Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 25 , 1908 . 
VOL. LXX.-No. 4. 
No. 346 Broadway, New York, 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1908, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary. 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer. 
346 Broadway, New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1S73. 
THE OUTLOOK. 
It is seldom that upland game shooters and 
anglers look forward to spring with greater 
anxiety than they • do this year. The results 
if the phenomenal scarcity of ruffed grouse and 
the dropth which practically closed the smaller 
streams will not be' known until the open sea¬ 
sons for trout fishing and game shooting shall 
have come and gone. At present sportsmen are 
toping for the best, and the optimistic ones pre¬ 
dict that the fishing will be better than the cir¬ 
cumstances would seem to warrant, and that 
'nore grouse will be found in their old haunts 
:han seems possible, in view of the abundant 
:estimony to their absence in the autumn. 
It is seldom that our winters are so mild and 
'ipen as the present one has been so far. Here 
t is well past the middle of January and in the 
,/icinity of New York city at least only one three- 
nch fall of snow. Last week there was a storm 
.vhich was accompanied by thunder and light- 
fing, and blackbirds were seen about the city 
lext day. The brooks in the hills were open 
ind quite a showing of green was evident in the 
■voods and meadows. Ice has been seen in the 
dudson River only once, and very little of it 
hen. 
In the North Woods there has been some 
now, but it seems that the deer are in good 
ondition and able to find food. 
From different places in the West and even 
he far Northwest somewhat similar advices have 
ieen received. In Alberta last week there was 
ittle to be seen to remind one of mid-winter, 
n Montana skies were clear and the air balmy, 
nd in California and North Carolina wildfowlers 
/ere complaining that the weather was too warm 
or their sport. 
All along the Atlantic coast during the open 
jeason the duck shooting was unsatisfactory for 
his reason, and men who have waited patiently 
hrough the early winter for telegrams advising 
hem of the presence of ducks in the coastal 
ays have laid away their guns and are devoting 
heir attention instead to rods and tackle and 
reparations for the trout season, now but two 
lonths in the future. 
| With at least two months more than usual 
f favorable winter weather, the game should 
e well prepared to face the next six weeks, the 
ime that is generally most trying to it. 
TO PREVENT CARELESSNESS. 
It seems that the State of New York will at¬ 
tempt to put a stop to carelessness in the hunt¬ 
ing season by making it a felony to kill or wound 
' a human being in mistake for game. Mr. Boshart 
has introduced a bill in the Assembly which is 
given in full herewith: 
Section 1. The penal code is hereby amended by add¬ 
ing thereto a new section to be Section 193a thereof, to 
read as follows: 
Section 193a. Killing or wounding of a human being 
by person in pursuit of game.—Any person who, while 
hunting, and in the pursuit of wild game or game birds, 
negligently or carelessly shoots or kills a human being, 
shall be guilty of manslaughter in the second degree, 
and any person while so hunting wild game or game birds 
under any circumstances other than those above named 
who shoots, kills or wounds any human being shall be 
guilty of a felony and punishable by imprisonment in 
a state prison for a term of not less than one year and 
by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars. Dis¬ 
trict attorneys and sheriffs, in their respective coun¬ 
ties, shall promptly investigate any alleged violations 
of this section, and prosecute every person accused 
thereof; for failure so to investigate and prosecute, each 
of said officers shall be punished by fine not exceeding 
$ 1 , 000 , and shall be removed from office. 
Section 2. This act shall take effect September 1st, 
1908. 
This measure was introduced in the Senate 
by Mr Cobb at the same time. Later on Mr. 
Boshart’s bill was withdrawn, altered and rein¬ 
troduced. In its new form it was much shorter, 
and the phrase “negligently or carelessly” was 
omitted. 
Now we are advised that this bill, too, has 
been withdrawn, a third draft made, and this 
new bill introduced, with the phrase referred to 
above included. 
If a law of this sort is enforced it may help to 
prevent criminal carelessness in the hunting 
fields, and the mere fact of its existence in the 
statute books may serve as a warning to per¬ 
sons who are excitable and heedless; but with¬ 
out knowing the reasons for reinserting the 
phrase “negligently and carelessly,” it seems that 
it will make the proposed law more difficult to 
enforce, for it will require the prosecuting at¬ 
torney to prove the negligence or carelessness, 
always a difficult matter. ' 
RUFFED GROUSE. 
To friends of the ruffed grouse there seems 
to be a choice of but two alternatives. One is 
to pass laws protecting them for a series of 
years; the other to fix a low bag limit. 
There are objections to both. If the war¬ 
dens could protect the birds in backwoods dis¬ 
tricts from indiscriminate shooting by that class 
of shooters who will not be governed by such 
a measure, the long closed season would be 
better. To punish such men would be easy; to 
detect them quite a different story. Hence it 
is well to take into consideration the fact that 
they exist in considerable numbers, and if pos¬ 
sible to try to avoid antagonizing them. 
On the other hand, if the bag limit is mater¬ 
ially reduced until such time as the supply of 
grouse will seem to warrant its restoration to 
present numbers, all interests will be catered to, 
and the law observed by shooters in general. 
At least that is the assumption. 
THE MUIR WOODS. 
According to dispatches from Washington 
early this week, the United States has come into 
the possession of an exceedingly valuable tract 
of land in California, embracing 295 acres of 
rpdwood forest. 
This land lies on the southern slope of Mount 
Tamalpais within a few miles of the city limits 
of San Francisco, and is to be deeded to the 
Government by William Kent, a resident of 
Chicago, who purchased it a number of years 
ago, paying, it is said, nearly fifty thousand dol¬ 
lars for the tract. About one-sixth of the tim¬ 
ber is fir, the balance redwoods of large size. 
The tract has not been lumbered. 
It is understood that the President will issue 
a proclamation within a short time, declaring the 
tract a national park, to be known as Muir’s 
Woods, in honor of John Muir, the naturalist. 
In another column Allen Kelley describes the 
remarkable changes that have taken place in the 
Imperial Valley in California since the great 
Salton Sink, through a break in the Colorado 
River, became the Salton Sea. From a cheer¬ 
less desert almost devoid of life to a feeding 
and resting resort for myriads of waterfowl is 
a transformation difficult to imagine, and one 
that impresses sportsmen who are fortunate 
enough to be able to visit the great inland lake. 
K 
In Vermont six days in October last were set 
aside for deer hunting. In that time the war¬ 
dens were called upon to kill twenty-two deer 
that were reported as crippled by shot. How 
many more crawled away to die and were not 
noticed will never be known, but the number 
recorded is sufficient to show that some of the 
hunters were guilty of gross carelessness in fail¬ 
ing to follow up and dispatch game wounded by 
them. 
* 
That the New York State Legislature will 
thrash out the resident, nonresident and alien 
license question during the present session is 
certain. One bill relating to the subject has al¬ 
ready been introduced and is now in the hands 
of the Committee on Fisheries and Game, and 
others will probably appear from time to time. 
I* 
The annual meeting of the North American 
Fish and Game Protective Association, to be 
held in Albany next month, promises to be an 
unusually interesting and instructive one. As 
Albany is centrally situated, the attendance 
should be very large. 
