July 31, 1887. J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



553 



GAME IN PRUSSIA. 



[Translated from the Wescr Zcitung for the Forest and Stream 

 hy Ohas. L. Schemher.] 



AS long ago as 1874 a commission sitting in Berlin had 

 under consideration, in a plan for collecting general 

 statistics of German forests, the value of the proceeds of 

 hunting. Since then have been published from different 

 sources several more or less complete lists and tables, and 

 lately an attempt has been made in the monarchy of 

 Prussia to obtain a statement of the distribution of the 

 various kinds of game and their abundance in different 

 parts of the country, which would be made use of for 

 administrative and legislative purposes. This was accom- 

 plished by statistical reports, based on counting cards, 

 and comprising the period from April 1, 1885, to March 31, 

 1 886. The reports were made according to certain regu- 

 lations in every community or estate-district. The cards 

 were required to be filled out by the presidents of the 

 communities or estate authorities, under the supervision 

 and control of the Landr&the, aided by the lessees of the 

 hunting privileges. The material thus obtained was then 

 tested and worked up in the Royal Statistical Bureau. 



Although the lessees were not obliged by law to give 

 the desired information, it was nevertheless furnished 

 willingly in almost every instance, and the result of those 

 statistics is — for Prussia at least — an approximately cor- 

 rect statement of the game shot during the above named 

 period. The result deviates somewhat from the truth for 

 three reasons: First — No account has been taken of the 

 game shot by poachers. Second — No reports could be 

 obtained from thirty-eight communities and estates, and 

 third (not to mention possible errors) — Lower estimates 

 by a number of lessees than the actual results of the hunt, 

 they fearing the raising of their rent. 



The tabulated statements lately published by the Royal 

 Statistical Bureau show — notwithstanding the unavoid- 

 able incompleteness in the material furnished — a result 

 more than double that of all former estimates. With 

 certain kinds of game, especially hares and partridges, 

 the result seems to exceed that of former years because 

 it is asserted that the year 1885-86 was especially favor- 

 able for the increase of this game. There were shot or 

 trapped, during this period, of the more important kinds 

 of game and fowl: 



RETURNS FOR 1885-86. 



Fowl 

 378 mountain cocks. 

 6,016 birch fowl. 

 2,209 hazel fowl. 

 2,521,195 partridges. 

 102,836 quail. 

 139,568 pheasants. 



818 bustards. 

 40,819 woodcock. 

 277 wild swans. 

 3,400 wild geese. 

 269,765 wild ducks. 

 51,991 snipe. 

 1,277,177 field-fares. 

 15,888 heron*. 

 119,694 birds of prey. 



Game. 

 14,460 red deer. 

 8,543 fallow deer. 

 108,602 roes. 

 9,019 black game (wild 

 boars). 

 2,367,927 hares. 

 314,009 rabbits. 

 84,301 foxes. 

 5,051 badgers. 

 4,092 otters. 



606 wildcats. 

 5,475 pine martens. 

 5,312 rock martens. 

 27,578 fitchets. 

 23,578 weasels. 

 592 seals. 



Among the birds of prey are mentioned 158 stone, 

 screech and golden eagles ; 34 sea, fish and river eagles : 

 190 horned and 349 other owls; the remainder consisting 

 of falcons, hawks, kites, buzzards, etc., and no doubt in- 

 cluding crows and magpies, which are considered obnox- 

 ious in hunting. The same is true of wildcats and homed 

 owls, among which were included— as proved by further 

 correspondence— a number of domestic cats become wild, 

 and other owls. 



Of the rarer game there were shot : One ure-ox in 

 Upper Silesia (raised in the Zoological Garden) ; 9 elk in 

 East Prussia; 4 wolves, (1 in East Prussia, 1 in Branden- 

 burg, and 2 in Rhineland) ; also 17 beaver in the Elbe and 

 tributaries, in the province of Saxony. 



FURRED GAME, 



Considering the distribution of game in the whole terri- 

 tory, including that not shot over, and those parts from 

 which no information could be obtained, each 1 00 square 

 kilometers averaged 4.15 red deer, 2.45 fallow deer, 

 31.17 roes, 2.59 black game, 679.79 hare. 



Of red deer, the provinces of Brandenburg, Saxony and 

 Silesia yielded 11.11, 7.75 and 6.92 respectively. 



Fallow deer: Hohenzollern, 9.19; Schleswig-Holstein, 

 8.69 ; Brandenburg, 7.67. 



Roes : Silesia, 61.11 ; Hesse-Nassau, 58.31 ; Branden- 

 burg, 40.25. 



Black game : Rhineland, 6.57 ; Hesse-Nassau, 5.77 ; 

 Brandenburg, 5.08. 



Hares : Silesia, 1819.90 ; Saxony, 1650.71 ; Rhineland, 

 778.34. 



FEATHERED GAME. 



The average in the whole territory for 100 square kilo- 

 meters was 723.79 partridges, 29.52 quail, 40.07 pheasants, 

 11.74 woodcock, 14.50 snipe, 77.45 wild ducks. 



The largest number of partridges killed for 100 square 

 kilometer were: Silesia, 1835.11; Saxony, 1301.68; Posen, 

 1009.68. 



Pheasants: Silesia, 252.93; Saxony, 26.55: Brandenburg, 

 26.37. 



Woodcock: Schleswig-Holstein, 28.99; Westphalia, 

 26.10; Rheinland, 14.43. 



Wild ducks: Schleswig-Holstein, 217.03; Pomerania, 

 119.98; Brandenburg, 108.31. 



Field-fares: Hanover, 720.10; Rheinland, 539.45; West- 

 phalia, 472.53. 



Aggregating the value of the entire amount of game 

 shot from April 1, 1885, to March 31, 1886, the prices fixed 

 in the official game schedules for the several districts have 

 been used as the basis of calculation, as follows: For red 

 deer, the average value of smaller deer, forked and old 

 deer; for fallow deer that of a small deer, spike and old 

 deer; for black game that of a 2 or 3-year-old pig; for 

 roes that of a buck and doe. The value of a rabbit has 

 been put at 0.50 mark (12 cents), the skin of a fox at 4 

 marks (96 cents), otter 12 marks, wildcat 4 marks, pine 

 marten 12 marks, rock marten 10 marks, fitchet 2 marks, 

 quail and field-fares at 0.30 mark and 0.15 mark respect- 

 ively. Computing, then, the value of the game for the 

 year, we find a total of nearly twelve million marks, to 

 which sum the furred game contributes nine and the 

 feathered three millions — a surprising result in view of the 

 fact that the last official estimate in 1881-2 ("The Con- 

 dition ef th» Prussian Forests," by Hagen-Donner.) put 



the value of the yearly game supply at 5,772,000 marks, 

 and adding the value of the skins, 6,700,000 marks. The 

 sum of twelve million marks would no doubt be consider- 

 ably larger were the receipts from all the items connected 

 with the hunting privileges taken into consideration, as 

 explained in the work by Dimitz, "The Hunt in Austria," 

 for Cislithania. 



OPEN SEASONS FOR GAME. 

 Arkansas. 



Deer, Sept. 1 to Feb. lj wild turkey, Sept. 1 to May 1; pin- 

 nated grouse (prairie chicken), Sept.'l to Feb. 1; quail (Vir- 

 ginia partridge), Oct. 1 to March 1. 



Colorado. 



Elk, deer, buffalo, antelope, mountain sheep, Sept. 15 to 

 Jan. 1; partridge, pheasant, pinnated grouse (prairie henh 

 Oct. 1 to Nov. 15; quail and wild turkey protected at all 

 seasons, 



Connecticut. 



Woodcock, quail, grav squirrel, ruffed grouse (partridge), 

 Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. 



Maine. 



Moose, deer, caribou, Oct. 1 to Jan. 1; wildfowl, Sept. 1 to 

 May 1; shore birds, Aug. 1 to May 1; quail, Oct. 1 to Dec. 1; 

 woodcock, ruffed grouse, partridge, Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. 



Massachusetts. 



Woodcock, Aug. 1 to Jan. 1; ruffed grouse (partridge), Oct. 

 1 to Jan. 1; quail, Oct. 15 to Jan. 1; wild ducks, Sept. 1 to 

 April 15; plover, snipe, sandpiper, so-called shore, marsh or 

 beach birds, July 15 to May 1; wild pigeon, gull, tern, Oct. 1 

 to May 1; gray squirrel, hare, rabbit, Sept. 1 to March 1; 

 deer not to be killed at any time. 



Minnesota. 



Woodcock, July 4 to Oct. 31. Pinnated grouse (prairie 

 hen), sharp-tailed grouse, Aug. 15 to Sept. 30. Quail (part- 

 ridge), Sept. 1 to Nov. 30. Ruffed grouse (pheasant), Sept. 1 

 to Nov. 30. Wildfowl, Sept. It! to Dec. 31. Deer, moose, elk, 

 month of Nevember. 



New Hampshire. 



Moose, deer, caribou, Sept. 1 to Dec. 1. Gray squirrel, 

 Sept. to Jan. 1. Wildfowl, Aug. 1 to Feb. 1. Woodcock, 

 quail, ruffed grouse, partridge, Sept. 1 to Jan. 1. 



New York. 



Deer, Aug. 15 to Nov. 1. Dogging season, Sept. 1 to Oct. 5. 

 Dogging not allowed in St. Lawrence and Delaware coun- 

 ties. Hare, rabbit, Nov. 1 to Feb. 1. Black and gray squir- 

 rels, Aug. 1 to Feb. 1. Wildfowl, Sept. 1 to May 1 (Long 

 Island waters, Oct. 1 to May 1; Chautauqua county, Sept. 1 

 to Feb. 1). Quail, Nov. 1 to Jan. 1 (in Niagara county not 

 before 1889). Woodcock, Aug. 1 to Jan. 1 (in Oneida, Dela- 

 ware, Dutchess and Columbia [?] counties, Sept. 1 to Jan. 1). 

 Ruffed grouse (partridge), Sept. 1 to Jan. 1 (in Queens and 

 Suffolk counties, Nov. 1 to Jan. 1; in Niagara county pro- 

 tected to 1889). Spruce grouse, Canada partridge, Nov. 1 to 

 Jan. 1. Shore birds, July 10 to Jan. 1. 



Ohio. 



Quail, pinnated grouse (prairie chicken), Nov. 10 to Jan. 1; 

 wild turkey, Nov. 1 to Jan. 14; ruffed grouse (pheasant), blue- 

 winged teal, Sept. 1 to Dec. 31; wild duck, Aug. 31 to April 

 9. (In waters of Lake Erie and its estuaries wildfowl can- 

 not be killed on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday of any week 

 between Sept. 1 and April 1.) Woodcock, July 4 to Dec. 31; 

 turtle dove, Aug. 1 to Dec. 31, squirrel, J^une 1 to Jan. 1; 

 rabbit, Oct. 1 to Jan. 31; deer, Oct. 15 to Nov. 20. 



Rhode Island. 



Rabbit, hare, gray squirrel, Sept. 1 to Feb. 1; shore birds, 

 Aug. 1 to April 1; dusky, black, wood, summer ducks, blue, 

 green-winged teal, Sept. 1 to March 1; ruffed grouse, par- 

 tridge, woodcock, Sept. 1 to Jan. 1; quail, Oct. 1 to Jan. 1. 

 Vermont. 



Deer not to be killed at any time; wildfowl, Sept. lto May 

 1; woodduck, Sept. 1 to Feb. 1; ruffed grouse, partridge, 

 Sept. 1 to Feb. 1; woodcock, Aug. 15 to Feb. 1. 



Wisconsin. 



Woodcock, July 10 to Dec. 1; quail, partridge, pheasant, 

 ruffed grouse, pinnated grouse (prairie hen), sharp-tailed 

 grouse, snipe, plover, wildfowl, Sept. 1 to Dec. 1; deer, Oct. 

 1 to Nov. 10. 



S. Hedding Fitch, a Yonkers (N. Y.) lawyer, was out 

 in a boat on Little Tupper Lake, in the Adirondacks, one 

 evening recently, catching minnows for the next day's 

 fishing. His repeating rifle lay in the boat. Stopping at 

 a log, Mr. Fitch stepped out upon it and after netting 

 some fish stepped back into the boat. His doing so in 

 some way disturbed the rifle and exploded it. The bullet 

 entered his thigh, fracturing his thigh bone, and came 

 out at the knee, fracturing the knee joint. Mr. Fitch's 

 sufferings for the next three days were terrible. His 

 guide did what he could to stop the bleeding and then 

 carried him to their camp. The nearest place where help 

 might be obtained was Pliny Robins's borne, eight miles 

 away, and the nearest telegraph station was Saranac Inn, 

 forty miles beyond Robins's. At daylight the next morn- 

 ing the guide left Mr. Fitch alone and made his way over 

 a difficult trail to Pliny Robins's for help. Mr. Robins 

 was away and there was only one man available to go to 

 Saranac Inn. This man hastened on and telegraphed to 

 Dr. Trudeau. The party which had left Mr. Fitch the 

 day before he was shot and were on their way home to 

 this city, received word of the accident, turned immedi- 

 ately about and reached their wounded comrade at 11 

 o'clock Thursday morning. That night they moved him 

 to Pliny Robins's, and by Friday at midnight they had 

 him at the Saranac Lake House, sixty miles from his 

 camp. The next morning his physician, Dr. W. H. Sher- 

 man, of Yonkers, and the other doctors who had been 

 summoned performed an operation on his leg. Reports 

 from the wounded man to-day are to the effect that he is 

 improving. 



The Auburn Club Means Business.— Auburn, N. Y., 

 July 18, 1887. — Editor Forest and Stream : Christopher 

 Peterson, residing on the shore of Owasco Lake, Cayuga 

 County, having been caught spearing fish and criminally 

 convicted and fined for that offense by members of the 

 Fish Protective Association of Auburn, N. Y., the said 

 Peterson being at the time a member in good standing of 

 the Auburn Gun Club, has been expelled therefrom. We 

 wish this placed before the public, and especially before 

 the gun clubs of this State belonging to the State Associa- 

 tion for the Protection of Game and Fish. Requesting 

 them to follow up the work begun, and make examples 

 of any and all persons in their districts who can be found 

 guilty of evading the laws of the State in the protection 

 of game and fish. — Geo. B. Wright, Jr. , Secretary Au- 

 burn Gun Club; also, Corresponding Secretary State 

 Association, 



South Presque Isle, Me., July 12.— Small birds, such 

 as woodpeckers, robins, blackbirds, jays, etc., are very 

 abundant. Huge cranes are to be seen daily feeding in 

 Arnold Brook. Yesterday as I stood near Quaggy Joe 

 Lake, of which the brook is the outlet, four wood-ducks 

 left the lake and flew just overhead. To-day, sitting on 

 a mossy log in the thick woods, I noted several ruffed 

 grouse and chicks which were very tame. Several deer 

 and caribou have been seen lately. Uncle John Sprague, 

 the bear hunter of this region, has trapped two bears since 

 last Friday. Some animal in three visits to our hen house 

 has carried off (1) a sitting hen and 14 eggs, (2) ten chick- 

 ens, (3) eighteen chickens, some of them half grown. 

 Last night he stole the bait from a steel trap. As the lake 

 is a resort for ducks and geese diiring the fall migrations 

 I am looking cheerfully forward to September and Octo- 

 ber and anticipate fine sport with my shotgun. — W. 



A" 



MICHIGAN DEER LAW. 



N Act to amend section one of Act number one hundred and 

 . twenty-four, session laws eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, 

 entitled ' An Act to revise and consolidate the several acts relat- 

 ing to the protection of game and for the better preservation of 

 elk, deer, birds and wild fowl," approved April third, eighteen 

 hundred and sixty-nine, and all subsequent amendments of said 

 soction, the same being section two thousand one hundred and 

 ninety-eight, Howell's Annotated Statutes. 



Sec 1. The people of the State of Michigan enact : That sec* 

 tion one of an act number one hundred and twenty -four, session 

 laws of eighteen hundred and sixty-nine, entitled "An Act to 

 revise and consolidate the several acts relating to the protection 

 of game, and for the bettter preserva tion of elk, deer, birds and 

 wild fowl," approved April third, eighteen hundred and sixty* 

 nine, and all subsequent amendments of said section, being com- 

 piler's section two thousand one hundred and ninety-eight, 

 Howell's Annotated Statutes, be and the same is herebv amended 

 so as to read as follows : 



§ 2198, Section L No person or persons shall pursue, or hunt, or 

 kill any deer in this State save only from the first day of Novem- 

 ber to the first of December in each year. Provided, That in the 

 Upper Peninsula deer may be killed between the first days of 

 October and the fifteenth day of November only, in each year; 

 or kill at any time any deer when it is in its red coat, or 

 any fawn when it is in its spotted coat, and the having 

 in his possession the skin of such deer or fawn shall be prima 

 facie of such illegal killing. No person shall at any time kill 

 or capture any deer in the water of any of the streams, ponds 

 or lakes within the jurisdiction of this State, or kill or capture 

 any deer by means of any pit. pitfall or trap, nor shall he make use 

 of any artificial light in hunting such deer. No person shall make 

 use of a dog in hunting, pursuing or killing deer within the 

 boundaries of this State, and any dog pursuing or killing a deer 

 or following upon the track of a deer is hereby declared to be a 

 public nuisance, and may be killed by any person where so seen, 

 and the owner of such dog shall have no recourse at law against 

 the person so killing such dog. No person shall kill or destroy by 

 any means whatever, or attempt to take or destroy any wild 

 turkey at any time, except in the months of October, November 

 and December of each year, or kill or destroy by any means what- 

 ever any woodcock, or any partridge, or ruffed grouse, or any 

 wild duck, wild goose, or other wild water-fowl, or snipe, save 

 only from the first day of September in each year to the first day 

 of January next following. The taking, carrying or sending by 

 any means whatever, into or through any county of this State, or 

 any of the game or animals which ha ve been killed or captured 

 contrary to the provisions of this section, or the hide ot such 

 animals, shall be illegal and is declared to be an offense against 

 the provisions of this act in any county in or through which such 

 game, animals or hides may be taken, and such offense may be 

 punished as provided in section six of this act hereby amended. 

 This act is ordered to take immediate effect. 

 Approved June 25, 1887. 



"That reminds me." 

 S20. 



"rpHAT reminds me" is the preface of so many good 

 JL things that one never hears this expression without 

 naturally expecting to hear "something drop" very soon 

 thereafter. 



It is the magic key that unlocks chests where deeds of 

 forty or fifty years ago have slept calmly and peacefully 

 through the changing seasons. That dear old period 

 "when boys were not what boys are nowadays," Those 

 happy clays when puncheon floors "were good enough for 

 me to cut a pigeon wing on," and when the honored guest 

 would have been assigned to a "front parlor on the ground 

 floor." And then again it introduces such an aggregation 

 of events of yesterday and to-day that one could only ex- 

 pect to find a parallel case in the attractions to be found in 

 the greatest show on earth. Tales, too, of almost invis- 

 ible texture, yet tales, you know; happenings as strong 

 and vigorous as young goats ; and stories, if not as old as the 

 ark, were there or thereabout, when the historical voyage 

 was ended. Yet all of these tilings have entertained 

 many a camp-fire; they have lessened the toil of many a 

 tiresome portage, and if they were not angels in disguise, 

 have on many occasions at least discharged the good 

 office as if they were. Certain tales I listene i to not very 

 long ago at a social gathering of congenial sports im- 

 pressed me very forcibly with the idea that however 

 much men may be affected by the decaying touch of 

 time, physically, there is a singular friend, one of the 

 mental organization from like influences. 



Some of us had barely reached thirty, and while others 

 of the party had doubled that period of life, I must add 

 with much pride, that the younger members acquitted 

 themselves in a very creditable manner, but finally suc- 

 cumbed to the experience and wisdom of age! It would 

 be needless for me to detail the occurrences of that even- 

 ing. Your space would not allow it and my time is too 

 limited. There were, however, tales of land and sea ; 

 stories by men who had followed in the footsteps of their 

 fathers as they blazed trails through the unbroken forest 

 of Ohio. The years sent back to the informal loan asso- 

 ciation, the leafy temples that once shaded our hills and 

 with them, the attendant scenes; songs from the faraway 

 Susquehanna ; feats of the keelboat-man along the Ohio ; 

 panoramic views of the Mississippi ; a bird's eye view of 

 the " Cresent City," down the vista of fifty years, and 

 events that marked the coming tribe, that now ranks 

 third among the hosts that are encamped around the tab- 

 ernacle of the Republic. But I digress. An Irish gentle- 

 man, who feared nothing but the "beauty of women and 

 the jollity of wine," as he himself declared, had made 

 the rash statement that salmon sometimes grew to be 8ft. 

 long in Ireland. He of course admitted afterward that 

 he could afford to fall a foot or two, but as a farewell 

 shot, was willing to swear that they were that long when 

 he was a boy. He couldn't answer for the present, but 

 for the past he was a living witness. 



When he had finished, the Doctor turned smilingly 

 toward him and raid: "Tom, that reminds me of an inci- 

 dent of my boyhood days, It is not a fish story in fact, 



