UC-NRLF 13 ere Dm'ght WHuntington OUR FEATHERED GAME PARTRIDGE SHOOTING — SCATTERED BIRDS OUR FEATHERED GAME A HANDBOOK OF THE NORTH AMERICAN GAME BIRDS BY DWIGHT W. HUNTINGTON WITH EIGHT FULL-PAGE SHOOTING SCENES IN COLOR AND ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE BIRD PORTRAITS CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK :: :: :: :: :: 1911 COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY CHARLES, SCRIBNER'S SONS Published, June, 1903 2»1 CONTENTS PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ....... i II. GUNS AND DOGS • 9 III. GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 20 BOOK I GALLINACEOUS BIRDS IV. GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 41 PHEASANTS V. THE WILD TURKEY 46 VI. THE PHEASANTS 52 GROUSE VII. THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUSE .... 60 VIII. THE PRAIRIE-GROUSE 65 IX. THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE . 0 • 73 X. THE SAGE-COCK — COCK OF THE PLAINS . . 83 XL THE RUFFED-GROUSE 88 XII. THE DUSKY- OR BLUE-GROUSE .... 96 XIII. THE CANADA-GROUSE, SPRUCE-GROUSE, OR BLACK- GROUSE ioo XIV. THE PTARMIGAN . . . . . .103 PARTRIDGES XV. THE PARTRIDGES ....... 106 XVI. BOB-WHITE 109 XVII. THE CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGES . . . .125 XVIII. THE SOUTHWESTERN PARTRIDGES . . .132 26751*3 n CONTENTS BOOK II WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS X>AGB XIX. THE WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS . . .139 XX. THE WILD SWANS 145 XXI. WILD GEESE 148 XXII. OTHER WILD GEESE 153 XXIII. THE SNOW-GEESE, BRANT, ETC. . . .156 XXIV. TREE-DUCKS 160 SEA-DUCKS XXV. SEA-DUCK SHOOTING 161 XXVI. THE CANVAS-BACK 171 XXVII. THE RED-HEAD 181 XXVIII. THE SCAUP-DUCKS 186 XXIX. THE GOLDEN-EYE AND OTHER SEA-DUCKS . 192 XXX. OLD-SQUAWS, COOTS, AND EIDERS . . .197 RIVER DUCKS XXXI. RIVER-DUCK SHOOTING 204 XXXII. THE MALLARD 208 XXXIII. THE DUSKY DUCKS 220 XXXIV. THE TEAL 225 XXXV. THE WOOD-DUCK 233 XXXVI. OTHER RIVER DUCKS 236 MERGANSERS XXXVII. THE MERGANSERS 241 CONTENTS vii I BOOK III SHORE BIRDS OR WADERS PAGE XXXVIII. THE SHORE BIRDS OR WADERS . . .247 XXXIX. THE WOODCOCK . . \ . . .252 XL. THE SNIPE 268 XLI. THE BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER — UPLAND PLOVER 283 XLII. BAY BIRD SHOOTING 287 XLIII. OTHER SNIPES AND SANDPIPERS . . . 294 XLIV. THE PLOVERS 307 XLV. OTHER VARIETIES OF SHORE BIRDS. . „ 316 BOOK IV CRANES, RAILS, AND REED BIRDS, WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES XLVI. THE CRANES 323 XLVII. THE RAILS AND REED BIRDS . . . .327 XLVIII. WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES .... 334 APPENDIX • ' 347 INDEX 391 ILLUSTRATIONS SHOOTING SCENES IN COLOR From original drawings by D. W. Huntington. PARTRIDGE SHOOTING — SCATTERED BIRDS . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE GROUSE SHOOTING ON THE PRAIRIE 68 SHOOTING SAGE-GROUSE IN THE DESERT . 84 A DIFFICULT SHOT AT A RUFFED-GROUSE . . .92 SHOT BEHIND HIM 148 SHOOTING CANVAS-BACKS AT RAGGED ISLAND . . .176 COCK SHOOTING, LATE IN THE DAY 258 SNIPE SHOOTING IN THE MARSHES . 280 BIRD PORTRAITS At End of Volume PLATE I PLATE III TURKEYS AND PHEASANTS GROUSE 1. English Pheasant. 10. Ptarmigan, Winter. 2. Mongolian Pheasant n. Ptarmigan, Summer. 3. Wild Turkey. 12. Sage-cock. PLATE IV PLATE II PARTRIDGES GROUSE 13. Scaled-partridge. 4. Prairie-grouse. 14. California Partridge. 5. Heath-hen. 15. GambePs Partridge. 6. Sharp-tailed Grouse. 16. California Mountain Par- 7. Ruffed-grouse. tridge. 8. Dusky-grouse. 17. Bob-white. 9. Canada-grouse. 18. Massena Partridge. ix ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE V SWANS 19. Whistling Swan. 20. Trumpeter Swan. PLATE VI GEESE 21. Cackling Goose. 22. Hutchins Goose. 23. Canada Goose. PLATE VII GEESE AND BRANT 24. Black Brant. 25. Brant-goose. 26. Emperor Goose. 27. Ross Snow-goose. PLATE VIII GEESE AND TREE-DUCKS 28. Lesser Snow-goose. 29. Blue-wing Goose. 30. White-fronted Goose. 31. Greater Snow-goose. . 32. Fulvous Tree-duck. 33. Black-bellied Tree-duck. PLATE IX SEA-DUCKS 34. Canvas-back Duck. 35. Ring-neck Duck. 36. Labrador Duck. 37. American Scaup-duck. 38. Lesser Scaup-duck. PLATE X SEA-DUCKS AND MERGANSERS 39. Red-head Duck. 40. Buffle-head Duck. 41. Surf-scoter. 42. Hooded Merganser. 43. Red-breasted Merganser. 44. American Merganser. PLATE XI SEA-DUCKS 45. American Golden-eye. 46. Long-tail Duck. 47. Harlequin Duck. 48. Ruddy-duck. 49. Masked Duck. PLATE XII SEA-DUCKS 50. White-winged Scoter. 51. King Eider. 52. American Eider. PLATE XIII RIVER-DUCKS 53. Blue-winged Teal. 54. Cinnamon Teal. 55. Dusky-duck. 56. Green-winged TeaL 57. Wood-duck. 58. Mallard. PLATE XIV RIVER-DUCKS 59. Widgeon (Female). 60. Widgeon. 61. Sprig-tail, or Pintail. 62. Shoveler. 63. Gadwall. 64. Gadwall (Female). PLATE XV SHORE BIRDS 6$. Wilson's Snipe. 66. Knot. 67. Bartramian Sandpiper. 68. Dowitcher. 69. Woodcock. 70. Pectoral Sandpiper. ILLUSTRATIONS XI PLATE XVI SHORE BIRDS 71. Hudsonian Godwit. 72. Marbled Godwit. 73. Black-necked Stilt. 74. American Avocet PLATE XVII SHORE BIRDS 75. Hudsonian Curlew. 76. Eskimo Curlew. 77. Pacific Godwit. 78. Long-billed Curlew. PLATE XVIII SHORE BIRDS 79. Willet. 80. Ruff. 8 1. Greater Yellow-legs. PLATE XIX SHORE BIRDS 82. White-rumped Sandpiper. 83. Sanderling. 84. Baird's Sandpiper. 85. Stilt Sandpiper. 86. Purple Sandpiper. PLATE XXI SHORE BIRDS 92. Belted Piping Plover. 93. Piping Plover. 94. Semipalmated Plover. 95. Black-bellied Plover. 96. Pacific Golden Plover. 97. American Golden Plover. PLATE XXII SHORE BIRDS 98. Snowy Plover. 99. Wilson's Plover. 100. Surf-bird. 101. Black Turnstone. 102. Mountain Plover. 103. Ruddy Turnstone. PLATE XXIII SHORE BIRDS 104. Least Sandpiper. 105. Semipalmated Sandpiper. 106. Aleutian Sandpiper. 107. Curlew Sandpiper. 108. Western Sandpiper. 109. Wilson's Phalarope. PLATE XX SHORE BIRDS 87. Spotted Sandpiper. 88. Buff-breasted Sandpiper. 89. Red-backed Sandpiper. 90. Solitary Sandpiper. 91. Wandering Tattler. PLATE XXIV SHORE BIRDS no. Northern Phalarope. in. Red Phalarope. 112. Kill-deer Plover. 113. American Oyster-catcher. 114. Black Oyster-catcher. xii ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE XXV PLATE XXVIII COOT AND CRANE PIGEONS AND DOVES 115. Coot. 124. Ground-dove. 116. Sand-hill Crane. 125. White-winged Dove. 126. Mourning Dove. PLATE XXVI 127. Red-billed Pigeon. CRANE 128. Passenger Pigeon. 117. Whooping Crane. 129- Band-tailed Pigeon. PLATE XXVII PLATE XXIX RAILS PIGEONS, DOVES, AND BOBOLINK 118. Black-rail. 130. Zenaida Dove. 119. Yellow-rail. 131. Blue-headed Quail Dove. 120. Sora-rail. 132. White-fronted Dove. 121. Virginia-rail 133. White-crowned Pigeon. 122. Clapper-rail. 134. Inca Dove. 123. King-raiL 135. Bobolink. OUR FEATHERED GAME INTRODUCTION SOME years ago I was shooting ducks in North Dakota with some army officers from Fort Totten. In looking over the bag one evening I found a number of birds which were entirely new to me. Several of them were not mentioned in any of the books on field sports. It occurred to me then that a book describing every game bird would be a valu- able addition to a sportsman's library. The authors of the earlier books had little or no experience west of the Alleghenies and many of the birds now taken by sportsmen were unknown to them. When Audubon and Wilson wrote their ornithologies much of the Western country was inhabited by hostile Indians and was inaccessible. Audubon was aware of the existence of the best American grouse, the sharp- tail, but said that he was entirely unfamiliar with its habits. Forester had no acquaintance with the com- mon prairie-grouse. All the birds are now known, and described, but the information is contained in many volumes, and is, for the most part, too technical to entertain sportsmen. There is not to-day a complete manual of the feathered game of North America. 2 INTRODUCTION Field sport conditions have changed much. They are diametrically opposite those of twenty-five years ago. Forester wrote of the marvellous abundance of game in the Eastern States, calling attention to the fact that there was not a game law or a game pre- serve in the land. With a friend he bagged one hun- dred and twenty-five woodcock in a day, quite near New York, and he records large bags of other game. To-day the game birds are nowhere abundant in the Eastern States: there is everywhere a multiplicity of game enactments and there are hundreds of game preserves. The abundance of game in the United States was truly marvellous. It was not unusual for a sportsman to shoot one hundred ducks in a day, and the market gunners often killed as many at a single shot from a swivel-gun. There are reliable records of over a hun- dred shore-birds being killed at a shot. Bogardus with a friend shot three hundred and forty snipe one day in Illinois, and the writer was present in Ohio when the bag contained over one hundred and fifty partridges (Bob-whites), besides ruffed-grouse and woodcock. Grouse were killed by the wagon-load. The prairie-grouse are extinct in many of the States besides Kentucky, where Audubon says they were regarded as pests on account of their destruction of the buds of the fruit trees. There are few places in America where one hundred ducks could be bagged in a day except on the marshes owned and preserved by clubs. A few years ago the shooting everywhere was free and unrestrained. A posted farm in the Central and INTRODUCTION 3 Western States was the exception. The few game laws on the statute books were nowhere enforced, and the market gunners plied their trade unmolested, in season and out. Vast quantities of birds festooned the fronts of game-stores in all the cities, and filled thousands of barrels and boxes which were handled by commission men. Forester doubted if the breech-loader would ever come into general use on account of the inconvenience of the little cases in which the loads were carried. I spent a whole day in New York recently in a fruitless effort to find one of the old single muzzle-loaders to be used in making an illustration. The muzzle-loading double gun is rapidly becoming a curiosity. The dogs have been carefully bred for speed and en- durance and that quality known to sportsmen as " bird sense," and are now trained to the highest degree of perfection. The field trials of these animals, which had a small beginning in 1876, are to-day events of much importance where large purses are offered. There were no fewer than thirty of these competitions in America the past year. When it became evident to sportsmen that the game was rapidly vanishing, the legislative assemblies were appealed to, and we soon had many game laws. These were directed principally toward the shortening of the open season, the prohibition in many places of summer and spring shooting, and, most important of all, the prohibition of market shooting and the sale of game. Laws were passed limiting the size of the bag to be made in a day, in some States to a very small number of birds. Other laws provided for a license of from 4 INTRODUCTION $10 to $40 for non-residents and a smaller license usu- ally for residents. Two States prohibited the shoot- ing by non-residents within their borders. In addition to these laws, now in force almost everywhere in the Northern States, there are many others of less impor- tance, or of a local nature, such as the law in New Jer- sey, for example, which prohibits all shooting when there is a " tracking snow " on the ground. In many of the States the season for all game closes by the first of the year and opens in October or November. These laws were supplemented by a national law (known from its author as the Lacey law) which pro- hibits the shipment of game by interstate commerce wherever its sale or transportation is prohibited by State law. Since the passage of the laws prohibiting the sale of game in most of the Northern States, game birds are no longer exposed openly in the markets where such sales are illegal, but the laws have been evaded in many ways. Vast quantities of game are handled each season by the cold-storage warehouses. Mr. Starbuck, President of the Cuvier Club, one of the strongest game-protective clubs in the United States, referred in a recent address to the seizure in 1891 of 7»93J grouse, 5,571 partridges or quail, 96 woodcock, 1,324 ducks, 8,848 plover, 7,108 snipe, 8,328 snow-bunt- ings, 7,607 sand-pipers, 1,008 reed birds, and 738 yel- low-legs, at a cold-storage warehouse in New York, the penalties amounting to $1,168,315. The agents of the Government last fall Ynade a seizure of five thousand partridges at a small station in the Chick- asaw Nation. President Starbuck says: "Wagon- INTRODUCTION 5 loads of small game have been going out of the woods with astonishing frequency. The sportsmen through- out the country should ponder on the important facts which have come to light in connection with the above seizures. Let them consider that each large city of the country has many of these cold-storage ware- houses, in which there may be illegal game in numbers almost as large as was found by the above arresting officials ; and besides these large warehouses, there are many others in smaller places of less capacity." Mr. Hornaday, who has made a careful study of the decrease of bird-life and has gathered many facts to support his statements, estimates that thirty-three States and Territories, comprising three-fifths of the total area of the United States, show a decrease in the number of birds of 46 per cent, during fifteen years. The decrease in game birds is fully 75 per cent. The Agricultural Department, in a recent bulletin, says that the woodcock and the wood-duck are in dan- ger of extermination. The fact that in the great seiz- ure of game above mentioned but ninety-six woodcock were taken is significant. Professor Dury says : " The game birds of Ohio and the Central States are being rapidly reduced in num- bers, and some species to the very verge of extinc- tion." The ornithologist Elliot, in his recent popular work on the wild-fowl, says : " While engaged upon this book I felt that I was writing the history of a rapidly vanishing race." Forester referred to the fact that the sportsman often slipped out the back way, when going afield, since there was a prejudice among his neighbors against all sport, 6 INTRODUCTION and no distinction was made between the terms sports- man and sporting-man. Such puritanical notions no longer prevail. Sportsmanship is now fashionable. The sportsman of to-day no longer slips out the back way, but travels more often in a luxurious railway car, especially constructed for his comfort and convenience. Thousands annally go to the domain of the sage-cock, the sharp-tailed grouse, and the plumed and crested partridges. No country in the world was so well supplied with feathered game. The largest and most magnificent pheasant in the world (the wild turkey) heads the list. There is a splendid assortment of grouse, includ- ing the second largest grouse in the world, three fine grouse of the open country and five wood-grouse, one of which, the ruffed-grouse, is often called the king of game birds. Bob-white is the best all around par- tridge, and there are five other plumed and crested partridges which rival in beauty those of the Old World. Fourteen shoal-water ducks or dabblers come to the marshes, including the mallard, three teal, the gorgeous wood-duck, the handsomest duck in the world, and the rest, all excellent food-birds. The far-famed canvas-back heads the list of twenty- four deep-water or sea ducks, one of which, the pied- duck, formerly abundant in the New York markets, is now unfortunately found only on museum shelves. There are but forty-two specimens in the world. The best of these are in the American Museum of Natural History, New York. We have a fine assort- ment of swans, geese, and brant. Turning to the shore- birds or waders, we find the splendid woodcock and INTRODUCTION 7 snipe, the delicious field-plover, and more than half a hundred others, more or less desirable as marks or food. North America has (or had) more than its share of the wild pigeons of the world. The passenger pigeon has gone never to return. But the band-tail, a fine bird, still remains in goodly numbers on the Pacific Coast, and there are a number of other excellent pigeons and doves which are still shot by sportsmen. There are two edible cranes. The king-rail is a large and tooth- some bird, and the smaller varieties all are good to eat. It is with some regret that the writer has observed the change from the old conditions to the new. Al- though clubmen are everywhere cordial and hospitable and there are invitations enough to shoot over private preserves, there was a charm about the tramp over virgin fields when there were no game-laws, club-rules or restraints of any kind, not soon to be forgotten. At the outset we are met with the difficulty of de- termining what birds are game. I have decided to in- clude in my commentary all birds which are legally taken by sportsmen, save one — the robin red-breast (which is legally shot and devoured in some of the Southern States) — giving more space to those deserv- ing of it. There are many which I would willingly see protected at all times. My observation of the birds is from the sportsman's blind, or as he sees them in a tramp across the field, with dog and gun; a sufficient description, however, being given in the notes at the end of the volume to enable the reader to identify the species. We do not go to the museums to compare skins with the naturalists in the hope of creating a sub-species, 8 INTRODUCTION but to the fields to shoot over those still open, as well as on club grounds and private preserves, making some inquiry by the way as to the natural history of our game, and the new methods of preservation and propagation. II GUNS AND DOGS THE advice given by Polonius, " Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy," applies as well to guns to-day as to the clothes of Hamlet's day. The sportsman in selecting a gun will do well to purchase the best he can afford. A good gun will last a lifetime. A cheap gun will soon wear loose at the breech, and a shaky gun is an abomination. The locks of a good gun will never miss fire, and will work with the precision of a costly timepiece. The barrels will not wear out or burst. A certain amount of good engraving about the locks adds to the beauty of a gun and gives it a finished look, but do not spend money on the fancy engraving of shooting scenes with impossible ducks, pheasants, or dogs inlaid in gold. The best guns, some years ago, were made in England, and a real good one was not to be had for less than $150 to $200. The guns have been much improved of late ; there are many excellent American makes, and a very safe and serviceable gun may be had from $50 up. There are much cheaper guns, to be sure, but I would not advise buying them. A gun for general shooting, when the sportsman has one gun only, should be 12- gauge ; the barrels thirty inches in length ; the weight seven to seven and one-half pounds. The gun should, of course, be hammerless, since the hammerless gun 9 io GUNS AND DOGS. is by far the safest. Most of the accidents in the shooting field have been caused by the old-style gun with hammers. I have known of many accidents caused by the hammers catching when the gun was carelessly drawn toward the shooter in a boat or wagon. Many accidents have occurred by the gun being fired by the dog. A favorite setter sent a load of shot within an inch of my head. I had put the gun down; was holding it with one hand and about to open a gate when the young, enthusiastic dog, pranc- ing about, put one foot on the hammer, raising it high enough to explode the cartridge when his foot slipped off. I may say, in passing, that there should never be more than one gun in a duck-boat, and never a loaded gun in a wagon, except when the wagon is used to approach game, as in shooting the upland plover, and in that case there should be no more than one gun in the wagon and that always held in a safe position with the muzzle pointing outward. I have always insisted upon an inspection of the guns — all tipping them open to show that they are empty — when several are using a wagon, and will on no account shoot with a man who brings a loaded gun into a wagon. It is unnec- essary to advise a sportsman never to point a gun, loaded or unloaded, at a person. The penalty for a boy's doing such a thing should be the loss of his gun. It is the unloaded gun, usually, that kills a companion. There should never be any uncertainty as to whether the gun is loaded. Remove the loads in getting over a fence, especially if the fence be at all shaky. It is a safe rule always to remove them. GUNS AND DOGS n The i6-gauge has many advocates. I have seen excellent work done with it, and have found it light and serviceable in partridge shooting. Much smaller bores are used, but 1 do not think well of a smaller gauge than 16, since there is more danger of wound- ing birds with small guns, and the sportsman should always try to kill " clean." The 14-gauge is very little used, but 1 have owned such a gun and am inclined to think it a little better for upland field shooting than either the 12 or 16, but the 14 is used so little that it is difficult in most places to get ammu- nition to fit it. The heavy ic-gauge was, a few years ago, carried in many fields, but it is seldom seen to-day excepting where it belongs, in the duck blinds, when the game is the wild geese and the heavy- plumaged sea-fowl. Larger guns are not found in the equipment of many sportsmen. They are pro- hibited by law in some of the States. The only persons who ever used the swivel-gun or cannon were the market gunners, and they have almost every- where been put out of business by legal enactments. It is all important in selecting a gun that it fit the shooter. The fit of the gun is far more important than the fit of the clothes. Good shooting is depend- ent upon it. A gun which fits is said to " come up " well or handle well. By that is meant that when it is tossed suddenly to the shoulder it will be so poised that the eye will see along the barrel and the aim be true without further adjustment of the gun. Some shooters prefer a straight stock ; others a crooked one. The beginner should take the gun which for him comes up the best. Many years 12 GUNS AND DOGS ago, when I purchased my first expensive gun, 1 named the price I expected to pay and had the dealer stand out some twenty or thirty guns of various makes, all good ones, however, and taking these one by one I aimed them suddenly at a small object of some kind in the store with both eyes opened, then closed one eye to see how accurate the instantaneous aim was. Handling the guns one after another I dis- carded those at once that did not come up well and soon had but a half dozen left. Using these one after another I soon found one which seemed to fit me exactly and which had a fine balance and was in every way satisfactory. With this gun I did excellent work the first day I went into the field for partridges. I of course obtained a gun by a good maker, since there were no bad makers represented at the start. But I preferred fit to maker. All the guns from which a selection is to be made may of course be by a desired maker, provided the stock be a large one ; or for that matter, a gun is often made to order, the measure being taken from a gun found to fit. The good points about a gun are careful workmanship, strength, and fit. The gun being selected, the beginner will do well to bring it up often unloaded, aiming it suddenly at small objects about the room, and then use it much at the inanimate targets, the clay pigeons, which are thrown with great velocity from the spring-traps. Do not in practice for field shooting stand with the gun at the shoulder and say " pull " to the boy at the trap, but hold the gun at any and all of the different positions in which it may be held in the field either in the pres- ence of game or when walking about. After giving GUNS AND DOGS 13 the order to the boy to release the target pitch the gun to the shoulder and fire. It is often said that good "trap-shots " are not good " field-shots " and vice versa. Of course a man cannot go walking about the field with the butt of the gun always at his shoulder. Hence he should not so hold it when shooting at the traps if he would become a good field-shot. He may be beaten at the traps by the shooter who holds his gun at his shoulder, but he will defeat the latter in the field. Much field-work, however, is necessary to make a good field-shot. In shooting at the traps I shoot much at double birds. The double shot in the field gives the most satisfaction, and to made double shots one must be accustomed to the quick use of the second barrel. In shooting at single clay pigeons I always fire the sec- ond barrel at any large fragment which may go sailing away when the first shot does not smash the target into the minute fragments which one likes to see. Books have been written about the use of guns, but it is most important to aim quickly ; to aim well over rising birds and under descending ones and far ahead of fast-flying marks crossing the line of sight, either directly or at an angle. Remember that more shots are missed by shooting behind than ahead of the birds. A few shots at ducks or shore-birds flying low over the water will teach the shooter much, if he looks to see where his shot strikes the water. The shooting at one duck to see another many feet behind it fall dead will be another lesson. It takes many lessons to make a fine field-shot. Always shoot with both eyes open. The mark is i4 GUNS AND DOGS seen better and the rate at which it is moving is more rapidly estimated. I shall have something more to say about guns and loads in connection with the various birds in the proper place. The dogs used in upland shooting in the United States are usually the pointers or setters. Small span- iels are used to some extent for cock-shooting, but not so much as in England. The setter and the pointer are both excellent dogs. The " pointer-man" insists that the pointer is the only dog. The " setter-man " usually will have only setters. I have shot over both dogs, in many fields. The setters, with their silky coats, feathered legs and tails, to my eye, are the hand- somer dogs. I know of no more beautiful animal in all the kingdom, than a well-marked English setter. The long hair, I admit, collects the burrs, and the dog is often badly used up by them, while but few, if any, stick to the pointer. The pointer will go farther in warm weather, and without water, and he is an excel- lent dog for the prairie. The setter is the better dog in cold weather, since the pointer shivers whenever he is at rest and it makes one cold to look at him. Pointers are by some regarded as slower dogs, but the modern pointer of field-trial stock, will go like a greyhound, and is fast enough in any field. I have seen them keep the setters busy on the vast Western prairies. There is much talk, now that field-trials are held annually in all sections of the country, about the com- parative merits of "field-trial dogs*' and "shooting- GUNS AND DOGS 15 dogs." The competitive running of dogs for short heats and at a high rate of speed (the dogs going at long distances from the gun), it is argued, does not make good shooting-dogs. Fast wide-ranging dogs are often lost in the thickets and often get beyond the range of the whistle. But speed and endurance as well as " bird sense" are the qualities which go to make up a good field-dog, and after listening to the controversy until the small hours, between field-trial men and shooters, at the tavern, after a field competi- tion, I have arrived at the conclusion that the sports- man will do well to select for his shooting, a dog of field-trial stock, but one that has been especially trained, not for a field-trial, but to hunt to the gun, as it is called, or for field shooting. The slower dog, hunt- ing carefully before the gun, is often referred to as a " good meat dog." By that is meant, of course, that more birds will be killed over him. There is much force, however, in the saying of the handlers: " You can teach 'em to stay in, you can't teach 'em to go out." Give me the field-trial dog with all his energy and in- dustry, trained down to hunt to the gun where there is cover. On the vast prairies of the West, he cannot go too fast or too far to suit me, provided always he be stanch on his point and will always hold the birds until the wagon arrives. There are three kinds of setters used in America, the English setters, the Irish setters, and the Gordons. The first-named are the most popular dogs. They are of all colors. The black, white, and tan, and the orange and white dogs are to my eye the handsomest. In each case I like to see the head evenly marked, a broad 16 GUNS AND DOGS. white line running from the nose over the forehead and the legs well ticked with tan or orange. Dogs of medium size, rather large than too small, I like the best. They should, of course, be well-formed, strong and muscular. The Irish setters are dark red, the Gordons black and tan. White dogs, or dogs in whose coats the white predominates, are best, since they are more easily seen in the woods and brush. We hear much of " bench-show " dogs and " field-dogs." The dog should be handsome enough to win on the bench and good enough to take into the field. Field qualities, not looks, are of the first importance, however. One of the best setters I ever owned, was a liver and white dog, and his first owner, an excellent trainer, had mu- tilated him by cutting off part of his tail and named him Bob in honor of the occasion. In the field, how- ever, he was a wonder, and I could not resist buying him, although I liked neither his color, his tail, nor his name. There are many reputable dealers and many good trainers ; and some bad ones unfortunately, as among horsemen. Dogs of good pedigree will point birds without any training, and are not hard to train sufficiently to make good field-dogs. First of all they should be taught to come instantly to the whistle. Begin when they are quite young to have them associate the sound of the whistle with their liberation from the kennel, and as a call to meals. I have often gone to my back- door and sounded a whistle to see a lot of bright-faced puppies instantly appear at the stable windows. Hav- ing immediately let them out I fed them. Sometimes I placed the food at the other side of the house and GUNS AND DOGS 17 from thence sounded the whistle, and it was remark- able to see how soon the puppies learned to come when called. Taking them to the fields without a gun, with a few scraps of food in the shooting-coat, I rewarded the first to arrive after the whistle sounded and my dogs soon learned to come in as fast as they went out. Meantime teach the young dogs to drop or charge at command, rewarding them for quick action, and to walk at heel until ordered to go out. Taking the young dogs to a covey of partridges, flush the birds after the dogs have pointed, and check any tendency to chase when they take wing. Use a cord when necessary, which will bring the dog up suddenly when he runs the length of it, and punish with the whip, using it as little as possible, however. Firing a pistol at some distance from feeding puppies will often prevent the dogs becoming gun-shy, a serious fault. If a heavy load is fired over a young thorough-bred dog before he is accustomed to such noise, he may be ruined. A gun- shy dog is usually worthless. He may be cured, but is more often not worth the training. Some teach their dogs to retrieve. It is a showy performance in the field and I like to see it. A dog should point the dead bird first and retrieve it upon an order to do so, hand- ling it with great care. The danger is that a dog will sooner or later mouth and thus mutilate the birds. There is much that is entertaining in giving young dogs their instruction, but a lot of patience is required, and it takes much time. All training should be persist- ent. A little every morning and evening, each day, will accomplish more than a whole day of it now and then. Stop when the young dogs seem to be getting i8 GUNS AND DOGS tired of it and take it up again later. They should have their play-time as well as their school-time. In England and on the Continent dogs are especially trained as retrievers only. Much of the shooting is done differently there. The birds are often driven to- ward the shooter by beaters or drivers, and the re- trieving dog is kept in until birds are shot, and then ordered to retrieve. I much prefer to tramp across fields and to see the dogs galloping about, indus triously searching for the birds, and stanchly poin ing them, and last of all retrieving the slain. The cocker-spaniels are trained to hunt close to the gun. They do not point, but give tongue when the cock takes wing. For wild-fowl shooting, larger retrieving spaniels are mostly used, and they have wonderful noses, and find and retrieve the dead and wounded wild-fowl in the heaviest rushes and reeds. The Chesapeake Bay dog is supposed to be a cross between the Newfoundland and the water spaniel. They are strong, heavy-coated dogs, especially suited to the rough work in icy waters. They will swim for miles among cakes of floating ice, and retrieve the largest wounded goose or swan. The beagles are small dogs resembling hounds, and are used like hounds in packs in shooting the hares, usually the small animal known as the common rabbit or cotton-tail. I shall refer again to the dogs and thei> use on game when considering the various birds. Lc the beginner take the advice of some older sportsmai in the purchase of a dog and the selection of a trainer, and he will not go wrong. GUNS AND DOGS 19 Thoroughly broken dogs are not to be had for less thc*n $100. Setter and pointer puppies of excellent pedigree may be purchased for $20 and up. Good trainers usually receive $100 or more for training a dog for the shooting-field or for a field trial. Sports- men who keep a large kennel, of course employ a handler by the year. A field-trial winner is often sold for several thousand dollars, and his services at the stud are $25 or $50, more often the last-named amount if he has won first place in an important event. The reader who desires to train his own dogs will find several good books on the subject. " Training vs. Breaking" by Hammond is one of them. Ill GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES. THERE are now in the United States many pri- vate parks and game preserves where game birds are as carefully propagated and protected by individuals as they are on the preserves in England- There are also hundreds (I am almost prepared to say thousands) of clubs or associations formed to own and control the shooting over vast areas of both marsh and upland. All of the private parks and most of the clubs are of very recent date. In Forester's day, as I have ob- served, there was none, and there is nothing about them in any of our books on field-sports. Private parks or preserves owned by individuals are comparatively few in number in the United States, but as wealth increases there will be more. The manage- ment of the private park is similar to that in England. Game-keepers are employed to protect the game from poachers, to destroy its natural enemies, and to feed it and care for it at all seasons. There are hatcheries for the imported birds, the pheasants, where many birds are propagated each season, as described in the chapter on these birds. Many of the private parks are miles in extent, and contain large game as well as small. Mr. Whitney's GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 21 October Mountain in the Berkshires, Biltmore in the South, the Austin Corbin estate in New Hampshire, Rockefeller's Adirondack Park, the Rancocas game- preserve in New Jersey, and other private estates, in- cluding some of vast proportions on the Pacific Coast, have been created in the past few years. By far the greater number of private game-pre- serves are in the hands of associations or clubs. These are of limited membership. One or two on Long Island and at Currituck have but a half-dozen mem- bers. Others, like the Nittany Club in Pennsylvania, have as many as two hundred. The average mem- bership is from thirty to fifty. Some of the clubs are composed exclusively of duck- shooters, and are formed to control the shooting over marshes where the wild fowl and wading birds are to be found when migrating. In other clubs the mem- bers are interested in shooting on the upland. A few of the clubs have both kinds of shooting. They are all organized upon somewhat similar lines, and in most cases are incorporated under the State law where the preserve is situated. The articles of incorporation contain — ist. The name of the club or association. 2d. The object for which it is formed, usually — " To own and lease lands, and shooting and fishing priv- ileges ; to aid in the enforcement of game and fish laws," etc. 3d. The number of members and shares. 4th. The place where the principal office shall be located and the meetings held. The constitution and by-laws provide for the clec- 22 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES tion and qualifications of members, usually that they be males twenty-one years of age, and that they re- ceive the vote necessary to elect them. Two or three blackballs are usually sufficient for rejection. The officers are a president, vice-president, secretary, and treasurer, whose duties are similar to those of the officers of other clubs. As a rule, the shares can be sold by a member only to a person who has been duly elected to membership. The shares in a shooting club are often issued at $100 or $200. In many of the clubs they are now held at $5,000, and sell for even more in some cases. There are annual dues which vary in amount from $25 to several hundred dollars. In addition to the house committee, whose duties correspond to those of a city club committee, there is a game and fish committee, whose duty it is to at- tend to the stocking of the grounds of the upland clubs, to provide for the propagation of the pheasants, and generally to care for the game, employ the game- keepers, etc. At the duck clubs this committee pro- vides for the feeding, or baiting as it is termed, of the ducks, and the erection of the blinds, and has charge of the live decoys and the boats, and employs the super- intendent and the guides or punters. One of the duties of the game committee of the Wyandanch Club (Long Island) is to hire men "to plant patches of grain to be left standing." This committee should also on all upland preserves provide shelter for the birds in the winter and nesting-places in the spring, such as brush-heaps, corn-shocks, and brier and grass patches, and the committee should also see to the destruction of the natural enemies of the game. GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 23 Both the upland and the duck clubs own a farm, where the club buildings are erected and where the superintendent and his family reside. The superin- tendent has charge of the club buildings and grounds, and, with the aid of watchmen or guards, prevents poaching and all trespassing on the preserve. Where the entire preserve is not owned by the club the privi- lege to shoot over the marshes and farms is usually leased for a term of ten or more years, with a privilege of renewal. It would be well always to have a privi- lege of purchase in the leases at a fixed price, since the ground sometimes becomes valuable in an unexpected way. Oil, for example, has been discovered on a game-preserve. A system of drainage may raise the price of a worthless marsh and at the same time de- stroy the shooting. Some of the clubs are for members only ; others permit a member to bring his family to the club-house ; not, however, during the shooting season, and to bring guests for the shooting. At other clubs a member is not permitted to invite a guest. Such is the rule of the Ottawa Club, for example. Here there are fifty members, and when the shooting is good, there are scarcely enough good stands for all, since one-half of the blinds are always undesirable on account of being on the windward points or shores. At many of the clubs, however, the members are allowed to invite a friend for several days' shooting. The member is always required to accompany his guest, and is held responsible for his conduct and for the payment of all club charges. One of the Currituck clubs which I visited recently has a rule allowing a member to bring 24 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES a friend for two days' shooting, having first obtained an invitation from the club-officers, and the member is charged $5 per diem for this privilege, and is required to pay the usual club charge for board, $1.50 per diem. The club-houses are often large and comfortable. Many of them are shingled and are picturesque in color and outline. The main building always contains a large room with an open fireplace where wood is burned. A fine view is to be had from many windows. There are well-filled bookcases, cases full of mounted game birds, easy-chairs, and tables filled with maga- zines and papers. The sleeping apartments overhead are nicely furnished with comfortable beds and each has a fireplace or stove. There are often inspiring pictures on the walls — Japanese geese flying away from excited Americans, mallards and other ducks falling to the successful shot, etc. The superintendent and his family live in their own house near by, and there are often dormitories or cottages for the use of members in addition to the main club building. The superintendent has the use of the club-farm, and at the duck clubs his guards or watchmen have the privilege of trapping muskrats and other animals which may be found on the marsh. At the boat-house each member has room for his boats, and a locker in which to keep his decoys, rubber boots, coats, etc. There are kennels for the dogs, and a club rule usually prohibits anyone from using a member's dog without his permission. There is a small monthly charge for keeping the dogs — $3 per month at the Wyandanch Club, and for puppies $2 per month after they are two months old, and until they are one year GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 25 old. Since the distances on the preserves are great, many of the clubs have erected one or more cabins miles away from the club-house, where may be found firewood and a few canned provisions, a bed or two, and some blankets for the use of any club-man who may be out too late to return to the main club-house. This has been found necessary, since the duck shooting is often best just at sundown, and on a dark night it is often impossible to find one's way in the marshes. The night before the opening day of the season at a duck club, the members present draw for positions or blinds. An arrow connected with a weather-vane on the roof swings about a disk on the ceiling marked with the compass-points, indicating which way the wind blows; and a crowd of enthusiastic sportsmen glancing at the arrow, select by lot their places for the morning's shooting. Upon his arrival at the club-house each member is required to register for himself and guest, and the time of his departure is also noted in the same book. Another important and interesting book at all the clubs is the game-register, which contains the names of the birds found on the preserve. These are printed across the top of each page. A member, at the end of each day, is required to enter his name on this register, at the left-hand side of the page, and the number of each kind of birds shot. At the right of the page is a place for remarks about the wind, the weather, the place where the shooting was done, and the name of the attending guide or punter who may have assisted in gathering the wounded birds, or possibly the un- wounded. 26 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES Scores from one of the Lake Erie clubs and one of the clubs at Currituck would read something like the following : TS •d t3 4) H . <_^' ,.; F^ ^ » DATE AND NAME. ,\ i d C . -s 3 *j .S c 13 3 Q a! REMARKS. a c n) Js "rt .c TJ IU 1 1 1 1 1 S P ^ JJ ui C ctf •a •a 3 1 1 0 £ >£ 23 ^ O PQ 0. •/2 a O u W W !7} ^ 1895, Nov. 21 H S A S— t 9 3° Little mud-hole, wind N.E. 1895, Nov. 15. J— . H— 6 Graveyard pond, wind N. 1901, Nov. 12. HC1 H Rr *r>n Jl N. E. 1901, Nov 12. D. E P— r 7 7 32 Fishers cove. * There are usually more birds on the register, but enough are here given to show the form. These registers are entertaining and instructive rec- ords, valuable to sportsmen and ornithologists alike, when they have been well kept for a series of years, as they have been at the Crane Creek Club, the Winous Point Club, the Princess Anne Club, and many other clubs East and West. At some of the clubs there are but few entries in the registers at long intervals, and they are correspondingly uninteresting. By a rule of the Castalia Club the directors are instructed to see that the rule requiring members to register the fish and game taken is enforced. " And for that purpose they are directed to require the keeper to personally see that all members register, and in case of failure so to do, or in case of their making erroneous entry, it shall be the duty of the keeper to make correct entry GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 27 upon the register and forthwith report the infringe- ment of the rule to the directors." When there is a rule providing for a bag limit per season as well as per diem, it is of course important that the entries on the register be correct. Birds or fish taken by a guest are charged against the member inviting him. The Castalia Club has another good rule which pro- vides that shooting or fishing during the time when the shooting and fishing are illegal, or prohibited by the rules of the club, shall be deemed sufficient cause for expulsion of the member so offending. Most of the clubs have a rule which prohibits all shooting by the punters, guides, or attendants. No rule, I am satisfied, is more often broken ; the punter usually carries a gun, is an excellent shot, and his em- ployer is often ambitious to make a large bag of birds. A member of a Western club, in discussing this ques- tion with me, said the rule was enforced at his club, but at one adjoining the members could not shoot a " little bit," and often took out two punters to do the shooting for them, and, of course, made good scores. A half-hour later I was conversing with the presi- dent of the adjoining club referred to, and he said the rule in their club was, of course, strictly observed. " We might as well/' he said, " allow our servants to drink our champagne as to allow the punters to do the shooting which we have secured at so great an ex- pense for ourselves. Our neighbors," he added, confid- ingly, " do not observe the rule. They often take out two or three men to do the shooting. They cannot hit a barn-door — most of them, you know," etc. The same day I related these contradictory stories to still 28 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES another club-man as something amusing. He, how- ever, colored slightly and said : " I allowed my punter to shoot a few dozen ducks for me one day, but I had a hard headache and was shooting badly in conse- quence. I do not believe in it at all — not at all." And so it is that duck-murder, like other kinds, will out. At a club down by the sea I saw an enthusiastic sportsman go out with two punters, each armed with a heavy gun, and heard the guns booming until ten o'clock at night, in utter disregard of the State law and a club-rule which required that the shooting cease at sundown. At many of the clubs the shooting is excessive and is kept up in the spring, after the birds have mated, with results, of course, disastrous to the game. At two of the clubs at Currituck, the spring shooting was recently prohibited by a club rule, and many of the ducks remained to breed on the club property. It is estimated that ten thousand ducks were raised there the first year. The simplest form of game-club is found quite near New York. Certain sportsmen of New Jersey have combined to control the shooting over many farms where the ruffed grouse and partridge live and where the woodcock still come upon their annual migration. They lease the right to shoot for a term of years, pay- ing no money rental, but agreeing to make the farmers members of the association without the payment of dues, to stock the land with game, and to be responsi- ble for all damage to stock and fences, or of any kind, whether it result from the acts of members or tres- passers. The association further agrees to police the GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 29 ground, and to feed and care for the game, and renew it when necessary. On these preserves, of which there are several, there are no club-houses. The members drive out from Newark and the other cities and return at night, or perhaps find shelter at the farm-houses on the club- grounds. Other upland clubs in the Middle and West- ern States pay a money rental for the shooting, usually sufficient to pay the taxes on the land. Since all game-preserves in America are new, many of the older methods of pursuit still prevail. There is a tendency, however, to imitate foreign ways. Sports- men who a few years ago rowed their own boats, set their own decoys and carried their own game, are more often nowadays accompanied by a punter who punts the boat, places the decoys, carries the game and in many ways lightens the burdens of the sport, and sometimes loads the guns and even does the shooting. In England the ducks have long been "disturbed" by keepers or beaters and driven to the guns. At many of the American clubs the ducks are "disturbed" by punters, who punt or sail a boat and drive the birds from the open water. The birds are usually baited with corn or wheat at given points where the blinds are erected, and often when the season opens are very tame and afford quite easy shots. In England, a few years ago, much of the upland shooting was done over dogs, the setters or the point- ers. It was in England that these dogs were brought to the highest state of perfection, and all the best dogs in America are descended from this English stock. On the preserves to-day in England the pointers and the 3o GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES setters are seldom used. The sportsmen are driven to the grounds, each attended by a servant to load his guns. A line is formed. A company of beaters, under the head-keeper, armed with flags on poles to prevent the birds from turning back, "moves" the partridges and drives them to the guns. The shooting is quite rapid. The bag is large. Since the birds are under full headway when they reach the line of guns, much skill is required to bring them down. Two guns are used, the attendant loading one while the other is dis- charged. When the shooting is over the sportsmen are driven to the house of the owner of the estate whose guests they are. Mr. A. J. Stuart-Wortley, a talented English sports- man and writer, says: " The pointers and setters have been abandoned, almost, in England, on account of the disappearance of the old-fashioned stubble." It seems strange, however, when so much is expended on the game, that sufficient cover is not provided for it. In shooting grouse upon the moors, the birds have long been driven to the guns. Retrieving dogs are used exclusively. Are the ramble in the fields and woods, the obser- vation of the well-trained dogs, the chief charms of sportsmanship, to be exchanged in America for a stand beside a fence, with a servant to load the guns ? Such results may follow the coming of the private game-preserves. Pheasants will, no doubt, be shot at an American battue, since they often run before the dogs. Our Western grouse may be driven to the am- bushed guns. This, indeed, is not so bad, since they are far too easy " over dogs." Long be the day, how- GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 31 ever, before the best game-bird in all the world, Bob- white, shall be clubbed by shouting beaters from the fields, and driven to a line of guns. Stranger things have happened at the hands of fashion. I am inclined to predict that the shooting at driven birds is not far off. From England came the epidemics of the tennis- court and golf. From England came the riding to the hounds. There is in America much prejudice against the private game-preserve, probably on account of its as- sociation with aristocratic and monarchical institutions. Large country seats and palatial city houses have, how- ever, the same association without the game. Prejudice against the private game-preserve may prove an argu- ment in favor of the public park or refuge, and this is far more important to the safety of the game. In England the private parks have for centuries pre- served the game. There, although the bags are often large, the killing is limited to the increase of the year. Enough are spared to restock the grounds. Clubs there are, no doubt, in America, which are a benefit to the game. How many of these there are I do not know. Many there are which work a serious harm. Rivalry and shooting for count, or to be " high gun," often re- sult in a slaughter equal to or worse than that when the marshes and fields were all open ground. Such recent records as the killing of one hundred and four mallards in a morning by one gun on an Ohio preserve, the killing of four hundred teal in a day by four in Oregon, the killing of four hundred and sev- enty mallards by three guns on an Illinois preserve, and the recent killing of two thousand ducks by nine 32 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES shooters in a day in California, would not indicate a desire to save the ducks. The fact that at many of the upland clubs the partridges must be renewed each year, proves that they fare no better. The Lake Erie group of clubs are recently reported as arrayed against legislation prohibiting the shooting of wild-fowl in the spring, when, of course, the birds should be allowed to mate. The killing of canvas-backs at the Lake Sur- prise preserve in Texas for the market is only equalled by the disgraceful performances on the haciendas in Mexico, which are described later. The recent claim of the members of the Blooming Grove Park Associa- tion that they have a right to ignore the State and federal laws, and kill and ship game out of season, as- serted in a federal court, does not indicate a desire to save the birds. The decrease in value of the shares in game-pre- serves on the Chesapeake and elsewhere, and many other facts, might be cited to prove that private game- preserves do not sufficiently protect the game. Clubs there are, as we have observed, which have rules limiting the size of the bag, but so long as the birds show a rapid decrease year by year it is evident that the private game-preserve is n$t a sufficient safe- guard for their preservation. Ornithological writers continue to predict the extermination of all game. The National Park in Wyoming has done much to save the elk and deer, the bison, mountain sheep, and bears from extermination. The last named are already amusingly tame and are taken by the touring kodaks every year. The State parks of New York, in the Adirondacks GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 33 and on Long Island, will no doubt save the deer and the wood-grouse, and, it may be, the moose which have recently been restored to the Northern woods. National and State parks are, however, few in num- ber, but the matter of their increase now claims the attention of sportsmen and all others interested in the subject of game-preservation. The number of these parks should be increased in time to save the turkey and the grouse, the wild-fowl and the waders, as well as the larger game. The army of migratory birds which annually crosses the United States moves north and south in three divisions ; one following the Atlantic, one the Pacific Coast, and the third the great valley of the Mississippi River. There should be parks, State and national, in Min- nesota, North Dakota, and Montana, to include small lakes and ponds where the wild-fowl still build their nests, and where the northern-grouse, the sharp-tails, and the great sage-cock could be safe from persecu- tion. There should be parks of refuge for the swans, the geese, and ducks, adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, where these birds might safely pass the winter. The wild-fowl which now nest in these Northern States in a very few years will be found there no more. The Southern refuge is equally important. The slaughter, not alone in our marshes, but on the haciendas of Mexico as well, is something beyond belief. Many of the ducks which now go each winter to the " Armadas " of Mexico to seek the peace and quiet which precedes the slaughter, are driven from our Southern marshes by continued persecution. 34 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES Ducks have a strong protective instinct and have been known to reason well. They soon learn where they are safe, and an inexpensive refuge in what is now a worthless marsh would save them from the destruction which awaits them across the Rio Grande. Louisiana has recently prohibited non-residents from shooting in the State. Far more good would be accomplished by the State preserves. There should be parks of refuge in Oregon and Washington, where the wild-fowl still remain to nest; on the Sacra- mento marshes in California, and in southern Califor- nia, where the slaughter in the winter is immense. Woodcock, snipe, plover, and many other shore-birds, cranes, and rails all resort to the marshes, and such parks as are here proposed would surely save these birds. State parks in the north of Maine, at Albemarle or Pamlico in North Carolina, and in the Everglades would save the wild fowl which now travel through the Eastern States in sadly diminished numbers, and probably restore them to New England lakes. Had there been public refuges a few years ago the pas- senger pigeons which came like clouds in the sky to the forests would not now be extinct. Had there been State parks in Ohio and Kentucky, the prairie- grouse would be found in their fields to-day. For many reasons the game-refuges should be un- der the control of the National Government. Since it has been legally held that the ownership of the game is in the State, uniform national laws for its preserva- tion, which have been proposed from time to time, can- GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 35 not be enacted. The game-laws being therefore State laws, there is a deplorable lack of uniformity. New England awakens to the fact that the magnificent wood- cock is a vanishing bird, and stops the summer shoot- ing ; but the birds, more tame on that account, fall an prey to the market-gunners, who, in most of the Southern States, may shoot them after they have paired in the spring. A State park for ducks in Da- kota would be of little benefit to the birds without similar refuges in Tennessee and Arkansas and on the Gulf of Mexico. While there is a legal difficulty in the way of uni- form national laws to preserve the game, no such dif- ficulty appears to prevent the creation of the national game-preserves. The United States has its post- offices and public buildings in all the States of the Union. Its jurisdiction over the land on which they stand is exclusive. The United States has its park in Wyoming, and it is a source of pride and profit to the State. When the National Government proposes to establish a marine hospital in one of the States, the Governor of the State is asked to have the necessary legislation passed ceding the jurisdiction of his State in the property to the National Government. A short bill is prepared at the suggestion of the Governor, and is promptly passed by the State to be benefited. I introduced such a bill at the request of the Governor in the Assembly of Ohio, and it passed the same day under a suspension of the rules. Bills ceding the State jurisdiction over game-refuges would, no doubt, pass in the same way. Again, the control of the game-preserves by the 36 GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES National Government is best, since for some reason national laws are the more closely observed and readily obeyed. Local liquor laws, for example, are often evaded, but there is not a tavern in the land which has not the license of Uncle Samuel framed and hanging on the wall, to indicate that the tax is paid. The cost of the proposed game-preserves for birds is inconsiderable. The best places are the wildest, the most inaccessible, the cheapest ; many of them of necessity are largely covered with water — worthless marshes, such as are seen at the mouth of the Mis- sissippi and elsewhere. The title to many good places for game-refuges is now in the National Government. The cost of maintenance of such parks would amount to little. The keeper's compensation, as at the clubs, would be in part, at least, the right to farm the arable portions of the preserve. Few keepers would be necessary if it were known that the Secret Service was prepared to report offenders. The tendency of legislation, national and State, is toward the protection of the game. The Commis- sioner of Agriculture has recently been given certain powers looking toward its restoration. Restoration, however, to open fields and a vast army of modern guns, would amount to nothing. The remedy is the national game-preserve. Thirty-one States have game -commissioners, or other officers whose duty it is to preserve and, in some States, propagate the game. There are ten national and forty-three State organizations concerned with GAME CLUBS, PARKS, AND PRESERVES 37 the protection of birds and game, besides the Audubon societies in twenty-nine States, but the destruction still goes on, with improved weapons and appliances, and until the birds have the needed refuge the danger of their total disappearance will remain. BOOK I GALLINACEOUS BIRDS IV GALLINACEOUS BIRDS THE game birds of North America which most interest sportsmen are included in the orders Gallince, birds of the cock or rooster type, the tur- keys, grouse, pheasants, and partridges : Anatidce, the swimmers — the geese, ducks and brant ; and Limicolce — the shore-birds or waders, the snipes, sandpipers, plovers, etc. First in importance is the order Gallince. The turkeys, grouse, and partridges are indigenous, but there are no quails in North America. The ducks are by many given first place and duck-shooters insist their sport is first and best. There are a few splendid birds, such as the woodcock, snipe and some of the plovers and sandpipers in the remain- ing order of shore-birds. In addition to the birds included in these three principal orders, there are the wild pigeons, the cranes and rails, and the reed birds. The gallinaceous birds are divided by ornitholo- gists into the Gallince and the Phasianidce. The former term includes the grouse, partridges, and quails ; the latter includes the pheasants. The wild turkey is the only true pheasant indigenous to North America. We have recently added two more to our fauna by importation — the Mongolian, or ring-neck, 41 42 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS from China, and the English pheasant, descended from the same stock, which has long been a familiar game bird in England and on the continent of Europe. Gallinaceous birds are all taken by pursuit. Most of them are shot over dogs, which seek and follow them by means of their scent, and which point them when found. For gallinaceous game the sportsman usually tramps across the fields with thorough-bred setters or pointers ranging ahead, and the observa- tion of these handsome, intelligent companions is, in my judgment, more than half the fun. The tramp across the fields and into the beautiful autumn woods when the frost is in the air, is for me the most desirable form of field sports. For men who do not walk and climb the fences well the ambush is more suitable. Do not think for a moment I would decry the sport. I have shot nearly every duck that flies ; have spent days in the blinds both for the sea-ducks and the so-called river-ducks of the interior ; I have been out in all kinds of weather, long before daybreak and long after dark (before the laws prohibited night shooting), and have had some splen- did shooting at the ducks. I prefer the upland shoot- ing, since I prefer pursuit to ambush and enjoy the company and performance of setters more than of retrievers. I am thoroughly in accord with those who have given to the gallinaceous birds the title : " True game birds." The grouse, partridge, turkeys, and pheasants are all terrestrial birds and live and nest upon the ground. Turkeys and pheasants roost in the branches of trees, as do their descendants, the GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 43 turkeys and chickens of the barn-yards. Although the grouse are referred to as hens and chickens (prairie-hen, spruce-hen, wood-heath-hen, sharp-tailed- chicken, sage-hen, etc.), they are not related to the domestic poultry, which is all descended from the pheasants. The legs of the turkeys, pheasants, and partridges are naked, but the grouse all have the shank or tarsus covered with feathers ; in some varieties even to the toes, as a protection against the snow. Sports- men will do well to remember this difference, and looking at the feathered legs of the ruffed-grouse they will no longer erroneously call the birds partridges, as many do in New England, or pheasants, as many do in Ohio and throughout the West and South. Such misnomers are bad enough when used by boys beyond the reach of schools. They should never be used by sportsmen. Bryant says of the ruffed-grouse : " Partridge they call him by our Northern streams and pheasant by the Delaware." Forester says he has a very good name of his own — ruffed-grouse. Gallinaceous birds all lie to the dogs, excepting the turkeys, and they do so at times. They arise from the ground with the loud and startling roar of wings so disconcerting to beginners, and fly in straight or curving lines. The smaller birds are more difficult, and on that account better marks than the grouse of the open country. All gallinaceous birds are found associated in flocks, termed covies or bevies. Late in the fall the grouse of the open country associate into vast flocks, 44 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS termed packs, and it is then next to impossible to approach them. The wood-grouse never pack. The flesh of all the gallinaceous birds is excellent. They never have the sedgy or fishy taste which some ducks and shore-birds have at times ; but the grouse which live in the woods have a bitter taste when eating the spruce buds, and the great sage-grouse of the Western desert has often a decided flavor of the artemesia or wild sage. There are in all forty-two species and sub-species found in North America, but many of these are much alike, and from the sports- man's view-point there are but sixteen birds — the wild turkey, three grouse of the open country, the prairie- grouse, the sharp-tailed-grouse, and the sage-grouse ; four grouse of the woods and mountains, the ruffed- grouse, Canada-grouse, blue-grouse and ptarmigan ; two imported pheasants, the Mongolian and English, and six partridges, the California Valley partridge, the mountain partridge, the scaled partridge, Gam- bel's partridge, the Massena partridge, and last and best, Bob-white. There are two additional Bob-whites which are found in the Southwest and Mexico, so different in their markings as to be worthy of special notice. These are pictured and described. We first go in pursuit of the turkeys and their relatives, the pheasants ; then to the prairies and woods for the grouse and to the fields for the partridges. The ornithologists now having agreed that there are no quails in North America, I would strongly urge the sportsmen to drop the terms " quail " and " quail-shooting." It being evident that the ruffed- grouse, with his feathered legs, is not a pheasant or GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 45 a partridge, let us all pull together and endeavor to see that the bird has his proper name. This is the more important now that we may shoot the true pheasants with their bright plumage, long tails, and naked legs, in the same covers with the woodland- grouse. THE WILD TURKEY ANYONE who has seen a wild turkey strutting in the sunlight, his bronze feathers gleaming with a metallic lustre and reflecting rays of deep purple, red, green, and blue, will be prepared to agree with the ornithologists that he is a pheasant. The wild turkey, in pattern and markings, is similar to the domes- ticated bird, but he is far handsomer. Wild turkeys often are very heavy ; there are records of birds weigh- ing as much as twenty-five and thirty pounds. The flesh is even finer than that of the tame bird, and without doubt the turkey is the largest and most mag- nificent game bird in the world and one of the best, if not the best, of food birds. The wild turkey is indig- enous to the Western hemisphere alone; the other pheasants are found on the other side of the globe, except the two recently introduced into the United States. The range of the turkey given in the check list of the American Ornithological Union is : — " United States from Chesapeake Bay to Gulf Coast, and west to the plains, along wooded river valleys, formerly north to Southern Maine, Southern Ontario, and up the Missouri River to North Dakota." Three other varie- ties of turkey are listed, all with a more limited range : The Mexican turkey, the Florida turkey, and the Rio 46 THE WILD TURKEY 47 Grande turkey. These are, however, so much alike as to be the same bird to a sportsman. In fact it would take a very expert ornithologist, I am satisfied, to distinguish the species where the birds are associ- ated and have no doubt intermarried. The wild turkey is an extinct bird in many of the Northern and Eastern States, and is nowhere found in any numbers save in a few places in the South and Southwest. It is difficult to realize the numbers which existed some years ago. William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) thus describes the abun- dance of the turkeys in the West: " While at this camp we had a lively turkey hunt. The trees along the banks of the stream were literally alive with wild turkeys, and after unsaddling the horses, between two and three hundred soldiers surrounded a grove of tim- ber and had a grand turkey round-up, killing four or five hundred of the birds with guns, clubs, and stones. Of course we had turkey in every style after this hunt — roast turkey, boiled turkey, fried turkey, ' turkey on toast ' and so on ; and we appropriately called this place Camp Turkey." They were probably as abun- dant in the Indian Territory a few years ago as any- where. My brother found them fairly abundant in Southern Texas, and there are places in the Gulf States where there are still some turkeys. A few remain in the mountains of Pennsylvania and the Virginias. Like the other game birds, before they became intimate with man they were so tame as to be called stupid. Irving, in his " Tour on the Prairies," so refers to them. I found a few turkeys when partridge shooting a few years ago in Northwestern Ohio and twice the dogs pointed them. I saw one killed over a point in 48 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS Indiana where we expected a woodcock to spring before the dog. Forester says turkeys never lie close enough to be pointed by pointers or set- ters or to be shot on the wing. This was no doubt true of the few birds remaining in the Eastern States in Forester's day, but I have repeatedly seen the dogs stand turkeys and have several times seen them killed on the wing like partridges. It is most unusual, however. The turkeys that survive are all extremely wild and wary, and the utmost skill is required to stalk them in the forest. As objects of pursuit I do not much care for them, for the reason that they do not lie well to the dogs. I much prefer the open tramp behind the setters to the covert stalking of any game, when one moves but a half step at a time, with the utmost caution, striving not to make the slightest noise. It may be that I do not care for stalking turkeys, since lam not very good at it, but I am quite sure that were I successful, I would still be found with the dogs, I had an excellent oppor- tunity to learn the turkey shooter's methods, when shooting partridges several seasons with a sportsman devoted to turkey shooting, but we usually parted company when he discovered turkey signs. Another objection I have to turkey shooting is the long time between shots. To one accustomed to using from fifty to a hundred shells in a day, and the lively work with the prairie grouse, partridges, ducks, or snipe a single shot in a week, or perhaps no shooting at all, seems slow. I must admit that there is much skill dis- played in fairly outwitting the turkey of to-day, and the sportsman who kills one has every reason to be THE WILD TURKEY 49 proud of his achievement, and is deserving of the mag nificent prize he obtains. There are several methods of capturing turkeys other than stalking them. The most familiar is calling them up to an ambush by means of an imitation of their gobble. Some turkey shooters become very expert at this, and can call the turkeys within a few feet of their guns. The turkey-call is usually made of the wing-bone of the bird. Often the sound is produced by the vibration of a leaf placed against the mouth. The gobble is sounded at intervals when a bird responds, and there is considerable excite- ment while the wild, wary birds are approaching, but when they step out in an open place a short distance from the gun, the sitting shot is an easy one, and the flying marks present no great difficulty for the second barrel. Turkeys are often shot with the rifle, the aim being at the head, so as not to destroy the flesh. Such shots are often at long range, and difficult. Before the turkeys were too wild, a dog was of service to tree them, in the same manner dogs are used in some woods to tree the ruffed-grouse, when of course, the bird is shot sitting. Another method of taking turkeys is to shoot them on moonlight nights when they are roosting in the trees. There are many accounts of this night-shooting in the river bottoms of the Southwest, but when one stops to think of it, it is unsportsmanlike to shoot any bird after it has gone to sleep, and such shooting is now prohibited in many of the States. Shortly after leav- ing the roost, the turkeys are on the ground busily engaged in feeding, and they are then more easy to find and approach than later in the day. 50 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS There are some turkeys in the great preserve of the Nittany Club in Pennsylvania, and here, if anywhere in the North, I believe by proper care the turkeys might be made to show an increase. Turkeys are great wanderers, but the preserve of this club is miles in extent, and if a lot of new birds could be procured and protected, there no doubt would be in a few years enough turkeys for the club members to kill one now and then when in pursuit of other game — possibly over a point. Some tame birds of the bronze variety closely resembling the wild ones might be turned out in the farms preserved by the club, and these would aid in keeping the wild birds on the preserve, and would most likely soon be found associating with them. A wild tur- key is a great prize in any bag. His appearance would cause rejoicing at the club table. I heard of a few flocks in the mountains of Western Pennsylvania a year ago, and had an invitation to go in pursuit of them ; there were ruffed-grouse in the same woods, a few woodcock, and a few coveys of partridges in the valleys. A friend who shot over the ground, assured me there could be no doubt about the turkeys being there, and I am always glad to learn of the existence of these birds any- where. Their extermination seemed certain a few years ago. Unless they be preserved on some of the club grounds, I fear they will vanish as completely as did the buffalo and wild passenger pigeon. In the West the turkeys are pursued with greyhounds, but I have never witnessed this sport. The birds are repeatedly driven into the air, each flight being shorter, until finally the dogs overtake one. Turkey shooting is a most uncertain sport. When THE WILD TURKEY 51 I wrote " In Brush, Sedge, and Stubble," since repub- lished as " The True Game Birds," I referred to my experience in the Ozark Mountains with a local sports- man who knew the woods. I spent several days look- ing-for turkeys but did not see a bird. We were in- formed that in our absence a boy had killed one with a stone, from a small flock which appeared in the village. VI THE PHEASANTS A LTHOUGH the pheasants were introduced •^~*> and naturalized in England more than eight hundred years ago, there was not a pheasant in the United States prior to the year 1881, excepting, of course, the wild turkey. It was through the efforts of our Consul-General at Shanghai, Judge Denny, of Oregon, that the birds were first introduced into the United States. His first experiment was a failure, but the next year he was successful with the birds shipped to his brother, Mr. John Denny, of Albany, Oregon. Many of the birds survived and were liberated on his farm, near Patterson's Butte. Being protected for a number of years by legislation, they became abundant and the pheasant is now a common game bird on the Pacific Coast. Many sportsmen became interested in this bird and it was soon introduced into many of the Eastern States, and protected everywhere for a period of years. A number of pheasant farms and hatcheries were started, and they found it difficult to supply the demand for birds and eggs. In some of the States the propagation of these birds was undertaken by the State game com- missioners. The clubs have liberated pheasants on their preserves, and many individuals throughout 52 THE PHEASANTS 53 America are interested in raising them to stock their private shooting grounds. In many of the States the close period is now about to expire, and the pheasant will be shot with the other game birds, but I doubt much if they will anywhere survive in the Eastern States, save on the preserves. The birds are large and noticeable on account of their bright plumage, and although swift flyers they are not very difficult marks ; and in localities where there are several shooters in each field the moment the season opens, and often before, with dogs of all sorts, I do not see how the pheasants can possibly escape. It would seem that the climate of our country, at least that of most of the States, is even more favorable to these beautiful fowls of the Orient, than that of England. Since the birds have been successfully propagated there for centuries (and although the shooting has been excessive in England and on the Continent of Europe) there is each year an abundance of birds in the preserves, I see no reason why they should not do well everywhere in America where there are clubs or preserves. To-day I notice in a morning paper this telegram from Paris : " Count Boni de Castellane enter- tained King Carlos, of Portugal, at a shooting party yesterday, at the Chateau Marais, near St. Cheron. The bag includes four hundred and sixty-one pheas- ants." Royalty everywhere is very fond of pheasants, and of all shooting, for that matter, and the foregoing is not an extraordinary bag, but large enough to show how successfully the birds have been introduced and propagated in other countries. The shooting clubs of the Eastern States have been 54 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS successful with the pheasants, and some of them already have very good shooting. I am informed that at one of the clubs on Long Island the shooting is now as good or better than that to be had on most English estates of similar size. This club each year releases about two thousand birds in the covers, which have been bred on neighboring farms. In Ohio, the pheas- ants are propagated by the State, and distributed each year. Many of the Ohio clubs have also liberated pheasants on their preserves, and they are now abun- dant in many places, more especially on the grounds of the duck clubs which control the shooting on the marshes south of Lake Erie. The heavy sedge seems to offer a safe refuge for the birds, and no doubt pro- tects them from hawks and other enemies. The shoot- ing is not yet open in Ohio, but last year, when sketch, ing in the marshes, I saw many pheasants, which (as I came upon them in fields or in the paths through the sedge) flew away with a loud clucking like the prairie- grouse, presenting about the same, or little more diffi- cult marks. Although only about twenty-five birds were liberated on the grounds of the Ottawa Club (Sandusky) and there has been no effort made toward propagation, they have increased rapidly, and there are now thou- sands of birds on their preserve. In England and the older countries the shooting of pheasants is largely done at the battue, and a recent writer for Harper s Weekly (I don't know who, since the article was unsigned) well says : " It used to be the fashion to sneer at the battue ; men who had killed big game in the forest laughed at the picture of good King THE PHEASANTS 55 Edward sitting in an arm-chair potting half -tame pheasants, but there is no kind of shooting, I think, that requires surer marksmanship than the battue as it is practised in the national preserves of Rambouillet. It is not a wild sport, but it is a sport in which skill is everything. Its sporting equation would be : * The battue is to stalking grizzlies as billiards is to football.' I have shot prairie chickens over a good red setter in the stubble of Wisconsin fields, and have had my day in a boat on the reeds for wild ducks; now, believe me, in neither instance does the game have so fair a chance for his life as he does in a battue, when he is flagged out of the bush or copse and driven down upon your gun. Far less destructive than shooting over dogs, it is therefore more sportsmanly. This is especially the case when pheasants are in play." The writer de- scribes a battue at which M. Loubet, the President of France, was the principal shooter. In America pheasants are usually shot over dogs. We are good imitators, however. Something like the fox-hunting of England is seen on Long Island and elsewhere, and I predict it will not be long before the pheasants are shot at the battues on October Mountain and on the other vast country estates now owned by American men who can afford them. A member of one park association recently informed me that on that preserve the pheasants are held in captivity until a member of the club notifies the game-keeper that he is coming. Thereupon the few birds which each member is allowed to shoot are placed out in a field and he is informed exactly where and proceeds to shoot them,, I said nothing when this information was imparted ; 56 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS but my informant added : " It does seem a little funny, does it not?" I replied that it did ! The domestic hens are found to be valuable assistants in the raising of young pheasants. The eggs laid by the pheasants are removed and placed under the hens in little boxes in a house, where many hens may be seen at once sitting on as many as twenty eggs each. The little chicks with their foster-mothers are put out in coops where the chicks can run about in the grass. Pheasants are polygamous and one cock is usually penned with a number of hens. If more than one cock is placed in an inclosure they will spend much of their time in fighting, since they are very pugnacious. Wal- lace Evans, of the game propagating farm near Chicago, says that if the cocks are permitted to occupy the same inclosure during the breeding season they will fight al- most constantly, to the utter neglect of their conjugal duties. The hens commence laying about April I5th, the date depending somewhat upon the weather; and each hen lays from fifty to seventy-five eggs in a season if properly fed and cared for, thus furnishing the breeder with several settings of eggs every spring. The eggs are gathered daily and set under the hens sometimes as late as July. The period of incubation is about twenty- one days. The young birds are fed on boiled custard for a few days. Mr. Evans advises the removal of the foster-mother and her brood when the poults are some three or four days old, and that their food be changed slightly ; the custard being fed once daily and one meal being of finely chopped hard-boiled eggs. As the poults begin to show strength a small quantity of the smaller grains — such as cracked wheat, millet, etc., should be THE PHEASANTS 57 mixed with the food, the quantity of grain being increased gradually until the birds can be fed entirely with the grain. Mr. Evans says, further, that it is good policy to work the poults off the soft food as soon as possible. The breeder at the outset will get full instructions from the dealer who owns the pheasantry, and following these he should have no trouble in stocking his farm or preserve. In setting out the young birds the foster-mother and coop should be moved to the place selected and the young fed there daily, until they become accustomed to the place. This will prevent their wandering away. It is well to know that pheasants do not inhabit large forests or open plains. They insist upon cover, but feed in the fields. In this they much resemble our partridge, Bob-white, and the pheasants as a rule will do well on the same ground. In the early morning and again toward evening the pheasants leave the cover to scratch and feed in the fields. When alarmed, like the partridges, they fly to the cover, but some- times trust to their legs and travel at a gait to exas- perate a setter trying to road and point them. A successful breeder, De Guise, writing for Forest and Stream, says: "They will at once make their home in and never leave any wooded hollow, where cedars and other evergreen trees abound, through whose depths runs a never-failing stream, and which lies amid fields of grass and grain. Such is an ideal harborage for them, where their every want will be supplied. .... In trying to set up a stock of pheasants no efforts will be fully repaid, no success will be perfect, unless a determined and continued onslaught is made 58 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS on their foes, furred and feathered. The brook so necessary for their comfort is the lurking- place of the mink. The grateful shade of the trees harbors hawks and owls, and many a brood will be left motherless, and many a hen will be bereft of her young, unless all such depredators be ruthlessly exterminated." The male bird of the true Mongolian pheasants is very handsome. The head is of an iridescent green, reflecting blue and purple, and about the neck is the broad white band which suggested the technical name Torquatus, ring-neck. The English pheasant has lost this white ring about its neck, and in some specimens it is represented by a few white feathers. Both birds have reddish-chestnut breasts, reflecting purple, and have long tails barred with black. The English birds are regarded as better than the true Mongolians for American covers, but the Mongolians are handsomer birds, on account of the broad white collar about the neck. The flesh of both birds is excellent, nearly as white as the domestic chicken, and far more palatable. I have eaten them both at the same meal, and doubt if I could detect the difference, if unaware which bird was served. The English bird is said to be somewhat heavier, the Mongolian seemed to me to possibly have a more gamy flavor. There are many other beautiful pheasants which may some day be added to our fauna, but the Mongo- lian and the English pheasants are those which are now interesting to sportsmen. In shooting pheasants, beat the sides of the fields early in the day and at evening, and the dog will soon discover the trail of the birds when they have run out THE PHEASANTS 59 into the fields to feed, and follow them to a point, pro- vided they do not run away from him. Mr. Miller, of Eugene, Oregon, says the pheasant lies better to the dog than the blue-grouse or prairie-chicken, but my information would lead me to believe that the prairie- grouse is the better bird before dogs, prior, of course, to the time when it packs and does not lie for them at all. The long tail, when this pheasant presents a cross shot, will tend to make the sportsman shoot behind his bird and so miss him, or bring down only the feathers from the tail. Shoot well ahead of crossing birds and, as 1 have before remarked, do not forget that there is little danger of your missing by shooting too far in ad- vance of the bird. VII THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUSE SEVERAL years ago I suggested that the Ameri- can grouse might properly be divided into two classes — (i) the grouse of the open country and (2) the grouse of the woods and mountains. The classifica- tion is not of course ornithological, but sportsmanlike, since the grouse of the open country all lie better to the dogs than the grouse of the woods, and are dis- tinguished from the wood-grouse in other ways, impor- tant to sportsmen, as we shall observe later. Many grouse are listed in the check list, which are so much like others as to be distinguished with difficulty. When the pattern and markings are the same, and the habits of the species and sub-species are identical, and the only difference is a slight variation of the general color, the birds may be, and are, regarded as the same by sportsmen. The sub-species of ruffed-grouse — for ex- ample, the Canadian ruffed-grouse, the gray ruffed- grouse, and the Oregon or Sabines ruffed-grouse — are the same in pattern and markings and have the same habits, and the sportsman is right in regarding them as iden- tical. The great ornithologist, Coues, says : " They are ruffed-grouse, each and all of them, and we may ignore the varieties, unless we desire to be very pre- cise." Any attempt to portray these sub-species in black and white fails. They all appear exactly alike, 60 THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUSE 61 for the reason that the differences are in color. Were the pictures made in color there would necessarily be many of them, since the sub-species intergrade and all the specimens in a collection might be different. Discarding the sub-species, there remain three grouse of the open country : the prairie-grouse, the sharp- tailed grouse, and the sage-grouse; and four grouse of the woods and mountains : the ruffed-grouse, the Canada or Spruce-grouse, the blue- or dusky-grouse, and the ptarmigan, which turns white in winter. The grouse of the open country all lie well to the dog until late in the year, and seldom fly to the trees. The grouse of the woods and mountains are all given to flying to the trees, and are often shot from the branches. The flesh of the wood-grouse is usually light ; that of the grouse of the open country is darker. In some of the States the season for shooting the grouse of the open country commences in August. This is a month too early, since many of the birds have then an immature flight and go fluttering out of the grass or stubble with a speed not much better than that of the rails, presenting marks which in no way test the skill of the sportsman. It is, too, excessively hot on the prairies in August and so dry and dusty that the dogs have great difficulty in finding and pointing the game and often suffer from thirst. On the high plains of the Northwest the temperature is better, and the many small lakes and ponds furnish water for the dogs. The opening day for grouse in Scotland is August I2th, and this date would do for North Dakota, Montana, and Manitoba. I have had many good days in Dakota and Montana in the latter 62 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE part of August, when the birds were fairly strong on the wing, but for many reasons I am of the opinion that September ist should be the opening day for grouse shooting in America. This is the best date when all the States are considered, and uniformity is desirable. And since the birds have rapidly dimin- ished, it is well to have a short season. Ten years ago I had no hesitation in predicting the extermination of the grouse of the prairies. They had already disappeared from Ohio and Kentucky, and when I went to shoot in Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas, I observed that the race was rapidly diminishing, and that the birds were shot as early as July, sold openly in the markets, and served at hotels and restaurants. Market gunners vied with sportsmen in the making of outrageous bags, and the birds were shot for sport, when they could not be transported or used on ac- count of the heat. Stories were common of wragon- loads of game thrown away. The sharp-tailed grouse fared somewhat better for a time, on account of the Indians, who were the best game preservers in the world, using what they needed only, and preventing their white brothers from taking any. The legislation shortening the open season, and pro- hibiting the sale and shipment of the grouse, has done much, and with the creation of preserves in the grouse States, the birds will no doubt be saved for all time and cared for and handled as grouse are in Scotland, where immense numbers are killed each year, but enough are left to restock the preserves. In Scotland the game preserves are of great value. II Shoots" are advertised for the season at a rental often THE NORTH AMERICAN GROUSE 63 of thousands of dollars. The editor of the British Sportsman said, last fall, that the annual sporting rental of Inverness-shire is close upon $100,000. Adding the rentals received in Perthshire, Ross-shire, Argyle- shire, and Aberdeenshire, and $140,000 for the deer shooting, it is estimated that the shooting privileges yield an annual rental of over $2,200,000. " These fig- ures," says the editor, " give the value of shootings when properly looked after, and it must be borne in mind that all this money is derived from land which in the days of our grandfathers produced practically nothing." I look to see somewhat similar conditions in thegrouse States of America before many years. The grouse are especially adapted to some of the city sportsmen, since the shooting in America is usually done from a spring-wagon with cushioned seats, and the shots are comparatively easy, being made over dogs. Already there are places in this country where the entire taxes on farms are paid by city sportsmen, and I predict it will not be long before the " shoots," to use the English expression, bring much better prices. The distance from the large cities to the shooting grounds is no longer a serious problem. A day or two in a luxurious private car, or in the library of an express train, will put one down upon the finest grouse-fields in the world. In Scotland the grouse shooting is largely done from ambush, the birds being driven across a line of guns. The birds are under full headway as they pass or cross over, and the shots are more diffi- cult (as they are at driven pheasants) than those pre- sented when shooting over dogs. I know a number of American sportsmen who go to shoot grouse in 64 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE Scotland, and they are very fond of the drives. There is no place in the world where driving could be better done than on the prairies and plains of the Western States. We will no doubt shoot at driven grouse before many years, since the "preserve" idea is moving West- ward like the course of empire. The wood-grouse are all great wanderers afoot, and require large forests for their preservation. The cut- ting down of the trees has been sufficient to extermi- nate them in many places. They are benefited by the establishment of the preserves, and get along with less woodland when not too much persecuted. All of the grouse are sufficiently important to be considered separately, when we shall have something to say as to the natural history of each, and the methods of pursuing them. VIII THE PRAIRIE-GROUSE THE common-grouse, known as the prairie-hen or chicken, and the sharp-tailed grouse, are simi- lar birds but easily distinguished. The former in- habits the prairies and the latter the plains. They are associated where the prairies and the so-called great plains of the Northwest blend. The prairie bird was formerly found from the Eastern States to the plains, and was abundant in Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, but few, if any, remain in Ohio and the bird is nowhere as abundant as it was a few years ago. It is probably more abundant to-day in Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Iowa, and parts of Illinois than elsewhere, and is ex- tending its range toward the Northwest. The prairie- grouse is a reddish-brown bird with dark brown stripes running crosswise. The sharp-tailed grouse is much lighter in color, being almost white under- neath and the markings are lengthwise. The sharp- tailed grouse is easily distinguished by the sharp tail and white spots on the wings. The prairie-grouse live only in the open country, preferring prairies of vast extent. As they are culti- vated the grouse remain and feed in the stubbles and corn, and the vast corn-fields in the prairie States have done much toward their preservation. When it was the fashion everywhere to shoot these birds in the sum- 65 66 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE mer, even as early as July, the growing corn afforded a refuge often miles in extent where it was intensely hot and where the shooting was difficult, especially so where the broad green leaves of the corn grew higher than the head. In Illinois and Kansas I have seen many a fine covey of grouse at the first shot on the stubble fly directly to the corn and sailing for a long distance over it settle where it was difficult to mark them and impossible to shoot them. Toward evening the birds return to the stubble to feed, but at the first shot they fly back to the corn. The prairie-grouse builds its nest on the ground and there are usually from twelve to fifteen eggs. The cocks in the spring make a loud booming noise, and strut and fight often at certain places called by the country folks scratching places. Many nests are destroyed by prairie fires and many by spring floods. Provided it be not too late the hen will usually nest again. Many are of the opinion that the grouse raise two broods in a year; I doubt not they do sometimes, and usually if the first brood is destroyed. Early in the season the young birds are not strong on the wing and are very easy marks. They arise from the ground with the loud whirring noise made by all gallinaceous birds, and familiar to every- one who has stumbled upon a flock of partridges or a ruffed-grouse in the woods. When full grown the flight is strong and well sustained, the whirring con- tinues for a time and then the birds sail on extended wings, soon to whirr and sail again alternately until they have flown a great distance. When the grouse are young and tame, and have not been shot at, they THE PRAIRIE-GROUSE 67 do not fly far, often not much beyond the limit of a large field. They are then the easiest kind of marks, and the whole flock is often killed by two guns in very short order. They lie well to the dogs, which find them easily, provided it be not too dry, but as the season advances they are more difficult to approach, and an October grouse is a swift and difficult mark, rising nearly out of range. As soon as the weather becomes cold many coveys associate, forming vast flocks, which are termed packs. It is then next to impossible to approach them within shooting range. They may be seen sitting on fences and on hay-stacks, and are even visible sitting about on the ground with heads up, and always alert and ready to fly a mile or more when the sportsman approaches. It is useless to try and get within range of them. A few birds might possibly be killed at long range with a rifle, but no sportsman fond of shooting over setters would thus destroy the birds. Sometimes on warm, sunny days late in the fall, if a pack of grouse be moved early in the day while feeding, they will fly out on the prairie and as the sun becomes strong in the middle of the day they resume their feeding, and if well scattered may lie to the dog. In September the sportsman looks for the grouse early in the day and again late in the afternoon. The birds start quite early from the long and heavy grasses or from the standing corn, going afoot to the stubbles to feed. In the middle of the day the dogs will not find them. Late in the season if there is any shooting it will be in the middle of the day. The distances on the prairie are so great that the 68 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE sportsmen usually drive in a wagon, alighting to shoot, or ride about shooting, often without dismount- ing, I have tried both methods many times and am very fond of the saddle. When the horse, or Indian pony, is used to the gun and will stand anywhere with- out hitching and come when called, as a well-trained pony will do, this method is perhaps the best. A drive with a companion or two in a light spring- wagon, with the opportunity of praising the conduct of the dogs and discussing the shots at the last covey, is the usual way. The dogs range far and wide, and when they come to a point the wagon is driven rapidly within a very short distance of them, the sportsmen take their positions behind the dogs, slipping the shells in the guns as they approach, and when all are ready the owner of the dogs steps forward a pace or two, his companion moves forward with him, there is a loud whirring of wings, a rapid firing of the guns and if the aim be true, four large brown birds tumble dead into the stubble at the report of the four barrels. The driver shades his eyes with his hand and from his seat in the wagon observes the flight of the sur- vivors as they go whirring and sailing away like so many two-pound meadow-larks, and marks them by a tall weed when they settle on the prairie. The dog having retrieved the dead, they are placed in the wagon and a short drive brings the shooters to the scattered birds. Soon the setters or pointers lo- cate them by the strong scent. One dog draws up quickly to a point and the other backs him, or per- chance they both point at once at separate birds. These arise as the sportsmen move forward, present- THE PRAIRIE-GROUSE 69 ing single shots and often doubles, since two or three birds will often get up together. Others arise at the report of the guns, and the shooting is rapid. Here, as in all field shooting, observe the rule as to silence. Do not exclaim about the merits or demerits of a shot, especially when the gun has just been fired, for you will most likely move a pair of birds just at your feet, which no doubt will present the easiest chance for a double, and be talked about for the rest of the day, as the fish are which get away. Do not shout at the dog or give him any orders if it can be avoided. Replace the shells in the gun immediately after firing, and if you care to do so and shoot fairly well you may bag every bird in the covey then and there. Since the shooting is always in the open it is not difficult to mark and follow the birds, except in stand- ing corn, and it is not unusual for the entire covey to be brought to bag before the sportsmen leave it. Now that the birds are few in number sensible sports- men do not care to exterminate them, and on the pre- serves it is quite necessary to spare some of them if there is to be any shooting another year. The mar- ket gunner, always the most destructive, finding it more and more difficult to dispose of the game, has in most places ceased to shoot, and those who used to trap large numbers of- the birds, using large traps which often caught a covey at a setting, have ceased to trap them for the same reason. In many of the States there are laws limiting the size of the bag to be made in a day to from ten to twenty-five birds and the limit may be easily reached by shooting a few birds from each covey. So soon as 70 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE the birds are everywhere preserved, as they no doubt will be, the bag limit may well be increased, since per. sonal interest will so regulate the killing as to save enough to restock the grounds for another year. Upon a preserve the natural enemies of the grouse are destroyed ; suitable nesting places are not burned over and the birds are fed and cared for in the winter. Under such conditions large bags may again be made in a day without danger of a permanent diminution of the game. When I first went to shoot in Kansas the birds were abundant. We drove out but a short distance from a little village in the central part of the State, and the dogs soon found and pointed a covey. There was more unbroken ground than cultivated fields, and the birds when flushed were scattered in the prairie grass, and we had little difficulty in making large bags. The wide, brown prairies, level or gently undu- lated, stretched away in every direction until they met the sky. The small houses, more often cabins or dugouts, were scattered at long intervals. There were few fences, and no sign-boards forbidding the shooting. The drive in the fresh, cool air of the morning was followed by rapid shooting, and in the heat of the day we rested often for several hours and again cast off the dogs in the afternoon and enjoyed the sport until sundown. There was no restraint of any kind ; no law to limit the bag ; no irate farmer ordered us off. The sportsman who goes to shoot the prairie-grouse to-day will do well to get per- mission in advance to shoot over the farms and look up the law of the State he proposes to shoot in. THE PRAIRIE-GROUSE 71 Going out one season with some army officers from Fort Leavenworth as the guest of a railway official, in a private car, the engineer whistled when the grouse flushed before his engine and stopped while we went in pursuit of the birds. There were but one or two trains daily and the car seldom had to seek a siding to avoid them. We had Gordon setters, Eng- lish setters and pointers, young and old, and they found and pointed the birds equally well. It was late in August and the pointers suffered less from the heat and were on that account the more serviceable dogs. Use No. 7 or 8 shot early in the season ; 5 or 6 later. THE HEATH-HEN The earlier ornithologists regarded the heath-hen as identical with the pinnated-grouse or prairie- chicken of the Western prairies. It is closely allied to the latter bird and so much like it in pattern and color markings as to be easily mistaken for it. The present habits of the two birds are, however, different, since the heath-hen is found in the woods, its favorite haunt being in scrub-oaks, where it feeds largely on acorns and berries, going out, as the ruffed-grouse goes, to the open fields for grain. The term heath- hen seems inappropriate now that the bird is an arborial species, but it may indicate that it was found in the open years ago, when it was distributed over Massachusetts, Connecticut, Long Island, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. It is now almost exterminated, and all that remain are in a limited area of about forty square miles on the island of Martha's Vineyard, 72 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE Mass. Here they are strictly protected, and Brewster says they are in no present danger of extermination. According to present calculations there are not more than two or three hundred birds remaining. From this source the clubs of Massachusetts and Long Island might possibly restock their club grounds, if the game officers of Massachusetts would permit it, and the experiment is well worth trying, since this grouse would prove a valuable addition to any game preserve. The experiment was once tried of stocking the preserve of the Robin's Island Club, on the island of that name in Peconic Bay, with prairie-grouse from the West, but the birds all flew away, probably to Con- necticut, since one was reported to have been seen there. Brewster says the heath-hen weighs on an average one pound less than the prairie-grouse. Samuels, in his "Northern and Eastern Birds" (published in 1883), gives the pinnated grouse, or prairie-hen, as a former inhabitant of Massachusetts and other Eastern States, and says it is not now to be found in this section, ex- cept on Martha's Vineyard. A friend of the writer shot one of these birds some years ago on Martha's Vineyard, brought it to New York and had it mounted by a taxidermist. Upon learning of the penalty for his offence, however, he was not much inclined to discuss the occurrence. IX THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE FOR many reasons I regard the sharp-tail as the best American grouse. Its flight is similar to that of the prairie-grouse, if anything more swift and well sustained, its gray plumage, effectively marked with white and black, is more attractive, the pointed tail gives it a trim appearance, its flesh is equal to the best, and it lies well to the dogs. The country where it dwells is better suited to the use of dogs than the prairie, by reason of the cooler temperature and the abundance of water in the many lakes and ponds. The range of the sharp-tailed grouse and the two sub-species (which so closely resemble the species as to be of no importance to sportsmen) is from Northern Illinois and Wisconsin to the central portions of Alaska. The prairie sharp-tailed grouse is found as far south as New Mexico. The Columbian sharp-tail is found on both sides of the Rocky Mountains, eastward to Mon- tana, Dakota, and Wyoming, southward to Utah, Northern Nevada, and Northeastern California. These birds are most abundant in the Dakotas, Montana, on the plains of Eastern Oregon and Washington, and in the British possessions from Manitoba west. When I first went to shoot in Dakota — there was but one Dakota then — I found the sharp-tailed grouse very abundant, 73 74 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE but during my visit of several weeks' duration I shot only one or two of the pinnated or prairie-grouse. It has been well settled, however, that the common prairie-hen follows civilization to the Northwest, and these birds are increasing in Dakota. Many of them now find their way to the same bag with the sharp- tails, and since variety is pleasing, they have made their common range the most desirable grouse land in America. I can imagine no better grouse preserves than those which will soon occupy all the country from Minnesota and the valley of the Red River of the North to Eastern Oregon and Washington. The vast number of small lakes and ponds and the little streams and sloughs overgrown with reeds and rushes and wild rice, are full of the best ducks that fly, both the sea-ducks, such as the canvas-backs and red-heads, and the shoal-water mallards, teal, wood-duck, and all the river-ducks or dabblers. Many remain in North Dakota to build their nests, and when chicken-shooting I have often seen a pond full of young mallards and teal, and once made a double shot, killing a duck and 'a chicken, a large mallard and a swift-flying sharp-tail. The sharp-tailed grouse is very similar in its habits to the prairie-grouse. It struts and scratches and fights in the spring; many performing at a time on the scratching places, and as the birds bow and slip past each other with their tails up they present an amusing appearance, which has been compared to the dancing of a minuet. I have observed the great sage-grouse performing in the same way, and the cocks of both species often get to fighting, as dancers have been known to do at THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 75 other balls, and the cause of the fight is always the same — rivalry. The nest of the sharp-tail is built on the ground, and contains from twelve to fifteen or even more eggs. The coyote and the many prairie falcons are their chief nat- ural enemies, and these are so abundant that it seems re. markable how the sharp-tails manage to survive. The hawks, though not very wild, usually managed to keep just out of range of our guns. I often observed many of them sitting on the tops of the telegraph poles, and many were always in sight sailing overhead. They did not seem to be afraid of a team, and a friend often dropped out of our wagon, and walked behind it until within easy range of a hawk on a pole, and as he stepped out to shoot, it was amusing to see the alarmed bird jump into the air only to fall dead to his unerring aim. A few steel-traps placed on the tele- graph poles and in other likely places, would yield a rich harvest of hawks, and prove a great benefit to both the chickens and the ducks. At night a pack of coyotes often came quite near our camp and howled, in their dismal warbling fashion, their desire for our birds which were hungup in the trees. The sharp-tail weighs about two pounds; sometimes as much as two and one-half. It feeds on grain, seeds, berries, and insects, and its flesh is always in fine con- dition for the table, and the young birds are tender and delicious. I prefer all grouse broiled quickly before a fire, but they are very good cooked in any way do- mestic chickens are, and in the winter they may be stewed or parboiled to advantage like domestic fowls of mature age. Although the sharp -tails, like all other ;6 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE gallinaceous birds, are protectively marked and rely upon concealment, they are seen more often than the prairie grouse on the ground, or sitting on the wheat shocks, and on frosty mornings sitting on the branches of the trees which grow about the streams. They stand high on their legs and cock up their pointed tails like a wren, and present a singular appearance when the long neck is outstretched, as it generally is when on the lookout. In the slang of the day, they might be termed " rubber-necks." Upon approaching the birds, however, when they are thus visible, they disappear as if by magic. Those sitting on the shocks fly away or drop into the stubble ; the " rubber-necks " are shortened, the bodies fade out of sight. Although the stubble or grass may be short and thin and you walk directly to the place where the birds were seen a mo- ment before and look carefully about, not a feather will be visible. As you are about to step on a bird, however, he bursts forth with a roar of wings, and flies rapidly, usually clucking as do the prairie-grouse and sage-cocks (tuck-a-tuck-tuck-tuck, repeated rapidly) as if scolding you for the disturbance. Bestir yourself rapidly if you would tumble the gray-cock into the stubble. In an instant he will be out of range. Once, shooting with an Indian agent, we had scattered a flock of sharp-tails, and as I approached the spot where I had marked one, a bird went out and I killed it, supposing it was the one marked down. The agent called to me from the wagon that my bird was a few feet farther on, and going to the place in- dicated, I carefully looked about, without being able to discover it. I was about to give it up, when I almost THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 77 stepped on the bird, which arose with a loud whirr, but I was fortunate enough to bag it. The concealment was most remarkable since at no place was the grass much longer than the bird's legs. The above incident was but one of many which proved that the bird, although more willing to expose itself to view, was as good at con- cealment as the partridge, ruffed-grouse, or woodcock. Roosevelt refers to passing through a flock of sharp- tails without seeing a bird on the ground, and glancing back, to see all the long necks outstretched in the grass, intently watching him, I have never seen the prairie-grouse exhibit any such curiosity, and it is un- usual in the shooting season to see those birds at all until they are on the wing, One day at Fort Totten, the Indian agent came to invite me to shoot with him. He had a good pair of horses hitched to a light spring wagon and one of his Indian policemen (Mr. Ironlightning, I cannot write his Sioux name) sat beside him. An orange and white setter was in the wagon, a big, strong dog I had shot over often before. We drove out a short distance, and, releasing the dog, he went off like a greyhound on the wide, gray plain. Soon he went more slowly, and it was evident from his actions that he was approaching birds. We drove forward as he settled to a point, and the Indian held the reins while we went in and flushed a covey of fifteen or twenty birds. The shots were easy, and at the report of the four barrels in one, two — three, four order, feathers white and gray hung in the air, and four plump birds fell dead in the grass. The sur- vivors did not fly far, and slipping shells into the guns, we moved forward afoot, and soon were busy with the 78 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE scattered birds. There were but few misses and it was not long before we had shot them all, excepting a few which got away while the guns were empty. The taciturn Indian sat in the wagon* and marked the birds, but the few that were left were widely scat- tered and we proceeded to cast off the dog and search for a new covey. An officer from the garrison with an Irish setter joined us, and on one occasion when the dogs pointed a covey the birds arose, as they often do, but a few at a time, in rapid succession, and reloading quickly we killed them all before retrieving a bird. Although the distances were great, the dogs were used to them and were fast and untiring, and we found one covey after another and had excellent sport with them all. A few ducks were shot as they flew from the ponds, an occasional snipe went out with harsh squeak and zig-zag flight from the wet grass about the ponds, and found a place in the bag. Such was the shooting of the sharp-tails a few years ago, and such it is to-day in the Dakotas, Montana, and from Manitoba to Washing- ton and Oregon. There are some restraints, however. A gun license is usually required, costing as much as $40 in Wyoming, and where the sport is best there is a legal limit to the bag — ten birds in a day in Oregon, twenty-five in Dakota. A limit of ten birds per day makes a short day's shooting when the birds are abundant. It may be necessary to save the game when the shooting is fine and gunners are numerous, but, as I have observed before, this limit may well be increased when the birds are well cared for on the game preserve, their natural enemies destroyed and food supplied them in the winter. THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 79 A recent writer for Field and Stream says he has shot into packs (coveys no doubt are meant) of both birds (prairie and sharp-tailed grouse) in the same field. " Some years ago," he adds, " I killed an old mother- bird with six young. The mother was a genuine prairie-hen ; the young were mixed. Three of them favored the father bird (sharp-tail) even to the tail with mixed coloration, breasts barred with V-shaped markings; the others had tails like the mother, mixed coloration with V-shaped marks on sides of whitish breast." Several varieties of pheasants are known to interbreed on the preserves in England, and it may be that the grouse will do the same on our grouse preserves when the two birds are closely associated. The sharp-tailed grouse is probably extinct in Northern Illinois. A close season now in force in Wisconsin may save the birds in that State, but there is no bird whose salvation is more dependent upon the preserve, in my opinion, than the sharp-tailed grouse, and in fact all of the grouse of the open country. The ornithologist Coues, the best authority upon our Western birds, says : " The pinnated-grouse pre- fers to glean over cultivated fields, while the wilder sharp-tailed clings to his native heath. The railway will take the former along and warn the latter away.*' In an earlier book I expressed the opinion at vari- ance with this high authority that the true reason for the disappearance of the sharp-tails from the eastern part of their range was to be found in the shot-gun. I have observed the sharp-tails where farms were being opened and found they were very fond of the 8o GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE wheat-stubble. Roosevelt describes killing one him- dred and five sharp-tails one day while shooting with his brother, over inferior dogs, in the stubbles to the eastward of his ranch on the Little Missouri. I have seen no reason to change my opinion that the sharp- tailed grouse are not driven away by the railway, but on the contrary, thrive in a wheat-farming country; and if sufficiently protected they will increase and multiply so as to afford the finest grouse-shooting in America for many years to come. One season I took a ride of about a thousand miles through the country inhabited by sharp-tails. Starting at Fort Buford, North Dakota, we ascended the Yellowstone Valley from the mouth of the river to Fort Keogh, Montana, and went thence up the valley of the Rose-bud ; crossed the Panther Mountains to the Tongue River and proceeded to the Big Horn Mountains; thence northward along the Big Horn and Little Big Horn to the Yellowstone, and crossing that river we re- turned again to Forts Keogh and Buford. The sharp-tails had not then been shot at. It was just before the surrender of Sitting Bull, and we travelled over country which was well preserved by the Indians. The sharp-tailed grouse were very abundant in many of the valleys and out on the plains, but no more so, I am satisfied, than they were some years later on the stubble fields of Dakota before they were much perse- cuted. Sharp-tails do not like small farms, but neither do the prairie-grouse, and for the same reason — in a closely settled country there are too many guns. It is no wonder when the shooting began in July and the birds brought good prices in the Chicago THE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE 81 markets, when there was no bag limit, no license, no game warden or game law, that the birds were " warned " away from Northern Illinois. They might readily be restored, in my opinion, with the prairie- hen to many of the farms of Illinois ; but the experi- ment would not be worth while unless the birds were closely protected for a period of years and thereafter carefully guarded on preserves of large size where the shooting would necessarily be limited to the increase of the year. There are many vast preserves owned by Chicago men where the ducks most congregate. A preserve with the sharp-tails restored might well be laid out adjoining the marshes frequented by the ducks. On such a preserve the partridges, woodcock, and ruffed-grouse would need but little more than protection in the oak groves against over-shooting to increase and multiply, and pheasants might be added to advantage. Before it is too late I hope to see the sharp-tails well established on many preserves where the race will no longer be in yearly danger of extermination. I have referred at other times to the picturesque features of the country where the sharp-tailed grouse dwell. The many little lakes and ponds reflecting the image of the sky suggested to the Indian the poetical word Minnesota, the land of sky-tinted waters ; Minne- waukon, the lake of the Great Spirit, a large, salt lake second in size to that in Utah, lies well out on the range. The villages of the Mandans, Sioux, and Crows, and their inhabitants in bright costumes, feathered and beaded, were picturesque in the extreme. Much of the sharp-tail country is a land of wild roses and sun- 82 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE flowers, and small wild fruits, where the buffalo, elk, deer, and antelope were but little molested when I first began to shoot. Such was the land when Custer fell, and for a few years thereafter. The railroad now runs over it. Towns have taken the places of the Indian tepees. The buffaloes are exterminated, the antelope are nearly gone, and the sharp-tails must go to the game preserve or vanish from the earth. X THE SAGE-COCK—COCK OF THE PLAINS MANY years ago I rode out from Fort Bridger with Professor Marsh and his assistants es- corted by a company of troops from the garrison. The expedition was against the dead of long ago, whose fossil remains lay buried in the Terre Mauvais, or Bad Lands of the Green River country, in what is now the States of Utah and Wyoming. I had asked to accompany the expedition and do part of the work, not on account of an interest in paleontological research, but from a desire to visit an unknown land in comfort and safety and to shoot at the living. We rode away from the garrison over a vast plain overgrown with the artemesia or wild sage. Far away to the south were the bad lands or buttes, strangely fash- ioned by erosion, and, beyond, the snow-capped peaks of the Uintah Mountains. I carried a double gun across the saddle, and we had not gone far before I dropped behind the others, riding somewhat to the left of their trail, in the hope that I might get a shot at something. Suddenly a large bird, nearly as big as a turkey, arose from my horse's feet, and with a tremen- dous roar of wings flew off across the plain, loudly clucking as he went. Not stopping to consider if my horse would stand the firing I pitched the gun to my shoulder and had the satisfaction of seeing the bird 83 84 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE fall dead. When I picked him up I found that I had a very heavy bird, weighing at least six or seven pounds. Its general color was gray, with a large black patch below. It had a long tail of stiff feathers and tufts of white on the shoulders. It was three times as large as any grouse I had ever seen on the prairies, but I suspected the truth — it was the sage- cock, or cock of the plains, the largest grouse in the world save the capercailzie of Europe. Hanging my prize to the saddle I remounted and rode about in the sage hoping to have another shot, but the bird was solitary, or I failed to move his com- panion. Shortly afterward a large animal bounded out of the sage and made off with tremendous leaps. An antelope, thought I, as I made a snap shot at it, but when I picked it up the extremely long ears made it evident that I had bagged the jack, or jackass rabbit, the animal which had been recently exploited by Mark Twain in " Roughing It." When I arrived at our camp my identification of both species was verified, but neither the cook nor the plainsmen who acted as our guides seemed to regard my performance as he- roic as could be desired. I soon learned that in the presence of larger game, such as the elk and mule-deer, neither the sage-cock nor the jack-rabbit were regarded as worthy marks or as desirable food. There has been much controversy as to the merits of the sage-cock on the table, and I had occasion to review the authorities, as the lawyers say, on this point in a former work. All shades of opinion will be there found expressed, in terms varying from "quinine THE SAGE-COCK 85 brute " to " delicious," but the truth of the matter is that these birds, like others, often receive a flavor from their food, and when the wild sage is their exclusive diet they have a more or less bitter taste. When, how- ever, the birds are young and have been feeding on grasshoppers, their flesh is as good as that of the sharp- tails or prairie-grouse. Before we made our second camp I shot a number of these grouse, and selecting a young and tender bird, plucked him and broiled him on a stick, and I found the flesh, as Lieutenant-Colonel Dodge describes it — " juicy, tender, and delicate as a spring-chicken, besides having the richest game flavor." I am surprised that the ornithologists are almost to a man arrayed against this bird as an edible dish. The sage-cock was made known to the world by Lewis and Clark in their report of their expedition, and they named it the cock of the plains. It inhabits the sage plains from Western Dakota, Colorado, Ne- braska, and Kansas to the Pacific States, and south to about thirty-five degrees. It never wanders away from the sage. The birds do not fly to the trees, but I have found them in the shade of the cottonwoods along the banks of streams, only, however, where the wild sage extended up close to the trees. They are often found far out on the sage-plains many miles from water, and the presence of ponds or streams does not seem neces- sary to their existence. Their flight is the same as that of the other grouse, alternately flapping and sail- ing, but the noise produced by the wings is multiplied and has been compared to a burst of thunder. The cocks measure two and one-half feet or more, and the 86 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE hens are somewhat smaller. It is remarkable that such large birds can conceal themselves as they do, and they often refuse to take wing- until fairly kicked out of the bush. They lie well to the dogs, but it is important to take water in the wagon for these animals, as it often is on the prairies, to prevent their suffering from thirst. My shooting at these birds was mostly done from the saddle while on the march. When we flushed a covey of birds I took a shot at them, and marking those that flew away to the particular bush where they settled, rode at once to the spot and sometimes dismounted to shoot at the scattered birds. Upon several occa- sions I went out with a friend especially to shoot them, riding here and there (we had no dog) until the horse flushed a covey, and following them so long as we could make them take wing. Birds often escaped by hiding in the sage and refusing to fly. The most likely places seemed to be depressions where the water evidently flowed in wet seasons and little knolls adjacent, but we stumbled upon the birds almost anywhere in the sage, and often made very good bags. It was next to im- possible to miss one, since the shots were always in the open and the marks large. The birds required hard hitting, however, to bring them down, and I would not advise the use of shot smaller than number 5 or 6. A wounded bird is difficult to recover without a dog where the sage grows thickly, and I always tried to kill the birds outright. The side shots, or those at quar- tering birds, are more likely to be fatal than those at birds going straight away, since the shot then pene- trates the lighter feathers beneath the wings. THE SAGE-COCK . 87 The horses used in the West are generally trained to stand without hitching when the reins are thrown over their heads, and I soon taught my horse to follow me about when I walked up to the scattered birds. Upon one occasion he became alarmed at a party of Indians which rode near, and went off at a gallop, not stopping until he reached the camp, some miles away. The Indians were friendly Shoshones, and seemed amused at my losing my horse. I had a long tramp back to the camp, and found a few of the big grouse a burden. The most desirable places to shoot sage-grouse are in the vicinity of the mountains. The stream neces- sary for a camp will be found full of trout, and an ex- pedition may be made into the forest for the blue- grouse, or for deer. The sage-brush makes a good fire. I have more recently shot sage-grouse in many places, usually only a few now and then to add variety to the camp table. Their habits are everywhere the same. They are too easy as marks to be very desir- able game. In addition to the jack-rabbits, I have seen many of the smaller hares in the haunts of the sage-cock ; a band of antelope was not unusual some years ago, but these graceful animals are seldom seen to-day. XI THE RUFFED-GROUSE nr^HE ruffed-grouse is the bird, as I have observed, •*• so often called partridge in New England, and pheasant in the West and South. It is one of the most beautiful of the birds having protective markings ; and here I may say, for the benefit of the non-ornithological reader, that the birds protectively marked are the birds whose plumage harmonizes with their surroundings, so as to render^them invisible to their enemies, and these birds all trust much to concealment. Protectively marked game birds are usually of a brown or gray color, variously marked with yellowish-tan and black and white. The ruffed-grouse is a very handsome bird of trim outline, alert and game-like in appearance, brown and gray, but effectively marked with velvety black and white, which contrast well with brown and gray tones. The broad band across the tail and the long silken feathers which form the ruff are glossy black. On the back are arrow-head or heart-shaped spots of light gray. The legs are covered with feathers (the distin- guishing mark of the grouse) of brownish white. The ruffed-grouse has long been called the " king of game birds." When the ruffed-grouse struts and drums, he elevates his tail (which is spread out like a fan) and the black ruff about his neck, and as he pran- 83 THE RUFFED-GROUSE . 89 ces about on his favorite drumming-log, stump, or stone, he makes a loud noise which resembles somewhat the roll of a drum. It begins with several low thumps, and these are slow and measured, but they increase rapidly in force and frequency until the deep noise is produced which can be heard for a mile in the woods. The sound, which is ventriloquial in character, was sup- posed formerly to be vocal and many so describe it. Enough has been written on the subject to fill a book of large size. An abstract of the lore on this subject will be found in my former work, " The True Game Birds." Many ornithologists follow Audubon in de- scribing the drumming noise as being made with the wings striking the body, but it seems from later obser- vations that the wings of the bird smite nothing but the air — "not even his own proud breast." This grouse was given its technical name bonasa, since the noise was supposed to be vocal and to resemble the bellowing of the bull. Ruffed-grouse are distributed everywhere in the woods from New England and Eastern Canada to Oregon and south to Georgia, Mississippi, and Arkan- sas. They prefer forests of large extent, since they are great wanderers afoot, and are more often found in the hills and mountains in the East, but they were also very abundant in the oak forests of Northern Indiana and Illinois, and are to-day abundant in many places in Michigan, Minnesota, in the Rocky Mountain re- gion, and the forests of Oregon. The flesh of this grouse is white and delicious. As an object of pur- suit he is now far more difficult than the prairie- grouse or sharp-tailed-grouse. To write another equa- 90 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE tion, which will be understood by fishermen at least, the ruffed-grouse is to the prairie-hen as the wily black bass to a school of yellow perch. The ruffed- grouse is often found solitary or in a group of two or three during the shooting season. He will often slip away from the dog and rise out of range or lie very close until the sportsman has passed, and then burst forth with a roar of wings in the evident hope of scaring him to death. This grouse builds its nest on the ground, and there are usually ten or twelve eggs. By September ist the young birds are strong on the wing. I have urged September I5th as the opening day of the season for these birds. In most of the States the season opens much later. The objection to an early date is that men going out for grouse are tempted to shoot at all game, and the partridges are not old enough to shoot in September. Sportsmen, however, are to-day more inclined to regard the game laws, and the market gun- ners should everywhere be kept out of the woods. Before the ruffed-grouse have been much pursued they are quite tame, and often fly to the branches of trees quite within range. There are few places to-day where the grouse are so uneducated. In some remote places in Idaho or other parts of the Rocky Mountain region and in unfrequented places in the Maine woods or elsewhere where shooters do not go, they are no doubt as tame as they once were everywhere. When the grouse are not too wild they are hunted with a small dog, which drives them to the branches of the trees and attracts their attention, while the gunner (the reader will observe I do not say sportsman) ap- THE RUFFED-GROUSE 91 preaches and shoots them down. I would not have any friendship for a man who would shoot one of these magnificent birds sitting and gazing at him from the branch of a tree. Forester says that "the constantly repeated tale that the ruffed-grouse when it alights in trees in com- panies, will allow the whole flock to be shot down one by one without stirring, provided the shooter-takes the precaution of shooting the one which sits the lowest on the tree first, is as fabulous as it is ridiculous." I have been informed, however, by reliable persons that this not only can be, but has been, done repeatedly. The Canada-grouse have been shot in the same way, as we shall see later. I have seen the blue- or dusky-grouse equally tame in the Rocky Mountains, but, of course, never tried to kill all on a tree. I have repeatedly found the ruffed-grouse in cultivated fields where they had gone in search of food, but only in such fields as were adjacent to the woods, into which they went on whirring wings at the first alarm. Ruffed-grouse are always found in wild, romantic, and picturesque places. They are especially fond of craggy mountain sides and deep and impenetrable swamps. A small woodland will not hold them long unless it be one of a series of woods with intervening fields. Early in the season all the birds of a brood will be found together, but I believe there are never more than one brood associated. In this they differ from the grouse of the open country, which pack, as we have observed, into large flocks as the season ad- vances. There is much diversity as to the field merits of this 92 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE bird. He does not lie so well to the dog as the com- mon partridge, Bob-white, or as the grouse of the open country. It is unusual to make a large bag of ruffed- grouse ; a half dozen birds in a day is a very good bag, and will represent many more shots than the same number of partridges or prairie-grouse, since the birds fly very rapidly and the shots are usually in heavy cover. The birds lie better to the dogs when there are many fallen logs and much underbrush to impede their run- ning, and in close thickets, especially thickets with grass in them. I have usually found them lying close in swampy places where the ground was soft and over- grown with tufts of grass and covered with fallen logs. When the birds are discovered in such places the sport is indeed magnificent. But when the birds are few in number and are found on vast mountain sides where there is no such cover, and the ground is quite open beneath the trees, they will often run from the dogs in a most exasperating way and fly from one mountain side to another; much time is consumed in following them, to say nothing of the arduous work, and the dogs are often useless. I have more often shot ruffed-grouse when in pur- suit of other game. Following the dogs to the woods when partridge shooting, I have found them standing ruffed-grouse, and as soon as the larger birds were discovered, I have given them my immediate attention and followed them so long as there was any chance for success. When I have gone out especially to shoot these birds I have usually not found them in sufficient numbers to make the shooting as lively as I like to see A DIFFICULT SHOT AT A RUFFED GROUSE THE RUFFED-GROUSE 93 it. There is a chance for the exercise of much skill and intelligence on the part of the man and dog, and they who know best the particular localities in the vast forests frequented by the birds, and who can go to them most quickly and quietly, who in a word, can find and approach the game the best, will make the largest bags. I have known of a bag of twenty or more birds in a day, but as I have observed, a smaller bag is the rule. Forester records a bag of seven birds made by two guns in four days of resolute fagging with two brace of setters, as good, he says, as any in the country, and announced he never would go again in pursuit of these birds. For my part I am especially fond of a ramble in the forest, no matter what may be the result. Much pleasure is derived from seeing the dogs repeatedly point birds in the open ; there is fair sport in shooting at the prairie-grouse late in September, when they fly swiftly, and when fifty, one hundred, or even more shots are often fired in a day. But the ramble in the forest has its magic charm not to be found in the prairie. There is " a pleasure in the pathless woods." The magnificent colors of the autumn trees are over- hung with the blue veil of the Indian summer. The breeze soughing in the branches does not mar the restful quiet. The solemnity is pleasing, quieting, and causes one to rejoice that he is far from the noisy rattle of the town. So still it is that the nut which the squirrel drops sounds loudly on the leaf; the twig snapped under foot crackles noisily. The murmur and splashing of the tiny brook, the rust- ling of the autumn leaves are sounds familiar but 94 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE ever charming-. The lunch beside the cool spring, with mossy logs or rocks for chairs and table, is eaten with a mountain hunter's appetite, and the few birds in the bag are handled and admired more than once. Meanwhile the good setters who have worked hard are dozing on the grassy mat where the sunlight falls ; the pipes are lighted and the stories of the shots most dif- ficult are told again. "Just as I pushed the hemlock branch aside with one foot over log — Whir! Whir! Whir ! " etc. The sportsman knows. The novice will find the lesson pleasing. The ruffed-grouse are fond of wild grapes and also of whortleberries, and in a general way I may say here that the knowledge of what birds are feeding upon is always valuable to the sportsman. I have often found the ruffed-grouse in the vicinity of the wild grape-vines. Early in the season they may be found on the tops of low mountains feeding in the whortleberry patches. Later in the year they move down the mountains, and in November the birds will not be so high on the hills as earlier. There is an un- certainty about the sport which lends an additional zest since we prize most that which is difficult of attainment. Men who are especially fond of the sport carefully study the habits of the birds, and are, of course, more successful than those who shoot them only in con- nection with other game. It is a good rule when a bird flushes wild or is missed to follow him up immediately. If he does not lie well to the dog the second time, keep after him, noting his line of flight and after several flushes he THE RUFFED-GROUSE 95 may decide to rely upon concealment and will pos- sibly present a very tair shot. When the dog fails to find the bird on or near the ground where he has been marked, look carefully in the trees, going over them a branch at a time. The grouse will sit so closely and so still that he may be easily overlooked. The birds are partial to woodland roads, and when the road is not much travelled it will pay to run the dogs over it and the adjoining thickets. The ruffed-grouse have never been domesticated and, ' of course, cannot be handled in a preserve as the pheas- ants are, but when they are not too much shot at and when their natural enemies, furred and feathered, are destroyed they will increase in number, and I see no reason when food is supplied to them, why they should not do very well in the game preserve. I recently saw a number of these birds on a preserve on Long Island where the woodlands, small in extent, are mere thickets of scrub-oak and pine, and I was convinced there were more birds there now than many years ago when the grounds were open to every gunner who came to shoot, and every boy who came to trap, and when the markets were prepared to dispose of the birds at good prices. The prohibition of the sale of these birds has done much. Like the other birds they were rapidly being exterminated. The ruffed-grouse are found in the Rocky Mountains associated with the blue-grouse, and the Canada, or spruce-grouse (the Western variety called Franklin grouse). Where these three magnificent birds come to- gether there should be another National Park. XII THE DUSKY- OR BLUE-GROUSE THE ruffed-grouse has a rival in beauty in the blue- or dusky-grouse of the West. This bird is much larger and will weigh as much as three and one-half pounds. Here as elsewhere among the game birds the variety-makers have been at work, and have given us two sub-species, so much alike, however, that I must frankly say, although I may have shot them all, I could not know the difference between them. As a matter of fact the differences are slight and may be regarded by the sportsman as purely local or climatic. The blue-grouse are the grouse of the Rocky Moun- tains. Both spruce-grouse and ruffed-grouse are found associated with them in places, but from Ari- zona and New Mexico to the British possessions one may find the magnificent blue-grouse, and often find it abundant. They are also found on the Coast Range, and thence eastward to the Rocky Mountains. The general color of this bird is a slate-blue. Its throat is white and it is marked above and on the wings with black. The general bluish-gray color, often quite dark, and its size render it unmistakable. The only bird at all like it is the Canada-grouse, often called spruce- or black-grouse. The latter bird is smaller than the ruffed-grouse, however, while the blue-grouse is nearly twice as large. 96 THE DUSKY- OR BLUE-GROUSE 97 Much that has been said about the king of game birds applies to the dusky- or blue-grouse. I once said he was the " King of the West." In the spring he hoots and struts like a turkey-cock. In the early autumn he lies fairly well to the dogs, fully as well as the ruffed-grouse. His flesh is white, or nearly so, and quite equal to that of his Eastern rival. After observing the blue-grouse some years ago I could easily imagine how tame the ruffed-grouse were before forming man's acquaintance, and I did not wonder at the local name of " fool-hen," which is applied to the Western birds, and which has found its way into the legislation of Montana, where it is now unlawful to kill more than twenty " fool-hens " in a day. When I first went to the Rocky Mountains there were no restraints of any kind upon the shooting, except at one point where there was an uncertainty as to what the Utes were doing. Blue-grouse flew up to the lowest branches of the trees and stood looking at me in the friendliest kind of way, and I of course had no desire to shoot at such con- fiding marks. A few were shot with the rifle (shoot- ing off the head) now and then to add variety to our fare. I sometimes took a shot at them on the wing in the woodland glades. The big-game hunters often had serious and sinister objections to the use of the gun, since it disturbed the larger game. We always had an abundance of meat — elk tenderloins, elk hearts, venison of both the black- and the white-tail deer, and wild-fowl and trout of large size, so that little attention was paid to the blue-grouse. The fool-hens are fool-hens no longer in many places. 98 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE They have been rapidly taught what a man, a dog, and a gun mean, and have become "educated birds," as the partridge shooters say, as the towns have sprung into existence in the neighborhood of their haunts. One who has read Irving's account of the wild turkeys standing on the branches and gazing in stupid aston- ishment at the soldiers who shot them down, will be prepared to believe the tales of the former tameness of the blue-grouse, but it is to-day in many places as wild as the wildest ruffed-grouse, and if such traits are hereditary, as they no doubt are, it will remain one of the most difficult of all the gallinaceous birds which find a place in the sportsman's bag. The surroundings of the great blue-grouse are all ap- propriate. This magnificent bird has a magnificent background. As I have observed, he is nearly twice as large as his ruffed cousin of the East. His mountains are more than twice as high. His trees and rocks and crags are many times as big. His brooks are larger, and flow with louder noise ; their falls are more majes- tic. The fish, too — the mountain trout — are large and fine, far bigger than those of the Eastern brooks. There are many trees in the woods of California, Oregon, and other States where the blue grouse lives, besides the so-called big trees, Gigantea Sequoia, which grow to a height of several hundred feet. The ground is littered with cones of tremendous size. The blue- grouse when moved from the ground can fly straight up to the branch of a tree beyond the range of a gun. The rifle is more often used to shoot them in many places, and in fact in all new countries it is the only weapon. In the late fall, about the middle of November, the THE DUSKY- OR BLUE-GROUSE 99 blue-grouse disappear, and it is unusual to see a single specimen in places where they have been abundant until the following spring. This disappearance is as mysterious as the disappearance of the woodcock in the East. The bears which roam the blue-grouse woods also disappear in the winter, it is well known, and are not seen again until spring. Their where- abouts are known in a general way, but there is the greatest difference of opinion as to what becomes of the grouse. Some insist that they are migratory and go south. Many believe that they retire to the tops of the highest evergreens and pass the cold season as the bears do, in a state of torpor. As the birds subsist well on the leaves of the coniferse, and can always ob- tain sufficient water from the snow and raindrops on the leaves to supply their necessities, Dr. Suckley was of the opinion that the latter is the correct explanation, or that if migratory they are only partially so. The torpor is supposed to be but partial by those who ad- vance the torpor theory. There are places in Oregon where the blue-grouse, the pheasants, the ruffed-grouse, and the sharp-tailed grouse may be found close enough together to be shot in a single day from one camp. But the daily bag to- day must be a small one. The limit there is ten birds. This is the law for upland game. The wild-fowl limit is fifty ducks. The gun for shooting blue-grouse is the 1 2-bore. The shot should be somewhat larger than that used on ruffed-grouse. I prefer No. 6 or 5 in the order named. No. 7 will do very well early in the season, when the birds are not wild and when most of them are young. XIII THE CANADA-GROUSE, SPRUCE-GROUSE, OR BLACK-GROUSE THE Canada-grouse and the Rocky Mountain species, known as the Franklin's grouse, are the same from the sportsman's point of view. They are the smallest of all the grouse excepting the ptar- migan, and, like the latter, they are seldom taken by sportsmen in the United States. The Canada-grouse is a bird of the Northern woods and inhabits the spruce forests of Maine, the Northern States, and the Canadian provinces, north to the Arctic region as far as the woods extend. The general color of the spruce-grouse is black. It is effectively marked below with white, and is a very handsome bird. It is often called the black-grouse on account of its color, but this name is more often ap- plied to a larger foreign bird. The female is lighter and brown in color. The Canada-grouse is more often seen by sportsmen who are in pursuit of big game, such as the moose, elk, and deer. They are not much molested and are quite tame, too tame to be interesting in most places. John Burroughs, describing a trip into Canada, says : " We came upon two or three broods of spruce-grouse in the road, so tame that one could have knocked them over with poles." The same writer found them 100 THE CANADA-GROUSED ibl common in the Adirondacks, and once shot eight in less than an hour, the eighth one, which was an old male, was killed with smooth pebble stones, his shot having given out. I have referred to the shooting of the entire flock of ruffed-grouse from a tree. There is a recent story in Field and Stream of the shooting in Nova Scotia of an entire flock of spruce-grouse which perched upon the nearest limbs of the hemlocks and never "stirred" until the covey was exterminated. " I am ashamed," says the writer, " when I think how soon that whole covey lay in a heap, tossed together in the path. But it was the sad penalty that the spruce-partridge always pays for its stupidity and too confiding dis- position when lumbermen or hunters are in need of meat." I have referred to these birds being taken with a looped string on the end of a fishing-pole. The reader will find this method of pursuit described and pictured in Scribner 's Monthly for August, 1877. The Rocky Mountain species differs but little, the chief difference is in the tail markings, and the reader who cares for such differences may find an illustration of the two tails in " North American Birds," by Baird Brewer and Ridgway. I do not care enough for such matters to try and remember the slight differences in the tail markings. They are both small black-grouse, beautifully marked with bars and dots of white below. They are equally tame and confiding and entitled to share with the blue-grouse the title of " fool-hen." As the larger game becomes scarce in the Western mountains they will receive more of the sportsman's attention, no doubt, and will soon become as wild as 102 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE the ruffed-grouse of New England, when they may be regarded as desirable game. Audubon and Forester differ as to the table qualities of this bird. Audubon regards the flesh as edible only when the birds have fed on berries, and says in winter, when it feeds on the leaves of trees and other plants, the flesh is quite bitter and disagreeable. Forester says he has eaten it only in winter, and while he admits the almost resinous aromatic bitterness he pronounces it delicious in the extreme. The con- troversy on this point is similar to that over the sage- cock and other birds whose flesh is affected to a marked degree by their food. No doubt, late in the winter, when he has subsisted solely on spruce buds, the flesh of this grouse will prove unpleasant and unpalatable. When the spruce is but a part of his diet, the flavor, I can well imagine, is not objectionable, since I can stand a decided trace of the sage in the flesh of the sage- grouse, provided always he be young and tender. XIV THE PTARMIGAN THE ptarmigan is the smallest of all the grouse and is only found in the Arctic regions and high up in our Western mountains. It is fond of the snow, and, like the Northern hare and some other birds and animals, it turns white in winter for protection. The variety makers have been especially industrious with this race and have given us a long line of sub-species, but they are all small birds, gray and brown in summer and pure white in winter, excepting the tail, which contains black feathers in most of the varieties. The white-tailed ptarmigan is the bird seen on the alpine summits of the mountains of Western North America, from Mex- ico to British America. This bird was some years ago fairly abundant in the mountains of Colorado, but it is now rare in most places. A friend who had some mines well up in the mountains told me that the birds came down to their camps in winter and that his miners killed many of them. They were not very wild and not difficult marks. Many no doubt were shot sitting, and it is no wonder that as the number of shot-guns increased, these handsome birds diminished. Although I went several times to the mountain tops in the Rocky Mountains to look for these birds, I never was fortunate enough to see one alive. In Alaska they are quite abundant, and the Indians 103 104 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— GROUSE capture many of them with snares. They are there found on the level plains and are shot like prairie-grouse. Lieutenant McConnell, of the revenue cutter Bear, wrote an excellent account of this sport for a magazine now out of print ; this is quoted at length in " True Game Birds." The shooting was done in company with some Esquimaux, who "pointed and retrieved," the lieutenant says, "in a way that would have put many a good bird-dog to shame." The ptarmigan is almost invisible in winter when it sits motionless on the snow; but the great snowy o\vl is said to find many of them, and the foxes are here, as elsewhere, the natural enemies of the grouse. The ptarmigans pack as soon as the young are full grown, and Mr. Tripp records seeing flocks containing one hundred or more in the mountains of Colorado. Their flight is well sustained and rapid, and they are able to fly great distances, but, like the prairie-grouse, when not much pressed they do not fly far. Mr. Tripp says that when seldom molested they are very tame, but when persistently pursued they become wild and leave the range of a shot-gun with surprising quickness. After several large flocks had been hunted for three or four days they grew so shy that it was difficult to ap- proach within gunshot, although at first they had been comparatively tame. Nimble of foot, the ptarmigan frequently prefers to run away on the approach of danger rather than take wing, running over the rocks and leaping from point to point with great agility, stopping every little while to look at the object of alarm. " I sometimes chased them," Mr. Tripp says, " half a mile or more over the rocky, craggy ridges THE PTARMIGAN 105 of the main range without being able to get within gunshot, or force them to take wing." The ptarmigan known as Welch's ptarmigan inhabits Newfoundland. It is described as a dark-grayish bird, with a bluish tinge on the plumage, which has been likened to the color of the sooty-grouse (the blue- grouse), while all the feathers are dotted with blackish white. Like all the others it is white in winter. At the time the check list of the American Ornithological Union was published there were listed no fewer than eight species and sub-species of the ptarmigan. Elliot in his recent book mentions two more, and "still they come" no doubt, or will come, as the various Aleutian islands are explored by ornithologists who delight in making new varieties. They might all belong to one flock, however, in winter, except the one called the white-tail ; and the summer dress changes so rapidly in all the species when they begin to turn white, that the various piebald specimens of a single species might well delight the ornithologist looking always for the new. It does not require the imagination of a Jules Verne to picture a game preserve occupying an Alaskan island, where the great Northern bears, both grizzly and polar, may be shot the same day with the small white grouse by the sportsman who has come from San Francisco on his yacht. XV THE PARTRIDGES "CARTRIDGES are distinguished from the grouse by -t their size being smaller and by their naked legs ; they are larger than the European quails and distin- guished from the smaller birds in many ways. The foreign quails are migratory, fly in large flocks and go long distances, even crossing the Mediterranean. The American partridges are none of them migratory; although they have been known to move short dis- tances, usually for food or water, they are found more often year after year in the same field, or at least on the same farm. The European quail are smaller than the partridges. There is some difference in the shape ot the wings, the size and strength of the bill and the number of feathers in and the length of the tails. The birds now listed in the check list among the par- tridges, the Bob-whites, have always been partridges in Virginia and the South, but in the North and West they are more often spoken of as quail. As I recently said in writing for a magazine, we live truly in an iconoclastic age when that idol of the gourmand " Quail on Toast " is shattered. The discussion as to name, however, which begun long before " Field Sports " was written, has at last been settled. The Ornithological Union has made the list complete of all American birds. There are no 106 THE PARTRIDGES 107 quails in the list. I have at another place suggested that we drop the term quail and " quail shooting." The partridge most familiar to sportsmen is the Bob-white. This is the bird most widely distributed, being found from New England to the Gulf and west- ward to the great plains, following civilization to the Northwest as far as it can stand the winters, and thriv- ing in California and many Western States where it has been introduced. Two partridges live in California and the Pacific Coast region, known as the California valley partridge and the mountain partridge. The former is smaller than Bob-white, the latter larger. The other par- tridges are all Southwestern birds, have limited ranges, and are found from the Rio Grande country in Texas to Lower California and Mexico. The scaled partridge is most abundant in Texas and New Mexico, the Gambels partridge in New Mexico and Arizona. The Massena is nowhere very abundant, but is found in Mexico and the adjacent States and Territories, east as far as San Antonio, Texas. The range of all the birds will be found stated with accuracy in the appendix. The Florida Bob-white and the Texas Bob-white are the same as the Northern bird, save as to slight difference of color. They are, too, a little smaller than the Northern birds. The differences, however, I regard as purely local or climatic. All the Western and Southwestern birds are noted for their beautitul plumage and plumes or crests. Bob-white, of course, is brown and gray. Bob-white is the best of all the partridges both in the field and on the table. io8 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES The variety makers have given us about as man}' Bob-whites as ptarmigans: Pueblo Bob- white, black breasted Bob-white, Godman's Bob-white, Coyolco's Bob-white, black-headed Bob-white, Salvin's Bob- white, Guatemala Bob-white, and Yucatan Bob- white. As their names indicate they have the same whistle, they are no doubt one and the same bird, the slight differences being climatic or geographical. XVI BOB- WHITE BOB-WHITE is a trim and handsome partridge, intermediate in size between the quails and par- tridges of the old world. He is conceded to be the best game bird in America. In my opinion he has not his equal in the world. He lies well to the dog, as I have said before, tests to the utmost the sportsman's skill in the open, and in cover seldom takes to the trees, is of convenient size for the game pocket, and is excellent for the table. He is certainly a better game bird than any of the grouse, since over dogs they are too easy marks, or fly too often to the trees. He is better than the imported pheasants or the partridges of Europe, since he lies better to the dogs ; and birds shot over dogs are superior as game to those shot from ambush — the ducks and shore-birds or waders. After a long controversy the ornithologists are agreed that he is a partridge, not a quail, and have given him the name Bob-white ; by which he was known to country folk long before. During the mating and nesting season he whistles the notes loud and clear which are supposed to resem- ble the words " ah Bob-white," and so he may be said to have whistled for himself a name. Early in the spring this partridge seeks a mate. The nest is built upon the ground, usually well concealed 109 i io GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES in grass or weeds. There are from twelve to fifteen eggs, sometimes more, and while the hen is sitting on the nest, the male bird from near-by fence or stump whistles his familiar notes. The young are precocious in the extreme, and run and pick at food as soon as they leave the shell. They have wonderful ability to hide, and when danger comes, the hen sounds a warn- ing note, and the little birds disappear as if by magic. Often the old bird flutters away as if badly injured and unable to fly, and so attempts to lead her enemy away. Some say this partridge will rear two broods in a year. I believe they sometimes do. Certain it is that if the first young birds are destroyed, the hen will nest again. Such nests are often found late in the summer. A nest was discovered last year in New Jersey contain- ing fourteen eggs, which were hatched as late as the middle of October, and every sportsman has seen very small birds as late as the beginning of that month. The food of this partridge consists largely of seeds, berries, and grain. It is distinctly a bird of the farm, and thrives best in civilization. In the summer it be- comes tame, but as the fall approaches is quite wild again, and it seems impossible to domesticate it. Bob- white is said to be partia/ly migratory. I had always doubted this until a few years ago when I found a number of coveys just before the season opened, which were gone before that date. They were quite near my house, and the birds had not been shot at, so I was con. vinced when good dogs failed to find them that they at least were gone. In dry seasons, or when the food gives out, partridges are compelled to move, since they BOB-WHITE in must have food and water. In Southern Illinois one very dry season I found no birds in the fields where they should have been, and later found many coveys about a ditch which had water standing in it. At night the covey takes a short flight to break the scent. The birds sit closely together in a concen- tric huddle, with their heads out, so that they have a lookout in every direction and it is difficult to ap- proach without alarming them. The chalk-like drop- pings in a circle indicate the presence of the birds in a field, and often show that they are in the habit of roost- ing in the same field every night. Work the dogs thoroughly when you see such signs. Be sure the covey is not far away. . In winter the partridges again become quite tame, and often come into the barn-yards in search of food. It pays well to feed them at such time, especially if the winter is quite severe. At the clubs, food is liberally supplied, and often patches of grain are planted and left stand- ing especially for the birds. Farmers and sportsmen often feed the birds. When a heavy snow falls the partridges sit quite still until they are buried in it, and then if a crust is frozen on the top they all are imprisoned and surely perish. A few corn-shocks left standing and a few brush-heaps, where the food is scattered, will save the lives of many birds. In some severe winters partridges are almost exter- minated. It is then necessary to pass a law prohibit- ing shooting for a term of years, when the birds will again be found abundant. In Northwestern Ohio some years ago after such a ii2 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES storm, it turned very cold and a thick crust of ice was formed on top of the deep snow. Many coveys on one of my favorite shooting grounds were imprisoned and the birds perished. Where I had shot scores of birds in a day one year, the next autumn I found but one small covey of eight or ten birds in two days of indus- trious tramping behind good dogs. The Legislature was appealed to, and a law providing a close season of several years' duration was passed, and to the credit of the sportsmen of the State it was obeyed, with the result that the birds were again abundant at the end of the close time and have been fairly abundant in Ohio ever since. After a severe snow, but a few years ago, which pre- vented the partridges from obtaining food, the Lou- donville Gun Club (in Ohio) requested the farmers to clear a protected spot on their farms and agreed to scatter the necessary food on such places, whether they were permitted to hunt on the premises or not, and Mr. Pond, the editor of the Sportsman's Review, well says, the example is one which should be fol- lowed by all gun clubs in localities where such con- ditions may exist. The partridge is distributed from New England and Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and west to South Da- kota, Kansas, and Texas. As civilization has moved westward this bird has gone with it, and is now found over a larger area in the Western States than formerly. It has been introduced into California and the Salt Lake valley, and should do well in these places. These partridges are most abundant to-day in the Southern States from North Carolina and Georgia BOB-WHITE 113 to Texas, and in Southern Illinois, parts of Missouri, and Kansas. They were extremely abundant in Oklahoma, but recent reports state that there has been entirely too much shooting, with the usual result. The report of Governor Brodie to the Secretary of the Interior contains a statement that the efforts to introduce Bob-whites and imported pheasants into Arizona have so far not been very successful. This partridge is by far the best bird for the upland game preserve. As a rule it does not wander far, anr1 when food is supplied it will survive the severest win ter. It is not difficult to stock a preserve, provided care is used in putting down the birds. Some clubs, when the shooting is excessive, restock the grounds every year. The birds should be put out early in the spring and food scattered about the place of their re- lease. I once purchased a crate of ten birds which I saw in the Cincinnati market and gave them to a friend who had a large country place. Early in the year the crate was placed not far from the house, and after the birds had become accustomed to their surroundings we re- moved one of the slats at evening and in the morning the birds came out and were soon feeding in the grass. Before long they separated, and one pair nested on the lawn, quite near the house, another in the garden and the others not far away. The natural enemies of the partridge, the foxes, hawks and domestic cats and dogs, should be kept down, of course, and if too many birds are not shot in the autumn they will increase from year to year. The modern farm implements, the mowers and reap- ii4 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES ers, do much damage to the nesting quail, and when it is desired to preserve them it is best to leave a stump or two in the fields surrounded by long grass and briers, and these will save many birds. The game- keeper on a preserve should, of course, know where each bird has its nest, and if in a field of grass or grain, the farm implements may be driven around it, not too close to disturb the mother bird. It is not difficult to find the nests, since the cock-bird whistles daily from a place quite near it. Partridges are especially fond of buckwheat, and a small area of this grain planted and left standing for their use will attract them to the place. An old tree-top or open brush-heap, left in a field, will afford shelter in the winter and a nesting- place besides. But a few years ago no attention was paid to these matters. They are not mentioned in our books, but with the growth of game-preserving many individuals and clubs are giving their attention to the proper propagation of the game and its protection in the winter. Hedges and the old rail fences are far better for the partridges than the modern wire fences, since they afford cover and protection on every side of the field. Tall grasses, weeds, and briers allowed to grow about the fences furnish not only protection to the birds from their enemies the hawks, but afford them food, both seeds and berries. An apple-tree here and there, when the apples are allowed to remain upon the ground, proves an additional attraction to the birds, and there are many places now where the birds are worth more than the fruit. Many partridges were formerly taken by traps and nets. I have destroyed many of these when shooting BOB-WHITE 115 in the fields. So long as the open sale of birds was legal the temptation to so take them remained. The use of traps and the sale of game is now prohibited in most of the States, and many farmers now rent the shooting on the farms, and are prepared to aid the execution of the law. Partridges, as sportsmen know, prefer the open fields — stubble and corn in the order named. They are seldom seen far within large woods. When alarmed they fly at once to the woods or thickets, there to remain until the danger passes. Small woods and thickets with much underbrush and briers are better than large woodland tracts and furnish all the cover which the birds require. Small streams and ponds and springs furnish water for the birds and seem necessary for their existence. The birds are partial to a railway passing through a farm and there find gravel, sand, and often grain dropped from a passing freight-train. The open season for partridge shooting a few years ago was much too long. Beginning as early as Octo- ber, or even September in some States, it lasted until March or April, long after the birds had sought their mates. Coveys are more easily seen and potted on the snow. A shorter season is now provided in many States. A uniform law providing for an open season beginning November ist and ending with the year would be exactly right. The gun for partridge shooting should be a light 12 or 16 gauge, the barrels open or but slightly choked, since the shots are at short range. A shooting-coat with many pockets, leggins, and stout shoes are best. Set- ii6 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES ters and pointers of field-trial parentage, but trained to hunt before the gun and not to range too far, will furnish better shooting than the wider ranging dogs. They should go fast, but not too far, and should cover all the ground. A few years ago there was no limit to the bag. The birds were killed by hundreds in a day. The legal limit now is often small. In one State (Ver- mont) it is but five birds of any kind in a day. A limit of two or three dozen birds a day would, in my opinion, be just right. On many days this bag cannot be made, and when a good day comes, I see no reason why the limit should not be at least two dozen birds. On preserves the limit is often fixed by a club rule, which should, of course, limit the killing sufficiently to save enough birds to restock the grounds. On the English stubbles and Scottish moors, the bags are often large, but care is taken that enough remain. In the morning the partridges start out afoot to feed upon the fields. When the day is fine they move early, and the sportsman may also make an early start and take the field as soon as the sun is up. On cold and stormy days the birds will not move so early, and when it rains and the wind is high they may not move at all. As a general rule, however, I would advise an earlier start than that proposed by Forester. Cast off the dogs, a pair, not more, in the stubble or field of corn, and see that they look well to the sides of the field before leaving it. Experienced dogs will seek the likely places first, the little knolls or depressions where the cover seems to be the best. Give good dogs few orders, or better none at all, and they will soon find BOB-WHITE 117 and point the covey. Approaching without haste, walk in and flush the birds. By no means shoot them on the ground, and refuse at once to shoot with one who would suggest it. As the birds arise with noisy wings, select one far out on your own side and having killed or missed it, shoot again. Do not, like Mr. Tup- man, shoot vaguely at the flock with both eyes shut. Such shooting may possibly wound some birds but more likely will hit them not at all. Mark well the birds which cross the woodland fence. They will not go far beyond it. And here the sportsmen differ in their methods of pursuit. Some say do not follow the scattered birds at once but seek another covey first. This is the rule of action laid down by Forester, Lewis, and some other writers. Many sportsmen of much ex- perience, however, will lose no time in getting to the woods. It is certain that often the birds will not be found even by the best of dogs, and many say they have the power of withholding their scent. I have often marked the birds to a small thicket, or even patch of briers, where they certainly went down, once between me and a horse within the field, and with the best of dogs I could make but one of them take wing. On one occasion I even saw a partridge on the ground and two dogs as good as any passed each side of it, and but a few feet away. They even failed to take notice of it when I again brought them where it was, and finally I moved it with my foot, when up it went. There were at least fifteen birds in the covey, and nil were on the ground, but not one more was moved, although the dogs were worked closely back and ii8 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES forth. An hour later I returned to the same place and the birds were pointed one by one. Whether the birds actually have the power of withholding the scent we do not know. They certainly are often safe from the noses of good dogs. The best opinion seems to me to be that the scent is dissipated by the birds' rapid passage through the air, and when they first alight they press their wings closely to their bodies, and do not give forth any scent until they move again. Since the birds do not always act in this manner, however, I believe it is well to follow them at once, especially if the beat will take one far from the place. It may be the birds have moved or for other reason give forth some scent, and the dogs will at once point them one by one. The matter is, however, easily ascer- tained. If the birds are not found at once, it is well to leave them and return later. Partridges fly rapidly. They seem to be under full headway as they leave the ground. It is absolutely necessary, as I have repeatedly said, to shoot well over rising birds, and well ahead of those which go off to right or left. An old English game-keeper, quoted by Stuart- Wortley, well said, " You will surely miss them if you shoot where they are." It is important that the shot should be so placed that the bird will fly into the centre of the charge. The effective killing-area is in the centre of the pattern. Straggling shot at the sides will often wound or miss the bird, and the same writer says " wounded birds will distress a first-rate man, so that he would almost as soon have missed them altogether." By shooting at the centre of the flock several birds may possibly be killed at one shot, BOB-WHITE 119 but more are often wounded. Remember, therefore, to shoot at a single bird, and aim well forward and high. Of course, if the covey be flushed on a hill-side, and the birds fly down, the aim should be well under instead of over them. Beginners shoot under and behind the birds. Mayer says : "The velocity of an ounce of No. 8 shot, driven with three drams of pow. der, is near to nine hundred feet per second. In that second a Bob-white, if under full headway, will go eighty-eight feet, if we estimate the velocity of his flight so low only as a mile a minute. If he is flying directly across your line of sight and thirty yards off, the shot will take one-tenth of a second to reach that distance, and in one-tenth of a second the bird has gone over eight and eight-tenths feet." It is a most difficult point for a beginner, and he continues to miss until he can bring himself to shoot well ahead of cross- flying shots and well over rising birds. In shooting at ducks when several are flying in a line, one behind the other, he will be surprised to see a bird far behind the one he shot at fall dead. The reader will find exam- ples of this in the chapters on the water-fowl. Par- tridges require hard hitting to bring them down. It is therefore all-important that the aim be true. As for the shot, No. 9 will do early in the season, but a little later No. 8 will be found more effective. Two sportsmen are the proper number in partridge shooting. If there are more in the party they should take separate 'beats. I shot many seasons with a friend in Northern Ohio and we were often joined by local sportsmen who knew the grounds, but we always divided up, coming together at the noon hour to dis- 120 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES cuss the fortunes of the day, and again at night, at a point where our wagon picked us up. The dogs should be two in number and owned and handled by one per- son without the slightest interference. When both sportsmen own dogs, they can be handled alternately on different days to advantage. Dogs that are accus- tomed to hunting together will do the best work. Strangers are often jealous of each other and work badly. Partridges are often found in the vicinity of old deserted cabins and houses. They find much food in the garden or orchard, and such places are almost cer- tain to harbor a covey. I always go out of my way to run the dogs over such places, and many sportsmen of my acquaintance do the same. Mr. King, an accom- plished sportsman of Pittsburgh, recently told me that he once flushed a covey which flew directly toward a house some distance away, when he lost sight of them, flying low. He approached the house, thinking that he would ask the owner's permission to shoot, but dis- covered that it was abandoned, both doors and windows were out. Knowing well the fondness of partridges for such places, he proceeded to run his dogs over the ground on all sides of the house, but failed to move a bird and gave them up. Just before going away, how- ever, he decided, out of an idle curiosity, to enter the house, when with a loud whirring the whole covey went out through the windows, and as my friend ex- pressed it, he was too astonished to fire a shot. I have known the wood-grouse also to enter aban- doned houses, and the reader will do well, especially when hunting partridges, not to pass one by. BOB-WHITE 121 In a bulletin issued (1885) by the Agricultural Depart- ment of the national Government, I find the following: " The question is often asked whether the habit quail (partridges) have of lying to the dog is natural or acquired. To get a satisfactory answer one has only to hunt in different parts of Indian Territory. In the region west of Fort Sill the quail never think of stop- ping when they see a dog, but run as fast as possible, and upon his near approach they flush immediately, just as one may suppose they do on the approach of a coyote. In the eastern part of the Territory, near the railroad, the quail lie quite well to a dog and, as they are exceedingly abundant, excellent sport may be had from November until March." This brings to mind an opinion expressed by that distinguished ornithologist, Dr. Coues: "I am inclined to think indeed," he says, "that the lying of quail [partridges],* an essential feature for the chase in its perfection, is almost as much a result of education as the ' pointing' that the intelligent brute who helps us kill them has learned. In a primitive and strictly nat- ural condition, quail as a general rule rather use their legs to escape pursuit, than squat and attempt to hide. That the reverse is the case with the Virginia quail [the Bob- white], I am perfectly aware, but this proves nothing to the contrary, and I am inclined to think its crouching until almost trodden upon, to be an acquired trick. This would surely be a poor way to escape from any of its natural enemies — any carnivorous bird * This was written before the Ornithological Union, of which Dr. Coues was a member, decided that the birds are partridges. The brackets are mine. 122 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES or mammal; yet they found it to succeed so well against their chief persecutor, that he has had to call in the aid of a sharper sighted, sharper-nosed brute than himself, else he might stumble over stubble-fields all day with- out seeing a bird except by accident. I presume that Virginia quail in the days of Captain Smith and Poca- hontas were very much in the social status of the Oregonians to-day ; and those certainly trust to their legs and wings rather than to the artifice of thrusting their heads in a tussock of grass and then fancying they are safe." . . . "It will probably require sev- eral generations in training before the blue or scaled partridge of the Southwest, which now trusts to its legs rather than its wings, and glides along with mar- vellous celerity, can be taught to lie well to the dog." A mixed bag is attractive, and an opportunity is here presented to some of the Southern clubs and to gentle- men owning private preserves, to give not only the blue partridge, but the California and Gambel's par- tridge also, some lessons in lying to the dogs. Having seen those birds go, afoot, I am prepared to say the lessons, if successful, would make them better birds. As I have said, efforts to introduce Bob-white into Arizona have not been so far very successful. A few hogs introduced at the same time with Bob-white would aid the birds, in my opinion, in that land of snakes and reptiles. The habit of "lying close" would certainly not work well with snakes. Partridges when disturbed, as I have observed, at once fly to the nearest cover, and there, though well scattered, the dogs point them one by one. The shooting at scattered birds in the woods is in my opin- BOB-WHITE 123 ion, the best sport offered to the sportsmen of America. Here the swiftly flying marks test his skill to the ut- most. Here his dogs appear to the best advantage. Often the shooting is quite rapid, many double shots are offered and the background is the most beautiful in the world. The brilliant colors of the trees, the fallen logs, moss and lichen covered, the carpet of bright leaves, the grass and the vines, are blended with many tones of gray and the blue mist of the Indian summer. " Whirr ! Whirr ! " go the birds, " Bang ! Bang ! " go the guns. Here, to my mind, is the acme of sports afield. The average number of birds killed from each covey is small. Alfred Mayer, quoting Mr. H. H. B. Davis, says the average is a little over three birds brought to bag from each covey flushed. Mr. Starr, after taking the opinion of nearly three hundred sportsmen who replied to his inquiry, places the aver- age at a smaller number. An average shot in a good average day (finding nine coveys), he says, will bag twenty birds, killing 53 per cent, of his shots. The reader who will keep a record of the number of coveys which he shoots at in a season and the number of birds brought to bag will find these figures not far wrong. On stormy days and on days when the snow covers the fields so as to render the partridges conspicuous they will always be found in the woods. The sports- man who is familiar with his ground and knows the fields where the partridges usually are, will seek them in the adjoining cover and not very far from the fence. I have often put up the covey from an angle 124 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES in a rail fence, especially when it was overgrown with briers. There are a number of varieties (the sub-species of the ornithologists) given in the books, and many at- tempts are made to extend the list. We now have no less than three species : the Bob-white, the Grayson's Bob-white, and the masked Bob-white. Bob-white has two sub-species, the Florida Bob-white and the Texas Bob-white. There are nine additional Bob- whites named and reported in the Auk, for April, 1898, and no doubt, as the politicians say, there are several counties yet to hear from. The sportsmen have little interest in what I have been pleased to call fractional species of birds, and I think they agree with what I said in " The True Game Birds " : " Until the variety-makers find a bird which does not whistle ' Bob-white,' which has not the same pattern or mark- ings, which does in fact differ in some material habit of nesting, rearing its young, feeding, flying, lying well to the dog, or equally well on the plate, the sportsman may well consider the species and sub- species of Bob-white as one and the same." White partridges, albinos, have been shot in many places, and mounted specimens may be seen in the museums. They are uncommon. I have never seen one alive. XVII THE CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGES THESE are two remarkably beautiful birds, gener- ally known as the California partridges. Both of these birds are of a slate-blue color, handsomely marked. Both are found on the Pacific Coast. The mountain partridge is the larger bird, and is somewhat larger than Bob-white. The California partridge, more often called the valley-quail or partridge, is smaller than the Bob-white. These birds have handsome black plumes on their heads, and are often designated as plumed partridges. There are two sub-species of the mountain partridge and one of the valley bird, but these are of the same general color and markings, and have the same habits, and the differences are so slight that they do not appear when the birds are pictured in black and white. The inhabitants of California, outside of technical ornithologists, only know two birds — the mountain and the valley partridge. These birds trust to their legs more than their wings, and are remarkably expert runners. On that account they are not very desirable game birds. The flesh of both is excellent, they fly swiftly with the whirring noise common to all gallina- ceous birds, are excellent marks, and the California sportsmen are much given to their pursuit. Dogs are 125 126 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES used, and sometimes the birds lie fairly well to them, but such conduct is exceptional. Many of the birds were formerly taken in traps, and some years ago, when they were extremely abundant, they were shot by market gunners on the ground and sold in large numbers in the San Francisco markets. The Indians use the plumes plucked from the head to decorate their baskets. The smaller birds are always the most abundant. The flocks are often large. The larger birds are never seen in large flocks, and are found, as their name would indicate, in the hills and mountains. The crest or plume of the mountain partridge con- sists of two straight black feathers much longer than the bill and head. The crest of the valley-bird is also black, but short and narrow at the base, widening out and curving forward at the tip. THE MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE The mountain partridge and the sub-species known as the plumed partridge and the San Pedro partridge, are, to sportsmen, the same. The range of these birds is from Southern California north to Washington ; the mountain partridge being assigned by the ornithol- ogists to the region north of San Francisco Bay, the plumed and San Pedro partridges to regions south of the bay. The mountain partridge has been introduced on Vancouver Island. I first observed these birds many years ago when they were quite tame. They were in small flocks and took to their legs, or flew away on whirring wings. THE CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGES 127 I scattered a flock one day, when a cock-bird lit upon a rock quite near, and standing where the sun- light fell upon his shining feathers, I was able to ob- serve him closely for some time. He had the same trim outline and jaunty pose as our own Bob-white, but his gay plumage and long, black plume caused me to regard him as more beautiful. I had no desire to shoot him and presently he flew away. Large game of all sorts was abundant. I had been shooting for some weeks in the Rocky Mountains and on the plains. Even the large blue- or dusky-grouse was not inviting as a mark. The birds are much wilder now than formerly and far less abundant. There are few places where a large bag could be secured, but their pursuit leads the sportsman into wild and picturesque localities, into forests of gigantic trees, on mountain sides, beside the streams of pure water, and beautiful cascades. While rambling on a pony in the woods one is inclined to forgive the ungamelike habit of the birds, which, as Bendire has said, is very trying to the human and perfectly exasperating and bewildering to the dog. THE VALLEY PARTRIDGE Upon a journey to far-famed Yosemite I first saw the smaller California partridges, known throughout the State as the valley partridges. They were extremely abundant along the road and in large flocks ran before the horses upon a near ap- proach, and sometimes took wing and whirred away into the chapparal. The flight of these birds is swift 128 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES when once they are on the wing and when I first observed them they were so tame as easily to be ap- proached within short range, but the difficulty was to make them take wing, for no one cares to pot a covey on the ground. Their speed afoot was most remark- able. They were often in sight in the open brush or on the roads racing on ahead. I am quite sure we saw as many as fifty flocks in a day without leaving the wagon, and it may be many more. When on the wing they flew but a short distance, and as I have said in writing of these birds, their feet began to go before they fairly touched the ground, and as they sailed along the surface it was difficult to tell just when the flying ceased and the running began. Their speed afoot seemed quite equal to their speed in air. Sportsmen who have had much experience with these birds informed me that by persistently chasing them about until they were well scattered they some- times could be made to lie to the dog, but as a game bird they are in no way to be compared to the par- tridges of the Eastern States. The California valley partridge was formerly dis- tributed throughout the coast and interior valleys and on the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They have been introduced into Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. In the southern parts of California the birds are often found on grounds overgrown with cactus, which presents another serious difficulty for the dogs. A friend who has shot much on such ground informs me that on one plantation the owner had paths cut through a large field of cactus, which was a harbor of refuge THE CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGES 129 for the birds, and having driven a large number of flocks to this place they went in with the dogs, work- ing along the paths, and often made large bags, on one occasion no fewer than ten dozen birds. I have heard of much larger bags, numbering hundreds of birds, being made in the earlier days when the game was extremely abundant, but no doubt much of the shoot- ing was at birds on the ground, when a dozen or more might be killed at a single shot. Mr. T. S. Van Dyke, writing recently for the West- ern Field, the Pacific Coast magazine, says he has writ- ten so often of this bird that he feels positively ashamed every time he looks at one. He said that when he first came to California, in 1875, quail in flocks now quite incredible soared out of almost every cactus patch, shook almost every hillside with the thunder of a thousand wings, trotted in strings along the roads, wheeled in platoons over the grassy slopes and burst from around almost every spring in a thousand curling lines. The same writer says that the partridges have already deserted many of the valleys and are now more often found in the hills, ready always to run and fly from one hillside to another, and "their leg power, always respectable enough to relieve you from any question of propriety about shooting at one run- ning, they have cultivated to such a fine point that sometimes they never rise at all, and you may chase and chase and chase them and get never a rise." Writing at another time Mr. Van Dyke advises the shooter not to attempt to bag anything at first, but to spend all the time in breaking and scattering the coveys, racing and chasing after them and firing broad- 130 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES sides over their heads and in front of them, until they are in " a state of such alarm that they will trust to hiding." He then advises that the dog (which I pre- sume has been used in coursing the birds) be tied to a shady bush and that the coat be laid aside, that the sportsman may travel fast after the scattered birds. The dogs which have had experience with these birds are of course better than dogs which have been trained on the Eastern partridge, Bob-white. There are now many fine dogs owned in California, and these, no doubt, have learned to point the running birds at long range, and do good work with them whenever they consent to lie to them. Fast, wide-ranging dogs, such as are good on snipe on the vast Western marshes, dogs with excellent noses, that can point the game when it is a long way off and keep after it, always care- ful not to flush the birds, are no doubt the dogs the sportsmen of California must rely on» The birds to-day are described as much more wild than those of former years, and do not show progress toward that happy day when their education will be complete, and they will cease to trust to their legs and lie well to the dogs. I fear the opinion of the famous ornithologist, the late Dr. Coues, which I have given in the chapter on Bob-whites, may not prove to be correct. The valley partridge nests upon the ground. There are usually twelve or fifteen eggs. The food consists of seeds, insects, and leaves ; the birds are very fond of grapes. Although known everywhere as the valley-partridge, these birds are often found at an elevation of several THE CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGES 131 thousand feet. They are more abundant near sea levels, however, than higher. Although the coveys seldom contain more than twelve or fifteen birds, large flocks are often seen in the fall and winter, which would indicate that these partridges pack like the grouse of the open country. XVIII THE SOUTHWESTERN PARTRIDGES THE three remaining partridges, known as the Gambel's partridge, the scaled-partridge, and the Massena partridge, may be termed the Southwest- ern partridges, since they are found in a limited area of which New Mexico or Western Texas may be said to be the centre. The scaled-partridge, with its sub-species, the chest- nut-bellied scaled-partridge, inhabits the table-lands of Mexico, and is found from the valley of Mexico north to Central and Western Texas, Santa Fe*, New Mexico, and Southern Arizona. Gambel's partridge, which enjoys the proud distinction of having no sub-species, is distributed throughout Western Texas, New Mex- ico, Arizona, Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, South- ern California, in the Colorado valley, and southward into Northwestern Mexico. The Massena partridge is found from the City of Mexico north to West- ern Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Gambel's par- tridge and the scaled-partridge have much the same habits as the valley-partridge of California, and run equally as well ; much that has been said about that bird applies to these. There is much diversity of opinion as to the per- formance of the Massena before dogs. It is the least abundant of the Southwestern partridges. 132 THE SOUTHWESTERN PARTRIDGES 133 GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE Gambol's partridge is the same size and has much the same appearance as the valley-bird of California. It has a similar plume of black feathers on the head, but the golden-brown area on the belly of the Cali- fornia bird is replaced by black in Gambel's partridge. The Gambel's partridge is the handsomer bird. Dr. Coues referred to the valleys of the Gila and Colorado rivers as centres of abundance, and says, " About Fort Yuma there were more quails to the square mile than I ever saw elsewhere, and indeed I could scarcely see how many more could well have been accommodated with food and hiding places." The young of this partridge are hatched in May, and like those of other partridges they are extremely precocious. The cock-bird utters a loud whistle dur- ing the mating season entirely different, however, from the notes of Bob-white. The coveys usually contain a dozen or more birds. Coues says he never saw a covey containing more than twenty birds, but larger coveys of fifty or more young birds are reported, which may be accounted for either by the fact that the birds are polygamous or possibly several coveys have associated. These birds pack, like the California partridge, into very large flocks late in the year. Gambel's partridge flies with the usual loud whirring noise, and when it takes wing within range presents a similar mark to that of Bob-white; a i2-gauge is the proper gun ; No. 8 the proper shot. Elliot says this bird possesses the same disagreeable traits as the 134 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES California partridge, when he is regarded as a game bird. A few years ago it was customary to trap these birds, and thousands of dozens were sent to the San Francisco markets. At one station the express agent shipped no fewer than three thousand dozens in a season (1889-90). The price was as low as 60 cents a dozen. It is no wonder that the birds rapidly de- creased in numbers and were threatened with exter- mination. Arizona now has good game laws, and these are executed. Trapping is prohibited at all times, as it should be, and it is a misdemeanor to ship these birds from the Territory. The Indians snare many of these partridges, and use the plumes as ornaments, but they do not kill the birds, but release most of them, having deprived them of the plumes. Dr. Coues tells of killing with mustard-seed shot a wolf which he found hunting a covey of these birds. I once made a similar shot at a fox which was pointed by my dog at the same time with a covey of par- tridges (the Bob-whites). «• THE SCALED-PARTRIDGE I once had a covey of these beautiful birds, often called the blue-quails or partridges, in captivity, and had an opportunity of observing their speed, as they ran about the sides of the room, close to the wall. I was prepared to bet on my birds in a race against all comers. I doubt if any of the Californians or Mr. Gambel's birds could beat them. Their leg power was THE SOUTHWESTERN PARTRIDGES 135 tremendous. The scaled-partridge is of a slate-blue color, but it has peculiar markings, which resemble imbricated scales, and which, of course, suggested the name. It is a handsome bird, and has a crest which it can elevate. The crest-feathers are tipped with white, and the bird is sometimes called white-crested quail. The scaled-partridge is most abundant in the valley ol the Rio Grande. It flies like the other partridges, and presents similar shots when one can get within range of it. The ground where it lives is covered for the most part with many varieties of cactus, and every living thing in the vegetation line seems to have a thousand spines attached to it, which would render the dog useless if the birds were willing, which they are not, to allo >v him to approach. They are often seen in the roads, and by driving or riding along with a horse that will stand fire some shots may be obtained; but the sportsman who goes in to retrieve his birds may spend the rest of the day picking spines out of his legs, so that the sport is for several reasons not very attractive. The precise range and description of the bird are fully given in the notes. THE MASSENA PARTRIDGE The Massena partridge is one of the few game birds that I have never had the pleasure of meeting, but I have always taken an especial interest in it, not only on account of its peculiar bizarre appearance, but for the reason that my information led me to believe that this partridge was more like Bob-white than any oi the other American partridges — in other words, that 136 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES it stood for all that was good in a game bird. The mountain and valley partridges of California, the Gambel's and the scaled-partridge of the Southwest are, as we have seen, great runners and most exaspera- ting to well-trained dogs. Unless the Massena proves to be of some account we have only one real good partridge in America. Our early information as to the Massena came from officers of the army who were stationed in the South- west. Colonel McCall first reported it in 1851 as fair- ly abundant from the San Pedro to the Rio Pecos, and says it was always quite confiding, and he was inclined to think that with little difficulty it might be domesti- cated. Kennedy says he has often known Mexican soldiers to kill them with their lances. Elliot says it is often called a fool quail, on account of its confiding dispo- sition. All the writers I am familiar with, excepting a re- cent correspondent of the Sportsman's Review, describe the bird as very tame and confiding and not inclined to run like the other Western birds, but their opin- ions are at variance with this recent correspondent. I do not know his name and the editor of the Review writes that he cannot now give it to me. The Massena is about the same in size as the other partridges, but it is easily distinguished by the white spots which cause it to resemble a small guinea-hen. It is nowhere found in any numbers, and a natural- ist of my acquaintance, who visited its habitat in the hopes of securing specimens, returned without a bird. BOOK II WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS XIX THE WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS THE wild-fowl of the sportsmen are the swimmers (anatida) of the ornithologists. There are two hundred species of these birds in the world and about sixty of them in North America. The swimmers are second only in importance to the gallinaceous birds. It is possible that a majority of sportsmen would reverse the order and place the swimmers first. Elliot is of the opinion that the duck-shooters are in the majority. The order of swimmers contains a greater number of large, fine game birds than the order gallinae, and many of these are noted for their handsome plumage; one of them, the wood-duck, is the handsomest water-fowl in the world. The pursuit of these birds takes the sportsman to the bays, lagoons, and marshes about the coast, and to the lakes, ponds, and rivers of the interior. The pleasures derived from sailing and boating are added to the shooting, and the vast marshes over- grown with tall reeds and rushes and many wild grasses and aquatic plants are charmingly pictu- resque. Much skill is required in approaching and shooting the game. There are five families of swimmers — the swans, the geese, the sea-ducks, the river-ducks, and the mergan- sers. To these Elliot adds two sub-families, one to include the wood-duck and the other the spine-tailed ducks; but from the sportsman's point of view the 139 HO WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS classification I have given, which is that of the American Ornithological Union, is sufficient. The wood-duck is a shoal-water duck, and is often found feeding with other dabblers, such as mallards and spoonbills. The sportsman does not care to follow ornithological refinements too far. The sea-ducks, or divers, escape more often when wounded, by diving, but the shoal-water dabblers are extremely expert at hiding in the reeds. The wild-fowl are migrants. They go north to build their nests and rear their young. Many of them go within the arctic circle. In the West many ducks and some geese nest within the northern boundary of the United States. But in a few years at most not one will remain to nest, and it will not be long before the Western lakes, which are now crowded every spring and fall with fowls, will be as desolate as the New England ponds. With their young, the wild-fowl return to the United States early in the autumn, and as the waters freeze in the Northern States they proceed southward. With the first signs of spring, often as early as February, they move north again, and so soon as the ice disap- pears they may be looked for on the bays and marshes. The hardier varieties, such as the canvas-backs, red heads, and the scaups, or black-heads, are the last to go south in the autumn. Some of them winter in the vicinity of New York, many more at Chesapeake and Currituck Sound. The swans are large birds, and now in many places extremely rare. They are probably more abundant on the Pacific Coast than elsewhere. WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS 141 The geese and brant also come each year in greatly diminished numbers. The brant are often called brant- or brent-geese, since they resemble the com- mon wild-goose, being smaller. The sea-ducks and the river-ducks are not easily approached, but most of them come to decoys, and their numbers are an- nually reduced at an alarming rate. The sea-ducks have larger feet, and the legs are further back than those of the river-ducks. They are therefore better swim- mers and divers, but their progression on land is more difficult. The terms sea-ducks and river-ducks used by the ornithologists are somewhat misleading, since the sea-ducks, such as canvas-backs, red-heads, and scaups, and most of the others, are found often on the rivers and lakes far from the sea, and thousands annually travel the great valleys of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers upon their spring and fall migration. The terms deep-water ducks, or divers, and shoal-water ducks or dabblers, are more accurate, since the can- vas-backs and other sea-ducks prefer the deep-water, and dive long distances under it in their search for food, while the shoal-water ducks feed by dabbling or tipping like the common barn-yard ducks. The number of wild-fowl which came formerly to the bays and lagoons along the Eastern coasts, was almost beyond belief. Flocks were often in sight following each other in quick succession for days at a time. There were acres of ducks on the water. In the far West I have seen such sights, and can readily believe the accounts of the former abundance of these birds about the coast. Persistent shooting, especially for the markets, has i42 WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS much reduced the ranks of those which travel over the Eastern course, but the birds still move from Dakota to the Gulf in immense numbers. There is a record of three guns killing one thousand three hundred and seventy-two ducks in forty-eight hours at Lake Bisti- neau, Louisania (March 9, 1902), and only the birds actually bagged were counted. I know of a bag of over one hundred ducks made one morning by a gun in Ohio, in the fall of the preceding year. These records indicate that the ducks still come in goodly numbers. Such killings as those referred to by men who shoot for sport, added to the tremendous execution of the market gunners, will, if continued, soon make the duck a rare bird on our Western waters. I recently saw a gun at one of the Ohio clubs, which, in the hands of a market gunner of Sandusky, killed one hundred and eighteen ducks at one shot. Not satisfied with shoot- ing from the shore, the market gunners and sportsmen stationed themselves in floating batteries on the feed- ing grounds, thus preventing the ducks from feeding. A few years ago, before there were game laws or pre- serves, the booming of the guns in the marshes sounded like the skirmish fire of an army. The shoot- ing begins in the Northern States with the arrival of the first ducks and is kept up until the freezing of the waters ends the slaughter. As the ducks pro- ceed southward, new guns are ready for them, and in Southern waters, their winter quarters, they are perse- cuted until their departure in the spring. Not satis- fied with the results obtained with the cannon used by market gunners, the Mexicans have a method of WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS 143 slaughtering the birds even more destructive. The ducks are baited with barley and corn on the lakes and ponds, and carefully guarded and fed by men on horseback, who often ride among them slowly and ac- custom them to their appearance until the time for the " armada " arrives, when the ducks are driven slowly to the place of slaughter. Dr. W. H. Howe, of Mexico City, says ':* " An ar- mada is built in a half circle, just above the water- line, where are placed from two to three hundred barrels ; one half set to rake the water, the other half to catch them just as they rise. The destruction is tremendous. I was at one armada some years ago, on the Hacienda Grande at the north end of Lake Texcoco. After the gathering was completed, I asked the overseer how many ducks were secured and he told me he did not know, as they count sixteen and then make a tally mark for a dollar ; but it amounted to $256, at sixteen to the dollar, which made it count up fou thousand and ninety-six ducks at this one kill- ing. During the following spring, perhaps in April, Signora Cervantes de Rivas, of one of the oldest families of aristocratic Mexicans, owner of the Ha- cienda Grande, told me that the net profits on ducks that winter was a little over $13,000 on her hacienda, This would represent two hundred and eight thousand ducks for this one hacienda, and there are hundreds of other haciendas doing the same business with weekly or bi-weekly shoots. The number of ducks slaugh- tered is almost incalculable." The feathers, he was in- formed, are sent to Germany. It is not to be won- * In Field and Stream. 144 WILD-FOWL, OR SWIMMERS dered at that the ducks which run the gauntlet of the guns twice each year as they cross the United States, and accept the invitation to winter at the haciendas are diminishing. It is the fashion to shoot wild-fowl in the spring. One or two States have already, to their credit, pro- hibited shooting at this season, and the sportsmen are more and more convinced that spring shooting should be prohibited everywhere. The laws which have been most beneficial to the ducks are those which prohib- ited shooting for the market, the sale of game, the use of the big guns and the shooting on the feeding grounds and night shooting. We proceed to the marshes to pursue the swans, the geese, the brant, and the ducks. XX THE WILD SWANS THERE are two swans indigenous to North Amer- ica. Both are white birds, but they are easily distinguished by their size. The trumpeter swan is the larger and weighs from twenty to thirty pounds. The smaller bird, known as the whistling swan, weighs from twelve to twenty pounds. These birds are extremely wild and shy, and but few sportsmen have shot them. The smaller bird is found throughout America, and is still fairly abundant in the winter on the Currituck Sound, where Elliot says they do great damage to the feeding grounds, destroying very much more grass than they consume, and for this reason they are not altogether regarded with favor by sportsmen, as they soon render useless large tracts of grass-covered bot- tom to which ducks and geese would resort for a long time, but which they are forced to desert on account of the wasteful destruction. The swans fly in long lines like the geese, and are very beautiful in the air, as well as on the water when the sun shines on their white feathers. The smaller birds are said to be gaining in numbers in the Southern sounds and are common in Texas in the winter. They are more often shot as they fly over. H5 146 WILD-FOWL Formerly it was the practice to sail down on the birds, going with the wind. Since the heavy birds are com- pelled to rise against the wind and do so with diffi- culty they were often taken in this way, but shooting from sailing boats and all motor boats is now prohib- ited by law, and this protection, no doubt, is one of the causes of the increase of the swans on the club preserves. Swans when flying about are often so high as to be out of range and always on the lookout for danger. It is, of course, impossible to get near them with a boat propelled by oars. The young swans are fairly good to eat, but the old birds are tough and not desirable as food. The young are gray and easily distinguished from the old birds. I saw many swans in the Devil's Lake region, North Dakota, some years ago, but they are not nearly so abundant there or on the Pacific Coast as formerly. The trumpeter swan is named from its loud voice, which is said to resemble the notes of a French horn. This bird is found in the Mississippi valley and on the Pacific Coast, but never appears on the Atlantic Coast. Although the swans do not seem to be going fast, on account of their labored flight, they in fact go one hundred miles an hour; and anyone who will time the birds as they fly out of sight will be convinced that they are travelling rapidly. It is necessary to shoot well ahead of them, and large charges of powder and heavy shot are required to bring them down. The swans are so well able to get out of danger and so careful not to come near it that a wild-swan chase THE WILD SWANS 147 is far more difficult than that of the far-famed wild goose. The latter come readily to decoys, but swans do not do so often enough to make it worth while to go out for them. Swans are often taken by stalking them when they are seen sitting on the shore. Upon a recent visit to Currituck I learned that the swans still winter there in large numbers, and found in the game-register of the Princess Anne Club records of bags containing 7, 8, and even 12 swans killed by club-men in the past few years. Some swans were seen in a pond near one of our camps near the Cheyenne River, and a friend of mine spent several days trying to stalk them, without suc- cess, however. Meantime I had fair sport with the geese, canvas-backs, red-heads, scaups, mallards, spoonbills, teal, gadwalls, and shot many other ducks. I have the same objection to swans that I have to wild turkeys. It is entirely too long between shots, and in fact there is usually no shooting at all. Elliot, in his popular Ornithology, describes the pe- culiar musical notes of a wounded swan which he shot at Currituck Sound. He had never heard them before, and as the wounded bird floated down to the water, singing as it went, he was filled with astonishment and could only exclaim : " I have heard the song of the dying swan." I had always supposed, as Elliot did, that the death song existed alone in poetical fiction. XXI WILD GEESE THE common wild-geese known as the Canada geese are familiar to everyone who observes wild birds at all. They fly high in the air in long lines converging to a point in front, where an old ex- perienced gander takes the lead and sounds the honk, which can be heard for a long distance, and which is taken up by those behind. The geese come to the United States from the north, usually late in October and during November, moving south as the waters freeze over. They are common on both coasts and in the interior. 1 have seen them in great numbers in the Missouri valley, and fairly abundant in the spring and autumn on the Long Island bays. They are eas- ily domesticated, and in Dakota I often saw birds which had been wounded and which were kept as de- coys. Geese are shot over wooden decoys and metal profiles, but the live birds are used wherever the geese come in any numbers, and, of course, are the best ones. It is impossible to distinguish the domesticated birds from the wild ones. I was once shooting over live birds in the West when I saw a Sioux Indian approach my stand, and when he discovered the geese he left his pony far out on the plain and carefully pro- ceeded to stalk them. I was perfectly concealed and enjoyed the performance, but stopped him just as he 148 SHOT BEHIND HIM WILD GEESE 149 was about to shoot, since I was afraid he would bag me with the geese. When the geese come in to the decoys it is possible to get several with one shot on the water, shooting at the heads which are close together, or nearly in line, and another bird with the second barrel as they take wing. I was once shooting ducks from a shore blind on one of the Long Island bays, and a market gunner was out on the open water in a battery with a flock of live wild geese as his decoys. A flock of seven geese appeared far out over the beach, honking as they came, and the decoys soon answered them from the water, when they turned and sailed gently down to join their friends. The market gunner waited for some time after the birds were on the water, and then fired two shots from one gun and two more from an- other before they were out of range and only one bird flew away. This went off a mile or more and then circled about and returned again to the decoys and was shot as he approached. The geese have apparently a slow flight, but as a matter of fact they move with great rapidity, and it is therefore necessary to shoot far ahead of them when passing. They are fond of sandy bars and beaches, and when they are discovered using such places a blind is made by sinking a box or barrel in the sand, and when the birds return they are attracted by de- coys and often come within easy range. They have a habit of resorting to the fields to feed in the morning and evening, returning in the middle of the day and at night to the lake or river, and they are often shot from a blind placed on their line of ISO WILD-FOWL flight. Great bags were made a few years ago, but the heavy shooting has sadly diminished their num- bers in Nebraska and throughout the Mississippi valley. I once saw a flock alight on the parade ground at Fort Buford, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, and so long as the Sioux were a menace to the shooters the geese, and in fact the buffalo, elk, deer, and grouse were extremely abundant in that region. The num- ber of the ducks and geese was beyond belief. Geese and brant are still very abundant on the Pacific Coast. The San Francisco Evening Post con- tained a short article last September, stating that two shooters, W. E. Newbert and W. H. Young, of Sacra- mento, had recently killed one hundred and seventy- three geese or brant in Glenn County, California. The editor of Recreation, seeking material for the <* Game hog " department of that excellent little maga- zine, wrote and asked if the fact was correctly stated. Mr. Young replied, stating that they did kill one hun- dred and seventy-three geese or brant in one day's shoot, that is in two hours one evening and in five hours the following morning, but he says the geese in that neighborhood are very destructive to the newly sprouted grain and the farmers are compelled to hire men to keep them off their grain night and day. One hardware firm shipped to the Glenn ranch thousands of rifle cartridges each week to be used in driving geese off the fields. A heavy fog causes the geese to fly low and often to alight. They seem to become confused and unable to proceed on their journey to the north or south. WILD GEESE 151 It is most important for the sportsman to know what the birds are doing — what points they are flying over when they go out to the fields to feed, what course they take in returning to the water, what fields they are using, and in what particular part of a field they are feeding, and what sand-bar in the river or what part of the beach they frequent. Time spent in finding out what the birds are doing is well spent, since a blind or ambush placed where there are no birds is, of course, useless. When the shooting is to be done in a field, it is well to seek a place where the birds are feeding and after they have left, dig the holes in the ground and carefully remove the dirt, scatter it so it will not be noticeable and arrange the grass or stubble about the aperture, so as to make it resemble that adjoining. Remember that geese have very sharp eyes, and are quick to discover any change in the appearance of a field or sand-bar. When they are feeding some are always on the lookout and act as sentinels, and it is impossible to approach them within range. An ox trained to walk slowly along as though feeding has been used as a blind behind which to ap- proach the birds. Geese, like swans, are compelled to arise against the wind, and in California, Mr. Van Dyke says, a wagon may be driven down wind rapidly so as to carry the shooter within range, but the shots must be fired as the vehicle goes tearing along, since there is no time to stop it before the birds are out of range. Professional gunners can imitate the call of the geese and often turn them to the decoys by " honking " to them when the birds are passing at long range or 152 WILD-FOWL high in the air. Live decoys will also call the passing flocks. A local law in New York State, but three lines long, which reads : " Web-footed wild-fowl shall not be taken in the county of Jefferson from February ist to August 3 ist, both inclusive ; or taken in the night from sunset until sunrise," caused the Canada goose and many ducks to become quite tame so that boats could approach them closely. Herbert Job recently found and photographed the nest of the Canada goose in North Dakota. At many of the duck clubs there are excellent punters, who know the grounds and where the geese are likely to be. The sportsman who handles his own boat must have a knowledge of what the birds are doing in order to be successful at this sport. Grinnell thinks the geese as well as the swans are increasing on the club preserves at Currituck. The laws prohibiting the shooting from sailing and motor boats and the club rules at two clubs forbidding spring shooting have had no doubt much to do with this. XXII OTHER WILD GEESE THE HUTCHINS GOOSE THE Hutchins goose might readily be mistaken by a sportsman not much familiar with wild-geese for the Canadian or common wild-goose, with which it is often seen associating. It is sometimes called the lesser Canada goose. It is shot in the same manner as other geese, and its flesh is excellent. It is found in the western portions of the United States. THE CACKLING GOOSE Ornithologists designate this goose as Branta Cana- densis minima. As the name would indicate it is a small Canada goose. It is a Western bird, abundant in California and at times seen in the Mississippi valley. A picture of this bird would be the same as that of the common wild-goose, the Branta Canadensis, and indistinguishable from that bird unless the size were given. The Emperor goose is very rare, more often seen in Alaska, I believe, than elsewhere. The Bean goose is given as an old-world species, which occasionally comes to our shores. 153 154 WILD-FOWL THE BLUE-GOOSE. One of the handsomest of the geese, the blue-goose, is but little known. It is more often seen migrating in the Mississippi valley. Its head and neck are white ; its breast, back, and wings are grayish-brown, and the under parts are white. I have never shot this goose, and in fact have never seen one near enough to recog- nize it. It was supposed to be the young of the snow-goose, but the ornithologists now say that it is a separate species. The sportsman who may be fortu- nate enough to bag one can readily identify it from the description. It does not frequent the Pacific Coast. THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. The white-fronted goose is abundant on the Pacific Coast, and is also found in the Mississippi valley, and is said to be common in Texas. Elliot says the white- fronted geese are often seen associating with other geese, especially the snow-geese. I have seen thou- sands of snow-geese, but do not remember to have ever seen them associating with other geese. Other geese are often seen on the same lake or pond, but usually, I believe, by themselves. The geese are all shot in the same manner, over decoys or from ambush, as they fly from one feeding ground to another, or from the lakes to the fields. They will, when not too much shot, follow the same line of flight, and the observant sportsman will have no difficulty in getting under them; but he must be per- fectly concealed and remain motionless until they are OTHER WILD GEESE 155 within range and then shoot quickly and well for- ward. I was once shooting geese and ducks in the West and had a soldier from the garrison who assisted in carrying the game, when two geese came flapping along and did not appear to be going fast. I saw them when they were some distance off, and was ready for them when they came within range, and expected fully to make a nice double. Aiming but a short distance ahead, I fired two shots in quick succession, but was not rewarded with a feather. The geese kept on their course, honking a farewell, and in about a minute had crossed a wide lake which was spread out behind me. I was aware that I had shot behind them both, and as they quickly disappeared from view realized how fast they were going. There is no bird whose flight is more deceptive. They are always going much faster than they seem to be. XXIII THE SNOW-GEESE, BRANT, ETC. THE snow-geese are smaller than the Canada or common wild-geese, and are near the size of the brant, familiar to those who shoot on the bays of Long Island. There are three varieties, all white, as their name would indicate, and one of them, Ross's snow- goose, is one of the smallest geese known, adults of this species weighing only two and one-half to three pounds. The snow-goose and the lesser snow-goose are so much alike as to make it necessary to measure them carefully in order to distinguish them. The lesser snow-goose is the Western variety, and is found from the Arctic Sea to the Gulf of Mexico. The greater snow-goose is the one found east of the Mississippi River, and was formerly very abundant at Hudson's Bay, where a single hand has killed as many as a thousand in a season. The snow-geese were extremely abundant in Dakota a few years ago, and I have seen them when they cov- ered the ground in tremendous flocks, which resem- bled at a distance snow on the ground. They are extremely shy, but many are shot from a blind in the stubble-fields, or as they fly to and from their feeding- grounds. 156 THE SNOW-GEESE, BRANT, ETC. 157 They are very abundant on the Pacific Coast, and in the Mississippi valley and in parts of Texas in the winter. The shooting of these geese is similar to that of the common wild-geese already discribed. They do not, I believe, come as readily to decoys. We occasionally took a long shot with a rifle at a flock of these birds which covered a large area of ground so closely that it seemed impossible to miss them, but such shots were usually not effective. As the ball struck among them, however, it was an amaz- ing sight to see them arise from the ground like great white clouds. An army officer with whom I was shooting on the ponds about the Cheyenne River one day wounded a snow-goose slightly in the wing, and after a long chase we captured it. It soon became quite tame, and ap- pears in a number of photographs of our camps, stand- ing like a domestic fowl, quite unconcerned by the presence of its enemies. Some one named it Genevieve, and when we moved our camp it usually had a seat in the ambulance, often in the lap of an officer, and became quite tame. When we returned to Fort Totten it was turned loose in a yard with some chickens and appeared perfectly at home, but when it recovered of its wound it took wing one day and joined one of the flocks which were con- tinually seen in the sky passing over. Ross's snow-goose is not uncommon in California, but is never found on the Atlantic Coast. But little is known of its habits, since it is a rare bird. It associ- ates with the lesser snow-goose. Hearne is quoted by Elliot as saying that its flesh is extremely delicate, and i58 WILD-FOWL as a proof of it he ate two one night for supper, which was doing quite well, even for an arctic appetite. THE BRANT There are two brant often called brant-geese which resemble the Canada goose, but are much smaller. The common brant of the Eastern coasts is some- times met with in the interior, but it prefers the salt water and is common on the brackish bays of the At- lantic Coast. It may be described as a diminutive wild goose, being very similar to that bird. On the Pacific Coast this bird is replaced by a bird similar in size, known as the black brant. The common brant were formerly very abundant along the Eastern coast. I have seen many large flocks on the bays of Long Island, but the persistent shoot- ing, especially from batteries and sail-boats, has di- minished their numbers. Sailing after brant was an exciting and profitable sport, some years ago, but many of the States have now forbidden the use of sail- boats and all motor-boats in the pursuit of brant, geese, and ducks. It is to be hoped that New York will have better laws regulating the shooting of wild- fowl, and that these methods of pursuit and spring shooting may be abolished at the same time. The brant come to the North Atlantic Coast in Oc- tober, and are seen in large flocks. They do not fly in long lines or in the V-shaped formation, as the com- mon wild-geese do, but in a bunch, or in masses, with- out any orderly arrangement, and without a leader. They decoy readily, and respond to an imitation of THE SNOW-GEESE, BRANT, ETC. 159 their note, and their attention may be attracted to the decoys by raising and lowering a foot from the battery. Like the geese they are fond of sand, and may be shot as they travel to and from the bars, or from am- bush, when the place they are using is discovered. Brant do not fly very rapidly, and are not very diffi- cult marks; in fact they are quite easy when they come to the decoys. Their flesh is excellent, much better than that of the geese, and they are eagerly sought for in the markets. Their sale should be at all times prohibited, since this would end the shooting of pot-hunters and market gunners who annually destroy large numbers of brant. The black brant is, as the name would indicate, darker than the Eastern variety, but in other respects much like it. They are excellent table birds, and large numbers are shot every winter in California. They were extremely abundant on the bay at San Diego, but my stay in Southern California was of short duration, and I did not go in pursuit of them. The black brant fly usually strung out in long lines. They are wild, shy birds, and more easily taken over decoys than in any other manner. This bird, like the cinnamon teal, is seen as an occa- sional visitor to the Atlantic coasts, having no doubt missed its way when starting on the northern migra- tion. I have never seen them excepting in California. It was not unusual, some years ago, for California sportsmen and market-gunners to make immense bags of these birds, but over-shooting here, as elsewhere, has been followed by the usual result. XXIV TREE-DUCKS A REVIEW of the game-birds of North America would be incomplete without some mention of two peculiar birds known as the tree-ducks. But few sportsmen, excepting those who have shot in the States which adjoin Mexico, are aware of the exist- ence of these birds. They are, however, shot and are good to eat, and the sportsman who goes to the Cali- fornia marshes or to Southern Texas may add them to his bag. Both these birds nest in trees. They are reported as not very wild or shy and as having been easily do- mesticated, when they associate with barn-yard fowls. The black-bellied tree-duck feeds in corn-fields and is said to do much damage to the crop. The fulvous tree-duck is found in Louisiana and Texas and breeds in the California marshes. These birds run well and dive well and are difficult to secure when wounded. They are described in the appendix sufficiently for the sportsman who may shoot one to identify it. 160 XXV SEA-DUCK SHOOTING THE sea-ducks and the geese and brant, which are shot often from the same blind, are well pro- tected by heavy plumage. The sportsman who has several guns may use the lo-gauge to advantage on these birds, but when the birds come to the decoys they are within the range of a 12-gauge, and when they do not come to the decoys they are more often out of range of any gun. At some of the clubs on the Chesapeake the 8-gauge is used to shoot at high-flying birds, but the use of guns larger than the lo-gauge is prohibited now in many States, and many others have laws prohibiting the use of all guns " excepting those fired from the shoulder in the ordinary manner." The laws prohibiting the use of guns larger than the 10 are more accurate, since the strength of men varies and an athletic sportsman might swing a much larger gun than the 8, provided it be a single barrel. A uniform law prohibiting the use of all guns larger than 10 would be satisfactory. I would be willing to see all guns larger than 12 prohibited, since a strong-shooting 12 will kill enough ducks in a day to exceed the bag limit allowed on many preserves and provided by law in many States. It was formerly the fashion to shoot very large shot 161 162 WILD-FOWL at ducks and geese, but the shot used to-day is smaller. Nos. 6 to 4 for ducks and 4 to 2 for brant and geese are best. The smaller shot makes a better pattern and the chances for striking the game in a vital place are in- creased. From 31^ to 3^ drams of powder is used in the 12 gauge, and as much more as the gun will burn to advantage in the 10. This may be ascertained by firing the gun over snow, when the unburned powder can be seen after the discharge. I prefer No. 5 or 6 shot to No. 4 for sea-ducks and often shoot No. 7 at the river ducks, and have done good work with 8 early in the autumn when the shots were at close range. Sea-duck shooting calls for warm flannels, heavy corduroy, and water-proofs, since the weather is often extremely cold and windy and the sportsman must face the storms of snow and sleet. Both clothes and hat must resemble the marsh grass in color. By no means wear a black hat or coat. Suits are for sale in the stores made entirely of the marsh grass. There are four principal methods of capturing sea- fowl : (i) shooting over decoys from the shore; (2) shooting over decoys from batteries or sink-boxes on the water; (3) point shooting or flight shooting at passing birds, and (4) shooting in a line of boats on the open water. To these may be added the tolling of the birds with small dogs, an interesting method of pursuit practised on the Chesapeake and perhaps else- where. Sailing after brant and ducks is another method used on some of the bays of Long Island and else- where, but this has been found to drive the birds away. SEA-DUCK SHOOTING 163 In shooting over decoys the start is made quite early in the morning, often long before daylight. The sportsman, accompanied by a local gunner or bay-man, sails away in the dark to the point selected for his ambush. Many decoys (each attached by a long string to a weight, often a half brick or scrap of iron) are stowed away in the boat. These wooden counterfeits are painted to represent the varieties which frequent the bay — canvas-backs, red-heads, scaups or black- heads, ruddy-ducks, widgeons, buffle-heads and others, and often mergansers. A few geese and brant decoys are in the outfit to be used to allure the passing geese or brant. When the objects of pursuit are geese or brant only, a larger flock of these decoys is carried, and often a lot of live birds, both ducks and geese, are used as decoys. It is always a cold and often a stormy voyage down the bay, and the heaviest coat and a rain-coat over all will be found necessary to keep out the wind and cold. As the boat proceeds flocks of water-fowl may be heard arising from the water or passing overhead on rushing, whistling wings. When the place selected for a blind (usually a point or bar where the ducks are feeding) is reached, the blind is hastily constructed, provided it has not been made before, and the decoys are set out on the water, within easy range of the guns. The best blind is a box sunk in the sand or mud, with some seaweed or sedge, or whatever is near, scat- tered about, and even over the sportsman after he has extended himself in the box. Blinds are often made of seaweeds, grass, rushes, reeds, and bushes, and when they are so erected above the ground, it is well to 164 WILD-FOWL make them some days before the shooting begins, in order that the birds may become accustomed to them. When sea-duck shooting it is most important to know what the birds are doing, or more accurately (since the decision as to where the blind is to be placed is often made in the dark) to know what the birds will be doing when daylight comes. The old salts who have spent their lives on the bay are not only good weather prophets, but good duck prophets as well. First of all the wind must be con- sidered and a decision reached as to what the wind will be during the morning flight. Ducks, it must be remembered, do not frequent a windward shore. It having been determined that the wind will be in a certain direction, the various desirable points for a blind are considered, and the one most likely is selected. The ducks, for reasons of their own, will be seen "using," as it is termed, certain points or waters in preference to others which appear equally as good, and it is to the point where the bay-man has seen the birds (when the wind is off shore) that he will turn his prow. The city sportsman who places himself in the hands of a local bay-man will hardly fail to have good shoot- ing. It is well, however, for him to know the " whys and wherefores," to be able to sail his own boat and to estimate for himself what the ducks will be doing, for the knowledge of such things contributes largely to the making of a duck-shooter. The sportsman who knows where to place his decoys will often enjoy very good shooting and return to the cabin, hotel, or club to meet another who has not shot a bird, for the simple reason SEA-DUCK SHOOTING 165 that the latter did not know where to place his blind. A place which affords excellent shooting to-day may be worthless to-morrow, the wind having shifted. Ducks, too, are easily driven away from a given point by much shooting, and the place where many ducks are killed for several days in succession will be readily surren- dered by an old hand to a novice. It is more important to know what the ducks are doing than it is to shoot well, for without the ducks one cannot shoot at all. A bay-man or an old duck shooter will often take a run about the bay to see what places the birds are using and to " locate " them, as it is termed, and time so con- sumed is well spent. An amusing reference to this practice appears in a law prohibiting Sunday shooting in North Carolina, which provides that " it shall be unlawful to sail, row, or propel a boat over Currituck Sound on the Lord's day for the purpose of locating wild fowl for a future day." This law, as I said, writ- ing recently for The Century^ may be regarded as the high-water mark of game legislation. It would seem necessary for the sportsman sailing the waters of Cur- rituck on the Lord's day to close his eyes. In many of the States it is now unlawful to shoot at ducks in the night season before " sunrise or after sun- down " as the statutes read. This is as it should be, and the shooting of ducks on Sunday is also prohibited. In North Carolina, where by the way are to be found the finest grounds on the Eastern Coast for sea-ducks, it is unlawful for any person to leave any landing or anchorage before sunrise in the morning for the pur- pose of hunting wild-fowl or to put decoys into the water before sunrise. This law in many places would 166 WILD-FOWL sadly interfere with a good morning's shooting, since the shooting is best in the hour just after sunrise, and, when the blind is some distance from the house, the time consumed in going to it is the time when the shooting should be done. The first few hours of the morning and the last few hours of daylight are the best for duck shooting. The birds are then flying about and feeding and are allured by the decoys. The flight will continue longer on wild, windy, stormy days. On still warm days there is often a poor flight in the morning, which ceases at an early hour, and throughout the rest of the day until just before sun- down not a bird will be seen in the air. At such times the sportsmen may be observed standing up in their blinds and looking at the rafts of ducks which float quietly on the water far out of reach of the guns. When a flock of ducks observes the decoys they will often turn and head straight toward them, but usually circle about before alighting. As the birds come near it is of the utmost importance to remain absolutely motionless. The ducks have sharp eyes and will surely see the slightest move on the part of the sportsman and instantly be gone. Should the concealment be only partial when the birds are discovered approach- ing the blinds do not try to better it, but remain ab- solutely still. The fact that the ducks have headed toward the decoys indicates they have not seen the shooter, but if he lower his head or make any other move in the endeavor to better his concealment the birds will certainly escape. When the ducks are well up to the decoys, and not before, it is time to shoot. The first shot is an easy SEA-DUCK SHOOTING 167 one since the birds are flying slowly and have spread their tails as a brake, and with lowered feet are flap- ping to alight. At the report of the gun, however, the ducks spring high in the air and are soon under full headway. The second shot is often missed by reason of under shooting. The gun should be aimed well over the rising birds, and far in advance of them, if they are going off to right or left. It was formerly the practice to aim at the flock when the birds were closely huddled together, in the hope of killing a num- ber at a shot, but such is not the better way. The sportsman should select a bird for each barrel and try to kill it instantly — "clean," the gunners say. The dead birds are easily recovered, the wounded, unfortu- nately, often get away. In shooting into the flock many birds besides those killed will receive a part of the charge and, wounded, get away. In North Dakota and other States where the legal bag limit is twenty-five birds or less per diem, two or three double shots at the hovering flocks will put an end to the day's sport, so that it is no longer to the sportsman's interest to take the pot-shots in the air or on the water. A retrieving dog is always used. The best dog for this purpose is the Chesapeake Bay dog — a strong water-dog, able to stand the roughest weather and the icy waters of the bay, and to find the birds in the heav- iest sedge. Such dogs are owned by sportsmen who shoot on the Chesapeake, and at the clubs at Curri- tuck, and they may be found here and there through- out the West. The dog is trained to remain motion- less in the blind until ordered to retrieve. He will i68 WILD-FOWL often detect the birds at great distances and indicate their presence by a glance of the eye. Ducks which are passing the blind at a distance without seeing the decoys may have their attention directed to them by tossing a hat in the air, or by rais- ing one foot high up from the blind or battery and quickly lowering it. The motion may be repeated two or three times, but when the birds turn on no ac- count repeat it. Their eyes are now on the decoys and they will surely detect the hat or boot if they are shown again. An old market gunner with whom I shot ducks many seasons on the Shinnecock Bay taught me how to raise a foot above the side of a bat- tery, and explained that the passing birds, attracted by the motion, believed, no doubt, the foot was a duck rising on end as they sometimes do when on the water, and the deception was the more complete since the motion appeared in the centre of the flock of decoys. I often exhibited my foot to the passing scaups and red-heads and saw them wheel directly for the decoys. When the birds are discovered passing at a long dis- tance the foot may be raised quite high and several times in quick succession, but when the flock is pass- ing near raise the foot but once and not very high from the water. I have seen the ducks return after having passed the battery when a raised foot attracted their attention. A writer for a sportsman's magazine published in San Francisco, says the newly painted decoys are not so good as the older and duller ones. There is much truth in this, no doubt. Certain it is that highly painted and varnished decoys which shine brightly in SEA-DUCK SHOOTING 169 the sun will not attract the birds. The painting should always have a dull finish. Shooting over decoys, with all its hardships, is splen- did sport. When the ducks come in quick succession one does not feel the cold. For my part, as I have said, I prefer the shooting over dogs, but I have had many a good day, both on salt water and fresh, shooting sea- ducks and river-ducks over the decoys. The method of shooting ducks from batteries is fa- miliar to those who shot some years ago at Currituck, or later on the Long Island bays. At Currituck it is now unlawful for non-residents to use the battery. Its use is barred absolutely in many other States, but the influence of the market gunners, it is said, has been sufficient to prevent the passage of such legislation in New York. I have had many good days in the bat- teries when I killed many ducks and thoroughly en- joyed the shooting, but I now believe the use of bat- teries should everywhere be prohibited. The battery may be briefly described as a water-tight box, large enough to hold the shooter lying down, with a wide rim which floats on the water. The box is made to sink to the rim by placing weights about its edge. The battery with one hundred or more decoys is car- ried on a sail-boat to the feeding-ground of the ducks, often far out on the open water, and when the sports- man has taken his place in it, the bay-man, who has put out the decoys, sails away to a distance, usually to lee- ward, and picks up the ducks as they are killed and drift toward him.* Any large flocks which may be * If it be windy and there is danger of the battery sinking, the attendant will sail to windward in order to be able to return quickly. i;o WILD-FOWL on the bay are put up by the bay-man sailing down upon them, and these as they fly about are attracted to the decoys. The objection to this form of sport is, of course, that it drives the birds from their feeding grounds, besides being very destructive. Immense numbers of ducks have been shot from a battery in a day. Point shooting is at passing birds. As they travel from one feeding ground to another the ducks are required often to pass near or over certain points where the shooting is at times excellent. The shoot- ing is more difficult than shooting over decoys, since the shots are usually at long range and fired at birds under full headway. To estimate correctly the rate of speed and the distance of a passing duck, requires much practice, and a good shot is he who can often send his load of shot far enough in advance to meet the swiftly moving mark. Shoot yards, not feet, ahead of the fastest birds when passing at long range. Each shot is different and must have its own estimate. Practice alone will make a good pass-shooter. Do not be afraid of shooting too far in advance of the birds. The shooting in the line of boats and the toll- ing with small dogs, will be described in connection with the birds so taken. In California and the Gulf States the sea-duck shooter has finer weather, and in many places, particularly in Louisiana, Texas, and Southern California the shoot- ing is still very good indeed. XXVI THE CANVAS-BACK FAMOUS is the canvas-back. Many sportsmen re- gard him as first of all the water-fowl. Epicures never tire of praising him. One of the largest of the dacks, he is also very handsome. The head is a dark chestnut red. The back is white, marked with nar- row waved black lines, which give it the light-gray appearance which suggested the name. The bill and breast are black. Size, beauty, and table qualities are here combined, and the canvas-back is rightly named " the king of ducks." Although classified as a sea-duck, this bird is found throughout North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. I found the canvas-backs abundant in North Dakota, where they arrive early in the autumn and remain until the ponds and lakes are frozen over. Herbert Job recently found many nests of these birds on the same ground in the spring. Bendire found it breeding in Oregon. It no doubt breeds at all suitable places from Dakota to the Pacific Coast. Most of these ducks, however, go farther north upon their spring migration, The canvas-back is distinctly an American bird. No other ducks resemble it excepting the red-head duck and its analogue the pochard of Europe. Red-heads 171 172 WILD-FOWL have often been sold in the markets as canvas-backs, but the birds are easily distinguished. The bill of the red-head is blue, not black. Its head is round, not angular like that of the canvas-back. The back of the red-head is much darker than that of the canvas- back. A few years ago these birds came in immense num- bers to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the other bays and sounds of the Atlantic Coast, and the shooting grounds brought high rentals. Excessive shooting, however, by sportsmen and the market gunners, has so reduced the number of the birds as to make the shooting-grounds of the Chesapeake far less valuable, and at many points there is to-day but little sport or none at all. The ducks were nowhere more persecuted than on the waters of this bay, all the points being held by clubs. They were assailed from every side by land, and the market gunners with huge guns fired broad- sides into them as they slept upon the water. This shooting was kept up from the moment of the birds' arrival in the fall until the ice put an end to the slaugh- ter ; and in the spring the shooting ended only when the last bird unshot had flown away. The high prices (often several dollars) which the birds commanded in the markets stimulated the market gunners to great activity, and the wonder is that a bird remains. So abundant were the canvas-backs in former years that slaves were fed with them, and contracts are said to be in existence which contain provisions against such feeding to slaves whose services were rented. These birds came until quite recently in great num- bers to the bays and ponds about the great lakes. THE CANVAS-BACK 173 There are records at the clubs of famous bags, but here, as on the Atlantic Coast, they no longer come as formerly. In looking over the game register at one of the Lake Erie clubs, I observed that in former years over one thousand canvas-backs were often killed, but more recently the total for the year has been less than one hundred birds. Farther west, however, at some of the preserves in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and on many lakes and ponds, these splendid birds still come in better numbers, and they were reported not long ago in certain places on the Pacific Coast as abundant as they ever were on the Chesapeake Bay. Many States have now good laws for their protec- tion, which limit the bag, prohibit market shooting, the sale of game, the use of big guns and batteries and all blinds on the feeding grounds ; and if the shooting in the spring is prohibited, the sportsmen in the West, at least, will no doubt continue to enjoy good shooting. The food of the canvas-backs consists largely of a water plant popularly termed wild celery (yalesneria) This food imparts a peculiarly delicious flavor to their flesh. On the Pacific Coast they feed upon a bulbous plant which the Indians call wapato (sapellaria vari- abilis) which renders their flesh equally delicious. It is only when they can obtain the wild celery or the wapato that the birds are worthy of high praise. The red-head and widgeon, when feeding on the same food have a similar flavor ; but all of these birds, when their food consists of small marine animals, have the same sedgy or fishy taste and are no more desirable as food than many other sea-fowl. As a general proposi- tion, I may here observe that the so called river-ducks 174 WILD-FOWL are better food than the sea-fowl or divers, as usually they are free from all fishy taste, since their food is largely corn, wild rice, and acorns. I have eaten the canvas-backs from the Chesapeake, on the ground where they are supposed to be cooked and served the best, and by no means dispute their table qualities, but the wood-duck fed on acorns and the mallards fed on corn and wild rice are their equal, and I am inclined to believe, with many sportsmen of my acquaintance and the great Audubon besides, that the little blue-wing teal is their superior. I prefer, however, the shooting of all game to the eating, and am prepared to leave such questions to the epicures. The latter have always insisted that the canvas- backs from the Chesapeake are the best, and there is an amusing story of an Ohio senator, who argued with some Eastern friends that the Western canvas-backs were just as good. Secretly he procured some birds from the Ohio marshes and served them at a dinner to which his friends were invited. The birds, well cooked and served, were excellent, and during the repast the Eastern epicures often asked their host to admit their superiority. This he did, much to his amusement, of course, and later to their discomfiture. At the Lake Erie clubs and on many other Western shooting grounds the canvas-backs and the mallards and other dabblers may be shot the same day. Not on the same ground, however. The canvas-backs will be found diving in the deeper water, the mallards dab- bling in the shallow ponds near by. I have regarded the canvas-backs as the wilder birds, possibly because I have shot them only when THE CANVAS-BACK 175 they were the least abundant, but Mr. Cumming, a San Francisco sportsman, writing recently for a maga- zine, says the mallards are far more wary in the tule marshes of his State. " Should the sportsman,'* he observes, " have found the mallards and returned with fifty birds, he is entitled to a hat-raise and bow from his fellow sportsmen, but if he has that number of the dull-witted cans., no such obeisance should be accorded him. . The canvas-backs must be classed as the most foolish duck that frequent these waters. When they are found in a feeding-pond where their favorite food is plentiful, they are easy game, provided the man behind the gun keeps out of sight. After the birds have been 'jumped 'out of the pond, he has only to place out two or three dozen decoys and the birds will soon work their way back in pairs or in small flocks, sometimes circling around a little to see if the coast is clear, but generally dropping quietly among the decoys. " When they ascertain to their satisfaction that ap- pearances seem favorable for an uninterrupted feed their heads drop into an easy position, indicating security, and they soon disappear beneath the surface. As they arrive from time to time in flocks and a num- ber are under water, the hunter should open fire at those upon the surface, and as the others come up treat them to another barrel." This may do for one who cares to shoot tame birds on the water, but when the legal limit to the bag (fifty birds per diem) is easily reached, most sportsmen pre- fer the shooting on the wing. The same writer says : " Many consider the mallard WILD-FOWL superior to all others as a choice table morsel, but hunt- ers and duck critics differ. My experience suggests that the sprig is equally delicious if not a better bird." It will be noticed that the canvas-back is not mentioned. Canvas-backs are usually shot over decoys. A num- ber of the counterfeits are placed out within easy range of the blind, and to these the birds come readily when they have not been much shot at ; but they soon learn not only to avoid a blind but to fly high in cross- ing over points, and on the Eastern waters they are as wild and shy as any duck that flies and far different from the " dull-witted cans." of California. Before putting out the decoys the birds are driven away without shooting at them, and from time to time they return singly or in small numbers, or perhaps in flocks. As they sail slowly up to the decoys, or hover over them preparatory to alighting, they are easy marks, but as they spring from the shot of the first barrel they are far more difficult, and he who makes a " double " has reason to be proud of his achievement. The sportsman makes an early start for canvas-backs and should have his decoys in the water by daylight. The shooting is best in the early hours, and again late in the afternoon, when the second flight begins. Dur- ing the middle of the day he may well desert his blind and try the neighboring marshes with his setters for the snipe. In Oregon, a Mongolian pheasant is often added to the bag. Canvas-backs are also shot from points as they fly over from one feeding ground to another. This sport is more difficult ; the shots are usually at long range and at swiftly flying marks, since the birds are under THE CANVAS-BACK 177 full headway as they pass, and go from sixty to ninety miles an hour, and (before the wind) it may be faster. In Oregon the canvas-backs are highly prized. In a recent article, " Duck-shooting along the Columbia," Mr. J. B. Thompson says : " It was the way of the duck hunters to ignore all other ducks, mallards, teal, wid- geon, sprigs, and to confine their shooting entirely to canvas-backs. In a good year, and most years were good, it was not difficult to kill all one could carry. Of late years — since about 1894 to be more exact — can- vas-backs are not as abundant nor as good eating ; the cause being generally attributed, no doubt correctly, to the almost total disappearance of their favorite food the wapato. In an unfortunate moment some impulse, not wholly for good, prompted a certain United States fish commissioner to place in the haunts of the canvas- backs the lowly and inglorious carp. Why this was done no one seems to have ascertained. It could not have been because good fish were lacking, for the Columbia and its tributaries were full of the lordly Chinook salmon and other varieties of the same fish, and the smaller streams were alive with trout. At any rate the carp were brought in, and, like most things undesirable, they stayed and throve prodigiously, and from that time every green and growing thing on the feeding grounds of the ducks began to disappear, until finally, about six years ago, few wapato and very little else which might be classed as food could be found there. The high water of 1894 may have aided the carp by depositing silt and sand over these lakes and ponds. The food being gone the canvas went also ; and the few that are shot now are poor and flavorless." i;8 WILD-FOWL The same writer says the canvas-backs were formerly as abundant on the lakes and ponds near the Columbia River as they ever were on the waters of Chesapeake Bay and their flesh was as fine. Present indications, he adds, promise better things, however; for it is believed that the wapato was not totally exterminated and that with care and the de- struction of the carp the canvas-back may again flourish as in years past. The same results followed the introduction of the carp into Ohio waters. A short time ago the super- intendent of the Winous Point Club informed me that the carp had become a positive nuisance. They de- stroyed the wild rice and other vegetation in the marshes to such an extent that the ducks had little left to feed on where food was formerly abundant. Some fishermen, he said, recently caught eight tons of carp in one haul of a net, and a catch of six tons was not unusual. The fish were offered for sale in Port Clinton, but the market being overstocked, they were taken to Sandusky on a tug, and there being no sale for them there they were finally disposed of to a fertil- izing establishment at $2.00 per ton. This matter of the carp and their destruction of the marshes is of the utmost importance to the many duck clubs and owners of preserves, and in fact to all who shoot ducks. The carp are said to destroy the plants by rooting, causing them to fall and die. It is most unfortunate that the carp, like the sparrows, seem to have come to stay. The Department of Agriculture now has the authority and will no doubt prevent the further introduction of such pests. THE CANVAS-BACK 179 The canvas-backs feed by diving for the wild celery or the wapato, and amusing accounts are given of the widgeon,which floats near by and when the canvas-back comes to the surface with a choice morsel quickly seizes and devours it. The canvas-backs still come in goodly numbers to some of the preserves owned by the clubs at Curri- tuck, N. C., and the shooting there is often very fine. The late President Harrison was the guest of the Ragged Island Club during his term of office, and enjoyed some good shooting. When the sea-ducks are much shot at, especially on their feeding grounds, they will often desert the waters of the bay and spend the day far out upon the ocean. They return at night to feed. In North Carolina and Maryland and in Ohio, and perhaps elsewhere, certain days are set aside each week when all shooting is pro- hibited. At the clubs certain rest days are provided for by club rules, and some clubs in Oregon, Mr. Thompson says, allow but one day's shooting each week. Canvas-backs, like antelope, have a great deal of curiosity, and they are brought within range of the gun by the use of a small dog, which is trained to run about on the beach and seek chips or small sticks tossed for him from the blind. The feeding ducks are soon attracted by the performance of the dog, and after ob- serving him a short time, swim toward the shore, their interest seeming to increase as they approach, until finally they are within range. This method of capture is called tolling. Heavy guns and heavy loads are used to shoot these fowls. Where rest days are 1 8o WILD-FOWL provided for the ducks they are always less wild and less suspicious, and the shooting is accordingly much better. Canvas-backs are still shot from batteries or sink- boxes, but since my shooting from these contrivances has been at scaups — the black-heads — and the shooting is the same, I defer the description of this method of pursuit, saying only here, as I shall say again later, that this form of sport should everywhere be prohib- ited, as it is now in many States. XXVII THE RED-HEAD THE gray back of the red-head duck is similar but darker than that of the canvas-back. The color of the head is the same or nearly so, the dark chestnut- red being brighter in this species than in the canvas- back. The shape of the two heads and the color of the bills, as I have observed, render the identification easy, and when their food is the same as the latter birds, they are excellent on the table. Their flesh often has a fishy or sedgy taste, and then may be said to resemble that of the scaups or black-heads more than the canvas-backs. I have shot red-heads on the waters of Long Island and as far west as Dakota, and do not regard these birds as equal to the mallards, teal, or wood duck. In the West, like that of many of the shore-birds, their flesh is usually better than that of the birds shot on Long Island Sound or the bays along the Atlantic Coast, for the reason that it has not the sedgy or fishy taste so often observed in salt-water birds. As a rule, I think the Western sportsmen are inclined to stand up for their ducks, as it were, and insist that they are superior to the sea-ducks. My early education was acquired, however, on the waters of the Shinnecock Bay and on Long Island Sound, and I was prepared to defend even the merganser or shell-drake as food 1*1 182 WILD-FOWL birds ; but I am satisfied, as a general proposition, that the ducks that feed on corn and wheat, and the wild- rice or wild-oats and acorns, are superior to those which find their food in the salt marshes and bays near the ocean. The same rule obtains with reference to the black-breasted plover and many of the shore- birds, as we shall observe later. The red-heads arrive from the South in March usu- ally, sometimes earlier if the weather is suitable, and when not much shot at remain until late in the spring. Many of them would no doubt breed in New York State if given a chance, and they no doubt will be before long, since the sentiment against shooting wild-fowl in the spring is spreading rapidly. Mr. Job found them recently breeding with the canvas-backs and ruddy-ducks in good numbers about the lakes oi North Dakota. In the autumn the red-heads return so soon as the weather turns cold, usually in November, but earlier if the Northern waters should freeze over. Large num- bers still come to the bays and along the Atlantic Coast, and they are a very common duck during their migration across the Middle and Western States to the Rocky Mountains. Large numbers are killed annually at the many duck clubs about the Great Lakes, and I be- lieve there are more red-heads killed during the flight at the St. Clair flats in Michigan than any other ducks The flight was hardly on when I left the flats, but the local gunners were all engaged in painting red-head decoys, and a few days later these ducks were so abundant in the Detroit markets that many could not be used, and, the weather turning warm, they were THE RED-HEAD 183 thrown away. Here, as elsewhere, they come in greatly diminished numbers each year, and unless the spring shooting, the shooting of the large guns, and the use of batteries is stopped as well as forbidden, it will not be long before the red-head is a rare bird, or will only be seen in the museum of natural history. The Canadian Club own a vast preserve on the east side of the flats, and since the shooting there begins later, and is conducted under proper regulations, the birds, fortunately, have there a harbor of refuge which will do much toward their preservation. The clubs near Toledo and Sandusky also are a benefit to the ducks, but at some of these the shooting has been excessive. The following, which I copied from the club register at Winous Point, near Port Clinton, Ohio, shows that the red-heads are by no means as abundant as in for- mer years : 1881 Red-Heads . I4.I $ 1801 . , Red-Heads ^i 1882.. . IQ87 1802. . .