738 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Live Notes From The Field 
Being Weekly Reports From Our Local Correspondents 
MR. BURNHAM IN DEFENSE OF HIS 
SOCIETY. 
New York, December 2, 1914. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
I think you have done this association an in¬ 
justice in your editorial “The Sportsman and 
the Game Laws” in the current issue of Forest 
and Stream, when you say that the American 
Game Protective Association antagonizes sports¬ 
men. I do not think that Mr. Clark, who wrote 
the article upon which the editorial is based, in¬ 
tended at all to convey this impression and that 
his mention of the fact that he is a life member 
in this association as well as one of the officers 
of the Massachusetts Fish and Game Association, 
was stated simply as showing his great interest 
in game protection. Moreover, I have reason to 
believe that Mr. Clark approves most heartily 
of our work. 
The American Game Protective Association 
believes in game protection for the benefit of the 
sportsman; it believes in the absolute protection 
of non-game birds for the good they do the 
nation in protecting its crops and forests from 
the ravages of insects; it believes that the best 
insurance for the future of sport is to be found 
in good game laws and efficient game law en¬ 
forcement. 
It has also used a portion of its energy and 
money in working out plans for the increase of 
the game supply by the propagation of game 
birds and animals. 
It does not believe in the impractical protection 
implied in your editorial and I am unaware that 
this association has taken any action which could 
possibly be construed along such lines, certainly 
not our activity in securing the passage of the 
Federal Migratory Bird Law or in our work to¬ 
ward securing a Canadian treaty. While many of 
us disagree as to the wisdom of some of the 
regulations made under the Migratory Bird Law, 
I have yet to find a sportsman who disapproves 
of the fundamental principle embodied in this 
law. If there is any class to which we are an¬ 
tagonistic it is the infinitesimal class of spend¬ 
thrifts who would shoot the last breeding animal 
or bird today rather than leave a little seed for 
next year’s crop. 
Our association is essentially a sportsman’s 
organization. We include in our membership 
most of the state game protective associations of 
the country and there has never been an organi¬ 
zation which was so closely in touch with the 
pulse of the shooters of the country as is ours. 
I think, therefore, that I am in a position to 
say that our membership approves of the brand 
of game protection for which we are working 
and that the sportsman body of the country be¬ 
lieve us to be reasonable and not quixotic or im¬ 
practicable. There is no shooter of experience 
but realizes the necessity for protective laws and 
efficient enforcement of them. Such men have 
seen splendid wildernesses stripped of their game- 
They know that the great West has today larger 
areas of gameless country than sections of the 
long-settled East where game law enforcement is 
effective. The best statistics available to the 
Biological Survey show that twice the number of 
deer are killed east of the Mississippi River than 
are killed in the larger territory west of that 
river. Maine is the leading deer state of the 
Union as regards the supply for the hunter, and 
the old state of New York is probably second or 
third. A little thickly settled state like Vermont 
produces more deer for the benefit of its citizens 
than many of the great Rocky Mountain states. 
There are more bears killed in Pennsylvania each 
year several times over than in the state of 
Colorado. 
The antelope of the West are gone so far as the 
shooter is concerned. The sheep and goats and 
mule deer are cleaned out from large sections of 
ideal game country. If it were not for the gov¬ 
ernmental protection given the elk of Yellow¬ 
stone National Park there would be no elk hunt¬ 
ing worth mentioning in the West. 
There are, of course, many reasons for the de¬ 
crease of western big game and the increase of 
eastern big game, but chief among these is the 
observance or non-observance of protective 
laws. The American Game Protective Associa¬ 
tion believes it is alive to the situation, and it is 
fighting every day in the year for measures 
which experience has shown will conserve and 
increase the game so that it may be shot; meas¬ 
ures for the greatest good of the greatest num¬ 
ber; the elimination of the market hunter by 
laws prohibiting the sale of game and limiting 
the bag; curtailment of open seasons when neces¬ 
sary so that the breeding stock will not be exter¬ 
minated, but only the natural increase in so far as 
possible, be taken each year; the creation of 
game refuges for the benefit of preserving the 
supply and restocking the neighboring country; 
game propagation, another valuable means of in¬ 
creasing the supply; the destruction of predatory 
animals and vermin, and the providing of food 
to tide the game over period of seasonal stress. 
These and other measures tending to preserve 
and increase the game occupy our activities. How 
then, can we be accused of antagonism to the 
shooter? JOHN B. BURNHAM, President. 
WITHDRAW PROTECTION FROM EURO¬ 
PEAN STARLING. 
In its annual report for the last fiscal year, the 
Bureau of Biological Survey of the U. S. Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture reports as follows on the 
European starling: 
Introduced into the United States nearly 25 
years ago, the European starling has gradually 
extended its range from New York City, and 
now it is found in the neighboring states of Con¬ 
necticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania 
and Massachusetts. During its migrations in 
search of food it ranges much farther from the 
original center and occurs in considerable num¬ 
bers as far south even as the District of Colum¬ 
bia. The starling is markedly insectivorous, es¬ 
pecially in summer, and preys upon many nox¬ 
ious varieties. In this respect it is to be classed 
among our useful birds- So far as is known, it 
has not proved destructive to grain crops, but it 
is known to be very fond of small fruits, and as 
it associates in large flocks it is likely to become 
a pest to the orchardist. In addition, it prefers 
tree cavities, boxes, or recesses in buildings for 
nesting sites and thus is brought into direct com¬ 
petition with certain of the useful native birds, 
more particularly the bluebird, purple martin, 
white-bellied swallow, house wren and flicker. 
The bird is steadily extending its territory, and 
it will be wise to withdraw all protection from it, 
as has already been done in Connecticut, New 
Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, including 
the center of its abundance, with a view of check¬ 
ing its increase and spread. The shipment of 
these birds from one state to another has been 
prohibited under heavy penalty by act of Con¬ 
gress. Under ordinary circumstances, even after 
all protection is withdrawn, the bird will probably 
prove to be capable of taking care of itself. That 
ultimately it will spread over a large part of the 
United States is highly probable. 
CLOSED SEASON IN MARYLAND. 
Hagerstown, Md., Nov. 30, 1914. 
State Game Warden James P. Curley is of the 
opinion that the present unexpected “closed” 
season in many of the counties of Maryland, be¬ 
cause of the war on the foot-and-mouth disease 
among cattle, will result in the presence of more 
game here next year than has been known for a 
long time. 
Prohibition of gunning in six counties, under 
proclamation by Governor Goldsborough, went 
into effect almost as soon as the hunting season 
opened. Later eight other counties went into the 
list. This prohibition affected a number of the 
