466 
FOREST ANt) STttfeAM. 
iJvm 17, iBgg'. 
Summary. 
(1) Acclimatization of plants differs from that of ani- 
mals since plants are introduced for cultivation and thus 
kept to a certain extent withm control, while animals are 
liberated and controlled only by natural enemies or un- 
favorable conditions. 
(2) Animals and birds are distributed from one conti- 
nent to another, and to islands, either by accidental means 
or by the direct agency of man. Most animals are inten- 
tionally introduced into new regions, cases of accidental 
dispersion being comparativel}'- rare except among rats 
and mice. 
(3) Dornesticated animals, like plants, may run wild and 
become injurious, especially in regions where food is 
abundant and natural enemies are absent. Goats and 
cats on isolated islands are well-known examples. 
(4) The animals and birds which have thus far proved 
most injurious are the rabbit, mongoose, stoat, weasel, 
flying fox, English sparrow, starling and mina. The sky- 
lark, green linnet, black thrush, and great titmouse, or 
kohimeise, are of doubtful value and likely to prove in- 
jurious. These species are all natives of the Old World, 
and with the exception of the mongoose, mina and flying 
foxes, are inhabitants of the temperate regions of Europe 
and western Asia. 
(5) Notwithstanding the object lessons afforded by the 
English sparrow in our own country, the rabbit in Austra- 
lia, and the mongoose in Jamaica, no steps have been 
taken to prevent the repetition of similar costly mistakes 
in the future, and at present no restriction is placed on the 
indiscriminate importation of exotic species into the 
United States. 
(6) Recent events have given new importance to this 
subject. The gradual increase of the starling and the 
efforts to introduce the kohimeise require prompt meas- 
ures to prevent species of such doubtful value from gain- 
ing a foothold in this country. The acquisition of new 
territory has also brought us face to face with new 
problems. Not only should the mongoose be prevented 
from reaching the United States from Hawaii and Puerto 
Rico, but the native fauna of these islands should be pre- 
served and all our island possessions protected from ill- 
advised acclimatiation, which has caused so much loss in 
Australia and New Zealand. 
(7) The introduction of exotic birds and mammals 
should be restricted by law and should be under the con- 
trol of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
Western Australia has already adopted this course, and 
under the "Destructive birds and animals act" of 1893, 
prohibits the importation, liberation, or keeping of animals 
and birds which the colonial bureau of agriculture con 
siders injurious to vineyards, orchards, or crops. 
The Wyoming Game Situation. 
Jackson, Wye, May 31. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
The letter of friend Wells, in a late number of Forest and 
Stream, relating to the Indians hunting and the possible 
trouble with them in the game country this spring sounds 
a note of warning to the people of the outlying districts 
that it is intended that trouble shall result from any in- 
fraction of the law by the Indians off their reservations. 
To one familiar with game conditions in this country it 
seems somewhat strange that any class of people are 
denied the right to hunt and kill to their hearts' con- 
tent, that the Indians, the original holders of inalienable 
rights, should be disturbed in their enjoyment, when from 
every nook and corner of this country comes the startling 
intelligence that the game laws now in force are being- 
daily violated. 
It is a well-known fact that in the Jackson Valley coun- 
try two-thirds of the settlers have violated in some way 
the game and fish law of the State since its enactment 
by the Legislature, that at the same moment these same 
people are ready to go forward and fight Indians, for the 
same offenses they have themselves committed. 
In and around Jackson and Elk, Wyo., and in the 
outlying districts of the community, numerous persons en- 
gaged in the killing of elk for bear bait have in no way 
been interfered with; while on the other hand, persons not 
exactly standing in with the combination have been 
threatened with summary punishment if they so much as 
looked at a piece of meat. Is this consistent? 
Yesterday, at Jackson, in the county of Uinta, in the 
State of Wyoming, S. L. Adams sold fifty pairs of bull-elk 
teeth. Adams is a trapper by instinct and occupation. He 
is also a member of considerable influence in the Jack- 
son Hole Gun Club, an organization at one time, it is 
said, potent in the protection of game in the Jackson 
Valley country. Adams' partner, H. F. Davis, although 
not a trapper in that sense of the word, is a member of 
the same organization. When it is understood that no elk, 
especially bulls, have died in the entire county in the last 
two years, it seems conclusive that something is wrong 
and radically so. It is the passing of the elk into the 
hands of the persons who engage in hand to kill and 
destroy for pecuniary benefit and advantage. No evidence 
can remove the belief that the greater portion of this 
game was killed expressly to obtain for sale these fifty 
pairs of elk teeth. The evidence in my possession, taken 
verbatim from reliable parties, is conclusive as to facts. 
When it is taken into consideration that on the Green 
River, and adjacent country, great corporations engaged in 
the logging business have numbers of employees and 
hunters engaged in killing elk to feed them, as is reported, 
and which personally I know to be true, then again it is 
evidence that there is dereliction upon the part of the 
officers appointed to protect the game. 
I do not believe in the sincerity of the ofiicers to enforce 
the game law in Uinta county, Wyo., for the following 
reasons : 
First. The parties in charge of the game protection in 
the Jackson Valley country are a small majority in favor 
of the annexation of the Teton Timber Reserve^ to the 
National Park, 
Second. That if it can be reported and shown that 
the people will not respect the law, some Federal action 
will be taken to make the annexation. 
"Third, That to enforce the law against residents will 
not coincide with political promises made, and as yet un- 
fulfilled. 
It is appreciated upon the part of the writer that the 
officers of the law and some other individuals will come 
to the defense of themselves, and thus it will be in the 
province of this writer to go into details, and make some 
of the exposures, backed by the evidence, to meet the 
requirements of the cases in view. 
Public opinion is in favor of a strict enforcement of the 
law in the Jackson Valley country, and when no discrim- 
ination is made as to person, then that law can be enforced 
and the officers will hereafter be unable to hold individuals 
responsible for placing alleged stumbling blocks in their 
way. 
In the Adams-Davis elk teeth cases, evidence can be 
had, upon inquiry. R. M. W. 
In the Mud. 
North Judson., Ind., June 8. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: A new neck of the woods this time. Right 
down among the Kankakee swamps that you have heard 
about, and perhaps been in and were glad to get out of 
again. I never was in them to hunt or camp, or play 
golf, but there are a lot of as fine fellows here as you 
ever saw who get to go and shoot a few ducks and other 
game there each fall or spring, I am told that there are 
some who went hunting in the swamps and did not return, 
and more than one faithful dog has sunk in the treacher- 
ous sand and mud peculiar to this swamp. One man who 
told me of his experience knows what it is to get. into it, 
and it might be worth repeating. 
"I had my dog, Don, with me," he said, "and we were 
out in the high grass watching some fine ducks that 
were swimming along just out of range, and after lying 
there for an hour we both started to crawl up to them. 
But in order to do this it was necessary to make a wide 
circle behind some clumps of grass, and in passing across 
some soft ground a lot of shells fell from my pocket, and 
in gathering them up I got the mud worked up, and 
when I tried to go on, found I was fast. The dog knew 
something was wrong and began to jump around near 
me, making it worse. I tried to make him be still, but my 
scolding only made him worse. After a few minutes of 
the hardest kind of work, by which I was nearly ex- 
hausted, I found I was in a pretty bad fix, and didn't 
know how I was going to get out of it. I looked at my 
gun, and seeing it just being covered with the mud, I 
thought it would be a very tough thing for me to have to 
go down into it the same way and be suffocated by 
inches. Then I grasped the gun in both hands and 
slammed it in the mud as deep as I could and pulled my- 
self out a few inches, then repeated the operation till I 
was out of the mud and on to some grass that held the 
mud together solid enough for me to rest on. The dog 
came up to me and acted like he was mad. He just 
'caved' around, barked, licked my feet and hands, lay 
down, rolled over, and tried to show in every way pos- 
sible that he knew I was out of the danger that threatened 
me a most horrible death. We got up after a half-hour's 
rest, and wasted no time looking for ducks, but went 
home as fast as we could. I have hunted in the swamps 
for ten years, and have laughed at the stories of men get- 
ting caught in them, but when I see a lot of sportsmen 
going there to hunt I always feel it my duty to tell them 
the story of my narrow escape, and caution them to be 
careful. I get laughed at, seldom thanked, and some- 
times told to mind my own business, but I feel it my 
duty, and I always try to do it." 
Such is the story of a man who loves the rod and gun 
and won't shoot a bird on the ground, nor one out of 
season. 
There are a fine lot of quail here; I hear them every 
evening as I am at my work. There are some snipe, and 
in the woods a few miles away are squirrels. Bass Lake, 
ten miles east, has good fishing, boating and camping. 
English Lake, four miles — everybody knows that place. 
Pretty good place for a sportsman to come to in any sea- 
son of the year that game or fish may be taken. There are 
three railroads here— the P., C., C. & St. L., Erie and I., 
I. & I. All lead to and from some of the finest forest 
and stream sport to be had in the State. J. B. H. 
The Yellowstone Park. 
Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyo., June 8— Editor Forest 
and Stream-: I said in my last letter that spring was here. 
I thought I was sure of it, but those coming here lately 
think I am wrong. Monday the troop of cavalry that is 
to take the place of those about to start for San Francisco 
arrived in a snowstorm. Tuesday morning the whole 
Park was white with new snow. We had had before this 
a few warm days that raised most of the streams, leading 
us to think that spring and the season of high water had 
come; but the change to cold weather and frost checked 
the melting snow until the streams are as low as usual. 
Now the Yellowstone and Madison are running quite 
clc3.r 
Crews with teams have been out, and by shoveling snow 
have gotten through to the Grand Cailon, Upper Geyser 
Basin and Yellowstone Lake. Soldiers from M Troop 
are being sent out to relieve those at winter stations. The 
men from these stations and all the two troops of the 
Fourth Cavalry now here will be on their road to San 
Francisco by July i. It will be a great change for them 
to be sent to Manila from the land of ice and snow. 
On the morning of the 7th inst. a calf elk was born at 
the Mammoth Hot Springs; the mother was one of the 
cows captured last winter. The five bulls are looking 
rather ragged, as they have just commenced to shed their 
long hair. Their horns are groAving nicely, giving promise 
of fine sets of antlers. They are now from 15 to i8in. 
long. When T saw them last they were lying down in a 
bunch, as close together as possible. They are friendly 
and kind enough to each other now that their horns are in 
velvet. Riding over Mt. Everts yesterday, horsemen look- 
ink for stock saw over fifty elk calves. Antelope are 
having their young, and mule deer will again soon. 
During the past winter— 1898-9— i5S-8in. of .snow fell at 
Mammoth Hot Springs. That is not counting any that 
fell in June of this year. 
This spring is something like that of 1880, when we did 
not have high water until in July, when the Yellowstone 
Lake was half-covered with ice on June 21. Three partie^ 
of trappers had been trying to get to the lake for a 
month. The first to reach the lake were my cousin and 
myself; we reached there over the snow on July 7, and at 
the same time the first elk came through from their winter 
range. I don't think this will be as late a season as that. 
Even now, if the roads had not been cut out wide through 
the timber so that the wind and sun chould get at the 
snow, it would have been almost impossible to have gotten 
teams through to the caiion and lake. 
The hotels will not be open until the 15th of this 
month — ^early enough, and too early for many not used to 
a cold country. 
The roads where the .snow is off are being put in good 
condition for the summer travel. As scouting parties get 
about, the loss of game last winter by starvation becomes 
better known, and I'm sorry to say most of the loss ap- 
pears to be among the young animals. E. Hofer. 
Albert G. Mann. 
Prominent in the necrological list of sportsmen for the 
year 1899 will be the name of Albert G. Mann, of Worces- 
ter, Mass. 
More than seventy-one years had been counted upon 
his rosary of life before he answered the final summons 
at his extensive and refined home in this city in the early 
morning hours of June 9. 
He was born upon a farm in Orford, N. H., July ig, 
1827, where he passed his childhood and youth until 
eighteen years old, when he came to Worcester, where 
he ever after made his home. He entered with enthusiasm 
upon his life work of quarryman, stone-cutter and con- 
tractor, and by good judgment, enterprise and unques- 
tioned integrity he achieved distinguished business and 
financial success. 
But it is of Mr. Mann as a shinnig light in the guild 
of sportsmen that I would say a word of appreciation 
and praise. Born in the early days of our country his 
early education was but of the most rudimentary charac- 
ter, but being studious and observing, and possessed of a 
very receptive mind and retentive memory, he became a 
lifelong student and attained to great proficiency in many 
things besides those pertaining more directly to his busi- 
ness. 
He was an authority on explosives, their constituent ele- 
ments and their varied combinations for different pur- 
poses and how to use them most eft'ectually. This led him 
naturally to the question of gunnery — the proper propor- 
tion and weight of different calibers of rifles — the proper 
shape, size, weight and density of bullets for different 
charges and different kinds of powder, the many and diffi- 
cult problems in the science of ballistics, which he mastered 
and gave the results to the world in the columns of various 
publications. 
In the days of long range rifle shooting, a generation 
of years ago, he was a frequent visitor at the butts, and 
his uniformly steady shooting and good scores gave him 
high place in the ranks of the best rifle shooters of our 
country. His favorite rifles for sporting as well as for tar- 
get practice were double-barreled, and were made for him 
according to his own plans and specifications by the cele- 
brated British rifle maker, Alexander Henry. 
He had hunted all the large game in all parts of this 
country, having camped and hunted from the wilderness 
of Maine in the East to the Rocky Mountains in the West. 
It was but a few short years ago that he killed his last 
moose at Reed's Machias Lake Camp in northern Aroos- 
took county, Maine, where he was planning to go again 
the coming season. 
He was a man who enjoyed his own society, a man who 
loved the solitudes for their quiet, healthful, restful pleas- 
ure; he loved nature for her variety and beauty; he loved 
the companionship of the judicious and thoughtful ; he 
courted not the society of the game hog or gambler at 
the traps. He lived a useful life and died lamented. The 
world is the better for his having lived therein , and it is 
a sad satisfaction for an old friend of many years to lay 
this humble tribute upon his new-made grave. 
Geo. McAleer. 
Game Protection Past and Present. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
As the readers of Forest and Stream would be apt to 
derive some very erronous conclusions from the article 
entitled, "Exterminatory Peregrinations," and signed 
Didymus, in your last issue, I beg to reply to the same. 
In the first place, the writer fails to state that the books 
from which he quotes were written by Coquina many 
years ago when both the conditions and the sentiment re- 
garding the killing of game were entirely dift'erent from 
those obtaining to-day. From the article referred to one 
might infer that the thmgs Didymus reports occurred last 
year instead of twenty years ago, and this manifest un- 
fairness leads me to think that Didymus has some ulterior 
motive in his attack on Mr. Shields. It is easy to take 
isolated sentences from the several books he has written 
and make out a plausible case against Mr. Shields ; but 
when it is remembered that he made trips through the 
South and West years ago in the interest of sportsmen's 
papers and collectors of specimens, and that many of the 
birds and animals he shot were mounted and placed in 
various museums, it puts a different complexion on the ex- 
periences he chronicles. Then, too, in quoting the total 
catch of fish or the amount of game killed, it might be 
proper for Didymus to have learned how much of the 
total should be charged up to Mr. Shields. Moreover, if 
hounding deer and spearing fish and killing 'possums, and 
even shooting alligators were at that time illegitimate 
features of sport, I fear many of the readers of Forest 
AND Stream must also count themselves guilty. 
I have no doubt — in fact I know — that, if given the op- 
portunity now, Mr. Shields would shoot very little game, 
for he has been for several years a most ardent advocate 
of game protection and reasonable bags. It is said that 
the difference between a man and a mule is that the man 
can change his mind but the mule can't, and if years 
ago, when the game supply seemed inexhaustible, Mr. 
Shields killed more than his share because of his oppor- 
tunities and skill, that is not a reason for robbing him 
of the credit due him for the work he has done and is 
now doing on the other side of the proposition. "Rernern- 
