440 
FOREST AND STREAM 
August, 1920 
FOREST^STREAM 
FORTY-NINTH YEAR 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
ADVISORY BOARD 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, New York, N. Y. 
CARL E. AKELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 
EDMUND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, 111. 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
CHARLES SHELDON, Washington, D. C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3rd, Washington, D, C. 
WILLIAM BRUETTE, Editor 
JOHN P. HOLMAN, Associate Editor 
TOM WOOD, Manager 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York City 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor rec- 
reation , and a refined taste for natural objects. 
August 14, 1873. 
MID-SUMMER SIGNS 
IT seems as though we had but just ceased to 
grumble about the late spring with its excessive 
rains and lack of sun, and now mid-summer is upon 
us and signals of approaching autumn are in view. 
The hay fields, but yesterday thick standing and 
green, now shorn, lie brown under the torrid sun. 
Where then a deer or an elk might have lain hidden, 
now a robin can be seen a hundred yards away. 
Over much of the land the tall yellow grain which 
bent and billowed before the summer breezes has 
fallen and is being hauled to the thresher. The 
streamers of the well-grown corn rustle with a creak- 
ing sound as the wind steals over the weed-clean field 
and stirs the pale green leaves. 
The birds hatched in spring and early summer 
are abroad taking their first lessons of life. Robins 
and chippies and song sparrows and other familiar 
friends have more than doubled in numbers ; the 
crows are more noisy than ever and from each com- 
pany of the black rascals encountered is heard the 
call for food of the ever hungry young. In swamp 
or woodland the mother grouse practises her suc- 
cessful arts to lure away from her tender brood man 
or dog that unexpectedly approaches them; while 
in the open lots the quail — more simple but not less 
earnest — show equal anxiety about their tiny young. 
The deep dark green of mature frondage has over- 
spread woodland and swamp, and the leafy curtain 
hides all beyond. Where in winter one could see for 
fifty yards through gray stems and branches, now 
the vision is limited to arm’s length. 
So the season has marched along. Yet now appear 
signs more tangible and more sure. Swallows are 
roosting on the telegraph wires, sure evidence of 
approaching departure for the south. Blackbirds 
are gathering in flocks and resorting to the wet 
meadows where wild rice and other plants will soon 
mature their seeds. The crowns of the few chestnut 
trees that still remain are whitened with feathery 
blooms, forerunners of the bristling burrs, which 
with the coming of the first sharp frosts will send 
down showers of glossy nuts for the behoof of squir- 
rels and partridges and happy children. 
Ever since the end of last winter all things have 
been growing. Now comes the season of ripening, 
to end in maturity, to be followed by the season of 
rest, and so the annual cycle repeats itself. 
SPORTSMAN AS SOLDIER 
f~\ NE of many good reasons for the protection and 
^ increase of our game is the value to the possible 
soldier of an ability to use firearms. One who has 
carried a gun from boyhood has learned how to 
handle it and how to hit the mark at which he shoots. 
Besides this, year after year the outdoor man goes 
through a training in self-dependence, — acquires a 
readiness in ‘case of emergency — which 'adds enor- 
mously to his efficiency in the field. A large propor- 
tion of our greatest and best 'soldiers have been 
sportsmen. The subject is brought up again by an 
allusion made by the French Minister 'Of War to the 
excellence of the sportsman as a soldier in the fight- 
ing line. 
The average sportsman has learned how to handle 
his own body — to make his muscles coordinate. This 
is as important to the soldier as skill with firearms, 
and is something that indoor men do not always 
learn. The Minister of War recommends that men 
and officers in the French Army undergo the physical 
education which comes from the “discipline of the 
playing field.” Besides ordinary gymnastics and 
setting-up exercises, the men will be encouraged to 
take part in general outdoor athletic sports, as foot- 
ball, boxing, cross country running, racing, and 
jumping. Undoubtedly the men will take to all these 
sports with interest and will benefit by them physi- 
cally and morally as well. 
The shooting and hunting field which we have 
here in America offers the best of all schools for 
outdoor training. As time goes on and population 
increases, the actual area of this field is contracting, 
because the wild game is crowded out by human be- 
ings. It is important that this process of crowding 
out should be so regulated that there will still remain 
enough game to encourage our young men to go 
abroad with the gun and to learn the outdoor lessons 
that their fathers practised. That intelligent effort 
will accomplish this increase of game is shown by the 
fine example set by the great State of Pennsylvania 
during the last few years. 
Game 'commissions in every state ought to study 
what Pennsylvania has done, and adapt Pennsylva- 
nia’s idea to their own situations. Thus they will 
be able to preserve for our whole country that school 
of the out of doors, which is so valuable an aid to 
preserving the healthy mind in the healthy body, 
and which in the future, as in the past, may protect 
the liberties of our country. 
IF WE ALL TRIED AS HARD 
A LOCAL game protector who has performed good 
service in Canada is Jack Miner of Essex 
County, Ontario. Many years ago he began his 
work by protecting the wildfowl which visited a pond 
on his farm and he did this so effectively that before 
many years the pond, during the spring and fall 
migration, had become a great resort for Canada 
geese. Through his influence with the residents of 
his neighborhood, the surrounding territory was 
formed into a local wild life refuge, with very grati- 
fying results. 
In a recent number of the Canadian Forestry 
