FOREST AND STREAM 
541 
GAME PROTECTION. 
—Tile Sportsman’s Club of Yonkers is doing good work 
in protecting the oyster beds in the Hudson in their vicin¬ 
ity from being robbed in violation of the law. A few days 
ago notice was given them that some boats were engaged 
in illegal fishing, and Messrs. A. J. Prince, Fred. Shonnard, 
G. Rayner, and F. S. Garabout, with the city marshal and 
a constable, started in pursuit. Two boats from Mariner’s 
Harbor, Staten Island, were captured With their oysters 
and implements on board, and the captains fined. 
—The people of Rochester appear to be determined to 
break up the illegal fishing which is being carried on in 
their river and the lake. The Express says:— 
“Henry Lockhart was incarcerated in the jail yesterday 
for fifty-four days, in default of a judgment taken against 
him for illegal fishing in the river, in a suit brought by 
Game Constable Brown before Justice Allen. This is the 
third term of imprisonment Lockhart has suffered for the 
eame crime." 
Mr. Lockhart must find that the fishing pays, if he can 
afford to be imprisoned so often, or perhpps he is such an 
ardent and enthusiastic fisherman (with a net) that he can¬ 
not resist. The same paper says:— 
“Game Constable Brown has also commenced a suit 
for a penalty against Hiram Brown, a properly owner, 
who resides on Hudson street, for shootiug robins and de¬ 
stroying their nests, and also shooting orioles.” 
This is right, and we trust, that not even ties of consan- 
gninily will prevent Constable Brown from prosecuting all 
the other Browns whom he may detect in infringingt.be 
provisions of the law. And now a voice from Canada 
complains to the editor of the Toronto Globe as follows:— 
“Sm— We have a man out here, lately from England, 
he says, who seems to have no other amusemenl than to 
travel around with his gun shooting all the little birds he 
can come across, ne "says lie has got a lioenae to kill 
them for stuffing. Is it possible a man can get a license to 
destroy these little birds in this wholesale manner at this 
Beason? Wliat can we do? If be bolds such a license, 
which I don’t believe, can any one demand to see it, or 
ought he to be summoned at once?" 
This “stuffing” business is being overdone. The stuffing, 
we apprehend, is frequently composed of sage and onions. 
There is no reason why even naturalists, in the legitimate 
pursuit of their profession or occupation, should kill birds 
out of season. Surely six months in the year would be 
ample. We have heard of menin Hew Jersey who habitu¬ 
ally kill woodcock out of season, and when detected plead 
the “specimen” clause in the game laws. Under cover of 
this protecting section much mischief is done, and it will 
be worth the attention of the committee appointed at 
the recent State Sportsmen’s Convention to sea that the 
latitude which, it now conveys is drawn within more reas¬ 
onable bounds. 
WOODCOCK SWAMPERS IN JULY. 
Hoboken, N. J.. Juno23d, 1870. 
Editor Forebt and Stream:— 
Thole Is a rnmor circulating that a parly of New York and Long 
Island sportsmen intend to visit onr State of New Jersey on the ad and 
3d of July to shoot woodcock, and “have the first crack at them.” 
This unsportsmanlike practice has been going on for some years, and all 
authorities around Pinebrook in Morris and Essex Counties are here¬ 
with notified and put on their guard for these pot-hunters. Several well- 
known pigeon shots are said to be among them. Summer shooting Is 
had enough in ilself, and should be abolished by all means, as it Is no 
recreating, healthful sport to shoot half-grown, weak birds, get eaten up 
by flies and mosquitoes, tramp ten or fifteen miles at 90° in the shade, 
and after all this find your birds spoiled when you come home at night. 
Why not wait until the 1st of October} Many sportsmen say that if 
they have no summer shooting they will have uo cock shooting at all. 
If these gentlemen would only leave the birds alone in summer they 
would stay around and Induce maoy birds bred in the north to stay and 
tarry with them on their way to the sonth. It is a well known fact that 
most fall cocks are found where summer birds are left. Justus, 
[The habit that some would-be sportsmen have of shoot¬ 
ing before the season opens in order to get ahead of legiti¬ 
mate sportsmen is disgraceful in the extreme, and we are 
gratified to find that the different associations for the pro¬ 
tection of game have made preparations this season to 
enforce the law upon the subject. We fully agree with 
our correspondent that summer woodcock shooting should 
be stopped altogether. — Ed.] 
Savannah, Ga., Jnne 18th, 18T6. 
Editor Forest and Stream:— 
At a regular meeting of the Georgia Game Association, held at their 
hall last evening, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year: 
—President, Joseph D. Weed; Vice President, Robert B. Habersham; 
Secretary and Treasurer, Wm. H. Connerat. Ten new members were 
also elected. 
A very pleasant feature of the evening was the presentation to the 
association by the Savannah Cadets or a magnificent large steel engrav¬ 
ing representing "The Death Of the Stag,” most beautifully framed, 
with heavy crimson silk cords aud tassels attached. The association 
values and appreciates this beautiful gift which so adorns their walls, 
all the more as it was wholly unexpected and "nlooked for, and will 
look upon it as another tie binding the fraternal relations existing 
between the two organizations. 
After the meeiing Intd adjourned, a regular meeting of the rifle team 
of the association was held, which resulted in its being reorganized, 
with Mr. Wra.H. Connerat as Captain, and Mr. B. C. Wright as Secre¬ 
tary .and Treasurer. Georuia. 
Hunter’s Camp. —We have printer! a large extra edition 
of this week’s issue of Forest and Stream, which, con¬ 
tains a sketch of the Hunter’s Gamp at the Centennial 
Grounds, Philadelphia, on the presumption that very many 
of those who visit the Camp will wish to retain a picture 
of it as a souvenir. We should not have allowed ourselves 
to be anticipated by our illustrated con temporaries in pub¬ 
lishing this engraving, but a misunderstanding with our 
artist as to the time when it was wanted has delayed us. 
Snow in Canada,—O ur Canadian correspondence shows 
that snow is still very deep in places north of Quebec. 
OUR CENTENNIAL LETTERS—NO. 6. 
NATURAL HISTORY IN THE MAIN BUILDING. 
T HIS afternoon I wandered through the Main Building 
picking up the fragments of natural history which 
arc to he found mixed in with the arts and industries of 
all countries. Near the entrance from the Mineral Annex, 
Prof. W. H. B. Thomas exhibits some interesting natural 
products from near his home at Mount Holly, Warren 
County, N. J., where the well-known green marl is found. 
The fertilizing properties of this earih are celebrated, its 
excellence consisting in its 12 or 13 per cent, of potash. 
Professor Thomas also exhibits from his quarries beau¬ 
tiful specimens of a red dolomitic marble, which he 
styles “rose crystal,” It seems as though a sharp blow 
would shatter a block to pieces; but it has been found to 
resist very severe strains, and its beauty so recommends it 
that it is being extensively used for ornamental columns iu 
churches and other large buildings in Philadelphia. Prof. 
Thomas also derives from his property a mineral water 
called “Mensent,” after the springs, for which great medi¬ 
cal properties are claimed. I could not better use this op¬ 
portunity, by the way, than in heartily thanking Prof. 
Thomas for much valuable help in acquiring access to and 
information in all branches of science as illustrated here. 
His extensive acquaintance among the foreign exhibitors 
and commissioners, and his generous use of it, will redound 
greatly to the advantage of Forest and Stream’s readers. 
I forgot to mention the abundance of fossil found in Prot. 
Thomas’s marls, particularly fossil wood perforated by the 
PolorUm tibialis —a boring mollusk similar to the teredo or 
ship-worm. The destruction which this dreaded mollusk 
—for it is not a worm, but a bivalve called Teredo namlis 
and classed very near to the common soft clam {Mya )—is 
able to accomplish, is shown by an American firm not far 
from this point in the building, wlio advertise a preventive. 
There you see great blocks of live oak perfectly riddled 
with the grain, by the closely crowded calcareous tubes 
with which it lines its burrows. These tubes arc usually 
not much larger than a lead pencil, but are sometimes as 
big as a broomstick and almost as long. It occupies the 
greater part of this tubo, but the bivalve shell and boring 
apparatus are only at the inner extremity. They do enor¬ 
mous damage. There is another boring mollusk which 
would inflict equal injury were it as numerous. This is 
the Phdlas costata of this coast, other species inhabiting 
other regions. The chalk cliffs of England are full of 
them, where they are known as “piddocks.” An excellent 
example of its work is to be seen in an immense cypress 
stump, which lies jnst outside one of the doors of the 
Government Building. This stump was removed from 
Cape Fear River, eight miles below Wilmington, N. C., 
and nineteen miles from its mouth, where the river was 
improved. The water on the bar waB only nine feet, but 
has been deepened to twelve feet mainly by the removal of 
the snags. The water must have been fresh to allow the 
trees to grow where they were standing, but the place has 
since been covered with salt water, since these stumps are 
eaten through and through by the Plwlus. It is exhibited 
by the Engineers of the War Department. 
Close by our starting point in the Main Building, 
are shining verde antiques from Maryland, and the 
less resplendent but more valuable chromic iron from 
Southern Delaware, the unworked ore of which sells at 
from three to eighteen guineas per ton in London. There 
is a large demand for its use in the manufacture of chrom¬ 
ic acid, etc., audit is rare. Speaking of iron ores, Canada 
shows magnetite containing perfect fossil spirulas of the 
Devonian age! Here is a conundrum for geologists. It is 
surprising to see how much some foreign arlists use natural 
objects as aids to ornamentation, or as the basis of some 
artistic design. Take for instance the furniture from 
Russia made of deer’s horns screwed together into chairs, 
stools, stands, sofas, etc., and properly upholstered. But 
I think I must devote a special letter to this aspect of the 
' Exhibition. 
New Zealand has been thoughtful enough to send a very 
good representation of the Maoris, the aboriginal people of 
the island, who are fast disappearing. There are many 
photographs of their faces and forms, dress, war costumes, 
cauoes, and houses. The Maoris are a stalwart race, of far 
better physique and visage than the Austialians. They 
more resemble the Malays, are warlike and adventurous, 
and their arts exhibit much skill and ingenuity. Their 
primitive implements are singularly like those of our west¬ 
ern Indians. The tools and weapons of the natives of the 
Chatham Islands east of New Zealand, also present, are 
much like them. A prominent weapon is a stone club, 
highly polished, which is shaped like a narrow pear leaf, 
the handle being the Btem of the leaf. This is fourteen 
inches long and three wide, hut not more than one or one 
and one-half inches thick. It would cleave a white man's 
skull easily, but those fellows stand it; their heads are the 
least vulnerable part of them, perhaps on account of the 
dense mats of woolly hair which acts as a cushion. This 
paddle-iike cleaver is peculiar to those islanders, but when 
they fixed a quartz pebble as large as your two fists iu the 
forked end of a stout branch, aud thus made a mallet for 
breaking wood, driving stakes, or knocking on the head a 
wounded animal, refractory slave, or conquered foe, they 
hit upon precisely the same device as tavages in several 
other parts of the world. It is a little curious, however, 
that in the design of another style of tool—a hoe, or an 
adze, according to whether you suppose it used for digging 
or chopping—the Maoris and the natives of the Northern 
Pacific coast of America are almost identical. This instru¬ 
ment was made by cutting a stout branch with a piece of 
the body of the tree left at the end, forming a T-shaped 
piece, iu shape much like one of our ordinary adzes, if »lie 
iron part of tbe blade was part and parcel of the wood. 
To the outside of this wooden head is lashed a green stone 
"celt" with sharp and polished edge in such a way tbatr 
every blow given with the instrument only tends to fix the 
bonds more firmly. In the cases of the Smithsonian In¬ 
stitution you will find the exact counterpart of this imple¬ 
ment, except that all the lashings are of rawhide instead 
of tbe fibre rope and twine of the Sonth Sea Islanders. 
Their smooth lenticular stone for dressing skins also is the 
same as that in use among our Shoshones, and their “net- 
sinkers." grooved to bo firmly fastened to the net, are just 
like I hose found everywhere. Several heavy cleavers of a 
tough schist and some of green stone are shown, in which 
one end is whittled down fora handle; and some heavy 
weapons of somewhat similar shape denominated “adzes," 
which are difficult to describe briefly. These have a style 
about them, however, which marks them as peculiar to 
that region. No arrow-heads and but few “Hims” are ex¬ 
hibited. There are several carvings tu wood, especially of 
human figures labeled idols, which wear immense head¬ 
dresses like tiaras; and some other curious articles of wood, 
the use of which is not stated or apparent. The collection 
is well worth a careful study, as it is very suggestive. For 
a great variety of carving iu wood, slate aud horn, and 
some curious knick-knacks, the visitor should examine the 
display of native wares and work from the “Gold Coast" 
in Weslern Africa. This is not far from New Zealand’s 
department, and should by no means be forgotten. 
The Cambridge Museum. —By an act of the Massachu¬ 
setts Legislature Prof. Agassiz’s Museum of Comparative 
Zoology at Cambridge has been transferred from the Trus¬ 
tees who for seventeen years have guarded it, to the cus¬ 
tody of Harvard University. It is a great addition to the 
resources of the university. The corporation previously 
owned the land, and now possesses all the property, includ¬ 
ing the rare and valuable collections, with $115,000 in 
money. The Agassiz Memorial Fund, amounting to $310,- 
673, is also a part of the transfer. All the scientific courses 
in geology, zoology, anatomy, and physiology are now 
taught in the Museum, and though students have uo longer 
the advantage of Prof. Agassiz’s genial and magnetic pres¬ 
ence, they have the use of the abundant collections he 
gathered, with able teachers to expound them. With Ibis 
great accession to its resources, the scientific course will 
become one of the most valuable in tbe whole university. 
The Centennial Regattas. —The Centennial regattas 
have been sailed, two in this harbor and one to Cape May 
and back, during ihe past week. They also have proved 
to be mere local affairs, only New York yachts competing. 
Not only did foreign yachts fail to put iu an appearance, 
but even Boston and Philadelphia were unrepresented. In 
the first day’s race four of our large yachts competed. 
The cause of so little interest being taken in these events 
is probably owing, first, to the absence of any incentive in 
the way of a valuable prize, for, although the possession of 
a bronze Centennial medal may be esteemed highly by the 
owner of a yacht, a valuable prize of plate would be much 
more desirable. So far everything undertaken by the Cen¬ 
tennial Commissioners outside of their - own grounds 
appears to have been to a greater or less extent failures. 
—The Crossman House at Alexandria Bay, River St. 
Lawrence, will this season have attached to it two steam 
pleasure yachts, one of which (when not specially chartered) 
will make two trips daily between the bay and Broekville, 
a model Canadian town, 21 miles down the river, now styled 
the “City of the Thousand Islands,” which is well worth 
visiting. The trip is a delightful one, through a magnifi¬ 
cent portion of river scenery. Tire other little steamer 
will leave the bay in the morning, and call at the occupied 
islands, carrying a variety of the necessities and luxuries 
of life, also daily papers, island mails, express parcels, 
passengers, &c. This arrangement will be found a great 
convenience to the islanders. Either boat may be Chartered 
by private parties on reasonable terms. 
—Tbe magnificent fleet of two schooners and two sloops 
started on the third “Centennial" regatta, the eourse being 
to Cape May and return. Evidently bronze medals and 
memorial certificates are not sufficiently attractive to in¬ 
duce yachtsmen to fit out for an outside race. The prizes 
for the four-oared shell race at Philadelphia are $2,600 to 
first boat, and $1,000 to second. Some such amount in¬ 
vested in plate might have made the sailing regattas worthy 
of tlie name. _ _ 
The Florida New Yorker.— A paper with the above 
title has been established in this city, its object being to 
promote the interests of Florida in this State, to encourage 
emigration, and furnish all news and information requisite 
for tourists or intending - settlers. The publication office is 
at No. 22 Beekman street. 
-»' ► 
To Go West for a Hunt.—W e call attention to the ad¬ 
vertisement elsewhere of a reliable person who wishes to 
organize a few crack shotB to hunt buffalo, elk, antelope, 
etc., next fall, in the southwest. Here is such a chance as 
seldom offers, where gentlemen can select their own com¬ 
rades, not being obliged to depend upon guides and chance 
acquaintances on the frontier. 
—A fine healthy place for ladies and children, with 
good fishing and shooting, at Sayville, Long Island, is ad¬ 
vertised in our columns this week. 
—Salmon in the Halifax, Nova Scotia, market, retail at 
J2 cents per pound. 
