March 28, 1889.1 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



191 



Woodcock in Electric Lights.— Lockport, N. Y., 

 March 33. — On Wednesday last I had brought to uie a 

 woodcock that had flown into an electric light and was 

 killed. It was in good condition for a long flight, weigh- 

 ing only 4-Joz. This seems early tor woodcock to come, 

 but for 'the past ten days male robins and bluebirds have 

 been common. I have not seen a female of either species 

 yet. Song sparrows and bronze grackles have also arrived . 

 —J. L. Davison, 



Check List of North American Birds According 

 to the Canons of Nomenclature of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union. Abridged edition, revised. This is the 

 supplement provided for at the Sixth Congress of the 

 A. O, U. It notes the eliminations and changes in no- 

 menclature thus far found necessary since the publica- 

 tion of the Check List. It may be obtained from Mr. L. 

 S. Foster, 35 Pine street. New York. 



Charlestown, N. H., March 23. — Connecticut River 

 plear from ice this morning, as against April 11 in '87 and 

 '88. No freshet, river barely full. Robins and bluebirds 

 arrived this week. Sap running freely. Regular early 

 spring despite the muskrats and goosebones. — Von W. 



mttm 



fag mid 



am Lover a Camps." By E. E. Kobinson. Now ready. 



THE WAR IN CALIFORNIA. 



AN FRANCISCO, March 4.— Editor Forest and 

 Stream: A battle is now being waged between the 

 ttrician and plebian gunners of this State, which has 

 :ady aroused so much ill feeling that neither party to 

 dispute would hesitate much about turning its guns 

 apon the other. 

 I The patricians, by which term we characterize those 



• wealthy members of the fraternity who belong to the 

 I shooting clubs, have leased pretty well all the marshes 



■ and overflowed lands around the bay, which continue to 

 |be frequented by ducks, and as a matter of course want 

 Ito monopolize all the shooting. Their more plebian, or, 

 jat any rate, less wealthy brother sportsmen, who do 

 ■not belong to the clubs, are stigmatized as pot-hunters, 

 ^poachers, scoundrels, villains, etc., and every effort is 

 Iniade to drive them off the marshes by threats of prose- 



• Icution, which have been generally effective; the clerk or 

 I business man out for his sport on Sundays and holidays 



I may be of opinion that he is not trespassing, but when 



I I the parties threatening him are wealthy and organized , 

 land loudly assert that he is, he realizes that they may 

 I annoy him by vexatious suits for which he has no cer- 

 j I tain remedy, and allows himself to be driven off the 

 i I grounds; but there are others made of sterner stuff, who 



■ are much better posted on the legal merits of the ques- 

 tion, and decline to be intimidated, and the clubmen 

 I gnash their teeth in impotent rage, for, for the most 

 l| part their leased lands are not inclosed within the mean- 

 Ting of the act, and they have learnt by experience that 

 !|al;l effort at prosecution for trespass, although it may be 

 '■made the means of harassing the poacher, must inevit- 

 lably break down. The lands are in no case fenced in on 

 ■■the river side. 



I While the tire was smouldering, the club men have 

 1 been trying what wealth and influence would do in the 

 Legislature. They have made a strong bid for the mon- 

 jjopoly of all the shooting in the State: "they have secured 

 all the best marshes on lease; they have expended con- 

 lerable sums on the erection of club houses and boat 

 ses, and in the purchase of boats and all the para- 

 •malia of rich men's shooting outfits, and now plebian 

 .fibers thrust themselves upon them as if they had no 

 ilusive rights. They cannot well fence on the river 

 ie Of their reservations, and they want to have the river 

 declared a natural and legal boundary, and trespass within 

 that boundary a misdemeanor. To this end they have 

 bee)i trying to steer a little bill through the State Legis- 

 lature making it a misdemeanor to enter on the unin- 

 Closed land of another for shooting, fishing, etc. Section 

 2 of this bill runs as follows: 



Sec. 2. Every person who willfully enters upon the uninciosed 

 |]»nd of another for the purpose of ruin tins or shooting or finning, 

 or who discharges firearms or lights camp-fires thereon, without, 

 > first Having obtained permission of the owner, occupant, or lessee 

 I QT said land, is guilty of a misdemeanor; provided, however, that 

 I said owner, occupant, or lessee shall have marked out and defined 

 the boundaries of said uninclosed land by erecting, placing and 

 (posting thereon, at a distance apart of not more than 600ft,, a 

 written or printed notice with the name of the owner, or occu- 

 I pant, or lessee appended thereto, containing a warning to the 

 | effect that shooting, or hunting, or fishing, or the discharging of 

 firearms, or lighting of camp-fires, or all or either of such acts are 

 [prohibited or uotallowed thereon; and provided further, that said 

 owner, occupant or lessee shall erect, place and post a like notice 

 I upon at least every fifty acres of said land contained within the 

 boundaries so marked and defined. Said notice shall be placed 

 Iland poste(1 u P on some conspicuous thing or object upon said 



I The wording of the bill was very cleverly devised to 

 [secure the support of the country members, but it failed 

 [to do so to any considerable extent, and on being referred 

 [to the Senate Committee on Fish and Game, was unani- 

 Imously reported against. 



Both parties to the dispute are now more savage than 

 lever. It must, of course, be conceded that whether leases 

 I intended to confer a practical monopoly of the shooting 



were granted in the public interests or not, and although 

 |*he lessees paid almost nothing for the valued concession, 

 lit was a legal transaction entered into by the people's 

 [representatives in their public capacity, and must be re- 

 spected within the provisions of the law; but the kernel 

 lof the situation lies in the fact that the principal marshes 



are intersected by navigable sloughs and creeks, which 

 [•cannot be closed to the public. The public right extends 

 [to 60ft. beyond the river's bank on either side, and legally 

 [.•speaking, the river itself extends as far on either side as 



a flat-bottom boat can be navigated, and as the river will 

 i sometimes rise high enough to render a considerable area 

 lot the marsh navigable, some of our lawyers assert that 



no right of property can exist in these marshes until, and 



sinless, they be redeemed from the encroachments of the 

 rrivers, and that while it is competent to the State to lease 



its high and dry lands for club houses, etc., with shooting 

 [•rights over the adjoining marshes, it cannot confer any 

 [ exclusive right of entrance upon marshes liable to over- 

 | flow by the waters of a public highway, and as a matter 

 [■>of course no exclusive right to shoot over it under any 

 [existing law. The privilege of shooting over these 

 [ piarshes, as conceded in the lease, is said by lawyers of 



some ability to be of no value except as a declaration of 

 a common right. 



Hitherto the clubs by their wealth and organization, and 

 the assertion of rights supposed to have legal sanction, 

 have had very little difficulty in keeping the'plebs off the 

 leased lands. Standing solid against individual sportsmen 

 of narrow means, and backed by a body of paid pushers 

 and guides, ready to eject the asserted trespasser in et 

 armis, or to arrest him for trespass, the intruders have 

 bad the good horse sense to see that the odds are all 

 against them, and although the clubmen and their ser- 

 vants have no cause of action, they have might on their 

 side, and such a coloring of right as probably would 

 relieve them from the charge of acting in bad faith. 



At the same time the law is clear that there can be no 

 trespass where (here is no fence, and that although three 

 sides of a plot of land be inclosed, there can be no tres- 

 pass by encroachment on the fourth side, if that is open 

 from a public highway. The club men know that this is 

 the law, and in sending their servants to intimidate armed 

 men without sanction of law, they are Baid by a very 

 able lawyer, who has taken up the plebs' side of the ease, 

 to be guilty of provoking to a breach of the peace, and to 

 be legally responsible for any blood that may be shed in 

 consequence: for even if the clubmen and their servants 

 should be held on their trial to have acted in good faith, 

 and in the belief that they were legally entitled to 

 eject or arrest the asserted trespasser, such holding, 

 although it exonerate them for liability from conse- 

 quences, does not debar the asserted trespasser from the 

 right of self-defense, nor render him responsible for any 

 blood which it may be necessary to shed in the exercise 

 of that right of self-defense. 



But the clubmen axe not even contented with the 

 assertion of their supposed rights, they want to put a 

 stop to shooting on the rivers, creeks and unleased 

 marshes, or rather they want to monopolize these too 

 under cover of their leases. 



They would like to give the birds a rest on Sunday, 

 and on that day the city overflows into the marshes, 

 gunners coming by the hundred and harassing the birds 

 until they are so wild that the clubman can't get a shot 

 at them on Monday. And not only on Sunday, but from 

 Monday morning to Saturday night the clubmen com- 

 plain that their snooting is spoiled by the plebs. ''These 



d d pot-hunters," they say, - get up early and drive 



the ducks into the middle of the open ponds, where there 

 is no getting at them, or they shoot at a covev and cause 

 it to swerve from its line of flight," etc., etc. In fact 

 the poor clubman, who frequently finds it pretty hard to 

 make a bag. even with the assistance of his keeper or 

 guide, must sometimes submit to the annoyance of see- 

 ing some keen and successful sportsman navigating the 

 slough and dropping his birds right and left. He wants 

 to be left in undisturbed possession of the shooting, that 

 he may pursue it with dignity and ease; in fact he wants 

 the earth, and is very much in earnest about it, too. 

 What he paid for his share of the shooting rights does 

 not amount to much, but what he has paid "for his share 

 of the club outlay for building ajid expenses, and perhaps 

 what he has lost at poker to the club members makes 

 duck shooting the most expensive diversion he ever 

 engaged in, and he thinks it very hard that he should be 

 disturbed in his enjoyment of it by a lot of plebian 



poachers. "If you can't get a la w to keep these d d 



fellows outof the marshes afteryou've got a lease of them, 

 what's the blawsted country coming to, anyway?'' 



Now, that's just what the boys want to know, too. 

 They go out upon the public State waterways and engage 

 in duck shooting, when along come a couple of keepers 

 and threaten to arrest them unless they quit immediately. 

 They have passed over no fence, seen no evidence that 

 the land or marsh or w T ater they are on is private, but they 

 are one or two isolated and poor men, to contend against 

 the organization of wealthy bodies of clubmen, willing 

 to spend money to harass the intruders upon their sacred 

 privacy by forms of law. 



The attempt to smuggle a vicious act through the Leg- 

 islature has at last aroused the boys to the necessity of 

 action. Organization must be met by organization. The 

 clubmen must be fought with their own weapon. If any 

 keeper attempt to intimidate any man into quitting the 

 shooting grounds, or arrest any man on charge of tres- 

 pass, the members of the club must be proceeded against 

 individually for inciting to false arrest, or to a breach of 

 the peace, as the case may be. Charges will be sworn 

 against them, and they will be arrested at the club 

 grounds, at their homes, or at their places of business 

 wherever they may be. They have endeavored to make 

 the forms of law an engine of oppression, and now the 

 measure they have meted out to others is to be meted out 

 to them. 



All this is not set forth in the programme of the sports- 

 man's association only organized a few days ago. The 

 chief object of the organization was to assert a right to 

 the overflow lands on behalf of the general public. What 

 the committee don't know about law there are lawyers 

 ready to enlighten them on. One of the fraternity at 

 least has the matter under advisement, and is prepared to 

 indicate an aggressive course of action, provided only the 

 hot-headed ones will recognize that whatever is done 

 must be in conformity with the law. "What we want," 

 he said, "is to let the clubmen exceed their lawful 

 authority by unwarranted interference with any mem- 

 bers of our organization, and then come down upon them. 

 As for our wantiug money to defend our members from 

 their prosecutions, we will give them so much law on the 

 first occasion they give us, by cross actions for malicious 

 prosecution, criminal intimidation, conspiracy, etc., that 

 they will have no stomach to invoke the law a second 

 time." 



These leases of the duck lands have now been in vogue 

 for seven or eight years. By what system of jobbery 

 they were secured without the knowledge of the people, 

 who have an interest in keeping them open for the 

 general good, no one knows, but when I tell you that the 

 great Sonoma marsh of 7,00U acres was pre-empted by one 

 club of sixty men for $130, or $2 each, you may judge of 

 the temper in which our local sportsmen are prepared to 

 allow themselves to be deprived of their prescriptive 

 rights by men who have endeavored to secure a monopoly 

 without giving any valuable consideration for it, and 

 who, finding that they have no monopoly, are endeavor- 

 ing to assert their claims by effrontery and intimidation. 



You may expect to hear from me again when the 

 matter grows interesting, for I guess we shall see some 

 fun before it's all settled. Pacific ator. 



MAINE AND ITS GAME. 



THE defeat of the game bill in the Maine Legislature 

 in the closing hours is not a step in the right direc- 

 tion. The bill was a wholesome one, as has already been 

 pointed out in the Forest and Stream, and it was very 

 free from objectionable features. It did not even open 

 September to the hunting of moose, deer and caribou. 

 It simply made, or proposed, to make, the pathway of the 

 dog deer slayer rather diflicult of travel; while at the 

 same time it proposed to make it easy for the sportsman, 

 who had honorably killed his game to bring it home. It 

 proposed to prevent the killing of cow moose at any time. 

 It proposed to make it possible for the law to be better 

 enforced, by giving the wardens an interest in the fines. 

 But all this was too much for the disorderly element in 

 Maine, The bill passed the committee with very little 

 opposition. It passed the Senate without difficulty, but 

 at the very last hours of the session it was killed in the 

 House by an amendment in which the Senate would not 

 concur. This was the plan of the enemies of the bill, 

 and it is the second time that the thing has taken place. 

 A si mi lar bill was defeated during the last hours of the 

 session of the Legislature of 1887. in that State. It was 

 defeated m about the same way, after the friends of the 

 bill had gone home, supposing that the bill was safe. 

 Well, the friends of wholesome game protection in that 

 State have learned a lesson. They have found by this 

 second failure that it is not safe to trust their enemies, 

 even when matters look very favorable. But the worst 

 feature of this experience business is that all the time the 

 safety of the game is endangered, and that there is no 

 chance of mending matters for two years. There is no 

 doubt but what the boldness of those who break the ex- 

 isting game laws of that State has increased, especially 

 within a year, and the danger is that all the good work 

 that has been done may be undone. The Commission is 

 crippled for want of means, and the State will not even 

 give the wardens a share in the fines. Na,ture has been 

 kind to the game this winter. A lack of snow has made 

 the^ crusting of moose and deer almost an impossiblity, 

 and hence the moose and deer have escaped a great 

 danger which besets them when the deep snow is crusted 

 over. But these crusters are not entirely beaten-, even 

 this spring. They have called dogs to their assistance, 

 and there are accounts of the slaughter of whole yards of 

 deer in Aroostook comity. From the lumber camps in 

 the vicinity of Upton, in Oxford county, come dark 

 stories of the slaughter of deer. One or two noted hunters 

 have been in camp all winter in the near vicinity of these 

 lumber camps, and their business has been to kill deer. 

 The venison has been sold to the lumbermen, under some 

 other name, it is true. Indians have been dogging moose 

 near - the borders of the State, and in some cases they have 

 boldly attempted it far into the settled portions; but 

 these depredations have been promptly met by the game 

 wardens, and in one instance three Indians* have been 

 arrested, and forced to plead guilty. Newspaper reports 

 say that they plead guilty to the killing of two moose and 

 nine deer. They paid their fines, and were discharged. 

 Game wardens, the few there are, do excellent work in 

 that State, when they get on the track of law breakers, 

 but the trouble is that there are not enough of them by at 

 least nine-tenths. H the State was willing to hire ten 

 efficient men where it now has one, Maine would soon 

 become the real paradise for fish and game that we so 

 often see mentioned in the guide books. But alas ! Bhe 

 is a State noted for good laws, but very poor enforcement. 

 The fish and game laws stand practically as they did be- 

 fore the renowned Legislature of 1888-89* assembled. The 

 game bill was strangled stealthily at the last moment. It 

 was killed when it was too late to array the real good 

 sense of the body on the side of right. Special. . 



INDIANA'S NOVEL SCHEME. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Indiana has long had laws prohibiting seining, dyna- 

 miting and other modes of destroying fish in lakes and 

 streams, and also laws against shooting game birds out 

 of season and against netting, trapping, etc. But they 

 were constantly violated, until prairie chickens, grouse 

 and partridges have almost entirely disappeared and 

 quail become very scarce. The same is true in regard to 

 fish in our streams. Where once could be found bass, 

 perch, bream, channel cat and other fish in abundance, 

 there are now none, or only an occassional one found. 

 Our General Assembly has lately been in session, and a 

 party of the members were recently taking a trip on one 

 of the Pennsylvania Railroad Companys' branch lines, 

 when the subject of the fish and game laws came up. 

 Mr. Harry Smith, of the J. M. & I. Railway, was in the 

 party, and suggested that the laws were good enough if 

 enforced. In the talk the suggestion was made, that if 

 it was made the duty of road supervisors to see to it that 

 the laws were enforced, it might put a stop to their fre- 

 quent violations. In this State there is a supervisor for 

 every few miles of road, and the officer consequently 

 knows every man in his district. He also knows where 

 trappers and netters of birds, and seiners and dynamiters 

 of fish would carry on their illegal work. Mr. J. P. 

 Applegate, a member of the Legislature, made a note of 

 the suggestion, and on his return introduced a bill em- 

 bodying the ideas suggested. It provides a fee of $5 for 

 each prosecution, to be collected from the criminal, and 

 also provides a fine against the supervisor from $5 to $25 

 for failure to prosecute violators of the law when brought 

 to his notice. This bill was pushed through both houses, 

 and was the last bill signed by the Governor. It is 

 thought that it will provide an efficient and economical 

 way of enforcing the fish aud game laws, and is sent you 

 for publication in the hope that States having similar 

 officers may confer police power upon them to arrest and 

 punish violators of their game laws. Jap. 



Exmore, Va.. Mareh IS. — This is one of the best places 

 now for wild duck shooting, brant, geese, redhead and 

 black duck, broadbill and other common ducks. There 

 are and have been numbers of people from your city and 

 Philadelphia and Washington shooting all kinds of game. 

 It is a great place for snipe shooting. Numbers of gen- 

 tlemen come here to shoot spring snipe. — J. W. S. 



Names and Portraits of Birds, by Gordon Trumbull. A 

 book particularly interesting to gunners, for by its use they can 

 identify without question all The Ameriean_game birds which 

 they may kill. Cloth, 820 pages, price $2.50. For sale bv Forest 

 AND Stream. 



