Forest and Stream 
A Weekly Journal. Copyright, 1907, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
| GrorGe Brrp GRINNELL, President, 
| 346 Broadway, New York. 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy. 
Six Months, $1.50. 
Cuarves B. Reyno.ps, Secretary. 
346 Broadway, New York. 
Louis Dean Speier, Treasurer. 
346 Broadway, New York. 



NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1907. 
VOL. LXIX.—No. 23. 
{ No. 346 Broadway, New York 



THE OBJECT OF THIS JOURNAL 
will be to studiously promote a healthful interest 
in outdoor recreation, and to cultivate a refined 
[ taste for natural objects. 
—ForEST AND STREAM, Aug. 14, 1873. 

HELP AND HARM BY WILD THINGS. 
THE results of inquiries as to the effect of 
} insects, birds and mammals on farmers’ crops, 
made during the past year by the Department 
of Agriculture, are briefly but interestingly set 
' forth the Secretary’s report. 
The boll weevil, that terror of the cotton 
i States, has naturally received much attention, 
| and it has now been found that not less than 
forty-three species of birds prey upon it. A 
report on the season’s observation has been pub- 
lished, and is being disseminated in the cotton 
States in the hope that legislation may be enacted 
to protect certain species of useful birds now 
not protected, and that citizens in the cotton 
States may come to understand the important part 
that certain birds play in limiting the destruction 
by the boll weevil, so that they may protect and 
- endeavor to increase the number of birds that 
destroy the insects. 
Inquiries carried on for several years in the 
fruit regions of California show that many 
, species of birds choose orchards as their home 
it or their hunting ground, not because they eat 
fruit, but because of the great number of in- 
sects that infest fruit trees. Even the birds that 
eat fruit, eat also enough injurious insects to 
more than compensate for the damage they do. 
| It has been found that not less than fifty-seven 
species of birds prey on the scale insects, minute 
creatures that in the past have been supposed 
to be overlooked by birds. 
| The dangers from gnawing mammals, such as 
| squirrels, mice and rabbits, have often been 
pointed out, and to these harmful creatures the 
Biological Survey has given much attention. In the 
| Northwest it is not unusual or strange to see gar- 
dens so overrun with gophers and ground squir- 
rels that no green thing can be seen above the 
|surface of the soil. These ground squirrels also 
Bpestroy vast quantities of grain. Laboratory ex- 
periments are being made with contagious 
diseases in the hope of securing a virus which 
can be utilized in cheaply and effectively destroy- 
‘ing these rodent pests. Rabbits and field mice 
/damage orchards and destroy young fruit trees, 
‘and the injury that they cause is often serious. 
It has been found that the application of the 
lime and sulphur wash known as a remedy for 
‘the San Jose scale will keep these animals from 
sgnawing the trees. It is cheap, durable—one 
\liberal application lasting through the winter— 
.and seems to protect the tree from both rabbits 
and mice. Efforts are being made also to find 
a safe protective virus which shall be fatal to the 
house rat, yet harmless to domesticated animals. 
—— +a. 
rene --P = 
The field mice are so widely distributed over 
the United States and in certain sections so 
numerous that they cause an amount of damage 
to gardens, grass lands, nurseries and orchards 
that in the aggregate is fairly appalling. Alfalfa 
is destroyed by them to a tremendous extent; 
in summer they attack the foliage, and in winter 
the roots, and thus may soon destroy a whole 
field and render fresh planting necessary. 
We have more than once called attention to 
the investigation of the wolf question carried on 
by the Agricultural Department through the 
Bureau of Biological Survey in connection with 
the Forest Service. As a result of this inquiry 
Mr. Bailey recommended that the breeding dens 
should be sought out and the young killed there 
soon after birth. This recommendation appears 
to have been adopted by cattlemen, and seems 
already to have resulted in a considerable re- 
duction in the number of wolves and a corres- 
ponding saving of live stock and game. 
Other subjects taken up by the Biological 
Survey during the year are very interesting and 
important to sportsmen. 
THE WILDFOWL. 
Tue storms of the last fortnight sent a small 
army of wildfowlers to bay and river resorts 
all along the Atlantic coast. If the southward 
flight of ducks and geese was as large in other 
quarters as it was in the vicinity of New York 
city, excellent sport will be had during the week 
by those who packed their suitcases and_ shell 
boxes and hurried away to be on hand when 
the wildfowl reached the waters they are fond 
of visiting in late autumn. 
The mild days and warm of October 
kept the ducks and geese in Northern waters. 
Throughout the first fortnight of November 
the inquiries sent by sportsmen to ducking re- 
sort keepers of the middle and south Atlantic 
States were answered with a monotonous “Not 
yet.” Shooting trips were arranged and as often 
postponed on advice that the wildfowl had not 
as yet arrived in sufficient numbers to make a 
journey worth while. 
Rains during this time were frequent, but the 
temperature was higher than is usual for the 
season, and still the birds remained away or 
arrived in small numbers, while the sportsmen 
chafed and fretted at home. Those who, too 
impatient to await the coming of wintry days 
and wildfowl, tried grouse shooting instead, were 
doomed to disappointment or exceedingly small 
bags. Almost without exception trips to the 
best known places for grouse have proved un- 
satisfactory, and it is common report that in 
covers where thirty to fifty grouse were seen 
in a day last year, bags of three to a half dozen 
birds are the rule this season. 
The flight of geese and ducks that passed over 
during the last ten days, however, seemed to 
be a steady one, and if we are not mistaken, satis- 
air 
factory numbers of wildfowl will be found in 
nearly all the middle Atlantic States, and per- 
haps still further south ere this issue of Forest 
AND STREAM reaches its readers, 
Inland, and on the Pacific coast, similar con- 
ditions seem to have prevailed. Our California 
correspondents mention the scarcity of ducks in 
the coastal waters of that State and refer to the 
steady. warm weather that has kept the birds 
in the North for a much longer time than is 
usual at this season. 

MOVEMENT IN NEW JERSEY. 
FOLLOWING on the Forest AND 
STREAM’S recent 
promptly 
editorials urging action in New 
Jersey for better game laws, comes the organiza- 
tion of the new 
sion, and a report of its. practical unanimity on 
the necessity of certain changes in the laws. 
It has agreed to a-number of recommendations 
State Fish and Game-Commis- 
as to legislation, among which are the exaction 
a gtn license, the establishment of a non- 
resident license, the abolishing of spring shooting, 
prohibiting July woodcock shooting, prohibiting 
the sale of game, making the woodcock season 
open Oct. 1 in North Jersey, and Nov. 1 in South 
Jersey, fixing June 15 as the opening of the bass 
season, limiting the amount of game to be shot 
by one person, prohibiting the use of nets except 
for minnows, prohibiting the use of pound nets 
within one mile of the coast. 
These radical recommendations are perhaps a 
good indication of the feeling which prevails to- 
day among the sportsmen in New Jersey, and 
if the Legislature can be induced to change the 
game laws in accordance with these recommen- 
dations, it will be a great thing for the State. 
It will be well. for Jerseyman fond of 
angling and shooting to do everything in his 
power to bring bout such wholesome changes. 
If personally acquainted with his representatives 
in the Legislature, let him speak to them, if he 
Indeed, every 
of 
every 
can; if not let him write to them. 
good sportsman will do well to write to his rep- 
resentative urging that the changes indicated be 
made. Senators and assemblymen desire noth- 
ing more than to carry out the wishes of their 
but those constituents must 
to let their representatives 
Now is the time for a strong push 
by all the good sportsmen of New Jersey. 
constituents, take 
the trouble know 
those wishes. 
There is marked diversity in the opinions 
given in our columns to-day on the apparent 
reasons for the great scarcity of ruffed grouse. 
This shows how many enemies these splendid 
birds have to contend with in eking out a pre- 
carious existence. Hardy though they are, and 
generally capable of taking good care of them- 
selves, natural causes of seemingly trivial char- 
acter have reduced their numbers in a remark- 
able degree. Additional testimony will be pub- 
lished next week. 

