168 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
March 4. iSyy. 
after these Arizona trotters, but some of the things looked 
for in a good dog are also, it seems to me, good things 
for the hunter to possess, such as range, speed and bot- 
tom. The flight of the birds is similar to our Bob 
White's. The footing is good, and the shooting open, 
but the hurry necessary keeps the percentage of misses 
about the same. ' 
"I found that los in an open barrel gave abotit the same 
results as the other got with coarser shot and clioke guns. 
Would want more experience before choosing between 
the two. Light flannel underwear and shirt, broad hat. 
skeleton coat, canvas pants and leggins, with good tan 
shoes, not 'made in Germany,' would be a good rig here. 
"I expected to go out with Dr. Jessop j^esterday, to be 
gone until Monday, after ducks and quails, but the man 
who was to show us the way could not go till next Sun- 
day, so it is postponed a week." Hough. 
1200 BoYCE Btjilding, Chicago, 111. 
The Queer Things that Happen. 
Boston, Feb. 27. — Hunting coons with an axe is not 
the usual way, but a Chesterville, Me., farmer has late- 
ly made a success in that direction. According to Ban- 
gor dispatches to the Boston papers, George W. Brown, of 
Chesterville. in search of dry wood the other day, felled a 
big pine stub. Cutting into it he felt his axe strike something 
soft, and thinking that it might be game of some sort — 
possibly a beai' — he split the stub open with wedges. In 
the cavity were eight fat coons, snugly housed for win- 
ter. Fitrther up the stub were two more coons. Brown 
got, besides his dry wood, nearly 20olbs. of coons. These 
he was not long in sending to Bangor, and some of them 
have reached Boston; judging from the fact that several 
have been seen in the markets here, at a season when not 
expected. It is also reported that Jack Haley, a woods- 
man of Jackmantown, Me,, felled a spruce the other 
day, which struck a big dead pine, uprooting it. Under 
the roots of the pine lay a big black bear ; rather sleepy at 
first, but ready to fight when approached. Haley, easily 
dispatched him with his axe, however. This orize also 
found its way to the city, netting Haley about $25, the 
.skin being in prime order. Eight saddles of deer came 
from Maine the other day into the Boston marke't. They 
were shipped by the regular underground method, which 
is yet about as mysterious as it is crooked. But the Maine 
commissioners have been notified, and the shippers will 
be brought to grief, if possible. The commission house 
selling the saddles here did not receive them from the 
Maine shippers, but took them to sell for a house in the 
Big Market. This house did not receive them from 
Maine, but took them to sell for those who did receive 
them — not in the market business. This is as far as in- 
formation on the subject is obtainable. 
No changes of any consequence have yet been made in 
the Maine fish and game laws. The petitioners asking 
that the number of pounds of trout and landlocked sal- 
mon one mav take be reduced from 25 to 15, bave been 
given leave to withdraw; also the petition proposing lo 
change the open time on deer from Oct. i to Jan. i, as 
now, to Sept. 15 to Dec. 15, has been treated i'n like man- 
ner. It is possible that the general bill the commission- 
ers propose later in the session, may include some of the 
changes, but the temper of the committee seems to lean 
toward letting the present laws alone as much as possible. 
Special. 
New Hampshire Fish and Game. 
Hudson, N. H., Feb. 25.— Editor Forest and StreaiJi: 
I write to inform you briefly of some of the changes made 
in our code of fish and game laws during the present ses- 
sion. These changes have passed both House and Sen- 
ate and await tlie Governor's signature. The open season 
on brook trout in ~ Coos, Grafton and Carroll counties 
commences May i, and ends September J5- In all other 
counties in the State the open season commences \pn\ 
I and ends August i. The length on lobsters was raised 
from 10 to iQi^in., to conform with the Maine and Mas- 
sachusetts laws. Appropriations have been granted lor 
the screening of the outlets of several lakes. The open 
season on grouse, quail and woodcock commences Sept. 
15 and ends Dec. 15. 
Previous to this the open season extended to January 
t A bill has passed the House, with a fair show of pass- 
ing the Senate, against any person hunting game birds 
for a whole or a part of the time with mtcnt to trade or 
sell, or against any person exposing for sale, or having in 
his possession for sale. Penalty not less than $40 nor 
more than $200. 
Deer are becoming very plent3'^ all over our State. We 
have been much troubled to get convictions against dogs 
or dog owners for running down and killing deer. Fotir 
have been killed by dogs in the southern part of the State 
within the last two weeks. The law has been so amended 
that any person can kill a dog when running a deer. Be- 
sides this, a bill has passed both branches that reads Hke 
this: "Any owner of a dog to whom notice has been 
given that such dog, when at large, has been discovered 
pursuing or haressing moose, caribou, deer, or sheep or 
injuring any creature, wild or domestic, shall be fined $5 
for the second and each subsequent occasion on which 
said dog shall be so discovered; and it any dog, at any 
time, shall maim, injure or destroy any of the animals 
protected by this act, the owner shall be fined, in the case 
of a wild animal, the same amount which the statutes 
impose upon a person killing the same animals contrary 
to law (which would be $100 and costs). In the case of 
sheep an amount double the value of the sheep. All 
protection has been taken from the muskrat. But two 
deer are allowed to a persqn, to be killed in the opefl 
season, and no person or corporation shall transport any 
parts thereof, unless open to view, tagged and plainly 
labelled, with the name of the actual owner, and accom- 
panied by him. Penalty $50." , , „ . 
The usual bills have been mtroduced allowmg parties 
to snare on their own land; also a bill allowing land 
owners to kill partridge while budding. Both measures 
were promptly killed. Much credit is due Mr. Battles, 
chairman of the fish and game committee of the House, 
and his committee for the able way they have handled all 
fish and game legislation that has come before them. 
N, Wentworth. 
An Association Project. 
Rye, N, Y., Feb. 23. — Editor Forest and Stream.- I 
take the liberty of sending to you an outline of an asso- 
ciation which I hope will meet the approval of many 
sportsmen. I trust you will give it space in the columns 
of your valuable paper. It is understood that the State 
game warden is a paid oflicial, therefore I -will not again 
refer to this particular ofificer. 
Now then I suggest that a society of 100,000 members 
be organized in the interest and for the benefit of sports- 
men; each member to pay annual dues to the amount of 
$2. There are about sixty counties in the State of New 
York, and my idea is to have three game wardens ap- 
pointed for each county, otie chief and two deputies, each 
officer under a salary. 
As three are considered a crowd, and if thev are the 
right kind of men, with the proper quality of sand in them, 
there will be sufficient police force to patrol the State, and 
the illegal shooter and snarer of birds will go out of busi- 
ness forthwith. 
Each county should be divided into three districts, a 
warden to reside in the district under his supervision ; 
the organization to be under control of a board of man- 
agers ; the president, secretai-y, and collector to receive 
compensation for their services, their combined salaries 
not to exceed $5,000 per .annum. 
The game wardens to be under bond tO' the society not 
to kill or capture any game birds or game of any kind in 
the State; to employ the market-hunters as wardens. 
Receipts from dues, 100,000 members at |3...... $200,000.00 
Disbursements. 
CO chief game wardens, at $S00 per annum $48,000.00 
120 deputy game wardens, at $500 per annum... CO.OOO.OO 
Officers' salaries x. 5,000.00 
Legal expenses i 5,000.00 
Office rent and other expenses 5,000.00 
$12.3,000.00 
Balance on hand $77,000.00 
From the balance of the funds in the treasury a large 
portion of the same could be used in restocking oUr de- 
pleted covers each year with game birds. I believe there 
would be very little difficulty in organizing an associa- 
tion on these lines, or a consolidation of the gun clubs and 
associations now in existence would do the business. The 
very modest sum of $2 per annum would without doubt 
be paid most cheerfully by most persons who delight to 
be afield with dog and gun, enjoying the balmy breezes 
with the assurance of again finding birds in the old fami- 
liar places. 
If any brother sportsman has anything better to offer 
in this line, I should be pleased to see it in print. 
G. W. Gallaway. 
What about This? 
Worcester^ Mass., Feb. 23. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The Worcester Game Protective Association was the 
name adopted by a nuinher of gentlemen .who last year 
met and organized an association for the propagation 
and protection of game, birds in Worcester county. At 
the annual meeting, Feb. 15, the treasurer's report showed 
that since the organization was formed the receipts have 
been $1,166. and expenditures S800. The secretary's 
report showed that during the past year the Association 
imported from New York State and the West and re- 
leased in the vicinity of Worcester x,200 quail. 
What has been the result of this addition of 600 pairs 
of birds to our game supply? From personal observa- 
tion your correspondent is of the opinion that the im- 
ported birds did not breed or remain in this section, 
and this opinion is voiced by many other shooters. 
During the summer the birds were very much in evi- 
dence, and they could be heard whistling in the fields, no 
matter in what direction one would go into the coimtrj'. 
But when the season opened. Oct. 15, the birds seemed 
to have disappeared and quail were not found any more 
plentiful' hereabouts than during the previous season^ — 
the supposition being that the imported birds not find- 
ing as good feeding ground here as in their native State 
had in all probability gone into Conneclictit or else- 
■(vhere. Worcester county feechng ground for ruffed 
grouse is unsurpassed anywhere, but it is by no means 
an ideal localiti'- for quail. 
But if the imported birds had remained and bred well 
we think the money invested would not have justified the 
expenditure under existing conditions — that is, so far 
as benefiting sportsmen at large is concerned — and wdiy? 
Because there are gentlemen actively associated with 
some of the so-called game protective organizations here- 
abouts who make a business each season of killing birds 
for the market. And it is a notorious fact and cannot be 
refused that as many as .300 or more grouse, woodcock 
and quail fall to the gun of each of a number of such local 
sportsmenC?) during the open season of every year, and 
are sold. We have the papers! Is this the way to pi-o- 
tect and increase our game birds? We admit the diffi- 
culty of successful legislation in the premises, but all 
sportsmen, members of game protective associations 
or not, ought most emphatically to denounce and dis- 
courage any such mercenary business as pot-hunting, 
much less to "set the pace" 
There is no law to regulate the killing of foxes, but 
there is an unwritten law among the members of the 
Worcester Fur Club that during certain months of the 
year reynard shall be safe from honorable pursuit. With 
this club Constietudo pro lege servatur. And why not 
then without legislative enactment desist from pot-hunt- 
ing before our covers are entirely depleted? The man 
who will refrain from snaring a grouse or from shooting 
one between Dec. 31 and Sept. 15, because it is in vio- 
lation of law to do so, but who will cover from five 
to twenty-five miles . of territory every day that he can 
possibly get into the brush during the open season and 
work as hard as he can to outshoot every competitor in 
this nefarious business is not worthy the name of a 
sportsman, and ought not to be received into member- 
ship of any. club, the aim and object of which is the 
protection of game. Bob White. 
The Forest and Stream is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by MondAy and a.s much earlier as practicable. 
The Weather and the Birds. 
Madisonville, Ky., Feb. 19.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: During and since the recent cold spell T have 
becn making a business tl4p through Westeffl Kentucky, 
and in all of the. towns visited, I Inade ittqiiity of tlie 
country people who were foutid. in toWm, tegElrdihg tiie 
qimil and other birds. Mahy of the people interviewed 
said' they had found "'bunches" of quail frozen to death 
on the roost, and the opinion is unanimous that all quail 
that did not take shelter in barns, or come to where live 
stock or poultry was being fed, had "shore perished." 
Several farmers said that quail had come boldly to the 
stock yards and poultry yards. It appears that ' in inost 
instances the birds were kindly eared fof, when thgy 
threvv themselves on the tnercy of the farmers, though 
one fellow said a "mighty big flock" came to feed with 
his chickens, and he "done trapped every one of 'em." 
The farmers also report finding many dead, meadow 
larks and some bluebirds. Numbers of chickens and 
guineas perished, and ducks' feet froze fast to the icy 
ground. There was a A^ast amount of suffering among 
the people and all kinds of domestic animals, 
From all over the South comes the same report aboitt 
the birds. Quail shooting in the South, and probably 
in the North, too, is a thing of the past, and it will take 
years of careful -protection to repair the devastation, 
O. H. Hampton. 
Brewer, Mc— Editor Forest and Stream: 1 have just 
received a letter from A. T. Wayne, a somewhat widely 
known ornithologist, dated Mount Pleasant, SolUh CatO- 
lina, Feb. 20, an extract from which may be of interest to 
some of your readers. He writes : 
"We have just passed through the coldest weather ever 
known for 200 years. Last Tuesday the thermometei 
marked 5 degrees above zero, with snow 4 to sin. deep on 
a level on the ground. The mortality amollg birds Vfs}'- 
appalling. Millions of fox sparrows and snowbirds 
perished. Thousands of grass finches, chipping spar- 
rows, savanna sparrows, bluebirds, pine warblers, blue- 
headed kieos, doves, killdeer, larks and hermit thrushe.?, 
and countless thousands of woodcock were killed by 
would-be sportsmen, or else frozen to death. T ilever saw 
such annihilation of life before, and hope 1 shall irevei- 
again witness such a scene. Horses, cows, mules and 
other animals were frozen to death. Many people also 
were frozen to death. It will take twenty years for. these 
birds to establish themselves under its most formidable 
conditions." M. Hardy. 
Hamilton, N. C. Feb. 19. — Snow is about goiie. Qu? 
fared well. None found frozen. Shooting fine here. 
Old LEGcrrfGS. 
Congress and the Birds. 
WashtngtoNj Feb. 25. — Editor Forest and Streanu 
In the Senate to-day, Mr. Hoar announced that the 
conference committees of the House and Senate on ttte- 
disagreeing votes of the two Houses, on the Laeey game 
bird bill, had been unable to agree. He stated tb"at both 
Houses had agreed to a provision which nobody, not 
even the mover of it, desired to have retained. So he 
moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was 
passed, and asked that a message be sent to the House 
of Representatives, requesting the return of the bill. 
Then the following proceedings occurred with refer- 
ence to it : 
Mr. Hoar. — I now move to amend the House bill by 
striking out all after the enacting clause and substituting 
what was added as new sections by the Senate to the 
bill. It is not necessary that the sections shall be again 
read, as they have been read. 
Mr. Cockrell. — What is the pending measure? 
Mr. Hoar. — ^The bill in relation to birds. 
Mr. Cockrell. — -That is enough. 
Mr. Hoar. — That is the whole story. It is not neceb- 
sary, I suppose, to make any explanation. 
The Vice-President. — Will the Senator indicate to the 
Secretary what are the amendments he desires tS have 
adopted? 
Mr. Hoar. — We have just reconsidered tJie vote by 
which the Senate added certain sections to the bill. "l 
noAV move that instead of adding those to the bill as it 
originally came from the House, to strike out all after the 
enacting clause, and insert those sections as a substitute 
for the House bill. It is not necessary that they should 
be read. 
Mr. Chilton.'— What is tlie bill, a* to wMdi the Sena- 
tor proposes to strike out all after the enacting clause? 
Mr. Hoar. — I was about to make a statement, but the 
Senator from Missouri [Mr. Cockrell] did not think it 
necessary. It is the bill for the protection of birds. The 
House sent over a bill to give jurisdiction OA^er that sub- 
ject to the Fish Commission. The bill was amended in 
the Senate by adding other sections for the protection of 
song birds, and so on, which were passed unanimously. 
Then the matter went into conference. Now, everybody 
•is satisfied that it was a mistake to give that jurisdic- 
tion to the Fish Commission. But as the bill now stands 
it is not in the power of the conferees to withdraw it, be- 
cause both Houses have agreed to it. The bill has noAv 
come back to the Senate, and the Senate has reconsidered 
its previous action. I noAv propose to make what the 
Senate heretofore passed a substitute for the House 
bill. 
Mr. Chilton. — That is the way the bill was before? 
Mr. Hoar. — Yes ; that is the way it was before. All 
the conferees agree to it. After my motion has been 
agreed to, I shall then ask for a new conference and the 
whole matter will open. 
The Vice-President. — The question is on the amend- 
ment submitted by the Senator from Massachusetts to 
strike out all after the enacting clause of the bill and in- 
sert what he has indicated. 
The amendment Avas agreed to. 
The bin was reported to the Senate as amended, and 
the amendment was concurred in. 
The amendment was ordered to be engrossed and the 
bill was read a third time. 
The bill was read the third time and passed. 
Mr. Hoar. — T now move that the Senate aslc for 3 
