FOREST AND STREAM. 
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[i?RlL 6, I907 ] 
Northern Pennsylvania Notes. 
ayre, Pa., March 22 . —Editor Forest and 
\ a m: At this writing the weather is show- 
itself in a gentler mood, and although the 
ounding hills look for the most part white 
defiant, the caressing touch of an invisible 
d is making all nature kind, 
obins long since made their presence felt, 
on the sunny sides of orchards the exhil- 
ing song of the bluebird fortells the near 
roach of the season when the oldest in¬ 
fant renews his youth. Wildfowl have for 
past fortnight been moving northward; in 
a movement on the part of all outdoor 
has been underway to an extent quite un- 
for March. 
he past winter in many respects proved of 
eptional character, and while it was devoid 
those extremes of temperature, as a rule 
ilous to game, long periods of steady cold 
.ther. with a considerable snowfall in wood 
;ts, has rendered it uncomfortable for such 
Is" to feed regularly, and in quantities, to 
ig them through the season in the top-notch 
dition. At any rate, the opinion of observers 
0 have business over the game country is 
the effect, that although the birds have 
tered fairly well, and in favored sections ex- 
tionally well, the average is not above other 
rs when extremes of temperature and un- 
al weather conditions have prevailed. Given 
ormal nesting season, however, it is fair to 
icipate a grouse supply for next autumn 
y the equal of former years, 
he quail supply has, as a general local prob- 
ji, ceased to be seriously considered. Here 
1 there are to be found some nice little 
ies; but through the most painstaking efforts 
farmers and sportsmen are these birds 
1; irished and given a chance to live. Local 
timent for or against their extinction ap- 
.rs to be practically inert; and an inert senti- 
nt may be described as the root of many 
i is. ’ M. Chill. 
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Bird Emigrants. 
’he A of swiftly southward flying geese tells 
own tale. Ice is forming up north. So 
f ;ward bound the gander leads the way to 
I ;n water, until spring, when facing north- 
1 rd, we hear the horn-like honking far up in 
skies and know that spring is coming. So 
in the north, in the mosquito-infested 
imps, where these pests are so numerous and 
'Odthirsty that the fevered, egg-loving ani- 
I Is do not dare to come around and disturb 
!: nesting birds, they rear their young. The 
isquito, it is said, saves to us our northern- 
■eding wildfowl, for were it not for these, the 
1 '-stealers would long ago have exterminated 
I ducks and geese. 
io in remembrance of this service, perhaps 
I I hunter, in his blind in the salt marsh, will 
I d more gently and swear less at the little 
r ;zing fellows who strive so hard to become 
>od relations with him. The geese and ducks 
en they start out are in no hurry. The open 
ughs and golden wheat stubble of Canada, 
1 nnesota and the Dakotas attract them, and 
. y linger around for days, or, until shot at 
; ies out of number, they get disgusted and 
; ve on, flying high. When you come to think 
it, the ducks and geese might be said to suffer 
, m a continuous salute of twenty-one guns at 
:ry stopping place, and when they finally 
och the Atlantic coast is it a wonder they 
I nch way out in the bay? 
The woodcock, bunched together for com- 
lionship, suddenly appear on the sunny hill- 
es, and, if the weather is settled and warm, 
i 'e you no end of fun for a week, yes, two 
: eks, when, like the Arab, they have stolen 
ay. Perhaps a fat, lazy old straggler or two 
y be picked up, but the main army has taken 
flight. 
The English snipe has no use for a frozen 
' rsh, and they, too, have said farewell and 
i er > their tortuous way to the everglades and 
amps of the south, only to return to 11s with 
fi rst dandelion blossom that thrusts its yel- 
1 >' head from beneath the brown sod. 
I 
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HI 
Our quail and partridge remain with us and 
weather the storms, if they can only get food. 
The quail is a ground-feeding bird, and when 
snow and sleet combine against him, there is 
nothing left but starvation. The farmer who 
sees that there is always some cracked grain in 
the box under the blackberry thicket, protected 
from the north by the old hemlock, is never 
without a bevy around the farm, no matter how 
cold and how many sleety days have come. 
The partridge will eat spruce and birch buds, 
berries and other things, and being much 
hardier than the quail, he gets along. The owl 
and fox wage constant war upon him, but he 
manages to fight the cold weather successfully. 
The kingfisher, the swallows, robins, king¬ 
birds, waxwings, highholders, cuckoos, wrens, 
bluebirds, thrushes and others join the great 
army and move south. Some crows remain 
with us all winter, picking up a precarious living 
here. 
The jay likes to stay around. I have walked 
through an oak grove when it has been —20 de¬ 
grees, when not a leaf stirred, the silence of 
the dead reigning, save for the crunching of the 
snow under my feet, when out from an old oak 
would come a jay to perch himself upon a 
nearby limb and begin to scold just as he might 
on a day in the leafy month of June. He has 
not marked the shallow acorn storehouses, be- 
CAT NURSING FOX CUBS. 
From the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. 
ing filled during the fall by the red squirrels, in 
vain. He knows every one of them, and many 
is the fight between fur and feather, the feather 
generally, if not always, winning. The jay is of 
the lowest form of socialistic freebooters, who 
forces his more fortunate, because industrious, 
neighbor to divide. 
So, it is a constant fight for not only the 
means of living, but for. life itself. The little 
red squirrel has saved his life during the sum¬ 
mer and now he must fight to save his winter s 
supplies from the bird who did not go south. 
Charles Cristadoro. 
Egret Protecting Decision. 
The Audubon Society of Louisiana has just 
won a legal battle and secured in a high court 
a verdict on appeal, which, it is believed, renders 
milliners and others in possession of egret’s 
feathers liable to severe punishment. Judge 
Chretien, of New Orleans, has sustained the 
verdict of the lower court and sentenced the 
proprietor of a millinery store to a fine of $50 
or a term of 30 days in jail. Judge Chretien’s 
opinion upholds the “model” lawjwhich is now in 
force in so many States of the Union, and will 
enable the societies to take summary action 
against milliners. 
The growth of the feeling against the use of 
egret plumes is increasing among English-speak¬ 
ing people. Queen Alexandra of England, and 
Mrs. Roosevelt, of Washington, have ranged 
themselves on the side of the bird protectors, 
and it is hoped that this feeling will continue 
to grow. 
The Forest and Stream will be glad to be put in com¬ 
munication with all owners, superintendents and man¬ 
agers of boys’ summer camps all over the country. It 
has under consideration a project which it is believed 
will be interesting to and will meet the approval of those 
interested in the instruction and guidance of youth, and 
it desires their assistance in carrying it out. Full in¬ 
formation given on request. Address Camp Department. 
The Last Buffalo in Nebraska. 
During the past winter there has been some 
discussion in central Nebraska newspapers as 
to when the last buffalo was killed in Nebraska. 
Some people seem to put this as far back as 
1865, while most of us are well aware that in 
southern Nebraska there were plenty of buffalo 
eight or nine years later. 
Any details about such matters are interesting 
at this date, and we are glad to copy the inclosed- 
item from the Shelton Clipper: 
“When we reprinted the item in last week’s 
Clipper from the Grand Island Independent re¬ 
ferring to the fact that William Stolley, of 
Grand Island, had in his possession the horns 
of the last buffalo killed in Hall county, we ex¬ 
pected to have some of the old-timers hereabouts 
take exception to the statements made in the 
item and we were not mistaken. The animal 
mentioned by Mr. Stolley must have been killed 
in 1865, as that was the year of President 
Lincoln’s death. Monday A. F. Bills and Henry 
Peck, both of whom were residents of Hall 
county at that time, called at the Clipper office 
and informed us that Mr. Stolley was away 
off in thinking that the animal he killed in 1865 
was the last one killed in Hall county. They 
each cited a case of a buffalo that was killed 
by Mr. Bill’s stepfather, Pike Lewton, on the 
farm of Dick Keefe between Shelton and Wood 
River on or about April 20, 1873, eight years 
after Mr. Stolley killed his buffalo. At this time 
a bunch of five buffalo was chased by hunters 
along the south side of the Platte River and 
passed the river at a point southeast of Shelton. 
They kept on northward, and when they reached 
a point just north of the Union Pacific railroad, 
one of the animals lay down to rest in Mr. 
Keefe’s wheat field. Mr. Lewton, who lived 
nearby, saw the buffalo and went into the house 
and got his gun. When he came out four of 
the buffalo had disappeared, but the one that had 
laid down, evidently to rest, was still there. 
Taking a roundabout course and keeping out 
of sight of the game, he came up on it from the 
rear and with a single shot killed it. The ani¬ 
mal was butchered and distributed out among 
the settlers for several miles around. It was 
reported that another one of the bunch was 
killed by another man near Cameron. As these 
were the last buffalo ever seen in this vicinity 
it is probable that the one killed by Mr. Lewton 
and by the man at Cameron were the last 
ones killed in Hall county.” 
This may have been the last buffalo killed in 
Hall county, but we know very well that as late 
as 1881 there was a small bunch of buffalo on 
the head of the Dismal River. These were found 
by Capt. L. H. North, at that time a cattleman 
whose herds ranged in the sandhills. In the 
summer of 1881 he discovered near the ranch 
a herd of twenty-eight cows and bulls, and 
seven or eight calves. After finding them, he 
returned to the ranch house where his brother 
Major North, Major North’s daughter . Stella, 
Ed. North and a Mr. Richards joined him and 
went back for the buffalo. Ed. North killed 
one. Capt. North tried to rope a calf. 
The following fall or winter—that is, in the 
winter of 1881-82—the Indians from Rosebud 
and Pine Ridge Agency were said to have killed 
this whole band. These we believe the last wild 
buffalo in Nebraska. Does any one know of 
any later ones? 
Field and Forest Club. 
The Field and Forest Club, of Boston, has 
just issued its April-June calendar for 1907. 
This covers a number of excursions, botanical, 
ornithological, angling and camping, and the 
programme includes six or eight days during 
each one of these three months spent in whole 
or in part out of doors. The territory covered 
is in the outskirts of Boston or near Boston. 
The club proposes to hold a two weeks’ camp 
in the month of August at Pinkham Notch, at 
the base of Mt. Washington, Jackson, N. H. 
The club’s rooms are at No. 3 Joy street, Bos¬ 
ton, Mass. 
The Field and Forest Club is composed 
largely of young women and girls who believe 
in the outdoor life. 
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