FROM THE GAME FIELDS. 



287 



ttr? Go ask Henry's fork and Snake 

 r ver, and don't bother me with fool ques- 

 tions. 



Now for the rest of your little anecdotes. 

 I never took a party on a lion hunt; I 

 never knew a man named Pierce; and 

 there has been no one named High Liver- 

 more at the lake since '81. 



To conclude, as the parson says, I sign 

 what I write. I don't get behind a grizzly 

 cr any other beast and call names. 



M. P. Dunham, Ovando, Mont. 



RECREATION DOES THE WORK. 



I like your system of warfare against the 

 game hogs, as exhibited along the firing 

 line in Recreation, better and better as 

 time passes. If ever I can be of the least 

 assistance to you, just press the button 

 and I will endeavor to do the rest. If 1 

 should not succeed in accomplishing any- 

 thing it will be through inability to do so, 

 and not because of any lack of willingness 

 on my part. 



Recreation has worked a great change 

 in public sentiment in regard to the pro- 

 tection of birds and game of all kinds. 

 This is everywhere apparent, and great is 

 the rejoicing thereat among the intelligent 

 people. Take this town, for instance. A 

 few years ago a pot hunter might kill 

 game out of season or destroy song birds 

 at any time, and nothing would be done 

 or said about it. To-day the person who 

 indulges in that s )Vt of pastime will quick- 

 ly find himself in the buttermilk; and will 

 be politely invited to pay sundry shekels 

 for his fun in shooting the robin that ate 

 his cherries, or the grouse that was not 

 legally ripe. 



Go into any of our millinery stores at the 

 present time and inquire what has become 

 of the piles of birds' wings and feathers 

 which have until lately been seen in the 

 windows, and the proprietors will tell you 

 with many frowns and grimaces indicative 

 of profound disgust that ''the cranks have 

 kicked up such a fuss over the wearing of 

 birds, that sort of trimming has gone out 

 of style." Of course, public opinion, that 

 mighty power for reform, has frowned 

 on the style, and in this frown dies a bar- 

 barous and degrading custom. All honor 

 to the cranks! And the Editor of Recre- 

 ation is the biggest of the lot! The birds 

 know these people, and sing for them their 

 choicest songs; for these little feathered 

 creatures ask nothing but to be let alone 

 as they flit about, gathering their rations of 

 insects and doing their share in preserving 

 Nature's balance. 



You say certain sportsmen's papers are 

 accusing you of using the L. A. S. to boom 

 Recreation. Well, that's all right! It 

 seems to me that all members of the 

 League ought to stand by the magazine 



that is working to preserve the game so 

 that a man can be a sportsman. Some of 

 the sportsmen's journals furnish pleasant 

 and interesting reading, but I don't call to 

 mind any of them :hat ?re pitting in any 

 hard licks in the cause of game protection. 

 A. L. Vermilya, Columbiavlile, Mich. 



DOMESTICATING WILD PIGEONS. 

 I enclose clipping from the Milton Rays. 

 The wild pigeons referred to were taken 

 from the nest when 3 days old. Their food 

 has been yolk of egg, hard boiled, rubbed 

 up in mortar with milk, and given with a 

 dropper. There is a small flock of these 

 birds near the mouth of the Lamoile river. 

 E. A. Frost, Milton, Vt. 



The clipping referred to is as follows: 



E. A. Frost has a pair of young, wild pigeons that he is 

 having the best of success m raising, as they are strong 

 healthy birds and are growing rapidly. The pigeon has 

 been supposed by many to be extinct or nearly so, and 

 such publications as Recreation have referred to them as 

 a bird of the past. It seems, however they are appearing 

 again in some localities, but in diminished numbers. These 

 birds were taken from the nest when quite young and 

 added to Friend Frost's collection. They bid fair to grow 

 up to useful pigeonhood. A small colony has nested in 

 Milton for several seasons and we are informed that those 

 who knew their resting place have wisely refrained from 

 killing the birds or allowing others to do so. 



I wrote Mr. Frost, urging him to give 

 or sell his captured pigeons to the New 

 York Zoological Park, telling him they 

 would there be placed in a large flying 

 cage and thus restored to almost their 

 natural conditions. Mr. Frost replied as 

 follows: 



I do not care to part with them at pres- 

 ent, but if I decide later to dispose of them 

 I will donate them to the N. Y. Zoo Park 

 with great pleasure. I will try to procure 

 a pair for that purpose, but these pigeons 

 are so tame and such great pets that I wish 

 to keep them. 



This coirespondence I referred to Mr. 

 W. T. Hornaday, director of the park, 

 who writes me: 



This is good news indeed. I hope Mr. 

 Frost will succeed in raising his captive 

 pair; also in protecting the wild ones. 



STOP SPRING AND SUMMER SHOOTING. 

 The summer season for woodcock shoot- 

 ing in the Keystone State opened July 1 si 

 and will continue throughout the month, 

 when the season will be closed until Octo- 

 ber 15th, the opening of the regular fall 

 hunting season. I, for one, am strongly op- 

 posed to shooting woodcock in the sum- 

 mer, and earnestly hope that all sportsmen, 

 especially those who love to wander 

 through the solitudes of the wooded 

 swamps, with gun and dog, eagerly listen 

 ing for the whistling whirr of wings and 

 Avatching for the plump, brown outline of 



Philohcla minor, gliding swiftly through the 



