ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
143 
owned and shot over by the Mcllhenny Gulf 
Coast Club is said to be 100,000 acres; and the 
fee for club membership, of $1,000, makes the 
organization strictly a rich man’s club. The 
membership campaign is being worked by “a 
large sales corporation,” 100,000 copies of a 
costly and beautiful “club book” have been 
printed, and the money behind the scheme seems 
to be unlimited. The Christian Science Moni¬ 
tor, of Boston, calls it “Money Bags vs. Wild 
Game.” 
Vigorous opposition to the founding of the 
proposed death-trap for sanctuary wild fowl 
has been expressed by Governor John M. 
Parker, of Louisiana, the Sage Foundation, 
the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York Zoo¬ 
logical Society, the Pennsylvania State Board 
of Conservation Commissioners, the Massa¬ 
chusetts Fish and Game Association, the Per¬ 
manent Wild Life Protection Fund and the 
American Bison Society. Mr. Mcllhenny and 
his club have been strongly condemned editori¬ 
ally by the New Orleans Item, Outdoor Life 
Magazine, the New York Tribune, Times, Her¬ 
ald, and Sun, the Boston Transcript, the Chris¬ 
tian Science Monitor, Pittsburgh Post and Peo¬ 
ple’s Home Journal. The club is heartily en¬ 
dorsed by Field and Stream and by Forest and 
Stream as a “great conservation” movement— 
which is what Mr. Mcllhenny diligently adver¬ 
tises it to be; but the latest and most thor¬ 
oughly revised edition of the Advisory Board 
list is noteworthy on account of the names of 
prominent American conservationists that it 
does not contain. With only one exception, 
they are all conspicuous by their absence. 
The two New York Foundations rely with 
confidence upon Governor Parker and the peo¬ 
ple of Louisiana to prevent by law the death¬ 
trap proposed, and the Governor is quite ready 
to ask the legislature to enact a new law to 
that end, if a new act is necessary. 
Mountain Goats Accused. —The white moun¬ 
tain goats of the Bitter Root mountains, Idaho, 
living above and nearest to the settled region 
that for several years has been afflicted by spot¬ 
ted fever, are in great danger of annihilation. 
In an evil moment a local state investigator 
found some of them inhabited by the wood tick 
that is believed to carry spotted fever, and 
therefore the death of the goats is demanded. 
Unfortunately there is no attorney for the de¬ 
fense, no expert testimony in behalf of the ac¬ 
cused, and therefore, on the strength of the 
one-sided case of the prosecution, the latest 
word is to the effect that the Idaho State Game 
Warden has reluctantly been forced to consent 
to the slaughter of 20 of the goats. 
We are free to say that we are tired of the 
prosecution of one-sided cases against accused 
wild animals. Those 20 goats are being rail¬ 
roaded to their execution as criminals without 
adequate counter investigation and defense. Be¬ 
cause some of them have upon them ticks of 
the same species as the alleged spotted fever 
tick, they are adjudged by a packed jury as 
necessarily guilty. In any court of law such 
evidence against men would have no standing 
whatever. The affair thus far is highly un¬ 
satisfactory. 
At this point it is well to place on record the 
attitude of the Montana State Sportmen’s As¬ 
sociation, as expressed by its governing board 
in the following carefully considered statement 
which we have received from Mr. M. S. Car¬ 
penter, Secretary: 
“We, as members of the above named board, 
not only do not object but heartily approve 
the taking of such measures as are necessary 
to drive the goats from the tick infested areas. 
We favor and recommend enlisting the services 
of the United States Biological Survey so that 
experienced and efficient hunters may be secured 
to drive the goats from the tick infested areas 
as proposed. We believe this movement should 
be kept on a strictly scientific basis, and are 
opposed to any general hunting of goats by 
sportsmen or others, and any aspect of com¬ 
mercialism being connected therewith. We feel 
that any goats necessarily killed in connection 
with this movement should be utilized for fur¬ 
ther scientific research, and that a summary of 
the results of this movement be made available 
for the members of the Fish and Game Com¬ 
mission.” 
Canada Will Kill Surplus Bison. —The im¬ 
pending killing of 2,000 surplus bull buffaloes 
by the Canadian government from its huge herd 
of 8,000 head at Wainwright, Alberta, is quite 
in line with our expectations. A show herd of 
that size can not go on increasing forever with 
no thinning out. The number that it has been 
possible to give away for educational purposes 
has been negligible. The footing of the Amer¬ 
ican bison now is so secure that in certain large 
herds it is necessary to utilize some of the sur¬ 
plus product of good meat, skins, robes and 
heads for mounting. We are glad to know that 
this point has been reached in the come-back 
of the buffalo. W. T. H. 
