814 
music, and to gauge his actions accordingly. A 
wise old fellow I took him to be. Perhaps he 
was one of the deceiving clan, even one of those 
to which ,storjqs of human intelligence and cun¬ 
ning are accredited. Then perhaps already he 
had , been up to backtracking tricks and other 
methods whereby the pursuers might be eluded. 
How long I waited, there I do not know. 'Were 
it not for the inordinate fascination that as¬ 
serted itself in my consciousness I doubt if I 
would have been so enthused. But there I stood. 
My watch registered one hour; another almost 
slipped by when to my sensitive ears there came 
the sound of the baying deliberately edging my 
way. The dogs were coming toward us! 
I froze rigid in my tracks; the gun rose to 
ready; and I played a fidgetty devil’s tattoo upon 
the stock with my fingers. Coming nearer; sure 
FOREST AND STREAM 
enough; sure enough; and I wondered cease¬ 
lessly, tremblingly wondered— would, he come my 
way. I saw the beautiful fur, clothing a beauti¬ 
ful body; I saw the 'handsome brush—and I 
felt, that, given a clean shot he would be mine. 
Now I noted one most detrimental thing. Snow 
flurries eddied through the air. The day was 
now profoundly still. Silence lay over the gray 
landscape unbroken, and one 'by one the snow¬ 
flakes fluttered back and forth and came noise¬ 
lessly to ground. In not so long a time I judged 
it would be snowing quite heavy. Would this 
mean disaster to our luck? Would the snow 
come to help old reynard cover his trail or had 
the dogs approached so near to him that they 
could make up the lost time? As I stood now in 
concealment eying the ravine mouth I suddenly 
felt a thrill run up my spine; I stiffened; the 
moment had come. 
For there, like a detached wood shadow, and 
low down to the snow moved the object of 
all my exacting deliberations. The fox had come 
to view. He had chosen the route that led 
my way. In a sweep of the eye I noted that 
the tail was lying low, even dusting the snow; 
and the head was bent also; the tongue far 
lolling. He was fatigued, and was making a 
last run for safety. The baying of the dogs 
came nearer. The fox was not fifty yards away. 
My gun covered him. Closer, closer; he stopped, 
and pausing with head lifted, looked backward. 
The ivory bead held to the ear. 
Spat! 
The brush was mine. 
Weekly Reports From Our Local Correspondents 
PLANS CLOSING OF LAKE FOR WINTER. 
Worcester, Mass., Dec. 19. 
President Frederick Mucklin, Major Charles S. 
Holden and Eugene J. Riordan of Worcester 
County Fish and Game Association appointed to 
secure, if possible, the closing of the main body 
of Lake Quinsigamond to winter fishing as a 
protection for the ehinook salmon in the lake, 
will have a meeting shortly. 
Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner Jay N. 
Snell, who has superintended the distribution of 
salmon in the lake the last few years, is in favor 
of the measure, and also believes a limit should 
be placed on the number of salmon that a fisher¬ 
man may kill during the legal fishing season. 
Deputy Snell favors the closing of the main body 
of the lake to fishing except during the open 
season on trout and salmon, which is from April 
1 to July 31 inclusive. 
“If fishing at the lake is not prohibited during 
the close season on trout and salmon, fishermen 
will catch salmon despite anything that may be 
done to prevent. There have been many salmon 
caught at the lake this fall, and big ones, too. I 
have seen a large number caught which were put 
back, but there were many caught which I did 
not see, and not put back. I have heard enough 
to realize that some were caught illegally. 
“It is a most difficult matter to prevent the 
catching of salmon out of season while condi¬ 
tions reman as they are now. Fishing in the 
lake is permitted after the close of the fishing 
season on salmon. The fishermen can fish for 
pickerel under the law after the salmon season 
closes, and are, of course, liable to catch salmon. 
“Some sort of a law should also be enacted to 
limit the number of salmon that a fisherman may 
kill in a day. With most fishermen the enjoy¬ 
ment comes in catching the fish. If the fisher¬ 
man was permitted to catch all he could, but re¬ 
tain only a few, the supply in the lake would be 
kept up and plenty of sport furnished for every 
fisherman. 
“They won’t be able to derrick salmon out next 
season as they did last,” continued Mr. Snell. 
“Some of the fish will be so large next season 
that it will be risky to haul them in hand over 
hand and lift them into the boat as was done by 
most of the fishermen last season.” 
FINED $50 FOR KILLING DEER. 
Nashua, N. H., Dec. 15.—Adolph O. Gester, 
a youth of Hudson, was fined $50 and costs 
and sentenced to jail for 60 days, jail sentence 
suspended, for shooting a deer in Hudson dur¬ 
ing the closed season. He was arrested through 
the work of Deputy Fish and Game Commis¬ 
sioner John Wentworth of Hudson. 
The boy fired two shots at the deer, the first 
one missing and the second killing. Deputy 
Wentworth came across the blood in the snow, 
and following it up found some of the hair 
and later the carcass with the hind quarters 
missing. The blood was traced further to the 
home of young Gester. The boy was closely 
questioned by the deputy and finally admitted 
that he shot the deer and had hidden the hind 
quarters. He took the deputy to an old well 
on the other side of the road from his house 
and there they were hidden under rocks, apple 
tree boughs and snow. 
BOY HUNTS TEN MINUTES; KILLS BIG¬ 
GEST BUCK. 
Winton, Minn., Dec. 5.—Robert Whitten, four¬ 
teen years old, is the youngest successful hunter 
of the season in this section. He brought in 
the largest deer of the season, a 210-pound, 
five-prong buck, the result of a ten-minute hunt. 
AN APPEAL FOR HELP IN FEEDING OUR 
WILD BIRDS. 
You perhaps are wasting every day more than 
enough to keep the birds in your community in 
food for many days, and I beg of you to see 
to it that this is done: Grain scattered for Bob- 
White or other game birds, a lump of suet or 
fresh pork hung up in some place where the 
downy woodpecker or the kinglet or the nut¬ 
hatch may find it; crumbs and small seeds for 
the little ground feeding birds, will surely be ap¬ 
preciated by them in this their time of need, 
and will bring to you a return through the life- 
work of these birds that cannot be expressed 
in words or figures. You may not be able to 
do much in yourself, but you can do some little 
thing. 
I have a friend in western Pennsylvania who 
has his heart in the right place, and when the 
snow fell out there last week he used his tele¬ 
phone in starting his neighbor in the work of 
feeding birds. One neighbor called to another 
until the whole community was interested. The 
