April 22, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
617 
The Slate Objects. 
Raleigh, N. C., April 15.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Legislature has taken from the 
Audubon Society all authority to give permits 
for the shipment of live game out of North 
Carolina for any purposes. This action was 
recommended in the last report of the State 
Audubon Society. A faise impression got cur¬ 
rency that the society was allowing thousands 
of quail to be taken out of the State for breed¬ 
ing purposes. 
A number of the new game laws shorten the 
open season. Montgomery county has forbidden 
all shooting for two years. A number of coun¬ 
ties have cut the open season down to three 
months, others to a month. 
lhe State Board of Education has sold a lake 
covering fifty thousand acres in Hyde county, 
Lake Mattamuskeet never contained fish of value, 
but the sale has had the effect of causing the 
enactment of a law forbidding the sale of any 
of the lakes in the counties of Bladen, Columbus 
and Cumberland, where there are fine bodies of 
water, White, Singletary, Black and Waccamaw. 
1 hese lakes are clear and contain bass, perch 
bream, etc. There are some lakes near Have¬ 
lock, but they are privately owned, having been 
sold by the State not long after the Civil War, 
and they are shallow, containing only the com¬ 
moner varieties of fish. 
There has been a great deal of complaint of 
hounds and bird dogs running at large in the 
bird-nesting season, and these animals have been 
heavy destroyers of eggs. Rockingham county, 
which has taken action in the matter, has se¬ 
cured a law forbidding dogs being at large at 
any time during the nesting season. Many 
sportsmen from the North visit that county. 
In the course of rambles near Raleigh during 
the past three weeks I have found a number of 
quail and flushed a large covey. These birds 
were more abundant during the past season than 
in several years past. Very few people have 
an idea how abundant quail used to be in this 
section. One of Raleigh's best known sports¬ 
men, Col. Charles E. Johnson, has told me that 
within a few hundred yards of a chimney of 
a burned cabin standing in a field of broom 
sedge, he is sure he had killed more than 500 
quail. One afternoon, twenty years ago, he rode 
out that way, leaving the city at 3 o’clock, was 
back in about four hours and bagged twenty- 
eight quail and a wild turkey. I have hunted 
with a friend who in a day killed sixty-eight 
birds, out of about eighty shots, thrice getting 
two at a shot. In those days quail sold for five 
cents apiece, while now they are more than three 
times that price. 
In a number of States the sale of quail is not 
allowed, but in parts of Texas they may be had 
at the restaurants, are ordered as “owls” and 
are so charged on the bill. In this State the 
restaurants are heavy buyers and the birds are 
served on toast at twenty to forty cents. 
Chatham county is the headquarters of the 
rabbits. Siler City is the center of the rabbit 
business, with quail as a side line. Many a 
farmers’ outfit consists of a hundred box traps, 
and they are ’tended by him and his children. 
The result is an enormous catch of rabbits. At 
Siler City a careful record is kept of the ship¬ 
ments. The figures for the season which ended 
March 31 show that there were shipped by rail¬ 
way 16,454 rabbits; by wagons, 6,534; consumed 
locally, outside of the farms, 2,250. Quail ship¬ 
ped during the season were 6,630. Rabbits are 
generally sold skinned and a carload of rabbit 
skins has been shipped at a time. Woe to the 
tenderfoot quail hunter who goes there from 
another section and starts shooting rabbits. If 
he keeps it up all day, he will have a wagon 
load, so the rule is when you are quail shooting 
to pay no attention to anything on four feet 
smaller than a deer. 
Unquestionably the shooting in North Caro¬ 
lina was better during the season which ended 
March 31 than in several years past. All kinds 
of hunting was done, and quail were extremely 
plentiful over a wide area. Some counties have 
a very short open season, and this is helping. 
In some, as for example Wake, it is forbidden 
to be abroad with dog or gun between March 
and November, and this has certainly had a very 
happy effect. The number of deer and bear 
killed during the season has been above the 
average. ’Possum hunters have had a glorious 
time, and one of them here says he bagged 236, 
getting nine one night. 
The number of sportsmen from the North has 
been as large as ever, and they seem to have 
been very well treated and to be pleased with 
their success. The snipe shooting was fair this 
spring. There is no fall shooting of snipe in 
this State. Woodcock were not plentiful and 
no large bags are reported. Squirrels and rab¬ 
bits have been more abundant than in a long 
time. The farmers themselves are doing a great 
part in protecting game, and the rural high 
schools have carried into the country districts 
a deeper love for birds and for all of our good 
friends in fur and feather, and have taught 
many people to know which are the “sheep” 
and which are the “goats.” This after all is 
the best sort of education. Fred A. Olds. 
Madame Bernhardt and the ’Gator. 
New Orleans, La., April 14. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: During the recent engagement of 
Madame Sarah Bernhardt, in New Orleans, a 
sensational story was written by the actress’ 
press agent describing the capture by her of a 
seven-foot alligator in a lagoon a short distance 
from Chef Menteur. The story was read with 
interest and every one thought it remarkable 
that a woman not accustomed to roughing it in 
the swamps and woods of Louisiana could meet 
with such good luck. Unfortunately, the story 
was not true, but was written for advertising 
purposes. The manager of Bernhardt arranged 
with some trappers, fishermen and hunters near 
Chef Menteur to capture a large alligator and 
take it to a lagoon and mark the place. On the 
day appointed, Madame Bernhardt and her 
troupe took automobiles, went to the Chef, then 
to the lagoon, and securing a small rowboat, 
went over to where the big alligator should have 
been, but alas, the saurian had burrowed into 
the mud several feet, and it was impossible to 
pry him out with fence rails. Madame Bern¬ 
hardt had to return to the city without the big 
alligator, but she paid the fishermen for their 
trouble and gave directions for them to capture 
the saurian and ship him to her villa in France. 
This was done on the following day. The cele¬ 
brated actress did not fire at a single alligator, 
but she did fish, without much success. 
The State Game Commission has received re¬ 
ports from several farmers in different portions 
of the State to the effect that they are meeting 
with success in raising Chinese pheasants. Some 
months ago the commission distributed several 
dozen pheasant eggs among different citizens as 
an experiment to be placed under common chicken 
hens and the young pheasants to be raised with 
poultry. When the young pheasants become 
sufficiently numerous and advanced in age, scores 
of them will be turned loose in the woods with 
the hope that they will in a few years be plenti¬ 
ful in Louisiana. The last Legislature passed a 
law protecting pheasants for five years. It is 
believed that the climatic conditions in the 
greater part of Louisiana are favorable to the 
raising of pheasants, and when they become 
numerous they will afford entertaining sport for 
the hunters. p q q 
Mountain Lion Catching. 
An account of mountain lion catching in the 
Rockies, which is published in a Libby, Mont., 
paper is vouched for by H. G. Wise, of Auburn, 
N. Y. 
Because of the name lion, the cougar is re¬ 
garded by most people as a ferocious and very 
dangerous animal, though persons who have had 
much experience with the big cat are well aware 
that the average mountain lion is by no means 
a dangerous beast and will not fight if there is 
a possible chance for him to avoid it. 
C. E. Ordish has lion dogs trained to follow 
only mountain lions and bears. This is what 
the Libby, Mont., paper has to say of his feat: 
“Because he had forgotten his climbers, C. E. 
Ordish, a Montana lion hunter, had to walk back 
five miles through the snow to Libby after them 
before he could climb a tree, rope and capture 
an eight-foot lion which his dogs had tracked 
five miles. 
\\ hen word was received at Libby that fresh 
lion tracks had been found near Troy, C. E. 
Ordish and Woody Williams left Libby and 
crossed on the ice above Kootenai Falls, where 
Mr. Ordish put his two dogs on the trail one 
morning about g o clock. He followed the dogs 
for four miles to where the lion had killed and 
partly eaten a deer, covering the remaining por¬ 
tion with snow. Within a hundred yards of this 
place the dogs started and* treed the animal. 
When the hunters reached the tree, Mr. Ordish 
found that he had forgotten his climbers. Leav- 
ing his faithful dogs to guard the game, he 
walked five miles to Libby and returned with 
A. G. Beager, Fred Bockman and Dr. Auld, who 
brought his kodak. 
“Mr. Ordish climbed the tree, roped the lion, 
tied its legs together and dropped the end of 
the rope to the ground. It was brought to earth, 
where a collar and chain was put around its 
neck and the trio started for the sleigh, one of 
the men holding the animal by the chain and 
collar, another by the hind feet and the third 
man held the rope around the body. 
“A cage was made when they reached Libby 
and the lion is now on exhibition. 
“The animal, which is a splendid female speci¬ 
men, will be shipped to the Kansas City Zoo¬ 
logical Arena company. Mr. Ordish has cap¬ 
tured sixteen lions alive thus far and has shipped 
fifteen to A. W. Brownlee at St. Paul, and has 
a standing order for all that he may capture.” 
