m2 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Dec 23, 1905. 
point delegates to confer with President Roosevelt. 
The American Bison Sciety desires to begin at once a 
vigorous campaign in the interest of the noble animal 
which even now is on the verge of extinction, and which 
must surely pass unless the American people will raise 
their hands to save him. The Society was organized in 
the strong belief that the people desired to have the 
buffalo preserved, and that they would give their sup- 
port to a body of men able and willing to work inde- 
fatigably for its preservation. 
The 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 buffalo which less than thirty- 
five years ago caused the Western plains to tremble be- 
neath their hoofs, and which constituted one of the won- 
ders of the world, have vanished, and there remain to 
represent them some 600 or 700 head, exclusive of those 
in the zoological gardens, which do not count when we 
come to the question of the preservation of the species. 
Most of these are in a few widely scattered bunches, only 
two of which, the Corbin herd at Newport, N. H., and 
the Pablo herd on the Flathead Indian Reservation, 
. Mont., contain over 100 head. Of this little remnant of 
-the once mighty hosts not a single animal is safe; eyery 
owner in the country is willing and some very anxious 
to sell, and I doubt if there is a herd in the country which 
would not be sold to-morrow morning if a customer ap- 
peared with the money. In the large herds there is an- 
other menace to the race— contagious disease, to several 
forms of which the buffalo is subject, though less so than 
domestic cattle. If tuberculosis or the hoof-and-mouth 
disease should attack one of the three or four compara- 
tively large bunches, the fate of the buffalo might be 
sealed then and there, as even now the number of herds 
is so small that it will probably require careful manage- 
ment to prevent excessive inbreeding. 
The American Bison Society believes that these dan- 
gers can be avoided in just one way, and that is by Gov- 
ernmental ownership of all available pure-blooded buf- 
falos. The Government .alone can resist the temptaiton to 
sell the heads and hides of these wonderful creatures ; the 
Government alone can keep them with the least possible 
risk of loss by disease, and- with the greatest opportunity 
to increase to the point where there will be no longer any 
immediate danger of their extinction. It was through the 
shortsightedness and indifference of the United States 
Government thiry odd years ago that the American people 
lost the grandest and most valuable animal native to their 
soil, and it surely is the right of the people to demand 
such reparation, late and insufficient though it may be, 
as may be had through the preservation by the Govern- 
ment of the last remnant of what but lately was the most 
numerous large mammal of recent times. 
Personally, I believe that the strong sentiment in fayor 
of our greatest American animal is sufficient to save him, 
if those who feel it will only speak. I believe there are 
tens of thousands of people who can appreciate the 
buffalo as a great character in American history, in whose 
living presence only can we really understand the Indian 
and the life he led in the early days; I believe that these 
same people and many more, will admit the debt we owe 
the buffalo for the great part he played in “the winning 
of the West.” Of Americans born there must be manj', 
many thousands whose relatives or friends would have 
suffered hunger, if not starvation, but for the presence of 
the vast herds of buffalo beyond the Mississippi, and no 
doubt there are many who from personal experience can 
testify tO‘ the great value of the animal to those obliged 
to traverse the wilderness in times gone by. I do not 
believe that these people will allow the bison tO' pass 
without making an effort in his behalf. 
But there are good economic reasons why this animal 
should be saved and allowed to increase in numbers. 
Shorn of all sentiment, and as he stands on his hoofs he 
is the most valuable native animal in the country ; kill 
him, and there is no domestic animal in America whose 
carcass will bring as much in dollars and cents. The meat 
is as good as domestic beef, and some parts of it rather 
better, while the hide alone will sell for money enough 
to purchase three , or four good cows. A fine head is 
worth much more, and although the value of heads would 
probably decrease as buffalos became more numerous, 
there would always be a. good market for the skins, as 
for many purposes we have nothing quite so' 'good. I 
know a man who is wearing a buffalo ulster which has 
been in use for twenty winters, and it is not by any means 
worn out. As a winter carriage robe it is generally con- 
ceded that a buffalo skin has never had an equal, and for 
this use alone the article would probably command a high 
price indefinitely. Then the buffalo^ has wool almost as 
thick as that of the sheep. Naturally, there is much more 
of it, and while it is coarser than sheep’s wool, it can be 
woven intO' very warm and useful garments. There was 
a factory devoted to this industry in operation in Winni- 
peg, and I am informed that the enterprise was very suc- 
cessful until the extermination of the buffalo put an end 
to the supply of raw material. It would be a fairly . sim- 
ple matter to. shear the animals in the spring as sheep are 
sheared, but this might not be necessary, as the buffalo 
sheds its wool annually, in patches resembling felt, and 
this might be gathered from the ground. 
As ft beast of burden the bison is almost unknown, yet 
I suspect that if properly broken when young he would 
prove superior to the domestic ox for speed, strength and 
endurance. My own experience with the team of buffalo 
calves which I borrowed and broke to the yoke and to. 
harness last summer, tends to confirm this suspicion ; at 
any rate, I do- not believe that any pair of domestic calves 
of the same age in New England can either travel so' fast 
or handle so heavy a load as those eight-months-old buf- 
falos. They have already shown what they are made of 
at the Sullivan county^, N. H., fair, and they? will be 
tested again at the coming Sportsmen’s Show in Boston. 
Of buffalo-domestic cattle hybrids I will say nothing 
at this time, beyond stating that in all probability the 
rearing of them will be profitable. The American Bison 
Society will interest itself in the preservation of the full- 
blooded buffalo. When this is assured, it'.ryill be time 
enough to think about cros^-breeding. If we don’t save 
the fullbloods we can’t evefi.ihave hybrids. 
It is so well known that,' -under proper rnanagement, 
buffalos multiply rapidly and that they are both easy and 
inexpensive to rear, it is hardly necessary'- to repeat it ; 
the point now is to have the Government undertake this 
work until the herds are sufficiently large to warrant their 
distribution to stock raisers, farmers and others who may 
desire fx) handle them. I-n order that Congress mav feel 
justified in appropriating the money necessary, to ~do this, 
it is necessary that a great number of Americans shall 
show their interest in the matter. There are many ways 
in which they can do. this, but the most direct way just 
now is to support the American Bison Society by becom- 
ing a member of it. The annual dues have purposely 
been made very low, in order that no one interested in 
the preservation of animals may be prevented from shar- 
ing in the good work. It is hoped that sportsmen’s clubs 
will be among the first to come I0 the front, and that 
wherever possible the members of such organizations will 
join the American Bison Society in a body. The assist- 
ance of women’s clubs is also, greatly desired, and women 
members will be heartily welcomed to the ranks of the 
new organization. Girls and boys, too, should be urged 
to join it, partly for the immediate benefit to- the cause 
of the buffalo, and partly because an early appreciation 
on their part of what is due to so noble an animal, will 
tend to make them better citizens. In short, let every 
man, woman and child who has love or sympathy for 
American animals, join hands in saving for the country 
the grandest of them all. Although on the brink of ex- 
termination this rugged and typically American character 
must be saved; it can be saved, and, with the support of 
the people, the American Bison Society is prepared to 
do the work which will be necessary to save it. 
Ernest Harold Baynes. 
The Oregon Beaver. 
This animal is nearly extinct. It is nearly as rare now 
in nature as it is on the Oregon coins — called beaver 
money — of the early time. All early explorers and set- 
tlers of the Oregon country were familiar with the beaver. 
The Oregonian is not sure that aiiy members of the spe- 
cies now remain. It was said :i while ago that L. L. 
Hawkins, of Portland, who, as a naturalist, takes interest 
in all the fauna and flora of the country, knows where 
there is now' a colony or family of beavers, not thirty 
miles from Portland; but he wouldn’t tell, lest betrayal 
of their retreat might lead to their destruction. 
There w'as scarcely a more favorite haunt of the beaver 
than the streams of the Oregon country. It was the 
beaver, chiefly, that led the explorers and trappers hither. 
Follow'ing the expedition of Lewis and Clark, the Ameri- 
can Fur Company pushed into the vast western territory. 
Furs and peltries were the main objects of their enter- 
prise. Chief of the valuable fur-bearing animals was 
the beaver. Flis haunts were the rivers and lakes bor- 
dered by woodland. A large part of North America was 
his habitat. Canada, the upper Mississippi and Missouri 
regions, the territory of the Columbia and Fraser rivers, 
and especially the w'hole of western Oregon and of Brit- 
ish Columbia were his favorite grounds. The animal was 
always very shy, not prolific, and therefore easily extermi- 
nated. In many particulars the beaver of the Western 
Hemisphere -was different from the beaver of the East- 
ern, yet of the same general family. But since the his • 
toric period began it never was so numerous in the East- 
ern Hemisphere as it was in the Western, at the time of 
the discovery and till long afterward. 
The demand for the fur of the beaver — strange as it may 
seem — w'as one of the factors that combined to. break the 
way into the great whlderness of the West; and in its re- 
sult of primary exploration that led up to. settlement, it 
was the most important one. It led the trapper and 
trader from . the Great Lakes and the Mississippi to. the 
Western ocean. 
Swift streams, flowing through rocky canons, the beaver 
avoided — unless here and there such streams opened out 
into valleys where there w'ere lakes or marshes that could 
be controlled and where there was timber or brushwood 
in some abundance. Where the stream was large and deep 
and swift the beaver could not build a dam, nor was it 
necessary, since the animal could not burrow into the 
banks and establish his chamber at a steady water level. 
Where waters were continually swift and uncontrollable, 
willow, yellow birch and other favorite wood food of the 
beaver was absent. Where brooks and creeks were small, 
with proper wood growths, the beavers w'ere abundant, 
as well as in the natural lakes and quiet reaches of the 
larger streams. 
The purpose of the beaver in building his dams was to 
maintain a steady water level. That is, the object of the 
dam was the formation of an artificial pond, the principal 
uses of which were the refuge to them when assailed, and 
the Avater connection it gave to their lodges and to their 
burrows in the banks. Hence, as the level of the pond 
must in all cases have risen from one to tAvo feet above ■ 
these entrances for the protection of the animal from pur- 
suit and c.apture, the surface level of the pond must have 
been subje^ct to their immediate control. With this in 
view their dams Avere ahvays constructed. The animal 
lived wholly on bark and lAvigs ; its food for AA'inter, 
Avhere the climate Avas severe, AA-as prepared by cutting 
poles and branches Avhich it dragged into place within or 
beside the lodge, and the bark was stripped off as wanted. 
The cutting Avas done mainly Avith the inferior or lower 
teeth — the upper teeth, though formidable in appearance, 
being used mainly for holding. 
All early settlers of Oregon were familiar Avith the 
habits of the beaver. So common Avas the animal, indeed, 
that it was not possible to miss notice of him. Through- 
out the entire Oregon country, west pf the Cascade Moun- 
tains, there Avas scarcely a creek .or SAA'amp which the 
beaver did not inhabit. Strange to say, the Indians lacked 
the ingenuit}' to capture them, AA'hich the Avhites so 
quickly developed. One reason Avas, doubtless, that the 
Indians lacked the incentive of profit, for till the '•A'hites 
came the furs had little or no value. 
But the beaver noAv is alm_ost unknoAvn. In the Oregon 
country he is practically extinct. He can lAe no life but 
that of nature, undisturbed by man. For man’s desire to 
kill, and his eagerness for profit, exerted upon a tim.id 
and not very prolific race of anim-als, has A'irtually de- 
stroyed it. Yet there are persons still living in Portland 
Avho have seen dwellings of the beaver Avithin short dis- 
tances all around the present city, if not Avithm or upon 
the A'ery site of it, — Portland Oregonian. 
THE MANir-USll Oil. 
cleans out powder residue, Lubricates, never gums ; bottle, 10c. 
^Adv, ■ -A,' 
Wild Pigeon Speculation. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
There have been several inquiries and several explana- 
tions of late as to the final taking off of the wild pigeon. 
Very little information, however, has been brought out by 
cither. That there is no one competent to. give any ac- 
curate details seems certain. That they were drowned in 
the Gulf of Mexico during a storm is a tradition that has 
made its appearance in print now and then for the last 
twenty years. I think it orginated with Joe Mulhattan 
and first appeared in the daily papers about 1883. As the 
story first appeared, the waters were completely covered 
for miles with dead birds. In fact, the ship that reported 
them was several days late from plowing its Avay through 
the mass. There are several authorities, however, that 
are well up in bird lore who still cling to. the theory of 
drowning. My own opinion on the subject has a slightly 
different trend, though, of course, it is based on nothing 
more substantial than any other man’s guess might be. 
The nesting and breeding habits -of the pigeon was the 
cause of their undoing. Nesting and roosting as they did 
in some particular piece of woods in such great numbers 
made them an easy prey for the netters. The squabs were 
knocked from the nests and sent to market and the old 
birds netted and sold to trap-shooters or slaughtered for 
market. 
For years this was a feature in Wisconsin and Michi- 
igan, and earlier in Ohio. At last there came a year, 
1881, when no birds appeared in their usual haunts. The 
pace had got too hot for them ; they deserted their old 
stamping ground. Later, word came that they were nest- 
ing in Indian Territory. The Territory was not settled 
at that time, but netters were sent from Chicago in special 
cars and later the cars returned laden with squabs and 
Ha'C old birds. The Illinois State Sportsman’s Association 
used them at their first annual tournament that year, and 
many thousand were used right there, for there were 175 
entries in the principal event and each shot at ten birds, 
beside twice as many in minor -events. That was the last 
time wild pigeons were used- in any great quantities for 
trap-shooting. That was the last great roosting and nest-. 
ing ground knoAvn to history. Minor roosts of course 
there were, but not of sufficient importance to attract the 
attention of the squab hunters. There is a great deal of 
guess Avork in this statement. I never shot a wild pigeon 
at the trap. Never saw a pigeon net, nest or roosting 
ground. The facts, if they are facts, are taken from the 
history of events as recorded by current news and as 
memory recorded them. 
One can readily imagine hoAV the pigeons might have 
been destroyed by a great storm while crossing the Gulf, 
though I have noted that the line of flight of birds, espe- 
cially ducks, migrating before cold weather, was along 
the coast to the Avestward and around the Gulf, not across 
it. This might be changed by varying winds, but I doubt 
if any birds A'oluntarily cross the water. 
Nearly every season up to 1895 I have seen more or 
less wild pigeons in Illinois, Minnesota and Manitoba. As 
late as i88g I saw a flock of at least a hundred in Illinois. 
In 1891 I saw several small flocks in this (Aitkin) county. 
In 1895 I saAV the last one ; it was alone and bobtailed, 
which might be regarded as being close to the finish, 
though I learn from the prints that they are appearing in 
the East at different points in increasing numbers. 
E. P. Jaques. 
Aitkin, Minn. 
Insensibility to Pain Among Animals 
Probably no question has excited more interest, among 
humanitarians especially, than that pertaining to the de- 
gree of pain suffered by animals when attacked, injured, 
operated upon b}' the vivisectionist or killed. Extreme 
humanitarians especially than that pertaining to the de- 
the lower animals. They protest against fishing and 
hunting almost to the extent of some semi-barbaric tribes 
who refuse to kill any animal. Others object to vivisec- 
tion, thereby depriving science, and especially surgery, of 
one of its chief sources of information. Others again be- 
lieA'e that animals do not suffer pain and condemn the 
humanitarians as extremists. There is, doubtless, a happy 
medium Avhich all can be governed by. 
That animals suffer pain cannot be denied, at least by 
anyone who has had opportunities to observe them. All 
animals doubtless suffer from injuries and attacks, but in 
some it is reduced to a minimum, which can be easily 
illustrated. In other Avords, many animals are so con- 
stituted that AA'hat are apparently serious injuries to- the 
humane and human observer are hardly felt by the ani- 
mal. This is well illustrated among the fishes. Few 
anglers but have hooked the same fish twice in the same 
day ; and many fishes have been caught with a hook in 
their mouth. I haA'C hooked a large seriola twice in a 
forenooiA, and wFen ultimately caught it was found to 
have, four hooks in its jaws, one very badly rusted. This 
fish would seize the hook, make a gallant rush ipo or 
more feet aAvay, struggle wildly a few moments, as though 
stricken Avith fear or mad Avith pain, then finding itself 
trapped and unable to break the line, would rush at the 
wharf upon Avhich the observers stood, Avind the line in 
and out around the piers and break it, to presently ap- 
pear on the surface so near that the dangling line and the 
bloodshot mark in its jaw could be seen; yet, this fish, 
Avhich weighed about 35 pounds, took another hook fifteen - 
minutes later and repeated the act. For seA'eral m.inute'' 
after escape it appeared “Avorried,” T could see it repeat- 
edly “shake its head,” opening the m_outh and gill covers 
convulsiA'ely, but soon it Avas SAvim-m_ing up and down in 
full A'ieAV taking Avhatever bait was tossed at it. I have 
noticed this in trout, rock bass, the Gulf of Mexico barra- 
cuda, and especially in sharks, and assume that in fishes 
at least a large number are. if not im.pervious to pain, 
suffer A'ery little Avhen caught or played. How much they 
suffer after being caught and alloAved to die slowly is an- 
other question, A fish should be killed im.m.ediately Avhen 
taken from the Avater. 
If Ave Avere inclined to take a snap jddgm.ent m.any 
fishes appear to suffer from, the fact that they utter re- 
markable sounds Avhen taken from, their native element. 
One of the most interesting ' is the Southern grunt— a 
delicious pan fish— but I must confess that I disliked to 
take this fish, as its extraordinary “grunts” appeared like 
protests and ran such a gamut of tones that it was dis- 
