Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, I 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1910. 
, VOL. LXXV.—No. 20. 
1 No. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
Copyright, 1910, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
George Bird Grinnill, President, 
Charles B. Reynolds, Secretary, 
Louis Dean Sfeir, 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. 
THE USEFUL BARN OWL. 
Since a picture carries more swift and firmer 
conviction than the strongest written words, the 
illustration showing the rejects of the barn owl’s 
food should preach a convincing sermon to 
farmers in sections where that bird is found. 
The photograph shows a few square inches of 
ground, covered with the skulls and bones of 
field mice, animals very destructive to crops, and 
so small and so numerous that no means are 
known by which their ravages may be lessened. 
Certain rapacious birds and small mammals 
prey largely on these mice, and are the only 
effective means of keeping them in check. On 
the other hand man is constantly engaged in the 
work of destroying hawks, owls and the small 
carnivores that feed on the field mice, and by re¬ 
ducing the numbers of their enemies, he increases 
the productiveness of mice and rats, and so the 
harm that they do. The smaller owls are the 
most effective enemies of the field mice, because 
they work at night and in the dusk at a time 
when the mice are most abroad. 
The barn owl takes up its abode in hol'ow 
trees, and—when permitted—in buildings, feeds 
almost exclusively on mice and is of more value 
in protecting the farmer’s crops before or after 
harvest than many cats and traps. An ornitholo¬ 
gist who some years ago examined 703 pellets 
disgorged by this species found in them a total 
of 2,551 skul's, mostly mice and shrews. Another 
observer saw a pair of barn owls bring food 
to their nest seventeen times within half an 
hour, which would mean an enormous nightly 
destruction of mice and rats. 
The barn owl is a Southern bird, coming on 
the Altantic coast as far north as Southern New 
York and New England, and in the Mississippi 
Valley extending its range to Southern Minne¬ 
sota, Wisconsin and Michigan, and even to 
Southern Ontario. On the Pacific coast it is 
found as far north as Oregon. 
It rarely attacks birds and has been known to 
share in amity the habitation of a number of 
pigeons. 
The barn owl should everywhere and at all 
times be rigidly protected. Its very light color, 
"'h’te below and pale gray and yellowish above, 
will serve always to identify it. 
RESIDENTS AND NON-RESIDENTS.—I. 
To complicate the game and fish regulations 
still more than at present is not advisable, even 
though by so doing improvement along certain 
lines would follow. The plan suggested by 
Commissioner Miles, of Indiana, and outlined in 
another column, would, if enacted into law, tend 
toward the endless confusion which all conser¬ 
vative protectionists are striving to avoid. 
Commissioner Miles’ plan is based on the fact 
that a large proportion of -those who fish in 
popular waters contribute nothing to the fish and 
game fund of the counties in which they fish. 
He would have them pay one dollar each for 
the privilege of shooting or fishing, or both, in 
counties other than those in which they reside. 
To become popular a summer or winter resort 
must be attractive. If it attracts because of the 
good fishing or shooting in the vicinity, its 
patrons will contribute liberally in money. This 
money, when distributed among hotel men, guides, 
boatmen, supply men and others, is of more 
benefit to the community than is usually ad¬ 
mitted. Residents who regard it rightfully as 
profits on labor and money invested are usually 
ready and willing to contribute toward improve¬ 
ments. Improvements in turn attract more visi¬ 
tors ; whereupon the investment becomes increas¬ 
ingly profitable. If fish and game are the attrac¬ 
tion. more of both are to be desired. It is not 
fair to tax the visitor still further, unless the 
improvements keep pace with the charges against 
him. Instead, it is the residents who should ex¬ 
pend money and effort to render their business 
more profitable to themselves. In a way they 
are offering game and fish for sale, provided 
the visitor can take them in a lawful manner. 
What is said of a resort, a community, applies 
equally to districts and to States. A State which 
has abundant game and fish can with eood grace 
exact a fee. from non-residents seeking them, 
but only so long as it has something to offer in 
return. If its citizens deplete its covers, they 
first of all should contribute toward replenish¬ 
ment. just ns the merchant must keep his stock 
in trade fresh and attractive if he expects to 
compete with trade rivals. 
Take Newfoundland as an il ustration. Until 
last year a fee was required to shoot there, but 
the fishing was free. A fishing fee was decided 
on, but in exacting it Newfoundland agreed to 
do her share. Already sweeping reforms have 
taken place, all of which, in the course of time, 
will make her waters more attractive to non¬ 
residents and greatly increase the island’s revenue 
from visitors, while at the same time the natives 
who take advantage of their opportunities will 
be better off than they ever have been. 
Some of our States exact license fees, not that 
they have any game worth mentioning, but be¬ 
cause the license system is popular; and having 
co’lected these fees, they are at a loss what to 
do with them. They do not seem to realize that 
the fees were paid for the privilege of shoot¬ 
ing game, and that, as their supply of game is 
dwindling, it is their moral duty to invest the 
money received in restocking. Instead, their 
attitude suggests, that they regard the fees col¬ 
lected in the light of fines for trespassing; that 
the presence of the stranger within their gates 
is undesirable, and that, if he insists on com¬ 
ing, he should be made to pay a penalty. 
WILD ANIMALS GROWING SCARCE. 
The wholly reel-dess destruction of animal life 
in the North, so frequently referred to in Forest 
and Stream, is engaging the attention of such 
game protective associations as the Boone and 
Crockett Club, the Arctic Club and others. 
Reports from Newfoundland last spring told 
of the destruction of over 200,000 seals on that 
sealing ground, while the demonstrations recently 
made that the Arctic regions are comparatively 
easy of access to those who can afford the time 
and money to get there, opens up new, if distant, 
lands to hunters, who will kill muskoxen, cari¬ 
bou, walrus, seals and polar bears without regard 
to age, sex or the requirements of the hunter. 
It is true that the territory is vast, and that the 
number of persons going into it will be very 
small, but it is also true that commercial and 
other hunters constantly push further and fur¬ 
ther into the unknown country and drive before 
them the wild creatures into new and more dis¬ 
tant homes. 
Of late years, whales in the Arctic have been 
almost exterminated, and while in the Antarctic 
whaling is still successfully and profitably pur¬ 
sued, as it is on the coasts of Northern Asia by 
the Japanese whalers, the time is certainly com¬ 
ing when measures must be taken to protect 
these animals. Already efforts are being made 
to induce the different powers of the earth to 
unite to form close seasons for the various 
marine mammals. This ought to be done and 
done before long. 
The hunting stories of to-day certainly differ 
widely enough from those of a generation or 
two ago. In old times it was supposed that the 
hunter who traveled through the woods quietly 
and deliberately was the most likely to get his 
deer. Now we are told that in one of the States 
where deer hunting opens about the midd'e of 
November, the game warden advises all hunters 
to wear red hats, and to make as much noise as 
possible. This is not recommended as an aid to 
deer hunting, but as a protection to human life 
and limb. Some hunters are said to be prepar¬ 
ing to carry cow bells and tin horns with them, 
notifying the world at large of their progress 
by sounding these instruments. In old times it 
was sometimes derisively said of a certain army 
officer that he went hunting with a brass band. 
Perhaps before long we shall come to that in 
fact. We seem to be approaching it. 
