Forest and Stream 
Terras, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
Six Months, $1.50. 
[ NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 191, 
1 VOL. LXXVI.—N». 2 . 
1 No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
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 in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
ENDOWMENT FUND FOR N. Y. Z. S. 
Since its organization, the New York 
Zoological Society has been in the rather 
extraordinary position of having the charge of 
great institutions, without possessing any in¬ 
come-producing property whatever. The law 
authorized it to collect and care for wild ani¬ 
mals, and assigned a piece of waste land for 
its uses. That the society has secured its 
splendid collections and has housed them in 
elaborate and beautiful quarters in the Zoolog¬ 
ical Park, is due chiefly to the generosity of 
members of the society. A year ago the execu¬ 
tive committee determined to raise an endow¬ 
ment fund of $250,000, and this task has just 
been accomplished. The society and New York 
city are greatly to be congratulated on the 
achievement. 
Wisely managed, great funds, such as the 
Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations, cannot 
fail to be of enormous service to humanity. 
A fund like one of these in the hands of the 
men who in ten years have created the Zoolog¬ 
ical Park and the Aquarium could be made 
the means of a vast amount of work, far- 
reaching in results and of the highest economic 
value, in the conservation of native animals 
and birds and the protection of our streams 
from pollution. 
It may be conceived that the executive com¬ 
mittee will not be satisfied with the endowment 
fund already raised. Of the public and semi- 
philanthropic institutions of New York city, 
like the American Museum of Natural His¬ 
tory, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and 
other institutions more distinctly benevolent, 
many possess large endowments, received by 
gift or bequest; and the Zoological Society, 
which performs so useful a work and whose 
collections last year interested and instructed 
five and one-half millions of people, is likely, 
as its educational value becomes better under¬ 
stood, to receive further gifts and large be¬ 
quests from wealthy persons in New York 
city. The endowment fund just established 
ought to be made ten times larger. 
The credit for raising this fund belongs 
largely to Madison Grant, the secretary of the 
society. Since its establishment, Mr. Grant, 
who was one of the founders, has put into his 
work in behalf of the institution, the best that 
was in him. His labors have been untiring 
and markedly successful, and the Zoological 
Society and the city of which he is native owe 
him a large debt of gratitude. 
FEED THE GAME BIRDS. 
1 here is now no doubt that the severe storms 
of last month were detrimental to the quail. 
Low temperatures, snow, rain and sleet were 
frequent throughout the month, and on at least 
two occasions the mercury fell from twenty to 
forty degrees in a few hours’ time. Judged by 
the average for a score of years, the month was 
unusually cold and stormy, and small game was 
taken at a disadvantage. This was especially 
the case in nearby States where the long drouth 
of summer and autumn affected all vegetation 
and reduced the food supply of the birds. In 
this region the rainfall of the month proved to 
be of little benefit to the people, for the ground 
was frozen and the water, therefore, ran off 
instead of being absorbed and held against this 
year’s needs. 
1 he time is ripe to look after the welfare of 
the birds and small game. Every man who 
shoots will be well repaid in time if he will 
scatter a little grain where it will be found by 
the birds. This may best be done after a storm 
of snow or sleet. Though the winter may or 
may not be a severe one from now on, it will 
be a long one, and with the lack of old-time 
covers the game will need all the attention it 
may receive. 
In this connection it is gratifying to note how 
widespread is the desire to feed game birds. 
Farmers are doing commendable work, and 
sportsmen’s clubs detail members to scatter food 
after every severe storm. In many places local 
papers print frequent reminders that the game 
needs feeding, and mention the names of those 
who are doing their part, thus establishing 
friendly rivalries among communities, all of 
which is praiseworthy. 
GOVERNOR DIX’S RECOMMENDATIONS. 
Governor Dix’s first annual message to the 
New York Legislature contained a surprise for 
those who have followed closely the interests of 
the game, fish and forest conservationists. There 
were rumors that the Governor would probably 
recommend that a division be made in the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission, one depart¬ 
ment to take charge of forestry, and the other 
to protect game and fish, each under a deputy 
commissioner, with a commissioner over both. 
Instead, Governor Dix recommends that the 
Forest, Fish and Game Commission and the 
Water Supply Commission be consolidated. He 
believes that to one commission should be en¬ 
trusted the “very important question of the con¬ 
servation and proper development of the natural 
resources of the State.” He states it as his be¬ 
lief that the conservation of the forests and the 
saving of the stream flow are matters that are 
related in one form or another to each other, 
and that, therefore, they should be placed under 
one jurisdiction, in order to secure efficiency and 
economy. He further favors the establishment 
of manufacturing plants along our system of 
waterways, but throws no light on the important 
question of just how these changes should in his 
opinion be brought about. 
While the Governor favors reforestation of 
denuded and waste lands, and the establishing 
within the forest preserve of tree nurseries, he 
is opposed to the purchase abroad of seedlings 
to be used in this work. 
Thomas M. Osborne, of Auburn, formerly a 
public service commissioner, has been appointed 
Forest, Fish and Game Commissioner to succeed 
H. LeRoy Austin who, on the resignation of 
James S. Whipple, consented to fill the position 
during Governor White’s term. Governor Dix, 
it is asserted, favors a single-headed commis¬ 
sion for the department, with the water supply 
interests as a bureau only within this commis¬ 
sion. At present there are five water supply 
commissioners. 
From the West comes a strange tale of 
hardship, possible riches and impending death 
in Alaska. As a sort of postscript, there is the 
implied defense, “If you don’t believe it, ask 
the man who killed the goose.” It is said that 
Fred Mordaunt, of Webb, Neb., shot a wild 
goose which was unlike other wild geese that 
follow the Missouri and Mississippi south¬ 
ward in December, in that it bore a message 
from a prospector in Alaska. This was at¬ 
tached to the goose’s leg or neck by a bit of 
wire. It is said the message bore date of 
June 15 last, and was signed by George Powers 
of Memphis, who wrote that h e had broken 
his right arm after finding a rich vein of 
gold on Pine Creek north of White Horse 
Pass, Alaska; that he could not walk and was 
unable to cook the little food he had in his 
cabin. That it is possible to catch a wild 
goose while it is moulting is known. To write 
a letter and attach it to a goose, using the 
left hand only, might well be more difficult for 
some persons. 
That there are optimists in Madison county, 
New York, is evident. The Bird and Anglers’ 
Association of that county, in its annual report, 
says its efforts have been productive of such 
satisfactory results that it anticipates that it 
will be able to restock the waters of the county 
with fish and the covers with game birds. Net¬ 
ting in the east end of Oneida Lake has, through 
the vigilance of sportsmen, become a precarious 
calling. 
