10 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IFF.BPUAKT 5, 1880. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to FnSiD and Aqttatio Sports, Practical natural 

 History, Ftsh Oulture, the Protection op Game, Preserva- 

 tion of Forests, and the I ncuxcatton in Men and Womkn (w 

 x Healthy Ikteresx in Out-Door Becreatiom and Study ; 



PUBLISHED BY 



JPOBEST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY. 



— AX— 



No. Ill JTJI/TON STREET, NEW TORE. 



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NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5 3 1 



To Correspondents. 



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Dr, T, M. Brewer.— Our readers will learn with un- 

 feigned sorrow of the death of this well known naturalist 

 at his home in Boston, on the 23d inst. Thomas Mayo 

 Brewer was born in Boston, Nov. 21st, 1814, of a family 

 which had already become noted through the distinguish- 

 ed deeds of his grandfather, Col. James Brewer, who 

 was a prominent revolutionary patriot, and took an active 

 part in the " Boston tea party " of 1773. Graduated at 

 Harvard College in 1835, and in the Medical School in 

 1888, Dr. Brewer began the practice of a young phy- 

 sician, devoting hislcisure to the two seemingly discord- 

 ant subjects of general politics and ornithology. Saving 

 displayed marked ability as a writer, he was induced to 

 enter the newspaper profession, and for many years was 

 known as an influential leader of opinion ; and he was 

 subsequently equally active and prominent in the cause 

 of education. To those who may read this brief notice, 

 however, Dr. Brewer is best known as an ornithologist, 

 He was one of the young naturalists who were the com- 

 panions of Audubon, with whom his relations were of the 

 most pleasant nature. The great naturalist honored his 

 Boston friend by naming some new species of birds after 

 him. Shortly before Dr. Brewer's death he had prepared 

 a pleasant paper for one of the monthly magazines, con- 

 taining copies of several letters which he had received 

 from Audubon. Few of the men who knew Audubon 

 *re left. 



Dr. Brewer's standing as an ornithologist was very 

 high, and while abroad he everywhere met with a most 

 gratifying reception among the savants of Europe. As a 

 writer upon scientific subjects he has contributed works 

 of much value to American natural history. In 1830 he 

 edited a new edition of Wilson's Ornithology, preparing 

 for it a synopsis of all the North American birds then 

 known. He was the first authority in the country on 

 birds'* eggs ; the work entitled Oology of North America, 

 written by him in 1856, was a most elaborate publication, 

 undertaken by bhe Smithsonian Institute, but suspended 

 because of its great cost, fie wrote much of the bio- 

 graphical portion of the History of North American Birds, 

 prepared in connection with Messrs. Baird and Ridgway ; 

 and frequently contributed to the monthly magaeines, to 

 the Xuttall Bulletin, and to the FOKEST A*b Stream. His 

 pen had the happy gilt of popularizing the subjects 

 treated, and putting them in intelligent, form before the 

 general reader. The birds were his friends j when he 

 wrote or talked of their ways, eld and young unoon.- 

 ■>ciuii»ly twcame interested, too, 



A SHOCKING REVELATION. 



LITTLE by little we are gaining an insight into the 

 mode of life and habits of thought of the English 

 sparrow, and, painful as it is to be obliged to acknowl- 

 edge the fact, it must be confessed that, judged by the 

 morals of the present age, this bird does not appear to be 

 all that he should be. His quarreling and fighting with 

 his comrades, his driving off our native birds from the 

 parks and open places of our city, and the incessant clat- 

 ter and racket which the sparrow keeps up, might easily 

 enough have been excused or passed over ; for the first 

 two eccentricities we could have attributed to a mere 

 effervescence of animal spirits and love for excitement, 

 and the last may be only the sparrow's way of doing 

 what the ornithologists of a past generation used to call 

 l; hymning his Creator's praise." Yes, these were trifles ; 

 but what well-regulated American mind can refrain from 

 shuddering at the information which we print in another 

 column from Dr. Coues, the well-known friend of the 

 birds, that the sparrow is polygamous. Shocking, 

 indeed, is this news, and scarcely to be believed had it 

 come from any other source. The name by which it is 

 signed, however, compels our unwilling credence. Any- 

 thing but this could have been pardoned or overlooked, 

 but this is going a little too far. In no well-regulated 

 community can such a state of affairs be tolerated, and 

 we feel sure that Dr. Coues' announcement will cause the 

 anger of each moralist who reads it to burn hot against 

 the daring bird which has brought to the land of the 

 American Eagle, and practices under the Stars and 

 Stripes, such atrocious customs. 



The friends of the sparrow, if any still remain to him, 

 may feebly suggest in mitigation of his crimes that we 

 have native birds whose habits in this respect are no bet- 

 ter than those of the Passer domestwus. It is indeed 

 true that there are some of our game birds which are 

 very reprehensible in this regard, but they have, at least, 

 sufficient consideration for public feeling to practice their 

 wickedness in secret, withdrawing themselves to the 

 woods and fields, and thus avoiding so far as possible 

 human observation. The sparrow, on the other hand, 

 with insufferable impudence flaunts his immorality be- 

 fore our faces in the most fashionable streets of our 

 crowded cities. Besides, do not most of the readers of 

 Forest and Stbeam devote, during three months of the 

 year, every day that they can possibly spare to the pun- 

 ishment of these native criminals. The sportsman pur- 

 sues them with dog and gun, and, we regret to say it, the 

 farmer's boy snares them without mercy. Their car- 

 casses during fall and winter are hung up about our 

 streets— a dreadful warning to evil doers. 



But the villainy of the sparrow lias not yet been wholly- 

 revealed. Not satisfied with practicing his devilish arts 

 in this free land, and perchance corrupting the morals of 

 some of our weak-minded native birds, the sparrow is 

 sly. Hero he has been in the country some ten or twelve 

 years, and all the time an inhabitant of our cities and 

 exposed to constant observation, yet such is his infernal 

 cunning that up to the present time he had never been 

 detected in his nefarious practices. This is clearly 

 an insult to the intelligence and observation of our 

 ornithologists, and we shall be very much mistaken if 

 they permit it to pass without attempting at least a re- 

 venge, 



But if the state of things which has just been brought 

 to light affronts and shocks the moral sense of America 

 at large, with what feelings will the news be received in 

 Puritan New England? New England, where offenses 

 of tins nature have ever been visited with such terrible 

 penalties ; New England, where the man who so far fpr- 

 got himself as to kiss his wife on Sunday was punished 

 by law ; New England of the Scarlet Letter. Shall Ply- 

 mouth Eock, hallowed by so many sacred associations, 

 be polluted by customs imported from the barbaric 

 Orient, ? Shades of the mighty dead, forbid it ! 



The blood of the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers 

 will indeed boil with righteous indignation when this 

 last offence of the sparrows becomes known. Surely 

 from Maine to Connecticut no apologist will henceforth 

 be found for the sparrow, and we may expect that the 

 just wrath of an outraged public sentiment will now at 

 last expel the wicked bird from the land of the forefathers. 



In calling this matter to the attention of our readers 

 we are but fulfilling a plain duty, and we feel that we 

 can safely leave the matter to the public to deal with in 

 its own way. We are sure that the alarm and horror 

 with which Dr. Cooes' intelligence has been received by 

 us will be shared by all right-mi»ded people, and that 

 the favor with which the sparrow has hitherto been re- 

 garded by a portion of the community must now give 

 place to feelings of condemnation and disgust. 



—Col. J. J. Totl'ey, the Sheriff of Hudson County, N. J., 

 and recently elected, President of the New Jersey State 

 Sportsmen's Association is well fitted to fill the latter posi- 

 tion. The Colonel (no fancy title by the way) is an en 

 thusiastic. sportsman, an excellent shot and very popular 

 among the ',boys.*£ Col. Toffey subscribed for the first 

 numlier of the Forest a.nd Stream. 



HOUNDING DEER. 



THERE is no good reason to warrant or excuse the 

 continued existence upon our statute books of laws 

 which are ostensibly designed to regulate the killing of 

 deer, but which in reality give to self-styled " sportsman" 

 and market hunter full license to slaughter and exter- 

 minate. Possibly the most effective agency in producing 

 such laws is the ignorance of legislators who frame them. 

 All that the law-makers know — or think they know — 

 about deer, is what others, who profess to be informed, 

 tell them ; and if this information be of an inadequate or 

 purposely false character, improper legislation is the 

 result. 



The question of hounding vs. still hunting is one of peri- 

 odical and spasmodic recurrence at our State capitals. If 

 the merits of the case were set forth by the advocates of 

 each method, and so thoroughly and fully that dispas- 

 sionate and disinterested men could draw therefrom their 

 own conclusions, we should thereby have advanced a step 

 toward the proper solution of this vexed subject. We 

 have undertaken to secure such a comprehensive presen- 

 tation of the question. Without at present taking issue 

 on either side we have requested those interested to pre- 

 sent theh own case in the shape of replies to the follow- 

 ing questions. As our circulars may not have reached 

 some whose knowledge and long experience enable them 

 to give testimony worthy of consideration, we invite 

 them now to respond. The subjeot is one of sufficient 

 importance to merit careful consideration. 



So soon as it may be practicable we shall publish a full 

 summary of the correspondence. Game societies and all 

 others interested in securing sound game legislation will 

 find of most efficient service the Forest and Stream 

 material thus collected. The points upon which we have 

 asked our correspondents to give their personal knowl- 

 edge and opinion are these : — 



1st. What is the character of the country referred to? 



2d. What is the prevailing method of hunting ieer? 



3d. Describe, from vour own knowledge, hounding deer and i1s 

 effects. Does it drive deer out of the country ? 



■lth. Describe in like manner the practice of still-hunting. 



5th. What class of men 

 parties of sportsmen ?— n 



0th. Would you approve 

 Would the residents EtSSlS 



7th. Would you approve 

 bibltitfg the killing' or ca] 

 into the water? Moulds 



Ktb. What is the open 



II the most deer?- market hunters or 



dents or non-residents? 



if n law prohibiting hounding: deer? 



>['a lav,' permitting hounding, bill pru- 

 ning- of the deer after it lain been run 

 h a law be practicable V 



for deer t Do you approve of it? 

 Jf not, why? How would you alter it.- 



nth. What are the winter habits of doer, bo far as you bat e per- 

 sonally observed them '.' 



10th. Add anything else you may think pertinent to the discus- 

 sion. ^_ 



THE VALUE OF NAVAL DES1CN. 



IN a recent issue, a correspondent, "Corinthian," to 

 whom we are obliged for more than one interesting 

 and tersely put article from the standpoint of the ortho- 

 dox believers in beam and " practical " talent, takes ex- 

 ception altogether to the application of naval science to 

 the designing of vessels, and yachts more in particular. 

 As we know similar views to be in vogue among a. large 

 fraction of the public, these few lines will possibly serve 

 to cause them to reconsider what is generally a too hasty 

 assumption and a too radical conclusion on their part. 



The argument advanced by " Corinthian " is exactly 

 what all others of his way of thinking invariably fall 

 back upon when trying to support their side of the ques- 

 tion. But we are not prepared to admit that his argu- 

 ment will stand the application of fact or logic. In the 

 first place we are unwilling to acknowledge that all the 

 yachts turned out by famous builders of " natural intui- 

 tion " are either fast or a success. On the contrary, most 

 of the popular builders have launched monstrosities and 

 failures about as often as they have been fortunate iu hit- 

 ting blindly upon the right thing. We have no desire to 

 be invidious iu these remarks, and must ask "Corinth- 

 ian " and others to recall the list of yachts budt or mod- 

 eled by the gifted who work by inspiration and not by 

 reason — as our correspondent claims — and they cannot 

 fail to acknowledge the truth of these words. For our- 

 selves, we are not disposed to grant anything in the way 

 of inspiration, but think that even the most popular and 

 successful builders are engaged in solving by experiment 

 and logic the complicated problems of design after their 

 own fashion. Moreover, enjoying a pretty intimate ac- 

 quaintance with many builders, we may add that in so 

 far as they have reached definite and unassailable conclu- 

 sions, they will always be found to closely coincide in the 

 results of their reasoning or experimenting- with the pre- 

 scribed laws of modern naval science, On the contrary, 

 on those points where then- logic is open to criticism, we 

 find that builders disagree so radically among them- 

 selves, that the only inference to be drawn is that their 

 iinot be assigned to any assumed or supposed 

 know ledge or familiarity with the true laws of naval 

 science, but their fast vessels are to be attributed rather 

 to a faithful and comprehensive eye and a mind well 

 developed for the dissection and retention of "sweet' 



