126 
FOREST AND STREAM 
March, 1919 
* 
OREGON TRAILS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stredvm: 
W E have a splendid hunting and out- 
ing country out here which a great 
part of the world appears to have never 
found in its ramblings. We have one of 
the best game counties in the U. S. for 
deer and bear — Coos County, Oregon, and 
some of the finest salmon, salmon-trout 
and brook-trout fishing to be found. To 
illustrate, last fall I caught over a ton 
of fine Chinook and Silverside salmon on 
one 35c salmon troll attached to a 60c 
line — not much class for tackle but it 
certainly brought results. We Hoover- 
ized by salting and sending it to friends 
and relatives who are begging us to go 
again this year. 
I should like to tell your readers about 
the many pleasant and interesting trips 
I have taken here in the great fir and 
spruce forests after deer and bear, or 
on the sea shore after the beautiful 
agates which are abundant and can be 
found after sea fishing has filled the 
camp larder with the many varieties that 
live along our coast. It is a pleasure to 
have the inside office man get a breath of 
the woods and sea that has grown to( be 
my chief pastime and play ground. 
Ashley L. Houghton, Ore. 
ARDENT SPORTSMEN 
To t he Editor of Forest and Stream : 
' I ‘HE Reverend Felix O’Neil, pastor of 
A our local Catholic church, and an 
ardent sportsman, ‘recently shot and 
killed a full-grown specimen of Canadian 
lynx, or bob-cat. It is the first ever seen 
in this vicinity so far from its home; 
hundreds have viewed it. I should say 
it weighed 65 to 75 pounds. Its mouth 
and feet indicate years of growth — front 
legs the size of a man’s wrist — a beauti- 
ful cat, but I would let it howl before 
I would get up in the night and sub- 
due it. 
Your old sporting editor, Bernard Wa- 
ters, and my humble self were brought 
up, or grew, on adjacent farms in Can- 
terbury, Conn., as kids, schoolmates and 
chums. Later I had to go out in the 
world and hustle and lost track of Ber- 
nard only to hear of his death twenty 
years later. My schoolbooks are full of 
drawings of dogs by him — always dogs 
— and I can remember the first two hound 
pups a man in Jewett City gave him, 
and that was his start. I could tell you 
how we boys, wanting to go hunting one 
day, ran a lot of his father’s blasting 
powder through an old coffee mill to 
adapt it to his old smooth bore. 
C. W. CoMiNS, Connecticut. 
This letter from Mr. Comins is of great 
interest to us, as we were great admirers 
of the late Bernard Waters, and were 
LETTERS, . 
QUESTIONS 
AND ANSWEi 
warm friends. He was a remarkable 
character — very peculiar in some re- 
spects, hut he had a large number of 
very devoted fmends . — [Editors.] 
SAVING THE GAME BIRDS 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
O WING to the scarcity of Game Birds 
in Connecticut 'this year, it seems 
quite sure that the Legislature may pass 
a law for a close season. 
From my own experience, I am thor- 
oughly convinced it is not the hunters 
that are killing off our native grouse 
nearly so much as it is the vermin. 
Old trappers and hunters tell me that 
there are more skunks, hawks, owls and 
coons this year in Connecticut than they 
ever remember, and my object in writing 
to you is to get copies of your magazine, 
in which you have published articles, 
showing that by the extermination of 
vermin, and possibly the planting of the 
late bearing berry buehes or apple trees, 
that our game birds have materially in- 
creased, wherever this has been done. 
All of my shooting friends and myself 
feel that if a law could be passed, which 
would put a large enough bounty on all 
kinds of vermin, our native game birds 
would be plentiful again, afid we think 
that it may be wise, after further study, 
to send out reprints of all the articles 
that have appeared in your magazine to 
all sportsmen in the State, and make 
them realize that if some thing is not 
done at once our native game birds will 
be only a memory. 
Charles Sheirwood, Conn. 
We most thoroughly agree with your 
opinion that vermin destroy more game 
birds than do sportsmen, and legislation 
aimed at the destruction of skunks, 
hawks, crows and owls is the best method 
of saving the game. 
We ate glad to publish your opinion in 
Forest and Stream, for it is only by an 
exchange of views on this subject that 
public interest is aroused. [Editors.] 
A. C. A. NOTES 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
I T is my intention to bring before the 
next meeting of the Executive Com- 
mittee certain changes in the Constitu- 
tion and By Laws relative to removals 
and expulsions of officers or members of 
the American Canoe Association. I 
therefore would appreciate it if you would 
publish in the next issue of your paper 
the following proposed changes: 
Amend Article XIII of the Constitu- 
tion, t^ird and fourth lines, by striking 
out the words “Executive Committee” 
and substituting “Board of Governors.” 
Amend Chapter XII of the By Laws 
by striking out the 6th, 7th and 8th lines 
and that portion of the 9th line including 
the word “held,” and substituting there- 
fore “two-thirds of all the members of 
the Board of Governors,” adding in ad- 
dition the following sentence — “Any per- 
son may be dropped from the list of mem- 
bers by an affirmative vote of two-thirds 
of the members of the Board of Govern- 
ors if in their opinion the best interests 
of the Association will be served there- 
by. This would make the whole Article 
read as follows: 
“Chapter XII. — Expulsion. — Any 
member who is guilty of ungentlemanly 
conduct, or disobeying the rules or orders 
of the Association, or any of its oflBcers 
or committees, or of racing for money, 
shall be liable and may be expelled from 
the A. C. A. by the affirmative vote of 
two-thirds of all the members of the 
Board of Governors, but a copy of the 
charges and proof shall be sent to the 
person proposed to be expelled, and he 
shall have twenty days to file his answer 
and proofs with the Commodore. The 
charges, answers and proofs, in full, 
shall be laid before the members of the 
Board of Governors. Any person may be 
dropped from the list of members by an 
affirmative vote of two-thirds of the 
members of the Board of Governors* if in 
their opinion the best interests of the 
Association will Ije served thereby. In 
case the Commodore is the person pro- 
posed to be expelled, the duties in this 
chapter assigned to him shall be per- 
formed by the Vice-Commodore of the 
Division in which the Commodore re- 
sides.” 
Oscar J. West, Commodore, A. C. A. 
AN INVITATION 
To the Editor of Forest and Stream : 
I HAVE just finished reading my Jan- 
uary number of Forest and Stream, 
and wish to express to you the real pleas- 
ure I get out of reading your magazine. 
I discovered Forest and Stream only 
about a year ago, but have since become 
a regular member of your family. 
I enjoyed the writing about “Night 
Shining Amid Florida Swamps,” by 
Thomas Travis, Chaplain, A.E.F., very 
much, for I have many times in the six- 
teen years of my life in Florida en- 
joyed just such a night hunt. 
I am reading with much interest, “The 
Gulf Rangers,” by W. Livingston Lamed, 
for twice I have had the pleasure and 
