Forest and Stream 
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NEW YORK, SATURDAY, APRIL 23, I9 io. 
VOL. LXXIV.—No. 17, 
No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
BELL THE CAT. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1910, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer, 
127 Franklin 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 an® Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
GLACIER PARK BILL PASSES HOUSE. 
On Wednesday, April 13, during the call of the 
calendar, the House of Representatives passed 
Senator Carter’s bill establishing the Glacier Na¬ 
tional Park, in the Rocky Mountains of North¬ 
ern Montana. The progress of the bill is most 
gratifying. To be sure there is no reason why 
it should not pass; everyone is in favor of it, 
and its enactment into law can harm no indi¬ 
vidual—now or in the future. Nevertheless it 
is not an easy matter to induce a great legisla¬ 
tive body like the House of Representatives to 
act promptly on a measure of this kind, which 
has behind it only the sentiment for conserva¬ 
tion. Yet there is a practical side to the estab¬ 
lishment of this park, which no doubt appeals 
strongly to many men, for it is a water reser¬ 
voir of enormous value and its future useful¬ 
ness to a great territory in the northern part of 
one of our greatest States cannot at present be 
computed. 
The bill now goes to conference committee, 
where it should meet with no difficulties, and 
when it passes there, will go to the President, 
who may be expected to sign it. The men who 
have followed the narrow trails that lead up 
its valleys or- have climbed its mountain peaks, 
or made their slow way among the rocks and 
over the glaciers in pursuit of sheep, goats and 
bears, will heartily rejoice to see the region on 
the way to being preserved for all time for a 
pleasure ground for the public. 
We believe that the day is not distant when 
great crowds of tourists will-visit this wonder¬ 
ful region. Already many men and women have 
gone into it, led there purely by its beauty, and 
not by the wish to take its fish or its game. The 
number of people influenced by such a motive is 
certain to increase, so soon as the park has been 
established; and this increase will be hastened 
by the efforts of the railroads to popularize the 
region. 
As we have before pointed out, there is every 
probability that a great park, to be called the 
Waterton Park, will be established in the Rocky 
Mountains immediately north of the boundary 
line, and so adjoining the Glacier National Park. 
Hon. Frank Oliver, the Minister of the Interior 
of the Dominion of Canada, appreciates the im¬ 
portance of such parks to the public welfare and 
has shown this appreciation by many acts of 
his administration. He has not only set aside 
many parks and forest reserves, but has favored 
the stocking them with various species of wild 
game. 
A LESSON FROM NEW ZEALAND. 
New Zealand is one of the wonderlands of 
the earth. Cut off from the rest of the world 
by vast stretches of sea, it possesses great fer¬ 
tility, an equable climate, and what is perhaps the 
most marvelous scenery of the whole world. 
Towering mountain peaks, active volcanoes, vast 
snow fields, great glaciers, wonderful geysers 
and tremendous fiords astonish and impress the 
visitor. More wonderful than its scenery is its 
fauna. When the white men landed on its shores 
—save for two small bats and a doubtful rat— 
it was without mammals, except only man. It 
has several birds which seem to have lost the 
power of flight, and which under new con¬ 
ditions—the introduction of predatory mammals 
—are likely soon to become extinct. Here is a 
country where most birds and mammals from 
other lands might be expected to flourish. They 
do so. „ 
In November, 1909, Forest and Stream spoke 
of the shipment then being made from British 
Columbia of some moose for New Zealand. 
Four bulls and six cows were landed at Wel¬ 
lington in excellent condition in February and 
later were set free in the Fiordland National 
Park on the west coast of the South Island. 
Here it is hoped that they will soon become 
acclimatized. Seven or eight years before, there 
was a shipment of moose which were liberated 
in a practically unfrequented country. No re¬ 
port has since been had of them, save that about 
1906 the tracks of a moose were seen on the 
Southern Alps. 
Five years ago seventeen Canadian wapiti were 
taken to New Zealand and set free in one of 
the national parks, where they have done well. 
Red deer from Scotland and Germany, intro¬ 
duced forty years ago, have greatly increased 
in numbers, and smaller deer—two species from 
America, three from Asia and the European 
chamois—have lately been introduced. 
Anglers need not be told of the enormous 
growth in size and productiveness of the trout 
of various species which have been introduced 
into New Zealand waters. Their numbers and 
weight are beyond belief. 
If, in the lands of the North, indigenous wild 
things are disappearing before the march of 
civilization, it is gratifying to know that on the 
other side of the globe there is a place where 
the country and the sentiment of the public 
favors the introduction and protection of the 
species which are disappearing here. Our legis¬ 
lators may well take to heart the lessons taught 
by New Zealand. 
Maud Ballington Booth, of the American 
Volunters, has offered a suggestion which, if 
adopted by owners of domestic cats, will go 
far toward the protection of song birds. Mrs. 
Booth urges cat owners to attach tiny bells to 
collars and put these on their pets, so that, when 
the latter attempt to approach birds, the tinkling 
of the bells will warn the latter of their danger. 
Cat fanciers object to the usual and sure 
method of preventing their pets from killing 
song birds, and a great many of them refuse 
to believe their staid old tabbies guilty of the 
crimes charged, but there cannot be the slightest 
objection to the belling plan. Tiny round bells 
such as are used on sleighs in winter, and 
which are equipped with a rivet, for attach¬ 
ment to a strap, may be purchased for a few 
cents at any saddler’s shop. If some person 
will supply belled collars, making his intentions 
known through the press, we predict that he 
will not regret his enterprise. We do not believe 
that persons who are fond of cats are in¬ 
different to the fact that felines will follow 
their natural bent at every opportunity. The 
difficulty is that owners of pets are fond of 
them, and although they may express the wish 
to be rid of them, they seldom follow out their 
good resolutions. 
Meanwhile the birds, encouraged through 
feeding and the absence of molestation from 
their human friends, build their nests near 
houses and so furnish bait for their stealthy 
enemies during those hours when their human 
protectors are asleep or away. 
Mrs. Booth’s work is chiefly in the interest 
of unfortunate' human beings whom the winds 
of adversity have blown hither and thither, but 
she is also a friend of the birds, and we bespeak 
consideration for her simple plan to save them. 
It deserves the widest publicity in the press. Let 
bird societies, schools, sportsmen’s clubs and in¬ 
dividuals take hold of it. The domestic cat is 
a power for evil wherever it and our birds are 
found. 
Apparently the weight of public opinion 
brought to bear on the prison question is re¬ 
sponsible for the latest decision of the New 
York State Prison Commission. This body has 
decided that, whatever site it may select for the 
new State prison, the buildings to be erected 
will not become one of the landmarks along the 
Hudson River. The proposed institution is to 
take the place of Sing Sing prison, which is on 
the banks of the Hudson at Ossining, but that 
fact need not longer influence the board, since 
there are other sites in abundance that do not 
command a view of the great river, and the 
board is not prohibited from going inland in its 
search. Patriotic societies, sportsmen, and Gov¬ 
ernor Hughes, have all worked hard to keep the 
new prison away from the river. 
