Dec. 28, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
817 
floated to the mouth of the White River. One 
night, the second one out, I believe, our atten¬ 
tion was attracted to a dead tree on the bank of 
the stream. Its branches seemed' fairly alive 
with birds. None of us could guess what they 
were, but the old guide, who was sitting in the 
stern guiding the boat. He dropped his paddle 
in surprise. ‘Gosh, fellers, them’s the first wild 
pigeons I’ve seen in twenty-five years,’ he yelled, 
and reached for the fowling piece. He brought 
down ten at a single shot. 
“All of the old-time sportsmen will remem¬ 
ber when wild pigeons were plentiful in this 
country and how they fairly covered the limbs 
of trees when they ceased their flying for the 
night.”—From the Kansas City Journal. 
[Possibly so, probably not. However, if— 
mind our emphasis on the if—this story is all a 
fact, the “old guide” to whom the feature re¬ 
lates, should be refused the privilege of guiding 
sportsmen. He is entirely lacking in the rudi¬ 
ments of sportsmanship.— Ed.] 
Saginaw, Mich., Dec. 11. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have had sent to me by friends who, 
whenever they see anything in print about the 
passenger pigeon, clip it and send it to me, the 
account of the so-called “passenger pigeon” 
found at Odelltown, Quebec, which was first pub¬ 
lished in a Montreal paper. 
This story has been going the rounds of the 
press now for a long while. It is misleading and 
should be corrected. When it was first called 
to my attention I investigated the report and 
got a reply that it was the mourning dove and 
not the passenger pigeon, just as all these re¬ 
ports turn out to be. The passenger pigeon is 
gone and all of these reports are mistakes. 
W. B. Mershon. 
Whooping Cranes. 
Imperial, Cal., Dec. 3. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Sandhill cranes are numerous in this 
region. Large bands of them are seen quite 
often flying over the valley, and I have seen 
great numbers of them in the Colorado delta on 
the Mexican side of the boundary. White peli¬ 
cans also are plentiful. They breed on the 
islands in Salton Sea, where I have seen many 
nests and thousands of eggs. The large white 
heron—egret—is seen here occasionally. It nests 
in the delta. Pity the delta cannot be made a 
bird reservation, but it is in Mexico. 
Allen Kelly. 
The While Fruit Pigeon. 
One more bird of especial interest is a speci¬ 
men, in very perfect condition, of the white fruit 
pigeon of Celebes and Sula Islands. It is a 
large pigeon, white with a slightly creamy tinge, 
the quills being slate gray, the terminal half of 
the tail and some of the under tail coverts black. 
There are five species of these white fruit 
pigeons, ranging from the Nicobars and Anda¬ 
mans through the Malay Peninsula to Australia, 
the one with the most extensive range being the 
white nutmeg pigeon ( Myristicivora bicolor), 
which only differs from the present species in 
having the primary feathers black instead of 
gray. These pigeons form a nest of twigs in 
the branches of trees, laying a single white egg 
instead of a pair, as with most pigeons.—London 
Field. 
A Hunting Trip from Kyle, Texas. 
Kyle, Texas, Dec. 16. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On Oct. 31, we took the train for 
Southwest Texas, arriving at our destination 
about 3 r. m., where, with wagons and pro¬ 
visions ready, we left for the hunting grounds, 
twelve miles in the country. 
Next morning about four o’clock we all 
hunted in different directions. By night we 
had three deer and a wolf hanging in camp. 
One of our party killed two bucks and the wolf 
within a space of twenty feet. 
On the evening of Nov. 4, we had ten deer 
JUST TO PROVE IT. 
hanging in our camp, and so we decided to go 
home that night. 
The hunting in Southwest Texas is very 
good, but the weather is too hot to enable one 
to geep game long. Deer are numerous, quail 
are very plentiful and javalin are abundant. We 
killed three and captured two small ones alive. 
We also saw a great many ducks. The writer 
will always remember this hunting trip with 
pleasure. The people are as kind as any in 
the world, and it is a pleasure to be with them. 
A few years more and the land will all be con¬ 
verted into fertile farms. 
C. J. Borchert. 
Deer Season in California. 
BY WM. FITZMUGGINS. 
Alleghany, Sierra County, Cal., Nov. 5. 
—Editor Forest and Stream: The open season 
for the shooting of deer in the Sierras was 
closed. All in all it has not been a satisfactory 
one to the general run of hunters, though in 
the aggregate a large number of the cervines 
were slain. For some unexplained reason the 
deer did not this year, as customary, go to the 
highest altitudes, but remained in the inter¬ 
mediate territory—that between the crest of the 
divide and the foothills. In fact, many deer 
usually migrating to. the high altitudes were 
seen during the summer and fall in the foot¬ 
hills, and many were there killed. In early 
September the animals were reported in the 
press as plentiful in certain sections of North¬ 
ern Nevada county. Immediately parties of 
hunters went out from Nevada City and Grass 
Valley, the two principal gold lode mining 
cities of Northern California. More experi¬ 
enced and lucky hunters made good bags. But 
in the eastern portion of Nevada, Plumas and 
Sierra counties the deer were very scarce in 
their usual fall and summer haunts. 
October hereabouts proved both a good 
and bad month for the pursuit of venatic ani¬ 
mals. Early and severe frosts brought down 
the leaves of deciduous trees and brush, mak¬ 
ing the vistas clearer. Cold rains brought dis¬ 
comfort to the hunters; but a light fall of snow 
last week along the summits of the ridges made 
the tracking easier. 
The writer has been too busy at com¬ 
pulsory, sordid occupation to find time to do 
any shooting, though quail have come within 
close gunshot of my domicile. Following the 
unwritten code to kill nothing that sought the 
shelter or society of your dwelling premises, the 
temptation to shoot was repressed, and the 
game was allowed to get away. However, 
friends who did get an opportunity to go out, 
brought evidence of their luck or prowess in 
the shape of gifts of bear meat, venison, 
squirrels and quail. 
Bear meat, as a rule, is not the epicurean 
dainty that the uninitiated universally imagine 
it; and I have partaken of much which I would 
not have eaten had any other provision been 
obtainable. But in this instance it happened 
to be nearly as nice a piece of meat as I ever 
tasted. Guests said that its excellence was due 
to the manner in which I cooked it; but I 
heard from other persons who also were fortu¬ 
nate enough to get a chunk of that particular 
bruin’s anatomy that their portion was very 
good, too. It was a two-year-old cinnamon, 
with a layer of fat half an inch thick under his 
skin, and a generous “fleece” to his kidneys. 
Lie had undoubtedly been feeding well; and the 
cool summer might have had something to do 
with making his flesh a toothsome morsel to the 
human palate. 
More recently I received a couple of steaks 
from a buck deer killed by a hunter, of whom 
I expected incidents for a story. But nothing 
romantic developed. He simply drove to a 
spot in the forest where he expected to find 
game, and shortly after stepping from his 
buggy, got sight of the animal on an oak tree 
flat only a couple of hundred yards away. A 
quick shot, and the deer fell almost within its 
tracks. The hunting knife was promptly ap¬ 
plied to the “sticking place,” and the dressing 
and quartering followed. An hour after first 
sight of the deer, the hunter was driving home 
with his game. 
According to all accounts there has been 
a good deal of hunting this season. The alleged 
high cost of butcher’s meat has lent an incen¬ 
tive to many who can handle a gun to attempt 
(Continued on page 824.) 
