26 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. 81, 1888. 



THE MASSACHUSETTS ASSOCIATION 

 DINNER. 



THE annual reunion and dinner of the Massachusetts 

 Fish and Game Protective Association at Young's 

 Hotel, Boston, last Thursday evening, was in many ways 

 one of the most pleasant in the society's record. Those 

 present, members and their guests, were: 



Wm. H. H. Murray, 

 Hon. C. S, Randall, 

 Chas. Whitlier, 

 Arthur W. Robinson, 

 Eliot B. Mayo, 

 Dr. Heber Bishop, 

 Dr. ML A. Morris, 

 Jas. H. Hall. 

 Myron W. Whitney, 

 E. L. Barry, 

 Daniel O'Hara, 

 8. P. Brown, 

 S. Clarence Ellis, 

 W. A. Gar bell, 

 Henry H. Kimball, 

 George W. Wiggin, 

 J. L. Stetson, 

 J. N. Roberts, 

 William Hutchinson, 

 George Loring, 

 • Rollin Jones, 



G. W. Gardner, 

 Herbert Seavey, 

 J. W. C. Seavey, 



H. T. Rockwell, 

 William B. Smart, 



E. S. Tobey, Jr.. 

 Joseph Warren, 

 William E. Doyle, 

 Charles B. Reynolds, 



F. R. Shattuck, 

 Henry J. Thayer, 

 J. McDonald, 



B. C. Clark, 

 W. Hapgood, 

 Frank W. Andrews, 



G. E Pollard, 

 Edward T. Barker, 

 F. H. Atherton, 

 E. H. Lathrop. 

 Henry M. Phillips, 

 Daniel T. Curtis, 

 Cephas Muggins, 

 Samuel Hanson, 



C. H. Rockwell, 

 Walton C. Taft, 

 Samuel Braclstreet. 



A. Williams, 

 Thos. J. Holmes. 

 R. M. Read, M.D.. 

 C. Z. Bassett, 

 Geo. B. Appleton, 

 Richard O. Harding. 

 Jas. R. Hooper, 

 Edward F. Hardy, 

 Chas. G. Gibson, 

 Frank K. Stoddard, 

 James G. Wildman. 

 Walter R. Davis, 

 John F. Nickerson, 

 J. Walter Sanborn, 

 J. P. Woodbury, 

 E. R. Hunnewell, 

 Hiram Whittington, 

 C. Z. Howell, 

 George E. Richardson, 

 George A. Moore, 

 Lyman Stickney, 

 C. M. Blake, 

 Charles B. Barnes, 

 George H. Morey, 

 Arthur L. Brackett, 



A. N. Cheney, 

 Walter M, Brackett, 

 George W. Riddle, 

 Herbert H. Brainard, 

 George F. Crafts, 



B. F. Nichol, 

 Edward A. Samuels, 

 Jjhn Fottler, Jr., 



E. B. Hodge, 

 J. H. Kimball, 

 E. A. Brackett, 

 William D. Hawley, 

 Henry EL Carter, 

 Aug. B. Bradstieet, 

 Herbert Merriam, 

 Richard Wood, 

 W. F. Almy, 

 George O. Sears, 

 P. W. Scudder, 

 Dr. David Thayer, 

 Henry L. Roberts. 



One noteworthy feature of the Boston annual dinners, as 

 shown in tbis list of names, is the bringing together, from 

 different sections, of men actively interested m game and 

 fish protection, for interchange of views, experience and 

 encouragement. There were "Adirondack" Murray, than 

 whom no one is gifted with more eloquent speech of the 

 woods and wild life; Congressman-elect Charles S. Ran- 

 dall, of New Bedford, a member of the Cuttyhunk Club; 

 E. B. Hodge and G. W. Riddle, Fish Commissioners of 

 New Hampshire; Herbert H. Brainard, x>( Vermont, con- 

 servator of fish, game and hsh-stories; Commissioners 

 Brackett and Lathrop of Massachusetts; Edward Small, 

 an authority on sea fisheries; representatives of the 

 sportsman's press; and animating, guiding and control- 

 ing all, as skillfully and triumphantly as ever he played 

 a salmon in a Canadian stream, President Samuels, who 

 after the courses, read his 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 

 Another year has passed away, and once more it ia ray most 

 pleasant duty to extend a hearty welcome to our friends and 

 guests who are with us tins evening, aud also to congratulate 

 the Association on a most brilliant gathering in commemoration 

 of the beginning of another year— the sixteenth of its existence. 



Those of us who have watched the rise and fall of societies 

 appreciate in its full value the significance of my words, when 

 1 say Uiar although we are now well along in years, counting the 

 lives of societies aa they average, we were never in more vigor- 

 ous health, were never better equipped financially, were never 

 possessed with a membership T bat showed a greater interest in 

 our chosen work than we are at thepresent time; and 1 must here 

 " congratulate the Association on this auspicious condition of 

 thiiiiiS, and express the hope that it will continue. 



That tne Association has been of very great benefit to the people 

 of this Common wealth during these many years of existence is 

 unquestionable. Cavillers and doubters always will be found, 

 but the good we have done cannot be obliterated. 



Wheu it is remembered that every goad law upon our statutes 

 for the better preservation of our fish, game, and our native song 

 and insectivorous birds, is there almost entirely in consequence 

 of our earnest aud patiently repeated efforts, when it is remem- 

 bered that we have tor many years alone and unaided secured the 

 enforcement by the expenditure of a great amount of labor and 

 money, paying out from our own funds hundreds upon hundreds 

 of dollars, our legal and other expenses for prosecutions in a 

 single year amounting to over 8100, doing this work and expend- 

 ing this money for the benefit of the whole community; doing the 

 work that the Stale should ha ve done, and paying out our rabnev 

 that the State should in equity refund to us; when these things 

 are remembered, 1 repeat that the value of our labors has been 

 great, the importance of our existence almost inestimable. 



It is true that the State Fish and (lame Commissioners were by 

 the last Legislature given the po^er and means to see that the 

 laws are enforced, and 1 must here heartily commend them for 

 the very handsome manner m which they have during the past 

 year responded to the action of the Legislature; the record they 

 have since made is one that we must congratulate them upon, and 

 one of which they must be proud; but it our association had not 

 existed and accomplished all it has, what need would there now 

 be of a commission, for what would the Commission now have to 

 conserve and protect ? Who would have endeavored to preserve 

 our last diminishing supply of game birds in all these years if we 

 had not ? Apparently no one, for no one but us has shown any 

 inclination wiiatever in that direction. Almost no one but us, so 

 far as court records indicate, has taken enough interest in them 

 to see to it that our quail and our ruffed grouse, and our wood- 

 cock and other valuable game birds, our native song and insecti- 

 vorous birds, the farmer's best friends as they are often called, 

 have not been exterminated. 



If we had not enforced the laws for the protection of the lobster, 

 enforced them at one time at an almost total expenditure of our 

 surplus funds, how much nearer extermination would one of our 

 most valuable food supplies be in this State than it is to-day? 



The answer is easy to all these questions, and 1 again repeat 

 that the good our association has done is almost inestimable. It 

 Is not alone by the prosecutions we have made and the convictions 

 we have obtained that the estimate of our influence may be 

 measured. The more fact that we are in existence, that the as- 

 sociation has been anxious to receive complaints; and to act upon 

 them at all times; that we have been ready always to prosecute 

 any infringement of the game laws if evidence of such is fur- 

 nished us, has had a moral weight, the value of which cannot be 

 estimated. It has most unquestionably served as a check upon 

 evil doers, and has iu a very large degiee undoubtedly prevented 

 the devastation of our birds, the killing and selling of game out 

 of proper season. 



Let those, therefore, who perhaps thoughtlessly, perhaps ignor- 

 antly, possibly maliciously, decry the beneficence of our work, | 



cease their ungrateful and ungracious comments, and give us the 

 credit that is our proper due. 



1 have said that every good law for the protection of our fish 

 and game is upon our statutes, chiefly because of our most 

 earnest efforts; it is also true tbat every bad law we have, and I 

 regret to say we have some that should be remedied without delay, 

 is still in existence, notwithstanding our most urgent remon- 

 strances and appeals. 



We have for years endeavored to secure statutory protection 

 tor the lobster, by the establishment of an absolute close period 

 ot two nionllm m the height of the breeding season. I have shown 

 in former addresses how important and valuable such a la w would 

 be, and will not dwell upon it here. 



The Governor in his last message has recommended legislation 

 in this direction, and that is an encouraging point gained; let us 

 hope t hat at the present session of the Legislature a wise measure 

 for the better protection of the lobster may he enacted. 



Although we made the most strenuous offorts for the repeal of 

 the law which permits the snaring of our ruffed grouse or par- 

 tridge, it still is a living disgrace to the State. It is a law harm- 

 less and plausible enough on its face, but which is pernicious 

 to a grave degree. 



It not only offers a bounty to all sorts of poaching and rascality, 

 but seriously menaces the extermination of not only our par- 

 tridges, but our quail also, which are now snared in what are 

 called for the purpose of evading the law, "partridge snares." 



Oar association has done its whole duty in endea voring to obtain 

 the repeal of this baneful law, and further effort on our part is 

 in the minds of some of questionable advisability. A number of 

 complaints have lately come to me from farmers and others in 

 different portions of the State, from land owners who do not wish 

 the game birdB which frequent their estates destroyed in any way, 

 yet who are now powerless lo prevent the devastation: for the 

 snare r with his line of traps is able to capture in course of time 

 every partridge in a given locality, and adjoining land owners are 

 helpless. 



From these complaiuts I judge that the farmers are at last be- 

 coming alarmed, and I hope that the time is not far distant when 

 they may move to secure the repeal of this unwise law. We 

 might under the consciousness of having done our whole duty re- 

 pose upon the aiduous efforts we have made, and wait patientlv 

 for the land owners to take action in the matter. Whether such 

 a course is the wiser or not is a question. 



Ii action by all who are interested in the preservation of our 

 most valuable game bird is long delayed it mav come too late. 

 The partridge once depleted from our woods cannot oe replaced 

 by importations from abroad. 



Even the pinnated grouse could be restored to us, but the ruffed 

 grouse could not be. The laws of almost everv other State abso- 

 lutely prohibit the snaring of these birds, and why should .Massa- 

 chusetts thus shamefully pass behind her sisters and allow this 

 baneful practice to go on, even giving the snarers the month of 

 December, which she denies to sportsmen. Unscrupulous schemers 

 to further tneir own selfish ends have endeavored to prejudice 

 the agriculturists against our efforts to secure the repeal of the 

 law which legalizes snaring and have so poisoned the minds of 

 some unthinking men that their hostility is in a measure aroused- 

 to all such let. me sound this warning: Unless snaring is made 

 unlawful the partridge is as surely doomed to extermination in 

 our woods as was the prairie chicken or pinnated grouse which 

 was formerly a Massachusetts game bird but which is now practi- 

 cally extirpated here. If the partridge is destroyed it will be, in 

 the opinion of many, a great calamity, and to no one a greater 

 calamity than to the farmer himself. 



It is always with me a matter of anxiety that our association 

 great as it is, composed as it is of men prominent in all walks of 

 life, an association whose objects are avowedlv and entirely for 

 the public welfare— shall do the best possible work of which' it is 

 capable, and it ia therefore my constant study to devise means 

 and ways through which our usefulness and efficacy mav be 

 increased. 



Of course, methods often present themselves, which if thev 

 could be availed of would be productive of grand results; but they 

 have been discarded almost always for the reason that our 

 treasury was not strong enough to warrant their employment 

 If we were fortunate in the possession of a larare fund; if we were 

 like many other associations frequent recipients of legacies and 

 handsome gifts, donations which would enable us to carry out 

 our beneficent work to the fullest possible extent, we might now 

 be able to point to a record that any society might be proud of. 

 But with the exception of a few donations that have been given 

 us, and those almost entirely by some of our own members, we 

 have been obliged to pay all the expenses of our work which has 

 been entirely for the public good, out of our own purses, and con- 

 sequently have not accomplished as much as we might. 



It is true that our membership comprises many wealthy men, 

 who have ever expressed a willingness to subscribe for any under- 

 taking that we projected, looking to the welfare of the com- 

 munity. But their generosity has not been taxed, for the reason 

 that we have felt a delicacy in undertaking movements for 

 which the funds must be solicited to pay the expenses incurred 

 However, our record is one of which we may not be ashamed' 

 and there arc still many ways in which the scope of our useful- 

 ness may be enlarged. 



It has seemed to me that we might enlist the interest and assist- 

 ance Of other somewhat kindred societies in our work by inviting 

 them to a participation in it. The objects of our association are 

 not only "to procure and enforce suitable laws for the protection 

 and preservation of food fishes, bivalves, lobsters, game, song and 

 insectivorous birds," but they also include "the promotion of fish- 

 culture, the introduction of new species and varieties of fish, 

 game and useful birds, and to disseminate information relating 

 thereto." Surely such objects are grand and glorious enough to 

 engage the attention and arouse the enthusiasm of all men, but 

 particularly those whose inl erests lie in the direction which, these 

 objects may effect. 



Those who come more especially in this category are the farmer, 

 the sportsman and the fisherman. How best to secure the co- 

 operation of these in our work has been a problem to which I 

 have given much thought. A method presents itself which is 

 worthy of consideration, and that, is to invite the various agri- 



^ffi ^feto^J?^ determined to catch every 



ceding years, 

 1885. In fact 



JIa Z m J^I 13 not halt as la ''8e as.tbe two pre- 

 r ?i n „ ^ niere trlfle , compared with catches of 1884 and 

 t, the present catch is the smallest, knowu for fiftv 

 years, and many vessels will suffer great loss. WhTtheca^iS 

 this falling off is no one seems to know. To supply the demand 



■ ^ agri- 

 cultural societies ana farmers' clubs and the fish and game clubs 

 throughout the State to unite with us in occasional conventions 

 for the purpose of discussing public measures in relation to our 

 fi9h and game and unite in one phalanx for perfecting them. If, 

 for a single example, we could secure the co-operation of the 

 farmers and sportsmen, in perfecting plans by which our woods 

 might be restocked with quail, or even pinnated grouse, I have 

 no hesitation in asserting that our public-spirited citizens would 

 liberally subscribe the funds needed for such an undertaking. 



Without the hearty co-operation of both the farmers and 

 sportsmen any such measures would result in fadure, with such 

 co-operation it would be an instant success. 



We cannot, in reason, expect them to lend their hearty assist- 

 ance unless we invite them; possibly they would not participate 

 in such 'work; but we cannot know until we ask them. At all 

 events, even if they did not avail themselves of their opportunity 

 our action will show them that instead of being hostile to their 

 interests, we are not only friendly to them but anxious to protect 

 and advance them. 



It was largely due to the efforts of our Association with a mem- 

 ber of which the measure originated, that Congress established bv 

 statute a national close season in the mackerel fishery. This fish 

 which once was one of our most valuable food fishes had, year by 

 year, grown more and more scarce, and the extermination of the 

 species Beemed inevitable. Hand-line fishing, no matter how 

 extensively it might be pushed, could never exhaust the supply, 

 but the devastation caused by the enormous hauls of the mam- 

 moth nets used by the seiners was and is destructive in the highest 

 degree. 



it was hoped and believed that if the mackerel were allowed a 

 brief season of protection during the spawning time the supply 

 of fish would show less signs of exhaustion, but the hope has thus 

 far failed of realization, and the mackerel fishery, which was 

 formerly most profitable, is now un remunerative in the same 

 degree. The destruction of mackerel by one of the tremendous 

 hauls of the seiners is something terrible, and along with those 

 fish which are marketable, myriads of smaller fish are destroyed, 

 which, if allowed to escape, would increase iu size and perpetu- 

 ate the species. In my belief the time has arrived for State and 

 national legislation which shall increase the size of mesh of nets 

 used iu mackerel seining, and our Association should lose no time 

 n taking the initiave to obtain it. 



A writer in the Boston Globe Bays, in referring to the decline of 

 the mackerel fishery: "The mackerel season for the two pre- 

 ceding years was a complete failure, barely one-fourth of the 

 fleet, if indeed that number, paying expenses. It was equally as 

 much of a failure in the Provincial waters as on the American 

 shore. High prices for the catch have prevailed from the first, 

 and but a tew thousand barrels of this fish are on the market, 

 aud those at very high prices. On account of the continued ill 

 luck of the mackerel fleet many vessels were put into the bank 

 fisheries." 



The Maine Commissioners' report just published says of the 

 mackerel; "This fish has been very scarce on our coast this sea- 

 son, and, therefore, the law has not been violated as much as 

 usual. The catch of mackerel all along the shore has been very 



rto™ i.Tiit. inuuciMuna raureu up m my mem- 



than^ne P™^ e .^ Ue sweeter, none more delightful to recall, 

 !2£2aw \ l t rae SIS"? ?? ?, f these occasions, enwreathed and sur- 

 rounded as it will be by the recollection of all tho nmrn^Si ^ 



— by the recollection of 'all the courtesies and 

 my official duty y °" VG " rae dnrim the entire perio ^ °* 



Hon. Chas. S. Randall gave some significant figures, 

 showing the effect of the menhaden fishing steamers on 

 the bass supply in the waters controlled by th» Cuttyhunk 

 Club. The club records show that, for a period of fifteen 

 years previous to 1885, the average annual catch of striped 

 bass by the club members had been 700 fish, weight 

 8.0001bs., the largest fish recorded being of 64lbs. °In 

 1885 the menhaden steamers broke up the fishing, and 

 again in 1886. In the next year the menhaden steamers 

 were not in operation, and the catch of bass rose into the 

 hundreds, but only to be destroyed in the following year 

 when the menhaden factories were at work. Thus: 



No - Per year. AVeight. Largest. 



15 years..... 7.0 . 8,0001bs. & 



1885 46 419 



1886 , 3 8SK §H 



1887 , S35 2,809 « 



1888 29 479 % 



Mr. Randall made a strong plea for more efficient laws 

 and enforcement; he proposed a convention of represen- 

 tatives from the several Atlantic Coast States to adopt a 

 suitable law for all, and he pledged his warm cooperation 

 and active support of such a wise measure if it were pre- 

 sented to Congress. 



Mr. Murray followed with a tribute to the charms and 

 value of woods life, and eulogized the work of the Asso- 

 ciation in cherishing the taste for shooting and fishing 

 and healthful recreation in the forest and on the stream. 

 Mr. Edward Small urged the importance of protecting 

 the mackerel; Commissioner Brainard, of Vermont, re- 

 ported the growth of a strong public sentiment favoring 

 protection in his State; Commissioner Brackett reviewed 

 the work accomplished in Massachusetts; Commissioner 

 Hodge reported that the black bass had destroyed the 

 yellow perch in Sunapee Lake, the result being a grand 

 supply of bass and trout in those waters; Chas. B. Rey- 

 nolds suggested that the Association could accomplish 

 much good by giving assistance to the special officer of 

 the State police assigned to enforce the fish and game 

 laws; and A. N. Cheney paid a beautiful tribute to the 

 memory of the late Judge Ranger. There was finging 

 by an impromptu quartette and by Myron W. "Whitney, 

 who is a member of the Association. 



THE DIMINUTION OF GAME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Having read with much interest the different articles 

 in your valuable paper in regard to game extermination, 

 I want to express my views on the important subject. I 

 have long felt that an active interest must be taken in 

 the matter and laws made and enforced to prohibit the 

 wholesale slaughter of game for the market. It is shut- 

 ting out of the field many a true sportsman. What 

 little time he gets from his general business to devote to 

 a day or a week in enjoyment of the sport, to which he 

 has long looked forward in anticipation, he finds is 

 wasted, and to his disgust and discouragement the 

 market hunters have been ahead of him and have robbed 

 the coveys and left to him only the long tramp over hill 

 and dale. His game bag hangs empty at his side, and 

 his gun on his shoulder is a useless appendage. I know 

 of parties in this vicinity who have kept themselves busy 

 for the last two seasons in bagging and sending to Buffalo 

 markets the ruffed grouse, that beautiful game bird, 

 which with us is not at all plentiful. Something, very 

 evidently, must be done with push and energy, as Mr. 

 Gilbert of Indiana is attempting to do for his State. I 

 hope every one interested in the matter will at least lend 

 a helping voice for the advancement of bills in every 

 State to prevent the sale of any kind of game for five 

 years. I am not in favor of abolishing spring shooting, 

 because in this locality" all the duck shooting we have is 

 in the spring, and does not exceed a week or ten days. 

 Leon Centre, N. Y. G. B. W*|» 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I made one of a party to Spring Lake this fall for the 

 second time, and had a good time, but only a small flight 

 of ducks passed down the Illinois River this year, and the 

 flight seems to be growing smaller each year. We can 

 judge the cause by watching the express offices near 

 some of our best shooting grounds, To see (5 or 7bbls. of 

 game shipped daily is no uncommon thing, and this 

 answers the questions, where are all the ducks, or where 

 have they gone? W. N. J. 



Anchor, Illinois. 



Markets and Grouse.— Editor Forest and Stream: I 

 see in your issue of the 10th a correspondent from Ellis- 

 burg, N. Y., speaks a word of protest against market 

 hunters of the ruffed grouse. I add my voice to that 

 very emphatically. There are market hunters of the 

 ruffed grouse in the vicinity of Jamestown, N. Y., who 

 commence with the opening day and hunt the season 

 through, shipping to the larger cities. Unless the birds 

 are protected they will soon exterminate all the ruffed 

 grouse for miles in radius of that point. Killing ruffed 

 grouse for market in the State of New York should in 

 my opinion be prohibited. — Bob White. 



"How Bears are Shot,"— In *'G. A. S.'s" article, 

 which appeared in last issue, the word "Ganley" should 

 have been "Gauley." — P. C, O. 



