Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, MAY 15, 1909. 
VOL. LXXII.—N 0 . 2 O. 
No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1909, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
Gbougb Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary. 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
127 Franklm Street, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
MAY SIGHTS AND SOUNDS. 
He who is abroad these bright May days sees 
many interesting things. Even though the 
weather be cool and the birds a little late in 
making their appearance, yet the vegetation is 
as far advanced as usual. Weeks ago the snakes 
had come forth from their hiding places and 
were seen coiled up in warm sheltered spots en¬ 
joying the grateful warmth of the sun. Now 
most of the summer bird residents have come 
again, and some of them are already building 
their nests. The ivory, brown-dotted eggs of 
the phoebe bird have been resting for a week or 
more in their cradle on the piazza pillar; robins 
are plastering their newbuilt homes; bluejays and 
a hundred other sorts of birds are carrying build¬ 
ing material about, while in the gnarled old apple 
tree in the fence row the bluebird warbles to 
his mate, sitting in a hole in the rotten branch 
below. Among the birds and the small mammals 
this is a time of activity and much may be seen 
and much learned by him who will use his eyes. 
Acts by this animal or that which, to the un¬ 
observant or the uninstructed, are meaningless, 
may have a profound interest for the trained 
observer. 
Few recreations are more delightful than to 
wander abroad over fields or through lanes or 
woods where now the ground begins to be car¬ 
peted with wild flowers, to learn to know the 
flowers, and to observe the ways of the birds. 
This is a time of hurry and work for the 
student of botany, who finds the plants bloom¬ 
ing for him more rapidly that he can identify 
them. It is a time when we all of us wish to 
be abroad. 
Most of the birds are now in full song, and 
their melody is often confusing to the ear—so 
many songs are heard at once. . From some piece 
of woodland not far away may be heard now 
and then the dull boom of the drumming par¬ 
tridge, the strokes slow at first and gradually 
increasing in speed until the thunderous roar at 
last dies away to silence. Vainly—unless you 
are a trained woodsman—shall you strive to 
creep up to the mating bird and see him as he 
sounds his call. Perhaps, if the day is dull and 
gray and misty, as you sit on a hillside watch¬ 
ing the birch sprouts and surrounding shrubbery 
for warblers, you may see coming toward you 
a large bird whose appearance for a moment 
will puzzle you. He seems to fly uncertainly 
as he comes, and tips and turns, while the down¬ 
ward curved points of his wings suggest the 
ducks of your winter shooting; but when he 
passes you the mystery is revealed, for the long 
bill, the great head and the general aspect of 
the bird seen in profile shows you that a wood¬ 
cock has flown by. You rejoice that at least 
one brood is to be raised near home, and for 
a moment your thoughts fly forward to the 
crisp days of October and November, so dif¬ 
ferent from these soft airs. 
LEGISLATIVE WORK. 
Very little was accomplished at the last ses¬ 
sion of the New York Legislature in the way 
of game and fish legislation. Of the four or five 
bills that were passed, three have already been 
signed by Governor Hughes and are in effect. 
One of these is Mr. Phillips’ bill, which is 
now Chapter ,19 of the consolidated laws. In 
it all the game, forest and fish laws of 1908 re¬ 
main unchanged, but some of the captions and 
subheads are changed to conform with slight 
rearrangement of the sections, and corrections 
in grammar, punctuation, etc., are made. There 
is also a change in the chapter referring to the 
commissioner, whose term of office now dates 
from April 14, 1908. 
Mr. Merritt’s bill, carrying an appropriation 
of $100,000, to be paid counties for expenses in¬ 
curred in fighting forest fires last autumn; and 
Mr. Hamilton’s State game farm bill, have also 
been signed. 
Governor Hughes now has Mr. Hamilton’s 
bill amending the game laws generally, and it 
is believed he will sign it. In this measure, 
which we have already reviewed, the principal 
changes refer to the forest service, but in it the 
season for buck deer is extended two weeks, and 
concessions are made in favor of owners of 
domesticated deer kept in inclosed parks. 
BIRD ENEMIES. 
Two of our correspondents this week refer to 
a subject which deserves careful thought and 
even more careful action. Theodore Gordon 
points out the thoughtlessness of bird lovers who 
are also fond of domestic cats, while Dudley 
Thompson Warren shows a result of taming 
robins and other migratory birds in States where 
they are protected. 
In the Northern States many of the protected 
birds are induced to build their nests in or near 
buildings, and they are fed and sometimes par¬ 
tially tamed. This is commendable, of course, 
but robins for example are included in the list 
of game birds in some of the Southern States, 
and efforts made to tame them here may re¬ 
sult in their destruction on their southward flight 
in the autumn. Accustomed to frequent the 
homes of their Northern friends, if they evince 
similar habits in the South, they are often killed 
for the pot. 
In the course of time the Southern States will 
protect these birds, but until this is done it would 
be well to remember the result of feeding birds 
near our homes. Of course the mere fact that 
they are not molested while in the North causes 
many birds to nest round about houses, but if 
they must be fed. this should not be done near 
dwellings in Mr. Warren’s opinion. 
There are few women who view with calm¬ 
ness the killing of harmless birds by cats. On 
the other hand, there are few owners of cats 
who take any steps to prevent these depreda¬ 
tions. But the taming of birds in places where 
cats are permitted to roam at will means certain 
death to a large maj ority of such birds, and^ so 
far as we know, there is only one preventive, 
and that is to remove the cat from its field of 
activity. 
The theory that cats keep the country home 
free from rats and mice is a pretty one—or 
was before Puss, pampered and overfed, became 
more fond of the heat of the kitchen range or 
the sun than of her traditional hunting fields. 
And now that the birds are encourapd to nest 
near by, almost within her reach, with a mini¬ 
mum of effort she varies her diet now and then 
with 3. nestling and is content. 
To prevent hounds from hunting foxes we 
confine them until ready to accompany them, but 
we encourage song birds to nest near dwellings, 
and at the same time permit one of their worst 
enemies to harry them daily. 
)N another page will be found one_ of Wil- 
a J. Ehrich’s cheerful papers. This one is 
raphic description of tarpon fishing near that 
lous resort of the silver king, Tampico, 
xico. The illustrations are from photographs 
the author. Combined, they give the chamed- 
nisiness angler an excellent idea of what the 
suit of these big fish is like. A second paper 
Mr. Ehrich, which relates some hunting ex- 
iences in Mexico, will appear shortly. Both 
fresh impressions of sport in that country, 
the author returned from the South on y 
ortnight ago. “Trouting on the Rio Grande 
C. A. Cooper, is still another paper soon to 
ear and other prize stories will follow from 
In the canoeing columns there will be printed 
in a short time the first one of a series of 
sketches on canoe cruising in the vicinity of 
New York city. These are by Theodore J. 
Cornu, who has made some beautiful drawings 
to illustrate the text. Mr. Cornu is one of the 
younger artists, but his work shows great 
promise. 
