280 



RECREATION. 



had himself photographed in the past, 



standing by the side of a great string of 

 fish or by a reeking holocaust of game. 

 A pot hunter now might have his picture 

 thus taken, but a sportsman, in these days 

 of scarcity, would be ashamed to do so. 



I plead guilty to having, in my youth, 

 taken part in the brutal pastime known as 

 the "side hunt," where 2 parties start out 

 in the remorseless competition of destroy- 

 ing as much animal life as possible; a rab- 

 bit counting so many points, a prairie 

 chicken so many, a bluejay, blackbird, 

 (Tow and other birds all being scheduled 

 at a given number of points. A hunt like 

 this at the evening round-up shows a sick- 

 ening aggregation of unnecessary and un- 

 sportsmanlike slaughter. The sportsman 

 who would enforce the laws must obey 

 them himself and set a proper example to 

 the rising generation. 



I heard the other day of a dealer in 

 bogus butter, who, having been sentenced 

 to fine and imprisonment for his offense, 

 remarked, on retiring from the court room, 

 that he would not have minded his punish- 

 ment so much, but he disliked to be fined 

 for selling bogus butter by a judge who 

 wore dyed whiskers. 



In 1870 I crossed the plains when the 

 buffalo could be counted by the thousands. 

 A recent Indian massacre had occurred in 

 Colorado, and I was shown the fresh 

 graves of a dozen men by the roadside. 

 When the night came on and the stage 

 driver lit the lamps of our coach, so as to 

 make an especially good target for a hos- 

 tile arrow, or bullet, considerable of the 

 enioyment of the trip was taken away; but 

 I forget readily the discomfort of that part 

 of my journey, and remember with pleas- 

 ure the herds of buffalo, elk and antelope 

 that enlivened the scene. 



To-day I estimate the number of living 

 buffaloes at 400. Prof. W. T. Hornaday, 

 who is present, told me a few minutes ago 

 that his estimate was 600, and I would not, 

 for a moment, offer my judgment in con- 

 tradiction to such eminent authority on 

 this question. Thirty years ago a differ- 

 ence of 200 in the estimate of a number of 

 living buffaloes would have been too small 

 a matter for consideration, as that would 

 only be about enough to occuny some in- 

 dustrious and enterprising killer 2 or 3 

 davs; but to-day there are nearly as many 

 millionaires in this city as there are buffa- 

 loes in the whole world. The natural sug- 

 gestion is that Ave are getting long on 

 millionaires and short on buffaloes. 



The annihilation of the noblest of all 

 the American mammals is one of the 

 crimes of the TQth century. It tr>ok mil- 

 lions of years to evolve and produce this 

 splendid animal. He was especially 

 adapted to the hard life on the arid plains 



of the West. The cattle of the present 



day turn their tails to the wind and drift 

 hopelessly and helplessly with the course 

 of the blizzard. The buffalo turned his 

 head to the storm and fought it out with 

 nature, triumphing over the wind and the 

 cold for ages upon ages, finally succumb- 

 ing only to the breechloader and the butch- 

 er knife of the skin hunter of the latter end 

 of the 19th century. 



But you invited me especially to explain 

 the nature and scope of a bill introduced 

 by me in the House of Representatives, to 

 give national assistance to the preserva- 

 tion of what remains of our birds and 

 beasts. All States and Territories have 

 enacted laws in accordance with the pres- 

 ent enlightened public sentiment in this 

 direction. These laws have been nullified 

 by the pot hunter, who kills and traps the 

 birds and beasts for food for Eastern mar- 

 kets, or who destroys the insectivorous and 

 the song birds for the milliner. It seems 

 strange that from the beautiful hat of the 

 tender hearted woman the mummified bird 

 of song should look appealingly, with its 

 glass eyes, to the more tender heart of the 

 American sportsman for protection. Ap- 

 peals to the women by the Audubon socie- 

 ties thus far have been in vain. When on 

 the streets I meet young girls and ma- 

 trons with their kindly faces, and see the 

 aigrettes in their bonnets and hats, I can 

 not help feeling that these daughters of 

 Eve do not know how these feathers were 

 obtained. These plumes only grow while 

 the bird is rearing its young, and I believe 

 if most of the women who wear them knew 

 they were obtained by shooting the mother 

 on her nest they would be ashamed to keep 

 them, even in secret, much less to display 

 them on the public streets. 



The bill (H. R. 6,634) to which I direct 

 your attention gives the Secretary of 

 Agriculture power to introduce useful 

 wild birds of all kinds into localities where 

 they have become extinct, or in localities 

 where they have heretofore existed, but it 

 gives him power to prevent the introduc- 

 tion of injurious foreign varieties of birds 

 and beasts. 



Some time ago a gentleman conversing 

 with me on the subject of the English spar- 

 row, which has earned and deserves the 

 refutation of being a common nuisance, 

 called my attention to the danger of in- 

 troducing other birds of evil reputation, 

 and suggested to me that we ought by all 

 means to prevent the importation of the fly- 

 ing fox or the mongoose. He evidently re- 

 garded both of them as birds of bad repute. 

 In this appeal I have recognized that these 

 animals were vermin and ought to be ex- 

 cluded. The main feature of the bill, and 

 the one which will be found the most use- 

 ful, is that which prohibits interstate com- 



