Forest and Stream 
Term*. $3 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. , 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY , 8 . 1911. , 
VOL. LXXVI.— N«. 7. 
No. 127 Franklin St.. New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1911, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer, 
127 Fran klin 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. 
WHAT OF THE WOODCOCK’S RANGE? 
An important question comes up. Must the 
naturalists change their records with regard to 
the woodcock? Are we justified in averring that 
westward the wily woodcock wends his wander¬ 
ing way? Or must we declare that we are men 
from Missouri and believe that these people who 
report the woodcock west of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains—and even on the very shores of the Pacific 
Ocean—have been mistaken, and demand from 
them an authenticated specimen of the bird taken 
on that coast? 
1 he three men who have reported the wood¬ 
cock from beyond the Rocky Mountains are men 
of mature years—men who know the woodcock 
and aie not likely to be led away by enthusiasm. 
One of them, Mr. Belknap, had the birds in his 
hand in Washington—then a territory; another, 
Mr. Parker, was very close to the bird; while 
the third, Mr. Leach, reports a California speci¬ 
men, not of his own knowledge, but on the au- 
thority of a man whom he refers to as a natu¬ 
ralist. Are they all mistaken? 
While these reports seem to make it very prob¬ 
able that the woodcock has been observed on the 
Pacific slope, certainty can be had only by the 
production of a specimen authenticated as from 
that region. 
In the case of at least one of the grouse, there 
is every reason to believe that the species has 
spread westward, following the cultivation of the 
soil; but this fact has little or no bearing on the 
distribution of a bird like the woodcock so far 
from its usual range. On the other hand it 
must be remembered that the woodcock is secre¬ 
tive and mysterious in its habits, and extremey 
hkeiy to be overlooked in a country not at all 
settled or very sparsely inhabited. 
Pi view of the interest awakened, it is probable 
that the question at issue will be settled during 
tne coming season. 
THE WEEKS BILL. 
Before this issue of Forest and Stream 
leaches its readers, the United States Senate 
will have voted on the Weeks Appalachian 
Forest Preserve bill. The situation in Washing¬ 
ton on the eve of taking this vote is described 
by our Washington correspondent in another 
column. 
Up to the present time all the great national 
reservations have been located in the West, and 
the citizen of the Eastern or Southern States 
w ho wishes to go to one of these recreation cen¬ 
ters must make a long journey to reach it. It 
seems only reasonable and fair that now Con¬ 
gress should provide for the citizens of the 
Eastern States great reservations nearer to their 
homes. 
Reservations in the Appalachians and in the 
\\ hite Mountains will provide refuges where 
many of our game animals and birds may live 
unmolested. The establishment of such refuges 
for the wild creatures have long been called for 
by the best sportsmen. 
Most piactical, however, and most important 
from the economic standpoint is the increase 
in stream flow which would follow the establish¬ 
ment of these reservations. 
The bill is reported likely to pass the Senate, 
the only danger being that it may be blocked by 
amendments which would send it to conference 
committee. 
the maritime powers interested by which pelagic 
sealing shall be put an end to, and it is just 
announced from Washington that an agreement 
has practically been reached between the United 
States, Great Britain, Russia and Japan for the 
preservation of the seal herds of the Bering Sea. 
ihe details of the arrangement have not as 
\et been made public, but it may be inferred 
that one of its provisions is the prohibition by 
the powers named of pelagic sealing. Some 
equitable arrangement may surely be reached 
by which th e powers that do not own seal islands 
shall unite with those owning them to prohibit 
oceanic sealing and to enforce the prohibition. 
It is reported that the State Department is 
considering the question of calling an interna¬ 
tional conference to discuss measures for the 
protection of the seal herds. There are a num¬ 
ber of seal rookeries in the southern hemisphere, 
and there is no reason why these herds should 
not be considered in such a conference as well 
as those of the Bering Sea. 
The ten-thousand-acre forest reserve in 
Somerset and Westmoreland counties, in Penn- 
be T en namcd aftcr Gove ™or Stuart 
that State. In paying this compliment to the 
to 'ZhY S,a,e F ° res,ry Commission I,ad 
tion Th ' ,n " r ' S ' has ,aken conserva- 
• he great tract is an important one, for 
Rivo° r VerS Tf Part ° f thC headwaters of th e Ohio 
er. It was acquired by the State through 
appropriations. 
TO SAFE THE FUR SEAL. 
Ihe progressive decrease in numbers of the 
fur seals of the Bering Sea has long been a 
cause of anxiety to all who are interested in the 
presei vation of notable or useful forms of ani¬ 
mal life. 
For many years the chief cause of this dimi¬ 
nution of seal life has been the slaughter at sea 
of the female seals by vessels manned by sub¬ 
jects of the United States, Great Britain and 
Japan, these female seals while nursing their 
young are obliged to make journeys of sixty 
or seventy miles for food, and on these journeys 
many of them are killed by the sealers, and their 
pups, deprived of food by the death of the 
mothers, perish of starvation. The drain on the 
seal herd is, therefore, chiefly on the female 
seals, and has caused a terrible reduction in the 
breeding stock. It is as if a farmer should kill 
his cows, his ewes or his hens to sell to the 
butcher. 1 he result of such a destruction can¬ 
not be doubtful. The seal herds will be more 
and more reduced, until finally they will become 
so small that it will not be worth the while of 
the sealers to fit out vessels to take them. Thus, 
while absolute extinction will not take place so 
long as the breeding grounds are protected, the 
economic value of the herds will be destroyed. 
For twenty years or more the United Staites, 
which has a large financial interest at stake, has 
been endeavoring to come to an agreement with 
NEW JERSEY FISH AND GAME. 
Ihe State of New Jersey is to be congratu¬ 
lated on the good judgment shown by its board 
of fish and game commissioners in securing ex¬ 
pert information on past legislation in New 
Jersey and suggestions for future laws for sub¬ 
mission to the Legislature. The board secured 
the services of Charles E. Brewster, of the Bio¬ 
logical Survey of Washington, and his report is 
referred to on another page. 
The historical part of the report, which gives 
a list of the acts bearing on fish and game from 
eaily colonial days down to the present time, is 
exceedingly interesting, but much more practical 
aie the present day suggestions which are given. 
In his letter of transmittal, Mr. Brewster 
points out that the State of Maine has demon¬ 
strated the value of its fish and game from the 
financial point of view by being able to show 
through its commission that more than $17,000,- 
000 is each year received by the people of Maine 
for the game and fish taken in that State. Maine 
has long stood in the forefront of the battle for 
protection, while the State of New Jersey has 
been slow to avail itself of this great asset. It 
is lemembered that in New Jersey the heath 
hen lingered longer than elsewhere in the East, 
except in the island home in Massachusetts where 
a few biids still remain. Even living men can re¬ 
call when heath hens used to be killed in some 
of the counties of New Jersey. 
In all the Union no State possesses greater natu¬ 
ral advantages for game preservation than New 
Jersey, and it is quite time that the State au¬ 
thorities took measures to nurture and cultivate 
the va'uable crop that can be raised within its 
borders. 
Game protectors everywhere will do well to 
secure a copy of this report, and the board, we 
are sure, will be glad to give it as wide currency 
as possible. 
