166 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 26, 1898. 
The old organization known as the Cumberland Gun 
Club was recentljr merged into a new one known as 
the Cumberland Lodge Club, with thirty members, the 
membership being full at this date. This club takes 
over the property of the Cumberland Gun Club. Treas- 
urer Heniy Stephens tells me that the item in regard to 
the unpaid taxes of this club arose from the fact that 
the taxes for 1896, running under the name of the Cum- 
berland Gun Club, were unpaid until recently. The 
grounds near Lowell, Ind., will be maintained as the 
home of this representative shooting club. 
Prof. Frank Russel, a graduate of the State University 
of Iowa, 1892, has lately been elected Professor of the 
Department of American Archseology and Ethnology, 
recently established in Harvard College. It was Prof. 
Russel who, after his graduation, made the trip for the 
Iowa University to the Barren Grounds of the far 
North in search of specimens of the musk ox. He made 
this trip with no blare of trumpets either before or after 
its accomplishment, yet his was the most successful en- 
terprise of the kind ever attempted. He was gone 
nearly two years in all, and secured a number of perfect 
specimens of the musk ox, with much other material 
for the museum of his universitj'. 
Mr. Ruthven Deane, of Chicago, reports for the 
committee on bird protection to the .\mcrican Orni- 
thologists' Union that he finds in January of 1898 a 
distinct advance in the work of the Audubon Society. 
He finds that about 75 per cent, of the hats worn are 
trimmed with feathers, but only 25 per cent, of these 
are the feathers of wild birds. The feathers of domestic 
fowls are made up and dyed in imitation of those of wild 
birds. This, however, does not prevent the insatiate de- 
rnanid for the plumage of the egret, for Mr. Deane 
learns that one wholesale millinerj^ house in Chicago 
last fall sold $S,ooo worth of egret plumes. The heron 
roosts on the Kankakee River have not been troitbled 
much this year, and the birds are increasing. 
This Looks Familiar. 
CiiicAGO, Feb. 14.— A friend sends me a clipping from 
■the Los Angeles Daily Times of Feb. i, this being an ar- 
ticle on the small game of California, written by Count 
Jaro von Schmidt. The latter goes on to recount the 
different kinds of game found in that State, and speaks 
of the causes which have led to the decrease in the sup- 
ply. He then goes on to say: 
"Now a new danger threatens, which is more serious 
yet. It is the wholesale gathering of eggs in Alaska 
and on the northern coast by the natives, who find will- 
ing purchasers at the many mining camps and fish-can- 
ning factories. The eggs of geese and ducks are gathered 
whether they are fresh or incubated (and, therefore, unfit 
for human food) and sold by the cartload. 
"If this vandalism is not stopped by our Legislature, 
our coast will be soon stripped of their visitors from 
the North, who add so much pleasure to our sportsmen 
and to our table every fall and winter. The present game 
laws of California are now fairly good, and it is hope4 
win be enforced more and more, as the citizens of the 
United States see more plainly the absolute necessity of 
..protection." 
Rabbits. 
At a jack rabbit hunt held at Garden City, Kan., last 
week, 1,205 rabbits were killed in one day, an average of 
thirty to each gun. 
At Perry, Mo., 1,800 rabbits, cottontails, were killed 
in one day in a side-hunt in which thirty men were en- 
gaged. The losing side, captained by R. M. Judy, paid 
for the oyster supper last Tuesday night. 
In one day this month 80,000 rabbits were received in 
the St. Louis markets. 
• The tempest in Ohio over the rabbit law seems to re- 
solve itself into the clamor of some individuals to want 
to shoot rabbits all the time. The claim that the rabbits 
would eat up all the farm produce is more imaginary 
than well founded. Mr. Volney Rogers, of Youngs- 
town, has this to say about the rabbit law: 
"I think our game laws should be enforced, and that 
the law as to rabbits should remain as it is. Farmers are 
authorized to destroy them now if found doing damage 
on their own premises, and if all protection is re- 
moved it will simply result in poachers hunting 
and killing all kinds of game at any season, under pre- 
tense of hunting for rabbits." 
Mr. D. J. Hotchkiss, of Fox Lake, Wis., writes me that 
they are having considerable sport rabbit hunting in that 
country just now, and that rabbits are very abundant. 
He speaks also of the killing of two fine specimens of 
the Arctic owl. 
Is this the Fantail ? 
In the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Wash- 
ington, dated Jan. 27, 1898, Mr. Edgar A. Mearns de- 
scribes what he claims to be a distinct species of deer, 
stating that the typical animal from which he made his 
studies, as well as other specimens, will soon be placed 
in the United States National Museum at Washington, 
D. C. Mr, Mearns, in his report on this species, says: 
"The small white-tailed deer of Texas dif?ers so ma- 
terially in size, proportions, coloration and cranial char- 
acters from the other members of the Dorcelaphus ameri- 
canus 'group as to necessitate its separation. (Scientific 
description given in full, of which the following is a 
part:) 
"The horns of the type approach those of the Sonoran 
deer, Dorcelaphus -eouesi (Coues and Yarrow), in size 
and form. There are two basal snags, one directed up- 
ward and backward (length 7Smm.), and one forward 
(length 37mm.), with four additional points to each 
horn, making twelve points in all. The length of the 
beam, measured to end of anterior point, following the 
curves of the horn, is 440mm. The horns are symmetri- 
cal, their longest points measuring 175mm. in height. 
The beam is strongly curved upward, forward and in- 
ward, the tips of the anterior tines approaching within 
70mm. of each other. The total expanse of the horns 
is 330mm. ; the circumference of beam, at base, 80mm. 
"Remarks. — Numerous skins of this deer from Texas 
and Mexico south to San Luis Potosi have been exam- 
ined and found to agree in size and coloration with those 
above described. The horns vary within ordinary limits, 
but those of the type represent the usual size and form. 
except that there is more often but one basal snag. The 
bucks weigh in the neighborhood of loolbs. and the does 
about 75lbs. 
"While the Texan deer differs sufficiently from the 
white-tailed deer of southern Mexico and Central Amer- 
ica, as well as from the forms recognized in the United 
States, to warrant its separation, the available material 
is insufficient to furnish a reliable indication as to its 
intergradation with them. Therefore, for the present, it 
is proper to regard it as a species." 
Mr. Mearns goes on to compare this new deer from 
Texas and northern Mexico with the white-tailed deer 
of Virginia and Cai'olina, with which he conceives 
it cannot agree, more especially in its relatively heavier 
dentition. Neither does he find it coinciding with the 
Florida deer (Dorcelaphus osceola). Nor can he observe 
it to agree with Dorcelaphus macrourus (Rafinesque), "a 
large pallid form of the northern plains region, character- 
ized by restriction of the dark and corresponding expan- 
sion of the light areas. It has widely branching, often 
scraggy horns, very different fjom those of D. texanus." 
He goes on to say: 
"The only remaining deer of the United States re- 
quiring comparison with the small Texan species is the 
Sonoran deer, Dorcelaplms couesi (Coues and Yarrow), a 
still smaller and more pallid animal, having much larger 
ears, on which the black edging and tips were wanting. 
The dentition of D. texanus is much heavier and the tail 
considerably shorter than in D. couesi. 
"The only Mexican deer with which the present form 
requires comparison is the animal that has been known 
bv the specific name mexicanus. This name was first ap- 
plied by Gmelin. According to Dr. J. A. Allen, 'the 
Cervus 'mexicanus of Gmelin, however, is a vague com- 
posite species, otily in part referable to deer from Mexico, 
and in all probability has no relation to the little Sonoran 
deer described by Baird.' The name mexicanus may, 
however, be regarded as fixed to a deer of southern 
Mexico, very different from the Texan deer." 
The type taken by Mr. Mearns Avas collected in Kin- 
ney county, Texas, near Fort Clark. I regret to note 
that the tail is mentioned as shorter than that of another 
deer, but it may still be long enough to allow it to fill 
the description of the animal we used to call the "fantail 
deer," over which so much discussion has arisen at one 
time and anotlier. Those who -scoffed at the fantail idea 
said that they knew thi§ little'Texas deer, and that it was 
the same species as the white-tailed deer {virginianns) . 
Since Mr. Mearns has now, in the fullness of time, come 
forward with the contention and the scientific proof that 
one small TTexas deer is a species distinct from the ordi- 
nary white-tail deer, what ground is there left for the 
scoffers to stand upon who once declared the "fantail" 
species impossible? If D. texanus (Mearns) is a 
distinct species, it either is or is not the fantail deer. If 
it is the fantail, we old-fashioned hunters are vindicated 
on the spot. If it is not the fantail, we are vindicated 
anyhow, for the point is established that virginianus (or 
americanus) does not cover all the deer with white tails 
in Texas, and to grant a part of the contention is to 
grant it all. No scientific man would accept the hunter's 
name of "fantail," but it is very possible that if a hunter 
brought the scientific man a fantail he might call it 
Dorcelaphus texanus, "a new deer." Really it would not 
be a new deer at all, but an old deer, about which the 
hunters knew and talked long ago. The scientific name 
of the animal would not interest the hunter, but he would 
know the species by his own keen and trusty eye and 
under his own name, the latter far more permanent than 
the scientific nomenclature, which, meant to be indelible 
and permanent, is really the most changeable thing in 
the world (as witness the secession from the time-hon- 
ored Cervus virginianus to Cervus dama americana, which 
is now claimed to antedate the former by seven years !)_ 
Really, it would seem that everything in the world will 
come to you if you only sit down and wait. For many 
years I stood with the hunters against the scientists, who 
said we had but two species of bears in America, the 
black and the grizzly. Along comes Dr. Merriam and 
hands out more species of new bears than you could 
shake a stick at. For the hunters and the fantail I also 
held out, and here is Mr. Mearns with a fresh package 
of fantails and a basketful of proof of what the hunters 
knew. Some of these people are going to feel mighty 
bad some day, when I come blowing in with a fresh 
hornsnake showing a spike in his tail about a foot long. 
I am indebted to Mr. Charles Hallock for the copy 
of the Proceedings of the Biological Society showing the 
discovery of the new species of small Texas deer. 
"Wisconsin Deer. 
It is stated that in Douglas county. Wis., this year 
nearly i.ooo deer were killed. Four years ago 2,300 
were killed there. In the past ten years, it is believed, 
fully 15,000 deer have been killed in that county alone. 
Old hunters say the deer are as abundant as ever there. 
E. Hough. 
1206 BoYCE Building, Chicago, 111. 
Michigfan Quail and Snow. 
ZiLWAUKEE, Mich., Feb. 15. — In your issue of Feb. 12 
I saw a letter of Mr. W. B. Mershon's, under the head- 
ing of "Winter and the Game," in which he says he 
fears that the snowstorms and extreme rough weather 
will kill the quail. Now, agreeing perfectly with Mr. 
Mershon as to the amount of snow we have had, but 
having the occasion to be over last fall's hunting grounds 
after the snowstorms, I found fully as many quail signs, 
and in fact saw as many birds, as at any time after the 
season closed. As to mink, they are scarce here, and 
we have nothing to fear from them; so, unless something 
unforeseen happens, we will have good shooting again 
next fall. H. L. B. 
Take inventory of the good things in this issue of 
Forest and Stream. Recall what a fund was given 
last week. Count on what is to come next week 
Was there ever in all the world a more abundant 
weekly store of sportsmen's reading? 
Game Laws of Long Ago. 
The general public is prone to think that laws for the 
protection of fish and game constitute an innovation 
upon the rights and privileges of the people; but there 
are many, a great many, thinking people who strongly 
approve the efforts which are being made to save thought- 
less people from the dire consequences of their own 
beliefs and acts. Game laws are not an invention of the 
present; they are, in fact, almost as old as our colonial 
history. The need of such protection was felt 200 years 
ago, when game was far more plentiful than it is now, 
when there was an honest disposition to preserve it from 
wanton waste, as there is now. Doubtless there were 
men in those days, as there are now, who cried out 
against game law legislation, men of such selfish dispo- 
sition that they cared for naught but to gratify their own 
greed in all walks of life. 
It is a somewhat curious fact that all along in the 
statute books, from the laws established in 1665 by the 
Duke of York for the government of the Colony of 
New York to the present time, there are protective laws 
for game and fish, and some of the earlier laws were even 
more strict than ,those in these days. The first edict 
issued by the Uuke of York related to the destruction 
of wolves as being one means of protecting game. It 
was somewhat odd in its character, sufficiently so, per- 
haps, to warrant its reproduction here: 
"If any Person, either Christian or Indian, shall at any 
time bring the head of a Wolfe or Wolves to any Con- 
stable upon Long Island, the said Constable is required 
to Call two of the Overseers to him and then and their 
to Pay and Satisfie such Person or Persons to the value 
of an Indian Coat; to be allowed out of the publique 
Charge in the Toune Rate Provided alwayes that the 
Constable and Overseers shall require the Oath of such 
Christians, that bring the head of a wolfe or wolves, 
that he killed the said wolfe or wolves, * * * 
that the Constable and Overseers have due regard to 
such wolfe or wolves brought by Indians, that they 
appear to be fresh. * * * The Constable and Over- 
seers are to cause the heads to be nayled over the doore 
of the Constable their to remain, as also to Cut off both 
the Eares in token that the head is bought and paid for." 
In 1683 (Nov. i) "the Govern'r Councill & Rep- 
r'sentatives in Gen'll Assembly met and assembled" en- 
acted a law in reference to wolves which declared "Thatt 
whattsoever Christian shall kill a grown wolf upon Long 
Island; hee shall be paid twenty shillings P. head, in 
the County where itt shall so happen (the same being 
proved as in ye Law is set forth), _& for a whelpe 
about a halfe a Yeare old, he shall be paid halfe as much." 
The act also made provision for a bounty to Indians and 
for the protection of other localities within the Colony 
of New York. 
The first legislation for the protection of game was 
passed for the Colony of New York in. 1705 (Aug. 4). 
It was then declared that: 
"Whosoever within the Countys of Suffolk, Queens 
County, Kings County, West Chester or Richmond, 
Christian or Indian, Freeman or Slave, after ye first day 
of January which will be in the year of our Lord seven- 
teen hundred & five shall kill or destroy any Buck 
Doe or Faun or any sort of Deer whatsoever, at any 
time of the Year except only between the first day of 
August & the first day of January, shall forfeit & 
pay the sum of Twenty Shillings lawtull money of New 
York, or in default thereof Suffer Imprisonment for ye 
time and Space of Twenty days without Baile or Main- 
prize, unless within that time he or they pay the for- 
feiture aforesaid. The one-half whereof shall be to him 
who shall prosecute & sue for ye same before any one 
of her Ma'tys Justices of the Peace where such offence 
shall be committed who is hereby Authorized Impow- 
er'd & required to hear & determine the same at 
his Discretion and the other half to the Poore of the 
respective County where any person or persons shall be 
of such offence Convicted. 
"And be it also Enacted by the Authority aforesaid 
That whatsoever Dog or Dogs shall be found hunting 
or Chaceing any Buck Deer or Faun or any Sort 
of Deer whatsoever between the said first day of 
January & the first day of August Yearly shall 
& may be and hereby are required to be shott and 
kill'd or otherwise destroy'd any Law to the Con- 
trary hereof notwithstanding, and the Severall Jus- 
tices of the Peace within the said Countys & every one 
of them are hereby required to Se this Act and every 
Clause therein put in Execution According to the true 
Intent and meaning thereof. 
"And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid 
that the keepers of the Goales for the Countys afore- 
said respectively having a Warrant from one of her 
Ma'tys Justices of the Peace for that County shall re- 
ceive Such Offender or Oft'enders into their respective 
Goals and him or them in safe and Clase Cuctody keep 
for the Term aforesaid on penalty for neglect or refusall 
to pay Double the Forfeiture aforesaid to be recovered 
in any of her Ma'tys Courts of Sessions and to be ap- 
pli'd in manner before Exprest. Provided always, that 
this Act shall be & remain in full force for the Space 
of Seven years from the first day of January next & 
no longer." 
This "act" seems to have been so popular that in 1708 
"An act for the more Effectuall preservation of Deer 
and other Game and ye Destruction of Wolves and Wild 
Catts and other vermin" was passed. The act was spe- 
cifically designed to protect not only deer, but also squir- 
rels, wild turkeys, heath hens, "partridges or quailes, their 
eggs or young ones at any time of the year except the 
times and Seasons herein after mentioned and exprest, 
that is to say, for deer between the first day of August 
and first day of January and for turkeys, heath hens, 
partriges and quailes between the first day of August 
and the first day of Aprill shall forfeit and pay" certain 
fixed sums of money or be imprisoned. 
There was no "Section 249" in those times under 
which game could be sold everj^ day of the year. And 
people who object to game laws in these days would do 
well to consider what effort was made almost two cen- 
turies ago to protect game — ^what economy was exer- 
cised. The third section of the act under consideration 
gives excellent suggestions to legislators, particularly to 
those who do not know the iniquity practiced under 
