Sept. 26, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
with insects, after the manner of turkeys, when 
the supply of cereals runs short. 
After the first few days of the open season 
the California valley quail, the great game bird 
of this region, becomes gunshy and takes 
refuge in the dense brush, running along the 
ground in preference to flying whenever pos¬ 
sible, thus making it an almost impossible 
task for a dog, no matter how good, to put 
them up. On the other hand, the Hungarian 
bird stays in the open fields, retreating only 
to the brush-covered hills when compelled to 
do so by hunger, and trusts to its strong 
wings to get away from dogs and men. It 
is a prolific breeder, a pair usually hatching 
from ten to fifteen eggs. The nesting season 
is in March and April, and the young birds 
are full grown and strong on the wing by 
October. The meat of the birds is white and 
of a delicious flavor, unlike the bitterness of 
the sage grouse. 
Practically the only really dangerous enemy 
of the Hungarian partridge is the Pacific 
horned owl, which abounds in southern Cali¬ 
fornia, even in sections where little expected. 
This bird is one of the most destructive 
predatory birds to quail, and its nests, wher¬ 
ever found, are lined with the bones and feath¬ 
ers of these birds. 
Besides the owls, hawks, particularly Coop¬ 
er’s and the sharp-shinned (the latter in win¬ 
ter), may do some damage to the imported 
birds, but it is to be expected that they, in 
time, will learn to take care of themselves, 
just as native birds learned to do after years 
of life in one section. Coyotes and foxes are 
not feared much, but wildcats may do them 
harm when the birds are roosting on the 
ground, if such proves to be a continuous 
habit with them, as it is with the Bob White. 
This is one of the things that has served to 
keep the latter out of California. Had they 
been able to perch in trees, as do the Cali¬ 
fornia quail, they would have escaped the 
prowlers in sufficient numbers to have gained 
a foothold here. 
Harry H. Dunn. 
Recent Deaths. 
Henry C. Zettler, who died at his home in 
Brooklyn last Monday, was a well-known sports¬ 
man and the son of Barney Zettler of the fam¬ 
ous old rifle club of that name. He was a mem¬ 
ber of the Zettler Rifle Club and of the Knicker¬ 
bocker and National Athletic clubs, in all of 
which he took an active part in contests of skill. 
The rifle shooting contests held on the Zettler 
Club ranges in West Twenty-third street and at 
Union Hill, Greenville, Cypress Hills and else¬ 
where in recent years generally saw him con¬ 
testing with the riflemen of the East, and he 
won many prizes and trophies. 
A dispatch from Cincinnati says that Alexan¬ 
der Starbuck died in that city on Sept. 21 from 
a self-inflicted wound. His age was eighty-three 
years. Mr. Starbuck was, for many years, one 
of the best known sportsmen in the Ohio valley, 
and an enthusiastic advocate of game and fish 
protection. He had hunted and fished in many 
of the famous regions of America when these 
were attractive and wild, and he wrote enter¬ 
tainingly of his experiences, as our older readers 
can attest, he being a frequent contributor for 
a number of years. 
tor ten years Mr. Starbuck was president of 
the Cuvier Club of Cincinnati, and one of its 
hardest workers in fish, game and song bird 
protection. In it he took the greatest pride, and 
until three years ago he was always the choice 
of the majority of the members for presiding 
officer. At that time, however, it is said, some 
differences of opinion arose, and Mr. Starbuck 
took the matter so much to heart that he re¬ 
signed his office and membership and refused to 
enter the building again. 
The death of several of his closest friends 
preyed on the old gentleman’s mind, and recently 
he had fancied that his mind was failing. Only 
a short time ago he returned home from a 
month’s fishing vacation near Sault Ste. Marie, 
Mich. 
, . i 
A Novel Club. 
In Essex, England, the Elsenham Sparrow 
Club flourishes. It holds a meeting and dinner 
once each year, at which time the members give 
an account of their efforts toward keeping down 
the sparrow pests. Its president, Walter Gilbey, 
describes its work as follows: 
“All the farmers, and most of those who have 
gardens in the parish, which covers 1,830 acres, 
and some tenants of neighboring farms, belong 
to the club, which was established seventeen 
years ago. The rules are very simple: Each 
member undertakes to kill one sparrow for each 
acre of his holding between Sept. 1 and May 
1, and sends the heads to the local innkeeper, 
who keeps a record of them. If the member’s 
tally falls short of the total he ought to send, he 
is fined id. for each head lacking, the money 
going to a fund, which is spent in refreshments 
at the annual supper of the club, held at the inn. 
The sum raised by fines, however, is, I am in¬ 
formed, practically nil. 
“Two sparrows per acre were killed annually 
during the first two or three years of the club’s 
existence, and the average number of heads now 
sent in is about 3,000 a year. In addition the 
members kill a large number of young sparrows 
during the breeding season, but of these no 
record is kept.” 
A Skin-Hunter’s Dexterity. 
In his “Wild Beasts and Their Ways,” Sir 
Samuel W. Baker, the famous big-game hunter, 
pays a tribute to the skill of the professional 
hunters of a generation ago. We quote: 
“When I was in the Big Horn range in 1881, 
several shooting parties had preceded me in the 
two previous seasons, and the bears had been 
worried to such an extent that they were ex¬ 
tremely cautious and wary. There was a small 
party of professional skin hunters who were 
camped within a mile of my position, consist¬ 
ing of two partners, Big Bill and Bob Stewart. 
The latter went by the name of Little Bob, in 
contrast to his enormous companion. Bob was 
of Scotch extraction; he was about five feet five 
inches in height, very slim and as active as a 
cat. In his knowledge of every living creature 
about the mountains he was perfect; from the 
smallest insect to the largest beast he was an 
infallible authority. Bob was a trapper and 
hunter; he followed the different branches of 
these pursuits according to the seasons. At one 
497 
time he would be trapping beavers and red 
foxes; at another he would be shooting deer for 
the value of their hides. 
“His only weapon was a single-barreled Sharps 
.450 rifle and he possessed the most lovely mare, 
beautifully trained for shooting, and not exceed 
ing 14V2 hands in height. Little Bob, on his 
little mare, would have formed a picture. On 
one occasion I had returned to camp a little after 
5 -30 F. Af., and as the sun sank low the deep 
shadows of the hills darkened our side of the 
nai row glen, and by 6 o’clock we were reduced 
to a dim twilight. Presently, in this uninhabited 
legion, a figure halted within fifteen paces of our 
tent, which was evidently Bob Stewart, mounted 
UP 00 some peculiar animal of enormous bulk, but 
with a very lovely high-bred-looking head. This 
was Bob s pretty mare, loaded and most care¬ 
fully packed with the trophies of his day’s sport 
as a solitary hunter, quite alone and unaided 
since 8 A. M. His pony carried the skins of 
three bears and four blacktail deer, which he 
had shot, skinned and packed upon his sturdy 
little companion. 
“The bears consisted of a mother and two 
half grown young ones of the choice variety 
known as silver-tipped. He had come across the 
family by chance while riding through the for¬ 
est, and having shot the mother through the 
shoulder, she fell struggling between her cubs. 
These pugnacious brutes immediately com¬ 
menced fighting, and a couple of shots from the 
rapid breechloading Sharps rifle settled their ill- 
timed quarrel. 
Bob was the most dextrous skinner I ever 
saw. He would take off a skin from a deer or 
bear as naturally as most persons would take off 
their clothes, and the fact of a man, unassisted, 
flaying seven animals and arranging them neatly 
upon the Mexican saddle, would have been, a 
tolerable amount of labor without the difficulty 
of first finding and then successfully shooting 
them.” 
Game Prospects. 
Farmington, Me., Sept. 15 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: 1 he open season on the ruffed grouse 
opens to-day in this State, and according to mv 
observations the shooting ought to be very good; 
nearly as good, if not quite as good, as in former 
seasons. The spring weather was very favor¬ 
able for the hatching and rearing the young, and 
the large size of the flocks one meets in the 
woods would indicate that a large percentage 
of the eggs hatched and the birds raised to 
maturity. On inquiry I find this is the con¬ 
sensus of opinion among a great many observers. 
Quite a few pairs of birds that I found nest 
building in the spring I have watched through 
the season, and the flocks of young birds are 
large. I hese observations have been quite ex¬ 
tensive over Franklin, Somerset, Penobscot, 
Androscoggin and Kennebec counties. Having 
driven over these counties every two weeks, ex¬ 
cellent opportunity has been afforded for obser¬ 
vations, and I anticipate a good bit of sport, as 
I take my gun along in the team or auto and 
keep an eye out for the several flocks I have 
located. For the past month quite a few ob¬ 
servers have remarked on their surprise at the 
large size of the flocks of grouse and also as 
to the young birds being larger than they had 
expected to find them. J. Merton Swain. 
