480 



RECREATION. 



that the informant in cases ©f violation of 

 the law should receive one-half the fines. 

 This moiety system is objectionable to many 

 good men, but on the other hand it has its 

 advantages. As a rule, no man likes to 

 complain of a neighbor. If he does so, 

 he takes the chances of incurring the ill will 

 of his neighbor and perhaps of suffering in- 

 jury as a result. It is only fair and right 

 that he should be compensated to some ex- 

 tent. Furthermore, there are many good 

 friends of game protection who are poor, 

 hard working men, and who can not afford 

 to lose the time necessary to prosecuting an 

 offender, unless they can be compensated 

 for it. Hence the moiety system seems an 

 absolute necessity in such cases. As soon 

 as I learned of Governor Terrell's attitude 

 in the matter, I wrote a personal letter to 

 each member of the League in Georgia, 

 urging him to take up the matter with the 

 Governor and importune him to approve 

 the bill. Our Georgia members acted 

 promptly on this suggestion, and as a re- 

 sult the Governor approved the bill. Thus 

 Georgia has a good game law. 



There are men everywhere who say the 

 L. A. S. is a pet scheme of mine ; that I am 

 doing this work for personal gain and all 

 such rot. I am willing, however, to endure 

 all sorts of abuse as long as we can occa- 

 sionally score a victory like this. 



THE ALASKA SALMON FISHERIES. 



President Jordan, of Stanford University, 

 and Dr. Barton W. Evermann, in charge 

 .of the division of Scientific Inquiry of the 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, have returned 

 from Alaska, where they spent 3 months 

 studying the salmon fisheries and the condi- 

 tions under which they are carried on. 

 They were accompanied by a number of 

 assistants and had the steamer Albatross 

 at their disposal. They visited all the sal- 

 mon canneries and salteries except those in 

 Cook inlet and Prince William sound, 

 which had finished their pack and closed 

 down before the Albatross could reach 

 them. 



It is understood that the present regula- 

 tions governing the salmon fisheries are 

 not satisfactory, and that Doctors Jordan 

 and Evermann will recommend a number 

 of important modifications. 



The salmon are unquestionably decreas- 

 ing in abundance and the fisheries can be 

 saved from depletion only by artificial prop- 

 agation on a large scale. The commission 

 will therefore recommend the establishment 

 of a number of government salmon hatch- 

 eries. They will urge the necessity for 

 careful study of the many salmon streams 

 and the habits of the 5 species of salmon, 

 also the rigid inspection of the methods of 

 the fisheries, canneries, and salteries, 



AND IT CAME TO PASS. 

 In the February, 1901, number of Recrea- 

 tion I said : 



The proposition to restock the Adiron- 

 dacks with moose is extremely visionary. 

 It would be easy enough to buy 10 or 20 

 or even 50 moose and turn them out 

 there, but they would no doubt speedily 

 share the fate of the one that is sup- 

 posed to have escaped a few months ago 

 from Dr. Webb's preserve. There are a 

 lot of vandals in the Adirondack region 

 who pose as guides, and any one of whom 

 would kill a tame cow if he thought he 

 could get away with the meat without 

 being caught. These men would soon 

 clean up any number of moose the State 

 might favor them with. 

 The State did buy a number of moose 

 and liberate them in the Adirondacks. 

 Several of these animals have been found 

 dead, as well as some of the elk which 

 Mr. Whitney turned out there. And lest 

 you forget, I say it again : Why cast pearls 

 before swine? 



A colony of gray squirrels has been living 

 in New York Zoological Park until last fall, 

 when most of them moved across the Bronx 

 river, outside the lines of the park. There 

 they were set upon by a lot of savage boys 

 and men, armed with shot guns and rifles. 

 The brutes pursued the little pets until al- 

 most the last one was killed. Some of the 

 men are known to have killed as many as 

 10 squirrels, and though the police pretend- 

 ed to be alert no arrests were made. A man 

 or a boy who would kill a gray squirrel 

 under such conditions would steal his 

 grandmother's spectacles and sell them. 



Columbus Buell, of Batavia, N. Y., went 

 fishing in April last and caught about 30 

 trout. Four of those he took home were 

 under the legal size. Game Warden F. E. 

 Taggart lit on Buell as he wended his way 

 homeward, inspected his basket, found the 

 fingerlings, took Buell to court and the 

 judge assessed him $55, a big price to pay 

 for 4 little trout. 



I am informed that Jas. Boultin and 

 George Cowfer, of Hautzdale, Pa., on Sun- 

 day, April 19, were caught fishing for trout 

 in Trout run, by members of the Osceola 

 Gun Club. When arrested and taken be- 

 fore Squire Sandford, of Philipsburg, they 

 pleaded guilty and were fined $30.60 each. 

 Served them right. 



Dr. William C. Kendall, of the United 

 States Bureau of Fisheries, spent last 

 summer and fall studying the rivers and 

 lakes of Maine. He has in preparation a 

 report on the fishes of Maine which the 

 Bureau hopes to publish soon. 



