Sept. 27, 1902.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
place a piece of burning torchwood over the afflicted part 
and allow it to raise a generous blister. A much more 
agreeable, as well as effective treatment, however, is to 
rub the legs well w'th alcohol instead. 
Sweet oil, or in want of it, sperm oil, or any animal oil, 
brings quick i-elief from the pain of a .scald or burn, as it 
excludes the air from contact with the injured surface. 
In lieu of any other remedy, plunging the burn into tepid 
water has a soothing effect, and will allay the pain until 
a better remedy is at hand. 
Woodsmen often suck bits of green pine twigs for sore 
throat and colds in the head, the medicinal properties 
which "they contain be'ng, as they claim, an effective cure. 
It is well known that the atmosphere of balsam woods 
brings quick relief to the consumptive. 
Nothing Aviil prove more serviceable in camp than a 
package of nails of various sizes. For building tables, 
bunks, benches and so on, they are of course indispensable. 
A stout nail driven into a tree or tent pole makes a handy 
hook; such also makes a very gaod substitute for a Dunch 
or awl, will do good service as a can opener, and will ex- 
tract a cork as readily as anything, next to a corkscrew. 
But in building the frame of the camp, if nails are not 
to be had, willow withes, or the slender roots of trees, can 
be made to take their place. The writer has seen rude 
fences built through the woods for miles without the use 
of a single nail, the rails being bound to the posts with 
twigs instead. 
A marine glass for locating and so recovering the gun, 
compass, watch or other article accidentally lost from the 
boat in the water, may be made as follows : Knock out 
the two ends of a box of convenient size, place one end in 
the water, and look through the other, after having 
thrown a shawl or blanket over the head to exclude the 
light. The minutest objects can easily be seen thus on 
the bottom. 
.A. blanket lashed between two poles makes a service- 
able hand barrow in which larger loads of baggage and 
equipments can be carried than in any other way. This 
is- a device well worth resorting to in crossing portages 
and traversing rough roads and woodpaths. 
A blanket with an oar for a mast, and a crosspiece 
lashed to it for a }'ard, will prove to be an excellent square 
sail, which will carry a rowboat or light skitT along before 
the wind at a surprising rate. 
If intending to camp in a rough board or brush shanty 
of a former season's erection, a roll of tar paper carried 
in the party will prove worth its weight in gold in repair- 
ing the roof and making it water tight, and will cost next 
to nothing at that. 
For filling up the chinks and interstices in log or board 
huts, make a paste of wood ashes and water, and smear it 
into the cracks. It can be gotten into crevices where the 
conventional bit of moss will not go, and effectively block 
cut the cold and wind. 
Altogether, there are an almost limitless numher of 
every-day rtses which can be made of such materials as 
can be found wherever one is A little exercise of in- 
genuity and the inventive faculty will supply the remedy 
lor almost any want. iRuPE Barmby. 
Some Observations on Game Laws, 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
In my younger and more confiding days, when I was 
devoting such time as could be spared from hunting or 
filching to the stud}' of the law, it was constantly impressed 
upon my mind, so that in time I really came to believe 
there was some truth in it, that the law was a science, and 
that it was constantly progressing to a higher state of 
certainty and clearness; that when a statute was to be 
framed, the best way was to state the idea intended to be 
conveyed in the simplest and most concise language. 
iMany of my youthful ideas have been harshly dealt with 
by later experiences ; and while I am not impolitic enough 
to say that the judges were wrong, I may say that I 
have my suspicious. Perhaps one of the rudest shocks to 
die's preconceived notions as to what is essential in draft- 
ing a law, will come to him who carefully reads the en- 
actments of the New York Legislature during the past 
three or four years. I am not going to criticise an}' of 
my friends in that body, for we are all fallible — except 
those of Us who have gone through the universities — and 
1 may have some favors to ask from those same friends 
again sometime. Beside, they, knowing me well, might 
retaliate, as did a friend lately, when some one suggested 
that, perhaps, her wings had not yet commenced to grow. 
She contented herself with repeating the following, at the 
same time strenuously disclaiming the authorship, how- 
ever : 
"There was a young lady ffoin Wilts, 
Who walked into Scotland on stilts; 
When they said, 'Oh, how shocking 
To show so much stocking.' 
She winked and said, 'How about kilts?' " 
So, for fear that my friends at Albany might similarly 
retaUate, I aiu going to put all the blame on those sup- 
posedly evil-minded and subtle cold storage people. They 
are blamed for everything, good and bad, in our game 
laws, anyway, and. a pound or more to their burden will 
not overwhelm them. 
Take for a mind-illuminating example of scientifically 
precise expression, the provisions of the game law in re- 
gard to bird plumage. In the year 1900 the Legislature 
passed what was supposed by some to be a complete and 
comprehensive law in regard to fish and game. This is 
known as Chapter 20 of the laws of that year. Section 
33 of that chapter, omitting the heading, reads: 
"Wild birds, other than the English sparrow, crow, 
hawk, crane, raven, crow-blackbird, common blackbird 
and kingfisher, shall not be taken or possessed at any 
time, dead or alive, except under the authority of a certi- 
Hcate Under this act." 
The certificate referred to was a permit to take birds, 
their nests and eggs, for scientific purposes, as provided 
by Section 36 of the same law. No one, not even mem- 
bers of the American Ornithologists' Union, seemed to 
realize that a literal interpretation of this law prohibited 
the taking of any wild bird, of the kind commonly known 
as game birds, as Avell as all others, except only those 
specifically mentioned, without first obtaining the re- 
guired ceitificate, That sugh was the effect of the laii- 
gu,'ige used is clear; and it is equally clear that such an 
effect was never intended. But without discovering this 
obvious incongruity, and almost before the ink used by 
the Governor in approving the above law was dry, another 
act knoAvn as Chapter 741 of the Laws of igoo, was passed 
and apijroved by the Governor, as an amendment to the 
aforesa'd Section 33, adopted at the same session of the 
Legislature. This later act inserted the words "and birds 
for which there is an (sic) open season" after the word 
"kingfisher," as used in the section first quoted-; and also 
added, as new matter, the following: 
"No part of the plumage, skin or body of any bird pro- 
tected by this section shall be sold or had in possession 
for sale." This, it seems to me, was making matters 
worse, "the worst ever," as the sage of iMontclair would 
say. The Avords, "birds for which there is an open sea- 
sen" effectually closed the door against all kinds of shoot- 
ing except with a permit — the fact that it was probably in- 
tended to use the word "no" in place of "an" made small 
difference, becattse the courts said that they were not go- 
ii!g to make laws. But the unifonn cheerfulness with 
which sportsmen continue to hunt game birds showed 
how much regard they had for the Legislature; and, in 
this instance, the sportsmen were right. But. in order to 
make things obscure, and as if (which was not the inten- 
tion at all, unfortunately) to shut out all selling of game, 
the words quoted were added to the law, for any one 
who ".sold or had in possession for sale," the body of any 
wild bird (and surely all game birds are wild) would 
violate the law, whether the bird be thrush, grouse or any 
other wild bird. 
The Legislature meanwhile having had a much-needed 
rest, the literary bureau of those wicked, wicked cold 
storage people was apparently again set to work, the 
result being Chapter 91 of the laws of that year, this 
likewise being an amendment to said Section 33, the 
only chafige, however, consisting in substituting the word 
"no" for "an." already referred to. In all other respects 
the law was the salnc, and no sportsman could lawfully 
kill any game bird in this State at any time unless pro- 
vided with a naturalist's certificate. 
Evidently the criticism invoked by this condition of 
things set some one to thinking, whether the aforesaid 
literary bureau or not. is unknowii; for the last Legisla- 
ture decided to really accompHsh 'something, and the re- 
sult was as follows: 
"Birds for which there is no open season and imld birds 
other than the English sparrow, crow, hawk, and crow- 
blackbird shall not be taken or possessed at any. time, 
dead or alive, except under the authority of a certificate 
issued under this act. No part of the plumage, skin or 
body of any bird protected by this section shall be sold 
or had in possession for sale." 
This is Chapter 359, Laws of 1902. Shades of Solon 
and Lycurgus ! The remark of some one on a somewhat 
different occasion, is brought to mind when one con- 
templates the resttlt of this last effort: 
"He did his damndest, 
Angels could do no more." 
Practically, therefore, the law is just where it was, and 
no game birds can now be taken or possessed dead or 
alive in this State without the certificate provided for in 
Section 38; and if any one wanti to make a criminal of 
himself, all he has to do is to shoot a game bird in the 
season. Such is the only possible interpretation to be ptut 
upon the first clause of the section. The latter clause, 
which vvas evidently intended to prevent the sale or 
possession for sale of birds not ordinarilj' classed as 
game birds, in order to stop the traffic in their plumage, 
goes much further, because it prohibits the sale or pos- 
session for sale of the skin, plumage or body of "any 
bird protected by" the section, and as all game birds, un- 
der the designation "wild birds" .are under the proteetion 
of the section, the result is that it is now unlawful to sell 
or have in pos.session for sale any kind of game birds at 
any time. 
It may be that the game wardens, seeing the absurdity 
of the law, refuse to enforce it, or that they put upon 
it an interpretation which the language used does not 
uphold. This, to say the least, is unfortunate. It is the 
business of the officials to enforce the law as it stands. 
The Legislature is the body to change it, and the best 
way to secure the correction of a fattlty or absurd law 
sometimes is to enforce it. It tends inevitably to lessen 
the respect for all game laws to retain such weak and 
absurd provisions on the statitte books. Each private in- 
dividtial has the same right as the game wardens to in<- 
terpret the law, and this looseness and lack of respect are 
largely responsible for the frequent violations of such 
laws. In your issue of, I think, ilMay 31. 1901, you called 
attention to -one phase of this matter, but even with your 
enlightening editorial to aid them, the lawtnakers failed to 
make the proper correction. 
Another curiosity of legislation, to which it is worth 
while calling attention, is found in Section 28 of the Laws 
of tgoo, which was as follows : 
"Sectioir 28. Woodcock, Grouse and Quail Not to be 
Possessed. — Woodcock, grouse and quail shall not be sold 
or possessed during the closed season, except in the motith 
of December, and possession thereof dttring the last fif- 
teen days of December shall be presumptive evidence that 
they were unlawfullj' taken by the possessor." 
The latter clause of this section should be constrtied in 
connection with those provisions of the statute designat- 
ing an open and closed season for these birds, the word 
"presuntptive," as there used, meaning that in case of a 
prosecution for unlawful taking, that is, I presume, a 
taking out of season, the person arrested may prove, if he 
can, but the birds were in fact taken in the open season ; 
and thus far the purpose of the law is beneficial as not 
allowing the permission given by the first clause to be used 
as a screen for those taking birds out of season. The 
burden of proving innocence is merely placed in the first 
instance on the person charged with the offense. The 
section is inartificial, and somewhat harsh in its intent, 
because it in fact makes every possessor of such game, no 
matter how acquired, subject to prosecution. A much 
simpler and fairer way, it seems to me, Avould be some 
system of listing or registration of such game by the cold 
storage people Avith some public authority, so that there 
would be no necessity of any presumption at all in regard 
to it. But a curious phase of the matter arises from a 
<;oaiparison this section with somq other provisions q{ 
the same law. If the closed season for these birds com- 
menced in all cases on Dec. i, the matter would be sim- 
pler; but as a matter of fact, the closed season for quail 
does not, in general, and with certain exceptions begin 
until Dec. 16, and in certain counties grouse and wood- 
cock may also be killed during the same time; while on 
Long Island grouse and quail may be killed between July 
31 and Jan. i. Now it would be a hardship to sportsmen 
to say to them that they are presumptively guilty of a 
crime under the latter clause of Section 28 merely because 
they kill and possess game under three other provisions 
which was taken lawfully between Dec. i and Dec. 16; or, 
as to grou'Sfe and quail in Long Island, any time during 
that month. And yet a literal interpretation and enforce- 
ment of the law as contained in Section 28 would lead to 
no other result. 
Section iio6 of the act provides that "such birds 
[that is, woodcock, grouse and quail] shall not 
be possessed in their closed season except in the 
city of New York, where they may be possessed dur- 
ing the open season in the State at large." This applies 
only to Long Island game, so that as to such game Sec- 
tiott 28 does not apply outside of New York city, and any 
one possessing Long Island game of the kind named in 
December is punishable under the act; and even in New 
York city is the possession of such Long Island game 
lawful if it is so possessed during the open season in the 
State at large; and that open season is not the same for 
all of these varieties of game. 
There is no apparent reason for so many modifications 
and exceptions as the statute contains covering different 
parts of the State; and what has been said at least ex- 
emplifies the need of greater imiformity in our law on 
this subject. 
But there are still unexplored fields for the student of 
the science of interpretation in these cherished volumes 
known, by courtesy, as the La^vs of New York. For ex- 
ample, in Chapter 429 of the Laws of 1900, is found, by 
way of amendment to the aforesaid Chapter 20, of the 
same laws, a new section to be known as Section 89 (there 
is no Section 88), this being an attempt to impose a 
license on non-resident sportsmen for hunting on, or fish- 
ing in fresh waters, forming a part of the boundary of 
the State, or through which the boundary runs ; or a 
license for taking fish or game in waters in this State if 
such license is imposed on residents of this State by 
other States or countries for hunting or fishitig in the 
waters of such other States or countries. This was a 
sort of reciprocity idea ; and, while awkwardly and in- 
artificially expressed in the section, as it was framed, was- 
still capaWe of being construed, and was not so bad as the 
last Legislature left it. This amendment is known as 
Chapter 77 of the LaAvs of 1902. and after following the 
language of the original act, in part, goes on as quoted: 
"If any license fee to take such fish or game in waters 
Jiot in this State be required o fa resident of this State, a 
non-resident tnay take the same kind of fish or game in 
such Avaters within the State if a license so to do shall 
have been first obtained from the Commissioner. Nor 
.shall any non-resident not the OAvner of real estate in 
this State and against Avhose real estate there are no 
delinquent taxes, take fish or game in this State except 
on a like license if there is any di.scrimination by requir- 
ing a license or otherAvise in the State or country Avhere 
such lion-resident resides against residents of New York 
in taking fish or game in such State or country." 
One thing that suggests itself in reading the latter 
clause is that it Avould seem impossible to less clearly 
state the idea that was struggling for expression in the 
m/nd of the framer of the law, if, indeed, it is possible 
to see what the ineaning is. Does it mean that a person 
Avho does not own real estate here must, if a resident of 
a State or country requiring a license, take out a. license 
here before fishing or hunting in the waters of this State? 
It would seem that such is the intended meaning. But 
Avhat must such person pay for his license? "A like 
license" does not necessarily mean, one costing the same 
amount, although that, too, was evidently the intention. 
The Forest, Fish and Game Commissioners are not ap- 
pointed to legislate, but to enforce laAvs already enacted. 
And yet, if they undertake to enforce this law, which is in 
its nature penal and, therefore, to be strictly construed, 
they imtst add something Avhich is not now in the law in 
order to make it intelligible. This they cannot legally 
do, any more than they can enact laws in the first instance. 
But if it applies solely to non-residents who own no land 
here, what is the use of speaking of dilinquent taxes? 
We have no concern, or should have none, with the pay- 
ment of the taxes of a non-resident upon property not in 
this State. That is precise!}' the meaning of the text, if 
it has any meaning at all, for it says, "and against," not 
"or against" ; if the latter expression Avas used it might 
be held to mean that a non-resident who owned land in 
this State could not get a license unless all his taxes were 
paid. I would not be surprised to know that this Avas 
Avhat was in the mind of hint Avho was responsible for 
this law. If SO', all that need be said is that he should 
have so stated, even though it Avould then be silly and 
nonsensical, and have not the remotest connection with 
the purpose of the laAv Avhich was the protection and 
preservation of the fish and game of the State. It like- 
Avise opens a wide field for speculation to attempt to dis- 
cuss the meaning of the Avords "or otherwise," as here 
used. 
It is, amazing that there seems to be so much diffictilty 
attending the framing of laws of this nature. One cannot 
help but wonder Avhy the generally recognized principles 
of gra.vtmar could not be applied to the framing of hiAVS 
for. the protection of the harmless and imiocent fishes and 
birds. 
I might continue almost indefinitely with this exposi- 
tion; but some consideration is due you and your readers. 
Joseph B. Thompson. 
JS'ew York, Sept 16. 
O Ho. 
Tvo cool monsoons blow oft on Oxford Dons, 
Orthodox, jog-trot, book- worm Solomons! 
Bold Ostrogoths of ghosts no horror show. 
On London shot^-fronts no hop-blossoms grow, 
T^i -crocks of gotd no Dodo looks for food. 
Kooks do not roost on spoons, nor woodcocks snort. 
Nor dog on snowdrop or on coltsfoot rolls, 
Nqv coirmipn frog concocts Igng protocols. 
