July 9, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
55 
Hunters’ License Tax. 
Rochester, N. Y., June 15 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: From the best information that I can 
gain from those interested in it, the hunter’s 
license law is down to the present time very dis¬ 
couraging and unsatisfactory to the sportsmen. 
Something over 100,000 persons in this State 
have been paying at the rate of $1.10 for the 
privilege of carrying a gun during the open 
season for game. This relates more particularly 
to the game birds. I am certain it was under¬ 
stood that when this law went into effect the 
proceeds of the license fee—aside from the 
necessary disbursements connected therewith— 
were to be expended for the purchase and libera¬ 
tion of such game birds as were known to be 
sufficiently hardy to withstand the climate of 
this State. The hunters have paid into the State 
treasury an amount approximating $250,000, with 
practically no return whatever, and this will be 
repeated this year, so that at the. end of the 
year the State will have received some $375,000 
from the hunters’ licenses, and this, be it re¬ 
membered, is a special tax upon a certain class 
of our citizens. It is believed that not over 100 
to 1,000 non-residents and aliens take out li¬ 
censes in this State. 
If this tax is not to be expended to replenish 
the covers with game, then the law should be 
modified. The law itself being necessary only 
to protect the little game we have from the alien 
and non residents, the license fee to residents 
should be reduced to a minimum, say not to ex¬ 
ceed twenty five cents to each person, ten cents 
to the clerk for issuing the license and fifteen 
cents to the department, which would cover the 
expenses of the procuring and issuance of the 
license. The law as it now is and as it has 
been administered is a great imposition and in¬ 
defensible, except as to the protecting element 
of it. In other words the fee, $1.10, judging 
from past and present results, is an outrage on 
the sportsman. 
The department has thrown a sop to the hun¬ 
ter in the way of a game farm, which, from a 
practical point of view, is simply a waste of 
money and a delusion. It is idle and a waste 
of money to raise the Mongolian or ring-necked 
pheasants at a game farm. The Mongolian needs 
nothing but liberty and a natural opportunity to 
produce his kind, and the evidence is abundant 
that throughout the State they will do vastly 
better at large than in confinement. To-day 
there is no need of a game farm for this bird. 
The Hungarian partridge is more of an ex¬ 
periment, but if they are of any value to the 
sportsmen, they could be much better tested by 
expending a few thousand dollars for their pur¬ 
chase and liberation, making a natural and prac¬ 
tical test. A number of clubs have already pur¬ 
chased and liberated these birds, and reports 
are encouraging. It is reported that they came 
through last winter—which was one of the 
severest known—in fine condition. This game 
farm may be of some value in experimenting 
in a small way, but it is of no practical value 
when it comes to the stocking of the State with 
its products. 
In the early stages of legislation last winter 
it was promised that an appropriation would go 
through the Legislature for a considerable sum, 
and the commissioner would be authorized to 
purchase and liberate Hungarian partridges 
throughout the different parts of the State. It 
is understood, however, that this legislation was 
not carried through. 
It is contended that this sum of almost $30,000 
contributed by the hunters should not from any 
normal point of view be expended for the pro¬ 
tection of fish or forests or in the payment of 
protectors. It is well known in this vicinity, if 
not throughout the entire State, that three- 
fourths—if not nine-tenths—of the protectors’ 
time is taken up in looking after illegal fisher¬ 
men, yet the hunters are paying this unjust, un¬ 
fair and unnecessary tax without any return. 
All persons who shoot for recreation or other¬ 
wise and pay this tax should see to it at the 
coming election that their respective candidates 
for member of Assembly and Senator thoroughly 
understand the situation, and unless such candi¬ 
dates shall promise their aid for the relief of 
the hunters or the lessening or the repeal of this 
license fee, then such candidates should be op¬ 
posed throughout the entire State. It is time 
the hunters asserted their rights. Down to the 
present time, either through the State Depart¬ 
ment at Albany or through the inability or un¬ 
willingness of the committees in Senate and 
Assembly to assert their rights, and hunters’ 
rights have been ignored and abused, and 
promises made have not been kept. 
It is up to the hunters to get something like 
a “square deal.” A Hunter. 
New Publications. 
The Dawn of the World. Myths and Weird 
Tales Told by the Mewan Indians of Cali¬ 
fornia, collected and edited by C. Hart Mer- 
riam. Illustrated, cloth, 273 pages. A. H. 
Clark, Cleveland. 
“The Dawn of the World” strikes a new note 
in scientific book making. It is a volume of 
faithfully recorded myths which possesses great 
interest for the ethnologist, and also furnishes 
much satisfaction to art critics who are gratified 
to see a beautiful book—scientific stories, artis¬ 
tically illustrated. 
Dr. Merriam’s studies as Chief of the Bio¬ 
logical Survey have led him all over California 
and have thus given him opportunities to see 
more of the California Indians than any other 
one man has done. The present volume is a 
result of his investigations among these people. 
The tales, which are arranged in a most attrac¬ 
tive and fascinating way, come from the Mewan 
Indians, who are confined to Central California, 
and have no known relatives anywhere in the 
world. They have been little visited by ethnolo¬ 
gists and are so rapidly growing fewer in num¬ 
ber that since these stories were collected, sev¬ 
eral of the tribes have become extinct. The 
tales are related after the first rains of the 
winter season, and—as with so many Indian 
tribes—always at night. They contain the re¬ 
ligious history of the tribe, and have been 
handed down from generation to generation by 
oral tradition. 
The volume opens with an introduction which 
is very helpful to the reader by explaining the 
fundamental elements of Mewan mythology and 
by giving names of the different deities. There 
is also a map showing the distribution of the 
tribes of this stock. The book is divided into 
ancient and modern myths. 
The mythology of the California Indians—and 
the same is true of other tribes—goes back to 
the time of what Dr. Merriam very fitly calls 
The First People; and it is the adventures of 
these First People that the ancient myths de¬ 
scribe. These first people bore the names of 
animals and other objects of nature, yet in fact 
they appear to have been sometimes human be¬ 
ings, "find sometimes animals or forces, yet from 
time to time changing their shapes and always 
able to communicate in speech with those they 
met. These tales relate the adventures of these 
people in connection with their search for fire, 
their hunting exploits, their battles with great 
forces, their quarrels and wars, and what came 
of these wars. Finally, human beings, that is to 
say Indian people, were created by the god 
Coyote Man, and the First People became perma¬ 
nently the animals and other objects of nature 
whose names they had borne. Those who pos¬ 
sessed certain characteristics became the animals 
which now have the same characteristics. Many 
of the tales explain the phenomena of nature and 
almost all have direct relation to the terrible 
struggle for existence of a primitive people. 
After the ancient myths found in the first two 
hundred pages of the volume are given certain 
present day myths—about animals, about ghosts 
and the sign of death, about natural phenomena 
and about various fabulous beings, such as 
witches, pygmies and giants. Following the 
present day myths are a list of the scientific 
names of animals, trees and plants, a bibliog¬ 
raphy of California mythology and an excellent 
and complete index. 
Of the earlier tales many have to do with the 
way in which the people secured the fire. The 
first of these explains how it was brought by 
the robin, whose breast became red because every 
night on the road as he was bringing back the 
fire, he lay with his breast over it, to keep it 
from getting cold. Of the fire a portion was 
made into the sun, while another portion was 
put into the buckeye tree—the wood of which 
the Indians used for one of their two fire sticks. 
The humming bird also brought the fire, carry¬ 
ing it held tight under his chin, where it still 
shows. In another story the white-footed mouse 
took it, carrying the spark away in his little reed 
flute, while again, in another tale, the shrew 
mouse stole it. 
The tales are told with Indian simplicity and 
verisimilitude. Not a few of them remind us 
of other myths told by other people in far dis¬ 
tant lands, yet these Mewuk stories have a flavor 
that is all their own. 
The illustrations of the volume—from paint¬ 
ings made especially for the present collection 
by E. W. Deming. of New York, and Charles J. 
Hittell, of San Francisco—are of peculiar in¬ 
terest. Mr. Deming is particularly happy in 
catching the spirit of stories such as these. The 
picture of Wek'Wek on the hilltop killing geese 
with his sling is as decorative as a Japanese 
print in its placing of dark and light, while that 
of the fawns asking the mother bear if they may 
play with her baby is exquisite, as well for its 
expression of character as for its handling of 
the composition. 
It may be said of the volume that in matter, 
in illustration, and as a piece of book making 
it is worthy of its distinguished author. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
