242 
FOREST AND STREAM 
American Cranes Threatened with Extinction 
Three Thousand of One Species Shot in Single Day on a Small Marsh. 
Washington, D. C.—The white crane, one of 
the ‘most striking of North American, birds, 
once seen in great numbers on our prairies, is 
now almost extinct. Those individuals of a 
smaller species, the sandhill crane, which nest 
in Florida, also seem doomed. Owing to their 
harmless habits, economic worth, and the danger 
to which they are subject, the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture’s biologist thinks that all cranes 
should be carefully protected. Other members 
of the same family also are in need of protective 
state legislation; otherwise they will soon be 
creatures of the past like the white crane. 
The Carolina rail or sora, a bird allied to the 
crane, has existed until recently in great num¬ 
bers in the marshes of the Atlantic states. It 
is so highly prized as a table delicacy that it is 
slaughtered in great numbers. As many as 3,000 
have been shot in a single day on a marsh of 
500 acres. It is absolutely harmless, breeds 
only in places not suited for agricultural pur¬ 
poses, and if given a fair chance will survive 
as a game bird long after many others have 
been compelled to give way before the advance 
of agriculture. Immediate steps should be 
taken by the states to decrease the bag limit 
for the sora. 
The rails are marsh or meadow-breeding 
birds, and differ from the cranes in appearance 
and habits, although they belong to the same 
family. There are valuable rails besides the 
sora, some of which oan probably maintain 
their numbers in spite of persecution, since they 
are secretive and spend most of their time well 
concealed in rank swamp vegetation. Rails 
breeding in salt marshes, however, need more 
effective protection, although they are not in as 
much danger as is the sora. The Department’s 
biologist thinks that they should be allowed to 
breed in peace, and that the robbing of their 
nests, particularly of clapper rails, should be 
prohibited. 
The coot is a member of the rail family and 
has a wide range over the United States. Al¬ 
though it is much despised by many hunters 
who class it with the crow as a food bird, never¬ 
theless, under some conditions, it is a delicacy. 
After this bird has been fattened on wild rice, 
which is the best of all duck foods, it appeals 
much more to the taste than when it has fed 
for many weeks on the animal life of the salt¬ 
water marshes. 
There are 21 kinds of rails and their cousins 
the cranes, coots, and gallinules in the United 
States. Some are migratory and some are not. 
Much misunderstanding has arisen in regard to 
the powers of flight of certain of these birds. 
The sora’s flight is so slow and labored that the 
bird seems unable to fly long distances, and some 
writers have even supposed that it performed 
its migration on foot. As a matter of fact, the 
sora often travels not less than 2,500 miles and 
sometimes as much as 3,000. Great numbers of 
them make the hundred-mile flight between Flo¬ 
rida and Cuba, and there is every reason to be¬ 
lieve that some easily cover the 500-mile passage 
from Florida to Yucatan. 
Precise information as to the ranges of the 
North American cranes, rails, and others of this 
family is given in a new bulletin of the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture. This is a profes¬ 
sional paper, and is hardly of general interest. 
However, it furnishes data that should be valu¬ 
able as a basis for protective legislation in the 
respective states where these valuable game birds 
are found. 
CAMP FIRES AND FOREST FIRES. 
The average conflagration caused by campers 
is due to thoughtlessness or ignorance. The 
camp-fire is kindled in a spot where it is certain 
to spread to inflammable material in contact, and 
where,, when once started, there can be no pos¬ 
sible. mastery of it; or camp is abandoned and 
the fire is left burning, subsequently to com¬ 
municate and spread. The tyro is apt to be 
blissfully ignorant of the dire result which may 
attend his striking a match in the woods. The 
man from the city cannot begin to realize until 
he witnesses it what a terrible phenomenon is a 
forest fire, how quick it is to start, how fierce to 
burn, how impossible to subdue. Only when 
one has had the teaching of actual observation 
can it be understood that an abandoned camp-fire 
may smoulder for days and days, making its 
way below the surface, until at last, coming to 
the top, it is fanned into flame. Of a camping 
party, the members most in dread of setting the 
woods on fire are the old guides who have had 
the longest experience. 
There are a few rules the careful observance 
of which will prevent disaster from camp-fires, 
and which, though they are extremely simple 
and easy of observance, are often disregarded. 
Never build a fire where its flame can com¬ 
municate to grass or brush or branches of trees. 
Never build a fire where the sparks can be car¬ 
ried to brush or trees, or leaves or grass. 
Never build a fire without first noting the 
lay of the land with respect to controlling it after 
it is kindled. 
Never leave camp for the day with the fire to 
burn unattended. Extinguish it thoroughly. 
Under no circumstances, when moving camp, 
leave the fire to burn or smoulder. Put it out. 
To extinguish a fire built upon the ground 
where there is turf, the roots of trees, or other 
vegetable matter in the soil, pour water upon it 
until the ground is thoroughly soaked, then dig 
around 'about and well outside the circumfer¬ 
ence, throwing the earth in toward the center, 
and then wet it down again. It is cheaper to 
tote water even up hill for this purpose than 
to bear the after-burden of responsibility on one’s 
conscience for a conflagration due to laziness 01 
shiftlessness. 
“FELIS” OR “FELIX”—HE SMILES NOT. 
Dear Forest and Stream'. 
I'm writing on the rail of the to-Portland, 
Maine boat, with rods and landing net in my 
stateroom, contentment in my heart, and a great 
joy in mind over an accidental printer-slip in 
your “Pete” of dear old Nessmuk, before me. 
Felix con color! Now just let that printer-man 
tell us if he had been painting the town red, that 
he should charge Fclis concolor with getting 
“happy.” 
I’ve never met Mr. or Mrs. Concolor myself 
outside the safe precinct of a zoo, and know 
not their habit in the quiet of their own 100 mile 
square backyard; but all I ever did see looked 
like vixens, and the masculine accompaniment. 
They took no joy in society. They cussed you 
up and down if you offered a friendly peanut; 
misguided attention, of course, to a meat eater, 
but forgivable—and the world at large on them 
had evidently soured. 
I forgive them, for I might feel likewise be¬ 
hind the bars myself. However, did anyone ever 
see our panther smile? 
JOHN PRESTON TRUE. 
