214 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
(March 14, 1H6 
decoys; the duck must have gone under. He waited, but 
there was no sign : the water rippled just the same, the 
decoys bobbed just as before. Down he sat again, and 
picked up his tobacco and knife to cut another pipe full. 
He cut a little faster this time, wishing it would get light. 
He did not like that queer swirl in the water; it could not 
be a fish, for no fish are in Chincoteague Bay at this season 
of the year. 
"Heigh I" called a husky voice just beside him. "Hello! 
called Jack as he jumped up and again looked over the 
bushes, expecting to see a boat and some friends. There 
was not a thing in sight; not a human being within five 
miles of him; he was all alone on that vast expanse of 
water. The water rippled, the decoys nodded, and all 
was still. "I don't like this," he said aloud, "I guess I 
will go home, it isn't a good morning anyhow; I don't 
see a duck. I will light my pipe; and by George! over by 
that rock there was where those three fellows from the 
life-saving crew were drowned. 
"Heigh!" it came again just in front of him. He was 
on his feet in a second; his legs shook so that he could 
hardly stand as he thought of the hopeless call of the 
drowning men. He looked, and there in front of him 
slowly rising from the water was a face, its great black 
eyes fixed on him, its long hair floating behind, and 
around its mouth a most fiendish grin. 
With a yell that echoed and reechoed from the far-off 
shores Jack dropped in his boat, seized his oars and 
struck for home, ducks, decoys, all forgotten, anywhere 
so he could get away from those big eyes and that awful 
grin. No one knows how fast he rowed, he does not 
know himself what time he made; but dawn was breaking 
when he rowed up to the wharf. A crowd of oystermen 
getting readv for the day's work greeted his coming. 
"Hello, Jack'! Got a boat full? You quit early, Jack. 
Ain't enough wind for ye?" 
"Hold on, men," says Jack, "I came back 'cause I seen 
the devil. I looked square at him just as I am looking at 
you fellows. He hollered* 'Heigh !' and grinned at me, 
and then sunk slowly, like a drowning man going down 
the last time. I am sick, boys; I am going home." 
The man was sick and as white as a ghost. 
For two or three days it was all the talk of the oyster 
houses. Jack's devil was finally set down as a mermaid, 
and some of the knowing old salts wondered it had not 
thrown its arms around Jack and pulled him under. 
Then would come the story, "Down off the Brazils me 
and my mate Bill," etc. 
About a week after this some six or eight scows were 
tonging together, Jack among them, when something be- 
hind them called "Heigh!" Jack dropped in his scow, hia 
tongs fell from his hands, and he cried, "Oh, Lord, save 
us, there is that mermaid now!" All looked, and sure 
enough, there was the round head, with the big black 
eyes, the grin and all. One of the men called out, "You 
fools, that is only a seal!" and so it was. In some way or 
other it had gotten into the bay and could not find its way 
out. The men chased it and finally killed it with a gun 
they happened to have with them. It was the first ever 
seen inside here. The seal is gone and the skin has been 
sold, but it will be a long while before the people forget 
Jack and his "mermaid." O. P. Foulks. 
One morning in the early spring of '95 and during a 
freshet in the Housatonic, I secured a large muskrat, and 
knowing that a personal friend, 0., who is a noted joker, 
had just repaired his gun and had it in his closet, I went 
to him and told him that I had just seen a big rat on the 
river bank. Hurrying to get his gun, and taking two 
shells which I kindly gave him, he hastened out to the 
bank in hiB shirt sleeves. It was a fearfully cold day and 
a strong north wind swept down the river. Sneaking 
along some 500ft. or more, benumbed with the cold, he 
caught a glimpse of the game, half buried in a pile of 
rubbish. Backing off a little and calculating as to where 
his head was, he pulled! Out bounded the muskrat, strik- 
ing the water splash ! He had blown a hole as big as his 
own head. With that satisfied expression he turned to 
me: "Pretty good guess, eh? He never kicked!" 
"No," said I, "he never kicked. You are a great hunter 
and a great shot!" 
Climbing down and securing the potted game, I said: 
"Why, you never hit him! He's been dead a week!" 
One L look at me, one look at the dead muskrat, then a 
roar of laughter from a dozen boys, and as he disappeared 
around a corner of the mill he muttered: "That's a good 
one, but you just wait." 
Well, all I could do was to wait. I did wait and he had 
his reward. I will try and give it to you later, for it was 
a good one on Dabby. 
Shblton, Conn, 
Jj?a# nn& %mu 
FIXTURES. 
March 16 -to 21, 1896.— Second annual Sportsmen's Exposition, under 
the auspices of the Sportsmen's Association, at Madison Square 
Garden, New York city. Frank W. Sanger, Manager. 
THE BOSTON MARKET. 
Mr. Reed's Argument. 
Following is the argument made by Mr, Russell Reed, 
attorney for the Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective 
Association, in advocacy of the Association's bill to for- 
bid the market sale of game in the close season. The 
presentation of the case by Mr. Reed is convincing and 
should have influence to secure the desired amendment: 
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of tlie Committee: 
You have listened patiently for many days to the pre- 
sentation of views on the subject of game protection. 
You have noticed by this time that the people who have 
appeared before you can be easily divided into two dis- 
tinct classes, one of which, as represented by the Market- 
men's Association here, is comprised of gentlemen whose 
interest in the matter is, on their own admission, entirely 
a pecuniary one. They are engaged in the business of 
selling game as well as other articles of provisions, and 
their interests are necessarily those affecting their pockets. 
From their point of view the selling of game at all seasons 
should be encouraged. The other class is composed of 
men, some of whom might be called practical sportsmen, 
and others who take what may be called a sentimental 
■view of the BUbject, and who, whpe not shooting at aU, 
themselves, wish to see the game of this State protected 
as far as reasonable. Among this second class there is 
naturally quite a variety of opinion, as you have noticed. 
One man may think that December is a proper and good 
month for shooting. Another man, living in a different 
part of the State, has the honest opinion that December 
should be made a close season. 
There is no question at all but what as our game de- 
creases laws for its protection must be made more 
stringent from time to time. In my own experience I 
have seen the season for woodcock shooting, which 
formerly opened the first of July, gradually shortened so 
that for several years it was made to open the first of 
August, and then later still to the first of September, and 
then shortened still more to our present season, which 
opens Sept. 15; while on partridges the law which for 
a great many years opened on the first of September has 
also been shortened so that it opens on Sept. 15. It is 
quite probable that it may be necessary even now to 
shorten that still mors, and possibly- to go as far as the 
bill proposed, which allows simply the months of October 
and November for shooting. As I have said, there is a 
very natural difference of opinion as to whether Decem- 
ber should be made a close month or not. I am inclined 
to think that even if you leave that open a few years 
longer it may then become necessary to close it. These 
gentlemen with their somewhat diverse views as to shoot- 
ing all believe, however, that the seasons for allowing 
shooting and for allowing sale should coincide. 
In this place it is proper that I should briefly state to 
you the position which the Massachusetts Fish and Game 
Protective Association takes. This Association has been 
in existence some twenty-two years, and although for the 
first four or five years of its existence it confined its 
attention entirely to matters pertaining to fish, for some 
seventeen years at least it has taken an equal interest in 
matters pertaining to game. It is an association of gentle- 
men who from their own pockets voluntarily contribute 
such sums as they feel able to in order to further the 
interests in which they believe, and who voluntarily 
devote such time and work as they can to help the good 
cause. It has a membership varying somewhat from year 
to year. It had at one t r lme as many as 400 members, at 
another not over 100, and at present about 250. These 
gentlemen live in various parts of the State, from Cape 
Cod to Berkshire, but naturally the larger part of them in 
the vicinity of Boston, because there are other kindred 
local associations in various parts of the State interested 
in the same work and more or less affiliated with this one. 
It would be impossible to say just how many of the 
citizens of this State are interested as sportsmen in this 
matter, but the number runs at any rate into thousands. 
These men believe that it is a proper thing to do a certain 
amount of shooting. Naturally, game is of no value ex- 
cept for food purposes, and to capture it in a proper and 
sportsmanlike manner gives pleasure and health to those 
who attempt it. To the majority of sportsmen this pleas- 
ure comes not from getting large bags of game, but from 
the skill required in shooting, and from the exercise 
which they get in their tramps over hillside and through 
woods during the crisp and bracing days of the fall. 
From my knowledge of many of these men, I am sure 
that perfect satisfaction is obtained by them if after a 
day's good tramping they bring back two or three birds. 
It is very rare in this State that any man gets more than 
eight or ten birds in a day, and that probably happens to 
most sportsmen not oftener than once or twice a season. 
Five birds is considered a most excellent result of a day's 
shooting. 
Our friends the market men have spoken to you of the 
magnitude of the commercial interests involved in game, 
and I have no doubt of the correctness of the statement 
made here that the business amounts to $400,000 a year. 
I would suggest to you that that sum does not begin to 
represent the actual cash value of the sport to those who 
indulge in it. It is said on the best authority that in the 
State of Maine over $2,000,000 a year is left behind by 
sportsmen from other States who go there for health and 
recreation. Of course people do not come to Massachu- 
setts for that purpose to any great degree, but our own 
people — those who for business or money reasons are un- 
able to go away long enough to take a vacation in the large 
Northern woods — get that which they would not sacrifice 
for much money here at home. I feel sure that double 
the amount stated by the market men as their business in 
game would be a small sum to represent the pecuniary 
value of shooting to those who value it as a sport. It is 
by no means a rich man's sport exclusively ; far from it. 
The majority of our rich men who Bhoot and fish go far 
away from home for their sport. It is the man of limited 
means who gets the pleasure here at home. As to the 
standing of sportsmen as a class, it is sufficient to say 
that Presidents Arthur, Harrison and Cleveland have for 
the last sixteen years shown that it is at least respectable 
to get recreation and health shooting and fishing. 
Some of the men who shoot in this State sell their 
game. There is no objection perhaps to this, if it is done 
in a proper manner. But there are men, however, who 
shoot, and they comprise a class spoken of as "pot-hunt- 
ers," who care more for the pecuniary return than for 
the sport. These men are dangerous to the community 
because they are tempted to shoot before the season opens, 
when they have a better chance to get the game than 
honest sportsmen do, and to shoot after it closes, because 
it is to them a question then of getting better returns. 
This class of "hunters" would shoot very little if it were 
not that the market is open to them. As long as the 
markets are open they will shoot without regard to law, 
and not only shoot, but snare. I am glad to say that the 
"pot-hunter" does not do as much harm now as he did 
fifteen or twenty years ago, because there is no question 
but what the sentiment of the community haB grown in 
the right direction; and where twenty years ago wood- 
cock and partridge could be easily obtained at the market 
or hotels in the close season, it is now comparatively 
difficult to find them there. By long experience we have 
found that the only way to limit the ravages of this "pot- 
hunter" is to limit the sale of his birds. It is practically 
impossible to detect or catch him in the act of shooting, 
as you gentlemen can readily see, from the fact that his 
violation of the law is committed in the remoter parts of 
the woods and where, as a rule, he is necessarily alone. 
Now I wish to say a few words as to the change which 
has been made in our laws recently. For many years our 
law stood without much change upon the subject of pos- 
session and sale of game. It allowed the sale and posses- 
sion of woodcock and partridge during the open season, 
and in addition allowed the sale of quail and of pinnated 
grouse, which are practically extinct in this State, up to 
the first of May. This law has always been regarded by 
our Association as a bad one, and it was in its purpose a 
worse law, from our point of view, than that of any State 
in the Union. There was no other State which allowed 
so long a period for selling game after the shooting season 
ended. But this law, bad as it was, was made still worse 
by the act, of 1894. This act allowed persons engaged in 
selling game or in the cold storage business, in addition 
to their previous rights, to have in possession quail at any 
time of the year, and to sell and also possess pinnated 
grouse, as well as other birds, at all times of the year, 
with the only proviso that they should not have been 
taken or killed in this Commonwealth contrary to the 
provisions of! the act. And let me say, gentlemen, that 
this law of 1894 was brought about through a petition of 
these same market men who are asking you now to ex- 
tend their privilege still further. They have stated to 
you several times at these hearings tbat they come up 
here to defend themselves and their business against legis- 
lation proposed by our Association. Let me say to them 
and to you that they are the ones who proposed both the 
legislation of two years ago and who introduced this 
year a bill before the Association introduced one. 
The market men and commission dealers are a strongly 
organized body, with great power of membership and 
with great power in politics. When united with the 
hotel keepers they are doubly strong. We who oppose 
them have comparatively small resources in either way. 
To them it is a question of profit; to us it is a question of 
principle. 
Now, a large part of the testimony which has been 
brought before you has related to the comparatively in- 
significant place which the game killed in Massachusetts 
holds in the market, and it is probably true that taking 
the whole State through not over 20 or 25 per cent, of the 
game sold is killed here in Massachusetts. The proportion 
of Massachusetts game sold in the city of Boston is un- 
doubtedly much smaller, and very likely may not go over 
10 per cent, of the whole amount. 
Your attention has been called heretofore almost exclu- 
sively to the point of protecting our own birds alone, and 
nothing ha3 been said to you in regard to the birds 
brought here from other States. 
I wish now to call your attention particularly to the 
change which our Association recommends in the present 
law. It is a very simple one. As the law stands to-day, 
certain birds may be sold through the winter and spring, 
and kept through the entire season, provided they are not 
killed contrary to the laws of this Commonwealth. We 
wish to add to this another proviso, and that is that these 
birds should not be allowed to be sold or kept here if they 
are brought illegally into the Commonwealth, that is, if 
they are transported into this State from States which 
prohibit their export. 
I am positive, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, that the 
matter being once called to the attention of this Legisla- 
ture, you and your fellow-members will be very averse 
either to passing laws which encourage criminals in other 
States to violate the laws of their respective States, or to 
keeping upon our statutes existing laws which do the 
same. I am positive that the dignity of the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts will not be lowered by you, but 
that it will be upheld with all your force in strongly re- 
pressing the connivance at and encouragement of crime. 
And now, are you aware to what extent the other States 
of the Union have gone in this matter of protecting their 
own game? We have, you know, on our own books a 
law which prohibits the exporting of game birds. Do 
you know that a similar law exists in the States of Main6, 
New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New York, Dela- 
ware, Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wis- 
consin, Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, 
Montana, Nebraska, Arkansas, Washington, Kansas, Mis- 
souri, Oregon, Colorado, California, Tennessee and North 
Carolina, and the Territories of Arizona, New Mexico and 
Oklahoma, and that the laws of these States and Terri- 
tories forbid their export at all times of the year, even 
when shooting is allowed? In addition to this the States 
of Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and West Virginia 
forbid the export of large game. 
Now, let me refresh your minds with the testimony 
which the market men have given in reply to my ques- 
tions as to where they got their game. You will remem- 
ber very fully one thing, that whereas the first four of 
their witnesses answered my questions on this point with 
comparative readiness, after that they refused to answer 
them. But those who did answer them gave us informa- 
tion which is extremely valuable. 
Mr. Hosmer stated tbat he obtained partridges and other 
game from New York and Illinois, both of which States 
forbid their export. 
Mr. Bigelow stated that he received game from Maine, 
New Hampshire, Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin, all of 
which make it a crime to export game from their States. 
Mr. Rand stated that he received partridges from Iowa, 
Wisconsin and Illinois, quail from the same States, and 
pinnated grouse from Nebraska, North and South Dakota, 
all of which States make it a crime to export any of these 
birds. 
Mr. Patch stated that he received partridges from New 
York State— not from New York city, but from places 
outside the city in the State. That is also forbidden by 
law. He also stated that he received quail from Missouri, 
which State forbids their export from the State or even 
from one county to another in the State. 
From that time on, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, it 
was impossible to get a definite answer to my questions 
on this point with the exception that Mr. Davis said that 
he understood that partridges came from New Mexico, 
which also forbids their export. These gentlemen re- 
fused to answer at all, excepting a general statement 
from several of them that their game came principally 
from west of the Mississippi River. I would call your 
attention to the fact that States west of the Mississippi 
River in which game abounds have laws just as stringent 
against its export as States which lay east of that river, 
and I submit to you that it is fair to suppose that the 
other dealers obtain their game from practically the 
same places from which the preceding witnesses obtained 
theirs. 
The only part of the country where the export of game 
is allowed with any freedom is in the Southern States. 
The Northern States of New Jersey, Rhode Island and | 
Pennsylvania have no law against it, but as you well 
know from the nature of these States the amount of game, 1 
