Nov. 9, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
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Hunting in California 
is such a profitable industry that the fortunate 
hunter who gets possession of one of the big 
colonies, or garzeros, usually guards it with jeal¬ 
ous care, and his gun is turned against all comers. 
It is customary to wait until the eggs are hatched, 
for then the old birds, responding to the cries 
of their young, are loth to leave the neighbor¬ 
hood, and readily fall a prey to the gunners. The 
millinery dealers, in their efforts to defend this 
nefarious traffic, seek to mislead the public by the 
statements to the effect that aigrettes are gathered 
from the ground underneath the nests. Every 
ornithologist, or other person, who has had ex¬ 
perience with heron rookeries, knows the falsity 
of this statement. At least twenty well-known 
naturalists have filed affidavits to this effect with 
the officers of the National Association of Audu¬ 
bon Societies. 
How Long Will a Fish Live Out of Water? 
East Hollister, Mass., Oct. 20. — Editor 
Forest and Stream: In your issue of Oct. 12 
I saw one of your correspondents asked for data 
in regard to the length of time fishes would live 
out of water. When I have been fishing I fre¬ 
quently have had perch that had been out of 
water between two and three hours and were all 
dried and stiff and “come to’’ on being thrown 
into a bucket of water and allowed to remain 
there fifteen or twenty minutes. 
Out of a pailful of hornpout, caught at 
night, I have found one or two alive in the 
morning. Eels also will live for several hours 
if kept in a damp, dark place, like a bucket of 
damp moss, but they die quickly if exposed to 
sun or heat. 
The fish that I have found most tenacious 
of life are the small ones living in the brackish 
pools of salt marshes. I used to catch them when 
I was a boy to keep alive. We called them 
“mummychugs” (I spell phonetically). These 
fish would live for several hours out of water 
and once when a “cold snap” came a panful of 
these fishes that I had in the yard froze solid. 
I took the piece of ice into the house, thawed it 
and put the fish into their native element where 
they seemed none the worse, though they must 
have been frozen up for eight or ten hours. 
Bryant Strong. 
Wild Weodcock in New York City. 
New York City, Oct. 17.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: This morning my neighbor, Mr. Jen¬ 
nings, of 27 West Fiftieth street, this city, in¬ 
formed me that he had seen a woodcock in his 
yard, which had flown into my yard at 29 West 
Fiftieth street. On looking out of my window 
I saw a woodcock sitting on the grass plot, blit 
evidently ready to fly at once and uninjured. I 
secured the bird and think it quite remarkable 
to find a woodcock in the middle of a crowded 
city. Spencer Aldrich. 
An Appreciation. 
Boston, Mass., Oct. 14. — Forest and Stream 
Publishing Co.: Gentlemen —Enclosed please 
find check for the next four years. 
I have been reading Forest and Stream for 
a great many years. I have enjoyed reading it, 
and it is very seldom that I miss it, unless I am 
away from home. I wish it every success. 
A. T. Clark. 
BY GOLDEN GATE. 
The open season for ducks, ibis and most 
shore birds commenced in Central California on 
Oct. 15, and hunting is now general throughout 
the State, having commenced in Northern and 
Southern California two weeks before this date. 
The need of a change in the date of the open¬ 
ing season was never more apparent than it was 
this year when more than one-half of the birds 
bagged spoiled before they could be used. Very 
warm weather was experienced during the first 
three weeks of October, and hunters visiting the 
interior, where the best shooting was to be en¬ 
joyed, found that their heavy hunting togs were 
entirely out of place. Many sportsmen realized 
that it would be impossible to bring birds home 
with them in good condition, and refrained from 
shooting even after reaching the grounds. 
From the number of birds now on hand it 
would seem that some splendid sport would be 
enjoyed this season, but there are many favorite 
feeding grounds where ducks are scarce, owing 
to unfavorable conditions. But little rain has 
fallen to date, and many streams that usually 
have a large flow of water are practically dry, 
causing the birds to gather on the salt marshes 
and at other favored localities. At Los Banos 
and Gustine there is plenty of water, and some 
splendid shooting is being enjoyed there. On 
the Suisun marsh, ducks are quite plentiful, but 
baiting seems to be necessary to insure a good 
shoot at any of the ponds. On the marshes of 
San Francisco Bay a few birds are to be found, 
but because of the hot spell they have been 
keeping out in the open. 
The ducks now being bagged are mostly 
home-bred birds, and are in splendid shape. 
Sprig, teal and mallards are the birds now being 
secured, but canvasbacks are commencing io ap¬ 
pear on Tomales Bay and will probably be plen¬ 
tiful soon. Immense numbers of home-bred 
birds are to be found on Tulare Lake, and these 
are reported to be very fat. Shipments of birds 
from this section made following the opening 
day, spoiled in transit, so warm was the weather. 
The season just closed has been a good one 
for sportsmen, deer having been plentiful in al¬ 
most every game district. From all sections of the 
State opinions are being received to the effect 
that the opening season is entirely too early and 
a shorter season is favored by many. Resolu¬ 
tions to this effect are being prepared by many 
game protective associations, and it is believed 
that a marked change in the law will be made 
at the next session of the State Legislature. At 
a meeting of Tulare county sportsmen, held in 
October, a county game and fish protective asso¬ 
ciation was formed, and recommendations will be 
made soon by this organization for a shorter and 
later deer season. In addition the establishment 
of a game reserve will be strongly recommended, 
it being suggested that a portion of the forest 
reserve be set aside as districts in which shoot¬ 
ing will not be allowed. 
Some of the duck hunters out for the open¬ 
ing day sport could not resist the temptation to 
bag plover, curlew and snipe, which are pro¬ 
tected for another month, with the result that 
several found themselves in trouble. A. P. Kam- 
mermeyer, of San Francisco, bagged two fine 
curlew near Petaluma, but was arrested by 
Deputy Fish and Game Commissioner William 
Wagner and was fined $25. 
William H. Metson, president of the Board 
of Golden Gate Park Commissioners, has pre¬ 
sented to the Park Museum a magnificent col¬ 
lection of mounted wild ducks killed in Califor¬ 
nia, comprising all of the varieties found here. 
Bear seem to be very plentiful in the moun¬ 
tains this year, and some very large ones have 
been killed. Joe Elgoriago recently killed a very 
large one on Poplar Creek, in Plumas county, 
and has also killed several smaller ones. At 
Shady Rest, further down the Feather River, a 
dozen have been killed this season by hunters 
from San Francisco. A plan is now on foot to 
establish a closed season for bear during the 
summer months when the hide is worthless. 
Annual Meeting Maryland G. F. P. A. 
A plea for State-wide game law was the 
feature of the address delivered before the an¬ 
nual meeting of the Maryland State Game and 
Fish Protective Association. T. S. Palmer, act¬ 
ing chief of the Biological Survey, United States 
Department of Agriculture, pointed out that 
Maryland and North Carolina only have con¬ 
flicting county laws that prevented the preserva¬ 
tion of game and worked an injury to neighbor¬ 
ing States. He asked the association to make 
a concerted effort to get the Legislature to adopt 
a uniform law that would prevent the misunder¬ 
standings that now exist. 
Franklin Cox, State game warden, told of 
his efforts to co-operate with members of the 
association and stated that he was ready to join 
in any movement for the betterment of the laws 
regulating hunting in the State. D. C. Speen- 
burgh, of the American Game Protective and 
Propagation Association, told of the work of the 
national organization. Dr. Joseph Kalbfus, State 
warden of Pennsylvania, told of the benefits of 
a uniform law in that State. 
Resolutions of regret at the death of the 
president of the State association, J. Olney 
Norris, were passed. The following were elected 
to serve for the ensuing year: President, Talbott 
Denmead; Vice-Presidents, L. M. Levering and 
Felix Sullivan: Treasurer, H. N. Abercrombie; 
Secretary, Henry P. Bridges. 
The Herons of Andalusia. 
Of all the birds he had studied, said W. 
Farren in a lecture at the Royal Photographic 
Society’s exhibition, none showed conjugal af¬ 
fection in quite the same way as the brown- 
backed herons of Andalusia in Spain. When¬ 
ever the husband relieved his wife at the nest 
he invariably laid his neck over hers in a mo¬ 
mentary embrace and then took up his position 
while the other bird flew away. The herons 
never omitted this affectionate salutation.—Lon¬ 
don Standard. 
