THE GAME BREEDER 



117 



his father, who was then the active head 

 of the New York Journal of Commerce. 

 Thus he was launched on the beautiful 

 sea as a writer. In time he became the 

 pilot of the New Haven Register, Journal 

 of Commerce, Chronicle and Sentinel, 

 Royal Gazette, St. John Courier, the 

 Telegraph and the Humorist. Many arti- 

 cles that appeared in Harper's Magazine 

 were written by him. Later he became 

 the founder of Forest and Stream. Sev- 

 enteen copyrighted books have been pro- 

 duced from his pen. The various articles 

 he wrote for magazines and daily papers 

 would fill about fifty-five volumes if 

 compiled. 



As a poet he deserves more than usual 

 observance, for such poems as "An Ode 

 to the Man," "New Year's Call," a paro- 

 dy on "Marco Bozarris," and the legend 

 of "Kill Devil Hole'" claim him as their 

 author. 



But he did not allow his love of the 

 pen to confine him to indoor life. Many 

 are the black bass, crappie, salmon and 

 trout that have succumbed to this master 

 of the rod. 



It was on these frequent ramblings 

 that he gained his wonderful comprehen- 

 sive knowledge of life that knew no roof 

 other than the heavens. "The Sportsman 

 Gazetteer," "Our New Alaska," "Peer- 

 less Alaska" and "The Salmon Fisher" 

 owe their existence to the information 

 and experience gathered on these 

 jaunts. 



Many a sun will set before there ap- 

 pears another mortal who will carry to 

 his grave the love, the blessing, the good 

 will and the true sportsmanship of 

 Charles Hallock, the nucleus of outdoor 

 sports. — Sportman's Review. 



THE MIGRATORY TREATY BILL. 



Alexander Innes Shand, a talented 

 English writer, in his chapter on "Cook- 

 ery of Ducks and Geese," says : "When 

 Audubon was at St. Louis in 1843 the 

 market there was swamped with both 

 ducks and geese. These geese sold at 

 ten cents apiece ; the canvas backs went 

 at a shilling a couple. We have no such 

 good luck with them in our little sea- 

 girt islands where they come from the 



bleak north as birds of passage and have 

 to forage casually for a precarious live- 

 lihood." 



It is significant, however, that the 

 English markets are kept full of wild 

 fowl at moderate prices ; that thousands 

 of market gunners are permitted to 

 shoot and trap and market migratory 

 wild fowl and that it is deemed necessary 

 in the United States to spend millions 

 of dollars annually in the effort to keep 

 such food out of the markets. 



The "little sea-girt islands," an area 

 which is small indeed when compared 

 with any one of our larger States. The 

 population of the little islands is far 

 greater than many of our larger States; 

 but the people have cheap migratory 

 wild fowl just as the people in America 

 have oysters and fish. 



The area of the feeding grounds and 

 waters in America are tremendous when 

 compared with such areas in the "little 

 sea-girt islands." It cannpt be said that 

 the migratory wild fowl which are 

 abundant and cheap in the island markets 

 are reared or bred on preserves. Mr. 

 Shand in the sentence quoted above says, 

 "They come from the bleak north as birds 

 of passage," just as the migratory fowl 

 come to the United States from the north. 



. We think before the United States 

 makes the American wild fowl a "football 

 of politics" it would be well to have a 

 Congressional investigation of the entire 

 subject. In the meantime the people will 

 get some food in the markets which are 

 open. 



The creation of a new army of game 

 officers may seem to be good politics but 

 we believe it would be wise to defer the 

 migratory bird treaty bill until Congress 

 can be advised why it is that wild ducks 

 and wild geese should be removed from 

 the markets of Washington and other 

 cities, which still permit the .sale of such 

 food, when the food always is abundant 

 and cheap in foreign markets. 



The State Department easily can pro- 

 cure the figures showing the prices in 

 the markets of the "little sea-girt islands." 

 There are plenty of naturalists in .\mer- 

 ica who should be able to explain why it 

 is that the migratory fowl can be safely 



