Sept, io, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
415 
Death of Major J. M. Taylor. 
We have received the sad news that Major J. 
M. Taylor died suddenly in his home, at Ruther¬ 
ford, N. J., on Wednesday night of last week. 
He was born in Lexington, Ky., in 1838. He re¬ 
sided in that city till comparatively recent years. 
From the beginning of organized sport with 
dog and gun in America his name has stood for 
authority, progressiveness and clean sport. His 
sphere of activity was wide. He judged at 
bench shows and field trials in every section of 
America, and his awards were highly esteemed 
and authoritative. Although his specialty was 
the different sporting breeds, he nevertheless had 
a profound knowledge of all breeds, and many 
times acted as all-round judge of them. Taken 
in the combined capacity of field trial and bench 
show judge, he was without a peer. 
In the early days of field trials Major Taylor 
was a powerful advocate of the “Blues” over 
the “Reds”; that is, the imported setters and 
their descendants over the native breeds of field 
dogs. In this connection his setter Lit, in what 
was to have been a three-days’ race with the re¬ 
nowned setter dog Grousedale, at Grand Junc¬ 
tion, Tenn., in 1883, for a purse of $1,000, won 
on the second day, and thereby did much to ad- 
vance the cause of the “Blues.” In a way she 
thereby neutralized the defeat of her sire, Glad¬ 
stone, some years prior, by Campbell’s Joe Jr. 
But matters of broader interest did not escape 
his attention. In the early 80s he advocated an 
association of all the clubs for the general wel¬ 
fare of the sport, and worked industriously to 
accomplish it. He issued the call for the first 
organization meeting, which was the starting 
point of the present American Kennel C'ub, the 
most powerful organization of the kind in the 
world. He was its first president. In the world 
of trapshooting he also was distinguished as a 
leader. He was an exoert shot, and was man¬ 
ager of the American Trapshooting Association, 
the forerunner of the present great Interstate 
Association. 
The Louisiana Consolidation. 
New Orleans, La., Sept. 1 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The fish and oyster commissions were 
formally consolidated Aug. 22 with the following 
personnel: Frank M. Miller, President; J. L. 
Dossman, Superintendent of the oyster depart¬ 
ment; Prof. W. R. Dodson and Fred Grace, 
Amos L. Ponder,, Attorneys; F. T. Payne, Sur¬ 
veyor; C. S. Babington, Secretary; Henry Jacobs, 
Assistant Secretary, and R. G. Dubroca, Book¬ 
keeper. It was decided to make a complete sur¬ 
vey of the natural oyster reefs in Louisiana. 
The oyster season opens in Louisiana on Sept. 
1, and the prospects are excellent for an immense 
yield. The industry will be prosecuted vigorous¬ 
ly. The commission decided to allow dredging 
on oyster reefs in ten feet of water in Lake 
Borgne and Mississippi Sound. The subject has 
been one of contention for the past two years 
between the oyster commissioners and the oyster 
boatmen representing the big canneries on the 
coast. The tongers contended that the steam 
dredges ruined the oyster reefs, and in this con¬ 
tention they were upheld by the former oyster 
board after a rather bitter fight. The new board 
has now modified its former ruling, the con¬ 
cession granted being in the nature of a com¬ 
promise. The several patrol boats of the com¬ 
mission have been ordered to various waters to 
watch oyster beds and enforce the law and be 
ready for the opening of the season, Sept. 1. 
F. G. G. 
Masskchusetts Gunners’ Association. 
Boston, Mass., Aug. 2 3.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: The Massachusetts Gunners’ Association 
is a permanent organization and one that will do 
all in its power to protect, and increase, together, 
the interests of the gunners and the game birds 
and animals throughout this Commonwealth. 
Its membership has increased two hundred in 
the last two months, and it now has members in 
every county and every town and city. These 
are practical gunners, and men who can report 
to the association the actual conditions as to 
the protection and propagation of all game birds 
and animals throughout the State. These facts, 
when required, will be presented to the Fish and 
Game Committee in the Legislature by this as¬ 
sociation, and there' is no reason why the use¬ 
ful animals and birds as well as the game shall 
not be properly protected and increase, and the 
recreative sport of gunning shall not be abol¬ 
ished, as it is likely to be under the persistent 
efforts of certain tender-hearted but misinformed 
individuals. 
The annual Massachusetts convention for 1910 
will be held Thursday evening, Sept. 22, 1910, at 
7:30 o’clock in Wesleyan Hall, 36 Bromfield 
street, Boston. Arthur F. Means, Jr., Sec’y. 
Caught the Elephants Tusk. 
Some weeks ago the cables brought the news 
that C. E. Akely, who is collecting specimens in 
Africa for the American Museum of Natural 
History, had been badly injured by an elephant. 
A letter received from him by Fred N. Steven¬ 
son, at one time a member of the Akely hunt¬ 
ing party, gives a few details of the occurrence: 
“You may wonder just what hoppened when 
I met the last elephant. Briefly this: He took 
me by surprise. 
“The herd was some distance in advance in 
the bamboos, and he was upon me with one 
tusk at my chest before I could raise a gun. I 
caught the tusk and threw myself between the 
tusks, grasping one with each hand. As I went 
down he drove his tusks into the ground, and 
his trunk curled under and on my chest. Just 
an instant I saw his vicious little eyes; then 
with a wheeze of rage he surged down and I 
went to sleep. 
“Four and a half hours later I awakened, 
drenched with the cold mist, buried in blood 
and ants. One eye fortunately was in service, 
and I could see a little way off the camp-fires 
and tents of the gun-bearers and porters, where 
they cooked their food and mourned their dead 
‘Bwana.’ They had left me to Allah and the 
hyenas. 
“My voice was in good shape, and how the 
curs did come when I called. They took me in, 
and during intervals of consciousness I got them 
to give me whiskey and beef tea. 
“Dr. Phillip, of the Church of Scotland Mis¬ 
sion, reached us about forty-eight hours after 
the ‘collision,’ so I had the best of care. There 
were no bones broken except ribs, and I don’t 
kpow how many of these. 
“Why the elephant left me I know not. Prob¬ 
ably thought I was finished and went for others. 
But the others had all 'leaked' out of the land¬ 
scape. It seems possible that in his last drive 
he had pushed his tusks as far into the earth 
as he could, which accounts for my not being 
flattened out as thin as a wafer. 
“My head gun-bearer was Swahili, who was 
with Arthur Newman when he was gored by a 
cow elephant. They say that on that occasion 
he killed the cow. On this occasion he carried 
a good gun to a point of safety. 
“It is now three weeks since I was hurt. I 
am still on my back, but doing finely. I hope 
that in another three weeks I shall be on the 
trail of my friend, the elephant.” 
Some years ago Mr. Akely came to be known 
as an artistic taxidermist of rare skill. For a 
time he was in. the employ of the Field Museum 
of Natural History, and accompanied Dr. D. G. 
Eliot’s expedition to Somaliland. Here a leopard 
that he had wounded attacked him and tore him 
frightfully, but Akely finally killed the leopard 
by' choking it to death with his bare hands. He 
was long laid up from the wounds received. It 
may be doubted whether the feat of throttling 
a leopard was ever before accomplished, and it 
is quite certain, we imagine, that no white man, 
other than Mr. Akely, has passed through such 
experiences with big game and survived. 
Bird Sanctuaries in Australia. 
Victoria has twenty-three bird sanctuaries, 
covering a total area of 123,989 acres. In addi¬ 
tion to these, parts of the estates of many land¬ 
holders have been proclaimed by their owners 
as reserves for game, and some of the shne 
councils are having certain lands under their con¬ 
trol, especially those containing lakes, gazetted 
as bird sanctuaries. 
South Australia has three large preserves with 
a total area of 40,400 acres, and many private 
estates are also bird sanctuaries where every 
effort is made to protect and attract bird life, 
even to placing suitable nesting boxes in trees 
and other places. The Education Department 
takes much interest in bird matters, and the Gov¬ 
ernment is preparing colored illustrations of 
various protected birds for the use of the police. 
Queensland has reserved several small islands 
as sanctuaries, principally to prevent the destruc¬ 
tion of the Torres Strait pigeons, when they 
migrate from New Guinea to Queensland to nest. 
New South Wales has eighteen small reserves, 
mostly for waterfowl, three large parks with a 
total area of 80,000 acres, and three districts with 
an area of 61,655 acres. 
Rail Prospects at Essex. 
Essex, Conn., Sept. 5 -—Editor Forest and 
Stream: From recent observations taken not 
only in the covers hereabouts, but in other places 
along the river, I think it safe to say that the 
growth of wild rice is far greater than it has 
been for years. And not only is the crop heavy 
but there seems to be a good number of rail as 
well. I have myself seen a good many birds, 
and most encouraging reports are continually 
coming in from those who have occasion to 
spend more or less time in the haunts of the rail. 
I think any and all who come to this section 
of Connecticut to hunt will find excellent rail 
shooting when the law goes off on Sept. 12. 
Geo. W. Comstock, 
