Feb. 6, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
215 
ernment had paid out at one time $6,000 in 
bounties on wolves, and the provinee would 
not be justified in increasing the bounty from 
$15 to $25 per head unless Minnesota co¬ 
operated. The class of men who hunted wolves 
engaged in the work for what they could get 
out of it, and naturally preferring $25 to $15 
for a head woidd probably call on Ontario to 
pay for wolves killed in Minnesota. 
The association expressed its approval of the 
sportsman’s platform as framed by Dr. W. T. 
Hornaday, and sent to it after it had been 
adopted by the Camp Fire Club of America 
as its code of ethics. Some discussion oc¬ 
curred over the clause stating that “An Indian 
has no more right to kill wild game or to sub¬ 
sist upon it alt the year round than any white 
man in the same locality.” Mr. Flawkes sug¬ 
gested that as the Indian was in the country 
first, the same conditions should not apply to 
him as to the white man. 
President Reaume said there was a point in¬ 
volved as to what was the extent of the Indian s 
privileges. Treaties were in existence between 
the Indians and the government in Canada, 
under which they were allowed to fish and 
hunt on their preserves, but he claimed that 
those privileges did not extend beyond the 
limits of the preserves. Finally the clause was 
approved, as well as the entire platform. 
A paper by Cy. Warman, on “Wild Life,” 
was received with applause. “The white man,” 
said Mr. Warman, “is just beginning to realize 
that the most attractive thing in life is wild 
life. He is learning that when you rob the 
river of its fish you make it empty and unin¬ 
teresting. When you take the wild life out of 
the woods, the forest becomes a silent, melan¬ 
choly camping place, where thoughtful men sit 
and think, and think—and sometimes they just 
sit. The white man is just beginning to realize 
the loss of what he had helped to destroy.” 
W. E. Meehan, Commissioner of Fisheries 
of Pennsylvania, sent an interesting paper on 
“The Conservation of Non-nest-building Fishes 
of the Great Lakes.” 
'I'he attention of the association was directed 
to the case of two prominent non-residents of 
the Province of Quebec, who some two years 
ago violated its laws by slaughtering two 
female moose on territory leased to American 
sportsmen for hunting and fishing. Though 
these poachers have avoided prosecution by 
staying out of the province, they have secured 
hunting licenses in other provinces. The asso¬ 
ciation promptly resolved to petition all State 
and Provincial governments represented in it, 
for mutual action in such cases, in order that 
information may be supplied to them all, and 
that licenses be refused in all jurisdictions to 
such offenders. 
The principal difference of opinion between 
members of the association arose over the reso¬ 
lution introduced by A. Kelly Evans, “That the 
association is opposed to the principle of States 
or Provinces leasing or selling large tracts of 
wild lands to be used as private game pre¬ 
serves.” The viewpoint of the mover was that 
fish and game were a great State or Provincial 
asset, and that the public spirit of the whole 
continent was averse to handing over la'rge 
tracts for private game preserves. 
American speakers opposed the motion, on 
the ground that nruch might be said on both 
sides of the question, both j\Ir, Richards, of 
Boston, and Mr., Townsend, of Philadelphia, 
dwelling upon the measure of fish and game 
protection which was given by private reserves 
that would be lacking in Quebec without them. 
The motion was defeated almost unanimously, 
after the Quebec Minister of Fisheries, the 
Hon. C. R. Devlin, had objected to the motion 
as invidious to his province, which was the 
only one retaining the system aimed at, and as 
constituting an attack upon the policy of his 
government. Fle showed, too, that only here 
and there were tracts of countrj' leased to 
private individuals or clubs for purposes of 
protection, and that the government had 
enormous territory open to those who wished 
to obtain licenses to hunt or fish. 
The delegates were entertained at luncheon 
by Mayor Oliver and the city of Toronto, on 
the second day of the convention, while on the 
evening of the first day they were banqueted 
by the government of Ontario. The main topic 
of the many speeches delivered was the eco¬ 
nomic importance of fish and game. 
The officers elected were; President, Flon. W. 
E. Meehan. Pennsylvania; Secretary-Treasurer, 
E. T. D. Chambers, Quebec; Vice-Presidents— 
Hon. L. T. Carleton, Augusta, Me.; F. S. 
Hodges, Boston; Henry Russel, Detroit; Hon. 
W.,C. H. Grimmer, St. Stephens, N. B ; Hon. 
W. C. Witherbee, Port Flenry, N. Y.; A. Kelly 
Evans, Toronto; General F. G. Butterfield, 
Derby L.ine, Vt.; S. A. Megeath, Franklin, Pa.; 
Dr. Geo. E. Porter, Bridgeport, Conn. Execu¬ 
tive Committee—J. F. Sprague, Mons.on, Me.; 
George H. Richards, Boston; Lion. J. D. 
Hazen, St, John, N. B.; Chas. H. Wilson, 
Glens Falls, N. Y.; Oliver Adams, Toronto; 
H. G. Elliott. Montreal; Nelson W. Fisk, Ver¬ 
mont; F. A. Phelps, Wilkes-Barre; J. C. Cham¬ 
berlain, Bridgeport. 
The meeting for 1910 will be held in Phila¬ 
delphia. E. T. D Chambers. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 25. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Duck shooting on the Suisnn 
marshes is an impossibility at the present time, 
and it is quite likely that the season may be 
regarded as being at an end so far as this sec¬ 
tion of the State is concerned. The Sacramento 
and San Joaquin rivers have overflowed their 
banks in disastrous floods and the entire coun¬ 
try in the vicinity of the capital is one vast in¬ 
land sea. Conditions will not be normal before 
the middle of February, when the open season 
ends, and what shooting will be done will be 
along the small streams in the San Joaquin 
valley where the flood is confined to a narrow 
area. 
Quail hunters are looking forward to the next 
three weeks with anticipations of better sport 
than has been their lot so far this season. The 
reason for the birds being so scarce has been 
explained by the theory that they had taken to 
the wooded ridges and would not come out into 
the open until the rains occurred. In the mean¬ 
time one of' the greatest storms that the State 
has known in many years has taken place, and 
according to the opinions of those who have 
made the subject a study, there should be an 
increase in the bags secured. There are those, 
however, who believe that the birds are really 
becoming extinct as a result of the combined in¬ 
roads of hunters and vermin. From all appear¬ 
ances the storm has broken now,, and within a 
week hunters should be able to tell more about 
the quail situation. 
The fish commission has just received by ex¬ 
press a consignment from Bohemia of 550 Hun¬ 
garian partridges. The birds were three weeks 
on the way and the total loss was but fifteen, a 
remarkable showing in the shipment of wild 
birds. Immediately upon their arrival many of 
the new game birds were sent to different sec¬ 
tions of the State to be liberated in favorable 
localities. Others were taken to the newly es¬ 
tablished game farm near Haywards and will 
be kept until later in the spring. This is the 
third shipment of these partridges to this State, 
and the earlier shipments have done well and are 
multiplying rapidly. A. P. B. 
oeb! North Carolina Game Bird^. 
Raleigh, N. C., Feb. i .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The North Carolina Legislature is in 
session, but as yet few bills relative to game 
have been introduced. The only one of public 
interest is designed to prohibit the killing of 
quail and swan for two years. This will hardly 
pass as regards quail. The comment has been 
made that it would be better as regards quail 
to enact a law forbidding their sale for a term 
of years. One bill introduced prohibits the 
running at large of bird dogs during the breed¬ 
ing season of quail. It has been ascertained 
that in this State the losses on account of dogs 
eating the eggs and also the young birds is 
very heavy. No census has been made of dogs 
in the State, since there is no general dog tax— 
dogs not being-property here unless they are 
listed for taj'.ation—but in the places where 
there is a dog tax it is found that the number 
of dogs is unexpectedly great. 
The winter has been open and December was 
the third warmest in twenty-two years, so that 
duck and goose shooting has not been high- 
class. I went through the whole stretch of the 
North Carolina sounds during the Christmas 
holidays and saw hundreds of thousands of 
geese and ducks, but they w»re wild and kept 
well away from our i^acht, as a general thing. 
Not so many licenses for gunners have been 
sold this season as in some former years. In 
some sections quail are scarce, but in some they 
are really abundant. Invariably the high places, 
well drained, are where they are most numer¬ 
ous, whether in sandy or clay country, and this 
shows how much the August rains and floods 
had to do with drowning broods and even old 
birds. 
There are now 17 game preser\-es in the State 
worth speaking of, the largest, that of Mr. 
Vanderbilt, containing 125,000 acres. In this 
there are many of the native pheasants or 
grouse. In some of the other preserves Eng¬ 
lish or Mongolian pheasants have been intro¬ 
duced, and in two localities the latter have 
thriven and have spread to adjoining territory 
and five counties protect them. The largest 
flock of the Mongolian is said to number about 
8,000. 
No matter how land may be cleared and no 
matter what mai^ happen, there is one kind of 
game which does not seem to diminish in 
North Carolina, the rabbit. Fred. A. Olds. 
