June, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
311 
we failed to find as many as the limit 
(5 to a gun) on the average. 
We spent days in going after them, 
not with a desire to kill but to solve the 
problem if possible. We tramped many 
miles and tried our best to locate them 
but failed absolutely. Perfectly reliable 
farmers took us to woods where they had 
recently seen many birds. The signs 
were there — the birds were elsewhere. 
Your editorial warning in the October, 
1919, number is good stuff. Keep it up; 
the grouse should have a rest. I have 
rested mine for three years now. There 
is a mystery about this bird that none 
of us have solved. They have not been 
shot out; that is impossible in localities 
like Woodstock, as your friend Charles 
Sheldon will tell you. I have never seen 
or heard of a trap in all my experience 
around Woodstock. The vermin or gos- 
hawk theories will not do. They cannot 
clean up a whole township in a week and 
they have not suddenly died out. They 
will come back where the country has not 
become too much cleared, and in the 
meantime the rest will do them good. If 
I find them as plentiful in my old hunt- 
ing grounds in Michigan next season, as 
I expect to, I will do some shooting with- 
in reason; if as scarce as they were 
three years ago I will continue to give 
them a rest. Mr. Wilbur’s grouse story 
in your October, 1919, number is a 
corker. I very much want to meet him. 
His kind have become scarcer than 
our good, old ruffed grouse and it is al- 
ways a rare pleasure to meet an old- 
school gentleman-sportsman. 
Frank I. Brown, Indiana. 
WEIGHT OF FOXES 
would like to hear from those of 
'' our readers who are interested in 
fox hunting as to the average weight of a 
red fox. We have the pelt of one in the 
office that was brought to us by a corre- 
spondent who killed it in Connecticut 
during the past winter. He said that it 
weighed 12% lbs. when killed. As there 
seem to be many divergent opinions con- 
cerning the weight of foxes it would be 
interesting to hear from others on the 
subject. [Editors.] 
A MIDDLE-WEST HAVENfFOR 
BIRDS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
N EBRASKANS, who love birds and 
nature in the rough, have just com- 
pleted the raising of a $100,000 fund for 
the preservation of the Fontenelle forest, 
near Omaha, as a haven for birds, for 
all time. The state, by the way, is sec- 
ond in the nation in numbers of birds of 
different species that have been identi- 
fied. 
Cross-continental travelers along the 
Lincoln highway this summer should not 
miss a glimpse of the Fontenelle reserve. 
For pure beauty of wooded wildness it ex- 
cels in the western prairie country. The 
tract contains 2,500 acres of land border- 
ing the Missouri river — hills and val- 
leys unmarred by civilization’s touch, 
clothed principally in elms and oaks and 
maples that are hung with wild grape, 
woodbine and ivy. Pure streams rise 
from many springs and course a short 
way through the forest to mingle with 
the broad and muddy Missouri or the 
sluggish Platte. 
Game reserves have been established 
before this, but the Fontenelle forest is 
for the song bird — golden throated larks 
and humming birds, robins, thrushes, 
tanagers, warblers — all the feathery tribe 
that by brilliance of coloring, sweetness 
of voice or friendship to the farmer in 
killing his plant pests, have won a home 
for themselves. Cuckoos, kingfishers and 
woodpeckers, whippoorwills, swifts and 
martins, phoebes, orioles and grosbeaks, 
will find their haven here. Game birds, of 
course, are welcomed, and the prairie 
chicken and quail, mallard, teal and can- 
vasback duck and the goose throng to 
the river during the spring and fall. Nor 
are the more lordly eagles and hawks, the 
pelicans, bitterns, herons and owls less 
frequently seen, Birds migrating from 
north to south, or east or west, would find 
this a convenient half-way post. 
The forest is rich in historical signifi- 
cance. Named from Chief Logan Fon- 
tenelle, last great head of the Omahas, 
it marked the scene of the council fires 
of Lewis and Clarke when they first ex- 
plored the northwest. Mormons on their 
pilgrimage to Utah stopped here; the 
caravans of the Forty-niners in quest of 
California gold were ferried across the 
river to the forest; and the Union Pacific, 
first railroad to span the continent, had 
its eastern terminus at its edge. 
And back in prehistoric days lived men 
who enjoyed the forest solitude. Robert 
Gilder’s diggings have yielded skulls and 
cross bones of men who preceded the In- 
dians to the spot, who hunted and made 
their homes in the forest ten thousand 
years ago. Practically all of Dr. Gilder’s 
archeological surveys have been made 
within the forest. 
Dr. Harold Gifford, of Omaha, has 
been the enthusiastic inspiration for the 
purchasing of the forest. When it was 
known that the land was to be offered for 
sale, he secured an option, and within six 
months the people of Omaha and Nebras- 
ka, with the aid of subscriptions from the 
outside, notably one by Louis Swift, of 
Chicago, had raised the $100,000 for the 
purchase of the land. 
Homes for the Boy Scouts and Camp 
Fire girls have been built within the 
borders of the woods, and here hundreds 
of the members of the two organizations 
camp each year, studying wood craft and 
nature lore at first hand. 
A commission is marking through the 
forest a highway that will open to the 
motorist the principal points of historic 
interest and scenic beauty. The bird 
haven is reached by splendid roads from 
Omaha, and is easily accessible to auto- 
mobile parties. 
George Grimes, Nebraska. 
FISHING PALS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
T HE picture I enclose shows myself 
and dog enjoying our favorite sport. 
He is as enthusiastic about fishing as I 
am. He gets very much excited when 
he sees me take my fish pole and start 
for the water. He watches the bobbin for 
a bite and when it shows that a fish is 
nibbling the bait he goes crazy with ex- 
pectation. When I have hooked the fish I 
have a hard time keeping him from jump- 
ing in after it. As soon as I land the fish 
he grabs it and bites its head off and then 
runs back to my side and waits for an- 
other one. He growls and whines if he 
has long to wait. If I should fail to 
land my fish he gets very mad and grabs 
hold of my pole and shakes it. We have 
lots of fun together. 
W. Maddison, New York. 
A LABRADOR FISHING TRIP 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
T HE Labrador coast is rough and un- 
friendly, but for those who take dan- 
ger as a zest to pleasure it has a strong 
appeal. There is no better place in the 
world for salmon and trout fishing, espe- 
cially the salmon. Besides the fishing, 
there is wonderful gunning, for all sum- 
mer long the few summer visitors and 
the natives shoot the numerous ducks and 
waterfowl that gather along the co'ist. 
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 342) 
W. Maddison and the dog that goes fishing with him 
