576 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 8, 1910. 
hunter, er gits his scent, he'll party generally cut 
it fer thick timber. I’ve known deer to stand 
an’ paw an’ snort in easy gunshot jest ’cause 
they couldn’t make out what skeered ’em. But, 
as I said afore, all deer are not alike. Ye c’n 
never tell what one of ’em is going to do ’til 
he does it. There hain’t but one rule that alius 
goes in deer huntin’, an’ that is, ve’ve got to be 
ready an’ shoot quick an’ straight. Ye can’t 
figger on the animal, but ye c’n figger on yer- 
self.” 
Camp loomed through the trees and soon we 
were subjecting some choice cuts of venison to 
benevolent assimilation. 
Ptarmigan in Newfoundland. 
St. Johns, N. F., Sept. 30 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Not for many years have partridges 
been so abundant as they are this season in New¬ 
foundland. The weather in the early part of the 
year was favorable for the young birds, and the 
flocks on the barrens on opening day, Sept. 20, 
proved that they "have thriven apace.” Reports 
from all over the island, north and south, prove 
that they are very plentiful on the various 
grounds. Near Greenspond, on Bonavista Bay, 
on the mainland, very many broods were re¬ 
ported. As no dogs are permitted in "tins sec¬ 
tion, the hunters are handicapped; yet they have 
done very well. On the Satalina, Trinity and 
Carboular barrens also good bags have been 
secured. The southern grounds are more fre¬ 
quented by hunters from the city, and these, too, 
are well stocked with birds. 
It is estimated that for the first few days after 
the 20th that over a thousand brace were brought 
into the city by local sportsmen. Most of them 
were very plump and in fine -condition, but some 
of them were not very much larger than robins. 
The grocers’ stores in the city are now well sup¬ 
plied, and they sell them from sixty to eighty 
cents per brace. 
Some men kill enough to pay for their holiday 
and get their own birds and their sport for noth¬ 
ing. It is likely that the game commission will 
deal with this phase of the sport during the 
coming winter, as the conviction is growing 
among local nature lovers, that the bag per gun 
should be limited to a reasonable number that 
would give good sport and bar the commercial 
sportsmen. 
The following paragraphs from local papers 
will give your readers an idea of the sport dur¬ 
ing the first few days of the open season. We 
think that the sport is first-class. I would like 
to hear through Forest and Stream from some 
lover of “My Friend the Partridge,” how the 
sport compares with that of the United States. 
Mr. E. Snow arrived here by last night’s train 
from Upper Gullies, having secured fifteen birds. 
Mr. Hugh Fraser also returned last night by 
train from Holyrood with ten birds for the day. 
Hons. E. R. Bowring, W. C. Job and Messrs. 
W. H. Green, Hal. Hutchings and Gus. Herder 
are on the Cape Shore grounds and doing very 
well with the birds. On the Southern Shore 
partridge are extremely plentiful and those 
shooting there are doing well. 
Mr. N. Neary, who was out along the line 
shooting, returned by to-day’s train with 10 brace 
of partridge. 
Hon. E. R. Bowring ’and W. H. Greene, who 
are shooting on the Cape Shore, report fifty- 
five brace of birds since Tuesday. E. Sinnott, 
who shot over Ship Cove barrefts, Cape Shore, 
returned with thirty brace of partridge, and re¬ 
ports birds very plentiful on the grounds. W. 
H. Bartlett, who spent the week in the vicinity 
of Brigus, has returned with sixty-five birds. 
Partridge are reported very plentiful about 
Heart’s Content grounds. Messrs. R. Holden 
and J. Chalker shot fifty-five brace on Brigus 
grounds, and report an abundance of partridge 
in that locality. 
There are several parties of American sports¬ 
men on the West Coast at present, and many 
more have made dates for the next few weeks. 
There are a number of sportsmen on the west¬ 
ern end of the southern coast shooting caribou 
and partridge. Game is plentiful and the gun¬ 
ners are meeting with success. The weather is 
favorable, being fine and cool. All the partridge 
barrens are now being shot over. 
Sportsmen around Fortune Bay are doing ex¬ 
ceptionally well with deer, as there are scores of 
’them in the favorite grazing grounds in that lo¬ 
cality. At this season of the year caribou are 
plentiful, but this year they are more abundant 
than ever. The residents are experiencing no 
difficulty whatever in getting all the fresh meat 
they require. Partridge are also being killed in 
large numbers. W. J. Carroll. 
New Publications. 
Check-List of North American Birds, pre¬ 
pared by a committee of the American Orni¬ 
thologists’ Union. Third edition revised. 
New York American Ornithologists’ Union. 
The long expected Check-List of North Amer¬ 
ican Birds has at last made its appearance, to 
be welcomed by all ornithologists. The first 
edition of the Check-List was published in 1886 
and the second in 1895. The preparation of this 
third edition was authorized as long ago as the 
New York meeting of the A. O. U. held in 
November, 1905. Meantime a number of supple¬ 
ments to the Check-List had been published in 
the Auk at different dates running from Janu¬ 
ary, 1897, to July, 1909. 
The question of biological nomenclature is 
perhaps more discussed and criticised to-day 
than ever before, and activity in biological re¬ 
search and the strict application of the law of 
priority are continually causing changes, whose 
number is so great that the layman, however 
closely he may attempt to follow them is before 
long quite certain to lose his way and to be¬ 
come hopelessly confused. These changes are 
not confined to species, but include genera and 
family groups, and in the present list many of 
our birds appear under new and unfamiliar 
titles. It is obvious that there must be a name 
to indicate each known form of bird, and it may 
be assumed that the eminent men, in whose 
charge this Check-List is, have not gone too far 
in the splitting up of the various groups and 
giving new names. Nevertheless the layman will 
hope that a time will come when some system 
of nomenclature may be adopted which will be 
less puzzling to the average man. 
It was at first the intention of the committee 
radically to change the classification adopted for 
the Check-List a quarter of a century ago, and 
to adopt the system proposed by Dr. Hans Gadow 
in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 
1892-93, but for the present this has been post¬ 
poned. The alterations resulting from the addi¬ 
tion of some species and the elimination of 
others would—if the original method of num¬ 
bering were adhered to—necessitate a new con¬ 
secutive numbering of species wholly different 
from the one which has been in use. This would 
be an inconvenience and lead to confusion. The 
serial numbers, therefore, are omitted in this 
volume, but the old numbers appear in brackets 
at the right of the name. 
The volume is illustrated by the United States 
Biological Survey Fourth Provisional Zone Map 
of North America. It contains a list of the 
fossil birds of North America. The extraordi¬ 
nary toothed birds described so many years ago 
by Marsh lead this list and possess a very great 
interest, because they form the link between the 
ordinary birds and the fossil birds of the Juras¬ 
sic, pointing back toward the reptiles. 
The volume of course has an admirable index. 
The Seminoles of Florida, by Minnie Moore 
Willson. Illustrated, cloth, 213 pages. Price 
$1.25. New York, Moffat Yard and Co. 
At the close of the Seminole war a few score 
of the Indians refused to be moved from Florida 
to the Indian Territory. Some years ago the 
descendants of these numbered about 600. They 
still dwell in the Everglades of Florida, support¬ 
ing themselves by agriculture, by hunting and 
fishing, and by the sale of their produce. They 
are not citizens of the United States; they are 
not under the care of the Government. They 
are at peace with the world, independent, but 
suspicious of the white man, as all Indians well 
may be. What is to be their future? 
It is of these people that Mrs. Minnie Moore 
Willson has written most interestingly in her 
book, “The Seminoles of Florida.” Its first part 
is historical and deals chiefly with the Seminole 
war; its second part tells of the present con¬ 
dition of the people and how they live, describes 
their manners and customs and says that they 
are a sturdy race, increasing in numbers. There 
is much of ethnological interest in this part, as 
there is also in the third part which deals with 
the Seminole language, giving a vocabulary, pre¬ 
pared by Mrs. Wilson, which is a useful addition 
to our knowledge of the language. 
The volume is written with sympathy through¬ 
out and shows a deep feeling for the people of 
whom it tells and for the land they dwell .in. 
All through the book are painted interesting pic¬ 
tures of life in Florida, dealing with its birds, its 
mammals and all the phases of the indigenous 
life with which the Indians come in contact. In 
this native life there are pathetic stories of trage¬ 
dies, and again cheerful accounts of the con¬ 
tented family existence of the Indians when un¬ 
disturbed by intruders. 
The volume is illustrated by pictures of Semi¬ 
noles and by many quaint engravings taken from 
old De Brv, showing the ways of life of the 
untouched Indians of the earliest times. 
The book should be . in the hands of every 
American. 
Revolution, by Jack London. Cloth, 309 pages, 
$1.50. New York, The Macmillan Company. 
A collection of essays on the social problem, 
including a fanciful story of how, in the author’s 
opinion, disarmament, universal peace, prosperity 
and happiness for all mankind may be brought 
about. 
