468 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 8, 1886. 



MOOSE MEASUREMENTS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



One of your correspondents asks about the height of 

 moose. I measured five bull moose in the last three years, 

 a majority of which I killed, and found their height to be 

 6 feet 10 inches, 6 feet 8| inches, 6 feet 6 inches, 6 feet 6 

 inches, 6 feet 1 inch. In each instance 1 measured the 

 height from the shoulder and by simply straightening the 

 leg, where bent at the knee and turning up its hoof so as to 

 measure from its tread, as if the animal were standing. I was 

 interested in getting accurate measurements and these can 

 be relied on. If I had made one of my Indians pull on the 

 foreleg as hard as he could, and then had measured from the 

 point of the hoof to the top of the hair on the back, I could 

 have added a few inches no doubt, but my stories about 

 game or fish are not based on practices of that kind. I took 

 a good many other measurements of these moose, but only 

 give the particular one as to which inquiry was made. I ex- 

 press no opinion as to how high moose grow, because I am 

 not competent to do so, nor would I place any reliance on 

 simple statements of such Indians as 1 have had hunting 

 with me, as to the dimensions or moose, unless I could 

 verify them by measuring myself, or getting other good evi- 

 dence. When I killed one 6 feet 6 inches, Aleck said, "I 

 tell you, you don't get one much bigger than that, eh?" 

 When we got one next year 6 feet 10 inches, he said, "I tell 

 you he's a big one, for sure." The measurements I have 

 show a proportion between the height, etc., and the size of 

 the track, and applying that to the tracks I have seen, made 

 by moose as yet unseen, I can imagine that there are old 

 bulls considerably larger than the largest I have yet measured. 

 What your correspondent wants, however, is facts, and that 

 is what I have given in the measurements. No doubt others 

 can give more. Cecil Clay. 



"Washington, D. C, July 5, 1886. 



NEW YORK SONG BIRDS. 



C1HAP. 427. An Act for the preservation of song and wild 

 J birds. Paased May 20, 1886. The people of the State 

 of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact 

 as follows: 



Section 1. No person in any of the counties of this State, shall 

 kill, wound, trap, net, snare, catch with bird lime, or with any 

 similar substance, poison or drug, any bird of song or any linnet, 

 blue bird, yellow hammer, yellow bird, thrush, woodpecker, cat bird, 

 pewee, swallow, martin, "bluejay, oriole, kildee, snow bird, grass 

 bird, gross beak, bobolink, phccbe bird, humming bird, wren, robin, 

 meadow lark or i starling, or any wild bird, other than a game bird. 

 Nor shall any person purchase, or have in possession, or have for 

 sale any such sons or wild bird, or any part thereof, after the same 

 has been killed. For the purpose of this act the following only shall 

 ho considered game birds: the Anatidre, commonly known as swans, 

 geese, brant, and river and sea ducks; the Eallidae, commonly 

 known as rails, coots, mud-hens and galli mules: the Liinicolae, 

 commonly known as shore birds, plovers, surf-birds, snipe, woodcock, 

 sand pipers, tatlers, and curlews; the Gallinae, commonly known as 

 wild turkeys, grouse, prairie chickens, pheasants, partridges and 

 quail. 



§ 2 No person shall take or needlessly destroy the nest or eggs of 

 any song or wild bird. 



§ 3. Section one and two of this act shall not apply to any person 

 holding a certificate giving the right to take birds, and their nest 

 and eggs, for scientific purposes, as provided for in section lour of 

 this act. 



5 4. Certificates may be granted by any incorporated society of 

 natural history in the State, through such persons or officers as said 

 society may designate, to any properly accredited person of the 

 age of eighteen years or upw ard, permitting the holder thereof to 

 collect birds, their nests ol eggs, lor strictly scientific purposes only. 

 In order to obtain such certificate, the applicant for the same must 

 present to the person or persons having the power to grant said 

 certificates, written testimonials from two well known scientific 

 men, certifying to the good character and fitness of said applicant 

 to be intrusted to such privilege; must pay to said persons or officers 

 one dollar to defray the necessary expenses attending the granting 

 of such certificates; and must file with such persons or officers a 

 properlv executed bond, in the sum of two hundred dollars, signed 

 by two well known citizens of the State as sureties. This bond shall 

 be forfeited to the State, and the certificate become void, upon proof 

 that the holder of such a certificate has killed any bird, or taken the 

 nest or eggs of any bird, for other than the purposes named in 

 section three and four of this act, and shall be further subject for 

 each such offense to the penalties provided therefor in section one 

 and two of this act. 



§ 5. The certificate authorized by this act shall be in force tor one 

 year only from the date of their issue, and shall not be transferable. 



6 6. The English or European house-sparrow (Passer domesticus) 

 is not included among the birds protected by this act. 



§ 7. Any person or persons violating any of the provisions of this 

 act shall be deemed guilty ot a misdemeanor, punishable by im- 

 prisonment in the county jail or penitentiary, of not less than five or 

 more than thirty days, or to a fine of not less than ten or more than 

 fifty dollars, or both, at the discretion of the court. 



§ 8. In all actions for the recovery of penalties under this act, one 

 half of the recovery shall belong to" the plaintiff, and the remainder 

 shall be paid to the county treasurer of the county where the offense 

 is committed, except if the offense be committed in the city and 

 county of New York, the remaining one-half shall be paid to the 

 chamberlain of Baid city. 



S 9. All Acts or parts of acts inconsistent with, or contrary to the 

 provisions of this act, are hereby repealed. 



§ 10. This act shall take effect immediately. 



Habits op Mountain Sheep. — Yellowstone National 

 Park.— Editor Forest and Stream: One of the Park guides, 

 who cared for the Geological Survey party's horses in Cin- 

 nabar Basin, National Park, last winter, says that from their 

 camp the mountain sheep were seen almost every day all 

 winter; and he tells me he went from the Springs here down 

 to the Basin on the 10th of May, and on that day he saw a 

 flock of sheep and three lambs, and the next day the party 

 caught a young elk. He says they spoke about the lambs as 

 being the first that had been seen; and so from that I take it 

 that from the oth to the 10th of May is about the time of 

 their birth. My informant says that the summer and winter 

 ranges of the sheep are not different, except that they may 

 range wider in summer than in winter. They stay on the 

 east and south sides of the ranges the most when undisturbed 

 in winter. In summer they are generally found on the 

 higher benches or mesas of the hills and on all sides. Their 

 food is mostly bunch grass and the mountain clover. The 

 quadruped that is their greatest enemy is the mountain lion. 

 They are also subject to a kind of scab disease that is very 

 bad occasionally.— Old Faithful. 



Progress at Washington.— In the Senate, June 10, 

 1886, Senator Warner Miller, of New York, introduced an 

 amendment to the Agricultural Appropriation bill creating 

 in the Department of Agriculture an independent "Division 

 of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy, for the promo- 

 tion of economic ornithology and mammalogy; an investi- 

 gation of the food habits, distribution and migrations of 

 North American birds and mammals in relation to agricul- 

 ture, horticulture and forestry." The amendment passed 

 both Houses of Congress June 29. It has received the Presi- 

 dent's signature and is now a law. Dr. C. H. Merriam has 

 been appointed Chief of the Division of Economic Ornithol- 

 ogy, and Prof. Walter B. Barrows, Assistant. 



Kingsnake and Adder.— While crossing the Grand 

 Prairie of Arkansas in the latter part of April, my attention 

 was called to what seemed to be an immense coil of snakes 

 lying in the grass apparently lifeless. My companion and I 

 were surprised to find it one kingsnake in the act of swallow- 

 ing another snake. After killing the kingsnake we separated 

 them with little difficulty. The one the kingsnake had 

 killed we found to be a species of the adder, commonly 

 known as the blowsnake. Very little difference could be 

 noticed in the size of the two snakes, but the kingsnake 

 was somewhat longer than the adder. A farmer said that 

 when the snakes were first observed the kingsnake had 

 wrapped himself about the body of his unfortunate victim 

 and had his teeth imbeded in its neck. It would writhe and 

 twist and try to get away, but its antagonist would only 

 loosen this hold to get a "fresher one nearer its head. The 

 kingsnake finally succeeded in getting his victim by the 

 head and commenced slowly to swallow it. The battle was 

 now about over and he gradually loosened his hold from 

 around its body and swallowed the entire snake. — L. Jay 

 (De Witt, Ark.). 



Robins and Cherries.— In your last issue "X. Y. Z." 

 complains bitterly of the depredation of robins in his cherry 

 trees. If he will suspend a mounted hawk with wings spread 

 in his orchard, or will put stuffed cats in the branches of the 

 trees, moving them from day to day, the loss of cherries by 

 birds will be likely to decrease.— C. H. M. 



A PROPOSED DESECRATION. 



THE proposition to authorize the Cinnabar and Clark's Fork Rail 

 road Company to enter the Yellowstone National Park with 

 their tracks is again before Congress. It is one of those jobs which, 

 like the Tehuantepec ship railway or the Cowden outlet for the 

 Mississippi, is alluring enough to keep appetite and effort spurred 

 despite discouragement and obstacle. It has already been repulsed 

 under circumstances that would have definitely disposed of any 

 commonplace enterprise of good repute and legitimate purpose, but 

 it contains *he vitality of plunder, and it survives the arave. 



Everybody is familiar with the scheme of the National Park. The 

 beautiful and grand valley of the Yellowstone River has heen by act 

 of Congress reserved for the use of the people, set aside as public 

 property which shall under no circumstances be opened to private 

 speculation— kept, as it were against the day when population shall 

 have overrun the country, and when a magnificent tract such as the 

 Park will be of a value beyond computation. By the terms of the act 

 creating this reservation the people are promised that the valley shall 

 be kept in a state of nature, sacred against the invasion of settlers, 

 its grandeur unspotted, its beauty unsmirched. And as the people 

 have grown accustomed to the idea, and learned to realize all that it 

 promises to them and to posterity, the National Park has taken a 

 strong hold upon them, and established itself firmly in their appro- 

 bation. 



Against, this universal public sentiment, as against the more clearly 

 defined and explicitly expressed opposition of every official of the 

 government in any way connected with the Park, the Cinnabar and 

 Clark's Fork Railroad Company are obstinately and resolutely press- 

 ing their job on Congress. It is not pretended that any result of the 

 very smallest national importance is involved. No ®ne has yet come 

 forward with effrontery enough to suggest that public interests will 

 be promoted, however infinitesimally, by the construction of the rail- 

 way in question. On the contrary, it is understood on all sides that 

 the measure is being pressed solely in behalf of this railroad corpor- 

 ation, and with exclusive reference to the enrichment of a few specu- 

 lators at the expense of the people of the United States. The passage 

 of the bill will violate all the essential features of the plan on which 

 the National Park was originally ordained. It will destroy, and per- 

 manently, every prospect of usefulness for the Park, and will amount, 

 practically, to giving it to this private corporation as the reward of 

 its stubborn importunity. 



As matters now stand, the Park is one of our national ornaments, 

 the resort of tourists and sightseers from every quarter of the world, 

 thB refuge for the big game which is being so' rapidly exterminated 

 elsewhere, the nucleus of a future benefit that cannot now be meas- 

 ured. Ev ry year attaches the people more deeply to a scheme which 

 every 3 ear becomes better understood ana the realization of which is 

 stew c'lily growing more tangible and definite. And this is the state of 

 things tne Cinnabar and Clark's Fork Railway Company propose to 

 destroy. They ask the privilege of Invading the Park with their 

 tracks, establishing shops and station houses wherever they see fit, 

 and aspire generally to nullify the whole plan of the national reser- 

 vation and rob the people of all the great benefits involved. 



It seems incredible that they should he able to find in the Congress 

 of the United States one member willing to incur the odium of com- 

 plicity in such a flagrant and indefensible job. It is impossible that 

 they can find in Congress enough supporters to materialize this riot- 

 ous dream of spoliation.— New York Star. 



%ntt\t §*g aijd §nt{. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



THE TRAJECTORY TEST. 



tHE full report of the Forest and Strep's trajectory test of hunt- 

 ing rifles has been issued in pamphlet form, with the illustra- 

 tions and the tabular summary, making in all 96 pages. For sale at 

 this office, or sent post-paid. Price 50 cents. 



OPEN SEASONS. 



DATES BETWEEN WHICH IT IS LAWFUL TO TA KE FISH 

 AND GAME. 



Arkansas. 



Deer. Sept. l-Feb.l. Wild turkey, Sept. 1-May 1. Pinnated 

 grouse, prairie chicken, Sept. 1-Feb. 1. Quail, Virginia part- 

 ridge, Oct. 1-March 1. 



British Columbia. 



Deer, elk, reindeer, caribou, hare, Sept. 1-Jan. 10. Grouse, 

 partridge, orairie fowl, quail, snipe, robm, meadow lark, Sept. 

 1-Feb. L Wild duck, Sept. 1-March 1. Pheasant protected to 

 Sept. X, 1886. 



California. 



Quail, partridge, grouse, rail, Oct. 1-March L Doves, June 

 1-Jan. L Male deer or buck, July l.-Nov. t Antelope, elk. 

 mountain sheep, female deer protected at all times. Speckled 

 trout, salmon trout, any variety of trout, April 1-Nov. 1. 

 Salmon, Oct. 1-Aug. 3. 



Canada— New Brunswick. 



Moose, caribou, deer, Aug. 1-Feb. 1. Lawful number killed 

 by one person or hunting party, three moose, five caribou, 

 five deer. Use of dogs forbidden. Partridges, Sept. 20-Dec. 

 1; exportation forbidden. Snipe, wood duck, Sept-Dec. 1; 

 exportation forbidden. Black duck, wood duck, teal, Sept. 4- 

 May 15. Non-residents must take out license (fee $20), at 

 office Chief Game Com., J. de Wolfe Spurr, St. John, N. B. 



Canada— Ontario. 



Deer, elk, moose, reindeer, caribou, Oct. 15-Dec. 15 ; rnav 

 not be killed for exportation. Grouse, pheasant, prairie fowl, 

 partridge, Sept. 1-Jan. 1. Quail protected to 1888 ; wild turkey, 

 to 1889. Woodcock, Aug. 15-Jan t Snipe, rail, golden plover. 

 Sept. 1-Jan. 1. Swan, goose, Sept. 1-May 1. Ducks and all 

 other water fowl Sept. 1-Jan 1. Hares, Sept. 1-March 15. 



Salmon trout, whitefish, Dec. 1-Nov. 10. Fresh-water her- 

 ring, Dec. 1-Oct. 15. Speckled brook, river trout, May 1- 

 Sept. 15. Bass, masMnonge, June 15-April 15. Picherel, dore\ 

 May 15-April 15. 



Canada— Quebec. 



Moose, deer, Sept. 1-Feb. 1 (female moose protected until 

 Oct. 15, 1888). Caribou, Sept. 1-March 1. Hares, Sept. 1- 

 March 1. Woodcock, snipe, Sept. 1-Feb. 1. Wild ducks, teal, 

 Sept. 1-May 1. Grouse, partridge, Sept. 1-Feb. 1. Non-resi- 

 dents must take out license from Commissioner of Crown 

 Lands. Exports of deer, wild turkey and quail forbidden. 



Fishing seasons same as in Ontario. 



Colorado. 



Elk, deer, buffalo or bison, Oct. 15-Jan. L Mountain sheep 

 protected to 1895. Partridge, pheasant, prairie hen, prairie 

 chicken and grouse, Oct. 1-Nov. 15. 



Connecticut. 



Buffed grouse, quail, woodcock, Oct. 1-Jan. 1. Wildfowl > 

 Sept. 1-May 1. Sora, rail, Sept. 1-Jan. 1. 

 Trout, April 1-July 1. 



Florida. 



This State has no game law. 



Maine. 



Moose, deer and caribou. Oct. 1-Jan. 1 (forbidden to hunt 

 with dogs, unlawful for one person to take more than one 

 moose, two caribou, or three deer in one season. Mink, beaver, 

 sable, otter, fisher, muskrat, Oct. 15-May 1. Wood-duck, 

 dusky, black or other sea duck, Sept. 1-May 1 ; law does not 

 a PPly to seacoast. Buffed grouse (partridge), woodcock, Sept. 

 1-Dec. 1. Pinnated grouse, Sept. 1-Jan. 1. Woodcock and 

 ruffed grouse may be killed only for consumption within the 

 State. 



Salmon, July 15-Sept. 15; angling within 100yds. fish way, 

 dam or millrace forbidden. Smelts, April 1-Oct. 1. Black 

 bass, Oswego bass, white perch, July 1-April 1. Landlocked 

 salmon, trout, togue, May 1-Oct. 1 ; in St. Croix Biver and 

 tributaries, May 1-Sept. 15; during February, March and 

 April lawful for citizens to take "and convey the same to their 

 homes, but not otherwise." Unlawful to take landlocked 

 salmon less than 9in. length, or trout less than Sin. ; or take or 

 transport more than SOlbs. landlocked salmon or trout or both. 

 Unlawful to take these fish in Kennebago, Mollychunkamunk, 

 Cupsuptic, Mooselucmaguntic and Welokennebacook lakes 

 and tributaries, between Feb. 1 and May 1; unlawful in said 

 waters to use spawn bait in September. Unlawful to take 

 trout or landlocked salmon in the Bangeley stream between 

 the mouth of Kennebago stream and Howard's dam from July 

 1 to May 1, or at the South Bog scream from July 1 to May 1, 

 or in the Bemis stream from July 1 to May 1, or in the Cup- 

 suptic stream from July 1 to May 1, or in the Kennebago 

 stream between the foot of its first falls, near its junction with 

 the Bangeley stream and the upper falls at the outlet of Ken- 

 nebago Lake, from Sept. 1 to May 1. Commissioners of Fisher, 

 ies and Game: E. M. Stilwell, Bangor; H. O. Stanley, Dixfield 



Manitoba. 



Deer, cabri, or antelope, elk or wapiti, moose, reindeer or 

 caribou, Oct. 1-Jan. 1. Buffed grouse, pheasants, partridges, 

 prairie chickens, Sept. 1-Jan. 1. Woodcock, plover, snipe and 

 sandpiper, Aug. 1-Jan. 1. All kinds of wild duck, sea duck, 

 pigeon, teal, wild swan, or wild goo?e, except the variety of 

 wild goose commonly known as the snow goose or the wavy, 

 Aug. 15-May 1. Otter, fisher or pekan, beaver, muskrat and 

 sable, Oct. 1-May 15. Mink and marten, Nov. 1- April 15. Ex- 

 portation of game forbidden. 



Massachusetts. 



Woodcock, pinnated grouse, Aug. 1-Jan. 1. Buffed grouse, 

 partridge, Oct. 1-Jan. 1. Quail, Oct. 15-Jan. 1. Wood duck, 

 summer duck, black duck, teal, any of the duck species, Sept. 

 1-April 15. Plover, snipe, sandpiper, rail, shore, marsh or 

 beach birds, July 15-May 1. Wild pigeon, gull, tern, Oct. 1- 

 May 15. Gray squirrel, hare, rabbit, Sept. 1-March 1. Deer 

 protected at all seasons. 



Speckled trout, lake trout, landlocked salmon, April 1-Sept. 

 1. Salmon, May 1-Aug. 1. Black bas*, July 1-Dec. 1. Smelt, 

 June 1-March 15. 



Michigan. 



Deer in Lower Peninsula, Oct. 1-Dec. 1; Upper Peninsula. 

 Aug. 15-Nov. 15. Elk protected to 1889. Buffed grouse, Sept! 

 1-Jan. 1. Quail, Nov. 1-Jan. 1. Woodcock, Aug. 1-Jan. 1. 

 Pinnated grouse, Sept. 4-Nov. 1. Wild turkey, Oct. 1-Jan. 1. 

 Wildfowl, Sept. 1-May 1. (Wood, mallard, teal and gray 

 ducks, Sept. 1-Jan. 1.) ' Snipe, Sept. 1-May 1. Exportation of 

 deer, ruffed grouse, quail, prairie chicken, wild turkey, for- 

 bidden. 



Trout, May 1-Sept. 1. Grayling, June 1-Nov. 1. 

 New Hampshire. 



Plover, yellowlegs, sandpipers, ducks, rails, Feb. 1-Aug. 1. 

 Ducks on sea coast may be shot in February, March and April. 

 Woodcock, ruffed grouse, partridge, quail, Sept. 1-Jan. 1. 

 Deer, moose, caribou, Sept. 1-Dec. 1. Baccoon, gray squirrel, 

 Sept. 1-Jan. 1. Hares, rabbits, muskrats, Sept. 1-April 1 . 



Landlocked salmon, speckled trout, May 1-Sept. 30. Lake 

 trout (taken with hook and line), Jan. 1-Sept. 30. Pike-perch, 

 white perch, July 1-May 1. Black bass, June 15-Apiil30. 

 Muskallonge, pickerel, pike, grayling, June 1-April 1. 



New Jersey. 



As given by New Jersey Game and Fish Protective Society : 

 Buffed grouse, Oct. 31-Dec. 31. Quail, Oct. 31. -Dec. 31. Wood- 

 cock, July 1-Aug. 1 and Sept. 30-Dec. 10. Prairie chicken, 

 Oct. 15-Dec. 1. Upland plover, July 31- Jan. 1. Summer duck, 

 Aug. 31 -Jan. 1. Beed bird, marsh hen, Aug. 25-Dec. 1. Bail 

 bird, months of Sept., Oct', and Nov. Gray, black, fox squir- 

 rel, Aug. 31-Jan. 1. Babbit, Oct. 31-Dec. 31. 



Salmon trout, last day of Feb. -Oct. 1. Brook trout, last 

 day of Feb. -Oct. 1. Black or Oswego bass, May 31-Nov. 1. 



Non-residents must take out license. New Jersey Fish and 

 Game Protective Society has jurisdiction over entire State ; 

 fee, 12; secretary, Wm. L. Force, Plainfield. N. J. Or, non- 

 residents to shoot or fish in Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Sa- 

 lem, Cumberland and Cape May counties, may obtain mem- 

 bership certificate of West Jersey Game Protective Society ; 

 fee, $5 first year, $2 annually thereafter* secretary, William 

 T. Miller, 106 Market street, Camden, N. J. 



New York. 



Deer, Aug. 15-Nov. 1. Dogging permitted, Sept. 1-Oct. 5, 

 except in St. Lawrence and Delaware counties. One person 

 may kill only three deer; may transport one carcass. Deer in 

 Suffolk and Queens counties protected to 1891. Hare, rabbit, 

 Nov. 1-Feb. 1. Black, gray squirrel, Aug. 1-Feb. 1; in Dutch- 

 ess county, Sept. 1-Feb. 1. Wild duck, goose, brant, Sept. 1- 

 May 1; in Long Island waters, Oct. 1-May 1; in Chautauqua 

 county, Sept. 1-Feb. 1. Bay snipe, sandpiper, shore bird, 

 plover, in Queens and Suffolk counties, July 10-Jan. 10. Bail 

 bird, meadow hen, in Queens and Suffolk counties, Sept. 1- 

 Jan. 1 ; in Columbia county, Sept. 1-Dec. 1. Quail, Nov. 1- 

 Jan. 1 ; in Columbia county. Nov. 1-Dec. 1. Buffed grouse, 

 partridge, Sept. 1-Jan. 1; in Suffolk and Queens counties, Nov. 

 1-Jan 1; in Columbia county, Sept. 1-Dec. I. Woodcock, Aug. 

 1-Jan. 1; in Oneida, Delaware and Dutchess counties, Sept. 1- 

 Jan. 1; Columbia county, Sept. 1-Dec. 1. Bobins, meadow 

 lark, starling, Oct. 1-Jan. 1. Non-residents must take out 

 license from justice of peace to shoot game in Bichmond 

 county (Staten Island). .« 



Trout (speckled. California, brown, salmon), landlocked 

 salmon, April 1-Sept. 1; in Forest Preserve, Adirondacks 



