Forest and Stream 
Terms. $3 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. . NEW YORK, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2 (), I 908 
Six Months. 51.50. ' 
< VOL. LXX.-No. 9. 
1 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, 1873. 
THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY’S WORK. 
About a year ago Congress attempted to 
abolish the Bureau of Biological Survey of the 
Agricultural Department. The effort aroused 
hot indignation among, agriculturists, scientific 
men and nature lovers and the effort was aband¬ 
oned. The Agricultural Appropriation Bill for 
that year contained a provision, directing the 
Secretary of Agriculture to investigate and re¬ 
port to Congress to what extent the work done 
by the Biological Survey is duplicated by any 
other department of the Government, and to 
what extent the work of the Survey is of practi¬ 
cal' value to agriculture. The Secretary’s report 
on these points is an interesting document. Its 
substance is that no part of the Biological Sur¬ 
vey’s work is duplicated by any other depart¬ 
ment of the Government, and that the work of 
the Survey is of great value to the agricultural 
interests of the country. 
This is divided into three branches: investi¬ 
gations of the economic relations of birds and 
mammals to agriculture; supervision of matters 
relating to game preservation and protection, 
and the importation of foreign birds and mam¬ 
mals; and finally, investigation of the geographic 
distribution of animals and plants. Of these 
various subjects the first is of the highest prac¬ 
tical interest because of the relations of birds 
to insects and of insects to agriculture, and also 
because of the destruction of live stock and 
crops by certain mammals. 
It has found that certain birds prey on the boll- 
weevil. that the woodpeckers are among the best 
friends of the forester and wood lot owner, that 
orioles, mockingbirds, cardinals, robins, many of 
our native sparrows, and the quail are of extra¬ 
ordinary value to the agriculturist as insect de¬ 
stroyers and seed eaters, and so ought to be 
protected. It has shown that hawks and owls 
are among our most useful wild birds, not only 
destroying small mammals that feed on crops, 
fruit trees and nursery stock, but also eating 
vast numbers of grasshoppers—the dreaded 
locust of a generation ago. 
It has done much toward protecting our 
waterfowl, toward the admission under proper 
restrictions of foreign game birds and eggs, and 
has prevented the introduction of dangerous 
birds and mammals. 
It has made many experiments in the effort 
to destroy the dangerous gnawing animals, such 
as rats, mice, gophers, ground squirrels and 
rabbits, which are so destructive to crops, besides 
being sometimes vehicles of disease, and has 
suggested practical methods of destroying wolves 
and coyotes in the West, to the great benefit of 
the Western stockmen. 
These are only a few of the excellent services 
performed by the Bureau of Biological Survey. 
Congress will do well if it shall extend the 
Bureau’s facilities for performing other useful 
work for the farmer by enlarging its appropria¬ 
tion. We have no more useful branch of the 
Government. 
GIFT TO M. F. AND G. P. ASSOCIATION. 
At the meeting of the Massachusetts Fish and 
Game Protective Association, held Feb. 20 , at 
the Copley Square Hotel, Boston, the gift of 
$S.ooo from Mr. Ivers W. Adams to the associa¬ 
tion was announced. This generous gift is for 
the establishment of a fund the income of which 
is to be used for providing lectures “to be given 
before the members and their invited guests at 
regular or special meetings of each year, but not 
at annual banquets.” At the meeting the gen¬ 
erous gift was formally accepted and Mr. 
Adams received the cordial thanks of the asso¬ 
ciation. 
By an unfortunate error in our notice of the 
annual report of the association, printed in For¬ 
est and Stream of February 22 , the remarks 
about sanctuaries were credited to Mr. Dutcher. 
As a matter of fact Mr. Dutcher spoke at the 
meeting, but on spring shooting. It was Mr. 
Brewster, the president of the association, best 
known as one of the United States’ first orni¬ 
thologists and also as an enthusiastic game pro¬ 
tector, who spoke so forcibly on the subject of 
sanctuaries. His remarks on such game refuges 
may profitably be read by all who are interested 
in game protection _ 
“PIOUS JEEMS.” 
The charming legends of the South which we 
print this week, related by “Pious Jeems, deal 
with what is in fact the oldest portion of the 
United States—that traveled over by the earliest 
Spanish and Portuguese explorers, Hernando 
De Soto and those who came immediately before 
and after him. It is well that these legends 
should find a new chronicler in “Pious Jeems,’ 
who, better than most men, is fitted to record 
them. 
Col. James Gordon is known to all save the 
youngest* generation of readers as a famous 
sportsman, planter, statesman and soldier. Few 
men are so familiar with life of the old South 
in the days before the war as Col. Gordon. I he 
owner of vast estates and many slaves, he also 
possessed the swiftest horses, the best dogs, the 
most modern arms and equipment. No eye so 
quick as his to stop the buzzing quail, no ears 
so keen to listen to the cry of the hounds and 
tell which way the fleeing buck or bear would 
direct his course. When the war between the 
States came on, Col. Gordon, at his own expense, 
raised and equipped a company of cavalry and 
was at once in the field, and fought through the 
long conflict to its bitter end. 
During the last days of the Confederacy, Col. 
Gordon was sent, abroad by Mr. Davis on a se¬ 
cret mission, and on his return was captured, es¬ 
caped from prison and went to Canada. He met 
J. Wilkes Booth, became implicated in the as¬ 
sassination plot and had a reward offered for 
his head, dead or alive. Not willing to rest un¬ 
der such an imputation, he asked for a safe con¬ 
duct to go to New York, and at the risk of his 
life to set his reputation right. Pie made the 
journey and after the matter was investigated 
was fully exonerated and released by Gen. Dix. 
Some years after the war Col. Gordon lost all 
his property. He came to Okolona, his present 
residence, without means, and by his own un¬ 
aided exertions re-established himself. He 
camped in the fields, and cut hay and made it 
himself. With a few Jersey cows he established 
a dairy, drove his own milk wagon and worked 
in the field before the dew was off the grass. 
This he continued until he had paid for his 
farm. 
Since then he has represented his fellow-citi¬ 
zens in the Senate of his native State, always 
with credit because of his forgetfulness of self. 
For many years the signature of “Pious 
Jeems” has been familiar to sportsmen. In the 
old days he wrote for Porter’s Spirit of the 
Times, and for thirty-five years he has been a 
more or less frequent contributor to Forest and 
Stream. The young men of the South as of 
the North will read with interest the accounts 
told by the veteran of things that happened be¬ 
fore they were born. 
As we go to press with this issue the an¬ 
nouncement comes of the death of Samuel Web¬ 
ber at his home in Charlestown, N. H., on Feb. 
23 . He passed away as peacefully as he had 
lived, and one of his last utterances was an ex¬ 
pression of regret that he could no longer take 
part in the many friendly discussions in the col¬ 
umns of Forest and Stream. For a great many 
years he was a contributor, and the articles he 
wrote over his pen name “Von W.” were widely 
read and appreciated. 
* 
The unusual demands upon our columns this 
week compels us to defer until next week the 
publication of much interesting matter. Among 
this is the report of the proceedings of the 
North American Fish and Game Protective As¬ 
sociation, held at Albany. 
