 
At Chatham there is still some shooting of winter y.el- 
lowlegs and bull peep,, although the shore bird shooting 
is near the end for this season. Frank Eldridge, of the 
steamer Lexington, on Tuesday secured about 100 birds, 
mostly bulls, at North Beach. At the upper end of 
Chatham Beach, formerly a .good place for shore birds, 
it is now grassed over and makes a capital place for black 
ducks. The flight of seafbwl is som.ewhat backward- on 
account, it is thought, of the moderate weather that has 
prevailed this month. Mr. Sewall, of Waltham, and a 
friend have got good bags at the Beach the past week,, 
and hunters using the blinds at East Harwich are having 
good shooting. A party of fifteen young men from Cape 
towns in camp at Sandy Neck, off Barnstable, are get- 
ting a good number of coot. Coot are bedding in off 
Monomoy, and great sport is looked for there in a few 
days. 
At Morris Island there is excellent fox hunting. Barney 
Taylor and his brother captured three fine ones in a 
couple of hours while making a detour of the island. 
Mr. George Westinghouse, of Lenox, has received sev- 
eral wild deer from Montana the past week to place in 
a deer preserve he is establishing on a portion of his 
Erskine Park e.state in that town. 
If one has plenty of money he may get quite an ossort- 
inent of game birds now in the Boston market. There 
are rice and railbirds from Virginia, beetle-head plover 
and yellowlegs from the Cape in limited numbers, and 
ver}' choice black and mallard ducks, to say nothing of 
the Scotch grouse and black cock. 
Commissioners Field and Delano have returned from 
their trip to Newfoundland and other Maritime Prov- 
inces. During their absence they had an opportunity to 
learn something of the feelings and opinions of the New- 
foundlanders on the fishery question. Your correspon- 
dent has not yet had an opportunity to interview them 
as yet, but hopes to very soon. 
L. W. Morrison, of Braintree, has been fined $33 for 
having tw'enty-two short lobsters. 
Hundreds of sportsmen are reported in the region 
about Lake Winnipisseogee, where the season is now at 
it-s best. An Andover .hunter got a nine-point buck' 
which dressed 165 pounds. Mr. S. Smith, of Meredith, 
captured a fine deer in the vicinity of Red Hill, in Moul- 
tonborough. Dr. W. P. Hough and L. B. Woodman re- 
cently returned from a trip of ten days in the neighbor- 
hood of Stewartstown, bringing out three deer. But the 
most valuable quarry was that of Mr. Peverly, a well 
known trapper of Northfield, who- secured a silver-gray 
fox in a trap he had set in Canterbury. This species of 
fox is very rare and the pelt brings a large price. About 
one a year in New Hampshire is the usual catch. 
A strange wild animal has of late been frightening 
people in Derr}', N. H., and Mr. J. M. Hood, of Mel- 
rose, who has seen it, expresses the opinion that it is a 
genuine .South American puma. At any rate, whatever it 
is, the people are in hopes it will fall to the gun of some 
Nimrod before long. 
It is reported that Lyndborough Mountains, in Hills- 
borough county, are infested with wildcats, three of 
which were shot this week by Mr. Doliver, of that town. 
Mr. Doliver says he would not care to have a scrap with 
either of them if cornered. 
Mr. Barry, of Temple, writes that he would be glad to 
sell the fourteen deer that have been feeding in his clover 
field all the fall, and would throw in a few rabbits in the 
bargain. Some Massachusetts gunners have been getting 
fine bags of ruffed grouse in southern New Hampshire. 
Shipments of deer at Bangor on Tuesday numbered 
fifty-one, on Wednesday the receipts w'ere fifty-eight, on 
Thursday sixty-three. On Tuesday, the second day of 
the open season, eight moose were brought into Bangor. 
One of these was secured by E. B. Reed, of Boston. From 
Masardis Messrs. C. Corliss and L. E. Griffin brought out 
deer. W. W. Sprague brought one from Brownville. 
Bostonians who came out Wednesday with deer were 
J. H. Hanson, C. H. Rollins, Dr. C. A. Pratt and F. W. 
Reynolds. Messrs. R. L. Hornby and FI. H. Shumway, 
of Boston, and W. Smith and D. B. Clark, of Spring- 
field, Mass., secured deer. The latest reports arej that 
deer are coming down from the woods in surprising num- 
bers. On the afternoon express from Greenville there 
were brought twenty-seven deer. 
Two members of the State Association, Messrs. Clark 
and Royce, have recently returned from a very success- 
ful trip to New Brunswick, but I must defer particulars 
till my next writing. Central. 
Sport in Newfoundland. 
With a Black Fly Recipe. 
St. John's, Newfoundland, Oct. 13. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The fishing season is now over, and the sports 
have taken to their guns. This has been a record sea- 
son for fish and fishermen. Visiting sportsmen, prin- 
cipally American anglers, came in larger numbers this 
year than ever. All the visitors, with one or two excep- 
tions, enjoyed prime sport. One gentleman vented his 
grievances in Forest and Stream. He complained of 
the flies, and the tenor of his letter showed that he 
unduly irritated himself. He said that even if the fish 
had been more plentiful and the flies less troublesome 
he would not have stopped longer, no matter what the 
inducements offered. An angler who is not philosopher 
enough to keep cool when the flies are troublesome 
and busy ought to stay in the city in the hot weather. 
Flies are, a nuisance,, but surely no angler expects, to go 
into the virgin wilderness in July or: August without 
meeting flies. Some, anglers exaggerate the torments 
of these little pests and extite themselves. If an 
.angler could only take the flies as a; part of the day’s 
work and keep cool, the flies would not be half as 
troublesome. My Own experience last season proved 
this. An old woodsman told me long ago that the best 
thing to do when the flies were very bad was to “keep 
cool”; “keep _ your hair on.” “Don’t get excited, as 
that cuts no ice with nippers,” and I think this is very 
good advice. I would give, for the benefit of future 
anglers, two receipts that I have proved" to be golden. 
One, for use in the day, is composed of sweet or olive 
oil and carbolic acid in the same, proportion as the, 
famous silver standard — sixteen to one. Sixteen parts 
oil and one carbolic acid. This mixed well in about 
a half pint bottle will last for four or five days. The 
angler can carry a small vest-pocket phial and fill it 
every morning, and this much, will do him for the day. 
Rubbed on the head, face, neck and hands, it retains its 
odor till the oil evaporates. It is harmless, and the 
oil preserves the skin from serious sunburn, and pre- 
\ents it from breaking. I have found it one of the 
most pleasant of fly mixtures, and one that the flies dis- 
like heartily. 
When the flies are troublesome in camp and one can’i 
sleep without being badly bitten,, then they prove to be 
a veritable nuisance. This year we tried what we call 
“vScott’s patent,” and I can recommend it unreservedly 
as the best remedy I have ever-used. When we retired 
for the night we first laced the front of our camp to 
keep out wanderers, then lit a candle, got the top of a 
meat tin, bent it double, so it would hold a spoonful, 
or two of powder, stuck it into a piece of a stick, held 
it over the candle, poured into it a couple of spoon- 
fuls of Keating's insect powder (a can of which can 
be had for a few cents), held -the receptacle till it be- 
came red hot and the powder burned. This caused a 
smoke that, while it was not disagreeable to us, simply 
mesmerized and parah'zed the mosquitoes that lined 
the camp in myriads, and rendered them perfectly harm- 
less during the w'hole night. We proved the efficacy 
of this every night for nine nights, and I was so pleased 
with it that I resolved to tell Forest and Stream, so 
that your numerous readers evill reap the benefit another 
season. There is no doubt about the efficacy of this 
recipe, because we proved it untier the most trying 
circumstances. 
.Large as the number of visitors was this season, it 
■ promises to be much larger next year. Already several 
parties have arranged to come along for the salmon 
and sea trout fishing, and have engaged rooms along 
the railway line. And there is room enough and fish 
in plenty for all. There are thousands of lakes, ponds 
and rivers on the island, and they all contain fish. There 
are no restrictions whatever; no license fee, and anglers 
can fish anywhere. And all agree- that a man (with or 
without his family) can live cheaper for a month or so 
in Newfoundland and get more sport than anywdiere 
else yet discovered. The v'isitors one and all with 
whom your correspondent came in contact were en- 
raptured w'ith the climate and scenery. 
. Many of your readers will regret to hear that Mr. FI. 
A. Morine, general passenger agent for the Reid New- 
foundland Railw-'ay Co., has resigned that position and 
gone into a more remunerative position in the city. 
Mr. Morine proved himself to be a courteous and oblig- 
ing official while in office, and many American visitors 
will miss him next season. Mr. W. J. Hamilton has 
now been appointed, so that prospective visitors need- 
ing information should write to him or’ Mr. Willie B. 
Reid, vice-president Reid Newfoundland Co. As all 
the officials have orders from headquarters to be cour- 
teous and obliging to visitors, and as all the railway 
men are noted for their kindliness to strangers, visitors 
can get all the info:', nation needed either on arrival 
here or by writing to addresses given above. 
The shooting season for grouse, opened Sept. 20. 
Fearing the grouse would become extinct, there was a 
close season for one whole year. While some good 
bags were reported, sportsmen say that we should have 
two more years close season in order to give them . a 
chance to be nearl}' as plentiful as they were. Another 
great drawback is that the snipe shooting season opens 
Sept. I, and grouse shooters say that the snipe shooters 
played havoc with the partridge and that very few 
full coveys were to be found when they got on the 
grounds on Sept. 15. F^urther, some “cute” sportsmen 
shot over the barrens on Sundays and- got ahead of the 
legitimate shooters. Some of these Sunday sports have 
been caught, and they have paid so dearly for their 
day’s work that they will- scarcely trouble it again. 
The police are .out after others and expect to rake in 
several other Sunday men during the next few days. 
If they succeed, it is probable that the Sunday men 
will buy their birds in future, as they will come much 
cheaper. 
Judge Prouse, than whom we have nei better informed 
or keener all-round sportsman, writing of our grouse 
in an interesting essay in the Newfoundland Quarterly 
for October, says: “The correct description is the 
willow grouse (Tetrao saliceti) . He is a distinguished 
member of the great family of the Tetraonidce, all north- 
ern birds: they range from the capercaillie or cock of 
the woods, wei.ghing 17 pounds — an inhabitant of north- 
ern Sweden and Laoland — to the little Rocky Moun- 
tain grouse of less than one pound. The willow grouse 
weighs from 23 to 27 ounces, while the rock grouse, or 
American ptarmigan (Tetrao lagopus rupesfris) is 
smaller than its congener and rarely exceeds 20 ounces. 
The habitat of the rock grouse is high m.ountains. In- 
Newfoundland it is only found on the south and west 
of the island.” He suggests that Scotch grouse and 
black cock should be introduced into the country, and 
they probably will before long. C. 
We quote from the paper on grouse shooting By 
Judge Prowse in the Newfoundland Quarterly this 
description of a sport in which many Americans have 
participated : 
The journey down to the barrens, whether by road 
or rail, is always pleasant. You are out for a holiday, 
there is a freedom from all restraint; care and anxiety 
and all earthy' troubles ■ and worries are for the time 
banished far awdy. The fresh SDarkline" water, the 
