OREST AND STREAM 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
0 
Copyright, 1903. Forest and SrREAivi Publishing Co. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY IQ, 1903. 
j VOL. LX.— No 2, 
( No. 846 Broadway, New York 
Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
instruction and information between American sportsmen, 
jitors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
: are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
1, While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
nt topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
ondents. 
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\w and evil ate the days of all the forest likely 
rt, while Man, both batbatian and civilized, 
its them with fites, fatal at once to seed- 
and at length to the aged also* 
Df ♦ Asa Gray. 
A WINTER DAY. 
R the soft gray fringe of slender twigs, which 
he swamp, the red ball of the sun is slowly ris- 
,to begin his journey over the low arc which he 
during the short winter day. The air is very 
out still, and looking toward the sun, one can see 
I ads of tiny floating particles of frozen moisture, 
glitter like snowflakes in the bright rays, yet 
Tinly the thinnest haze in the atmosphere. Each 
iiid grass blade and weed stalk and fence rail is 
,ed by crystals of frozen moisture— jewels more 
jiant than any that ever came from the mine— 
i se sparkling changes every instant, as the sun 
bes them at a different angle, 
s wonderfully still. There is no sound of bu'd 
ist; nothing but the sharp squeaking of the crisp 
under foot, or its occasional breaking as the dog 
^ back to meet us and then starts on again. But 
nly there comes faintly on the quiet air the mellow 
i : of distant hounds, which quickly dies away, 
s the day goes on, the temperature will rise; per- 
s the snow will begin to melt, little birds will come 
from the sheltered places where they have been 
dling for warmth, and will hurry across the white 
is or alight in a close flock in some tree, perhaps 
-ely to rest in the sun, perhaps to seek for food at 
ends of the twigs or among the crevices in the 
k of the larger branches. 
.s we make a long round on foot, we may read in 
snow the story of some of the happenings of the 
It. Up among the rocky and brush-grown hills fol- 
ing a stone wall that runs through a grove of cedars, 
een the track of a fox made last night. When he 
sed along he was no longer looking for food, 
ad started away from his hunting grounds, back 
jme safe place where he might rest during the 
lying at ease in the sun, sheltered from the wind, 
waiting until appetiti? should move him to start 
on another search for food. 
Before his footsteps have been followed far, it is 
in that this will be a busy day for him. He has 
pped, looked around, and has then changed his 
irot to a long gallop, and a little further on are 
ad the tracks of two hounds, which will keep him 
ng for the day. It was their musical clamor that 
heard faintly as we first started out this morning. 
Curning back, and coming down the hill, we pass on 
'■ other side of the swamp behind the barn, and here 
■jng the tall weed stems that project high above 
snow, are many traces of the winter birds, that are 
vs here but are so seldom seen in the bitter 
sttier. The light snow is trampled in all directions 
tiny tracks, and is strewn with the torn fragments 
seed vessels of the weeds. Passing through the 
rner of the swamp, we come suddenly on the old 
g. forgotten for the last few moments, standing 
jzen on the track of a ruffed grouse, which shows 
linly in the snow. A moment later, far ahead, but 
■■'ily heard and distinctly seen through the naked 
stems, the great bird rises from the ground, and 
: s off toward another piece of woods. The sea- 
is closed and we are without a gun, yet, as our 
:tion is that which he has taken, we follow hirp. 
uig under the naked branches of the great oalc 
crossing the road, the woods are entered, and here 
N-wh^fS Mf signs |hat the gray squirrelfi have beefi 
at work unearthing the nuts providently buried at a 
more clement season. Their tracks— or, perhaps, it is 
the track of only one— lead in many directions, and 
every few yards the snow has been scraped away and 
a little hole dug, from which no doubt a nut of chest- 
nut, or hickory, or beech, has been taken. Further 
along in another swamp, now hard and frozen, over 
which one may walk with comfort, are the tracks of 
Brother Rabbit, who has wandered here and there with 
devious footsteps, apparently without aim, but no doubt 
with a very clear notion in his head of what he wished 
to do. The dog is kept in and the tracks followed, un- 
til suddenly the rabbit is seen to have taken the alarm 
at something, and with six-foot jumps has made his 
way toward some distant cover, whither we shall not 
follow him. 
Toward evening, another round is taken; by the 
pond, where rosy-cheeked children are skating merrily, 
up through the hollow into black cedar gorges, where 
the light is dim and now and then a snowclad sapling 
stands like a ghost, lurking in the sombre winter 
twilight. 
Across the already darkening sky in a scattered flock 
the crows are faring homeward to some inland roost 
from their feeding grounds along the shore, silent 
so far as we can tell, for they are far away. Nearer 
at hand a sharp-shinned hawk is hunting through the 
tops of the woods, flying swiftly but aimlessly. Soon 
he, too, must abandon his quest. 
Passing out of the wood and into the road, we come 
upon a great birch tree standing by the wall, on whose 
catkins white-throated sparrows and blue snowbirds 
and tree sparrows have been feeding, scattering their 
fragments over the snow beneath the tree. The sun 
is just dropping below the horizon, and here in the 
shadow of the woods has been long out of sight, and 
now the birds in little groups on softly fluttering wings, 
are making short journeys along the hedgerow, seek- 
ing some thick clump of bushes or the close-set foliage 
of some cedar in which to pass the night. 
Clambering to the top of a high rocky knoll, we 
look off toward the west and see the absolutely un- 
clouded sky, which the sun has just deserted, red be- 
low, and then yellow, and then green, changing to blue 
and then almost to black as the eastern horizon is 
reached. The first stars are just looking down from 
the windows of the heavens. Every feature of the 
landscape toward the west stands sharply outlined 
against the brilliant sky. We recognize each hill and 
valley and undulation, and even each individual tree 
and its relation to surrounding objects. 
The air is as cold and clear and dry and still as when 
the day began. The tramp over hill and valley, through 
field and wood, has made the blood flow joyously through 
the veins. 
the Court of Appeals at the present term; but on Mon- 
day of this week a postponement was asked for because 
of the illness of counsel. The constitutionality of the 
law imposing a penalty for the possession of game out 
of season is one of the points at issue; and the magni- 
tude of the interests involved is such as should insure 
carrying the case to the highest courts, where the 
question may be finally settled for all time. 
We print in another column an appeal made by the 
New York League for the cooperation of sportsmen 
throughout the State to secure the adoption of the 
amendments approved at the late meeting of the League 
in Syracuse. The method adopted to gain the atten- 
tion of the Legislature is to work through the local 
members of the League to interest the support of the 
Senators and Assemblymen from the several counties. 
It is very important that such work should be done 
now; that each member of the Legislature may be ad- 
vised of the wishes of his own constituents, and thus 
may be prepared to act intelligently when the amend- 
ments shall be brought up for consideration. It is 
reasonable that the changes proposed by the League 
should have favorable action by the Legislature. The 
League is a representative body; in spirit, and in fact 
it represents in a broad way the sentiment of the State. 
There will always be differences of opinion on the 
game laws. No one law ever devised will suit ever}'- 
body. But when the League has given its approval of 
a law, that may justly be accepted as an expression of 
the will of the majority, and the enactment of that law 
by the Legislature may well follow. 
16 
The famous New York cold storage gatiiie case, 
which is a suit by- the People to recover sornething 
over a million dollars in penalities for the possession 
^ame ^ t|)e flosp seasoiij was to have cnmf- bpfnrf 
The report which Mr. E. Hofer sends us on the game 
conditions in the Yellowstone National Park makes most 
interesting reading. Elk, buffalo, deer, mountain sheep 
and antelope are present on every hand and in increasing 
numbers. Even the buffalo, which have been so long re- 
garded as a species of doubtful perpetuity, under the 
new conditions promise to survive for a long time to 
come. Thus the National Park is fulfilling that one of 
its purposes, which is to furnish refuge and security for 
the American big game, which without such a harbor 
must perish. The wild creatures are not only quick to 
learn that the Park is a place of safety for them, but 
under the immunity there given them they soon come 
to lose in a measure their fear of man, and the most grati- 
fying feature of the Park game supply of to-day is the 
friendliness which holds between brute and human. The 
present conditions in the Park are due in large measure 
to the interest, ability and tact with which the presen-e 
is administered by Capt. Pitcher, the acting superinten- 
dent. It is a pleasing subject to which we shall recur. 
n 
The ancient story of St. Hubert's miraculous vision of 
a stag wearing between its antlers a shining crucifix, 
referred to in these columns last week, has brought out 
from a highly esteemed Boston correspondent -a bit of 
higher criticism which makes this point: 
One hates to say anything destructive of old traditions, but 
your paper of to-morrow has an article on St. Hubert, in which it 
says that on Good Friday, A.D. 650 that worthy man saw a white 
stag with a cross between his antlers. Supposably, Good Friday 
in A.D. 650 was about the same time of year as now: Is there a 
man living who has seen a deer with antlers in April? 
This recalls the story of the artist who had painted 
angels without the conventional wings, and when a 
critic exclaimed, "Who ever saw an angel without 
wings?" retorted, "Who ever saw one with wings?" We 
are free to say "that a person who will disbelieve the St. 
Hubert legend because of the April antlers has no poetry 
in his soul. The tale of St. Hubert's apparition, like that 
of the fierce wolf of Gubbio, converted by St. Francis, 
demands for its acceptance a state of mind ; and when 
one has that, the condition of April antlers or no antlers 
will not mar his appreciation of the legend. 
H 
The carrying of firearms into the game country in close 
time should be prohibited. To forbid the shooting of 
game, while at the same time permitting the presence of 
game shooting implements, is an unreasonable condition. 
Whatever may be the subterfuge by which the bearer of 
arms seeks to justify his having a gun, the real reason 
i? that he has provided himself with the weapon in order 
that he may shoot game. Whether in a woodcock cuver 
in summer or the Maine woods in summer, this is the 
true reason for having firearms along. There are laws 
already in some States which provide that the having in 
possession firearms in the fields in close time shall be 
prima facie evidence of a violation of the law. Is there 
any sufficient reason why such a rule should not be of 
universal application ? 
•6 
The Chicago game dealer who expects one of these 
days to receive consignments from private game pre- 
serves stocked with pheasants is probably very near to 
the truth of what is to come in the future of American 
game conditions. The preserve system will be commonly 
adopted. When the Forest and Stream first proposed 
the absolute prohibition of the sale of game, objection 
was made by some' of our English correspondents that 
such a rule would shut out from the market a supply ol 
food from the game preserve?. The sufficient answer to 
this at the time was that there were no game preserves 
in this country which could supply game to the markets. 
That was nearly ten years ago, and the conditions h^vfj 
npt: vet changed. 
I 
