904 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 23, 19x1. 
Turkeys for Massachusetts. 
A Springfield correspondent has sent us the 
following letter from Robert O. Morris that 
appeared in the Springfield Republican of Nov. 
28: 
“At this season of the year the most talked of 
bird is the turkey, and having that fact in mind, 
it occurred to me that many people might be in¬ 
terested in knowing about an experiment made 
by J. H. Reader, of Wilbraham, who is a very 
successful breeder of the domestic kind. Last 
spring Mr. Reader obtained from Virginia a 
setting of eggs from a pure strain of Eastern 
wild turkeys, the same species that formerly 
were so numerous in New England, and which 
furnished such fine food for the early settlers. 
Unfortunately only two of the eggs proved fer¬ 
tile, and one of the birds that was hatched died, 
so he has now but one alive, which is about six 
months old, and is in good condition. Mr. 
Reader has also raised for the Massachusetts 
Fish and Game Commission a brood of pheas¬ 
ants which have been liberated. 
“As is well known, the trap rock range of 
mountains was the last abiding place of wild 
turkeys in New England, the sole survivor being 
killed there in 1852. The domestic turkey is not 
descended from the race that was found here 
so abundantly when the New England States 
were settled, but from the Mexican turkey which 
Cortez found in a state of domestication at the 
time of the conquest of Mexico. The Spaniards 
thought they were peacocks, and so called them. 
A Spanish writer of those days says that the 
conquerors found in Mexico immense numbers 
of these birds in the domesticated state. One 
writer says that the royal account book of the 
ancient Aztec ruler of Mexico showed that 8,000 
turkeys were yearly purchased for use in the 
palace. At the time of the conquest many live 
ones were sent to Spain, and from there some 
of the descendants were taken to England, and 
thence by the early settlers to this country. 
"The Mexican turkey still exists in the wild 
state. The California game commissioners are 
raising in confinement many hundreds of these 
birds, which when they reach the proper age are 
liberated with the view of stocking the covers 
of California. I believe that a few of the East¬ 
ern species are to be liberated in Western Mass¬ 
achusetts next spring. It is thought that the 
Mexican turkey is the last species of bird or 
beast that has been domesticated by man. The 
Eastern wild turkey varies from the Mexican and 
domestic species more in point of size than in 
any other respect. Males of the former kind 
have been known to weigh nearly fifty pounds. 
“In later days in New England breeders are 
raising domestic turkeys only with the greatest 
care, and the probabilities are that by crossing 
with the Eastern wild turkey a hardier race 
would be established that cou’d be more success¬ 
fully raised.” 
Our correspondent adds: 
“The party who is to liberate the wild turkeys 
in the western part of this State next spring is 
Nathan D. Bill, of Springfield. Mr. Bill owns 
a tract of over 3,000 acres in the town of Worth¬ 
ington and is anxious to get these-wild turkeys 
established in the western part of Massachusetts. 
At the last session of the Legislature a bill was 
passed putting a close season on wild turkeys, 
and many people who did not know what was 
to be done laughed at the idea, but when they 
learn later of Mr. Bill’s plans, they will under¬ 
stand why the law was passed. 
“The property owned by Mr. Bill has been 
posted during the last three years, and no shoot¬ 
ing allowed, and I am told that at the present 
time partridges are abundant, showing the value 
of having many of these refuges throughout the 
State.” 
Not Passenger Pigeons. 
“This is the kind of report we are having at 
present in the Santa Cruz Mountains,” writes 
G. St. J. Bremner, of Santa Cruz, Cal., referring 
to an article from Boulder Creek, printed in the 
Santa Cruz News: 
“Hunters are enjoying the best flight of wild 
pigeons this season of any that have come down 
the coast range since the famous flight of fifteen 
years ago. The birds are in unusual abund¬ 
ance, the madrone berries are just in their most 
delicious period for fancy pigeon eating, while 
the recent period of rain and attendant cold snap 
has driven the birds down from the hills into 
the more sheltered ravines, gulches and valleys 
of the San Lorenzo. 
“Working over from the Pescadero, Waddell, 
Feeder Creek and across the San Lorenzo to 
Deer, Kings and Bear creeks, and on to Newell 
Creek and Love Creek and the Lompico, the 
birds’ flights to their feeding grounds are care¬ 
fully noted by the hunters, and many a nice 
bag has been brought in the past two weeks. 
“In crossing the different spurs and ranges of 
the mountains the birds fly comparatively low, 
sometimes clearing an intervening ridge scarcely 
200 feet in the air, again directing their flight 
through the timber on top of the ridge, thus 
coming unusually close to the earth and afford¬ 
ing splendid shooting. They are hard, strong 
flyers and it takes an accurate, keen-eyed hunter 
with about 3*4 drams of smokeless and ij4 
ounces of chilled shot to make an effective gun 
talk to the stubborn little ringnecks. 
“Those famous old-time hunting grounds, the 
‘east piece’ and Deer Creek, are again the mag¬ 
net for hunters, and here the birds are to be 
found with little effort, but getting them is alto¬ 
gether another proposition one soon finds. Fly¬ 
ing over from the Pescadero and Waddell to 
Newell and the Lompico creeks, ‘east piece’ 
ridge rises high in the air, and on its broad, 
sloping back lie the hunters, each with his dog 
and favorite fowling piece, crouching behind 
some sheltering hazel, manzanita, or boldly 
standing in sight just behind the brow of the 
hill and ‘plugging it to them’ as they sail over 
on their way to feed or roost. 
“The sport is grand and exciting and the 
amount of exercise one can find in climbing 
over the hills and through brush looking for a 
bird that has been hard hit is beyond descrip¬ 
tion.” 
While most shooters are satisfied with modest 
bags, a few are not, as the following will 
show: 
“A couple of young sportsmen (?) brought 
over with them from the valley one of those 
duck gun contrivances made by firmly fastening 
together two eight-gauge, double-barreled shot¬ 
guns, mounted on a tripod. With a looking glass 
at the butt end that showed when the birds were 
in line, it was an easy matter to bag a few. 
Loaded with six drams of smokeless powder 
and a fistful of chilled shot (No. 4), the execu¬ 
tion was something terrible. One close-flying 
flock came sailing over, about 300 feet high, and 
this instrument of death spoke. It resembled 
somewhat the expiring gasp of a broadside from 
the Oregon, the tall trees bent their tops to the 
fiery blast and what appeared to be two pair 
of doughnut rings appeared in that flock of 
pigeons, and as the echo reverberated back and 
forth through the hills, it fairly rained dead, 
mangled, crippled and tortured birds. The 
frightful havoc wrought by this instrument of 
death and destruction appalled local shooters, 
and after witnessing a couple of samples of its 
fearful work, it was dismounted and with its 
owners headed back to the valley.” 
American Game Protective and Propa¬ 
gation Association. 
With the first bulletin, which has just been 
issued by the American Game Protective and 
Propagation Association of New York comes the 
announcement that it has been decided to put 
out similar pamphlets at frequent intervals. 
These will deal with all the activities of the as¬ 
sociation, telling what has been accomplished by 
its special agents in the way of bringing to 
justice violators of the game laws; what has 
been done for better legislation in the different 
States; how many members have been enrolled; 
and the condition of the finances. 
It is intended that these bulletins shall serve 
as reports to members and all those who are 
interested in the problem of saving our wild 
life from destruction, and increasing it through 
propagation in captivity for the purpose of stock¬ 
ing wild covers. 
The first booklet speaks of the conditions out 
of which the association grew, and sets forth the 
general policy of the organizations. It comes out 
flatly in favor of Federal legislation to protect 
migratory wildfowl; modern forestry methods 
and the establishment of game refuges; stocking 
the waters with game and food fish and the en¬ 
forcement of laws designed to protect them; 
protective laws and laws encouraging game 
propagation along lines which shall be for the 
benefit of all sportsmen, the poor as well as the 
rich; hunter’s license and bag limit laws; abso¬ 
lute protection for insectivorous birds; prohibi¬ 
tion of the sale of native wild game; and all 
measures calculated to preserve, protect or in¬ 
crease the game supply. 
To quote from the book: “This country stands 
to-day at the parting of the ways in the matter 
of field sports. It faces to-day the question 
whether free shooting shall continue or whether 
the European system of preserves and posted 
lands is to become universal.” Needless to say 
the association believes in free shooting for all 
and is working along the only lines which will 
make this possible for any length of time. 
In another place the book says: “The associa¬ 
tion desires the membership, contributions and 
support of all sportsmen, and of all State and 
local organizations interested in game protec¬ 
tion. It has no rivalry with' existing organiza¬ 
tions and aims solely to further the common 
cause, and for this purpose it will co-operate 
with other associations in support of worthy 
objects. In no other way can results be accom¬ 
plished than by effective organization.” 
