April 8, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
537 
Hearing on the Bayne Bill. 
On Wednesday of last week, while the Capi¬ 
tol at Albany was burning up, a large number 
of sportsmen passed it on their way to attend 
the hearing held on the Bayne bill before the 
Forest, Fish and Game Committee of the New 
York Legislature. This bill amends the present 
New York game law by forbidding the sale of 
game, whether birds or mammals, and whether 
killed within or without the State. 
Owing to the fire at the Capitol, the hearing 
was held in the Albany City Hall. It was the 
only hearing had on that day and was largely 
attended. The advocates of the bill were in the 
great majority, and this support consisted of 
delegates from sportsmen’s clubs all over the 
State, from scientific societies and from game 
protective associations. Dr. T. S. Palmer, who 
has charge of the game protection for the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, was present. 
The sole recognized opponent of the bill was 
Mr. Campbell, an attorney said to represent asso¬ 
ciations of hotel keepers. 
Among the advocates of the bill were Dr. W. 
T. Hornaday, who appeared for the Camp-Fire 
Club; Andrew D. Meloy, president of the 
New York Forest, Fish and Game League; Dr. 
T. S. Palmer, of the Biological Survey; Madi¬ 
son Grant, secretary of the New York Zoologi¬ 
cal Society and of the Boone and Crockett Club; 
Robert B. Lawrence and John O’Connor, repre¬ 
senting the New York Association for the Pro¬ 
tection of Game. 
Dr. Hornaday, who is largely responsible for 
the Bayne bill, made an excellent speech, show¬ 
ing why it was necessary to take away the mar¬ 
ket, if the game is to continue to exist. He 
quoted most effectively figures showing how 
game is destroyed, and how it is kept over 
from season to season, referring particularly to 
the seizure some years ago of 50,000 birds made 
at a New York cold storage warehouse, the 
figures of which were printed at the time in 
Forest and Stream. 
Andrew D. Meloy made a telling opening to 
his remarks by saying that the Capitol just de¬ 
stroyed by fire could be replaced by the State 
of New York more easily and at less cost than 
could the game now so swiftly vanishing from 
the State be restored to its citizens. He spoke 
of the widespread interest in the bill among 
game protectors and sportsmen and declared that 
petitions signed by more than 200,000 sportsmen 
were about to be sent in to the Legislature. 
Senator F. D. Roosevelt of the committee con¬ 
firmed this by declaring that these petitions were 
already being received. 
Dr. T. S. Palmer pointed out that from his 
position he was able to survey the field for 
the whole country. He referred to the value 
of the game and the importance of protecting 
it, and declared that the present movement was 
not in behalf of any special class, but was for 
the good of the whole people. The public can 
get along without game to eat at restaurants and 
in private houses. He said that for two months 
after the burning of the Iroquois theater in Chi¬ 
cago, when all the theaters were closed, the 
sale of game in that city fell off to nothing. In 
other words, the people who purchased game 
were largely of that class which calls for “a 
hot bird and a cold bottle” late at night. 
Madison Grant spoke briefly, but with telling 
force, warning the Legislature that this bill must 
be passed if any game was to be left, and that 
if the bill were not passed it would soon be 
necessary either to put a close season on all 
game or else to see the game wholly extermi¬ 
nated. Already one is obliged to pay $4 or $5 
apiece for ruffed grouse, so that these have be¬ 
come luxuries possible only for the very wealthy. 
They are beyond the reach of people of moder¬ 
ate means. He urged the passage of the bill 
without amendment and insisted especially on 
the feature which forbids the sale of game in 
New York State, no matter where killed. 
Mr. Grant pointed out that we are now facing 
a new set of conditions. In old times, while 
there was plenty of game, every one felt at 
liberty to kill it, and to do what he pleased with 
it, but now the game has become so scarce 
that this old time license can no longer be 
permitted. So in old times the skin hunters de-. 
stroyed deer, elk and antelope and sold their 
hides, but this now is generally forbidden by law. 
It is a well established principle that the game 
belongs to the State. It should be no more law¬ 
ful for a man to kill game belonging to the 
State and to sell it than it is for a man to fell 
timber which belongs to the State and sell that. 
Yet when a man does the latter, he is prose¬ 
cuted. The present bill should be passed with¬ 
out amendment. When people have taken to 
rearing game in domestication, he believes that 
sportsmen and protective clubs will be glad 
to favor a properly drawn bill in behalf of the 
breeder of game. 
Robert B. Lawrence spoke urgently for' the 
bill in behalf of the New York Association. 
H. Le Roy Austin, former Forest, Fish and Game 
Commissioner of New York State, said that he 
knew nothing of game or of shooting, but that 
he had been greatly impressed by the large 
number of people who, during his service on 
the commission, had come to him and told him 
that unless some bill of this kind were passed, 
there would soon be no game left. 
Other speakers told of the enormous destruc¬ 
tion of wildfowl and other game in regions 
which were little settled, and how this game 
was smuggled out of the State without regard 
to law, and sent by sea or otherwise to the mar¬ 
kets of Philadelphia, Baltimore and New York. 
Mr. Campbell, speaking in opposition to the 
bill, declared that it was a measure which should 
not be passed, because it was solely for the bene¬ 
fit of a particular class—the sportsman. He 
stated that the Legislature had no right to en¬ 
act such a measure with regard to this game, 
and especially with regard to game killed out 
of the State. He declared that the bill would 
take away the rights of persons who were en¬ 
gaged in rearing game, which under this law, if 
passed, they could not sell. He did not, how¬ 
ever, give examples of anyone who was rais¬ 
ing game and whose rights would thus be inter¬ 
fered with. 
The hearing at Albany was remarkable for 
the substantial unanimity of those present in 
behalf of the Bayne bill, and it seemed evident 
that the committee was much impressed by them, 
the arguments offered in its behalf, and is in 
favor of the passage of the bill. 
At a dinner given by Governor Dix a number 
of those interested in game protection were pres¬ 
ent; among them Dr. Palmer, Mr. Meloy and 
Dr. Hornaday. 
Why Shooting is Poor. 
(From Forest and Stream, Sept. 14, 1901.) 
Recently a reporter of Forest and Stream 
accompanied Mr. Overton to another storage 
warehouse, where in sealed baskets samples of 
the seized game are kept, to be used as evidence 
in prosecution of the warehouse people charged 
with possessing game illegally. An examination 
was made of the samples for the purpose of 
identifying the species, and the samples were 
compared with the list made by Mr. Overton 
and his assistants at the time of the seizure. 
The quantity of game shown on the list is stu¬ 
pendous, and yet the bare statement of the num¬ 
ber of the birds, or of the barrels and boxes 
containing so many dozens or so many hundred 
birds, conveys little impression to the average 
man. He passes over the words “a barrel of 
grouse,” or “a box of English snipe,” without 
much thought. But if he sees that barrel or 
that box emptied on the floor and takes in with 
his eye the number of individual birds that it 
contains, he then begins to realize something of 
what 1,000 or 50,000 birds may mean. He sees 
in this barrel or in this box perhaps more than 
he ever killed in all his shooting. He knows 
that this barrel or this box is not one-hundredth 
part of the game received by this particular 
storage warehouse in a single season, and there 
is then borne in on him—perhaps for the first 
time—a realization of what the sale of game 
means to the game supply of this country. 
The samples examined were contained in fif¬ 
teen large baskets, which, as stated, had been 
sealed up after they had been labeled and 
marked for identification at the time of the 
seizure. Each basket contained from twelve to 
thirty samples, and the work of going over the 
lots occupied several hours. Their contents in¬ 
cluded most of the commoner game of the 
country. Waterfowl were less numerous than 
upland game, yet there were hundreds of canvas- 
backs, redheads and mallard ducks, about 9,000 
golden plover, about 7,000 English snipe, besides 
vast numbers of sandpipers and yellowlegs, and 
a few woodcock. Of quail there were between 
4,000 and 5,000. There were nearly 1,000 ruffed 
grouse, about 1,200 sharp-tailed grouse and 
nearly 4,000 pinnated grouse. All these were 
highly interesting as game, and hardly less so 
as ornithological specimens, so great was the 
variety seen in them. The ground color of the 
sharp-tails varied from distinctly rufous to very 
dark slate; the pinnated grouse seemed to run 
through all the forms described, as did also the 
ruffed grouse. 
Besides the birds distinctly game, there were 
nearly 10,000 song birds, chiefly bobolinks or 
reed birds and snow buntings. The snow bunt¬ 
ings were tied up in dozen bunches and were 
usually fat and in good order, but the best of 
the reed birds—which were as fat as butter— 
were neatly packed in paste board boxes, a dozen 
in each, and were attractive to look at. 
It has been stated that the freezer people were 
carrying on a legitimate business, and had noth¬ 
ing to conceal, but this statement is negatived 
by various marks on the boxes, which show at¬ 
tempts to deceive. Thus, boxes containing quail 
were marked “5 doz. squab.” A box containing 
grouse and quail was marked “broilers”; another 
containing ruffed grouse, “small broilers”; a pack¬ 
age containing woodcock was marked “B. geese” ; 
