May, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
257 
linger long in pleasant remembrance. 
In the great out-of-doors where nature 
is supreme the classroom and the black- 
board seem indeed queer relics of bar- 
barism in comparison to the real lessons 
of wisdom and bigness of soul that come 
from the woods and streams and moun- 
tain tops. The meeting and overcoming 
of obstacles and hardships develop the 
philosophy of the mountaineer and do 
much to shape boys into substantial 
broad-minded men. 
Clarence Gullimore, California. 
WHAT BIRD IS THIS? 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
T AM writing to ask if you will, if pos- 
1 ble, name the bird which I am describ- 
ing below. Measurement, about 7% 
inches, or a little smaller than a robin. 
Head gray or mouse color. Back, gray, 
tinged with yellow. Back of neck, green- 
ish yellow. First three of outer wing 
primaries all black. Next six wing prim- 
aries are black on either end, but have a 
white bar in middle of each feather about 
% to 1 inch wide. This makes the wing 
show a white spot or bar when the bird 
is in flight. Secondaries are white and 
black (or dark), mixed. Tail, black. 
Outer feathers longest and tipped with 
white on ends. Breast, gray, tinged with 
yellow. Under coloring, grayish drab. 
Bill very stout, of the Grosbeak type, 
and greenish yellow. Found eating ber- 
ries or seeds of Poison Ivy. Disposition, 
quiet, apparently not afraid of anything. 
Four of *these birds were seen by the 
writer in this vicinity about one week 
ago. [Feb. 26.] I have never seen any of 
the kind before. It would seem that they 
might be Evening Grosbeaks, but all the 
description that I can find gives this va- 
riety a black head, while the ones that I 
saw are positively the color of a mouse. 
J. M. W., Middletown, New Jersey. 
/ 'HIS is an excellent description of t 
1 . evening grosbeak, only the male 
which has the top of the head black. T 
evening grosbeak breeds in the far nori 
west and migrates irregularly sow! 
eastward for the winter. During t 
winter and early spring of 1890 the 
was a great incursion of this bird ea. 
ward. Then for over ten years it w 
absent from our region. In the season 
1903 to 1904 there were 2 or 3 recor 
near the Atlantic coast and beginni 
with 1909 it has been increasingly f-i 
quent, especially in New England. F 
lowing the heavy storm of early Febr 
ary, this year, there have been a numb 
of records for it in the vicinity of Nt 
York City. 1 
One of its favorite foods is the seed of 
the ash-leaf ed maple or box elder; it also 
eats the fruit of the hackberry , red- 
cedar, et cetera, and visits stations 
where food is set out for winter birds 
[Editors.] 
RABBITS AND QUAIL 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
I HAVE been reading a great deal late- 
ly in Forest and Stream about Molly 
Cottontail and her young, and as I think 
my experience with Mrs. Bob White and 
her young may interest a few of your 
readers, I will submit it to you. 
A few summers ago I had occasion to 
pass a certain spot in my lane several 
times a day, and always had a good pair 
of dogs with me. One day the two set- 
ters stiffened out to a fine point just 
outside of the gate opening into the lane, 
and when I investigated I found Mrs. 
White on her nest and a number of little 
Whites just hatched out, and not quite 
dry. Now the two dogs, both good field 
dogs, with good noses and a lot of experi- 
ence in the field, had passed day after 
day within a foot of the nest during the 
whole period of incubation, and had not 
caught the scent until the young birds 
were out of the shell when the scent was 
evidently very strong as the dogs picked 
it up without a moment’s hesitation. 
Let us hope that when this boy grows up 
grouse will be plentiful again 
In regard to Molly being able to re- 
tain her scent while nursing her young, 
I have my doubts, as my dogs have stood 
a number of them while so engaged, and 
in this way I have found a number of 
their nests, and, although I have found 
as many as seven or eight during a sea- 
son, I have never found over five in a 
nest. 
On one occasion I found five in a nest, 
and they were about an inch and a half 
long; thinking I might be able to raise 
them, I brought them to the house and 
placed them in an upright nail keg, with 
a little straw in the bottom of it; the 
next morning, when I looked into the keg, 
every rabbit had disappeared; on look- 
ing about the room I found them all, but 
it has always been a puzzle to me how 
they got out of the keg, for they were 
too small and young to jump out and I 
don’t believe they could climb up the sides. 
Geo. F. Rose. Va. 
AMERICAN CANOE ASSOCIATION 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
Y ILL you kindly publish the follow- 
YY ing proposed changes in the Racing 
Regulations of the American Canoe As- 
sociation offered by Mr. Hilding Froling: 
Rule 1, Section 4, Paragraph 2, to 
strike out the words “two-thirds” and in 
their place insert “three-fourths.” 
Rule VI, Section 6, to strike out the 
entire paragraph and in its place insert: 
“A canoe, 16 feet in length, may have 
decks of not more than 3 feet 3 inches 
forward and 3 feet aft. For each inch 
the canoe is increased in length the decks 
may be increased forward and aft by not 
more than one-fourth inch. The decks 
on sides on any canoe must not be more 
than 3 inches wide.” 
I shall be glad to hear from any one 
either favoring or opposing these 
changes, as the question may be submit- 
ted to the Racing Board for a male vote 
without discussion. 
Geo. P. Douglas, 
Chairman Racing Board, A. C. A. 
GROUSE IN WISCONSIN 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
I AM enclosing a photograph of my lit- 
1 tie boy holding a string of partridges. 
These partridges were shot in the faM of 
1915, and I believe I am safe in saying 
that they were among the last to be 
killed in this part of Wisconsin. The re- 
cent long winters, with deep snow and 
cold weather, so depleted their numbers 
that it was necessary to enact a close 
season on them. In the spring of 1916 
and also 1917 many skeletons of these 
fine birds were found. in the marshes 
around here. From all appearances they 
had died from starvation. 
M. M. Scheid, M. D., 
Rosendale, Wisconsin. 
THE CHANGING YEARS 
V/ EARNING for what we are pleased 
I to call the good old days, will not 
bring them back and it is almost in awe 
that I contemplate the far-reaching 
changes that have taken place during my 
residence in Nebraska — a period of over 
thirty years. The sportsman of today 
confronts conditions vastly different from 
those that prevailed when I came here. 
The transitions have been more marked 
in character than those which took place 
during a century before, and we may well 
believe that a century to come will not 
witness changes so radical and complete. 
The three salient features of the period 
have been the multiplication of sports- 
men, the decrease of game, and the de- 
velopment of the game protection idea. 
Each one of these, of course, may be ap- 
preciated fully only by the elders who 
can compare the present witn that van- 
ished part in which they had part. The 
young man of today knows the buffalo 
only as n curious specimen in zoological 
exhibits .r from book lore and the stories 
told him by the old timers. Almost as 
much might be said relative to the moun- 
tain sheep, the mountain goat, and the 
antelope, now so extremely rare, and their 
continued on page 280 
