April 4, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
537 
ie interior, for they give the shore gunners and 
bt-hunters a chance to kill off the birds while 
ie ponds and rivers of the interior are frozen 
nd the birds are crowded along the seashore, 
uch laws are unjust to all the people, for they 
>surc the destruction of a great natural souice 
f enjoyment and food supply—a nation s birth- 
ight. 
The summer shooting of shore birds has been 
irgely responsible for the destruction of the 
ildcer. the upland plover, and some other spe- 
ies now growing rare. 
The object of stopping the shooting of shore 
irds January first, when there are few, if any, 
L the State, is to give the gunner no excuse for 
hooting or disturbing any birds after that date. 
If all shooting can be stopped on January 
irst, the black duck, wood duck, and other spe- 
ies, will come back again and breed plentifully 
n New England, as they have already done m 
ither Northern States where spring shooting is 
now forbidden by law, and in time we shall see 
,mr rivers, .ponds and marshes alive with birds, 
is of old. 
Tribute to Von W. 
Oakland, Cal, March 18 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I read with regret in your issue of 
Feb. 29, of the death of Mr. Samuel Webber, 
Nova Scotia Game. 
Annapolis Royal, N. S, March 7,-Editor 
Forest and Stream: Sportsmen hardly recognize 
that Nova Scotia is the greatest moose country 
south of Alaska, so far as the number of legally 
killed animals is concerned, though it must not 
be forgotten that it is the one district in the 
world in which cow moose may be shot. The 
official figures for 1907 tell us that 486 were 
killed in this Province, which beats New Bruns¬ 
wick, while Maine seldom counts more than 200 
nowadays. Last season was, however, an unfa¬ 
vorable one. Two facts are worth noticing: 
Firstly, that moose were killed in every county 
save one (Antigonish) ; and, secondly, that the 
species is undoubtedly on the increase, in spite 
of the very loose enforcement of the game laws, 
snaring going on even to-day in many sections. 
The wardens have too little power and far too 
little money to be able to get at the wrongdoers, 
for the voluntary contributions to the cause are 
practically nil, the one considerable source of 
revenue being the sale of licenses to non-resi¬ 
dents. 
The position hitherto taken by the Legislatur c 
has been a rather inconsistent one, for, while 
charging a license fee of $30 for shooting, not 
onlv moose but any kind of game, it forbids the 
It was rather an off year here in regard to 
ruffed grouse, the big storm of last spring having 
undoubtedly destroyed numbers of nests and 
etfen birds. Woodcock, on the other hand, were 
never more numerous, and the Province may be 
rightly called a first-class cock ground. We have 
bears too, and one of their habits is to answer 
the call of a cow moose, with the object, no 
doubt, of making a meal of the calf. 
Not many days ago we had the fun of de¬ 
scending upon two old she bears in their winter 
dens, and the result of the fights is two bear 
robes and three amusing little cubs, which I 
shall take pleasure in rearing this spring and 
summer, though Mr. Hornaday has told us, If 
thine enemy offend thee, present him with a cub 
bear!” k 
Nova Scotia remains the best fishing ground 
for trout of exactly the proper size to fight best, 
namely between one-half and two pounds, with 
some smaller, of course. And, as above said, it 
costs less to go into the woods here than in 
Maine, New Brunswick or Quebec—and you get 
trout every time, though they have to be fished 
for harder from July 1 to August 20. The best 
fishing is from the middle of May to July 1, and 
during the last week of August and the month 
of September. Annapolis is an excellent point 
to start from, as it taps the great wilderness to 
robinson crusoe’s gun. 
ROBIN SUJN U<uaur,a ouxn. 
inscription, rudely carved, A. Selkirk, l^aigo, i . 
original of Selkirk’s name. • 
letter known to me as “Von W.” He was one 
if the “old guard,” now, alas, so few in number. 
FI is articles to the Forest and Stream date 
lack nearly or quite as far as the earliest 
>f my own. He was a contemporary of Ness- 
nuk and Robinson, and his writings were so full 
>f the milk of human kindness that we learned 
o love him for the sentiments he expressed, 
ust as we did Mr. Charles B. Reynolds, of your 
nvn staff, whose friendship will always be cher- 
shed by ’those who knew him in his editorial 
-apacity there. 
I never had the good fortune to meet per¬ 
sonally many of the “old guard,” but I always 
have entertained the most kindly feelings to¬ 
ward each one of them, and among them all 
there was none that seemed to embody all that 
was gentle and reliable to a greater degree than 
did “Von W.” 
Only a few days ago I was refreshing my 
memory of the “old guard” by looking over the 
“round robin”/of their pen names which you 
published many years ago, and placing a star 
over those who had preceded us to the other 
shore, but I did not dream that I should be 
called upon so sqon to include dear old 
“Von W.” 
Just wait for us, old friend, we will all be with 
you soon. Forked Deer. 
export of unmounted moose heads, an instance, 
of course, of legislation for special benefit of the 
very few, in this case of two taxidermists, both 
not in the first class. I understand that this dis¬ 
graceful “bunco” law is to be repealed this ses¬ 
sion. If it is not, American sportsmen will do 
well to remember that, though they may legally 
kill moose here, they will not be allowed to 
have the heads mounted except in this Province, 
by mediocre men. If the clause is repealed our 
hunting grounds may be unreservedly recom¬ 
mended for moose, for, though the New Bruns¬ 
wick animals may average a little larger, there 
are good heads to be got here, too, and a very 
important thing to most of us, the expenses of a 
trip here are hardly more than one-half what 
they are across the Bay of Fundy. T he license 
fee is $30 here to $50 there, and guides’ wages 
are less with us. 
In regard to the ease of securing a trophy, 1 
believe that it is more difficult to get a head 
here than there, for the sufficient reason that our 
moose arc very much educated, are used to man 
and his ways, and hence are much less easily 
fooled and approached. The wonderful tales o 
moose coming up to a man pounding on a log 
cabin have no counterpart with us. If you get 
your moose here you will have earned it, or your 
guide will. 
the south; also Yarmouth and Shelburne and 
Liverpool. Edward Breck. 
Jacksnipe in California. 
Los Angeles, Cal., March 10 .—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Our jacksnipe season has opened 
rather poorly this spring, and thus far but few 
of the gunners have had any sport really worth 
their while. The belief is growing that unless 
something is done, and quickly, to protect the 
remnant of snipe now in the country, the days 
of sport with this grand game bird are num¬ 
bered. tit 
General drainage of the country for the plant¬ 
ing of celery in the damp peat, lands, and the 
utilizing of every possible bit of wet bottom for 
agriculture of other sorts owing to the facility 
with which it could be irrigated, have no doubt 
been largely responsible by draining so many 
former strongholds of the snipe, but in days past 
market- hunters used to kill as many as 120 dozen 
in a season, the price being high and the demand 
of epicures constant for the delicious little birds. 
Both have made a bad combination for the sup¬ 
ply of snipe, and it is now a hard matter to bag 
a dozen in a day unless favored with exceptional 
luck. Only two or three killings of that number 
have been reported. Edw. L. Hedderly. 
