June 9, igoo.J 
FOREST - AND STREAM, 
449 
fortunate selection of Representative Harry Draper Hunt 
as a member of the Committee on Fisheries and Game. 
But even if, by accident or untoward events, our bil) 
should fail this year, the sportsmen of the State have it 
in their power to make that defeat as useful to their cause 
as was the defeat of the patriots at Bunker Hill to the 
cause of American independence. 
The following names were added to our list by unani- 
mous election: Messrs. Louis E. P. Smith, Boston; 
Nathaniel LeRoy, Boston; Howard Marston, Boston; 
Henry F. Libby, D. D. S., Boston; H. A. Pratt, North 
Middleboro; Heman S. Fay, Marlborough; Leonard C. 
Hewson, Quincy; A. C. Sylvester, North Attleboro: J. E. 
Tweedy, North Attleboro. My observation is that those 
of our members who read your valuable paper regularly 
are very sure to become our most interested workers in 
the cause of protection. They are not the men who 
attend a meeting now and then just for the sake of 
passing a pleasant evening with friends about the social 
board, which is all well enough in its way, but they learn 
by reading your pages that there is work to be done of a 
serious and important character, and they do not hesi- 
tate to "put a shoulder to the wheel." We want more 
men of that stamp in our Association. 
You would hardly believe it possible that many well- 
informed citizens are wholly ignorant as to what our 
Association stands for. 
"What is your Association?" is a question frequently 
asked. "How can any one become a member?" is some- 
times the query. Will you kindly say that any reputable 
sportsman who will send his name and address to the 
secretary will receive a call from him, or, if not a Bos- 
tonian, a written statement of what the requirements for 
membership are. Last year this Association liberated fifty 
dozen quail in about thirty different localities. It caused 
to be put up 3,500 posters of the game laws, one in every 
post-office, one in each of 300 railroad stations of the 
Consolidated R. R. — the only road whose management 
consented to receive them — and many hundred were sent 
to various clubs and to individuals who applied for them. 
In addition to these, 600 copies of abstracts of the game 
laws for pocket use were sent to persons who made ap- 
plication for them. The Association is thus doing a great 
educational work. 
As your readers already know, it labors for improved 
legislation and more thorough enforcement of the existing 
laws. For twenty-six years it has worked vigorously to 
improve the fish and game supply and prevent the ex- 
termination of any species of song, insectivorous and 
game birds or of fish. Henry H. KiMB-A.r.L, Sec'y- 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Testing Firearms in Liege. 
Consul Alfred A. Winslow sends to the State Depart- 
ment from Liege, Belgium, an interesting account of the 
firearm testing. He writes : The Government testing of 
all firearms manufactured in Belgium is of more im- 
portance than is generally recognized at first thought, for 
It does away almost entirely with accidents caused by the 
bursting of guns in the hands of sportsmen, and prevent^ 
m.anufacturers imposing dangerous and worthless guns on 
the public. The test of the cheap double-barrel breech- 
loading shotgun manufactured in Belgium and sold in 
the United States at from $10 to $12 is just as thorough 
and complete as that of the one that sells for $150, and 
the same is true of all the guns made in this country. 
Liege being the leading firearm.s manufacturing city of 
the world, it has the most extensive as well as the most 
complete proving station. The Government has provided 
veri' strict rules and regulations to govern it, and the 
director, Mr. Jules Polain — to whom I am indebted for 
much of the information given in this report — is verj' 
jealous of its reputation. 
The law of the land makes it a crime to sell, offer for 
.sale or to be found in possession of a gun, pistol or any 
kind of firearm not bearing the proper Government test 
marks, or a gun of a different caliber than that stamped 
on the barrel; the fine is not less than 50 francs ($9.65) 
nor more than 100 francs ($19.30), and the arm in ques- 
tion is confiscated. 
It is also a crime severely punishable for any one to 
put any testing marks on firearms, or even to mark the 
caliber, to add the words "choke bored," or anything of a 
similar character. 
Single-barrel muzzleloading shotguns are tested but 
once, while a double-barrel is tested twice. A single- 
barrel breecliloading shotgun is tested twice, while a 
double-barrel is tested three times. The guns having 
more than one test have the barrels tested before they 
are fastened together, and again when breechblock is 
finished. In all cases at least double the usual charge 
of powder is used, and that of an extra fine quality, which 
is carefully tested three times each week; and one-third 
more .shot is used than ordinarily. 
The loss by testing varies frOm I to 5 per cent. ; the 
largest percentage of loss is in the higher priced and 
lighter guns. The same quality of steel is used for all 
barrels, but the difference comes in the workmanship and 
weight. 
The cost of testing is paid by the manufacture)-, and is 
T franc (19.3 cents) for the three tests. 
To give an idea of the growth of the firearms industry 
,m Liege, I note the total number of tests made at the prov- 
ing station for the past three years : In 1897 there were 
T.712,800: in 1898, 1.968.708. and in 1899, 2,238,326, show- 
ing in two years an increase of 525.526 tests. 
The gun barrels bursted at the testing station burst 
at different points along the barrel; but I am informed 
that it is most common near the breech. Some of the 
barrels are badly demoralized, while others are only 
slightly damaged - 
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i REPORT YOUR LUCK | 
I With Rod and Gun | 
i To FOREST AND STREAM, | 
= New York City= = 
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Illinois Game Law Questions. 
Chicago^ 111., May 25. — State Game Commissioner 
Harry W. Loveday, of this city, recently gave me a look 
at a lot of correspondence ,which he had just received 
from his deputies at different points all over the State. 
Mr, Loveday has asked these deputies what they think of 
the new law, what would probably be the local opinion in 
regard to a law prohibiting spring shooting and what were 
their impressions in regard to the present game supply 
compared to that of earlier times. The answers con- 
stitute a considerable volume of correspondence, and the 
bulk of the writers appear to be satisfied with the present 
law and in favor of a still wider application of the 
license idea, most of them thinking there should be a 
resident shooting license, so that no man might go afield 
without carrying his license with him. The consensus of 
opinion seems to be that the local license should cost 
$1.50 to $2, 
Naturally there is great reason for the deputy wardens 
to favor a license clause, because certainly if any class of 
men in the world have ever been underpaid it has been 
these same deputies. There can be no position more 
thankless than that of the local warden who is asked to 
make arrests in the locality where he is known, and who 
in return for. such unpleasant work gets practically no 
pay, and abundance of nothing except abuse and ill will. 
Many of the deputies complain that they are obliged to 
pay out of their own pockets in traveling expenses more 
than they can ever get back in fines. Unless supported by 
the sentunent of an entire community, there are but few 
wardens who last long in this sort of work. As they see 
under an extension of the license idea the possibility of 
a fund which would pay them for their work, it does not 
take them long to figure out that they would be better off 
under a stiffer license law. No doubt they would per- 
sonally. Whether the entire State would be better off 
must remain to be seen. 
There is matter of considerable surprise in the very 
common reply from the deputies that they think there 
ought to be a law stopping spring shooting. _ This is 
something new in Illinois, and one finds it difficult to 
believe that there has been such a change in sentiment as 
this would indicate. Commissioner Loveday states that 
there may possibly be a movement to secure a bill pro- 
hibiting spring shooting at the next session of the Legis- 
lature. 
In regard to the supply of game in Illinois, the reports 
of the deputies differ. It would appear that in the 
upper portions of the State the game birds are growing 
scarcer, whereas in the southern section the game supply 
is holding its own or increasing. The non-resident license 
law is accredited with this increase, since it is thought to 
stop something of the tide of reckless shooters from St. 
Louis and other outside points. 
The deputy at Hinsdale, in upper Illinois, says that 
both the song birds and game birds are going fast. The 
report from Alton says that game is on the increase. The 
deputy at Batavia says there are more chickens than for 
four vears past. At Elgin game is said to be increasing. 
At Jerseyville, far down in Illinois, the deputy, Moses 
Collenberger, says there is some game, but there would 
be more if the gun license were passed. Mr. Collenberger 
feelingly says that he does not care for his job unless he 
can be paid a salary. Much the same .story comes from 
Evansville and Piano, whose deputies also favor a home 
license on the gun. 
Among the above reports there are instances of many 
arrests and convictions for violations of the game law. 
Thus on May 6 Harry Grossett, of De Kalb county, was 
fined $15 and costs for shooting plover out of season. 
The Boto Bear Coontry Gone. 
Readers of the Forest and Stream may perhaps re- 
member the story of Bobo's bear country down in Mis- 
sissippi. Five years ago this was one of the biggest and 
wildest pieces of- wilderness in the United States. For 
nearly fifty miles in any direction there was not a human 
liabitation. Yet all this was one of the best hardwood 
comitries in the world, and it was not to endure as a 
wilderness. Some time ago the timber cutters began their 
work. This past week the lumbering firm of Geo. T. 
Houston & Co., of Chicago, bought of the Illinois Central 
R. R. a tract of land seventy miles long and from eight 
to twenty miles, wade, situated in Sharkey and Washing- 
ton counties, and on the Sunflower and Yazoo rivers. 
The price paid was over $1,000,000, and what the tract 
will vield in oak. ash. cypress, etc., is almost beyond 
estimate. There is no richer soil on earth than this, and 
there is an enormous fortune to be made out of this opera- 
tion in timber farms. This ends the Bobo bear country, 
which within a decade will be a thing of the past. Two 
branches of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R, are now 
being extended into the property, and saw mills will soon 
begin their work. This is the way the linnting grounds 
of America are going. 
He Lent a Hand. 
A-mong the persons at Washington who have been use- 
ful during this session of Congress in measures interest- 
ing to Western sportmen. there should not be forgotten 
Mr. R. F. Bishop, son of Congressman Bishop,_ of Michi- 
gan. This young man is not a Congressman himself, but 
is of the House Library, and it is he who has been the 
practical emissary of the spot, who has done the fatigue 
work of looking up records, documents, etc., in the Min- 
nesota Park work. Mr. Bishop ought some day to go 
out to that park and see some of the things which he has 
done his mite toward securing. 
Singular Accident. 
.•\ singular double accident took place on May 29 at 
Shelbyville, Ind. Two friends— Frank Miller and Leonard 
Hines— went out squirrel hunting and in some way while 
climbing the fence Miller accidentally discharged his gun 
and shot himself in the abdomen, fatally. ' Not long 
afterward Hines was trying to show some friends how 
the accident occurred, and he used his owrt gun in the 
object lesson. His imitation was but too perfect, for his 
gun also was discharged, and Hines, shot fatally in the 
side, fell to the ground. The entire affair is a most 
pitiable one. E, HouCH. 
H.ASTPORD Buitoisc, Chicago, III, 
Massachusetts Quail* 
Danvers, Mass., June i.— 'Editor Forest and Stream: 
I am pleased to report of hearing many quail whistling 
this spring. There, were not many birds last fall, but 
the low market price of 15 cents was no encouragement 
for the market-hunter when he could get a dollar for a 
grouse, so he did not shoot many quail, consequently that 
accounts for so much Bob Whiting. 
Caught a small string of trout recently, and finally 
ended the outing by pufling out a good pickerel. I cut 
him open and found a fresh 4-inch trout in him, head 
first. The trout had several bites on it, but there was no 
get away while in that shark's mouth. 
I heard two or three old cock partridges a-dfumming, 
and with some pretty woodcock covers that were new to 
me, I have that place scheduled for a pleasant day's out- 
ing with my old dog and gun next October if I am alive 
and well. John W. Babbitt. 
Col, Horace T. Rockwell, ex-president of the Massa- 
chusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, has just 
returned from Maine, whither he went with Mr. E. B. 
Haskell, Mr, Henry IPriest and others, and reports hav- 
ing all the trout and salmon that were needed in cam.p. 
He says the planked salmon cooked before an open fire, 
whicli they enjoyed in their camp, was food "fit for the 
gods."' 
Dr. Heber Bishop, with Mr. Wm. S, Hinman and 
others of our officers, left Boston last Saturday for the 
Megantic preserve, to be gone for a couple of weeks. 
Early in the season they, with Mr. C. C. Williams and 
others, passed a few days in Mr. E. C. Gay's camp, at 
Clear Water Pond, near Farmington, where they were 
successful in taking several landlocked salmon and trout. 
Henry H. Kimball, Sec'y- 
The Indian Green Pattfidgfe» 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I note with pleasure in your issue of this week the en- 
actment of the Lacey law and Dr. Blaisdell's comments 
upon it, and recommendation that we should import 
pigeons from India. I notice that he includes among the 
desirable species the green pigeon. I doubt very much, 
however, if this is a bird that you would care to have in 
this country, for my observation of it in India was that 
it was very destructive of fruit. There it feeds on figs 
principally, and I suppose that if we introduced it in this 
country it would be introduced into the Southern States. 
Moreover, it is a bird which is easily got at, and mj' 
opinion is that even if we were to introduce it and found it 
a desirable addition to our avifauna, we would be unable 
to give it the proper protection which it would need. The 
green pigeon may be said to be a pot-hunter's bird. 
I presume, however, that Dr. Blaisdell may have in- 
formed himself of the game qualities and habits of the 
Indian species. Anglo-American. 
My First Day with the Black Bass. 
Newark, N. J.— My first fishing trip with the Judge 
was for pickerel, with a fair catch; and the kind of treat- 
.ment I received as his guest in every detail, even to his 
doing all the rowing and compelling me to bring all the 
fish to the city wi3i me, gave me courage to propose 
another trip. 
After confessing to him that I had never been fortunate 
enough to locate black bass when they were in the biting 
mood, he requested me to meet him on the 6:15 P. M. 
train the day before Decoration Day, ready for business, 
nnd he would endeavor to show me what real fishing was. 
I began counting the days and hours in anticipation of 
the coming event, and arranging my business route ac- 
cordingly, and found myself in Newton, N. J., at 11 
A. M. instead of 6:15 P. M., as agreed. Learning that 
the Judge was holding court, and not wishing to disturb 
him (10 to I he would have adjourned court immediate- 
ly), I decided to spend the afternoon trout fishing in a 
good stream about four miles from town. Promptly at. 
12:30 my carriage was announced, and ten minutes later 
found me urging my horse over the mountainous and 
picturesque roads fragrant with the leaves and buds of 
trees and vines about to bloom.. 
Having fished this locality before, I was soon trying 
my favorite and most likely pool, but the afternoon 'was 
very hot and clear, and likwise very unfavorable for a 
good catch. After wading and casting for thirty or forty 
minutes, I was rewarded with a strike, which proved to 
be a lo-inch fish. By 4:15 my catch showed eleven trout 
of from 7 inches to 10 inches. Arriving at the hotel, I 
found I had but thirty minutes to get to the depot and 
meet the Judge, as agreed. He was standing there with 
the rods and bait pail awaiting the train on which he 
expected to meet me. Locating ourselves in the baggage 
car, the Judge began by saying, "Now, Mr. E., let me. 
see the contents of that box." Of course he admired the 
trout very much, to my entire satisfaction, and capped 
the climax by saying, "We have just about enough trout 
for a nice dinner at Branchville." 
"But. Judge," said T, "we won't have time to wait and 
have these trout cooked." I was trying to save niy 
trout, which I had fully decided to take to the city. 
"Oh, yes we will," insisted the Judge. "I have en- 
gaged a carriage to take us up to the lake, and as we 
don't expect to begin fishing before 3 in the morning 
we will have lots of time. I have been very busy to-day 
trying to close that infernal will suit, and am tired and 
hungry, and these trout are nice and fresh, and I feel as 
if I could welcome them on the biM of fare to-night." 
Of course, not caring fo carry the matter to the higher 
court, I accepted the Judge's decision as final. Arriving 
at Branchville a little before 7 o'clock, we immediately 
proceeded to the hotel and had soon made arrangements 
to have our trout ser%^ed at 7:45. At 9 o'clock the Judge 
ordered the carriage, and we were on our way to Culver's 
Lake. 'The night was very dark, and there were indica- 
tions of rain. After a good shaking up over the rocky 
roads, we atrived at Riker's boat house safe and sound. 
