Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1900^ bv Forest anSSteeam PuBUSHi(i«fG Co. ' 
''^''"^•^sV&Hs,g:""''°'"} NEW YORK, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1900. WzXo^l^^A^^ 
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 be 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 
particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
TWO PRACTICAL SERIES. 
We begin to-day the publication of two important series 
of practical papers. The first is that on "American Wild- 
fowl and How to Take Them," by George Bird GrinnelL 
The chapters which are to follow will give a particular 
description of each individual of the family, including 
the' swans, geese, brant and ducks, with illustrations by 
Edwin Sheppard, the well-known illustrator of Baird, 
Brewer and Ridgway's "Water Birds" and other works. 
By means of the text and pictures in Forest and Stream 
it will be practicable for the novice to learn his ducks 
and for the older gunner readily and certainly to identify 
any strange fowl that may fall to his gun. 
The second series of papers, of which the first chapter is 
printed to-day, has* to do with "Training the Hunting 
Dog for the Field and Field Trials," by B. Waters. This 
is an exhaustive and in every sense practical manual 
of instruction for developing the field dog for its highest 
usefulness as an adjunct to the gun in the field; and the 
successive chapters will command attention by reason 
of the common-sense and efficient system set forth. 
These are among the features which in the months to 
come will maintain the interest and usefulness of the 
F*0REST AND Stream as a sportsman's journal. 
THE TIM^ OF YEAR. 
The season of maturity is at hand. The rye and the 
wheat fields that in midsummer shone with yellow stubble 
are hidden now. by the green of the ragweed, which 
through the winter will furnish food for many birds. In- 
the cultivated fields, vegetation is dying down and the tall 
stems of the corn are yellowing as the grain grows hard. 
Already from some trees crisp brown leaves are falling 
to the ground, while others are beginning to show the 
colors that denote their ripening. The spikes of the 
goldenrod are brilliant now with orange blooms, and the 
white panicles of the wild carrot wave in the breeze above 
the green rowen of the mowing lots. Whitened by the 
dust tossed up by every passer, the asters bloom along 
the roadside. The drone of the cicada is less sharp now 
than it was a month ago, the nightly cry of the katydid 
slower and more sleepy ; yet, beneath the stone in front of 
the house or hidden under the floor near the fireplace, the 
cricket trills his song with as much energy as ever. 
The farmer has begun to gather his crops ; the birds 
and the mammals have reared their young and are resting 
from their labors; the larvae of insects are spinning their 
cocoons; seeds are dropping off the weed stalks. All 
things are making' ready for the long rest which is to 
prepare the way for the production of another year. 
It is at this time that the gunner fares forth to harvest 
for himself the fruits of the field, now, alas! so much 
more scanty than in days gone by. Aside from the sum- 
mer woodcock shooting, still practiced in a few States, the 
first shooting is that of shore birds and rail, which is 
desultory and local and often very unsatisfactory. Then 
follows the first shooting at prairie chickens, which 
happily promises this year to be very good. The long dry- 
time whicli brought .anxiety, to the farmer's heart, insured 
a good crop of birds to the sportsman. 
It will not be until a. month or two later, however, that 
shooting can be enjoyed at its best, for it is when the 
•"cather is cool and crisp that, men and dogs alike show 
the greatest energy and are able to put forth their 
best effort to follow up the wary denizens of field and 
copse. Then, when the ground at morning is hardened by 
■ the frjJst;- when 'the air js plear, fres}^' bracing, sq 
that each respiration delights and stimulates; when the 
leaves have for the most part fallen from the trees, so 
that it is possible to see even at a considerable dis- 
tance the gray shadow which, darting among the branches, 
reveals the prey for which he longs, the gunner may en- 
joy to the full the pleasures of the field. 
And yet in,.the old days there was surely a charm about 
the sport of rail shooting. The gunner who stood silent 
in the bow of the skiff as it moved slowly through the 
swishing grass never knew precisely what fortune might 
have in store for him. The next bird that rose before the 
boat might be a silent rail, flapping off on uncertain 
wing; or an awkward bittern, complaining with raucous 
voice against the disturbance of his solitude; or a heavy 
black duck, quacking a loud alarm to all his fellows; or 
a bunch of bkiewings, rising in a close inass and then 
separating into fragments like an exploding shell. Some- 
times, if the boat passed close to the shore, a brood of quail 
might even rise with startling rattle from some weed 
patch where they had been resting, or out in the river a 
ruffed grouse might wing his silent way from shore to 
shore. 
In those days, though we shot with muzzleloaders yet 
sometimes the spoils were great. Perhaps if they had been 
less great we might have more birds to shoot to-day. 
BRINGING IT HOME. 
The shooter who is looking up the seasons and the 
shooting restrictions as given in his Gaflte Lazvs in Brief 
is apt to be perturbed when he finds that he may not 
bring home from the shooting country he plans to visit 
the game which he fondly trusts will fall to his gun. The 
average sportsman has just enough human nature in his 
composition to make him want to bring his game home 
both as a substantial evidence of his success and as a 
good thing which he would enjoy sharing with his 
family and friends. To be denied this privilege is in many 
in.stances regarded as a harsh deprivation; and there are 
many considerations which support the contention that 
the non-resident shooter should be permitted to take 
home with him a reasonable amount of the game he has 
killed. 
When a non-resident shooter pays a sum of importance 
for the privilege of killing game within the boundaries 
of a State which by statute discriminates against non- 
resident sportsmen, he should in common fairness have 
the privilege of taking home his game,, just as the resident 
sportsmen take theirs home. If he is prohibited from 
taking with him any game without the limits of the State, 
he is deprived of all advantages other than the mere 
pleasure of pursuit and capture. The State therefore is 
almost the sole beneficiary from the effects of such non- 
resident legislation. By the license fees it adds to the 
resources of its treasury, the game killed by the sports- 
man is kept within the limits of the State, and therefore 
adds materially to its food supply, while large sums of 
money are expended by the visiting sportsmen for the 
ordinary expenses of living, thereby adding to the com- 
mon wealth. Hotels, livery stables, railroads— in shorty all 
.such institutions within the iState — are gainers from the 
influx of sportsmen. 
As a matter of equity, the paj^ment of a considerable 
sum of money directly to the State would imply the 
giving of a commensurate consideration in return. It 
cannot be said on good grounds that the mere privilege 
of pursuing and capturing the game is such a sufficient 
material return for the license fee, for the reason that the 
capture of the game adds materially to the food supply 
of the State, and therefore contributes a material benefit 
to the people. Besides, there is nothing in the license 
which guarantees am' game or any capture. The licensee 
merely has the privilege of finding game if he can and 
taking it if he can under certain restrictions. As few 
sportsmen ever sell their game, there is nothing to re- 
imburse them aside from the mere pursuit and capture. 
All. sportsmen take a just pride in returning with 
trophies of their prowess and skill. To take fish or 
game; and then to be forced to leave it behind one. con- 
stitutes . an outing without a climax. If- one were per- 
mitted to take with him without the State a certain limited 
quantity of game as his absolute property, it would not 
in the least detract from the purpose of game preservation, 
yet wouM give a ma^ep^l and equitable retuq? for money 
directly contributed to the treasury of State, and in- 
directly contributed to its welfare through the^ common 
channels of business aitd living expenditure. 
In equity, the giving of a material consideration requires 
a material consideration in return. Such non-resident 
game laws as exact all the material advantages while con- 
ceding in return only the immaterial, violate this principle 
of equity. 
By conceding the ownership in a' cei^tain limited amount 
of game to be taken out of the State by ^the non- 
resident sportsman who. has complied with all the laws 
pertaining to it, the game supply of the State ,would not 
thereby be the least endangered. The common restrictions 
as to amount, and that the owner must accompany the 
game — restrictions now in force in many States — are 
formed properly to safeguard the people's interests. In 
such manner the law abiding sportsman who has paid 
well for all privileges would arrive at his doniicile with 
something to exhibit and enjoy instead of a mere memory 
of things which have been. 
The purpose of the absolute non-export law is, of 
course, to check the shipment of game to market; and 
if the strictest prohibition were necessary to secure this 
end, there would be no complaint. But the -experience of 
several States has abundantly demonstrated that the 
market shipment may be stopped without depriving the 
sportsman of taking his game home with him. A law 
absolutely forbidding the carrying of ganie out of the 
State is therefore unnecessarily harsh. 
THE SPORTSWOMAN AND HER WEAPON. 
The sportsmaH who is the father of a family very 
naturally looks forward with pleasant anticipations to 
the time when his boys shall become his pupils and com- 
panions in the field. But if he have the misfbrtune or 
good fortune to have no boys, but to be blessed solely 
with girls, what then? 
Nothing can be pleasanter than to share enjoyments 
with one's dearest friends, and this certainly, ought to 
include both sexes, yet some consider it an impropriety 
in woman to engage in field sports. That must depend 
largely on the view that is taken of field sports^ whether 
they are cruel in their nature or rather whether that 
element is predominant, for it cannot be denied that 
suffering is inflicted in their exercise. But -one sports- 
man's implement there is, with which the sportswoman 
may secure her trophies of the field, with the absolute 
certainty of inflicting no pain, and which demands no 
more time than the gun to become skillful in its/ use, while 
more caution, patience and woodcraft are. calle4 for, to get 
within proper range of the object. 
The sportsman may stalk his- game to within two or 
three hundred yards and obtain as fair a shot with his 
rifle as he desires, or with the smoothbore to the shorter 
range of that weapon, and be reasonably sure of cutting 
down the flying bird or running animal ; but the wielder 
of the camera must gain a closer range to secure the 
game. Yet when secure, it is for all time_|n ypmangled 
trophy, entire amid its actual surroundings, not |a pair of 
antlers or a head jutting from a blank wall, nor brvish nor 
tanned pelt telling no story. There are n.o close seasons 
to be heeded, and rarely a trespass sign prohibiting the 
use of this harmless instrument. ; 
The grouse strutting on the drumming log. h'js brown 
wife sitting on her nest among the arbutus jblushing 
blossoms and ru.sty leaves or blustering arid flu^ering in 
defense of her scurrying chicks; the woodcoclj: nesting 
in the tussocky swamp side; the hare in her| summer 
suit of brown — are all as fair game, as wh.en. the .grouse — 
cock, hen and full-grown brood— skulk in 'fr,ogt-painted 
thickets ; or the woodcock lies close under ' the golden 
leaved birches on a sunny October hillside ; of the hare 
when she sits in her form as white and silent as the snow 
around her. .. 
In all this hunting with a camera there is the same 
• "althful exercise, the wholesome exhilaration, the need 
<■ as much woodcraft to insure success .as in i hunting 
.vith the deadly gun. Having all these advantages with 
no tendency toward hardening the heart and without a 
suspicion of unwsmanliness, it offers our wives, sisters 
and daughters all that they caji desire in tine way of out - 
door recreatioWi 
