Dec. 22, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
987 
Migratory Birds and Fish. 
Greenfield, Mass., Dec. 10.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Secretary Root’s notable speech before 
the Pennsylvania Society in New York, had a 
distinct bearing on Mr. Shiras’ proposition that 
the National Government shall have the care of 
migratory birds and fishes. 
Mr. Root referred at length to the tendency 
toward centralization in the general government, 
suggested some of the reasons for this tendency, 
and discussed the future of the States of the 
Union. He pointed out that in large measure the 
States themselves are responsible for the fact that 
greater powers are constantly being thrust upon 
the Federal Government, and that it is the failure 
of the States to. enact and enforce adequate laws 
on various subjects that has obliged the Federal 
Government rto take action. 
The people at large are determined to have 
many matters properly controlled, and if the dif¬ 
ferent States by their own governments fail to 
exercise such proper control, the people will 
surely vest the power in the central government. 
Just as in civilized communities, each member 
of a community is obliged so to regulate his 
conduct as not to interfere with the rights of 
others, and by his manner of life to contribute 
'to the general good, so among the States of the 
Union there must be common action for the gen¬ 
eral welfare. If there is not such common action 
by the States it must be taken by the Federal 
Government. If the States are neglectful of their 
duties, the old view of States* rights will inevi¬ 
tably be weakened, and the work which the State 
might do and ought to do will come to be done 
by the Government at large. 
The many examples cited by Mr. Shiras in his 
recently published Brief, give point to Mr. Root’s 
able speech. It is undeniable that for govern¬ 
mental reforms the p.ublic is coming to rely more 
and more on the general government, and is turn¬ 
ing over to it more and more power. 
Long experience has discouraged those who for 
years have vainly hoped that the States of the 
Union and the Provinces of Canada would 
promptly act together for the protection of mi¬ 
gratory birds and fish, and there are many peo¬ 
ple who believe that only the plan so ably advo¬ 
cated by Mr. Shiras may bring to game protec¬ 
tion the relief so much needed. 
Sportsman. 
International Zoological Congress. 
The Seventh International Zoological Con¬ 
gress will be held next summer, Aug. 19 to 
23, at Boston, Mass. Mr. Alexander Agassiz 
is president. The American Society of Zool¬ 
ogists has appointed a general committee to 
make arrangements for the meeting, and after 
its close, the members of the congress will 
visit some of the more important zoological 
centers in the eastern United States. 
Following the five days’ session in Boston, 
a day will be devoted to Harvard University, 
another to Woods Holl, five to New York 
city, during which Columbia University, the 
American Museum of Natural History, the 
Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, the 
Carnegie Station at Cold Spring Harbor, the 
New York Zoological Society’s park and 
aquarium, and the Hudson River will be vis¬ 
ited. Aug. 31 will be devoted to Yale Uni¬ 
versity, and Sept. 2 and 3 to Washington 
points. On the trip up the Hudson River, 
scheduled for Aug. 30, the members will be 
the guests of Prof. Henry Fairfield Osborn. 
On the return from Washington to New York 
excursions will be arranged to Niagara Falls. 
Special arrangements as for transportation 
have been made from trans-Atlantic steamers. 
Sailing Southward. 
The 30-foot schooner-rigged boat Teal is en 
route to the St. John’s River, Florida, with Sid¬ 
ney Stokes and Garfield Chard on board. They 
sailed from Greenwich, Conn., Nov. 24, with a 
complete shooting and fishing outfit and an 
abundance of stores on board. 
Long Island Deer. 
Accidents reveal peculiar situations now and 
then. A case in point is found in the following 
dispatch to a local paper: 
Eastport, L. I., Dec. 13.—Joseph' Sperick of this 
place was shot and seriously injured in the woods 
here last night. Pie was mistaken for a deer. 
Jacob Ockers, whose truck farm has been ravaged 
by deer, engaged Woodhull Raynor to watch his 
fields at night. While standing in a runway he 
saw Sperick, who wore dark clothing, approach¬ 
ing through a thicket. He fired and a load of 
buckshot entered Sperick’s body. 
The State pays for no damages for crops ruined 
by its deer. The season is closed. If Sperick 
recovers and enters suit for damages against the 
man who, it is alleged, shot him, and the em¬ 
ployer, the two latter may be compelled to answer 
to several charges'. 
Thomas Chester. 
“Thomas died this morning. Please advise 
what to do. Signed, Irving Hilliard,” is the 
telegram that reached me at my office in New 
York on Dec. 4, and I know that many of your 
readers on seeing this notice will feel deep 
regret that one whom they remember with 
pleasure has been taken away from Connecticut 
Lake, where he has lived and been known for 
so many years. 
Uncle Tom was beloved and respected by all 
who knew him and when we carried him to the 
old Lake House at Connecticut Lake, the little 
office was filled with young and old, waiting to 
pay their last tribute to their old friend. We 
buried him in the little cemetery at the lake, 
facing the road, where his old friends can see 
the headstone to show the resting place. of 
Uncle Tom Chester, who made Second Con¬ 
necticut Lake the Mecca for so many sports¬ 
men in the years gone by. Henry E. Janes. 
Eastern Forest Reserves. 
A petition is now being circulated in Boston 
and will go to the State’s representatives in 
Washington, urging the desirability of early pas¬ 
sage of the bills now pending in Congress for 
the establishment of the White Mountain and 
Appalachian forest reserves. Governor Guild’s 
name heads the petition, and this statement is 
included: 
“Delay means that denudation will go rapidly 
forward, causing irreparable damage to the water 
powers of the country, both north and south. 
The forests cannot be replaced upon the moun¬ 
tains. Later action will necessarily cost the Gov¬ 
ernment much more through the rapid advance 
in prices of lands and timber.” 
Nebraska Quail. 
Omaha, Neb., Dec. 13.-— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Quail were more plentiful in this State 
this season than for many years. This is largely 
due to several years’ closed season and to the 
present short open season of only two weeks. 
J. C. Gilhousen. 
BOOKS ON SHOOTING AND HUNTING. 
Hitting vs. Missing, Hammond.$1.00 
The Art of Shooting, Lancaster. 1.25 
Gunsmith’s Manual . 2.00 
Field, Cover and Trap Shooting, ill., Bo- 
gardus. 2.00 
Experts on Guns and Shooting, Teasdale- 
Buckell. 4.00 
American Duck Shooting, ill., Grinnell (de 
Luxe). . .*. 5.00 
Hunting in Many Lands, ill., Roosevelt 
and Grinnell. 2.50 
American Big Game Hunting, ill., Roose¬ 
velt and Grinnell. 2.50 
Trail and Camp Fire, ill., Grinnell and 
Roosevelt . 2.50 
American Big Game In Its Haunts, ill., 
These books are more fully described in the 
Forest and Stream illustrated book catalogue, 
which will be sent free to any applicant. 
Adventures of James Smith. 
His Capture by a Tribe of Indians in Pennsylvania 
From “American Adventure by Land and Sea.” 
In the spring of the year 1755, James Smith, 
then a youth of eighteen, accompanied a party 
of three hundred men from the frontiers of Penn¬ 
sylvania, who advanced in front of Braddock’s 
army for the purpose of opening a road over 
the mountain. When within a few miles of the 
Bedford Springs, he was sent back to the rear, 
to hasten the progress of some wagons laden 
with provisions and stores for the use of the 
road-cutters. 
Having delivered his orders, Smith was re¬ 
turning in company with another young man, 
when they were suddenly fired upon by a party 
of three Indians from a cedar thicket, which 
skirted the road. Smith’s companion was killed 
on the spot; and, although he himself was un¬ 
hurt, yet his horse was so much frightened by 
the flash and report of the guns, as to become 
totally unmanageable, and, after a few plunges, 
threw him with violence to the ground. Before 
he could recover his feet, the Indians sprung 
upon him, and, overpowering his resistance, se¬ 
cured him as a prisoner. 
One of them demanded in broken English, 
whether more white men were coming up; and 
upon his answering in the negative, he was 
seized by each arm, and compelled to run with 
great rapidity over the mountain until night, 
when the small party encamped and cooked their 
supper. An equal share of their scanty stock of 
provisions was given to the prisoner; and in 
other respects, although strictly guarded, he was 
treated with great kindness. 
On the evening of the next day, after a rapid 
walk of fifty miles through cedar thickets and 
over very rocky ground, they reached the west¬ 
ern side of the Laurel Mountain, and beheld at 
a little distance the smoke of an Indian encamp¬ 
ment. The captors now fired their guns, and 
raised the terrible scalp-halloo. This is a long 
yell for every scalp that has been taken, fol¬ 
lowed by a rapid succession of shrill, quick, 
piercing shrieks, somewhat resembling laughter 
in its most excited tones. They were answered 
from the Indian camp below, by a discharge of 
rifles, and a long whopp, followed by cries of 
joy. All thronged out to meet the party. 
Smith expected instant death at their hands, 
as they crowded round him. To his surprise, 
no one offered him any violence. They belonged 
to another' tribe, and entertained the party in 
their camp with great hospitality, respecting the 
prisoner as the property of their guests. 
The next morning Smith's captors continued 
their march, and on the evening of the next day 
arrived at Fort Du Quesne, now Pittsburg. 
When within half a mile of the fort, they again 
raised the interesting scalp-halloo, and fired their 
guns as before. Instantly the whole garrison 
was in commotion. The cannon were fired, the 
drums were beaten, and French and Indians ran 
out in great numbers to meet the party, and par¬ 
take of their triumph. Smith was again sur¬ 
rounded by a multitude of savages, painted with 
various colors, and shouting with delight; but 
their demeanor was by no means as pacific as 
that of the last party he had encountered. They 
rapidly formed in two long lines, and, brandish¬ 
ing their hatchets, ramrods and clubs, called upon 
him to run the gauntlet. 
Never having heard of this Indian ceremony 
before, he stood amazed for some time, not 
knowing what to do. One of • his captors ex¬ 
plained to him, that he was to run between the 
two lines, and receive a blow from every Indian 
as he passed. His informant concluded the in¬ 
formation by exhorting him to “run his best,” 
as the faster he run the sooner the sport would 
be over. 
This truth was very plain; and young Smith 
entered upon his race with spirit. He was 
switched very handsomely along the lines, for 
about three-fourths of the distance, the stripes 
only acting as a spur to greater exertions, and 
he had almost reached the opposite extremity of 
the line, when a tall chief struck him a furious 
blow with a club upon the back of the head, and 
(Continued on page 1002.) 
