258 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 18, 1911. 
Latham’s Duck Shooting. 
Altadena, Cal., Feb. 5.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Your San Francisco correspondents 
account of Mr. Latham’s duck shooting at the 
Bolsa Chica Gun Club is very misleading. I was 
a close observer of the flight of the airship and 
of its effect on the waterfowl. Mr. Latham, who 
is a keen sportsman, was invited to the club the 
week previous, and from terra firma easily got 
his limit in two or three hours. At that time 
it was proposed to him to sail over the marshes 
and nearby ocean, more to determine the effect 
of an airship on the waterfowl than from the 
expectation of bagging any ducks. 
Many stories of the dire results to bird life 
were in circulation in the vicinity of the aviation 
held. Someone had seen a lone spoony drop 
dead on seeing one of these horrible man-birds 
in flight. This was a sample of the stories that 
were heard as one passed around. Mr. Latham 
and the club members were curious to find out 
what the real results were, and for this purpose 
he was invited to make the test. 
\s the airship approached the lagoon just 
below the club house, about one hundred leet 
above the water, the waterfowl, including coots, 
? hore birds and ducks, rose en masse, flying 
ahead of the machine for a short distance, then 
turned sharply at right angles and left it. Many 
of them returned to the rear and again settled 
on the lagoons. Some crossed to the ocean. 
Latham turned and followed them, and by a 
lucky downward shot knocked down a blue- 
bill. He could not shoot in any other direc¬ 
tion, as the wings of the airship were in the 
way. He shot a dozen times altogether, but with¬ 
out further results. 
Over the ocean and the marshes he sailed for 
about three-quarters of an hour, jumping up 
thousands of birds. They flew from the mon¬ 
ster, and then quietly settled down again. On 
the marsh which parallels the ocean, with sail 
dunes between, the ducks on shooting days rise 
in a body at the opening fusilade and go to the 
ocean, the majority remaining there during the 
day; but Latham did not cause them to do this 
to any great extent. The second day afterward, 
being a shooting day, the birds were apparently 
as plentiful, and the shooting as good as before. 
The members of the Bolsa Chica Club are 
among the most law-abiding and representative 
men among our citizens, and have no intention 
of encouraging or inaugurating an airship hunt¬ 
ing club even if this were a feasible thing. This 
experiment proved to everyone who observed 
it the utter impracticability of such a method. 
It showed also that the ducks are in much less 
danger from an airship than from an old-fash¬ 
ioned duck blind. L. S. 
ing against the rulings of the State Game Com¬ 
mission restricting fishing in waters near the two 
cities mentioned. The resolutions allege that 
Commissioner Miller could not legally prevent 
or restrict the fishing in these waters. The two 
boards of trade appointed Secretary Ditch to 
present the resolutions to the commission and 
to hold a conference with Mr. Miller on the 
subject. The fishermen in and near Morgan 
City and Berwick claim that they cannot make 
a living if the orders of the commission are 
carried out. 
Members of the commission have gone to 
Morgan City with a view of adjusting the con¬ 
troversy, if possible. The fishermen and a num¬ 
ber of citizens in Assumption parish protested 
against the seining in Verret Lake by fishermen 
engaged in selling fish. Objection was especially 
to seining in Lake Verret. The commercial in¬ 
terests in Morgan City and Berwick took up the 
question and alleged that they have a right to 
seine and fish in the waters of Lake Verret. 
President Miller gave orders prohibiting the 
seining in the lake. It seems probable the com¬ 
mission will decide in favor of Assumption 
parish people and prohibiting seining in Lake 
Verret. F. G. G. 
New York Legislature. 
Season Closing. 
New Orleans, La., Feb. 6 . —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The hunting in the past ten days has 
been very poor on account of the hot weather. 
The hunting season has almost closed and very 
few ducks will be marketed from now on. The 
deer season has closed. A number of quail are 
being hunted. Wild turkeys have been abundant 
this year. The season as a whole has been suc¬ 
cessful. 
The Boards of Trade of Morgan City and 
Berwick have adopted strong resolutions protest- 
Assemblyman Brereton, of Warren county, has 
introduced a bill relating to fishing in Lake 
George. 
Senator Griffith and Assemblyman Wilson, of 
Ontario county, have introduced a bill increas¬ 
ing from ten to twenty-five cents clerks fees for 
issuing hunters’ licenses. 
Assemblyman Shannon, of Steuben county, has 
introduced three bills of interest to anglers in 
Lake Keuka. 
Assemblyman C. W. Phillips, of Monroe 
county, has introduced these bills: Providing 
that the open season for hares and rabbits shall 
be from Oct. 1 to Dec.' 31, both inclusive. It 
also provides that no person shall take more 
than six hares or rabbits in any one day or 
transport more than six on a single trip. Hunt¬ 
ing of rabbits or hares with ferrets is prohibited 
by the bill, and possession of ferrets is made 
presumptive evidence of their illegal use. 
Substituting the month of November in place 
of October as the month during which male 
pheasants may be taken on Thursdays and Satur¬ 
days in Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Wyoming 
and Wayne counties; pheasants to be taken or 
possessed in Fulton county from Nov. 1 to Dec. 21. 
Assemblyman Levy, of New Y"ork, has intro¬ 
duced a bill prohibiting the sale or having in 
possession of any part of the plumage of any 
wild bird coming from without the State having 
plumage similar to that yielded by birds native 
in the State and protected by the section. At 
present selling or having in possession plumage 
of such birds is prohibited, provided they be¬ 
long to the same family as the birds within the 
State protected by the section. 
By Senator Bussey and Assemblyman Pierce 
changing the open season for hares and rabbits 
in Wyoming county from Sept. 16 to Dec. 31, in¬ 
clusive. The bill also prohibits the hunting of 
hares and rabbits with ferrets in Wyoming 
county and makes the possession of ferrets with¬ 
in the county presumptive evidence of their 
illegal use. 
The Fur Seals of Bering Sea. 
The gratifying announcement from Washing¬ 
ton that the State Department has reached a 
substantial agreement with Great Britain, Russia 
and Japan for the preservation of the fur seal 
herds of the Bering Sea lends special interest 
to a few words on this question from the pen 
of Dr. Chas. H. Townsend in the American 
Museum Journal. Dr. Townsend is one of the 
first living authorities on the fur seal and its 
habits, having spent a number of years on the 
islands in the Bering Sea, and during other 
seasons having been engaged following the long 
winter journeyings of the fur seals. It was he 
who gathered those data which finally enabled 
him to plot the course of the wandering herds. 
Dr. Townsend says: 
"With the development of ocean or pelagic 
sealing, the killing of female seals began, and 
this naturally resulted in the rapid reduction of 
the breeding stock. Twenty-five years ago, with 
perhaps 4,000,000 seals in sight, it was possible 
to kill annually 100,000 male seals on the Pribilof 
Islands without injury to the herd. To-day 
with a herd of less than 175,000 seals remaining, 
the island catch of males is seldom more than 
10,000. 
“The annual ocean sealing catch, consisting 
chiefly of females, has in the meantime dwindled 
from an average of 80,000 a year to a paltry 
10,000, while the sealing fleets, which once num¬ 
bered 120 vessels, now consists of fewer than 
thirty vessels. 
"The condition of the Asiatic seal herd is much 
worse, for both the land and sea catch have de¬ 
creased to less than one-third of that derived 
from the American herd. The restoration of 
both herds to their former abundance and com¬ 
mercial importance can be brought about only 
by the complete suppression of ocean sealing. 
“\s a result of the long continued investiga¬ 
tions of the sealing industry, the natural history 
of the fur seal has been worked out perhaps 
more thoroughly and critically than that of any . 
other mammal. Science has profited if the seal¬ 
ing industry has not, and many important dis¬ 
coveries have been made respecting the anatomy, 
food, age, breeding habits and migrations of this 
important animal. 
“Among the problems solved we may considei 
briefly some of those connected with the wonder¬ 
ful migrations of the fur seal. Late in the fall 
the seals leave their island homes in Bering Sea 
and enter the Pacific ocean. The American herd 
migrates southeastward to Southern California, a 
distance of over 3,000 miles, whence it mo\es 
northward along the coast during the winter to 
enter the Bering Sea the next summer. The 
Asiatic herd migrates southwestward to the 
coast of Japan, returning the following season 
by the same route, fl here is no commingling 
of the two herds either in Bering Sea or in the 
Pacific. Both herds remain afloat the entire 
winter, and neither herd is known to touch diy 
land anywhere except upon return to its native 
islands in Bering Sea. No other mammal fol¬ 
lows with strict regularity so extensive a migra¬ 
tion route.” 
All the game lazvs of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Lazvs in Brief. See adv. 
