296 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 22, 1908. 
Attractive North Carolina. 
Linville Falls, N. C., Aug. 5. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: The bears and the mountaineers 
have been having a good-natured race for the 
bountiful crop of huckleberries that ripened this 
year on Linville Mountain. The season is just 
closing, and both Bruin and those who a little 
later will pursue him have gathered all they 
wanted, “I reckon,” of the delicious fruit. The 
mountain people tell me that they have seen 
plenty of places where the bears have been 
after the berries. The bears begin lower down 
the Blue Ridge, working up to the top as the 
berries ripen. These interesting quadrupeds 
may always be relied upon to follow the food 
supply very closely, so the experienced hunters 
here say that this is going to be a great fall 
for bear hunting, because the white oaks are so 
full of acorns—“a right smart mass,” they say— 
and the chestnuts are bristling with burrs. The 
bears like them both, but the chestnut is the 
favorite of all fall food with them, if one excepts 
the occasional young pig or calf which they 
not frequently collect from the mountain 
farmers. Indeed, the bears are so fond of 
chestnuts that they will not wait for the burrs 
to open or fall, but climb the trees and break 
off large limbs, sometimes as large as a man’s 
arm, and throw the branches down to be 
stripped at leisure. 
Several good packs of hounds are kept here, 
so that any hunter looking for real sport can 
find it, in the company of men who know how 
and where to look for bear. Bear hunting is 
not permitted on all the land about here, but 
there is so much that is wild that no one has 
any difficulty in the chase. 
After the 15th of November wild turkey may 
be hunted in this section of the State, and 
though this has been a wet season, the supply 
of birds is said to be good. The law protect¬ 
ing them in the spring has been enforced, and 
a very successful hunter told me the other day 
that he would surely find them for me when the 
time came. I was much pleased to find this 
man, a mountaineer, born and bred, practicing 
the higher sportsmanship. He never kills ex¬ 
cept in the fall, and he never shoots any but 
gobblers and only a few each year, though 
within a mile of his comfortable home he might 
get many. His boys, by the way, have been 
trained to love the birds and to protect them. 
Without any scientific ornithological education, 
they' have the admirable skill of woodcraft, and 
what they know is what they have seen, not 
what they have read in a book. One of the boys 
is raising speckled trout in a pool connected 
with the family creek, or “branch,” they call it, 
and he is well acquainted with his fish and their 
habits and diet. 
Bobcats and the like are growing scarce here, 
but the minks are still said to be numerous 
along the Linville River. 
Partridge and quail may be had in the woods 
and near the clearings, and the farmers say 
this has been a good year, so the young are 
many. 
The trout fishing in Linville River is excel¬ 
lent, and will be good till October. The rains 
have kept the river so muddy this summer that 
very few of the big ones have been caught, and 
the catch has generally been small. Now the 
rainy season is over, it seems, and the angler 
should find this superb trout preserve and cool 
summer resort unequaled in eastern America. 
Linville Falls is reached from Pineola, the 
terminus of the Linville River Railway, by stage 
ten miles over a beautiful mountain road. From 
Johnson City, Tenn., take the Eastern Ten¬ 
nessee & Western North Carolina Railway to 
Cranberry, thirty-four miles, whence without 
change of station the journey of forty-eight 
miles to Pineola is completed. This ride is all 
through rough mountain scenery, the first train 
being called the “stem-winder,” it crooks and 
twists so to get through canons, along rushing 
rivers and through passes up toward the top of 
the mountain. The name of the post-office at 
Pineola is Saginaw, N. C., but any one desiring 
to come here can arrange for conveyance by 
writing in advance to the postmaster here. In 
the fall the new line will be completed, bringing 
the main line of the Carolina, Clinchfield & 
Ohio within six miles, the station being named 
Linville. Frank W. Bicknell. 
Grouse and Other Game. 
Greenwich, Conn., Aug. 7.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The last two years in the country 
around Greenwich the ruffed grouse have been 
quite scarce. This summer there is a perceptible 
increase in numbers. Greenwich is now largefy 
divided up into lawns and estates, the owners of 
which take great pride in seeing the birds and 
squirrels. I recently observed gray squirrels on 
two different lawns, not far from the centre of 
the town. 
By the way, there seems to be quite a marked 
increase in the number of foxes here. At a 
farm located on an eminence known as Clap¬ 
board Ridge, about three miles from the Green¬ 
wich post-office, two-thirds of the hens and 
broilers (about sixty) have been taken by foxes 
this summer, the latter becoming so bold as to 
approach close to the house in the daytime and 
have been frequently seen. John E. White. 
Rutland, Vt., Aug. 13.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Ruffed grouse were very scarce in this 
vicinity during the fall of 1907, although a 
reasonable number were killed in this county, 
but where we used to find five or six in a little 
run, there would be only one bird last fall; 
though late in the season, I understand, some 
good sized broods were found that had not been 
disturbed. Some sportsmen said they found 
grouse in unusual places and not on the regular 
grounds. If it had not been for the woodcock 
shooting, of which we had an abundance, shoot¬ 
ing in Vermont last fall would have been very 
tame. 
I have not been out a great deal this summer 
looking over the grounds, yet I feel that I am 
rather well informed, as friends of mine who are 
shooters report the birds in fine condition and 
with large broods, where there were no birds last 
fall. The smallest brood I have heard of con¬ 
tained six young birds and the largest fifteen. I 
think we shall enjoy some fine sport this fall and 
this is due in a measure to the fact that the 
sportsmen in this vicinity, when they found that 
there was a small crop, did not try to wipe out 
the birds. 
So far this year all conditions have been per¬ 
fect for the rearing of the young, and the winter 
was very favorable for the left-over birds. I 
certainly hope that the same conditions prevail 
all over the country, as the grouse is the best 
game bird that flies, and if the natural increase 
will not permit us to shoot them without exter¬ 
mination, then I believe they should be protected 
for a term of years. I believe also that Vermont 
should have a gun license of at least $1.00 and 
the proceeds be devoted to the protection of 
game and fish. You will note that I put game 
first, and that is the place it should have, for 
fishing only acts as a pacifier during the closed 
season to keep us quiet until we can cut loose 
on the birds. R. W. W. 
Rail Prospects in Connecticut. 
Essex, Conn., Aug. 5.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: While it is yet much too early to state 
definitely what the rail shooting in this locality 
will be like this fall, it is, however, fairly safe 
to assume that it will be quite up to the average. 
The crop of wild rice is exceptionally heavy, not¬ 
withstanding the fact that it has been injured 
somewhat by the salt water, and this is a pretty 
reliable sign that the birds will be here in num¬ 
bers. At any rate, they are reported to be plenti¬ 
ful on the meadows at this writing, and if the 
flight birds show up in any quantity at all, we 
will most certainly have good shooting. 
Curtailing the season for shooting rail, as was 
done last year, must also have worked for good. 
I know that there were fewer birds killed last 
year than have been killed in years past, and as 
a consequence many more were left over. It was 
my privilege to see these birds from time to time 
during the fall until quite late in the season. 
On Thanksgiving Day, I remember, I had the 
pleasure of seeing two or three—quite an un¬ 
usual sight for the time of year. 
G. W. Comstock. 
Stratford, Conn., Aug. 9.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The fresh meadows along the river 
have been mowed and yesterday I went up to see 
if I could gather any information as to the pros¬ 
pects of the rail shooting, which opens now in 
a little more than a month’s time. It is much too 
early to get anything very definite, but at least 
I was able to see how the grass is getting on and 
to hear of an occasional rail. 
It looks as if there were going to be plenty of 
feed this fall. The grass is large and heavy. In 
some of it the grain is forming, but in other 
plants the heads are only just in bloom. Still, 
there seems to be much grass, and I believe the 
feed will be abundant. Some of the old shovers 
along the river declare that by this time the 
young rail are about full grown. The haymakers 
say that during their mowing they have seen a 
few rail, and occasionally a corncrake—Virginia 
rail. 
Among the shovers there is some natural com¬ 
plaint of the new law which shortens their sea¬ 
son, for soon after the early frosts the rail are 
likely to take their departure for the South. In 
old times we used to think that down in the 
sedge grass toward the mouth of the river, a 
few big, fat rail might be killed during the high, 
tides of October, but they were very few. 
I hope that when the season opens we may 
hear something about what the rail shooters do. 
Railbird. 
