Feb. 3, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
143 
CL.^RENCE H. MACKAY S TROPHIES, RECENTLY PRESENTED BY HIM TO THE NATIONAL COLLECTION OF HEADS AND HORNS IN THE NEW Y'ORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK 
of the quail. They seemed to have split up in 
small bands, going this way and that, and hold¬ 
ing close to the habitations of man. I searched 
other known places for evidence of the bobwhite 
and hunted up a farmer who had seen quite a 
number early one morning in the yard. They 
had been around his corn stocks that were piled 
high on all sides. He did not take much interest 
in birds, anyhow, he said, but wished he had had 
a gun because he knew quail were good eating. 
Of the birds I noticed some juncos, a lone chick¬ 
adee and a bluejay. 
The next morning I went over the same course. 
At the first roost there w'ere no new victims, so 
continued on to a new locality. In a strip 
of pines, cedars and other planted trees I found 
bluejays, juncos, chickadees, sapsuckers and a 
butcher bird. At the trap I found a weasel. 
Wisely enough he had skirted around the bait, 
but had fallen victim to the second trap, set a 
little to one side. He was pure white with the 
black tip at the end of his tail. 
In the second trap I found not a weasel, but 
a muskrat. This was most surprising, for I have 
not seen a muskrat in this part of the country 
since the swamps dried up two years ago. At that 
time they a'l left the country and made their 
homes along the river. This rat evidently had 
his hole somewhere along that open watercourse 
and had stumbled on to the trap with its bait in 
his wanderings. I found no further evidence of 
the quail. Undoubtedly there are many big 
bevies yet, and I am going to ascertain for cer¬ 
tain just how great the damage is. I understand 
that postmen in the rural districts have asked 
leave of the Government to feed the birds along 
their routes. This certainly should be granted 
them, for there is no limit to the good they 
might do while passing along day by day. I 
should think that the farmers would do some¬ 
thing for the help'ess birds, but they do not 
seem to take any interest in them here. 
Robert Page Lincoln. 
Mistaken for a Turkey. 
The New York Times printed a dispatch from 
Portland, Ark., on Jan. 27, saying that D. L. 
Bain, a merchant, planter and banker of that 
town, died that afternoon from a gunshot wound 
inflicted accidentally early that morning by a 
young man named Simons, while hunting turkeys 
near Empire, in Chicoti county. The bullet en¬ 
tered Mr. Bain’s right side, and an operation 
failed to save him. 
Mr. Bain and Simons were hunting turkeys in 
the same locality and both were calling at the 
same time. They did not know of each other’s 
presence, and when Mr. Bam answered young 
Simon’s call, the latter fired at him, thinking 
him a turkey. As soon as he discovered his mis¬ 
take, Simons called assistance and Mr. Bain was 
taken home. 
He was one of the most prominent figures in 
South Arkansas and was at the head of D. L. 
Bain & Co., at Portland. He was heavily in¬ 
terested in banks and owned several large planta¬ 
tions. 
New York Legislature. 
Assemblyman Thompson, of Suffolk, has in¬ 
troduced a bill excepting wild ducks, geese, brant 
and other wild waterfowl from the restrictions 
placed by this section upon selling game birds 
and song birds for food purposes. 
