Aug. 9, 1913. 
FOREST AND STREAM 
173 
Eternity has gone fowling, and the scenes 
that have known him shall know him no more. 
Captain Hurd was a veteran of the Civil 
War. He entered the service in July, 1861, as 
first lieutenant of the Thirty-ninth O. V. I. Was 
commissioned captain, July, 1862. Resigned at 
Decatur, Ala., March, 1864. Served with the 
Thirty-ninth O. V. I. in all its campaigns and 
battles until a few months before resigning, 
when he was detailed as ordnance officer on the 
staff of General John W. Fuller. He served 
under Generals Fremont, Sturgis, Halleck, Sher¬ 
man, Pope, Rosecrans, Grant, Stanley, Veatch. 
Webster, Dodge and Fuller. 
He participated in engagements and battles 
of New Madrid, Island No. 10, Pope’s advance 
down the Mississippi, Memphis, siege of Corinth, 
Parker’s Cross Roads, Colliersville and others. 
Who had him for a friend had a friend 
indeed, and has lost much. 
“The Guide.” 
Hunting in California. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
Mount Tamalpias, on whose slopes are 
located some of the best known preserves in 
the State, and a noted home of wild life, was 
swept by fire early in July with a heavy loss 
of animal life. The conflagration, which threat¬ 
ened a number of towns and brought out a great 
army of fire-fighters, drove many deer from 
cover into the district north of the mountain. 
The fire-fighters report having seen not only 
deer, but mountain lions, bobcats, ’coons and 
other animals attempting to make their escape. 
In the counties where deer hunting is now 
allowed, good sport is being enjoyed, fully as 
many bucks being killed as last season. In 
Marin and Santa Cruz counties the supervisors 
have shortened the hunting season, and sports¬ 
men generally have seen fit to observe the local 
ordinances, although in the latter county the 
Hunters’ and Fishers’ Protective Association 
has been formed to test the validity of the 
measure. The members of the various gun 
clubs express a willingness to abide by the ordi¬ 
nances adopted by the supervisors, as they re¬ 
alize that it is a grave mistake to allow hunting 
in the coast counties during July, and it is only 
the unattached hunters who threaten to bring 
about test cases. 
The annual camp stew of the Grass Valley 
Sportsmen’s Association was held this year on 
July 16, and was a significant event in that it 
was probably the last of its kind that will ever 
be held. Doves form the principal ingredient 
in this time-honored stew, but the new Federal 
and State regulations will make the gathering 
of these unlawful for several years. On Oct. 1 
the Federal regulations on dove shooting will 
go into effect and will be effective for five years. 
Defending the Cowbird. 
Las Animas, Colo., July 16.-— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The cowbird of the mountain re¬ 
gion may be a better mannered bird than its 
Eastern prototype. It may have its material in¬ 
stincts better developed, but after forty years’ 
observation I can testify that it does not lay its 
eggs in other birds’ nests to be hatched and 
reared by them. 
No bird with us is more motherly or solici¬ 
tous in the rearing of its young. It provides its 
own nest and feeds its young until they are full 
grown. I have watched a pair carry 114 worms, 
bugs, etc., to their nest in a day. I have hunted 
for their eggs in other birds’ nests, but have 
never found one. They will sometimes utilize 
another bird’s last year’s nest, but they always 
renovate, reline and otherwise make it comfort¬ 
able. It may be that this bird does not nest as 
invariably as other birds, for in the early 70’s, in 
traveling with cattle through the Nation, Kansas 
and Nebraska, flocks of these birds would follow 
our herd for weeks during the nesting season, 
and in one case a bird that had been with us 
during a long hot summer on the trail was still 
with us the next spring in Northwest Kansas, 
where we wintered. 
This bird was so tame that it had been 
caught by the boys, and in handling it a wing 
feather had been broken. These birds would sit 
in the shade of the cattle while they were rest¬ 
ing, or ride on their backs when they were travel¬ 
ing, attaching themselves to certain leaders. 
What originally attaches these birds to cattle 
or horses is the fact that in traveling or moving 
about feeding, the animals stir up insects and 
make it easy for the bird to find food. 
F. J. Webber. 
Alabama Dove Season. 
Montgomery, Ala., July 19. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: John PI. Wallace, Jr., State Game 
and Fish Commissioner, has addressed special in¬ 
structions to all the game and fish wardens of 
the State, directing their attention to the fact 
that the open season on doves will begin on Aug. 
1, and admonishing the wardens and their depu¬ 
ties to be on guard for the purpose of apprehend¬ 
ing all persons who may shoot doves out of sea¬ 
son, hunt without licenses or violate any other 
of the provisions of the game and fish laws. The 
commissioner especially inveighs against the bar¬ 
barous practice of baiting doves. His special in¬ 
structions to the various county wardens of the 
State are as follows: 
“The season on doves will open Aug. 1. 
You are admonished to be on guard in order to 
apprehend all persons who may seek to shoot 
these birds just prior to the expiration of the 
closed season. See to it that all persons who 
hunt doves after the 1st of August are duly 
equipped with hunters’ licenses and otherwise 
conform to the provisions of our game conser¬ 
vation statutes. Dove shooting is esteemed as 
a great sport in the South, although in many 
other States of the Union doves are considered 
as a non-game bird. See to it, therefore, that 
the bag limit of twenty-five doves per day is not 
violated by any hunter. Post your deputies in 
every part of your county, and caution them to 
be on the lookout for those who may attempt 
to spread grain or other food for the purpose 
of attracting of baiting doves. Dove baiting is 
a relic of barbarism. The practice has been 
largely stopped in the past, and this season heroic 
efforts will be taken by the department of game 
and fish in order to stamp it entirely out. 
“When convinced that the law has been vio¬ 
lated in any particular, swear out a warrant im¬ 
mediately against the defendant and spare no 
pains in bringing the guilty party to justice. Be 
on the lookout for persons who may attempt to 
violate the fish law by using seines and other 
illicit devices for the purpose of taking fish. In¬ 
struct your deputies to exercise that same de¬ 
gree of diligence that this department will ex¬ 
pect of you in compelling a strict observance of 
the laws for the protection of wild life and for 
the preservation of fish.” Protectionist. 
“ How Wounded Ducks are Lost.” 
Center Marshfield, Mass., July 18.— Editor 
Forest and Stream: An article by Edw. A. 
Samuels in Forest and Stream of July 5 on 
“How Wounded Ducks Are Lost” is most in¬ 
teresting and confirms my own observations as 
regards the mallards (gray) and black (dusky) 
duck. It is wonderful how rapidly these birds 
can move through the reeds and swamp grass. 
I have repeatedly had my retriever follow them 
for sometimes at least 100 yards. As to teal, 
both blue and green-wing, my experience has 
been quite different. They frequently dive and 
hold on to the plants under water long after 
dead, as you say the sea ducks do. 1 recollect 
on one occasion near Odessa, Del., I was shoot¬ 
ing rail when a large flock of “green-wings” 
came along. A hasty change of cartridges to 
a larger shot, No. 6, (I was using No. 10 for 
rail) and a double shot seemed to me to make 
the teal “rain down,” but on pushing up to them 
we only found five. My pusher said: “Doctor, 
you certainly knocked down more than these; 
let’s try and find them,” and began carefully 
peering down into the water. Presently he 
thrust his arm down nearly up to the shoulder 
and brought up a teal, still holding a bit of eel 
grass between the bills. This he repeated again 
and again,. and to make a long story short, he 
brought up six teal, four of them stone dead, 
but their jaws locked firmly on the weeds. 
Joe (my pusher) said: “Teal always do 
that trick if they can,” and I have frequently 
had one or two do it, but never so many as on 
that occasion. 
My summer home here is only a few miles 
from Daniel Webster’s old home and from Brant 
Rock, and is “on the shore,” so I meet the fish¬ 
ermen and hunters constantly. I have never shot 
sea ducks, but these coot shooters tell me they 
“always expect a wounded coot to dive and 
hold on, and that it is no easy matter to get one 
loose with an adze. 
My home for forty years has been Balti¬ 
more, Md., and ducking on the Chesapeake and 
its tributaries has been one of my greatest pleas¬ 
ures, but the motor boats, pump and automatic 
guns have made present day shooting a sorry 
contrast to old times. Howard Lindley, M.D. 
Help! Help! 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Can you help me? The lure of the Maine 
woods has got in my blood. Having camped a 
number of years in the Adirondacks and sum¬ 
mered at the seashore, I am now ready for 
Maine, but unfortunately my companion has had 
to fail me on account of business (that bugbear 
of pleasure), so I appeal to your columns, and 
my desire is this: A chap about thirty to take 
a canoe trip down the Allagash from Moose- 
head (some 208 miles) with me, leaving New 
York in August, take along a guide and linger by 
the way so as to make a month of it instead 
of two weeks. Again, can you help me? 
M. P. A. 
Care of Forest and Stream. 
