Dec. 2, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
809 
tected until 1912, and this protection will be ex¬ 
tended two or three years this winter. 
Hares are abundant, and increase despite the 
fact that they are freely killed for food during 
the season. But an increase is not noted, owing 
to the hunters and a disease which takes many 
away. Game birds of many kinds are found, and 
among these are ruffed grouse (plenty in some 
places), woodcock and snipe and small birds. 
Ducks of various kinds are found, but not in 
abundance, and they do^ not multiply, but are 
each year reported scarcer and scarcer. There 
are very few geese and turkeys, and these are 
found in Cape Breton, and few in other sections. 
All are fully protected in season. 
Heretofore there has been in the Province no 
way of ascertaining the number of fur-bearing 
animals taken, but by a recent amendment to the 
Provincial act, all packages of fur skins are re¬ 
quired to be carefully examined and data kept 
and returns made to the game department, and 
with this year there will be some data of this 
sort at hand. Otters, mink, beavers and mar¬ 
tens are in considerable abundance, and quite a 
number are exported every year, some to the 
United States, the larger portion of them, and 
some to Europe. The bulk of them, however, 
are sent to the upper Provincial markets, chiefly 
to Montreal, and buyers from the city are travers¬ 
ing the Province, buying from hunters and trap¬ 
pers. The fox, raccoon and muskrat are not 
protected, but there is some talk of protecting 
these animals at the winter session. All the 
other fur-bearing animals are protected. 
There are several fox farms in the Province, 
none anywhere near here. These are breeding 
and caring for these animals, and efforts are 
making to establish places to breed the mink in 
captivity. Beavers and martens are protected the 
year round, as beavers became almost entirely 
extinct a few years ago, and under protection 
are reappearing in goodly supply. There are no 
wolves in the Province, but bears and wildcats 
are quite numerous in some counties. These are 
not protected and are hunted with dogs and traps 
and a considerable number taken. 
Shorty Saw a Bear. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In looking through some notes of a drainage 
survey made several years ago in the swamps of 
Tallahatchie River, Mississippi, I found a note 
on the sketch of a bayou taken as part of the 
record: “*Shorty saw a bear here and tore his 
pants off getting away.” 
The star on the sketch shows the exact spot 
where this encounter took place. It is somewhat 
saddening to one who has hunted in the vast 
wilderness where this note was made that it 
will, in a few more years perhaps be drained 
and cleared up; and it is interesting to know 
that, with the complete maps of this survey, the 
exact locality where “Shorty” saw the bear can 
be identified at any future time. 
Such memoranda as that recording Shorty’s 
exit, “The home of wild beasts,” “Mosquitoes! 
Mosquitoes!!” “Solitudes of Cane,” “Very de¬ 
cent open woods,” etc., which occur from time 
to time through the 300 or more field books used 
on this survey, would be interesting fifty years 
from now to one who should peruse them and 
be in position to identify the localities. 
Tripod. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Nov. 20 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Cool clear weather has prevailed 
since the opening of the duck shooting season 
and the sport is good. No rain has fallen as 
yet to scatter the birds. Waterfowl of all kinds 
are coming down from the north in large num¬ 
bers. Canvasbacks are already plentiful. Geese 
are plentiful in the grain-growing counties and 
hunters are welcomed by the farmers, as con¬ 
siderable damage is done yearly by geese. 
On the 15th the season on Wilson snipe, plover 
and curlew commenced and these birds are now 
much in evidence. It is now lawful to kill black 
MR. HUGHES’ OUTFIT. 
sea brant, but as yet few of these have been 
bagged. 
The Marin County Game and Protective Asso¬ 
ciation has been formed and is working on a 
plan to make a great game park of Mount 
Tamalpais. Owners of about 8,000 acres of land 
have agreed to assist in the work, including the 
extermination of vermin. It is planned to set 
aside a certain day for a grand hunt and to 
encourage competition by offering prizes for the 
killing of predatory animals. Points will be 
allowed for coyotes, hawks, skunks, weasels, 
bluejays-, etc. The supervisors of the county 
have been asked to set aside a sum for this work. 
No action has been taken as yet by the State 
fish and game commissioners toward the re¬ 
moval of the State Farm from Hayward. In¬ 
terested parties in Alameda county have offered 
the commission the use of 100 acres of land 
south of Lake Chabot and a bonus of $1,000. 
The commissioner has decided to open an office 
at Sacramento, to be in charge of Commissioner 
F. M. Newbert. The patrol force of the Sac¬ 
ramento valley and nearby mountain section will 
be directed from this point. 
The accompanying cut illustrates the unique 
use to which a golf caddie bag has been put by 
George H. Plughes, of San Francisco. When 
starting out on a trip, instead of having his hands 
full of fishing rods, landing nets and guns, Mr. 
Hughes has all of these in his caddie bag slung 
over his shoulder. He takes this with him when 
away from camp for a day’s fishing and pro¬ 
nounces it the handiest carrier imaginable, espe¬ 
cially when it is desired to have a gun along. 
Golden Gate. 
Sale of Antique Firearms. 
On Dec. 6 and 7 C. F. Libbie & Co., of Boston, 
will hold a sale of an extensive collection of 
firearms. 1 he Mark Field collection has been 
known for a generation and contains many 
antique specimens, notable for their perfect 
preservation. Many of them are richly deco¬ 
rated. To this has been added the Harvey col¬ 
lection of early American percussion arms and 
two other smaller collections which supply speci¬ 
mens that complete the chronological sequence. 
The Field collection comprises over 500 firearms 
and about 150 edged weapons. There are cross 
bows and match lock, single and multi-shot arms 
a decorated European combination match and 
wheel lock gun. The flint-lock period is repre¬ 
sented by many specimens. Many of these were 
the property of officers and others in the Colonial 
wars, the Revolution and the War of 1812, who 
used them in this country, with us or against 
us, and then took them home. In later days they 
became parts of foreign collections which were 
offered for sale abroad and from which Mr. 
Field secured them. 
1 here are swords, sword canes, gun canes, 
pistol canes and air gun canes, scimeters, dag¬ 
gers, East Indian and other battle-axes, knives, 
spears, bolos, skull-splitters, head-choppers, morn¬ 
ing stars, war flails and other weapons for pro¬ 
tection, warfare, torture or execution. The cata¬ 
logue was made under the direction of Charles 
W. Sawyer, author and collector, whose knowl¬ 
edge of firearms and ability to correctly describe 
them is indisputable. 
Massachusetts Safe For Hunters. 
Springfield, Mass., Nov. 25. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: The season of deer hunting in 
the five Western counties of Massachusetts closed 
at sunset Saturday night. It is estimated that 
from 1,000 to 1,200 deer have been killed during 
the six days of open season. 
There have been no accidents in the woods re¬ 
ported—one hunter was shot while drawing his 
gun out of his wagon—and the reason for this 
splendid report is plain to most sportsmen, and 
that is that only shotguns were used to kill the 
deer with. 
Many sportsmen are of the opinion that if the 
killing of deer is to be allowed in the future 
that the law should be amended so that it will 
only be lawful to shoot bucks with horns. 
During the past week a large number of war¬ 
dens have been at work in the western part of 
the State, but they report only a very few viola¬ 
tions of the game law. Subscriber. 
