422 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Marcu 17, 1906. 

pings and shows himself off for the benefit of his 
lady love, but when the same bird is launched in 
the air and dashes along above the highest trees 
of a wild Scotch landscape, leaving poor old Col- 
chicus to scurry at what seems but a slow pace 
behind him, I can assure your readers that both 
the dignity and the pace are alike, wonderful and 
a sight not easily to be forgotten. 
“Until the year 1890 I had seen and shot sev- 
eral Reeves’ pheasants, and under ordinary con- 
ditions of covert shooting was content to con- 
sider the bird hardly a success from a gunner’s 
point of view. During that autumn, however, I 
went to the annual covert shoot at Guisachan, 
Lord Twadsmouth’s beautiful seat, near Beauly, 
in Ross-shire and it was there, amidst the wildest 
and shaggiest of Scotch scenery—in a country 
which must to a great extent resemble the true 
home of the bird in question—that I had cause 
to alter my opinion. 
“Tn one high wood of old Scotch firs on a steep 
and broken hillside above the waterfall the sight 
of these birds comine along only just within 
gunshot in company with common pheasants and 
black cocks I shall never forget. I say, ‘in com- 
pany with, but as a matter of fact as soon as 
one of the long tail skyrockets cleared the trees 
‘he left the others far behind and came forward 
at a pace which was little short of terrific.” 
Dark Foxes. 
BREWER, Maine, March 1.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: A short time ago I wrote an article 
on dark foxes, stating my belief that all dark 
foxes were only sports from the original red. 
This was in opposition to Chief Factor Mac- 
Farlane, of the H. B. Co.,-who stated that they 
were a separate species. I inclose clipping from 
the Bangor Commercial of Feb. 28, which seems 
to conclusively prove that my belief is well 
founded. Mr. Norton is, as far as I know, the 
only man in the United States who has bred 
dark foxes in confinement. They have some- 
times been raised from pups taken when young, 
but not by breeding. I know certainly that a 
pair put on Outer Duck Island, Maine, never, 
so far as known, bred anything better than cross 
grays and degenerated into reds. M. Harpy. 

The Commercial article referred to reads: 
“Breeding foxes in confinement for their 
pelts,” said Elijah Norton of Foxcroft, “is like 
shaking dice—you never know what is going to 
turn up. I have been in the business for seven 
years, starting with a pair of reds and increasing 
my stock until now I have fourteen pairs of 
reds and two pairs of silver grays. I am unable 
to make any estimate as to the profits in the 
business. If I counted my time at half the 
price of day’s wages I should have lost money. 
I believe there is a fair profit in rearing young 
foxes and killing them for what their skins will 
bring from the fur dealers, though I do not kill 
mine. I can get more money by selling the 
living foxes to men who wish to start in the 
business of breeding foxes on their own ac- 
count. I am getting $15 a pair for all the red 
foxes I can supply, whereas if I sold the pelts 
I Ww ould not receive more than $9 for a pair. 
“Before you can rear foxes in confinement 
you must learn how to handle them. More than 
one-half the fox pups caught running wild in 
the woods will not breed at all if confined in- 
side of wire inclosure, no matter how well you 
use them. 
“No fox running wild in a state of nature is 
a polygamist, though I have two healthy males 
bred in my yards which have consented to ac- 
cept two or more wives. I believe I shall de- 
velop a race of polygamous foxes, though I am 
not sure as yet. If I succeed I can make much 
more money. 
“It is a mistake to believe that foxes in con- 
finement require the same kind of food that 
wild foxes eat. I tried it and nearly lost all the 
animals I had. They became sullen and quarrel- 
some, flying into fits and uncontrollable passion, 
sulking and mooning about the yards, and finally 
dying from fever. 
For the last five years I have fed foxes on 
the same kind of food one would give his dog— 

Photo by F. W. 
Jenkins, 
johnny cake, bread and milk, dog biscuit and 
lean scraps. By using them ‘kindly and keep- 
ing strangers away from the yards I am finding 
no difficulty in domesticating the animals or in 
getting them to breed. 
“My greatest hopes lie in my beautiful silver 
grays. Though there is no certainty that off- 
spring from silver gray parents will be silver 
gray, as all variations from the original red are 
sports which may jump back at any time, I have 
now bred silver grays so long that more than 
half of the offspring follow the color of their 
parents. 
“Last spring I reared a litter of six pups from 
silver gray parents, and five of them were true 
to color, and even the sixth was as much gray 
as red. I hope to rear a race of silver grays 
that will show no indication of atavism. 
“Tf so, my fortune is made, for I can get from 
$500 to $800 a pair for all the silver grays I may 
have for sale. With good luck I hope to rear 
a dozen or more silver gray pups next summer, 
and in another year I can sell all my reds and 
devote myself to breeding the animals which 
produce furs that bring high prices.” 
Hawk and Weasel. 
Miss., March 6.—Editor Forest 
and Stream: I have read the articles in issues 
of Feb. to and March 3 on weasels. Mr. Kalb- 
fus is right about them. There are usually two 
or more, sometimes six or seven together. They 
will take up their abode in wood piles, out 
houses or barns, etc., and if not gotten rid of 
will clear out a poultry yard very quickly, often 
killing ten to twenty chicks and the old hen in 
a night. 
On one day, when I was hunting for quail 
about ten miles southwest of Jackson, Miss., I 
saw a very peculiar fight between a weasel and a 
large hawk (here called hen hawk). In this 
locality we have small creeks, or branches as they 
ROLLING Fork, 
are called, along the edges of which grow 
cane, sedge, grass and briers, with here and 
there a patch of beggar lice weeds. Quail 
are very fond of their seeds. I had noticed the 
hawk for some time, and could see that it was 
watching some object in the short grass. For 
one moment the hawk poised itself and then 
shot straight for its prey with a rapidity that 
to me was astonishing. It seemed to strike with 
certainty and steadily rose on wing with some 
black object, at the distance I could not say 
what, and slowly began to circle higher and 
higher until about thirty to forty feet from the 
ground, and then with a scream and violent 
fluttering to go faster and faster, higher and 
higher, with feathers drifting through the air 
as they were torn off the under part of the 
hawk’s body. The hawk continued to rise in 
circles, until possibly three hundred yards or 
more, and then began to settle slowly and finally 
NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU. 
dropped to the ground. ‘With a call to my 
pointers, I rode over to where the hawk had 
fallen, and found that it was a weasel that the 
hawk had pounced on, striking it through the 
hips and not causing death at once, as would 
have been the case if it had struck back of the 
shoulder blade. The weasel, wounded to death, 
made his fight and literally disemboweled the 
hawk. Both were practically dead when I 
reached them. 
I know of only a few worse enemies to game 
birds than the weasel and mink, and they are 
the common tomcat, allowed to roam at large 
half wild, and the pointer or setter dog allowed 
the same privilege and raiding over the farm 
during nesting time until the quail is nearly 
grown. We have no weasels and very few mink 
in the Delta country. I suppose the overtlow 
has something to do with this, although both 
are good swimmers. SILENT. 
Tuat the widespread extraordinary conditions 
of winter mildness do not hold everywhere in 
the north, but that on the contrary in some 
quarters there should be heard expressions of 
concern because of the extremely hard winter, is 
suggestive of the generous extent of our country. 
While New England shooters are felicitating 
themselves upon the outlook, the sportsmen of 
the Northwest are complaining of the unusual 
fall of snow which there menaces the birds. The 
quail is an imported species in Washington, and 
the close time on them will not expire until 1908. 
A correspondent of the Spokesman-Review, of 
Spokane,’ reports: ‘‘We have had no winter like 
the present since 1889-90, and the snow is so deep 
that the birds are likely to starve. I am feeding 
a flock of twenty-five or thirty quail at my farm 
on the Little Spokane, and hear of some farmers 
who are doing the same at their farms. Every 
pair that lives through the long winter means 
an increase of from eight to twelve young birds 
next summer, and it would be bad to allow them 
to starve.” 
I HAVE heard the following story, which, I be- 
lieve, has never appeared in print. A gentleman 
who was visiting a certain part of Newfoundland 
where, a few years before, a giant squid had been 
captured, was much impressed with the rugged, 
broken character of the region. He thought this 
was possibly due to some seismic disturbance, 
and asked a fisherman if there had ever been an 
earthquake there. The native had never heard 
of an earthquake before, but feeling that it must 
be something very remarkable, and knowing of 
no other incident which had created so much local 
interest as the capture of the big devil fish, he 
exclaimed: ‘‘Yas, sar. skipper Garge catched one 
on ’em. up to der bottom of de bay, sar, in his 
net.” ave Gs 
