FEB, 24, 1906. ] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 


| GAMTE RAG AND GUN 


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Game Refuges. 
Practical Directions for Making Them. 
Many of the men who are willing to lend a 
hand in the interest of the birds in winter 
neglect to put up game refuges for the reason 
that they do not carry in mind any one definite 
and concise plan. Here is my own, briefly and 
concisely, and it can be followed with variations 
where conditions are different: 
1. Pull out a section of stone wall in the brush 
lot or woods. : 
2. Rebuild the wall by laying up the stone with 
cement in the form of a rough arch, leaving an 
open space beneath three feet high and five feet 
long. 
3. Arrange two circles of stones under the 
arch. One circle is to hold a peck of buckwheat ; 
the other is to hold a similar quantity of sand and 
gravel, 
4. Set about I00 young white spruce trees 
thickly about the refuge, to serve for a wind- 
break, a warm cover and to keep snow from drift- 
ing under the arch. Any nurseryman will fur- 
nish 250 white spruces for about $10. I get my 
seedlings and transplants from Thomas Meehan 
& Sons, Germantown, Pa. Set the young spruces 
from six to twelve feet apart. Trim the tops from 
time to time in order to get thick lateral branches. 
Other conifers will make good cover, but the 
white spruce, or the Norway spruce, are hardy in 
very many kinds of soil and lend themselves to 
hedge purposes very well. Norway spruce is per- 
haps preferable, but I have an aversion to any- 
thing excepting American trees upon my farm. 
If one is not a crank and has no aversions he is 
apt to fare better on the whole, perhaps. 
I made a mistake by beginning with hemiocks. 
Hemlocks make a mighty fine cover and they are 
as hardy and thrifty as hedge trees, but, like the 
arbor vite, they grow very slowly. It is best to 
have two or more refuges a quarter of a mile 
apart, for foxes and other predatory animals find 
where the birds congregate, and the birds, when 
driven from one refuge, fly to the other. Per- 
haps foxes could be kept away by hanging pieces 
of tin from the cover trees. I have intended at 
times to do this, but a combination of laziness, 
lack of tin at the psychological moment, and a 
growing conviction that foxes do not make much 
trouble after all, have resulted in letting things 
go. Tracks of various predatory animals are 
found about the refuges, but 1 would not affirm, 
or even swear on the Bible, that anything ever 
actually drove the birds away from the refuge 
excepting “me and my dog.” The birds certainly 
have nothing to fear from raccoons, skunks, 
minks, weasels or hawks when protected by 
spruce cover. 
Wneh the refuge is first established, sprinkle 
buckwheat all about and leading toward the arch. 
If there are groups of rocks or stumps about and 
in such form as to make natural hiding places, 
set some of the spruces about them and the birds 
will often sleep there at night. There are three 
or four places where I can put my hand ona 
ruffed grouse at almost any time, if he will hold 
still; and as to quail, they are naturally home 
lovers, and like to find cosy nooks where they can 
snuggle together and admire each other’s beauty 
every day. The quail can be depended upon to 
feed at the table of any hospitable host every day, 
and fuffed grouse sometimes seem to be very glad 
to get at the buckwheat, but they are independent 
fellows, and even in the hardest weather some- 
times prefer a diet of buds of willow, maple, birch, 
poplar and other trees. Even when sleeping in 
the refuge at night ruffed grouse will sometimes 

IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 
* 
Photo by Joseph C. Grew. 
‘might be inclined to do the 

trouble themselves very little to begin breakfast 
with grain, if tattle-tale new snow bears true wit- 
ness. Sometimes the tracks of a single grouse 
lead from the sleeping bed to the grain, while the 
tracks of his companions go straignt away from 
it. Bluejays.take some toll from the storehouse, 
but they pay for it with a flash of gay color 
against the gray landscape, and the laugh of a 
merry hoyden, at a time of the year when tones 
are inclined to be sad. Mice and squirrels take 
a whole lot of the grain, but it does not cost much, 
and the man who grumbles at that sort of loss 
would refuse to let the boys hitch on behind. It 
is necessary to look after the matter of replenish- 
ing the grain occasionally, but a peck of sand 
will withstand many pecks for years. 
If one cares to feed smaller birds in order to 
get them about the house, a very good way is to 
tie a piece of beef suet on either end of a string 
a couple of feet long and then toss the whole 
contrivance into a tree. One must not be mis- 
led by his experience with fish lines. and expect 
it to hang every time, but after tossing it up from 
one to five times—depending upon how soon the 
train starts—the string will finally wind about a 
branch (Women need to use a pole or to call the 
hired man.) Chickadees, nut-hatches, creepers, 
woodpeckers and many other winter birds soon 
find the suet. There is some question if feeding 
the smaller birds is a very, very wise plan, for the 
idea that they are really hungry is a sentimental 
one. Birds do not hunt so assiduously for the 
eggs and larve of noxious insects that the agri- 
cultural bulletins tell us all about, if they can find 
easy living without labor. The pretty things 
are almost human. Rosert T. Morris. 
New York, Feb. 16. 
Deer Clubbers Punished. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Inclosed find story of deer killing from the 
Gloucester Daily Times: 
“In the District Court this morning before 
Judge York, George Bragg and George Nurse, 
two of the crew of the schooner Dictator, of this 
port, pleaded guilty to violating the game laws 
of Massachusetts in killing a deer, and were each 
fined $100, which they paid. The killing of the 
deer occurred in the outer harbor Dec. 31 of last 
year, and created considerable attention, as wit- 
nesses of the occurrence claimed that unnecessary 
cruelty was practiced in disposing of the animal. 
Deputy William W. Nixon, of the Massachu- 
setts Fish and Game Commission, in calling the 
attention of the court to the case, stated that it 
was a shame that these peaceful animals could 
not be let alone. They are seen quite frequently 
Swimming across the harbor, or in the waters of 
Essex River and Ipswich Bay. He considered 
that this case should be treated in such a manner 
that it would serve as a warning to others who 
same thing. Mr. 
Nixon further said that he understood these men, 
on seeing the deer swimming in the harbor, put 
out from their vessel in a dory, into which they 
took the animal, then beat it to death with an oar, 
and then used a gaff on the animal, after which 
they took it aboard the vessel and cooked it. 
“Judge York said under the circumstances it 
was out of the question to think of placing these 
cases on file, and it was really a case where 
cruelty to animals might have been’ brought 
against the men. When sentence was passed upon 
the two men the skipper of the vessel promptly 
laid down the amount necessary to release them 
from custody. Both Bragg and Nurse considered 
themselves fortunate in getting out of the matter 
so easily.” 
Deputy Nixon is a hustler. He has located the 
dogs that drove the deer overboard and warned 
their owners. The pathetic part of this case is 
the fact that the doe, the mate to the deer killed, 

