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FOREST AND STREAM 
Live Notes From The Field 
Being Weekly Reports From Our Local Correspondents 
CAPTURES HERD OF 150 ELK. 
Buttonwillow, Cal., Nov. 14.—The largest 
catch of big game ever made was accomplished 
near here. George S. Palmer, head cattleman 
for Miller & Lux, sprung the great trap and 
caught 150 elk. At a signal fifty vaqueros 
closed in behind nearly the last of the thousands 
in the San Joaquin. Dr. Everman, director of 
the California Academy of Sciences, will dis¬ 
tribute the elk to parks in the state. 
THIS TROUT NEARLY 35 POUNDS. 
Tower, Mich., Nov. 14.—Hans Peterson came 
down from Trout Lake with the largest trout 
ever taken from that lake. It weighed close to 
35 pounds and has been on display all day in 
a local store window. 
DRUGGED SHOT BRINGS DOWN DROWSY 
DEER. 
Hurley, Wis., Nov. 21.—John Benham, a well 
known Iron county guide, who had been com¬ 
missioned to capture a huge deer alive for a 
private game preserve near here, has captured 
the biggest deer ever taken alive in Wisconsin 
—a six-prong 300-pound buck—by the simple ex¬ 
pedient of using opium pellets instead of the 
usual lead bullets in hunting. 
Benham had a druggist make him the shot he 
wanted—a mixture of gum arabic, flour paste 
and opium. Then he went to watch for the 
deer which all of the guides had, because of its 
size, refused to allow hunters to kill. When 
he saw the big fellow he cut loose with his gun, 
and he caught up with the deer two hours later, 
when it had fallen asleep in some balsams. When 
the deer woke up it had been boxed. Thus spake 
the New York Herald. 
QUAIL FEATHER SERVES SAME PURPOSE 
AS X-RAY. 
Stockton, Cal., Nov. 12.—An ordinary moun¬ 
tain quail feather held before the eyes serves 
the same purpose as a powerful X-ray machine, 
according to Dr. Barton J. Powell of this city. 
He says that while hunting in the Sierra 
Nevadas an old Indian called the fact to his 
attention. Taking a feather from a quail he 
was plucking the Indian held it before the physi¬ 
cian’s eyes and put his hand up to the light. 
The bones of the hand were plainly visible 
through the flesh. 
Any feather produces the X-ray effect to some 
extent, he said. 
THE PROPER GUN AND LOAD FOR BIRDS. 
New Haven, Conn., Nov. 23, 1914. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Stanstead wants to know what others think of 
shooting woodcock with No. 6 shot, and ducks 
with No. 4. I think No. 4 a very good shot 
for ducks, but No. 8 a decidedly poor shot for 
woodcock. I have shot woodcock since 1868 all 
the time in Connecticut. I think the proper load 
of woodcock is one ounce of No. 10 shot, 2% 
drams of powder and rather light wadding for 
a 12 gauge gun. I have killed few woodcock 
at a greater distance than fifty feet. You can¬ 
not shoot many at a greater distance, for you 
can’t see them in our thick covers. Now it 
seems to me that the most important thing in 
shooting is to gather good birds. I am sure that 
if I shot No. 6 shot, I could not use over one- 
half of the birds I killed. With ducks it is 
different. I can conceive of no condition in 
duck shooting where it is necessary to place all 
of the shot in a gun in a duck. If he is too 
near, wait and kill him at a proper distance. 
In grouse shooting it is much the same as in 
woodcock shooting—it is many times a close 
shot or nothing. My idea of shooting has 
changed vastly since 1868. At that time I re¬ 
member of no smaller shot to be had at country 
stores than No. 8. I shot squirrels with No. 2 
or 3 if I could get them, and ducks with No. 1. 
The first gun I had was given to me and I had 
no choice as to shape or style. This was a 14 
gauge muzzle loader—a good gun for a kid. 
When I got older I wanted a breech loader, so 
I bought a double gun with 30 in. barrel, right 
barrel cylinder, left-full choked, 12 gauge. I 
did very well with this gun as regards kills; 
but spoiled many birds. Then I bought a re¬ 
peater, 32 in. barrel, 12 gauge and did nothing 
but shoot ducks for five years or so. Then I 
went again to shooting woodcock, grouse and 
quail. I also cut off this 32 in. barrel to 26 in., 
then to 25 in., then to 24 in., then to 23 in. 
Now I am shooting the same gun, cylinder bore 
23 in. long, and find it the most satisfactory of 
any of the length I have ever used. I have 
shot but one bird to pieces in twelve or 
fifteen years. I like No. 8 shot for grouse but 
have killed very many of them with No. 10. In 
mixed shooting, that is, grouse and woodcock, I 
should choose as the most satisfactory gun, a 
double barrel 6% lb-, 12 gauge, right cylinder; 
left slightly choked; No. 10 shot in right, No. 
8 shot in left; length of barrel from 23 to 25 
inches. I think the 10 and 20 gauge guns must 
be killers, but I am at a loss to know how they 
kill at the distance they do, and not cut up the 
birds at close range. I should like very much 
to hear from others in regard to the shooting of 
their birds. 
UNCLE DUDLEY. 
PROTECTING BIRDS AT LIGHTHOUSES. 
A new device has been invented by Heer J. 
P. Thijsse, of Utrecht, for protecting migrat¬ 
ing birds at light-houses. The destruction of 
birds by light-houses is very great and many 
of the records of migrating birds used by the 
Biological Survey of the United States De¬ 
partment of Agriculture are obtained through 
light-house keepers, who report or forward speci¬ 
mens of birds found on the mornings of spring 
and autumn on the gallery beneath the light. 
Heer Thijsse believed that death resulted not 
so much from the birds striking the light as 
from their flying “dazed and weary, round and 
round the incomprehensible gleam until they 
dropped down exhausted” into the sea or onto 
the light-house gallery. His remedy was to 
place below the light a set of perches on which 
the birds could rest, when tired out, until the 
return of day, when they could resume their 
interrupted journey reinvigorated. His device 
has been tried at the great Terschelling Light 
for three years with notable success. It is re¬ 
ported that his “rests” have reduced the loss 
of bird life at that light “from thousands in 
a night to something like a hundred in the whole 
migration season.” 
In consequence of this demonstration of the 
utility of the “rests” the British Royal Society 
for the Protection of Birds installed similar 
ones at two British light-houses, St. Catherine’s 
(Isle of Wight) and the Caskets (off Alderney). 
These proved likewise successful, the birds 
crowding the perches on dark or misty nights 
and taking wing once more in the morning, and 
the Society purposes to extend the scheme to 
five other light-houses where many birds perish. 
The original cost of installation of the Thijsse 
rests is from £60 to £100, and the running ex¬ 
penses are about £10 to £15 a year each—the 
perches have to be taken down and re-erected 
twice a year for cleaning and other purposes 
and the labor involved is considerable, especially 
at light-houses which stand out at sea. 
BIRDS OF PARADISE ON LITTLE TOBAGO 
ISLAND. 
The report for the current year received of 
the greate'r birds of paradise introduced by Sir 
William Ingram on the Island of Little Tobago 
