204 



RECREATION. 



case you never hear from me again; fol- 

 low Recreation, be true sportsmen, and I 

 will meet you all again in the happy hunt- 

 ing grounds. 



Old Leo, Atkinson, 111. 



DEFENDS THE COCHRAN PARTY. 



In your May issue of Recreation on 

 page 371, in an article entitled "Weak- 

 kneed Justice," your correspondent quotes 

 a news item which appeared in the daily 

 papers last fall as coming from Richmond, 

 Va., and some caustic comments by your 

 correspondent and yourself follow. 



That item contains a gross misstatement 

 of facts. I was a member of the hunting 

 party referred to. The facts are these: 

 Senator Cochran and his friends were in- 

 vited by Mr. Howard to hunt over certain 

 lands which belong to a well known gen- 

 tleman of Middlesex county, Va. The 

 party were the guests of Mr. Howard and 

 a member of the family of the owner of the 

 lands. A part of this land had been leased 

 by the owner to a man by the name of 

 Burton for farming purposes, but reserv- 

 ing to the owner and his friends the risrht 

 to hunt on these lands. The party hunted 

 one day on these lands and were found 

 there by Mr. Burton, who swore out a 

 warrant against them for trespass in hunt- 

 in? on posted lands. 



That was the case which was before 

 Squire Davis at Saluda. The production 

 of the lease and the evidence of the fact 

 that the party were there as guests of the 

 owner of the land, who also possessed the 

 right to hunt over the same for himself 

 and his friends, caused Squire Davis to 

 discharge the defendants. The party were 

 not shooting frame out of season, as the 

 season for quails was then open in Mid- 

 dlesex county, Va. ; and they were rot 

 charged with shooting eame out of season. 

 All of the party are law-abiding citizens, 

 as well z.s good soortsmen. An inauiry at 

 Saluda or any other part of Middlesex 

 county will confirm mv statement of these 

 facts. 



John G. Reading, Williamsport, Pa.. 



NOT LAWFUL TO KILL ROBINS. 



I am an old reader of Recreation and am 

 in full sympathy with your good work. 



Some friends claim that should a robin 

 be found eating their cherries they would 

 have legal right to kill the bird and that it 

 would be impossible to convict a person for 

 so doing. Is that the fact? 



H. C. Howard, Groton, N. Y. 



ANSWER. 



There is a law on the statute books of 

 this State prohibiting the killing of robins at 

 any time and under any circumstances. 

 There is no provision in this statute in 



favor of a man who owns a cherry tree or 

 a grape vine. It is true that robins and 

 other birds sometimes eat fruit, but a man 

 has a mighty small soul who would be- 

 grudge one of these birds a few cherries 

 or grapes. At other times of the year 

 these same birds are busy eating the bugs 

 and worms off the fruit trees and grape- 

 vines and out of the corn fields and wheat 

 fields. It is estimated that each insectivor- 

 ous bird consumes one bushel to 2]/ 2 

 bushels of bugs and worms in the course 

 of its life. In spite of this there are 

 men everywhere so stingy, so utterly ig- 

 norant, and oblivious to the beauties of na- 

 ture and to the rights of dumb creatures 

 that they would kill robins and meadow 

 larks and even mocking birds for carrying 

 off even one cherry from their trees. — 

 Editor. 



MICHIGAN NEEDS LAW AGAINST 



FERRETS. 

 J. Niffenegger and one Clark, whose 

 first name I do not know, killed 47 rabbits 

 in 3 hours. They used a ferret and a 

 hound. Niffenegger is owner of a market 

 here and a member of the city council. 

 No attention is paid to the game laws. 

 Quails were shot a month after the season 

 closed. 



M. P. C, South Haven, Mich. 



I wrote Niffenegger and here is his re- 

 ply: 



We did get 47 rabbits but it took us 

 longer than 3 hours. Rabbits are getting 

 well cleaned up ; it is hard to catch more 

 than 10 or 15 a day now. 



J. Niffenegger, South Haven, Mich. 



Unfortunately there is no law in your 

 State to prohibit the use of ferrets in hunt- 

 ing rabbits, but I hope your Legislature will 

 enact one at its next session. Meantime I 

 will be glad, the next time you go nosing 

 round a rabbit burrow and stuffing your 

 dirty rodent into it, if some fellow will get 

 a drop on you and fill your clothes 

 full of B B shot. No law that is ever like- 

 ly to be enacted will be drastic enough to 

 fit such a case as yours. The only means 

 of inflicting proper punishment on such 

 swine as you is either the shot gun or the 

 horsewhip. — Editor. 



LAW DOES NOT EXEMPT PROSPECTORS. 



Would it not be well to mention in 

 Recreation that orospectors are subject to 

 game laws like the rest of us? Recrea- 

 tion is widely read in the West and I know 

 of no better way to disseminate the in- 

 formation. The srenuine prospector usu- 

 ally attends to his business and does not 

 bother the ?ame ; but other parties, believ- 

 ing prospectors exempt under the game 



