Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and G 
UN. 
Copyright, 1902, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Terms, ! 
i a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $2. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1902. 
) 
VOL. LVIII.-No. 4. 
No. 846 Broadway, New Yorx, 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
.sent, instruction and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
nages 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. 
SPRING SHOOTING. 
This question of the killing of wildfowl in the spring is 
one which will never be settled until it is settled right. 
The necessity for protection of our wild game is uni- 
versally acknowledged, and to all our wild game, except 
wildfowl, some measure of protection is granted. Laws 
tand on the statute books which purport to protect ducks 
md geese during- certain months ef the year, but these 
"aws are wholly misleading and actually afford no pro- 
action, because the close time established for these 
sirds is precisely the time when they are not within our 
;erritory, but are north of the United States engaged 
n the labor of reproduction. For all practical purposes, 
herefore, these laws might as well be repealed. They 
ire a mere form of words, which, so far as this State is 
:oncerned, are wholly ineffective. In practice there is no 
:lose time on wildfowl. They may be killed whenever 
md wherever found, and as a matter of fact, they are 
tilled during nearly three-fourths of the year from the 
/ery first black ducks and blue-winged teal that make 
heir appearance in our waters in late August and early 
September to the last of the scoters, or "coots," which 
lepart for their northern breeding grounds in late May, 
»r sometimes not until early June. 
Gunners have been so accustomed to see the air dark- 
med by the . myriads of migrating fowl that they have 
ome to believe the supply inexhaustible, and that no mat- 
er how many are killed, there would always remain an 
ibundance. It is difficult to eradicate this old idea. Pre- 
isely the same thing; used to be said of the multitudes 
►f buffalo, of the vast flights of wild pigeons and of 
he hordes of the fur seals. People forget how rapidly 
hings move at the present day. They forget the pre- 
dion of modern firearms, the vast numbers of people who 
arry them, the ease with which all sections of the coun- 
ry are reached by modern lines of transportation. They 
orget, too, that this destruction of fowl is going on all 
Yer the land for six or eight months of the year, and 
inally and most important that a vast area of country 
xtending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the 
titude of the Ohio River north to that of the Sas- 
.atchewan and beyond, which formerly served as a 
reeding ground for wildfowl, has been settled up and is 
ow occupied by people, who, whenever they see a duck 
ttempt to kill it. It is not only that the birds are 
illed off in vast numbers and for two-thirds of the year, 
ut that the summer homes to which they once resorted 
) rear their young have been largely invaded so that 
leir breeding grounds are terribly contracted. 
This is the most important of the results to be gained 
y the abolition of spring shooting, that in spring and 
immer the birds may have an opportunity to breed some- 
hat as they used to do over a wide area of country from 
hich now they are driven. 
An argument freely used by those who advocate spring 
looting is that if spring .shooting were abolished, they 
lemselves would get no duck shooting. These persons, 
aim that in their locality there is no fall duck shooting ; 
tat the flyway of the birds on their southern migra- 
ons does not reach them, but that in spring the birds 
>me to them in good numbers, though the flight is short, 
lich an argument is purely selfish, and might with 
[ual force be advanced in favor of netting trout, night 
looting or any other improvident practice. 
It may be doubted whether there is any foundation in 
;ct for the popular impression that the ducks go north 
' one route and return southward by another. 
In some respects the spring migration is very different 
om that performed in the autumn. After the birds have 
ared their broods and renewed their plumage they 
atter out over a wide territory, working south slowly, at 
rate which depends largely on the closing of the waters 
the south. The migration is therefore likely to be 
read out over three months. It is a deliberate journey 
uthward. In the spring matters are quite different 
The reproductive desire is already beginning to be felt, 
and many birds are already mated. The fowl are anxious 
to reach their nesting grounds as speedily as possible. 
They follow up the ice closely and pass given points in 
great numbers in a short time, where the same number 
while passing southward might occupy two or three 
months. Thus, while in the fall they are not noticed, they 
are likely to be observed in spring, and the greater num- 
ber seen by an observer in a day or week greatly impresses 
him. He may thus come to believe that for this especial 
locality there are very few ducks in the fall and very 
many in the spring. 
Within the past few years widespread belief in the 
necessity in limiting the shooting of wildfowl has grown 
up, until now there are some States and Provinces which 
forbid spring shooting altogether. The time is coming 
when it will be forbidden everywhere. 
Within the recollection of men who are not yet old 
more than one species of bird and mammals have become 
extinct in America, while over large sections of the 
country many species have been practically exterminated. 
If gunners could be induced to take a broader view of 
these matters and to consider the general good, rather 
than their own selfish advantage, the cause of game pro- 
tection would be greatly helped, and the gunners them- 
selves after a few years would "be greatly benefited. It 
is probable that before long most of the Northern States 
will have followed the worthy example set them by some 
of those in the Northwest, and will have enacted laws 
leading to the better protection of our fowl. 
In such a reform the Empire State should lead, not 
follow. 
THE LACEY ACT. 
From the annual report of the Department of Agricul- 
ture we take the report of" Dr. T. S. Palmer, Acting Chief 
of the Biological Survey, of his work for 1901 in the en- 
forcement of the Lacey Act. In Acting Chief Palmer we 
have an intelligent, active and efficient agent of game pro- 
tection under Government auspices, and his report demon- 
strates that the year was one of activity and accomplish- 
ment. What must be reckoned the most important of 
the several phases of the work is that which has to do 
with the enforcement of the laws forbidding the ship- 
ment of game. Under the conditions which formerly pre- 
vailed, when once the shipper of illicit game had passed it 
safely across State lines he was reasonably secure; for 
there was no practicable method of tracing such game 
back to its source. The operation of the Lacey Act, on 
the contrary, has enabled Dr. Palmer to trace back illicit 
game from its destination to the point of shipment, and to 
impose the penalty where it belonged. Fifty-seven cases 
have been investigated, of which eight have resulted in 
conviction, thirty-three are awaiting action by the courts, 
eight have been dropped and eight are awaiting further 
evidence. 
Much of the efficiency of the Lacey Act is due to its 
moral effect. The shipper or receiver of illicit game who 
is not greatly disturbed by the activity of a local warden 
is thoroughly frightened when he realizes that the United 
States Government is after him. He realizes that Uncle 
Sam's arm is a very, very long one; and the usual instinct 
is to settle on the best terms obtainable. 
To Dr. Palmer unstinted credit is due for the way in 
which he has performed a task which, because of its 
novelty, was all the more difficult. The showing of re- 
sults is most satisfactory and encouraging. 
THE ADIRONDACK FORESTS. 
As a general proposition it may be said that the State 
of New York should administer its forest possessions in 
the same scientific manner as that which prevails in for- 
eign countries, where the forests are farmed remunera- 
tively, but yet are handed down from generation to gen- 
eration and from age to age with value unimpaired. Any 
other system fails to use these great resources to their 
full value. 
And yet when all this has been said, it may be true that 
the time has not come in New York when the public 
forests may safely be intrusted to the hand of the scien- 
tific forester. The letter written by Mr. W. E. Wolcott 
and published in another column unquestionably voices 
the sentiment of a very large number of people who are 
interested in the Adirondack forest reserves and familiar 
with the conditions governing them ; and for this reason 
his views should have consideration. Under the existing 
clause in the constitution adopted in 1896 the forests are 
secure, because they are absolutely protected from the axe. 
Mr. Wolcott and those for whom he speaks believe that 
any present action looking to a removal of this absolute 
security would hare only disastrous results. 
THE NEW YORK COLD STORAGE CASE. 
The cold storage people, sued by the State for the pos- 
session of thousands of birds held illegally, have demurred 
to the complaint made by the State's attorneys. The 
brief containing the demurrer has been filed, but is not 
yet accessible, but in a general way its contentions are 
known. 
The defendant demurs on the ground that the com- 
plaint as to the seizure of this illegal game did not state 
facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. It also 
denies the jurisdiction of the court. 
In court the defense declared further that since the 
section of the law which provides penalties makes no 
provision for the bringing a civil action against him who 
violates the laws, no civil action can be brought. Such a 
contention, of course, is directly opposed to the whole 
spirit of the law, since every section of the statute is to 
be considered in connection with what the whole statute 
intends. Everywhere throughout the game law are refer- 
ences to the bringing of civil actions and clauses prescrib- 
ing how such civil actions can be brought. 
Another contention of the defendants is that these 
penalties are cumulative; that a penalty enforced at so 
much a bird when there are a thousand or ten thousand 
birds in question amounts to a penalty so heavy that it can 
never be paid. 
Finally, the defendant's counsel claim that the statute 
under which these seizures were made is unconstitutional. 
After the argument in the court, the judge ordered 
prosecution and defense to file their briefs within six days. 
They have been filed, and an early decision is looked for. 
SNAP SHOTS. 
We Americans brought our ideas of sport from the old 
country, and although in the last few hundred years they 
have become greatly modified, they still have as their 
basis the idea of fair play. 
We have come to a time when the question is not so 
much one of winning in a competition as of winning in 
the best manner. In any contest of sport, whether it be 
against a human competitor, or one wearing hair or 
feather, or even against the silent, majestic forces of 
nature, the man desires first of all his own approval, and 
then the approval of others. Some there be who care for 
the approval of others more than ior their own, but of 
such it may be certainly predicated that they are not 
sportsmen, and there is always danger that they will 
descend to unworthy methods in order to make other 
people believe in their skill and their success. 
In the last twenty years there have been many defini- 
tions of the true sportsman. We shall not add to that 
list here, but it may be said first of all that whatever his 
point of view, the true sportsman must always respect 
himself. 
The Forest and Stream's long-time friend and con- 
tributor, J. U. Gregory, of Quebec, has for thirty-seven 
years been the agent of the Department of Marine and 
Fisheries at that point, and has now come to a time in a 
long and useful life when he is in receipt of frequent testi- 
monials of regard from friends and associates and 
subordinates. The other day it was the turn of the 187 
lighthouse keepers of the Province to give expression of 
their regard for their chief, and the testimonial took the 
form of addresses of congratulation and the presentation 
of a bronze clock. It must be very gratifying for one 
thus to know that he holds such a place in the affection of 
the lonely light keepers, and that he has brightened the 
lives of so many. 
*, 
The proposed Maine non-resident license has excited 
its share of attention, but we must remember that a year 
will intervene before the subject will come before the 
Legislature. There is good reason to believe that the 
true sentiment in Maine is against the proposition, and that 
when the time comes the sentiment will make itself felt in 
a prevailing opposition. Meanwhile, it appears to be "up 
to" Commissioner Carleton to prove his $15,000,000 esti- 
mate of revenues from the Maine visitors. 
