Jan. 17, lyM- 
FOREST AND STREAM 
79 
to the tables published by the Department of 
Agriculture in the summary of the game laws 
shows that this course is not only approved but 
recommended, and. the closing dates for each 
of the birds stated in the tables are those fixed 
by the state law. 
The three cases in which the seasons are 
shortened are the only important discrepancies 
between the Federal and the Conservation law. 
These differences amount to shortening the duck 
season except on Long Island, cutting the shore- 
bird season in two to allow the first flight to 
pass by, and removal of the smaller shorebirds 
from the game list for five years. It is true that 
there is quite a body of sportsmen who enjoy 
shooting sand-pipers, but the number is probably 
not so large as the number of hunters who would 
shoot robins if given an opportunity, and there 
is no valid reason why, under present conditions, 
either group of birds should be considered game. 
Co-operation. 
The question is often asked “How can a 
state officer enforce a Federal law?” No state 
officer has yet been asked to act outside his 
district, to exceed his jurisdiction, or to make 
any arrest or seizure which he is not duly au¬ 
thorized to make. He is simply asked to give 
special attention to the protection of migratory 
birds, to make an arrest promptly in every such 
case which Is a violation of the state law, and 
to report any violation of the regulations which 
he does not feel authorized to enforce, and to 
ask for specific instructions. It will be the duty 
duty of the department to devise ways and means 
to meet the cases in which the state deputies are 
not authorized to act. 
It is folly to suppose that the Federal law 
contemplates supplanting the work of the state 
Game Protectors with a Federal Warden Service. 
The great Empire State with its splendid force 
of game protectors, the largest in the country, 
working under an organization almost military in 
effectiveness, and its expenditure of more than 
$500 for every $1 at present available under the 
Federal appropriation, stands in the front rank 
in warden work and is in a position to accomp¬ 
lish results more effectively than any other agency 
within the boundaries of the state. It is not to 
be expected that the Federal law will add any¬ 
thing to the protection of most of the birds 
which occur in New York, or that, under present 
circumstances, Federal wardens can add very 
much to the actual patrol work. The Federal 
Government can, however, bring to its aid other 
agencies and other laws which will effectually 
supplement the efforts of the Conservation Com¬ 
mission. The very fact that the General Gov¬ 
ernment is interested in this field serves to ex¬ 
cite public interest to direct .public attention to 
migratory bird protection, and to bring to light 
many violations of a phase of the law hitherto 
considered comparatively unimportant, and in 
which comparatively few convictions have been 
reported. Still more important the Government 
officers can follow the birds during their migra¬ 
tions in the South after they have left New York, 
and are beyond the reach of the State game pro¬ 
tective force. Here is where the Federal pro¬ 
tection can assist New York most effectively, and 
where without such aid much of the work of the 
local authorities within the State might be nulli¬ 
fied. 
A Few Typical Cases. 
In the great majority of cases the Federal 
regulations and the State laws are practically 
uniform and a violator of the regulations neces¬ 
sarily violates the State law. What is more natu¬ 
ral under such circumstances than that such cases 
should be prosecuted in the State courts when 
this can be done more easily, expeditiously, or 
effectively than in the Federal courts? Wardens 
are chiefly concerned with the prevention of 
illegal hunting and it matters little so far as 
actual results are concerned, whether the penalty 
is -inflicted by the State or Federal court. 
By way of illustration it may be mentioned 
that the New York law prohibits the killing of 
insectivorous birds at any time and provides a 
penalty of $60 for each offense and $25 for each 
bird. A gunner shooting six blue birds at any 
season of the year would necessarily violate both 
the State and the Federal law. Under the State 
law he would be liable to a penalty of $210; un¬ 
der the Federal statute to the maximum of $100. 
Is there any valid reason why he should be tried 
in a Federal court in preference to a State court? 
In one of the eastern States an alien was re¬ 
cently arrested for killing two robins and was 
fined $200, exactly twice the maximum fine which 
could have been imposed for a violation of the 
Federal regulations. 
In a western State a man shooting before 
sunrise was fined $25 and his gun and boat con¬ 
fiscated, whereas, under the Federal law, only a 
fine could have been imposed. 
In an eastern State an arrest was made a 
few weeks ago for violating the ducking laws 
before sunrise, and a substantial fine imposed in 
the State court followed by temporary suspen¬ 
sion of the license. The offender was reported 
also for violation of the Federal motor boat law 
in operating his boat at night contrary to certain 
regulations. In this instance both a State and a 
Federal law were invoked and the offense 
punished by active co-operation of the Federal 
and State authorities. 
Conclusion. 
In conclusion, the problem of migratory bird 
protection is much larger and more important 
than any question affecting the act of March 4, 
1913. The present law may be the first but it 
will almost certainly not be the last, providing 
Federal protection for migratory birds. What¬ 
ever be its fate in the courts it will probably be 
replaced sometime by another and possibly a 
broader statute. At present it is the best tool 
we have for the work. Although we have not 
yet learned its full possibilities, it seems far more 
important for the Executive Departments of the 
State and Government which are concerned 
chiefly with the solution of an economic and an 
administrative problem to devote their attention 
to ways and means of accomplishing the work 
in hand rather than to expend their efforts in 
discussing the authority under which the present 
law was passed, or the particular provision of the 
constitution under which it can be maintained. 
These questions will be settled by the courts. 
Meantime let us join hands in protecting this 
great national resource of migratory bird life 
which the Federal Government and the several 
States have formed a partnership to develop. The 
field is broad enough for all the effort and energy 
that can be brought to bear on the work in hand. 
Each party should co-operate with, and assist the 
other in the common cause in which all are in¬ 
terested. 
*Read at the Annual Meeting of the New 
York Forest Fish and Game League, Elmira, 
N. Y„ Dec. 4, 1913. 
There is promise of a large turpentine indus¬ 
try in the west and southwest, the raw product 
being supplied by the resinous gum of western 
yellow pine. - 
German pencil manufacturers are looking to 
California incense cedar for pencil wood. The 
establishment of a pencil factory in California is 
not improbable. 
New Books 
The day of the Vasco da Gamas and the 
Magellans, of the Livingstones and the Stanleys 
may indeed be over, although Sven Hedin, who 
has put a large part of Central Asia on the map 
is still a youngish man in Sweden. Nowadays we 
have a new kind of explorer, the kind represented 
by Ernest Henry Wilson, who in his new book, 
“The Flowery Kingdom,” presents the results of 
his travels in Western China. 
The old explorer was stalwart and courage¬ 
ous. Perhaps, too, he was a bit of a scientist and 
something of a geographer. But his business was 
the mapping of unknown territory, the discovery 
of mountains, rivers, the prominent features of 
the earth’s surface. The new kind of explorer 
goes armed with the microscope and specimen 
paraphernalia. He is a geologist, botanist, natur¬ 
alist and anthropologist. 
Mr. Wilson, for example, has penetrated into 
the utmost hinterland of China. He has found 
what he describes as the richest temperate zone 
flora in the world. He has collected some sixty- 
five thousand specimens. 
If man had not carried the seeds of valuable 
plants on his transmigrations the floral aspect of 
the world to-day would be strictly regional. The 
universal plants owe their universality to man’s 
agency. Birds have carried seeds, but only inci¬ 
dentally. Man has transported seeds and plants 
across oceans and deserts. 
Man has waged a relentless war against the 
fauna of the earth. He has exterminated whole 
species of animal life, both harmful and desirable. 
But in his relation to plant life man has been a 
beneficent and fostering agent. 
Man has done such fostering empirically. 
Now science has supplied him with manifold 
power to aid and to direct plant life. With the 
assistance of science man should be able to trans¬ 
form this earth eventually into a garden of un¬ 
imagined variety, utility and beauty. 
Hitting The Trail Again 
I must go over the trail again where the tall 
peaks touch the sky, 
Far up above the timberline, their cloud wreathed 
summits lie; 
There the drifted snow glows rosy red in the 
flush of the early dawn, 
And mountain winds wail their siren notes to 
lure me on and on. 
Over the trail I must follow again from the 
peaks to the far foothills, 
Where they guard the gate of the valley fair, 1 
must wander where fancy wills; 
For the wanderlust in my heart is wild and rest 
is of no avail 
When my wayward feet seek the winding road, I 
must follow the beckoning trail. 
I must go over the trail again where it follows 
the winding stream, 
Where the rapids roar, and the white spray flies 
and rainbow colors gleam, 
Where the towering pines arch the placid blue 
of the lonely mountain lake, 
And its waters clear on the shelving shore their 
silver wavelets break. 
Over the trail I must follow again from the 
dawn to the noonday bright, 
’Till the shadows fall and the daylight dies and 
the end of the trail is in sight. 
Then make me a camp in sight of the road when 
the sun is low in the west, 
When the day is done and the long trail ends, 
and my wandering feet find rest. 
