162 
with them. These men used swivel guns, 
and 4 bore and 8 bore shoulder guns until 
stopped by law. Let us now bring them 
back again by law, to the double barrel gun 
of 10 bore or smaller. 

GAME LAW BREAKERS CONVICTED. 
State Game Protector. J. E. Overton, 
Port Jefferson, N. Y., has just completed 
a successful year’s work in the enforcement 
of the game and fish laws, and in punishing 
law breakers. I have had occasion to re- 
port several cases to him during the year, 
which have been brought to my attention, 
and which for various reasons the League 
could not prosecute. Mr. Overton has fol- 
lowed all these to a finish, and has bétn 
successful in convicting several of the men 
in question. 
Here are some extracts from his report 
to the Commission at Albany: 
Rufus Morris, netting in Pelham Bay, 
fed ie 5s BAS SUE ae ee $25 
Andrew Joslin and Frank Cegal, kill- 
ing deer out of season...........--- 100 
H. V. Schmeelk, taking oysters illegal- 
By. Sis ts tare. ote ies es ee guessed 50 
Haight and Wright, offering gulls for 
S018 Us PEAR! Ce ORE I 25 
John Minugh & Co., selling pike and 
pickerel out of season and without 
ewaae Woes c ee eek oie ea ee. 125 
Carl J. Recknagle, having Bald Eagle 
ith. POSHOBRIG oo eres ys 3 FT. eet 35 
Flint Smith, killing bittern, sentence 
suspended 2c. ng. tes sha wewces — 
John F. Nagel, Ed. Bedell, Benj. 
Churchill and Clifford Clark, shoot- 
ing ducks from launch.............. 20 
Arthur Nolan, Geo. Nolan and Frank 
Bennett, same offense ............. 45 
Wm. L. Young and Albert Wend, same 
Obemae {Ak aceon ds sakes kim Ort 6 30 
Ferdinand Downs, same offense ...... 25 
Max Single, shooting at a deer on pro- 
tected grounds, «sis >-muuen poe seeee 10 
Mr. Overton has several other cases 
pending in the courts, and altogether he has 
made an excellent record for himself— 
EpITor. 

ANOTHER WESTERN EDITOR CONDEMNS 
IT. 
An automatic shot gun is the latest alleged im- 
provement in the way of fire arms. The Win- 
chester Arms company is about to manufacture 
a shot gun which any decent and self respecting 
sportsman ought to be ashamed to use. RECREA- 
tion, for November, describes this automatic gun 
as follows: 
“A gun with a magazine holding a number of 
cartridges which may be discharged as fast as a 
man can pull the trigger. The shooter jumps 
a bunch ms quails, ducks or geese, cocks his gun 
and fires. The recoil of the first shot throws 
out the empty shell, and throws a new one into 
the chamber and cocks the gun, ready for another 
RECREATION. 
shot. From that on, all the shooter has to do 
is to swing the muzzle of his gun from one bird 
to another and pull the trigger until the last shot 
is fired. Pistols built on this plan hold 7 to 10 
cartridges, and it is possible to fire all of them 
in less than 2 seconds. The magazine of an auto- 
matic shot gun, holding 6 cartridges, could be 
emptied as quickly, and if the shooter were an 
expert, as many of the game butchers are, it would 
be possible to kill 10 or more birds out of a covey 
before they could get out of reach.” 
Laws have been passed in all the States and in 
all parts of the civilized world for the protection 
of game. The Winchester automatic shot gun is 
designed to work unwarranted butchery among 
birds and small game. A sportsman could not pride - 
himself on his ability as a gunner if he went 
duck hunting with one of these repeaters. The 
most stringent game laws in the world would be 
ineffective to preserve the species of wild birds 
that remain in this country if the use of these 
automatic guns became general. A sentiment ought 
to be aroused against the use of such a gun 
strong enough to discourage the gun makers from 
placing it on the market. No sell seboedae hun- 
= would ever use one.—Tacoma, Wash., Daily 
ews. 

The practice of using postage stamps for 
small remittances in the mails has grown 
to enormous proportions. The result is 
that the Department loses heavily, not only 
because of improper sales by postmasters 
for that purpose, thereby increasing their 
compensation wrongfully, but in imposing 
on postoffices, especially in the large cities, 
the labor of handling mail matter the rev- 
enues from which are derived by other 
postoffices. It encourages trafficking in 
postage stamps, and this encourages the 
robbery of postoffices. Many plans have 
been proposed for obviating this evil, but 
none which have come to my attention 
equal in simplicity, effectiveness and eff- 
ciency, the post check proposition. With 
such a simple means of making remit- 
tances, merchants would soon be compelled. 
to refuse postage stamps as currency. The 
postage stamp would then lose its value for 
the purpose of remittance. This system of 
transmitting money in the mails should be 
authorized, at least in an experimental way. 
I hope readers of RECREATION may see fit 
to write their Congressman urging this. 


I frequently get a partial description of 
some bird, with a request for identification. 
I am always glad to give information of 
any kind. to any reader of RECREATION ; but 
it is difficult to identify a bird without a 
complete description of it. In fact it is 
better to have the skin of the bird; or at 
least the head, wings and tail. I do not 
mean by this to encourage the killing of 
birds for the mere sake of finding out what 
they are; but if you kill a bird and then 
want to know what it is, it would be well 
to skin it carefully, so it can be mounted, 
and then if no one in your vicinity can 
identify it send me the skin and I will re- 
turn it to you with the information desired. 
