An Effect of the New Game Laws 
On the Delaware River where I live, about ten 
miles below Philadelphia, I have been watching 
for some weeks with great pleasure the unusual 
numbers of wild fowl. That particular spot has 
for centuries and perhaps for thousands of years 
been a natural feeding ground for all sorts of 
water birds. It is part of the old delta of the 
Schuylkill River where it flows into the Dela¬ 
ware, and was originally a series of muddy, reedy 
islands and back channels. Many of these chan¬ 
nels have, of course, been closed, and habitations 
By Sydney G. Fisher. 
obliged to admit that the numbers exceeded any¬ 
thing they could remember. This morning in 
particular (March 30), before I went up to the 
city I watched a flock feeding in front of the 
Corinthian Yacht Club and it was not only larger 
than any I had ever seen here on the Delaware, 
but larger than I had ever hoped for in my fond¬ 
est dreams of game improvement. 
The flock was about a quarter of a mile long, 
feeding and playing along the edge of Little 
Tinicum Island and composed of sprig tails, mal- 
SiSigiS 
Wild Ducks in Sodus Bay—Fed All Winter by N. Y. State Conservation Commission. 
and manufacturing industries have increased; but 
the wild birds have continued to come most per¬ 
sistently to hunt for the reed seeds in the mud, 
in spite of slaughter, but of course in steadily de¬ 
creasing numbers. 
The, open season on ducks in Pennsylvania has 
always been from October to April; in short, the 
whole time the birds were here. It was a farce. 
There might just as well have been no law at all. 
This season the new law stopped the shooting be¬ 
fore Christmas; and, strange to say, was well 
obeyed. 
For the last month or so we have been noticing 
unusual numbers of ducks, at first feeding in 
open places in the ice, and since the ice disap¬ 
peared increasing in numbers. There have been 
more than I ever remember to have seen since 
my residence of twenty years on the river 
shore. But still some of the old fellows kept 
saying, “Oh, I have seen that many not so very 
long ago.” 
In the last day or two, however, they have been 
lards, broad bills, and very likely black ducks. It 
was a grand sight through my field glasses. 
The birds were at ease, shaking their feathers, 
stretching their wings, little bunches rising and 
flying a few yards and settling again; in short, 
going through the performances I have only seen 
in far distant, more or less wild places. In this 
part of the Delaware heretofore the ducks have 
always had a scared, cautious appearance. I at¬ 
tempted to estimate the numbers in this flock by 
counting those in a few given spaces and multiply¬ 
ing by the number of similar spaces. In this way 
I made them out to be over 1,500; but other 
observers thought my estimate too moderate, and 
ran the number up to many thousands. 
I do not mention this to show that there has 
already been a great increase of ducks under the 
new laws, either here or anywhere. What it 
shows, I think, is the way in which the wild 
fowl will snap back, as it were, in large numbers 
to a favorite feeding ground if only given a little 
decent treatment. In previous years these ducks 
would have been followed up by all sorts of boats, 
many killed and the rest driven away to other 
waters to be there killed or forced to other places. 
As it is, they are resting on their northern 
journey, getting plenty to eat, mating; many al¬ 
ready I have no doubt have fertile eggs in them, 
and they will pass on peacefully to their breeding 
grounds and vastly increase the duck supply for 
next year. Some of them may remain to breed in 
the Delaware. 
Judging by the comments and the eager interest, 
I think the sight of these birds freely feeding and 
playing, has given an immense amount of pleasure 
to a large number of people. This is an import¬ 
ant side of the subject. Civilization should in¬ 
crease our sources of wholesome pleasures, not 
diminish them. We are educated by birds and 
animals. They have developed, as Shaler so beau¬ 
tifully shows, many of our best traits in the long 
thousands of centuries in the past wh::i we lived 
closer to them than we can now in city life or 
even in country life, with every living thing exter¬ 
minated. They humanize us, and there is no rea¬ 
son why we should not restore our wild life to as 
great numbers or even greater numbers than it 
had two hundred years ago. All the experiments 
show that if you faithfully study nature’s meth¬ 
ods in this regard you can intensify and assist 
them, as has been done in European countries. 
FISH LADDER AT DERBY DAM. 
The California and Nevada Fish Commissions 
plan to build a fish ladder this season at Derby 
Dam, near Carson City, Nev. It will be 148 feet 
long, and will be built of heavy timber. Each pool 
in the ladder will be 8 by 10 feet, and the entrance 
at the ladder will be in a large pool which has 
been created by the building of a wing dam. The 
fish will have over three feet of water at all 
times in which to make their climb and will be 
able to get over the dam without much exertion. 
It will do away with the immense slaughter of 
fish which has marked the Derby dam since its 
building and will mean much for the preservation 
of the fish of the Truckee river. 
Youth and Age. 
He is not young, although his years be few, 
Who is not glad when skies grow clear and blue; 
When from the south the winsome spring returns 
And earth is clothed with verdue soft and new. 
He is not young who, with unheeding eye, 
Sees the procession of fair days move by, 
Passing in golden glory down the west. 
Nor feels his heart with happiness beat high. 
Nor is he old, though slow his step, once free, 
Who finds a temple in each stately tree; 
Whose soul rejoices in the scented hours 
With bird and flower and honey seeking bee. 
He is not young who can in earth behold 
Only a stage where he wins place and gold; 
But he who feels its wonder day by day— 
Whate’er his years, he never can be old. 
NINETTE M. LOWATER, in N. Y. Sun. 
508 
