148 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 21, jgo^J 
mand. Yon must wait, you must beseech, you must 
perclmnce implore. A groat many tourists go away 
tlis);usted because tlie buildings liere are of but one 
Etory, instoa*) of twenty stories, as they are in Chi- 
cago. "Are not Arbana and Pharphar, rivers of Da- 
mascus, greater than this of San Antonio?" they say. 
Perliaps tliey are. Personally speaking, for this par- 
ticular stage of the history of the world, all of our 
party seem content to let it go at that. As for the 
hunting. I must confess that, barring an innocent mud- 
hen, which was easy, I have not shot a duck since I 
came here, and even refused to take a gun out for 
quail yesterday, when we went out to a ranch where 
those birds abound. The fields are alive with animal 
life, doves, larks, all manner of bttle singing, hop- 
ping, flying things, but we let them fly or sing or hop. 
The spell of sleep and sloth is too strong for us. Even 
Billy Kemp, down on the coast, writes that the duck 
flight has been very good, and that the first norther 
will probably mean big sport, does not seduce us to 
run down the road and investigate. Our trip to the 
coast, which was to have been to-morrow, is now to be 
ijext year. Let the ducks go this time. Perhaps, in 
another to-morrow, it may be otherwise. 
The Moody Preserve, 
I presume everybody has at one time or another 
heard of the famous canvasback farm of Mr. Moody, 
the Galveston banker, who runs an ostensible rice 
farm at Lake Surprise, 25 miles from Galveston. At- 
tention is called anew to this prolific duck region by 
the doings there last week of a Chicago man, Mr. John 
W. Gates, and his friends. Mr. Gates was the guest 
of Mr. Moody on the preserve, and helped kill 400 
diicks one day. One of Mr. Moody's market shooters 
— for it is well understood that he hires men to shoot 
ducks for the market for him— lately stated that one 
day not long ago 1,756 ducks were killed and shipped 
from this preserve, and that upon one other day 1,500 
were killed and shipped. These are very large figures, 
but no doubt accurate. The rice farm is a myth, for 
Lake Surprise was never dry in the history of Texas, 
but the duck shooting is no myth. When I shot there 
with Stephenson and Griggs, before Mr. Moody took 
hold of the lake, only canvasbacks were killed. I do 
not know whether these large shipments were solely 
canvasbacks or not, but in any case the totals are very 
large. 
"Would Stop Dock Selling. 
Lake Surprise and the Moody farm are not far from 
the city of Houston, and the doings on this water con- 
tinue to excite the ire of many men of Houston. It 
is a secret, by this time more or less open, that a 
large petition has been raised in Houston, asking the 
State Legislature to stop the sale of ducks in Texas. 
This petition will be passed among many other cities 
of the State, and sonaething definite may come of it. 
The recent heavy bags made by these Northern men 
has had much to do with this immediate action, which 
began within the past week. 
Texas Invention. 
We are accustomed to credit the ingenious Yankee 
with most of the inventive quality which has made 
America famous, but it is not well to overlook the South 
in certain lines. It was a Southern man, a generation 
ago, who began to make our first bait-casting reels. Now 
comes Dr. Coles, a man of Waco, with an invention 
in firearms which may startle the world of sport be- 
fore long. In brief the Waco man has perfected an 
Ov4il bore, small-bore rifle which is said to have about 
rluuLle the velocity of the Krag-Jorgensen. The in- 
^venior, in a personal letter received in this city, says 
that Lis iuvcniiun covers a smooth bore, oval, with a 
•g! eater diameter of about .35, and a lesser diameter 
ob abiiut .31 The U. S. military experts are now ex- 
perimenting wiih this arm, and until these tests are 
compk-K-d the inventor will not make fully public all 
tlie details. 
Saving the DeerV Life. 
. I believe I ha\e meniioned the pel deer Jerry,.which 
is one ul the prides of Col. O. Guessaz's hottsehold. 
jerry is a tame deer, very tame, and as 1 have said, 
very' uranivorous. Yesterday mornmg, as my friend 
and 1 sat on the gallery, we saw Jerry running about 
at tlie end of his rope, in evident distress. He -^vas 
panting, choking and very much frightened, and it 
needed no veterinary's eye to discern tliat lie was suf- 
fering from want of air. Running to him we cast loose 
his collar and sought to give him relief, all to no avail. 
He continued to pant and choke distressingly, and we 
did not expect to see him live more than a ntoment 
or so. 1 recalled seeing, a few moments before, a 
large raw potato lying on the lawn, and it occurred 
:to nie that perhaps Jerry had tried to swallow this and 
failed. 1 suggested this to Gues.saz. "That's so," said 
that energetic individual, "that's what's the matter with 
him. Look here, I can feel it in his throat right now!" 
Sure enough, there did seem to be a sort bf lump in 
the deer's neck, and we set to work to remove it sooit 
as might be. Col. Gnessaz tried to push the lump, 
down, but it wouldn't go. "No use," said he; "it won't 
go. Now wliat'll I do? What'll my wife say to this? 
If Jerry dies I'll have to make the talk of my life to 
squitre things in this family, now you hear me.; ;We 
got to get that lump out, that's all." So sayiijg, he 
tried once more, the deer all the time trying to get 
away from the medical treatment. I suggested that if 
we couldn't get the lump down, we would better get 
it up. No use, none of us had a hand small enough 
to go far enough down the deer's throat, though we 
clid our best. "1 can almost reach it," said Guessaz, 
"but I'm shy about three inches. Now what'll we do?" 
There seemed nothing left to but crush the potato by 
the Lorenz process, from the outside, so that the 
^ deer could swallow the obstruction. Guessaz did his 
best, and he is not altogether weak in the hands, but 
at length was obliged to desist. "No use," he sai4, 
"that's the toughest potato I ever did see. I can't do 
a thing with it." - , . , 
About this time Henry, the stable boy, a twelve- 
year-old, who was standinv by dtirimjr our operations. 
remarked casually aiid with apparent disinterestedness, 
"If you're trying to smash that little lump in JerFy's 
throat, I don't believe you kin do it. I b'Ueve «-hat 
lump's alius there." 
It had not occurred to us that the epiglottis Gi a 
member of the deer family might be of use in its 
breathing operations. "That's his Adam's apple, I 
reckon," said Henry, calmly. I reckon it was, too. 
We didn't succeed in extracting the trachea of 
Jerry, or in getting him to swallow the same, per- 
haps; indeed, as I hope, did not even crush it up very 
much. A deer is built strange, if you are not used to 
such things. I am glad that we did not get Jerry's 
windpipe out, for like enough he needed it. In some 
strange way he managed to get well again, and we all 
concluded that he was just seized by some sudden 
deer panic, and had started to run without any special 
reason. "He often gits thataway," said Henry, the 
stable kid. "He pants mighty hard then." All of 
which is respectfully submitted for the benefit of those 
amateur veterinarians who may be called upon to 
operate upon tame deer which probably have not swal- 
lowed potatoes. 
Speaking of Deer, 
Speaking of deer, this region is still full of them. 
Our friend, Mr. Conrad Goeth, killed three fine bucks 
in one morning this fall, and then went home. He 
and a dozen others have a lease on a tract of land 
out at Government Canon, some twenty miles away, 
where they get all the deer they want without much 
trouble. Old Captain Dosch, whose fdmous collection 
of deer antlers is known the country over, says that 
deer are not nearly so abundant as in his day, yet 
one should be able to kill a deer within 25 miles of 
town in season. Over at Uvalde, or at Cotulla, or on 
the head of the Guadalupe, one can get deer, turkeys; 
once in a while a javelina, and all the small birds he 
wants, not to mention the finest of bass fishing, on 
streams as clear and beautiful as any of our Northern 
trout strearris. All this within 75 to 150 miles of this 
place. The Northern sportsman should not expect to 
get big shooting now right at San Antonio, but there 
is no better place as a headquarters point for a winter 
trip. If asked what is the proper outfit to bring along, 
I should answer, very little else than plenty of time. 
It is a peerless country for loafing, and the time does 
slip away so fast! To come here one should have a 
month in the clear. Then let him get a wagon and 
tram and start overland for the Guadalupe or the 
Nueces. He can have splendid sport in that way, and 
there is no healthier country in the world than this. 
Mitchell's Lake. 
A great deal of the duck shooting of the San An- 
tonio men is done at Mitchell's Lake, about ten miles 
down the valley below the city. Mitchell's Lake is 
not a lake, but a wide and shallow surface pond, rnade 
by damming up the stream known as the Sewer Ditch, 
which originates in artesian wells in town. The title 
to this body of water seems always more or less in 
question, but there is no question as to the ducks, and 
after the happy fashion of this country, there is near- 
ly always some sort of club which claims the lake and 
which is elastic as to shooting privileges. The present 
club does not know just how long its tenure will last, 
but hopes nothing serious may occur, and meantime 
goes on shooting. The daily limit is 30 birds to the 
gun, and usually there is no trouble in getting it. Mr. 
Goeth, one of the party who went down a few days 
ago, killed 16 ducks in a part of the day's shooting. 
Most of the birds are gadwalls, with a good sprinkling 
of sprigs, and a few bluewing teal. The customary 
method of shooting is to put on breast-high waders 
and wade out into the cover where the birds feed, the 
water there being just too deep for hip boots. Decoys 
are not necessary, and the only blind possible is a 
small and inconspicuous one, wherein the shooter, pro- 
tected by his waders, sits down on a board or box 
submerged in the water, which thus comes up about 
his waist, and leaves little of his person visible to the 
passing fowl. Other shooters keep the ducks stirred 
up, and sometimes a Mexican is hired to ride about 
in the lake and fire a six shooter to keep the birds 
moving. 
Blackbirds. 
All the blackbirds in the world seem to have come 
to Texas this winter. They call them rice birds here, 
but they are really the crow blackbird. There seem 
to be millions of them. Last evening, as we drove near 
Mitchell's Lake toward sundown, we saw a continuous 
string of these birds more than two miles long, flying 
steadily in toward the marsh. They roost there every 
night, and there is no computing their numbers. The 
meadow larks go in flocks here, also, perhaps a couple 
of hundred in a flock sometimes, and the doves fly m 
big droves. There are two species of the dove, one 
our common mourning dove of the North, the other 
the Mexican dove or tortillita, a much smaller bird. 
Michigan Wardens. 
One phase of the discussion of the game laws in Michi- 
gan is brought to a close by the appointment of Charles 
H. Chapman, of Sault Ste. Marie, as game and fish war- 
den of the State of Michigan. Mr. Chapman has been for 
some time Deputy Commisisoner of Railroads. Chase S. 
Osborne, the former effective game warden, as will be 
remembered, was a Sault Ste. Marie man and left the 
position of game warden to take that of Commissioner of 
Railroads. It ic therefore obvious that Mr. Osborne and 
Mr. Chapman were personal friends, and it is much to 
be hoped that Mr. Chapman will share the enthusiasm of 
Mr. Osborne in game protection matters, and will make 
every use of the valuable information gained by Mr. 
Osborne in his long term of office as State warden. Mr. 
Charles E. Brewster, the able deputy under the Osborne 
and Morse administrations, remains in that capacity, and 
will, of course, be able to carry forward promptly all 
matters while the new warden is getting himself fully 
brokpn into the harness. It is to be hoped that Michigan 
Ayill get a feasible set of fish and game laws and that the 
new administration will enforce, them. 
E. IioMX> 
ja^LMyf MmJM^ fl i t m- L.. 
The Plaiik for New York. 
There is before the New York Legislature a bill toj 
prohibit the sale of game birds. If was introduced intoj 
the Assembly by Mr, Raehl, and provides a new section asi 
follows : 
Sec. 38a. Game Not to b« Taifesm for Sate.— ^The birds mentiened 1 
or specified in this article sfcaM mot be taken at any time vi-tShin 
this State for the purpose of selling or offering the same for ssrie^ 
nor shall a person sell or offer for sale any such birds ta.%n- 
within the State by him or any other person with his knowledge. 
The birds embraced in the article include all the game*: 
species. 
We ought to have in New York a law forbidding the : 
sale of game birds wherever taken. If we cannot at this • 
time have such a statute, by all means adopt this one. 
A similar law has worked with most gratifyiJig results in 
Massachusetts and other States. The Ruefrle measure 
will do the same for New York. It should hav« the sup- 
port of every citizen who can make his influenct; faPl! at> 
Albany, 
THE COLD STORAGE CASE. 
COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW 'JORK. 
The People of the State of New York, Plaintiff- AppeiBfent-Re. • 
spondent, against Jacob V. Bootman and Howard R. S-ohini- 
son, Defendants-Appellants-Respondents. 
Brief acd Points for Plaintiff— Statement. 
This action was commenced, by the service of a sum- 
mons and complaint, on or about the i8th day of August, , 
1901, to recover penalties for the violation of certain pro- ■ 
visions of the Forest, Fish and Game Law. The defend- 
ants demurred to the complaint and to each count of it. . 
An amended complaint was served November 25, 1901, . 
and to which the defendants demurred December 16, 1901. 
The grounds of demurrer is to the effect (fol. 70). i. 
That the amended complaint, or any cotin* of it, does not 
state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. 2. 
That the court has not jurisdiction of ibe sobject of the 
action. 
. The issues of law thus raised were tried at a Special 
Term of the Supreme Court, First Department, and re- 
sulted in an interlocutory judgment, dated March 4, 1902 
(fol. 85), overruling the demurrer as to counts from L 
to XIII., both inclusive, and sustaining it as to the re- 
maining six counts, from XIV. to XIX., both inclusive.-. 
Both parties appealed from this judgment to the Appellate: 
Division, First Department (fols. 4-8), and the judgmentt 
was there affirmed (fol. 190). Both parties thereupon ap-^ 
plied for and obtained leave to appeal to this court fromi 
that determination, and also for the certification pf cer- 
tain questions of law for review. And the following are: 
the questions certified : 
First. Do counts I. to XIII., both inclusive, of the- 
amended complaint state facts sufficient to constitute ai 
cause of action? 
Second. Is the plaintiff entitled to maintain a civil ac-- 
ticn for the recovery of penalties under Section 39 of the- 
Forest, Fish and Game Law, constituting Chapter 31 of 
the general laws of the State of New York, for the viola- 
tion of any of the provisions of Article II. of sai(3 Act?- 
Third. Is the amended complaint defective becaiffe: i'xt 
is not therein alleged that the various birds for the pos- 
session of which the defendants are sought to be charged? 
with penalties were taken or killed within the boundaries^ 
0I the State of New York? 
Fourth. Are facts sufficient to constitute a caose of 
action stated in counts numbered from XIV., to XIX,. 
both inclusive, of the amended complaint, or in eitheir ©ii 
33id counts? 
Fifth. Can the defendants be made liable in this actioni 
under Section 33 of the Forest, Fish and Game Law, as; 
amended by Chapter 91 of the laws of 1901, and Sectiom 
30 of said Act, by reason of the possession by them, as- 
alleged in counts XIV. to XIX., both inclusive, of the- 
amended complaint, of the birds described in said several 
counts? 
Both parties have appealed to this Court from the de- 
termination of the questions so certified, and the appeals 
bring up for review these questions and no other. Code 
Civ. Proc, Sec. 190. 
It is apparent that the principal if not the only question 
for determination is whether or not a civil action lies tor 
the recovery of these penalties. 
Point I. 
The plaintiff is entitled to maintain a civil action for the 
recovery of penalties specified in Sec. 39, Article II. of 
the Forest, »Fish and Game Law, for a violation of any 
of the provisions of that article. And counts I. to XIII. ^ 
both inclusive, of the amended complaint are respectively 
sufficient in law. 
This proposition is denied by the defendants, their con- 
tention being that no right of civil action is conferred by 
the statute for the recovery of such penalties. And that 
neither of these counts, therefore", contain a statement o£ 
facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. 
This Article II. (Sec. 20 to 39, both inclusive, of Chap- 
ter 20 of the laws of 1900, as amended by Chapter 91 of 
the laws of 1901) is devoted entirely to the protection of 
birds. So much of it as is applicable to the first 13 counts; 
of the amended complaint reads as follows : 
Sec 20. Wildfowl, Close Season.— Ducks, geese, brant and swan 
shall not be taken or possessed from April thirteenth to August 
thirty-first, both inclusive; or taken in the night from an hour 
after sunset until an hour before sunrise. Ch. 91, L. 1901. 
Sec 22. Ouail, Close Season.— The close season for quad shall 
be from December sixteenth to October thirty-first, both inclusive. 
There shall be no open season for quail in the counties of Genesee 
an4 Montgomery prior to the year 1903 Ch. 20, L. 1900 
Sec 33 Woodcock, Close Season.— Woodcock shall not be taken 
from ' December uixteenth to August thirty-first, both inclusive. 
No person sh^}} j^kti more thaa tturty-ai* WQ^OWck in ao oQt^ 
aaaMO- I^- 
