270 
despite even your closed seasons. For the terri¬ 
tory is so immense that a veritable army of the 
best working wardens could not save the paltry 
remnant, in the face of men who get game when 
they want game, and who get it by fair means 
or foul. Mark that. 
Our comrade, Raymond S. Spears, the well- 
known writer, put the case very brightly and in¬ 
telligently, and I thank him for having said 
something different. He has brought up the 
migratory bill for review, saying that even if it 
is rigorous, it cannot fulfill its purpose. There 
are so many avenues left unguarded, so many 
dark alleys along which the designing may ply 
their nefarious game, that even this mighty meas¬ 
ure must prove but a jump in this “game of 
checkers.” You intend to save your migrating 
water-fowl by this method—by protecting the 
great and well-known fly-ways. In this it will 
prove its excellence or its failure. The abolition 
of spring shooting is a measure on a par with 
FOREST AND STREAM 
them all. But how about the breeding grounds of 
the north? How about their protection? Do 
we hold any joint collaboration with our sister 
country, Canada, in this respect? Furthermore, 
how about the other game birds, the quail for in¬ 
stance? 
No sofa-sitting, automobile-riding, station-loi¬ 
tering, political-hireling game warden can do 
anything in the saving of the game. In the great 
“game of checkers” these are discarded, and in 
the sum of it all we have this: must we not trust 
the people to show their humanitarian principles? 
I tell you, my friends, you may institute laws 
innumerable; you may add more wardens to your 
list; but I say what in the world does the whole 
clan amount to, in game conservation, when the 
law is given not the least enforcement? If I 
want game now, for instance—this winter—1 
can get it. I can kill out all the bevies around 
here, and so can you undoubtedly, in your local¬ 
ity, and get away with it as easy as eating pie. 
Do you realize how foolish it is to depend on 
wardens, far away and inactive—there just for 
the money there is in it? I ask you, what is the 
use of them? And I ask you this again: In the 
final sum-up, must we not trust to the humani¬ 
tarian principles of the people at large? Must 
we not educate the farmers, every section having 
a man doing all this at his own expense, that 
the remaining remnant of wild game may be 
saved? On the face of it, the proposition is fool¬ 
ish. Only a fanatical lover of wild game would 
think of doing this great deed. What, then, is 
the use of wardens? 
As a last word I would say, feed the quail 
during the winter months if an opportunity per^ 
mits. Teach the youth of the land the beauty of 
feeding the birds, as against the idea of killing 
wantonly, in absolute uselessness, the best friends 
we have at hand for our pleasure, more so in the 
frigid winter than in the summer when conditions 
are more favorable. 
The Covey Tucked Away for the Night—Can You See Them? 
Photo by Dr. Geo. W. Field. (Exposure Three Minutes -Half an Hour After Sunset.) 
A FEEDING BOX FOR QUAIL. 
Wherein is Shown a Simple Device for Quail 
Food. 
We have had so many calls for Mr. Cyrus A. 
Taft’s description of a feeding box for quail, 
printed in a November issue, that we reprint it 
in part for present practical use. Mr. Taft wrote 
from Whitinsville, Mass. The box will be found 
efficient wherever the birds have to contend with 
the snows. 
“I send two photos of the winter feeding box 
for quail which we have used in this section for 
two winters past with considerable success. One 
is shown here so the construction can be readily 
seen, and the other is shown with the covering 
of pine boughs as it is set up for the use of the 
birds. This particular one carried through a 
covey of seven quail last winter. 
“We liberated each lot directly beside a feed¬ 
ing box. The feeding box illustrated shows a 
covering of pine boughs, but we used the limbs 
of scrub oak at times when pine was not easy to 
get, and they seemed to do very well. 
“In covering the boxes with boughs they should 
be placed so that the butts are on the ground, and 
these butts should be trimmed free of small 
branches so that the birds can have easy and free 
access in and out at all times. In case a foe 
should come up to one side it is quite essential 
there be a free run left for quick egress on the 
other. 
“We had fourteen of these feeding boxes for 
the twelve dozen birds. We did all the liberat¬ 
ing in one day; as we had a large extent of coun¬ 
try to cover, it made a long job. I want to ac¬ 
knowledge here the very efficient help and advice 
Mr. A. F. Wood, of this place, in connection with 
the putting out of these quail and in getting those 
that scattered back to the feed; also for his per- 
