45^ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 20, 1909. 
Adirondack Game. 
Northwood, N. Y., March 15. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Every last woodsman says that 
he never saw so many partridges as he has seen 
this spring. Certainly in my ten years or so 
of wandering about this southwestern portion 
of the Adirondacks never have I seen so many 
of these birds. They may be flushed in every 
patch of woods and their tracks trace the snow 
every which way. When the thick crust came 
in January we feared that perhaps many of 
them were frozen under it, but walks in the 
woods revealed that the same number of birds 
remained, so far as the observation went. Then 
came the great sleet storm which covered the 
twigs with an inch of ice. The sleet remained 
three days and it was evident from the bird 
tracks that they were hard put to find an un¬ 
covered bud. But the third day came with a 
thaw so that in the afternoon enough of the 
ice was off the trees to enable the birds to get 
at the buds. When the ice was on the trees 
hundreds of limbs fell, and when the ice melted 
substantial ice rods dropped to the ground. It 
is likely a few of the birds were hurt by the 
bombardment. A bluejay was found just after 
he was killed in this manner. At present the 
forest floor is covered with thousands of limbs 
and in some places it is almost a continuous 
brush heap. It took three men two days to clean 
out a woods road a couple of miles in length, 
for many trees also were crushed to the ground. 
The result is that the partridges now get their 
buds from the limbs on the ground. The rab¬ 
bits, too, are gorging themselves, although these 
animals are not so plentiful as three or four 
years ago. 
The deer likewise are prospering, especially 
since the sleet. During a large part of the win¬ 
ter the crust was thick enough to support them. 
Never in my recollection has there been such 
a crust. Teams of horses actually drew small 
loads of logs upon it. One could travel any¬ 
where as on a pavement. Thus, as one woods¬ 
man said, deer could run just as well as on 
bare ground. Eldridge A. Spears. 
Grouse and Automobiles. 
New York, March 6 . — Editor Forest and 
Stream: One day last November while out for 
woodcock an incident occurred which may be 
of interest to your readers, as it shows how 
close a ruffed grouse will lie under certain con¬ 
ditions. We were using a motor runabout as 
a shooting trap, with the rear deck raised and 
the box fitted up with a big horse blanket for 
the setter to lie on, if he would, although usually 
he preferred to stand up. 
Our first cover was reached after .climbing 
a hill through heavy sand, and as I had to go 
back into my low gear, we were making plenty 
of noise when I reached the top, and drove out 
of the road some twenty feet into a clearing 
and .stopped. My father got out, and I told 
him that while he took the dog through the 
nearby woodcock ground I would gather some 
chestnuts to take home. Accordingly he took 
the dog and walked off while I, after taking off 
my fur coat and making a slight adjustment on 
the engine, started for the nearest chestnut tree. 
I had gone but a few steps when a large cock 
grouse roared up some thirty feet from where 
the car stopped, and headed for the nearest 
woods fifty yards distant. Now this bird had 
lain for over ten minutes in what was practi¬ 
cally open ground, except for a few small oak 
bushes, and had let my father and the dog pass 
within twenty feet of him. I suppose when he saw 
me coming straight toward him it was too much. 
Our three dogs accepted the advent of an 
auto on the farm in rather varying spirits. The 
collie would get in when the engine was stopped, 
but the moment it started he always jumped out 
and barked at it. When I got in and the car 
began to move he rushed at it and snapped at 
the tires, exactly as he will snap at the hocks 
of cattle when they do not move quite quickly 
enough to satisfy him. The terrier would jump 
up on the seat if I called him and seemed to 
enjoy riding, but never barked or showed any 
particular eagerness. 
Dan, the setter, however, most heartily ap¬ 
proved of the car, and next to hunting there is 
nothing he enjoys more than a good spin over 
the roads. He seemed to realize that if it once 
started without him he stood a poor chance of 
overtaking it, for the moment I start to 'crank 
he leaps in and refuses to get out until the 
engine stops. Both the collie and the setter 
grew to distinguish between the sound of my 
motor and the scores of others which pass us 
in summer, and even if lying down in the house, 
would get up and run out to greet me before 
I reached the house. 
Early in the present month I received a four- 
cylinder 1909 runabout and drove it down to 
the farm. By the next day both the collie and 
setter could distinguish the sound of this motor 
from that of a number of other cars, which is 
more than most people can do. 
In the Connecticut valley I have seen red¬ 
wing blackbirds, meadow larks and “highholder” 
woodpeckers all winter. Joseph E. Bulkley. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., March 10.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: There is practically nothing in the 
hunting line at the present time to attract the 
attention of sportsmen, so most of them are 
studying up on the new provisions of the game 
laws recently passed by the State Legislature, 
but no one has been found as yet who can put 
a precise interpretation on any of the new rules. 
The new rulings have been couched in such un¬ 
familiar terms that hunters are puzzled as well 
as amused. For instance, the hunting of ducks 
is prohibited from motor boats or sneak decoy 
or sculling boats. Just what a “decoy boat” 
is is not clear to the shooting fraternity, and 
some very humorous suggestions have been 
made to explain the meaning of this term. It 
is now realized that what is most needed in this 
State in order to get some intelligent game regu¬ 
lations passed is for hunters to get together the 
same as the anglers have done and place their 
views regarding proper game laws before the 
legislators in a manner that would merit con¬ 
sideration. A. P. B. 
PURE MILK FOR BABY. 
Sanitary milk production was first started 
by Gail Borden in the early 50s. The best 
systems to-day are largely based on his 
methods, but none are so thorough and so 
rigidly enforced as the Borden System. Fon 
over fifty years the Eagle Brand Condensed 
Milk has proved its claim as the best food for 
infants.-^Hdz/. 
Neivfoundland Notes. 
St. Johns, N. F., March 6. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: That the postage between the United 
States and Newfoundland has been reduced to 
two cents will be good news to business men 
in each country. The different rates existing 
heretofore, and which were abolished on the 
first day of March, when a uniform rate of two 
cents postage was established between these 
countries, caused a lot of inconvenience. In 
some cases business men had to pay extra taxes 
on American letters amounting to hundreds of 
dollars every year. I had a large number of 
letters during the last few months from sports¬ 
men and others; seventeen or eighteen of them 
cost four or six cents extra postage. The most 
inconvenient part of it was that letters with the 
extra tax charged would not be delivered with 
the general mail, and unless one was present 
when the taxed mail came round, the postman 
would not deliver it. 
Great preparations are being made just now 
for the seal fishery. There have been added to 
the, fleet this year four powerful up-to-date 
steamers. The average catch for some years 
was about 300,000 seals. These divided up 
among about twenty steamers made the voyage 
profitable all around. If these new ships suc¬ 
ceed in striking the seals they will probably take 
the whole voyage between them. They are 
larger and . much more powerful than the old 
ships, can steam faster through the ice, can 
carry four or five times as many seals, and with 
ordinary luck ought to be able to capture the 
lion’s share and put the rest of the fleet out of 
the business in a year or two. 
“Going to the ice” is growing in favor with 
amateur sportsmen. A French journalist came 
out from Paris last year and made the trip and 
gave his experiences in an illustrated article in 
a Paris magazine. The trip lasts about six 
weeks and is full of experience and adventures, 
and an amateur sportsman getting a berth would 
live well and comfortably aboard one of our 
sealing ships. 
Clarence Foley, of Spread Eagle, captured two 
small bull birds at that place, a rare happening, 
as these little members of the feathered tribe 
are generally found on the sea coast. They 
were found at a point twenty-five miles inland, 
an unprecedented occurrence. 
Some pretty photos were received by S. E. 
Garland from St. Anthony by last mail. One 
of them is a photograph of the Laplander and 
his wife who are at present in the city. The 
woman seen in the picture is milking a young 
deer, while her husband is seen standing beside 
her. Mr. Garland became acquainted with them 
while on a visit to St. Anthony. 
Miss Lena Reid, daughter of the manager of 
the local telegraph office at Channel, distin¬ 
guished herself a few days ago at Grand Lake 
by shooting a magnificent caribou with twenty- 
five points. 
A fleet of boats were outside the Narrows one 
afternoon recently, their occupants being en¬ 
gaged in shooting waterfowl which are in myriads 
there the past few days. Hundreds of turs and 
many ducks were brought down by the gunners 
and Fred Coleman, of Bennett’s, was high liner. 
He shot twenty-one of the former species and 
in four days secured fifty-four. These birds are 
considered to be delicacies. W. J. Carroll. 
