696 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oct. 29, 1910. 
in New York city, 34,413 of which were game 
birds, 18,058 were snowbirds and 288 were bobo¬ 
links. 
Whenever the people are ready to stop the 
sale of wild game, then and not until then will 
the extermination of the more desirable species 
be checked. Such a step ought to stimulate the 
production of game on farms, a business that 
might become more profitable than raising poul¬ 
try, beef, pork or mutton. 
Edward Howe Forbush. 
C&nvasb&cks in Great South Bay. 
Center Moriches, N. Y., Oct. 17 .-—Editor 
Forest and Stream: There have never been 
known so many canvasback ducks in the bay as 
for the last two years. Last year, in November 
and December, there were more than we have 
ever known. I can show you any day bunches 
of 300 to 500, and in December we killed can¬ 
vasback nearly every day. Some days we got 
only two or three, but I killed as high as thirty 
in one day. Most of these ducks live on what 
is known as Bill Bar, which lies just in front of 
my place. The bar is known all over Long 
Island as the greatest duck and goose ground 
in Great South Bay. It is alive with clams, and 
on the outside of the bar is deep water and 
plenty of grass, which make good canvasback 
feeding grounds. 
I have gunned all my life and I never saw the 
geese in the bay so early before. I have killed 
geese several times already this year, and I 
killed them as early as the third of October, 
something very unusual. This indicates an early 
winter, so I expect to see the canvasback soon. 
G. Cary Smith. 
Eastport, L. I., Oct. 1 7.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: It has been only within the last four 
or five years on the Great South Bay that any 
great number of canvasback or redheads have 
been killed. 
Previous to this, there were killed only an 
occasional canvasback or redhead. It seems 
that these two varieties of duck have been at¬ 
tracted here by our bay becoming much salter 
and by an entirely new growth of bay grass 
and celery coming in. Heretofore this grass 
did not exist here as much; now it is not an un¬ 
common thing to kill ten or twelve canvasback 
a day, and forty to fifty redhead. 
H. J. Rogers. 
Cuba’s Quail Season. 
Posted all over the Province are the official 
bandos of Governor Asbert, of the Province of 
Havana, announcing that the time when the hnnt- 
ing of quail is prohibited will end on Oct. 31. 
In the bando Governor Asbert warns hunters to 
obey the precepts of the hunting law relative to 
the use of traps and other prohibited forms of 
hunting.—Havana Post. 
Game in Jersey. 
Elmer Cooper, of Tranquility, saw an in¬ 
spiring sight a week ago Saturday. A doe with 
twin fawns was in his meadow a short distance 
from the house. Mrs. Annie Hibler, of that 
place, on the same day, killed a copperhead 
snake in Maple street, near the parsonage.—- 
Dover (N. J.) Index. 
Benson’s Pond. 
Boston, Mass.,. Oct. 22. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: On Oct. 19 the Harbor and Land Com¬ 
mission gave its second hearing “to all persons 
interested in the condition and possible utility 
of Benson’s Pond in the town of Middleboro, 
with a view to its sale or use for commercial 
purposes.” The board had given a previous 
hearing at the house of Gamaliel Cushing, on 
the easterly side of the pond, on Sept. 14, act¬ 
ing under authority of Chap. 91, Resolves of 
1910, thus providing an opportunity for persons 
in the immediate vicinity to express their opin¬ 
ions without making a trip to Boston, also 
giving the members of the Commission and 
others an opportunity to view the pond and its 
surroundings. 
This pond is one of the numerous great ponds 
in control of the State, containing an area of 
some thirty acres. Samuel B. Gibbs, of Carver; 
C. C. Wood, of Plymouth, and others interested 
in the raising of cranberries have become the 
owners of the land surrounding the pond and 
desire to convert it into a cranberry bog. 
At the hearing on Wednesday, at the State 
House, there were many persons present from 
Middleboro, Carver and Wareham and other 
sections of the State. The chairman of the 
Commission, Hon. George E. Smith, of Boston, 
stated in opening that by the wording of the 
resolve he was inclined to think it was not in¬ 
cumbent upon the board to make any recom¬ 
mendation, but to ascertain as far as possible 
all the facts as to the present condition of the 
pond, the area that has been flowed by water, 
the levels it has maintained at different periods, 
and to secure accurate information from sur¬ 
veys that may have been made. Hon. Salem D. 
Charles, representing the interests of the sports¬ 
men of the State, did not coincide with this 
view and expressed the opinion that it was with¬ 
in the province of the board to report a recom¬ 
mendation as to whether the pond should be 
sold or not. This was also the opinion ex¬ 
pressed by representative Charles S. Davis, of 
Plymouth, representing the cranberry men. The 
chairman decided that the hearing should pro¬ 
ceed and the point as to making a recommenda¬ 
tion would be held in abeyance to be decided 
later. 
Lawyer Davis put on C. C. Wood as his first 
witness. Mr. Wood testified that a bog of 
about fifty acres, worth $40,000 to $50,000, could 
be made if the pond were drained. He declared 
that woodducks breed mostly in trees or in 
holes, that blaclcducks in breeding require cover, 
and the grass that covers them does not begin 
to grow till the middle of June. It is proposed 
to expend $25,000 on the property, most of it 
for labor. 
William M. Haskell, chairman of the Board 
of Selectmen of Middleboro, said his board was 
unanimous for the cranberry plan, and that was 
the general sentiment of the citizens of the 
town. Selectman C. N. Atwood corroborated his 
statements as did also Selectman Charles N. 
Leonard, who said he had been a gunner for 
thirty years; that blackducks build where there 
is shelter. “There are no bushes there,” he said; 
“if any bred there the hawks would get them 
before they left their nests.” 
Hon. Matthew H. Cushing, a former member 
of the Governor’s Council, declared it not a 
breeding place for ducks, and, disclaiming any 
personal interest in it, he was strongly in favor 
of a cranberry bog for the benefit of labor and 
the increase of property in the town and in the 
State. Similar testimony was given by Lathrop 
A. Hayden, of South Carver. 
Mr. Wood, being called again, stated that the 
water would not be diverted from its present 
channels—that the stream would in reality be 
larger than it is at present. 
On the other side, Mr. Charles said his asso¬ 
ciation had some 600 members who believe in 
the preservation of song and insectivorous 
birds, and that in affiliated clubs there were 
about 3,000 members; that it was an unheard of 
thing for the State to sell one of its great ponds 
for commercial purposes, and if the State should 
do it there would be a widespread feeling that 
the State had been disgraced thereby. The 
State is endeavoring to establish bird and game 
preserves, and in this respect other States are 
ahead of us. Birds help to keep down moths, 
and these mud ponds are breeding places for 
birds. Without birds the State would not be 
habitable. He declared that 30,000 gunners in 
Massachusetts are opposed to the sale of this 
pond. 
George B. Clark, of the State Association, also 
claimed that this pond is a good breeding place 
for birds, and that it would be destroyed for 
that purpose if made into a cranberry bog. 
Dr. A. H. Tuttle, of Cambridge, in behalf of 
the Middlesex Sportsman’s Club, entered a pro¬ 
test against the sale of the pond. He said, as 
one of the Benson tribe, for whom the pond 
was named, and with which he had been 
familiar from boyhood, when blackducks did 
breed there, he opposed the sale. It should be 
the policy of the State to promote bird and 
game sanctuaries. 
State Ornithologist Forbush felt it to be his 
duty to enter a protest against the sale of the 
pond. 
Horace P. Tobey, of Wareham, said he was 
in thorough accord with the sentiments of those 
who had spoken against the sale or use of the 
pond for cranberry culture. He spoke as the 
representative of the Tremont Nail Co. He was 
followed by D. C. Keyes, of South Wareham. 
J. J. Ryan presented a remonstrance, signed 
by Fred. H. Blanchard, of the Brockton Fish 
and Game Protective Association and ninety- 
six others. 
The finding of the Commission will be awaited 
with much interest. Henry H. Kimball. 
New York Fish and Game Protectors. 
For the position of game protector in the 
forest, fish and game department, fourteen passed 
the recent competitive examination for service 
in the counties of Wayne, Onondaga, Washing¬ 
ton and Otsego. The salary is $900 a year. 
Otsego county — William F. Newell, Mount 
Vision; Walter F. Barnard, Milford; Charles L. 
Keeler, Hartwick; Andrew A. Mather, Garretts- 
ville; Harvey L. Parshall, Cooperstown; Albert 
M. Liddon, Fly Creek; William P. Abbott, Harry 
O. Bouton, Frank O. Rollins and Alvin G. Jones, 
Oneonta. Wayne county — Peter Knobloch, of 
Lyons. Onondaga county—Frederick W. Hamil¬ 
ton, of Syracuse. Washington county—Allen S. 
Temple, of Whitehall, and Harvey B. Cruik- 
shank, of Salem. 
