April 30, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
695 
especially the insectivorous birds, and the im¬ 
portance of protecting them. If every hunter 
were required to give a bond in the sum of $100 
or $150 it would have a tendency to reduce the 
number of those who shoot robins and every¬ 
thing else that has feathers. 
At the conclusion of the meeting a collation 
was served. W. E. Wolcott. 
Dinner to F. C. Selous. 
On Saturday, April 23, Frederick Courteney 
Selous, the great African hunter, sailed from 
New York to England, on his way home. 
The night before he sailed Madison Grant, 
secretary of the New York Zoological Society 
and of the Boone and Crockett Club, gave Mr. 
Selous a private dinner at the Union Club, which 
was attended by twenty members of the two 
societies, most of them big-game hunters of 
greater or less experience. Of these men not 
a few had hunted in Africa and other distant 
lands, while others had fared forth nearer at 
home for their meat and their trophies. Among 
the African hunters were Dr. D. G. Elliott, 
George L. Harrison, Jr., Percy C. Madeira, Wil¬ 
liam F. Whitehouse, Hubert Litchfield and a 
number of others. Alaska explorers and hunters 
of the greatest carnivora in the world were rep¬ 
resented by Charles Sheldon and James H. Kid¬ 
der, while among the home-staying hunters, be¬ 
sides the host, there were Percy R. Pyne, Lewis 
Rutherford Morris, C. Grant LaFarge, Winthrop 
Chanler, De Forest Grant and Senator Agnew. 
The occasion being a private one there were 
no set speeches, but Mr. Grant introduced the 
guest to his fellows in a speech of great tact 
and feeling. Mr. Selous then told many interest¬ 
ing stories of his experience of the old hunting 
days and of the old Boer vortrekkers, good men, 
faithful and true, and strong hunters, whom 
he used to associate with in those early days. 
Massachusetts Legislature. 
Boston, Mass., April 23 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The legislative committee on fisheries 
and game has reported to the House a bill estab¬ 
lishing an open season on deer for six days be¬ 
ginning on the third Monday in November for 
the five western counties, approximately one- 
half the area of the State. In this report noth¬ 
ing is said about the repeal of the so-called 
farmers’ law. 
The farmer in Franklin, to whom allusion was 
made last week, told the warden who viewed 
the patch of rye in which the four deer were 
shot that he estimated the damage to his crop 
at $10; the warden’s estimate was twenty-five 
cents. Other men in the same town shot deer, 
but did not call for payment of damages. Is it 
consistent for a man to set up a claim that he 
kills a deer because the law permits him to do 
so, provided he finds the animal causing damage? 
Is it consistent for him to neglect to call for pay¬ 
ment of the damage? In other words, in its 
practical working, is not the law in many cases 
a farce? Up to April 4. when the deer with 
three unborn fawns was killed, there had been 
thirty-four deer slaughtered in our State since 
Jan. 1, 1909, quite a number of which were preg¬ 
nant. From June 14, 1909, to Dec. 31, I am told, 
198 deer were reported to the commission as hav¬ 
ing been killed. 
In 1907 the number of deer reported as seen 
in the State, according to returns made to the 
State commission, was 1,298, and in 1909, 1,594. 
For damage caused by deer in 1907 there was 
paid by the State $2,912.78, while in 1909 $7,923.09 
was paid; that is, while only 296 more deer were 
seen in 1909 than in 1907, the damages collected 
were $5,010.31 more. Evidently “the farmers,” 
as one of the wardens expressed it, “had been 
getting wise.” Massachusetts has reason to hang 
her head in shame for carrying on her statute 
books such a contemptible law as the farmers’ 
deer law, and now, apparently we are likely to 
add to our disgrace by permitting the slaughter 
of more than one-half the deer now existing in 
the State. 
The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Ani¬ 
mals has sent to the legislators a strong remon¬ 
strance not only against an open season, but also 
against the farmers’ deer law. 
PIenry H. Kimball. 
Continental Field Trial Club. 
The second annual dinner of the Continental 
Field Trial Club was held in the Hotel Lafayette, 
New York city, on the evening of April 21. 
Good fellowship was a conspicuous feature 
throughout, as were also the altruistic purposes 
of the members, as shown by the subscription 
of a fund amounting to $2,500 for purposes of 
research in isolating the germ of distemper, the 
disease above all others so fatal to high-bred 
dogs. 
Judge R. C. Cornell presided as toastmaster 
with infinite tact, his gracious introduction of 
the after dinner speakers tending to bring out 
their best oratorical efforts. Members and guests 
present were as follows: Irving Hoagland, 
Washington A. Coster, Howard Rathbone, Geo. 
D. Cross, Cecil Lyon, Anccll H. Ball, Edward C. 
Hoyt, H. L. Pierson, Jr., Edmund H. Osthaus, 
F. L. Hadkins, Dr. A. Schuyler Clark, Dr. 
Ewing Russell Perkins, Lawrence Perkins, John 
A. White, John A. White, Jr., James Fox, Udo 
M. Fieischmann, Alfred A. Maclay, P. P. Hunt¬ 
ington, Paul J. Rainey, Mr. Lapsey and B. 
Waters. 
Dr. Ewing, of Cornell University, Ithaca, N. 
Y., delivered a most interesting and instructive 
discourse on distemper. He, in touching on the 
efforts to eradicate that disease, recounted a long 
list of varied scientific effort from the first re¬ 
corded attempt to isolate the germ of this disease 
up to the more recent attempts of like kind, the 
net result of which was failure. The Cornell 
laboratory is specially equipped for this special 
form of research in its brilliant staff, its com¬ 
plete scientific equipment and its serious pur¬ 
pose to accomplish a success of what it under¬ 
takes. One of the most difficult obstacles to the 
investigation of distemper is in securing proper 
subjects. The cur dogs of the streets seem to 
be immune to this disease which is so prevalent 
and destructive to the high-bred breeds. If those 
who have such cases will communicate with Dr. 
Ewing, placing such at his disposal, they will 
contribute materially to the furtherance of the 
good cause. 
Udo M. Fieischmann, chairman of the com¬ 
mittee on organization of a central field trial 
body, reported a successful result of the com¬ 
mittee’s efforts, as the United Association of 
Field Trial Clubs was organized. 
Boone and Crockett Club Dinner. 
On the evening of Saturday, April 23, the 
Boone and Crockett Club held a dinner at the 
Metropolitan Club in Washington, D. C., which 
was largely attended, and was one of the most 
enjoyable meetings the club has ever had. Among 
those present were: William J. Boardman, Ad¬ 
miral W. H. Brownson, Arnold Hague, Colonel 
Henry May, A. P. Gordon-Cumming, Senator T. 
H. Carter, Senator J. M. Dixon, Dr. C- Hart 
Merriam and E. W. Nelson, all of Washington; 
Winthrop Chanler, W. Redmond Cross, Bayard 
Dominick, Jr., Madison Grant, George Bird Grin¬ 
ned, Townsend Lawrence, Dr. Lewis Rutherford 
Morris and Charles Sheldon, of New York; 
Judge D. C. Beaman, of Denver; Theodore 
Lyman, of Massachusetts; Percy C. Madeira, of 
Philadelphia; Captain James, of the British Le¬ 
gation, and Colonel John Pitcher, of Edgewater, 
Md. Major W. Austin Wadsworth, of Geneseo, 
N. Y., president of the club, occupied the chair. 
The feature of the meeting, which presented 
especial interest, was the offering of congratula¬ 
tions on the enactment by both Houses of Con¬ 
gress of Senator Carter’s Glacier National Park 
bill, in which the club has always taken an espe¬ 
cial interest. Many of its members have visited 
the region and there killed sheep, goats, bear 
and other big game. Members of the club have 
climbed its highest mountains, and the first 
knowledge of the existence of glaciers in these 
fastnesses was gained many years ago by one 
of these members. Senator Carter, as the father 
of the Glacier National Park bill, gave an ac¬ 
count of its history at some length in most enter¬ 
taining, informative and eloquent fashion, hold¬ 
ing the close attention of his audience and arous¬ 
ing them to much enthusiasm. Senator Carter’s 
colleague, Mr. Dixon, who had charge of the 
bill in conference, was able to report that that 
very afternoon conferees of Senate and House 
had agreed on thq final form of the bill, which 
must be passed again, and will then go to the 
President. Senator Dixon spoke most interest¬ 
ingly on the subject of the Montana buffalo re¬ 
serve, for which he is in large measure respon¬ 
sible, and later other members of the club were 
called on who elaborated somewhat further dif¬ 
ferent subjects which had been brought up. 
Among other things set forth was the true story 
of how the animals, which were the foundation 
of the Allard-Pablo buffalo herd, got over the 
mountains to the Flathead country. This narra¬ 
tive was printed in Forest and Stream in July, 
1902. 
Judge Beaman read some amusing poetry. The 
meeting broke up at a late hour. 
Australian Gould Society. 
A movement is under way in Victoria to es¬ 
tablish a bird protection society modeled after 
the Audubon societies of the United States and 
called the Gould Society, after John Gould, who 
gave the world its first comprehensive knowledge 
of Australian birds. The idea was suggested by 
Dr. H. W. Bryant, of the Australian Ornitholo¬ 
gists’ Union, has received the approval of the 
Director of Education, and has met with great 
favor on the part of the people. The society 
will number among its patrons Sir Thomas Gib- 
son-Carmichael, the Governor of Victoria, and 
many leading public and scientific men. 
