Aug. 9, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
165 
son could be killed by them in a short tinie if a number 
should get under the clothes. Later, when I began to 
look over the plants, one of these fellows ran up my 
sleeve and started vigorous work at once. I caught 
him on the third bite, and I think his jaws must have 
been red hot, and were developing rapidly to- a white 
heat by the time I killed him. From my own experi- 
ence I shall always feel pretty well satisfied that a num- 
ber of these cuts could do serious damage if they all 
got at it at once. Francis C. Nicholas. 
The Bobolinfc^s Songf. 
Passaic, N. J. — Editor Forest and Stream: I am not 
all pleased with my version of the bobolink's song, as 
printed in a recent issue. It was my own blunder. Kind- 
ly reprint it as follows : 
John Gillet, John Gillet, 
Scour the skillet, 
Scour the skillet, 
Scour it clean. 
Scour it clean. 
H. H. Thompson. 
Birds that Sin^ in the Night. 
Perth Amboy, N. J., Aug. 2. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: About 12 :30 last night a cuckoo in a maple tree 
near my bedroom window startled me with a loud tut, 
tut, tut, tut, cluck, cl-uck, cl-uck, cl-uck, cow, cow, cow, 
cow, cow, cow ! Is it not unusual for this species to utter 
its notes at night? J. L. K. 
A Twffcey Buzzntd Roost, 
Near Brunswick, Md., on the B. & O. Railroad, is a 
famous buzzard "roost." On one of my trips west I saw 
several hundreds of the birds on trees or flying near. It 
would be hard to find- a larger community of buzzards 
in the region. Tarleton H. Bean, 
100 Sportsmen's finds. 
Some of the Qtfeet EWscovcrfes Made fcy Those Who Ate 
Looking for Game or Fish. 
86 
An Aug. I dispatch from Fresno, Cal., reports that 
what undoubtedly is the largest known tree in the world 
was recently discovered two and a half miles from the 
Sanger Lumber Co.'s mill, at Converse Basin, in the 
Sierras, in this county. The discovery was made by a 
party of hunters, but little credence was given to the 
report, as every one thought the description of this 
colossus of the forest was exaggerated, but it has since 
been visited by people who have verified the finders' 
statement. 
The monster was measured six feet from the ground, 
and it took a line 154 feet and 8 inches long to encircle 
it, making it over 51 feet in diameter. The tree is a few 
rods from the company's boundary line and is on the 
Governm,ent reserve. It will therefore be of interest to 
sightseers and will escape the woodman's axe. 
§^ttiB §Hg mul §mu 
— <$> — 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Game and Fish Interests* 
Paper.s read at the meeting of the National Association of Game 
and Fish Wardens and Commissioners at Mammoth Hot 
Springs, N. Y. 
NON-RESIDENT HUNTING LICENSES. 
BY D. C. N0WLIN_, STATE GAME WARDEN OF WYOMING. 
"Tariff for revenue" with incidental protection is prob- 
ably a fair definition of the non-resident hunter's license 
law. Like all questions, it has two sides. While the con- 
stitutionality of the statute imposing this tax upon non- 
residents is beyond the aim or scope of this paper, the 
mere fact that the U. S. Supreme Court has held,^ in 
effect, that the State has absolute ownership and control 
of all the wild game within its borders, oufjht to be suffi- 
cient warrant for such legislation. As a financial ex- 
pedient it has been fairly satisfactory in Wyoming, while 
as a protection measure it has been far more effective 
than many casual observers would be willing to admit. 
The true sportsman from the East (always a gentle-' 
man), who spends his money freely for guides and equip- 
ment, is a pleasant and profitable acquisition ; he needs 
no supervision, and the law as it stands may seem to him 
unnecessary and oppressive. 
Were all men upon the same moral plane, no restric- 
tive legislation would be necessary. But it is a fact, well 
known to every sportsman, that many men, who, in ordi- 
nary transactions are honest, honorable and scrupulously 
observant of statutory law, will, if turned loose in the 
hills with a gun, ignore all laws, and develop into the 
worst species of the "game hog." This may be due to 
an inherent taint of savagery, common to aJl men; but 
whatever the reason, this tendency to "kill e^?erything in 
sight" must be checked and controlled by law. If the 
non-resident license law needed any special defense or 
apology — which the writer will not for a moment admit — 
then the State of Wyoming is in a peculiarly favorable 
position to enter a plea of necessity. 
Two sides of the National Park abut against territory 
controlled by the State. The Park (and the country south 
and east) is the natural home and breeding ground of 
vast numbers of elk. (It may be safely said that nine- 
tenths of the elk in Wyoming range in the territory now 
embraced in the Teton and Yellowstone Forest Reserve.) 
When these elk are not actually within the Park limits — 
and most of them are never there — where they are pro- 
tected by Federal authority, they are convenient to the 
meat, head and tusk hunters, not only of our own State, 
but of Montana and Idaho as well. 
Actual observation and experience qualifies the writer 
to assert that had it not been for the $40 tax upon non- 
residents (coupled with the statute prohibiting traflic in 
game) there would be not more than one elk, where we 
can count four to-day in Wyoming. The license is suffi- 
ciently high to practically bar from our State that class of 
hunters who kill for speculative purposes; it serves to 
identify those who hunt for sport and trophies, and 
enables the officers to locate and supervise hunting parties 
in general. With some necessary amendments, and with 
a more careful administration of the law, it would enable 
us to make a very close estimate of the number of game 
animals killed each season by non-resident hunters. The 
non-resident license law has been thoroughly tried in 
Wyoming. Originally $20 per season, it was deemed 
wise to double the amount four years ago. The revenue 
derived from this source during the past three seasons 
aggregates in round numbers, $20,000, every cent of which 
has been expended for game protection. 
The Wyoming game laws can, and the writer trusts 
will be, amended to advantage ; but it is not believed that 
any proposition looking to the repeal of the non-resident 
license law would meet with approval. 
ABOLISHMENT OF SPRING SHOOTING. 
BY JOHN SHARP, STATE FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER OF 
UTAH. 
"Spring shooting" in the general meaning of the terra 
applies strictly to the shooting and killing of wild water- 
fowl in the spring of the year, and the practice has been 
so generally and wantonly indulged in all over the Union 
in the past to such an extent that these birds are almost 
exterminated in most places throughout the land when 
their numbers at one time seemed countless, and the sup- 
ply inexhaustible. As a general thing, the other varietie? 
of game and upland birds have had some protection under 
the laws of the various States at this season of the year, 
but not so the wild waterfowl, until very recently in a 
few States. The reason for litis lack of legal protection 
at a time when most needed is perhaps due to the 
migratory nature of this class of game birds, and the 
seemingly inexhaustible supply as they used to appear in 
their habitual migrations from their winter feeding 
grounds in the south to their breeding grounds in the 
north, returning again in the late fall and early winter 
with their broods to escape the rigorous cold of the 
northern latitudes, which they know from instinct and 
experience freezes up their food supply and compels them 
to seek the milder climate of the south for their winter 
feeding home. The half-yearly flights from south to 
north and from north to south again of the vast numbers 
of wild waterfowl, have probably led to the erroneous 
belief in the past that, the supply could never be lessened, 
and that it was not necessary to give them protection ; 
and I have heard it argued by some market-shooters and 
pot-hunters in Utah that, if there were two or three hun- 
dred thousand ducks killed each season at Bear River 
Bay, there would be just as many as there were before. 
Profound reasoning this, but I have had to contend with 
it before a legislative committee, and it goes to show 
the dense ignorance and mercenary instincts engendered 
by avarice that game protectionists have to contend with 
in their efforts to secure the much-needed protective laws 
for otir game and birds. When such ideas and sentiments 
prevail so largely, it is little wonder that our wild animal 
and bird life is disappearing so rapidly. 
The springtime of the year being the breeding and pro- 
pagating season of nearly all wild birds, and wild anima'' 
as well, it is a shame and disgrace in a highly civilized 
nation that they should be killed or destroyed by man at 
this season for sport, -pleasure or any other purpose. It 
is a barbarous crime against nature's laws that should be 
prohibited by the most stringent legal enactments, and 
is worthy only of the dark ages and savage nations, at 
a time when they depended upon the results of the chase 
for a subsistence. There is no way more sure or quicker 
to exterminate any class of wild birds or animals, how- 
ever numerous they may be, than to harry and distur' 
them by shooting during the propagating season. It is 
not alone the destruction of the parents that may be killed, 
but the loss of the young that would in few months 
later be as large and valuable as the parents; and in the 
case of most game birds the numbers would be increased 
from two to ten fold, and more in some cases. Further- 
more, the birds, with very few exceptions, are not in a 
fit condition to be used as food, at this season being poor 
and ill fed, and_ lacking in the healthy, fat and plump 
condition in which they are found in the late summer 
and fall of the year after the young are all hatched and 
strong on the wing. There does not appear to be any 
valid reason or excuse for the improvident waste or 
thoughtless destruction of our wild waterfowJ from sprina: 
shooting. It is not only a crime against nature that should 
be suppressed from a moral standpoint, but it is also a 
barbarous waste of nature's bounteous gifts that have 
been so lavishly showered upon us in the past, that should 
be prohibited from motives of economy, in the conserva 
tion of a natural supply that costs nothing, beside being 
the source of much pleasure and recreation to all classes 
of citizens who may have the desire and inclination to take 
them at reasonable times and in resonable ways; and 
taking a retrospective view of the conditions that have 
existed, and that exist at the present time, it is a matter 
of wonder and regret, and a doubtful commentary on 
cur boasted civilization that such a cruel, wasteful and 
unnatural practice should have been permitted so long 
without restriction. It is true that a few States have 
recently enacted laws abolishing spring shooting. New 
Hampshire, Vermont, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
Utah and California have practically wiped spring shoot- 
ing from their statute books by closing the season before 
Feb. I. But just think of it, only seven out of forty-five 
great States of this Union have awakened to the shameful 
sense of abolishing a practice that should never have ex 
isted, and the other thirty-eight still in a lethargic slumber 
oblivious of their shame, while our wild animal and bird 
life continues to dwindle year by year, until there is 
hardly anything left for the true sportsman and lover 
of nature, but regretful memories and oft-told tales of 
the wonderful profuseness of the wild animal and bird 
life that once existed all over the continent of North 
America. We have glaring examples of the infamous 
treatment that has prevailed in the past Regarding our 
wild animal and bird life, in the utter extmction of the 
great auk and the wild piegeon, together with the buffalo, 
excepting the pitiful remnant in this National Park; and 
but for the powerful arm of the United States Govern- 
ment, these would also have been completely annihilated. 
Two other grand game birds, the woodcock and Avood 
duck, are reported as being so rare as to almost amount to 
extinction; and everything else in the shape of wild ani- 
mal and bird life is following in the wake of these, and 
disappearing at a pace that is truly alarming, excepting 
perhaps a few species of camivora like the universally 
despised coyote and cougar, that we out here in the 
West would be glad to be rid of, but which, like the 
English sparrow and the German carp, are with us, and 
likely to stay, in those places where they have been intro- 
duced. 
The universal abolishment of spring shooting in all the 
States is an object greatly to be desired, and which would 
prolong the existence of our wild waterfowl very ma- 
terially, but there is another feature bearing on their 
preservation of equal, if not greater, importance thah 
this, and which in my opinion has been the chief cause 
and king pin in the depletion of our wild game animals 
and birds. We know from sad experience that it has 
been the chief factor in the extinction of the buffalo,- the 
wild pigeon and the great auk. I refer now to the bane- 
ful results of the traffic in these commodities, with an un- 
1-mited market demand at all times, both in and out of 
season. The markets of our large cities all over the land 
keep on crying for more venison, more grouse, more ducks 
and geese, more trout and bass; and the conscienceless 
dealer and market man in their efforts to supply the 
demand and make a few dollars, will offer inducements 
to market-hunters and market-fishermen that would tempt 
them to kill the last nursing doe on the earth, and take 
the last pair of spawning trout off their spawning bed. 
The market has no conscience, and the dealer and market- 
hunter have still less, if possible, and until the blighting 
effects of the traffic in these commodities that nature has 
given to all alike, can be abolished by uniform laws in 
all of the States, I fear that our wild animal and bird life 
will continue to dwindle until it disappears from off the 
earth. Can it be done? Can the abolishment of the sale 
and traffic of all kinds of game and game birds in all 
the States and at all times be accomplished? Some of 
the States have already taken this commendable action, 
and all the others should speedily follow the example; 
it is the only salvation for our game, and all of those 
States that have not taken action in the matter, cannot 
move too quickly in the enactment of laws to prevent 
the extermination of our wild animal and bird life from 
the baneful effects of barter and sale. The complete and 
uncompromising abolishment of the sale aad commercial 
traffic in all kinds of wild game at all times, seems to be 
the only solution to the question of how to perpetuate 
the existence of the game animals and birds in this 
country; and the stubborn question of how to achieve 
this most desirable result, is a fitting one to engage the 
most earnest consideration of this convention of the fish 
and game wardens and commissioners of the Northwest- 
ern States assembled for the first time — but to be hoped 
not the last — for the purpose of exchanging views and de- 
vising plans for the better protection and advancement 
of the fish and game interests of our several States. It is 
said that "a rolling stone gathers no moss," but let us 
indulge the hope that from this little meeting held up 
among the majestic peaks of these grand old Rocky 
Mountains, a stone may be started rolling down the 
mountainside and across the great plains to the sea, 
gathering as it rolls all the fish and game wardens and 
commissioners in the Union into one grand fish and game 
league ; and joining hands with the grat league of Amer- 
ican sportsmen that has done much good work since its 
organization, in securing both State and National legis- 
lation for the better protection of the game, birds and 
fish of the entire country, and in helping to enforce ex- 
isting State laws — a combined effort may be made for the 
abolishment of the two main causes of the destruction 
of the game and birds of the country, spring shooting, 
and the sale of game at any time. 
A uniform law abolishing spring shooting, and the sale 
of wild game and birds at all times, should be upon the 
statute books of every State, but how to get it there is the 
rub. I fear that a measure of this kind will result in a 
great deal of legislative wrangling, and meet with bitter 
opposition from the dealers, the market-hunters and mar- 
ket-fishermen, as well as hotel and restaurant keepers; 
and many people who think that they should not be cur- 
tailed in the privilege of bujdng game or game fish when 
they can get it, either in or out of the market. This has 
at least always been the case in Utah whenever any game 
or fish protective measure has come up before the Legisla- 
ture. It has been a continuous struggle between the 
sportsmen on the one hand, and the market-hunters and 
vendors, with the restaurant keepers, on the other; and 
I presume that this condition prevails in many of the other 
States. _ But the struggle will have to be continued until 
the desired object can be attained; and if this object' can 
be more speedily consummated through the deliberations 
of this meeting, our coming together will not have been 
in vain. It is gratifying to note that the parent Govern- 
ment by extending the powers of the Department of Agri- 
culture, is taking a hand in certain directions for the 
preservation and propagation of our birds and game, and 
I offer the suggestion that, if a national law for the abol- 
ishment of the sale and traffic in all kinds of wild animals 
and ^irds in any form could be enacted by the Congress 
of the United States, it would solve the vexed problem, 
and end all cavil that would naturally arise from climatic 
and other local conditions in the various States, in the 
consideration of such a measure by the State legislatures 
that have not as yet passed upon the question. 
Furthermore, there is one particular feature connected 
with the preservation and perpetuation of our game ani- 
mals and birds which in my opinion is worthy the seri- 
ous consideration of our national lawmakers, and espe- 
cially of the War Department; and that is in the oppor- 
ttmities off&red for the making of good soldiers. I hear 
