Feb. 5, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
217 
hunting and fishing folks. It may be done in 
schools, teaching children facts of life afield; 
in speaking to individuals, or to store gather¬ 
ings, and regular meetings, but at least protec¬ 
tors should do it somehow. This will make his 
corrective work easier and far more successful. 
The remarks by all the leaders in the depart¬ 
ment, by Mr. Whipple, Mr. Burnham, Mr. Staley 
and Mr. Ward breathed the spirit of “backing 
up the protector who did things.” “When our 
protectors have been on the rack we’ve backed 
them to the limit,” the chief said, a sentiment 
the listeners cheered. 
Always, it was insisted, the officers should be 
dignified, upright, able to look any man in the 
eye, and, if need be, for the State’s sake to 
fight him. 
Gilbert Pierson, secretary of the North Caro¬ 
lina Audubon Society, complained bitterly against 
the monumental injustice of New York State 
toward its sister States, and cited specifically the 
law which permits the killing of wildfowl in 
New York till Jan. 1, and allows the sale of 
cussions and surveying on the outskirts of Al¬ 
bany. v This showed that some of the men 
needed special schooling, while others had long 
experience. 
Superintendent Cary outlined the work. For¬ 
ester Pettis, who is rapidly taking a leading 
place in American forest culture, and is an au¬ 
thority on raising and planting seedling trees 
in this part of America, discussed sylviculture 
at length. 
Forester Moon gave a concrete illustration 
of the misuse and abuse of forests in the High¬ 
lands of the Hudson. Forestry work in Cali¬ 
fornia was described by Forester Howard. 
It will be seen from this account of the an¬ 
nual meeting of the game and forest protectors 
of New York that a large field was covered. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
Hunting on the Pacific Coast. 
San Francisco, Cal., Jan. 26 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: The cold weather that has been 
In the vicinity of Drake’s Bay and Limantour 
Bay black brant are now in evidence and a 
number of these have been bagged during the 
last week or so. Frank Maskey, who made a 
mid-week visit recently to his private grounds, 
had a genuine taste of the cold snap and 
brought back a story that sounded more like 
one from the East than from California. When 
he arrived at the ponds he found them coated 
with ice and had this broken by a keeper and 
decoys put in. He had not waited more than 
a half an hour before the decoys were frozen 
fast. The Cygnus Club ponds were also frozen 
over several times. 
Quail hunters have found conditions quite to 
their liking of late and those who have gone 
forth in search of this game bird have as a rule 
been rewarded with limit kills. In the, vicinity 
of Livermore the birds have been especially 
plentiful and here many of the local sportsmen 
have been enjoying week-end shoots. In Sonoma 
county there has also been some good sport. In 
Santa Barbara county there has been some fine 
the game till March 1, and thus opens the gate 
for the killing of hundreds of thousands of birds 
throughout the South—the very same birds about 
which New York pretends to be solicitious when 
they are in its own waters. “Stop the sale of 
game,” Dr. Pierson cried. And again, “Teach 
the boys and girls the value of birds; stop the 
killing of wild life. We can do it if we want 
to; we can learn about wild life if we wish to 
do so. Teach the young and old about insect 
plagues, and that the bird is man’s friend against 
the vast host of insects.” 
One of the most instructive of the talks for 
the protectors was by Hon. E. J. Staley, of the 
department’s legal staff. It was plain and con¬ 
cise and informed the protectors on such mat¬ 
ters as making arrests, informations, searches, 
enforcing the law, securing and stating evidence. 
John K. Ward, the department’s chief counsel, 
made some remarks which cheered the listeners 
mightily, the gist of which was that any sincere 
and honest endeavor of a protector would have 
the support of the department. 
The protectors were in Albany three days, but 
the newly appointed patrolmen were held over 
for special study in their duties, including dis- 
SUCCORING THE GAME BIRDS AFTER A SNOWSTORM. 
prevailing for the past three weeks is not inter¬ 
fering to any great extent with the sport of 
the duck hunters, as these are taking advantage 
of the last days of the season to visit their 
favorite hunting grounds. At the present time 
it is much more difficult for the local sports¬ 
men to secure limit bags than it has been, for 
the Sacramento River is now high with flood 
waters and the birds are badly scattered in this 
part of the State. In the lower part of the San 
Joaquin Valley, in the vicinity of Tulare Lake, 
even better hunting than has been the rule dur¬ 
ing the past few months is now being enjoyed, 
owing to the fact that food is very fine there, 
and the birds always remain there longer than 
they do on the northern grounds. 
In the vicinity of Knight’s Landing mallards 
and widgeon are to be found by the thousand, 
but it is necessary to use a boat to get near 
them. Hunters shooting on the San Pablo 
marshes state that during the past week the 
sport there has been ruined by the large quan¬ 
tities of crude oil that has been allowed to es¬ 
cape from the nearby refineries. Many birds 
could be picked up along the beach being so 
covered with the heavy oil that they could not fly. 
shooting and the veteran sportsman, A 1 Cum¬ 
mings, has been having some splendid sport 
there. A. P. B. 
Worthy Efforts. 
Owego, N. Y., Jan. 24. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: Several years ago a number of pairs 
of ring-neck pheasants were liberated in this 
locality by the rod and gun club. They have 
considerably increased in numbers and several 
flocks are reported from different sections here¬ 
abouts. A large flock is wintering in a swamp 
about two miles from the village limits, and 
during the unusually deep snow of the past 
three weeks they have been fed by local sports¬ 
men who can be seen each Sunday morning 
starting for the swamp carrying sacks of cracked 
corn and mixed grain. 
The accompanying photographs show a feed¬ 
ing party on arrival at the swamp where the 
first “bait” was made under a haystack, and also 
showing where a bait was made in the middle 
of the swamp. On the morning these photo¬ 
graphs were taken the snow was three feet deep 
on the level. -F. J. D. 
