TIIK CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



in starting from Montreal to take the steamer 

 " Berthier," from the wharf opposite the Bon- 

 secours Market, to Lanoraie, where a railway 

 carries passengers, &c, to Joliette. Ai this 

 village a team is necessary to carry the sports- 

 men and traps to either Manning's farm or Mr. 

 Leprohon's house on the Black River Road, 

 which lends through the trout lake region 

 towards the Matfawan. We will continue this 

 subject in the February number. 



WHOLESALE SLAUGHTER OF WILD 

 DUCKS. 



A.mong the various devices resorted to for 

 the destruction of our Wild Fowl, the swivel 

 gun is perhaps the most destructive in its 

 effects. Great numbers of wild ducks are an- 

 nually slaughtered by its means, and the 

 genuine Sportsman must view with alarm the 

 rapidly decreasing numbers of the birds 

 in the localities where it is used. For the past 

 two or three seasons several American steam 

 yachts, armed with these guns, have been 

 cruising in Lake St. Francis, near Lancaster, 

 Ont., and have apparently done a remunerative 

 business in supplying the American markets 

 with birds. The modus operandi is to steam 

 slowly towards the large flocks, or " rafts ' of 

 ducks, on their feeding grounds in the lake, and 

 as they are then usually in compact flocks, a 

 great number are secured at a single discharge. 

 As many as GO to 100 being often bagged at a 

 shot; while, as a matter of course, a great 

 many are wounded, and but few of these are 

 secured, the operations of these pot hunters 

 being conducted on too large a scale to allow 

 of the pursuit of single birds. It is needless 

 to state that this system of shooting has 

 already been productive of a great amount of 

 harm, and if persisted in will spoil to a certain 

 extent the duck shooting on our lakes. We 

 therefore trust, before the advent of another 

 season, the Game Societies of Ontario and 

 Quebec will have taken the matter in hand and 

 devised some means whereby the slaughter 



maj be prevented, and the rapidly diminu 

 birds be conserved i"r tin- legitimate s] 



man. W.u.i.vi.. 



OUR JOURNAL 

 will sustain properly defined Gam< I 

 of the Dominion of Canada. It will also extend 

 a cordial hand of fellowship to all well organi- 

 zed game clubs. We fully trusf in ii 

 and now wish our patrons happiness and 

 prosperity, with plenty of -pirt during the 

 season of 1881. 



IN PROSPECT. 

 A gentleman lately returned from the North- 

 west Territories promises to send as some in- 

 teresting and truthful accounts <>!' the game 

 noticed in the regions through which he p 

 last summer. We will endeavour to procure it 

 for the February number. 



PROVINCE OF QUEBEC. 

 Game in Season — January. 

 Caribou, Virginian Deer, Moose and the 

 common Hare. 



Ruffled and Spruce Grouse, Wild Geese and 

 Ducks. 



Fish in Season — January! 

 Whitefish, Salmon-Trout, Speckled, Brook 

 or River Trout, (S.foitiinalis), Bass, Dore, 

 Maskilonge. 



Note. — Every net licence issued by the De- 

 partment at Ottawa, states as a condition of 

 the issue, that its use for the capture ol Bass, 

 prior to the 1st of July, is prohibited. 



A GOOD FIT. 

 In the selection of a gun. the inexperienced 

 Sportsman is apt to overlook one oi' the most 

 important features required. For rapid and 

 accurate shooting, it is necessary that the stock 

 of the gun be curved to suit the length o[' neck 

 of the marksman. To tit properly, the gun. 

 when raised to the shoulder should be almost 

 on a level with the eyes, requiring but a slight 



