^^EB. 10, igbo.) 
' fJ'OHEST AND STREAM. 
"Sort o' like a cat," Sammy answered promptly, sure 
in this particular. 
"Mebby 't Was one o' aour cats," his father suggested. 
"There's 'nough on 'em — ^the ol' maltee cat, an' the oV 
brindle Tom, an' young Tom, an' Sis's yaller kitten," 
" 'Twas bigger 'n all on 'em," said Sammy, with no 
idea of having his beast belittled. 
"What kind o' tail did he hev, an' what color was be?" 
Sam asked. 
"Oh, 't wa'n't turrible long nor turrible short, an' he 
was kinder black an' kinder yaller," said Sammy, finding 
himself driven to very uncertain ground, and feeling for 
a middle course off of it. 
"Ah-h-h !" Sammy's father said, in a tone half-derisive, 
half-reproachful, "You be'n a-yarnin' ! The' hain't no 
sech loolcin' wild crittur. A lynk's gray, an' ffOt a short 
tail." ' & J> . B 
Sammy slunk out of doors choking with mortificSi- 
lion. 
"Tattle-tale!" he blurted out, angrily to Polly, as she 
followed his retreat. "I won't never tell you nothin' again 
as long 's I live an' breathe." 
"What be we goin' tu du tu stop him tellin' such 
whoppers?" Huldah asked. 
"Oh, boys has got tu. 'Taint no more 'n the stories in 
books, an' we buy them." 
Polly judiciously held her peace concerning Peach 
Daunt. Rowland E. Robinson, 
[to be continued next week.] 
The Bird Plume BilL 
American Museum of Natural History, New York 
City, Feb. i. — Editor Forest and Stream: Under the 
I title "Plumage of Wild Birds," published in your issue 
I of Feb. 3, I find quoted a letter from Mr. Louis H. Por- 
'.ler, sent by him to the Assembly Committee on Fisheries 
.and Game. This remarkable letter relates to the bill re- 
.icently introduced bj-- Assemblyman Hallock, as an 
[amendment to the present New York State game law. 
Apparently Mr. Porter has been needlessly very much 
agitated over matters that exist exclusively in his own 
^•imagination. In regard to this proposed amendment it 
is absurd to suppose it can have an ex post facto bearing. 
If he had read the amendment a little more carefully in 
connection with the act it is intended to amend, he prob- 
ably would not have become excited over the supposed 
liability of a $50,000 fine for his collection of 2,000 bird 
I sldns as the act which this bill is intended to amend states 
I that it "does not apply to any person holding a certificate 
I under the provisions of this chapter." 
■ Furthermore, he assails Mr. Chapman as attempting 
"a crusade against amateur collectors," and for pro- 
1 posing "to make it criminal for any man to have a col- 
lection of birds' skins, unless he has a permit, which 
permits are practically controlled by the aforesaid Frank 
M. Chapman." So far as tlie last charge is concerned, 
Mr. Chapman has nothing whatever to do with grant- 
ing permits for the collection of bii'd skins, and does not 
know, as a rule, who apply for such permits, nor who 
i receive them. Under the present law for the protection 
of birds, power is vested in incorporated natural history 
•societies in the State to grant permits for the collection 
iiof birds for scientific purposes, under conditions specific- 
ally stated in the act. As an accommodation to ornithol- 
;.ogists, the American Museum of Natural History has 
' granted permits under this act, as probably have some 
_ other natural history societies in the State. When ap- 
plication for such permits are received by the museum 
authorities, proper blanks are sent in reply, for the ap- 
plicant to fill out, including a blank bond, etc. These 
blanks are filled out and returned by the applicant, and 
in case they comply with the requirements of the law a 
permit is granted, signed by Morris K. Jesup, as presi- 
dent of the American Museum of Natural History. 
These papers go through my hands in my official capac- 
ity as curator of birds in the aforesaid museum. I am 
therefore President Jesup's agent in all that relates to the 
granting of these permits, with which, as said above, 
Mr. Chapman has nothing to do. This matter of grant- 
ing permits is a troublesome duty, which is discharged 
conscientiously and purely in the interest and for the ac- 
commodation of persons who desire to form scientific 
colections of birds, their nests and eggs. In no case 
has an application for a permit been denied when con- 
forming to the requirements of the law; nor does the 
law place any limit upon the number that shall be issued; 
hence, if Mr. Porter wishes to pro^'ide himself with a 
permit, there is no reason why he should not do so, if 
his birds have not been collected in violation of law. 
In the interest of fair play and truth, I trust this ex- 
planation and statement of the facts as regards the 
issuing of permits, will be given .space in your paper, 
thereby giving as great publicity to these' statements 
as was accorded Mr. Porter's singularly inappropriate 
outburst. ^ J. A. Allen, 
Curator, Dep't Ornithology and Mammalogy. American 
Museum of Natural History. 
Englewood, N. J., Peb. i— Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your issue of Feb. 3 you pubhsh a communication 
addressed by Louis H. Porter, to the Assembly Com- 
mittee on Fisheries and Game, in which Mr. Porter 
criticizes a recently proposed amendment to section 78 
of the game laws, comments on the issuance of permits 
for collecting birds for scientific purposes, and adds 
certain remarks in regard to my attitude toward bird 
students. 
I will leave to others, better qualified than myself, the 
privilege of enlightening Mr. Porter in regard to the 
intent of the law and the conditions under which permits 
are granted, but I beg of you sufficient space to reply 
briefly to his charges against myself. For example, 
having devoted the past fifteen years to an attempt to 
advance the interests of ornithology, and having, so far 
as lay within my power, spared no effort to assist those 
desirous of obtaining a knowledge of birds, it surprises 
me not a little to be accused of making what Mr. Porter 
terms a "crusade" against bird students. It is possible 
that Mr. Porter I'efers to my endeavors to direct the 
energies of students into what are adjudged by the lead- 
ing ornithologists of the country to be the most profitable 
lines of investigation; it being appreciated by those in 
authority tliat the science of ornithology has little to gain 
and much to lose by the wholly needless duplicating of 
specimens of species which are already well known; 
while, on the other hand, there is an exhaustless and 
comparatively unworked field in the study of the living 
bird. 
Audubon, as an authority on technical ornithology, 
has been long superseded by others, but he still stands 
unequalled as a biographer of American birds; and 
why? Because most of the present-day ornithologists 
have been too occupied in collecting birds' skins to 
pay much attention to the bird itself, Mr. Porter, for 
instance, states that he has 2,000 birds' skins in his 
possession. Perhaps he will tell us in what way the 
destruction of these 2,000 birds has been of benefit to the 
science of ornithology. Fr.\nk, M. Chapman. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Mr. Louis H. Porter, whose communication appears in 
your issue of 3d inst., has taken a strangely distorted 
view of the amendment of Section 78, of the present game 
law, offered by Assemblyman Hallock, House Bill No. 
142, I therefore request sufficient space to endeavor 
to correct his vision on three points: 
1. Mr. Chapman was not the "real sponsor of the bill." 
As a matter of fact he never saw the draft of the same un- 
til it was completed and in Assemblyman Hallock' s 
possession. 
2. That "the bill is legally very weak" is a mere matter 
of opinion on the part of Mr. Porter. The bill was drawn 
by a lawyer of this city, who has had large experience in 
such matters, also in prosecutions under the game laws. 
3. There can be no possible difference of opinion that 
when a person has acquired possession of a collection of 
bird skins under the authority of a certificate, in other 
words legally, that it would be held that the certificate 
protected the possessor so long as he continued to possess 
a collection of bird skins lawfully acquired. In other 
words, should the proposed amendment be enacted, it 
could not possibly eft'ect the case cited by Mr. Porter, if 
the collection referred to was made legally. 
New York Cri v. Wm. DutgHER. 
Midwinter Bird Notes in Greater 
New York* 
With the exception of a few flocks of crossbills at 
work among the cones of our Norway spruce, and an 
occasional sprinkle of goldfinches in the rustling thickets 
of ragwood, there has_ been an unusual scarcity of mid- 
winter bird life about. The nuthatch family is an ex- 
ception, however. These quaint, fussy little fellows have 
more than held their own in numbers. I picked up one 
of the little mites the other da}', with the side of its 
tiny head crushed in, no doubt a victim of the ubiquitous 
bean-shooting boy. Our "steady company," the redhead 
woodpeckers, are still with us as usual.' It amuses me 
to watch the actions of the English sparrow that always 
attends each individual redhead, flies when he flies, be it 
never so short a distance ; alights on the ground when he 
alights; in fact, 'tis impossible for redhead to move 
without this sparrow satellite. I have noticed that, so 
long as the weather remains mild, with now and again 
a spurt of rain, or heavy fog that condenses and trickles 
down their drinking trough (a hollow in the fork of an 
old beech), so that they may always quench their thirst, 
and at times enjoy the luxury of a bath, they are sure 
to remain with us, but a pinch of frost that seals up their 
water supply drives them off. Where they go I cannot 
say, but I am sure of their return immediately a thaw 
takes place. 
These restless birds were busy all last autumn cacheing 
great stores of acorn, chestnut and mast in every hollow 
limb and crevice they could find about the woods, but 
as yet I have not seen them draw upon this store. We 
had an unusual crop of mast and nuts last season, and 
much stin remains under the trees. Here the redheads 
glean. Alighting a moment to secure an acorn or nut, 
they fl}-_ to the trees, place the nut firmly in some crack 
or crevice of limb or bark, and pound it open. When 
heavy snow cuts oft' this ground supply it may be they 
Avill use their reserve, but the open weather has not 
as yet forced them to this. I am curious to see whether 
this annual collection and storing of food is anything 
more than a mere whim on the part of the bird. More 
than once in summer I have come across a good full pint 
of sound nuts of various kinds, undisturbed till the fall 
of the dead limb, whei-e they were hidden, disclosed the 
redhead's work. But though I have seen them put the 
nuts away, and know the locality of one or two of their 
caches, I have never seen them draw from these supplies. 
There is a flock of, say, five hundred starlings that 
spend their days about the open fields in the vicinity of 
the Ocean Parkway, near Sixtieth street. They have 
been about there all autumn, and I have almost in- 
variably found a male sparrow hawk in company with 
them. Presumably, he finds their society to his taste. 
I cannot positively say he takes toll of them, but at all 
events he stays round, and I suspect he sometimes lines 
his stomach at their expense. I put up the birds near a 
hedge row the other day, and saw the hawk rise with 
them, skimming the edge of the flock as it wheeled about. 
Suddenly he droped into the grass to rise an instant 
later with a writhing field mouse in his talons. Possibly 
this was a bluff on his part to throw me off, but all the 
same if I w'ere a member of that particular family of 
starlings, I should certainly "watch out." 
I learn that in England these large bodies of starlings 
are not called flocks. They say "a murmuration ' of 
starlings." This expression seems apt to me, for every 
bird in these large gathering.? seems to be always talking 
or squeaking, making a curious jumble of sound when 
heard at a distance. 
There is a flock of about fifty meadow larks about the 
Dyker meadows Certainly your space is valuable. 
No need for your "blue pencil." I will stop right here. 
Bay RiDGB, New York City, Feb. 1. WlLMOT TOWNSEND. 
Wlience Come ihc Ctchc Skins* 
The wearing of the breasts of grebes as an ornameht 
for women's hats, capes and sacks is the revival of an old 
fashion of twenty or twenty-five years ago, when such 
use of these skins was very common. 
At a recent meeting of the Biological Society of Wash- 
ington, Mr. Vernon Bailey, of the Biological Survey, 
talked interestingly, explaining where these grebe 
skins are collected. He stated that grebes are 
killed by thousands while breeding on the lakes of 
eastern Oregon and California. The three species chiefly 
destroyed are the Western pied-billed and eared grebes, 
and all three are found breeding among the tules on 
the shallow waters of Tule Lake in California. Here the 
hunters shoot them during the nesting season. When the 
birds are killed the skin is stripped from the breast, dried 
and shipped to San Francisco. Each skin brings from 
twenty to fifty cents, according to quality, and Mr. Bailey 
states that the men engaged in this shameful work are 
making from twenty to thirty dollars a day. 
At the present rjite of destruction these birds will not 
last long, and many people will join in the question raised 
by Mr. Bailey, "Cannot the grebes be protected?" 
Bluch'itds in New Jersey. 
AsBURY Park, N. J., Feb. 3,— A week ago last Sun- 
day whfle strollmg along the edge of a woods here in 
central Jersey I thought I heard the notes of a blue- 
bird, and going in the direction of the sound saw four 
of them; and also the past Sunday, while out for a walk 
off some two miles to the west of Asbury Park, I came 
across six of them in a little copse of trees in a ravine at 
the head of Deal Lake. They seemed to be plump, lively 
and happy. Yes, and they were pretty, too. Isn't a 
bluebird a lovely little thing, though? 
Although that species has seemed to be very scarce dur- 
ing the past few years, it evidently is on the increase, and 
soon will be as common as it was many years ago 
A. L. L. 
"That reminds me." r 
That Old Bear Story. 
Ramsay, S. C, Jan. 2g.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
The query of J. P. T., followed by that of C. H. Ames, 
together with the fact that there seems no answer forth- 
coming, sets me to wondering if the writings of Mayne 
Reid are becoming obsolete. I am not acquainted with 
the "progressive" reader, but if the gentlemen will pro- 
cure (from any well equipped bookstore) a copy of 
the "Hunter's Feast" and turn to the chapter entitled 
"A Battle with Grizzly Bears," they will find the story in 
the original. To me there is a charm in Mayne Reid 
which none of our later day writers of books of ad- 
venture quite possess. Though partaking largely of the 
"bathos" of Frank Forrester and often of an improb- 
able romanticism, there is yet permeating all a flavor of 
the forest and prairie which no one who loves these 
things can read without a thrill. I believe the writings 
of Mayne Reid in their day sent more young men West 
than ever did Horace Greely's famous advice. 
R. B. F. 
Wabasha, Minn., Feb. 3.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your editorial in the last Forest and Stream in regard 
to Mayne Reid and his writings, struck a sympathetic 
chord in me that vibrated all through the reading of it; 
for many were the days I spent pouring over his books 
years ago in old New England, reading some of them 
several times over. And as I write now, the vivid remem- 
brance of the "chain of destruction" in the "Boy 
Hunters," as it impressed me when a youth of twelve 
years, and as it comes to my mind with numerous other 
graphic descriptions of wild life and scenes, has a life- 
long ^realistic imagery. Far from being a "Forgotten 
Hero" he is enshrined in the memory with a halo of glory 
encircling the days when I caught big trout, shot squirrels 
and .set traps in the Old Granite and Bay States. A new 
edition of fifteen volumes of his writings appeared in 
1868, which I think was the last published, but were they 
in existence to day, that nothing of that class could be pro- 
cured that would make more entertaining reading for 
boys is the humble opinion of Wapahusa. 
And here is the story itself, as we find it in a twenty- 
fice-cent edition of the"Hunters' Feast," of wbi-h it 
forms the twenty-sixth chapter, and is entitled 
A Battle with Grizzly Bears. 
An adventure with grizzly bears which had befallen 
the Captain was next related. He had been traveling with 
a .strange party— the "scalp hunters"— in the mouistains 
near Santa Fe, when they were overtaken by a sudden 
and heavy fall of snow that rendered further progress im- 
possible. The cafion, a deep valley in which they had en- 
camped, was diflicult to get through at any time, but now 
the path, on account of the deep soft snow, was rendered 
impassable. When morning broke thev found themselves 
fairly "in the trap." 
"Above and below the valley was choked with snow five 
fathoms deep. Vast fissures— tarra/ico^— were filled with 
the drift; and it was perilous to attempt penetrating in 
either direction. Two men had already disappeared. 
"On each side of our camp rose the walls of the canon, 
almost vertical, to the height of a hundred feet. These 
we might have climbed had the weather been soft, for the 
rock was a trap formation, and offered numerous seams 
and ledges ; but now there was a coating of ice and snow 
upon them that rendered the ascent impossible. The 
ground had been frozen hard before the storm came on, 
although it was now freezing no longer, and the snow 
would not bear our weight. All our efforts to get out of 
the valley proved idle ; and we gave them over, yielding 
ourselves, in a kind of reckless despair, to wait for— we 
scarce koew vfhat. 
