Forest and Stream 
I Terms, $3 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. 
, , Six Months, $1.50. ! 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, JULY 16, 1910. 
I VOL. LXXV.—No. 3. 
1 No. 127 Franklin St. New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1909, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnell, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Speir, Treasurer, 
127 Franklin Street. New York. 
THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful in¬ 
terest in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate 
a refined taste for natural objects. 
—Forest and Stream, Aug. 14, 1873. 
MIDSUMMER TIME. 
All through the Atlantic and Middle States 
the crowns of the chestnut trees are white with 
blooms. This is the visible sign that midsummer 
has come — midsummer with its days of scorch¬ 
ing heats, its roads thick with pale yellow dust, 
its evening's sparkling with the fantastic lights 
of flocking fireflies, and its dwindling springs 
and streams. 
The yellowing grain still stands in the fields, 
and the meadows are only now beginning to bow 
their tall heads of timothy redtop and clover 
to the clatter of the mower. The morning's 
first dawn is still vocal with a thousand bird 
songs, and from the fences in the lots bobwhite 
sounds his cheery whistle all through the day. 
Yet these are closing sounds of early summer. 
Soon yellow stubbles will shine where now tall 
grass and crops' of grain billow in the passing 
breeze; bird songs will cease, the molting sea¬ 
son will come and the birds, faded and ragged 
of plumage, will seem to hide themselves away, 
as if ashamed of their changed appearance. 
In three months’ time brown nuts will be fall¬ 
ing from the twigs that now support these white 
blossoms, and children, squirrels and ruffed 
grouse will be struggling each to garner a share 
of the shining booty, sweeping away the brown 
leaves which carpet the ground. Summer will 
be past and gone and the shooting season will 
be here. To the lad eager to try his new gun 
on grouse or quail or woodcock three months 
seem a long time to wait, but to the man of 
middle age those months roll by all too swiftly 
to enable him to accomplish the tasks he has on 
hand. 
Just as to the people of the North, New Year’s 
day marks the beginning of midwinter, so the 
blossoming of the chestnut trees ushers in the 
season of midsummer. 
Of timely interest is the series of papers on 
sea fishing, by Leonard Hulit, the veteran angler, 
the publication of which is begun in this issue. 
At the same time another one of Francis C. 
Nicholas’ South American stories appears, while 
in this, the vacation season, “Sportsmen’s 
Cameras” will prove an assistant to those who 
are struggling for the first time with photog¬ 
raphy problems. 
A FRIEND TO THE TREES. 
It is eminently fitting that a great timber- 
producing country like the State of Washington 
should have adopted for its new State seal the 
woodpecker in place of the bald eagle. 
Many of us remember Franklin’s protest 
against the choice of the eagle as the national 
bird. He preferred the turkey, but all who be¬ 
lieve that the emblem on a seal should typify 
the qualities that a people ought to possess will 
probably agree that, for Americans, or for any 
section of America, the woodpecker would be 
a more suitable emblem than either eagle or 
turkey. 
The woodpecker is a worker, and a worker 
whose labors are expended largely for the bene¬ 
fit of the husbandman and the lumberer. Vast 
numbers of insects inhabit our fields and forests, 
and many of them prey on the trees, into whose 
wood they bore, and beneath the bark of which 
they dig tunnels leading in all directions. After 
they have begun their destructive work, other 
insects follow them, making use of the tunnels 
which they have dug, and aiding to destroy the 
trees. 
The woodpecker works hard all the year round. 
He is a type of energy and industry. He works 
from no exalted motive, but, as most of us do, 
to earn a living. Provided with an effective 
chisel, with quick eye and ear, and with a tongue 
long enough to probe any tunnel into which he 
has made an opening, he annually destroys thou¬ 
sands of grubs and millions of eggs and does 
far more than his share to keep in check de¬ 
structive insect pests. Besides the good they do 
by destroying borers and the eggs which produce 
borers, several species of woodpeckers feed 
largely on ants, which are also in certain ways 
the enemies of the agriculturist. 
All honor then and all protection to the wood¬ 
pecker, and congratulations to the State of Wash¬ 
ington for its wise selection of a State emblem. 
THE FERRET LAW. 
In another column we print a communication 
from one of our subscribers who protests against 
that section of the new game law of New York 
State permitting the use of ferrets in hunting 
rabbits. This is one of the many illustrations 
of the difficulty encountered in formulating laws 
that will prove to be just to all or even a ma¬ 
jority of the people. 
In some sections rabbits are regarded as a 
pest; in others there is little else to hunt in sea¬ 
son, and residents of these counties advocate 
a short open season and a low bag limit. The 
State is a large one and by some it has long 
been regarded as impossible to formulate equit¬ 
able game laws for all of the counties. Such 
persons indorse the county and local exceptions 
plan, confusing though this be. Just how con¬ 
fusing these provisions are we have good reason 
to know, for on the eve and during the first part 
of every open season we are besieged with hun¬ 
dreds of requests for enlightenment as to these 
local provisions. 
In order to act for the majority, legislators 
should be placed in possession of information 
detailing the sportsmen’s wants. The proper 
way to do this is through the sportsmen’s asso¬ 
ciations and their legislative committees. Every 
county and town should have its sportsmen’s 
club, and at least one member should be detailed 
to keep in touch with the lawmakers while they 
are in session at Albany. The State association 
could employ one of the press correspondents 
at Albany to keep affiliated clubs posted on all 
proposed changes. The n< ws would in this way 
reach all counties in go^d season, and permit 
local clubs to endorse or condemn various meas¬ 
ures. The expense to each club would be very 
small. A still less expensive way would be for 
each club to keep in close touch with the legis¬ 
lative proceedings as abstracted each week in 
Forest and Stream. After the mischief has 
been done it is too late to complain. 
Until this or a similar plan is adopted, it is the 
duty of each individual to keep in touch with his 
senator or assemblyman. An expression of the 
views of one sportsman or of a community has 
often influenced important legislation. At any 
rate, one expression of opinion goes further than 
none, for silence is regarded as assent, in this as 
in other things. 
The status of the rabbit has been discussed 
in the State sportsmen’s conventions every year. 
These discussions have gone to show that in the 
various counties opinions are at variance. It is 
probable that the fruit-growing counties brought 
more influence to bear than did other counties, 
and the Legislature struck out the anti-ferret 
provision in accordance with the weight of testi¬ 
mony in favor of ferrets. 
Although the importations iijto the United 
States of birds and mammals (exclusive of 
ruminants and swine) aggregate nearly half a 
million, inspection by the Government is so thor¬ 
ough that the danger of the introduction of pests 
is practically eliminated. Two or three minor 
violations of the law came to light during last 
year and were promptly dealt with. The main 
interest in these importations attaches to the 
number of game birds imported. The Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture has a record of nearly 30,- 
000 gray partridges (commonly known as Hun¬ 
garian partridges) brought from Europe for 
liberation in the United States, chiefly in Cali¬ 
fornia, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and Kan¬ 
sas. This is an advance of more than 400 per 
cent, over importations of these birds in 1908, 
which was more than 100 per cent, above that 
of 1907. This remarkable increase indicates the 
growing tendency to apply the proceeds from 
hunting licenses to restocking covers. Only 
1,200 pheasants were imported for this purpose. 
