906 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 23, 1911. 
ing rod ferrule is set on a joint of hard cane, 
the arrowhead on a soft deal (pine) shaft. The 
only stress considered is that of impact with 
more or less hard substances, a strain never put 
on rod joints. It stands to reason, therefore, 
that a pin in an arrow head would assist in dam¬ 
aging the arrow. The shaft is heavily shoul¬ 
dered to fit the thick ferrule, and the cement 
used is a mixture of brick dust, nitric acid and 
glue. The brickdust acts as a harsh grip to assist 
the glue, while the acid sets up rust inside the 
steel ferrule, and the arrowhead “stays put.” 
I have shot arrows made by James Duff, our 
best arrowmaker, and by myself, a humble novice 
at arrowmaking, through inch pine boards with¬ 
out moving the heads a particle. In the light 
of some of the traditions relating to the shoot¬ 
ing of arrows by Indians through telegraph 
poles, this may seem a puny, insignificant test, 
but I would not willingly pose as a target for 
any Duff arrows, driven, as they are, with the 
full power of a six-foot backed beefwood-and- 
lancewood bow of sixty pounds’ pull. 
The best ferrule cement will hold for years 
provided the ferrule is not moved in its seat. 
Toledo, Ohio, Dec. 9.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: While in camp on Caucumgomoc Lake, 
Maine, this fall, I had an experience that beside 
being unique, was thoroughly charming and 
lovely. This year made the ninth consecutive 
September that W. A. Ketcham and myself have 
spent at our camp at the head of Caucumgomoc, 
and each year we appear more anxious to make 
the old home camp, which consists of the dining 
room, made of a large fly with side walls and 
back of cedar splits, our tent, the guide tent and 
a shelter house of splits directly in front of our 
open fire; in fact, all tents face the fire. 
It was a cold September afternoon and I was 
alone in camp reading, when I noticed a little 
bird near me. Naturally I kept still, fearing to 
frighten him. In a moment he darted into the 
dining tent, and I knew he was one of the family 
of flycatchers. Then he went into our tent with 
its comparatively narrow entrance. He flitted 
around near me and alighted on my shoulder, 
then on my knee, and I saw that the bird was 
a wood pewee. That call of the wild was too 
much for me—my book was discarded at once. 
It was cold enough to put the flies out of 
commission, and they were all stiffened up on 
the walls of the tents. All I had to do was to 
gather a few in my hand, then approaching'the 
bird I held my hand out to him when he imme¬ 
diately alighted on it and ate the flies. This 
he repeated a couples of times. Between lunches he 
would dart into the tent and catch a fly himself, 
then back near me, or on my head or knee. The 
third time I fed him, to my utter astonishment 
he allowed me to.stroke his back and his breast. 
T even put him up to my lips and kissed him. 
He was absolutely fearless. I talked to him as 
I caressed him, and he wou'd look at me with 
With the rigid pin movement is prevented; with¬ 
out it the ferrule may gradually be worked loose. 
But if the pin be merely driven half way through 
the joint, as in many cheap rods, it works loose 
and damages the wood, and there is no way 
to extract it in repairing, hence it must be drilled 
out or driven further in before the faulty fer¬ 
rule can be removed. 
By the way, I would be grateful for the opin¬ 
ions of other amateur rodmakers as to ferrule 
cements. Every rodmaker has his own prepara¬ 
tion, and he does not give the formula away. I 
have never been satisfied with stick cements, as 
most of them dry out and become brittle. I 
have not found anything better than old thick 
tacky shellac; have you? 
This recalls a good joke, which was on me. 
The first time I ever attempted to cement a 
bicycle tire on its rim, I asked a salesman in a 
supply house for some tire cement. He handed 
out a four-ounce twenty-five cent bottle. It had 
a handsome label, but otherwise was identical 
with the quart of orange shellac in my shop, and 
that quart cost only a few cents more. 
Perry D. Frazer. 
his little black eyes as if he understood. Of 
course I was simply fascinated; it was like a 
visitation from above, this little woods angel was 
so dear, so sweet, so confiding. 
How absolutely immune from all harm from 
man would the wild things be could they all be 
so trusting. Mr. Ketcham and myself are both 
past the half century mark, both ardent lovers 
of the woods and its people, and since ten years 
of age have spent what would be years in time 
in its alluring depths and along its streams. 
Never in all this time have we had anything 
to approach this experience. Years ago we 
camped for a number of years in what is now 
Algonquin Park, Canada, and on Canoe Lake we 
had a family of crossbills that visited us each 
year. They were quite tame, alighting on our 
dining table and picking up crumbs, but that 
was as far as they would go toward making 
friends. 
On account of the very unusual experience 
I had this fall with the phoebe, this absolutely 
wild bird of the wilderness, I have hesitated to 
write this article, and only do so as I have three 
witnesses, Mr. Ketcham and our two guides, Am¬ 
brose Read, of Gardiner, Me., and Oscar Mit¬ 
chell, of Greenville, Me., they all having returned 
to camp before the bird left us that night. 
It was a cold night, an ice maker, and our 
little messenger of love and good cheer did not 
appear next morning. He was a migrant and 
probably thought best to continue on his way 
South. His journey was a safe one, if the good 
wishes of the camp could help him along. 
Arthur J. Secor. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
Protests Against Bird Slaughter. 
San Francisco, Cal., Dec. 7.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The communication of J. W. Fran- 
zen in Forest and Stream of Nov. 18 in refer¬ 
ence to the killing of California birds to ascer¬ 
tain their food habits has been read here with 
much interest, and there are those who share 
his opinion about the needlessness of further 
slaughter. In my opinion the work already done 
should be sufficient to convince all concerned, 
but such does not seem to be the case. The real 
reason for the present research, which is being 
made on a scale of thoroughness that will ad¬ 
mit of no question, is that there is a faction in 
the State Legislature that seems to harbor a 
particular prejudice against the meadowlark and 
other birds, and only an investigation made by 
the State authorities can satisfy it. Mr. Franzen 
is not the only one who has questioned the need 
for this work, there having been many articles 
on the subject in California papers. In answer¬ 
ing one of these, H. C. Bryant, assistant in 
charge of the bird investigation, has written as 
follows: 
“Ihe killing of birds at nesting time is cer¬ 
tainly to be deplored, and unless a reasonable 
excuse for so doing can be advanced, the kill¬ 
ing is indeed criminal and should be a subject 
of protest by all humane people. Each year the 
protection and preservation of wild birds be¬ 
comes more important. In some of the Eastern 
States an especially appointed officer spends his 
time in investigating the value of birds. In 
California the value of certain birds has been 
much discussed, as the records of the last two 
Legislatures show. Opinion is divided on the 
question whether meadowlarks, blackbirds, robins 
and horned larks pay for the fruit and grain 
which they eat, by destroying injurious insects. 
The Fish and Game Commission, believing that 
a scientific investigation as to the value of these 
birds would settle the controversy, has begun 
such an investigation. 
“The examination of the stomach contents of 
the birds concerned being of greatest value in 
determining the food, it was decided to collect 
birds for such investigation. In an investiga¬ 
tion of this kind it can readily be seen that birds 
taken only at the time of year when they are 
feeding on grain and fruit would furnish evi¬ 
dence against them. On the other hand, birds 
taken at some other time of year might furnish 
only evidence in their favor. Therefore, in 
order to be fair to the bird itself, as well as 
to its friends and enemies, it was decided to 
take birds in every month of the year, and in 
sufficient quantities to make the result conclu¬ 
sive. It is a well known fact that many birds, 
which feed almost altogether on vegetable food 
most of the year, feed their young largely on 
insects. Thus it will be seen that the taking 
of birds during the nesting season is very im¬ 
portant and absolutely necessary, even though 
it involves the destruction of a limited number 
of parent birds and their young. 
“What the commission desires, and what all 
interested in the matter in controversy • desire, 
is that the birds under protest shall have a fair 
and just trial. The only fair trial of the value 
of a bird to the people of California is a knowl¬ 
edge of the bird’s feeding habits throughout the 
whole year. A discontinuance of the collection 
of birds at any time during the year, therefore, 
