FOREST AND STREAM. 
178 
I read with Interest the account itt Forest and 
Stream a few weeks ago, of how to kill of? the foises, 
ibut we do not care to use poison. I would thank any 
of your readers who would tell me of some other 
: way to do it, as I am sure a large percentage of game 
I birds are killed off during the snow by them. 
The partridge seems to be better able to take care 
of themselves. Our warden reports that, in one day's 
jh feeding quail, he put up fifteen, always near the food 
that was strewn for the quail; and there is no doubt 
that they, as well as other birds, have found it a good 
feeding place. 
The other crate of twenty-eight birds are doing well 
i in the barn, and we will not liberate them until next 
it month. They will come in handy to fill the gaps the 
.>|foxes have made, 
I always thought the rabbits could take care of them- 
selves; but as early as the last week in December last, 
after a thaw, he found here and there a dead Ohe, 
which had been snowed under and never moved. That 
was after the deep snow of December, i8, 1904. 
G. E. I. 
Long Island Duck Shooting. 
Editov Forest and Stream: 
For soifig weeks jpast 1 have been scanning the pages of 
iyour valued . paper for an announcement of your "plat- 
rjform" or "plaiik" against tile Ldiig Island hotel keepers 
'and market shooters, who dre making A rriost strentloils 
{effort to have the present law prohibiting the spring 
shooting of duck, geese, brant and swan, repealed or 
l,amended for their special benefit as against the interest of 
•the sportsmen and people of all the rest of the State. Con- 
Isidering the rapid decrease in the number of these birds, 
[vvhy should these people, or the people of any particular 
jlocality where these birds assemble on their way to their 
breeding grounds, be permitted to make merchandise of 
them. Their commercial value is but little in the spring. 
. !They have been huHted and shot at at every opportunity 
■for nearly or quite fouf months. Their fitness as food 
sfis said to be questionable at this season. Again, it is but 
nli matter of a ffew \^,eeks ot, days befofe these birds will 
ofce on their nests producing their kiiid, so tliat killing them 
mn the spring season is about next to killing them on their 
inests. They have run the gauntlet of shot and shell for 
!four months, and should they not be now permitted to 
; produce their kind in comparative quiet? 
We have no game of any kind to-day that can be con- 
isidered as amounting to a commercial or marketable 
tfactor, so why should some short-sighted or selfish people 
'be permitted to make use of this remnant of a former 
abundance by killing for the market, or be used in any 
way to procure guests for hotels? 
Every sportsman knows full well that our game is be- 
icoming less and less each year. Shall we exterminate 
[what remains, or shall we preserve and protect it for in- 
jcrease that we, and those who are to follow us may see 
an occasional one of some of the species. It is frequently 
Lsaid by those \vlio have lived to see the carrier pigeoh and 
! buffalo practically exterminated, that the same fate awaits 
bur migratory game birds. Why not shorten the season 
land limit the bag? The latter is not easily enforced, but 
'sportsmen would heed it. 
' Let us hope that the Shiras Bill becomes a law, and 
that we shall find therein something effectual. 
As I am informed, New York State has more shooting 
days than either Maryland or North Carolina. Do we 
need any more? I think not. 
A State License Law for Non-Residents, Residents 
and Unnaturalized Persons, 
Our State has a reciprocal license law, passed, I think, 
in 1902, and it has proved almost an absolute failure. I 
am informed that but one license has been issued under 
it. We are at present furnishing free hunting and fishing 
for the people of all the world. 
Thirty-one of our States and Territories and the 
Provinces of Canada all require a license of non-residents, 
and many of residents. Massachusetts and some States 
which as yet have none are agitating the subject, and 
have bills already introduced in their Legislatures; and 
so. sportsmen of New York State, is it not a matter of 
self-protection that we have one? 
Our sportsmen should see to it that the bill providing 
therefofj and introduced in the Senate by Senator Arm- 
strong, becomes a law, This measure was approved by 
the New York State Fish, Game and Forest League at its 
annual meeting held at Syracuse, N. Y., December, 1904. 
It is important that sportsmen from all parts of the State 
should inform their respective Senators and Assemblymen 
as to their wishes, and if they will do so, the outcome is 
certain. J. R. F. 
Rochester, N, Y., Feb. 21. 
Increase in the Price of Steel Gttn Battels. 
Consul James C. McNally writes from Liege, 
Belgium : "The price of steel gun barrels has gone- up 
almost 100 per cent, in the last few weeks, and manufac- 
turers refuse to quote prices for future delivery. This 
rise is attributed to the advance in the price of steel. 
All tlie gun barrel manufacturers are running full time 
and are taxed to the limit of their capacity. A manufac- 
turer of note here, having one of the largest plants in the 
world, informs me that he has already booked orders 
for the United States for over 100,000 gun barrels, and 
that orders are coming in more rapidly than ever before. 
This condition With regard to gun barrels reflects similar 
conditions in the manufacture of guns. The trade is at 
present booming, and 1905 promises to be a record year 
in the industry for which Liege is noted," 
Keeper (to children who were playing in a field) — 
"Now, then, what business have you to be in here? Don't 
you see the notice at the gate?" Little Girl — "Oh, yes, 
please, sir, we saw a notice, but it had 'Private' on it, 
so we didn't like to look." — Glasgow Evening Times. 
"Sometimes I wish," said the very lazy man, "that I 
liked to work, so it wouldn't be so disagreeable to me 
when I am compelled to do so. And then I get to think- 
ing that maybe if I liked it I would be at it all the 
time, and I can't bear the thought." — Baltimore American. 
Customer — "Is there any way I can have the durability 
of this suit tested before leaving the store?" 
Clerk — "Oh, yes, sir. We have a former Pullman car 
porter engaged just to brush our patrons down with a 
whisk broom." — Chicago News. 
Test fot Foreign Fit eatms Rctwr ned to Liege 
for Repair. 
James C. McNally, Consul at Liege, Belgium, writes: 
A recent decision of the tribunal in Liege, requiring 
tests of all foreign firearms introduced into Liege for 
repair, established a regulation which may be of in- 
terest to American dealers importing from this city. 
A manufacturer here received from Germany for re- 
pair firearms which had been taken apart, whether to 
facilitate shipping or with attempt to deceive is not 
stated. They were duly repaired, put in order, and 
returned to Germany without having undergone the 
usual and required test given to new firearms. The 
manufacturer having been called to account contended 
that the requirement did not apply, the firearms not 
being new. The court, however, held that the matter 
was one for proper investigation and appointed an ex- 
pert to pass upon the arms. The expert declared that 
they were practically new, and therefore came within 
the provisions of the law requiring firearms to pass 
the official test. The report was approved, and the 
manufacturer was fined 300 francs ($57-90), and censured 
by the court. This has been a mooted question for 
some time, and the decision is declared to be one of 
importance, 
Albany Legislation. 
ALBANy, Feb. 27. — Senator Drescher has introduced, by request 
(Int. No. 452j, a bill amending Section 67 of the game law, so as 
to provide that waters which have been stocked by the State with 
iish since April 17, 1S96, shall be open to the public to fish in, and 
it shall be the duty of the State Fish and Game Commission to 
keep such waters open to the public. The Commission shall post 
and maintain notices or sign boards at conspicuous places at or 
near such waters, to the effect that the water has been stocked by 
the State with fish, and that it is open to the public to fish, and 
shall warn all persons from molesting or interfering with any one 
wading or fishing therein. 
Senator Drescher has also introduced, by request (Tnt. No. 451), 
a bill amending Section 202 of the game law, forbidding owners 
of private land, not parks, from maintaining notices of trespass, if 
pond or stream on such land has been stocked with fish by the 
State since April 17, 1896. 
Assemblyman Santee has introduced a bill (Int. No. 737; amend- 
ing Section 170 of the game law so as to increase from fifty to 
sixty the number of game protectors to be appointed by the State 
Commission. ~ One of the new appointees shall reside in each of 
the following counties: Albany, Niagara, Orleans, Ontario, 
Broome, Chemung, Genesee, and Steuben. 
Other Assembly bills introduced were: 
By Assemblyman Whitney (Int. No. 7S4), adding a new section, 
to be known as 73a, so as to provide that nets may be used from 
July 15 to Dec. 1, both inclusive, in the waters of Lake Ontario 
m the towns of Sandy Creek and Richland, Oswego county, ex- 
cept the waters within one-half mile either way from the mouth 
of the Salmon River and the mouth of the outlet of Big Sandy 
Pond. 
By Assemblyman Wade (Tnt. No. 77i;, providing that the close 
season for trout in Putnam county shall be from April 15 to 
Nov. 1, both inclusive. 
Senator Cobb has had reconsidered and laid on the table the 
vote by which the Senate passed his bill (Int. 143), amending 
Section 48, so as to provide that maskinonge less than twenty-four 
inches in length shall^ not be possessed, and if taken, shall, with- 
out injury, be immediately returned to the water where taken. 
The Assembly has advanced to third reading the bill of Assem- 
blyman Monroe (Int. No. 640) relative to the close season of 
trout in Tompkins county. 
The Senate has advanced to third reading Assemblyman Wade's 
bill (Int. No. 249) providing that meshes of nets in Lake Erie 
shall not be less than 1%-inch bar. 
A joint session of the fish and game committees of the Senate 
and the Assembly was held the past week to listen to arguments 
for and against the Burr-Reeve bill to repeal the Brown law pro- 
hibiting duck shooting in the spring, so far as it affects Suffolk 
county. The speakers against the proposition to repeal the law 
v/ere mostly from central New York, while those favoring the 
Burr-Reeve bill were in the main Long Islanders. The com- 
mittees took no action on the measure. 
.1 \ I. 
m 
oO 
I 
D 
The Log of a Sea Angler. 
?Y CHARLES F. HOLDER, AUTHOR OF "ANGLINg/' "bIG GAME 
tiSHES," ETC, 
Vn.— A Regular Sea Serpent. 
The conventional idea of a coral reef and the reef itself 
are two different things. Not one person in ten thousand 
ijihas seen a living coral reef, and the white bleached coral 
of the shops that dot the landscape in every northern 
)wn pass as coral; but this is dead, is the skeleton. 
.Agaiuj the coral is supposed to be made by an "insect." 
''Montgiomery the poet long ago described the "coral in- 
:3ect'' as working "ceaselessly," and all the labors of 
■sOologists and text-book writers will doubtless be unable 
to overcome this. 
The coral animal is a polyp, a sea anemone-like creature 
;that takes lime from the water, secretes it in and about 
itself, building up a little cell upon which others appear, 
as the branch in corals, or the polyps lie in grooves, and 
a|the community takes the form of a gigantic coral head, 
'as in brain coral, or star coral (Astrsea), or there is one 
■irge polyp a foot long, as in Fungia. 
Nearly all reef corals alive are olive colored; Astrangia, 
; northern coral, being the only white variety, and the 
great masses here covered miles oi reef. The common 
variety is the branch coral, which covers the reef in 
sreat plantations, and is cut in streets and pathways in 
-very direction. This coral rises from two to three feet 
shallow water, but on the edges of the canon-like chan- 
nel, a turquoise-tinted artery winding in and out. The 
branches extend a foot or more and resemble the antlers 
of the elk. The food conditions are doubtless better in 
this locality. 
The delights in drifting over this garden of the sea can- 
not be adequately descrilsed. The wealth of color, appeal- 
ing to even a stagnant sense of the beautiful, the mauve 
of the lagoon floor, the deep olive of the coral trees and 
groves,- the greens or algse patches, the yellow and black 
" hips of crayllshcs which waved under every branch, the 
-plc-ndici masses of vivid blue, yellows and greens froni 
hordes of resplendent fishes that pose against the coral, 
•the labrodorite hue of the channel, the splendor of the 
vermilion clouds into which the sun rises and sets, the 
splashes of peajd and royal purple on the surface in 
lanthian and others, and over all the mysterious verti- 
ginous haze of the heat rays distorting, melting, confus- 
ing all objects near and far. 
The great lagoons and forests of coral are the homes 
of myriads of creatures, and a diversion that never 
wearied was drifting over the surface, grains in hand, or 
wading along in search of shells or rare corals. Each 
coral branch was the home of thousands of animals, par- 
ticularly the beautiful micramock, a spotted Cyprsea, the 
comman shell seen on mantel and table in the country 
from Maine to Alaska. 
These shells live in the branch coral, where I often had 
to break the points to secure them, and here the secret of 
how they preserve their wonderful polish is seen. The 
shell appears when seen like a black egg-shaped mass, 
and when picked up is found to be the beautiful shell, 
the animal or owner of which has thrown out a delicate 
covering entirely concealing and protecting it from the 
slightest scratch. I spent a portion of each day with 
Chief, John or Bob wading and towing the dinghy, stop- 
ping to lift a twenty or thirty-pound mass of coral and 
place it on the little deck, from which scores of strange 
animals would drop and scurry to be caught. Among the 
corals the so-called brain corals were the most attractive 
from their size. Some on the edge of the channel I esti- 
mated were four feet high and six or seven feet across, 
like old oaks blasted and riven. They were hollowed out, 
forming enormous vases in which were posed gorgeous 
angel fishes, parrot fishes and many more. 
One hot morning I was poling along when I came upon 
a plantation of heads scattered for one hundred feet along 
the edge of the channel. From beneath each came a 
fringe of crayfish whips, big fellows weighing possibly 
ten or fifteen pounds, while the interiors were veritable 
aquariums. In one I noticed a peculiar black pointed 
head, and having a hazy, indefinite notion as to what it 
was. put the grains into it, to have them as promptly 
jerked out of my hands, (^rasping the- cord I found I 
had struck a moray that, so far as strength was con- 
cerned, was a young sea serpent ; but I finally got it to the 
surface, and stepping on to the rail, slid it in, partly by 
its own volition. 
I believe I never was more surprised, as this fish proved 
to be a giant, with a mouth and fangs like a boa con- 
strictor, which it opened as it dashed at Bob, who was 
sculling. He struck a mighty blow at it, but missing, 
turned and sprang overboard into water about up to his 
waist. I jerked the monster back by the cord, when it 
turned on me, and being unarmed I did the next best 
thing, took to the woods, and sprang up the mast of the 
dinghy, to which was lashed a spritsail. I succeeded in 
getting my legs out of range of this sea serpent, when 
the dinghy promptly capsized, my weight hauling her over, 
where she filled, and the moray wriggled overboard. 
Fortunately I had kept the end of the grains cord, and 
we made it fast to the painter and hauled dinghy and sea 
serpent ashore. The latter was over eight feet in length, 
its body as large around as my thigh, as near a sea ser- 
pent as one could imagine. 
No fish in the sea presents so ferocious and ugly an 
appearance as _ this, and while its bite is not strictly 
poisonous. It is dangerous. A moray's teeth are sharp 
fangs which cut and lacerate, tear and bite like those of a 
dog. I had no apologies to make for my retreat. Bob hav- 
ing set the example, and I found all the men held the 
moray as a dangerous fish. 
We hauled the ugly creature upon the sands, and John 
skinned it, and I must say that broiled moray is an ex- 
cellent dish ; then there was a barbaric satisfaction in 
eating an enemy. In some localities it was impossible to 
fish on account of the number of morays which came up 
ready to attack anything or anybody, and when we felt 
something^ coming up like a rock we generally looked 
over, and if it was a seeming coil of snakes cut it away. 
I had decided to make a collection of corals, so a sur- 
vey was made of the reef, and we selected the most sym- 
metrical pieces we could find. Many I dived for, and some 
few leaf corals on the edge of the channel it was neces- 
sary to pry off with a oar. These we placed on the 
beach in the sun until they were dead, then when dfr- 
