Apkil 30, 1891.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



287 



again two days after. How many of the fast youngsters 

 of the present day could do this? Tbp profpssed object 

 of horse racing is to improve the breed of horses, and it 

 would seem that the progeny of a four-miler, who was 

 not put on the turf till he came to maturity, would be a 

 stouter and better animal (:htin ooe whose sire began to 

 run at two years and never ran over a mile. But a race 

 horse nowadays appears to be merely a betting machine. 



The politicians of South Carolina, as well as her horses, 

 were unsuccessful on this occasion, for the Georgians 

 would not join in nullification and President Jackson put 

 a stop to it' for the time, S. C. CIuARKE. 



OLLA PODRIDA. 



I WANT to join those who have been of late expressing 

 their satisfaction with Forest and Stream as a sub- 

 stitute for the pleasures of the field when you can't go 

 hunting or fishing, I too feel as if I ought to say some- 

 thing grateful, graceful, if I could, to the writer of An- 

 toine Bissette's letters. I never heard the lingo, myself, 

 but the beautiful consi^.tency with which "Antwine" 

 miu'ders good "United States" is evidence that the work 

 is well done. AnH we can all enjoy the pleasant satire, 

 that "long American fellow" being simply declicious. 



But the thing that sets me gomg just now is a wish to 

 say something on a subject mentioned several times of 

 late and discussed rather more at length by your corres- 

 pondent "Dudley" in the last number. This is the value 

 of hunting and fishing as a relaxation for professional 

 men. But it has just occurred to me that after all it is 

 idle to discuss this matter in these columns. Those who 

 need to he convinced are the ones who have no time to 

 read f uch literature as Forest and Stream. Still a few 

 words may not be amiss, as they might be seen by some 

 one not yet entirely persuaded. It seems to me chat the 

 convincing answer to all objections is that more actual 

 work can be done in the course of the year, not to speak 

 of a whole lifetime, by thus keeping up the balance 

 between mental and physical forces than by constantly 

 digging. This I believe capable of full proof. I have 

 seen it tried more than once. But if there is any question 

 as to the quantity of the work there can be none as to its 

 quality. In those professions whose demands are purely 

 upon the mind the importance of a sound condition of the 

 nerves cannot be over-estimated. But the constant des- 

 truction of nerve tissue calls for a variety of rich and 

 nourishing food, and the strain upon the digestive organs 

 being so one-sided they get awry and the brain begins 

 to work at a disadvantage. 



But there are other considerations. No man is fairly 

 himself or getting his just proportion of satisfaction out 

 of life, when he is suffering from even incipient dyspepsia. 

 The false coloring which a morbid condition of the 

 physical man throws upon men and motives hinders 

 mucli the prompt and efficient discharge of professi(mal 

 duties. A Methodist Bishop who is well-known all over 

 the United States is an enthusiastic fisherman. He says he 

 would have been a hunter too but for being near-sighted 

 in his youth. When his over-conscientious friends ask 

 him how he can afford to spend so much time on the 

 river bank he replies: "As a means of grace, sir." 

 Lawyers, physicians and preachers, all whose success 

 depends upon their dealmg with m^n, especially need to 

 have themselves thoroughly in hand, so that no personal 

 element may mix with their judgment of 7notivea and 

 characcer. 



Nothing can be compared to field sports in the way of 

 recreation. Of course the same amount of mere phybical 

 exertion can be easily had by artificial means, but this is 

 only half, perhaps less. No mind that is trained to close 

 and intense application can suddenly leave off and do 

 nothing. While one swings the dumb bell or takes a 

 constitutional, the touah question, be ie a sermon, a brief, 

 or a battle with pneumonia, riots in the brain and will 

 not down. The only show is to give the mind something- 

 else upon which to work. Tuis is most successfully done 

 in the effort to circumvent a wily trout or make the most 

 of a day's shooting. The intensity with which a genuine 

 sportsman will focus his trained facilities on such prob- 

 lems is refreshing to a degree, and sometimes supremely 

 funny. 



These are some of the things I say to my friends who 

 seem surprised to see a preacher and a missionary put on 

 a ducking coat and a slouch hat and "take to the woods.'' 

 And to myself I say that if ever there was a position 

 in the world which demanded a little communing 

 with nature from time to time it is the one I am try- 

 ing to till, Even if I thought it interfered a little with 

 my present success in my work, which I do not, I should 

 still not deny myself that which I know to be essential to 

 my properly livmg the long and laborious life that I 

 believe I am entitled to look forward to. 



It is close season with us now, not that we have any 

 laws, but on account of the heat and because no true 

 hunter will shoot birds in breeding time. A few weeks 

 ago two of us in a sort of farewell shoot got about six 

 dozen doves and quail in a day's shooting. The ducks 

 are gone to Canada, I suppose. Maj"- they have a safe 

 return. If I don't get some pinther and leopard shooting 

 next fall I shall be disappointed, I know where they are 

 and ho w to get there. It is only a question of opportunity. 

 Mine host of Angostura has given me a standing mvitation 

 to come and shoot deer, of which he has plenty. Aztec. 



San Luis Potosi, Mexico. 



A Labrador Expedition.— Prof. Leslie A. Lee, of 

 Bowdoin College, wbo was cbief naturalist on the U. S. 

 Fish Commission steamer Albatross during her cruise 

 from Norfolk to San Francisco in 1887 ]888. is to lead a 

 scientific expedition to Labrador during the coming sum- 

 mer. The expenses of the excursion will be met with 

 funds raised cniefly by the alumni of the college, but the 

 personal expenses of the membars will be paid by them- 

 selves. Theexxjedition will study the E.-iquimaux between 

 Hamilton Inlet and Cape Ctiudleij;ii and make general 

 collections, which will be studied after the return of the 

 party. It is hoped thU the expedition will be able to 

 cover a distance- of 500 miles among the comparatively 

 neglected E quimaux of the region. Tne collections of 

 ethnological and other natural history objects, besides 

 the determination of some doubtful geographical ques- 

 tions, will undoubtedly prove interesting to the public. 



A Book About Iisni.tNS.— Tlie Fohkst and Stream will mall 

 fres on application a descriptive clrciilar of Mr, Grlnnell's book, 

 "P»WELee Hero Stories emd Folk-T&lee," giving a table of coateQte 

 and ep«clsier QlTtfitntlQiu tnin tlie yolma&.-.^(frc 



MARINE RESERVATIONS. 



THE project for the establishment of marine reserva- 

 tions in the Pacific ocean, which was outlined in 

 last week's issue of Forest and Stream, has been re- 

 ceived with the greatest interest by naturalists, and so 

 far as we have been able to learn, there is but one opinion 

 as to its desirability. We print this week comments on 

 the subject from several gentlemen who are peculiarly 

 fitted to speak intelligently about it. No one knows 

 more about the rapidity with which our marine carnivora 

 are disappearing than Dr. J. A. Allen, whose important 

 volume on the Pinnipedia (seals and walruses) must long 

 remain the standard work on this group. Dr. Dall is 

 well known as one of the earlier explorers of Alaska, and 

 no doubt to-day knows more about that Territory at large 

 than any other single man in the country. Mr, Elliott, 

 whose important monograph on the Seal Islands of Behr- 

 ing Sea, really contains all that is known about these 

 islands and their fauna, has resided long in these and 

 other islands in this sea, and has an exhaustive knowledge 

 of all the larger mammals which are found on them. 



We are glad to be able to present to our readers the 

 opinions of these experts. 



It would seem that the only possible objection to the 

 plan, which we outlined last week, will come from the 

 walrus hunters, who, like the buffalo skinners of a dozen 

 years ago, want to secure the last one of the great beasts 

 left alive; and from those ignorant fishermen who desire 

 the extermination of all seal life, because seals destroy fish. 

 These men do not know that the seals— as shown by Mr. 

 Elliott in Forest and Stream some weeks ago— do a 

 great deal toward preserving the valuable food fishes of 

 Alaskan and other waters by killing enormous numbers 

 of the dogfish, the most destructive enemy that the cod, 

 hake, j>ollock, herring and young salmon have to meet. 

 There is every probability that the amount of useful food 

 fish which the seals destroy is insignificant in compai'ison 

 with what they preserve. 

 Below we print the letters already referred to: 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



I am delighted to see your hearty editorial indorse- 

 ment of the suggestions of Prof. S. P. Langley, secretary 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, favoring the setting apart 

 by the United States Government of certain islands on 

 our Pacific Coast as Government reservations for the 

 preservation of some of our larger marine mammals, for 

 such action can be taken none too soon. 



The suggestion of making Amak Island, on the Alaskan 

 coast, a reservation or place of refuge for the Pacific 

 walrus (OdobcRnus obesus) is an exceedingly proper one, 

 this island being one of their favorite places of resort, 

 and so situated as to be readily protected apparently 

 from invasion by the walrus hunters. The sluggish nature 

 of this animal and its unwieldy form render it an easy 

 prey to human enemies, and its"^ wholesale slaughter for 

 commercial purposes threatens its early extermination. 



During the last half century they have decreased from 

 herds of thousands to a comparatively small number, 

 distributed in little groups lingering precariously in out 

 of the way places, to which they are pursued and relent- 

 lessly slaughtered. Amak Island also seems favorably 

 situated for the sea otter {Enhydra marina), which is 

 also evidently approaching extinction. 



The Farallones, off the California coast, opposite San 

 Francisco, have long been noted resorts of the northern 

 sea lion {Eumetopias steUeri) and the California sea lion 

 {Zalophus californiamis). These islands belong to the 

 Government, and can be easily patrolled for the protec- 

 tion of the animals resorting to it. While these two 

 species are of comparatively small commercial import- 

 ance, they are more or less hunted for their oil, and 

 doubtless many are killed wantonly. Their numbers, 

 however, are annually decreasing, and it is only a ques- 

 tion of time, in the natural order of things, when these 

 most interesting forms of seal life will go the way of our 

 larger mammals generally, unless the Government inter- 

 venes for theu" protection — a sacrifice to man's avarice or 

 to his insatiable desire to "kill something" for the mere 

 sake of killing. 



It is to be hoped that Professor Langley's letter and 

 recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior, pub- 

 lished in your issua of April 23, will promptly meet with 

 the favorable consideration their importance so evidently 

 merits, and that our Government will provide suitable 

 marine reservations to serve as places of refuge for, and 

 thus prevent the extinction of, some of the most notable 

 and interesting of our aquatic mammals, which otherwise 

 will s ion swell the list of species needlessly exterminated 

 by man. J. A. ALLEN. 



Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York, April 35. 



Editor Forest and Stream,: 



Tne preservation of any well known form of animal 

 life from extinction is a popular idea among all civifized 

 people, especially among Anglo-Saxons. Yotir recent 

 editorial on the proposed Marine Eeservation in the 

 waters of Behring Sea and off the entrance to San Fran- 

 cisco Bay is one that has doubtless aroused the interest 

 and approbation of all readers. 



The case of the Alaskan waltus, which is now threat- 

 ened with extermination, is one that is decidedly press- 

 ing, since the combined hunting of this animal by our 

 own people and the Alaskan natives has dtiring the last 

 twenty years reduced the herds so much that unless some 

 refuge is left for the remnant the end is at hand, and the 

 skin or two more in the National Museum will be the last 

 evidence of the existence of Odobcemis which we will 

 have. 



Although only a few hundred walrus haul out annually 

 on Amak Island, yet it is due to the fact that they are 

 regularly hunted there as ehewhere in A-laska; if not 

 disturbed on Amak, then the herd would be recruited by 

 large numbers, which, having been driven from P.u-t 

 Moller, Oogashik and the Togiak region, would speed- 

 ily recogniza and visit Amak Island as a quiet and safe 

 resting place. 



While it is true that the walrus does not breed except 

 on the ice floes of Behring Straits and the Arctic Sea, 

 and where it is practically impossible to prevent whalers 

 from getting them, except as the fog and weather from 

 year to year shall interpose to save them, yet I believe 

 that this reservation of adijlt and young walrtis liie at 



Amak would be sufficient to tide the species from ,year 

 to year over the danger of extinction. 



The walrus is evidently long-lived, and although slug- 

 gish, is still a watchful and cautious traveler when in the 

 sea; it is only when hauled out on the rocks or sand 

 beach that he becomes an easy prey to man or any other 

 adequate foe, like the polar bear for instance. Let him 

 rest in security at Amak and I believe liis race will be 

 preserved from extinction, 



But the fact that Amak Island was reserved for this 

 purpose would be duly advertised, and unless an Ameri- 

 can keeper, well equipped with the simple belongings of 

 civilized life, was placed on the island, it would be raided 

 worse, far worse, and oftener than it has ever been thus 

 far. 



The memoranda of Prof. Langley seems to cover the 

 ground very well in my opinion, and nothing better can 

 be said as far as I understand the subject. 



Henry W, Elliott. 



Smithsonxan" Institution, April 27. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



It may not be amiss for me to say in regard to the pro- 

 position to reserve Amak Island from the pot-boilers who 

 are destroying all our larger and more interesting mam- 

 mals and birds, that I am heartily in favor of it. When 

 I visited the island in 1868 I found it a dead volcanic cone 

 without a harbor, covered with luxuriant herbage near 

 the shore, and with a herd of about 300 walrus hatiled up 

 on a sand and shingle beach near the sea. The only other 

 animals were sea birds and a few blue foxes. It is the 

 only place in Alaska where I have seen what appeared 

 to be young and female walrus associated with old males. 

 Walrus Island, of the PribilofE group, is a sort of walrus 

 club house, where old bald males associate with each 

 other exclusively. On the sand islands at the mouth of 

 Port Moller I am told by the head of a walrus party who 

 spent a year there, killing them, that only males were 

 found. At Amak Island the dangerous character of the 

 navigation, from myriad rocks and reefs, had preserved 

 the little band almost free from fear of man. At a dis- 

 tance we saw the steam rising from their hot bodies in 

 the frosty September air. Coming nearer they gradually 

 slipped into the water and played around our boat, rising 

 on each side of us upright in the water with their strange 

 crimson eyes and f mmel-like nostrils fringed with stubby 

 bristles; then diving under the boat to rise on the oppo- 

 site side and stare at us again. I do not know how many 

 survive from that time, but if any there are by all means 

 let them be preserved! Wm. H. Dall. 



gjiiTHSONiAN iNSTiTrTiON, WasliingtoD , D. 0., April 25. 



WRENS VS. SPARROWS AND BOYS. 



ON May 3, 1890, our little friends tlie house wrens 

 (Troglodytes aedon) returned and undoubtedly in- 

 tended to occupy again the little white cottage situated 

 in the apple tree that they had occupied for the past two 

 or three seasons. But, alas! the apple tree had been 

 blown down during a severe wind storm, and when we 

 cut it up into firewood we neglected to place the little 

 white cottage in another tree. But our little friends had 

 come to spend the summer months and they took posses- 

 sion of a much larger domicile that had been erected for 

 our more sedate friends, the bluebirds, who had been 

 evicted by the English sparrows, who, however, did not 

 occujjy it. But the wrens had not known of this and 

 they commenced moving in their household goods, when 

 they also received notice from the sparrows to vacate, 

 which they did, and took possession of an old sparrow 

 house on the grape ti'ellis of our next door neighbor. 

 Matters now seemed to be moving on smoothly until one 

 morning about two weeks after they had taken posses- 

 sion, we saw an English sparrow entering their abode 

 with a straw about 2ft. long. 



In the meantime we had found the little white cottage 

 and placed it in another apple tree, to be in readiness for 

 om' friends another season, little expecting that they 

 would require it for the present. But the next morning 

 after seeing the English sparrow moving in their old 

 domicile we saw Mrs. Wren enter the little white cottage 

 and Mr. Wren perch himself on the top of it and pour 

 forth his song of exultation over the victory over their gar- 

 rulous and pugnacious enemies, knowing by past experi- 

 ence that no Passer domestieiis could pass the threshold 

 of the little white cottage, the entrance of which was a 

 tin. round hole. 



But now our little friends seemed to have difiiculty in 

 finding material enough to furnish even the small back 

 room of the old house, as it was nearly two weeks before 

 they were satisfied with their efforts. We had called on 

 them whenever they were not at home. But one morn- 

 ing we saw Mr. Wren on top of the cottage witli his wings 

 di'ooiDing, bill pointing upward and wide open, his throat 

 throbbing and tongue vibrating, and we knew that he 

 was again exulting over some event (the writer does not 

 hear the .songs of birds any more.) Shortly after, when 

 we thought that they were not at home, we called at 

 "the little white cottage," and looking in we saw in the 

 nest a little wliitish-brown egg. The next day there was 

 another. The third day three, and at the end of the 

 week there was the usual complement of six. A few 

 days passed and we did not see our little friends. But 

 supposing they were so busy with their household aft'aira 

 that we thougnt little of it; but after another day or two 

 had passed without seeing them, we thought we would 

 call and see if there was anything wrong, and found that 

 the nest was empty with no signs of its contents in "the 

 little white cottage." It had been ruthlessly robhed. 



We surmised that our next door neighbor's boys might 

 know something about the robbery and offered them $5 

 if they would give information as to who had taken the 

 eggs, but they did not seem very anxious to earn the 

 money, which I suspect they might easily have done. It 

 is again about time for our little friends to return from 

 the South. But we- can hardly expect them to occupy 

 "the little white cottage." As an mcentive for them to 

 do so, we will put a good strong lock on it and warn our 

 neighbors' boys not to meddle with it in future. 



J. L. Davison, 



LocKPORT, N. y., April 15. 



Names and Poktraits of Bikds, by Gnrdon Trumbnu. A 

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

 Identify without question all the American _gaine birds which 

 tbey may ilU. Cloth, 890 pages, prio« P.EO. fos gale by FoaiSflf 



