Forest and Stream, 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun, 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1898. \ 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
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All day there was the deepest silence in the 
deseft ; but, as the shades of nigfht came on, the 
scene became animated, and even noisy* Aquatic 
birds arrived in countless troops, and soon millions 
of hoarse and screaming; voices filled the air with 
their wild harmony. Tartary is peopled with 
these migratory birds; and, as we contemplated 
their innumerable battalions wheeling about in the 
air, and thought of the many countries they had 
traversed, we used to please ourselves by imagin- 
ing that some among these myriads might have 
passed over the lovely soil of France, and have 
sought their food in the plains of Languedoc, or 
in the mountains of the Jura. Hue's Tartary. 
Tff£ JVAJi AND YACHTING. 
The developments of the past few weeks, bringing the 
country actually to a state of war, have wrought a great 
change in the yachting sitiration, so that it is impossible 
to predict what the outcome may be. Up to a short 
time the outlook was promising enough in a way, with 
nothing magnificent or sensational in store in the way of 
international racing or big boats, but a certainty of good 
sport throughout the country among yachtsmen at large 
and in the smaller classes. On Long Island Sound the 
indications were for a lively and exciting season under 
the management of the Sound Y. R. A., with plenty of 
racing in the regular classes of 42ft. and under, and an 
unusual amount of sport in the new one-design classes. 
About Boston the conditions were equally favorable for 
a good racing season, with more new boats than about 
New York in the regular classes, and with some extra 
interest added through the Quincy Y. C. cup. In the 
West and on inlan-d waters generally the outlook was 
good for yaclit racing in all the smaller classes. 
It is true that the prospects of sport on the coast in 
the large classes were even worse than usual, a little 
desultory racing on the part of Colonia, Amorita, Wasp 
and Queen Mab, a quiet and uneventful cruise of the 
New York Y. C, and possibly a mild attempt at class 
racing by Syce, 'Kestrel and a new boat in the 51ft. class 
being all that could- be hoped for. Much as this state of 
affairs among the large yachts is to be regretted, it is 
obviously unavoidable under existing conditions, and as 
a compensation for the dullness and stagnation in this 
branch of yachting there has been an unwonted activity 
both in the domain of the smaller yachts and in the pe- 
culiar interest in the sport at large, as well as in the 
efforts of individuals, clubs and associations to extend 
and improve it. 
The beginning of a war of uncertain duration has al- 
ready so affected yachting that it is impossible to predict 
what the result may be. The developments thus far are 
hardly of a nature to warrant such an extreme step as that 
of the Larchmont Yacht Club in calling off all the races 
set for the season of 1898, and we hope and believe that 
such a measure will prove unnecessary. No similar ac- 
tion is thus far contemplated by the Massachusetts and 
Sound associations. 
Of course, if the war is of long duration, there will be 
no thought of yachting. Many of the yachtsmen are al- 
ready enrolled in the navy or army, and the indirect in- 
fluences of a lengthy and serious war will of themselves 
put a stop to all sport. At the same time the chances 
now are that the war will be a brief one, and that the 
check to yacht racing will be but temporary, and affect- 
ing only the first part of the season. The greatest effect 
will be felt in the steam yacht fleet, through the perma- 
nent withdrawal of a number of the largest yachts. 
With hostilities actually begun by the capture of seven 
or eight Spanish merchant vessels by the United States, 
some anxiety is felt for the safety of American yachts, of 
which a number are now cruising in the West Indies 
or the Mediterranean. The big Nahma, sister to May- 
flower, now on her way from New York to the Clyde, 
would make a fine prize for Spain, as would Varuna, last 
reported at Constantinople on April 11, and Margarita, 
now in the Mediterranean. Of the smaller steam yachts 
in the same locality are Narada, Andria and Arcturus. 
Norma (schr.) left here for Naples on April 11. Fleur 
de Lys was at Horta on April 5. Intrepid (schr.) has 
returned to New York from Nassau, and the steam yacht 
of the same name is at Tebo's, where she has lain all 
winter, though reported as in the West Indies. May, 
Barracouta and several other steam yachts are now in 
the West Indies. The best that can happen to the yachts 
mentioned is that they may be tied up for an indefinite 
time in some safe neutral port. Nahma has been reported 
safe at Gourock on April 33. Andria put to sea from 
Leghorn on April 2\. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
It is a well-established principle, recognized perhaps 
since Noah let the animals out of the ark, that when once 
a wild creature which has been held in captivity recovers 
its freedom, and passes beyond the possession and con- 
trol of its captor, it is no longer his property, but will be- 
long to anybody who may capture it. So familiar is this 
that in these days a counsel who advises his client to 
the contrary must be inexcusably ignorant. Yet we con- 
tinue to hear of squabbles in the courts between losers 
and finders of wild animals. 
In 1896 some of the seals confined in a pond at Glen 
Island, a pleasure resort in Long Island Sound near 
New York, escaped into the Sound, where subsequently 
one was captured by a fisherman, who sold it to Mr. Jas. 
A. Bradley, of Asbury Park, N. J. The seal was ex- 
hibited as an attraction at Asbury Park through the 
summer, and was sent for the winter to the 'National 
Zoological Park in Washington. Here it was seen by 
Capt. Mullet of New York, who recognized it by certain 
nrarks or abrasions on the fins as one which had es- 
caped from Glen Island; and he laid claim to it as his 
property. When his ownership was disputed he brought 
suit for $500 dama'ges; and the case came up in the Dis- 
trict Court in this city last week. Justice McKean held 
that there was no cause of action, since the seal, having 
escaped to its native element, was no longer the property 
of Capt. Mullet. This was no more than the Captain's 
lawyer shovdd have told him in the beginning. 
It will not do to be severe on the attorney in this 
private case, however, when we have just had presented 
to us a national blunder of precisely the same character, 
and involving an enormous sacrifice of public funds. In 
the Senate of the United States a resolution was intro- 
duced one day last week to pay Great Britain the stun 
of more than $420,000, awarded by the Paris Tribunal as 
indemnity for our seizure of British sealing vessels in 
Bering Sea. The claim of the United States was that 
as we owned the Aleutian Islands, the breeding grounds 
of the seals, we had property rights in the seals after 
they had left our territory and betaken themselves to the 
high seas. Acting upon that claim, we sought to en- 
force our rights by seizing the sealers, which in the open 
sea were beyond our jurisdiction. The Aleutian Islands 
seal case goes on all fours with the Glen Island seal case; 
the same principles apply; when wild creatures escape 
beyond control of their former possessors, all rights of 
property in them terminate; and if it is sought either 
by individuals or nations to enforce rights which do not 
exist, the courts will find against them. 
If the United States Senate can take time in the 
intervals of the conduct of the war to pay some 
attention to a defense of the forestry interests of 
our own country, it ought to put a damper on the plot 
which now menaces the forest reservations. An amend- 
ment has been offered in the Senate, to the Sundry Civil 
Bill, suspending indefinitely the orders creating forest 
reservations, proclaimed by the Executive on Peb. 22, 
1897. This suspension, if put into effect, will amount to 
a virtual abandonment of the reserves forever, or at best 
until the timber thieves who are back of the suspension 
job shall have completed their ravages. The American 
Forestry Association has prepared a timely protest 
against the threatened nullification of the national forest 
reservation scheme; and has embodied its protest in 
a memorial praying that if the surveys -of the territories 
concerned have not yet been completed, so that more 
time shall be required for them, the suspension^ shall be 
limited to one year only, and shall not be made in- 
definite. This action of the Association is timely and 
patriotic. In times of war the timber plunderers will 
find their safest opportunities for despoiling the public 
domain; they are intent on picking Uncle S^m's pocket 
while his back is ttirned. 
Human nature is pretty much the same the world over. 
The non-resident sportsman discrimination in our own 
country has its counterpart in far-off Ceylon, whose 
Game Protective Society is agitating against the foreign 
visitor. Complaints against the globe trotter, the secre- 
tary reports, are frequent and emphatic, and the general 
opinion among the members of the society is that the 
present facilities for sport afforded to visitors to the 
island should be discouraged by considerably increasing 
the cost of a license to such strangers. The complaints 
are doubtless well founded; and the sportsman from 
these United States visiting Ceydon would willingly pay 
his shot. Pie could indeed expect to receive, being a globe 
trotter far from home, no other treatment than that of an 
alien. But so long as one remains at home under the 
Stars and Stripes lie is eA-^erywhere conscious of "the 
sublime fact," as Commissioner Carleton, of Maine, put 
it the other day, "that the citizens of all the States are 
citizens of our common country." And when going 
from one State into another he runs up against a non- 
resident hunting tax, such as they are now proposing for 
Maine, the sublimity of the thoiight receives a painful 
jolt. 
Ceylon affords another illustration of the exercise of 
the principle of game protection which is coextensive 
with the dominion of Great Britain, and it is interesting 
to note that in that far-away land they recognize that 
the trafiic in skins and horns is the factor of tlie problem 
most difficult tx) deal with. The skins of certain Ceylon 
deer are the most valuable received in European mar- 
kets, and in consequence of this trade the species is 
threatened with extinction. The adoption of the Plat- 
form Plank is in order in Ceylon. 
By the recent death of Dr. George W. Massamore, of 
Baltimore, the sportsmen of Maryland have lost one of • 
the most earnest, active and efficient workers for game 
and fish protection in the history of the State. As secre- 
tary of the Maryland Fish and Game Protective Associa- ^ 
tion Dr. Massamore stood before the people as the ac- 
tual working agent of the Association. He was prompted 
by a sincere desire to promote the public good; and he 
possessed in addition to the very essential qualities of 
determination and perseverance a fund of common sense 
which never failed to stand him in good stead. The or- 
ganization of the Maryland Association was largely due 
to his initiative; and its work was in his hands. His 
services in the public interest should be remembered with 
gratitude. 
We have all heard the story of the fellow who told 
how when he was hoeing corn one day he caught a deer 
stalled in a snowdrift. He was outdone the other day by 
Judge J. Frank Fort, of Newark, N. J., who in a written 
opinion sapiently decided that the defendant in a game 
law prosecution had a right to go gunning on Sunday to 
protect his father's sprouting corn from ravages by 
crows — in September. It was this same Judge Fort also 
Avho, according to the Paterson Chronicle, gave his 
opinion that the law forbidding possession of game in 
close season was unconstitutional. Game cases are of 
minor importance compared with many others which 
occupy the attention of the courts. Heaven help the 
victims of Jersey justice who fall in the way of such 
judicial blundering and crass ignorance. 
' I 
Martha's Vineyard has been stocked with pinnated 
grouse, which have been put out to replace the native 
heath hen. The heath hen, a correspondent writes, is 
practically extinct on the island, one chief cause leading 
to this result being woods fires which have swept over 
the breeding grounds. It is asked that visitors to the 
Vineyard shall respect the newly introduced grouse anc} 
give them immunity. 
