10 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Fiem? and Aquatic Sports, Practical Natural Bistort 

 Fish Culture, tijk Protection of Qamb, Pkksek vatic n >u- Pobebtb 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women of a Healthy I 

 in i)i t-Doos Recreation and Studt: 



PUBLISHED BY 



forest mid jftewf publishing (f^otngang. 



— AT— 



NO. Ill (old No. 103) FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 

 [Post Office Box 2833.] 



TERMS, FOUR DOLLARS A YEAR, STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. 



Twenty-flve per cent, off for Clubs of Three or more. 



Advertising Kates. 



Inside pages, nonpareil type, 86 cents per line ; ontside page, 40 cents. 

 Special rates for three, sus and twelve months. Notices in editorial 

 columns, 50 cents per line. 



No advertisement or business notice of an immoral character will be 

 received on any terms. 



%* Any publisher inserting our prospectus as above one time, with 

 brief editorial notice calling attention thereto, and sending marked copy 

 to us, will receive the Forest and Stream for one year. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 1877. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, intended for publication, must be ac- 

 companied with real name of the writer as a guaranty of good faith, 

 and be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Company. 

 Names will not be published If objection be made. No anonymous con- 

 tributions will be regarded. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions. 



Nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that may 

 not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



Wo cannot be responsible for dereliction of the mail service if money 

 remitted to us is lost. No terson whatever is authorized to collect 

 money for us unless he can show authentic credentials from one of the 

 Undersigned. We have no Philadelphia agent. 



S&~ Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES IIAUr,OCK, Editor. 



T. C. BANKS, S. H. TURRILL, Chicago, 



Business Manager. Western Manager. 



CALENDAR OF EVENTS FOR THE COMING 

 WEEK. 



Thursday, Aug 9.— Trotting: Hudson, N. Y.; Propnttstown, 111.; Tis- 

 kilwa, 111.; Sullivan, 111. Base ball : Cincinnati vs Chicago, at Chicago ; 

 Louisville vs St. Louis, at St. Louis ; Manchester vs Maple Leaf, at 

 Guelph, Canada ; Buckeye vs Allegheny, at Allegheny; Resolute vs 

 Stowe, at Meriden, Conn.; Louisville vs Milwaukee, at Milwaukee; 

 Rochester vs Wtlkesbarre, at Wilkesbarre, Pa. Creedmoor: Infantry, 

 6th Brig., 2dDiv. Scull race between Hosnier and Drlscoll, 



Friday, Aug. 10.— Trotting : Prophetstown, etc., as above. Base ball: 

 Hartford vs Boston, at Boston; Louisville vs Milwaukee, as above; 

 Rochester vs Wilkesbarre, as above; Resolute vs Waterhury, at Watfer- 

 liiuy. Conn.; Montlcello vs Osceola, at Jersey City; Enterprise vs Vol- 

 unteer, at Ponghkeepsie. Creedmoor ; Infantry, 11th Brig , 2d Div. 



Saturday, Aug 11.— Running meeting; at Saratoga. Base ball: Hart- 

 lord vs. Boston, at Boston ; Cincinnati vs St. Louis, at St. Louis ; Louis- 

 ville vs Chicago, at Chicago ; Resolute vs Innependent, at Norwaik, 

 Conn.; Star vs Quickstep, at Greenville; Magnolia vs Continental, at 

 Prospect Park ; Arlington vs Alaska, at West Brighton ; Enterprise vs 

 Active, at Wappinger's Palls. Creedmoor : Practice. Scottish-Ameri- 

 can Athletic Club games, Virginia City Caledonian Club games. Glass 

 ball shoot at New York. 



Monday, Aug. 13.— Running meeting, as above. Base ball : Cincinnati 

 vs St, Louis, at St. Louis ; Louisville vs Chicago, at Chicago. Creed- 

 moor : Cavalry, 1st Biv. 



Tuesday, Aug. 14.— Trotting : Lowell, Mass., Warwick, N. Y.; Pltts- 

 fleld, Mass.; Gardiner, Me. ; Mendola, III. Running meeting, at Sara- 

 toga. Creedmoor: Practice of American Team. Rowing: Dole vs 

 Brown, at Providence. Regatta of South Boston Yacht Club. 



Wednesday, Aug. 15.— Trotting, as above. Running meeting, as above. 

 Creedmoor: Third competition for Ballard mid-range rifle, N R. A.; at 

 2;30 p. m., Stock Exchange Rifle Club competition for the bronze Na- 

 tional Association medal. Regattas : National Association of American 

 Oarsmen, at Detroit, Mich.; Cliampionship Race of Quincy Yacht Club, 

 off Mear's Hotel, Quincy Point, Mass. 



Thursday, Aug. 16.— Trotting, as above. Running meeting, asabove. 

 Creedmoor: Infantry, 11th Brig., 2d Div. Regatta, at Detroit as above 

 Albany Caledonian Club games. Glass ball Championship tournament, 

 at Brooklyn Driving Park. 



— With this issue begins the fifth year and ninth volume of 

 the Fop.est and Stream. The object of this paper has ever 

 been to promote a heathful interest in outdoor recreation, and 

 cultivate a refined taste for natural objects. At no time has 

 the paper been so strong as at present. In its enlarged form, 

 and with the careful attention paid to subjects which come with- 

 in its scope, it is emphatically the journal of the American 

 Sportsman and naturalist. 



; » ■»■ -■ _ 



Ajrotio Exploration.— Capt. Howgate's Arctic expedition 

 left New London Aug. 4th for the^Polar seas. 



TriE Massachusetts Game Law.— Iu our. issue of July 26 

 we published a letter from Mr John P. Ordway. respecting 

 the defects of the law as it now stands, and the response from 

 Mr, W. Minot, Jr., as appeared in the Boston Globe. Dr. Ord- 

 way replies as follows : 

 To the Editor of The UMc : 



Sir— My attention has just, been called to a, letter from Win. 

 Minot, Esq,, published in your paper of the 23d inst., assum- 

 ing that the present, game law is, although very defective- 

 sufficient to convict, from the fact that the birds being in pos- 

 session out of season is prima facie, evidence, find throws the 

 whole burden of proof on the offender. *But does Mr. M. 

 assume that prima fade evidence is positive evidence? and 

 does he not know that in almost every ease of possession the 

 birds have been expressed from one place to another, so that, 

 the buyer is warranted in saying they came from Rhode 

 Island, or Connecticut, or some other place, and could not 

 swear they were killed iu Massachusetts? There tire so many 

 ways of evading the law in its present shape, that, as I stated 

 in my former letter, it is, in my opinion, virtually good for 

 nothing. The eighth section of the game laws undoubtedly 

 gives power to obtain a warrant from'any judge by the com- 

 plaint stating that persons have woodcock or quail in posses- 

 sion, but the misfortune is that the first section states where the 

 birds must, have been killed in order to convict. I consider 

 Mr. Minot an excellent lawyer, and should be pleased to have 

 him try a few cases, but am afraid he would spend his time 

 and talents in trying to convict without avail. He can prob- 

 ably find the birds on sale in almost any provision store where 

 game is kept, and if he thinks the eighth section a saving 

 clause, I trust he will put the matter to a lest. Charles Hal- 

 lock, Esq., editor of the Eoeest and Stream, in his latest 

 issue, says: " The Massachusetts law is certainly defective, 

 and should be altered, if intended at all to accomplish its pur- 

 pose." As one of the executive officers of the Massachusetts 

 Fish and Game Protective Association, acting upon the 

 opinion of several legal friends, I should not personally feel 

 willing to risk the. reputation of our society by obtaining wars 

 rants under the present law. John P. Ordway, 



Pres. M. F. and G. P. Association. 



[Mr. Ordway is undoubtedly right in this matter, and as be- 

 fore intimated, we consider it a disgrace, that the Common- 

 wealth of Massachusetts passes a law that allows her residents 

 to cross her borders and violate the enactments of other States 

 with impunity. He who crosses the line into contiguous 

 States and kills woodcock out of season is safe when he returns, 

 to Massachusetts, by simply proving that the game was not 

 killed within her boundaries, consequently the law as it now 

 stands encourages crime. — Ed.] 



— An epidemic of some kind is prevalent among the deer on 

 South Mountain, Pa. Several have been found dead and 

 others found with bodies drawn up, cramped and almost bent 

 double. 



Who Killed the Bird. — The following solution is offered 

 for this too often difficult problem : 



Request the disputants to assume, as near as possible, the 

 positions they held while tiring, and then place the bird with 

 wings extended at about the distance it was from them when 

 flushed. This forms a triangle, and by examining the bird 

 examine the point where the shot entered, and the bird be- 

 longs to the man on the side of the bird where the shot enter- 

 ed. This method is very simple, and by its use I have many 

 times performed the '-'role" of peacemaker. Wrxo Shot. 



San Diego, Gal. 



Killing Birds qui of Season. — Under this caption the 

 Marshall (Tex.) Tri-Weekly Herald of July 26 publishes the 

 following: 



Waxahachte, Team, June 28. — Young prairie chickens 

 are in season, and fishing splendid. If any of the New 

 York boys will come out next fall 1 will show them how to 

 kill buffalo.— Forest and Stream. 



"We are at a loss to understand how a paper professing to be 

 a sportsman's journal can be induced to publish such a con- 

 tribution as the above. The Forcxt and Stream may possibly 

 fall into the hands of some would-be sportsman who, as likely 

 as not, would take for Gospel what the Waxabachie pot-hunter 

 (endorsed by one of the leading sportsman's journal of the 

 country) says, and the death of a few half-fledged grouse 

 would probably be the result. We unfortunate.]}- have no 

 game law in Texas, or our Waxahachie friend would in all 

 probability be languishing in the calaboose— but it is, we 

 think, hardly necessary -to assure sportsmen of any section of 

 the country that chickens (grouse) are not in season in June 

 in Texas (or any other State), and even if they were, that the 

 heat on the prairies is so intense, and water so scarce, that it 

 is almost impossible to get any shooting worthy of the name 

 before September at the very earliest. Such paragraphs as 

 the above are, unfortunately, far too common in our sporting 

 papers; and if, instead of gratifying the ambition of this class 

 of contributors by allowing them to see their trashy effusions 

 in print, the editors of these papers would give them the snub- 

 bing they so richly deserve, they would receive the. thanks of 

 sportsmen generally, and, to a certain extent, be doing their 

 duty. 



[We take great pleasure in promulgating the HeraWs ideas, 

 and since our Texas friends feel worried over their shortcom- 

 ings and our own, we trust that they will take measures that 

 will induce the Legislature of the Lone Star State to enact 

 suitable laws towards the protection of game. We necessarily 

 print many items that we do not indorse, and we supposed 

 that the readers of the Forest and Stream had by this time 

 obtained a pretty fair sample of our opinions regarding the 

 protection of game. If we stopped to score all the notes 

 like the one quoted by the Herald it would keep us pretty 

 busy, for although we do not publish a tri-weekly paper we 

 find the week sufficiently short for our purpose.— Ed.] 



Nova Scotia, Halifax.— After September 1st 1877, the game 

 laws as applied to Moose and caribou are as follows : 



1. After Otis Act Mian come into operation, no person shall kill. 6r 

 pursue with intent to kill, any moose or caribou, save only during the 

 months of October, November, December and January, m any year, or 

 shall expose for sale, or have in his possession, any green moose or 

 caribou skin, or fresh moose or carimio meat, or any part of the- carcass 



ofantooseor caribou, killed in this Province, except iu the months 

 aforesaid and the first, five days of February in any year. The po 

 sn.n of any green moose or caribou skin, or meat, or any part of the 

 carcase of a mno.se or caribou, during the close season shall be. pre- 

 sumptive evidence of such moose or caribou having been illegally killer! 

 or taken. * & 



2. No one person, or number of persons forming a hunting party, 

 s.iiul. during any one year or season, kill or take more than three moose 

 am] live caribou. 



3, Any person or party of huntsmen who may kill a moose or oari- 

 1h.ii shall carry the ilesh ihereof out, of the wo,',. is within t-n da'. - 

 killing the animal, exeepl as regards moose or caribou killed in 



ter part of January, which must, lie curried out within the lirst live days 

 of February. 



s. No person shall set. any snare or trap or pits, for the destruction 

 of moose or caribou, under a penalty of one hundred dollars for each 

 olTeie-e ; and any person finding such snare or trap mar destroy the 

 same. The possession of any such snare or trap shall lie presumptive 

 evidence of the intention of the person iu whose possession it is found 

 to set the snare for the destruction of moose or ca.riin.iii. 



Section 27 will be of particular interest to the citizens of the, 

 United States who are wont, to hunt, iu this province. It 

 reads as follows: 



No person riot having his domicile in the Province of Nova ; 

 shall be entitled to the privileges granted In the name laws in force in 

 such Province lor [he time being, without haviugllrsi obtained a license, 

 from the otllce ot the Provincial Secretary. Kvery such license shall 

 be signed by the Chief Game Commissioner and countersigned by 

 the Provincial Secretary or his Deputy, and shall lie in force for one 

 year from the first day of September in each year, and shall be su, , , 

 to the enactments of the game laws in force in the Province at the time 

 ■nse is granted. The fee to be paid therefor into the Provincial 

 Secretary's office shall he twenty dollars, and the fund derived from 

 fcnJs source shaU be applied toward the expenses, incurred in earring 

 out the provisions of the game laws. 



Any person violating tfos section shall bo liable to a penalty of not 

 i: i ' iwemy dollars or more thau fifty dollars for each offense, in 

 &i All "H to the license fee, and costs of prosecution to be recovered iu 

 the manner in-escribed by section eleven, and. when recovered, to be 

 paid one-half to the prosecutor and the other half into the Provincial 

 Secretary's office, to be applied as hereinbefore' provided. Officers in 

 Her .Majesty's service, oilleers of the Army and Navy on service In thiR 

 en, shall be entitled to the privileges of the. game laws of the Pro- 

 vince on the payment of an annual fee of five dollars into the Provincial 

 iry'B,offlce, for which they shall obtain a license for the period 

 specified. Holders of licenses granted under the provisions of this Act 

 must produce the same when required so to do by any Justice or the 

 Peace, Game Commissioner or "Warden, or officer of the Game and In- 

 land Fishery Protection Society. 



— Of two poachers recently discovered on the game pre- 

 serves of Baron' Rothschild, at Orsy, France, one was im- 

 mediately shot dead by a keeper, and the other, having 

 slightly wounded one of Ms captors, was sentenced to twenty 

 years in the galleys. And all for a hare ! 



Death op Royal.-- We regret to announce the death of 

 Captain James Esdaile, of Montreal, at the early age of thirty- 

 two years and six months. Mr. Esdaile was a thorough 

 sportsman, iu the true acceptance of the term, having an ex- 

 cellent knowledge of the habits of wild animals, birds and 

 fish, its well as the mode of capturing them. He was a 

 valued contributor of this journal, and ever foremost in the 

 rank of game protection. A warm friend and genial com- 

 panion, his death causes a void that cannot again be filled. 



GAME BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



EfEOPEAN QUAIL. 



FOR several years gentlemen in this vicinity, who are in- 

 terested in the. preservation and propagation of game, 

 have been discussing the practicability of introducing some 

 new species of game birds into New England. When we con- 

 sider how few yve have of really game birds — birds that will 

 lie to and are hunted with dogs— and these few growing 

 fewer and fewer every year, the reason for this solicitude 

 will be obvious. If we name partridges (Bonasa umbellus), 

 quail (Ortyxvirgmianus), woodcock (Plrihhda, minor) Wilson 

 snipe ( GulUnago witeoni), we have enumerated about all that 

 are worthy the attention or consideration of sportsmen. 

 There are a few other species, some of which will lie to a dog, 

 that arc occasionally admitted to bag; but to a true sports- 

 man, who enjoys the manly and invigorating exercise of the 

 field, they offer very little satisfaction, Among the indiffer- 

 ent birds, the spruce partridge (Canace canadensis) which in- 

 habits the northern pai;t of New England, is of good size, and 

 will sometimes lie to a dog, but are not numerous. Their 

 home is a great way off from sporting centres, in a region 

 where there are very few other game birds; are difficult to 

 shoot, shying about in dense spruce or hemlock forests, and, 

 gastronomically, are of no account, nor are they often on sale 

 in our markets. 



We have at times several species of the rail family, but 

 they arrive late and depart early, are here during the hottest 

 weather, are fotmd only in reedy bogs or filthy sloughs where 

 no sportsman likes to go ; and although most game dogs will 

 point them, they have no dignity of character, and while the 

 dog honestly thinks he has game, the little Rallus is running, 

 swimming, diving, flying — anything to sneak away and puz- 

 zle his pursuers until he is far over the bog or thick reeds, 

 beyond reach, or, if reached, is a poor reward to dog and man, 

 and in this latitude is almost never hunted "per se." Further 

 south they are more abundant, and one may fill a bag or boat 

 as he pleases. 



Along some of the hill-tops or valleys of New England one 

 occasionally meets with a very delicious bird, the upland 

 plover (Actiturm bartramuu), but they will not lie to a dog 

 or anything else, are very wary, will respond to no call note 

 or decoy, and are hardly to be considered game birds iu the 

 sense we have indicated. 



There arc a few other birds that are sometimes shot, among 

 them the meadow lark (Sturmlla magna), which most any 

 bird dog will point ; but the bird will he as well to a man or 

 cow as to a canine ; nor are they regarded as very gamy. 



Snipe shooting is, we believe, everywhere regarded as very 

 fine sport, than which, in some sections of the United States, 

 none is better. In New England— more particularly iu the 

 northern and eastern parts— none is however, more uncertain 



