736 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. s, 1910. 
ditioned, however, on the people of New York 
voting favorably on the $2,500,000 bond issue 
proposition on the 8th of next month. 
“If such a favorable vote obtains, then the 
commission will immediately be put in posses¬ 
sion of something over $5,500,000. This money 
will be used for the purpose of stopping the 
blasting that is now going on at Hook Moun¬ 
tain and other places in that neighborhood on 
the west bank of the Hudson River, for build¬ 
ing a roadway on the west shore of the Hudson 
at the foot of the Palisades, from Fort Lee to 
Nyack; for connecting that roadway with other 
roads that will lead directly into the great do¬ 
main which Mrs. Harriman has this day 
formally presented to the State. 
“This land, in turn, will be connected, through 
^her purchases, with the 700-acre tract of land 
At Bear Mountain, which has to-day b ien turned 
over to the Palisades Commission b} !he Prison 
Commission, said land, by an act of the Legis¬ 
lature last winter, having been aba floned as a 
prison site. This Bear Mountain tract runs 
down directly to the Hudson R’cer at Bear 
Mountain, where an excellent landing can easily 
be constructed; so that the entire park district 
can be made accessible both by land and water. 
“Only the few of us who have thus far had 
the good fortune to become somewhat ac¬ 
quainted with this tract of land, through oc¬ 
casional visits to it, realize its great natural 
beauty and have obtained some small concep¬ 
tion of what a priceless gift is being offered to 
the millions of people who are living so close 
at hand.” 
__ \ 
Hunting in the West. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 24. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: Already large numbers of North¬ 
ern-bred ducks are making their appearances 
on the local marshes and hunters look upon this 
as an indication that there will be an early 
winter season in Oregon and Washington. 
Canvasbacks, bluebills and scaup ducks are the 
last to come down from the North, but many 
of each of these varieties have been killed, to 
the surprise of sportsmen who usually do not 
expect to see any of these until November. A 
heavy rain fell here recently, but this has not 
interfered with hunting in the least, as the 
ground everywhere was so dry that it drank up 
the moisture and no pools were formed. The 
birds left the marshes during the storm, but re¬ 
turned when it was found that water could not 
be found elsewhere. 
Owners of preserves in the Suisun marshes 
are calling attention to the fact that they are 
compelled to feed the birds there in order to 
keep them in that viciniy, there being a lack of 
natural food. It is asserted that carp, or Ger¬ 
man hog-fish, as they are called here, have be¬ 
come so numerous that they are eating the 
natural food of the ducks. Theodore Roosevelt, 
Jr., now of San Francisco, 'has taken up duck 
shooting and made his initial appearance on 
the Stewart Club preserve near Denverton, 
where he bagged twenty fine birds. Governor 
Gillet has been out a number of times and usually 
hunts at the Allegre Club grounds near Teal 
Station. Chief of Police Seymour, of San Fran¬ 
cisco, is also an enthusiast and spends a part 
of his time on the Chamberlain tract near 
Cordelia. A. P. B. 
Early Efforts at Game Protection. 
From advance sheets of “American Game Bird Shooting.” 
When the white men came to America they 
found wild birds and animals very abundant. 
The reproductive energy of indigenous species 
more than made up for their destruction by 
natural enemies. Human beings were not numer¬ 
ous in proportion to the area of the land, and 
took only what they needed. The balance of 
nature was preserved. 
It was rudely disturbed by the arrival of 
civilized man with his firearms, though for a 
time he made little impression on the life of 
the great continent to which he had come. Birds 
and animals continued abundant, though close 
to the settlements they were soon driven away 
or destroyed. Thus Josselyn, writing in 1671, 
tells, as already said, how thirty years before 
turkeys were very abundant at Black Point, now 
Scarborough, Maine, where many broods of 
young might be seen in a morning, but that “the 
English and the Indians have destroyed them, so 
that ’tis very rare to meet with a wild turkie in 
the Woods.” This was only about fifty years 
after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
***** 
It was not until toward the middle of the 
nineteenth century that the birds of the United 
States began to be shot for sport. Before this 
the markets offered inducements to the thought¬ 
less or the greedy to destroy birds with great 
recklessness. Game birds were taken in nets, 
snares and traps in vast numbers, and as early 
as 1855 and 1856 a writer said: “The havoc and 
slaughter, not only by the mercenary and cruel, 
but by the thoughtless and improvident, have 
consequently been very great, both of birds and 
animals, thousands of buffaloes, deer and hares, 
hundreds of wolves, panthers and bears, as well 
as myriads of partridges and hecatombs of 
grouse have been slain and trapped. The mar¬ 
kets of all our principal cities have been most 
bountifully supplied with every description of 
game; in fact, filled to repletion with partridges 
and grouse; not, however, as many suppose, with 
birds alone coming from the far, far West, but 
by incredible numbers of half-starved victims 
snared in our own and the neighboring States 
or mercilessly shot down, whole coveys at a 
‘blow,’ as they sit huddled together on the 
treacherous snow, stupefied and benumbed with 
the chilling blasts of the north.” 
Some of the sportsmen of that day were Eng¬ 
lishmen, and of these William Henry Herbert— 
Frank Forrester—was one of the most famous. 
Herbert wrote in charming style and professed 
high ideals of sport. His writings were read 
by all who were fond of shooting and fishing 
and exercised a good influence. Birds at that 
time were so extremely abundant—from the 
point of view of to-day—that no one realized 
the importance of moderation in killing, and the 
bags made were very large. Herbert inculcated 
good views of sport, and his teachings were far 
in advance of the practice of his day. Never¬ 
theless it was then a point of pride, as indeed 
it still was at a very recent day to do a little 
better—that is, to kill a few more birds—than 
your neighbor or your rival. 
Although all the larger game birds had been 
exterminated in the Eastern and Middle States 
by the time of the Civil War, it was not until 
the advent of the breechloader in America, about 
1868 or 1869, that bird shooting began to be ex¬ 
cessive in nearby localities. Yet, by the middle 
of the following decade, complaints began to be 
heard of the scarcity of game. People who a 
few years before had had no difficulty in killing 
thirty birds in a day grumbled when they could 
get but fifteen, or perhaps ten, and found vacant 
covers long known to be depended on for a 
certain number of birds. These were the first 
warnings of the scarcity of game birds, which, 
since that time, we all have known. 
In those days, too, the gunners interested 
themselves much in the question as to which 
was the most useful arm, the breechloader or 
the muzzleloader. Those who had adopted the 
new weapon vaunted its convenience and general 
efficiency, while the more conservative declared 
that the breechloader did not throw shot with 
the force of the muzzleloader and declared that 
they would never change their weapons. 
It was about this time that the first periodicals 
devoted exclusively to shooting and fishing were 
established. These were 1 first the American 
Sportsman, which lived but two or three years, 
and then Forest and Stream, which subsequently 
absorbed the successor of the American Sports¬ 
man, the Rod and Gun. 'These journals were 
immediately successful, because of the interest 
felt in their subjects by the sportsmen and field 
naturalists of that day. Sportsmen had much 
to say on various topics, and naturalists wished 
to discuss many matters which could hardly be 
brought up in publications devoted strictly to 
science. Many sportsmen were careful and ac¬ 
curate observers, possessed of experience and 
education and writing delightfully. Later a large 
crop of periodicals devoted to these sports 
sprang up, most of which, before very long, 
perished for lack of support, their places being 
taken by others. 
These earliest periodicals, being directed by 
men of foresight and experience, urged upon 
their readers the importance of preserving the 
natural resources of the country. They preached 
game protection and forest protection, and while 
converting not a few of their readers at first 
made little or no impression on the general pub¬ 
lic. Such educational work goes slowly at first, 
especially when the teaching tends to limit the 
recreation and pleasure of the public by urging 
them to practice self control. 
It was thus many years before any definite 
results could be seen from these teachings, and 
in the meantime the work of destruction went 
on. Perhaps the most radical and most im¬ 
portant step ever taken in game protection in 
this country was in the year 1894, when Forest 
and Stream announced its platform plank, “For¬ 
bid the Sale of Game.” Meantime a constant, 
though slow, improvement was taking place in 
the game laws, and a few sportsmen, by earnest 
work with the Legislatures, backed up the work 
which Forest and Stream had set on foot. 
Meantime sportsmen at large discussed with 
much earnestness the question of what should 
be done to restock the game covers. The first 
efforts took the direction of importing bobwhites 
from the South and turning them loose in covers 
that had been shot out. This was done, but the 
birds were soon killed off, for no one seemed 
to think of stopping shooting. Then came the 
idea of importing foreign birds, and about 1878 
or 1879 someone suggested the importation to 
America of the Old World quail (Cotnrnix), a 
