FOREST_ AND * STREAM/ 
|Ma^ ai, 1904. 
New York Zoological Society. 
We recently called attention to Mr. Madison Grant's 
interesting paper on the "Origiia and Relationships of the 
Large Mammals of North America," in the Eighth Annual 
Report of the New York Zoological Society, which bears 
date April i, 1904, and has just made its appearance. 
This is a handsome volume of over 200 pages, and con- 
tains a great amount of interesting matter adorned with 
a wealth of very beautiful illustrations. The report deals 
with the condition of the society, and this is followed by 
a number of special papers on new or little known species, 
and on various scientific subjects. The total member- 
ship of all classes is at present 1,333, of whom about 
I, TOO are annual members paying $10 each. 
The report of the executive committee shows for the 
year 1903 an attendance of 1,164,146, as against 731,515 
for the year 1902, an increase of nearly 60 per cent. The 
largest day's attendance was over 34,000 persons, and the 
completion of the r ipid transit terminal at_ West Farms 
will probably see a further increase of this attendance. 
The total number of animals in the collection is 1,904, 
divided into 536 mammals, 706 birds, and 662 reptiles. 
During the year l!ie bear dens were enlarged by four new 
cages, and the handsome fountain given by Mr. Wni. 
Rockefeller, as well as the Lydig memorial gates pre- 
sented by Mrs. Frank K. Sturgis, have been completed. 
During the past year many gifts of great importance 
have been added to the collection, and among these a herd 
of 26 bison and a herd of elk from the late Wm. C. Whit- 
ney; 6 specimens of lama-like animals from Mr. Robert 
F. Brewster, i eland and 2 pairs of gnus from Mr. Geo. 
F. Baker, i pair of African ostriches and 5 African ante- 
lope from Mrs. Fred. F. Thompson. 
Many additional buildings and improvements are 
needed in the Zoological Park, for which it is hoped the 
city will provide money. 
During the year the attendance at the Aquarium was 
considerably over a million and a half. The city has pro- 
vided funds for painting and generally improving the 
Aquarium, which now contains about 2,000 living speci- 
mens. A fish hatchery installed there has proved of very 
great interest to the public, and _ from it more than 
2,000,000 fry have been distributed in State waters. The 
finances of the Zoological Society are in admirable 
condition. 
The report of Mr. Hornaday, the Director, goes some- 
what into the detail of the collections, and is very inter- 
esting. This is followed by_ the description of a new 
species of raccoon dog obtained from Japan, and now 
almost a year and a half an inhabitant of the garden. 
This is followed by the report of Mr. Chas. H. Townsend, 
the Director of the Aquarium, which gives a very inter- 
esting account of conditions there. Mr. Townsend gives 
an interesting account of the ways of the manatee, which 
lived for nearly five months in the_ Aquarium. The list 
of gifts, beside those already mentioned, is a long one. 
The Zoological Garden offers the opportunity for 
study by the veterinarian and the pathologist of _ many 
subjects of great importance. The Zoological Society is 
fortunate in having Dr. Harlow Brooks as pathologist, 
and Dr. W. Reed Blair as veterinarian of its medical de- 
partment, and their papers, being a general report, an 
article on age paralysis by Dr. Brooks, and one on internal 
parasites by Dr. Blair, are very interesting. Mr. Ray- 
mond L. Ditmars, Curator of reptiles, records his 
"Observations on Lacertilians," and Mr. C. Wm. Beebe 
tells of the birds which he saw on Cobb's Island. 
The admirable photographs which illustrate the volume 
are most of them taken by R R. Sanborn, the society's 
photographer. 
The Scarcity of Ruffed Grouse. 
I WAS very much amused one day last fall at a little 
conversation I overheard. I was in the woods, not far 
from my house, looking for a tree suitable for a flag-pole, 
when I noticed two nimrods coming my way._ I sat 
quietly down on a log to see what they were hunting. 
When nearly opposite me, but fifty or sixty yards dis- 
tant, one of them suddenly pulled up and discharged his 
gun. The other chap called over, "What'd you get, Jim? 
"Rabbit," replied Jim, laconically. Whereupon he 
walked over to Jim to have a look at the game. 
Jim had evidently been in close quarters with bunny, 
for the other fellow said, "Huhl Call that a rabbit?' 
"Sure," said Jim. "What do you call it?" 
"Well," said the other, "I suppose it's a rabbit all right, 
but it looks to me like a hamburg steak with whiskers. 
I have been much interested in the reports from various 
places in New York and New England on the ruffed 
grouse and woodcock. In Rensselaer county there has 
been a closed season on grouse for five years, and al- 
though there are more grouse in this immediate vicmity 
than there were when the closed season went into effect, 
it is an indisputable fact that the grouse do not multiply 
as rapidly as they should. 
In Washington county, in covers where we last year left 
15 or 18 birds, only 20 to 25 birds could be found this 
year. Of course, the ruffed grouse, like all of the 
feathered tribe, have many natural enemies, and taking 
these with the "man with the gun," the grouse have 
rather a hard row to hoe ; but even at that, they do not 
seem to increase as much as they naturally should. 
I have always lived on a farm, and have been a shooter 
of ruffed grouse for twenty years. Fifteen or twenty 
years ago the grouse (if my memory does not play me 
pranks) used to have twelve or fifteen young or more in 
a brood; but to-day six or eight seems to be the usual 
number. 
Although Forest and Stream wants facts concerning 
the scarcity of grouse, I cannot refrain from advancing 
the theory that in localities where the ruffed grouse is 
reduced to a few individuals, they interbreed so closely 
that they degenerate, and are slowly but surely working 
to extinction. , ^ , . ^, , , , 
While the ruffed grouse of to-day is the same bold, 
dashing warrior as of yore, I must say that, as Mr. 
Samuels in a recent number of Forest and Stream notes 
a decrease in the size of salmon and other game fishes, 
so I notice that the number of young in the broods of 
grouse of to-day are not more than 60 or 70 per cent, of 
what they were eighteen or twenty years ago. 
I do not mean to say that the above cause has made 
the grouse so exceptionally scarce in some localities dur- 
ing the past season, but I want to convey the idea that 
in the more thickly settled districts the ruffed grouse is 
becoming so scarce that there is not new blood enoilgll 
to keep the young birds in a strong and healthy Condition. 
All through the farming districts of this part of New 
York State there is plenty of cover, and apparently an 
abundance of food suitable for grouse, and it is a deplor- 
able fact that they are not more plentiful. 
A close season of two or three years is a very good 
thing, but it is not long enough to give the birds a good, 
permanent start. As a means of saving the grouse, I 
would advocate an open season only once in three or four 
years, and then but for a few days. This, of course, 
would seem a very harsh measure to some sportsmen, but 
to preserve this noble game bird for future generations 
will require a good deal of unselfishness on the part of all 
true sportsmen, and the time to commence is now at hand. 
As to the woodcock, I have not heard of any big bags 
being made here; but, on the whole, the prince of our 
game birds has been more in evidence the past season 
than for three or four years. 
I have never seen mention in any of the sporting 
papers of the cold wave on the South Carolina coast in 
February, 1899, in which thousands of woodcock perished, 
as reported by Mr. A. K. Fisher in the Year Book of the 
Department of Agriculture for 1901. 
Harvey C. Campbell. 
[The cold wave referred to was noted in Forest and 
Stream, and has often been commented on as a great 
cause of woodcock destruction.] 
Why Such Bad Shooting. 
November 10, 1903, we went into camp. By we, I mean 
the old "big four" — S., M., W. and myself, and with us 
came His Honor, the Judge, who had not previously been 
one of our party. We located at our old camp, near 
Hornby, Minn., where we had been doing our large game 
hunting for several years, and never with anything but 
good success. 
The first snow of the season had fallen on the 9th, 
and the prospecting we did on the eve of our arrival at 
camp gave us assurance that there were deer enough in 
the immediate neighborhood to make the quota for each 
of us. It was therefore with great expectations that_ we 
started on our tramp the next day. These expectation.^ 
were rudely blasted by a streak of pretty hard luck, com- 
bined with some of the poorest shooting ever known. 
We worked the .woods and burned country each day 
'from the start until we left camp on the i8th, and the 
only things to the credit of the camp were two deer, taken 
by our friend M. The others of us failed miserably, and 
for the first time in ten years I left camp with a large 
goose egg to my credit. 
1 saw deer each day of the hunt ; none of them at any 
great distance, and none but/ what even a greenhorn 
should have been able to have taken. The others of our 
party were in the same fix, and none of us could bring 
in t"he good news of a capture until M. got his, which 
was on the 14th. Long before this we had come to the 
conclusion that there was a "hoodoo" of large dimensions 
in the camp, and as the Judge left for Skibo to spend a 
couple of days the morning that M. got his deer, we 
naturally came to the conclusion that he had taken the 
stranger with him. 
Not so, however, as he had no more than landed at 
Skibo before he put on his "war togs," and before he 
quit Sunday night he had three deer to tell about, while 
we had no more than the ice broken, and, so far as myself 
was concerned, things had gone from bad to worse. My 
opinion was— and still is — that had I been shut in a barn 
1 couldn't have hit the side of it. This was confirmed 
on the 15th, when I took a shot at a deer not over a 
hundred feet away— missing it clear. 
What made matters worse, was that there were three 
of the party with me, and all near enough to see the 
.whole performance. They told His Honor, and between 
them things were made pretty warm for me during our 
stay in camp. His Honor, especially, became very sar- 
castic in his remarks about what good hunters some folks 
thought themselves, and advised a little practice with a 
toy gun. 
Unable to stand the persecution, I concluded to take 
a couple of days alone and visit a friend, who was camped 
about eight miles east, and see if things would clear up 
some. His Honor suggested that S. go with me, as 
people who didn't know how to use a rifle should have 
someone along to look after them in case of accidents. 
So S. went. With me also went the hoodoo. Neither of 
us scored while away, although we saw plenty of deer, 
and the tracks of several moose. 
On the morning of the third day we returned to camp, 
empty-handed, and were subjected to another round of 
chaffing. Our friend W. came in for his share of it, as 
he had not yet scored. . 
We broke camp on the i8th at 6 P. M. FIis Honor and 
myself went to Skibo to spend the balance of the season 
with my brother George. On the 19th His Honor re- 
ceived an urgent call home, and concluding that he had 
his twenty-five dollars' worth, he left us. I did nothing 
but rest up for the balance of the week. Friend M. came 
down on Saturday, and we three— M., George and my- 
self—took the field— I with the intention of getting a deer 
or breaking a leg. . , , , r^, , -it 
I got the deer and near broke the leg. That deer will 
be remembered a long time as being the toughest old 
buck ever taken in that part of the country. He dressed 
27s pounds, and not an ounce of fat on or in him, and 
was so tough that a meat grinder refused to operate on 
him. We gave the meat to friends who asked for it, not 
offering it to anyone until they had asked, and explain- 
ing that it was a bit tough. 
This was all the hunting I did until the 28th, when _i 
got two deer, both of them quite difficult shots. This 
raised my stock to par, and made me feel like old times 
once more. . . 
That day I saw moose signs, and on the morning of 
the 29th George and I went out to finish the season. 
Nothing but moose for myself, but anything for George, 
as he still had one deer and one moose to get to fill his 
list to the quoto. He got a deer, and the moose not show- 
ing up, I got nothing, so we quit. This ended the season 
for me, as I left for home on the 30th, 
Will sonieone kindly eome to the ffOlit with an ex- 
planation of such poor shooting as 1 did during the first 
part of the season. I lay it to the lack of practice, as I 
did not use my gun during the time from Novemh-r 30, 
1902, until the year following. J. P. B. 
Use for Reindeer Ha.it, 
On a number of occasions efforts have been made in 
Ncrwny to n^e the hair of the reindeer to manufacture 
t.xtilts. None of these eiToris liave succeeded on ac- 
cuunl of the brittleness of the hair. The only use to 
which rcir-.deer hair lias yet been successf-.illy put is as 
fiiling in h.'c-belts, cushions, and mattresses for use en 
board sh.p. Each hair, being a wide cylinder, contains 
a great deal of air, and its buoyancy is said to be greater 
than that of cork. This same quality, though in greater 
degree, is possessed by the hair of the antelope of the 
West, and, to some extent, of the mountain sheep. 
Beat Near Town. 
Oakmont, Pa., May 10. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Two weeks since there were two bear cubs, about the size 
— and looks — of ten-week-old collie puppies in a shop 
window in Morganton, North Carolina, the dam having 
been killed about twelve miles from the town. They 
Vvere very much alive at boxing and similar cub 
amusements. 
Morganton is one of the oldest towns in the State, 
Sevier, the Governor of the transitory State of Franklin 
(or Frankland) having been put on trial for his life in 
the quaint old court house still standing there. 
Wm. Wade. 
Important Adirondack Decision. 
Hon. Arthur L. Andrews, Corporation Counsel of the City of 
.•\,bany, has lianded down his decision m fifteen actions brought 
by lliC State against occupants of land along the shore of 
Ka.quetie Lake, in Township 40, Hamilton county. These actions 
were fv,r the ejectment of the occupants, on the grounds that the 
laijds in question belonged to the State. They were begun under 
the direction of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission by Lewis 
and McKay, of Rochester, in the fall of 1901. Originally there 
were thirty of these actions, but in several of them the defendants 
suffered judgment to be taken by default. In others the defend- 
ants, after having appeared in the actions, entered into a stipula- 
tion that the plaintiff should have judgment for the possession of 
the premises described in the complaint, but without damages and 
without costs. Fourteen of the actions were vigorously defended 
by Judge Lyman Jenkins, County Judge of Warren Covinty, with 
Frank L. Bell, of Glens Falls, as counsel. In the case of the 
People vs. Joseph H. Ladew, one of the most vigorously defended, 
because the lands involved were of the greatest value, and the 
question raised the most important, the defendant appeared by 
Messrs. Parsons, Sheppard & Ogden, of New York city, who re- 
tained George N. Ostrander, of Albany, and Senator J. P. Allds, 
of Norwich, as counsel to defend the action. 
The issues raised in these actions involved the title to upward 
of 26,000 acres, being the entire township known as Township 
40, perhaps the most valuable in the whole Adirondack region, 
containing Raquette Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes of the 
Adirondacks, and covered with a virgin spruce forest, no part of 
which has ever been lumbered. The State held title to this 
township largely by reason of tax deeds acquired under tax sales 
made years ago. The defendants attacked the validity of these 
tax deeds, and in some cases asserted title in themselves, either 
by deed or by adverse possession. 
In the Ladew case, in addition to other defenses, defendant 
claimed by virtue of a contract of sale, which it was claimed had 
been entered into by the State through the former Board of Land 
Commissioners with Ladew's grantor, Charles W. Durant, Jr. 
The issues m all of these actions were referred to Hon. Arthur 
L. Andrews to hear, try and determine. More than eighty wit- 
nesses were sworn upon the trial of the actions. Testimony wa.s 
taken at Albany, Raquette Lake, Long Lake, New York city and 
Guilford, Conn. At Guilford the testimony of Rev. W. H. H. 
Murray, many years ago famous as "Adirondack Murray," was 
taken in behalf of the State, the referee and counsel for the re- 
spective parties having found it necessary to go there for the 
purpose of procuring Mr. Murray's testimony on account of his 
serious illness, from which he soon after died. 
Over a thousand pages of testimony were taken in the pro- 
gress of the trials, and during the progress thereof it was neces- 
sary to examine the proceedings of the Boards of Supervisors in 
Hamilton county as far back as 1859, and hundreds of pages of 
documentary evidence from these sources were introduced and 
submitted for the consideration of the referee, in addition to the 
testimony given by the witnesses. The original sovirce of title 
was traced back to pre-revolutionary times, and in connection 
therewith it became necessary to examine statutes and produce 
maps and surveys, and other evidence in that connection, dating 
as far Ijack as 1759. 
In Referee Andrews' opinion, which is a very elaborate and 
interesting document, he sustains the State's position on every 
essential point. The tax deeds are held by Referee Andrews 
to be good. As to the defendant's claim of adverse possession, 
the referee holds that there could be no adverse possession as 
against the State since the passage of the act of 1885, which pro- 
vided that lands in Hamilton and other counties should not be 
purchased, leased, or taken by any person for any purpose, but 
should thereafter remain wild, uncultivated, unoccupied forest 
lands for the benefit of the people, which provision was incor- 
porated into the Constitution of 1894, and made applicable not only 
to the -nunties specifed in the act of 1885, but to the whole 
Adirondack Preserve. In the Ladew case the referee holds that 
there w.is not, and never had been, a contract between the State 
and Ladew or his predecessors, under which the title to the 
property claimed by him passed from the State. 
New York Game Bills Signed. 
Governor Odell has signed the following bills amending the 
forest, fish and game law: 
Assemblyman F. C. Wood's bill (792—832), providing for re- 
stocking the Adirondack region with wild beaver. 
Senator Townsend's bill (12—853), providing for the protection 
of wild black bear. 
Assemblyman Dickinson's bill (160—883), relating to the close 
season for hares, rabbits, trout, etc., in Cortland and Genesee 
counties. 
^nblimtiorii 
Shooting. Edited by Horace G. Hutchinson. Two volumes, 
each about 325 pages. Illustrated. Chas. Scribner's Sons. 
Although this is an expensive work, it is one that every gunner 
should have in his library. It deals fully with sport in England, 
where they have" carried shooting with the shotgun far beyond 
anything that we Americans know about. The first volume deals 
with the pheasant, the partridge and the grouse, and all the 
detail which goes with these diflferent sorts of game, from the 
rearing of pheasants, partridge and grouse to the management of 
covers and moors and the shooting and loading of guns. 
The second volume is devoted in part to wildfowl shooting, 
and in part to such less important game as the hare, the rabbit 
and wild pigeons, with chapters on week-end shoots, planting 
covers for game, motor cars for sporting purposes, the game 
laws, and shooting accessories. No one can read these two 
volumes without acquiring a vast fund of information concern- 
ing sport in Britain, and incidentally learning much that may be 
useful to him on this continent as well. The illustrations are 
numerous and beautiful. Price, J7.50 net. 
