FOREST AND STREAM. 



153 



GAME PROTECTION. 



Game Laws of ISTew Jersey.— It may not be known to 

 many of our readers, and particularly those resident of 

 this ciiy who are in the habit of crossing the Hudson river 

 to shoot, that the game laws Of New Jersey have under- 

 gone some material alterations since the last shooting sea- 

 son. For their edification, therefore, and with a view of, 

 perhaps, saving them some unpleasantness, we recapitulate 

 the close seasens. Quail, ruffed grouse (partridges) and 

 rabbits cannot now be killed in New Jersey before Nov. 

 1st; squimls, July 1st; woodcock, July 4th, and wood- 

 ducks, ruil and reed-birds on Sept. 1st. The section mak- 

 ing a close season for snipe from May 1st to Oct. 1st has 

 been repealed. 



It is a great pity that the close seasons in the contiguous 

 States of New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania could 

 not be made identical, and we urge this matter upon the 

 attention of the sportsmen of those States as worthy of 

 tbe most strenuous effort. Not only would it put a stop 

 to the confusion and misunderstanding which now exists, 

 but the cause of game protection itself, through equalizing 

 market seasons, would be largely benefitted. How absurd 

 it seems that in the State of New York ruffed grouse can 

 be killed on Sept. 1st, while in the adjoining State of New 

 Jersey sportsmen are compelled to wait nntil Nov. 1st. 

 The consequence is that the temptation offered by our 

 open market to pot-hunters and law breakers is too great to 

 be resisted, and the conscientious sportsman who waits 

 until the close season has expired finds either broken and 

 scattered coveys, or no birds af all. The suggestion con- 

 tained in the letter from a well known sportsman, which 

 we print below, we indorse most heartily, and trust that a 

 general close season expiring on Oct. 1st, and including 

 woodcock, may be arranged for not only the two States he 

 mentions, but to take in Pennsylvania also:— 



Morristown, N. J., Sept. 29th. 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



Tlie constant yearly change* in ihe game laws of adjoining States are 

 as annoj in;* as they are foolish. If we could bring the laws of New 

 ¥oik and New Jersey to abolish sumnrr cock shooting and make the 

 op. n i-ea-on m both States commence Oct. 1st for ruffed grouse, quail, 

 wo )dcock and wild rabbits, and nn.ke the penalty for every infraction 

 $25, the bud-* and the sportsmen would alike have a fair chance, and 

 pot hunters could not kill off every kind of game under pretense of 

 shooting September woodcock. It is not a valid objection that quail 

 are too small f>r shooting Oct. 1st. There are, indeed, bevies too small 

 both on that date and ah-o on Nov. Is , as ail sportsmen know; but the 

 law is made f r the rule and not for the exception, and the average quail 

 is strong enough Oct. 1st to afford good t-port m the thick covers of that 

 month. C. A. R, 



— Quail are being killed in Pennsylvania by pot- 

 hunters and others, although the close season does not ex 

 pire until the 15th inst. 



— According to the Pall Mall Gazette, one of the Prussian 

 Provincial Governments has prohibited pigeon shooting 

 matches on the ground that they come under the definition 

 of cruelty to animals. 



California Game Laws. — The following synopsis is 

 taken from the San Francisco Chronicle: — 



"In the counties of San Bernardino and Los Angeles it 

 is a misdemeanor to kill partridges or ducks between the 

 1st of April and the 1st of September. In Lassen, Plu 

 mus and Sierra the same is prohibited from the 15th of 

 March until the 15th of August. The counties of Del 

 None, Humboldt, Shasta and Mendodno are the hunter's 

 paradise, as there he can kill game all the year round— if 

 he can find it. In the remaining counties of the State it is 

 a misdemeanor to kill quail, grouse, spoonbill, broadbill, 

 or any other kind of duck, between the 15lh of March and 

 the 15th of September. Any person who kills elk, deer, 

 antelope or mountain sheep in this State, between the 1st 

 of January and the 1st of September, is guilty of a mis 

 demeanor. If he kills such animals wantonly and without 

 using their carcasses for food or sale, he is guilty of a mis- 

 deiin auor, even when the game laws are not in force. Any 

 person who has in his possession, or buys and sells any of 

 this forbidden meat, between the above prohibited dates, 

 is likewise guilty. 



"it is a misdemeanor to catch trout between the 1st of 

 April and ;he 15«h of October, though there is nothing in 

 the statute preventing a man from going fishing, but he 

 must not caich any. Fish must be caught with hook and 

 line. To inveigle them with nets, baskets traps, etc., is a 

 misdemeanor. It is a mi-demeanor to catch, huy or sell a 

 fresh salmon between the 1st of August and the 1st of 

 November. To catch or sell fresh shad before the first 

 Monday of Decemb> r, 1877, is a misdemeanor. It is made 

 a misdemeanor to catch tibh out of a stream on another 

 person's laud without first gaining his consent. A China- 

 man, or any other man, wbo catches between sundown on 

 Saturdays and sunrise on the following Monday is guilty 

 of a misaemeanor. The Penal Code defines the shrimp to 

 be 1-ss than oue and a half inches in length— and they 

 generally aie. 



'It is a misdemeanor to use or distribute phosphorus in 

 the counties of Santa Clara, Contra Costa, San Joaquin, 

 Santa Cilz and bania Maieo, between the 1st of March 

 a-id ihe 1st of .November. It is also a misdemeanor to 

 hunt, camp or discharge firearms on inclo-ed lands, with 

 out first having got permission from the owner. It is 

 likewise a bleach of ».he law to kill or maim any of the 

 anima "a on those grounds, leave the camp fires ourning, 

 tear down or destroy t r leave open fences or gates. A 

 inisdsmeawor is punishable by a fine not exceeding $500 

 and imprisonment in a county jail for six months, or both 

 at the option of the court. The Sportsmen's Club of Cali- 

 fornia offers a reward of $50 for the arrest and conviction 

 of any person violating the above laws. 

 \ "The owners of hunting grounds and fishing waters are 

 already being persecuted by amateur sportsmen for per- 

 mits i o shoot and fisu over their property. One generous gen- 

 tleman who owns a valuable preserve near this city, upon 

 which he has expended much money, had received yester- 

 day nearly 20U applications .from trie uds for permits, and 

 • .in the gooduess of his heart ha obliged all of them, and 

 will go eisewbere himself to indulge in the sport. he is fond 

 of. One man asked for a day's permit. Upon its being 



cheerfully granted he asked that the time might be in- 

 definitely extended. Another asked for a permanent 

 permit, as it was so much trouble to call on the owner of 

 the premises frequently. 



—This is the way the Sheffield (England) Daily Telegraph 

 puts it: — 



"We are at all times extremely happy to chronicle for 

 the benefit of our sporting readers any incident of a novel 

 and exciting character, leaving to their better judgment to 

 decide whether the d *>d of daring should be emulated or 

 not. In this instance the matter has reference to our pis- 

 catorial friends, of whom, we are happy to say, we possess 

 manv, and we invite them to read, mark, learn, and in- 

 wardly digest. We are credibly informed that there was 

 on the afternoon of the 10th inst., an immense take of fish 

 on the Derwent, in which a certain landed proprietor, resi- 

 dent in a sequestered nook of a very pretty and popular 

 fishing village, and a hundred miles from Sheffield, took a 

 distinguished part. Ably assisted by a friend staying with 

 him and two of the sons of a neighboring squire, the party 

 proceeded to the river in pursuance of their object. Hav- 

 ing, we presume, heard of the destructive properties of the 

 silvery trout when left undisturbed in their native element, 

 a full determination was arrived at to remove so great an 

 evil, and the evidences of a master mind were shown in the 

 production of a n«t — mirabile dictu — which swept the 

 stream, being dragged from both sioes the river. With an 

 energy and a skill woithy of so honorable an object, for 

 five aud a half long hours was the work proceeded with, 

 the skill and dexterity shown in casting the net being unan- 

 imously decided to be equal to if not greater than that 

 needed in deluding the unwary fish by the cast of a fly. 

 The result of the afternoon's sport showed a total of 15^ 

 brace of fish, and though the quantity was so great the net 

 did not, as in the story of old, break. Many of our readers 

 will probably wish it had so done. Such is "sport" in this 

 year of grace 1876. 



OUR CENTENNIAL LETTERS. NO. 11. 



CELEBRATING WITH THE PENNSYLVANIANS— HUMANITY EN 



MASSE. 



FOUR weeks or more have slipped away since my last 

 letter from the World's Exhibition was written, and 

 a great change was apparent when I returned last week. It 

 happened to be Pennsylvania Day, and the followers ot 

 the late W. Penn bad evidently determined to leave all 

 other State demonstrations entirely in oblivion . Everybody 

 went and took his wife and, generally, his babies. Eveiy- 

 thing in Philadelphia en wheels was pressed into service — 

 steamers, horsecars, omnibusses, hacks, express wagons, 

 trucks, hay-carts and butchers' carts.not to mention "shank's 

 mare." A steady stream poured through the patient gates, 

 and beseiged the wearied keepers until at 1 p. m. 175,000 

 had entered. How many came after that I did not hear. 

 Stand where you would and on all sides were people. The 

 buildings were thronged— Memorial Hall especially, where 

 it was "a regular pack." In any narrow space, like the 

 aisle in the Colorado building in front of Mrs. Maxwell's 

 stuffed animals, the jam was terrific, and here was an ex- 

 cellent opportunity for mulish persons to exhibit their 

 "bucking" propensities, and add a vast deal of discomfort 

 to those who were near to them only because they couldn't 

 get away. The little ones suffered the most, having hard 

 work to keep their feet, and being able to see nothing. 

 Outside of such narrow channels there was little incon- 

 venience except that it was all but impossible to get any thiug 

 to eat at the restaurants. People stood rank behind rank 

 awaiting their turn at the lunch counters, and incessantly 

 admonishing the fortunate possessor of the three legged 

 stool to hurry up and finish his beef and beans because they 

 were nearly famished. It made a man forget his hunger 

 and feel as though he had done something wrong in avail- 

 ing himself of the chance to "get a bite." The provisions 

 seemed to hold out pretty well though, being supplied from 

 some invisible point like the manna in the wilderness, and 

 the prices were not extortionate. Those fared best who 

 brought their lunch, and many a merry group circled about 

 a napkin spread beside the brook in Landsdown Kavine, 

 smiled complacently at the hungry mortals vainly calling 

 for a sandwich and a glass of beer. Yet it was a good- 

 natured crowd. Everybody had come there for a good 

 time; this wrangling with all the world for a crust was a 

 part of the fun. Aien met on a common plane of huuger. 

 Where you came from, or where you were going, no oue 

 cared; if you were eating, all right — "but hurry up and 

 give me a place;" if I was eatiug. all right again, "wait till 

 I despatch this dreadfully hot coffee, and meanwhile hang 

 on to my stool." 



It has been said many times that the most lonely place in 

 the world is to be alone in a crowd. It might also be said 

 that nowhere does a man feel more humble. Climb up on 

 a lamp-post, and look at these people filling full this im- 

 mense aiea between Machinery Hall, the Main Building 

 and Memorial Hall, as they crowd up to get a good view ot 

 George's Hill where the fireworks are to b» let off alter 

 dark. You are only one in 50,000 — it takes a large object 

 to make one fifty-thousandth part of it of much value. 

 You think you are exceptionally tall and strong and heroic, 

 but look at the hundreds of broad shoulders lilting up 

 above the level of the massed heads; you are active, but 

 see how the trees, and roofs, aud bridges are filled with 

 men agile as monkeys; you are beautiful— look at the lithe 

 and graceful maidens beside you whose motions are like lilies 

 swayed by the wind; you fall back upou your modest con- 

 sciousness of intellectual merit and thus "comfort yourself 

 until you begin to scan the keenly intelligent, studious 

 countenances scattered thickly about, and reflect how the 

 next morning's paper or the next month's magazine will 

 have an account of this very pageant which you could not 

 hope to equal for vividness and power and completeness; 

 and you get down off your lamp post and mingle with the 

 people unnoticed, liugging to your wounded breast the 

 single quality that this multitude intensifies in your nature 

 instead 'of diminishies-^that you are an American! 



Here one is surrounded by the whole world and all time." 

 The four quarters of the globe present; their labors and 



products to his eye at one glance. Tbe years and ages so 

 distant that like far-away mountains they can only be dim- 

 ly outlined against the unknown space beyond them, file 

 up beside the refined, luxurious, thriPing centuries of the 

 Caesars, and both together contest with the swift flying 

 present for the lion's share of his regard. Standing thus 

 in the gathering twilight, with so much of the past and 

 the foreign grouped about him, one can easily imagine th's 

 vast throng to belong to any age or latitude. Do they all 

 face the mountain watching for the lij-ht upon its crest. 

 So stood the hosts of Israel before Sinai Is this great 

 display for the pleasure of the whole people? How many 

 such gay concourses have shouted with united voice at the 

 triumphal celebration of wreathed conquerors moving 

 along the Appian Way. Or, as the outlines of the build- 

 ings begin to lose their sharpness, the ligh s to glitter here 

 and there among Ihe trees, and the fountains live in a 

 halo of reflected light, oue can easily imagine himself at a 

 brilliant/<ete in the imperial gardens of Paris. Time and 

 place become mere accidents; the same moon shines upon 

 us which yesterday glinted upon the newly-cut arches of 

 Palmyra and Thebes, which to-day rebounds from the bur- 

 nished dome of St. Peter's, which to morrow (may, we 

 trust) will light the thousandth birthnight of the Union. 

 Man's life is rounded with the same tew faets, the same 

 simple relations everywhere; and we do not need to travel 

 to be reminded of the identity of human nature in all ages 

 and zones. 



The moon shone so brightly that it was difficult to tell 

 when the day had really left us. But at last the band be- 

 gan to play a medley of lively airs, which set the crowd 

 humming, or danring, or marking-time, by turns. There 

 was everything in that band's repertory, from "Rory 

 O'More" to "Hold the Fort" and "The Sweet By-and-B)e," 

 and it was well-taxed to keep the people amused until — 

 "O-o-h! there goes one!" and another rocket, and another, 

 until George's hill seemed volcanic with fiery colors, and 

 shot out detonating bombs so fast that they almost kept 

 lime to the music below, accenting it with a noble staccato. 

 Meanwhile magnesium lights were lighted among the 

 bushes all over the grounds— red, blue, white, green, and 

 purple — tinging the thousands of faces with alternate 

 blushes and ghastly paleness. It was a strange, wild sight, 

 as weird and eldritch as a garden of witches, and for a few 

 moments the silence was almost unbroken. Then the 

 dense, lurid smoke and colored atmosphere of the magne- 

 sium torches gave way to the intense while beams of elec- 

 tric lights in the towers of the Main Building and Machin- 

 ery Hall, which were pointed here and there, changing to 

 solid while the leaves of the trees they shone upon, so that 

 they looked like the foam of breaking waves seen in the 

 dark . 



And all the time the barking bombs over George's hill 

 were counting out the finished century— one! two! three! 

 four!—B.u(\ on up to a hundred. Then the head of the all- 

 suffering Washington burned iu glowing outlines, and was 

 greeted with a cheer, notwithstanding the fact that one 

 eye was black, and the right ear of ihe Father of his coun- 

 try didn't appear. Then there were balloons drifting 

 aloft, trailing spiral banners of sulphurous smoke, and 

 shooting rockets from their invisible basisets; mines of 

 vari-colored balls of light, eruptions of bundles of snakes, 

 and all the gay pyrotechnics which made ihe night popu- 

 lous with brit f but brilliant meteors. 



The fireworks over, ihe multitude began to think of get- 

 ting home, for thoughthere had been asteady stream down 

 town ever since 3 o'clock, there seemed little diminution. 

 The narrow exit tnrough the gates let the crowd drain out 

 very slowly, and meanwhile thousands strolled about the 

 grounds, enjoying what seemed to me the most lovely part 

 of the whole glittering spectacle. The tinted lights bad 

 ceased lo glow, rockets no longer burned their way through 

 the sky, and the queenly Moon resumed her supremacy, 

 flooding the whole scene with soft light, which made the 

 white walls of tbe Art Hall all the whiter, cast shadows 

 behind the great guns of the War Department blacker than 

 their grimy throats, played with ihe thousand points 

 and pinnacles of the lofty Halls, nestled in the folds of the 

 flags, aud curtained every object in dreamy haze. The 

 two electric burners, of which I spoke before, now turned 

 their full beams upou the large cone shaped fountain in the 

 lake. The strong, white light peuei rated to the fountain's 

 very core, so that the drops and jets of waier loot their 

 shining transparency and became solid, opaque, and }et 

 wonderfully mobile. It Was like driven snow, or powdered 

 ice. Had it not been for the musical tinkle I should have 

 said it was a fountain of dead silver, wrapped in the hoary 

 mantle of a frosty night. 



But frost was far away. All was warm, and gentle, and 

 tender. The feet trod in fairyland, and the mind wandered 

 fancy-free to El} sian fields. Tbe picture was foeign and 

 poetic, and as lull of romance as a scene in the "Arabian 

 Nights." it will live in my memory as long as Diana 

 smiles serenely upon the Earth, which is not utterly lost 

 while it has such sweet companionship. 



Health of Florida. — For the satisfaction of persons 

 intending to visit Florida we print the following note from 

 our correspondent, Dr. Kenworthy: — . 



Jacksonville, Fla., Sept. 28th. 

 Sditor Forest and Stream:— 



A> many of \our readers are interested in the sanitary condition of 

 Florida, I deem it advisable to state that a single case of y<.lluw fever 

 has not occurred in the State. During the last eighteen da) shut one 

 death has occurred In the city limits, and this was a cat-eof Lillious fe* 

 ver. This exhibits but a small mortality in a city of over lo,000 popu- 

 lation, moie especially during the month of September Jacksonville 

 has nobly succored Savannah and Brunswick, where \edow fever is pre- 

 vailing. We are quarantining a^aiust infected places. The hist frost, 

 wi.ica may bo expected about the l^th vf October, will put an e»d to the 

 epidemic prevailing in Georgia. al Fke80o. 



A Novel Scare-Crow.— Mr. J. N. Davis of Washing- 

 ton, D . (J., sends us a description of a most novel device to 

 keep the birds off of a newly planted field of grain: — 



''A very successful plan has been tried by placing in Mr. Crow's way 

 a number of grains with a horse-hair run through them. He is bound 

 to swallow one. and his note of alarm is soon sounded. It is impossible 

 for him to dislodge the grain, and if he can be watched a sufficient 

 length of time he will-be -seen to.cot his- own throat in scratching at it. 

 His usual note is changed, and I caji assure you life to Lin is. such a 

 misery he could '"even wish that he were dead:" It has betn noticed 

 that atter the note of alarm has been sounded all the crows in the vicin 

 Ity wiil leave that held and approach it no more tuat season. It u- a 

 simple thing, yet all who try^ic will find it„a success." 



