Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1900, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, $4 a Year. 10 Crs. a Copy. ) 
Six, Months, $2. \ 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 1900. 
( VOL. LI v.— No. 22. 
I No. 846 Broadway, New York 
A PRICE ON THEIR HEADS. 
One of the most interesting bird phenomena on this 
continent is the survival of the heath hen on Martha's 
Vineyard, Massachusetts. The heath hen is the Eastern 
form of the grouse family answering to the pinnated 
grouse of the West. Formerly its range extended over 
Martha's Vineyard, Long Island, New Jersej% eastern 
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky and elsewhere. • From 
all this country, except the Massachusetts island, it has 
l)een long since exterminated by the growth of settlements 
and tlie relentless demands of the game market. It 
lingered on Long Island in the first quarter of the cen- 
tury until a price was put on its head by the gourmands 
of New York city; and here there was afforded in its 
fate an example of a species obliterated by the market 
shooter. This is a matter of history. In Wilson's "Amer- 
ican Ornithology" is quoted a letter by Dr. Samuel L. 
Mitchill, of New York, who writes of the bird which had 
from time immemorial inhabited the peculiar tract on 
Long Island known as the Brushy Plains. This was a 
region between forty and fifty miles in length and from 
six to eight miles wide, in the district occupied by the 
towns of Oyster Bay, Huntington, Islip, Smithtown and 
Brookhaven. As early as 1791 the New York Legislature 
enacted a law to protect the birds from April i to Oct. 5. 
But shooting human nature in those days was very much 
like the human nature which shoots now; and the law, 
wliile most wise and excellent in intent, did not then en- 
force itself any more than our statutes of to-day prove to 
be automatic in their operation of restraint. Dr. Mitchill 
a\-ers that notwithstanding the protection of the law, it 
was very common to disregard it, and that the gun was 
fired with impunity for weeks before the time prescribed 
in the act. There was formed by the sportsmen of the 
day an association imder the title of the Brush Club, Avith 
the express intention of enforcing the law, but little real 
advantage was gained by this movement, and at the time 
the Doctor records that the statute was of small practical 
benefit toward the preservation of the diminishing species. 
Abundant explanation of this condition is found in the 
price paid for the birds in New York city. Whereas at the 
opening of the century a brace of grouse could be bought 
for a dollar, the price had been advanced at the time Dr. 
Mitchill wrote, in 1810, to from $3 to $5 a pair. These 
prices he thought indicated a depreciation of money and 
ihc luxury of eating. "They prove at the same time," he 
added, "that grouse are becoming rare, and this fact is 
admitted by every man who shoots them, whether for 
pleasure or profit." If the Forest and Stre.vm Platform 
Plank had been put into operation one hundred years 
ago. we might still have on Long Island a remnant at least 
of the heath hen. 
The same incitement of pecuniary advantage which led 
to the killing of the last heath hen of Long Island now 
promises to do away with the little remnant left on 
Martha's Vineyard; for here too a price has been put on 
the head of the rare species. It is believed by those who 
are cognizant of the conditions that the number of birds 
remaining may be estimated at not more than half a hun- 
dred ; and it is obvious that the possessor of an ornith- 
ological collection would be eager to add to his specimens 
a Martha's Vineyard heath hen. In fact, there are col- 
lectors who have sought such specimens 'and have hired 
natives of the island to secure them, paying $25 or $30 or 
even higher prices for single specimens. It is needless to 
say that with such a reward to encourage the Martha's 
Vineyard native, who knows the haunts of the bird and can 
pot a specimen at will, no effective device can be invented 
for the preservation of the species. We may enact the 
most stringent laws and provide the most perfect 
theoretical scheme of protection; but so long as it shall 
be true that a heath hen in the hand will be worth $25 
to its captor, the birds will be taken to the very last 
one. On Martha's Vinej^ard, as in the earlier period on 
Long Island, a price has been put on the head of the heath 
hen. and its early doom, is assured. In the one case 
K was for gastronomic purposes, and in the other it is 
for scientific purposes. One may be a loftier end than 
•:he other,. btit the extinction of bird life wrought hy^eash' 
IS equally lamentable and equalh' irreparable.. .Certainly 
It is not to the credit of the ornithologists of America 
that responsibility for the extinction of a form of bird 
life is thas to be laid at their doors. 
the native heath hen aiid filll it so well as that which was 
indigenous to the soil. A few years ago the sportsmen of 
Massachusetts imported from the West a number of sharp- 
tailed grouse and pinnated grouse and freed them in east- 
ern sections of the State which appeared best adapted to 
their habits and support. The enterprise was carried out 
under favorable conditions and intelligently, 'but the an- 
ticipations of the projectors were not filled. For a year or 
two subsequently stray birds were heard of here and 
there, one in Rhode Lsland, one in New Hampshire and 
One, we believe, in Connecticut, but the entire lot of im- 
ported stock appears to have vanished utterly from the 
earth. 
There is more wisdom in protecting a native species 
than in endeavoring to make good its loss with birds that 
are foreign to the soil. This consideration is one which 
urges the protection of the Massachusetts ruffed grouse, 
a purpose which is specifically sought to be obtained by 
the new law which forbids the sale of the birds at any 
time. The snaring of rttffed grouse in Massachusetts 
has almost been broken up by the persistent and intelligent 
efforts of the Massachusetts Rod and Gun Club. This 
organization, which is composed largely of Boston sports- 
men, was established for business purposes, and while it 
fills no large figure in the press nor in publicity, it has 
done and is doing a work of incalculable benefit. It em- 
ploys detectiA'es who are continually engaged in a cam- 
paign of inquiry, detection and the apprehension of cul- 
prits. It enforces the law, and in this way is compelling 
respect for the statute and making the provisions of the 
law of some effect. Throughout large sections of Massa- 
chusetts where snaring was former!}^ common and was 
conducted without interference or fear of punishment, the 
practice is now almost unknown. It has been stamped out 
bj' the effect-ive work of the Rod and Gun Club. 
the volume is as great as it ever was. Old Faithful still 
maintains the prestige of its name in frequency and flow; 
and while Beehive is less frequent in eruption than it 
used to be, others in the immediate neighborhood are more 
active. Geyser action on the shores of the Yellowstone 
Lake is more vigorous than it was some years, ago. Mud 
Geyser has shown more violence and power in the last 
few years than at any previous time since its discovery. 
The springs on Sulphur Mountain and the Paint Pots 
show no perceptible diminution. The Mammoth Hot 
Springs show more change than any other feature, but 
while the springs on one side are dying out, those on 
the other are increasing, and it would be difficult to say 
on which side the balance lies. 
Thus throughout the Park while some springs die 
out others take their places, and a constant change is going 
on ; so that while by taking into consideration only one 
side, it might be possible to make out a case for the de- 
cadence of the phenomena, one who was intent upon 
proving the opposite would find quite as much to sub- 
stantiate a conclitsion that the thermal energy is in- 
creasmg. 
The phenomena noted by Capt. Chittenden are in keep- 
ing with the many evidences visible throughout the Park 
geyser region of the alternations of increase and diminu- 
tion of the activity of springs old and new. For, as one 
may pitch his tent beneath the shade of trees growing 
from external geyser cones, so here and there are new 
geysers equal in size and activity to the old. To-day, as in 
the past, with these local, fluctuations, the Yellowstone 
Park is holding its own as a wonderland, and it is now as 
well worth visiting as ever before. 
There is Tiq Other .species which cox\]4 take the plgce of 
THE YELLOWSTONE IS NOT DEGENERATING. 
There was recently published in a French scientific 
paper a statement by a scientist of Paris who had visited 
the Yellowstone National Park that the geysers were 
rapidly approaching extinction. The views and conclu- 
sions of the French alarmist have been translated and 
widely copied in this country, and have created an im- 
pression that the Park was losing soine of the most in- 
teresting of its attractions. In response to this, Capt. 
Hiram H. Chittenden, the superintendent of the Park, has 
written to the New York Tribune an article in which he 
controverts the conclusions of the French writer and con- 
tends that the phenomena upon which his opinion was 
based bear out no such apprehension as to the decadence . 
of geyser flow. One of the instances cited by the French- 
man was that of the Roaring Mountain, which because 
he did not hear it roar he counted as one of the attractions 
which had now come to belie its name. As a matter of 
fact, Capt. Chittenden points out, the name was given 
to the hill by some enthusiastic explorer^ who happened 
to visit it when there was an excessive escape of steam, 
though it is doubtful if, within the last fifteen or twenty 
years, any one else has heard it roaf any more than it does 
now. 
The article cites the Growler as one of the steam vents 
which are diminishing in power, whereas the fact is that 
in the last ten years it has quadrupled, as is demonstrated 
by the great destruction going on in the surrounding 
trees; Capt. Chittenden points out that there are several 
acres of ground around this spring on which the trees 
have been killed during the last six years; indeed, the 
Government has in recent years been compelled to change 
its road because of the outbreak of new springs and 
geysers of great energy and power near the Growler. The 
entire Norris Geyser basin is steadily increasing in 
activity. 
iThe old Fountain Geyser in the Lower Firehole basin, 
which is named by the French visitor as another extinct • 
vent, has been supplanted by a new geyser which appear-ed ■ 
siniultaneously with 'the disappe^-rance of the old. The; 
Great. I'ounitain Geyser displays the same activity that was ; . 
described by Fol-som in 1869; and while it -is true that the; 
' Excelsior Geyser has been active but two 6t three; times!- 
sin.ce the discovery of the region, one prqbable explanation ■ 
of this is found in the fact tha.t at the time of its last 
eruption it burst through the rim, which separated it 
from the Firehole River, and by ' lowering the level of 
the pool several f^et gave a relief of pressure which may 
accotint for it? fa'lwre to discharge in recent years, tWigl^ 
SNAP SHOT. 
The question of the date of the extermination of the 
moose in New York which has recently come up in the 
columns of Forest and Stream is not an unfamiliar 
one, but it is always interesting. The account of what 
was probably the last moose killed in New York was 
printed in Forest and Stream with considerable detail 
nearly twenty-six years ago, and next week we shall repub- 
lish this account, together with certain additional material, 
which appeared on the same subject somewhat later. The 
evidence goes to show that this last moose was a cow 
killed on the Marion River near Raquette Lake, and that 
two guides and two Philadelphia sportsmen. 'took part in 
the killing. Previous to this time, moose had been scarce 
in the Adirondacks for many years, but they were killed 
from time to time, and three killed in the summer of 
1861, all in the vicinity of Raquette Lake, seem to have 
been the last of the race there. All this happened nearly 
forty years ago, and in that time the moose has been an 
tmknown animal in this region, ejccept for the few at- 
tempts made to reinti^oduce them in private parks. The 
earlier efforts were failures, but we are told that those 
made more recently have been attended with better suc- 
cess. At the same time the moose is reported never to do 
so well under fence as does the elk. 
The Lacey bill was approved by the President on Friday 
of last week, and is now the law of the land. We have 
already described it as one of the most notable steps in 
game protective legislation in this country, and the benefits 
which may result from the operation of the law are past 
computation. We count the provision which relates to the 
interstate transportation of game in violation of the laws 
of a State the most imporant feature of "the new law. It 
is in keeping with the tendency of the times which is to 
disregard State boundaries in bringing to justice offenders 
against the game laws. The old notion that one might kill 
game in a State and then make off home with his illicit 
booty received a severe shock last week when Secretary 
Kalbfus, of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, appeared 
in Mt. Vernon, N. Y., armed with a writ of extradition 
for a number of gunners of that place who had attempted 
to carry out of Pennsylvania game in violation of the law. 
This was not the first instance of following game law 
violators to their homes in other States, but it is one of 
the most notable, and the warning contained in it cannot 
fail to be of the most salutary effect - 
The Lacey law does not concern itself with the whole 
question of game preservation, and its enactment does not 
mean that the problems we have been contending with are 
henceforward to be no longer perplexing. This piece 
national legislation is t^ot a panacea. 
