EDITORIAL WANDERINGS 



409 



suing happiness in search of game and fish. 

 It is the dream of some of the moneyed few, 

 that the European idea of private game pre- 

 serves with no public shooting or fishing 

 shall be inaugurated in this land. Fortun- 

 ately for the rest of us this tendency, like 

 the people who advocate it, has paresis at one 

 end, gout at the other, and Bright's disease 

 in the middle. 



Nevertheless, the dream will be realized 

 unless we watch and guard our rights and 

 privileges. The law long ago decided that 

 all the things attached to the ground belongs 

 to the landlord, but the courts have not yet 

 ruled that the creatures who inhabit the land 

 are the property of the landlord, and the read- 

 ers of Recreation must see to it that no such 

 ruling is ever made. 



OUR WEALTHY FRIENDS. 



A word to oiir wealthy but 'thought- 

 less friends. You are constantly complain- 

 ing that it is impossible to bring the "muck- 

 ers" and farmers to a proper and respectful 

 observance of the game laws, and there are 

 no doubt good grounds for this statement ; 

 but you who complain are responsible for the 

 rebellious state of mind on the part of the 

 "muckers" and farmers. By your own ar- 

 rogance and disregard for the rights of others 

 you have conveyed the impression that the 

 game laws are made for you alone, and did 

 we so think, we would join the "muckers" 

 and poachers in their rebellious regard for 

 what they think to be class legislation. 



One of Recreation's most difficult tasks is 

 the effort to counteract these erroneous im- 

 pressions regarding the game laws. 



All Americans have an equal right to ths 

 American game, and in using the term Ameri- 

 can it is intended for the whole continent 

 and not for that portion included within the 

 imaginary lines which bound the United 

 States. 



We advance this self-evident proposition 

 not to create discussion, but as a firm, rock- 

 bed foundation upon which to base our laws 

 for the preservation of game and fish, a 

 foundation at which neither the farmer, 

 trapper, poacher, or even the multi-million- 

 aire can cavil. 



Drive this idea into the heads of the public, 

 teach them that they have a proprietary right 

 in these things and they will take a personal 

 interest in upholding the game laws. 



We do not mean that there will not always 

 be law breakers, but the law breaker will then 

 belong to the same class as house breakers 

 and common criminals, and not include other- 

 wise respectable law-abiding citizens. 



PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 

 Public sentiment is much stronger than any 

 enacted law, and a law which is not backed 

 up by public sentiment, and the outgrowth of 



it, is necessarily inoperative. For years the 

 Audubon Society has been at work building 

 up a sentiment for the preservation of harm- 

 less birds, and according to the Millinery 

 Trade Review, the promiscuous slaughter of 

 birds, especially those of the songster variety, 

 for the decoration of women's headwear, is 

 gradually ceasing, as nearly all milliners are 

 now encouraging the use of plumage plucked 

 or shed from live birds. This season the plu- 

 mage utilized will be ostrich feathers and 

 those from the Bird of Paradise. Both va- 

 rieties of plumage can be secured without 

 murdering the birds themselves. Quills, too, 

 will be largely used, particularly those of the 

 argus and other birds of the pheasant type. 

 The male members of the pheasant family 

 are always decked with magnificent plumage. 

 The pheasant, while classed with the game 

 varieties, is extensively domesticated, and 

 therefore its plumage generally can be secured 

 without violence to the bird itself. When 

 wings of the pheasant appear upon hats, of 

 course it will be understood the bird was 

 killed during the game season. 



Owls' heads will also again be brought for- 

 ward. This is possibly a mistake, as there is 

 no more inoffensive or useful bird than the 

 owl. His hoot may not be pleasant, nor yet 

 his stare very agreeable, but he commits no 

 acts detrimental to the interest of humanity. 

 The woman who wears an owl-head upon her 

 hat should understand that while the bird is 

 proverbial for wise looks, it has less brains 

 than any other member of the feathered tribe. 

 But more than the man who killed it and the 

 voman who wears it. 



The Millinery Trade Review's remarks are 

 most encouraging, and are the direct result o-f 

 public sentiment. Just as soon as the public 

 begins to look with horror on these grewsome 

 ornaments just that soon will all women 

 utterly refuse to wear dead and dismembered 

 birds on their hats. We are sorry to see 

 that this looks like an intention by the 

 Review to deceive its readers where it speaks 

 of the plumage from the Birds of Paradise 

 and says it "can be secured without murder- 

 ing the birds," which would imply that the 

 birds were caught alive, plucked and allowed 

 to go free, when the fact is these birds are 

 killed and skinned for the trade, and are 

 being rapidly exterminated by the plume 

 hunters. The imported pheasants and 

 ostriches are now practically domestic fowls, 

 and as such do not particularly interest us. 



FARMER OR MUCKER? 



Here is an extract from the Henry (111.) 

 Republican, which shows in what contempt 

 men, who are not classed as either muckers 

 or farmers, hold the game laws : 



Deputy Game Warden Trunk was in 

 the city recently, looking after certain 

 violations of the .State game law and by 



