May 25, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
659 
it has by no means been so popular as venison 
among those who relish wild game. The venison 
has been supplied from the nearby States, while 
in most instances the bears have been shipped 
from the Adirondack Mountains, so the dealers 
claimed. 
Probably one of the oldest deer parks in this 
country is on the Mount Vernon estate, the home 
of President George Washington, located on the 
Potomac River, fifteen miles south of the national 
Capitol. The park, which was first established 
by Lawrence Washington, the older brother of 
the President, and from whom the latter in¬ 
herited the estate, now contains only a dozen 
head of the fallow deer. They are kept for orna¬ 
ment and for sentimental reasons, as no effort is 
made to breed them extensively. Occasionally 
one is sold, permission first being secured from 
the ladies’ association which own the estate. Dur¬ 
ing one of the wind and rain storms in Decem¬ 
ber last, one of the deer became frightened and 
leaped over the inclosure which is located be¬ 
tween the mansion and the river, and after sur¬ 
veying the situation sprang into the river and 
swam to the Maryland shore, disappearing in the 
woods beyond. President Washington was very 
fond of hunting and kept the very best hunt ng 
dogs and horses. Although the Virginia forests 
abounded with game, he always kept up his deer 
park, using them for venison whenever occasion 
and increasing numbers of visitors drew too 
heavily upon his time and opportunity for the 
chase. That deer may be raised at a profit by 
anyone at prevailing prices is apparent, for with 
venison selling for fifty cents per pound, it is 
very much more profitable than raising beef. 
Live deer for stocking purposes may be easily 
secured and are quoted to-day at $60 each for 
the fallow and $35 each for the Virginia. Most 
any sportsman who has a few acres of ground 
can easily raise his own venison. To those in¬ 
terested, the United States Biological Survey will 
offer information and instruction. 
Government agents protecting the herds and 
seal hunters alike, domiciled through the long 
arctic days on the Pribilof Islands, off Alaska, 
will in future years feast on venison. Two herds 
of reindeer have been transported from the main 
land by the revenue cutter Bear, one of the herds 
going to St. George’s Island and the other to 
St. Paul’s Island. The deer were shipped from 
St. Michael, Alaska. According to reports from 
St. Paul Island, the herd there is flourishing 
under the skilled hand of Oliver Angoolook, a 
Government herder. The herd has twenty-one 
cows and four bulls, and the St. Paul islanders 
are counting on twenty-one calves in the spring. 
Most of the bulls in this lot of calves will be 
killed for food. Since their landing the reindeer 
have ranged the island pretty widely. These 
deer are some of the offspring of the original rein¬ 
deer imported into Alaska from Russia, which have 
been domesticated within the last ten years or 
so. The United States Government finding the 
necessity of furnishing meat to the natives, the 
bureau of education undertook to furnish this 
fresh meat diet to the inhabitants by teaching 
them to raise reindeer which has become a part 
of the household necessities of the Alaskan as 
with the Laplander. Not only is the reindeer 
being raised for the domestic use of the natives 
of Alaska, but has become a source of profit to 
them, for they are now shipping the venison to 
the Washington and California markets. 
A Motor Cycle Hunting Trip. 
BY EDWARD RYAN. 
Those who have trekked across fields and 
through woods in search of game and eked out 
several hours unsuccessfully know something of 
the sting of disappointment which had been the 
lot of hunters in lower New York before the 
advent of the motor cycle. Complains that game 
was “dying out” served as excuses for luckless 
sportsmen. They said the fascination of a day's 
outing and the pleasure of finding an abundance 
of game had passed away with the Dutch 
pioneers. 
Like many hunters I shared this pessimism. 
My hunting jaunts were fruitless. Cottontail, 
A day’s bag. 
woodcock, partridge, quail and other game seemed 
to have left no ancestors except the tame creat¬ 
ures in the zoological gardens. My motor cycle 
had been carrying me to so many seemingly im¬ 
possible places that it was appealed to at last to 
take me to the byways and hedges. I hoped by 
leaving the beaten path to find the rabbit or game 
bird at play. 
The two routes generally taken by hunters, the 
public highway and the railroad, led almost al¬ 
ways to beautiful, but gameless woods and fields. 
My motor cycle proved the last resort. It was 
capable of making any road at any season, but 
it seemed too much for my hunting dog to have 
to follow me for fifteen or twenty miles and then 
chase up the game. To leave him behind was 
impossible, for without a good dog, hunting loses 
much of its charm. I at last succeeded in fast¬ 
ening a basket on the rear guard and strapped 
him inside. Then it was only a “twist of the 
wrist” and I was on my way. 
I surprised the rabbits at their game of hide 
and seek in the underbrush, and the game birds 
who expected no intruders became easy prey. 
My machine was soon laden with the fruits of 
a day’s recreation, and I felt no fatigue, although 
I had spent the greater part of the day roaming 
about the out of doors. A former day’s trip 
even with pockets laden with game would have 
been spoiled by the tiresome ‘ hike” home. With 
my motor cycle the relurn merely added more 
pleasure to the day’s hunt. 
For three years now, in either winter or sum¬ 
mer, my “little brother to the automobile” has 
taken me to many hunting grounds about Pough¬ 
keepsie. Even “fisherman’s luck’’ has been dis¬ 
pelled. Big game, too, was added to my list when 
last fall I shot a fox, one of the species abundant 
when New York was wilderness. 
Economic Value of the Pheasant. 
Albany, N. Y., May iS -— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The economic value of the pheasant is 
the subject of an interesting report to the Con¬ 
servation Commission by Superintendent Rogers 
of the State Game Farm. The popularity of the 
pheasant in New York State has steadily in¬ 
creased since the introduction of this splendid 
game bird a few years ago. Although the output 
of pheasants and pheasants’ eggs at the State 
farm will be more than doubled this year, the 
5,000 pheasants and 30,000 eggs now in prospect 
for this season will not supply more than one- 
fourth of the demand. 
Superintendent Rogers goes on to say in com¬ 
mendation of the pheasant: 
“The economic value of the pheasant far ex¬ 
ceeds that of the quail. Both are insectivorous 
birds, but the quail only to a certain extent. In¬ 
vestigations show that over 130 species of insects 
are sought for food by the pheasant. As an in¬ 
sect destroyer the pheasant has no equal, ffhe 
pheasant will consume enormous quantities of 
the wire-worm or potato grub, as well as the 
potato bug and other ill smelling bugs which 
many other birds avoid on account of their ob¬ 
noxious odor. Prominent among the other in¬ 
sects which the pheasant devours ravenously are 
the Colorado potato beetle, the squash bug, the 
cucumber and bean leaf beetle, the tomato and 
cut worm, the cabbage worms and the millers 
which deposit eggs for wire worms. 
“Pheasants are tireless in their search for in¬ 
sect food. In winter they can be seen looking 
over dead leaves, picking off the larvae of Ae 
different tree insects deposited on the under side 
and inspecting every old stump or fallen tree to 
find some delicacy to add to their daily menu. 
“In addition to destroying enormous quantities 
of insects injurious to growing crops, they also 
consume obnoxious weed seeds, such as thistles, 
wild carrot, mustard seed and the seeds of the 
milk weed.” 
Superintendent Rogers reiterates the import¬ 
ance of the pheasant as a game bird. The pheas¬ 
ant is much more hardy and prolific than the 
quail, usually rearing two broods each season, 
and from fifteen to twenty birds in a brood. The 
pheasant is able to withstand severe winter con¬ 
ditions, and thrives in this climate where weaker 
game birds perish during the season of deep 
snows and low temperatures. 
Conservation Department. 
