816 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 21, 1910. 
tion of the health of the people, the vast majority 
of whom must drink the water of our rivers 
and streams whether it is pure or polluted. This 
subject is of the vastest importance, not only 
because of the necessity to protect fish life in the 
streams and lakes, but to protect the health of 
the people who are compelled to drink the water; 
and I, therefore, earnestly urge legislation that 
will protect from pollution and prevent from 
contamination the rivers, streams and other 
waters of the State.” F. G. G. 
New York Legislature. 
The Assembly has passed these bills: 
Assemblyman Whitney’s, authorizing the con¬ 
struction of State and county highways upon 
State lands in the forest preserve. 
Assemblyman Vosburgh, amending the game 
law so as to protect fish and game in private 
parks. 
The Senate has passed the bill of Assembly- 
man Lupton, making the open season on Rob¬ 
bins Island as long as it remains the property 
of the Robbins Island Club, and Gardners Island, 
for English pheasants the same as for quail, 
Oct. 15-Jan. 31. 
The Senate has passed these bills: 
Senator Alt’s, providing that there shall be no 
open season for black and gray squirrels. 
Senator Rose’s, in relation to hooking suckers 
through the ice in Sullivan county. 
Assemblyman Reed’s, in relation to the open 
season for lake trout in Owasco Lake. 
Senator Holden’s, establishing a State College 
of Forestry at Syracuse University. 
The Senate finance committee has reported 
favorably Assemblyman Allen’s bill to enlarge 
the fish hatchery at Bemus Point, on Chautauqua 
Lake. It is now up for third reading. 
Senator Davis and Assemblyman J. S. Phil¬ 
lips have introduced in their respective Houses 
a bill extending the application of the provisions 
(Section 72) for the regulation of railroads in 
the forest preserve counties to prevent forest 
fires, so that they may apply to any persons or 
companies operating such railroads instead of 
only to railroad companies. It was advanced to 
third reading. 
Senator Plamilton and Assemblyman J. S. Phil¬ 
lips have introduced a bill increasing from 
eighty-five to ninety the number of game pro¬ 
tectors by the forest, fish and game commis¬ 
sioner. Also advanced to third reading. 
Recent Publications. 
In Closed Territory, by Edgar Beecher Bron¬ 
son. Paper, 299 pages, nearly 100 illustra¬ 
tions from photographs. Chicago, A. C. Mc- 
Clurg & Co. 
This is one of the latest of the African books 
recently offered to the public. It is written by 
Edgar Beecher Bronson, who is also the author 
of ‘‘Reminiscences of a Ranchman.” It is a nar¬ 
rative of personal adventures printed in 1910 and 
with an introduction by W. T. Hornaday. 
The “Closed Territory” which gives the book 
its title is a vast stretch of country lying to the 
north and south of the open shooting districts, 
into which no traveler may pass without a per¬ 
mit from the Governor. 
Mr. Bronson journeyed through sections of 
this territory, killing much game and having 
many adventures—some of them dangerous. He 
took a multitude of photographs, of which those 
of the natives are especially interesting, since 
the mere picture of a dead animal lying on the 
ground is not especially attractive. 
The book is vividly written and no one who 
purposes a journey to Africa should overlook it. 
Camera Adventures in the African Wilds, by 
A. Radclyffe Dugmore, F.R.G.S. Decorated 
cloth. 233 pages, illustrated with 140 repro¬ 
ductions from photographs, $6 net. New 
York, Doubleday, Page & Co. 
It is only nine years since Doubleday, Page & 
Co. published Wallihan’s volume entitled “Camera 
Shots at Big Game,” which caused a real sensa¬ 
tion among big-game hunters. At that time those 
pictures were regarded as astonishing, as indeed 
they were. No one then looked forward to a 
day when we should see the great game of 
Africa pictured in the same way, and, by means 
of improvements in photographic implements and 
methods, brought even closer to us than were 
Wallihan’s figures of our Rocky Mountain game. 
“Camera Adventures in the African Wilds,” 
by A. Radclyffe Dugmore, is an interesting ac¬ 
count of African travel and ofi the animals found 
there, but the astonishing thing about it is that 
it is illustrated by 140 photographs from life by 
the author. On these pages we see the most 
wonderful collection of pictures of living ani¬ 
mals that has ever been brought together. Mr. 
Dugmore is probably the most skillful and ac¬ 
complished photographer of outdoor life in the 
world. He is untiring, he has the best known 
implements, the taking of his picture means to 
him more than anything else, and in the course 
of his work he calmly focused on a charging 
rhinoceros, until it was within fifteen yards of 
him. Then his companion fired at the brute and 
good luck turned it; but one cannot help say¬ 
ing to himself, suppose it had not turned? Mr. 
Dugmore’s comment on this incident is: “It had 
been very exciting work, and as we sat down to 
recover from the nervous strain we could not 
help thinking that photographing charging rhi¬ 
noceros was great sport, but not intended for 
people with weak hearts.” 
Mr. Dugmore does not profess to offer infor¬ 
mation as to how animals should be shot. He 
takes his pleasure in hunting with the camera, 
where the excitement and difficulties of approach 
and the permanence of the reward make the 
camera a weapon far more interesting than the 
rifle. 
The pictures in this book are direct photo¬ 
graphic reproductions of the original photograph 
without retouching or faking of any sort. They 
include a multitude of wild beasts, from the 
lion and rhinoceros on the one hand to the dik- 
dik and the gazelle on the other. There are 
many photographs of the natives, of caravans, 
or safari—on the march or resting; pictures of 
giraffes, of zebras and of wonderful scenery. It 
is a book of very great interest and tells stories 
of African life as no mere words can depict it. 
Montana Game. 
Will B. Shore writes us from Gardiner, 
Mont., that in his section of the country the 
game wintered well and that this fall they will 
have plenty of elk, deer and bear. 
THE TOP RAIL. 
Did you ever notice how close is the relation 
between environment and advertising? Here is 
an example: In a town which is a sort of 
jumping off place for big-game hunters, a drug 
firm advertises that it will give a rifle as a 
premium to every person who will sell a given 
number of boxes of pills. The pills, according 
to the ad., are a panacea for nearly all human 
ailments. Whether or not they may be used in 
the rifle is not stated. 
* * * 
In an excellent booklet on outdoor sport, in 
a chapter devoted to camping, appears this para¬ 
graph : 
“Do not forget to take a good can-opener.” 
In the course of thirty years of camping, 
traveling via canoe, pony, burro, afoot and in 
wagons, it has never occurred to me that a can 
opener is a camp necessity. An axe or even a 
knife is the handiest can opener made. One 
cut across the end of a can, another at right 
angles to the first, turn up the four end of the 
tin, and there you are. Besides, an axe is use¬ 
ful in other ways. After this I will look in all 
good outdoor manuals for advice as to trans¬ 
porting a four-post bedstead across a portage 
or on a burro. 
* * * 
How would some of you—who have often 
said, while playing a goodly trout, “It’s a whale" 
—like to see a whale landed and to help in 
playing it? The New York Fishing Gazette 
tells how one whale was landed as follows: 
“After five hours and a half of hauling and 
tugging, the pilot boat Florida towed into 
Sabine, Tex., the other day a ninety-foot whale, 
very much alive and protesting vigorously. The 
monster stranded in about two fathoms of water 
three miles off Sabine bar, and when sighted 
by a dredge was mistaken for a wrecked barge. 
The pilot boat was dispatched to the aid of the 
supposed disabled craft.” 
• * * 
In a British magazine there appear, on pages 
that face one another, articles on guns and shoot¬ 
ing. In one article there is a carefully worded 
comparison of double guns with repeating guns 
of every sort, to the detriment of the latter, 
which, it naively says, are regarded by shooters 
of Scotland and England as unsportsmanlike. 
On the opposite page is an equally well written 
article on swivel guns, with an illustration of 
a modern gunning launch equipped with three 
cannons. Colonel Hawker, the writer states, was 
probably mistaken in thinking he could kill wild¬ 
fowl at 250 yards with a swivel gun, whereas 
modern punt gunners consider it necessary to 
approach within sixty to eighty yards of wild¬ 
fowl it is desired to pot. 
Grizzly King. 
