536 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 4, 1908. 
Partridge Shooting Happenings. 
Bridgetown, N. S., March 14. —Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have read with much pleasure 
Mr. S T. Hammond’s series of experiences as 
brought out in his “My Friend the Partridge.” 
My only regret is that he has reached the end. 
His article brought to mind a few incidents of a 
somewhat similar character. 
On one occasion, while hunting a favorite 
spot, I flushed a partridge but missed. The 
bird took to cover in fairly open ground among 
some tall hemlock trees. Following carefully I 
heard him call, and close scrutiny showed his 
head and neck craning out from behind a big 
tree. I fired and heard him fly as though unhurt. 
To my surprise he rose straight in the air, over 
the top of the tree till he looked no larger than 
a sparrow, when his wings yielded and he crashed 
down with a thud almost at my feet, stone dead. 
A single shot had pierced his head. 
Some time later my chum and I were hunting 
together and flushed two birds wild. They went 
down in a clump of alders. We entered the al¬ 
ders from opposite sides and a few moments 
later a bird jumped near me. I had only a chance 
for a snap shot as the bird rose, and I saw Jt 
curve and sail to the ground, where it alighted 
and immediately began running in a zig-zag 
manner. I ran toward it and it did not offer to 
fly, even slowing down its pace to a walk. Keep¬ 
ing the bird covered, I walked quickly up and it 
stopped as I approached. I put out my hand and 
grasped it, when it began to flutter vigorously in 
its endeavor to escape. An examination showed 
only one shot had hit it, and that shot had gone 
through the head, putting out both eyes. 
On another occasion I watched a wounded bird 
hide itself in the leaves; a nice wing shot had 
dropped it in a small maple grove among the 
dead leaves. After watching a few moments 1 
walked up to where the bird had fallen. There 
was no trace or sign of it. A little conical pile 
of leaves, brushed aside, brought the bird to 
light. Head under, it had kicked the leaves com¬ 
pletely over itself so well that, had I not seen 
the action, I should probably never have found 
my bird. 
T once fired at a partridge flying from me, to 
see it rise somewhat and then dive like an arrow 
into a stream. On coining up to the spot I could 
see the bird on the bottom caught under an old 
root. I had to run my arm into the brook to the 
shoulder to reach it. 
Once a bird rose toward me from under a 
brush fence. T fired at random, the sudden whirr 
startling me too much to think of waiting till the 
bird passed. This partridge came straight for me, 
striking me hard enough in the chest to stagger 
me. It was stone dead before it struck me, being 
well hit. 
Not very many months ago I came upon a bird 
that was not inclined to fly. He would whistle 
and run a little. I had the same experience with 
him several times in succession, when I got a 
little closer than before, and knew he was just 
ahead of me and about the edge of a clearing. 
Hearing him whistle quite near at hand I dropped 
on my knee and found I could see very nicely 
through a little hollow, over which lay a dead 
log with numerous stub branches reaching to the 
next clump—an ideal spot for him to be. I 
looked long and earnestly over and under the 
log and through the thicket beyond, but could 
see no bird. I shall never know what sent a 
telegram to my brain, to examine every inch of 
that log which was only about thirty feet from 
me. However, I did examine it, and fair in the 
middle of the log, in the center of the little 
gully, stood that partridge like a statue, his 
body rigid, angling from the trunk as did the 
short stub branches. The color of his plumage 
being so much like the log, the position and per¬ 
fect stillness had actually made him almost in¬ 
visible—I had looked at him for four or five 
minutes and had seen nothing but a stub of a 
dead tree branch. I am sorry to say I shot him 
then and there. W. A. W. 
Songs—Grouse. 
Galesburg, N. D., March 7 .—Editor Fores' 
and Stream: You and I have journeyed life 
together for many years to my great benefit and 
pleasure at least, and while on the way you have 
done most of the talking, yet once or twice I 
have been able to say a word, too. While around 
the campfire a good story pleases, a good song 
is also a source of joy. Now, while I have read 
many and many good stories in Forest and 
Stream, I oply remember one song with words 
and music to have appeared therein. It occurs 
to me that it would be a fine thing if now and 
then you cduld give us a song with both words 
and music in Forest and Stream. Who would 
not like to see in your pages “A La Claire Fon¬ 
taine,” “Roulant ma Boule,” “Paddle Your Own 
Canoe”—voyageur songs, hunting songs, camping 
songs, sea songs, shanty songs, the list is endless. 
Surely it would add another most charming fea¬ 
ture to your already entrancing pages. 
Another thing I would say regarding the dis¬ 
cussion as to the grouse scarcity, recalling the 
various articles that have appeared, it seems to 
me that while no doubt the very cold, late, wet 
spring of 1907 prevented the increase to any ex¬ 
tent of the birds that wintered over, yet the 
principal cause of the present unusual scarcity 
can be attributed to vermin, foxes, mink, weasels, 
owls and hawks. About a mile south of this 
place is a fenced pasture a mile square, which 
has some shallow ponds near its center. Last 
fall for several months this pasture was the rest¬ 
ing place for a large flock of white and Canada 
geese. I saw them many times and estimated 
their number at three or four hundred. No per¬ 
son molested them. They stayed there nearly all 
the time when they were not feeding on the 
adjacent grain fields. 
About a mile further south a pair of foxes 
had a den, not very far from the house of a 
farmer. This farmer told me that these foxes 
took almost nightly toll from that flock of 
geese, and it is easy to see that if there had been 
a few more foxes acquainted with the locality 
of the flock how soon they would reduce their 
numbers. In England gamekeepers wage un¬ 
ceasing war on all vermin, otherwise the head 
of game they could show would soon dwindle. 
Therefore it seems to me that those interested 
in the increase of the ruffed grouse wov^ld do 
well to make very light bags of the birds for a 
couple of seasons and go in heavy for steel traps 
and deadfalls, whereby they would get some good 
fur and give their birds a much better chance 
to live. Jos. P. Whittemore. 
Massachusetts Game Law. 
The following call has been sent out by the 
Ornithologist of the Massachusetts State Boarc 
of Agriculture, dated at Boston, March 19: 
We beg you and every friend of the birds tc 
unite with us in urging the Representatives anc 
Senators in the Massachusetts Legislature tc 
vote for House bill No. 507, which prohibits al 
shooting of waterfowl and shore birds in spring 
and summer. 
The inland waters and shores of New Eng 
land, once the home of myriads of -waterfow 
and shore birds, have been swept nearly bare 01 
these birds by the reprehensible and wastefu 
practice of spring shooting. Wherever the late 
winter and spring shooting of ducks and shon 
birds has been allowed for a long series o: 
years, the best food ducks have been greatly rc 
duced in number or exterminated. Birds form 
erly resorting here in countless thousands hav< 
been swept out of existence. The wild pigeon 
wild turkey, pinnated grouse, sandhill crane am 
great auk. have been extirpated from New Eng 
land. The swans and snow geese, and the pin 
tail, widgeon, wood duck, ruddy duck, green 
winged teal and blue-winged teal of New Eng 
land, are now in danger of extermination. 
A reasonable amount of fall shooting will no 
decrease the annual flight of birds if they ari 
protected the rest of the year, but January am 
February shooting of wildfowl takes advantagi 
of the necessities of the birds when they an 
driven to such feeding-grounds and drinking 
places as are free from ice, and when they haw 
enough to contend with to get a living and with 
stand the inclement weather. Some are starvei 
or frozen in severe winters, and they should b 
protected from all shooting in these months. 
Wildfowl are mating in February and March 
Shooting at this time destroys the naturally se 
lected breeding stock then on the way to th 
breeding grounds. 
Wherever spring shooting has been prohibit?* 
by law for a series of years, the birds have in 
creased. This has been true of even the mos 
limited regions, and the slight increase in th 
flight of certain ducks, plover and snipe, whicl 
has occurred here in recent years, is plainly du 
to the protection these birds have received ii 
other States and in Canada in their spring mi 
gration. 
Under the present law thirty-three species o 
wildfowl have practically no protection in Massa 
chusetts, as our laws allow duck shooting al 
winter and spring until the twentieth of Maj 
and goose shooting the year round. While blacl 
duck, wood duck and teal are nominally pro 
tected in spring and summer, they are sho 
nevertheless in the breeding season by gunner 
who are after other ducks that can be lawful! 
shot at that time. 
The law thus allows the gunner to drive awa; 
the native breeding species and permits th 
shooting of Northern species during practical! 
all the time in which they stay with us. 
Were it not for the fact that Canadian prov 
inces prohibit spring shooting, most of our de 
sirable wildfowl probably would have disap 
peared ere now. 
Our wildfowl laws have been made mainly a 
the behest of the shore gunners; and these law 
if continued must result in the extermination o 
the birds. Such laws are unjust to the people o 
