April 30, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAMS 
8815^ 
they knew the law of matlslaughter, and that it_ was 
criminal to kill human beings, we were fully convinced 
that if the law was, passed, in its present shape, and was 
published and posted up in and about the camps ,_and 
srmmer resorts, that it would set the hunters to think- 
ino-. and possibly they would, be more careful than they 
ever were before. There was one more consideration 
and that was this, it liad been suggested that some ot 
the accidents were not accidents but were intentional, 
and had passed for accidents, and in that way the man 
who had committed the shooting escaped the penalty 
of his misdeed. That. was . a consideration that had 
some influence. But whether this law is a w.ise one or 
not I believe it should be allowed to stand, and should 
be spread abroad for the moral effect, and it seenls 
to me that the effect will be- good, and will restrain this 
promiscuous shooting that has so often resulted m fatal 
accidents. , , t • r ^ 
The^ President— I was a member of our Legislature 
and also of the Judiciary Committee when this law was 
passed, and gave my sanction to it, and for the reasons 
that have been so clearly set forth by the President of 
our Senate, Mr. Virgin, and by virtue of his position, 
Lieutenant-Governor, although we don t have that title 
here in form. I was wonderfully interested m the very 
able paper that Mr. Spragire has read, as_ I have no 
doubt you all were. It was very interesting mdeecL 
It seemed'to appeal to me this mental process by which 
a man makes a bush look like a deer. No one can 
explain it. You go out into the wods some day, sit 
down and commence to look at a stump or bush, and 
pretty soon that will comniettce to assume the form 
of a deer. You can't explain how it is. But What 1 
wanted to sav was to correct one mistake Mr. Sprague 
made There have been prosecutions under this law. 
There was a party in Aroostook county prosecuted 
and indicted by the Grand Jury, and convicted of man- 
slaughter under this law. I don't think he has ever 
been sentenced. There Was one in Somerset county 
sent to jail for thirty days by judge Powers under this 
law. For some reason, at least, we have been more 
fortunate in the State of Maine since the law_ was 
passed than before. I hope the law has accomplished 
it I hope the non-resident license law has got some- 
thing to its credit in that respect, because I hope that 
the time is not far ahead in Maine when we ^ will all 
unite that it is a good law, or unite that it is not a 
good law and get' rid of it. We all want to be united 
on these- matters. ■ 
Newfoundland Notes. 
~ Newfoundhflij^ Fisheries and Game. 
The annual report of the Newfoundland Department 
of Fisheries for the year 1903 contains much mteresdng 
rp 3. tic r 
It is generally known that the once abandoned whale 
fi.~hefy of Newfoundland has been taken up again withm 
the past few vears, and, beginning, with a product in 
1897-98 of $1,581, increased to $125,257 m 1901-2. torty- 
hve applications were filed durmg the year 1902-3, dnd 
858 whales were captured. , 
The seal fishery— dealing, of course, with the hair seals 
only— is the largest business of its kind in the world, and 
in 1903 yielded nearly 318,000 seals, valued at over 
$767,000. . ^ .. 
The cod fishery is the most extensive and important 
industry of the coloiiV, and the process of Cold storage 
recently adopted for bait will tend to make the fishery 
more than ever important and successful. 
The salmon streams are also valuable, but over netting, 
obstructions and pollution by mill refuse have greatly 
ii.jured the catch, which has declined enormously. This 
decline has taught the authorities a lesson. The use of 
nets is now regulated, ladders are being built over ob- 
structions, the hair seals, an important enemy to the 
salmon, are being fought by shooting, netting, and thus 
driving them away. The salmon are a great attraction to 
visitors from America and Britain, and in this way are 
much more valuable than their apparent market worth. 
The license for the killing of three head of caribou 
stags has been altered from $100 to $50, and it is hoped 
that this will result in the visits of increased numbers of 
sportsmen, who, it is thought.,- were driven away by the 
increased license fee. 
Ptarmigan appear to be growing scarcer each year, and 
it is thought that possibly the ever increasing number of 
Ivnxes may to some extent account for this. It is seri- 
o'usly oroposed ■ by sportsmen that the shooting of the 
grouse'be prohibited for one or more years in order that 
their number may; be increased. 
Fur-bearing animals are" trapped more than ever, and, 
though the law forbids the hunting or killing of beaver, 
skins have been discovered which show that unscrupulous 
people are violating it. • 
Moose for tlie Island. 
The Newfoundland authorities are making arrange- 
ments to stock the island with moose, as will be seen by 
perusal of the following clipping from a Sydney, C. B., 
paper. The island is better adapted for the raising of 
deer than any other country in the world. In fact, it is 
a vast deer park, as it contains caribou enough at present, 
if thev are properly protected, to supply American sports- 
men with good hunting for the next century. 
Five of the ten moose contracted for by the Newfound- 
l;<nd Government have been captured and are stabled at 
Newca'stle, N. B. The five in captivity are said to be ex- 
cellent specimens, and are quite domesticated. A letter 
v.'ritten from New Castle to a North, Sydney party states 
that the "big bull moose" is so docile that he can be led 
with a halter. The moose were captured about a moritli 
ago. They were tracked, in the New Brunswick woods 
through the snow and were followed and finally captured 
in the deep snow wbere they are able to travel only at a 
very slow rate. The moose will be taken, the letter states, 
to North Sydney, in a few -weeks, or. when the. remaining 
five are captured.,. In. -New.foundJand . there are no moose, 
caribou being the largest o,f the wild aninials found in 
the ancient "colony. The New Brunswick moose a.re 
being brought with hope of stocking the country. The 
fininials will be given their freedom on arriving in New- 
foundland. An opportunity wiir^e giveii' Ndffh Sydney 
of seeing real live moose in the course of a few weeks.— 
North Sydney Herald. 
r.:-. - Garibou Bxjtcfaefy. - - 
The following item from a St. Johns (Newfoundland) 
paper of April 14 cannot fail to be of great interest to 
American, as well as to Newfoundland sportsmen : 
"Word comes from Inspector O'Reilly, who is now on 
the West Coast, that an enormous slaughter of deer has 
taken place. It appears that some parties traveled up 
country one day and shot a number of these animals, on 
the following day, when returning for the carcases, they 
found that an enormous herd of caribou had come within 
a short distance of the coast. Indiscriminate slaughter 
followed, and it is estimated that 2,000 head were killed. 
This is a wanton disregard of the Taw and the parties 
guilty of such an act should be punished severely. Many 
of these carcases will never be brought out of the woods, 
but will be left to rot where killed. Unless steps are 
taken at once in this matter, caribou in Newfo.undland 
will soon be a thing of the past." 
The migrations of the Newfoundland caribou have been 
familiar for years, but not less familiar has been the 
v/holesale and wanton destruction which has taken place 
among this herd. Slaughter such as is here reported 
cannot long continue without so materially decreasing the 
number of the caribou as to not make it worth the while 
for any foreign sportsmen to visit that island for the great 
game which has alwavs abounded there. 
Spring in the National Park. 
YfiLLowstoNE National Park, March 28. — Editor For- 
est and Stream: I got back to this wintry country from 
Alaska on the coldest, stormiest day I have seen this 
winter. Not even along the coast of Alaska did I 
find such cold weather. I told my friends I had "put 
in" two winters already and found I had run into 
another. I had left Puget Sound country, with its green 
grass and flowers, to run into a blizzard before we 
reached Helena. 
At Livingston. Mont., and in the Yellowstone Park 
the thermometer registered 9 to 13 degrees below zero. 
They all declare here that this is the first cold weather 
they have had in the Park this season; that it has been 
a delightful winter. I can believe it, because the game 
is looking unusually fine for this season of the year. 
I see all the mule deer bucks have shed their horns. 
I have only been from Gardiner to the Hot Springs, 
still I have seen hundreds of elk, deer and antelope, and 
about fifty mountain sheep without getting out of the 
stage. Yesterday I counted 110 mule deer in front_ of 
the quajters at Fort Yellowstone. Deer were corning 
and going all during -the day. In fact, no one notices 
the animals enough to count them, unless they have a 
report to make or wish to satisfy themselves that they 
are not dreaming. The deer are lying around every- 
where. 
The elk are coming in much closer to the Post than 
ever before. In another year I expect to see them on 
the parade ground. In addition to the places where 
game was fed last year, antelope are found to some 
extent on the flat in front of the town of Gardiner. 
If the weather should hold severe they will be given 
all the hay required to keep them in good condition. 
The elk are drifting out of the Park in great num- 
bers and feeding even inside of the pastures of the 
ranchmen miles down the Yellowstone. One ranch- 
man, R. E. Cutler, has written to the local paper com- 
plaining of the depredations committed by a band of 
elk, which have cleaned the feed out of his pasture, to 
the detriment of his band of horses. He has found it 
necessary to feed his horses hay from his stacks, where 
otherwise they would have wintered better on the wild 
grass in the pasture. So here is a case where people 
are complaining of the too great abundance of game 
and where they are not allowed to kill it for self pro- 
tection or sustenance. They are talking about the bad 
game laws of Montana— that do not permit of the do- 
mestication of any of the wild animals. That the laws 
are good only for "sports." 
The 28 buffalo in the inclosure here are looking 
fine, and give promise of an increase before many 
weeks. "The tame bull that was held in a corral in 
the Pelican Creek country a year ago, with a_ view of 
capturing some of the wild herd, is now running with 
that herd, free as the others. An attempt will be made 
later to capture as many of the calves as possible, to 
add to the domestic herd. The three calves caught last 
year are in fine condition now.- 
Some few dead elk are found, but no great numbers; 
not as many as would naturally be expected. Major 
Pitcher has an inclosure in which he is having the 
sheep and deer feed in Gardiner canon, close beside the 
road. These animals can pass in and out at will under 
the fence. It keeps out elk or any larger animals. The 
sheep are as tame as wild animals could possibly be 
without letting you put your hands on them. They 
will let you come up to the fence to photograph them 
without even looking at you, as the pictures will show. 
I am sorry so few people can be induced to come up 
here to see the , game. . Many who have the time will 
not take it, even when passing through Livingston. 
They can stop off, run up on the Park Branch, 54 
miles to Gardiner, and inside of 5 miles could see all 
this game I have been writing about for years. Then 
"there are others" who would like to come, but are 
"chained- to business," like yourself. For those I am 
sorry. I won't say what I think about the others. 
There is not an unusual amount of snow in the Park. 
I think there is. considerably less than usual, judging 
from the looks of the mountains. There is a little 
as low down the river as Livingston and all along up 
to here. Teams have been running all winter to the 
Upper Geyser Basin, where the new hotel is being 
built. This is about complete. I s,ee furniture going 
out for it daily. I did not see the usual number of 
ducks along the Gardiner River. I do not know where 
they are, unless th,ey find plenty of open water in otiher 
parts of the Park. 
I can hear of no depredation having been committed 
in the Park. The laws protecting the wild. aJnimals are 
very generally respected all arQund the National Re- 
serve, even when rather. obnOxioGs aiid a burden, as in" 
the case mentioned above. Major Pitcher has been 
very fortunate jn getting the good ^yill gf all .the people 
of the surrounding country arid retaining it, arid_ their 
cordial support in his administration of the affairs of 
this reservation. 
Between fifteen and twenty mountain lion have been 
killed during the winter, and a large number of coyotes. 
I do not hear them singing as much as usual; in fact, 
they are very quiet — if there are many around. 
T. E. H. 
An Old-Fashioned Winter and 
Our Game. 
We have had one of those genuine old-fashioped win- 
ters of which we have heard so frequently, and some 
people have enjoyed it. Not the poor, however. The 
suffering in our large cities has been intense. As for 
the feathered inhabitants of our fields and woods, large 
numbers have died of slow starvation, and the quail 
crop in many places will be exceedingly short next 
season. In fact, I venture to say that it will require 
several good breeding years to niake_ up the losses. 
The quail, or- Virginia partridge, is a hardy bird and 
can endure extremely cold weather, provided that it can 
procure sufficient food to keep up the vital heat in its 
small body, but deep snow for weeks with the tem- 
perature below zero, is too much for its powers of 
endurance. We have received reports of the finding 
of whole coveys which have died on their roosting 
grounds, and I fear that but few have survived, except 
in localities where provision has been made for feed- 
ing them through the winter. It is pleasant to know 
that many farmers, either from kindness of heart or 
a realizing sense of the .valu« of our little friend Bob 
White, make a practice of doing this in severe weather. 
On large preserves the birds are, of course, well taken 
care of. 
A fine stock of breeders was in evidence at the close 
of the last shooting season, and we must hope that 
enough will pull through to prevent total extinction. 
This is quite possible, as I remember, many years ago, 
that in the Cumberland valley, in southern Pennsyl- 
vania, where I then lived for several years, not a quail 
could be found for a period of about three years. This 
was after a winter which, if I am not in error, was not 
to be compared with the present one in severity. 
The modern quail is a much smarter bird than the 
one which was pursued by our fathers in the days of 
the muzzleloader, and in localities where the cover is 
good, and particularly where large swamps are found, 
is in little danger of extermination by fair pursuit with 
dog- and gun. The- season closes -now before- the heavy 
snow storms can reasonably be expected, and the shoot- 
ing is confined to a few weeks, instead of several 
months, as formerly. 
There can be no doubt, also, that Bob has become 
educated to a degree that would fill the old-time gunner 
with astonishment and surprise. He takes to the most 
impenetrable cover on the first alarm, frequently to 
swamps that are absolutely impossible. Even _ when 
the covey is seen to alight in second growth timber, 
where the underbrush is quite thin and a heavy carpet 
of leaves covers the ground, the birds have a way of 
baffling the sportsman and Jiis dogs which is astonish- 
ing. Unless one has sufficient patience to wait until 
the birds call and move about — sometimes a period of 
several hours — the ground may be thoroughly beaten 
without flushing a feather. One or two quail that have 
absolutely been touched by the foot of man or dog 
may be forced to take wing, but nine-tenths of the birds 
can not be found. Various the?)ries have been advanced 
to account for this peculiar state of affairs, which so 
often defies the noses of the best bred dogs. Some 
men say that the" quail iias the power of withholding 
its scent, others that they simply pitch into the leaves, 
press all their feathers tight to their bodies and lie as 
quiet as stones. Men who have had no experience with 
these educated Bob Whites, are apt, to ridicule the state- 
ment that the birds can not be found by thoroughly 
trained and well-bred dogs, but when the same expe- 
rience is had by many sportsitien during a series of 
years, the facts do not admit of doubt. It is now many 
years since I read Frank Forrester's sporting works 
and Lewis's America.it Sportsman, but, unless I am 
greatly mistaken, both' of these writers refer to this 
matter. One of them, at least, believed that the quail 
has the power of withholding its scent upon occasion. 
Below the Highlands of the Hudson and Within thirty 
miles of New York the winters are usually compara- 
tively mild, and a few of the summer migrants can be 
found throughout the cold weather. Meadow larks we 
have always with us, but during the past winter I have" 
seen but one, and he, poor fellow, was weak and tame 
to a degree. These birds are extremely shy hereabouts 
and last summer they were very abundant. 
The cold has had its influence upon all animal life. 
Recently a fine gray fox was seen on the prowl, during 
the day, and remained for some time within a short dis^' 
tance of a number of men who were cutting up an old 
boiler at a deserted mill. 
I have not been able to learn anything in regard to 
the ruffed grouse. This bird had been protected in 
this county for three years, ending in 1903, and had 
evidently increased considerably during that time. A 
fair number were killed last fall, and enough were 
known to have survived to insure a good stock next 
season, provided the breeding period is favorable. 
Grouse habitually roost in the snow and can find food 
in the buds high up in the branches of forest and apple 
trees. We may therefore hope that this noble bird has 
not suffered to any great extent and that we may find 
it fairly abundant in our covers next fall. 
Theodore GoiiDOir. 
H.AVERSTPAW, N. Y. 
Points and Flushes. 
Mr. J. Otis Fellows, of Hornellsville, N. Y., writes: 
us : "We have organized a kennel club, started with forty 
paid-up members.. We will join the American Kennel 
Club and hold a show in connection with oi?r annual fair 
in September.'* 
