May 28, 1904.] 
FOREST AND _ STREAM.* 
489 
of game have been evaded in the past is matter of corn- 
mon knovi^ledge. As counsel for appellant v^rell state in 
their brief : . " . V - " 
{"With the possible exception of the mountain lidnj, the 
coyote and the wolf, the most persistent and heartless 
enemies of the game, and at the same time the most diffi- 
cult to detect and punish, are the meat and hide hunters 
a^d buyers. If, with the law declaring the limit in pos- 
session for one person to be two horned deer (or any 
part thereof) and that, in the open season only, a man 
can successfully get; away with 300 hides of all sexes and 
ages in the close season, then game laws are inef¥ectual, 
and the game department had as well be abolished." 
These and like considerations, no doubt, actuated the 
Legislature in the premises, and induced the enactment of 
ihe statute in its present form to meet just such cases as 
this record presents. 
' We know of no ■ reason why the statute should not be 
held to mean what it says ; the language is clear and free 
of ambiguity; in such case there is no room for construc- 
tion, and we are not at liberty to place a limitation upon 
the meaning or intent of the Legislature, which its lan- 
guage will not clearly support. 
In the view which we take of the law, it will be impos- 
sible for appellee to establish his right to the posession of 
the property in controversy herein. 
The j udgment will be reversed and the cause remanded, 
with instructions to the court below to dismiss the action. 
Reversed. 
May 10, 190t. 
Wolves and Forest Reserves. 
Kendall, Wyoming, May. Editor Potest and 
Stream: I have just read an article in a recent issue of 
your valuable paper written by William Wells, of We !s, 
Wyoming, entitled, "Wolves and Forest Reserves. This 
article is so misleading, and contains so many erroneous 
statements, that I think it merits a reply. I am now, 
and for over one year have been, a forest officer in charge 
of the Wind River Division of the Yellowstone Forest 
Reserve, and know that Mr. Wells has made misleadmg 
representations in regard to the management of this re- 
serve. Such statements as he has made reflect on me as 
well as on my superior officers in the management or 
the affairs of the reserve. 
Mr. Wells makes the statement that wherever one goes 
on the reserve are found abandoned ranfihes, tumbled 
down fences, filled-up irrigation ditches, and deserted 
houses on which appear the notice, "This building has 
been taken possession of by, and is the property of, the 
United States. All persons are hereby warned against 
trespassing thereon." This statement is not true, for the 
leason that there has not been a single instance where 
a cultivated and improved ranch on the forest reserve 
has been abandoned in consequence of the establishment 
of the reserve. In only two instances on this division 
of which I have charge, and which embraces over seventy- 
live townships of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve, have 
people been ordered to leave the reserve. One of the two 
^s that .of a saloon conducted for the sale of liquor and 
as a rendezvous for immoral characters. The_ other is 
that of a hunter, occupying a Cabin in the vicinity of 
Kendall, Wyoming, and on the mam traveled road._ ihe 
occupant was ordered to leave the reserve because it was 
known that liquor was stored there, and was being ped- 
dled and sold to the employes of the Green -River Lumber 
and Tie Company in the vicinity. In neither case did the 
occupants have any filing on the ground occupied, nor any 
improvements except the cabins in which their business 
was conducted ; and they were ordered to discontinue 
their business and vacate the premises for the good ot 
tlie community, and in compliance with the wishes of the 
best people owning homes and wishing to live in a 
respectable settlement and away from evil influences. 
These statements can be verified by the records ot the 
supervisor's office at any time. _ . 
Mr. Wells challenges the superintendent of the reserve 
to publish the amount of stock actually allowed to graze 
on the reserve, as against those kept off, and on behalt 
of the management of the reserve, I accept the challenge, 
and oublish the figures, which will show that Mr. Wells 
does not know what he is talking about. For the grazing 
•reason of 1903 the limit number of horses and ca.ttle al- 
lowed to graze on the Teton and Wind River divisions 
of the Yellowstone Forest Reserve was placed at 45,oco 
head, and not a single stock owner in the State barred. 
The limit number was reached, and the full quota ot 
4^ om head of horses and cattle grazed under perniits on 
these two divisions. When the limit number had been 
reached and cared for by permits, it was found that there 
were still in the office of the supervisors applications for 
2,617 head oi cattle and horses to graze on the reserve 
that could not be granted permits, the limit number hav- 
ing been reached; nevertheless not a single one of this 
2617 head of stock was kept from grazing on the reserve 
for the reason that this small number of stock was found 
to belong to residems of the State, adjacent to the 
rseerve; and, considering the owners, of this_ stock entitled 
to the privilege to graze their stock on their accustomed 
range, the forest rangers were directed to allow them to 
do so. Therefore, I say, and can prove by the /eco d - 
that not a single head of stock was deprived of the privi- 
lege of grazing on the reserve, where the owners made 
application for them to do so. 
After a careful examination of the ranges at^ the close 
c^f the grazing season of 1903, the supervisors reports 
showed that more horses and cattle could^ be grazed on 
the Wind River and Teton divisions without detriment 
to the reserve, and therefore a limit number of 30,000 
bead of cattle and horses was asked for by the supervisor 
of each division in order to allow them to care for all the 
stock upon and adjacent to the reserve for the season 
of 1004 The superintendent, Hon. A. A. Anderson, hav- 
ing made a personal tour of the reserve and formed the 
acquaintance of the majority of the residents of the re- 
serve, and a great many people living near the reserve, 
and being desirous of administering the affairs of the 
reserve in the interest of the people and for the people, 
granted the request, and this season we are allowed to 
-raze 30,000 head of cattle and horses on the Wind River 
Division, and an equal amount on the Teton Division. 
Does this look as if A. A. Anderson were not competent, 
or did not wish to improve the stock interests of the 
yeserve? Mr. Wells' assertion that 'a heavy blow had 
been struck at the development of Wyoming, and very lit- 
tle good accomplished," is idle talk. It would seem, from 
his article, that he would like people to believe him to be 
one of the leading stockmen of Wyoming, when the facts 
cf the case are, Mr. Wells does not own a single head of 
cattle, but that his wife does own seven head, and a per- 
mit has been granted to graze this herd on the reserve. 
Mr. Wells claims to; own fifteen head, of Indian ponies, 
and a permit has been granted him to graze them upon the 
reserve. Not long after his settlement on Green River 
at the Big Bend, the Green River Lumber and Tie Com- 
pany established a tie camp near him. Mr. Wells fought 
the company very bitterly for a while, and then, find- 
ing that he could do nothing, he took a con- 
tract to haul ties for them. In the meantime, he lo- 
cated and filed on a homestead and desert claim, and pro- 
ceeded to reclaim the land and raise native hay, for which 
the past two Seasons he has found a good market with 
the Green River Lumber and Tie Company, which is lo- 
cated four miles south of his ranch. The past season 
Mr. Wells put up about seventy-five tons of hay, fifty-two 
tons being sold to the company and its contractors. Now 
that this company has about completed its cutting of tim- 
ber on their lands in this vicinity, and will probably dis- 
continue operations at this camp, Mr. Wells sees that he 
is going to lose his market for his hay, and makes the 
statement that on account of mismanagement of the re- 
serve — in not allowing stock to come on the reserve — he 
expects to burn two hundred tons of hay on the ground 
this coming fall. 
Mr. Wells boasts that he can leave his home in 
the morning and before night have a hundred dollars' 
v/orth of elk tu.sks in his pocket, and in a month have a 
thousand . dollars* worth, of . heads cached ready to pack 
out in the spring, aiid no one the wiser, and that "he 
might just as Avell do it." Now, while it is true there 
are quite a good many elk in this country, I am sure 
Mr. Wells has overestimated his ability as a hunter. Two 
years ago Mr. Wells was out and personally guided one 
Colonel Berry, of Edinburgh, Scotland, for three weeks, 
and succeeded in getting only one small head for his man. 
I rather doubt if he is able to do all these things and 
no one know about it. Does Mr. Wells remember when 
he attempted to take his party out the State via the 
National Park, a year ago last November, with heads of 
game in his possession that had been legally killed, but 
without obtaining from a justice the required permits, 
when he was apprehended by Game Warden Cunningham, 
and escorted to the justice and required to conform with 
the State game law? Does this look as_ if the forest 
rangers and game wardens were not keeping an eye on 
Mr. Wells, as well as any other possible violators of the 
game law? Such remarks from a resident of the State 
showihg a desire to violate the laws of the State in which 
he resides do not elevate any man as a citizen. 
The insinuation that there were pot-hunters in this 
country hunting for elk tusks and heads illegally is un- 
founded. Mr. Wells knows that the game wardens are 
attending fairly well to their business. He surely has not 
forgotten so soon the pleasant horseback ride he took in 
a blinding snowstorm last December — at the request of 
our State game warden — to make his report relative to 
the number of people guided by him, and the number and 
kinds of animals killed by his party, as required by the 
State game law, and which, it seems, Mr. Wells had failed 
to do. The various wardens and forest rangers have 
been fairly attentive to business, and are fully able to 
take care of such would-be violators as Mr. Wells would 
have the public believe him to be. 
Mr. Wells speaks of the superintendent making a 
royal progress through the reserve during the summer 
months, attended by a retinue of would-be bad men, 
loaded down with firearms. It is the duty of every forest 
ranger to carry arms. This equipment is necessary in the 
performance of their duties as protectors of the forest 
reserve, and I wish to say that every ranger .employed 
in the forest reserve service is a person of good repute, 
and has passed an examination under oath, and vouched 
for by two reputable witnesses living in the com- 
munity and personally acquainted with the applicant. We 
have no would-be bad iiieri oh our force, and everyone 
of .them.would-atjeast haye jhe good manners to lay aside 
his firearms when entering a social gathering, which some 
people bear the reputation of not having the moral cour- 
age to do. 
This is some of the "plain talk" that Mr. Wells said was 
needed. Zeph Jones. 
This 
Bird. 
Figures of speech ever dear to the heart or chest of 
the orator are mighty handy to the propagandist in bring- 
ing the blind to see the great benefits to come to man- 
kind from a proper acceptance of the policies of conserva- 
tive forest management and the reclamation of our arid 
lands. "Perpetuate the Forests by Wise Use;" "Annex 
Arid America ;" "Save the Forests and Store the 
Floods," and "Make the Desert Bloom Like a Rose," are 
slogans familiar to all our readers. And the great 
and beneficent work of "making two blades of grass grow 
where only one grew before" has been glorified all the 
way from the United States Senate to the backwoods 
school house. A new figure was born the other day at 
Cheyenne, Wyo., at an irrigation meeting. A local orator, 
expatiating on the glorious work of the Reclamation 
Service, warming to his subject, exclaimed in rapturous 
tones, "What a wonderful thing it is to be engaged in 
such a noble work, making two drops of water flow 
where only one flew before." — Forestry and Irrigation. 
Vespettina. 
Pittsburg, Pa., May 19. — How beautiful and calm is 
the evening! How well we know the road, my horse and 
I. How many times, winter and summer, in all kinds of 
weather, at alL hours of the day and night have we 
traveled it. Leisurely and slowly, when time was cheap, 
adhiiring its beauties always new, and sometimes, at a 
killing gallop, when called to save life. 
An old Indian trail traverses by the line of least resist- 
anefe the ridge dividing the water shed of the lower Alle- 
gheny and upper Ohio rivers; it winds through a varied 
and picturesque country, whose wild beauty has charmed 
me for the last twenty years. Not ten miles from town 
you ttJQvel through an old-fashioned hamlet — Perrysville 
— for all the world looking like a Flemish village 1,000 
years old, houses and natives included. 
Pine Creek Valley, with its dark woods full of bird 
life and wild flowers and the smell of the rich woods 
mould at this time of the year after a rain ; how it dis- 
counts all the perfumes ever invented by man ! 
A robin is singing his vesper hymn on a branch over- 
hanging the spring. Wildwood notes come from every- 
where, and the air is as calm and balmy as in Italy ; there 
is an indescribable hush and majesty over the_ whole 
scene, and unconsciously I uncover myself, thanking the 
Oeator of the Cosmos for this blessing. 
But we must hurry up, Jenny : somebody may be suffer-' 
ing below, and we may be needed. Good-night. 
Julius the Fox Hunter. 
Spnngf B«n Moose. 
Riley Brook, Victoria County, N. B., April 20. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: Here is a photo that may be of in- 
terest to the readers of Forest and Stream — four bull 
moose in one group. These moose yarded last winter 
about half a mile from my home camp. I photographed 
them April 15. They had all shed but orie spike horn; 
the one on the left with his head up. 
Game of all kinds wintered well, and the coming 
season promises to be the best for years. 
When this photo was taken there was about five feet 
of snow where they were yarded. 
Chas. L. Barker. 
The Birds of California. An Introduction to More than Three 
Hundred Common Birds of the State and Adjacent Islands. 
By Irene Grosvenor Wheelock, with 10 full-page plates and 
78 drawings in the text by Bruce Horsfall. A. C. McClurg 
& Co. 
The title to Mrs. Wheelock's book is rather an ambitious one 
and somewhat misleading. As a matter of fact, the title should 
have been A Part of the Birds of California. Three hundred of 
the more important species are described, and something is given 
about the life history of each. The book makes no pretensions 
to being scientific, but is an effort to make interesting to the 
casual reader something about the birds of the State which Mrs. 
Wheelock has chosen. 
She divides her volume arbitrarily into Water Birds and Land 
Birds; and the Water Birds into Birds of the Open Sea, Birds 
Near the Shore or in Bays, Birds found along the Beaches, and 
Birds found in Bayous and Marshes. The Land Birds are 
divided into Upland Game Birds, Birds of Prey and Common 
Land Birds in Color Groups. This arrangement may be simple 
for some people, but to some others we imagine it will be very 
confusing. 
The descriptions are drawn from reliable sources. The bits 
which deal with the life histories of the birds are often orig^inal, 
but on the other hand, often quoted. A very pleasing bit is that 
which describes the gray crowned finch. 
"Where the range of the Pipilo ends that of the Leucosticte 
begins. Far above the timber line, amid a wilderness of snow- 
clad peaks, these Alpine dwellers have their home. Only the 
severest storms of wmter are able to drive them to the shelter 
of the forest. Flying high over the topmost peak of the range, 
searching in the snow for beetles and bugs that a kind Providence 
sends there for their special nourishment, they lead charmed 
lives. Even bumblebees and butterflies are on their menu, com- 
ing as mysteriously as do the birds themselves. When storms 
swirl over the summit, they crowd together in the shelter of a 
rock or a snowbank. When the sun comes out again, they are 
off for a frolic over the chasms and gulches, or a dip in fhe icy 
water of the glacial lake. They are constantly in motion, and 
their clear, low "churr" is the embodiment of gayety. Somewhat 
shy during the breeding season, as soon as the" family cares are 
over they become as friendly as possible with thf few who invade 
their haunts. . , , , 
"The nest is snugly hidden in a cleft in the rock underneath 
a crag, where the fury of the storm will pass it by. It is not an 
■elaborate affair, but composed of weed stalks, and lined with 
deer moss and occasionally a few feathers. Late in June, in- 
cubation begins, and it continues fourteen days. The newly 
hatched young are only thinly sprinkled with hair-like gray down, 
and look not unlike baby juncos. They remain in the nest fully 
three weeks, and by the middle of August are able to fly nearly 
as well as the adults. In September the broods of the vicinity 
unite in bands of one or two families, frolickmg and chattering 
about the summit as if it were midsummer, and braving the 
snowstorms until the cold dark November days drive them to 
the firs for shelter at night. Even then the adults fly back to 
the crests during the sunny hours, as if homesick for the bare, 
bleak crags and the troad vista of snowy peaks. By December 
they are well within the forest, whirling from place to place in 
masses like juncos, and sleeping huddled together in the heavy 
firs, sometimes almost buried in the snow, but always sure of a 
joyous resurrection in the morning." 
The illustrations ^'by Mr. Horsfall are of varymg quality; many 
of them are excellent; others not so good. On the whole, the 
full-page plates seem more life-like than the pen and ink sketches, 
and the drawing of Brandt's cormorant and of the water ousel 
are especially beautiful. Price, $2.50 net. 
Stella Fregelius; A Tale of Three Destinies. By H. Ryder 
Haggard, 8vo. 361 pages. Longmans, Green & Co. 
This is a novel, a wild, i^eird tale, the scene of which is laid in 
England, the hero of which is an inventor, and the heroine the 
beautiful witch maiden from the Far North. It abounds in 
surprises, and has a rather melancholy ending. 
Along Four-Footed Trails; or Wild Animals of the Plains as I 
Knew Them. By Ruth A. Cook. Illustrated. 265 pages. 
James Potts & Co. . . , .. 
An attractive book,, giving many personal experiences with wild 
animals of a little girl brought up on the prairies ot Nebraska. 
The coyote, the astSppe, -the prame dog and maniy other familiar 
Western creatures are described with much feeling. 
