i^iOt 1891.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



^27 



The descriptions of the habits of the birds are full of 

 life, and breathe the true spirit of the open air. In most 

 cases where the uesls and eggs of any species are 

 scribed they were taken by Col. Goss, or by his brother, 

 Capt, B, F. Goss, in whom he had a sympathetic and able 

 coadjutor. 



We regret to say that the illustrations in this volume 

 are not worthy of the text— a fact which Col. Gass ap- 

 pears to have realized, for in a note appended to the 

 volume he expresses regret that in many of the plates the 

 figures do not come out as they should. Where the birds 

 figured are large, the representations are sometimes ef- 

 fectivp, but it is evident that, for figuring small birds 

 directly, this process is by no means satisfactory. With 

 the smaller species it is often quite impossible to identify 

 a bird; a guess can be hazarded, but that is all. 



We notice, too, more typographical errors than should 

 have been in such a volume as this, errors of ordinary 

 proofreading as well as errors in the scipntific names o'f 

 the species. In a volume of nearly 700 pages like the 

 oae before us it is inevitable that some blunders of this 

 kind should occm-, but they are none the less unfor- 

 tunate. 



Notwithstanding these minor blemishes "The History 

 of the Birds of Kansas" is a most useful contribution to 

 our knowledge of the bird life of the central West. 



Wolves m France. — Many people every year, no 

 doubt, read with surprise in their "Robinson Crusoe" the 

 account of the attack which wolves made upon his party 

 as they were coming down the Pyrenees into France, and 

 wonder a little that those wild beasts had not been exter- 

 minated at so late a date as a couple of hundred years 

 ago. Such readers will find cause for still greater aston- 

 ishment in an article which appeared in the Revue Rose, 

 of Feb. 7, and which gives a good deal of curious informa- 

 tion about the existence of wolves in France at the present 

 day. No less than 315 of these animals were killed in 

 the battues of the year 1889, the Exposition year. In 

 several parts of the country they are a serious nuisance, 

 killing sheep, destroying the little game that still exists, 

 and even attacking human beings. General battues have 

 been held twice a year, in March and in December, for 

 two hundred years and more, under the direction of the 

 lieutenants of louveterie. These officers are appointed by 

 the chief of the State upon nomination by the Minister of 

 Forestry, and, apart from their official character, seem to 

 be much like English masters of the hounds. Tbey are 

 taken from the class of wealthy land-owners, keep up at 

 their own cost an eqmjmge de ehasse, and serve without 

 pay. In return they had up to 1832, the right to hunt 

 stags, boars, and hares twice a month in the State for- 

 ests This privilege is now restricted to wild boars only. 

 Within the last ten years attempts have been made to ex- 

 terminate the wolves altogether. In 1882 rewards were 

 ofrered of 300 francs for every wolf, male or female, 

 known to have attacked a human being; 150 francs for 

 each louve pleine; 100 francs for each lorive non pleinc, 

 and 40 francs for each whelp. These rewards were paid 

 in 1889 for 86 animals killed in Dordogne only, and 79 in 

 Charente. In 1888 the numbers were: lOO in Dordogne, 

 56 in Charente, 53 in Haute- Vienne, 29 iruMeuse, and 26 

 in the Vosge?. The north of France, the centre, Nor- 

 mandy, and the basins of Paris and on the Rhone appear 

 to l)e the only regions that are quite free from them. Ac- 

 cording to the writer in the Revue Rose, the last wolve 

 were killed in Scotland in 1680 and in Ireland in 1710, — 

 New York Evening Post. 



Wild Geese and Electric Lights,— Ottawa, Kansas, 

 April 1, — This &ea,son has been very wet so far, in fact 

 there has been more rainy weather crowded into it than 

 we have had in a like season for a number of years, I 

 suppose this is the reason for the immense flight of wild- 

 fowl last Satiu'day night, as we have not had many ducks 

 for several years until this spring. On that night it 

 seemed as if the sky was filled with ducks and gees^ 

 The night was still and dark and as the birds flew over 

 the city some of the geese would get bewildered by the 

 bright light of the electric lamps and circle round and 

 round the light, squawking as if lost. The ducks do not 

 seem to care for the excitement of city life and go quietly 

 on their way, but a goose is so supremely curious that he 

 can hardly pass an electric light without flying round 

 and examining it. About two years ago there was a ter- 

 rific thunder storm in this city and vicinity, dm'ing which 

 a flock of geese, numbering probably 20o, entered the 

 city and soon became bewildered by the storm. Some of 

 them, it is said, even lit on the roofs of houses; but cer- 

 tain it is that at half past four or live in the morning 

 there was a great flock of geese sitting in the light of the 

 arc lamp, on the corner of Main and First streets, in the 

 center of the town. This, of course, is an exceptional 

 case and would probably never have happened if it had 

 not been for the storm, but why they should be so 

 irresistibly attracted toward a light as to" lose all fear of 

 man's habitations, and to alight in the middle of the 

 street, has always been a wonder to me.— F. B. 



HOW TO GROW MUSHROOMS.* 



MUSHROOMS are usually regarded as hiqrh-priced delicacies, 

 yet it is uot a difficult matter to cultivaie them, if only the 

 methods to be pursued are known. Kothing satisfactoi-y on this 

 subject has ever been published in America until now, but in the 

 present work we have a little treatise which renders mushroom 

 culture easy, and should result in making this delicious plant 

 much more common than it is at present. 



Mr. Falconer's practical cultivation of the mushroom has ex- 

 tended over many years and his experience entitles him to speak 

 with authority on this subject. His directions are full, explicit 

 and detailed. He does not, like most writers familiar with a stib- 

 jeot, take a good deal for granted, but tells of all the minor points 

 of the subject, Irom preparing the bed up through planting the 

 spawn to gathering a.nd marketing the crop. Nor does he con- 

 fine himself to instructions torgrosving the musliroom on a small 

 scale morply, but he gives ample directions tor cultivating it for 

 the market. Plans for the construction of mushroom houses are 

 given, the diseases which may attack the plant describefi, and 

 generally tbe subject la gone into with a fullness and clearness 

 which !• aves little to be desired. 



The cultivation of the plant in England and France is described, 

 and finally there is ausedal ciiapter ou cooking mushrooms. 



The Donk is one whiob certainly ought to have a place in the 

 librfiry of every dweller m the country. 



* Mushrooms— How to Grow Them, bv William Falconer, cloth. 

 Orange J udd Co., New York. Price §1.50. 



A Book About Indians.— The Fobbst and Stbeam will mall 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. Grlnnell's book, 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Foik-TaleB," givln? a table of contents 

 and Bp«olmen illiiatr«tloxis from the Tolams.— 



^^m0 ^Hg mi 



TUE FULL TEXTS of the game laws of all the States, Terri- 

 tories and British Provinces are given in the Booh ot tlie 

 Game Laws. 



SIX YEARS UNDER IVtAINE GAME LAWS. 



lU. — THIS, THAT AND THE OTHER OHAEQE. 



MOST do not profess to believe that the laws as now 

 on the statute favor any class, resident or non- 

 resident; but those who hold the opposite opinion claim to 

 have some show of reason on their side. The following 

 extract from a newspaper article by an old Aroostook 

 trapper deserves careful attention as illustrating not only 

 the way in which this conclusion is reached, but the 

 plainness in speech and strength of feeling with which 

 game matters are discussed here, There is no doubt in 

 the writer's mind about the animus of the law— no hesi- 

 tation in declaring that "the shifting of the game from 

 rural to aristocratic hands is the final and mam object." 

 I hold the original of the article of which this is an exact 

 copy. It was also published in the Bangor Daily News, 

 Feb. 12, 1891, over the writer's own signature, with the 

 title of his own choosing: 



THE ARISTOCRATIC WAY. 

 »*** *«**** 

 Now, then, let us decide how the penalties for breaking the 

 game taws compare with the penalties for breaking oilier laws, 

 it woitld be out of all reason to punish a game law breaker as 

 severely as a horse thief, and yet he is punished far more severely 

 —$100 for killing a $10 moose, auri the same for attempting to do 

 so by unauocessfully hunting him; and as earning a thing favors 

 (in a moral sense) ownership, tUen tne moose is his unless prior 

 ownership can positively be proved and thus the law sustains its 

 moral iigtit. 



If the State sitould weave the principle of punishing the attempt 

 to commit crime, as she does the committing of crime, into her 

 other penal laws, the game law breakers could not complain of 

 the lueaualityof her tyranny. If she claims that that peculiar 

 feature of law- making is necessary to check such a heinous crime 

 as seeking one's own food in the forest in the leeth of the doubt 

 regarding the right of the State to make the law at all— and hav- 

 ing severely earned it, too— then 1 would beg leave to remark that 

 it might likewise be a fine thing to weave a similar principle into 

 the punishment of other milder crimes, such as murder in the 

 first degree, arson, burglary, larceny, etc., etc., etc. 



And while a horse thief Is not materially punished for simply 

 keeping the fixings for running oil" hoi-.-es, we are fined $20 to glOO 

 for keeping the fixings (dogs) to run wild hoofs. Why does tbe 

 State thus make an exception of the game law breakers? 1 will 

 try to show further on. But, again, I shout a partridge in close 

 time, worth from 5 to 10 cents [that is, in the place where he lives! 

 and am fined from So lo §10, oue hundred fold the value of the 

 bird. Apply the principle to one who steals a $100 horse, and a 

 $10,000 fine is his fate. Why this severity on a breaker of the 

 game law? I will show further on. Bat again,' you send your 

 horse, worth .flOO, up to Massachusetts on the train. Isendmv 

 bird kiUodin open time (my lawful property) on the same train, 

 under the sanction of tue Constitution of the United Slates, and 

 while the State defends you it punishes me one hundred fold right 

 in the teeth of the United States charier which says, "Commerce 

 between the States shall not be restricted," whicii, if applied to 

 you, would cost you S;10,00r>. Why such terrific, outlawed tyranny? 

 1 will show further on. Again, the fish law places a fine of $20for 

 an attempt to break the law and $1 apiece if the fisher is success- 

 ful. What is the proportion here? Well, suppose he catches 50 

 cents worth per fishing trip, then tlio fine is at least fortv fold 

 Why this severity on tnis class of law breakers? I will tell' 

 further on. But again a fine of $10 is placed for killing certain 

 fur animals from tue first of May to the middle of October. Now 

 muskrat are prime through May. and are worih aoout :iO cents, 

 and I happen to kuow as a hunter ihat May is as good as any 

 month ot the year to hunt them, and 100 ot thpse heing a fair 

 month's work, it follows that the buuter is fined $1,000 for a 

 meritorious month's work. 



If tnis principle was applied to everybody, then everybody 

 would rebel, and nothing, or rather nobody, to rebel against; and 

 this law might well oe called a duplicate of the Devil's Statute 

 Book. But if plead that this was an inadvertence, I answer, "If 

 ignorance of tne law excuses no one, then ignorance of law-mak- 

 ing excuses no State," more especially such an unparalleled 

 abomination, and besides one which has been on the statute books 

 some twenty years. 



But why all tnis severity and even recklessness, even to the 

 violation of the Constitution of tbe United States, and the umlei- 

 mining of the underlying principles of equity and decencv? I 

 have promised to tell why aud I will do it. 



The whole thing is got up by commercial men under the as- 

 sumed object of protection; and in part this is true. Still my 

 best opinion, after looking the field all over, is that the shifting 

 of The game from rtu'al to aristocratic hands is the final and main 

 object. Wliere is the evidence? Why, everywhere a sportsman 

 aud a backwoodsman kill a moose unlawfully on the same rtav 

 The rich sport pays his $100 and keeps right on; the other hunts 

 inside four walls; and tne city Chan has entire possession of the 

 hunting grounds. Thus, though the fines are etjual, the effects are 

 quite opposite, aud the desired effect is consummated. 



This is as nearly independent as any opinion can be; 

 for the one who writes is by his tastes, habits, and loca- 

 tion, little likely to hear these matters much discussed, 

 and he says in addition in a personal letter; "About all 

 I know ia what I have dug out alone while hunting, I 

 have nothing personal in the matter, never having been 

 troubled by any agent of the State. My main objection 

 is that the sporting organizations mean mischief, aiid that 

 the underlying principles of the whole code tend to de- 

 stroy our Americanism.'' But although he reaches this 

 conclusion independently, he is not alone in holding it. 

 By an odd coincidence, the same issue of the paper wliicli 

 printed the above contained another article, by a gentle- 

 man uot known to me, though he wi-ites over his own 

 name and from the same county and town as the other, 

 which shows that this feeling is far from being uncommon 

 in this section. He writes (and the character of his article 

 is ample evidence for the correctness of his statements): 



The game laws have not received the hearty endorsement of 

 many of our good citizens, because in their judgment the law 

 favored the sportsman more than the citizen and settler. Whether 

 this be true or otherwise it matters not, so long as the people put 

 this construction upon it. If any were m doubt, we have only to 

 make September an open month and aU doubts will be removed 

 and suspicion wiU resolve itself into absolute certainty. Then all 

 sympathy aud aid -o ill bewitlidrawn aud each settler will become 

 a party to the general massacre, fully persuaded that he will have 

 his share of the spoils. Such talk is already being indulged in and 

 it means more than tbe language implies. 



It is not necessary to dwell longer on this point since 

 no good would come from it even if tbe fact of such a 

 partiality existing in the laws could be established, while 

 the claim that it exists there is too common to need 

 formal proof and is as well illustrated by this one example 

 as by the thousand which might be cited. But it is a 

 fact, and a fact to be regretted by all, that game matters 

 and game legislation are coming more and more to be re- 

 garded as a contest between rich and poor, non-resident 

 and resident, sportsman and farmer, the game being 

 only the casus helli—ihe excuse for the war. To 

 strangers to our customs and ways of thinking, "the 

 transfer of game from rural to aristocratic hands," must 

 seem the very shadow of a grievance. But it is real and 

 weighty here where equality is the air we breathe and 

 every man is known by Im first name, where social dia- 



tinctions are scai'cely recognized and even to talk of 

 "privileged classes" gives offense. Very little respect is 

 shown for money, though the ability to acquire is recog- 

 nized; for an outdoor life, among physical hardships and 

 dangers has caused personal prowess' to be generally re- 

 garded as a better endowment than a fortune; money 

 won't buy everything here, is a common sentiment, and 

 many a man wiU do as a favor what he could not be 

 hired to do for large pay. But the influx of a large num- 

 ber of visitors, competing with each other, has produced 

 an impression that '-outsiders" think money will do 

 everything. These outsiders are the "aristocracy" re- 

 ferred to, and the point feared is not so much that a class 

 with leisure at command shall be able to spend more time 

 and so have more opportunity for hunting than a labor- 

 ing class, as that what always has been shared by all 

 shall become the monopoly of those "who think they can 

 buy the air of a free country." The feeling is deeper 

 than a stranger can easily comprehend. The time will not 

 soon come here when the typical farmer or woodsman 

 will prefer five dollars or 'thrice five for showing a 

 sportsman a deer, to the right to take his own chances at 

 the deer if he prefers. He cannot understand how 

 natural rights can be bargained for money, and he looks 

 with suspicion on whoever tries to buy him out. 



It is this— and it is useless to evade the matter in try- 

 ing to give an account of the dissatisfaction here— which 

 has given rise to the charge that the game Commissioners 

 wish to save the game for sportsmen. They have spoken 

 so much of the amount of money which sportsmen leave 

 here— where money never has been the popular standard 

 in game matters, but the equal rights of all to fish and 

 hunt — that their statements, however true they may be, 

 because they run counter to the feelings of the people, 

 have helped in arotising opposition to sportsmen. All 

 the classes of residents whom I have heard speak on the 

 subject agree in this: they have no game to sell— do not 

 know any one who has any; sportsmen may come as 

 much as they please and take their chances with other 

 folks, but no game will be saved for them: game is free 

 here and will be as long as it lasts. It is the Com- 

 missioners, not the people, who have talked of the 

 amount of money sportsmen leave; no one else sees mil- 

 lions in it; and if there were, a thousand dollars for every 

 head of game killed would not satisfy us that any man 

 has a right to kill game animals wantonly and waste them. 

 "Sport" is a term not understood here. The condemna- 

 tion of waste is universal, and the chief reason why 

 sportsmen as a class are not welcomed with more than 

 toleration is the inexcusable waste of game, of which 

 they have been guilty these many years. "A mink, an 

 otter, and a sport," the saying runs, "are the only 

 crea tures in the woods that will kill more than they can 

 eat." 



For the lack of cordiality shown toward sportsmen as a 

 class, they themselves are responsible; for as a class they 

 have broken our laws, transgressed our customs, inter- 

 fered with our lawmaking, tried to raise class distinctions 

 both by urging special privileges for non-residents and 

 by then- bearing and words while here. These are true 

 charges: and yet, so far as I am aware, they have not pro- 

 duced any other influence adverse to sportsmen than a 

 failure to respect them as a class. There has been a 

 marked change within a few years in the way sportsmen 

 are spoken of by the guides, wlio know most about them. 

 Formerly it wtis "the gentlemen I was with," or "the 

 man I was guiding for:" but now it is, "two sports I had 

 last fall," or "a city dude that was here,"or at the utmost 

 stretch of civility, except when some always-welcome 

 guest is spoken of, "the man that was imtk me." These 

 phrases indicate exactly the popular feeling which verges 

 on contempt if it does not pass the line of it — for the 

 majority of those who come here to hunt — not of the 

 toiirists and anglers, for I am not speaking of them. 

 This is the figure at which sportsmen by their own actions 

 have placed their valuation: it expresses toleration rather 

 than regard or ill wiU. The bad feeling felt toward 

 sportsmen is caused by something of which I cannot but 

 think them ignorant, though their actions here do not 

 tend to disarm suspicion on this point. It is impossible 

 that they should^know what we know about the manage- 

 ment of game matters as conducted in this State, or that 

 the laws are not enforced against non-residents in the 

 same way that they are against residents. We have 

 known it so long that we forget that every one does not 

 see the same, and sometimes suppose that non-residents 

 who come here in summer have an interest in continuing 

 the present state of affairs. That this is imjust both to 

 visitors and Commissioners, does not make it less harm- 

 ful to them; for there is no mistake about the fact of par- 

 tiality in the administration of the laws, and the only 

 way in which this can be accounted for by those who 

 know only one side of matters is that the Commissioners 

 know it, the visitors wish it, and the object is to save the 

 game for those who pay cash for it, "transferring it from 

 rural to aristocratic hands." This arouses the bitterest 

 feeling against sportsmen, and it certainly is as much for 

 their interests as for ours to know the facts and to be 

 .able to show that they do not desire anv such thing. 

 Just where the error lies I will show later, but as to the 

 justice of the ground on which the complaint is based, 

 did any one, on thinking the matter over, ever see a 

 warden in the woods anywhere over the whole Moose- 

 head, East Branch, West Branch and Allegash country 



the greatest hunting ground in the State— before the first 

 of October? It would be strange if anv one did, for not 

 only have we never heard of it, but on the Slsfc of March 

 of this year, when my father asked Mr. Stilwell person- 

 ally if he ever had sent a warden into the woods during 

 the summer months, Mr. Stilwell did not mention a single 

 case. And yet this is the time and this is the region, 

 when and where the majority of visitors from outside the 

 State go to hunt, and it is well known that thev kill large 

 quantities of game illegally and waste the niost of it— 

 that they have come for this purpose. But wardens are 

 active in winter, and the same visitors who broke law.s in 

 summer with utter disregard, are urging them to exter- 

 minate the race of "crust-hunters." Is it strange that 

 this having been the case year after vear, the people here 

 should declare that all the visitors wish is to be allowed 

 to do as they please, and that they hire the wardens to 

 let them alone? 



I can show another way of explaining the matter with- 

 out necessity of claiming that this ugly charge is correct; 

 but it will be very much for tbe advantage of sportsmen 

 who come here to disprove it themselves by demanding 

 that good and trusty wardens be placed an the M^oods 



