Dec. 24, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
633 
number. If these ethical writers will hold up their right 
hand and say they pick out the single ones and do not 
shoot into a bunch, they are the Simon-pure article. I 
cannot put my finger on anyone who^ does do that. They 
shoot into a bunch, when they get the chance, to lessen 
the chance of a miss and to bag all they can at one shot. 
See what Mr. Bishop says in the "American Sports- 
man's Library," in the book on "The Water Fowl 
Family." Speaking of the gunners on the Massachusetts 
coast, he says : "In Massachusetts ducks are not only 
permitted to alight, but are also persuaded to huddle up 
and get their heads together, with the result that often 
not a single begrudged bird escapes the fusillade — a 
shooting custom excused on the ground that ducks are 
few and far between." This is very bad, but it helps to 
bear out the Blunt Old Man in his remarks about duck 
hunters. 
In this book Mr. Bishop mentions shooting at a club 
in Currituck Sound, and he says they wound up the day 
on three ducks which had swum in to the decoys, 
and that the shot was the sunset gun. It reads very much 
as though these ducks took theirs on the water. The 
shooting was made from a club there which he mentions. 
Dixmont. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Joe W. Hutt in the current number gives his opinion 
as to what was the cause of the buffalo leaving us. He 
and I agree exactly as to the cause. Blizzards had noth- 
ing to do with it. Those buffalo had been in the country 
for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, and so had the 
blizzards; still the buffalo, or a part of them, lived 
through each blizzard. In our time they were only found 
west of the Mississippi. It may not be known by every 
one, but it is a fact that they once roamed clear from 
the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. I have never seen 
any evidence of their being west of these mountains, but 
they were at one time in all the eastern country south 
of New York State. It was no blizzard that killed them 
off. The Sharps buffalo gun in the hands of the skin-, 
hunter did it. 
I don't want to call Mr. Hutt down on account of his 
opinion in regard to the soldiers; he at least does not 
think that we killed off all the buffalo; we helped to do 
it; but the soldiers, when I was one, sometimes found 
other things besides their rations to destroy, and very 
often some of us at times did not destroy a great amount 
of rations, unless we drew our rations from the buffalo 
while we were trying to destroy hostile Indians. The 
want of these rations could not be blamed on the Govern- 
ment, though ; they had plenty for us whenever we could 
get within striking distance of them. 
Captain Kelly said in his account of how the buffalo 
came to be missing, that our general officers wanted them 
killed off ; and he gave Buffalo Bill and Buffalo Jones as 
his authority. I would accept Mr. Jones's word on any 
subject; I have known both him and Cody; but I never 
knew of either the Generals or their subordinate officers 
advocating the killing off of the buffalo by us in order to 
exterminate them. These officers believed, as we did — • 
those of us at least who took the trouble to give these 
things any thought — that as long as we had the buffalo 
we never could keep the Indians on a reservation; but 
they did not advocate the killing off of the buffalo by us. 
On the contrary, we were not allowed to kill one that we 
could not use. I have been told, time and again, not to 
kill them, nor let other men kill them, when we did 
not need them. 
Captain Kelly, I think it was, made the statement that 
both Sheridan and Sherman had ordered guns to be given 
to friendly Indians to kill off buffalo. The last time I 
ever saw General Sherman before he retired (I saw and 
talked with him after that in Chicago), I acted as his 
orderly when he paid our post a visit. He asked me then 
if we still could get plenty of buffalo. They were still 
plentiful then. Only a short time before this I had been 
out with an English officer hunting them, and he had told 
me that probably I would live to see the last of them 
killed. I told General Sherman this, and his reply was, 
"Well, I am afraid he is right." Then, after a moment's 
study, he said : "And it is a pity, too, is it not ? We 
will miss them." He would not be likely to furnish guns 
so that we would miss them sooner. 
It took us less than twenty-five years to kill off the last 
of the buffalo. In May, 1866, I stood behind a butte on 
the Laramie plains, holding on to the heads of my team 
horses while a herd of buffalo that our men had estimated 
to contain 250,000 passed us on the run. This was the 
largest herd I have ever seen. In November, 1879, a 
Comanche chief and I killed the last one that has ever 
been seen on the Texas Panhandle, and the last one I 
have ever seen anywhere. Cabia Blanco. 
A National Game Reserve. 
The bill designated H. R. 11584, introduced by Hon. 
John F. Lacey, of Iowa, to authorize the setting apart of 
areas of the Wichita Forest Reserve as a game preserve, 
was passed by the House unanimously on December 13. 
The measure provides : 
"That the President of the United States is hereby 
authorized to designate such areas in the Wichita Forest 
Reserve as should, in his opinion, be set aside for the 
protection of game animals and birds, and be recognized 
as a breeding place therefor. 
"Sec. 2. That when such areas have been designated as 
provided for in Section 1 of this act, hunting, trapping, 
killing or capturing of game animals and birds upon the 
lands of the United States within the limits of said 
areas shall be unlawful, except under such regulations as 
may be prescribed from time to time by the Secretary of 
Agriculture ; and any person violating such regulations 
or the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a 
misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction in any United 
States court of competent jurisdiction, be fined in a sum 
not exceeding one thousand dollars or be imprisoned for 
a period not exceeding one year, or shall suffer both fine 
and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. 
"Sec. 3. That it is the purpose of this act to protect from 
trespass the public lands of the United States and the 
game animals and birds which may be thereon, and not 
to interfere with the operations of the local game laws as 
.affecting private, State, or Territorial lands." _ 
The report oi the Committee on the Public Lands to 
whom the bill had been referred ran as follows : 
. "The Committee on the Public Lands, to whom was 
referred the bill (H. R. 11584) for the protection of wild 
animals and birds in the Wichita Forest Reserve, hav- 
ing had under consideration said bill, would respectfully 
submit the following report and recommend that said bill 
do pass without amendment : 
"The Wichita Forest Reserve has been set apart in the 
Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma. This mountainous 
tract of land is surrounded on all sides with farming 
lands, and has been reserved as a permanent timber 
reserve. The bill proposes to permit the President of the 
United States to designate such part of the said reserve 
as in his opinion may be proper also as a game preserve 
for animals and birds. The President in one of his mes- 
sages has asked that this authority be given as to all 
the forest reserves in the United States. He recom- 
mended that the Executive be permitted to designate por- 
tions thereof as havens of refuge for the small remaining 
portion of our game and birds. Congress thus far has 
not favorably acted upon any such a general law. 
"This bill applies to one particular reserve, and many 
people in Oklahoma Territory have expressed their desire 
that this action be taken, and no opposition thereto has 
been expressed from the country affected thereby. 
"Oklahoma and Indian Territory are the favorite breed- 
ing grounds for quail and grouse, and there has been a 
great desire expressed from all parts of the country that 
some suitable portion of that region be protected from 
hunting so as to be used as a breeding ground. The 
game birds from this reserve would migrate to other 
parts of Indian Territory and Oklahoma, and thus pro- 
vide a supply for all parts of the surrounding country. 
This land is all public land, is now in a state of reserve, 
and is protected by Federal custodians. To protect the 
animals and birds in this forest, as well as the , forest 
itself, would therefore not involve additional expense. 
"It would be an advantage to all the people of that 
Territory and in no wise interfere with the use of the 
forest reserve. The Department of Agriculture could 
also obtain supplies there for purposes of propagation in 
other parts of the country. 
"The President in his message to Congress called at- 
tention to the propriety of making some havens of refuge 
for the surviving wild birds, game, and fish within these 
reserves." 
Massachusetts Quail. 
Boston, Dec. 17.- — Editor Forest and Stream: In re- 
ply to requests sent out by the secretary of the Massa- 
chusetts Fish and Game Protective Association, several 
of those who liberated quail have reported the results of 
their observations of the birds, and, in the main, these 
are similar to that of Mr.. Taft, of Whitinsville, men- 
tioned some weeks since. In several instances the_ re- 
ports show conclusively that the quail put out have raised 
good sized broods this year. So encouraging are the re- 
sults of its efforts last spring that steps have already 
been taken by the State Association for continuing that 
branch of its work the coming winter and spring. There 
will also be systematic efforts to provide food for. the 
remnant now left in our covers. 
Our sportsmen friends in Middleboro have already re- 
newed their efforts to feed the birds. They did a grand 
work in this line last winter. Among the active men of 
the club are two members of the State Association, Dr. 
W. C. Woodward and Mr. Samuel Shaw. Another name 
familiar to your dog-loving readers is that of Mr. George 
W. Lovell. The plan adopted in Stoneham at the sug- 
gestion of the well-known writer on natural history sub- 
jects, Mr. E. Harold Baynes, is an admirable one, not 
only for its immediate effect in saving the birds, but re- 
motely in an educational point of view. He was able 
to interest the school officials and teachers in the High 
School, and through them induced the boys to take food 
out into the fields and on the borders of the wood lots, 
clear away the snow and deposit it in partially sheltered 
places where it could be found by the birds. The lad 
who engages in work of that kind is well started on the 
road to intelligent sportsmanship; and the spectacle 
afforded by a group of school boys loaded down with 
bags of grain and tramping through the snow to rescue 
"our feathered friends" when on the verge of starvation, 
cannot fail to awaken the interest of the community in 
general. As food for wild birds, wheat, buckwheat, 
cracked corn and barley are excellent, and there is noth- 
ing the quail relish more than the sweepings of hay-lofts 
and barn floors. In winter, when the ground is mostly 
bare, they will commonly find seeds of one kind and an- 
other sufficient to sustain life. But when these are buried 
beneath the deep snow the bird has small chance. 
It is the opinion of sportsmen with whom I converse 
that our gunners will never again see live quail so numer- 
ous as they were in the fall of 1903, unless strenuous 
efforts are made to save what we now have from starva- 
tion and to plant as many as can be obtained from out- 
ride the State. By the way, I have lately seen a report 
that the sportsmen of the Province of Ontario are cir- 
culating a petition to the Government for an appropria- 
tion for the purchase of quail to restock their covers. 
One of the newly organized clubs in our State is 
known as the. "Sportsmen's Protective Association of 
Eastern Massachusetts." The first fox hunt of the club 
occurred on Thursday the 15th. Some 75 members in 
khaki and well armed followed the pack of about thirty 
hounds. Old hunters called it a "poor day" — too cold, 
and the footprints of the fox were quickly filled with 
the dry snow, and did not hold the scent. However, 
one fox was killed, the fortunate hunter being my friend 
Dr. A. E. Merrill, of Somerville. The scene of his 
triumph was the westerly part of Wilmington. Another 
was wounded after a two hours' chase by Mr. Sidney 
Buck, of Wilmington. About 3 P. M. the party rounded 
up at Masonic Hall, where dinner was served. Many 
towns of eastern Middlesex and western Essex are repre- 
sented in the club, and at this meet were men from a 
dozen or more towns and cities. Most of the members 
are enthusiastic sportsmen of various types ; but several 
are expert quail and partridge hunters. To such the 
destruction even of one fox was a happy occurrence. 
The Fish and Game Department of Maine is constantly 
adding to the exhibit of trophies at Augusta. A bear 
caught by Warden Durgin near the forks of the Kenne- 
bec is a recent acquisition. Another is a big landlocked 
salmon, taken at Square Lake, which weighed 18 pounds 
and was 32 inches in length. 
Mr. C. S. Smith, of Goodwin's Mills, has shot a pure 
white albino deer in the eastern part of the State, said 
to be the only one killed in that section for many years. 
Two successful women hunters recently returned from 
Norcross to their home in Bangor with one and two deer 
respectively. Another brought out one from Moosehead. 
Miss Mabel Winslow, of Beverly, Mass., and Miss 
Marion Ashley, of Wilkesbarre, Pa., each secured a 
moose this week. At midnight Thursday the Maine 
hunting season closed. Moose shipments have been 220 
this year, as against 217 last year. Total of deer 4,271 
this year, 4,609 last year. So far as the providing of 
funds for the enforcement of the game laws is concerned, 
the friends of the non-resident license law pronounce it a 
success. 
A caribou was killed by Mrs., Avery Morehouse, who 
was hunting with her husband of Zealand Station, N. B., 
on the Keswick waters. Mr. Morehouse killed a monster 
bull moose with antlers spreading more than 50 inches. 
. Central. 
The Shiras Pill. 
Oklahoma, O. T., Dec. 13. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I am strongly in favor of House Bill No. 15601 for the 
protection of migratory birds, as printed in issue of 
Forest and Stream December 10. The preliminary 
clauses of the bill express in the best possible language 
the reasons why such a law is necessary, and I hope the 
bill may become a law. J. C. Clare, 
Territorial Game and Fish Warden. 
The Delaware Game Protective Association. 
A. D. Poole, J. Danforth Bush, 
President. Sec'y and Treas. 
Wilmington, Del., Dec. 14. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
I duly received your letter of the 8th inst, and I have 
carefully read the proposed Federal game law (House 
Bill No. 15601). 
Doubtless the framers of this law have looked into 
the legal aspects of it and have satisfied themselves that 
the Federal Government can assume custody of migra- 
tory birds and pass laws for their protection, but this is 
a point upon which I fear litigation would ensue. Assum- 
ing, howeevr, that this can be sustained, I think the law 
a very good one, and should be productive of much bene- 
fit if the Department of Agriculture can enforce the regu- 
lations which by the act it is authorized to adopt. In my 
experience it is quite useless to pass laws for the protec- 
tion of game without at the same time providing for their 
enforcement, and if the Department can undertake to do 
this, then by all means let us have the law. 
It would, in my opinion, be better if Section I were 
made more specific, giving the scientific names of the 
birds it is intended to protect, as is done in the model 
bill of the American Ornithologists' Union protecting 
non-game birds, as it is well known that the common 
names change in different localities ; for instance, in some 
parts of this State woodcock are known as "snipe." 
A. D. Poole, President. 
Pittsburg, Pa., Dec. 14. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your favor of the 9th at hand and noted. I am heartily 
in accord with the bill introduced in the House by Hon. 
George Shiras 3d, to give Federal protection to wildfowl. 
I have felt for years that unless some protection was 
afforded migratory birds, and all spring shooting stopped, 
that it would be but a very short time until they were 
exterminated. 
I will take pleasure in doing everything in my power to 
help this bill along. W. M. Kennedy. 
Grand Forks, N. D., Dec. 14. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have your favor of the 9th requesting my 
views on the proposed Shiras bill for Federal protection 
to migratory game birds of the United States. I am in 
sympathy with this or any other measure in the interest 
of game protection; but I think the bill in question should 
stipulate and absolutely prohibit spring shooting, and 
give each State the right and power to fix the open season 
during the fall, as conditions and dates of maturity of the 
different game birds vary materially in the different 
States, and those interested, being residents of a State, 
are in a better position to designate by law the open 
season than would be a Federal officer. 
Clarence A. Hale. 
Brookline, Mass., Dec. 12.— Editor Forest and Stream: 
Without doubt a Federal law for the protection of migra- 
tory game birds, by prescribing uniform close seasons for 
certain fixed zones of territory, and containing practical 
regulations for its enforcement, would be a grand good 
thing. 
My first thought is, would such a law be held to be 
constitutional? But that is a question for lawyers, not 
for laymen. If Mr. Shiras has solved the problem, he de- 
serves the support of all sportsmen. 
The next question is, Could such a law be enforced? 
It is not enough to say, "It shall not be lawful to shoot," 
etc., or to declare "penalties by fine or imprisonment." 
That is the common wording of many of our present 
State laws, a majority of which would be good enough if 
they were really enforced. What is needed is clear, prac- 
tical provisions for the constant watch for and detection 
of violations, and the wherewithal to keep such machinery 
in constant motion. We pass Taws to preserve order in 
the streets, to prevent thieving, murder, and other crimes, 
and then we put our hands in our pockets and pay our 
taxes to keep policemen continually on the watch that 
such laws shall not be broken. If we want effective game 
laws, we must similarly provide for their enforcement. 
No better provision can be made than by the imposi- 
tion of a game license tax; the money so secured to be 
kept as a separate fund, and used for the permanent em- 
ployment of efficient game wardens. 
If Section 2 of the proposed bill could be thus amended, 
the bill would be strengthened, though I -confess I do 
not see how a Federal bill could contain provisions for 
the uniform imposition of gun license taxes. Such taxa- 
tion probably belongs wholly -to the States. This is the 
