I 
324 
open at the moment of oviposition, and .the young are thus 
bora alive, and not hatched from eggs. 
I once had a large, common garter snake {Thmnnoplds sir- 
talis) in captivity, which in one night gave birth to twenty- 
seven active little baby snakes about li'in. in length, colored 
and marked like their mother, only more brilliant. Another 
smaller indiviilua] produced thirteen snakelets at a birth. A 
water snake {Natrix sipedon) gave birth to thirtv five young 
in one night, and a striped watersnake (iV. leberis) became the 
happy mother of nine infant snakps. 
The young of the blacksnake (Bascanion constrictor) hog- 
nosed snake, or spreading adder {Refer odon), and the king- 
snake and (^o-calJed) milksnake (OpMbolvs), are hatched 
from eggs. The eggs are laid in the ground or sand , or 
under heaps of dead and rotting leaves; and it requires days 
or weeks for them to hatch. The little snakes cut through 
the tough eggshell by means of an egg-tooth, which is after- 
ward shed and lost. 
As to snakes swallowing their younc for protection, I have 
strong doubts. My late friend. Prof. Ed D. Cope, the keen- 
est herpetologist of America, laughed at the idea, and said 
to me: "If the young snakes were swallowed by their 
mother they would be well protected, but would never see 
daylight again!" C. Fbw Seiss. 
Philadhlphia, Pa. 
Georsria Bird Protection. 
Edit&r Forest and Stream: 
In classifying and oniimerating his list of birds of Georgia 
on legal protection, N. F. Willet, with thehelpof his ornith- 
ological friend. Dr. Truitland Cleckley, has listed the catbird, 
shrikes, fly-catchers, cppcially mentioning the kingbird, sap- 
suckers, owls and hawks as detrimental to the public good , and 
further states they should not be included in protective laws. 
Such birds as the catbird, shrikes, liy-catchers, sap-suckers, 
and some owls and hawko, should occupy their full share of 
protection in his list of birds, which he says should be pro- 
tected through all the months of the year. 
Through the careful examinations of our leading ornithol- 
ogists, it has been demonstrated that the said birds are bene- 
ficial in relation to agriculture, and do more good than harm. 
The public good owe equal share in the proteclion of these, 
as well as other birds listed useful. 
He states: "I should like to put in a good word in this 
list for the catbird, for his quiet, subdued songs are verv 
sweet; but he is under the ban in more ways than one." 
Would not the words, "he oufi;ht to be under legal protec- 
tion in more ways than one," sound more congenial and 
more to the credit of the catbird, for his credit we can 
hardly repay in the good he has honestly done and is doing. 
He also says: "No one expects that a law could put a total 
stop to the kOling of insectivorous birds." Would not some 
protective law do good in time, and could not the enthusias- 
tic ornitholocists of Gporgia co-operate in forming a society, 
such as the Audubon Society, to work in harmony with the 
protective law, in the distribution of circulars and making 
appeals to them who know not the story of the birds. 
Patience and good work with such would be rewarded in 
noticing the increasing number of insect birds, together with 
the decreasing number of noxious insects, as well as the total 
stop in the killing of insectivorous birds, while crops would 
yield much. Bibd Student. 
Squirrel Migration. 
Charlottesyille, Va., Oct. 7. — This item in regard to 
squirrels migrating was clipped from a late paper published 
at New Bloomtield, Perry county. Pa., in southern Pennsyl- 
vania, and I thought it might be of £ome interest to your 
readers : 
"Evidently the squirrels are miarating in large numbers. 
Where did thty come from? They were scarce in this 
region last fall. Now they are seen almost any hour of the 
day along the public highways in many parts of this county. 
The nut and acorn crop is not plentiful, but they find the com 
abundant, and aie availing themselves of this means of sub- 
sistence. They are frequently found in the fiela, on the 
tences, about the barns and dweilirgs of our farmers, and 
seem to have lost much of their natural shyness. It is said 
that many have been drowned in attempting to swim the 
Susquehanna. Where are they going to? How do they 
know that food is plentier in other and distant woods? How 
are they mobilized, scattered as they were a few weeks ago? 
These are questions of interest to students of natural history." 
J. H. F. 
\^nie md 0m 
The "Briers" Pictures. 
There are twenty-nine illustrations in the current edition of Game 
Laws in Brief, most of them full-page half-tones, and all admirably 
printed. The book is a beauty, and well worth having for the illus- 
trations which, Mr. Charles Hallock says, so well represent America's 
wildersess sports. The Brief gives all the laws of the United States 
and Canada for the practical guidance of anglers and shooters. As 
an authority, it has a long record of unassailed and uuassailable ac- 
curacy. Forest and Stream Pub. Co. sends it postpaid for S5 cents, 
or your dealer will supply you. 
NEBRASKA GAME INTERESTS. 
Wymorb, Neb , Oct. 12 —Bditm- Forest and Stream: I 
have made a casual examination of the Nebraska game law 
passed by our Legislature last winter, and am of the opinion 
that Senator Gondring, who introduced the bill, was im- 
posed upon by some one. The senator is a first-class lawyer 
and an honorable gentleman, but not a sportsman. The law 
has some of the ear marks of the market hunter. But if I 
am wrong in my first proposition I have no doubt that the 
law will be a dead letter, as all former laws on this subject 
have been, for the following reasons: 
Take the subject of geese and ducks. The killing of 
geese and ducks is prohibited between the J at day of May 
and the Ist day of September in each year. But the geese 
and ducks are not here between those dates, they come 
North early in March and do not come back until the middle 
of October. They have all passed on to the North before the 
1st of May, and do not return until after the Ist day of Sep- 
tember; so that this law is no protection to the ducks and 
geese while they are in Nebraska. I would suggest that we 
want a law that will prohibit the shooting of ducks and 
gpese between the Ist day of January and the Ist day of 
October in each year. This would protect them in the 
spring, when they ougiit to be protected, and allow tJiem to 
be killed in the fall wlien they are good for foodv 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
There is another provision in regard to blinds, that pro- 
vides, "And it shall also be unlawful for any person at any 
time of year to dig, build or construct any blind, hiding 
place or structure in the bed of any river, stream or lake 
with intent," etc. This is mere clap-trap. No person ever 
builds a blind in the bed of a river. They build them on 
sandbars and along the shore; and in a prosecution for a vio- 
lation of this section the strict rules of the criminal pro- 
cedure apply, and no person could be convicted under this 
section for digging a blind on a sandbar. 
The chicken and quail law amounts to nothing. It pro- 
vides a fine of $5 for each bird killed, but provides no ade- 
quate or systematic way of enforcing it. It is true that it 
makes it the duty of county attorneys, sheriffs, deputies and 
constables to enforce the law, but these are all elective 
officers. Any of these officers will serve a warrant, but they 
will not file complaints. 
I would suggest that the only way that a game law can 
be enforced is to have a game warden for each county; and 
he must be appointed to the position. 
Suppose we had this officer in each county and the law 
authorized him to have cards printed, and to furnish them 
to all the farmers, to post up on their farms, showing when 
the law did not permit the killing of game, and forbidding 
tbe killing of game on that farm. You have accomplished 
something; you have put the farmer in possession of a 
knowledge of the law; you have made him your ally; he 
wants to keep hunters off hia farm. The farmer as a class 
are law abiding and will help to enforce any good law. 
They would report any violation to the warden. The war- 
den could then hunt up tbe evidence and prosecute the case, 
or the law might authorize the farmer to make arrests, and 
hunters would begin to have a little respect for him. He 
would not be "an old gray" in the eyes of the average pot- 
hunter, as he is now, but an officer of the law, and then the 
sportsman, when the open seasou came, could go out to the 
farmer and get bis permission to hunt on his farm, and thus 
get his share of the game. Now it is all killed before the 
sportsman can g^ out. i. e., before the open season. 
The killing of prairie chickens began here on Sunday, the 
11th day of July, this year. One hunter on that day found 
six coveys, and out of the largest of them killed six half- 
grown chickens. And the result was, that when the seasou 
opened on Sept. 1 there were no chickens left for the law- 
abiding sportsman to shoot. 
The new law shortens the open season on ((uail to two 
months, viz , November and December; but no attention is 
paid to it, and it is in the months of January, February and 
March that the quail are killed. During the first half of the 
winter the cover is so high and dense that it protects the quail 
much better than the law. And the birds are generally 
found nearer the farmer's house, around the orchard and 
hedges, and he protects them. I believe we will never have 
adequate game protection in Nebraska until we post up the 
farmers and put them in position to enforce the law. And 
they, acting under the direction of an intelligent game war- 
den, can do it. 
Another bad feature of the new law is that it provides 
that "the corporate authorities of any county, city or village, 
within whose territorial jurisdiction such fine was recov- 
ered, and (when) collected shall pay to the complaining wit- 
ness in such prosecution, out of the general fund of such 
county receiving such fine an amount equal to one-half of 
the fine actually collected," etc. Here we have that obnox- 
ious feature of paid informers, which makes it almost im- 
possible to convict for any violation of the law, and I believe 
that our courts would hold this section to be against public 
policy, unconstitutional and void. Besides, it gives city and 
village authorities the power to pay money out of the general 
fund of the county, which is certainly beyond the power of 
any Legislature. A. D. McCamdless. 
SPORTSMANSHIP MADE EASY. 
Or the Cut and Dried of Good Manners Afield 
and Afloat. 
Editor Foi'est and Stream: 
In essaying a code of ethics for .sportsmen, a free degree of 
candor is essential, independent of mincings, literary sim- 
pers, ornate aphorisms and wholesale laudations, to the end 
that I may have due credit conceded for my knowledge and 
philantrophy on tbe one hand, and on the other, that those 
who may be the beneficiaries will thereby have a code of 
ethics set before them in plain and simple directness, so that 
they may learn it as well as they may be able. I feel equal 
to the task, else I had never attempted it, though it is fittmg, 
according to custom, to invite attention to one's own super- 
lative modesty and coy unfitness for a literary venture, be 
the same great or small ; but such remarks are never to be 
taken too seriously ; if they are, they prove nothing against 
the author, though they do argue grave dullness in the 
reader. The fact that an author makes the plunge is proof 
of his own estimate of himself. 
The sage rules which I unfold, amplifying and elucidating 
the etiquette of sportsmanship, are not addressed to the 
gentle reader; on the contrary, they are for the other fellow, 
whom we all so well know. We — you and I — have had our 
eye on him these many years. We have many times met 
him. We fully appreciate his crudeness and his selfishness, 
and we have a full knowledge of his methods. We will 
welcome any hints which will set him right as to his own 
deportment and consideration of the pleasure of others. 
Our fervid interest in his improvement has a live cause, 
since he has many times obstructed or spoiled our sport, dis- 
turbed our peace of mind, marred our temper or lessened 
our substance. What fellow more needs a strict code of eti- 
quette than that dreadful other fellow? Nor need that' 
other fellow take to himself any offense because this benefi- 
cent code is constructed for him. He should be glad that 
his misdoings are set before his nose, for anything which is 
offensive to the majority must necessarily evoke a law to 
restiict or abate it sooner or lat'^r. Moreover, in the mean- 
time, tbe ofl'ender who has flaws in his etiquette will suffer 
more or less loss from them, though he may not be conscious 
of it The sooner he corrects his ill traits, the sooner will 
his life's sphere widen, both in its material aspect and in the 
esteem bestowed on him by his friends, so that an erstwhile 
hog may evolve into a passable companion. Or the lack of 
consideration for others may be from inexperience. 
When the subject has not been studied, or there is not the 
common sense to govern it, rules are very good substitutes 
within certain limits. Common sense being missing, a code 
of rules affords an intellectual trolley for the guidance of 
those through life whose common sense is absent, at the 
same time giving them the appearance of an intelligent ex- 
terior, if they but have the judgment to folJosV the code 
Oct. 23. 1897. 
prepared for them. It is but a summation of compromises 
which are essential when one associates with his fellows. • 
Still, on the boundary line of what is mine and what is 
the other fellow's, there are innumerable opportunities for 
much marauding, for therein is a broad zone, an ethical no- 
man's-land, in which much is left to personal tact and sense 
of equity, since no rules can be framed to govern all circum- 
stances and the peculiarities of the parties directly con- 
cerned. Much, then, depends on the nature of the occasion 
and the discretion which comes from a personal knowledge 
of the situation. Nevertheless, as the other fellow deals 
with the circumstances well or ill, so is his br eding or his 
nature determined. And yet we — who are not the other 
fellow — should be charitable and not censure him too 
severely for his shortcomings. Few of us gained our knowl^ 
edge by intuition. Much of our knowledge came from^ the 
accident of opportunity. Much that we have yet to gain is 
absent because the opportunity to acquire it Iras not yet pre- 
sented itself. Let us be charitable when it is so inexpensive. 
General Principles. 
As a general and permanent principle which is constant, 
the groundwork of the whole code is to look out for number 
one. Such is the colloquial manner of expressing a simple 
truth, which, when treated by the ethical scientist, is likely 
to be lost sight of in a fog of words. The code is in a niao- 
ner a lubricant. In general it teaches us how to present ah 
innocent and engaging front while our purposes are con- 
cealed, and yet progress well in the details. 
Host and Guest. 
As a general rule, a man becomes a guf^st because of the 
bond of iriendship existing between inv'tor and invitee. 
However, there are other ways of securing an invitation. 
Invitations may be divided into thne classes: The first 
comes voluntarily from the host; the second comes from a 
crafty manipulation of favoring circumstances by thewould- 
b3 guest; I he third is where cme invites one's self. 
Whetter the invitation came unsought, or tbrough engi- 
neering, or by force of arms, one should never for a moment 
forge - that the host has no use for his home other than the 
pleasure and convenience of his finest; therefore, when the 
guest, receives an invitation to come and stay and shoot, let 
him bring four or eight dogs; let them have the run of ttie 
house and jump in the t;eds with their muddy feet, and 
steam before the fire as they dry their wet coats, and let 
them fill the carpets with burrs, and let them steal into the 
pantry and kitchen to pilfer; also, it is no trouble for the 
servants to walk around them at every turn; and if the guest 
sees a single sign of annoyance, let him laugh in a far away 
manner and say, "Love me, Jove my dog " That jargon is 
supposed to cure all of good-fellowship ills and to put to 
shame any one who might dislike one's dogs, though it is 
possible that many times, if the truth were told when both 
dogs and man were a nuisance, the sufferer from their annoy- 
ances does not love either. 
One should take special care, when he is a guest enjoying 
the privileges of shooting, that he under no circumstances 
takes any dog biscuits along for his dogs or any food at all. 
He should leave that requisite entirely for the host to provide. 
It shows a still more touching confidence if the guest arrives 
without any ammunition. Let him leave guns and gua im- 
plements scattered about the house as best suits his con- 
venience. Give the miss- fires to the children to play with. 
Kick the home dog if he gets in the way or shows too much 
assurance, though it is best performed when the host or the 
children are out of sight. 
Etiquette of the Field. 
In now advising on etiquette, I recommend that the sports- 
man blow and boast of the superior excellence of his dog. 
No matter how important other matters may be, always let 
the excellence of his dog be the dominant topic. Keep up 
the theme of tbe dog's excellence about ninety days and then 
when he can talk no more, let him write a few dozen letters 
on the same topic. If he is a sensible man he will talk on 
any other subject with a great deal of tact; at least when the 
subject is threshed out he will dismiss it, take up a new one; 
that is, any subject but his dog. On that he is. an uncom- 
promising and interminable bore. Sometimes his affection 
for his dog is genuine; there are times when his affection 
gleams out of one corner of his eye while a hungry look for 
dollars gleams from the other. 
Game Preservation. 
The sportsman sometimes seems to think that the true 
solution of game preservation is his own personal opinions 
on the matter, and that the whole situation was created to 
fit such opinions. Often when at home surrounded by his 
friends he is an ardent game protector, and theoretically a 
scourge of all law-breakers — alone in the woods with a gun 
in his hand he is another fellow. By some fatuity, how- 
ever, bis ideas of game protectjon are such that if they were 
enforced he would get the most out of them and others 
the least. He preaches moderation when he promulgates 
his doctrine in the close season ; when in the woods or fields 
for game the amount that he kills is measured only by his 
skill and opportunities. Still there are a noble few who are 
sincere and unselfish in their efforts to protect the game. 
Hence there are two classes, those who wish to preserve the 
game in the interest of all concerned, and those who wish to 
preserve it wilh a view to their own personal profit. There 
are those who believe that spring shooting is wrong, in words, 
shockingly wrong, yet in deed they will go forth in the spring- 
time and shoot just the same as do the ones who do not think 
it wrong to do so; the former preaches as he doesn't practice, 
the latter practice and don't preach, ^o that in the summing 
up both do exactly alike. The fellow who shoots in the 
spring because he thinks it right to do so can never be con- 
vinced of his error by the others who in practice do as he 
does, and whose ideas of what is right are expressed in a 
frazzle of words which, though seeming to have a meaning, 
have none in fact. 
Nothing is cheaper to maintain than a high moral princi- 
ple, which one strenuously maintains with words while de- 
manding that others furnish the necessary deeds. One main- 
tains that it is wrong to shoot in the springtime, and yet he 
goes forth on occasion and shoots in the springtime. 1 have 
been told that the proper way to maintain right is for one to 
do light, so that he will ! e an exemplar in himself, give vi- 
tality to the cause which he espouses, and put courage in the 
hearts of those who need moral support to remain steadfast 
to it. In time, enough would rally around the banner of right 
to make a power which would make the right prevail. 
"But," says the prc-con spring-shooter (against spring 
shooting in theory, and for it in practice), "if I do not shoo 
in the spring I will not get my share." You are right, Mr . 
