FOREST AND STREAM 
721 
in the West Indies five years ago is that six 
males, ten females, and one young bird have 
been noted by the care-taker. The island is nota¬ 
ble, not only through Sir William Ingram’s ex¬ 
periment, but also because of the presence there 
of barnyard fowls, descendants of stock belong¬ 
ing to a former occupant, which have reverted 
to the original habits of the species and are 
to be properly classed among the self-supporting 
wild birds of the forest. The care-taker, Bob 
Herold, who is a native of Zurich, Switzerland, 
lives alone on the island, with only a donkey 
and a dog for company. 
NEW EGYPTIAN BIRD LAW. 
A new bird-protective law in Egypt provides a 
£10 gun license and prohibits killing, taking, sell¬ 
ing, or possessing (alive or dead) egrets, 
larks, wagtails, pipits, warblers, flycatchers, 
wheatears, hoopoes, bee-eaters, orioles, plovers, 
or other birds “useful to agriculture.” Shooting 
and netting at night are also prohibited. 
FEEDING STAND IN A CITY PARK. 
A feeding stand for birds is to be erected 
in one of the public parks of Erie, Pa. 
NEW RULINGS ON RHEA PLUMAGE. 
The Treasury Department withdrew the em¬ 
bargo on rhea feathers on the ground that they 
are technically ostrich plumes. On November 
9 this ruling was reversed, as investigation 
showed that wild rheas are being exterminated 
for their plumage. It appearing on further in¬ 
vestigation, however, that in some instances the 
feathers imported have been plucked from do¬ 
mesticated rheas, a third ruling was issued on 
November 19 to allow entry of rhea feathers 
on presentation of satisfactory evidence that they 
were taken from domesticated birds. 
BIRD-OF-PARADISE PLUMAGE IN THE 
UNITED STATES. 
During the month preceding the passage of 
the Plumage Law last year dealers in the United 
States imported 4,500 skins of the greater and 
lesser birds-of-paradise. 
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MUST PAY 
BOUNTIES BEFORE GETTING MONEY. 
Harrisburg, Pa., Nov. 27th, 1914. 
County commissioners in the State of Penn¬ 
sylvania who have refused to pay bounty claims 
for pelts of noxious animals, on which an act 
of the last Legislature created a bounty, are 
likely to find themselves in a pretty pickle unless 
they act at once, according to an open letter sent 
to the county commissioners of this State by Dr. 
Joseph Kalbfus of Harrisburg, secretary of the 
State Game Commission. 
These officials, who have been refusing, despite 
the clear wording of the law and the opinion 
handed down by the Attorney-General of Penn¬ 
sylvania, to the effect that county commissioners 
are obliged to honor all legitimate bounty claims, 
to pay bounties because the Legislature had as 
yet failed to appropriate the money to reimburse 
the counties, will be unable to collect any of the 
special fund raised by the resident hunters’ 
license law. 
The commissioners must have paid out for 
bounties the sum they desire to collect before 
they can receive in return any of the State 
money for bounties which will be appropriated 
as soon as the Legislature convenes next Janu¬ 
ary. Those who have not paid bounties cannot 
collect the amount of the bounty claims piled up 
against them, and, consequently, the purpose of 
the law is defeated. 
BEWARE THE CHIGGER. 
Beware the Missouri chigger! 
He’s a devil of a digger. 
If your calf he loves to bore, 
And your thigh he loves still more, 
While your stomach’s just delicious; 
And as he bores up higher, 
You swear you’re all on fire 
And scratch yourself outrageous. 
But he’s got you in his grip, 
And will spoil your finest trip, 
If you don’t look out, 
Then ’ware the Missouri chigger, 
For he’s a devil of a digger; 
For him you are no match, 
And he’ll bring you to the scratch, 
If you don’t look out. 
Set to proper music, how would the above do 
for the Missouri State song?—St- Louis Demo¬ 
crat. — 
THE PHEASANT SLAUGHTER. 
Brockton, Mass., Nov. 27. 
The final report of the pheasant season esti¬ 
mates the number of birds killed by Massachu¬ 
setts hunters at about 8,500, nearly one-third of 
which were obtained in Essex county. This is 
not quite the slaughter that was threatened at 
the opening of the season, nor does it corroborate 
all the testimony as to the pheasant’s sickly tame¬ 
ness. That the hunting was too easy, however, 
seems to be the opinion of the state game author¬ 
ities, and a shortening of the open season next 
year may be expected, if present recommenda¬ 
tions are accepted. The legislature should re¬ 
ceive a full report of the pheasant season, with 
details on the value of the birds. It should not 
be difficult to deal sensibly with the situation and 
rescue this state from its present reputation as 
a wanton slaughterer of useful creatures. 
IS A DEER A DANGEROUS ANIMAL? 
Bayonne, N. J., Nov. 23. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I enclose an item from a daily paper, which 
is deserving of editorial comment. 
Deer performed odd tricks in Rockland, West¬ 
chester and Putnam counties yesterday, one hurl¬ 
ing Thomas B. Birdsall, of Highland Falls, in 
Piermont, from a motorcycle which it ran down, 
and breaking his left arm. Dashing across the 
road from behind a covered truck when pur¬ 
sued by dogs, it jumped on to the motorcycle, 
landed in the ditch with the machine, regained 
its feet and escaped in the woods. 
Policeman Eberspacher chased a big buck after 
it got its antlers caught and tore down lines of 
clothes in Dobbs Ferry, until it escaped over the 
Ardsley Club’s golf links. 
Another big buck, plunging over a high fence 
in Carmel, landed in a wheelbarrow beside Jerry 
Donegan, and scared him so that he could do 
nothing toward capturing it. 
Why are these poor animals invariably pur¬ 
sued by dogs, policemen and vigilance commit¬ 
tees every time they put in an appearance near 
a “civilized community?” 
Are they as dangerous as lions, or do they 
threaten the morality of our rural villages? 
“DOB.” 
(After having investigated a number of these 
alleged deer episodes, we have found most of 
them to come from the imaginative brain of 
cub reporters after a visit to the Bronx Zoo, 
where they have let their minds dwell on what 
a deer could do—but doesn’t.—Editor) 
A REAL CANADIAN SMOKE. 
When you cross the line into Canada and your 
pipe burns low, slip into a tobacco shop and buy 
a can of Forest and Stream tobacco. You’ll 
recognize the can, because the title and style of 
type were made to appeal to real sportsmen— 
just the same as the title of your own maga¬ 
zine—and quality, well, we don't mind sharing 
quality and title. This tobacco cannot be bought 
in the United States. The cut of the can here¬ 
with shows what you want. 
ANENT THE CANADIAN “PORKY.” 
A few months ago there appeared in one of 
your numbers an article about the Canadian 
porcupine. I read the same with a great deal 
of interest; and inasmuch as I disagreed with 
the author as regards several of his statements, 
I am sending you this article, together with a 
photograph which I took while on my vacation 
last month. 
The author ridiculed the idea of a porcupine 
chewing up moose or deer horns, asking what 
possible nutrition Mr. Porky could get out of a 
“hard as flint” deer horn, etc., etc. 
Never having, to my remembrance, been a por¬ 
cupine, I can’t state reasons why, but I can state 
that Porky does gnaw both moose and deer horns, 
regardless of their conditoin of succulency. 
Neither do I see what impels a chicken to bolt 
juicy bits of broken crockery and tasty pebbles, 
but the facts of the case are that said chicken 
is guilty of just such performances. 
I have repeatedly found both deer and moose 
horns in the New Brunswick woods, much mu¬ 
tilated by some animal. On inquiry of the lum¬ 
bermen and hunting guides, I was told that Mr. 
Porky was the guilty party. In fact, no other 
