
EDITORIAL 75 
We protest in the name of decency against any 
sort of fake which tends to mislead people on 
scientific matters. These cheats should all be 
individually exposed. 
NATURAL HISTORY 
is a serious subject and its study is so intimately 
connected with the very source of our own 
existence that no human has a right to trifle 
with it. Our old friend Wallace, the taxider- 
mist, who had a dark, mysterious shop where 
the Brooklyn Bridge crosses one of the small 
streets back of the Bowery, was an adept at 
making strange and curious animals, but he 
never attempted anything which would mis- 
lead any one with a rudimentary knowledge 
of nature. He made gorillas about ten or 
twelve feet high of bear skins, and they were 
fearsome creatures, but no one was expected 
to take these things seriously. They occupied 
the place in the taxidermist’s art that the cari- 
cature does in the illustrator’s art. Some of the 
taxidermists of to-day, however, are 
SKILLED COUNTERFEITERS 
and do not hesitate to palm off their ‘‘green 
goods” even on scientific societies. It would 
be a much less serious thing to the public in 
general if they would palm off counterfeit 
money, because the injury they do in progress 
and education cannot be measured in dollars 
and cents. But let not the reader put all the 
blame upon the few dishonest taxidermists. 
It would never have occurred to these men to 
prostitute their art had not a lot of head-hunters 
bribed them by offering exorbitant prices for 
record heads. 
While on the topic of city men let loose in 
the wilds, we might say that one 
RARE SPECIES OF CARIBOU 
has been utterly exterminated within the last 
few years. The mere fact that the range of 
this caribou was so accessible and that it carried 
a head and antlers of such beauty and sym- 
metry would lead one to suppose that the 
ordinary civilized man and sportsman in 
general would be chary about its total destruc- 
tion. But the Rangifer stonei was only dis- 
covered about six or seven years ago by Mr. 
_ Andrew J.Stone. Its habitat is on the Kenai 
Peninsula, and consists of a small range of 
bald hills which rise just above timber line. 
So small is the range that the hunter may 
traverse this whole district in two days’ hunting. 
Yet the fact remains that everywhere, em- 
blazoned (by himself) on the trees at the timber 
line, is the name of a well-known man who 
not only aided, but hastened, the extermination 
of these fine animals. In one of his camps a 
magnificent bull’s head, useless as a trophy, as 
it was im the velvet, was found at a time when 
these animals were reduced to one very small 
band. Yet this man is heralded all over the 
land as a Nimrod and is, apparently, proud of 
his record and the part he took in the extermi- 
nation of this unique species of caribou. 
‘We are convinced that the only thing that 
can stop such wanton destruction is to 
HAVE THE PUBLIC EDUCATED 
to a point where they will look with contempt 
upon such butchers who now pose as sports- 
men; and as a warning to the younger genera- 
tion, RECREATION states that no matter where 
a man commits his deeds of slaughter, whether 
it be in the Arctic Circle or in the Tropic Zone, 
at some time some other man will cut his trail, 
and while it may not be good taste for a maga- 
zine to publish the names of the pot-hunters, 
they may rest assured that the secrets which 
they considered buried in the wilderness are 
told to-day over the cigars in the clubs of all 
the big cities and their names are known 
to all those interested in real sport and ad- 
venture. 
In conclusion, it is refreshing to see that a 
healthy sentiment has already sprung up 
among real sportsmen, and that in one of the 
Western States a man, of his own accord, ap- 
peared before a magistrate and asked to be 
fined for an infraction of the game laws which 
he had committed some time previous. The 
astonished magistrate was accommodating, 
the man paid his fine of $39 and went his way 
to sin no-more. 
THE GUN MAKERS ARE GAME PROTECTORS. 
It is a mistake to suppose that the manu- 
facturers of arms are not in favor of game pro- 
tection. These people all know that the sale 
of their goods is largely dependent upon the 
abundance of game, and they are, one and all, 
enthusiastic supporters of all laws made for 
the protection of our wild creatures. Many of 
the arms people are themselves sportsmen and 
thoroughly understand the necessity of stringent 
legislation for the protection and preservation 
of the game they so dearly love to hunt; besides 
which, they are all of them wise business men 
or they never would have made the great 
success they have in their trade, and, being 
wise, they know that it is to their own 
financial interests that the game should be 
preserved. 
