Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1900, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy, ) 
Six Months, $2. [ 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1900. 
No. 
VOL. -LIV.— No. 12. 
346 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 which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not bt re- 
garded. While 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 
p^iticulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iv. 
GULL DESTRUCTION. 
Mk. Swain's article on the destruction of gulls in 
Maine, published last week, gave some idea of the rapidity 
with which these birds are disappearing on that coast. 
Gulls are not only shot by Indians and white men, but 
also are caught by setting baited hooks for them, so that 
now, of the native gulls, scarcely any are left. 
Up to last year gulls used to congregate in the river 
near Eastport, being attracted there by the refuse of the 
sardine factories, but last year the Long Island feather 
factory men hired the Quoddy Indians to shoot the gulls, 
and they destroyed them by hundreds. The same thing 
is likely to take place this year. 
Not only are the gulls killed in great numbers, but their 
nesting places are broken up by continual robbery, so 
that few or no places are now known where there can be 
said to be colonies of either gulls or terns. On the 
Island of Grand Menan, in Canada, a great many still 
breed, and along the Maine coast there are many rocky 
islands and ledges where some gulls and terns still lay, 
but usuall}^ only a few together, and each little group is 
likely to be robbed several times in the year. 
Efforts made to protect them at these various points 
have not been successful, and the number of people in- 
terested in saving the few which remain is so small that 
as 3'et they have been able to make no impression on 
public opinion. 
After all, the responsibility for the slaughter of these 
and other beautiful birds all along our coast is largely in 
New York and near it, where their plumage is prepared 
for consumption; though the fishermen, commercial eggers 
and so-called scientific egg collectors, of course, do their 
share of the destructive work. 
Last week the New York Senate passed the Hallock 
bill, but not as it went to it from the Assembly. It 
was amended in the Senate so as to give protection to 
gulls and terns, a change which is very gratifying. The 
fate of the bill in the Assembly has yet to be decided. 
NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
- It is hoped that the bill now before the Legislature 
authorizing the City Board of Estimate to appropriate 
$300,000 for the erection of additional buildmgs in the 
Zoological Park, and the further beautifying and making 
it accessible to the public, will before long pass the As- 
sembly. If it does so it will no doubt become law, since 
the Governor and the Mayor of New York are both be- 
lieved to approve it. 
The great success of the New York Zoological Society 
in raising money for its gardens and in spending it to the 
best advantage at Bronx Park is thoroughly appreciated 
by the public, which realizes what has been done in the 
iast two years for that piece of waste land and under- 
stands to whom the change is due. Great as is the work 
already accomplished, a vast deal more remains to be 
clone. 
Naturally, the wish of the Society was to begin its col- 
lections with North American species, and it has done this 
so well that visitors to the Park may now see there many 
of our best-known and largest native wild animals. But 
there are as yet no quarters for the tropical animals, which 
in most gardens form the greatest attraction of all. Lions 
and tigers and elephants and monkeys are dear to the 
popular heart, but such creatures cannot be kept in our 
climate unless they are provided with quarters which shall 
be artificially warmed during the greater part of the year. 
The money which it is hoped the Legislature may author- 
ize the Board of Estimate to furnish for the park will for 
the most part be expended in the construction of houses 
for these animals, which it is now desired to build. 
It would be obviously unfair to expect the Society to 
raise by subscription the great sums which will be required 
to completely equip and stock the largest zoological park 
|n the world; tlie more so, since admission to this park 
is practically free, and the Society has therefore no source 
of revenue whatever. The money which it secures must 
be the free gift of people who are sufficiently interested 
to make absolute donations to this good object. It -is not 
advanced in any sense as an investment or with any hope 
of return. 
The active members of the board of managers — ^that is 
to say, the executive committee, and especially its chair- 
man, Mr. H. F. Osborn— have devoted to the work of 
planning for the park and carrying out the plans which 
they have made, a great deal of time and labor, for which 
they have received no reward except the satisfaction of 
having done the best they could with the material that they 
had to work with. These efforts they will no doubt con- 
tinue with an eye single to the good of the public, for 
whose benefit after all the park must be managed. 
No great work of this kind is ever carried on without 
more or less criticism, which is often unintelligent, be- 
cause based on imperfect knoAvledge of the conditions 
which exist, but in a case like this, where the object is in 
reality a great charity, served freely from interest in the 
work, it is unfortunate that such uninformed criticism 
should be made. 
Besides the money asked for from the city, the Zoolog- 
ical Society is continuing its efforts to raise additional 
money by private subscription and to add to its roll of 
annual members. That roll should be much larger than 
it is. The work of the Society appeals with special force 
to readers of Forest and Stream, and we urge those 
who know of this Society only by hearsay to visit the park 
and investigate the workings of the Society. 
THE NEW YORK COMMISSION. 
Two weeks ago we announced the nomination by the 
Governor of five members of the Fish, Game and Forest 
Commission, but as only one of the five was known to us 
we did not comment on the qualifications of the others for 
the positions. 
Since that time, by inquiry among their fellow citizens, 
we have learned more about some of the nominees, and 
are glad to saynhat most of what we have heard about 
them is satisfa&tsary, and has convinced us that Gov. 
Roosevelt's nominees ought to be confirmed by the Sen- 
ate. This was done on Tuesady, March 20, 
Mr. Austin Wadsworth has been attacked on the ground 
that he once violated the game law by. killing a quail in 
close time. It appears, however, that the quail was killed 
in the open season, but by one of the special provisions 
which do .so much to render our game laws abortive Liv- 
ingston county had been exempted from the operation of 
the act. Mr. Wadsworth, knowing that it was the open 
season for quail, but being ignorant of that provision in 
the law which made it close time for Livingston county, 
accepted an invitation to shoot on the grounds of a friend 
who^ had stocked his land with quail. He knew nothing 
of his violation of the law until some time afterward, when 
he was down in Florida, he received notice that the charge 
of violating the law had been brought against him. 
Mr. De Witt C. Middleton is a politician whose life has 
been spent in Watertown, N. Y. His fellow citizens say 
of him that an honorable and successful record is behind 
him, and the future is not likely to be different. He is a 
man of ability, considerate, careful and conservative, a 
good business man, likely to be judicial and careful, and 
to act from broad motives. He is not fond of sport, but is 
extremely interested in the forests, and his integrity and 
efficiency are absolutely to be depended on. 
Mr. Delos Mackey was vouched for by various mem- 
bers of the State Game and Fish Protective League. 
Mr. Percy Landsdowne is highly esteemed in Buffalo, 
where he is a lawyer. He has long been secretary of the 
Erie County Fish and Game Protective Association, has 
been a director of the New York State Protective Associa- 
tion, and was one of the incorporators of the New York 
State Fish, Game and Forest League. He was recom- 
mended by the Buffalo Societv of Natural Sciences, the 
Buffalo Audubon Club, the local Society for the 
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and by many citizens. 
He is well spoken of in Buffalo and has the reputation 
of being a man of energy. 
Mr. Woods, as has already been stated, has been counsel 
for the Jamaica oystermen. His friends state that he has 
made a study of forest preservation, water supply and the 
like. 
No one who knows Gov. Roosevelt or his interest in the 
questions which come within the province of the Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission will doubt that he has made 
an earnest effort to secure for these places the best men 
possible. There has been some hostile criticism of the 
appointees on the ground that all are not sportsmen, but 
it is quite conceivable that an able business man might 
make a more efficient member of the board than the most 
enthusiastic sportsman, whose qualifications in other re- 
spects were not equally good. The work of the new Com- 
mission will be watched with great interest. 
YALE SCHOOL OF FORESTRY. 
The gratifying announcement is made that Yale Uni- 
versity has just received a gift of $150,000 for the found- 
ing of a school of forestry, the headquarters of which for 
the present will be in the house of the late Prof. Marsh 
on Prospect street, in New Haven. Mr. Henry S. Graves, 
of the Class of '92, will be the director of the school. 
The gift in question is due to the generosity of Mr. and 
Mrs. James W. Pinchot, of New York, and their two 
sons, Gifford and Amos R. E., both of whom are Yale men. 
Mr. Gifford Pinchot is United States Forester, and his 
services to this cause are sufficiently well known to the 
public. Interested in forestry, he went to Europe shortly 
after graduation, spent some time there in the study of 
practical forestry according to the best German methods, 
and on returning to this country undertook the practice 
of forestry as a profession. One of his first pieces of work 
to attract public attention was the laying out of Mr. Geo. 
W. Vanderbilt's estate, Biltmore, in North Carolina. Sub- 
sequently he traveled extensively through the West, study- 
ing the forest conditions there; became a member of the 
Forestry Commission nominated by the National Academy 
of Sciences, and later was appointed United States For- 
ester, in which office he is doing more to popularize 
forestry among the American land owners and to make 
them understand what it means than any one in America 
has ever done. 
It is a peculiarly fitting and graceful thing that this gener- 
ous gift to the Yale University should come from a 
family whose influence on forestry matters in this coun- 
try has been so great and so beneficial. In addition to the 
gift of the large sum named, use is given to the University 
for a term of years of a large tract of forest land in 
Pike county, Pa., where the practical workings of eco- 
nomic foresty may be demonstrated — as well as the use 
of buildings in this locality which may serve as a local 
headquarters for the school. 
It is not easy to overestimate the importance of this 
gift, the influence of which on the public mind will be 
great. The State of New York has already established a 
school of forestry in connection with Cornell University, 
and as other such school's spring up this art will at last 
take its proper place in the popular estimation. Ten or 
fifteen years ago a few persons in this country who were 
working in behalf of better forest protection saw little 
prospect that any intelligent interest would ever be felt 
in it. The change that has taken place within these few 
years is astounding. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
The notion used to be held, and it prevails in some 
quarters to-day. that no very considerable degree of 
capacity was required in a warden. Indeed, many per- 
sons, and among them politicians with importunate and 
embarrassing followers for whom berths must be found, 
held that almost any one who was not good for anything 
else would make a good enough warden ; and in the early 
days, in consequence of this mistaken notion, some truly 
wonderful specimens of incompetence and worthlessness 
were foisted upon the service. It has now come to be 
recognized that the office is one which demands equip- 
ment of high grade. The ideal game warden must be a 
man of brains, common sense, intelligence and executive 
ability. But individuals possessing these qualifications 
can earn in other fields much more than the paltry salary 
paid a warden, and the practical result is that if such 
competent persons are found to take the office, they yet 
cannot afford to devote their whole time to it, nor so much 
time as is demanded. A warden should be paid so 
well that if in order to keep his district clean he must 
devote 365 days and nights in the year to the task his 
salary will enable htm to do it. Until we shall adopt the 
principle that the laborer is worthy of his hire, we shall 
have a system of ' only half-way protection. 
