Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1899, by Forest and Stream Pubushing Co. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1899. 
Teri\is, $4 A Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. ) 
Six Months, $2. ) 
VOL. LII,— No. 5. 
No. 846 Broadway, New York 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to whicli its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not bt re- 
garded. Wiiile it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
correspondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
copies, $4 per year, $2 for six months. For club rates and full 
particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iv. 
THE WILD PIGEON. 
The two notices wliich appear in this week's paper of 
the occurrence of the passenger pigeon call renewed at- 
tention to the subject of this bird's disappearance, on 
which so much Jias been written. The contrast between 
the enormous former abundance of the pigeon and its 
present scarcity leads us to speak of the species as having 
become extinct, a statement which is by no means exact. 
AUhough, in the wholesale slaughter of this species for 
commercial purposes, abundant reason is found for its 
disappearance, there are very many people who do not 
accept these reasons as sufficient, but who believe that 
the wild pigeons, owing to .the persecution to which they 
were subjected, have gone off to some distant and unex- 
plored portion of the continent, and have there hidden 
themselves. Precisely in the same way, the Indians of 
the plains, when the buflalo were exterminated a few 
years ago, declared that it was impossible that they should 
all have been killed, but that the white man, for some oc- 
cult purpose of his own, had taken them away and hid- 
den them somewhere. So like is human nature the 
world over,, whether it be civilized or savage. 
In its old-time abundance the wild pigeon is no more, 
and for precisely the same reasons that caused the ex- 
tinction of the buffalo ; that is to say, because of the fill- 
ing up of the country and the opening up of the haunts 
of the birds by railroads, which thus brought the trap- 
per's prey close to a market. Yet a few wild pigeons re- 
main scattered through the Northern States, and since 
their numbers are now so small that they are free from 
the persecution to which they were formerly subjected, 
we may look to see them very slowly increase and to 
gradually be more and more often seen. 
The increase will be slow, because the pigeon is a slow 
breeder, laying but one egg, or at most two eggs, at a 
nesting. Had the increase been more rapid than this 
in the time of their former abundance, their numbers 
would have been so vast as to sweep the continent bare 
of food, so that the whole race must Lave perished by 
starvation. It is difficult to imagine what would have 
been the result to this continent if the old-time pigeon 
roost of fifty or sixty years ago had been multiplied by 
ten after each nesting. 
To-day, however, the passenger pigeon is practically 
free from pursuit by man and has to dread only its. nat- 
ural enettiies, which are now extremely few, the swift 
hawk being almost the only one. True, if a pigeon flies 
within shot of a man carryin,^ a gun, he will kill it if 
he can, for the bird's rarity makes it a thousand times 
more desirable to -the average gunner than it formerly 
was, and each man, feeling that this will be his only 
chance to kill a pigeon, craves the bad distinction of se- 
curing the last of its race. Happily, however, pigeons 
are so scarce that few are likely to be shot, and happily 
also there is a small proportion of sportsmen who would 
decline to shoot at one of these birds for the very reason 
that they are so scarce. 
Therefore, just as is the case with certain other of our 
game birds, an increase in .the wild pi geonse will- take pj ace 
until they shall again become sufficiently numerous to 
tempt the man with the gun, whether he be sportsman 
or ornithological collector, and also to tempt the egg-col- 
lecting small boy, to whom, of course, the egg of this 
now rare bird is most desirable. When their numbers 
have grown to this point they will again be pursued, but 
because it is unlikely that they will ever so increase as to 
nest in great companies, the pigeon will always be a 
bird to be killed only casually and not to be systematically 
hunted. You cannot pursue wild pigeons with a dog. 
So we may expect that the passenger pigeon will live 
long in the land, but never again as a bird found in enor- 
mous numbers, since the conditions which admitted of 
this old-time mode of life have passed forever. 
OUR AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHS. 
To the Forest and Stream amateur photography 
competition a large number of amateurs contributed work 
which was of a high grade of excellence. To make se- 
lection of the subject entitled to the prizes when so 
many were meritorious was a task by no means simple. 
There were three classes; (i) for live wild game; (2) 
for game in parks; (3) for other subjects relating to 
shooting and fishing. Prizes were offered as follows: 
(1) For live game photographs three prizes are of- 
fered, the first of $50, the second of $25, and the third of 
$10. 
(2) For live game in parks, for the best picture, a 
prize of $10. 
(3) For the best pictures relating to Forest and 
Stream's field — shooting and fishing, the camp, camp- 
ers and camp life, sportsman travel by land and water, 
incidents of field and stream — a first prize of $20, a sec- 
ond of $15, a third of $10, and for fourth place two prizes 
of $5 each. 
The selection of the photographs entitled to the re- 
wards under these conditions is as follows: 
Live Wild Game. 
First prize — "A Race with a Maine Moose." By S. B. 
Chittenden, Jr., Brooklyn, N. Y. 
Second prize— "Young Sea Gulls Eating Fish." By F. 
F. Frisbie, Detroit, Mich. 
Live Game in Parts. 
First prize— "Red Fox in the National Park." By John 
Fossom. 
Relating to the "Forest and StreamV Field. 
First prize— "A One-Night Stand." By Dr. C. D. 
Smith, Portland, Me. 
Second prize — "Fishing for Bass at Sunrise." By R. 
C. Leonard, Central Valley, N. Y. 
Third prize — "In Camp." By Noah Palmer, New 
York. 
Fourth prizes — "Home of the Bighorn." By W. C. 
Knight, Laramie, Wyo. "The Strike and the Capture."' 
By. C. H. Smith, Buffalo, N. Y. 
In addition to the photographs awarded prizes, there 
is a large number of others worthy of honorable mention. 
In the Wild Live Game class a photograph of two cub 
bears, sent by Mr. Livingston Stone, and one of a 
mink, by Mr. Geo. S. Raymond, call for special notice. 
In the class of Game in Parks, a spirited moose por- 
trait, by Mr. Fred Talcott; elk on the prairie, by Miss 
Edith M. Chappie, elk and mountain sheep in winter 
quarters in the Yellowstone Park, by Mr. E. C. Waters, 
and a Yellowstone Park bear, by Mr. J. E. Westlake, are 
of unusual interest and merit. 
In the third division, of Forest and Stream's field 
there were naturally more pictures than in the other 
classes. Among many deserving ones may be named an 
indoor study of gtoie, dog and gun, by Mr. Leonard, and 
an outdoor study of quail shooting, by Mr. L. Pesha; 
bullhead fishing by moonlight, by Mr. Harrie E. Loftie; 
a marine view, by Mr. Stuart-Menteth Beard; whipping 
the Dog River Falls, by Mr. F. F. Frisbie; nest of least 
bittern, and one of Carolina rail, by Mr, James Savage; 
"Old Pard Getting Breakfast," by W. L, W.; fishing 
boats, by Mr. W. H. Bell; "Unchained from Business," 
by Mr. P. H. Felker; fly-casting, by Mr. W. H. Pierce; 
"Adirondack Days," by Dr. C. E. Fritts; "Woodman 
Spare that Tree," by Mr. C. J. H. Woodbury; "In the 
Prairie Chicken Country," by Mr. H. H. Harley; "At 
Rest," by Mr. H. G. McCartney; "Canoeing on the Sus- 
quehanna," by Mr. Irving K. Park; "New England Fox 
Hunting," by Mr. A. J. McGibbon. 
In future issues will be given reproductions of the prize 
winning subjects and of some of the others. 
SNAP SffQTS, 
Mr. W. G. Van Name, who in another column discusses 
the Lacey bill, is the author of a scheme, proposed 
through Forest and Stream, to have the Government 
acquire at different points throughout the country tracts 
of land to be set apart and protected as game refuges. 
Mr. Van Name has set forth very cogently the utility of 
such havens of refuge for our migratory game, and the 
benefit which would accrue to the country at large if the 
system were in operation. We have always regarded the 
proposition as one of the most sensible ever made for 
game protection; and we believe that some of these days 
it will be adopted. In the meantime, as we have sug- 
gested repeatedly, we need not await the action of Con- 
gress to secure in individual States the benefit of the plan. 
State game preserves should be provided. The Wiscon- 
sin Forestry Commission is urging the Legislature to 
convert a tract of the State lands into a forest preserve, to 
be cared for by a division of forestry, with its foresters. 
If the reserve is established, there should be incorporated 
in the law a provision to make it in whole or in part a 
game preserve also, and to give to the foresters the added 
duties of game wardens. 
We give to-day a full report of the meeting of the 
Adirondack Guides' Association. Among other expres- 
sions of sentiment was a declaration in favor of deer 
hounding. This appears to be a change of opinion from 
that formerly held; for we have understood that the 
guides as a body approved the present law. Chief Game 
Protector Pond, who has just returned from a trip 
through the North Woods, reports, as a result of his ob- 
servations, that the deer law generally has been well ob- 
served; and that the deer supply has increased within 
the last two years because of the operation of the non- 
hounding law. Major Pond is quoted as saying that 
"many localities where hounds were very numerous two 
years ago have nearly or quite gotten rid of them. Their 
former owners declare they have no desire to have the 
anti-hounding law repealed, not altogether on account 
of the number of deer that were killed during the lawful 
period, but on account of the great slaughter, from year 
to year, at a time when the snow is deep, by dogs whose 
owners were either too poor to feed them and wanted 
them to hunt for their living, or by persons so indifferent 
that they do not want the trouble of keeping their dogs 
chained." 
If the present law is continued in force until the five 
years' term shall have expired, Maj, Pond estimates that 
by the termination of the period the woods will be stocked 
in their old-time abundance. He holds then that there 
is every reason to continue the law as it is for the three 
years remaining. Those who know Maj. Pond have 
great respect for his opinion in these matters; and in 
view of his expressed confidence in the wisdom of the 
present law, there is slight probability that any one of 
the hound-restoring measures now before the Legisla- 
ture will become a law. 
Rev. Myron W, Reed, of Denver, Colo., who died on 
Monday of this week, Jan. 30, was one of those who 
found in the sportsman's woods life a valued form of 
recreation. He knew well, and none could write of it 
more eloquently, that spirit in man which impels him to 
leave the cosy bed before dawn to take his place in the 
duck stand; and to undergo the rigors and hardships of 
camp life for the rewards of rifle or fishing rod. Some 
years ago Mr. Reed and Geo. W. Sears, "Nessmuk," 
camped together in the Pennsylvania mountains when 
speckled trout were rising to the fly, and after the ac- 
quaintance there formed Mr. Reed wrote to us that 
of all the men he had ever met "Nessmuk" was one of 
those best worth knowing. The tribute means all the 
more to those who 4urtt&.made test of the character-prov- 
ing associations of camp life. That after living in camp 
with him one man should say of another that he had 
found qualities which made prized his companionship is 
one of the sincerest tributes possible to be paid. 
A bill now pending in Congress is to amend the copy- 
right law by prescribing that a newspaper which prints a 
reproduction of a photograph without the consent of the 
owner of the copyright shall forfeit to the owner $1 for 
every copy printed, and $10 'for every copy found in pos- 
session, provided that the -penalty so recovered shall not 
be less than $100 nor more than $5,000. Photographers 
now have all the protection they require ; the present law 
as it stands is prolific of blackmail— probably more black- 
mailing is done under it than under any other statute 
and if Congress shall enact the amendments now under 
consideration, the mulcting of publishers will increase 
ten-fold. - — — ■ 
We notice recommendations and suggestions concern- 
ing the appointment by Gov. Roosevelt of new members 
of the New York Fisheries, Game and Forest Commis- 
sion, As the terms of no one of the present incumbents 
expire this year, such discussion is untimely. 
