FOREST AND STREAM. 
[jtJLY 1 6, tP4- 
cal Society and of the Boone and Crockett Club, has an 
interesting chapter on the "Distribution of the Moose." 
Mr. Alden Sampson, who last year was sent to the Pacific 
Coast as the game preserve expert of the Biological Sur- 
vey, reports on the general subject of creating game 
refuges, describes much of the country passed through, 
and gives his views as to how these refuges should be 
established. 
Brief memoranda by Paul J. Dashiell, and by Mr. John 
H. Prentice, describe illustrations from Canada and India. 
Editorial articles treat of "Big-Game Refuges," "The 
Forest Reserves of North America" — not merely of the 
United States, but of Canada as well — and in an appendix 
is given a report by Mr. E. W. Nelson, of the Biological 
Survey, who was asked by the Club to report on the 
Black Mesa Forest Reserve, and its Availability _ as a 
Game Preserve. This report deserves especial mention as 
being a model of what such a report should be. 
The usual Constitution and By-laws, and list of officers 
and members of the Boone and Crockett Club close the 
volume. 
There are forty-six illustrations, and it is perhaps not 
too much to say that there never has appeared a volume 
so completely and beautifully illustrated with types of 
game covering so wide a range, and in view of the size 
and beauty of the volume, we shall be surprised if it 
does not have a very wide circulation. 
Squirrel Barkers and Myth Busters. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Steam, electricity, X-rays, and other concomitants of 
modern life and progress, do not have the effect of 
strengthening our faith in the beliefs of earlier times. The 
iconoclast has long been abroad in the land ; he has shat- 
tered the hoopsnake, and permanently knocked the apple 
off the head of William Tell's small boy; aided by 
women's craze for wearing feathers — which has destroyed 
most of the eagles in the land — he has shown that these 
rapacious birds no longer carry off children playing in the 
dooryards of their mountain homes. The packs of wolves 
which in our childish days constantly swept over the 
frozen steppes of Russia in the wake of sledges loaded 
with large families of small children, which one by one 
were dropped overboard to delay the ravening horde, no 
longer exist. No subject is sacred to the. myth buster, 
and — what is worse — he finds people who listen to, and 
papers which print, the arguments that he writes, proving 
— at least to his own satisfaction — that some venerable 
tradition in which we have always had implicit faith is 
without foundation. He might be called a trust buster 
instead of a myth buster, for he takes away our trust in 
things long reverenced ss true. 
For near a hundred years the American people have be- 
lieved that the old-time riflemen of the South and West 
were great shots, and that among the feats which they 
used to perform with that arm was "barking" squirrels. 
The squirrel is a small animal; the rifle ball, with its 
rotary motion and great speed, necesarily tears a large 
hole. A squirrel hit in the body with a rifle ball would 
be ruined for eating. 
Recently an anonymous myth buster has bobbed up to 
the surface, and in the columns of the New York Evening 
Post denies in substance that this practice of squirrel- 
barking ever existed. 
Somewhere the myth buster has come across a quota- 
tion from Audubon's vivid sketch of "Kentucky Sports," 
published originally in the "Ornithological Biographies," 
and quotes it as follows: 
"I first witnessed this manner of procuring squirrels 
while near the town of Frankfort, Kentucky. The per- 
former was the celebrated Daniel Boone. We walked 
out together and followed the rocky margins of the Ken- 
tucky River, until we reached a piece of flat land, thickly 
covered with black walnuts, oaks, and hickories. As the 
general mast was a very good one that year, squirrels 
were seen gamboling on every tree around us. Boone 
pointed to one of the animals, which had observed us, 
and was crouched on a branch about fifty paces distant, 
and bade me mark well where the ball should hit. He 
raised his piece gradually until the bead or sight of the 
barrel was brought in a line with the spot he intended to 
hit. The whip-like report resounded through the woods 
and along the hills in repeated echoes. Judge of my sur- 
prise when I perceived that the ball had hit the piece of 
bark immediately underneath the squirrel, and shivered it 
into splinters, the concussion produced by which had 
killed the animal and sent it whirling through the air, as 
if it had been blown up by the explosion of a powder 
magazine. Boone kept up his firing, and before many 
hours had elapsed he had procured as many squirrels as 
he wished. Since that first interview with the veteran 
Boone I have seen many other individuals perform the 
same feat." 
Apparently this myth buster has never heard of Audu- 
bon the naturalist"— the American woodsman, the great 
student and painter of American birds—or if he has heard 
the name, he is wholly unfamiliar with his writings. He 
speaks of Audubon as "an unnamed writer," and de- 
nounces his account as "a flawless finished fib." Yet for 
more than two generations scientific men in every land 
have accepted the observations of Audubon the naturalist 
as absolutely trustworthy, and it remains for this 
anonymous person, who knows so little of his subject that 
he cannot name the author of one of the best accounts of it, 
to attempt to throw doubt on the writings of a great 
man. • ., . - v, , , . , 
In order to satisfy himself that squirrels could not be 
"barked," the myth buster started out with an old Win- 
chester .44-40 to try to do it himself, and this is what 
happened: . . . 7, 
"My first subject was a gray squirrel lying along the 
limb of a California oak. My weapon carried the old 
Winchester .44-40 cartridge, containing a heavier bullet 
and more powerful charge of powder than Daniel Boone 
used in his Kentucky rifle. The shock imparted by the 
44 would be many times greater than that given by the 
small-bore projectile of the earlier day. The distance was 
less than ten yards, and therefore no remarkable skill was 
required to place the bullet where I wanted it. I took 
very careful aim, and when I fired the bullet carried away 
a piece of bark from under the squirrel's belly, and plowed 
a furrow across the limb without touching the fur. 
"Did the squirrel go whirling into the air? Not any. 
He Uttered a startled squeak and ran a few feet further 
along the limb. The next time I knocked the bark from 
under his forefeet to give him the full benefit of the 
shock, whereupon he whisked to another limb and began 
scolding at me for disturbing liirm The third shot was 
aimed to strike under his hind feet, but the bullet glanced 
a trifle and passed through a leg, and then, of course, I 
had to kill the squirrel. 
"First I put a ,44 bullet through the animal's body. He 
went up into a Crotch and showed only a part of his head; 
and the next shot carried away the front of his skull and 
a part of his brains. He ran up to one of the higher limbs 
and out to the very end, where he clung, chattering and 
bleeding, in such a position that I could not get a shot at 
him until I drove him back by throwing clods and sticks 
into the tree. The squirrel made his way back along the 
limb and down the trunk to the ground, where I had to 
finish him with a stick. 
"Subsequent experiments in the same line were in- 
variably failures, and Lnever have found a truthful man 
who would say that he ever performed or saw anyone 
perform the Daniel Boone feat successfully." 
Certainly our myth buster has demonstrated beyond 
any question that "barking" squirrels is something that he 
could not do. It would seem also as if he had drawn 
somewhat on his imagination. The average rifleman 
would say that a .44 caliber rifle bullet put through a 
squirrel's body would cut the squirrel in two, and the 
divided fragments would not be able to run actively about 
a tree, to be shot at a few times more, and then to be 
driven out of the tree with sticks and stones, and finally 
to be pounded to death on the ground with a club. No, 
this myth buster could not "bark" squirrels, and not being 
able to- do it himself, ponderously declares that no one 
else can. But what about those men of ancient days who 
used the long rifle, and who, we are told, drove nails and 
snuffed candles, as well as "barked" squirrels. Did they 
do it, or did they not? I believe that they did. 
Surely it is not yet too late now to learn something 
about the practice. If it has entirely passed out of use, 
there must still be some who; have done it, or have seen it 
done, or whose fathers have told theni about doing it. 
Have your readers any knoAvledge of this matter? Surely 
down in the Southwest there must be men who know 
something about it. Let us hear from them. 
Rifleman. 
New York Cold Storage Case. 
Wymore, Nebraska, June 30. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have read with interest the majority opinion 
of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New 
York, in the cold storage cases, as well as the dissenting 
opinion of Judge McLaughlin. As is usual in cases in 
which a dissenting opinion is filed, the best reasoning and 
the authorities sustain the dissenting opinion. 
But I predict that the conclusions reached by the 
majority of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court 
will be affirmed by the Court of Appeals. 
In the first place, the majority opinion does not hold 
the statute unconstitutional. If I understand it, the court 
simply holds that it was not the intention of the Legisla- 
ture to make game brought into the State at a time when 
it could be legally done, and which was kept in cold stor- 
age beyond that time, subject to the penalties of the 
statute. It was a question of construction of the statute 
only. 
Where the punishment inflicted and the penalties at- 
tached, are so out of proportion to the magnitude of the 
offense, we may always expect the courts to so construe 
the law as to avoid the infliction of these unreasonable 
penalties. I have no doubt that if the infliction of these 
penalties could not be avoided in any other way, the Court 
of Appeals of the State of New York would hold the 
satute unconstitutional. 
It is a very close question whether the State can bv law 
say that the mere having in possession of game killed and 
purchased without the State and brought into the State 
at a time when it could be legally done, and kept in cold 
storage until after the open season, is a crime; and any 
law to that effect, having attached to it such penalties as 
are attached to the New York statute, will never be en- 
forced by the courts, and the sooner those in favor of 
game protection by law find this out the better. We have 
had some legislation of that kind in this State. The 
Legislature of 1901, in amending the game law of this 
State, passed a law providing that when persons were 
found violating the game laws, or hunting or fishing with- 
out license or permit, that "all guns, ammunition, dogs, 
blinds, and decoys, and any and all fishing tackle, etc.," 
should be forfeited, taken and sold, etc. On April 21, 
this year, this section of the law was held unconstitutional 
by our Supreme Court. 
In the Nebraska case it was held that this was depriving 
the individual of his property without due process of law, 
and while the principle involved in the two cases is not 
the same, I cite it to show with what jealous care the 
courts protect property rights. 
No law, in my judgment, that goes further than to in- 
flict a fine and costs, and a commitment until the fine and 
costs are paid, will ever be enforced to protect our game; 
and I am firmly of the opinion that the courts of last re~ 
sort in all the States will uphold a satute so drawn. 
A. D. McCandless. 
The Proper Way to Cook a Leon. 
. Uri Lamprey is a mighty hunter, and although a good 
shot and generous with iiis' birds, yet there were always 
mote wjlling mouths open than there were birds in the 
bag to fill then! A persistent son of the ould sod never 
gave Mr. Lamprey much peace because of his constant j 
and persistent opportunity for "jist wan little woildj 
duck." 
So a pair of loons fell one day to Lamprey's gun, and I 
he thought of the 'illigant" loon stew Mike would be 
making with them. And Mike got them, and reported m 
due course. 
"What the divil kind of ducks were them yez be after 
giving me? They tnk us — me and the missus — four days 
to pick the blathering birds. I think the fithers were 
glued to them, that I do. And the cooking of them ! 
Mrs. Malcney said the best way to tinder a wild goose 
was to parboil it. And we've used up near a cord of 
wood a-bilin' of them, and if I didn't know that they or.ee 
had fithers on their backs, I'd say they were made of 
mahogany, sure enough." Chari.es Cristadoro. 
A Public Enemy. 
"There is a great fascination in tracking and shooting 
big game, a fascination that wants a certain amount of 
checking, or the sportsman degenerates into a common 
butcher. Excessive slaughter is, in my opinion, one of 
the most selfish of crimes; for though man h"s an 
hereditary interest in the wild creatures of the wcWd it 1 
is an entailed, not an absolute, interest, and it is his ] 
bounden duty to remember and guard the interests of his 
successors. He who exterminates all the fame on an 
estate deprives his descendants of one of the c'nef 
pleasures of possession. On a private estate the rnisc'-.ief 
may not be irreparable; on a public . one " (the waste 
places of the world at large), it certainly is. Therefore, 
the man who* would not be considered a public enemy 
ought to shoot, however remote the hunting ground, with 
moderation. There are others to come after him ; and a 
world denuded of wild creatures would be a spoiled 
world." — Paul Fountain. 
In Quebec. 
Mansonville, Quebec, July 5— Editor Forest and 
Stream: We receive favorable reports from all through 
the country, in this vicinity concerning the broods of 
young ruffed grouse. We have personally seen within the 
past few days young grouse that were over half grown. 
Deer are also seen every few days, sometimes quite near 
the farm buildings. Mink are very numerous along our 
trout streams; several of the farmer boys have the young 
that they are rearing for pets. Some good catches of 
trout have been made in this vicinity. Last evening we 
made a good catch, and had at least one that would tip 
the beam at the pound notch. Foxes are said to be scarce, 
but when the frosts arrive they will come down from the 
mountains and give sport to the boys who love to hunt 
them. Stanstead. 
The Changed Village of the Plain. 
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain, 
Where simple peace and plenty used to reign, 
I sought you out last week, with faith implicit 
In your integrity to pay a visit, 
To see those bowers of innocence and ease, 
Seats of my youth, where I and Willie Pease 
Used play around when we were passing green, 
Before these many years had come between. 
How weary had I waited for the day 
When city toil would let me break away , 
For long enough to be a boy once more! 
That day has come and gone, and I am sore. 
Along your streets the summer trolley heaves, 
And copper wires have stripped your trees of leaves; 
One only master dares to tread your grass— 
The company supplying you with gas. 
No more the gleaming brook reflects the sun; 
Of factories I counted twenty-one, 
That choke the stream with sewage to the brim 
And foul the pool where none may longer swim. 
Amid the lanes that sheltered me, a child, 
The hollow-sounding auto rushes wild. 
The street pianos play where bluebirds sang, 
And hucksters' bells unmitigated clang. 
Sweet smiling village! from your outskirts' hem 
Your sports are not all fled. A pair of them 
Came strolling up, with manner bold and free, 
And tried to work a bunco game on me. 
While there I stood, from sordid thoughts remote, 
A politician tried to buy my vote; 
And when my tavern bill I chanced to view 
I knew no more till doctors brought me to. 
Sweet, simple Auburn! in about an hour 
I caught a train with all my might and power. 
And when I think, within my city bound, 
Of how much change the years have wrought around, 
The memory turns me dizzy in the brain 
And fills me with a sharp and shooting pain. 
—Newark News. 
Nessmok. 
I hail thee, Nessmuk, for the lofty tone, 
Yet simple grace, that marks thy poetry 1 
True forester thou art, and still to be, 
Even in happier fields than thou hast known. 
Thus, in glad visions, glimpses am I shown 
Of groves delectable— "preserves" for thee— 
Tanged but by friends of thine — I name thee three:— 
First, Chaucer, with his bald old pate, new-grown 
With changeless laurel ; next in Lincoln-green, 
Gold-belted, bowed and bugled, Robin Hood; 
And next, Ike Walton, patient and serene; 
These three, O Nessmuk, gathered hunter-wise, 
Are camped on hither slopes of Paradise 
To hail thee first and greet thee, as they should. 
— James Whitcomb Riley. 
Books Received. 
The Mystic Mid-Region. The Deserts of the Southwest, by 
Arthur J. Burdick, 237 pages, 54 illustrations. G. P. Putnam's Sons. 
Price $2 net. 
The Romance of Piscator. By Henry Wysham Lanier. With a 
frontispiece by Wm. Balfour Ker. Cloth. Illustrated. 227 pages. 
New York: Henry Holt & Co. Price $1.25. 
The Automobile Industry. By Geoffrey de Holden-Stone. Cloth. 
223 pages. Many illustrations. Methuen & Co., London. 
Gunpowder and Ammunition; their Origin and Progress. By 
Lieut.-Col. Henry W. L. Hime, late Royal Artillery. Cloth. 256 
pages. Price $3.50. Longmans, Green & Co. 
Sport and Travel in the North Land of Canada. By David T. 
Hanbury. Illustrated. Colored plates, maps; 318 pages. Mac- 
millan. Price $4.50 net. 
Great Golfers; their Methods at a Glance. By Geo. W. Beldam, 
with contributions by Harold H. Hilton, J. H. Taylor, James 
Braid, Alex. Herd, Harry Vardon. Illustrated by 268 action- 
photographs. 481 pages. Macmillan. Price $3.50 net. 
Bog-Trotting for Orchids. By Grace Breylock Niles; 310 pages. 
Many full-page plates, colored and uncolored. G. P. Putnam's 
Sons. Price $2.50. 
Around the Caribbean and Across Panama. By Francis C. 
Nicholas, Ph.D. Illustrated with maps and half-tones from rare 
photographs; 373 pages. H. M. Caldwell Company. Price $2. 
Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Music. A description of the 
character of music of birds, intended to assist in the identification 
of species common to the eastern United States. By F. 
Schuyler Mathews. With numerous colored illustrations and 
complete musical notations of bird song; 262 pages. G. P. Put- 
nam's Sons. Price $2. 
