The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1899-10-13
HERoNs AND GAME FISH
Maine Has an UnvFritteR Law for the
Protection OF Big Wad-
Ing Birds.


Of his fellow fisherman, the big blue
heron. Standing mOtiOnless on one leg
in shoal water, watching for q chance to /
spear a frog or minnow with his beak,
wading or flying from point to point
along the shore, or Tapping his way to
and from the herOn's nesting colony in
the trees Of some impossible swamp,
this lone fisherman is ever picturesque
and interesting. It was with surprise
that a New York man summering in
Maine recently learned that the board
of game and fish commissioners Of the
state was unfriendly to the heron and
urged his assassination on the ground
that the bird is supposed sometimes TO
feed on trout. Two years ago an order
went forth from the commissioners
that the heron Of the Sebec lake region
should be accounted outlaws to be
killed on sight by the game wardens,
and that their nesting colony on Bur
den pond should be broken up But the
| country people Of Maine, with all their
shrewdness in business, have a vein Of
sentiment in their nature and they
stand BY the old residents Of the state.
When the order to kill the Sebec
! herons was issued the people Of Pisca-
taquis, the great game and fish county
Of the state, raised such protest that
a hearing of the matter was had at
Dover, and It was attended by many
representative citizens. Their testi-
mony was all in favor Of the heron, who
rendered the state excellent service in
Kidding the waters Of useless and OBJ
| jectionable fish and reptiles, while in
terfering little or not at all with the
game fish. The commissioners brought
evidence to show that herons had been
known to catch trout. To this allega-
ton the citizens responded that there
were other features in the attractive
ness Of the Maine wilderness to be
considered besides fish; that there
were many natives and visitors who
valued the picturesqueness of the land
and waterscape, to which the heron
lent an ever pleasing feature, and that
they did not want the birds killed.
The result Of the hearing was q
suspension Of hOstiIities against the
herons, but the commissioners renewed
their attack in the next session Of the
legislature by getting the herOns in
Guided in the list Of birds, like crows
and hawks, which are exempted in the
game laws from protection at all sea
sons. It was expected that by this move
every hit-or-miss gunner Of the class
which makes life unsafe in Maine in the
shooting season would be encouraged
to blaze away at the herons. But the
scheme has failed, for the guides and
genuine sportsmen viii not fire at the
birds in any season, and the amateurs
who travel with guns and the ambition
to kill something easy TO shoot have
found their experiments in heron shoot
ing too unpopular to induce their con-
tinuance. So the big birds flap to and
from Burden point, back Of Granny
Cross mountain, and stalk the shadows
OF the Sebec lake coves as uncOncerned-
" as if the commissioners had never
conspired against their peace, and no
man molests them.
One Of the guides, q master hunter
and fisherman, when asked about the
herons and whether they really destroy
trout, replied:
''Well, it stands to reason that her
on viii eat trout as quick as he will
any other fish that might swim within
reach of his beak. But where does he
do his fishing? A club or frog is as
good to his taste as a trout, and he
of a shallow pond about his legs better
than the cold current Of the brooks
where the trouts swim. With the big
pond trout that lie IN the deep water Of
course he has no business anyway.
When he vets his feet in running wa
ter, which he sometimes takes a notion
to do. what does he catch? Trout, If he
can, as well as any other fish that swim
compared with the clubs and suckers
and eels and water snakes-that he swal-
lows, which are great destroyers Of
trout spawn. Instead of a drawback
the heron is a benefit to the game fish.
LET me tell you what once found
out about herOns taking trout. A party
Of four Of us were fishing in the head
waters Of the Piscataquis river, and for
five or six days running we started up
a heron every day at some point or
other along the stream we were camped |
On We were not taking many fish |
trout seemed scarce that summer in the !
Piscataquis waters-and we laid the /
cause to the herOns. So took my gun /
out with me one day and shot the heron /
that we had seen and opened his craW 4
to see what he had been feeding on. /
Inside it I found half a dozen clubs, /
two suckers, a water snake a foot long /
and one small trout. BE had been rid /
ding the stream Of the worst enemies .
Of trout spawn, and the only toll he had
taken Of trout was a lingering three
inches long. have never killed
heron since nor let one be killed when .
my word could prevent it-'-N. Y. Sun.
Grants Men Again IN Action.
Manila, Oct 9.-Gen. Fred Grant, \
Ii, g., .~,-,r,auias Of the Fourth in