Aug. 14, 1897. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
127 
treasury in the background, and the matter suddenly became 
senous. 
One of the local sportsmen quite won my fancy. He was 
the proprietor of the best hotel in the towD; and a good one 
it was, too, in its size, appointments and service. He was 
tall, symmetrica] and well poised, easy and graceful m man- 
ner, pleasing in his address, and a fluent and intelligent 
talker. He was enlhusiagtic in everything pertaining to 
sportsmanship without any admixture of enthusiastic silli- 
ness. He was the president of the local game protective as- 
sociation and a terror to the sinners who broke the game 
laws. A purer altruistic spirit and purpose I never saw 
manifested. He recounted the vigilance necessary to restrain 
the lawless shooters; the personal part he had taken in de- 
tective work; the threats of bodily harm of which he was 
the object; the unpopularity which comes to him who is 
active in enforcing an unpopular law; the conviction of two 
or three olJenders who were caught red-handed, the last one 
only recently. This offender had a wife and children, it 
was true, and he was too poor to pay his fine, consequently 
he would have to remain in jail a long time, but he took all 
those chances when he broke the law, etc. It served the law- 
breaker right. 
Here at last was a great and good man. It was honor 
enough to sit in the same county with him, but both an 
honor and a pleasure to sit near him on a broken-down reaper 
and listen to his legal precepts, his views of an exemplary 
sportsmafi's life, and his practical work in the interests of 
game protection. Here was a man who had the courage of 
his convictions — no mere theorist, who talked one thing and 
acted another. I felt better for knowing him. 
As a citizen, I firmly resolved that 1 would inviolably ob- 
serve the game laws. As a man engaged in a profession, I 
resolved that I would kill no more chickens than were neces- 
sary, and of such as I did kill I would take care that he knew 
nothing. 
I was for game protection with all my heart, and T told 
him so; but I felt somehow that it would be difficult to 
arrange my citizen and professional case so that he would 
have a true perception of it, although I could perceive that 
he was admirably just. I never explained the distinction to 
him. Nevertheless he seemed to understand me, as I under- 
stood him; and I learned later he understood me better than 
I thought possible. 
And yet he had his malignersand detractors. There were 
those who were earnest workers with him in the cause, who 
behind his back would say that he wanted the chickens pre- 
served so that the numerous sportsmefl who patronized his 
hotel would have good shooting. No shooting, few guests. 
And the base fellows further said that the chickens served for 
food for the same guests. 
I could discern the depths of their baseness, for my hotel 
friend had already told me that they wanted to kill the birds 
themselves for the market, so, therefore, they could not de- 
cieve me in the least. Could not a man run a hotel without 
having the hotel in his mind always, I should like to know? 
Could there not be such a thing as unselfishness without an 
anchor tied to it? Of what use, then, are the stories of mar- 
tyrs, patriots, heroes, the every-day hero- toilers of the world? 
Bah! it was contemptible, 
The day at last came for our parting, and my hotel friend 
and I said good-bye with reciprocal expressions of esteem. 
He promised to come and see me when 1 got settled well. I 
went nearly 100 miles away. 
Number Two. 
I found precisely the little town I was seeking; one a year 
or two old, with an immense spread of level prairie on one 
side and sand hills on the other, in which there were a few 
rude huts, sod houses, or other rude domicils so wide apart 
that but one or two could be seen at one time from horizon 
to horizon; and the people were too intent on their daily toil 
to give any attention to an idler who was wandering about 
with dogs at his heels. I had shot a dozen chickens, more 
or less, each day in my professional capacity without any 
thought of the closeness of the season. It was not in strict 
accord with the sentiments I had advanced when debating 
the matter with my new friends, but then the circumstances 
were different. Circumstances alter cases. 
The roads in my range were very faint trails, and at the 
rare times I saw a wagon creeping along one, taking a long 
while disappearing in the far distance, I had at length come 
to disregard it and to feel a sense of perfect isolation and 
safety. 
One forenoon, about a week before the season opened, I 
had bagged nearly a whole covey of chickens in a few min- 
utes, and was so intent on my professional function that I 
failed to observe a carriage drawn by two horses, and ad- 
vancing rapidly toward me. It was so close on me before I 
discovered it that all attempts at secreting the birds or differ- 
entiating myself from them were useless. 
Nearer came the carriage, and alas! in it was my good 
hotel friend, the president of the most active game protective 
association in Nebraska, and a practical worker himself in 
the good cause. My heart sank. Here was I caught 
flagrante ddictu, not only a violator of the law, but a de- 
ceiver of my friend besides. I, an impostor — was 1 the man 
who was fit to listen to one so good? 
Evidently he expected that I would resist arrest, for he 
had a big, brawny driver— probably a sheriff— by his side, 
whose face had a desperate, truculent look, and from be- 
neath the light summer lap robe protruded 2 or 3in. of the 
muzzle of a shotgun, the barrels of which were grasped by 
the hands of my friend. Any tenderfoot could see on the 
instant that resistance was useless. The driver pulled up the 
horses a few yards away. 
"I see that you have killed some," said my friend who had 
been. 
I did not deny the soft impeachment. In fact I said I had 
killed some. 
"How many have you got?" said he. I thought that he 
wanted to figure up, at |35 per bird, how much I would be 
indebted to the Commonwealth when the judge O.K.'d the 
matter; but it was better to appear cheerful' and frank, so I 
told him the number I had in my possession. 
"That's pretty good!" and he looked interested. Raising 
the lap robe he gave a click with his tongue, and a work- 
manlike setter sprang out. 
' Here," said he to me, "jump inhere, and we will go and 
find a new covey." We went. We understood each other 
better then. I understood him to be a two-in-one sportsman ; 
he had understood me from the beginning, which I attributed 
to his greater knowledge of game protectors, and the min- 
utite of game protection. ' Repormer, 
T/ie Forest and Stream is put to press each weeleon 2uesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
atett by Monday, and a$ much earlier as practicable. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
The Sooners. 
Chicago, 111., Aug. 7. — At Winnebago City, Minn., there 
is, this year, an unusually good crop of prairie chickens, 
but also a very strong disposition on the part of local 
shooters to go out and harvest the crop before it is ripe. 
On this account Deputy Warden Bird is on the ground, 
and has served notice that he will proseeute all sooners to 
the limit. 
At Creighton, Neb., a protective organizatien has taken 
into its hands the prosecution of the sooners, who, in the 
past, have been in the habit of killing prairie chickens be- 
fore they are half grown. Birds in that vicinity are re- 
ported fairly numerous, and there should be shooting, 
provided the wasteful ways of the past can be stopped. 
At Aberdeen, South Dakota, the sooners are out in force 
this summer, and the local press, in commenting on this 
fact, says openly that the only way to get any game there 
is to go out and break the law with the rest. 
The sooners are already killing prairie chickens in 
Illinois, near Denrock and near Sterling. In Lee county 
of this State we have what is probably the best prairie 
chicken county left in Illinois, but the sport there has 
been regularly ruined by sooners, who shoot a month or 
more ahead of the season. At Harmon, the Lee County 
Gun Club has been organized, for the purpose of stopping 
this illegal shooting, and I presume that there will be 
more pressure brought to bear in favoj: of the law this 
month than ever has been before. 
The Markets. 
Last year there were shipped from Duluth, Minn., to 
Eastern markets over 100,000 partridges or ruffed grouse. 
This does not cover prairie chickens. 
In the Times- Undon, Jacksonville, Fla., I observe the fol- 
lowing paragraph: "The rookeries of the plumed birds in 
Elorida are nearly deserted. The birds have been dis- 
turbed so often that they have left the old breeding places. 
Many species are nearly extinct, even the white egret is 
becoming scarce." 
Acclimatization. 
The Ohio Fish and Game Commission will this month, 
and early in September, begin the distribution of about 
2,500 Mongolian pheasants. .Last fall 200 pairs of the 
birds were liberated in different parts of the State, and 
from these wild birds the most flattering reports are re- 
ceived. It is thought that the wild increase now numbers 
over 2,000. It would appear that Ohio is to repeat the 
record of Oregon. 
In Oregon, by the way, the work of acclimatization was 
not confined to Mongolian pheasants. In 1892 large num- 
bers of European song birds were introduced into the 
Willamette Valley. These birds have multiplied so that 
the country now overflows with them. 
Must Leave their Trophies, 
The Attorney-General of Michigan holds that a mounted 
deer head cannot legally be shipped out of the State of 
Michigan. A mounted deer head from Mackinaw was 
seized at Grand Rapids en route out of the State, and the 
deputy warden received the above advice in regard to its 
disposal. 
A Farmers' League. 
Farmers in the townships of Stow and Northampton, 
near Akron, Ohio, have for a long time been troubled bj'^ the 
trespassing of careless and unprincipled tan shooters, who 
trample over their lands, kill their stock, and otherwise 
comport themselves in an ungentlemanly and unsportsman- 
like manner. As a result of this, action was recently taken 
and an organization formed, with a view to stopping the 
hunting on the lands of the members, except in cases of 
hunting with proper permission. The farmers will swear in 
enough deputies to enforce their claims, and the present 
quail crop, which is reported to be a very good one, will 
have the protection of the men who have most to do with 
its rearing and feeding. Such a movement can receive no 
criticism from any sportsman, for the American farmer has 
never been known to take any such action until driven to it 
by men who were not sportsmen in any right sense of the 
word. Those who take everything as a matter of course, 
and consider the landowner and his land as there for their 
convenience, are not considerate enough to qualify under 
the title of sportsman. 
For the Birds. 
Audubon work has this season been taken up in 
Milwaukee, Wis., in a very earnest and efficient way, which 
has attracted some attention from the State press. Several 
Wisconsin towns have had local secretaries appointed, to 
act as agents of the newly-created Audubon society of Mil- 
waukee, and it would seem that some actual results will be 
produced in the future. Mrs. W. H. Upham is secretary for 
Marshfield, Mrs. Edgar P. Sawyer for Oshkosh, and Mrs. 
Arthur Knilans for Sheboygan. The society is making war 
especially on the wearing of aigrettes, and has just sent out 
a leaflet on the subject of the cruelty practiced by market 
hunters. Mrs. S. S, Merrill, chairman of the executive 
committee, has, this week, sent the following circular to the 
prominent Milwaukee milliners : 
"Two months ago, an Audubon society for the protection 
of birds was formed in Milwaukee. One of the objects of 
this society is to oppose the fashion of wearing any feathers 
except ostrich plumes, quills, and cocks' tails as a trimming 
for hats. Although it has been in existence so short a time 
it has already a large number of members, each being 
pledged to carry out its principles. That this membership 
IS drawn from the thinking class of the community is indi- 
cated by the names of the officers, printed with the accom- 
panying circular. 
"The directois of the society beg that when ordering 
milUnery supplies, yoif^will consider the trend of public 
opinion on this subject, and they hope that you will co- 
operate with them by discouraging, whenever it is within 
your power, the purchase of wild birds' feathers. 
"A reception will be given in the autumn, to whicih the 
leading milliners of the city will be invited to send hats and 
bonnets trimmed without the use of aigrettes, wings or 
breasts of birds. " 
Mr, J. Newton Baskett, an ornithologist of Mexico, Mo., is 
putting on foot a movement looking to the establishment of 
a "bird day" in the schools of Missouri, thus furthering 
popular education in bird protective.matters. 
Western Protective Work. 
At Spokane, Wash., warden Downey is now afield in 
pursuit of sooners, who are killing cbickra grouse before 
their feathers are dry. 
At Meadow Grove, Neb., an organization embracing 
several counties has been formed, with the purpose of stop- 
ping illegal shooting of grouse and quail. A corps of agents 
will be put on watch at the beginning of August, at which 
time the chicken thief is most abroad. 
At Dillon, Mont., Mr. Phil Lovell last fall turned out a 
good number of the Bob White quail, and this summer 
parties have been found shooting these new birds, which 
were introduced with the view of ultimately improving the 
sporting resources of the country. Mr. Lovell makes re- 
quest that all shooters respect the wishes of himself and 
friends for a time, and let these birds have a chance to 
establish themselves and multiply a little before they are 
pursued with dog and gun. 
New Clubs. 
The Springfield Outing club of Springfield, 111., has been 
organized, with purposes of "maintaining a hunting and 
shooting ground, and to protect game and fish." The incor- 
porators are Frank D. Hudson, James Morris, Peter Lofy, 
Charles E, Wright, Wilham Broeker, C. H. Pasch, S. G. 
Brecount and George W. Anderson. 
A club of citizens of Winfield, Iowa, has been organized 
for the purpose of hunting and fishing, with grounds of 
Hall's Lake, near Oakville. A good club house has been 
erected. 
Citizens of Norfolk, Neb., have taken great interest in the 
enforcement of the new fish and game law, and have 
organized an association for the purpose of prosecuting any 
person detected in violating the law. 
Buffalo Jones In the Far North. 
From Edmonton, under date of July 29, comes the fol- 
lowing dispatch to the Winnipeg Free Press in regard to 
the redoubtable Buffalo Jones, whose visit to the Arctic 
country has been previously referred to fix these columns: 
"Word has just been received from the north that Buf- 
falo Jones, of Oklahoma, who is on his way into the Barren 
Grounds after musk ox, was rescued from a rock in the 
middle of Grand Rapids, on the Athabasca, bysomenorth- 
ern boatmen, who threw him a tow line and hauled him 
to the shore. He managed to shoot the Pelican Rapids, 
but the Grand were too much for him." E. Hough, 
1206 BoYOE Bdilding, Chicago. 
LOOKING UP FOR A MOOSE. 
A OENTLEMAN wishing to locate a good place where he 
would be sure to get a big moose this fall, instructed me to 
proceed to the woods and see what the prospects were. 
Taking another man, with a horse and buckboard wagon, 
we struck into the forest over an old lumber road, meeting 
trees across the road which were cut through, bridges 
washed away by the spring freshet, and mud holes skidded; 
so that quite a little work had to be done to enable us to 
make twelve miles that day. That night we pitched our 
tent near a stream, where there was plenty of grass for 
our horses and trout for our supper and breakfast. We 
slept the sleep of tired men, awaking at daylight refreshed 
and were soon under way again, over roots and stumps for 
three hours, when we reached the stream which we intended 
cruising. Leaving the road we drove into the brook, making 
it our highway, and a good one it was. There was not much 
water, the bottom and sides were of a fine gravel, and the 
wagon rolled easily along. This was the pleasantest part of 
our trip; we could sit right in the wagon and catch all the 
irout we wanted. But even here lots of trees had fallen 
across. Cut out, go around, cut out and go under, or skid 
up and over, was the order of the day. After sixteen miles 
of this we called a halt, where plenty of grass grew for our 
horse, pitched our tent and set out exploring in different 
directions. There was not much need to go far, for the 
moose and caribou tracks were plenty everywhere. In 
several places the cow moose had passed with her two calves, 
a very good sign that the bull moose would come here visiting 
later on. In some places there were beaten paths, with all 
vegetation trodden out by the feet of these animals just the 
same as a cowpath in the pasture. Other spots we saw 
where the fir trees had been stripped ot their bark, torn off 
by bears, while the marks of their teeth could be plainly seen 
in the tree, so eager were they ro get the first food since den- 
ning last fall. Take it all together, it looks as though the 
sportsman, for whom we went, will have here a very fine 
hunting ground. 
There are a few more good places not yet taken, which 
will yield plenty of game if properly hunted, 
This region (I am sorry for the hunter), in regard to game, 
will soon be a thing of the past, as next year a raikoad will 
be built, cutting this grand old forest of untold generations 
right through the center. Of course for a year or two it 
will be handy to get there, but that spoils it, as the game 
that now breeds in fancied security, will then be either killed 
or driven far back by the too frequent-incursions of men. 
S. J. RAYMOND. 
Edmonston, N. B., Aug. 3, 
Nugsrets and Tiggs, 
Cincinnati. — Editor Forest and Stream: Now that the 
gold seekers are invading Alaska in constantly swelling 
numbers, and as food is an important essential to them in 
their wanderings in that land of heat and cold, where the 
summer time is all dayhght and the night is all nightdark, 
do you not think you could add much to their comfort, their 
needs, their chances of success, by telling them of the abun- 
dance of duck eggs which are there, and which can be 
secured in countless millions? Up to the present time it 
seems that they have not discovered the duck egg which 
forms the shibboleth of the egg protective specialists. But 
this shows how dull they are. If the association could dis- 
cover the destruction of eggs at a distance of several thou- 
sand miles, the gold seekers should discover the eggs there on 
the ground, if any are left. As it costs something to get a 
pound of provisions into the duck country, it probably would 
cost something to get a dozen of eggs to the seaboard, to say 
nothing of the risks to such brittle ware in portages, running 
rapids and carnage over mountains — or the association could 
serve notice on the miners to keep away from the eggs, or— 
it should do something or other, even if it were only to pass 
a resolution that Congress should do the work. 
WiLLiAJi Henry Athekton. 
