FOREST AND STREAM 
179 
and it is unlawful to hunt or kill water- 
fowl in those States at any other time. 
Persons committing violations of the reg¬ 
ulations may be prosecuted at any time 
within three years after an offense is com¬ 
mitted. 
CORRECTION. 
In a review recently of Dr. Quackenbos’ 
History of the Trout, this paper stated 
that the book had been issued by Thomas 
Wright, of 150 Barclay Street, New York. 
This was an unintentional injustice to the 
publisher, Mr. Tobias A. Wright, of 150 
Bleecker Street, New York. The book was 
published as a matter of love by Mr. 
Wright, who certainly demonstrated that 
the fine art of typography is not a lost 
•one. Copies may be obtained at a price of 
.$3.50 from Mr. Wright or through Forest 
and Stream. 
THROUGH NATURE’S PORTALS. 
(Concluded from page 167.) 
remain like a stone, and Reynard trots 
down the path to a little sandy spot where 
the partridges have scratched up the sand 
and burrowed their feathers. Here he rolls 
in the dirt, sifting it through his thick fur 
preparatory to a sun bath on the rocks up 
the hillside. He sniffs about to see how 
long the ruffed grouse have been gone and 
suddenly, as some 'creature stirs off in 
the woods, he is gone like a flash. 
N EXT a quail steps leisurely into the 
path farther up and walks, looking 
this way and that, down the way until 
•she reaches the sandy spot. There, catch¬ 
ing the scent of Reynard, she is gone away 
through the shrubbery with a fluttering of 
wings. There is a long wait, and then an 
insect, too busy with its wings to be clearly 
identified at the distance, comes sailing up 
the path a few inches from the ground, 
•dodging this way and that toward Jack- 
in-the-pulpit, sweet cicely, and dutchmen’s 
breeches, until it reaches a certain graying- 
brown stone that you have subconsciously 
sized up to be about as large as your fist— 
when, with a flash, the insect disappears. 
You look carefully at the stone, and dis¬ 
cover it to be old Bufo, the toad, sitting 
as stilly and silent as you are, and waiting 
for his dinner to come to him instead of 
•going to it. When the little lady-bug, or 
whatever it was, came near enough to the 
point of the fat, lazy old toad’s nose, he 
•shot out his viscid, flabby tongue and 
•snatched the bug into eternity, through his 
throat. Not even time to say its prayers— 
if bugs say prayers—and an easy death 
withal, we think. And certainly satisfying 
to Bufo. So they also are served with din¬ 
ner who simply sit and wait. 
W E have hardly stopped wondering 
over this little tragedy when across 
the path, toilsomely dragging his 
shell upon his back, comes a great box 
turtle, mottled brown, yellow and black, 
searching for some juicy little lettuce-like 
plant, or perhaps for a wild strawberry 
bed in a clearing, for his dinner. You will 
•often have stumbled over box turtles in 
the woods—when they have seen you 
coming first and stopped crawling and gone 
into the house and perhaps shut the door— 
but to see one unconsciously travelling off 
through the woods, is to witness some¬ 
thing that only Sir Reynard and the wood 
thrushes, or maybe the little old bewhis- 
kered wood gnomes who sweep the rabbit 
paths and keep the woodland picked up 
and neat, are privileged to witness. 
You will be surprised at the number of 
interesting things you will see if you pussy¬ 
foot through the forests, instead of break¬ 
ing all the twigs under your feet, keeping 
your eyes shut and your heart closed. Most 
of all you must forget that you ever saw 
an office desk or a workshop bench, and 
look about you carefully lest the most re¬ 
markable thing of all escape you. 
W OODCRAFT, practiced on days-off 
and in vacation, is a good thing for 
boys and girls of the older sort. 
With your ears accustomed once a week 
to the sounds of the woodland, your eyes 
taking in the broad vistas of forest, hill 
and stream, and your muscles used healthi¬ 
ly in carrying you across country instead 
of riding in an auto, a freshness of outlook 
upon life will come back that you had never 
dreamed could be yours again. 
They who grow old are those who look 
mournfully back upon life, with no interest 
in the present and no hope for the future. 
Those who keep in touch with ever-youth- 
ful Nature through her children in the 
wilderness remain young in heart and 
hopeful in soul, until the last snowstorms 
have whitened their heads and they step 
into the Beyond without regret. Under¬ 
standing so many of Nature’s laws and 
secrets, they expect nothing but youthful¬ 
ness on the other side. 
MENACE OF THE STARLING. 
(Concluded from page 169.) 
open roosts. But from my experience there 
are often robins, blackbirds and grackles 
associated with them there, and shooting is 
sure to bring opposition in many places. 
On the other hand, no other birds asso¬ 
ciate with the starling in buildings in this 
section. And. as they gather from a 
large area for the night, to clean out one 
of their sleeping places will rid a whole 
neighborhood of them, and is an easy mat¬ 
ter. 
Take some feed bags and fasten one end 
to a stick. Tack the other end above an 
opening in the roost, and roll your curtain 
up and fasten it above the opening. After 
the birds have become settled for the night, 
enter without a light, lower and fasten the 
curtains over all the openings, and you 
have trapped them all. 
In this way several hundred can be cap¬ 
tured at one time, and if followed up will 
serve to keep the starling within bounds. 
This is practicable in Connecticut where the 
starling is an outlaw, and it seems likely he 
will become an outlaw in other States as 
soon as he becomes as numerous as he is 
with us. 
And even with this method, you will al¬ 
ways have starlings with you, because of 
small roosts not molested and single pairs 
sleeping in isolated places. 
With twelve years’ experience as warden, 
and fifteen years in Audubon work, I have 
had an exceptional opportunity to know the 
starling. A few pairs about would be an 
attraction to me. His menace is in his 
numbers. Wilbur F. Smith. 
South Norwalk, Conn. 
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