32 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 16-No. 



come in. We think, on the whole, tliat the 

 market is feeling the e'ifects of the laws pre- 

 venting the shipment of game. 



Correspondence. 



EMor nf O. .1- O. ; 



The work that the League of Massachusetts 

 Ornithologists did last fall through your 

 columns, was another step in the right direc- 

 tion, and I can see that they had not forgotten 

 their promise of the year before, that they 

 would keep hammering until they made an 

 impression. I do not know whether they 

 claim a "dent" or not, but surely the ticket 

 which they advocated (Kussell and Haile) was 

 elected, and if they were not the cause there- 

 for, they surely helped, — every little helps, 

 you know, — and I think tliat you had- a good 

 right to hoist the "rooster" for them and 

 crow a little. Perhaps the peojile who 

 have aspirations toward the seats beneath the 

 gilded douu^ (they will never get behin<l the 

 golden gales unless they change their 

 plan of action) will learn sometime that the 

 old fable of the mouse and the elephant has as 

 much of a moral to-day as it ever had, and 

 that a worrying dog can sometimes accomplish 

 more than a stronger one, who docs not nndcr- 

 stand his comparative weakness. 



The political tactics, from time immemorial, 

 have been to freeze to those who could be 

 of the most benefit to them, regardless of 

 whether the cause that they -esjjoused was 

 just or not if they could only swaji inthicncc 

 on equal terms. 



The marketmen g'lt their wishes listened to, 

 because, you know, it would nev<'r do to shut 

 off any of the season when dui- candi<lates for 

 office wanted to give a game supper at the be- 

 ginning of the campaign, and could not get 

 (jnail and grouse because they were under ban, 

 regardless of the fact that (piail are often too 

 small to be of any use even on Kov. 1st, and 

 young grouse are hardly large enough to make 

 a decent target. But dear me, that touches 

 the veiy marrow of the sportsman, too, he 

 would lose all that delightful shooting in the 

 first weeks in Octob(!r; and vacation time 

 could be over and there woidd be no time to 

 shoot; and the season would commence so 

 late that it would be too cold to do any shoot- 

 ing before one got hardly broken in; and they 

 could not get both uphinil and shore shooting 

 if the season was so short, and so the season 

 was opened a little earlier to accommodate 

 them. 



But the poor naturalist, when is his open sea- 

 son '.' And the echoes answer, When ? I think 

 I hear some one say "the naturalist can get a 

 permit to shoot at any month in the year." 

 Well, can he ? The law says that he may, but 

 our most talented naturalists outside the se- 

 lect circle at Cambridge, have not got the 

 necessary "pull" to secure the permit, while 

 others who can hardly distinguish a Creeper 

 from a Woodpecker, and who would be utterly 

 unable to tell you where the sternum of a bird 

 was situated, flaunts his permit in the faces 

 of his less fortunate brethren and tells 

 them " that he can get a permit if he can't 

 dissect a bird." The real naturalist, there- 

 fore, rather than give up his favorite study, 

 must needs become a poacher and a law- 

 breaker, until the time shall come when he is 

 fortunate enough to be recognized at bis true 

 standard, and past misdemean(us are over- 

 looked, along with the fact th.at the great oak 

 must at some time be a sapling. 



But you say the insectivorous biids must 

 be protected, (iranted, why did not the legis- 

 lative solons who formed our game laws re- 

 member that in its entirety. If they had been 

 naturalists they would have included the quail 

 and grouse and woodcock in that list, and 

 would not have left out the crows, hawks 

 and owls. 



It is gratifying to see that the scientists ('.') 

 at the American JIuseum in Xew York have at 

 last had a little sense hammered into their 

 heads, and they are favoiing the ]irolection 

 of these last-named birds, but were the 

 former game birds (mark the wor<l, (ju>nc 

 birds) mentioned in that list? Not much. 

 That would pinch the toes of the sijortsmen 

 and there would be a great danger of some of 

 them being out of a situation; and yet can 

 anyone deny that these birds are not insectiv or- 

 ous, and are they not of benefit in ki e))ing 

 down the noxiiuis vermin whit'h devastate our 

 fields? Yet nothing is said about that. 



It is a long lane that has lU) turning, and we 

 in this corner of the state think that the ham- 

 mering has proihiced an inipre.ssion. And we 

 hope that now that we have succeeded in get- 

 ting a man at the helm who does not hesitate 

 to do a thing when he thinks it is right, the 

 scale will be a little more equally adjusted. 



(io on, you chaps who are running this little 

 magazine, you are helping on the good work 

 and yon are bound to win, if you stick to it. 

 Wishing you success and long life, 1 am 



Yours fraternally, 



/;. 



