190 
FOREST AND STREAM 
April, 1920 
THE PROPERJ.SPIRIT 
To the Editor o/Torest and Stream: 
I READ with much interest your editor- 
ial in the January Forest and Stream 
under the heading “All Mast Help,” re- 
garding game conservation and preser- 
vation. Unless the sportsmen of the 
State of New York get this firmly set in 
their minds they will fast approach a 
time when the shot-gun will be hung on 
the rack, with a red ribbon tied around 
nt, and its usefulness will be only as a 
Treimmder of pleasant days afield, which 
have passed, never to return. Even with 
>our present game laws and closed sea- 
the situation is no better. Unless 
the sportsmen, one and all, grasp this 
fact, our hunting days will be practically 
over. It is very gratifying to note that, 
one by one, the boys in this town are 
coming to the realization of this fact 
and want to do something to help out. 
We have mapped out the following to 
serve toward helping the game situation 
in our town. We <are forming a gun 
club, starting with 15 members. They 
are men who can be depended on to ob- 
serve the game laws and help out gen- 
erally. We charge an entrance fee of 
$2.00 and small monthly dues. We are 
going to give entertainments, dancing 
parties, etc., and the proceeds will be 
used, with our entrance fees and dues, 
for stocking purposes, that is, if the 
state will not furnish us grouse, quail, 
etc., we are going to buy them our- 
selves and put them out in our town. 
They will be put on farms owned by men 
interested in the game, who will see that 
they are protected, fed in the winter, 
etc., and we hope in due time to have 
some good bird shooting. We are also 
going to have trap-shooting once or twice 
a month during the summer. We are 
going to try and get some better laws 
and have some of the present laws 
changed. 
Our game warden, who resides in this 
town will undoubtedly be the popular 
choice of the members for president of 
the club. He is a real sportsman and 
a real game warden. 
I give you this outline of our plans 
toward helping the game situation, think- 
ing you might pass it along to other 
sportsmen, with a view of having them 
start similar movements in their terri- 
tory. A year ago I was very much 
pleased to note while hunting over some 
old grouse cover where, for the past few 
years the birds have been practically ex- 
tinct, to put up three within three rods of 
each other. This year hunting over the 
same ground I put up five, almost double 
the number. I left them, hoping that 
next year the number would again double 
itself and that I could find ten or more. 
With this rate of increase we should soon 
LETTERS, 
QUESTIONS 
AND ANSWER, 
have more grouse in the near future. 
Our game warden was instrumental this 
year in having the grouse season cut 
down one month. At the present time 
there are five game farms in the state 
breeding nothing but English ring-neck 
pheasants, but I understand that an ap- 
propriation has recently been made for 
another farm which will breed grouse. 
It would seem with all these game farms 
that quail also could be raised and give 
us some real game birds. The pheasant 
is a fine bird, but it is not a game bird 
in the sense that grouse and quail are, 
and had the same care and work been 
given to the raising and protecting of 
grouse and quail that has been expended 
on the pheasant, we would now have 
them in as great, if not greater, num- 
bers than the pheasant. But to get de- 
sired results, we must have concerted 
action, and it is now plainly up to the 
sportsman to do his bit £6ward the propa- 
gation, preservation and conservation of 
game. It is going to be a struggle, but 
it can be done if we all put our shoulders 
to the wheel. 
Geo. S. McVicar, Conesus, N. Y. 
DUCKS AND GULLS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream: 
I N regard to the query of F. D. Har- 
low as to whether or not gulls will 
disturb ducks, I will say that under cer- 
tain conditions, apparently caused by 
scarcity of their natural food or from 
plain meanness., that they do. 
During my experience of twelve years 
as a duck shooter I have seen gulls at- 
tack ducks on a number of occasions. In 
support of my statement that the gulls 
will attack ducks when hungry I want 
to say that in eight years that I hunted 
on Saginaw Bay near the mouth of tjje 
Saginaw River, where fish were plenti- 
ful I never saw a gull disturb the ducks. 
Though I did see a large white owl 
sweep so low as to raise a bunch of blue- 
bill that were feeding in a bayou. 
That gulls will eat ducks I know, for 
I have seen them pick clean the bones of 
a mallard that was frozen in the ice. 
On another occasion while hunting on 
Lake Erie out from the mouth of the 
Huron River, I noticed a gull drifting 
down with the current picking at some- 
thing. On going out to investigate I 
found a black duck with one breast 
eaten away. Another time I wounded a 
black duck which fell a good distance 
out in the Lake. I chased it but it was 
not badly hurt and I could not get close 
enough for a shot. I gave up and re- 
turned to my point. Shortly after I 
noticed two gulls circling and diving 
oyer the duck. The duck was a good 
diver and managed to get under water 
before the gulls could reach it. The 
gulls finally ceased their attack and left. 
On the second day of the season in 
1915 I was shooting on an outside point. 
Five mallards, after circling out of 
range, lit about three hundred yards 
outside of my decoys. I kept low, hoping 
that they would work in towards my de- 
coys. The ducks, after a time started 
swimming in and it seemed that my pa- 
tience wa.s to be rewarded, when a big 
gull swept down over the ducks. They 
stood it for one round and on the next 
dash they got up and beat it. I am posi- 
tive that the gull frightened the ducks 
away. 
On other occasions I have seen gulls 
sweep down on small flocks of ducks. 
The ducks would dive until they got 
tired of the game and would then get 
up and fly. 
The following incidents should make 
clear as to just what length a gull will 
go when hungry. As is known to any 
one who has traveled the Great Lakes, 
in the months of May or June, there are 
thousands of small birds that journey 
north across Lake Superior. The 
rigging or, any suitable landing place on 
the steamers is sometimes covered with 
these little birds who are mighty glad 
for a chance to rest on their flight. One 
day while standing at the stern of a 
steamer watching the log, I noticed a 
small bird flying hard against a stiff 
wind trying to come up with the boat. 
The poor little thing was plainly tired 
and I hoped it would make it. It was 
gaining when it espied the log line. It 
lit on the revolving line about six feet 
from the water and after holding on for 
about a dozen revolutions it fell to the 
water where a big gull promptly gobbled 
it up. 
What I saw in. the fall of 1916 proved 
to me that gulls are at times really 
vicious. The ducks were not flying very 
well so I took a walk down the shore. 
Presently I noticed a duck flying about 
a foot above the water headed to the 
shore with a large gull in pursuit. The 
gull pecked at the duck while flying and 
finally came alongside and with a blow 
from its powerful wings knocked it to 
the water. The water was shallow and 
the gull kept diving at the duck, intent 
on finishing it, the gull would probably 
have succeeded as the water was low and 
the duck could not dive with any success. 
