May 20, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
777 
Maine Game Commission. 
T he last report of the Commissioners of In¬ 
land Fisheries and Game for the State of Maine 
has just been issued. It contains more than one 
hundred pages and many interesting facts and 
statistics. 
T. he recommendations of the commissioners 
merit special attention. One <?f these advises a 
material reduction in the present bag limit for 
a day of fifteen partridges, woodcock and ducks. 
This change should undoubtedly be made. On 
the other hand a trapping recommendation made 
by the commissioners should not be made. The 
present law provides that the commissioners shail 
remove beaver that are doing damage to timber 
lands on complaint of the landowners, while the 
commissioners believe that they should be per¬ 
mitted to declare an open time on the townships 
where such damage is being done, the trapping 
to be open to all licensed trappers. It is far 
better to have the commissioners trap the beaver 
by means of their own force of men rather than 
to permit the public to trap the fur. Of course 
the commissioners' view of the matter will be 
far more popular than this. 
The commissioners recommend a law to en¬ 
courage artificial fishculture and wild game farm¬ 
ing, an excellent recommendation. They advise 
a law making a limit for the number of game 
fish that can be taken in a day. This is needed 
because persons will sometimes catch several 
hundred very smail trout, and still keep within 
the twenty-five-pound limit. 
Colored p’ates of the so-called Hungarian par¬ 
tridge and of the mallard—drawn by Allan 
Brooks—with an account of that species from 
Ora Wiliis Knight’s “Birds of Maine,” adorn the 
volume. 
Game in Montana. 
Henry Avare, State game and fish warden of 
Montana, in his biennial report, says in part: 
1 here has been a healthy sentiment growing 
among the citizens of the State favoring the 
protection of game and the enforcement of the 
game laws. In a few isolated communities the 
old rules of ruthless slaughter of deer and elk 
prevailed a few years ago, but this sentiment 
has undergone a marked change by reason of 
local opinion of settlers publicly expressed or 
has been stifled by one or more successful prose¬ 
cutions of flagrant violators. In the selection of 
deputies it has been my aim to select good, con¬ 
scientious men, who would perform their duty 
without fear or favor and play no favorites. Of 
these there are fifteen to cover the twenty-e ght 
counties of the State, or approximate’y two 
counties to a deputy, and Montana counties, even 
the smallest, are larger than some of the Eastern 
States, so that it may be readily understood that 
it is impossible for any deputy to always be in 
the right place at the right time to make ar¬ 
rests for violations. However, the number of 
convictions and amount of fines collected is 
large'v in excess for 1009-10 over that for any 
two previous years. 
Violations of the game and fish laws from 
Dec. 1, 190S, to Nov. 30, igro, total 227 and con¬ 
victions 189, the fines imposed amounting to 
$7.867 50. The arrests for fishing without 'icense 
number fifty-seven, and hunting without license 
forty-five. Selling elk heads during the s'x 
months’ period from Dec. 1, 1909, to May 51, 
1910, number nineteen violations of the law, most 
of the arrests representing residents of Park and 
Gallatin counties, where range the greatest num¬ 
ber of Montana elk. 
Licenses and permits issued during 1909: Resi¬ 
dent citizen hunting and fishing licenses, 44,815 ; 
general non-resident citizen hunting and fishing 
icenses, 89; limited non-resident citizen hunting 
and fishing licenses, 23; non-resident citizen fish¬ 
ing licenses, 1.202; general alien hunting licenses, 
3; limited alien hunting licenses, 24; alien fish¬ 
ing licenses, 126; guides’ licenses, 40; taxider¬ 
mists’ licenses, 22; shipping permits, 445; total 
for year, 47,789. 
Income of the State game and fish warden’s 
office for 1909, $48,105.43; for eleven months, 
1910. $53,276.52. 
“Large numbers of deer,” says Mr. Avare, 
r 
A CHANCE FOR COMPARISON. 
Africans Carrying a Hippo Head. 
have fa] en beneath the bullets of hunters dur¬ 
ing the seasons of 1909 and 1910. At present 
the limit per person annually is three. This is 
a larger number than is allowed in any other 
State and I believe the best interests of the 
game require that the number be reduced to two 
per person annually, and those two be of the 
horned variety. In many States only horned 
animals may be killed. Plere we have no re¬ 
strictions, and frequently I have had the un- 
p'easant experience of viewing the remains of 
a thirty-pound fawn recently before slain by a 
hunter. I therefore favor an amendment to our 
present laws, reducing the limit of deer per per¬ 
son annually from three to two an'mals with 
the above restric'ions as to age and sex. 
“On account of the needless waste of our 
game fish by seme campers I would recommend 
a limit of twenty-five pounds of trout per day 
to the fisherman with a total of fifty pounds to 
be the limit in possession of a fisherman at any 
one time, and all trout caught under six inches 
to be returned to the water; the custom of fish¬ 
ing trout through the ice to be prohibited.” 
Deer and Elk Set Free. 
The forest fires, which for a week or two 
have been raging in the woods of New England 
and New York last week, invaded a portion of 
Sullivan county, in the latter State, and, after 
destroying much property in the towns of Lum- 
berland and Forestburg, on Sunday, entered the 
large private game preserve of C. W. Chapin. 
fire fighters were engaged in large numbers 
and at high wages, but it seemed impossible 
to check the course of the flames. The fire 
ran through the park in a broad swath, and it 
is said that bears and wildcat were seen to 
climb the fence at various points and escape. 
When it became apparent that the preserve 
would probably be all burned over, Mr. Chapin 
ga\e orders that the fences be torn down in 
order that the deer and e.k might escape. This 
was done. 
1 he preserve covers an area of about ten 
square miles and was inclosed by a woven wire 
fence ten feet high. At last accounts the fire 
was still burning and threatened many large 
estates owned by wealthy New York men. 
A large number of deer and elk are believed 
to be at large in southwestern Sullivan county, 
and the work of recovering any portion of them 
will be difficult. 
Old Books. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I was much interested when your Book Ex¬ 
change was established and have just been fortu¬ 
nate enough to procure through it—replying to 
the advertisement of Captain A. N. Macnab— 
half a dozen desirable books, two or three of 
which I have been wanting for some years. I 
shall continue to watch this co'umn in the hope 
that I may succeed in getting hold of other good 
things. 
Captain Macnab’s letter to me, which was re¬ 
ceived about the same time with the books, said: 
"It surprises me that the readers of Forest and 
Stream do not patronize the Book Exchange to 
a greater extent. I was of the opinion that, 
when the above department was established, 
there would be constant calls for scarce Ameri¬ 
cana.” 
I believe that as tune goes on Forest and 
Stream readers will more and more come to 
1 ealize the value of this Book Exchange, and that 
through its medium many interes ing volumes 
may be brought to light and may find their way 
into appreciative hands. Reader. 
Ancient Canoes Found in Scotland. 
Another ancient canoe has been found near 
Lochmaben, at the same place as the other was 
found a few weeks ago. It is made of black oak, 
but is not in so good a state of preservation 
as the first. One side and part of the other are 
gone. It was discovered in about five feet of 
soil at the excavations being carried on in con¬ 
nection with the making of a new rink at the 
Kirk Loch. The canoe is 13 feet in length, and 
at the broadest point is 2 feet 8 inches, and is 
15 inches in depth. —Anglers News. 
All the game lazes of the United States and 
Canada, revised to date and naze in force, are 
given in the Game Lazes in Brief. Sec adv. 
