Forest and Stream. 
A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1908 »v Forest and Stream Publishing Co, 
■^^"^'^1x^S^o^>;Tii^,r-^^°^^-[ NEW YORK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 1903. \^o. ur^^^JAl.\o.. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of entertain- 
ment, instruct; and information between American sportsmen. 
The editors invite communications on the subjects to which its 
pages are devoted. Anonymous communications will not be re- 
garded. While it is intended to give wide latitude in discussion 
of current topics, the editors are not responsible for the views of 
rorrespondents. 
Subscriptions may begin at any time. Terms: For single 
copies, $4 per year, $2 for six months. For club rates and ftill 
particulars respecting subscriptions, see prospectus on page iii. 
THE CONNECTICUT TRESPASS LAW. 
It is interesting to observe the workings of the popular 
mind on matters of game protection as expressed in the 
acts of various State Legislatures now constantly being 
passed. Twenty years ago little or nothing of this sort 
was seen. The Legislatures of the different States then 
contented themselves with making laws providing close 
and open seasons for different species of game and fish, 
and providing also protection for what were loosely 
termed "insectivorous" birds. But further than this they 
did not go. A little later, in response to the call of the 
iFoREST AND STREAM, Came efforts to prohibit the sale of 
game — now adopted by most States. Then followed, here 
and there, efforts to limit the bag, and to prohibit the 
exportation of game. Meantime the suggestion was 
raised that non-residents who wished to hunt within a 
State should pay a certain license, and this, as a ready 
■means of raising money by a tax levied on someone else, 
became popular and has been adopted in many States. 
In some States, too, the resident is required to take out 
a license for killing certain game. 
An Act passed last smnmer by the Connecticut Legisla- 
ture, although recently quoted in Forest and Stream by 
a correspondent, has not attracted general attention, nor 
have its bearings been fully understood outside of the 
State. As is well known, Connecticut possesses a great 
number of towns, large and small, many of which are 
devoted to manufactures. These towns are usually 
within easy reacJi of country districts where there is 
m.ore or less shooting and fishing; or, at least, where 
there is open land, with birds and streams, and pastures 
and woodlands. On their holidays or on Sundays many 
operatives from these towns, and, to a still greater ex- 
tent, the foreigners who work on the railroads, or who 
carry on various small businesses, have been in the habit 
of spreading themselves over the land, enjoying the 
country, but incidentally doing more or less harm in 
their rambles over other people's land by killing song 
birds, destroying their nests, knocking down fences, and, 
in their search for the various desirable things, animal 
and vegetable, which are found in the countr\', doing- 
much other damage. 
This influx of more or less irresponsible strangers lias 
become a great nuisance, and has resulted in a passage 
of the Act in question. Chapter 199 of the Public Acts of 
the State of Connecticut, which reads as follows : 
Section 1. Every person who shall throw down or leave open 
any bars, gate, or fence upon the land of another, or who shall 
enter upon the land of another without permission of the owner, 
occupant, or person in charge thereof, for the purpose of htmting. 
trapping, fishing, or taking or destroying the nests or eggs of 
birds, or bee hunting, or gathering nuts, fruits or berries, .shall be 
fined not more than fifty dollars, or imprisoned not more than 
thirty days, or both. The possession by any person, while tres- 
passing upon the land of another, of a gun, dog, ferret, or fish 
rod shall be deemed prima facie evidence of liis intention of 
hunting or fishing thereon. 
Section 2. The owner, occupant, or person in charge of the 
land, or such persons as he may command to assist him, may 
arrest any person violating any of the provisions of the preceding 
section, and forthwith take him before some proper authority, 
who shall, upon complaint of the proper prosecuting officer, pro- 
ceed to try such person. 
Section 3. The owner, occupant, or person in charge of the 
land arresting any person, pursuant to the provisions of this act. 
shall be entitled to the same fees that are allowed by Section 4850 
of the general statutes to constables for similar services, which 
fees shall be taxed as- costs by the court before which the trial 
is had. 
Approved June 22, 1903. 
The obvious purpose of this bill is, first, to protect the 
and owner. The ways into his property must not be left 
:)pen. Secondly, trespassing for the purpose of appro- 
priating to one's own use the wild 'things living or growing 
3n the land is forbidden, and punitive damages, or im- 
?risonmenl, or both, are the penalty. The implements of 
Eshing and shooting are prima facie evidence of an in- 
tention to violate the law. Third, the owner or tenant, 
or other person representing th^ owner, is clothed with 
the powers of a constable to arrest anyone violating the 
law, and to see that he shall be tried for his offense, and 
this person making the arrest is entitled to the regular 
fee of the constable for a similar service, and this fee 
is to be included in among the costs of the trial. 
The open season for upland game in Connecticut began 
October i, and there has thus been little opportunity to 
judge as to how this law will work. It is interesting to 
learn, however, from the testimony of residents of Con- 
necticut that during the first few days of the open 
season there has been, on protected land, and in its 
vicinity, very much less shooting than is commonly 
heard. In the past such shooting has largely been at 
squirrels, chipmunks, bluejays, and other small creatures, 
and probably has not done much toward reducing the 
game supply; but, on the other hand, it has been very 
annoying to land owners to be constantly obliged to fol- 
low up shooters and to warn them off the premises. 
Sometimes, too, shooters are impudent, and refuse to 
move away. At other times they appear to be foreigners, 
and not to understand what is said to them. If the exist- 
ence of this Act becomes generally known throughout 
Connecticut, and if it appeals to the hard common sense 
of the average Connecticut farmer, it will undoubtedly 
do much to reduce the amount of powder burned in that 
State, and may well enough result in a very considerable 
increase of the State's game supply. 
All these expressions of the popular will as to game 
and fish in the various political divisions of the country 
are well worth noticing, for each one has a direct bear- 
ing on the general situation in which the sportsman is so 
greatly interested. The present tendency of legislation 
is in the right direction, and while things may not move 
so fast as we would like, yet hy their legislation the 
Federal Government and the States alike are constantly 
working toward better things. 
It may confidently be said that had a law such as this 
ben passed by the Legislature of New York State, cer- 
tain atrocities which have recently taken place in the 
-Adirondacks could never have happened. 
OCTOBER DAYS. 
The birds are on the ntove. Night and day, through 
the golden mist of autumn sunshine, through the silver 
silence of the crystal-clear night, they slip joyously along 
the "King's highwa}'." Often an observant eye may even 
detect the bee-like dash of a tiny hummingbird, as it 
mingles its flight with the flitting warblers and sparrows. 
In the chill of the morning, while the sunlight is strug- 
gling through the earth mist that so persistently clings 
to the lower levels, the bluejay appears to be the whipper- 
in, as it were, for it is his squalling voice that wakes the 
sleepy echoes and rouses the sluggish life that has ap- 
parently slackened in its quick flow through the veins 
of the tired host. Later, when the sun is in control; 
when the keen air has lost the sting of the early hours, 
every bushy lee that lies open to the genial warmth will 
have its little gathering of merry travelers, rustling the 
short grass or stretched with half-closed eye and ex- 
tended wing in the delicious abandon of a sun bath. 
Very charming to watch are these little circles where 
each individual appears to give itself up entirely to 
present enjoyment. The cosmopolitan make-up of these 
bush parties is striking. One will see the members of 
the aristocratic thrush family jostling with all comers 
in friendly contest for the warmer spots on which to 
bask. Often an autitmn leaf loosing its slight hold on 
a nearby tree will drift down on the light air, till, reach- 
ing the eddy that draws about the copse where our little 
friends are resting, it loses its impulse to pass, and pitches 
with a zig-zag lurch to the midst of the happy company. 
To see a tawny thrush seize the flaming bit of color and 
scamper to one side, where he holds himself proudly 
erect, with slightly raised crest, as though he would saj^ 
"Who shall dare?" is to look upon a picture of real life 
such as is found only in nature's gallery; it is beyond 
reproduction ; brush work would be an insult here. 
While every sheltered bit of woodland is holding its 
lillle carnival of migrants, the dun meadow and reedy 
marsh likewise offer a Avide.spread welcome to their 
visiting patrons. Ducks are trailing in long lines, and 
again in compact flight across the blue sky as they dart 
in rapid course high above the marshes drowsing in the 
purple haze of this perfect day. Far away where the 
glisten of a sandbar mingles Avith the shimmering w'ater, 
the gray geese are pruning and readjusting their plumage 
after the night journey just ended. An occasional honk! 
honk! faint, tuneful, a dream-voice one might say, floats 
in the quiet air, while from the uplands the call of plover 
and meadowlark are full of peaceful suggestion. Even 
the wandering crow flaps silently along, as though 
ashamed to utter even a single discordant note. The 
pools that dot the marsh land here and there have each 
its quota of bird life. Yellow-leg, black-breasr, 
dowitcher, all are present, for the tide is sweeping- the 
mud flats and the myriad gleaners that find their food 
in such localities inust retire before the sweeping flood. 
So here, gathered about the margin of the quiet pools, 
they rest and preen, and bask the golden hours away. 
Here also is music, pitched in the minor key beloved of 
all shore birds. Unlike the joyous twitter — odds and 
ends of spring songs — that sound in subdued tones 
among the bushy borders of the marsh land, these minor 
calls seem full of pathos. As the e3^e ranges over the 
quiet scene the tall figure and sentinel-like pose of a soli- 
tary blue heron looms enlarged in the purple haze. 
Presently his broad vanes are spread in indolent motion 
as he starts in a seemingly aimless flight far away over 
the dun marsh. There is silence here. Bird voices and 
the soft swish! swish! of wings are not noises! 
Substantial results are promised from the convention - 
of fish commissioners who met in Boston the other day 
lo consider ways and means for the preservation of the 
lobster. The reason of the lack of a well thought out 
and consistent scheme of protection for all the Atlantic 
iobster waters is found in the fact that in the past there 
has been no concerted effort on the part of the States and 
Provinces interested. When lobster legislation came up 
in the Massachusetts Legislature last winter, the chair- 
man of the Fish Commission, Capt. J. W. Collins, very 
sensibly and with foresight suggested instead of imme- 
diate amending of the laws, a provision looking to the 
convention which has just been held, to the end that data 
might be secured for wise legislation and such co-opera-, 
tion assured as would give any adopted system of ^ pro- 
tection a wider application than to Massachusetts waters, 
alone. The end has abundantly justified the .wisdom of 
Chairman Collins' suggestion. If the convention did 
not settle the questions at issue, it did poiiit the way to 
an ultimate solution. The measures urged by it will un- 
doubtedly be adopted by the several- States ; and when the 
system of licensed fishermen, a uniform length, long or 
short, and a sale limited to the lobster in the .shell, shall 
be in operation, we m.ay look to see, the. restoration of the 
lobster. In addition to the recommendations adopted, a- 
close season should be provided. As President Reed, of 
the Massachusetts Association, showed, it is exceedingly 
difficult, if not impossible, tO' entirely prevent the 'isale of' 
short lobsters while lobster fishing is permitted. Once 
make a close season when no pots shall be put out on the 
lobster grounds, and the sale of shorts will be promptly 
ended. 
m, 
The official statistics just published of the fatalities-in 
India in 1902 caused by wild animals and snakes show 
that there were in the year 2,836 deaths of human beings 
from wild animals, and 23,166 -deaths from snake bite. 
Beside this appalling, destruction of human beings, the 
killings of cattle are of comparative insignificance, al- 
though they numbered not less than 80,796. A persistent 
warfare is waged upon the savage powers that prey: 
bounties were paid during the year for the destruction 
of 1,331 tigers, 4,413 leopards, 1,858 bears, 2,373 wolves, 
706 hyaenas and other species, making a total of 14,983 ; 
and the snakes destroyed were 72,595. As one reads 
these returns he may Avell indorse the sentiment of the 
Kansas man, wdio, having returned home after making 
the grand tour of Europe, declared contentedly, "Kansas 
is good enough for me." 
(*? 
When a n-ioose Avas killed in the Adirondacks the 
other day the deed was ascribed to wantonness. It is 
some satisfaction to learn that the shooting was done by 
a hunter who mistook the creature for a deer. This 
cannot be accepted as a sufficient excuse, but it is one 
which speaks more favorably for the human nature in- 
A olved. The moose killer was a poor man who works as 
a day laborer; and it is said that he will have to serve 
a term in jail to work out the fine of $200. 
