December, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
545 
have become deserts, where, because of the lack of sub- 
surface water, nothing will now grow. Too often men 
do not stop to use ordinary business foresight in mat- 
ters of drainage. They jump to the conclusion that 
because drainage will expose more land and there will 
be more dry area on which seed can be sown, therefore 
their return from the land will be larger. Usually this 
is not true, and often it has been found that the drain- 
ing of a lake bed did not add one square foot to the 
arable land of the neighborhood. The draining of 
Klamath Lake and of the Kankakee marshes has done 
great harm and no good - . 
People have begun to wake up about this, but it 
may still be long before they actually realize condi- 
tions. However, this subject is now being agitated and 
the public education will go forward — though slowly. 
BEAVERS TO BE TRAPPED IN ALASKA 
I TNDER the new regulations promulgated by the 
Secretary of Agriculture on August 30, 1921, for 
the protection of all land fur-bearing animals in Alaska, 
an open season is provided for trapping beavers and mar- 
tens in the Territory. This announcement will be read 
with interest by trappers in Alaska and by fur dealers 
in the Unted States, since there has been no open season 
for killing beavers since 1910, and none for martens since 
1916. Prior to that time when close seasons were estab- 
lished on these valuable fur-bearers the animals were be- 
ing rapidly exterminated. In many localities in the interior 
of Alaska beavers had disappeared entirely and martens 
were rapidly diminishing in numbers. It was to con- 
serve them and permit them to increase that the close sea- 
t son was provided. 
Because of the varying climatic and physiographic feat- 
ures of different parts of Alaska, and in order to conserve 
our fur resources with justice to all, the Territory is di- 
i vided into three trapping districts, in each of which the 
conditions relating to fur are comparatively uniform. Dis- 
trict No. 1 include- the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Penin- 
sula and neighboring islands, and southeastern Alaska, 
mainland and islands, from Yakutat Bay to Dixon En- 
trance, and in this area beavers now may be trapped from 
December 1 to March 31 and martens from November 16 
to March 31. District No. 2 includes the mainland and 
islands north of the areas of District No. 1 as far as the 
headwaters of the streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean 
north of latitude 68°. District No. 3 includes the region 
drained by the streams entering the Arctic Ocean north of 
District No. 2. In both these districts the season for 
killing beavers and martens begins on November 16 and 
ends March 31. 
THE FAST DISAPPEARING PRONGHORN 
VT ATURALISTS, outdoor men and big-game hunt- 
ers view with keen regret the passing of so many 
of America’s wild things that were formerly abun- 
dant. The wild pigeon is extinct, the buffalo has be- 
come a domestic animal, under fence, and the prong- 
horn antelope has almost disappeared before the advanc- 
ing settlement of the country. The big game of much 
of the continent has gone. 
The antelope is peculiar to North America, and has 
no near relatives anywhere on earth. It formerly ranged 
in vast numbers from Western Minnesota and Iowa to 
the Pacific Coast, and from Western Canada down into 
Mexico, but now only a few scattered groups are left 
alive. There are a few in Canada, a few in the Great 
Central Basin, and a good many in Mexico. 
Some years ago an effort was begun to induce Con- 
gress to establish a refuge for the antelope in Eastern 
Oregan and Northern Nevada, in the desert country 
just along the boundary line between these states, where 
a few antelope still range. Protected, these might in- 
crease and, with a reasonable range, might long endure 
there. The enthusiasm of the people who advocated this 
refuge perhaps led to the failure of the project; for 
they asked for so large a territory that Congress ob- 
jected, and the bill was withdrawn. 
Within a few weeks news has come that this region 
has been invaded by the sheep men who are apparently 
making an effort to kill off the antelope in order that 
hereafter there may be no excuse for asking for an 
antelope refuge in this region. Not very long ago it is 
stated that local officials of the Biological Survey while 
riding the antelope range, where they saw not a few 
antelope, found in Oregon fourteen carcasses of antelope 
that had recently been shot down and left. These 
animals were apparently killed wantonly. The bullet 
holes were seen in them, and no portion of the animals 
had been used. There were reports of another locality 
where in the same way twenty-seven antelope had been 
shot down. 
The protection of this antelope is a state matter and, 
since the destruction has been called to the attention 
of the state authorities, efforts will no doubt be made 
to protect these unique animals in this place; but in a 
region sparsely or not at all settled, the matter of pro- 
tection is difficult. It is greatly to be wished that the 
local pride of Oregonians should lead them to advocate 
the protection of the antelope. 
DUCK HUNTING FROM MOTOR BOATS 
N O changes have been made in the Federal regu- 
lations which prohibit the use of power-boats in tak- 
ing wild-fowl. It will be unlawful, therefore, to hunt 
ducks in the State of Maryland and elsewhere with a boat 
equipped with an engine, and especially will it be a 
violation of the law for persons to run down with 
motor-boats ducks which have settled among decoys 
previously placed, a practise which is generally known 
as “bush-whacking.” 
Erroneous reports had been circulated in the vicinity 
of the Susquehanna flats that changes had been made in 
the Federal regulations governing shooting of wild- 
fowl from power-boats, and as a consequence persons 
relying upon such rumor were getting their boats in 
shape to use in pursuing ducks. The regulations do 
not prevent a person from using a motor-boat to go 
to and from the ducking grounds or to attend to duck- 
ing outfits, but while it will be lawful to pick up dead 
ducks from a power-boat, it is a violation of the law 
to shoot them from such a boat. 
QUAIL PLENTIFUL THIS YEAR 
T HE bobwhite is plentiful this year. Two succes- 
sive mild winters and three good breeding seasons 
have multiplied bobwhite conveys by the thousands. 
In Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, 
Illinois, and Indiana there has not been such an abun- 
dance of quail in many years. In a recent trip through 
northern and northwestern Indiana, quail were seen 
in greater numbers than ever before, and wardens in 
many other States in which there is no open season 
report that the bobwhite is abundant in their localities, 
notably in Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, and Nebraska. 
