April i, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
495 
Accustomed to ’coons above the Mason and 
Dixon line, I critically examined this specimen. 
It was surely a degenerate as compared with a 
Northern raccoon. It weighed twenty-one and 
a half pounds and was said to be an unusually 
heavy specimen. Its coat was dry, hair short 
and chiefly tawny, and its tail was only seven 
and one-half inches long with the faint blackish 
bands and short fur or hair in comparison with 
the well marked brush of Tennessee or Kentucky 
member of the same family. 
On our return to the hotel the victim was 
handed over to the chef together with the tor¬ 
toises, and in a measure he was appeased for 
the neglect of his efforts in getting up a record- 
breaking supper. We had gopher stew next 
noon, but saw nothing of the raccoon. 
On the side of a shack near the hotel I saw 
a wildcat pelt tacked out to dry. It was thirty- 
six inches long, rufous on the back and running 
down the sides to yellowish white with mark¬ 
ings almost as striking as those of the ounce, 
ocelot or leopard. It was a big lynx for Florida, 
but then all quadrupeds seem stunted in that 
State, and a deer weighing 150 pounds is a 
wonder. Harrimac. 
Jackrabbit Bounties. 
Spearville, Kans., March 20. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Our shooting in this part of the 
State consists of prairie chicken and quail in 
season, ducks in the spring and fall and cotton¬ 
tails and jackrabbits all the year round. Coyotes 
and an occasional gray wolf are frequently 
caught with horse and dogs, and jackrabbit 
coursing is indulged in by those who like the 
strenuous sports. 
In counting up the results of some of our 
rabbit hunts I think with pity of the poor East¬ 
erner who in his contribution reports a fine day’s 
sport and counts out his bag of a half-dozen 
cottontails, a few snipe or a brace of partridges. 
Jacks, as they are commonly called, are very 
plentiful—and destructive—in this part of the 
State, and our county pays a bounty on their 
scalps, or rather ears. This bounty is just about 
enough to pay for ammunition, so that the boys 
have their sport free. I have known parties of 
half a dozen guns to bring in anywhere from 300 
to 500 jacks as the result of one day's shooting. 
The accompanying picture shows 7,000 pairs 
of jacks’ ears gathered in at one time by our 
county clerk, for which he paid the bounty of 
two cents per pair. 
When snow is on the ground, jacks can be 
routed from every bit of shelter showing up on 
the prairies or in the fields, but when there is no 
snow, the hunters usually take two teams and 
wagons. Connecting the wagons by a wire 500 
or 600 feet long, and as this wire is dragged 
across the fields or prairie, the shooters' walk 
along behind and bowl over the disturbed jacks 
as they run away. When a good piece of cover 
is struck, there is an almost continuous pop-pop 
along the line, and the wagons nearly always 
come home full. 
Jacks are never eaten by the people here, but 
Eastern buyers were here this winter and gath¬ 
ered and shipped them by the carload, and I 
doubt not that many an Eastern epicure has 
gloated over his dish of potted chicken this 
winter that had its origin on the prairies of 
Western Kansas. H. W. Dorsett. 
New Iowa Laws. 
Linville Falls, N. C., March 24. —Editor 
Forest and Stream: The new Iowa game 
law amendment providing for a license that 
covers fishing as well as hunting is an amend¬ 
ment to the law of two years ago that produced 
$108,000 the first year and something less than 
that the second year from the proceeds of resi¬ 
dent hunters’ licenses at $1 each. The result 
ought to be a large addition to the fund, not¬ 
withstanding its exemption of boys under sixteen 
years of age. The chief problem the State has 
in connection with the whole business is how to 
spend the money. Hungarian partridges have 
been introduced, an extensive system of stock¬ 
ing streams with fish has been established, and 
many fish and game wardens have been em¬ 
ployed. The law against the destruction of game 
of all kinds, song birds and fish is enforced many 
times more effectively than it has ever been pos- 
SEVEN THOUSAND PAIRS OF JACKRABBIT EARS. 
sible to enforce it before. The sentiment of the 
State is also better. 
The State Game and Fish Council, consisting 
of one fish commissioner, one game commissioner 
and one fish and game warden may set apart one- 
sixth of the territory of any county as a game 
refuge or reservation. The right to take or kill 
game within the territory so set apart shall cease 
for a period of not to exceed three years. No 
person over the age of sixteen years shall hunt, 
pursue, catch, trap, kill or take any wild animals, 
bird, game or fish in this State with a gun, fish 
line and hook, spear, seine or trap without first 
procuring a license from the county auditor; 
provided, however, that women who desire to 
fish only shall not be required to obtain a license 
therefor. 
The fish and game warden shall furnish the 
auditor with license blanks and application 
blanks. These blanks shall bear the title, 
“Sportsmen’s License.” The license shall be 
good in any county of the State, but not on in¬ 
closed or cultivated land without permission of 
the owner or tenant, or on any public high¬ 
way or in any game refuge or reservation. 
The license fee to be paid to the county auditor 
by a resident of the State or by a non-resident 
who is temporarily residing at any of the State 
lake resorts is $1. For other non-residents of 
the State the fee is $10, and any person who is 
not a citizen of the United States must pay $25. 
It will be noted that concessions have been 
made to boys under sixteen years of age, who 
may hunt all they please without license; to 
women, who may fish without license, and to 
the patrons of the Iowa Lake resorts, who get 
their license for non-residents for $1 instead of 
$10, the sum they must pay if they fish or hunt 
on a river or anywhere not at a lake. Some 
mighty small ponds and sloughs will become 
lakes, in my opinion, for the purpose of saving 
$9. And why should the destructive small boy 
be turned loose again to kill birds at will? He 
has been restrained for two years without harm 
to anyone. A boy should pay his license the 
same as anyone, for he does more damage than 
90 per cent, of the men who hold licenses. This 
law makes the fishermen pay, as they have not 
done heretofore, and that will please the hunters 
and produce more funds. 
Frank W. Bicknell. 
Bobwhite in West Virginia. 
The beautiful bobwhite, that was never known 
to do damage to man or any living creature, in¬ 
dicates, from every valley and hilltop in West 
Virginia, by his cheerful and happy whistle, that 
his heart is overflowing with joy, that the great 
army of pot and market hunters have been dis¬ 
banded, and that once more he can gladden the 
life of the true sportsman, whose chase with dog 
and gun is from the standpoint of sport and rec¬ 
reation, and not one of commerce, says State 
Game Warden J. A. Viquesney, of West Vir¬ 
ginia, in his annual report. 
He can now proclaim, from the top of a fence 
post, the appreciation he feels toward the farmer 
who has supplied shelter and a little feed through 
the winter, and afforded him protection from the 
game hog and criminal foreigner that in a few 
years more would have completed the extermina¬ 
tion of this splendid little bird. 
Farmers realizing at the present time, as never 
before, the great value of the bobwhite as a de¬ 
stroyer of insects are providing shelter and feed¬ 
ing these birds through the rough cold spells in 
winter, not only from an esthetic or humani¬ 
tarian standpoint, but because it is like bread 
cast upon the waters, and will be returned to 
them many fold by the good they will do in re¬ 
turn in saving their agricultural crops from dam¬ 
aging insects. 
A conservative estimate, made by collecting 
data from every county in the State, shows that 
we have five times as many of these birds as 
we have had at any time for ten or twenty years. 
Too much cannot be said of the great value 
of insectivorous birds to the agricultural and 
horticultural interests of our country, and if out¬ 
law had not done more than protect these birds 
from the ruthless destruction by the unnatu¬ 
ralized foreigner, who, in the past, has killed 
without distinction, every living creature of the 
animal or bird kingdom that came within his 
vision, it would be worth many times the effort 
and money that it cost. It is the universal con¬ 
clusion of all scientists that the continued exist¬ 
ence of man in the world is absolutely depend¬ 
ent on the work of the insect-eating bird. 
