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FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL., 



DBVOTKDTO PlEU) AND AQUATIC SPOUTS, PKACTrCALNATrjBAI.llISTUB.Y, 

 PishChlturk, Tns Protection of fi his, PkjssiKvationof Forests, 

 AMD THB INCULCATION IN Men *ND WOMKJ» OF i iFAiTHT Intkkkst 

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HOLY DAY AND HOLIDAY. 



Last Thursday, according to time-honored custom, was Fast 

 Day in Massachusetts, and a portion of the Common wealth ob- 

 served the anniversary by going to church and eating extra 

 big dinners, If we may draw our inferences from the pro- 

 grammes of events for the day as published in the news, 

 papers, the people who went to church were greatly outnum 

 bered by those who went to theatres, sailed their yachts in - 

 regattas, contended in athletic meetings, went forth on sport" 

 ing expeditions, and indulged in a great variety of other ap" 

 proved amusements. In short, FaBt Day in Massachusetts 

 means a day of relaxation and pleasure seeking. Possibly 

 the founders of the anniversary did not foresee this change in 

 the mode of its observance. Nevertheless it is a change 

 which nearly universal history has proved inevitable. 



There are suggestive lessons in words. Take that word 

 ''holiday." Every school boy who swings his cap and 

 hurrahs for his liberty knows that " holiday" was originally 

 " holy day." But it is possible that he — and some older 

 persons — never reflected upon that element of human nature 

 whereby holy days which were originally set apart for fasting 

 and prayer have always eventually become days of mirth and 

 merry making, while the term "holy day" or "holiday'' 

 having wholly lost its original significance has long been ap- 

 plied to times and seasons never holy at [all. Among all the 

 anniversaries observed by the Christian world, none should 

 be so full of solemn import as Christinas, which commemorates 

 an event the most momentous in the history of the world. 

 And yet while Christmas is the recognized season for the 

 renewal and interchange of social and household affection 

 and good will, its distinctively religious observance is the ex- 

 ception not the rule, individual not popular. The truth, 

 from which each one will probably draw the conclusions 

 which best suit himself or herself, is that when any commun- 

 ity, the world over, appoints for itself a holy day for the ob- 

 servance of religious rites and ceremonies, that day will 

 eventually become one of merriment with just enough religion 

 about it to keep up hollow appearances. 



—It is not always possible to keep from having mud 

 thrown at you, but you can always keep from throwing it at 

 others. 



THIS IS EVIDENCE. 



IN a recent contribution to the columns of our contemporary, 

 The Scientific Farmer, Mr. C. J. Maynard gives some very 

 interesting results of his dissection of a large number of Eng- 

 lish sparrows, and his conclusions will be welcomed by those 

 wbii have taken sides in the controversy. It is scarcely neces- 

 sary for us to tell our readers that the war between the friends 

 and foes of this most talked of bird is raging with as much 

 fury now as at any time in the past. The two knights who 

 by common consent have been chosen as champions of the 

 opposing functions, each convinced of the justice of his cause, 

 continue to battle with the utmost vigor. 



It is not very long since Dr. Coues proposed to decide the 

 question whether the sparrows were as destructive to insects 

 as their friends claimed, by having a large number of the 

 birds examined, the point in debate to be determined by the 

 contents of the stomachs. Nothing, however, had been done 

 to carry out this plan, so far as we know, until Mr. Maynard 

 look hold of it. It is perfectly obvious that it is only by some 

 such means as this that we can arrive at the true facts 

 of the question which has excited so much interest, not only 

 here, but in Great Britain and Ireland as well. Dr. Coues' 

 proposal was, we believe, that the authorities should appoint 

 persons to make the necessary examinations ; but, as no action 

 to this end has as yet been taken, Mr. Maynard, with the as- 

 sistance of some friends, has dissected no less than fifty-six 

 specimens. It is in Boston, if all we hear be true, that the 

 sparrows are particularly devoted to the capture of insect food 

 and these specimens having been secured in that city, we 

 Bhould naturally expect to find their crops crammed full of 

 insects, to the utter exclusion of seeds, oats picked from the 

 droppings of horses and other animal matter. Mr. Maynard 

 gives the locality in which the specimens were taken as fol- 

 lows: 



These birds were killed along the streets from the Water- 

 town arsenal to Winter street, Boston, and therefore I judged 

 that they were fair representatives of the typical, and now 

 famous, sparrows of the "Hub." Through the kindness of 

 my friends, the birds were given to me fresh, and thus I could 

 tell exactly what they had in their crops and stomachs. 



It has been stated that it is impossible to detect the presence 

 of any insects, especially of the soiter larvae, after they have 

 been swallowed and partly digested. This is not a fact, how- 

 ever, and any one who has examined the interior of even a 

 strictly inBectiverous bird, and in summer, will bear me out 

 in this statement. The wing coverts of beetles, and the 

 harder portions of all other insects, never digest, and thus are 

 always to be seen ; while by washing the half-digested mass 

 in water the skins of the larva; may be found, even after they 

 have been swallowed for some time, and are always plainly 

 perceptible when first eaten. In every case examined, where 

 tnere was the slightest obscurity as to what had been eaten by 

 the sparrows, I w T ashed the contents of the stomach in water, 

 and in all cases used a lens in determining what they were. 

 In fact, 1 exercised all the care possible, and am perfectly sat- 

 isfied that nothing of importance, least of all an insect or any- 

 thing pertaining to an insect, could have escaped my observa- 

 tion. 



The examination of these stomachs began September 17 and 

 ended October 10, fifty-six specimens, as has been said, hav- 

 ing been dissected. Now, in how many of the birds do our 

 readers suppose that insects were found? In one-half? in one- 

 quarter ? in ten per cent? Hear, oh heavens! and give ear oh 

 earth, to the sad, the disappointing conclusion, that in no one 

 of these fifty-six birds could a trace of insect food be discov- 

 ered. 



With regard to the season at which these investigations 

 were made, Mr. Maynard says : 



At first thought it may appear that I have chosen a time 

 which was unfavorable to the English sparrows, as seeds are 

 very abundant in the autumn j but neither are insects scarce 

 then, and I chose this time as being one in which the birds 

 would exhibit their preference, and they certainly have shown 

 no inclination to take insects. 



If however, we turn to some of our native species of spar- 

 rows which often take insects (and I will, at the suggestion of 

 my friend, Mr. J. A. Allen, select the song sparrow), we shall 

 find that they eat some insects all through the autumn, al- 

 though seeds of course, form the greater portion of theirfood. 

 Yet the few insects taken show that they occasionally prefer 

 them. 



In view of tho facts above stated we are not surprised to 

 find that the author of this paper concludes that the English 

 sparrows are utterly unworthy of protection. He recom- 

 mends that the Massachusetts Legislature authorize some com- 

 peient person to make dissections of the sparrows for a year, 

 so that the point may be decided one way or the other. Fi- 

 nally he says : 



ask not ten, or even three, but only one— English sparrow 

 from Boston that has voluntarily eaten an insect of any sort or 

 kind, I will at once modify my opiuion respecting them. 



A valued correspondent, who writes to us from Boston on 

 the same subject, says that the eggs ef the sulphur-crested 

 caterpillar (Orgyia, lencostigma) are as deposited last fall on the 

 treeB, houses and fences, only waiting warm weather to hatch 

 out and go to work, ne asks ; " Why have not the sparrows 

 all this winter devoured these morceaux ? That they will not 

 eat them I have demonstrated to my entire satisfaction, hav- 

 ing tried them several times." 



A South African Tongtjk.— When St. Paul spoke of the 

 tongue as "a little member" he evidently did not refer to 

 the organ which graces the mouth of a South African Cape 

 buffalo. This beast has monstrous horns, hump and hoofs, 

 but the most remarkably remarkable part of him is his re- 

 markably remarkable tongue, and the use he can make of it 



when he wants to. He is a morose, ill-natured brute, melan- 

 choly, affected with chronic blues, never known to smile. 

 Sometimes he has maniacal fits, daring which he plunges 

 madly into the thorny thickets and puts out his own eyes. 

 HiB favorite amusement is to suddenly dash from his lair upon 

 the unsuspecting traveler, hurl him into the air, trample 

 him, kneel upon him, and then with his tongue actually lick 

 the flesh from the bones. 



It is a Bubject for devout thankfulness that this tongue is 

 indigenous to South Africa, where by prudently staying away 

 from its lickings one may daily save his own lifo 365 times 

 in the year. If the beast should decide to emigrate, assume 

 pants or petticoats, and turn politicians or go into tho tea 

 party business, we know a score of public and private scandal 

 mongers who would have to take a back seat. And speaking 

 of tongues wc are acquainted with a woman— 



Wuat Is It ?— Rev. W. H. H. Murray's Golden, Rule prints 

 a picture of a common game bird and asks its young readers 

 to tell what it is. As the cut is a tolerably correct represent- 

 ation of a snipe, the editors will probably find themselves up 

 to their ears in answers. This is an entirely novel method of 

 teaching natural history. We recommend the editors to re 

 publish from a certain sporting paper some of those marvel- 

 ous products of the engraver's imagination, which, despite 

 the names appended to them, no naturalist nor sportsman has 

 as yet recognized as belonging to the feathered kingdom. The 

 Golden Rule would be doing an incalculable good to science 

 by solving these puzzling pictorial conundrums. 



GAME PROTECTION. 

 UNIFORM CLOSE SEASONS. 



Rochester, April 2, 1879. 

 Editor Forest and Sthbam : 



Your editorial of 27th of March, referring to the means 

 which should be employed to extinguish poachers and their 

 receivers, is most excellent. When you say " Evidently there 

 is no alternative except to make the seasons uniform on all 

 kinds of game, so that there can be no excuse or possible pre- 

 text for a man being in the field prior to or after a designated 

 date," and again, "What we aim at is to make the season 

 uniform on all kinds of game alike, beginning at Sept. 1 and 

 closing Dec. 31," you hit the nail on the head. On the single 

 question of a general opening for all shooting in the early 

 autumn, and the absolute prohibition of tha pursuit of any 

 game in any way until the designated day, depends the possi- 

 bility of protecting game. A 1st of September opening (I 

 would rather say the 7th or 10th, but we will not split hairs) 

 will confer on all parts of the State ample time for the exer- 

 cise of sport. Indeed, the period existing between Sept. 1 

 and Dec. 31, exhibits the limits between which the instincts 

 of the true sportsman are aroused. The only excuse ever of- 

 fered in extenuation of summer woodcock shooting, besides 

 the transparent pretext of the "August migration," which 

 has been fully dwelt upon, has been this -. " Unless we kill 

 them somebody else will." One has heard a short wail now 

 and then from a very junior class to the effect that if it were 

 not for killing woodcock chicks there would be no summer 

 shooting. Where else has there ever been anj' ? It would 

 add immensely to the literature of the craft if information 

 could be furnished as to the breeding and rearing seasons in 

 other countries being employed for the pursuit of nestlings, 

 on a basis of "sport." It cannot be too frequently urged 

 that every practice inimical to game protection, which is 

 capable of being dealt with by the Legislature at all, may be 

 only satisfactorily treated by restricting all shooting to the 

 one* season of a September opening and a December closing. 

 By no process of reasoning can a state of things be reached 

 where game can be preserved in the State of New York by 

 opening the covers, either to close them again or not, in July 

 or August, or by instituting any plurality of seasons. 



The one proper and natural autumnal season, however, 

 will, from its law-protected inception, bar the havoc of the 

 last days of June, when multitudinous prowlers ice down 

 bins of half fledged woodcock for sale on the auspicious ad- 

 vent of July to the disciples of Mi - . Winkle. It will curtail 

 the license of loafers, who deplete the covers of grouse and 

 quail under the excuse of looking for woodcock. It will en- 

 courage fanners, who now look upon an effort to protect 

 birds bred upon their own farms as simply an invitation to 

 ridicule. It will make the game constable a useful officer in- 

 stead of a nonentity ; and, now that there is something intel- 

 ligible to do and some real end to accomplish, a host of wil- 

 ling deputies will spring up in every town. Then it will re- 

 move a practice which every candid man must admit is most 

 unsportsman-like. I am aware that much has been said upon 

 this topic, but now is the time to say more — to impel action, 

 if possible. 



It is well to remember the vital elements of the question at 

 this juncture. The meaningless jumble which existing 

 "legislation" presents on this subject is only known as the 

 prize medalist farrago among questions of masterly vacuity. 

 The Governor, In paying a fitting tribute to the genius of this 

 carefully prepared fog, recommends that % simple, intelligible 

 Act be passed in its place. See to it, brother sportsmen, that 

 your influence shall tend to avert a repetition of the sicken- 

 ing delay and destruction of the past twenty years. It is 

 preposterous that the unseasonable pot-hunter and the dealer 

 in his wretched spoils— men who bear the same relation to 

 sport that the burglar and the fence do to legitimate trade- 

 that these men should be factors in an opposition to a legis- 

 lative boon to the commonwealth. Purchasers of game 

 are, as a rule, persons of education and position, and in large 

 way amenable to the requirements of civilization ; but in 

 many instances their city residence renders them unacquaint- 

 ed with the true seasons of game, and they are uninformed 

 as to when it is in perfection and when it is undesirable. 

 These persons belong to one of the very last classes who 

 would knowingly encourage the extermination of the deli- 

 cious birds they so highly prize. Let us do all we can to pre- 

 serve our nativo game. The State of New York is abundantly 

 supplied with beautiful and suitable cover. That a man may 

 ever cast his eye over an autumnal landscape here and deplore a 



