Jan. 38, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



T recall a sultry September evening, when my hammock 

 was slung on the border of a Green Mountain forest. 1 

 was listening to the melting notes of a white-throated 

 sparrow, when my ear caught a tar away rushing breath- 

 ing sound, followed by a smothered thud. I had read 

 with strange fascination, Thoreau's account of the fall of a 

 tree on a still night in the forest; but I had never before 

 beard it for myself. 



A weird and strange sound it is, breaking in on the sultry 

 stillness. I fancy that the ponderous hemlock,when smitten 

 with age and decay, scorns to yield to the tempest s tury, 

 With which it has'battled and been victorious for a century. 

 But as he feels that the time draws near when his aged 

 frame must yield, his topmost branches wave gently for the 

 last time in the soft breezes of sunset. As the evening hush 

 and stillness fill the air and only the stars look down he 

 relaxes the bold of his gnarled roots upon the soil or allows 

 the decayed fibers of his trunk to give way. The great bulk 

 sways, totters, and with a sad sigh goes rushing dowu to its 

 final resting place in the forest mould. But anon the wood 

 nymphs shall come and transform death to life, and the 

 fallen trunk shall grow green with fern and moss and 

 orchid. ' . 



The stroller who walks in the darkness must see with his 

 feet to keep from stumbling. He must feel his way along 

 the path and beware of hills and hollows. But when the 

 moon sheds its silvery light on field and wood, walking is 

 easier. The moonlight is a picture of daytime painted by an 

 1 imaginative artist. Like the orb from which it comes, it is 

 | half darkness. However bright the one side of tree or rock 

 appears, the other is hid in mysterious shadow. Objects in 

 . the distance, too, are only seen in faint and uncertain out- 

 line. These dim places are blanks for the imagination to 

 fill with fanciful maybes. Bright moonlight is deceitful.; it 

 turns the commonest objects to gems. In it every dewdrop 

 is a star, and the sand of the road is full of shining dia- 

 monds. 



There are lights celestial and lights terrestrial, and though 

 the latter be feeble compared with the former, they are by 

 no means devoid of interest. Camped on the edge of a 

 swamp in early summer, I have watched for hours the fire- 

 flies in their mazy dances; and as far as the eye could reach 

 all was a field of flashing sparks. 



i There is will o' the wisp, too, that strange uncanny phos- 

 ■ phorence that has frightenel superstitious people for ages, 

 and given rise to many a ghoulish legend or ghostly tale. 

 But while camped with a coast survey party on one of the 

 peaks of the Green Mountains, I witnessed a light whose 

 fairy-like beauty eclipses even the sparkling dance of the fire 

 flies. Three of us one afternoon took a walk to the nearest 

 vUlasre for supplies and mail. Our supper we carried with 

 us, and at a point of the road which we judged we should 

 reach by meal time on our return journey, we hid the lunch 

 in a raspberry thicket. Unexpectedly delayed we did not 

 return to the spot till the darkness of a sultry, cloudy, dog 

 day night had settled around us. We knew the locality by 

 the bare branches of a dead tree near by, and now began a 

 . hunt for the hidden parcel, but the first oue who parted the 

 bushes gave an exclamation of delight. "1 have found 

 Fairyland," cried he, and bade us look for ourselves. Down 

 under the rank growth, from decaying branches and twigs 

 and leaves, sparkled and shone a thousand little gems of 

 light. So might the lights of a great city appear to the ob- 

 server in a balloon miles above. What possibilities did the 

 imagination conjure up, of elves and gnomes, whose haunts 

 we might be viewing, of a microscopic fairyland whose 

 miniature beauties our eyes were too gross to discern. Nor 

 had we perceived all that our eyes were capable of seeing, 

 for now, as we looked closer, we saw that under our feet, all 

 around us, and even in the mud, of the road, the faint lights 

 shone. 



So absorbed were we in this enchanting illumination that 

 for a time, our missing package was forgotten. But the 

 hungry man of our party resurrected a match from a pocket 

 which he had overlooked in his previous search, and by its 

 light discovered the precious supper. I had often before 

 noticed decayed wood glowing with a faint phosphorence, 

 but never had I seen such an illumination from the forest 

 mould. Nor was it confined to that spot. All thereat of 

 the way to camp we walked upon a luminous pathway, and 

 in the thick underbrush about us, millions of glowing lights 

 that yet gave no light, formed an enchanting and never to 

 be forgotten picture. 



Strange and weird are the sights and sounds of evening! 

 They have bred superstition, fable and mysticism; but in 

 our more enlightened days they have an enchantment over 

 the mind that, shorn of folly, leaves but a sweet peace. 



And slowly a weariness comes over us. Happy is he who 

 knows the perfect repose that comes to the healthy dweller 

 in tents, bight and sound fade to dim visions and whis- 

 pers; and, on the wings of faint imaginiugs, the soul floats 

 into that blessed dreamland where bright fancy reigns su- 

 preme,- where all our hope3 and wishes, though long since 

 vanished in the mist of years, shall come back to us gratified 

 at last. Charles Whiting Baker. 



Winter Snipe in Colorado. — Yesterday, while taking 

 a little jaunt on snowshoes with Mr. Slaymaker, a promi- 

 nent, attorney of this place, we ran across two Wilson's snipe, 

 both of which we killed. Is it not usual to find them in this 

 section, especially in the winter time when the thermometer 

 ranges anywhere from 20° to 30° below zero? We are 

 located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, at an elevation 

 of 9,500 feet above sea level. When we first started the 

 snipe they were feeding along the edge of the ice on a branch 

 of the Animas River.— R. V. R. S. (Silverton, Col., Jan. 

 10). [It is not very uncommon to find Wilson's snipe in the 

 Rocky Mountain regions in the coldest winter weather in the 

 neighborhood of warm springs when there is open water and 

 soft mud in which they can feed. As we have frequently 

 remarked, the birds do not seem to care for the cold if only 

 they can get enough to eat.] 



Birds and Bonnets,— Washington, D. O, Jan. 18,— 

 Before furnishing the "Philadelphia correspondent," who 

 "wishes to know of a heronry within 150 miles of that city," 

 with the information which he desires, would it not be well 

 to ascertain the purpose for which be seeks this information? 

 Possibly he may be one of the unconscionable villains who 

 "feather their nest" with heron plumes. I hope to see your 

 editorials, concerning the nefarious business of slaughtering 

 bird3 for their feathers, extensively copied in the newspa- 

 pers throughout the country, but have little hope that any 

 considerable public sentiment can be aroused against the 

 business,— P atoka. 



English Sparrow as Egg Robber.— Shepherdstown, 

 West Virginia, Jan. 20.— Editor Forest and Stream: I have 

 taken and read carefully every line you have published since 

 your first issue, and must say that while other publica- 

 tions of the same sort give an outline, you always give us 

 the most complete information in regard to the sports we 

 love so well. Hence I send to you for the information of 

 all sportsmen, the following in regard to the English spar- 

 row : Last spring I found a partridge (quail) nest with thir- 

 teen eggs in it. The old hen was sitting upon her treasures 

 when a colony of sparrows discovered her nest, and it was 

 not six hours before the little scoundrels had robbed the nest 

 of every egg, and not only robbed the nest of its eggs but, 

 under my own eyes, had eaten every one of them. I also 

 witnessed the same flock of sparrows trying to break their 

 way into some hen's eggs that were left in the nest as "nest 

 eggs," but they were frightened off by the hens, else, I have 

 no doubt, the birds would have succeeded in eating them. 

 I have also seen the rascals wait patiently upon an old hollow 

 pear tree for the northern sap-sucker to leave her nest, 

 when they at once invaded her snug nest and robbed it of its 

 eggs, which I saw them carry to the eaves of our house and 

 devour at their leisure. I have been watching these little 

 robbers for some years, and have come to the conclusion that 

 they are the cause of the scarcity of quail in the Middle 

 States. I would be glad to see some heroic measures taken 

 to exterminate them. I am now watching a flock of spar- 

 rows and will let you know how they subsist through the 

 winter.— E. D. Bowles. 



An Albino Quail.— Yesterday Mr. H. C. Davidson re- 

 ceived a white partridge, which was lulled last Tuesday near 

 Union Springs. It was presented to Mr. Davidson by Col. 

 D. F. McCall, who says it is the second white partridge 

 killed in the vicinity of Union Springs. The strange bird 

 is perfectly white, without a colored speck or feather. It 

 will be preserved as a curiosity by Mr. Davidson. — Mont 

 gomei*y (Ala.) Advertiser. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS DINNER. 



A BOUT eighty members and guests of the Massachusetts 

 xjl Fish and Game Protective Association gathered in the 

 large dining-hall at Parker's last Tuesday evening to enjoy 

 their annual dinner, President E. A. Samuels of the asso- 

 ciation acting as master of ceremonies. Among the guests were 

 Lieutenant-Governor Ames, Hon. J. Q. A. Brackett, Speaker 

 of the House of Representatives; Senator W. H. Tappan, 

 of Essex; Representatives A. N. Doane, of Harwich; C. C. 

 Smith, of Springfield; B. O. Atkins, of Provincetown ; Cor- 

 tez Allen, of Westport, and Isaac Young, of WellHeet, and 

 Fish Commissioners George W. Riddle, of New Hampshire; 

 Herbert Braiuard, of Vermont; E. G. Blackford, of New 

 York, and E. A. Brackett and E. H. Lathrop, of Massachu- 

 setts. 



Very appropriately, the menu was largely made up of fish 

 and game, elegantly served; and its discussion occupied a 

 long two hours. 



In his address, preliminary to the after-diuner speeches, 

 President Samuels said : Massachusetts, though far in the 

 van iu many ways, though she is and long has been the pre- 

 ceptor and model for other States in many things, is far in 

 the rear of all of them in her laws for the protection of her 

 game and birds. Our people are not yet sufficiently educated 

 in right and wrong to obey our law, indulgent, too indulgent 

 as it is. The calls made upon us usually demand instant 

 attention. Complaints are made that certain dealers in 

 Suffolk or Essex county are selling short lobsters ; that other 

 unprincipled persons are selling quail or woodcock or grouse 

 at illegal times; that poachers are seining Weymouth and 

 Milion rivers, destroying the smelts by wholesale ; that other 

 poachers are killing deer illegally in Plymouth county; aud 

 others in Barnstable county, iu defiance of the law, are 

 slaughtering sea fowl with battery and sneakbox. All these 

 calls upon us are urgent, and in responding to them we are 

 obliged to spend our money and time without stint. As 

 this work is done all over the State, its very diffuseness 

 seems to prevent it from receiving the prominence and 

 recognition that it would receive were the labor done in 

 much more restricted territory, and for this reason we do 

 not receive from well-wishers and friends that pecuniary 

 assistance and encouragement which is often given other 

 bodies whose doings are more noisily heralded. The work 

 we have done the past year has been very considerable. 

 What we have done we have done well, and i believe that 

 we have convinced the poachers that the old Massachusetts 

 Association not only still fives, but also that it is attending 

 strictly to business. I have said that our law for the protec- 

 tion of our game and birds is a weak one; that section 

 which relates to our song and insectivorous birds, our 

 warblers and sparrows, and, in fact, all our native small 

 birds, is simply atrocious. By its provisions almost any 

 person can easily obtain a license to kill these birds, and so 

 that he claims he is doing it for scientific purposes, there is 

 no limit to his privilege of destruction. It is by these holders 

 of licenses, largely, that the ten and hundred of thousands 

 of our native songsters are annually destroyed to be sold 

 and used for women's finery. This provision of our existing 

 law could hardly be framed so that it would give our birds 

 less protection, and it should have been expunged from our 

 statutes long ago. On several occasions, both in and out of 

 debate, have I heard members of the Legislature complain 

 that our association comes to the General Court year after 

 year, using up its time in "trying to have the game laws 

 tinkered." JMow it did not occur to those complaining gen- 

 tlemen that instead of casting an odium upon us they really 

 were giving the Legislature not the very best reputation for 

 intelligence or sincerity of motive ; for we have brought an- 

 nually such convincing proof, such abundant evidence that 

 our present law is a bad one, that the committee always has 

 reported a new bill; sometimes embodying what we have 

 suggested, sometimes not, but invariably recommending 

 something that should take the place of the existing law, 

 and the Legislature has failed to adopt it. Among the 

 persons who opposed us last winter were market gunners and 

 a few commission game dealers. The former struggled for 

 the repeal of that provision of our law which says that pos- 

 session of game during illegal times is prima facie evidence 

 of illegal killing. You know and they knew that the 

 moment thatprovision is annulled the law would be worth- 

 less ; and this fact is so universally established that the pro- 



vision appears in the game laws of almost every State in the 

 Union. 



< Lieutenant-Governor Ames said he could not be con- 

 sidered as representing the Governor, as he was not out of 

 the State, and, therefore, could only speak for himself. He 

 could not say much about fish and game, but he could tell 

 them about a half-pound trout which cost him $600. He 

 bought 200 trout and put them then into a pond which he 

 had prepared, and after a time he found they had disap- 

 peared. On examination a pickerel was found in it. He 

 was killed. Some 400 gold fish were then placed in the pond, 

 and after a time he thought he would see if all the trout had 

 disappeared. After draiuing the pond down as low as possi- 

 ble, and pumping out the water at a cost of $500, he found 

 one solitary trout. Thr original 200 trout cost him $100, 

 and $600 was the actual cost of the last trout. 



Speaker Brackett, after a pleasant opening, said that the 

 association was entitled to, and should receive the encour- 

 agement of this State, and all other States, since their ob- 

 jects are similar — protection of human lives and interests on 

 the one hand, and of the denizens of the forest, the air and 

 the sea, on the other. 



Senator Tappan, of Essex, a member of the Legislative 

 Committee on Fisheries and Game, entertained the company 

 with a narrative of adventures many years ago on the 

 frontier, where elk, deer, bears, Indians, and occasionally 

 army mules, were the principal kind of game hunted. 



Commissioner Lathrop said that ultimately the game of 

 the continent will be preserved in New England because of 

 the lack of protection on the prairies, and the extermination 

 by hunters and railroads. Legislation properly, honestly, 

 legitimately enforced, is a practical question. We must 

 meet the prejudices and antagonism of the farmers, educate 

 them so as to overcome their prejudices and make them un- 

 derstand that their intererts run parallel with ours. He 

 heartily agreed with the President in his condemnation of 

 the destruction of the insectivorous and song birds, and 

 strongly urged efforts to destroy the interests of taxider- 

 mists, by whom so many birds are killed simply to furnish 

 female adornments. And in that connection he suggested 

 that the education of the community might very well begin 

 at home, by instruction from the members of the associa- 

 tion to their wives, sweethearts and daughters. 



Hon. George H. Riddle, Fish Commissioner of New 

 Hampshire, thought that the Fish and Game Association of 

 that State had been of great advantage to it, and that more 

 game now existed in that State. 



Hon. Herbert Brainard, Fish Commissioner of Vermont, 

 told many humorous stories, and what the Fish and Game 

 Protective Association of that State had done. 



Hon. E. A. Brackett, of Massachusetts, said that it is a 

 patent fact that game will ultimately only be obtained in 

 New England and the eastern protective States, The 

 reason of this is the wholesale destruction of game life in the 

 West. The buffalo has become almost extinct, and a tradition, 

 the Rocky Mountain goal is being exterminated, and the farm- 

 ers of the West annually destroy game bird life by firing 

 the plaius. The Legislature should give a legitimate ana 

 fair game law and enforce it. In considering such a law, it 

 becomes largely a practical rather than a sentimental one. 

 Opposition comes largely from the farmers who own the 

 soil. Fxperience shows that they will be heard. They 

 argue, not logically, that because they own the land, they 

 own the game. The only way to avoid this difference is to 

 educate the farmer up to* the idea of the purpose of the game 

 association. He believed that the insect-eating and song 

 birds should be preserved. The business of every taxider- 

 mist in Massachusetts should be killed primarily. The peo- 

 ple should be educated up to doing away with bird skins as 

 ornaments. The speaker had noticed a woman on the Com- 

 mon the other day who had on her hat the head of a black- 

 bird adjusted to the body of a dove. This is the quite usual 

 consistency of milliners. They are millinery monstrosities. 

 The game shot iu Massachusetts should not be exported. So 

 long as the markets are open, just so long it will be impos- 

 ble to protect the game in Massachusetts. 



Mr. E, G. Blackford, of the New York Fish Commission, 

 said, in response to a call: "Regarding legislation for the 

 protection and propagation of fish, I cannot do better than 

 to quote from a recent article written to the New York 

 Journal of Commerce by Mr, Wm. C. Prime, which exactly 

 represents my view. He says: "We who call ourselves 

 sportsmen have extensive influence in literature, in books 

 and periodicals. There is a very large population through- 

 out the country, who have as great interest in game and 

 game laws as we, who have little if any representation in the 

 published literature of the subject. One class are in general 

 residents of cities, towns and villages. The other class are 

 residents of the country proper, many of them those on 

 whose lands the game is bred, fed and killed, While both 

 classes enjoy the pleasure of hunting and fishing, they look 

 at game laws from different points of view. To the latter 

 class the most prominent consideration is the value of game 

 for food at home, or for sale as a country food or for pro- 

 duct, while the prominent idea of the other class is to pro- 

 vide the best system of laws for preserving game, so that 

 they, with breechloaders, may find an annual supply of 

 game for enjoyment in shooting. Both regard the ultimate 

 use of the game as for food, for no decent sportsman lives 

 who kills game or fish unless they are to be eaten by some 

 one. But one class think more about the game after it is 

 dead, and the other more about the living game as something 

 to be killed. * * * * Obtain the intelligent voice and 

 opinion of the people, city and country people, all who have 

 interest in the subject of game and fish laws. Let all learn 

 that their interests are considered; that they are represented 

 in devising laws. Keep the laws scrupulously free from any 

 special features for the benefit of any class of sportsmen. 

 Diffuse intelligence and get information. Don't imagine 

 that the wells of knowledge have been exhausted by you, 

 and show others that they too have much to learn. Keep 

 prominent the one great truth that the primary purpose of 

 protecting fish and game is to furnish food and not sport. 

 On this and no other ground can sport be defended.' As a 

 member of the New York Fish Commission, I have always 

 recognized this fact, and have regarded the propagation of 

 fishes as a means of producing food for the people, sport 

 being a secondary consideration. If fish are plenty the 

 sportsman will get his share and the production of food fish 

 is the only reasonable ground on which we can ask for an 

 appropriation to continue our work. This appeals to the 

 whole people and not to a special class." 



Hon. Daniel Needham and several members of the society 

 also made interesting addresses, and told fish stories. 



The officers for the ensuing year are : 



President, Edward A. Samuels; Vice-Presidents, Hon. 

 Daniel Needham, Walter M. Brackett, Charles W. Stevens, 



