Feb, gl> 
FOREST \ AND _ STREAM. 
I have nevet been able s© at to get just suicH a paii" c^^ 
snowshoes as I would like, «iid i have |ievef trieid to make 
a pair. I do not know wheve td get the material for the 
fining. Should any of the readers of FdREst Ais*D Stream 
know where it can be bought' 1 would p& ^lad to hear. I 
should prefer it in one piece a.^d 1 woUla Ci 
the stretching. 
tut It vit 
C. M. I 
and do 
fAfeK. 
Squirrel Migrations. 
■M.l5jrrREA% puebec, Feb. 14. — Editor Forest and Sweaf^i: 
Earljy in the :aistumn of 1856 or 1857 a migration of J?ray 
squirrels passe;^ ithrough North Fairfield, Vt. For several 
years tSiere hadlbeen but a very few gray squirrels in that 
vicinity, and I don't expect to live long enough to forget 
Ibis migration. ITlbis day I started with a small rifle that 
needed repairing to take a cross cut over to the local 
gunsmith, who fegided in an adjoining neighborhood. The 
route took me tbrough a large body of woods which was 
alternately maple rk1g«, 1hen a swamp with a trout brook 
- running through it, then another maple ridge with a large 
number of butternut trees along its edge. As I entered 
(he woods I saw that it was literally alive with gray 
^quirrels. They were running on the ground, up trees and 
jumping from tree to tree, and moving in a northeast 
'direction. As I passed down into the evergreen swamp 
■.I hey were there also, and all seemed to be in a hurry, with 
'one exception. On a short knot that stuck out from a 
Ihemlock stub that stood on the banks of the brook sat a 
•squirrel which had evidently decided to make that its 
uuture home. 
After I passed out from the large woods I crossed a 
'•^^rip of pasture land and then into a small sugar bush; 
te\?erything Avas quiet there, the migration had not reached 
ttherse, as it was out of the general course that the migra- 
ition was moving. 
([ irttsihed into Uncle Len's shop and wanted my gun 
fiasfid at :once, as the big woods were alive with gray squir- 
ineSs. The old gentleman laughed at me and said that 
tiierc were not a dozen squirrels in the whole township. 
He, liowever, soon put a spring into the lock of my gun, 
and as tie liad a new gun that he wished to try, he went 
back Wiitli me to see this wonderful sight — a litter of 
perhaps a laalS .dozen young squirrels in the butternuts, 
which my y>otttMul imagination had magnified into an 
army of thousacuds. 
I shall never forget the look on the old man's face as 
we apporached the Isutternuts. There was a pole and 
I brush fence that came up out from the woods and ran 
: across the pasture to a wooded ridge of hills. This fence 
was covered with squirrels, and they were on the ground 
: and in the butternuts, and all on the keen jump. Uncle 
J Len stood leaning on his gun speechless, while I began 
: shooting, and kept it up as long as my bullets lasted, and 
\when I left him he had not fired a shot. 
This migratory horde was about two miles across, and 
ras I have before stated was moving in a northeasterly 
.■diiaiction. Within a few days gray squirrels were to be 
; found all over that part of the country, and no satisfac- 
ttory explanations could be given for their sudden appear- 
rance, and we accepted Uncle Len's theory "That they 
imust have got starved out over in York State." 
Stanstead. 
:St. Augustine, Fla., Feb. 14. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I hereby offer a hatful of apologies to the parties 
wfeo have been put to the trouble of hunting up proof to 
set me right on a question where I never have been 
wrong, _ 
Imprimis then — I have no more reason to doubt the 
migration of squirrels than I have that quail migrate; 
which is generally admitted to be true. 
When the original Bobo scrap appeared it struck me 
as being inimitably funny: not especially the swimming 
feat, but the way the business part was managed by the 
men. If the animals were swimming toward the shore 
why couldn't they have waited till they crawled out on 
dry land and then have knocked them on the head instead 
of rowing out to pick them up by the tail and drop them, 
alive, into bags and baskets. If they would quietly lie 
there and submit to being carried home to be skinned and 
cooked, then I do not know the lively little animal. 
. Nothing was said about their being killed in the water; 
; and if they had been quieted in that way why should they 
, all have been picked up by the tail? About this tom- 
. 1 foolery is where my doubts came in — so there ! 
DiDYMUS. 
An Epidemic Among Crows* 
TLANSiNGBtiRGH, N. Y., Feb. 12.— Editor Forest and 
^"Stream: _ I would like to ask through Forest and 
Stream if any of its readers have ever noticed any dis- 
*ease m the American crow which affects its eyesight? 
iLast winter a great many crows stayed here from early 
in December, 1901, to about the middle of March. 
I kad shot several during the winter and found that 
several of them had some disease of the eye. In some- 
cases the eyes were swollen as large as hickory nuts; 
sometimes the trouble was in one eye only, but occasion- 
ally in both. 
Along in the latter part of February I came across 
several crows in the woods that could easily be caught 
with the hand, and on examination found that they were 
almost totally blind. I also found several dead in the 
woods which had, apparently, died of starvation, their 
eyesight being completely destroyed. 
From December 2 to December 9 of the past year the- 
crows came here in hundreds to feed on some dead- 
horses that were in a field about a quarter of a mile away.. 
1 .'^hot several to see if they were blind again this year.. 
I found tha,t about twenty per cent, were blind in one eye^ 
a I though, their -eyes were not ;Swollen like last year. 
Can any-sof your readers tell me the cause of this? 
Although, the crow does considerable damage to our 
young com every year, I am comdnced that they are; ©ne- 
of the most-;beneficial birds to our agriculturists. 
1 am c-onvince4, also of the utility of the skunk and; tile: 
fox, the skunk through the fall months destroying count- 
iess numbers of insects, ^ 
While out gOose shooting last November I found where 
a skunk had scratched out and partly devoured a nest of 
snalife eggs. 1 had never known that snake eggs were a 
part of their food. 
The fox, although he occasionally takes our poultry, 
does good in the destruction of mice and other vermin 
that cannot be Computed. 
The same is true also of some of our hawks and owls, 
and though all the birds and animals mentioned destroy 
<our young game birds and sometimes the old birds and 
iSjjieir eggs, on the whole the good they do more than off- 
sets the damage. Harry C. Campbell. 
IThe disease spoken of by our correspondent is not 
non^el. It is called roup, and has been reported at several 
points along our Atlantic Coast; if we remember rightly, 
ft om Arlington, D. C, from New Jersey, and from points 
in .New York State. 
Owe of the earliest, if not the very first, to call attention 
:!!© i^i-s disease was Mr. Robert Ridgway, of Washing- 
iton, .\v&ile the latest is Mr. Elon Howard Eaton, who tells 
<(»f an.eFjjdemic of roup in the Canandaigua crow roost. 
Iln 'this disease the eyeballs frequently swell to large 
Iin-qportioiis, and it is commonly said by people who find 
il!hc dead'bif^.^ that they have died because their eyeballs 
Ihttve frozen. An examination of the sick birds shows 
tllhat they suffer from an acute inflammation of the 
3flbarynx and the anterior portion of the head, including 
moatrils and eyes. There is frequently a discharge from 
tlbe nostrils, and the eyes are often blinded by a mem- 
1 wane extending . over the cornea. Sometimes one eye is 
a tteatod, bMfcOften both. 
It is us^itally supposed that, since birds so affected lose 
tht ^rV 'eijiesight, they die from starvation. Mr^ Eaton, 
ho-v. ^e^'isi:, shows that this is not the fact, fof he cared for 
a n' tetmiter of sick Ijirds and forced food 4own their 
thro. 'Mt'S, vTiet in almost every instance the sick birds died. 
Birds w'.Ili';!! survived the disease were usually those blind 
in one eye-cnly, but this is believed merely to indicate that 
in thes-e caj&es the roup was less severe, affecting the eyes 
in a le.ss degree and at the same time admitting of the 
hird's recove'iiV'. The disease disappeared with the coming 
• of warmer we.aitfeer, and about the last of March not a 
r single sick bird -coiild be found in the roost. Mr. Eaton 
■ estimates that o.oe Ihousand crows died of this disease 
m Ontario; county: 
How general this epidemic was in Rensselaer county in 
■.the following year we. do not know, nor do we know the 
I cause of the disease. I'Certamly the subject is one of very 
iconsiderable interest ;to .qrniithologists.] 
§mrie mmt §nn. 
— — 
Tt^roprietots of idbi^iptmg fesorts will fiiwi.JtjRSfiifitable to advertise 
'them .in iFoREsr AijD STREi-W. 
ITke Maiae License. 
Baniss®, Maint, Feb. 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
T do not'know wheisher you care for the inclosed or not, but 
T was so. misquoted .in the daily press reports of the hear- 
:ing, or else not quoted at all, that I have written a partial 
report of what was s£.id. .This was by no means all, but 
:all that I could find room for in my February edition, 
nvhich was alread}' overcrowded. I am also sending you 
?a copy of the Lewiston (Me.) Journal, containing refer- 
'ences to the hearing. 
Since the hearing I have secured some important legal 
'briefs bearing on the question., and submitted them to the 
•committee this afternoon. Haw they can call the law 
■constitutional after what I have sgnt them I fail to under- 
-stand. H. W. Rowe. 
.fr^nfthe Maine Sportsman^ Figi^uary. 
^Elsewhere ,in thisvSssoe will be found a , brief report of 
'the annual meeting of the M. S. F. & G. The im- 
Iportant discussion of the gathering was anent the proposi- 
tion to tax i non-resident hunters for hunting big game 
;in Maine. There was the usual amount of argument in 
.favor and but ome speech against, Hon. Chas. E. Qak 
ronce more going on record as emphatically opposed to , the 
f-scheme. He did not vote on the question, however, ^nd 
iLfee idea was indorsed. Had it not been for the error ,ojf 
;the' editor of this magazine in regard to the date of ;this 
•iTsreeting, the press twould most certainly have been unable 
itorreport the vote as unanimously for the measure. 
: Later, to be exact, on the fourth of February, the 
iLegislative committee a^n Inland Fisheries and Game held 
:;a public meeting in the Hall of Representatives, with a 
\Yery large number present and the keenest interest 
: manifest. 
^Chairman Carleton, of the Commission, flanked by his 
raseociates on the board, the veteran and beloved Nestor of 
Maine's piscatorial interests, Hon. H. O. Stanley, and 
JForestry Commissioner .Ring, was present in force and 
with the happy confidence of sure victory. He conducted 
the case of the petitioners for the bill, presenting a long 
line of witnesses as to the need and value of such a tax 
upon visitors, including business and professional men 
:and wardens, nearly all of whom replied to a list of set 
I questions. The uniformity and similarity of most of their 
testimony was almost eno^ugh to make an impartial ob- 
' server think some of theni mtght have received inspira- 
tion, and from the same source.. 
When the remonstrants were, ^iven an opportunity the 
editor of this magazine waited almost till his chance was 
gone, hoping that some more tefcquent and better in- 
formed leader would take the ^om. Mr. Oak, knowing 
how futile opposition would be, remained in his seat, and 
it was left for the inexperienced journalist to enter, 
alone and without support, a protest against this unjust, 
unwise and inhospitable measure. 
As briefly as possible he told the committee why he 
was against the tax: That it was un-American because 
in the nature of taxation without representation; that it 
v/as inhospitable, and Avould work .-grievous^ harm to 
Maine's fair name as a host annually of thousands of visi- 
tors; that it was unjust, because the p.rke already paid 
was even more than the game itself was worth, intrin- 
sically; it made the State a game arist^ocracy so far 
as It barred out tht? i>6'6^ rtiian, and' Such' action, driving 
away many visitors, would' v^Ork loss and hardship ,ta 
those whose livelihood depended on this business; that 
It was further unfair, because, according to the statements 
and figures of the commissioners themselves, a part of the 
revenue so derived would undoubtedly be diverted to fish 
propagation; that it was unnecessary, since, if the money 
already at their disposal were used by the Commission 
wisely and judiciously, Maine would be able to sustain 
her glorious reputation of being the best protected game 
preserve in the United States; it was further unneces- 
sary because less hunters (in the B. & A. territory with 
which he was more familiar), hunting under less favor- 
able conditions than in 1901, killed far more deer, proving 
them more numerous ; that to tax hunters one must have 
the hunters to tax, and that he had found a strong an- 
tipathy among the many hundreds of visitors met during 
the season, who said they had rather pay an increased tax 
and hunt m Canada, than to submit to such an imposition 
m Maine. He also entered a protest against branding 
all western hunters as hogs and butchers, as he had met 
even some parties so specifically branded, and from a 
member of one of them .he read a letter saying that their 
trip cost them (20 members) $2,600, of which $1,150 was 
.spent in Maine; also suggesting that he did not mean to 
defend or uphold the many undesirable parties who come 
some from out West, some from New York and Massa- 
chusetts, and some even from Maine. Mr. Carleton con- 
ducted a sort of cross-examination, but did not succeed 
m shaking very materially the points made. He called up 
some of his paid wardens to refute some of the statements 
oi the remonstrants, and in some instances they testified 
exactly contrary to wiiat they told the remonstrant in the 
midst ot the last hunting season. • 
Having the hearing well in hand, l^Ir. Carleton then oe- 
cupied the remaining hour of the afternoon in an argu- 
ment tor the bill, and in denying most of what had been 
claimed by the opposition. He h.nl traveled widely and 
had met no true sportsmen who obiected-thcy were all 
ciyuig tor It, as the Castoria advertisements say; he 
knewrthat guides and camp and hotel owners warned it, 
tor the man from Bangor was the only remonstrant ; he 
referred to elaborate notes purporting to make such dis- 
crimination constitutional, and very frequently to the 
mass of letters for the committee to read, indorsing the 
plan; he called attention to the other States that have 
hunters licenses, and urged that Maine was too liberal 
and m danger ot losing its big game entirely; he called 
attention to the numerous petitions at hand for the law 
although he didn t say much about how many wardens it 
took to circulate same and get the signatures; he em- 
Mnii 'aaF "'f "''f the poor unprotected game in 
the North Woods, and, eloquently called the commitiec's 
attention to the only six guides the commission has been 
able to employ the past year to protect the game in the 
great North Woods." who had thus left the defenseless 
game without protection and traveled far (at %z per and 
expenses paid by the Stale) to help enlighten the com- 
mittee. In short, with organization, funds, eloquence and 
sarcasm at his command, he proceeded to demolish the 
remonstrants. The committee then announced the hearing 
at an end, no others appearing. 
The editor regrets having to giA-e so much space to his 
own remarks, but has been so frequently misquoted by 
the press reports that he takes this opportuiii y to tell 
what he did say at the hearing, so far as lie can remember 
Massachusetts Fish and Game. 
Boston Feb, iS^EdHor Forest and Sircam: Last 
iuesday the Committee on Fish and G^me gave a hear- 
ing on a bill to make the fishing season for troiit in 
Mampden County the same as in the eastern part of the 
Estate, instead of grouping that county with the three 
shir? ^°"*^'t'es, Franklin, Hampshire and Berk- 
Former Commissioner Lathrop and one or two rep- 
resentatives from Springfield, spoke in favor of the bill, 
while Representative Garrett, of Greenfield, onnosed 
V^^change m behalf of the anglers of his sectinA Dr 
J. i. Herrick, of Springfield, who was not able to be 
present, sent word to the committee that he and manv 
other sportsmen of his city were opposed to the bill 
not wishing the month of August to be made part of 
the open season. As there are other bills aft-ecting 
fishing in the western counties, the committee post- 
poned action until hearings are held on those bills 
On house bill 39, the bill of the central committee 
to make permanent the present anti-sale law on wood- 
.cock and partridge, a hearing is to be held on Thurs- 
day, March 26, at 10:30 A. M. All sportsmen who 
lav<5r the re-enactment of the present law, which will 
expjre by limitation in July, should attend this hear- 
ing. 
That the law has done much to increase the number 
m partridges ;n the covers of the State and has been 
mgtjly beneficial m protecting our quail, as Avell is the 
almost unanim-ous opinion of those best informed in 
such matters. Many of the sportsmen's clubs are al- 
ready actively working for the bill ' ' 
An article in the Greenfield Gazette and Courier of 
Feb. 7, in regard to this and other protective meas- 
ures I believe voices the sentiment of sportsmen gen- 
erally throughout the State, and will interest many of 
3'our readers: ^ 
"At the meeting of the Sportsmen's Club Tuesday 
evening, several matters of interest to the members 
pertaining to the game and fish laws came up A vote 
was passed expressing the sentiment of the club that 
the anti-sale law, maldng it illegal to sell partridge 
and woodcock, should be permanently in force It also 
voted to favor the extension of the closed season on 
deer in Massachusetts five years more. On the oro- 
posed change in the law in regard to trout fishing the 
club voted to favor a short, early season from April 
I to July I m preference to the proposed change to 
make the open season from April i to Aug i It is 
generally conceded by fishermen that late fishing cleans 
out practically a 1 the small trout, while eady in the 
season only the larger ones are caught 
"On the proposed measure to allow the game com- 
missioners and their deputies to search without a war- 
rant any buildmg not a dwelling house, where it is 
