vel of the sea.
The upper reaches of this belt are where the deer range during the open
season of the summer when they must be afforded protection. These were
traversed with care, and seen with as much thoroughness as
possible. More of the reserves might easily have been visited in other
States, had I been content to do this in a sketchy and cursory manner,
but my idea was to derive the greatest possible amount of instruction
for a definite specific purpose, and it seemed to me for the
accomplishment of this end to be essential that one should spend a
sufficiently long time in each forest to receive a strong impression of
its own peculiar and distinctive nature, to get an idea into one's head,
which would stick, of its individuality, and, if I may say so, of its
personal features and idiosyncrasies. Not until more than three months
had been spent in the faithful execution of this plan was the problem
studied from any other view than that refuges were to be created of
considerable size, and that their lines of demarcation would naturally
be formed by something easily grasped by the eye, either rivers or the
crests of mountain ranges.

After the lapse of that time, looking at this from every point of view,
it became my opinion that the ideal solution was the creation of many
small refuges rather than the establishment of a few large ones. To be
effective, the size of these ranges should not be less than ten miles
square; if slightly larger, so much the better. Should, therefore,
these be of about four townships each, the best results would be
obtained. The bill for the creation of Game Refuges after it had passed
the Senate, and as amended by the Committee on Public Lands of the House
of Representatives, in the spring of 1903, read:

"The President of the United States is hereby authorized to designate
such areas in the public Forest Reserves, _not exceeding one in each
State or Territory_, as should, in his opinion, be set aside for the
protection of game animals, birds, and fish, and be recognized as a
breeding place therefor."

If this bill were to become law in its present form, the object for
which it was created would be largely defeated. One may easily overlook
the fact that an area corresponding to that of California would, on the
Atlantic Coast, extend from Newport, R. I., to Charleston, S. C. It
embraces communities and interests in many respects as widely separated
as those of New England and the Atlantic So