220 
FOREST AN1) STREAM 
April, 1918 
FOREST and stream 
FORTY-SEVENTH YEAR 
FOUNDERS OF THE AUDUBON SOCIETY 
GOVERNING BOARD: 
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL, New York, N. Y. 
CARL E. AKELEY, American Museum of Natural History, New York 
FRANK S. DAGGETT, Museum of Science, Los Angeles, Cal. 
EDMUND HELLER, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. 
C. HART MERRIAM, Biological Survey, Washington, D. C. 
WILFRED H. OSGOOD, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Ill. 
JOHN M. PHILLIPS, Pennsylvania Game Commission, Pittsburgh, Pa. 
CHARLES SHELDON, Washington, D. C. 
GEORGE SHIRAS, 3rd, Washington, D. C. 
WILLIAM BRUETTE, Editor 
J. T. WOOD, Business Manager 
Nine East Fortieth Street, New York City 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL WILL BE TO 
studiously promote a healthful interest in outdoor recrea¬ 
tion, and a refined taste for natural objects. Aug. 14, 1873 
THE ENABLING ACT REPORTED 
A FTER its long sleep in the pigeon holes of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Relations of the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives, the Enabling Act for the Treaty with Canada 
was at length dragged from its resting place by Mr. 
Flood, and, after a thorough discussion was favorably 
reported. There is hope that before very long the meas¬ 
ure may come to a vote. Its great importance to the 
country is appreciated by farmers and by sportsmen, and 
ought to be understood by everyone. 
The farmers recognize that the failure to pass this 
act will result in great damage to their crops from the 
ravages of insects, and the sportsmen know that until 
it is passed the excessive killing of wild fowl will con¬ 
tinue. 
The insect-eating birds are most potent allies of the 
farmer, and the work that they do day by day, and 
month by month, increases the total of the farmers’ prod¬ 
ucts and add vast sums to their value. The birds are not 
philanthropists; they are not striving to help man; they 
are merely seeking their food, but they are powerful aids 
to agriculture that should be fostered and encouraged. 
Without them crops could not be grown. 
Something has been said recently of the destruction of 
wild fowl on Currituck Sound during the bitter weather 
of the winter just past. Great numbers of canvasbacks 
and other ducks have been destroyed purely for com¬ 
mercial purposes. One correspondent tells of killing 570 
canvasbacks in three days. Earlier in the season one man 
in one day killed 510 ducks—chiefly ruddy ducks. 
These ducks are killed to be sold. The men who live 
on Currituck Sound farm in summer, fish in autumn and 
spring, and gun in winter. To them the killing and sale 
of these birds is as natural and proper as the selling of 
so many cases of drygoods by a merchant, or of so many 
barrels of flour by a miller; yet such extraordinary de¬ 
struction must have a disastrous effect on the supply of 
birds and so must injure sportsmen all over the country. 
When the Enabling Act is passed, the Federal authori¬ 
ties will undoubtedly establish bag limits and other regu¬ 
lations tending to limit excessive killing. In many states 
such bag limits now exist, but in some of those in which 
the wild fowl spend the winter there are no bag limits. 
The Bill has been shifted about several times, but its pres¬ 
ent designation is S. 1553, which is 87 on the Union 
Calendar in the House, and it should be thus identified. 
Every farmer and every sportsman should urge upon 
his Congressman to take an interest in the Enabling Act 
and to try to bring it to a vote. Besides carrying out our 
treaty obligations it is truly a war measure. Its effect 
will be to increase the country’s food supply, and we are 
told that food will win the war. 
DO NOT SHOOT AT PIGEONS 
NUMEROUS complaints have been made to the 
A ^ Pigeon Section of the Signal Corps that carrier 
pigeons of the racing homer type, being trained 
throughout the United States for communication ser¬ 
vice with the American Army, have been shot by 
persons on hunting expeditions. This misfortune has 
led the Committee on Public Information to request 
the editors of outdoor publications to warn sportsmen 
that pigeons should not be molested as they may be 
army carriers. 
In spite of the fact that many States have laws pro¬ 
hibiting the shooting of pigeons, the killing of these 
birds by hunters has seriously interfered with the 
training of homing and carrier pigeons for army ser¬ 
vice. It is believed that the persons responsible for 
the death of these birds are unaware that they are 
hindering an important branch of war preparation. 
Because of the important part carrier and homing 
pigeons are playing in the war, and the great need 
for their breeding and development in this country, 
the War Department has considerably expanded the 
Pigeon Section of the Signal Corps.' Homing pigeons 
constitute one of the most effective means of com¬ 
munication in the army, and are especially valuable 
as a sure method of replacing other means of com¬ 
munication. The breeding and training of pigeons, 
therefore, is of paramount necessity as a war measure. 
Any pigeon in the air may be a carrier pigeon flying 
from a loft under Government supervision. Its de¬ 
struction may be a serious loss to the American Army. 
All persons, therefore, are urged to refrain from the 
shooting of pigeons and to discourage the practice 
by hunters and children. 
Persons coming into possession of pigeons labeled 
“U. S. A.-—18,” indicating that they are being trained 
for army purposes, are requested to report the fact 
at once to the office of the Chief Signal Officer, Land 
Division, Washington, D. C. 
NATURE’S PROTECTIVE COLORING 
JV/I ANY of our readers have no doubt, been struck 
with the varied colored uniforms adopted by the 
combatants in the war, and have wondered how each 
has chosen a distinctive color when there must be a 
best. Which is the best? is the question. Mr. Walter 
Winans has an interesting article in “Arms and the Man” , 
on the subject, and he holds for the French color, and 
gives his conclusions as follows: If you put a man 
dressed in green on a green field and he is standing with 
the sun behind him, he shows dark against the back¬ 
ground. It is a matter of light and shade. A white 
plaster statue stood in the snow can, with alterations of 
lighting, be made to appear black against the snow, or 
white, and invisible, against the snow. There is no color 
which can make a man invisible if the sun is behind 
him when he is standing. But with the sun facing him 
