682 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 4, 1911. 
to be good until in August, and is now at its 
height. Steelheads are running in the coast 
streams. Members of the Fish Commission who 
recently fished in the Eel River, took some speci¬ 
mens ranging from five to nine pounds in weight. 
Sport on the Russian River will be excellent as 
soon as the bar is opened, and the big fish are 
enabled to enter the stream. 
The new National and State fish hatchery at 
Sacramento has been opened with Frank Sheb- 
ley in charge. A shipment of 50,000 salmon eggs 
has been received there, and the fish hatched will 
be kept until they are quite large before they 
are liberated. It has been the plan before this 
to hatch the salmon far up the river and release 
them there in the belief that by the time salt 
water was reached, the fish could take care of 
themselves. Many die in the sloughs before 
reaching tide, and the new method is to be given 
a trial. Golden Gate. 
Anglers’ Club of New York. 
New York City, Oct. 25. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The club tournament will be held at 
the lake in Central Park on the afternoon of 
Tuesday, Nov. 7, beginning at 1 o’clock. There 
will be five events as follows: Four and three- 
quarter-ounce fly-rods, 5%-ounce fly-rods, heavy 
fly-rods, salmon fly-rods, j4-ounce bait-casting 
for distance. 
This tournament was to have been held on 
Saturday afternoon, Oct. 21, but was postponed 
because of rain, and the new date was selected 
on account of its being a holiday. 
The regular meeting and dinner of the club 
falls on the evening of the same day, at which 
time the cups will be awarded to the winners. 
Jason G. Lamison, Sec’y. 
Trout for Stocking. 
Boston, Mass., Oct. 28. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: Orders for trout continue to come in 
and a portion of them have already been filled. 
A. B. Clark, of Peabody, writes that his consign¬ 
ment arrived in good condition, and he found 
them larger than he expected. Some orders are 
so large that we have been compelled to scale 
them down a little. I am sure comparatively few 
of the sportsmen of the State are aware that 
fish for stocking may be obtained from the 
Federal Bureau of Fisheries. Ii. H. Kimball. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., Oct. 30. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: The final club contest of the season 
will be held at Weequahic Park Lake on Election 
Day, beginning at 10 a. m. The events will be 
as follows: Distance bait, distance fly, accuracy 
bait, accuracy fly, dry fly accuracy. 
Appropriate merchandise prizes will be awarded 
in each event. Come and bring a friend yith you. 
Fred. T. Mapes, Sec’y. 
Mr. Fearing’s Angling Books. 
During the month of December there will be 
an exhibition at the Grolier Club in Boston that 
will be of great interest to anglers. This will 
be the collection of angling books of Daniel B. 
Fearing, of Newport, R. I. In his library Mr. 
Fearing now has more than 10,000 volumes, in 
seventeen different languages, relating to fishing, 
fish culture and kindred subjects. 
A Bobwhite’s Nest. 
Branchport, N. Y., Oct. 28.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: Twenty-five years ago the com¬ 
mon quail or bobwhite was fairly common about 
Branchport, and all through the spring its clear 
whistle could be heard throughout the valley. 
Many a time have I answered the call, and fol¬ 
lowing it up found a bird perched on the fence 
by a field of grain or corn, and as soon as he 
TUNNEL TO QUAIL’S NEST. 
THE NEST AND EGGS. 
saw me he would fly to the ground and disappear 
into the field. As the years passed his musical 
whistle was heard less and less, and then was 
heard no more for several years. 
About five years ago I was riding up the valley 
above Branchport when I was greeted by a 
cheery whistle, and I knew that my friend bob- 
white was back again. I heard him every time 
1 passed that way through May and June. The 
next year there were two or three pairs along 
the valley, and this year there were several pairs 
with a couple about the village. 
Late in July this year a friend of mine with 
his dog was going up a lane, when the dog 
flushed a bobwhite from her nest close to the 
wire fence that bounded the lane, and on Aug. 
2 I went up to photograph it. When hunting 
for the nest the female flushed almost in my 
face. The nest was built up at the back and 
partly domed like an ovenbird’s, and the grow¬ 
ing grass was brought together above it in such 
a manner that it was entirely concealed, with 
a tunnel about fifteen inches long leading to it 
through the grass. The entrance to the tunnel 
was very small, and would be passed unnoticed. 
The nest contained eleven eggs with incubation 
well advanced. 
I expected to return and make some pictures 
of the young, but two days later the nest was 
found destroyed, probably the work of a skunk. 
Verdi Burtch. 
Investigating the Food of Birds. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 26.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The discussion last winter in the 
Legislature in regard to placing certain birds on 
the protected list, notably the meadow lark, has 
induced the Fish and Game Commission to make 
a thorough investigation of the relations of cer¬ 
tain birds to the agricultural interests of the 
State, and the services of Harold C. Bryant, of 
the State University, have been secured for this 
work. Complaints have been received against 
the meadow lark, the robin and the blackbird, 
while on the other hand many letters have been 
received telling of the beneficial results of the 
protection of these birds. The investigation 
being made is thorough, and upon the showing 
made will probably depend the future laws on 
the subject of bird protection. In each county 
a deputy every-two weeks kills six specimens of 
each bird being investigated. The date, hour of 
killing, locality, etc., are noted, the birds sent 
to the laboratory, and the contents of the stomach 
and intestines examined. This work will be con¬ 
tinued for a year in order that the nature of the 
food taken during all months may be ascer¬ 
tained. 
The license that was issued some time ago to 
S. Morales to hunt elk in Humboldt county for 
the Academy of Science Building in Golden Gate 
Park has been revoked for the time being pend¬ 
ing an investigation. Protests were received 
from residents of the county where the hunting 
was to be done, the claim being made that the 
animals were scarce there. 
W. Leon Dawson, who some time ago pub¬ 
lished a book on “The Birds of Washington,” 
will shortly have one in the press on California 
birds. 
Homer Leod, of Kalispel, Mont., was recently 
at Bakersfield, Cal., and announced that he had 
purchased a ranch in the mountains east of there 
where he would raise bison for parks and zoo¬ 
logical gardens. 
Nine Alaska ptarmigan are to be presented by 
Capt. John Schobey to the commissioners of 
Golden Gate Park, the birds having been cap¬ 
tured while out at sea off the Seward Peninsula. 
They were blown out to sea and alighted on the 
steamship Senator, a number being captured. 
Permission was secured to bring the birds out 
of Alaska. Golden Gate. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any neivsdealer on order . Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly . 
