208 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sept. 14, igoi. 
sota, Dakota and Nebraska, cannot be told, since tke 
stories are not yet at hand; but there is every reason to 
believe that the early promise of a good chicken crop has 
been fulfilled. , 
Wisconsin Law. 
The resident license feature of the Wisconsin game law 
is not yet a popular thing in that State. The farmers 
object to puttiiTg up a license for the privilege of shooting 
rabbits and scmirrels on their own land. Many of them 
are posting their farms in a general spirit of revenge and 
spite. Alt this thing is rather unfortunate, but it shows 
that the time for stricter protection of Western game is 
coming, aithough little by little. 
An Actual Lovef of Nature. 
Of that wide and somewhat uncertain family known as 
levers of nature there may be three sorts — lovers for the 
name of it. lovers for revenue, and lovers for love. 
Search in that latter class and you shall find gentlemen 
®f the serenest sort, shall very often find men who are 
of great value to the world in tiiat they frequently fill 
some useful position in that world, and, moreover, add to 
the total sum of information possessed by humanity. 
Very many people in America and in Europe are ac- 
quainted with the remarkable photographs of live wild 
game made by Mr. George Shiras, 3d, of Pittsburg, Pa., 
son oi Judge Shiras, of the United States Supreme Court, 
and a sportsman of thoroughgoing and modest sort. I 
conceive it may be very well within facts to call Mr. 
Shiras a lover of nature for the love of it. His photo- 
graphs, taken at the expense of years of effort and very 
large sums of money in special appliances, bear the in- 
tangible yet certain imprint upon them that they were 
taken for love and not for revenue. 
Mr. Shiras passed through Chicago this week on his 
way home to Pittsburg from his camp in Alger county, 
Michigan, where he has been spending the summer, and 
whither he will return in the deer shooting season, with 
certain of his friends, as he has for many years past. 
As to the plans of Mr. Shiras in his future investigations 
in these fields, one does not feel at liberty to speak fully, 
farther tljan to say he jjroposes eventually to photograph 
wild fowl and fur-bearing animals as thoroughlj^ as he 
has photographed^ the deer family in its actual haunts. 
It need not be pointed out how interesting and valuable 
the results of his loving labor will be to the American 
public. .iliil 
In Wisconsin, 
The chicken crop in Wisconsin was probably much bet- 
ter than has been known for years. Reports of the success 
of different parties are slow coming in as yet. as many 
are Still afield, or have returned but yesterday or this 
morning. Perhaps the success of Mr. Neal lirown, of 
Wausau, with whom I shot a couple of days, may be taken 
as a crfterion. We shot at Babcock, an old logged-off 
country, now mach running to grassy marshes. There is 
little or no farming in that district, and almost the sole 
industry i« that of making hay. We found that the birds 
resorted to the cut marshes, much as they ordinarily do 
to stubble fields. This is a splendid breeding ground for 
grouse, and it is a difficult hunting country, perhaps thfe 
most difficult I ever saw for the successful use of dogs. 
The tall grass is much harder for the dog to travel than are 
the open fields, and under the blazing sun which obtained 
during our stay, the dogs found it almost impossible to 
work except in the early morning and in the evening. No 
doubt we passed over a great many birds which we did 
not put up, and there will without question be plenty of 
birds left over in that neighborhood for breeding pur- 
poses. Our party bagged forty-six in all. there being four 
guns — Mr. and Mrs. Brown, jim Varney. our local friend 
and the writer. We made the hunt muck a family affair, 
and the ladies certainly enjoyed it as much as the rest of 
us, Mrs. Brown killing her share of the birds very hand- 
somely. It is practicable here to travel about the the 
country in a wagon, although the going is not very good; 
hence it was possible for the ladies to be up when the 
dogs pointed, and to see the whole programme of finding, 
shooting awd retrieving. In this way the hunt was a very 
enjoyable affair indeed, not the least important feature of 
it being the mid-day picnic hmches, in Avhich broiled 
chicken pla3'ed a prominent part. • 
We found rather more sharp-tailed grouse in this coun- 
try than pinnated gr&use this j^ear. There had 'been no 
illegal shooting around Varngy^s place, and we found the 
birds in full coveys. 
E. Hough. 
TTartfoed Building, Chicago, 111. 
The Plank in North Carolina. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Warren and Halifax counties, North Carolina, have 
recently taken the only proper step toward the preserva- 
tion of game birds. The last Legislature of the State 
passed a law for these two counties prohibiting the sale 
of game at all seasons of the year. It is to be regretted 
that this law was not made applicable to the whole State. 
There has prevailed in North Carolina for several years 
a law prohibiting the shipping of game out of the State. 
This law, however, afforded but little protection. Allow 
the killing of game for the market and there will surely 
be foind a way to ship it where it will bring the best 
price. The most prevalent way of shipping out of the 
State is by labeling the box "poultry" and placing a few 
chicken feathers in the box, taking good care to allow 
same of them to protrude. It might be said that the 
same practice may pre^s4«l regardless of the prohibition as 
to killing for the market. All we can hope to do is to 
minimize the opportunity to do wrong. The game is not 
shipped by the persons who do the killing, but by the 
store keepers who buy ijt of the various hunters. Restrict 
the hunter, and me store keeper, who, ninety-nine times 
out of a hundred does not shoot at all, will be unable to 
procure the game, certainly not in such quantities as to 
justify the traflSc. 
The preservation of game is as important as the preser- 
vation of our forests. The ruthless destruction of our 
foresft lands is common knowledge* In the same way are 
our game birds year by year growing less. Unless l^ws 
of tjhe nature now presfeiling in North Carolina in the 
Iwo counties I have mentioned are generally adopted, the 
time is not far off when the game birds which in past 
years have been so plentiful will only be found on game 
preserves. Such a condition will be most felt by our 
country people. Your New York restaurant which is 
now taking our quail at any price will, after exhausting 
our supply, laugh at us and point to the fact that we failed 
to protect our interests when we had the opportunity of 
doing so. 
Every State that desires to properly protect its game 
from a final extinction should pass laws absolutely pro- 
hibiting the sale of game at all seasons of the year. The 
shipment of game out of the State by sportsmen should be 
strictly prohibited. And non-resident sportsmen should 
not be allowed even to carry away with them game which 
they have killed. To permit non-resident sportsmen to 
take away with them the game they kill opens the door 
wide for innumerable so-called sportsmen to spring up 
who will make it a business to come from other States, 
kill and buy all the game they can take away with them, 
and sell it on their getting outside of the limits of the 
State. P. A. Agelasto. 
Boston Shooters. 
Boston, Sept. 7. — Labor Day, last Monday, was a great 
day for gunners, but not a very great day for game. The 
weather was about all that could be asked for, but some- 
how the flights of shore birds all along Massachusetts Bay 
were very small. A gentleman who spent the day at 
Scituate says that at least twenty gunners went down from 
Boston by" the same train that he did, and there were 
others there, all bent upon shooting everything, from 
plover to peep. He says that it sounded much like July 
Fourth, the popping of guns. Cottagers, -who were still 
at their summer homes, along the beach, complained of 
the danger from the gunners, and the chances are that 
they may ask the next Legislature to make a law keeping 
the season closed on shore birds till later in Sep- 
tember, when the cottagers shall have left for 
the season. At Marshfield the gunners were nu- 
merous, but their success was not all that could 
have been asked. One gunner tells me that he 
traveled the marshes all the forenoon, with the result of 
three peep, of which success he is not proud, and hence his 
name is withheld. Lie gave ttp gunning and spent the 
afternoon in sailing. L. W. De Pass, of the Department 
of Statistics, Chamber of Commerce, went with a gunning 
party to his camp at Plum Island that day. Finding no 
large birds at all, they scarcely took their guns out of 
their cases. The shores were flooded with gunners, shoot- 
ing at even single peep and "grayling." Bj^ some of the 
gttnners these "grayling" are called "stibs-" or "white- 
breasts." The next morning Mr. De Pass and his friend 
left for Boston. While waiting for the boat, with guns 
still in their cases, a cttrlew flew over. The gunners gave 
the call, and he circled around within easy range, but the 
guns were not to be used. At Essex River a great many 
gunners were out, but very poor .sport was recorded. The 
same report comes from several points along the North 
Shore. Evidently it was not a good day for shore birds. 
From Chatham way come rather better reports. There 
were many gunners out, and some flights of yellowlegs 
were intercepted. C. H. Brown, of Boston, with a friend, 
was down, and they had fair sport, shooting several 
plover. 
Sept. 9. — The shooting season at the Megantic Preserve 
has opened. It must be remembered that quite a portion 
of that preserve is in Canada, and that in that Province 
the legal open season on moose, deer and partridges begins 
Sept. I, instead of Sept. 15, on partridge:;, Oct. i on deer 
and Oct. 15 on bull moose only, as in Maine. L. Dana 
Chapman, Secretary and Treasurer of the Me,gantic Club, 
has just received word that W. S. Richards, of New 
York, who has been stopping at his father's camps at 
Chain of Ponds, has been up to the Canadian part of the 
preserve and shot a bull moose with a fine head. The 
animal is reported to have weighed about 1,000 pounds. 
Moose signs are abundant on the preserve. Deer are more 
numerous than ever. Several have already been taken on 
the Canadian part of the preserve. The first venison of 
the season was brought in by Dr.iA. B. Kellogg, of Hart- 
ford, Conn. — a fine buck deer. Word has got out among 
the hunters about this early opening, and plenty of game 
at the Megantic Preserve, and the result is that the camps 
are full, and a good deal of hunting is already being done. 
The club has a committee appointed to see -what can be 
done for the fish hatcheries of the preserve, and they have 
already decided to obtain all the trout and salmon eggs 
possible this season, and enlarge the hatcheries accord- 
ingly. It is decided that the extension of the Portland & 
Rumford Falls Railroad, now being extended to Indian 
Rock, is to be continued as rapidly as possible, up through 
the Kennebago and Seven Pond regions and on to the 
lands of the Megantic Preserve, where it will intercept 
the Canadian Pacific not far from the Megantic Club 
houses. It is now felt by the Megantic Club members here 
that soon it will be possible to leave Boston in the morn- 
ing, or New York the night before, and land at the club 
house in one day. The road from Indian Rock will run 
through one of the best fish and game regions in Maine, 
about thirty miles, before it reaches the principal home of 
the Megantic Club. 
Mr. W. C. Harding, foreman of the Boston Herald 
composing room, has recently returned from a fishing 
trip of several daj'^s on the Concord and Sudbury rivers. 
He was accompanied by a friend, and he says that the 
bass, perch and pickerel fishing was even better than they 
expected. He believes in one taking such fish as can be 
had near home, if long trips to better waters are not 
possible, and says that a great deal of genuine enjoyment 
can thus be had. Mr. J. H. Jones, with his father, A. 
Jones, and his wife and boy, has been taking a week's 
vacation at Brackett's camp on the Concord River. They 
had good pickerel fishing, getting all they cared to use, 
though of rather small size. They took a number of black 
bass — all they cared for. One, a 3-pounder, cooked, was 
all they wanted. Mr. Jones, Jr., is an expert canoeist — 
that is, an expert in tipping it OA^er. It will be remem- 
bered that he got kicked out by his gun last spring, when 
shooting rauskrats. This time he charged his wife not 
to get into the canoe, nor to allow the baby in it. She 
folloyired his directions so faithfully that he took it into 
his head to let, her see how "cranky the thing is," and how 
well he can manage it. She was ready to watch him. 
He made a graceful step, landed in the middle of the 
canoe, but in attempting to sit down it jumped, and in a 
moment he was ottt on the further side. His wife offered 
to hand him a paddle or a stick, but he disdained all 
assistance and quickly floundered ashore. Now he says 
that he does not care for the ducking, but hates to have 
Mrs. Jones tell every friend who calls how smart he is in 
getting out of the water when emptied out by a refractory 
canoe. A late report from the Rangeleys says that still 
the fishing holds out, with the fly-fishing improving every 
day. Miss Haskell, of Newton, Mass., stopping with 
her brother. Dr. Haskell, at Allerton Lodge, Mooseluc- 
maguntic Lake, has carried off the honors of the season 
from all fisherwomen at those waters, on salmon, land- 
ing one the other day that weighed over 8 pounds. Mr, 
Frank Stewart has also been on a fishing trip to some 
near-by waters that he knows of, and has had good luck 
with perch. Special. 
The Bear River District* 
Poet Henry, Sept. 2.-— Editor Forest and Stream: I 
was very glad to read in your last issue, 31st ult., in the 
communication from Mr. Scudder, secretary of the 
Coughnawana Preserv^e, located in the Province of Que- 
bec, that the forest fires that swept the country to the 
west and northwest of them had. not reached their pre- 
serve. 
I have very recently leased the territory, called the Bear 
RiA^er District, to the east and southeast of the Cough- 
nawana Preserve, and to the north and east of the Ma^ 
ganassippi Preserve. This tract takes in the Bear River 
and West Branch of the River Dumoine countries, and 
consists of timber limits Nos. 459, 487, 333, 402, 403 and 
468, in the County of Pontiac, P. Q., and contains some 
230 square miles. 
A small club called the Bear Lake Fish and Game 
Club has been formed, and will be incorporated and take 
over the himting and fishing rights on this preserve as 
soon as the articles of incorporation can be filed with the 
Dominion Government. 
I trust that all visiting sportsmen will bear in mind the 
ntmibers of our limits, and will respect our boundaries, 
which will be as well protected by guardians as are those 
of Coughnawana and Maganassippi preserves. 
I am told that the fires that swept parts of the Kippewa 
District this spring, while disastrous to the lumbermen 
and to the natural beauty of the country, will prove a 
boon to the sportsmen, as the small sprouts will spring up 
in greater profusion than before and afford better food for 
game. I know that red deer will flock into""burnt lands," 
and am told moose will do the same. 
W. C. WtXHERBEE. 
The Kippewa Cowntry* 
Ott.\wa, Can., Aug. 30. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. Halstead Sctidder writes you that forest fires have 
ravaged other hunting grounds to such an extent as to 
drive large numbers of moose on to the lands of his club. 
This is not an isolated case. The fires, of course, were 
not nearly so extensive as at first supposed, being chiefly 
in the north-central, and therefore more remote parts of 
our enormous Kippewa country ; but still there is naturally 
an increase of game north and south of the fires. I am 
leaving Ottawa to-night for some days on the Wau-bi-ni- 
ning preserves and options, and will write you from there. 
We front for several miles on "narrows" of Lake Temis- 
camingue, and benefit by the reserves of big game in On- 
tario, where moose and caribou are protected until 1903. 
It would be a pity to deter any from hunting through 
any misconceptions. A. M. Calderon. 
m mid ^tv^t S^^hing. 
— ♦ — 
Proprietors of fishine resorts will find it profitable to advertiM 
them in Fo&kst and Stkeam. 
Vermont League Outing. 
From Forest and Stream's Special Representative. 
The summer outing of the Vermont Fish and Game 
League at Isle La Motte, in the northern end of Lake 
Champlain, came to a dramatic close with the announce- 
ment of the dastardly attack on President McKinley at 
Buffalo. The business had been transacted, the dinner 
eaten and the speeches made, and the thousand inembers 
and guests of the League were gathered in groups on the 
lawn of the Fisk mansion waiting for an opportunity to 
shake hands with Vice-President Roosevelt. 
The scene was idyllically beautiful. To the west the 
sun was sinking in a cherry-red wave of glory behind the 
Chateaugay Mountains, a penciled line of the faintest 
blue, while nearer other ranges came into darker promi- 
nence, till at the mouth of the Little Chazy the sentinel 
elms stood out almost in silhouette, casting black shadows 
on the lake glimmering with the sheen of iridescent 
silk, bluish-green shading into red with glints of azure 
and lapis lazuli, and, far off, a streak of the faintest, 
filmiest, ashen-gray. 
Vice-President Roosevelt. Senator Proctor of Vermont 
and other distinguished guests were inside the house, 
which is of stone, with a long stone wing surmounted by 
a belfry. The lake washes the lawn in front, while on one 
hand in the sward tennis court, and on the other, sepa- 
rated by a hedge of plum tries, the deer park, where the 
dining tent was erected. 
Suddenly all eyes turned toward the house as Senator 
Proctor, followed by President Titcomb of the League 
and ex-Lieutenant-Governor Fisk, appeared on the stone 
portico. There was a momentary hush of expectancy, 
pending the arrival of the Vice-President, but no appre- 
hension of anything wrong until Senator Proctor raised 
his band and, in a choked voice, said : - 
"Gentlemen, it is my sad dut>' to announce that word 
has just been received by telephone — I trust it may prove 
false— that " 
Here a steamboat whistled, momentarily breaking the 
