165 
FOREST AND STREAM 
to the fact that the trait seems to be 
claimed for pointers only. I have known 
at least half a dozen “reporter” dogs and 
owned one of the'best I ever saw, but they 
were all setters. Mr. Nesbit Turnbull, of 
Baltimore, owned two “reporter” setters 
until last summer when both were killed. 
All these dogs if separated from the hunt¬ 
ers for any length of time when they 
found birds, would back out of their points 
and then hunt up the gunners and lead 
them back to where they had found the 
birds. 
We thought it a smart trick but never 
called them “reporters.” It’s a good name. 
I shall be glad to adopt it. 
Let me congratulate you on the appear¬ 
ance of your cover. Osthaus’ dog pictures 
are a joy to all dog lovers and you have 
selected one of the best. I venture to say 
there will be hundreds of these framed. 
Baltimore, Md. H. Lindley, M. D. 
HUNDREDS OF CANADA GEESE 
SEEN BY FLORIDA NIMROD. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
We have been having an unusually fine 
lot of hunting down this way since the 
opening of the season. One has to go some 
distance for much real sport with deer, but 
as for turkeys, quail, ducks and geese— 
we have had them in plenty. 
Fortunately we are just enough off the 
regular line of travel so that the hunting 
is not overdone as has been the case in so 
many localities. 
Canada geese have been alongshore by 
hundreds. Most reports give “thousands,” 
but I want to be reasonably accurate. It 
is not unusual to see eight to twelve flocks 
of from twelve or fifteen to thirty or more, 
while in a blind for three or four hours. 
Mallards, black duck and scaup are our 
most numerous ducks, while canvasback, 
ringnecks, sprigs, gadwall and teal are 
sometimes numerous but not regular in oc¬ 
currence. With good dogs one can find 
all the quail a reasonable sportsman should 
desire in almost any direction, with occa¬ 
sional poof days, such as may occur any¬ 
where. 
Rarely have we had visitors who seemed 
to want a turkey hunt, so these birds have 
held their own as to numbers! for many 
years. A bad spell of weather with cold 
rain at hatching time, the middle to last 
of May, reduced their numbers far more 
than would average hunting. 
The birds have a wide range in the open 
piney woods and comparatively safe re¬ 
treat in the thick timber along the rivers 
and about ponds. Unless such places are 
cleared up it would seem reasonable to 
think this noble bird will remain here in 
considerable numbers for a long time. 
May such be the case is the hope and de¬ 
sire of 
St. Marks, Fla. Osceola. 
OLD GUIDES SAY PANTHERS 
STILL ROAM ADIRONDACKS. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Are the panthers coming back? A re¬ 
cent number of Forest and Stream asks 
this question. I think not. For I think 
they never left the Adirondacks. 
A few years ago when Verplanck Colvin 
surveyed the wilderness for the State, his 
party “met up with” several panthers. And 
since then I have frequently heard of their 
presence in the woods. Old guides who 
have killed panthers assure me of their 
confident opinion that occasional panthers 
have all along lived in the Adirondacks. 
Tracks and other signs indicate it. 
About two years ago a guide whom I 
have known for years was hunting deer in 
a light tracking snow. He came across 
a panther track and followed it till nearly 
dark. He found where the beast had killed 
a deer, eaten part, and buried the rest, after 
approved ‘panther fashion. This man was 
originally from Canada and has had enough 
experience to know the signs he found. 
As to the traditions regarding the pan¬ 
ther s scream, I know that it resembles a 
woman’s scream. My father several times 
heard the panther’s voice and often told 
me about it. 
As to the danger to be apprehended from 
the panther, it was not formerly a negli¬ 
gible quantity. Several years ago I gave in 
Forest and Stream several well attested 
cases of attack. But of course as a gen¬ 
eral thing a panther does not attack a hu¬ 
man. This appears to be the record. Still, 
if I am to meet a panther, I want my rifle 
and I want to see him first; for “you can’t 
most always tell who’s going to do what.” 
Juvenal. 
PRESENCE OF LIVE ELK IN 
PENNSYLVANIA CAUSES STIR. 
The presence of live elk at large in cen¬ 
tral Pennsylvania during the past winter, 
in spite of the generally prevailing belief 
that they were practically extinct there, 
seems to have been revealed by an inci¬ 
dent that occurred at Selinsgrove in that 
State recently. 
A Penn township farmer is reported to 
have barely escaped drowning when he 
broke through the ice of Penn’s creek, 
while chasing the elk. Its appearance had 
created considerable curiosity in the town¬ 
ship, which seems to have turned out for a 
community chase. The farmer was actu¬ 
ally saved from drowning by being lassoed 
by a neighbor who had joined in the chase. 
The neighbor—incidentally—acquired skill 
with the lariat during service with the Na¬ 
tional Guard on the Mexican border. 
W. K. Fenn, writing from Asbury Park, 
New Jersey, says that the incident “relat¬ 
ing to an elk in central Pennsylvania, 
where none has been found for many 
years, requires some explanation. Some 
months ago Forest and Stream published 
several articles purporting to mention the 
last elk seen in Pennsylvania, and the time 
was many years ago.” 
The elk that caused the excitement at 
Penn township was probably one of a herd 
turned loose in the State a few years ago 
by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 
under the administration of John Phillips. 
MARYLAND COUNTY BEING 
GAME STOCKED BY STATE. 
Through the efforts of the Hagerstown 
Rod and Gun Club, Washington county,* 
Maryland, will be restocked with quail and 
other game. The board of county commis¬ 
sioners have let their first order for four 
hundred quail, which will be distributed 
throughout the county by the gun club. 
Sportsmen in the county, realizing that 
game was becoming scarce, succeeded in 
having an act passed by the Maryland leg¬ 
islature to license hunting, the revenue to 
be used for purchasing game or employ¬ 
ing wardens. The law went into opera¬ 
tion last fall and over 5>ooo followers of 
Nimrod secured permits. The licenses 
were in the form of red tags, and each 
huntsman was required to wear one on his 
arm. The county commissioners, custodi¬ 
ans of the license fund, consented to ex¬ 
pend the money in restocking the county 
with game. The desirability of a closed 
season of several years for certain game 
birds is now being considered by Mary¬ 
land sportsmen. 
Ducks are more plentiful in Frederick 
and Washington counties this spring than 
for many years, according to sportsmen 
who get along the larger streams. The open 
season for ducks in Maryland is from No¬ 
vember i to January 31. 
Maryland has joined in the campaign to 
protect song birds by making it unlawful 
to shoot the songsters. Insectivorous 
birds, which are noted for keeping the 
trees and fields free from harmful bugs 
and worms, are also given the protection 
of the law, which allows no open season. 
Hagerstown, Md. C. Neill Baylor. 
“THE FUTURE OF THE DUCKS” 
FINDS APPROVAL IN CALIFORNIA. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The article by Mr. E. F. Martin in the 
January number of Forest and Stream, 
“The Future of the Ducks,” was right to 
the point. 
The automatic shotgun and automobile 
have done the business. As to the game 
laws, there is absolutely no respect paid 
to them here in California, with the excep¬ 
tion of the deer law—and that simply be¬ 
cause the game is so large it can not be 
concealed. The season now closed (Janu¬ 
ary 31, 1917) has been one of the poorest 
we ever had in California, and I have been 
a shooter for the past fifty years. 
In some locations there has been fair 
shooting, but taking it as a whole, nothing 
doing. I have not seen a bluebill or cop¬ 
perhead on my preserve this season—some¬ 
thing that never happened before. 
I for one say close the season on all 
feathered game for at least three years. If 
we can’t do that, cut the shooting down to 
one day in the week, bar the automatic 
shotguns. Don’t plug them up so only two 
shots can be fired—that won’t work—do 
away with them altogether. 
Enclosed please find clipping from the 
San Francisco Chronicle of November 14, 
1916. 
[It recounted the arrest near Redwood 
City of an automobilist who was carrying 
450 ducks into the city, but was detected by 
a zealous policeman. The offender was 
sentenced to 150 days.in jail and fined $500 
for killing more than the legal limit.] 
This man -was caught. Do you think for 
a moment he was the only one in the busi¬ 
ness? C. E. Cook. 
San Francisco. 
