44 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 10, 1887. 



From this point we could see Bird Island, which now 

 looked like a great white snow bank rising out of the sea. 

 The herons and egrets cotdd be seen coming from all 

 directions and alighting. Not wishing to go to the island 

 for an hour, we rigged our fishing tackle and tried fishing 

 for a while, but caught nothing but a dozen catfish and a 

 hammerhead shark 4ft. long; he made a lively fight, but 

 was finally captured and lay floundering in the bottom of 

 the. boat. * Giving up fishing for this time we took the 

 oars and paddled as quietly as possible to the island. A 

 few of the birds were startled, but they quickly lighted. 

 We anchored the boat among the rushes and crept up the 

 bank carefully. It was a sight worth many miles of 

 travel to behold. Every inch of ground seemed to be 

 covered and the birds must have numbered several thous- 

 and. I took aim in the bushes, 30yds. distant, and fired 

 two shots. Hastily loading I beheld a large egret circling 

 just over the ones I had shot and another load 60on killed 

 it. The birds flew around the island a few moments and 

 then began fighting on the oyster bars, where most of 

 them remained all night. 



Knowing that the roseate spoonbills passed over this 

 point about daylight, we determined to stay all night. 

 On going to pick up our specimens we found five large 

 egrets (two adult and three young), six fine snowy herons 

 and two Louisiana herons. Taking the sail from the 

 boat, we rigged it into a low tent under the bushes, under 

 which we carefully placed our birds, and made ourselves 

 a bed of our two blankets. By this time the herons that 

 had nests commenced returning and taking their places 

 on them. These we did not disturb as we had the speci- 

 mens we so much desired. We were awakened once 

 during the night by the tide rising and wetting us to our 

 knees. H. A. Kline. 



FORBESTON, 111. 



Gun or Field-Glass?— Milford, Mass., Jan. 28.— In the 

 Scientific American of Jan 22, an article by E. M. Has- 

 brouck on "Our Warbler," is a strong plea indirectly for 

 the formation of Audubon Societies. He says, "I wonder 

 how it is that men can be so wrapped up in this world as 

 to be insensible to the presence of the many beautiful 

 forms in nature that surround them, and are intended to 

 cheer them on their path through life." This beautiful 

 sounding sentence is given as a thought passing through 

 his mind while watching a beautiful black-throated green 

 warbler {Dendroica virens). Then immediately follows, 

 "To become acquainted with these beautiful creatures one 

 should go into the woods about the first of May and search 

 them diligently (italics are mine); take a small gun ivith you." 

 There is no need of further quoting; let the reader supply 

 the rest. I should tloink it was a pretty good way "to 

 become acquainted with the many beautiful forms in 

 nature intended to cheer one on the path of life" to ' 'search 

 diligently about nesting time with a gun." Nature proba- 

 bly intended these beautiful songsters to cheer one 

 through life about this way. Further on in the same 

 article Mr. Hasbrouck refers to the Almighty and his wise 

 care that provides for the safety of nests and eggs, and 

 yet in the same breath he advocates the wanton slaughter 

 of the parent birds, without which the nests and eggs 

 will be wortldess. Shame on any advocacy of shoot- 

 ing these beauties in May. If they must be taken spar- 

 ingly for science, let it be when all feelings of humanity 

 are not shocked by the murder of the innocents. My plan 

 gives more satisfaction in studying nature. When you 

 go out take, instead of a gun, a good field-glass, and in- 

 stead of pointing the deadly gun at the birds to kill them, 

 focus the glass on them and enjoy their innocent ways, 

 watching their search for food and playful antics. Many 

 is the hour I have passed watching and studying the little 

 wood folk, and they have been none the worse for my 

 presence. Noted in this way they do indeed "cheer one on 

 his path through life." — Sumner. 



Hawks and Owls.— At a recent meeting of the Penn- 

 sylvania State Board of Agriculture, B. H. Warren, of 

 West Chester, delivered a lecture on "Food Materials of 

 the Hawk and Owl Tribe," after which there was a free 

 discussion as to the merits of the scalp act. Last year 

 there was expended in bounties for scalps of animals 

 about $100,000, 60 per cent, of which was paid for hawk 

 and owl scalps. A vote was taken at the close of the 

 meeting, with an almost unanimous result for the repeal 

 of the entire act, and a resolution was adopted in ac- 

 cordance with the sentiment, asking the Legislature to 

 wipe it out.— Victor M. Haldeman. 



THE TERNS OF MATINICUS ROCK. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Being a constant reader of your vauable paper, I was surprised, 

 not to say displeased, to see in the edition of Jan. 13 a communi- 

 cation headed "The Terns of Matinicus Rock." If you wash for 

 particulars in regard to the shooting of the Medriek gulls or terns 

 there, I think it no more than right that yon should have the true 

 particulars. As I am the C. E. Cahoon referred to, and as the 

 article attacks, not only my business, but mv honor and humanity 

 also, I hope you will allow me space to vindicate myself and cor- 

 rect some of the misstatements made. My business at present is 

 collecting bird skins, for both scientific and millinery purposes. 

 However, I never discriminate between the different orders, but 

 alwavs send perfect made skins, and never send the breasts as 

 Mr. Grant would infer. As long as the people demand bird skins, 

 I shall probably make collecting my business; and as long as 1 

 never kill or collect either insectivorous, song, or game birds, I do 

 no not see how 1 can consistently be found fault with. I pay at- 

 tention to the tern entirely. This bird, as all naturalists know, is 

 of no use whatever except for decorative and millinery purposes, 

 being neither insectivorous nor a song bird. In nature's economy 

 it is a destroyer, feeding entirely on young food fishes, such as the 

 mackerel, bluefish, etc., which it destroys in large numbers. Mr. 

 Grant's communication would lead your readers to believe 

 that I used wounded birds for lures, and left the young to die of 

 starvation, etc. The insinuation is base and false, and I am sorry 

 that such testimony should come from the hands of an honorable 

 and respectable man like Comrnaudcr O. A. Batcholler. In denial, 

 to begin with I did not go to Matinicus until the terns had finished 

 breeding, and I did not "give out" that I was seeking recreation, 

 "and only wanted a few birds to stuff." I went about my business 

 and had the hearty co-operation of the good people of Matinicus. 

 They certainly made it very pleasant for myself and wife, and 

 offered me the loan of their boats. Several of the men and one 

 young lady worked for me while 1 was there. As to Mr. Grant, he 

 invited me to come there, and said he did not care if I killed all 

 the bii-ds. He writes, "The people tell me that he entirely exter- 

 minated the birds from Seal Island, Wooden Ball and Green 

 Sedge, before he came to the rock." This is a falsehood. One of 

 the islands spoken of I did not visit at all, and the terns were 

 seemingly as thick when I left the other as when I came. I have 

 knowledge that "the people" did not tell him so. If the terns are 



frotected during breeding time, extermination is an impossibilty. 

 will guarantee that Mr. Grant's boys killed more voung birds bv 

 stoning, than I did of t ne old by collecting. When Mr. Grant savs, 

 "he would get eight or ten at a shot," he Bhows a lamentable 

 amount of ignorance and an overgrown imagination. Mr. Grant 

 never threatened mo with the law, and as I knew the law on the 

 subject before I went there, he could not have troubled me any if 

 he had. The gentleman who followed me down, was a well-known 



collector, who wished to buy some skins for scientific purposes, 

 and the "taken for debt" part was a malicious fabrication of Mr. 

 Grant. If vou wish for true and full particulars concerning the 

 shooting of gulls at MafcihteuS, I ean Rive you a full and compre- 

 hensive report, with the aid of my Alary. The people of Matinicus 

 will uphold me in mv sf atomcnts, and 1 have proof for all I have 

 caid. If I hear further from Mr. Grant I will (with their help) en- 

 deavor to enable you to seo for yourself what his testimony is 

 worth. I regret ttiat Commander O. H. Batcheller should have 

 received so disreputable a report of me. C. E. Oahoon. 



Taunton, Mass. 



\%tnt §xg and 0mp 



Address all mmmunicatiom to the Forest and Stream Pnl. Co. 



THE NATIONAL PARK BILL. 



FOLLOWING is a copy of a letter fromW. Hallett 

 Phillips, Esq., some time special agent of the Interior 

 Department to report upon the Yellowstone National 

 Park, to the chairman of the House Committee on Public 

 Lands. The letter gives a concise and perspicuous sum- 

 mary of the reasons for adopting the bill S. 2,436, now 

 before the Committee: 



Washington, D. C, Feb. 8, 1887. 

 Ron. T. R. Cobb, Chairman of the Committee on Public 

 Lands: 



Dear Sir— Eef erring to our interview on the subject of 

 the Yellowstone Park Bill, it may serve some advantage 

 to state shortly the main reasons why the bill should be- 

 come a law. The act of 1S72, organizing the Pax-k, gave 

 the control of it to the Secretary of the Interior, upon 

 whom was conferred the power to make regulations for 

 its preservation. Strange to say no jurisdiction was con- 

 ferred upon any tribunal over the Park, nor were any 

 penalties prescribed for the violation of the regulations. 

 During the years immediately succeeding the passage of 

 the organic act, as the travel to the Park was small, these 

 omissions in the law were not much felt, but as soon as 

 the Northern Pacific Railroad was completed to the Park, 

 the tide of visitors commenced to pom- in, until now be- 

 tween five and ten thousand persons visit it annually. 

 The necessity of some jurisdiction to punish offenses within 

 the Park has become imperative, and unless the requisite 

 legislation is had at once the Park will soon be in such a 

 condition that there will be nothing left worth protecting. 

 In my report on the Park made to the Secretary of the 

 Interior in January, 1886 (S. Ex. Doc, 51, 49th Cong. 1st 

 Sess,), I called his attention to the urgent need of Congres- 

 sional action to afford some judicial machinery by which 

 order could be enforced in the Park and offenses against 

 person and property punished. In his first annual report 

 the Secretary points out the fact that the Park could 

 not be protected unless action in the premises was taken 

 by Congress. 



In his report, made at the present session, he says: 

 "While the acts of Congress confide the care and control 

 of the Park to the Secretary of the Interior, and confer 

 upon him the power to make rules and regulations, no 

 penalties are provided for their violation, nor is it 

 clear where the jurisdiction over crimes committed with- 

 in the Park resides. For all practical purposes, it is a 

 Government reservation, and the laws of the United 

 States governing such reservations should be extended 

 over it. It is certainly unfair that the people shall be in- 

 vited into a Park set aside for their benefit and enjoyment 

 by the national laws, and yet find when they reach it, no 

 adequate protection for their persons or property. The 

 bill unanimously reported from the Committee on Terri- 

 tories of the Senate during the last. session of Congress, I 

 believe to be well constituted for the object in view. This 

 or some similar measure should become, a law during the 

 present Congress, if it is proposed to preserve this Park 

 for the purposes covered by the original act." 



During the past season men were arrested in the Park 

 for setting fire to the forests, killing the game and injur- 

 ing the wonderful formation around the geysers, and yet 

 all that could be done was to order them to leave the 

 Park, and they were, left at liberty to return and renew 

 their devastations. 



The bill now before your Committee was carefully 

 framed and considered by gentlemen who have given 

 much thought to the subject. It received the approval 

 of the Senate by the very unusual vote of 49 affirmative 

 to 8 negative votes. The Chief Justice of the United 

 States, who has always manifested much interest in the 

 Park, having twice visited it, in a recent letter says: "I 

 have read the Yellowstone Bill, and it seems to meet the 

 requirements of the case. To accomplish what is needed, 

 there must be a government, and I do not see how any 

 less than is provided for can be made sufficient. If it is 

 worth while to have the Park, it is worth while to see 

 that it is preserved for the purposes for which it was in- 

 tended. It should be either abolished altogether and be 

 permitted to go into the hands of private owners for the 

 purposes of extortion, or else it should be kept as a 

 national institution and cared for as such." 



So much for that part of the bill as deals with the ad- 

 ministration of justice. The other point to which I de- 

 sire to call your attention is in regard to the boundaries 

 of the Park. When it was established by the Act of 

 1872, there was a very indefinite description of its bound- 

 aries. The boundary lines of the adjoining territories 

 were not then surveyed by the United States. The 

 boundaries as established by the bill under consideration, 

 have been fixed with the approval of the Interior. Depart- 

 ment so as to have the whole Park within the limits of 

 Wyoming, whereby the criminal jurisdiction of that 

 Territory might be established over it. A narrow strip 

 to the North, about two miles in width, has been given 

 back to Montana in order that the Montana line should 

 constitute the northern boundary. To the south, 

 some eight miles has been added, and to the east, a 

 lofty mountain range, with peaks rising from 11,000 

 to 12,000 feet in altitude, has also been added. The 

 object of these additions has been to increase the great 

 forest preserve— the most important object of the Park — 

 and to protect the game which abounds hi. the mountains. 

 The country is wholly unfitted for agriculture, and as 

 shown by the reports of the geological surveys, is destitute 

 of minerals. There are no settlements to be found there. 

 It may be added that a bill substantially the same as 

 respects boundaries with the one now before you, passed 

 the two Houses at the last Congress, but failed to become 

 a law by reason of the failure of a conference committee 

 to agree on an amendment adopted by the House of Repre- 

 sentatives, The bill came from the Senate. The amend- 



ment cut off from the Park a large section of its northern 

 portion and made the Yellowstone River the boundary. 

 The object was to allow the right of way to the Cinnabar 

 & Clark's Fork Railroad. As the House at the present 

 session has refused by a decisive majority to permit the 

 railroad to enter the Park at the point indicated, I take it 

 for granted that they will not sanction that any portion 

 of the Park should be cut off for the same purpose. 



In conclusion, I beg leave to append for the informa- 

 tion of the committee, a letter written by Mr. Arnold 

 Hague to Senator Manderson. Mr. Hague has had charge 

 for many years of the United States Geological Survey of 

 the Park, and from his long experience of the country 

 can speak with more authority on the subject than any 

 one I know of. 



If your committee should wish any additional infor- 

 mation I will be very- glad at any time to furnish it. 

 Respectfully yours, W. Hallett Phillips. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Friends of the National Park must necessarily be pleased 

 that the Senate has appreciated its worth and import- 

 ance, and that a healthy reaction has set in as regards 

 legislation toward preserving to the people what I may 

 modestly venture to assert is the Switzerland of America. 

 But the end is not yet. We are oppressed by a fear that 

 Senator Vest's bill may not pass the House. I would 

 therefore suggest and urge the importance of concerted 

 action, of personal appeals to Congressmen and a thorough 

 ventilation of the subject through the press by those lovers 

 of the Park who have been there and can wield a fluent 

 pen in its behalf. The little I can say may not be of much 

 practical use, but if each one will throw in his mite 

 a mass of popular opinion may be produced so strong in 

 its character that Congress may be influenced to devote a 

 small, yes, in comparison with the stupendous blocks of 

 our surplus which Congress is lavishing round, a very small 

 sum of money and the much-needed legislation. I am not 

 going to say anything about the many natural wonders, the 

 magnificent scenery, the delightful and* bracing air of 

 this elevated domain, they are self-evident facts to the 

 many who have enjoyed them; but I do wish to call 

 attention to the preservation of large game, and to the 

 possibilities, nay probabilities of great future increase, 

 which must follow an assured National Park, pro- 

 viding proper protection to those animals whose 

 instinct has driven them as a last resort with- 

 in its boundaries. Sportsmen, bear this in mind, 

 for I am firmly convinced that for the future hunter, 

 whose sole object is not a wanton and disgusting slaughter 

 for heads, but such an one to whom the delights of camp 

 life, the scaling of rocky heights, the noiseless stalk in 

 the unbroken solitude of some great pine forest, the 

 faithful shooting pony, his companion for many a day 

 and many a weary tramp, the genial glow of camp-fire 

 fragrant with appetizing fumes of broiling steaks, the 

 result of prowess within bounds — for such an one I 

 repeat, the Yellowstone National Park means everything. 

 Game will breed there, will multiply there, and natur- 

 ally will overflow, and of this latter the future sports- 

 man will partake sparingly if he is a manly fellow. 

 Urge, therefore, upon your Congressman the importance 

 and humanity of passing the bill; explain to him the 

 frightful slaughter, the almost absolute extermination of 

 some of our wild animals, bid him think twice before he 

 condemns all to the same fate. Tell him the Park has 

 plenty of game in it, that twenty men of the right sort 

 can easily, for a small outlay, protect and guard all the 

 Park contains. Wake up, brother sportsmen, cast aside 

 your natural modesty and pitch in before it's too late. 



Archibald Rogers. 



Hyde Pake, N. Y. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



At a regular meeting of the Sherman Gun Club, of Col- 

 umbus, O., Jan. 20, the following preamble and resolu- 

 tions were unanimously adopted: 



WReredf}) The National Government, in its wisdom, set aside a 

 large tract of the public domain as a perpetual natural national 

 reservation, and called it Yellowstone Park; and as yet no ade- 

 quate laws nave been enacted which will secure the proper pro- 

 tection for the numerous species of fish and game and the many 

 objects of scientific interest and value within its limits; it is, 

 therefore, 



Resolved, That Senators and Representatives of this State in 

 Congress are earnestly requested to use every honorable means to 

 secure adequate and proper protection to all pertaining to Yel- 

 lowstone Park, the people's museum of natural wonders. 



Resolved, That the Sherman Gun Club of Columbus, Ohio, 

 heartily join the Waltham (Mass.) Farmers' Club and the Massa- 

 chusetts Fish and Game Protective Association in calling the 

 earnest attention of members of Congress to the bill reported by 

 Senator Manderson from the Committee on Territories, May 17, 

 188<i, for the better government of Yellowstone Park, and desig- 

 nated as Senate Bill No. 2186; 



Resolved, That the secretary of this club be requested to send to 

 each of our Senators and Representatives in Congress a copy of 

 these resolutions. 



It may be well to say in these days of making and un- 

 making Presidents that the Sherman Gun Club is not a 

 political organization, but named in honor of Josiah 

 Sherman, who was one of the principal originators of the 

 club, but has long since gone to the happy hunting 

 ground. P. 



Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 7. 



Narrow's Island Club.— Currituck Sound, N. C— 

 Game, such as canvasbacks, redheads, common ducks, 

 snipe, swan, and geese, was unusually plenty on the 

 club preserves the season just closed. The scores were 

 generally good; one member, Mr. F. J., having a record 

 of over 80 geese and 600 ducks of all kinds. But it is not 

 all of hunting to hunt. The home-like conveniences (I 

 might say luxuries), the health-giving open air exercise, 

 the jolly after dinner relaxation in the spacious club- 

 room, where billiards, whist and reading rule the hour, 

 go far to make such a relief from overwork a renewal of 

 health and vigor with the sport and game thrown in.— 

 D. W. C. 



A Quail Problem.— Edenton, N. C, Jan. 2. — Two per- 

 sons go for a two-days' tramp among the quail. Num- 

 ber one shoots a 12-bore gun, number two a 16-bore. The 

 first day number one bags fifteen birds; number two 

 twenty. Second day number one gets fourteen and num- 

 ber two gets ten birds; and they shoot one together. 

 Total score, sixty birds in the two days. They hunt two 

 dogs, keeping together, and dividing all doubtful birds. 

 Number two shot a few more shells than number one. 

 How many extra shots was number two entitled to on 

 account of the smaller bore gun? — W. 



