December, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
617 
Questions on Natural History 
will be submitted to Dr. Grin- 
nell; Angling, Leonard Hulit 
and Louis Rhead; Canoeing and 
Camping, Jule Marshall; Rifles, 
Capt. Tinney and J. R. Bevis; 
Dogs and Guns, Dr. Bruette. 
L. J. S., No. i Engine Co., E. F. D., Erie, 
Pa.: 
Kindly inform me where I can get a 
good sink box for duck hunting. If they 
can not be purchased, please give instruc¬ 
tions for making one. 
Ans.—The dimensions, material, etc., to 
be used in constructing a sink box are as 
follows: The box in platform should be 
made of 34-inch best white pine; or still 
better, white cedar, if to be had. The ends 
of box should be of white oak, 1)4 inches 
thick. The box should be 5 feet, 10 inches 
long in the clear (this will accommodate 
any man not over six feet in height, as both 
his knees and neck are bent in lying in the 
position to shoot) 15 inches deep in clear 
and 22 inches wide, sides straight per¬ 
pendicularly, but sprung together at ends 
to 14 inches at head and foot. The sim¬ 
plest way is to make the box the same 
depth all over, but it is by no means the 
best way. The foot should be of full 
depth, viz., 15 inches. Cut away the 
head of the box to, say, 6 inches, because 
the shooter, in lying down, has to have his 
eyes above the level of the box in order 
to watch the flight of the fowl, so that very 
little depth is required at the head. The 
box should be put together in the very best 
manner, as on its being perfectly tight de¬ 
pends the comfort of the shooter. Make 
a )4-inch drainboard to be in bottom of 
box and the sink box is completed. 
R. F. M., Glasgow, Mont.: 
Will a deer sink if shot in the water 
during the month of August? Kindly give 
this information in your next number. 
Ans.—Under ordinary circumstances a 
deer in summer pelage shot in the water 
will sink. 
“Santa Fe,” Gem Mount, N. M.: 
Discussion has arisen on the following 
statements: -(a) That a California quail 
will eat twice its weight in “worms” daily; 
(b) That prairie chickens in the Northwest 
will consume from one to two bushels 
of wheat a year. Kindly give whatever in¬ 
formation is available as to the quality and 
quantity of food these birds actually con¬ 
sume. 
Ans.— (a) We have no definite knowl¬ 
edge on this point, but are of the opinion 
that no observations have been made that 
confirm it. We take it for granted that 
the California quail referred to is the or¬ 
dinary valley quail, which commonly in¬ 
habits arid country where “worms”—if 
earth worms are intended—are scarcely or 
not at all found. The California quail is 
essentially a seed eater, and the results of 
examinations of the stomachs of more 
than 600 specimens published in 1910 show 
that only two per cent, of the bird’s food 
is animal and that this animal food con¬ 
sists to a large extent of ants. We feel 
confident that there is not and never has 
been any basis for the statement given 
under this head. 
Observations made on the feeding habits 
of the woodcock suggest language such as 
is here used about the California quail. 
Could these remarks about the woodcock 
have been mistakenly applied to a very 
different bird? It is stated by Audubon 
that a woodcock in a single night will de¬ 
vour more than its own weight in worms. 
Some experiments on this point made on 
a captive bird a number of years ago, con¬ 
firm the statement of the great naturalist. 
This bird, which weighed 5% ounces at 
the time he was weighed, ate, during 
twenty-four hours, 200 angle worms weigh¬ 
ing 5)4 ounces. At the end of the time 
he was still eager for food. Somewhat 
later, he had increased in weight One 
ounce and at that time ate in twenty-four 
hours no less than 8 ounces of worms. 
These details were published in Forest and 
Stream many years ago and may be found 
detailed in American Game Bird Shooting, 
pp. 16 to 18. 
(b) We believe that no observations on 
the weight of grain consumed by the 
prairie chickens of the Northwest have 
ever been made. In our opinion there is 
no doubt whatever that if grain were ac¬ 
cessible over much of the year, a single 
bird might consume from one to two bush¬ 
els of wheat every year, but it must be re¬ 
membered that grain is accessible only for 
a short time, that is to say, when it is 
sown, and again, after it has been reaped. 
The grain eaten by the prairie chicken— 
whether this term means sharp tailed 
grouse or pinnated grouse—consists almost 
altogether of that which falls to the 
ground in the harvesting, and in our esti¬ 
mation would be measured by quarts rather 
than by bushels. This, however, is no 
more than a matter of opinion, and we are 
unaware of any definite information on 
the point. 
Henry P. B., H.M.S. Dominion, London: 
What sort of time does an open canoe 
rigged with a sail of the size advocated 
(about 40 square feet area for a 16 foot 
by 30 inch canoe) make in an ordinary 
breeze over a racing course? How does 
she compare in speed with other small 
racing craft? Will Mr. Jule F. Marshall 
give the times made in some of the A. C. 
A. sailing races with the length of the 
course ? 
A° s - Probably the best performances 
of sailing in OPEN CANOES are those 
held annually at the National Canoe Meets 
at Sugar Island in the St. Lawrence River, 
where the conditions for such races are 
ideal. The country thereabouts is flat so 
that there is practically nothing to divert 
the true course of the winds which gen¬ 
erally blow steadily. The sailing course 
is in a large open stretch of water, con¬ 
siderably protected from the flow of the 
river by a fringe of islands, there being 
little or no current to affect the canoes. 
The course itself is a 1J2 mile triangle 
with equal legs of )4 mile each. The 
buoys are laid out at identical points, year 
after year. While the usual distance 
specified for these races is three miles, a 
canoe will travel well onto five miles in 
order to enclose the triangle twice. The 
time limit set for the completion of such 
a race is ij4 hours. 
The figures given below will show the 
time made by the winners of the most im¬ 
portant Open Sailing Races held at the 
last (1916) Meet: 
3 mile—triangle, 1 hr., 15 min., 57 sec.; 
breeze medium and steady—Open Trophy, 
1st heat. 
3 mile—windward and leeward course, 
1 hr., 13 min., 27 sec.; breeze strong, sea 
rough—Open Trophy, 2nd heat. 
3 mile—triangle, 58 min., 50 sec.; breeze 
strong and squally—Open Trophy, 3rd heat. 
3 mile—triangle, 1 hr., 12 min., 22 sec.; 
breeze light then .strong—Gardiner Trophy. 
3 mile—triangle, r hr., 28 min., 18 sec. 
(elapsed time) ; breeze very light—Handi¬ 
cap Race. 
3 mile—triangle, 1 hr., 3 min., 57 sec.; 
breeze strong and steady—Novice Race. 
4^4 mile—triangle, 1 hr., 13 min., 57 sec.; 
breeze very heavy, sea bad—“Record 
Race.” 
The fastest single round was made in 
the first lap of the “Record Race,” it be¬ 
ing completed in 23 -.23, which included 
turning three marks and beating to wind¬ 
ward against a heavy blow on one leg. 
This would indicate an attained sailing 
speed of 7 miles an hour. The slowest 
single round made by a winning canoe oc¬ 
curred in the first round of the Gardiner 
Trophy Race and was timed at 38:10, 
averaging approximately 4 miles an hour 
running time. These figures would indi¬ 
cate, therefore, that under favorable con¬ 
ditions an OPEN CANOE will sail at the 
rate of 5 V? rniles per hour, and this esti¬ 
mation is practically substantiated by the 
printed records of the American Canoe 
Association. 
These records are read and compiled by 
a corps of expert canoeists seated on the 
judges’ barge between the starting and fin¬ 
ishing buoys. Every contestant’s time is 
taken at the completion of each swing 
around the triangle and the completed rec¬ 
ords are published in the Association 
“Year Book.” ' 
