April 23, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
651 
and sent it to Dr. Hodge. If it had been a pas¬ 
senger pigeon’s nest the act of taking it—of dis¬ 
turbing it in any way—put him at once out of 
all chance of recovering the money offered. Any¬ 
one who finds a passenger pigeon’s nest and in 
any way interferes with it need not hope to get 
the reward. He must let it alone and communi¬ 
cate with Dr. Hodge. 
Chas. K. Reed, of Worcester, Mass., has ren¬ 
dered fine and prompt service to the cause of 
saving the passenger pigeon by issuing a leaflet 
which shows on the front page a colored plate 
of male, female and young pigeon, and on the 
back page a colored plate showing comparative 
sizes and colorations of the passenger pigeon and 
the mourning dove, and also a black and white 
nest of the mourning dove, The inside pages 
are devoted to a comparison of the passenger 
pigeon and the dove, and to instructions as to 
how to look for nests and how to make sure 
that any nest is that of a passenger pigeon. In 
the leaflet is a slip giving a list of the awards 
offered in the passenger pigeon investigation. 
Mr. Reed’s leaflet showing these pictures 
should have a wide circulation, and the more of 
them that are scattered over the country the 
better it is for the cause which he, Dr. Hodge 
and others are so earnestly advocating. The 
pictures have an educational value that can 
hardly be overestimated, and they will tell many 
young people what the pigeons were like and 
wffiat the mourning doves are like. These leaf- 
' lets will be sent to any address on receipt of six 
cents in stamps for each copy desired. 
Dr. C. F. Hodge, of Worcester, Mass., an¬ 
nounces that the $500 offered by John E. Thayer, 
to be assigned to the five most likely States or 
Provinces for which no awards were secured 
up to April 15, has been set aside with Mr. 
Thayer's approval; $100 each for the discovery 
and report of the first undisturbed nesting of 
passenger pigeons in Maine, New Hampshire, 
Vermont, Ontario and Wisconsin. 
Also that the $500 offered by John Lewis Childs 
“to be divided among subsequent finds’’ is as¬ 
signed to the second to sixth nestings discovered, 
no matter where found, $100 for each discovery. 
The conditions of these awards are the same 
as for all the others for confidential informa¬ 
tion of the location of nesting pairs or colonies 
of passenger pigeons undisturbed and properly 
confirmed. All who discover nests should re¬ 
alize that their receiving rewards will depend on 
the confirming party finding both male and fe¬ 
male birds with nest and young or eggs well and 
happy. It will be well for finder to do all in 
his power to protect both parent birds and nest, 
provide food and water in a safe place so they 
will not have to go where they are likely to be 
killed. Salted grain and grain scented with anise 
as used by the old pigeon trappers would prob¬ 
ably prove attractive. Two tablespoonsful of 
salt with the same amount of molasses stirred 
over “half a bucket” of grain are directions 
given me by Mr. Kent, of North Brookfield, 
Mass., a successful pigeoner. 
Two or three more reports of passenger pig¬ 
eon’s nests have been sent in to Dr. Hodge, one 
by long distance telephone from Detroit, Mich., 
of a nesting in Ontario, but up to date no re¬ 
ports are sufficiently favorable and definite to 
warrant the sending out confirming parties. 
Unseasonable Summer Birds. 
New York City, April 13.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read with much interest the 
letter from Mr. Gregor in your issue of April 
2, reporting a Baltimore oriole in Central Park. 
It may be interesting to record that I have 
repeatedly seen during the past three winters 
what I supposed to be a male scarlet tanager in 
the park, and this bird I both heard and saw 
several times in February and March this year, 
always in the neighborhood of the big lake and 
on the west side of it. 
On one or two occasions I have seen the fe¬ 
male bird, as I thought unmistakable from the 
size *and olive green color, and I believed both 
these birds to have wintered in Central Park. 
I should really like to know if this should be 
Nest and two eggs of mourning dove, and cardboard disk 
showing relative size of egg of passenger pigeon. 
Reduced one-half. 
the same bird reported by Mr. Gregor, and 
whether I have all this time been mistaking an 
oriole for a scarlet tanager. 
W. J. Sparks. 
[H. A. Stone, of Rutherford, N. J., reports 
that a scarlet tanager was seen late in March in 
Rutherford and has been there ever since. It 
is usually seen about a little patch of woodland 
and is easily found when looked for.— Editor.] 
Foreign Animals in New Zealand. 
Wellington, N. Z., Feb. 24 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: A shipment of moose consisting 
of four stags and six hinds imported from Can¬ 
ada were landed in splendid condition on the 
2d inst., and will shortly be liberated in the 
Fiordland National Park on the west coast of 
the South Island. It is anticipated that the ani¬ 
mals will soon become acclimatized and in due 
course become well established. 
It may be of interest to you to know that 
seventeen Canadian wapiti were imported to 
this country five years ago and liberated in one 
of the large national parks. They have been 
successfully acclimatized and are reported to be 
increasing in numbers. 
The Scottish red deer and German red deer 
were introduced to this country forty years ago 
and their increase in numbers and development 
in stature and antlers has been remarkable. The 
herds are now numbered by thousands. Vir¬ 
ginian, blacktail, Japanese, Sambur, axis deer 
and chamois have also been introduced in re¬ 
cent years and their successful acclimatization 
may be regarded as certain. 
The most extraordinary results obtained in 
acclimatizotion work in this country has been 
achieved in the introduction of rainbow and 
brown trout, the fry of which were introduced 
some thirty years ago. To-day there are thou¬ 
sands of miles of streams and innumerable 
lakes literally alive with these fish. So con¬ 
genial have they found the waters of this coun¬ 
try that the chief problem to be faced in many 
par-ts is how to keep the waters from becom¬ 
ing overstocked. The size the fish have grown 
is simply amazing. Trout have been caught over 
thirty pounds in weight and fish are quite com¬ 
monly taken on a fly weighing from twelve to 
twenty-four pounds. - It is a common event for 
an angler to take from 100 to 200 pounds of 
fish with one rod in a few hours’ fishing, and in 
some districts the “takes” average from eight 
to twelve pounds for the catch. 
New Zealand to-day is, 1 think, undoubtedly 
the finest fishing country in the world. 
S. R. C. Robieson. 
Pheasant Farming. 
Conservation of the fauna including the game 
birds of the United States requires the strict en¬ 
forcement of laws intended to control the shoot¬ 
ing and marketing of wild birds and necessarily 
limits both the period during which they may be 
hunted and the number available to supply the 
increasing demands of those who desire those 
table luxuries. 
This lack may be remedied by the product of 
aviaries, preserves and private parks devoted to 
rearing of domesticated game, the marketing of 
which under suitable safeguards is already per¬ 
mitted in several States. 
The United States Department of Agriculture 
is about to issue “Pheasant Raising in the United 
States” (Farmers’ Bulletin No. 390). 
At present there is no lack of demand for 
pheasants for various^ purposes. Owners of pri¬ 
vate preserves and State game officials pay pro¬ 
fitable prices for certain species for stocking 
their covers, zoological and city parks, and own¬ 
ers of private aviaries are ready purchasers of 
the rarer and more beautiful species, and large 
numbers of dead pheasants are annually im¬ 
ported from Europe to be sold for several times 
the price they bring in European countries. The 
demand for pheasants is increasing. 
In response to numerous inquiries for infor¬ 
mation on pheasant raising, the present bulletin 
was prepared by Prof. Henry Oldys, of the Bio¬ 
logical Survey, and contains a chapter on the 
“Diseases of Pheasants,” by Dr. George Byron 
Morse, of the Bureau of Animal Industry. It 
presents a clear and concise account of methods 
used by successful pheasant raisers and gives 
practical information to those now engaged in 
or contemplating entering this comparatively new 
but rapidly growing industry. The bulletin con¬ 
tains seventeen illustrations. 
Copies of these publications may be obtained 
upon application to senators, representatives or 
delegates in Congress; to the Department of 
Agriculture, or to the Superintendent of Docu¬ 
ments, Government Printing Office. Washington, 
D. C., who has them for sale at five cents per 
copy. 
All the fish laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and nozv in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
