
THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN SPORTSMEN. 
and was rapidly diminishing the fish in our 
mountain streams! If he was correct in 
any particular it probably referred to the 
kingfisher. Probably many who read this 
warden’s startling articles supposed he knew 
something whereof he spoke, but such 
was not the fact. Thus are erroneous ideas 
sometimes perpetuated, and I believe that 
much of the crime laid at the bluejay’s 
door is the result of prejudice, and will not 
be borne out by investigation. Mr. R. H. 
Beck, of Berryessa, Cal., has examined the 
stomachs of a number of jays and reported 
that the principal food found was acorns. 
Such systematic investigation is the only 
way by which we can get at results. 
If quails have become scarce I do not 
think the bluejay has had any more to do 
with it than the change of the moon. When 
the balance of nature was adjusted centu- 
ries ago the bluejays were doubtless a part 
of the animal creation, and until recently 
no one has ever thought of charging up 
the scarcity of quails to this source. The 
case is somewhat a parallel of the recent 
one in which it is attempted to charge the 
seals and sea lions on this coast with de- 
stroying the salmon. The fishermen are 
doubtless the real cause in the latter case, 
and, with the quail, the pot-hunter will be 
found much more of a menace than the 
bluejay. The latter are bold, noisy fellows, 
to be sure, but they lend-life and sound to 
many a deep canon which might otherwise 
seldom be awakened from its deep gloom. 
I quote from ‘Farmers’ Bulletin No. 
54; issued by the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture in 1897, and entitled “Some 
Summer Birds and Their Relations to Ag- 
riculture.” It says: ‘In an investigation of 
the food of the bluejay, 292 stomachs were 
examined, which showed that animal mat- 
ter comprised 24 per cent. and vegetable 
matter 76.per cent. of the bird’s diet. So 
much has been said about the nest-robbing 
habits of the jay that special search was 
made for traces of birds or birds’ eggs in 
the stomachs, with the result that shells 
of small birds’ eggs were found in 3 and 
the remains of young birds in only 2 
stomachs. Such negative evidence is not 
sufficient to controvert the great mass of 
testimony on this point, but it shows that 
the habit is not so prevalent as has been 
believed. Besides birds and their eggs, the 
jay eats mice, fish, salamanders, snails and 
crustaceans, which altogether constitute 
but little more than one per cent. of its 
diet. The insect food is made up of beetles, 
grasshoppers, caterpillars and a few species 
of other orders, all noxious except some 
3% per cent. of predacious beetles. ‘Thus, 
something more than 19 per cent. of the 
whole food consists of harmful insects.” 
Shall we not, therefore, give the blue- 
jay his due? 
C. Barlow. 
. get up and away. 
473 
TO STOP THE SALE OF GAME. 
Editor RECREATION: 
There is some strife here with regard to 
game laws and the protection of game. 
But little game comes here in the fall, and 
then we have market hunters who live on 
the lake and make a business of hunting as 
long as they can make a cent. Some of 
them use 2 guns on birds before they can 
I should like to see the 
shipping and selling of game stopped. 
That is the only way to save our game. 
A party of some 8 went from here to 
Texas, and report that they kill ducks and 
geese there the year round. While in Sa- 
bine Pass one man brought in 105 ducks 
killed in half a day, and another man 
claimed an average of 125 a day. It is 
a shame that after protecting the game 
here it should be slaughtered in the South 
all winter by market hunters. 
Texas is a good State for the L. A. S. 
to work on. I would join the L. A. S. 
or any other league if it could only stop 
the sale of game. 
C. A. Coorey, Lowell, Wis. 
ANSWER. : 
You say you would be willing to join 
the L. A. S. if it could stop the slaughter 
of game in the South, and the sale of game 
there and elsewhere. 
These are the primary objects for which 
the league was organized and for which its 
officers are working diligently all the time. 
We are doing a great deal more work in 
the interest of the Western and Southern 
States than we are on behalf of the Eastern 
States: 2 
We have little game left to protect, here 
in the East, and so our efforts are aimed 
mainly at the West and South. 
Do not wait for the League to effect this 
reform before joining, but join now and 
help us with this work. Your dollar and 
your moral support will be of material 
benefit to us. In numbers there is 
strength. 
We have already 31 members in your 
State and have organized a working di- 
vision there, with the Hon. Jas. T. 
Drought, of Milwaukee, as chief warden. 
He is doing active and aggressive work 
throughout the State, in creating public 
sentiment in favor of game protection, and 
you and every other sportsmen should be 
glad to aid him to the small extent of $1, 
EDIToR. 

A PROFESSOR FINED. 
Professor R. B. Moore, of the Missouri 
State university, and 7 of his students 
went to Brevoort lake in the upper penin- 
sula of Michigan last July and went into 
camp. On the 29th of the month 2 of the 
boys, Herbert Haaz and Eugene Kultcher, 
were on the lake in a boat when they saw 
