Jan. 39, 1891.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



27 



■who in the morning handled the "pop gun" with amused 

 contempt, and at night, at the end of a day's shoot, looked 

 at it with astonishment, after having seen bird after bird 

 fall before it quite as far away as they could kill them 

 with their 13-bore8. 



There is no peculiar merit in this particular gun, but I 

 think that it is true that any 20-bare gun with a proper 

 charge will giA^e very nearly as good penetration as an 

 8-bore, though, of course, not being fitted for so mrich 

 shot. Probably f or i of an ounce of shot would give 

 better penetration with this than the full ounce does, but 

 I want the spread of the ounce and I get penetration 

 enough to kill and do not care for more. 



If, however, it is true that I lose anything in penetra- 

 tion by laying aside the cannons I used to carry, I 

 certainly gain more in handiness of weapon and lack of 

 fatigue of body and consequently precision of aim than 

 I lose. , 



This gun is always in my hand, and not being shifted 

 wearily from one shoulder to the other just as an old 

 partridge starts. It comes to the eye in a second with an 

 untired muscle supporting it, and the bird is very lucky 

 or very wild that gets 30yds. from its muzzle before the 

 shot are after him. 



Possibly with black powders the recoil when loaded 

 for good 'penetration would be uncomfortable, but the 

 days of black powder are numbered, and with the 

 nitrates will ome back again the light guns, which the 

 era of breechloaders displaced. Four years ago 1 met a 

 couple of fellows in Litchfield county returning from a 

 two days' hunt with eighty-five woodcock and partridge 

 in their wagon. "Why don't I have as good luck as you?" 

 said L "You use too big a gun," said one and passed 

 me over his 30-bore Pat Mullins. "Can you kill par- 

 tridges witu that?" I said. "I think tiiey die of fright 

 when I point it at them," he replied, "at any rate there 

 they are." And he was right ; there they laid, the biggest 

 bunch I have ever seen killed by two men in the same 

 time. 20-BoEE. 



ROCHESTER AND VICINITY. 



Editor Forest and Stremn : 



A committee from the Monroe Sportsman's Association 

 went before the supervisors of Munroe county last Friday. 

 Supervisor Page introduced the following resolution: 



No person shall shoot, or otherwise kill, or have in Ms or her 

 possession, except alive and for the purpose of propagation, any 

 quail, except during the month of November In each and every 

 year; and any persfm violating this section shall be stih,iect to a 

 fine of ^25 for each offense. For partridge, grouse or pheasant, 

 the close season is fixed between Dec. 31 and Oct. 1. That for 

 woodcock between Nov. 30 and Sept. 1. Any person Belling the 

 various named birds out of reason, or snaring or trapping the 

 same, shall be fined 825 and committed to .iailfor thirty days. No 

 person shall hiint or kill any of the said game upon any farm or 

 lands without permission of the owner or lessee; and any violation 

 of this section will sulaject the transgressor to a fine of §25 and 

 thirty days in jail. 



The committee was granted the privilege of the floor 

 and W. S. Kimball, W. H. Bowman, R. E. Fanning and 

 ex-Supervisor .J. H. Brown spoke in favor of the protec- 

 tion and propagation of game, urging the board to pass 

 the resolution presented with that view. 



The board will consider the resolution next Thursday. 

 One thousand^ quail of the 5,000 contracted for arrived 

 last wee> . .vhave seen them and they are a splendid lot 

 of birds ,, ''V,)y a few have died and those mostly from 

 overeating v^.fore they were supplied with gravel, as a 

 post moi-tem examination of a number of crops and giz- 

 zards showed. They will be divided into lots of twenty- 

 iive and each bunch will have a coop by itself. 



It is settled that the Association will also procure a 

 number of pheasants from Oregon. It is to be hoped 

 that these birds will be absolutely protected for a number 

 of years. 



Does this association mean business? Well, I rather 

 think so. Mr. Redmond's assertion, made in this journal 

 some months ago, that "Rochester compared favorably 

 with any city as a sportsman's center," bids fair to prove 

 true. 



I inclose circular and card prepared by the Monroe 

 Sportsman's Association for circulation among the land 

 owners of this vicinity. The executive committee pro- 

 poses to get a list of the farmers, and by this means in- 

 sure a large membership. But it is also intended that 

 parties living in other counties should become members, 

 therefore the association, through the Forest and 

 Stream, invites all who are interested to communicate 

 with the secretary, Mr. Edmond Redmond, who will 

 send the circular and other infoi-mation. Osceola. 



Rochester, N. T., .Fan. 26. 



A PENNSYLVANIA DECISION. 



WE are indebted to the courtesy of Mr. S. L. Boggs, 

 of Pittsburgh, for the fuU text of the following 

 decision, to which reference was made in our issue of 

 Jan. 15: 



CoMMONWEiLTH ^ Western District, No, 217, 



vs. [ October Term, 1890, 



Wm, Wilkinson, ( Quarter Sessions of 

 AjypeUant, J Allegheny County. 

 Paxson, C. J. 



The defendant was convicced in the court below of a 

 violation of the game laws. The jury found, specially, 

 that he had in his possession for sale, and exposed for 

 sale, in the city of Pittsburgh, on the eighth day of Feb- 

 ruary, 1890, twenty quails. But they also find " that said 

 quails were not killed in the State of Pennsylvania, but 

 were ordered by telegraph by the defendant from a firm 

 in St. Louis, Missouri, where it was at the time lawful to 

 kill and sell said quails; that said quails were so ordered 

 on December, 33, 1889, and were delivered by the Adams 

 Express Company, and paid for on December 30, 1889, by 

 the defendant." 



Upon this state of facts the court below entered judg- 

 ment for the Commonwealth upon the verdict, and sen- 

 tenced the defendant to pay a fine of two hundred dollars 

 (|300) to the Commonwealth; or in default thereof, to 

 undergo an imprisonment of two hundred days. 



The proceedings were founded upon the ninth section 

 of the act of June 3, 1878, Pamphlet Laws, 161 , which 

 enacts that "No person shall kill, or expose for sale, or 

 have in his or her possession, after the same has been 

 killed, any quails or Virginia partridge, between the fif- 

 teenth day of December, in any year, and the tirst day of 

 November next following, under a penalty of ten dollars 

 (.|10) for each bird so killed, exposed for sale, or had in 

 tii8 possession.''' A later act changed the time of killing 

 tpaijs, but that is not of importance. i 



By the thirty-fifth section of said act, it is provided: 

 "In all cases of arrests made for the violation of each and 

 any of the foregoing sections of this act, the possession of 

 the game, fishes, birds, animals, fowls, nets or other de- 

 vices provided for or so mentioned, shall be prima facie 

 evidence of the violatioti of said act." 



The manifest object of this act was the preservation of 

 game within this Commonwealth. We cannot assume 

 that it was intended to preserve game elsewhere. And it 

 w(auld be a forced construction to hold that it was in- 

 tended to exclude from our market quails or other game 

 killed in other States, where, by the laws of those States, 

 the killing of them was lawful. A careful reading of the 

 language of the act shows that it applies only to game 

 killed in this State out of season, "No person shall kill 

 * * any quails." This means that no person shall 

 kill quails within this Commonwealth, except during the 

 period allowed by law. The law was not intended to 

 have any extTa territorial effect, and if it was, it would 

 be nugatory. After prohibiting the killing of quails, 

 the act further declares, "or have in his or her posse.-sion 

 after tlie same has been killed, etc," What does the 

 word "same" here refer to? Clearly, the antecedent 

 game, the killing of which had already been prohibited. 

 The plain meaning of the act, as we view it, is, that no 

 quails shall be killed in this State between the dates 

 specified, and no person shall have in his possession, or 

 offer for sale, any quails so killed in this State. 



The construction claimed for the act by the Common- 

 wealth, would render any one a criminal who lawfully 

 killed quails in another State, and brought them here for 

 his own use. It would he prinia-facie evidence of a vio- 

 lation of this act, and, if he could not show in a defense 

 that he killed them outside of this Commonwealth, he 

 would have no defense at all. 



The matter is too plain to require elaboration. The 

 judgment is entered for the defendant below, non ob- 

 stante verid'icto. 



MAINE DEER INTERESTS. 



THE bad slaughter of deer in Maine by hounding the 

 past season, I am afraid, is already being followed 

 by the crust-hunters. The feeling is that the Commis- 

 sioners are powerless to hinder this crust-hunting till new 

 laws are passed, or at least till new appropriations are 

 provided by the Legislature now in session. The crust- 

 liunters feel that the bounders have had more than their 

 share of the game, without molestation of the law, and 

 now that the hounding season is over, they must destroy 

 the few deer left in their yards, hemmed in by the deep 

 crusted snows. Already the snow is very deep in the 

 woods, and the deer have been driven early to the yards. 

 Each of the latter snow storms have been followed by a 

 rain, and the snow has been solidly crusted over. I saw 

 several deer in the Boston market the other day — just 

 arrived from Maine. They had not been killed many 

 days: certainly since the close season began, Jan. 1. It is 

 only reasonable to suppose that they had been crxisted iji 

 the deep snow. What will be the result to the Maine 

 deer if this is to be kept up nearly three months longer? 

 The deep snows last in that northern region till well into 

 April, and the crust-hunters are fond of plying their 

 nefarious sport late, for the reason that the weather is not 

 as cold and the snow is deep enough to enable them to 

 catch every deer in the yard in a very short time and with 

 very little trouble. This ciust-hunting is not done by 

 sportsmen. Indeed, it is not generally done by the guides 

 who work for sportsmen in the open season. It is done 

 by the shiftless drones of the towns and villages, who are 

 too lazy to hunt deer in a reasonable way. But worst of 

 all, it is done by the skin-hunters, who get a few dollars 

 for moose and deer skins. They take all there are in the 

 yard, reckoning that it will be their only chance; and 

 little they care for game in the future. I would not trust 

 them, even if the last pair of deer in that State were in 

 the yard and the skin hunters knew it — I would not trust 

 them to spare their lives for the sake of the game of the 

 future. No. They would not sj)are them. They would 

 kill them and get the few dollars their hides would bring. 



The Governor of Maine has appointed a committee on 

 fisheries and game that will be very likely to propose 

 wholesome amendments to the fish and game laws, 

 amendments in line with the recommendations of the 

 Commissioners. This comes from the good sense of Gov- 

 ernor Burleigh, but what form of law the lumber people 

 will allow to be carried through is a question. 



Spkci^u^. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The undersigned hereby offers the sum of $40 to any 

 l^eison who will furnish evidence that will lead to the 

 conviction of any person or persons, engaged in illegally 

 killing deer in the towns of Dixfield, Mexico, Roxbury, 

 Carthage, Weld, or Byron, Maine, during the winter of 

 1891. Also $10 reward for killing any dog engaged in 

 killing or chasing deer; the last offer holding good until 

 further notice. N, C. LoCKE. 



S.AI.EM, Mass. 



VERMONT FISH AND GAME LEAGUE. 



KUTLAND, Vt. Jan. 36.- At the meeting of the Vermont Fish 

 and trame League held here on the 31st inst., there was a good 

 attendance from abroad, and the reports received indicate thai 

 the purposes of the League have the full sympathy of the public, 

 and that its usefulness is widelv recogniaed. Henry R. Dorr, 

 president, occupied the chair. A. J. Merrill, W. R. Peake and W. 

 Seward Webb were appointed a committee to investigate the cost 

 aTid practicability of importing game birds from foreign States or 

 countries; and to suggest proper legislative measures for ibe pro- 

 tFction of stich gams birds if procured. At the suggestion of 

 Walter H. Childs, of Brattleboro, the chair was authorized to ap- 

 point a committi^e of three for the purpose of consulting with 

 associations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, 

 with a view of securing legislation to improve the fishways at 

 Holyoke and other points on the Oonnecticut Piiver, so as to per- 

 mit the passnge of salmon and shad to its head svaters. H. R. 

 Dorr. Chas, C. AVarren, M. B. Colburu. Wm. Walker and J. W. 

 Titcomb were appointed a committee to confer with the fish com- 

 missioners and fish and game associations of neighboring States in 

 regard to securing uniform laws for the protection of fish and 

 game common to each. The president, secretary and treasurer 

 were appointed a committee to decide where the annual meeting 

 will be held, with power to appoint sub-committees to arrange for 

 a banquet at that time. 



The matter of providing ampler flshways in the Connecticut 

 liver is of larger interest than is generally appreciated. The nets 

 stretched across the river in Connecticut, and the dams in Mas- 

 sachusetts, prevent the passage of salmon and shad to the northern 

 waters of the river, where, perhaps, the finest salmon pools in New 

 England are ready to be reoceupied by t)ae fish with which they 

 were formerly populated before the stream was blocked. 



Among the" members of the league present from out of town 

 wer« Hon. W. B. Peake, Bristol; Hon. Hiram Atkins. Montpelier; 

 and Charles F. Orvis, Manchester. 0. H. Wilson of Glen Falls, 

 I N. y., vfm P-lso preseTit. Mr. Wilson, whose nopi de plume; 



"Gantrlc" is familiar to New England sportsmen, is an earnest 

 worker for fish protection in Vermont, and is always a welcome 

 guest among Vermont fishermen. 



The Vermont Fish and Game League now numbers 123 memhers. 

 Its outlook is excellent, and the general interest in the protection 

 of fish and game which the organization has aroused indicates 

 that substantial benefit to the State will result from the work of 

 the league. The hill which Congressman Grout has introduced 

 appropriating funds for the location of a fish hatchery in Vermont 

 was brought to the attention of the league, and his efforts in this 

 direction, which are expected to he successful, are heartily appre- 



The "annual meeting of the league comes in the montli of 

 November at which time the league will undoubtedly celeljrate 

 the close of its first years' work with a banaaet. Wheelock, 



LEGISLATION AT ALBANY, 



[Correspondence nf For&si and Stream.'\ 



ALBANY, .Tan. 36.— Assemblymau Bush has offered the follow- 

 ing whiclj has been passed by the Assembly, ex-Speaker 

 Husted declaring that the resolution was just and important: Re- 

 xolvixl, Thai; the Committee on Public Lands and Forestry be iind 

 it is hereby aiithorized to undertake and prosecute during the 

 present session of the Asseml^ly, a general inquiry concerning the 

 administration of the laws in relation to the Forest Commission, 

 and to report what, if any, changes in the present laws are neces- 

 sary to better protect The forests belonging to the State, with 

 power of itself, or by any sub-committee of its own members, 

 which it may appoint, to summon witnesses and to examine them 

 under oath, to send for and examine hooks and papers and to hold 

 meetings at such times and places as to sucli committee or sub- 

 committee may seem requisite and proper, and the committee is 

 hereby authorized to employ a stenographer. 



Assembly Beakes has introduced a hill making the season for 

 hunting deer in Sullivan county from Oct. 1 to Dec. 1, and allow- 

 ing venison to be sold from Oct. 1 to Dec. 15. 



Assemblyman Brundage has introduced a bill appropriating 

 f 5,IX)0 for a fish hatchery in Urbana. 



Assemblyman Rice, of Ulster county, has introduced a hill to 

 repeal the act of 1887 for the preservation of shad in the Hudson 

 River. 



It is thought that the statement made against Mr, Basselin, 

 one of the Forestry Commissioners, in regard to the map of the 

 Adirondack Park, will force his resignation as a member of the 

 board. The fact that, as is alleged, he insisted on having the line 

 defining the park so far within t he line defining the wilderness, 

 just at the very point where, in Herkimer county, it would leave 

 his own territory outside of the park, shows that, as a Forestry 

 Commissioner, he is unfit to have in charge the great interests 

 of the people relating to the Adirondack Park. A man with 

 sucli interests as Basselin ought never to have been appointed to 

 this place, and it is said that the other members of the Commis- 

 sion h" ve all along been blamed for things that Basselin insisted 

 upon and which their own judgment toJd them were wrong. In 

 this case, however, it looks as if Basselin had insisted once too 

 often, and that be will have to go. It is said that Gov. Hill has 

 been ready to have him go for some time past, but that he would 

 rather have the move made by Basselin than to make it himself. 



THE CHATHAM FISH AND GAME ASSOCIATION 



OP CHATHAM, MORRIS CO., N. J. 



THE annual dinner of the Chatham Fish and Game Association 

 was held on Wednesday evening, Jan. 31, at the Fairview 

 house, Chatham, N. J. The officers of the association are: Geo. 

 Shepard Page, President; W. W. Ogden, Vice-President; William 

 Elder, Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. Page presided. An excellent 

 dinner was served, at the close of which the president referred to 

 the extremely favorable position occupied by the grounds of the 

 association, its rapid growth in membership, very eligible loca- 

 tion of its house and stand for trap shooting. He urged the 

 necessity of incorporation, the liberation of quail and other game 

 birds, in order that the extensive gj-ounds controlled by the asso- 

 ciation might be more liberally stocked. The territory of the as- 

 sociation is contiguous to the upper Passaic, mamly on the line of 

 the townships of Chatham, Hanover, Madison and Summit. 

 Eight thousand acres are now under lease. Farmers willingly 

 grant these leases in consideration of the agreement on the part 

 of the association to post warning notices against trespassers, or 

 employ wardens in tne open season and allow shooting only to 

 members of the club and those to whom permission cards ate 

 given. As these grounds are so near New York, .lersey City and 

 Newark, they have been overrun by sportsmen and poachers, and 

 the game had been largely f^hot off. Since the creation of the as- 

 sociation, the protection afforded has resulted in a marked in- 

 crease in the quail, partridge, woodcock, snipe, ducks and rabbits. 

 Comparatively few persons unsupplied with the tickets of the as- 

 sociation now visit the ground. The sport, therefore, during the 

 past faU season and during the present winter, up to the first of 

 January, has been very good. The wide expanse of meadows and 

 wet ground adjoining the lower Passaic affords admirable feeding 

 ground for many varieties of ducks. It is only necessary to plant 

 wild rice in order to secure a great increase in the number of tlie 

 ducks, as w^ell as to make it an extensive breeding ground for 

 them. It is the intention of the association to plant wild rice at 

 favorable points. 



Mr. William Elder confirmed the favorable report of the presi- 

 dent, urged the establishment of a home, centrally located in' 

 Chatham, where the meetings of the association could be held, 

 and with opportunities for athletic sports, such as bowling, lawn 

 tennis and billiards, a library of books and papers pertaining to 

 field sports, and adapted as a meeting place not only for the mem- 

 bers of the association, but also for their families. He stated 

 that the association had no debts, and there was a good balance 

 in tlie treasury. 



Mr. W. W. Ogden, in a very interesting manner, replied to the 

 toast, "Field Sports in the Passaic VallBy." He believed that no 

 other association of the same character could say that it num- 

 bered among its members a sportsman who had "ifrequently shot 

 over the same ground now controlled by this association in the 

 company of Frank Forrester. This could he said of Mr. William 

 T. Bndd", now in his eighty-first year. He gave many remarkable 

 experiences, in some of which, he had taken part. He believed 

 that the great scores of forty or fifty years ago, among game birds, 

 could be repeated, with proper protection and re-stocking. He 

 referred to the remarkable success of sis guns on the lid and 4th of 

 July, at the opening of the woodcock season and within a recent 

 date, w^hen 120 woodcock were killed, all this within ten acres of 

 ground, and within a mile and a half of where the association was 

 now assembled. He believed these grounds to be more favorable 

 tor a larger variety of game birds than any other of which he had 

 knowledge. He had no doubt that the area of leased ground could 

 be easily increased, and that the twelve square miles now con- 

 trolled could be readily quadrupled. He alluded to the stocking 

 of the Passaic with black bass by the Iiresident not many years 

 ago, making it now one of the best waters for that game fish in 

 the vicinity of New York. 



Mr. Charles Lum, in a very humorous speech, replied to the 

 toast of but one word, "Punch." He was followed by the Rev. C. 

 N. Chnroh, Messrs. Yeaman, F. H. Lum, Pool and W. H. Lnm, 

 the closing toast to the ladies being appropriately responded to by 

 Mr. J. H. .Jephson, of Newark. 



Mr. F. H. Lum, in a very practical speech, advocated that im- 

 mediate steps should be taken to secure groutid and erect a home 

 for the assoination. He suggested that bonds for $50 and $100 

 hearing 5 per cent interest be created, and emphasized the sug- 

 gestion by agreeing to take a portion of the amount himself. His 

 proposition was warmly indorsed by other members, the result 

 being that a liberal percentage of the entire amount was sub- 

 scribed for and a committee appointed to carry into effect the 

 recommendation. Several new members w^ere proposed. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to incorporate the association, also a com- 

 mittee to secure quail and liberate them in the early spring. The 

 secretary was instructed to send a remonstrance from the associ- 

 ation to the Legislature to protest against the enactment of tlie 

 proposed law for the Stale of New Jersey, prohibiting the shoot- 

 ing of quail for five years. P. 



Names and Pobtkacts os Birds, by Gurdon Trumbuu. A 

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

 Identify without question sil the American game birds which 

 they may kill. Cloth. 230 pages, price 83.50. For sale by Forkst 

 IJTD .Struav. 



A Book About Indians.— The Forest and Stream will mail 

 free on application a desciiptive circular of Mr. GrinneU's book, 

 ■'Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales," giving a table of contents 

 iTK^ «T>»^'Tn«Ti ill-natratloTio from tbo vnlnme.- .4 



Forest and Stream, Box 3,832, N. Y. city, has deseriptlve Illus- 

 trated circulars of W. B. LefflngweH's book, "Wild Fowl Shoot- 

 ing," wliich will be mailed free on request. The book Is pro- 

 nounced by "Nanit," "Gloan," "Dick Swlveller," ''Sybillene" and 

 other competant Rtithorltlos to Ije tUe best tfeatJ^ On t3j^ ssbj^t 



