4& 



RECREATION 



We went out with a lantern and the fox 

 was dead, Having, as you might say, rung 

 his own death knell. The old saying, 

 "As sly as a fox," does not seem to ap- 

 ply to this one. 



Boyd Ross, Ventura, Calif. 



GIVE US BACK THE BIRDS. 



In the seventeenth century the waters 

 of the Chesapeake, in autumn, were cov- 

 ered with a floating blanket of canvasback 

 ducks, swans and wild geese in numbers 

 beyond the most extravagant dreams of 

 the most notorious pot hunters. The noise 

 of wings when the birds rose from the 

 water was like the rumbling of an earth- 

 quake or the rolling of thunder. In the 

 eighteenth century these flocks were a 

 source of surprise and awe to the stranger. 

 In the nineteenth century and within the 

 memory of middle-aged men of to-day 

 there were still counted hundreds of water 

 fowl which visited the Chesapeake, and 

 incredible numbers of quails, doves, mock- 

 ing birds and other song birds filled the 

 adjacent fields, forest and farms. Now 

 that country is silent save for the hum of 

 destructive insects and the oaths of the 

 exasperated planters. Yet there are, here 

 and there, in copse and wood, stray song 

 birds enough to act as seed for bounteous 

 crops in the future, and enough wild fowl 

 are still killed each year, by the members 

 of clubs for the extermination of Ameri- 

 can animal life, to again stock the waters 

 with countless millions if they could be pro- 

 tected in time. 



Give us back the game, and let us again 

 be awakened each morning by the uncon- 

 trollable flood rA music from our native 

 song birds. 



Dan Beard, New York. 



TWO KINDS OF CABLES. 



I received the copies of Recreation 

 promptly; also several letters from my 

 wife asking why she did not hear from me. 

 She will understand when she finds I have 

 resubscribed to Recreation. It seems 

 like living again to have something good 

 to read. I have been trying to catch up 

 with the times by reading up on the bat- 

 tles you have been enjoying with the bris- 

 tled enemy and rejoicing in the hot shot 

 you have been giving them. That man at 

 Vancouver, B. C, especially, made me 

 weary. I can hardly believe Uncle Sam 

 really employs men of that stamp for the 

 position of collector of customs. It must 

 be he is just a clerk, or an office boy who 

 has slipped into the office and is practicing 

 on the typewriter and spoiling government 

 letterheads. I was feeling like writing a 

 letter of svmpathy to G. F. Webber, of 

 Detroit. Mich., who has an article in the 



February number, for having to bear the 

 same name that has such a stain cast upon 

 it, when, lo! and behold! I ran across your 

 roast on the man named Cable; so my pity 

 for G. F. has mingled with compassion for 

 myself. Please do not look with suspicion 

 on G. F. Webber and me for bearing the 

 names we do. We cannot help it, and we 

 wish to assure you there is nothing in a 

 name. The greatest liar I ever knew was 

 named George Washington. 



Geo. L. Cable, M. D., Matanzas, Cuba. 



Sioux Falls, S. D„ Aug. 15.— Will- 

 iam Dean and Herman Schulke, residents 

 of Hamlin county, have discovered to their 

 sorrow that the new South Dakota game 

 law, which is one of the most stringent in 

 the United States, is not to be trifled with. 

 They are the first in the State to suffer 

 under the section of the law which pro- 

 vides that any one seen driving or walk- 

 ing in the country with a dog or gun in 

 his possession during close season shall 

 be presumed to have violated the law, and 

 shall be punished by a fine and the confis- 

 cation of his weapons. Dean and Schulke 

 were seen in the country with their dogs 

 and guns, but had not, as far as could be 

 ascertained, killed any prairie chickens. 

 W. L. Johnson, game warden of Codding- 

 ton county, made complaint against the 

 men. They were arrested by Sheriff Kee- 

 gan, of Hamlin county, and taken before 

 Justice Boswell at Castlewood for trial. 

 The justice fined them $15 each and costs, 

 amounting in the aggregate to $25 each, 

 which they had to pay. Their shotguns 

 were declared forfeit to the State, and will 

 be sold at public auction to the highest bid- 

 der. — Minneapolis Journal. 



IDAHO NEEDS PROTECTION. 



If there be any game wardens or deputy 

 sheriffs in Idaho one should be posted at 

 the deer licks on Sulphur creek near 

 Bear valley. When B. A. Maxfield, of 

 Three Rivers, Mich., and I reached there 

 last August we found the hundreds of deer 

 that were 'always there before had bee* 

 killed or run out. Some low down gan# 

 hogs had built a log smoke house aiH 

 jerked venison for the market. Two 

 large salting vats were beside the smokv 

 house. Near by was a pile of carcasses 

 with the hides on. These they had tried 

 to burn. They had evidently saved the 

 horns. 



At various places in the surrounding 

 woods and marshes we found half car- 

 casses. The parties who did the killing, 

 I believe, are known. The meat was open- 

 ly sold in Boise, so I heard when there 

 last September. Why try to prosecute for 

 killing a few grouse or one deer out cf 



