Jan. 30, 1890.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



bird and scarcely ever seen." "The kingbird is a swallow, 

 and seems to be of the same species as the black martm 

 or swift." "The loon is a waterfowl, somewhat less than 

 a teal and is a species of the dobchick." 



Prorn such science perverted it is a relief to turn to 

 Josselyn's account of the birds of New England. "The 

 partridge ia larger than ours; Avhite-flesbed, but very dry; 

 they are indeed a sort of partridges called gooses." He 

 tells us that there are "ninmurders, little yellow birds; 

 New England nightingales, painted with orient colors- 

 black, white, blue, yellow, green and scarlet— and sing 

 Bweetly; wood larks, wrens, swallows, who will sit upon 

 trees; and starlings, black as ravens, with scarlet pinions. 

 Other sorts of birds there are, as the troculus. wagtail or 

 dishwater, which is here of a brown color: titmouse, two 

 or three sorts; the dunneck or hedge sparrow , who is stark 

 naked in his winter nest; the golden or yellow hammer, a 

 bird about the bigness of a thrush, that is all over as red as 

 bloud ; woodpeckers of two or three sorts, gloriously set out 

 with varieties of glittering colors; the colibry, viemaHn, 

 or rising or walking bird, an emblem of the resurrection, 

 and the wonder of little birds." 



This list raises a number of curious questions, not least 

 among them being the identity of the hedge sparrow, 

 which passes the winter so coldly. The yellow hammers, 

 "red as bloud," need not disturb us if we recollect how 

 frequently in the seventeenth century and before, blood 

 was called "golden" and gold "blood red." The colibry, 

 that "wonder of little birds," is the humming-bird which 

 was supposed to pass the winter in a torpid state. Gabriel 

 Sagard, a French missionary and an admirable naturalist, 

 writing in 1634, says of it: "This bird, as one might say, 

 dies, or, to speak more correctly, puts itself to sleep in 

 the month of October, living fastened to some little 

 branch let of a tree by the feet, and wakes up in the 

 month of April when the flowers are in abundance, and 

 sometimes later, and for that cause is called in the Mexi- 

 can tongue the Revived." It is not twenty years since a 

 similar error died out. It used to be no uncommon thing 

 to hear stories of digging swallows out of the mud in 

 winter, and to add to the credibility of the tales the nar- 

 rators embellished them with vivid accounts of how the 

 frozen wings would snap, and how under treatment 

 the birds would revive and fly about the house, affording 

 groat pleasure to their kind benefactors. 



While it would be an ungracious task to pick flaws in 

 so good an observer as Sagard, he should not be passed 

 unnoticed. His books are delightful reading — so un- 

 strained and unconscious, so frank in all the personal 

 narrative that we forget about scientific identification 

 until we have finished the story. "It knew how to pinch 

 with its bill when one wished to touch it," he says of a 

 captive sea bird, and adds but two things more, that it is 

 ' called a fauquet, and by the fishermen a happefoye (liver 

 glutton) because it eats greedily the livers and heads of 

 i fish — a habit which identifies it as some species of jaeger, 

 or skua; and, lastly, this for description — which is ex- 

 quisitely humorous, and in its indefiniteness recalls Cox 

 and Box: "It in no way resembles a pigeon except that 

 it is tAvice as large." 



The food problem seems to have been a trying one. to 

 Sagard: for though a missionary, he was not fed by 

 ravens, unless, indeed, he fed upon them. He tells us 

 of his pet muskrat, and how one night it was accidentally 

 smothered as it slept wrapped in his robe; it made a good 

 breakfast for his eagle, he adds. But it was not long 

 befox-e fish could not be procured, and the eagle was 

 ' hungry; then like a merciful man he killed it and it went 

 into the kettle to make a meal for himself; "and we 

 found it very good," he says simply. But Brother Ga- 

 briel never complained of his cook so long as there was 

 anything to put into the kettle. "The owls," he says, 

 "are the same to eat as ours and differ nothing in taste 

 as 1 well know from the great number I have eaten of 

 them while I was there" (in Canada). There was only 

 one thing for which he felt no appetite. The bullfrog 

 did not tempt him. "For myself, I confess frankly that 

 I did not know what to think at first hearing these great 

 voices, and I fancied it was some dragon or indeed some 

 other great animal, to us unknown. I have heard our 

 monks in the country say that they had no trouble about 

 eating them under the guise of frogs; but for myself I 

 doubt if I should have wanted to do it, not being well 

 assured of their neatness," 



Nearly all the earlier visitors to the country speak of 

 the frogs. John Josselyn iu his "New England's Rarities 

 Discovered" mentions "The Pond Frog which chirp in 

 the spring like sparrows, and croke like Toads in autumn. 

 Some of these when they set upon their breech are a Foot 

 high; the Indians will tell you, that up in the Country there 

 are Pond Frogs as big as" a child of a year old." "Here, 

 likewise," says Wood in his "New England's Prospect," 

 "be great store of frogs, which, in the spring, do chirp 

 and whistle like a bird; and at the latter end of the sum- 

 mer croak like our English frogs," "It's a strange land," 

 said the English soldier, sti uck by the same peculiarity, 

 "where the frogs whistle and the crows bark." 



"The plumbs of the country be better for plumbs than 

 the cherries for cherries," says Wood; and of the latter 

 he pithily remarks, "English ordering may bring them 

 to an English cherry; but they are as wild as the In- 

 dians." Just at present they are even wilder; for he 

 speaks of the choke-cherry. The Indians make an oil 

 of white acorns, says Josselyn, "which they put into 

 bladders to anoint their naked limbs, which eorroba- 

 rates them exceedingly." The catfish is an "excelling 

 fish," he says with gust; but of the walnut he complains 

 that it is "but thinly replenished with kernels" — a disad- 

 vantage which we also have remarked in eating walnuts. 



' ' Now you must understand this whale feeds upon am- 

 bergreece, as is apparent,, finding it in the whale's maw 

 in great quantity, but altered and excrementitious. I 

 apprehend that ambergreece is no other than a kind of 

 mushroom growing at the bottom of the seas." "Some 

 suppose, that the White Mountains were raised by an 

 earthquake; they are hollow, as may be guessed by the 

 resounding of the rain upon the level on top ; " and then, 

 speaking of the Indians — for, philology or divinity, it was 

 all one to Josselyn: "Their speech is adialect of the Tartars 

 (as also is the Turkish tongue). There is difference," he 

 added with t"he gravity of one whose word is authorita- 

 tive; " there is difference between tongues and languages, 

 the division of speech at Babel is most properly called 

 languages, the rest tongues." 



But not all mistakes date back to the Greeks. In the 

 second volume of the " Fishery Questions of the United 

 States " (p. 602) we read the following, which purports to 



be the sober opinion of one Prof. Anton Siegafritz, a 

 Prussian scientist, who was sent to America to study the 

 oyt.ter industry: "While I was in America I saw the ex- 

 citements caused by immoderate indulgence in shellfish 

 violently illustrated. They have there a sort of political 

 assemblage called a clambake, where speeches and music 

 and songs are interspersed with profuse feats upon a 

 species of oyster called the clam. Vast crowds at- 

 tend the^e celebrations, and no sooner are they gorged 

 with the insidious comestible, than tbey became full of 

 excitements and furores ; swear themselves away in fealty 

 to the most worthless of demagogues; sing, fight, dance, 

 gouge one another's eyes out, and conduct themselves 

 like madmen in a conflagration." This reads like a six- 

 teenth century wonder. Is it, indeed, true that the 

 national vice of shellfish eating causes disturbances in 

 the moon? Fannie Pearson Hardv. 



SNOWY OWLS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In answer to your correspondent for information con- 

 cerning the snowy owl: 1 killed one on Dec. 26, 1889; it 

 is a mottled female, and when shot measured 4ft. 9in, 

 from tip to tip (across wings), and now standing stuffed 

 on the table is the exact height of Forest and Stream. 

 I killed it 1$ miles south of town on the Platte River. 

 There was another much larger one, perfectly white, 

 within a short distance, which a friend of mine has since 

 killed, and l.s now to be mounted. When done I will 

 send measurements. T. F, C. 



Schuyler, Neb., Jan. 23. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I have mounted sixteen snowy owls this fall and win- 

 ter. In the stomachs of six of them I found duck feath- 

 ers, in two rabbit fur, in one grouse feathers; in the rest, 

 nothing that I could determine. Twelve of them were 

 captured on or near what is known as Sandy Point, a 

 point of theLummi Reservation of Whatcom county: and 

 were shot by a half-breed named George Boone. They 

 were in color nearly white to a dark mottled gray. They 

 men fan red from tip to tip of wings from 4ft. 7in., the 

 largest, to 3ft. lOin. J. Y. C. 



Whatcom. Wash., Jan. JO. 



ante §;tg mtd (jfwf. 



" FOREST AND STREAM" GUN TESTS. 



THE following guns have been tested at the Forest and 

 STREAM Range, a nd reported upon in the issues named. 

 Copies of any date will be sent on receipt of price, ten cents: 

 Coi/r 12, July 25. Parker 12, hammerless, June 0. 



Colt 10 and 12, Oct. 24, P„emington in, May 30. 



For.sOM 10 and 12, Sept. 26. Remington 12, Dec. 5. 

 Francotte 12, Dec. 12. Remtngton 10, Dec. 26. 



(xREENER 12, Aug. 1. SCOTT 10, Sepi . 5. 



G-reener 10. Sepr. % Sept. 10. L. O. Smith 12, Oct. 10. 

 Hollis 10, Nov. 7. Winchester 10 and 12, Oct. 3. 



Parker 10, hauiiner, June 6. 



KENTUCKY FISH AND GAME CLUB. 



^l^HERE was organized at Louisville, on May 15 last, a 

 jL club of sportsmen, and that body has already ac- 

 complished a deal of good in the way of protecting the 

 game and fishing interests of this State. On the night 

 mentioned, a half dozen sportsmen met and decided upon 

 the organization of what should be known as the Ken- 

 tucky Fish and Game Club. The club was duly incor- 

 porated by Col. John H. Ward, Mr. William O. Bonnie, 

 Mr. G-uy C. Sibley, Dr. J. B. Alexander and Mr. Arthur 

 H. Robinson, and the letters were filed June 8. The 

 officers of the club were chosen as follows: Col. John H. 

 Ward, Pres.; Maj. J. Fry Lawrence, Vice-Pres. ; Capt. 

 G. G. Berrv, Sec'y; Mr. John B. Lampton, Asst. Sec'y; 

 Mr. Ion B.*Nall, Treas. Directors: Dr. J. B. Alexander, 

 Mr. John Fowler, Mr. W. O. Bonnie, Mr. Guy C. Sibley 

 and Mr. W. B. Haldeman. 



The main objects of the club are to secure proper legis- 

 lation for brie protection of game, dogs, birds and iish; 

 the encouragement of the citizens in their efforts to in- 

 crease varieties and numbers of game and fish, and the 

 vigorous enforcement of all laws against the killing or 

 shipment of game. The amount of authorized capital 

 was fixed at $2,000, in shares of $1 each. 



The club started out under most favorable auspices. 

 Its membership rapidly increased and now there are but 

 a half dozen less than 500 names enrolled. The first 

 movement taken by the club was the appointment of five 

 important committees, who have discharged their duties 

 faithfully. These committees are upon law, fish, game, 

 dogs and farmers. The law committee has charge of all 

 matters pertaining to legislation and to the enforcement 

 of the laws of the State against the unlawful killing, 

 selling or shipment of game birds and fish in the State, 

 and against trespassers on land. 



The committee on fish has busied itself gathering in- 

 formation about the laws to protect fish, particularly in 

 those States adjoining Kentucky, and arranging a fish 

 law for Kentucky which as near as possible harmonizes 

 with the laws of adjoining States. This committee has 

 also watched that the present fish law is actively en- 

 forced. The game committee has taken similar steps 

 toward framing a law for the better protection of the 

 game of Kentucky. The dog committee has prepared 

 an amendment to the city ordinance, and hopes to have 

 passed a law protecting fine dogs. The farmers' com- 

 mittee has wisely arranged a proposed amendment, in 

 conjunction with the game committee, protecting farmers 

 from persons who may trespass upon them under the 

 guise of hunting and fishing. It has offered many in- 

 ducements to farmers to join with the club in protecting 

 the game and fish in this State. This it has done by tak- 

 ing many farmers into membership. 



One of the first needs observed by the Fish and Game 

 Club was a law for the better protection 'of the game 

 birds and animals. The present State constitution per- 

 mits counties to be exempt from laws, or to alter them 

 for their own districts as the members see fit. This has 

 led to much confusion, for in some places there are no 

 laws, and in others, adjoining counties have seasons 

 which close at times a month or two apart. The consti- 

 tution will be amended this year, and the club will 

 endeavor to have a law passed that will as near as possi- 



ble suit Hall parties. The law, if passed, will be a very 

 simple one. It provides that deer shall be protected from 

 Jan. 15 to Sept. 15, turkey from March 1 to Oct. 1, and 

 pheasants, quail, woodcock, snipe, ducks and geese from 

 Jan. 15 to Oct. 15. The law will naturally meet with 

 some opposition, but the farmers are beginning to realize 

 its necessity, and many of them will work hard for the 

 passage of the law. 



The fish committee has accomplished an important 

 work. Soon after the organization of the club it was rea- 

 lized that the finny tribe must be protected. The Cum- 

 berland and Kentucky rivers afford as fine fishing sport 

 as can be obtained in any State. But in these and nearly 

 all other streams the fish were being dynamited at such a 

 rate that their entire extermination seemed imminent. 

 Laying the matter before the club, it was determined to 

 offer a reward of $35 fcr any information of a case of 

 fish dynamiting. Posters were printed and tacked up 

 throughout the State. In a short time news was received 

 of six different cases of fish dynamiting, and Capt. G. G. 

 Berry was sent out to make up and prosecute the cases 

 in the name of the club. Four men were convicted and 

 fined for illegal fishing in the Cumberland River, one in 

 Salt River, and the sixth in a little stream near La 

 Grange. These prosecutions have had their effect, and 

 though the rewards are still offered not a case of fish 

 dynamiting has been reported. 



The dog committee is an important one and has an 

 amendment to the city ordinance already passed upon 

 by the members of the board of councilmen, and it will 

 shortly come up before the Board of Aldermen. The 

 State law makes a dog private property, and a man can 

 be prosecuted for felony for the theft of one on the same 

 charge as horse stealing. Fine dogs, therefore, are sel- 

 dom stolen. The sportsmen suffer some expense from 

 men who seize their dogs and hold them until a reward 

 is offered, and then returning the animal with the story 

 that it was found. The amendment to the city ordinance 

 compels the finder of stray dogs to bring them to a pound, 

 where they shall receive a reward. A person who then 

 detains a dog is guilty in the eyes of the law and can be 

 prosecuted. The dogs impounded are sold, if at the ex- 

 piration of ten days the owner cannot be found, although 

 if a dog be registered the pound-keeper must notify the 

 owner, who can reclaim the animal upon the payment of 

 twenty-five cents for each day the dog is impounded. 

 The law makes any dog liable to arrest who is found on 

 the street without an agent or master. 



The Kentucky Fish and Game Club opens the year of 1890 

 with the most bright prospects before it. If the present 

 laws are passed, the club hopes to extend the open season 

 for a year or two and allow the amount of native game 

 to increase. When the club was first organized it labored 

 for some time under a disadvantage. The farmers 

 thought the object of the club was to make laws to suit 

 the city men, but the club soon exploded their ideas. 

 They spent a small sum for literature, which they sent 

 to the farmers for perusal, wdth the invitation to take 

 stock in the club at half rate. The result was, that the 

 applications of the farmers came in at a terrific rate, and 

 now the badge of the club will entitle the wearer to 

 hunt on the majority of farms throughout Kentucky. 



The work of protecting the game will be continued 

 with greater vigor this year, and after the passage of 

 the laws a close watch will be kept upon all the game 

 markets, and the nativity of all game offered for sale out 

 of season will be iuquireel into. If the game proves to 

 have been illegally killed in this State, the hunter will 

 be prosecuted if he can be found. C. A. D. 



CONCERNING HAPPINESS. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



Your recent editorial on "closet philosophy" did not, it 

 seems to me, touch the main point. That we sportsmen 

 are cruel brutes, enjoying the sight of the sufferings we 

 inflict is, of course, absurd; but there is another question 

 that deserves more attention. Are we right in destroy- 

 ing happiness by taking life? Game birds must get' a 

 great deal of happiness from their lives. Their only 

 troubles — fear, cold, hunger and wounds — seldom afflict 

 them. They do not brood over their fears as we do. I 

 have seen quail scattered by a hawk and fired at by a 

 man as they flew to escape their feathered foe, ignorant 

 of my presence alighting close to me, after a moment of 

 hiding forget all about their enemies^ and begin to pick 

 up seeds, apparently as happy as ever. Nor do they often 

 suiTc j irom cold and hunger, while on the other hand 

 they must derive great pleasure from the exercise of their 

 faculties in finding food. The number of wounded birds 

 that escape is comparatively very small, and if men 

 should cease to shoot them the danger of their suffering 

 from w T ounds Avould be entirely eliminated, while in the 

 meantime we cannot defend our shooting them on the 

 ground that somebody else does it anyway. On the 

 whole, then, they lead happy lives, and therefore in 

 killing them we destroy happiness. 



But it might be urged that in taking the life of a bird 

 we nave the Jives and therefore the happiness of a great 

 many insects. Perhaps, but by the same reasoning, if we 

 kill a sportsman we may save the happiness of a great 

 many birds; yet nobody would say that this justifies the 

 killing of the 3portsman. This, then, raises another 

 point, that the happiness of the higher order of being is 

 more to be considered than that of the lower. Both dog 

 and man are higher than the birds, and in destroying 

 happiness in the birds we create it in both dog and man. 

 What can equal the intense pleasure which the sportsman 

 feels as he watches his dogs range through the stubble, 

 sees one begin to make game and then point, the other 

 staunchly backing, sees the birds fly up ahead of him 

 and one or two fall to his shots, sees his dogs at command 

 go forward, point dead and retrieve? How great too is 

 the dogs' delight as they do their part. Both the actual 

 hunting and the knowledge that they are pleasing their 

 master gives them untold enjoyment, that lasts from the 

 time when in the early morning the gun is taken from 

 its case till in the late afternoon they are called in to heel 

 for the tramp home. 



The sportsman has created more happiness than he has 

 destroyed, and he has caused little unhappiness — a 

 moment's fear, an instant's pain, that is all — nothing 

 nearly equal to the final misery from which he has saved 

 his game — a lingering death in the talons of a hawk, in 

 the jaws of a fox. Setter. 

 Alabama 



