498 
[April i, 1911. 
Game and Fish in Ontario. 
Superintendent E. Tinsley has submitted to 
the Minister of Public Works for Ontario his 
report for the year ending Oct. 31, 1910, and it 
has just been issued. Superintendent Tinsley’s 
report deals largely with the commercial aspects 
of the lake fisheries, and a considerable part of 
the paper of nearly 200 pages is taken up by re¬ 
ports of the work performed by patrol boats on 
the Great Lakes. 
The reports of the wardens and deputy war¬ 
dens are particularly interesting, and residents 
of the United States who make an annual out¬ 
ing to Canada will do well to study the report. 
Inspector Holden, referring to the increase of 
ruffed grouse following a close season of two 
years, says: “Is it not time some limit should 
be placed oh the number of these birds that 
should fall to one gun? We hear of one man 
getting sixty-eight in one day. Another kills 
over 200 during the season, and was not out 
the whole of it, either.” He recommends a bag 
limit per day, or a limit for the season, which 
of course is what Ontario and all other political 
divisions of this continent must ultimately come 
to. Mr. Holden recommends also that trappers 
be licensed. 
The general trend of the reports seems to 
show that ruffed grouse are increasing, and that 
the close season of two years was a great help 
to them. In sections of the Simcoe district quail 
are reported to be very numerous among the 
farmers, and similar reports, though without 
much detail, are made of some other localities. 
Wild ducks generally seem to be more numer¬ 
ous than in previous years. Overseer Charles 
W. Parkin, of Valencia, reports of Scugog Lake: 
“Ducks were there in large numbers last spring, 
and owing to the good protection they received, 
a number of bluebills and redheads remained in 
the marshes all summer and hatched their broods 
there. There are thousands of the best ducks 
there now, and hunters are well satisfied with 
their sport.” 
In many places muskrats are reported to be 
decreasing in number because the high prices of 
fur lead to over trapping. Beaver on the other 
hand seem to be increasing, and the same is true 
of otter. In many sections it is very difficult 
to protect beaver, because their skins may so 
readily be smuggled out of the country. 
Large game, deer and moose are becoming 
more common, but caribou are not increasing. 
Wolves destroy considerable numbers of deer. 
Mr. Tinsley says the fishing laws were better 
observed last year than heretofore, and he be¬ 
lieves summer visitors are taking an interest in 
this work, and will assist materially. The fish¬ 
ing waters were more thoroughly patrolled than 
ever before, with good effect. Fewer infrac¬ 
tions of the law than usual occurred, although 
the number of angling permits issued was larger 
than in previous years. 
Overseer Jones is of the opinion that guides’ 
license fees should be reduced one-half. The 
fee is now $2, which he thinks keeps many com¬ 
petent guides from working. He has never met 
one guide, he says, who was a benefit in assist¬ 
ing in the enforcement of the game laws. Ang¬ 
lers, in Mr. Jones’ opinion, should be permitted 
to keep all the bass they catch, up to the catch 
limit. Many small bass that are caught and re¬ 
leased die, and much of the waste is due to 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
observance of the size limit. Besides, he con¬ 
cludes, the anglers want large, not small bass. 
Increased efficiency has been secured in the 
rearing of black bass, and through the acquisi¬ 
tion of large ponds and better facilities, it is 
predicted that the output for 1911 will exceed 
300,000 fingerlings. 
The Purchase of Eastern Forest Lands. 
The Department of Agriculture is ready to 
begin operations looking to the purchase of land 
by the National Forest Reservation Commission 
created under the Weeks law, which was passed 
with special reference to the creation of Na¬ 
tional forests in the Appalachian and White 
Mountains. Under it the Secretary of Agricul¬ 
ture is to examine, locate and recommend to the 
commission for purchase such lands as in his 
judgment may be necessary for regulating the 
flow of navigable streams. The circular is now 
being printed and copies may be obtained by 
applying to the Forest Service. 
The law is not restricted to particular regions, 
except that lands may be bought only in the 
States whose Legislatures have consented to the 
acquistion of land by the United States for the 
purpose of preserving the navigability of streams. 
The States which have already taken the neces¬ 
sary action are Maine, New Hampshire, Mary¬ 
land, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, 
Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. 
The first lands to be examined for purchase 
will be in the Appalachian and White Moun¬ 
tains, but the area which is believed to need pro¬ 
tection is much larger than the Government can 
purchase, but by careful selection it is believed 
that much can be done for the permanent im¬ 
provement of the watersheds with the purchase 
of a relatively small part of the land. 
Timbered lands may be bought either with the 
timber standing on them or with reservation by 
the owner of the right to cut the timber under 
certain rules to provide for perpetuation of the 
forest. The Government cannot pay high prices. 
Good agricultural lands will not be considered. 
Owners may reserve the right to remove valu¬ 
able mineral deposits which are known to exist. 
Proposals will be received for small as well 
as for large tracts, although small tracts can 
be examined only where the purchase of a con¬ 
siderable total of land in the same neighborhood 
is under consideration. 
The lands acquired by the Government will be 
held as National forests. They will be protected 
from fire and the growth of the timber will be 
improved as much as possible. The lands will 
not be game preserves, but will continue to be 
open to the public for hunting and fishing in 
accordance with the laws of the State in which 
they are situated. All their resources will be 
available for the public under reasonable condi¬ 
tions. Another point emphasized is that the Forest 
Service is not going to take from people their 
homes in order to put the lands into National 
forests. 
The areas within which offers of land are de¬ 
sired are parts of certain counties in New Hamp¬ 
shire, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennes¬ 
see, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. 
All the game laws of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and now in force, are 
given in the Game Laws in Brief. See adv. 
Dr. Branigan’s Death. 
Boston, Mass., March 25.— Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Massachusetts Fish and Game 
Protective Association has sustained a great loss 
in the death of its librarian, Dr. Edward Walter 
Branigan, who died on March 23 at the Charles- 
gate Hospital, Cambridge, of heart failure. A 
devoted angler, the doctor had been identified 
with the association for upward of a score of 
years, was on its list of vice-presidents several 
years previous to assuming the librarianship, the 
position most congenial to him, and which he has 
held for eleven years. In the various offices 
which he has filled he has rendered most faith¬ 
ful and efficient service, and has endeared him¬ 
self to all the members by his sturdy and up¬ 
right character and his genial disposition. In 
his chosen profession of dentistry no one stood 
higher. Graduating from the Boston Dental 
School in 1882 he became an instructor in the 
school a few years later and remained when it 
was merged with the Tufts Dental School. For 
several months past he has been the acting head 
of the school. He received the degree of A. M. 
from Tufts in 1905. Last year he was president 
of the National Association of Dental Faculties. 
He was a trustee of the Forsythe Dental In¬ 
firmary and was largely instrumental in secur¬ 
ing from Mr. Forsythe the million and a half 
donation for its establishment. He is survived 
by a son, Edward B. Branigan, D.D.S., of 
Groton, Mass. 
A gala lecture meeting of the association was 
held last evening at the Hotel Brunswick, when 
225 members and friends gathered to hear A. 
Radclyffe Dugmore talk on “Photographing 
Africa’s Live Game on the Roosevelt Hunting 
Trail.” 
From the income of the Ivers Whitney Adams 
fund, the officers of the State association have 
been able to secure illustrated lectures from men 
whose names constitute a brilliant galaxy: Dr. 
Barton W. Evermann, Dr. William T. Horna- 
day, Frank M. Chapman, George O. Shields, 
James S. Whipple and A. Radclyffe Dugmore. 
President Salem D. Charles presided. 
Among those present at this meeting were: 
Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of 
Harvard University; Prof. F. H. Rand, bursar 
of the Institute of Technology; E. M. Brewer, 
C. W. Parker, J. M. Codman, Dr. George W. 
Field, Dr. Garland, Jonathan Dorr, Dr. Myles 
Standish, George H. Richards, President of 
the North American Fish and Game Associa¬ 
tion ; Ivers Whitney Adams and his son, Ivers S. 
Adams, Frank Hopewell, C. M. Bryant, George 
E. Bigham, Fred Seaver, Ex-president J. R. 
Reed, most of the active officers of the associa¬ 
tion, and last but not least, Mayor Fitzgerald. 
Henry H. Kimball. 
Trainmen Hunt Rabbits. 
The railroad men say that in the Central 
Branch country the rabbits are unusually numer¬ 
ous this winter. 
The train men get a chance to hunt occasion¬ 
ally on account of the poor condition of the 
engines. Whenever an engine goes wrong, the 
train men enter the fields and hunt rabbits. 
When the engineer gets through with the work 
of repairing the engine, he pulls the whistle 
cord, and then the train men come back.—Kan¬ 
sas City Star. 
