Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1902, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 1902 
VOL. 'L VIII.— No. 17. 
No. 846 Broadway, New York 
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THE STEALTHY TREAD, 
There is a world of philosophy of feeling and of ob- 
rvation in the interesting letter on left-leggedness by 
Emerson Carney. And because Mr. Carney's ob- , 
rvations are true, there is also science in his letter, for 
shows the readiness with which an animal — man, for 
ample — adapts himself to his environment and modifies 
s modes of life to suit the conditions which he must 
ce. x 
When a white man walks, he stumps along over the 
vements, or the hard road, and as he steps, his heel first 
rikes the ground and a little later the ball of his foot 
mes down with a flop. As explained by Mr. Carney, an 
dian walks differently. There are no heels on his moc- 
sins to interfere with his natural gait, and, because it 
s become a part of his nature through generations of 
heritance and is a part of his education through many 
ars of practice, the first part of his foot to touch the 
ound is the ball, and not the heel. 
No one who has hunted much with Indians can have 
iled to notice the peculiar manner in which they walk, 
hen following the trail of game, or when in situations 
here game is likely to be seen. They pass along over 
e ground with a complete absence of noise which seems 
ngular to the white man. If one takes pains to observe 
e manner in which the Indian steps, he will notice that 
putting the foot to the ground he holds it in almost 
recisely the position which the dancing master insists 
ti among the children whom he is teaching to dance. The 
>ot is thrown out in front; the ball is lowered so that 
le toe is directed diagonally toward the ground, and 
len the foot is lowered so that its ball touches the 
round. This is done slowly and gently, and if the Indian 
els under his foot a twig or stick, he shifts the foot's posi- 
:>n a little to avoid bearing his weight on something which 
lay break and crack and make a noise. As he lowers 
le heel toward the ground, he is in a position to feel 
ly stick that may be under the instep or under the heel 
id to avoid resting his weight on it. Wearing moccasins 
e goes along with the silence of a man who is walking in 
is stocking feet. There is no stiff board-like leather 
Die under his foot, beneath which sticks and leaves 
'•ackle, and against which stones may noisily strike. His 
et, beside being mere supports, become organs of touch 
•feelers which assist his noiseless progress. 
The clumsy stumping gait of the white man is prob- 
jly largely due to the fact that on his shoes he wears 
eels which raise him an inch or more above the ground, 
ccustomed to go along anyhow, he walks with ankle and 
nee very nearly stiff, while the Indian, one of whose 
[lief objects in life is to advance silently, goes with the 
hole leg loose; the joints of the foot, of the ankle and 
f the knee contributing to make a spring, while the 
•unk swings easily on the ball and socket joints of the 
lighs. 
To one who has spent much time out of doors and who 
as been accustomed to see natural people walk in a 
atural way, there are few things more striking than 
le manner in which many of the inhabitants of our cities 
ralk with the inside of the foot directed forward; in 
ther words, with the toes pointed outward at an angle 
£ nearly 45 degrees with the direction in which they 
re advancing. 
The more or less unconscious desire of the hunter to 
oid observation is one which has no doubt been felt by 
ery many men, but, as far as we know, has never been so 
early formulated as by Mr. Carney. It is very certain 
iat it exists and that in an earlier state of our country 
hen conditions were different, when there were great 
reas of wilderness occupied by people who lived much 
one and who seldom ventured to the settlements, it ex- 
ted to a far greater extent than now- 
v 
In other days a stronger motive than the wish to avoid 
observation by game was to avoid being seen by enemies. 
In the old days of travel on the plains, no man ever rode 
boldly up over a hill ; but, approaching the crest with 
caution, he raised his head slowly and scanned the coun- 
try before him so that if enemies were about he might see 
them before they saw him. 
It is surely well that all such phases of human nature 
with their explanations should be recorded and discussed, 
since conditions in this cpuntry are changing so rapidly 
that opportunities for observations in such as these can- 
not much longer be had. 
THE BLOOMING GROVE PARK CASE. 
The case of those members of the Blooming Grove 
Park Association who were arrested last autumn on the 
charge of violating the Lacey law has just been decided, 
and the defendants have been acquitted. The case has 
attracted much attention by reason of the prominence of 
the persons involved and because of an anticipated illus- 
tration of the practical operation of the Federal game law. 
The illustration was not afforded, because the facts set 
forth in the complaint were insufficient to constitute a 
cause of action under the law. 
The defendants were at the time of their arrest on the 
way from Blooming Grove Park to the railway station. 
They were intercepted by Dr. Kalbfus, of the Game Com- 
mission, who discovered in their valises and trunks a 
number of pheasants and some venison. The arrest was 
on a charge of violating the non-export game law, and 
suit was brought to recover penalties under the clauses 
of the Lacey law which forbid the transportation of game 
unlawfully killed in violation of State law and of game 
lawfully exported unless tagged and labeled. The deci- 
sion was rendered by Judge Archibald, of the United 
States Federal Court, last Saturday. It set aside the in- 
dictment on the ground that the defendants had not com- 
mitted an offense against the statute... Judge Archibald 
said : 
"The game that is prohibited from being shipped from one State 
or Territory to another is that and only that which had been killed 
in violation of the local law. There is no averment as to where the 
game was killed, whether in Pennsylvania or elsewhere, or that 
when and where killed, it was killed in violation of the local law. 
"All that we have is the bald statement that the defendant had 
prepared for shipment by interstate commerce out of the State 
certain packages of dead game, without having them clearly 
marked with the name and address of the shipper and the nature 
of the contents, as required by the act, and that he had concealed 
the game spoken of in trunks, satchels, etc., without having them 
so marked, with the intent to carry them out of the State into 
other States in violation of the act. 
"But there was no necessary vice in any of these acts by them- 
selves. The game may have been innocently killed, and we must 
presume that it was until it appears otherwise. For all that we 
know, it may have been killed in Canada or some other equally 
irrelevant place, with which the facts charged are just as con- 
sistent as they are with anything which is prohibited. 
"It is the shipment or delivery for shipment which the act for- 
bids and punishes, not the intent to do so, nor the preparation for 
it, or, in other words, it is the complete and not the inchoate act 
which it undertakes to control, and we have no right to carry it a 
single step further." 
From all of which it appears that while the defendants 
had been doing their best to violate the law of the State 
and the Lacey law, they had been interfered with prema- 
turely by the game warden by whom they had been pre- 
vented from effecting their design, and consquently they 
were acquitted. 
The Pennsylvania export law is one of those cast-iron 
regulations which should be modified to the extent and 
end of permitting a sportsman to take home with him 
out of the State the game killed by- him. It is nothing 
less than a hardship that the members of a game preserve 
association, who have bred their own game upon their 
own grounds, and have taken it themselves, should not 
have the privilege of carrying it home with them. As 
we have pointed out before, and shall persevere in point- 
ing out until such laws shall be modified, there is no 
necessity of this stringency, since, as has been demon- 
strated in the experience of numerous States, it is per- 
fectly practicable to devise and operate a system of export 
regulation which permits the individual shooter to take 
his game with him, but does not allow the wholesale ex- 
port of game to market. Pennsylvania exacts a license 
fee from the visiting sportsman; justice would give him 
the privilege of carrying his game home with him, 
The Brown bill for the condemnation of Adirondack 
streams as public highways has received the executive 
approval and has become a law. The measure is one 
which is fraught with the peril of tremendous damage to 
the forests of the State, and damage which it will take 
generations to repair. It is believed to be unconstitu- 
tional, and we trust that the very earliest opportunity 
may be improved to test the point. The Constitution of 
New York is, however, no very material obstacle in the 
way of the schemers and wreckers who have for years 
been raiding the Adirondacks and will continue their work 
so long as anything shall remain to invite them. The 
attitude of these men was admirably shown by Senator 
Malby at the recent hearing on the Brown bill. The inci- 
dent was thus reported by some of those who were 
present : 
Senator Malby, who followed Senator Brown in advocacy of the 
bill referring to the constitutional question, made an extraordinary 
confession in regard to a bill affecting the lumbering interests, 
which had become a law by a previous Governor's signature. He 
said that he knew the law to be unconstitutional at the time; that 
he had told the Governor so, but that he had said to the Gov- 
ernor that the lumbermen had so many thousand feet of logs in 
the woods which they wanted to get out, and if the Governor 
would sign the bill it would give them a chance to get the logs 
out before the courts would pronounce the law unconstitutional. 
Mr Lacey's bill to regulate the introduction of game 
birds for propagation (H. R. 10995), having been referred 
to the Committee on Agriculture, Mr. Wadsworth, the 
chairman of that committee, submitted a favorable re- 
port, and on Saturday, April 19. the bill passed the House. 
It is to be hoped that the Senate will act favorably upon 
it The bill is very brief, and provides that from and 
after the passage of the act the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall have the power to authorize the importation of eggs 
of game birds for the purposes of propagation, and shall 
prescribe all necessary rules and regulations governing 
the importation of eggs of said birds for such purpose. 
The Forest and Stream has often called attention to 
the need of a modification of the Dingley law, such as 
is here provided, and it is eminently proper that the power 
to regulate the importation of game birds' eggs should 
be placed in the hands of the Secretary of Agr.culture. 
All friends of game protection and of good sport may 
safely advocate the passage of this bill by the Senate. 
The report of the Committee on Agriculture affords a 
rcw illustration of the persistence of a fake. The anti- 
importation clause was incorporated in the Dingley law 
as a result of the foolish story that the eggs of wildfowl 
were taken in the north and imported into the United 
States for the manufacture of albumen and other com- 
mercial purposes. There was no truth in the yarn ; it had 
absolutely no foundation in fact, as was clearly and con- 
vincingly demonstrated in these columns at the time. It 
was a fake, pure and simple. And yet we now find this 
Congressional committee gravely repeating the story in 
the assertion that "prior to the enactment of the D.ngley 
law a very considerable importation of eggs of wild birds 
was made from Canada to this country. Nests of the 
migratory birds were broken up and the eggs collected 
to be used for commercial purposes." 
•6 
In response to our suggestion of last week that Mr. 
Lacey might well amend his bill so that moose heads 
would come in from Canada free of duty, Mr. Lacey 
advises us that this would be impracticable at the present 
juncture because the introduction of such a measure 
would open up the tariff question. The Canadian moose 
in Congress, it appears, would be like a bull in a china 
shop. For the present, then, Americans must pay the 
added tax for their sport across the border. 
Governor Odell has vetoed the hill making unlawful 
the sale of ruffed grouse killed within the limits of the 
State, and New York is thus prevented from keeping 
in line with her sister States, which have adopted and are 
profiting by this very necessary market restriction. There 
yet remains, however, the provision of the law which 
forbids the transportation of ruffed grouse out of the 
county where killed, except for a limited number when 
accompanied by the owner ; and in proportion as this regu- 
lation can be enforced it will go to attain the purpose 
pf an anti-sale law, „ J 
