Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Oopv 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 1895. 
iNo, 
VOL. XLTV.- 
818 Bboadway 
-No. 25 
New York. 
e#H8iHNe**N8fc#**3^^ THE GREAT DUCK EGG FAKE. 
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SNAP SHOTS. 
When the New York Aquarium authorities were look- 
ing for a superintendent, candidates for the place were 
required to undergo a civil service examination. Their 
information was te&ted on such points as the constituents 
of aquarium cement, the composition of sea water, the 
proper material for pipage, the strength of glass for tanks, 
the treatment of fish affected with fungus, and other like 
matters on which it was clear that a superintendent must 
be informed. But one question was this, "When and 
where was the first public aquarium opened?'' Now, it 
may be conceived that a person might have knowledge on 
purely practical points of aquarium management, not 
know anything about the first established aquarium, and 
yet be perfectly competent for the post of superintendent. 
But if he does know that the first public aquarium was 
established at Regent's Park, London, in the year 1847, his 
possession of that knowledge would predicate on his part 
such an interest in aquaria that he had been led to give 
attention and study to the whole field; and a person thus 
shown to have had interest in the subject would be, other 
things equal, the best man for the place. 
We were in error the other day in saying that Michigan 
had failed to adopt the non-resident license system. By 
the new law a deer-bunting permit is required of non- 
residents, and the fee for it is $25. It is good for one 
year. Residents also who go deer hunting must first buy 
from the county clerk a certificate of their citizenship, for 
which the charge is 50 cents. Any man encountered 
hunting deer must on demand of any person show either 
a non-resident permit or the paper vouching for him as a 
true Michigander. This law is like the new Not th Dakota 
system, although there the license system applies to all 
. shooting. 
Vast stretches of Kansas farm lands have been aban- 
doned within the past twelve months, and the territory has 
r everted to game country, where quail are on the increase. 
The extent to which this change has progressed has 
had an appreciable effect upon the game supply of the 
State. As for the game law, it is as worthless as a mort- 
gage on an abandoned farm. It is truly ridiculous in 
character, for it provides that no one but a land owner 
may shoot or trap at any time, and he may shoot at all 
times. Nobody pays any attention to it, except that once 
in a while it may be enforced as a spite measure, not to 
vindicate the law of the land, but to gratify personal 
pique. 
An Englishwoman has written a book entitled "The 
Curse of Intellect." It is a story of a misanthrope who 
goes into the African jungle, learns the speech of monkeys 
and then sets in to educate one of the monkeys, which as 
it "learns sense" becomes discontented and then curses 
the man who has given it an intellect. It might have 
been different. If the man who went into the forest had 
been a sunny, healthy-minded person, instead of the sour- 
souled individual he was, the monkey might have found 
that life with intellect was after all a good thing. There 
is so much in the teacher. If "0. O S.," or "Kingfisher,'' 
or "Podgers," or "Jacobstaff" were intrusted with the 
development of a monkey's intellect, the odds are 100 to 
1 that the creature would find his new life worth living. 
Have you read anything better within the last fortnight 
than " Jacobstaff 's" notes of his early shooting days? • 
A Wild Goose (the old original "wild goose chase" bird) 
sat on a Mare's Nest and hatched out a Beautiful Fake. 
And when the National Game Protector (who had stopped 
shooting when there was nothing more in sight) saw it, he 
said: " It is a Good Thing; push it along." 
But— you cannot protect Game by pushing a Fake. 
For two or three years occasional articles have appeared 
in the weekly and monthly papers— and have been copied 
into the dailies — which told of a great destruction of wild- 
fowl eggs in the Northwest for commercial purposes. The 
story is that millions of wildfowl eggs are annually gath- 
ered in Alaska and the British Possessions, and from there 
are shipped to points in the East, where they are manufac- 
tured into egg albumen cake. 
These reports have been given out repeatedly by the 
National Game, Fish and Bird Protective Association, 
and on the strength of them the officials of that organi- 
zation have strenuously demanded legislation to stop the 
alleged egging industry. In Congress the subject has 
been taken up by Senator John H. Mitchell, of Oregon, 
who in the last session made a speech on the Alaskan 
egg destruction, averred that millions of eggs were col- 
lected there for albumen, and asked for an appropriation 
of $5,000 to find out more about it. 
Just how much truth is there in the story? What basis 
have these alarming statistics? Is the duck egg story true 
or is it a fake? 
The Forest and Stream has undertaken to answer these 
questions. It has made an exhaustive inquiry, and to-day 
we give the results of the investigation. 
I. 
The duck egg albumen story has had wide circulation. 
Is has extended liberally from Oregon in the northwest to 
Louisiana in the southeast. Here is a letter received this 
month from Louisiana: 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Inclosed you will find a clipping from the St. Louis Republic which 
explains itself. Can't your influence with sportsmen help this cause 
a little? It is a cause that ought to be dear to the hearts of all sports- 
men, and not to sportsmen alone, for all the people of this great 
country are interested in this subject. I know very little how this 
gathering of the eggs of waterfowls has affected the North and West, 
but in this country ten or twelve years back it was very little trouble 
for any darky or poor white man with his old muzzleloader and a few . 
charges of powder and shot to secure in a few hours ducks enough to 
last his family for a week. Now it is a good hunter who can get half 
a dozen ducks in a day except under very favorable circumstances. 
Cannot you induce a few Senators and Representatives to join with 
Senator Mitchell in urging this on Congress? Surely the welfare of 
the mass of people is of more importance than that of a few engaged 
in destroying the water fowl by gathering the eggs. 
J. D. Usher, M.D. 
II. 
The article inclosed by Dr. Usher was originally pub- 
lished in the New York Tribune, and as it embodies Sena- 
tor Mitchell's speech in the Senate verbatim, it may be 
quoted here: 
Senator John H. Mitchell, of Oregon, when in the city recently, told 
some things about the wildfowl in the Northwest and in Alaska that 
will be of interest to sportsmen generally, and also to those who are 
interested in preserving from absolute destruction the original wild 
birds of this continent. Senator Mitchell, though perhaps not so en- 
thusiastic a sportsman as many other members of the Senate who go 
duck-hunting down the bay or tarpon fishing in Florida waters, is, 
nevertheless, deeply interested in the wildfowl of America, and as a 
student of existing conditions has come to realize that unless some- 
thing is done to stop the indiscriminate slaughter and criminal waste 
attendant upon the hunt for these birds, it will not be long before the 
game birds of the Pacific Slope are extinct. Senator Mitchell, in 
speaking of the way in which these fowl are being destroyed, said: 
"It is not at the door of the huntsman or legitimate sportsman that 
the blame for the wholesale destruction of these birds can be laid. 
The whole coast might resound to the eoho of the sportsmen's fowl- 
ing-piece, and but little impression would be made upon the millions 
and millions of wild birds that make this territory their home. The 
trouble comes from another source, and the legitimate hunter is as 
much interested in putting an end to the wanton slaughter as anyone 
else. I have taken the matter up in the Senate, and perhaps the fol- 
lowing resolution offered by me will explain the way in which I am 
trying to protect the wild birds of our country: 
" 'Amendment to the sundry civil appropriation bill. Insert: For 
the purpose of paying the saliry and defraying the necessary expen- 
ses of an agent of the Treasury Depa rtment to thoroughly investigate 
and report to said department as to the alleged destruction of eggs of 
game wildfowl in the Territory of Alaska, and the best means to 
be adopted to prevent such destruction in the future; such agent to 
be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury at a salary not to ex- 
ceed dollars per diem, and his necessary traveling expenses, the 
sum of $5,000.' 
" The purpose of the legislation proposed by the amendment is to 
prepare the way for legislation looking to the protection from indis- 
criminate and reckless destruction of the "eggs of toothsome wild- 
fowl, such as wild duck, geese and swan, in their great breeding 
grounds in Alaska. This in th& last few years has tended mostly to 
dl ninish the number of these valuable wildfowl in this country, par- 
ticularly in the States and Territories west of the Rocky Mountains. 
"The principal breeding grounds of these fowl, which in the winter 
months cover the rivers, lakes and ponds of the Northwest, and which 
are not only the delight of the sportsmen, but furnish a nutritious 
and wholesome food for many thousands of people, are in a series of 
small valleys and lakes in Southwestern Alaska. The largest of these 
is nearly opposite Kodiak Island, on the mainland. Another breeding 
ground whe-e these migratory fowl deposit their eggs by the million 
and hatch their young is at or near the mouth of the Yukon River, 
while still another is near St. Michael, and still another near the 
mouth of Copper River. 
"It is a fact perhaps not generally known that for the purpose of ob- 
taining ova or egg albumen, which is largely used in commerce, cer- ' 
tain corporations have been formed and large amounts of capital have 
been invested for the purpose of gathering in these breeding grounds 
and packing and shipping annually vast millions of the eggs of these 
ducks and geese. Tne shipments annually over the Canadian Pacific 
Railroad of these eggs are said to be enormous. Not infrequently as 
many as 1,003, 1,200 or 1,800 barrels of these eggs are taken, mainly 
from the breeding grounds in Alaska. A small proportion, perhaps, 
but very small, comes from Canadian breeding grounds in British 
Columbia. 
"In taking these eggs innumerable numbers that are partly hatched 
are destroyed. Dried alt u men is a valuable article of commerce, 
largely used in this and other countries. It is largely used in the 
testing and manufacture of pepsin and other chemicals, and in the 
clarification of liquids, which it effects by involving during its coagu 
latlonthe undissolved particles, rising with them to the surface or sub- 
siding. It is used as an antidote for corrosive sublimate and sulphate 
of copper. It is used in the manufacture of what is known as alum 
curd, a substance used between folds of gauze over the eye in certain 
stages of ophthalmia. It is also used largely in photography and in 
many chemical preparations, and put to varied uses. 
"Egg-albumen cake sells usually for about 25 cents per pound. 
This albumen was formerly obtained exclusively from the eggs of the 
domestic hen, but these later years the demand is supplied chiefly 
from the eggs of these migratory wildfowl, mainly from the wild 
duck of Alaska. There is little doubt but this destruction of the eggs 
of the canvas and teal duck of the Pacific Coast, which by many are 
thought to be superior in flavor and other respects to those of the 
Potomac, has done more in the last few years to diminish their num- 
ber on the Pacific coast, in the States of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, 
Montana and California, than all the guns and dogs of the sportsmen 
in that vast region. These wholesale robberies and destruction of 
eggs of these game wildfowl within our Territories, which are under 
the jurisdiction of Congress, should be prohibited by law under 
severe penalties; or at least their taking, if permitted at all, should be 
subjected to stringent regulations and safeguards. We legislate, and 
very' properly too, for the protection of our salmon fisheries in the 
Territory of Alaska. "Why not then for the protection of our game 
birds? 
"This proposed amendment to the sundry civil appropriation bill 
provides for a thorough investigation of this whole business by an 
agent of the Treasury Department, and for a report which may serve 
as a basis for such legislation at the next session of Congress as may 
from such investigation and report be demanded. 
"The amendment I offered," said Senator Mitchell, "is now in . the 
hands of the Committee on Territories, and I hope for favorable legis- 
lation in the next Congress. I am not the pioneer in this work of try- 
ing to protect our game birds. M. R. Bortree, president of the 
National Game, Fish and Bird Protective Association, brought some 
valuable data to my attention through W. A. Storey, State secretary 
of the Association in Oregon. Mr. Bortree says that the Atlant 
flyway of the waterfowl still remains, but the flights of fow that use 
to come by the way of Calumet Valley have gone further west. At' 
present the great nesting and breeding grounds are in Alaska and the 
Hudson Bay region. The slaughter, he says, is frightful, and unless 
something is done to make the laws more stringent game birds will be 
exterminated. Great Britain legislated on the subject many years 
ago. An act entitled 'The wild birds protection act' was passed in 
1880, and recently it has been amended in many respects. The second 
section of the act reads: 'Prohibition of taking or destroying eggs— 
A Secretary of State may, after the passing of this act, upon applica- 
tion by the County Council of any administrative county, by order 
prohibit 1. Th taking or destroying of wild birds' eggs in any year 
or years, in any place or places, within that county. 2. The taking or 
destroying the eggs of any special kind of wild birds within that 
county or part or part? thereof, as recommended by the said County 
Council, and set forth in the said order. 3. The application by the 
County Council shall specify the limits of the place or places, or 
otherwise, the particular species of wild birds to which it is proposed 
that any prohibition in the order is to apply, and shall set forth th 
reason on account of which the application is made.' 
"Of course, legislation in our country would be on somewhat differ- 
ent lines. Something should be done, and I hope to see my idea carried 
out by the next Congress." 
One portion of Senator Mitchell's speech, which the 
Tribune reporter did not incorporate in this interview, 
was an extremely flowery description of the Alaskan 
wi'dfowl breeding grounds, written by a Mr. Middleton, 
whom the Senator declares to be an eminent authority on 
matters pertaining to the breeding of wildfowl. Mr. 
Middleton, as quoted by Senator Mitchell in his speech, 
says of the nesting country: 
May comes, and the north wind dies, the south wind comes whisper- 
ing from the south odorous with the scent of the soft ocean air. High 
in the heavens circles the sun. The snow disappears, grass and flow- 
ers spring up and cover the earth with bright and brilliant colors of 
the Arctic vegetation ; where great fields of snow lay are now vaBt 
morasses. Through these vast tundras flow many sluggish streams, 
full of fishes that sport and splash without fear of angler or net. All 
they have to dread are the attack of their own finny tribes, the swoop 
of the white-headed eagle and the osprey, and the ivory claws of the 
shaggy brown bear, for in that land of loneliness the human foot but 
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