Nov. 23, 1895.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



446 



summer, as game wardens had watched the meadows and 

 arrested several marauders. 



Tuesday evening a public memorial meeting was held 

 in the Lecture Hall of the National Museum in commemo- 

 ration of the two distinguished honorary members of the 

 Union who have died during the past year. The late 

 Geo. N. Lawrence, of New York, was eulogized by Mr. 

 D. G. Elliot, and Prof. Thomas Henry Huxley by Dr. 

 Elliott Coues. 



It was voted to hold the next annual meeting in Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., commencing Nov. 9, 1896. 



Resolutions were passed thanking the Board of Regents 

 of the Smithsonian Institution for the use of the Lecture 

 Hall of the National Museum as a place of meeting for 

 the Thirteenth Congress of the Union, and thanking the 

 Washington members for the cordial welcome and gener- 

 ous hospitality exteneded to the visiting members. 



The attendance of members and visitors was large. 



A group photograph of the members was taken on the 

 Bteps of the U. S. National Museum. 



The following is a list of the papers read at the se?sions: 

 Exhibition of Unpublished Water-color Paintings of Birds 

 by Louis A. Fuertes, with remarks. ; Elliott Coues. An 

 Important Factor in the Study of Western Bird Life; 

 Carl F. Baker. The First Plumage of the Philadelphia 

 Vireo (Vireo philadelphicus); Jonathan D wight, Jr. On 

 Pallas's Cormorant; F. A. Lucas. Further Remarks on 

 the Subgenus Quiscalus; Frank M. Chapman. Midwinter 

 Migration Southward in the North Temperate Zone to 

 Breeding Grounds; Leverett M. Loomis. The Terns of 

 Muskeget Island, Part II.: George H. Mackay. Food of 

 the Meadowlark; F. E. L. Beal. An Instance of Individ- 

 ual Dichromatism in the Screech Owl (Megaseops asio); 

 A. P. Chadbourne. The Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola enuclea- 

 far) in Captivity; O. W. Knight. What Constitutes Pub- 

 lication? J. A. Allen. Kingbird and Sapsuckers of South- 

 ern California; A» J. Cook. Methods in Economic 

 Ornithology, with special reference to the Catbird; Syl- 

 vester D. Judd. A few Effects of the Winter of 1895 

 upon the Spring and Fall Migration in Canton, Mass.; J. 

 H. Bowles. Birds of Idaho; M. J. Elrod. On the Stand- 

 ing of Ardetta neoxena; Frank M. Chapman. A Critique 

 on Trinomial Inconsistencies; William Palmer. Why are 

 there so few Bluebirds? Mrs. Louisa M. Stephenson. On 

 Gatke's Heligoland; George H. Mackay. The Value of 

 the Tongue in the Classification of Birds; F. A. Lucas. 

 Exhibition of JLan tern Slides of Birds; William Palmer. 



A Curiously Marked Deer. 



Peshtigo, Wis., Nov. 10— The woods are full of them; 

 that is to say, of hunters after deer. And of deer, too, 

 according to what they tell. The queerest freak in the 

 deer line we have ever had here was of a specimen 

 brought in last week, which had on one side a broad band 

 of white hair, pure white, extending longitudinally along 

 the body. F. E. G. 



kwp <§wu 



THE LONG ISLAND DEER PLAGUE. 



Scene. — Office of Kennel Editor, Forest and Stream, 

 S18 Broadway, New York. 

 Time.— 2 P. M. , Nov. 4. 



Dramatis Persons.— Kennel Editor and Trap Editor. 



Trap Editor (loquitur). — "Have you read our esteemed 

 Western contemporary's editorial account of the great 

 number of deer on Long Island; the destruction of crops 

 and gardens by those animals, and the quantities met with 

 in a single drive?" 



Kennel Editor.— "No. What about it?" 



Trap Editor.— "Well, it's great. This is what it says: 



8 'The effects of the game law of New York protecting deer on Long 

 Island until 1897 are already manifest, the deer being so numerous 

 even now that they are quite an annoyance to farmers, and many 

 complaints have already been made of their destroying the farmers' 

 crops and gardens. They will enter a field of grain or cabbage patch 

 at night, and before sunrise the next morning almost ruin it. One 

 man at Farmingdale says he has driven as many as a dozen deer out 

 Of his Held of cabbages in a single night. The deer range on the 

 Island is said to be one of the finest for deer propagation in the United 

 States. The great rolling pond hills face to the north, and afford safe 

 and warm protection for the young deer during the winter. The 

 winter winds are, as a rule, from the north, and the deer seek the lee 

 of the hills for protection from the cold and snow. People often drive 

 over the road running through the range just to see the deer, for it is 

 no uncommon thing to see from three to a dozen during a single drive. 

 They have become so numerous that they wander out into and along 

 the country roads, and occasionally venture into the outskirts of some 

 of the smaller villages. The number of deer now on the range is esti- 

 mated at not less than 600. The new law pleases the true sportsman 

 Immensely, for he realizes that great sport is in store for him two 

 years hence. While the farmers wish the deer to thrive, they do not 

 like to see them do so at their individual expense.' 



"What a chance! Deer to the right of us, deer to the 

 left of us, and ruined grain fields and cabbage gardens all 

 around us! And, mind you, all this is due to a law not 

 five months old, and which was passed seven months 

 after the breeding season of the deer had closed!" 



"By Jove," said the kennel editor, and he rushed to the 

 water cooler. After taking a swallow, he added: "Had 

 our esteemed friend studied 'Game Laws in Brief as care- 

 fully as it should, it would not have made such an egre- 

 gious blunder. Do you note that it informs us that 'the 

 winter winds are, as a rule, from the north?' May kind 

 providence temper the north winds of the coming winter 

 to the lamb that wrote that editorial!" 



"Now," proceeded the trap editor, as soon as his brother 

 editor had fully recovered, "is the opportunity of our 

 IiveB. Let us go forth into the wilds of Long Island (we 

 can get back the same day) and see the deer in their native 

 state, wandering along the roadways, ten and twelve at a 

 time, or causing a shortage of the sauerkraut crop by rea- 

 son of their ravages! I remember seeing the same thing 

 in the Sun and other New York dailies weeks ago — in 

 fact, here's another note to the same effect that appeared 

 in the Greenport, L. I., Watchman of Oct. 19: 



" '^"Complaints, bitter and loud, come from the vicinity of the deer 

 range, in the towns of Smithtown and Islip, that deer are seriously de- 

 predating on the gardens and fields of farmers and small truck 

 growers thereabouts. Despite the six days 1 saturnalia of drunken 

 rowdyism and reckless slaughter which the open season for deer de- 

 generated into last year, ana after all the sharp pursuit of these ani- 

 mals during the past years, their number is said to be increasing. At 

 all events there seems to be no doubt that they are numerous and de- 

 structive to crops within their reach. As the law now stands it is an 

 offense, punishable with a fine of $100, to kill a wild deer on Long 

 Island, and this condition will last for two years. Both the farmers, 

 who want protection against the- ravagers of their planted fields, 

 and the hunters, who want to enjoy the sport of hunting deer at a 

 proper season, cry out against the present law. We refer them to 

 pnose^responsible for tb.9 legislation of 1895.' 



"And look here. This is a clipping from a regular Down- 

 East publication, an agriculturists' paper thatjis brought 

 forth in the hub of the universe; just listen to what it 

 says: 



" 'A. New York law prohibits killing of deer for two years in Suffolk 

 county on Long Island. As a result the deer are becoming very 

 numerous, and are doing great damage to the crops of farmers. 

 Under this new law all the farmers can do is to drive the deer away, 

 and as they do most of their depredating at night this makes the sav- 

 ] °S of their crops a difficult matter. One farmer named William 

 iserry has driven as many as twelve deer out of bis cabbage fields In a 

 S A I u g 4.u- nigbt ' Tno «sands of his cabbages are eaten down to the stalks. 

 All this damage to farmers is to make a few days' sport for huntsmen 

 two years hence, when the interdiction on killing deer will be removed. 

 By that time the deer will have eaten five to ten times what their car- 

 casses will be worth. It is doubtful whether the State has the con- 

 stitutional right to prevent farmers from defending their property 

 from destruction by wild animals. The farmers at least mean to test 

 the question whether they cannot secure pay for property thus 

 destroyed by authority of law. It seems that they can at least do 

 this. 



"William Berry (I think that must mean William 

 O'Berry, of St. James, quite a noted deer hunter down on 



IN THE HEART OF THE DEER RANGE, 



the island) has good cause for complaint. Think of it! 

 'Thousands of his cabbages are eaten down to the stalks.' 

 I never thought until to-day it was anything but a 

 fake or a kind of duck-egg story. Since, however, our 

 excited Western contemporary finds the state of affairs 

 worthy of an editorial note, it must be so. Let's go into 

 this wilderness and view the deer wandering around in 

 squads." 



"Yes," said the kennel editor, "we are growing fleshy 

 from overwork. Let's ask the editor-in-chief for a day 

 off so that we may reduce some of our adipose tissue; 

 we're too healthy looking to plead any broken-down con- 

 stitution or ill health. Let us go where the farmers wish 

 the deer to thrive, but 'not at their individual expense.' 

 Individual is a good word." 



"And we'll take the camera along," said the trap editor. 

 "Then we'll get some living pictures of the cabbages, the 

 deer and the jungles. You remember what Burnham 

 and Jock Darling did with the camera in Maine this sum- 

 mer, and how Hough and Hofer ski-ed and camera-ed it 

 through the Yellowstone winter before last? Here's our 

 chance." 



"Shall we go to Farmingdale, where the cabbage herder 

 'says he has driven as many as a dozen deer out of his 

 field of cabbages in a single night?' " said the kennel editor, 

 who is fresh from the Windy City. 



"Farmingdale be eheued. Farmingdale is miles this 

 side of the deer jungles. We'll go around and through 

 those same jungles, and we're bound to find game before 

 long, as it must be really very plentiful." 

 | |Thus it came about that the editor-in-chief assented to 

 their request, and two of Forest and Stream's editors 

 went forth to search out the wild places of Long Island 

 and to learn whether these things were really so. 



The Day off and its Result. 



The early hours of the morning of Nov. 6 were not very 

 inviting for a stroll through the wilderness. A heavy fog 



BR'ER DEER CONSULTS THE "BRIEF." 



that rolled in from the Atlantic before a gentle south- 

 easterly breeze impeded traffic on the river, dampened 

 the sidewalks and made things in general somewhat 

 gloomy. It had but little effect, however, on us. We 

 had our day off before us. and we were going to see the 

 deer in their native state, and to commiserate with the 

 farmers on their loss of their fields of grain and their 

 cabbage crop. We had the camera with us too, and with 

 the aid of the fog and the general boldness of the marau- 

 ders we felt that the misty atmosphere would be no detri- 

 ment. At 10 or 15ft. we could distinguish objects readily; 

 with a long-time exposure (and we didn't think the bold 

 and saucy deer would object to stand for us) we could 

 get some negatives, even if they were a bit hazy, for at 

 that they might not prove a whit more shadowy than the 

 rumors. 



Twenty miles this side of our destination the sun came 

 out bright and strong, making it the sweetest of Indian 

 summer mornings. When we got off the train, our um- 

 brellas and overcoats were at a discount; it was a perfect 

 day. 



We first interviewed the proprietor of the hotel near 

 the station. His house was a favorite resort for sports- 

 men, while ho himself was a deer hunter of no small re- 

 pute. The result of the interview from our point of view 

 was scarcely satisfactory. 



"Deer? Oh, yes, there are deer, of course, but they're 

 nothing like as numerous as you imagine. Don't they 

 injure the crops? Nothing more than usual. How could 

 they? The Jaw has only been in force a month or so; 

 how could that affect the number of deer? Newspaper 

 reports? Yes, that's just newspaper talk, nothing else. 

 There's no more deer now than there were a year ago, 

 and they don't do any more harm now than they did then 

 that I know of." 



It was a discouraging start; but we still hoped, thinking 

 that he might have some occult motive for deceiving us 

 as to the true condition of the deer plague. Our rudely 

 shaken faith was considerably strengthened a few min- 

 utes later, when, within a stone's throw of the hotel, wa 

 discovered a cabbage eater. Seated at the root of an old 

 tree was an undoubted specimen of the genus Lepus, and 

 a fine one too, with its coat already changed in anticipa- 

 tion of the "winter winds" which in that part of Long 

 Island "are as a rule from the north." Strange winter 

 winds of Long Island ! 



The surroundings were wild, but were bare of any 

 cover. The well-known ferocity of the Lepus kottontalus 

 rusticus, to which sub family the specimen before us un- 

 questionably belonged, made the operation of obtaining a 

 negative of the animal a decidedly hazardous task. The 

 trap editor, with his usual self-denial, desired that to the 

 kennel editor should belong the honor of photographing 

 in its wild state the animal at once so engaging, so rare, 



A CLOSE CALL. 



and yet withal so dangerous to approach, "Nay," said 

 the kennel editor, "for this time at least must I deny my- 

 self. To you rightly belongs all the kudos that is to be 

 gained by securing on a gelatinous film a reproduction of 

 such an animal in its wild and untamed state. This side 

 of the fence is good enough for me." 



Seeing that the kennel editor was determined to efface 

 himself, there was nothing more for the trap editor to do 

 but to prepare to photograph the cabbage eater. Taking 

 advantage of every little inequality of the soil, every 

 blade of ragweed and every frost-blighted stalk of 

 goldenrod, he managed to approach within 10ft. of the 

 subject, which, to his relief, he then discovered to be 

 wrapped in the sound slumber that is born of a hearty 

 breakfast of cabbage. Not even the click of the camera's 

 shutter disturbed it; there was not a break in the contin- 

 nuity of its snores. The return to the trail was made in 

 safety, and we at once proceeded on our way into the 

 jungle. The only thing to mar our unity was a deter- 

 mined effort on the part of the kennel editor to belittle 

 the dangers attending his brother editor's achievement. 

 We soon forgot our troubles, however, in the joy at hav- 

 ing so soon obtained a negative of a cabbage eater and a 

 girdler of trees. 



We felt much better again when, a few hundred yards 

 further on, we came upon a very rare specimen. of the 

 fauna of this remarkably wild section of Long Island. 

 Was this indeed a vision, or was it a real live specimen 

 of the simiadoz? That it was not a vision is satisfactorily 

 proved by the accompanying cut, a negative of fair 

 quality being obtained after a careful and heart-thumping 

 stalk. 



This time the kennel editor essayed the task. Carefully 

 keeping a sapling of some 4in. in diameter between him 

 and the animal so as the better to conceal his approach, 

 he succeeded in getting within 50ft. of the object. In his 

 task he had been materially aided by the animal itself, 

 which, with its back to the stalker, had been busily en- 

 gaged in the pleasing operation of inspecting its limbs in 

 search of marauding insects. Finding the distance too 

 great for a satisfactory negative, the kennel editor at- 

 tempted, by assuming a snakelike mode of progression, 

 to make a near approach. The mistake was a fatal one; 

 his form is not fitted for any such purposes; he caused 

 trouble and aroused the animal, which, open-jawed 

 sprang for him. His presence of mind did not desert 

 him, but, snapping the camera, he turned and fled. 

 1 Feeling morally certain that the negative would b$ 



