FOREST AND STREAM 
729 
Fur, Fin and Feather 
Nubbins of News From “Forest and Stream’s” Duffle Bag for the Information and Pleasure of Readers 
RAISING WILD DUCKS. 
“Wild ducks are being raised successfully for 
pleasure and profit,” said State Ornithologist 
Herbert K. Job, of Connecticut, recently, address¬ 
ing a number of grangers. "The Clove Valley 
club of New York has done this on a large 
scale. On the Childs-Walcott place, where no 
shooting is permitted, mallard, black duck and 
wood duck are bred successfully. The young 
are liberated, and remain or return from migra¬ 
tion, breeding naturally in the vicinity, and are 
restocking that part of the state. A young man 
in Connecticut is breeding wood duck, and sells 
them 'to dealers for $10 per pair. The dealers 
get $15 to $18 per pair retail. 
“Your state ornithologist during the past two 
summers has conducted expeditions with gov¬ 
ernment co-operation to the wilds of the Cana¬ 
dian northwest, hatched and raised in camp sev¬ 
eral hundred young wild ducks of a dozen spe¬ 
cies, brought them east, and is experimenting 
on the propagation of these species on various 
estates and preserves. He is in advisory charge 
of a number of such places, and assists many- 
smaller estates, showing practical methods of 
propagating and increasing gamebirds and wild¬ 
fowl, and how to attract and feed wild birds 
in general. This is mentioned simply to indi¬ 
cate the great modern development of practical 
ornithology, undreamed of a few years ago. 
“In this line a considerable demand is aris¬ 
ing for men competent to undertake such work 
at good salaries, who are sober, intelligent and 
skilful. Already the speaker has placed men in 
such positions. The latest was one recently from 
the wealthy Okeetee club, on their 75,000 acre 
preserve in South Carolina. A field is opening 
for such men as Federal wardens, under civil 
service, men who understand the above methods 
and can show the public in their districts. The 
agricultural colleges should provide courses in 
view of this actual and growing demand.” 
FIGHT OVER CAT LICENSES. 
If the Massachusetts bill to require the licens¬ 
ing of cats should become law, a court decision 
to define “farmer” may become necessary, for 
the farmer is specially exempted to the extent 
that he may keep two unlicensed cats, said a 
Boston newspaper recently. The wording is “for 
his bain”; and this also might require a court 
ruling or suppose the farmer was a market gar¬ 
dener, and used an automobile? 
The bill will soon be reached on the House 
calendar, the question being passed to a third 
reading. The chances are believed to be against 
its enactment, as it has failed in previous years. 
There is a battle royal going on between the 
Fish and Game Protective Assn, and the Audu¬ 
bon Society for the bill and the Animal Rescue 
League and various cat societies on the other 
side. 
The bird-lovers denounce the cat as the 
most dangerous foe of the wild birds, and there¬ 
fore the ally of insect scourges which the wild 
birds are supposed to keep down. 
The cat people declare that the feline does 
not kill nearly as many birds as is alleged, and 
that if the bill goes through, many felines will 
be sacrificed, and rats and mice will increase, 
and therefore disease dangerous to mankind will 
increase. 
The friends of the bill retort that cats, them¬ 
selves are as dangerous disseminators of dis¬ 
ease as are the rodents, and have more fleas. 
The bill requires a license fee of $1 for every 
male cat, and $2 for every female cat, except 
that each household may keep one unlicensed 
male cat. Any cat not confined and not wearing 
a collar bearing the license number may be 
killed. 
There will be quite a contest over the farmers’ 
amendment, on the ground that country cats do 
more damage to the birds than city cats, who 
1 
rarely have a chance to catch anything but a 
sparrow, and almost never even that pest. 
MORE PIKE FOR HUNTINGTONVILLE. 
Three hundred thousand yellow pike recently 
took up their abode in the waters of Black River, 
in the vicinity of Huntingtonville, N. Y. The 
fish were planted by Capt. Emmett Carpenter, of 
No. 1 combination and engine company of the 
fire department, who is also an active member 
in the Jefferson County Sportsmen’s Associa¬ 
tion and ardent hunter and fisherman. This 
planting is the continuation of a campaign to 
stock the waters of Black river with fish. So 
far, 600,000 pike have been placed in the stream 
near Huntingtonville. 
FISH FOR NATIONAL PARKS. 
Following out his plan to increase the supply 
of food fishes, Secretary Redfield of the de¬ 
partment of commerce has proposed to the 
secretary of the interior that the two depart¬ 
ments co-operate in the stocking of lakes and 
streams in the national parks with fish and in 
maintaining the fish supply in those waters by 
the systematic planting of young fish and the 
adoption of national regulations adapted to the 
local conditions. Secretary Redfield is desir¬ 
ous of putting the plan in force immediately. 
FIGURES ON MICHIGAN GAME. 
The hunting grounds in Michigan are still 
among the best in the United States. Game in 
surprisingly large numbers inhabits the forests 
and swamps. According to J. H. McGillivray, 
deputy state forestry warden, there are 48,000 
deer in Michigan. Forty-four thousand of these 
are in the upper peninsula; the remainder are in 
the northern part of the area south of the Straits 
of Mackinac. Mr. McGillivray says there are 
known to be 34 moose in the state. He estimates 
the number of game, other than deer, as fol¬ 
lows: Rabbits, 2,500,000; raccoons, 50,000; mink,. 
70,000; fox, 100,000; polecats, 170,000; otter, 18,- 
000; beaver, 8,000; bear, 5,000; partridge, 500,- 
000. Mr. McGillivray says the deer have been 
decreasing in numbers rapidly of late years, due 
to the inroads of the steadily increasing forces 
of hunters. He advocates conservation. Hes 
suggests 'that hunting in the southern peninsula- 
be prohibited for five years, and at the close 
of that period there be permitted only the kill¬ 
ing of deer with horns. 
It is the purpose of the state game and for¬ 
estry warden’s department to introduce the ring- 
neck pheasant in Michigan. The birds will be 
established in the game refuges, provision for 
the institution of which was made by the last 
Legislature. Private individuals have given con¬ 
siderable money and much land for the establish¬ 
ment of breeding places of the kind the law 
contemplates, and the department is anxious to 
create refuges in all parts of the state. For 
this reason, it is urging provision for a uni¬ 
versal gun license, the fee to be $1. The revenue 
would be used in carrying on the work of per¬ 
petuating the wild life of the state and in intro¬ 
ducing new species of game. It is figured that 
birds propagated in the refuges will gradually 
overflow to the general hunting areas. 
FORESTRY DEGREE CONFERRED. 
The first degree of doctor of forestry has been 
conferred by the University of Minnesota on J. 
V. Hofmann, who, so far as Professor E. G. 
Cheyney, head of the forestry college, is able 
to determine, is the first man in the United States 
to receive the degree. Mr. Hofmann took the 
degree of master of arts from the college two 
years ago. He then went West and for more than 
a year has been connected with the Wind River, 
Ore., experiment station. Last fall he returned 
No member of the committee thaJt granted the 
degree is a doctor of forestry, and no member 
of the faculty under whom the work was taken 
boasts the right to append the coveted title to 
his name. Mr. Hofmann’s thesis was on the na¬ 
tural and artificial reproduction of pine. 
