724 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Dec. 6, 1913. 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company 
Chas. A. Hazen, President 
W. G. Bekcroft, Secretary. Chabefs L. Wise, Treasurer. 
22 Thames Street, New York. 
CllIlRESPONDENCK:- Forest and Stream is the 
recognized medium of entertainment, instruction and informa¬ 
tion between American sportsmen. The editors invite com¬ 
munications on tlie subjects to which its pages are devoted, but, 
of course, are not responsible for the views of correspondents. 
Anonymous communications cannot be regarded. 
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This paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout the 
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Sampson, Low & 1 o Paris: Brentano’s. 
FEED THE GAME BIRDS. 
Give wild things the least bit of wilderness 
and they will survive in spite of nature and 
man. But you cannot preserve birds and at 'the 
same time starve them and refuse them nesting 
places and shelter from inclement weather. The 
sportsman’s gun, the hawk, and prowling house 
cat are hard on birds, but civilized doings are 
harder still. Enlightened farming, the making 
of productive and neatly short estates, the march 
of the plow, the ditching machine, the dredge, 
underground tiling, the patent reaper and mower 
and thresher, with their allies before mentioned; 
winter without shelter, summer without food, 
and the whole of the time without natural 
requisites of wild life, is what has driven the 
curlew and the golden plover away, and what 
is doing the same with the chicken and the 
quail; and again, I repeat, in a few more years 
the hardier geese and ducks, now seemingly so 
plentiful, will be rare indeed, and the prairie 
chicken will be known no more forever. 
for game in this state than nervous activity along 
wrong lines. We suggest that Attorney General 
Carmody stop worrying about states rights and 
try to keep the state rignt—as far as he can. 
XO STATE GAME FARM AT HURLEY. 
The Conservation Commission has been ob¬ 
liged to abandon the idea of establishing a state 
game bird farm in the town of Hurley, Ulster 
County, on what is known, as the Crispell farm. 
The Legislature of 1913 made an appropriation 
of $3,000 for the purpose of establishing a game 
bird farm on this property, which was already 
owned by the state. The Conservation Commis¬ 
sion made a careful investigation and finds the 
Crispell farm entirely unsuited for such purposes. 
Supt. Harry T. Rogers, of the state game 
bird farm at Sherbourne, who was detailed to 
investigate on behalf of the commission, reports 
that it would not meet any of the requirements 
of a practical game farm. “The soil of this 
farm,” he says, “is very poor, about all sand 
and rock and no open fields, with the exception 
of one lot where the house stands, which is too 
small to be of any use, and for this reason it 
would be impossible to rear game birds to any 
practical extent, as it requires open - fields for 
game bird rearing.” 
Supt. Rogers also reports that the shipping 
facilities are not convenient and that the build¬ 
ings are beyond repair. 
CAN ADI AX TREATY PROSPECTS EXCEL¬ 
LENT. 
Due in large measure to the activities of the 
American Game Protective Association, there is 
a good prospect of the early enactment of a treaty 
between the United States and Great Britain pro¬ 
viding for the protection of birds that migrate 
between this country and Canada.' 
Generous support has been given the Associa¬ 
tion in its efforts by the Canadian officials, sports¬ 
men and conservationists generally, while in this 
country the Department of Agriculture and, in 
fact, every arm of the Federal Government that 
could be of assistance, has responded promptly 
and efficiently. 
What the Treaty Means. 
The proposed treaty would, briefly stated, 
1. Protect during nearly the complete line 
of their flight most of the migratory species 
found in both countries. 
2. Set to rest forever any talk as to the 
constitutionality of the Weeks-McLean law. The 
regulations that have been promulgated under au¬ 
thority of that law* are made part of the proposed 
treaty. It is, of course, beyond the authority of 
any court to alter any part of a treaty. 
A CHRISTMAS GIFT FROM CONGRESS. 
We offer the suggestion that Congress make 
the people of United States the most accept¬ 
able gift at present in its power to donate, i. e., 
the continuance of Yosemite National Park as 
the people’s playground. If the nation’s repre¬ 
sentatives in Washington wish to further the 
spirit of “good will toward men” they will veto 
the proposition of California politicians to steal 
the Hetch Hetchy from the people and keep in¬ 
tact what Thomas D. Murphy terms “one of the 
three wonders of the great American West.’ This 
will perpetuate the Christmas spirit and show 
good will toward- men and ill will toward political 
graft. 
SOUTH CAROLINA-OPEN SEASON 
This is open season on jail birds in South 
Carolina. Closed indefinitely on expiration of 
Governor Blease’s term of office. 
DECEMBER. 
This latest of the months is bitter cold; 
Now come deep snows, north winds and leaden skys. 
The gentle angler and the hunter bold 
Just hug the fire and tell the darndest lies. 
MERRY CHRISTMAS. 
Merry Christmas. We wish it to our sub¬ 
scribers, readers and advertisers, yes, even to 
those who try, through other publications, to keep 
in touch with things outside storm doors and 
window’s—To every one Peace on earth, good 
wflll toward men. Santa Claus, through the me¬ 
dium of his little elves, among advertisers and 
agents has been particularly liberal to us this 
Christmas. He has enabled us to give our friends 
a forty-page paper this week, and more paid ad¬ 
verb sing than any one issued Forest and Stream 
has carried before. As a Christmas present to 
our advertisers we hope you all will, in so far as 
you can, buy such goods as are represented in our 
advertising columns. Once more, Merry Christ¬ 
mas to one and all. 
STEEL TRAPS 
Elsewhere in this issue appears a letter from 
Dr. Edw’ard Breck, reflecting what should be the 
sentiment of every true sportsman, the banning 
of steel traps for taking bears. To our way of 
thinking Dr. Breck’s contentions are absolutely 
correct. We have seen a New Brunswick bear 
writhifig on the ground, pierced through the leg 
by a half-dozen three-inch steel spikes, sometimes 
wdth the leg gnawed partially through, perhaps 
as a counter irritant for the excruciating pain 
from the cruel tines tearing his flesh and bone. 
In cold blood, and yet under the circumstances 
as an act of mercy, the “sport” shoots the tied up 
quarry to display it as a trophy of the “chase.” 
The same man who will stalk a moose for ten 
days, and who would shun the “sport” w'ho shot 
a partridge on the ground, will stand five paces 
off and murder a tethered bear, not because the 
“sport”' is lacking in the ethics of true sports¬ 
manship, hut because it is a custom set by camp 
proprietors and guides who “guarantee a bear.” 
It is not our intention to condemn those who 
have killed a trapped bear, but rather to suggest 
that on vheir next trip into the woods they use 
their influence with the “proprietor” against bear 
trapping by the ghastly steel prong method. From 
our acquaintance with sportsmen we feel certain 
they wflll be the first to ask for legislation against 
steel trapping of bruin. 
WILD MALLARDS. 
It is curious, and yet true, that while the 
wild mallard is conceded to be the progenitor 
of our domestic ducks, its natural characteristics 
are more widely separated from the habits of its 
domestic species. While the domestic progeny 
of the mallard are more gentle and fearless of 
injury than any of our fowls descended from a 
wild race, they, on the contrary, are continually 
apprehensive of danger, exceedingly wary, and 
as alert as foxes in expectation of the coming 
of the hounds; and at the slightest alarm will 
rise from the water, or apparently bounce, until 
reaching an elevation that is almost or quite 
out of range. 
GOVERNOR GLYNN ON FEDERAL PRO¬ 
TECTION. 
At a dinner of Hunters’ Club of Onondaga 
Governor Glynn of New York State said, among 
other interesting and important things: 
The organized sportsmen and farmers of the 
state are apparently much alarmed over the ques¬ 
tioning of the constitutionality of the Weeks- 
McLean law for the Federal protection of migra¬ 
tory game birds and insectivorous birds. I am of 
the opinion that the only way to afford the mi¬ 
gratory birds, the feathered inter-state travelers, 
the seasonal and general protection which their 
rapidly diminishing numbers require, is by means 
of the co-operation between the several States and 
the National Government, assured by this con¬ 
gressional enactment, passed unanimously in both 
houses and approved by the President. If ulti¬ 
mately it be held unconstitutional, then it should 
favor amendment of the Federal Constitution, in 
order to secure a constitutional enactment of a 
measure similar to the Weeks-McLean law, so as 
to preserve to future generations the game birds 
of the American continent, and to insure to the 
agricultural interests of the United States, which 
suffer an annual loss of $200,000,000, an adequate 
supply of the “Farmers’ Feathered Friends,” the 
•nsectivorous birds. 
Inasmuch as the man who wants spring 
shooting is the only one interested in the con¬ 
stitutionality of the Federal Migratory Bird law, 
and, inasmuch as this class of shooter is greatly 
in the minority among sportsmen in this state, 
why not let well enough alone, at least until the 
Conservation Commission shows a personal in¬ 
terest in protection of migratory birds, and agree 
with other states, where the fish and game com¬ 
missions have passed over the question of con¬ 
stitutionality of this great measure, because 
they know the value of the new law and have 
sufficient confidence in Washington law makers 
to take for granted the fact that the migratory 
law is constitutional. Why tear down the best 
ive have until plans are drawn for something 
better’ A dormant policy will do more good 
