874 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
and preserves, it would be a benefit to this park and to 
the elk left here, and would help out other^ States. 
Washington has passed a law forbidding the killing of 
elk in that State for a number of years. The Roose- 
velt elk in the Olympics were fast disappearing, so it's 
claimed; a few hundred elk sent there from here would 
soon restore the band to their usual number, although 
I doubt if the elk increase as fast in the Olympics as 
in the Rocky Mountains, owing to the climate and 
food conditions. The country is so very different wmter 
and summer. 
I saw the description of the eflEort made to capture the 
small band of wild elk ranging on the Sacramento and 
San Joaquin bottoms, or swamp country, and one paper 
said they were to be given to the Government for the 
Yellowstone Park. I believe there are less than 
fifty elk in this band, and in place of the Government 
accepting a gift of them, it could better give a train- 
load for, say the Big Tree Parks to California, and 
let Cahfornia keep her little bunch on the San Joaqum. 
I have seen some of that country, and would not be 
surprised to learn that these elk had feet like caribou, 
or were web-footed. It's said they are smarter than our 
elK, and I don't doubt it. 
We all hope for considerable rain this summer to 
make up for the lack of snow in the mountains. It is 
the snow in the big drifts, however, that keeps up the 
water supply for irrigating the lower country and not 
that in the timber or lower flats. If the wind last win- 
ter was strong enough to build those drifts up to their 
usual size there will be no more scarcity of water than 
Uiual. , . , , 
1 did think I would write you a bit about the game 
in this park, but have touched on everything but game 
conditions here. Well, they are all right! Everything 
did well this winter. Even the scouts and game keep- 
ers, for they killed many mountain lions and coyotes. 
T. E. HOFER. 
Nova Scotia Moose. 
The American sportsman who has been accustomed to 
hunt in Nova Scotia, will hear with regret that the past 
winter has been a most disastrous one for moose. As a 
rule the snow does not attain a great depth m our woods. 
In three seasons out of five the lumbermen complain that 
there is not enough. February and March, IQOS, have 
been the most severe months for many years. 1 he snow 
attained a depth of six feet on the level in our woods, the 
railway system of the western part of the province was 
paralyzed, the town of Yarmouth was tyenty-four days 
without a train from Halifax, and the small towns were 
cut off from the country by huge drifts of snow, which 
took days to shovel out. The moose and deer were help- 
less in their "yards," and anyone who possessed a pair of 
snowshoes and a gun could kill as many as he chose. 
Fortunately for our game, only an infinitesimal number 
of people availed themselves of the opportunity. The 
great majority of our people are law-abiding, others were 
"seal ed" of the fine imposed on. people who hunt in close 
.sec f on. 
The minority of possibly two or three-score persons 
made up for this, however. In nearly every county in 
the Province several moose were slaughtered, and had 
the latter end of March been as stormy as it was fine, 
tht moose would have been well-nigh exterminated. The 
vardens did all they could to prevent, and are now doing 
all they can to avenge this butchery. Up to date (April 
I/) the record of convictions is about as follows: 
Yarmouth county — Four convictions. Other cases 
pending. , - . 
Dighy county— Two convictions. Five or six cases 
pending. 
Annapolis county— Not heard from yet. Several cases 
pending. 
Kings county — Eight convictions. Gases pending. _ 
Halifax county— Six convictions. Many cases pending. 
Guysboro county — Two convictions. Many cases pend- 
ing. . ^ J- 
Colchester county— Three convictions. Cases pending. 
Queens county — Six convictions. Many cases pending. 
Lunenburg county — Four convictions. . 
There have doubtless been other cases not reported m 
the press, the writer will send further particulars as they 
come to hand. It must not be supposed that each con- 
viction means a dead moose. All parties hunting, or 
pursuing with intent to kill in close season are Hable 
to a fine. All persons having meat, hides or horns in 
their possession in close season are liable to a fine unless 
they can prove that they were obtained in the open season. 
For every poacher arrested and fined two or three have 
gone scot-free uo to the present time. They may have 
to reckon with the authorities later on, as the poaching 
fraternity have an awkward way of turning king's evi- 
dence ag-ainst one another. 
The deer are not indigenous to Nova Scotia. They 
were captured in New Brunswick, and turned down in 
our woods. They were increasine very rapidly, but num- 
bers have been killed, and it is doubtful if the few left 
will be able to hold their own against the bears and wild- 
cats which destroy many of the fawns. 
One most gratifying thing has been the way-the rn^gis- 
trates upheld the game wardens. In former years it was 
difficult to find a rural magistrate who considered an 
offense against the game laws a serious matter. Thanks 
to the present Government; nearly every district has a 
stipendiary magistrate now,' who not only knows the law, 
but enforces it. The weakest spot in our system of game 
protection is the fact that all measures relating to the 
protection of game are intrusted to the "game society." 
This body consists of Halifax business and professional 
men and officers of the Imperial army and navy. The 
society has no funds to enable it to _ carry on an aggres- 
sive campaign, it is most unpopular in the rural districts, 
and its members are not practical sportsmen, from a 
woodsman's point of view. _ , _ " 
The game wardens are appointed by the society, and 
belong to all social grades. Some of them are guides, 
others are lawyers, doctors, druggists, farmers and men 
of leisure. Curiously enough, the professional men seem 
to get more convictions than the woodsmen and farmers. 
There is one old veteran who practically devotes all his 
time to the preservation of game. He is far past middle 
age, but he can "do out" many men young enough to be 
his grandsons. He has just run down the arch-outlaw 
of eastern Nova Scotia, and has innumerable cases pend- 
ing in two counties. I allude to Commissioner A. O. 
Pritchard, of New Glasgow. 
The early spring has brought the breeding woodcock 
along somewhat earlier than usual. The ruffed grouse 
are almost extinct in some localities, they were buried 
under the snow and the crust formed and shut them in. 
This was especially the case on the slopes of the North 
Mountain in Kings county. 
Kings county has a most able game warden in Mr. 
Tuffts. He is a barrister by profession and has only been 
appointed recently. His list of convictions will be a long 
one at the rate he is piling thern up. Game Warden. 
Federal Control of Game. 
Washington^ D. C, May 4. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On my return from the eastern shore of Vir- 
ginia I found on my desk your issue of April 29 contain- 
ing Judge Beaman's reply to my previous letter. The 
tone is rather controversial and he apparently evinces 
more concern in discrediting the principle of Federal 
superivision of migratory birds and fish by applying a 
magnifying glass to the minor and wholly unimportant 
provisions of the bills than by a fair and candid criticism 
of the original and only issue now concerning the sports- 
men readers of your journal. 
In so much as Judge Beaman in his earlier correspon- 
dence admitted the great benefit of Federal protection of 
certain game, it seems to me he takes an unfortunate 
way of aiding in such an attainment by a captious and 
in my mind wholly erroneous attack upon certain minor 
details of the game bill. 
The principle advanced by me was new and of far- 
reaching effect, so that I had not the slightest desire to 
seek Congressional action thereon until the sportsmen of 
the entire country might have every opportunity of con- 
sidering such proposed legislation. The game bill was 
introduced, printed and immediately given out for public 
consideration. Judge Beaman almost seems to think I 
was guilty of some transgression in doing this before 
consulting him and other game law experts. It does not 
constitute a very grave offense to introduce a bill into 
the National House, for during the past Congress 20,000 
bills were d'/mped into the hopper and, excepting the 
pension bills, only a small number were enacted into laws. 
The two questions uppermost in this legislation were 
(i) the constitutionality of Federal control, and (2) the 
desirability of such a law. 
Considering the practically unanimous support accorded 
this measure, the legal question alone remains for fair 
discussion, and it seems to me that in so far as the read- 
ers of the Forest and Stream are concerned, it is an im- 
position on their good nature to continue a debate on 
this single feature, in view of the extended consideration 
already given it in your columns. 
My assertion that in addition to the popular support 
given the bill, some of the best constitutional lawyers in 
the country upheld this proposition, seems to irritate 
Judge Beaman, for he asks for "the reasons therefor from 
at least one of these lawyers," as though my statement 
had but a shadowy foundation. 
As a matter of fact out of more than fifty lawyers and 
judges consulted, only four or five finally expressed 
doubts of its legality, and I am now having printed for 
the use of the House committee resolutions and opinions 
received by me. 
Unquestionably at first sight the average lawyer looks 
askance at the general proposition of governmental con- 
trol, but after mature consideration has usually come 
around in its favor, and it is this feature that has greatly 
eneouraeed me. , _ 
Judge Beanlan says he is preparing a bill for the Fed- 
eral protection of game and fish that will be bomb proof 
"when perfected according to my ideas." I am not so 
much surprised at his great faith in the wisdom of his 
product as in the recent progressive evolution of ideas 
which makes such a result possible; for at the outset of 
the discussion he expressed the belief "as to Federal pro- 
tection of birds, migratory or otherwise, it is quite prob- 
able it can be lawfully extended to all inland navigable 
waters and public waters along the coast by prohibiting 
shooting thereon under the guise of enhancing the safety 
of navigation or something of that kind." 
The idea of, the Secretary of War by a "department" 
regulation declaring a closed season on excursion steam- 
ers, armored cruisers, naphtha launches and dredge 
boats, thereby incidentally protecting waterfowl, made 
some of us think we had appendicitis ; and this scheme 
was then followed by the proposition that all local and 
migratory game on all public lands of the United States* 
be put under Federal control (notwithstanding his reiter- 
ated assertion that the title of all game was in the State) 
and in the face of the fact that in some States there are 
probably a hundred thousand instances where contiguous 
lands are subject to separate State and Federal owner- 
ship, resulting in the inextricable confusion of the law 
abiding sportsman. We are then told that the next evo- 
lution will result in a bill so perfect that Congress will 
have no chance to amend or mutilate it and thus avoid 
the "patchwork legislation," which he seems to think this 
body is only capable of. 
Considering that seventy-five per cent, of the members 
of the Lower House are lawyers, and that the import- 
ant committees contain the oldest and most experienced 
law makers in any legislative body, I can imagine their 
delight in receiving a bill so perfect in legal principle, in 
form and phraseology that it can be recommended with- 
out the formally of a hearing. This saves work, respon- 
sibility and inures to the committee's credit besides. 
Since serving on the Judiciary General Committee of 
the Pennsylvania State Legislature, fifteen years ago, I 
have found few men who could draw a statute on an 
entirely new phase of legislative action without erring in 
some of the minor details at least. It may be my game 
and fish bills are not perfect, but as they were not intro- 
duced for immediate passage but to test the great under- 
lying principle in each, I fail to see the recklessness of 
my course, though I regret not having the Denverian 
ability to -turn out perfect work at the first jump. 
My migratory fish bill, which was sent to Judge 
Beaman at his request, is likewise made a target of re- 
fined criticism. After squinting along the barrel for three 
weeks he fires the following shot : "This bill undertakes 
to protect fish while spawning ^nd goes at it by declar- 
ing the spawning period to begin when the fish enter the 
bays, rivers, etc., and to end upon the 'completion of the 
act of spawning' — and thereupon remarks, that "the male 
fish, which do not spawn at all, will have no open sea- 
son.' " 
I had always assumed that the act of spawning, in the 
sense here used, was the joint act of the two sexes— 
the female depositing the eggs — ihe maie ejecting the 
milt thereon— but, according to Judge Beaman, the female 
is the whole thing. However, as this section was put 
into the bill at the instance of the most expert fish cul- 
turist ill the country, who has spent twenty-five years in 
the United States Bitreau of Fisheries, the blow must 
fall on him and not on me. Perhaps in Colorado the fish 
are of a hermaphroditic nature. A State which can have 
three Governors in one day has a reproductive capacity 
capable of indefinite limits. 
Since my advocating of Federal control of food fishes 
m our interstate public waters, the Minnesota House of 
Representatives has adopted the following resolution: 
To ihe Congress of the United States: 
Realizing that a great amount of friction has arisen, and is liable 
to arise, on the Great Lakes between Canada and the United 
fctates, m regard to the fishery regulations, also on all waters ol 
a public nature, between the diiferent States; be it 
Kesolved, by the House of Kepresentatives of the State of > 
Minnesota, that the United States Government is hereby requested a 
to take full control of these public waters, so that tliey may be I 
suitably stocked with fish and a uniform law passed, governino- 
the fishing industry of these waters; and that the State of Min°- 
nesota cede to the Government any jurisdiction claimed over 
these waters in regard to the fishing therein. 
Cases have arisen where the representatives of the United 
States Government have been arrested by the State authorities for 
taking spawn in the closed season. Men representing the Game 
and Fish Commission of this State, have been arreted by the 
representatives of another State, simpiy for getting across an 
imaginary line; and we realize that it is almost impossible to get 
uniform laws passed by all the States controlling these waters; 
therefore, we would urge that Congress take such action as m 
their judgment is desirous, so that frictions of this kind would 
entirely cease, and that the fishing industries of these large bodies 
of water may be replenished and protected as they shouid be. 
The past ten days I have been on the eastern shore ol 
Virginia and succeeded in getting a number of good 
photographs of shore birds in their northern migrauoti. 
While there the county supervisors proceeded to suspend 
the State law prohibiting spring shooting, at the instance 
of hotel proprietors, guides and local shooters. Word 
was immediately sent to the large cities on the Atlantic 
coast and in a few days there will be a great influx of li 
shooters intent on bagging the birds on their way to the Li 
nesting grounds, some of them already covering eggs 
in that vicinity. While I can recall no authority lor 
such suspension, the law was not enforced at all last year 
under the State statute, and this is a fresh instance of the 
utter disregard of localities for the welfare of transitory 
birds. Were these same supervisors to have opened the 
law on quail, indignation would have known no bounds, 
yet the principle is precisely the same. 
In conclusion, let me say that in my humble judg- 
ment the next five years will see the passage of Federal 
laws protecting migratory birds and fish, and what is of 
equal importance their constitutionality sustained by the 
highest Federal courts. 
If this does not occur, the sportsmen of this country 
will witness the practical extinction of our principal mi- i 
gratory birds on the Atlantic coast and in many other: 
localities where the narrow avenue of flight is through a 
series of populated States. If we had Sam Fullerton as 
a Federal game warden, invested with full authority, we 
would find a different condition of affairs. 
Geo. Shiras 30. 
The Mounting of Moose Heads. 
Bangor, Me. — Editor Forestlmd StreamT^Perhaps no 
section of country on earth affords at present such an ^ 
abundance of large game, such as deer, moose and 
caribou, as does northern Maine, New Brunswick and 
Nova Scotia. This year about 500 bull moose were 
brought out from this territory. In New Brunswick 
and Nova Scotia, where deer are quite scarce and' 
moose and caribou very plentiful, these animals are 
killed in great numbers by sportsm.en from all parts, 
of the globe, and particularly from Europe, who are 
gratified to think that they have secured what they may 
well be pround of, and which, if properly taken care 
of, may be handed down to their descendants as family 
heirlooms. 
There are many taxidermists in this section who ad 
vertise as professionals in their line, and charge the 
owner of a head accordingly. How many of these men 
really understand their business is a question, and it 
is a constant wonder to me that so many sportsmen will 
spend thousands of dollars to secure one of these 
trophies and then allow themselves to be deceived by, 
fraudulent and inexperienced men and, in the end, have 
their game heads spoiled. For instance, there is a 
firm' in a New Brunswick city which advertises to 
mount a moose head in ten days. 1 will describe this 
process, and you will readily see how impossible it will 
be to get good work done under such a process and in' 
so short a time. After the head of a moose is se- 
cured, the scalp is taken off from the head and neck 
and partly fleshed. The flesh is taken off of the head, 
leaving the bones bare. The scalp is put in a salt and; j 
alum pickle for twelve hours. The next day it - isj j 
mounted; then it goes to the dry room, where it gets' 
its roasting. During the process of mounting, a rub- 
ber tube is put inside the head. This tube is con- 
nected with a hot air reservoir, and as soon as the head: 
goes into the dry room, hot air is forced through the 
tube and the head is thus exposed to a strong heat, 
inside and out. This process is the cause, virtually, or 
the spoiling of every one of these heads. First, the 
scalp is not tanned when the mounting is done; on the 
contrary it is in a raw state, while, as a matter ol 
fact, it takes twelve days to tan a moose scalp, owing 
to the thickness of the skin. In my past experience i 
have seen untanned scalps put on heads with the blood 
running out of them. In this hurry-up process, it is 
necessary to punch the scalp full of holes to let the hot 
air out. This perforating ©f the scalp makes it look 
as if the animal had the mange; every hole that is made! 
cuts many hairs of different length and makes it look' 
