104 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
Ji.v&. 7, 1897. 
LARCO'S PELICAN. 
Largo is an Italian fisberman who has prospered in Amer- 
ica and has a house and fiah refrigerator a few hundred 
yards from the beach on the main street of Bant* Barbara. 
Some years ago Larco acquired a pelican. The bird was 
said to have been found tangled up in a wire fence near 
Saugus at quite a distance from the sea. Sarco says that 
this bird belongs to the race of white pelicans, who love 
fresh water, while the gray or brownish pelicans, who fre- 
ijuent our coast in large numbers at certain seasons, are more 
purely marine in their habits. 
Jim, as Larco's pelican is called, seems to know when he 
is well 02. He occasionally wanders, hut is usually near by, 
and a good deal of his time is spent fighting dogs, scaring 
horses or nipping the trousers of Larco's customers Jim 
possesses a certain s'lturnine liuraor, but te is kindly dis- 
posed toward Larco's family, and I have seen one of the 
young women tuck him under her arm. run with him 
ac'-oss the yard and toss him into a corner when he was un- 
ruly 
It is an interesting thing to buy ten cents worth of small 
fiah and toss them to Jim one at a time for his use. If they 
come tail first or crosswise, they have to be thrown into the 
air again so as to enter head first into the pelican's economy. 
Jim is wliite, except for some black patches at the lower 
edges of the wings and an orange-colored membrane at the 
base of the bill and around the eyes. The iris of the eye is 
of a very pale, wasbed-out gray, but you get an impression 
of a particularly sharp look on his countenance. Perhaps 
the eye borrows a reflected tint from the surrounding mem- 
brane, and the glitter is set oil' by the solemn appearance of 
the long bill and the judicial pose. 
There is a peculiar thin excrescence on the 'bill, like half 
a disk, at this time (in the month of June). This growth, is^ 
said to be deciduous, and to be found only on the adult birds 
in tbe breeding season, offering, perhaps, some analogy to the 
horns of deer. 
My photographs f-how Isabella and Jim in various altitudes 
of confidence and friendship, and .Jim alone, after the show 
is over, waddling off to be first in the race for a sunny 
corner. H. G. Dui:oG. 
[The white pelican (Pdiaamis trythrorhychtLs) is a bird of 
the interior, rare on the Atlantic coast, and unusual at least 
on the shores of the Pacific Ocean .] 
Sense of Moral Obligation in the Lower Animals. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In a letter in Foeest and Bteeam IS. D. Elting says: 
"Man has a sense of moral obligation; the l^rute is devoid 
of it, i. e., he cannot be made to understand the moral 
wrong of an act; he is incapable of moral conscientious- 
ness." 
What is morality? Obedience to the laws of society. 
The laws of society may be right or wrong, but morality 
consists in obedience to them. There can be no society 
without laws. This is as true of a society of birds, of dogs 
(tr of ants as it is of a society of human beings. Conscien- 
tiousness is tbat which correlates the individual to the laws 
of society. The crow, the dog, the stork, is correlated to 
his society as the man is to his; so the brute must have the 
faculty of conscientiousness. 
Without going further, take an accepted incident in orni- 
thology as an "illustration. A foreign gentleman placed a 
goose's egg in the nest of a stork. When the gosling was 
hatched, the husband stork looked it over, was mortally of- 
fended, went off, came back with a number of storks, they 
sat in trial of the apparently offending wife (who, during the 
trial, sat cowering upon her nest), condemned her and she 
was executed. She was the victim of circumstances, 
but her judges certairly thought her guilty. And 
could there he guilt without responsibility? And could 
there be responsibility under the law without conscientious- 
ness, which correlates to the law? Dogs are gregarious, 
Their communities have laws. Tbey hold more things in 
common than do storks. But among them there is respon- 
sibility to law — in proof of which ailow me to refer to the 
commercial life of the Constanlinopolitan dogs— and each 
individual dog must, consequently, have something that in 
man we call conscience; though, of course, an occasional 
dog may lack conscience, as does the exceptional man; it 
being true that any sentient being may lack any one of his 
many faculties or correlations — conscience as well as mem- 
ory or the sense of color, for instance. 
Ohart.es Josiah Adams. 
The New Jersey Pine Snake Industry. 
The pine or bull snake {PilyopMs melanoleucm) h a com 
mon, species, inhabitine- pine woods from New Jersey to 
Ohio and southward. There is another species found id the 
middle West. 
Mr. Charles A. Shriner. State Fish and Game Prokctor of 
Kew Jersey, sends us, from his own oaper the Paterson 
C?ironide,'lbis note of a curious New Jersey industry: A 
few days ago a man dropped into the office of the Glironide 
for the purpose of obtaining some information concerning 
snakes. People are apt to go to newspaper oflices for all 
kinds of information, but in matters pertaining to natural 
history the Glironide seems to have a monopoly. The man 
in question was not seeking after knowledge for the sake of 
knowledge; he meant business. He wanted to buy pine 
snakes, and the more he could get the better would he be 
satisfied. He had been covering the whole of New Jersey but 
the stock offered was not suflicient for his needs. He 
was informed that the pine snake is an animal of very raie 
occurrence ia this part of the State and that all to be found 
in the northern part of the State would be very few in num- 
ber and small in size. The man refused to state what he 
wanted to do with the snakes, but he was apparently very 
anxious to secure a large number of them. 
The gathering of pine snakes is a very well recognized 
industry in the pine belt of this State, and the crop of them 
every year adds considerably to the income of the people 
who gather them. There are a number of curious features 
connected with this snake gathering iodustry. In the first 
place, the pine snake is a harmle's animal; he is not at all 
poisonous, and although at times he may strike in the manner 
of other snakes he is not capable of inflicting any injury 
worth mentioning. The people who gather them seize hold 
of them anywhere and no bad results have ever followed. 
The price of snakes is uniform, and has been so since the 
industry started a few years ago; they bring flfteea cents a 
foot, no matter how'"large.'''or small. They can^get along 
Feveral days without food, and consequently there is no 
difficulty in keeping them alive until the agent calls for them. 
At present the crop of snakes is rather small, owing to thn 
lateness of the season ; in a few weeks the industry will be at 
its height, and then agents will traverse the pine belt from 
one end to the other for the purpo^^e of securing them. The 
pine snake is perhaps the largest of New Jersey snakes, spe- 
cimens 5 and 6ft. long bfing not at all rare, A fair-sizfd 
snake does not find any difficulty in swallowing'whole a full- 
grown rabbit. The most curious feature of the whole bus- 
iness is that none of the persons engaged in gathering the 
snakes has ever succeeded in ascertaining what the snakes are 
u^ied for. The agents who collect them are very close- 
mouthed, and invariably refuse to tell where they take the 
snakes or what is done with them. 
The Sense of Smell. 
Oakmont, Pa., July '^>\— Editor Forest and Stream: Your 
editorial in this week's Fobest and Stream on the sense of 
smell in animals, is both interesting and valuable; for com- 
prehension of scenting powers in dogs is greatly aided by 
knowledge as to the same sense in wild animals, or other do- 
mestic one?. 
The subject may be further extended by the knowledge 
that mankind seems to have the sense of smell as fully as any 
animal has, only it is unused. This, I think, is fairly shown 
by the fact that the deaf-blind have as acute and accurate a 
sense of smell as any dog, except of course in the cases of 
those who lost the senses of light and taste at the same time 
thev lost the other senses of sight and hearing. 
One deaf-blind girl assorted the clothing of her fellow 
pupils, after it bad returned from the wash, entirely by 
smelling it. A deaf-blind young man, born in the early 
years of this century, recognized his friends by their smells. 
Another girl knows when a friend comes near her by the 
same sense, and similar powers are common to all the class 
(wi'h the exceptions above noted). 
Therefore, it seems to me that it is reasonable to assume 
that the sense of smell is a common endowment of all man- 
kind ; but that the senses of sight and hearing arc so mtich 
superior as means of gaining information, that those possesE- 
ing these senses neglect that of smell entirely, while Ihoi-e 
deprived of the mere useful senses, utilize tho<=e they have 
remaining. ^^^^^ W. Wade. 
Squirrels Destroy Birds' Nest. 
A FRIEND asks if it is true that pine squirrels kill birds, or 
eat their eggs, or destioy their nests. 
"My place," he says, "shelters a great many birds, and 
also droves of pine scjuirrels; I occasionally find nests 
that have been interfered with, and don't know who to 
blame; I would dislike to interfere with the squiriels, but if 
they molest the birds, sentence of transportation will issue 
against them, very certainly." 
"AU the questions asl^ed in the first paragraph must be 
answered in the affirmative. The red or pine squirrel is veiy 
destructive to nesting birds, eating the eggs and young and 
destroying them through mischief as well. We regard this 
species as an unmitigated nuisance which should be de- 
stroyed whenever opportunity offers. It is as harmlul us 
the Norway rat, and more fo.thau the house mouse. 
Kadiak Bears. 
New York, July 31. — Editor Forest and Stream: Wm. 
W. Hart & Co. just completed dressing their last season's 
collection of K'idiak Island grizzly hears. For siz?, fur and 
pcrfectness, they excel any lot that has as yet come forward. 
It took five men to lift the bale of twelve skins. They aver- 
age from 8 to 10ft. in length, and are beautiful silvery brown 
iu color, and every nose and claw complete, as ihey are 
skinned iDy experienced Indian trappers and hunters. 
This enormous beast reaches l,7001bcin weight, and gets 
much of its food from the salmon beds along the small trib- 
utaries. The bear was classified as a distinct species about 
two years ago by Dr. Merriam. Mr. Ha it says the laigest 
one on record is lift, in length, which skin he now holds in 
his collection. W. W. Hart & Co. 
Colorado vs. Switzerland. 
The terrible .lungfrau of Switzerland is but 14,000 feet 
high, yet travelers from all over the world journey to Inter- 
laken to climb it, or to say that they have sat in the hotel 
and wished thab they might climb it. Mont Blanc, in the 
same delightful little European republic, is forever eiuilted 
with snow, and for this reason it is one of the most seductive 
featui es of travel to the neiglibbrhood of Geneva. The Chor 
health resort, on the east side of the Swiss republic, is visited 
by thousands of invalids, because it is one of the loftiest and 
noblest of European sanitariums. 
Then why should not every American, who has the money 
to spare and the desire to make a journey, get out into Colo- 
rado, strap a pair of mountain boots onto his legs, put a 
spike on an ash staff and attempt to climb Mount Blanca, 
in the southern part of this State. Mount Blanca is over 
14,400ft. high. Or if he does not care to take the risks of 
this perilous ascent, why should he not come up into the 
northern part of the State, place his field glasses in his hands, 
and gaze on the glacier and the perpetual banks of snow that 
cover Mt. Hallett? Or if tourists be possessed of reverence 
or of piety, why may they not locate in central Colorado, 
and fix their eyes upon the great white cross tbat indents the 
Mount of the Holy Cross at an elevation of 14,l76ft ? 
If it is the duplicate of Chor that tourists seek, Manitou, 
in this State, rests at the foot of 14,000ft. Pike's Peak for 
them, and is itself 6,300ft. above the sea, while being en- 
dowed with health-giving waters the equal of Carlsbad. 
There are 110 mountains in Colorado whose peaks are 
over 12,000ft. above the ocean level. Forty of these are 
higher than 14,000ft., and more than half of that number are 
so remote and rueged that no one has yet dared to attempt 
to climb them. They are as unique as those of Switzerland, 
and as fearful as the Alps in the warning they offer to the 
m'-n or women who are so hardy as to defy them by starting 
upon their ascent. Some of them are massed with snow, 
others have glaciers over their approaches, and others are 
merely masses of jagged rocks. 
Not even Coloradoans have sought as yet to surmount 
them, and the profession of "guide" is still open to whoever 
may care to enter it. Railroads reach within close enough 
range to provide hotel facilities, but otherwise the mountain 
climbing of Colorado is yet awaiting its pioneers. Did the 
Coloradoans or the people of other States fully realize the in- 
toxication as \yell jis the health-giving pows of mouat^m 
climbing? Rocky Mountain climbing would become one of 
the most popular recwations of America. 
Only one mountain climbing club is known to exist in 
Colorado. There is room for a dozen more. There should 
b'=' one in every city. By the evidences such clubs might 
offer of their thrilling experiences and of their unexampled 
pastimes, the fame of the Rockies as a place of pleasure and 
adventure might be widely advertised, and Colorado thus be 
pushed forward to the place it must eventually occupy as the 
American substitute for Switzerland.— Denwr Times. 
anji^ md ffun. 
The "Game Ijaws in Brief." 
The current edition of ttie Game Laws in Brief (index pape dated 
Aug. 1) contains Cbe fish and game laws for 1897, with a few excep- 
tions, as ihej- will continue in force during the year As about forty- 
States and Provinces hive amended their lavrs this year, the Brief 
has been praclicatly done over new. Sent postpaid hy the Forest 
aid Stri am Pub Co on receipt of price, 25 cents. All dealers seJl it 
AMERICAN GAME PARKS. 
The "Forest and Stream's" Fourth 
Annual Report on Game in 
. Preserves. 
Part Two.— Unfenced Parks. 
(.Continued from page S7.) 
The Griffith Preserve. 
A WEITEK in Harper's Weekly describing this preserve, 
which is the property of a gentleman sometimes known as 
the "lumber king of southern Vermont," says: 
"Scarcely more than ten miles from the village of Danby, 
near the very top of the mountains, a great oval bowl of 
tranducent water lies, 3,500ft high, embosomed amidst 
great spruce forests. These have never known the ring of 
the chopper's axe, except so far as judicious cutting has 
made an easier pathway through the dense wood, or cleared 
away the timber and underbrush along the bluff which over- 
looks one side of the lake. Here an ample house with wide 
piazzas squats with an air of homely comfort, and inside 
fireplaces gape for big chunks of log; for even iu midsummer 
nightfall often brings a shiver with it. The lake and the 
streams issuing from it are stocked every spring with year- 
ling trout and two year olds; for these are found to do better 
in pond waters than the small fry, as the bull pout and 
pickerel, indigenous to most New England lakes ancf ponds, 
make great havoc with the baby fish. Pains are similarly 
taken by the owner to enrich the thickets with partridges 
and pheasants, while the bigger game takes care of itself 
without sny helping hand. As the visitor climbs to gome 
coign of vantage, whence he may look down on a great 
panorama of mountain and valley flashing fifty miles around 
in the sunshine, the shambling of biuin in an adjoining 
brake, or the leap of a deer through the ferns of a near 
ravine may startle hjm at any moment with a thrill of sur- 
prise. Good roads are building, at large expense, in and 
around this domain, which contains several thousand acres. 
The timber which must needs be cut out of the dense forest 
to perfect its uses for sport and its convenience lor the 
sportsman will, it is supposed, go far to pay the cost of 
making and maintaining the preserve." 
Mr, Griflith himself writes to us: "My park consists of 
14,000 acres in the town of Mt. Tabor, and 2,500 acres 
adjoining in the town of P. ru. On it are three lakes, one of 
seven, another of ten and another of fifteen acres. The lake 
of fifteen acres (Lake Griffith) is well stocked with trout and 
the stream running from this lake is also stocked. The lake 
and eight miles of the stream I have fenced and posted aa 
the laws rt quire in this State. Thi? makes it private fishing 
and hunting gi-ounds. I also have io Mt. Tabor a fish 
hatchery of balf a million fry capacity, and from this I stock 
my lake and stream," 
Cutting Preserve. 
Mr. Frank A. Cutting, under date of May ^7, writes: 
"The fish and game have been well protected diiiing the 
past year and a small quantity of brook trout taken, and 
only six deir killed, three of which were killed by poachers 
around the ponds iu July, 
"1 was over the preserve last March on snowshoes, and 
found that the deer were very numerous. Saw two at one 
time only a short distance from where I stood, and although 
I was not taking any particular notice of the deer, but was 
looking at the timber, 1 saw several, and the woods were 
completely tracked by the deer. The snow was about aft, 
deep, having settled liom about 3 or 4tt. deep by the fcoft 
weather, but the deer seemed to have no difficulty m getting 
at out, and instead of being yardid up were roaming about 
the woods, in consequence of which they seejned to be io 
fine condition. 
"During the_ whole of the five years since I have protected 
the property there have not been as many deer killed on my 
property as there used to be killed io one single year. 
"In taking brook trout, I require all trout less than 7in. 
in length to be put back into the stream, and thus gjve the 
smaller fish a chance to increase in size. 
"It is very hard to estimate the number of deer on my 
preserve, which is three miles by four miles, but from the 
signs I saw last winter and what 1 saw this summer, I would 
estimate the number of deer from 300 to 500 on the 8,000 
acres. 
"The beavev on the brooks are certainly increasing in num- 
ber. I saw one large birch tree this spring that had been 
taken down, which was nearly 1ft. in cllameter. Found in- 
dications the whole length of the brooks of recent work done 
by them. 
"I think that the increase in deer during the past five years 
has been mainly on private preserves. The new law prohib- 
iting bounding will be a great advantage to the whole Adi- 
rondack wilderness, and after a short time deer will be plen- 
tiful everywhere. 
"One great trouble in the Adirondack region is that there 
aro not a sufficient number of game wardens. The natives, 
after they do their spring work, are inclined to visit pondg 
that are frequented by deer and camp at the ponds during 
the warm weather of June and July, and it is an easy matter 
then to kill the deer when they come to the water. More 
will he killed tbi§ year ^t that tiaie Jhan us\jal on apcoiint 
