May 4, 1895.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
347 
Biological Society. 
The May meetings of the Biological Society of Washing- 
ton will be held in Cosmos Club Hall at 8 o'clock P. M. as 
follows: 244th meeting, Saturday, May 4. Chas. T. Simp- 
son, The Geographical Distribution of Fresh-water Mus- 
sels. C. Hart Merriam, Mammals of the Pribilof Islands. 
Edgar A. Mearns, The Hares (genus Lepus) of the Mex- 
ican Border. "W. H. Dall, The Mollusks of the Mexican 
Boundary Survey. 
The 245th meeting, Saturday, May 18. Ernest E. 
Thompson. The Means of Intercommunication Among 
Wolves. C. Hart Merriam, The Short-tailed Sbrews of 
America. F. H. Knowlton, Notes on the Fossil Flora of 
the Yellowstone Park. The public is invited to attpnd the 
meetinga. F. A. Lucas, Sec'y. 
§mqe mid §tm. 
GAME AND MARKET-HUNTING. 
The Californian prints the following account of Kern 
county, (Cal.) game condition, past, present and to come. 
It is from the pen of Mr. Charles E. Day. The statistics 
given bear directly upon the Forest and Stream's Plat- 
form PJank: 
"As the Californian has requested me to give some of 
my ideas as to the reason of the present scarcity of game 
of all kinds in Kern county as compared with earlier 
years, I will draw on my own experience of nineteen 
years, and also on the information gained through other 
hunters. I have hunted for market over a stretch of 
country reaching from Napa to San Diego counties, com- 
mencing in the fall of 1876, at Newhall, where we found 
quail as thick as blackberries; and, had I known as much 
about handling quail as I do now, I could have filled a 
barley sack, or say twenty dozen, in an hour, shooting 
over the cactus lands in that valley. There were three 
of us shooting at that time, and in three months' time 
we shipped over one thousand four hundred dozen of 
quail. 
"We then came to Bakersfield, where we found an 
abundance of quail and cotton-tail rabbits. The wing 
shooting at that time was the best I have ever seen, and 
the shooting continued good until about 1889. Since that 
time game has been scarcer and scarcer up to this time, 
not only in Kern county, but in the adjoining counties. 
In some of the other counties small game is still quite 
plentiful, owing to the protection given by county laws 
from the- market-hunters, only a limited amount being al- 
lowed to be shipped per week to outside points. There 
are some places in the foothills where game is still plenti- 
ful, but generally in so rough places that the market- 
hunter can with difficulty make a good bag. 
"In the valleys the lands have been cleared up so much 
that the quail have no protection either from the hunters 
or the hawks and 'varmints' which prey on them or de- 
stroy their nests. They are now found only in small 
bands, and, being constantly shot at, become so wild that 
at the first sign of a man they scatter and run or fly clear 
out of the country. 
| 'While in Cuyama Valley last season, I would have my 
driver take me about five miles from camp, and perhaps 
have the finest of wing-shooting all the way. Some 
years since, when I first went into the Cuyama Valley, 
quail were very plenty, and I used to kill from 200 to 300 
per day. That was in 1870-80. My father, W. Scarlett, 
and myself killed in one afternoon 1,047 quail; but things 
are different now. The country has been stocked to 
death, and the brush broken down or eaten up, so that 
the quail have no protection from their enemies. When 
there is a lack of shelter for quail while breeding, and 
they are constantly disturbed, they will not pair off at all, 
and will, therefore, soon become very scarce, as the coun- 
try is pastured so much with sheep and cattle that they 
tramp out the nests. 
"In former years the duck shooting on Kern and Buena 
Vista Lakes was very fine, but the last year's shooting 
was very poor, for several reasons. It being a dry season, 
the water of the Buena Vista Reservoir was mostly 
drained off and but little duck feed grew in the lake, and 
part of that was destroyed by the carp. 
"Then there was a law in Tulare county against market- 
hunting, and the ducks on Tulare Lake not being dis- 
turbed, remained there in great numbers, preferring that 
to the waters of Kern, where a constant fusilade was kept 
up by market-hunters and others. 
"Should the Buena Vista Reservoir fill up again the pres- 
ent season, the next winter's shooting will be much* im- 
proved, but so long as the game laws of the two counties 
remain as they now are, the sportsmen of Kern will shoot 
under great disadvantages. 
"The open season for ducks should not commence before 
October 15, for market-hunters at least, for the reason 
that the weather is liable to be too warm for game to 
keep until it reaches market. 
" In former days the mallard and teal bred to a great 
extent in this valley about the lakes and ponds, but since 
the reclamation-of most of the swamp lands, their breed- 
ing grounds are mostly broken up, and we must look for 
them only with the regular flights of game from the 
north. 
"The cotton-tail rabbit has now almost disappeared 
from its own haunts on Kern Island, owing to the work 
of the farmer in clearing up the lands and leaving no 
thickets of brush and weeds to furnish protection from 
animals and hawks and the ubiquitous boy with the pea- 
rifle. 
" When I first came here I could find thickets where I 
could stand and kill twenty-five or thirty without moving, 
and in some places have killed as high as 200 in a few 
hours. 
" The jack rabbit is still quite plentiful, for the reason 
"that the pot-hunter finds no profit in shipping them to 
market, but has been more interested in taking the scalp 
from the worst enemy Bre'r Rabbit had — the sneaking 
coyote. 
" Euglish, and jacksnipa, and many other waders, were 
more plentiful around the borders of the lakes and ponds, 
as I am informed by those who were here before my 
time, but since I commenced shooting here, I have never 
found any great quantity of this class of game, although 
there is enough at certain seasons to interest the amateur 
sportsman. This is owing to the drainage of the waters 
from the overflowed land, and the consequent lack of 
good feeding ground. 
" Deer are now becoming scai'ce.in most all portions of 
the country where they formerly were found in great 
numbers. The first to go were the deer of the brush 
lands in the valley, which had to give way to the settler 
with his ax and grub hoe. Then there remained the foot- 
hill country, especially the Coast Range, which was the 
favorite home of the deer, and which would now be fine 
shooting ground had it not been for the indiscriminate 
slaughter waged on them by the skin-hunters, most of 
whom came from the coast and other adjoining counties. 
" The antelope used to run like sheep over the plain in 
this valley, but I know of but three small bands in the 
country now, one of which I saw last summer, but with- 
out disturbing them, as it seems a shame to shoot the few 
that are now left. 
"Elk are very scarce how. I have never killed but 
one, and that is the only one I have ever seen here. It 
weighed about eight hundred pounds, and had seven 
points. The horns now hang in Pioneer Hall, and are 
said to be the largest ever sent from this couuty. There 
are about eight of these animals left, and they range 
down about the headquarters ranch of Miller & Lux, 
where orders are given to leave them undisturbed. 
"As we have now seen that the game is so fast dis- 
appearing, and that unless some remedy is applied, we 
shall soon be deprived of any chance event to get a de- 
cent day's sport in the field, the next thing is to see what 
can be done to prevent the total annihilation of the game 
of the country. 
"It is to be seen that so long as the market-hunters 
from other counties where the game laws are more 
stringent are allowed to flock in, as they have done, at 
the opening of the season and skim the cream of the 
flocks, staying until they have driven the bulk of the 
game out of the country, the resident population cannot 
hope for any increase of the game here. It would seem 
as though they should be debarred from shooting here 
altogether, or limited as to the amount of shipments per 
week. 
"Both local and outside markets might be given only a 
portion of the open season to make shipments of game 
out of the county. Then the open season for some kinds 
of game should be shortened — the season for deer from 
the 15th of July to 1st of September; the duck season 
from say the 15th of October to March 1st, and the season 
for quail from the same date to February 1st. 
"No elk or antelope should be shot at any time for five 
years, at least, and doves only from the 1st of July to 1st 
of January. Charles E. Day." 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Big Game and the Indians. 
Chicago, 111., April 27.— "Mountaineer" writes me from 
Cora, Wyo., as follows: 
"While I am in the humor of writing to you I will just 
state that we have had the easiest winter, so far as weather 
is concerned, I have ever seen in this country (and have 
been here seven or eight years) on game. The largest 
portion of large game have wandered high up in the 
mountains. I have been on my old stamping ground this 
winter, above the big bend at Green River. I have al- 
luded to this place in Forest and Stream before. It is 
8,000ft. above sea level at the lakes, and the most of the 
feeding ground is above that. The most elk I have seen 
wintering here before was probably 200, but there are 
from 1,000 to 1,500 that have wintered in here this winter. 
The winter now is practically over and they are in splen- 
did condition, and if there was such a thing as keeping 
the confounded Indian big game destroyers out this com- 
ing season, any sportsman that can see straight can get his 
elk this fall. 
"No one has any idea of the terrible destruction of big 
game by those Indian hide hunters unless he is here. If 
they get in here early, and there is every appearance of 
the snow getting off the passes in the mountains very 
early, they will catch the cows in the calving season, be- 
fore they can get on.the high mountains. Terrible will 
be the destruction, as it has been before. The antelope 
will soon be gone, killed by the Indians. The elk will 
soon follow. Then a lot of people will say, Why were the 
Indians not kept out? 
"There is another death destroying institution on the big 
game that is dying a natural death: that is the elk 
catchers, running the poor elk to death by the hundreds 
with grain fed horses and dogs, catching them to supply 
the game preserves and private parties, but they have 
overdone it, for there is no sale for them at present and I 
am very glad of it. I hope and pray the market is sup- 
plied for all time to come. Forest' and Stream asked 
once to have the facts and statistics about this elk killing 
business. If they will just state what kind of proof they 
wane I think I can obtain it. Bat the Indians are the 
worst of ail, for we . can make state laws to reach the 
whites, and they only have to be carried out, but it is hard 
to stop the Indians with this. It was tried on them last 
year, but that did not have much effect. It seemed that 
it only induced the Indian agents to turn the Indians loose 
worse than ever. The U. S. Government is the source of 
power for handling them, or for giving the state special 
power to do so." 
Good References. 
Speaking of mountain men — and it is astonishing how 
generally Forest and Stream is read by all Rocky Moun- 
tain guides and hunters— Mr. George L. Smith, a Rocky 
Mountain man who takes out parties, writes me and says 
he can furnish good references, and cites among these the 
names of the Count de Castellane, of Paris (lately married 
into the Gould family in New York) Wm. Liddesdale, of 
the Bank of England, etc. Modern sporting matters have 
come to a high grade when a mountain guide has to 
give references on the Bank of England or the latest 
attache on millionairedom. Still these ought to go, 
if only satisfactory references on the bear and elk can 
be given additionally. 
[Bearings of the Wisconsin Law.: 
Since the publication (exclusively in Forest and 
Stream) of the new Wisconsin law, several gentlemen 
have called to speak of the bearing of the law on Chicago 
men's club preserves in Wisconsin. As near as can be 
learned, the law will not injure the sportsmen's clubs, and 
this was pointed out last week. Mr. Stone shows me that 
Horicon clubs will not be affected, because Horicon marsh 
has never been meandered. The meander line runs only 
to the town of Hubbard, one-half mile south of the Diana 
Club grounds. On the north end of the marsh the mean- 
der line stops at just about the north boundary of the club 
grounds. 
Poygan Club will retain its marsh inside the meander 
line, the open water of the lake being open to the public. 
Puckaway Lake will retain its old position, the Caw-Caw 
and Neepee-nauk clubs holding their marshes inside the 
line, the rest of the lake beyond it being open. 
The danger of this law to the sportsmen does not lie in 
the actual legal bearings of the law on club preserves. 
The clubs can win all their lawsuits under it, but what 
club is looking for suits? The great trouble lies in 
the widespread impression which got abroad during the 
discussion of this measure in the Legislature, that "All 
the club reserves were going to be thrown open." Now 
this is all nonsense, of course; but some folk believe non-. 
sense very readily, especially when they see mallards 
lighting beyond an imaginary line. The meaudei'ed lands 
law is nothing new in Wisconsin, but Wisconsin poachers 
may have wrong notions over this and so attempt to go 
in and possess the lands they covet. The thing to do is 
to correct ail such wrong impressions as rapidly and as 
publicly as possible. The shooting clubs will continue to 
hold their lands as rigidly preserved as ever, and let not 
poachers believe otherwise. 
Nothing Else. 
A temporary ray of hope passed over the sportsmen's 
horizon this week in the shape of a Springfield dispatch 
printed in the Chicago Evening Journal, which says : 
"Gov. Altgeld has appointed C. D. Grouse of Savannah 
for Carroll county, and Charles W. Babcock of Chicago 
for Cook county, as Game Wardens." This would mean 
that our great and good Warden Blow, author of the 
game- stealer's measure, the Blow bill, had been de- 
posed; but as Altgeld and Blow are so much alike, the 
dispatch seemed very improbable, and telegrams from 
Springfield soon proved the news should have read "fish 
warden" instead of "game warden." For a little while, 
until Gov. Altgeld and his friend Blow have learned 
what the people of Illinois think of them in game law 
matters (such as vetoing Mongolian pheasant protective 
laws and making Blow bills to market all the remaining 
game of the West), they will continue their meteoric 
flight of glory across our firmament — Altgeld will con- 
tinue to veto good laws and Blow will continue to lie out 
suffering all night under a haystack to make 6«3 arrests 
at the same old stand (perhaps I ought not to 'hint that 
his deputy, Fish Warden Leuk, does a few of this arrest- 
ing himself). But soon this meteoric flight will end, and 
we will have a change. After the change it will be dis- 
covered by all, as it has already been suspected by sev- 
eral, that the condition then of this game- dealing warden 
can be fully covered by the old Latin phrase, " Vox, et 
praiterea nihil." He will not be a warden then, but he 
will be then, as now, Vox, et praiterea nihil— which, 
being interpreted, means " Blow, and nothing else." I 
regret the Journal item was not true. In effect it will 
be, some day. 
Snipe. 
Jacksnipe have appeared pretty much all across upper 
Indiana and Illinois, and some very good bags have been 
made — 30, 50, 61, etc. So far they ai-e not in very good 
order, as the ground has not yet fully warmed up and 
the worms are not playing on the greensward. 
Big Bear Foot from Bobo. 
This morning I received by express from our Missis- 
sippi friend, Mr. R.|E, Bobo, of Bobo station, a mysterious- 
looking package about as big as a ham. This I discover 
to be a bear's paw, and it is the biggest black bear front 
foot I ever saw, nor did I think they grew so large. It is 
proof enough that the Southern black bear is not always 
a small animal by any means (Mr. Bobo killed one 
weighing 7001bs.) This paw is nearly three times the 
size of that of the largest bear we killed on our hunt, and 
if it had the projecting claws would make a mighty re- 
spectable foot for a grizzly. It is Sin. long, 5Jin. wide 
and 2fin. thick. The claws are 3in. long — or rather, the 
claw Irom tip to root of toe measures that. The claws 
easily spread Sin. From the outside claw to the opposite 
toe-pad is 7in., and from the tip of the same claw square 
across the foot is 6^-in. The foot weighs 21bs. , dry as it 
is. If any one knows anything about bear he will see 
that this is a good deal of a foot for a black bear. I 
must find out how much this bear weighed. Mr. Bobo 
has sent me a bear story which soon the readers of 
Forest and Stream shall have, 
The North Waters. 
Mr. V. E. Montague, of Traverse City, Mich., is in Chi- 
cago refitting the little yacht Why Not, the property of 
Mr. Bancroft, of this city. Mr. Montague says that the 
waters of Traverse Bay would make a great place for a 
canoe meet, as the winds are steady and the waters good. 
He tempts one talking of these north waters, especially 
when he tells of the Agawa River, on the Superior north 
shore, where he does his trout fishing. This, ne tells me, 
is one of those streams where one can lay out a line at 
fly-fishing, and can moreover get good big trout — up to 
4 and 51 bs. — on the fly. Yet the lake steamers from the 
Sault land one readily at the mouth of this river. 
"Our Summer." 
The seas-n approaches when people begin to ask, "What 
are we going to do with our summer?" Fishers, boaters, 
loafers and air lovers all ask that, and they can all find the 
answer in a very tasteful and beautiful little book just put 
out by the Wisconsin Central Lines, called "Our Sum- 
mer." This will tell everybody what to do and where to 
go, from Chicago to Lake Superior, and all through the 
lands of lakes and streams and evergreen trees, as far west 
as Minnesota and Minnetonka and Minnehaha, Railroad 
literature sometimes receives the criticism of being too 
buoyant and hopeful in its tone; but from what I know 
of many of the points mentioned I am disposed to think 
that General Passenger Agent Jas. C. Pond has spoken in 
moderation and has no need to sue forgiveness. One can- 
not exaggerate the beauty and the truitfulness in sport 
and pleasure of this lovely summer country, and I hope 
this season will see more visitors than ever patronizing it 
and blessing it. The maps alona of this little book make 
it very valuable. 
The Natchaug S k Co.; 
April 27. — Dispatches of thi3 morning announced that 
the Natchaug Silk Co., of Willimantic, Conn., the larg- 
