1) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
229 
The Massachusetts Association. 
The twenty-seventh annual dinner of the Massachusetts 
Fish and Game Protective Association was held at the 
New Algonquin Club in Boston on Thursday evening, 
March 14. President James Russell Reed presided and 
the members and guests present were: 
Speaker James J. Myers, Col. Curtis Guild. Jr., Fish 
and Game Commissioner Joseph W. Collins, Bird Commis- 
sioner Alex. O'D. Taylor of Rhode Island, Representa- 
tives H. D. Hunt and James E. Odlin, President A. B. 
F. Kinney of the Central Committee, Secretary H. H. 
Kimball. William M. Kimball, Charles E. Whiting, 
Samuel M. Goodrich, Addison M. Thayer, S. F. Johnson, 
Clarence A. Barney, A. P. Brown, Maurice H. Richard- 
son, A. D. S. Bell, Louis K. Harlow. W. S. Hinman, 
George S, Perry, James W. Hitchings, William A. Smith, 
George Nichols, A. C. Risteen, Dr. H. H. Hartung, Dr. 
Heber Bishop, Charles C. Williams, Dr. Charles W. Gal- 
loupe, Charles E. Dresser. Edward W. Branigan, Will- 
iam Ferguson, Waldon B. Hastings, Benjamin T. Hall, 
Thomas H. Hall. G. R. C, Deane. Dr. M. J. Hall, Dr. 
M. A. Morris, William L. Davis, Sewall W. Rich, John 
H. Woodman, George J. Richmond. J. Otis Wardwell, F. 
B. Rice. W. R. Batemati, H. L. Rice, A. O, Davidson, 
William O. Blakt;. M. F. Whiton, Granville H. Norcross, 
George A. Darv, Horace E. Ware, James H. Young, E. C. 
Bumpus, H. t. Rockwell, E. B. Parker, D. T. Curtis, 
William W. Morse, Horace S. Dodd, George 
O. Sears, E. L. Osgood, H. W. Dodd, Robert 
S. Gray, H. F. Colburn, J. N. Roberts, John 
C Roberts. Isidore G. Sternberger, 
Nathaniel LeRov, O. R. Dickey, C. W. 
Dimick, Frederic L. Japp, F. H. Warner, 
Charles W. Parker, Edmund M. Wood, 
George's. Baker, William R. Randall, Will- 
jam B. Phinney, C. J. H. Woodbury and 
Charles B. Reynolds. 
In his address following the dinner, Presi- 
dent Reed said : 
"It is an ancient custom in our Associa- 
tion that once each year we meet for pleas- 
ure, not for busi»ess. At these annual meet- 
ings we have some friends interested in our 
cause who speak to us words of encourage- 
ment and possibly of congratulation. It is, 
however, a part of that ancient custom that 
the president should give to our members 
and our friends a resume of the work of the 
past year. 
"I doubt if many of our members, and I 
am quite sure that few others, know how 
much hard work is done by us. We work 
sJmost entirely through committees, and at 
our ordinary business meetings we hear and 
usually indorse the reports of these com- 
mittees without perhaps knowing how much 
labor they have caused, so that it may be 
well to specify here somewhat in detail what 
we have done, and what we are doing now. 
"We are, I believe, the oldest Association 
of the kind in the whole country, and we 
have been the largest factor in getting to- 
gether all the various associations in this . 
State who are interested in open air life, 
through whose help legislation suited to our 
wishes has been attained. 
"Since our last annual dinner we have 
secured the passage of the bill which limits 
the shooting season to the months of 
October and November, and closes the 
.narkets of this State to the sale of partridge 
and woodcock at any time of the year. This 
is the heaviest blow ever given to the 
market and to the pot hunter. We have this 
present season successfully resisted all at- 
tempts to change this law, and it stands in 
full force and effect. We have this year 
caused to be enacted a law for the further 
protection of gulls and tern. We have caused 
to be passed a bill which gives Massachu- 
setts the lead among civilized countries in 
preventing the taking of shellfish from 
waters contaminated by sewers or_ otherwise. A simi- 
lar measure is under consideration in the British Parlia- 
ment, and in the legislative chambers of France. It has 
been mentioned in other countries and in other States in 
the Union, but to Massachusetts, and to us, belongs the 
credit of being the first community in the world to adopt 
legislation on this most important subject. Under the 
direction of our State Board of Health, and under the 
charge of our State Commissioners of Fisheries and 
Game, it will no longer be possible for typhoid-breeding 
oysters, or for clams from the mouths of sewers, to be 
sold in open market. 
"Unfortunately, legislation does not always go our way. 
A few benighted citizens of Marblehead have captured 
the great sea serpent, tamed him and induced him to 
bend his colossal energies to the extinction of the lobster. 
A few antediluvian inhabitants of Martha's Vinej^ard 
have brought sufficient pressure to bear upon their repre- 
sentative to induce him to take similar grounds. This 
latter gentleman is the chairman on the part of the House 
of the Committee on Fisheries and Game. One might 
.suppose that holding that position he would be interested 
in protecting fish and game. Well, this good man, 
through some mistaken notion, has himself introduced 
this year three bills in the House — one of them to legalize 
the robbing of birds' nests; another one to practically, as 
we believe, exterminate the lobster, and the third one to 
cut away from our Commissioners much of their power 
to enforce any existing laws. Those Martha's Vine- 
yard people are mighty nice, but they have always been a 
little queer in their views about legislation, and as a 
member from New Bedford once expressed it, 'The only 
way to satisfy those fellows is to make Martha's Vine- 
yard a separate State, with power to pass its own lav/s 
and to tax anybody that lands upon it.' 
'*As a club we are also very active workers in other 
matters. During the past ten years we have purchased, at 
our own expense and liberated in this commonwealth 
some 4,000 live quail to restock our depleted covers. We 
have now 500 promised us which we shall liberate in the 
EOHf^f 9^ Pe^jt WPfHs- liaye s^m some tinie 
and some money in experimenting with other game birds, 
but with little success. The experiment, however, was 
worth trying and we were the ones to do it. We were, I 
think, the pioneers in this work, though others have since 
taken it up somewhat. We print each year correct copies 
of the existing game laws and circulate several thousand 
of them throughout the State. We have at times also 
taken an active part in the prosecution of offenders against 
the game laws. At present, thanks to the energetic work of 
our Commissioners and their deputies, that work is taken 
up by them and no longer actively devolves upon us. We 
are the volunteer forces who support these regulars. We 
work to-day together. We stand behind them in the 
fight. We trust that we give them the ammunition of 
public support. We educate the people and form public 
opinion. 
"Brothers, we are practical men who love the brooks, 
the streams, the lakes and rivers; we love the fields and 
woods; we love the mountains and the sea, and all wild 
creatures whom God has placed therein. We know full 
well from our own experience the benefits given by open 
air life to us and we realize the pleasure as well as the 
profit we have derived therefrom. Let me quote a word 
from our good friend, the Hon. John F. Lacey, of Iowa, 
who has done more than any other Congressman in our 
cause. He says, T have always been a lover of the birds, 
and I have always been a hunter as well, for to-day there 
is no friend that the birds have hke the true sportsman — 
the man who enjoys the legitimate sport.' 
PRESIDENT JAMES RUSSELL REED.. 
"Brothers, we have enjoyed legitimate sport; it is our 
aim that this legitimate sport may continue, and that for 
generations to come, birds and fish may thrive in Massa- 
chusetts and our people have the same pleasure, the same 
health-giving rest, that we have had ourselves." 
A quartette under the leadership of Mr. Thomas H. 
Hall enlivened the evening with music, and this song, com- 
posed by Mr. Hall for the occasion, was received with 
great enthusiasm : 
Just One Bite. 
I'll wager you've all been a-fishing, 
Ev'ry one, ev'ry one, ' ' ""^^ 
And kept up your courage with wishing, 
Ev'ry one, ev'ry one, • t 
That something would rise every minute, 
Something choice, solnething rare; 
But sornehow you never were in it, 
For nothing seemed swimming there. 
<'horus: 
Just one bite, only just one bite; 
All day fishing, and only have just one bite: 
But, alas! 'tis as sure as fate, 
Fish won't rise to a man who has brought no bait. 
There is nothing in sport so deceiving — 
Don't you know it is so? — 
As tp ever indulge in believing 
Fish are slow, fish are slow. 
For at knowing they're awfully clever, 
'Mong us all, small and great, 
The cranks and the kickers who never 
Have even a drop of bait. 
Col. Curtis Guild, Jr., having taken the company into 
his confidence by protesting that he had never shot at 
an3'thing but targets^ read some entertaining passages 
from William Wood's "New En^l^nd Prospects." a book 
published "in ■ 03.!j setting forth th^ natural fesoi^rce^ 
and attractions of the Massachusetts of that day. By the 
courtesy of Col. Guild the Forest and Stream is enabled 
to give a transcript of some of the quaint descriptions. 
"Concerning Lyons," writes Wood, "I will not say that 
I ,ever saw any my selfe, but some affirme that they have 
scene a Lyon at Cape Anne which is not above sixe 
leagues from Boston; some likewise being lost in woods, 
have heard such terrible roarings, as have made tliem 
much agast ; which must eyther be Devills or Lyons ; 
there being no other creatures which use to roare saving 
Beares, which have not such a terrible kind of roaring^; 
"The Beares never prey upon the English cattle or 
offer to assault the person of any man, unless being vexed 
with a shot, and a man run upon them before they be 
dead, in which case they will stand in their own defence, 
as rnay appeare by this in.stance. Two men going a 
fowling appointed at evening to meete at a certaine pond 
side, to share equally, and to returne home; one of these 
Gunners having killed a Seale or Sea calfe,, brought it 
to the side of the pond where hee was to meete his 
comrade, afterwards returning to the Sea side for more 
gaine; and having loaded himselfe with more Geese and 
Duckes, he repaired to the pond. Avhere hee saw a great 
Beare feeding on his Seale, which caused him to throw 
downe his loade, and give the Beare a salute, which 
though it was with but Goose shot, yet tumbled him 
over and over, whereupon the man supposed him to be 
in a manner dead, ran and beate him with the hand of 
his Gunne; The Beare perceiving him to be such a 
coward to strike him when he was down, 
.scrambled up, standing at defiance with him, 
scratching his legges, tearing his cloathes 
and face, who' stood it out till his six foot 
Gunne was broken in the middle, then being 
deprived of his weapon, hee ran up to the 
shoulders into the pond, where hee remained 
till the Beare was gone, and his mate come 
in, who accompanied him home. 
"The beast called a Moose, is not much 
unlike red Deare, this beast is as bigge as an 
Oxe; slow of foote, headed like a Bucke,with. 
a broade beame, some being two yards wide 
in the head, their flesh is as good as Beefe, 
their hides good for clothing. The English 
have some thoughts of keeping them tame, 
and to accustom them to the yoake. which 
will be a great commoditie: First because 
they are so fruitful, bringing forth three at 
a time, being likewise A^ery ubcrous. Sec- 
ondly, because they will live in winter with- 
out any fodder. There be not many of these 
- in the Massachusetts bay, hut forty miles to 
the Northeast there be great store' of them. 
"The Ounce, or the Wilde Cat, is as big as 
a inungrell dogge, this creature is by nature 
feirce, and more dangerous to bee met than 
any other creature, not fearing eyther dogge 
or man ; hee useth to kill Deare. which hee 
thus effecteth : Knowing the Deare's tracts, 
hee will lye lurking in long weedes, the Deare 
passing by hee suddenly leapes upon his 
backe, from thence gets to his necke, and 
scratcheth out his throate ; he hath likewise - 
a devise to Geese, for being much of the 
colour of a Goose he will place himselfe close 
to the water, holding up his bob laile, which 
is like a Goose's neck ; the Geese seeing this 
counterfeit Goose, approach nigh to visit 
him, who with a Suddaine jerke apprehends 
his raistrustlesse prey. 
"The Woolves care no more for an ordi- 
nary Mastiffe, than an ordinary Mastiffe 
cares for a Currc; many good dogges have 
been spoyled with them. Once a faire Gray- 
hound hearing them at their bowlings run 
out to chide them, who was torne in pieces 
before he could be rescued. One of them 
makes no more bones to runne away with a 
Pigge, than a Dogge to runne away with a 
Marrow bone. It is observed that they have 
no joynts from the head to the tayle, which 
prevents them from leaping, or suddaine 
turning, as may appeare by what I shall shew 
you. A certaine man having shot a Woolfe 
as he was feeding upon a Swine, breaking his legge onely, 
he knew not how to devise his death, on a suddaine, the 
Woolfe being a blacke one, he was loath to spoyle his 
furre with a second shot, his skinne being worth five or 
six pounds Sterling; wherefore, hee resolved to get him 
by the tayle, and thrust him into the River that was hard 
by; which eifected, the Woolfe being not able to turne his 
joyntlesse body to bite him, was taken." 
Col. Guild spoke eloquently of the rod and the gun, not 
as ends in themselves, but as means bv which men might 
go back to nature, and, as the hero of old, by touch with 
the earth renew their strength. 
Speaker Myers declared his hearty sympathy with 
the purposes and work of the Association, and pledged 
his co-operation as Speaker of the House in every way 
consistent with the proprieties of his position. No one, he 
said, who had once come under the charm of the Maine 
woods could fail to have a deep and abiding concern for 
the preservation of the forests and streams and fish and 
game. Fish and Game Commissioner J. W. Collins paid a 
tribute to the influence and achievements of the Associa- 
tion and the Central Committee, and deplored the back- 
ward step just taken by the Legislature with respect to 
lobster protection, by the reduction of the lawful length 
of lobsters from 10% inches to 9 inches. Bird Com- 
missioner Taylor, of Rhode Island, spoke of the bird 
protective work of the Association. Representative James 
E. Odlin, of Lynn, paid an eloquent tribute to the late 
ex-President Harrison as a patriot, statesman and sports- 
man. Hon. J. Otis Wardwell made a plea for the abroga- 
tion of the law which forbids shooting on Stmday, and 
declared his conviction that the statute forbidding the 
sale of woodcock and partridge was the most efficient 
protective measure ever adopted in Massachusetts. Col. 
H. T. Rockwell spoke on the short lobster law, declaring 
that Massachusetts by reducing the legal length of lob- 
sters that might be taken was wantonly throwing away a 
resource of great value. Then some quizzical remarks 
by Judge Bumpus brought to a conclusion what had 
proved to be one of th^p most enjoyable nf all the reunio^jr^, 
{^i the Massachusetts ' ^gsoclation , 
