556 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 7, 1911. 
'A JOURNAL OF OUTDOOR LIU 
TRAVEL. NATURE. STUDY SHOOTING HSH1NC YACHTING. 
Published Weekly by the 
Forest and Stream Publishing Company, 
127 Franklin Street, New York. 
Edward C. Locke, President, 
Chari.es B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
S. J. Gibson, Treasurer. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
The Forest and Stream is the recognized medium of 
entertainment, instruction and information between Amer¬ 
ican sportsmen. The editors invite communications on 
the subjects to which its pages are devoted. Anonymous 
communications will not be regarded. The editors are 
not responsible for the views of correspondents. 
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six months. Foreign subscriptions, $4.50 a year; $2.25 for 
six months. Subscriptions may begin at any time. 
Remit bv express money-order, registered letter, money- 
order or draft, payable to the Forest and Stream Pub¬ 
lishing Company. 
The paper may be obtained of newsdealers throughout 
the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Foreign 
Subscription and Sales Agents—London: Davies & Co., 
1 Finch Lane; Sampson, Low & Co. Paris: Brentano s. 
ADVERTISEMENTS. 
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A discount of 5 per cent, is allowed on an advertise¬ 
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THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
ATLANTIC TUNA. 
The fame of Catalina Island as a resort for 
big fish has at last been wiped off the sea fish¬ 
ing slate by anglers of the Atlantic Coast. J. 
K. L. Ross, of Montreal, after persistent efforts 
extending through three seasons, has killed on 
the rod one of the monster tuna that haunt Cape 
Breton waters. Charles Savage, casting from 
the New Jersey beach, brought a small tuna to 
gaff, an achievement which seems to be unique, 
since the few tuna so far taken on rod and reel 
in Atlantic waters have generally been found 
at some distance off shore. We have already 
recorded the success had last year by E. T. 
Townsend, who boated several small tuna off 
Asbury Park, and lost at least one large tuna. 
So far this year, it would seem, Joseph Caw- 
thorn captured the only tuna taken off the Jersey 
coast from a boat with rod and reel. 
Plenty of tuna records have no doubt been 
let go by default this year in these waters. The 
tuna have been and still are in the sea off shore, 
for the Barnegat fishermen have taken large 
numbers of them on hand-lines. Evidently there 
is only one reason why anglers have not taken 
them: diffidence, possibly lack of interest. Some 
courage is required to arise before dawn and 
pass the day in a pitching small power boat in 
the open Atlantic, with the possibility of being 
overtaken by a storm. This is where the pro¬ 
fessional fishermen find the tuna in abundance, 
but occasionally they are taken nearer the land. 
Here, however, they run rather small. 
AGAIN THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 
None of the rewards offered for an undis¬ 
turbed nesting of a pair of passenger pigeons 
has been claimed, and it is clear that these birds 
are exceedingly scarce, if not wholly extinct, as 
some of the best authorities believe. 
The letter from Dr. C. F. Hodge, printed in 
another column, is the final call for evidence on 
this subject, and it wil be interesting to see 
what, if anything, the request brings out. Dr. 
Hodge has done yeoman service in the effort to 
learn something about this species, and he has 
made this service purely a labor of love. His 
toils have been greatly increased by the careless¬ 
ness of correspondents who have written him 
letters requiring repeated inquiries to obtain 
other and more detailed information. If those 
who have information to give in reply to this 
last letter will carefully notice the requests made 
as to the information desired, they will greatly 
increase the value of their evidence and reduce 
the work which Dr. Hodge must do. 
If tangible evidence of the existence of passen¬ 
ger pigeons can be had, it will be welcomed by 
ornithologists and nature lovers everywhere. 
WOMEN FOR CONSERVATION. 
It is a gratifying sign of the times that the 
women of the country are taking an active in¬ 
terest in conservation. At the Conservation 
Congress, which was held in St. Paul last 
autumn, many women’s clubs and organizations 
were represented, and many women in the audi¬ 
ence listened with earnestness to what was said. 
At the congress being held this week in Kansas 
City, women are taking even a greater interest 
and will exert great influence. The General 
Federation of Women’s Clubs has changed the 
title of its Forestry Department to Conservation 
Department, with subdivisions of forestry, water¬ 
ways and birds, and in another column we print 
some extracts from the report of Mrs. Emma 
Crocker, who is chairman of the department. A 
perusal of those paragraphs will show readers 
of Forest and Stream how active a work is 
being done by women in many matters which 
have long been regarded as in man’s particular 
province. 
It is a wholesome state of public feeling when 
women have such just ideas on conservation 
subjects as those put forth by Mrs. Crocker, and 
by the chairmen of different State federations 
of women. This interest is confined to no sec¬ 
tion of the country, but is manifested South and 
Northwest and East alike. 
DESERVED PRAISE. 
The Conservation Commissioners of New 
York State—George E. Van Kennen, Chairman; 
James M. Fleming and John D. Moore—have com¬ 
mended very highly the work of their former 
fellow commissioner, John B. Burnham, now 
president of the American Game Protection and 
Propagation Society. In a letter to him, which 
the commissioners have made public, they say: 
Your resignation as Deputy Conservation Commis¬ 
sioner, to take effect Oct. 1, has, by your voluntary act, 
severed your connection with the public service, with 
which, for some years past, you have been actively and 
honorably identified. 
The Conservation Commission, while regretfully accept¬ 
ing your resignation, is pleased to know that your 
chosen field of activity is to run along lines so close to 
those of the Conservation Department, as to render it 
probable that an active and harmonious co-operation 
may exist. In your published salutatory, as president of 
the new American Game Protective and Propagation 
society, you say: 
“The game laws of the different States are so com¬ 
plex and contradictory, favoring one locality at the ex¬ 
pense of another, and in many sections they are very 
poorly enforced or not enforced at all. There is no uni¬ 
formity between the laws of different States where game 
conditions are similar, and there is no general effective 
protection of migratory game birds, such as wildfowl 
and woodcock, over a large part of the country. In 
many States there are no limits set on the number of 
birds that can be killed by any sportsman at one time. 
In New York, for instance, there is no limit on the 
bag of wildfowl that can be taken. Without improved 
conditions in the laws themselves and in their enforce¬ 
ment, the wild game of the country is bound to be 
exterminated. 
“The Association will not only work for a national 
law .protecting migratory birds, and for bag limits in the 
various States, but it will also co-operate with the vari¬ 
ous State and National game protective organizations, 
and aid them in the enforcement of existing laws. For 
this purpose it will have its own wardens.” 
Much, if not all of the work thus outlined is such as 
naturally invites the cordial co-operation of the Con¬ 
servation Commission; and, on the other hand, we desire 
to assure you that we invite, and shall expect, your 
continued cordial aid and co-operation in the solution 
of the many varied problems which are before us. 
Connected, as you were, prior to the enactment of the 
conservation law, with the old Forest, Fish and Game 
Commission, under no less than four different com¬ 
missioners, in a time of constant change and unrest, 
you are to be congratulated that the sweeping investiga¬ 
tion, which the old department underwent, left your 
reputation unsullied and your efficiency undisputed. To 
the findings of that investigation, the Conservation Com¬ 
mission can (or need) add little, save its best wishes for 
your future career. 
The confusion over the firearms law con¬ 
tinues, and many of our friends still think they 
cannot carry shotguns and rifles, in cases, on 
their way to and from shooting grounds. In 
order to hunt game in New York State a citizen 
of the United States must have a shooting li¬ 
cense in his possession. This gives him the 
right to carry a gun or rifle wherever he may 
be. At a conference of the Board of Magistrates 
of New York city, Magistrate O’Connor said 
that no holder of a shooting license would be 
molested while carrying a rifle or shotgun, but 
no alien may carry arms. Carrying pistols or 
revolvers requires a permit, and the magistrates 
will issue permits only to persons who can give 
good reasons why they should be allowed to 
do so, and who will furnish three character ref¬ 
erences. As to aliens and unnaturalized persons, 
the game law gives them the right to hunt under 
license, while the Sullivan law, and the magis¬ 
trates, say aliens cannot possess firearms of any 
sort. It would seem that the only thing for them 
to do is to hunt with bows and arrows. 
It 
\ 
The French Academie des Sports, which con¬ 
fers honors on sportsmen throughout the world 
who have aided in elevating the standards of 
sport or who have contributed conspicuously to 
the literature of sport, has awarded gold medals 
to Frederick C. Selous, the well-known big-game 
hunter, and to Charles Frederick Holder, of 
California, angler and writer. 
■t 
Joseph P. Powers, of Rockaway Beach, N. Y., 
has been appointed deputy superintendent of 
marine fisheries of New York State. His salary 
is $2,000 per annum. 
