WttWWrk&UL 



377 



easier still, even should he succeed in hitting 

 it to do so in such a manner that it will either strike the 

 front wall below the serving line, or fall into the wrong 

 court. Not only agility but judgment is needed to play 

 the game well. It is, when skillfully played, one of the 

 most graceful of games, and as an exercise has no superior. 



. ■# >» . 



GAME PROTECTION. 



INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR 

 THE PROTECTION OF GAME" 



Most of our readers are aware that the functions of this 

 Association are merely advisory, and confined to the de- 

 vising and preparation of sweeping game laws for Canada 

 and the United States, based upon the last revised nomen- 

 clature, as accepted and adopted by the Academies of 

 Science and Naturalists generally. This Association was 

 organized two years ago. Committees were appointed to 

 take up the work allotted to them, and they have been 

 steadily in motion ever since. Large bodies proverbially 

 move slowly, especially when the work they have to per- 

 form is intricate and arduous. The duties of the Com- 

 mittees on Law, Nomenclature and Distribution of Species, 

 were entrusted to the best informed men that could be 

 selected. The Committee on Nomenclature, for instance, 

 was constituted as follows: 



Dr. Elliott Cones, IT. S. A., Smithsonian Institution, 

 Chairman-, Alex. Agassiz, Museum of Comparative Ana- 

 tomy, Cambridge, Mass. ; Dr. J. L. LeCoute, Academy of 

 Sciences, Philadelphia; Prof. Theo. Gill, Smithsonian, 

 Washington; Prof. E. D. Cope, Phila., Academy of 

 Sciences; Rev. A. B. Lamberton, Rochester, N. Y. ; Prof. 

 (J. Brown Goode, Wesleyan University, Middletown, 

 Conn. 



The work of this Committee was so dependent upon the 

 auxiliary labors of the Committee on Distribution, that 

 progress has necessarily been slow. As Secretary of the 

 International Association, the editor of this paper has 

 been often and not unreasonably applied to for information 

 as to what had been done, and was being done; and some 

 have supposed that the institution and its mission had 

 quietly dropped into oblivion, as the day fades. 



To satisfy and encourage all persons interested, and their 

 name is legion— for they include every club and every 

 individual interested in the protection of game birds, 

 animals, and fish— we have asked a member of the Com- 

 mittee on Nomenclature for a statement and received the 

 following reply: 



Hamilton, Bermuda, Dec. £7th, 1876. 

 Dear Sir:— 



I regret exceedingly that the work of the committee on the nomencla- 

 ture of game animals has been go much delayed. You must blame the 

 Centennial, however, and not the committee. The Washington mem- 

 bers of tbe committee, held, as you will remember, two or three meet- 

 ings, and cam assed the various plans suggested for its repsrt. The 

 plan which we finally adopted, was somewhat as follows: 1. The name 

 or names. To take up consecutively in their order of scientific classifica- 

 tion, those North American animals recosnized by sportsmen as "game. 1 ' 

 Under each species would be given (I) The English name or names, 

 recommended for popular adoption, Special reference being had to 

 avoiding the use of the same name for two different species— in doubtful 

 cases ihe preference being given — to the most common and best known 

 species, by giving to them tbe most characteristic and widely used name. 

 (II) Tbe accepted scientific name of the species. (Ill) A synonymic 

 list of the popular and scientific names— under which the species is de- 

 scribed— by tbe leading American writers on gunning and fishing, such 

 as Prank Forester, Lewis, King, Brown, Norris, Scott, Hallock, Prime 

 &c. (IV) A hst of the common or spor'smens name arranged geogra- 

 phically, i, e., so arranged as to show at a glance the name by which any 

 given fpecies is known, in any given section of the country. (V) To de- 

 fine the limits of the geographical range of the species. 



In the division of works Dr. Ooues undertook the birds, while Prof. 

 Gill and I became responsible for the fishes and mammals. The prelim- 

 inary work on the fishes I have already completed, though much revis- 

 ion is still necesnary. 



Do you still think of visiting Bermwda this winter? Yours truly, 



G. Brown Goode. 



To OffAs. Hallock, Esq, Sec'y. Int. Asso. for Protection of Game and 

 Pish. 



The information this letter contains is important and 

 sufficiently encouraging. In time the work will be com- 

 pleted, and when done, it will be well done. Otherwise it 

 had better never been undertaken. It is important that 

 this information should be disseminated, and every reader 

 of this article should make it his business to see that his 

 town or county paper prints Prof. Goode's letter. We 

 enjoin upon him to do so. The public will not only thus 

 be advised of what is being done, but the apathetic and 

 discouraged will be stimulated to continued effort. This 

 incentive is especially needed at this time. Few very posi- 

 tive benefits seem to have yet resulted from two years of 

 agitation and legislation. Game is still shot and sold out 

 of season; fingerlings are netted; and even the eggs of 

 quail and grouse are gathered— served at table as pettetes 

 norceauw. Let us feel that it is not yet too late to mend, 

 and that some significance is left in the cry for Reform. 



New York.— We are indebted to our correspondent 

 "Major," at Middletown, New York, for copies of some 

 recent game laws passed by the Board of Supervisors of 

 Orange county. One of these is as follows:— 



"Section 1. No person shall sell or expose for sale any 

 quail, woodcock or partridge in Orange county, or receive 

 any money, valuable thing or consideration, directly or 

 indirectly, at any place or from any person or persons, for 

 any quail, woodcock or partridge taken, shot or killed 

 alter ihe passage of this act in Orange connty. And no 

 person or persons, express company or corporation, shall 

 carry, take or send any such game or birds, or allow any 

 such game or birds to be carried, taken or sent out of 

 Grange county. And no person shall receive any money 

 or other valuable thing or in any way make any profit for 

 hunting, taking, catching or killing any quail, woodcock 

 ^partridge in Orange county. 



bEC. 2. No person shall take, shoot or kill woodcock 

 oetween the 1st day of February and the 1st day of 

 September in any year after the passage of this act. 



Sec. 3. Any person or persons, express company or 

 corporation, who shall violate any of the provisions of 

 this act, shall be liable to a fine of twenty-five dollars or 

 be imprisoned in the county jail for a term not exceeding 

 twenty-five days for each and every offense, or may be 

 punished by both such fine and imprisonment." 



While we fully appreciate and endorse the efforts of the 

 Supervisors of Orange county, or their advisers, in their 

 efforts to preserve game, it is still our duty to inform them 

 that their action is unconstitutional, and that their enact- 

 ment will not hold water. It is a well determined fact, 

 and one that has been fully tested, that no Board of Su 

 pervisors of any county in this State has the right or 

 power to abrogate any condition of the existing State laws. 

 If they will take the trouble to examine the State game 

 laws they will find that Section 32 gives them the power to 

 make any regulations protecting other birds, fish or game 

 than those mentioned in the act, and nothing more. Any 

 person who is annoyed or penalised through the enactment 

 has a good cause of action against his prosecutors. How- 

 ever, we trust that before woodcock season shall again 

 come around that the question of extending the close sea- 

 son will have been settled satisfactorily at Albany. With 

 regard to not permitting any person who may go to Orange 

 county to shoot to carry their game out of the county; the 

 gentlemen are going a little too far in the cause of game 

 protection. It is hard enough in some States for visiting 

 sportsmen not to be allowed to send their game, for which 

 they have paid the natives pretty roundly, to their friends 

 or carry it home, but to have to eat it all within the limit 

 of one county is rather too indigestible. The further en- 

 actments of the Orange county Supervisors in relation to 

 fishing with weirs, nets and traps are excellent, and we 

 trust they will be rigidly enforced. 



Massachusetts.— A correspondent, whose letter is too 

 long for publication, writes us from Boston in a tone of 

 bitter complaint against tbe manner in which the game 

 laws of his State are, or rather are not observed. Snaring, 

 particularly, he thinks should be restricted or prevented 

 by a very heavy fine, and he relates that while shooting at 

 Sangus, where he found the game very scarce, a gentleman 

 remarked to him that he had a friend who had already 

 shot fifty -four partridges inside of three weeks, and had 

 disposed of them to a dealer in Boston. He goes on to 

 say: — 



"I went, out gunning on the 13th of November, on the 

 Boston and Providence road, in the vicinity of Mansfield, 

 and remained there for four days, and during my travel 

 through the woods I destroyed seventeen snares, and no 

 later than Thanksgiving day, a friend of mine and I went 

 out for a day's sport, and before we got as far as Win- 

 chester I destroyed nine snares. We also came across a 

 man who was ferreting rabbits. He had two spotted 

 hounds and a small terrier with him, and I afterwards 

 learned he was from Charles-town. No wonder game is 

 scarce, when we have such men as these, who go around 

 snaring game birds and ferreting rabbits. Now, if we 

 should succeed in the next legislature and have some 

 heavy fines imposed on these pot hunters and non-sports- 

 men, I think it would have a tendency to stop all of that 

 kind of business. I was very sorry indeed that I could not 

 attend the meeting the sportsmen held at the Bay State 

 House, Worcester, December 7th, but I had business that 

 called me away the day previous." 



Maine— Our correspondent "Roamer" writes us from 

 Portland that the grand jury has just returned indictments 

 against two persona for trout fishing out of season. He 

 says: "I believe that these are the first convictions for 

 such an offense in this State." 



Pennsylvania.— W. H. Crow ell writes from McKean 

 county, Pennsylvania: — 



"Our deer season has closed at last. It has been per- 

 fect slaughter in this section, and every pot hunter from 

 far and near has taken a hand. A great many of the old 

 sportsmen have kept away from the woods for fear of 

 being shot. Last year the law closed the season on the 

 1st of December; this year on the 1st of January. The 

 poor deer have suffered terribly." 



Wisconsin. — A Janesville correspondent writes that they 

 are beginning to be benefitted in that section by the law 

 passed some time ago prohibiting the use of sneak boats 

 and batteries on Lake Koshkonong. Last fall the shoot- 

 ing was better than it has been for years. 



Nebraska. — A correspondent writes us from Osceola, 

 Polk county, Nebraska, in relation to the burning of the* 

 prairie grass, as follows : — 



"I wish through your paper to call the attention of the 

 sportsmen to a very important fact, in regard to the pre- 

 servation of our game. And that is in the prevention of 

 the late burning of the grass in the spring. I am consid- 

 erable of a sportsman, and my observations have led me 

 to believe that the late burning of the grass in the spring 

 in our western country, is very detrimental to the increase 

 of our prairie game. This late burning is generally done 

 for breaking and to obtain late pasture; but by its means 

 vast numbers of the eggs and young of the prairie chicken 

 are destroyed yearly, and also quail and plover, causing 

 annually a far greater destruction of game than is now 

 done by sporting. It does not only destroy the eggs and 

 young but drives away the old birds, and thereby causes 

 a continual decrease in the quantity. Now, in my estima- 

 tion, nothing but a stringent law to prohibit all burning 

 of the grass after the period when these birds begin to 

 nest (which is about the 1st of April), will prevent this 

 wholesale destruction. This is a matter of great import- 

 ance to those wishing an increase in the quantity of our 

 game, which seems to have been overlooked heretofore. 

 I hope that the sportsmen in our western country, and 

 especially in Nebraska, will use all their influence to get 

 onr next legislature to pass a law toiemedy this great evil. 

 This will not only protect our game, but will protect all 

 of our insectiverous birds." Ed. 



__ ^ M » , — i — 



— The present season in Florida is better tUan 1874-1875, 

 but riot as good as last, 



The Hunters Camp at Fairmount Park.— The Hunt- 

 ers Camp, which was built in Landsdowne Ravine, and which 

 was quite a prominent feature in the grounds at the late 

 Centennial Exhibition, was presented by us at the close to 

 the Fairmount Park, to be kept as an additional attrac- 

 tion to those already beautiful grounds. The following 

 letter of acknowledgment has just been received by usr. — 

 Office of the 1 



Commissioners of Fairmount Park, 



251 South Fourth Street, 



Philadelphia, Jan. 9th, 1877. 



At a meeting of the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, 



held December 9th, 1876, the following resolution was 



adopted, viz., Resolved, that the gift of the "Hunters 



Cabin," in Fairmount Park, be accepted, and that the 



thanks of the Board be and are hereby returned to the 



donors. Attest: R. W. Robbins, Secretary. 



To Publishers of Forest and Steeam, 17 Chatham 



street, New York. 



OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. 



from our own correspondent. 



Washington, D. C, January 6th. 

 A national zoological garden— the public PARKS OS* 



WASHINGTON— GERMAN AND ENGLISH SPARROWS, ETC., 

 ETC. 



The noticeable improvements in the public squares of 

 Washington within the past five years have greatly added 

 to their attractiveness, and probably there is no city in the 

 Union to-day which can boast of a larger number of pub- 

 lic parks than the capital of the nation. Immediately 

 south of Pennsylvania avenue, the principal thoroughfare, 

 there is an unbroken park containing about 300 acres, ex- 

 tending from the Capitol to the President's house, a dis- 

 ance of more than a mile, which has been beautified to a 

 great extent, and is still being improved. Of course this 

 park will not compare to your Central Park in extent, but 

 there are about ninety public reservations throughout tfce 

 city, varying in size from half an acre to eighty acres, and 

 I doubt very much that any other city has such a large 

 number. The largest square is that surrounding the Exec- 

 utive Mansion, which contains 80 acres; Smithsonian 

 grounds, 52 acres; Capitol grounds, 48 acres; Monumental 

 grounds, 44 acres; and grounds around the Agricultural 

 Department, 33 acres; other smaller squares which serve to 

 make the continuous park between the Capitol and Presi- 

 dent's House contain from two to seventeen acres each. 

 Besides the above we have La Fayette, Franklin, Lincoln, 

 Farragut, McPherson, and other squares located in differ- 

 ent sections of the city, many of them filled with magnifi- 

 cent trees and kept in first-class order. 



I mention these fact8 for the purpose of showing that we 

 might have here a collection of birds and animals equal to 

 that of any other city; indeed there is abundant room for 

 a National Zoological Garden, wherein might be collected 

 at a comparatively small cost, within a few years, speci- 

 mens of American and foreign animals. Many of these 

 animals could be secured through the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tute, the army and navy, and other officers of the Govern- 

 ment while in the discharge of their regular duties, and 

 the cost would be trifling. Such a collection would not 

 only add greatly ti the attractions of the national capital, 

 now fast becoming the favorite winter resort for the whdle 

 country, but would be of immeasurable value to the stu- 

 dent of natural history. 



Gen. Babcock, the officer in charge of public grounds, 

 has repeatedly urged upon Congress the advantage of 

 making a small appropriation of $20,000 or $25,000 to es- 

 tablish a National Zoological Garden, but thus far his ef- 

 forts have been unsuccessful. He has frequently had of- 

 fered to him for the public grounds specimens of various 

 animals, but has had to decline them for the want of 

 means to properly house and care for them. A small ap- 

 propriation for the erection of necessary sheds, cages, etc., 

 for animals which could be collected would be of great 

 advantage. Franklin Square has two commodious cages 

 in it, one of which was erected two years ago for a large 

 American eagle presented to the Commissioner of Public 

 Buildings and Grounds by the President, to whom it was 

 sent from Wisconsin. Subsequently three fine specimens 

 of the same bird were presented by Sergeant- at- Arms 

 French, of the Senate, and placed in the same cage. 

 About a year ago one of the birds died, but the others are 

 doing well, and add to the attractions of that square. The 

 other cage containsseveral large owls, which attract quite 

 as much if not more attention than the eagles. In 1872 a 

 doe was purchased and placed in La Fayette Square; the 

 following year Mr. S. H. Kennedy of New York, present- 

 ed a handsome buck, and Mr. James H. Clements, of Vir- 

 ginia, a doe. The latter was placed in La Fayette Square, 

 but the buck had to be kept in the Government stable, on 

 account of having no suitable inclosure for him in the 

 public grounds. Last year a pair of prairie dogs were pre- 

 sented to Gen. Babcock and placed in La Fayette Square, 

 a proper wire inclosure having been constructed for them. 

 Bad luck seems to have attended the deer, as they all died 

 within a year or two; but another doe was presented by a 

 gentleman of this city, and is now in possession of Gen. 

 Babcock. That officer has no doubt of his ability to es- 

 tablish and maintain at the seat of government an attract- 

 ive Zoological Garden at a trifling cost, if authorized to do 

 so by Congress. 



Several attempts have been made by citizens to establish 

 a garden of this character as a private enterprise, but so far 

 they have been unsuccessful. An act was passed by Con* 

 gress in 1870 to incorporate the Washington Zoological So- 



